Archive for the 'Elite' Category
Flood of Afghan Heroin Fuels Drug Plague in Russia
July 5th, 2009Via: McClatchy: The drugs usually reach Russia from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in trucks or, in smaller amounts, tucked away in train compartments or nervous travelers’ stomachs. The trade is nothing new in Russia, but after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, it exploded. Afghan opium production climbed from 3,400 metric tons in 2002 to […]
U.S.-Built Bridge is Windfall for Illegal Afghan Drug Trade
July 5th, 2009Via: McClatchy: In August 2007, the presidents of Afghanistan and Tajikistan walked side by side with the U.S. commerce secretary across a new $37 million concrete bridge that the Army Corps of Engineers designed to link two of Central Asia’s poorest countries. Dressed in a gray suit with an American flag pin in his lapel, […]
Fears for the World’s Poor Countries as the Rich Grab Land to Grow Food
July 5th, 2009A pants shitting, must read. Via: Guardian: The acquisition of farmland from the world’s poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe’s farmland targeted in the last six months, reports from UN officials and agriculture experts say. New reports from the UN […]
India Joins Russia, China in Questioning U.S. Dollar Dominance
July 4th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Suresh Tendulkar, an economic adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said he is urging the government to diversify its $264.6 billion foreign-exchange reserves and hold fewer dollars. “The major part of Indian reserves is in dollars — that is something that’s a problem for us,” Tendulkar, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic […]
‘Rogue Broker’ Blamed for Oil Spike
July 3rd, 2009If I buy a wheat contract, I should have to take delivery of the physical wheat on the specified date. If I sell a wheat contract, I should have to deliver the physical wheat on the specified date. I should not be allowed to buy or sell those leveraged contracts without having to take delivery, […]
Washington Post Sells Access to the Regime and Its Own Reporters for $25,000 and Up
July 2nd, 2009Via: Politico: For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few”: Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, […]
5 Years After: Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results
July 2nd, 2009Maybe Portugal didn’t view the Prison Industrial Complex as a growth industry (like elites in the U.S. do). Via: Scientific American: In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized […]
Government Energy Audit Required to Sell Your Home?
July 2nd, 2009Via: WWLP 22 News: The American Clean Energy and Security Act is aimed at reducing the nation’s energy consumption. The ambitious piece of legislation passed in the House on Friday. It addresses a variety of issues from carbon emissions to planting trees. The energy bill also proposes a change in how homes are sold. Originally, […]
SEC Lawyer Raised Alarm About Madoff
July 2nd, 2009Via: Reuters: A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer warned about irregularities at Bernard Madoff’s financial management firm as far back as 2004, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation. Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, sent emails to a […]
Murdoch CEO Labels Bloggers “Political Extremists”; Should Be Jailed as in China and Burma
July 1st, 2009Via: Prison Planet: A stinging attack by John Hartigan, the CEO of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited, labels bloggers and alternative media outlets as “political extremists”. Hartigan implies that bloggers should be jailed as they are in oppressive police states like China and Burma. In a speech to the National Press Club, Hartigan savagely dismissed blogs […]
