Stew of News - spooning and scooping 'em for ya

Economic indicators up more than expected in June, from AP

Sony bids $50 million for Michael Jackson's rehearsal film for 'This Is It' comeback tour, from AP

Dogfighting sentence ends for Ex-NFL star Vick, from AP

Obama challenges GOP critics on healthcare, from AP

Clinton says 9/11 ringleaders are in Pakinstan, from CBS News

$23.7 trillion to fix financial system? from ABC News

Saying 'sorry' pays off for U. of Michigan doctors, from AP

Mom charged with endangerment for leaving kids--3 to 12 years old--in mall alone, from ABC News

11 places with a worse economy than the U.S.'s

A businessman sits on an improvised chair at a Tokyo park. Japanese wholesale prices fell at the fastest pace yet last month, data showed, deepening concern that renewed deflation could hinder a recovery in the world's number two economy. (AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

(Another interesting article about the economy)

By Rick Newman of U.S. News & World Report
Published Fri Jul 10, 11:50 am ET

When times are tough, one thing that tends to raise the spirits is knowing that somebody else has it worse. And as wretched as the U.S. economy seems, it's not as bad as in other regions.

The International Monetary Fund's latest tally of world economic conditions forecasts a 2.6 decline in U.S. economic output for all of 2009, and anemic growth of 0.8 percent in 2010. That's more optimistic than the IMF's prediction from three months ago, but those are still lousy numbers. A weak economy throughout 2010 would mean a bleak employment picture, an agonizingly slow housing recovery, and another year or two likely to feel like a recession, whether it's technically labeled that or not.

We should count ourselves lucky, though. The IMF expects at least 11 major parts of the world to have more severe economic contractions than the United State this year, including most of western Europe, Japan, Russia, and Mexico. Europe will still be stumbling along behind the United States next year, as well. Here are the IMF's projections for economic growth in various parts of the world:

	2009	2010
China	7.5	8.5
India	5.4	6.5
Middle East	2.0	3.7
Africa	1.8	4.7
Brazil	-1.3	2.5
World total	-1.4	2.5
Canada	-2.3	1.6
U.S.	-2.6	0.8
France	-3.0	0.4
Spain	-4.0	-0.8
U.K.	-4.2	0.2
European Union	-4.7	-0.1
Central/Eastern Europe	-5.0	1.0
Italy	-5.1	-0.1
Japan	-6.0	1.7
Germany	-6.2	-0.6
Russia	-6.5	1.5
Mexico	-7.3	3.0

If these projections come true, it means the United States, despite its overspent consumers, wrecked banks, and insolvent automakers, will be leading the world economy out of recession. Somehow. The developing world will help, but those high growth projections in China and India can be deceiving. China in particular has government policies that practically mandate high growth, and 8.5 percent in 2010 would be just about the bare minimum to keep employment at tolerable levels. And neither China nor India is a major buyer of American-made goods and services; for the most part, it's the other way around. With much of the developed world trailing the United States, it will take American consumers to ratchet up demand for the world's products. Scary thought.

The IMF does offer a bit of more heartening news: The global wipeout finally seems to be receding. "The world economy is stabilizing," the IMF reports. Its global economic growth projection of 2.5 percent in 2010 is 0.6 points higher than predicted in April. But the global economy isn't expected to gain its footing in earnest until the second half of 2010. Maybe by then American spenders will have come out of hiding.

Forbes: The most expensive cities in the world

(An interesting article about cost of living, economy)

By Sarah Lynch
Forbes.com Jul 8th, 2009

Think your morning commute is expensive? Think again. The ride on a bus or subway in Tokyo costs $3.25. Grab a newspaper and a cup of coffee on the way and the total comes to $11.70. That's more than anywhere else in the world--24% more than what those same things cost in New York even.

Tokyo is the world's most expensive city, according to Mercer's 2009 Worldwide Cost of Living survey released today, with the cost of living up 13.1% from 2008; the city ranked at No. 2 in 2008's survey. Japan's capital is followed by Osaka and Moscow, which held the top spot in last year's rankings. Geneva comes in fourth.

The significant changes from last year are due to massive swings in exchange rates, with many currencies at their weakest in years against the U.S. dollar, during the March 2009 survey period. Because of this, New York moved up 14 spaces to No. 8 from No. 22. London dropped to No. 16 from No. 3 as the pound dropped as low as 1.37 against the U.S. dollar during the study period. Six months earlier, one pound was worth $1.86.

"Changes in exchange rate tend to be one of the major drivers, I would argue the major driver, in cost of living," says Rebecca Powers, a principal consultant at Mercer. Even with the U.S. dollar weakening over the past four months--it's now worth $1.65--due in part to the Obama administration's stimulus package, the cost of living in London, when measured against the value of the U.S. dollar, is significantly lower than it was a year ago, when the pound was worth more than $2.

