Seemorerocks

Facing Doomsday

2012-02-26T19:13:00.000+13:00

Wyoming Doomsday Bill Advances In State House

25 Febraury, 2012

Wyoming lawmakers pushed forward legislation to explore how the state would respond if the country fell into economic and political turmoil.

The so-called doomsday bill, passed in the Wyoming House on Friday, would create a special task force to study ways the state would handle such crises as a food shortage to a government shutdown. Some provisions that will be explored include Wyoming forming its own army and issuing its own currency.

The task force formed by the bill would include state lawmakers, the head of Wyoming's Department of Homeland Security and the state attorney general.

The bill must pass two more House votes before it reaches the Senate, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

So far, no word if the task force will explore solutions for a Zombie Apocalypse, as the Center For Disease Control has done.

The US dreams up a new threat

2012-02-26T18:58:00.000+13:00

Anonymous and young geeks could become the next Osama bin Ladens.

Cyber War Threat: US to fight enemy it created itself

The U.S. government is about to declare a new war, but this time the enemy is a virtual one. A string of attacks on government websites by hackers has driven American policy-makers into a state of high-alert over a so-called terrorist threat. But some doubt the danger even exists, as RT's Lucy Kafanov reports.

Syrian referendum

2012-02-26T18:46:00.003+13:00

Syria gears up for referendum

RT
25 February, 2012

War-torn Syria is gearing up for an unprecedented referendum on a new draft constitution that would put an end to five decades of single-party rule. But the opposition is calling on the population to boycott the vote, which is set for Sunday.

On Sunday millions of Syrians are expected to vote on their country’s new constitution. Posters and banners calling on people to come and vote are everywhere in the capital and all around the country, RT’s Maria Finoshina reports from Damascus. For the first time in the country’s history the Interior Ministry is urging people to come and vote without actually telling them how they should vote, she says.

The draft of the newly proposed constitution has been made public days before the referendum takes place. Hundreds of its copies have been distributed among people to let them know what changes the new law puts forward.

The draft constitution includes 14 new and 47 amended articles.

One of the main changes is Article 8, which actually ends over 50 years of single-party rule in Syria. It proclaims that political system in Syria is based on pluralism and multiparty system is permitted.

Also very important is Article 88, as it says that president of the country could only be elected for two seven-year terms. This change however will come into power only after the next presidential elections, which is scheduled for 2014.

The draft constitution meets the majority of democratic demands of the Syrians.

According to the Interior Ministry 14,000 polling stations have been set up for the referendum. About 15 million Syrians have the right to vote, but it is hard to predict how many of them will actually turn out.

However, as Maria Finoshina reports, the referendum may come too late as violence is continuing in the country between the opposition and the authorities.

The opposition has already called to boycott the vote and go on strike. RT’s correspondent says warnings are circling in Damascus that there could be attacks and explosions at the polling stations during the vote.

Meanwhile, a group of countries, led by the US, calling themselves the Friends of Syria have called for tougher sanctions on Damascus.

Political activist Shabbir Razvi believes that the Friends of Syria should be really dubbed “the Foes of Syria," because they are really not working "for the interest of Syrian people.”

“The Western powers I think would never be satisfied with any kind of change occurring in Syria or any of the other Middle Eastern countries so long as that change is not in the interest or benefit of the Western powers,” Razvi told RT. “To think that the West can ever be interested for the people of a particular country is laughable.”

Historian and political analyst Peter Rushton told RT that the main challenge for the Syrian government right now is to assure that the referendum gets through smoothly, “without terrorist attacks to disrupt it.”

“The major problem for the government in Damascus and everybody on the ground in Syria will be allowing the process to go ahead relatively uninterrupted,” Rushton said. “The key thing will be not just the result of the referendum, but the number of people who are allowed to take part in it and thus it is being shown as a legitimate consultation of the people.”

Rushton believes that if any kind of violence takes place during the vote, the West may say:

“The result is illegitimate! That may well be the reason why the bombs are going off in the first place.”

'CIA & Western media's total fiasco in Syria'

Calls for tougher economic sanctions against Syria are getting louder at the 'Friends of Syria' meeting in Tunisia, with the EU already preparing to freeze the Syrian Central Bank assets next week. It's among the new measures to cripple the Assad regime being proposed by the U.S. and its allies, as they gather to hammer out the Syrian crisis. German government consultant Christoph Horstel thinks that the West is trying to transplant its regime-change strategy from Libya to Syria.

and from al-Jazeera

A THIRD "bailout"?!

2012-02-26T14:33:00.001+13:00

Juncker: "Greece May Need A Third Bailout"

No. No way.

If we have to go through one more year of endlessly repetitive and utterly worthless European bullshit, rumors, headlines, and other subterfuge whose only point is to extend and pretend the fact that Europe is utterly broke, just so the effete Greek citizens can pretend they give a rat's ass about their independence, when in reality they will gladly pay 80% of their salary to keep European banks solvent simply to retain the illusion that their retirement funds are still worth more than diddly squat, we are done.

Reuters has the story that needs no commentary:

The head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Friday he could not rule out that Greece may need a third bailout.

Asked in a television interview if he could be sure Greece would not need a third bailout, Juncker said: "You cannot really exclude that, although we should not have as a starting assumption that a third program will be (needed)."

"We made it clear last Tuesday in Brussels that we are standing ready to support Greece even beyond the time period of this program but I have good reasons to believe that we should now not engage ourselves in a debate on a 'maybe' third program. We should now ... implement the second one," he said, interviewed by David Frost on Al Jazeera.

Asked about some experts' view that a Greek default is inevitable, Juncker said: "I don't see that Greece would go for a default."

Why of course not: since nobody in Greece has the balls to say enough, why should the broke European banks, whose LTRO lifeline incidentally is ending, stop sucking the last remaining drops of blood from the Greek debt slaves? If we were in their shoes we would do precisely the same thing until the bitter end. And frankly, just like America is about to get a president it deserves, so Greeks are clearly the recipients of just the fate they so rightfully have 'earned' by doing absolutely nothing. But go ahead and throw a Molotov cocktail or two, and don't forget to loot that store right next to Syntagma square. After all, what is heroism if not stealing from others, just the way the despised banker uberclass steals from you?

And since we already know the list of 38 demands Germany has submitted to Greece to allow it to rescue its banks, here is an artist's impression of German demands to greenlight bailout #3:

The colonisation of Greece

2012-02-26T14:25:00.000+13:00

The Colonization Begins: Germany May Send 160 Tax Collectors To Greece

Zero Hedge,

25 February, 2012

Since the European colonial state of southern Bavaria Sachs (formerly known as the insolvent Hellenic Republic) no longer even pretends to be anything less than a pass-thru funding colony of its creditors, said creditors (European banks and various insurance companies) are about to send out the first group of colonial scouts in the form of German tax collectors.

Also, since as reported previously, Greece will literally have to collect taxes to fund the Second "bailout package", which is merely a front for on ongoing Greek bailout of European banks (recall that it is Greece who is partially funding the bailout Escrow Account), said tax collectors will assist their Greek counterparts (who will rather likely miss their quote of becoming 200% more efficient in 2012) in collecting money from Greek citizens to pay off German banks. If in the process a few (or all) bars of gold end up missing, so be it.

From Athens News:

More than 160 German financial services executives are willing to come to Greece in order to strengthen the Greek tax mechanism, according to a report to be published in the German magazine 'Wirtschafts Woche', which will be released on Monday.

The magazine cites German deputy finance minister Hans Bernhard Beus, who explains that a key factor is the knowledge of a foreign language - some of them speak Greek - while the return to active duty of retired tax collectors should not be ruled out.

Many come from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, whose finance minister, Norbert Walter-Borjans, compares Greece's with 90s East Germany, noting that even the East Germans at the time were suspicious towards the West. "In Greece suspicion will be greater, in part because of the inappropriate language used by some in Germany," he said.

The article also refers to a confidential report from the European Commission, according to which the mechanism of tax collection in Greece is especially problematic.

What "problematic"? If it is not clear by now that the Greeks will happily do nothing to change their predicament (and in fact have exhibited a soaring appreciation for their new stepmother-tongue), this will be literally easier than stealing rehypothecated candy from an insolvent baby.

Ironically, the popular German response in the form of comments at German daily Spiegel is widely adverse to this latest now blatantly open attempt at colonization by a few German "leaders", who just like in every other insolvent developed country, operate solely at the behest of their banker funders.

We fear that such incursions into national sovereignty will only accelerate... until they are finally halted, very violently, and very tragically.

How Goldman Sachs helped mask Greece's debt

2012-02-26T13:58:00.000+13:00

This is something that Max Keiser has often repeated - up to now I had never really seen anything to back that up

Two Year Reminder For The Fed: How Is That Investigation Into Goldman's Greek Currency Swaps Going?

Zero Hedge,

25 February, 2012

There are those who remember that back in February 2010, before the world realized just how broke Greece was, the public's deplorably short attention span was briefly focused on none other than Goldman Sachs, which as so often happens, was at the heart of the scheme enabling Greece to skirt by Maastricht regulations and mask the fact that its debt and deficits were both far worse than represented publicly.

There are also some who remember that back in February 2010, it was none other than the Federal Reserve that tasked itself with uncovering whether Goldman did anything "illegal" by engaging in currency swaps to make the Greek economy appear rosier than it was: "We are looking into a number of questions related to Goldman Sachs and other companies and their derivatives arrangements with Greece," Bernanke said in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.... Greece in 2001 borrowed billions, with the aid of Goldman Sachs in a deal hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan....Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally declined to comment on the Fed's probe.

"As a matter of policy we don't comment on legal or regulatory matters," DuVally said. Goldman Sachs had defended the transactions in a statement posted on its Website Sunday. The firm said they had a "minimal effect" on Greece's overall fiscal situation." Maybe, just maybe it is time, two years later, for the world to hear something, anything, from the Fed as to what its seemingly quite extensive investigation into Goldman's has yielded.

And as a public service, just to help the Chairman, who very soon will have precisely 15 minutes to prove he can send record Brent prices down by 50% and prevent the European economy from imploding, here is a convenient reminder from the BBC, courtesy of its clip "How Goldman Sachs Helped Mask Greece's Debt.".

You know - just in case someone forgot to hold the Fed accountable for its objective and sincere investigation into the firm, whose former chief economist now runs the New York Fed.

PS: has anyone heard about the whereabouts of friend Christoforos Sardelis recently? The same guy who allowed Greece to engage in the Goldman swaps? Because if one was curious, one would inquire if there were any cross currency swaps that involved Sardelis' Swiss bank account circa 2001 and an offshore Cayman account controlled by a Goldman sub, circa the same time.

Chris Martenson interview

2012-02-26T13:38:00.000+13:00

Ben Davies: Greece Is Just A Preview Of What's Coming For The Rest Of Us

Chris Martenson.

14 Februart, 2012

All eyes are on Greece these days, with hopes the situation there can soon be resolved and the global recovery kicked into high gear.

Sadly, those hopes are misguided claims Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital. In fact, he says, Greece's pain foreshadows the future awaiting the rest of the world.

It all comes down to simple math. Greece has increased its debts at a rate far faster than its income has grown. At some point, the debt became so large that the country could no longer service it.

What makes the rest of the PIIGS immune from a similar fate? Or Japan? Or the US? Or the OECD, in general?

Nothing.

Yes, Greece had a smaller, shakier economy and doesn't have a central bank to print its own currency at will like Japan or the US. But even those countries with a printing press learn that, after a certain point, expanding the money supply only complicates the problem of too much debt by inflating key economic input costs and dangerously weakening the currency.

The cold hard fact Greece is facing is that it's now at the point where extraordinary losses need to be taken. The problem is, no one wants to take them. And all the sturm und drang being exhibited by Brussels, the ECB, sovereign debt holders, and other world leaders is nothing more than a frantic game of hot potato.

The one thing we can be confident of is that at some point, these losses will be taken. The market will eventually force it.

And the second thing we can predict is: we don't know what will happen when they are. There is so much complexity in the counterparty exposure to Greece debt - as well as the much larger derivative exposure tied to this debt - that anything between "not much" and "worldwide financial conflagration" could be possible.

And that's just Greece. As other larger countries begin to sink under the weight of their sovereign debts, the risks to the global financial system increasingly escalates. Which is why Ben Davies has a hard time finding a good home for investment capital other than gold.

The 'economy gets better' - as things get worse

2012-02-26T13:31:00.000+13:00

I’m sure the people living in tents and those living on $2 a day will be delighted to hear this! - they can just ‘sit back’ too!

Fed Likely to 'Sit Back' as Economy Gets Better: Bullard

CNBC,

24 February, 2012

Unemployment should drop below 8 percent this year as part of an improving economic climate that could take more monetary easing off the table, Fed President James Bullard told CNBC.

The head of the Federal Reserve's St. Louis branch said 2011 featured a number of unexpected shocks to the economy — Japan's tsunami and Europe's sovereign debt crisis to name two — that are not as influential in 2012.

As such, he thinks the unemployment rate, currently at 8.3 percent, drops to 7.8 percent by year's end, allowing the central bank to take more of watchful eye and less of an aggressive role in molding economic outcomes.

"With the better data, the super-easy policy already in place — I think we've got a lot on the table here," Bullard said. "So this is a normal situation for the committee to sit back, get more data, try to collect our thoughts about the things that are affecting our economy right now."

The Fed last year implemented what is known as Operation Twist, a $600 bond-buying program that sells shorter-dated notes and buys longer-dated ones in an effort to drive down long-term borrowing rates. The program expires in June.

In addition, the Fed over the past three years has expanded its balance sheet to $2.9 trillion during its two quantitative easing programs.

Some on Wall Street believe the Fed is gearing up for another round of QE, but Bullard said that is far from a certainty.

"It's a potent weapon that we can use, but we should use it only if the economy deteriorates and especially if the inflation rates come in below our targets," he said. "We're not in that circumstance right now. Headline inflation is above target. Even core (Consumer Price Index) is above target."

Inflation becomes critical for the Fed going forward as its zero-interest-rate policy could trigger higher prices through increasing money supply.

Consumers are burdened with gasoline prices that in some areas already have eclipsed $4 a gallon, months before the peak driving season kicks in, and geopolitical tensions surrounding Iran pose threat to additional escalation in prices.

"You have the situation in Iran being a wild card for global oil prices," Bullard said. "So you wouldn't want to feed into that with new policy moves from the Fed."

Bullard joined a handful of Fed officials who said the Fed's easy-money policy is appropriate.

One president, however, criticized central bank policies such as mortgage bond purchases that he said cross the line into fiscal policy.

"Once a central bank ventures into fiscal policy, it is likely to find itself under increasing pressure from the private sector, financial markets, or the government to use its balance sheet to substitute for other fiscal decisions," Plosser told a Chicago conference at which Bullard and several other Fed officials.

John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed, said the recovery was still sufficiently lackluster to warrant a heavy dose of monetary stimulus.

