Archive for the 'Elite' Category
USDA Received Pathogen Warning Before Deregulating GM Alfalfa
February 22nd, 2013Via: Activist Post: Following a 6 year approval battle, the USDA fully deregulated Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa in January 2011. A week later, they partially deregulated GM sugar beets. This occurred despite Secretary of Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack’s knowledge of a stark warning letter by Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University […]
Zuckerberg, Brin Join Forces to Extend Life
February 21st, 2013Via: AFP: Famed founders of Internet rivals Google and Facebook joined forces on Wednesday to back big-money prizes for research aimed at extending human life. Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, along with their spouses, joined Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner to award 11 scientists $3 million each to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. […]
Regular Patron Given Key to Room 322 at the ZaZa Hotel in Houston by Mistake
February 20th, 2013The gallery is here. The story that goes along with those is posted on GLP. Sweet dreams.
The Fed’s Continuing Bailouts of Bank of America
February 17th, 2013Via: New York Times: MANY people became rightfully upset about bailouts given to big banks during the mortgage crisis. But it turns out that they are still going on, if more quietly, through the back door. The existence of one such secret deal, struck in July between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and […]
‘Pope Will Have Security, Immunity by Remaining in the Vatican’
February 17th, 2013Via: Reuters: Pope Benedict’s decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say. “His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, […]
Facebook Gets a Multibillion-Dollar Tax Break
February 16th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: It hasn’t drawn much attention, but Facebook’s first annual earnings report contains an accounting gem: a multibillion-dollar tax deduction for the cost of executive stock options and share awards. Even though Facebook (FB) reported $1.1 billion in pre-tax profits from U.S. operations in 2012, it will probably pay zero federal and state taxes—and […]
SEC Files Lawsuit Against ‘Certain Unknown Traders’ Over Heinz Call Options
February 16th, 2013*yawn* Via: CNBC: Acting just one day after the surprise announcement that H.J. Heinz would be acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazil-based 3G Capital for $23.3 billion, the SEC has gone to court to freeze assets associated with what it calls “highly suspicious options trading.” Related: Insider Crimes, Funny Money and Options Rackets
Vatican’s New Bank Chief Has Military Ship Links
February 15th, 2013Via: AP: The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank’s new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships — a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing. The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on […]
Indiana Soybean Farmer Sees Monsanto Lawsuit Reach U.S. Supreme Court
February 13th, 2013Via: Guardian: As David versus Goliath battles go it is hard to imagine a more uneven fight than the one about to play out in front of the US supreme court between Vernon Hugh Bowman and Monsanto. On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same […]
McGraw-Hill, S&P Sued by U.S. Over Mortgage-Bond Ratings
February 5th, 2013*yawn* Via: Bloomberg: McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP) and its Standard & Poor’s unit were sued by the U.S. over claims S&P knowingly understated the credit risks of instruments that were central to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing McGraw-Hill […]
