Free Republic

Big jump in gold sale spurs manipulation talk Some analysts say only manipulation is government's attempt to take down oil By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch Last update: 7:54 p.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Recent heat from Congress and regulators, along with public speculation, over whether commodity prices are being manipulated has also reached gold pits, where the debate was stirred by a surge in bets last month that gold prices would fall. "Congress is already investigating allegations of manipulation in the oil market, and it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before a...

Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife From Amazon This massively documented study of Nazi cinema...notably succeeds in analysing how Nazi films created a dreamworld that seemed neither realistic nor fantastic, but agreeable and persuasive--indeed closer to Hollywood than to Stalinist cinema. Above all, [Rentschler] stresses how films belong to a German cultural continuum, reaching into the present. Fifty years after Siegfried Kracauer's landmark book From Caligari to Hitler, this is the study that's long been needed of the movies' most disturbing triumph. (Sight and Sound ) Fifty years after Kracauer's monumental 'From Caligari to Hitler' comes the next...

A few speculators dominate vast oil market Regulators: Swiss energy firm holds 11 percent of contracts on NYMEX Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's...

America's leading commodities regulator has launched an unprecedented investigation into possible market manipulation in the US crude oil market amid record prices which continue to cripple various parts of the global economy. The Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), working closely with other international regulators including the Financial Services Authority in the UK, has begun a series of detailed inquiries over concerns that energy speculators are behind the rising oil price.

Santa Monica, CA - U.S. gasoline prices rose more than 33 cents a gallon to $3.937 in the last month despite driving cutbacks that have steadily reduced demand, said Consumer Watchdog. Oil prices sagged today along with U.S. economic indicators; yet even if they continue to fall, motorists are unlikely to see much relief at the pump -- or at the grocery story, with diesel breaking the $5.00 mark. "Producers who have been making their record profits from drilling and selling oil are now trying to do the same on the refining end by keeping fuel supplies short in the...

The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It’s controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil. It has to do with control of oil and its price. How? First, the crucial role of the international oil exchanges in London and New York is crucial to the game. Nymex...

China flips switch and stock market bolts Commentary: Manipulation can only end badly By David Callaway, MarketWatch Last update: 4:53 a.m. EDT April 24, 2008 HONG KONG -- Dusk is the best time of day in Hong Kong, as the gray, polluted skies and thick humidity that rule the office hours of this workaholic city give way to a skyline wave of neon lights, pulsing to life seemingly with the flip of a switch. Like everything else in China these days, the change is sudden, and filled with expectation. But when it comes to the country's nascent stock market, investors...

April 3, 2008 Ben Bernanke admits Bear Stearns was hours from collapse Dearbail Jordan US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, today revealed that Bear Stearns was just one day away from going bust when the central bank stepped in to save the Wall Street bank to prevent chaos and a "severe" impact on confidence. Speaking for a second day in front of US Congress, Mr Bernanke attempted to justify JP Morgan Chase's rescue of Bear Stearns, in a deal that included the US Fed agreeing to back $29 billion of the troubled investment bank's assets. Mr Bernanke said: "... on...

The Bush administration forecasts a $410 billion federal budget deficit for this year, an indication that, as the US saving rate is approximately zero, the US is not only dependent on foreigners to finance its wars but also dependent on foreigners to finance part of the US government's domestic expenditures. Foreign borrowing is paying US government salaries--perhaps that of the president himself--or funding the expenditures of the various cabinet departments. Financially, the US is not an independent country. A troubled currency and financial system and large budget and trade deficits do not present an attractive face to creditors. Yet Washington...

Identifying Manipulated Images New tools that analyze the lighting in images help spot tampering. By Erica Naone   True or false? The tool used above spots whether an image has been manipulated by modeling the lighting in the image based on an analysis of visible surfaces. To analyze an image, a user indicates the surfaces to consider using contour lines (shown above in white). The system checks for inconsistencies in the way that those surfaces are lit. Credit: Micah Kimo Johnson, Hany Farid Photo-editing software gets more sophisticated all the time, allowing users to alter pictures in ways both...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before. he extraordinary weekend moves came as J.P. Morgan Chase sealed a deal to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for just $2 a share backed by funds borrowed from the Fed. The Fed board gave its approval to that unique funding arrangement, which guarantees JP Morgan against losses from buying Bear. See full story. The Fed board also approved the...

