carapace – Not your father's america

There is No Gas Shortage, Part 2

April 23, 2008

Columnist Ed Wallace argues that nothing in the real world justifies oil’s current pricing—except the push for higher profits

by Ed Wallace

“Gasoline inventories are higher than the historical average at this time of the year, and gasoline fundamentals are actually weakening in the U.S., so there is really no need to worry about supply being too tight.” — Purvin & Gertz Oil Analyst Victor Shum; Associated Press, Mar. 10, 2008.

“The current high oil prices are inflated by as much as 100%. The price surge is a result of excessive speculation.” — Oppenheimer Oil Analyst Fadel Gheit; Congressional Testimony as reported by CNN, Dec. 11, 2007.

 

“The [oil] fundamentals are no problem. They are the same as they were when oil was selling for $60 a barrel, which is in itself quite a unique phenomenon.” — Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive officer, Royal Dutch Shell; Washington Post, Apr. 11, 2008.

On Tuesday, Apr. 1, my column discussing the impact speculators are having on the price of oil (BusinessWeek.com, 4/1/08) was published on BusinessWeek.com. Since then, we’ve watched oil contract prices continue to rise, now setting an all-time historical record even when factored against inflation. In spite of the controversy my article stirred up—it generated more than 800 comments, more than 430,000 page views, and was dug at Digg.com almost 4,000 times—there was very little new or original in it; I simply compiled numerous articles and quotes from other sources to validate the claim that things aren’t always what they seem—in the oil patch or at the gas pump.

More amusing was the fact that, the day after that column ran, the weekly oil report came out from the Energy Information Administration, which showed that we had put another 7.4 million barrels of oil into our reserves. And to validate my point in that column—that there is no connection between price, demand, and the supply of oil and gas—oil prices leaped almost $4 a barrel on that day. And the news kept right on coming.

The new oil reality: Prices will always go up

On Apr. 7, Reuters Online Service reported that oil had gone up another $3 a barrel, but near the end of that article came this line: “Ships along the northern end of the Houston Ship Channel, which feeds eight refineries in Houston and Texas City, were stopped by dense fog on Monday.” As could have been predicted, when the second week’s oil report came out from the EIA two days later, crude stocks had fallen by 3.2 million barrels. The result of Gulf Coast fog holding up oil deliveries was that on the release of the second oil report, oil prices again rose by $2.37.

This is the new oil paradigm. No matter what happens, it is used to justify the commodities market’s contention that oil prices just aren’t high enough: In one week we add 7.4 million barrels of oil to stock in reserve and yet the price goes up almost $4 a barrel. Then the very next week our reserves fall because of fog, and the price goes up another $2.37. But the only people who still claim to be stunned by what’s happening in oil are the analysts quoted by the media that cover the industry.
…

Complete article at:

http://tinyurl.com/48sz2k    (www.businessweek.com)

Ed Wallace holds a Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, bestowed by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. His column heads the Sunday Drive section of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and he is a member of the American Historical Society. The automotive expert for KDFW Fox 4 in Dallas, Wallace hosts the top-rated talk show Wheels, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 570 KLIF AM in Dallas.

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Oil’s tipping point: Where is it? – With crude approaching $120, experts look for hints of decline

April 22, 2008

By KRISTEN HAYS

With oil less than a buck away from $120 a barrel, analysts are growing weary at trying to anticipate the tipping point that will bring prices down.

Some say a six-score price could prompt developed countries to pressure the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production whether or not the cartel sees a need to do so.

Others say it’s folly to predict a tipping point until the weak dollar stabilizes and strengthens.

Either way, analysts say, it’s reaching the point where something’s got to give.

“I’m hopeful that we are in the grand finale of this 2008 event,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.

The side effect of high crude prices most visible to consumers, the price at the gasoline pump, also is setting records — and for the first time this week it surpassed its all-time inflation-adjusted high.

Oil crossed that threshold several months ago. The federal government says the average U.S. price per gallon of gasoline hit $3.508 on Monday, nearly a dime higher than the March 1981 high of $3.41 in today’s dollars ($1.42 before adjustment for inflation.)

That continued push also prompted analysts to speculate that oil’s run-up is reaching its last rally.

Kloza said attempting to identify the tipping point is “pretty much an exercise in abstract thought.”

…

Complete article at:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5722692.html

kristen.hays@chron.com

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JUST HOW SECURE IS YOUR EMPLOYER-BASED HEALTH INSURANCE?

By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat

Many workers believe that if they keep their job, their insurance is safe. That may have been true in the ’90s, but not now, not even for top execs.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/83224/

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Comparing Alternative U.S. Counterterrorism Strategies: Can Assumption-Based Planning Help Elevate the Debate?

Rand Report – Comparing Alternative U.S. Counterterrorism Strategies Can Assumption-Based Planning Help Elevate the Debate? By: Robert J. Lempert, Horacio R. Trujillo, David Aaron, James A. Dewar, Sandra H. Berry, Steven W. Popper.

“The United States faces the challenge of countering the terrorism threat. Frequently, both expert decision makers and lay citizens have trouble assessing alternative strategies to address such issues because of the emotions they engender and of the deep uncertainty involved. RAND has a long history of developing and employing methods for addressing such questions and distilling complex policy problems into their essential trade-offs. One such approach, assumption-based planning (ABP), focuses on identifying and addressing the key assumptions and thus the key vulnerabilities underlying an organization’s plans. ABP not only offers a qualitative approach widely useful in its own right but has also provided the foundation for a family of new quantitative methods that aim to improve strategic decision making under the conditions of deep uncertainty that are characteristic of the terrorism threat. Can ABP help contentious groups more systematically debate alternative U.S. counterterrorism strategies? This briefing reports on two sets of workshops that attempted to do just that.”

http://rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/2008/RAND_DB548.pdf

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AFGHANISTAN: NEW APPROACHES NEEDED TO DEFEAT INSURGENCY – EXPERTS 

Richard Weitz
 

Recent gains made by American troops in Afghanistan could easily be squandered, unless the international community redoubles its commitment to the strife-torn country’s political and economic reconstruction process. To promote success, two prominent security experts argue, counter-insurgency efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan should be closely coordinated.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav041708b.shtml

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Stephanopoulos left unchallenged McCain’s assertion that “every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased” 

This Week’s George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain’s assertion that “history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased — going back to Jack Kennedy.” Stephanopoulos did not note that, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut.

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804220005?lid=252558&rid=7176628

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Why Are Global Food Prices Soaring? Energy costs, investment in … and more

Slate – USA

In 2006, 14 percent of the total corn crop in the United States was converted into ethanol; by 2010, that figure will rise to 30 percent.
 …

http://www.slate.com/id/2187882/

Time for Second Thoughts on the Ethanol Mandate

Heritage.org – Washington,DC,USA

by Ben Lieberman

America’s energy policy has been on an ethanol binge, and now the hangover has begun. The federal renewable fuels mandate is an unfolding …

http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm1879.cfm

U of M: Worldwide leader in ethanol debunking 

Minneapolis City Pages – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Several studies at the University of Minnesota are cited to show the impact of widespread Ethanol demand. A study by University of Minnesota ecologist David …

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/04/u_of_m_worldwid.php

End the Ethanol Scam

Liberty Maven – Reston,VA,USA

The latest from DownsizeDC.org urges us to tell congress to stop wasting our tax dollars on the devastating scam of ethanol production. …

http://www.libertymaven.com/2008/04/07/end-the-ethanol-scam/1016/

Ethanol, Oil and Corn

By Richard K. Perrin

When will ethanol plants stop being built? Ethanol plants under construction in Nebraska will have the capacity to grind over 40 percent of the Nebraska corn crop by the end of 2007, and nearly 60 percent by the end of 2008. …

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agecon_cornhusker/304

Ethanol’s lie

Tribune Review – Pittsburgh,PA,USA

From Time magazine to the Internet blogosphere, critical analysis is revealing ethanol not only as a useless fuel alternative but also as an environmental …

http://tinyurl.com/4re9nj  (www.pittsburghlive.com)

Guest letter: It turns out ethanol is more of a problem than a …

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Since 1986, Minnesota lawmakers have actively encouraged the development of a sizable state ethanol industry. We now have 17 operating ethanol plants in the …

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17593319.html

Ethanol subsidies a double-whammy

DAVID A. RIDENOUR:

Belleville News Democrat – IL, USA

Move over “Bridge to Nowhere,” there’s a new poster child of congressional waste and avarice – ethanol, the “Fuel to Nowhere.” Ethanol leads only to higher …

http://www.bnd.com/285/story/313547.html

End the ethanol folly for food’s sake

By SHNS

To paraphrase the late, great William F. Buckley, Jr., someone must stand athwart the federal ethanol program yelling, “Stop!” The emergency brake should be pulled – NOW – before ethanol wreaks further havoc. read more.

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32438

Ethanol Harms Fiberglass Fuel Tanks in Boats

18 Apr 2008

The Los Angeles Times reports that Lawrence Turner sued gasoline producers and distributors for selling ethanol-blended gas at boating marinas without notifying customers that ethanol breaks down fiberglass fuel tanks. In order to repair a boat with this damage, a mechanic must cut through the hull of the tank and remove it piece by piece. New aluminum tanks are installed in place of the fiberglass.

http://tinyurl.com/4gfbpp    (www.biodieselinvesting.com)

Letter: The Error of Ethanol

http://tinyurl.com/6apdj7  (www.nytimes.com)b22ethanol.html?sq=Berkeley&st=nyt&scp=5&pagewanted=print

April 22, 2008

To the Editor:

Re “Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing” (front page, April 15):

Regarding the issue of food or fuel, the issue may not be one or the other per se, but rather the enormous subsidies for corn ethanol in the United States and similar, more modest ones in Europe.

