Vacation Reading (58 Stories, July 12)

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Robert Gibbs: There Are Enough Close Races For GOP To Take The House

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/11/robert-gibbs-there-are-en_n_642166.html

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Bank Of America's $10.7 Billion Accounting Mistake Hid Debt, But Was Accident, Bank Says

“A $10.7 billion accounting error would be a material event for about 99.9 percent” of U.S. banks, said Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law at Boston University School of Law. “It’s hard to see how the SEC can accept BofA’s rejoinder as being sufficient.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-10/bank-of-america-tells-sec-that-10-7-billion-of-trades-wrongly-classified.html

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CHART -- Mortgage Giants Spent and Lobbied Like Crazy To Keep Sub-Pime Market Deregulated

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/21/politics-of-subprime-datapoint-of-the-day/

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Paul Krugman Vs. Alan Greenspan On Deficits (POLL)...Guess who's winning?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/18/paul-krugman-vs-alan-gree_n_616996.html

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All 'Consumer' Spending Since Lehman Was Actually Government Money By Another Name

http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-is-spending-still-strong.html

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This one seems to have skipped under the radar. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed About Gheit told an Egyptian television station a few months ago that US President Barack Hussein Obama is still a Muslim.

"The American President told me in confidence that he is a Muslim," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Nile TV. That could explain why Obama has instructed that the term "Islamic extremism" no longer be used in official government documents and statements.

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2010/06/egyptian-foreign-minister-obama-told-me.html

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Indiana governor right to prioritize debt over social issues

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Indiana-governor-right-to-prioritize-debt-over-social-issues-96255944.html

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Mitch Daniels is dead serious about his 'truce' on social issues

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Mitch-Daniels-is-serious-about-his-truce-96379349.html

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Mom, When I Grow Up I Really Want to Be A Bureaucrat

http://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2010/06/24/mom-when-i-grow-up-i-really-want-to-be-a-bureaucrat/

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 Last week, we noted that government scientists had concluded that the deepwater plumes of dispersed oil found in the Gulf of Mexico had originated [1] from BP's ruptured well.

We also noted, however, that BP had previously refused to provide oil samples [2] to scientists who needed them to perform chemical "fingerprinting" tests that would more clearly establish origin--and as of last week, we weren't sure if those scientists had received the samples yet.

http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/scientists-waited-3-weeks-before-bp-handed-over-samples

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WASHINGTON — Diamond Offshore announced Friday that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters immediately — making it the first to abandon the United States in the wake of the BP oil spill and a ban on deep-water drilling.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7101738.html

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Did BP's Rig Pass A Key Safety Test—Or Not?

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/06/bp-deepwater-negative-pressure-test

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Adverse Possession: Squatters take over S. Fla. homes in what police call latest fraud in housing crisis

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-housing-fraud-adverse-possession-20100613,0,233629,full.story

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Surprise, Surprise: 16 Financial Lobbyists Formerly Worked For Dodd And Shelby

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/06/financial-reform-conference-committ.html

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Brit Finds $5M in Roman Coins With Metal Detector

(July 8) -- A British treasure hunter has stumbled upon the country's biggest-ever find of Roman coins buried in a field in southwest England.

Using a metal detector, Dave Crisp found a hoard of more than 52,000 coins buried in an enormous pot in county Somerset. The bronze and silver coins date from the third century and include some minted by self-proclaimed Emperor Carausius.

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/british-treasure-hunter-finds-5-million-stash-of-roman-coins-with-metal-detector/19546977

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Remarks by Ben Bernanke -- Making Sure Deflation Doesn't Happen Here

http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021121/default.htm

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A rogue trader was banned from working in finance today after he manipulated the world oil market following a weekend of golf and alcohol.  Steve Perkins drank so much he was “not capable of assessing the consequences of his actions”, the Financial Services Authority ruled.  He made thousands of trades worth a total of $520 million (£345 million). The price of Brent crude oil soared by $1.50 to $73.50 — the highest so far that year.  The deals ended up costing his company, PVM Oil Futures, £6 million — equivalent to a year's profits. He was sacked immediately.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23850614-drunken-weekend-rogue-oil-trader-gets-five-year-ban.do

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The Spill, The Scandal and the President

The inside story of how Obama failed to crack down on the corruption of the Bush years – and let the world's most dangerous oil company get away with murder.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965?RS_show_page=0

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The Crisis In Detroit Is Worse Than A Recession

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-crisis-in-detroit-is-worse-than-a-recession-2010-6

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Foreclosure Sales One-Third Of All Home Sales In Q1

http://247wallst.com/2010/06/30/foreclosure-sales-one-third-of-all-home-sales-in-q1/

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Derivatives group sees $1 trillion regulatory impact

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/derivatives-group-sees-1-trillion-regulatory-hit-2010-06-29

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CHART OF THE DAY: Banks Are Lending Money Like Crazy To Single Borrower -- Uncle Sam

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-us-government-securities-at-all-commercial-banks-2010-6

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said Wednesday he's "wary" of calls for further central-bank purchases of assets aimed at stimulating the economy while dismissing fears that the U.S. recovery is faltering.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/evans-wary-of-more-asset-buys-to-spur-growth-2010-06-30

