Cash Strapped Americans Turning In Small Change To Banks To Pay Bills

One sad new commentary on the continued economic problems that the recession is creating for many families is the recent big increase of many Americans now turning in small change like pennies, nickels and dimes to banks for cash to pay bills. Many banks now note twice as much small change traffic compared to only months ago. Meanwhile two states, Oregon and Washington noted increases in May unemployment statistics. Oregon's unemployment increased to 12.4%, the largest number recorded since 1976 when modern new methods to figure unemployment were employed. In Washington, based on the huge decline in construction work, unemployment statistics increased to 9.4%. Both states noted a 0.3% increase in unemployment figures since last month, clearly indicating that unemployment problems tend to be only worsening despite attempts by the states and the Federal government to stimulate the economy. Further, on Wall Street there appears to be some signs of investor discouragement as well, with the markets retreating both business days. Whether this signals just a market correction, or genuine concern that the economy is barely improving are all real concerns.

It is known that unemployment tends to historically trend six months behind the economy. However, in the U.S. many economic trends continue to lag while some segments in nations such as China continue to improve. In China, the automobile market looks strong, and manufacturing seems to be rebounding somewhat.

Ahmadinejad's Coup

When it looked certain that he would lose last weekend's rigged presidential election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did just about everything humanly possible to rig the vote in his favor. In all there were around 40,000 polling places, however at least 14,000 of these were mobile ones there were supposed to be in independent locations such as hospitals, but instead were moved into police stations and military bases so that government forces aligned with Ahmadinejad could easily identify opponents of his regime. Further, there were no polling booths or an opportunity to cast a secret ballot, as the polling officials were aware of how each voter voted and often filled out the ballot for the voter. Further millions of voters were functionally illiterate, not able to read or write well enough to fill out their own ballots, so polling officials aligned with the Ahmadinejad regime of course filled out these ballots as well. Further, despite the complete absence of voting machines to count votes, somehow the Ahmadinejad government claimed that all 40 million ballots cast were somehow counted only two hours after the polls were closed. Ahmadinejad was also allowed to bribe many poor voters with the gift of 400,000 pounds of free potatoes that were distributed right before the vote took place, pretty much in exchange for their votes. The fact of the matter is this election was a complete farce. It is also likely that Ahmadinejad has enough political alliances among the ruling religious leaders such as Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei that he is making himself president for life of Iran, where elections are now only a mere window dressing.

Today Ahmadinejad is in Russia, seeking to strengthen his alliances there. Further, Ahmadinejad could attempt to become a player in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which has pulled together the powers of China, Russia, India and Brazil as four emerging powers to act as a counterweight to NATO or other Western political or military alliances. Ahmadinejad could be seeking the protections of this alliance to allow his regime to build a force of nuclear weapons and to resist pressures from Washington and Israel to abandon this dangerous program. Further, Iran could forge new business opportunities abroad in these nations, giving it new finances to afford a huge military buildup as well as buying off some of the frustrations of the upper class of Iran who supported the broader looking trade values of moderate candidate Mousavi.

The hardline religious leaders such as Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei recognize that Iran could be subject to some sort of military attack from Israel's hardline Netanyahu government which now has a majority backing among the Israeli population in a current poll to attack Iran if it has nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad's gestures towards Russia and China give the country more time to stall while it attempts to build better missiles and to develop some sort nuclear weapon and to make that weapons small enough to fit on those missiles.

The fact of the matter is that it looks like nothing will get in the way of removing Ahmadinejad from power. Further, it appears that nothing will prevent Ahmadinejad and his religious allies among the ruling religious council from seeking a nuclear weapons arsenal. And nothing may prevent Israel from from eventual war with Iran, even though it really lacks the conventional weapons to fight such a war, and would likely quickly be forced towards using nuclear weapons or even worse, sucking in the United States to clean up their mess that would make Iraq look like an ice cream social by comparison. Right now there are no good options to look for or to hope for. Iran is in the process of creating a huge future world crisis that a free election with a win by moderate Mousavi might could have avoided.

