Ireland-Nama:Text of Letter from Richard Bruton TD to Brian Lenihan Minister for Finance August 25, 2009

August 25 2009
Dear Brian,
I am writing to you in response to your recent letter asking for comments and observations from Fine Gael on the draft NAMA Bill in order to facilitate a discussion at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service on August 31.Fine Gael Concerns about NAMAAs you are aware, Enda announced last Friday that Fine Gael does not support the Government's approach to resolving the banking crisis. Our concerns about the NAMA Bill arise from its potentially colossal cost, from its uncertain benefits and from the evident unfairness of asking taxpayers to take responsibility for the reckless behaviour of developers and banks. In particular, we are concerned at:

* The likelihood of over-payment by taxpayers to bank shareholders and bondholders for toxic bank assets of highly uncertain value. The distinction in the draft Bill between current "fire sale" market prices for bank assets and their underlying property collateral and their long-term economic value has some valid theoretical underpinnings, but in practice the latter is impossible to estimate. The banking and property crashes in other countries such as Japan should be a cautionary tale for those who believe that the price for certain types of property will inevitably recover from current market prices. Given the scale of this venture, over-payment could hobble the public finances for a decade;

* The doubtful impact of NAMA on the current lack of bank credit for businesses and households; and

* The wisdom and fairness of transferring responsibility to the taxpayer for the collection of troubled developer debts, and the terrible incentives this creates for repeated reckless behaviour by banks at some future date.
A Fine Gael Alternative

As you know, Fine Gael has, as far back as last April, offered a two-track alternative to NAMA that we believe addresses these problems.

Under Track 1, we propose to ensure improved credit availability for businesses by the establishment a wholesale "Good Bank", or National Recovery Bank, capitalised by the State and further leveraged by the ECB and funding markets using the "asset covered bond" model that is well-established in other EU countries.

In parallel, under Track 2, the banks would be given until the end of the Guarantee period in September 2010 to pass a rigorous "stress test" to show that they had repaired their own balance sheets by selling assets (such as foreign subsidiaries), raising more deposits and negotiating down their own liabilities to long-term providers of risk capital and funding.

In the event that the banks cannot pass such a Stress Test by the end of the Guarantee period, Fine Gael's proposal is to split each failed bank into two, leaving the assets with the most uncertain values (the developer loans) in legacy property management companies owned largely by the shareholders and other classes of risk investors.

Deposits, other short-term liabilities, easy-to-value loans like mortgages and business overdrafts, the branch networks and the vast majority of the staff would all move safely and seamlessly into a new, going concern "clean bank", initially owned and guaranteed by the taxpayer. These new "clean banks" would be well capitalised with a clean balance sheet and fully open to resume lending.

We are confident that this break-up procedure would never prove necessary for most of the banks, as they and their investors would have every incentive to avoid it. All the major banks have already announced plans to buy back debt from their bondholders at a discount in a way that generates capital to absorb future losses. These types of "debt buybacks" and debt-to-equity conversions would accelerate dramatically under our policy and at greatly discounted prices.

The advantage of this model over the current NAMA proposal is that the risks and responsibilities associated with working out distressed developer-related loans would remain with those professional bankers and investors that funded the loans and that are best placed to recover them. While the taxpayer may have to have some participation in the legacy property management companies, their losses will only be incurred after the private investors. Private investors would employ the best skills and judgement to recover as much of the money as possible, and there would be no public disquiet about a soft-touch approach for the well-connected developers.

I am, of course, aware of your oft-stated concerns regarding the implications of our proposal for financial stability. But it is international best practice for risk investors in the banks, including some classes of bond-holders, such as owners of subordinated debt, to absorb loan-related losses ahead of taxpayers. This, after all, is the nature of capitalism.Financial stability would also be maintained during this process by extending the Guarantee as necessary on debt roll-overs and all new funding coming into the banks until the sufficient recapitalisation has been achieved and confidence restored.

The Need for a Full Debate on Alternatives to NAMA.

It is disappointing that, given the enormity of the decisions we face over the coming months, that the Government has facilitated so little considered and objective evaluation of the benefits and weaknesses of the NAMA proposal vis--vis the alternatives. To justify its assertion that there is no workable alternative to NAMA, the Government to date has published nothing more than an 11-page summary of a report by Peter Bacon.

