Tzipi Livni says that this is not a civilian casualty.

MADOFF TRAIL LEADS TO WASHINGTON

Lobbyists, Congress and the Ponzi Scheme / Madoff's Money Trail Leads to Washington

Here’s a tiny sampling of what Markopolos told the SEC in his 21-page November 7, 2005 letter. You decide if these are “specific facts.”

“I am a derivatives expert and have traded or assisted in the trading of several billion $US in options strategies for hedge funds and institutional clients…(Highly Likely) Madoff Securities is the world’s largest Ponzi Scheme…The [Madoff] family runs what is effectively the world’s largest hedge fund with estimated assets under management of at least $20 billion to perhaps $50 billion…The third parties organize the hedge funds and obtain investors but 100% of the money raised is actually managed by Madoff Investment Securities, LLC in a purported hedge fund strategy. The investors that pony up the money don’t know that BM [Bernie Madoff] is managing their money…Some prominent US based hedge fund, fund of funds, that “invest” in BM in this manner include: A. Fairfield Sentry Limited (Arden Asset Management) which had $5.2 billion invested in BM as of May 2005…Access International Advisors…which had $450 million invested with BM as of mid-2002…Tremont Capital Management, Inc…Tremont oversees on an advisory and fully discretionary basis over $10.5 billion in assets. Clients include institutional investors, public and private pension plans, ERISA plans, university endowments, foundations, and financial institutions, as well as high net worth individuals…Madoff does not allow outside performance audits. One London based hedge fund, fund of funds, representing Arab money, asked to send in a team of Big 4 accountants to conduct a performance audit during their planned due diligence. They were told ‘No, only Madoff’s brother-in-law who owns his own accounting firm is allowed to audit performance’…Only Madoff family members are privy to the investment strategy. Name one other prominent multi-billion dollar hedge fund that doesn’t have outside, non-family professionals involved in the investment process. You can’t because there aren’t any…There are too many red flags to ignore. REFCO, Wood River, the Manhattan Fun, Princeton Economics, and other hedge fund blow ups all had a lot fewer red flags than Madoff and look what happened at those places…”

Wall Street Swindler Strikes Powerful Blows for Social Justice

Point number nine is that Madoff struck a severe blow against anti-Semites who claim that there is a ‘close-knit Jewish conspiracy to defraud the Gentiles’, laying that canard to rest once and for all. Among Bernard Madoff’s principle victims were his closest Jewish friends and colleagues, people who shared Seder meals and frequented the same upscale temples in Long Island and Palm Beach.

How does this tiny swindle lay that to rest? 50 or 100 billion? this swindle isn't finished and his secret hand shake pals ain't all out their money. There is still trillions missing and stolen I'm laying odds that the secret handshake gang got their hands on a good share of it. This madoff to the wolves along with his like tribal members is a fookun smoke screen a ruse to get the idiot masses to believe that it really ain't them fuckin us over en mass. wait and watch .

Suicide Banking

Two recent banking 'suicides'

HSBC banker found hanged by belt at 5-star London hotel after 'committing suicide'

By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 2:49 AM on 22nd December 2008

• Comments (37)
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A leading City banker was found hanged in a five-star hotel in an apparent suicide, police said yesterday.

Christen Schnor, 49, was discovered by a hotel worker naked with a belt around his neck in the cupboard of his £500 a night suite.

The married father of two earned a six-figure salary as HSBC's head of insurance and also had a seat on the bank's executive committee.

more..

Head of Fund Invested in Madoff Is Found Dead

December 23, 2008, 12:28 pm

snip

Mr. de la Villehuchet’s firm managed Luxalpha, a $1.4 billion Luxembourg-based fund sold across Europe, invested in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Access International last week called Mr. Madoff’s arrest “a shocking development” in a note to investors. Investors in the fund included a unit of Rothschild and several clients of the Swiss bank UBS.
more...

GROUND ZERO ON WALL STREET: FED FUNDS AND T-BILLS HIT 0% INTEREST

by Ellen Brown December 19th, 2008

The federal funds rate and the interest on 3-month Treasury bills both just hit ZERO percent. This means banks and the government are borrowing money for free. Yet demand for the T-bills at auction was four times the available supply! Who is clamoring to buy the debt of the world's most insolvent debtor for no return at all, and why?

