Archive for December, 2007

Barclays Sues Bear Stearns

Title: US District Court, Southern District of New York
Parties: Barclays Bank, PLC vs Bear Stearns, et al
Filed: December 19, 2007

Complaint ~ Part 1
Complaint ~ Part 2
Exhibit A1-3
Exhibit B1-4
Exhibit C1-5

Bear Stearns Hires Law Firm to Investigate Ailing Hedge Fund Investments While Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Receives $3 Billion Bailout
Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge - Insurance & Reinsurance Blog (20 Aug 2007)

Improving My Gas Mileage

For the last year, several members of the Solari network have been lobbying me to try Fuel Freedom International’s MPG-CAPSâ„¢. These are small caplets that are added to my gas which improve mileage and engine performance and reduce emissions. I bought some but postponed trying them as I am particularly fond of my car. It has taken me over 200,000 miles through many amazing adventures since 2000 without complaint. I did not want to put a strange item in my gas tank without recommendations and more education from someone who I know well and trust.

I drove up to Philadelphia, Vermont and Boston to visit with family during the holidays, landing in New Jersey to spend Christmas with long standing allies Eunice Boston and Courtney McFarquhar. They sat me down and walked me through all the materials, products and their experience with FFI and MPG-CAPSâ„¢. I had mine in my car with me so I used them on the 1100 mile drive returning to my home in Tennessee.

Courtney says the company guarantees a 7-14% improvement or you get your money back. I estimate I got a 20% improvement in mileage, my engine performance was noticeably better and it seemed to me that fumes were reduced. So I am going to keep using them.

Courtney assures me that the product works for both gas and diesel and there is liquid product MPG-BOOSTâ„¢ that makes fine tuning the additions to your tank easier for trucks, farm equipment, etc. I brought some of
the liquid home to give to trucking and farming family and friends to try.

Given the speed at which the Federal Reserve is pumping the money supply, a 7-14%+ improvement may not offset all the price increases coming in energy costs this year, but it sure helps.

If you want to learn more or order, here are Eunice and Courtney’s contact information.

For Individuals:

Eunice Boston
Phone Number: 646.533.9756
E-mail: ebostonton@aol.com
Online Ordering:
www.eboston.myffi.biz

For more on Eunice Boston for those who need facilities management services in the New York area, click here.

For Businesses, Municipalities and Commercial Applications:

Courtney McFarquhar
Phone Number: 718.865.7730
E-mail: mcfarka55@msn.com
Online Ordering:
www.mcfarka55intl.myffi.biz

Top Picks ~ Week of December 24, 2007

Money & Markets

Dollar’s Shares of Currency Reserves Falls to Record Low
By Christopher Swan - Bloomberg News (28 Dec 2007)

Exit U.S.
By Mike Muehleck posted by Eric Fry - the Rude Awakening (27 Nov 2007)

Bear Stearns Hires Law Firm to Investigate Ailing Hedge Fund Investments While Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Receives $3 Billion Bailout
Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge - Insurance & Reinsurance Blog (20 Aug 2007)

Background Information on the Euro And Euro Area
Press Release: European Union - Scoop Independent News (22 Dec 2007)

Swiss Banking Watchdog Snaps at Heels of UBS
By Robin Pagnamenta & Suzy Jagger - Times Online (24 Dec 2007)

Unpaid Credit Cards Bedevil Americans
By Rachel Konrad & Bob Porterfield - Associated Press (23 Dec 2007)

Fed Promises Infinite Money as Long as Banks Want It
By Liz Capo McCormick - Bloomberg News (21 Dec 2007)

As Governments Shower Money on Them, Banks Drop Subprime Rescue Fund
By David Enrich & Diya Gullapalli - Wall Street Journal (21 Dec 2007)

Central Banks Give Biggest Liquidity Boost Ever
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - London Telegraph (20 Dec 2007)

FDIC Proposes Bank Failure Rule Changes
Associated Press (20 Dec 2007)

Crisis May Make 1929 Look Like a Walk in the Park
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - London Telegraph (22 Dec 2007)

Saudis May Start Buying Real Stuff in a Big Way Instead of Treasuries
By Henny Sender, et al - Financial Times, London (21 Dec 2007)
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Food & Health

Bush Administration Supports Nazi-Style Experiments on US Children
A Google Video - Brass Check TV

Court Says USDA Violated Law in Approving GE Alfalfa
By Ken Roseboro - Organic Consumers Association (Mar 2007)
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Life

