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Monday 06.18.2012
Russia Announces It Will Send Warships to Syria
By Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
On Friday, the Russian General Staff announced it will send warships from the Black Sea Fleet to the Syrian coast. The deployment will protect the Russian logistics base in Tartus, Syria.
Russia has historically maintained a strong bilateral relationship with Syria. Its only Mediterranean naval base for the Black Sea Fleet is located in the port of Tartus.
"Several warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, including large landing ships with marines aboard, are fully prepared to go on the voyage," the General Staff told Itar-Tass.
US Attempting to Trigger Full Proxy War in Syria
By Tony Cartalucci - Infowars.com
Over the last week, the US has been outright caught lying – admittedly by Pentagon officials, regarding Russian gunships being shipped to Syria. In New York Times' "Copters in Syria May Not Be New, U.S. Officials Say," a senior defense department official admitted when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her fraudulent claim regarding Russian weapon shipments, she "put a little spin on it to put the Russians in a difficult position."
The New York Times continued by stating, "Mrs. Clinton's claim about the helicopters, administration officials said, is part of a calculated effort to raise the pressure on Russia to abandon President Bashar al-Assad, its main ally in the Middle East," indicative of the campaign of propaganda and lies orchestrated by the US State Department, the British Foreign Office, and Western and Gulf State news outlets around the world to demonize both the Syrian government and its extensive allies around the world, contrary to the facts on the ground.
Russia flies anti-air, anti-ship missiles to Assad
as its fleet heads to Tartus
DEBKAfile
Moscow is using the time up until Russian President Vladimir Putin faces US President Barack Obama across the G20 conference table in Los Cabos, Mexico Sunday, June 17 - or in its corridors - to ship sophisticated arms to Syria able to prevent a no-fly zone and a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean port of Tartus.
While Pentagon sources Friday disclosed the approach of a "small contingent" of Russian warships to Tartus, DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources have discovered that heading for the Russian base at this Syrian port is a Russian fleet that includes Ropucha-toad or Project 775 class landing-craft carrying Russian marines. Each craft can carry 250 marine personnel and 500-ton armored vehicles.
And flying overhead are Russian air transports that are touching down at Syrian air bases bearing, according to our sources, a variety of sophisticated munitions for the Syrian army: advanced Russian Pantsyr-S1 anti-air missiles capable of hitting fighter-bombers flying at an altitude of 12 kilometers and cruise missiles; self-propelled medium range anti-air Buk-M2 missiles (NATO codenamed SA-11). They are capable of downing aircraft flying at an altitude of 14 kilometers and Mach 32 speed; and shore-based Bastion anti-ship missiles which can reach vessels sailing 300 kilometers out to sea.
Read more articles about Syria below...
Regulators shut three banks, failures total 31
By Sarah Pringle
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Three U.S. banks were closed Friday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., marking the 29th, 30th, and 31st bank failures of the year. The Farmers Bank of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Tenn., was shut with $163.9 million in assets and $156.4 million in deposits, all of which will be assumed by Knoxville's Clayton Bank and Trust. Security Exchange Bank in Marietta, Ga., was also shut.
Increasing easing hopes,
disruptive political climate should boost Gold: HSBC
CommodityOnline.com
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Gold likely would be a likely beneficiary from an increased probability of additional monetary easing and a disruptive political climate, said HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC), a British multinational bank, in a commodities briefing.
As per Madhut Jha, bank's macroeconomist, economic optimism from earlier this year has been nearly wiped away by recent soft U.S. economic data, increasing the probability of further economic stimulus. The politics and the upcoming Greek elections are having a disruptive impact on financial markets.
From Deflation Push to Inflation Shove
BY JOHN BUTLER - FinancialSense.com
For the third time since 2008, financial markets are pricing in a deflationary rather than inflationary future. The reasons for this are understandable. There is now strong evidence that global economic activity is slowing. The euro-area banking and sovereign debt crisis is worsening. The US is heading towards a so-called 'fiscal cliff' in 2013, implying a recession. And all this is occurring without global GDP having surpassed its pre-2008 peak. Notwithstanding multiple rounds of massive, Keynesian-inspired, theoretically inflationary stimulus, deflationary pressures are building anew. Does this imply that we face a deflationary future? To answer that question, we must study carefully what happened in 2008-09. When the deflationary push came, policymakers responded with an even larger unconventional inflationary shove. Deflationists beware: There is clear evidence that, under an elastic, fiat currency regime, the deflation endgame is, paradoxically, inflationary.
Greek pro-bailout parties secure ruling majority
By Renee Maltezou and Harry Papachristou
(Reuters) - Parties supporting a bailout savingGreece from bankruptcy won a slim parliamentary majority on Sunday, beating radical leftists who rejected austerity and bringing relief to the euro zone which was braced for fresh financial turmoil.
