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  sorting out fascist ‘new’ labour’s ‘welfare’ chaos

“Iain Duncan Smith ... proposes to help people move into work by letting them keep more of their earnings.

“This would make sure that the advantages of work are clear and easy to understand. There would be a major reform of the range of credits and benefits available, and how help from these will reduce bit by bit as people start and progress in their work.

“The proposals for a simpler benefits system could:
• Bring together parts of the current benefits and Tax Credit systems,
• Simplify the financial help available to people both in and out of work, and
• Allow extra support for things like housing, children and disability.”

Option texts

One-page quick summary

Full text - 52 page large text includes charts

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citizen’s wage

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on the prison that isn’t gaza

“Please scroll down below for photos of the new shopping mall that opened today in Gaza. I have also attached new photos and film of Gaza’s hotels, beauty spas, swimming pools, beaches and street markets -- images the BBC, New York Times and others refuse to show you.

“Meanwhile, Hamas are deliberately leaving some Gazans in plastic tents, in order to fool gullible Western journalists and politicians who are brought to Gaza to witness a staged “humanitarian crisis.” ” [Quoted from tomgrossmedia.com]

“Gross, who has previously posted pictures of fancy restaurants, shops filled with goods, and even an Olympic-size swimming pool during the "Israeli siege," pointed out that Gaza enjoys a higher standard of living than Turkey, which recently sent citizens on a flotilla to Gaza in violation of an Israeli naval blockade of Hamas. Noting that life expectancy and literacy rates are higher in Gaza than in Turkey, while infant mortality rates are lower, he asked, "Have they considered that perhaps the humanitarian flotillas ought to be going in the other direction, towards Turkey?"

“Gaza's standard of living depends on welfare provided by others, including US Taxpayers. President Obama just increased US donations, in fact.” [Quoted from americanthinker.com]

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percentage of workless families in europe by country
[20-page .pdf]

Welfare-dependent Britain, as created by 13 years of socialist ‘government’.

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or was it rolling stone?

“Sacked US General Stanley McChrystal issued a devastatingly critical assessment of the war against a "resilient and growing insurgency" just days before being forced out.”
—
“General McChrystal's presentation to Nato defence ministers and Isaf representatives provided an uncompromising obstacle to Mr Obama's plan to bring troops home in time to give him a shot at a second term, according to senior military sources. The general was judged to be "off message" in his warning to ministers not to expect quick results and that they were facing a "resilient and growing insurgency".”

The Rolling Stone article can be found here.

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best bbc interview since paxman took down h*****

Diane Abbott: “I’ve got nothing more to say.”

5:30 mins

And that Paxman interview with Michael H*****?
[The repeated question starts from 4:16 minutes in.]

8:16 mins

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mcchrystal article

This link is to the six-page Rolling Stone article that supposedly stimulated Obama to relieve his military commander in Afghanistan.

“Back in Afghanistan, less than a month after the White House meeting with Karzai and all the talk of "progress," McChrystal is hit by the biggest blow to his vision of counterinsurgency. Since last year, the Pentagon had been planning to launch a major military operation this summer in Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and the Taliban's original home base. It was supposed to be a decisive turning point in the war – the primary reason for the troop surge that McChrystal wrested from Obama late last year. But on June 10th, acknowledging that the military still needs to lay more groundwork, the general announced that he is postponing the offensive until the fall. Rather than one big battle, like Fallujah or Ramadi, U.S. troops will implement what McChrystal calls a "rising tide of security." The Afghan police and army will enter Kandahar to attempt to seize control of neighborhoods, while the U.S. pours $90 million of aid into the city to win over the civilian population.

“Even proponents of counterinsurgency are hard-pressed to explain the new plan. "This isn't a classic operation," says a U.S. military official. "It's not going to be Black Hawk Down. There aren't going to be doors kicked in." Other U.S. officials insist that doors are going to be kicked in, but that it's going to be a kinder, gentler offensive than the disaster in Marja. "The Taliban have a jackboot on the city," says a military official. "We have to remove them, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't alienate the population." When Vice President Biden was briefed on the new plan in the Oval Office, insiders say he was shocked to see how much it mirrored the more gradual plan of counterterrorism that he advocated last fall. "This looks like CT-plus!" he said, according to U.S. officials familiar with the meeting.”

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wild west in the gulf instigated by clinton - dick morris

Good reporting, as ever, by Morris.

“Just as the subprime mortgage crisis had its roots in the Clinton Administration decision to require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to find enough low income borrowers so that half their loans were subprime, the Gulf oil spill also had its roots in misguided policies begun by the Clinton Administration.”
—
“Unfortunately, the Clinton Administration – and the Bush and Obama Administrations that followed – failed to consider seriously what to do if things went wrong. In contrast to the licensing of nuclear power plants, where vast time and money has been spent developing fail safe systems, very little thought was given – obviously – to what how to stop an explosion that would trigger a vast spill, how to plug the hole, and how to stop the oil from reaching Gulf and Atlantic coast beaches.”

related material
the gulf oil spill - obama’s motivations
once again obama shows he is control of events: “oil spill will be controled”
are the gulf fishers claiming compensation from bp under false pretences?

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the gulf oil spill - obama’s motivations

London mayor Boris Johnson has told Barack Obama to stop bashing Britain over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama wants to fine punitively one of the companies involved - BP, as well as seemingly wanting to control its management.

The figures suggested for clean-up costs are ludicrous. There have been worse oil disasters in the area without anything like the fuss.

