222 AUDIT FED GOES TO VOTE FOR SURE NOW

BORN IN THE USA? Trifecta: 3rd media outfit bans Obama eligibility ads Clear Channel joins CBS, Lamar in dissing constitutional question
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100813

Global warming hogwash: Plans to save us are actually wasteful
Jonah Goldberg June 11, 2009

Whenever you hear a politician start a sentence with, If we can put a man on the moon ...,grab your wallet.The latest example of anthropogenic-lunar empowerment is global warming. Al Gore and Barack Obama routinely cite the Apollo program as proof that we can make good on the president's messianic campaign pledge to stem the rising tides and hasten the healing of the planet.President Obama says he wants to invest massively in scientific research, eventually spending 3 percent of gross domestic product on scientific research and development, with a big chunk devoted to energy research. But at the same time, the Democrats are pushing their cap-and-trade scheme -- the Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill -- through Congress, and it surely won't work. The Apollo engineers' motto was Waste anything but time. Waxman-Markey seems to do that one better, promising to waste everything, including time. It's a legislative blunderbuss that fails any remotely honest cost-benefit analysis, as Jim Manzi painstakingly demonstrates in the current issue of National Review. Under the bill, the government would sell or give away waivers -- call them ration cards -- for carbon emissions, worth tens of billions of dollars. The system is destined to become politicized. Waivers will be granted to favored industries and donors in states with political clout.

If everything worked exactly according to plan, it would cost the economy trillions of dollars over the coming decades. Meanwhile, climatologist Chip Knappenberger -- administrator of the World Climate Report, an avowedly global-warming-skeptical blog -- uses standard climate models to show that the payoff would be to reduce global temperatures by about 0.1 degree Celsius by 2100. Sponsors of the legislation haven't offered a competing analysis.The costs would be more than 10 times the benefits, writes Manzi, even under extremely unrealistic assumptions of low costs and high benefits.All the while, China, India and others are simply scoffing at the suggestion they curtail carbon emissions.Now, I am more skeptical about the threat of global warming than Manzi is, never mind the Al Gore chorus. But let us assume the chorus is right and it is the moral equivalent of a war for our very survival as a civilization. The question remains: Why? We could spend trillions on research into scrubbing carbon from the air, bioengineering organisms to eat greenhouse gases or crafting substances to reflect more heat back into space. We could establish prizes for development of long-life batteries or clean coal technologies. And if any of these investments paid off, decades from now the benefits would still dwarf Waxman-Markey at a fraction of the cost. It hardly takes a rocket scientist to see that.
Tribune Media Services Jonah Goldberg is an editor at National Review Online.
JonahsColumn@aol.com 2009, Chicago Tribune.

OBAMA DECEPTION EXTRAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBgz-_oVklw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BQNZJBfxI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpLvx93xfZk&feature=player_embedded
RON PAUL DISCUSSES AUDIT BILL
http://www.infowars.com/audio-dr-ron-paul-discusses-bill-to-audit-fed/
WND AUDIT FED STORY
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100855

CONGRADULATIONS AMERICA THIS COULD ABOLISH THE FED IF PASSED.

You did it! Bill to audit the Fed to go to house floor
Daily Paul June 11, 2009

Updated on June 11.

On record so far on www.thomas.gov.Title: To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 2/26/2009) Cosponsors (208)Latest Major Action: 2/26/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Here’s 3 related (WORKING) links for easy access:

DEMOCRATIC List of Shame
http://www.dailypaul.com/…

REPUBLICAN List of Shame
http://www.dailypaul.com/…

S 604: F R Sunshine Act of 2009. Companion bill to HR1207
http://www.dailypaul.com/

RON PAUL ACCUSED OF VON BRUNN FROM LEFT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gscSr2JsmDw&feature=player_embedded

US House to debate Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill
STEPHEN C. WEBSTER Raw Story June 11, 2009

After months of activism and lobbying by Congressman Ron Paul’s supporters, House Resolution 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, will move out of committee to be debated by the full House of Representatives.In a show of cross-party unity, Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich became the bill’s 218th co-sponsor, pushing it over the threshold for debate in Congress.The bill, which achieved co-sponsorship by 222 members of the House on Thursday, has been in consideration by the House Financial Services Committee since Feb. 26.Congressman Kucinich, along with Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), announced Tuesday that the House Financial Services Committee will subpoena the Federal Reserve to ascertain the details of the Fed’s agreements with Bank of America in the institution’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch.The full committee and Domestic Policy Subcommittee, under the leadership of Chairman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), have been investigating the circumstances surrounding the federal government’s bailout of the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch transaction, Kucinich’s office noted in a Tuesday release. Specific documents subpoenaed include emails, notes of conversations and other documents.While the bill enjoys some Democratic supporters, the vast majority of H.R. 1207 co-sponsors are Republican.The tremendous grass-roots and bipartisan support in Congress for HR 1207 is an indicator of how mainstream America is fed up with Fed secrecy,said Congressman Paul in a Thursday media advisory.I look forward to this issue receiving greater public exposure.

