It is time people got serious about the Climate Crisis !!!!!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Jet Stream was diminished and gone at times. The heat was allowed to linger and build. (click here - thank you)
It is time people got serious about the Climate Crisis !!!!!!
Judge criticises US over 'soft' fine for Barclays Bank - GIVING a "PASS" to Wall Street !!!!! Geithner and Holder need to do better !!!!!
Barclays and government lawyers have to return to court to defend their $298 million settlement. Here, a Barclays branch in London last month.
Washington court criticises 'sweetheart deal' and $298m fine for bank that flouted international sanctions (click title to entry - thank you)
Andrew Clark in New York The Guardian
Wednesday 18 August 2010
A judge has attacked the US government for striking a "sweetheart deal" with Barclays to settle criminal charges that the British bank flouted international sanctions by doing clandestine business with Iran, Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Burma.
At a court hearing in Washington yesterday, judge Emmet Sullivan refused to rubber-stamp an agreement under which Barclays consented to pay $298m to settle charges that its staff deliberately concealed transactions with financial institutions in regimes frozen out by US foreign policy.
"Why isn't the government getting tough with the banks?" Sullivan asked, pointing out that no individuals were being charged or sent to prison over the breaches. The judge's unexpected resistance threw the settlement into doubt pending a more detailed hearing, scheduled for Wednesday.
Barclays is anxious to move beyond a scandal in which it owned up to sanctions-busting between 1995 and 2006. The bank has joined Lloyds TSB, Credit Suisse and ABN Amro among overseas financial institutions caught by US rules which cover them because they have branch operations in New York.
Plea bargains to settle criminal charges are common in the US and are often nodded through by the bench. But in the latest of several shows of judicial scepticism towards hasty settlements of Wall Street misdemeanours, Sullivan described the agreement as "an accommodation to a foreign bank" and pointed out that the average American caught robbing a bank is not given a deferred prosecution deal or an opportunity to refund the proceeds from crime.
Prosecutors say Barclays staff stripped identifying names from payment information in a deliberate ruse to defy US sanctions against repressive regimes, including countries accused of being state sponsors of terrorism.
Court documents say much of the subterfuge took place at a payment centre in Poole, Dorset, where an "interdiction filter" was installed to spot mentions of countries covered by sanctions. Once spotted, the wording on payments was changed to blur the source or direction of funds.
Among the challenged transactions are 46 fund transfers worth $490,000 involving Burma, 61 transactions worth $6.71m concerning Cuba, three payments amounting to $60,000 involving Iran and 1,175 transfers of $105m benefiting individuals or government entities in Sudan....
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park is (Crystal Wind Chime) still balmy.
Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W
Elevation: 33 ft
Local Time: 4:33 PM AKDT on August 17, 2010 (GMT -08)
Temperature :: 61 Fahrenheit
Conditions :: Overcast
Humidity :: 82%
Dew Point :: 55 Fahrenheit
Wind :: 10 mph from the Southeast
Pressure :: 29.83 inches (Rising)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles
UV :: 1 out of 16
Clouds :: Mostly Cloudy 4100 feet
Overcast 4700 feet
(Above Ground Level)
Bloomberg Businessweek
Greenland OKs more offshore Arctic drilling
The Associated Press
August 17, 2010, 11:05AM ET text size: TT
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Greenland has given permission to a Scottish oil and gas company to drill two deepwater exploration wells off the ice-capped island's west coast.
Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy PLC started two other wells in the same area on July 1.
The Greenland government said Tuesday the drilling must cease before drift ice appears in the area.
Greenpeace criticized the decision, and said Cairn should follow the example of oil companies that have suspended deepwater drilling in the wake of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Drilling for oil and gas in the deep ocean off Greenland's west coast resumed in 2001, three decades after a previous effort failed to find oil. Exploration so far has been unsuccessful.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HLAAK82.htm
Greenland oil lures Cairn Energy from India
- Vedanta pays £5bn for 51% of Cairn India
- Cairn Energy will use proceeds to fund Greenland project
Simon Goodley
guardian.co.uk
Monday 16 August 2010 20.14 BST
Cairn Energy, the oil exploration group, confirmed that it had sold a 51% stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for £5bn to help fund its move towards exploration projects off the coast of Greenland, just as offshore drilling becomes more controversial.
The deal will also allow the Edinburgh-based company, which owns 62% of Cairn India, to return a "substantial sum" to investors while adding to its two rigs positioned 200km away from Aasiaat, on Greenland's west coast.
The explorer insists that the Greenland projects do not classify as "deep water" - a thorny issue after the controversy that engulfed BP this year – as the seabed is less than 1,000 metres below the surface. However, it has hired rigs with deep water capabilities for the drilling....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/16/cairn-energy-vedanta-greenland
Former Virginia "Macaca" Senator George Allen recuits spouse for political organizer.
