STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 25 June 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 25 June 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 24 June 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 24 June 2013
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Dow Jones 14,659.56 -139.84 (-0.94%)
S&P 500 1,573.09 -19.34 (-1.21%)
Nasdaq 3,320.76 -36.49 (-1.09%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.54% -0.07 (-2.68%)
30 Year 3.55% -0.05 (-1.39%)[font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Demeter]

1. I think the Cartoonist is Confusing Bernanke with the Gnomes of Zurich

(a very obscure reference to the Myth series by Robert Asprin)

[Tansy_Gold]

8. My daughter and I read all those!

But it was a long time ago and I've forgotten most of the details.

[Demeter]

9. There were several posthumus volumes

He had a co-author towards the end. I'm still not sure I've seen them all...a good Weekend topic, but I already have one for this weekend.

[Demeter]

2. Treasury yields hit 2011 highs in choppy trade

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasurys-continue-to-ignite-global-bond-selloff-2013-06-24?siteid=YAHOOB

Treasurys pared some losses on Monday after Federal Reserve officials sought to refine the central bank’s monetary policy message, but yields still rose to multi-year highs.

The 10-year note 10_YEAR -0.39% yield, which moves inversely to price, rose 3.5 basis points on the day to 2.572%, its highest close since August 2011. The benchmark note climbed as high as 2.661% in morning trading after rising 39 basis points last week in its worst week since 2009.

The 30-year bond 30_YEAR -0.11% yield fell 1.5 basis points to 3.572%, and the 5-year note 5_YEAR -1.11% yield rose 4.5 basis points to 1.479%.

Treasury prices fell sharply last week when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may move to scale back its bond-purchase program later this year, if data continue to show an improving economy. But some buyers reentered the market Monday after a trio of Fed officials sought to calm jitters about an end to easy money policy. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher compared financial markets to “feral hogs”, noting that investors like to sniff out and exploit weakness...

OINK! OINK!

U.S. stocks drop sharply; Dow off 140 points

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Monday, following a 5.3% tumble in the Shanghai stock market overnight spurred by worries over China’s economy and banking system.

However, stocks on Wall Street pared some of their losses in the afternoon after Federal Reserve officials tried to downplay talk of tapering the central bank’s bond-buying program. Last week, the S&P 500 fell 2.1% on concerns the Fed will start pulling back monetary stimulus later this year if the economy improves further... After dropping 248 points during the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.94% closed down 139.84 points, or 0.9%, at 14,659.56.

During the session, the index dropped as low as 14,551.27, and rallied back to within spitting distance of going positive, hitting a session high of 14,795.79.

Five of the Dow’s 30 components closed higher. Bank of America Corp. BAC -3.07% was the biggest decliner on the Dow, with shares down 3.1%, followed by Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -2.98% with shares down 3%. Boeing Co. BA -2.13% closed down 2.1% after one of its 787 Dreamliner planes flown by United Airlines UAL -1.93% had to make an emergency landing Sunday due to a brake problem.

The S&P 500 index SPX -1.21% finished down 19.34 points, or 1.2%, at 1,573.09, with all of its 10 major sectors in negative terrain. The index posted an intraday low of 1,560.33 and a session high of 1,588.77. Materials and financials posted the biggest losses.

The Nasdaq Composite index COMP -1.09% closed down 36.49 points, or 1.1%, at 3,320.76, following an intraday low of 3,294.95 and a session high of 3,344.66.

Shares of Apple Inc. AAPL -2.65% fell 2.7% to $402.54 after Jefferies cut its price target to $405 from $420, saying the company may slow iPhone production.

Decliners outnumbered advancers about 7 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and 7 to 2 on the Nasdaq. Composite NYSE volume topped 4.5 billion shares, while composite Nasdaq volume topped 1.9 billion shares by the close.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-fall-sharply-on-china-jitters-2013-06-24?siteid=YAHOOB

[Demeter]

3. U.S. Rebukes China, Russia and Ecuador Over Snowden

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/edward-snowden-nsa-surveillance-leak.html?_r=0

An increasingly frustrated Obama administration escalated its criticism on Monday of Russia, China and Ecuador, the countries that appeared to be protecting Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former government contractor wanted for leaking classified documents, who has eluded what has become a global American manhunt. The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, told reporters that relations with China had suffered a setback over its apparent role in approving a decision on Sunday by Hong Kong to let Mr. Snowden board a flight to Moscow and avoid arrest — even though his passport had been revoked. Mr. Carney also warned the Russian authorities that they should expel Mr. Snowden into American custody.

Mr. Snowden, 30, a former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks about American surveillance activities have captivated world attention, had apparently been set to board a flight from Moscow to Havana on Monday as part of an effort to seek political asylum in Ecuador, which has provided him with special travel papers. But in a deepening intrigue over his whereabouts, Mr. Snowden appeared to have never boarded that flight, raising the possibility that the Russian government had detained him, either to consider Washington’s demands or perhaps to question him for Russia’s own purposes. When Aeroflot 150 touched down in Havana, the first person to emerge, one of two captains on the 16-hour flight, was surrounded by reporters shouting the same question, “Was Snowden on board?”

