Monday Morning Reading (42 Stories, August 22, 2010)

DROPPING IN: People crowded around a Pakistan army helicopter that delivered much-needed food supplies to a flood-ravaged village in Sindh province, Pakistan, Friday. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press)

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All links are in comments below.  They are in no particular order:

• Click here for links (42 articles)

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Comments

[DailyBail]

LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_us/us_taj_mahal_schools

[DailyBail]

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — A mob of Rwandan rebels gang-raped at least 150 women last month during a weekend raid on a community of villages in eastern Congo, United Nations and other humanitarian officials said Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/africa/23congo.html?_r=1&ref=world

[DailyBail]

Video of lynch mob killing two teenage brothers sparks mass demonstrations across Pakistan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305213/Lynch-mob-killing-Sialkot-video-sparks-mass-demonstrations-Pakistan.html#ixzz0xR379ei8

[DailyBail]

How WikiLeaks Keeps Its Funding Secret

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575436231926853198.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

[DailyBail]

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange resurfaced yesterday to dismiss as a smear a false rape claim that led to a warrant for his arrest being issued over the weekend then dropped just hours later. But as he remained under investigation in Sweden over a separate allegation of sexual molestation, one of his accusers gave her side of the story to a Swedish newspaper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/assange-says-enemies-to-blame-for-rape-claim-2059354.html

[DailyBail]

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Sunday that he would call a host of high-profile witnesses -- including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- to testify if he is retried on corruption charges.

Blagojevich, in a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," said he was ready for a second trial on charges that he tried to sell President Barack Obama's former Senate seat. Federal prosecutors have vowed to retry Blagojevich after a jury deadlocked on all but one of 24 criminal counts the government brought against the fiery Democrat.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/115297-blago-will-call-emanuel-reid-to-testify-in-retrial

[DailyBail]

China's Hot New Bestseller: "The Goldman Sachs Conspiracy"

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-hot-bestseller-the-goldman-sachs-conspiracy-2010-8#ixzz0xR3h1700

[DailyBail]

Wall Street employees about to return from the summer doldrums have something new to worry about: their jobs.

The weak economy, volatile markets, regulatory upheaval and changes in how traders and investment bankers are paid are starting to trigger job cuts that could reverse a recent rebound in overall employment levels at banks and securities firms.

While the firings so far add up to a tiny slice of all Wall Street jobs, companies and analysts say deeper cuts are looming unless business revs up soon.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589804575445131261936148.html

[DailyBail]

Who owns the US Debt

http://acrossthestreetnet.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/who-owns-the-us-debt/

[DailyBail]

America no longer needs Chinese money, for now

As the Sino-American showdown in the South China and Yellow Seas escalates into the gravest superpower clash since the Cold War, the United States cannot wisely rely on China to help fund its budget deficit for any longer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/7958823/America-no-longer-needs-Chinese-money-for-now.html

Ambrose Evans Pritchard...great reading...

[DailyBail]

Hussman: Bernanke's Quantitative Easing Is About To Trigger A Collapse In The US Dollar

http://www.businessinsider.com/hussman-bernankes-quantitative-easing-is-about-to-trigger-a-collapse-in-the-us-dollar-2010-8#ixzz0xR4x1fOn

[DailyBail]

The Stock Market is still for Suckers and why you should put your money in the bank

http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still-for-suckers-and-why-you-should-put-your-money-in-the-bank/

Marc Cuban

[DailyBail]

Does Barack Obama want to be re-elected in 2012?

Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7958031/Does-Barack-Obama-want-to-be-re-elected-in-2012.html

[DailyBail]

Muslim center dispute sparks New York rallies

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67J45U20100822

[DailyBail]

Gateway Arch showing rust and decay

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_75095ba4-2d7d-5811-b4f9-a7ce769ddb0d.html

Of course, no one thought of this for stimulus dollars...

[DailyBail]

Prosecutors Eye WikiLeaks Charges

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704488404575441673460880204.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news

[DailyBail]

The only known American soldier in Taliban captivity is training fighters in bombmaking and ambush, according to information reported Sunday from one of his captors and the Afghan intelligence agents working to free him.

Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared from an American military base in southeastern Afghanistan in June 2009. Last week, one of his captors was interviewed, shedding light on a case that has baffled U.S. military officials.

A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika province said the 24-year-old American had converted to Islam in the months after his capture. He said Bergdahl, from Idaho’s Sun Valley, had trained Taliban fighters in bomb-making and ambushing convoys.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/taliban%3A-captured-soldier-joined-cause-dpgonc-km-20100822_9290058

[DailyBail]

4 decapitated bodies hung from bridge in Mexico

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico;_ylt=AmVg2IukAO9Zqk0ip9rNMABzfNdF

[DailyBail]

Fla. congressional candidate robbed at gunpoint while waiting for campaign appearance

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/21/police-fla-congressional-candidate-robbed-gunpoint-waiting-campaign-appearance/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fnational+%28Internal+-+US+Latest+-+Text%29

[DailyBail]

LONDON — The Swedish prosecutor’s office on Sunday defended its handling of allegations made by two Swedish women against Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, saying that a more senior prosecutor withdrew the arrest warrant that had been issued for Mr. Assange and then dismissed the rape allegation against him as unfounded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/europe/23wikileaks.html?_r=2&hp

[DailyBail]

Man whose conviction was overturned still fighting

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_conviction_overturned_lawsuit

