Links of the Day 2/29/2008 Church and State? And Who Set the IRS on Obama’s Church?

Links of the Day 2/29/2008 Church and State? And Who Set the IRS on Obama’s Church?

EVERYTHING and I do mean everything happening in the world today is caused by the want of OIL and the worship for money and power. WE THE PEOPLE of the world must unite. If today is not a go day for a worldwide revolution when is? Corporations all over the world are taking over governments, USA, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Israel, China, Japan just to name a few. If WE THE PEOPLE do not act soon our children and grandchildren will become slaves to these fascist countries. ****************** Wow 3 times today while trying to write my blog Microsoft software failed and wanted to send a report and by saying no it closes all the open tabs. When this happens and you say yes send a report Microsoft is able to view all open files that can identify you and your computer, virtually overriding your firewall and giving them a backdoor into your computer. What's very strange is this has never happened in the year I've owned my computer. These failure notices began 3 days after I downloaded a new internet browser and stopped using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I am now convinced Microsoft is illegally spying on American's. The big question is are they spying on us for themselves or are they turning over our web browsing to the NSA and Bush? ****************** Sorry to be posting so late today but last night Missouri held it's Democratic Caucus. I am now a alternate delegate for the 2008 Democratic Convention. I don't hold much hope of getting to go to the Convention. I was so hoping that I would get to live blog it for you my readers. I will find us someone who will get to go and blog it for us in August. Poor Hillary didn't even have enough men to fill the all the delegate spots last night, while Obama had 3 times the caucus goers. I was surprised by this because she beat Obama in the primary in my county. So are Hillary people jumping ship or did they just not show up for the caucus? ****************** Bush has vowed to veto this bill House Votes to End Big Oil's Tax Breaks Despite Veto Threat, Bill to Boost Renewable Energy Is Sent to Senate By Steven Mufson Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 28, 2008; Page A03 The House of Representatives brushed aside threats of a White House veto yesterday and voted 236 to 182 in favor of an $18 billion tax package that would rescind a tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the revenue to boost incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency. The measure now heads to the Senate, where Democrats face a challenge in getting enough support to bring the bill to a vote. This is the fourth time in the past year that Democrats have tried to get the package adopted. The Bush administration, Republican lawmakers and big oil companies condemned the bill, which they said would raise fuel prices for consumers, discourage oil and gas exploration in the United States and unfairly discriminate against a single industry while other manufacturers continue to enjoy tax breaks. But hours after crude oil hit a new high of $102 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, most lawmakers said they saw no reason why the oil industry couldn't pay an additional $1.8 billion a year in taxes over the next 10 years. "We don't think it's asking too much to ask them to assist in a partnership to help find out whether there's a better way to meet our energy needs," said Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He called the money raised from the oil giants "grains of sand on the beach." Supporters of the measure noted that rescinded tax breaks would amount to less than 2 percent of the profits of the five biggest oil companies. Even if the companies were to pass along that entire cost to gasoline consumers, it would amount to about a penny a gallon. Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-Ill.) said "Americans are being asked to pay twice" -- once at the gasoline pump and then through tax subsidies to the oil companies. However, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) said that "politicians are shooting at Big Oil but hitting Americans" in their wallets. Supporters of the measure also said that by extending tax breaks for wind and solar energy, the bill would prevent the loss of jobs linked to those fast-growing industries. Solar and wind energy companies have been arguing that investment would slow sharply without an extension of investment and production tax breaks for their industries, which are set to expire at the end of the year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a statement saying that 116,000 jobs were at risk. Republicans mostly supported the bill's renewable energy provisions, worth about $8 billion. But at the heart of the floor debate was a provision to exclude oil and gas companies from a tax break given to U.S. manufacturers in 2004. Two years earlier, Congress had given a subsidy to manufacturers -- not including the oil industry. When the World Trade Organization ruled that the subsidy was a violation of trade accords, Congress instead came up with a provision that effectively lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 32 percent over a number of years. In addition to the traditional manufacturers that would have received the earlier subsidy, the new tax break was extended to Hollywood studios, architectural and engineering firms, and oil and gas companies. The current bill raises $13 billion by eliminating that manufacturers' tax break for the five biggest oil companies: Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Royal Dutch Shell. "The administration must strongly oppose" the legislation, the Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday, "because the bill would use the tax code to target tax increases on a specific industry in a way that will lead to higher energy costs to U.S. consumers and businesses." The OMB said that if the bill were sent to the president in its current form, "his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill." If adopted and signed into law, the legislation would also raise about $3 billion by altering the treatment of foreign tax credits for oil companies. It would close the so-called Hummer loophole that gives tax breaks on sports-utility vehicles bought for business purposes. To spur renewable energy, the bill would extend the production tax credit, now 2 cents a kilowatt hour, for wind for three years; after 2009, tax credits would not be able to exceed 35 percent of the value of a wind project. The 30 percent investment tax credit for solar projects would be extended eight years for commercial customers and six years for residential customers. The current maximum credit for homeowners would be doubled to $4,000. The legislation would also channel $2 billion into clean renewable energy bonds, which would help finance renewable energy investments by the country's politically powerful rural electric cooperatives. The bill would also expand tax credits for the installation of pumps for motor fuel with 85 percent ethanol and for purchases of plug-in hybrid vehicles. The Bush administration called the clean energy bonds "highly inefficient" and said they could cost the federal government money outside the 10-year budget window. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022702635.html?hpid=moreheadlines ****************** Would you people who have a "Blue Dog Democrat" as your district rep in the House please stop voting for them. Most of these blue dogs are not democrats, they are republicans who switched parties just to get elected. Blue Dogs prevent the House from doing what WE THE PEOPLE want done. They vote 90% of the time with the republicans. Go here http://www.bluedogdems.com/members.html to see if you own one of these dems in freeper clothing. Please go to http://www.votesmart.org/ and type in your Blue Dog reps name and look at their voting record. Blue Dog Democrats have got to go! ****************** Keeping jobs, money and politics "All in the Family" CREW RELEASES NEW REPORT DETAILING SENATORS' USE OF POSITIONS TO BENEFIT FAMILY MEMBERS 24 Feb 2008 // Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its first-ever analysis of the misuse of power by all members of the Senate to financially benefit their family members. The analysis covers the 2002, 2004 and 2006 election cycles. Highlights of CREW's Family Affair - Senate report include: 31 senators have one or more family members registered to lobby or employed in government affairs. In total, senators paid $928,399.49 in fees or contributions to family businesses or employers. Combined, senators paid $528,797.42 in salaries or fees directly to family members. http://citizensforethics.org/node/31077 ***************** What are we fighting for? Democracy in Iraq or the money the corporations make by the continued occupation? DAMN THE TROOPS! G.I. means Government Issue they are not looked as human being and are counted by the DOD like any other piece of equipment. If one piece of equipment is lost the DOD just replaces it with another. Not only did Rumsfeld send our troops into danger without the equipment the needed but what equipment they did give them was inferior. Bushco gave out no-bid contracts to his buddy and didn't give a damn whether they meet the DOD standards. Now we know why so many soldiers are coming home with brain injuries. The company who made inferior Kevlar helmets paid a whole 2 million dollar fine which might pay for 1 soldier's life time care who wore one of these helmets. This Mother of a soldier is begging, begging the House and the Senate Democrats to STOP the funding of the continued illegal occupation in Iraq. JUST STOP NOW! If we cannot give our soldiers the best equipment made then we must bring them home>.< 28 Feb 2008 // Tape Recordings and Transcripts of Secret Whistle Blower Conversations About Production of Substandard Helmet Material Now Posted Washington, DC - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), joined VoteVets.org and two whistle blowers to discuss the need for an investigation by the Armed Services Committees – led by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) and Reps. Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) – into a $74 million Department of Defense contract awarded to a North Dakota manufacturing company, Sioux Manufacturing Company, which has been outfitting our nation's troops with substandard Kevlar helmets. Tape recordings of employees discussing the production of the substandard Kevlar for helmets are posted below. On February 6th, The New York Times reported that Sioux Manufacturing, which makes the Kevlar for helmets, has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company had shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including helmets used by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense, aware of both the problem with Sioux's helmets and the company's efforts to cover it up, awarded another contract to Sioux a mere 12 days before the lawsuit was settled. That same day, CREW sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees requesting an investigation into a Department of Defense $74 million contract awarded to Sioux Manufacturing. Three weeks later, CREW has yet to hear from the Armed Services Committee. Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA) have written letters to the Department of Defense calling for an investigation, but Congress itself has taken no action. Unfortunately, calls on the Department of Defense to investigate itself are unlikely to produce real results and this is why it is critical for Congress to exercise its oversight authority and get to the bottom of this. Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, "How was Sioux Manufacturing allowed to make insufficient Kevlar in the first place and then once that was exposed how could the company be awarded a new contract? Are there soldiers who would have escaped injury or death if their helmets had met government standards rather than the inferior ones produced by Sioux? Frankly, the chairs and ranking members of Armed Services, Senators Carl Levin and John McCain and Representatives Ike Skleton and Duncan Hunter cannot be permitted to take a pass on this." http://citizensforethics.org/node/31149 ****************** Do you remember last year my Senator Clair McCaskill and Jim Webb wanting to form a Truman Commission to look into the fraud, waste and mismanagement of wartime contracts? After much wrangling in the Senate and finally getting the funding for the commission turns out Bush attached a signing statement to the bill, virtually putting the Commission in limbo. The rich war mongers will continue robbing the American people and leading to the direct death of our Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. I am urging everyone to please contact your House and Senate members to please stop the funding of the Iraq occupation. Sens. Webb, McCaskill's "Modern Day Truman Committee" Signed into Law Posted by Matt Ortega on January 28, 2008 at 10:04 PM Senators Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) spoke about the need for a "modern day Truman Commission," and last year introduced an amendment to that effect. The commission was signed into law by the President as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008. Senator Jim Webb's office provided details last September: Establishes an independent, bipartisan eight-member Commission on Wartime Contracting to study federal agency contracting for logistics support, reconstruction, and security functions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Commission will issue interim and final reports on its findings and recommendations, including an evaluation of which functions are inherently governmental and which functions are appropriate for performance by contractors in a contingency operation, especially whether providing security in an areas of combat operations is inherently governmental. * Requires an assessment of the extent of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of wartime contracts, and the extent to which those responsible have been held accountable. The Commission will have the authority to refer to the Department of Justice any violation or potential violation of law it identifies. * Expands the jurisdiction of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and a newly-created Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) beyond reconstruction to include security contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also requires an expanded series of audits of wartime contracts by the inspectors general of the Department of Defense and other executive agencies. Update: It turns out that the commission championed by Senators Webb and McCaskill was one of four items listed on a signing statement issued by President Bush. Senator Webb will be speaking on the Senate floor about the signing statement shortly. Stay tuned. http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/01/sens_webb_mccas.php ***************** If you missed Democracy Now's Amy Goodman's interview with Jeremy Scahill here is the link to the interview. This is a must read article. I'm so sick and tired of being lied to by our politicians. Jeremy Scahill: Despite Antiwar Rhetoric, Clinton-Obama Plans Would Keep US Mercenaries, Troops in Iraq for Years to Come Jeremy Scahill reports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will not "rule out" using private military companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. Obama also has no plans to sign on to legislation that seeks to ban the use of these forces in US war zones by January 2009. Despite their antiwar rhetoric, both Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton have adopted the congressional Democratic position that would leave open the option of keeping tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq for many years. [includes rush transcript] Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill joins us now in our firehouse studio. Author of the bestselling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. His latest article is "Obama's Mercenary Position." It appears in the upcoming issue of The Nation magazine. Continued http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/28/jeremy_scahill_despite_anti_war_rhetoric ****************** Report: More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars From the Associated Press 11:07 AM PST, February 28, 2008 For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs. The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said. Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 -- one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world. The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report. Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime. "We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state -- but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective." The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules. Continued http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-prisons29feb29,1,3562271.story?ctrack=1&cset=true ****************** The list continues to grow by leaps and bounds! http://www.armchairsubversive.org/ ****************** Is This America? Is This Separation of Church and State? And Who Set the IRS on Obama's Church? Submitted by christine on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 1:45pm. A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman Surely one of the greatest things, and a defining characteristic of the United States of America in contrast to the rest of the world, is our Constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state. It gives us the freedom to worship or not; it gives our political leaders the responsibility to work for all Americans, not just for their own religious camp; it gives the religious organizations the freedom to meet and speak and honor their unique spiritual traditions without fear of political interference. Right? Wrong. At least, not lately, and not in certain cases. On Monday, February 25, the national headquarters of the United Church of Christ, Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama's church, received a letter from the IRS questioning whether the church "has engaged in political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status." They were given 15 days to respond. The IRS is scrutinizing specifically an address given by Barack Obama last June. Church leaders appear confident that all rules for tax-exempt groups were met, and they clearly address the issues in a post to their website February 26. If they're correct, then does the IRS probe constitute harassment and a Bush administration breach of First Amendment rights? Continued http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/255 ****************** Comcast will stop at nothing! If you have Comcast dump them if you can. Grassroots Support? Or Astroturf? by Sam Gustin Feb 26 2008 Comcast acknowledges that it hired people to take up room at an F.C.C. hearing into its practices. How big are the stakes in the so-called network neutrality debate now raging before Congress and federal regulators? Consider this: One side in the debate actually went to the trouble of hiring people off the street to pack a Federal Communications Commission meeting yesterday—and effectively keep some of its opponents out of the room. Broadband giant Comcast—the subject of the F.C.C. hearing on network neutrality at the Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts—acknowledged that it did exactly that. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said that the company paid some people to arrive early and hold places in the queue for local Comcast employees who wanted to attend the hearing. Some of those placeholders, however, did more than wait in line: They filled many of the seats at the meeting, according to eyewitnesses. As a result, scores of Comcast critics and other members of the public were denied entry because the room filled up well before the beginning of the hearing. http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/26/Comcast-FCC-Hearing-Strategy ***************** Heads up Mom's and Dad's if your thinking about letting you high school kid become and exchange student to Egypt. Maine exchange student starved while staying with host family in Egypt By Associated Press Thursday, February 28, 2008 HALLOWELL, Maine - Jonathan McCullum was in perfect health at 155 pounds when he left last summer to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt. But when he returned home to Maine just four months later, the 5-foot-9 teenager weighed a mere 97 pounds and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack. McCullum says he was denied sufficient food while staying with a family of Coptic Christians, who fast for more than 200 days a year, a regimen unmatched by other Christians. Continued http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view.bg?articleid=1076498&srvc=rss

Links of the day Video Video and More Video and new pics from Abu Ghraib

Dennis Kucinich needs are help, NOW!  His corporate backed challenger has tons
of money. Watch this great video made by Dennis then go to
www.kucinich.us and send his whatever you can to help him keep his seat.


