New Home Sales Fell 41% in February 2009
No, New Home Sales data did not improve. In fact, they were not only not positive, they were actually horrific. The year over year number was a terrible down 41%. Sales from this same period a year ago have nearly been halved. Why did the media report this as positive? If you only read the headline number, you saw a positive datapoint: February was plus 4.7% over January. To get the the facts, you need to read below the headline. In the present case, it wasn’t the seasonality factor that was confusing, it was the “90-percent confidence intervals” — or as it is more commonly known, the margin of error.
From the Census Bureau:
Sales of new one-family houses in February 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.7 percent (±18.3%)* above the revised January rate of 322,000, but is 41.1 percent (±7.9%) below the February 2008 estimate of 572,000.
Note that the month over month data at 4.7% — plus or minus 18.3% — is statistically insignificant. (i.e., meaningless). The reported data does not inform us if sales improved month-over-month or not. It is a range, from down -13.6% to plus 23%. Since “zero” is part of that range, we can draw no conclusion. As the Census Department itself notes, “the change is not statistically significant; that is, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease.”
The data does however, tell us that the year-over-year sales fell 41.1% plus or minus 7.9% gives us a range of -49% to -33.2%. The entire range is negative, therefore we can conclude sales fell year-over-year.....
Most electronic voting systems can be hacked, CIA expert says
CIA expert told panel he wouldn't divulge CIA's interest in voting systems in a unclassified setting A top CIA cybersecurity expert told the US Election Assistance Commission last month that most electronic voting systems are insecure, according to transcripts obtained by McClatchy Newspapers..
KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With
'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'
Those of us who have demanded transparent voting systems because we understand that only the ability for complete citizen oversight and transparency can effectively counter those who would game elections, have been disingenuously criticized over the years as somehow questioning the integrity of the hard-working, honest election officials out there.
The fact is, those who know anything about computer security understand that it is the insiders who are, by far, the greatest threat to security on such systems, as even the phony, GOP-operative-created Baker/Carter National Election Reform Commission determined in its final report: "There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more than in other industries.....
Disabled woman given mermaid tail to help her swim
A woman who lost both her legs as a child has been turned into a mermaid by the Lord of the Rings special effects team so she can go swimming.....
Exxon, Chevron Count Every Dollar to Protect $40 Billion Hoard
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., their coffers swollen by last year’s record oil prices, are maneuvering to preserve a combined $40 billion in cash amid a global financial crisis that roiled the banking system.
Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson says he checks in every night with Treasurer Don Humphreys to make sure the money is still there. The largest U.S. oil producers won’t say where they’re putting cash, even as both acknowledge going to greater lengths than in the past to protect their funds.
Economy shrinks most in 25 years; Unemployment continues climb
The economy shrank at a 6.3 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, and probably isn't doing much better now. "The Commerce Department on Thursday reported that the economy was sinking a bit faster than the 6.2 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter estimated a month ago. "And the pain has persisted in the current quarter. New claims for unemployment benefits last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 644,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The total number of people claiming benefits jumped to 5.56 million, higher than economists' projections of 5.48 million, and a ninth straight record-high.
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.....
Dollar Declines Most Since 1985 Plaza Accord on Fed Bond Buying
The dollar dropped the most against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners since the Plaza Accord almost a quarter-century ago as the Federal Reserve’s plan to purchase Treasuries spurred speculation that it’s debasing the greenback.....
Scenes from the recession (Photos)
The state of our global economy: foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, layoffs, abandoned projects, and the people and industries caught in the middle. It can be difficult to capture financial pressures in photographs, but here a few recent glimpses into some of the places and lives affected by what some are calling the "Great Recession".
This is the way the Internet ends: not with a bang, but DPI
Free Press claims that deep packet inspection could bring about the end of the Internet "as we know it." But the rest of the world knows it all too well already.
Does deep packet inspection mean the end of the Internet?
Deep packet inspection (DPI) gear has always been marketed to ISPs as a way to earn more money by scanning Internet traffic and charging more for various services. Want to game online? Better upgrade to the "Gaming Xtreme!" plan. Want to use VoIP? Prepare to open your wallet. Watch much streaming video? Well, it would be a whole lot smoother if you just paid another $2.99 a month.
