School bans kissing; Pupils face detention if cought snogging

Related article:
Parents banned from taking pictures of their own children at sports day
(Telegraph):

Mrs Ethelston’s Church of England Primary School, in Uplyme, Devon, prohibited photos and video filming, claiming it was due to changes in child protection and images legislation.

This is sick!


Pupils at a high-achieving school have been banned from kissing, it has been reported.

Chris Richardson, headmaster of Kings of Wessex School in Cheddar, Somerset, has told all 1,200 pupils that they face detention if caught ‘snogging’.

However, parents at the school for 13 to 18-year-olds have criticised the rule, claiming that kissing is an integral part of teenage life.

The move follows a string of disciplinary incidents at the school, including the case of a pupil who was threatened with expulsion after being caught eating an apple on school tennis courts.

Children have also been given detention in the past for undoing shirt top buttons, taking off blazers on hot days or wearing the wrong shade of black trousers.

Complaining about the kissing ban, one parent of a pupil at the Church of England Foundation School told The Sun: “Snogging is part of teenage life.

Read moreSchool bans kissing; Pupils face detention if cought snogging

Obama’s Money Cartel (Flashback)

How Barack Obama Fronted for the Most Vicious Predators on Wall Street

obama-fraud

Wall Street, known variously as a barren wasteland for diversity or the last plantation in America, has defied courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for decades in its failure to hire blacks as stockbrokers. Now it’s marshalling its money machine to elect a black man to the highest office in the land. Why isn’t the press curious about this?

Walk into any of the largest Wall Street brokerage firms today and you’ll see a self-portrait of upper management racism and sexism: women sitting at secretarial desks outside fancy offices occupied by predominantly white males. According to the EEOC as well as the recent racial discrimination class actions filed against UBS and Merrill Lynch, blacks make up between 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent of stockbrokers — this after 30 years of litigation, settlements and empty promises to do better by the largest Wall Street firms.

The first clue to an entrenched white male bastion seeking a black male occupant in the oval office (having placed only five blacks in the U.S. Senate in the last two centuries) appeared in February on a chart at the Center for Responsive Politics website. It was a list of the 20 top contributors to the Barack Obama campaign, and it looked like one of those comprehension tests where you match up things that go together and eliminate those that don’t. Of the 20 top contributors, I eliminated six that didn’t compute. I was now looking at a sight only slightly less frightening to democracy than a Diebold voting machine. It was a Wall Street cartel of financial firms, their registered lobbyists, and go-to law firms that have a death grip on our federal government.

Why is the “yes, we can” candidate in bed with this cartel? How can “we”, the people, make change if Obama’s money backers block our ability to be heard?

Seven of the Obama campaign’s top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages. These latest frauds have left thousands of children in some of our largest minority communities coming home from school to see eviction notices and foreclosure signs nailed to their front doors. Those scars will last a lifetime.

These seven Wall Street firms are (in order of money given): Goldman Sachs, UBS AG, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. There is also a large hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group, which is a major source of fee income to Wall Street. There are five large corporate law firms that are also registered lobbyists; and one is a corporate law firm that is no longer a registered lobbyist but does legal work for Wall Street. The cumulative total of these 14 contributors through February 1, 2008, was $2,872,128, and we’re still in the primary season.

But hasn’t Senator Obama repeatedly told us in ads and speeches and debates that he wasn’t taking money from registered lobbyists? Hasn’t the press given him a free pass on this statement?
Barack Obama, speaking in Greenville, South Carolina on January 22, 2008:

“Washington lobbyists haven’t funded my campaign, they won’t run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am president”.

Barack Obama, in an email to supporters on June 25, 2007, as reported by the Boston Globe:

“Candidates typically spend a week like this – right before the critical June 30th financial reporting deadline – on the phone, day and night, begging Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs to write huge checks. Not me. Our campaign has rejected the money-for-influence game and refused to accept funds from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees”.

