THE STAR TREATMENT

JON VOIGHT DEFENDS BRAD PITT'S MOM

Mother of Hollywood star quaking in fear since slamming Obama

Published: 46 mins ago

by JOE KOVACSEmail | Archive

Joe Kovacs, author of the brand-new book, "The Divine Secret: The Awesome and Untold Truth About Your Phenomenal Destiny", as well as the No. 1 best-seller"Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told," is executive news editor for WND.More ↓

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Jon Voight

The battle over Brad Pitt’s mother and her comments slamming Barack Obama while supporting Mitt Romney is collecting another member of the Brangelina clan: actor Jon Voight.

Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie, who is married to actor Brad Pitt.

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As WND reported this week, Jane Pitt, mother of actor Brad Pitt, has been scared into silence by the hate-filled, vulgar and even violent reaction to her public assertion that Barack Obama is “a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”

Pitt has even been the subject of death threats following her letter to the editor of Missouri’s Springfield News-Leader in which she asserted failure to vote for Republican presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney constituted a vote for Obama.

“All hell has descended on this woman,” said radio host Rush Limbaugh this afternoon.

WND spoke briefly with Pitt and asked about the media assault against her for her comments as a private citizen supporting Romney. With inflections in her voice that conveyed fear and despair, she quietly and politely said she was not interested in talking to anyone in the media about the incident.

When she was told WND supported her right to speak her mind and is appalled by the threats against her life, Pitt expressed gratitude to WND for being one of the few news agencies doing so. Even her thank you, however, was said in a subdued manner laden with heaviness of heart.

Now, Fox News is reporting Mrs. Pitt has at least one high-profile supporter on her daughter-in-law’s side of the family: Jolie’s father, Jon Voight.

“Good for her,” Voight told FOX411′s Pop Tarts column, adding he agrees with the points-of-view expressed by Jane.

A representative for Obama supporter Brad Pitt did not respond for further comment.

Jane Pitt also received some family support from her son Doug this week on NBC’s “Today.”

“I think moms and dads and kids agree to disagree all over the world. So why would our family be any different? There can be healthy discussion when people disagree with you,” he said. “The bad thing is when it turns to venom and negativity, and we don’t have that in our family. It’s open discussion. We can learn from each other and, if anything, it solidifies your point. Or maybe you learn something.”

The media firestorm has given Mrs. Pitt every reason to be frightened. Following her letter to the editor in her local newspaper, mainstream news agencies have painted her comments in a vilifying light.

The Hollywood Reporter published a story headlined, “Brad Pitt’s mother pens anti-gay, anti-Obama letter to local newspaper.” The New York Daily News went further, penning an article originally titled, “Brad Pitt’s mom unleashes anti-gay, anti-Obama fury in letter.”

She Knows Entertainment reported that Pitt actually “hates Obama, ‘gay’ people.”

These slants on the story, however, are mild compared to comments posted on Twitter.

Editors of the Twitter-scouring news site Twitchy exclaimed sarcastically, “Time for the left’s self-proclaimed arbiters of tolerance to teach her a lesson with their hateful, misogynist slurs and death wishes.”

Twitchy then spotlighted some of the tweets it found.

Jane Pitt

“Brad Pitt’s mom, die,” wrote Twitter-poster Sandy Kownacka.

A tweet from “I Bleed Gaga” echoed similar sentiments, saying, “Brad Pitt’s mom wrote an anti-gay pro-Romney editorial. Kill the b—-.”

Other comments included, “F— you, brad pitt’s mom, the gay community made your kid a star, you whacko,” and, “Brad Pitt’s mom is a dumb c—.”

Many of the comments told her to commit vulgar sexual acts with the commenter.

These statements stand contrary to Pitt’s own statements about his mother. In January, Pitt told the Hollywood Reporter that his mother was a very loving person.

“She’s very, very loving – very open, genuine, and it’s hilarious because she always gets painted in the tabloids as a she-devil,” the actor said. “There’s not an ounce of malice in her. She wants everyone to be happy.”

Jane Pitt originally penned her letter to the editor responding to another reader, Richard Stoecker, who stated that Christians should not vote for Romney based on his Mormonism.

In her rebuttal letter, she acknowledged that there were doctrinal differences between Mormonism and Christianity, but she took issue with the rest of Stoecker’s reasoning.

Pitt wrote, “I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.”

Pitt went on to say, “Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama – a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”

Her statements on Obama’s record, however, are not opinions, but established facts. Obama himself has come out and said he supports the rights of homosexuals to marry. He has repeatedly backed legalized abortion. While he was a state senator in Illinois, Obama opposed a bill that would have required medical care to be given to infants who survived an abortion.