The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. So "thou shalt not carry out morally dubious scientific experiments" or "thou shalt not pollute the earth" might one day be added to the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell"....

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS February 16, 2008 -- Barack Obama's primary-night results were strikingly underrecorded in several districts around the city - in some cases leaving him with zero votes when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, the Board of Elections said yesterday. Unofficial primary results gave Obama no votes in nearly 80 districts, including Harlem's 94th and other historically black areas - but many of those initial tallies proved to be wildly off the mark, the board said. In some districts getting a recount, the senator from Illinois is even closer to defeating Hillary Clinton. Initial results in...

GATA alleges that gold stored in US vaults has not been audited for some time. Further they allege the gold is being used to artificially depress the price of gold. This full page ad appeared in the WSJ today. It can be found: HERE.

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have extended their investigation into alleged oil market manipulation at BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), probing trades going back an additional four years, a spokesman for the oil major said on Friday. BP said in a statement the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice were investigating aspects of BP's commodity trading activities, including crude oil trading and storage activities, in the US since 1999. The spokesman said BP had previously reported that regulators were only looking into crude trades from 2003. Regulators have also investigated BP for alleged propane markets...

The one tyranny that the founders missed!

AUSTIN -- TXU Energy engaged in unfair trading practices and improperly profited through its manipulation of the wholesale electricity market, Texas regulators have concluded.In a blistering report issued today by the Texas Public Utility Commission, the North Texas utility also was found to have improperly driven up wholesale electric prices by 15.5 percent during the summer of 2005 and made about $20 million more as a result.Regulators reviewed a three-month period in 2005 during which some wholesale electricity prices were found to have spiked to unusual levels. A previous consultant’s report commissioned by the PUC had found "substantial competitive concerns,”...

AUSTIN, Texas, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The cancellation in the past two days of two planned nationally televised debates because of candidates' "scheduling conflicts" and unwillingness to participate smacks of "manipulation by some candidates who would rather run and hide than defend their records and their positions on the war," Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said today while campaigning in Texas. Widely publicized Presidential debates in New Hampshire in April and in Nevada in August were cancelled after some candidates either backed out after agreeing to participate or declined invitations to attend. "Whatever their excuses, some candidates...

VIENNA, Austria: Oil prices rose Tuesday amid forecasts that U.S. inventory data due this week will show a decline in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. Prices were also supported by worries over tensions between Western powers and Iran, OPEC's No. 2 supplier, and snowy weather in the U.S. Northeast, the country's largest heating oil market. "Cooler temperatures ... returned to the U.S. Northeast," said Vienna's PVM Oil Associates, linking that development to "forecasts for drawdowns in U.S. gasoline and distillate stocks."

Reader Paul S. and several others sent us this letter written by Pauline Klemmer, a passenger on U.S. Airways Flight 300, on which the Six "Flying Imams" caused problems and over which Islamic America is now in hysterics. As you'll note, she details how they were actually doing a dry run and perhaps planning an attack or something of that nature. Also note, her letter is dated more than a week ago. Yet no media interviewed her or reported her story. We've removed her address and phone number from the letter, the second half of which is a must read...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2006 -- The “center of gravity” in the Iraq war is in America with the American people, not on the battlefield, and the media is a powerful tool that influences the people’s will, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Oct. 24 in various radio interviews. “This is the first war that's been conducted in the 21st century with all the new media realities of 24-hour talk radio and Sony cams and digital cameras and news constantly on television,” Rumsfeld said in an interview with Inga Barks on KERN News/Talk Radio in Bakersfield, Calif. “But the American...

Please forgive this vanity, but I don't know where else to go to ask this question. Is there a coordinated and deliberate attempt by the media and Democrat plants at blog sites to distort and outright lie about everything concerning this election in order to manipulate voters? I live in the heart of Santorum country in Pennsylvania, and now I'm being told that, even here, Casey is ahead. I don't buy it. I am feeling lied to and being taken for a fool. No one I know has even the slightest thought of sitting out, or not voting, or even...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - No evidence of market manipulation was found by the California Energy Commission in an investigation of an April-May spike in retail gasoline prices, the state's undersecretary for energy affairs said on Tuesday. Unplanned refinery shutdowns, declining inventories, lower fuel shipments to the region and clogged ports combined to send California gasoline prices 47 cents above the national average by early May, said Joseph Desmond, undersecretary of energy affairs. "The commission did not find a smoking gun," Desmond said. "The market operated in a fashion you would expect a market to operate." California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's investigation...