In this last week before the primary election in Ohio, Kucinich is
putting out a TV ad that will absolutely knock your socks off, and
you can see it on this page.

Kucinich Fight Back Video:
http://www.usalone.com/thank_you_dennis.php

This is the Dennis we will always remember. This is the Dennis we
love. This is the Dennis we must KEEP in the U.S. House of
Representatives.

And Dennis needs your help right now, to put this spectacular new TV
spot on the air in this district in heavy rotation, to demonstrate
that he can fight back against the big corporate money trying to
unseat him . . . and he will win.

There are only six days left, and your contribution right now can
shine the light of truth on just what Dennis stands for, and blow
away all obfuscation like it was so much the smoke that it is.

Some bandy about the word "change" as if all change were good. But we
say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. And Dennis does not need to be
fixed. He has consistently been the strongest voice in all of
Congress for every progressive policy initiative. And that is why the
corporate special interests are so desperate to knock him out.

That's not going to happen.

Just so long as we do everything we could have possibly done to stand
with him and support him now, when he himself is so wrongfully under
attack. Please send the link below to absolutely everyone who cares
about saving out democracy.

Kucinich Fight Back Video:
http://www.usalone.com/thank_you_dennis.php

And just you watch. As soon as the distraction of the mean-spiriting
primary challenge is dispensed with, he'll be leading the charge once
again on impeachment and everything else. After all he has already
done, the man deserves a couple weeks off to take care of election
business at home.

And to thank you for your valiant support, Dennis wants you to have
as his gift to you a copy of his special Kucinich commemorative
edition pocket constitution, with your donation of $100 or more. And
if you are one of the few who have not be blindsided by Cheney's
gut-the-economy agenda, Dennis Kucinich will personally autograph
your copy with your donation of $1,000 or more.

Please note that even if you had already donated the full legal limit
to his brave presidential run, which had a real impact in shifting
the debate, you can donate another $2,300 for his congressional seat
defense.

But even if you can't make a donation right now, there is still
something incredibly important you can do to help, and that is to
send links to the video to anyone you can. So ask all your friends to
visit the page below too.

Kucinich Fight Back Video:
http://www.usalone.com/thank_you_dennis.php

So please do what you can to spread the word that this is a must win,
must-keep situation. It is only because of the courage of Dennis
Kucinich in standing strong to protect and defend the Constitution
that we are where we are now, with more and more members of Congress
clamoring for meaningful impeachment hearings, and the House still
holding the line against that craven telecom immunity thing.

Let us not be complacent. Let us not take anything for granted just
because Dennis is so amazing on every issue. We have to make sure
that we empower Dennis to remind his constituents what a magnificent
job he has been doing for them and for us all. And nothing would push
impeachment forward more than the most clearcut victory for Dennis in
his primary.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed
to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

******************



Senate Committee
Campaign Practices
Rules and Administration
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
ID: 204197 - 02/27/2008 - 1:46 -

Feinstein, Dianne U.S. Senator, D-CA

Bopp, James Jr. General Counsel, James Madison Center for Free Speech

Cooper, Roy Attorney General, D, North Carolina

Davidson, Chandler Professor Emeritus, Rice University, Public Policy

Whitehouse, Sheldon U.S. Senator, D, Rhode Island

Dakin, Shaun Founder and CEO, Founder and CEO, Citizens for Civil Discourse, National Political Do Not Contact Registry

King, Bradley Co-Director, Indiana, Election Division

Browne, Judith A. Co-Director, Advancement Project

A hearing was held on ways to protect the privacy of voters at home and at the polls. Topics included limiting abusive uses of technology during election campaigns such as "robocalls," computer-automated telephone calls, and "vote caging." Senator Whitehouse was the first witness.

This morning I watched Senator Feinstein’s hearing (posted above) that was held yesterday on Campaign Practices, robocalls and voter caging. Unfortunately C-Span omits it from their recent programming list.

You must go to www.c-spanvideo.org then look for Recent Congressional Committees and then click on Senate Committee Campaign Practices Rules and Administration if you want to see it. You can watch it in flash or win media mode.

One man who testified (a expert) Prof. Chandler Davidson said he found no widespread proof of voter caging. So your assignment is to send a email, fax or letter to the Prof if you have been caged.

Department of Sociology, MS-28
Rice University
6100 S. Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1892
Tel. (713)348-3490 - Fax (713)3485296 Email fcd@rice.edu



Not sure if you were caged?

If you know you were registered to vote in your state and were denied a ballot or given a provisional ballot when you went to vote than you were probably caged.

Beware of letters or cards from the RNC, open and read anything they send you. The RNC uses mailing lists of voters as a way to knock you off the voter roll in your state. If you throw it away and not send it back to them then they demand your name be removed from the voter book.

I’ve learned these RNC letters go out after a primary because that’s when the RNC gets a list of Democratic voters names. So watch the mail for a RNC letter or post card.

Know your Rights

Do not believe fliers that say you vote on Wednesday, all federal elections are held on Tuesday. Do not believe fliers that say if you have unpaid tickets, unpaid child support, convicted felony family members, etc, then you cannot vote. All these and more are just illegal ploys by the republicans to deny you the right to vote.

If you did not vote in this years primary but will vote in November I suggest you go to your voter registration office and confirm your registration. You could call and request a new voter card which gives you proof of registration. So if you ever find your name deleted from the book when you go to vote just pull out your card and demand a real ballot.

If you find your name in the book and they try to hand you a provisional ballot DO NOT take it. Demand a real ballot, it is your right to vote. CHALLENGE the poll worker.

Provisional ballots are rarely counted. Even if there is a recount a provisional ballot may not be counted.

It is up to you to protect your right to vote.

I didn’t and was caged here in Missouri in 2000 by my now Governor who was Secretary of State at the time. In fact Brad Freeman wrote about how the republicans have been suppressing the vote here in Missouri. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4500 .

I was given a regular ballot but had to sign my name at the back of the book which means more than likely they pulled my ballot and threw it away because my name had been purged from the book.

******************




Eliza Jane has the most awesome song and video over at you tube that you have got to see, enjoy, then pass it on to all your friends. The ending has a real zinger!!!!!!!!

Eliza Jane - SOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHCxL7xOZc

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Ya got to love the people at The Onion.

Satirists at 'The Onion' are "reporting" that electronic voting company Diebold accidentally revealed it has already rigged the 2008 election in favor of Sen. John McCain.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks?utm_source=embedded_video

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All I can say is OMG. As the Mother of a Soldier please keep in mind not all soldiers participated in this abhorrent torture.

Wired publishes new photographs of Abu Ghraib

GRAPHIC: INCLUDES NUDITY AND DEATH

The following images, published today at Wired.com, have been compiled so viewers can see them in their entirety without having to reload pages. Wired obtained them from an expert defense witness in the Abu Ghraib case, psychologist Philip Zimbardo.

Zimbardo speaks tomorrow at a conference, delivering a talk that reflects on his book, "The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil." Read about it here.

In their publication, the magazine wrote, "Many of the images are explicit and gruesome, depicting nudity, degradation, simulated sex acts and guards posing with decaying corpses. Viewer discretion is advised."