“No Snowden,” replied the captain, who would not give his name. “No special people. Only journalists.” He said about 30 journalists had made the flight in a futile effort to follow Mr. Snowden....Several journalists carrying American passports were ejected from the aircraft because they lacked the visa requirements to visit Cuba....Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization that has said it is helping Mr. Snowden, told reporters earlier Monday that Mr. Snowden was in a safe and secure place. The government of Ecuador, which is also protecting Mr. Assange, said it was still considering Mr. Snowden’s asylum request. But there was no direct word from Mr. Snowden himself.

American officials have reacted with increasing anger over their failure to win foreign cooperation in their pursuit of Mr. Snowden, who had been hiding in Hong Kong for the past few weeks with a trove of classified information on four laptop computers. Mr. Snowden has said he leaked the information about American surveillance to expose the government’s invasion of privacy. He has been charged with violating espionage laws. Further ramping up the criticism on Monday, Mr. Carney impugned Mr. Snowden’s motives and criticized the triumvirate of countries that appeared to be helping him.

“Mr. Snowden’s claim that he is focused on supporting transparency, freedom of the press and protection of individual rights and democracy is belied by the protectors he has potentially chosen: China, Russia, Ecuador, as we’ve seen,” Mr. Carney said. “His failure to criticize these regimes suggests that his true motive throughout has been to injure the national security of the United States not to advance Internet freedom and free speech.”

The Snowden pursuit dominated the questioning at the daily noon White House press briefing in Washington, where Mr. Carney reiterated the American view that the authorities in Hong Kong, which follows China’s directives, should have detained Mr. Snowden and that it had plenty of time to do so. “We see this as a setback in terms of efforts to build mutual trust,” Mr. Carney told reporters. He also said that “it is our understanding that Mr. Snowden remains in Russia” and that “we have asked the Russians to look at the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden back to the United States.” Earlier Monday on a visit to New Delhi, Secretary of State John Kerry also emphasized that Russia should send Mr. Snowden to the United States. "I would urge them to live by the standards of the law,” he said. In his first public comments since Mr. Snowden’s flight from Hong Kong, President Obama was more restrained than his advisers. “We’re following all of the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that rule of law is observed,” he said in answer to a question before an immigration event....


The unwillingness of the Hong Kong authorities to detain Mr. Snowden, and Ecuador’s public declaration that it was considering his asylum request, underscored just how little sympathy the United States was receiving from several countries over the unveiling of its surveillance efforts. Russia had seemed intent on allowing Mr. Snowden to transit through Moscow, but at the highest levels of the Russian government officials seemed to be pulling a page from a cold war playbook, coyly denying any knowledge of Mr. Snowden. “Over all, we have no information about him,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, told Reuters early on Monday. Nikolay N. Zakharov, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., declined to say if intelligence officials had met with Mr. Snowden during the time he spent at the transit area of the airport. Nor would Mr. Zakharov say if they had sought to examine the secret files he was said to be carrying...

[Demeter]

6. Edward Snowden Legal Defense Fund

$23,000 AND GROWING

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/snowden?refcode=SnowdenDefenseFund.com

[Demeter]

12. Mr. President, Hands Off Edward Snowden! ANOTHER PETITION

http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8161

JUST IN CASE THEY "LOSE" THE FIRST ONE...

[Demeter]

4. US factory boss held hostage by workers in Beijing

http://news.yahoo.com/us-factory-boss-held-hostage-workers-beijing-074855847.html

An American executive said Monday he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department. Chip Starnes, 42, a co-owner of Coral Springs, Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said local officials had visited the 10-year-old plant on the capital's outskirts and coerced him into signing agreements Saturday to meet the workers' demands even though he sought to make clear that the remaining 100 workers weren't being laid off. The workers were expecting wire transfers by Tuesday, he said, adding that about 80 of them had been blocking every exit around the clock and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office. He declined to clarify the amount, saying he wanted to keep it confidential.

"I feel like a trapped animal," Starnes told The Associated Press on Monday from his first-floor office window, while holding onto the window's bars. "I think it's inhumane what is going on right now. I have been in this area for 10 years and created a lot of jobs and I would never have thought in my wildest imagination something like this would happen."

Workers inside the compound, a pair of two-story buildings behind gates and hedges in the Huairou district of the northeastern Beijing suburbs, repeatedly declined requests for comment, saying they did not want to talk to foreign media...It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners, though occasionally also involving foreign bosses. The labor action reflects growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories. The account about local officials coercing Starnes to meet workers' demands — if true — reflects how officials typically consider stifling unrest to be a priority.

..................

"As far as I know, there was a labor dispute between the workers and the company management and the dispute is being solved," said spokesman Zhao Lu of the Huairou Public Security Bureau. " I am not sure about the details of the solution, but I can guarantee the personal safety of the manager."

..................................

Starnes said the company had gradually been winding down its plastics division, planning to move it to Mumbai, India. He arrived in Beijing last Tuesday to lay off the last 30 people. Some had been working there for up to nine years, so their compensation packages were "pretty nice," he said.

