“California counties are throwing another wrinkle into the state’s cash crisis as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders try to agree on a way to erase a $42 billion budget deficit.
Several counties are considering some form of tax revolt — either filing lawsuits or delaying tax payments to the state — because the governor has proposed withholding payments to them for as long as seven months in a move to preserve cash.
Local governments already are missing out because the state has imposed a 30-day payment delay to counties. . . .
Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s $46 billion general obligation bonds this week, leaving California with the worst state credit rating in the nation.” (Read more from cbs13.com)
X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
“This is the story about a girl that’s actually a dude who’s brought in 3.8 – 19.4 million visitors* to Village Voice Media websites by gaming Digg.
Village Voice Media appears to be running an organized reciprocal Digg campaign using staff at their network of alt-weekly newspapers across the United States. Two Digg users, Ivanb and Philostrato, are responsible for the vast majority of that traffic” (Read more from thedeets.com)
“WASHINGTON – House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into how the agency failed to uncover the alleged $50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.
The clash between lawmakers and high-ranking SEC officials came at a hearing after the whistleblower in the case, Harry Markopolos, said he had feared for his physical safety and would turn over new evidence to the agency showing the alleged Ponzi scheme mastermind had not acted alone. . . .
He plans to present his findings to the SEC’s inspector general on Thursday. If proven, they would substantiate the assertions of many analysts that the alleged fraud was far too large for Madoff to have conducted alone. . . .
In loud, angry exchanges, lawmakers threatened to issue subpoenas to SEC officials to compel their testimony.
[Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., the House Financial Services subcommittee’s chairman,] accused the agency of impeding the panel’s investigation, calling it an ‘abuse of authority.’
It was a blistering escalation of criticism of the SEC, which has been blasted by lawmakers and investor advocates over its failure to discover Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, despite the credible allegations brought to it over years. Against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, lawmakers of both parties are calling for a shake-up of the agency.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)
These stories are important in the argument against those who propose more government as a solution to our problems. The SEC worked hand-in-hand with Madoff. The best solution to the problem is to keep the money in our pockets and in our paychecks, instead of sending it to DC to fund criminal operations like the SEC.
Watch the shocking testimony of whistle-blower Harry Markopolos:
“WASHINGTON Ultimate Fighting Championship has come to Washington to engage in the city’s ultimate sport: lobbying. . . .
The sport’s owners are concerned that it could come under federal regulation by a proposed new commission to regulate boxing that two senior lawmakers are pushing. To help head that off, the Las Vegas-based UFC spent $240,000 last year lobbying Congress.
Its biggest task, said lobbyist Makan Delrahim, is to convince Congress that the sport has cleaned up its act since the 1990s, when it drew the opposition of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. He once referred to it as ‘human cockfighting’ and called for it to be banned. . . .
In 2005, the Justice Department sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, expressing “serious constitutional objections to several provisions of the bill,” such as one that would limit the president’s authority to remove members of the boxing commission. That letter was signed by William Moschella, an assistant attorney general; Moschella has since left the government and is now part of UFC’s lobbying team.
The new administration of President Barack Obama has yet to take a position on the bill.” (Read more from mmalinker.com)
Dear Washington: Please keep your greedy, power-hungry paws off my favorite sport. You’re already ruining my country. Leave my favorite sport alone.
“Counter-terrorism experts presumably have some insight into terrorism, right?
In fact, numerous high-level counter-terrorism experts question the government’s investigation of – and explanation for – 9/11.
For example:
Terrell (Terry) E. Arnold was the number 2 counter-terrorism official at the U.S. State Department, and is one of the world’s leading experts on terror. Arnold served as the Deputy Director, Office of Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, at the U.S. State Department. He is also the former Chairman of the Department of International Studies at the National War College. Arnold is skeptical of the government’s explanation for 9/11
Bogdan Dzakovic was a 14-year counter-terrorism expert in the Security Division of the Federal Aviation Administration. Dzakovic was Team Leader of the FAA’s Red (Terrorism) Team, which conducted undercover tests on airport security through simulated terrorist attacks. Dzakovic said about the 9/11 Commission:
“The best I could say about it is they really botched the job by not really going into the real failures. … At worst, I think the 9/11 Commission Report is treasonous.”
John Loftus, former Federal Prosecutor, Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan; former U.S. Army Intelligence officer, and currently a widely-sought media commentator on terrorism and intelligence services questions the government’s version of 9/11
A coming episode of the acclaimed FX drama “Rescue Me” will tackle what may sound like a far-fetched plot line: that the attacks of Sept. 11 were an “inside job.” The actor who espouses the theories on camera, it turns out, also subscribes to them in real life. Claims that Al Qaeda terrorists were not solely responsible for the attacks have a lively following on the Internet, including on YouTube, but the second episode of “Rescue Me’s” fifth season, starting in April, may represent the first fictional presentation of 9/11 conspiracy theories by a mainstream media company (FX is operated by the News Corporation). “They’re not discussed a lot in the press,” Daniel Sunjata, the actor who plays Franco Rivera on “Rescue Me,” told reporters at a television press tour last month. (Read more from CSPANjunkie.org)
“Kristin Davis who ran one of the city’s biggest escort agencies claims that prominent bankers and businessmen paid for her prostitutes with corporate credit cards. . . [She] alleges that prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office decided not to pursue any of them even though she provided evidence.
Davis, who admitted charges last year of running a prostitution business employing more than 100 women, told ABC News that the men included a senior executive of a top media company, a banker who spent $41,600 and the chief executive of one of America’s largest private equity firms.” (Read more from telegraph.co.uk)
by Puru Saxena
Editor, Money Matters
November 14, 2008
“Central banks and governments are printing TRILLIONS of paper currencies around the world, the US has now become a socialist society and all this money-creation should result in a huge inflationary tsunami in the future. In my opinion, those who are forecasting deflation, don’t understand our monetary system. What we have seen in the recent past is not deflation but a contraction in asset prices due to liquidation.” (Read more from financialsense.com)
“‘We don’t have a moment to spare,’ Obama declared at the White House as congressional allies hastened to do his bidding in the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” (from cnews.canoe.ca)
“‘A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future,’ Obama said in his prepared remarks.” (from dailypaul.com)
“‘The time for talk is over. The time for action is now,’ declared Obama as the Senate plodded through a fourth day of debate on the legislation.” (from news.yahoo.com)
“WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the recession will turn into a ‘catastrophe’ if the economic stimulus is not passed quickly. . . . Obama urged members of Congress ‘to act without delay.'” (from news.yahoo.com)