Other notable jumps from last year's ranking to this year's are Dubai, which moved to No. 20 from No. 52, and Caracas, which moved to No. 15 from No. 89. Both climbed so quickly because the local currencies are pegged to the greenback; the more the dollar's value increased, so did the cost of living in those places (but Caracas also has a high rate of inflation, pushing up prices for basic goods).

All U.S. cities included in the ranking also experienced a rise, including Los Angeles, up 32 places, and Washington, D.C., up 41 places.

Behind the Numbers

To generate its ranking of the world's most expensive cities, Mercer, an international consulting firm, looked at more than 200 cities across six continents, examining the cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, food, clothing, transport, household goods and entertainment to calculate an overall cost of living. The survey is used to help multinational companies determine compensation packages for employees living abroad. Mercer uses New York as the base city for the index and scores the cost of living there at 100 points. Cities scoring higher are more expensive; lower than 100, and they're cheaper. All cities included in the ranking are in comparison to New York, and currency is measured against the U.S. dollar.

"Since we're polling those places in a local environment, we're getting costs in a local currency," Powers says. "When the currencies fluctuate, that has a significant affect on costs." Powers says these cost fluctuations are making multinational companies reassess the need for expansion abroad.

"Companies have been much more guarded about their investments," she says. "While you can still argue that there is interest in emerging markets, the general pattern of money flowing into the same markets was interrupted when companies started looking at their money."

Johannesburg, South Africa (No. 143) bottoms out the complete list of cities with a score of 49.6. Also at the tail end are Monterrey, Mexico (No. 142), and Asuncion, Paraguay (No. 141).

Tokyo Steady, Shaky Everywhere Else

The main constant in these rankings, since Mercer's first set was released in 1994, is Tokyo's place at or close to the top. Osaka has only fallen outside the top 10, once, when it slipped to the No. 11 spot last year. While the value of the yen is strong against the dollar, Japan--and Tokyo in particular--has always featured prominently due to the high cost of international goods, says Mercer senior researcher Nathalie Constantin-Metral. One can count on Japan being expensive in good times and bad alike for the yen.

But there's no telling what will happen in a place like Moscow--which zoomed up to the top spot last year, and fell out of it this year. It will all depend, says Constantin-Metral, on the performance of Russia's currency. The ruble had been on a long, steady climb against the greenback as of March 2008; but it bottomed out at the beginning of March 2009. It's been on a recovery trajectory ever since, but still has a long way to go. Either way, the rankings make clear that the more the ruble slips, the less expensive a city Moscow becomes.

American cities, then, have more in common with a place like Moscow than anywhere in Japan. The more the dollar--and prices--move, the more or less expensive U.S. cities get, which means it's all up in the air as to what will happen over the year ahead. Tokyo and Osaka may be expensive, but at least everyone knows it for certain. Just about everywhere else, it seems, nobody knows for sure what the cost of living is like until the year is already in the rear-view mirror.

World's Top Five Most Expensive Cities To Live

1. Tokyo, Japan

2. Osaka, Japan

3. Moscow, Russia

4. Geneva, Switzerland

5. Hong Kong

Transfer of military control completed in Iraq

Iraqis celebrate the withdrawal of American troops from the country's cities and towns in Baghdad on Tuesday. (Joseph Sywenkyj for The New York Times)

Transfer of control of all Iraqi cities and towns from U.S. forces to Iraq's government and security forces has been completed, marking an "important milestone that we've reached in Iraq," President Obama said Tuesday.

Obama, who made the announcement at the White House during a ceremony to honor entrepreneurs committed to social justice, noted U.S. forces had met a June 30 deadline to complete their withdrawal from urban areas and hand over full control to Iraqi security forces, warning of "difficult days" ahead.

“Now make no mistake. There will be difficult days ahead. We know that violence in Iraq will continue. We see that already in the senseless bombing in Kirkuk earlier today,’’ he said referring to the car bomb that killed some 30 people and wound 65 others in Iraq Tuesday.

Iraq's Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders will have to make some hard choices to resolve disputes that have hindered political reconciliation, he said.

“This is an important step forward, as a sovereign and united Iraq continues to take control of its own destiny. And with this progress comes responsibility. Iraq’s future is in the hands of its own people and Iraqi leaders must now make some hard choices necessary to resolve key political questions, to advance opportunity, and to provide security for their towns and their cities,’’ he said, promising the U.S. would be ‘’a strong partner for the Iraqi people.’’

The President praised U.S. troops and said he's confident that those who test Iraqi security forces and the resolve of the Iraqi people through more sectarian bombings will fail.