DPI vendors haven't tried to hide this; one company's marketing literature suggests that it can help "reduce the performance of applications with negative influence on revenues" (e.g. competitive VoIP services).
ISPs want to avoid becoming a low-margin "bit pipe"—a dumb communications network that just enables companies like Google to make bazillions of dollars. And one good way to do that is to sell expensive services, using DPI to identity and categorize Internet traffic, then degrade or prioritize protocols and applications to fit the service profile.
.....Or take Canada, where just about every major ISP in the country has admitted to regulators that it uses DPI gear to throttle traffic, often singling out P2P protocols. Bell Canada's system throttles P2P for nearly half the day, and it applies the same limits to those who buy and resell its wholesale service.....
The U.K. wants your Twitter chatter under surveillance
Not happy with pushing the EU Data Retention Directive which would make ISPs store communication data for 12 months Vernon Coaker, the U.K. Home Office security minister, now wants all social networking sites and IM messaging service monitored as well. The Interception Monderisation Programme (IMP) is the government proposal for legislation to use mass monitoring of traffic data as an antiterrorism tool.
The IMP has two objectives; that the government use deep packet inspection to monitor the Web communications of all U.K. citizens; and that all of the traffic data relating to those communications are stored in a centralized government database. The problem is that social networking sites aren’t covered by the directive.....
Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay
The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said.....
I Was Too Early on Solar Power -- Let's Not Be Too Late
By Robert Redford
......People were just starting to get excited about pollution-free power, but then Ronald Reagan became president and took the solar panels off the White House and the policies promoting renewable energy were stripped from the books.
In 1975 I produced a short film called "The Solar Film." The people interviewed say they like how solar power cuts down on their bills, doesn't have to be imported, and makes them worry less about terrorists. All of those benefits remain extremely relevant today, but we have lost three decades in the effort to extend them to more Americans.....
Who owns Colorado's rainwater?
Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.
Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain. But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.......
Madoff : the Story behind the Story
.....This article by Wayne Madsen(scroll down to see it) offers a plausible hypothesis why Madoff's conviction is the end of the line, and prosecutors aren't lookig for co-conspirators. According to Madsen, Madoff's investors were not so dumb, and what Madoff was really collecting money for was a vast floating casino project in Manhattan, with new transit lines thrown in for extra $$$. The "Cornerstone Project" was to have absorbed Madoff's cash and rewarded him richly, before last September's crash put the project in jeopardy.....
40 Years Since RFK Assassination,
Mounting Evidence of CIA Involvement
..... Joling and Van Praag, both forensic scientists, claim that after analyzing audio recordings of the assassination they have concluded that at least 13 shots were fired. The handgun Sirhan used only had the capacity to fire eight shots. They believe that there were two guns and that the fatal shot came from behind Robert Kennedy, while witnesses claim that Sirhan was in front of Kennedy. According to a March 27, 2008 ABC report by Pierre Thomas, Joling claims, “It can be established conclusively that Sirhan did not shoot Senator Kennedy. And in fact not only did he not do it, he could not have done it.”
Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi conducted the official autopsy on the body of Robert Francis Kennedy on the morning of June 6, 1968. Noguchi stated that the shot that killed RFK “had entered through the mastoid bone, an inch behind the right ear and had traveled upward to sever the branches of the superior cerebral artery.”....
Federal Reserve plan stuns investors (Dollar drops 2% in one day)
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stunned investors by announcing plans to buy $300bn of US government debt, triggering a plunge in bond yields and the dollar.
In a further display of aggression, the US central bank also said it was more than doubling its purchases of securities issued by housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $1,450bn. It said it now expected to keep interest rates near zero for an “extended period” of time..
Fed knew 3 Months Ago of AIG bonuses, failed to tell Obama
US Federal Reserve officials knew about the controversial AIG bonuses but did not tell Treasury or White House officials for months, the Washington Post reported Thursday.The American International Group informed the Fed three months ago that it would pay 165 million dollars by March 15 to employees in their Financial Products unit, the Post reported, citing government and company officials.......