Though the move from committee to full House is sure to hearten supporters, the Senate also has pending before it a bill which would have originally given Congress greater oversight of the Federal Reserve. But in its present form, notes Huffington Post writer Ryan Grim, a recent, every-so-slight modification essentially neutered the bill.Thanks to an overlooked document posted on the website of Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, voters can virtually watch the water being dumped into the brew that Grassley had hoped to force the Fed to drink,he wrote.On page five of Grassley’s amendment, he intends to give the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office power to audit any action taken by the Board under…the third undesignated paragraph of section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act — which would be almost everything that it has done on an emergency basis to address the financial crisis, encompassing its massive expansion of opaque buying and lending.Grim adds: Handwritten into the margins, however, is the amendment that watered it down: with respect to a single and specific partnership or corporation. With that qualification, the Senate severely limited the scope of the oversight.Congressman Paul, in defense of his proposal to audit the bank which controls America’s currency, argues not just for transparency. He wants to close it down.

Detractors have [...] argued that the Fed must remain immune from the political process, and that that more congressional oversight would distort their very important decisions,Paul wrote in an editorial titled, Audit the Fed, Then End It! On the contrary, the Federal Reserve is already heavily entrenched in the political process, as the Fed chairman is a political appointee. High-level officials routinely make the rounds between positions at the Fed, member banks, Treasury and back again, taking care of friends and each other along the way.He continued: As far as the foolishness of placing complex monetary policy decisions in the hands of politicians –I couldn’t agree more. No politician or central banker, no matter how brilliant, is smart enough to know more than the market itself. The failure of central economic planning has been witnessed over and over. It is frankly beyond me why we ever agreed to try it again.To understand how unwise it is to have the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the magnitude of the privileges they have. They have been given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give it to their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or no meaningful oversight or accountability. Thus the loudest arguments against greater transparency are likely to come from those friends, and understandably so.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

From The TimesJune 12, 2009 Binyamin Netanyahu may yield to two-state solution after pressure from Obama James Hider in Jerusalem

Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to endorse a two-state solution in a much-heralded speech this weekend, but he may stall on American demands to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Feeling the squeeze between the US Administration, which wants a moratorium on settlement growth and a commitment to a Palestinian state, and his national-religious coalition, which favours neither, the Israeli Prime Minister appears likely to try to steer a middle course.Israeli newspapers were full of speculation about what Mr Netanyahu — who has so far refused openly to back a Palestinian state alongside Israel — might offer to deflect pressure from Washington. Ehud Barak, his Defence Minister, urged him this week to recognise a Palestinian state, but members of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party have cautioned him against the move.Haaretz, the centre-left newspaper, said that the Prime Minister was likely to mention a two-state solution and pledge to adhere to the road map — a US-brokered document that calls for an end to Israeli settlement building and a clampdown on militant groups by the Palestinian Authority. The road map was adopted in 2003 but both sides have accused each other of failing to meet their obligations.

No we can’t, Israeli hardliners tell Obama
The Israeli media have predicted that when he speaks at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, Mr Netanyahu will recommend an immediate resumption of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, but will also set out some demands, including that the Palestinians should recognise the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.While accepting the road map Mr Netanyahu is not thought to be planning to mention an explicit freeze on settlements, as demanded by President Obama in his keynote speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last week.In conceding to a two-state solution, he may even try to ask the US to relax its demands that all settlement expansions should be stopped — a move that is vehemently opposed by Mr Netanyahu’s national-religious constituency.Such a compromise would in effect take the peace process back to where it was under the previous centre-left Government of Ehud Olmert, whose resignation amid repeated corruption allegations eventually brought the Israeli Right to power this year. Mr Olmert had pledged to take action against settlements but opponents said that the Jewish communities built on land conquered by Israel in the 1967 war still enjoyed an unprecedented growth spurt while he was in office.The dilemma faced by Mr Netanyahu will raise uncomfortable memories of his first stint as Prime Minister in the late 1990s, when his fractious right-wing coalition toppled him after he yielded to American pressure to hand over tracts of the West Bank to the control of the Palestinian Authority as part of the now defunct Oslo peace accords.Analysts noted that Mr Netanyahu appeared to have been taken by surprise by the strength of Mr Obama’s resolve to thwart the growth of settlements.

Members of the ruling coalition, wary of their leader caving in, have cautioned the Prime Minister against giving too much away before negotiations have even resumed. The US pressure is mainly psychological. One should not forget that the President is not the only one in the United States. There’s the Congress and the Senate, which support Israel,Miri Regev, a Likud MP, said.Another powerful member of Mr Netanyahu’s party, Benny Begin, the son of Israel’s first right-wing Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, said that if the only solution is two states for two peoples, then there is no solution.Mr Netanyahu has in the past opposed the creation of an independent Palestinian state, arguing that such an entity would soon fall under the control of the Iranian-backed Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip.

Carter: Israeli-Palestinian Peace Not Possible Without Hamas Involvement.Hamas must be part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process for it to succeed, former President Jimmy Carter told reporters in Syria.FOXNews.com Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hamas must be part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process for it to succeed, former President Jimmy Carter told reporters Thursday in Damascus, Syria.I don't believe there is any possibility to have peace between Palestinians and Israel unless Hamas is involved directly in harmony with Fatah,he said, according to a Reuters report.

