New York (CNN) -- "Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was declared the winner of Tuesday's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, largely for his smack down of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who suggested that America's foreign policy contributed to the destruction on September 11, 2001.

      Paul, who is more of a libertarian than a Republican, was trying to offer some perspective on the pitfalls of an interventionist policy by the American government in the affairs of the Middle East and other countries.

      "Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years," he said.

That set Giuliani off.

      "That's really an extraordinary statement," said Giuliani. "As someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq; I don't think I've ever heard that before and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11."

      As the crowd applauded wildly, Giuliani demanded that Paul retract his statements.

      Paul tried to explain the process known as "blowback" -- which is the result of someone else's action coming back to afflict you -- but the audience drowned him out as the other candidates tried to pounce on him.

      After watching all the network pundits laud Giuliani, it struck me that they must be the most clueless folks in the world.

      First, Giuliani must be an idiot to not have heard Paul's rationale before. That issue has been raised countless times in the last six years by any number of experts.

      Second, when we finish with our emotional response, it would behoove us to actually think about what Paul said and make the effort to understand his rationale.

      Granted, Americans were severely damaged by the hijacking of U.S. planes, and it has resulted in a worldwide fight against terror. Was it proper for the United States to respond to the attack? Of course! But should we, as a matter of policy, and moral decency, learn to think and comprehend that our actions in one part of the world could very well come back to hurt us, or, as Paul would say, blow back in our face? Absolutely. His real problem wasn't his analysis, but how it came out of his mouth.

      What has been overlooked is that Paul based his position on the effects of the 1953 ouster by the CIA of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

     Finally one of the Talking Heads is learning to tap into his own objective reasoning.  I'm glad he's not another media-puppet in the world of info-tainment.

      WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "China needs to act soon to strengthen its currency, stop piracy of U.S. goods, and fix other trade problems or risk damaging relations with the United States, Senate Finance Committee members said on Friday.

       "Failure to adequately resolve these short-term issues ... threatens to undermine the relationship between our two countries," the panel members said in a letter to Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, who is leading a delegation that will be in Washington next week for high-level talks.

     PHOENIX (Reuters) - "Day laborers stood in the shade of a palm tree hoping for work and dreaming of a life out of the shadows on Friday, a day after U.S. Senate leaders struck a deal on immigration reform that would allow millions of illegal immigrants a shot at becoming legal.

      The agreement would create a temporary worker program, set up a merit-based system for future immigrants and give legal status to some 12 million undocumented immigrants, if it survives what is expected to be a highly charged debate in Congress in coming weeks.

     NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Last summer when oil traded at a record high near $79 a barrel, gas at the pump went for about $3.03 a gallon. Today, crude's about $65 a barrel and a gallon of regular unleaded costs $3.10.

      Doesn't seem right, does it? The price of a barrel of crude ought to be a better benchmark for what you pay at the gas pump.

      In today's economy, though, that type of formula is out the window, a relic from the days when refineries kept crude stocks high during winter months and Americans didn't drive longer and longer distances to get to home, work and play.

      Nowadays, pump prices are determined far more by supply and demand for gasoline than by how much traders buy and sell crude for on the open market.
The bad boys of oil

      "Forget everything you ever learned or ever read about the connection of crude oil prices to gasoline, because there is a disconnect today," said petroleum industry consultant Tim Hamilton. "All the price of oil does is establish a floor of what the price is going to be in the country."

      Hamilton, who works with Oilwatch.org, a consumer group based in Santa Monica, Calif., advised that instead we should pay attention to the supply of gasoline for delivery to the marketplace, as well as the consumer habits that determine price.

      "What's going to tell you the maximum price is going to be the supply of refined product," he said. "Supply of the finished product is short and the price is going up accordingly, and it's all profit for the refineries."

      Over the last three months, gasoline stockpiles got drained more quickly than at any time in the history of record-keeping by the Energy Information Administration, the government's top energy forecaster. Couple that with continued high demand, which the EIA said rose about 1.0 percent from last year over that period, and that weighs heavily on the price of gas.

