If you are looking into buying a home in San Diego, you may want to see if you are eligible for a VA home loan. VA home loans are guaranteed by the US government and require no down-payment (up to $1,094,625.00). Most buyers who use a VA home loan will find that the seller is willing to pay all or part of the buyers closing costs when originated properly. In addition to the benefit of no money down, a VA home loan does not require mortgage insurance, has no credit score requirement, and can be financed via a number of private investors.

In order to qualify for a VA home loan, you need to get a Certificate of Eligibility which you can request either from a VA eligibility center or from VA Home Loan Centers. To get a VA loan eligibility certification for a VA home loan, you can mail in your VA form 26-1880 with proof of service to the national archives. Or if you apply for VA loan, VA Home Loan Centers can get a certification on behalf of the service-person through the WEB LGY Network operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. This is the most difficult part of the VA loan approval process. Once you have the Certificate of Eligibility, you can proceed to signing a contract of purchase subject to approval of the VA loan.

Why should you apply for a VA home loan? There are many advantages that the VA loan offers when compared with a conventional or even FHA loan. For example, a VA loan has no down payment (unless the lender requires it or the contract price is higher than the property’s appraised reasonable value) and lower interest rates. When you apply for VA loan, mortgage insurance is not required, which can substantially lower your monthly payments as compared to an FHA home loan. As mentioned earlier, a San Diego VA mortgage has higher loan limits than the typical loan. A San Diego VA loan offers peace of mind. The VA will require the home meets their standards and passes inspections. Once the inspections are concluded, the VA will issue a certificate of reasonable value that is valid of r6 months. And when you have a successful VA home loan application, your closing costs are competitive with other financing types and may even be lower. In most transactions, the seller will pay all or part of the closing costs for you.

Sometimes in life things change so slowly that you do not realize how much things changed in fact, before to sit and think about where you are in relation to where you have searched. The next day, while sitting at Baseball Spring Training game, I listened to the singing of the national anthem, which naturally includes the words, \ ‘Land Of The Free. I realized how far we have allowed the political class to take us away from that concept, “the land of the free.” Reflect for a moment on the following conditions and how those conditions deny us the freedom we may have had at one point in the past

1. You can not be free if all levels of government support to approximately 40% of his annual income and sustain themselves. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American household to 29 May in the Year 2009 have been working, \ all the political branch’s expenses, including coverage of the deficit spending of the federal government.

2. You can not be free, if the political class gerrymanders congressional districts to ensure that obligations of the parties and determined to beat it is almost impossible. After retiring Senator Evan Bayh, it is estimated that about 15 Congressional districts, from 435, are truly competitive.

3. You can not be free if the political class, which decides whether and your vote counts in the primaries. In 2008, the Democrats \ ‘Florida leadership has decided to vote for the Democratic candidate for the office do not count as moving Americans the courage to become their primary dates had to be relevant.

Gets depressing, if you have a really hard time this page view, where freedom is a freedom in this country today. We must the political class is slowly but surely our freedom is being undermined as we detected only the deterioration over time. This deterioration is what the fifty steps in Love My Country, Loathe My Government attempts to redress. We need to act now before the political class makes a total sham out of land of the free.

Ethnic clashes, wherever they have taken place in Kenya, have generally been instigated by the fear of loss of political power and the consequences that might accompany such an eventuality such as loss of privilege and the patronage that goes with it. In this regard it has been noted elsewhere that the only distinct pattern that emerges from the ethnic clashes is that they appear to be connected to political tension in the body politic. For instances the Rift Valley clashes took place when the political atmosphere in the country was highly charged due to external and internal pressure for political pluralism. The main causes are briefly discussed in this section.

1.1 Politicized Ethnicity: A lot has been written about ethnicity as a source of conflict in Africa. It is suggested here that ethnicity per se, in the absence of its politicization, does not cause conflict. There is evidence to suggest that where ethnic conflict has emerged in Africa, there has always been political machinations behind it. Politicization of ethnicity often takes place in a situation characterized by an inequitable structure of access. Such a structure gives rise to the emergence of the “in group” and the “out group” with the latter trying to break the structure of inequality as the former responds by building barriers to access that ensure the continuation of its privileged position. At the centre of this scenario are the elites who, feeling excluded or threatened with exclusion, begin to invoke ethnic ideology in the hope of establishing a reliable base of support to fight what is purely personal and/ or elite interests.