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Big Money Talks: Special Interest Spending

http://www.capradio.org/articles/articledetail.aspx?articleid=7939

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Doomsday Capitalism -- 7 signs toxic partisan politics is killing capitalism, democracy, your retirement

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doomsday-capitalism-virus-is-spreading-2010-06-15

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Obama: Cutting National Debt Will Be 'Our Project'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339154049852686.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

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Nearly one in five delinquent mortgages through the first half of 2009 was owned by someone who could afford to pay, but decided defaulting was a smarter financial play.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/1-in-5-choosing-to-default-on-mortgages-774736.html

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The national debt security shell game

Deficit hawks are using national security as an excuse to seek cuts in Social Security in Medicare, but they're wrong.

James K. Galbraith

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-galbraith-deficit-20100615,0,4032226.story

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I Pledge to Write Funnier Columns on Goldman Sachs

By Michael Lewis

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2010/06/09/i-pledge-write-funnier-columns-goldman?page=full

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Feds Didn't Do Enough To Avoid 'Poisonous' AIG Bailout And Now Changing Story To Defend It, Elizabeth Warren Says

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/10/feds-didnt-do-enough-to-a_n_607141.html

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Iraq Soldier Fights to Get Home Back

Soldier argues his homeowners' association violated law by selling his house.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/video/iraq-soldier-fights-to-get-home-back-10912502&tab=9482931&section=4765066&playlist=&page=1

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As owners leave foreclosed homes, squatters move in

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/09/09/75128/as-owners-leave-foreclosed-homes.html

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What's Ben Gonna Do?

Every day the deflation story gets stronger. Almost all of the numbers in the US are pointing in that direction. A slowdown in the EU is a sure thing. Japan is going nowhere. China is a question mark, but even if they do continue growing it will not result in enough Eco. Juice to offset the global deflationary forces.

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2010/06/whats-ben-gonna-do.html

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Wall Street's Invisible Gorilla is killing America's soul

Commentary: Why millions of Main Street investors cannot see the destruction of capitalism.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-invisible-gorilla-is-killing-americas-soul-2010-06-22

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Federal Reserve Statement In English (funny stuff from Denninger)

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/2444-Federal-Reserve-Statement-In-English.html

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From CNBC Business Journalist to Critic of Bankers on MSNBC (Profile of Ratigan)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/business/media/28ratigan.html

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It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but U.S. government debt is approaching yet another grim new milestone.   Bloomberg News’ Chart of the Day, based on IMF projections, shows that gross federal debt could exceed the United States’ GDP as early as 2012. 

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Blogs/2010/06/07/Hitting-the-Red-Zone.aspx

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(Reuters) - Blunt, brash, brainy and occasionally self-mocking. Larry Summers, the White House economic adviser, is all of these things. In a career spanning academia, government and finance, he has rubbed some people the wrong way and infuriated others.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L3Z120100622

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Closing Guantánamo Fades as a Priority

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/politics/26gitmo.html?_r=1&bl

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POLL -- Do you support Arizona's new law on illegal immigration?

http://world-news.newsvine.com/_question/2010/05/12/4274124-do-you-support-arizonas-tough-new-law-on-illegal-immigration

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California's public-sector pensions -- Sanity in the offing?

http://www.economist.com/node/16438779?story_id=16438779&source=hptextfeature

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Are We Approaching An Epic Debt Failure?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-are-we-approaching-epic-failure

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You Can't Spend Your Way Out of the Crisis

New Zealand's prime minister wants to give his country a competitive advantage instead.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638162497057661.html

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The Climategate Whitewash Continues

Global warming alarmists claim vindication after last year's data manipulation scandal.  Don't believe the 'independent' reviews.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704075604575356611173414140.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

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Obama Mocked Commissions, Then Established Four

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009286-503544.html

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Obama's Entitlement Opportunity

The president's deficit commission isn't likely to agree on tax increases, but don't be surprised if it recommends Social Security reform.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703636404575352882492610768.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

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Scientists: Obama Administration Has Pressured Us, Interfered With Our Work

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-science-obama-20100711,0,4320861.story

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Home Buyer Tax Credit Deadline Extended

http://realestate.yahoo.com/info/news/home-buyer-tax-credit-deadline-extended

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With Pressure From Conservatives Growing, Republicans Are Getting Serious About Overturning Obamacare

http://www.businessinsider.com/with-pressure-from-conservatives-growing-republicans-are-getting-serious-about-overturning-obamacare-2010-7

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Mortgage Horror Stories: The U.S. Housing Industry Will Never Recover If Qualified People Can't Get A Home Loan

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/mortgage-horror-stories-the-u-s-housing-industry-will-never-recover-if-qualified-people-cant-get-a-home-loan

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The three biggest lies about the economy

Commentary: The truth about jobs, the market and U.S. socialism.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-three-biggest-lies-about-the-us-economy-2010-06-29

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WASHINGTON – The talks leading to the largest U.S.-Russian spy swap since the Cold War began when CIA director Leon Panetta approached Russia's spy chief with a proposed deal, a U.S. official says.

