Sunday, August 5

Air and Space Museum - Space Shuttle DISCOVERY - Fisheye

Took a visit to the Air and Space Museum by Dulles Airport today and here are some fish eye photos. Click to enlarge.

Click here to view my previous photos of the Air and Space Museum.
Up-Close at the National Air and Space Museum
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Wednesday, August 1

"A federal law requiring advance notice of mass layoffs does not apply to" Government Layoffs...

I have never worked for the Government, other than my time in the US Navy Reserves. I have worked for a US Government contractor. This was on my last ship, the USNS SILAS BENT. At the time the management of the ship had just passed to a company called Dyne Marine Services. The company was eager to win over the merchant marine crew that they were going to send to the ship. They even flew us to their headquarters to tell us how great they were and how we were a part of the team. What they didn't tell us, was that the Fair Labor Standards Act didn't apply to the jobs that we were about to take.
The Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 (abbreviated as FLSA; also referred to as the Wages and Hours Bill) is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute. It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. - Wiki
Now, I have no proof that their omission was done on purpose, but given that I personally asked if work over 8 hours a day and over 40 hours a week considered overtime in a room full of seafarers and company bigwigs to get confirmation that my comments were correct. What I did not ask, and what they did not offer, BUT MUST HAVE KNOWN, was that overtime would be paid as straight pay, not at 'time-and-a-half'. And why ask given that overtime for sailors means just that. Unless some sneaky bastard figures that their company can manage Government owned ships at a cheaper rate by screwing sailors out of their pay And keep in mind that sailing is 24/7, so we were all counting on a minimum of 16 hours overtime a week for simply standing watch on weekends. 

The crew had various ways of dealing with this financial setback. Many refused to work any non-mandatory overtime. I took the opportunity to work as many hours as possible. The Third Mate mad it a habit of being right at the gangway to welcome all new crew with the question 'Hey, did they tell you that overtime was at straight pay?' I have to say that it was pretty amusing to watch the smiles disappear off the faces of newly joining crew, even before they got off the gangway. (Given that this went on for 6 months, kind of suggests that the guys in the office doing the hiring were intentionally not informing new crew. It just goes to show you you really need to beware when a company tells you how great they are. They might be hiding something.) 

The reason I bring this up is the news that the Government is trying to delay layoff notices from going out to thousands of Government contractor employees until after the Presidential Election.
Under the WARN Act -- The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act -- companies with more than 100 employees must give 60 days' notice if there is to be a mass layoff during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees (or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer's active workforce). But in guidance issued on Monday, Assistant Labor Secretary Jane Oates said never mind about those pink slips: "Questions have recently been raised as to whether the WARN Act requires Federal contractors...whose contracts may be terminated or reduced in the event of sequestration on January 2, 2013, to provide WARN Act notices 60 days before that date to their workers employed under government contracts funded from sequestrable accounts. The answer to this question is 'no.' In fact, to provide such notice would be inconsistent with the purpose of the WARN Act." - CNSNews.com
The excuse given for this is that despite the cuts that are currently law, it is not possible to WARN anyone of layoffs because no specific projects or contracts have been officially notified that they would be part of the spending cut. Plus, Congress MIGHT actually repeal sequestration.
5. Application of WARN Act to Potential Sequestration. Although it is currently known that sequestration may occur, it is also known that efforts are being made to avoid sequestration. Thus, even the occurrence of sequestration is not necessarily foreseeable. In addition, the sequester’s impact on particular accounts will depend at least in part on Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 funding that Congress has not yet enacted. Perhaps more importantly, Federal agencies also have some discretion in how to implement the required reductions if sequestration were to occur. Given that Federal agencies, including DOD, have not announced which contracts will be affected by sequestration were it to occur, and that many contracts may be completely unaffected, the actual contract terminations or cutbacks that will occur in the event of sequestration are unknown. Thus, in the absence of any additional information, potential plant closings or layoffs resulting from such contract terminations or cutbacks are speculative and unforeseeable. - US Govt Notice (PDF)
I have to admit that this makes sense. Yes thousands of people are going to get laid off. You know that you are going to be one of them. And yet, nobody will know for sure until the very last minute. That is, unless their employers send them a courtesy warning in advance of any mandated by the law. Apparently this is something that employers can do. Imagine if you as a taxpayer or as a business owner started behaving on how Congress might act. You might end up receiving a fine or worse some jail time. But the Government, the rules do not apply to them, ESPECIALLY if there is a Democrat in office. Not that rules apply to a Republican in office, it is just that the Democrats (and the media) are very vocal in making sure Republicans don't get away with breaking the laws.