1.2 Land issues: Land was an underlying factor behind much of the organised violence in the Rift Valley, as well as being critical to the more localised ongoing conflicts in Mt Elgon and Molo. Indeed, since the 1990s certain leaders have exploited grievances over perceived ‘historical injustices’ and poorly handled settlement schemes for electoral advantage. These grievances, are perceived as favouritism and corruption by successive governments in allocation of fertile land, including a refusal to prevent and reverse settlement of outsiders (notably Kikuyus) in land originally appropriated from the local residents by the colonial authorities. This of course has occurred in a context of rapid population growth in what remains a largely agricultural society.

1.3 Weak and disempowered institutions: Despite some attempts on reform since 2002, institutions in Kenya are easily manipulated or captured by personal agendas and vested interests. Popular distrust and political manipulation rendered crucial institutions unable to mediate the election impasse and respond effectively to the violence. For instance ECK (Electoral Commission of Kenya).

1.4 Culture of impunity: Since the advent of multi-party politics during the 1990s this political dynamic has been a key factor leading to the incitement of violence around elections (both constituency-level violence and more wide-ranging). Crucially, there has been a failure to hold accountable those responsible for past human rights abuses, including the ethnic clashes of the 1990s, abuses under the Kibaki presidency, and land-grabbing and economic crimes, despite the naming of many senior politicians in successive enquiries. In these circumstances, it was not illogical for politicians to believe that they could get away with trying to manipulate elections or incite violence.

1.5 Other causes: Other causes could be attributed to high unemployment rate among the youth, and high gap between the rich and poor.

2.0 Effect of Clashes

Clashes or any conflicts have their own positive and negative effects. This section discusses briefly the main negative and positive effects of conflicts with reference to Kenya.

2.1 Negative effects:Following the announcement of the results of the December 2007 National General Elections, violent skirmishes and riots erupted in many parts of the country that also involved destruction of both private and public property. The most violent scenes were witnessed in Rift Valley, Nyanza, Western and Nairobi Provinces, while there were limited incidents in the Coast Province.

Loss of Human Life: The violence resulted in the death of an estimated number of 1,300 persons. Most of them were those in Rift Valley province including women and children burnt in a church in Eldoret.

Destruction of Property: The violence was accompanied by looting, burning and destruction of private and public property. Most of this occurred in Rift valley province.

Effect on Economy: The political crisis that prevailed in the country did not only cause loss of human lives, livelihoods and properties, it also had significant impacts on the operations of many public and private sector institutions. The magnitude of the impacts may have been varied from institution to institution and from place to place. Nevertheless, the impacts reversed many gains that the country had made since independence. Various sectors were negatively affected. Water sector, for instance was affected in four main areas namely: Operations, equipment and physical facilities; Staff and their dependants; challenge in the provision of water to the IDPs. the impact was equally felt in agricultural sector. The violence reduced the exports of Kenyan flower exporters by nearly one quarter on average, and by nearly 40% for firms located in conflict areas like Naivasha. The impact was also greatly felt in tourism sector. In general the entire economy of the country was affected and further worsened by global recession.

Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV): This was employed as a tool of intimidation, with reports of the threat of rape being used to chase women from their homes. Other cases of SGBV appear to have been opportunistic, perpetrated by gangs of youth in slums or targeted at women fleeing violence. A few cases of ethnically motivated forced circumcision of males from the Luo and Luhya communities, allegedly perpetrated by Mungiki, were documented in Naivasha, Nakuru and Nairobi. However, the number of cases suggests that circumcision was sporadic rather than an overall trend in the violence.

Displacement of people: The violence led to widespread displacement. As of 27 February, KRCS estimated that there were 268,330 IDPs in organised sites, whilst a similar number of displaced were living in host communities.