While he stopped short of calling for additional easing, Williams hinted that he would not be averse to further stimulus from the Fed. Williams was discussing a paper on monetary policy presented at a conference sponsored by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

"The paper's executive summary notes that current 'headwinds ... may require a more aggressive monetary response than in normal downturns'. I agree," Williams said.

His counterpart at the New York Fed, William Dudley, said much work remains to achieve maximum U.S. employment and stable prices, and the central bank will do its part.

The pace of the U.S. economic recovery remains "sluggish" and is likely to slow somewhat this year, Dudley added. He said unemployment is likely to remain "unacceptably high" for some time, while inflation is likely to be below the Fed's new 2-percent objective for several years.

Speaking at the same conference as Williams and Bullard, Bank of Canada President Mark Carney praised the Federal Reserve for being "appropriately and effectively radical by implementing a range of powerful unconventional tools."

He said the Fed was able to use the anchor of an explicit inflation target to employ communications as a tool for stimulus.

"We expect that the Fed's elaboration of its longer-term policy goals will enhance the stimulative effect of its announcement that the federal funds rate is likely to remain at exceptionally low levels at least through late 2014," Carney said.

The Big Lie

2012-02-26T13:21:00.001+13:00

Are they simply trying to prove that Goebbels was right about the Big Lie?

A repeat of 2003. I don't suppose truth matters very much if you've been planning this moment for 10 years.

Exclusive: State Department quietly warning region on Syrian WMDs

The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria's neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad's extensive weapons of mass destruction if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned.

The Cable,

24 February, 2012

This week, the State Department sent a diplomatic demarche to Syria's neighbors Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, warning them about the possibility of Syria's WMDs crossing their borders and offering U.S. government help in dealing with the problem, three Obama administration officials confirmed to The Cable. For concerned parties both inside and outside the U.S. government, the demarche signifies that the United States is increasingly developing plans to deal with the dangers of a post-Assad Syria -- while simultaneously highlighting the lack of planning for how to directly bring about Assad's downfall.

Syria is believed to have a substantial chemical weapons program, which includes mustard gas and sophisticated nerve agents, such as sarin gas, as well as biological weapons. Syria has also refused IAEA requests to make available facilities that were part of its nuclear weapons program and may still be in operation.

The State Department declined to provide access to any officials to discuss the private diplomatic communication on the record, such as the author of the demarche Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Tom Countryman. In a meeting with reporters earlier this year, Countryman expressed confidence that the United States knows where Syria's WMD stockpiles are, but warned that they could become a very serious security issue for Syria and the region going forward.

"We have ideas as to the quantity and we have ideas as to where they are," Countryman said. "We wish some of the neighbors of Syria to be on the lookout... When you get a change of regime in Syria, it matters what are the conditions -- chaotic or orderly."

Today, in response to inquiries from The Cable, a State Department official offered the following statement:

"The U.S. and our allies are monitoring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. These weapons' presence in Syria undermines peace and security in the Middle East, and we have long called on the Syrian government to destroy its chemicals weapons arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons Convention," the State Department official said. "We believe Syria's chemical weapons stockpile remains under Syrian government control, and we will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to prevent proliferation of Syria's chemical weapons program."

The demarche made four specific points, according to other U.S. officials who offered a fuller account to The Cable. It communicated the U.S. government's recognition that there is a highly active chemical warfare program in Syria, which is complemented by ballistic-missile delivery capability. It further emphasized that that any potential political transition in Syria could raise serious questions about the regime's control over proliferation-sensitive material.

Third, the State Department wanted Syria's neighbors to know that should the Assad regime fall, the security of its WMD stockpile -- as well as its control over conventional weapons like MANPADS (shoulder-fired rocket launchers) -- could come into question and could pose a serious threat to regional security. Lastly, the demarche emphasized that the U.S. government stands ready to support neighboring countries to provide border-related security cooperation.

"It's essentially a recognition of the danger to the regional and international community of the stockpiles that the regime possesses and the importance of working with countries, given the potential fall of the regime, to prevent the proliferation of these very sensitive weapons outside of Syria's border," one administration official said. "It's an exponentially more dangerous program than Libya. We are talking about legitimate WMDs here -- this isn't Iraq. The administration is really concerned about loose WMDs. It's one of the few things you could put on the agenda and do something about without planning the fall of the regime."

The administration is also working closely with the Jordanians on the issue. A Jordanian military delegation was at the Pentagon Thursday to meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

In addition to the danger of proliferation, there is a concern that Assad could actually use his WMDs if his situation becomes desperate.

"The WMD program is in play now, and that's important because it highlights the innate danger that the existence of this regime poses to U.S. security and regional interests," the administration official said. "[The demarche] puts Syria's neighbors on notice and it reflects the recognition that a dangerous Assad regime is willing to do anything to save its own skin. If they are willing to kill the country to save the regime, they might be willing to do a great deal more damage throughout the region."

Some officials inside and outside the administration see the WMD activity as helpful, but lament that such a high degree of planning is not taking place on the issue of how to precipitate the downfall of the Assad regime as quickly and as safely as possible.

Over 70 countries met in Tunis today to develop a unified message on the transition of power in Syria and urge the Assad regime to allow humanitarian access. The Saudi delegation actually walked out of the meeting, complaining of "inactivity" and urging the international community to arm the Syrian opposition.

The Obama administration has consistently rejected calls by the Syrian National Council and others to prepare for a military intervention in Syria and no real strategy exists internally to force Assad from power, another administration official said.

"Our strategic calculus can't be solely about what comes after Assad without taking a hard look at how to bring about Assad's downfall as safely as possible," said this official. "The reality is, at some point, there will be a recognition you can't plan for a post-Assad scenario without planning how to shape the downfall itself. You can't separate the two."

Concern about a gap in planning for how to oust the Assad regime is shared by some in Congress, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who issued a statement today urging the administration to start directly aiding the Syrian rebels and protecting Syrian civilians.

"Unfortunately, speeches and meetings by themselves will do nothing to stop the unacceptable slaughter in Syria, which is growing worse by the day," the senators said. "We remain deeply concerned that our international diplomacy risks becoming divorced from the reality on the ground in Syria, which is now an armed conflict between Assad's forces and the people of Syria who are struggling to defend themselves against indiscriminate attacks."

In her prepared remarks in Tunis, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she supported more sanctions on the Assad regime but she declined to endorse any direct help to the Syrian opposition without the consent of the Syrian government, saying only, "We all need to look hard at what more we can do."

Municipal debt in France

2012-02-26T12:46:00.000+13:00

Thousands Of French Towns Are Asking For Bailouts After Discovering Toxic Assets

Business Insider,

24 February, 2012

The latest victims of the financial crisis: small towns in France.

At least 5,500 French towns have taken out toxic loans from the failed French-Belgian bank Dexia.

With no place to unload that debt, and no way to pay it back, these towns are suddenly under water.

“If the euro-zone crisis continues, it’s very possible that some towns in France go bust, like in the United States,” said Sofiane Aboura, associate professor at Paris Dauphine University.

Dexia was the first European bank to fall victim to the eurozone debt crisis. In 2008, France, Belgium and Luxembourg took control of Dexia with a $8.4 billion bailout — a move meant to secure the municipal lender.

Three years later, the bank required another rescue operation to deal with the sovereign-debt crisis. In October last year, France and Belgium agreed to split up Dexia’s operations.

But with Dexia gone, French towns are facing a gaping credit chasm. They have nobody to turn to in order to finance their investments.

Unlike US municipalities, French towns don’t have facilities to emit bonds. They relied heavily on Dexia for their financing purposes.

Dexia Credit Local, the Dexia branch charged with lending to local authorities, forecasts a massive credit crunch this year. French towns need close to $30 billion in loans, and only $15 billion have been found so far.

French towns argue they didn’t have the manpower or the sophistication to understand the risks they were taking.

One of those towns is Asnières, population 83,300, just outside of Paris.

Dexia had sold the town’s previous local council complex loans, with interest rates indexed to the yen-dollar foreign exchange rate or to US municipal bond rates.

In 2009, local officials in Asnières made a horrifying discovery: 91 percent of its $250 million debt was “toxic.” The loans were sold at low interest rates, but with a plan to phase in variable interest rates. When the variable rates came into effect, the town’s debt skyrocketed to a level they could no longer afford to repay.

“Dexia cheated local governments, they flogged these exotic financial products and small towns weren’t aware they were taking big risks,” Asnières’s mayor Sebastien Pietrasanta said.

It is estimated the small town of Asnières has to fork out $76 million — half the town’s annual budget — to secure its debt. And that’s before they start paying it off.

“I don’t have a room full of traders in my basement,” Pietrasanta said. “Some of the loans are so complicated we can’t secure them, nobody understands them nor wants them.”

On the streets of Asnières, residents struggle to understand the numbers behind the subprime crisis. But there’s one thing they do see — an increase in local taxes by 17 percent.

“It’s worrying, because we know we have to pay off our debt, but at the same time, that means less money to build schools and daycare centers," retail consultant Anne Lucchini said.

The first things to go: restoring the town’s elegant Asnières castle and building a community gymnasium.

Local officials fear that worse is to come. Some of their loans have yet to enter their most dangerous phase. In October, interest rates on some assets will become variable and could easily reach two-digit figures.

To buy back its loans, the town would have to increase local taxes by 66 percent — something the current mayor refuses to do. Ultimately, if the town council isn’t capable of balancing its books, the state would have to step in.

In the meantime, local officials are in talks to push back repayment deadlines.

An audit company hired by the town council estimates that Asnières will not be able to secure bank loans in the forseeable future. With the crisis hitting families in Asnières, the town needs to spend more on benefits — an increase that is stretching local finances further.

“It’s like walking around with a bomb and always delaying the day it will be set off,”

Pietrasanta said. “But we know it will eventually explode.”

Pietrasanta hopes that the government and lawmakers will find a way out of the debt crisis. The French National Assembly is currently examining a bill that could pave a way towards renegotiating toxic loans at a national level.

The credit crunch is also hitting other actors: regional authorities, hospitals, water and electricity companies who used to take out loans with Dexia.

French daily Le Monde reports that many towns, like Asnières, are postponing investments and construction work. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has reportedly brought seven large hospital building sites to a standstill.

But with growth dipping in France, the credit crunch could tip France into a recession and destroy jobs.

In the last quarter of 2011, France narrowly avoided slipping into a recession.

A group representing public-works firms, FNTP, reports that over 8 percent of firms working in public works have gone bust over the past year. Ten thousand jobs are at risk in the coming months.

But there may be hope.

This month, France and Belgium reached an agreement on dismantling Dexia. Its toxic assets, estimated to amount to as much as $254 billion are being bundled into a “bad bank,” according to a Bloombergestimation.

Dexia Credit Local, state financial house Caisse des Depots and the French government will each take a 31.7 percent stake in the new bank while La Banque Postale, the banking arm of the French post office, will take a 4.9 percent stake.

But the new state-backed bank, known as Dexma, is not expected to be operational before June. In the meantime, local representatives want the French government to step in.

“I’m not convinced the new bank will be enough,” said Philippe Laurent, head of the finance committee of the AMF a group representing French mayors. “It will take quite some time before the bank is operational, and there will be problems if it doesn’t start lending by September.”

“We also don’t know how many loans it will be allowed to give out.”

On Monday, the French Banking Federation announced several banks including BNP Paribas and Societe Generale have agreed to lend $12 billion to towns this year.

This is a welcome move that might help reduce the credit crunch, though it is unclear yet if towns can expect satisfactory loan terms.

As a stop-gap measure, the government also announced last week it was earmarking $2.6 to $6.5 billion in loans to local governments.

But it appears French President Nicolas Sarkozy is reluctantly coming to the rescue. In a recent interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Sarkozy called on local authorities to cut spending in line with state and social-security budget reduction.

Laurent says the government is “playing with fire,” by ordering towns to cut spending at a time when the country needs growth.

In Asnières, Pietrasanta has yet to be convinced the new municipal lender Dexma will change things for the better.

Instead of waiting around, his town has adopted a more proactive stance: It is suing Dexia for misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices.

Occupy our food supply!

2012-02-26T11:36:00.000+13:00

Why We Must Occupy Our Food Supply
Willie Nelson and Anna Lappé

Huffington Post, 24 February, 2012

Our food is under threat. It is felt by every family farmer who has lost their land and livelihood, every parent who can't find affordable or healthy ingredients in their neighborhood, every person worried about foodborne illnesses thanks to lobbyist-weakened food safety laws, every farmworker who faces toxic pesticides in the fields as part of a day's work.

When our food is at risk we are all at risk.

Over the last thirty years, we have witnessed a massive consolidation of our food system. Never have so few corporations been responsible for more of our food chain. Of the 40,000 food items in a typical U.S. grocery store, more than half are now brought to us by just 10 corporations. Today, three companies process more than 70 percent of all U.S. beef, Tyson, Cargill and JBS. More than 90 percent of soybean seeds and 80 percent of corn seeds used in the United States are sold by just one company: Monsanto. Four companies are responsible for up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain. And one in four food dollars is spent at Walmart.

What does this matter for those of us who eat?

Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, the destruction of soil fertility, the pollution of our water, and health epidemics including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even certain forms of cancer. More and more, the choices that determine the food on our shelves are made by corporations concerned less with protecting our health, our environment, or our jobs than with profit margins and executive bonuses.

This consolidation also fuels the influence of concentrated economic power in politics: Last year alone, the biggest food companies spent tens of millions lobbying on Capitol Hill with more than $37 million used in the fight against junk food marketing guidelines for kids.

On a global scale, the consolidation of our food system has meant devastation for farmers, forests and the climate. Take the controversial food additive palm oil. In the past decade, palm oil has become the most widely traded vegetable oil in the world and is now found in half of all packaged goods on U.S. grocery store shelves. But the large-scale production of palm oil -- driven by agribusiness demand for the relatively cheap ingredient -- has come at a cost: palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia are razing rainforests, releasing massive quantities of greenhouse gases and displacing Indigenous communities.

From the global to the local, nothing is more personal than this threat to our food. And nothing more inspiring than the movement that is fighting back. On Monday February 27, tens of thousands of people -- including farmers and food workers, parents and students, urban gardeners and chefs -- will participate in a Global Day of Action to Occupy our Food Supply.

Occupy our Food Supply is a day to both resist Big Food and highlight sustainable solutions that work for all of us. On February 27, more than 60Occupy groups as well as environmental and corporate accountability organizations are joining together. From Brazil, Hungary, Ireland, Argentina, the United States and beyond, people will be reclaiming unused bank-owned lots to create community gardens; hosting seed exchanges in front of stock exchanges; labeling products on grocery store shelves that contain genetically engineered ingredients; building community alliances to support locally owned grocery stores and resist Walmart megastores; and fighting back against industrial giants Monsanto and Cargill.

