Saturday, June 13, 2009

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Holly Cara Price: Weekend Horoscoop* for June 13-14, 2009 ~ junie moon edition Top
March 21 - April 19 Aries Yon adventurous Aries folks will no doubt find the Peace Fountain , located next to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in upper Manhattan, fascinating - as I did on a recent re-visit there with my friend Buffalo Jill . Greg Wyatt , the artist and sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral, intended the piece to depict the struggle of good and evil as seen through the battle of wills between Satan and the Archangel Michael. I can't even begin to describe this sculpture, as it has to be seen to be believed. Around the plaza where the fountain resides are a number of plaques with pithy quotes by gifted thinkers like Einstein, Socrates , and John Lennon . The plaque below the fountain itself says, in part: Peace Fountain celebrates the triumph of Good over Evil, and sets before us the world's opposing forces--violence and harmony, light and darkness, life and death--which God reconciles in his peace. April 20 - May 20 Taurus To those stubborn Taureans out there; indulge your love of comfort and luxury for a change. I know you're all hey there's a recession on and suchlike and I get that; but once in a great while you have to live the way you want your life to be rather than the way it is - even if only for a few minutes a week. And when you're in this mode, rub some creamy sweet-smelling shea butter into your skin. Shea butter contains Vitamins A, E, and F and has healing properties that address various ailments like dry skin, burns, muscle aches, wrinkles, and rashes. Shea Yeleen International is a company that makes shea body butter, body balm, and lip balm and, being a fair trade cooperative, they also funnel half of the retail price back into the communities that made the products. SYI 's mission is to promote sustainable economic development and empower women in rural West Africa through organizing and training women owned cooperatives to produce, market, and sell high quality shea butter; and educate consumers in the U.S. about natural body care products and fair trade. May 21 - June 20 Gemini Yes, it's that time. Gemini Time. Brink of Summer Time. And time, once again, for us to check in with the Goddess of Ganja, Nancy Botwin . Weeds has returned. I'll be recapping each episode weekly on the Huffington Post throughout Season Five - first installment here . I'll also be picking a 420 moment during each episode as well. If you've never been a stoner you won't get that reference, so feel free to google it at your leisure. Anyway, to be brief, Nancy's life has been spared since she's carrying the spawn of her Mexican drug lord BF - Celia's been kidnapped by her own daughter, the Mighty Quinn, who's been living in Mexico since she was sent there for boarding school - young Shane is following his brother into the family business - and that's only a few strands of the plotline. Viva the wacky world that Jenji Kohan created, and stop by for a visit Monday nights at 10PM on Showtime . (Followed by the great new show Nurse Jackie , starring a very different Edie Falco than her last incarnation as Carmela Soprano ). June 21 - July 22 Cancer So put this on your calendar because it's a great birthday present for you Cancerians . Under the Covers Volume 2 (Shout Factory) by Sid and Susie , that is to say, Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs , will be released on July 21 . The first volume in 2006 was rife with great 60's pop songs like And Your Bird Can Sing (Lennon/McCartney), Monday, Monday (John Phillips), Different Drum (Mike Nesmith), Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young), Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Sandy Denny) and many more. May I say that anyone who brings back the great Sandy Denny, and that song in particular, into the public consciousness deserves multiple thanks in my book. Vol. 2 includes 16 fantastic songs from the 1970's - everything from Sugar Magnolia to Maggie May to Beware of Darkness . Thanks as always to the learned Sal Nunziato and his extremely necessary music blog Burning Wood for this great news. July 23 - August 22 Leo Faithful, yet intolerant. Creative, yet patronizing. That is the eternal dichotomy of Leo . Seems to me that you conflicted souls would enjoy Susan McCorkindale 's terrific autobiographical tale of leaving the city behind for a quieter, simpler, possibly boring as hell life in the country, Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl . McCorkindale, former marketing director for Family Circle Magazine , left her fabulous New York City six-figure job behind to go with her husband and two sons to live on a 500-acre beef farm in rural Virginia. This book is about her struggle to assimilate in a very different world and it will leave you howling. Check out her blog . Follow her twitter feed ("Husband's making hay. Kids are making a mess. And I'm making margaritas. Just another smokin' Friday night on the farm."). August 23 - September 22 Virgo And speaking of twitter feeds... yes, I've gone down that daisy path, like many of you -obsessive Virgo or not. I follow feeds as diverse as The Onion to NPR to Rachel Maddow to Perez Hilton . I pick 'em, I read 'em, sometimes I keep 'em, sometimes I unsub, most times I don't. It's like a moving haiku billboard. Sometimes they're so great that I need to tell the world about 'em. Such is the case with SustainableDump , the fabulous feed of journalist/culinary student Kathleen Willcox . KW's feed delivers substainable food news, plus oatmeal recipes. How about the 411 on the ingredients of Sara Lee bread? Or the scoop on conscientious cacao? All here, plus this - oatmeal du jour: toasted then cooked in light coconut milk with chilies (I plucked 'em out before slurping it up), salt, brown sugar. Check out more of Kathleen's erudite gems on the Eat Me Daily group blog and catch her delicious review of David Liebovitz's new memoir, The Sweet Life in Paris , at the Daily Beast . September 23 - October 22 Libra This one's in honor of my Libran cat, Mr. Boy , a healthy and robust five and a half year old tabby. He's lived with me since last year when I got him as a rescue pet. I recently had to take him to the vet, which is not the easiest task when a cat weighs 15 pounds and really doesn't want to leave the house for any reason, ever, since he is king of the castle here. A friend told me about Pet Taxi and we tried them out and now I want to tell you about how great they are. They offer local service in Manhattan and will take your furry companion anywhere from Soho to Singapore, door to door. They transport dogs, cats, and exotic animals to and from airports, kennels, vets, groomers - with or without you along. They can arrange for your pet to travel by air - from shots, to paperwork, to the plane. They also operate a Hampton Petney shuttle service in the summer. Mr. Boy and I enjoyed them immensely. October 23 - November 21 Scorpio Since Halloween falls within the dates of this sign, it's no surprise that Scorpios tend to gravitate to the beauty of forgotten places, the poetry of decay. On her spooky beautiful site abandoned theaters , photographer Julia Solis presents a number of photo essays about the dark and quiet places where people used to live their lives, the places that have not yet been torn down, empty yet still breathing. Check out Detroit Wonderland : Snapshots of Detroit's notoriously spectacular decay, with sidetrips to plywood, glamour, industry and playtime somewhere along the merry long haul. Draw in your breath at the image of an empty baby carriage in the shadow of an abandoned train station. And the crumbling façade of the Hotel Ft. Shelby. The spooky hallways of an empty office tower. The echoing silence of a mental hospital power plant. The screaming orange booths of an old restaurant, covered with concrete dust. Thank you Amanda Palmer for turning me on to this site via twitter . November 22 - December 21 Sagittarius It's a known fact that Sagittarians love good and plentiful food and drink. So I have one word for you people: Zingerman's . For those of you who don't live in or near Ann Arbor, Michigan, this word may require an explanation. Think deli. Think roadhouse. Think coffee. Think creamery. Think catering. Think bakehouse. Think mail order : extraordinary, traditionally-made tasty gifts sent all across the U.S. There's surely no occasion that would not be enlivened by utilizing the Z-word. There's still time to order up a fabulous Father's Day gift if you hurry (how about a Phantom of the Fridge Secret Stash ?), or go a little nuts with some Hazelnut Spread from France, or carbo load supremely with a subscription to the Bread Club (Did someone say Parmesan Pepper? Roadhouse Rye? Chocolate Sourdough?). Thanks to another ex-Michigander, Paige , for this tip! December 22 - January 19 Capricorn Work, work, work. Sound familiar, O Capricorn ? Are you starting to feel a little tired? A little crispy around the edges? Irritable? Sad? Worried? Scared? Take the time to read Dr. Judith Rich 's 7 Keys For Living The Passionate Life . Dr. Rich, currently living with breast cancer, says " I am growing older, but I'm not growing old. Old happens when we stop being curious about life ." My favorite is key #3, partially quoted here: Let yourself be moved - Allow life to transport and expand you. Let it open you, touch you . . . Be moved to tears at the magic and mystery of it all. Life is so much bigger and grander than you can possibly imagine. That's what it's all about. And you know it, deep down in your real true heart. January 20 - February 18 Aquarius When the power of love is greater than the love of power, then the world will know peace - Jimi Hendrix . This Aquarian -themed quote is prominently featured on the website/blog of the Petal Belle Café in Soho, located on Sullivan Street near West Houston, right across from St. Anthony's Church. A nosh at this teensy eensy beensy café is like stepping back in time, or perhaps going to Europe and sitting in a café off the town square in Vienna or Brussels. Have a red velvet cupcake or a roast pork sandwich with mesclun and pesto on rustic bread or a coconut flavored Belgian waffle sprinkled with powdered sugar. Get on their email list for notices about future classes on cupcake making. Follow their twitter feed to find out when Enrique will be doing tarot readings. Tarot plus cappuccino, does it get better than that? February 19 - March 20 Pisces If I was to guess, I'd say Sookie Stackhouse was a classic Pisces . She's a dreamer. An intuitive. A sensitive human being with an old soul. And it's time for us to be sucked up (sorry) into her rural Louisiana world again as this Sunday night, June 14, Alan Ball 's True Blood returns to HBO with its second season. If you haven't scoped this show yet, give it a chance. Anna Paquin is delightful as Sookie, Stephen Moyer as Bill is way sexy and kind of the dream boyfriend (if you can live with his being dead, that is), Rutina Wesley is outstanding as Sookie's bedeviled best friend Tara, and Nelsan Ellis as drug dealer / short order cook Lafayette is magnificent. Add to that some of the best music scoring on any television show and I'm there. You should be too. Sunday nights at 9pm on HBO .
 
Mark Pasetsky: Dustin Lance Black Nude Photos: Perez Hilton Crosses Line by Posting Top
Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black's private photos of him having sex with an ex-boyfriend were posted on Perez Hilton. Sadly, Black was photographed having unsafe sex and while that's obviously not smart -- it's Perez Hilton who once again has crossed the line and has shown that he is a complete hypocrite. Why is it okay for Perez Hilton to post these pictures? Here is his rationale: We'll say it again, no matter WHO you are, do NOT take naked pictures of yourself or make a sex tape. It WILL get out there, even if you're not famous now and never think you will be. They will get out there and everyone at your work, in your team, in your dorm will find out. Good advice -- but that doesn't mean you have to post them Perez! You are crossing the line. At what point did you think pressing the publish button was a good idea? Plus, you do realize that kids read your site and the Black's mistake of having unprotected sex will lead many kids to believe that having unsafe sex is okay. Not only does Perez show his complete lack of good judgment, he demonstrates the highest level of hypocrisy. On the one hand, Perez is bashing the former Miss California Carrie Prejean for not supporting gay marriage. Meanwhile, he intentionally brings down a gay man who made a mistake in the privacy of his own home -- which will only make it harder for gays in this country to secure equal rights. It's a sad day for Dustin Lance Black -- but I'm convinced he will quickly move past this embarrassment and continue his meaningful work for the gay community. But, it's an even sadder day for Perez Hilton, who clearly has lost any sense of right versus wrong. FYI: Here is Black's response to the unfortunate incident: It is unfortunate that individuals and other outside parties are trying to profit from material which is clearly private," Black said in the statement released to E! Online. "I have had the privilege to speak to people across the country, both gay and straight, on a number of critical issues including safe sex. More important than the embarrassment of this incident is the misleading message these images send. I apologize and cannot emphasize enough the importance of responsible sexual practices. Do you think Perez was wrong to post the pictures? VOTE HERE and sound off below!