The Center for Responsive Politics website allows one to pull up the filings made by lobbyists, registering under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and secretary of the U.S. Senate. These top five contributors to the Obama campaign have filed as registered lobbyists: Sidley Austin LLP; Skadden, Arps, et al; Jenner & Block; Kirkland & Ellis; Wilmerhale, aka Wilmer Cutler Pickering.

Read moreObama’s Money Cartel (Flashback)

Budget Crisis: States Turning to Last Resorts

“Our wallet is empty, our bank is closed and our credit is dried up.” (Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger)


arnold-schwarzenegger
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saying this month that he would veto any budget bill that included new taxes beyond what he had proposed.

In Hawaii, state employees are bracing for furloughs of three days a month over the next two years, the equivalent of a 14 percent pay cut. In Idaho, lawmakers reduced aid to public schools for the first time in recent memory, forcing pay cuts for teachers.

And in California, where a $24 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year is the nation’s worst, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed releasing thousands of prisoners early and closing more than 200 state parks.

Meanwhile, Maine is adding a tax on candy, Wisconsin on oil companies, and Kentucky on alcohol and cellphone ring tones.

With state revenues in a free fall and the economy choked by the worst recession in 60 years, governors and legislatures are approving program cuts, layoffs and, to a smaller degree, tax increases that were previously unthinkable.

All but four states must have new budgets in place less than two weeks from now — by July 1, the start of their fiscal year. But most are already predicting shortfalls as tax collections shrink, unemployment rises and the stock market remains in turmoil.

“These are some of the worst numbers we have ever seen,” said Scott D. Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, adding that the federal stimulus money that began flowing this spring was the only thing preventing widespread paralysis, particularly in the areas of education and health care. “If we didn’t have those funds, I think we’d have an incredible number of states just really unsure of how they were going to get a new budget out.”

Read moreBudget Crisis: States Turning to Last Resorts

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS: Is This the Culmination of Two Years of Destabilization? Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?”

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

paul-craig-roberts
Paul Craig Roberts

A number of commentators have expressed their idealistic belief in the purity of Mousavi, Montazeri, and the westernized youth of Terhan. The CIA destabilization plan, announced two years ago (see below) has somehow not contaminated unfolding events.

The claim is made that Ahmadinejad stole the election, because the outcome was declared too soon after the polls closed for all the votes to have been counted. However, Mousavi declared his victory several hours before the polls closed. This is classic CIA destabilization designed to discredit a contrary outcome. It forces an early declaration of the vote. The longer the time interval between the preemptive declaration of victory and the release of the vote tally, the longer Mousavi has to create the impression that the authorities are using the time to fix the vote. It is amazing that people don’t see through this trick.

Related articles:
China cautions US over Iran (Asia Times Online)
Pre-election Iranian poll showed Ahmadinejad support (Reuters)
Ahmadinejad is who Iranians want (Guardian)
Ahmadinejad won. Get over it (Politico)

As for the grand ayatollah Montazeri’s charge that the election was stolen, he was the initial choice to succeed Khomeini, but lost out to the current Supreme Leader. He sees in the protests an opportunity to settle the score with Khamenei. Montazeri has the incentive to challenge the election whether or not he is being manipulated by the CIA, which has a successful history of manipulating disgruntled politicians.

There is a power struggle among the ayatollahs. Many are aligned against Ahmadinejad because he accuses them of corruption, thus playing to the Iranian countryside where Iranians believe the ayatollahs’ lifestyles indicate an excess of power and money. In my opinion, Ahmadinejad’s attack on the ayatollahs is opportunistic. However, it does make it odd for his American detractors to say he is a conservative reactionary lined up with the ayatollahs.

Commentators are “explaining” the Iran elections based on their own illusions, delusions, emotions, and vested interests. Whether or not the poll results predicting Ahmadinejad’s win are sound, there is, so far, no evidence beyond surmise that the election was stolen. However, there are credible reports that the CIA has been working for two years to destabilize the Iranian government.

