Luke's Blog: Shock, horror! Labour linked to unions!

As red scares go, the new Tory publication claimed Unite is Labour's "new militant tendency" doesn't quite rank with the Zinoviev Letter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinoviev_letter).

You can read the Tory dossier here: http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/newmilitan ttendency.ashx

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Labour and trade union politics is likely to find it laughable.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Gary Gibbon on Politics - Hilary Benn backs down on "barking" dog plans

You might think that any politician would have their radar at a particularly sensitive setting if they were dealing with "dangerous dogs" - the original act is held in contempt as one of the worst pieces of legislation in recent times.

Not, it appears, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

His consultation paper on amending the law, produced only one week ago, suggested possible compulsory third party insurance for all dog owners. 

Today, Hilary Benn has issued a statement saying it's not an idea worth pursuing at all.

It's been dumped and in record time. 

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

£81,000 spent on four lawyers to clear Ashcroft says Huhne | The Liberal Democrats: Latest News Detail

The Electoral Commission consulted four lawyers - two Queen's Counsel and two junior counsel - at a total cost of £81,000 before it cleared Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative Party through Bearwood Corporate Services, according to a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"It is appalling that the Electoral Commission has had to go to four different lawyers, on top of its own legal team, at a total cost of £81,000 before they got the answer that they wanted, which was to give the all clear to Lord Ashcroft's dodgy donations.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - French railway SNCF in train 'explosion' blunder

The French railway operator, SNCF, has mistakenly put a dramatic statement on its website saying more than 100 people had died in a train explosion.

The false announcement, of an explosion in Macon in the Burgundy region, was part of a training exercise.

It was only when journalists began flooding the railway operator's phone lines that the company realised there had been an enormous error.

A real SNCF statement later firmly said that the accident had never happened.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Latvian Nazi unit veterans march

Hundreds of Latvian veterans who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in World War II have held a peaceful march in the capital, Riga.

The veterans laid flowers at Riga's Freedom Monument. Police said about 1,000 people took part.

The annual march is a flashpoint for tension between the veterans and ethnic Russians whose relatives fought against the Nazis.

The veterans fought in a legion commanded by Nazi Germany's Waffen SS.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Church 'clarifies' Cardinal Brady's role in abuse case

The Catholic Church in Ireland has released more details about why Cardinal Sean Brady asked child abuse victims to sign secrecy agreements.

When he was a priest in 1975 the cardinal was at meetings where children signed vows of silence over complaints against serial abuser Fr Brendan Smyth.

The church said two boys were asked to sign oaths "to avoid potential collusion" in evidence gathering.

It added this would ensure that the complaints could "withstand challenge."

The church statement does not explain why either Cardinal Brady or his superiors at the time did not share their information with the police.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Baha Mousa inquiry: Eight or more civilians died in British custody | World news | guardian.co.uk

Eight or more civilians died in the custody of British troops in the weeks after the invasion of Iraq, despite frequent warnings by the army's most senior legal adviser there about unlawful treatment of detainees, an inquiry has heard.

In devastating evidence to an official inquiry, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Mercer described the way Iraqi detainees were intimidated and hooded by British soldiers as "repulsive". He said that 10 days after the invasion in March 2003 he saw 20 or 30 detainees lined up with sandbags on their heads.

He was shocked, he said, adding that it was "a bit like seeing pictures of Guantánamo Bay for the first time".

Mercer said he had had a "massive row" with the commander of the Queens Dragoon Guards about the army's legal obligations under the Geneva conventions and the European Convention on Human Rights. He had walked out of a meeting between British officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross after being told by a "political adviser" to keep his mouth shut, he added.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Berlusconi is said to be under investigation for trying to gag critical media | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 16.03.2010

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is reportedly under investigation for trying to axe a critical TV show. Prosecutors have allegedly recorded him pressuring the country's media watchdog to block the show. 

Italy's prime minister is reportedly under investigation for corruption, misappropriation and abuse of office. Silvio Berlusconi is accused of trying to pressure the country's broadcasting commission Agcom into keeping talk shows off the air that are critical of him.

The allegations against the prime minister are reportedly based on phone taps by prosecutors investigating political corruption.

Transcripts of one alleged call show that Berlusconi told a member of the Agcom commission to "make a concerted effort to push Rai TV to say: 'Enough, we're shutting everything down.'"

France24 - Left-leaning parties form alliance to keep lead in second round

Ahead of a March 21 runoff vote, France's Socialists allied with the Greens and other left leaning parties in a deal struck Tuesday following the Socialists' first-place showing in round one of regional elections.

France's Socialist Party linked up with the Greens and other left-wing parties after a frantic round of backroom horse-trading on Tuesday that followed the Socialists' first-place showing in round one of France's regional elections over the weekend. The alliance puts the left-leaning parties in a more advantageous position ahead of the March 21 second round.

The Socialists reached an agreement with the Greens and the Left Front (a grouping of other left-wing parties) in all but two of France's 26 regions. The Greens declined to join the triumvirate in the northern region of Brittany while the Left Front abstained in the central region of Limousin.

FT.com / Brussels - Brown blocks hedge fund reform deal

European Union finance ministers on Tuesday abandoned efforts to reach a compromise deal over the EU's proposals to tighten regulation of hedge funds and private equity after a last-minute intervention by Gordon Brown, the British prime minister.

The proposed Alternative Investment Fund Manager directive, the first effort at drawing up EU-wide rules for the industry, has faced sharp criticism from both private equity and hedge funds.