The call to Occupy our Food Supply, facilitated by Rainforest Action Network, is being echoed by prominent thought leaders, authors, farmers and activists including the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Food Inc.'s Robert Kenner, and authors Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Marion Nestle, among others.

As Michael Ableman, farmer, author, and founder of the Center for Urban Agriculture puts it: "We need to focus on what we are for as much as what we are against; occupying our land, our soils with life and fertility, our communities with good food. We need to work to rebuild the real economy, the one based on seeds and sunlight and individuals and communities growing together."

If you eat food, grow food, love food, join us to Occupy our Food Supply.

Anna Lappé is author of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork (Bloomsbury USA) and a board member of Rainforest Action Network. Willie Nelson is founder and president of Farm Aid.

http://ran.org/occupy-our-food-supply

California gas woes

2012-02-26T11:16:00.000+13:00

Gas prices set records for overnight increases this week

North County Times,

24 February, 2012

Overnight gas prices rose at a record pace this week, according to data from AAA, the Auto Club.

This year, gas prices rose from 2011's record levels to set new highs for January and February, typically a low-consumption time of year. In the past week, the average price of a gallon of unleaded rose by record amounts, including three of the top five overnight increases since 2000 in San Diego and in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to AAA.

High prices for crude oil, plus refinery cutbacks have sent prices rocketing upward.

"Oh my God, it's absolutely horrible," said Jason Harms, a former Marine living in Vista. "Gas prices are insane."

On Friday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in San Diego County rose 5.6 cents, or 1.3 percent, overnight to $4.23. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties it rose 6.3 cents, or 1.5 percent to $4.20.

The largest overnight increase in the average price of a gallon of unleaded since 2000 hit on Thursday. In San Diego County, prices rose 6.6 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $4.18 per gallon. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, they rose 6.8 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $4.14.

"You'd have to go back to the Exxon Valdez," in 1989 to find a faster increase, said Charles Langley, an analyst with the Utility Consumers' Action Network in San Diego.

The rising gas prices had drastic effects on Murrieta resident Sharece Moore's life. Just this week, she said, she quit her job in San Diego and took a position in Temecula instead because the two-tanks-a-week commute was costing her too much money.

"Gas is a major problem for me," she said. "This is a little car so it shouldn't even be that much to fill up, but that doesn't matter because gas is so expensive."

High gas prices hit locals on fixed incomes particularly hard. Ruth Rivera of Escondido is retired and living on disability payments.

"People who own the oil companies seek to help their own pocket," she said. "They have no consideration at all for people with smaller incomes."

High crude oil prices provided most of the impetus for recent increases. On Friday the price of a barrel of Alaskan North Slope crude oil, the price which California refiners pay, reached $127.99, up $6.25 from a week ago, according to the California Energy Commission. That increase adds an extra 15 cents a gallon on its own. World oil supplies are tight thanks to demand from developing economies in China and India, but also because supply is threatened by a possible embargo against Iran, which produces 3 percent of the world's oil.

Recent disruptions at refineries spell higher prices for Californians.

Last week, a fire at a BP-owned plant in Washington shut down production. That plant, the fourth-largest one on the West Coast, provides 2 to 3 percent of California's gasoline, according to Adam Gottlieb, a spokesman for the California Energy Commission.

The fire reduces refinery production even as two California refineries, owned by Valero and Tesoro, are closed for scheduled maintenance and to make a changeover to a summer blend of gasoline.

Also, late Thursday, a plant in Carson owned by BP had an "unusual event" that may have affected production, although BP spokesman Tom Mueller in Houston, would not say whether operations had been affected.

"A little operational blip doesn't necessarily mean there are significant supply disruptions," Mueller said.

Sam Atwood, a spokesman with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said BP made two filings with his Diamond Bar, Calif.-based agency on events ---- or "flarings" ---- that occurred at the Carson refinery in the last week. One on Tuesday led to a flaring of excess gases for about an hour, while the second one, reported late Thursday, is expected to last for 24 to 48 hours.

Flaring is a process of burning off toxic gas emitted from a refinery as part of a safety measure to prevent a fire or explosion. The buildup in gas happens for many reasons, but could come as the result of a breakdown of equipment at the refinery, malfunction, or replacement of units or something else, Atwood said.

The events in Carson and Cherry Point combined with scheduled maintenance and a shift to the summer blend at California refineries owned by Tesoro and Valero could reduce California's refined gasoline production by as much as 20 percent, Langley said.

"We're going to see high-octane price hikes in the next 72 hours," he said.

Julie Truax of San Marcos is frustrated by the situation.

"The oil companies had record profits," she said. "Why don't they accept a reasonable profit, like the rest of us?"

An Afghan response to the Koran-burning

2012-02-26T11:05:00.002+13:00

For an Afghan response to the events surrounding the burning of the Koran by US troops.

Qur'an burning fuels anti-US sentiment

Press TV

US troops burning of Qur'an has sparked anger and demonstrations throughout Afghanistan, with more than 30 Afghan demonstrators killed in five days of protests.

Afghans turn their guns on Anericans

2012-02-26T10:59:00.001+13:00

NATO withdraws personnel from Afghan ministries after Kabul killing

RT,

25 February, 2012

The ISAF commander has recalled all personnel from Afghan ministries after two ISAF members were killed in a shooting inside the Interior Ministry in Kabul. The violence comes as Afghanistan is facing a fifth day of protests over Koran burning.

Gen. John Allen has said that all military advisors are being recalled "for obvious force protection reasons" following the killing in Kabul.

"I have also taken immediate measures to recall all other [Nato coalition] personnel working in ministries in and around Kabul," he said.

NATO is investigating Saturday's shooting, and will find the person responsible for the attack, Allen said.

The UK also responded to the attack in Kabul by temporarily withdrawing all civilian mentors and advisors from Afghan government institutions in the capital. This is according to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Meanwhile, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the deaths in a statement published on their website.

According to AFP, the statement praised “a hero Abdul Rahman" for killing four advisors. However, NATO officials reported two ISAF members have been killed on Saturday.

"After the attack, Rahman informed us by telephone that he was able to kill four high-ranking American advisors," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed.

The Taliban representative said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) shootings had been carried out in response to the Koran-burning incident.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the deaths but has not revealed the nationalities of those killed. However an anonymous US official in Washington said that those killed were Americans.

According to some media, the shooter was wearing Afghan police uniform.

The situation in Afghanistan has seriously escalated since NATO troops burnt copies of the Koran and other sacred texts seized from arrested Afghans in Bagram on Sunday.

Saturday is the fifth days of protests with demonstrations taking place all across the country.

In a separate incident in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, thousands attempted to storm the UN compound. At least three people have been killed and about 50 injured.

Saturday’s violence has added at least nine victims to the 25 killed in the first four days of protests.

....the attacker was a member of the Afghan military. This is an earth-shattering event for ISAF. Open Season has been declared on U.S. military personnel. This so evokes what happened in Saigon in 1975. This looks as though it will degenerate very quickly. -- MCR

Taliban assainate two U.S. officers outside Interior Ministry

CNN,
25 February, 2012

A gunman who shot dead two American officers inside the Afghan interior ministry remained at large late Saturday as U.S. officials decried the attack in Kabul.

"This act is unacceptable, and the United States condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Defense Department press secretary George Little said in a statement.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, though NATO and Afghan officials are investigating and have not confirmed involvement by the Islamist militant group. A Taliban spokesman said the attack was in response to the recent burning of Qurans at a U.S. base.

The killing of the officers prompted Gen. John Allen to order all military advisers with the International Security Assistance Force to withdraw from government ministries in the Afghan capital as a precaution.

According to ISAF, initial reports indicated that "an individual" turned his weapon against NATO service members, later confirmed by an Afghan police official to be an American colonel and major.

The two officers were found dead in their office from gunshot wounds to the head, the Afghan police official said. "They were part of the advisory mission there," the official said. "At this stage we can't say why they were killed."

Hours later, U.S. President Barack Obama called Allen to discuss the situation and express condolences to the families.

"We welcome President (Hamid) Karzai's statement this morning encouraging peaceful expressions, and his call for dialogue and calm," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "The United States remains committed to a partnership with the government and people of Afghanistan, as we work to realize our shared goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al Qaeda and strengthening the Afghan state."

The investigation into the attack is ongoing, and it was unclear who the shooter was, the Afghan official said. However, it's unlikely that the gunman was an outsider who had infiltrated the ministry, he said.

The attack happened in a separate compound inside the interior ministry where as many as 10 Americans are based, the Afghan official said. Such an attack would have to be planned, he said.

"The perpetrator of this attack is a coward whose actions will not go unanswered," Allen said.
Allen's order for ISAF advisers to withdraw includes the interior and defense ministries, among others, the U.S. official said.

The U.K. Foreign Office announced that British officials working in Afghan ministries in Kabul have also been withdrawn, as a "temporary measure."

ISAF provides advisers in key ministries to help train Afghan officials. It is not clear to what extent ISAF's military training mission was affected by the attack.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak called his American counterpart, Leon Panetta, to offer his condolences and apologized for the attack, Little said. Panetta "urged the Afghan government to take decisive action to protect coalition forces and curtail the violence in Afghanistan after a challenging week in the country," he added.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said "the attacker is still alive and resisting and a second Mujahid managed to escape the ministry."

"This comes amid our call to all Afghan security forces to turn their guns towards the invading forces who are the real enemies of our country and religion and kill them so they leave our country," Mujahid said in an e-mail.

Saturday's brazen attack at the interior ministry came amid continued protests over the recent burning of Qurans at Bagram Airfield. A military official said the materials burned were removed from a detainee center's library because they had "extremist inscriptions" on them and there was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications."

A fifth day of demonstrations over the burning left four civilians dead and 50 injured near the United Nations office in Kunduz, said Saad Mokhtar, head of the city's health department. Twelve police officers were among the wounded Saturday.

Allen addressed the burning issue during a visit to a military base where two U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. A protest over the burning of Qurans was taking place outside the base at the time of the killings.

Allen called on troops to "show the Afghan people that as bad as that act was at Bagram, it was unintentional, and Americans and ISAF soldiers do not stand for this. We stand for something greater than that."

Obama also apologized for the incident.

Muslims believe the Quran is the word of God, so holy that people should wash their hands before touching the sacred book.

Al-Jazeera reports

NATO recalls advisers following Kabul shooting

2012-02-26T10:39:00.000+13:00

Towards the Creation of the US-Canada Police State. "Counterterrorism" and War on Drugs used to Justify Sweeping Reforms

By Dana Gabriel

Global Research,

February 22, 2012

Global research In a move that went largely unnoticed, the U.S. government unveiled a new counter-narcotics strategy for the northern border which will work towards closer cooperation with Canada in the war on drugs. This includes both countries strengthening integrated cross-border intelligence sharing and law enforcement operations. Canada has also released a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan aimed at combating the threats of domestic and international violent extremism. The separate U.S.-Canada undertakings are both tied to the Beyond the Border deal and efforts to establish a North American security perimeter.

In January, the Obama administration announced the National Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy. A press release by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) described how the plan seeks, “to reduce the two-way flow of illicit drugs between the United States and Canada by increasing coordination among Federal, state, local, and tribal enforcement authorities, enhancing intelligence sharing between counterdrug agencies, and strengthening ongoing counterdrug partnerships and initiatives with the Government of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).” Senator Charles Schumer proclaimed, “I pushed so hard for this strategy to be finalized because we have to immediately stop the flow of drugs from Canada into New York, and it’s going to take an inter-agency and international effort.” He added, “I’m pleased that this agreement lays the groundwork for Canadian and American law enforcement to work hand-in-glove to fight the drug trade.” Schumer has also endorsed the new cross-border action plan. In addition, he is pushing to establish a Northern Border Intelligence Center in Franklin County, NY to better coordinate efforts to fight drug smuggling and other cross-border criminal activities.

While commenting on the new plan to disrupt the flow of drugs over the U.S.-Canada border, ONDCP Deputy Director of State, Local and Tribal Affairs, Ben Tucker explained that, “By strengthening integrated cross-border law enforcement between our two countries, the Strategy supports a key area of cooperation outlined by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper in the Beyond the Border declaration.” In December of last year, the leaders issued the follow up Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan. The deal focuses on addressing security threats early, facilitating trade, economic growth and jobs, integrating cross-border law enforcement, as well as improving infrastructure and cyber-security. As part of the agreement, both countries will, “create integrated teams in areas such as intelligence and criminal investigations, and an intelligence-led uniformed presence between ports of entry.” The U.S. and Canada continue to expand the nature and scope of joint law enforcement operations, along with intelligence collection and sharing.

The new northern border drug strategy also called for increasing judicial cooperation, improving information-sharing and extradition arrangements, as well as better coordinating cross-border undercover operations and investigations with Canada. It recommended working towards, “operational fusion with Canadian partners in interoperable communications, technology, and activities. The ability to integrate Canadian and U.S. technology, including sensors, videos, radio communications, and radar feeds, will permit automated sharing of timely information.” The document also argued that, "It is imperative that Canada and the United States work together to expedite the sharing of information from electronic communication service providers; and share information necessary to lay the foundation for intercepting internet and voice communications.” While various new measures are being put in place to thwart illegal drug, terrorist and other criminal activity, they could easily be used to target anyone else the government deems a threat.

The use of technology is emphasized throughout the report, “Technical collection capabilities and programs along the Northern border, such as thermal camera systems, License Plate Readers (LPRs), Mobile Surveillance Systems, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), national distress and command and control networks, and Remote Video Surveillance Systems will be deployed and carefully coordinated among participating agencies.” The new strategy also recommended enhancing air and maritime domain awareness and response capabilities as another means of disrupting the flow of illegal drugs across the U.S.-Canada border. In February of 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began using unmanned aerial vehicles on the northern border and expanded the program in January of last year. The UAV drones are being deployed in support of border security, counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism missions. Congress recently passed a bill that will make it easier for the government to use surveillance drones and it is projected that that there could be up to 30,000 in operation over U.S. skies by 2020.

On February 9, the Conservative government released the Building Resilience Against Terrorism: Canada’s Counter-terrorism Strategy. The new plan is aimed at countering domestic, as well as international terrorism and better protecting Canadian interests. It outlined counter-terrorism efforts under four pillars, “prevent individuals from engaging in terrorism; detect the activities of individuals who may pose a terrorist threat; deny terrorists the means and opportunity to carry out their activities; and respond proportionately, rapidly and in an organized manner to terrorist activities and mitigate their effects.” The report stressed partnership and cooperation as the key to achieving these goals which, “will require an integrated approach not only by the Government of Canada, but by all levels of government, law enforcement agencies, the private sector and citizens, in collaboration with international partners and key allies, such as the United States.” The strategy will, “serve to reinforce security initiatives between Canada and the U.S. and will complement the Canada-U.S. Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Competitiveness.”