this New York Times photograph of a crowd of Lebanese refugees: This is probably nothing. If it’s photo manipulation, it’s certainly an incredibly mundane example, and I can’t think of a reason why anyone would do it. I’m tossing this to the lizardoid community for comment from the other photoshop geeks out there, without rendering any judgment yet. In other words, I am not saying this is a definite fake; I know we’ve got quite a few experts at digital manipulation among our readers, and I’m sincerely asking for their opinions. But look at the image of the man in...

A federal appeals court ordered energy regulators Wednesday to consider ordering stiffer penalties for power companies that manipulated the market and caused blackouts during the 2000-2001 energy crisis. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 2003 handling of some of the fallout from California's energy crisis was "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion." The state has sought reimbursement for an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion paid by consumers and businesses for overpriced power. FERC ordered energy companies, including several subsidiaries of bankrupt Enron Corp., to pay about $3 billion for market manipulation....

The fake persuadersDetective work ... shows how a PR firm contracted to the biotech company Monsanto appears to have played a crucial but invisible role in shaping scientific discourse. ...An article on its website...warns "there are some campaigns where it would be undesirable or even disastrous to let the audience know that your organisation is directly involved...   it is possible to make postings to these outlets that present your position as an uninvolved third party..." ...So the campaign against the researchers was extraordinarily successful; but who precisely started it? Who are "Mary Murphy" and "Andura Smetacek"? The Bivings Group...

April 17, 2006    Volume 13, No. 8 China's Reserves Soar: NAM Says The Time Has Come For China To Re-Value Its Currency BY RICHARD McCORMACK richard@manufacturingnews.com It has become "imperative" for the Department of Treasury to declare that China is manipulating its currency, says Pat Mears, director of international commercial affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. Further evidence of China's manipulation is that nation's growing currency reserves. They have risen to $848 billion, and are now the largest in the world, surpassing those of Japan's at $837 billion. "China's currency reserves are nearing half of China's total gross...

Keynote Address to the Cornerstone Research Conference Market Manipulation in the Energy Markets Commissioner Sharon Brown-Hruska October 2, 2003 Thank you for the opportunity to share with you my thoughts on market manipulation in the energy markets. Let me just say from the outset -- I know this notable audience of economic and legal scholars and practitioners will appreciate this -- that the views I express are my own and, therefore, do not necessarily represent the official position of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the views of other Commissioners, or the staff. The observations I make today are those...

Not only did Sen. Chuck Schumer stir up the political firestorm against DP World at the behest of Eller & Co, but Schumer’s staff sent reporters on a wild goose chase for experts to back up his claims. According to “Dubai or Not Dubai: Chuck on Killed Deal”, by Ben Smith and published by the New York Observer, Joe Muldoon III, a lobbyist for Eller & Co, “put together a white paper arguing that the deal could compromise US security”. In LATE JANUARY, a copy of the white paper was given to Schumer aide, Josh Vlasto. When Ted Bridis from...

Democrats like Senator Harry Reid understand—and manipulate—the bias of the mainstream media. They realize it is their most powerful political weapon, and they wield it with masterful skill. Democrats control the news cycle, because they apply an advanced level of game theory as they use the press to gain an edge over their political opponents.In 2005, Thomas Schelling received the Nobel Prize in economics. Schelling won the award because of the way he applied the principles of game theory to help manage the U.S. nuclear standoff with the Soviets. Reid has demonstrated his mastery of this discipline by soundly trouncing...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil shot $2 higher on Tuesday as consumers feared an unresolved row over Russia's natural gas price to Ukraine could yet crimp fuel supplies to Europe. ADVERTISEMENT An immediate crisis was headed off just before markets opened after the New Year holiday when Moscow agreed to restore gas supplies through a pipeline that transits Ukraine. But the underlying commercial dispute was still brewing, raising concerns over Europe's long-term dependence on Russian energy amid a lack of readily available alternatives. U.S. crude leapt $2.16 to $63.20 by 1631 GMT, building on a three-day rally that lifted prices 5...

