A Jordanian interior ministry source said one of the four injured when a rocket exploded near a five-star hotel in Aqaba, later died from his injuries.

There was no word of casualties in the adjacent Israeli port and holiday resort of Eilat, police said. Aqaba and Eilat lie on the narrow northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, an extension of the Red Sea, with Sinai stretching west and south of Eilat.

Jordanian Minister of State Ali al-Ayed said the kingdom would continue its “fight against terrorists who undertake callous attacks that targets innocent people.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres condemned the rocket fire and said Israel and Jordan, who made peace in 1994, were “partners in the uncompromising struggle to eradicate terrorism.”

“There is a real struggle in the Middle East between the peace camp of moderate countries and the camp of extremists, who want to sabotage any chance for peace,” Peres said.

Asked where the Aqaba rocket was fired from, the Jordanian source said without elaborating: “It came from the west.” Experts were investigating the site to find out where the short-range rocket had been launched, he said.

Egyptian security sources were quoted by the state news agency as saying rockets could not have been fired from Sinai since the largely empty, desert region was very mountainous.

“The only missiles that can be fired from Sinai are mortars which can pass over these heights,” General Abdel Fadeel Shousha, governor of South Sinai, said adding the area such an operation would require open space.

EXPLOSION BY BEACH

Aqaba resident Ibrahim Salymehin said he heard one loud blast and when he arrived at the scene he saw at least three injured men taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance.

A crowd gathered near the scene of the explosion several hundred meters away from a five-star hotel close to the beach.

“We saw the wreckage of a taxi which was burned, and fragmented metal scattered around the area that was cordoned off by police,” another Aqaba resident, Abdullah Yashin Rawashdehd, told Reuters.

Eilat District Police Commander Moshe Cohen told Israel Radio that his forces were still trying to confirm that five explosions heard in the morning had been caused by shelling.

Two of the suspected rockets or mortar bombs appeared to have landed in the sea, while another hit Aqaba, he said.

“It’s a little early to say, but it is reasonable to assume that it came from the southern area,” he said, referring to neighboring Egypt, whose Sinai Peninsula has suffered occasional violence attributed to Islamist militants.

A police spokesman later said the remains of one rocket was found in Eilat and was being examined by bomb experts.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the rocket salvo was a “deplorable action” intended to undermine direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Asked if Washington knew who was behind the attacks, Crowley told a news briefing: “There are armed elements here that want to see the conflict continue. They have used these tactics before and we’re not surprised that they are using them again.”

At least one rocket struck Aqaba on April 22, causing no casualties. Amman said the rocket had been fired from outside Jordan and Israeli media said Sinai was a possible launch point.

In 2005, rockets were fired at U.S. warships in Aqaba but missed their target and killed a Jordanian soldier on land. A group claiming links to al Qaeda said it was behind the attack.

Two years later, a Palestinian suicide bomber infiltrated through Sinai and killed three people at a bakery in Eilat, which lies on Israel’s southern tip and has only rarely been touched by the Middle East conflict.

Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab states to have full peace treaties with Israel. Those relations were frayed by Israel’s crackdown a decade ago on a Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Democracy Marcy – Then again to heck with the Middle East as perhaps the time is now to let the entire region collapse so we can move onto the next phase of ridding the world of evil. William Michael

Over the years many “Great Enlightenment” thinkers have been changed or removed from textbooks. Was this about Thomas Jefferson, or John Calvin? I offer the opinion that this change was about John Calvin, and the hatred that many have towards any type of right centered religion. Yet, as a teacher of American Literature, I would like to point out that the Enlightenment period was about searching out different ways of thought and religious styles and that included, yes, Calvinistic thought. I am pretty positive that the few paragraphs on John Calvin in the new textbook are not going to cause a religious revival. They will, however, provide a different way of thinking, a new enlightened way of thought, for students to agree or disagree with, not to be conformed by.

Thomas Jefferson is my hero. He is my favorite character in history. I hope I never see the day we completely remove this founding father from our children’s textbooks. But, I also hope I never see the day where we stop looking at what is best for our kid’s, in what they are learning from the textbooks they are forced to read.

Andrea Millhouse is a content writer for Online Schools and Online MBA who gives advice on the pursuit of education and living a healthy life. She also is a contributing writer for a site that helps students determine the best online nursing program for them. In her free time she enjoys hanging out with her kids and planning lunch dates with her friends. Andrea loves to read any great book and is hooked on politics. You can find her at a Borders anytime she is not with her kids.

Andrea Millhouse of Online PhD:

The commission probing allegations that the Justice Department wrongly abandoned a case against the New Black Panther Party has formally called for a federal investigation into claims that the department’s Civil Rights Division will not pursue black defendants.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the chairman of the bipartisan commission said testimony last week from an ex-Justice official raised “grave questions” about whether the division is “color blind” in its enforcement of the law.

