Madd Money: Iran Stops Selling Oil In US Dollars

Madd Money: Iran Stops Selling Oil In US Dollars

Private Eyes Indicted in Massive Identity-Theft Scheme Involving HP-Style "Pretexting" | Threat Level from Wired.com

Private Eyes Indicted in Massive Identity-Theft Scheme Involving HP-Style "Pretexting" | Threat Level from Wired.com

Ten private investigators in several states were indicted for identity theft this week after using pretexting methods similar to those used by Hewlett-Packard investigators to obtain the personal information of about 12,000 people. The investigators reportedly used lies and trickery as well as technology to obtain private financial, medical and tax information on targets that they were investigating for clients.

The clients who purchased the ill-gotten confidential records were other private investigators who were working on behalf of attorneys, law firms, collection agents, insurance companies and others. The PIs are being charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Authorities say that the clients who purchased the information from the investigators may also face charges. The indictment says the clients wanted to uncover information about people who were involved in lawsuits or claims against them.

According to prosecutors, this is only the second time -- the H-P case being the first -- that someone has been prosecuted for using pretexting to obtain confidential records. Pretexting involves using someone else's Social Security number, birthdate or other personal information to trick companies or government agencies into handing over private information about that individual. In the HP case, investigators used the method to obtain the phone call records of journalists and HP board members to determine who was leaking company information to the journalists.

The current case involves private investigators in Washington, California, Oregon, Texas and New York. In addition to pretexting, they and a few of their employees used voice-disguising technology and other technical methods to conceal their true identity to obtain information, according to one news report. They obtained information from state and federal agencies -- such as unemployment insurance departments, the Social Security Administration and the IRS -- as well as from banks, pharmacies and hospitals.

According to the indictment (PDF), to obtain tax returns, an investigator would call the IRS posing as the individual whose returns he wanted to obtain and claim that he needed copies of his tax returns because he'd just fired his bookkeeper for impropriety and needed to verify that the returns had been filed accurately.

To obtain medical and drug records, an investigator would call a pharmacy or hospital posing as a representative from a fictitious doctor's office and claim that he or she had been authorized to obtain a patient's prescription or hospitalization records.

The private investigators charged various amounts to their clients for the confidential information. One agency, for example, charged $100 for bank account information and $130-$250 for each tax return. Medical information about someone could be obtained for as little as $50, or $150 for a five-year comprehensive medical history.

Pretexting, of course, isn't a new method. In a story I wrote for Wired News in January 2006 before the H-P scandal broke, Rob Douglas an information security consultant, told me that pretexting was a dirty little secret among private investigators and one of the primary ways they had used to obtain information for years.

"No one likes to talk about who uses these records the most," he told me then, "but it's lawyers for the most part who created this market" and often claim ignorance of the ways in which the information they purchase is obtained.

Emptywheel - » Whitehouse Reveals Smoking Gun of White House Claiming Not to Be Bound by Any Law

Emptywheel - » Whitehouse Reveals Smoking Gun of White House Claiming Not to Be Bound by Any Law

Damn, I love me some Sheldon Whitehouse. He, like, actually knows the law. And he, like, is willing to actually read the stuff he is exercising oversight over.

Which is why this speech he gave today is so important (link to speech; here's a link to video). Apparently, Whitehouse actually read the OLC opinions that justified the warrantless wiretap program and continue to justify the Administration's wiretap authority today. Then, Whitehouse got the key concepts of some of those opinions declassified. Here's his description of what he found.

For years under the Bush Administration, the Office of Legal Counsel within the Department of Justice has issued highly classified secret legal opinions related to surveillance. This is an administration that hates answering to an American court, that wants to grade its own papers, and OLC is the inside place the administration goes to get legal support for its spying program.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was given access to those opinions, and spent hours poring over them. Sitting in that secure room, as a lawyer, as a former U.S. Attorney, legal counsel to Rhode Island's Governor, and State Attorney General, I was increasingly dismayed and amazed as I read on.

To give you an example of what I read, I have gotten three legal propositions from these OLC opinions declassified. Here they are, as accurately as my note taking could reproduce them from the classified documents. Listen for yourself. I will read all three, and then discuss each one.

1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.
2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President's authority under Article II.
3. The Department of Justice is bound by the President's legal determinations. [my emphasis]

I noticed Whitehouse sniffing around the question of Executive Orders before. I thought (okay, hoped, really) that he was sniffing around 13292, which governs classification and declassification, including whether the Vice President can unilaterally declassify the identity of a CIA NOC. But it turns out he was sniffing around EO 12333, which governs Intelligence Activities (and though it's not central to this discussion, here's an amendment Bush made in 2004 to set up DNI).

Here's what--according to Whitehouse, who after all ought to know--Bush believes about whether or not he has to follow EO 12333, an Executive Order signed by Saint Reagan.

Let's start with number one. Bear in mind that the so-called Protect America Act that was stampeded through this great body in August provides no - zero - statutory protections for Americans traveling abroad from government wiretapping. None if you're a businesswoman traveling on business overseas, none if you're a father taking the kids to the Caribbean, none if you're visiting uncles or aunts in Italy or Ireland, none even if you're a soldier in the uniform of the United States posted overseas. The Bush Administration provided in that hastily-passed law no statutory restrictions on their ability to wiretap you at will, to tap your cell phone, your e-mail, whatever.

The only restriction is an executive order called 12333, which limits executive branch surveillance to Americans who the Attorney General determines to be agents of a foreign power. That's what the executive order says.

But what does this administration say about executive orders?

An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.

"Whenever (the President) wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order," he may do so because "an executive order cannot limit a President." And he doesn't have to change the executive order, or give notice that he's violating it, because by "depart(ing) from the executive order," the President "has instead modified or waived it."

So unless Congress acts, here is what legally prevents this President from wiretapping Americans traveling abroad at will: nothing. Nothing.

That was among the most egregious flaws in the bill passed during the August stampede they orchestrated by the Bush Administration - and this OLC opinion shows why we need to correct it.

I'll put the rest of the excerpt of Whitehouse's speech below. But for now, I want to discuss this.

Obviously, the implications of this OLC opinion go far beyond the warrantless wiretapping of Americans. While it appears that Whitehouse wasn't primarily interested in EO 13292, presumably the OLC opinion governs all Executive Orders. So in other words, the President can declassify at will (well, he could do that anyway). Or more importantly, he could authorize his Vice President to refuse to tell us about his classification and declassification guidelines (as Dick did to ISOO--I'm betting this opinion is why AGAG refused to rule on the ISOO/Dick dispute), and he can unilaterally declassify anything and leak it to Judy Miller or some other hack journalist.

But here's the other key point (and one of the reasons I like the way Whitehouse works). He specifically asked Michael Mukasey about EOs before Mukasey was approved.

2. Do you believe that the President may act contrary to a valid executive order? In the event he does, need he amend the executive order or provide any notice that he is acting contrary to the executive order?

ANSWER: Executive orders reflect the directives of the President. Should an executive order apply to the President and he determines that the order should be modified, the appropriate course would be for him to issue a new order or to amend the prior order.

So Mukasey, unaware that Bush had set aside all common sense, gave the common sense, legally sound answer. "Of course the President can't violate his own EOs! He would need to change them first!"

And now the AG is on record as thinking this whole state of affairs stinks.

Official in Blackwater probe quits | U.S. | Reuters

Official in Blackwater probe quits | U.S. | Reuters: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, under scrutiny for his brother's link to the Blackwater security firm, has decided to resign, U.S. officials said on Friday."