The most controversial part of the directive focused on rules for non EU funds and managers, which critics said unfairly discriminated against US fund managers as well as those in offshore jurisdictions.

The draft's tough rules for depositories, banks that hold funds' assets, disclosure requirements for private equity held companies and limits on borrowing by hedge funds have also caused controversy.

...

British officials accuse France of pushing aggressively to curb the activities of hedge funds and private equity. But Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, told Mr Brown last week he would be flexible in searching for "a point of equilibrium".

Downing Street officials said Paris had agreed to defer a vote - rather than forcing the issue and inflicting a defeat on Britain - a sign of the constructive working relationship between the British prime minster and Mr Sarkozy.

Fed to hold rates at lows for `extended period' - Stocks & economy- msnbc.com

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve repeats its pledge to hold interest rates at record lows to foster the economic recovery and ease high unemployment.

But its decision draws one dissent. Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, for the second meeting in a row opposes keeping the yearlong pledge.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - UK expats lose pension freeze appeal

More than half a million UK pensioners living overseas will continue to have their pensions frozen after a European court decision.

Pensioners who moved to countries such as Australia and Canada only receive the level of pension paid at retirement - which might be only £6 per week.

The European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal from a group of pensioners by an 11 to 6 majority.

The group wanted to receive increases in line with inflation.

The decision has saved at least £500m a year for the government, which said that its first responsibility was with pensioners living in the UK.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Communities First regeneration cash 'was diverted'

An unpublished report into a community regeneration scheme makes "disturbing reading," says a Welsh Assembly Government minister.

Carl Sargeant told AMs an audit report on Plas Madoc Communities First in Wrexham identifies "serious weaknesses in financial control and governance."

The social justice minister said public funds had been "diverted" from the purpose of the programme.

But he dismissed speculation about ending funding of the whole scheme.

However, he said his department would require additional assurance from Communities First partnerships that their financial management and governance arrangements were robust before committing further substantial funding.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Auditors' role in Lehmans collapse unites opposition in calls for reform | Business | guardian.co.uk

Ernst & Young's attempts to brush aside criticism of its role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers has failed to deter critics of the profession. If anything, the accountancy firm has forged an alliance of disparate and usually antagonistic groups disturbed by the role it played alongside law firm Linklaters in providing "window dressing" for Lehman's risky financial structures.

Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday he wants reform as much as Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable and Prem Sikka, the radical academic Prem Sikka, who has spent more than 20 years arguing that accountancy firms appear, like the Woody Allen character Zelig, in the foreground at every major corporate crash, only to fade from view when difficult questions are asked.

In their sights are the Big Four accountancy firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which stand accused of charging excessive fees for work that appears to make little difference when things go wrong.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Guardian: Is John Lewis the best company to work for?

It's just before opening time on bonus day at John Lewis and, boy, are we excited. Up and down the country, the 69,000 people who work for the nation's favourite retailer are gathered, impatient. At head office in London's Victoria, in 28 John Lewis department stores from Southampton to Aberdeen, 223 Waitrose supermarkets from Plymouth to Norwich, the ritual's the same: a specially chosen staff member ("partner" in JL-speak) opens an envelope, and reads out a number.

The number will be a percentage. Over the last decade or so, it has ranged from 9% to 22%. It's the percentage of their salary that each John Lewis employee, from executive chairman to checkout operative, takes home as that year's bonus. If the number is 8%, they're looking at an extra month's pay; 16% is two months. So what's in the envelope is pretty important, and in the partnership's flagship Oxford Street store, partners, nearly 2,500 of them, are everywhere: crowded dozens-deep in beauty on the ground floor, lined up on the escalators, hanging over the balconies in the atrium.

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith

Albert Edwards Predicts Deflation Followed By Double-Digit Inflation As "Governments Opt To Default, And Monetization Is Policy Lever of First Resort"  Zero Hedge

Tyler casts the predictions of SocGen's Albert Edwards as a meal. First there is the appetizer, US consumer leverage trends:

Last week?s Flow of Funds report from the Fed showed that US total credit continued to disappear down the plughole, despite the government?s best efforts to inflate us back to prosperity (see chart below). The current recovery, based in very large part on the end of de-stocking, simply cannot be sustained while credit is disappearing at this debilitating dehydrating rate.

    Last week?s Flow of Funds report from the Fed showed that US total credit continued to disappear down the plughole, despite the government?s best efforts to inflate us back to prosperity (see chart below). The current recovery, based in very large part on the end of de-stocking, simply cannot be sustained while credit is disappearing at this debilitating dehydrating rate.

    The recently released Q4 Flow of Funds data allowed economists to get a full view of the 2009 data. It was ugly. Most shockingly, the household sector shrank its borrowing for the seventh quarter in a row - with minimal signs of any abatement to the process. Combined with continued rapid balance sheet shrinkage in both the corporate and financial sectors, total domestic debt contracted for the fourth quarter in a row (see front page chart). Now, we might be getting used to such news, but it is always worth remembering that, prior to the global meltdown, even one quarter of total domestic debt shrinkage was like seeing a black swan with some pink dots thrown in for good measure.

Then we get the entre: Japenese "Ice-Age" Melange.

Many clients ask how we will know when the deleveraging process is over or whether there is a ?right? debt/income ratio. We will know when the deleveraging process has ended when we see an end to the unprecedented pace of decline in bank lending (see chart below). This process took three years in the early 1990s. Expect at least a decade of Japan-like Ice-Age pain.

For desert: Sovereign Debt Flambe.