The anti-terror policy identified Sunni Islamist extremism as Canada’s top security threat. It also warned of homegrown terrorists and lone wolf attackers, including issue-based domestic extremism which it stated, “tends to be based on grievances—real or perceived—revolving around the promotion of various causes such as animal rights, white supremacy, environmentalism and anti-capitalism.” CTV News reported that similar intelligence assessments can be found in documents regarding CSIS and RCMP surveillance between 2005-2010 which categorized, “some animal rights, environmental and aboriginal activists alongside terrorists that pose a threat to national security.” The documents were obtained through access to information requests. They became the basis of the research paper Making up Terror Identities where authors Jeffrey Monaghan and Kevin Walby voiced concerns on how, “intelligence agencies have blurred the categories of terrorism, extremism and activism into an aggregate threat matrix. This blurring of threat categories expands the purview of security intelligence agencies, leading to net-widening where a greater diversity of actions are governed through surveillance processes and criminal law.”

The never ending war on drugs and war on terrorism are being used to justify the huge police state security apparatus being assembled. This includes the militarization of the northern border and plans for a North American security perimeter. In the name of national security, there has been a steady erosion of civil liberties and privacy rights in both the U.S. and Canada. Our freedoms are under assault. The amount of information being collected and shared on all aspects of our daily lives has expanded and is being stored in massive databases. Sweeping new surveillance powers targeting terrorists and other criminals are being increasingly turned against those who are critical of government policy. There is a concerted effort to demonize political opponents, activists, protesters and other peaceful groups. We are witnessing the criminalization of dissent where those who oppose the government’s agenda are being labelled as terrorists and a threat to security.

For original article with links GO HERE

Poverty: Death and starvation in Japan

2012-02-26T10:13:00.001+13:00

Rather Than Go On Welfare, Japanese People Are Increasingly Dying 'Lonely Deaths'

Business Insider,

24 February, 2012

The culture of shame in Japan is causing a rise in the number of "lonely deaths," where dead bodies are left undiscovered for weeks or months, according to BBC News.

Most recently, a elderly couple and their middle-aged son were found dead of starvation in their apartment, with no electricity or gas and no food in the kitchen.

According to a local newspaper, they had asked a neighbor for help, but the neighbor refused them and suggested they contact welfare authorities, BBC reported.

It seems that rather suffer the shame of asking for government assistance, the family wasted away and died unnoticed until the building's management company went looking for them.

The Japanese concept of hajj (shame) continues to drive people's actions, much like guilt does in Western cultures. It's the same form of social control that drives Japanese CEOs and prime ministers to resign quickly when faced with a possible scandal or failing.

But the consequences are much deadlier when the elderly, poverty-stricken residents of the world's third richest country are left without a face-saving option.

Lonely deaths, known as kudokushi, are on the rise throughout Japan. Strangely, this fate even befell one of the nation's more notable citizens: in 2010, Japan's oldest man was discovered to have died 30 years earlier, according to BBC. Nobody had thought to check on that before then, apparently. A hunt for the country's elderly ensued.

Family of three dies from apparent starvation in Japan

Discovery raises questions over the official response to rising poverty levels among the elderly and the unemployed in Japan

the Guardian,

24 February, 2012

Authorities in Japan are under pressure to explain how three members of the same family were allowed to die of apparent starvation, after their bodies were discovered two months after their deaths.

Police found the bodies of a couple believed to be in their 60s and their son, thought to be in his 30s, at their apartment in Saitama, north of Tokyo, after the building's owner said he had been unable to contact them.

Officers entered the apartment to find the victims' badly decomposed corpses lying on futons, along with the carcass of their pet cat. The fridge was empty, the cupboards contained very little food, and a few one-yen coins appeared to all the money they had.

The discovery has raised questions over the official response to rising poverty levels among the elderly and the unemployed in the world's third-biggest economy.

As far as welfare officials in Saitama were concerned, the family, residents of a city of 1.2 million, had simply ceased to exist.

The victims appear to have been left to fend for themselves, despite their failure to pay their rent and utility bills. The cause of death is still unknown, but officials believe they either starved or committed suicide.

The family was not on a list of vulnerable households that are regularly visited by officials from the city's government. Some neighbours were unaware the apartment was even occupied.

Local media reports suggest the family was too ashamed to admit they needed financial help. When approached by the firm that manages the apartment, the woman reportedly said her son was working and her husband was unable to work due to chronic back pain.

A neighbour had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the wife to contact welfare authorities after she asked for money at the end of last year, saying the family was "in trouble".

Experts voiced disbelief that the authorities had not been informed, even after the family failed to pay rent for six months and had their gas and electricity cut off. They had reportedly not received welfare payments since 2003, two years after they moved into the apartment.

"Some people have a resistance to the idea of receiving welfare or contacting local authorities," Takehiro Yoshida, a welfare lawyer, told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. "Others are left isolated in their own communities."

Yoshida called on utilities to report cases of repeated non-payment of bills to welfare agencies.

Tokyo Electric Power and Tokyo Gas have said they do not assume poverty to be the cause of non-payment, and do not notify welfare agencies unless asked to do so by the residents themselves.

Despite enjoying one of the highest standards of living in the world, Japan is struggling to address rising rates of poverty, particularly among the elderly and disabled, a growing number of whom die in complete isolation.

In the summer of 2010, a 76-year-old man in Saitama died of heatstroke after his electricity was cut off for non-payment.

Last month, two sisters in their 40s, one of whom had a mental disability, were found dead in their freezing apartment in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. An 84-year-old man living in the same region was found dead alongside his wife, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's.

More than 700 people have died of apparent starvation since 2000, according to the health ministry. Fears are growing that job losses among middle-aged men and the impact of the 11 March disaster will push the number higher in the coming years.

"This is not something you'd expect in a developed country like Japan, but people are struggling to find jobs," ABC News quoted Norimichi Goishi of the Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research as saying.

"Local officials can't always reach those in need. Deaths related to starvation are a lot more common than we think."

Shocking levels of poverty in the 'Land of the Free'

2012-02-26T10:02:00.000+13:00

That's third world levels! I couldn't have even one meal a day or buy a loaf of bread for that amount.

Over A Million US Families Are Living On A Shocking $2 Per Day

Business Insider,

24 February, 2012

More than 1.46 million families in the U.S. are living on $2 or less per day, a new study found.

That's up from the 636,000 households who lived under the same conditions in 1996.

Two dollars or less per day translates to about $60 per person, per month.

While 43 percent of American households receive government benefits, a decreasing proportion of those benefits go to the poor, the researchers from University of Michigan and Harvard University, said.

The study based its definition of income on the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

It includes such factors as a person's pension and retirements, cash income from public programs, and reported income from friends and family members who are not part of the household.

When the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is included as income, the number of households living on $2 or less per day drops to about 800,000.

Additionally, the study found about 37 percent of the households living in poverty were headed by a married couple, while 51 percent were headed by a single female.

In 2011, nearly 50 percent of the households were headed by white non-Hispanics, 25 percent by African Americans, and 22 percent by Hispanics.

While minority groups do not represent the majority of these households, they're increased the most since 1996, the study found.

Greenpeace occupies Arctic-based vessel

2012-02-25T20:38:00.001+13:00

Save the Arctic

Greenpeace

The pristine and beautiful Arctic: Shell wants to exploit it for oil. We want it protected.

As a Shell oil drillship was preparing to leave Port Taranaki to sail for the Arctic to begin drilling for oil off the coast of Alaska - Greenpeace activists along with Lucy Lawless took action to block the departure of the ship. Take action alongside our activists now. Demand Shell stop its plans to put the fragile Arctic and its biodiversity at risk.

UPDATE:After 25,000 emails sent to the CEO of Shell, Peter Voser your emails started bouncing so we to switched to Marvin Odum, another Shell director but that started bouncing at about 80,000 so we have now switched to Pete Slaiby - vice president of Shell Alaska.

Like the deep sea oil drilling we face in NZ , Arctic drilling is extremely risky. The fact that it's being considered at all shows just how desperate the industry is to reach the last drops of oil - no matter what the cost.

We're on the cusp of an Arctic oil rush, the stakes are high and our chance to stop it is now.

This is a defining moment and we can choose a new path where a clean energy future replaces the climate change, resource wars and environmental devastation that are the consequences of the world's oil addiction.

Help stop Arctic destruction now by sending an email to Shell demanding it scraps plans for Arctic oil drilling

You can send an email by going HERE

Lucy Lawless protests with Greenpeace

A man has been arrested after seven Greenpeace protesters, including Hollywood star Lucy Lawless, clambered onto an Arctic-bound oil drilling vessel and scaled its 53-metre tower at Port Taranaki this morning.

The group managed to evade the port's tight security and, about 7am, board the Liberian-flagged Noble Discoverer, which was to depart on an 11,000km journey to drill three exploratory oil wells in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska.

They climbed to a platform atop its 53-metre drilling derrick and unravelled banners saying "Stop Shell'' and "Save The Arctic''.

A police spokesman confirmed a man who was associated with the protest but not on the boat was arrested at the port gate this morning.

Five officers were on board and had made face-to-face contact with the protesters, he said.

"We're trying to establish what their intentions are.''

Greenpeace spokesman Steve Abel said police were trying to climb the derrick to get to the protesters.

Article continues below

"We'd be pretty concerned about that because it requires specialist knowledge and capabilities to climb so you wouldn't want your everyday police officer having to do that without proper equipment. It's industrial climbing.''

The protest has captured international media attention with organisations including MSNBC, The Nation and the Associated Press trying to get interviews with Lawless, whose television series Spartacus is currently airing in the United States.

"Her involvement is very significant. There are very few people with her amount of profile and number of fans who have taken this level of non-violent direct action so, yeah, it's a pretty exceptional, historical event,'' Mr Abel said.

Police area commander for New Plymouth Inspector Blair Telford said their role in these situations was to ensure any protest was lawful and owners and crew of the ship were allowed to go about their lawful business.

"The protesters are clearly breaking the law by trespassing on the ship and we are currently liaising with the Port of Taranaki and the Harbour Master to decide the most appropriate course of action. Public safety is paramount.''

Lawless, the star of Xena: Warrior Princess, is a long-time Greenpeace supporter.

"I'm here today acting on behalf of the planet and my children,'' she was quoted as saying in a Greenpeace statement.

"Deep sea oil drilling is bad enough, but venturing into the Arctic, one of the most magical places on the planet, is going too far.''

Mr Abel said Lawless had decided to take part in today's activity of her own volition.

"She really was very keen to partake in a non-violent protest activity such as this one.''

She had considered that the police could be involved and people could be arrested, he said.

"She's got a strong passion for ensuring the Arctic does not become the latest frontier for the oil industry.''

She has taken to Twitter from the platform.

"All safe up here but a squall coming in. Good spirits,'' she tweeted.

"Today I'm taking direct action with GreenpeaceNZ in peaceful protest against Shell's Arctic oil drilling.

"I'm on one of the oldest drill rigs on the planet and it's heading to the Arctic. Tell Shell to stop.''

The ship was built in 1966.

Shell said in a statement it was "disappointed'' that Greenpeace had chosen this method of protest.

"While we respect the right of individuals to express their point of view the priority should be the safety of Noble Discoverer's personnel and that of the protesters.

"Shell has undertaken unprecedented steps to pursue safe, environmentally responsible exploration in shallow water off the coast of Alaska. We recognise the industry licence to operate offshore is predicated on being able to operate in a safe, environmentally responsible manner.''

Shell's Alaska exploration plans were guided by extensive Arctic expertise and world-class capabilities, it said.

Greece surrenders itself to creditors and bondholders

2012-02-25T19:45:00.000+13:00

Greece surrenders its gold and itself to creditors in the new deal

Commodity Online,

23 February, 2012

NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Though Greece finally reached a debt deal last week, the fine print suggest that the country may have surrendered itself to creditors and bondholders.

As per the new agreement, Greece's lenders will have the right to seize the country's gold reserves in the event of any default. Greek gold reserves are estimated to be more than 100 tonnes. Also hard hitting to its national interests is the fact that all future issues of Greek bonds will be governed in English and Luxembourg courts- conditions more favourable to the bondholders.

Credit rating agencies like S&P and Fitch had already warned that Greece would eventually default. Fitch had even quoted March 20, 2012 as the date when Greece will default on the payments. And if it does so, then as per the new deal it may have to part away from its gold amongst other things

Regime change in Syria planned 10 years in advance

2012-02-25T19:20:00.000+13:00

US Gen Wesley Clark is a retired general of the US army who served in Vietnam and led the NATO forces in Bosnia and Kosovo. He was retired in 2000 and was a vocal critic of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.

In this segment from a Decocracy Now! iterview he details a private conversation in which it was made clear to him that there was a plan back in 2003 to bring down the regimes of not only Iraq, but also those of Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan - within a 5 year time frame.

I would pose the question how would any government respond to a major threat to its power and legitimacy? Probably something like the current response of the US government to internal opposition.

If the government was confronted by an armed insurrection by groups that were being armed by hostile foreign governments, how would that government respond? Quite likely in some way that is not unlike that of the government of Assad in Syria.

General Wesley Clark explains US plans

US foreclosures

2012-02-25T14:55:00.000+13:00

Million-Dollar Foreclosures Rise as Rich Walk Away

Cryptogon,

February 23rd, 2012

Via: CNN:

Five years after the housing bubble burst, America’s wealthiest families are now losing their homes to foreclosure at a faster rate than the rest of the country — and many of them are doing so voluntarily.

Over 36,000 homes valued at $1 million or more were foreclosed on — or at least served with a notice of default — in 2011, according to data compiled by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures. While that’s less than 2% of all foreclosures nationwide, it represents a much bigger share of foreclosure activity than in previous years.

“These properties are accounting for a bigger piece of the foreclosure pie,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

Out of all foreclosure activity, the share of foreclosures on properties valued at $1 million or more has risen by 115% since 2007 while the share of multi-million dollar foreclosures — or homes valued at more than $2 million — jumped by 273%. Meanwhile, the share of foreclosures on mid-range properties valued between $500,000 and $1 million fell by 21%.

Until recently, many homeowners at the high end of the housing market were able to postpone the foreclosure process, Blomquist explained. With other assets and alternatives, “they had more financial means to hold out against default.”

Vote rigged against Ron Paul?

2012-02-25T14:48:00.000+13:00

2012 Election RIGGED - This is going Viral

They are at it again. Just as they had rigged the Bush election, they are now doing the same against Ron Paul. However, we need to be careful, as they are hoping that we will have been conditioned and accustomed enough to accept rigged elections by now, we all need to stand up and get much more assertive this time around and be prepared to fight back harder than ever before.

Pakistani rage against America

2012-02-25T14:38:00.000+13:00

Families of missing Pakistanis stage sit-in

This is the price the ordinary Pakistanis are paying in the US-led so-called war on terror.

