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EPA: Pollution or Politics?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A polluted drainage ditch that once flowed with industrial waste from Lake Charles, La., petrochemical plants teems with overgrown, wild plants today.

A light-rail line zips past the spot where a now-defunct Portland, Ore., gasoline station advertised in 1972 that it had run out of gas.

A smoking Jersey City, N.J., dump piled with twisted, rusty metal has disappeared, along with the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan that were its backdrop.

Forty years after the Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country to capture images at the dawn of environmental regulation, The Associated Press went back for Earth Day this year to see how things have changed. It is something the agency never got to do because the Documerica program, as it was called, died in 1978, the victim of budget cuts.

AP photographers returned to more than a dozen of those locations in recent weeks, from Portland to Cleveland and Corpus Christi, Texas. Of the 20,000 photos in the archive, the AP selected those that focused on environmental issues, rather than the more general shots of everyday life in the 1970s.

Gone are the many obvious signs of pollution — clouds of smoke billowing from industrial chimneys, raw sewage flowing into rivers, garbage strewn over beaches and roadsides — that heightened environmental awareness in the 1970s, and led to the first Earth Day and the EPA’s creation in 1970. Such environmental consciousness caused Congress to pass almost unanimously some of the country’s bedrock environmental laws in the years that followed.

Today’s pollution problems aren’t as easy to see or to photograph. Some in industry and politics question whether environmental regulation has gone too far and whether the risks are worth addressing, given their costs.

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has called for the firing of EPA chief Lisa Jackson, while GOP rival Newt Gingrich has said the EPA should be replaced altogether. Jackson has faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill so often the in past two years that a top Republican quipped that she needs her own parking spot.

“To a certain extent, we are a victim of our own success,” said William Ruckelshaus, who headed the EPA when it came into existence under Republican President Richard Nixon and was in charge during the Documerica project. “Right now, EPA is under sharp criticism partially because it is not as obvious to people that pollution problems exist and that we need to deal with them.”

Environmental laws that passed Congress so easily in Ruckelshaus’ day are now at the center of a partisan dispute between Republicans and Democrats. Dozens of bills have been introduced to limit environmental protections that critics say will lead to job losses and economic harm, and there are those who question what the vast majority of scientists accept — that the burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming.

In the 1970s, the first environmental regulations were just starting to take effect, with widespread support. Now, according to some officials in the oil and gas and electric utility industries, which are responsible for the bulk of emissions and would bear the greatest costs, the EPA has gone overboard with rules.

For instance, Documerica photographers captured a wave of coal-fired power plants under construction. Republicans and the industry now say environmental regulations are partly to blame for shuttering some of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants.

Jim DiPeso of ConservAmerica, a group that recently changed its name from Republicans for Environmental Protection, says the EPA is caught in the center of a perfect storm. “This time of greater cynicism about government, more economic anxiety and the fact that the problems are not immediately apparent, has created this political problem for EPA,” he said.

In an interview, Jackson said she believes that people in the United States still want to protect the environment. “There’s a large gulf between the rhetoric inside the Beltway to do everything from cut back on EPA to get rid of the whole place, and what the American people would actually stand for,” she said. “It’s very easy to make rash statements without thinking about what that means to the health of everyday Americans.”

A 2010 Pew Research Center survey showed that 57 percent of those questioned held a favorable view of the EPA, compared with a 1997 poll that showed 69 percent with a positive view of the agency. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken last year found that 71 percent of people surveyed said that the government should continue provide money to the EPA to enforce regulations to address global warming and other environmental issues.

“We are not done. We still have challenges we have to face,” Jackson said.

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Egypt Going Full Extreme, Terminates Gas Sales To Israel

Sweet. I love me some psychotic Islamist regimes. Now Israel is surrounded.

CAIRO (AP) — The head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company said Sunday it has terminated its contract to ship gas to Israel because of violations of contractual obligations, a decision Israel said overshadows the peace agreement between the two countries.

