86 Isn't Enough

This is another installment in my "corporate greed" rant...

As if reaching 86 year of age is not enough, a close friend of mine just got another present in her mail. The "present" was a little notice from Chase, saying that her APR (Annual Percentage Rate) was going up on her credit card. The bank cited that "We are sending you this notice to let you know that we will be making some changes to your credit card account in response to market conditions and to maintain profitability on your account." Basically, these changes amounted to raising her finance charge on current and future balances by 2.24 percent. That may, of course, not sound like much, but, on a balance over $1,000 and over the time of the "loan" it really adds up... Luckily, my friend has her current balance of just under $7,000 in one of those promo APRs card companies have been issuing lately. This one is zero percent for six months and and then raises after. Some luck, huh... My thought all along has been the credit cards are inherently evil anyway... They hide out in places such as South Dakota and Delaware because these are the main States that have either weak or no "usury laws" meaning there is no cap on the interest rate that is charged. Check the return address on your statement, you may notice your credit card issuer is located in a State such as South Dakota or Delaware. There is even a top ten list of States where credit card companies are located. The federal government once had national usury laws that set a cap on the amount of interest that could be charged on a loan. After the Great Depression, it repealed them and some States put no new usury laws in place. That's why Citibank, the issuer of Mastercard, moved to South Dakota, which has no cap on interest rates. See the map below.
More to come...
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Report, Korea News Service

Photo, Kim Jong Il

Just some interesting raw "news" from North Korea's KCNA news agency and Korea News Service (KNS) on how they are reporting about the present joint South Korean and USA military maneuvers. I guess the real news is all of the specific data they are including in this report.
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"KPA Supreme Command Orders All Its Servicepersons to Be Fully Combat Ready-
Pyongyang, March 9 (KCNA) -- The Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army released the following report on Monday as regards the madcap Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises for aggression kicked off by the gangster-like U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the puppet military of south Korea:

The joint military exercises to be staged from March 9 to 20 will reportedly involve more than 26,000 U.S. imperialist aggression troops present in south Korea and overseas and hundreds of thousands of troops including the army corps, fleet command and units as big as flying corps of the puppet army of south Korea, super-large nuclear-powered carrier George Washington and Stennis task force of the U.S. imperialist aggressor navy made up of four Aegis cruisers, seven destroyers and nuclear-powered subs.

Prior to the exercises, the U.S. imperialists brought 12 F-16 fighter bombers and more than 400 air force personnel to the Suwon air force base in south Korea from their mainland earlier than scheduled and deployed dozens of overseas-based various type aircraft including fighter bombers, pursuit assault planes, electronic jamming planes and refueling tankers in the Osan and Kunsan air force bases.

B-52Hs, B-2As and F-22As have been deployed on Guam and other places around the Korean Peninsula to be ready to promptly go into action.

The U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the south Korean puppet military more than doubled the period of the exercises as compared with that last year.

The exercises are something unprecedented in the number of the aggressor forces involved and in their duration. They are extremely adventurous ones for attack operation as they are characterized by arms buildup, infiltration into the rear, ground attack, coastal landing and surprise attack operations in contingency on the Korean Peninsula. They are, at the same time, a test war and nuclear war exercises for mounting surprise preemptive attacks on the DPRK from the land, sea and air.

A war will break out if the U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the south Korean puppet military hurl the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack on the DPRK while staging the above-said exercises.

The madcap Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are extremely adventurous and dangerous military provocations which can be seen only on the eve of a war and an undisguised military threat to the DPRK and a sort of a declaration of a war.

The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have grown stronger thanks to the Songun politics under the care of the great illustrious commander of Mt. Paektu. They will never remain a passive on-looker to the prevailing situation now that dark clouds of war are gathering to hang over the homeland and armed clashes are imminent.

The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all the servicepersons to be fully combat ready and follow every move of the aggressors with vigilance in view of the grave situation prevailing in the country and deal merciless retaliatory blows at them, should they intrude into the sky and land and seas of the DPRK even an inch.

This is a just measure for self-defence for protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the nation and Korean-style socialism as firm as an iron wall and a resolute stand and firm will of the strong revolutionary armed forces of Mt. Paektu to cope with the moves of the U.S. and the south Korean puppet warmongers to start a new war.

The army and people of the DPRK love peace and do not want confrontation and war.

Whenever the U.S. and the south Korean puppet authorities staged joint military exercises targeted against the DPRK, it drew their attention to their danger and served them warnings enough to help them understand it, repeatedly urging them to stop their reckless preparations for a war.

They, however, responded to our sincerity by blatant challenge and finally started the said madcap exercises aimed at launching the second Korean war.

All facts go to clearly prove that "stability" and "peace" on the Korean Peninsula touted by the U.S. imperialists are nothing but sophism and they are war maniacs seeking the escalated tension and war only and the arch criminals prodding the north and the south into armed conflicts.

This clearly proves once again that the pro-U.S. conservative group and warmongers of the puppet military of south Korea are a group of traitors seized with confrontation and war hysteria, staking their fate on outsiders in utter disregard of reconciliation and unity among Koreans, peace and reunification.

War maniacs should be dealt with arms, not with words.

Upon receiving the order of the KPA Supreme Command all the servicepersons of the KPA are fully determined to throw overboard the rubbish of history by fully displaying the inexhaustible mental power of the strong revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu and the might of the powerful arms built up under the Songun leadership.

There is no limit to the retaliatory measure of the KPA and no one can predict or evade it.

If the warmongers dare launch a war of aggression defying our repeated warnings, our revolutionary armed forces will counter it with resolute and merciless just war for reunification."

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Another Country Going Nuclear?

Iran has reportedly just tested an air to ground missile. This missile has a range of about 70 miles or 110 km and is to be carried primarily by Iranian fighter jets. Iran announced that it is to be used against attacks from ships near to Iran. That, of course, is only one use. The outspoken enemy of Iran, the government of Israel, is quaking in their boots at the thought that Iran would have such a weapon. The reason being, that this missile could deliver a nuclear strike at such a time that Iran goes nuclear. Iran also has had a ground to ground missile for some time now that can reach Israel. This all sounds a bit out of control until you see more of the full picture. The always in the media complainer (might I add, "big baby"), Israel, is nuclear and has threated states like Iran for years. They have sucked many billions out of countries like the USA to get war machines and there seems to be no limit. This tiny state, works overtime to bully the whole world. I am, of course, talking about the government of Israel and not the many peoples who live there. This is not a religious editorial, I repeat, NOT religious.
Below is from /www.sott.net/
"The outspoken president of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday accused the United States of demonizing Iran's president and criticized the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Sudan's leader for war crimes in Darfur."

"Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a Roman Catholic priest from Nicaragua with openly leftist views, also reiterated that the more he thinks about the conditions that Israel imposes on the Palestinians, the more he tends to think about apartheid..."
More Here
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