      Other factors are at work. Geopolitical tensions, like the war in Iraq, political unrest in Nigeria and last year's nuclear tension in North Korea, also factor in. And this year's cold April caused a spike in demand, particularly in the Northeast, while seasonal changeover at refineries to meet reformulation requirements play a role as well..."

More:

Oil treads water after surge on gasoline anxiety

     Keep an eye on those prices; this may not be the end of this hike.

     South Pole (BBC) - "One of Earth's most important absorbers of carbon dioxide (CO2) is failing to soak up as much of the greenhouse gas as it was expected to, scientists say.

      The decline of Antarctica's Southern Ocean carbon "sink" - or reservoir - means that atmospheric CO2 levels may be higher in future than predicted.

      This effect had been predicted by climate scientists, and is taken into account - to some extent - by climate models. But it appears to be happening 40 years ahead of schedule.

       The data will help refine models of the Earth's climate, including those upon which the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are based.

       Of all the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, only half of it stays there; the rest goes into carbon sinks..."

      BEIJING (NY SUN) — "North Korea may have used a launch pad in Iran to test a new missile capable of hitting American bases in the Pacific island of Guam, according to reports from Japan and South Korea.

      The missile, named after the Musudan testing range in North Korea, was recently shown off to the public at a vast military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, according to the reports. South Korean and American intelligence reports suggest that the weapon may then have been tested in Iran, with which North Korea is known to have military links.

      The Musudan missile had not been previously recorded. North Korea has a known capacity to build short- and medium-range missiles, including the Taepodong-1 which it fired over Japan in 1998 to the alarm of Tokyo and its allies in Washington.

      However, it has had less success with developing long-range missiles. It has been working for several years on a Taepodong-2, which would be targeted at America's western seaboard. But a test launch carried out last July ended in failure, with the missile landing in the sea not far from the border between North Korean and Russia..."

     WASHINGTON (AP) - "Birds that once flourished in suburban skies, including robins, bluebirds and crows, have been devastated by West Nile virus, a study found.

      Populations of seven species have had dramatic declines across the continent since West Nile emerged in the United States in 1999, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The research, appearing in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to quantify what had been known anecdotally.

More:

West Nile Devestated U.S. Bird Species

     This is not good.  The birds are a vital part of the ecosystem of North America.  That and West Nile would probably suck to get.

     South Pole (National Geographic) — "New images from space show that giant, snow-covered swaths of Antarctica melted in January 2005.

      The melt, shown here in yellow and red, affected a combined region the size of California and amounts to the most significant Antarctic thaw seen from space in 30 years.

      Using the QuikScat weather satellite, a team of scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Colorado at Boulder detected the melt while mapping snowfall patterns from 1999 to 2005.

      Data from the satellite revealed that vast fields of snow had thawed and refrozen during the Southern Hemisphere's summer of '05, when temperatures reached highs of 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius).

      While melting has been observed on the Antarctic Peninsula (center left), the newly discovered thaws took place farther inland and at higher elevations, where melting was not expected.

     The Milky Way (National Geographic) - "The sun and Earth will probably be spun out into a lonely region of space when the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies finish colliding about five billion years from now, researchers say in a new study.

      There's also a small chance that our solar system will be swept from its home in the Milky Way and scooped up by Andromeda during an earlier close encounter, in just three-and-a-half-billion years.

      These predictions stem from a new theoretical model that provides the best look yet at how and when the cosmic pile-up will occur.

      The model is the first to trace the probable fate of our own solar system as the galaxies merge. (Related: "Solar System Is 'Bullet Shaped' [May 10, 2007].)

      Like a pair of circling skaters, the Milky Way and Andromeda will brush past each other and separate again twice before fusing into a single galactic entity—an elliptical galaxy dubbed "Milkomeda" by researchers—on their third and final encounter..."

      WASHINGTON (Fox) —  "Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani won the strongest applause at Tuesday night's first-in-the-South Republican primary debate when he lashed out at Texas Rep. Ron Paul for suggesting that the United States' non-interventionist policy invited the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

      "They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. ... We've been in the Middle East," Paul said in explaining his opposition to going to war in Iraq. "Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting.

