BH
Pakistan police academy attacked:
Unidentified assailants have attacked a police training academy near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least eight officers and injuring several others, police say.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the attack was still underway on Monday.
A security official said dozens of police officers were preparing for the training when attackers opened fire on them.
The attackers also hurled grenades at the police officers.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/03/200933033648186784.html
This is probably staged by groups from the tribal regions, which by the way are being supplied and trained by the US. Strange that suddenly pakistan would begin to fall into turmoil just as we focus on afgahanistan.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Just to clear things up
BH
due to perhaps some confusion, I amd going to be going to yeshiva in may (G-d willing) and will be there up to a year. just wanted to put that out there.
due to perhaps some confusion, I amd going to be going to yeshiva in may (G-d willing) and will be there up to a year. just wanted to put that out there.
just to add
BH
So someone was talking about how disney cartoons were really subliminal, and sometimes creepy? well how about this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC43lpARDk0
So someone was talking about how disney cartoons were really subliminal, and sometimes creepy? well how about this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC43lpARDk0
Saturday, March 28, 2009
verdict
BH
I have decided that I am going. maybe for only 9 months instead of a year (maybe) but I am going to go and get my peice of paper :) I still have to throw this by 3 individuals but I am set. Cannot wait to finally be there!:)
I have decided that I am going. maybe for only 9 months instead of a year (maybe) but I am going to go and get my peice of paper :) I still have to throw this by 3 individuals but I am set. Cannot wait to finally be there!:)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Alot is going on.
BH
Well, as perusual of any monumentally good event or decision in my life, there are always hangups. As of now I am being forced to decide on one of two choices/ or a down the middle path that only works under one circumstance. choice 1 is go to yeshiva now for a year, get a piece of paper Ive worked for for a long time now and perhaps a beginning to something amazing! but with that I will lose any financial support from my family (as well as emotional support) thusly causing me to be unable to finish my BA or pay for yeshiva making me unable to continue in any direction without serious debt, and the inability to get a good job. so probably i would have to get student loans to finish my BA and move back where i am now to complete it. I would also be broke once i left yeshiva.
Or I wait for another year, and finish my BA, another awful, painful, year. and afterward my family promised to fund yeshiva, as well as graduate school. I would also have time to save alot of money and with my BA I could start teaching High school if I really needed money in between yeshiva and grad school. Also after yeshiva i could move to anywhere (literally) we wanted. But if i wait another year it would appear like I was backing out and inspire alot of doubt in my sincerity. as well as make life miserable because it would mean another year before I could really be happy.
I know that the second one sounds better than the first. but, though my family has threatened me that they will not support me if i go now and not later, this does not mean that its true, more than likely it is just a tactic that they believe will prevent me from going. also I can get a job doing almost anything, construction, cleaning, office work, butchering. you name it and I have probably done it (I've had alot of weird jobs). so making money is not a big problem. and worst comes to worst I have no debt as of right now so taking on some would not be the end of the world.
So which is better? Is it better to go with uncertainty and instability and possibly having to spend a few years building back up, as well as being shirked by my family? Or going with stability and certainty, but losing my credibility and sincerity in the eyes of a group very important people. as well as put even more time in between when I can finally be really happy. but having the future set up for me? also is it better to go to yeshiva for a year and have to move back somewhere for another year there there is no frum community. or better to go to yeshiva as long as i want and move directly to any community after that?
This is an unfair question because there is a huge third variable which i can't really divulge that might change the answer, but Ill look to that. anyway this is my predicament. and why this week has not been so good.
Here's to a good decision and a better day!
Well, as perusual of any monumentally good event or decision in my life, there are always hangups. As of now I am being forced to decide on one of two choices/ or a down the middle path that only works under one circumstance. choice 1 is go to yeshiva now for a year, get a piece of paper Ive worked for for a long time now and perhaps a beginning to something amazing! but with that I will lose any financial support from my family (as well as emotional support) thusly causing me to be unable to finish my BA or pay for yeshiva making me unable to continue in any direction without serious debt, and the inability to get a good job. so probably i would have to get student loans to finish my BA and move back where i am now to complete it. I would also be broke once i left yeshiva.
Or I wait for another year, and finish my BA, another awful, painful, year. and afterward my family promised to fund yeshiva, as well as graduate school. I would also have time to save alot of money and with my BA I could start teaching High school if I really needed money in between yeshiva and grad school. Also after yeshiva i could move to anywhere (literally) we wanted. But if i wait another year it would appear like I was backing out and inspire alot of doubt in my sincerity. as well as make life miserable because it would mean another year before I could really be happy.
