China to Boost Yuan Swaps, Payments on Dollar Concern
China’s leaders, increasingly concerned about the nation’s $740 billion of U.S. Treasuries, are making it easier for trading partners and consumers to do business in yuan.
The People’s Bank of China has agreed to provide 650 billion yuan ($95 billion) to Argentina, Belarus, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea through so-called currency- swaps. More such arrangements are being planned so importers can avoid paying for Chinese goods with dollars, the central bank said. In Hong Kong, which has pegged the currency to its U.S. counterpart since 1983, stores from Park’n Shop supermarkets to jewelers accept yuan.
Rule change intended to ease bank crisis could make it worse
The little-known Financial Accounting Standards Board is poised to deliver Thursday a change in accounting rules that proponents say will save the banking system — and opponents warn could bring even more ruin to the U.S. economy.
Israel closes probe of Gaza incidents, denies they happened
The Israeli military announced Monday that it's closed its swift criminal investigation into two explosive allegations by its soldiers that army units intentionally killed Palestinian civilians during the recent offensive in Gaza.
Congress gives community service programs a boost
The nation's volunteer corps will expand dramatically to aid the country's poor people, spruce up its parks, help veterans and military families, and provide new programs for seniors and students under legislation the House of Representatives approved on Tuesday.
Did Holder Violate Protocol on D.C. Voting Issue?
We just can’t get enough on the question of whether D.C. residents should get a congressional vote, partly because we find those “Taxation Without Representation” license plates so, well, feisty. But the issue potentially grew more explosive with news that AG Eric Holder may have breached protocol to get an opinion on the issue that he liked.
Blackstone Rejects SEC Request for Fund Data as Fortress Agrees
Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity firm, rebuffed a request from securities regulators to publicly disclose the performance of its buyout and hedge funds while Fortress Investment Group LLC agreed.
Masters of the Universe - Federal Reserve Fraud
The Federal Reserve, or the Fed as it is lovingly called, may be one of the most mysterious entities in modern American government. Created during Wilson's presidency to protect the economy in times of financial turmoil, its real business remains to be discovered. During the Wilson presidency, the U.S. government sanctions the creation of the Federal Reserve. Thought by many to be a government organization maintained to provide financial accountability in the event of a domestic depression, the actual business of the Fed is shrouded in secrecy. Many Americans will be shocked to discover that the principle business of the Fed is to print money from nothing, lend it to the U.S. government and charge interest on these loans. Who keeps the interest? Good question. Find out as the connective tissue between this and other top-secret international organizations is explored and exposed.
Border Patrol to install surveillance towers in Detroit
The U.S. Border Patrol is erecting 16 more video surveillance towers in Michigan and New York to help secure parts of the U.S.-Canadian border, awarding the contract to a company criticized for faulty technology with its so-called “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
Stephen Colbert Rips Apart Glenn Beck: Building His Career On 9/11
Stephen Colbert ripped apart Fox News host (and New York Times cover boy) Glenn Beck Tuesday night, mocking his 9-12 project, meant to conjure the spirit of compassion and camaraderie Americans felt on September 12, 2001.
Two Balkan countries officially join NATO
Albania and Croatia officially became NATO's newest members on Wednesday, bringing the number of countries in the military alliance to 28.
Finally, Talking the Lobby’s Role in America
By Karin Friedemann
Most Americans would prefer to keep their lights on than to personally finance Israel’s existence. It finally seems acceptable, even within polite circles, to discuss the role of the Israeli Lobby on US foreign policy. AIPAC’s recent success in deposing the almost National Security Chief Chas Freeman stimulated much free thought worldwide.
Israel planned to kill Erdogan: Report
Turkish media sources detail information implicating the Israeli Mossad in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Cities and States Plan Strange New Taxes on Pretty Much Everything
The government is having a hard time making do with the meager trillions you're throwing their way, so they're pressing some controversial new customs to buy their way out. Here's a look at some of the more egregious new taxes you're sure to be seeing soon.
US road privatization may hurt states -report
U.S. states considering road privatization as a way to close budget deficits risk losing billions of dollars in long-term toll revenue while ceding too much control to shareholder-focused private investors, a report said on Wednesday.
DID CHENEY ASSASSINATION RING TARGET PAT TILLMAN ?
With Seymour Hersh's revelation of an executive assassination ring that reported directly to Dick Cheney now confirmed by former Cheney aide John Hannah ~ it's time to re-open the investigation of Pat Tillman's questionable death by friendly fire which was stonewalled by both the Bush administration and the Pentagon generals
9 patients made nearly 2,700 ER visits in Texas
Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients.
Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax
In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee rescinded the Peace Prize it awarded in 2007 to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, amid overwhelming evidence that global warming is an elaborate hoax cooked up by Mr. Gore.
ACLU Urges Obama Administration To Turn Over Torture Documents
In advance of a looming deadline in long-running Freedom of Information Act litigation, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged the government to immediately release Bush-era legal memos that authorized the torture of prisoners in CIA custody.