Ultimately, as my colleague Dylan Grice writes, I think we head back to double-digit inflation rates as governments opt to default. I certainly again expect to see CPI inflation above 25% in the UK and indeed in most developed nations in my lifetime ? I have happy memories of the three-day week and doing my homework by candlelight. In the near term, however, the deflationary quicksand will suck us ever lower until we suffocate. A key driver for underlying inflation remains unit labour costs. While unit labour costs decline at an unprecedented rate, they are sucking us inevitably into a Fisherian, debt-deflation spiral. Only then will we see how far policymakers are willing to go to debauch the currency. Last year saw them cross the Rubicon. Monetisation is now the policy lever of first resort. (Emphasis from source.)

Given that the actions of the US Government and the Fed with respect to bad debt has been to hide it, much of it on the Fed's balance sheet, a Fisherian debt-deflation spiral seems quite possible. As for debt, there is plenty more coming up for default and more for refinance this year and next. And the coming movie, "Helicopter Ben vs. The Debt-Deflation Spiral" could end in monetary inflation for the USA. The result could be a new movie, "It's a Not So Wonderful World" which ends with deflation and seriously depreciated money in the USA and a broken world economic system trying to sort out a new "reserve currency".

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Strategic default: In come the waves again>  Edward Harrison

John Hussman notes that the very large non-subprime Alt-A and Option ARM cohort interest-rate resets lie ahead of us and not behind us in his latest weekly market commentary. In my view, this is a very big problem for the US banking sector and economy because of the credit writedowns these resets will generate.

For his part, Hussman says:

   I should note parenthetically that as you read reports about the mortgage and credit markets during the next few months, it will be extremely important to pay attention to the time period being discussed. For example, we are seeing articles with very recent datelines that are drawing conclusions based on relatively pleasant data from the fourth quarter of last year, which reflects the end of the reset lull that was completed with the low in September.

    To reiterate what the reset curve looks like here, the 2010 peak doesn't really get going until July-Sep (with delinquencies likely to peak about 3 months later, and foreclosures about 3 months after that). A larger peak will occur the second half of 2011. I remain concerned that we could quickly accumulate hundreds of billions of dollars of loan resets in the coming months, and in that case, would expect to see about 40% of those go delinquent based on the sub-prime curve and the delinquency rate on earlier Alt-A loans. Notably, by 2005, the credit score allowed on Alt-A loans fell to about 620, which is consistent with sub-prime. And not surprisingly, the later in the housing bubble the loan was made, the higher the delinquency rate has been right out of the gate.

    The earliest data we will observe in terms of Alt-A and Option-ARM loans will be driven by the relatively small initial round of resets that began in November of last year. That implies that any data prior to February is relatively clean of these effects. What we are interested in is the extent to which we observe a spike in 30-day delinquencies in data beginning about the February-March time frame. The size of the delinquency effects is likely to increase through the year, back off in the first half of 2011, and then reach their final peak in late 2011.

    Emphatically, we do not need to work through the whole reset cycle in order to accept market risk. But significant damage in the stock market is often taken in the "recognition phase" where troubling reality departs from optimistic expectations. On that front, I am doubly concerned here because on the basis of an ensemble of fundamental measures (normalized earnings, revenues, book values, dividends), the only points between the pre-Depression period and the late-1990's when the market has been so richly valued were November-December 1972 (before a 2-year market loss of about 50%), and August-September 1987. The hostile yield trends I noted last week (The Rubber Hits the Road) only amplify that concern.

....

when prices stopped rising, homeowners defaulted on a massive scale. The carnage spread in the financial sector most quickly via huge losses in marked-to-market mortgage backed-securities (MBS) and collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). However, when the mark-to-market rules allowed for greater `discretion' in designating these derivatives as hold-to-maturity assets, financial institutions got a free pass and are now hiding hundreds of billions in writedowns this way. This was a huge boon for financial shares, which have increased markedly ever since. See Wells profit forecast is a clear bullish sign.

The difference going forward has to do with strategic defaults. When a delinquent mortgagee runs into problems, a bank servicer has a lot of discretion in the way it can deal with this situation. Inevitably, this leads mortgage lenders to extending and pretending the delinquency is temporary. However there is a growing divide between delinquencies and foreclosures, which suggests that foreclosure data understate the mortgage distress and delinquencies now building in the U.S. residential housing market.

delinquencies-vs-foreclosures

When Option-ARM and Alt-A interest rates re-set higher, payments will increase dramatically for many borrowers who are hopelessly underwater on their mortgages. This will be a significant driver of defaults in 2010 and 2011.

delinquencies-vs-foreclosures/coming-mortgage-resets

Moreover, a recent article in the New York Times demonstrates that borrowers with high FICO scores are still at risk of default, opting to pay credit cards off instead of mortgages.

This is all pointing to a coming wave of strategic defaults. Borrowers whose homes are significantly underwater could be looking at losses at sale for up to 6 years. Therefore, many are opting to default strategically. When a borrower defaults and walks away, the loss becomes unrecoverable and the value of the asset must be written down. So while holding MBS paper to maturity has  cushioned banks to date, a large wave of strategic defaults would pressure lenders who are under-provisioning for future losses.

Why do I suspect that Larry, Ben and Tim will try to get the taxpayer to bail out the holders or issuers of option ARM Mortgages? This will not be Timmy's stress test coming up.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Reuters: Four banks to be tried in Milan derivatives case

An Italian judge has ordered four foreign banks to stand trial for aggravated fraud stemming from a 2005 derivatives swap for a 1.68 billion euro ($2.32 billion) bond issued by Milan, legal sources said.