Carter's remarks come amid aggressive diplomatic efforts by the Obama administration for a peace deal through a two-state solution. Secretary of State Clinton has made it clear that the U.S. and European-designated terror group will not be part of peace process unless it renounces violence and recognize Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has also refused to talk to Hamas.Carter said he hoped to see a prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel involving Corporal Gilad Shalit and Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti.Shalit, an Israeli soldier, has been in Hamas custody since his abduction in 2006, although the group has not demonstrated proof of life and will not let the International Red Cross visit him. Israel currently holds nearly 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences for his involvement in suicide attacks in Israel.Prisoner releases have taken place in the past between Israel and the Palestinians, including more than 450 Palestinians released last year. Carter will travel to Israel after his visit to Syria. He is expected to visit with Israeli officials.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Negotiations on Ireland's Lisbon guarantees continue
HONOR MAHONY 11.06.2009 @ 17:20 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Negotiations on Ireland's guarantees on the EU Lisbon Treaty are going down to the wire with still no text on the table exactly a week before EU leaders are supposed to sign up to them.EU ambassadors were meant to gather Thursday (11 June) to have a special meeting on the matter but agreeing wording that does not make any other member state jittery but keeps Ireland's electorate happy is proving more difficult than first thought.Ireland is looking for special guarantees on ethical issues, tax sovereignty and its neutral status. It wants them signed off by EU leaders at their summit next week and a commitment made to make them binding as quickly as possible.The idea was to tack them on to the next available treaty - possibly Croatia's accession treaty - so that they could be ratified by national parliaments across the bloc.However, member states fear this could open the door to a further delay in the getting the text ratified, particularly if anything in the text catches the idea of eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus.The Czech president has already ruffled some Brussels feathers by refusing to sign off the treaty - the last act of ratification in the central EU member state - until the Irish have voted in their second referendum, due in October.What we definitely want to avoid a text that raises questions. We don't want him [Klaus] to say: that is an interesting new element, let's bring it before the constitutional committee,said an EU diplomat.

But being wary of reopening the debate is also a key concern of Britain, where the opposition Conservatives want to overturn the treaty and of the Netherlands, which had to do some tricky manoeuvring to get the treaty through parliament, after Dutch voters rejected its predecessor, the EU constitution, in a 2004 referendum.Bilateral discussions on the texts took place on Thursday and will continue on Friday (12 June).

The Irish, who have still not circulated a full text to member states, are intending to have one ready by Tuesday when there will be a meeting of government representatives from all 27 member states.This is a better option than having a patchwork of paragraphs,said an EU diplomat. Dublin and the Czech EU presidency are hoping to get as complete as possible agreement on the texts on Tuesday.All member states are trying to avoid a scenario where EU leaders are writing the texts when they meet at the end of the week.It is not a pretty sight to have prime ministers drafting texts,remarked one diplomat.EU foreign ministers are meeting on Monday but Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin said ahead of the meeting that he did not anticipate that [they] will engage in a lengthy discussion of the legal guarantees or the outcome of the European Council, as negotiations will be on-going at both official and political level.We have to be careful that in getting what we want, we do not upset procedures for others,said the minister, referring to the already-completed parliamentary ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in all other member states.

Of the three guarantees, the two on ethical issues and neutrality will be Ireland-specific. The tax guarantee will not.In addition, there will be a declaration on the workers' rights. Although this will be non-binding, it is causing concern among several countries who want to make sure it strikes a balance between employee rights and the internal market.

Sarkozy and Merkel offer Barroso conditional backing
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today JUNE 12,09 @ 07:21 CET

France and Germany are refusing to give EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso full formal backing to become head of the institution for a second time at next week's summit, insisting the support should be political only.The two leaders on Thursday (11 June) said that their backing for the Portuguese politician was unambiguous but not unconditional.Important personnel and policy decisions must be taken immediately. That is why Germany and France support Jose Manuel Barroso, German chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint press conference with French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.The French leader echoed these statements, but explained that France and Germany wanted a political decision on Mr Barroso's reappointment to be reached at the 18-19 June EU summit, not a formal one.I can tell you that Ms Merkel and myself, we will support Mr Barroso's candidacy, without ambiguity, Mr Sarkozy said.We wish… that a political decision be taken at the next [European] Council to appoint Mr Barroso for a second mandate, before taking a formal legal decision later on, he added.The French leader explained that this political decision could then be ratified by the European Parliament in July. The manoeuvre would be made in order to avoid appointing the entire EU commission under the Treaty of Nice on which the EU is currently based and which foresees a reduction in the number of commissioners in the next commission. On the other hand, if the Lisbon treaty is eventually agreed, the number of commissioners remains the same, following a political agreement by EU leaders last year.If Ireland approves the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum that should take place in the autumn, there will be… a second decision to name the commission president, this time based on Lisbon and not Nice.

Keeping Mr Barroso in a legal limbo would also give both leaders more say over the portfolios of their new commissioners.

Clash with Sweden

The two leaders also insisted that Mr Barroso had to present a clear programme in order to win their total backing.We have asked Mr Barroso… to clarify, to make formal, in a way, his intentions before this second term, the French president said, explaining that Mr Barroso had to commit himself to a Europe that protects Europeans and to improving financial regulation – both points being dear to Paris.It is Mr Barroso and a programme. Or a programme and Mr Barroso,Mr Sarkozy added.The terms of the re-appointment of Mr Barroso is set to be a flash point at next week's summit with Sweden, as incoming EU presidency, insisting that he be given full approval so Stockholm has an able partner to work with over the second half of the year.

Opposition in the parliament

Meanwhile, opposition to Mr Barroso is building up in the EU parliament, which will vote on the commission president nominee in July.The leader of the Socialist group in the parliament, Martin Schulz, wrote to EU leaders on Thursday urging them to delay their decision because of the need for a commission that puts people first as well as for a clear legal basis for the appointment.Any attempt to force a rapid decision in this matter could only lead to a rejection from our Group, Mr Schulz warned.The Socialists suffered a blow at the European elections, but remain the second biggest force in the new parliament. Mr Barroso's candidacy is also opposed by some Liberal and Green MEPs.

