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Taliban suspects arrested over Karachi polio killings
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Page 4: Opinion
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Economy
MF Global judge nixes customer group's bid to depose Corzine
[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday rejected a bid by former MF Global customers to depose the collapsed brokerage's former chief, Jon Corzine.

In a written ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Judge Martin Glenn said the Commodity Customer Coalition, which had sought permission to question Corzine and other former MF Global insiders, lacked standing because it is not a direct creditor in the case.

The coalition, a grassroots group led by reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
-based commodities trader James Koutoulas, bills itself as representing the interests of thousands of traders whose accounts at MF Global were frozen when the company went under.

But the coalition itself is merely a "'watchdog' entity with its own independent goals," hoping to depose Corzine "in furtherance of its own interests" rather than those of the MF Global estate, Glenn said in his decision.

Koutoulas, reached by phone on Tuesday, dismissed that reasoning as "the most minute technicality imaginable.

"I could have filed 10,000 versions of the motion, one on behalf of each customer we represent," Koutoulas said, adding that the coalition is considering appealing the decision.

MF Global went bankrupt in October 2011 after its heavy exposure to European sovereign debt spooked investors. The case has become a political firestorm as Sherlocks in Congress and elsewhere try to identify the source of an estimated $1.6 billion hole in customer trading accounts.

Most commodities customers have recovered about 80 percent of the value of their accounts through payouts by James Giddens, the trustee in charge of finding as much of the money as possible and liquidating MF's broker-dealer unit.

Giddens last month announced a key settlement with MF Global affiliates that is expected to raise those payouts even higher.

The coalition has said Corzine should face criminal charges for his role in the company's fall, though the exact nature of that role has been unclear. Many officials, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, have been investigating the case and have spoken to MF Global executives.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  >source of an estimated $1.6 billion hole in customer trading accounts.

It's not a hole, it's the THEFT OF 1.6 Billion.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/10/2013 5:38 Comments || Top||

#2  it's the THEFT OF 1.6 Billion.

Yes. And a big chunk of which no doubt ended up in Zero's retirement campaign fund.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/10/2013 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes. And a big chunk of which no doubt ended up in Zero's retirement campaign fund.

A distinction without a difference.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/10/2013 14:01 Comments || Top||

#4  and another DRIP on the granite of the rule of law
Posted by: AlanC || 01/10/2013 16:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
CAIR: auctions Allen West NUTS Letter on eBay
Posted by: tipper || 01/10/2013 12:38 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
NASA holds a crazy, going-out-of-business sale
[HOUSTON.CULTUREMAP] Now that the space shuttle program has been relegated to history, NASA is holding something of a going-out-of-business sale to distribute its Kennedy Space Center effects -- although even the most avid space enthusiasts may not find these up-for-grabs items appealing.

NASA says "proposals should be space-related, though the agency will consider alternative uses under certain circumstances."
As the Orlando Sentinel reports, the list of pieces for use, lease or outright purchase includes a shuttle launch pad, space in the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building or a 15,000-foot landing strip.

NASA needs to transfer these items -- and fast -- before federal maintenance funding runs out at the end of 2013. Officials worry that the facilities and machinery will deteriorate and rust in the Cape Canaveral environment without upkeep.

The space agency has been quietly receiving bids and proposals from commercial space companies and the public-private space agency Space Florida for the items, and Joyce Riquelme, NASA's director of KSC planning and development, expects that the first deals should start coming together within the next six months.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If they're looking to unload that Saturn V out in front of the Johnson Space Center, maybe we can work a deal. That baby would look mighty fine sitting out in front of the house up on cinder blocks.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/10/2013 14:31 Comments || Top||

#2  In keeping with the Osama charge to NASA to .... "improve relations with he Mooslim world", they'll probably soon be selling rockets at a discount to Hamass and MB.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 14:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if they got a NoGoHo stashed somewhere. I've always wanted one.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/10/2013 16:26 Comments || Top||


Government
House Dems say president can raise debt ceiling
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] House Democrats say President Barack Obama
I inhaled. That was the point...
should consider invoking a little-known constitutional provision that they say gives him the power to raise the debt ceiling without going through Congress, where Republicans are demanding that a debt ceiling vote be linked to spending cuts.

The Democrats said in a letter that they would support the use of any authority, including the 14th Amendment, to prevent the nation from going into default, an event that some economists predict could trigger a global recession.

That post-Civil War amendment contains a section stating that "the validity of the public debt of the United States...shall not be questioned."
We're not questioning it, we're saying no more. The debt service can be paid without a problem. It does mean we'd have to forego a few fripperies...
As of Wednesday 21 Democrats, led by Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, had signed the letter.