I know that the second one sounds better than the first. but, though my family has threatened me that they will not support me if i go now and not later, this does not mean that its true, more than likely it is just a tactic that they believe will prevent me from going. also I can get a job doing almost anything, construction, cleaning, office work, butchering. you name it and I have probably done it (I've had alot of weird jobs). so making money is not a big problem. and worst comes to worst I have no debt as of right now so taking on some would not be the end of the world.
So which is better? Is it better to go with uncertainty and instability and possibly having to spend a few years building back up, as well as being shirked by my family? Or going with stability and certainty, but losing my credibility and sincerity in the eyes of a group very important people. as well as put even more time in between when I can finally be really happy. but having the future set up for me? also is it better to go to yeshiva for a year and have to move back somewhere for another year there there is no frum community. or better to go to yeshiva as long as i want and move directly to any community after that?
This is an unfair question because there is a huge third variable which i can't really divulge that might change the answer, but Ill look to that. anyway this is my predicament. and why this week has not been so good.
Here's to a good decision and a better day!
Monday, March 23, 2009
WOOOOOO!
BH
Good news! I should be in yeshiva around the 15th or 20th of may! hooray! I also came across some pictures of my dad flying on the internet. I think this is from the early ninties during a demo he was doing after the war.
Good news! I should be in yeshiva around the 15th or 20th of may! hooray! I also came across some pictures of my dad flying on the internet. I think this is from the early ninties during a demo he was doing after the war.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
AIG
BH
US vows to recover AIG money
AIG has taken $173bn in bailout money and made a $61.7bn loss for the fourth quarter last year [EPA]
Amid mounting anger over bailed-out American International Group's move to give its employees $165m in bonuses, the Obama administration has pledged to force the insurance company to pay the money back.
Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, said on Tuesday that AIG would have to promise to reimburse taxpayers as a condition for receiving a further $30bn of bailout money from the government.
"We will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the treasury from the operations of the company the amount of the retention awards just paid," Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders.
The AIG bonuses have ignited outrage on Capitol Hill, prompting Barack Obama, the US president, to order another look at legal means of recovering the money after government officials had agreed with AIG that it was contractually obligated to pay the bonuses.
Congressional hearing
AIG's government appointed chief executive, Edward Liddy, is expected to be grilled when he goes before a congressional hearing on Wednesday over the bonuses and Sunday's disclosure that $90bn of the bailout money had been paid to other financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and several European banks.
Rosiland Jordan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington DC, said: "He will get a roasting at this hearing.
AIG bonus row
AIG has been kept afloat with more than $170bn of taxpayers money since September.
The US federal govermment now owns over 80% of the insurance company.
The current row is over $165m worth of bonus payments made to 418 executives.
AIG says it is a legal obligation to honour contracts drawn up before the government bailout.
But the so-called "retention bonuses" include over $33m for 52 people who have left the company.
"Even though he was called in by the previous [Bush] administration to try to manage AIG's affairs and manage their derivatives - bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy - he still went ahead with these bonuses."
Geithner said the treasury was working with the justice department to determine whether provisions of a recently passed economic stimulus bill covering compensation for bailout recipients might be used to get back the bonuses.
"Our review will determine whether we can recoup these bonuses" under that authority, Geithner said.
But he acknowledged the stimulus law would only pave the way for negotiations with the company and the treasury was moving ahead with other steps to ensure repayment.
"We ... want to ensure that taxpayers are compensated for any monies we cannot recover," Geithner said in his letter.
New laws proposed
Angry US legislators scrambled to devise new laws to stop bailed-out firms from giving staff massive bonuses on Tuesday, with Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives speaker, saying that legislation could come up within days.
The legislators proposed various options to try to recoup the money, including a 70 per cent tax on bonuses paid to executives at companies that received taxpayer bailout money.
AIG, whose murky and complex financial dealings have contributed to the global financial meltdown, is the largest recipient of the government bailout with $173bn so far.
The company that made a $61.7bn loss for the fourth quarter of last year said it risked being sued if it did not pay the bonuses to staff of AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.
Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney-general, said 73 of those employees got bonuses of at least $1m.
Urged to return money
Legislators called for those who received bonuses at AIG to voluntarily give up the money.
"Let the recipients of these large and unseemly bonuses be warned: if you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you"
Charles Schumer, Democratic senator
But they also threatened other measures such as using the government's new majority shareholder position – some 80 per cent - to sue the company to recoup the money or authorising the US attorney-general to recover excessive compensation payments.
"Let the recipients of these large and unseemly bonuses be warned: if you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you," Charles Schumer, a Democratic senator, said.
Criticised by Republicans for not doing enough, the White House said on Tuesday it was considering ways to retrieve the money, "whether it's changing the tax code or whatever ideas" that are being raised in congress.
"The president finds it outrageous and offensive that any of these bonuses exist," Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said.
