Saturday, July 6, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Egypt round two
I haven't watched every news report on this story, but I find something rather interesting here. The people of Egypt, after choosing the Muslim Brotherhood by democratic election, have now begun to reject their heavy handed way of doing things. A pet theory of quite a few on this site is that they are all a bunch a savage towel heads who want nothing in life but death to Israel and the United States. In now overthrowing Morsi, it seems like quite a few people on the street want something much different......like stability and the ability to feed their families. Imagine that.
I have advocated for some time now that the best way to subdue groups like the Muslim Brotherhood is to put them in positions of authority where they will be held accountable for their failures. This obviously will not be the last of the Muslim Brotherhood, but for now at least, this is a pretty stern rejection of their ultra conservative, Islam thumping, ways. It's refreshing to see.
I have advocated for some time now that the best way to subdue groups like the Muslim Brotherhood is to put them in positions of authority where they will be held accountable for their failures. This obviously will not be the last of the Muslim Brotherhood, but for now at least, this is a pretty stern rejection of their ultra conservative, Islam thumping, ways. It's refreshing to see.
Pro-abortion protesters drown out “Amazing Grace” with chants of “Hail Satan”
I admit I was skeptical of this story when it came across my e-mail yesterday evening. Generally speaking, stories that are either too good or too bad to be true aren’t. Even at the beginning of this short clip, it’s nearly impossible to make out what the pro-abortion protesters are yelling — at least until the camera swings around, and a young woman helpfully boosts the message.
Classy:
It’s been a very interesting day at the Texas State Capitol. Cahnman’s Musings hasn’t been following the hearing. Instead, we’ve been participating in the surrounding events. LetTexasSpeak has been doing a live broadcast from the rotunda where women have been sharing their abortion related testimonies. The pro-abortion crowd has responded with repeated chants of “hail Satan.” It’s taken us all day to get a video recording, but here it is … For the record: They’ve been doing this all day, this is just the first time we caught it on video.
CNN Express also picked it up at the time, although it’s unclear whether this made it to broadcast (via Twitchy):
Any of this sound familiar?
(Reuters) - The Indian government launched a $22 billion welfare scheme on Wednesday to give cheap food to hundreds of millions of people, a centerpiece of the ruling Congress party's plan to win a third term in elections due by May 2014.
The minority government sidestepped India's unruly parliament and resorted to an executive order to implement the program, hoping to take the credit for a vote-winning plan.
"The union cabinet has approved the food security ordinance unanimously," Food Minister K.V. Thomas told reporters after the cabinet meeting. The measure would be sent to the president on Wednesday for his signature, he said.
Under the plan, the government will sell subsidized wheat and rice to 67 percent of its 1.2 billion people
.
India is home to a quarter of the world's hungry poor, according to U.N. figures, despite being one of the world's biggest food producers and experiencing years of rapid economic growth.
The minority government sidestepped India's unruly parliament and resorted to an executive order to implement the program, hoping to take the credit for a vote-winning plan.
"The union cabinet has approved the food security ordinance unanimously," Food Minister K.V. Thomas told reporters after the cabinet meeting. The measure would be sent to the president on Wednesday for his signature, he said.
Under the plan, the government will sell subsidized wheat and rice to 67 percent of its 1.2 billion people
.
India is home to a quarter of the world's hungry poor, according to U.N. figures, despite being one of the world's biggest food producers and experiencing years of rapid economic growth.
4th of July Has Been Canceled
Two years ago, a humor website called The Washington Fancy presented the headline “Obama Cancels July 4th Because of Budget Cuts.” The fake article in the middle of debt-ceiling battles insisted “President Obama sees the cancellation of the holiday as due punishment for Congress’s recent behavior.”
It continued: “Canceling the July 4th holiday will save states and cities billions of dollars in money that would have normally been spent on Chinese fireworks and large brass bands.”
It’s not funny anymore. Now, with what AP falsely calls the “congressionally mandated” sequester cuts, military bases have done just that. They have cancelled Fourth of July events.