More:

Republican candidates clash in South Carolina

Giuliani to Paul:  'Take back' 9/11 comments

     Was Ron Paul wrong?  I mean let's look at what he said objectively.  He never said what happened on 9/11 was deserved, nor did he praise those who committed it.

     In fact, he condemned Al Qaeda and Bin Laden.  He simply said it was to be expected.  We were well aware, well before 9/11, of the animosity towards the U.S. from the fundamentalists in the Middle East, and the subsequent threat they posed.

     Ron Paul simply said the blatantly obvious;  The Truth.  But this is not a Debate that the Mass Media portrayed.

     It was a popularity contest.  Well, Ron Paul is the ONLY man amongst those who has NEVER flip-flopped on his issues, has never mislead his voters, and has always been 100% transparent with what he stands for.  He writes his own speeches and answers questions on his own; without coaching.

     He is the only true choice for voters who want an HONEST president with convictions true to the tune of the U.S. Constitution.

     NEW YORK (AP) - "For all their complaining as they pay $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, few American drivers have yet to reach the point of cutting back.

      That’s the message from government statistics showing that demand for gasoline is only just starting to level off even as refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by 43 percent since the end of January.

      And brace yourself: experts say with gas already closing in on $4 a gallon in Chicago and San Francisco ahead of the peak summer driving season, higher prices could be in the cards..."

     DENVER (Reuters) - "Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig said on Tuesday that future Federal Reserve policy moves could still go either way, given a variety of cross-currents to growth and inflation.

      Current interest rates are "modestly firm," and a case could be made for either a rate rise or a rate cut, Hoenig said in a speech to local business leaders.

 
     Tehran, Iran (Fox) — "Inspectors for the United Nation's atomic agency have concluded that Iran is starting to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before, according to The New York Times.

      Top officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came to the conclusion Sunday after a short-notice inspection at Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz, the Times reported late Monday.

      The inspection was conducted as a report is due early next week on Iran's program to the United Nations Security Council.

      Unveiled in the look into Iran's capabilities is how the country has apparently overcome some earlier problems that had plagued further enrichment. The Iranians previously had difficulty keeping centrifuges spinning at high speeds needed to make nuclear fuel.

      Those troubles appear to have been solved, according to the IAEA's director general.

      “We believe they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich,” said Mohammed ElBaradei..."

     Honestly, who is surprised by this?

     Moscow (BBC) - "US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed talk of a new Cold War between Russia and the US, at the start of a visit to Moscow.

       Ms Rice said "I think the parallels just frankly have no basis whatsoever", while acknowledging that "it's not an easy time" for Russian-US relations.

       The Kremlin has expressed strong opposition to US plans to deploy a missile defence shield in Europe.

       Washington's backing for Kosovo's independence has also been attacked.

     SINGAPORE (Reuters) - "Japanese shares fell on Tuesday after a surprise fall in machinery orders while other Asian markets were pressured by nagging worries over the U.S. economy, but auto makers rose on news of a Chrysler buyout.

      The yen matched a three-month low against the dollar on the weak machinery orders, a barometer of corporate capital spending, which underscored expectations the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates only gradually. But the softer currency offered support to high-tech exporters.

      Copper extended its fall in Asia, with Shanghai copper down by its 4 percent daily limit, after a 3 percent decline in London. Gold rebounded after sliding on Monday..."

      Guangdong Province, China  (Newsweek) — "In an outbreak reminiscent of the early stages of SARS and bird flu, pigs are growing sick and dying across China’s southeastern Guangdong province.

      Roughly 3,000 pigs have been infected on hundreds of family farms and about 300 have died. Early reports from Chinese scientists attribute the outbreak to porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS), which first appeared 18 years ago and was originally called Mystery Swine Disease. But certain symptoms of the current outbreak, including massive hemorrhaging, are not consistent with PRRS, and might indicate that the disease—most likely caused by a virus—has mutated.

