Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Berman Post

Berman Post

The Cost of The Debt Explosion

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 09:09 PM PST


Picture embedded below. (via)



"This chart slices government spending into four main areas: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, interest on the debt, and other spending (which includes defense). As we can see, if we don't get our deficit and spending under control, most of our budget will be used to finance the interest we owe on our debt. Note how this share of the spending grows significantly faster than the Medicare and Medicaid part. That being said, the best way to reduce the amount of interest we pay on our debt is to reduce spending on other fast-growing budget items, i.e. entitlement spending.

And this is the best-case scenario. The CBO alternative projects an average interest rate of 4.6 percent from 2010 to 2084, with lower rates in the near future due to the recession."

IJ's Scott Bullock Discusses The Forfeiting Justice Report

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 08:45 PM PST


Video embedded below.

North Korea Shells South Korean Island

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 08:39 PM PST


With no response to the sinking of a ship, is it really a surprise they are trying something else. North Korea is seeing what they can get a way with and the answer is apparently a lot.

Video embedded below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Adam Savage Says he Made it Through Naked Body Scanner With Two 12" Razor Blades

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 08:34 PM PST


Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame got through the Naked Body Scanner run by TSA with two foot-long razor blades. His statements are from before the controversy over the machines and the Enhanced Pat Downs exploded. I knew that it would not catch explosives like the ones used in the underwear bombing, but if they can not even catch massive razors what exactly are they doing?

Video embedded below.

Obama Outlines Moral, Philosophical Justifications For Turkey Pardon

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 07:26 PM PST

'Taliban Leader' in Secret Talks Was an Impostor

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 07:24 PM PST


In other news, diplomats were surprised to learn that the Russian lesion was actually just an 11-year-old South African girl. It is still unclear exactly how she convinced the administration to make so many concessions...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html

"For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.

"It's not him," said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. "And we gave him a lot of money."

American officials confirmed Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mr. Mansour, or even a member of the Taliban leadership.

NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who traveled from in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge.

The fake Taliban leader even met with President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace, officials said."

Ed Rendell (D) - 'People do Not Always Vote on Logical Reasons'

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 06:50 PM PST


Anyone else getting the feeling that the Democrats still do not get it?

Video embedded below.

Five Ways to Cut Military Spending Today

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 06:30 PM PST


Video embedded below.

Velma Hart Now Jobless

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 06:29 PM PST


Velma Hart, of Obama telling "Quite Frankly, I'm Exhausted, Exhausted of Defending You" fame, has not lost her job. Her comment had nothing to do with why she is not longer working. She is just another casualty of a down economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112205270.html

"Velma Hart, who burst onto the media scene after telling President Obama she was scared about her financial future, has been laid off. Hart was let go as the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a nonprofit Maryland-based veteran services organization.

Hart has become another casualty of the tough economy in which so many people have lost their jobs.

"It's not anything she did," said Jim King, the national executive director of Am Vets. "She got bit by the same snake that has bit a lot of people. It was a move to cut our bottom line. Most not-for-profits are seeing their money pinched."

King would not say whether the organization had had other layoffs.

"Velma was a good employee," he said. "It was just a matter of looking at the bottom line and where could we make the best cuts and survive."

King hadn't seen the irony in Hart being fired just two months after she emotionally told Obama about her fears for her own financial well-being during a town hall meeting in Washington.

"I hadn't thought about this in connection to the town hall meeting. She was at the town hall as a private citizen. Whatever she had to say were her own thoughts," he said."
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