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Financial overhaul writers have ties to industry Despite apparent conflicts of interest, none have recused themselves WASHINGTON - Anyone with a bank account or credit card has a stake in the overhaul of financial rules Congress is working on. But the industry ties of some politicians writing the law go far beyond the norm. One senator's wife is a director of a securities exchange; another senator and his wife run a multimillion-dollar title company. And a congresswoman's husband drew salaries from three industry players last year. Several lawmakers hashing out a House-Senate compromise on the legislation have millions in financial...

Guess who holds patent for carbon trading plan Disgraced Fannie Mae CEO set to cash in for millions Obama housing adviser Franklin Raines Former Clinton and Obama budget adviser Franklin Raines owns a key carbon-emissions patent he developed as CEO of the government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae, positioning him and his partners to make millions of dollars if it is used in any carbon-capping scheme implemented by the Obama administration. Raines and his associates led Fannie Mae and Congress to believe Fannie Mae owned the patent, despite public records to the contrary, a WND investigation has found. Raines and his...

WTO rules against US ban on China poultry products K J M Varma Beijing, June 17 (PTI) China won the dispute with the US over a ban on its poultry imports after the World Trade Organisation ruled the American curbs on Chinese poultry were violating international trade laws, says a media report. State newspaper, China Daily said in a report the US ban violated Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement, that mandates how governments can apply food safety, animal and plant health measures, as well as most-favored-nation treatment and general elimination of quantitative restrictions provided under the WTO framework. As...

China takes new step to boost yuan's global role China is vastly expanding a pilot programme to encourage the use of the yuan in cross-border trade in what economists say is part of a strategy to raise the profile of the currency on the world stage. Citing a decision by the State Council, or cabinet, state media said the year-old scheme would be extended to the invoicing and settlement of imports and exports with all China's trading partners. Until now, the only permitted overseas counterparts have been Hong Kong and Macau -- both Chinese territories -- as well as the...

DOCTOR'S ORDERS Obamacare's control plan? 'Behavior modification' Expert opinion: 'Ultimately everything will be governed by federal authorities' The online Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders says "behavior modification," a controversial psychological treatment, can be accomplished through positive reinforcement or "punishment" – and now President Obama has signed an executive order specifying the treatment for all Americans, to be prescribed by government bureaucrats. Obama's order appoints members to a new government committee set up by the Democrats' new health law that will evaluate, make recommendations about and establish rules for everything from how people exercise to whether they smoke to the food they...

The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change misled the press and public into believing that thousands of scientists backed its claims on manmade global warming, according to Mike Hulme, a prominent climate scientist and IPCC insider. The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony. “Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the...

US Economist Fears Greek Debt Default in August Greece will eventually default on its debt because the country is highly indebted and the euro zone's approach towards saving it is the wrong one, Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, told CNBC Friday. A restructuring of Greek debt could happen as soon as August, when the Balkan country is due to receive another tranche of funds from its lending agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union, according to Weinberg. "You can't take a country that's over-borrowed and make it more creditworthy by lending it more...

ATS secures investment from Goldman SachsPhoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady Phoenix Business Journal Dave D’Amato, design and engineering manager for American Traffic Solutions Inc., works on a device that will take pictures of speeders. View Larger American Traffic Solutions Inc. is getting an investment boost from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help it meet increasing demand for its red-light and speed cameras. Although neither company would disclose the amount of the investment, ATS President James Tuton said it was a “significant” amount that will net the former investment house, now a bank holding company, two seats on the...

FBI report: ACORN 'poverty pimpin'' for Democrats Agency documents Election Day confusion plot, multiple voting, ID theft, threats FBI investigation notes reveal ACORN was working for the Democratic Party and told employees not to talk to the FBI, to cause confusion on Election Day and to go "poverty pimpin'" for votes. Judicial Watch, a corruption-fighting legal group, obtained the notes related to the 2007 investigation and arrest of eight St. Louis, Mo., ACORN workers for violating election laws and committing voter fraud. 'Poverty pimpin,' fraud and work for Democratic Party The FBI investigators interviewed ACORN canvassers working with Project Vote,...

12,000 Minnesota nurses launch 1-day walkout MINNEAPOLIS -- Outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital, what was called the largest nurses strike in U.S. history began Thursday to the sounds of "Amazing Grace" played on Michael Redmond's bagpipe. The 50-year-old nurse, wearing a red Minnesota Nurses Association T-shirt and green plaid kilt, said he picked the song because of its history as an old abolitionist rallying cry. He played as night-shift nurses walked off the job early Thursday. BuzzHe said he sees a connection between the old fight against slavery and the strike by 12,000 Minnesota nurses. "The rally cry is that we're...

China carbon market prospects not optimistic Although China has supplied massive volumes of carbon credits to the global market, prospects for CO2 trade within the country itself are not optimistic, a senior climate official said on Sunday. Lu Xuedu, influential vice-head of China's National Climate Centre and former member of the United Nations Executive Board responsible for approving clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, told a conference in Beijing that carbon transaction volumes within China were likely to remain low. "The domestic market will probably remain small, because you just need to ask the simple question -- Who will buy emissions...

IMF urges tough action on Europe's debt crisis The eurozone has set up a rescue package worth 750bn euros The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told the eurozone bloc to speed up budget cuts or risk eroding the confidence of financial markets. In a hard-hitting report, the IMF said the current "crisis management" was no alternative to fundamental economic restructuring. The IMF report said the economic crisis was due to "unsustainable policies". It came as European finance ministers approved the creation of a fund for emergency loans to debt-laden states. EU officials hoped that the 440bn euro ($525.8bn; £363.1bn) fund...

Sparrows Point to idle portion of steel plant, lay off workers About 600 employees work in areas to be affected June 04, 2010|By Andrea K. Walker, The Baltimore Sun Several hundred workers at the Sparrows Point steel mill are in danger of temporarily losing their jobs as the plant prepares to shut down for 30 days because of low demand. The primary steelmaking facilities at the Baltimore County plant — three main divisions at the sprawling facility — will be shut down by July 1, company spokeswoman Elizabeth Kovach confirmed Friday. Union leaders had notified workers of the temporary layoffs...

Senator Jim DeMint June 4, 2010 U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) voiced concerns that the Senate passes over 90% of legislation without any debate, without amendment, and without a roll call vote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B751mhY-QE&feature=player_embedded

Senator Pleaded for Bank Bailout that Cost Taxpayers NJ Sen. Robert Menendez Lobbied Treasury to Bail Out Bank That Failed During the depths of the financial crisis in 2008, a member of the Senate Banking Committee urged the Treasury Department to provide bailout money to a struggling financial firm whose eventual collapse cost taxpayers $2.3 billion, newly released records show. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., wrote to then-Treasury secretary Henry Paulson in support of CIT Group, a New Jersey-based lender to businesses such as retail stores. Menendez touted CIT's importance to New Jersey and the nation and said the firm "provided...

Bill would give DHS emergency cyber powers June 3, 2010 We're learning more about the cybersecurity package forming in the Senate. Wired.com reports Sen. Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.) wants to give the federal government the power to take over civilian networks' security, if there's an "imminent cyber threat." It's part of a draft bill, co-sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Susan Collins, that provides DHS with the authority to ensure that critical infrastructure stays up and running in the face of a looming hack attack. The Senate version of the fiscal 2011 Defense authorization bill scheduled to be released later this week...

PITTSBURGH—President Barack Obama, his presidency bogged down in the Gulf oil spill, lashed out at Republicans Wednesday, linking their deregulatory philosophy to misdeeds by bankers, insurers and oil companies. Mr. Obama also made a gesture to allies on the left by calling on Congress to pass climate-change legislation that would make it more expensive to burn oil by putting a price on carbon-dioxide emissions. "The votes may not be there right now," he said, "but I intend to find them in the coming months."

Just one day after the Democrats seized control of Congress, the Chief Executive of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, received the patent for a residential cap-and-trade system (Patent 6904336), What this means is that Raines, along with several colleagues who also “own” the patent, could stand to make huge amounts of money if the cap-and-trade regime was ever brought to the residential marketplace. What does this have to do with Fannie Mae? Absolutely nothing. To understand the implications, a little discussion about patenting is needed. Patents are basically “ownership” rights to an invention. If you invent something, you can license it...

Senate approves funding for Afghan troop increase WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate approved funds Thursday to pay for President Barack Obama's Afghanistan troop increase but rejected a demand that he submit a timetable to bring forces home. The chamber's top Democrats were split over an Afghan exit strategy, with some influential lawmakers backing the call for one, a division likely to raise hackles in the White House. Their support could encourage other liberal Democrats who are pushing for a similar proposal in the House of Representatives, where many lawmakers are also under pressure before congressional elections in November.

Calif. College Offers Scholarship to Illegal Immigrants A public community college in California has set up a scholarship fund for immigrant students — including illegal immigrants. The $2,500 scholarship has sparked anger by some, including at least one lawmaker who is threatening to cut off federal funding to the school. A public community college in California has set up a scholarship fund for immigrant students — including illegal immigrants. The $2,500 scholarship has sparked anger by some, including at least one lawmaker who is threatening to cut off federal funding to the school. Orange County's Santa Ana College says the...