On Monday, Obama had said it was "hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165m in extra pay".
"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"
Pressure on Obama
Jane Hamsher, a blogger and political commentator, told Al Jazeera that "Obama has been largely immune" to political fallout from the AIG situation so far and that it had largely been absorbed by Geithner.
"Obama is going to be in a situation very soon, where some of the stories Geithner has been telling are going to be a little suspect and he's going to have to either stick by his man or incur some of the damage"
Jane Hamsher,
political commentator
"But going forward, Geithner's word isn't sounding so good, people are beginning to lose faith in him," she said.
"And I think Obama is going to be in a situation very soon, where some of the stories Geithner has been telling are going to be a little suspect and he's going to have to either stick by his man or incur some of the damage."
Hamsher said "Geithner's approach to this whole thing is that the system is fundamentally sound and if they just keep pumping money into it, it will be OK".
"But it's not. There are real systemic problems led to these problems."
She cited government deregulation that has been going on since the 1980s and the credit expansion that was made during the Bush administration to allow lending to "people they knew could not repay their loans".
"They haven't done anything to re-regulate or make sure that the system has integrity. So they're just really lighting money on fire as far as a lot of people are concerned."
-AL JAZEERA http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093172334152828.html
What isn't really discussed here is not only was 165 million taken and given to the CEO's but also 95 million of the handout was funneled into foreign banks to keep them afloat.
-ME
US vows to recover AIG money
AIG has taken $173bn in bailout money and made a $61.7bn loss for the fourth quarter last year [EPA]
Amid mounting anger over bailed-out American International Group's move to give its employees $165m in bonuses, the Obama administration has pledged to force the insurance company to pay the money back.
Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, said on Tuesday that AIG would have to promise to reimburse taxpayers as a condition for receiving a further $30bn of bailout money from the government.
"We will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the treasury from the operations of the company the amount of the retention awards just paid," Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders.
The AIG bonuses have ignited outrage on Capitol Hill, prompting Barack Obama, the US president, to order another look at legal means of recovering the money after government officials had agreed with AIG that it was contractually obligated to pay the bonuses.
Congressional hearing
AIG's government appointed chief executive, Edward Liddy, is expected to be grilled when he goes before a congressional hearing on Wednesday over the bonuses and Sunday's disclosure that $90bn of the bailout money had been paid to other financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and several European banks.
Rosiland Jordan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington DC, said: "He will get a roasting at this hearing.
AIG bonus row
AIG has been kept afloat with more than $170bn of taxpayers money since September.
The US federal govermment now owns over 80% of the insurance company.
The current row is over $165m worth of bonus payments made to 418 executives.
AIG says it is a legal obligation to honour contracts drawn up before the government bailout.
But the so-called "retention bonuses" include over $33m for 52 people who have left the company.
"Even though he was called in by the previous [Bush] administration to try to manage AIG's affairs and manage their derivatives - bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy - he still went ahead with these bonuses."
Geithner said the treasury was working with the justice department to determine whether provisions of a recently passed economic stimulus bill covering compensation for bailout recipients might be used to get back the bonuses.
"Our review will determine whether we can recoup these bonuses" under that authority, Geithner said.
But he acknowledged the stimulus law would only pave the way for negotiations with the company and the treasury was moving ahead with other steps to ensure repayment.
"We ... want to ensure that taxpayers are compensated for any monies we cannot recover," Geithner said in his letter.
New laws proposed
Angry US legislators scrambled to devise new laws to stop bailed-out firms from giving staff massive bonuses on Tuesday, with Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives speaker, saying that legislation could come up within days.
The legislators proposed various options to try to recoup the money, including a 70 per cent tax on bonuses paid to executives at companies that received taxpayer bailout money.
AIG, whose murky and complex financial dealings have contributed to the global financial meltdown, is the largest recipient of the government bailout with $173bn so far.
The company that made a $61.7bn loss for the fourth quarter of last year said it risked being sued if it did not pay the bonuses to staff of AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.
Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney-general, said 73 of those employees got bonuses of at least $1m.
Urged to return money
Legislators called for those who received bonuses at AIG to voluntarily give up the money.
"Let the recipients of these large and unseemly bonuses be warned: if you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you"
Charles Schumer, Democratic senator
But they also threatened other measures such as using the government's new majority shareholder position – some 80 per cent - to sue the company to recoup the money or authorising the US attorney-general to recover excessive compensation payments.
"Let the recipients of these large and unseemly bonuses be warned: if you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you," Charles Schumer, a Democratic senator, said.
Criticised by Republicans for not doing enough, the White House said on Tuesday it was considering ways to retrieve the money, "whether it's changing the tax code or whatever ideas" that are being raised in congress.