By most reckonings, a barrel of gasoline displaced by corn ethanol costs the United States Treasury somewhere between $36 and $65 with almost no reduction in harmful greenhouse gases. This pushes production of ethanol way beyond what makes economic sense, adding more pressure on food prices and the cost of land for planting other foodstuffs.

Driving less, driving a smaller car or switching to the bus reduce oil needs and greenhouse gas emissions by a far greater amount than ethanol alone could do.

And then more of the world will have more food choices at affordable prices, while energy and oil demand will go down.

LEE SCHIPPER
Berkeley, Calif., April 15, 2008
THE WRITER IS A VISITING SCHOLAR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION

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Iraq Oil Report – ‘Iraq Gov’t Spokesman: Deal reached on oil law, Kurd contracts, Peshmerga funding, U.N.’s Kirkuk effort’ … and more

Iraq’s central and Kurdish region governments have reached a deal on an oil law, including a method for weighing the validity of the oil deals the Kurds have signed with foreign firms, the top government spokesman told United Press International.

Ali al-Dabbagh said an agreement has also been made on the classification and funding for the [...]

You may view the latest post at

http://tinyurl.com/4mr5br   (iraqoilreport.com)

Iraq Oil Report – ‘Turkey upset about Iraq oil snub…’

The fact that Turkey’s national oil company was not among 35 companies approved over the weekend by Iraq’s Oil Ministry to bid for soon-to-be announced tenders to develop oil and gas fields led to disappointment is Ankara, particularly at a time when Turkey planned to strengthen relations with its neighbor through further energy cooperation, Today’s [...]

You may view the latest post at

http://tinyurl.com/4auwpr   (iraqoilreport.com)

Iraq Oil Report has posted a new item, ‘Kurdish region PM Barzani says “progress” on Iraq oil law…’

*But Iraq Oil Ministry says not so fast
*All Saddam-era oil deals canceled, to be up for bid
*Iraq to sign two-year deals with Big Oil in June
*Scattered Dreams: Iraq’s Refugees
*$1.5 M for Sadr City
*Iraq Press Roundup

Iraq’s Kurdish region leader said talks in Baghdad on key controversial issues, including the oil law, showed “positive … cooperation and [...]
(iraqoilreport.com)

You may view the latest post at

http://tinyurl.com/3sdtcb   (iraqoilreport.com)

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Borowitz Report – Pennsylvania Victory Shocker

McCain Celebrates Huge Pennsylvania Win

‘Happiest Night of My Life,’ Says Mac

Presumptive G.O.P. nominee John McCain appeared at a mammoth rally in Philadelphia last night to celebrate the results of the Pennsylvania primary, calling the contest “a huge victory for me and my campaign.”

A jubilant Sen. McCain said that as the results poured in, “It became abundantly clear that the people of Pennsylvania want to send the Republicans back to the White House for another four years.”

Overjoyed McCain supporters packed the ballroom at the Philadelphia Hyatt to help their candidate celebrate what he called “the happiest night of my life.”

“My friends, tonight the people of Pennsylvania have delivered the White House to me on a silver platter,” he said, his eyes glistening. “This is the best thing to happen to me since I married a beer heiress.”

At a campaign rally of her own, Sen. Hillary Clinton also savored the results of the primary, declaring that she was “one step closer to getting my hands on a nuclear bomb.”

Turning towards her husband, former President Bill Clinton, she said, “I hope that my having a nuclear arsenal at my command will make you think twice before you do anything foolish this time.”

Blood visibly draining from the former president’s face, Sen. Clinton glared at him sternly, adding, “I’m not kidding.”

In an effort to clarify Sen. Clinton’s remarks, aides later denied that she had threatened her husband with obliteration.

Elsewhere, Sen. Barack Obama agreed to a televised debate on CBS moderated by Katie Couric, saying, “If I make a gaffe, at least no one will be watching.”

Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu

Andy with Calvin Trillin, Susie Essman and Jonathan Alter – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Calvin Trillin (bestselling author, The New Yorker), Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jonathan Alter (Newsweek, MSNBC). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to www.92y.org.

Andy at Mark Twain’s House – May 28
Spend “An Evening With Andy Borowitz” at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut on Wednesday, May 28. Event begins at 6 PM. For tickets and information call Janet Youmans at 860-280-3113 or email Janet.youmans@marktwainhouse.org

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand words

Steve Sack: I think I’ll dispense with my look-into-his-soul thingy

http://img.slate.com/media/78/080422_ed.gif

Joel Pett: we don’t know anything

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/PettJ/2008/PettJ20080423_low.jpg

Mike Keefe: Flag Lapel Pin

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2008/KeefeM20080420.jpg

NEW PULSE POSTED 

http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm

That’s the url to the April 21, 2008, issue of DOE Pulse. Pulse is a newsletter about accomplishments at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Here is some of what you’ll find in this issue:

* Los Alamos: Reactors revived

* Fermilab: Asymptotic freedom

* Idaho: Working with EPRI

* Berkeley: How iron goes to sea

Feature: Jefferson Lab’s breast cancer detection research

Researcher profile: Ames Lab’s new director settles in.

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José Can You See? Bush’s Trojan Taco –Psst! George Bush has a secret 

By Greg Palast

21 Apr 2008

While you Democrats are pounding each other to a pulp in Pennsylvania, the President [sic] has snuck back down to New Orleans for a meeting of the NAFTA Three: the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Mexico. You’re not supposed to know that – for two reasons: First, the summit planned for the N.O. two years back was meant to showcase the rebuilt Big Easy, a monument to can-do Bush-o-nomics. Well, it is a monument to Bush’s leadership: The city still looks like Dresden 1946, with over half the original residents living in toxic trailers or wandering lost and broke in America. The second reason Bush has kept this major summit a virtual secret is its real agenda – and the real agenda-makers… The North American Competitiveness Council. Never heard of The Council? Well, maybe you’ve heard of the counsellors: the chief executives of Wal-Mart, Chevron Oil, Lockheed-Martin and 27 other multinational masters of the corporate universe.

At:

http://www.gregpalast.com/jose-can-you-see-bush%e2%80%99s-trojan-taco/

From: CLG News

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Updated Primer on How Private Health Coverage Works

The Kaiser Family Foundation today released an updated primer that explains the role and operations of private health coverage in the United States.  Private health coverage is provided under a variety of different arrangements, including health insuring organizations regulated under state law and health plans sponsored by employers and employee organizations that operate under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  The primer discusses the fundamental aims of private health coverage — protecting individuals from the extreme costs of medical care and ensuring that people have access to care when they need it — and sorts out the complicated web of state and federal regulations that govern it.

Among the issues explained by the primer are:

* The distinction between insured arrangements and self-funded plans, and the different rules that apply.
* The different types of private health plan arrangements, including HMOs, PPOs, Point-of-Service Plans and Health Savings Accounts.
* How risk pooling works, and how market practices and regulation affect it.
* How insurers use the process of medical underwriting to determine whether an applicant should be accepted for coverage and what the terms of coverage will be, including the premium.�
* The types of coverage laws states have enacted to regulate health coverage, including laws that affect financial standards, premiums, access to care, and required benefits.
* How state regulation interacts with federal laws such as ERISA, which provides standards for employer-sponsored health plans, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which governs insurance rights for individuals, including rules for preexisting conditions and the portability of medical coverage.

The updated primer is available online at http://www.kff.org/insurance/7766.cfm .

For more information, please contact Craig Palosky at cpalosky@kff.org or (202) 347-5270, or Kate Schoen at kschoen@kff.org or (650) 854-9400.

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Shadow Government Statistics – Updates

M3 and CPI Alternate Data Updated

Our M3 Continuation chart was updated at the weekend.

Alternate CPI figures for March were added to our charts yesterday on the release of the official March numbers.

More Archive Material Opened

We have made public past subscription material through the September 2007 Edition of the newsletter.  These can be found on the right-hand side of the following page:

http://www.shadowstats.com/section/commentaries

In addition, three Reporting/Market Focus articles become available:

Annual Income Variance Analysis  September, 2007

Annual GDP Revisions and the SGS Alternate Measure  August, 2007

Misused Statistical Models and Resulting Market Misperceptions  July, 2007

Links to these and others can be found on:

http://www.shadowstats.com/section/market_focus

We hope that you will find these of interest.

With best wishes from the
ShadowStats.com Team

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A Thumbs Down From Business Economists

By Matthew Bandyk
April 21, 2008

Business economists’ recession fears have tripled since January, according to a survey of some members of the National Association of Business Economists. Thirty percent of the economists surveyed think the economy will shrink in the first half of this year, up from 10 percent in a January poll. Fully 70 percent say they are more pessimistic about the outlook for the year as a whole than they were three months ago.

The economists report tougher times at their own firms. Nearly two thirds said their companies paid more for materials in the first quarter of 2008. Thirty-nine percent reported their companies had trouble getting credit, hurting business, compared with 26 percent in January.

http://tinyurl.com/4m6cum  (www.usnews.com)

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70% of People Believe We’re at Peak Oil

4.21.2008

Around the world, 70% of people believe in peak oil, the theory that says the supply of oil is about as abundant as it will ever be, so you better get used to paying more and more as the drip trickles to a stop.

