FisherCat's Blog

This is composite of multiple interviews of Palestra.net/ who has affiliate ties with Fox News an Greta Van Susteren interviewing Ohio State Secretary who is under a contempt for not Purging Voter Registrations under a required act that was passed after the last election that would cross reference drivers licenses an s.s.i. numbers to actual voter registrations.....now Jennifer Brunner has gone to court to get an injunction....

Palestra does interview of voter who has been requested to fill out multiple voter registrations but never changed her name or address another interview is a women bringing in the Homeless to vote for Barack Obama in the on camera interview she admits it!!!! A.C.O.R.N.

http://www.palestra.net/videos/play/16859

If you get FOX NEWS LIVE STREAM easily downloaded to your tool bar its great! Bill Sammon is being interviewed about his times working in a Cayuga County a Indian name meaning Crooked River after the Cayuga River an the same could be said about the Cayuga Country Voter Registration...when he worked for the Cleveland News Paper out there his beat was this country where he actually found a CAT named Stewart registered to Vote....under the description of his employment it was written Part time Exterminator....LOL!!!!!

Some of the arguments i have heard is that it will take 2-3 Flaggers for one police officer well when i go down Rt-9 out in my area an it there is state repairs on the road or sewage removal from the iron grates...or guard rails or even paving or Verizon Work being one on poles there is usually 2 Officers one at each end of the area they are working on talkies of hand signals to control flow....so 2-3 flagger's equals 1 Police Officer? thats not all what i usually see.....

They may be right about there argument about the numbers the  factors an also how this state will turn into a "LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC INDUSTRIAL JOBS COMPLEX" a usual.

But here's the Problem for me In Law Enforcements Argument,

Your using highly trained police officers in fighting crime an drugs enforcement an terrorism domestic an foreign to take bad actors off the streets gang ridden neighborhoods and enforce other domestic laws  an vehicle laws and i have probably left out many other parts of their duties...so basically "they are over qualified for a flagger job"....the flagger's will be cheaper to train an not need as much training as the highly qualified police officer is a flagger going to go to the academy to learn a pit maneuver? or any other specialized training except traffic flow control...Your taking a Multi Million Dollar Investment a Race horse that can run in The Triple Crown and putting them up against some MULES....LOL!!!!!!!

My other main gripe as a taxpayer is that when they go on allot of these details they are using State Vehicles off duty.....an expending allot of tax paid fuel an maintenance on the Crown Vic's an we have to supply them with rides back an forth from work.....what does that cost us a year to supply every State Trooper with a free ride back an forth to work an run their errands on their way back to home....Now I'm seeing the TOWNS doing the same thing even with DPW works vehicles an allot of these town employees Police or Water Dept....etc live in other towns than the ones that they work for.....I saw one Town Police Crown Vic almost 2 towns away right on the border of a 2nd town....SO HOW IS THIS RAPID RESPONSE? an also the same for a DPW vehicle parked in his yard almost 2 towns away from the town he works in......

The State Police's case can be argued about RAPID RESPONSE to a  point....unless their beat is 25 miles away from their home.....and of course they are State Police they can stop anyone at any time on their way back to their barracks or in my neck of the woods to the Academy....but I'm not so sure to their homes....I would like to see some numbers on how many leave their home when to take calls on 24 hour standby....I see allot of the Crown Vic's set for weeks while a SP is on vacation covered in snow for weeks...when this vehicle could be used for 2 other shifts....yes there would be more maintenance if used for the other 2 shifts.... but less Insurance required I would guess if we had less number of fully loaded crown vic's............cost? how can we afford to give every state trooper a fully loaded Crown Vic an the GAS? forget about it......what that costing us? but you know what i can cut the SP'S more slack on this issue but the TOWN'S i Just cant!!!! the only one that should have a Police Vehicle in my eyes to take home is the CHIEF OF POLICE...an thats it....same with the Water Dept...an other town service...especially if the boss of this town lives in another town or in the cases I'm seeing around my own town they live almost 2 towns away....I don't want to see another Towns Crown Vic parked 2 towns away it conducive for Rapid Response for the our town needs and never mind the cost in gas an added vehicles they will need for filling Shifts an doing Details...let them use their own Vehicles like everyone else does in this state to get back and forth to work....let them pay for their own gas out of the $35-45 dollars an hour they get beside they are saving on wear an tear to their own personal Vehicles like $800.00 for tires that I have to spend for my Vehicle why should all this maintenance cost an expense to keep all these extra police cruisers be put on the tax payers tax bill.....