"The president finds it outrageous and offensive that any of these bonuses exist," Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said.
On Monday, Obama had said it was "hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165m in extra pay".
"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"
Pressure on Obama
Jane Hamsher, a blogger and political commentator, told Al Jazeera that "Obama has been largely immune" to political fallout from the AIG situation so far and that it had largely been absorbed by Geithner.
"Obama is going to be in a situation very soon, where some of the stories Geithner has been telling are going to be a little suspect and he's going to have to either stick by his man or incur some of the damage"
Jane Hamsher,
political commentator
"But going forward, Geithner's word isn't sounding so good, people are beginning to lose faith in him," she said.
"And I think Obama is going to be in a situation very soon, where some of the stories Geithner has been telling are going to be a little suspect and he's going to have to either stick by his man or incur some of the damage."
Hamsher said "Geithner's approach to this whole thing is that the system is fundamentally sound and if they just keep pumping money into it, it will be OK".
"But it's not. There are real systemic problems led to these problems."
She cited government deregulation that has been going on since the 1980s and the credit expansion that was made during the Bush administration to allow lending to "people they knew could not repay their loans".
"They haven't done anything to re-regulate or make sure that the system has integrity. So they're just really lighting money on fire as far as a lot of people are concerned."
-AL JAZEERA http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093172334152828.html
What isn't really discussed here is not only was 165 million taken and given to the CEO's but also 95 million of the handout was funneled into foreign banks to keep them afloat.
-ME
Friday, March 13, 2009
oops.
BH
So i tried to make it private and instead accidentley deleted it. :/ no worries though, I remember it.
So i tried to make it private and instead accidentley deleted it. :/ no worries though, I remember it.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
a week
B''H
Another week has gone by. School has been somewhat difficult, trying to learn enough of the information to pass while still resisting enough to satisfy my dislike of the course (still bitter about Gen eds) Im finding more and more time to study whatever sefer I happen to have on me at the time, which is definatly a ray of light in my day. along with just daily torah study i get to chavrusa with a friend of my once or so a week. I have kindof slacked off on my gym routine but im getting back into it tonight. So far the best news ive had this week is that unless they outright refuse me into yeshiva this summer im going (either scholarship or loans)! I decided though that if for whatever reason I do not get in this summer, i am just going to move to brooklyn, because i am not going to spend another year waiting to begin. Fortunatly again though, either way i will eventually be in yeshiva and if i have to get loans to do it i am going to go til i get smicha. So I derfinatly have some highlights this week.
I miss her. everyday. more and more and more. I wrote her another letter, telling her everything in my week, everything in my head and chest. I asked questions that I won't have answers to for sometime. I hope she loves her new job, and that she is feeling better and not too sad. That it snowed today a whole foot and all i could think of all day was how much I would love to see her laughing after hitting me in the back with a snow ball. it was beautiful outside, but it was without her. that is how my days always are, good, and full of things to happy about and grateful for, but without her. With these feelings however comes the incredible joy of thinking about all of these days, times, and events with her!! I have the most blessed (thank G-d) future ahead of me :) right now i just thankful for her brother.
I going to give sincere effort not to be such a bleeding heart but no promises. Unfortunatly I have to go map the stars and constellaations now, but I'll be back.
Another week has gone by. School has been somewhat difficult, trying to learn enough of the information to pass while still resisting enough to satisfy my dislike of the course (still bitter about Gen eds) Im finding more and more time to study whatever sefer I happen to have on me at the time, which is definatly a ray of light in my day. along with just daily torah study i get to chavrusa with a friend of my once or so a week. I have kindof slacked off on my gym routine but im getting back into it tonight. So far the best news ive had this week is that unless they outright refuse me into yeshiva this summer im going (either scholarship or loans)! I decided though that if for whatever reason I do not get in this summer, i am just going to move to brooklyn, because i am not going to spend another year waiting to begin. Fortunatly again though, either way i will eventually be in yeshiva and if i have to get loans to do it i am going to go til i get smicha. So I derfinatly have some highlights this week.
I miss her. everyday. more and more and more. I wrote her another letter, telling her everything in my week, everything in my head and chest. I asked questions that I won't have answers to for sometime. I hope she loves her new job, and that she is feeling better and not too sad. That it snowed today a whole foot and all i could think of all day was how much I would love to see her laughing after hitting me in the back with a snow ball. it was beautiful outside, but it was without her. that is how my days always are, good, and full of things to happy about and grateful for, but without her. With these feelings however comes the incredible joy of thinking about all of these days, times, and events with her!! I have the most blessed (thank G-d) future ahead of me :) right now i just thankful for her brother.
I going to give sincere effort not to be such a bleeding heart but no promises. Unfortunatly I have to go map the stars and constellaations now, but I'll be back.
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