2.2 Positive Effects of Conflict:

Conflicts have two dimenstions, positive and negative. Despite their negative effects, conflicts also do bring new hopes. Following eruption of violence after general erection in 2007, various interventions were undertaken and this move remains the greatest gains of conflict.

To resolve the issues, dialogue was initiated and power agreement deal was reached. Within the framework of the KNDR (The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation), and including in the power sharing agreement of 28 February, 2008 embedded in the Kenya National Accord and Reconciliation Act, parties made commitments to address long-standing issues, such as land reform, the constitution, police and judicial reform, socio-economic inequalities, corruption, accountability and disarmament of militia. They also agreed to the establishment of key commissions and review processes. Such conflicts also bring about trials of perpetrators aimed at ending a culture of impunity. All these are just but positive effects of clashes.

3.0 Interventions

Various interventions have been made to bridge the gap between various ethnic communities. Such has been use of elders in the communities, some of whom have even been trained to deal with various issues. In each community and especially the pastoralist communities where conflicts are more severe, the elders have a traditional way of solving the problems. There has been a breakdown in holding the traditional mechanism because the new mechanisms confuse the traditional hence the conflicts are not solved. Most of the traditional mechanisms are affected by the judicial who don’t take into consideration what the community does traditionally. Hence community resolution mechanism is something that should be put in place when resolving conflict; else the conflict is likely to start again after sometime. Well aware of this, Government and NGOs have been making deliberate efforts in holding workshops with elders in communities especially in Rift Valley province with view of resolving issues and bringing about a spirit of reconciliation between warring communities.

Facilitating inter-ethnic dialogue between traditional elders, youth and women, as well as trust-building with local Administration is a must. For example, Mt. Elgon area is now part of peace consultations aimed at developing a 3-year peace building/conflict prevention strategy, where elders have been used. Training of elders have been carried out in other areas. For instance workshops have been held in areas like Molo (in Rift Valley Province of Kenya) to train elders on combating mistrust. Such efforts in other places have also been made to bring about a spirit of reconciliation among various communities in Rift Valley.

Usually smaller Parts of a country having extraordinary resources tries to break away from the mainland to take the maximum advantage of their resources for their advantage, and to protect themselves from the drain of their resources to majority or dominant section of the country, but in case of Pakistan Majority Part on the basis of population, which was also having scare resources, separated from the other part, Generally, it is regarded as an unfortunate event for Pakistan by people of Pakistan, and no Pakistani tries to see other side of the coin of that event for analysis of the benefits achieved to them by this event

The reason of this is that all literature about that event has been written by those who were living in East Pakistan and they suffered personally by this event, due to which they always indicate their miseries and losses and forget to explain the advantages of that event to whole Pakistani Nation. Therefore, it is necessary to see the real results of this event. With the separation of East Pakistan, following advantages were achieved to Pakistan.

1. Economical Advantages.

•Separation of Bangladesh was as much beneficial for Pakistan as separation of Pakistan from India.

•As the part of world in which East Pakistan was situated, was having limited resources, and many poor areas of subcontinent are situated in that part, such as Bihar , Assam ,West Bengal, Burma and Bhutan. Technically it was not in the interest of Pakistan, to keep itself attached with East Bengal(Historically one of the most poorest area of subcontinent) .In fact Pakistan after separation saved its future from economic burden of poverty ridden Bangladesh,

• Huge Population and scare resources of East Bengal were clear Indicators, that there will be no extraordinary progress in future in that province and no sensible person may think that it was valuable for Pakistan to keep itself attached with most poverty ridden part of this region.

•Being a part of East Pakistan, rulers were forcing to West Pakistani citizens to become a market of East Pakistan’s low quality Products, such as Tea, Pans and jute on artificial high prices on the name of Patriotism, while now such type high quality Products may be purchased from other countries on very low prices.

•After separation of Bangladesh, it was possible for Pakistan to make its economic policies without having any concern of interests of a far situated part.

•Pakistan Economic Managers relieved themselves from the Economic restrictions due to economic interest of East Bengal. That situation was as much harmful, as today Pakistan start to take care of the economic interest of Myanmar or West Bengal; it is certain that such type situation will be disastrous for Pakistan.