Clashes between Israelis and Palestinians

2012-02-25T14:33:00.000+13:00

Clashes continue at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa

al Jazeera,
Israeli police and hundreds of Muslim worshippers have continued to battle near the al-Aqsa mosque.

In the third street battle this week, Israeli police on Friday fired tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinian protesters.

'US economy needs $90 oil' - confirmation of Peak Oil

2012-02-25T14:28:00.000+13:00

Intelligent commentary from an Iranian academic

'Ban on Iran oil shakes Obama admin'

Press TV

President Obama has blamed tensions with Iran as the reason behind rising oil prices in the US causing the US to buy oil at above peak oil prices and use its reserves.

Interview with Mr. Nader Mokhtari, columnist and political commentator, Tehran

The Japanese yen

2012-02-25T14:11:00.000+13:00

About as big as it gets... In the wake of the EU collapse and the unmistakable collapse-in-progress of the U.S. and the dollar as the world moves quickly to price oil outside of dollars, the Yen is being perceived as a safe-have currency. By "tanking", Zero Hedge means rising in value, another death blow to Japan. For it is only with the yen below about 80:1 (USD) that anybody in the world can buy Japanese exports.

Japan is now (for the first time in thirty years) running a trade surplus. It's manufacturers (the ones that can) hobbled by a lack of electricity are fleeing the country as the under-acknowledged radiation contamination from Fukushima remains untended and continues to poison all of Japan to the point where crops in far away Okinawa are contaminated.

This is all being coordinated and choreographed according to a timetable. Dmitry Orlov and I will be discussing it on this week's Lifeboat Hour. Europe will go down because of debt, the U.S. will go down over oil and debt, and Japan will all take a huge leap downward at about the same time, which looks to be between March and May of this year.

-- MCR

The Yen Has Been Tanking -- Is This The Start Of Something Big?

Business Insider,

23 February, 2012

Over the past four decades, the Japanese yen has had quite a run.

It used to be that a US dollar got you about 360 yen. Today it gets you about 80.

But the at the moment, the yen is in a sharp weakening phase against the dollar.

This chart from JPMorgan's Hajime Kitano notes a real break in a 5-year downtrend of the dollar against the yen.

Just to visualize the recent yen weakness a little more vividly, here's a 3-month chart of the dollar against the yen.

Anyway, because of the country's debt load and weak economy, the yen has been a rather hated currency for awhile, so the recent weakness has prompted some to wonder whether this could be the start of the "big one" -- a real, sustained weakening of the currency.

So is this something, or is it just another brief blip on the road towards more and more strengthening against the dollar?

In Morgan Stanley's latest FX Pulse note, analysts Gabriel de Kock and Evan Brown argue that there's not too much here.

First of all, part of the weakness is due to the fact that last week, the BOJ joined the world's currency easing game, promising more asset purchases, while announcing an inflation target of 1% (ha!).

But as de Kock and Brown note, this is far from the BoJ's first easing move, and typically they just don't result in much.

Check out all the various moves just in the last 3 years.

What makes this move somewhat interesting is that it apparently was the result of pressure from anti-deflationists in the Japanese Diet. The fact that there's an anti-deflation lobby in government is interesting, because the knock on Japan is that in a country dominated by old people, nobody can be pro-inflation.

But still, Morgan Stanley isn't buying that this can be sustained:

We believe further political pressure on the BoJ will be needed to sustain the USD/JPY bounce. Absent such pressure, we think USD/JPY could sink below 80,

disappointing JPY bears yet again.

To date, Prime Minister Noda and Finance Minister Azumi have steered clear of direct vocal support for the anti-deflation coalition in the Diet. But the appointment of two new BoJ Policy Board members to seats that become vacant on April 4 should clarify their position and the prospects for a more meaningful shift in the BoJ’s policy posture. Should the Diet appoint aggressive inflation targeters from the roster of candidates proposed by the anti-deflation coalition, more forceful BoJ policies should see USD/JPY well supported at current levels.

However, when all is said and done, we are skeptical that the BoJ could engineer a significant JPY turnaround. As with the Fed, new BoJ policy initiatives will have little impact on policy rate expectations which are stuck at the effective zero bound. And even aggressive BoJ balance sheet actions likely will prove ineffectual in raising inflation expectations against a backdrop of persistent deflation. Thus, with international political constraints in its ability to intervene in the FX market, the BoJ, like the Fed, will have to rely on its policies boosting risky assets and risk sentiment, which could bolster capital.

So in their view, this isn't the start of a big regime change, though it's also worth noting some differences between now and in the past: Japan has been running a trade deficit, and that's theoretically a yen weakener.

Also, surging oil prices don't help a country that's so wildly dependent on foreign fuels. So it's hard to chalk it all up to the BoJ easing or not easing.

The plunder of the PIIGS countries

2012-02-25T13:30:00.000+13:00

As an aside, evidence would tend to indicate that New Zealand has NO gold reserves to plunder

Projected PIIGS Pillage: 3233.5 Tons Of Gold To Be Confiscated By Insolvent European Banks

Zero Hedge,

23 February, 2012

While hardly discussed broadly in the mainstream media, the top news of the past 24 hours without doubt is that in addition to losing its fiscal sovereignty, and numerous other things, the Greek population is about to lose its gold in a perfectly legitimate fashion, following amendments to the country's constitution by unelected banker technocrats, who will make it legal for Greek creditors - read insolvent European banks - to plunder the Greek gold which at last check amounts to 111.6 tonnes according to the WGC.

And so we come full circle to what the ultimate goal of banker intervention in the European periphery is - nothing short of full gold confiscation.

So just how much gold will be pillaged by the banker oligarchy (it is amusing how many websites believe said gold is sacrosanct by regional national banks, and thus the EUR is such a stronger currency as it has all this 'gold backing' - hint: it doesn't, as all the gold is about to be transferred to non-extradition countries)?

As the World Gold Council shows in its latest update, between all the PIIGS, who will with 100% certainty suffer the same fate as Greece (which has shown that unlike during World War 2, it is perfectly willing to turn over and do nothing) there is 3234 tonnes of gold to be plundered.

And likely more as further constitutional amendments will likely make the confiscation of private gold the next big step. how much does this amount to? At today's prices this is just shy of $185 billion. Of course by the time the market grasps what is going on the spot price of the yellow metal will be far, far higher. Or, potentially far, far lower and totally fixed as the open gold market is eventually done away with entirely in a reversion to FDR gold confiscation and price fixing days.

The chart below shows total gold holdings for the top 40 countries. Little Ireland is off the chart with just 6 tonnes of gold.

'Calm the markets' at all costs

2012-02-25T13:16:00.002+13:00

Just before his untimely death, which I believe was murder, my friend, the late Matthew Simmons was almost frantic. As the world's largest energy investment banker he went on every media outlet he could find, screaming that there was an untapped leak a great distance from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. Over and over again he screamed it, until he was found dead in his hot tub. He kept screaming that nothing had been solved and that the Gulf of Mexico was dead.

It is difficult to remember how many good friends I have lost along the way.

We do not forgive. We do not forget... RIP, Matt. -- MCR

U.S., Saudi maneuver to contain Iran oil market threat
Saudi Arabia has raised oil exports and the United States is considering releasing crude from its strategic reserves as oil prices hit nine-month highs on Friday and concerns deepened over Iran's nuclear program.

Reuters,
24 Februay, 2012

Brent crude surged to over $125 a barrel after the United Nation's nuclear watchdog issued a report flagging the potential military nature of Iran's nuclear program, following an aborted U.N. inspection mission to Iran this week.

The report heightened fears of a supply disruption and could stoke worries in Israel, which has threatened Iran with pre-emptive strikes on nuclear sites. That would send shockwaves across the region and almost certainly drive oil prices even higher.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia increased exports over in the past week and offered additional crude to its biggest customers to tame runaway prices, industry sources told Reuters on Friday.

U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil buyers, as well as a European Union oil embargo to begin July 1, have already forced its customers in Europe and Asia to curb purchases from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter.

The Saudi move comes as the Obama administration studies tapping crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve among possible measures to offset any Iranian supply disruptions, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNBC on Friday there may be a case for using the reserve.

"Obviously Iran can do a lot of damage to the global economy," Geithner said. "We are working very carefully to try to minimize that risk."

The fear of tightening supplies, including a threat from Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz -- the main Gulf oil shipping lane -- have lifted oil prices 11 percent this year, putting political pressure on President Barack Obama, who is running for re-election in November.

Prices at the U.S. gasoline pump are the highest on record for February. They hit $3.65 a gallon on Friday, up 13 percent from last year, according to AAA. That has raised concern that any oil market disturbance could hoist them well over $4.00 during the U.S. summer driving season -- when demand in the world's largest oil consumer tends to be highest.

The International Monetary Fund has also warned higher oil prices are a rising threat to the global economy.

"It's clear that Washington is holding its regular fire-drill on $4.00 gasoline. This means going through the laundry-list of policies they could use, including an SPR release," said Bob McNally, a former White House energy adviser who now runs energy consultant Rapidan Group.

"Iran is the added twist. The odds Washington places on an Israeli attack on Iran are higher than the odds given by the oil markets."

REAL VS PERCEIVED THREATS

The appetite for a coordinated opening of reserves by the United States and other nations may not be as high as last June, when Western nations which are members of the International Energy Agency agreed to release a total of 60 million barrels of oil in response to supply disruptions from Libya.

Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said releasing reserves now would not help dampen oil prices driven up by concerns over geopolitical tensions rather than an actual interruption of crude flows.

"My concern is that the hike in the price today does not derive from a fundamental imbalance of supply and demand," he said at a Group of 20 meeting in Mexico City.

The comment echoed those of Germany's Economy Ministry earlier this week, which said the government has no plans to release any of its strategic oil reserves.

"By law, the oil reserves can only be released in the event of a disruption of the oil supplies and there is nothing of the kind at the moment," the spokeswoman said.

Analysts have noted that the actual supply losses seen this year from Syria, Yemen, Sudan that have heightened market concerns are slight compared to the disruptions from Libya last year that prompted the release of the IEA's reserves.

While Europe would suffer more directly from the cut off of Iranian crude than the United States, which does not buy oil from Tehran, the knock on effect of a disruption would drive up prices across the globe.

The U.S. SPR has the capacity to hold 727 million barrels, enough to cover US needs for nearly 40 days. The government has tapped the reserve in the past during times of supply disruptions, most recently after Libya's civil war.

An SPR release during the 1991 Gulf War coincided with a 12 percent fall in U.S. gasoline prices. One in 2005 was followed by a price-drop of 19 percent, while last year's release coincided with a US pump-price drop of around 6 percent, according to Department of Energy figures.

SAUDI COVER

Saudi Arabia has repeated publicly it would prime its pumps to meet any shortfall in exports from fellow OPEC member Iran.

Industry sources told Reuters on Friday the Kingdom had boosted exports to just over 9 million barrels per day last week, compared with an average of about 7.5 million bpd in January, although it was not clear if the export numbers were the start of a longer Saudi supply addition or a temporary uptick.

"Those export numbers are very reliable but they're only for a week so they don't tell you whether or not they're going to sustain these levels," said one industry source.
If Riyadh were to maintain exports at 9 million bpd it would imply record volumes from OPEC's leading producer of 11 million bpd, up more than a million bpd from last month. Saudi currently is using about 2 million bpd domestically.

Other sources at oil companies who buy Saudi crude said that Riyadh was offering extra oil both in addition to existing long-term contracts and on a one-off "spot" basis.

Saudi Arabia earlier this year identified $100 a barrel as a fair price and Riyadh is sensitive to the concerns among consumer countries about high fuel prices slowing economic recovery.

As well as extra Saudi oil, Iran's top European customers are seeking more from Iraq, Libya and Russia, but Saudi Arabia is the only country that holds significant volumes of spare capacity. European Union countries import about 700,000 bpd of Iranian oil.

NUCLEAR DRIVE
Concerns over Iran's nuclear program reached a fever pitch after the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday Iran had sharply stepped up its uranium enrichment drive.

The IAEA also reported its failed mission to Tehran this week that aimed to get Iran to respond to allegations of research relevant for the development of nuclear weapons -- a serious setback to the possible resumption of diplomatic talks.

"The Agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," the Vienna-based U.N. body said in a quarterly report about Iran issued to its member states.

Israel, which has threatened Iran with pre-emptive strikes on its nuclear sites, had no immediate comment on the report. Germany, which has backed tough new sanctions on Iran, said it was further cause for concern.

Tehran says its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian purposes and denies it aims to make atomic weapons.

Gulf of Mexico catastrophe

2012-02-25T12:57:00.000+13:00

Breaking News: Secret 3rd Gulf well evidence as BP trial to begin

Deborah Dupre

Macondo Formation gushing since April 22, 2010 say experts

Credits: NASA

Examiner,

24 Febraury, 2012

Macondo well never capped, oil still gushing from secret 3rd well: New evidence presented

New evidence presented to officials and Deborah Dupré on Friday revealing extraordinary secrets kept under cover by government officials involved with the Gulf environmental and humanitarian catastrophe could change direction of the BP trial and a cause public frenzy when the public learns that the well was not capped; oil never stopped gushing; and the source of that oil is a secret third Macondo well.

Only three days before the nation's New evidence presented to Deborah Dupré Friday morning clearly indicates:

• The unmentioned existence of a 3rd Macondo well (the real source of the explosion, oil spill and Deepwater Horizon sinking)

• The current condition of this 3rd Macondo well being such that it can never be capped.

• The compromised seabed floor condition being such that there are multiple unnatural sources of gushers continuing to pour into the gulf.

• The highly publicized capped well, (Well A) never hit pay dirt and was abandoned. Hence, it was never source of the millions of gallons released into the Gulf.

(None of the links to the documentation worked when I tried them - Seemorerocks)

The documentation supports investigations by New Orleans-based environmental attorney Stuart Smith, he told Dupré in an overseas telephone conversation Friday morning.

"The government has never denied that oil identified over a year after the well was "capped," was from the Macondo formation," Mr. Smith said Friday.

Paul Orr and his team from Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper collected oil, and lab-certified tests results established a fingerprint match to BP’s Macondo. Mr. Smith had reported:

"The most alarming part of the finding was not simply that the Breton Island sample had BP’s fingerprint on it, but that test results were nearly identical to those from the fresh oil seen early days of the BP spill – instead of the heavily weathered and degraded oil we’ve come to expect in recent weeks and months.

Those test results disproved the other theory about “fresh oil” reports: "All the oil BP strategically sunk to the seafloor with nearly 2 million gallons of toxic dispersant is beginning to break free and rise to the surface en masse, and in turn, blacken the coastline with fresh oil," Smith had reported.

Mobile Press Register reporter went into the Gulf, collected an oil sample, and took it to Louisiana State University analyst that said "it was a perfect match" to BP oil.

In an August 2011 email to the Mobile Press-Register, LSU chemist and NOAA contractor Ed Overton, wrote: “After examining the data, I think it’s a dead ringer for the MC252 [Macondo Well] oil, as good a match as I’ve seen.”