Unlike his mother, Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has taken a strong stand for same-sex marriage and supports Obama.

Brad Pitt has a long history of support for homosexual causes. He once famously declared he would refuse to marry Angelina Jolie until same-sex marriages were made legal in America in every state.

Following New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage, Pitt said, “It is each American’s constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot.”

In 2008, he donated $100,000 to help fight passage of Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment in California that recognized marriage as being between one man and one woman. In March, he portrayed homosexual Judge Vaughn Walker in “8,” a play that re-enacted the trial where Walker overturned the amendment.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/jon-voight-defends-brad-pitts-mom/

LONDON 2012: Signs that we may be about to get the Shambolympics

LONDON 2012: Signs that we may be about to get the Shambolympics by John Ward Boris's booming voice and ebullient charging about can't hide the reality of what could so easily go wrong. I’ve been in London talking to medical consultants and generally checking out what’s going on behind the scenes of the Olympic build-up. I’ve received several tips in recent weeks about widespread evidence of shambolic organisation and general loss of plot when it comes to the Games, so I thought I’d take a look for myself, and make some enquiries. Although it's being billed as a Best of British opportunity, at just about every main arrivals point, EDF has bought dominant outdoor sites affirming its goal to make the London Games more brilliantly lit than any other. EDF is a French company, so it must be doing very well out of the venue if it can afford this kind of spend. It’s quite hard to spot truly British companies anywhere in the list of sponsors; but then I suppose if you sell off the family silver, that’s what happens. In a decade or so, London will be chosen as the site for a global medical exhibition, and no doubt at that time the sponsors will mainly be American insurance groups. As it is, I met some medics who will be on call for neurological injuries to competitors in the various events. A couple told me that the folks asking for help seemed "rather hysterical" and "a bit headless". In the area of transport to the Olympics – that’s about the only really British bit - the overall impression given to somebody landing from abroad is of an infrastructure that is woefully insufficient to cope with a huge expected increase in visitors. In trying to renew and enlarge all the signage to do with the games, what the organisers have set off is a desire by all visitors even now to follow these routes and take a look at the Village. The result is that the Tubes, trains and buses are already packed to a degree at least 20% above normal. But all the posters and pa announcements consist of headlines (and the ubiquitous Boris himself) politely suggesting that, as it’s going to be a horrendous nightmare for Londoners, why don’t you, um, walk or, er, not come in at all? Not exactly practical or encouraging advice. “Don’t get caught out,” burbles the ebullient Mayor, as if the tube system might be about to freeze up completely. In turn, road routes are being designated and tested to allow for unhindered VIP movement (“Boris’s mates” as some cynical observers suggest) and these activities too are already causing backlogs or backups around the South Circular in general, and throughout Blackheath in particular. But much of the roads stuff is anecdotal: the hard evidence of running late (and headless chicken patch-and-make-do) is to be had among those professions temporarily benefiting from it. This is especially true of my old profession, media communications. As a culture, four of our most pressing contemporary weaknesses are poor deadline discipline, an obsession with process, a fear of great big ideas, and poor interpretation of such data as might be collected. In the work now being done at the last minute by designers, copywriters, promotional experts, digital agencies, marketing advisers, and advertising suppliers, examples of all four syndromes abound. “It’s a bit like the last weeks before the Millennium Dome opened,” said one senior agency manager, “in that there is panic and daft ideas, but no sense of direction or coordination. The satire about all this on the telly is, sadly, an understatement of the anarchic reality.” “Everything is last-minute, half-baked and having money thrown at it,” said another, “As with most things like this, 90% of the overspend occurs in the last 10% of the build-up. It has more than a slight whiff of disaster about it.” “Not much evidence of thought in the brief we were given,” said a design supplier, “and the more you thought about it, the more obvious it became it was a waste of time and money. They are spending and wasting money like water.” I am told that Roddy Doyle (handling the filmic recording and direction side) is at the end of his tether trying to deal with ignorant ‘management’ described as “far more interested in copyright and money deals than they are with documentary quality”. The whole idea of a documentary about the preparations has been ditched because of endless legal wrangles about who would own it, and fears among the more assiduous arse-coverers that such a record will merely present, for posterity and post mortems, clear evidence of the level of shambles involved. The rehearsals for the opening theme - ‘Green and pleasant land’ – have been hampered by committee changes, poor audio, and the largely unpaid, amateur nature of the volunteers taking part. Tuesday night (10th July) saw another run-through; it didn’t allay many fears. In May 2005, my previous site Notbornyesterday made itself very unpopular by saying no Olympic venue had ever really made money or obtained measurable investment benefit from hosting the Games; and I predicted that the then £4.8bn would rapidly get out of control…especially as its patron was the financially incontinent boozer’s friend, Tessa Jowell. So it has proved. Later I suggested that the sailing Olympics off the south and south-west coasts would create chaos for anyone going by car. I still think this will be the case, given that Nimby has, predictably, diluted most of the upgrading plans. The ‘train alternative’ route to the coasts is nowhere near capable of taking up the demand that will be created once the roads seize up. It would be nice to think that Britain might turn a corner as a result of organising the Olympic Games. But far more likely is an acceleration of our slide into insolvency…and a concerted effort by the political class to hide the real coast of putting on the event. My hunch is that it will be very wet, millions of visitors will go back with the impression of an overcrowded and disorganised Britain, but that it might be a blip of concocted pride for a few idiots to get a warm feeling about...until a few weeks later, when the tidal wave of euromeltdown rolls in. We shall see. John Ward | July 11, 2012 at 4:02 pm | Tags: Boris Johnson kicks off leadership campaign, comms suppliers sense headless chicken syndrome, Hysteria fear and loathing in the Games preparations, Olympic Games panics, Prepare for the big overspend, Roddy Doyle exasperated, Watch out for the big budget cover-up | Categories: Make or break for Boris: are we heading for the Shambolympics?