They get to keep low mileage on their personal vehicles, no gas cost ,no maintenance cost....an get to keep the whole sum of their detail pay $35-45 bucks an hour with out expenditures for their details........is that perk or what....sometimes even parking for STATE EMPLOYEES the stubs are paid for..now we know in Boston what that cost...per day....or Visit to a Red Sox game...or Bruins game...$30-40-60 normally -and up during the sports games even higher...

Sheriff in Chicago Area calls off Evictions On Apartment Renters  on Default Loans On Houses TOTAL 43,000 ...the evictions are mostly do to House Owners who have defaulted on their loans.....According to Harris Faulkner on FOX NEW CABLE....this afternoon off the live desk...

The Sheriff is refusing an calling off the Evictions because they are mostly Tenants..renters of the HOUSES THAT HAVE DEFAULTED on their Loans....so he says for the Courts to go after the Home Owners an not the apartment renters an says he will no evict them....

My question is! are these the Sub Prime Loans that the 1977 COMMUNITY REIVESTMENT ACT backed by FANNIE MAE AN FREDDIE MAC an Barack Obama's community group A.C.O.R.N.garaunteed loans with no money down! an no  credit history....in some cases NO POSITIVE I.D.... that Barack Obama an A.C.O.R.N. cases that they won in court? or are these H.U.D. houses....in poor communities....and does it matter Its a liberal socialist program run amok.....

McCain missed many opportunities to nail Obambi...especially on Obama's Doctrine to attack Pakistan at will...Obama said just a few weeks ago that he would go into Pakistan at will...with out the Pakistani O.K. an that weekend to of our Black Hawk Helicopters were shot at!!!! after entering Pakistani Air Space....NO DOUBT it was due to Obama's comment....it was with in 24-48 hour window of the Statement by Barack Obama....

Here's the truth we are going over their borders an attacking an following Intelligence..but it done below the the political radar of the Pakistani Citizens...Why do you ask? because if the United States Government an Pakistani Government announces such a "JOINT VENTURE" there will be civil unrest an uprising by their Radical Islamist inside their country.....Yes this is where the Saudis an other Muslim Sect send their children to learn in the Madrases Radical Islam Central for learning.....The Saudis in 1940's after Nasser threw out the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD they went to Saudi Arabia thats where Bin Laden was introduced to Radical Islam ab Al Zawahiri...Al Qaeda's number #2....but since the Saudis went after the Muslim Brotherhood they set up Shop in Afghanistan an Pakistan....and many satellite's like in London...even here in Jersey City New York City in 1993 which the World Trade Center bombing was hatched by the Blind Cleric...

Obambi telegraphs his blows an those 2 Black Hawks paid the price a few weekends ago an were shot at by Pakistanis to send a message to America an the Pakistani Government....

Sounds like me A.I.G. fat cats should stay here an get a deal because today in hearing in Congress is was disclosed that the A.I.G. heads decided after getting the Federal Bail out they all flew to Californication an took up in $200,000.00 dollar night rooms...an expended are hard earned tax bail out money on a PARTY!!!!!
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Can you believe this that the ball of these FAT CATS!!! they went to California after getting U.S. TAX PAID BAIL OUT an partied in California an spent $200,000.000 Dollars a night in plush hotel.....it was disclosed during Congressional Hearing today....they also had hefty hotel bill beside the room cost....this why they should of questioned Henry Paulson connections to this deal that his former brokerage house had 200 Million in A.I.G. an could of swayed why they got the Bail Out but Lehman's didn't.....are we suckers or what these jerks sound like the TYCO excutive who had 70,000 dollar shower curtains....have we had enough these scumbags who we are helping are we idiots? I dont want to hear about any more future bail outs!! period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! screw them!!!!

WASHINGTON--U.S. regulators sent a letter to American International Group Inc warning of its lack of transparency and ability to oversee its financial products in March, a top Democratic lawmaker said Tuesday.

Henry Waxman, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Committee, revealed the letter from the Office of Thrift Supervision and a warning by AIG's accountants about material weaknesses at a hearing into the insurer's near-collapse and federal bailout last month.

"We are concerned that the corporate oversight of AIG Financial Products ... lacks critical elements of independence, transparency, and granularity," Waxman read from the Office of Thrift Supervision's March 10 letter.