Federal Reserve sets Stage for Weimar-style Hyperinflation

By F. William Engdahl, 15 December 2008



The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Their lawyers resorted to the bizarre argument that they did so to protect 'trade secrets.' Is the secret that the US financial system is de facto bankrupt? The latest Fed move is further indication of the degree of panic and lack of clear strategy within the highest ranks of the US financial institutions. Unprecedented Federal Reserve expansion of the Monetary Base in recent weeks sets the stage for a future Weimar-style hyperinflation perhaps before 2010.

William Engldahl on full spectrum dominance

About 1 hour in or sit through alex jones first hour also peter schiff. he called it!




Engdahl "divide and conquer"MP3

Hillary wants more power and more money, any questions?

The New Team

Jacob J. Lew

As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of the Obama administration. Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration.

Name: Jacob J. Lew

Being considered for: A variety of domestic policy jobs.

Would bring to the job: Extensive experience in the White House and on Capitol Hill; intimate knowledge of the substance and politics of federal programs, the budget process and appropriations.

Is linked to Mr. Obama by: Longtime friendship with Clinton administration alumni, including John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of the Obama transition.

In his own words: “Fiscal discipline is essential to protect Social Security and strengthen Medicare, so that both will be there in the years ahead. Reducing the accumulated federal debt will help us to protect these important programs.” (Congressional testimony in March 2000.)

“Fiscal discipline and progressive government must be essential partners.” (Statement at the White House in April 1998.)

Used to work as: Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1998 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Was deputy director of the budget office (1995-1998), senior policy adviser to Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts (1979-87) and an aide to Representative Joe Moakley of Massachusetts (1974-75).

Carries as baggage: No serious impediments. He is respected by members of both parties as a policy specialist and a legislative craftsman. Some Republicans say he can be highly partisan. As executive vice president of New York University, he tangled with a union representing graduate students who help teach courses. His work for an investment unit of Citigroup could invite criticism in the current financial turmoil.

Is otherwise known for: No matter how frenetic the pace, he would leave his government office to observe the Jewish Sabbath on Friday evenings.

Résumé includes: Born Aug. 29, 1955, in New York City. ... known as Jack....earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1978 and a law degree from Georgetown in 1983. ... issues director at the Democratic National Committee in 1988. ... founding director of the Center for Middle East Research, 1992. ...worked on Mr. Clinton’s national service initiative and his ill-fated health care plan. ...executive vice president of New York University (2001-6). ...now chief operating officer of Citi Alternative Investments, a unit of Citigroup. ROBERT PEAR

The New Team

James B. Steinberg

As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of a new Obama administration. Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration.

Thierry Charlier/Associated Press

A series of profiles of potential members of the Obama administration.

Name: James B. Steinberg

Chosen for: Is a co-leader of the Obama transition team's policy working group on national security.

Brings to the job: Foreign policy experience at the highest levels of government, including as deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, where he earned a reputation for boundless energy and a mastery of subjects, but also for a short temper that sometimes intimidated his subordinates. Michael O’Hanlon, a former colleague at the Brookings Institution, calls him “an incredible networker, but someone who masters the substance as well.”

Is linked to Mr. Obama by: His work over the last several months as an informal adviser, helping to fashion campaign positions on the Israeli peace process, Iran and other foreign policy topics. He accompanied Mr. Obama this summer on his trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and other foreign spots.

Used to work as: A clerk to a federal judge; an aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Armed Services Committee; and an analyst at the RAND Corporation in California. He held several top national security positions in the Clinton administration, including State Department chief of staff and director of the department’s policy planning staff. Until 2005, he was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He is now dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas but has remained at the center of the Democratic Party’s shadow foreign policy establishment.

In his own words: “The next president will take office at an extraordinarily delicate and dangerous time in American history. He will face two ongoing conflicts in which U.S. troops are intensely engaged, our ground forces are overextended, and few good options seem available for stabilizing these situations to prevent wider conflict.” — From “Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power,” 2008, co-authored with Kurt M. Campbell.

Carries as baggage: Does not have a longstanding relationship with Mr. Obama. His intensity can be off-putting, some former colleagues say, although he is said to have mellowed somewhat since his days in the Clinton White House. He currently lives in Austin, Tex., and would have to relocate to Washington.

Is otherwise known as : A voracious reader, fly fisherman, runner and workaholic who often rises before dawn to run several miles before getting to the office. He has several marathons under his belt. Was struck by a car while running in Los Angeles but has recovered from his injuries.

Résumé: Born May 7, 1953 ... the son of a jeweler, raised in Boston ... earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Yale Law School ... a lifelong Democrat, he worked on the presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter and Michael Dukakis ... married to Sherburne B. Abbott, an environmental scientist ... they have two daughters.

who's running your country?