      The outbreak has renewed fears that a viral pandemic is in the making in southern China. Richard Webby, an influenza researcher at St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and Marie Gramer, a veterinarian and expert on swine influenza at the University of Minnesota, spoke by phone with NEWSWEEK’s Barrett Sheridan on the risks of the recent outbreak, and China’s response..."

     Needless to say, next to Chimps, catching infections from Pigs is the easiest and most virulent means for a Human Pandemic.  They share similar immune systems and motabolisms, and it won't take much for this thing to mutate into a human-killing-strain.  Keep your eyes out for more news on this.

     Virginia (National Geographic) - "Residents of the eastern United States may see average summer temperatures rise by 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius) during the next 80 years, a new NASA study suggests.

      The culprit is greenhouse gas emissions—the release of gases linked to global warming—the report says.

      "There is the potential for extremely hot summertime temperatures in the future, especially during summers with less-than-average frequent rainfall," said lead author Barry Lynn of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University.

      Eastern U.S. states currently average summer daily highs in the low to mid-80s Fahrenheit (27 to 30 degrees Celsius).

      But the new research suggests that average high temperatures could reach the low to mid-90s Fahrenheit (32 to 36 degrees Celsius) in a typical summer by the 2080s.

      In extremely dry years, Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; and other cities could experience July and August daily highs between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 to 43.3 Celsius).

      NASA's model incorporated three decades of temperature and rainfall observations to estimate future rainfall totals. It also took into account the time of day when precipitation is likely to occur—a key factor in how much rain falls and cools off the Earth..."

     MUSCATATUCK, Indiana (Reuters) - "The National Guard is likely to see an unprecedented level of new funds to fix or replace equipment worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that's still not enough to make the force ready for homeland missions, its chief said.

      "The president's budget is unprecedented in the history of the Guard in providing money to the Army National Guard to reequip," said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

      But still, it leaves equipment gaps, especially in the area of Humvees, trucks and other transport gear, that do not match the level of risk Blum said he sees.

      "There's a serious commitment to do this, but that still only takes us to a level I'd rather not talk about."

      Walking through a fake nuclear attack scene during a training exercise in Muscatatuck, Indiana, Blum said the National Guard needs about $14 billion above the $21.9 billion the Bush Administration has already requested for that reserve force over the next five years..."

      WASHINGTON D.C.  (Financial Sense) — "In April, Bloomberg News reported 60% of Americans are expecting a recession within the year. Unfortunately, they should be expecting much worse. A depression, not a recession, is more likely in the offing.

      In March 2000 when the dot.com bubble burst, it was the largest collapse of a stock market bubble in history. The collapse of a stock market bubble in 1929 had resulted in the Great Depression. When the 2000 dot.com bubble burst—an even larger bubble—the US government was afraid another depression would result.

      To prevent it, in 2001 the US government flooded the economy with money. The government lowered US interest rates to 1%, and normally tight-fisted bankers gave away over $1 trillion without even requiring proof of income.

      Real estate prices skyrocketed and the stock markets recovered. But, in so doing, the US had inadvertently created an even bigger bubble—a bubble that has now burst.

The US Real Estate Bubble Is the Biggest Bubble In History

      This is what Americans should be worrying about. The collapse of a bubble even larger than the 1929 or 2000 stock market bubbles will have catastrophic consequences; sending the US and perhaps the entire world into another Great Depression.

      Americans will be lucky if a recession is all that happens. A recession would be a godsend, a momentary tightening of the belt; not the collapse of the entire US economy where real estate falls 60-80% and stocks fall even farther.

      During the Great Depression, the stock market lost 90% of its value. Twenty-four years after the crash, the US stock market was still down 75%. Deflationary collapses are long and protracted and it should not be expected that the coming depression would be otherwise—in fact, it will probably be even worse.