The election result looked likely to yield a coalition government led by conservative New Democracy but leaves an emboldened SYRIZA bloc to rally angry opposition in the streets to the punishing terms of the bailout.
Greece election vote leaves Euro in balance
The fate of the euro was hanging in the balance after a rerun of the Greek elections failed to produce a strong government with a mandate to deliver the country's austerity programme.
By Robert Winnett, Alex Spillius in Athens
and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels - Telegraph.co.uk
Although the New Democracy party won the largest share of the vote, it will have to rely on its discredited socialist rivals Pasok to form a coalition government to accept the bail-out, keeping Greece in the single currency.
Both parties, which have ruled Greece for 38 years, are widely blamed for a crisis that has taken the country to the brink of economic collapse. Between them they won only about 40 per cent of the vote. By contrast, parties that opposed the bail-out increased their share of the vote to over 46 per cent, with Syriza, the radical Leftist coalition that wants to discard the agreement, almost winning outright.
Euro survives weekend...
Euro crisis far from over, stock analysts warn
By PAUL WISEMAN and JOSHUA FREED - AP Business Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A slim victory for the main conservative party in an election in Greece should relax fears that a country will stop using the euro for the first time and possibly unleash global financial turmoil.
But when it comes to Greek politics - and European economic policy - it's never that easy. So the bumpy ride for financial markets isn't over yet.
The conservative New Democracy party, which supports a bailout agreement Greece agreed to earlier this year, appeared to win enough votes Sunday to form a ruling coalition with another pro-bailout party.
OECD chief: new Greek bailout terms may be needed
(Reuters) - Greece should be given a chance to renegotiate the terms of its 130 billion-euro international bailout if it means keeping the country in the euro zone, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Saturday.
Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Paris-based OECD, said if the next Greek government opted to stay in the single currency bloc, it was likely to seek to renegotiate the terms of the European Union/International Monetary Fund rescue.
Greece Races As Cash Dwindles
With Europe Seeking Return To Cuts
By Jonathan Stearns - Bloomberg.com
Greece's two traditional political rivals are in a race to forge an unprecedented coalition as the state's cash dwindles, bank deposits flee and Europe demands renewed austerity pledges before releasing more emergency aid.
Greece will run out of money in mid-July, the Syriza party, which placed second in yesterday's election, said on June 13 after being briefed by Acting Finance Minister Giorgios Zanias. Caretaker Labor and Social Security Minister Antonis Roupakiotis refused to offer assurances pensions will be paid in August, Athens News Agency reported the same day.
IMF says ready to work with Greece on economy
by Lesley Wroughton; writing by William Schomberg
(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund is ready to work with a new Greek government to get the country back to economic growth, a spokesman for the IMF said on Sunday.
Central banks prepare for turmoil after Greek vote
By Eva Kuehnen and Sven Egenter
(Reuters) - Central banks from Tokyo to London checked their ammunition on Friday in preparation for any turmoil from Greece's election, with the European Central Bank hinting at an interest rate cut and Britain set to open its coffers.
Tensions were high about how to manage the euro zone's debt crisis - epitomized by Greece's bankruptcy and need for international aid - and a rare fight broke out between Germany and France, normally the glue that keeps the bloc together.
Pro-Bailout Party Wins Greek Vote
By ALKMAN GRANITSAS And MARCUS WALKER - WSJ.com
ATHENS—Greece's conservatives eked out a slim victory in Sunday's elections, a result opening the door to a coalition government that will try to keep the country in the euro zone by sticking to an international bailout program.
Preliminary results indicated the conservative New Democracy party under Antonis Samaras would become the biggest party in the new Greek Parliament, putting it in a position to lead a pro-bailout government with Mr. Samaras as prime minister.
Pro-bailout party leads in Greek election tally
Banks: Euro-zone bailout funds 'insufficient' to aid large country
By Ronald D. Orol, Robert Daniel, Kate Gibson
and Clare Hutchison, MarketWatch.com
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The pro-bailout New Democracy party is the projected winner of Sunday's critical Greek parliamentary elections, increasing the probability that Greece will remain in the euro zone.
If the conservative political party can hold its lead, it must then form a governing coalition among the other parties on Sunday's ballot..
The projected results are expected to help global financial markets breathe more easily after weeks of uncertainty about Greece and the future of the euro zone. Asian markets were set to open for their Monday session while the votes were being counted in Greece.
Euro Gains As Pro-Bailout New Democracy Wins Greek Poll
By Keith Jenkins and Emma Charlton - Bloomberg.com
The euro strengthened as official projections showed the pro-bailout New Democracy party won the election in Greece, easing concern the country would be forced from the currency bloc.