 
Bill Mann: Americans Who've Used Canada's Health-Care System Respond to Current Big-Lie Media Campaign Top
The scare ads and op-ed pieces featuring Canadians telling us American how terrible their government health-care systems have arrived - predictably. There's another, factual view - by those of us Americans who've lived in Canada and used their system. My wife and I did for years , and we've been incensed by the lies we've heard back here in the U.S. about Canada's supposedly broken system. It's not broken - and what's more, Canadians like and fiercely defend it. Example: Our son was born at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. My wife got excellent care. The total bill for three days in a semi-private room? $21. My friend Art Finley is a West Virginia native who lives in Vancouver. "I'm 82, and in excellent health," he told me this week. "It costs me all of $57 a month for health care, and it's excellent. I'm so tired of all the lies and bullshit I hear about the system up here in the U.S. media." Finley, a well-known TV and radio host for years in San Francisco, adds, "I now have 20/20 vision thanks to Canadian eye doctors. And I haven't had to wait for my surgeries, either." A Canadian-born doctor wrote a hit piece for Wingnut Central (the Wall Street Journal op-ed page) this week David Gratzer claimed: "Everyone in Canada is covered by a single payer -- the government. But Canadians wait for practically any procedure or diagnostic test or specialist consultation in the public system." Vancouverite Finley: "That's sheer b.s." I heard Gratzer say the same thing on Seattle radio station KIRO this week. Trouble is, it's nonsense. We were always seen promptly by our doctors in Montreal, many of whom spoke both French and English. Today, we live within sight of the Canadian border in Washington state, and still spend lots of time in Canada. Five years ago, while we were on vacation in lovely Nova Scotia, the Canadian government released a long-awaited major report from a federal commission studying the Canadian single-payer system. We were listening to CBC Radio the day the big study came out. The study's conclusion: While the system had flaws, none was so serious it couldn't be fixed. Then the CBC opened the lines to callers across Canada. Here it comes, I thought. The usual talk-show torrent of complaints and anger about the report's findings. I wish Americans could have heard this revealing show. For the next two hours, scores of Canadians called from across that vast country, from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Not one said he or she would change the system. Every single one defended it vigorously. The Greatest Canadian Ever Further proof: Not long ago, the CBC asked Canadians to nominate and then vote for The Greatest Canadian in history. Thousands responded. The winner? Not Wayne Gretzky , as I expected (although the hockey great DID make the Top 10). Not even Alexander Graham Bell, another finalist. The greatest Canadian ever? Tommy Douglas. Who? Tommy Douglas was a Canadian politician - and the father of Canadian universal health care. More on Wall Street Journal
 
Daniel Kessler: Shoe Company Leather Supplier Gets World Bank Funds Yanked Top
Late last night the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank, withdrew its $90 million dollar loan to Brazil's cattle giant Bertin. The loan was used for the company to further expand into the Amazon region, which was causing destruction of the rainforest and fueling global climate change. While on one hand Lula's government was making commitments to reduce deforestation rates in the Amazon, on the other hand the IFC was helping to expand the Brazilian cattle sector which is now the largest single source of deforestation in the world. Globally forest destruction accounts for almost 20 percent of global warming causing emissions, which is more climate pollution than all the world's cars, trucks, trains, planes, and ships combined. Brazil ranks as the world's fourth biggest climate polluter, largely because of Amazon destruction. Although the IFC published a benign statement on its website late last night about the terms of the cancellation, this announcement comes just two weeks after the release of the " Slaughtering the Amazon " report. The Greenpeace report revealed how the financial backing of the Brazilian cattle industry by the IFC and President Lula's government via its national development bank (BNDES) has led the industry to become the largest single source of deforestation in the world and a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. The report also shows how cattle products from ranches involved in illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest --as well as in the invasion of indigenous lands and slavery--contaminates the supply chains of top brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Timberland, Geox, Clarks, Nike, Carrefour, Gucci, IKEA, Kraft, and Wal-Mart. By helping Bertin to expand into the Amazon, the IFC has been driving further destruction of the rainforest for products that often make their way into global meat or leather products while undermining Brazil's commitments to reducing deforestation. For a bank that portrays itself as the "knowledge bank", this was a very ill conceived and thoroughly destructive use of international resources. The last $30 million dollar hand-out from the IFC will no longer be given to Bertin and it is anticipated that the IFC will ask Bertin to return early the $60 million dollars it has already invested in the company. The World Bank Group is set to lend another $1.3 billion dollars to Brazil for "environmental protection." Greenpeace is calling for a commitment to Zero Deforestation and global solutions that will protect forests and reduce forest related emissions that are making global warming worse. In the fight to save the Amazon, every step will count so we are asking US consumers to join us in taking on companies like Nike, Timberland, and Adidas which cannot demonstrate that the leather in our shoes is not driving deforestation in the Amazon. More on Brazil
 
Lakers Victory Parade: LA Officials Say They Don't Have The Money For It Top
The Los Angeles Lakers need only one more win to capture a 15th National Basketball Association Championship, but some city officials are already saying they can't afford to throw the team a victory party. More on Sports
 
Iran Election PHOTOS: Protests, Demonstrations, Riots Top
Stunning photos are pouring in from the massive turbulence in Iran as a result of the disputed presidential election. Check out a slideshow of them below. And for updated news and analysis of the election, click here . More on Iranian Election
 
Les Leopold: Fear and Looting in America: Wall Street on Strike against the Obama Administration Top
