Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

Monday 06.28.2010

RBS tells clients to prepare for "monster" money printing by the Federal Reserve
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
As recovery starts to stall in the US and Europe with echoes of mid-1931, bond experts are once again dusting off a speech by Ben Bernanke given eight years ago as a freshman governor at the Federal Reserve.
Entitled "Deflation: Making Sure It Doesn't Happen Here", it is a warfare manual for defeating economic slumps by use of extreme monetary stimulus once interest rates have dropped to zero, and implicitly once governments have spent themselves to near bankruptcy.
The speech is best known for its irreverent one-liner: "The US government has a technology, called a printing press, that allows it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost."

Regulators close banks in Fla., Ga., N.M.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, Georgia and New Mexico, lifting to 86 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Peninsula Bank, based in Englewood, Fla., with $644.3 million in assets and $580.1 million in deposits. The agency also seized First National Bank in Savannah, Ga., with $252.5 million in assets and $231.9 million in deposits, and High Desert State Bank, based in Albuquerque, N.M., with $80.3 million in assets and $81 million in deposits.
Miami-based Premier American Bank agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Peninsula Bank. In addition, the FDIC and Premier American Bank agreed to share losses on $437.6 million of Peninsula Bank's assets.

Eagle Community Bank under increased oversight
BY Chris Newmarker - MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL
Eagle Community Bank is facing increased scrutiny from regulators, who announced Friday that they've placed the bank under a consent order.
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Minnesota Department of Commerce are requiring Maple Grove-based Eagle Community to hire an outside consultant to analyze and assess the performance of the bank's six-member management and staff.
The consent, dated May 27, also requires Eagle Community to reduce troubled assets and concentrations of commercial real estate loans, and to establish policies for setting aside cash for troubled loans. It restricts additional loans to problem borrowers, the taking on of brokered deposits, and payment of dividends and management fees.

SW Colorado bank agrees with FDIC to address capital levels
DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
A southwest Colorado bank has signed an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to address its capital levels and other issues.
The agreement was disclosed in the FDIC's monthly report of enforcement actions.
Pine River Valley Bank of Bayfield, which is in La Plata County near the Four Corners, signed the consent order on May 26. In it, the bank agrees to submit a written plan to achieve and maintain acceptable capital levels.

FDIC: Shoreline Bank 'significantly undercapitalized'
PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL (SEATTLE)
Shoreline Bank is considered "significantly undercapitalized" by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and needs to immediately sell shares of stock or sell itself to another bank.
The FDIC warning said the Shoreline bank's management "has not demonstrated the ability to return the bank to a safe and sound condition." The agency is demanding that "prompt corrective action be taken immediately" because of the bank's "deteriorating condition and management's inability to return the bank to a safe and sound condition."

FDIC hands out C&D orders, fines in Ga.
ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. put three Georgia banks under cease-and-desist orders and fined two banks for violating the Flood Disaster Protection Act.
The banks receiving "consent orders" are:

• Pineland State Bank in Metter
• Bank of Monticello
• Citizens Bank of Effingham in Springfield

By signing the consent order, banks neither admit nor deny the citations of unsafe and unsound banking practices listed.

FDIC issues order for Superior Bank
ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL - BY Kelsey Volkmann
Superior Bank in Hazelwood, Mo., must evaluate management, reduce bad loans and cut risk exposure, under an order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The north St. Louis County bank must also maintain certain capital ratios, review liquidity, develop a business and succession plan, suspend cash dividends, hire a consultant to analyze its performance and act on the consultant’s recommendations, according to a FDIC order dated May 26 but made public Friday.

Arrowhead is latest credit union seized as regulators step up reviews
Officials cite the 'declining financial condition' not-for-profit financial institution, one of the largest in the Inland Empire.
By W.J. Hennigan and E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
The federal seizure of one of the Inland Empire's largest credit unions over the weekend was part of a stepped-up effort by regulators to shore up the financial institutions, which were battered along with banks by the mortgage meltdown and the real estate bust.
Regulators took over Arrowhead Credit Union on Saturday, citing its "declining financial condition." The action was part of a nationwide move to increase vigilance that has included the hiring of 107 new examiners and more frequent reviews of credit unions' financial health.