Raising the federal borrowing limit is now subject to congressional approval, which traditionally has come with relatively little resistance. But in July 2011 Republicans tied their vote on the debt ceiling to concessions on spending, generating a confrontation with the B.O. regime and resulting in the first-ever ratings downgrade of the nation's credit-worthiness.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336108 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "When I see that the right and means of absolute command are conferred on a people or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny, and I journey onwards to a land of more helpful institutions." Alexis de Tocqueville, 1 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, at 250 [Arlington House (1965)].
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 4:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes he CAN, But Obama had better NOT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/10/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Has anybody ever asked them where it's gonna stop?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/10/2013 12:22 Comments || Top||

#4  If O can, and the house dems are all right with it, it therefore follows that house dems are not needed. Clear out their offices and leave.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/10/2013 12:27 Comments || Top||

#5  I honestly don't understand Leftoid thinking regarding spending. There was a thread on another board about the Texas budget surplus. Nothing but vicious, pointless, excoriating attacks -- because a state has extra money. I can't even begin to fathom why the Left would regard extra money as hateful, but there it is.
Posted by: Menhadden Flinter9357 || 01/10/2013 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe the Chinese will accept a couple of $1-Trillion coins.....?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/10/2013 13:29 Comments || Top||

#7 
I can't even begin to fathom why the Left would regard extra money as hateful, but there it is.


1) They want it given to them, 2) They don't want it returned to the people who earned it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/10/2013 13:32 Comments || Top||

#8  I have a 1 trillion dollar note from Zimbabwe. Obama can just use that.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/10/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||

#9  I had a few of those as well, but the selfless, philanthropic bastid that I am, I gave them all away.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 15:53 Comments || Top||

#10  Drip...
Posted by: AlanC || 01/10/2013 16:38 Comments || Top||

#11  It will take US$16.4Trilyuhn, as per the soon-to-be-passe' current official US Debt Limit, for the US just to par, i.e. reach a balanced budget of 0.00 Revenues = 0.00 Debts, + minima another US$5-10.0Trilyuhn just to put something noticeable = positive real, whole numer in the Accounting-Budget heiroglyphics that Archeo-Economists, Budgeteers will read in 2050.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/10/2013 22:18 Comments || Top||


Jack Lew Bagged $950,000 Bonus After Citigroup Bailout
[BREITBART] In the wake of the financial meltdown, President Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
derided Wall Street bonuses as "obscene," calling them examples of "fat cats who are getting awarded for their failure."

But now, Mr. Obama has announced that he will nominate as his next Treasury secretary Jack Lew, a man who in 2009 bagged a $950,000 bonus after his bank, Citigroup
...contributed $736,771 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
, received billions in a taxpayer-funded bailout.

Mr. Lew is the former chief operating officer of Citigroup's Alternative Investments unit--a group that bet billions against homeowners paying their mortgages.

As the Huffington Post reported in 2010, during Mr. Lew's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director confirmation, "neither the Senate's Budget Committee nor its Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee bothered to ask a single question about Lew's tenure at Citigroup, transcripts of the proceedings show."
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "neither the Senate's Budget Committee nor its Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee bothered to ask a single question about Lew's tenure at Citigroup, transcripts of the proceedings show."

Question only arise from the Senate when billons and trillions are discussed. And then, only polite questions.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 5:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Is Jack Lew A Friend to Wall Street?
Posted by: tipper || 01/10/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#3  From tipper's article:

Obama has shown a penchant for making bold Cabinet choices in areas he is personally comfortable with or has a passion for — such as foreign policy — while taking the line of least interference on the financial sector and delegating most decisions to Geithner... More tellingly, Obama, by all evidence, is not unhappy with the financial status quo. The president clearly has other issues he wants to spend his political capital on: a deficit-reduction deal, gun control, immigration reform. And Obama seems fairly satisfied with what Geithner has wrought... [Jeff Connaughton, who as a senior Senate staffer fought for financial reform] calls Obama’s view “financially illiterate,” and he’s right.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/10/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||

#4  In the wake of the financial meltdown, President Barack Obama
("I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money"...)
derided Wall Street bonuses as "obscene," calling them examples of "fat cats who are getting awarded for their failure."


That is, of course, unless the bonus recipients kicked back a fair amount to Obama's re-election campaign. Then they go from being fat cats to candidates for cabinet level positions in the administration.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/10/2013 16:44 Comments || Top||

#5  That's a mighty pitiful little bonus for a guy in that kind of position on Wall Street. He must have screwed up badly.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/10/2013 16:49 Comments || Top||

#6  And no, I was not being sarcastic.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/10/2013 16:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably doesn't account for stock options or other perks.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/10/2013 21:58 Comments || Top||


Biden: Obama Considering 'Executive Order' to Deal With Guns
[WEEKLY STANDARD] "The president is going to act," said Biden, giving some comments to the press before a meeting with victims of gun violence. "There are executives orders, there's executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet. But we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action that we believe is required."

Biden said that this is a moral issue and that "it's critically important that we act."

Biden talked also about taking responsible action. "As the president said, if you're actions result in only saving one life, they're worth taking. But I'm convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act responsibly."

Biden, as he himself noted, helped write the Brady bill.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When the police wear military style attire; drones are used to conduct domestic monitoring of citizens; the army is quietly given the power to detain without warrant or trial; and Federal Law Enforcement is on the scene at nearly every major crime;.... you have entered in a POLICE STATE!
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 4:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Using Biden as a front man, does NOT make the idea either legal OR practical, just dishonest.