The Rev. George Simons, who was Superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg from 1907 to October 1918, appeared before a Committee of the United States Senate on the 12th February, 1919, and gave them a report of his personal knowledge of the happenings in Russia up to the time he left. Dr. Fahey quotes him as saying during this evidence:

"In December, 1918, out of 388 members of the revolutionary government, only 16 happened to be real Russians; all the rest were Jews with the exception of one U.S. Negro. Two hundred and sixty-five of the Jews come from the Lower East Side of New York."

SUSTAINABLE GOVERNMENT: BANKING FOR A “NEW” NEW DEAL

by Ellen Brown

As our 44th President prepares to enter the Oval Office, bank lending has seized up, some of the nation’s largest banks are on life support, and the big three automakers are bankrupt. Housing continues to crash, and so does the economy. Read more...

Police Have Murdered 400 With Tasers Since 2001

Sold as 'non-lethal,' Tasers killed 400 since 2001
Andrew McLemore
Published: Saturday December 13, 2008

They are marketed as non-lethal weapons that allow police to capture suspects or criminals without causing any permanent harm.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and businessman Bernard Kerik made millions selling the idea to police departments across the country.

But Tasers have killed more than 400 people since 2001, according to a new study commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Police departments across Canada began banning use of Tasers by their officers after the report found that Tasers deliver more power than the manufacturer says is possible.

After 15 Years, North Carolina Plant Unionizes

The vote was one of the biggest private-sector union successes in years, and officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers said it was the largest in that union’s history.

The union won by 2,041 votes to 1,879 after two years of turmoil at the plant. As a result of a federal crackdown on illegal immigrants, more than 1,500 Hispanic workers have left the plant. Its work force is now 60 percent black, up from around 20 percent two years ago.

Thom Hartmann on Countdown: This is an Absolute Consequence of Reaganomics

Hartmann: David what he needs to do immediately is read Alexander Hamilton's 1791 report to Congress on manufactures. Hamilton laid out this six step plan to build an industrial economy in the United States and we followed it. We, Congress actually put into place in 1792 and it stood until Ronald Reagan came along and started deconstructing this, followed by George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton and George Bush now and the legislatures, mostly pushed by the Republicans taking this thing apart. You could argue some of this started with Taft-Hartley. But basically the founders laid this thing out. They had it figured out and it worked. We built the biggest industrial infrastructure and industrial economy in the world.

We have gone, when Reagan came into office we were the largest exporter of manufactured goods and the largest importer of raw materials on the planet. And the largest creditor. More people owed us money than anybody else in the world. Now just twenty eight years later we're the largest importer of finished goods, manufactured goods, exporter of raw materials which is kind of the definition of a third world nation and we're the most in debt of any country in the world. This is the absolute consequence of Reaganomics.

Wall Street and Washington DC are infested....

Wall Street and Washington DC are infested with these con artists and neo-cons. Here are just a few of the names.

Richard Fuld - Head of CitiBank asking and getting billions of taxpayer dollars.

Hank Greenberg - disgraced former head of AIG

Alan Greenspan- ex Federal Reserve Chairman (bubblemeister supremo)

Ben Bernacke - new Fed chairman ( "Will drop newly printed fiat currency out of helicopters")

American / Isreali Dual Citizens Running the American Government

Attorney General - Michael Mukasey
Head of Homeland Security - Michael Chertoff
Chairman Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - Richard Perle
Deputy Defense Secretary (Former) - Paul Wolfowitz
Under Secretary of Defense - Douglas Feith
National Security Council Advisor - Elliott Abrams
Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff (Former) - “Scooter” Libby
White House Deputy Chief of Staff - Joshua Bolten
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs - Marc Grossman
Director of Policy Planning at the State Department - Richard Haass
U.S. Trade Representative (Cabinet-level Position) - Robert Zoellick
Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - James Schlesinger
UN Representative (Former) - John Bolton
Under Secretary for Arms Control - David Wurmser
Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - Eliot Cohen
Senior Advisor to the President - Steve Goldsmith
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary - Christopher Gersten
Assistant Secretary of State - Lincoln Bloomfield
Deputy Assistant to the President - Jay Lefkowitz
White House Political Director - Ken Melman
National Security Study Group - Edward Luttwak
Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - Kenneth Adelman
Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst (Former) - Lawrence (Larry) Franklin
National Security Council Advisor - Robert Satloff
President Export-Import Bank U.S. - Mel Sembler
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families - Christopher Gersten
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Public Affairs - Mark Weinberger
White House Speechwriter - David Frum
White House Spokesman (Former) - Ari Fleischer
Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - Henry Kissinger
Deputy Secretary of Commerce - Samuel Bodman
Under Secretary of State for Management - Bonnie Cohen
Director of Foreign Service Institute - Ruth Davis

The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it’s crucial to get the history straight.