EU arms embargo against China absurd, says ambassador
ANDREW WILLIS Today JUNE 12,09 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – China's ambassador to the European Union, Mr Song Zhe, told an audience in Brussels on Friday (12 June) that the EU arms embargo against the Asian giant was radically out of step with the otherwise deepening relations between the two sides. Mr Song said the policy was an absurd political discrimination against a strategic partner,adding that many Chinese diplomats and ordinary citizens also found the embargo and the EU's failure to recognise China as a market economy bewildering.The issues continue to produce tension between the two sides, despite the fact that senior officials have stressed the need to focus on the bigger picture rather than getting bogged down on specific issues. Mr Song himself said: A logical and accurate definition of our relationship must be based on a macro, global and strategic point of view,during the discussion hosted by the European Policy Centre think-tank. The EU's refusal to sell arms to China dates back to the suppression of protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989, but some member states, in particular France, have suggested that the policy is outdated. A majority of states do not agree however.Likewise, the EU is reluctant to give China market economy status before it automatically qualifies in 2014, as doing so would limit the amount of anti-dumping cases it can take against the large Asian country, one of its principle weapons in the various trade disputes that regularly arise.

Partnership and Co-operation Agreement

Mr Song's comments come three weeks after a EU-China summit in Prague and at a time when policy makers on both sides are discussing the future direction of bilateral relations.Franz Jessen, head of the China unit in the European Commission directorate for external affairs, said relations between the EU and China had evolved considerably since the two sides signed a Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) in 1985.Greatly increased contact, from the top political level in EU-China summits, down to more technical discussions between commission head's of unit and its Chinese counterparts, meant there were far fewer surprises than before, said Mr Jessen.

Ambassador Song Zhe has taken public diplomacy to new levels in the last couple of years,he said, with other commission officials confirming that China's mission to the EU in Brussels has been highly effective in getting its message across. However, he also stressed the need for a new document formally outlining bilateral relations between the two sides, citing China's greatly expanded economic and political influence as the main reasons. Discussions on a further reaching Partnership and Coo-peration Agreement (PCA) were opened in 2007, with Mr Jessen predicting the political component of this agreement to be completed in the year to come.

Sarkozy tries to rescue internet law after court decision
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today JUNE 12,09 @ 09:27 CET

Paris intends to move ahead with sections of its three strikes law, stripping out its most controversial aspects following a ruling from France's Constitutional Court that the bill contravenes the holiest of French documents, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789.Those aspects of the bill not struck down by the court will be promulgated in the coming days, Agence France Presse is reporting, citing an unnamed government official.The government's aim is to get the new agency envisaged in the bill, the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet (HADOPI), or High Authority on Diffusion of Works of Art and the Protection of the Rights on the Internet (Hadopi), up and running as soon as possible while it decides its next move.The law allows the Hadopi agency to cut off the internet access of users found to be repeatedly downloading copyright content without the permission of the owner. Internet cut-off would be the third strike after downloaders had first been sent an warning email and then a letter in the post.The agency would still be created, but would only be able to send the warning emails and letters.Late Thursday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly demanded the presence of senior officials for emergency discussions on how to push forward with the bill after the court's decision.

According to record industry officials close to the government, Paris is believed to be considering the creation of special copyright courts to deal specifically with the issue, thus getting around the court's ruling.On Wednesday (10 June), the court ruled that cutting off internet access by the Hadopi agency - without recourse to a court of law - contravened three articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, France's fundamental document setting out the rights of French citizens, breaching rights to freedom of expression and the presumption of innocence.The ruling echoes the arguments the European Parliament put forward in its attempt to outlaw the French bill by tacking on an amendment to a package of legislation liberalising the European telecommunications sector. On Thursday, EU telecoms ministers meeting in Luxembourg rejected the package as a whole, despite favouring the entirety of legislation apart from the amendment, which means that the law must now move to a conciliation process between the two sides and mediated by the commission. This will begin in the autumn, but the legislation is still not expected to be passed before February. Responding to the court's decision, the European Commission's information society spokesman, Martin Selmayr, said: We have always said we think that intellectual property rights issues can be settled at national level. We take note of the decision of the Constitutional Council. It confirms that the issue can be settled at national level.We hope this decision will help to close disputes over the telecoms package,he told reporters in Brussels.

The commission has backed the parliament's perspective throughout the legislative process, but decided not to take legal action against France as it did not consider the French bill illegal under EU law.Not everything that I do not like politically is also illegal,said information society commissioner Viviane Reding at the time.The French Constitutional Court has found differently, eliciting celebrations amongst internet freedom advocates.It's a great victory for citizens who have shown that they can act together to protect their liberties. The graduated response is finally buried,said Jeremie Zimmerman of La Quadrature du Net, an internet rights pressure group.He was not worried that the government was to move ahead with the creation of the Hadopi agency if it did not have the ability to cut off people's internet access.
It's now just a giant spam machine for the entertainment industry paid for by the taxpayer.

