The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.


1.Please look at the following economic statistics. Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey and Iowa all have strongly improving employment rates and job growth.  All these States have cut taxes, trimmed state budgets and regulations, and, in some cases,  challenged labor unions. All these states are led by Republican Governors. PG: No amount of spin can change these facts.


2.Robert Wood, acting head of the US mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told the IAEA's 35-nation board that Iran had produced enough low-enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons if refined further to high levels. "Iran has actually accelerated its production of low-enriched uranium," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement. "There appears no immediate peaceful need for such stockpiles or for such an acceleration of the program, and we would note that this quantity of low-enriched uranium is enough for several nuclear weapons if further enriched to higher levels." PG: Obama appears to have his head in the clouds.


3.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on June 7 condemned a reported mass killing near Hama and said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad needs to step down from power and leave Syria, Reuters reported. The United States will work with all members of the U.N. Security Council, Clinton said, on a conference over Syria's future. The conference would have to start with the premise that democratic government would replace al Assad, she said, adding that "we are disgusted by what we are seeing." PG: Clearly Hillary hasn't  learned a thing from her blundering boss. Closer to the truth might be that the Clinton Foundation is supported by Saudi funds and it is a major Saudi interest to see Assad go. Democracy? Really? After all that has happened.....


4.The US and Israel have agreed to boost their cooperation in the field of cyber warfare, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Counter-Terrorism Bureau Director Eitan Ben David met on Tuesday with Ambassador-at-Large Dan Benjamin, who heads the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism. The officials agreed that cyber experts from both countries would meet regularly. PG: The world will never be the same again. Brainpower emanating from free economies will lead the way.


5. Governor Scott Walker shocked the Dems and Peggy Noonan in the WSJ says: Down the road there will be fewer contracts in which you work for, say, 23 years for a city, then retire with full salary and free health care for the rest of your life—paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such plans for themselves, and who sometimes have no pension at all. The big meaning of Wisconsin is that a public injustice is in the process of being righted because a public mood is changing. PG: Never a truer word. 


6.PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii –  The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Monday the Navy will be sending its most advanced vessels and aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region as it builds up its presence by assigning most of its fleet there. Adm. Cecil Haney said a policy recently outlined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to deploy 60 percent of the Navy's ships fleet to the Pacific by 2020 is about capabilities as well as quantity. PG: We find the move out of the Middle East and into the Asia-pacific region to be a major indicator of where US priorities will lie in the not too distant future. And it's not energy related!


7.Hong Kong should review its U.S. dollar peg and consider linking its currency to the renminbi, according to Joseph Yam, former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Mr. Yam, who ran Hong Kong’s de facto central bank for 16 years until 2009, is the most influential person to suggest such a move. Ending the U.S. dollar peg after nearly three decades would be hugely symbolic as a sign of China’s increasing economic dominance in Asia. PG: Sign of the times.


8.Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro. Bankers said up to 800 million euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election. PG: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what European social democracy has led to. One must be really naive to think that Barak Obama is any different. 


9.The California congressman who's made the plight of jailed Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi a personal cause said Monday he's concerned the case has fallen off the radar screen -- and that without U.S. intervention, the man credited with helping track Usama bin Laden will be left to "suffer in a dungeon."  Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., was among the many U.S. officials outraged last month after Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison. PG: We have news for you congresswoman, As far as Obama is concerned, Afridi has served his election purpose and can be left to rot in a dungeon. The man was outed by a leak to the NY Times...one of the many leaks that the White House denies they sourced. 


10.When you see the X-ray, you cannot help but cringe and hope something like this never, ever, happens to you. A three-foot long steel shaft with stainless steel tips, shot from a spear-gun, perfectly stuck in a teenager’s skull, entering one inch above his right eye, through his brain, and exiting the back of his head.  Read more http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/19/florida-teen-survives-spear-through-head/?test=latestnews 



Demagogue definition: A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.