The Economic Crisis
Capitalist Fools
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush II—and one national delusion.
by Joseph E. Stiglitz January 2009

R.I.P. Betty Page

Bernard L. Madoff confessed to a massive fraud scheme

Former Nasdaq chairman arrested for fraud
Is Bernard L. Madoff Jewish?

Fuck I hope They Waterboarded The confession out of Him

A Wall Street powerbroker for nearly 50 years who built an influential firm has confessed to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors at least $50 billion, federal authorities say.

Bernard L. Madoff, 70, facing a single count of securities fraud, declined to speak with reporters after a federal magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered him released Thursday night on $10 million bail.

Andrew M. Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the Securities and Exchange Commission's New York office, said the SEC had filed a civil securities fraud charge as well and was alleging "a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions."

The SEC said it was seeking emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm. A hearing was scheduled for Friday.

If the allegations contained in a criminal complaint are true, it may be the largest fraud ever blamed on a single individual. Nearly all of the allegations stem from an FBI agent's recounting of what Madoff told two FBI agents and three senior employees of his firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

It would be a steep fall for Madoff, a former Nasdaq stock market chairman who founded his business in 1960 with $5,000 he earned in part working as a lifeguard on Long Island beaches.

His firm was a market maker, handling trades in some of the largest securities on various stock exchanges, matching buyers and sellers. Investigators say Madoff's crime originated in a separate and secretive investment-advising business that served between 11 and 25 clients and had a total of about $17.1 billion in assets under management.

Without Outside Stimulation I'll Sleepwalk Through The Week

Back Breaker













Need To Sand Edges













Get Rid Of Drywall Scraps from Wall Demo


















Neighbor Wants His hedges Trimmed So I Need to Burn Off Last Years Brush Pile, Good Time To Do It With Snow On The Ground. Should I Have Bundled Up The Brush For Heat Or Cooking Later?



















Getting Ready To Paint

















When Touch Up Mud Dries, I'll Start Primer















Had Three Cracks In The Ceiling To Durabond














Had To Add Drywall To Openings After New Window Install, I Created A hump In The Wall I'm Trying To Remove By Widening The Joint. And I'm No Taper.

Today is DEGENFL.COM Day

Sunday Is sports betting day at DEGENFL.COM

Todays headlines are over at DEGENFL.COM

If you aint checked out DEGENFL.COM you are missing the most exciting bandy betting site on the internet's! plus great asses.........

The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America

Does the wests Financial System's need to be imploded to bring these dramatic changes about ?

“Developed and benefited from the unsustainable patterns of production and consumption which have produced our present dilemma. It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class—involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work-place air-conditioning, and suburban housing—are not sustainable. A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns.”

Maurice Strong
Rio Conference (Earth Summit II) in 1992

Floor Sanding

1st pass with 24 grit to get glue and varnish off wood. I've used 2 new pieces of paper and I am on the third which was used................saved from last floor i did i recycled it as not completely used up............

Merry Shitmas

Governor Bank of Israel slated as President of New York Federal Reserve Bank

Last update - 04:26 03/12/2008

Stanley Fischer reportedly on shortlist to lead New York Fed

By TheMarker Staff and Reuters
Tags: New York Federal Reserve Bank

Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel, is reportedly again a candidate to replace Timothy Geithner as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, according to media reports.

Geithner has been nominated for Treasury Secretary of the Barack Obama administration.

The New York Fed is the most important of the 12 regional Fed banks. The instuitution serves as the U.S. central bank's most direct link to Wall Street as well as its chief crisis manager.

The New York Fed is moving ahead with seeking a permanent replacement for Geithner, its chairman Stephen Friedman said last week.

Apart from Friedman, Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will likely have the most say in who is selected, economists said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1043048.html

NB:

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday included Fischer - a former MIT professor who supervised US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's doctoral thesis - on its short list of prospects to replace Timothy Geithner.

Geithner, who was named Treasury secretary last week by President-elect Barack Obama, is expected to leave his post in "the next several weeks," according to a statement from the New York Fed.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1227702405868

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers.

To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."

-Thomas Jefferson