“Obama Years Ago Helped Fund Carbon Program He Is Now Pushing Through Congress” is a FOXNews story by Ed Barnes. In short, “While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president.”
Rise of sea levels is 'the greatest lie ever told'
If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.
Asian Economies to Expand at Slowest Pace Since 1998
Asian economies will expand at the slowest pace since 1998 as a global recession hurts trade and government stimulus plans take time to revive growth, the Asian Development Bank said.
Japan homeless living in internet cafes
The economic crisis is taking its toll on Japan with rising levels of homelessness. But some Japanese have found a most unusual new home.
Geithner’s Dirty Little Secret
By F. William Engdahl
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has unveiled his long-awaited plan to put the US banking system back in order. In doing so, he has refused to tell the ‘dirty little secret’ of the present financial crisis. By refusing to do so, he is trying to save de facto bankrupt US banks that threaten to bring the entire global system down in a new more devastating phase of wealth destruction.
Geithner's Plan Will Tax Main Street to Make Wall Street Richer
The new consensus among the experts who missed the housing bubble (EMHB) is that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's plan to subsidize the purchase of junk mortgages and their derivatives will help alleviate the stress on the banking system. That's good news.
Bankrupting the world
By Jerry Mazza
The so-called Public Private Partnership Investment Program (PPPIP) introduced last Monday, by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner not only stands to bankrupt America but the global financial system as well. This is the worst yet of the bailouts, a swindle if ever there was one, which will cause President Obama’s approval rating to plummet. In fact, count me among those coming to the president’s aid. I really don’t think he understands what this means.
'Ontario residents only' at Tent City
"They are tagging us because we are homeless," she said, staring at her orange wristband. "It feels like a concentration camp."
Gaddafi storms out of Arab League
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has stormed out of the Arab League summit in Qatar having denounced the Saudi king for his ties with the West.
Car warrantees now backed by government
It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way towards answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler. But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can -- if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warrantee will be safe.
In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee.
PETA Killed 95 Percent of Adoptable Pets in its Care During 2008
Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) published documents online showing that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) killed 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care during 2008. Despite years of public outrage over its euthanasia program, the animal rights group kills an average of 5.8 pets every day at its Norfolk, VA headquarters.
Obama's War
Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent noted last week that “President Obama’s announcement of an escalation in the American presence in Afghanistan is being met with mostly silence – and even some support – from the most influential liberal groups who opposed the Iraq War. ... MoveOn.org … declined to make any public statement about Obama’s Afghan policies in response to my queries. An official close to the group confirmed to me that MoveOn wouldn’t be saying anything in the near term. ... Nor will we hear anything from Americans United for Change, which ran $600,000 worth of TV ads against the Iraq War in the summer of 2007.
Do or die for GM and Chrysler
The Obama administration gave General Motors and Chrysler LLC failing grades Monday for their turnaround efforts and promised a sweeping overhaul of the troubled companies. The government plans to give the automakers more money, but it is also holding out the threat of a "structured bankruptcy."
Scared Cheney puts his head in the noose
Barack Obama’s most underrated talent is his ability to get his enemies to self-destruct. It takes a lot less energy than defeating them directly, and helps maintain Obama’s largely false patina of apolitical niceness.
US Banks Operate Without Reserve Requirements
Banks typically have 3% of their assets in cash in order to meet customer needs. Since 1960, banks have been allowed to use this “vault cash” to satisfy their reserve requirements.
US won't hunt militants over Pakistan border: Obama
President Barack Obama ruled out sending US troops on a hot pursuit of extremists across the Afghan border into Pakistan -- but demanded Islamabad hold up its end of the anti-terror struggle.
Al Gore snubs Earth Hour
Even during Earth Hour. President of the Tennessee Center For Policy Research Drew Johnson takes a Saturday drive by Al Gore’s during the time most environmentalists went dark
Lights In Sky Prompt Flood Of Calls In Md., Va., N.C.
A team of scientists is looking into what could have caused bright lights in the sky that prompted hundreds of calls to the National Weather Service and emergency officials.
Callers from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina described brilliant, streaking lights followed by an explosion-like sound around 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
And Now, a Billion for the Food Police?
By Vin Suprynowicz
President Obama last week accused the Bush administration of creating a “hazard to public health” by failing to curb food contamination problems. Mr. Bush’s successor announced he will form a “Food Safety Working Group” to “upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century.”
Looting by U.S. Government at All-Time Highs
By y Michael S. Rozeff
here are two bull markets going on right now. They are in U.S. government looting. They are Congressional looting and Federal Reserve (FED) looting. They are bull markets for the government, banks, and select beneficiaries. They are bear markets for the Americans being looted, which is most of us.