This tells the story, why Bush was so bad at the end of his term.

This tells the story, why Bush was so bad at the end of his term.

Don’t just skim over this, it’s not very long, read it slowly and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out!!!

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22, 2009, it was actually January 3, 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:

January 3, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress.

At the time:

The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77.
The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%.
The Unemployment rate was 4.6%.
George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH.

Remember the day...January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.

The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!

Unemployment...to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress

So when someone tries to blame Bush...REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007....THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 2009.

There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!

Daddy's Poem...

Daddy's Poem... Her hair was up in a ponytail, Her favorite dress tied with a bow. Today was Daddy's Day at school, And she couldn't wait to go. But her mommy tried to tell her, That she probably should stay home; Why the kids might not understand, If she went to school alone. But she was not afraid; She knew just what to say. What to tell her classmates Of why he wasn't there today. But still her mother worried, For her to face this day alone. And that was why, once again, She tried to keep her daughter home. But the little girl went to school, Eager to tell them all. About a dad she never sees, a dad Who never calls. There were daddies along the wall in Back, for everyone to meet. Children squirming impatiently, Anxious in their seat. One by one the teacher called On a student from the class. To introduce their daddy, As seconds slowly passed. At last the teacher called her name, Every child turned to stare. Each of them was searching, A man who wasn't there. "Where's her daddy at?" She heard a boy call out. "She probably doesn't have one," Another student dared to shout. And from somewhere near the back, She heard a daddy say, "Looks like another deadbeat dad, Too busy to waste his day." The words did not offend her, As she smiled up at her Mom. And looked back at her teacher, who Told her to go on. And with hands behind her back, Slowly she began to speak. And out from the mouth of a child, Came words incredibly unique. "My Daddy couldn't be here, Because he lives so far away. But I know he wishes he could be, Since this is such a special day. And though you cannot meet him, I wanted you to know All about my daddy, And how much he loves me so. He loved to tell me stories, He taught me to ride my bike; He surprised me with pink roses, And taught me to fly a kite. We used to share fudge sundaes, And ice cream in a cone. And though you cannot see him. I'm not standing here alone. 'Cause my daddy's always with me, Even though we are apart; I know because he told me, He'll forever be in my heart" With that, her little hand reached up, And lay across her chest. Feeling her own heartbeat, Beneath her favorite dress. And from somewhere there in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears. Proudly watching her daughter, Who was wise beyond her years. For she stood up for the love Of a man not in her life. Doing what was best for her, Doing what was a right. And when she dropped her hand back Down, staring straight into the crowd. She finished with a voice so soft, But its message clear and loud. "I love my daddy very much, he's my shining star. And if he could, he'd be here, But heaven's just too far. You see he is an American Soldier And he died just this past year,, When a roadside bomb hit his convoy And taught Americans to fear. But sometimes when I close my eyes, it's like he never went away." And then she closed her eyes, And saw him there that day. And to her mother's amazement, She witnessed with surprise, A room full of daddies and children, All starting to close their eyes. Who knows what they saw before them; Who knows what they felt inside. Perhaps for merely a second, They saw him at her side. "I know you're with me Daddy," To the silence she called out. And what happened next made believers, Of those once filled with doubt. Not one in that room could explain it, For each of their eyes had been closed. But there on the desk beside her, Was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose. And a child was blessed, if only for A moment, by the love of her shining star. And given the gift of believing, That heaven is never too far. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to send it also to the person that sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them. If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry and that you've forgotten your friends. Take the time...to live and love. Until eternity.. God Bless There must be many children in the same boat as this little girl, thanks to our servicemen and their families for the sacrifice they are making to keep our country Free. The ULTIMATE sacrifice is being left behind. Don't forget them. PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS!