Last month, as chilly November winds hinted at the winter to come, Massachusetts received a warm gift from Venezuela via CITGO Petroleum Corporation. It could not have come at a more critical moment as those on fuel assistance faced heating price increases of up to 50 percent. Many low-income families looked ahead to a winter of unbearable options: choosing between heat and food or medication. As a result of the Venezuelan oil program, more than 12 million gallons of heavily discounted heating oil will flow to needy households and social service institutions across the state. Together with local nonprofits Citizens...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Natural gas prices rose to a new record Friday as a winter storm hit the northern United States, while crude and heating oil prices also gained amid expectations for strong demand. Natural gas for January on the New York Mercantile Exchange reached a new intraday high of $15.52 per 1,000 cubic feet in Asian trading before slipping back to $15.351 per 1,000 cubic feet, up nearly 36 cents. The contract had closed at $14.994 overnight, also a new record. ADVERTISEMENT Nymex crude was also higher. Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery surged 58 cents to $61.24...

Advanced Search Iraq: What Did Congress Know, And When? Bush says Congress had the same (faulty) intelligence he did. Howard Dean says intelligence was "corrupted." We give facts.November 19, 2005Modified: November 19, 2005 eMail to a friend Printer Friendly Version Summary   The President says Democrats in Congress "had access to the same intelligence" he did before the Iraq war, but some Democrats deny it."That was not true," says Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "He withheld some intelligence. . . . The intelligence was corrupted." Neither side is giving the whole story in this continuing dispute. The President's...

It wasn't until two years after his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest that the Rev. Fred Daley acknowledged he might be gay. "I was coming down the stairs for morning Mass, and I felt this real deep ache and pain in the pit of my stomach," he said. "It was the first time I was recognizing an ache within that my activity and work and ministry was covering up, and avoiding something." A light went on, he said. "I began to become aware of my sexual feelings and desires," he said. He was 27. Almost 30 years later -...

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=13410 Click to see.

If the Catholic Church wants to prevent sexual abuse by priests, several abuse experts said, there are better ways to do it than by trying to bar gay men from the clergy. The church recently began checking American seminaries for ''evidence of homosexuality," and the pope is widely expected to ban actively gay men from taking holy orders. But it will be tricky to cull gays from the priesthood, the abuse experts said this month. And it would be more effective -- and more humane -- to target likely abusers rather than all gays. ''There's no adequate way to screen...

Supposition And Irresponsibility Well have you heard the latest about what actually happened in the Superdome and Convention Center during Hurricane Katrina? We were told that there were gang rapes, murders and mayhem on a grand scale and that the basement of the Superdome was stacked with dead bodies. As it turns out none of these stories were true. Eight people died, mostly from natural causes and suicide and an official in New Orleans stated that the murder rate during Katrina was about the same as during normal times. We sat at home imagining the horrible things happening in the...

Edward Jay Epstein, Hollywood industry guru and author of "The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood," explains that despite news stories claiming that Michael Moore was a victim of Disney censorship with regard to his "Fahrenheit 9/11" flick, both Moore and Disney raked in a bundle of bucks. According to Epstein, Moore manipulated the press in Madonna-like manner, faking a censorship threat to get cheap P.R. In May 2003, Michael Eisner, then CEO of Disney, exercised his right under an agreement with Miramax to veto Disney distribution. But Miramax, a Disney subsidiary, still held the...

By Playing at 'Rage,' China Dramatizes Its Rise By HOWARD W. FRENCH Published: April 21, 2005HANGHAI, April 19 - The banners had been carefully printed, the slogans memorized, and the students and young unleashed onto the streets of China's largest, most sophisticated city, where they were to speak sacred truths and make the enemies of the people tremble. Liu Jin/Agence France-Presse - Getty ImagesOn Saturday, Shanghai held a clearly stage-managed rally against Japan. To some, it recalled the Cultural Revolution. Chinese today have little experience of mass organized protests, so when the Government tolerated - some would say encouraged -...

The Pope as Monarch: Reflections on Politics by Dr. Jeff Mirus As I ponder the life and death of John Paul II, I am reminded that there is something about a pope that is very much like a king. This analogy with the social order is far from perfect, for the Church and the body politic are very different things. But there is much to be gained from wondering about the sheer greatness of this fallen leader. For both the Church and the world, some of these gains may be political. The Ideal Form of GovernmentThe Church has never taught...