Mr Smith then reported, "Confronted with an overwhelming body of evidence – scientific data, photos and video of oil in the water and credible reports of the “stench of oil” at the site – BP and the U.S. Coast Guard continue to deny not only that the Macondo Well is leaking."

"Nobody’s explained where that oil is coming from, a natural seep or anything, or why we’re finding fresh oil," Mr. Smith said today.

On August 17, Mr. Smith blew the whistle that oil was still gushing into the Gulf from the Macondo formation, concurring with the late Matt Simmons' reports.

After reporting that plus that the well "cap" was a sham, and that it could not be capped except maybe with a nuclear blast, Simmons (67) died of a heart attack while relaxing in his hot tub on August 11, 2010.

'Everybody knows'

“I have just sent the attached briefing package to the Attorney Generals of Alabama and Louisiana which presents evidence we believe has never seen the light of day concerning the how and why of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster and subsequent gushing oil in the Gulf,” Susan Aarde told Dupré in a private email Friday morning.

Gulf Rescue Alliance is an association of concerned scientists, citizens, professionals, and officials, not equipped with resources or manpower to further explore and investigate. It has, therefore, compiled some select evidence for distribution, hoping people will not confuse ‘conspiracy theory’ with conspiracy facts.

"We have spent months pouring over the information to ensure its integrity to the best of our ability," Aarde told the Examiner Friday.

A handful of experts and investigators outside the oil industry’s payroll and government ‘oversight’ have been methodically sifting through mammoth quantities of data for the past four months.

"Their work answers a number of questions," she said.

Some of those questions include:

• WHY did BP officials testify to Congress that there was only one well when there were three?

• Why was the 3rd well illegally drilled without a permit?

• Was the rogue well factually sealed in September? (Since all casing was blown out of the rogue well and there is nothing for any mechanical instrument to connect on to, there is no possibility of capping the well; which means that huge volumes of oil are continuing to flow into the Gulf unabated and would answer the question of where all the on-going fresh oil that is being seen and reported by fishermen and locals is coming from.)

• Which well was the Deepwater Horizon actually hooked up to when the blow out took place on 20 April 2010?

Gulf Rescue Alliance believes timing on the distribution of this material could be beneficial in ensuring that the disaster litigation does, in fact, reach trial stage.

The organization says the public has a right to know that the never capped well is still pouring into the Gulf of Mexico and needs to demand something be done.

"At best this material will be admitted as evidence - or at least utilized to formulate investigative questions and discovery processes during the trial," Aarde said.

Aarde asserted that the Gulf Rescue Alliance has no interest in publicity for itself, pointing fingers, finding who to blame or anything else.

"We are interested in catalyzing action on an urgent basis to save the Gulf from long-term disastrous impact by getting actual solutions being applied; solutions that have been endlessly blocked by, primarily, the EPA.

"We hold the EPA intimately responsible for holding in place the destructive response methods used in this disaster.

"The Gulf and the life it supports can't wait 3, 6 or 12 months for a trial to bring a resolution; nor will a real resolution be possible if no admission occurs of the currently uncapped well. Justice will mean nothing if the Gulf is dead.

"This is absolutely relevant to the case at hand and vital information to get into the hands of the AG of LA and anyone else involved in this trial," she said.

According to the new evicence, government officials possibly knew about the 3rd Well but aided in covering it up.

Aarde said this is similar to the recent PEER report hiding that top Obama officials manipulated scientific analyses by independent experts to seriously lowball amount of oil leaking from the BP Deepwater Horizon.

After the Macondo operation began, BP quickly paid for research reports by supplying grant funding: $10M to University Of South Florida; $10m to Mississippi State University, $10m to Louisiana State University, and $5m to Alabama Marine Sciences.

"There is no way BP would not know they were misleading everyone," Matt Simmons had said. "They would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind and they're not. These are smart guys."

About the "capping of the well," Simmons repeated, "What you are seeing on television, what BP is saying about relief wells . . . that's a total ruse."

The real blowout, according to the Gulf whistleblower and advocate, is "an open hole gushing 120,000 barrels of toxic crude every day below the surface of the Gulf six or seven miles away from the riser - and BP is ignoring it"

Simmons told MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan that BP was "lying" because if it acknowledged the truth, they’d “go to jail."

As Leonard Cohen famously sings, "Everybody knows."

"Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich. Thats how it goes. Everybody knows."

Continue reading on Examiner.com Breaking News: Secret 3rd Gulf well evidence as BP trial to begin - National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/breaking-news-secret-3rd-gulf-well-cap-sham-evidence-changing-trial-direction#ixzz1nLWII8M9

Meanwhile in New Zealand

2012-02-25T12:28:00.002+13:00

Nothing in the New Zealand press about rising oil prices; we don't appear to exist in the real world.

However there has been (bad) news about Air New Zealand

Air NZ tips more job losses may be coming

NZ Herald, 25 February, 2012

Air New Zealand says 441 job losses announced yesterday may not be the limit of staff cuts needed to boost profitability, although it will strive to maintain customer service.

Chief executive Rob Fyfe, who will stand down at the end of this year, said the majority Government-owned airline had been "at pains to protect the value proposition to our customers" while seeking operating efficiencies.

"We think that's very powerful - the source of competitive advantage, so this has been very focused on looking at non-customer-facing functions within the business", he said of the job-shredding exercise.

But the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said it expected to lose about 30 jobs among its members.

For article GO HERE

See also;

At the peak of losses in the six months to 30-Jun-2011, the operation lost in excess of NZD1 million (USD833,700) a week. While the losses were exacerbated by high fuel prices and weakened demand from the Feb-2011 Christchurch earthquake and the Mar-2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, ANZ has seen the entrance of price-aggressive long-haul carriers that give reason to strategically enhance its position across all market

http://www.centreforaviation.com/analysis/air-new-zealand-hones-in-on-long-haul-restructure-as-first-half-profit-falls-68801

But there was some schadenfreude at Qantas' loss

Qantas's loss could be Air NZ's gain

New Zealand's national carrier looks set to gain from Qantas cutting its Auckland to LA service , though there is speculation budget airline Jetstar could try to grab a slice of the action.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/qantas-s-loss-could-air-nz-gain-4728659

Oil - the news story of the day

2012-02-25T12:13:00.001+13:00

Oil and gasoline are dominating today's headlines

Gasoline Is The Real Wild Card In This Economy

Business Insider,

23 February, 2012

Of the many risks facing the US economy, the one I find most immediately concerning is the rapidly increasing rise in gas prices. My latest weekly gasoline update showed a 36-cent rise in gas prices, regular and premium, over the past nine weeks. In fact, it was about nine weeks ago that I filled the tank on our Prius at $2.98 a gallon just south of Myrtle Beach. Today the best price I can find in this area is $3.42.

Will prices continue to rise? Most assuredly they will. The news today was filled with items on the rapid rise in the price of oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude (WTIC) hit an intraday high of 108.05. Priced in euros, Brent futures hit an all-time high, beating the previous record set on July 3, 2008. WTIC also hit its all-time high that day, and gasoline prices also peaked the same week.

Unlike the situation in July 2008, which was in the midst of an ongoing recession with miles-driven plummeting and was shortly before the market crash that accelerated the consumer flight to frugality, February 2012 has an air of optimism. The S&P 500 is 0.01% away from setting a new interim high, currently dating from April 29, 2011, and reports are circulating that retail investors are returning to the market.

Perhaps gasoline at $4 plus in 2008 has conditioned consumers to be prepared for yet higher prices. Or perhaps the unusually warm winter and plunging price of the other gas (natural) has left sufficient room in the household energy allowance to absorb the rising gasoline costs without crimping the overall budget.

As for the stock market, here is a snapshot of CME gasoline spot prices against the S&P 500 since January of 2006.

How much further can the two rise in tandem?

Earlier today wizard market technician Chris Kimble sent me a chart of gasoline futures and the SPY ETF

Shortly after I received Chris's email, I saw this CNBC commentary: Get Ready for Gas Prices to Hit $5 by Summer.

Can the US economy, about 70% of which is driven by consumer spending, continue to expand with five-dollar gasoline? There's a good chance we'll have an opportunity to find out.

Confirmation of Peak Oil

Off The Charts: Oil Vulnerable to a Price Spike

2012-02-25T11:47:00.000+13:00

Gas prices are $6 a gallon in Florida, says Ron Paul

Politfact, 22 February, 2012

There’s no doubt gas prices in Florida have been on the rise -- but have they really hit $6 a gallon?

That was the surprising claim from Ron Paul at the Republican presidential debate in Arizona on Feb. 22, 2012.

It started with CNN moderator John King asking candidates what should be done about Syria.

Paul, a congressman from Texas, was making a point about the downside of U.S. intervention in foreign countries, which led to an aside about gas prices.

"You know, I've tried the moral argument. I've tried the constitutional argument on these issues. And they don't go so well. But there's an economic argument, as well," Paul said.

"As a matter of fact, al-Qaida has had a plan to bog us down in the Middle East and bankrupt this country. That's exactly what they're doing. We've spent $4 trillion of debt in the last 10 years being bogged down in the Middle East. The neoconservatives who now want us to be in Syria, want us to go to Iran, have another war, and we don't have the money -- today gasoline hit $6 a gallon in Florida -- and we don't have the money."

International geopolitics is one thing, but $6 gas hits close to home. So we decided to check it out.

For article GO HERE

The above above article went on to refute Ron Paul, but I found confirmation

Florida Drivers Shelling Out Nearly $6 A Gallon At Some Gas Stations

Talk about pain at the pump! Some Florida drivers are spending nearly $6 a gallon to fill up their gas tanks.

According to GasBuddy.com, motorists are shelling out $5.89 for a gallon of regular gas at a Shell station in Lake Buena Vista, topping out at $5.99 a gallon for premium. It doesn’t get better at a Suncoast Energy station in Orlando, where drivers are paying $5.79 for a gallon of regular.

“Prices over in the Disney World area are much higher than any other place in Florida,” Jessica Brady, AAA spokeswoman, told CBS Tampa, adding that people regularly complain about gas prices in that area.

The Sunshine State is opening up its wallet, paying an average of $3.67 a gallon of unleaded gas, 12 cents more than the national average. And it’s only expected to go up.

“It doesn’t look like we will have relief at the pump anytime soon,” Brady told CBS Tampa. “I do think we will see prices surpass $4 a gallon. I think we will see that closer to spring time.”

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/02/22/florida-drivers-shelling-out-nearly-6-a-gallon-at-some-gas-stations/

Drivers in Florida are paying $5.89 a gallon in Lake Buena Vista and $5.79 in Orlando — and not because of speculators, despite what Pelosi might have you believe.

http://markets.financialcontent.com/pennwell.ogj/news/read/20713368/%246_gas_prices_are_already_here..

Oil prices soar

2012-02-25T11:41:00.001+13:00

Brent In Euros At All Time High

Zero Hedge,

23 Febraury, 2012

Yesterday we pointed out that the number of companies in Europe losing money jumped for the first time in 2 years, doubling from 5% to 10% (even as the matched metric for US peers continues to improve). Unfortunately, we can now say with absolutely certainty that this number will shortly soar courtesy of surging input costs which eat even further into what little is left of corporate profits, not to mention the demand destruction which comes from having to pay a price at the pump which would lead the average American to get a stroke on the spot.

The culprit - Brent, whose price in euros has now risen to a new all time high, surpassing the peaks seen in 2008.

In fact, EUR brent is now up 293% from its 2008 lows, putting the returns of the S&P and even gold to shame! And all along the market keeps on happily chugging higher completely oblivious of the tens of billions in corporate profits that new are eaten away courtesy of this latest and greatest side effect of massive central bank liquidity tsunamization. But hey - there's always Apple's latest gizmo which somehow is never quite "priced in" by the market.

"Oil Won't Stop Until The Economy Breaks"

Zero Hedge,

24 Febraury, 2012

As gold strengthens on the back of the extreme experimentation of the world's (now-sheep-like) central bankers' easing and printing protocols, it does no real harm to the world, but as John Burbank (of Passport Capital) notes, the painful unintended consequence of all this liquidity is energy costs skyrocketing - and it won't stop until the economy breaks.

The negative feedback loop, that we pointed to yesterday as potentially the only thing to stall a magnanimously academic response to the insolvency we see around the world (and the need for deleveraging at this end of the debt super-cycle), of oil prices into the real economy will be devastating not just for US but for EM economies, though as the bearded-Burbank reminds us - Saudi benefits greatly (and suggests ways to trade this perspective).

Flat consumer incomes while costs are rising is never a good thing and while we make new highs in oil in terms of EURs and GBPs, he warns we may soon in USDs also.

Summing up, his perspective is rising tensions in the Middle East combined with central bank liquidity provision are a huge concern:

"We're actually quite bearish. The only reason all this liquidity is coming into the market is because things are really bad. It's not because things are good. It's hard to know where things are going to go. The point is, just because they're putting liquidity in the market doesn't mean the economy is improving."

Off The Charts: Oil Vulnerable to a Price Spike

From Bloomberg -

UK - A new energy poiicy

2012-02-25T10:09:00.000+13:00

Anybody remember Soylent Green?

Dead bodies to be burned to heat UK swimming pool

MSNBC,

24 Febraury, 2012

LONDON -- Dead bodies will be burned to heat a swimming pool in the U.K. -- and the British government is considering adopting the idea across the country.

Senior lawmaker Sir George Young, the leader of the House of Commons, told The Telegraph newspaper that he would "die a happier man" if he could arrange for his cremation to provide heat for swimmers.

Redditch Borough Council is set to become the first local government body in England to use heat from a crematorium to warm a pool this spring, the newspaper reported.

"The government is aware of this particular scheme," Young said. "The Department for Energy and Climate Change will shortly be publishing its heat strategy and this will explore the potential for better recovery and reuse of wasted heat in schemes such as this one."

'Sick and an insult'

The Telegraph said the incinerators used to burn bodies reach temperatures of 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit and cited estimates that using the waste heat from the Redditch crematorium could save more than $22,000 per year.

Carole Gandy, the leader of Redditch Borough Council, was quoted as saying she was rather the energy was used than “just see it going out of the chimney and heating the sky.”

"It will make absolutely no difference to the people who are using the crematorium for services,” she told The Telegraph. "I do recognise some people might not like it, but if they don't they don't have to use our crematorium. I wouldn't want them to do that but they have to make that choice.”

Unison, a labor union representing public workers, has described the idea as "sick and an insult to local residents,” The Telegraph reported.

