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Monthly Archives: July 2012

NSA Whistleblowers: Government Spying on Every Single American

Domestically, they’re pulling together all the data about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country and assembling that information, building communities that you have relationships with, and knowledge about you; what your activities are; what you’re doing. So the government is accumulating that kind of information about every individual person and it’s a very dangerous process

Read the rest here.

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Going After LIBOR Manipulators In Early 2008 Would Have Been Disastrous

Alternate Headline: We Had to Steal Your Money to Prevent the Crisis from Becoming a Collapse!

But even if they had known about such manipulation, pursuing immediate trials—or even reporting such abuse to Congress—could have collapsed the system at a time when banks’ creditworthiness was already under fire.

Read the rest here.

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WATCH: Union Bosses Seek Funding for Digging Holes and Filling Them Back Up


Undercover reporters posing as “Earth Supply and Renewal” — group dedicated to digging holes and filling them back in, meet with Labor Bosses, NY Legislator, and former NY Assemblyman, who tell them how to secure funding for “Bullshit” Green jobs.

John Hutchings, member of the Broome County legislature, told the undercover reporters posing as “Earth Supply and Renewal” his opinion on taxpayer-funded grant contracts; “You know the Green Jobs — Green NY, between us, a lot of it is bullsh*t”. Anthony Tocci, business manager for Local 601, tells Earth Supply and Renewal “You just wanna(sic) get the money. Then you figure out afterwards” Former NY assemblyman Ron Tocci is also featured laughing about the irony of the company’s services: “One thing about it, it’s shovel ready.”

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Consumers Unlikely to Feel Drought Impact on Food Prices Until 2013

Seriously? They don’t predict any more of an increase over what we saw this year?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture left its inflation forecast for all food in 2012 unchanged from a month earlier at 2.5% to 3.5%. But in its first forecast for 2013, the USDA projected the price of all food will climb 3% to 4%. Last year, U.S. food inflation ran at 3.7%, the highest rate since the 5.5% in 2008.

Read the rest here.

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Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed Bill Passes the House, 327-98

At long last, Ron Paul has his day.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the Texas Republican’s bill to increase the transparency of the Federal Reserve. With bipartisan support, the measure passed 327-98. One Republican, Rep. Bob Turner of New York, joined 97 Democrats in voting against it.

Read the rest here.

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Zynga’s Mark Pincus: Real-Money Gambling Coming In First Half Of 2013

Real-money gaming (i.e., online gambling) could provide a big boost to Zynga’s faltering bottom line, and the company has talked about making a move into that market in the past. Today CEO Mark Pincus offered a timetable, of sorts — subject to licensing approvals, he said we should see Zynga’s first products in this field in the first half of 2013.

Read the rest here.

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Cash-Strapped French Socialists Face Reality of Austerity

Alternate Headline: Cash-Strapped French Socialists Face Reality of Running Out of Other People’s Money.

The champion of a moderate stimulus plan for Europe, at home French President Francois Hollande is turning his back on the sort of infrastructure investment he hopes will revive European growth.

His cash-strapped Socialist government is considering scrapping all but the most needed projects as it is forced to weigh questionable economic benefits in an era of belt-tightening.

Read the rest here.

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HURT: An Open Letter to Christopher Nolan, Sean Penn and Warner Brothers

COMMENTARY BY CHARLES HURT via WashingtonTimes.com 

It is all so perfectly fitting that in the wake of a murderous rampage in which 70 people are shot —12 fatally, including a 6-year-old girl — and countless families are sacked with unspeakable grief, you would take the time to share with us your feelings.

Because, really, at this moment, all that matters to most of us is what a bunch of smutty purveyors of violent fantasy, half-rate actors and an industry of sick narcissism is feeling at this moment.

Director Christopher Nolan, speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of “The Dark Knight Rises,” you told us how much you love going to the movies and how they are “one of the great American art forms.”

You are devastated that such an “innocent and hopeful place” — here you are talking about the movie theaters that play your twisted movies — would be violated in such an “unbearably savage” way. I mean, really, who could think up such monstrous hatred and nihilistic violence? Umm, have you watched any of your own movies lately?

And, in the selfless modesty that is the hallmark of an Academy Awards ceremony, you tell us that your “feelings” about the massacre are so deeply profound that the mere words of the English language built up over hundreds of years are simply not up to the task of describing them. Wow. You do have a gift for fantasy.

But the real clue that you remain shrouded in guilt-free delusion is when you mention the “senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community.”

Senseless? Really? If by “senseless” you mean carried out almost precisely from the scripts of your own movies, then, sure, it was “senseless.”

As for you, Sean Penn, you paragon of endless moralizing, we would like to thank you, too, for underwriting last week’s ultra-violence and real-life carnage at the movie theater. One of the last scenes that 6-year-old saw in her precious life was a trailer for your movie.

In the final clip of a trailer filled with orgiastic bloodshed, you have some classy “actors” with machine guns unload from behind a movie screen into a crowd seated in a theater, watching a film. Ring a bell, Sean? Sound familiar?

I realize how busy you are, so loudly and obnoxiously jet-setting around to save the world, but do you have time to think about what you have done here? What your life amounts to at this moment?

No, you did not pull the trigger in this case. You did not don the gas mask. But you were the inspiration, and you are the architects.

Your celebrations of diabolical mayhem and pornographic violence prey on the fantasies of sick, fragile minds. You insulated them from the painful reality of bloodshed. You have inspired mass murder. You are the Osama bin Laden of this travesty.

This, of course, is all legal and has made you a fabulous fortune. But, never forget, this is who you are. It is what you do. This is your legacy.