In the U.S., according to the Reuters report, 76% believe oil is running out and, further, most believed the U.S. government is blind to the problem and failing to adequately prepare for a future when oil is scarce and even more expensive than the $117 per barrel record hit last week.

What Is Peak Oil?

Oil is a finite resource – it is produced by subterranean pressure over the course of millions of years. So what we’ve got is all we’ve got. Oil drillers go for the easy and most profitable crude first – the stuff that requires the least energy to pump out of the ground and the least refining to make into a usable product. When that is gone, what’s left is harder and more expensive to get at and deliver to the market.

The peak oil theory says that when we’ve pumped about half the crude in the world, demand for oil keeps rising but the supply falters. Maybe it hits an “undulating plateau.” Maybe it falls in fits and starts. Maybe it drops like a stone. Off a cliff. But it falls – leaving a widening gap between supply and demand.

That will not only mean higher gas prices, but higher prices for just about everything because petroleum is the basis for many of the products we use. If oil runs short before there are alternatives available, expect big geopolitical shifts as nations vie for control of the oil reserves that remain.

Are We There Yet?

Some say we’ve reached, or are near to reaching, that point – the peak, when the earth’s geologic formations no longer yield enough oil fast enough to meet the world’s ever-growing demand. After all, most nations outside the Middle East have already peaked, according to the Government Accountability Office. The United States peaked in 1970 and now pumps half of what it did 35 years ago.

Find this article at: http://tinyurl.com/4saqtv  (www.thedailygreen.com)

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Halliburton Profit Rises After Oil Climbs to Record

21 Apr 2008

Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield contractor, said profit rose 5.8 percent after crude topped $100 a barrel, prompting producers to increase spending on Middle East and Latin American projects. First-quarter net income climbed to $584 million from $552 million a year earlier, Houston-based Halliburton said today in a statement.

At:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeyAcHA3FbIY

From: CLG News

Halliburton CEO: International Oil Service Margins Have Not Peaked

21 Apr 2008

Spending on oilfield services is set to take off in the U.S. and Canada in the second half of 2008, while the boom is likely to continue internationally, said David Lesar, chief executive of Halliburton Co. Lesar’s comments are the latest indication that North America, the world’s largest market for oilfield services, is on the rebound after a patchy 2007.

At:

http://tinyurl.com/5kowb4  (money.cnn.com)

From: CLG News

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Energy Use in China: Sectoral Trends and Future Outlook

http://repositories.cdlib.org/lbnl/LBNL-61904

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Bank of England Special Liquidity Scheme

Bank of England Special Liquidity Scheme News release: The Bank of England is today launching a scheme to allow banks to swap temporarily their high quality mortgage-backed and other securities for UK Treasury Bills.

With markets for many securities currently closed, banks have on their balance sheets an ‘overhang’ of these assets, which they cannot sell or pledge as security to raise funds. Their financial position has been stretched by this overhang so banks have been reluctant to make new loans, even to each other.

Under the Scheme, banks can, for a period, swap illiquid assets of sufficiently high quality for Treasury Bills. Responsibility for losses on their loans, however, stays with the banks. By tackling decisively the overhang of assets in this way, the Scheme aims to improve the liquidity position of the banking system and increase confidence in financial markets.
 

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/news/2008/029.htm

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Congressman Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk”

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Double Trouble of Taxation

“Taxes were on the forefront of many Americans’ minds this week as they scrambled to meet the April 15th deadline to file their returns. Tax policy in this country hurts taxpayers twice – once when they pay taxes, and then when the government spends the money. Americans are sick and tired of the financial burden and the endless forms to fill out. To add insult to injury, after collecting this money the government does some very detrimental things to the economy”

Click here for full article:  http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2008/tst042008.htm

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Borowitz Report – Swift Boat Shocker

Democratic Race ‘Too Mean,’ Say Swift Boat Veterans
Giving Swiftboating a Bad Name, Group Fears

The Democratic race for President has descended to “a level of meanness and acrimony that is damaging to American politics,” the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth said today.

The Swift Boat group, which became famous in 2004 for attacking Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, said that they were speaking out because “the current Democratic contest is giving swiftboating a bad name.”

“We have increasingly heard pundits accusing Clinton and Obama of swiftboating each other,” said Swift Boat Veteran Tracy Klugian. “This hurts the reputation of swiftboating.”

Mr. Klugian was quick to draw a distinction between what Sens. Clinton and Obama are doing and swiftboating, which he called “a noble profession.”

“When you try to destroy a member of another party, that’s swiftboating,” said Mr. Klugian. “When you do it to a member of your own party, that’s cannibalism.”

He said that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth would soon air ads attacking both Democratic candidates for sullying the reputation of swiftboating.

“Tear each other up if you want to, but don’t take swiftboating down with you,” he said. “That’s just unfair.”

The Swift Boat Veterans’ statement came on the heels of a similar statement by the Weather Underground, a ‘60’s radical group that has been tied to both the Obama and Clinton camps over the past week.

“We denounce and reject both candidates,” said the Weather Underground, who has seen its approval ratings plummet in recent days.

Elsewhere, CNN’s Larry King said he would continue his series on polygamy, saying that he was uniquely qualified to discuss people who had more than five wives.

Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu

Andy with Calvin Trillin, Susie Essman and Jonathan Alter – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Calvin Trillin (bestselling author, The New Yorker), Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jonathan Alter (Newsweek, MSNBC). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to www.92y.org.

Andy at Mark Twain’s House – May 28
Spend “An Evening With Andy Borowitz” at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut on Wednesday, May 28. Event begins at 6 PM. For tickets and information call Janet Youmans at 860-280-3113 or email Janet.youmans@marktwainhouse.org

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand words

Randy Bish: i’m here to vote

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/BishR/2008/BishR20080422_low.jpg

Cartoon du Jour – By Khalil: Judge Chaudhry

http://www.bendib.com/newones/2008/april/small/4-10-Judge-Chaudhry.jpg

Jack Ohman: elitism debate

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2008/tmjoh080417.gif

OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF 9/11 FLIGHT CONTRADICTED BY GOVERNMENT’S OWN DATA

by rob balsamo

PILOTS FOR 9/11 TRUTH
http://www.pilotsfor911truth.org/

Contact: Robert Balsamo
e-mail: pilots@pilotsfor911truth.org

Pilots for 9/11 Truth, an international organization of pilots and aviation professionals, petitioned the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) via the Freedom of Information Act to obtain their 2002 report, “Flight Path Study-American Airlines Flight 77″, consisting of a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file and Flight Path Animation, allegedly derived from Flight 77′s Flight Data Recorder (FDR). The data provided by the NTSB contradict the 9/11 Commission Report in several significant ways:

The NTSB Flight Path Animation approach path and altitude does not support official events.
All Altitude data shows the aircraft at least 300 feet too high to have struck the light poles.
The rate of descent data is in direct conflict with the aircraft being able to impact the light poles and be captured in the Dept of Defense “5 Frames” video of an object traveling nearly parallel with the Pentagon lawn.
The record of data stops at least one second prior to official impact time.
If data trends are continued, the aircraft altitude would have been at least 100 feet too high to have hit the Pentagon.

In August, 2006, members of Pilots for 9/11 Truth received these documents from the NTSB and began a close analysis of the data they contain. After expert review and cross check, Pilots for 9/11 Truth has concluded that the information in these NTSB documents does not support, and in some instances factually contradicts, the official government position that American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001 .According to the 9/11 Commission Report, which relied heavily upon the NTSB Flight Path Study, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37:46 AM on the morning of September 11, 2001 .  However, the reported impact time according to the NTSB Flight Path Study is 09:37:45 . Also according to reports, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and by doing so, struck down 5 light poles on Highway 27 in its path to the west wall.

The information provided by the NTSB does not support the 9/11 Commission Report of American Airlines Flight 77 impact with the Pentagon.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.opednews.com/

For complete member list please visit http://pilotsfor911truth.org/core.html

For detailed analysis, please view Pandora’s Black Box – Chapter Two – Flight Of American 77

                          ==========

9/11 Contradictions: Bush in the Classroom

By Dr. David Ray Griffin

Global Research, April 4, 2008
The Canadian 

The official story of 9/11 is riddled with internal contradictions. One of these contradictions involves the question of how long President Bush remained in classroom in Sarasota, Florida, on the morning of 9/11.

Bush was there to publicize his education policy by being photographed listening to students read. He arrived at the school at 8:55 AM, at which time he reportedly first learned that a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers. Dismissing the crash as an accident, Bush said that they would go ahead and “do the reading thing anyway.”

Bush entered the second-grade classroom of teacher Sandra Kay Daniels at about 9:03. At about 9:06, the president’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, came in and whispered in Bush’s ear, telling him, Card later reported, “A second plane hit the second Tower. America is under attack.”

What Happened Next

Thanks to Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11, which came out in 2004, the world knows what happened next: Bush remained sitting there minute after minute after minute.

Journalists, however, had reported Bush’s strange behavior much earlier. On September 1, 2002, for example, Jennifer Barrs had reported in the Tampa Tribune that, after Card whispered in Bush’s ear, the president picked up his book and read with the children “for eight or nine minutes.” In his 2002 book Fighting Back, Bill Sammon, the White House correspondent for the Washington Times, said that even after the reading lesson was over, Bush continued to linger, leading Sammon to dub him “the dawdler in chief.”

The White House’s First Anniversary Account

On the first anniversary of 9/11, however, the White House, with Andrew Card taking the lead, started giving a radically different account. On September 9, 2002, Card told Brian Williams on NBC News: “I pulled away from the president, and not that many seconds later, the president excused himself from the classroom, and we gathered in the holding room and talked about the situation.” In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 11, Card said that, after he had informed Bush about the second attack, the president “looked up—it was only a matter of seconds, but it seemed like minutes. . . . And he just excused himself very politely to the teacher and to the students and he left.”

