News Stories

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

No need to say he was "accused" of anything, because he was caught redhanded.

One has to be ''accused '' before being ''condemned'' even in such obvious case.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Simon

China overtakes Japan as world's second-biggest economy

Putting things in perspective though, the article says per-capita GDP in Japan is still nines time that of China.

Whoa, someone at the BBC didn't do their homework... They've since updated the article with figures from the IMF that show the disparity as 4.5:1. But it's economics, what's a factor of two error between friends?

Originally Posted by ganbaru

One has to be ''accused '' before being ''condemned'' even in such obvious case.

And there is the quaint notion of "presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law". Oh wait, we have the mass media for that.

[AnimeFan188]

"The U.S. government seized 18 more internet domains Monday, bringing to at least
119 the number of seizures following the June commencement of the so-called
“Operation in Our Sites” anti-piracy program.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizure, in honor of Valentine’s Day,
targeted sites hawking big-named brands like Prada and Tiffany & Co."

See:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...omains-seized/

[ganbaru]

Iran opposition protests, agency reports shooting
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...71D1RT20110214
What happened in Egypt have little chance to happen in Iran...

[flying ^]

Glenn Beck: Is Google Just A Shill For The United States Government?
http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn...es-government/

“I would look into all the people the State Department are working with; MSNBC, CBS, gosh, MTV. Maybe we should start watching those networks a little bit and seeing what their news coverage is like. Who are these groups? Who are they? Are they right, are they left, are they clean, are they dirty, are they front groups? I don’t know. May I recommend, if you’re doing your own homework, don’t do a Google search. Seems to me that Google is pretty deeply in bed with the government. Maybe this is explaining why Google is being kicked out of all the other countries? Are they just a shill now for the United States government? Who is Jared Cohen? Is he private citizen or government operative? And isn’t this the second Google guy we’ve found? This is the second Google executive now being exposed as an instigator of a revolution. Are you comfortable with the government partnering covertly with media organizations, search engines, and social networking so they can bring change that the Washington elites have designed?”

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by flying ^

Glenn Beck: Is Google Just A Shill For The United States Government?
http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn...es-government/

So Glenn Beck isn't a shill for his own pocket?

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by flying ^

Glenn Beck: Is Google Just A Shill For The United States Government?
http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn...es-government/

Must we listen to this paranoid conspiracy theorist? Everything he says is just Insane Troll Logic that has no basis and doesn't make any sense.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Must we listen to this paranoid conspiracy theorist? Everything he says is just Insane Troll Logic that has no basis and doesn't make any sense.

Hehe, someone once said (I hope my translation is at least good enough to understand the central message):

Democracy is not possible without critical media, but I am of the oppinion that democracy is not possible with our current media. Since ratings are more important than factual, liable information, the media today creates its own public oppinion. The oppinions and people that are portrayed in media today, are often not important by themselves but because of the hype they receive.
Someone farts somewhere, typically this is a very local nuisance. But if the media smells higher ratings, it will make the fart known to everyone. Now people, who naturally disavow farts like that have to answer questions and make quantifiable statements like for example: isn't there a grain of truth in this fart? Under free speech, should it not be possible to debate the fart... does it smell or is there a little bit of redolence in it... and so on.
Now with the help of the media people can experience this fart everywhere. And the oppinion of the common people is, that it must be some sort of artistry fart because it is in the media, and it must be important. But thats the fallacy, it is only important because it is in the media.

[MitsubishiZero]

Originally Posted by Jinto

Hehe, someone once said (I hope my translation is at least good enough to understand the central message):

Democracy is not possible without critical media, but I am of the oppinion that democracy is not possible with our current media. Since ratings are more important than factual, liable information, the media today creates its own public oppinion. The oppinions and people that are portrayed in media today, are often not important by themselves but because of the hype they receive.
Someone farts somewhere, typically this is a very local nuisance. But if the media smells higher ratings, it will make the fart known to everyone. Now people, who naturally disavow farts like that have to answer questions and make quantifiable statements like for example: isn't there a grain of truth in this fart? Under free speech, should it not be possible to debate the fart... does it smell or is there a little bit of redolence in it... and so on.
Now with the help of the media people can experience this fart everywhere. And the oppinion of the common people is, that it must be some sort of artistry fart because it is in the media, and it must be important. But thats the fallacy, it is only important because it is in the media.

