Email and Online bill paying ate into the post office’s ability to make money.

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The recent bankruptcy of financial stalwart and Wall Street casino failure MF Global in the US, has claimed a new and unlikely victim. Following the company’s glorious collapse, Trends Research founder Gerald Celente had his own six figure gold investment account completely looted by chapter 11 trustees, and he is fighting to get it back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kt-mVWYvOm0

Source.

President Barack Obama’s overall approval rating remains in the mid-40s, where it has been since July, and he continues to receive much higher marks for foreign policy than for domestic issues, according to a new national survey out one year before he is up for re-election.

A CNN/ORC International Poll released Tuesday indicates that 52% of all Americans approve of how the president is handling the situation in Iraq, an indication that Americans tend to favor Obama’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from that country by year’s end. Forty-eight percent of those questioned approve of how he is handling the war in Afghanistan. By contrast, only 35% have a positive view of his economic track record, and just 38% approve of how he is handling health care policy.

Full results (pdf)

It all adds up to an overall 46% approval rating for the president, with 52% saying they disapprove of how Obama is handling his job in the White House.

“That’s par for the course for Obama, whose overall approval rating has been hovering in the mid 40s in every CNN poll conducted since June,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

In comparison to recent incumbents running for re-election, Obama’s 46% approval ranks above only Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford – who both lost their re-election bids – in November of the year before an election. Most incumbents who were re-elected had an approval rating above 50% a year before the election. But George W. Bush, at 50%, and Richard Nixon, at 49%, also won re-election, and Bush’s father George H.W. Bush had a 56% approval rating yet lost to Bill Clinton the following year.

“Translation: while the approval rating is an important indicator of a president’s strength, it is not a foolproof predictor of election results,” Holland said.

See how Obama’s number stack up.

The poll indicates that the standard partisan divide over the president remains, with three-quarters of Democrats giving Obama a thumbs up but only 15% of Republicans approving of the job he’s doing in office. By a 54%-42% margin, independent voters disapprove of how the president’s handling his duties.

Women are divided on how Obama’s performing, but men disapprove by a 55%-43% margin. White Americans give Obama a thumbs down by a 61%-36% margin, with non-white Americans give the president a thumbs up by a more than 2-1 margin.

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International from November 11-13, with 1,036 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

SOURCE 

Read what sound legal reasoning looks like, supported by relevant case law. 

They are no longer able to sleep at Zuccotti in their fucking tents and defecate near mailboxes.

Full Ruling

ROME — Just in time for Christmas, an album of Neapolitan love songs written by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is about to warble its way onto the airwaves, ANSA news agency reported.

The CD entitled “Il Vero Amore” (The True Love), will be released November 22 featuring songs written by Berlusconi, a former cruise-ship singer, and performed by the singer Mariano Apicella.

Berlusconi has not had much to croon about lately, given that he resigned under pressure last Saturday to make way for a new government amid a national debt crisis.

ANSA reported there was speculation the album, originally scheduled for September release, had been deliberately delayed for political reasons.

But Apicella said that was “nonsense” and the delay was “purely for technical reasons.”

The new CD represents the fourth collaboration between Berlusconi and Apicella.

SOURCE 

The stock is down 10% after a labor contract talks stall again…

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If those pesky ratings weren’t there, then of course everything would be better.

EU leaders are desperately grasping at straws now. If this is what they’re spending their time on, things could get very ugly.

Read here:

The European Union set out proposals for strict new regulations on credit-rating firms today in a move, it said, was aimed in part at diversifying the industry.

As expected, the proposals included a number of measures the largest rating firms–Moody’s Investors Service Inc., Standard & Poor’s Corp. and Fitch Ratings–have staunchly opposed. The launch of the proposals was delayed Tuesday afternoon because of last-minute wrangling over key details, a person familiar with the discussions said.

One of the issues still being debated was a proposal to give the European regulatory agency power to temporarily ban ratings of sovereign debt in exceptional circumstances. The Commission said again Tuesday there will be some kind of ban in the final text but details are still pending.

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Still does not look as cool as an iPhone

Sounds like a good idea

Original investors are taking profits

They will invest $2 billion by 2015 while increasing their workforce.

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“This is what we have to deal with all day.”

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Out-of-touch professors + Debt-ridden students = Bad combination

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Sacramento State professor George Parrott walked out of his Psychology 101 lab class Thursday morning because his students didn’t bring any snacks.