Diebold Admits Systemic Audit Log Failure; State Vows Inquiry
Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold Election Systems) admitted in a state hearing Tuesday that the audit logs produced by its tabulation software miss significant events, including the act of someone deleting votes on election day.
The company acknowledged that the problem exists with every version of its tabulation software.....
Why are GM Foods Not Labeled?
.....Environmental bodies worldwide are strongly against GM food growth, agreeing that this is a dangerous experiment with health and could have a disastrous effect on the environment. They say it violates a natural organism's intrinsic value; that modified genes are being spread through pollination; and that it allows a few giant corporations to control food production worldwide, forcing farmers to buy new, expensive, patented seed from them year after year.
Many countries, including most of Europe, most Australian states, Angola, Sudan, Venezuela and Zambia, have declared themselves GM-free zones, refusing to grow GM crops. So strong is the anti-GM lobby in the UK that the industry has abandoned all attempts to get GM seeds approved for growing in that country....
New Army Weapon Aims to Fry Gadgets, People
Electronics-frying "e-bombs" have been discussed for decades — but rarely, if ever, deployed. Knocking out computers and communications gear with electromagnetic radiation is nice, but commanders prefer the proven method: blowing stuff up.
Now the U.S. Army is developing technology to do both at the same time. Hybrid munitions would give warheads the added punch of an e-bomb that can "destroy and disable electronic systems and their operators" all in one blast. The key is a magnet that blows up and spontaneously demagnetizes, releasing energy as a pulse of power. Oh, and antennas made of fire. My story in the current Defense Technology International explains....
Updating the Militarization and Annexation of North America (SPP/NAU)
.....It's for a tri-national agreement, below the radar, for greater economic, political, and security integration with secret business and government working groups devising binding policies with no public knowledge or legislative debate.
In short, it's a military-backed corporate coup d'etat against the sovereignty of three nations, their populations and legislative bodies. It's a dagger through the heart of democratic freedom in all three, yet the public is largely unaware of what's happening.
Last April, New Orleans hosted the last SPP summit. Ever since, progress may have stalled given the gravity of the global economic crisis and top priority need to address it. Nonetheless, what's known to date is updated below plus some related information
Stewart to Cheney: Drink a cup of 'Shut the f**k up' (Video)
....Noting that Cheney no longer can truly know what he is talking about as he no longer receives daily intelligence briefings, Stewart indignantly said, “Maybe I could interest you in a hot cup of shut the f**k up.”
“The guy’s vice president for eight years, you barely see a whiff of him. He lives in some subterranean lair, literally has his house removed from Google Earth,” Stewart said. “Then when he’s no longer accountable to the American people he’s popping up everywhere. I can’t get him off my TV. He’s like the Mario Lopez of doom now.”...
Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama
Though the strained Samson Police Department was no doubt glad to have U.S. Army military police on hand to direct traffic during last week's tragic shooting spree, it appears that the troops were deployed without the proper authorization and in possible violation of federal law.....
U.N. panel says world should ditch dollar
A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, a member of the panel said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on the dollar.
Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket.
Senator-Elect Franken wants Coleman to pay
his legal costs in recount case (Too Bad, So Sad, Norm)
Under mounting attorney fees in a case that could possibly stretch on for months, Democrat Al Franken is seeking to recoup some of his legal costs from Republican Norm Coleman, who filed suit to overturn the results of January's Minnesota Senate recount.
In legal documents filed on Tuesday that summarize his side of the case, Franken asked the Minnesota state judges who heard the U.S. Senate trial to require his Republican opponent to pay court costs and some opposing attorneys' fees if Coleman is unsuccessful in his lawsuit, according to a report from The Star Tribune.....
At G20, Kremlin to Pitch New Currency
The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a "superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community," the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site. The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries.
Obama Administration: Constitution Does Not Protect Cell-Site Records
The Obama administration says the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures does not apply to cell-site information mobile phone carriers retain on their customers.
The position is being staked out in a little-noticed surveillance case pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The case has wide-ranging implications for Americans, as most citizens have or will carry a mobile phone in their lifespan. At issue is whether the government can require federal judges to order mobile phone companies to release historical cell-tower information of a phone number without probable cause — the standard required for a search warrant.......
Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a
'National Security' Secret
President Barack Obama came into office in January promising a new era of openness.