The 17-nation euro extended last week's 1 percent jump versus the dollar after figures from theInterior Ministry based on 95 percent of the votes showed the party led by Antonis Samaras won 29.8 percent of the vote and secured 129 seats in the 300-seat legislature. Anti-bailout party Syriza gained 26.8 percent and 71 seats, while socialist Pasok, with 12.4 percent, took 33 seats, according to partially counted returns posted on the Athens-based ministry's website today.
Greek socialist head proposes unity govt
By ELENA BECATOROS and DEMETRIS NELLAS - Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The New Democracy party came in first in Greece's election Sunday and immediately proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government - a development that eased, at least briefly, deep fears that the vote would unleash an economic tsunami.
Samaras Begins Bid To Form Greek Coalition To Stave Off Crisis
By Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks - Bloomberg.com
Greek election winner Antonis Samaras begins his second bid in six weeks to form a coalition as euro-area finance chiefs pressured him to form a government that would keep bailout aid flowing.
European officials indicated a willingness to ease the terms of rescue loans as long as Greece, with just weeks of cash in the bank, re-commits to their austerity demands. The prospect that Samaras would lose to anti-bailout leader Alexis Tsipras rattled markets concerned that Greece may quit the 17-nation currency union. The result sent the euro higher.
Greek front-runners vow to stay in euro after elections
Angela Merkel will have to "invent a way" to kick Greece out of the eurozone, a leading Greek politician has claimed, as all political parties promise to renegotiate the country's €130bn (£105bn) bailout agreement after tomorrow's pivotal elections.
By Louise Armitstead in Athens and Richard Blackden in New York - Telegraph.co.uk
George Stathakis, the left-wing MP for Crete who could become finance minister if Syriza clinch the Greek election, said his party intends to "stop at once" several conditions of the bailout.
Mrs Merkel, the German Chancellor, has warned that Greece's membership of the eurozone is dependent on Athens sticking to the terms of the agreement. She underscored this position today, warning that Greece's bailout will not be renegotiated.
Greece will have to leave EMU whoever is elected
The exact circumstances and timing of Greece's ejection from monetary union no longer have any systemic importance for global finance. The damage has already been done. The precedent of EMU break-up is by now priced into the credit markets. Formalising it changes little.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Central banks across the world are standing ready to shower markets with emergency liquidity. A dust-up in Athens is the excuse they need to launch a fresh blitz of stimulus as the global economy flirts with recession once again.
Fed chair Ben Bernanke requires a crisis somewhere to outflank his own hawks and slip another round of quantitative easing (QE) past the Tea Party Congress before the "fiscal cliff" – 4.5pc of GDP in tightening – hits the US economy with a sledgehammer this winter.
Desperate Times Call for Drastic Measures (Update)
BY BOB EISENBEIS - FinancialSense.com
Europe continues to struggle with its banking, structural, and fiscal problems. The market's reaction to Spain's proposed €100 billion bank bailout was short-lived, suggesting that it was not likely to fix the banking problems. At the same time, the Irish positive vote on the fiscal treaty and ECB president Draghi's comments have sent strong messages about the need to become more integrated and united. Recapitalizing banks and establishing both fiscal balance and commitment to it are essential components for ensuring the viability of the European Monetary Union (EMU). But they certainly will not in themselves solve the problems. Rather, budget balance is but one of a series of structural and banking changes that will be required. Desperate times sometimes require radical, out-of-the-box solutions. What follows is one roadmap that could put Europe on a path to financial and fiscal stability.
Greece Races As Cash Dwindles
With Europe Seeking Return To Cuts
By Jonathan Stearns - Bloomberg.com
Greece's two traditional political rivals are in a race to forge an unprecedented coalition as the state's cash dwindles, bank deposits flee and Europe demands renewed austerity pledges before releasing more emergency aid.
Greece will run out of money in mid-July, the Syriza party, which placed second in yesterday's election, said on June 13 after being briefed by Acting Finance Minister Giorgios Zanias. Caretaker Labor and Social Security Minister Antonis Roupakiotis refused to offer assurances pensions will be paid in August, Athens News Agency reported the same day.
Central Banks Warn Greek-Led Euro Stress Threatens World
By Simon Kennedy - Bloomberg.com
Central banks intensified warnings that Europe's failure to tame its debt crisis threatens to roil the world's financial markets and economy as Greece's election in two days looms as the next flashpoint for investors.
Monetary policy makers from the U.K. to Japan and Canada sounded the alert about potential fallout from the single currency bloc's troubles. They spoke as Group of 20 leaders prepare to meet in Mexico next week amid the weakest international economy since the 2009 recession, with a video call for European heads of government scheduled for today.