Read morePAUL CRAIG ROBERTS: Is This the Culmination of Two Years of Destabilization? Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?”

Britain evacuates families of embassy staff in Iran

Foreign Office warns against non-essential travel to country amid continued violence following disputed election

The Foreign Office said today it was evacuating the families of embassy staff in Iran and advised against all non-essential travel to the country after the violent crackdown on street protests following the disputed presidential election.

The decision comes after the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Friday described Britain as the “most treacherous” of Iran’s enemies and blamed foreign interference for the unrest in the country.

In response, Iran’s ambassador to London was summoned to the Foreign Office and told that Khamenei’s remarks were unacceptable. Gordon Brown later condemned the “repression” and “brutality” used against the protesters.

The Foreign Office said today: “The ongoing violence has … had a significant impact on the families of our staff, who have been unable to carry on their lives as normal. As a result, we are withdrawing dependants of embassy staff until the situation improves.

“We do not believe that it is necessary to reduce the number of staff at this time; however, we are monitoring the situation with the utmost vigilance. The security of our staff is of paramount importance.”

Read moreBritain evacuates families of embassy staff in Iran

China cautions US over Iran

China has broken silence on the developing situation in Iran. This comes against the backdrop of a discernible shift in Washington’s posturing toward political developments in Iran.

Related articles:
– Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS: Is This the Culmination of Two Years of Destabilization? Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?” (CounterPunch)
Britain evacuates families of embassy staff in Iran (Guardian)
Ahmadinejad is who Iranians want (Guardian)
Pre-election Iranian poll showed Ahmadinejad support (Reuters)
Ahmadinejad won. Get over it (Politico)

The government-owned China Daily featured its main editorial comment on Thursday titled “For Peace in Iran”. It comes amid reports in the Western media that the former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is rallying the Qom clergy to put pressure on the Guardians Council – and, in turn, on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – to annul last Friday’s presidential election that gave Mahmud Ahmadinejad another four-year term.

Beijing fears a confrontation looming and counsels Obama to keep the pledge in his Cairo speech not to repeat such errors in the US’s Middle East policy as the overthrow of the elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq in Iran in 1953. Beijing also warns about letting the genie of popular unrest get out of the bottle in a highly volatile region that is waiting to explode. Tehran on Friday saw its sixth day of massive protests by supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom they say was cheated out of victory.

Read moreChina cautions US over Iran

Iran starts airforce manoeuvres in Gulf

TEHRAN, June 22 (Reuters) – Iran began three days of airforce exercises on Monday in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman to raise operational and support capability, Iranian media said.

“Long-distance flights of around 3,600 km (2,237 miles) along with aerial refuelling from tanker to fighter jet and from fighter jet to fighter jet will be part of this exercise,” state broadcaster IRIB’s website reported.

“Low altitude flights over the waters of the … Gulf and the Sea of Oman by Iranian fighter jets over distances of 700 km will also be tested.,” it said.

The military exercise plans were announced last month.

Read moreIran starts airforce manoeuvres in Gulf

Stock Market: Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years

amgen
An undated handout photograph shows Amgen Inc.’s laboratory and research facility at One Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Source: Amgen/ via Bloomberg News.

June 22 (Bloomberg) — Executives at U.S. companies are taking advantage of the biggest stock-market rally in 71 years to sell their shares at the fastest pace since credit markets started to seize up two years ago.

Insiders of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies were net sellers for 14 straight weeks as the gauge rose 36 percent, data compiled by InsiderScore.com show. Amgen Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sharer and five other officials sold $8.2 million of stock. Christopher Donahue, the CEO of Federated Investors Inc., and his brother, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Donahue, offered the most in three years.