Let’s look at the timeline of some news accounts. Remember that these “massive” cuts total four day’s funding of the federal government. You decide if these cuts were necessary or dramatic, a la White House tour cancellations, designated to foster public opinion against them:
March 15: Ongoing federal budget cuts prompted Naval Station Great Lakes in Chicago’s suburban Lake County to cancel this year’s Independence Day celebration.
March 21: The Air Force Academy’s annual Independence Day celebration in Colorado Springs has been canceled due to budgetary concerns from sequestration, Academy officials announced. Sequestration has forced the Academy to cut back on many activities it would normally support.
April 11: Fort Bragg announced that its Fourth of July celebration will be canceled because of budget cuts. Post officials said they cannot afford the $120,000 in overtime pay associated with the event, which has regularly drawn more than 50,000 people since it started more than 30 years ago.
April 16: Naval Station Everett (in Washington state) has canceled Independence Day celebrations at the base. Over the years, the Navy has offered the public a chance to visit the base and tour a ship as a part of July 4th festivities. The decision is separate from the Navy’s announcement that it will cancel Fleet Week ship visits and Seafair performances by the Blue Angels.
May 6: Federal budget cuts are forcing Pearl Harbor to cancel its July 4 fireworks and the Marine Corps to cancel its annual Bayfest event at Kaneohe Bay.
May 7: Camp Lejeune will not be having its July 4th fireworks display because of sequestration, base officials announced.
May 14: Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina is canceling its annual Independence Day celebration because of automatic federal budget cuts. Base officials say the cuts won’t leave officials with enough money to put on the “Jammin’ July Fourth” event at a Sumter park.
May 21: New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has canceled its annual July Fourth celebration due to furloughs caused by congressionally mandated automatic budget cuts.
May 31: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island has canceled its annual 4th of July celebration, citing the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration.
June 6: Fort Hood officials confirmed this year’s on-post Fourth of July celebration will be significantly smaller, because of budget cuts to the military.
June 13: The annual Fourth of July celebration and fireworks show at Fort Jackson will go on this year despite federal budget cuts — just with a little less sizzle. Missing from this year’s festivities will be the popular “Torchlight Tattoo” — a cannon salute to the U.S. states and territories.
June 18: A U.S. Navy band has been forced to pull out of the “Red, White & Boom” celebrations in Rock Island, Illinois because of government spending cutbacks known as sequestration.
One can surely say that with furloughs of military personnel, canceling the fireworks or Navy bands might seem like the least painful budget choice. But wait a minute. How many defense insiders in Washington continue to proceed in comfort without limitation while the families of our fighting men and women at our military installations can’t have Fourth of July fireworks?
Don’t forget that The Washington Post recently reported that the Obamas’ trip to Africa in the week just before July 4 could cost what they called a “kingly sum,” anywhere from $60 million to $100 million.
“Military cargo planes will airlift in 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bulletproof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay,” the Post reported. “Fighter jets will fly in shifts, giving 24-hour coverage over the president’s airspace, so they can intervene quickly if an errant plane gets too close.”
Those funds would have covered every federal Fourth of July event nationwide with plenty left over for a president’s vacation.
- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/blog/l-brent-bozell-iii/sequestration-cancels-july-4th#sthash.NEzlGWbd.dpuf
The Big Banks On Trial, Again
By Shah Gilani, Capital Wave Strategist, Money Morning
July 3, 2013
You want to know why the entire global financial system almost collapsed in 2008?
There seems to be a simple answer. Not encouraging, but simple: The European Commission is exploring the possibility that there was a conspiracy among 13 of the world's major banks that colluded to keep the entire house of cards a secret.
In a press release Monday the European Commission announced it sent a "statement of objections" to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC), Barclays (BARC), Bear Stearns , BNP Paribas (BNP), Citigroup (C), Credit Suisse (CS), Deutsche Bank (DB), Goldman Sachs (GS), HSBC (HBC), JP Morgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), UBS (UBS) as well as the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and data service provider Markit.
This statement of objections is a formal step in EU investigations that charges the banks, the dealers' association, and the swaps pricing agent and index controller of "colluding to prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business between 2006 and 2009."
The companies are then expected to answer the charges.