Spain PM pleads for political, fiscal union in Europe
(Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made a plea on Saturday for greater political and fiscal union in Europe, urging Greeks to stick with the euro as they gear up for an election whose outcome will shape the single currency's future.
Saying Spain's business, banks and regional governments were struggling to finance themselves at current high borrowing costs, he urged Europe to integrate its banking system more closely, although he did not go into details.
Spain Bank Rescue Was Bungled, World Bank's Zoellick Says
By Sandrine Rastello - Bloomberg.com
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that financial-market reaction to the rescue plan forSpain's banks shows that it was bungled.
The announcement of a 100 billion-euro bailout for Spain failed to stop a rise in Spain's borrowing costs to a euro-era record last week.
With some $125 billion deployed, "to have that being a negative story is amazing," Zoellick told a panel discussion in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos today. "It's because the execution was extremely poor."
Embattled Euro: A Work in Progress, or Doomed for Failure?
By Matt Egan - FOXBusiness.com
As the financial world holds its breath ahead of Greece's pivotal elections this weekend, some believe it's time to write the obituary on the grand monetary experiment known as the euro.
Can you blame them? After all, the scary financial crisis is threatening the eurozone's very existence, forcing companies and policymakers to discuss the once unthinkable exit of one or more countries.
In France, Hollande's Socialist Party
secures parliamentary majority in elections
By Edward Cody - WashingtonPost.com
PARIS — President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party coasted to a comfortable parliamentary majority in France's legislative elections Sunday, appearing to guarantee passage of his proposals designed to reinvigorate the economy and help the poor more easily weather Europe's stubborn debt crisis.
The Socialist victory, complementing Hollande's election as president in May, avoided the deadlock that would have occurred had a blocking majority gone to the conservative Union for a Popular Movement, the coalition of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Reinforcing Hollande's authority at home, the majority strengthens his hand in tense negotiations with Germany over ways to relieve pressure against the euro, the common currency of 17 European nations.
Peripheral Damage Goes Global, Part III
By Michael Moran - Slate.com
What will the latest act in Europe's Greek tragedy do to America? Is the United States"exceptional" in its immunity to this chaos? Is the world's most powerful democracy able to handle the fallout from the evisceration of the world's first democracy? More mundanely put—has the slow, tepid U.S. recovery provided enough of a cushion to prevent America from being dragged back into a recession by the domino effect that a Grexit will set in motion?
No, and yes. Here's my logic. First, America's economic problems are predominately political, not based on poor fundamentals. We remain a world-beater in terms of industrial efficiency, worker productivity, innovation, and ease of doing business (though we're slipping in the last).
Obama Heads To G-20 With Few Tools To Stem Euro Crisis
By Julianna Goldman and Mike Dorning - Bloomberg.com
When President Barack Obama meets with leaders of the world's largest economies next week, he'll confront one of the biggest threats to his re-election.
Europe's sovereign debt crisis, which Obama has called the "cloud" hanging over the U.S. economy, will be the central topic for the Group of 20 nations summit next week in Los Cabos, Mexico. Yet U.S. officials said they don't expect the meeting to result in significant progress toward a resolution.
Europe Gets Emerging Market Crisis Ultimatum As G-20 Meet
By Aki Ito and Sandrine Rastello - Bloomberg.com
European leaders attending the Group of 20 summit in Mexico received an ultimatum to stop stoking market uncertainty and step up their fight against the financial crisis posing the biggest threat to the world economy.
While China pressed world leaders to provide a signal of "confidence" to markets, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned today that the turmoil in the 17-nation euro area was spilling over to Southeast Asia's largest economy and threatened to drive up oil prices.
U.S. economy downshifts to lower gear
Raft of indicators weaken, more of same expected this week
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy has clearly slowed. What's far less clear is how long the soft patch will last — or whether it turns into a quagmire.
The negative signals are everywhere, most recently in the latest downbeat figures on retail spending, manufacturing production and consumer confidence. See charts of most recent economic data.
This week's light batch of data surely won't reverse the trend.
Investors will mainly focus on the ongoing crisis in Europe and the reaction of the Federal Reserve when the central bank meets on Wednesday. There's a growing sense among economists the Fed will take additional steps to try to boost growth, a notion that most viewed as unlikely just a few weeks ago.
Markets and Governments are Rolling the Dice
BY SY HARDING - FinancialSense.com
Global markets had been plunging since March on worries about the dangerous eurozone debt and banking crisis and its threat to global economies.
But over the last two weeks they've been rallying quite impressively, even as the crisis in Europe has taken another frightening turn for the worse, and as tomorrow's Greek election neared, with its outcome just as critical and uncertain as before.