Perhaps the most comprehensive multimedia compilation of images from the troubled US prison in Iraq is available at Salon.com, which published 279 photos and 19 videos in 2006.

direct link
http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/index.html

RAW STORY has traditionally published more graphic images than the American press, in an effort to expose the true dark toll of war. Our 2005 article, "The American Iraq," documented photographs taken by former Iraq vets. The accompanying graphic photographs taken by veterans of the Iraq war -- which most of American has not seen -- are available at UnderMars.com. These images are also graphic, and show photographs of Iraqis killed by bombings and US troops.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Wired_publishes_new_disturbing_photographs_of_0228.html

******************

Another Bush ploy to deny Veterans their earned benefits. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Bush?

FOCUS: VETERANS

Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors

Correcting mistakes in discharge documents can be a bureaucratic nightmare

By Lou Michel NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Updated: 02/24/08 10:55 AM

Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.

Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.

Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.

The Army alone has a backlog of 1,890 veterans seeking corrections on their discharge papers, and some have been waiting for three years, accord- ing to the U.S. Department of Defense. Many other veterans probably have faulty discharge papers but don’t know it because they have not sought benefits.

Efforts are being made to speed up the corrections on faulty discharge papers, Army officials said.

But it can’t come quick enough for Simmance, the City of Tonawanda Army veteran who ended up broke and homeless late last year after he suffered service-related psychological problems and was unable to get help because of his faulty discharge paper.

“I lived on my parents’ couch for a couple months, but it was a cramped living space and I couldn’t stay there. I went to the Little Portion Friary and then to the City Mission,” said Simmance, who finally found permanent lodging in a subsidized apartment a few weeks ago.

The 31-year-old entered a free fall in 2006, when he started experiencing service-related mental illness. He lost a $65,000-a-year job, his apartment and his truck while living in Seattle.

When he returned home to Buffalo Niagara and sought help from the local Veterans Affairs office, he said he was told his discharge papers were not in order and he was ineligible for help. Simmance said he was turned down twice for treatment at the VA’s Batavia residential facility for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The kicker is, I have my official U.S. military passport with all the stamps of the countries I was in overseas, and the Batavia hospital didn’t even want to look at it,” he said. “I served in the Middle East in 2001 with an international peacekeeping force and saw combat.”

He says he continues to wait for a corrected version of his discharge papers — a wait that started seven months ago and shows no sign of ending soon.

Issue called disgraceful

Story continued http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/283512.html

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It is time we help the sick 9/11 workers.

Can you call your member of Congress today and ask them to support the Zadroga bill?

February 27th, 2008 12:06 pm

Sick 9/11 workers rally in rainy D.C. for more help

By Stephanie Gaskell / New York Daily News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Chanting "$25 million isn't enough!" dozens of sick 9/11 first responders stood in the rain on Capitol Hill Tuesday and urged President Bush to restore funding to help pay their medical bills.

Joseph Zadroga, whose son James died of lung disease after working 100 hours at the site for the NYPD, said the government needs to help those who helped the city get back on its feet after the towers fell.

"They dug this country out of a hole and now it's time for this country to dig them out of their holes," he said as he held back tears.

Bush has budgeted just $25 million for 9/11 health care programs in 2009 - compared with $108 million for this year.

The Daily News, in a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning editorials, has also fought for more funding for the city's sick heroes.

"We lost 3,000 lives on 9/11, but thousands more have lost their health," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens). She is sponsoring a bill named after James Zadroga that would mandate health care funding for ailing 9/11 workers.

"It is a scandal that we do not have health care for these men and women who risked so much to help others."

John Feal, a Ground Zero volunteer who lost part of his foot when an 8-ton steel beam fell on it, organized the rally, which had been expected to draw hundreds of people. He said he wasn't discouraged by the small turnout.

"Numbers don't compare to our spirit," he said. "Our spirit is strong."

Sick workers were also meeting privately with several members of Congress to urge them to pass the Zadroga bill.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10998

and check out all the other good articles Mike has listed on the right side of the page.

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Well I think you have enough here to keep you busy for awhile.

See you tomorrow

Links of the day 2/27/2008 FDIC to Add Staff as Bank Failures Loom

Gees I hate being the barer of bad news but here it is kiddies. Don’t roll eyes and go looking for happier news because then you will not be prepared for what’s coming.

I stopped reading the New York Times after they gave neo con Bill Krystal a job. Since then I’ve only linked to one of their articles, but today they have one you must read.

Look for the stock market to be very volatile today as Russia dumps dollars one day after Bush auctions off 30 billion dollars to the U.S. Banks.

Personally I think the banks aren’t in as much trouble as they claim. It’s my opinion they along with the neo-cons are intentionally bankrupting America. I’m 100% sure these banks are dumping those dollars for euros. The very wealthy started doing it about 3 or 4 years ago.

I have said it in the past that you better stock up on as much food stuffs and non food as you can. It also looks like wheat will be in short supply as well after it hit an all time high in the market..

Start paying attention to store shelves as food supplies go down. Check canned goods and dry package stuff with long expiration dates. Don’t waste money on condiments like mustard, ketchup and mayo unless you can buy the little packets like you can get at fast food restaurants because once opened they don’t last long without refrigeration. Oh and don’t forget to stock up on pet food too.

Personally I don’t think it really matters who replaces Bush in 2009. The United States is tumbling toward another republican “Great Depression”. There is no stopping it. The U.S. dollar will be worthless by the middle of 2009 so expect a huge exodus of U.S. corporation to move outside the U.S. looking for euros to stay afloat.


Out Of The Archives - Links of the Day

I’m going to bring only 3 articles out of the archives today to back up what I just told you about, dumping the dollar for euros. Since most of you don’t read the financial news and the MSM isn’t going to tell you much about it. I will. Why any democrat would want take over after what Bushco has done is just crazy because whoever are they their going to take a real beating from the American people.

We are all screwed. Except those 1% Bush gave all those tax breaks to. His Base, which means Al Qaeda. They have already dumped much of their dollars for euros.




U.A.E. to sell dollars for euros

By Matthew Brown Bloomberg News
Published: December 27, 2006

ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates plans to convert 8 percent of its foreign-exchange reserves to euros from dollars before September, the latest sign of growing global disaffection with the weakening U.S. currency.

The U.A.E. has started, "in a limited way," to sell part of its dollar reserves, the governor of the country's central bank, Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi, said in an interview. "We will accumulate euros each time the market appears to dip" as part of a plan to expand the country's holding of euros to 10 percent of the total from the current 2 percent.

The Gulf state is among oil producers, including Iran, Venezuela and Indonesia, looking to shift their currency reserves into euros or sell their oil, which is now priced in dollars, for euros. The total value of the reserves held by the U.A.E. is $24.9 billion, Suwaidi said.

The dollar has fallen more than 10 percent this year against the euro.
Part of the reason for the decline is the outlook for slower U.S. growth, which makes the dollar a less attractive investment.

But fears that the dollar's level is unsustainable because of the heavy indebtedness of the United States to other countries is also behind the weakness this year, analysts said.
The shift to euros underscores its growing role as a reserve currency nearly eight years after its establishment. Central banks often keep the details about their currency holdings a secret.

The move by the U.A.E. central bank "is hard evidence that diversification is happening," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. "This is negative for the dollar in a broad sense as it reflects falling confidence in the currency."