New Group Looks to Tea Party, Sarah Palin (click title to entry - thank you)
By Paul Bedard
Posted: August 17, 2010
Move over, men. Women are mobilizing for the fall elections. "We do all the work. We deserve to have a voice on the direction of the country," says Sonja Eddings Brown, a founder of a new conservative group, The Kitchen Cabinet. Backed by some prominent women such as Susan Allen, wife of former Virginia Sen. George Allen, Brown is launching an aggressive bid to get 1 million new women to vote this November on thekitchencabinet.us. The recession and jobs top the Kitchen Cabinet's issues. "The No. 1 moral issue this year is the economy," says Brown, who looks to the Tea Party and Sarah Palin as examples of the change agents she wants to associate with. While still in its infancy, the group is fast becoming the buzz in the conservative and Tea Party movements because of its aim to give moms, upset with Washington spending and debt, a voice and vote. Brown's goal: dumping Democratic majorities. "We want to change the leadership in Washington," she says.
Tailgate Registration
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George Allen’s
Tailgate Party
Saturday, September 18, 2010
T-Miller’s Sports Bar and Grill
Richmond Marriott Hotel
500 E. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Private Reception: 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
General Reception: 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
EVENT INFORMATION
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11 Tickets to the Tailgate, Special Recognition, 11 Tickets to Private Reception with photo opportunity
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or fax to (804) 344-0092.
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https://www.georgeallen.com/tailgate-registration
Aug 05 2010
Elena Kagan Should Not Be Confirmed
George Allen
Elena Kagan's political stand against military recruiters on the campus of the Harvard Law School contrary to the law, her hostility to our personal Second Amendment rights of self-defense, her advocacy for unprecedented expansion of dictates by the federal government are among the salient reasons why Elena Kagan should not be confirmed for a lifetime appointment as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Her record as a Dean and her statements indicate that, as a Justice, she would impose her political views above the Constitution and duly passed laws....
http://www.georgeallen.com/blog?ContentRecord_id=d6e5c354-7975-49e6-bfc4-84cefaafcf3f
The Blagojevichs have faired well so far. Go get 'em Rod.
By Michael Tarm and Don Babwin
Associated Press Writers
August 17, 2010
CHICAGO—A federal jury found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty on Tuesday of one count of lying to federal agents, and the judge said he intended to declare a mistrial on the more serious remaining 23 counts....
One count of lying to federal agents. NOT selling a Senate seat or any other corruption. Gee, that must be a real disappointment for the Tea Party and Republicans.
A miss trial on 23 counts?
On 23 counts there was a mistrial? Huh?
How could there be fundamental errors on 23 charges and not on one? Patrick needs to explain himself.
The jury deliberated for two weeks. There was significant contemplation during that time. Why doesn't the government just admit they don't have a case?
People say a lot of things when engaged in political conversation. Whether it is REAL is the issue. There is nothing here to accuse Rod of anything except perhaps rudeness.
When is Rod running for his next office?
He was right to not resign and give into pressure by those that don't care about the law and truth, but, only politics.
He wouldn't have been found guilty of lying either if the charges weren't brought wrongfully in the first place. Sometimes the federal govenrment doesn't have the right to all the information they normally wouldn't have ESPECIALLY since he was not guilty. I believe he had a right to protect whatever information he felt he need to knowing he was wrongfully charged and not guilty. Someone is guilty of forcing an elected Governor to be defamed and forced from office. I think that needs to be INVESTIGATED.
Illinois governor impeached
Friday, 30 January 2009 22:39
Governor Rod Blagojevich of the US State of Illinios has been removed from office after the state Senate unanimously convicted him on impeachment charges.
The charges include trying to sell the US Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.
The Illinois Senate, acting as a jury, voted 59-0 to oust the second-term Democrat immediately....
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0130/blagojevichr.html
Sorry I didn't make an entry yesterday. I'll be back in a short while
I do take all this seriously. I know people read what I write and I appreciate their attention. But, I received some 'bad news' about my father yesterday and it sort of set me back a bit.
My Dad is a nice man. He has been a wonderful Father and Husband, a good friend and a great patriot. He served in the Korean Conflict and I respect his views on many things.
His health is challenged right now and he is hospitalized. He is stable and in good spirits. We are waiting for test results.
I'll write more about him later as it is appropriate.
I'll be back shortly.
My Dad is a nice man. He has been a wonderful Father and Husband, a good friend and a great patriot. He served in the Korean Conflict and I respect his views on many things.
His health is challenged right now and he is hospitalized. He is stable and in good spirits. We are waiting for test results.
I'll write more about him later as it is appropriate.
I'll be back shortly.
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