There's more work to be done to support a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, he said. "And everyone who has served there, both in uniform as well as our civilians, deserves our thanks."

Obama has made ending the six-year Iraq "war" a top foreign policy priority, with plans to withdraw all U.S. troops by the end of 2011.

The country has been almost torn apart by sectarian attacks (countless bombs) that have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more.

The Iraqi government celebrated the final withdrawal of American troops its cities Tuesday with parades, fireworks and a national holiday, marking a political milestone to trumpet what the prime minister called sovereignty from foreign occupation.

“The Iraqi people are rightly treating this day as cause for celebration,’’ Obama said.

Better late than never...still...

What percentage of the Iraqi population either favored or opposed the presence of U.S. forces in that county still is--and probably will always be--up for debate. But we know that many suffered throughout this six-year occupation, and their troubles are hardly over.

In the meantime, people in this country--Americans--are suffering at the hands of a broken economy--losing their homes, jobs, savings, healthcare insurance, even their hope.

Contributing (greatly, in my opinion) to the current state of affairs is a pseudo war launched by former President George W. Bush et al whose price tag has reached $683 billion--yes, billion. Add another $191 billion spent in Afghanistan, and you have some $874 billion, nearly a trillion dollars my friends, spent as of today.

According to the Brooking Institution's Iraq Index, the U.S. has spent $12 billion per day on the so-called this fake war--that's $5,000 per second. A significant portion of the money--billions of dollars--is unaccounted for as per multiple news reports and Congressional hearings.

Bush and his fan club--a brilliant group of good old boys from Ivy League schools--thought draining our economy with an unnecessary so-called "War on Terror" against a country that did terrorize the U.S. on 9/11 would be a good idea, as it would make W look "presidential" and boost his chances at re-election. Sigh.

There were no weapons of mass destruction, and (as far as we know) Osama Bin Laden along with his al-Qaeda posse are still plotting our destruction under the stars somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan.

As of today, U.S. troop casualties add up to 4,318, with another 31,368 wounded, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries and not counting psychological injuries.

The price we have paid for this pseudo war, or occupation, is high--in U.S. dollars, resources, time wasted, and lives abruptly ended or forever shattered (literally).

I'm no political pundit, war correspondent or White House reporter. My thinking can be--and probably is to a certain degree, just like everybody else's--flawed in some way due to a lack of information, education and/or an excess of ignorance. Whatever. No one knows everything.

Yet, I still gotta call it as I see it because that's what I do. And Iraq was a BIG mistake, if you ask me.

Sources: AP, Reuters, New York Times, Me
Copyright © 2009

FYI: U2 tour, N. Korea ship, Sanford affair, Honduras coup, Madoff, Iraq bomb, Farrah RIP

The oval-shaped stadium in Camp Nou, Barcelona, where U2 will kick of it's tour is known as "the Claw" because of the gigantic structure over the stage.



• Irish rock group U2 kicks off their first tour--"U2 360"--in three years on Tuesday, playing to fans in Barcelona on one of the biggest concert stages ever built--97,500 capacity. Over the next four months U2 will perform to an estimated three million fans in 31 cities across Europe and North America.
• U.S. defense official told AP that the North Korean ship under watch has reversed its course. The U.S. said Tuesday if imposed financial sanctions on an Iran-based company allegedly serves as a cover for N. Korea’s missile proliferation network.
• South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford "is admitting more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed."
• Several presidents including the OAS head to accompany ousted Honduras President Zelaya back to - Honduras, according to Argentinian source. Robert Micheletti, a congressman of Zelaya's party sworn-in as president after the coup, says Zelaya will be arrested if he comes back to Tegucigalpa.
• Iraqi police and hospital officials say death toll from Kirkuk car bomb today rises to at least 24.
• 10 or more people associated with multibillion dollar swindler Bernard Madoff could face criminal charges in investigations.
• After two straight gains, U.S. consumer confidence declined slipped to 49.3 from 54.8 in May, private research group Conference Board said Tuesday.
• Actress Farrah Fawcett, who died of cancer last week, will be laid to rest this afternoon.

Sources: Reuters, AP, CNN

Stew of News -- Government

Court rules school strip search unconstitutional

The Supreme Court ruled today that school officials' strip search of a then-13-year-old Arizona teen suspected of possessing a painkiller violated the girl's constitutional rights, despite the school district's zero-tolerance policy for drugs.

All drugs? Who gets high on Advil?

The court said, however, that school officials are protected from personal liability in the case, ABC News reported.

They were the ones who searched her, then who's liable? The walls?

The ruling is a partial victory for Savana Redding, who had been summoned from her middle school classroom and was asked to strip down to her underwear as school officials searched for prescription strength ibuprofen.