The 2005 natural gas deal has become a symbol of tensions between Israel and Egypt since the uprising. For many Egyptians, it typifies the close relations the regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak forged with Israel and how his associates benefited greatly from such business deals.

Critics charge that Israel got the gas at below-market prices and that Mubarak cronies skimmed millions of dollars off the proceeds, costing Egypt millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Egyptian militants have blown up the gas pipeline to Israel 14 times since the uprising more than a year ago.

Israel insists it is paying a fair price for the gas.

Mohamed Shoeb, the head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, said the decision to cancel the deal was not political.

“This has nothing to do with anything outside of the commercial relations,” Shoeb told The Associated Press.

He said Israel has not paid for its gas in four months. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied that.

Shoeb told Egyptian TV that the decision to cancel the contract was made Thursday because “each side has rights and we are representing our rights.”

On Sunday, Israel Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the unilateral Egyptian announcement was of “great concern” politically and economically.

“This is a dangerous precedent that overshadows the peace agreements and the peaceful atmosphere between Israel and Egypt,” he said in a statement. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, but relations have never been warm.

The Israeli side said the decision was “unlawful and in bad faith,” accusing the Egyptian side of failing to supply the gas quantities it is owed.

Israel insists it is paying a fair price for the gas. Israel’s electricity company has been warning of possible power shortages this summer, partly because of the unreliability of the natural gas supply from Egypt.

For the long term, Israel is developing its own natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast and is expected to be self-sufficient in natural gas in a few years.

Hussein Salem, a close friend of Mubarak was among the shareholders of East Mediterranean Gas Co., which is a joint Egyptian-Israeli company that carries the gas to Israel. Once a close friend of Mubarak, Salem fled Egypt for Spain and was sentenced in absentia to seven years in jail over the natural gas issue.

On the Israeli side, EMG sought international arbitration in October because of the Egyptian side’s failure to supply the quantity of gas stipulated in the contract — because of the frequent bombings.

Under the 2005 deal, the Cairo-based East Mediterranean Gas Co. sells 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Israeli company at a price critics say is set at $1.50 per million British thermal units — a measure of energy.

The gas deal has been the subject of litigation in Egypt. An appellate court last year overturned a lower court ruling that would have halted gas exports to Israel. Opposition groups that filed the suit before the uprising claimed that Israel got the gas too cheaply under the 15-year fixed price deal between a private Egyptian company, partly owned by the government, and the state-run Israel Electric Corporation.

Ibrahim Yousri, a former Egyptian diplomat who had brought the issue to court, welcomed the decision announced Sunday.

“It has become a scandal bigger than the (ruling) military council can withstand,” Yousri said. He said there are gas shortages in Egypt, and growing economic woes, further enflaming popular unrest. He called the business deal a “treason” to national interests, adding, “This is a great political step.”

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Japan Forgives $3.7 Billion of Myanmar Debt

TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Saturday it will take steps to forgive about 300 billion yen ($3.7 billion) of Myanmar’s debt and resume full-fledged development aid as a way to support the country’s democratic and economic reforms.

The government made the announcement after a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Myanmar President Thein Sein following a summit with leaders from the five nations of the Mekong River region.

Myanmar’s military junta last year handed power to a nominally civilian government that has surprised the world with a series of sweeping political and economic reforms, including releasing prominent political prisoners and allowing democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to contest recent parliamentary by-elections.

“Reforms in Myanmar are steadily moving forward. As Myanmar approaches a crucial stage in its democratization, Japan will all the more encourage Myanmar’s efforts to reform,” Noda said at a news conference with Thein Sein. “We hereby pledge to strengthen our assistance to the country so that the Burmese people will be able to enjoy the fruit of its reforms.”

Myanmar, also known as Burma, owes Japan about 500 billion yen from past development loans.

Of that amount, the Japanese government said in a statement that it will cancel 127.4 billion yen in loans due after April 2003. It will also forgive 176.1 billion yen in overdue charges accumulated over the past two decades after one year’s time as the two countries jointly monitor reforms.