The driving force of the rally is obviously that the worse the situation becomes the greater the hope that massive rescue efforts will have to be forthcoming. And with the additional evidence this week of how rapidly the tragedy of Greece is spiraling toward Spain and perhaps even Italy, next week has been determined by analysts as the make-or-break week.
2nd set of books hides a lot of money...
CAFR tax surplus trillions:
L.A. County Sheriff's first official response: denial
by Carl Herman - Washington's Blog
I spoke on the phone with Los Angeles County Senior Media Advisor Steve Whitmore. Below is the e-mail I sent to Mr. Whitmore that shows the L.A. County Sheriff's first response:
Mr. Whitmore:
This e-mail:
• Documents our phone conversation today,
• provides you the evidence I find of criminal acts by officials at L.A. County and the State of California,
• and requests answers to questions regarding my criminal complaint. I have been directed to you with a criminal complaint, and expect whatever rights and promptness is customary promise from my having followed the instructions from my local Sheriff station and you. Please acknowledge receipt of this e-mail and when I can expect an official response.
The content of our conversation regarding a criminal complaint are published, with reposts of some of my articles that exceed ten million views (look here, here, here to start, overall CAFR articles here). I'd very much like to report a story of competence and justice under the law, Mr. Whitmore. And that said, I promise to report on exactly whatever I receive.
Federal Reserve Board Members
Gave Their Own Banks $4 Trillion in Bailouts
By Noel Brinkerhoff - AllGov.com
Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve provided more than $4 trillion in near zero-interest loans and other help to banks and businesses whose executives also served as directors for the national bank.
At least 18 current and former Fed regional bank directors had a direct stake in the trillion-dollar bailout given to teetering institutions, according to a report produced by theGovernment Accountability Office, but released by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).
Donning our Parachutes
BY FREDERICK J SHEEHAN - FinancialSense.com
We know the drill. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) will meet on June 19 and June 20, 2012. On June 30, the Fed is scheduled to retire "Operation Twist" (selling shorter-term U.S. government bonds and buying longer-term U.S. Treasuries). The talk is whether the Fed will extend Twist, replace it with Operation Boom, or do nothing.
The "pro" positions will make the most noise since rooting for bubbles is Wall Street's job. The media observes its customary reverence for ensconced strategists and economists, who will parody the interests of Bubble TV's advertisers. The "cons" include: (1) a reluctant FOMC (word has it that Bernanke wants full-throated, or voted, support from the FOMC), (2) a meandering economy (not popularly thought to be in a recession), and (3) "He's run out of bullets."
3 Things Jamie Dimon Doesn't Understand About Banking
By Alex Dumortier, CFA - TheMotleyFool.com
There are many things that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) CEO Jamie Dimon doesunderstand about banking -- in fact, I continue to believe he is one of the top banking CEOs out there. However, some fundamental -- and very dangerous -- dysfunctions remain common practice in the banking industry, and it doesn't seem like Dimon has understood this (which isn't all that surprising for a career banker who's had a marvelously successful career). Here are three problem areas I spotted in reviewing his congressional testimony on Wednesday.
Pension fund makes some Texas-size bets
By Gillian Wee - WashingtonPost.com
After working for almost two decades as a money manager, Britt Harris, at 45, was what most people would consider a success. Bridgewater Associates's Ray Dalio and Bob Prince had just tapped him to be chief executive of the world's largest hedge fund.
A father of four, Harris also found time to coach his kids' baseball teams and teach Bible classes at his church. Still, something was gnawing at him. "I didn't sleep for one night," the Texas native recalled. "I didn't sleep for a week. Then, after not having slept for three months, I told Bob and Ray I wanted to resign."
Uninsured Angst Rises As $1,000 Premiums Loom On Ruling
By Alex Nussbaum and Shannon Pettypiece - Bloomberg.com
Barack Obama's political fortunes may hang on the U.S. Supreme Court's view of his health-care law. For Joy Waldon, the stakes add up to a quarter of her paycheck and some peace of mind.
A heart defect and a history of melanoma make it imperative for the 56-year-old New Yorker to find an insurance plan to replace coverage that runs out at the end of June. With the best option so far costing $1,000 a month, Waldon says her hope lies in the health law's subsidies, online marketplaces and other benefits that are supposed to kick in by 2014.
Legal challenge tests already-accepted changes in health care
By Jordan Rau - WashingtonPost.com
Often overlooked in the Supreme Court challenge to the health-care law are changes that hospitals, doctors and insurers had been moving toward even before the law was passed in 2010.
Some of these could be halted if the court throws out the Affordable Care Act, or hobbled if the justices excise parts of it, experts say.
The changes include increasing the role of primary care, especially for low-income patients; forcing hospitals and doctors to work together closely; and reducing pay to hospitals if they don't meet patients' expectations or outcome benchmarks set by the government.