•With the analysis of economic situation of present day Pakistan and Bangladesh, shows that Pakistan GDP and Foreign currency reserves are double than that of Bangladesh and Electricity production is also 5 times more. It is obvious, that separation was much more in the interest of Pakistan, Because, the only solution of the Disparity between two parts, was to serve the Bangladesh with the resources of West Pakistan. Otherwise there was no other magic solution to address that disparity.

•It is still obvious that, there is still no charm in having trade links with countries of South Asia, because it is not in the economic interest of Pakistan, instead of that we should focus on rich and developed areas such as China, Middle East, Far East, Europe and USA.

2. Political Advantages.

•Due to extraordinary majority of Bengali Population, it was not possible for any province of West Pakistan to become equivalent to that majority any time in future, and it was certain that representatives of Provinces of West Pakistan will always remain in opposition in assemblies as per modern time democracy principles, this was really a frightening situation and the People of Pakistan were going to be ruled by any ethnocentric Bengali Leader or by any Bengali Military dictator for ever.

•Due to Bengali nationalism and ethnocentrism, on the basis of which People of Bangladesh were victimizing the Urdu Speaking Muslim refugees from India and that is still continue, and their Ethnic Cleansing with aborigines people of CHT, were clearly indicating that people of that area were not sincere and aware of the Ideology of Pakistan, in fact attachment of Pakistan with East Bengal was self deception and nothing else.

•Due to agitation style and different culture, the politicians of East Pakistan were always blaming Pakistan for their problems and exploitations, while people of Pakistan were worried about deteriorating condition of people of East Pakistan due to poverty and natural disasters, and they were too much fed up with that situation as they were seeing no end of all this, as this thing was also harming the Basic Ideology of Pakistan, and therefore to get rid of this situation and to avoid baseless allegations it was necessary to separate that area(East Bengal) from Pakistan, and this was the main reason that West Pakistani Military Personnel, even having capability for defending that part decided very easily and conveniently to end their any relation with that land on the basis of the facts that they were tired of all those messy affairs.

• Due to separation of East Pakistan, Pakistan saved itself and its ideology from baseless criticism of Bengalese Politicians, and now on real grounds they are blaming each other for their problems.
•With the separation of Bangladesh, Pakistan Islamic Ideology became more prominent with the introduction of Islamic laws and future scenario of Pakistan became much more firmed with the conversion of population ratio to 98 % Muslims, while with Bangladesh, presence of Huge Hindu minority was having adverse effects on the ideological progress of the country.

3. Security Advantages:

As East Pakistan was situated in the abdomen and inside the body of India and thousand miles away from West Pakistan, India was using this factor for blackmailing and pressurizing Pakistan from the beginning, In fact burden of huge population of East Bengal was loaded on West Pakistan to make Pakistan a crippled and failed state by Indian National Congress. India used that part as a button for keeping under pressure to Pakistan in 1947, in war of 1965 and again in 1970 with policy to occupy large chunk of land in East Pakistan. Due to 1000 miles distance between both parts and that also filled by enemy land, in such worst scenario even maintaining  contacts between security forces and their mobility was in fact a difficult, expensive and life taking task, accompanied with wastage of huge resources, ultimately resulting in weakening of Defense forces and economy of  the country. By separation of East Bengal, Pakistan was able to get rid of its weak point which was a most easy and favorite target of India. Due to that now Pakistan Defense is more strong and protected as compared to vulnerable and weak position before 1971.

4. Social Advantages:

•With the separation of Bengal flow of population from densely populated Bangladesh to parts of West Pakistan stopped, which was a good development for the culture and social set up of West Pakistan.

•Due to two national languages, Cultural evolution of the people of West Pakistan was stopped and their local languages were dying, with the separation of Bangladesh, that process was stopped.

•After separation of Bangladesh huge jobs opportunities were raised for people of different provinces of West Pakistan in both Federal and Provincial Governments. Due to elimination of share of people of Bengalese in civilian Jobs, which resulted in an increase in participation of local population in the affairs of country, by this their sense of depriving was minimized.