Franco-Belgian metropole tests new EU structures for public authorities
VALENTINA POP 11.06.2009 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – A Euro-metropole - a new form of transnational civil administration is being established at the border of France and Belgium in a pilot project of what the EU aims to gradually develop into: a series of authorities with stronger regional, cross-border focuses.We are a bit of a pioneer in the EU, Stefaan de Clerck, vice-president of the body and Belgium's justice minister told EUobserver, the first to to practice this new European structure for public authorities, Mr de Clerck said, who was mayor of his native town, Kortrijk, up until December, when he was appointed minister of justice.The Euro-metropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai established in January 2008 covers an area of over 3,500 square metres and two million inhabitants between the French city of Lille and the Belgian towns of Kortrijk in Flanders and Tournai in Wallonia. Unlike other voluntary forms of regional co-operation, the Euro-metropole is established as a legal entity, allowing it to hire its own civil servants, the Belgian minister explained. It is a so-called European grouping for territorial co-operation (EGTC), which under EU law enables public authorities from member states to team up and deliver joint services, without requiring a prior international agreement to be signed and ratified by national parliaments. National governments must however approve the formation of these entities on their territories.The Euro-metropole is formed of representatives from the local, regional and national authorities on a principle of parity between the constituent countries: for each two French officials, two Belgian officials – one from the Flemish-speaking side, the other from the French-speaking one.

It is a general political structure for the managing of all sort of problems – different politicians with different responsibilities are around the table – mayors, police, representatives from regional and national authorities, he said, citing examples such as pursuing cross-border crime or investing in common infrastructure projects as the sort of activities the authority will be dealing with.He said that the people in this transnational region were close to each other not only because of the geographical proximity, but also as a result of historical ties, for it was only Louis XIV who drew the frontier between Kortrijk and Lille.At the beginning of the 20th century, there were a lot of people from Flanders going to work there. Now we have the reverse – some 30,000 French working in Belgium,the minister said.Companies established within the territory of the Euro-metropole should all benefit from the research and innovation done at the Centre of Excellence founded by French authorities in Lille.It would be very stupid if this only worked for French companies and not for all the companies in the metropole,the Belgian politician said.Co-operation with the French authorities is sometimes difficult because of the different administrative structures in the two countries, Mr de Clerck said. Centralism was not so much the problem, as it was the political interference of the prefect, appointed by Paris, in day-to-day business on local and regional level and who was able to block projects.We are used to our independence and we feel free, but in France, for instance in security matters, the prefect is central. This is completely different in Belgium, where the mayor of a city is also head of the police,he said.

Nation state on the decline?

In Mr de Clerck's view, the era of nation-based, rigid public administration structures is over, especially in cross-border regions.I'm convinced that the old constitutional approach of organisation of the state in Europe doesn't work anymore. You have an EU level that is growing in importance and at a local and regional level, you need networking between various actors. This trend is challenging the old structures, because it is a flexible, results-oriented approach,he said.

These flexible networks on different topics – economic, education, environment – would always work better than the hierarchical, traditional approach. This networking idea is much more an urban way of thinking. You have bigger concentrations of people living together and belonging to a larger-scale structure free in its choices and working together.Mr de Clerck explained. Nations must be a bridge to Europe, but they also have to make the link to regions, to the local and metropolitan level. Cities are growing in importance. They are the engines of development. That's why the trans-border and metropolitan levels are essential,he said.Asked whether he thought that national governments will see these new forms of trans-border bodies as a threat, the Belgian politician said he was confident that these new forms of co-operation were the way forward.If Europe wants to be successful, it needs to handle the transborder problems in a very concrete way,he concluded.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

WHO: Swine flu pandemic has begun, 1st in 41 years By MARIA CHENG and FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writers JUNE 11,09

GENEVA – Swine flu is now formally a pandemic, a declaration by U.N. health officials that will speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. Thursday's announcement by the World Health Organization doesn't mean the virus is any more lethal — only that its spread is considered unstoppable.Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the United States, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don't need medical treatment.WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 — the agency's highest alert level — which means a pandemic is under way.The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century, Chan said in Geneva.Dr. Thomas Frieden, the new head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Atlanta that he does not expect widespread public anxiety in the United States as a result of the declaration, noting it came nearly two months after the virus was identified.For many weeks, U.S. health officials have been treating it as a pandemic, increasing the availability of anti-viral flu medicines and pouring money into a possible vaccination program. And scientists have grown to understand that the virus is generally not much more severe than the seasonal flu.That helps to tamp down any fears that may be excessive, Frieden said at a news conference — his first as CDC director.But the virus can still be deadly and may change into a more frightening form in the near future, and so people should not be complacent, he added.So far, swine flu has caused 144 deaths, compared with ordinary flu that kills up to 500,000 people a year.

The pandemic decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu's rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries, such as Britain, were not accurately reporting their cases.Chan said the experts unanimously agreed there was a wider spread of swine flu than was being reported.She would not say which country tipped the world into the pandemic, but WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the situation from Australia seemed to indicate the virus was spreading rapidly there — more than 1,300 cases were reported by Thursday.In Chile, authorities have identified almost 1,700 cases to WHO.Many health experts said the world has been in a pandemic for weeks but WHO became too bogged down by politics to declare one. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil. At the time, WHO said it would rewrite its pandemic definition to avoid announcing one.But with the recent surge in cases across Europe, Chile, Australia and Japan, the agency was under increasing pressure to acknowledge a pandemic.This is WHO finally catching up with the facts, said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota.David Ropeik, an expert in risk perception and communication at Harvard University, says the word pandemic is less frightening than when emerged during worries about bird flu a few years ago.He said the soft buildup to declaring swine flu a pandemic has been helpful.That allows people to get used to what is otherwise a scary word, understand the particulars of the disease, and that should mean reaction will be a little more information-based and a little less emotional,Ropeik said in an e-mail.