"The latest plan tries to satisfy public demand for controlling excessive pay while not spooking Wall Street, which the administration is relying on to help buy the troubled mortgage-backed assets at weaker banks." ( NYT, June 11 ) We're seeing things I thought we'd never see. The public is so outraged at outrageous Wall Street salaries that Congress jammed a provision into the stimulus package that mandates the Obama Administration to issue rules to curb compensation. While the effort targets troubled financial institutions that have gorged themselves at the government bailout trough, many Democrats want these controls to apply "at all companies, not just those receiving federal money." ( NYT June 12 ) As a result, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is appointing a salary czar, Washington lawyer Kenneth R. Feinberg, who will be in charge of clamping down on compensation packages at AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Chrysler and the two auto finance arms. If these failing companies keep salaries at $500,000 or less per year, Feinberg will automatically approve them. If not, he is empowered to take a closer look... and change them. How the mighty have fallen! To the average American, $500,000 a year is an enormous sum. But on Wall Street it's peanuts. When you're accustomed to hauling in seven or eight figures, how the hell are you going to get by on a half mil? The maintenance on your Fifth Avenue condo might be more than that! So you can well imagine that the rest of Wall Street does not want that pathetically paltry wage control idea to spread anywhere near them. What can they do about it? Plenty. Wall Street has bargaining leverage over the Obama Administration and they are using it right now. To get lending going again to the real economy, the Obama administration believes it must settle the toxic assets problem once and for all by removing the garbage from banks' balance sheets. But the Administration doesn't have enough TARP money to do it, and it doesn't want to ask Congress for more money, not least because Congress probably wouldn't supply it. So the Treasury Department has devised a complex "public-private" partnership plan that insures private investors against loses if they bring capital into the game to buy up this junk from the ailing banks. It's a sweetheart deal that could deliver enormous profits to private investors. (Advertisement: If you want to understand how $300 billion of troubled subprime loans exploded into several trillion dollars of toxic assets, you'll find it spelled out clearly in my book, The Looting of America .) Both the buyers and the sellers of these toxic assets have basically gone on a capital strike. The sellers - the ailing financial firms - are not eager to sell because they don't won't to book the losses. Also recent changes in accounting rules that modified "mark to market" pricing have made it less onerous for financial companies to hold on to the junk and wait for better prices. The potential buyers -- like hedge funds and private equity firms -- don't want to get involved because they worry, and rightfully so, that the public may wonder why the government is guaranteeing profits for rich firms with even richer executives. They dread the thought of public hearings that might expose how they make money hand over fist while the economy is in tatters. So both the buyers and sellers are walking a quiet picket line to "encourage" the Obama administration to put a lot of wiggle room in those compensation controls. The blackmail involved is not very subtle. We're going to hear a lot about compensation reforms to line up risk and reward, get shareholders involved, create more independent compensation committees and avoid bonuses based on phony profits. But the proof is in the caviar: When all is said and done, how much moolah are they taking home? I'd wager that their strike doesn't end until Wall Street executives get what they think they're worth. And there's the rub. What they think they're worth and what the public thinks are very different. Most people don't understand why the captains of finance should make so much money, especially after wrecking the economy. With nearly 30 million unemployed and underemployed , and growing, there's not much tolerance for sky-high compensation packages. When the word leaks out about how much these folks will get paid this year and next, there could be hell to pay... right around election time. Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It . (Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009) More on Timothy Geithner
 
Judge Rules Terrorist Can Sue Bush Admin Lawyer Over Torture Memos Top
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A convicted terrorist can sue a former Bush administration lawyer for drafting the legal theories that led to his alleged torture, ruled a federal judge has ruled who said he was trying to balance a clash between war and the defense of personal freedoms. The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco is the first time a government lawyer has been held potentially liable for the abuse of detainees. White refused to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against former senior Justice Department official John Yoo on Friday. Yoo wrote memos on interrogation, detention and presidential powers for the department's Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003. Padilla, 38, is serving a 17-year sentence on terror charges. He claims he was tortured while being held nearly four years as a suspected terrorist. White ruled Padilla may be able to prove that Yoo's memos "set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla's constitutional rights." "Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," wrote White, a Bush appointee. Yoo did not return telephone and e-mail messages Saturday. White ruled that Yoo, now a University of California at Berkeley law professor, went beyond the normal role of an attorney when he helped write the Bush administration's detention and torture policies, then drafted legal opinions to justify those policies. Yoo's recently released 2001 memo advised that the military could use "any means necessary" to hold terror suspects. A 2002 memo to then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales advised that treatment of suspected terrorists was torture only if it caused pain levels equivalent to "organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death." Yoo also advised that the president might have the constitutional power to allow torturing enemy combatants. "The issues raised by this case embody that ... tension _ between the requirements of war and the defense of the very freedoms that war seeks to protect," White wrote in his 42-page decision. "This lawsuit poses the question addressed by our founding fathers