I love brain food. A gentleman who has been a long-time warrior in the battle for our country forwarded a website to me, which you will find at the end of this article. What a find this is – what a doozy! You will be privileged to read a MAB-commissioned, research report (Man and Biosphere Reserves). It is a report that studied the failure of a U.N. Biosphere takeover attempt in the Ozark Mountains. The report documented the human opposition to the MAB takeover, how they successfully stopped the MAB takeover, and finally, recommendations made by the hired professional researchers...

EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 3 - In the midst of the California energy troubles in early 2001, when power plants were under a federal order to deliver a full output of electricity, the Enron Corporation arranged to take a plant off-line on the same day that California was hit by rolling blackouts, according to audiotapes of company traders released here on Thursday. This is an excerpt, read the rest here: Click here for the rest.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday it has filed civil lawsuits against 15 natural gas traders for reporting false information on deals to industry newsletters in an attempt to manipulate market prices.The traders worked for Enserco Energy, Mirant Americas Energy Marketing (MIRKQ: news, chart, profile) , Cinergy Corp. (CIN: news, chart, profile) , Duke Energy Trading and Marketing (DUK: news, chart, profile) , CMS Field Services (CMS: news, chart, profile) , and Shell (RD: news, chart, profile) affiliate Coral Energy Resources, when they carried out these activities, the commission said in a statement. Concord Energy, a...

A former FBI agent and an Internet penny stock adviser were convicted Monday of mining government computers for confidential information they used to manipulate the stock market. Former agent Jeffrey Royer was convicted of racketeering, securities fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering for leaking details of FBI investigations and executives' criminal histories to San Diego stock picker Anthony Elgindy. Elgindy was convicted of racketeering, securities fraud and extortion for his role in the scheme. He dropped his face into his hands and sobbed uncontrollably as the jury foreman read the verdict; U.S. marshals led him weeping from the courtroom....

Editor's Note: The following article is a satire. New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer shocked the world today -- as well as the state department and the Bush administration -- with his announcement that he is charging terrorist mastermind and al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden with insider trading. At a press conference brilliantly situated on the hallowed grounds where the World Trade Center once stood, Mr. Spitzer outlined an international investment scheme so heinous that, if properly prosecuted, could lead to the eventual capture and incarceration of America’s greatest terrorist threat. Moreover, according to Spitzer, these investment manipulations...

Friday, January 7, 2005 · Last updated 2:34 p.m. PT Gregoire: 'Healing to be done' By DAVID AMMONS AP POLITICAL WRITER OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov.-elect Christine Gregoire on Friday pledged to tour the state to begin a healing process after an election that deeply divided voters and the political parties. "It's my job to help the state of Washington heal," she told a Capitol news conference called primarily to introduce an initial round of key appointees. She is keeping outgoing Gov. Gary Locke's chief of staff, Tom Fitzsimmons, for at least six months and his budget director, Marty Brown, will...

Rainforests are disappearing at a frightening rate, the students were taught, so they raised $523 for an activist group’s "protect an acre" program. At the behest of their teacher and the group, they trekked into Manhattan to ask a major bank to "stop lending money to projects that destroy endangered forests and cause global warming." Indoctrination and manipulation are deplorable enough when high school or college students are involved. But these were second graders, and the close cooperation between their teacher and radical environmentalists underscores a widening problem. People want to live in a clean, civil and safe world, activists...

London 28.12.04 | Eva Golinger’s name appears as the registrar of a DOMESTIC NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION by the name of VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE IN NEW YORK INC. registered in the said city of New York. Golinger seems to be the acting director of said NGO [1]. Golinger is featured prominently in a website entitled VENEZUELAFOIA.INFO, which has been registered according to WHOIS by BIGWOOD, JEREMY E. [2]. In the said website one can read the following information: This site is funded by the Venezuela Solidarity Committee/National Venezuela Solidarity Network ("VSC"), a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing accurate information about...

Below are important excerpts from the AP wire: ... Besides demanding a new recount, Democrats are asking the high court to order election departments to reconsider several thousand previously rejected ballots and potential trouble spots. These include questioned "provisional" and absentee ballots, including hundreds where the voter's signature was missing or didn't match the one on the voter registration card. ... Added Gregoire, "I love Dino's line `If you count and count and you count again, what do you get?' You get yourself a governor, Dino, because it's over at that point."* ... Republicans are more upset with the Supreme...