That same day, Karl Rove told Campbell Brown of NBC News:

Andy Card walked in to tell the President, and you can remember the famous photograph of him whispering in the President’s ear. And the President was a little—you know, he didn’t want to alarm the children. He knew the drill was coming to a close. So he waited for a few moments just to—literally—not very long at all before he came to the close, and he came into the staff room.

Also that same day, Card and Rove got ABC News, during another program that aired on the first anniversary of 9/11, to endorse their revisionist account. This program contained the following segment:

Andrew Card: I think there was a, a moment of shock and he did stare off maybe for just a second.

Charles Gibson: The President stays calm and lets the students finish.

Karl Rove: The President thought for a second or two about getting up and walking out of the room. But the drill was coming to a close and he didn’t want to alarm the children.

Gibson: Instead Bush pauses, thanks the children. . . and heads for the empty classroom next door.

Help from Mrs. Daniels

…

Complete article at:

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8555

This essay is an abbreviated version of Chapter 1 of David Ray Griffin, 9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press (Northampton: Olive Branch, March, 2008.

                          ==========

Sunlight invites you to participate in our latest project

This week, the Sunlight Foundation unveiled our draft of what we think can become model transparency legislation — the Transparency In Government Act of 2008. Here’s the twist: Instead of immediately approaching lawmakers to sponsor the bill, we decided to first post the bill online at
http://publicmarkup.org/ in order to solicit public input to further shape, refine and edit the bill.

We invite you to participate in this collaboration. You don’t have to be an expert. Just tell us what you like, and what you think about what we have drafted.

Developing this model bill via PublicMarkup.org offers an exciting opportunity to experiment with collaborative bill-drafting online. In addition, we hope the public evaluation of the draft bill will increase attention to the critically important issue of transparent government. Our hope is that the final product can be used as a model for transparent government.

Our draft legislation updates current congressional disclosure requirements for the Internet age. It specifies technological and reporting requirements to make more information about lawmakers and their influencers, the work of Congress and of the executive branch meaningfully accessible to the public.

PublicMarkup.org’s blog-like layout allows you to comment on the entire bill, or on specific sections. You can take credit for your comments by including your name, but if you wish to comment anonymously, the format allows you to do so.

We really appreciate your help.  See you online at http://publicmarkup.org/.

Keep spreading the Sunlight,

Gabriela Schneider
Communications Director
Sunlight Foundation

                          ==========

Why Are Global Food Prices Soaring?Energy costs, investment in … and more

Slate – USA

In 2006, 14 percent of the total corn crop in the United States was converted into ethanol; by 2010, that figure will rise to 30 percent.
 …

http://www.slate.com/id/2187882/

Time for Second Thoughts on the Ethanol Mandate

Heritage.org – Washington,DC,USA

by Ben Lieberman

America’s energy policy has been on an ethanol binge, and now the hangover has begun. The federal renewable fuels mandate is an unfolding …

http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm1879.cfm

U of M: Worldwide leader in ethanol debunking 

Minneapolis City Pages – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Several studies at the University of Minnesota are cited to show the impact of widespread Ethanol demand. A study by University of Minnesota ecologist David …

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/04/u_of_m_worldwid.php

End the Ethanol Scam

Liberty Maven – Reston,VA,USA

The latest from DownsizeDC.org urges us to tell congress to stop wasting our tax dollars on the devastating scam of ethanol production. …

http://www.libertymaven.com/2008/04/07/end-the-ethanol-scam/1016/

Ethanol, Oil and Corn

By Richard K. Perrin

When will ethanol plants stop being built? Ethanol plants under construction in Nebraska will have the capacity to grind over 40 percent of the Nebraska corn crop by the end of 2007, and nearly 60 percent by the end of 2008. …

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agecon_cornhusker/304

Ethanol’s lie

Tribune Review – Pittsburgh,PA,USA

From Time magazine to the Internet blogosphere, critical analysis is revealing ethanol not only as a useless fuel alternative but also as an environmental …

http://tinyurl.com/4re9nj  (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/)

Guest letter: It turns out ethanol is more of a problem than a …

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Since 1986, Minnesota lawmakers have actively encouraged the development of a sizable state ethanol industry. We now have 17 operating ethanol plants in the …

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17593319.html

Ethanol subsidies a double-whammy

DAVID A. RIDENOUR:

Belleville News Democrat – IL, USA

Move over “Bridge to Nowhere,” there’s a new poster child of congressional waste and avarice – ethanol, the “Fuel to Nowhere.” Ethanol leads only to higher …

http://www.bnd.com/285/story/313547.html

End the ethanol folly for food’s sake

By SHNS

To paraphrase the late, great William F. Buckley, Jr., someone must stand athwart the federal ethanol program yelling, “Stop!” The emergency brake should be pulled – NOW – before ethanol wreaks further havoc. read more.

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32438

Ethanol Harms Fiberglass Fuel Tanks in Boats

18 Apr 2008

The Los Angeles Times reports that Lawrence Turner sued gasoline producers and distributors for selling ethanol-blended gas at boating marinas without notifying customers that ethanol breaks down fiberglass fuel tanks. In order to repair a boat with this damage, a mechanic must cut through the hull of the tank and remove it piece by piece. New aluminum tanks are installed in place of the fiberglass.

http://tinyurl.com/4gfbpp    (http://www.biodieselinvesting.com/)

                          ==========

Herbicides and Genetically Modified Seeds Boost Monsanto – How One Company Benefits from Farm Subsidies, Ethanol and “Agflation”

1.4.2008

By Dan Shapley
Monsanto, the agri-chemical giant, is growing at a pace not seen in years, as it reaps a fortune on herbicides, seeds genetically modified to withstand those herbicides and grow-your-own pesticides.

With 46 cents a share, its stock is up 188% from a year ago, and 11 cents above Wall Street forecasts, according to Investor’s Business Daily. Sales grew 36% to $2.1 billion, the fastest growth in four years, and Monsanto expects that growth to continue into 2008.

Monsanto profited handsomely from federal subsidies for ethanol, which led to a near-record planting of corn across the Midwest. Between 2000 and 2007, the use of genetically modified corn seed grew from 25% of acres planted to 73% in the U.S., and the Department of Agriculture recently started giving farmers a break on insurance premiums if they use these seeds, creating yet another incentive. The seeds are genetically modified to either resist death by herbicide, allowing farmers to spray liberally to kill nearby weeds that lack resistance, or else to grow into plants that produce substances toxic to insect pests (allowing farmers to spray less, but worrying some about potential health risks).

But while sales of its Roundup herbicide (perfect for use on “Roundup-ready” corn, genetically fortified to resist death by herbicide) was part of the growth, the other driver was sale of corn seeds south of the border — primarily in Brazil and Argentina. Part of the growth in the market there has the same origins in U.S. farm policy; since ethanol demand has absorbed so much of the corn grown, more people in more places have incentive to grow it to fill needs both old (food, feed) and new (fuel).

One analyst quoted by Investor’s Business Daily calls that “agflation.”

From: http://tinyurl.com/2qm827  (www.thedailygreen.com/)

                          ==========

Gibson’s capital-gains tax assertion during debate disputed by economists

During the April 16 Democratic presidential debate, Charles Gibson asserted of capital-gains tax cuts that “in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.” In fact, economists dispute Gibson’s assertion. Moreover, looking forward, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the 2006 extension of the 2003 cuts on capital-gains taxes would result in decreased revenues over 10 years.

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804180012?lid=247370&rid=7069124

                          ==========

Precision in the Global War on Terror: Inciting Muslims through the War of Ideas

Authored by Dr. Sherifa D. Zuhur.

Never before have Americans paid so much attention to Islam and Muslim ideology. Although efforts have been made to separate mainsteam views from extremist principles, Muslims feel that many of their basic beliefs are under attack in the ongoing war of ideas. The author explores why, surveying a broad swath of accusations and efforts to change Muslim and Islamist ideas and institutions.

http://tinyurl.com/3hclvc  (http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/)

                          ==========

Is Inflation Moderating?

That is how most media accounts treated the March data for the consumer price index. It is not clear that this view is accurate.

The overall inflation rate for the month was 0.3 percent, while the core showed just a 0.2 percent rise. While this is in fact a very moderate pace, there were a number of anomalies in the data which held the rate down.

The most obvious were a 1.3 percent decline in apparel prices and a 0.6 percent drop in hotel prices. Both components are very erratic and are likely to be reversed in future months. In addition, medical costs reportedly rose at just a 0.1 percent rate, well below its recent trend. Even tobacco prices reportedly fell (albeit by just 0.1 percent), a decline that is unlikely to be repeated given policy efforts to raise tobacco prices.

There were no obvious anomalies on the other side. Furthermore, prices at earlier stages of production are rising rapidly. The overall finished goods index rose 1.1 percent in March. It has risen at a 10.2 percent rate over the last year. The core index rose just 0.2 percent in March, but this followed two months of more rapid increases. Over the quarter, the core finished goods index has risen at a 5.0 percent annual rate while the core finished consumer goods index rose at a 5.5 percent rate. The overall intermediate goods index rose 2.3 percent in March, while the core index rose 1.1 percent.

The price increases stem largely from rising import prices and rising commodity prices world-wide. It seems unlikely that these price increases will not eventually show up in the consumer price index, given the slowdown in productivity growth in recent years. Over the last three and a half years productivity growth has averaged less than 1.7 percent annually, almost the same rate as during the slow growth years from 1973-1995.