On eve of health ruling,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg predicts 'sharp disagreement'
By KYLE CHENEY - Politico.com
With a wry smile, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg laid waste Friday to all those rumors about the fate of the Affordable Care Act in the Supreme Court.
"Those who know don't talk. And those who talk don't know," she quipped Friday night at a conference hosted by the American Constitution Society at the Capital Hilton.
Ginsburg said she was responding to a "steady stream of rumors and fifth-hand accounts" about the court's deliberations on the law.
Washington state provides case study
on effects of heath-care reform
By Sarah Kliff - WashingtonPost.com
If the Supreme Court overturns the health-care reform law's individual mandate — a decision that could come as soon as Monday — it won't be totally unknown territory. For Washington state, it would be quite familiar.
In 1993, Washington state passed a law guaranteeing all residents access to private health-care insurance, regardless of their health, and requiring them to purchase coverage.
The state legislature, however, repealed that last provision two years later. With the guaranteed-access provisions still standing, the state saw premiums rise and enrollment drop, as residents purchased coverage only when they needed it. Health insurers fled the state and, by 1999, it was impossible to buy an individual plan in Washington — no company was selling.
Death of a Ringtone: The Rise and Fall of Nokia
It defined the look and tech of the early mobile boom. Now Finland's most famous company is powering down.
By Jordan Weissmann - TheAtlantic.com
Not so long ago, the 13-note ringtone of a Nokia handset was the de facto soundtrack of the mobile revolution. The world's largest cell phone maker for more than a decade, the company was a leading innovator in both design and technology that helped bring wireless life to American high schoolers and rural Africans alike.
These days, though, it seems as if that iconic jingle is in danger of being switched to silent. Nokia announced yesterday that it would cut 10,000 jobs following one of its worst quarterly results in company history. Moody's has downgraded its bond to junk status. Samsung passed it in sales last month. And Business Insider's Henry Blodget had begun speculating that Nokia might face bankruptcy in the near future.
Americans hanging on after recession claims their wealth
By Adam Geller-Associated Press - WashingtonTimes.com
Looking back, the financial lives many Americans enjoyed until just a few years ago can seem like a mirage.
On a suburban cul-de-sac northwest of Atlanta, Michael and Patricia Jackson are struggling to keep a house worth $100,000 less than they owe. In a small town in West Virginia, Michael Bobic, who last year lost his job as a college professor, sells Star Trek collectibles on eBay to get by.
Their voices and those of many others tell the story of a country that, for all the economic turmoil of the past few years, continues to believe things will get better. But until it does, families are trying to hang on to what they've got left.
Winds Set to Fan Destructive Colorado Fire
AP - WSJ.com
DENVER—Crews in northern Colorado braced for powerful fire-fanning winds as they battled a blaze that has scorched about 85 square miles of mountainous forest land and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history.
The destructiveness of the High Park Fire, burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins, surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.
Mitt Romney's Plan To Unite Evangelicals:
Pretend He's Rick Santorum
By EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO - TalkingPointsMemo.com
Mitt Romney has a simple plan to appeal to evangelicals: he pretends he's Rick Santorum.
The projected Republican nominee, who once chastised Santorum on the primary campaign trail for offering the base cheap thrills with "incendiary comments," now likes to mimic Santorum when he speaks to evangelicals, a group still somewhat wary of their nominee.
What does it sound like? A promise to fix the economy by reinforcing the importance of the heterosexual family unit to an American population that has gone astray.
Dozens Imprisoned for Violating
Non-Existent Federal Gun Control Law
By Matt Bewig - AllGov.com
Federal prosecutors in North Carolina have been aware for nearly a year that dozens of North Carolinians currently incarcerated in federal prisons should not be there, but they have done next to nothing to help them, and in at least once case are actually trying to prevent an innocent man's release, according to an investigation by USA Today.
This bizarre, Kafkaesque, nightmare arose over the past nine years, as federal courts in North Carolina misapplied a federal law making gun possession a crime for felons whose prior conviction carried a potential sentence of more than one year in prison. In 1993, North Carolina adopted a new, unique system called "structured sentencing," which makes potential sentences depend on the individual defendant's prior criminal record. Thus for the same past crime, two defendants with different criminal records might face very different potential sentences. Nevertheless, for years federal courts ruled that if the potential sentence for a past crime was more than a year for any defendant, then every defendant who committed that crime was legally barred from possessing a gun, and could be convicted of a federal crime and sentenced to federal prison for that.
