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The Peace Now organziation has just released a new report that details the amount of housing units being built in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. According to the report there was a "20% rise in construction starts... at least 1,850 building starts for housing units..." ....

Is Obama Building A Bunker Under The White House Lawn? Zeke Miller | Nov. 28, 2011, 9:37 AM | 10,060 | 54 A A A inShare4 White House Hole Bunker Image: Charles Dharapak/AP Photo See Also: The White House Wants You To Know How Much You'll Lose If The Payroll Tax Cut Expires The White House Wants You To Know How Much You'll Lose If The Payroll Tax Cut Expires WATCH: Romney's First Campaign Ad Tries To Pass Off McCain Quote As Obama WATCH: Romney's First Campaign Ad Tries To Pass Off McCain Quote As Obama Obama Bites Lip Jobs...

What we instead need are more free markets and more liberty – for history has shown that this is the way for our country’s restored greatness – both as a nation but also for the general populace. To that end, we will be rallying on December 3rd at 11:30 a.m. on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol to show support for free market capitalism. Additionally, we will be having a charity drive for a charity to be determined to help show that voluntary contributions – not forced altruism at the hand of the government – is the most...

The government claims to be in favor of allowing Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria to grow “naturally,” expanding incrementally to ensure that children and grandchildren are able to remain in the towns where they grew up, if they so wish. In reality, though, no practical steps have ever been taken to ensure this minimum growth in Yesha, with the result being that many Yesha towns are experiencing severe housing shortages, since the government will not allow wide-scale expansion in these towns, despite the huge demand for housing by young couples. MKs Ya'akov Katz (Ketzaleh), chairman of the National Union,...

Ferry Building merchants and managers are fed up with the mayhem that has come with the nearby Occupy SF encampment. A spike in shoplifting, break-ins and reports of abandoned human waste — and a reported drop in foot traffic — has management fuming about the Justin Herman Plaza encampment. There even are reports of occupiers using the building’s restrooms as washrooms — with folks taking sponge baths from toilets. And last Monday, eight men were allegedly escorted out of the building after they attempted to use the bathrooms wearing nothing but their boxer shorts. Property manager Jane Connors has written...

The United Nations is in the final stages of obtaining approval to build a new high-rise on the Robert Moses Playground, located near the U.N. headquarters in New York City. The building, excluding the price of land and security, is estimated to cost $350–$475 million and would provide a home for U.N. offices that are currently dispersed throughout New York. Heritage Foundation fellow Brett Schaefer points out that with America paying for 22 percent of the U.N.’s budget, taxpayers could be on the hook for a large portion of the new building’s cost.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Builders started construction on fewer new homes in August, government data showed Tuesday, underscoring how the depressed U.S. real estate market shows little sign of recovering. Housing starts fell 5% to an annual rate of 571,000 last month, compared with a downwardly revised 601,000 in July, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected housing starts to fall to 590,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes dipped slightly in September to remain in very low territory, according to an index released Monday. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell by a point to 14, on a seasonally adjusted index where readings above 50 are considered good. The index, which correlates closely with single-family housing starts, has held between 13 and 16 for the last six months.

WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A building has collapsed on several parked in a lot in Wayne County. Wayne County dispatchers tell WSAZ.com it happened along Route 152 in the parking lot of KFC at about 4:00 p.m. Sunday. Click here to find out more! Dispatchers say the Builders Supply Company building collapsed on top of at least four cars parked in the lot. Witnesses say another car may have been hit as well. No injuries have been reported. Wayne County firefighters and sheriff's deputies are investigating. WSAZ.com has a crew on the scene. Keep clicking WSAZ.com for the latest...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Housing starts slipped 1.5% in July, according to data released Tuesday that highlight the lack of demand for new homes. Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000, down from a downwardly revised 613,000 rate in June, the Commerce Department said. Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated an annualized rate of 600,000 for July, and many had thought June’s initial reading of 629,000 was too strong. Single-family starts slipped 4.9% last month to 425,000 from a downwardly revised 447,000.