U.S. lawmakers are holding a series of hearings to probe the causes of the financial crisis and to propose changes to the regulatory structure.

AIG's woes led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend up to $85 billion to the cash-strapped insurer over two years in exchange for a 79.9% equity stake.

In prepared testimony, former AIG Chief Executives Hank Greenberg and Robert Willumstad blamed short sellers, fair value accounting standards and credit agencies' for the company's problems.

Greenberg left in 2005 following an accounting scandal for which he has denied any wrongdoing. He was AIG's largest individual shareholder before the federal bailout.

Willumstad was CEO from June 15 until mid-September, when the government put together the rescue package.

Eric Dinallo, New York State's insurance superintendent, testified that a federal bailout of AIG could not have been avoided because of the company's cash crunch.

Martin Sullivan, a former CEO who preceded Willumstad, will also testify

Congress & F.D.I.C. $250.000.00 Guarantee?  Sort of....

My dad just went into his bank down in Arizona an asked them if hes covered for the amount that the Congress just passed in F.D.I.C. Insurance...you know $250,000.00 because hes over the $100,000.000 mark the bank WELLS FARGO bank account they didn't have an answer yet? It doesn't make me very confident....if they don't know yet...I hear its going into effect 45 days after the Congress passed this bail out...

But what it really boils down too...Is the Bank being able to find a Insurer because the cost on the banks to get the Insurance Backing the FED has nothing to with it....this will cost the banks allot more money to get this needed insurance to cover the 250,000.00 backed guarantee...

Now we wonder why last week SAFE & GUN SALES were sky rocketing...My great grandmother didn't believe in banks and when the depression hit she had her money in a safe...they made it through the Depression just find even with 10 kids an her little general store off the weeds in Revers...funny story no lie...they use to watch a cop go around to people houses an steal their MILK out of the Milk Box outside the house an even have the balls to return the empties....LOL!!!!! because who would say anything....you can bet crime is going to get allot worse this bail out aint going to do the trick...a matter of fact you could say if true with Barney Frank says we get back we are going to do MAJOR SURGERY to this problem...if you see Barney tell him NO THANKS we know all about is Love Connection at Fannie Mae an him his partner cooking the books...ans anyways F.D.R an Hoover with Government Intervention caused the DEPRESSION to go on longer than it needed too...check out  the book "THE  FORGOTTEN MAN"....it spells it all out.......things were not to bad after 1929-30 it was the Government Meddling an intervention that made it last until WW2.......

When will the the Media be smart enough? to realize Barak Obama's promise a Capitol Gains Cut for Small Business is a lie! Small Business doesn't pay Capitol Gains Tax Small Business pays INCOME TAX!!!! Barak Obama is lying about a Capitols Gains Tax for Small Business? or he has no clue what hes talking about?

The FOX NEWS LIVE MEDIA STREAM is truly awesome...!!! FIVE STARS cogradulation FOX this is just what bloggers needed to have live from the "STRATEGY ROOM" streamed live with the rotating host an guest an break in of alerts! an news across the globe an nationally an commentary by the rotating guest an host is spectacular new medium of news an entertainment you could have Gregg Gutfeld hosting for one hour with Comedians an political an business an actors as guest ....I'm hooked and it allows me while listened to the LIVE STREAM an host an guest to still blog an walk the web......you can even interact with e-mail an blog comments as they discuss topics an breaking news....or just entertainment an comedy or people just dish'in.....political or about life styles

There NEW TOOL BAR  with live streaming and Video of news of the shows that have been on FOXNEWS CABLE during the day or at night even SPECIALS like Saving Our Economy: Whats Next? or Bill O'Reilly an all of the FOX NEWS LINE UP it.

Also FOX RADIO TALK like Bill O'Rielly an John Gibson an Colmes  an other host of talk radio on FOX....

ALL CAN KUDOS FOX FOR THIS GREAT NEW EXPANSIVE FORM OF NEWS AN ENTERTAINMENT AN BREAKING NEWS FORMAT TOOL TO MAKE BLOGGING LETS SAY ON FOX25'S BLOG AN LIFE A HELL OF ALLOT MORE ENJOYABLE WHILE WALKING THE WEB.....THANKS FOXEY'S!!!.......FN'C..U... LATER......