America, Welcome to the Fourth Reich
SARTRE - BATR.org
American Fascism did not start with World War II. Before Operation Paperclip, the codename under which the US intelligence and military services extricated scientists from Germany, during and after the final stages of the conflict, the annals of internal despotism were well established. With the open door policy for German engineering, the political ideology of state worship was bound to travel across the Atlantic.
The Pampas of Argentina or the backwaters of Paraguay were the preferred location for those who openly professed their reprehensible loyalty to the Führer principle. However, do not blame all those ex-Nazis for selecting the shores of the Americas for their new domicile, their seeds were planted long ago in the offices of Wall and Broad Streets. Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will saga shares more, than what one wants to admit, about the dark side of American History.
Governor Brownback's Reformed Kansas
Could Have Missouri Singing The Blues
By Rex Sinquefield, Contributor - Forbes.com
A recent article covering Red Kansas and the leadership of Governor Sam Brownback, lays out a new trajectory for a Midwestern state that has decided to take Texas' lead on tax policy, rather than that of California. Last month, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback turned the tide on Kansas tax policy, delivering on his legislative promise to ignite what the Wall Street Journal referred to as "the Heartland Tax Rebellion."
His new system reduces personal income tax brackets from three-tiers to two-tiers, cuts the overall rates for each new bracket and lowers certain small business non-wage income from state income tax.
Obama's policy strategy: Ignore laws
By STEVE FRIESS - Politico.com
President Barack Obama returned Friday to a trusted tactic — satisfying his political allies by not doing something.
Conservatives were angry when Janet Napolitano announced the administration would stop deporting certain undocumented immigrants, but they should have seen it coming. On issue after issue — gay rights, drug enforcement, Internet gambling, school achievement standards — the administration has chosen to achieve its goals by a method best described as passive-aggressive.
Rather than pushing new laws through a divided Congress to enact his agenda, Obama is relying on federal agencies to ignore, or at least not defend, laws that some of his important supporters — like Hispanic voters and the gay community — don't like.
10 Things That Will Happen If Barack Obama
Continues To Systematically Legalize Illegal Immigration
By Michael Snyder - EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Barack Obama seems completely obsessed with systematically legalizing illegal immigration. The United States borders a failed narco-state that is one of the most crime-ridden nations on the entire planet, but Barack Obama refuses to secure the border and the consequences for the American people have been absolutely catastrophic. Right now it is already costing us tens of billions of dollars a year to provide welfare for illegal immigrants and to educate their children in our public schools. Right now illegal immigrants are already working millions of jobs that should belong to American workers. Right now Mexican drug cartels are already active in more than 1,000 U.S. cities. But apparently that is not good enough for Barack Obama. He wants to roll out the red carpet and give the green light to tens of millions more illegal immigrants. Last year, Obama issued a list of 19 factors for government officials to use when deciding whether to use "prosecutorial discretion" in deportation cases. In essence, under that new set of rules criminals and "national security threats" were to be deported and virtually everyone else was to be allowed to stay. But now Barack Obama has taken things to a whole new level. Now, if you are under the age of 30, came to the United States under the age of 16 and have lived here for at least five years you will be able to apply for legal status and a work permit. With the election less than 6 months away it is obvious that Barack Obama is pandering for votes. But this kind of "banana republic politics" is only going to divide America even more deeply and is going to result in some very serious pain for this nation in the years ahead.
Canadian housing market headed for a correction, BoC says
Central bank warns country remains vulnerable
to euro zone fallout
By Randall Palmer, Reuters - VancouverSun.com
OTTAWA - Canada's financial system remains highly vulnerable to a further deepening of the European debt crisis and to a correction in the housing market, which is showing some overvaluation, the Bank of Canada said on Thursday.
In its semi-annual Financial System Review, the bank said that while Canada's financial system is still robust, the overall risks to it are high, at the second-highest of the four risk levels the bank has delineated. That level is the same as in December, but the bank noted that in the interval conditions in Europe had improved early this year but then deteriorated again.
No more cheap Chinese goods?
Rising Chinese incomes could challenge U.S. consumers and disrupt global supply chains. A review of Shaun Rein's The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World.
By Nin-Hai Tseng - Fortune,com
FORTUNE -- China has long been known as the world's factory because of its seemingly endless supply of cheap workers, who churn out everything from shoes to toys to iPads. While low wages certainly helped the East Asian giant become the world's second largest economy, China's labor economics are changing rapidly.
In The End of Cheap China, Shaun Rein starts with the familiar premise that rising Chinese incomes could end cheap consumption for Americans and disrupt global supply chains. He then asserts that rising economic optimism in China will drive higher standards of living. Chinese workers will demand higher wages, while consumers will want higher quality goods.
Saudi Arabia Succession Set In Motion
With Death Of Crown Prince
By Glen Carey - Bloomberg.com
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, buried Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, raising the issue of succession in the kingdom for the second time in less than a year.
