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Rumours trigger bank run in Hong Kong By Justine Lau and Tom Mitchell in Hong Kong Published: September 24 2008 15:36 | Last updated: September 24 2008 19:16 Thousands of panicked depositors queued outside Bank of East Asia’s branches across Hong Kong on Wednesday to withdraw their life-savings on rumours that the lender was in financial trouble. The territory has seen only one other bank run since its return to mainland China in 1997, when the International Bank of Asia saw large withdrawals in November of that year. David Li, BEA chairman and chief executive, said: “Some people are spreading...

Here is what I don't understand about the bailout. Why is it necessary for the American taxpayer to foot the bill for this? How on earth does it make any sense to "solve" a problem by giving MORE power to the self-interested boneheads that created the problem in the first place? What I haven't heard anyone talking about yet is what happens when this $800 billion or so is wiped out. How is it that our economy is $800 billion short of success? Is it just me, or does the logic that this infusion of taxpayer dollars will suddenly make...

During the course of my campaign for Congress against Rep. Barney Frank in 2004, I learned that the liberal icon had authored a law that struck down the exclusion clause to the immigration act. According to Clinton Administration director of the CIA James Woolsey, this law "had made it illegal to deny visas to members of terrorist groups." Frank had thrown open the floodgates to anti-American Islamic extremists who proceeded to recruit terrorists, raise funds for foreign terrorist organizations, and eventually blow up the twin towers on 9/11. I asked Frank why he created this law, one of the stupidest...

Why Paulson is wrong Luigi Zingales 21 September 2008 This weekend’s decisions will shape the type of capitalism we live with for the next fifty years. Here one of the world’s leading financial scholars, Chicago Business School Professor Luigi Zingales, argues that bailing out the financial system with taxpayers’ money is wrong. He discusses an alternative – forced debt-for-equity swap or debt-forgiveness. When a profitable company is hit by a very large liability, as was the case in 1985 when Texaco lost a $12 billion court case against Pennzoil, the solution is not to have the government buy its assets...

After a Georgia inmate convicted of murdering a police officer was spared from execution a second time, the condemned man's widely publicized supporters erupted in joy. But far from television cameras, the victim's family seethed. "My son is dead. Theirs is still alive," said Anneliese MacPhail, the officer's mother. "That's just the way I feel."

WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in Congress are considering imposing tough new restrictions on a proposed $700 billion financial-market bailout that could break the pool of money into installments. The move was prompted by worries among leaders of both parties, who are scrambling to ascertain whether they have enough support in Congress to push the rescue through. The discussions reflect the increasingly tense environment in Capitol Hill as the parties grapple with the many unknown implications of their deliberations. In a televised address, President George W. Bush called for a summit meeting on the financial crisis to be held Thursday to...

That’s my call for now. And at one point I thought this was going to be a boring election year. What a day, let me summarize the reactions. Lefties: It’s a cynical stunt Righties: It’s a cynical stunt… that happens to be in the best interest of the country as a whole. Independents/undecided: ??? - we have no idea how this will play out. I think the move was smart because it works on so many levels. level 1: Politically, McCain makes a move that can easily be seen as putting country first over politics. Even acknowledging that it’s cynical,...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a law making it illegal to read or send text messages while driving in California. The bill by Sen. Joe Simitian imposes a $20 fine for a first offense and $50 for repeat offenders using any electronic devices to read or send messages, starting next year. Schwarzenegger says the law he signed Wednesday encourages drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

In a revelation tying Barack Obama even closer to radical community organizing, WND has learned that a renowned disciple of the late socialist agitator Saul "The Red" Alinksy wrote a letter of recommendation for Obama when he applied to Harvard Law School.

First, they promised not to give an inch on offshore drilling. Then they vowed to make a crazy-as-a-fox compromise: allowing some offshore drilling to call the Republicans' bluff, while insisting on funding for alternative energy sources. After a bill modeled on strategy B passed in the House—but before it cleared the Senate—Democrats simply gave up the ghost and okayed offshore drilling everywhere. The word is they feared Republicans would force a government shutdown over the issue, because a budget bill is pending. I say: bring it on. Why can the Dems not prevail on an issue with both facts and...

