Six In The Morning

One more thing about picking a Vice Presidential candidate in America not once has the choice of a person for Vice President effected the outcome of an election. No, matter what breathless media talking heads my tell you. It, just isn't true.

For those of us living outside the United States here is something you should know about Congressman Paul Ryan of the state of Wisconsin. Congressman Ryan has submitted budget for the 2012 fiscal year which if enacted would eliminate Social Security and Medicare which is the only social safety net for a majority of those 65 or older. Social Security was enacted during the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt which gave the average American their first retirement fund then in 1965 Medicare was enacted which provided health care for, again those 65 and older and those unable to provide for their own health care. Paul Ryan would, under his budget Medicare and Social Security would be privatized turning over its management to Wall Street. If enacted millions of Americans would be left without a social safety net.

NBC: Sources indicate Romney will pick Ryan

　

By NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray
Three different sources close to the Romney campaign indicate to NBC News that Mitt Romney will announce House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate at tomorrow's campaign event in Norfolk, VA. The announcement will be in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin -- which just happens to be Ryan's home state. With recent national polls showing Romney trailing President Barack Obama, Ryan is a bold pick. He would excite economic conservatives, and is considered one of his party's rising stars.

Syria welcomed them – now it has spat them out
The Palestinians caught in Syria's crossfire have fled. Our writer met them in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut

ROBERT FISK BOURJ EL-BARAJNEH, BEIRUT SATURDAY 11 AUGUST 2012
Syria's tragedy began 10 years before she was born. Her parents were driven from their home in Haifa – in that part of Palestine that became Israel – and fled to Lebanon in 1948, then to Syria in 1982. "God bless his soul, our Dad called me Syria and another sister he called Palestine," she says, sitting in the corner of a hovel of oven-like heat in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. A fan fights the dust-filled 35C air. Syria's sister Palestine lives down the same alleyway. Um Hassan, a third sister, listens with narrowed eyes, nodding in agreement, freeze-framed face for most of the time. Both wear black.

America's Losing Battle Against Soft Drinks
Overweight Americans place a massive burden on the US health care system, a problem New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes to help solve with a ban on supersized soft drinks

By Ullrich Fichtner
Lloyd Winnecke, the slim mayor of Evansville, Indiana, often watches the "Today Show," a breakfast show broadcast from Manhattan. There is one episode, in particular, that sticks in his mind. It was June 1, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sitting in the studio looking cornered. It was the day after Bloomberg had announced a plan to ban supersized soft drinks, and now he was on live TV to celebrate National Donut Day, of all things, as the city's official patron. To commemorate the event, the baked-goods maker Entenmann's was giving away some 2.2 million calories in the form of 7,500 donuts. The irony of Bloomberg's duel involvement with the soda ban and the donut bonanza was just too tempting for "Today Show" host Matt Lauer to pass up: He made the mayor look like a ridiculous hypocrite.

Egypt sends more troops to control Sinai militants
Egypt's army has massed troops and carried out arrests to quell deadly militants in the Sinai Peninsula close to the borders with Gaza and Israel.

10 AUG 2012 18:54 - SAMER AL-ATRUSH
Egypt also temporarily reopened the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip, which was closed after militants attacked troops last Sunday and killed 16 soldiers. State news agency Mena said six "terrorist elements" were arrested during patrols in the North Sinai province and a security source branded them as hardliners suspected of belong to a jihadist group. But residents of the small Sinai village of Sheikh Zuayyed said nine people were rounded up, with all insisting the men were good Muslims but had no links with Islamic extremists.

Taliban's Ghorband valley stronghold two hours from Kabul
The Ghorband valley in Afghanistan's Parwan province hit the headlines last month when amateur video emerged of a young woman's public execution by militants. Parwan is not far from Kabul and the killing highlighted worsening security in the province, which Nato handed to Afghan responsibility last summer.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports
It takes about two hours to reach the Ghorband river valley from the Afghan capital, Kabul. The valley has strategic significance as it offers passage to the central provinces, the capital and the Kabul-Mazaar highway - a key Nato supply route. Bagram air base, one of the largest US military bases in the country, is also close by. As we approach the foothills of the Hindu Kush, driving along the Ghorband river, the valley looks serene. The tranquillity, however, is broken by an Afghan police check post.

Guor Marial: A man without a country on world’s biggest athletic stage


By Rick Maese, Saturday, August 11, 9:04 AM
With no nation to represent and no countrymen to cheer him on, Guor Marial has a marathon to complete this weekend at the Summer Olympics. More than 3,500 miles away in South Sudan, his family will tackle an even longer distance. Marial, a 28-year-old marathon runner, hasn’t set eyes on his family since 1993, when he fled his home as a child in the midst of the Sudanese civil war. Lacking a passport for travel, he doesn’t know when he might be reunited with them, but Marial says members of his family are planning to watch him compete Sunday in the longest running event of the Summer Games. The slight problem: The nearest television is about 30 miles away from their tiny village.