[DailyBail]

Rising from the ashes in Detroit

General Motors' return to the stockmarket heralds a remarkable turnaround for America's carmakers

http://www.economist.com/node/16846514

[DailyBail]

Haiti ruling ends Wyclef Jean's run for president

The Haitian-American hip hop star expressed disappointment at the late Friday ruling, but called on his followers to act "peacefully and responsibly."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fgw-haiti-wyclef-20100822,0,5286534.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

[DailyBail]

Mexican Police Help Murder Their Own Mayor

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100821/wl_time/08599201236100;_ylt=Ahosfvf.R7KTym3CMuDkZXdzfNdF

[DailyBail]

Van Gogh recovered after being stolen from Egyptian museum for second time

A painting by Vincent van Gogh, 'Vase with Flowers' valued at £32 million, was seized at Cairo airport hours after being stolen from a museum for the second time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/7958249/Van-Gogh-recovered-after-being-stolen-from-Egyptian-museum-for-second-time.html

[DailyBail]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration's flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out.

The program is intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly mortgage payments. Friday's report from the Treasury Department suggests the $75 billion government effort is failing to slow the tide of foreclosures in the United States, economists say.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9HNEND00&show_article=1

[DailyBail]

How Wall Streeters Beat Drug Tests

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/08/20/how-wall-streeters-beat-drug-tests/?mod=yahoo_hs

[DailyBail]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators on Friday shut down a big community bank based in Chicago that has been known for its social activism but racked by financial troubles in recent months. A consortium funded by several of the biggest U.S. financial firms is buying its assets and pledging to operate the new bank by the same principles.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over ShoreBank, with $2.16 billion in assets and $1.54 billion in deposits. Urban Partnership Bank, the newly chartered financial institution, agreed to assume ShoreBank's deposits and nearly all its assets.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Regulators-shut-down-big-apf-496139063.html?x=0

[DailyBail]

Rod Blagojevich Hints That Feds Were After Barack Obama

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/blago-winston-churchill-mount-dramatic-comeback/story?id=11448425

[DailyBail]

Ray Bradbury hates big government: 'Our country is in need of a revolution'

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/ray-bradbury-is-sick-of-big-government-our-country-is-in-need-of-a-revolution-.html

[DailyBail]

Christopher Hitchens May Be Dying Of Cancer, But He Has No Regrets About Smoking And Boozing

http://www.businessinsider.com/christopher-hitchens-may-be-dying-of-cancer-but-he-has-no-regrets-about-smoking-and-boozing-2010-8

VIDEO -- Terrific interview

[DailyBail]

Best Countries in the World

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/15/best-countries-in-the-world.html

Slideshow from Newsweek

[DailyBail]

10 Ways To Stimulate The Economy Right Now

http://www.businessinsider.com/ways-to-stimulate-the-economy-now-2010-8#ixzz0xRFAERRb

[DailyBail]

The lifestyle that Robert Rizzo enjoyed during his run as Bell city manager included a stable full of thoroughbreds, among them a gelding named Depenserdel'argent — French for "spend money."

And Rizzo had plenty to spend, with an annual compensation package that swelled to $1.5 million in one of Los Angeles County's poorest cities.

Rizzo, who resigned last month after The Times disclosed his base salary of nearly $800,000, has held title to about three dozen horses since his pay began soaring, according to thoroughbred industry databases.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rizzo-20100822,0,2052278,full.story

[DailyBail]

ShoreBank Corp., the Chicago lender operating under a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. cease-and- desist order for 13 months, will be shut and most of its assets will be bought by Urban Partnership Bank, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-20/shorebank-of-chicago-said-to-be-closed-today-by-fdic.html

[DailyBail]

Obama now blames poor job numbers on congressional inaction. Wait! His party runs Congress

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/08/obama-mosque-jobs-economy.html

[DailyBail]

A White House-created commission is considering proposals to raise the retirement age and take other steps to shore up the finances of Social Security, prompting key players to prepare for a major battle over the program's future.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439792287255372.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

[DailyBail]

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Friday brushed aside a key piece of evidence in the ethics case against her as "staff chatter."

Waters continued her public defense in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," maintaining her innocence and accusing ethics investigators of doing "sloppy work."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/115127-waters-dismisses-key-evidence-in-ethics-case-as-staff-chatter-

[DailyBail]

Ground Zero Mosque Imam's Controversial Post-9/11 60 Minutes Interview

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/08/19/ground-zero-mosque-imams-controversial-60-minutes-interview#ixzz0xRI6zCkv

[DailyBail]

Hello, We Lost Track of $25 Billion?

I have been keeping an eye on the monthly numbers for the Social Security Trust Fund for some time. The 2010 revenue numbers have been terrible. They are running 3% below last year’s very crummy results. I was anticipating that the 2010 top line would look like 2009. Unemployment has been steady at just below 10% for a long time. There was no logical explanation for the continued drop in YoY payroll tax receipts. So I was confused.

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2010/08/hello-we-lost-track-of-25-billion.html

[DailyBail]

Today's House Prices Are Still Higher Than The Previous Bubble High

http://www.businessinsider.com/todays-house-prices-are-still-higher-than-the-previous-bubble-high-2010-8#ixzz0xRIhzq34

[DailyBail]

Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie, The Back-Door Bank-Bailout Trap That Keeps on Giving

http://letthemfail.us/archives/5193