Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Vetting - Holder 1995: We Must 'Brainwash' People on Guns
Breitbart has uncovered video from 1995 of then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder announcing a public campaign to "really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."Holder was addressing the Woman's National Democratic Club. In his remarks, broadcast by CSPAN 2, he explained that he intended to use anti-smoking campaigns as his model to "change the hearts and minds of people in Washington, DC" about guns.
"What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that's not cool, that it's not acceptable, it's not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we changed our attitudes about cigarettes."
Holder added that he had asked advertising agencies in the nation's capital to assist by making anti-gun ads rather than commercials "that make me buy things that I don't really need." He had also approached local newspapers and television stations, he said, asking them to devote prime space and time, respectively, to his anti-gun campaign.
Local political leaders and celebrities, Holder said, including Mayor Marion Barry and Jesse Jackson, had been asked to help. In addition, he reported, he had asked the local school board to make the anti-gun message a part of "every day, every school, and every level." Read More
What do the 41 defectors face upon their return to North Korea?
A group of 41 North Korean refugees who had been arrested in and around Shenyang last month and then temporarily held in Chinese detention facilities became the latest such people to be repatriated last week. Their repatriation took place amidst concerns about the severity of the punishments likely to be meted out by the North Korean authorities.The level of punishment varies depending on whether an individual is heading for South Korea or simply to China. Those who are presumed to be leaving North Korea for their own survival are sent to labor-training or re-education camps. However, those who appear to be aiming for South Korea are more likely to end up in political prison camps. Some, though not many, face death.
According to defectors, the local National Security Agency categorizes new arrivals accordance to their purpose of defection, and what activities they conducted while in China. There are four categories.
The first category is for persons who are adjudged to have had direct contact with a South Korean agent (from the National Intelligence Service or Defense Security Command). They are defined as spies and executed, and their immediate family members are sent to one of the NSA-run political prison camps. Those who are not immediate family members (son-in-law, daughter-in-law etc) are required to divorce in order to leave the family, and are then exempted from the same punishment. Read More
Housing bubble a danger to Canadian Economy
Overvalued housing markets in several Canadian cities and high household debt poses a "clear and present danger" to Canada’s economy, TD Bank warned in a report Friday.The study by the bank’s chief economist, Craig Alexander, proposes the government introduce measures to keep personal debt levels from rising further.
The report flags Vancouver as the market with the greatest risk of a housing price correction, because of an influx of foreign buyers, likely in the order of 10 to 15 per cent.
Toronto could also see a drop in prices because of overbuilding in the condo market, which raises questions about the ability of the market to absorb the new listings or find renters for all of the investment properties.
And all cities are at risk, Alexander says, when interest rates eventually rise from their present "exceedingly" low levels.
Household debt growth over the past decade has been fuelled not as much by credit card borrowing, he said, but largely by loans secured by real estate, in particular home equity lines of credit. Read More
The rise and fall of China's Bo Xilai
Beijing (CNN) -- "Those who win become emperors, those who lose become bandits."This old Chinese adage may be an apt subtitle to the political drama that has been playing in China in recent months.
It climaxed this week when Bo Xilai, a popular and polarizing politician, was dismissed as Communist Party chief of Chongqing, the biggest metropolis in China.
Bo's dismissal is the most sensational political scandal to hit the Chinese Communist Party in recent years.
China axes Bo Xilai from Chongqing after scandal.
As a son of a revolutionary veteran and an official with a solid, albeit controversial record, Bo was considered a strong contender for promotion into the Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, whose nine members decide how to run China.
In autumn this year, the Communist Party Congress will convene in Beijing to confirm sweeping changes in this 1.37 billion-strong nation. Read More
Norovirus as big a risk to Olympics as terrorism
An outbreak of flu or vomiting bug is as big a risk to the Olympics as a terror attack, a Government security assessment has warned. Health chiefs fear the fact hundreds of thousands of people from around the world will all be in one place this summer would increase the likelihood of contagious bugs or even new strains spreading.
Monitoring systems will be expanded in the run up to and during the Games to ensure any virus is picked up on early.
Security experts also have great faith in the British weather after warning the greatest climatic threat to visitors will be suffering from a heatwave.
The warnings are included in a Home Office risk assessment which puts “natural events” alongside terrorism, organised crime, extremism and public disorder as the main threats.
Under human diseases, it warns: “The likelihood of a new, or newly recognised, infectious disease spreading to the UK is low but, with large numbers of visitors entering the UK at that time, we will need to be alert to these and to the more likely, but less serious, risk of a food borne illness or gastroenterinal outbreak such as norovirus.” Read More
