Maggie's Farm

xyz xyz ^^^^^^^^^

Brown slaps down Archbishop's call for Islamic sharia law to operate in Britain


Dr Rowan Williams: 'We have to think about the rule of law in a society of overlapping identities'

The Archbishop of Canterbury caused consternation yesterday by calling for Islamic law to be recognised in Britain.

He declared that sharia and Parliamentary law should be given equal legal status so the people could choose which governs their lives.

http://tinyurl.com/28a76a

Study: Corn ethanol worse than gasoline

Greenhouse emissions much higher if land use factored in, researchers say

Updated 6:50 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 7, 2008
WASHINGTON - The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday.

The study challenges the rush to corn-based ethanol as a response to global warming, but says there is a future for ethanol from waste products that do not require uprooting land where carbon is already absorbed by trees and plants.

The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn — and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass — become a prized commodity.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23057867/#storyContinued

Lawd a mercy dat white boy Habu done said dis tree week ago..he be some kinda voodoo man.

NEWSWEEK

Black-Brown Divide
Author and race expert Earl Hutchinson says simmering tensions between African-Americans and Latinos could have a huge impact on the '08 race.


Race didn't figure to be a front-burner issue in the 2008 presidential primary campaign. That is, until Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama verbally sparred over remarks Clinton made about Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson. Now racial issues are starting to simmer along the campaign trail, and the flames could be turned up as the pols head deeper into the Southern and Southwestern states. The candidates quickly tried to tone down any discussion of race and gender, but political analyst and author Earl Hutchinson, whose latest book, "The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House," comes out next month, suggests that race is always an issue in presidential politics, be it covert or overt, and that there's a much more significant racial subtext to the current race than many may realize.
(more)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/104725

"The wheels have come off. Structured finance, which has been the key to this credit bubble, has broken down. We believe that confidence in structures, ratings, collateral, issuers, counterparties, et cetera, has all been lost. Therefore we are in a very precarious position. Credit has driven the economy and has driven markets. Credit has to grow year-over-year in this credit bubble environment in order for the economy to grow. With structured finance having broken down, in our opinion, there is no way that credit will grow year-over-year any longer." - David Tice of the Prudent Bear Fund

Using the Internet as a weapon
Commentary: Internet interruption in the Middle East looks fishy
By John C. Dvorak
Last update: 12:01 a.m. EST Feb. 8, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Nobody knows what caused the cut cables in the Mediterranean that interrupted Internet service to parts of the Middle East last week, but there are now conspiracy theories galore written by bloggers and pundits.
Some say it will benefit terrorists and Iran somehow. In fact, the cut cables -- originally blamed on ships dragging anchors -- look more like a ploy by some intelligence agency to disrupt Iranian commerce, specifically an emerging oil bourse that the Iranians have been quietly establishing and hoped to roll out fully in the next 60 days.
There has always been talk about disrupting commerce by screwing up the Internet. We've just seen a proof of concept, whether done on purpose or by accident.
This concept seems a little farfetched until you look at the details which were provided to me by one of my readers, Martin Kuplens-Ewart who has been following the story from the outset . He notes: "there is a substantial event that has effectively been killed by the loss of connectivity: the launch of the Iranian Oil Bourse.
"A marketplace for oil, gas, and various petrochemicals, the Iranian Oil Bourse would trade exclusively in non-dollars and probably substantial negative impact to the U.S. economy and financial system. The bourse was scheduled for launch this week (between Feb. 1 and 11. With complete elimination of Internet connectivity to the country, this launch is now impossible and unlikely to be achievable before month's end (given the estimate 10-14 days for repairs to fiber-optic cables)."
He cites various articles (See Seattle Times article) expressing the mystery behind the cut cables and (See World Press article) (See Energy Bulletin item) describing the bourse and its overall threat to the U.S. economy, as well as how the thing could backfire, ruining the Iranian economy.
The second bourse article, written in 2005, discusses the early planning for the bourse and suggests or wonders if someone might take some covert actions against it.
Communication breakdown
In most instances Internet connectivity can be rerouted, and much of the Middle East has already done this. But what makes this situation unique is that the bourse was being established on Kish Island, a free-trade zone set up by the Iranians in hopes of creating a cool tourist destination.
For an example of what they are up to check out the Web site for one of the new hotels here.
There doesn't seem to be an alternate Internet connection to the island other than the cut cables. I attempted to email the three top hotels on the island and all the email bounced. I was also unable to make a telephone call there indicating a large telecommunications failure.
The Web sites for the hotels are likely to be hosted off the island and are still working.
This sort of telecom and Internet failure/collapse, no matter what the cause, is unlikely to give anyone confidence in an international oil trading system on Kish Island. Too much money is at risk. The island obviously needs satellite access or some form of connectivity back up that is foolproof.
There has always been talk about disrupting commerce by screwing up the Internet. We've just seen a proof of concept, whether done on purpose or by accident.
It doesn't make a lot of difference how it happened if we want to learn a lesson as to how delicate the Internet mechanism can be.
If the cut cable was done on purpose you can expect the U.S. to get blamed although it could have just as easily benefited Britain, China or even Saudi Arabia for that matter. I'm guessing we will never know how it happened or who suffered the most. All I can say for sure is that it does look fishy.
More importantly, investors should know more about this sort of risk and which companies in their portfolio could suffer a negative impact from this sort of event.


Habu note: Best guess..US Subs doing their part to prepare the Iranian battlefield..really the Iranian airstrike.