On Fannie's Escalating Threats Against "Strategic Defaulters"
This blog warned a few weeks ago of a coming campaign by the officialdom against so-called "strategic defaulters". It has arrived even sooner than we expected.
We warned that this development was the inevitable result of financial firms, taking an increasingly predatory posture toward their customers. Borrowers are responding in kind, by taking a cold-blooded and legalistic look at their agreements with lenders.
Now having said that, it is well nigh impossible to determine how frequently "strategic" or "ruthless" defaults are taking place. Even though it is in theory an appealing option for borrowers with severely underwater mortgages, it nevertheless comes with a lot of costs: moving and a trashed credit rating. And note that a bad credit report does not merely mean restricted access to borrowing, but it it is a big negative in the job market, now that many employers routinely pull credit reports. So I suspect the talk of strategic defaults greatly exceeds the reality.

Moral bankruptcy?
By Mary Ellen Podmolik, Chicago Tribune reporter
Financially struggling homeowners say they're just being shrewd when they file for Chapter 7 to escape a mortgage
Cash-strapped, jobless and denied a loan modification, Del Phillips faced the same straits as millions of homeowners who risk losing their homes to mortgage lenders.
Some have struggled unsuccessfully to keep their homes, and others have just walked away. Phillips decided he wanted revenge and was willing to ruin his credit record for it.
When a short sale didn't work out as planned, the 32-year-old Chicagoan opted for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, a move that will leave Phillips with little except for the scant possessions in his one-bedroom condo. It also will leave his lender, Chase, with little except for, eventually, a condo that has lost value. Meanwhile, Phillips continues to live there, mortgage-free.

GOP Takes Hardline on Federal Deficit By Killing Unemployment Benefits Extension
BY DON MILLER, Associate Editor, Money Morning
Drawing a line in the sand over the federal deficit, Senate Republicans on Thursday killed a spending bill that included an extension of unemployment benefits and increased taxes on bonuses paid to executives at private equity firms.
The collapse of the comprehensive legislation spells the end of assistance for a total of 1.3 million unemployed Americans who were scheduled to lose their benefits at the end of last week. It also will leave a number of states with large budget holes they had expected to fill with federal cash to help with Medicaid.

Biden: "No possibility" of restoring lost jobs
by Mike Memoli - Chicago Tribune
The pool reporter covering Vice President Biden's remarks at a fundraiser in Wisconsin today noted near the beginning of his dispatch that the veep joked "he didn't rely much on a speech that was prepared for him." That's always good news for those looking for fodder from the loquacious former senator, in Milwaukee today to boost Sen. Russ Feingold's campaign warchest.
During 47 minutes of remarks, Biden defended the Obama administration's record on working to turn around the nation's economy, something that has become boilerplate for him at these party functions. The pool reporter -- Dan Walker of the Journal Sentinel -- did flag this particularly blunt assessment, though.
"There's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession," he told about 150 people at a $500-per-plate luncheon.

Unemployment benefits extension nixed for nearly 1 million
By Tami Luhby, senior writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly a million people have lost their unemployment benefits because the Senate failed for the third time Thursday to extend the deadline to file for this safety net.
Hoping to overcome deficit concerns, the Senate trimmed down the bill yet again on Wednesday night so that it would only increase the deficit by $33.3 billion over 10 years, instead of $55.1 billion. The main changes were to scale back additional Medicaid funding for the states and to reallocate some stimulus and Defense Department spending.

Obama's agenda: Overwhelm the system
Wayne Allyn Root - Las Vegas Review-Journal
Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.
Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.
[see John Coleman's interview confirming this, below - video 2]

Bank reform passes - bank stocks soar
Kurt Brouwer - MarketWatch.com
I have to confess that the latest 'reform' legislation has aroused a bit of skepticism in me. The Senate just passed a 2,000 page bank reform bill that was positioned as a tough measure to reform big banks and Wall Street. The goal is to make sure events like the financial panic of 2008 never happen again. Who could argue with that? However, this statement from the chief architect of the legislation, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), aroused my concerns.