I would respectfully suggest that this has not been a formula for generating cross-party or widespread public support for any proposal to deal with the banking crisis. The draft NAMA Bill should now be delayed. In September, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service should hear testimony from international and domestic experts of the pros and cons of the NAMA proposal vis-a-vis the alternatives that have been presented by other Parties and experts.

Detailed Observations on NAMA.

As I hope you appreciate, Fine Gael's preferred approach to resolving the bank crisis is based not on a dogmatic attachment to a particular model, but rather on a set of core principles: protecting the taxpayer from huge, unmanageable risks; minimising and ensuring a fair distribution of the losses associated with reckless lending by the banks and reckless investments by developers; and improving financial stability and credit availability for struggling businesses and families.

Notwithstanding our deep concerns about the principles underlying the Government's proposed approach to resolving the banking crisis, I am nonetheless concerned to submit detailed observations on how the draft NAMA Bill might be radically overhauled in order to protect the taxpayer and the wider economy.

Below I set out nine specific issues on which I would welcome further detailed engagement by the Minister at the Oireachtas Committee with a view to agreeing amendments to the draft Bill on which I hope all Parties might agree.

1. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to protect the taxpayer from over-payment to the banks by NAMA by minimising political interference in the process and by establishing a fully independent appeals mechanism that could also hear appeals against high valuations by NAMA.The Government had claimed prior to the publication of the draft Bill that the valuation process would be immune from political influence. But the draft Bill gives the Minister very substantial influence on the "adjustment factors" that NAMA must take into account when estimating the "long term value" premium over current market prices. Valuations and payments by NAMA to the banks can be over-ruled and increased by the Minister, while there is no corollary provision for independent or Ministerial challenge for over-payment by NAMA for bank assets.

2. We want to explore how the NAMA Bill could be re-drafted to ensure that owners of risk capital (both equity and subordinated debt) fully share in the losses resulting in write-downs by NAMA.In particular, we want further clarity as to what status the stated Government policy of avoiding nationalisation of the banks plays in the valuation process. We also want to understand the mechanisms for ensuring losses are absorbed by owners of non-equity risk capital (subordinated debt) in the event that the write-downs by NAMA more than wipe out all the equity in the banks.

3. We want to explore how the NAMA Bill could be re-drafted to allow for risk-sharing between the taxpayer and risk investors in the banks in the future work-out of the bad loans, as has been recommended by the IMF. We do not accept that the bank levy promised by Government to recover NAMA losses is a credible mechanism for risk-sharing between taxpayers and investors.In this regard, we would welcome your views on Professor Patrick Honohan's recommendation that NAMA should pay the banks less than fair value for bad loans, but in return give owners of bank equity and subordinated debt an ownership share in NAMA with upside potential.

4. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to re-assure the taxpayer that the over-riding objective of NAMA is to maximise the returns to taxpayers on assets purchased by collecting as much of the debts owed as possible, and to put in place the necessary clarity of mandate, robust incentives to achieve this objective, and set benchmarks of comparison. It is not appropriate that this be left to unpublished guidelines.

Only last November, the IMF finished a study on banking and property busts in seven other countries where the NAMA approach was adopted, and concluded that "Government-owned asset management companies appear largely ineffective in resolving distressed assets, largely due to political and legal constraints."

In layman's terms, the IMF believes that state quangos are much less skilled than private bankers at recovering loans from well-connected borrowers. In France, a similar state-owned asset management company in the 1990s lost a total of EUR18 billion (including funding costs) out of EUR28 billion of assets purchased from Credit Lyonnais.

In this regard, a major weakness in the draft Bill is the absence of any principles to guide its relationship with the developers, such as the policy on foreclosures, bankruptcies, work-outs or any of the other hard-nosed aspects of asset management which must be present to protect taxpayers. For example, without explicit protections, there is a very real prospect that in a few years' time, these same individuals will pop up again to buy these assets at an enormous discount, only this time they will be backed by funding from the same banks whose liquidity problems are now being eased. This will not, in my view, be acceptable to the public.

It is not conducive to public confidence that this be left to unpublished, future guidelines to be drafted by the Minister. The "rules of engagement" between NAMA and developers in default of their loans must be clarified in advance.

5. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to deliver new innovative mechanisms for political oversight, transparency and accountability of this extraordinary agency. These would include giving the Oireachtas an oversight and approval role for the appointment of the directors and CEO, providing "whistle-blower" protections for insiders exposing mal-practice and ensuring detailed oversight and reporting to the Oireachtas by experts appointed by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of all key stages in the NAMA process, such as loan valuation and asset recovery.

6. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to require banks that participate in the Scheme to use a proportion of the extra ECB liquidity generated to support bank lending to SMEs and households. There is a danger than banks will use the extra ECB funding only to build up their cash reserves or to pay down other inter-bank or market liabilities.

7. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to deliver new supports for home-owners at risk of repossession, such as a Scottish-style equity purchase scheme by NAMA for householders facing repossession from mortgage lenders designed to bring their debts down to manageable levels (combined with some mortgage debt write-down by the banks).

8. We need further clarity on the method of payment for loans by NAMA, with particular regard to the coupon to be paid on NAMA bonds in short and long-term and other terms and conditions. We need greater clarity on the agreement with the ECB on NAMA bonds, including whether the ECB has committed to accepting NAMA bonds as collateral for liquidity operations over full duration of life of NAMA.

9. We want to explore how the Bill could be re-drafted to establish the principles under which NAMA will manage the property market (in which it will be a weak monopoly seller) in Ireland's long-term economic interests.I look forward to further engagement and debate on this most important issue for the country over the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Richard Bruton T.D.

Iran: Neda posters pulled down by state officials according to the Telegraph newspaper

Iranian security officials have begun pulling down posters of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman who has become the face of the country's pro-democracy uprising after her death in Tehran was captured on video.

Relatives said images of Neda Agha Soltan, 27, who has been described as Iran's "Angel of Freedom" after she was apparently shot dead on Saturday, had been targeted by plain-clothed officials.
They had removed any material commemorating the 27-year-old student that had been erected near her home by sympathisers in the Iranian capital. Read full story Here.

Iran (Kerman) Video:Mousavi Protestors offer flowers to police

Video: Letterman Slutty Flight Attendant insult to Sarah Palin

David Letterman said Gov. Sarah Palin bought makeup from Bloomingdale's to update her "slutty flight attendant" look

Apparition of Virgin Mary to Mirjana at Medjugorje on May 2 2009 (dark blue Cross)

Dear children! Already for a long time I am giving you my motherly heart and offering my Son to you. You are rejecting me. You are permitting sin to overcome you more and more. You are permitting it to master you and to take away your power of discernment. My poor children, look around you and look at the signs of the times. Do you think that you can do without God's blessing? Do not permit darkness to envelop you. From the depth of your heart cry out for my Son. His Name disperses even the greatest darkness. I will be with you, you just call me: 'Here we are Mother, lead us.' Thank you.

Video from Medjugorje: Apparition of Virgin Mary to Mirjana (April 2nd 2009)

Ireland: Video and Text of Enda Kenny keynote address to FG Ard-Fheis-4/4/09

Video requires RealPlayer-Download here

Embedded from RTE.IE

Keynote Address By Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny TD, Ard Fheis 2009.

I come here tonight to speak to you about the challenges facing the country and about my plan to get Ireland working again.

I want to speak to you about my optimism for our people, about my confidence in the advantages we have and about my belief that with courage, fairness and decisiveness, we can point the way ahead to a new future, a fairer Ireland and a truly just society.

This current crisis presents us with enormous challenges, but massive opportunities.

I believe that Ireland can recover fully from this recession inside five years.
This mission can only be achieved if we choose the right options, make the tough but correct decisions, and act decisively and act now.

We must act for the benefit of everybody in this country and not pander to any powerful vested interest. Be assured that under my leadership, Fine Gael will step up to the mark. We have the people, the ideas and the ambition. We will accept the responsibility of leading this country to a strong and prosperous future.

It's time for a new Fine Gael Government to take Ireland in a new direction.

Fianna Fáil could have, and should have, anticipated the economic crisis. While I recognise that global factors are partly to blame for the downturn, the reality is that mismanagement by our own Government has meant that Ireland is suffering much more than other countries.

Make no mistake about this - Fianna Fáil are responsible for the state of our domestic woes.

When our economy was strong, they squandered your money on wasteful projects, like e-voting machines, rather than investing in improving vital public services like schools and healthcare.

Thankfully, their days in Government are numbered.