Japan does not have sanctions on Myanmar, although it cut most government aid in 2003 after Suu Kyi was put under house arrest, which ended last November. Japan was Myanmar’s largest aid donor until 2003 and has continued small amounts of humanitarian grass-roots aid in health and education.

“On behalf of the Myanmar government and its people, I would like to express my gratitude to Japanese government officials and the people of Japan,” Thein Sein said. “The resolution of Myanmar’s debt issues as well as our cooperation and aid will be effective and helpful for the people’s efforts for the development and reform of Myanmar.”

Japanese companies had held back from investing in resource-rich Myanmar because they didn’t want to upset relations with the United States and the European Union, which have imposed sanctions on the country, and due to the lack of transparency in business laws.

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Sarkozy, Hollande Heading To Run Off Election

PARIS (AP) — Socialist Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy are heading for a runoff election in their race for France’s presidency, according to partial official results in a vote that could alter the European political and economic landscape.

French voters defied expectations and handed a surprisingly strong third-place showing to far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has run on an anti-immigrant platform aimed largely at Muslims. That could boost her influence on the French political scene, hand her party seats in parliament and affect relations with minorities.

With 75 percent of the vote counted, Hollande had 27.9 percent of ballots cast and Sarkozy 26.7 percent, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry after final polls closed.

Le Pen was in third with 19.2 percent of the vote so far. In fourth place was leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon with 10.8 percent, followed by centrist Francois Bayrou with 9.2 percent and five other candidates with minimal support.

Turnout was also surprisingly high, projected by polling agencies at about 80 percent, despite concern that a campaign lacking a single overarching theme had failed to inspire voters.

Hollande, a 57-year-old who has worried investors with his pledges to boost government spending, pledged to cut France’s huge debts, boost growth and unite the French after Sarkozy’s divisive first term.

“Tonight I become the candidate of all the forces who want to turn one page and turn another,” Hollande, with a confidence and stately air he has often lacked during the campaign, told an exuberant crowd in his hometown of Tulle in southern France.

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French Elections Begin With Strong Voter Turnout

PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s career was on the line Sunday as voters turned out in solid numbers for the first round of France’s presidential election, a contest that could shake up Europe’s political landscape and approach to myriad economic troubles.

The first-round balloting will trim down a list of 10 candidates from across the political spectrum to two finalists for a May 6 runoff.

Polls for months have shown that conservative Sarkozy and Socialist Francois Hollande are likely to make the cut — and suggest Hollande would win the campaign finale. Many voters are turned off by conservative Sarkozy’s flashy style as they worry about jobs and the economy.

The Interior Ministry said early turnout figures showed an impressive 70.6 percent of France’s 44-million-plus voters cast ballots by 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) — less than the 73.8 percent in 2007 at the same time, but more than in the four previous races. Overall turnout in the 2007 first round was nearly 84 percent, the highest figure since the 1970s.

The campaign has been marked by frustration with the incumbent and the rise of the extremes. Voters may hand higher-than-expected support to far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen or Communist-backed firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon.

While they are not expected to win, a strong performance by one or all of them could influence the second-round vote. Centrist candidate Francois Bayrou may take votes from the mainstream, while the other five candidates are expected to receive low single-digit support.

Sarkozy and Hollande have pushed for a strong turnout on the idea that it would help the political mainstream and dilute the impact of more ideological voters.

“This is an election that will weigh on the future of Europe. That’s why many people are watching us,” said Hollande after voting in Tulle, a town in central France. “They’re wondering not so much what the winner’s name will be, but especially what policies will follow.”

“I am in a competition in which I must give new breath of life to my country and a new commitment to Europe,” he added.

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Argentina Cuts Computer Links Between YPF, Repsol

LONDON (Reuters) – Argentine oil group YPF has cut computer links with parent Repsol, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday, following Buenos Aires’ plans unveiled last week to seize control of the leading energy company.

