Ladywriter

Governor leads cause; $1 billion offshore plan may power 125,000 homes ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - New Jersey is powering up an ambitious plan to become a world leader in the use of wind-generated energy.Gov. Jon Corzine wants the Garden State to triple the amount of wind power it plans to use by 2020 to 3,000 megawatts. That would be 13 percent of New Jersey's total energy, enough to power between 800,000 to just under 1 million homes. "We want to create this generation's race to the moon, but this time, a race to the sea, to harness this potential wind source off of our coasts, and bring economic development, environmental benefits, and new, green jobs to the Garden State," Corzine said Monday. Environmentalists hailed the plan. Dena Mottola Jaborska, executive director of Environment New Jersey, termed it "a gale force for change, moving us away from dirty power and towards a new energy future. It is the most visionary plan to promote offshore wind energy in the nation." Last week, Garden State Offshore Energy, a joint venture of PSE&G Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, was chosen to build a $1 billion, 345 megawatt wind farm in the ocean about 16-20 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. That plant would be able to power about 125,000 homes. There are currently no offshore wind power projects anywhere in the United States, but two others have been approved for areas off Rhode Island and Delaware, environmentalists said. In Atlantic City, the local utilities authority has a wind farm consisting of five windmills that generate 7.5 megawatts, enough energy to power approximately 2,500 homes. It powers a wastewater treatment plant, with surplus energy going to the area power grid. The state Commerce Commission assessed the potential costs and benefits of offshore wind on New Jersey's economy. It concluded that while there would be some negative impacts on tourism, these would be temporary and would decline quickly. "This is a historic day for New Jersey," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. "Global warming is the single most serious threat to the planet, and offshore wind energy is the most cost-effective form or renewable alternative energy." Corzine said the project could create as many as 500 new jobs, with twice that amount during construction and installation of the giant turbines. The state Board of Public Utilities has set aside $19 million for wind farm grants. Garden State Offshore Energy was one of five firms competing to do the latest project. But Corzine wants the others to also work with the state on their own proposals. One of them, Bluewater Wind, plans to build a similar project about 13 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Del., said Jim Lanard, the company's director of strategic planning. He said Bluewater is interested in working with New Jersey on another wind energy project. He also said swimmers and sunbathers would hardly be able to see the giant turbines from the beach. "These things will appear to be half the size of your thumbnail and as thin as a toothpick," he said.

pay it forward

This is the first of 4 videos to be produced by Wasilla Project. CCx7A2lwCWE

A look at what we could do instead with $700 billion to spend fixing up our world. Anti-poverty and women's rights lobbyists are looking at the government's $700 billion bank bailout and seeing a way to talk about national spending priorities. "It's obviously incredibly unfair," said Irasema Garza, president of New York-based Legal Momentum, a legal advocacy group for women. "We're willing to get ourselves in that type of debt to take incredible risk to bail out those industries but as a country we're not willing to take a fraction of that particular risk to make sure we have sound economic policies to give the citizens of our country the basic things they need to live: a place to live, health care, food, education for their kids and the creation of good jobs." In his personal blog Duncan Green, head of research for Oxfam Great Britain and author of the 2008 book "From Poverty to Power," notes that $700 billion could eradicate world poverty for more than two years. That would disproportionately benefit women, who make up 70 percent of the world's poor, according to Washington-based Women Thrive Worldwide, a group that lobbies for aid for women in developing countries. "It's important that we help people here who are in need and have been hurt by this financial crisis," said Nora O'Connell, vice president of policy and government affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide. "But we also have to realize that the impacts of the crisis don't stop at U.S. borders." $150 Billion for Global Poverty Worldwide, Green estimates that about $150 billion each year could help governments meet the United Nations millennium development goals, a global set of anti-poverty guidelines -- including gender parity in education and improved maternal health care -- laid out by 189 nations in 2000. The Institute for Women's Policy Research, a think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on women and the economy, is hosting an Oct. 30 panel discussion on the impact of the financial crisis on women featuring the institute's president, Heidi Hartmann; Erica Hunt, president of the 21st Century Foundation, which focuses on economic development in the African American community; and Legal Momentum's Garza. "We all now recognize that the economic crisis is No. 1; severe," Garza said. "But before this crisis hit Wall Street, people on Main Street were already hurting. Within that, working women were taking a big hit and have been over the last five years." Carrie Lukas, a budget analyst with the Independent Women's Forum, a free-market think tank in Washington, D.C., said she would use the money to simplify the tax code. "Women need a growing economy which provides jobs, especially a wide range of jobs that offer women a variety of work arrangements, and a less burdensome tax structure would certainly help toward that end." Other advocates said they would spend the money to enhance government. The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, a lobby in Washington, D.C., estimates that $759 million -- about 1 percent of the rescue plan total -- would enable the country's low-cost health care clinics to provide all eligible individuals with the full range of family planning services: access to contraceptives, counseling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. 1 2 Next page » View as a single page

Why are there active duty soldiers stationed on U.S. streets?