Fine Gael's alternative involves radical reform to eliminate wasteful spending and reduce bureaucracy.

Let me be straight - no country has ever taxed its way back to recovery.

The problem with the public finances cannot be fixed by tax increases and crude spending cuts alone. As more and more people lose their jobs, the hole in the public finances gets bigger and bigger. The cornerstone of Fine Gael's plan for economic renewal is the creation and protection of jobs for our people.

That will be our number one priority in government.

As I travel around the country listening to people, the single greatest issue that concerns them and that causes real anxiety is the safety of their jobs, the possibility of losing a job and the need for a plan to move our country forward.

Losing a job doesn't bring just financial hardship. Our sense of identity, dignity, self-worth and independence is bound up in our work. It gives our lives a purpose, without which it is all too easy to slip into feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

The shock of losing all that has now registered on the faces of over 375,000 people in this small country. That's why Fine Gael has continuously pointed the way forward and why we have placed job protection and job creation at the heart of our recovery plans. This country has drifted aimlessly in the past few years from one crisis to another with no vision of where to go or what to do.
It was always too little, too late.

Fine Gael has set the agenda all along. We were right on benchmarking, we were right on the scrapping of the National Pay Deal, we were right on Bank recapitalisation and on the need for a new Budget.

And we're right to focus on jobs now.

I believe that we can meet the challenge ahead and revive our country by setting out clear targets and then achieving them with determination. These are our targets:
1. Create 100,000 new jobs by the end of 2013.

2. Return the public finances to health by 2012 - without increasing the standard and current top rates of income tax.

3. Deliver a radical plan for renewable energy - pumped storage, wind, wave and biomass, that will meet a quarter of our energy needs by 2015, and make us net exporters of energy within 10 years.

4. Transform our education system so that 9 out of 10 children complete secondary school by 2013 and two thirds go onto third level.

5. Restore Ireland to the top 5 most competitive countries in the world within 3 years.

These targets are all achievable if driven by a new Fine Gael Government with new ideas and the energy and the commitment to do the job.

Our young people now have to compete against their peers around the world.

That world will change utterly in the next 20 years as a consequence of further developments in robotics, nanotechnology, genetics, the internet and climate change. We have to be at the vanguard of that change and education is the key.

Our young people have many advantages. Our education system can be and should be the best in the world. We have proven to be world class in music, literature, the arts and sport. We have a unique capacity in language and research.
But to meet the future challenges, we need more.

We need free access to 3rd level Colleges.

Fine Gael will not deny any family the opportunity to send a son or daughter to college because of financial pressures.

The gates to dreams and potential will remain open. We will not support the reintroduction of 3rd level fees and will abolish the current registration fee system.

Instead, when they start to work and earn, graduates will make a fair contribution to the cost of their course over a 5 to 10 year period.

This will provide a new €500 million annual fund for which 3rd level Colleges will compete - based on the quality of the courses that they offer and the scale of their reform.

A country that does not provide excellence in education is a country that fails its future: Fine Gael will not allow this country to fail its future.

That future for many is stressful and uncertain. Last week I met a couple whose child has special needs. They have mortgaged their home twice. Nobody knows a child better than its mother. This is what the child's mother said to me:

'We've always paid our taxes, and yet we've had to fight the State every day of our child's life to get any kind of services. We've a personal overdraft for which we're being charged 20% interest by a bank being bailed out by our taxes. Do you understand how angry I am when I read of people receiving millions of Euro despite disgraceful behaviour within banks?'

Well I understand that anger. I meet people like that mother every week.

Victims of appalling and scandalous State neglect and banking greed.

That's why Fine Gael demands a radical shake-up of Irish banking that will see new people leading the banks and those responsible for outrageous abuses severely punished.

The message has to go out, both at home and abroad, that these practices will not be tolerated by the Irish people.

Fine Gael will extract and deal with the tainted remnants of irresponsible lending so that reformed, clean banks can start lending again to the small and medium Irish businesses that are so essential to the creation of jobs.

Last week, I met a small retailer in Kildare who, because she was refused a loan of just €3,000 for cashflow, is now forced to lay off staff. Countless other businesses are similarly starved of credit.

The banks must play their part in supporting employment because, if they don't, the economy will continue to decline.

That decline can only be reversed by job creation. This is why Fine Gael published our jobs plan - Rebuilding Ireland.