New York Fed, Geithner May Have Known About Outrageous LIBOR Problems In 2007

THE ROT SPREADS

New York Fed, Geithner May Have Known About Outrageous LIBOR Problems In 2007

Senate Committee to Question Geithner, Bernanke on Libor Incidents

By Cheyenne Hopkins and Caroline Salas Gage - Jul 10, 2012 12:45 PM ET

The Senate Banking Committee will question U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on the scandal surrounding the London interbank offered rate.

Committee Chairman Tim Johnson said in a statement that he will question Geithner and Bernanke at regularly scheduled hearings this month. Geithner is set to testify before the banking committee on the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul act, while Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual monetary policy report. Johnson didn’t say whether he would have a separate hearing on Libor, which is used as a benchmark for $360 trillion in global securities.

Johnson’s panel joins the House Financial Services Committee in seeking information on the scandal that prompted Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond to quit last week after the U.K.’s second-biggest lender was fined a record 290 million pounds ($450 million) for attempting to rig interest rates. At least a dozen banks are being investigated for manipulating Libor.

“I am concerned by the growing allegations of potential widespread manipulation of Libor and similar interbank rates by some financial firms,” Johnson said in a statement. “At my direction the committee staff has begun to schedule bipartisan briefings with relevant parties to learn more about these allegations and related enforcement actions.”

Federal Reserve Bank_New York 

Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican who serves on the House Financial Services committee, sent a letter to William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, requesting transcripts of communications between the district bank and Barclays relating to setting interbank offered rates from August 2007 to November 2009. Neugebauer asked for the documents by July 13 in the letter, which was dated yesterday.

The New York Fed was aware of potential issues involving Barclays and Libor after the financial crisis began in 2007 and told authorities in the U.K., according to a statement from the district bank.

“In the context of our market monitoring following the onset of the financial crisis in late 2007, involving thousands of calls and e-mails with market participants over a period of many months, we received occasional anecdotal reports from Barclays of problems with Libor,” New York Fed spokeswoman Andrea Priest said in an e-mailed statement.

Following the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. in March 2008, “we made further inquiry of Barclays as to how Libor submissions were being conducted,” the statement said. “We subsequently shared our analysis and suggestions for reform of Libor with the relevant authorities in the U.K.”

Federal Reserve System Board

Joe Gagnon, a member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of International Finance from 1999 to 2008, said the central bank’s Washington staff also began an informal inquiry into Libor in 2007.

“We were hearing these reports about how accurate the data were, and we looked into it,” Gagnon said in an interview. “It wasn’t a formal investigation. We talked to people in the markets.”

Libor is calculated from a daily survey carried out for the British Bankers Association in London, in which the world’s biggest lenders are asked the rate they’re charged to borrow over a variety of short-term maturities in currencies including dollars, euros and yen. Banks are accused of low-balling submissions for the benchmark during the financial crisis.

Gagnon said Fed staff raised questions about whether reporting banks would be able to borrow large amounts at the reported rate, as opposed to a scale of rates as might occur in a normal market. Gagnon said the Fed staff also discussed the issue with the British Bankers Association. Gagnon is currently a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cheyenne Hopkins at Chopkins19@bloomberg.net; Caroline Salas Gage in New York at csalas1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net