Building a Brain on a Silicon Chip
An international team of scientists in Europe has created a silicon chip designed to function like a human brain. With 200,000 neurons linked up by 50 million synaptic connections, the chip is able to mimic the brain's ability to learn more closely than any other machine.
GERMANY'S MYSTERY COW DISEASE
A mysterious illness is causing calves to bleed to death on German farms. Veterinarians are stumped over what is causing the deaths: vaccines, genetically modified feed or perhaps even the first mother's milk?
THE FAULT LINES EMERGE
By Peter Schiff
For a few fleeting, horrifying moments this past week the fault lines that underlie the global economic crisis erupted into plain view. With deft and quick effort leaders in Washington, Europe and Asia papered over the fissures and fears largely subsided. But the shock of plain truths which resulted in violent currency movements are the latest reminder that the 21st century economic order will bear little resemblance to the world we now know.
Some Strategists Cast Doubt on Afghan War Rationale
By Gareth Porter
The argument for deeper U.S. military commitment to the Afghan War invoked by President Barack Obama in his first major policy statement on Afghanistan and Pakistan Friday - that al Qaeda must be denied a safe haven in Afghanistan - has been not been subjected to public debate in Washington.
NYSE Runs Out of Gold Bars: What Happens Next?
The government no longer makes any pretension to maintaining a gold standard, or any standards at all. Instead, nowadays, the futures exchanges offer to trade gold for a floating number of dollars, and, it appears, they have printed more paper contracts than they can redeem, at least when it comes to 1 kilogram bars.
Few in flood zone have insurance
As the Red River crept within view of their backyard this past week, Denette and Billy Narum had an extra incentive to pray their sandbags held. Like most people in the flood zone, they have no flood insurance.
RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A ROBOT CAPABLE OF LEARNING AND INTERACTING WITH THE WORLD USING A BIOLOGICAL BRAIN.
Kevin Warwick’s new robot behaves like a child. “Sometimes it does what you want it to, and sometimes it doesn’t,” he says. And while it may seem strange for a professor of cybernetics to be concerning himself with such an unreliable machine, Warwick’s creation has something that even today’s most sophisticated robots lack: a living brain.
How Goldman Sachs was at the center of the oil trading fiasco that bankrupted pipeline giant Semgroup.
When oil prices spiked last summer to $147 a barrel, the biggest corporate casualty was oil pipeline giant Semgroup Holdings, a $14 billion (sales) private firm in Tulsa, Okla. It had racked up $2.4 billion in trading losses betting that oil prices would go down, including $290 million in accounts personally managed by then chief executive Thomas Kivisto. Its short positions amounted to the equivalent of 20% of the nation's crude oil inventories. With the credit crunch eliminating any hope of meeting a $500 million margin call, Semgroup filed for bankruptcy on July 22.
Your health records on sale block
The head of the Institute for Health Freedom says now is the time for American residents to rise up if they want to keep control over their health records, because the data soon will be for sale and is forecast to become the next "gold rush."
Geithner Says Some Banks to Need ‘Large Amounts’ of Assistance
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some financial institutions will need substantial government aid, while warning against any attempt to tax investors who join a federal program to buy tainted assets from banks.
Israeli drones attacked Iranian convoys in Sudan
Israel used unmanned drones to attack clandestine Iranian convoys in Sudan that were attempting to smuggle rockets into Gaza, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Mandatory service is the same thing as involuntary servitude and slavery
It seems the Democrats are determined to turn the American people into slaves of the government. Bill HR-1388 would have created a commission to study mandatory service for all Americans. That language was removed from the bill before it passed, perhaps because of public anger over it. But now a new bill, H.R.-1444, has been introduced which contains essentially the same language.
Obama's Attack on the Middle Class
By Paul Craig Roberts
Obama and his public relations team have made it appear that his trillion dollars in higher taxes will fall only on “the rich.” Obama stresses that his tax increase is only for the richest 5 percent of Americans while the other 95 percent receive a tax cut.
Shut down and takeover of “tent cities” stokes fears of internment pretext
Plans to shut down tent cities in California and relocate homeless people to government-run facilities have stoked fears that the move could be a pretext for a wider internment of Americans in the event of a total economic collapse.
Lord Myners hid his money in tax haven
LORD MYNERS, the minister in charge of the government’s assault on tax havens, has used a blind trust to conceal £250,000 of his own money in an offshore shelter.
Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers
President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft -- though far from planted -- questions provided openings to discuss his preferred message of the day.
France calls Gaza 'open-air prison'
France has warned that the Gaza Strip cannot remain an 'open-air prison' forever, urging Israel to lift the blockade on the territory.
G20 protesters face police with Tasers
SCOTLAND YARD is to deploy officers armed with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns to deal with violent demonstrators planning to disrupt this week’s G20 summit in London.