WHO will now recommend that pharmaceutical companies make swine flu vaccine. The agency typically recommends which flu strains drug companies should use in the vaccines. In a global outbreak, WHO also advises whether companies should make pandemic vaccine.The decision to make pandemic vaccine is a gamble. Most flu vaccine makers cannot make both regular seasonal flu vaccine and pandemic vaccine at the same time. That means they must decide which one the world will need more. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it could start commercial production of pandemic vaccine in July but that it would take months before large quantities are available. Glaxo spokesman Stephen Rea said the company's first doses of vaccine would be reserved for countries who had ordered it in advance, including Belgium, Britain and France. He said Glaxo would also donate 50 million doses to WHO for poor countries. Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for Sanofi-Aventis, said they were also working on a pandemic vaccine but WHO had not yet asked them to start making mass quantities of it. WHO described the pandemic as moderate. Fukuda said people should not get overly anxious about the virus.Understand it, put it in context, and then you get on with things, he said.Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.

Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.What this declaration does do is remind the world that flu viruses like H1N1 need to be taken seriously,said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, warning that more cases could crop up in the fall. Now that a pandemic has been declared, some countries might be prompted to devote more money to containing the virus. Many developed countries have pandemic preparedness plans that link spending to a WHO declaration. The U.N. is keen to avoid panic.We must guard against rash and discriminatory action, such as travel bans or trade restrictions,said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands have flooded hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse during winter weather. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger had swine flu.China has quarantined travelers, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, on the slightest suspicion of contact with an infected person.The U.S. government has already increased the availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorized $1 billion for developing a new swine flu vaccine. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.Still, New York City reported three more swine flu deaths Thursday, including a child under 2, a teenager and a person in their 30s.Countries where outbreaks appear to have peaked should prepare for a second wave of infection,Chan warned.AP Medical Writers Maria Cheng reported from London and Michael Stobbe contributed from Atlanta. Jordans reported from Geneva. Michael E. Miller in Mexico City, Edith Lederer in New York, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, Vincente L. Panetta in Buenos Aires, and Bradley S. Klapper and Eliane Engeler in Geneva also contributed.

WHO declares level 6 swine flu pandemic -- first time since 1968
BY Brian Kates DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, June 11th 2009, 2:29 PM Abd/AP

Patients wearing a face mask, as a precaution to swine flu, wait for a doctor at the the San Juan de Dios hospital in Guatemala City.As the death toll climbs, the World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic, a move that could prompt fast-track production of preventive vaccines.The declaration of a global epidemic came Thursday as WHO officials huddled in an emergency session in Geneva in the wake of 141swine flu deaths worldwide, including 12 in New York City.It is likely in light of sustained community transmission in countries outside of North America - most notably in Australia - that level 6 will be declared, Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers. It is the first flu pandemic declared by the WHO since the Hong Kong flu killed an estimated 1 million people in 1968.On Wednesday, WHO reported 27,737 cases worldwide, most of them mild and requiring no treatment.WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan says she believes a pandemic is under way, but was seeking proof that the H1N1 strain is spreading rapidly from person to person outside the Americas before declaring a global epidemic.The world is better prepared than ever for a pandemic, with stockpiles of antiviral drugs like Roche's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, experts said.Sanofi Pasteur and other major pharmaceutical companies have been working on a swine flu vaccine since last month, when WHO gave them a seed stock of the virus created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.It could take up to six months before large amounts of a swine flu vaccine are available, GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Stephen Rea said.On Wednesday, city officials reported three more swine flu deaths, bringing the death toll to 12. The City Council scheduled an oversight hearing for Thursday on the H1N1 virus.The Health Department estimated that more than 500,000 city residents may have been sickened by the virus. The highest incidence is in Queens, where the outbreak began in April.

Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

Without vaccines, the H1N1 flu strain could return to the northern hemisphere in a far more virulent form in winter, cause widespread sickness and death, mass work absences, and major disruption to trade, some experts fear.The World Bank estimated last year that a serious pandemic could cost $3 trillion and cut global gross domestic product by nearly 5%.With News Wire Services.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JUNE 12,2009

09:30 AM -1.10
10:00 AM -38.24
10:30 AM -17.46
11:00 AM +4.00
11:30 AM -12.47
12:00 PM -18.82
12:30 PM -12.10
01:00 PM -12.70
01:30 PM -13.15
02:00 PM -3.40
02:30 PM -10.89
03:00 PM +18.06
03:30 PM +16.32
04:00 PM +28.34 8799.26

S&P 500 946.21 +1.32

NASDAQ 1858.80 -3.57

GOLD 939.70 -22.30

OIL 72.20 -0.43

TSE 300 10,644.96 -69.15

CDNX 1154.81 +6.49

S&P/TSX/60 646.17 -4.66

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -0.06%
S&P +4.61%
Nasdaq +18.09%
TSX Advances 1,026,declines 570,unchanged 253,Volume 2,285,552,410.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 491,Declines 383,Unchanged 358,Volume 328,899,589.

Dow -52 PTS at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -54 PTS at low today.
Dow +12 Pts at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $941.10.OIL OPENS AT 71.57 TODAY.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -54 points at low today so far.
Dow +12 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,373,declines 1,859,unchanged 125,New Highs 13,New Lows 42.
Volume 1,223,905,879.
NASDAQ Advances 1,002,declines 1,342,unchanged 116,New highs 17,New Lows 7.
Volume 361,763,005.
TSX Advances 631,declines 746,unchanged 262,Volume 1,057,113,613.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 338,Declines 297,Unchanged 315,Volume 159,197,325.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -54 points at low today.
Dow +35 points at high today.
Dow +0.32% today Volume 164,016,223.
Nasdaq -0.19% today Volume 2,048,837,700.
S&P 500 +0.14% today Volume N/A

RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65

RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE,WEEKENDER
Dow +0.26%
S&P +4.76%
Nasdaq +17.87%
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 733,Declines 828,Unchanged 257 Volume 1,948,976,679.
TSX Venture Advances 465,Declines 384,Unchanged 336 Volume 292,949,161.