Will new financial regulations prevent future meltdowns?
By Paul Davidson, Paul Wiseman and John Waggoner, USA TODAY
Congress, in a pointed response to a historic economic downturn, is expected to pass a massive overhaul of financial regulations that would touch nearly every layer of the nation's economy - from home buyers and merchants to giant investment banks.
Now for the $700 billion question: Will it prevent the next meltdown?
No one doubts its ambitions. The nearly 2,000-page measure, finalized late last week by a House-Senate committee, is a legislative Veg-o-matic. Among other things, it aims to better protect consumers, tighten the reins on financial institutions and stop rewarding executives for taking reckless risks to fatten their quarterly earnings and bonuses.

Lawmakers guide Dodd-Frank bill for Wall Street reform into homestretch
By David Cho, Jia Lynn Yang and Brady Dennis - WashingtonPost.com
Nearly two years after tremors on Wall Street set off a historic economic downturn, congressional leaders greenlighted a bill early Friday that would leave the financial industry largely intact but facing a more powerful network of regulators who could impose limits on risky activities.
The final bill took shape after a 20-hour marathon negotiation between House and Senate leaders seeking to reconcile their separate versions. The legislation puts a lot of faith in the watchful eye of regulators to prevent another financial crisis. New agencies would police consumer lending, the invention of financial products and the trading of exotic securities known as derivatives. Bank supervisors would have the power to seize large, troubled financial firms whose collapse could threaten the entire system. The bill calls for banks to hold more money in reserve to weather economic storms but leaves the details to regulators.

Celente: The US is run by Wall Street

Some See a Tough Law, Others Little Change
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Financial companies, analysts and politicians began sorting through the repercussions of the agreement that lawmakers reached early Friday to overhaul financial regulations.
"Much of this new law should help to restore and maintain confidence in U.S. financial markets, including several important provisions such as the establishment of a systemic risk regulator, resolution authority and a new federal fiduciary standard for retail investors,"the chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Tim Ryan, said in a statement. "But this is a tough law that will also have profound effects on the operations and cost structure of most financial services companies and financial markets."

Gold - the optimal investment in deflation and inflation
History shows that gold is an excellent performer in both inflationary and deflationary economic scenarios.
Author: Ronald Stoeferle - - MineWeb.co.za
VIENNA (ERSTE BANK) - The central question of whether the next few years will be dominated by inflation or deflation still remains unanswered. In periods of inflation, tangible assets are the preferred asset class, whereas in times of deflation, cash is king. Gold is liquid, divisible, indestructible, and can be easily transported. It has a worldwide market and there is no default risk associated with it, which means it is cash of the highest quality. Therefore gold is the optimal investment both in deflation and inflation.

Gold in the context of the financial crisis
In another article from the Erste Bank 2010 report on gold, Ronald Stoeferle looks at the metal in respect to the current financial crisis and draws parallels from history
Author: Ronald Stoeferle - MineWeb.co.za
VIENNA (ERSTE BANK) - The paradox is the trigger of the crisis, i.e. too cheap money, is now being treated as its medicine. This could be regarded as an absurdity of historical proportions. Three years ago probably nobody would have expected the Federal Reserve to take USD 1,250 worth of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) onto its balance sheet. This is certainly not a step that would be beneficial to building confidence in paper money- and neither are the countless desperate stimulus and bailout packages of the past few years. On the other hand this represents a clear argument in favour of gold and should thus ensure a positive environment for gold investment.

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Obama's Impeachable Offenses Mount
Alex Jones Tv 1/3

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Obama's Impeachable Offenses Mount
Alex Jones Tv 2/3

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Obama's Impeachable Offenses Mount
Alex Jones Tv 3/3

From Card Fees to Mortgages, a New Day for Consumers
By RON LIEBER and TARA SIEGEL BERNARD
At last, it's settled.
After months of haggling, the terms of financial reform are set, so long as both houses of Congress vote to accept them in the coming days.
While elected officials spent much of their time working out the details of regulating complex derivatives and grappling with whether banks ought to make big bets with their own money, they also set a number of new rules that will directly affect consumers.