“This testimony raised serious concerns as to whether the Civil Rights Division’s enforcement policies are being pursued in a race-neutral fashion and further calls into question the department’s decision to change course in the New Black Panther Party litigation,” Chairman Gerald Reynolds wrote.

Former Justice attorney J. Christian Adams testified last week before the commission that his former employer not only abandoned the Black Panther voter intimidation case for racial reasons, but had instructed attorneys in the division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims.

Perez told the panel in May to bring any such claims “to our attention” if there’s evidence — Reynolds wrote Wednesday that in light of the testimony, the Justice Department should follow up.

Reynolds also voiced concern about the Justice Department’s “intransigence” in providing witnesses to testify and urged the department to allow former voting section chief Christopher Coates to appear before the panel. Adams repeatedly said last week that Coates’ testimony would be critical to the investigation.

The probe stems from an incident on Election Day in 2008 in Philadelphia, where members of the New Black Panther Party were videotaped in front of a polling place dressed in military-style uniforms and allegedly hurling racial slurs while one brandished a night stick.

The Bush Justice Department brought the first case against three members of the group, accusing them in a civil complaint of violating the Voter Rights Act. The Obama administration initially pursued the case, winning a default judgment in federal court in April 2009 when the Black Panther members did not appear in court. But then the administration moved to dismiss the charges the following month after getting one of the New Black Panther members to agree to not carry a “deadly weapon” near a polling place until 2012.

Malik Zulu Shabazz, chairman of the party, told Fox News last week that the actions caught on video “were outside of organizational policy” and that the party does not “condone” the behavior. But he said the issue was being “overblown.”

The Justice Department said in a statement last week that the Civil Rights Division determined “the facts and the law did not support pursuing claims” against the two other defendants and denied Adams’ allegations.

Democracy March Editor’s Notes -

Perhaps it’s time to create new solutions as the solutions of the recent past are not working.  At some point when an individual, family, or business realize there is no longer any money nor is their the ability to obtain credit that it is perhaps wise to file for bankruptcy.  At some point we need to stop spending, stop relying on the federal government and bring back the power to the local economy.

This is an interesting article.  What do you think?

By Emily Kaiser

WASHINGTON | Sun Jul 11, 2010 3:03pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve’s list of worries may be getting longer.

A fading recovery, persistently high unemployment, Europe’s debt troubles and commercial real estate losses have garnered most of the attention. But some Fed officials have begun talking more about another trouble zone — recession-hit U.S. state and local government finances.

The problem is that they have to balance their budgets, unlike the federal government, which is running a deficit equal to more than 10 percent of total economic output.

“They have no choice but to cut spending or raise taxes — or they get some more help from Washington,” said Harm Bandholz, an economist with Unicredit in New York.

He thinks state and local government finances represent the most important domestic risk factor in the U.S. economy. Yet they received only two brief mentions in 19 pages of minutes from the Fed’s April policy-setting meeting.

Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting, on June 22-23, set for release on Wednesday, are likely to show the central bank trimmed its economic growth forecast, largely because of a run of disappointing data and fears of a European slowdown.

Bandholz said the Fed may be reluctant to say much more about state and local government budgets because that would involve treading into the realm of fiscal policy, which is the Treasury Department’s responsibility.

But they may draw more attention as the problem gets worse. Next year’s state and local government budget gap is expected to reach $140 billion, or a little more than 1 percent of gross domestic product. Considering economists expect GDP growth of only about 3 percent next year, that is a substantial hit.

In the first quarter of 2010, the most recent period for which full data is available, state and local governments subtracted 0.5 percentage point from gross domestic product. That was equal to the reduction from commercial real estate, a primary area of concern for the Fed.

(For a graphic on the GDP drag, see link.reuters.com/jyj76m)

The Fed may get more evidence this week that the economy stumbled into the summer. Economists are predicting weak U.S. June retail sales and a small decline in industrial output.

Also on this week’s agenda is a batch of Chinese statistics, including second-quarter GDP, which is forecast to slow to a still-hot 10.5 percent from 11.9 percent.

GETTING WORSE

Government budget cuts weigh on economic growth because they can lead to job losses and spending reductions, as well as higher taxes that constrain consumer and business spending. In the first quarter, state and local governments reduced spending at a 3.9 percent rate, the steepest drop since 1981.

“This situation is our nation’s very immediate analog of the public finance pressures being felt in Europe,” Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed, said in a June 30 speech, one of a smattering of recent Fed references to state and local government budgets.

It is likely to become a bigger drag over the next 18 months. As part of last year’s $863 billion stimulus package, the federal government gave money to help close state and local budget gaps. But the transfer payments peaked in the second quarter of last year and are running out.