Shortly after the FBI arrested the 10-person Russian spy ring, officials at the U.S. intelligence agency reached out, leading the way for Panetta to suggest the exchange. The U.S. official said both sides wanted a speedy resolution of the case, which could have cast a pall over improving U.S.-Russian relations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100709/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_spy_swap

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Study: Marijuana Prices to Crater If Legalized

Pot Could Go from Nearly $400 an Ounce to Around $40 In California If Legalization Measure Is Successful.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/08/national/main6658178.shtml

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The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria

Humans have underestimated the disease for millennia; new research, and new worries.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575354911834340450.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_lifeStyle

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Snoop Dogg Tried to Rent All of Liechtenstein

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/06/snoop_dogg_tried_to_rent_licht.html

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Why Fat Doesn't Make for Flavorful Steak

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/06/why-fat-doesnt-make-for-flavorful-steak/58863/

In Search of Steak Glory

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/06/in-search-of-steak-glory/57883/

Steak lovers -- Read these articles.

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The Dirtiest Player

Was it only last season that Marvin Harrison was still catching TD passes for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts?  Now, in the wake of a brazen but mysterious Philadelphia gunfight—many details of which are reported here for the first time—the man who holds the NFL record for most receptions in a season may yet find himself with a permanent record of a different sort.

http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201002/marvin-harrison?printable=true

If you're an NFL fan, don't hesitate.  Read this one.

Comments

[RecoverylessRecovery]

This is HUGE! ;

"China Ratings Agency Downgrades US Debt From Moody's, S&P's, and Fitch's AAA Rating"
BEIJING (AP) --
A Chinese firm that aims to compete with Western rating agencies declared Washington a worse credit risk than Beijing in its first report on government debt Sunday amid efforts by China to boost its influence in global markets.

Dagong International Credit Rating Co.'s verdict was a break with Moody's, Standard & Poors and Fitch, which say U.S. government debt is the world's safest. Dagong said it rated Washington below China and 11 other countries such as Switzerland and Australia due to high debt and slow growth. It warned the U.S. is among countries that might face rising borrowing costs and risks of default.

The report comes amid complaints by Beijing that Western rating agencies fail to give China full credit for its economic strength, boosting borrowing costs -- a criticism echoed by some foreign analysts. At June's G-20 summit in Toronto, President Hu Jintao called for the creation of a more accurate system.

Dagong, founded in 1994 to rate Chinese corporate debt, says it is privately owned and pledges to make its judgments impartially. But in a sign of official support, its announcement Sunday took place at the headquarters of the Xinhua News Agency, the ruling Communist Party's main propaganda outlet.

(http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/china-ratings-agency-downgrades-us-debt.html)
______________________________________________________________

With Dagong's MUCH more ACCURATE & TRUTHFUL credit ratings, expect Moody's, Fitch's and S&P to EAT SHIT AND DIE soon. Investors worldwide will FLOCK to Dagong while their American counterparts will be left in isolation, each one giving triple A ratings to the other's bags of SHIT. The perfect jerk-circle.

What Dagong just did is cry out loud and clear; "The American Empelol Has No Clothes"!

[DailyBail]

Suspected Spies Disappear After Swap

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580104575361001079323076.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

[DailyBail]

Biden's Leno Stop Clogs LAX; Passengers Furious

http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/biden-does-leno-stops-traffic-lax-passengers-furious-19120?page=0,1

[DailyBail]

MOSCOW—In a closely watched case of censorship backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, two prominent Russian curators were convicted Monday of inciting religious hatred by staging an art exhibition that included an image of Jesus Christ appearing to his disciples as Mickey Mouse.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575362651473284486.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_world

[DailyBail]

TEL AVIV—An Israeli military report blames faulty intelligence and poor planning for the botched raid of a Gaza-bound aid ship, but praises the "heroic" commandos who carried out the raid and concludes that the ship's passengers likely fired first, using at least one gun the report says was already on board.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575362880474004938.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_world

[DailyBail]

New Jersey Governor Defies Political Expectations

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902341_pf.html

[DailyBail]

Armstrong Says His Tour Is 'Finished'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703668004575361181056715058.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

Cheater...

[DailyBail]

Photos : TSA delivers job offers on pizza boxes

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=165&sid=2000678

[Ken]

07.13.10 - 11:16 AM
Monkey See, Monkey Shoot the American Infidel

China's People's Daily reports that the Taliban are training monkeys to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The story notes the ironies here: "monkey terrorists" are a response to the world's most sophisticated technology, and the U.S. first trained monkeys in Vietnam; thus, the Taliban is "giving them some of their own medicine" – in bananas. We're speechless. Video in More.

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2010/07/13-0

NMA 2010.06.30 動新聞 神學士恐怖「猴」子 受訓狙殺美軍
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7GIl4zKrV8&feature=player_embedded

LOL

[DailyBail]

I'm speechless about the monkeys...

[RecoverylessRecovery]

The U.S. has been using brainwashed, trained monkeys on the battlefield FOR YEARS now. Except in the U.S. they call prefer to call them, "marines".

[RecoverylessRecovery]

Sempre Bi !

(oops, don't ask, don't tell!)