Arizona Gov: Most Illegal Immigrants Smuggling Drugs
By Paul Davenport, Associated Press - CNSNews.com
Phoenix (AP) - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday most illegal immigrants entering Arizona are being used to transport drugs across the border. Brewer said the motivation of "a lot" of the illegal immigrants is to enter the United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into duty as drug "mules."
"I believe today, under the circumstances that we're facing, that the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in," Brewer said.

Group meets for SOS to Congress
PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL
A group of 700 people from the Valley's business and political community sent a message to Congress Sunday morning, asking them for comprehensive immigration reform.
The group, meeting in response to the ongoing backlash from the state's newly passed immigration law, met in the Heard Museum parking lot in Phoenix and spelled out "SOS Congress."

Many Legislators Aim to Copy Arizona Immigration Law
By John Miller, Associated Press - CNSNews.com
Boise, Idaho (AP) - Arizona's sweeping new immigration law doesn't even take effect until next month, but lawmakers in nearly 20 other states are already clamoring to follow in its footsteps.
Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are singing the law's praises, as are some lawmakers in other states far from the Mexico border such as Idaho and Nebraska. But states also are watching legal challenges to the new law, and whether boycotts over it will harm Arizona's economy.

Obama Internet kill switch plan approved by US Senate
By Grant Gross - TechWorld.com
President could get power to turn off Internet
A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.
Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website.

--------- Privatization of municipal assets -----------

What Do Greece, California, Portugal and Illinois Have in Common?
Leonard Gilroy - Governing.com
Answer: They all made CMA's top-10 list of governments with the highest sovereign debt default risk. In order, the loser list (along with today's probability of default) is:

• #1 Greece (68.67%)
• #2 Venezuela (58.35%)
• #3 Argentina (48.39%)
• #4 Pakistan (38.85%)
• #5 Ukraine (35.54%)
• #6 Dubai/Emirate of (29.07%)
• #7 Iraq (28.91%)
• #8 California/State of (25.13%)
• #9 Portugal (25.03%)
• #10 Illinois/State of (24.63%)

US state budget crises threaten social fabric
By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles - FT.com
The small southern California city of Maywood has hit on a unique solution to its budget crisis. Crushed by the recession and falling tax revenues, the city is disbanding its police force and firing all public sector employees.
Maywood has opted for an extreme solution, by contracting out all public services, including the most basic, to save cash. But it is not alone.
States around the US are cutting costs wherever possible as they prepare budgets for the fiscal year that starts this week for most of them. Their combined deficit is projected to reach $112bn by June 2011.

Amid Fiscal Pressures, States Move to Privatize Workers Compensation Programs
POSTED BY LEONARD GILROY - Governing.com
Ongoing fiscal pressures are prompting policymakers to pursue a wide variety of government streamlining strategies to cut costs. One of the less visible -- but nonetheless intriguing -- subcurrents of this streamlining trend involves moves in several states to get government out of the workers compensation insurance business.
For example, last month, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Senate Bill 1045, which sets in motion the privatization of SCF Arizona, the state's workers compensation fund. The bill requires SCF Arizona to become a mutual insurance company, regulated by state insurance officials, by January 2013. SCF Arizona is the largest workers' compensation insurance carrier in the state, covering 40,000 state businesses and receiving $191.8 million in direct premiums written last year. SB 1045 passed with strong, bipartisan votes in each chamber (House 37-19, Senate 26-1).

The great sell-off: Chicago auctions city assets
By Mark Guarino - CSMonitor.com
The city is auctioning private assets to the highest bidder. But private ownership of parking meters stirs a backlash.
No city in America beats Chicago when it comes to selling public assets - garages, bridges, even parking meters - and contracting with private companies to supply traditional public services.Over the past five years, the Windy City under Mayor Richard M. Daley has sold or leased out public institutions such as the Chicago Skyway ($1.83 billion), underground garages beneath Grant and Millennium Parks ($563 million), and, more recently, city parking meters ($1.15 billion).
That's not exactly chump change, especially for a city still grappling with a $469 million budget shortfall from last year, not to mention an estimated $300 million deficit this year.

