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POPSGeithner Says Credit-Default Swaps Weren't the Problem, After All.
But if Mr. Geithner now says the AIG bailout wasn't driven by a need to rescue CDS counterparties, then what was the point? Why pay Goldman and even foreign banks like Societe Generale billions of tax dollars to make them whole? Regulators say that having taxpayers buy out the counterparties improved AIG's liquidity position, but why was it important to keep AIG liquid if not to protect some class of creditors? Yesterday, Mr. Geithner introduced a new explanation, which is that AIG might not have been able to pay claims to its insurance policy holders: "AIG was providing a range of insurance products to households across the country. Yet, if there is one thing that all observers seemed to agree on last year, it was that AIG's money to pay policyholders was segregated and safe inside the regulated insurance subsidiaries. If the real systemic danger was the condition of these highly regulated subsidiaries"where there was no CDS trading"then the Beltway narrative implodes.
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POPSHistory Lesson made easy Everyone should watch this video.........It is the best I have seen. When government grows........People's freedom recedes.
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POPSOne Marine's Letter-Perfect Constitutional Instruction Explained to the People in Congress! Curtman cited interior National Guardsmen who were ordered to take weapons from citizens of the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as an example of orders that defy the Constitution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98HxYbsdBM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffranklincountypatriots.org%2F&feature=player_embedded "If I did what some of our elected officials have ordered done, I'd spend my life in Leavenworth (prison)... My allegiance doesn't lie with any party," Curtman said. "My allegiance lies with the Constitution because that's where my freedoms lie." If you haven’t seen it yet, you can also watch the July 4th Tea Party videos here. http://franklincountypatriots.org/videos/ Joshua Smith, dressed in 1700's era military clothing, told the audience that a true patriot is someone who is willing to stand up to government entities for what they know is right. He said without the infamous Boston Tea Party, the Constitution might not exist.
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POPSA Brief History of White House Thuggery "Keep up the heat" translated into Organizing for America/Democratic National Committee attack ads on moderate Democrats who have revolted against Obamacare's high costs and expansive government powers over medical decisions. Looks like there won't be a health care beer summit anytime soon. The CBO and the Blue Dogs got off easy compared to inspectors general targeted by Team Obama goons. Former AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin was slimed as mentally incompetent ("confused" and "disoriented") after blowing the whistle on several cases of community service tax fraud, including the case of Obama crony Kevin Johnson. Johnson is the NBA star turned Sacramento mayor who ran a federally funded nonprofit group employing AmeriCorps volunteers, who were exploited to perform campaign work for Johnson and to provide personal services (car washes, errands) to Johnson and his staff. Walpin filed suit last week to get his job back -- and to defend the integrity and independence
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POPSMore About Obama’s “Consigliere” But what makes the article really amazing is the way in which it demeans Obama as a way of highlighting Jarrett’s behind-the-scenes control. As for Jarrett, she bears further examination, given her control over the President. I’m delighted to see that Michelle has done precisely the “further examination” I thought so necessary. It’s just a shame that most New York Times readers will never learn (or want to learn) the whole story.
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POPSRules for Tea Partiers (with thanks to Mr. Saul Alinsky) RULE 3: Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Since the enemy lacks expertise in almost everything that does not have to do with enriching Government Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, we’re doing well here too. Let me see, they lack expertise in, inter alia, honesty, integrity, patriotism, courage, and the democratic process. They also have no expertise in reading their own legislation, although they have mucho expertise at reading a teleprompter (Maybe if they put the healthcare bill up on TOTUS it would get read…?) RULE 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. Where’s the hope, dude? Where’s the transparency? Where’s the the end to lobbyist connections? Where’s the post-racial? Where’s the bipartisanship? Where’s the “unity”? Where’s the “making everything great for ‘working class’ families”? RULE 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. Those “mom jeans” comments hurt.
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POPSOne Step Closer to Losing Your Right to Health Care What defines something as a right is whether the government can or cannot prohibit you from doing it. (President Obama notoriously called these "negative liberties".) If the government can't stop you from doing it, then it's a right. We have a right to religious expression because the government is prohibited from suppressing that expression. We have the right to assemble because the government must allow us to do so. We can speak freely because the government cannot censor us. Nor can the government take away law-abiding citizens' firearms. The House of Representatives' health care bill would give the federal government control over what kind of health care you will have access to. Private alternatives to the government plan will become economically unviable, leaving the government plan as a de facto monopoly. Because the Democrats are promising universal health care, demand for health care will skyrocket.