I know it is hugely improper to sum it up like i am going to, here goes:

In a nutshell, the media is all important. Any form of government, communist or democratic or what have you, must get a firm grip on the media to be able to control the people, and indeed the country, to proceed in the direction the people in power want.


If you look at the major players in the world, China has CCTV, USA has all forms of media (hardly any real independent media I'd say), Europe I am not familiar with it (BBC? doesn't seem that bad, eh?), even North Korea uses media as a form of steering for the country (<<understeer is the word I am thinking of XDDD).


Please, no FBIs and CIAs.

[Tsuyoshi]

Are you saying it is right or justified that the government controls the people and their opinions? Men should be free to believe in what they want to believe, not only what the government wants them to think and believe. It's not anyone's right to tell the people what they should believe or what their opinion should be. You seem to also imply that the country should head in the direction that the people in power rather than the direction the people who voted them to power want. It's almost as if the general population should have no say in where the government should go. CIA or not, that is not how a true democracy works.

[Ithekro]

Of course there are no true democracies either. Democratic republics, Representational democracies, and constitutional monachies to be sure, but no country that I am aware of allows the people to vote directly for everything. We just don't have quite the level of technology vs. chance of abuse, to make a true democracy work in anything larger than a city-state.

The Internet is a way to make it possible, but it isn't a perfect solution unless everyone is connected, everyone is responsible, and everyone is informed on the many, many. many things governments do every single day.

[Tsuyoshi]

The western countries like the US should stop pretending to be true democracies. You are right that we don't have that level of democracy, but politicians are already abusing the system to a great extent so even the current system in its theoretical state is undermined. None of this justifies that politicians should decide what to do with a country and its people for themselves.

[SaintessHeart]

Das exchange

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Es war eine Woche die die Wall Street so schnell nicht vergessen.

Sorry, got a little swept up in Deutsche Boerse AG’s looming acquisition of the New York Stock Exchange. What I meant to say in English was that it was a week Wall Street won’t soon forget.

From potential exchange mergers to the Treasury Department’s long-awaited report on Fannie Mae (FNMA 0.45, -0.12, -20.95%) and Freddie Mac (FMCC 0.48, -0.15, -23.48%) , don’t be surprised if the past seven days are remembered as a pivotal point in the history of Wall Street, a watershed moment when the last ebbs of the financial crisis receded behind a new wave of speculation and exuberance. Read about the Deutsche Boerse’s potential takeover of the NYSE. Read full story on Treasury Department’s plan for Fannie and Freddie.

It began Feb. 9, when the market was still digesting a $3.2 billion merger announcement by the London Stock Exchange (UK:LSE 922.50, -7.50, -0.81%) and Toronto Stock Exchange (CA:X 41.29, 0.00, 0.00%) .

Not to be outdone, the Deutsche Boerse(DE: DB1 59.68, -1.67, -2.72%) said it was in talks to take a majority stake in NYSE Euronext Inc. (NYX 40.00, +0.55, +1.39%) .

The NYSE deal is more than a blow to our collective national pride. It reflects the stock exchange’s inability to modernize and capture the higher premium derivatives trading that has fueled growth at the German exchange and at smaller U.S. rivals, including CME Group Inc. (CME 302.55, -0.02, -0.01%) and CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE 27.84, +1.52, +5.78%) .

On the macro level, the deal reflects a turning of the tide in terms of financial might. Europe, especially Germany, is ascendant, while U.S. financial prowess is no longer the gold standard.