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday condemned Israel’s decision to build new housing projects in Jerusalem and accused the Israeli government of seeking to create new 'facts on the ground,' the PA-run Maan news agency reported. Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) on Thursday approved 1,600 apartment units in the Jerusalem haredi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo late on Wednesday night. It was also reported the Interior Ministry was working to prepare two additional projects, including 2,000 projects in Givat Hamatos and 625 units in Pisgat Zeev. Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said that the decision was an attempt...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. home builders sharply increased construction in June, according to estimates released Tuesday by the Commerce Department. Housing starts rose 14.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000, the highest level since January, the data showed. Details underlying the June figures were also strong. There was a large increase in starts of multifamily units and a smaller gain in starts of single-family homes, the department reported. Analysts said this will be the new trend in home building as there are more renters than buyers in the market. The report was much better than expected. Economists surveyed...

Sitting On Top Of The Burj Khalifa In Dubai

While it may not rival the intensity given the planned building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, passions ran high Tuesday and early Wednesday morning in Temecula over the proposal to build a mosque. When all was said and done, the Temecula City Council early Wednesday morning unanimously signed off on a proposed mosque after a marathon eight-hour hearing that went back-and-forth from vitriolic rants from residents labeling Muslims as terrorists to interfaith leaders noting the peaceful virtues of Islam. In the end, the council’s decision was made entirely based on mundane issues like traffic, parking...

BEIJING – The 121-story Shanghai Tower is more than China's next record-setting building: It's an economic lifeline for the elite club of skyscraper builders. Financial gloom has derailed plans for new towers in Chicago, Moscow, Dubai and other cities. But in China, work on the 2,074-foot (632-meter) Shanghai Tower, due to be completed in 2014, and dozens of other tall buildings is rushing ahead, powered by a buoyant economy and providing a steady stream of work to architects and engineers. The U.S. high-rise market is "pretty much dead," said Dan Winey, a managing director for Gensler, the Shanghai Tower's San...

White House official to American Jewish leaders: US president didn't plan to publicly slam construction in capital, but merely answered question. The Obama administration did not seek to confront Israel publicly on the issue of plans for new building in east Jerusalem neighborhoods, a White House official told American Jewish leaders in a conference call, website Politico reported on Friday. Speaking about Israeli plans to advance 1,345 housing units in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem at a press conference in Indonesia on Tuesday, Obama said, “This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations.” He added...

In an already nasty election year, outspoken San Francisco defense attorney Tony Serra has unfurled a huge banner in front of his building near busy and tourist-heavy Broadway and Kearny streets in North Beach, stating “F*** Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina.” (snip) “To utterly condemn someone, that’s what the “F” word means to me, and that’s the way it’s intended, but I think they’re a threat to democracy itself. Capitalism cannot buy public office,” Serra said in an interview.

New York - The Empire State Building was lit in red, white and blue on Thursday night for women's suffrage as more than 100 people protested a refusal by the iconic skyscraper's owner to mark Mother Teresa's 100th birthday. Yet the colors that the Catholic League had requested in her honor were the most luminous against the darkened skyline: The building's 203-foot pinnacle blazed a brilliant blue, while the stories just below glowed a frosty white. A fading red was just visible underneath. (Snip) But the building's owner, Anthony Malkin, declined the Catholic League's request to honor the ethnic Albanian

NEW YORK (AP) -- It survived the Depression, a bomber crash and King Kong's climb, but can the Empire State Building withstand a bedbug infestation? Officials say exterminators had to clean out an employee changing room in the tower's basement after bedbugs were found there last week. The officials tell The New York Daily News that an employee had the bedbugs on his clothes and brought them into the building, but that the problem is now under control. Tourists visiting the skyscraper say they are disgusted by the bloodsucking pests.

Harry M. Reid needed money, and lots of it. Last spring, the Senate majority leader was looking ahead to a tough reelection fight. Polls showed that the voters back home in Nevada who sent him to Washington four times had tired of him. Republican Party fundraisers had all but declared him their No. 1 target for defeat. Taking them on would be expensive, and he wasn't drawing nearly enough cash from contributors inside Nevada. So Reid did what politicians in his position do: He picked up the phone. The senator began dialing old and new friends across the country, asking...