The move is the latest in a string of actions that have shut Spain’s Repsol out of YPF, even before Argentina has implemented laws to provide the basis for the nationalization.

Last Monday, President Cristina Fernandez announced plans to expropriate a controlling 51 percent stake in YPF by seizing most of Repsol’s shares, saying a failure of Repsol to invest sufficiently in YPF was contributing to an energy crunch in the country.

Repsol, which holds about 57 percent of YPF, said it had consistently raised investment at YPF and analysts said Argentina’s price controls on oil and gas were the reason companies had not invested more in production.

Local media said that even before Fernandez finished her speech, the government’s representative on YPF’s board of directors, Roberto Baratta, had entered YPF’s offices and read out the names of executives who would have to leave the premises immediately.

Hours after the expropriation was announced live on national television, the state-appointed interim administrator, Planning Minister Julio De Vido, occupied the company’s offices in the upscale neighborhood of Puerto Madero.

The two sources said that days later, YPF shut down electronic communications with Repsol, preventing Repsol from accessing information about YPF’s operations.

“Later in the week the connection was cut between Repsol and YPF,” one source said.

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Carmakers Preparing For Slower Sales Growth In China

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s massive car market may still be young, but the auto industry CEOs descending on Beijing this week will see first hand that it’s also growing up fast.

The Beijing auto show starts on Monday at a time when China’s auto market has begun softening after a decade of breakneck growth. The days when car sales could surge 46 percent in one year – as they did in 2009 – are gone, say many industry executives and analysts. Most see growth falling off to an average of 7-8 percent this decade.

Unfortunately for car makers, slower growth comes just as new entrants appear in the market and existing competitors add to their offerings.

“There are more brands and more products in China than ever before, and that’s making market conditions suddenly more competitive and tough for everyone,” said Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and Sweden’s Volvo, which Geely acquired in 2010.

To be sure, there is plenty of growth left. Even conservative forecasts have China’s auto market surging to 30 million vehicles a year by 2020, from last year’s 18 million. Some think volume could even reach 40 million.

But the signs of a tougher market are clear.

Local Chinese auto makers like Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and BYD Co. have seen their once-robust profitability erode significantly, thanks to the government’s decision to scrap most of the auto purchase incentives it offered in the wake of the global economic crisis in 2008.

And some global auto makers, notably a Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., also have struggled to sustain high growth.

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Netherlands’ Politics Casts Cloud On Future EU Support

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands, a core euro zone member, was drawn into Europe’s debt crisis at the weekend when the government failed to agree on budget cuts, making elections almost unavoidable and casting doubt on its support for future euro zone measures.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose centre-right coalition has been in power since October 2010, said on Saturday that crucial talks on budget cuts had collapsed after his ally Geert Wilders refused to do a deal, and that new elections were inevitable.

In the short term, the government must seek support for budget cuts from the opposition parties.

But uncertainty over the makeup of a new government, and waning voter support for bailouts and austerity measures, raised questions over Dutch backing for a fiscal responsibility pact seen as crucial to helping Europe cope with its debt crisis.

The catalyst for the crisis was Wilders, who refused to agree to 14-to-16 billion euros ($18.5-$21.1 billion) of budget cuts needed to bring a bloated budget deficit under control.

Now the euro-skeptic, anti-immigration politician has threatened to fight his campaign on a European battleground.

“The Freedom Party benches are unanimously against Brussels diktats and the attack on our elderly,” Wilders tweeted on Sunday, later telling Dutch news agency ANP that Europe would be in “sharp focus” during any coming election campaign.

Wilders most recently has lobbied to jettison the euro and return to the guilder, the old Dutch currency, and he is against immigration not only of Muslims but also of Poles and other central and eastern European members of the EU – views that strike a chord with his supporters.

His Freedom Party had a pact to support Rutte’s minority government in parliament, giving it the majority to pass legislation, but after seven weeks of budget talks, Wilders suddenly backed out just when a deal appeared close.

