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Friday, March 12, 2010
Pension funds try to boost returns
Pension funds try to boost returns
Public pensions that are safeguarding workers' retirements are taking bigger risks.
Also:
Americans want tighter regulation of Wall Street
So besides the millions of dollars of lobbyist money from Wall Street, what's stopping this?
An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.
The findings suggest that 82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as American International Group.
Things your mechanic won't tell you
10 things your mechanic won't tell you
You might be taking your car to the wrong repair shop, for one thing.
Also:
The Olympics did change China
Their human rights record is even worse.
But as long as they buy our debt and then send back cheap crap for everyone to buy, few will speak up.
From AFP:
China's human rights record worsened last year as authorities increased harassment of activists and repression in the Xinjiang region, the US State Department said Thursday.
"The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas," the annual report by the State Department said.
It said Beijing "increased the severe cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities" in Xinjiang, the western region that last year saw deadly clashes between China's Han majority and the local Uighur people.
The State Department said China "continued to repress Uighurs expressing peaceful political dissent and independent Muslim religious leaders," by trying to associate the predominantly Muslim people with terrorism.
Who's not feeling the bad economy
Who's not feeling the bad economy
The economic outlook is rosy — at least for people earning $150,000 or more.
Also:
Lifestyle Adjustments, As Poverty Comes To The American Suburbs
From Treehuger:
Food pantry. Image credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch, (Laurie Skrivan/P-D)
The era in which increasing numbers of people were willing to pay a premium for locally grown food or for 'organic' clothing appears to be ending. Poverty has become common in many US suburbs, triggered by 'the economy,' and in particular by the preceding fad of having a huge home with low property taxes in the far suburbs . For an example, see the emblematic story in the StarTribune, Poverty is hitting the suburbs with more sting. Here is the money quote: "People went out to get low land prices and new houses," he said. "Frankly, they were living on the edge on two incomes. When suddenly somebody loses a job, they're in trouble."
Article continues: Lifestyle Adjustments, As Poverty Comes To The American Suburbs
Daylight-saving time begins this weekend
Go to bed early Saturday night or you'll lose an hour of sleep Sunday morning when daylight-saving time begins.
Safety fears hit cheese rolling
Competitors in one of the annual cheese rolling races at Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire
A famous 200-year-old event in which competitors chase cheeses down a steep English hillside has been cancelled this year due to health and safety concerns, organizers said.
Maldives Declares All Its Territorial Waters a Shark Sanctuary
From Treehugger:
photo: Christian Steen via flickr.
The Maldives definitely knows who's paying the bills these days... The low-lying Indian Ocean nation has declared the entirety of its 90,000 square mile Exclusive Economic Zone a shark sanctuary, banning all fishing as well as imports and exports of shark fins.
Article continues: Maldives Declares All Its Territorial Waters a Shark Sanctuary
Stranded seahorse recovering
The rare spiny seahorse was discovered near Weymouth, Dorset
A rare seahorse is recovering after being found stranded on mudflats on the UK coast, an aquarium said.
Liz Cheney labels lawyers "al-Qaida seven"
Keep America Safe group draws backlash after dubbing lawyers who defended terrorist suspects 'al-Qaida seven' Liz Cheney and her organisation have called lawyers who acted for accused terrorists the "al-Qaida seven".
Not long after the Twin Towers fell, Dick Cheney declared the death of more than two centuries of American tradition. "It will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws," he said. The then vice-president did his best to follow through by riding roughshod over the constitution and international laws by promoting torture, indefinite detention without trial and support for secretive military tribunals in which defendants were stripped of many of their rights.
Oh, Liz, by the way you missed one ...
French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD
For 50 years, residents of the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit have tried to understand the "cursed bread" incident, a moment of terrifying mass insanity and hallucinations that left at least five dead and dozens in asylums. Now the mystery is solved: the CIA secretly spiked the bread from the bakery with enormous quantities of LSD as part of its cold war mind-control experiments, at least according to recently uncovered documents. The allegation originates with H P Albarelli Jr., an investigative journalist who uncovered the documents while researching his forthcoming book, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments.
One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets... Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".
Mr Albarelli said the real "smoking gun" was a White House document sent to members of the Rockefeller Commission formed in 1975 to investigate CIA abuses. It contained the names of a number of French nationals who had been secretly employed by the CIA and made direct reference to the "Pont St. Esprit incident." In its quest to research LSD as an offensive weapon, Mr Albarelli claims, the US army also drugged over 5,700 unwitting American servicemen between 1953 and 1965.
FDR had it right when he called them the "banksters"
From: the Guardian
A court-appointed us bankruptcy examiner has concluded that there are grounds for legal claims against top Lehman brothers bosses and auditor Ernst & Young for signing off misleading accounting statements in the run-up to the collapse of the wall street bank in 2008 which sparked the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
A judge last night unsealed a 2,200-page forensic report by expert Anton Valukis into Lehman's collapse which includes scathing criticism of accounting "gimmicks" used by the failing bank to buy itself time. These included a contentious technique known as "repo 105" which temporarily boosted the bank's balance sheet by as much as $50bn (£33bn).
Wanna bet no one goes to jail over nearly destroying the global economy?
FDR had it right when he called them the "banksters"
Children's charity under fire on Capitol Hill
Children's charity under fire on Capitol Hill
Thorny questions jeopardize millions in funding and could hurt the reputation of Boys & Girls Clubs.
Also:
Science News
From BBC-Science:
Decapitated group 'were Vikings'
Decapitated group 'were Vikings' Fifty-one decapitated skeletons found in a burial pit in Dorset were those of Scandinavian Vikings, scientists say.
Songbirds on the US east coast are becoming smaller, a trend thought to be driven by the warming temperatures caused by climate change.
They are already ignorant in Texas ...
They are already ignorant in Texas and they want their kids to be be even more ignorant.
The idiots in the Lone Star are pushing to change the text books used by students to 'learn' from to reflect their myopic and wrong views so that the next generation of students in Texas will have their heads shoved further up their asses than their parents do.
The new texts are proposed to include:
Race - there are only white people
Religion - there are only christians (read ... protestant) and heathens
Sex - Only between married male and female couples (with the male in charge)
History - Humans and Dinosaurs lived side by side
Significant Cultural Movents - An example of which was removing hip-hop as an example of a “significant cultural movement” in American society for high school history. Country music remains.
*****
Now, removing hip-hop is the correct thing they propose (the only correct thing in the entire proposal), country and music should never be used in the same sentence and is in no way a 'significant cultural movement'.
Lesbian teen sues to force Miss. district to hold prom; returns to school to face classmates
Constance McMillen didn't believe her Mississippi school district would really call off her senior prom rather than allow her to show up with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
Democrats make good on health care threat
Democrats make good on health care threat
The next step for the embattled reform proposal sparks immediate backlash from the repugicans.
Also:
Today is ...
Today is Friday, March 12, the 71st day of 2010.
There are 294 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Middle Name Pride Day
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Napoli, Campania, Italy
Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
Petch Tikva, Hamerkaz, Israel
Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany
As well as Russia, Hong Kong, and the United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
You're in the mood for a little excitement.
Actually, that's not entirely true.
You're in the mood for a whole lot of excitement -- and you'd like it to be of the romantic variety.
Fortunately, you just so happen to know someone who'll be happy to help you make the very most of your mood.
Better give them a call now.
This may not last forever, and you definitely don't want to waste it.
That's the ticket.
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