This plan, which will create 100,000 jobs within 4 years, will be an investment in the future and will be paid back in time.

Across the Country, these new initiatives driven by me as Taoiseach, will provide jobs for young people, engineers, scientists, farmers, business people - men and women - in a unique venture to put Ireland up there with the very best internationally.

The Fine Gael plan is not about jobs for the boys, but jobs for the people.

These plans are just the start. There are many other areas where jobs can be created.

I intend to establish a policy foundation to harness the flow of exciting ideas streaming into this party from people all over the world. We will capitalise on the infinite possibilities that stem from new technologies and clean bank investment for businesses across Europe.

To help stimulate new jobs, Fine Gael will abolish Employer's PRSI for every new job created.

Along with creating these new jobs, we must also work to retain existing jobs.

That's why last week we proposed reducing the lower rate of VAT to 10% - a move that will support labour intensive sectors like Tourism and Construction.

That's why we will slash the red tape and bureaucracy that is strangling Irish Business.

That's why we will force down Government controlled prices like energy and rates.

Then we can face the future, not with eyes of fear but with a focus on confidently achieving our goals.

Because we know we can do it.

These incentives however come at a price. Achieving national recovery requires difficult decisions on tax and spending.

That is why politicians must lead by example. Fine Gael has taken the lead in demanding political reform that will see an end to ministerial Pensions for serving TDs; a reduction in the number of Dail committees and the abolition of additional payments for Committee work.

One of my first acts as Taoiseach will be to reduce the number of Junior Ministers from 20 down to 12.

We don't need 20 Junior Ministers - and the Country can't afford them.

Equally the Country cannot afford the billions wasted in a Health System that was never reformed in any fundamental way. My message tonight is simple.

Despite the best efforts of nurses and doctors and all those working on the front-line, our health system is broken.

And this Government has no idea how to fix it.

The health service needs radical change. Fine Gael will deliver that change. We will deliver a health system that is concerned solely with people's medical needs, and not with the money in their pocket.

We will end the two-tier system.

We have devised a plan based on best practice in the Netherlands and Canada. It will eliminate trolleys in A&E, slash waiting lists and end the current health divide that denies fair treatment to the less well-off in our society.

Our goal is clear: To give Ireland a world-class health service where everyone is treated fairly, regardless of income, and where the patient is central to that service.

Fine Gael will make sure that the people of Ireland get the services that they pay for and deserve.

Whatever decisions have to be made next Tuesday in these difficult times, they must not destroy the spirit of communities and the voluntary care provided for
the voiceless, the defenceless, the aged and the intellectually challenged.

I see examples of this wonderful care every day, all over Ireland - 3 million hours of loving care provided every week by people who receive no thanks and little support from the State.

No bureaucrat sitting with a pen should destroy that generosity of spirit of Irish people.

No calculator can place a value on this. The government that has destroyed our economy cannot be allowed to destroy our humanity.

No Government led by me will allow it to happen and irrespective of
what else has to give, this will not.

Chuir sé isteach orm go mor gur dunmharu triur sa Tuaisceart le deanai. Ar mo mholadh fein, ghlac Dáil Eireann le rún comhbhron agus bhí tacaiocht o chuile pháirti i gcoinne an feall sin. Chuir an Dáil amach teachtaireacht laidir don Teach Bán, do mhuntir na hEorpa agus don domhain ar fad nach glacann munitir na hEireann, Tuaisceart agus Deisceart, leis an eacht ufasach sin. Caithfear deireadh a chur le seo laithreach. D'oibrigh an iomairce daoine ro dian and ro fhada chun go ligfear go dtosnodh an troid sin arís. Leanfaimid ar aghaidh le siochain seasamach as seo amach.

It was out of the need for peace that the European Union was born.

Europe has been vital to Ireland's development as a respected and influential member of the international community.

I want a reformed, effective, and democratic Europe to be a key driver of economic recovery and future prosperity. This Europe must be given the architecture to serve a population of 500m people.

That's why Fine Gael has and will continue to support the reforms in the Lisbon Treaty and we will lead the campaign for its approval by the Irish people later in the year.

In the meantime, the people will vote June 5th to elect Ireland's members of the European Parliament. It is more important than ever that we elect strong and effective MEPs. Fine Gael's membership of the largest political family, the European People's Party, gives our MEPs a unique place of influence when the important decisions are taken.