Nayef, who also served as interior minister for more than three decades, was interred yesterday in Mecca in an unmarked grave, as stipulated by the Sunni Wahhabi version of Islam. King Abdullah, who is in his late 80s, attended the ceremony.
Vladimir Putin Nemesis of the New World Order
SARTRE - BATR.org
Mother Russia is a much different country from the Stalin gulags. With all the faults of a long tradition of authoritarian rule, it is natural for observers in the West to be suspect of the latest would be Czar. The remnants of the cold war linger with concerns of the true motives and goals of a second Vladimir Putin era. By most reliable accounts, he never left the power circle prior to his return as President. Upon his latest election, The Guardian published an article Putin's election victory is a headache for the west. "Nobody is any doubt that the Putin who returns to the Kremlin in May is the same Putin who has effectively run Russia for the past 12 years – prickly, uncompromising, suspicious and fond of snide remarks about western hypocrisy and double standards."
U.N. demands evacuation of Syrian civilians in Homs
By Diaa Hadid - AP - WashingtonTimes.com
BEIRUT (AP) — The head of the U.N. observers mission in Syriademanded Sunday that warring parties allow the evacuation of women, children, and elderly and sick people endangered by the fighting in the besieged city of Homs and other combat zones.
Maj. Gen. Robert Mood of Norway said the observers had been trying for the past week to extricate civilians and the wounded from the central city of Homs but had failed because neither government troops nor the rebels were willing to hold their fire.
'Bound for Syria' Russian warship remains unloaded in port
RT.com
The Russian warship which was reported as moving towards Syria with a unit of commando troops, is at its home port on the Black Sea, Ukraine's Sevastopol.
The US media cited intelligence sources as saying last Sunday that the landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov was traveling to the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria. The vessel was said to be carrying arms and a unit of amphibious commando troops, who would be used to secure the Russian base in the troubled country from a possible attack.
The vessel, however, is still in Sevastopol, the home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, as a journalist from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti witnessed. The ship is not even loaded, as apparent by its draft, the report says.
The agency cites a naval officer familiar with the situation as saying that Nikolay Filchenkov has remained in this position since June 8.
US enlists Britain's help to stop ship
'carrying Russian attack helicopters' to Syria
The US government has enlisted Britain's help in a bid to stop a ship suspected of carrying Russian attack helicopters and missiles to conflict-riven Syria, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
By Ruth Sherlock, in Washington, Roland Oliphant in Moscow
and Colin Freeman - Telegraph.co.uk
The MV Alaed, a Russian-operated cargo vessel, is currently thought to be sailing through the North Sea after allegedly picking up a consignment of munitions and MI25 helicopters - known as "flying tanks" - from the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad.
Washington, which last week condemned Moscow for continuing to arm the Syrian regime, has asked British officials to help stop the Alaed delivering its alleged cargo by using sanctions legislation to force its London-based insurer to withdraw its cover.
Pentagon finishes contingency plans for Syria invasion
RT.com
Officials with the US Department of Defense have confirmed that the Pentagon has finalized procedures that outline how American forces could soon combat the government of war-torn Syria and officially involve itself in that state's bloody uprising.
After months of rumors suggesting that the US has unofficially made efforts to weaponize rebel forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, officials with the Defense Department tell CNN that the Pentagon has finished drafting blueprints that lay-out just how the US military could aid in ousting the leader with America's own troops.
Obama's six-point plan for Global War
By Nick Turse - ATimes.com
It looked like a scene out of a Hollywood movie. In the inky darkness, men in full combat gear, armed with automatic weapons and wearing night-vision goggles, grabbed hold of a thick, woven cable hanging from a MH-47 Chinook helicopter. Then, in a flash, each "fast-roped" down onto a ship below. Afterwards, "Mike," a Navy SEAL who would not give his last name, bragged to an army public affairs sergeant that when they were on their game, the SEALs could put 15 men on a ship this way in 30 seconds or less.
Once on the aft deck, the special ops troops broke into squads and methodically searched the ship as it bobbed in Jinhae Harbor, South Korea. Below deck and on the bridge, the commandos located several men and trained their weapons on them, but nobody fired a shot. It was, after all, a training exercise.
Obama's Drift Toward War With Iran
By Robert Wright - TheAtlantic.com
The most undercovered story in Washington is how President Obama, under the influence of election-year politics, is letting America drift toward war with Iran. This story is the unseen but ominous backdrop to next week's Moscow round of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
The basic story line, pretty well known inside the beltway, is simple: There are things Obama could do to greatly increase the chances of a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, but he seems to have decided that doing them would bring political blowback that would reduce his chances of re-election.
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