But now, like Bush before him, Obama is playing the national security card to hide details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated across the globe. The White House this week declared (.pdf) the text of the proposed treaty a "properly classified" national security secret, in rejecting a Freedom of Information Act request by Knowledge Ecology International. "Please be advised the documents you seek are being withheld in full," wrote Carmen Suro-Bredie, chief FOIA officer in the White House's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The national security claim is stunning, given that the treaty negotiations have included the 27 member states of the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand, all of whom presumably have access to the "classified" information.......
Copyright treaty is classified for 'national security'
Last September, the Bush administration defended the unusual secrecy over an anti-counterfeiting treaty being negotiated by the U.S. government, which some liberal groups worry could criminalize some peer-to-peer file sharing that infringes copyrights. Now President Obama's White House has tightened the cloak of government secrecy still further, saying in a letter this week that a discussion draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and related materials are "classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958."
Rage at AIG Swells As Bonuses Go Out
A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.
"It's a mob effect," one senior executive said. "It's putting people's lives in danger."
The Real AIG Scandal:
It's not the bonuses. It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full
Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?.....
Republican Senator Kyle and CNBC Likes AIG Bonus Payouts: Go Figure
Defending AIG's right to award its senior executives $165 million in bonuses even after the company benefited from $170 billion in government bailout funds requires a certain amount of rhetorical or political dexterity. And, to this point, few if any officials have tried to stem the tide of populist anger aimed at the insurance giant.
In the past two days, however, a few public figures have nibbled at the edges, not defending AIG per se, but pushing back against what they deem to be overstated outrage.
On Monday, Sen. Jon Kyl ridiculed politicians for being quick to "demagogue" the AIG issue. And while rapping AIG for soaking up taxpayer funds before issuing bonuses, he warned -- during an appearance on Fred Thompson's radio show -- that pols like him would "just ride the horse and beat it into the ground."...
Florida legislator wants random drug tests for the unemployed
Employers have justified drug tests in the workplace by pointing to such negative effects of drug use as absenteeism and work-related injuries. Now a Florida legislator has proposed that random drug-testing also be applied to those receiving unemployment insurance, justifying it as a way to make state funds go further.
Florida State Senator Michael S. Bennett told Fox News host Steve Doocy on Monday that with the unemployment rate in his recession-battered state running between 10% and 11%, he worries that the Unemployment Trust Fund might be exhausted. ....
Hawaii Superferry ceases operations after ruling
Hawaii's new inter-island ferry service has ceased operations in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling. Hawaii Superferry, which operates an Oahu-Maui catamaran that can accommodate 836 passengers and about 200 vehicles, was forced into the move Monday. The high court rejected a state law that allowed the company to operate while an environmental study is being conducted. Superferry said in a statement that it was "hugely disappointed" in the decision.
AIG pays $450 million in bonuses after bailout
Ailing insurance giant AIG is planning to give out $450 million in bonuses this week to executives who led the firm to a $99.3 billion dollar loss in 2008.
Although AIG has agreed to cut back on multi-million-dollar bonuses for its highest ranking officers, the firm's lower-ranked employees are still set for a massive pay day. The bonuses are for staff at AIG's London subsidiary, AIG Financial Products, which helped trigger the collapse, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Over the Hedge
(Fortress Investment Group will be Bankrupt soon.... It was worth over 15 Billion Dollars in 2007, it is worth less thn 300 Million Today and falling. It's stock will fall below $1 a share today from a high of $35 in 2007....)
The five hotshots who took Fortress Investment Group public were worth billions at first. Today they look like arrogant showboats, and their story helps explain why hedge funds are imploding by the thousands—and why there’s still a truckload of money to be made....
The Real Scandal of AIG
The real scandal of AIG isn't just that American taxpayers have so far committed $170 billion to the giant insurer because it is thought to be too big to fail -- the most money ever funneled to a single company by a government since the dawn of capitalism -- nor even that AIG's notoriously failing executives, at the very unit responsible for the catastrophic credit-default swaps at the very center of the debacle -- are planning to give themselves $100 million in bonuses. It's that even at this late date, even in a new administration dedicated to doing it all differently, Americans still have so little say over what is happening with our money...