Instead, he says, he went to breakfast with his teaching assistant.

The professor said students are told of the requirement to bring snacks on the first day of class. A handout from the teacher is clear – “Not having a snack = no Dr. Parrott or TAs. Now you are responsible for your own lab assignment.”

He said the snack obligation is his way of encouraging students to work collectively. It connects students who might not otherwise interact on a commuter campus, said the professor.

“Having these goodies in the class breaks down some of the formality and some of the rigidity in the class, which is one of the most stressful for students,” Parrott said.

But students are crying foul, saying the teacher left before a review for a midterm to be given Monday. The test accounts for a good portion of their grade.

“Our education isn’t worth food, it’s for us,” said Francisco Chavez, a student in the class.

It’s also not clear why homemade baked goods would teach teamwork better than a box of Oreos. The handout offers suggestions and pictures of which snacks are preferred. It lists homemade or bakery items and vegetable or fruit platters under “Good Ideas” and Nabisco products or pre-packaged items under “Bad Ideas.”

It also suggests that two people take responsibility for each day’s snack – in case one forgets – and that they should avoid bringing the same thing every week.

The professor said he has required classes to bring snacks for at least 39 years.

His afternoon lab class brought pizza Friday, he said. But they haven’t always followed instructions either. “The afternoon lab had an externally similar failure to be collectively involved a month ago,” Parrott said, adding that he left that class, too. “They were taken aback. Their collective involvement has been more cooperative since.”

Parrott listed additional benefits of requiring “goodies” in an email to The Bee. He said the snacks maintain glucose levels that affect mental sharpness, keep students from leaving class to find food and alleviate stress in what he calls one of the most difficult courses in the department.

But the goodies aren’t just for the students. The teacher and his teaching assistants eat, but don’t contribute, according to students.

“I’m not always observing how much the TAs eat,” Parrott said Friday. “In the last month I’ve had one mini cupcake and maybe six or eight carrot sticks.”

Parrott said he doesn’t feel bad about asking college students to bring food to class. The cost, he says, is offset by savings – about $200 – which students realize by not having to buy a textbook for the course.

“This is also designed to relieve financially strained CSUS students from typical costs for texts and to provide each student the token resources to buy, bake, or otherwise access the snacks/goodies when their once per semester turn would occur,” he said in an email to The Bee.

The professor, who is 67 and retired in 2006, works part time at the university. His salary for 2010 was $44,000, according to state data.

Parrott doesn’t regret his decision to walk out Thursday. “I can understand the immediate frustration,” he said. “I’m sympathetic, but I’m absolutely comfortable with the conclusion. The ethos I’m trying to promote is incredibly important. It may not be appreciated, and that’s even more unfortunate. It speaks to their lack of understanding of higher education.”

University officials, contacted Thursday, said they take the allegations seriously and will investigate.
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SEC FILING HERE 

Years before he was arrested for allegedly molesting children, former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky said he loved being around children and having “a good time with them.”

“I enjoy being around children,” Sandusky said in a 1987 NBC interview made public today. “Their enthusiasm. I just have a good time with them.”

Of course, Sandusky’s comments now have a chilling connotation to them after he was recently arrested for molesting eight boys and charged with 40 counts in connection with a string of sex abuse claims dating back 13 years.

“Everybody needs people to care for them. … Kids are growing up awfully fast these days,” Sandusky said in that same interview when asked about his charity work with troubled kids.

In 1997, ten years after that NBC interview, Sandusky was first accused of showering with and fondling a boy at Penn State.

McQUEARY CONSULTS LAWYER, SANDUSKY CHARITY CEO RESIGNS

No charges were filed at the time and a year later Sandusky retired as an assistant coach to spend more time with his Second Mile charity.

This comes as the president of the charity linked to Sandusky resigned today, saying he hopes his departure after 28 years as the group’s CEO would help restore faith in its mission.

The Second Mile’s board of directors said in a statement it had accepted the resignation of Jack Raykovitz.

Raykovitz, a psychologist, had testified before the grand jury that indicted Sandusky. The grand jury said Sandusky found his victims through the charity’s programs.

The board also said that would conduct an internal investigation to assess policies and make recommendations regarding future operations.

Raykovitz said in a statement that he hopes his resignation would mark the beginning of a “restoration of faith in the community of volunteers and staff” at The Second Mile.

Sandusky founded The Second Mile in 1977. The group has said that its youth programs serve as many as 100,000 children a year.

With AP

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