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's plan to gut the Endangered Species Act could signal the end of protection for thousands of species at risk of extinction. This week is our last chance to stop him. If you're among the more than 40,000 people who've already signed the Center for Biological Diversity's petition to stop the disastrous changes to the Endangered Species Act ? thank you. If you haven't signed, now is the time. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25351 The final deadline for public comments is Wednesday, October 15th. Tell the Interior Department not to enact its new rules, because they would: ? Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act; ? Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight; ? Limit which effects can be considered harmful; ? Prevent consideration of a project's contribution to global warming; ? Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects. We have to stop Kempthorne from crippling our nation's most successful wildlife law. Join the Center for Biological Diversity's campaign to save the Act. Send a letter to Kempthorne and let your representatives in Congress know how you feel. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25351 Then take a moment to forward this message to your friends and family and help spread the word. Sincerely, Kieran Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity

I like the new reader traffic feature readers from other countries is teh kool

I just wanted to take a sec and give you guys the props you deserve. Many important threads in 1408 have hundreds of views. Even if you're not replying you're looking, reading, watching, educating yourselves! That is awesome and that is how we will change the world, through educated decisions not panic driven policies. I want to thank everyone that has and is participating in the Take Action campaigns I have tossed in there and I encourage you all to get on some mailing lists and beat me to a post You guys rock

Top Stories from Reproductive Justice & Gender on AlterNet October 8th, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/ ___________________________________________________________ From the editors: At every turn, women's rights and well being are under attack. We have a Republican presidential candidate who has vowed to stack the Supreme Court with anti-choice justices if he's elected. We have a Republican vice presidential candidate who doesn't seem to know the difference between emergency contraception and abortion. And we have an economy that's crushing women, who make up the majority of people living in poverty. We're exploring these issues in this week's newsletter, and next week we'll be bringing you a concise election guide that compares Obama and McCain on all the most important reproductive justice and gender issues, including reproductive freedom, family planning, sex education, the minimum wage, health disparities and more. Thanks for reading, Heather Gehlert Managing Editor ___________________________________________________________ OUR NEXT PRESIDENT WILL TRANSFORM THE SUPREME COURT By Ellen Goodman, Washington Post Writers Group John McCain has promised the court to the right wing, and Roe v. Wade is first up on the chopping block. http://www.alternet.org/rights/101210/ THE AGE OF UNBRIDLED CONSUMPTION JUST ENDED By Lisa Wise, The Women's Media Center The economic crisis, however painful, will lead to at least one positive outcome. http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/101348/ WOMEN'S HEALTH: YET ANOTHER ISSUE SARAH PALIN IS OUT OF TOUCH ON By Cecile Richards, Huffington Post Women voting for McCain-Palin is like chickens voting for Col. Sanders. http://www.alternet.org/election08/101327/ SARAH PALIN'S DEBATE PERFORMANCE TANKED AMONG WOMEN By Linda Hirshman, TheNation.com Palin is a lot like a '90s "Rules Girl." She follows a playbook that men respond to -- one that gives women indigestion. http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/101536/ NEW POLL: PARENTS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT AGE-APPROPRIATE SEX ED By Scott Swenson, RH Reality Check Political leaders are nervous about supporting comprehensive sex education in schools. But it may be a bigger political liability not to. http://www.alternet.org/sex/101535/ WOMEN WHO TOOK ON THE TALIBAN -- AND LOST By Kim Sengupta, Independent UK Of five prominent Afghani women interviewed three years ago by <i>The Independent</i>, three are dead and a fourth has had to flee. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/101504/ WHICH CANDIDATE WOULD BETTER HANDLE THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC? By Todd Heywood, RH Reality Check Worldwide, 33 million people are infected. One candidate has a formal plan to deal with this health crisis. The other doesn't. http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/101029/ ___________________________________________________________ AlterNet Blogs: MCCAIN VOTED TO PROTECT DOMESTIC TERRORISTS By Ryan Powers, Think Progress McCain has repeatedly voted against protecting Americans from domestic terrorists in the anti-choice movement. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/101954/ WOMEN IGNORED IN VP DEBATE By Ruth Rosen, AlterNet In the end, women will swing this election. Might be a good moment to start speaking to them. And a cursory nod to women's rights isn't enough. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/101531/ ___________________________________________________________ These stories and more are available on in Reproductive Justice & Gender on AlterNet. http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice

Here's the latest reason to pass "Read the Bills" . . . On September 17, the House passed the "School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008." My first thought was, "The DC Upsizers are at it again!" My second thought was that the Constitution gives Congress no authority over public safety, except on federal property. This power is left to the states. But even aside from this, the bill implies something distressing -- that state and local governments are incapable of preserving public safety without Congressional help. But if the states really lack the will and competence to keep schoolchildren safe then they must also be incapable of governing at all. This would imply that, but for Congress, our country would be a nation of 50 Somalias. This just isn't true. But when you read the bill, you realize it isn't about school "safety" at all. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR2352:/> The bill expands an already-existing (and unnecessary) grant program for local governments to install metal detectors on school grounds. The bill increases the funding from $30 million to $50 million per year. Worse, it specifically expands the program to include funding for "surveillance equipment." This, on top of Real ID, Animal ID, TWIC, warrantless spying . . . Perhaps if the younger generation are always being watched at school, they'll get used to it and won't mind the same on the streets, at their jobs, or in their homes. Do you want to know how your Represenatitive voted for this atrocity? Too bad. Congress couldn't be bothered with a roll call vote; it passed under "suspension of the rules" by voice vote. (Somehow, though, they <i>did</i> find time for a roll call vote on whether to name a post office building after Theodore Roosevelt.) Indeed, this "School Safety" bill contained just 8 of the 875 pages of legislation Congress has passed from September 8-20. (The Senate passed 1,185 pages over the same period; a list of the bills can be found below my signature in the blog version of this Dipsatch.) <http://www.downsizedc.org/> A lot of them "upsize DC," just as this School "Safety" Act does. Would it have passed if the Read the Bills Act was in force? The Read the Bills Act requires that every bill considered by Congress must be publicly read before a quorum in Congress. 875 pages would take a long time to read. Congress would have to set priorities and consider only the most urgent and necessary bills. The public reading serves another purpose. Thousands of bills are proposed each year, and it's difficult to keep track of which bill will get out of committee and go to the floor for a vote. The public reading of a bill would alert us that Congress is serious about passing a particular bill. Moreover, the final version of the bill would have to be posted on the Internet for seven days before it comes to a vote, giving individuals and grassroots groups time to study the bill and provide feedback. UNder the "Read the Bills Act" legislation like this "School Safety Act" might never have reached the floor in Congress, and if it did, groups like Downsize DC could have defeated it. This is why we need the Read the Bills Act. Tell Congress to stop rushing through so many bills. Tell them you resent the "School Safety Enhancements Act" and that you don't want Congress spending your tax dollars to spy on children. Tell them to prevent bills like it from surfacing again by passing the Read the Bills Act. You can do so here. <http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/27> Thank you for being part of our growing Downsize DC Army. James Wilson Assistant to the President DownsizeDC.org

Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control" By Naomi Wolf, AlterNet. Posted October 8, 2008. Members of Congress were told they could face martial law if they didn't pass the bailout bill. This will not be the last time. Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks. George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the "War on Terror," the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield. He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined "insurrection" or many other "conditions" he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus -- habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial -- in the event of an "insurrection." With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters "insurgents" staging an "insurrection" is strengthened. U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill: "The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. … Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day and a couple of thousand on the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no." If this is true and Rep. Sherman is not delusional, I ask you to consider that if they are willing to threaten martial law now, it is foolish to assume they will never use that threat again. It is also foolish to trust in an orderly election process to resolve this threat. And why deploy the First Brigade? One thing the deployment accomplishes is to put teeth into such a threat. I interviewed Vietnam veteran, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and patriot David Antoon for clarification: "If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?" "Nothing. Their only recourse is to cut off funding. The Congress would be at the mercy of military leaders to go to them and ask them not to obey illegal orders." 1 2 Next page » View as a single page