Anyway, I suspect that is is just some wasteful posturing on behalf of a Government lackey who either is trying to keep the current president in office or truly believes that in this case it's perfectly OK not to tell people that they are going to be without a job shortly after the election.

What I would like to see is the DOD actually announce which programs they plan to cut because of sequestration. Then the pink slips can go out, as they should. (Note: I am not in support of suck cuts to our National Defense. As it is, the DOD was the only Government Dept that I know of that was actively cutting their spending before this mess. The ax needs to fall elsewhere.)
 
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Monday, July 30

About Those Trillions Being Held In Tax Havens Around The World...

Given that about half of all Americans are not paying taxes and are now receiving benefits from the Government, and with things even worse in other countries, politicians and the press are trying to place blame on the lack of an unlimited supply of money to pay for these social programs on rich people who are somehow hiding assets from taxation in tax havens around the world:
The Tax Justice Network, a campaign group, estimated last weekend that as much as $21 to $32 trillion of financial assets are sheltered in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax. - CNBC
First, while it sounds like a very large number, it is very deceptive. That is because, while some of the money is illicit and the beneficial owners are hiding the money from taxation, much of this money is there legally and that the beneficial owners do not owe any additional tax on these funds. 

Worse, look at the study's own estimate of lost tax revenue: 'up to $280 billion in lost income tax'. While in itself a large amount, it is still a mere 1% of the total. At the very least this story is just more evidence that the real problem is excess spending and not enough taxation (other than the growing percentage of the population escaping taxation entirely, and that is not the rich who already pay and pay more...).

Even worse, the potential amount of last tax revenue, assuming the 'best case' scenario, is not even 1/4 of the US 2012 budget deficit of 1.2 Trillion dollars. So even if this lost income tax could be recovered AND IF the US got all of the proceeds, it would not even make a difference in stemming the US's march towards bankruptcy. Greece itself would need just about  the whole amount to help dig itself out of their current fiscal crisis.

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Wednesday, July 25

Video - 'Obama Isn't Working'

Here is a grassroots campaign video making the case against re-electing President Obama.

As found on Ace of Spades Blog.



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Friday, July 20

Illegal Kinder Eggs and Illegal Aliens Learning to Fly...

You know, one thing that keeps Americans faith in their legal system is the belief that everyone is treated fairly. That said, the Obama Administration has been busy picking favorites. Americans are being harassed more and more, while at the same time our supposed leaders have been turning a blind eye when it comes to the offenses committed by their supporters and other interest groups, especially illegal aliens. Take the following two stories: Americans threatened with huge fines for daring to import chocolate eggs, available most everywhere else.
Chris Sweeney and his husband were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car. Their suspicious cargo? Half a dozen Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy - a childhood favourite in Canada but an illegal choking hazard in the United States. "I thought (the American border guard) had done his search and hadn't found anything, and he was joking with us," Sweeney, 35, told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday. "He wasn't joking." The popular German chocolate eggs are not sold in the U.S. because they are considered a choking hazard. They are also banned because the treats are considered adulterated food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sweeney said a border guard told him and his husband that they could be fined $2,500 per egg, and then ordered them to head to the port of entry, where they waited for more than two hours. "We really didn't know what was going to happen," he said. "I didn't know if maybe this was some really important thing that I just wasn't aware of and they were going to actually give us the fine of $15,000." But once inside, Sweeney said border staff later brushed off the offence and merely told them never to bring the Kinder Surprise eggs across the border again. - Canada.com