about how to strike the proper balance of fighting a war against terror, at home and abroad, and fighting a war using tactics of terror." The ruling rejected the government's arguments that the courts are barred from examining top-level administration decisions in wartime, or that airing "allegations of unconstitutional treatment of an American citizen on American soil" would damage national security or foreign relations. The Justice Department is representing Yoo and has argued for dismissing the lawsuit. The department has not said if it will appeal White's ruling. The department's on-duty spokesman, Dean Boyd, did not return a telephone message Saturday. "It's a really a significant victory for accountability and our constitutional system of checks and balances," said Tahlia Townsend, an attorney with the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School who represented Padilla. White ruled that "the treatment we allege does violate the Constitution and John Yoo should have known that," Townsend said Saturday. "This is the first time there's been this sort of ruling." Padilla is an American citizen who was arrested in Chicago in 2002 and accused of conspiring with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb." He was held in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for three years and eight months as an enemy combatant. Padilla's lawsuit alleges Yoo personally approved his time and treatment in the brig. His lawsuit alleges he was illegally detained and was subjected to sleep deprivation, temperature extremes, painful stress positions, and extended periods of bright lights and total darkness. Padilla also alleges he endured threats that he would be killed, that his family would be harmed, and that he would be transferred to another country to be tortured. He eventually was charged in an unrelated conspiracy to funnel money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups. Padilla was convicted in 2007 in Miami federal court, and is appealing.
 
Ellen Brown: Out of the Ashes of GM: The Phoenix of Renewable Energy Top
It may be prophetic that among the brands GM chose to kill was the Pontiac Firebird, a classic hot car of the 1960s sporting the fabled Phoenix on its hood. In Egyptian mythology, the Phoenix was a colorful bird that incinerated itself in its nest, then rose from the ashes as its own offspring. GM too, says Michael Moore, could be reborn as something else. In a eulogy of sorts in the June 1 Huffington Post , he wrote: "So here we are at the deathbed of General Motors. The company's body not yet cold, and I find myself filled with -- dare I say it -- joy. It is not the joy of revenge against a corporation that ruined my hometown . . . Nor do I, obviously, claim any joy in knowing that 21,000 more GM workers will be told that they, too, are without a job. But you and I and the rest of America now own a car company!" What would we want with a car company? Moore suggests that the bankrupt mega-builder of obsolete gas guzzlers can be transformed into a mega-builder of something we need more -- mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices, including bullet trains, light rail mass transit lines, energy efficient clean buses, hybrid or all-electric cars and batteries, windmills, solar panels, and other alternative energy devices. The factories that built the cars that helped destroy the environment can become the tools for cleaning it up. This would, of course, take some investment; but Moore suggests that to pay for it all, the government could impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. It sounds good right up to the gas tax, which is where politicians, the oil lobby and voters are liable to balk. Isn't there some way to fund the plan without driving up the tax burden or the national debt? In fact, there is . . . . To Put Our New Car Company to Good Use, We Just Need to Own a Bank. The federal government could create its own credit with its own government-owned lending facility, on the model of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation used by President Roosevelt to fund the New Deal; but instead of merely recycling borrowed money as Roosevelt did, the new facility could actually create credit on its books. Its capital base could be leveraged into many times that sum in loans, in the same way that private banks routinely create money (or "credit") today. Assuming a reserve requirement of 10%, if the $300 billion or so that remains of the TARP money were deposited in the new bank, this money could be leveraged into $3 trillion in loans. If the money were counted as capital, at an 8% capital requirement it could become $3.75 trillion in loans, or 12.5 times the original sum. Indeed, it is the sovereign right of governments to create the national money supply, but few governments exercise that right today. The only money the U.S. government now issues are coins, which compose only about one ten-thousandth of the U.S. money supply (M3). The rest is created by private banking institutions when they make loans. This includes the privately-owned Federal Reserve, which creates Federal Reserve Notes (dollar bills) and lends them to the government and to commercial banks. Federal Reserve Notes compose only 3% of the money supply. All of the rest consists merely of credit created on the books of private banks. Many authorities have attested that banks simply create the money they lend as accounting entries on their books. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas states on its website: "Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here's how it works: Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank . . . holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money-creation process many times." This was confirmed recently by President Obama himself. In a speech at Georgetown University on April 14, he said: "[A]lthough there are a lot of Americans who understandably think that government money would be better spent going directly to families and businesses instead of banks -- 'where's our bailout?,' they ask -- the truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in eight or ten dollars of loans to families and businesses, a multiplier effect that can ultimately lead to a faster pace of economic growth." The money generated by banks through the multiplier effect comes at a heavy cost in interest. One advantage of a government-owned bank is that it could fund public projects interest-free or nearly interest-free, cutting production costs dramatically. Interest comprises as much as 77% of the cost of goods and services requiring large amounts of capital, such as public housing. The cost of interest is lower for labor-based services such as garbage collection, for which it makes up only about 12% of the cost. Averaging them all together, the