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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (26815)	3/5/2010 11:28:18 AM
From: Cage Rattler	5 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 103300

Rules for Obama Bingo 1. Before Barrack Obama's next televised speech, prepare your "Bullshit Bingo" card by drawing a square. I find that 5" x 5" is a good size -- and dividing it into columns --five across and five down. That will give you 25 1-inch blocks. 2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block: . Restored our reputation . Strategic fit . Let me be clear . Make no mistake . Back from the brink . Signs of recovery . Out of the loop . Benchmark . Job creation . Fiscal restraint . Win-win . Affordable health care . Previous Administration . Greed on Wall Street . At the end of the day . Empower (or empowerment) . Touch base . Mindset . Corporate greed . Ballpark . Game plan . Leverage . Inherited as in "I inherited this mess" . Relief for working families (alternate - "unprecedented") 3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases. 4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!" Testimonials from past satisfied "Bullshit Bingo" players: "I had been listening to the speech for only five minutes when I won." - Jack W., Boston "My attention span during speeches has improved dramatically." - David D., Florida "What a gas! Speeches will never be the same for me after my first win." - Bill R., New York City "The atmosphere was tense in the last speech as 14 of us waited for the fifth box." - Ben G., Denver "The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed "BULLSHIT!" for the third time in two hours." - Harry A, Chantilly

To: Wayners who wrote (26815)	3/6/2010 2:06:15 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 103300

It's a mostly free country.... <g>

To: Wayners who wrote (26815)	3/6/2010 2:58:45 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Icelanders Set to Reject Depositor Bill in Referendum (Update2) March 06, 2010, 7:56 AM EST Bloomberg businessweek.com (Adds electorate in second paragraph.) By Omar R. Valdimarsson March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Icelanders are voting in a referendum on a bill that would saddle each citizen with $16,400 of debt. Polls show they will reject the measure in protest at U.K. and Dutch demands that they cover losses triggered by the failure of a private bank. The bill obliges the island to take on $5.3 billion, or 45 percent of last year’s economic output, in loans from the U.K. and the Netherlands to compensate the two countries for depositor losses stemming from the collapse of Landsbanki Islands hf more than a year ago. A March 1 poll showed 74 percent of the electorate of 230,014 people will reject the bill. “Ordinary people, farmers and fishermen, taxpayers, doctors, nurses, teachers, are being asked to shoulder through their taxes a burden that was created by irresponsible greedy bankers,” said President Olafur R. Grimsson, whose rejection of the bill resulted in the plebiscite, in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. Failure to reach an agreement on the so-called Icesave bill has left Iceland’s International Monetary Fund-led loan in limbo and prompted Fitch Ratings to cut its credit grade to junk. Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have signaled they may follow suit if no settlement is reached. Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who in a March 4 interview called the referendum “pointless,” said she won’t cast a ballot today. Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson has also said he sees no point in voting. Polling ends at 10 p.m. and first results will be available shortly after with a final count to be published early tomorrow. ‘Obsolete’ Political leaders have already moved on and are trying to negotiate a new deal with the U.K. and the Dutch, making the bill in today’s vote “obsolete,” Sigurdardottir said. “This referendum is very peculiar and without any parallel in Iceland’s history,” said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a professor of political science at the University of Iceland, in an interview. The Icesave deal being voted on today passed through parliament with a 33 to 30 vote majority. Grimsson blocked it after receiving a petition from a quarter of the population urging him to do so. The government has said it’s determined any new deal must have broader political backing to avoid meeting a similar fate. Even so, signs of disunity across the political divide have emerged, prompting concerns that the government may be forging ahead without the backing of opposition parties. “It’s extremely important that we try in full to complete the negotiations in harmony with the opposition,” Sigurdardottir said. “If that’s not possible, we will have to try to resolve this by ourselves.” Outrage Icelanders will use the referendum to express their outrage at being asked to take on the obligations of bankers who allowed the island’s financial system to create a debt burden more than 10 times the size of the economy. The nation’s three biggest banks, which were placed under state control in October 2008, had enjoyed a decade of market freedoms following the government’s privatizations through the end of the 1990s and the beginning of this decade. Protesters have gathered every week, with regular numbers swelling to about 2,000, according to police estimates. The last time the island saw demonstrations on a similar scale was before the government of former Prime Minister Geir Haarde was toppled. Icelanders have thrown red paint over house facades and cars of key employees at the failed banks, Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki and Glitnir Bank hf, to vent their anger. The government has appointed a special commission to investigate financial malpractice and has identified more than 20 cases that will result in prosecution. Economic Impact The island’s economy shrank an annual 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the statistics office said yesterday, and contracted 6.5 percent in 2009 as a whole. Household debt with major credit institutions has doubled in the past five years and reached about 1.8 trillion kronur ($14 billion) in 2009, compared with the island’s $12 billion gross domestic product, according to the central bank. Icelanders, the world’s fifth-richest per capita as recently as 2007, ended 2009 18 percent poorer and will see their disposable incomes decline a further 10 percent this year, the central bank estimates. Grimsson, who has described his decision to put the depositor bill to a referendum as the “pinnacle of democracy,” says he’s not concerned about the economic fallout of his decision. “The referendum has drawn back the curtain and people see on the stage the matter in a new perspective,” he said in an interview. “That has strengthened our position and our cause.” --With assistance from Ryan Chilcote in Reykjavik. Editors: Tasneem Brogger, Chris Kirkham. To contact the reporter on this story: Omar Valdimarsson in London at valdimarsson@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Kirkham at ckirkham@bloomberg.net.