Left: Savana Redding (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

"They asked me to take off my clothes, and I did while they stood there," Savana said. "When I was finally in my underwear, I thought, 'OK, they are going to let me put my clothes back on.'"

"They just looked at me and said, 'well, now you have to pull out your bra and shake it and your underwear as well," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I really wanted to cry."

I'm sorry, my friends, but I was outraged when this story first came out months ago. I think it's absurd that kids can't carry Tylenol or Claritin in their book bags these days but have to give it to a nurse who then gives is to them when they need it. WTF?

I understand there are pill abusers out there, and that school officials are trying to curtail drug use in their jurisdictions because of potential legal liability and because parents have a tendency to blame the schools for what their children choose to do and for the parents' own shortcomings. But I'm tired of seeing the innocent paying for the guilty.

The decision could redefine student privacy rights and outline important guidelines for school officials as they seek out dangerous contraband such as drugs, weapons or alcohol.

An 8-1 majority of the Court found that the search was unconstitutional. Justice David Souter, writing for the majority said, "Savana's subjective expectation of privacy against such a search is inherent in her account of it as embarrassing, frightening, and humiliating....Here, the content of the suspicion failed to match the degree of intrusion."

"The strip search of Savana Redding was unreasonable and a violation of the Fourth Amendment," the court ruled.

The Court emphasized that the intrusiveness of the search was not justified because Savana was not suspected of carrying dangerous drugs, ABC reported. "The Fourth Amendment places limits on the official, even with the high degree of deference that courts must pay to the educator's professional judgment."

Justice Clarence Thomas filed a dissent, arguing the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Thomas wrote, "By deciding that it is better equipped to decide what behavior should be permitted in schools, the Court has undercut student safety and undermined the authority of school administrators and local officials."

Even as he was accused of sexually harassing women, which is muuuch worse than carrying ibuprofen in school, he wasn't humiliated with a strip search. Maybe someone should give him a demonstration...

The Court ruled 7-2 that the school officials were protected from having to pay Savana monetary damages, saying that though the search was unconstitutional, school officials "are nevertheless protected from liability through qualified immunity."(How is that immunity qualified?)

Justices Stevens and Ginsburg, in partial dissent, would have found the officials personally liable for monetary damages.

Justice Ginsburg, the sole female on the court, caused a stir in a recent interview when she questioned whether her male colleagues could fully embrace a young girl's reaction to such a search and wrote that the school officials treatment of Redding was "abusive."

I'm with ya, sista.

Senators find way to lower health care reform price tag

A group of key Senate negotiators found a way to reduce the price tag on the health care reform bill, bringing it in line with a $1 trillion target and moving the Senate Finance Committee closer to a deal. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced Thursday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed the $1 trillion cost over 10 years.

Right: Max Baucus (Reuters)

The cost has become the top concern of Finance Committee senators after they received an estimate last week from the Congressional Budget Office claiming that an early version of the bill would top $1.6 trillion, or $600 billion more than expected, Politico reported.

The senators said they found $400 billion in savings earlier this week, largely by reducing the amount of subsidies for low-income individuals to buy insurance, Politico reported.

It is unclear where the $200 billion in additional cuts were drawn, although Baucus said the discussed ways of empowering a federal board known as to wring savings out of the system. Despite the progress, Baucus said he is not yet ready to schedule a markup of the bill.

Trillions, billions...who can keep up?

Not so rosy news on the economy...

The U.S. economy shrank at an annual pace of 5.5% in the first quarter, the government said Thursday, a slower pace of decline than the 5.7% previously reported but still the second largest quarterly drop in 27 years.

The Commerce Department reported in April that gross domestic product--the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity--fell at an annual rate of 6.1% in the first quarter. In its first revision, the agency said that GDP declined at an annual pace of 5.7%, according to news reports.

The government revises the GDP twice each quarter, and Thursday's report marked the final revision.

The first quarter of 2009 marked the third quarter in a row that the economy contracted. It was the second worst drop in the measure since the early 1980s, behind only the fourth quarter of 2008, when GDP plunged at an annual pace of 6.3%, CNNMoney reported.

The news comes as the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefit rose unexpectedly this week by 15,000 to 627,000, reflecting continuing strain on the US economy. The overall U.S. unemployment rate has also now risen from 8.9% to 9.4%, the highest level since August 1983. (Photo by EPA)

The new estimate reflected a slightly better reading on consumer spending and lower imports, partly offset by declines in inventories and construction.

Reflecting the weak pace of global economic activity, exports plunged at a 30.6% rate in the first quarter instead of the 28.7% estimated a month ago. That was the steepest drop in foreign sales in 40 years. Imports dropped at a 36.4% rate, the steepest since the summer of 1947.

Sooner or later, it will get better...if you ask me.

Source: ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN, BNO
Copyright © 2009