Some of the workers in the other divisions got wind of this, and, coupled with rumors that the whole plant was moving to India, started demanding similar severance packages on Friday.

...................................

Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said he wasn't familiar with Starnes' case, but that such hostage-taking was "not a major problem" for the foreign business community. "It happened more often say 15 years ago than today, but it still happens from time to time," he said. "It rarely leads to personal harm to the managers involved, but there are cases when it has in years past."

I'D SAY CLASS WARFARE HAS ENGAGED--AT LAST. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

[Demeter]

5. Chevron Lends $2 Billion to Venezuela to Ramp Up Production MAY 28

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=789265&CategoryId=10718

U.S. supermajor Chevron Corp. will provide $2 billion in financing to its Petroboscan joint venture with Venezuelan state-owned oil giant PDVSA under the terms of a new agreement, officials said. Venezuelan Oil Minister and PDVSA CEO Rafael Ramirez and Chevron Africa and Latin America president Ali Moshiri signed the agreement on Monday in Caracas. The funds will be used by Petroboscan, which is located in western Venezuela, to increase production from 107,000 barrels per day (bpd) today to 127,000 bpd by 2019, Ramirez said in a press conference.

“We have an agreement that we have been working on for more than a year and it is for $2 billion in financing. It is a model that allows us to use these funds to increase production at our Boscan field,” Ramirez said.

The loan, which is at Libor plus 450 basis points, will be disbursed in a series of tranches by San Ramon, California-based Chevron and used “immediately,” Ramirez said. The Boscan field, where Petroboscan operates, has reserves equivalent to 1.5 billion barrels of crude.

PDVSA’s deal with Chevron follows the signing of agreements earlier this month with the Chinese government and Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft.

[Demeter]

7. The Stunning Hypocrisy of the U.S. Government (NOT NSA/ESPIONAGE) By WashingtonsBlog

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35399.htm

Congress has exempted itself from the prohibition against trading on inside information … the law that got Martha Stewart and many other people thrown in jail....

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING--SEE LINK

[Demeter]

10. Forget al Qaida, The Real Terrorists Are Right Here By Stephen Pizzo

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35397.htm

When my co-authors and I wrote Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, way the hell back in 1989, we pulled the curtain back on cast of grimy characters, mobsters, bankers, bond salesmen, weak-kneed regulators, Wall Street sharks and hundreds of run-of-the-mill con artists. At the time that was the biggest scandal to hit the American economy. The amount of money it cost US taxpayers was -- then -- shocking; $167 billion. We hoped, back then, that exposing the depth and breath of the larceny that was unleashed on the nation by unwise, contrived and politically-motivated (and paid for) deregulation would shock the nation and shame politicians into avoiding a repeat.

Of course we just being naive. Just six years into the next decade another bubble was in the making, the dot-com bubble, and within four years, in 2000, it popped, leaving investors in those stocks holding worthless paper. Mostly it was the "little guys," the individual investors, who took the hit that time, rather than taxpayers. But that just turned out to be just a warm up for what was to follow: the 2008 crash, that was so big, so enormous, so audacious and widespread that it nearly took down the entire world economy in one swoop.

In the wake of the S&L scandal a handful of relatively minor players went to jail, but not for long. Mike Milken is as rich today as ever. Charlie Keating is living comfortably in Scottsdale, Az. I can't think of anyone important who went to jail for the pump and dump dot-com schemes that enriched Wall Street firms and analysts and the venture capital firms that bailed out after taking hot air dot-com companies public. And for the really big one, the 2008 crash, not only did no one important get sent to the slammer, but that time around the perps were actually bailed out by tax payers, set back up on their feet and put back into business.

And we wonder why this just keeps happening.

Fear not my friends, the next big one is in the works as you read this. As usual, start your search at the tributary of the money stream and follow it. These days the really big money is going to all things "Homeland Security." If you are a shark looking to make a killing the best hunting grounds are in Washington where you can sell any idea, any weapon or high tech doodad you claim will "make American safer from ...." you fill in the blank: Muslim terrorists, Mexican immigrants, hackers.... etc.

"The global homeland security market is estimated to value $198 billion in 2012 and increase at a CAGR of 3.55% during the forecast period, to reach its peak of $281 billion by 2022." (Source)

Yum, yum. And this time around we taxpayers are not only getting fleeced, but we get a police/surveillance -state as a bonus! (Considering how angry citizens may eventually get over these repeated fiscal rapes, they may just need it.) The cure is as simple as any thing you can imagine. All you have to do is start applying state and federal laws that define the same, everyday crimes Joe and Jane Smiths go to jail for everyday, larceny, embezzlement, robbery, perjury, to white collar criminals. In particular, to those in charge, the CEOs, COOs, accountants, lawyers and employees of "evil doing" companies. I know, I'm being naive again. When I proposed this solution on a TV talk show once the bank lobbyist on the show with me objected, loudly. He said what I was proposing would "criminalize business practices."

Yes, I replied. But only when those practices are criminal.