Lumber Just Keeps Getting Crushed, Now Officially A "Reverse V" Joe Weisenthal Jun. 23, 2010, 4:30 PM The horrible housing numbers has been bad news for lumber prices, something we've been paying close attention to lately. Futures were down again 3% today, and have almost completed a full "reverse V," returning to crisis-days levels. Image: FinViz

Israel has agreed to freeze construction in east Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo for two years, the US State Department said Sunday, following the completion of the first round of indirect Middle East peace talks. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said both Israel and the Palestinians had taken some steps to create an atmosphere conducive to successful talks, including the Israeli pledge of no construction in the neighborhood. Ramat Shlomo was at the center of a storm between Jerusalem and Washington last month when the approval of some 1,600 housing units there was revealed during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two women were arrested at San Francisco State University early today after a group of protesters broke into a campus building, angered by sanctions handed down to demonstrators at a December building takeover, authorities said. The two women, who are not San Francisco State students, were among 19 people who broke into the Cesar Chavez Student Center at about 4 a.m., said university spokeswoman Ellen Griffin. University police responded, pepper-sprayed the two protesters when they resisted and arrested them . . .

Massimo Osanna, head of archaeology at Basilica University, said that the team working at Torre Satriano near Potenza in what was once Magna Graecia had unearthed a sloping roof with red and black decorations, with "masculine" and "feminine" components inscribed with detailed directions on how they slotted together. Professor Christopher Smith, director of the British School at Rome, said that the discovery was "the clearest example yet found of mason's marks of the time. It looks as if someone was instructing others how to mass-produce components and put them together in this way"" he told The Times. Professor Osanna suggested...

Shoddy construction throughout the world, but especially in China and the U.S., is a type of malinvestment, and it will have consequences. Everybody seems to know about China's real estate bubble and brand new empty cities, but few seem to understand that maintenance is essentially non-existent. Build it new, and when it gets "old" (say, 20 years), then tear it down and rebuild it in grand style. That has been the Chinese mindset since the Great Transformation launched in 1978 ("To get rich is glorious"). But when real estate development becomes half of the economy, and literally thousands of highrise...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER – Local architecture plays an important role in the culture of the marsh Arabs of southern Iraq.  No structure captures the lifestyle and traditions of the region more than the “mudhif,” a traditional structure making a comeback in modern construction here thanks to a little outside help. First built in the marshes of what is now southern Iraq over 5,000 years ago, the mudhif is a unique local meeting place constructed entirely of reeds, straw and other natural materials. Over time, the building process hasn't changed greatly. Lengths of reed about 10 meters long are bunched...

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has refused to back down to Israel’s insistence on building for Jews in all of Jerusalem and charged that construction projects undermine "America's unique ability to play a role -- an essential role, I might add -- in the peace process." Speaking to more than 7,000 delegates at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention in Washington, she maintained that her criticism of Israel’s policy does not conflict with the fact that her "commitment to Israel's security and Israel's future is rock solid, unwavering, enduring and forever.”

The Crisis Was Obama's confrontation with Israel premeditated? JERUSALEM—Suddenly, my city feels again like a war zone. Since the suicide bombings ended in 2005, life in Jerusalem has been for the most part relatively calm. The worst disruptions have been the traffic jams resulting from construction of a light rail, just like in a normal city. But now, again, there are clusters of helmeted border police near the gates of the Old City, black smoke from burning tires in the Arab village across from my porch, young men marching with green Islamist flags toward my neighborhood, ambulances parked at strategic...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel would continue to build in Jerusalem in the same way that it has over the last 42 years. "The building in Jerusalem - and in all other places - will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years," said Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting.

A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust. (Proverbs 21:22)..... Using the Jericho model I would encourage you to take back your family, your neighborhood, your town, your state, your government and your country the same way God gave Jericho to Joshua. ***** Read about THE JERICHO WALK and see if this is a way for you to "TAKE BACK THE LAND"!