U.S. Fed leads round of global interest rate cuts U.K., Europe, China and others join forces to stem growing financial crisis WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve and six other major central banks from around the world slashed interest rates Wednesday in an attempt to prevent a mushrooming financial crisis from becoming a global economic meltdown.The Fed reduced its key rate from 2 percent to 1.5 percent. In Europe, which also has been hard hit by the financial crisis, the Bank of England cut its rate by half a point to 4.5 percent and the European Central Bank sliced its rate by half a point to 3.75 percent. Also cutting rates were the central banks of China, Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Bank of Japan said it strongly supported the actions. “The recent intensification of the financial crisis has augmented the downside risks to growth,” the Fed said in explaining the coordinated action.The Fed action will reduce borrowing costs almost immediately for U.S. bank customers whose home equity and other floating-rate loans are tied to the prime interest rate. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other banks cut their prime rate by half a point to 4.5 percent after the Fed announcement. White House spokesman Tony Fratto welcomed the cooperation among the Fed and other countries’ central banks to battle the crisis. “It’s important and helpful that central banks are working in a coordinated way to deal with stress in the financial system,” Fratto said. But analysts were cautious about the impact of the central banks’ coordinated action. “At first blush, while this is a big step, it is unlikely to prove sufficient to stem the rot. Additional rate cuts are likely and further measures to inject liquidity and re-capitalize banks are needed,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at the investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman. The rate cuts came against a backdrop of increasing anxiety in global financial markets. Investors have been fleeing shares on worries that neither the Fed, nor other central banks, could move fast enough to stop the rising turmoil. In earlier trading Wednesday, European stocks fell about 5 percent and Asian stock indexes skidded more than 8 percent. Japan’s stock market plummeted 9.4 percent — its biggest one-day drop in 21 years. Trading on both Russian stock markets was suspended — on one until Friday and the other until further notice — after shares plunged within the first hour of trading. The worldwide gloom follows a sell-off in U.S. markets late Tuesday, where major stock indexes slid 5 percent. The rout brought the Dow Jones industrials’ losses to more than 875 points in two days, and its close was the lowest close in five years. The blue chip index is now a stunning 33.3 percent below its record close of 14,164.53 a year ago. The Fed’s action Wednesday was the latest in a long series of moves over the last several weeks that the central bank has taken in coordination with other federal agencies, Congress and the White House to shore up a financial industry stung by bad loans, mounting losses and — in many cases — collapse. President Bush signed a $700 billion financial bailout bill into law on Friday. The Fed’s action reversed its current policy on interest rates, which had been to hold them steady out of concern that more cuts would fuel inflation. Since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues put a stop to interest-rate cuts in June, economic and financial conditions have deteriorated significantly. “The pace of economic activity has slowed markedly in recent months,” the Fed said. “Moreover, the intensification of financial market turmoil is likely to exert additional restraint on spending, partly by further reducing the ability of households and businesses to obtain credit.” Although inflation has been high, the Fed believes the recent drop in energy prices and the weaker prospects for economic activity have reduced this threat to the economy. In addition, the Fed reduced its emergency lending rate to banks by half a percentage point to 1.75 percent. Given the intense credit crisis, banks have been ramping up their borrowing from the Fed’s emergency “discount” window. The fact that the Fed felt it couldn’t wait until its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 28-29, underscored the urgency of the situation. One of the goals of the coordinated rate cuts is to spur nervous consumers and businesses to spend more freely again. They clamped down as housing, credit and financial problems intensified last month, throwing Wall Street into chaos. Many believe the United States is on the brink of, or already in, its first recession since 2001, one that could quickly spread to other countries around the globe. The Fed’s last rate cut was in late April, capping one of the most aggressive rate-cutting campaigns in decades as it scrambled to shore up the faltering economy. After that, the Fed moved to the sidelines, holding rates steady as zooming food and energy prices during that period threatened to ignite inflation. In the past few months, energy prices have retreated from record highs reached in mid-July, giving the Fed more leeway to drop rates again. At its last meeting in September, the Fed struck a more dire tone about the economy, hinting that a rate reduction once again could be in the offing. Even with the unprecedented $700 billion financial bailout plan, the failing economy and the jobs market probably will get worse. Many believe the economy will jolt into reverse later this year — if it hasn’t already— and will stay sickly well into next year. One of the most crucial pillars of the economy — the jobs market — has cracked, and wage growth is slowing. This means that consumers will be even more hard-pressed to spend in the fashion that helps grow the economy. Increasingly skittish employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years. A staggering 760,000 jobs have disappeared so far this year. The unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, up sharply from 4.7 percent a year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate could hit 7 or 7.5 percent by late 2009. If that happens, it would mark the highest rate of joblessness since the months immediately following the 1990-91 recession. Some economists say the jobless rate could rise even more before the situation starts to get better. Mounting job losses, shrinking paychecks, shriveling nest eggs and rising foreclosures all have weighed heavily on American voters, who will be electing a new president in about four weeks. The economy is their No. 1 concern, polls have shown. The crisis was only mentioned in passing by the presidential candidates in a debate Tuesday night. Republican John McCain called for a program to stem foreclosures by requiring the federal government to renegotiate the mortgages of individual homeowners and make them more affordable, a proposal he has been promoting on the campaign trail. Democrat Barack Obama claimed the crisis was the “final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years” that President Bush pursued and were “supported by Sen. McCain,” a charge he has made before.