Illegal aliens learning to fly commercial Airplanes. No, not the 9/11 hijackers. This is going on today!
A loophole in U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations allowed the agency to approve flight training for 25 illegal aliens at a Boston-area flight school owned by yet another illegal alien, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Eight of the attendees had entered the United States illegally, while 17 had overstayed their visas, according to a GAO audit, CNSNews.com reports. Six of the illegals obtained pilot’s licenses. The discovery of the flight school issues began when local police — not federal authorities — stopped the school’s owner on a traffic violation and then were able to determine that he was an illegal alien, according to CNSNews. - Newsmax
Are you kidding me? Teaching and issuing pilot certificates to illegal aliens. I thought this lesson was learned after we taught the 9/11 hijackers how to fly. Clearly not. Because after all, heaven forbid we do anything like enforce US immigration law.Maybe the illegal aliens can bring some Kinder Eggs with them.

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Monday, July 9

Helsinki City Apartment Bathroom - Part II

A couple years ago I had a post 'Helsinki City Apartment Bathroom' noting how small the bathroom in my Helsinki rental apartment was. Well, that bathroom was roomy compared to the closet of a bathroom I have in my current apartment. One thing to keep in mind when looking at these photos - the bathroom is SMALLER than it looks in the photos. It is so small, you can't turn around in the bathroom.

Oddly enough, this is a very roomy apartment. We are in downtown. Have two bedrooms and a large shower room.



See here 'Helsinki City Rental Apartment - Photos' for photos of my downright favorite rental apartment. I'm not completely sure, but I think this might be the second best rental apartment. Anyway, if you ever plan on staying in Helsinki for a week or more, you should consider rental apartments as an alternative to a hotel, especially if you are traveling with children.


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Friday, June 22

$9 Billion in ‘Stimulus’ - 910 Jobs OR 9,000 Millionaires...

The latest stimulus news is out and it is yet one more confirmation on what a disaster the program is/was:
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration distributed $9 billion in economic “stimulus” funds to solar and wind projects in 2009-11 that created, as the end result, 910 “direct” jobs -- annual operation and maintenance positions -- meaning that it cost about $9.8 million to establish each of those long-term jobs. - CNS News
You know what else this money could have been used to do - It could have simply been given to 9,000 Americans in million dollar chunks, in effect creating 9,000 millionaires. 

Worse, the story notes that the $9 billion also created 4,600 indirect jobs, which when added to the direct number is still thousands less than if the Government simply gave the money away as part of a lottery. 

My 2009 post 'Better way to Spend $825 Billion in the Name of Stimulus' notes that instead of using the stimulus money for projects, that it just might be better to simply use it for a lottery where there were 800,000 first prizes of a million dollars each.Would this have been fair? I think it would have been more fair than giving huge amounts of money to politically connected companies like Solyndra who just turned around and burned the cash.
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Thursday, June 14

'No Child Left Behind Stupidity' - English Proficiency

My oldest is finishing up her last day of First Grade this week. This is also the time that I am completing papers for my youngest to start kindergarten in the fall.

One form that we had to complete for each of them contained questions on whether they could speak a foreign language and whether there were any foreign language speakers in the house. The form noted that if you answered 'yes' to these questions that your child would automatically be labeled a non-native English speaker (or something similar to this. I forget the exact designation).

I was hesitant to mention any foreign language skill for my daughter, simply because she was also a fluent native English speaker. After all, she was born here and basically her entire foreign language proficiency was the result of my wife being an army of one in teaching our daughter her native language. I was afraid that she would end up in some special treatment intended for actual foreign language speakers with limited English proficiency. However, since we did not want to lie on the form, we told the truth.

So our daughter was tested in Kindergarten on a 1 to 6 scale in her English proficiency and received a score of 4. The test results came with a two page explanation of the results. However the explanation was totally useless in determining how our daughter did in the exam because nowhere in the paper did it explain that 4 was the highest score a Kindergarten student can receive because at that level they do not test reading comprehension. Leave it to the Government to design a test where a child can get the highest grade while leaving the parents completely confused as to how their child could do so poorly on the test.