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Naomi Klein: "Iraq Is the Classic Example of The Shock Doctrine" [VIDEO]

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Naomi Klein: "Iraq Is the Classic Example of The Shock Doctrine" [VIDEO]: "Keith talks to Naomi Klein about her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and how disaster capitalism has worked in Iraq, Katrina, and past military coups to push through extreme economic practices which privatize everything and gut social programs and government agencies against the will of the general populations of the countries in which the disasters occur. In Iraq right now you have 'a corporate takeover with guns,' says Olbermann. 'It's looting,' says Klein. Check out the video to your right for more."

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Bill Clinton Pretends He Opposed Bush's Iraq Invasion, Media Go Along for the Ride

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Bill Clinton Pretends He Opposed Bush's Iraq Invasion, Media Go Along for the Ride: "The following is an action item from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. The New York Times and Washington Post (11/28/07) both failed to adequately challenge the dishonesty of former President Bill Clinton's declaration that he had been opposed to the Iraq War 'from the beginning.' Clinton, in fact, was a supporter of the war, both before the invasion and in the first year or so of the fighting."

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" Exposed: Bush Negotiates Permanent Presence in iraq

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" Exposed: Bush Negotiates Permanent Presence in iraq: "The revelation that Bush will sign an agreement for a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq before his term is up confirms the real reason he invadedIraq and changed its regime. It was never about weapons of mass destruction. It was never about ties between Saddam and al Qaeda. And it was never about bringing democracy to the Iraqi people. These claims were lies to cover up the real motive for Operation Iraqi Freedom: to create a permanent American presence in Iraq. With Bush's November 26, 2007 announcement that the United States and Iraq were negotiating a permanent 'security relationship,' his lies have been exposed. Bush declared, Iraqi leaders 'understand that their success will require U.S. political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency.' His outline for the permanent U.S.-Iraqi 'Economic' relationship is 'to encourage the flow of foreign investments to Iraq.' Two senior Iraqi officials told the Associated Press that Bush is negotiating preferential treatment for U.S. investments."

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Iraq Oil Grab Nears Completion: Big Oil Poised to Sign Lucrative Deals

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Iraq Oil Grab Nears Completion: Big Oil Poised to Sign Lucrative Deals: "Big Oil's big dreams are close to coming true as Iraq's Oil Ministry prepares deals for the country's largest oil fields."

Crooks and Liars » Countdown Special Comment: The NIE Reflects An “Unhinged, Irrational Chicken Little Of A President”

Crooks and Liars » Countdown Special Comment: The NIE Reflects An “Unhinged, Irrational Chicken Little Of A President”

video: http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Download/24126/1/Countdown-SC-Chicken.wmv

Far more scary than the nuclear threat presented by Iran, the NIE report released this week reveals a more domestic threat to the republic:

We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible hyperbole — or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to have asked — at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so — whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible.

A pathological presidential liar, or an idiot-in-chief. It is the nightmare scenario of political science fiction: A critical juncture in our history and, contained in either answer, a president manifestly unfit to serve, and behind him in the vice presidency: an unapologetic war-monger who has long been seeing a world visible only to himself.

Transcripts below the fold

Finally, as promised, a Special Comment about the President’s cataclysmic deception about Iran.

There are few choices more terrifying than the one Mr. Bush has left us with tonight.

We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible hyperbole — or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to have asked — at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so — whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible.

A pathological presidential liar, or an idiot-in-chief. It is the nightmare scenario of political science fiction: A critical juncture in our history and, contained in either answer, a president manifestly unfit to serve, and behind him in the vice presidency: an unapologetic war-monger who has long been seeing a world visible only to himself.

After Ms Perino’s announcement from the White House late last night, the timeline is inescapable and clear now.

In August, the President was told by his hand-picked Major Domo of intelligence, Mike McConnell, a flinty, high-strung-looking, worrying-warrior who will always see more clouds than silver linings, that what “everybody thought” about Iran might be, in essence, crap.

Yet on October 17th the President said of Iran and its president, Ahmadinejad:

“I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon.”

And as he said that, Mr. Bush knew that at bare minimum there was a strong chance that his rhetoric was nothing more than words with which to scare the Iranians.

Or was it, sir, to scare the Americans?

Does Iran not really fit into the equation here? Have you just scribbled it into the fill-in-the-blank on the same template you used to scare us about Iraq?

In August, any commander-in-chief still able-minded or uncorrupted or both, sir, would have invoked the quality the job most requires: mental flexibility.

A bright man, or an honest man, would have realized no later than the McConnell briefing that the only true danger about Iran was the damage that could be done by an unhinged, irrational Chicken Little of a president, shooting his mouth off, backed up by only his own hysteria and his own delusions of omniscience.

Not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Bush.

The Chicken Little of presidents is the one, sir, that you see in the mirror.

And the mind reels at the thought of a Vice President fully briefed on the revised intel as long as two weeks ago — briefed on the fact that Iran abandoned its pursuit of this imminent threat four years ago — who never bothered to mention it to his boss.

It is nearly forgotten today, but throughout much of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, it was widely believed that he was little more than a front-man for some never-viewed, behind-the-scenes string-puller.

Today, as evidenced by this latest remarkable, historic malfeasance, it is inescapable, that Dick Cheney is either this president’s evil ventriloquist, or he thinks he is.

What servant of any of the 42 previous presidents could possibly withhold information of this urgency and this gravity, and wind up back at his desk the next morning, instead of winding up before a Congressional investigation — or a criminal one?

Mr Bush — if you can still hear us — if you did not previously agree to this scenario in which Dick Cheney is the actual detective and you’re the Remington Steele — you must disenthrall yourself: Mr Cheney has usurped your constitutional powers, cut you out of the information loop, and led you down the path to an unprecedented presidency in which the facts have become optional, the intel is valued less than the hunch, and the assistant runs the store.

The problem is, sir, your assistant is robbing you — and your country — blind.

Not merely in monetary terms, Mr. Bush, but more importantly, robbing you of the traditions and righteousness for which we have stood, at great risk, for centuries: Honesty, Law, Moral Force.

Mr. Cheney has helped, sir, to make your administration into the kind our ancestors saw in the 1860’s and 1870’s and 1880’s — the ones that abandoned Reconstruction, and sent this country marching backwards into the pit of American Apartheid.

Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland…

Presidents who will be remembered only in a blur of failure, Mr. Bush.

Presidents who will be remembered as functions only of those who opposed them — the opponents whom history proved right.

Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland… Bush.

Would that we could let this President off the hook by seeing him only as marionette or moron.

But a study of the mutation of his language about Iran proves that though he may not be very good at it, he is, himself, still a manipulative, Machiavellian, snake-oil salesman.

The Bushian etymology was tracked by Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post’s website.

It is staggering.

March 31st: “Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon…”

June 5th: Iran’s “pursuit of nuclear weapons…”

June 19th: “consequences to the Iranian government if they continue to pursue a nuclear weapon…”

July 12th: “the same regime in Iran that is pursuing nuclear weapons…”

August 6th: “this is a government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon…”

Notice a pattern?

Trying to develop, build or pursue a nuclear weapon.

Then, sometime between August 6th and August 9th, those terms are suddenly swapped out, so subtly that only in retrospect can we see that somebody has warned the President, not only that he has gone out too far on the limb of terror — but there may not even be a tree there…

McConnell, or someone, must have briefed him then.