•People of Bengal are usually dark skinned, while people of West Pakistan were of Fair Skinned, due to continuous flow of Bengalese from East Bengal was creating racial discomfort and fears in the mind of local populations, that by this they will become minority in their own provinces, specially in the case when Federal Government was encouraging Bengalese to rehabilitate in West Pakistan, By separation of East Bengal this process of migration was also stopped.

This is the reason that after separation of East Pakistan, Mr. Mujibur Rehman was immediately released  by President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and he never expressed any regret about creation of Bangladesh.

Similarly once Prersident Zia-ul-Haq commented that freedom fighters of Bangladesh were in fact the freedom fighters of Pakistan, Now Bangladesh is a free country and Pakistan is also a free country.

It is crystal clear from all above mentioned facts that separation from Problematic East Bengal created new life and new freedom in Pakistan.

The Rock of Gibraltar is probably one of those things that bring images to people´s minds as diverse as granite isolation and political hotspots. Few images really capature what it is all about and less even know that it is an integral part of Europe and at the doorstep of a non too tolerant Spain. Grasping the full signficance of the social and political development of the small community, dwarfed by the massive boulder, takes more than a short resume to bring it to real life. It has been misinterpreted by so many who in some way or another have been touched by the subject, that to unravel the blind alleys and twisted notions would require a keycode all of its own. The essence in any case, is that it is different and very much its own world, grafted out of every embarassing rejection that all the leading figures in the conflicting demands over its titular existance, have showered on a confused and sometimes very disturbed, simple people.

Talking about simplicity is perhaps not the best way to approach a subject that is sticky with controversy, but it is as good as any, with respect to issues involved. Spain assumes it belongs to her including its population of some 30,000 and Britain has often felt it could do without it, if only to get the claimants to shut up. Gibraltar and its individualistic people, sheared from the shores of Genoa and Malta, Spain and Britain among other nationalities, think differently and feel forced to scowl at the wind, forever shuffling the familiar odds and expecting the worst. The coins spun in sudden urges by the negotiating parties have often sent a chill breeze to the hearts of those who would never change their way of life, (or nationality for that matter), in pursuit of economic or so called political interest. At heart, anything and everything they have wanted to be has been, Gibraltarian and British. None would want Independence and free choice except a few perhaps whos interests are purely economical and have little time for the question of identity or even political affiliations. There are a few high ranking ones in the place. Some of these have feet in all three camps with homes to boot that betray the lack of real interest in any of the three of them. My point is that not all of Gibraltar is that keen on such dire attachment to Britain or much against its absorption by Spain, especially if it produces additional benefits and abit of social status that smacks of the privileges they feed on. Mercifully however, they are a minority and one that would fit into practically any corner of the world where opportunity and new resources come easy. The average Gibraltarian however, is of a different order of things and genuinely very proud to be just that with the added privilege of having the adored elusive Queen at the head, even if the House of Commons, is a bit too complicated and distant to feel any sense of identity with. Gibraltar has its own anyway, called the House of Assembly which sits occasionally by force of habit rather than need when problems abound. Efforts to produce delegates or representives for the mystical Big Ben building have always failed and frankly, most in the community would blink with wonderment at the thought of having a foothold there. Even the London tourist office manager´s claim to diplomatic representation has raised a few local yawns. The reality is that Gibraltarians are only at home in Gibraltar and a fish out of water anywhere else. Gibraltarian English like Maltese English is a sound all of its own and short of having been to Oxford or Cambridge or been brought up in British public schools, as some have, it sounds like well…. Gibraltarian. Like the lingo, the character goes with it and having enjoyed basic creature comforts and a protected lifestyle, the home spun over confidence can often strike a rough chord, especially in Spain where lepers are treated with much more visible respect. The word Gibo o llanito sends waves of indignation in the Spanish mind visualising what they call Spanish traitors, who will not give them their Rock back. The also it would appear, spend more (which they classify as smuggling proceeds) and speak what they call shocking Spanglish, half of which they cannot usefully understand. Gibraltarians however naively treat the spanish hinterland as a second home (apart from a few puritans who would rather be seen dead somewhere else). The sense of identity with the language and culture keeps them exploring and some are on perpetual cruises from the international port of call of Malaga. The diehards who will not be drawn into the territory with the same intensity as the British nationalists, take the plane to London at every excuse for a fews daysout and to get away from what effectively can be a very claustrophic place.