Upon learning the news that our daughter is doing fine, I wanted to remove her from this program. Her teacher noted that there was no harm in her participation and she was losing no time from the classroom. My wife agreed and I relented. Eventually, the testing will remove a student based on the result. However, the letter from the school noting that my daughter is now proficient in English, also declares her as 'formerly limited English Proficient (FLEP)'


So there you have it. The Government had classified my child as LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT solely based on our declaration that she had the ability to speak another language and was in a household where at least one parent also spoke a foreign language. There was no testing done to ever determine if there was any limitation to her English proficiency. She had spent two years in pre-school. Never was there any comment concerning any problems with her language skills. This is all due to idiotic Government Regulations. 

Worse, I have no doubt that my daughter is now a stat supporting how great the school is in successfully turning children with limited English proficiency into proficient students. A stat that will now reduce how badly the number that fail to achieve that goal. Don't get me wrong, our local elementary school is great. However, they did nothing to improve her proficiency in relation to other native English-speaking classmates as she was a native speaker to begin with.

Well, I have learned my lesson. During the completion of the enrollment forms for my son, I have included a letter refusing to permit my son's participation in this program. Apparently the form produced a bit of consternation at the school, but it also resulted in discovery of a form that excludes my son's participation in this program. While my daughter is all good with participating in any sort of project or test, My son is a little more stubborn and the last thing I need is for him to notice that he is being testing when others are not. Because he will not take their exam or create some problem where there is none. I do believe in testing, but I am against senseless testing. And this program is needlessly creating students in need that don't exist.

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Wednesday, May 9

FACTA Killed My Foreign Account

FATCA is a law in the US. The long name is 'Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act'. This law is causing havoc for Americans who either want or need bank and financial accounts in other countries. This is because FACTA requires foreign banks to tell the US Government information on any accounts that may be held by Americans.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Subtitle A of Title V of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE), enacts Chapter 4 of, and makes other modifications to, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the tax law of the United States. FATCA has a few main parts:
  1. It requires foreign banks to find any American account holders and disclose their balances, receipts, and withdrawals to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or be subject to a 30% withholding tax on income from US financial assets held by the banks.
  2. Owners of these foreign-held assets must report them on a new Form 8938 along with US tax returns if they are worth more than US$50,000; a higher reporting threshold applies to overseas residents. Account holders would be subject to a 40% penalty on understatements of income in an undisclosed foreign financial asset.
  3. It closes a tax loophole that investors had used to avoid paying any taxes on dividends by converting them into dividend equivalents.
The reporting requirements are in addition to reporting of foreign financial assets to the US Treasury Department, particularly the "Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts" (FBAR) for foreign financial accounts exceeding US$10,000 required under Bank Secrecy Act regulations issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). - Wikipedia
The stated goal of this law is to catch tax evaders. However, this law has turned thousands of law abiding Americans into victims. This is because many banks are deciding that it is better for their business to get rid of all their American customers, than it is to meet the requirements of this new law. This is an example of what Americans living in the US and abroad are receiving:

Notice of Termination – Custody Account / Account Agreement

Nordnet Bank AB Finnish Branch hereby terminates Your Custody Account / Account Agreement as of May 31, 2012 in accordance with the Nordnet Bank AB Finnish Branch’s general terms and conditions, paragraph G.12.

The termination is due to the changes in the American legislation, which means that U.S. residents or those liable to pay taxes in the U.S. will no longer have the option to remain customers at Nordnet. We regret the need to terminate Your account.

During the period of notice both parties must comply with the general terms and conditions.

The termination means that You need to transfer or sell Your securities at Nordnet and transfer Your cash balance from Nordnet to another service provider. Nordnet does not charge a fee from the transfer of securities or cash. Below You can find further information on how to proceed.

In case our information of Your U.S. residency or taxpayer status is incorrect, we kindly ask You to promptly contact us via asiakaspalvelu@nordnet.fi or by phone +358 20 198 5898. Our customer service is open on weekdays 9–18.30 (Finnish time).