As always, you can get the real inflation story in CEPR’s price byte.

http://tinyurl.com/4c8syb  (http://www.cepr.net/)

–Dean Baker

From: http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press

                          ==========

How Can We Miss Him if He Won’t Go Away?

Apr 14, 2008

By Andy Borowitz

 

President George W. Bush used a Rose Garden appearance today to reassure investors that he was at the helm of the U.S. economy, causing stock markets to plummet around the world.

“You don’t have to worry about this economy because I am in charge of it,” said Mr. Bush, touching off what some observers were calling a global financial panic.

Mr. Bush began his remarks about the economy at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and by 10:30 markets around the world had already gone into a perilous free fall.

According to Wall Street insiders, the markets were responding to the news that Mr. Bush was still president. “Over the last few weeks, the markets have absorbed the news of the subprime crisis, the housing meltdown and the Bear Stearns failure,” said Logan Teasdale of Citigroup. “But the news that President Bush is still president was too much for the markets to shrug off.”

Over the past few months, Mr. Teasdale said, traders have tried hard to forget that Mr. Bush was still president, but his White House remarks today were “a painful reminder.” At the Federal Reserve, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke huddled with central bankers to try to find a way to calm the markets rattled by Mr. Bush’s alarming appearance.

One solution reportedly being pondered by the Fed would involve sending Mr. Bush to Disney World for the remainder of his time in office.

Elsewhere, in a triumphal return to Yankee Stadium, former pitching great Roger Clemens threw out the first syringe.

Award-winning humorist, television personality and film actor Andy Borowitz is author of “The Republican Playbook.”

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=57164

                          ==========

three thousand words

Tom Tomorrow: A Few Bad Apples

http://images.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/04/21/tomo/story.jpg

RJ Matson: DELIVERANCE

http://www.rjmatson.com/images/cartoons/RC1239.jpg

Monte Wolverton: bitter? who’s bitter?

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/WolveM/2008/WolveM20080421_low.jpg

90 Days Down

Apr. 15, 2008

Ed Wallace

Oil too continues to defy the laws of financial gravity. It’s staying outrageously expensive, when all business logic – along with the wisdom that the world’s economies are likely slowing – dictates that oil futures should be falling

Special to the Star-Telegram

For years I’ve been calling attention to the downside risks for the American economy; and sometimes that seemed rather contrarian, especially when the nightly news was giving the nation’s economic growth such constant positive press. Of course, so much of what was thought to indicate an amazing boom period for America, such as the incredible housing upturn, now in large tracts of the country that has largely turned out to be a bust. Oil too continues to defy the laws of financial gravity. It’s staying outrageously expensive, when all business logic – along with the wisdom that the world’s economies are likely slowing – dictates that oil futures should be falling.

A few weeks ago this column covered these asset bubbles, which not only have a negative impact on the average consumer’s budget but also violate the fundamental law of a free market: supply and demand are supposed to dictate price.

You may recall my saying then that there was and is no shortage whatsoever for gasoline in this country. Reserves on hand had hit a 16-year high, while at the same time the daily buffer for oil production against demand had grown from 1.5 million barrels a day to over 3 million; and no entity, asking to purchase oil during this “crisis period,” had gone away empty-handed. In fact, there was so much gasoline on hand, refiners admitted publicly that they were cutting back gasoline production – so their profit margins per refined gallon would “improve.”

Less than Optimal Timing

That article itself, with a few data updates reflecting the different publication dates, made its own nationwide news run starting April 1, when BusinessWeek picked it up and put it on the front page of the online edition. For the next four days it was the No.1 most read, No.1 most e-mailed, No.1 most discussed article they’d published.

Writing for Fort Worth, for print, I had accused Wall Street of irrational exuberance in bidding up oil contracts on the futures market, then using massive PR campaigns to fool the public into thinking there is a real oil and gasoline crisis going on. Here in Texas that story on oil futures didn’t even raise an eyebrow. But now that story about how the futures market works was published online, right in the center of where that action was taking place.
…

Complete article at:

http://www.star-telegram.com/ed_wallace/story/583344.html

Ed Wallace is a recipient of the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, and is a member of the American Historical Society. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four’s Good Day, contributes articles to BusinessWeek Online and hosts the talk show, Wheels, 8:00 to 1:00 Saturdays on 570 KLIF. E-mail: wheels570@sbcglobal.net

There was so much gasoline on hand, refiners admitted publicly that they were cutting back gasoline production — so their profit margins per refined gallon would “improve.

                          ==========

Credit Default Swaps: Evolving Financial Meltdown and Derivative Disaster Du Jour

By Dr. Ellen Brown

Global Research, April 11, 2008

 

When the smartest guys in the room designed their credit default swaps, they forgot to ask one thing – what if the parties on the other side of the bet don’t have the money to pay up? Credit default swaps (CDS) are insurance-like contracts that are sold as protection against default on loans, but CDS are not ordinary insurance.

Insurance companies are regulated by the government, with reserve requirements, statutory limits, and examiners routinely showing up to check the books to make sure the money is there to cover potential claims. CDS are private bets, and the Federal Reserve from the time of Alan Greenspan has insisted that regulators keep hands off.

The sacrosanct free market would supposedly regulate itself. The problem with that approach is that regulations are just rules. If there are no rules, the players can cheat; and cheat they have, with a gambler’s addiction. In December 2007, the Bank for International Settlements reported derivative trades tallying in at $681 trillion – ten times the gross domestic product of all the countries in the world combined. Somebody is obviously bluffing about the money being brought to the game, and that realization has made for some very jittery markets.

“Derivatives” are complex bank creations that are very hard to understand, but the basic idea is that you can insure an investment you want to go up by betting it will go down. The simplest form of derivative is a short sale: you can place a bet that some asset you own will go down, so that you are covered whichever way the asset moves.

Credit default swaps are the most widely traded form of credit derivative. They are bets between two parties on whether or not a company will default on its bonds. In a typical default swap, the “protection buyer” gets a large payoff if the company defaults within a certain period of time, while the “protection seller” collects periodic payments for assuming the risk of default.

CDS thus resemble insurance policies, but there is no requirement to actually hold any asset or suffer any loss, so CDS are widely used just to speculate on market changes. In one blogger’s example, a hedge fund wanting to increase its profits could sit back and collect $320,000 a year in premiums just for selling “protection” on a risky BBB junk bond. The premiums are “free” money – free until the bond actually goes into default, when the hedge fund could be on the hook for $100 million in claims. And there’s the catch: what if the hedge fund doesn’t have the $100 million? The fund’s corporate shell or limited partnership is put into bankruptcy, but that hardly helps the “protection buyers” who thought they were covered.

To the extent that CDS are being sold as “insurance,” they are looking more like insurance fraud; and that fact has particularly hit home with the ratings downgrades of the “monoline” insurers and the recent collapse of Bear Stearns, a leading Wall Street investment brokerage. The monolines are so-called because they are allowed to insure only one industry, the bond industry. Monoline bond insurers are the biggest protection writers for CDS, and Bear Stearns was the twelfth largest counterparty to credit default swap trades in 2006.1 These players have been major protection sellers in a massive web of credit default swaps, and when the “protection” goes, the whole fragile derivative pyramid will go with it. The collapse of the derivative monster thus appears to be both imminent and inevitable, but that fact need not be cause for despair. The $681 trillion derivatives trade is the last supersized bubble in a 300-year Ponzi scheme, one that has now taken over the entire monetary system. The nation’s wealth has been drained into private vaults, leaving scarcity in its wake. It is a corrupt system, and change is long overdue. Major crises are major opportunities for change.

The Wall Street Ponzi Scheme

The Ponzi scheme that has gone bad is not just another misguided investment strategy. It is at the very heart of the banking business, the thing that has propped it up over the course of three centuries. A Ponzi scheme is a form of pyramid scheme in which new investors must continually be sucked in at the bottom to support the investors at the top. In this case, new borrowers must continually be sucked in to support the creditors at the top. The Wall Street Ponzi scheme is built on “fractional reserve” lending, which allows banks to create “credit” (or “debt”) with accounting entries. Banks are now allowed to lend from 10 to 30 times their “reserves,” essentially counterfeiting the money they lend. Over 97 percent of the U.S. money supply (M3) has been created by banks in this way.2 The problem is that banks create only the principal and not the interest necessary to pay back their loans, so new borrowers must continually be found to take out new loans just to create enough “money” (or “credit”) to service the old loans composing the money supply. The scramble to find new debtors has now gone on for over 300 years – ever since the founding of the Bank of England in 1694 – until the whole world has become mired in debt to the bankers’ private money monopoly. The Ponzi scheme has finally reached its mathematical limits: we are “all borrowed up.”

When the banks ran out of creditworthy borrowers, they had to turn to uncreditworthy “subprime” borrowers; and to avoid losses from default, they moved these risky mortgages off their books by bundling them into “securities” and selling them to investors. To induce investors to buy, these securities were then “insured” with credit default swaps. But the housing bubble itself was another Ponzi scheme, and eventually there were no more borrowers to be sucked in at the bottom who could afford the ever-inflating home prices. When the subprime borrowers quit paying, the investors quit buying mortgage-backed securities. The banks were then left holding their own suspect paper; and without triple-A ratings, there is little chance that buyers for this “junk” will be found. The crisis is not, however, in the economy itself, which is fundamentally sound – or would be with a proper credit system to oil the wheels of production. The crisis is in the banking system, which can no longer cover up the shell game it has played for three centuries with other people’s money.