[Demeter]

11. A Giant Blackmail Machine / NSA Spying: So They Are Listening In, After All By Tom Burghardt

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35404.htm

Despite a stream of mendacious twaddle from President Obama, congressional grifters and spook agency mouthpieces like Office of the Director of National Intelligence head James Clapper, FBI Director Robert Mueller and NSA chief General Keith Alexander, it turns out our guardians are listening in to America's, and most of the world's, telephone conversations after all....In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente was asked by CNN whether there's a way that investigators "can get the phone companies" to cough up audio of a particular conversation.

Clemente responded: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her [the alleged bomber's wife]. We certainly can find that out."

CNN's incredulous reply: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible."

Clemente: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."

When questioned the next day whether he would confirm his previous statements, Clemente told CNN, "I'm talking about all digital communications are--there's a way to look at digital communications in the past. I can't go into detail of how that's done or what's done. But I can tell you that no digital communication is secure. So these communications will be found out. The conversation will be known."

While there was scant media follow-up to Clemente's assertions, recent revelations of NSA dragnet spying have confirmed what analysts, researchers and whistleblowers have been saying for years: the secret state has the technological wherewithal to digitally record the content of all electronic communications, including telephone calls, and store them in massive cloud computing server farms in the event they're needed for future "reference." And as it turns out, according to Internet Archive founder, computer engineer Brewster Kahle, who has wide experience storing large amounts of data, the cost of doing so is incredibly cheap. A spreadsheet created by Kahle estimates it would cost the government a mere $27 million to "store all phonecalls made in a year in the 'cloud'." To do so would require less than 5,000 square feet of space and $2 million in electricity costs to store the estimated 272 petabytes of data generated annually in the United States!

A Giant Blackmail Machine

Recent disclosures by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have done much to dispel remaining myths (government spying is "focused," "legal," etc.) surrounding the secret state's privacy-killing surveillance programs. It now seems likely that NSA is hoovering up far more than the "telephony metadata" revealed by The Guardian's publication of the secret FISA Court Order to Verizon Business Services. Following-up on PRISM program reporting, The Washington Post disclosed June 15 that the Bush administration's "warrantless wiretapping" program STELLAR WIND

"was succeeded by four major lines of intelligence collection in the territorial United States, together capable of spanning the full range of modern telecommunications, according to the interviews and documents."

"Two of the four collection programs, one each for telephony and the Internet," Barton Gellman reported, "process trillions of 'metadata' records for storage and analysis in systems called MAINWAY and MARINA, respectively."

According to the Post, "Metadata includes highly revealing information about the times, places, devices and participants in electronic communication, but not its contents. The bulk collection of telephone call records from Verizon Business Services, disclosed this month by the British newspaper the Guardian, is one source of raw intelligence for MAINWAY."

Dropping a bombshell, although withholding supporting documents, Gellman reports that the "other two types of collection, which operate on a much smaller scale, are aimed at content. One of them intercepts telephone calls and routes the spoken words to a system called ­NUCLEON."

"MARINA and the collection tools that feed it are probably the least known of the NSA's domestic operations," the Post averred. "Yet they probably capture information about more American citizens than any other, because the volume of e-mail, chats and other Internet communications far exceeds the volume of standard telephone calls."

"The NSA calls Internet metadata 'digital network information.' Sophisticated analysis of those records can reveal unknown associates of known terrorism suspects. Depending on the methods applied, it can also expose medical conditions, political or religious affiliations, confidential business negotiations and extramarital affairs."

In other words, it seems likely that harvested data gleaned from phone calls, emails, video chats and credit card records are being used in ways that are as old as the spy game itself: political and economic blackmail. Indeed, NSA whistleblower Russ Tice, the principal source for The New York Times exposé of illegal Bush administration spy programs, told Sibel Edmonds' Boiling Frogs Post podcast that the secret state has ordered surveillance on a wide range of groups and individuals, including antiwar activists, high-ranking military officials, lawmakers and diplomats.

According to Tice: "Okay. They went after--and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things--they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the--and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of--heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House--their own people. They went after antiwar groups. They went after US international--US companies that that do international business, you know, business around the world. They went after US banking firms and financial firms that do international business. They went after NGOs that--like the Red Cross, people like that that go overseas and do humanitarian work. They went after a few antiwar and civil rights groups. So, you know, don't tell me that there's no abuse, because I've had this stuff in my hand and looked at it."

"Here's the big one," Tice told hosts Sibel Edmonds and Peter B. Collins, "this was in summer of 2004, one of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a 40-something-year-old wannabe senator for Illinois. You wouldn't happen to know where that guy lives right now would you? It's a big white house in Washington, D.C. That's who they went after, and that's the president of the United States now."

Other political targets revealed by Tice included all nine Supreme Court justices, Senate Intelligence Committee head Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and ousted CIA director General David Petraeus, who allegedly resigned over a sex scandal.

Is it any wonder then, that House and Senate leaders driving the "oversight" clown car are the ones now braying loudest for Ed Snowden's head!

Like ECHELON, Only on Steroids

A new series of disclosures published by The Guardian, based on the Snowden files but, like the Post, without public disclosure of the actual documents, we learned that Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) "has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the world's phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA)."

"The sheer scale of the agency's ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as much online and telephone traffic as possible," The Guardian reported.