Best regards,

Nordnet Bank AB Finnish Branch
This 'example' is a copy of the termination notice sent to me. I have a dilemma here as the account has barely any money in it and it will probably cost more money for me to close out the account than it is worth. Hell, the biggest asset this account probably has is the potential for me to file a discrimination suit in Finland as this firms action's appears to be based solely on my nationality. I do have other accounts, but combined, they do not add up to an amount requiring me to report these foreign assets to the IRS on my tax return. That said, my other accounts are very useful for me as my wife has relatives there and we spend a good deal of time in Finland each year and having a domestic bank account makes life much easier when paying bills and renting apartments. I am concerned that those banks will also attempt to close our accounts. No matter, I will get by with or without them. As for Nordnet Bank, no grudge against them. I do not need their services. I will use another company. I used to recommend them to my Finnish friends, but now will point them elsewhere. This will however just waste time during my next visit.

There are however many Americans living overseas who simply cannot manage without a local bank account. They are the primary victims here. The US Government should be ashamed of this kind of damage it is doing to law-abiding citizens. Oddly enough, this kind of stupidity is going to result in Americans putting money in bank accounts under the names of others, in effect creating the hidden money that this law was attempting to unearth!


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Tuesday, May 1

Obama's 'Gutsy Call' - Not Even At The Table

President Obama is once again using the killing of Osama Bin Laden as a prop in his reelection campaign. I have no problem with the President point to this as one of the accomplishments of his Presidency. After all, it is one of the few actual accomplishments that most Americans give him credit for. However, for some reason, the President's campaign staff are now suggesting that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney would not have given the go-ahead to kill Bin Laden, distorting a comment of his as their evidence. Mitt Romney's comment is so taken out of context as his actual statement is that killing any one terrorist is not not a strategy, but a starting point. Basically he is advocating a much stronger response than the assassination of one man. 

Lets not forget that the President's 'Gutsy Call'  was given only after sleeping on it, a full 16 hours after being asked. Now maybe Mitt Romney would have said no, but I seriously doubt he's take a nap first. (Mitt Romney in response to the Obama Campaign allegation notes that even Carter would have made the call to take out Osama.)

The Obama campaign's outright lying of the facts reminded me of the photo of President Obama in the Situation room observing the mission as it happened. For making such a 'Gutsy Call', the President does not even have a seat at the table. Why exactly is that? How many other White House photos have you seen where the President does not have a prominent place at the table? Any table? I am no fan of the President, but if I had him over for dinner, I'd give him the honor of my place at the table, if for no reason than one of respect.



Now take the following story that appeared on the internet shortly after this photo appeared that comments on the situation leading up to the photo, keeping in mind that there is nothing to back up the allegations made in the story:

I have been told by more than one source that Leon Panetta was directing the operation with both his own CIA operatives, as well as direct contacts with military – both entities were reporting to Panetta only at this point, and not the President of the United States. There was not going to be another delay as had happened 24 hour earlier. The operation was at this time effectively unknown to President Barack Obama or Valerie Jarrett and it remained that way until AFTER it had already been initiated. President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission. Upon his arrival there was a briefing held which included Bill Daley, John Brennan, and a high ranking member of the military. When Obama emerged from the briefing, he was described as looking “very confused and uncertain.” The president was then placed in the situation room where several of the players in this event had already been watching the operation unfold. Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was. The now famous photo released shows the particulars of that of that room and its occupants. What that photo does not communicate directly is that the military personnel present in that room during the operation unfolding, deferred to either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates. The president’s role was minimal, including their acknowledging of his presence in the room. - Socyberty (White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden)
Go read the entire article which notes how much of an obstacle Valerie Jarrett was on behalf of the President and how those interested in actually fighting a war on terrorism managed to work around the President. Providing that there is any truth to this story.

Interestingly enough, the recent Times article on the raid, provides a copy of the mission order Leon Panetta issued (At least his note of it). This part of the official story just happens to fit into the storyline above.