If you want to see a great special about how we got into the Banking an Lending Disaster check out David Asman with Brett Baer Saturday 8pm an repeated again at 11pm the Sunday Night in repeat at 10pm called Saving Our Economy: Whats Next? and writer of the book "The Forgotten Man" Ms Shales...who lay out how FDR with Government Intervention and taxing businesses made the Depression last until WW2.......

David explores the history from the great depression an how this has happened 6xs before since the Civil War.....I found the New York University Professor explain with a FLOW CHART how these mortgage were packaged  then were sold an broke down in the end for high risk categories....by risk

And who really was behind the whole design of these sub-prime lending with no money down an the loosening of the credit history requirements and explains how the Country Wide an Fannie Mae an the Democrats who were creating directives to Fannie Mae an Freddie an who really controlled an pillaged this lending institution...

Its the best break down easy to understand why these thugs these crooks need to be thrown out of Office an thats means are own State Congressman (D) Barney Frank...when you see the time line for Barneys statements an what was going on in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac an Country Wide and Barneys long time friend? LOL!!! Moses almost took down this country single handedly....but we cant forget about Christopher Dodd an yes Christopher Cox (R) but at least Cox admitted he blew it....Barney Frank an Democrats are trying to sell you that it was WALL ST an the Bush administration well lets put it this way Barney Frank and others on record on video an documents say something totally different.....it was the Democrats an their HACKORAMA in the Fannie Mae an Freddie an even Country Wide....

Oh believe me I'm not happy with Paulson with his hands in these deals that were cut especially he dealings with A.I.G. and saving it yet letting LEAMAN BROTHERS tank but because of Paulson's  past employer having 200 Billion in A.I.G he saved it...why isn't this a conflict of interest or inside trading? I'm also still suspicious of Warren Buffet's acquisitions during this BIGGEST HEIST IN AMERICAN HISTORY....

The FEC has compiled a separate database of potentially questionable overseas donations that contains more than 11,500 contributions totaling $33.8 million. More than 520 listed their "state" as "IR," often an abbreviation for Iran. Another 63 listed it as "UK," the United Kingdom.

More than 1,400 of the overseas entries clearly were U.S. diplomats or military personnel, who gave an APO address overseas. Their total contributions came to just $201,680.

But others came from places as far afield as Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, Beijing, Fallujah, Florence, Italy, and a wide selection of towns and cities in France.

Until recently, the Obama Web site allowed a contributor to select the country where he resided from the entire membership of the United Nations, including such friendly places as North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Unlike McCain's or Sen. Hillary Clinton's online donation pages, the Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently. Clinton's presidential campaign required U.S. citizens living abroad to actually fax a copy of their passport before a donation would be accepted.

With such lax vetting of foreign contributions, the Obama campaign may have indirectly contributed to questionable fundraising by foreigners.

In July and August, the head of the Nigeria's stock market held a series of pro-Obama fundraisers in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. The events attracted local Nigerian business owners.

At one event, a table for eight at one fundraising dinner went for $16,800. Nigerian press reports claimed sponsors raked in an estimated $900,000.

The sponsors said the fundraisers were held to help Nigerians attend the Democratic convention in Denver. But the Nigerian press expressed skepticism of that claim, and the Nigerian public anti-fraud commission is now investigating the matter.

Concerns about foreign fundraising have been raised by other anecdotal accounts of illegal activities.

In June, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gave a public speech praising Obama, claiming foreign nationals were donating to his campaign.

"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man," the Libyan leader said. "They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency..."

Though Gadhafi asserted that fundraising from Arab and African nations were "legitimate," the fact is that U.S. federal law bans any foreigner from donating to a U.S. election campaign.

The rise of the Internet and use of credit cards have made it easier for foreign nationals to donate to American campaigns, especially if they claim their donation is less than $200.

Campaign spokesman LaBolt cited several measures that the campaign has adopted to "root out fraud," including a requirement that anyone attending an Obama fundraising event overseas present a valid U.S. passport, and a new requirement that overseas contributors must provide a passport number when donating online.

One new measure that might not appear obvious at first could be frustrating to foreigners wanting to buy campaign paraphernalia such as T-shirts or bumper stickers through the online store.

In response to an investigation conducted by blogger Pamela Geller, who runs the blog Atlas Shrugs, the Obama campaign has locked down the store.

Geller first revealed on July 31 that donors from the Gaza strip had contributed $33,000 to the Obama campaign through bulk purchases of T-shirts they had shipped to Gaza.