overall cost of interest has been estimated to be about half the cost of everything we buy. If money for infrastructure development were issued interest-free, projects currently considered unsustainable because of the burden of interest could become not only self-sustaining but actually profitable for the government. In The Modern Universal Paradigm (2007), Rodney Shakespeare gives the example of the Humber Bridge, which was built in the UK at a cost of ₤98 million. Every year since the bridge opened in 1981, it has turned an operating profit; that is, its running costs (basically repair, maintenance and staff salaries) have been exceeded by the fees it receives from travelers crossing the river Humber. But by the time the bridge opened in 1981, interest on its construction loans had driven its cost up to ₤151 million; and by 1992, only 10 years later, the debt had shot up to a breath-taking ₤439 million. The UK government was forced to intervene with sizeable grants and writeoffs to save the local residents from bearing the brunt of these costs. If the bridge had been financed with interest-free, government-issued credit, these costs could have been avoided and the bridge could have funded itself. In March of this year, Congressman Chris Van Hollen introduced a bill to establish a Green Bank aimed at catalyzing clean energy and energy efficiency projects. The proposed bank would be an independent, tax-exempt, wholly owned corporation of the United States, with the exclusive mission of providing a comprehensive range of financial support to qualified clean energy and energy efficiency projects in the U.S. If this Green Bank were operated on the fractional reserve system, its initial capital base could be leveraged many times as loans. The loans could then be paid off with the income generated by the projects, preventing inflation and allowing additional loans to be made. Unlike the bank bailouts that have eaten up so much of the government's revenues, green projects create real goods and services and real profits; and the projects could be particularly profitable if they were created without the burden of interest. Historical Precedents Funding public projects with government-issued credit is not a new idea. It has a long and successful history, including these notable examples: In the early eighteenth century, the colony of Pennsylvania issued money that was both lent and spent by the local government into the economy, producing an unprecedented period of prosperity. This was done without producing price inflation and without taxing the people. When Abraham Lincoln needed money to fund the American Civil War, rather than paying 25 to 36 percent interest charges, he avoided going into debt by printing Greenback dollars that were "legal tender" in themselves. The ploy not only allowed the North to win the Civil War but helped fund a period of unusual national expansion and development. The island state of Guernsey, located in the Channel Islands, used government-issued money to fund roads, bridges and other needed infrastructure throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, without price inflation and without incurring government debt. The Bank of North Dakota, founded in 1919, is a wholly state-owned bank that creates credit on its books just as private banks do. This credit is used to serve local needs, and the interest on loans is returned to the government. Not coincidentally, North Dakota has a1.2 billion budget surplus at a time when 47 of 50 states are insolvent, an impressive achievement for a state of isolated farmers battling challenging weather. During the First World War, when private banks were demanding 6 percent interest, Australia's publicly-owned Commonwealth Bank financed the Australian government's war effort at an interest rate of a fraction of 1 percent, saving Australians some12 million in bank charges. After the First World War, the bank's governor used the bank's credit power to relieve the depression conditions in other countries by financing production and home-building, and lending funds to local governments for the construction of roads, tramways, harbors, gasworks, and electric power plants. The bank's profits were paid back to the national government. A successful infrastructure program funded with interest-free "national credit" was also instituted in New Zealand after it elected its first Labor government in the 1930s. Credit issued by its nationalized central bank allowed New Zealand to thrive at a time when the rest of the world was struggling with poverty and lack of productivity. According to a book titled State Housing in New Zealand , published by the Ministry of Works in 1949: "To finance its comprehensive proposals, the Government adopted the somewhat unusual course of using Reserve Bank credit, thus recognizing that the most important factor in housing costs is the price of money - interest is the heaviest portion in the composition of rent. . . . This action showed . . . it was possible for the State to use the country's credit in creating new assets for the country." The Inflation Objection The objection invariably raised to proposals for government self-funding is that the result would be dangerously inflationary. Addressing that issue in the Winter 2004 edition of the New Zealand Guardian Political Review , Stan Fitchett explored whether the New Zealand government's 1930s approach would create price inflation today. He confirmed with bank officials that 97 percent of the New Zealand money supply is now created by commercial banks when they make loans. The year he was writing, the money supply increased by 18,527 million New Zealand dollars, or 16.8 percent; and 97 percent of this increase came from commercial bank lending. Fitchett confirmed with banking experts that if the Reserve Bank had created 100 million New Zealand dollars to build new houses in New Zealand, the sum would have had no noticeable impact on inflation, since it was only one-half of one percent of what was already being added to the money supply annually by private commercial banks. Similar ratios apply in the United States and other countries. If it is dangerously inflationary for public banks to create money, then it is dangerously inflationary for private banks to do it; but we don't hear economists and politicians clamoring for the private credit machine to be shut down. To the contrary, a flood of money is being poured into that choking and sputtering machine in a desperate attempt to get its pistons firing again. A more efficient solution to the credit crunch would be for the government to abandon its old Tin Lizzie-model credit machine and create a shiny new public Firebird model; and the first thing the new credit engine might be tested on are green energy projects of the sort proposed by Mr. Moore. Out of the ashes of a failed GM could arise not only a new, clean way of traveling but a new way of funding government and the services we expect from it. More on Taxes
 