A.I.G. Planning $100 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout
(After 61 Billion Dollars in loses in the Forth Quarter of 2008....
Pitchforks and Torches Optional)
Despite being bailed out with more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the American International Group is preparing to pay about $100 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.....
Pentagon Dirigible Would Stay Aloft for Ten Years; Constantly Monitor Activity on the Ground
Don’t miss the part about the energy source. You’ll love this:
The dirigible will be filled with helium and powered by an innovative system that uses solar panels to recharge hydrogen fuel cells. Military officials said those underlying technologies — plus a very lightweight hull — were critical to making the project work. “The things we had to do here were not trivial; they were revolutionary,” said Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon’s research arm......
Frightening Google Stories Du Jour
First up, Google is going to start using behavioral targeting technology to serve ads:
Google has long resisted the emerging but controversial method of showing ads to Web surfers based on the kinds of sites they’ve previously visited. The company appears to have gotten over its reservations.
On Mar. 11, Google said it will begin to offer ads using what is known as behavioral targeting, which tailors ads to people’s interests and online behavior.
And then… (Be sitting down for this one): After Gmail, Google Wants to Search Your Voice Mail Too:
Google has begun testing a service that will make transcripts of voice-mail messages and make them searchable.....
Former Senator Coleman Required to Pay Millions in Senator-Elect Franken's Leagal Bills When he Loses...
(Too Bad, So Sad)
I asked about the intriguing possibility raised to me by Professor David Schultz of Hamline University -- that the Franken camp could potentially use the loser-pays provision of the election-contest law to stop any appeal from Coleman, by forcing his campaign committee to come up with millions of dollars to be placed in escrow to cover Franken's attorney's fees before any appeals continue.
"You know I've gotten a number of questions over the course of the last five weeks about the cost-shifting provision of the law," said Elias. "And in honesty I'll give you the same answer now I've given before, which is I have not spent really any time looking at it. I will now have a chance, now that the evidence is closed, to now look to the next step in this, which would be what happens post-decision by the court. But I will take a look at that and probably be in a better position to answer that in the next few days."
China 'worried' about US Treasury holdings
China's premier didn't say it in so many words, but the implied warning to Washington was blunt: Don't devalue the dollar through reckless spending.
Premier Wen Jiabao's message is unlikely to be misunderstood at the White House. It is counting on Beijing to help pay for its stimulus package by buying U.S. bonds. China already is Washington's biggest foreign creditor, with an estimated $1 trillion in U.S. government debt. A weaker dollar would erode the value of those assets. "Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried," Wen said at a news conference Friday after the closing of China's annual legislative session. "I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets.".....
China Finally Diversifying Out of the Dollar?
Everyone knows that China has $2 trillion in foreign reserves. Two-thirds of those reserves are said to be denominated in dollars.But - after years of speculation - there are increasing signs that China is diversifying out of the dollar.
For example, the head of China's energy bureau said in comments published on Monday "China should use part of its nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves to buy more gold, oil, uranium and other strategic commodities"....
Axis of Weasels: The Men Who Ruined the Economy
Joseph Cassano, former head of AIG's financial products division. That was the unit responsible for the disastrous credit default swaps that triggered AIG's collapse -- which we're still paying for. Back in August 07, Cassano declared that it was difficult to imagine "a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing $1." Cassano left AIG in Febuary 2008, but was initially given a $1 million a month retainer -- which has since been terminated.....
Billions for AIG to Protect the Speculative Profits of Goldman Sachs/Morgan Stanley
In November of 2008 with the nation's economy unraveling, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs (one of the top five U.S. municipal bond underwriters) were infuriating politicians and public finance officials by recommending the purchase of credit-default swaps (CDS) thereby betting against debts of eleven states, including New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, Florida, and Ohio among others. Many of these were municipal bonds that they had originally underwritten. Thereby, through an act of blatant opportunism they were adding to the destabilization of the financial markets already at the edge......
Who’s behind Madoff?
By Wayne Madsen
As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had cut a deal with $50 billion Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff whereby Madoff will neither admit nor deny fraud claims against him in a suit brought by the SEC. In return Madoff has agreed to pay civil fines and penalties levied by the SEC. The agreement has no bearing on Madoff’s criminal trial.