Given that the President's campaign is all interested in discussing the raid on Bin Laden, perhaps they would like to explain why the President is sitting in the corner during one of the most important meetings of his Presidency. Perhaps, this was to give him easy access for the door in case the raid did not end so well. I wonder, are there any photos of this meeting where the President is not seated in the room...

I suspect that we will be returning to this photo before November's Election.

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Thursday, April 26

Banning Child Labor on Farms - To Benefit Illegal Aliens?

You have probably seen the news that the Obama Administration is planning to pass new rules that will effectively ban children from working on farms, even if they waork on their own family farm:
A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves. The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land. - Daily Caller
There seems to be no legitimate explanation for this change in the rules, especially given that this same proposed rule will stop the 4-H and FFA from conducting farm training, to be replaced with Government training.

Lets face it, the family farmers are not the biggest Obama voting block, so perhaps this is a little payback from what is a very vindictive Administration. But that does not help them win reelection for their boss in November. However, if the children cannot do as much on the farm, perhaps they think the farmers will have to hire outside workers and perhaps even illegal aliens farm hands.

I would not be surprised at all if this rule is some half-assed Government plan to increase farm-based employment. No matter the reason, this is just one more reason to vote against Obama on Election day.


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Friday, April 20

Anchor Country - Argentina

I have not written about anchor countries in a while, but Argentina's recent actions certainly win it a place in this category for some of the worst countries on earth. The actions I am talking about are the child's tantrum the country and its President are throwing because the UK won't hand over the Falkland Islands, simply because the Argentinians are demanding it.
Argentina’s industry minister called for British imports to be banned, in the latest attempt to compel Britain to negotiate over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands as tension rises ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1982 war. Britain responded by summoning Osvaldo Marsico, charge d’affaires at the Argentine embassy in London, to receive a formal protest at the Foreign Office. “We made clear that such actions against legitimate commercial activity were a matter of concern not just for the UK, but for the European Union as a whole, and that we expect the EU to lodge similar concerns with Argentine authorities,” said a Foreign Office spokesman. - The Telegraph
In addition to the calls to boycott UK goods, Argentina has recently refused entry to their ports to cruise ships that have called the Falklands as well as have refused entry for Falklands fishing vessels, a port ban that has spread to neighboring countries as well. All actions that will probably hurt the Argentine economy more than that of the Falklands. 

A couple of weeks ago there was a press storm over a Falkland Island paper labeling Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner a bitch. But lets be realistic now. IT is Argentina that is creating this conflict by harassing the Falkland Islands again. Argentina lost a war about 30 years ago over the islands and is now upset that it appears that the UK will defend their possession of the islands again if pushed to do so. 'Bitch' might be a raw word to describe the President of Argentina, but more mainstream words are not much nicer, just more accurate. Such as troublemaker, bully and instigator. 

It is President Kirchner's actions that are threatening peace in stability in the region. Given Argentina's past history and current actions, it is prudent that the UK send reinforcements to the area. The big question is, will President Kirchner start another war over the Falkland Islands? A war her country is likely to lose and put her people and country through more hard times. Anyway, I'm not planning any trip to Argentina in the near future. However, if I were, I would seriously reconsider, as I would hate to be caught in a country, unable to leave and be a sitting duck in a country that decided to poke the UK a little too hard one time too many.

 The latest moves by Argentina's President Kirchner do nothing but confirm my thoughts that she is hell-bent on damaging Argentina. It is not enough that she is stilling up old friction with the UK over the Falklands, but now she is attacking an ally against English rule over the Falklands, Spain:
Facing intense criticism over the nationalization of its biggest oil firm, Argentina on Thursday ordered the seizure of YPF Gas, another group controlled by Spain's Repsol, a move expected to further inflame tensions. - Yahoo News
When a country starts taking over industry, you can bet that anyone who can more their money out of the country will be desperate to do so before the Government seizes their assets as well. Good luck in making this plan work. I just don't see a positive outcome for the country. It will just end badly for the population. And it is kind of hard to feel sorry for them given that they voted for this lunatic. Good luck anyway. At least I hope she is smart enough not to pick another fight with the UK.



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