The List: Odds of Dying in U.S. By Cause of Death
The Progressive Review - Undernews (24 Dec 2007)

The Odds of Dying
By Robert Roy Britt - LiveScience Senior Writer (6 Jan 2005)

America’s Most Literate Cities, 2007
A Study by Dr. John W. Miller - Central Connecticut State University

The Death of High Fidelity
By Robert Levine - Rolling Stone (26 Dec 2007)

Sustainable Stewardship: Historic Preservation’s Essential Role in Fighting Climate Change
By Richard Moe - National Trust for Historic Preservation (13 Dec 2007)

The Most Expensive States for Speeding Tickets 2007
By Tom Van Riper - Forbes.com (20 Dec 2007)

Bird Formations ~ A Google Video

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Geopolitical

Hoover’s Letter to Truman’s Special Consultant
Washington (7 Jul 1950)

Marijuana Arrests for Year 2006 - 828,625 - Tops Record High, Nearly 6% Increase Over 2005
NORML News (24 Sep 2007)

Good and Evil at the Center of the Earth: A Quechua Christmas Carol
By Greg Palast - Greg Palast.com (24 Dec 2007)

Run Silent, Run Drugs: The Cocaine Sub Fleet
By Brian Ross & Len Tepper - abc News (20 Dec 2007)

CIA Torture Jet Wrecks with 4 Tons Cocaine
By redstatehatemonitor - Daily Kos (12 Dec 2007)

FBI Aims for World’s Largest Biiometrics Database
By Rachelle Younglai - Reuters (22 Dec 2007)

None Survive Turkish Plane Crash
By Sabrina Tavernise - New York Times (1 Dec 2007)
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“He reads. He reads…everything.”

In 1984, I gave away my television after overhearing a conversation about the subliminal programing and entrainment technology being rolled out to manage public opinion through television. Not being someone who
appreciates interference with my intelligence and ability to understand the world around me and act in accordance with my values and goals, I decided to just start getting more of my information by reading. As my understanding of the material omissions in corporate media grew, I slowly began to switch from newspapers and magazines to books and then to the Internet as information became available through the web. While the new growth in documentaries has won some of my time away from reading, I still read significant amounts of books and written reports. Indeed, one of my favorite lines in the movies comes from Three Days of the Condor. One senior US intelligence leader asks another how an analyst played by Robert Redford who has been been targeted for elimination is managing to outwit their best field agents and assassins. The response is “He reads. He reads…everything.”

Here is a report from the New Yorker that adds some reasons why you may want to do the same.

Twilight of the Books
By Caleb Crain - The New Yorker (24 Dec 2007)

Is Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal in Play?

Pakistan Nuclear Weapons at Play
By Newsmax Staff - Newsmax.com (27 Dec 2007)

Pakistan and Weapons of Mass Destruction
At Wikipedia

—-

A Wish…


It’s Catherine’s birthday today!

Winter Wonderland


I drove up through Vermont to New Hampshire to visit my aunt and uncle.
They were just plowing out from three large snowfalls. The trees and ground are covered with snow. The air is clear and crisp. It’s easy to dream of a white Christmas in a world that is so beautiful.

Top Picks ~ Week of December 17, 2007

Money & Markets


China Takes 10% Stake in Morgan Stanley to Cover Junk Mortgages
By Joseph A. Giannone - Reuters (19 Dec 2007)

Credit Crisis Hits Top US Bond Insurer
By Stephen Bernard - Associated Press (21 Dec 2007)

Credit Crisis to Become Lawyers’ Picnic as Banks Face Class-Action Claims
By Tom Bawden - Times Online, New York (21 Dec 2007)

Putin, the Kremlin Power Struggle and the $40bn Fortune
By Luke Harding - Guardian Unlimited (21 Dec 2007)

Vladimir Putin Interview with Time Magazine
Press Release: Government of Russia (20 Dec 2007)

Elitists Consider Assassinating Ron Paul
By Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet (14 Dec 2007)

Ron Paul on Mad Money w/Jim Cramer
Video at YouTube (14 Dec 2007)

Present Day DOJ/CIA Collusion?
Congress, Bush in Clash Over CIA Interrogation Tapes
Associated Press (15 Dec 2007)

Deepcaster Letter Details How US Government Manipulates Major Markets
By Chris Powell - GATA (15 Dec 2007)

Call to Relax Basel Banking Rules
By Edmund Conway - London Telegraph (16 Dec 2007)