Hersh: Cheney ‘Left A Stay Behind’ In Obama’s Government, Can ‘Still Control Policy Up To A Point’
n an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, host Terry Gross asked investigative journalist Seymour Hersh if, as he continues to investigate the Bush administration, “more people” were “coming forward” to talk to him now that “the president and vice president are no longer in power.” Hersh replied that though “a lot of people that had told me in the last year of Bush, ‘call me next, next February,’ not many people had talked to him. He implied that they were still scared of Cheney.
North Korea is fueling rocket, U.S. military says
The fueling signals that the country could be in the final stages of what North Korea has said will be the launch of a satellite into space as early as this weekend, the senior U.S. military official said Wednesday.
PM: We may be forced to attack Iran
The primary imperative for the United States and President Barack Obama is to put an end to Iran's nuclear race, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said before his swearing-in Tuesday, adding that if the US failed to do so Israel might be forced to resort to a military strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear installations.
Obama admits: Attack on US soil likely
President Barack Obama admits that al-Qaeda network is planning fresh raids on the United States from the militants' safe havens in Pakistan.
All charges against Sen. Ted Stevens are dropped
The Justice Department is dropping all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens, the 85-year-old Alaska Republican convicted of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a businessman, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said today.
Indict Bush not Bashir, Chavez says at Arab summit
"The recent indictment against the Sudanese president Bashir is one of these ridiculous cases. It's a farce," President Hugo Chavez said at a summit of Arab and South American countries in Qatar.
G20: Gordon Brown woos China with offer of greater voting powers
Gordon Brown will enter talks with China today to see if it would be willing to commit extra funds to fighting a world recession in return for greater voting powers on multilateral institutions, including the IMF and World Bank.
Growth to slow down hitting hard the poor countries
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the developing world will slow to a projected 2.1 per cent in 2009 from 5.8 per cent in 2008, according to World Bank (WB) estimates released Tuesday.
Ruling Favors Franken in Minnesota Senate Contest
The election was more than 20 weeks ago. The trial contesting its results lasted seven weeks. And a three-judge panel appointed by the state Supreme Court spent two-plus weeks wrestling with a decision.
Another Obama nominee admits errors, pays $7,000 in back taxes
Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding "unintentional errors" _ the latest tax troubles for an Obama administration nominee. The Kansas governor explained the changes to senators in a letter dated Tuesday that the administration released. She said they involved charitable contributions, the sale of a home and business expenses.
Deadly US Drone Attack On Taliban Hideout
Twelve people died after a US drone fired on an alleged hideout linked to a Pakistani Taliban leader who threatened Washington, a security officials have said.
G-20 protesters break into Royal Bank of Scotland
G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in downtown London on Wednesday, breaking into the heavily guarded Royal Bank of Scotland and smashing its windows. Earlier, they tried to storm the Bank of England and pelted police with eggs and fruit.
Senate Legislation Would Federalize Cybersecurity
Key lawmakers are pushing to dramatically escalate U.S. defenses against cyberattacks, crafting proposals that would empower the government to set and enforce security standards for private industry for the first time.
Nightmare on Wall Street
By Lila Rajiva
The furor over the AIG rescue and the possibility that American banks might be nationalized have turned March into a financial horror film: Zombies on the street, empty vaults, tentacled monsters, and cryptic pronouncements from a parallel universe. It deserves rewinding and deconstruction, episode by episode.
Destination Collapse
By Michael S. Rozeff
The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve (FED) are pursuing reckless policies. The scale of their budget and financial mismanagement is so large that they will almost surely cause social and economic discontinuities unless they are slowed, halted, or impeded by factors that counteract them.
ADP Says U.S. Companies Reduced Payrolls by 742,000
Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 742,000 workers in March, pointing to no relief in sight for the labor market amid the longest recession in seven decades, a private report based on payroll data showed today.
U.S. ISM Manufacturing Index Contracts for 14th Month
Manufacturing in the U.S. contracted for a 14th straight month in March as factories kept on cutting production amid the economic downturn that this month becomes the longest since the Great Depression.
Dozens of Israeli Aircraft Involved in Sudan Attack
Israeli security officials today confirmed that dozens of aircraft, fighter-bombers and drones, were involved in the January attack against a truck convoy in Sudan, which killed at least 39 people and destroyed dozens of trucks allegedly loaded down with weapons.
AIG crisis could be the tip of an insurance iceberg
The company's situation reflects problems throughout the life insurance industry as investments suffer. Further strain could bring about a second financial crisis.
Bank losses spreading
By Jerry Mazza
Last Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported that for the first time in history commercial US banks have suffered a $3.4 billion quarterly loss in a giant sector that they thought, until now, was solid: that is, bets on interest rates. The loss was more than seven times worse than their previous quarterly loss in that category. Chavez to seek Arab backing for 'petro-currency'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in the Middle East seeking support for his idea of a new oil-backed currency to challenge the US dollar.
US Used by Afghan Drug Clan to Take Out Rival
A "high-ranking" member of al-Qaida was seized during a recent US mission in Afghanistan which left five people dead. But the Americans were set up: The tip-off as to his location came from a drug clan who wanted to get rid of a rival.