Britain's "Mastering the Internet" scheme was first reported by The Register and The Sunday Times back in 2009; Antifascist Calling published an analysis of NSA's key role in the GCHQ program; a few months later, citing documents posted by WikiLeaks, AFC commented on the cozy relations amongst private intelligence contractors, the European Union and the secret state. The architecture of these highly intrusive, illegal programs was created decades ago however, in intelligence-sharing arrangements in the English speaking world under the rubric of NSA's global surveillance network known as ECHELON. As one of the "Five Eyes" partner agencies of the Cold War-era UKUSA Security Agreement (US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) exposed by journalists Duncan Campbell and Nicky Hager in their ECHELON investigations, GCHQ, through a contemporary operation code named TEMPORA, has tapped into and stored vast quantities of data gleaned from fiber optic cables passing through the UK.

"This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user's access to websites--all of which is deemed legal, even though the warrant system was supposed to limit interception to a specified range of targets," The Guardian reported.

But as we know from Campbell and Hager's reporting, while intelligence and law enforcement officials in Britain and the United States are required to obtain an individualized warrant to target a suspect's communications in their own nation, no such restrictions apply should one of the five "partner agencies" spy on another country's citizens. One must assume this arrangement continues today.

AND THAT ISN'T HALF OF IT--MUST READ AND BOOKMARK

[Demeter]

13. If the fairies had not shown up at 11:30 am yesterday

I bet we would have seen 500 points or more evaporate on the DOW alone. Wonder what it would be like to live in a world where privacy, Rule of Law, and honest, unmanipulated markets prevailed.....

[xchrom]

14. LATE AUTO-LOAN PAYMENTS EDGED HIGHER IN 1Q

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AP_US_AUTO_LOANS_LATE_PAYMENTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-25-06-06-31

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Banks are increasingly extending auto-loan financing to borrowers with less-than-sterling credit, a trend that's contributing to a higher rate of missed loan payments.

The rate of U.S. auto-loan payments late by 60 days or more rose to 0.88 percent in the first three months of the year, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.

That's up from 0.82 percent in the first quarter last year, but down from 1 percent in the last three months of 2012, the firm said.

Among subprime borrowers, or those whom lenders deem a higher credit risk because of their track record of managing debt, the delinquency rate jumped to 5.5 percent in the first quarter from 5.09 percent a year earlier.

[xchrom]

15. Study: Most Americans unhappy at work

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57590832/study-most-americans-unhappy-at-work/

Only 30 percent of American employees feel engaged or inspired at their jobs and the vast majority of U.S. workers -- 70 percent -- are not reaching their full potential, a Gallup study concluded.

The 2013 State of the American Workplace Report estimates that widespread disinterest and unhappiness in the office is not only affecting company performance, but is costing the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion a year.

Through thousands of questionnaires sent to employees, Gallup determined whether America's 100 million full-time workers were "engaged," "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" at their jobs.

[Hotler]

23. The beatings will continue until moral improves. OUCH! Thank you sir. May I have another.

Luke, why is your dirt in the bosses hole? Luke, why is your hole in the bosses yard?

[Tansy_Gold]

24. This sounds like. . . .

. . . one of those government-funded "studies" that would have earned a "Golden Fleece" award from Bill Proxmire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award

However, I bet the percentage of "actively disengaged" would rise significantly if the part-timers were included.

[wordpix]

31. it's not inspiring to ask, "Do you want fries with that burger?" and get paid min. wage

[xchrom]

16. European Stocks Rally With Bonds as Metals Advance

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-24/asian-stock-futures-fall-amid-china-cash-crunch-concern.html

European stocks rallied from a six-month low and U.S. equity-index futures gained before reports that may add to evidence of America’s economic recovery. Bonds rose and metals rebounded.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.3 percent to 279.36 at 10:53 a.m. in London, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.6 percent. China’s CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) slid 0.3 percent after losing as much as 6.8 percent. Treasuries rose for the first time in seven days, leading a rally in government debt from Australia to Spain. European corporate credit risk declined in from a seven-month high. Copper jumped 1.4 percent.

U.S. durable-goods orders probably grew for a second month in May and the housing market strengthened, economists said before data today. China’s central bank will closely monitor the money-market rate going forward and keep it at reasonable levels, according to Ling Tao, deputy director of the Shanghai branch of the People’s Bank of China. Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said yesterday investors shouldn’t overreact to the Fed’s plans to reduce the pace of asset purchases.

“We’ve been risk-off since April, so at this moment it becomes more about when you go in and buy,” Fredrik Nerbrand, the London-based head of asset allocation at HSBC Holdings Plc, told Anna Edwards and Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television. “Before I can even contemplate adding risk, I need to see some stabilization in markets, and that’s going to be on the back of a more stable growth outlook. That will take some time.”

[xchrom]

17. Brazil leader Dilma Rousseff promises reform referendum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23041396


Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has proposed a referendum on political reforms in an effort to tackle protests that have swept the country.

She also promised to boost spending on public transport and focus on health and education as part of what she called "five pacts" with the people.

She later met regional mayors and governors, who agreed to her plans.

But some activists promised to carry on with the largest protests Brazil has seen for at least two decades.