Content Islanders Reject Capitalism for Traditional Trade
By Nick Squires - New Zealand Herald (12 Dec 2007)

Schwarzenegger Will ‘Declare Fiscal Emergency’ In Weeks
NBC11.com (14 Dec 2007)

Are Commodities a Bubble Ready to Burst?
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - London Telegraph (18 Dec 2007)

Citi Launches $49bn SIV Rescue [Register to view full article.]
By David Wighton - Financial Times, New York (14 Dec 2007)

Broker Charged With Defrauding School Districts
From the Associated Press - Observer-Reporter.coom (12 Dec 2007)

Weak Dollar Restores Health to Wide Range of Exporters
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - London Telegraph (19 Dec 2007)

‘Helicopter money’ Is So Passe; This is a Fleet of C-17s
Investors Stunned by ECB’s E350 Billion
By Ralph Atkins, et al - Financial Times, London (18 Dec 2007)

Another Wave of Food Price Inflation Is On The Way
By Javier Blas, et al - Financial Times, London (16 Dec 2007)
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Precious Metals

Ecuador Seeks to Tax Miners’ Winfall Revenue
By Alonso Soto - Reuters (18 Dec 2007)
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Food & Health

Hungry Times for Area Food Banks
By Alfred Lubrano, et al - Philly.com (Dec 07)

Inside the Ontario Food Terminal
A blog post by Tim (7 Oct 2007)
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Life

Clam, 405, is Oldest Animal Ever
By Richard Alleyne - London Telegraph (31 Oct 2007)

Amazing Grace History
At YouTube - By Wintley Phipps

Scientists Seek to Help ‘Locked-in’ Man Speak
By Yvonne S. Lee - CNN (14 Dec 2007)

Popular Science Innovation of the Year: Nanosolar Powersheet
Ministry of Tech (12 Nov 2007)

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Geopolitical

Ron Paul

Statement Introducing the Free Competition in Currency Act
Rep. Ron Paul, MD (13 Dec 2007)

Slave Labour That Shames America
By Leonard Doyle - The Independent (19 Dec 2007)

Nick from Philly911Truth.org Visited by Secret Service
We Are Change Blog (14 Dec 2007)

NYCLU Sues NYPD for Harassing Photographers
At NYCLU website (6 Dec 2007)

Israel: US Report on Iran May Spark War
By Laurie Copans - Associated Press (15 Dec 2007)

6 States Defy Law Requiring ID Cards
By Thomas Frank - USA Today (18 Dec 2007)

WW1 Letter Found 93 Years Later
From BBC News (14 Dec 2007)
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Get Data

Playa Cofi Jukebox ~ Top 100 Songs forom the Golden Years of Pop Music
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Winter Solstice

From Wikipedia: The winter solstice occurs the instant when the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice occurs during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year. Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant, the term is also used to refer to the full day and night (24hrs) within which the event occurs. A more accurate usage might be the “day of the winter solstice” or the “night of/before the winter solstice”. Winter Solstice is a controversial subject, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark the beginning or middle of a hemisphere’s Winter and so there is much argument about when it starts. Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but Winter Solstice is clearly defined.

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (Sun) and sistere (stand still), Winter Solstice meaning Sun stand still in winter.

The Winter Solstice can occur on the shortest day or longest night of the year but this is not the same as darkest morning or darkest evening which occur on different days.

Our wonderful ally, Caroline Casey, reminded us of the story of Persephone and the role that we each play in reconciling overt and covert, light and dark.

“As she was gathering flowers with her playmates in a meadow, the earth opened and Pluto, god of the dead, appeared and carried her off to be his queen in the world below. … Torch in hand, her sorrowing mother sought her through the wide world, and finding her not she forbade the earth to put forth its increase. So all that year not a blade of corn grew on the earth, and men would have died of hunger if Zeus had not persuaded Pluto to let Persephone go. But before he let her go Pluto made her eat the seed of a pomegranate, and thus she could not stay away from him for ever. So it was arranged that she should spend two-thirds (according to later authors, one-half) of every year with her mother and the heavenly gods, and should pass the rest of the year with Pluto beneath the earth. … As wife of Pluto, she sent spectres, ruled the ghosts, and carried into effect the curses of men.” ~ The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica account of the myth.

The Checklist

The Checklist
If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do?
By Atul Gawande - The New Yorker (10 Dec 2007)

“If a new drug were as effective at saving lives as Peter Pronovost’s checklist, there would be a nationwide marketing campaign urging doctors to use it.”