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 (Jul 30 2010) - Patriot Post : Federal Assault on Liberty
WASH D.C. -- Yesterday's federal court decision to enjoin enforcement of the Arizona immigration law is the latest example of a virtually unchecked renegade federal government waging war against the states and against the liberties of its citizens.
We've seen that Obama will exercise any power he can get away with, from strong-arming secured creditors and favoring unions as he gobbled up automakers to making a mockery of due process with his Oval Office shakedown of BP. But he might have reached a new low with his assaults on the sovereignty of the people of Arizona.
(Jul 29 2010) - Washington Post : Obama & FBI want more access
WASH D.C. -- The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism ... OR ... intelligence investigation.
The administration wants to add just four words -- "electronic communication transactional records" -- to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge's approval.
(Jul 29 2010) - Financial Post : Exxon profit tops Wall Street
HOUSTON -- Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a better-than-expected 2nd quarter profit on Thursday, as oil prices and margins to process crude into fuel rebounded from a year earlier and production rose. Conditions in the refining sector have improved in recent months, with business and consumer demand for diesel and gasoline rebounding.
Crude oil prices have also climbed about 30% from a year ago, another factor that's contributed to higher profits in the 2nd quarter for oil companies.
(Jul 28 2010) - Denver Post : Mexico touts drug arrests ...
CIUDAD JUAREZ -- It's practically a daily ritual: Accused drug traffickers and assassins, shackled and bruised from beatings, are paraded before the news media to show that Mexico is winning its drug war. Once the television lights dim, however, about three-quarters of them are let go.
Even as President Felipe Calderon's government touts its arrest record, cases built by prosecutors and police under huge pressure to make swift captures unravel from lack of evidence.
(Jul 27 2010) - Activist Post : 7 ways we're being poisoned
WORLD -- The objectivism of the scientific method seems to have been hijacked by corporations who often pay for scientists to support their products, as well as politicians who move through the revolving door between the private and public sector. Even worse is that sometimes the consumer protection agencies themselves are complicit.
The trust placed by consumers in scientific studies and Federal oversight committees has been violated ...
(Jul 26 2010) - Washington Post : Freedom of photography
WASH.D.C. -- Courts have long ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of citizens to take photographs in public places. Even after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement agencies have reiterated that right in official policies.
But in practice, those rules don't always filter down to police officers and security guards who continue to restrict photographers, often citing authority they don't have. Almost nine years after the terrorist attacks, which ratcheted up security at government properties and transportation hubs, anyone photographing federal buildings, bridges, trains or airports runs the risk of being seen as a potential terrorist.
(Jul 26 2010) - Minnesota Post : Clawing back from Ponzi schemes
MINNESOTA -- Earlier this week, friends and relatives of self-styled Twin Cities investment guru Trevor Cook learned that money they made from his nearly $200 million Ponzi scheme is subject to something called "clawback." The legal process of recovering profits from illegal activity is well established, but until the massive financial frauds of the last two years, most people probably never heard the term.
(Jul 25 2010) - Financial Post : PAY OFF YOUR DEBT ...
CANADA -- One of the biggest challenges Canadians face is trying to balance paying down debt while saving for the future. Deciding when it makes sense to do either is about considering the effects of compound interest - when it is working for you and when it is working against you. With debt, time and compounding are working against you.
(Jul 24 2010) - Birmingham Post : Lockerbie bomber's release 'wrong'
SCOTLAND -- The release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was "wrong and misguided", Foreign Secretary William Hague has said in a letter to US senators. But he accepted it was "legally and constitutionally proper" that the decision was one for the Scottish Government.
Mr Hague also said several discussions were held between then foreign secretary Jack Straw and oil giant BP ahead of a controversial prisoner transfer agreement being agreed with Libya in 2007.
(Jul 23 2010) - India Post : Holbrooke bid to placate India
NEW DELHI -- US Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke made an unscheduled visit here to allay India's fears that US support for a Pak brokered Afghan solution involving legitimizing some elements of Taliban would lead to a Taliban takeover once Western forces leave Afghanistan.
Holbrooke, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, said India has a "vitally important role" to play ...
(Jul 22 2010) - Huffington Post : Selling Out Uncle Sam ...