All of this leaves Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his supporters in an interesting position. On one hand they must appear as loyal to the religious ruling elements and the Muslim faith, while merely opposing the dictatorship of Ahmadinejad and his clearly fraudulent election. Mr. Mousavi brings together the same important elements of the youth voters, the well educated, the middle and upper classes of Iran, and this coalition needs to figure a way to wrest power from a powerful military and police machine run by Ahmadinejad, which is quick to use violence to suppress dissent.

Mr. Mousavi probably needs to look to the example of how Boris Yeltsin was able to speak for and represent the Democratic elements as they sought ways to wrest power from the Soviet ruling machine of government, military and police. Mr. Mousavi is probably as close to a true Iranian democrat as can be found at this point in Iranian society. He is also the best hope to bring some semblance of democracy and civil liberties to this nation and to possiby avoid a major war with Israel at some point in the future by lowering international tensions.

(Interestingly, the Western spelling of Mir-Hossein Mousavi's translation of his last name is a matter of some debate in the English speaking world. In a previous column, I relied on another common English spelling of Mousavi spelled yesterday as Moussavi. The spelling as "Mousavi" appears to be most commonly used, however either spelling appears to be acceptable because of the problems in translating Persian into English).

The Huge Obstacles To Mideast Peace

This weekend's rigged election in Iran as well as the roadblocks thrown up by both the Israeli government and by the Palestinians only all too well prove the major obstacles to real Mideast peace.

In Iran, it was pretty clear that the religious theocratic dictatorship was wary of losing control to a relative social and political moderate who might weaken their control over Iran's population and rigged the election for a win by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad quickly moved to bring out near martial law sanctions against political rivals and protesters by bringing out goon squads of loyal police units to beat protesters and to make mas arrests of some political rivals and even some Western reporters. In an post-election interview to CNN's Christiniane Amanpour, Ahmadinejad ominously even refused to even guarantee the safety of moderate opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mossavi. In a phony bid to quiet the violence, one major cleric promised to possiby have the election results examined for fraud reports. Moussavi had as much as a 58% to 60% lead in most pre-election polls, however only supposedly garnered less than 40% of the vote on election day suggesting widespread vote count fraud. Amazingly, with the total absense of voting machine in Iran, the Ahmadinejad government claimed that 40 million ballots that needed to be hand counted were all counted and Ahmadinmejad proclaimechimself as the winner. The fact of the matter is that few if any ballots were ever counted by the Ahmadienjad government. Ahmadinjad's government also declared themselves to be victors among areas where he was highly unpopular such as among higher educated voters, more affluent voters and the young.

In Israel, both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterparts continue to throw up huge barriers to any eventual two-state solution to the long running conflict creating since the 1948 war that created the modern state of Israel. One major issue is security. Israel is only 11 mile wide in it's most narrow point, and with a growing population of immigrants from around the world settling into little Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu continue to allow new Israeli settlements to ruin and complicate any chances for a two-sate peace settlement. Further, neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority seem to really prevent radical Palestinians from acquiring rockets or other dangerous arms to send into parts of Israeli towns and cities.

Further, the immense corruption in both the Israeli and Palestinian governments make it very difficult to arrive at an honest peace. Neither corrupt government can be fully trusted. Palestinian officials have a long history of stealing aid from the United States and other countries. And the corrupt government of Binyamin Netanyahu who only narrowly escaped arrest for corruption charges once before, has only replaced the previous government voted out of office due to massive corruption. Neither the Palestinian or Israeli governments are trustworthy or honest governments, where any peace agreement would likely be broken faster than the ink could possiby dry.

But the most serious issue of all remains the issue of Jerusalem. While the city is currently considered as an international city, usually with a Palestinian leadership city council and mayor, the Palestinians like to claim this city as their own and want it to be the capital city for their own nation. However, the city of Jerusalem really has little historical connection to the Muslim faith despite the building of the Al-Asqa Mosque in the city. While the Muslim faith may trace it's roots to around 612A.D. after the prophet Mohammed when he claimed to receive a call from the Angel Gabriel and organized about 40 followers into the beginning of that faith, the fact of the matter is that the ancient remains of Israeli settlements have been unearthed around Jerusalem that date back as far as 10,500 where grain stores and evidence of permanent settlements have been discovered by archaeologists in the area. According to evidence uncovered by archaeologists, real proof of the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Judea and Samaria with Jerusalem as the capital city exist, while the Koran itself makes no mention at all of the city of Jerusalem. During a conquest by the Roman army, Jews lost control of this city as it was put under the control of Rome.

