links for 2010-06-20

The US remained the world’s biggest manufacturing nation by output last year, but is poised to relinquish this slot in 2011 to China – thus ending a 110-year run as the number one country in factory production.

Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 per cent for China, with the US staying ahead despite a steep fall in factory production due to the global recession.

That the US is still top comes as a surprise, since in 2008 – before the slump of the past two years took hold – IHS predicted it would lose pole position in 2009.

However, a relatively resilient US performance kept China in second place, says IHS, which predicts that faster growth in China will deny the US the top spot next year.
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No longer made in USA

The figures are revealed in a league table being published on Monday by IHS Global Insight, a US-based economics consultancy.

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi.

On June 18, 2010, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Tempe Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, the President told him, regarding securing the southern border with Mexico, “The problem is, . . . if we secure the border, then you all won’t have any reason to support ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’” [Audible gasps were heard throughout the audience.] Sen. Kyl continued, “In other words, they’re holding it hostage. They don’t want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’”
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And, the Democrats will not be able to exploit Hispanics for their votes

After spending months trying to convince Republican audiences that she is conservative to her core, GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina abruptly shifted strategy Saturday, campaigning in heavily Democratic South Los Angeles at a Juneteenth celebration where she was both warmly received and shouted down as a "two-faced liar" and a "turncoat."

She strolled through Leimert Plaza Park with a traditional African scarf draped around her neck and a campaign photographer and videographer in tow — the visit grounded in political necessity as she looks ahead to a general election battle against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. After winning the primary as a sharp critic of President Obama, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive must now win the support of independent voters and some Democrats to overcome her party's registration disadvantage in the state.