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POPSSprott: "It's The Real Economy, Stupid" Anything that starts with "We are now in the early stages of a depression" is a must read. (Sprott Asset Management pdf file) via Zero Hedge http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/07/sprott-its-real-economy-stupid.html US Housing Market Failure: The annual pace of new home sales is now 342,000, a whopping 32.8% below the rate in May 2008. At the current sales pace, there is 10.2 months worth of inventory overhang sitting on the market, dragging down prices and encouraging potential buyers to wait it out as prices deflate... New home sales are down 73% from the all time high of 1,283,000 new homes sold in 2005 (mild recession?)... Rail Car Loadings Suffering: For the first 26 weeks of 2009, US railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,806,892 carloads, down 19.2% from 2008. Stock Market ...at the end of June 2009, the S&P 500 traded at an inflation adjusted P/E ratio of 16.08 And now the Democrats want to destroy healthcare by
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POPSPresumably you have a Gmail account, and do not object to Google's policies From article. Full article at source. "If Google builds a database of keywords associated with email addresses, the potential for abuse is staggering. Google could grow a database that spits out the email addresses of those who used those keywords. How about words such as "box cutters" in the same email as "airline schedules"? Can you think of anyone who might be interested in obtaining a list of email addresses for that particular combination? Or how about "mp3" with "download"? Since the RIAA has sent subpoenas to Internet service providers and universities in an effort to identify copyright abusers, why should we expect Gmail to be off-limits? "
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POPSSmart Outlook 'add-ons' MailStore Home The free MailStore Home does two things: archives in-boxes for up to three separate e-mail accounts, and quickly searches through the contents, including the body of e-mail attachments. Burning the lot of the messages to a CD is another storage option. Despite a few limitations, MailStore Home will be an immensely practical tool for some. Read the hands-on review Reviews on all screenshots & apps>>>>> http://download.cnet.com/2300-2369_4-10001177-1.html?s=0&o=10001177&tag=mncol;page
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POPSNEXUS Radio - My new avourite Application My New favourite application (well other than clipmarks) Its a free Internet Radio Player with Heaps of stations in every genre including news, comedy, talk radio, and countless music stations. Also it is very user friendly. I have been using for around a week now and so far have been very impressed by it. Give it a go, It is free so what have you to lose?
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POPSBarack Obama's Lenghty Resume The list grows longer each day. The accomplishments of the 44th President continue to accrue. Check out Obama's updated Resume and get to know the man behind the teleprompter.
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POPSScientists Make Radio Waves Travel Faster Than Light A Los Alamos National Laboratory gadget, called a polarization synchrotron, combines radio waves and a rapidly spinning magnetic field, which forces radio waves to travel faster than the speed of light. The resulting phenomenon could lead to new technologies in health and communications.
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POPSDem Leaders Warn Doctors Not to Meet With Republicans Republican leaders have been meeting with health care stakeholders for months, with those sessions occurring “more frequently than once a month,” according to a senior Senate GOP aide. Now what country are we living in again? When did America become Venezuela?
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POPSHow Car Companies Are Financed & What Obama Has Done To Them The dealer has, in effect, bought 200 cars and the manufacturer keeps him supplied with another 100 cars per month. In a year the dealership has bought (paid for) 100 cars/month x 12 months + 100 cars = 1300 cars. Does the dealership get stuck with leftover cars? Yes, that’s why you can cut such good deals on last year’s model. Why would the dealership put up with such a lousy bit of financial shenanigans? Because the largest percentage of the dealership’s money comes from the sale of repair services. They also make a huge amount on used cars; which are a separate, yet dependant business. As Lonsberry pointed out, if GM and Chrysler wanted to improve business they would get more dealers not fewer. But, dealers are granted territories so they won’t be eating out of each other’s repair business. Also, there are specialized instruments and tools required to fix various cars. GM and Chrysler design, build and (in the case of software) maintain these tools.
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POPS"Smart People" Decided Obama's Budget You almost certainly intended this reporting to paint the bold new Obama team as principled and sublimely competent architects of a fair new society. It's darkly amusing to me that you can't see that you've instead confirmed them to be worse than the worst caricature of spendthrift Democrats that any fiscal conservative of either party has ever dreamed up. (The balance of the article is equally terrifying, for essentially the same reasons. E.g.: " balanced budget is not something that is fiscally conceivable without fundamentally just deconstructing the federal government" and "Obama’s budget assumes that, even after the recession passes, the government can live with deficits indefinitely." It's a tedious tale of unrelenting irresponsibility, the proud internal newsletter of an asylum written after the inmates have taken over.)
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POPSIntroducing ChangeTracker: Tracking Change in Washington About Us ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them. Investigative journalism is at risk. Many news organizations have increasingly come to see it as a luxury. Today’s investigative reporters lack resources: Time and budget constraints are curbing the ability of journalists not specifically designated “investigative” to do this kind of reporting in addition to their regular beats. This is therefore a moment when new models are necessary to carry forward some of the great work of journalism in the public interest that is such an integral part of self-government, and thus an important bulwark of our democracy. http://www.propublica.org/about/
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POPSA HealthCare System Truly Owned And Controlled By Patients Proponents of such a plan assert that the inadequacies of our current health care system are the product of a failed free market. Market mechanisms have been trampled by governmental involvement in care, primarily through Medicare — the government’s public option for seniors. Obama's Grand Gamble http://www.politico.com/specialsection/healthcare/ Since it would be backed by the federal treasury, not built upon market principles and efficiencies, any public option would effectively destroy the private insurance market. With the government subsidizing costs through higher taxes, the plan would offer “lower” fees for the services it offers. As Washington bureaucracies view health care in terms of dollars and cents, instead of patients and doctors, this government-run plan would, like Medicare, end up limiting access to treatments, prescriptions and procedures that it deems “ineffective.” You may know this process by another word: rationing.