...

Almost 500 small and large Italian cities are facing mark-to-market losses of 2.5 billion euros on the contracts, according to the Bank of Italy. Analysts say that figure will balloon when interest rates go up.

...

In the southern region of Puglia, prosecutors also are seeking to bar Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), from government contracts for two years. The move stems from derivatives losses from 870 million euros in regional bonds.

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter

Catholic Priest in Viet Nam should be unconditionally released | Amnesty International

A Vietnamese human rights activist and Catholic priest who was temporarily allowed to leave detention on Monday should be unconditionally and permanently released, Amnesty International urged on Tuesday.  

Father Nguyen Van Ly, who is serving an eight year jail term for spreading "propaganda" against the state in 2007, was released for a period of 12 months on humanitarian grounds to receive medical treatment.

Ly, 63, has already served three years in prison. He is one of the founders of the internet-based pro-democracy movement "Bloc 8406" and participated in banned political groups.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Pictures show Mubarak's recovery

Images of Egypt's president have appeared for the first time since he underwent surgery in Germany over a week ago.

Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for nearly three decades, was said to be recovering well following the operation on his gallbladder, which had sparked concerns over the state of his health.

Egyptian state television released the video on Tuesday of Mubarak, 81, talking to two doctors.

"He was upbeat and in very good spirits as usual," Dr Markus Buechler, head of his medical team, said.

"His resolve and willpower ... was very obvious this morning as he looked forward to going back to his normal life."

An Egyptian government spokesman said Mubarak would address the nation by the end of the week.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Hillary Clinton affirms US support for Israel after row

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dismissed the idea that US-Israeli relations are in crisis amid a row over Jewish settlers in Arab East Jerusalem.

She said the two nations had a "close, unshakeable bond" but made clear the US wanted both Israel and the Palestinians to prove their commitment to peace.

Earlier, US envoy George Mitchell postponed a planned visit to Israel.

Heightened tensions in Jerusalem have led to violent clashes between hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli police.

Israeli police said about 60 Palestinians had been arrested and medical officials said a number of people had been injured.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Jacob Zuma bids to ease Zimbabwe coalition tension

South African President Jacob Zuma has begun a three-day visit to Zimbabwe, aiming to ease tensions within the fragile year-old unity government.

It is thought Mr Zuma will assess the country's readiness for an election, which could take place next year.

He was greeted at Harare's airport by both President Robert Mugabe and PM Morgan Tsvangirai, who agreed to share power after disputed elections in 2008.

They are at odds over key issues and have struggled to revive the economy.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Kenya theft linked to riot probe

Thieves have stolen computers from a Kenyan charity helping with an inquiry into election-related violence.

Ndung'u Wainaina, of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict, told the BBC that the break-in appeared to be linked to the riot probe.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating the violence, which left hundreds dead after the 2007 poll.

Activists have accused the government of doing little to catch the leading perpetrators of the violence.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Iran nuclear programme 'solely civilian' - Turkish PM

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has told the BBC that he believes Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.

Mr Erdogan said he was confident Iran's nuclear programme was for civilian purposes only and described President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "friend".

"I told him I don't want to see nuclear weapons in the region," he added.

Meanwhile, a top US general has said intelligence suggests Iran will not be able to build a nuclear bomb this year.

Gen David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, said Tehran's weapon development programme appeared to have suffered delays.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Thai red-shirts splash blood in anti-government protest

Thailand's red-shirt demonstrators have splashed blood under the gates of Government House in a protest against a leadership they say is illegitimate.

Earlier the protesters lined up to donate their blood, as the anti-government rallies entered a third day.

So far the protests have remained peaceful and both sides say they want to avoid violence.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday rejected a demand from protesters to quit and call elections.

The stand-off is the latest in a deep political schism in the country linked to the 2006 military coup which deposed former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Mystery of missing Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng deepens

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng continues following comments from China's foreign minister.

Yang Jiechi said the well-known lawyer had been sentenced after being charged with subverting state power.

But it was not immediately clear whether that referred to an old charge, or a new one brought against Mr Gao.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iraq election race tightens

Iyad Allawi, the head of Iraqiya, a cross-sectarian bloc, has pulled ahead of Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minister, after a count of 80 per cent of the votes cast in last week's national polls.

However, the early results do not mean that Iraqiya is winning the race: al-Maliki's State of Law bloc has won in Baghdad, which accounts for a fifth of Iraq's 325-member Council of Representatives, as well as six other provinces, with Allawi taking five of the 18.

The results announced by Iraq's electoral commission on Tuesday showed that Allawi had a narrow lead of about 9,000 votes over Maliki's bloc.

However, analysts have cautioned against predicting any frontrunner for forming the next government if no bloc emerges with a big margin.
 

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Violent clashes erupt in East Jerusalem as synagogue reopens | World news | guardian.co.uk

sraeli-Palestinian tensions erupted into violence today with clashes in East Jerusalem as the US postponed a visit by its Middle East envoy in protest at Binyamin Netanyahu's settlement policy.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, announced a "day of rage" after Monday's reopening of a synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City, clearly seeking to focus international attention on the issue.

The rival Fatah movement also urged Palestinians to flock to the al-Aqsa mosque, the most sensitive of Muslim sites in the divided city. Buses transporting worshippers were turned back.