Historical bewilderment.

The history behind the evolution of the Rock community is long and much publicized but few people, especially the Spanish really understand what happened in the first place. The war that brought Gibraltar into British laps, was one of rival royal attachments with France and Spain intending to marry its Royals within themselves to Britain´s chagrin and Austrian pretensions. In short, at the end of much bloodshed and equal number of miserable years, a British Admiral called Rooke climbs what is now a stretch of luxury villas, to take the Rock in the name of his Queen. Some say he actually took it in the name of the Austrian Emperor whose descendants would rule the Spanish mainland in any case and technically therefore, also for members of the Spanish clans who favoured the Teutonic connection. Not much of a dramatic snatch of identity but to make things a bit more acceptable in the face of the murky future ahead, Britain according to the Medina Sidonia archives in the Ducal Palace of Barrameda, paid an awful lot of money for it and also handed over the holiday island of Minorca which had been taken from the French. One would have thought that this would be more than enough for such an inhospitable place, but like all restrictive practices, the long, medium and short term was more of a “give it back” cloak and dagger, scenario. Paying back has never been an issue, because in reality it has never been acknowledged that it was bought legally in the first place. Foreign payments, even today, are still considered monopoly money curiously. Short of sending Gibraltarians to Minorca however, for a settlement period before coming back as fully fledged Spanish citizens, the question of handing it over just like that is hardly the subject for a trialogue guaranteed to last more than a few seconds. Certainly not for the Gibraltarians who in splendid isolation through the centuries, (initially with warring factions piled high at the doorstep) often had to eat rats when the British providers where unable or incapable of entering the bay. Gibraltar, it must be understood, sticks out of Spain like a sore thumb, but is actually joined to a very narrow isthmus which in ancient days was often under water. The island syndrome therefore plays a very important part in the character of the Gibraltarians who find most subjects outside the ritualistic day to day life of small communities of strange irrelevance and something to do with someone else. Why should it be otherwise with no nuclear ambitions ? Such is the charm of the place and its people, forged from the trading Genoese and stubborn Maltese, in that order and displaying their tell tale surnames with pride. Most have never been to either places of origin but many have and taken a peek at their encestral homes with the zeal of the Victorian explorers.

What most people do not know and see because of the different way marriage names are taken in Saxon and Hispanic lands, is that behind the scene and in the wings, the Spanish Grandmamas with their claim to Spanish soils, hide their names in the feathers of the male. The Garcias and the Perez and the Monteverdes and the Martinez only come to the fore when the female does the mating in the hinterland. Not when the male ventures out of his enclosure to get himself a younger partner than he would be ineligible for in the competitive backstreets of the Rock. Plainly,when the male gets his mate across the frontier in Spain he gives her his Maltese or Genoese surname, but when the female finds herself her Spanish lover her children bring it into the community. Originally to almost tribal local dirty looks. In any case whether hidden or not, it is there and whether anybody likes it or not, the Spanish blood and its culture not only fed in constantly, but forged the modern Gibraltarian alongside the blue blooded, British tuition and heavy history. Identifying with the ruling force was never a problem and the plate was almost always abrimful of elegant sufficiency , until the dockyard started to develop terminal dysfunction. Disastrous attempts to replace the non existante economy finally found a resting place in offshore functions which generally benefit the legal breed and leaves everything else out on grassroot fare, not to mention the odd scandal or three creating red faces where originally there were none. Smuggling of course at famous five level with teenagers riding high on uncontrollable power boats brought the question of identity and British stupefaction to a head. Worthy of Hollywood interpretation, hovering helicopters and daredevil Kung Fu on wave crests lost a few local families a kid or two. But the attempt to create a new economic base at the expense of Denmark´s insurance group Baltica paved the way for the disappearance of millions and its tombstone. The socialist party headed by the man the Brits called Oddball and who appeared to function on even days, amazingly lined the pockets of most of its Ministers with unheard of what today would be trillions. Even the bemused Chief Minister avoided the long arm of the smarting British law by apparently bribing the local attorney general, but the truth of the matter is that the fleeing resultant millionaires came back to base regardless and with social status to boot. But then maybe he trickled a bit into local charities or something like that. Hybrid genetics are in any case, a bit too advanced (some three hundred years) to send anyone back to Malta, Genoa or San Roque, but where to hang the crest when Britain opts out, is not that simple. The Gibraltarian for all his spots and peculiarities is something that would take an army of Brits and Spans to remotely understand and what sort of Gibraltarian will emerge with the present pot pourrie of tax exiles trading cash for apartments and ID cards, is an added mystery. But then why should it matter with Europe holding its colourful umbrella encouragingly aloft ?