It added that Durham Crematorium, in northern England, was thinking about fitting turbines to its burners in order to create electricity that could potentially power 1,500 televisions

Crony capitalism

2012-02-25T09:49:00.001+13:00

Lloyds plunges to £3.5bn loss for 2011

• Shares in Lloyds Banking Group biggest faller in FTSE 100

• Former executives could be in line for £2.2m shares

• Taxpayer sitting on £10bn loss on its 41% stake

• Bonus pool down 30% at £375m

• Average bonus for workforce stands at £3,900

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/24/lloyds-plunges-loss-2011-shares

Lloyds chief executive António Horta-Osório is cutting 15,000 jobs, on top of the 30,000 already axed. Photograph: Reuters

Meanwhile...

Half of Britons think euro will fail by summer
Eurozone debt crisis has caused confusion among holidaying Brits

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/travel/9100381/Half-of-Britons-think-euro-will-fail-by-summer.html

Two thirds of Britons think that the eurozone single currency will collapse in the future, with half of those queried predicting the euro would fail before this summer. Consumers said they thought Greece and Italy would be the first countries to leave the euro.

A report from currency specialists Travelex revealed that holidaymakers were unsure as to whether the euro was still legal tender in Portugal, Greece or Italy.

Travelex said that the ongoing eurozone debt crisis had caused confusion as to the future of the single currency, resulting in many holidaymakers planning to take francs and other past tender away with them this summer....

The American Myth

2012-02-25T09:40:00.000+13:00

This is an excellent, excellent short film. But I would add one caveat. I would not label "Predatory Capitalism" as the evil. As I said in "Collapse", "Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism are all old and archaic constructs because all of them assume infinite resources." Predatory Capitalism -- in the age of plentiful resources -- was merely the most-effective means to loot, control, and maximize profits.

Replace "predatory capitalism" with "infinite growth" and this film paints a picture that only honorable men and women can see completely. For it is only from a place of honor, obligated to see the whole truth, that one can appreciate the full horror of what human industrial civilization has accomplished. -- MCR

Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine

A brief and crucial history of the United States

Peak Oil resources

2012-02-24T22:27:00.000+13:00

Peak Oil Reports and Resources

For links to Reports, media articles, video clips, photos and other resources on Peak Oil go to:

http://www.delicious.com/stacks/view/N8uXwO

For up to date commentary on peak oil from a New Zealand perspective - check out Denis Tegg's blog at http://oilshockhorrorprobe.blogspot.com/

"RIP: Peak Oil - we won't be running out any time soon

2012-02-24T22:05:00.002+13:00

You can rest easy tonight and we can pack up and go home!

The BBC tells us the world economy is recovering and this article tells us that Peak Oil is dead and we're saved by Canadian tar sands and shale oil.

So, it all must have been a bad dream!

Human ingenuity wins the day

the Register,
23 February, 2012

The idea that seized the imaginations of the bien pensant chattering classes in the Noughties – "Peak Oil" – is no longer relevant. So says the commodities team at Citigroup, and policy-makers would be wise to examine the trends they've identified.

"Peak Oil" is the point at which the production of conventional crude oil begins an irreversible decline. The effect of this, some say, is that scarcity-induced prices rises would require huge changes in modern industrial societies. For some, Peak Oil was the call of Mother Earth herself, requiring a return to pre-industrial lifestyles. One example of this response is the "Transition Towns" network, a middle-class phenomenon in commuter belt towns in the UK.

But in a must-read research note [PDF] issued this month (which is also implicitly critical of the industry) this is premature. Thanks to "unconventional" oil and gas, which can be tapped thanks to technological advances, Peak Oil is dead:

The belief that global oil production has peaked, or is on the cusp of doing so, has helped to fuel oil’s more than decade-long rally. The resurgence of US gas production to well over its 1970s peak and into the number one slot globally over the last seven years is a result of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – techniques being applied to shale gas reserves across the US. The same companies are now using the same techniques on shale oil reserves, with results that in many cases look as promising as the early stages of the shale gas revolution. US oil production is now on the rise, entirely because of shale oil production, as conventional sources such as Alaska or California are structurally declining, and as Gulf of Mexico production is poised for a post-Macondo recovery.

Doomsayers had reasonable grounds for suspecting this - but failed to address the bigger picture, one which includes technological innovation. They simply wanted Doomsday a little too badly. The briefing note continues:

Belief in peak oil was bolstered by the repeated failure of supply to live up to the optimistic forecasts put forward by various governmental and international energy agencies. The IEA, the industry benchmark, made a habit of putting forth forecasts for the coming year of big gains in non-OPEC supply, only to spend the next 18 months revising those forecasts lower
Citigroup also castigates the oil industry and experts for failing to take this into account - over-promising and delivering late.

It's a must read. Oil production is far more contingent on upstream investment than many people realise. When it does respond, it responds rapidly; the US well count has increased 500 per cent in three years.

US oil rig count: a splurge in production capacity

So what now?

Yet Peak Oil isn't the only casualty of recent energy developments. The death of Peak Oil kicks away the underpinnings from a great deal of policy-making by our bureaucracies and their advisers. Over the past two decades, we've seen the mushrooming of the "sustainability" sector, which is almost completely dependent on state funding and which shares similar erroneous assumptions.

The proposition we're invited to accept in each case is that modern industrial society is founded on a resource which is being depleted and which cannot be easily replaced. The second part of that is rather crucial. Peak Oil thinking was based on the idea that crude oil couldn't be replaced by unconventional oil and, in time, with synthetic hydrocarbons. We're now seeing unconventional oil production ramp up, and in a decade the low-carbon synthetic replacements for oil will be in production, too, assuming oil remains at $40-$50 a barrel.
The deeper problem shared by both "sustainability" and "Peak Oil" thinking is that both camps insists on thinking of a resource not as a vector, but as a thing - a thing that's rare, unique and irreplaceable.

The Victorians once depended on whale blubber for lighting and heating - and fretted, much like today's sustainability crowd, about what might replace it. Human inventiveness rapidly provided an alternative. And policy-makers were once gripped by the constrained and volatile supply of saltpetre, the nitrate being essential to both feeding their populations and making things that went bang. Then chemistry came to the rescue. Of course a resource is a combination of things - the limits of human invention being just one.

This inflexibility in thinking is proving fatal.

Of course, simply because we are quite good at inventing stuff doesn't mean utopia is imminent or that politics as usual will somehow be suspended. Future technologies will still be priced, rationed and abused. But it signals the beginning of the end of what we might call Apocalypse Politics - where unpopular and daft policies gain traction simply because their advocates claim that they're justified by some catastrophic and irreversible historical trend.

Nobody but the superstitious can really believe that any more

The Ron Paul campaign

2012-02-24T21:48:00.000+13:00

Ron Paul quietly amassing an army of delegates while GOP frontrunners spar
Paul's tightly-organised campaign is racking up delegates even in states where he did poorly in the popular vote. It's all part of a complex system that could make Paul the election kingmaker

the Guardian,
23 February, 2012

While the Republican nomination race is focused on the ongoing battle between frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, the Ron Paul campaign is waging an under-the-radar "delegate strategy" that could make the libertarian-leaning Texan the surprise kingmaker of the race.

In states that have already voted via a caucus system – rather than a straight primary ballot – Ron Paul supporters are conducting an intensively organised ground effort aimed at securing as many convention delegate slots as possible, often in numbers that far outweigh the number of actual votes that Paul got in the ballot.

If successful, it means Paul's campaign could arrive at the August Tampa convention at the head of an army of delegates far larger than the proportion of votes that it won during the nomination contest.

It could also increase the chances of a contested convention – where no candidate has enough delegates to declare the winner – as well as give Paul much greater ability to inject his beliefs into the Republicans' 2012 policy platform.

The strategy is based on the fact the GOP race is in fact a "delegate contest" despite an overwhelming focus by the media and most campaigns on "winning" individual states by coming top of the popular vote. But in reality, each state, weighted proportionally by population, sends a number of delegates to Tampa where a nominee is then chosen.
A total of 2,286 delegates are sent to Tampa and so a candidate must secure the support of 1,144 of them in order to win the nomination.

However, a bewilderingly complex set of rules, often varying from state to state, exists to actually assign these delegates. Ron Paul's campaign is seeking to work that system in order to maximise its delegate count.

So far signs are that the campaign is being so successful at its strategy that it may be able to "win" delegate counts in states where it did not win the popular vote.

"They will be able to perform well enough that in some states where they came in third or fourth in the straw poll, they will come in first or second in terms of the delegate totals. I am fairly confident in making that bet," said Professor Josh Putnam, a political scientist at Davidson College who runs the Frontloading HQ blog dedicated to tracking the delegate fight.

How the strategy works

The strategy works because of the varying ways each state assigns the delegates that get sent to Tampa. Some states hold a "winner takes all" primary that will assign all its delegates to the candidate who tops the vote.

Others assign delegates proportionally according to the vote, splitting the delegates roughly according to the results and ensuring each major candidate gets some delegates.

But it is in the caucus states that the Ron Paul campaign is focused. There the method of assigning delegates is complex and lasts a long time. In caucus states that have voted so far like Iowa, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Maine, the process of assigning delegates in support of each candidate has barely begun.

That process begins on caucus night when each precinct votes and then chooses delegates to send to a county convention to be held later in the year. Those county conventions will then choose a smaller number of delegates to send to a state convention or conventions held in each state's congressional districts.

Those state and district level conventions are the bodies that actually finally choose which delegates to send to the Tampa national convention.

However, at the start of the process – the precinct level meetings held on caucus day – the delegates selected to go to the later county conventions are frequently under no obligation to declare which candidate they are supporting or to support the "winner" of the day's actual voting.

Ron Paul's campaign strategy is to get enough of his precinct-level supporters to volunteer to become delegates to the county conventions so that they outnumber other campaigns. "Their strategy is to gobble up as many of these slots as they can," said Putnam.

Then, if you manage to stack the beginning of the process with Ron Paul delegates, as the system moves through the county conventions and the district and state-wide conventions the chances of Ron Paul-supporting delegates emerging at the end and being chosen to go to Tampa is greatly increased.

The entire strategy is helped by the fact that Paul's supporters are seen as far more organised and dedicated than other campaigns.

Is it successful?

It is currently impossible to say. No caucus state that has already voted has yet held any county conventions at which an idea of the number of Ron Paul-supporting delegates chosen at the precinct level may emerge. Those first indications should come in March.
However, the Ron Paul campaign itself, which is at pains to point out their strategy is entirely within the rules, has released information from Colorado that shows how they hope it could be playing out.

In one precinct in Larimer County there were 13 delegate slots available. Santorum had won the precinct's vote by 23 votes to Paul's 13, with five votes going to Romney. But Paul supporters took all the delegate slots.

In a Delta County precinct all five delegate slots went to Paul supporters though he came behind Santorum and Romney in the popular vote. In a Pueblo County precinct Paul supporters got the two delegate slots available despite the fact Paul finished fourth in the precinct's vote with just two actual votes.

Those examples are likely cherry-picked by the Paul campaign as best case scenarios. But Colorado party officials are – officially, at least – sanguine about what is going on as it obeys the party rules. "We are just here to play out the process. Whatever happens happens," executive director of the Colorado GOP Chuck Poplstein told the Guardian.

But Poplstein did say a successful delegate strategy was not easy to pull off. "It is difficult for any campaign. You have to be very well organised and in all of the counties. It is not an easy process. You have to have a very good ground game," he said.

But that might not be too much of a problem. The Ron Paul campaign is highly organised and focused. "We are also seeing the same trends in Minnesota, Nevada and Iowa, and in Missouri as well," the campaign said in its statement on the precinct performances in Colorado.

A recent report by the Washington Post from a caucus in Portland, Maine, revealed a dedicated activist organisation complete with pre-printed lists of which delegates should be voted for at the precinct level. That is likely true across all the caucus states.

"They do tend to be very organised and very enthusiastic for Ron Paul," said Professor Tim Hagle, a political scientist at the University of Iowa.

What impact could it have?

The fact is that Paul's delegate strategy would have little impact in a normal Republican race. The system is set up with enough winner-take-all and primary states to ensure that Paul's strategy has no chance whatsoever of picking up enough delegates via this method to actually win the nomination himself.

But it all changes when the Republican race becomes protracted and closely fought. If Santorum, Romney and Newt Gingrich all stay in the race beyond Super Tuesday and start to amass their own large piles of delegates, then reaching the vital 1,144 delegates needed to win starts to become more difficult.

If that scenario plays out – something most experts see as possible but unlikely – then Paul's delegate total becomes crucial. He could become a kingmaker, agreeing to throw his hefty delegate total behind one candidate who could then claim victory.

As a candidate with a very clearly defined agenda – on foreign policy, the role of government and fiscal issues, especially the Federal Reserve – Paul could demand a high policy price for that support.

However, even if a nominee emerges prior to the convention, Paul's delegates will still be important. If he amasses a loyal and large delegate total he will able to secure a high-profile, possibly primetime, speaking slot.

He will also be more able to get his agenda into the party's official policy platform. Given Paul's stance on issues like American foreign policy and the wars in Afghanistan, that could upset the party elite and the nominee.

Modern conventions are supposed to be highly organised, tightly controlled displays of party unity. At the very least a successful Paul delegate strategy could shatter that prospect.

Today's joke

2012-02-24T21:38:00.000+13:00

From the BBC...

Global economy

The latest news and analysis as the global economy continues to recover
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

Another Russian warning on Iran

2012-02-24T19:16:00.000+13:00

Russia warns against 'catastrophic' Iran strike

Russia has warned a strike against Iran could have "catastrophic" consequences and urged leaders not to rush into any conclusions after this week's failed mission by UN nuclear experts.

The Telegraph,

22 February, 2012

"The scenario of military action against Iran would be catastrophic for the region and possibly the whole system of international relations," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference.

His comments came after a five-strong delegation from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left empty-handed following two days of talks focusing on suspected military aspects of the country's nuclear programme.

Chief nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts said the team "could not get access" during the visit to Iran's military site in Parchin where suspected nuclear warhead design experiments were conducted.

Russia has longstanding commercial and military ties with Iran and has condemned recent unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over its suspected pursuit of nuclear arms.

Mr Gatilov urged nations to wait for the IAEA's official report before deciding to condemn Iran for failing to cooperate with the agency.

"I would not make any profound conclusions from the IAEA mission that dialogue failed and we reached a dead end," said Mr Gatilov.

"We are not dramatising the situation."

A spokesman for the foreign ministry separately said that inspectors had visited Parchin on at least one previous occasion and had not yet fully explained why they needed to visit the site again.

The United States and its chief regional ally Israel have never ruled out a military strike against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme but Russia has always insisted the standoff can only be solved through diplomacy.

Russia said it was particularly concerned that a strike against Iran could be launched from an air base the United States leases in Central Asia's ex-Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan.

The US base at Manas is currently used as a key coalition hub for operations in nearby Afghanistan.

"It cannot be excluded that this site could be used in a potential conflict with Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters. "We hope that such an apocalyptic scenario will not be realised."

"The statements from Washington which do not rule out a military solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis have caused serious worries in the Central Asian region," he said.