Israel's Ynet website reported 49 Palestinians injured in confrontations with Israeli paramilitary border guards. Masked rioters burned tyres and threw stones. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Passenger recounts 16-hour flightmare - News- msnbc.com

Passengers were told to shut up and ration Pringles after what was supposed to be a direct flight from Los Angeles to New York turned into a 16-hour nightmare, travelers told reporters after the weekend ordeal.

"It really wasn't the best situation," passenger David Martin said Tuesday. "Some of the flight crew seemed to lose control."

Martin, CEO of a social-networking firm, said what was to be a 5½ hour flight from LAX to JFK turned into an exhausting, drawn-out drama inside the airplane.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

From Cubanews.com (March, 2010):

An Argentine business school with branches in various Latin American countries has brought an MBA program to Cuba... .
Last autumn, Mendoza's Alta Dirección Business School (ADEN in Spanish) began offering management courses to Cuban government functionaries and Latin American businessmen who were intrigued with the idea of taking MBA courses in Fidel's Havana. ADEN's president, Ricardo Greco Guiñazú, told the Argentine newspaper Diario Los Andes that it took a year to put together the Cuban MBA program due to that country's bureaucracy, but was able to proceed thanks to an alliance it made with the Cámara de Comercio in Havana.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

These countries were recently linked together in a report by U.S. Army  counterintelligence. Not that they meant to attack Israel by including it in this company; they actually seem to be praising them:

The governments of China, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and several other countries have blocked access to Wikileaks.org-type Web sites, claimed they have  the right to investigate and prosecute Wikileaks.org and associated whistleblowers, or insisted  they remove false, sensitive, or classified government information, propaganda, or malicious content from the Internet.

But the U.S. didn't expect you to know of their admiration for North Korea. We only know of this document thanks to Wilileaks, of course.

Proposed Bill in Hawaii.

Description: Enacts an abuse of process law for vexatious requesters of public records.

[...]

Abuse of process.  (a)  An agency may request that the office of information practices declare that a person is a vexatious requester.

(b)  The office of information practices may declare that a person is a vexatious requester if it determines that the person has established a pattern of conduct that amounts to an abuse of a process set forth under this chapter.  When the person has been working in concert with another person to make requests, including making identical requests, both persons' requests may be considered as part of the person's pattern of conduct.  The office of information practices shall consider whether a person's pattern of conduct includes the following factors, provided that no one factor alone shall be sufficient to find an abuse of a process set forth under this chapter:

Via TODForecasts underestimate oil demand, study says - FP Trading Desk

Official forecasts may be underestimating the future demand for oil by 30 million barrels a day, according to a research paper by Joyce Dargay of the University of Leeds and Dermot Gately of New York University. If so, the next oil crisis is going to be a whopper.

Dargay and Gately base their logic on the observation that the demand for oil no longer appears to respond to price. While price increases in the 1970s hammered worldwide demand for the fuel, the heftier oil prices we've witnessed over the past decade had no such effect. Instead, worldwide demand for oil increased by 4% during that time.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

NewNet News - Japan car giants team up to promote global electric vehicle adoption

A group of Japanese vehicle manufacturers have joined forces with a major utility to standardise how electric vehicles are charged to speed-up the adoption of the clean energy cars around the world.

Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Fuji Heavy Industries and The Tokyo Electric Power Company have each become executive members of the CHAdeMO Association to aid the further diffusion of electric vehicles, the companies said in a joint statement.

More than 150 companies and government bodies, including 20 foreign companies, are expected to join CHAdeMO, an abbreviation for `charge for moving'.

The companies expected to join include automakers, electric utilities, charger manufacturers, charging service providers and other supporting groups, the group said.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Reports - Clean Edge - Clean Energy Trends 2010

2009 will go down as one of the worst years in economic history. Overall venture capital spending fell to its lowest level in more than a decade. Initial public offerings (IPOs) in the U.S. continued at historic lows, with just 13 venture-backed IPOs in 2009 (up only slightly from a meager six venturebacked IPOs in 2008), according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. Once stalwart financial and market leaders crumbled under new harsh economic realities, with many shuttering their operations or surviving as a mere shell of their former selves. Governments around the world, working to stave off a global depression, announced unprecedented commitments to stimulus programs to keep the global economy on life support.

But signs of hope have begun to emerge for the clean-tech sector. From Beijing to Seoul, and Washington, D.C. to Brussels, clean energy has become a driving force for economic recovery. Approximately $100 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package in the U.S. will go to clean-tech investments and activities; South Korea's "Green New Deal" is estimated to commit $84 billion to clean-tech investments by 2013; and China, by some estimates, could end up spending $440 billion to $660 billion toward its clean-energy build out over the next ten years. And while total venture activity was down, clean energy's percent of the total continued to increase, to 12.5 percent of total venture activity in 2009 in the U.S. alone.

Against this backdrop, combined global revenue in 2009 for solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and biofuels expanded by 11.4 percent over the prior year, reaching $139.1 billion.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Guest Blog: "Neuroframing" the global warming issue won't win converts

Last week the Garrison Institute, a retreat center just a few miles down the Hudson River from my home, hosted an impressive symposium on "Climate, Mind and Behavior." An organizer made the mistake of inviting me to the meeting's wrap-up session Friday.

As a brochure put it, the symposium brought together 75 "thought leaders and practitioners from the fields of neuro, behavioral and evolutionary economics, psychology, policy, investing and social media to explore how to integrate emerging knowledge on the key drivers of behavior into solutions for solving the world's most pressing problem: climate change."