Related article: Stocks, Commodities Fall as World Bank Sees 2.9% Contraction (Bloomberg)

Sales by CEOs, directors and senior officers have accelerated to the highest level since June 2007, two months before credit markets froze, as the S&P 500 rebounded from its 12-year low in March. The increase is making investors more skittish because executives presumably have the best information about their companies’ prospects.

Read moreStock Market: Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years

Barack Obama Hires Another Tax-Screwer-Upper

“I was going to add up how many Obama appointees/employees have tax problems when it dawned on me that I could save time by counting the ones who don’t.” (Source: The Tax Lawyer’s Blog)



Obama’s Pick for State Department Post Failed to File Her 2005 & 2006 Tax Returns; She Blames Her Cardiologist Husband and the Post Office

capricia-penavic-marshall
Capricia Marshall in 1998.

The New York Times reports that President Obama’s choice as Chief of Protocol for the State Department, Capricia Penavic Marshall (J.D. 1990, Case Western), and her cardiologist husband, failed to file their 2005 and 2006 tax returns. She balmed the problem “on the Postal Service and on miscommunication between her husband and their accountant”:

Ms. Marshall, who was the social secretary in the Clinton White House, notified the Obama administration about the late filings before she was nominated on May 14. She has since provided written answers to questions about the matter from Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, which will hold a hearing on the appointment next Wednesday. The post requires Senate confirmation. …

Read moreBarack Obama Hires Another Tax-Screwer-Upper

The Bearer Bond Saga: It Gets More Odd

Related articles:
The Japanese Bond Smugglers Are Missing
The US Bearer Bonds ‘Coincidence’
The Saga Of The Bearer Bonds; Smuggled Bonds Are Probably Genuine
Italy Seizes $135 BILLION Of US Bonds: Smuggling Or Counterfeit-Printing?


Well, just when you thought that the Bearer Bond story was finished, it gets twisted yet again.

Remember, this was the claim:

“They’re clearly fakes,” said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington.

Uh, Bloomberg….. how about an accurate quote?

Based on the photograph we’ve seen online, they are clearly fake. And not even good fakes,” said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the Treasury’s Bureau of the Public Debt.

Online? You mean that the Treasury Department hasn’t been sent a high-resolution digital photo of what was seized? A week after the fact?

I don’t believe you Stephen.

In the last two years, Italian authorities have seized some $800 million of U.S. bonds in the Como area in northern Italy.

Those would be real bonds, I assume? But I thought Stephen said….

He added that there is only $105 million in Treasury bearer bond securities outstanding, so the $134 billion amount seized far exceeds the universe of outstanding securites.

Wait a second…… $800 million in real bonds have been seized, but there are only $105 million outstanding? There may be some confusion here as to whether all these bonds are “bearer” instruments or not, but even if not, a registered paper bond is worthless if stolen, as its purchaser is known and before anyone is going to redeem it for you they’re going to verify not only its authenticity but that you’re the rightful owner.

Another U.S. official said the seized bonds were purported to be issued during the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s, but the certificates showed a picture of a space shuttle on it — a spacecraft that first flew in 1981. Some of the bonds were purportedly issued in a $500 billion denomination that never existed.

If there’s a picture of a shuttle on the bond with an issue during the Kennedy Administration, its definitely fake of course. But… where are the actual pictures of these seized bonds?

And are they still seized? That’s an even better question; there appear to be (at least) two different stories there too:

Under Italian law when law enforcement agencies seize fake bonds or counterfeit money they are under the obligation to arrest the bearers. And in order to avoid misappropriation, the agency seizing the material, in this case the financial police, must quickly proceed to its destruction (i.e. incineration).

However, in case of real securities, after the securities holders are identified, the financial police must release them immediately after issuing a statement of confiscation and imposing a fine valued in this case at € 38 billion (US$ 53.4 billion). In this case, why were the two men released right away without any fine imposed?

It doesn’t end there:

If what Meyerhardt says is true, some major financial institutions have been deceived by the securities carried by the two Asian men. This would be a bombshell and raise serious questions as to how many bank assets are actually made up of securities that for Meyerhardt are “clearly fakes.”