That's why I urge people to vote for Gay Mitchell in Dublin; for Colm Burke and Sean Kelly in the South; for Mairead McGuinness and John Paul Phelan in the East and for Jim Higgins and Joe O'Reilly in the North West. In doing so, you will be choosing Ireland's strongest voices in Europe.

No other nation has ever been as willing to sacrifice for a better future than the Irish. We moved from being navvies to being nation builders. We benefited from thousands of mothers and fathers who scrimped and saved so that their children could continue to build our country.

I make no pretence and no promise that we can instantly fix the problems we inherit.

But I do promise that we will free the potential that, at the start of the last century, enabled our people to come through oppression and recession to build a great democracy.

"Let the people know the truth and the country is safe" said Lincoln. Well, I will tell them the truth. The Country will be safe.

We will revive the excitement and sense of possibility that allowed our people, in the 1980s, to come through the hardest of times to build an economy which was the envy of the world.

As the proud father of three young children my priority is securing the future of all of our children.

But to achieve this, we need courageous, confident, clear leadership from a Fine Gael Government that truly cares.

Fianna Fail have lost the capacity to lead, and more importantly, they have lost touch with the people and the people have lost trust in them. And they know it.

When I took on the leadership of Fine Gael, the scale of the challenge was huge. Many said that the situation was hopeless, but I've worked hard, built solid foundations, picked a strong team and encouraged their creativity so that we could recover and grow. And we have.

Now I want to do the same for Ireland.

Fine Gael is the party with the team, the energy and the ideas to get the Irish people back to work. And we are the only party that guarantees the political change this country so desperately needs.

Last year, across the Atlantic Ocean, a young man began to live and achieve his dreams for his country.

The simplicity of his slogan 'Yes we can', captured the imagination of the world.

Let nobody doubt my resolve as Leader of this great Party to achieve my ambition for our country. A fair and just society, a strong and healthy economy and a rewarding and peaceful future for all.

My call to the Irish people is different. It's not just 'Yes we can', but 'Yes we will'.

US Senate Defeats Pro-Life Amendment to Restore Mexico City Policy on Abortion

Senate Vote on Pro-Life Martinez Amendment on Mexico City Policy
(Yea is a pro-life vote and Nay is a pro-abortion vote)

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Yea	Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Nay	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Yea	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Nay	Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Nay	Udall (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Nay	Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Nay	Kaufman (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Martinez (R-FL), Yea	Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Not Voting	Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Nay	Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Yea	Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:	Burris (D-IL), Nay	Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Yea	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Yea	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay	Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Nay	Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting	Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Yea	Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Yea	McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Yea	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay	Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Udall (D-NM), Nay
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Yea	Hagan (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Nay	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Yea	Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Nay	Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Nay	Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Nay	Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Yea	Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Nay	Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Yea	Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Yea	Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Nay	Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Nay	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Nay	Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Nay	Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Yea	Enzi (R-WY), Yea

(Source:LIFENEWS.COM)

2009 Dakar Rally crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Argentina and Chile and avoids terror threat

The Dakar Rally has been one of the highlights of the January Sports Calendar for almost thirty years. It was the brainchild of Thierry Sabine who got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally.The Paris to Dakar Rally is open to amateurs and professionals, men and women.The three major competitive groups in the Dakar are the bike class, the car class, which ranges from buggies to small SUVs, and the T4 truck class.

Thierry Sabine's saw his plans come to fruition on 26 December 1978, as 182 vehicles turned up in the Place du Trocadéro (Paris) for a 10,000-kilometre journey to Dakar (Senegal).

Each year the rally travelled through Spain crossed the Mediterranean to North Africa and took in large sections of the Sahara Desert in countries such as Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal. From time to time the route changed and it has also taken in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Burkina-Faso.

Unfortunately in 2008 the rally was cancelled because of terrorist threats emanating from organizations operating in Mauritania and Mali- believed to be linked to Al Qaeda.

To combat the terrorist threats the organizers -in a stroke of genius-have decided to move the rally across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. It will take in stages in Argentina and Chile. Africa's loss is South America's gain. Eighty TV channels in 189 countries will relay news of the race. The first stage commences on 03/01/09 in Buenos Aires.

