Jim Ball -Sydney's No.1 Overnight Broadcaster - 12- 5 am

Moody's and the International Rating Agencies

(29Nov04) The rating companies give an opinion of the creditworthiness of a company, municipality or nation 'From their Manhattan offices, they can, with the stroke of a pen, effectively add or subtract millions from a company's bottom line, rattle a city budget, shock the stock and bond markets and reroute international investment. Without their ratings, in many cases, factories can't expand, schools can't get built, highways can't be paved. Yet there is no formal structure for overseeing the credit raters, no one designated to take complaints about them, and no regulations about employee qualifications'. The rating companies are free to set their own rules and practices, which sometimes leads to abuse, according to many people inside and outside the industry. At times, credit raters have gone to great lengths to convince a corporation that it needs their ratings - even rating it against its wishes, as in the Hannover case. But is an 'an unsolicited rating a form of coercion to earn fees ' ? Credit Raters' Power Leads to Abuses, Some Borrowers Say appeared in the Washington Post 24th November 2004. In other cases, the credit raters have strong-armed clients by threatening to withdraw their ratings - a move that can raise a borrower's interest payments. In this series of articles in the Washington Post, staff writer Alec Klein exposes the dealings of the allegedly reputable firms and how 'the world's big three credit raters - Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings - have become some of the most important gatekeepers in capitalism without the commensurate oversight or accountability.' Credit Raters Exert International Influence and Smoothing the Way for Debt Markets November 23rd and Borrowers Find System Open to Conflicts, Manipulation November 22th.

Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté

(28Nov04) “….This specifically Dutch tragedy was created by good intentions combined with false assumptions about the human, social and political realities of cultural difference.….Certain illusions about the nature of man were - and are - promoted. People in the West want to continue to believe in these illusions, despite all that history has done to disprove them.” writes William Pfaff in Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté

Why We Are In Iraq

(28Nov04) “….Treason is really not that difficult to define. Treason is when your country is at war and you want the other side to win….The root cause of the division in this war, as in the war in Vietnam , is a left that is alienated from our national purpose. It is a left that in the Cold War gave moral and political support to our Communist enemies and in this war has entered an unholy alliance with radical Islam.” writes David Horowitz in Why We Are In Iraq “ ….How is it possible that people who think of themselves as advocates of social justice can lend aid and comfort to Islamic radicals who behead people and blow women's heads off with AK-47s when they are suspected of having sexual relations outside of marriage? How can self-styled progressives embrace these people? They embrace them under the logic that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and their enemy is the United States .”

Identifying Moderate Muslims.

(28Nov04) There is good news and bad news in this piece by Daniel Pipes Identifying Moderate Muslims.
“….There are lots of fake-moderates parading about, and they can be difficult to identify, even for someone like me who devotes much attention to this topic. The brand-new Progressive Muslim Union wins rave reviews for its alleged moderation from gullible journalists, despite much of its leadership (Salam Al-Marayati, Sarah Eltantawi, Hussein Ibish, Ali Abunimah) being well-known extremists.”

Death By Numbers .

(21Nov04) Do the math yourself…Crunch the numbers in this Andrew Bolt piece Death By Numbers .  This is a classic case of G.I.G.O.…(ie) Garbage In Garbage Out. “….If the Lancet survey of its residents is right and one in six people have been killed since the invasion, then nearly 50,000 residents died violently even before this month's fighting. If we assume that the American casualty rates of seven wounded for one dead apply to civilians, too, then more people have been killed and wounded in Fallujah than actually live there.”

Kofi Annan and the insanity of international law

(17Nov04) “….Moral equivalence is the hallmark of the United Nations.  Equating American troops with Arab terrorists is child's play for an organization that places Sudan on the Human Rights Commission.  Listening to a human rights organization that includes Sudan lecturing American troops on war crimes is somewhat like listening to Ted Bundy lecturing Mother Teresa on acts of violence.” Kofi Annan and the insanity of international law - Ben Shapiro (townhall.com 17 Nov 2004)

Mosques and Miracles

(17Nov04) Mosques and Miracles provides an excellent overview of Islam. There are startling revelations as Robinson documents Muslim strategy to reach out and convert the world.

Officials praise Arafat as 'jihad' warrior

(17Nov04) Tigers and stripes...Leopards and spots   Surprise, surprise....... "Following announcement of the death of Yasser Arafat last Thursday, Palestinian officials and leaders spoke candidly in Arabic-language television interviews of their continued commitment to "jihad," or holy war, and the elimination of Israel. Officials praise Arafat as 'jihad' warrior -WorldNetDaily.com Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Mini clash of civilizations

(16Nov04 ) “….It was such Dutch tolerance, pragmatism and guilt about the country's colonial past that allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Muslim Indonesia (a Dutch colony from the 17th century until World War II) to flood into tiny Holland . Today, Muslims are a majority among children under 14 in the Netherlands ' four largest cities. Some 30,000 new Muslims arrive every year….” Mini clash of civilizations By Arnaud de Borchgrave The Washington Times Published November 15, 2004

The Death of the Dutch

(14Nov04 ) The Death of the Dutch- By Stephen Brown FrontPageMagazine.com November 12, 2004 -Earlier this year, the Dutch government became the first Western state to admit that the multicultural experiment, the biggest socialist fraud ever to be foisted on countries since the Soviet one, is a colossal failure. According to the report, between 70 and 80 per cent of Dutch-born immigrants, mostly from Morocco and Turkey , refuse to intermarry with native-born Dutch and are importing their spouses from their home countries. Ironically, it is the emphasis Dutch governments have placed on multiculturalism that has helped lead to its inevitable downfall.

Arafat

(14Nov04 ) The Arafat Files - a selection of articles

Jim's Kokoda Trek trip.

(14Nov04 ) Jim's Kokoda Trek trip. You don't need to have have 'Powerpoint' in order to watch this presentation-you can go to this Microsoft site to download a FREE Powerpoint Viewer to install on your computer to keep and use to enjoy this and any other powerpoint presentation.

Let us all pray

If you ever needed proof that the Victoria Equal Opportunity Commission was just another discrimination and victim-hood industry touting for business, this Andrew Bolt piece Let us all pray (Sun Herald -14th November) about the VEOC and it's efforts to entrap the likes of Daniel Scott, confirms that their real objective is PC thought control.

Multiculturalism Starts Losing Its Luster

(7Nov04 )Reality has a way of revenging itself upon the frivolous and September 11 has seemingly concentrated minds a little. Some signs indicate that in Blairite Britain the pieties of multiculturalism, for years an official orthodoxy, are beginning to face a challenge. Multiculturalism Starts Losing Its Luster by Theodore Dalrymple

For other interesting features be sure to visit October 2004