Weapons Makers Look Overseas As Pentagon Cuts Back Top
WASHINGTON — Foreign governments looking to kick the tires of fighter jets and cargo planes at this week's air show in Paris will likely hear a clear message from U.S. defense contractors: We need your business now more than ever. With the United States looking to cut defense costs and rethinking the way it fights wars, many defense companies are looking for international buyers to take the big, pricey weapons that the Pentagon no longer wants or needs fewer of. U.S. contractors are chasing some lucrative deals, but could also face some legal and political hurdles as they hawk weapons overseas. Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. are competing to sell fighter planes to countries such as India and Brazil. Boeing is trying to spark international interest in its C-17 cargo plane. Middle Eastern nations fearful of threats from Iran are bulking up on missile defense equipment from Lockheed and Raytheon Co. "This is a world market right now," says Chris Chadwick, Boeing's president of military aircraft. Globalization is nothing new for many U.S. industries, which often use overseas operations and sales to tap into fast-growing areas like China and as a hedge against domestic downturns. Some of the nation's biggest manufacturers, companies like Caterpillar and General Electric, make more than half of their sales overseas. But the defense industry is closely tethered to one primary buyer _ the U.S. government. It has been a lucrative relationship. Defense spending is up more than 40 percent over the past eight years, fueled in part by spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of the money flowed to defense contractors that supply the Pentagon with everything from warships to bullets. Overseas arms sales represent a relatively small segment of defense contractor sales. But many are turning to the global markets for growth now that the appetite for big and expensive weapons is waning in the United States. The push is helped by countries worried about security threats from nations such as North Korea and Iran. Many European allies need to upgrade their aging equipment, and are turning to U.S. companies as likely suppliers. However, budgets for big weapons are getting tighter as costs like personnel expenses eat up more Pentagon resources. Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposes spending more money on tools like unmanned drones to fight insurgencies instead of big and pricey equipment like $140 million apiece for F-22 fighters jets meant for more conventional wars. In the 2008 fiscal year, the military spent $164 billion to buy weapons. For the 2010 fiscal year, the Pentagon proposes spending only $131 billion, though that number will probably grow when Congress adds weapons spending as it reviews the budget. Big defense companies would take a hit. Lockheed will have to shut down its assembly line at its big Marietta, Ga. plant, putting thousands of jobs at risk. Boeing, which gets 80 percent of its defense unit sales from the Pentagon, could stop selling the $276 million C-17. "There is a softness in the home market right now," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. That could grant some new life to programs that would be cut under the Pentagon's new budget. The F-22 program is slated to end at 187 planes for the U.S. Air Force, far fewer than originally envisioned. Japan and Australia are considered potential sources of new sales, but federal law barring export of the technologically sensitive plane would have to be overturned. The prospects of that remain unclear. Congress put eight more C-17s back into the budget. Boeing wants to make 16 per year and hopes to cover the shortfall overseas. It recently cut a deal to make four for the United Arab Emirates. The contractor is also trying to persuade foreign governments to buy the F-18 instead of the F-35, made by a team led by Lockheed. Defense companies will display their jets, engines, missiles, pilotless drones and other hardware for several days this week at an airfield outside Paris. The show is one of the biggest that brings together contractors and militaries from around the globe to broker weapons deals. New markets have emerged. Iraq wants to buy Lockheed fighter jets, Boeing helicopters and Abrams tanks made by General Dynamics Corp. to rebuild its military. The nation was the second largest potential buyer of U.S. military equipment last year, behind Israel, according to a March report by the Arms Control Association, a Washington think tank. The Pentagon notified Congress it planned to sell $74.5 billion worth of U.S. military equipment to 25 countries in 2008, nearly double its proposed arms sales from 2007. Iraq accounted for $18.7 billion of that total. Congress must approve weapons sales to foreign governments that are negotiated between U.S. contractors and foreign countries through the Defense Department. Not all notifications lead to sales and they cover mostly large purchases, but Congress has never moved to block a sale once it was formally notified. But providing weapons to foreign governments is often politically sensitive. The Pentagon and Congress are supposed to consider the effect that helping nations increase firepower will have on regional conflicts or stability, like the rivalry between Pakistan and India or rearming Iraq in a volatile Middle East. For example, the sale of F-16s to Pakistan was long delayed due to Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons. Regional stability could be an issue for sales to India, which is being courted by Lockheed and Boeing for the right to build 126 fighter jets, a contract potentially worth $11 billion. India already bought $2.1 billion worth of anti-submarine planes from Boeing earlier this year. "Fighter jet sales to India would most certainly be viewed by Pakistan as a problematic development," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. In Europe, U.S. defense companies will face stiff competition from suppliers like Saab, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., and BAE Systems. Lockheed, for example, is trying to hold together a coalition of nine potential F-35 buyers also being courted by makers of the Eurofighter jet. Affordability remains an issue, especially for European buyers saddled with struggling economies. But defense analysts said European nations that need to upgrade their aging equipment and those like India that are building their militaries will provide ample markets for U.S. defense companies. "Weapons could be the single biggest U.S. export item over the next 10 years," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.