Will city sell or shelve closed library materials, real estate?
Books just the beginning of Aurora's decisions on idle assets
By BRANDON JOHANSSON - The Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | The closure of four Aurora libraries - shuttered early this year amid shrinking budgets and after voters rejected a tax hike to keep them open - has left the city's library officials with a daunting task.
What should come of the slew of books, movies, CDs and computers that once stocked the shelves at Iliff Square, Chambers Plaza, Mission Viejo and Hoffman Heights libraries?
"It's been just an immense project, it's taken more time than I thought," said Patti Bateman, the city's director of library and cultural services.
And the work won't end when the books are gone.

Senators Collins, Snowe Found the Money to Bail Out Wall Street
But They Can't Spare a Dime to Keep Cops, Teachers and Nurses Working in Maine? - AFSCME.org
$100,000 Effort from AFSCME, Americans United for Change Urges Maine's Senators to Get Their Priorities Straight and Pass the Jobs Bill
Washington D.C. - AFSCME and Americans United for Change unveiled a joint $100,000 TV ad campaign today calling on Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to get their priorities straight after voting to cut off struggling out-of-work Mainers from unemployment benefits and threatening the jobs of cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers across the state. See script below for "Priorities," which will begin airing on broadcast television Monday in Portland and Bangor.

San Diego Must End Delays and Implement Managed Competition Now
Adam Summers - Governing.com
The following are remarks delivered on June 14, 2010, at a press conference organized by San Diego Councilmember Carl DeMaio to promote a ballot initiative, The Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative, that would force the City of San Diego to implement managed competition reforms to encourage the city to allow private-sector companies to compete for contracts to provide various city services more cheaply and efficiently. Voters overwhelmingly approved a managed competition measure in November 2006 but the city employees' labor unions, fearful of competition and losing contracts to more efficient service providers in the private sector, have effectively stonewalled the implementation of the program for over three and a half years. The press conference took place at the Rancho Bernardo Library, which has seen its hours slashed as the city has been unable to implement the managed competition program, and has resorted to service cuts to balance the budget.

Harrisburg finances: Selling assets is only viable option
Patriot-News Editorial Board - PennLive.com
We agree with Mayor Linda Thompson.
The best plan on the table to get Harrisburg out of its debt crisis is to re-negotiate the payment schedule with creditors and to sell assets.
It's the plan she spelled out at her State of the City address this month in front of several hundred business and community leaders to much applause.
As much as everyone likes to talk about considering 'all the options on the table,' the truth is Harrisburg does not have many options. The ones it has have been apparent for months, if not years.
It boils down to this: Declare bankruptcy and hope for the best in an uncertain legal terrain or sell enough assets to cover the debt.

Chief prepares to sell DWP assets
General Manager Austin Beutner hopes to sell L.A.'s share of a coal-fired generating station in Arizona and is weighing a sale and lease-back deal on the utility's landmark downtown building.
By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
The top executive at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is laying the groundwork for a sale of some of the agency's biggest assets - including the utility's iconic downtown Los Angeles headquarters - as it seeks to cover rising costs without raising electricity rates.
DWP Interim General Manager Austin Beutner said Monday that he would not pursue any additional power rate increases for the remainder of the calendar year. But that decision would come with a series of tradeoffs, he said.

Taking State Parks off the State's Books
By Leonard Gilroy - BaconsRebellion.com
The Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring - established under executive order by Gov. Bob McDonnell - will soon begin the important work of identifying opportunities to streamline, consolidate, privatize or eliminate inefficient or unnecessary services, programs and authorities in Virginia state government. Virginia State Parks should be among the many state services and agencies the Commission ultimately puts under the microscope.

Taking State Parks off the State's Books, Part 2
Leonard Gilroy - Reason.org
Do we need a public sector monopoly on the operation of public lands?
My last column (see "Taking State Parks off the State's Books," 4/14) explored the concept of long-term concessions with private recreation management firms for the operation and maintenance of state parks, generating reader feedback ranging from supportive to skeptical. Such polarization is understandable given that the proposal represents a novel and emerging paradigm in public land management that's altogether different than the norm today, characterized by a public sector monopoly on the operation of public lands.