BERNANKE DENIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INmqvibv4UU&feature=player_embedded
BERNANKE CONFRONTED ABOUT BILDERBERG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVjIQllKRgs&feature=player_embedded
HAASS IGNORES BILDERBERG QUESTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-YQgHgJoLg&feature=player_embedded
RICHARD GAGE ON COAST TO COAST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OELOQvWa8g8&feature=player_embedded
BECK AGAINST FIRST RESPONDERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AiSRCcfLDs&feature=player_embedded

Geithner Said to Tell Bernanke Fed Gains Most in Rules Overhaul
By Robert Schmidt and Jesse Westbrook

June 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is likely to emerge as the most powerful regulatory agency in the Obama administration’s plan for overhauling financial market oversight, people familiar with the proposal said. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Chairman Ben S. Bernanke in a June 9 meeting the administration will call for the Fed to be the regulator of firms deemed too big to fail, one of the people said. While a council of regulators would share oversight of financial risks, Treasury officials describe it as weak, lacking power to make final decisions on intervening with the firms, the people said. The proposal is just the first step in what may become the biggest revamp of U.S. financial rules in seven decades, and will be subject to intense debate in Congress, analysts said. Its focus on the Fed clashes with rising skepticism among some lawmakers as to whether the central bank has appropriately used its emergency lending powers during the crisis. No matter what Treasury proposes next week, Congress is going to play a very heavy hand in this, said Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a Washington trade group.It’s a fluid situation and it will remain fluid.Bernanke came under fire at a House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday for his role last year in what some legislators said was pressuring Bank of America Corp. to complete its takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.

New Fed Lobbyist

The central bank has hired a former aide to President Bill Clinton’s three Treasury secretaries, Linda Robertson, to help bolster its public image and plot legislative strategy as Congress debates the regulatory changes. Robertson served as a lobbyist for Enron Corp.In President Barack Obama’s plan, scheduled to be released June 17, the Fed is also expected to retain supervisory authority over bank holding companies and the state-chartered banks it currently regulates, the people familiar with the matter said.Asked yesterday whether the Fed or a council should be the regulator for systemically important banks, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said: We’re still talking about that.Under the administration plan, the central bank would lose its responsibilities for some issues relating to credit cards, mortgages and financial education to a newly created consumer protection agency, the people said.

SEC’s Role

The Fed’s gain in the Obama plan is unlikely to erode the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in regulating money managers, brokerage firms and stock exchanges.SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro left the June 9 meeting with Geithner, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Bernanke increasingly confident her agency wouldn’t lose its current responsibilities, people familiar with the matter said.The administration had earlier discussed stripping the SEC of its authority over mutual funds, people familiar with the matter said last month. The proposal to give the Fed enhanced duties has also drawn criticism from former regulators, who say the central bank failed to curtail business practices that triggered billions of dollars of losses at financial institutions after the U.S. mortgage market collapsed in 2007.

Should Be Fired

If the Fed hasn’t been worried about systemic risk all these years, then people really should be fired,former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden told lawmakers in March. Rather than simply calling for more authority for people who didn’t use the authority they already had, we need to reexamine why our regulators missed so many of the risks staring them in the face.Citigroup Inc., whose primary regulator is the Fed, has received $45 billion in government cash injections after loans made to less-creditworthy homebuyers defaulted and the bank had to bail out investment funds set up to hold higher-risk mortgage securities off its balance sheet. The Fed conducted routine inspections and examinations of the New York-based bank. In the Merrill controversy, Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis told New York state investigators earlier this year that Bernanke and Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pressured him to complete the purchase even as Merrill’s spiraling losses posed risks to Bank of America and its shareholders. At the House hearing yesterday, some lawmakers alleged the Fed overstepped its authority. In one Dec. 20 e-mail released by the committee, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker wrote that Bernanke planned to make it even more clear that if Bank of America tried to back out of the deal and they need assistance, management is gone.In an April letter to Representative Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the oversight panel’s domestic policy subcommittee, Bernanke said the Fed acted with the highest integrity during its discussions with Bank of America on Merrill Lynch and didn’t seek to withhold any information from the public.To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg.net; Jesse Westbrook in Washington at jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net.Last Updated: June 12, 2009 00:01 EDT

Britain should join the Euro, says Mandy, as he praises great success of single currencyBy Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 11:49 AM on 12th June 2009

Lord Mandelson has reopened the divisive issue of joining the single currency.
The Business Secretary described it as an important objective for Britain during a trip to Berlin, hailing the euro as a great success. It is the first time such a senior minister has openly enthused about the euro for over five years. Gordon Brown effectively closed down the debate on scrapping the pound with his five tests in.
All powerful: Business Secretary Peter Mandelson addresses a news conference in Berlin yesterday. He described the euro as a great success.The First Secretary of State said: Does it remain an important objective for Britain to find itself in the same currency as that single market in which it interacts? Obviously yes.He insisted that such a decision was for the future and had to be made on the right terms in the right circumstances.However, he added: It is perfectly clear that the euro has been a great success in anchoring its eurozone members during the financial crisis.