Luffy vs. Lucci- Down with the Sickness xTH8ffQIsO8

I can answer yer last question in three words: new world order I think the debate last night went well for Obama, not so hot for McSame. He referred to Obama as "that one", why didn't he just come out and say what he was really thinking; that nigger. Probably because the audience would have jumped him and kicked his ass. What a fuckin racist asshole. Women and minorities save yourselves, vote for "that one" next month.

if I were gonna buy stock- which I'm not- I would follow ye olde KISS (keep it simple stupid) philosophy. Wrigley gum, ya know that stuff for a quarter because its 7$ cheaper then a pack of ciggys ppl can't afford anymore & Campbells soup; it will be dinner when we can't afford hamburger anymore

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Executives Got Paid Millions While Asking for Bailout 9_KtWT6TaxU

lol

"There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action." -- Bertrand Russell Subject: What the bailout means for our future The first House vote, in which the Big Bailout failed, showed the power of overwhelming pressure. The second House vote, in which the Big Bailout passed, showed the weakness of waiting to apply such pressure at the last minute. Human psychology is such that we always want to wait to the last moment, when a deadline looms, to take action. We must overcome this aspect of our psychology if we are to prevail. If we do not, then we will always lose. It really is that simple. Things would be vastly different if the same pressure applied to Congress on the Big Bailout had been exerted much earlier to end the government policies that caused the housing bubble. Had the pressure citizens brought to bear on the Big Bailout been applied earlier, and for a long period of time, to . . . * Close the Department of Housing and Urban Development * Liquidate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac * Repeal the "Community Reinvestment Act" * Curtail or end the Federal Reserve's power to inflate credit * And repeal top-down federal accounting rules such as mark-to-market * Then there never would have been a housing bubble, a housing bust, or a justification for the Big Bailout There would have been no crisis that corporate America, the media, and the politicians, could exploit to raid the Treasury and expand government power. It really is that simple. And had the same pressure that Americans brought to bear on Congress at the time of crisis, been employed earlier to pass the "Read the Bills Act," the "One Subject at a Time Act," and the "Write the Laws Act," then it's very unlikely that the Big Bailout could have passed even after the crisis hit. Congress could not have . . . * Larded the Big Bailout bill with favors to buy the votes needed to secure passage -- the "One Subject at a Time Act" would have prevented it <https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/83> * Endured the public reading of the 400+ page bailout bill -- the requirement in our "Read the Bills Act" that all legislation be read out loud before a quorum of the House and Senate, would have made such a reading unendurable <https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/27> * Conferred power on the Treasury Department to determine so many of the details of the Big Bailout -- our "Write the Laws Act" would have prevented that, forcing Congress to make the bailout bill more detailed, and even less conducive to passage <https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/51> Had the same pressure that was brought to bear when the crisis struck, been brought to bear beforehand to . . . * End the government policies that create bubbles, and . . . * Pass the Downsize DC Agenda * There never would have been a crisis, and no Big Bailout bill either It really is that simple. We must stop playing defense at the moment of crisis, and start playing offense, forcing Congress to change bad policies IN ADVANCE, in order to AVOID crisis. This means . . . * We must recognize and control our own psychology, which leads us to put-off action until its too late. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Action in advance must become the psychology of the DC Downsizer. * We need a huge army to apply the kind of pressure that was brought to bear against the Big Bailout bill, in advance, and relentlessly, for a longer period of time * The financial resources to make our proposals seen and heard by everyone, everywhere, every day -- to counter the fear mongering of the "drama queen" media and the crisis-exploiting politicians It really is that simple. In addition, the example of the Big Bailout fight does NOT mean that we need to elect the "right people" to office. * Many of the "right people" voted the wrong way on both the policies that created the crisis, and on the Big Bailout bill. * The "right people" will almost always be corrupted by the "wrong ways" of Capitol Hill. * Even if you can find that mythical beast known as the "right person," and elect a majority of such persons to office, you will still need