The Derivatives Chernobyl

…

Complete article at:

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8634

Ellen Brown, J.D., developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust.” She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her eleven books include the bestselling Nature’s Pharmacy, co-authored with Dr. Lynne Walker, which has sold 285,000 copies. Her websites are www.webofdebt.com  and www.ellenbrown.com .

NOTES

1 “Credit Swap Worries Go Mainstream,” nakedcapitalism.com (February 17, 2008); Aline van Duyn, “CDS Sector Weighs Bear Stearns Backlash,” Financial Times (London) (March 16, 2008).

2 See Ellen Brown, “Dollar Deception: How Banks Secretly Create Money,” webofdebt.com/articles (July 3, 2008).

3 “Monoline Insurance,” Wikipedia.

4  Jane Wells, “Ambac and MBIA: Bonds, Jane’s Bonds,” CNBC (February 4, 2008).

5 “Saving AMBAC, the Homeowners, or the Banks?”, Jesse’s Café Americain (February 25, 2008).

6 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, “Fed Eyes Nordic-style Nationalisation of US Banks,” International Business Editor (March 31, 2008).

 7 See Ellen Brown, Web of Debt (Third Millennium Press, 2008), chapter 3.

                          ==========

Public taken for idiots on the economy

April 18, 2008

BONNIE ERBE
GUEST COLUMNIST

For years, government figures on economic growth (or lack thereof) have mystified me as being so far out of whack with reality as to bear little or no resemblance to it. This is true for figures on economic growth, job creation and inflation. In 2005 I wrote:

“I’ve racked my brain trying to reconcile Labor Department reports of inflation running in the 2 percent to 3 percent range, while watching as housing, food, clothing, and transportation costs rise by double digits each quarter. Is the government hiding something?”

Three years later I’m thinking the answer is clearly “yes” since not only has inflation gotten worse, but two much more savvy figures than myself have made the case for government economic deceit. Taken together, they agree that the government cooks economic figures until they mimic limp linguine upon release.

This does not appear to be because of any pointed conspiracy on the part of the Bush administration (although its practiced deception in other areas makes it a juicy target for book-cooking in the economic arena) but rather to a series of “adjustments” to government economic figures made by successive administrations over time.

In a 2003 op-ed piece for The New York Times, economics professor Austan Goolsbee, who is now senior economics adviser to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, wrote about artificially depressed unemployment numbers.

The rate, he said, ” … has been low (during the recession of 2001-2002) only because government programs, especially Social Security disability, have effectively been buying people off the unemployment rolls and reclassifying them as ‘not in the labor force.’ … It has been a more subtle manipulation than the one during the Reagan administration, when people serving in the military were reclassified from ‘not in the labor force’ to ‘employed’ in order to reduce the unemployment rate. Nonetheless, the impact has been the same.”

…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/359666_erbe20.html

Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe@CompuServe.com

                          ==========

Federal Reserve Board Beige Book, April 2008

“Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and based on information collected on or before April 7, 2008. This document summarizes comments received from businesses and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials. Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicate that economic conditions have weakened since the last report. Nine Districts noted slowing in the pace of economic activity, while the remaining three–Boston, Cleveland, and Richmond–described activity as mixed or steady.”

http://tinyurl.com/47kejx   (www.federalreserve.gov)

                          ==========

TD Bank Financial Group.

Crude oil price relief is coming, but not until later this year
Dina Cover

Toronto : TD Bank Financial Group, April 18, 2008.

http://www.td.com/economics/special/dc0408_oil.pdf

                          ==========

Albany Int’l Corp. closing Mass. plant, displacing 80 workers … and more

Bizjournals.com – Charlotte,NC,USA

Albany International Corp. will close a Massachusetts plant this year that includes a center for research and development and composite manufacturing.
…

http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2008/04/07/daily48.html

Factory closing date may be in June

Lincoln Courier – Lincoln,IL,USA

By Erin Frost

The former MII factory on Lincoln’s west side may be empty as soon as June 30. Sources have repeatedly said the plant, which manufactures …

http://www.lincolncourier.com/story.asp?SID=28513&SEC=8

Tyco Electronics closing Milwaukee plant 

The Business Journal of …
Bizjournals.com – Charlotte,NC,USA

Tyco Electronics Corp. has informed state officials of its intent to close its plant at 1924 S. Hilbert St. in Milwaukee, resulting in the loss of 101
…

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/14/daily7.html

Woolrich to close Jersey Shore sewing plant

Lock Haven Express – Lock Haven,PA,USA

A lack of demand for the Arctic Parkas in Europe is the reason for the plant closing, officials said. Woolrich expects to complete the last of its orders …

<http://www.lockhaven.com/page/content.detail/id/502479.html?nav=5009

80 people to lose jobs in Pa. dairy plant closing

Houston Chronicle – United States

Employees of the Fairmont Products dairy plant in Belleville were told on Tuesday that the plant will be closing in October. The plants closure will also …

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5708221.html

Automotive Supplier JAC Products Announces Plant Closing

IndustryWeek – USA

April 17, 2008

 – Automotive exterior trim producer JAC Products announced April 16 that it would close its Monclova, Ohio, plant in the spring of 2009 and …

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=16154

                          ==========

EARMARK FROM NOWHERE

Volume XIII No. 16 – April 18, 2008

First there was the Bridge to Nowhere, now comes the earmark from nowhere.

The project: a $10 million interchange between I-75 and Coconut Road in Lee County, Florida. Local officials did not request it but it was added to the 2005 Transportation Bill, reportedly by someone who worked for Rep. Don Young (R-AK). It was one earmark among 6,300 earmarks in the massive $286 billion highway bill signed into law three years ago.

But something extraordinary happened with this earmark. In the bill that Congress passed, the project was to widen I-75. But in the bill that went to the president, that project had been mysteriously deleted and replaced with “Coconut Rd. interchange I-75/ Lee County.” The difference between the two projects is dramatic. The original I-75 earmark for widening the highway would have provided broad public benefits, but as changed, would fund a project that would benefit a small constituency and provide narrow public benefits.

Five months before the earmark became law, local developers hosted a fundraiser for the then-Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – you guessed it – Representative Don Young. As a result, Rep. Young netted close to $40,000 in campaign contributions, mostly from southwestern Florida developers and builders.

One of the developers that attended the fundraiser was Daniel Aronoff, who owns 4,000 acres adjacent to Coconut Road, including 1,200 acres directly east of the proposed interchange. The value of Aronoff’s land would be significantly increased if Coconut Road was connected to I-75 by a new interchange.

The public has a right to know how a bill passed by both the House and Senate was mysteriously changed before arriving on the president’s desk. And the wrong must be righted.

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) asked the House Ethics Committee for an investigation six months ago, so it was an easy call to support efforts in the Senate this week to create a joint House and Senate panel to look into the matter. That initiative failed, and instead the Senate voted to direct the Justice Department to investigate how the Florida road project made its way into the 2005 highway spending bill.

And although it feels like they are coming late to the party, TCS is also pleased to see that House leadership in both parties has called for an ethics committee investigation. Last but certainly not least, Congress has voted to fix the project description so the money goes to widening and improving I-75 rather than improving some developer’s bottom line.

A full investigation of this troubling matter, whether by the House Ethics Committee or the Department of Justice, is critical to restoring public trust in Washington. In the absence of an accounting and explanation, the public is left to assume the worst about the legislative process.

Going on at Taxpayer.net This Week

TCS Statement on Senate Amendment to the Technical Corrections Bill

TCS Letter to the Senate: Support Coburn Coconut Road Amendment

Check out TCS’s Complete FY2008 Database of Congressional Earmarks

Ending the Earmark ATM: An Insider’s View of Congressional Earmarks

TCS in the News

Morning Bell: More Empty Ethics Promises (Heritage.org, DC)
Senate Seeks Federal Probe of Manipulation of Earmark (Update2) (Bloomberg)
Pelosi: Let’s Get The House Ethics Committee on The Case! (TPMmuckraker)
Today’s Must Read (TPMmuckraker)
Coconut Road earmark sprouts into full-fledged debate in Congress (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Alaska)
Senate divided over response to Florida earmark (The Associated Press)
Gillibrand returns contributions (Glens Falls Post-Star, New York)
Angry buzz seems small as bee hives go silent (St Petersburg Times, Florida)
Schwartz requests $100M in earmarks (Bucks County Courier Times, Pennsylvania)
Senate to Vote to Investigate Young’s Coconut Road Earmark (TPMmuckraker)Reyes denies donations, contract linked (El Paso Times)
Coconut Road earmark investigation gains major momentum in Congress (Naples Daily News, Florida)
WSJ Uses Reyes as Exhibit “A” in Story About Contributions and … (Newspaper Tree, Texas)
Crusader’s wiggle room on earmarks (The Hill)
Probe Puts Spotlight on Earmarks (Wall Street Journal)
Defense Firm Forged Close Ties To Congress to Get No-Bid Contracts (Wall Street Journal)

Notable Quote

“Many people have lost faith in the earmark process because of reports of corruption and fraud by members of Congress over the last several years. I believe we must do more to restore the public’s trust in government and the Congress.”

- Rep. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) on why she will not accept campaign contributions from individuals seeking earmarks.