DERIVATIVES RATE FIXING: The toxic ethics of Michael Spencer

DERIVATIVES RATE FIXING: The toxic ethics of Michael Spencer by John Ward Would you hand over control of a $64trillion financial sector to this man and four untrustworthy banks? Yesterday’s post about Iswap and its openness to broadscale derivative-rate manipulation was, more than anything else, asking questions on the ‘fit and proper people’ dimension. Given it’s a joint-venture company largely owned by four international banks – and given it answers to nobody for the veracity of its quoted rates – then in the light of Libor (Barclays) jiggery-pokery about Lehman Brothers (JP Morgan-Chase), or wobbliness (Bank of America), the criminal attitude and motive is there for all to see. But there is also the central management role cheerfully given to Michael Spencer’s Icap group (itself a broker heavily implicated in the Libor scam). Spencer is a former Conservative Party treasurer impolitely asked to leave that job under something of a share-dealing cloud in 2010. The rest of his swashbuckling financial career seems also to have involved dark clouds, smoke and thus – at various times – the likely presence of fire and rain. As long ago as June 2004, Mr Spencer bought £5.5m worth of shares a day after meeting his friend Stuart Rose, 16 days before the takeover approach, and 20 days before Mr Rose became chief executive. The FSA decided that¸ on the basis of that ‘meeting’, they’d pay Spencer a little visit. This didn’t worry the blasé broker: "I don't dictate FSA policy but I guess it's quite likely they will interview me," admitted Mr Spencer at the time. "The prospect doesn't fill me with great concern. I don't think it will take a huge amount of time. You can only evaluate your own actions in reflection to your own standards. My conscience is 110% clear." Working myself for financial services clients throughout the 1990s, I can attest that Spencer’s low opinion of the FSA (and belief that it had no teeth) was entirely typical. But Michael Spencer has very high standards (according to Michael Spencer) which I suppose you’d have to have if your conscience was 10% over-leveraged. However, over the years – as I will demonstrate - his penchant for sudden purchases and sales of shares has raised a great many eyebrows. Five years later – in January 2009 -  Icap announced a $25m (£15.5m) settlement with America’s Securities & Exchange Commission to see off charges that it displayed fake trades to encourage activity by customers. The announcement was made soon after the UK markets closed (smart move) . “It is essential that Icap and other inter-dealer brokers refrain from engaging in conduct that discredits their privileged position in the marketplace," Lorin Reisner, deputy director of the SEC's division of enforcement, said at the time. The SEC charged (and proved) that brokers on ICAP's U.S. Treasuries desks displayed thousands of fictitious flash, or "bird," trades on computer screens between December 2004 and December 2005. But just five months later, on July 1st 2009, the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) fined Icap $2.8 million and sanctioned a former broker for what it described as ‘numerous improper communications with other interdealer brokerage firms about customers' proposed brokerage rate reductions in the wholesale credit default [CDS] market’. Once again, I would remind Sloggers that this is the company and owner behind Iswap – an equivalent Libor for the equally secretive derivative rates process recorded on the now infamous ‘page 19909’. Icap’s fine was split into $1.8 million for its supervisory failures — specifically, failing to detect and prevent improper inter-firm communications — and $1 million for engaging in conduct through its CDS desk manager that was designed to improperly influence other firms and their employees. Seven months on, and Michael the Chatterbox was once more in ‘constructive talks’ (during February 2010) with the UK’s FSA. Although a couple of bad years had overstretched Spencer’s assets to the point where, well, they weren’t really assets, he kept on presenting them as such. The Daily Telegraph reported at the time, ‘Last year, IPGL [majority-owned by Spencer and his brood]  secured a new £200m loan from HSBC to refinance. The loan, was secured against Mr Spencer's stake in ICAP, but he used these shares as collateral without declaring it as such to HSBC.’ Naughty, naughty. In order to reduce the horrendous borrowing requirement of his IPGL, in January he had also sold a £45m stake in ICAP….just three weeks before ICAP gave a profit warning. This too earned him a City censure. He was, in fact, a desperately indebted man bending the rules of engagement to breaking point and beyond. But the sale helped reduce IPGL’s borrowings to £119m by the time the accounts were signed off on February 1 2010. 2010 was another tough year for highly-leveraged millionaires, and not long afterwards, mealy-mouthed Michael’s investment company IPGL was using shares in Numis, a stockbroking firm he chairs, as security against yet another loan. Here too, he did so without telling the firm. David Cameron was called upon to condemn this fly wheeze (as Spencer had not by then been found out by the Tories) and he refused to do so. Just as he refused to condemn Jeremy Hunt’s tax avoidance scheme of 2011, and Hunt’s failure to tell Parliament more than a sanitised version of his Newscorp dealings in 2012….Cameron having roundly condemned both practices in general only weeks earlier. As always with Cameron, he tends to generalise, but in practice, he isn’t that particular. “Would you buy a used car from this man?” was perhaps one of the nastier 1960 Presidential campaign posters used against Richard Nixon – although it did prove remarkably percipient over time. In 2012, based on the ‘form’ presented above, you’d be ill-advised to buy a second-hand car off Michael Spencer. But to give his company the rate-setting control of a $64trillion derivatives market (in partnership with four proven dealers off the bottom of the pack) you would have to be comprehensively deranged, or as bent as a nine-bob note. Or a 24-carat Bob Diamond. Last year, Michael Spencer was still the Conservative Party’s largest donor. Nobody can know that such a donation is to guarantee he is left alone by the authorities, but that must be the impression lots of young and floating voters are being given. Add this to Hunt Balls, Hackgate, Libor, Met Police corruption, cynical EU-turns and incompetent (but devious) NHS reform, and it is almost as if Camerlot is setting out deliberately to hand the moral high-ground to the Ed Miller Band. The fact that the Opposition doesn’t deserve so much as a square foot of it is neither here nor there: the connections, practices, naked whoring, and extremely economical veritas of the Cameron Conservatives demonstrate how the cabal running the Party has ventured way beyond normal levels of despicable cynicism, and marched purposefully on into that bleak desert of depravity occupied by Mandelson, Blair, Whelan, Brown, Lagarde, Schauble, Geithner, Blankfein, Obama,  and others of that ilk. It is clear that, in order to defend his power base, David Cameron the Prime Minister is prepared to turn a blind eye to anyone and anything, and excuse any action - no matter how unethical, fast and loose or despicable it might be. He will renege on any promise, reverse any categorical statement, and befriend any life no matter how low....in order to get what he wants - which is very rarely what the country needs. Beneath that level, there are those in the Tory Party and among the new Young Right prepared to 'explain' any amoral sleaze and sellout rather than have what they see as a suburb of soviet Moscow in charge. Sad as I find it, Dan Hannan has joined this club in recent months: his ‘conclusion’ from all the revelations of banking depravity – that regulators make no difference and therefore should be abolished – takes no account whatsoever of the almost total erosion of commercial and professional ethics over the last three decades. The fact is that if the police and judicial systems did their job without fear or favour, there would indeed be no need for regulators….and most of the current generation of senior investment bankers would be in jail. The jail reference evokes guffaws of hor-hor braying laughter from the Right, but it shouldn’t: yesterday, criminal conman Thomas Scrugg was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in defrauding people of some £34m between 2002 and 2008. This is small fry compared to the daylight robbery inflicted upon investors and bank customers during that time. What we are uncovering – as 2012 both unfolds and unravels – is the biggest, most global fraud in history. Starting with MPs’ expenses and Whitehall pension grabs, we have progressed through the bribery and casual law-breaking of Newscorp, and now onto a scam that will dwarf them all. In the US, Federal and tax teams of seasoned finance cops are crawling all over it. Even the sleepy EU plonkers of Brussels have serious Interpol heavies on the case. In the UK, investors and taxpayers are being cheated daily by cyber attacks on market data, rate fiddling, and reckless gambling. But the police clearly have no intention of intervening. It’s time to stop snorting cynically and going “Hahaha, well what do you expect?”: it’s time instead to demand that the rule of Law in our country be upheld. What I expect is something better - and as a taxpaying British citizen, I am entitled to it. John Ward | July 11, 2012 at 2:03 pm | Tags: Failing to declare use of shareholdings as loan assets, FINRA fines, insider trading., Iswap, Michael Spencer, mind-boggling repercussions, SEC charges, the blind eyes of David Cameron, the daft arguments of Dan Hannan, where are the police, where are the Tory ethics?, where is the rule of law | Categories: EXCLUSIVE: HOW ISWAP FIXING THREATENS BOTH THE GLOBAL BANKING SYSTEM & THE UK TORY PARTY