The online campaign store allows buyers to complete their purchases by making an additional donation to the Obama campaign.

A pair of Palestinian brothers named Hossam and Monir Edwan contributed more than $31,300 to the Obama campaign in October and November 2007, FEC records show.

Their largesse attracted the attention of the FEC almost immediately. In an April 15, 2008, report that examined the Obama campaign's year-end figures for 2007, the FEC asked that some of these contributions be reassigned.

The Obama camp complied sluggishly, prompting a more detailed admonishment form the FEC on July 30.

The Dewayn brothers listed their address as "GA," as in Georgia, although they entered "Gaza" or "Rafah Refugee camp" as their city of residence on most of the online contribution forms.

According to the Obama campaign, they wrongly identified themselves as U.S. citizens, via a voluntary check-off box at the time the donations were made.

Many of the Dewayn brothers' contributions have been purged from the FEC database, but they still can be found in archived versions available for CRP and other watchdog groups.

THE REST OF THE STORY: http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/Obama_fundraising_ill
egal/2008/09/29/135718.html?s=al&promo_code=6BD9-1<
/p>

Please 'KEEP THIS IN MIND' while reading:  1929 wasn't the problem! The Depression wasn't the Problem. It was the governments involvement is what truly hurt this country an made it worse.........and never mind what the Government did to the "FORGOTEN MAN" The 3rd person in the wheel of this American historical debacle.....You had the Government, you had the Market Players, going at each other with venomous results.........which hurt the little man, the family man the children and his wife and in historical terms "FORGOTTEN MAN"  the tax payers.........

After watching this rush building up to a critical mass.... a CODE RED according to FED Henry Paulson and Bernanke and the The White House and the reaction of the Congress an the Presidential Candidates on the trail .....and watching whats has been happening in Congress acting like "CHILDREN IN A  FOOD FIGHT" and watching  the stock market react negative on the day the BAIL OUT didn't pass in Congress an the market falling -770 points at the close of the day...but  by end of the next closing bell it has risen  and closed at +485. 

As i see more of the truth come out about who did what and when....and the F.B.I. being called out to investigate the fallen lending firms like FANNIE MAE an Freddie Mac an others plus individuals.............We shouldn't be moving "WARP 5"  to find a the solution to this  situation......I find it  very necessary  to tell everyone stop right there!!!! TIME OUT! and just listen to the Americans who are against this careless fast paced reaction to a fix! for the current lending an banking issues.

So Yes I'm proposing a new constitution amendment  it would be  7 DAY WAITING PERIOD" A break a cooling off period! a time to digest an pull your thoughts together instead of reacting out of emotion or in gods speed...a stop sign for Congress to be able to take the time to react on any situation they deem or the public deems dangerous or a crisis...............basically the "SEVEN DAYS" would allow Congress to  regather their emotions and cool of any possible anger before they do something to hurt us THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER THE FORGOTTEN MAN The American Citizens an Tax payers who they happen to work for............and would also keep any negative consequences to the constitution an the free market capitalist system....that we may regret an may not be able to to turn the hand of clock back from..............

"THE 7 DAY WAITING PERIOD"

WOULD ALLOW THE CONGRESS TO GET THE RIGHT COMPASS SETTING AN HEADING FOR THE COUNTRY....SO WE DONT END UP GETTING LOST......AND LOSING OUR CONSTITUION AN CHANGING  THIS COUNTRY TO FORM OF SOCIALISM LIKE THE E.U. MODELS.......

VB, best Congressman's description of the Bail Out Bill on the floor yesterday during the debate?

A HUGE COW FLOP WITH A MARSHAMLLOW PLACED IN THE MIDDLE OF IT...

What I want to know is wheres the Marshmallow?

Monday, September 29, 2008

 AP

Sept. 21, 2008: In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, and Cuba's President Raul Castro walk together upon Chavez's arrival to Jose Marti airport in Havana.

CARACAS, Venezuela —  President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.

Chavez said he accepted an offer from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for assistance in building a nuclear reactor.

"Russia is ready to support Venezuela in the development of nuclear energy with peaceful purposes and we already have a commission working on it," Chavez said. "We are interested in developing nuclear energy."

Putin offered Chavez assistance in developing nuclear energy during a meeting in the Russian city of Novo-Ogaryovo last week. The prime minister did not specify what kind of cooperation he could offer Venezuela, but Russia is aggressively promoting itself as a builder of nuclear power plants in developing nations.

