US and UK begin wargames in Gulf

So the big naval buildup is engaging in joint war games.  Anyone’s guess how this will turn out.

From the Navy Times:  “The Navy says American, British and Bahraini ships are carrying out a five-day exercise to improve security in the Persian Gulf and better protect coalition ships against vessels “deemed threatening.”

The Navy statement released Wednesday by the Bahrain headquarters of the 5th Fleet says the exercise is dubbed “Goalkeeper.” It started Sunday and is led by Britain’s Royal Navy Commodore Peter Hudson.

Hudson is quoted as saying the maneuvers will help fine-tune skills such as “locating and tracking” vessels that threaten ships patrolling the Gulf and “handling command-and-control” operations during a potential confrontation.

Gulf waters and the narrow Strait of Hormuz have seen close encounters between U.S. and Iranian vessels.”

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_navy_gulf_exercise_082708w/

From Iranian press:  “Earlier in August, a large armada of US and European naval vessels were reportedly deployed to the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US strike force in the region.

The deployment took place following a military operation, which saw more than a dozen warships from the US, Britain and France conducting war games in the Atlantic Ocean.

The current statement by the Bahrain headquarters of the US 5th Fleet claims that the joint maneuvers are aimed at better protecting coalition ships against vessels ‘deemed threatening’.

This comes as the West has intensified its go-to-war rhetoric against Iran.”

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=67748&sectionid=351020101

California prison medical system adding to state’s giant financial troubles

“Frustrated and showing signs of temper, California’s prison medical receiver on Wednesday asked a federal judge to give him what the governor, the controller and the Legislature have not – enough money to fix the state’s correctional health care crisis.

The bill will be $8 billion over five years, J. Clark Kelso said at his downtown Sacramento office. It would go toward building seven new chronic-care facilities to house 10,500 inmate patients and upgrading medical units at all 33 state prisons.

In the legal motion filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Kelso blasted ahead in what amounted to the receivership’s boldest move yet in the 2 1/2 years since it was created by judicial mandate

Kelso acted under authority granted to him by Henderson, the federal judge who ruled in 2005 that California is violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by failing to provide adequate medical care to its prison population. The judge said in his fact findings that one inmate a week was dying due to medical neglect, a figure that has remained substantially unchanged, according to later surveys conducted by the receiver’s office.

The receiver’s primary remedy has been to build the seven chronic-care facilities and upgrade medical units. He has slated the new facilities for Folsom, Stockton, Solano County, San Diego, Ventura, Whittier and Chino.

Kelso said the state’s failure to approve a budget “raises the very real, immediate prospect that our construction program will fail.” He said he needs $360 million this year to continue the planning process and $3.1 billion in the next fiscal year. The state currently faces a projected $15.2 billion deficit for 2008-09.

Legislators are three weeks from the end of session, a period during which they could still gut and amend a bill to give Kelso his bonds.

He said he doesn’t want to bank on a last-minute fix.

“I indicated to the Legislature I did not want to be drawn into the budget vortex where late-night deals are made, without public consideration and without thoughtful consideration,” Kelso said, his voice rising. “I don’t want to be drawn into that.

“I’ve waited really as long as I can wait.”

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1155728.html

Back to school nightmares: homeless students

Here’s a trend that nobody wants to see, yet it is real.  The number of students who are homeless is on the rise this school year.  In parts of Florida, there are significant numbers of school age children who will be going to school during the day but homeless at night.  According to this report  by Kate Santich in the Orlando Sentinel:

“Amid a foreclosure crisis and sour economy, the number of homeless families is growing. In Seminole County alone, more than 600 school-age children are expected to spend at least part of the year in motels, shelters or even tents in the woods, according to a new report. An additional 450 homeless children in the county are younger than 5, officials estimate.

<snip>

‘The immensity of the homeless student population shocked all of us,’ said Beth Davalos, a social worker who helped deliver the results of a yearlong study of Seminole County’s family homelessness Wednesday. ‘After all, just a few years ago we had one of the highest income levels in the state.’”

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-homelesskids1408aug14,0,4922435.story

How we invest (tongue firmly in cheek)

From Naked Capitalism

Clear (and correct) explanation of US budget deficit – thank you John Crudele

John Crudele takes the mystery out of the deficit numbers.  Here’s the bottom line, but the article is well worth reading in full here → crudele

“Our nation’s debt was $8.899 trillion on July 25, 2007. Just put the word “trillion” after the above family’s budget to make things simpler.

On July 25, 2008, our indebtedness had risen to $9.540 trillion.

Do the math.

The US went $641 billion deeper into debt over the past year – even as the government was claiming a deficit of “just” $389 billion.

Why are the numbers so different? Mainly, it seems, because Washington has the right to “borrow” excess Social Security funds, and last year the nation’s retirement system coughed up $181 billion to paper over part of the budget deficit.

That would be fine if the Social Security money actually belonged to the government. But it doesn’t.”