------- G8 - G20 Summit & global news -------

Obama, world leaders walk fiscal 'tightrope' in Toronto
USAToday.com
Last year in London, world leaders were perched on a dangerous precipice as they faced down a global recession of historic proportions.
Nearly 15 months later in Toronto, they're off the precipice -- and on a "tightrope."
That was the prognosis this morning from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he gaveled leaders of the G-20 major and developing nations into session for a day full of talks focused largely on economics and financial regulation.

G20 summit:
Rifts in Toronto as US warns EU of double-dip recession risk
Patrick Wintour and Larry Elliott in Toronto - guardian.co.uk
Divisions add to financial market jitters, with David Cameron praised by Canadian counterpart for budget to slash deficit
Signs of deep rifts at the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto over how quickly governments should cut deficits added to financial market jitters today, with the Americans warning of the dangers of a double dip recession if all countries started to rein back spending at once.
The leading European economies, especially Germany, are putting a new emphasis on cutting back government spending, and there is a possibility that a G20 communique, due to be released on Sunday , will set out an indicative timetable of how far and fast countries should retrench spending.

Leaders at Summit Turn Attention to Deficit Cuts
By JACKIE CALMES and SEWELL CHAN - NYTimes.com
TORONTO - Despite President Obama's pitch at the summit meeting for developed nations here for continued stimulus measures to prevent another global economic downturn, the United States will go along with other leaders who are more concerned about rising debt and join in a commitment to cut their governments' deficits in half by 2013, administration officials said on Saturday.

Hundreds arrested after G20 protesters riot in Toronto
Mark Tran and agencies - guardian.co.uk
Police detain almost 500 people as masked anarchists break away from peaceful rally to smash storefronts and torch cars
Almost 500 people have been arrested after a group of anarchists torched police cars and smashed storefronts close to the G20 summit in Toronto.
The Toronto Star, citing security officials, reported that 480 people were detained after violence broke out when several hundred masked protesters broke away from a larger, peaceful demonstration yesterday.

George Butler:
Big Money Spent for G8-G20 Summit Security in Toronto

US-Israeli relations suffer 'tectonic rift'
By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem - Telegraph.co.uk
A senior Israeli diplomat has warned that the Jewish state's relationship with the United States has suffered a "tectonic rift".
The sobering assessment comes a week before Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, meets President Barack Obama at the White House.
There had been hope the two could lay to rest a row that erupted between the two allies in March but the new comments have raised fears of long-term damage.
Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told foreign ministry colleagues at a private briefing in Jerusalem that they were facing a long and potentially irrevocable estrangement.
Sources said Mr Oren told the meeting: "There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs. [Instead] relations are in a state of tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart."

US, Russia fail to grip Kyrgyz helm
By M K Bhadrakumar - AsiaTimes
If the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan were to be the litmus test, the United States' "reset" of ties with Russia appears only selectively genuine. Kyrgyzstan is a perfect case for the two powers to agree to tactical cooperation, as there are significant common interests - and yet that is not happening.
The Kyrgyz statehood is dissolving and Sunday's referendum on constitutional reform may only aggravate the crisis and further splinter the ruling class. The Kyrgyz implosion impacts on regional stability, given the drug mafia and the militant Islamists waiting in the wings. Ethnic strife is opening the floodgates.

Dr. John Coleman:
Committee of 300 Staged Atrocities for World Government
Alex Jones Tv 1/4

Dr. John Coleman:
Committee of 300 Staged Atrocities for World Government
a GOAL of NWO - make people dependent upon government
Alex Jones Tv2/4

Dr. John Coleman:
Committee of 300 Staged Atrocities for World Government
Alex Jones Tv 3/4

Dr. John Coleman:
Committee of 300 Staged Atrocities for World Government
Alex Jones Tv 4/4

-------- Gulf Oil News -----------

Alex, first named Atlantic storm, heads for Gulf
PATRICK E. JONES - AP foreign - Guardian.co.uk
BELIZE CITY (AP) - Tropical Storm Alex weakened to a depression Sunday hours after making landfall in this popular tourist destination, but is expected to regain strength in the coming days as it moves out over warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Although Alex could eventually become a hurricane, it is projected to touch down on the Mexican coastline later this week well away from the area where BP PLC is trying to stop a massive oil leak, the U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Don't ignore low-income spill victims, advocates urge BP
By Deborah Barfield Berry, Gannett Washington Bureau - USAToday.com
WASHINGTON - Vicky Townley is waiting to hear whether BP will compensate her for tip income she says she's lost because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
"Things are so slow we're basically living from paycheck to paycheck, which is not very much," said Townley, a bartender in Gulf Shores, Ala., who filed her lost-wages claim three weeks ago.
Before the spill, she said, she earned $60 a day in tips during the summer months, which helped in the long slog to rebound from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