Rising oil prices

2012-02-24T19:08:00.000+13:00

There are a few jokes in this piece - like the price of oil is going up because 'the economy is improving' -LOL.

Fear of Iran is inflating gas prices

CNN Money, 23 February, 2012

Tensions with Iran are adding at least 30 cents to a gallon of gasoline in the United States, and experts say gas prices have only just begun to rise.

Gasoline prices have surged over 10% in the last two months, largely tracking the runup in oil prices, which have increased by a similar amount and are now at a 9-month high.

Several factors have caused oil prices to rise, including the sense that the economy is improving and supply disruptions in a handful of minor oil producing nations.

But the biggest factor by far, say analysts, is fear that tensions with Iran will lead to an all-out war that causes a disruption in oil supplies.

"The market right now is fairly well supplied," said John Kingston, director of oil, at the analytics firm Platts. "You've just got a significant fear factor that things could get worse."

Kingston noted that OPEC is actually producing more oil right now than is needed to keep pace with global demand. As such, stockpiles are rising.

Gas spending and prices by state

And thanks to the recession and better fuel efficiency, gasoline demand in the United States, the world's largest consumer, is actually the lowest it's been in a decade, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Yet gas and oil prices continue to climb.

The fear is that Iran's 2.2 million barrels a day in exports could be cut off. Iranian oil is already being sanctioned, but so far most is still finding its way to market, just at lower prices.

Worse, there's fear the 17 million barrels a day that flow through the Strait of Hormuz, one fifth of the world's total production, could be disrupted by an Israeli attack.

That's a big reason why gasoline prices in the United States averaged $3.37 in January, the highest for any January ever, according to AAA.

"It's a market that's caught fire," said Ben Brockwell, an analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which collects data for AAA. "And it doesn't look like there's any circuit breakers to stop it."

Indeed, Brockwell noted that while retail prices are up 36 cents a gallon in the last two months, futures prices have risen even higher -- 82 cents over the same time period.

Unless the situation with Iran cools off and future prices decline, consumers will likely see that 35-cent-a-gallon difference in the form of a similarly paired price hike at the pump in a matter of weeks.

Iran's 'distressed' oil to keep flowing - at deep discount

"I definitely think the market is psyching itself up for a new record," he said, referring to the previous average high price for gasoline, which was $4.11 a gallon set in the summer of 2008. "Probably before memorial day."

That possibility has got a lot of people freaked out. Everyone from the Obama administrations to the American Petroleum Institute has been trying to talk down prices in the last few days.

Many economists say gasoline prices sustained above $4 a gallon could stunt the growth of the fragile worldwide economy -- a fact which diplomats shuttling to Israel must be well aware.

It's thought the Israelis are considering an attack on Iran as a means to disrupt its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but many suspect is intended to produce a bomb.

But if Israel can't be persuaded to hold off an attack, $4 gas will look cheap.

"If Israel does hit Iran, all bets are off," said Mike Fitzpatrick, editor-in-chief of Kilduff Report's Energy Overview. "$150 [oil] is the first marker we'll hit."

Oil at $150 a barrel could translate into over $5 a gallon at the pump

David McWilliams - Punk Economics

2012-02-24T16:59:00.001+13:00

Punk Economics:
Lesson 2

Zero Hedge,

23 Febraury, 2012

http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/

In a must-watch follow-up to his original Punk Economics Lesson, David McWilliams describes how the new bankocracy in Europe will lead to a massive injection of liquidity; blowing bubbles in financial assets while the citizenry is bled dry (ring any recent bells?).

The banks again get all the money they need while the average citizen shoulders the burden. Specifically in the case of the Greeks, they are left with the uncertainty of a return to the Drachma or the certainty of decades of indentured servitude.

Enter the ECB with their cash-for-trash deal. This is a scam, he proclaims correctly, insolvent banks lending to insolvent governments and we are calling it success?

The banks can turn a tidy profit, but the straight-talking Irishmen asks the question every Greek citizen should be asking: "where does the profit come from?"

The answer: the average tax-paying European citizen, and it is this that provides the comfort for the Germans to allow the Greeks to default without bringing down every bank in Europe in a contagious cascade of margin calls, un-hypothecation and deleveraging.

Critically, the question is not if or when Greece will default but will they be allowed to default enough? The lesson for all is that to stay in the Euro, all European nations have to become more like Germany - which is very different from the community of equal nations that the Europeans signed up for 20 years ago at Maastricht.

Don't be fooled that the European debt story is over, it is not. In fact, he finishes - rather ominously, the interesting bit hasn't even started yet.

Euro bank crisis

2012-02-24T16:40:00.004+13:00

Europe's banks bleed from Greek debt crisis

The scars of Greece's debt crisis were laid bare in heavy losses from a string of European banks on Thursday, and bosses warned the region's precarious finances would continue to threaten economic growth and earnings.

Reuters,

23 Febraury, 2012

From France to Germany, Britain to Belgium, four of the region's biggest banks lined up to reveal they lost more than 8 billion euros last year from their Greek bonds holdings.

"We are in the worst economic crisis since 1929," Credit Agricole chief executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said.

Credit Agricole reported a record quarterly net loss of 3.07 billion euros ($4.1 billion), performing worse than expected from the cost of shrinking its balance sheet and after a 220 million euro charge on its Greek debt. For 2011 as a whole, the bank took a hit of 1.3 billion euros on its Greek debt.

"We think 2012 is going to still be a tense period," Chifflet said, adding: "We're hoping that our results will be largely better than in 2011."

Europe's banks have already written down billions of euros from losses on Greek government bonds and loans, and a deal agreed this week with its creditors will inflict losses of 74 percent on bondholders.

"We can't say that the writedowns are over," said Franklin Pichard, director at Barclays France. "Even if some can say that the worst is over, we are only at a new stage in terms of provisioning and not necessarily at the end."

That is because, despite the bond swap deal, bondholders could suffer further hits if Greece's economy fails to recover.

Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland has marked its Greek bonds at a 79 percent loss - or 1.1 billion pounds - for 2011. The state-owned bank posted a fourth quarter loss of nearly 2 billion pounds on Thursday.

Markets were nevertheless pleased at RBS's efforts to turn itself around. Its shares climbed 3.2 percent by 1550 GMT compared with a 4.8 percent fall for Credit Agricole and a 6.7 percent loss for Commerzbank. The STOXX Europe 600 bank index was down 1 percent.

"SPANISH INQUISITION"

Problems in Europe's banking sector are far wider than Greece.

"We have reduced the balance sheet of RBS by over 700 billion pounds of assets. That is roughly twice the size of the entire national debt of Greece," said RBS boss Stephen Hester.

The region's banks are still repairing the damage of the financial crisis and shrinking their assets. They must also find 115 billion euros by the middle of this year to shore up their balance sheets against future shocks. But any weakening in the economy will hit earnings and make that harder to achieve.

Germany's Commerzbank, whose fourth-quarter earnings were spoiled by a 942 million euro hit on Greek sovereign debt and on interest rate derivatives used to hedge it, needs to find 5.3 billion euros to meet the stringent new capital requirements set by Europe's banking regulator. For the whole of 2011, it lost over 2 billion euros on its Greek bonds.

Commerzbank said it could reduce some of its shortfall by shedding risky assets, though the debt crisis still had the potential to disrupt earnings.

"The high degree of uncertainty associated with the European sovereign debt crisis will ... continue to pose challenges for us," Chief Executive Martin Blessing said.

Commerzbank has prepared an emergency plan in case of a Greek default and a break-up of the euro zone, and while Blessing said he did not expect such a break-up, cautioned: "It would be unwise to assume there is a 100 percent likelihood the euro zone will prevail.

"The bank had little option but to take part in the Greek debt swap deal, he said: "The voluntariness (of the Greek debt swap) is about as voluntary as a confession at a Spanish inquisition trial."

STILL ROOM FOR A BONUS

European governments are hoping to avoid more state bailouts to prop up the banking sector, and to limit the fallout should any bank collapse.

Bailed out Franco-Belgian bank Dexia warned on Thursday it risked going out of business. It suffered a 2011 net loss of 11.6 billion euros, hit by its break-up and exposure to Greek debt and other toxic assets such as U.S. mortgage-backed securities.

Dexia, which accepted a state-led break-up and the nationalization of its Belgian banking arm in October and is now little more than a holding of bonds in run off, booked a 3.4 billion euro loss on its holding of Greek sovereign bonds.

French investment bank Natixis, rescued from near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis by a government-backed merger of its retail cooperative parents, reported a milder-than-expected 32 percent decline in quarterly profits.

Despite the weak results, banks still found room for bonuses.

RBS, 82 percent owned by the British government, paid out almost 1 billion pounds in bonuses to staff in 2011. Credit Agricole said it would cut trader bonuses by 20 percent.

RBS boss Hester said the row in Britain over pay at the bank was damaging. Payouts at RBS have been a sore point for many Britons, who remain angered by the fact bankers have continued to pay themselves large rewards while elsewhere thousands lose their jobs as the global economy weakens.

"The noise around RBS is damaging to the prospect of achieving the goals everyone needs of it," Hester told reporters. "So far in the last three years we have overcome that noise and we will try to keep doing that, but no-one should be under any illusions that you can't have your cake and eat it."

Despite that Europe is in for only a "mild recession"!

Don't Worry, It's Only a "Mild Recession"

Global Economic Analysis,
23 February, 2012

The economic clowns in the EU have finally acknowledged something that was blatantly obvious at least six months ago (and a lot longer if one factored in the likely effects of multiple austerity programs in numerous countries).

However, the economists' new conclusion is about as silly as the "no recession" call that preceded it. The new forecast: there will be a recession in the eurozone but not the EU and it will be "mild".

Please consider Euro zone economy to shrink in 2012.

The euro zone's economy is heading into its second recession in just three years, while the wider European Union will stagnate, the EU's executive said on Thursday, warning that the currency area has yet to break its vicious cycle of debt.
"Recent developments in survey data suggest that the expected slowdown will be rather mild and temporary," EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told a news briefing following the release of the European Commission's interim report on the EU economy.
The wider, 27-nation European Union, which generates a fifth of global output, will not manage any growth this year, the Commission said.
"The EU is set to experience stagnating GDP this year, and the euro area will undergo a mild recession," it said.
"Negative feedback loops between weak sovereign debtors, fragile financial markets, and a slowing real economy do not yet appear to have been broken," the Commission said.
Germany and France, the euro zone's two largest economies, are likely to escape recession this year, growing 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, while Greece will enter its fifth year of economic contraction and Spain will shrink 1 percent, the Commission said.
Alternate Viewpoint

Let me reiterate things I have said many times: Germany and France will not escape recession, the German export machine will see a shocking slowdown (likely billed as "no one could have possibly seen this coming"), the overall EU will face a recession with the UK leading the way (the UK is highly in recession already), and these recessions will be neither mild nor fleeting.

By the way, a "negative feedback loop" is self-correcting by definition.

Negative feedback occurs when the output of a system acts to oppose changes to the input of the system, with the result that the changes are attenuated. If the overall feedback of the system is negative, then the system will tend to be stable

The writer meant a positive feedback loop (with negative consequences).

The US prison industry

2012-02-24T16:28:00.001+13:00

Corrections Corporation of America Wants to Buy State Owned Prisons and Then Get States to Commit to Keeping Them Full of Prisoners

Cryptogon,

23 February, 2012

Via: ACLU:

Recently we learned that the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the country, sent a letter to 48 state governors offering to buy up their state-owned and operated prisons and put them under CCA control. If offering cash-strapped states a quick infusion of money by taking control of prisons off their hands sounds too good to be true, that’s because it probably is.

See, to take CCA up on its offer to buy a prison, a state would have to sign a 20-year contract and promise a 90 percent occupancy rate over that period. In other words, CCA is asking states to commit to maintaining prisons filled to capacity. This makes sense, since CCA is a for-profit business whose success depends on keeping prisons full, something CCA freely admits. In fact, in a 2010 Annual Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CCA stated: “The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by…leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices.” In other words, CCA has much to gain from policies that lock up more people for more time.

Research Credit: noncompliant

Global warming

2012-02-24T16:09:00.000+13:00

How ironic! It was a combination of just such anoxic oceans and global warming that led to the formation of oil millions of years ago.

Large areas of open ocean starved of oxygen

the Independant,

21 February, 2012

Large regions of the open ocean are being starved of oxygen because of warmer sea temperatures according to studies showing that fish and other marine creatures are moving into narrower habitats to avoid suffocation.

Marine researchers said they have discovered growing areas of the ocean that suffer from hypoxia - oxygen depletion - which they believe is the result of warmer sea temperature caused by global warming.

Warmer sea temperatures increase stratification, where warm, stagnant bodies of surface water sit on top of cooler water and prevent the normal mixing that results from the vertical circulation currents of the ocean, said Professor Lisa Levin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California

Warmer water also holds less dissolved oxygen than cold water. This means that the stable regions of the deep ocean are also beginning to experience temperature rises that affect concentrations of dissolved oxygen, Professor Levin said.

“The water is getting warmer, and warm water holds substantially less oxygen than cold water - water at 2C holds 20 per cent more oxygen than 20C water....Off southern California over the past 22 years we’ve lost about 30 per cent of the oxygen at depths of around 200 to 300 metres,” Professor Levin said.

“It’s a big effect, but also the stratification of the ocean is reducing the amount of vertical mixing of the ocean which prevents surface layers which are rich in oxygen being carried to deeper layers of the ocean,” she said.

“We believe it is linked to atmospheric warming and ocean warming in as much as CO2 has come from fossil fuel burning, it is linked to humans,” she added.

At the same time, the oceans are becoming more acidic - with lower pH values - as they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, she said.

“These low oxygen zones are also low pH [more acidic] zones because the same process that reduces oxygen, that is respiration, also produces carbon dioxide which reduces pH,” Professor Levin said.

“A key feature of these low oxygen, low pH zones is their narrow biodiversity and although these areas do occur naturally, they are expanding with low-oxygen areas moving up into shallow water,” she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“The vertical distribution of deep-ocean species is shifted upwards. They have to move to avoid the low-oxygen waters. At the same time, the surface waters are getting warmer and more acidic and creating less suitable habitat from above,” she said.

“The appropriate habitat for many ocean animals is being compressed causing many animals to live in a smaller area at higher densities in waters that may be shallower than normal.

“This changes their interactions with other species, with predators and competitors and it also makes them much easier targets for fishermen,” Professor Levin told the meeting.

Deep-water temperature gauges off Spitsbergen in the Arctic and in the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic have recorded temperature increases of between 0.03C and 0.5C, and as much as 1C, which is highly significant for a a stable environment that does not change at all from one century to the next, she said.

“Those are significant numbers. The warming is more intense at the sea surface but it reaching the deep water,” Professor Levin said.

“Although we think of the deep sea as pristine, over the past 30 years since I’ve been studying the deep oceans they have become increasingly susceptible to human disturbance,” she said.