Ran Jak Diary

Crisis blamed for surge in US teen runaways

Recession drives surge in youth runaways.  NY Times.

America's new slavery

The growing thousands of victims of involuntary servitude in the US are likely doomed to remain in slavery the rest of their lives.  Check out Max Keiser in the Huffington Post.

Biden and Saakashvili

There they were again today, Biden and Saakashvili, the scariest wacko duo of our times, promising the moon and the stars to Georgia, even if they threaten international stability in the process.

US rightist tries provoking Russia

You would think the US declared war against Russia, frrom the vicious commentary by America's former UN ambassador ambassador John Bolton that appears in the Washington Post. His most bellicose claims are alarming and false. Read it and see for yourself.

US agents can take your laptop

They call it freedom. US federal agents may now take your laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without even the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies disclosed by Department of Homeland Security.
Agents are allowed to share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and even private companies for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, the policies now state.

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Vindication

Zimbabwe witnessed history as Robert Mugabe and his political opponent Morton Tsvangirai signed a memorandum setting the rules for negotiations that will decide their country's future. South African president Thabo Mbeki arranged the meeting and hammered out the memorandum. The signing ceremony in Harare is vindication of Mbeki's quiet diplomacy, which came under vicious attack from the UK and US.

Praise for Mbeki is coming from all sides in southern Africa. The Times of South Africa, a long time Mbeki critic, declared it was time to give the president his due for pulling off a "minor miracle" through persistence. "There is, for the first time in more than a decade, hope that Zimbabwe will move forward," the newspaper stated in an editorial.

A long recession, and a major US bank fails

The US economy is sinking deeper toward a long recession. And, there has been a run on one of its largest mortgage banks.

The Economy. Here is what CNBC.com is reporting.

Piles of high-risk debt offset by comparatively little capital led the two mortgage giants into their current capital issues. The same situation is being played out in countless banks across the country, where billions of dollars in mortgage holdings are rapidly losing their value as housing prices plummet and foreclosures accelerate. The sum total of the damage: a recessionary environment that may not seem as deep as other economic downturns, but which could last longer as banks work their way through the myriad problems caused by a lack of liquidity.

Consumer, banks, investors, Corporate America-everyone is going to feel pain from the depths of their debt and their efforts to get out from under it."The debt crisis that we've got here is significant," said Sebastian Leburn, chief investment officer at Weiss Capital Management in Del Ray Beach, Fla. "It's going to be rippling through the economy for a few years. It's probably going to keep interest rates below where they should be for a considerable period of time."

Run on a major bank. This quote is from the Wall Street Journal.

IndyMac Bank, a prolific mortgage specialist that helped fuel the housing boom, was seized Friday by federal regulators, in the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. IndyMac is the biggest mortgage lender to go under since a fall in housing prices and surge in defaults began rippling through the economy last year -- and it likely won't be the last. Banking regulators are bracing for a slew of failures over the next year as analysts say housing prices have yet to bottom out.

Bush flops at toppling Mbeki

Bush has lost his bid to get African leaders to turn against South African president Thabo Mbeki. The US choice to succeed Mbeki as Africa's top diplomat has now stunned Washington by praising Mbeki's efforts to bring the Zimbabwe crisis to a peaceful end. Tanzania's president Kikwete said Mbeki "has done a sterling job" and is "well placed with Zimbabwe."

Now they can spy on you legally

There are dramatically fewer differences in how Europeans and Americans are being ruled now compared to even a few short years ago. "Ruled," not "governed." Governing implies that citizens give their active consent to new proposed laws that will impact their lives. These days, citizens are not even given much, if any, advance information about legislation eliminating their right to live their lives without being spied on or have their mail read or their phone calls recorded by the State. This is major stuff, and it is now law in the US and UK, and is about to become law in Europe.

Mystery of the US flag

It's not likely that people outside the US will really understand the role of the country's flag, yet no one can comprehend the Strange Case of the United States of America without making sense of the Mysteries of the Flag.

Some Americans pray to the flag. In fact, a divine nature - a godlike rank - is probably given to the flag by a high percentage of those Americans who use the word patriot or patriotic a lot in "normal" conversation. Feel free to snicker or laugh out loud if you wish, but Americans' attitude toward their national flag could indeed remind us of a strange and secret cult.

In case the flag's importance be doubted, know that nearly every kid in the US grew up in schools where the day begins as follows . . .

Everyone stands and places the right hand over the heart. They recite: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
 

EU to give US access to wide array of data on Europeans

When Europeans find out what the EU is doing to them now, the Irish won't be alone in giving a firm "no" to the bureaucrats in Brussels. The New York Times reports that the US and European Union "are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean." The pact would make clear that it is lawful for European governments and companies to transfer personal information to the US and vice versa.

Bush, EU leaders closer to war against Iran

Mouths are agape all across Europe following approval by the EU of still tougher Bush policies against Iran. Opposition leaders are doubtlessly making careful notes as Bush again ratches his alliance closer to war. Those who nodded their approval to the US president's plans include leaders who could easily be out of a job if their voters notice what they've done. After a day in Slovenia, Bush flew on to Germany, where Merkel feted him to an outdoor grill party. Considering that the Bush arguments against Iran include quotes from Iraian leaders that the Americans call war-like, it is very odd that Bush and other praised an Israeli leader who says war against Iran is becoming inevitable.

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