The Collapse of the Real Estate Bubble Will Cause
The US Economy To Deflate And The US Dollar To Drop

      Today, the world’s money markets are betting on a falling US dollar. In fact, US Vice-President Dick Cheney is betting on it too. In May 2006, Kiplinger Magazine reported that up to 25% of the Vice-President’s assets ($10-$25 million) are invested in a fund that profits when the US dollar falls.

      Americans have no idea the trouble they are in. Afraid of a recession, they don’t know a deflationary depression is the real danger. Told that China is manipulating its currency to the disadvantage of the US, Americans are unaware China has accumulated over $1 trillion in excess US dollars and stands to lose $250 billion to $500 billion when the US dollar falls.

      Up until recently, China and Japan have been recycling their excess US dollars by investing in US Treasuries. This recycling is the only reason the US economy is still afloat.

      Because the US, the world’s biggest debtor, borrows over $1 trillion a year, should China and Japan decide to invest their dollars elsewhere, the US economy would immediately sink, US interest rates would skyrocket and toaster ovens at WalMart would cost $78 instead of $39.

      In 2006, a global investment firm quietly advised its clients “while there is money still to be made, be sure to dance close to the door”. In April 2007, the party is still going on but it’s now about to end. 

      On April 3, 2007, Bloomberg News reported that the world’s best performing investment trust, Blue Planet’s Worldwide Financials fund, sold most of its stock portfolio predicting that a sharp correction in global stock markets is about to occur.

More:

Elements of the Dollar's Death Knell

     I'd say it's pretty difficult to argue against the case that the U.S. Dollar is living out the last days of a death sentence.  And since the U.S. Dollar is inexorably connected with the U.S. Economy, so goes the Dollar, so goes the Economy.

• NEW: Dense smoke expected to remain into Sunday morning
• NEW: Rain expected Sunday afternoon should help
• I-75 closed from Lake City, Florida, to Valdosta, Georgia
• Florida Highway Patrol chief asks drivers to stay away

      The smoke was generated by huge wildfires burning in northern Florida and southern Georgia.

      Interstate 75 remained closed from Valdosta, Georgia, south to Lake City, Florida, said Col. Chris Knight, director of the Florida Highway Patrol. Interstate 10 was closed from Sanderson, Florida, eastward to Live Oak.

      "If you don't have to travel, we simply ask that you don't," Knight advised. "It is gridlock. You will be sitting on the interstate."

      Several crashes involving injuries occurred before the freeways were shut down, he said.

      The Florida Highway Patrol intermittently reopened sections Saturday afternoon to relieve traffic snarls as some of the smoke cleared. However, the roads remained officially closed.

      Traffic from the heavily traveled interstates was being diverted onto alternate routes where visibility was better.

      Restaurants, gas stations and other businesses closed in the Lake City area because people couldn't get to them, Knight said.

     Atlanta (Newsweek) - "Enter Grady Memorial Hospital's ER and your senses come under attack. Mangled, blood-coated bodies lie in the trauma bays. Shrieks of pain pierce the din. Rank smells curdle the air, released by flesh that has been battered, gashed and infected. The place throbs with frenzied, unrelenting activity. Hospital workers race about, struggling to prioritize patients, leavening the mood with sardonic cracks. Just when it seems the staff can't be pushed any further, paramedics burst in with another critical patient, setting off yet another spasm of mayhem.

      To get a closer look at Grady's inner workings, a NEWSWEEK reporter and photographer spent five days in the ER last summer. Such access is rare, and NEWSWEEK agreed not to publish the names of patients—or photograph them in identifiable fashion—unless they agreed to it and signed releases. The portrait that emerged was disconcerting. Like many ERs across the country, Grady's is perilously near collapse. The reasons are familiar: cutbacks in funding, a growing pool of uninsured people, and an older and sicker population that requires more costly treatment, among others. Grady has been sending distress signals for years, but those warnings are now direr than ever. The facility is losing $3 million per month. It's 120 days behind in paying some creditors. And it almost failed to meet payroll in March. To put it simply, the hospital cannot survive much longer in its current state. Were it to shut down, the impact on Atlanta and the surrounding area would be devastating. What follows is the account of one revealing, and utterly routine, night..."