Flynn's Paws: My Thoughts, My Gripes

Tag: news

  • 20080923-Cern Stopped

    [Flynn’s Editorial: Thanks, `Steeve-o`! After reading about the gifting efforts and how this technological piece of junk might affect the area encircling the populous above ground, I’ve concentrated with lots of happy thoughts on that fine day as I encircled it with lots of bright lights: Zzzttt! I actually visualized the machine shutting down, turning it off.]

    Collider halted until next year
    By Paul Rincon
    Science reporter, BBC News
    Page last updated at 18:04 GMT, Tuesday, 23 September 2008 19:04 UK

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    The incident on 19 September caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak out into the experiment’s 27km-long tunnel.

    It will take us a while to get beams injected into the LHC, but I think it’s fair to say this will be the priority for next year’s start-up.” said James Gillies, Cern’s director of communications.

    Cern said the most likely cause of the equipment failure was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator’s magnets.

    “It does seem that all the systems that are supposed to protect the machine in cases like this worked as far as we can tell. But obviously something went wrong,” said Mr Gillies.

  • 20000605-Lockerbie Bombing

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I truly believe that the bombing is funded by banksters. The Hague in Netherlands and its ways of handling international appears to be in the loop, too.]

    Lockerbie: Conspiracy theories
    Monday, 5 June, 2000, 14:19 GMT 15:19 UK
    By BBC News Online’s Tarik Kafala

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    This would fit in with another theory, that the Lockerbie bombing could have been ordered, planned and carried out by a coalition of Iranians, Libyans and Palestinians.

    The CIA unit is alleged to have been selling drugs to raise funds to buy the freedom of six US hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon at the time.

    The drugs-ring and the connection to Hezbollah is said to have been set up by Israeli Mossad agents.

  • 20080122-Appeal Rejected

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I feel the government and its justice system does not allow sufficient protection of its American citizens from the likes of worldwide corruptions and internal frauds. I’ve highlighted snippets from the news article to drawn attention of injustice towards the shareholders.]

    Supreme Court rejects appeal by Enron investors
    Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:25pm EST
    By James Vicini and Rachelle Younglai

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Enron Corp investors seeking to proceed with a $40 billion class-action lawsuit against investment banks like Merrill Lynch & Co Inc that put together financing deals for the now defunct energy trader.

    In that case, the top court ruled 5-3 that shareholders could not sue such third parties unless investors directly relied on the parties’ statements or representations when making investment decisions.

    Enron, once a high-flying energy company, collapsed in a 2001 accounting scandal. Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is serving a 24-year sentence for his conviction on conspiracy, fraud and insider trading.

  • Share : Congress, Bush team agree on bailout terms

    Congress, Bush team agree on bailout terms

    (more…)

  • 20080922-Keep House

    There is no free lunch: I don’t understand how people are allow to stay in their ‘homes‘ when they don’t have the means (or jobs for that matter) to help pay for staying in a ‘house‘ that they don’t truly ‘own’. I am truly surprised that some are able to get a home (and the loan) without showing proof of having a job.

    While I believe in helping some honest and hardworking people, I think lending to everyone is very foolish As for the hedge funds, I don’t know how anyone could sell financial instruments they don’t own. And where are these ‘frauds’ going to find buyers to borrow from to cover this ‘act of repurchasing’ in what appears to be counterfeit?

    Investors should pull their money out of the stock market after what happened to the Enron scandal. There is no guarantee that putting money into these schemes will be the answer to getting rich fast and quick. They know that the ones who will pay for the very dirt dug as graves will have to be filled by some source, mainly through the taxpayers via the government.

    I don’t know if this $700 billion ‘financial bailout’ (see Congress, Bush team agree on bailout terms) would keep the economy from collapsing. I thought that the capitalist market functions without the intervention of government and those failures from the private sector would burn itself out and keep the strongest.

    Copyright © 2008 by Fluffy von der Flynn. All rights reserved.

  • 20080907-Which Faith

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I feel that Barack Obama is lying to the public. He is intentionally hiding his religious affiliation. My understanding is that once a person is born into the Muslim faith he is a Muslim forever. I also think he `changed` his religion into `Christianity` just to marry Michelle, who is supposed to be a `Christian`.]

    Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics
    Christina Bellantoni (Contact)
    Sunday, September 7, 2008

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Sen. Barack Obama’s foes seized Sunday upon a brief slip of the tongue, when the Democratic presidential nominee was outlining his Christianity but accidentally said, “my Muslim faith.”

    “My Christian faith,” Mr. Obama said quickly. “Well, what I’m saying is that he hasn’t suggested that I’m a Muslim. And I think that his campaign’s upper echelons have not, either. What I think is fair to say is that, coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I’m not who I say I am when it comes to my faith — something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.”

    Asked to comment on the accidental misstatement illustrating the difficulty of the issue, Obama spokesman Bill Burton offered this comment: “I’m not surprised that the only outlet doing this story is The Washington Times.”

  • 20080910-Remove Rangel

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I cannot believe that one of U.S. representative would not pay tax, get caught for lying about taxable income and not get jailed; while the rest of the American citizens get penalized and jailed for the same if not lesser offense!]

    Pelosi: Rangel won’t be forced aside
    By JOHN BRESNAHAN & PATRICK O’CONNOR
    9/10/08 4:27 AM EST

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    Hoping to put the Democrats’ “culture of corruption” argument to work for themselves, House Republicans on Tuesday called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to remove Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

    Rangel has been battered by a series of recent stories questioning his use of rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem as well as his efforts to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. And last week, the New York Post reported that Rangel had failed to declare $75,000 in rental income from a vacation home he owns in the Dominican Republic.

    Rangel has tried to pre-empt a crisis by asking the ethics committee to investigate the allegations leveled against him. But the panel lost its chairwoman when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) died last month, and Pelosi has declined to name a replacement until the House can hold a memorial service.

  • 20070209-Old Joe

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I feel that Joe Biden says whatever is on his mind and how people seem to infiltrate certain parts of the American society. And because he is so old, no one could stop him for telling the truth about people, no matter how offensive to some sensitive ears.]

    Biden’s description of Obama draws scrutiny
    From Xuan Thai and Ted Barrett
    CNN Washington Bureau
    POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EST, February 9, 2007

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” (Watch Biden’s comments and Obama’s reaction )

    Biden has made other questionable comments. In a June 2006 appearance in New Hampshire, the senator commented on the growth of the Indian-American population in Delaware by saying, “You cannot go into a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. Oh, I’m not joking.”

    Two months later, responding to a question in an August interview on Fox News Sunday, Biden was asked how a “Northeast liberal” could compete against more conservative southern candidates.

    “Better than everybody else. You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state,” Biden said.

  • 20080828-Share Blame

    [Flynn’s Editorial: Joe Biden and ALL Democrats should share in the blame for the foreclosure crisis. If only the government does not allow business to accept mortgages from people who CANNOT afford to buy into the housing market. The concept is simply like shooting one’s foot!]

    Should Biden Share Blame for Foreclosure Crisis?
    Experts: Many Americans Lost Homes Due to a Bill Championed by Biden
    By JUSTIN ROOD
    August 28, 2008

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    Congressional Republicans drove the effort to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005. But Biden – who has enjoyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from credit industry executives – endorsed the measure early on and worked to gather Democratic support for it.

    Over the past two years, sub-prime mortgage borrowing and a weakening economy have pushed increasing numbers of Americans into dire financial straits. Under the old rules, many could have declared bankruptcy, shed much of their debt, restructured their mortgages and held onto their homes, according to experts and the two reports.

    But the 2005 law Biden championed made it more expensive and more difficult to declare bankruptcy, experts conclude. That forced hundreds of thousands of distressed homeowners to sell their homes, or default on their mortgages, after which the bank would sell their former home, according to the studies. That flood of homes going up for sale in an already-weakening market further depressed home prices, according to the two reports, snowballing into the current crisis.

  • 20080915-New Discrepancies

    [Flynn’s Editorial: I don’t understand why Rangel cannot be fired and removed from the government payroll for lying about his financial affairs. If he is able to get away with defrauding the U.S. government, how much more to the American people that he is supposed to represent?]

    More errors for Rangel; hires new accountant
    By DEVLIN BARRETT – 1 day ago

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    Among the new discrepancies:

    _Some of the entries for investment funds fluctuate strangely, suggesting that the person either didn’t have accurate information or didn’t fill out the paperwork correctly.