His supporters are against budget cuts, particularly cuts in welfare, health and unemployment benefits.

“This was a package that would damage our economy over coming years and increase unemployment. And all that to meet a demand made by Brussels, accepted by the Liberals, of reaching a 3 percent deficit in 2013,” he said on Saturday.

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After Rough Week, >25% Decline, Chesapeake To Disclose CEO Loans

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Chesapeake Energy Corp (NYS:CHK – News), in response to a Reuters report earlier this week, will disclose to shareholders the existence of loans its CEO Aubrey McClendon took out against his interest in thousands of wells granted to him as a corporate perk, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that McClendon has borrowed as much as $1.1 billion against his 2.5 percent interest in wells received as part of his compensation.

The loans, taken out over the past three years, were previously undisclosed to shareholders, analysts and academics said, raising concerns that McClendon’s personal financial deals could compromise his fiduciary duty to Chesapeake.

The company did not detail the amounts and terms of the loans, nor specific lenders, according to a preliminary proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wall Street analysts who follow the company characterized the disclosure as a step in the right direction, but said more was needed.

“The increased disclosure in the proxy is a start, but it’s still disappointing that Chesapeake remains tone deaf to analyst and investors and only seems to take action once they’re called on the carpet … through a journalistic expose such as the one that came to light this week,” Mark Hanson, analyst at Morningstar said in an email sent to Reuters.

Joseph Allman, analyst at JP Morgan, said the company’s shareholders would benefit most if the company eliminated the Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP) that grants McClendon personal interest in all wells the company drills.

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Wen Jiabao: Global Crisis Not Over, Reforms For Foreign Investments In China

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) – The global financial crisis is not over and technical innovation and investment will be key to sustaining what remains a “tortuous” recovery, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday during a visit to Germany.

Wen also said China, the world’s biggest exporter and second largest economy, would press on with reforms aimed at creating better legal protection for foreign investors — a major concern for the growing number of German firms active in the country.

“Currently, the international financial crisis is not over and the global economic recovery is difficult and tortuous,” Wen said at the Hanover trade fair that was also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

More investment in the real economy and technical innovation will be the most powerful drivers of global recovery, he said.

China’s annual economic growth slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from 8.9 percent in the previous three months – the fifth consecutive quarter of slowdown.

“The reason why the global economy cannot walk out of the shadow of the (financial) crisis is also related to the lack of new growth points in the real economy,” Wen said, adding that China and Germany had fared better than most during the crisis due to their strong manufacturing bases.

“(The two countries) will surely have an ever more important role to play in innovation and development of worldwide industry,” he said.

Merkel, whose country has faced criticism over its insistence on reducing debts even during a time of poor growth in much of the developed world, said Germany wanted to strike a good balance between fiscal discipline and fostering growth.

“We must succeed with both because responsibility rests with Germany too for a sensible global economic development,” she said.

Merkel praised China’s huge stimulus package launched during the financial crisis, saying it contributed to Germany’s own export-led recovery.

Germany has also welcomed China’s pledge last week to contribute towards new funding for the International Monetary Fund that is meant to protect the global economy from the euro zone debt crisis.

The economies of China and Germany – the world’s second biggest exporter – are increasingly intertwined, with bilateral trade jumping to 130 billion euros in 2010 from 94 billion in 2009.

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ECB Silent On Further Accommodative Policy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European Central Bank officials showed no sign of bending to renewed international pressure to do more to boost the euro zone’s struggling economy.

Top ECB policymakers, attending the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings, politely but firmly rebuffed the IMF’s call that the bank should cut its policy interest rate below 1 percent and be prepared to provide more public funding to banks to reduce the risk of a new flare-up of the crisis.

“It’s a free world, we take note of this, but let me say that none of the advice of the IMF has been discussed by the Governing Council, in recent times at least,” ECB President Mario Draghi told a news conference on Friday.