The fact of the matter is that it is highly unlikely that the religious leadership will give up their theocratic dictatorship control in Iran and allow the young people, middle class, upper class or highly educated to establish a modern democracy there. This leadership will keep a lackey like Ahmadinjad in power and still pursue nuclear weapons. And in Israel, massive corruption among both the Israeli and Palestinian political leadership, serious security issues, as well as Jerusalem only damn any good chances for peace. The Mideast is a real powder-keg in search of someone to throw a match to blow the area into conflict.

Sarah Palin Controversy Helping David Letterman's Ratings

The controversy with Sarah Palin seems to be only helping David Letterman win his ratings war over Conan O'Brien who recently took over the TONIGHT SHOW from Jay Leno. Conan's ratings have softened considerably since his huge debut a week ago. With better big name guests such as friends like Julia Roberts as guests, and an aggressive new CBS advertising campaign as well as his new spat with wacky Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, David Letterman seems to be moving out in front of Conan O'Brien many night last week, and could cement his position as the winner of ratings most nights.

While Conan O'Brien still manages a few outrageous jokes meant to appeal to a younger and more hip audience than Letterman, Letterman's controversy with Sarah Palin has only made him look more edgy and cool. While many of Letterman's jokes are careful not to offend the censors and tread pretty carefully, a likely mistake by a writer for Letterman, mistook the younger daughter of Sarah Palin for the older one who had been involved in a long public unwed pregnancy scandal story. This mistake by a writer for Letterman gave Palin enough grounds to overreact and to paint herself as just the sort of radical Christian right feminist culture wars crusader as many feared her to be. For Sarah Palin, this radical image is damaging to most voters, but a real boost to David Letterman. The really smart thing that Letterman should do now is to continue to egg on Sarah Palin and have her make more crazy and disturbing comments because it only becomes ratings gold for Letterman and helps him win his ratings battle with Conan O'Brien.

Ahmadinejad Wins Rigged Election In Iran

Rioting broke out in Iran among many young voters and supporters of reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi who had been leading by a landslide in most every recent poll in Iran supposedly lost by a landslide to the far right incumbent leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Immediately many observers in the world press as well as many in Iran suspected widespread fraud in the election results. Equally disturbing was a statement by a ruling member of Islamic clerics who hold much of the control claiming the results were blessed by some sort of "divine" blessing.

The fact of the matter, with a widespread crackdown in civil liberties in Iran, as well as public executions to promote a climate of fear on the part of the Ahmadinejad regime, as well as a very poor economy, many in Iran desperately wanted change. Further many were fearful that Ahmadinejad could ignite a nuclear war with Israel that could cost millions of lives. On the Internet, with things such as Facebook, reformer Mousavi had all the buzz among many in Iran. All of this leads many to believe that a group of religious hardliners as well members of the Ahmadinejad government rigged the election results because they felt that Mousavi was too liberal and did not share their intense and extreme view of the Muslim faith.

Based on the intelligence information available to the Obama Administration, the administration condemned the claimed outcome as "not credible", strongly suggesting that the vote appeared to be largely manipulated compared to internal CIA and State Department information.

And in Israel, the claimed landslide vote as well as the likely vote manipulation only helped to further reaffirm that Ahmadinejad is a dangerous dictator and push the two countries closer to an eventual war.

About the only hope now is that mass rallies in Iran could bring down the government, much like the peaceful efforts in Eastern Europe brought down their Communist dictatorship governments. However, the fact that many in Iran are involved in rock throwing or other acts of violence, and that riot police are responding with force only invites a tough crackdown on civil liberties by the Ahmadinejad regime. Only through peaceful mass protests or work strikes can Iranians force the Ahmadinejad regime from power and help to establish a truly democratic state with free speech and open and honest elections. Any violence must immediately stop, replaced with peaceful protests.