    _Rangel’s papers over the past 10 years show no reference to the sale of a home he once owned on Colorado Avenue in Washington.

    _The details of a property bought in Sunny Isles, Fla., are bewildering at best. The stated value changes significantly from year to year, and even page to page, from $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to $500,000.

  • 20080911-Campaign Contributions

    [Flynn’s Editorial: Obama accepted monies from individuals, whom he will payback with taxpayer’s monies. The article shows how Obama contributed to the foreclosure of mortgages, giving poor and dumb people alike a dose of reality that there is nothing for free from the government.]

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers
    Published by Lindsay Renick Mayer
    September 11, 2008 11:26 AM |

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

    Name | Office | State | Party | Grand Total | Total from PACs | Total from Individuals |
    Dodd, Christopher J S CT D $165,400 $48,500 $116,900
    Obama, Barack S IL D $126,349 $6,000 $120,349
    .
    .
    .
    Total $4,844,572 $3,017,797 $1,826,775
    Includes contributions from PACs and individuals. 2008 cycle totals based on data released electronically by the Federal Election Commission on Sept. 2, 2008.

  • 20000813-Bankruptcy Resolved

    [Flynn’s Editorial: Gee, I wonder how he got that money??? I know.]

    NIUE PREMIER LAKATANI’S POTENTIAL BANKRUPTCY RESOLVED
    ALOFI, Niue (August 13, 2000 – Niue Economic Review)

    Snippet from external source: (visit the link for the full article)

    Niue Premier Sani Lakatani can thank his brothers for helping him avoid a potentially embarrassing bankruptcy, reports The Independent business newspaper in New Zealand.

    Lakatani’s Auckland lawyers this week handed over a check for $30,000 to Redwood Exports [NZ] Ltd. as a “take it or leave it” settlement of his admitted debt to the company.

    Steve Ware, Redwood’s managing director, dropped bankruptcy proceedings, letting Lakatani, who is also Niue’s Minister of Finance, off the hook.
    But the whole saga, which began on the South Pacific Island more than two years ago, has left a nasty taste in Ware’s mouth.

    Lakatani gave a personal guarantee to cover a debt of about $24,000 incurred by R. R. Rex and Sons Ltd., a general store in Niue’s capital of Alofi, for imports supplied by Redwood, a small family business based in Penrose, Auckland.
    Frustrated by Lakatani’s stalling in paying his debt, Ware issued bankruptcy proceedings, presenting a possible hazard to Lakatani’s continued career in politics.

    The premier’s bid for a Niue Development Bank loan to cover his debt astounded his political opponents, some of whom questioned his right to remain an elected representative if he was declared bankrupt.

    Ware learned last week that Lakatani’s two Hawaiian-based brothers, Petala and Moheni, had deposited $30,000 into the trust account of Kiely Thompson Caisley, the premier’s lawyers, for full and final payment of the debt to Redwood.

    The total debt, with legal and interest costs, had risen to $36,000. Faced with the $6,000 shortfall, Ware was riled. But, on the grounds of commercial expediency, he accepted.

    Ware said: “We have taken legal advice and that is: take the money and run.

    “I am very disappointed with the attitude of the premier. He agrees to pay a debt of honor, which is substantial by anyone’s circumstances, then turns round and says, take it or leave it.

    “He then had the audacity to ask us not to talk to the media. The request came from his lawyers. They would prefer it if we did not go to the media,” said Ware.

    “I feel sorry for the people of Niue. Part of my taxes are going to Niue Island in the form of aid. What am I supposed to feel?

    “We are a small family business. We probably have to sell $75,000 worth of business to make up that $6,000 worth of outstanding debt. I’m disgusted by the whole thing,” he said.

    Ware intends writing to Prime Minister Helen Clark, telling her he doesn’t want any of his taxes being used as aid for Niue.

    (NOTE: Dollar amounts are in New Zealand dollars. NZ$ .4485 = US$ 1.00)

    For additional reports from the Niue Economic Review, go to PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT News/Information Links: Magazines/Journals/Niue Economic Review.

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    PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

    Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
    Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

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    Go back to Pacific Islands Report: Graphics or Text Only.

    External source formerly: http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/August/08-16-12.htm