 
Shawna Forde, Minutemen Leader, Arrested In Double Killing In Arizona Top
TUCSON, Ariz. — Two of three people arrested in a southern Arizona home invasion that left a little girl and her father dead had connections to a Washington state anti-illegal immigration group that conducts border watch activities in Arizona. Jason Eugene Bush, 34, Shawna Forde, 41, and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42, have been charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and other charges, said Sheriff Clarence Dupnic of Pima County, Ariz. The trio are alleged to have dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into a rural Arivaca home on May 30, wounding a woman and fatally shooting her husband and their 9-year-old daughter. Their motive was financial, Dupnic said. "The husband who was murdered has a history of being involved in narcotics and there was an anticipation that there would be a considerable amount of cash at this location as well as the possibility of drugs," Dupnic said. Forde is the leader of Minutemen American Defense, a small border watch group, and Bush goes by the nickname "Gunny" and is its operations director, according to the group's Web site. She is from Everett, Wash., has recently been living in Arizona and was once associated with the better known and larger Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. A statement attributed to officers of Forde's group and posted on its Web site on Saturday extended condolences to the victims' families and said the group doesn't condone such acts and will cooperate with law enforcement. The assailants planned to leave no one alive, Dupnic said at a press conference in Tucson on Friday. He said Forde was the ringleader. "This was a planned home invasion where the plan was to kill all the people inside this trailer so there would be no witnesses," Dupnic said. "To just kill a 9-year-old girl because she might be a potential witness to me is just one of the most despicable acts that I have heard of." Dupnic said Forde continued working through Friday to raise a large amount of money to make her anti-illegal immigrant operation more sophisticated. Forde denied involvement as she was led from sheriff's headquarters. "No, I did not do it," she said. "I had nothing to do with it." Gaxiola also denied involvement; Bush was arrested at a Kingman, Ariz., hospital where he was being treated for a leg wound he allegedly received when the woman who survived the attack managed to get a gun and fire back. Killed were 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her 29-year-old father, Raul Junior Flores. The name of the wounded woman who survived the attack hasn't been released. Forde is well known in the anti-illegal immigration community, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino. "She's someone who even within the anti-immigration movement has been labeled as unstable," Levin said. "She was basically forced out of another anti-immigrant group, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, and then founded her own organization." __ On the Net: Minuteman American Defense: http://minutemenamericandefense.org
 
Casinos File $267M Racketeering Lawsuit Against Blagojevich Top
Three casino companies have filed a $267 million racketeering lawsuit against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a prominent racetrack owner over a controversial law that requires casinos to funnel part of their revenues to struggling horse tracks. More on Rod Blagojevich
 
Digital TV Hotline Gets 700,000 Calls Over Switch Top
LOS ANGELES — Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide move on Friday to drop analog TV signals and broadcast only in digital. The Federal Communications Commission said that about 317,450 calls went into the help line, 1-888-CALL-FCC, on Friday alone, the day analog signals were cut off. That's far below the 600,000 to 3 million callers that the FCC expected in early March would call on transition day. The move to all-digital was delayed from Feb. 17, and ramped up efforts at spreading the word is credited with roughly halving the number of unprepared households since then. Nielsen Co. put the number of unready homes at 2.8 million, or 2.5 percent of the total television market, as of last Sunday. FCC Acting Chairman Michael Copps said Saturday that if it were baseball, the digital transition is now closer to home plate. "We're safe on third right now," he said. He added that thousands of FCC staff would continue to answer phones and help people whose TVs no longer work properly, at least through June. "We all need a bit of patience and perseverance," he said. "This is a momentous change and it'll take time to get it right." Dozens of mostly Hispanic TV watchers visited and called the Mercy Center, a community in the Bronx, N.Y., to get more help. A staff of three has been on hand seven days a week for the last month. "Up to now, it's been people wanting the equipment," said Judith Criado, the director of education at the center. "Today, everyone who has called has the equipment but they just don't know how to actually see the channels." About a third of Friday's calls to the FCC were still about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes, an indication that at least 100,000 people still didn't have the right equipment to receive digital signals. Another third of the calls were handled by live agents, and 30 percent of those were about how to operate the converter boxes. The FCC said most of the converter box questions were resolved when callers were told to re-scan the airwaves for digital frequencies. Over 20 percent of the live calls were about reception issues. Antennas can be fickle, because digital signals travel differently than analog ones. A weakly received analog channel might be viewable through some static, but channels broadcast in the digital language of ones and zeros are generally all or nothing. "People just needed to upgrade their antenna or return the lower quality one for stronger antennas," said Debbie Byrd, an FCC staffer who only had three visitors to her Saturday help session at a library in the south-central Los Angeles area. A majority of the 100 million U.S. households with TV sets were not affected by the drop of analog signals, because they receive them through their cable or satellite company. As of Saturday, the FCC said 20 TV stations that had been on the air went dark because they had not set up their digital broadcast equipment yet. The largest volume of calls to the FCC on Friday came from the Chicago area, followed by Dallas-Ft. Worth, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. With 4,000 staffers manning the phones Friday, the average wait time per call was 4.6 minutes. The FCC said its hot line was on track to receive another 150,000 calls on Saturday. The National Association of Broadcasters said that 278 stations it surveyed nationwide received 35,500 calls on Friday, and the vast majority were resolved by re-scanning. Any set hooked up to cable or a satellite dish is unaffected by the end of analog broadcasts, but around 17 million U.S. households rely on antennas. Nielsen Co. said poor and minority households were less likely to be prepared for Friday's analog shutdown, as were households consisting of people younger than 35. The Commerce Department reported a last-minute rush for the $40 converter box coupons: It received 319,990 requests Thursday, nearly four times the daily average for the past month, and another 428,198 requests on Friday, for about 1.5 million since Monday. In all, the government has mailed coupons for almost 60 million converter boxes. The limit is two coupons per household. It takes nine business days for a coupon to reach the mailbox. For some procrastinators, that meant missing some important broadcasts. Tuyen Luu waited until Friday to apply for a coupon at a nonprofit help center in Houston. By the time it arrives, the NBA finals could be over if the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic on Sunday. "I won't get to see Game 5," Luu said. ___ Associated Press Writer Arelis Hernandez in Houston and Technology Writer Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this report.
 

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