Obama is drowning and is starting to thrash around, looking for people to blame. He will probably be a dying pelican within a few months. Obama has zero leadership experience and very little independence of mind. He lives for his teleprompter.

I doubt the real liabilities for BP are more than a billion, and they are paying that for PR more than any real liability.

The USA has put a fool in the White House. Nothing else from him is to be expected.

Within eight weeks of gaining the White House, Obamy (and Chu) were attempting to stop funding research into hydrogen vehicles.

There is a dead zone in the Gulf spreading at the rate of 20% a year, from the nitrogen fertilisers washing down the Mississippi, much of it from corn ethanol production. This production that makes no sense to anyone but farmers getting subsidies to grow it! Now they are looking to blame that on the spill.

the ‘incident location’ is about 84 miles from the Louisiana coast.
Map source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. Hypoxia data: NASA
[Normal oxygenation for sea water is about 10 ppm oxygen at 5°C and 5ppm at 50°C.]

The oil will rapidly degrade in the Gulf due to the climate. It will also disperse according to the old saying, “the answer to pollution is dilution”.

In the US, there is a highly politicised government that cares nothing for facts.

Current official government estimates are 12-19 thousand barrels a day, and 12-25 thousand barrels a day. There are also much larger gossip figures around. The amount being captured from the well is currently claimed as 16,000 barrels a day.

From BP

“Work on the first relief well, which started on May 2, continues and it has currently reached a depth of 12,090 feet. Work on the second relief well, which started on May 16, had reached a depth of 8,576 feet before drilling was temporarily suspended on May 26. Drilling operations on the second relief well resumed on May 30. Both wells are still estimated to take around three months to complete from commencement of drilling.”
—
“Over 1,600 vessels are now involved in the response effort, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels. Operations to skim oil from the surface of the water have now recovered, in total, some 321,000 barrels (13.5 million gallons) of oily liquid.”

That is about 1/3rd of the present best estimates of the spill.

Costs to BP so far:

“So far approximately 30,000 claims have been submitted and more than 15,000 payments already have been made, totalling some $40 million. BP has received more than 110,000 calls into its help lines to date.

“The cost of the response to date amounts to about $990 million, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. It is too early to quantify other potential costs and liabilities associated with the incident.”

“The Minerals Management Service said 39 fires or explosions were reported offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in the first five months of 2009, the latest period for which statistics are available. The agency categorized all of those incidents as "minor" or "incidental."

“According to the Minerals Management Service, there are 90 active rigs working in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The agency puts the level of oil production in the Gulf at 1.7 million barrels per day and 6.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day as of October 2009.” [Quoted from cnn.com]

Despite all the blather, the BP shares have merely returned to around the level of the stock market depth at the beginning of 2009, and that despite any new liabilities.

The market was a bargain at that time. With the added uncertainties and liabilities, it may have a way to drop further before it can again be regarded as a bargain.

BP share price in UK pence (£0.01 units). Chart: finance.yahoo.com

BP is approximately half and half owned in the USA and the UK. The company has about 10,000 employees in the UK and twice that number in the USA. [Source: BP]

related material
once again obama shows he is control of events: “oil spill will be controled”

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once again obama shows he is control of events: “oil spill will be controled”

...as BP announce capping is working. Obama even used his ‘forceful voice’!

“U.S. President Barack Obama sought to reassure Americans on Monday that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be stopped, even as he warned that the economic impacts of the disaster would be substantial and ongoing.

“ "This will be contained," Obama told journalists in a forceful voice after a meeting about the spill with cabinet officials at the White House. "It may take some time and it's going to take a whole lot of effort... But the one thing I'm absolutely confident about is that, as we have before, we will get through this crisis." ”

Currently, BP estimates of escaping oil are greater than 20,000 barrels a day.
Present capture by BP is estimated at above 11,000 barrels daily.
BP estimate that capture amount will now rapidly rise to 20,000 barrels a day.
(My guess/understanding is this process must be increased under control, in order to keep pressures balanced.)

The leak has now been running for 49 days.

That’s about 1 million barrels so far, although as usual the innumerate fossil media is talking of gallons, litres, barrels almost interchangeably.

Doubtless, most people do not know just what the situation is. BP will be the best informed.

Here is a table of some of the biggest spills.

This spill is considerably smaller than the spills created by Saddam, the Ixtoc 1 spill in the Mexican Gulf and the Atlantic Empress spill in the Carribean. The current estimated spill in the Gulf of Mexico is so far approximately equivalent to one large tanker.

Here are some conversions.
In many other countries than the USA, crude oil is measured in metric tonnes even though, on the fact of it, the tonne is a weight, rather than a volume, measurement. Thus, the volume of oil is dependent on the density of the oil. The denser the oil, the heavier it is; thus it takes up a smaller volume in comparison to a lighter oil.

Meanwhile ...

... it never stops. Just in imagine if this was happenng in the nuclear industry.

“At least 3 dead, 6 injured in Texas natural gas explosion

“A natural gas pipeline exploded Monday about 50 miles southwest of Dallas, killing at least three people and injuring at least six, local officials and news media reported.

“The blast occurred about 2:40 p.m. Central time when workers apparently struck the underground gas pipeline while digging near Cleburne in Johnson County, Tex., Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael told CNN.

“ "An unknown number of people are still unaccounted for," he said. "We're trying to locate those people."

“The local television station WFAA quoted the Cleburne city manager as saying three people were killed and 10 were missing.”

related material
fossil fuel disasters

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