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POPS Obama Outsources His Presidency One is the gap between what Mr. Obama said he would do and what he is doing. His administration is emphasizing in its official 100 days talking points steps he has taken to "deliver on the change he promised." During the campaign, Mr. Obama denounced the $2.3 trillion added to the national debt on Mr. Bush's watch as "deficits as far as the eye can see." But Mr. Obama's budget adds $9.3 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. What happened to Obama the deficit hawk? is campaign ran ads attacking "government-run health care" as "extreme." Now Mr. Obama is asking, as he did at a townhall meeting last month, "Why not do a universal health care system like the European countries?" Another emphasis in the Obama 100 days talking points is that the president is a decisive leader. However, Mr. Obama is enormously deferential to Democrats in Congress and has outsourced formulation of key policies to them.
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POPSBefore you get the flu, make a flu care kit For directions on how to mix the salt/sugar rehydration solution, see here More that wouldn't fit: stomach-settlers of your choice: if you like Rolaids or Pepto-Bismol, great, but you might also think about things like dried peppermint (peppermint tea), candied or dried ginger, and dried catnip (catnip tea) rubbing alcohol and gauze pads or cotton balls/cotton wool -- can be useful in reducing fevers a copy of the Merck Manual of Medical Information (Home Edition) -- one of the single most useful books any household can own, can help you know the difference between, say, "just a cough" and pneumonia a copy of Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook -- an unbelievably useful basic diagnosis, treatment, and prevention handbook for common health care issues
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POPSGlobal warming alarm has always been a political movement (regardless of their lack of expertise in the issue)? The process of coopting science on behalf of a political movement has had an extraordinarily corrupting influence on science -- especially since the issue has been a major motivation for funding. Most funding for climate would not be there without this issue. And, it should be added, most science funded under the rubric of climate does not actually deal with climate, but rather with the alleged impact of arbitrarily assumed climate change. All impacts depend on regional forecasts, and quoting the leading scientist at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (widely regarded as the foremost atmospheric modeling center), Tim Palmer, such forecasts are no better than guesses.
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POPSThe body politic runs off the rails IT IS DESTABILIZING How can you run a company when the rules keep changing, when you have to worry about being second-guessed by Congress..? At this point, most Wall Street bankers would rather be attacked by wild dogs than take part. They fear that they’ll do something — make money perhaps? — that will arouse Congressional ire. Or that the rules will change... Not all the employees who face the possibility of having their bonuses taxed out from under them work for the evil financial products division... Taking away their bonuses — after they’ve already put the money in their bank accounts — hardly seems like the right way to motivate them. Maybe they can't see it from the shamrock-hued vistas of their "cottages" on the west coast of Ireland, but the political class has done nothing this last week but destroy the wealth of this country.
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POPS AIG Says $22 Billion Of Govt Funds Paid Other Firms One of President Barack Obama's top economic advisers Sunday blasted AIG for preparing to hand out millions in bonuses to top executives. The firm said it was contractually obliged to pay the bonuses, despite posting the worst quarterly loss in US business history at the tail end of 2008. American International Group announced a quarterly loss of 61.7 billion US dollars, pushing up its net loss for 2008 to 99.3 billion US dollars.
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POPSJoin ffwd and you'll never miss a great video again! ffwd is crowd-sourced, personalized, and social. It has unlimited content potential syndicating from any source including YouTube, Funny or Die, New York Times, Comedy Central, Hulu and CBS. Perhaps most importantly, it is "in the cloud," which makes it ready for TV that crosses platforms.
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POPSMark Steyn: Welcome, Kids, To The Brokest Generation If you're an 18-year-old middle-class hopeychanger, look at the way your parents and grandparents live: It's not going to be like that for you. You're going to have a smaller house, and a smaller car – if not a basement flat and a bus ticket. . . . The Teleprompter Kid says not to worry: His budget numbers are based on projections that the economy will decline 1.2 percent this year and then grow 4 percent every year thereafter. Do you believe that? In fact, does he believe that? This is the guy who keeps telling us this is the worst economic crisis in 70 years, and it turns out it's just a 1-percent decline for a couple more months, and then party time resumes? And, come to that, wasn't there a (notably unprojected) 6.2 percent drop in GDP just in the last quarter of 2008? Youth is wasted on the young, said Bernard Shaw. So the geezers appropriated it. We love the youthful sense of living in the moment, without a care, without the burdens of responsibility –
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