NEWS RELEASE ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan 2010-01-CA-102 For Immediate Release KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 21) - The Herat governor and Regional Command-West commander inaugurated a new building for Herat's provincial council, Jan. 16. The Herat Provincial Reconstruction Team built the 600-meter building with funds from the Italian Ministry of Defence. The project cost approximately 112,000 Euros and was built to assist Afghan authorities, as well as promote stability and development in the area. Nineteen new members of the council took their oaths at the inauguration of the new building. Five of the group were women, one of whom will be...

The Price Of Construction Materials Is About To Soar Commodities / Investing 2010 Jan 08, 2010 - 01:46 AM By: DailyWealth Tom Dyson writes: If you want to know what's going on in the economy, you need to watch the price of lumber... Housing is the most important asset class in America. When house prices fall, banks fail, consumers cut back, unemployment rises, and the economy collapses. But when house prices are strong, the economy rebounds. In other words, the U.S. real estate market is the main pivot in the whole economic mess we're in right now. If you can...

(IsraelNN.com) The United States responded with lukewarm praise Wednesday night to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's announcement of a "painful but necessary" decision to freeze all new construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in a last-ditch attempt to revive final status talks with the Palestinian Authority. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded within moments of Netanyahu's announcement, issuing a statement of approval for the decision. Middle East envoy George Mitchell added minutes later at a news briefing in Washington D.C. that "it falls short of a full settlement freeze," but still is "more than any other Israeli government...

CAMP TAJI – The shift of U.S. forces out of Iraqi cities has created a new set of tasks for troops in the Iraqi countryside, and a newly-formed group is concentrating on infrastructure projects here. Combining the talents of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment's leadership with members of the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team North and the 1479th Civil Affairs Company to form a Project Working Group, the goal is to highlight projects that benefit the local populace. During a meeting held at the Tarmiyah Center, Oct. 13, district engineers from Tarmiyah, Abayachi, and Mushada met with members of the...

FORT DRUM, N.Y., Oct. 8, 2009 – With five of the 10th Mountain Division’s six brigade-size elements deployed, returning from deployments or en route to new deployments, their new commander said he’s focused on ensuring their wellness and resiliency and that of their families. Army Maj. Gen. James L. Terry, the new 10th Mountain Division commander, said one of his main focuses is on the wellness and resiliency of soldiers and their families. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tiffany Evans   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Maj. Gen. James L. Terry called looking out for their well-being one...

Developers of a new Jewish neighborhood on privately-owned land in eastern Jerusalem plan to lay the cornerstone for the project Wednesday afternoon, ignoring U.S. President Barack Obama’s opposition to Jewish “settlers" in the area. Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau plans to be on hand for the ceremony which marks the development of 105 luxury units in Nof Tzion.

This past Saturday, an entire apartment building in Shanghai collapsed. To be fair, the building was under construction and thus unoccupied, but it's still a minor miracle that there was only one fatality. Sounds like there was a problem with some nearby flood prevention walls at the Dianpu River, but there's no hard evidence as to why this huge building simply fell over. Anyway, here are some sweet pictures of the architectural carnage.

Robert and Kay Lynn lay in bed shortly after closing on their new home in the Blue Oaks subdivision in Rancho Murieta, Calif., abutting an 18-hole golf course. They were listening to the “pop, pop, pop” of what they thought were acorns falling onto the roof. The Lynns soon realized those were not acorns dropping on the roof. “Little did we know it was the house cracking,” says Mrs. Lynn, 67 years old. Mr. Lynn, 68, says they bought the property in 2002 for $357,000 as a weekend home and an investment. The stucco house was moving and shifting, with...

At around 5:30am on June 27, an unoccupied building still under construction at Lianhuanan Road in the Minxing district of Shanghai city toppled over. One worker was killed. According to information, a 70 meter section of the flood prevention wall in nearby Dianpu River and that may have something to do with this building collapse.

The Commerce Department said housing starts fell 12.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, the lowest on records dating back to January 1959, from March's upwardly revised 525,000 units. Compared to the same period last year, housing starts tumbled 54.2 percent.