Basically, this was a brainstorming session on how to market "solutions" to global warming more effectively. The emphasis on packaging reminded me of the controversial proposal by journalist Chris Mooney and communication professor Matt Nisbet of American University that scientists need to become more adept at "framing" issues such as global warming to win the debate. The Garrison meeting explored whether neuroscience and other fields that probe the physiological underpinnings of human belief and behavior can help environmentalists frame issues more persuasively. Let's call it "neuroframing."

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Ten sites named in £4bn UK marine energy project | Environment | The Guardian

The heavy Atlantic swell and some of the world's strongest tides are to be harnessed by a breakthrough scheme to generate clean marine energy off northern Scotland, with predictions it will rival the output of a nuclear power station.

The crown estate and Scottish government today unveiled a £4bn project to build 10 wave and tidal power sites around the Orkney islands and the Pentland Firth, with the potential to power up to 750,000 homes.

The devices deployed will include the Pelamis "sea snake", which uses the undulations of the sea surface to generate power, and the SeaGen tidal machine, which looks like an underwater wind turbine. In total, the machines will be able to produce up to 1.2GW of "green" energy, more than Dungeness B nuclear station in Kent.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Ohio.com - FirstEnergy finds cracks in nuclear reactor head nozzles

FirstEnergy employees have found cracks in the nozzles of the reactor head at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant, which was closed from 2002 to 2004 because of a corrosion hole.

Company spokesman Todd Schneider said Monday that the current problems are ''not nearly as significant as our 2002 event'' and that the company was working on repairs to the affected nozzles.

Schneider said there was no public safety issue associated with the small amount of boric acid that had leaked, but caused no corrosion to the reactor.

Schneider said if there was corrosion on the vessel head, company employees would have found it by now.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Copenhagen activist trial: 'I can't see what evidence there is for the charges' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Two environmental activists appeared in court today accused of terrorism-related offences during the Copenhagen climate summit in December.

Natasha Verco, an Australian honours student, and Noah Weiss, an American citizen who lives in Denmark, will face similar charges in a trial which is due to last all week.

Verco, who has organised non-violent direct action in her native country and who has been part of the Climate Justice Action (CJA) network in the lead-up to the summit in Copenhagen, has been charged with organising violence, organising public disorder, significant damage to property, and organising disorder during the international talks on climate change which took place in Copenhagen last year. If found guilty, Verco faces a maximum of twelve and a half years in prison.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Scottish bird of prey poisonings rise to near record levels | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The Scottish government has been accused of failing to tackle wildlife crime after the latest figures disclosed that 2009 was one of the worst years on record for bird of prey poisonings.

The Scottish environment minister, Roseanna Cunningham, said that 27 protected birds of prey were proven to have been poisoned last year, including two golden eagles, 19 buzzards and four red kites, in 22 separate incidents.

An updated map of persecution "hotspots" confirmed that the Angus glens in the southern Cairngorms, the Borders south of Edinburgh and Perthshire remained areas where the greatest number of confirmed incidents took place.

Cunningham admitted that after only 16 poisoning cases were detected in 2006, these "appalling crimes" marked a return to the high level

recorded in 2007, when 27 birds of prey were also poisoned, and close to the record figure of 34 in 2006.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

How going green may make you mean | Environment | The Guardian

When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home at the same time as lecturing on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to "green" type.

According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics".

Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours," they write

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

New weapon for food detectives: Plastic | StarTribune.com

The CDC was able to find the source of a salmonella outbreak by tracing sales through shopper cards.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

http://file.wikileaks.org/files/bbc-trafigura.pdf

This document was submitted to the UK's High Court by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in September
2009, as a Defence against a libel claim brought against them by the oil company Trafigura. A May 2009 BBC
Newsnight feature suggested that 16 deaths and many other injuries were caused by the dumping in the Ivory Coast
of a large quantity of toxic waste originating with Trafigura. A September 2009 UN report into the matter stated
that 108,000 people were driven to seek medical attention. This Defence, which has never been previously published
online, outlines in detail the evidence which the BBC believed justified its coverage. In December 2009 the BBC
settled out of court amid reports that fighting the case could have cost as much as 3 million pounds. The BBC
removed its original Newsnight footage and associated articles from its on-line archives. The detailed claims contained
in this document were never aired publicly, and never had a chance to be tested in court. Commenting on the BBC's
climbdown, John Kampfner, CEO of Index on Censorship said: "Sadly, the BBC has once again buckled in the face
of authority or wealthy corporate interests. It has cut a secret deal. This is a black day for British journalism and
once more strengthens our resolve to reform our unjust libel laws." Jonathan Heawood, Director of English PEN,
said: "Forced to choose between a responsible broadcaster and an oil company which shipped hundreds of tons of
toxic waste to a developing country, English libel law has once again allowed the wrong side to claim victory. The
law is an ass and needs urgent reform." Now that this document is in the public domain, the global public will be
able to make their own judgement about the strength of the BBC's case.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - Climate change 'exaggerated' in government adverts

Two government press adverts which used nursery rhymes to raise awareness of climate change have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

It said the advertisements went beyond mainstream scientific consensus in asserting that climate change would cause flooding and drought.

A total of 939 people complained to the ASA about the "Act on CO2" campaign.

But three other advertisements, including a TV commercial, were cleared by the advertising watchdog.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Google misses China licence deadline | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Google missed a deadline to re-register as an "internet content provider" (ICP) in China last night, which observers say is a sign that it is preparing to shut down its search engine there.