CCTV Network to be Shut Down During G20 Summit
The security operation at this week's G20 summit was thrown into chaos last night when it emerged that the entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling.
Financial Rescue Approaches GDP as U.S. Pledges $12.8 Trillion
The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s.
High stakes debut looms for Obama at G20 summit
President Barack Obama heads to Europe on Tuesday with a hefty agenda for tackling the economic crisis and seeking support for his new Afghanistan strategy on a trip that will test his global leadership.
Former Cheney Aide Suggests That Hersh’s Account Of ‘Executive Assassination Ring’ Is ‘Certainly True’
Last month, The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh revealed in Minnesota that former vice president Cheney presided over an “executive assassination ring.” “Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving,” Hersh explained.
Claim: U.S. voters don't blame Obama for economy
U.S. President Barack Obama benefits from a broadly held perception that others bear the bulk of responsibility for state of the U.S. economy, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll published on Tuesday.
Top Bush advisor denounces Spanish torture probe
A former top US government advisor who faces possible indictment in Spain for his role in establishing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp described the case against him as "outrageous."
Does Wagoner's Fate Signal Obama Power Grab?
By Larry Kudlow
CEO Rick Wagoner Sunday afternoon, just a short time after Treasury man Tim Geithner told the television talk shows that some banks will need large amounts of new TARP-money government assistance even though the bankers don’t want it. Does this smack of big-time government planning and industrial policy? Another lurch to the left for economic policy?
World Bank and OECD Warn of Jobless Jump
The World Bank and OECD cut their economic outlooks for emerging and rich nations and warned surging unemployment may deal another blow to the global economy.
Russia, China cooperate on new currency proposals
Russia and China are coordinating proposals on a new global currency that could replace the US dollar as a reserve currency to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis, the Kremlin said on Monday.
End the War on Drugs
By Ron Paul
We have recently heard many shocking stories of brutal killings and ruthless violence related to drug cartels warring with Mexican and US officials. Hoax bomb alerts bring Belfast to standstill
Dissident republicans are being blamed for a series of security alerts which brought parts of Northern Ireland to a standstill yesterday.
Mexico's Fox touts EU-like integration for the Americas
Fox also delivered a message of hope — hope that someday Canada, the United States and Mexico, indeed the rest of Latin America, would function like the European Union.
Useful Idiots in Modern America
Failing to see that the financial elite are controlling the agenda of both parties is a form of useful idiocy.
Mints coin it as consumers scramble for gold
In the heart of Vienna in a Biedermeier building commissioned by Emperor Franz I, a man wearing a khaki uniform and beret exchanges a wad of euro notes across the counter for a few sparkling gold coins.
Honda connects brain thoughts with robotics
Opening a car boot or controlling a home air-conditioner could become just a wish away with Honda’s new technology that connects thoughts inside a brain with robotics.
GM CEO gets $23 million estimated pension
Former General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner won't get a severance payment from the automaker, but he'll still get a pension and other benefits worth an estimated $23 million.
US warships creep into N. Korea backyard
Japan, South Korea and the US move warships into offensive positions as tensions rise over North Korean plans to test a ballistic missile.
Legislation Introduced to Curtail Patriot Act Abuse
Congressmen Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced legislation today to narrow the overbroad subpoena power in the National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the Patriot Act. The bipartisan bill, National Security Letters Reform Act of 2009, aims to curb rampant abuse of that power by federal law enforcement following the expansion of the Patriot Act and was introduced with 17 cosponsors. NSLs are secret subpoenas used to demand personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit companies without prior court approval.
UK DNA database grows by 38 per cent in two years
Some 1.4 million new profiles have been added to the DNA database in the past two years – a rise of 38 per cent – according to figures released by the Home Office.
Asia split over China's "war of nerves" with U.S.
Asian policymakers are preoccupied with China's "war of nerves" over the U.S. dollar's global status rather than the impact of the Fed's debt buying on their vast dollar-linked savings, officials told Reuters.
Pentagon war spending hits $685.7 billion - GAO
Pentagon spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to fight terrorism elsewhere has reached $685.7 billion since 2001, a U.S. government watchdog agency said on Monday.
New Labour's dream is a surveillance state nightmare
There's a delicious moment in Alastair Beaton's satirical film, The Trial of Tony Blair, in which the former prime minister is finally arrested for war crimes on a warrant from the international criminal court. One scene shows the standard police procedure as Blair is inducted by the desk sergeant in a London station. Towards the end of the rigmarole, the policeman moves to take a saliva swab from him.
Chicago Sun-Times files for bankruptcy
Chicago Sun-Times parent Sun-Times Media Group Inc., struggling with declining revenues and lingering liabilities dating back to the negligent and felonious tenure of former CEO Conrad Black, disclosed Tuesday that it has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.
Sarkozy threatens to walk out of G20
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has threatened to walk out of London's G20 summit if France's demands for stricter financial regulation are rejected, it has been reported.
“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.