RATES SCAM: Euribor rates ‘rigged throughout 2009-10 crisis’.

  

July 11, 2012

RATES SCAM: Euribor rates ‘rigged throughout 2009-10 crisis’.

As the news began to permeate deep into the MSM – even as far as the Dacre Wail – last night that the Libor rate has been fiddled for perhaps thirty years or more, an interesting (if brain-challenging) piece by John Morrison at Asymptotix argues strongly that euribor was completely rigged two years ago as interbank illiquidity solidified completely during 2009-10 in the eurozone. Thus we had:

‘….the context to incentivise Fixed Income trading desks (most all of which are in London) making losses in the context of total Armageddon, to start to behave in a criminally disruptive manner; the environment was ‘all bets are off’; ‘this is the end of the world as we know it’… the opportunity to rig LIBOR or EURIBOR occurs in a context of crisis where Central Authorities have lost control of the capital market transmission mechanism…’

This is an intriguing viewpoint, and one which I think has some validity – viz, when the authorities are ignorant and incompetent (and we are talking Brussels here) to keep things going it becomes a case of individual players following the sauve qui peut approach. This is backed up by Van Rompuy’s immortal line at the start of Ecofin, June 17th 2010:

“As we can see there is an absence of any sign of crisis at this moment, I hope we can look forward to meeting in a relaxed and comfortable context”.

But whatever the motive at any given time for Libor mendacity, we can see with crystal clarity now that Diamond, Tucker, most of the TSC, Marcus Agius, and let’s face it the entire politico-financial complex have been lying their heads off to us about stuff since forever.

Cheery way to start (or end) the day depending on your position, Pondside.

