Making Charcloth from Cattails
The West Must Not Trade Liberty for Islamic “Good Will”
This is my new piece at NewsReal Blog dealing with calls for amending free speech to placate Muslims. Here’s a taste:
And what would we get in return? The “good will†of the Muslim street? The same “good will†displayed when Palestinians–who live off U.S. aid–danced in the streets after 9/11?
The European countries that have kowtowed to these barbarians for decades have experienced the “good will†of the Muslim street through the brutal gang rape epidemic in Northern Europe and the out of control Muslim dominated child sex trafficking rings in England. Is this the “good will†we will receive when we abandon our Western values of liberty and free thought at the behest of a corrupt Afghan politician who is stoking anti-American violence?
The pusillanimity of the Left in the face of Islamic imperialism is almost understandable. The feckless, morally bankrupt European Left has long traded their children’s future for their own comfort, safety and petty Marxist hatreds. For the American Left, their pathological hatred of the West trumps their own hollow rhetoric about freedom. To see people on the Right, even “moderates†like Lindsey Graham, promoting the punishment of those who offend the uncivilized sensibilities of the Muslim street is is more than disgusting. Our leaders, the media, and a significant number of Americans do not understand the threat of Jihad, Islamic Imperialism and the internal drive unreformed Islam has toward world domination.
Gallup: Unemployment 10% Underemployment 19.3%
Jamie Dimon: 100 Municipalities Won’t “Make it” Out of Debt
You should probably figure out if you’re in one of them. Take note – this is Dimon trying to put a positive spin on the muni bond market:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said some municipalities will need to renegotiate debt and a hundred may not “make it.â€
“I wouldn’t panic about what I’m about to say,†Dimon, 55, said today at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in Washington. “You’re going to see some municipalities not make it. I don’t think it’s going to shatter America, I just think it’s a part of the credit cycle.â€
Speculation about widespread municipal-bond defaults intensified in December when bank analyst Meredith Whitney predicted that “hundreds of billions†of dollars of municipal bonds may default in 2011 amid pressure to balance budgets.
JPMorgan, the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, said in February its commercial bank’s municipal-debt holdings are diversified enough to handle a likely increase in defaults. The number of issuers that can’t manage debts may be about a hundred, Dimon said today.
“It’s not going to be thousands,†he said. “It’s going to be maybe a hundred. It’s going to be a small number†out of roughly 14,000 municipalities.
Only one hundred cities collapsing under debt? Great!
How to prepare for this? Get ready for less services and higher fees and taxes. Put that money away now.