If counterfeit securities of such high quality are in circulation the world’s monetary system, let alone that of the United States, is in danger. International trade and exchanges could come to a halt.

Hmmmm… sensationalist conclusion without foundation? Maybe.

Read moreThe Bearer Bond Saga: It Gets More Odd

Regulators seize North Carolina, Georgia and Kansas Bank; So far 40 bank failures this year

June 21 (Bloomberg) — Banks in North Carolina, Georgia and Kansas with combined assets of $1.5 billion were seized by regulators last week, costing the U.S. insurance fund $363 million and pushing this year’s tally of failures to 40.

Southern Community Bank of Fayetteville, Georgia, and 111- year-old Cooperative Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, were closed June 19 by state officials, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shut First National Bank of Anthony, Kansas. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver.

Southern Community’s $307 million in deposits were bought by United Community Bank of Blairsville, Georgia, and most of Cooperative’s $774 million in deposits went to First Bank in Troy, North Carolina, the FDIC said. Bank of Kansas in South Hutchinson acquired First Bank’s $142.5 million in deposits. The acquiring banks are assuming a combined $1.47 billion in assets, mostly loans, and signed agreements with the FDIC to share more than 80 percent losses with the government.

Read moreRegulators seize North Carolina, Georgia and Kansas Bank; So far 40 bank failures this year

Goldman Sachs to make record bonus payout

Surviving banks accused of undermining stability

goldman-sachs-new-york

Staff at Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm’s 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.

A lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm.

Staff in London were briefed last week on the banking and securities company’s prospects and told they could look forward to bumper bonuses if, as predicted, it completed its most profitable year ever. Figures next month detailing the firm’s second-quarter earnings are expected to show a further jump in profits. Warren Buffett, who bought $5bn of the company’s shares in January, has already made a $1bn gain on his investment.

Goldman is expected to be the biggest winner in the race for revenues that, in 2006, reached £186bn across the entire industry. While this figure is expected to fall to £160bn in 2009, it will be split among a smaller number of firms.

Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are among the European firms expected to register bumper profits, along with US banks JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley following the near collapse and government rescue of major trading houses including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Read moreGoldman Sachs to make record bonus payout

Obama now resembles Bush

In stark legal turnaround, Obama now resembles Bush

change

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is morphing into George W. Bush, as administration attorneys repeatedly adopt the executive-authority and national-security rationales that their Republican predecessors preferred.

In courtroom battles and freedom-of-information fights from Washington, D.C., to California, Obama’s legal arguments repeatedly mirror Bush’s: White House turf is to be protected, secrets must be retained and dire warnings are wielded as weapons.

“It’s putting up a veritable wall around the White House, and it’s so at odds with Obama’s campaign commitment to more open government,” said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a legal watchdog group.

Read moreObama now resembles Bush

California’s credit rating may be cut several levels: Moody’s

June 19 (Bloomberg) — California’s credit rating, already the lowest among U.S. states, may be cut several levels by Moody’s Investors Service as government leaders seek ways to eliminate a $24 billion budget deficit.

The move would affect $72 billion of debt, Moody’s said in a statement today. California’s full faith and credit pledge is rated A2 by Moody’s, five steps above high-yield, high-risk status, or junk.

Related articles:
Judgment Day: Broke California Faces Shutdown
California nears financial meltdown as revenues tumble

A downgrade may increase the state’s borrowing cost and raise the yield paid to investors on its bonds. Standard & Poor’s put California on watch for a possible reduction earlier this week, and Fitch Ratings did the same thing May 29. The rating companies cited the most-populous state’s deficit — amounting to more than 20 percent of the general fund — and lawmakers’ inability to agree on how to close the gap.

“If the Legislature does not take action quickly, the state’s cash situation will deteriorate to the point where the controller will have to delay most non-priority payments in July,” Moody’s said in a report today. “Lack of action could result in a multi-notch downgrade.”