This is evident in the GDP figures. In the second quarter of last year, when stimulus money flowed in, state and local governments added a half-point to U.S. economic output.

Second-quarter 2010 GDP figures won’t be released until the end of July, but judging from the 34,000 jobs state and local governments cut over that period, it appears this segment once again subtracted from overall growth.

The Fed seems to be watching.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco published a research paper on “fiscal crises of the states” in late June, less than a week after the Fed’s last policy meeting. (here)

In the paper, Fed researchers said both the central bank and private economists had factored the budget squeeze into their forecasts and considered it a “modest drag on growth.” But they showed little concern that this would be enough to derail the shaky economic recovery.

“Historically, the health of the national economy determines the health of state finances, not the other way around,” they wrote.

Some economists see a more serious problem. Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust in Chicago, lowered his economic growth forecast for the rest of this year, in part because of the worsening condition of state and local budgets.

Goldman Sachs’s Jan Hatzius said his 2011 economic growth forecast may be in jeopardy if states receive no more fiscal assistance from Washington.

“The point is that a tightening of the overall fiscal stance at a time when the economy is already struggling … is a bad idea,” he said.

Food security; tip you and your family need to know

Food security is a subject we all need to start thinking more about. What would happen if a economic crises were to happen and money was no longer of any worth and as a result the ways we normally get food were to come to a slamming halt? How would you and/or your family eat?

To begin you must start learning how to grow food whether from your home, apartment, condo or wherever. A good first start is herb gardening that will teach you the basics.

Herb gardening is a great hobby for people who love to garden but have limited space, or for people who love fresh herbs. It is possible to have a terrific herb garden virtually anywhere.

Anyone interested in herb gardening should start to research the various types of herbs you can grow, how much room they require, how quickly they grow, the amount of light they need and the amount of water. If you are gardening in a confined area, you will want to plan your herb garden based on herbs that have the same requirements for sunlight and water.

Many herb gardeners grow their wonderful herbs in a container or other confined area which makes it a perfect type of gardening for virtually anywhere. This is a great opportunity to keep your green thumb in practice even if you live in a large city or other area that does not provide you with enough room for a larger garden.

As you research the herbs you want to grow in your herb garden you will learn about their flavors and perhaps even their medicinal uses. Many people use herbs as homeopathic remedies and maintain an herb garden for that reason. Other herbs can keep certain insects away and others are grown simply because they look great.

How and why you choose the specific herbs for your herb garden will be completely up to you, it is a good idea to put some though and consideration into it, but even if you just chance and decide to randomly choose herbs to grow, you can have a great herb garden. You may grow only herbs in your garden or may combine the herbs with other small plants, every decision is up to you as you plan you’re her garden.

You will want to invest in the right tools for herb gardening. Large shovels and other gardening tools will not work well for a small garden like an herb garden. Herb gardening requires more delicate tools and many companies make gardening equipment specifically for herb gardening.

Also you will need either outddor planters and/or indoor planters. If you need a outdoor planter and/or indoor planter they come in many different sizes. A great place to research the outdoor planters and/or indoor planters you may need ePlanters.com is a great first step, http://www.eplanters.com/.

Whether you are growing rosemary and thyme, or basil and parsley or any combination of herbs, make sure you have the soil ready for the herbs and that you read about what they need to grow and when is the best time to plant your herbs. You may also want to start to learn how to store herbs, dry herbs and freeze herbs so you can enjoy all the benefits of herb gardening.

If not now, then when?
DemocracyMarch.org

Check it out!

July 12th, 2010

100DollarDreams.com is launching a user friendly and secure seat auction website offering members what it describes as extraordinary items and real chances of winning.

100DollarDreams.com

100DollarDreams.com features a limited number of auctions on Friday nights with bidders competing for “big-ticket” items like cars and vacations. The price of admission to each auction is never more than $100. Each seat entitles the bidder to 20 bids to use at his or her discretion.

While hoping to provide a safe and exciting entertainment bidding experience is the number one goal of the Dreams organization, a close second is its aim to distinguish itself from the penny auction websites that have sprung up in recent years.

“We’re not in the business of peddling ipods and cookware in an attempt to make a profit,” says Dreams chairman Brian Heinz. “These are items that pretty much anyone can go out and buy without going broke.” Heinz points out, “100DollarDreams.com want to distinguish itself from other auction websites by offering cool and exciting products that people might only dream about buying.”

The 100DollarDreams.com auction rules are simple:

§ All auctions are limited to a certain number of seats announced before they go on sale;
§ Everyone who buys a seat gets 20 bids for that auction;
§ Once someone runs out of bids, they are out of the auction and cannot buy back in;
§ Everyone who places a bid has his or her screen name appear on screen for everyone to see.
Heinz credits this simple format with the appeal of 100DollarDreams, “No one likes to be intimidated by the unknown. With other auction sites, you don’t know how many others are bidding or how much they’re willing to stake. Our site puts everyone on the same playing field where only strategy and persistence will determine the outcome.”