relentless, overwhelming, resistance numbing pressure to make the "right people" do the right thing. * Many of the "wrong people" in Congress voted the right way on the Big Bailout -- because of the pressure So why not just cut to the chase and focus on the crucial requirements -- a huge army, universal visibility, and relentless, overwhelming, resistance numbing pressure? It really is that simple. We can prevail, if we do the right things. And you can do another right thing right now by "thanking or spanking" your House Representative based on how they voted on the Big Bailout. You will find a list of the Roll Call vote below our signatures. You can send your "thank or spank" message using our free Educate the Powerful System. <https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/100> Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC army. Thank you for being a part of the solution. Jim Babka & Perry Willis President & Communications Director DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Waxman alleges bank had 'no accountability for failure' before collapse WASHINGTON - The now-bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers arranged millions in bonuses for fired executives as it pleaded for a federal lifeline, lawmakers learned Monday, as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout.The first in a series of congressional hearings on the roots of the financial meltdown yielded few major revelations about Lehman’s collapse, and none about why government officials, as they scrambled to avert economic catastrophe, declined to rescue the flagging company while injecting tens of billions of dollars into others. But it allowed lawmakers still smarting from a politically painful vote Friday for the largest federal market rescue in history to put a face on their outrage at corporate chieftains who took home hundreds of millions of dollars while betting on risky mortgage-backed investments that ultimately brought the financial system to its knees. That face was Richard S. Fuld Jr., the Lehman chief executive who sat for a two-hour-plus grilling before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as the panel combed through his pay history, management practices and financial strategies. “You made all this money by taking risks with other people’s money,” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the panel’s chairman, said. “The system worked for you, but it didn’t seem to work for the rest of the country and the taxpayers, who now have to pay $700 billion to bail out our economy.” A subdued Fuld opened his testimony declaring, “I take full responsibility for the decisions that I made and for the actions that I took,” but he conceded no errors or misjudgments in the chaotic period that led to the firm’s bankruptcy. And he said a compensation system that he estimated paid him about $350 million between 2000 and 2007 even as the company headed for disaster was appropriate. “We had a compensation committee that spent a tremendous amount of time making sure that the interests of the executives and the employees were aligned with shareholders,” Fuld said. That wasn’t good enough for some lawmakers who decried what they called a culture of entitlement at Lehman even as the company’s performance nosedived. The panel unearthed internal documents showing that on Sept. 11, Lehman planned to approve “special payments” worth $18.2 million for two executives who were terminated involuntarily, and another $5 million for one who was leaving on his own. That was just four days before the government let Lehman go under, touching off a cascading series of financial shocks and failures that put Washington on track for the multibillion-dollar rescue the Bush administration urgently requested from Congress at the end of that week. On Wall Street, uncertainty Monday about the effectiveness of the rescue sent the Dow Jones industrials sinking below 10,000 for the first time in four years. Investors fear the crisis will weigh down the global economy and the bailout won’t work quickly to loosen credit markets. The bailout, now law, was so rushed that the usual congressional scrutiny is only coming now, after the fact. “Although it comes too late to help Lehman Brothers, the so-called bailout program will have to make wrenching choices, picking winners and losers from a shattered and fragile economic landscape,” said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, the committee’s senior Republican. Fuld said Lehman did everything it could to limit its risks and save itself. It failed, he said, because of a “crisis in confidence” on Wall Street, market manipulation in which investors preyed on distressed financial players by betting on their demise, and would-be buyers who waited for the government to step in to help fund a sale. CONTINUED 'This is a pain that will stay with me'1 | 2 | Next > I watched some of this live on CNN earlier and my smile got bigger every time the maggot squirmed. Come to my poor ass for a handout when you have an art collection worth millions..... wow fuck off buddy