Read moreCalifornia’s credit rating may be cut several levels: Moody’s

China tells Google to end access to foreign websites

google-chrome

Beijing has ordered Google to stop users of its Chinese-language service accessing overseas websites in the biggest blow to the world’s leading search engine in China since it started operating there four years ago.

In a move that could disrupt Google’s growth in China, which now has more internet users than the US, the Chinese government said it had told Google to suspend foreign searches and a feature that automatically suggests multiple search results once typing commences in the search window.

The action comes amid a storm of outrage among Chinese internet users over Beijing’s order that every new PC sold in the country be equipped with censorship software, ostensibly to block pornography. One senior US internet figure said the move against Google appeared to be an attempt to deflect attention away from the domestic censorship uproar by redirecting concerns about pornography against a foreign company.

According to state media on Friday, authorities said Google was being “punished” for linking to pornographic content.

On Thursday, in a “law enforcement talk”, the government announced that it was ordering the company to suspend foreign searches and automated keywords, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, and China Central Television, the main state broadcaster.

Read moreChina tells Google to end access to foreign websites

Hedge funds withdraw 50% of their deposits in the UK

Financial institutions based in the Cayman Islands have halved their deposits in UK banks over the past 12 months

Cayman Islands
Banks in Cayman islands pull their deposits from UK banks. Photograph: PR

Hedge funds and financial institutions based in the Cayman Islands have been pulling their money out of Britain as they are hit by the credit crunch, according to figures from the Bank of England.

The low-tax regime and limited ­regulation of the Cayman Islands – with a population of 52,000 – has attracted 80% of the world’s $1.3tn (£790bn) hedge fund industry.

Those institutions have almost halved their deposits in UK banks over the past 12 months, from $356bn at the end of the first quarter in 2008, to $173bn at the end of March, Bank of England data shows. The drop in Cayman Islands’ deposits comes as hedge funds are being forced to return money to investors who have made big losses from the financial crisis. It also reflects fund losses from falling markets.

The outflow of funds from Britain puts the spotlight on hedge fund threats to abandon the UK because of higher taxes, tighter regulation and potential caps on executive pay and bonuses.

Read moreHedge funds withdraw 50% of their deposits in the UK

Obama administration refuses to disclose “high hazard” coal dump locations

Administration turns down senator’s request to make public the list of 44 dumps, which contain arsenic and metals

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A rift has opened between the Obama administration and some of its closest allies – Democratic leaders and environmental organisations – over its refusal to publicly disclose the location of 44 coal ash dumps that have been officially designated as a “high hazard” to local populations.

The administration turned down a request from a powerful Democratic senator to make public the list of 44 dumps, which contain a toxic soup of arsenic and heavy metals from coal-fired electricity plants, citing terrorism fears.

The refusal has put the Obama administration at odds with some of its strongest supporters over an emerging area of environmental concern in America.

Last Christmas, a retaining wall burst on a coal ash pond in Tennessee disgorging a billion gallons of waste and putting pressure on the authorities to bring in safety controls over the management of some 600 similar waste pools dotted across the country.

Some 44 of the most dangerous coal ash dumps are known to be located in populated areas in 26 separate locations. The high hazard designation means that a breach, like the one in Tennessee, could cause death and significant property damage if the sludge spills into surrounding neigbourhoods. But that is all the adminstration will disclose.

“Right now we have a blanket gag order,” Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who heads the Senate environment and public works committee told a press conference last week.

“We are losing what we cherish in America: the citizens’ right to know.”

Boxer, who has seen the list of sites, said she was only allowed to share the information with fellow senators – not their staff and not local authorities in the affected areas.

“There is a huge muzzle on me and my staff,” she said. “They’re putting ridiculous restrictions on me.”

The local newspaper in Tennessee also ridiculed the decision.