Blind resolutions.

The United Nations like all institutions hardpressed to institute the ridiculous at the point of expediency, swore at the loyal representatives of the Rock who came cap in hand to declare that they did not mind being colonials – not one single bit. In fact it demanded of Britain to do the graceful thing of making a fool of itself by handing over the 30,000 to the gleefully expectant Spaniards. Whether or not mass extermination was a matter of overall interest or possibility is not the issue, but terrified islanders, loyal to the core and stripped of every dignity and aspiration overnight, were something that an alarmed British nation was not prepared to stomach. Such is the nature of benevolent societies like the UN with a critical role to play even when traditionally it does not quite know where it all starts and where it ends. Colonialism on the Rock seemed to work as it did in Malta and in India and whose to say the latter two have not quite come to terms with the vacuum the withdrawals produced ? In Gibraltar´s case the decolonialisaton demand would have broken every rule in the international book of human rights. And all for the sake of giving Spain the satisfaction that this little enclave which is not even its furthermost southern point or junction with Africa, had finally been taken from the pirate Brits. What on earth would they have done with the apes they call the local ancestors ? The pirate Brits and selfsame who fought for the restoration of Spanish sovereignty in the battle of Trafalgar in an attempt to rid the country of the French – the sticky invaders who were starting to massacre its people in the streets. It gave the country its favourite expression for catastrophy with the date 2nd May in much the same way as the twin tower event. The honeymoon with the French liberators had come to a misguided end as it always does between firmly established nations which attempt to make political love for too long. Spain even had a French dictator on the throne renamed Pepe Botella – a brother of the expansive Napoleon. Such are the ways of those who want everything overnight at other´s expense of course.

Today most Spaniards are led to believe that the pirate Nelson took the Rock then (some hundred years after the event) and deserved every bullet he got from the eager Iberian sniper, except that Lord Wellesley and his issue reaped the rewards in territorial presents for the acknowledged act of down to earth liberation. The Rock as everyone knows, is hardly ever going to go anywhere other than towards a form of self enshrined historical charter. It would be nice to think that all the parties would live happily everafter, but we all know that such charades only happen with Audrey Hepburn and El Zorro. A pity in a way, but let us see what issues involved are.

And then what ?