Ms Rousseff said the reforms would be broad and focus on five areas:

Fiscal responsibility: guaranteeing economic stability and curbing inflation
Education: investing 100% of Brazil's oil royalties in education
Health: hiring foreign doctors to provide medical services in remote and under-developed areas
Constituent Assembly: establishing an assembly to eventually amend Brazil's constitution to ensure reforms make it "from paper to practice"
Public transport: investing more than 50 billion reias ($25bn, £16bn) for new investments in urban mobility projects and to improve public transport

[xchrom]

18. China stocks hit by credit crunch fears

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23041912

Chinese stocks touched a four-and-a-half-year low on Tuesday amid persistent concerns over the government's credit-tightening policy.

The Shanghai Composite SSE index fell as much as 5.8% at one point, before a late rally meant it ended down 0.3%.

The rebound came after China's central bank said that it would guide market rates down to "reasonable" levels.

Last week, the bank indicated that the era of cheap credit was over, helping to trigger falls on global markets.

[xchrom]

19. European Union agrees to new membership talks with Turkey

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/25/european-union-agrees-to-new-membership-talks-with-turkey/

European Union ministers agreed Tuesday to reopen Turkey’s accession talks despite reticence from Germany and others over Ankara’s tough crackdown on protests.

Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said EU ministers had finally agreed to resume membership talks with Turkey after a three-year break.

In Ankara, the foreign ministry immediately welcomed the move.

European Affairs ministers meeting in Luxembourg “agree to open Chapter 22?, an Irish spokeswoman said, referring to one of 35 sets of EU rules and regulations that candidates to membership of the bloc must satisfy before gaining entry to the European club.

[xchrom]

20. Greek PM says avoiding more austerity is government's priority

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/25/uk-greece-samaras-idUKBRE95O0I920130625

(Reuters) - Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Tuesday avoiding new austerity measures to fulfil targets in the country's international bailout was a priority of his two-party coalition government.

"Our immediate priority is to return to recovery ahead of time, defeat unemployment, bring in investment, avoid new measures and create jobs for the youth," Samaras told ministers at their first cabinet meeting. "We have no choice but to succeed and we are determined to succeed."

Samaras reshuffled his cabinet on Monday, aiming to bolster his government days after the smallest party in the ruling coalition quit over the closure of state TV, leaving him with a tiny majority in parliament.

[xchrom]

21. ECB ex-chief Trichet hits back at IMF over Greece

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/25/uk-greece-imf-trichet-idUKBRE95O0I420130625

(Reuters) - Former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet accused the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday of rewriting history by arguing that Greece should have been made to restructure its debt in a 2010 bailout.

The IMF said in a report this month that it lowered its own standards to join a flawed programme for Athens, saying: "An upfront debt restructuring would have been better for Greece although this was not acceptable to the euro partners."

Trichet, who was head of the ECB until late 2011, said the Fund never made such a suggestion at the time and should have taken more account of the need to stabilise the euro zone.

"I have absolutely no recollection that the IMF called for anything that would be stronger ... in terms of conditionality or the scheduling," he told Reuters Insider Television in an interview. "It seems to me that there is some kind of reconstruction of what has happened."

[xchrom]

22. US HOME PRICES RISE IN APRIL BY MOST IN 7 YEARS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOME_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-25-09-01-58

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. home prices jumped 12.1 percent in April from a year ago, buoyed by strong demand and a limited supply of available homes. Strong gains in a wide range of cities point to a broad-based housing recovery.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index also showed a 2.5 percent increase in April from March, the biggest month-over-month gain on records dating back to 2000.

All cities except Detroit posted gains in April from March. That's up from only 15 cities in the previous months.

Prices rose from a year earlier in all 20 cities for the fourth straight month. Twelve cities posted double-digit gains.

[xchrom]

25. china's south korean future

http://www.nationofchange.org/china-s-south-korean-future-1371999954

The so-called six-party talks – the on again, off again international mechanism by which the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear aspirations – are often cited as an example of multilateral diplomacy. In fact, the talks have served as a platform for addressing a host of issues that range far beyond the North Korean nuclear problem, in the process nurturing interlocking, interrelated bilateral relationships in the region.

For the Chinese, in particular, the talks have been an opportunity to get to know some of their neighbors better – and they have certainly helped Sino-US relations. But perhaps the key bilateral relationship that has been strengthened by the six-party mechanism is that between China and South Korea. This will be on full display at the end of June, when South Korea’s new president, Park Geun-hye, visits Beijing to meet China’s new president, Xi Jinping.

China and South Korea need no introduction to each other, of course – such is the burden of history in the region. But their relationship is about to change, thanks in part to the patterns of official cooperation that the six-party talks created.

If the Chinese are successful in shifting away from North Korea, they have to pivot somewhere. And that place is South Korea. After all, China needs a sustainable relationship with the neighboring Korean Peninsula.

[xchrom]

26. CHINA PROMISES BANKS SUPPORT TO CALM MARKETS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_CREDIT_CRUNCH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-25-09-31-12

BEIJING (AP) -- China's central bank tried Tuesday to quell fears the country faces a credit crisis by promising to support banks that face cash shortfalls.