It’s not a stretch to see how the financial crisis set the stage for this deal. Battered U.S. companies lost trillions in value during the crisis. NYSE shares fell 50% since the start of 2008, while Deutsche Boerse shares held even.

The NYSE, without the muscle of a strong stock price, became an involuntary target, much like Anheuser-Busch succumbing to InBev’s (BUD 55.44, +0.46, +0.84%) overtures in 2008.

The end of homeownership for all

Two days later, the Treasury Department unveiled a white paper that aimed to tackle a lingering problem from that crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored entities that have absorbed $151 billion in taxpayer dollars, easily the lion’s share of losses from the $560 billion paid out in bailouts. (Banks have returned $235 billion.)

The Treasury has proposed winding down Fannie and Freddie and returning the business of home loans to banks and private investors, a process that could take several years.

Losing Fannie’s and Freddie’s appetite for mortgages will also change the loan market in two ways. First, it will make big banks even more essential to the financial system — in other words: bigger when it comes to too-big-to-fail. Second, mortgages will become more expensive and harder to come by for many borrowers. Read full story on proposed wind-down of GSEs.

The second part is a game-changer. Losing government support of the mortgage markets reverses a half-century of Washington policy that began with post-World War II efforts to make homeownership accessible.

Again, it’s the public paying for the sins of big finance.

Nothing new there, but the loss of an American financial icon and the promise of homeownership for almost everyone? That’s history, folks.

It’s true that the past three years have presented us a lot of history. But the end of U.S. supremacy in the financial world, as the NYSE deal codifies, and the Treasury’s admission in calling government support of the mortgage markets a failed experiment — those are two seismic events that will reshape how the world sees us and how we see ourselves.

American financial might is being supplanted by Europe and China. The coming American generations will lose the benefits their predecessors enjoyed.

It all happened this week when we kissed it auf wiedersehen.

I appreciate the Germans for taking the initiative to take over the NYSE so I can see less window-dressing, but I fear that the corruption might spread over to Germany, or even drain European funds to support the exchange.

Besides, consolidating stock exchanges isn't a good idea. Where else are traders going to trade when one collapses?

And it isn't just US-Germany...

SGX (Singapore), ASX (Australia) Reach Deal on Board Split in Merged Entity

Sorry, couldn't find this anywhere else other than the damn WSJ.

I can see that they are going to get bought up by China once they collapse.

On the science side of news :

South Korean "super gun" packs hi-tech killing power

Feb 14 - South Korea has developed an automated, turret-based weapon platform capable of locking onto a human target three kilometers away.

Skynet didn't come from US. It came from South Korea. And on Valentine's Day too.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

On the science side of news :

South Korean "super gun" packs hi-tech killing power



Skynet didn't come from US. It came from South Korea. And on Valentine's Day too.

But didn't others weapon like this were said to be potentialy against the Ottawa treaty ?

[MitsubishiZero]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

But didn't others weapon like this were said to be potentialy against the Ottawa treaty ?

Don't worry. They are the No. 1 in the Universe in every single thing possible, so there is no surprise they havea "super gun". It's also going to be fine since it is very possible it is going to end up behaving exactly like their K5 when they really fired it up.......

[Simon]

Silvio Berlusconi faces Ruby sex charge trial in April

Ruby being the young dancer he gave thousands of Euro to, just because he's a nice guy.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

South Korean "super gun" packs hi-tech killing power

There has to be a Zerg rush line in here somewhere.

[flying ^]

Arizona leads the way yet again

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHe...thPolicy/24885

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Skynet didn't come from US. It came from South Korea. And on Valentine's Day too.

Nah. These are the sentry guns from Aliens.

Really gives you a hint on how the South Koreans perceive the North Korean threat.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Simon

Silvio Berlusconi faces Ruby sex charge trial in April

Ruby being the young dancer he gave thousands of Euro to, just because he's a nice guy.



There has to be a Zerg rush line in here somewhere.

North Korean Invasion = Zerg Rush

[Ithekro]

So they have an Auto-Turret. Where are the Ravens to deploy them?