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article LONDON - Asian and European stock markets plunged Monday as government bank bailouts in the U.S. and Europe failed to alleviate fears that the global financial crisis would depress world economic growth.Investors took scant comfort from Washington’s passage of a $700 billion plan to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry on Friday because of the uncertainty still hanging over the details of the deal and the degree to which it will help. Britain’s benchmark stock index, the FTSE 100, lost 220.11 to 4,760.14 — a 4.42 percent fall. The declines were led by the banking industry, with the mining and oil industries also suffering drops. HBOS PLC’s share price dropped 15.7 percent, while the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC fell 13.6 percent. Germany’s DAX index fell 4.22 percent to 5,552.27. France’s CAC-40 index dropped 4.85 percent to 3,882.81. In Russia, the RTS stock index tumbled more than 7 percent in first 20 minutes of trading. Over the weekend, many European governments moved to save troubled banks, and made more promises to protect depositors from the credit crisis. Germany on Sunday agreed a 50 billion euros ($68 billion) package to bail out Hypo Real Estate, the country’s second-biggest commercial property lender, after a rescue plan by private lenders fell apart. France’s BNP Paribas SA committed to taking a 75-percent stake in troubled European bank Fortis N, and Sweden and Denmark followed Ireland and Britain in raising the amount of savers’ deposits guaranteed by the government. Britain’s treasury chief Alistair Darling said he was “ready to do whatever it takes” to get the country through the credit crunch, and was looking at a “range of proposals.” But analysts said that, like the U.S. plan, the lack of detail in many of Europe’s moves failed to restore investors’ confidence, resulting in the stock market tumbles. “What the markets need are some more details about exactly when and how these plans are going to come in,” said Richard Hunter, head of British equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, “And they need some proof that some of these measures are taking hold.” Across Asia, all markets were also in the red. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell to its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, sinking 4.25 percent to 10,473.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 5 percent to 16,803.76. Markets in mainland China, Australia, South Korea, India, Singapore and Thailand also fell sharply. Indonesia’s key index plummeted 10 percent, it’s biggest one-day drop ever. In Russia, the RTS stock index tumbled more than 7 percent in first 20 minutes of trading. “Everyone is losing confidence,” said Mark Tan, who helps manage about $20 billion of equities and bonds at UOB Asset Management in Singapore. “The problem now is that the lack of foreign confidence could affect the Asian consumer, which would lead to a bigger slowdown in Asia than expected.” “This credit crunch looks like it’s not going away any time soon,” said Alex Tang, head of research at brokerage Core Pacific-Yamaichi in Hong Kong. “Apart from a credit crunch in Europe, investors are quite concerned about the worsening outlook on the U.S. economy.” Investors appeared spooked by a series of developments out of Europe over the weekend. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said Sunday that France’s BNP Paribas SA had committed to taking a 75-percent stake in troubled European bank Fortis NV. British treasury chief Alistair Darling also said he was ready to take “pretty big steps that we wouldn’t take in ordinary times” to help the country weather the credit crunch. The outlook for the U.S. economy darkened after figures released Friday showed that 159,000 jobs in the U.S. were lost last month, the fastest pace in more than five years. Such concerns overshadowed any investor optimism over the U.S. House of Representatives’ approval Friday of a massive bailout plan that will allow the U.S. government to buy distressed mortgages and securities backed by mortgages from banks and other financial institutions. Investors questioned how long it would take for the package to unfreeze credit markets, restore bank lending and generally shore up the U.S. economy. “The market had already figured in the package’s passage,” said Yukio Takahashi at Shinko Securities Co. in Tokyo. “There are strong doubts about its implementation.” Japanese financial companies and industries dependent on exports, such as steel, were especially hard hit Monday. Nippon Steel Corp. stock tumbled 9.8 percent, while Mizuho Financial Group was down 8.3 percent in morning trading. Trading in mainland China resumed after a weeklong holiday break with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sinking 5.2 percent to 2,173 by midafternoon. Banks and other financial shares saw heavy declines. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank fell 7 percent and Bank of China slipped 3.6. Shares of Ping An Insurance Co. rose even after it said Monday it will record a $2.3 billion loss on its stake in European bank Fortis in the biggest blow yet to a Chinese institution from the global credit crisis. Ping An’s shares were up 1.6 percent. In currencies, the euro slid to $1.3570 from $1.3774 late Friday. But the dollar was weaker against the yen, falling to 103.66 from 105.30 yen late Friday. Oil prices tumbled on speculation that slower global growth will cut crude demand. Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $3.23 to $90.65 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