Google UK denied the reports, saying that the ICP licence - required by the Chinese government for companies which want to operate a website inside the country - only has to be renewed annually before the end of March. "It's a bit early for such speculation," said a spokesman.

But the timing follow weeks in which a growing number of reports have suggested that negotiations with the Chinese government over its stated intention to stop censoring search results in the country have reached an impasse.

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NASA - The Wizard Nebula

This image of the open star cluster NGC 7380, also known as the Wizard Nebula, is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full moon. NGC 7380 is located in the constellation Cepheus about 7,000 light-years from Earth within the Milky Way Galaxy. The star cluster is embedded in a nebula, which spans some 110 light-years. The stars of NGC 7380 have emerged from this star-forming region in the last 5 million years or so, making it a relatively young cluster.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Media: "I've never treated you like a whore" Sex Writer: "You just did"*

Last week the Independent ran a feature with the exciting headline "I was a hooker who became an agony aunt". Sounded fascinating. Another tart with a heart story, perhaps?

No, reading the piece indicated the headline was wrong.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Aid dilemma in Papua New Guinea - Guardian Weekly

First impressions of Papua New Guinea tend towards the idyllic - flying over islands and atolls of white beach and emerald water, across green rolling hills backed by thickly-forested mountains. Then the people themselves, open and generous, not just full of smiles but easily reduced to giggling, as I learned on my bumpy local flight from Port Moresby to Lae where I was to visit a family support centre run by the humanitarian aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

There, my romantic idyll was abruptly shattered. The first patient I saw arrive was a woman with three deep blows of a bushknife to the back of her head and her lip and right cheek close to being severed from the rest of her face. She had had a quarrel with the second wife of her husband, she claimed. Really, just a quarrel. For an organisation well-versed in the violent consequences of warfare, this sort of violence from within the family came as a shock.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

7 reasons why the Windows 7 Phone is THE iPhone Killer

The sleeping giant is back. With yesterday's announcement of the new Windows Phone 7 I believe we are seeing the rise of Phone 7 as the iPhone killer. Forget Android, this is the one you need to pay attention to.

Why? Scale, style and apps are the key reasons. Not to mention one of the longest computing heritages and a suite of services that range from business to entertainment, browsing and searching.

The Windows Phone 7 hooks this all together in a way that puts the market on its head. Instead of emulating what others have done, Microsoft has taken a radical approach to the phone. I give you 7 reasons why I believe this is the one.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

BBC News - US plans to give high-speed broadband to every American

US regulators have unveiled the nation's first plan to give every American super-fast broadband by 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has submitted the plan to Congress, said broadband was the "greatest infrastructure challenge".

It estimates that one-third of Americans, about 100 million people, are without broadband at home.

The FCC's goal is to provide speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), compared to an average 4Mbps now

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Manchester's on fire for ID cards, claims ID minister * The Register

Home Office Identity Minister Meg Hillier is now pitching ID cards as a weapon against social exclusion, and has mysteriously truffled-up nearly 6,000 extra ID card enthusiasts, meaning enrolments will hit 10,000 next week. Was it not just last week she said they'd only had 4,307 applications? Yes it was.

Furthermore, says Hillier, in an article this week in the satirically-titled wonksheet Progress Online, 62,000 people have requested application packs. "We've had to expand capacity to meet demand."

Which does rather suggest that the Home Office had been expecting the Manchester ID card rollout to be the dismal failure it looked and felt like until yesterday. But good lord minister, Manchester's on fire after all.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Pirate Bay blocking row silenced in Norway * The Register

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and a pro-copyright group have given up their fight to get telecoms outfit Telenor to block access to The Pirate Bay in Norway.

The rights' holders have twice failed to convince Telenor to comply with its demands to cut off the BitTorrent tracker decentralised peer-to-peer network site.

According to Computer World, which cites a statement (Norwegian only) on performing rights society group TONO's website, any appeal against the case has now been dropped.

TONO and IFPI were understood to be considering bringing the case to Norway's supreme court after losing two rounds in the Norwegian court system against Telenor, which refused to play nice on the issue.

The IFPI said pursuing the ISP through the courts any further would be a waste of money, reports CW.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Seth's Blog: Driveby culture and the endless search for wow

The net has spawned two new ways to create and consume culture.

The first is the wide-open door for amateurs to create. This is blogging and online art, wikipedia and the maker movement. These guys get a lot of press, and deservedly so, because they're changing everything.

The second, though, is distracting and ultimately a waste. We're creating a culture of clickers, stumblers and jaded spectators who decide in the space of a moment whether to watch and participate (or not).

Imagine if people went to the theatre or the movies and stood up and walked out after the first six seconds. Imagine if people went to the senior prom and bailed on their date three seconds after the car pulled away from the curb.

The majority of people who sign up for a new online service rarely or never use it. The majority of YouTube videos are watched for just a few seconds. Chatroulette institutionalizes the glance and click mentality. I'm guessing that more than half the people who started reading this post never finished it.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Citizens Unite | The New Republic

There has been a growing fury about the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, but much of that fury hangs upon an odd reading of the Court's opinion. The Court, it is said, has given corporations all the rights of "persons." It has elevated these artificial beings into entities "endowed by their Creator" (us) "with certain unalienable rights," including the right to free speech.

No doubt the Court has a long history of recognizing the "person" in "Inc." But this current wave of criticism is hard to understand, because the Court's entire Citizens United opinion hung upon the fact that the First Amendment says nothing about who or what is to get the benefit of its protection. It simply bans certain kinds of regulation. As Justice Scalia put it in his concurrence: "The Amendment is written in terms of `speech,' not speakers." Thus, the government is blocked by the First Amendment from constraining the free speech of any entity, whether that entity is a corporation or a dolphin.