PLANETARY RATES SCAM: Nobody can deny it now

Reuters joins MSM chorus accepting global knowledge of Libor frauds

Further to previous Slogposts about the multinational nature of Libor manipulation – and the authorities’ knowledge of the same – Reuters said this today….

‘The Federal Reserve Bank of New York may have known as early as August 2007 that the setting of global benchmark interest rates was flawed. Following an inquiry with British banking group Barclays Plc in the spring of 2008, it shared proposals for reform of the system with British authorities.

The role of the Fed is likely to raise questions about whether it and other authorities took enough action to address concerns they had about the way Libor rates were set, or whether their struggle to keep the banking system afloat through the financial crisis meant the issue took a backseat.

A New York Fed spokesperson said:

“In the context of our market monitoring following the onset of the financial crisis in late 2007, involving thousands of calls and emails with market participants over a period of many months, we received occasional anecdotal reports from Barclays of problems with Libor. In the Spring of 2008, following the failure of Bear Stearns and shortly before the first media report on the subject, we made further inquiry of Barclays as to how Libor submissions were being conducted. We subsequently shared our analysis and suggestions for reform of Libor with the relevant authorities in the UK.”‘

It is hard to believe than anyone with a brain could still believe that rate fixing is restricted to any one continent, let alone one bank in one country.

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July 10, 2012

EU ESM LEGALITY: Karlsruhe Court slows things down

Judges in Germany’s Karlsruhe Constitutional Court suggested today that they were being rushed into a decision on the legality of the ESM.

But the Judges did make clear that there will be NO final decisions today on the constitutionality of the ESM and Fiscal Compact approved by European leaders and passed with a two-thirds majority by Germany’s Bundestag during June.

So: already there is more delay than Merkel thought. The more I look at this, the more I think Gauck’s goal is to talk out the ESM/Fiscal Pact laws until such time as it is obvious to even the Bild reader that the eurozone is destined to bankrupt the Fatherland.

But in the meantime, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today it had affirmed its ‘AA-’ long-term and ‘A-1+’ short-term issuer credit ratings on the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The outlook is stable.

All Quiet on the Western Front, then.

finis

Message from SaLuSa by Mike Quinsey - July 11, 2012

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Message from SaLuSa by Mike Quinsey - July 11, 2012

Posted By: Mr.Ed [Send E-Mail]
Date: Wednesday, 11-Jul-2012 08:59:29

Message from SaLuSa by Mike Quinsey - July 11, 2012 There is no time like the present to review your relationships with friends or family. Often when you incarnate you are placed with souls you have known in previous lives, and it is for the reason that you are likely to have issues between you that need facing again. Because there is a block between you it carries forward to each life until it is resolved. When you are placed together again in a family you do not know why, but you may have antagonism for each other. Because family members are expected to try and get on with each other, it would be hoped that differences could be more easily overcome. However, that is not always the case and they can become worse. So if you recognize yourself as being in such a situation, realize how it has come about and make a move to repair the damage to your relationship. Sometimes the hardest part is being able to forgive and it is not a sign of weakness on your part. Be the first one to offer the olive branch and it will release the negative emotions that you hold within. It will be better to have addressed the problem now rather than let it fester and remain with you. Those who hold on to the idea that they are the victim, should understand that karma is the outworking of problems between two people and both are equally involved. Those souls that find it easy to forgive actions against them, are showing their spiritual advancement and in so doing are helping another soul to evolve. It is the way to avoid thinking in terms of revenge, as it is unnecessary as not one soul will avoid having to face spiritual justice at some point. It does not mean that punishment is involved, it is karma and making a resolution that you will accept another opportunity to show that you can deal with your problems without adverse results. Uncontrolled emotions are at the root of so many upsets that you experience, and usually caused by the ego and so called pride. If you want to ascend into the realm where peace and harmony exist, then you must commence living that way now. Be that which you see as being your Higher Self, and be free from your old self that has become saddled with the lower vibrations and lack of Light. The time of fighting for survival is almost over and you are about to enter a new phase where there is no lack but abundance. Where those that are of the dark will no longer be able to bring you down and take away your rights. You stand at the door of freedom and peace, and you are asked little in return except that you treat all others as One with you. If only you could all understand that you have been waiting for this period for eons of time. The past is breaking away from you and you should allow it to move out of your lives. Go forward with the experiences that have lifted you up, and know that those souls whom you have loved and lived with are also doing the same. If it is in your future plans to meet with them again it shall happen, but of course many will travel with you as you ascend. No one is deliberately breaking relationships apart, but you must recognize the free choice others have exactly as you have yourself. Everything that lies ahead for those who ascend is of a higher vibration, and as such it is not prone to the lower vibrations and maintains its form. Aging as you understand it no longer occurs and in fact everything remains in its prime condition. Can you imagine how wonderful that is when there is no decay or death. Yet the conditions are not static and change can take place without leaving a trail of rubbish behind it, as it is instantaneous. Remember Dear Ones, that these are the realms where you will be able to create through the power of thought, and uncreate if necessary. When you think of what you have to gain, it is surely worthwhile putting in whatever effort is needed to be sure you ascend. Your intent is one thing but you need to start living your truth now. The wonders of the Universe are far beyond your imagination and life abounds everywhere even in the same space as you occupy. All souls are experiencing what they have chosen as a means of raising their vibrations, whilst at the same time adding it to the pool of knowledge that all other souls can draw from. Beyond your dimension you will find that the Oneness of all life is appreciated and understood, and consequently there is love and friendship between all civilizations. There are however individual groups that are an exception that you would call rebels, but they pose little harm and can be dealt with. Sometimes they infiltrate from other Universes but can be sent back to where they came from. On Earth it has been vastly different as you are of a much lower vibration that allows for Beings of a similar vibration to enter your space. Having said that it must be pointed out that we have been your protectors to keep unauthorized visitors away from Earth. If you did not have the Galactic Federation of Light traveling with you, you would not be where you are today. In your present cycle you have been as young children needing a guiding hand and protection. We have enjoyed our experiences with you and have learnt much about the problems that you have faced. For us it has been a very satisfying adventure, and we look forward to a wonderful reunion that is approaching very rapidly. Then you shall meet your real families from whence you came eons of time ago. It has been a long journey but in earlier civilizations such as Atlantis many of you met us then, as in certain periods when the vibrations were higher we would regularly walk amongst you. Atlantis had its highs and lows and in the end was responsible for its own destruction. It could so easily have happened again on your Earth but for our presence and intervention. Your destiny is to ascend and no amount of interference by the dark Ones will alter it. It is not only too late but their power base is now falling apart and almost inoperable. They are as you might say running scared, and such was their arrogance they never imagined that their plan could fail. Now they hit out in despair as a last gasp, but that will be all as they are about to be removed from what they thought were their impregnable positions. Never fear Dear Ones, we are in charge and will protect you right up to the last moments. Thank you SaLuSa. Mike Quinsey. THE GALACTIC FEDERATION BY MIKE QUINSEY http://gfbymikequinsey.blogspot.com/