South Korea Finds Melamine in Foods Imported From China Posted on: Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 12:00 CDT Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap [Yonhap headline: "(LEAD) Melamine Found in Imported Confections From China"] Seoul, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) - South Korea's food safety agency on Wednesday put a temporary import ban on Chinese products containing powdered milk after tests on two confections revealed traces of the toxic chemical melamine. Tests on "Misarang Custard" cake, which a Chinese firm produced on an original equipment manufacturing for South Korea's Haitai Confectionery and Foods Co., were undertaken by the...

<p>David Letterman let his hair down and really exposed his liberal side. When John McCain canceled his appearance on the Late Show Letterman proceeded to mock John McCain with McCain’s replacement guest Keith Asswipe Olbermann.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Clinton says if Democrats want someone to dump on John McCain, he's not the guy. Some members of his party have been complaining that Clinton has not been enthusiastic enough in his support for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, who defeated Clinton's wife in the primary campaign, and heaping too much praise on McCain. But Clinton told CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday that he doesn't think "dumping" on McCain or his running mate, Sarah Palin, is a winning strategy. He said undecided voters aren't interested in attacks but solutions for the problems they face....

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The current financial crisis pummeling the United States and beyond is a sign that the so-called "new economy" and its risky investments have failed, the Vatican newspaper said. The booming growth of financial markets did not correspond to real growth or concrete development for society because it created an artificially robust gross national product, said a Sept. 24 article in L'Osservatore Romano. The only real growth registered in this crisis has been "the commissions, profits of the banks and bonuses for the managers," it said. The article, with the headline "A costly illusion," was written by...

ON THE RECORD LIVE VOTE!! by Greta Van Susteren Vote and please leave your comments below:

DEWEY BEACH, Delaware (CNN) -- Although Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden routinely mocks his Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for her onetime support of the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," Biden and his running mate voted to keep the project alive twice. Both Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama voted to kill a Senate amendment that would have diverted federal funding for the bridge to repair a Louisiana span badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Senate records show. And both voted for the final transportation bill that included the $223 million earmark for the Alaska project. An amendment offered...

"It's a direct correlation," said Rep. Russell Pearce. The latest FBI crime reports show an overall decrease in violent crime around the Phoenix area in 2007 and some observers believe it's the result of illegal aliens leaving Arizona for other states, like Texas. Based on data from 18 jurisdictions in metro Phoenix, violent crimes and property crimes both decreased 0.3 percent. The city of Phoenix saw the same decrease in total crimes as the overall area, with a 0.3 percent decrease in total violent crimes and a 0.3 percent decrease in total property crimes. Texas had over 1,000 more violent...

"The Woman He Loved": Fulton Sheen and the Blessed Mother By Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R. Friday, 24 September 2004 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was an ever-present grace in the life of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Like the sun that sends its rays of light upon the earth from its rising to its setting, so the love of Our Lady shone like a bright light over the life of the future Archbishop, from its very beginning right through to its conclusion. It left an indelible impression on his life. This devotion began with his Baptism, at the very time...

Here is video of an interview Gov. Sarah Palin did with CBS News Anchor Katie Couric, which aired tonight on the CBS Evening News. . . . (see video at link)

Sure, many conservatives say The New York Times is biased against Sarah Palin, but let's remember the Times editorial published right after John McCain made his choice: "So much for the snickers about Boring McCain. His choice of Sarah Palin enlivens a leaden campaign season. It energizes the Republicans. And for all Americans, not just women, it's a genuinely historic moment. The verbs of Sarah Palin's life convey her solidity: worked, earned, raised, ran, won, led. In selecting her, Mr. McCain pays signal tribute to the difficult path pursued by many American women." The Times, in its usually fair-minded way,...