And the ECB delegation to Washington had nothing to say, at least publicly, about a fresh suggestion by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the ECB had a role to play in helping European economies through tough reforms ahead.

“We think we have done our task in the last months by quite a number of standard and non-standard measures we have taken,” ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen said on Friday on the sidelines of the IMF meetings.

He said the ball was now in the court of euro zone governments, which are trying to narrow budget deficits and undertake other reforms to restore market confidence and generate growth.

Unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve, which pursues full employment as well as low inflation, the ECB’s marching orders are to focus on keeping price growth in check, a point underscored by ECB officials several times over the weekend.

The Fed may yet provide more stimulus, on top of its near-zero interest rates and the $2.3 trillion in bonds it has already bought, even though the U.S. economy is stronger than Europe’s.

Economists polled by Reuters expect growth in the euro area to shrink by 0.4 percent in 2012 and to stay in a mild recession until the third quarter as weakness in Italy, Spain and Greece outweighs the stronger performance of regional powerhouses Germany and France.

“The stance of our monetary policy is fully appropriate,” ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said in a speech. “It’s appropriate to the situation and the prospects that we (face) right now.”

The pressure on the ECB in Washington to do more to help growth contrasted with concerns among many policymakers from the 17-nation euro zone that their unprecedented stimulus to date could spark inflation when the region’s economies regain health.

ECB officials said they have met their responsibilities by lowering interest rates to 1 percent and providing two rounds of long-term loans to banks to prevent a credit crunch.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said there was no shortcut for the ECB to restore market confidence.

“You cannot solve structural problems in the economy with instruments of monetary policy,” Weidmann said.

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FLASH: ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS KIND OF A DICK

Hat Tips: @pourmecoffee @hedgefundinvest

via listsofnote.com

_________________________

Einstein’s Demands

By 1914, Albert Einstein‘s marriage to his wife of 11 years, Mileva Marić, was fast deteriorating. Realising there was no hope for their relationship on a romantic level, Einstein proposed that they remain together for the sake of their children, but only if she agree to the following list of conditions.Mileva accepted them, but to no avail. A few months later, she left her husband in Berlin and moved, with their sons, to Zurich. They eventually divorced in 1919, having lived apart for five years.

(Source: Einstein: His Life and Universe; Image: Mileva Marić & Albert Einstein, via elcorreo.)

CONDITIONS
  1. You will make sure:
    1. that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order;
    2. that I will receive my three meals regularly in my room;
    3. that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only.
  2. You will renounce all personal relations with me insofar as they are not completely necessary for social reasons. Specifically, You will forego:
    1. my sitting at home with you;
    2. my going out or travelling with you.
  3. You will obey the following points in your relations with me:
    1. you will not expect any intimacy from me, nor will you reproach me in any way;
    2. you will stop talking to me if I request it;
    3. you will leave my bedroom or study immediately without protest if I request it.
  4. You will undertake not to belittle me in front of our children, either through words or behavior.

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MEDIA WHORES: CASEY ANTHONY’S LAWYER SAYS: “Thank You ABC For Paying for Our Defense”

via TMZ.com

Jose BaezCasey Anthony‘s lawyer, has for the first time publicly acknowledged he was able to mount a successful defense thanks to the money he got from ABC news.

Baez, who appeared on PBS’s “Frontline,” explained how they got $200,000 from ABC for photos of Casey and Caylee, and that money was used “so we could mount a proper defense.”

In 2010, Casey’s team divulged in the trial that they spent $275,000 on the defense, and the major portion came from the ABC deal. Now Baez explains the money was critical in beating the murder rap.

SEE VIDEO HERE

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Senate Will Get to the (Colombian) Bottom of this Secret Service Hooker Probe

via CNN

A Senate committee will expand its probe into the U.S. Secret Service this week following a scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia in advance of a recent trip by the president.