August 9th: “They have expressed their desire to be able to enrich uranium, which we believe is a step toward having a nuclear weapons program…”

August 28th: “Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons…”

October 4th: “you should not have the know-how on how to make a (nuclear) weapon…”

October 17th: “until they suspend and/or make it clear that they, that their statements aren’t real, yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon.”

Before August 9th, it’s: “Trying to develop, build or pursue a nuclear weapon.”

After August 9th, it’s: “Desire, pursuit, want… knowledge, technology, know-how to enrich uranium.”

And we are to believe, Mr. Bush, that the National Intelligence Estimate this week talks of the Iranians suspending their nuclear weapons program in 2003…And you talked of the Iranians suspending their nuclear weapons program on October 17th…

And that term suspending is just a coincidence?

And we are to believe, Mr. Bush, that nobody told you any of this until last week?

Your insistence that you were not briefed on the NIE until last week might be legally true — something like “what the definition of ‘is’ is” — but with the subject matter being not interns but the threat of nuclear war.

Legally, it might save you from some war crimes trial… but ethically, it is a lie.

It is indefensible.

You have been yelling threats into a phone for nearly four months, after the guy on the other end had already hung up.

You, Mr. Bush, are a bald-faced liar.

And more over, you must have realized that John Bolton, and Norman Podhoretz, and the Wall Street Journal Editorial board, are also bald-faced liars.

We are to believe that the Intel Community, or maybe the State Department, cooked the raw intelligence about Iran, falsely diminished the Iranian nuclear threat, to make you look bad?

And you proceeded to let them make you look bad?

You not only knew all of this about Iran, in early August, but you also knew it was all accurate.

And instead of sharing this good news with the people you have obviously forgotten you represent, you merely fine-tuned your terrorizing of those people, to legally cover your own backside, while you filled the factual gap with sadistic visions of — as you phrased it on August 28th: a quote “nuclear holocaust” — and, as you phrased it on October 17th, quote: “World War III.”

My comments, Mr. Bush, are often dismissed as simple repetitions of the phrase “George Bush has no business being president.”

Well, guess what?

Tonight: hanged by your own words and convicted by your own deliberate lies…

You, sir, have no business being president.

Good night, and good luck.

The Superficial - Donald Trump is a big tipper

The Superficial - Donald Trump is a big tipper

Philanthropy: Family Begs Strangers For A Million Dollars

Philanthropy: Family Begs Strangers For A Million Dollars

Paul Kedrosky: Subprime: 61 Economists Agree on Something!

Paul Kedrosky: Subprime: 61 Economists Agree on Something!
I think the big news on the Bush Administration's subprime bailout is that it somehow was able to convince 61 economists to agree on something: They don't like it. Read the whole letter here, and pay attention to the signers.

Full letter text follows:

December 6, 2007 An Open Letter to the United States Congress:

We, the undersigned economists, write to strongly advise against excessive new regulations or federal interventions as a response to current trends in the housing market. Market corrections have already begun, with financial institutions writing down bad debts and adopting new lending standards to avoid future foreclosures. Legislation to create new underwriting standards will reduce competition and restrict consumer access to credit. Additionally, efforts to bail out or shore up lending institutions create a moral hazard that would slow the adjustments required in the marketplace.

Government solutions, as opposed to the current market correction, would create changes whose effects will linger long into the future. Legislative proposals have included expanding the role of government sponsored enterprises, mandating new underwriting standards, allowing bankruptcy courts to rewrite the terms and conditions of mortgage contracts, and expanding liability to those who securitize loans. These proposals would fundamentally alter the workings of the mortgage market, leaving consumers with fewer choices when seeking to buy a home and potentially increasing taxpayer exposure for bad loans.

It is important to realize that the market for subprime mortgages has provided consumers with greater access to credit and new opportunities for home ownership. Current laws provide the necessary authority to address abuses that have occurred and, in light of recent market activity, lenders have already responded with tighter standards to avoid potential foreclosures. In fact, more than 80 percent of all sub-prime mortgages continue to be paid on time.

Opposing excessive new regulations is important as the subprime mortgage market adjusts to existing market conditions. Access to such mortgages has provided more benefits than harm to consumers, and through market discipline, lending institutions are taking the necessary steps to address the problems that have emerged. Forcing taxpayers to bear the costs of this adjustment is unwarranted and reduces the incentives for financial institutions to correct past behavior. Additionally, new regulations or underwriting standards will restrict consumer access credit and hinder the market’s correction.

Yanksfan vs Soxfan: Would They Have Been Worth It?

Yanksfan vs Soxfan: Would They Have Been Worth It?

At the Baseball-Reference Stat of the Day blog, site founder Sean Foreman presents a list of the pitchers with the best careers between ages 25 and 28 in the last 50 years -- not coincidentally, the same ages at which Johan Santana has inarguably been the best pitcher in baseball.these past four seasons.

He then adds: "You can look at the [list] and decide if you would have been happy with these pitchers for ages 29-34."

Would we have? And are the answers instructive for the present situation? Let's tackle the Top 10.

Ranked by ERA+

1. Pedro Martinez, 1997-2000, 219 ERA+, 122 starts, 905 IP, 77-25, 1,153 K, 2.16 ERA
2. Greg Maddux, 1991-94, 162 ERA+, 133 starts, 1,000 IP, 71-38, 750 K, 2.41 ERA
3. Ron Guidry, 1976-79, 156 ERA+, 90 starts, 737 IP, 59-18, 637 K, 2.47 ERA
4. Roger Clemens, 1988-91, 156 ERA+, 136 starts, 1,017 IP, 74-39, 971 K, 2.67 ERA
5. Johan Santana, 2004-07, 156 ERA+, 134 starts, 912 IP, 70-32, 983 K, 2.89 ERA
6. Juan Marichal, 1963-66, 152 ERA+, 146 starts, 1,193 IP, 93-35, 916 K, 2.31 ERA
7. Jose Rijo, 1990-93, 152 ERA+, 128 starts, 870 IP, 58-33, 722 K, 2.56 ERA
8. Tom Seaver, 1970-73, 151 ERA+, 142 starts, 1,129 IP, 78-44, 1,072 K, 2.38 ERA
9. Roy Halladay, 2002-05, 147 ERA+, 110 starts, 780 IP, 61-26, 575 K, 3.16 ERA
10. Sandy Koufax, 1961-64, 146 ERA+, 129 starts, 974 IP, 76-30, 1,014 K, 2.40 ERA

Just in case you haven't been wowed lately by the awesomeness that was Pedro Martinez in those years. His real ERA is lower than any other pitcher on the list, including Marichal's and Koufax's, despite their pitching in caverns in pitchers' eras. His strikeouts also lead the list despite pitching about 200 fewer innings than Marichal and 150 fewer innings than Seaver. Incredible.

[head over to the website; lots more to read...]

Investigators of subprime crisis should look offshore :: The Komisar Scoop

Investigators of subprime crisis should look offshore :: The Komisar Scoop

When there’s a financial crisis tied to lack of transparency, follow the culprits offshore. Evidence comes out now that this is true about the subprime debacle.

A Reuters story from Frankfurt, Thursday, reports, “Troubled German bank IKB again delayed release of its first-half results while it implements accounting changes including consolidation of an offshore conduit whose soured investments triggered a government-led rescue of IKB.”

Reuters wrote: “The consolidation (of Rhineland Funding) is extremely complex because it includes more than 30 companies of the conduit, which publish their own annual and interim financial statements. The changes affect both the financial year 2006/07 and the current financial year 2007/08,” it said in a statement.