Central banks in Russia, Switzerland and New Zealand are also diversifying away from the dollar and into yen after the Japanese currency reached a 10- month low against its biggest trading partners in October.

Gulf Arab energy producers will earn as much as $500 billion from oil sales this year, the International Monetary Fund forecasts. The region's central bank reserves represent a fraction of the currency holdings of state-owned investment firms like the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which is estimated to have more than $500 billion under management.

But the signal that such a move sends to financial markets is a negative one.
"It is a recognition of the vulnerability of the dollar over the coming year," Simon Williams, an economist with HSBC Holdings, said by phone from Dubai.

The euro rose to $1.3123 from $1.3098 after Suwaidi's comments were published Wednesday.

"This is not confined to the U.A.E. There's a general awareness across the Gulf of the benefits of diversifying currency holdings," Williams said.

The U.S. current account deficit widened to $225.6 billion in the third quarter. Oil producers in the Middle East and Central Asia will run a surplus of $322 billion for all of 2006, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities — which generally support the dollar — increased to a record $2.16 trillion in September, just under half of the $4.34 trillion outstanding.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/27/business/dollar.php

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Dumping U.S. Dollars:

The New International Pastime
Today's comment is by Eric Roseman, Investment Director for The Sovereign Society and editor of both Commodity Trend Alert and Global Mutual Fund Investor.

Dear A-Letter Reader,
Add the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the growing list of foreign central banks shedding their U.S. dollar reserves.

Since 2002, more than a dozen central banks worldwide have accelerated their dollar sales as the buck continues to slide. Since the advent of the euro in January 1999, central banks have been gradually increasing their holdings of the single European currency. But with the dollar dropping a cumulative 44% since peaking in January 2002, the selling has accelerated. In 2006, the dollar declined 11.3% versus the euro.

Last week, the Emirates announced that their relatively small foreign-exchange reserves, only US$25 billion dollars, would be pared in favor of the euro. The UAE holds 98% of its reserves in U.S. dollars.

That US$25 billion might be a puny number compared to the grand scale of total dollar reserves held by other central banks, but it's definitely a bad sign for the United States.
The other Arab Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman collectively have over $220 billion dollars in trade surpluses -- that cash must be invested in international markets. Increasingly, they'll also be looking for reduce their dollar-based holdings in favor of foreign currencies.

Over the last four years, central banks in China, Argentina, Russia, South Africa, Cuba, Iran, and several Gulf Arab states have cut their U.S. dollar reserves in favor of the euro and other foreign currencies.

Unless the United States addresses its massive twin deficits, the selling will continue. At some point over the next several years, the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to raise interest rates to attract foreign creditors. Deficit spending remains a major drag in Washington because military expenses in particular have mushroomed since 2002. The previous bout of military spending in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Vietnam) led to President Nixon breaking the gold standard. And that sent inflation into orbit and crushed the U.S. dollar up until 1982.

At some point, the United States must fix its balance-sheet, or foreign creditors will do the job for them.

And what about Europe? Don't get too excited about the Europeans protecting your purchasing power longer term. Over the last 18 months, gold prices have far exceeded the euro's appreciation versus the dollar. Since June 2005, the dollar has shed 9% against the euro while gold prices have soared 41% in euro terms.

In a bull market, gold is rising against all major currencies since last year. It's real money, no one else's liability and still the ultimate in purchasing power protection.

ERIC ROSEMAN, Investment Director
on behalf of The Sovereign Society

EDITOR'S NOTE: Dollars are being dumped... economies are slowing... so where should you invest your money in 2007? You can find out by dialing in to a very special teleconference on January 16th. Investment Director, Eric Roseman will co-host the teleconference with other leading Sovereign Society experts. And together they'll all share their best investment and offshore predictions for the new year.

http://www.sovereignsociety.com/offshore1957.html

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Traders Dump Dollars on Rising Oil Prices and Upcoming ECB Meeting
Tuesday, 01 August 2006 21:30:36 GMT

Written by Kathy Lien,
Chief Currency Strategist • Traders Dump Dollars on Rising Oil Prices and Upcoming ECB Meeting
• Euro at 1.29 Could Make ECB Uneasy
• Bank of Japan Hints of Another Rate Hike by Year End

US Dollar
There is always more than meets the eye when it comes to the US dollar. Stronger economic data and dollar supportive comments from new US Treasury Secretary Paulson helped to rally the dollar for only a brief moment before the gains were completely erased at the London close. Increasing tensions in the Middle East and a tropical storm brewing near the oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico has traders worried that oil prices could hit a new record high over the next few weeks. With temperatures heating up around the US and the possibility that a new national record will be set in July for the warmest month since 1895, energy usage is sure to be reaching extreme levels. This means that utility bills for many families across the nation will be painful for the month of July and possibly even August. Combining this with high gasoline prices and increasing mortgage payments, traders are continuing to accentuate the negative and minimizing the positive when it comes to outlook for the US economy. Conflicts in Lebanon have yet to ease while Iran rejected the UN’s calls for an end to their nuclear development program by the end of the month. Without even attempting to try to delay international outrage, Iran has branded the UN Security Council’s resolution as worthless while a high level Iranian official said that “Iran will not take part in a game which it will lose.” The only barrier standing between the EUR/USD and 1.30 is the possibility of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week. Inflationary pressures continue to remain very strong with the annualized core PCE deflator, which is one of the Fed’s favorite inflation barometers hitting a four year high last month. The growth of key core prices increased by 2.4 percent over the past year, which marked the third straight monthly rise. After Friday’s disappointing GDP numbers, a quarter point rate hike is now back on the table. This is especially true following the increase in the ISM manufacturing index and the prices paid component for the month of July. In June, personal income and personal spending continued to rise with income outpacing spending. Finally, pending home sales and construction spending were also strong in the face of expectations of a decline. Yet, despite all of today’s positive US data, the increasing tensions in the Middle East and the prospects of a rate hike by the European Central bank on Thursday has prevented the dollar from sustaining its gains. However, at the same time, the higher the Euro climbs, the more difficult each penny rise will be.

Euro
The Euro is now coming within an arm’s length of its 12 month high of 1.2980, which it hit at the beginning of last month. The Euro has been rallying as another dose of decent Eurozone economic data continues to confirm the market’s predictions for a quarter point interest rate hike by the European Central Bank on Thursday. However, if the Euro does continue to rally and hits 1.2900 before the ECB meeting, the central bank may rethink the message that they plan on sending to the market. We have long said that the value of the Euro is a key determinant of how aggressive the ECB plans to be with interest rates. As an export dependent economy, the stronger the Euro, the more pressure it has on the export sector. Talking up future rate hikes with the Euro at current levels could easily push it above 1.30. This would not be the first time that ECB President Trichet or his constituents used verbal intervention to stem the Euro’s rise. The central bank could easily unload some of the upside pressure on the Euro by toning down his comments at the press conference following the meeting by being ambiguous about another rate hike over the next few months. This possibility is very real, especially with many other central banks having already slowed down or ended their own tightening cycle. The ECB may want to adopt a wait and see approach after this week’s hike and take a back seat to watch what the Federal Reserve does with its own monetary policy next week.