The central bank promised "liquidity support" if needed after a shortage of money in credit markets caused the interest rate that banks must pay to borrow from each other to spike last week. That caused Chinese stock markets to plunge Monday on fears the world's second-largest economy might face a credit crisis.

The bank appeared to soften its tougher line of Monday, when it said markets had adequate liquidity and blamed the credit crunch on mismanagement by banks.

"The bank will provide liquidity support if an institution faces a temporary gap in funding arrangements," a central bank statement said. "The central bank will take appropriate measures to maintain the overall stability of the money market."

[xchrom]

27. US DURABLE GOODS ORDERS UP 3.6 PERCENT IN MAY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DURABLE_GOODS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-25-09-34-37

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. businesses stepped up their orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in May, and a gauge of their investment plans rose for a third straight month.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that orders for durable goods rose 3.6 percent, matching April's gain. Most of the increase was due to a surge in commercial aircraft orders, which tend to fluctuate sharply from month to month. Still, businesses also ordered more computers, communications equipment, machinery and metals.

A category of orders that's viewed as a proxy for business investment plans - which excludes the volatile areas of transportation and defense - rose 1.1 percent. That matched similar gains in April and March.

This category of orders hadn't increased for three straight months since the fall of 2011. The consecutive increases raise hopes for a pickup in U.S. manufacturing in the second half of the year.

[Demeter]

28. The Future of Fair Labor By JEFFERSON COWIE

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/opinion/the-future-of-fair-labor.html

SEVENTY-FIVE years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act to give a policy backbone to his belief that goods that were not produced under “rudimentary standards of decency” should not be “allowed to pollute the channels of interstate trade." The act is the bedrock of modern employment law. It outlawed child labor, guaranteed a minimum wage, established the official length of the workweek at 40 hours, and required overtime pay for anything more. Capping the working week encouraged employers to hire more people rather than work the ones they had to exhaustion. All this came not from the magic of market equilibrium but from federal policy. For decades afterward, Congress brought more people under the law’s purview and engaged in perennial struggles to maintain or increase the minimum wage. Fifty years ago this month, John F. Kennedy signed its most important amendment, the Equal Pay Act, which guaranteed women and others equal pay for equal work.

Despite this noble history, today the act faces an uncertain future, thanks to a series of disconcerting shifts in the way we think about work in America. The problem is indicative of the moral and political slipperiness of our time. A large and growing number of employers willfully classify their employees as “exempt” from the law by shifting their jobs, but not their pay, to administrative, executive and professional categories. Being exempt allows employers to ignore pesky things like overtime or minimum wages, since these are salaried, not hourly workers. Lawsuits over back overtime pay resulting from misclassifications have gone through the roof. If the line between exempt and nonexempt workers has become unfairly blurred, the line distinguishing employee and independent contractor has faded to near invisibility. We are moving toward the “1099 economy,” named after the tax form provided to independent contractors, a classification that often walks the line of legality. For some workers, being a 1099’er means more flexibility, creativity and control over their work. However, there are many more reluctant 1099 workers who want regular jobs but find themselves locked out of the system by employers looking for an easy way to buck their responsibility to their employees. And then there is the most infamous classification hustle: the internship. For bright, young (and typically affluent) interns at America’s top corporations there is no actual job, so there are no fair labor standards to apply. That means no minimum wage and no maximum hours. There is often no pay at all. A recent decision by the Federal District Court in Manhattan declaring that the hard-working “interns” involved in making the 2010 film “Black Swan” for Fox Searchlight were really employees is encouraging, and may well have long-range implications. It’s a hopeful sign that we may yet be able to re-establish an idea that is as old-fashioned as it is good: work and you get paid.

And yet, countercurrents persist. When Obamacare goes into effect next year, businesses that have more than 50 full-time employees will have to start offering health insurance. This could produce a scramble among small companies to reclassify enough employees so as not to have to pay for health insurance. In response, we need a new commitment from the federal government to buttress the Fair Labor Standards Act. More money for enforcement is a must. Compliance actions from the Department of Labor’s Division of Wages and Hours fell by over a third between 1997 and 2007. This is partly a matter of resources: for this coming budget year, the Obama administration is seeking a modest increase of $15 million for enforcement of both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family Medical Leave Act. That’s not enough. There are several other ways to improve the act. Because its enforcement scheme relies on employees to come forward, rather than on government-initiated supervision through audits and worksite visits, protection against retaliation needs to be more robust. We can also improve the law’s deterrence function, in the form of punitive damages for severe or pervasive violations. It’s true that we are in the middle of a seismic shift in the way we structure our work lives. Both workers and employers want more flexibility. But that similarity of interests shouldn’t mask the fact that employers will always have more power than their employees, and that it’s in their interests to make those employees work as long and as cheaply as possible. In Roosevelt’s day, the courts found most wages and hours legislation unconstitutional based on the doctrine of “liberty of contract.” The idea was as simple as it was pernicious: wages and hours legislation violated an individual’s freedom to make an independent (read: worse) deal with his employer. We can’t afford to drift further back to the bad old days of liberty of contract. Americans are drastically overworked and underpaid compared to workers in other advanced countries, and our workers are trapped in a rigid pattern of inequality that has ended a historic claim to being the nation of upward mobility.