And, to the point: “IKB said on Thursday its core business remained stable, but fears of rising losses on Rhineland Funding, an offshore operation which it set up to invest in subprime mortgages and which is now housed at state development bank KfW, put IKB’s shares under renewed pressure this week.” Hmmm. Why did the bank put its subprime mortgage operation offshore? To avoid scrutiny? To evade taxes?

Citigroup has $55 billion of subprime exposure and said it would write down up to $11 billion in subprime losses. Goldman Sachs downgraded Citigroup stock from “neutral” to “sell” and said the bank may have to write off $15 billion.

An article Wednesday by financial analyst Pam Martens in Counterpunch points out that ousted CEO Chuck Prince “had to own up to approximately $17 billion in write downs and Cayman Islands’ black holes….” Why did Citigroup put their wonderful investments — subprime and others — offshore? To avoid scrutiny? To evade taxes?

She says, “Citigroup, is discovered to have stashed away over $80 billion of Byzantine securities off its balance sheet in secretive Cayman Islands vehicles with an impenetrable curtain around them. Citigroup calls this black hole a Structured Investment Vehicle or SIV. Wall Street insiders call it a “sieve” that is linked to the breakdown in trading of debt instruments around the globe and the erosion of wealth in assets as diverse as stock prices to home values.”

Martens, who spent 21 years on Wall Street, reminds us that ” Federal regulators allowed [Citigroup] to grow fat and sassy by playing dirty, including collecting massive fees for hiding debt for bankrupt Enron, WorldCom and Italian dairy giant, Parmalat.” Those cases all involved offshore secrecy and manipulations.

Finally, Prem Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Essex, writing in The Guardian (London) Thursday, says, “The deepening sub-prime crisis can, like past crises, be laid at the door of opaque accounting practices. The pre-Enron technique of off-balance sheet accounting, which enables companies to understate assets and liability and flatter their profits, is widespread.” He adds that, “None of the watchdogs barked.”

Where is the accommodating place for opaque, off-balance sheet accounting? Offshore, of course. Well, now we’re getting to the reason why those SIVs were offshore.

Sikka, a prominent critic of the offshore system, writes, “The corporate dominated [British] Financial Services Authority (FSA) admits that it “did not pay enough attention to the build-up … of assets off-balance sheet. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), responsible for good corporate governance and financial reporting, towed a similar line.”

Does the US Securities and Exchange Commission check into banks’ use of offshore vehicles? Especially after Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase set up fake offshore shell companies to help Enron cook the books? I asked several high-ranking SEC officials that question in recent months. No, it’s just not something they look into. Maybe they should.

Homeland Security For Sale

Homeland Security For Sale
http://www.homelandsecurityforsale.org

Since its creation five years ago, Americans have been inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Mismanagement, grossly excessive spending, criminal conduct and shady no-bid contracts within DHS have become regular features on the evening news and the front page of newspapers. As a result, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has prepared a report documenting some of the most serious problems facing the country's newest cabinet-level department.

> Read more

Think Progress » Report: ‘massive failures’ at DHS.

Think Progress » Report: ‘massive failures’ at DHS.

Government watchdog CREW today released a report, Homeland Security for Sale — DHS: Five Years of Mismanagement, “detailing massive failures and billions wasted at the Department of Homeland Security.” Some highlights:

– $24 billion has been spent, and at least $178 million wasted, on the failed Coast Guard Deepwater program;

– over $600 million has been allocated for unworkable radiation border scanners;

– $1.3 billion has been lost on the USVISIT program, which was never fully implemented; and

– projected $2 billion loss on the SBInet “virtual fence” border program.

A short film of the administration’s corporate cronyism is also available HERE.

Think Progress » 3 out of 4 Fox primetime shows ignored NIE.

Think Progress » 3 out of 4 Fox primetime shows ignored NIE.: "Early Monday afternoon, the Bush administration released a new National Intelligence Estimate revealing that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Though the blockbuster revelation was featured prominently that night in all three network newscasts, it was all but ignored on Fox News. Steve Benen reports that on Monday night, only one of Fox’s primetime shows — Special Report with Brit Hume — even mentioned the report. On Tuesday, after President Bush held a news conference, the shows did cover it, but with only conservatives and administration supporters discussing it."

Think Progress » WSJ editor insults scientists, attacks Gore.

Think Progress » WSJ editor insults scientists, attacks Gore.: "In an op-ed this morning mocking former Vice President Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize win, Wall Street Journal editorial board member Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. “attacks the international scientific consensus without providing a single piece of counterevidence.” In order to cast doubt on the consensus, Jenkins insults the entire scientific community as people who “do not wait for proof“: It may seem strange that scientists would participate in such a phenomenon. It shouldn’t. Scientists are human; they do not wait for proof; many devote their professional lives to seeking evidence for hypotheses (especially well-funded hypotheses) they’ve chosen to believe. Climate Progress ably takes Jenkins to task for his insults and distortions."

Think Progress » Climate scientists ‘lose their patience,’ urge govt action.

Think Progress » Climate scientists ‘lose their patience,’ urge govt action.: "The AP reports that for the “first time, more than 200 of the world’s leading climate scientists, losing their patience, urged government leaders to take radical action to slow global warming because ‘there is no time to lose.’” Last week, more than 150 global business leaders also released a petition demanding a 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases."

Think Progress » VDH forgets he wanted to bomb Iran.

Think Progress » VDH forgets he wanted to bomb Iran.: "Writing at the Corner today, Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson — who was recently given a National Humanities Medal by President Bush — tried to claim that he has long cautioned against bombing Iran. Unfortunately for Hanson, he was saying something quite different in August: “I have written too much about why it is a bad idea to bomb Iran now.” — Victor Davis Hanson, 12/5/2007 VERSUS “We really need to start doing some things beyond talking, and if that is going into Iranian airspace, or buzzing Iranians, or even starting to forget where the border is and taking out some of these training camps.” — Victor Davis Hanson, 8/13/2007"

Think Progress » White House Reveals Bush Lied: Was Told In August Iran’s Nuclear Program ‘May Be Suspended’

Think Progress » White House Reveals Bush Lied: Was Told In August Iran’s Nuclear Program ‘May Be Suspended’

On Tuesday, President Bush said he was never forewarned by the intelligence community that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003:

In August, I think it was John — Mike McConnell came in and said, We have some new information. He didn’t tell me what the information was.

Now the White House is revealing that wasn’t true. In fact, Bush did know what the information was. CNN reports:

President Bush was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program ‘may be suspended,’ the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday.”

The White House statement released by Dana Perino tonight also states McConnell told Bush “the new information might cause the intelligence community to change its assessment of Iran’s covert nuclear program.”

On Tuesday, Bush said “nobody ever told me” to back down from his hawkish rhetoric on Iran. No, maybe not. But Bush knew Iran “may have suspended” its nuclear weapons program and that the intelligence community was in the process of “changing its assessment.” And yet, he continued to warn of “World War III” and a “nuclear holocaust” because nobody told him specifically to stop.

UPDATE: Dan Froomkin reported today that Bush deceptively “changed the way he talked about Iran” starting in August. “Instead of directly condemning Iranian leaders for pursuing nuclear weapons, he started more vaguely accusing them of seeking the knowledge necessary to make such a weapon. Even as he did that, however, he and the vice president accelerated their rhetorical efforts to persuade the public that the nuclear threat posed by Iran was grave and urgent.”

Think Progress » Joe Klein Calls Bush’s Response To NIE ‘An Amazing Moment Of Candor By The United States’

Think Progress » Joe Klein Calls Bush’s Response To NIE ‘An Amazing Moment Of Candor By The United States’: "Contrary to Klein’s assertion that the White House “didn’t try to block it,” the NIE was completed a year ago but stalled by the White House in an effort to “make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s militarily aggressive policy toward Iran.” Moreover, the White House confirmed that Bush lied to the public, as he was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program “may be suspended.” (Bush previously said he was never told what information the intelligence community possessed.) A skeptical Joe Scarborough responded to Klein’s cheerleading for the administration, stating, “Well that’s one way to look at it,” then explained that Bush continued to warn of World War III with Iran despite knowing better. Klein chuckled, “There is that…” In Joe Klein’s world, once White House deception and deceit is revealed to the public, it becomes “amazing candor.”"

Think Progress » Specter blocks contempt vote.

Think Progress » Specter blocks contempt vote.: "Following an objection by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), a vote has been postponed on “contempt resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential political guru Karl Rove for failing to respond to subpoenas” regarding the U.S. attorney scandal. Specter, who asked Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) for a chance to “revise the draft resoltions, warned that the whole matter could end in federal court.”"

Think Progress » Huckabee Bumbles Three Times In One Sentence, Compounds His Cluelessness On The Iran NIE

Think Progress » Huckabee Bumbles Three Times In One Sentence, Compounds His Cluelessness On The Iran NIE

Think Progress » Perino Defends Bush’s Lie: ‘The President Was Being Truthful!’

Think Progress » Perino Defends Bush’s Lie: ‘The President Was Being Truthful!’: "During the White House press briefing today, Press Secretary Dana Perino attempted to defend President Bush’s lie about when he first learned that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program. Recall, Bush originally stated that Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell came to him in August “and said, ‘We have some new information.’ He didn’t tell me what the information was.” But last night, Perino conceded he was told that Iran’s program “may be suspended.” White House reporters repeatedly confronted Perino about this discrepancy in the press briefing this afternoon. Perino tried to claim that when Bush said he didn’t know what the information was, he actually meant, “he didn’t get any of the details of what — what the information was, in terms of what the actual raw intelligence was.” When reporters pressed her on this, an exasperated Perino said: OK, look. I can see where you could see that the president could have been more precise in that language. But the president was being truthful."

see video at the link above

Think Progress » House passes energy bill.

Think Progress » House passes energy bill.: "The bill would raise the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) level for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, require utilities to generate 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources, and increase funding for biofuels like “cellulosic” ethanol. The White House has threatened to veto the bill."

Think Progress » Bush gives out wrong mortgage hotline phone number.

Think Progress » Bush gives out wrong mortgage hotline phone number.: "During his speech today announcing his plan “to ease the mortgage crisis for consumers, President Bush accidentally gave out the wrong number for his new “Hope Now Hotline” that worried homeowners are encouraged to call for assistance. CNN reports: President Bush accidentally gave out the wrong phone number for the new “Hope Now Hotline” set up by his administration. “And I have a message for every homeowner worried about rising mortgage payments: The best you can do for your family is to call 1-800-995-HOPE. That is 1-800-995-H-O-P-E,” he said. Anyone who dialed 1-800-995-HOPE was greeted by just a busy signal."

watch it at the link above

Former Aide Contradicts Huckabee Defense Of Rapist's Release - Politics on The Huffington Post

Former Aide Contradicts Huckabee Defense Of Rapist's Release - Politics on The Huffington Post

50 Cent Busted Doing Coke Backstage Video

50 Cent Busted Doing Coke Backstage Video

Digg - CNN Exposes Mike Huckabee's Real Record

Digg - CNN Exposes Mike Huckabee's Real Record
youtube.com — Dana Bash takes a closer look at Mike Huckabee's real record. Taxes, illegal immigrant benefits, rapist kills after pardon.

Keyboard Shortcut Pop-up Menu Now in Gmail

Keyboard Shortcut Pop-up Menu Now in Gmail

Get help choosing a candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election

Get help choosing a candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election

Clinton Volunteer Quits Over Obama Email | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Clinton Volunteer Quits Over Obama Email | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "WASHINGTON (AP) - A volunteer Iowa county coordinator for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has resigned after forwarding a chain e-mail that suggests Barack Obama is a Muslim who wants to destroy the United States by being elected to its highest office. Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ."

Woe is the American Worker | The American Prospect

Woe is the American Worker | The American Prospect
Workers are paying the price for our productivity-focused, growth-at-any-cost business world. Why aren't the candidates talking about it?

These are not good times for American workers. Real wages are lower today than they were before the recession of 2001, and barely higher than they were thirty-five years ago. Health insurance is more expensive and harder to obtain than ever before. Manufacturing jobs continue to move overseas. The unions whose efforts might arrest these trends continue to struggle under a sustained assault that began when Ronald Reagan fired striking air-traffic controllers in 1981, in effect declaring war on the labor movement.

This is a story with which you are probably familiar. But these are in no small part symptoms of a larger transformation of the relationship between employers and employees, in which Americans increasingly sign away their humanity when they sign an employment contract.

Let’s take just one component of today’s work environment that most people have simply come to accept: drug testing. An article published last year on Time magazine's web site titled, "Whatever Happened to Drug Testing?" reported that in the last decade, the proportion of employers testing their employees for drug use has declined to 62 percent, after having exploded to over 80 percent in the 1990s.

That's right -- "only" 62 percent of employers make their employees pee into a cup (or fork over a lock of hair, the current state of the art). The recent decline notwithstanding, the fact remains that most Americans work at places where drug testing is standard practice.

But the classic justifications for drug testing -- that it will reduce accidents, absenteeism, and overall productivity -- turn out to have very little support. When this study was released 10 years ago, it got a certain amount of attention for what the authors referred to as a "surprising" finding. In their survey of high-tech firms, they found that those that performed drug testing on their employees had lower productivity than those that didn't test. Forget all the rhetoric about pot-addled employees missing work and stumbling their way around the office.

But I'd bet that most people who work weren't too surprised. Think about the jobs you've had. Where were you the most productive? Was it when you worked for a boss and an organization that treated you with respect, that valued your contributions, where you actually felt that you were part of something useful? Or were you more productive when you worked for a boss and an organization that governed by fear, that treated you with suspicion and contempt? Most adults have worked for the latter kind, while only some have had the good fortune to work for the former. And many if not most of them do just enough work to stay out of trouble and avoid the wrath of their superiors. That’s the spirit fostered in a workplace where employees are treated like criminals.

There is an ideology inherent in the way employers treat their workers, one reflected in the relative amounts of attention paid by the news media to labor issues and the ups and downs of the stock market. Wall Street, of course, makes heroes out of executives who cut benefits and sack workers, like the monstrous "Neutron Jack" Welch, formerly of General Electric. A corporate barbarian of the first order, Welch pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars while firing more than 100,000 employees, then went on to write a series of best-selling books gobbled up by junior executives looking for the secret battle plan to slash their way to the top. He’s just one among many; another such executive, who laid off 9,000 people when he was CEO of Halliburton, later became vice president of the United States.

If you are one of those left behind, you get called an "associate" instead of a clerk. In the place of paid vacation, you get company-sponsored activities whose absurdity can only make you more depressed. In the place of a union to represent you, you get assurances that the company considers you part of the "family." Your samples will be analyzed, your movements surveilled, your email read, all in the name of enhancing productivity and rooting out the bad apples. And should they decide your time is done, they will send a security guard to march you out the door in a ritual of public humiliation, lest you decide to pilfer a stapler as a memento of your service.

There is no labor section of the newspaper to tell the stories of the families devastated by layoffs and the workers ground down by the daily parade of indignities. But in the morally inverted world of Wall Street, what’s bad for workers is good for stocks, and the cable news "money honeys" will bare their gleaming teeth as they report the inevitable upward swing in share prices that accompanies a mass firing or benefit cut.

It would be positively revelatory to hear a presidential candidate truly speak to the conditions Americans find themselves in at work, to say firmly that companies that treat their employees like dirt are undermining our national spirit. They are the ones who have the ability to change out national conversation on topics like these. What if, instead of simply talking about "creating jobs," expanding health care, or increasing the minimum wage -- important goals all -- they actually attempted to speak to how people feel about their jobs? When candidates say the American dream is getting harder to attain, one often wonders if they understand all the reasons why that is so.

The Republicans certainly know the kind of workplace they admire. It's one in which power -- not values, principles, or fairness, but raw power -- determines how people are treated. They find deeply troubling anything that constrains employers from exploiting their workers to whatever degree they see fit. They despise unions precisely because they alter that balance of power in the worker’s favor, providing some check on the ability of organizations to intimidate and humiliate, underpay and overwork. But so far, Democrats haven’t articulated their vision of what a progressive workplace in the twenty-first century is supposed to look like -- and what they’re willing to do to create it. I’d be eager to hear.

Romney fires landscaper over illegals - Yahoo! News

Romney fires landscaper over illegals - Yahoo! News

Think Progress » White House Still Won’t Answer When Bush First Learned Iran Halted Its Nuclear Weapons Program

Think Progress » White House Still Won’t Answer When Bush First Learned Iran Halted Its Nuclear Weapons Program: "bush On Monday, the Bush administration released the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, which revealed that “in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.” The revelation contradicted public statements from Bush administration officials over recent months warning that Iran was quickly developing a nuclear weapons program."

Police: Nine killed in shooting at Omaha mall, including gunman - CNN.com

Police: Nine killed in shooting at Omaha mall, including gunman - CNN.com

• Story Highlights
• NEW: The person believed to be the gunman dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
  
• NEW: Three of the wounded are in critical condition
  
• Shoppers describe hiding in clothes racks and bathrooms after hearing the shots
  
• Witness: It sounded like someone shooting fireworks

Elvis sings the wonderful world of Christmas MP3'S

Elvis sings the wonderful world of Christmas 

 

01 - Oh come, all ye faithful.mp3
02 - The first noel.mp3
03 - On a snowy christmas night.mp3
04 - Winter wonderland.mp3
05 - The wonderful world of christmas.mp3
06 - It won't seem like christmas (without you).mp3
07 - I'll be home on christmas day.mp3
08 - If I get home on christmas day.mp3
09 - Holly leaves and and christmas trees.mp3
10 - Merry Christmas baby.mp3
11 - Silver bells.mp3
12- If every day was like christmas.mp3
13 - I'll be home on christmas day.mp3

 

File: Elvis_sings_the_wonderful_world_of_Christmas.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/72628303/Elvis_sings_the_wonderful_world_of_Christmas.zip

The Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden - 2007 MP3'S

The Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden - 2007

Double CD.

 

BRAND NEW SONGS

 The_Eagles_-_Long_Road_Out_Of_Eden_(CD1)_2007.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/66881353/The_Eagles_-_Long_Road_Out_Of_Eden__CD1__2007.zip

 

File: The_Eagles_-_Long_Road_Out_Of_Eden_(CD2)_2007.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/66883082/The_Eagles_-_Long_Road_Out_Of_Eden__CD2__2007.zip

Elvis's Christmas Album

Elvis's Christmas Album 

 

 

01 - Santa Claus Is Back In Town.mp3
02 - White Christmas.mp3
03 - Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane).mp3
04 - I'll Be Home For Christmas.mp3
05 - Blue Christmas.mp3
06 - Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me).mp3
07 - Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem.mp3
08 - Silent Night.mp3
09 - (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me).mp3
10 - I Believe.mp3
11 - Take My Hand, Precious Lord.mp3
12 - It Is No Secret (What God Can Do) .mp3

 

File: Elvis's_Christmas_Album.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/72629608/Elvis_s_Christmas_Album.zip

Fergie :The Dutchess mp3's

The Dutchess
Fergie

 

 1. Fergalicious [Explicit] 4:52
 2. Clumsy 4:00 
 3. All That I Got (The Make Up Song) 4:05 
 4. London Bridge [Explicit] 4:01  
 5. Pedestal [Explicit] 3:22  
 6. Voodoo Doll 4:23  
 7. Glamorous [Explicit] 4:06   
 8. Here I Come 3:21 
 9. Velvet 4:53   
 10. Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal) 4:28   
 11. Mary Jane Shoes 3:55 
 12. Losing My Ground 4:08
 13. Finally

http://rapidshare.com/users/I0DI00

Keith Urban - Greatest Hits mp3s

 

KeiUrb128GreHit18Kid.zip

 

Keith Urban - Greatest Hits - 18 Kids

 

   1. Romeo's Tune
   2. Got It Right This Time (The Celebration)
   3. I Told You So
   4. Stupid Boy
   5. Better Life
   6. Making Memories Of Us
   7. Once In A Lifetime
   8. Tonight I Wanna Cry
   9. You're My Better Half (Single Edit)
   10. Days Go By
   11. But For The Grace of God
   12. You'll Think Of Me
   13. Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me
   14. Raining On Sunday
   15. Where The Blacktop Ends
   16. Your Everything
   17. Somebody Like You
   18. Everybody 

Stravinsky mp3's

Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite; The Rite of Spring; Pátrouchka; Symphony in Three Movements

http://rapidshare.com/files/72043533/Stravinsky-L_OiseauDeFeu.rar

Nina - The Essential Nina Simone mp3's

Nina - The Essential Nina Simone
Nina Simone

http://rapidshare.com/files/72018801/NinaSimone-The_Essential.rar

 

01. My Baby Just Cares For Me
02. Mood Indigo
03. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
04. Don't Smoke in Bed
05. Love Me or Leave Me
06. He Needs Me
07. Little Girl Blue
08. Plain Gold Ring
09. House of the Rising Sun
10. Ain't Got No/I Got Life
11. Gin House Blues
12. Ain't No Use
13. Mississippi Goddam
14. See Line Woman
15. Four Women
16. I Sing Just to Know That I'm Alive
17. Fodder on her Wings
18. I Loves You Porgy

Brad_Paisley_-_A_Brad_Paisley_Christmas mp3s

 

 

 

 

Brad Paisley - Christmas - 01 - Winter Wonderland.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 02 - Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 03 - I'll Be Home For Christmas.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 04 - Away In A Manger.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 05 - Penguin James Penguin.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 06 - 364 Days To Go.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 07 - Jingle Bells (Instrumental).mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 08 - Silent Night.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 09 - Born On Christmas Day.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 10 - Silver Bells.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 11 - Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday.mp3
Brad Paisley - Christmas - 12 - Bonus Track.mp3

 

 

File: Brad_Paisley_-_A_Brad_Paisley_Christmas.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/72829087/Brad_Paisley_-_A_Brad_Paisley_Christmas.zip

Amy Grant - Home for Christmas mp3's

 

 

01 - Amy Grant - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.mp3
02 - Amy Grant - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.mp3
03 - Amy Grant - Joy to the WorldFor Unto Us a Child Is Born - American Boychoir.mp3
04 - Amy Grant - Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song).mp3
05 - Amy Grant - O'Come All Ye Faithful - American Boychoir.mp3
06 - Amy Grant - Grown-Up Christmas List.mp3
07 - Amy Grant - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.mp3
08 - Amy Grant - Winter Wonderland.mp3
09 - Amy Grant - I'll Be Home for Christmas.mp3
10 - Amy Grant - Night Before Christmas.mp3
11 - Amy Grant - Emmanuel, God With Us.MP3
12 - Amy Grant - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring [Instrumental].MP3

 

 

File: Amy_Grant_-_Home_for_Christmas.zip
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/74414294/Amy_Grant_-_Home_for_Christmas.zip

Adam Brody Confirmed as The Flash in 'Justice League of America' - Cinematical

Adam Brody Confirmed as The Flash in 'Justice League of America' - Cinematical

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development
THE JOKER HAS A POSSE
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=12792

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development
DARTH MAUL ROLLS A SNAKE EYES
Slashfilm has gotten a big scoop on the casting for the GI Joe movie, and it's not news that's as surprising as Sienna Miller playing The Baroness. In fact, it's sort of obvious when you think about it: Ray Park has been cast as Snake Eyes.

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=12804

News: Tigers acquire Cabrera and Willis | MetsBlog.com

News: Tigers acquire Cabrera and Willis | MetsBlog.com

[holy shit - so far the angels and tigers are the most improved teams in the offseason....]

According to MLB.com, the Tigers and Marlins are ‘hammering out the final details’ on an eight-player trade that will send 3B Miguel Cabrera and LHP Dontrelle Willis to Detroit for a LHP Andrew Miller, OF Cameron Maybin and four other prospects.

ESPN’s Buster Olney and Peter Gammons are reporting the same information on ESPN News.

…Update…6:25 pm…

Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports is reporting that the two sides have reached ‘a preliminary agreement.’

…Update…6:43 pm…

According to Peter Gammons at ESPN, the deal is official and will send Cabrera and Willis to Detrit for Maybin, Miller, C Mike Rabelo and three other prospects.

…Update…7:14 pm…

The Marlins will also get Burke Badenhop, Eulogio de la Cruz, and Dallas Trahern, writes the Detroit Free Press.

Ella Fitzgerald - Hello Love

Hello Love
Ella Fitzgerald

http://rapidshare.com/files/72003067/EllaFitzgerald-HelloLove.rar

1. You Go to My Head 
2. Willow Weep for Me 
3. I'm Thru With Love 
4. Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year 
5. Everything Happens to Me 
6. Lost in a Fog 
7. I've Grown Accustomed to His Face 
8. I'll Never Be the Same 
9. So Rare 
10. Tenderly 
11. Stairway to the Stars 
12. Moonlight in Vermont 

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Kucinich Asks Himself a Question at Black & Brown Democratic Forum [VIDEO]

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Kucinich Asks Himself a Question at Black & Brown Democratic Forum [VIDEO]: "Rather than pretend this authoritarian process was truly democratic, Kucinich made a strong symbolic statement by asking himself a question to even out the format."

AlterNet: Health and Wellness: Health Care Means More than a Private Doctor

AlterNet: Health and Wellness: Health Care Means More than a Private Doctor: "Our health care system is a global laughingstock. It's like other developed nations are using a cable modem, and we're still stuck with dial-up."

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: Deadly Staph Infection 'Superbug' Has a Dangerous Foothold in U.S. Jails

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: Deadly Staph Infection 'Superbug' Has a Dangerous Foothold in U.S. Jails
With 19,000 deaths attributed to staph infections annually, there's cause for serious alarm. So why aren't we talking about our nightmarish prison system, the biggest incubator of them all?

AlterNet: Health and Wellness: How the Democratic Frontrunners Compare on Health Care

AlterNet: Health and Wellness: How the Democratic Frontrunners Compare on Health Care

MP3 Blogs Offer File Sharing Even the RIAA Could Love

MP3 Blogs Offer File Sharing Even the RIAA Could Love

Although the term "file sharing" has all sorts of ugly connotations, it's not necessarily a bad thing. In some cases, it's even a win-win-win situation for the recording industry, music lovers -- and Google.

There are countless MP3 file-sharing sites that don't look anything like BitTorrent or Lime Wire. They're low-key, homegrown blogs that don't host illicitly copied music, but do provide links to third-party sites, or storage lockers, such as Megashare, where pirated music is stored. These bloggers do it for the love of the music, they say, but it doesn't hurt that they make a little money from advertising along the way.

The low-profile success of MP3 blogs, and the apparent unconcern of the music industry, is in stark contrast to the aggressive anti-piracy actions taken by the Recording Industry Association of America in other spheres. For instance, the RIAA recently won a $222,000 judgment against a single mother of two for using file-sharing software Kazaa to trade copyright files. No similar action has been taken against MP3 bloggers.

Many of these sites, like Hangover Heart Attack and It's Coming Out of Your Speaker, run ads through Google's AdSense program, which means that Google, too, makes money from sites that direct people to bootleg MP3 files.

Anyone can sign up for AdSense -- bloggers, publishers, nonprofit groups or even aspiring poets -- although Google's terms-of-service agreement prohibits websites that promote illegal activity or infringe on others' rights. Google sells ad space on members' sites, and it splits the revenue with the publishers.

Technically, these blogs could be considered illegal. The RIAA could make a claim that bloggers who direct people to pirated music may be committing "contributory copyright infringement." And a claim could even be made against Google for profiting from the sites, says attorney Eric Custer, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

But who wants to put a stop to it? The RIAA declined to comment for this story, but the publisher of one MP3 aggregator, who asked to remain anonymous, says music labels have been extremely cooperative. This blogger monitors more than 3,000 music blogs daily, providing links to files that have been uploaded to various music lockers. And no, the blogger has never been asked by a label to take a link down.

"Actually, we've been contacted by labels, promo agencies and even musicians and bands to help promote them. Which we've done, free of charge," the blogger wrote by email. The blogger also has the impression that the site has helped expose people to music they wouldn't otherwise hear, and may even help drive CD sales, although there's no hard evidence of this.

A major moneymaking operation it is not. The blog, which generates thousands of pageviews daily from thousands of unique visitors, makes its creator just 75 cents for each hour put into it.

Google keeps the AdSense revenue split confidential, so it's unknown exactly how much the company makes from each publisher in the program. In a recent SEC filing, Google said it pays "most" of the fees it makes from advertisers to publishers. A 2006 New York Times report suggested one publisher, Digital Point Solutions, took home 78.5 percent of the revenue, presumably leaving 21.5 percent to Google.

Whatever the split, AdSense is an incredibly profitable operation for the company, generating billions in revenue each year. In the third quarter of 2007 alone, Google made $1.45 billion, or one-third of its revenue, from AdSense. The amount of money generated by music bloggers, though, could be fairly marginal.

"Proportionately, I think (blogs) probably represent a very small percentage of the file-sharing market," says Eric Garland, co-founder and CEO of BigChampagne, a Beverly Hills, California, market research firm that follows the file-sharing universe. "There are always going to be different mechanisms or vehicles for exchanging files, but ultimately, people go to a search-driven environment that you find in file-sharing applications."

For its part, Google denies responsibility for content on the AdSense network and says it acts fast when it identifies publishers who violate its terms of service. And to enforce this policy, Google reviews participating sites to weed out content that violates the AdSense terms-of-service contract.

"In the same way we crawl websites (for our search service), we crawl publisher websites to flag information that may violate our policy," says Google spokesman Brandon McCormick. "Every site at some point goes through a manual review. It's something we take very seriously."

Secret mailing list rocks Wikipedia | The Register

Secret mailing list rocks Wikipedia | The Register

On the surface, all is well in Wikiland. Just last week, a headline from The San Francisco Chronicle told the world that "Wikipedia's Future Is Still Looking Up," as the paper happily announced that founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales plans to expand his operation with a high-profile move to the city by the bay.

But underneath, there's trouble brewing.

Controversy has erupted among the encyclopedia's core contributors, after a rogue editor revealed that the site's top administrators are using a secret insider mailing list to crackdown on perceived threats to their power.

Many suspected that such a list was in use, as the Wikipedia "ruling clique" grew increasingly concerned with banning editors for the most petty of reasons. But now that the list's existence is confirmed, the rank and file are on the verge of revolt.

Revealed after an uber-admin called "Durova" used it in an attempt to enforce the quixotic ban of a longtime contributor, this secret mailing list seems to undermine the site's famously egalitarian ethos. At the very least, the list allows the ruling clique to push its agenda without scrutiny from the community at large. But clearly, it has also been used to silence the voice of at least one person who was merely trying to improve the encyclopedia's content.

"I've never seen the Wikipedia community as angry as they are with this one," says Charles Ainsworth, a Japan-based editor who's contributed more feature articles to the site than all but six other writers. "I think there was more hidden anger and frustration with the 'ruling clique' than I thought and Durova's heavy-handed action and arrogant refusal to take sufficient accountability for it has released all of it into the open."

Kelly Martin, a former member of Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, leaves no doubt that this sort of surreptitious communication has gone on for ages. "This particular list is new, but the strategy is old," Martin told us via phone, from outside Chicago. "It's certainly not consistent with the public principles of the site. But in reality, it's standard practice."

Meanwhile, Jimbo Wales has told the community that all this is merely a tempest in a teacup. As he points out, the user that Durova wrongly banned was reinstated after a mere 75 minutes. But it would seem that Jimbo has done his best to suppress any talk of the secret mailing list.

PC World - Business Center: Facebook Admits Ad Service Tracks Logged-Off Users

PC World - Business Center: Facebook Admits Ad Service Tracks Logged-Off Users

[fuck facebook]

Facebook has confirmed findings of a Computer Associates security researcher that the social-networking site's Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives.

Facebook's controversial Beacon ad system tracks users' off-Facebook activities even if those users are logged off from the social-networking site and have previously declined having their activities on specific external sites broadcast to their Facebook friends, a company spokesman said via e-mail over the weekend.

Although according to the spokesman Facebook does nothing with the data transmitted back to its servers in these cases and deletes it, the admission will probably fan the flames of the controversy engulfing Beacon, which has been criticized by privacy advocates.

The Facebook spokesman did not initially reply to a request for further explanation on how the Beacon action gets triggered if a user is logged off from Facebook, when the social-networking site's ability to track its users' activities should be inactive.

It's also unclear whether Facebook plans to modify Beacon so it doesn't track and report on the off-Facebook activities of logged-off users.

Beacon is a major part of the Facebook Ads platform that Facebook introduced with much fanfare several weeks ago. Beacon tracks certain activities of Facebook users on more than 40 participating Web sites, including those of Blockbuster and Fandango, and reports those activities to the users' set of Facebook friends, unless told not to do so.

Google Announces Fastest Growing Search Terms

Google Announces Fastest Growing Search Terms

Yesterday Yahoo announced its top search trends for 2007. Google’s list traditionally come later in December (here’s last years list), but today VP of Search and User Experience Marissa Mayer revealed the “fastest rising U.S. search terms” on the Today Show. Thank God the Britney losers either don’t hang out on Google, or else Google has the sense to just filter it out as background noise.

The queries are below. It’s not clear how different these will be from the year-end Zeitgeist list. Last year Google described how they came up with the list: “we looked for those searches that were very popular in 2006 but were not as popular in 2005 — the explosive queries, the topics that everyone obsessed over. To come up with this list, we looked at several thousand of 2006’s most popular searches, and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2005.” That sounds a lot like how this list would be compiled.

1. iphone
2. webkinz
3. tmz
4. transformers
5. youtube
6. club penguin
7. myspace
8. heroes
9. facebook
10. anna nicole smith

TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | The Daily Muck

TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | The Daily Muck

Bernie Kerik has some serious lawyer problems. One law firm is suing him for over $200k in unpaid fees and now federal prosecutors have asked the judge in Kerik’s trial to disqualify his attorney because of conflicts of interest. It seems that even Bernie’s lawyer has dirt on him that could force the attorney to testify about obstruction of justice charges. (AP)

The U.S. has told England that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States because the Supreme Court has said so. Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects. This may alarm the British business community as more than a dozen British executives are currently being investigated by US authorities and could face criminal charges in America. (The Sunday Times)

When the Guantanamo detainee Omar Kahdr (who was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan) goes to trial this spring under the Military Commissions Act, he will not know the identities of the witnesses testifying against him. A U.S. military judge is shielding the identity of witnesses, a move that could hamper the defense’s ability to challenge the credibility of witnesses. (Washington Post)

Paul Wolfowitz is back. Never mind his failures as deputy Defense Secretary and disgraced leadership of the World Bank, from which he departed amidst allegations of impropriety. Wolfowitz will now bring his expertise in his new role as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious eighteen member State Department panel. One Bush official noted that “we think he is well suited” for an administration job. (Newsweek)

Of the 182,000 individuals working as independent contractors in Iraq, 48,000 are armed and less than one fifth are American. Check out The Salt Lake Tribune’s two great investigative reports on the use and abuse of contractors – including mercenaries – from poor and developing nations. One “U.N. group found ‘irregularities of contracts, harsh working conditions with excessive working hours, partial or non payment of remuneration, ill-treatment and isolation, and lack of basic necessities such as medical treatment and sanitation” among Hondurans employed in Iraq. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Four gay men, who are willing to have their names printed and “whose allegations can't be disproved,” have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea and his statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay." The men say they had homosexual encounters with Craig. The Idaho Statesman has audio clips from the allegations, but warns that “some of the audio interview excerpts contain explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners who find such content offensive.” (Idaho Statesman)

Though a court ordered the Bush administration to produce all records about Jack Abramoff’s visits to his buddies in the White House, the Secret Service is blocking the release of the records. The agency claims that their release would reveal “sensitive information” about the Secret Service’s protective functions, especially in cases where some visitors require that extra attention be paid to their backgrounds. (Washington Post)

President Bush recently issued his first signing statement since 2006. The statement relates to several requirements about his providing information to Congress about issues such as the transferring of US military equipment to UN peacekeepers. (Boston Globe)

The Wall Street Journal outlines representative Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) allegations about Blackwater’s possible tax evasion. Waxman estimates that Blackwater could owe more than $50 million in unpaid taxes, but Blackwater’s rebuttal alleges that Waxman’s key evidence – an IRS service letter – is flawed. (Wall Street Journal)

Disgraced Clinton bundler Norman Hsu's business associates emphasized his connections when recruiting clients for their pyramid scheme that promised high returns with no risk. They even claimed that former President Clinton was a Hsu client. The federal criminal complaint against Hsu says he pressured investors to make contributions to Democratic candidates as a condition of doing business with him. (LA Times)

Two of the FEMA public relations employees who pretended to be reporters and asked fake questions at the phony news conference were promoted this week. Cindy Taylor, former deputy director of public affairs, is now head of a new Private Sector Office, and Mike Widomski has moved up to replace Taylor as deputy director of public affairs. (The Loop)