British Pound
The British pound has rallied against the US dollar for the fifth consecutive trading day. Such a long stretch of continuous pound strength has not been seen since August of 2005. Despite a drop in the outlook for the UK manufacturing sector for the month of July, traders latched onto the rise in house prices as well as broad dollar weakness. Nationwide house prices increased by 0.8 percent in the month of July, which were double market expectations. The improvement of the housing sector is sure to be comforting the Bank of England as the country continues to stabilize. Even though the manufacturing sector PMI index fell from 55.0 to 53.8, the index remains in expansionary territory. The details are not as cleanly optimistic with the output and new orders components taking a sharp dive. For the time being, this should give the Bank of England good reason to keep their interest rates on hold at least until the fourth quarter.

Japanese Yen
The Japanese Yen continues to remain strong against the US dollar but gave back some of its recent gains against the Euro, Swiss Franc and British pound. Comments from Bank of Japan Governor Fukui indicate that the trajectory of interest rates is undoubtedly upwards. Following comments from monetary policy member Suda last week, Fukui said today that the central bank is not ruling out the possibility of another interest rate hike by the end of the year. Fukui warned that a prolonged period of excessively low interest rates could overheat the corporate sector. We still believe that the BoJ could raise rates later this year, especially after they have given the markets two to three months to absorb their first interest rate hike. The Japanese are known to be conservative and they are expected to approach monetary policy in the same way. Gradual rate hikes with plenty of advance warning and then time for the economy and the market’s to absorb the hikes will probably be the best way to go for a country that has no interest in inducing a rapid appreciation in their currency. Remember, Japan is also an export dependent nation that always has one eye on the yen and its impact on the export sector.

http://www.dailyfx.com/export/sites/dailyfx/story/dailyfx_reports/daily_fundamentals/Traders_Dump_Dollars_on_Rising_1154467860144.html

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NOW do you understand what has been happening? I’m no financial wizard as I’ve said but I can READ!

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Current Links of the Day.

I been watching the stock market and when it goes down energy stocks go up. Oil, natural gas, propane and gasoline prices have skyrocketed. Now I can see gas going up because we import much of our oil, but we have plenty of natural gas and propane of our own, so why the increase in these domestic products? That I haven’t figured out yet, when I do I’ll let you know.

Oh, we are really screwed.



Russia Quietly Starts to Shift Its Oil Trade Into Rubles

By ANDREW E. KRAMER Published: February 27, 2008

MOSCOW — Americans surely found little to celebrate when the price of oil settled above $100 a barrel last week.

They could, though, be thankful that oil is still priced in dollars, making the milestone of triple-digit oil prices noteworthy at all.

Russia, the world’s second-largest oil-exporting nation after Saudi Arabia, has been quietly preparing to switch trading in Russian Ural Blend oil, the country’s primary export, to the ruble from the dollar. Industry analysts and officials, however, say that this change, if it comes, is still some time off.

The Russian effort began modestly this month, with trading in refined products for the domestic market.

Still, the effort to squeeze the dollar out of Russian oil sales is yet another project notable for swagger and ambition by the Kremlin, which has already wielded its energy wealth to assert influence in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states.

“They are serious,” said Yaroslav Lissovolik, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank in Moscow. “This is something they are giving priority to.”

Oil trading is nearly always denominated in dollars. When Middle Eastern oil is sold to Asia, for example, the price is set in dollars.

Similarly, Russia’s large trade with Western Europe and the former Soviet states in crude oil and natural gas is conducted in dollar-denominated contracts. Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, set the price of gas in Ukraine at $179 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2008, for example. There are no proposals yet to switch gas pricing away from dollars.

As a result, companies and countries that buy petroleum products are encouraged to hold dollar reserves to pay for their supplies, coincidentally helping the American economy support its trade deficit.

Russia would like to change this practice, at least among its customers, as a means of elevating the importance of the ruble, a new source of national pride after gaining 30 percent against the dollar during the current oil boom.

In a speech on economic policy this month, Dmitri A. Medvedev, a deputy prime minister and the likely successor to President Vladimir V. Putin in elections on March 2, said Russia should seize opportunities created by the weak dollar.

“Today, the global economy is going through uneasy times,” Mr. Medvedev said. “The role of the key reserve currencies is under review. And we must take advantage of it.” He asserted that “the ruble will de facto become one of the regional reserve currencies.”

Other oil-exporting countries are also chafing at dealing in the weakening dollar.
Since 2005, Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, has tried to open a commodity exchange to trade oil in currencies other than the dollar. The Iranian ambassador to Russia said Iran might choose rubles to free his country from “dollar slavery.”

To be sure, some economists have dismissed the project as improbable, given the exotic nature of a security — oil futures contracts denominated in rubles — that would blend currency risk with the dollar-based global oil market.

Ruble-denominated futures contracts for Ural Blend, the main Russian grade, would be attractive only if the dollar continues to depreciate, said Vitaly Y. Yermakov, research director for Russian and Caspian energy at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

“There is a big distance between the desire to trade commodities for rubles and the ability to do so,” he said.

All this has not stopped the Kremlin from trying.

In a sign of the government’s seriousness, a new glass-and-marble high-rise home for a ruble-denominated commodity exchange is rising this spring in a prestigious district in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city after Moscow. The exchange will occupy three floors of the 16-story tower on Vasilievsky Island, one of the islands that make up the historic city center.

The director of the St. Petersburg exchange, Viktor V. Nikolayev, said that the intention was to move slowly and gain market acceptance; the government will not strong-arm sellers or buyers onto the exchange, even in an industry dominated by the state.

Web-based trading for refined products like gasoline or diesel is being introduced in three phases for domestic customers, beginning with government buyers like the Russian navy or municipal bus companies. Private brokers will be allowed to trade in March; futures contracts will be introduced in April.

Mr. Nikolayev said no timeline had been established for trading for export on the exchange, which also handles grain, sugar, mineral fertilizer, cement and esoteric financial products like Russian government beef and pork import quotas — all in rubles.
“We are in Russia, and the currency is rubles, not euros, not dollars,” he said. “We don’t want to depend on the rise or fall of the dollar.”

“We will trade in rubles, to strengthen the ruble,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/business/worldbusiness/27place.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

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If only Reagan had listen to Carter and continued with his energy policies we might not be in this mess. But republicans care very little for the common man, their loyalties lie with the corporations and banks.

We the little guy is drowning in debt and Bush is bailing out the banks who screwed us with the sub-prime loans screwed themselves at the same time.

Where’s our bail out for WE THE PEOPLE?

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Oil hits a high; some in U.S. see $4 gas by spring

By Jad Mouawad Published: February 27, 2008 

Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel.

The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, high energy prices that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could exacerbate the nation's economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.

"The effect of high oil prices today could be the difference between having a recession and not having a recession," said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist.

The depth of the nation's economic problems became clearer Tuesday with the release of figures showing that prices at the producer level rose 1 percent in January, driven in large measure by energy costs. Compared with a year ago, prices were up 7.4 percent, the worst producer price inflation in the United States since 1981.

Other new figures showed that home prices around the country are falling at an accelerating pace, suggesting no end is in sight for the housing meltdown. As of Tuesday, regular gasoline was selling at a nationwide average of $3.14 a gallon, according to AAA, the automobile club, up from $2.35 a year ago. The price has jumped 19 cents a gallon in two weeks. Energy specialists predict that as demand picks up further this spring and summer, retail prices will surpass the high of $3.23 a gallon set last Memorial Day weekend.