WMR has learned that in addition to 20 million documents stored by Madoff in a warehouse in Queens that were stored without any indexing system and merely placed in boxes and strewn around the floor are millions of additional documents that were stored by Madoff in a Brooklyn warehouse that was partially flooded. A number of the Madoff documents there were destroyed by water damage.
WMR has also learned that a key element in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was Madoff Energy LLC, formed as a Delaware corporation in February 2007. Other Madoff firms in the energy arena were Madoff Energy Holdings LLC, Madoff Energy III LLC, and Madoff Energy IV LLC. There are links between these now-defunct Madoff energy entities and Texas oil and natural gas industry interests, some close to the Bushes and Dick Cheney.
Stewart to Cramer: 'It's not a f**king game'
on Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on "The Daily Show," repeatedly chastising the "Mad Money" host for putting entertainment above journalism.
"I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a ... game," Stewart told Cramer, adding in an expletive during the show's Thursday taping. The episode was scheduled to air at 11 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central. It was perhaps the hardest lashing Stewart has given to a TV commentator since 2004 when he called Tucker Carlson and his then co-host Paul Begala "partisan hacks" on CNN's "Crossfire," the since canceled political commentary program....
Ponzi Scum Madoff Pleads Guilty to All Charges
(Judge Orders Madoff to go Directly to Jail.....)
(Pitchforks and Torches, Optional for Hearing....)
.....Victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, which drew in as much as $65 billion over two decades before the 2008 market meltdown, have been invited to speak when the former Nasdaq stock market chairman is expected to admit to 11 criminal charges.
"This is not going to be a quiet, sober, dignified group," said John Coffee, professor at Columbia Law School in New York, said of the fraud victims. "I think this is going to be a bloodthirsty mob."
Ponzi Scum Stanford Invokes Fith Amendment
( Pitchforks and Torches Optional for Hearing...)
Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire and cricket enthusiast, has refused to co-operate with investigators looking into his alleged $8 billion fraud.
In a filing with a US District Court in Dallas, Mr Stanford invoked the Fifth Amendment, which allows him to remain silent to avoid incriminating himself. He was responding to a civil case filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 19 that accused the entrepreneur and two of his employees of conducting a huge investment scam over many years...
New Bankruptcy Fight Brews in Senate Over Mortgage Revisions
Controversial last-minute changes to House legislation empowering bankruptcy judges to alter primary mortgages will have little effect preventing struggling homeowners from trying to save their homes through bankruptcy, according to a number of housing advocates who are following the debate. Rather, pressures to limit the scope of a similar Senate bill, expected to be considered next week, pose a greater threat to the effectiveness of the bankruptcy provision, the advocates say.....
The Upcoming Political Crisis in Washington
In recent days we have seen even mainstream Democratic figures as Joe Stiglitz and Paul Krugman sound the alarm on what seems to be uncertainty in the Obama administration. Stiglitz, Krugman et al. are following in their essential critique a path well worn over the past few weeks by a range of commentators to be found as much among the Austrians as those on the liberal-to-left part of the spectrum. The fundamental point is, of course, that it is now clear to all but the militantly unreflective that Obama can – perhaps - save the Real economy or - perhaps – save Finance (i.e. Bank bond- and shareholders), but certainly not both. The increasing, but still relatively gentle, criticism of Stiglitz, Krugman and their ilk is owing to the fact that it is becoming all too clear that Obama is still unwilling to engage Finance in what might turn out to be the greatest intramural fight capitalism has ever seen....
Ludicrous Terrorist Watch List Now Contains Over 1 Million Names
Newly released figures show that one million names now make up the government’s terrorist watch list, a dramatic rise of around 32% in the last two years. Federal data show the rise comes despite the removal of 33,000 entries last year by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center in an effort to purge the list of outdated information and remove people cleared in investigations, reports USA Today....
Secret State Police Report: Ron Paul, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Libertarians are Terrorists
Alex Jones has received a secret report distributed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) entitled “The Modern Militia Movement” and dated February 20, 2009. A footer on the document indicates it is “unclassified” but “law enforcement sensitive,” in other words not for public consumption. A copy of the report was sent to Jones by an anonymous Missouri police officer.