Weekly Wastebasket  www.taxpayer.net

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Several media outlets advanced comparison between Cindy McCain’s and Teresa Heinz Kerry’s release of tax info, ignoring key distinction

Several media outlets have reported that Sen. John McCain’s campaign justified refusing to release Cindy McCain’s tax returns by citing Sen. John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, as “precedent.” But they did not report that, in contrast with Cindy McCain, Heinz Kerry did release a part of her 2003 income tax return that showed “total income,” which enabled The New York Times to analyze how she benefited from the Bush tax cuts. Such an analysis of how the McCains have benefited from the tax cuts — which Sen. McCain supports extending permanently — is not possible, based on the information his campaign has released on Cindy McCain’s income.

Read More:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804180007?lid=247362&rid=7069124

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And now for the important news …. 

By Argus Hamilton

American Idol topped the ratings again last week for Fox Network. Many tune in for the judges. It’s fun to see an erratic woman, a smooth black guy and a cranky white guy arguing over something besides which one of them should be elected president. 

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

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three thousand words

Pat Oliphant: his holiness says he is very ashamed of my pedophiliac behavior …

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/po/2008/po080417.gif

Tom Toles: oh, the serenity

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20080418/ltt080418.gif

Peter Dunlap-Shohl: ted stevens was right! the internet is a series of tubes

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/DunlaP/2008/DunlaP20080420_low.jpg

US Action Item: Respond to Rep. Monique Davis: “Get out of here, atheists!”

Reposted from: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2441,Get-out-of-here-atheists,PZ-Myers-Pharyngula
and
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/04/get_out_of_here_atheists.php

The governor of Illinois has been playing some games with state money, shuffling a million dollars to benefit a Baptist church, and an atheist dared to testify to the legislature against this. The response from one legislator was unsurprising: she shrieked at the atheist to get out.

Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) interrupted atheist activist Rob Sherman during his testimony Wednesday afternoon before the House State Government Administration Committee in Springfield and told him, “What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous . . . it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!

“This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God,” Davis said. “Get out of that seat . . . You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.”

Disbelief in religion means you have “no right” to speak to members of government? Wow. And note the “D” after her name — she’s a member of the party most (but definitely not all!) American atheists lean towards.

There’s more on this exchange: it looks like Sherman kept his cool, while Davis spewed her hate.

Chicago atheists, you know what to do: next election, campaign against Monique Davis. Get someone who is not a raving nutbag to run. Right now, her district needs to flood her mailbox with letters of protest. You can find her contact information online; let her know that you do not appreciate her efforts to disenfranchise and discriminate against you.

Only 38% of Britons believe in God

Barely a third of the English population report believing in God. (story by National Secular Society , April 11, 2008 ).

http://www.secularism.org.uk/only38ofbritonsbelieveingod.html

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A Digital Theory of Evolution

April 17, 2008

Cambridge University Library has placed Charles Darwin’s private notes, drafts, and recipes on the Web—for free!

The collection, which includes the first draft of On The Origin of Species, comprises some 20,000 items and 90,000 images. They are available at darwin-online.org.uk , which bills the collection as “the largest and most widely used Darwin publication in history.”

Evolution: 24 Myths And Misconceptions

Michael Le Page, Features Editor

Since the publication of Origin of Species, evidence for evolution has been overwhelming – it is the foundation of all biology. But most people around the world are not taught the truth about evolution and alternatives often appear convincing. So New Scientist has put together a guide to a few common myths and misconceptions about evolution, including:
 

“All characteristics are due to natural selection”
- male nipples aren’t
“Nature is limitlessly inventive”
- but there aren’t any flying plants
“Natural selection always leads to perfection”
- no it doesn’t…

MORE

http://tinyurl.com/4hss6d   (www.newscientist.com)

Gods and earthlings

By Richard Dawkins

The ‘science of intelligent design’ is science fiction.

http://tinyurl.com/3hl7qm   (www.latimes.com)

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THE BUSH ADMIN’S HOW-TO GUIDE FOR USING RELIGIOUS WARFARE TO DESTROY IRAQ

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet

Using a mixture of cultural ignorance, incompetence and a touch of cronyism, the U.S has turned a patriotic nation against itself.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/82212/

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Fleecing The Flock–They Actually Have Classes!

By Dennis Diehl

Who would have guessed they teach classes in effectively fleecing the flock of their funds. Learn the tricks for your own church.

http://tinyurl.com/4jvq5b    (www.opednews.com)

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Pimps In The Pulpit: FLDS Warren Jeffs & Other Hucksters

By Sharon Roach

Before there was Warren Jeffs there was Dr. York, the infamous Dr. Ike and many other hucksters and pimps of the pulpit who either wanted your money or wanted to use you as their puppet.

http://tinyurl.com/3zchpl     (www.opednews.com)

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PROSECUTING POLYGAMY 

By Marci Hamilton, Huffington Post

Authorities must vigorously enforce the laws against polygamy to stem the abuse of women and children in fundamentalist Mormon communities.

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/81772/

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WHY IS DAVID VITTER STILL IN OFFICE AND NOT ELIOT SPITZER?

By Steve  Kornacki, New York Observer

Eliot Spitzer may have been a major hypocrite on prostitution — but Vitter built his career on “traditional” family values and moral purity.

http://www.alternet.org/sex/82426/

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$50-million collection basket

By Tim Rutten

Cardinal Mahony is asking L.A. parishes to help pay for sexual abuse settlements.

http://tinyurl.com/3lephg  (www.latimes.com)

Priests served despite abuse complaints

San Jose Mercury News – CA, USA

It is unknown how many reports of priest child sex abuse Begin received during his 15-year tenure as bishop. Cummins, who served as chancellor from 1962 to …

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8756016

Priest charged in sex abuse case

Charlotte Observer – Charlotte,NC,USA

A Catholic priest charged with having sex with a 14-year-old boy in Charlotte in 1999 was booked in the Mecklenburg County jail on Sunday. The Rev. …

http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/580011.html

Vatican PR machine keeps 14,000 felonies by 4500 pedophile priests out of the news during upcoming pope visit

Never underestimate the power of the press, the pen is mightier than the sword, and the scales of justice. (story by http://www.opednews.com , April 14, 2008).

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Tax Aid To Religion Harms Faith And Draws Government Into Religious Affairs, Interfaith Coalition Tells Appeals Court

April 17, 2008

Religious, Civil Liberties Organizations Urge Court To Strike Down City Grants To Detroit Houses Of Worship

Using public funds to repair Detroit houses of worship violates the U.S. Constitution and threatens the independence of religious groups, a coalition of religious and civil liberties groups has told a federal appeals court.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today, seven organizations urged the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule against aid to churches that was distributed by the City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority in 2006.

The money was given to three downtown churches to repair their facades and for landscaping and lighting upgrades to spruce up sections of the city prior to the Super Bowl. A federal district court said the aid did not advance religion.

Organizations joining on the brief included the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty; American Jewish Committee; Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America; the Hindu American Foundation; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and Americans for Religious Liberty.

“Americans have a long tradition of offering voluntary support to houses of worship,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “Coercing taxpayers to provide this aid is a monumental violation of the right of conscience.”

The legal brief in American Atheists, Inc. v. City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority argues that government aid to religion usually ends up doing more harm than good.

“The lessons of history are compelling: Governmental aid to construct and maintain houses of worship degrades religion and distorts government,” asserts the brief.

The brief goes on to argue, “[T]he grant recipients here are not just religiously affiliated: They are full-fledged churches. So the district court’s approval of public funding for repairs would have been especially noxious to those who adopted the First Amendment…. And it would have been equally offensive to those who sought to maintain their cherished religious freedom by ensuring that their houses of worship could never develop an unhealthy dependence on governmental largesse.”

The brief draws extensively on history and cites the works of religious liberty pioneers such as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Williams and others.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State   www.au.org

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And now for the important news ….

 

By Argus Hamilton

World War Two pilots held a reunion in Washington D.C. Saturday and were honored for bombing Nazi Germany. It’s a small world. Pope Benedict was an anti-aircraft gunner in Germany so there’s a chance they could bump into each other again this week.

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

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three thousand words

Atheists

http://arch.kimag.es/share/16989272.jpg

COULD YOU PLEASE STOP PRACTICING FOR A WHILE … YOU’RE GIVING ME A SPLITTING HEADACHE

http://www.reverendfun.com/add_toon_info.php?date=20080414&language=en

JEFF SWENSON: it’s called “survival of the fittest,” pal. …

http://humaniststudies.org/~funnies/freethunk/sf20080416.gif

National Security Archive Update, April 17, 2008 – Ruling on Preservation of White House E-Mails Awaited; New Law Proposed to Address Destruction of Electronic Records

http://www.nsarchive.org

For more information contact:
Meredith Fuchs – 202/994-7000

Washington, D.C., April 17, 2008 – Today, the White House sought clarification from the court concerning its ability to restore missing records from backup tapes that are currently being preserved. The White House inquiry comes as the National Security Archive continues to await a ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on its pending motion to extend an e-mail preservation order against the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and to depose relevant witnesses about the state of the White House’s e-mail archiving system.

A new bill to establish procedures to assure the preservation of electronic federal and presidential records was introduced this week by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), and Rep. Paul W. Hodes (D-NH) (H.R. 5811), but that bill would have no effect on the e-mails that are the subject of the pending lawsuit. A new chronology of events in the White House e-mail lawsuits was also published on the Web today by the Archive.

Visit the Web site of the National Security Archive for more information about today’s posting.

http://www.nsarchive.org

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Library of Congress – Constitutional Law: State Secrets Privilege

Constitutional Law: State Secrets Privilege

The Law Library of Congress is proud to present four constitutional law items focusing on the State Secrets Privilege. The two articles, one statement to Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, and one statement to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary are available in their entirety in PDF on our Web site.