The Homeland Security Committee will send the Secret Service “some questions this week, as the beginning of our broader investigation, asking whether… this was an exception, or is there anything in the records that show this is a pattern of misconduct that has gone on elsewhere by Secret Service agents on assignment, but off-duty?” Sen. Joe Lieberman, the committee chairman, told “Fox News Sunday.”

“Why wasn’t it noticed if that was the case? What’s the Secret Service going to do to make sure it never happens again?”

Some Secret Service members and agents allegedly brought back several prostitutes to a hotel in Cartagena, according to sources familiar with the U.S. government’s investigation.

The Secret Service says 12 members of the agency have been implicated in the incident.

Across the Sunday political talk shows, officials expressed confidence in Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, saying they believe he has handled the scandal well and will get answers.

“History is full of cases where enemies have compromised” people with security or intelligence information through sex, said Lieberman, I-Connecticut. He added that based on what he has been told so far, “there is no evidence that information was compromised” in this case.

Down the road, the committee will hold a public hearing on the matter — perhaps more than one, Lieberman said.

“Anyone who’s found to be guilty” will lose his job, Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

King told CNN last week that four investigators were assigned to his committee’s probe.

One person who was “partially exonerated” will instead likely face administrative action, King said.

In a letter sent to Sullivan on Friday, King listed a series of questions, including how many employees were aware of the alleged incident and how many total employees were in Cartagena in support of President Obama’s trip to the Summit of the Americas when the incident occurred earlier this month.

“Please provide a comprehensive, minute-by-minute timeline of all known actions, locations, and possible violations of U.S. or Colombia law,” codes of conduct, and directives, King wrote in the letter.

But King and other officials are quick to emphasize that those allegedly involved in cavorting with prostitutes at a hotel in Cartagena are the exceptions.

“In any organization things can go wrong,” President Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “I must say that in my experience the Secret Service has been completely professional, so impressive. I always felt like they were … willing to do anything to protect the president and the people around the president. And so this was really disappointing.

“Obviously we have to get to the bottom of it, but those problems should not denigrate the efforts of so many who do such a good job.”

Sen. Susan Collins, ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney of the House Oversight Committee suggested having more female agents could help avoid such scandals.

“I can’t help but wonder if there’d been more women as part of that detail if this ever would have happened,” Collins told ABC’s “This Week.”

Maloney agreed, and added that she was told 11% of agents in the Secret Service are women. The agency did not immediately confirm the figure to CNN Sunday.

“We probably need to diversify the Secret Service and have more minorities and more women,” she said.

Six Secret Service members have left their jobs in the wake of the incident in Cartagena, Colombia, which came while they were on a security detail in advance of President Obama’s trip for the Summit of the Americas.

One employee “has been cleared of serious misconduct, but will face administrative action,” the Secret Service said.

Five employees are on administrative leave and have had their security clearances temporarily revoked.

In addition, the U.S. military is investigating 11 of its own troops for possible heavy drinking and consorting with prostitutes.

White House staff have not been implicated in the controversy.

After the scandal broke, President Obama called for a “thorough” and “rigorous” invsetigation. “If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course I’ll be angry,” he said.

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GOP Hopefuls Jockeying for Position as Rubio Plays it Cool

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, continuing to play down talk of his possible selection as Mitt Romney’s running mate, on Sunday tried to shift the speculation to another Sunshine State Republican: former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Bush recently said he hoped Rubio would accept a potential offer from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Romney to serve on the ticket, calling it “an extraordinary combination.” Rubio said he feels Bush should do the same.

“That’s very nice of Jeb. I hope he’ll say yes if future President Romney asks him,” the senator said on CNN’sState of the Union. “I think he’d be a fantastic vice president.”

SOURCE 

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The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal

via The Big Picture

By posted Apr 20th 2012 at 9:04AM

Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy.

There have been many great books and articles detailing the history of the drug war. Part of America’s fixation with keeping the leafy green plant illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.

However, we at Republic Report think it’s worth showing that there are entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our broken drug laws on the books:

Read the rest here.

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