Roosevelt did not bother with economic arguments when it came to hours and wages. He offered a simple framework, both moral and patriotic. “A self-supporting and self-respecting democracy,” he proclaimed, “can plead no justification for the existence of child labor, no economic reason for chiseling workers’ wages or stretching workers’ hours.” That is as true today as it was then.

Jefferson Cowie is a professor of labor history at Cornell and the author of “Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class.”

[Demeter]

29. Worst is yet to come: There is still too much bullishness

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/worst-is-yet-to-come-2013-06-25?siteid=YAHOOB

MARKET PSYCHOANALYSIS


Fed trying to deflate financial bubbles: Markets are overreacting to Bernanke remarks

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-trying-to-deflate-financial-bubbles-2013-06-25?siteid=YAHOOB

TEA LEAF READINGS

[Demeter]

30. U.S. Civil Charges Against Corzine Are Seen as Near

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/u-s-civil-charges-against-corzine-are-seen-as-near/

Federal regulators are poised to sue Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of MF Global and the brokerage firm’s misuse of customer money during its final days, a blowup that rattled Wall Street and cast a spotlight on Mr. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor who ran the firm until its bankruptcy in 2011.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulated MF Global, plans to approve the lawsuit as soon as this week, according to law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case. In a rare move against a Wall Street executive, the agency has informed Mr. Corzine’s lawyers that it aims to file the civil case without offering him the opportunity to settle, setting up a legal battle that could drag on for years.

Without directly linking Mr. Corzine to the disappearance of more than $1 billion in customer money, the trading commission will probably blame the chief executive for failing to prevent the breach at a lower rung of the firm, the law enforcement officials said. If found liable, he could face millions of dollars in fines and possibly a ban from trading commodities, jeopardizing his future on Wall Street.

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Corzine denounced the trading commission for planning to file what he called an “unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action.”

MORE

[wordpix]

32. what about the rest of the crooks---those who nearly brought everyone down in 2008?

Those who gave risky mortgages and sliced and diced and sold on world markets, for example, and those who bet against the risky deals while packaging and selling same.

[Demeter]

33. Well, they weren't Democrats, for one thing

[golfguru]

37. Nope they were just donors to democratic politicians

Goldman Sachs being the one of the top donors.

[Demeter]

38. That's the "cost of doing business"

otherwise known as "covering your bets" or "buying a politician"

You'll find that historically, these "donors" always favored the GOP with larger donations than they threw at Democratic candidates....

[Demeter]

34. OY, OY, OY! Former Oregon politician pleads guilty to Facebook IPO fraud

http://news.yahoo.com/former-oregon-politician-pleads-guilty-facebook-ipo-fraud-170630769.html

Former Oregon gubernatorial candidate Craig Berkman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding investors by persuading them he could use their money to buy shares of Facebook Inc before the company's May 2012 initial public offering. Berkman, a Republican who ran for governor in 1994, admitted he told investors he had access to scarce pre-IPO shares of Facebook as well as LinkedIn Corp, Groupon Inc and Zynga Inc. Instead, Berkman used investors' money to make payments to earlier investors - a classic Ponzi scheme - and to pay personal expenses, including $6 million in a personal bankruptcy case, Assistant U.S. Attorney John O'Donnell said at a hearing in federal court in New York.

Berkman pleaded guilty to one charge of securities fraud and one charge of wire fraud. Each carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.... As part of a plea deal, Berkman agreed to forfeit $13.2 million he raised from more than 120 investors.

Berkman had long been active in Oregon politics and served for a time as the head of the state's Republican Party. He lost in the Republican primary for governor in 1994. He explored a bid for governor in 2002, according to the newspaper The Oregonian.

Berkman was arrested in March at his home in Odessa, Florida.


GOP ON GOP CRIME...BREAKS THE PATTERN

[Demeter]

35. Supreme Court Frees Americans from Burden of Voting by Andy Borowitz

NEW SUPREME COURT RULING ON VOTING RIGHTS ACT CAME OUT TODAY

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/06/supreme-court-frees-americans-from-burden-of-voting.html?mbid=nl_Borowitz%20%28145%29

By a five-to-four vote, the Supreme Court today acted, in the words of Justice Antonin Scalia, “to relieve millions of Americans from the onerous burden of having to vote.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Scalia stated, “Since 1965, citizens across the nation have lived under the tyranny of being forced to elect people to represent them. This is an important step to free them from that unfair and heinous obligation.”

Justice Scalia added that the Voting Rights Act had “thrust upon the shoulders of millions of Americans the terrible and unwanted burden of exercising their rights in a democracy.”

“Many of them have been forced to drive to polling places, wait in line, and then cast their vote because of the oppressive requirements of this Act,” he wrote. “It is our honor and duty to free them from those hardships.”

In conclusion, Justice Scalia wrote, “Our message today to the American people is simple: we are voting so you won’t have to.”

[Demeter]

36. I wonder. How many fairies had to die for that 100 pt gain?