100DollarDreams.com hopes that its “less is more,” “quality over quantity” approach will earn the loyalty of serious bidders looking for a seriously fun auction experience.

“Definitely check this out as this is a great opportunity”, says William Michael from DemocracyMarch.org

Eight years after it was begun, only 64 percent of the West Bank security barrier has been completed, according to numbers provided to The Jerusalem Post by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.In the last three years very little progress has been made toward the barrier’s completion – even though at one point, 2010 was the target year.

There is currently no date set by which the it is expected to be finished.

The barrier has inched forward by 70 km. since July 2007. At present, according to the Defense Ministry, 520 km. of the 810-km. route have been finished.

Last year at this time, the ministry said that 490 km. were finished. In 2007, it told the Post that 450 km. had been completed.

According to a Defense Ministry spokesman, the bulk of the work in the past year has focused on changes to already finished portions of the structure mandated by the High Court of Justice.

Additionally, work has been done to close holes in the fence in the Jerusalem area. The unfinished portions of the barrier are in four areas: Ma’aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, Ariel and a section by the Dead Sea.

The spokesman said sections of the barrier that are most important for security have been completed.

The Defense Ministry numbers varied somewhat from those provided on Wednesday by the United Nations. It published an 18-page report on the barrier in advance of the July 9 anniversary of the 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which said it was illegal for Israel to build a barrier in the West Bank.

According to the UN, 85% of the barrier’s route is located in the West Bank and only 15% is on the pre-1967 Green Line. Once completed, 9.4% of West Bank land will be on the “Israeli side” of the barrier, according to the UN.

For the third year in a row, the report has noted that progress on the barrier has been minimal.

According to the UN, work on new sections of the barrier has “almost completely halted.”

Completely new construction has occurred mostly in the Gush Etzion area just south of Jerusalem, and in east Jerusalem.

According to the UN report, 61.4% of the barrier is completed, 8.4% is under construction, and 30.1% is planned, but not built.

In the last year, Palestinians have continued to protest against the barrier in villages such as Bil’in and Ni’lin in the area of Modi’in Illit, and in Gush Etzion.

“Such protests often evolve into violent confrontations with Israeli forces and account, on average, for approximately 20% of the injuries recorded in the West Bank, in the period of July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010,” the UN report stated.

It added that, in the past year, “the Israeli authorities have intensified their campaign against these protests, employing night raids to detain organizers and prominent activists, and undercover units to arrest protesters during weekly demonstrations.”

But the bulk of the UN report focused on access issues, both for farmers who need to cross the barrier to reach their land, and for patients and staff who want to reach the hospitals in east Jerusalem that are located on the Israeli side of the barrier.

“There are 57 gates in the barrier which open on a daily seasonal or seasonal-weekly basis,” according to the report.

But the hours of operation, “are insufficient to allow farmers to carry out essential year-round agricultural activities, such as ploughing, pruning, fertilizing and pest and weed management, the report said.

It said that the number of permits issued to Palestinian farmers to access their farmland decreased in the northern West Bank from 2006 to mid-2009, but it did not provide data to back up the claim.

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2010 (Reuters) — The Pentagon acknowledged on Tuesday confusion over new rules guiding the U.S. military’s engagement with the media but said they would not create an “iron curtain” curtailing reporters’ access at a crucial moment in the unpopular Afghan war.

The rules, issued by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a July 2 memo and first reported by the New York Times over the weekend, follow the June 23 firing of the top U.S. general in Afghanistan over an explosive Rolling Stone magazine article.

Pentagon officials said the rules were in the works long before the publication of the article about General Stanley McChrystal, in which he and top aides made disparaging remarks about President Barack Obama and his civilian advisers.

But they acknowledged that the McChrystal debacle was an example of what Gates, in his memo, called a “lax” approach to engagement with the media.

Under the new rules, U.S. military and civilian defense officials must contact Gates’ public affairs office “prior to interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications.”

The Pentagon would be able to advise against engagements, officials said, raising concerns in the media that the rules would ultimately curtail access.

“It will not have a chilling effect. It will not be an iron curtain. It will not change substantially how people deal with the media,” said Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

Lapan said his office was also working to address uncertainty within the U.S. military over the new rules.

Pentagon public affairs officials say the Defense Department was given virtually no advance notice about the McChrystal article, which resulted in the biggest military shake-up of Obama’s presidency.

In the article, McChrystal made belittling remarks about Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. His aides were quoted calling White House national security adviser Jim Jones a “clown.”

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech)