posted on April 30, 2003 06:27:28 AM new
George W. Bush Resume
Past work experience:
Ran for congress and lost.
Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
With fathers help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.
Accomplishments: Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union. Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments as president:
Attacked and took over two countries.
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/)
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).
First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
With a policy of 'dis-engagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.
Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Records and References:
At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
AWOL from National Guard and Deserted the military during a time of war.
Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (They can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)
posted on April 30, 2003 06:31:12 AM new
Treasury Says U.S. Could Face Default
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By JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 29, 2003; 7:17 PM
WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department says the United States could face the prospect of not being able to pay its bills in late May unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, now capped at $6.4 trillion.
Treasury's debt managers have taken a number of steps since February to prevent the government from defaulting on the national debt, but "on current projections, the extraordinary measures taken since Feb. 20, 2003, will only be adequate to meet the government's needs until the latter half of May," said a statement released Tuesday.
After that - absent a boost in the government's borrowing authority by Congress - Treasury would breach the current $6.4 trillion ceiling on the national debt.
"The Treasury will continue to work with Congress to ensure the government's ability to finance its operations," Treasury said.
Treasury has asked Congress to boost the government's borrowing authority, although it has not suggested a specific amount. A proposal is pending on Capitol Hill that would raise the debt ceiling to $7.38 trillion.
Last year, Congress boosted the old debt limit by $450 billion, from $5.95 trillion to the current $6.4 trillion.
At that time Treasury warned that Congress would need to again increase the government's borrowing authority.
Boosting the debt limit is more a matter of politics than economics.
Economists doubt Congress will refuse to raise the limit. A federal default is considered unimaginable because it would rattle bond markets, force interest rates higher, weaken the world economy and deliver a political blow to President Bush.
Democrats point to the government's need to borrow more to ridicule President Bush's tax cuts, his handling of the economy and ballooning federal government budget deficits, which are expected to hit records this year and next.
Republicans blame the lingering effects of the 2001 recession and the costs of fighting terrorism for the need to extend the debt limit.
By Memorial Day, Republicans hope to have pushed through Congress a tax-cut bill with a price tag of between $350 billion and $550 billion through 2013.
If Congress must approve a debt-limit extension during the same period of time, it could play into Democrats' political argument that the new tax cut will only make the government's red ink worse.
The government had to borrow a record $111 billion in the January-March quarter to cover the shortfall between expenses and tax revenue. It expects to borrow another $79 billion in the current quarter.
Was George W. Bush "Involved"
in an Illegal Abortion??
Join the investigation
On CNN's Crossfire on October 20, 2000, Larry Flynt exploded a bombshell: that he has evidence that George W. Bush was "involved in an abortion in Texas" in the early 1970's - when abortions were still illegal.
Here are the details, as reported by Bartcop:
In the winter of 1971 George W. Bush was dating a woman named Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner). Miss Lowman became pregnant by Smirk and he arranged for her to have an abortion - which in the great state of Texas in 1971 was very illegal! Not to mention that George W. is running as a pro-life candidate for the presidency.
The unnamed source of this story, was a friend of Robin Lowman's and the girlfriend of the man who arranged the abortion. His name is Robert Carl Chandler. Chandler is a Bush friend and supporter from way back and he made the arrangements for Miss Lowman's abortion at the Twelve Oaks Hospital in Houston, TX (now the Bayou City Medical Center). The source overheard the call by Mr. Chandler to arrange the abortion and the source visited Robin Lowman at the Twelve Oaks Hospital after the procedure.
The source meanwhile, is afraid of coming forward, saying that she was threatened by Chandler and another Bush friend and supporter named Jim Bath. Bath has longstanding intelligence connections, and played a role in the BCCI scandal. Robin Lowman (now Garner) is married to Jerry Lee Garner who is an FBI agent.
So, that's the story: an illegal back room abortion arranged by the Republican party Presidential candidate who is running on a pro-life ticket.
The CNN Coverup
Amazingly, CNN scrubbed its own story!!!!
This has all the markings of a cover-up by CNN - just like the cover-ups of Bush's many other scandals, from going AWOL, to using illegal drugs, to corruption in Texas government, to lying under oath.
Here is the original transcript that was published by CNN, but has now been scrubbed.
[ROBERT] NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, never let it be said that we censor any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE, and you said you wanted to talk about the election. Tell me what you wanted to say.
FLYNT: Well, during the impeachment debacle, we did an investigation which resulted in the resignation of Bob Livingston and others and we have continued this investigation and for eight months we've been looking into George W. Bush's background. And we've found out in the early 1970s he was involved in an abortion in Texas, and I just think that it's sad that the mainstream media, who's aware of this story, won't ask him that question when they were able to ask him the drug question without any proof at all, and we've got all kinds of proof on this issue.
NOVAK: Well, you're...
FLYNT: You know, the guy admitted he was a drunk for 20 years, and if the abortion issue is true then that puts him lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton.
NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, you said if it's true and you have no proof of that. I gather you are a very strong...
FLYNT: The hell we don't have proof.
NOVAK: Sir, I gather you're a very strong Gore supporter. Is that correct?
FLYNT: I'll vote for the lesser of the two evils. I don't like either one of them.
[BILL] PRESS: All Right, Larry Flynt, a man who speaks his word, but we remind you they are Larry Flynt's words and not ours. Larry Flynt, thank you very, very much for joining us.
This was followed by an online chat, in which Flynt went into greater detail:
CNN - Mr. Flynt, I would like to know how you plan to protect yourself from a law suit by claiming to have the goods on GWBush.
Flynt: Because we have them and the truth is an absolute defense.
CNN; When and where are you going to publish information about George W. Bush?
Flynt: When I said that we had the proof, I am referring to knowing who the girl was, knowing who the doctor was that pereformed the abortion, evidence from girlfriends of hers at the time, who knew about the romance and the subsequent abortion. The young lady does not want to go public, and without her willingness, we don't feel that we're on solid enough legal ground to go with the story, because should she say it never happened, then we've got a potential libel suit. But we know we have enough evidence that we believe completely. One of the things that interested us was that this abortion took place before Roe Vs. Wade in 1970, which made it a crime at the time. I'd just like the national media to ask him if abortion is okay for him and his family, but not for the rest of America. We're not looking at it as a big issue, we're looking at it as a situation of people not being told the truth. I think the American people have a right to know everything there is to know about someone running for President.
Why is this story important?
1. Because George W. Bush says he is "pro-life," which means he regards abortion as murder. If he was "involved" in an abortion, then in his own heart he is a murderer.
2. Because George W. Bush supports a "Human Life Amendment" to the Constitution, which would overturn Roe v. Wade. This would subject 1.3 MILLION women each year - and their doctors - to criminal prosecution.
3. Because George W. Bush points to the two most anti-abortion Justices of the Supreme Court - Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia - as his models for Supreme Court appointees. And he may get to appoint a Supreme Court Justice soon.
4. Because George W. Bush has a solid record of opposing abortion as Governor of Texas, where he signed 18 anti-abortion laws, and President [sic].
5. Because George W. Bush ran on "restoring honor and integrity to the White House," and therefore should be expected to tell the truth.
George W. Bush must state clearly whether or not he was involved in an illegal abortion in Texas.
And the media must tell the American people!
Bush Campaign Statements
WJLA-TV (ABC) I-Team 10/19/00: "Mr. Flynt is not a credible source on any issue and we're not aware of these allegations."
Matt Drudge Attacks Larry Flynt
DRUDGE EXCLUSIVE: FLYNT TOLD TO 'PUT UP OR SHUT UP' ON BUSH 'ABORTION'; WOMAN DENIES PORN KING'S ALLEGATION... - note the complete absence of any identified sources. Can anyone spell "fiction"?
Who is More Credible?
Flynt vs. Drudge
Flynt was Right Drudge was Wrong
Bob Livingston cheating on his wife Sid Blumenthal beating his wife
Bob Barr's secret abortion Clinton fathering the black baby
Dan Burton's out-of-wedlock child Secret Service catching Clinton
Henry Hyde breaking up his mistress's marriage
Anti-Clinton books he guaranteed "would bust Washington DC wide open"
Newt Gingrich's secret girlfriend
Media Coverage
The smut monger's scoop, Harley Sorensen, San Francisco Examiner, 10/30/00
Did George W. Bush arrange an abortion for a girlfriend he got pregnant in 1970? We may never know, thanks to the press's reluctance to deal with anything controversial involving a Republican candidate for president this close to election day.
WKGO-AM 10/24/00 Bernie Ward interviews Larry Flynt Listener summary
"Bernie Ward, KGO radio, called Larry Flynt and asked him about what happened when he was on Crossfire and what does Flynt know and what can he prove. This is what Flynt had to say: Flynt said he could hear them screaming in his ear piece "there is nothing we can do about it, we are live." After the show Flynt went on to another interview I think in So. Calif. He then heard that the powers that be said no tape was to be released, no transcripts to be let out. He learned that CNN deleted the transcripts and then they decided that didn't look good so they deleted everything. Flynt said his 3 investigators had been investigating for 8 months. In 1970 George W. Bush was working for his father in his campaign in Texas. He got a girl pregnant and he got her an abortion. His fathers campaign manager arranged for the abortion. Four of her friends knew about the affair, knew about the pregnancy and knew about the abortion. The only thing Flynt is lacking is the girl to say yes to telling her story. He has affidavits from the 4 girls. Flynt said he went to the mainstream media and said you do not have to ask about the story just ask if it happened. They won't touch it. The girlfriend says she does not have anything bad to say about George W.Bush. When she was asked if she was mad because George did not come to the hospital she got upset and cried. Abortions were not legal then, it was before Roe VS. Wade. Flynt's question is "how is it ok for George W. Bush and not everyone else." Bernie asked him about Bob Livingston and was it true he had more information on him then he gave to the press. He said he had lots on Livingston that he never told, but his wife called Flynt and asked him to not tell the details. Flynt agreed since Livingston resigned. Flynt said he talked to the BBC today and they are considering going with the story, they know all about it. They are not under the same constraints they say. London Times knows about the story also. He said the mainstream media is scared to death of the story. Flynt wondered why people are concerned about Al Gore's credibility, but they will not turn the tables on Bush. He said Bushes spin machine in Texas makes Clintons look antiquated. Bush is going to be on Larry King next week, so Bernie wondered if Flynt would call King and have him ask Bush some questions. Flynt didn't know Bush was going to be on the show but he would try to call King."
Online Journal 10/22/00
WJLA-TV (ABC) I-Team 10/19/00: Del Waters interviews Larry Flynt
posted on April 30, 2003 06:45:11 AM new
fREEDOM FRIES MEETING?
The world’s financial and political elite plan to hold their annual secret meeting at a posh French resort near the Palace of Versailles.
By James P. Tucker Jr.
Bilderberg will hold its annual secret meeting at the luxurious Trianon Palace Hotel in Versailles, France May 15-18. The meeting dovetails with the Group of Seven meeting of finance ministers in Paris the day after Bilderberg concludes, on May 19 in Paris. Paris is only a 20-minute drive from Versailles.
International financiers and political leaders from Europe and North America will be conducting public business behind closed doors at the palatial resort. Banker David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger and high officials of the government and congressional leaders will participate, all pledging absolute secrecy.
Members of the Rothschild family from Europe and Britain will attend, along with high government officials.
Jim Hoagland will attend for the Washington Post and keep his pledge of secrecy. Publisher Donald Graham normally attends although he missed last year’s session in Chantilly, Va. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and NBC, CBS and ABC have also been represented at Bilderberg meetings, binding themselves to a promise of secrecy.
Taxpayers will pay the travel cost for U.S. officials and lawmakers. It is against federal law for administration officials to hold secret meetings with non-officials to plan public policy. American officials will again ignore this law.
Central to the agenda will be planning post-war Iraq. France and Germany had extensive business relationships with pre-war Iraq and opposed the U.S. invasion. But what to do with Iraq’s oil will be debated.
By noon on Wednesday, May 14, the Trianon Palace Hotel will be emptied of all non-Bilderberg guests. Employees of short duration will be sent home. Employees who remain will have been sternly told they will be fired and blacklisted if they reveal anything about what transpires. They will be told not to speak to a Bilderberg participant unless spoken to and never look one in the eye.
In the early afternoon on Wednesday, armed guards will begin patrolling the grounds and barriers placed at the entrance—removed only for personnel and Bilderberg staff. Bilderberg’s private security of plainclothesmen will be in evidence. The advance staff will arrive with portfolios for each Bilderberg participant showing who is attending and listing the agenda.
Both uniformed guards and private security will be shown photographs of American Free Press reporter Jim Tucker and possibly others from Europe and Britain who have become “regular” at Bilderberg meetings in recent years.
Reporters have been held in jail for hours for asking questions outside Bilderberg gates. In Sintra, Portugal, guards boasted of sharpshooters on high rocks who could kill trespassers at night. So far, it is not known for certain that shots have been fired.
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Guest Commentary, by Edmund M. McCarthy
Which Japanese (Or Chinese) Owns Your House?
March 26, 2003
Edmund M. McCarthy is President and CEO of Financial Risk Management Advisors Company. This piece was originally published in his March 15 newsletter.
WHICH JAPANESE (OR CHINESE) OWNS YOUR HOUSE? Having been purchasers of an astounding $150 billion in Governments and Agencies over the last year, primarily Agencies, these two nations, accumulating surpluses with the U.S. of well over $10 billion per month, are indirectly becoming the creditors for the marginal U.S. residence.
THE QUESTION POSED IS OVER-SIMPLIFICATION BUT, NOT BY MUCH!
A completely wrong-headed approach of liquidity to the maximum to deal with the bursting of the internet/telecom/nasdaq bubble, which he finally admits can be seen “in hindsight”, by the revered Mr. Magoo, the Chairman of the Fed, has led to a 5% of GDP trade deficit, sending these funds to these export-driven nations which recycle them back into the afore-mentioned securities. Only this “virtuous circle” has permitted the headlong expansion of GSE balance sheets and guarantees over the last several years. That expansion has been the driving force for reliquification in the economy leading to bubble type housing price elevation permitting multi-hundred billion dollar equity extraction in refinancings driven by the double digit number of rate cuts by Magoo. Even Sir Printsalot of the Fed, as others have described him, admits that these “cashouts” have been a powerful force in sustaining consumer spending, perhaps the major force.
AND THE BEAT GOES ON! De facto, the GSE’s are considered by buyers to be the same as Govt. securities. The recent spread below 30 basis points between the two illustrates this. The astonishing fact is that, thus far this year, with the dollar down significantly last year and thus far this year, the willingness of these Asian countries to continue buying is not only intact but expanding exponentially! The March 10 adverse comments by Fed Regional President Poole about Fannie and Freddie may have bashed the stocks for a few points but the sell-off in their bonds was limited and quickly reversed. The usual self-serving “We are impervious” comments came from each.
With the headlong rush into Treasuries in these early March weeks occasioned by the concomitant headlong rush by the current administration to get to war before the climate (actual in Iraq and sentiment at home) changes, rates have hit lows not seen in 40+ years. This prolongs and intensifies the Great Mortgage Refinance Bubble, now approaching 40 weeks, another record. The prepayment speeds provoked by this phenomenom leave holders of mortgage backed securities stripped away with no option except temporary extension of duration by purchasing long governments, further reducing yields on those instruments and making refinance rates even more attractive. The financial centrifuge created by the self-reinforcing cycle is truly awesome. We are not so ignorant as to prophesy the slowing or disappearance of such a Brobdingnagian financial spectacle. All other forms of borrowings are granted the benefit of the centrifuge (with the exception of those credit card debtors who have hit a floor). Corporate issuance is thriving as is home equity. The last gasps of the auto industry are provided oxygen by diminishing costs to throw away 0% for as much as 5 years.
ALL OF THIS, AT THE MARGIN, FACILITATED BY THE WILLINGNESS OF THE CHINESE TO ACCUMULATE HOUSING BACKED PAPER IN RETURN FOR THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF LOWEST COST GOODS THEY SELL US! While not attempting to foresee the end, we stand committed to our theorem that the present situation is one of massive DISEQUILIBRIUM!
Perhaps mixing a metaphor, we are convinced that ever increasing disequilibrium in this centrifuge will produce an end result that is catastrophic. No system, human, electronic, economic or financial can cope with the ever-increasing stress of endless expansion. This is particularly true of credit systems. Checks and Balances usually prohibit something of the order of expansion we are seeing. We surmise that the expansion in the Mortgage Refinance Bubble proceeds unchecked because it actually constitutes something entirely new. To the best of our knowledge of financial history, no nation has ever previously produced a dual credit creation mechanism. There have been attempts such as the Japanese zaibatsu postwar II, or the proliferation of “fellow traveler” companies such as the Hudson Bay Co. in the British Empire, but they fell far short of the ingenious credit creation mechanism embedded in the GSE’s and the mortgage industry. “Government Sponsored” (whatever that means) but widely believed to be Government Guaranteed, the “Fannies, Freddies, Sallies, FHLB’s” have proliferated credit as never before seen, in both magnitude and speed. At each nascent economic downturn in recent years, they have stood ready to re-open the floodgates of liquidity.
There are still some who fail to understand that these entities constitute a completely different credit creation system apart from the Fed(Central Bank)/Bank system all other nations must make do with. To them we say, there ain’t no fractional reserve requirement, capital and credit reserves are formula driven by internally generated formulas and issuance of liabilities all along the maturity spectrum is limited only by the willingness of the buyers (at the margin Chinese and Japanese) to continue buying.
HOW ELSE DO THESE ENTITIES EXPAND AT 20-30% WHEN NEEDED, DOUBLE IN FIVE YEARS AND ALWAYS FIND WILLING TAKERS OF THEIR PAPER?
For those who still cavil at the thought, we commend the archive available “T-Account” explication by Doug Noland of Prudent Bear. If this does not satisfy, we recommend another try at Accounting 101 or better yet, take up some profession such as massage. Another fascinating benefit to the United States of having dual credit creation mechanisms is that the burden of Government Debt is drastically understated and misperceived. This is not the only such deception pursued, the entirety of the eventual debt burden attributable to Social Security and Medicare is also understated and misperceived. Looking at the actual Government Debt, only the “on the books” $3.7 Trillion actually shows. Add in the “Debt” issued to Social Security and Medicare and we go north of $7Trillion. Throw in the GSE’s and FHLB as well as Ginnie and we are well over $10 Trillion. That’s about 100% of GDP, usually the number marking the basket cases of the planet. For example, bankrupt Uruguay comes in at 85%. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported March 12 that “refinancings” as a % of total mortgage applications reached nearly 80%, a new all time record. Purchase volume is actually declining slightly. The refi number is up an astronomical 20% this month.
As defined earlier, there is no way to predict how long this manic expansion can continue. As with all bubbles, however, there are usually straws in the wind. For the author, at least, one infallible indicator is the frequency of our financial leaders stating for a variety of reasons why this mania cannot be a bubble. The old “methinks he doth protest too much” indicator is time tested. At this juncture, it is hard to find a Greenspan speech without such a protestation. Everybody else from Bernanke (the Fed Governor who attained instant notoriety by espousing instant printing press money) to the revered Franklin Raines of Fannie who never met a mortgage he didn’t like; cloaking his sermons in the “American Dream”! Our favorite rationale was from an Economist (capitalized) who will remain nameless. This inestimable worthy proclaimed that there “can’t be a bubble, supply is very tight”. We asked him to no avail how bubble prices can occur in an oversupply situation.
Alas, supply is no longer tight. The abstemious construction industry (which restricted supply to only 97% growth in per annum residential construction from 1997 to date) has begun to overshoot and the house inventory supply is now expanding rapidly. We don’t purport to know anything about supply. We like to keep track of the credit side of things. Here too, the straws in the wind are beginning to resemble a haystack in a tornado. Our favorite is a member of the Fed losing religion. President Poole of a Midwestern Fed bank stated during the week that Fannie and Freddie didn’t have any clothes on. Naturally, Franklin derided his lack of understanding but this was pretty gutsy stuff for a government minion. Guy must be really scared.
Warren Buffett increased his fame if not his friendships by calling the very derivatives which have fueled the idiocy weapons of mass destruction. Looks like we are going to war in the wrong direction.
Various folks at PIMCO who look after the largest aggregate of debt extant have weighed in with dubious thoughts on the future of interest rates, the dollar and credit trends. Personal bankruptcies keep hitting new highs weekly. One fascinating manifestation we have been tracking is the packaging of “reperforming” mortgage loans. From a standing start these instruments are passing the $20 Billion level annually. We found the genesis and history of a creature entitled “C-Bass” fantastic. This enterprise, 46% owned each by mortgage insurers MGIC and Radian, is big in the reperforming game. They get the securitizations to a level necessary for sale by various means. One is holding all of the subordinate tranches themselves. Since there is obviously no market for this stuff, they still have it. We would describe it as potential toxic waste but, in their self-valuation, it’s as good as par. The company is highly levered but pays a ton of dividends. It is more than demonstrably important to MGIC, providing more than 100% of their earnings growth in ’02. We wonder how many repackaged, reperforming mortgages would have been charge-offs if these inscrutable entities and their programs were not transforming them into “good, saleable” assets all over again.
We also wonder whether these things can be repackaged indefinitely. In the wonderful world of Structured Finance, is there ever any necessity to take a loss? We have been accused of boundless cynicism; we admit to it! This is in introduction to our latest thought on the wonderful world of refi’s. We have run across too much anecdotal evidence for there not to be a lot of this chicanery going on. Obviously, there is no way to expect to find it, even in the footnotes, in the 10k”s and Q’s.
With appraisals available for whatever number the home-owner might want (And there is plenty of real evidence on the laxity of the present appraisal process), we wonder how many refinanced mortgages are simply repackaged to perform. Think of it: most areas have dwelling prices up from high single digits to low double in the last year. You call in the varmint who is more than 90 days past due; have the happy appraiser verify that he has more than enough over the level of the outstanding amount in untapped equity and write him a new mortgage with enough to clear up arrears, make a nice fee, provide a couple months to the escrow and ride into the sunset.
When it gets worse and/or even the appraisal smells piscatorial, call for the real fish, “C-Bass”! What the hell, as long as you are in good standing with Franklin, one of his counterparties or one of the PMI’s, it susceptible to guarantee, rating and sale. It is not as if you have to take this stuff onto your balance sheet, god forbid!
We reiterate, at this point, our old adage. This nostrum opines that, as long as growth in assets stays high enough, THE RATIO of bad loans stays acceptable. The danger posed by all of these straws is that rate of growth may have to slow. The equity action of virtually all of the players in Structured Finance was a misery after the Poole broadside. Face it, the traders have seen it before; a drop in volume like an outgoing tide, exposes all of the rot below the high water mark.
In a previous missive, we reprised the story told about MBIA. More recent news is that the redoubtable Elliot Spitzer, who can’t manage to jail Grubman, has a new target, the hedge fund that exposed this insurer! While Spitzer spurs his white horse in pursuit of short-selling malefactors, MBIA is fessing up to some stuff in the CDO portfolio, warning on earnings and assuring us that if Spiegel chapters, their $800MM is not going to hurt. Dream On !
The opacity of Insurance financials is partially due to the fragmented regulation of the entities. RAP accounting was designed for another era and seldom produces the same figures as would GAP. Couple this with the ability to hold to maturity at par unless you, yourself see impairment and mark to model, and there is a lot to wonder. These folks have also become very big in derivatives. Here we go through the looking glass. In the wonderful world of over the counter derivatives, there is no way to see how much is concentrated and how many of these companies are taking how much of each other’s laundry’s. Only default opens the situation to external view. Buffett had a lot to say on this, his missive, available all over the web and in Fortune, is well worth reading. In the $8 trillion world of Structured Finance, it is nearly impossible not to have some form of derivative embedded in the instrument if a guarantee is conceded to be a derivative.
Guarantees have undergone a sea change from the best one this writer ever saw. In the 1960’s, presented with the need for an instrument for a potential guarantor, this then wet behind the ears credit guy had the opportunity to confer with one Henry Harfield, a senior partner of what still is Shearman and Sterling. The instrument went much as follows:
I, ……….. , hereby guarantee all obligations of………..to Citibank irrevocably and unconditionally. Date: Signature:
Asking Mr. Harfield if that was all that was necessary, this neophyte was told: “Keep it simple, stupid and no opposing attorney can dispute it.” The instrument held up! Now we have MBIA issuing credit default swaps on itself to carry it’s own AAA paper into it’s portfolio to meet the required percentage and/or to narrow the spread on such instruments when coming under pressure. (THESE INSTRUMENTS TAKE MORE THAN 2 LINES) WE AIN’T IN KANSAS ANYMORE, TOTO!
Getting back to the wonderful world of housing finance, we were looking at an article on housing bubbles in the Economist recently. The U.S. isn’t the only nation undergoing one. We have taught the English speaking world how to do it. Others with bubbles even in excess of our own are the Brits, Irish and Australians with the Canadians coming on fast. We draw no conclusion from the language, the Japanese and Germans have already had their bubbles. Speaking of the Japanese, we have looked for but found little documenting their residential bubble.
Their commercial bubble sank or crippled a lot of their banks but the rationale of low interest rates cushioning a housing bubble decline has some merit. Prices in Tokyo have fallen 60-90% but extension to 100 years in some cases and interest rates of 1% have provided a long slide rather than a collapse. In a long enough slide amortization can possibly keep up with price deterioration. Concomitantly their economy underwent a decade long slide in equities, gdp, credit and prices and profits. Since they save 15% per annum and little of the JGB’s are held outside the country for obvious reasons at their current yield, the negative results have resembled the old water torture rather than an implosion.
THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT SAVE 15% OR ANYTHING NEAR IT AND MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF GOVERNMENT DEBT AND QUASI GOVERNMENT DEBT (THE GSE’S) ARE HELD OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY. WE THEREFORE CONCLUDE THAT THE LIKELIHOOD OF THE 0% INTEREST RATE SCENARIO WORKING AS THE ULTIMATE WAY OUT FOR THE CREDIT BUBBLE IN THE U.S. IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY! To us, the most ominous aspect of the $32 trillion in credit washing around the United States credit system is the complacency abounding. We happened to be in the office of a trading firm the morning LTCM was crashing. Panic was clearly evident in the marketplace. The traders could not believe the quotes. As we all know, a multi-billion dollar bailout orchestrated by the New York Fed temporarily (at least, in our opinion) solved the problem.
Last October, some four years later, there was another instance of systemic distress. Again, by happenchance, I was close enough to the trading environment to witness the reaction. This time around, there was far less fear; instead there was a “Waiting for Godot” type of ennui. The Fed will take care of things was a mantra quoted and believed. The afore-mentioned speech which made Bernanke famous/infamous has had a further effect of strengthening the belief that bad things don’t happen to good markets. I can only liken this, in my experience, to the wonderful world of Latin American finance in the 1990’s. There was a certainty that this time, they were bullet-proof. There was no way of convincing the latter day lenders that it should be déjà vu, not new Latin America. Only a decade earlier predecessors in the former Bank of America (weakened enough that the present Bank of America, then NCNB wound up taking them over) and Citibank had gotten killed there. Then came 2002 and Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and a year or so earlier, Ecuador with Brazil yet to come, ruined 10Q’s all over again. However, the similarity to the recurrent belief in spite of history is one of likeness, not magnitude.
THE MAGNITUDE IN STRUCTURED FINANCE IS SO GREAT THAT THE INEVITABLE BURSTING OF THE BUBBLE CANNOT BE CONTAINED. THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESULT OF THE CURRENT COMPLACENCY IS THAT THE EXPANSION OF THE BUBBLE WILL CONTINUE TO THE POINT OF GREATEST POSSIBLE DAMAGE! We believe that THE MINDLESS COMPACENCY we are witnessing is due to our Long-stated position that the Structured Finance/Derivatives megalith created over the last couple of decades has a number of characteristics/advantages over previous credit mechanisms permitting expansion without apprehension or comprehension:
1. The credit generated is not retained on the balance sheet of the originator.
2. The credit generated is enhanced/derivatized/guaranteed/insured and packaged to the point where it can be rated/measured against the yardstick of the purchaser. The end product is tailored to assure purchaser acceptance.
3. The credit generated is sold to widely dispersed holders. Most of these are not burdened with mark to market requirements. The width and depth of the end purchaser world is astonishing and humongous. Imagine Disney as the purchaser of a synthetic airplane lease, truly Disneyesque!
4. The credit enhancements/derivatives/guarantees/insurance are obviously not on the balance sheets of the issuers.
5. Netting is permitted among the large players of the derivatives they have issued.
6. Ratings Agencies, which are trailing indicators at best, have a self-interest in maintaining their ratings of the players. These Agencies have no way and no power to get “behind the veil” on all the over the counter transactions.
7. No Regulator (Particularly an Insurance Regulator or the OFHEO) has the resources, sophistication and authority to actually examine the Structured Finance area to the transaction level.
8. The Federal Reserve has leapt to the rescue often enough (And made such promises as the Bernanke speech often enough) that the market perceives a Guaranteee.
9. Clearly, the Chinese/Japanese believe their Agencies are, at least, implicitly guaranteed as they accumulate hundreds of billions of them.
10. Even having lost significant value in exchange deterioration in the last year, there is still a willingness on the part of buyers, internal and external to accumulate U.S. debt. Maybe they just have not noticed All of the foregoing, we believe, have led to a world permitting the U.S. to sustain a consumption driven economy beyond any lengths previously seen. The complacent view that this can continue ad infinitum seems to have much danger.
At the outset, we stated that our ignorance was not so great as to predict the end of this phenomenal explosion of credit. We admit ignorance freely in being unable to penetrate the world of Structured Finance to the point of knowing the current state of the credits outstanding. The number of “straws in the wind” is increasing geometrically. That does not provide a timetable.
We will close with an admonition. IF YOU OWN SOMETHING THAT IS NOT “PLAIN VANILLA” IN THE WAY OF CREDIT; DO NOT BE REASSURED BY A RATING OR AN ENHANCEMENT! IT IS PROBABLY SAFE TO SAY THAT THE FANNIE/FREDDIE WORLD IS AS GOOD AS A GOVERNMENT (YOU FIGURE OUT HOW GOOD THAT MAY BE IN TERMS OF EXCHANGE RISK). RISK MEASUREMENT ON ANYTHING ELSE IS, IN OUR OPINION, AN ART NOT A SCIENCE. WE WISH YOU WELL IN YOUR EFFORTS!
THE US GOVERNMENT INFORMED OTHER NATIONS OF THE PLAN TO INVADE AFGHANISTAN MONTHS BEFORE THE ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE TOWERS!
India Reacts - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JUNE!
From http://www.indiareacts.com/archivefeatures/nat2.asp?recno=10∓ctg=policy
In this article published in India last summer , the Indian Government announces that it will support America's PLANNED military incursion into Afghanistan.
India in anti-Taliban military plan
India and Iran will "facilitate" the planned US-Russia hostilities against the Taliban.
By Our Correspondent
26 June 2001: India and Iran will "facilitate" US and Russian plans for "limited military action"
against the Taliban if the contemplated tough new economic sanctions don't bend Afghanistan's fundamentalist regime.
The Taliban controls 90 per cent of Afghanistan and is advancing northward along the Salang
highway and preparing for a rear attack on the opposition Northern Alliance from
Tajikistan-Afghanistan border positions.
Indian foreign secretary Chokila Iyer attended a crucial session of the second Indo-Russian joint working group on Afghanistan in Moscow amidst increase of Taliban's military activity near the Tajikistan border. And, Russia's Federal Security Bureau (the former KGB) chief Nicolai Patroshev is visiting Teheran this week in connection with Taliban's military build-up.
Indian officials say that India and Iran will only play the role of "facilitator" while the US and Russia will combat the Taliban from the front with the help of two Central Asian countries, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to push Taliban lines back to the 1998 position 50 km away from Mazar-e-Sharief city in northern Afghanistan.
Military action will be the last option though it now seems scarcely avoidable with the UN banned from Taliban controlled areas. The UN which adopted various means in the last four years to resolve the Afghan problem is now being suspected by the Taliban and refused entry into Taliban areas of the war ravaged nation through a decree issued by Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar last month.
BBC - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JULY!
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/
south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm
US 'planned attack on Taleban'
The wider objective was to oust the Taleban
By the BBC's George Arney
A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks.
Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October .
Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin.
Mr Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told him that unless Bin Laden was handed over swiftly America would take military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar.
The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the Taleban regime and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans in its place - possibly under the leadership of the former Afghan King Zahir Shah.
Mr Naik was told that Washington would launch its operation from bases in Tajikistan, where American advisers were already in place.
He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate in the operation and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby.
Mr Naik was told that if the military action went ahead it would take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest.
He said that he was in no doubt that after the World Trade Center bombings this pre-existing US plan had been built upon and would be implemented within two or three weeks.
And he said it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taleban.
Jane's Defense - India Joined USA led plan against afghanistan in march 2001!
From http://www.janes.com/security/
international_security/news/jir/jir010315_1_n.shtml
"India joins anti-Taliban coalition"
By Rahul Bedi
India is believed to have joined Russia, the USA and Iran in a concerted front against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. "
Once again, in an article dated March 2001, more confirmation that the USA has been planning this invasion of Afghanistan all along.
Last summer, while the American media kept the people distracted with "All Condit All The Time", the US Government was informing other governments that we would be at war in Afghanistan, no later than October! How lucky for our government that just when they are planning to invade another country, for the express purpose of removing that government, a convenient "terrorist" attack occurs to anger Americans into support for an invasion.
Sound impossible? Not when you consider that accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is actually an employee of the CIA, who trained and financed him. And guess who paid for the training of the Hijackers? YOU DID, according to NEWSWEEK and MSNBC.
From http://www.msnbc.com/news/629529.asp
Alleged Hijackers May Have Trained at U.S. Bases
The Pentagon has turned over military records on five men to the FBI
By George Wehrfritz, Catharine Skipp and John Barry
NEWSWEEK
Sept. 15 — U.S. military sources have given the FBI information that suggests five of the alleged hijackers of the planes that were used in Tuesday’s terror attacks received training at secure U.S. military installations in the 1990s.
From April 2001, yet more indications that this mideast war was planned long before 9/11.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on April 30, 2003 09:25:28 AM new
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Friday, April 25, 2003
1. ELECTRONIC VOTING: YOU THOUGHT "HANGING CHADS" WERE A PROBLEM!
The Florida fiasco in the 2000 election sent officials across the country scurrying to modernize voting in their jurisdictions. Touch-screen electronic voting machines suddenly became a hot technology. They are fast and convenient, but are they reliable, tamper-proof and free of programing errors? There is absolutely no way of knowing! The machine code is a proprietary secret of the company that supplies them. This puts vote counting under the full control of a private company, with no independent checks or audits. Such machines are a serious threat to democracy, yet few people are even aware that there is a controversy. Touch-screen machines that print paper ballots would do, so long as the voter can check the ballot, which would go in a secure box to be available for manual counting. Opposition to paperless electronic voting machines is being organized by David Dill, a computer science prof at Stanford (http://verify.stanford.edu/evote.html). He is seeking signatures of technologists, on a statement to warn the public of this threat to the integrity of the voting process.
2. FREE ELECTRICITY: THE PAIN IN MAINE IS PLAINLY ON THE WANE.
Notorious perpetual motion huckster Dennis Lee, barred from doing business in the State of Washington last year (WN 4 Oct 02), has now gotten similar treatment on the other side of the country. Armed with a report from a physicist familiar with Lee’s free energy scams, the Maine Attorney General filed a Complaint in Superior Court citing Maine’s consumer protection laws. The Court enjoined Lee from doing business in Maine and required him to conspicuously state on his website that his products and services are not for sale in the State of Maine. At its meeting on April 4, the APS Council adopted a Statement on Perpetual Motion Machines, deploring "attempts to mislead and defraud the public based on claims of perpetual motion machines or sources of unlimited useful energy" (http://www.aps.org/statements/03.3.htm)
3. HOMEOPATHY: JAMES RANDI FLAUNTS HIS PSYCHIC POWERS.
The BBC program Horizon did a thorough job of debunking homeopathy last year, with legendary debunker James Randi devising a simple test, which of course the homeopathists failed miserably. However, an Australian psychic saw right through it. Randi, she explained, is a secret psychic who used his awesome power to either alter the test results or the perception of the results. "Damn!" Randi replied, "You got me, Marylou." He warned her he would "make your hair fall out," and if she persisted, "give you a rash all over your body." Whew! You don’t want to mess around with psychics. Meanwhile, according to the Daily Mail, the UK is dumping more than a million pounds into research on alternative medicine, including homeopathy, at the urging of Prince Charles.
4. ISS: O’KEEFE PLEDGES TO RESUME SHUTTLE FLIGHTS ASAP.
The NASA Administrator promised quick implementation of the Columbia investigation board’s recommendations, since the shuttle is important to the ISS. He didn’t say why the ISS is important.
THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY and THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the American Physical Society or the University, but they should be.
Comments or Questions?
Email [email protected]
The American Physical Society
posted on April 30, 2003 09:27:19 AM new
NTS,..Good for some but not others.
News Room News Releases
News Releases
Diebold in the News
Customer Spotlights
Media/PR Contact
April 28, 2003
DIEBOLD COO WES VANCE DIES IN PRIVATE PLANE CRASH AT AGE 45
Photo available at http://www.diebold.com/whatsnews/pr/photo/vance.htm
NORTH CANTON, Ohio – Wesley B. Vance, chief operating officer of Diebold, Incorporated, died tragically over the weekend when the private plane he was piloting crashed southeast of Columbus, Ohio, in Jackson County. Vance, 45, is survived by his wife Melinda and five children.
“We are deeply saddened by this sudden, tragic event. My heartfelt sympathy and prayers, as well as the condolences of the entire Diebold family, go out to Wes’ family,” said Walden W. O’Dell, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Diebold. “He was a deeply religious person who greatly valued family and friends.
“Since joining Diebold less than three years ago, Wes has had a profound impact, spearheading extensive cultural and operational changes throughout the company,” O’Dell continued. “All who knew and worked with Wes were impressed by his dedication, positive outlook and his warm and friendly manner. He will be greatly missed.”
Vance joined Diebold in October 2000 as president of Diebold’s North America business unit and was named chief operating officer for Diebold in 2001. He was responsible for managing the company’s global operations including research, development, manufacturing, purchasing, human resources, sales and service.
Originally from Albuquerque, N.M., Vance earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Prior to joining Diebold, Vance was a senior vice president of ArvinMeritor and president of ArvinMeritor Exhaust Systems Group, Columbus, Ind., where he held several key executive positions during his 10-year career there. Previously, Vance also worked for Deloitte Haskins and Sells, and Coopers & Lybrand where he held various financial positions such as senior auditor and senior manager of tax. He was a Certified Public Accountant and was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
O’Dell is assuming the company’s day-to-day, operational responsibilities until a successor is named.
posted on April 30, 2003 09:30:03 AM new
Introduction
I (David Dill) am organizing opposition to paperless electronic voting machines by technologists, especially computer science researchers. I have written a resolution, for which I would like to recruit endorsements.
The Resolution on Electronic Voting
This statement is intended be a message from technologists to the rest of the public, the gist of which is: Do not be seduced by the apparent convenience of "touch-screen voting" machines, or the "gee whiz" factor that accompanies flashy new technology. Using these machines is tantamount to handing complete control of vote counting to a private company, with no independent checks or audits. These machines represent a serious threat to democracy. Much better alternatives are available for upgrading voting equipment.
I'm seeking endorsements for the statement by individuals and organizations. Of course, potential endorsers may feel that they don't know enough about the problem, so I have provided some links to further information below. Having devoted a modest amount of study to the problem, I have to concede that it's a little more complex that I thought at first. However, it's not that subtle. Compared with most technical issues, the basic problems with most "touch screen voting machines" are forehead-slappingly obvious to almost anyone who knows a little bit about computer security. There is strong agreement among those who have studied the problem in-depth, and I believe that almost anyone who looks into the problem a little (or a lot) will come to the same conclusions.
We realize that election equipment must satisfy many requirements, so we are neutral about the nature of the voter-verifiable audit trail, so long as it allows meaningful audits. Anything from fully manual paper ballots to optical scan ballots to touch screen machines that print paper ballots would do, so long as the voter can check the ballot and the (anonymous) ballot goes into a secure ballot box of some kind to be available for manual counting. In the future, there may be other kinds of physical ballots or even cryptographically based audit trails that satisfy the requirements.
What you can do to help.
Our biggest problem at this time is making people aware of this problem. Most people haven't a clue that there is even a controversy. They assume that election officials, manufacturers, politicians, or somebody must have made sure that the voting machines are secure. So you can help with this problem:
Mention it to friends.
Link to this web site
Write letters to your local newspaper, talk to the reporters and columnists about the issue.
Bring it up on mailing lists and web sites where readers may be interested (but please don't spam people!).
Communicate (by email, phone, fax, or US Mail) with your elected officials at the local, state and federal level to let them know you are concerned about the issue.
Find out what is going on in your community and/or state. Are they planning to buy new machines? To find out more, see our web pages about what's happening around the U.S.