Gibraltar draws its basic sustenance from fiscal activities which are rapidly coming to an end as Inland Revenues in Europe start to tear at the guy ropes of these hideaways. It also draws on commercially geared, price differentials between the two states. This too, could easily come to an end and Gibrlatar would technically grind to an economic halt. Whether this is expected and the political saliva is starting to dribble in the wrong mouths, is not the point. What matters is whether there is any chance that the softening of resolutions by generations used to spending weekends in Spain will become the drawing board for a handover of an imperceptible nature doing its work over decades if not scores. At first glance it seems that this was what was ordered in that fateful day in Madrid when the Queen expressed gladness at the thought that the issue would be solved in a historical context, but then it is not generally known that the Royals would be loathe to hand over such an amulet to realtive strangers with their own crowns to bear. Symbolic joint title would have been the answer provided it kept the two distinctive cultures at bay, but alas the hackles rise at the thought and the cat and dog indicators remain firmly in place. A threesome or even a fivesome with the church and UN permanent representatives and Barclays brought in perhaps, but would this suit the eager fervent Spanish nationalists who dream with the yellow and red insignia unfurling over a torpid local sunset on the Rock ? Hardly, but one of the world´s most important bays devoid of posionous emissions and rampant with Acapulco opportunities might well throw the cat among the pigeons as Gibraltarian entrepreneurial talent threw its doors open for a slice of the action. Would that same spirit permeate a future of avid collaboraton for a scenic, maritime refuge that could rival the largest of its kind in the world and bring final lasting relief to cancer ridden, choking generations of inhabitants around its fringe ? A pleasant thought but a governing council of such a collection of communities with a personal, vested interest in such a future would hardly feel threatened by a Gibraltarian entity on board ? Whats one Municipality among a few in such a noble venture ? Surely the territorial issue, would be solved as aspirations merged within an umbrella of such cosmopolitan elegance ? The leopards, it seems, would not have to change their spots and individual historical identities would not only remain intact as the task in hand takes over, but neighbourhood differences might well be the added spice that would make the whole area the highlight of world navigators. Harnessing the talent and hauling the profile of this possible dream aloft, may well put political ones where they belong – in the bin.

Did the global crisis in the world financial markets come as a shock?  Some believe it was something Wall Street and the White House could see coming.  There is plenty of evidence out there to indicate it was all a perfect money making
scheme for the guys at the top of the economy, leaving you and me to get the short end of the stick.

In 1993, the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Housing Act entered into effect in the United States.  This Act mandates that two government sponsored enterprises (known as GSE’s in Washington-speak), would increase housing mortgage loans to poor people in under-served areas.  Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two mortgage monsters at the eye of the sub-prime firestorm in 2009, are the GSE’s in question.

Well, in 2003, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) commissioned a report.  The report was entitled “An Analysis of the Effects of the GSE Affordable Goals on Low- and Moderate-Income Families.”  The report found these sub-prime loans were effective in making housing affordable for minorities and the poor.

In other words, in 1993, the federal government began encouraging these private but “federally sponsored” firms to give out these loans. They were issued, at low interest rates, to the poor.

Ten years later, in 2003, despite problems and concerns, a HUD study found everything to be hunky dory.  It’s worth mentioning that the same Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae making the mortgages helped fund this study.

Growing mortgages and construction looked like a big boom in housing.  To make the risk less to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who actually lent money from the big banks, insured the loans.  This insurance on these loans, through AIG, were turned into securities.

These financial products, known as derivatives, (which are basically unregulated by any government entity), were sold far and wide around the world.  That’s where the set up for the global crisis comes in.

Once interest rates were raised on these loans, people that had the mortgages just couldn’t afford them.  When default kicked in the insurer couldn’t come up with all the money and that’s when it all started to hit the proverbial fan.

The big executives at these companies didn’t care.  Why would they?  They already had millions in their own bank accounts.  Furthermore, they were so intertwined with the global banking system the government wouldn’t let them sink.  You have to keep in mind that it’s the big banksters that own U.S. currency, control monetary policy and pick politicians for powerful posts.  We the voters are only served the choices from a limited menu, from which no substitutions are accepted on Election Day.

Lo and behold — the latest bank bailout was born.  While Bush Jr. made the first installment, President Obama was quick to follow up with continued no-strings-attached payments.  Why wouldn’t he?  Banks and securities are his biggest corporate campaign contributors!.  If you don’t believe me just take a look at the Federal Elections Commission data. It’s neatly organized by the Center for Responsive Politics at opensecrets.org.

So if the politicians are paid for by the big banksters and other corporate goons of greed, why not bet on a losing horse if the odds are tipped in your favor always?  Paid for politicians were in on the scam from the start.

Any way you cut it, it’s working people paying the price.  Be it through foreclosures or increased debt to pay the banks for the global crisis they provoked, it’s all part of the American trickle up economics system.  Too bad we’re in the basement at the bottom.