More...Good news for holidaymakers as the pound hits a 2009 high against the euro

I hope people will recognise that this represents a major vindication for the single currency.However, the Tories stressed that countries that had joined the euro had lost control over monetary policy.Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said:It is deeply disturbing that the man who now makes most of the Government's policies has declared that Britain should join the euro.

Fraudsters eye huge stimulus pie, consultant says JUNE 12,09

Companies will face extra requirements to prevent problemsExplore related topics
Banks Story Comments (218) Alert Email Print ShareBy Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Swindlers, con men, and thieves could siphon off as much as $50 billion of the government's planned stimulus package as the money begins flooding the economy in coming months, according to David Williams, who runs Deloitte Financial Services Advisory and counsels clients on fraud prevention. Williams predicted that about $500 million of the total $787 billion stimulus would be channeled into the traditional procurement network for government contracts, while the rest will be spent directly by the government or outside the corporate network. The rule of thumb typically is that of the about $500 billion worth of money that's going to run through the procurement process, somewhere between 5% and 10% of that usually finds it way into potential problems,Williams said.That's sort of the benchmark that I use.Companies will face increased pressure to try to stem the tide, and need to be prepared to safeguard data as well as the cash, according to Williams.

Williams said this week that the money flowing from the current stimulus package is particularly vulnerable to fraud because almost all movement of money is now done electronically. We're telling our clients to be very careful and to make sure their firms are resilient in terms of dealing with the potential opportunities for fraud and waste,Williams said. That means keeping an eye out for the traditional scams such as billing for services not performed. But it also means firms must become even more diligent about electronic records and network security. It becomes ever more important that firms remain diligent about their data,Williams said.Stimulus Funds Susceptible to FraudAs much as 10% of the federal government's stimulus money is likely to get lost to fraud, says David Williams, chief executive of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. MarketWatch's Greg Morcroft reports. Earlier this month, FBI Director Robert Mueller warned the nation to brace for a potential crime wave involving fraud and corruption related to the economic stimulus package.These funds are inherently vulnerable to bribery, fraud, conflicts of interest, and collusion. There is an old adage, that where there is money to be made, fraud is not far behind, like bees to honey,Mueller said. See full story. Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said some stimulus-related scams had already happened and that some mistakes were inevitable. President Barack Obama said Monday that the White House is trying to make sure the stimulus money isn't being ill-spent.He said many of the safeguards and transparency measures so far seem to have worked but added his administration will have to stay vigilant. At a time when everybody is tightening their belts, the last thing the American people want to see is that any of this money is being wasted,Obama said.

Potential damage
Williams suggested that the fraud and theft losses from the roughly $787 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year could reach about $50 billion. Williams said firms would be well advised to beef up monitoring of their transaction systems, and that his firm is helping clients develop software and computer systems to predict and catch fraud before it gets started. Williams acknowledged that the FBI has geared up its efforts to focus on financial scams. He said other agencies, including the Department of Justice and industry watchdogs, are also beefing up oversight. They are going to spend their time making sure that this money gets to being used in the way it's supposed to be used,Williams added. After 9-11, counterterrorism became the FBI's top priority, even as the agency grappled with corporate crime such as the Enron and WorldCom scandals, said Mueller, who took the helm of the FBI on Sept. 4, 2001, just one week ahead of the terrorist attacks. The 9-11 attacks prompted the FBI and other government agencies to divert resources from financial fraud and other corporate crimes to fighting terrorism, including the transfer of 2,000 agents tracking white-collar crime to counterterrorism, Mueller said. But now the focus is returning to white-collar crime and fraud in a big way. These rules will come right back to haunt companies if they are not careful, Williams said.So firms need to make sure that their organizations are ready to receive funds and protect those funds diligently as the potential for fraud surfaces.He said that for the largest companies used to doing contract work with the government a high level of oversight will be business as usual.But there will be others where this is unprecedented and they will have to do more to comply,Williams added.Meanwhile, Obama said the White House will keep trying to make sure citizens know where the stimulus money is going. We're going to do it continuing to operate in a transparent fashion so that taxpayers know this money is not being wasted on a bunch of boondoggles, Obama said at the White House on Monday.Greg Morcroft is MarketWatch's financial editor in New York. Robert Schroeder contributed to this story from Washington.

Nobel Economist Stiglitz: Government’s Response is WORSE than Socialism
Washington’s Blog Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that the government’s response to the financial crisis is worse than socialism:Some have called this socialism with American characteristics. But socialism is concerned about ordinary individuals. By contrast, the US has provided little help for the millions of its people who are losing their homes. Workers who lose their jobs receive only 39 weeks of limited unemployment benefits, and are then left on their own. And, when they lose their jobs, most also lose their health insurance.America has expanded its corporate safety net in unprecedented ways, from commercial banks to investment banks, then to insurance, and now to cars, with no end in sight. In truth, this is not socialism, but an extension of long-standing corporate welfarism. The rich and powerful turn to the Government to help them whenever they can, while needy individuals get little social protection.We need to break up the too-big-to-fail banks; there is no evidence that these behemoths deliver societal benefits that are commensurate with the costs they have imposed.This raises another problem with America’s too-big-to-fail, too-big-to-be-restructured banks: they are too politically powerful. Their lobbying efforts worked well, first to deregulate, and then to have taxpayers pay for the clean-up. Their hope is that it will work again to keep them free to do as they please, regardless of the risks for taxpayers and the economy. We cannot afford to let that happen.I believe the word Stiglitz is looking for is oligarchy.