GM CEO forced out as U.S. readies autos aid
General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner resigned under pressure from the Obama administration on Sunday as the government prepared to announce a second bailout for the company and its smaller rival Chrysler LLC.
Freedom Rider: Opposing Obama
This weekend's pitifully small peace demonstration in the nation's capitol reveals a near-totally demobilized U.S. Left mired in such timidity and delusion, activists fear to mention Barack Obama's name when denouncing the wars he so aggressively prosecutes. "The new president, who makes no secret of his intention to continue the previous administration's war of terror, escaped serious scrutiny and the condemnation he deserves." Forgetting that power concedes nothing without a demand, the Left shrinks from making real demands of the actual president in power.
Netanyahu and the Future of the Peace Process
By Ramzy Baroud
It seems that the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is in serious jeopardy. This is the immediate impression one gleans from media reports from Israel. Unlike Israel's Kadima and Labour party "moderates" prime minister-designate Benyamin Netanyahu is widely seen as an obstacle to negotiations aimed at facilitating a two-state solution. The media stories, however, are riddled with misconceptions and dotted with false assumptions.
Big Money is Going to Take Your Internet Access Away!
The subject has been dubbed net neutrality, but that`s an entirely too bland term for what is going on. What is at stake is whether you and I can have the same kind of high-speed, equal-service access to the Internet that Big Business has, or whether giant telecommunications companies like Time Warner, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon will get away with creating a tiered, or multilevel system of Internet speeds so that certain providers can buy a fast lane ahead of you and me.
Germans wreck ‘global new deal’
GORDON BROWN’S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.
UK backs Pakistan offensive
Defence secretary insists Britain has to back American plans to hunt down al-Qaida leaders across the Afghan border
Government advertisements run 10,000 times a day
Britons are being bombarded by more than 10,000 government advertisements every day, prompting accusations that Labour is creating the "ultimate nanny state".
AIPAC espionage case becomes US trouble
The Justice Department is feeling the heat as it continues the prosecution of former AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman.
Report: NKorea preparing for another missile test
North Korea is preparing to launch a short- or medium-range missile, possibly right after it carries out its plan to fire a long-range rocket in early April, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.
Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots
When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.
Bill Designates Sept. 11 As ‘National Day of Service and Remembrance’
The National Day of Service and Remembrance is included in the Senate’s ServeAmerica Act. That bill and its House companion, the GIVE Act, are now on their way to a conference committee, where any differences will be reconciled. President Obama has said he is eager to sign the final legislation into law.
US and Iran open Afghanistan peace talks
IRANIAN and American officials have held their first talks about ending the war in Afghanistan amid signs that President Barack Obama’s efforts to thaw relations with Tehran are paying off.
Spanish court considers trying former US officials
A Spanish court has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer in the case said Saturday.
Congress eyes tax on health-care benefits to fund expansion of coverage
Faced with mounting budget deficits and the enormous cost of reforming the nation's health-care system, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing increasing openness to an idea that once seemed unthinkable taxing some health-care benefits.
The Modern Tyranny Movement SMIAC Report
Loyal readers, the disdain for the Constitution and attempt to link my support of Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) to the likes of abortion clinic bomber, Eric Rudolph angered me greatly. Thus I offer for your review “The Smoking Argus Daily Information Analysis Center” report entitled “The Modern Tyranny Movement”.
Bank of America May Raise Investment Banker Salaries
Bank of America Corp. plans to increase some investment bankers’ salaries by as much as 70 percent following the takeover earlier this year of Merrill Lynch & Co., people familiar with the proposal said.
Seven hours to save the world
As economies fracture across the globe, the capital's greatest gathering of leaders since 1946 has less than a day to agree a rescue plan.
Vast Electronic Spying Operation Discovered
"Researchers in Toronto have discovered a huge international electronic spying operation that they are calling 'GhostNet.' So far it has infiltrated government and corporate offices in 103 countries, including the office of the Dalai Lama (who originally went to the researchers for help analyzing a suspected infiltration).
Ruth Madoff took $2m from London office before collapse
The Serious Fraud Office in the UK yesterday characterised Madoff's London operation as "a cog in the giant washing machine", as it set out new details of how the former Nasdaq chairman ran his $65bn Ponzi scheme.
Barack Obama offers new strategy to tame Pakistan
More than seven years after America declared war on the Taleban, Afghanistan still stands on the brink of disaster, President Obama declared yesterday as he unveiled a new regional strategy to win the war in South Asia. An additional 21,000 US troops will be sent to Afghanistan and civilian aid to neighbouring Pakistan will be trebled, Mr Obama said in a speech that showed his desire to take full US ownership of the deepening conflict.