From the Dakar homepage:

An extreme adventure between two oceans
The Dakar 2009 is off to discover a new continent, South America that offers unlimited possibilities to amateurs of wide open spaces. The round trip to Buenos Aires, via Valparaiso is a challenge in which the most enduring competitors will find their way and have the opportunity to distinguish themselves. With close to 6,000 kilometres of specials and difficulties scattered on the whole course, the battle for the title will remain wide open until the finish.

Somali fighters threaten to impose Islamic rule on the US,Russia and Japan

Al Jazeera carries a blood curdling threat from Somali Islamic fighters to carry the fight to the US,Russia and Japan and to impose Islamic rule on these countries once they have defeated their enemies in Somalia. This threat from Al-Shabab must be a cause of grave concern not alone to Western intelligence services but also to Russsia which has got 20 million Moslems living within its boundaries. The US has designated al-Shabab as a foreign terrorist organization. It is believed to have close links to al Qaeda. A number of senior officials in this group have trained with al Qaeda.

An armed group battling Ethiopian forces in Somalia has told Al Jazeera it will take its fight beyond the country once it defeats its rivals....In Marka, just 90km from the capital Mogadishu, Ibrahim Almaqdis, one of the fighters, told Al Jazeera: "We wish to tell Bush and our opponents our real intentions.

"We will establish Islamic rule from Alaska and Chile to South Africa, Japan, Russia, the Solomon Islands and all the way to Iceland, be warned, we are coming."Abu Mansoor said that al-Shabab's ranks had been bolstered by foreign fighters and urged others to join, saying that a core principle of the group was that all Muslims are citizens of Somalia."Many have already died fighting our cause and many others are here with us," he said.
"We shall welcome any Muslim from any part of the world who wants to join us. We will allow him to wed our daughters and share our farms.........."

Ex Spanish Socialist Senator converts to Catholicism and calls for end to Abortion

CNA reports:

During the “Catholics and Public Life” congress in Spain this week, former senator Mercedes Aroz, who a year ago announced her conversion to the Catholic faith and departure from the Socialist Party of Catalonia, called for the abolition of abortion in Spain to bring about true progress in the advancement of human rights.

Abortion in Spain has reached pandemic levels. Almost 1.2 million abortions have taken place in Spain since the practice was legalized in 1985.
Hopefully more Spanish Socialist politicians will now follow Mercedes Aroz’s example and work to end this scourge.

NATO Spy Charged With Passing US Missile Defense Secrets to Russia

Herman Simm, 61, an Estonian defense ministry official who was arrested in September, was responsible for handling all of his country's classified information at NATO, giving him access to every top-secret graded document from other alliance countries. There appears to have been a catastrophic breach of security. Clear-cut evidence here that the Russian intelligence services are as active and effective now as they were in Cold War times.

Melee - Built To Last (With Lyrics)

Recently discovered on Virgin 105.8 the group Melee with this very catchy song Built to Last.To say that I was blown away is an under statement.

Melee is a pop-rock quartet from Orange County, California."Built To Last" is the second single from the band's second full-length album, Devils and Angels released on Jan 16, 2007. The song reached number one on the J-Wave radio station chart, in Japan. The group brought out its first album Everyday Behavior on June 29th 2004. They are supporters of Los Angeles Angels.

According to Melee's official site the group was influenced "by the song writing classicism of piano men Elton John, Coldplay's Chris Martin, and neo-soul star John Legend". Melee talk here about following their dream of being musicians and with the band's latest release 'Devils & Angels' it's starting to pay off. Tour dates are here.

Ireland- A net contributor to EU?

There has been criticism of Ireland's decision to reject the Lisbon Treaty especially in France and Germany. Much of this is patronising and insulting. It is accompanied by references to Ireland’s alleged ingratitude to the EU. Undoubtedly Ireland has much to be grateful for-especially the access to huge EU markets and financial transfers which aided the development of infrastructure et al.

However there are also transfers from Ireland to the EU.
Ireland, controls 16% of EU waters, yet has only 4% of the EU fish quota. Some Irish fishing sources estimate that EU countries have taken €120 billion worth of fish since Irish membership in 1973. A conservative estimate is €50 billion to €60 billion. Many species of fish such as cod are on the verge of extinction in Irish waters thanks to over fishing by foreign trawlers.
It is not unlikely that Ireland is a net contributor to the EU. Time for answers from our politicians.