When you die, your gravestones should read: Here lie men who created such horrific, meaningless violence in such realistic scenes that a sicko carried it out for real and shot 70 people, killing 12, including a 6-year-old girl.

KEEP READING 

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MORE WARNING SIGNS FROM THE AURORA SHOOTER

via TMZ.com

JAMES HOLMES
Sent Massacre Plans to
Professor BEFORE Shootings
BREAKING NEWS
0723_james_holmes_tmz_mugshot_wm
James Holmes spelled out details of his planned massacre in a notebook which he mailed to a University of Colorado psychiatrist … more than a week before he opened fire in the Aurora movie theater.

Police and FBI discovered the notebook while searching a mail room on the Aurora campus on Monday … but it had reportedly been sitting there unopened since July 12 — EIGHT days before the shootings that killed 12 people and injured 58.

The package was sent from Holmes, and according to a FOXNews.com source … “Inside the package was a notebook full of details about how he was going to kill people. There were drawings of what he was going to do in it — drawings and illustrations of the massacre.”

The source says the drawings including gun-wielding stick figures shooting other stick figures.

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Bloomberg Might Be Coming for New Yorkers’ Booze Next

via NYPOST.com

The next city health-care crackdown: alcohol abuse.

Having attacked smoking, trans fats and sugary drinks, the Bloomberg administration is ramping up its campaign against alcohol abuse, The Post has learned.

The city Health Department will be conducting a massive, 50-question telephone survey of New Yorkers to get a better handle on the level of alcohol abuse in the city.

“We routinely conduct surveys about important health issues to learn more about them, and underage and excessive drinking are serious health issues,” said Health Department spokesman Sam Miller.

Typically, the department asks a handful of questions about drinking and drugs as part of an annual survey that queries residents about many other medical issues.

But this poll will put a heavy emphasis on booze, along with some questions on drug use, indicating the city is delving deeper into the drinking problem.

“Issues to be explored include behavior patterns around unhealthy alcohol consumption and awareness of existing alcohol-related laws and standards,’’ the department told bidders hoping to conduct the poll.

The poll, which should be completed by the end of September, will “oversample” young adults to make comparisons between 18- to 20-year-olds and 21- to 29-year-olds, health officials said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nanny_mike_next_target_real_boozy_6khvdPpGlJlwVgazASV5lJ#ixzz21eRpVhnW

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Gary Shapiro: Is China Showing Cracks?

Any Westerner visiting China leaves in awe of its new airports, buildings and hotels. Its cities bustle and its people hustle.

As head of the Consumer Electronics Association, I travel to China at least annually. But after several awe-inspiring trips, I returned from China this month less in awe. China may have “jumped the shark,” veering from amazing to troubled.

For one, the building boom appears to be over. There are still plenty high-rise construction sites marked by cranes, but many, if not most, of the projects showed no evidence of any activity. They were simply stopped.

In one area, we drove past scores of quiet high-rise sites in various phases of completion. We were told that in this one small and amazingly beautiful coastline area, construction had begun and was halted on 100,000 housing units. Chinese banks are holding some serious uncollectible debt.

While this may have been an extreme example, the reversal in construction stems in large part from the government’s new rules aimed at cutting speculation by restricting second home ownership. Buyers must put down 50 percent in cash, and interest rates are less than favorable.

Of course, this may just be a temporary blip. It’s been estimated that 400 million people are moving from China’s villages to its cities. Indeed, there are more than 171 Chinese cities that now have more than one million people, compared to only nine cities in the U.S.

You wouldn’t worry about a construction slowdown if you read the China’s recently released Five Year Plan. By 2015, high-speed rail will cover 74,000 miles, up 30 percent. Another 64 airports are planned by 2020, adding to China’s 180-airport inventory. And 41 nuclear plants are planned or are under construction. Ambitious.

Read more:

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Market Update

Markets remain is positive territory, paring most of the gains. Good earnings and rumors of QE3 keep the market from sell off mode.

Closing prices are important to determine what direction we take, but it is more than likely that we will be inch for a while.

Market Update

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M 450 300]

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Is the Global Economy Broken ?

“The patient’s history includes a seizure in 2007/ 2008 — financial losses, banking problems, a major recession. Liberal injections of taxpayer cash avoided catastrophic multiple organ failure, assisting a modest recovery.

Governments ran large budget deficits in the period after the crisis. Interest rates around the world were reduced to historic lows, zero or negative in many developed countries. Balance sheets of major central banks have increased to $18 trillion from around $6 trillion, reflecting an unprecedented 30% of global gross domestic product.

Mr. Economy is now addicted to monetary heroin. Increasing doses are necessary for the patient to function at all.”

Full article

 

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June New Home Sales Down 8.4%

Prior 386k, Market Expects 373k, Actual 350k

Prices are down 3.2%

This number has taken down the sector by almost 3%

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What to Look for in $FB Earnings Release

“After its brutal initial public offering, the social networking company must show Wall Street it is serious about making money.

FORTUNE — Facebook will face a tough audience when the company reports its first quarter earnings on Thursday. After a theatrically disastrous initial public offering in May, the Menlo Park, Calif-based social network must now show Wall Street it can continue to grow both users and revenue at a brisk pace and has the discipline to deliver strong profits quarter after quarter to keep investors committed.

So far, it’s been a rough ride. The stock has been trading at around $29 this week — a 24% drop from the price at which it closed on its first day — as investors question the strength of its advertising business and fret over how the company will make money on mobile platforms. Here are three things to keep in mind for Thursday’s 5PM EST earnings call:”

Full article

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