5 Ways To Scam The New Bailout
Overpay for trash assets, after getting a secret agreement from the bank that the bank will make it worth their while. The hedge funds mmediately write the assets down, destroying their equity and the taxpayer. Then they sell them back for peanuts to the banks, but the bank pays the hedge fund a "fee" that would compensate for the lost equity. (It wouldn't be explicit, of course. But given the amount of money that flows back and forth between the big banks and hedge funds, it won't be hard to hide.) The hedge fund profits. The bank profits and the taxpayer is scammed.
U.S. Ranked 36th Freest Press in the World
It is not economic prosperity but peace that guarantees press freedom. That is the main lesson to be drawn from the world press freedom index that Reporters Without Borders compiles every year and from the 2008 edition.
States rebel against Washington
The state sovereignty movement is by no means frivolous and could have significant political firepower.
Double-digit unemployment hits 7 states
Seven states posted unemployment rates above 10 percent in February, as Georgia is inched toward the double digits, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Will U.S. financial woes lead to new world order? Is the U.S. about to lose its status as the dominant global superpower? Will the dollar collapse? If so, what would become the new global reserve currency and what would replace U.S. hegemony in a new world order?
Torture inquiry reveals 15 new cases
MI5 and MI6 have identified at least 15 cases of possible complicity by British officers in the torture or mistreatment of terror suspects following the case of the Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed.
Pakistan spies under heat in new US strategy
The United States has vowed to put the heat on Pakistan's spies in its new regional strategy, with top officials openly accusing elements in powerful intelligence agency of abetting Al-Qaeda.
Goldman Sachs Bails Out Two More Execs
Goldman Sachs (GS) has been forced to bail out several of its executives who borrowed heavily against their shares to make risky private equity and hedge fund investments. As Goldman Sachs (GS) stock dropped, and these investments went into the toilet, several have been forced to borrow against future earnings to avoid going broke.
Is there any gold inside Fort Knox, the world's most secure vault?
It is said to be the most impregnable vault on Earth: built out of granite, sealed behind a 22-tonne door, located on a US military base and watched over day and night by army units with tanks, heavy artillery and Apache helicopter gunships at their disposal.
Thousands Sign Up for Virtual Border Patrol
This week, the eyes of the federal government are firmly fixed on America’s largely unguarded 2,000-mile border with Mexico — but a group of Texas sheriffs wants your eyes there, too.
Government Should Compel Consumers to Use Alternative Energy, Congressman Says
Government policy should be crafted to raise the price of carbon-emitting energy sources so consumers are compelled to choose alternative energy, House Democratic Conference Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told CNSNews.com on Thursday.
An Unholy Alliance
This 1996 documentary examines the CIA's connection to the global drug trade, with a focus on opium and heroin.
CIA: Secret Operations, Drug Money
In Afghanistan, U.S./NATO have put the blame on Taliban for poppy cultivation to finance their resistance to allied forces. Ironically, it was only in Taliban era when the world had seen a sharp decline in opium crop in Afghanistan.
Geithner’s Toxic-Asset Plan on Slow Track as Values Deteriorate
The Obama administration’s plan to remove distressed assets from bank balance sheets may take three months to begin operating, risking further deterioration in the value of the securities and driving up rescue costs.
Spokane residents smuggle suds over green brands
The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well.
Omni National Bank in Georgia Shut, 21st US Failure
Omni National Bank of Atlanta was closed Friday by regulators and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The seizure follows last week's move by the FDIC to close three banks and put two large corporate credit unions into conservatorship. The failure of Omni National brings the number of bank failures so far this year to 21.
Obama's Latest No Banker Left Behind Scheme
By Stephen Lendman
On Wall Street, that is. So hyped by advance fanfare, Timothy Geithner unveiled his Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) on March 23, the latest in a growing alphabet soup of handouts topping $12.5 trillion and counting - so much in so many forms, in "gov-speak" language, with so many changing and moving parts, it's hard for experts to keep up let alone the public, except to sense something is very wrong.
Can Uncle Sam Ever Let Go?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
“In 1877, Lord Salisbury, commenting on Great Britain’s policy on the Eastern Question, noted that ‘the commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcass of dead policies.’
Judges’ Kickback Scheme Thrived Despite Red Flags
Things were different in the Luzerne County juvenile courtroom, and everyone knew it. Proceedings on average took less than two minutes. Detention center workers were told in advance how many juveniles to expect at the end of each day even before hearings to determine their innocence or guilt. Lawyers told families not to bother hiring them. They would not be allowed to speak anyway.
One Nation Under Siege
9/11 was only the tip of the iceberg! From documentary filmmaker William Lewis comes a bone chilling documentary on the spying, tracking and control of the American public.