article NEW YORK - Wall Street tumbled Monday, joining a selloff around the world as fears grew that the financial crisis will cascade through economies globally despite bailout efforts by the U.S. and other governments. The Dow Jones industrials skidded more than 400 points and fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years, while the credit markets remained under strain. The markets have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue plan won't work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks are still having difficulty gaining access to cash. That's caused investors to exit stocks and move money into the relative safety of government debt. Over the weekend, governments across Europe rushed to prop up failing banks. The German government and financial industry agreed on a $68 billion bailout for commercial-property lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, while France's BNP Paribas agreed to acquire a 75 percent stake in Fortis's Belgium bank after a government rescue failed. The governments of Germany, Ireland and Greece also said they would guarantee bank deposits. The Federal Reserve also took fresh steps to help ease seized-up credit markets. The central bank said Monday it will begin paying interest on commercial banks' reserves and will expand its loan program to squeezed banks. Investors took a bleak view of the future, seeing no end to the crisis in the near term. But analysts were more optimistic. "These programs are going to be effective I believe," said Rob Lutts, chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management. "Shorter term we're in a very challenging environment that's going to take a while." In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 403.65, or 3.91 percent, to 9,921.73, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since Oct. 29, 2004. At one point, the Dow was down more than 400. Broader indexes also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 51.71, or 4.70 percent, to 1,047.52; and the Nasdaq composite index fell 95.83, or 4.92 percent, to 1,851.56. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 28.78, or 4.65 percent, to 590.62. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed 4.25 percent lower. Europe's stock markets also declined, with the FTSE-100 down 3.24 percent, Germany's DAX down 5.28 percent, and France's CAC-40 down 5.60 percent. The anxiety was again obvious in the credit markets. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill slipped to 0.38 percent from 0.50 percent late Friday. Demand for bills remains high because of their safety; investors are willing to take extremely low returns just to have their money in a secure place. Investors also moved into longer-term Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 3.52 percent from 3.60 percent late Friday. Banks' hesitation to lend to one another and to many businesses and individuals is the result of the bad mortgage debt that the financial rescue is supposed to sweep up. But it's still unclear how quickly financial institutions will be able to hand that debt to the U.S. government and convince the markets they are healthy again. There has been some hope that perhaps the Fed, in concert with other central banks, might cut interest rates to help stimulate the economy. With oil prices well off their midsummer highs and indicators pointing to a slower economy, the Fed's worries about inflation are less than they had been, making it easier to justify a rate cut. Oil prices fell to an eight-month low below $90 a barrel on speculation that the spreading financial crisis will exacerbate a global economic slowdown and further cut demand for crude oil. Light, sweet crude tumbled $3.82 to $90.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors might get some indication about a potential rate cut with several policymakers slated to speak this week. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak on the U.S. economy on Monday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on Tuesday. Frederick Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., believes investors are eager for any signs about the well being of the economy. "Wall Street at this point is shifting its attention from whether Congress was going to act on the emergency stabilization bill to the realization that the economy is slowing significantly faster than most analysts had expected," he said. "The downturn has shifted from first gear to about third gear in about two weeks." In corporate news, ailing Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. received a $2.5 billion investment from European insurer Allianz. Hartford's market value was halved last week on concerns it needed more capital to survive, but shares recovered $4.53, or 16.5 percent, to $31.93 on Monday. EBay Inc. fell $1.14, or 6 percent, to $17.81 after announcing it will cut about 1,000 jobs, reducing its work force by 10 percent, to streamline the company. The online auction site expects restructuring charges of about $70 million to $80 million, mostly during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Co. said late Sunday its takeover agreement with Wachovia Corp. will go forward after a state appeals court blocked a lower court ruling that favored rival bidder Citigroup Inc. Wells Fargo said it will "continue working toward the completion of its firm, binding merger agreement" with Wachovia.Shares of Wells Fargo rose 6 cents to $34.68, while Citi fell 64 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $17.78. Wachovia fell 18 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $6.03. Eli Lilly & Co. said its board approved an acquisition of ImClone Systems Inc. for more than $6 billion. The deal, which also has been approved by ImClone's board, will create one of the leading oncology franchises in the biopharmaceutical industry. Eli Lilly fell $1.53, or 3.7 percent, to $39.75, while ImClone surged $2.80, or 4.3 percent, to $67.75.