Louis Fisher, “The State Secrets Privilege: Relying on Reynolds,” 122 Pol. Sci. Q. 385 (2007). The George W. Bush administration has invoked the state secrets privilege as an absolute bar to litigation whenever the administration determines that the disclosure of agency documents would harm national security. The cases involve such areas of law as NSA surveillance and extraordinary rendition. This article analyzes the Supreme Court case relied on primarily by the administration, United States v. Reynolds (1953), which for the first time recognized the state secrets privilege. The Court’s decision did great damage to the integrity of the judiciary, the rights of private litigants, and the constitutional system of checks and balances.

Statement by Louis Fisher, presented to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the House Committee on the Judiciary, “Reform of the State Secrets Privilege,” January 29, 2008. Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, assertions of the state secrets privilege pose a greater threat to constitutional government and individual liberties in such cases as NSA surveillance and extraordinary rendition. Even if it appears that the administration has acted illegally, the executive branch advises federal judges that a case cannot allow access to documents without jeopardizing national security. Self-interested executive claims may override the independence of the federal judiciary, the corrective mechanism of checks and balances, and the right of private litigants to have their day in court. Congress needs to enact legislation to strengthen the adversary process that we use to pursue truth in the courtroom.

Statement by Louis Fisher, appearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, “Examining the State Secrets Privilege: Protecting National Security While Preserving Accountability,” February 13, 2008. The state secrets privilege is now a central issue and Congress is the appropriate branch of government to supply much needed procedures and governing principles. It is critical that we be able to rely on an independent judiciary to weigh the competing claims of litigants and preserve the adversary process. No litigant, including the executive branch, should be presumed in advance to be superior to another. The executive branch is not entitled to “utmost deference” or even “deference.” In the past, federal courts have been misled by executive claims about national security, including in the seminal case of United States v. Reynolds (1953).

Louis Fisher, “People v. State: Security Secrets Must be Weighed Against American’s Broader Interests,” Legal Times, October 1, 2007, pp. 66-67. In recent cases involving state secrets, federal judges typically put the plaintiff’s interest on one side of the scale and the government’s interest (or “national interest”) on the other. Under this test, the individual can be guaranteed to lose every time. Judicial analysis following this standard protects neither the plaintiff nor the nation. There is no national interest in picking up the wrong person (Khalid el-Masri, for example) and keeping him in prison for five months. El-Masri was not merely presenting his own interests. He represented every individual, U.S. citizen or alien, who wants to avoid a similar fate. Judicial deference to executive claims does not protect the national interest or the system of checks and balances.

http://tinyurl.com/4e73kg   (www.loc.gov)

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Baloch Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources: The Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan

Authored by Dr. Robert J. Wirsing.

The author examines the energy context of the simmering Baloch separatist insurgency that has surfaced in recent years in Pakistan’s sprawling Balochistan province. In particular, he looks at how Pakistan’s mounting energy insecurity–a product of rapid increase in demand coupled with rising scarcity and the region’s intensified energy rivalry–has both magnified the economic and strategic importance of this province while at the same time complicating Pakistan’s efforts to cope with the province’s resurgent tribal separatism. The author concludes that Pakistan’s government needs to overhaul its counterinsurgent policies to avoid protracted conflict and to enlist the Baloch as partners in energy development, not antagonists of it.

http://tinyurl.com/4o7elq  (www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil)

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Gas Will Be $4.50 Per Gallon By August In Georgia

If gas companies already know what the price of gas will be in August, isn’t that “price fixing?”
By William Cormier

http://tinyurl.com/5xsm27   (/www.opednews.com)

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U.S. gasoline prices to rise despite slowdown: EIA

16 Apr 2008

Drivers should not be fooled into thinking a weak economy and less gasoline use will help lower pump prices any time soon, the federal Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. [LOL, of course! See: Exxon Mobil CEO gets $21.7 million pay package after record year 10 Apr 2008 Exxon Mobil gave chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson an 18% raise to $21.7 million.
http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=8148522  That's according to an analysis of a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Irving-based Exxon Mobil's $40 billion profit last year again broke the record for a U.S. company.]

At:

http://tinyurl.com/4gnw7e    (www.reuters.com)

From: CLG News

                          ==========

Why Are Global Food Prices Soaring?Energy costs, investment in … and more

Slate – USA

In 2006, 14 percent of the total corn crop in the United States was converted into ethanol; by 2010, that figure will rise to 30 percent.
 …

http://www.slate.com/id/2187882/

Time for Second Thoughts on the Ethanol Mandate

Heritage.org – Washington,DC,USA

by Ben Lieberman

America’s energy policy has been on an ethanol binge, and now the hangover has begun. The federal renewable fuels mandate is an unfolding …

http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm1879.cfm

U of M: Worldwide leader in ethanol debunking 

Minneapolis City Pages – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Several studies at the University of Minnesota are cited to show the impact of widespread Ethanol demand. A study by University of Minnesota ecologist David …

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/04/u_of_m_worldwid.php

End the Ethanol Scam

Liberty Maven – Reston,VA,USA

The latest from DownsizeDC.org urges us to tell congress to stop wasting our tax dollars on the devastating scam of ethanol production. …

http://www.libertymaven.com/2008/04/07/end-the-ethanol-scam/1016/

Ethanol, Oil and Corn

By Richard K. Perrin

When will ethanol plants stop being built? Ethanol plants under construction in Nebraska will have the capacity to grind over 40 percent of the Nebraska corn crop by the end of 2007, and nearly 60 percent by the end of 2008. …

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agecon_cornhusker/304

Ethanol’s lie

Tribune Review – Pittsburgh,PA,USA

From Time magazine to the Internet blogosphere, critical analysis is revealing ethanol not only as a useless fuel alternative but also as an environmental …

http://tinyurl.com/4re9nj  (www.pittsburghlive.com)

Guest letter: It turns out ethanol is more of a problem than a …

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Minneapolis,MN,USA

Since 1986, Minnesota lawmakers have actively encouraged the development of a sizable state ethanol industry. We now have 17 operating ethanol plants in the …

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17593319.html

Ethanol subsidies a double-whammy

DAVID A. RIDENOUR:

Belleville News Democrat – IL, USA

Move over “Bridge to Nowhere,” there’s a new poster child of congressional waste and avarice – ethanol, the “Fuel to Nowhere.” Ethanol leads only to higher …

http://www.bnd.com/285/story/313547.html

End the ethanol folly for food’s sake

By SHNS

To paraphrase the late, great William F. Buckley, Jr., someone must stand athwart the federal ethanol program yelling, “Stop!” The emergency brake should be pulled – NOW – before ethanol wreaks further havoc. read more.

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32438

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Business Outlook Survey: Manufacturers Report Continued Weakness – FRB Philadelphia

The following information is now available on the Philadelphia Fed’s website:

Manufacturers Report Continued Weakness

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia today released April’s Business Outlook Survey. Activity in the region’s manufacturing sector continued to weaken this month, according to the firms polled for this survey. In the special questions, firms were asked about changes in demand and plans for capital spending since the beginning of this year.

http://www.philadelphiafed.org/econ/bos/

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Boortz: Teachers unions “do more damage to this country than all the drug pushers together”

Neal Boortz asserted that “the single most dangerous entity, group of people in this country right now are the teachers unions,” adding that “[t]hey do more damage to this country than all the drug pushers together. … If I had a button right now, two buttons — push this button and it gets rid of all the drug dealers; push this button, it gets rid of the teachers unions — I’m getting rid of the teachers unions.”

Read More

http://mediamatters.org/items/200804170009?lid=242166&rid=6952125

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Borowitz Report – Debate Shocker

Gibson Trounces Stephanopolous in Crucial Debate

Asks Twice as Many ‘Gotcha’ Questions as TV Rival

In what many considered a must-win contest for the two ABC News personalities, Charles Gibson handed rival George Stephanopolous a resounding defeat in last night’s televised debate.

With over ten million viewers watching, the stakes were high for the two ABC rivals to see who could pepper the candidates with the most so-called “gotcha” questions.

Gibson drew blood first, smothering the presidential candidates with so many trick questions that he immediately seemed to put Stephanopolous on the defensive.

An aide to Gibson later summed up the secret to the ABC anchor’s decisive victory: “He didn’t let the candidates talk too much, and he made sure that this debate would be about Charles Gibson and nothing but Charles Gibson.”

After the debate, a downcast George Stephanopolous tried to put the best face on his own performance, telling reporters, “It’s not the quantity of gotcha questions you ask, it the quality, and I think my gotcha questions were better than Charlie’s gotcha questions.”

For his part, Gibson seemed to relish drubbing his ABC colleague.

“George can spin it anyway he wants,” Gibson said. “But anyone who saw that debate knows I kicked his little ass.”

Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu

Andy with Calvin Trillin, Susie Essman and Jonathan Alter – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Calvin Trillin (bestselling author, The New Yorker), Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jonathan Alter (Newsweek, MSNBC). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to www.92y.org .

Andy at Mark Twain’s House – May 28
Spend “An Evening With Andy Borowitz” at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut on Wednesday, May 28. Event begins at 6 PM. For tickets and information call Janet Youmans at 860-280-3113 or email Janet.youmans@marktwainhouse.org

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three thousand words

Deb Milbrath: I thought I might have to kiss his ring

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/MilbrD/2008/MilbrD20080418_low.jpg

Dick Locher: you, too?

http://img.slate.com/media/58/080417_ed.gif

Ann Telnaes: how will I exist without affordable fuel??

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmate/2008/tmate080418.gif