To be added to our (low volume) mailing list for announcements, etc. please send an email with "subscribe voterverifiable" in the BODY to "[email protected]"
Questions or comments can be addressed in email to "[email protected]"
Important Announcements
A letter from U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (pdf), expressing concern about the lack of a voter-verified audit trail in many electronic voting machines.
A letter to the Secretary of State of California from Prof. Doug Jones, a computer scientist and election machine examiner in Iowa.
Legislation pending in Washington State!
The state of Ohio has appointed a task force to set requirements for implementing HAVA. It would be great if they required a voter-verifiable audit trail. But there don't seem to be any computer technologists on the task force. I would like to hear from Ohio residents who would can help with this issue.
posted on April 30, 2003 05:27:45 PM new
Can't help but notice AGAIN, now that Pres Bush's Successful plan for Iraq liberation is winding down, all the BBSers (Bush BasherS) are crawling out from under their rocks & climbing off their knees in an attempt to voice their rantings AGAIN
posted on May 1, 2003 08:34:17 AM new
What Success?
Has he "disarmed" them? Or has he NOT found any WOMD's as he promised the world. The congress only gave him the right to declare war to DISARM Saddam, not liberate the Iraq people, or don't you WANT to remember? Anything else is a CONSTITUTIONAL CRIME!
Or do you consider success the ability of your President to LIE? Then Clinton must be a REAL hero to you.....
A politician will call you intelligent to keep you ignorant. I tell you that you are ignorant so that you may want to be intelligent - Eugene Debs
posted on May 1, 2003 08:36:52 AM new
I guess we dont have to worry about terroists,anymore.If we dont need screeners,then we dont need Homeland Security,Since the screeners are part of Homeland Security....
AP WIRE
• Cincinnati Drops Suit Vs. Gun Industry
• National Amber Alert Bill Becomes Law
• Rice to Speak at Mississippi Law School
• Fla. Teacher Union Chief Investigated
• 3rd Infantry Remembers 34 Fallen Troops
• At Least 4 Die in Argentina Flooding
• Key McVeigh Witness Testimony Questioned
• More Airport Screeners Facing Job Cuts
Feds to Cut 6,000 Airport Screening Jobs
By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)--The government announced plans Wednesday to eliminate 3,000 more airport screening jobs by the end of September.
The cuts, coupled with 3,000 others announced in March, amount to about 11 percent of the 55,600 screeners employed. The moves will save the Transportation Security Administration an estimated $280 million, director James Loy said.
``TSA is entering a new stage in its maturation,'' Loy said of the 17-month-old agency.
The first 3,000 cuts will be made by May 31, the rest by Sept. 30. Loy said the TSA will try to trim the work force through attrition and putting some workers on part-time hours.
Loy said the cuts won't diminish security, though it's possible they could add some time to the screening process. A 10-minute wait limit is still the goal, he said.
The cuts address critics in Congress, mainly Republicans, who believe the TSA grew too large too fast. To get around a congressionally mandated cap of 45,000 full-time screeners the TSA hired 9,000 ``temporary'' workers, most of whom were given five-year contracts.
The jobs cuts are aimed at keeping staffing levels closer to what is needed at the nation's 429 commercial airports.
For example, Pittsburgh International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport will each lose about 40 percent of their screeners, but some airports, such as Yakutat, Alaska, will add screeners. Yakutat, which sees business rise with the summer travel season, will go from 1 to 16 screeners.
Peter Winch, national organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees, said he was surprised to learn so many screener positions at large airports would be cut.
``At so many of the big airports the screeners tell me they're really busy, working overtime and understaffed,'' Winch said. The union is fighting the TSA in court for the right to represent airport screeners and has petitioned for elections on collective bargaining at about 20 airports.
___
On the Net:
To see how the workforce is expected to change at each airport,
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
posted on May 1, 2003 02:11:04 PM new
Heres something scarey going on now.
Print This Story E-mail This Story
t r u t h o u t | Friday, February 15, 2002
Statement Senator Harry Reid on President Bush's Yucca Mountain Decision.
"Today President Bush has betrayed our trust and endangered the American public by deciding to ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste across the entire country and store it at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
As a candidate for President, George W. Bush declared, "I believe sound science not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository. As President, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe."
He said this while campaigning in Nevada in May of 2000. He didn't ask us to read his lips, but he asked us to believe him. Nevadans did, and George W. Bush would not be President without having received Nevada's votes in the Electoral College.
The President just last week in a meeting with Senator Ensign, Governor Guinn and me at the White House again vowed to wait until he received and reviewed all of the scientific evidence on Yucca Mountain.
Today President Bush has broken his promise.
All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada and indeed all Americans, but because the President's decision threatens American lives.
Let's be clear: Before getting on a plane to fly over to Asia, President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America.
I say this because to carry out President Bush's plan would require shipment of nuclear waste on 100,000 trucks or 20,000 rail cars through 43 states.
The President has created 100,000 targets of opportunity for terrorists who have proven their capability of hitting targets far less vulnerable than a truck on the open highway.
President Bush wants to bury toxic waste in Nevada, but he will not be able to bury the problem of nuclear waste or hide the dangers of transporting it from the American public.
Coming soon to a highway near you...the deadliest substance known to humankind! It sounds like a Hollywood thriller, but this is not just a plot for a scary movie. This is President Bush's plan ñ one that could feed plots for terrorists hell-bent on destroying America.
Just a day after Valentine's Day, the President has given the Osama bin Ladens of the world a big box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses. He has given the American people some empty wrappers and a handful of thorns.
This day will be remembered for a long time as a tragic day in American history. Some people think intelligence failures allowed September 11; others say we couldn't have known or been prepared. Nobody will be able to say that should a terrorist get hold of just one of the hundred thousand shipments or if just one of the containers leaks following an accident."
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posted on May 1, 2003 03:02:31 PM new
And something that *may* scare you.... Today was the official 'DAY OF PRAYER AND REMEMBRANCE' signed by G. W. Bush Sept. 14, 2001
I hope you all had your 'moments of silence and rememberances'
(note: I did not say prayer, or pray, in my own comment)
Art Bell Retired! George Noory is on late night coasttocoastam.com