A former UK ambassador to Iran, has warned that violent street protests would be seen as a coup attempt in Iran, and would be quickly crushed by the Ahmadinejad government in an attempt to hold on to power. And while reformist candidate Mousavi refuses to concede the election, he must be careful to warn his followers to peacefully and orderly protest the outcome and avoid a massive police or military crackdown or a declaration of martial law in the country. However, the entire situation is nearly identical to the times when dictators in the Philippines attempted to hold on to power through rigged elections or phony results.

Sarah Palin's Partisan History Of Attacking David Letterman

Sarah Palin would sure like you to believe that she is outraged at some harmless joke told by David Letterman a few days ago that went like this: "One awkward moment at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriquez". The problem is that Sarah Palin has a history of complaining about jokes told by David Letterman including one joke told by Letterman claiming that Palin "bought makeup at Bloomingdales to update her slutty flight attendant look". Further, the audience laughed at David Letterman's joke about Alex Rodriquez, and some even laughed at how silly the Palin complaint matter is when Letterman attempted a clumsy, but probably somewhat sincere apology.

What likely happened was that some comedy writer for David Letterman likely mistook one Palin daughter for another. But the fact of the matter was that the joke was really aimed at the antics of Alex Rodriguez and not so much the Palins. Further, it is the Palins who have overreacted and brought in absurd claims of "rape" or "perversion" regarding their younger 14 year old daughter into their silly and insincere battle with Letterman.

All of this begs some questions about the real motivations of Sarah Palin here. It is a known fact that David Letterman has been a past Democratic Party donor, giving money to his friend, Al Franken, in his bid for the Minnesota Senate seat. However, rather than any real Democratic Party partisan, David Letterman mainly likes Al Franken as a friend and great comic wit. Yet, for Sarah Palin, all of her over the top attacks on Letterman could be largely politically motivated in an effort to attempt to bring him down. It could be part of a partisan political attack aimed at attempting to destroy Letterman's career much like some critics of Don Imus used some silly remark about a women's basketball team to ruin his career. It's a form of political censorship of the airwaves.

Sarah Palin also sure likes publicity. And it seems that for her there is no such thing as bad publicity. Palin might be attempting to gain some brownie points with the far right by attacking a popular comic of the claimed "liberal media". However, Palin's whole battle with Letterman only further marginalizes her as a candidate for kooks. Palin apparently just isn't intelligent enough to realize that making her poor parenting skills, allowing her unmarried daughter to become pregnant outside of wedlock is a very campaign issue to supposedly carry her to the White House. Palin also just doesn't seem to realize that a candidate far worse than Dan Quayle has zero chance of ever being elected president.

The more that Sarah Palin drags out her feud with David Letterman, the more silly she looks. Politicians gain a lot more respect such as John McCain, Bob Dole or others when they would appear on late night talk shows and prove that they have a great sense of self-deprecating humor. The humorless Palin is looking pretty bad here.

David Letterman is a great guy. America loves him. Palin is a far less lovable figure, especially as her insincere politically motivated complaints drone on and on.

President Bush 41 Plans Skyjump to Celebrate 85th Birthday

President George Herbert Walker Bush plans to celebrate his 85th birthday with a sky-jump from his home in Kennebunkport, Maine. During WWII, the young Bush was one of the youngest pilots of that war at just 18 years of age after joining the Navy. In a heroic act, despite his plane on fire due to intense flak fire, he completed the bombing mission of a Japanese military installation on the Island of Chicijimi, which is 150miles North of Iwo Jima.

During the war, Bush flew a total of 58 combat missions, far more than many pilots of the war who only flew around 25 missions or even less if they lost lost their lives in combat.

It took intense bravery for such a young man like the 18 year old Bush to continue to attack Japanese military targets with his plane engine on fire from the ground Japanese flak fire. And during the war, many such stories of intense bravery exist. President Bush deserves high praise for his military service to this country and to enjoy a very happy 85th birthday sky-jump.