Video - People are awesome ACTION SPORTS

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Hershey candy bars - ingredients WARNING

WARNING:     Hershey candy bars - ingredient

Passing this on. I don't eat these types of candy on a regular basis but only occassionally.  You may want to consider boycotting Hershey's, Snickers at the very least, and be mindful of the ingredients of other candies.  You never know what they may put into that candy.  After all, you are the enemy of the state!

As a side note to this -  I ate half of a newly purchased Hershey's almond chocolate candy bar two days ago - no other food just prior to and none at all after - had very upset stomach for nearly two days, then it subsided. I, for one, will not have another.

I cannot advise strongly enough for everyone to READ LABELS PRIOR TO PURCHASE OF FOODS AND CERTAINLY PRIOR TO INGESTING.  WE DON'T KNOW FOR SURE WHERE THE FOODS WE ARE PURCHASING ARE GROWN, BY WHOM THEY ARE PROCESSED AND PACKAGED, AND WHAT IS IN THEM.

**************************** Hi All, I'm passing along a word of caution!! Last week I ate a Hershey's candy bar at about 3pm.  Shortly after, my heart was acting really strange (PVCs) for about 8-9 hours!!  Wondered whether I'd have to call the ambulance and/or whether I could get any sleep.  I've been OK since. This evening (7/9) I read the ingredients to see if I could tell what bothered me. One of the ingredients in Hershey's candy bar now has the acronym            PGPR.    I had to look it up.  Here it is.......             polyglycerol polyricinoleate       http://becausenooneasked.com/2009/12/27/pgpr/ The thing that jumped out was  'ricin'      (part of military NBC - Nuclear / Biological / Chemical warfare)                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin No wonder I felt so weird and my heart was acting up!  Thought I'd have to call an ambulance at one point.  Then wondered what I'd tell them in E.R.  The only thing suspicious was a candy bar??! I ate one more bar in the last 3 days to see how I'd feel.  It's scored to create 12 small pieces.  Had 3 small pieces the next day w/o ill effect. Had 3 more yesterday. Finished the last of it this evening.  Felt a tad weird for a short time. Maybe it's a cumulative effect...or maybe I've done so much detoxifying that I'm very sensitive now and feel every minute amount of anything (chemical) not quite right.    After reading these ingredients, I'll never have a Hershey's again!! Please caution all your contacts about Hershey's candy bars! Because I care ___________