On Tuesday, diesel prices rose to a record $3.60 a gallon, compared with $2.62 a gallon last year.

For a decade, rising oil prices had failed to dent global economic growth. In the United States, consumers absorbed the higher costs thanks to easy credit and rising prosperity, while in developing countries, government subsidies helped ease the pain. The rise in energy prices was a result of growing demand around the world.

The price of oil has quadrupled in six years, and Tuesday's close was not far below the inflation-adjusted all-time high set in April 1980, after the Iranian revolution. That record, $39.50 a barrel, equals $103.76 in today's money.

As oil prices spiked last fall, low wintertime gasoline demand helped keep prices in check. But now, experts say, the price of oil is finally showing up at the pump.
For Americans like Phyllis Berry, a 31-year-old General Motors factory worker in Cleveland, gasoline costs are starting to hurt.

"I used to fill it up pretty regularly, but now I drive it until the tank is almost empty, looking for the cheapest place to buy gas," said Berry, who drives a beat-up Chevrolet Caravan. She said that she used to take her four children to the movies four or five times a month. But with the cost of gas, tickets, popcorn and soda adding up to $70, they now go only once a month.Still, things are not quite as bad as during the 1970s and 1980s oil shocks. In the early 1980s, at the height of the last energy crisis, energy accounted for more than 8 percent of household spending. As prices fell and the economy became less energy intensive, energy costs fell under 4 percent of household spending in the early 1990s.

With the run-up in prices in recent years, economists say energy's share of disposable income is slowly creeping up again. Last December, that figure reached 6.1 percent, the highest level since 1985. The increase of two percentage points — amounting to $200 billion — is a huge sum, a little less than half what Americans spend each year on new cars and automobile parts.

"You're adding an oil shock on top of a crunch on credit and a housing collapse," said Nigel Gault, an economist at Global Insight. "Even the U.S. economy cannot withstand all of that at the same time."

American consumers have responded belatedly by cutting back on their energy use. Oil demand in the United States grew by just 0.4 percent in 2007 and is expected to be flat in 2008.

But global oil demand, the relentless driver behind higher prices, is still expected to increase by 1.4 million barrels a day this year, analysts estimate. That growth, from China and the Middle East, may help keep prices up, whatever happens to the American economy.

Continued to page 2 http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/27/business/26gasweb.php

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OMG we are really screwed. Did you SEE this on the MSM yesterday? NO!!!!


FDIC to Add Staff as Bank Failures Loom

By DAMIAN PALETTA
February 26, 2008; Page A2
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is taking steps to brace for an increase in failed financial institutions as the nation's housing and credit markets continue to worsen.

The FDIC is looking to bring back 25 retirees from its division of resolutions and receiverships. Many of these agency veterans likely worked for the FDIC during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 financial institutions failed amid the savings-and-loan crisis.

FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray said the agency was looking to bulk up "for preparedness purposes." The division now has 223 employees, mostly based in Dallas.
The agency, which insures accounts at more than 8,000 financial institutions, is also seeking to hire an outside firm that would help manage mortgages and other assets at insolvent banks, according to a newspaper advertisement.

In public, policy makers are debating what role the government should play in trying to stabilize the housing market and minimize foreclosures. Meanwhile, regulators have worked discreetly behind the scenes to closely monitor the growing number of troubled banks and thrifts considered at risk.

"Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like California, Florida, and Georgia," said Jaret Seiberg, Washington policy analyst for financial-services firm Stanford Group.
In job postings on its Web site, the FDIC said it is looking for people with "skill in performing duties associated with a financial-institution closing, such as receivership management, resolutions and/or asset disposition; knowledge of the resolutions process as it relates to complex financial institutions." Such positions would require "very frequent overnight travel," the posting said, and would pay up to $180,770.

"The notion of bringing back some people who have been through it before is very smart," said William Isaac, who was FDIC chairman from 1981 until 1985. All told, the FDIC has roughly 4,600 employees, far fewer than the about 15,000 it had as recently as 1992.

On Sunday, the FDIC ran a newspaper ad seeking companies that could service commercial loans, mortgages and student loans in the event of a bank failure. It didn't say how much a company could earn in this area.

The FDIC rated 65 banks and thrifts as "problem" institutions at the end of the third quarter of 2007, up from 47 institutions a year earlier. Both figures are low by historical standards. At the end of 1993, there were 572 "problem" banks and thrifts. The FDIC is expected to update its data on "problem" institutions today.

Before the housing market soured, the banking industry was enjoying one of its most profitable stretches in U.S. history. There wasn't a single bank failure from July 2005 through January 2007, an unprecedented span.

There have only been four bank failures in the past 12 months, a rate the FDIC has easily been able to handle.

In many parts of the country, the housing-market decline has hamstrung banks, and regulators have reported weakening performance of commercial real estate, small business and credit-card loans. Exacerbating the situation is a cash-flow crunch, which makes it harder for banks to obtain funding to originate new loans.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan and Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich have warned of a pickup in bank failures. Last week, Mr. Reich reported that the thrift industry lost a record $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter.

The FDIC was created by Congress in the 1930s after a series of bank runs during the Great Depression. At the end of 2007, it had $52.4 billion in its fund that backstops the nation's insured deposits.

Write to Damian Paletta at damian.paletta@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120398607404892133.html?mod=hps_us_whats

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Fed auctions $30 billion

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Tue Feb 26, 12:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, seeking to combat effects of the credit crisis, said Tuesday it had auctioned another $30 billion in funds to commercial banks, at an interest rate of 3.080 percent. It was the sixth in a series of auctions that so far have pumped $160 billion into the nation's banking system in an effort to provide cash-strapped banks with extra reserves.

The Fed's hope is that the increased resources will keep banks lending and prevent a severe credit squeeze from making the current economic slowdown worse.

The 3.080 percent interest rate set at the auction was down from a rate of 3.010 percent at the last auction held on Feb. 11. It was the lowest rate for any of the six auctions held since the Fed started this new process in December.

Analysts saw the steady rate declines as evidence that the Fed was having success at supplying funds to the nation's banks. They said it also reflected the aggressive rate cuts engineered by the Fed in January.

The central bank cut its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, by 1.25 percentage points, the biggest one-month move in a quarter century, as it stepped up efforts to keep the weakening economy from falling into a recession.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to deliver the Fed's twice-a-year economic report to Congress on Wednesday. Financial markets are closely watching to see whether Bernanke signals further rate cuts will be likely, given a string of weak economic reports, or whether he will raise concerns about a jump in inflation that occurred in January which could mean the Fed is rethinking the pace of its rate cuts.
The Fed adopted its new auction process in December after it had only limited success in encouraging banks to use its "discount window" where the Fed makes direct loans to commercial banks.

The Fed began with two auctions totaling $20 billion each in December and then upped the auction amount to $30 billion for each auction beginning with two auctions in January and two more in February.

The total of bids from banks at the auction this week was $67.96 billion for the $30 billion that was provided in short-term 28-day loans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_go_ot/fed_credit_crisis

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And last but not least Michael Rivero’s “What Really Happened”

He had so many good stuff today I posted his whole page today. You may want to read his links from yesterday too. Like the article on a home that changed hands 3 times so fast that no one knew the owners son sat dead in it.


February 26, 2008
FDIC to Add Staff as Bank Failures Loom FDIC expects 100 bank failures in next 12 to 24 months. Bringing back retirees. - M. R.