“These waste sites may be environmental and health hazards. But they are unlikely terror targets,” said the Knox group of newspapers. “As the muckety-mucks in Washington know, the real danger of disclosure is from angry Americans. If citizens realise they are downstream from fragile mountains of gunk, they will demand action and accountability.”

Environmental groups see the gag order on the coal ash sites as a betrayal of Obama’s promise, during his speech to staff on his first day in the White House in January, of a new era of openness in government.

“For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said in the speech. “That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but those who seek to make it known.”

Read moreObama administration refuses to disclose “high hazard” coal dump locations

The Japanese Bond Smugglers Are Missing

seized-bonds

At least the Japanese press is sitll interested in story of the two Japanese men caugh withs ome $134.5 billion in (presumably fake) US bearer bonds.

We can’t read Japanese, and Google Translate isn’t particularly helpful, but a reader informs us that the gist of this story is that a newspaper sent a reporter to Como, Italy and found that the men had been released, with their whereabouts unknown.

Now, the easiest, most-benign explanation for this whole thing is that it’s just a counterfeiting scheme. Fine, but then why do you let them go without tracking their whereabouts?

This could be the reason why: The US Bearer Bonds ‘Coincidence’

Related articles:
US Treasury says bonds seized in Italy are fakes
The Saga Of The Bearer Bonds; Smuggled Bonds Are Probably Genuine

Joe Weisenthal
Jun. 17, 2009

Source: The Business Insider

Illegal download fine: $1.9 million for 24 songs

  • Minnesota wife, mom slapped with fine of $80,000 per song, for total of $1.9 million
  • Spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America lauds jury’s finding

Illegal downloads of musical files will cost a Minnesota woman $1.9 million, a jury has decided.
Illegal downloads of musical files will cost a Minnesota woman $1.9 million, a jury has decided.

(CNN) — A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each — a total of $1.9 million — for 24 songs.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.

Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at the fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents.

Read moreIllegal download fine: $1.9 million for 24 songs

UK colleges to fingerprint every student using US army scanners

fingerprint-scanner-students-uk
Clocking in: student Sabrina Nurkoo scans her fingerprint in a lecture at the London School of Commerce

Thousands of foreign students in London are being fingerprinted before classes in a clampdown on illegal immigration.

The London School of Commerce is using US army scanners to record the details of every student on campus and is threatening to report truants to the Home Office.

Managers have ordered the college’s 3,500 students to clock in to lectures with a print from their left and right forefinger or risk being thrown out.

There is growing concern that illegal immigrants exploit private colleges as a backdoor route into Britain, with students using them to secure visas.

Home Office officials also fear they could be targeted by terrorists – 10 men arrested over a suspected bomb plot in Manchester in April were registered as students.

LSC manager Rajiv Gupta said the fingerprint system was crucial. “We want bona fide students – not people who can’t be bothered or are abusing the system. If they are mucking around we don’t want them,” he said.

“If a student misses three sessions we will send them a letter and put them on probation. If things don’t improve we will terminate [their position] and inform the Home Office.”

Read moreUK colleges to fingerprint every student using US army scanners

The US Bearer Bonds ‘Coincidence’

Treasury Has $134.5 Billion Left in TARP (The Wall Street Journal):

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said it has about $134.5 billion left in its financial-rescue fund, giving the Obama administration a cushion as it implements expensive programs aimed at unlocking credit markets and boosting ailing industries.

Italy Seizes $135 BILLION Of US Bonds: Smuggling Or Counterfeit-Printing?:

Milan (AsiaNews) – Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. They include 249 US Federal Reserve bonds worth US$ 500 million each, plus ten Kennedy bonds and other US government securities worth a billion dollar each.

Related article:
The Saga Of The Bearer Bonds; Smuggled Bonds Are Probably Genuine

Also ask yourself why there was almost a complete media blackout on such a big story!

I hope every reader knows who really owns and controls the media.