U.S.A. -- It's one of those ideas that might seem sensible at first-glance: retired military officers hired to serve as "senior mentors" to the armed forces. Only on closer inspection are the potential conflicts of interest revealed: the retired officers were paid by contractors, advising on military services even as they were consulting for companies seeking to sell military products, as reported by USA Today.
(Jul 22 2010) - Global Post : Diamonds are a dictator's best friend
ZIMBABWE -- International rights campaigners have given a cautious welcome to the decision by the World Diamond Council to allow diamonds from the controversial diggings in Chiadzwa, in Zimbabwe's eastern districts, to be exported under the supervisory Kimberley Process. But they have warned that close inspection will be needed to ensure President Robert Mugabe's government does not renege on undertakings it has given in weeks of intense negotiations.
(Jul 21 2010) - Norway Post : Pirates release Norwegian vessel
NORWAY -- The Norwegian-owned oil-product tanker "UBT Ocean"with a crew of 21 which was captured more than 4 months ago by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, has now been released. The ship is owned by Brøvigtank in Farsund, but is operated by the Ship Management Associates in Singapore. Their spokesman Edward Ion confirms that the ship has been released and that the Burmese crew of 21 is safe.
(Jul 20 2010) - Copenhagen Post : Moody's predicts new bank busts
COPENHAGEN -- International credit rating and financial research company Moody's has announced it is lowering its estimated values for several small and medium-sized Danish banks' risk capital due to the expectation that more of the institutions will go belly up in the near future.
According to Business.dk, the value of Scandinotes - collateralised debt obligations based on subordinated loans to Nordic regional banks and savings institutions - is again being lowered by Moody's ...
(Jul 19 2010) - Washington Post : TOP SECRET AMERICA
WASH D.C. -- The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.
These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight.
(Jul 19 2010) - National Post : Seepage detected near BP oil well
HOUSTON -- Engineers monitoring BP damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico detected seepage on the ocean floor that could mean problems with the cap that has stopped oil from gushing into the water, the U.S. government's top oil spill official said on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, BP officials had expressed hope that the test of the cap which began Thursday could continue until a relief well can permanently seal the leak next month. Oil gushed from the deepsea Maconda well for nearly three months until the new cap was put in place last week.
(Jul 18 2010) - Jerusalem Post : CIA suspects Amiri double agent
IRAN -- Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who disappeared while in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and reappeared in the US last month where he asked to return to Teheran is now suspected by US intelligence officials of being a double agent, British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph reported Sunday. Iran - and at one point, Amiri - claimed the CIA had kidnapped him; the United States denied the allegation on Tuesday.
(Jul 17 2010) - China Post : U.S. financial reform bill passes
WASH D.C. -- In the end, it's only a beginning. The far-reaching new banking and consumer protection bill awaiting U.S. President Barack Obama's signature now shifts from the politicians to the technocrats. The legislation gives regulators latitude and time to come up with new rules, requires scores of studies and, in some instances, depends on international agreements falling into place.
(Jul 16 2010) - Bangkok Post : BP halts Gulf oil flow for now
GULF COAST -- BP halted the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico leak for the first time in three months, raising hopes Friday the worst oil disaster in US history may finally be over.
While President Barack Obama and BP warned against celebrating before tests are completed, news that engineers had shut all three valves on a giant cap was a ray of light for coastal communities whose livelihoods have been ravaged.
(Jul 15 2010) - Post Chronicle : 'God Particle' Not Found
U.S.A. -- Media reports that an American particle physics lab has discovered the long-sought "God particle" have no factual basis, a lab official said. A British newspaper reported Monday that the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., had discovered the elusive Higgs boson, the elemental particle that could explain why all matter has mass, the Batavia Sun reported Wednesday. The United States' premier particle physics lab, Fermi has been searching for the Higgs for years ...
(Jul 14 2010) - New York Post : Rage unmosqued
NEW YORK -- A city hearing yesterday on the historical significance of the downtown Manhattan site of a proposed mosque quickly turned into a raucous -- and at times ugly -- debate about whether an Islamic center should be located so close to Ground Zero. About 150 people crowded into the Hunter College Auditorium in Manhattan for the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing, held to see if the 152-year-old building at 45-47 Park Place in lower Manhattan had the cultural or architectural consequence worthy of being landmarked.
Those who opposed the construction of the 13-story mosque and community center, called the Cordoba House, accused their opponents of being unpatriotic and insensitive to the thousands who died on 9/11.
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