"If, after the parties have exercised their rights of defence, the Commission concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, it can issue a decision prohibiting the conduct and impose a fine of up to 10% of a company's annual worldwide turnover."
Part of the antitrust behavior of the accused, besides controlling pricing of derivatives to their exclusive benefit, would likely address their complicity in veiling the entire market to deflect fears of counterparty exposure, concentration of risks and leverage in the financial system.
Behind the Veil: Where the Elite Meet
The ISDA, the trade and lobbying group for users of over-the-Counter (OTC) derivatives that was named as a colluding partner, said last August that after eliminating more than $200 trillion in notional value of interest rate and credit-default swaps by cancel ing offsetting trades, on an adjusted basis interest rate swaps totaled $262 trillion.
According to the ISDA's website it has 840 members. There are 196 "primary members" that include all the big banks in the statement of objections and most of the world's trading banks.
Associate members include banks, corporations and some of the most powerful law firms around the world. Among them: Washington power lobbying firm Patton Boggs LLP, bank and securities law firms Davis Polk & Wardwell, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and Weil Gotshal & Manges.
The ISDA's "subscriber members" include the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae), New York Life Insurance Company, Intel Corporation (INTC), the Bank of England, Luxembourg and GMAC Inc. are all subscriber members.
Markit, according to its website, "is a private company headquartered in London. The company is owned by employees, private investors, private equity investors and numerous buy-side and sell-side financial institutions."
But Markit wants to change that. The company, which competes with Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters Corp, has been planning a public offering to raise $1 billion.
Outrage Upon Outrage
A Reuters story on June 25 quoted a source saying, "A registration statement for the deal could be filed with U.S. regulators during the fourth quarter of this year, although timing is still in flux and could change depending on market conditions."
The story names Goldman Sachs as the lead coordinator for the deal, but points out Markit's other large stakeholders, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch want to be lead syndicate partners.
An IPO may be a long way off if Markit, in large part owned by the big banks who also are all primary members of the ISDA, are all accused of antitrust violations and face potential multi-billion dollar fines.
In addition to its current woes, Markit would have to disclose that back in July 2009 the Justice Department's antitrust division had sent civil notices to banks that own Markit to find out if they had unfair access to price information.
Justice, or Just Cold Comfort?
A July 14, 2009 New York Times Dealbook post pointed to William Cohan, a former investment banker and financial crisis commentator, who said any potential investigation into Markit and its owners was overdue.
"The fact that they control Markit and it provides information about the prices of credit default swaps and they've benefited from this for many years without any challenge or investigation was outrageous," he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.
To date, nothing has come out of the Justice Department's investigation.
Yet again, the world's biggest banks, those principally responsible for driving the global financial system off a cliff, are being exposed for what they've done and how they did it. That's the bad news - for them.
The good news - for them - is they still have the earnings power to pay whatever fines are levied against them and that no one at the top of any of these criminal enterprises has gone to jail.
http://moneymorning.com/2013/07/03/the-big-banks-on-trial-again/
Monday, July 1, 2013
New World Order
You think it's a joke? It's not.
As part of a deal signed last week in Washington DC between the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and FEMA, Russian officials will provide “security at mass events” in the United States, a scenario that won’t sit well with Americans wary of foreign assets operating on US soil.
You think those FEMA camps are just for hurricanes? Think again.
There is absolutely no reason for this, obviously they are think a mass event is something larger than the Super Bowl which the US can handle just fine.
WHAT IS IN THE OFFING THAT THE GOVT IS HIDING?
As part of a deal signed last week in Washington DC between the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and FEMA, Russian officials will provide “security at mass events” in the United States, a scenario that won’t sit well with Americans wary of foreign assets operating on US soil.
You think those FEMA camps are just for hurricanes? Think again.
There is absolutely no reason for this, obviously they are think a mass event is something larger than the Super Bowl which the US can handle just fine.
WHAT IS IN THE OFFING THAT THE GOVT IS HIDING?
20 Months
Our Tea Party was approved for our 501 C4.
It only took 20 months.
End the IRS.
Enact a flat or fair tax.
It only took 20 months.
End the IRS.
Enact a flat or fair tax.
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