Russia has ramped up its cooperation with Venezuela since last month's war with Georgia, which badly damaged Moscow's already strained ties with the West, particularly the United States.

During Chavez's visit to Russia last week, a Russian naval squadron sailed for the Caribbean Sea in preparation for joint exercises with Venezuela later this year — a move that appeared retaliatory after the U.S. sent warships to deliver aid to Georgia.

The deployment is expected to represent the largest Russian naval maneuvers in the Caribbean — and perhaps the Western Hemisphere — since the Cold War.

Chavez says that stronger ties with Russia will help build a multi-polar world — a term the two allies use to describe their shared opposition to what they claim is U.S. global domination.

Since 2005, Venezuela has agreed to buy more than US$4.4 billion worth of weapons from Russia including fighter jets, combat helicopters, and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. And President Dmitry Medvedev has offered Chavez a loan to purchase additional weapons.

Chavez argues the United States and European Union do not have the right to prevent developing countries from pursuing nuclear technology, and he has strongly defended Iran's nuclear program despite the Western powers' fear that Tehran may be building nuclear weapons.

Before taking Russia up on its offer, Chavez had expressed interest in acquiring a nuclear reactor from Argentina and working with Iran, among other countries, to research nuclear energy.

Russia May Launch Nuclear Cooperation With Venezuela
Friday, September 2008

MOSCOW —  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says relations with Latin America will be a foreign policy priority for the Russian government.

Putin, who is meeting with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, says Russia is willing to discuss further military contacts with Venezuela and help it develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Chavez said during Thursday's meeting that close ties between Venezuela and Russia would strengthen a multi-polar world.

Chavez' visit takes place as a Russian naval squadron sails to Venezuela, across the Caribbean Sea from the United States, in a pointed response to what the Kremlin portrays as threatening U.S. encroachment near its own borders.

*Russia is to build new space and missile defence shields and put its armed forces on permanent combat alert, President Medvedev announced yesterday.

In a sharp escalation of military rhetoric, Mr Medvedev ordered a wholesale renovation of Russia’s nuclear deterrence and told military chiefs to draw up plans to reorganise the armed forces by December.

He said that Russia must modernise its nuclear defences within eight years, including the creation of a “system of air and space defence”.

The announcement puts Russia in a new arms race with the United States, which has infuriated the Kremlin by seeking to establish an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. The US argues that the shield is aimed at rogue states such as Iran, but Russia is convinced that its own security is threatened.

Russia sends warship to the Caribbean
Russia rattles sabre with arms sales to Iran
Mr Medvedev told military commanders that “all combat formations must be upgraded to the permanent readiness category” by 2020. He added that Russia would begin “mass production of warships, primarily nuclear cruisers carrying cruise missiles and multi-purpose submarines”.

“A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political circumstances must be provided by 2020,” he said after attending military exercises in the southern Urals region of Orenburg.

Tensions with the West have soared to new levels since Russia’s war with Georgia last month. Mr Medvedev told army chiefs that the conflict showed that “a war can flare up suddenly and can be absolutely real”.

The military build-up was announced as Russia wages a struggle to prevent Georgia and Ukraine entering Nato. The military alliance is due to consider fresh applications from the two former Soviet satellites in December.

Russia also openly declared its ambition to rival the US in Latin America yesterday as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to sell nuclear technology to Venezuela.

Mr Medvedev met Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in Orenburg. Tthe Kremlin issued a statement calling their relations a “counterweight to US influence” and added that Venezuela sought “a widening of our presence in the region”.

“We are ready to consider opportunities for cooperating on the use of atomic energy,” Mr Putin told Mr Chavez during earlier talks in Moscow.

“Latin America is becoming a noticeable link in the whole chain of the emerging multipolar world. We will pay more and more attention to this area of our economic and foreign policy.”

The announcement of atomic assistance is certain to alarm Washington. Moscow has already angered the West by delivering enriched uranium to Iran for its Russian-built power station, amid fears that Tehran is secretly building a nuclear bomb.

Venezuela’s fiercely anti-American leader has long coveted his own nuclear energy programme, but insists that he has no desire to build an atomic bomb. He lavished praise on Mr Putin during his second visit to Russia in as many months.

“Today, like never before, all that you said on the multi-polar world becomes reality. Let us not lose time...The world is developing fast geopolitically,” Mr Chavez said.