U.S. Home Foreclosures Jump 90% as Mortgages Reset Bank seizures of U.S. homes almost doubled in January as property owners failed to make higher payments on adjustable-rate mortgages.

Key home price index shows record decline U.S. home prices dropped 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007 compared with a year ago, Standard & Poor’s said Tuesday, the steepest decline in the 20-year history of its housing index.

After subprime debacle, U.S. wrestles with question of bank bailouts Over the past two decades, few industries have lobbied more ferociously or effectively than banks to get the government out of its business and to obtain freer rein for "financial innovation."
But as losses from bad mortgages and mortgage-backed securities climb past $200 billion, talk among banking executives about a major government rescue plan is suddenly coming into fashion.


Greenspan Urges Gulf States To Abandon Dollar "It [de-pegging] is probably the most useful thing that can be done to stop the increasing influence of foreign assets on the monetary system and therefore the monetary base which is basically the major force in inflationary pressures," Greenspan told the Abu Dhabi Corporate Leadership Forum yesterday.

Greenspan's zeal to destroy the dollar is evident in numerous public statements he has made predicting the replacement of the dollar with the Euro as the world reserve currency
Although the tone of this article is very strident, Greenspan isn't saying anything that world financiers don't already know.

And with a guy like Greenspan, you always have the complete comfort of knowing who he's really working for: himself. - M. R.


Foreclosures up 57 percent in the past year The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn’t unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday. One has to wonder precisely for whom "the fundamentals of this economy are sound". - M. R.

One in 10 Home Loans Under Water And one in every five homes is in tax trouble.
When We The People kicked out the government in 1776, the total aggregate tax rate was about ten percent. Now it is above fifty percent and rising. - M. R.


World Grain Demand Straining U.S. Supply Okay, so the global warming "cult" promised us all that if we turned food production farmland into ethanol production, that we would have a zero carbon footprint source of energy.

Of course, it didn't work out that way because the process used to turn corn into ethanol actually produces more greenhouse gas than just burning an equivalent amount of gasoline. And since ethanol actually contains less chemical energy than the equivalent amount of gasoline, you have to buy MORE of this already-expensive concoction to drive the same number of miles.
Meanwhile, because less land is growing food, now we have food shortages, and because the US dollar is in decline, American agricultural corporations are selling the food grown in the United States to foreign markets ... leaving US store shelves empty.

Good thinking, guys. Real Einstein-class brains you got there! - M. R.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_economy.html

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Other Links that may interest you


Please go gracefully: Letter for the (retd) General

Mr. Musharraf,

You have stated time and again that you will quit (leave the Presidency) if the people don't want you. On 18th February the nation has spoken. They have repudiated you, your policies,and your hand-picked party, (which you have openly referred to as your party). Please stick to your promise, which you are now trying to wriggle out of by asserting that you have been elected for five years by a competent electoral college. You are fully aware that a lame duck or dying electoral college was not competent to elect you, nor were you eligible to be elected in uniform or out of it, since the Constitution specifically prohibits it. You knew what would be the verdict of the Supreme Court against you. Therefore on the advice of Pirzada and Malik Qayyum you illegally proclaimed emergency on 3rd November as COAS, , suspended the Constitution, removed the Superior judiciary, imposed PCO and obtained a judgment in your favour through a bunch of judges who like you, violated their solemn oaths to uphold and protect the Constitution. Not even Pharoah or Nero practiced such diabolical schemes.

Continued
http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/2008/02/please-go-gracefully-letter-for-retd.html



People's Resistance Judicial Bus Rally: Videos and Account

1. Reception given at Hyderabad
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2097597/6597375
2. Excerpt from speech by CJ Sabihuddin Ahmed
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2097765/6596431
Accompanying the "Judicial Bus" there were over 60 cars in the caravan, several motor-cycles, one bus and two Suzuki vans packed with those who could not bring cars. Chief Justice Sabeehuddin Ahmed, 13 non-PCO judges of Sind High Court, Justice Ghulam Rabbani of Supreme Court, Mr. Munir Malik and Mr. Rasheed Razvi were in the judicial bus.Several cars which were not part of the caravan joined it along the way on Super Highway and raised pro-judiciary slogans and victory signs. It was also pleasant to see the spirit on the streets of Hyderabad where many bystanders joined in. On one intersection in Hyderabad, traffic policemen smiled and nodded their heads to the slogans as they stopped traffic to let the rally pass through.

continued
http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/

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U.S. expects 140,000 troops in Iraq after surge

Mon Feb 25, 2:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects to have 140,000 troops in Iraq in July after withdrawing five combat brigades, leaving a force larger than before it began pouring in troops last year, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also told reporters that the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan is expected to climb to an all-time high of 32,000 troops by late summer, from about 28,000 today, as thousands of Marines take up combat and training duties.

"These force posture levels are truly conditions based and driven by the mission requirements and the assessments of commanders on the ground," Ham said at a Pentagon briefing.

There were some 132,000 U.S. troops in Iraq before President George W. Bush ordered a surge of about 30,000 more to curb rampant violence that threatened to plunge the country into all-out civil war.

U.S. commanders plan by summer to have withdrawn more than 20,000 combat troops deployed as part of the surge.

continued
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080225/ts_nm/iraq_usa_troops_dc_1;_ylt=A9G_Rz38G8NHex4BECRsbEwB


Turk envoy tells Iraq no timetable for troop pullout

Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:38am EST
By Ahmed Rasheed and Mohammed Abbas

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Turkey declined to give Iraq a timetable for withdrawal of troops fighting Kurdish guerrillas on Wednesday, resisting pressure from the United States and other allies for a quick resolution.

Turkey's military General Staff said another 77 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels had been killed in heavy fighting since Tuesday night, taking the death toll among the rebels to 230 since Turkey's offensive in northern Iraq began a week ago.

"Our objective is clear, our mission is clear and there is no timetable until...those terrorist bases are eliminated," Turkish envoy Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference after talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.

Thousands of Turkish troops crossed the border last Thursday to root out PKK fighters who have used mountainous northern Iraq as a base for their fight for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey since the 1990s.

Acting Iraqi Prime Minister Barham Saleh warned that a prolonged offensive would lead to "dire" consequences for the region and repeated Baghdad's demand that the incursion end.

continued
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSANK00037420080227

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The Bush Bust of '08

“It's All Downhill From Here, Folks”

By Mike Whitney

"I just saw a picture Bernanke stripped to the waist in the boiler-room shoveling greenbacks into the furnace.” Rob Dawg, Calculated Risk blog-site


On January 14, 2008 the FDIC web site began posting the rules for reimbursing depositors in the event of a bank failure. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is required to “determine the total insured amount for each depositor....as of the day of the failure” and return their money as quickly as possible. The agency is “modernizing its current business processes and procedures for determining deposit insurance coverage in the event of a failure of one of the largest insured depository institutions.” (http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2008/fil08002.html#body)

The implication is clear, the FDIC has begun the “death watch” on the many banks which are currently drowning in their own red ink. The problem for the FDIC is that it has never supervised a bank failure which exceeded 175,000 accounts. So the impending financial tsunami is likely to be a crash-course in crisis management. Today some of the larger banks have more than 50 million depositors, which will make the FDIC's job nearly impossible.

Good luck.

Continued http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19307.htm


OK that’s it I’ve had enough for one day . How about you?