The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties....
.....In regard to supposed militia movement literature and media, the MIAC report mentions Aaron Russo’s America: Freedom to Fascism....The award-winning film Zeitgeist, featuring Alex Jones, is also mentioned as terrorist material....
Stewart Vrs Crammer: Rumble in the Jungle Round III (Video)
Franken set to rest case,
as Coleman warns donors after purported data breach
"Lawyers for Democrat Al Franken plan to call their final witnesses Wednesday and then provisionally rest their case. But that doesn't mean the seven-week trial is quite done," the AP reports. The report continues, "A lawyer representing individual voters who are trying to get their rejected absentee ballots counted has the right to present evidence. And Republican Norm Coleman, who brought the election challenge, can put on witnesses to rebut Franken's case."
"We're not there yet because there are still those steps left," said Franken lawyer Marc Elias. "But we're ending what has been a very long postelection process." The Star Tribune adds, "Franken has called 73 witnesses, 62 of them voters whose absentee ballots were rejected and that Franken wants reconsidered. Some of the voters he plans to call today are braving a snowstorm in western Minnesota to come to St. Paul and testify.""Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg said Tuesday that he'll wait until Franken's case is finished before commenting on it, but said he saw fodder for rebuttal," the article continues. "'I think there were a lot of subjects that were raised in the Franken case that we have the opportunity to follow up on,' Ginsberg said."
Meanwhile, Coleman was forced to ask "federal authorities to investigate how financial data for at least 4,700 Minnesota Senate campaign donors was breached and posted on the Internet," the AP also reported Wednesday.....
Flashback: Coleman Said To Spare State Cost Of Recount -- But Is Now Angling For Multi-Million Dollar Election
Way back in November, when Norm Coleman was calling upon Al Franken to concede the Senate race, one of the reasons he cited was the expense. "It's up to him whether such a step is worth the tax dollars it will take to conduct," Norm said at the time, saying that he would have stepped aside if he had been in Franken's position.
But take a look at this number: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has told Time that a new election, for which Coleman is increasingly angling, would cost $3.5-5 million....
Belligerent chimp proves animals make plans (Coleman like Chimp?)
A canny chimpanzee who calmly collected a stash of rocks and then hurled them at zoo visitors in fits of rage has confirmed that apes can plan ahead just like humans, a Swedish study said Monday. Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared......
Legal Expert: Minnesota Court Likely To Rule By End of Month -- For Franken
Professor David Schultz, a teacher of election law at Hamline University, was previously predicting that a ruling would take until mid-April at the earliest. But that assumed Team Franken would take 2-3 weeks to make its case, as opposed to the week and two days they'll have actually used. "I would say we could anticipate -- we should anticipate at this point -- definitely before the end of the month," said Schultz. "It very well might be in a couple of weeks."
After that, the next step will be the appeals, which are likely to be fast-tracked straight to the state Supreme Court -- and which Schultz expects will come from Coleman, with the court likely to have ruled that Franken is the winner: "It doesn't look like at this point the Coleman campaign has either made the arguments or has the numbers to switch it over to his side for victory. So I presume at this point that the court will find for Franken."...
Monsanto's dream bill, HR 875
R 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.
The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.....
The Case for Giving Eli Lilly the Corporate Death Penalty
Eli Lilly & Company's rap sheet as a public menace is so long that for Lilly watchers to overcome the "banality-of-Lilly-sleaziness" phenomenon, the drug company must break some type of record measuring egregiousness. Lilly obliged earlier this year, receiving the largest criminal fine ever imposed on a corporation.
If Americans are ever going to revoke the publicly granted charters of reckless, giant corporations -- well within our rights -- we might want to get the ball rolling with Lilly, whose recent actions appalled even the mainstream media. And with Lilly's chums, the Bush family, out of power, now might be the right time.
On January 15, 2009, Lilly pled guilty to charges that it had illegally marketed its blockbuster drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses to children and the elderly, two populations especially vulnerable to its dangerous side effect. Lilly plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to pay $1.42 billion, which included $615 million to end the criminal investigation and approximately $800 million to settle the civil case....