The Kremlin despatched its nuclear-powered warship Peter the Great and a submarine destroyer, Admiral Chabanenko, to Venezuela on Monday for military exercises in the Caribbean, which is traditionally America’s backyard. It is Russia’s first naval mission to Latin America since the end of the Cold War.

The move was seen as a retort to the passage of American warships through the Black Sea to deliver aid to Georgia after the war. It came just days after Russian strategic nuclear bombers visited Venezuela for the first time, in what Mr Chavez described as a warning to the US.

Mr Medvedev said that the joint naval exercises between Russia and Venezuela would demonstrate “the strategic nature of our relations”. The Kremlin earlier announced that it was giving Venezuela a $1 billion loan to buy Russian weaponry.

Mr Chavez has already struck deals worth $4.4 billion since 2005 to buy jet fighters, tanks and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The two countries also edged closer in energy relations after Russia’s Gazprom and Venezuela’s state-run oil company struck a deal to create an “oil and gas consortium”.

Venezuela is the ninth largest oil producer in the world and a major supplier to the US, while Russia is the second largest oil exporter and has a quarter of global gas reserves. Mr Chavez said that the joint venture would be “the biggest oil consortium on the planet”.

*A Russian warship is heading toward Somalia after pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter carrying rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and 30 Russian T-72 tanks.

The frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) was ordered to the region in response to "the rise in pirate attacks, including against Russian citizens," Igor Dygalo, a Russian navy spokesman told AFP. As he spoke a Russian media report said the hijackers were seeking to discuss a ransom payment for the ship.

"Russia's navy will send ships for temporary missions to areas made dangerous because of maritime piracy to protect Russian citizens and guarantee the safety of shipping," he said.

The frigate, armed with missiles and guns and carrying a crew of up to 200, will stay near Somalia "for more than two months in order to guarantee the safety of Russian ships," RIA Novosti news agency quoted the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Viktor Mardusin, as saying.

Pirates land Russian tanks in surprise haul
Somali 'pirates' face hijacking charges
The Faina, with a crew of 21, including three Russians, was hijacked on Thursday as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa with a cargo of T-72 battle tanks, grenade launchers, ammunition and spares for the Kenyan military.

Today the Russian news website Life.ru posted a telephone conversation with a man who identified himself as the senior aide to the captain of the ship. He said the ship had dropped anchor close to shore near the Somali town of Hobyo and the pirates wanted to talk to the owners about money. The website quoted the man as saying he was speaking from the ship’s bridge, but the others were all were being kept in a single room and nobody was hurt

Ukraine's foreign ministry said there were 17 Ukrainian nationals, three Russians and one Latvian aboard the Belize-flagged vessel. It said that the Faina’s captain had radioed maritime authorities to say that three cutters with armed men were approaching his vessel at high speed before communications were lost.

In Kiev, Yury Yekhanurov, the Ukrainian Defence Minister, said the Faina was carrying 33 T-72 tanks, grenade-launchers and ammunition.

Valery Konovalyuk, the head of a parliamentary committee that oversees Ukraine's arms deals, told AFP the tanks had been sold to Kenya. The cargo was one of the last shipments under a contract which saw 77 tanks supplied in 2007, he said.

So far 14 ships have been seized by pirates in the area, with 300 crew held hostage. Most of them are kept at Eyl, in the breakaway northern Somali provine of Puntland, which is a favourite hideout of the buccaneers.

In recent months, a multinational taskforce based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where a pirate mothership is believed to be operating. But they appear at times helpless to stop the pirates, who use speedboats to intercept their prey, and are invariably heavily armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

Some pirates have justified their actions by claiming that, in the absence of a functional central authority in Somalia, they were battling illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping by foreign countries.

1st its a total free market system among the Gas Station owners..they way i heard it on Glenn Beck from a X-Oil man is the loads delivered an ordered  will be different prices depending on the timing of the loads delivered an the Market Price....they don't come down as quick as they go up.."HERES THE IMPORTANT POINT" but the Gas Station Owner has to charge according to what he believes the "next price" of the load coming in! so they all will never be in cinque otherwise on the "same cycle" of the deliveries an pricing...

Its a guessing game what they have to put aside to cover the cost of the incoming load....of course they can have price wars in the same neighborhood...but that's up to their discretion! but mostly why you could have 3 CITGOS in 2 blocks of each other charging different prices is based on what they need for the next load if the price goes up! or what they paid for the load in their underground tanks...