(But we expected that, he's NOT what was elected.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/10/2013 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Biden, the guy with the unconnected laughter and pin-ball eyes during the debates, is the front guy; the guy who could easily be mistaken for the Aurora shooter. Just needs the orange plugs. This is the administration that trafficked in illegal firearms with the drug cartels in Mexico and the Syrian rebels? It is now about 4 months and we still have had no transparency on Benghazi. They expect the American people to take them seriously or trust them.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/10/2013 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Just a reminder -- the excuse for the last 30 years for instituting a police state has been the war on drugs.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/10/2013 10:46 Comments || Top||

#5  "The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage "
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 15:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Constitution of the State of Kansas

§ 4. Individual right to bear arms; armies. A person has the right to keep
and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, for lawful
hunting and recreational use, and for any other lawful purpose ; but
standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not
be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.''
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2013 15:12 Comments || Top||

#7  swksvolFF:

Your post reminds me of a good interpretation of the 2nd Amendment -- something I have never really seen before.

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Means:

"We recognize that the government must maintain armed police and troops, but we are also concerned about the government potentially abusing its arms, so we hereby guarantee the right of all US citizens to keep and bear arms as a bulwark against such abuse."

I like this modern day interpretation of the framers' words -- it doesn't ignore the militia part or render it redundant, and the framers did not waste words.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/10/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

#8  The Tiny Dot
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2013 16:04 Comments || Top||

#9  lblis:
That amendment was re-worded from a statement similar to how we know the US 2nd into this language in 2010 by 86% voting. The counter-grumbling was that why can't a militia peacably meet and practice so long as laws were obeyed. It does add in the In Times of Peace.

En similar, h/t weaselzipper, there is a proposed law in Wyoming threatening arrest of any federal agent attempting any gun control. Looked it up, WY's Constitution Sec. 37 states the US Constitution is the supreme law of the land, citing the 10th and the 2nd as making such a proposal lawful under the state Constitution.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2013 16:31 Comments || Top||

#10  Drip...
Posted by: AlanC || 01/10/2013 16:42 Comments || Top||

#11  They are about to make us all criminals by executive order. King Obama! Hail King Obama!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/10/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||

#12  http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52295
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/10/2013 17:55 Comments || Top||

#13  #10 Drip...
Knocl itoff Alan C , we got it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/10/2013 21:06 Comments || Top||


Cuomo Close To Announcing Sweeping New Gun Control Laws
[NEWYORK.CBSLOCAL] Governor Working On Deal That Would Go After Assault Weapons, Magazines
... and define "assault weapons."
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336107 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Makes sure only criminals and the state can instigate force.

Bow slave.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/10/2013 5:15 Comments || Top||

#2  When only government and criminals have guns there is nothing to prevent one from becoming the other.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/10/2013 9:47 Comments || Top||

#3  That's funny. When I lived in New York, the governor couldn't just announce laws. They had to be passed by the legislature.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/10/2013 9:49 Comments || Top||

#4  ...Is this the same Andrew Cuomo, who in 1998 as Sec of HUD under Clinton, threatened banks to give mortgages to those who couldn't afford to pay them back or the government would take action against the bank ??
Posted by: Tom-Pa || 01/10/2013 10:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Pass an unconstitutional law that gets slapped down by courts. There was a day when that sort of posturing would ruin your career. Now intent and feelings are more important than yanking everyones chain and embarrasing oneself.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 01/10/2013 10:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Cuomo is peacocking for a run at the Presidency in 2016. He will say what he thinks might stick at any given time.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/10/2013 12:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Drip....
Posted by: AlanC || 01/10/2013 16:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Knock it off, we GOT IT,(asshole)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/10/2013 21:10 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
41[untagged]
7Govt of Pakistan
5Arab Spring
4Govt of Syria
3al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Commies
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq
1al-Qaeda
1Ansar Dine
1Hamas
1Lashkar-e-Islami
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Salafists
1Thai Insurgency
1TTP

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2013-01-10
  Taliban suspects arrested over Karachi polio killings
Wed 2013-01-09
  Indonesia Foils Terror Plot on Tourist Spots
Tue 2013-01-08
  US drone attack kills four in North Waziristan
Mon 2013-01-07
  Syria Opposition Rejects Assad's Reconciliation Plan
Sun 2013-01-06
  Dronezap in South Wazoo send 18 TTP Jihadis to their rewards
Sat 2013-01-05
  Syria jets, troops wage offensive on rebels near capital
Fri 2013-01-04
  New U.S. Drone Strike Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-03
  Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan
Wed 2013-01-02
  Fourteen Killed as Nigerian Troops Clash with Islamists
Tue 2013-01-01
  Pakistan: Six charity workers shot dead
Mon 2012-12-31
  Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Sun 2012-12-30
  Pakistan reports 21 tribal policemen kidnapped, found dead
Sat 2012-12-29
  At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria
Fri 2012-12-28
  Militants kill two, kidnap 22 Pakistani soldiers
Thu 2012-12-27
  Somalia sets 100 days for Al Shabab militants to surrender

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