How BP wants to start over in bid to contain Gulf oil spill
By Mark Sappenfield, CSMonitor.com
Even before tropical storm Alex came on the scene, BP wanted to revamp how it collects oil from the leaking well at the center of the Gulf oil spill. Those plans could take shape this week.
Tropical storm Alex comes just as the Coast Guard and BP are preparing to make the oil-collection system at the leaking well on the sea floor more hurricane-ready.
For now, it appears as if Alex will pass far west of the Gulf oil spill. But even before Alex developed, the end of June and the beginning of July was shaping up to be a crucial moment in BP's bid to collect all the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
During the next two to three weeks, BP will make major changes at and above the well. It will bring in a host of new ships to replace those currently on site and radically change the underwater architecture that has captured 15,000 to 25,000 barrels of oil (630,000 to 1 million gallons) daily during much of the past month.

Stuart Varney (on Neil Cavuto) with Ron Paul
setup of President's BP Commission by EO instead of by Congress

Alabama State Troopers Moonlighting as BP Security Guards
Written by Wayne Madsen - OilPrice.com
WMR's sources on the Gulf coast report that BP Security personnel are being augmented by off-duty Alabama state troopers and G4S Wackenhut private security guards. The BP Security personnel ensure that no observers are present on Gulf coast beaches during night time hours when BP contractors scour the beaches and pick up and covertly dispose of dead dolphins, turtles, birds, and other sea animals that wash ashore covered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

Panorama - BP - In Deep Water .2010

Cleanup Hiring Feeds Frustration in Fishing Town
By JOHN LELAND - NYTimes.com
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. - Nine weeks into the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, there is more money in this small, hardscrabble fishing town than there has been in decades, residents say. There are more high-paying workdays, more traffic accidents, more reports of domestic violence, more drug and alcohol use, more resentment, more rumors, more hunger, more worry.

Criminal Investigation of BP Staged Oil Spill Vital

Gulf oil spill: Could 'toxic storm' make beach towns uninhabitable?
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer - CSMonitor.com
Residents fear mass relocations should a hurricane kick the Gulf oil spill onto resort towns. 'Hazmat cards' are a hot commodity among residents, since they could be the key to return.
Orange Beach, Ala.
Ron Greve expects the worst is yet to come in the oil spill drama that is haranguing beach towns all along the US Gulf Coast. So, like a growing number of residents, the Pensacola Beach solar-cell salesman took a hazardous materials class and received a 'hazmat card' upon graduation.
Those cards, says Mr. Greve, could become critical in coming weeks and months. In the case of a hurricane hitting the 250-mile wide slick and pushing it over sand dunes and into beach towns, residents fear they'll face not only mass evacuations, but potential permanent relocation.

Lindsey Williams on The Oil Spill catastrophe
Jeffe Rense 23/06/2010

Coming Soon to a Food Supply Near You
By Nancy Matthis - AmericanDaughter
The toxic chemical dispersant Corexit 9500 was pumped into the Gulf to counter the oil spill. Now it appears to have gassified, entered the atmosphere, and rained down on inland farmers, damaging crops and killing songbirds:
One month ago, on May 24, The European Union Times wrote about a report prepared by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources for President Medvedev - Toxic Oil Spill Rains Warned Could Destroy North America:
A dire report prepared for President Medvedev by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources is warning that the British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico is about to become the worst environmental catastrophe in all of human history threatening the entire eastern half of the North American continent with "total destruction".

Russian Scientists Warn Toxic Rain Could Destroy North America
Due to BP Chemical

Alex Gives His Full Report of The BP Gulf Oil Spill "False Flag" Event
Alex Jones Tv 5/5

----- On a lighter note! -----

Great Spoof on November Elections!
Clint Webb for Senate

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