(IsraelNN.com) The city of Jerusalem responded on Thursday with a biting, detailed statement to what it called the "disinformation campaign" that was conducted during this week's visit to the capital by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton on Wednesday slammed Israel's demolition of buildings in the northern and eastern neighborhoods of the city. "Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the 'Roadmap,'" she said. "It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem," she told...

Soldiers from the 41st Brigade, 10th Division Iraqi Army Division assemble a pyramid displaying an Iraqi flag at their initial training graduation at the Besmaya Range Complex, Dec. 31, 2008. Photo by Pfc. Terence Ewings, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. COB ADDER — Approximately 2,100 Iraqi Army Soldiers graduated their initial training at the Besmaya Range Complex Dec. 31, increasing the might of the Iraqi Security Forces. As he visually reviewed the graduating troops of the 41st Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, Gen Habeeb Talib Abbas, commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division stood and saluted the newest members.Habeeb displayed...

America has failed to invest in its infrastructure for the past 50 years, and the bill is coming due. The situation is reminiscent of the ancient Roman Empire, which grew strong because of its advanced aqueduct system, but which fell into decline when that feat of engineering tumbled into disrepair. We're in danger of repeating that history, but it's not too late to fix the problem if we take decisive action now. That's why Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and I formed Building America's Future earlier this year. Long before any of us realized we...

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Parliament says that part of the roof of its Strasbourg chamber has collapsed.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 6, 2008 – Wherever U.S. forces are deployed across Afghanistan -- whether conducting combat operations alongside coalition forces in the east and south or security and stability operations in the west and north -- they do so from forward operating bases. U.S. soldiers and Marines, along with Afghan National Army soldiers, detonate explosives near an enemy fighting position during combat operations near the Naghlu Reservoir in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Shawn Graham, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Capt. Richard Roberts’ team of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2008 – The U.S. military is building scores of new medical clinics across Iraq as part of an American-Iraqi partnership to improve health care services for the Iraqi people, U.S. and Iraqi officials said yesterday. During a Baghdad news conference, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey J. Dorko, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division, said myriad initiatives are under way to enhance and promote health care in Iraq. The Gulf Region Division plays a role in renovating and constructing medical facilities across Iraq so its citizens can have safe, functional places to seek care,...

”I feel blessed to be working on this important project,” said Ryan Hartwig, construction representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Basrah Children’s Hospital Office “Each time we go, we see more progress. I can look at the place now and actually visualize patients using this facility,” he continued. “It’s just very satisfying being part of this effort that will no doubt save or change the lives of so many Iraqi children.” Several key partners are involved in the project including Project Hope (a nongovernment organization), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, explained...

BAGHDAD — Within hours of being in country, the Soldiers of the 46th Engineer Combat Battalion picked up their tools and went to work on various projects around the city of Baghdad. The 46th Eng. Bn. is assigned to the 926th Engineer Brigade serving with Multi-National Division - Baghdad. It was just the first week of June when the engineers left their homes at two different posts - Fort Polk, Louisiana and Fort Rucker, Alabama - and boarded planes for Kuwait. At Camp Buehring, Kuwait, the battalion linked up with the 955 Engineer Company, a Missouri-based Army Reserve Company. Together...

Kajima's floor-by-floor slow demolition is one of those rare things in life that leaves you truly speechless, mouth wide-open, and pinching yourself to be sure this is real while you mutter "what the frak." After all, seeing the video of a 20-floor building submerging into the asphalt as if it was liquid is something that belongs to a sci-fi movie. The stunning process—called daruma-otoshi—is not only almost surrealistic but it helps to reduce the environmental impact. Seriously, I can watch this for hours: YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwf9LoS9Xt8 How do they do it? First they replace the support pillars at ground level...

BAGHDAD — Time had little effect on the strands of razor-sharp concertina wire that spanned hundreds of meters and split Ali’s farmland except to dull its original purpose - security. Located on the outer wall of Camp Slayer on the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, the fence was originally constructed sometime during the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom more than five years ago. But until early June, it served no purpose but to divide. In the small community of Radwaniyah, west of Baghdad International airport, an Iraqi farmer simply wanted to be able to access his fields without the seemingly...