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And the industry lobbying campaign against libel cost reform plans is led by... the BCA's lawyers, Collyer Bristow. But who are "Lawyers for Media Standards"? « Don't Get Fooled Again

Earlier this month, Justice Secretary Jack Straw confirmed plans to tackle the notoriously high costs of defending a UK libel case by slashing the "success fees" that law firms can charge when prosecuting an alleged libel on a no win, no fee basis.

The Press Gazette yesterday reported that, in response:

A newly formed group, Lawyers for Media Standards, is threatening to seek judicial review over Justice Secretary Jack Straw's plan to cut the maximum success fee which lawyers working on Conditional Fee Agreements cases can charge.

The group has demanded that Straw drops his plan to reduce success fees by ninety per cent in so-called no-win, no-fee cases and re-open the consultation which preceded his announcement.

Lawyers for Media Standards outlined the threat in a letter sent to Straw, earlier this month, by law firm Collyer Bristow.

It's worth noting at this point that defending a UK libel case currently costs 140-times the European average, and that as a result defendants who lack the financial means to pay these costs are effectively denied their right to a fair trial.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

The Dropout Economy - 10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years - TIME

Middle-class kids are taught from an early age that they should work hard and finish school. Yet 3 out of 10 students dropped out of high school as recently as 2006, and less than a third of young people have finished college. Many economists attribute the sluggish wage growth in the U.S. to educational stagnation, which is one reason politicians of every stripe call for doubling or tripling the number of college graduates.

But what if the millions of so-called dropouts are onto something? As conventional high schools and colleges prepare the next generation for jobs that won't exist, we're on the cusp of a dropout revolution, one that will spark an era of experimentation in new ways to learn and new ways to live.

It's important to keep in mind that behavior that seems irrational from a middle-class perspective is perfectly rational in the face of straitened circumstances. People who feel obsolete in today's information economy will be joined by millions more in the emerging post-information economy, in which routine professional work and even some high-end services will be more cheaply performed overseas or by machines. This doesn't mean that work will vanish. It does mean, however, that it will take a new and unfamiliar form.

Look at the projections of fiscal doom emanating from the federal government, and consider the possibility that things could prove both worse and better. Worse because the jobless recovery we all expect could be severe enough to starve the New Deal social programs on which we base our life plans. Better because the millennial generation could prove to be more resilient and creative than its predecessors, abandoning old, familiar and broken institutions in favor of new, strange and flourishing ones.

...one of which appears to be the 'wander the planet doing odd jobs for food and lodging while waiting for something better to emerge, and making friends and accruing life experiences more stimulating than queuing for dole money or watching your mailbox for that job interview from all those applications you sent out'.

it's odd yet makes perfect sense.

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

The Boring Age - 10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years - TIME

Genuinely revolutionary technological innovations are rare, and when they appear, there is a long time lag before they begin to transform the economy and daily life. The steam engine was used for nearly a century to pump water from British mines before it was successfully applied to manufacturing and transportation. The gasoline-powered car was invented in the 1880s, but mass automobile use had to wait until the 1920s in the U.S. and the 1950s and '60s in Europe and Japan. There was a similar delay between the invention of the computer and the microprocessor and the widespread adoption of the PC in the 1990s and 2000s. Even if there are dramatic breakthroughs in nanotech or biotech tomorrow, we may not enjoy the benefits for decades, or generations.

Technology has been remarkably stagnant in the areas of transportation and energy. As energy expert Vaclav Smil has pointed out, global jet transportation relies on the gas turbine, which was developed in the 1930s, and global shipping uses the diesel engine, invented in the 1890s. The fastest commercial airliners ever to fly reside in museums. The most cost-effective forms of mass transit everywhere, except for a few dense urban areas, are buses and planes.

Whether the heat source is coal, natural gas or nuclear energy, most electricity today is generated by a variant of the steam turbine that has been around since the 1880s. The wind turbine and the solar-thermal and photovoltaic technologies beloved by greens are old enough to qualify for Social Security. And these elderly technologies are limited to those privileged enough to live in industrialized countries. A substantial minority of the human race still derives heat and warmth from wood and dung.

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

Suit Claims Police Harass Journalists And Bystanders - WWL - AM870 | FM105.3 | News | Talk | Sports

New Orleans police officers have engaged in a pattern of unlawfully arresting or harassing journalists and bystanders who tape or photograph them in public, a lawyer for two men suing the city told a federal jury Monday.

A lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, claims police officers violated the constitutional rights of plaintiffs Greg Griffith and Noah Learned, who were arrested at a 2007 Carnival parade.

The plaintiffs cite 11 other incidents since 2005 in which people were arrested or allegedly threatened while videotaping, photographing or merely observing police officers. The list of potential plaintiffs' witnesses includes Times-Picayune city editor Gordon Russell and Associated Press Television News producer Rich Matthews.

"It is a widely accepted and established custom for police officers to arrest or threaten people for filming them," said Brittany Barrient, a student attorney from the Tulane Law Clinic who represents Griffith and Learned.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

NASA - Surprise Shrimp Under Antarctic Ice

At a depth of 600 feet beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet, a small shrimp-like creature managed to brighten up an otherwise gray polar day in late November 2009. This critter is a three-inch long Lyssianasid amphipod found beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, about 12.5 miles away from open water.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.