[Minor edit: added lipstick on flying pig image. CM1]

We can no longer afford to pay more for--and get less from--our government. The answer for every problem cannot always be another program or more money. It is time to radically change the way the government operates -- to shift from top-down bureaucracy to entrepreneurial government that empowers citizens and communities to change our country from the bottom up. We must reward the people and ideas that work and get rid of those that don't.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore, National Performance Review, 1993

Andrew McIntosh/sacbee: Lawmakers lash out at EDD (9 Feb):

The latest overruns come on top of a five-year delay and $80 million more in cost increases on other computer modernization projects at EDD, according to a report produced for the Assembly Insurance Committee.

Change we can count on.

Via CBS' Political Hotsheet:

Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha, who represented Pennsylvania's 12th district for 36 years, died today at the age of 77. He died in an Arlington, Va. hospital with his family at his side after suffering complications from gallbladder surgery.

Murtha earned considerable influence in Congress as head of the powerful House Defense Appropriations subcommittee. He used his position of power to secure billions in federal tax dollars for his district, which has struggled with the widespread loss of coal and steel jobs, but came under intense scrutiny for his ties to companies for which he has secured earmarks.

Murtha, who joined Congress in 1974, was the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to the House. After 19 terms, he was one of the longest-serving members of the House and the eighth-most senior member. He was also the longest-serving member from Pennsylvania.

I know there is plenty to cover on his career, both the ups and the downs, but that will wait until later. For now, our best thoughts go out to his family and friends. [Image]

What do you think this kind of crappy inbreeding results in?

(Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc. named Peter Hancock, described by a former employer as an “architect” of the derivatives business, to oversee finance and risk, including the insurer’s money-losing credit-default swap unit.

Hancock spent 20 years at a predecessor to JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he established the derivatives group and served as chief financial officer, New York-based AIG said in a statement today. Hancock, who most recently was vice chairman at KeyCorp responsible for national banking, will report to AIG Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche.

Hancock “is one of the people that basically developed the credit-default swaps market at JPMorgan in the mid-1990s,” said Ed Grebeck, CEO of Stamford, Connecticut-based debt-consulting firm Tempus Advisors and an instructor at New York University on derivatives. “Given that he was one of the pioneers, it’s probably the first good appointment that any one of these bailed-out firms has made.”

Those prankster shadow bank CEOs... They sure know where to put the right people to bury their body of crimes. What? You're not laughing??? You little people have no sense of humor. Maybe you'll like this joke a little more?

Duke Helfland/LAT: California cracks down on discount health plans:

In 2001, the former director of the Department of Managed Health Care decided that the agency had no jurisdiction over the discount outlets because they did not [meet] the state's definition of health plans.

Four years later, however, the department's current director reversed the policy, arguing that the discount firms met the definition by arranging for services in exchange for fees.

Ain't that America.

Bank of America Looks Like  First of Many

Michael Collins

"This merger (Bank of America and Merrill Lynch) is a classic example of how the actions of our nation’s largest financial institutions led to the near-collapse of our financial system," said Attorney General Cuomo. "Bank of America, through its top management, engaged in a concerted effort to deceive shareholders and American taxpayers at large. This was an arrogant scheme hatched by the bank’s top executives who believed they could play by their own set of rules. In the end, they committed an enormous fraud and American taxpayers ended up paying billions for Bank of America’s misdeeds." (Image)

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo's complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court, County of New York against the Bank of America and two former top executives has the potential to push that too big to fail entity off the edge of a very steep cliff. The charges of massive fraud are based on a compelling and exhaustive filing on February 4.

A trial will likely involve testimony by the current Bank of America CEO and President Brian Moynihan against defendants Kenneth Lewis, the bank's former CEO and board chairman, former chief financial officer (CFO) Joseph L. Price, and the bank itself. Price is currently in charge of BofA's credit card division.

The complaint charges fraud before, during and after the bank's merger with struggling brokerage firm Merrill Lynch in late 2008. The fraud cost bank shareholders and citizens billions of dollars. This is the first major case brought against our nation's largest financial institutions. These are the same financial institutions and executives that nearly destroyed the economy.

The Saints marched onto the field tonight in Miami and beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.



Shot from the front page of NOLA.com where you can find more coverage.

It is going to be one hell of a long Mardi Gras celebration in 2010.

Just a reminder about the fluctuations in value being dependent on geography, date of purchase, and projected life of the of the product. Begs the simple question: how much is a particular *property* worth? A particular *mortgage*?

Aye, there's the rub. Not one of the 'experts' who invested in a 1/10000th share of my mortgage has a f*cking clue. And because of that battle between bullshit and bearshit, the entire planet is suffering? More or less, yes.

New York Times reporters Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story have a new article this weekend examining the dispute between Goldman Sachs and AIG over collateral calls on credit default swaps. Testy Conflict With Goldman Helped Push A.I.G. to Edge is a lengthy piece with bits of new information added throughout. Here is a snip to wet your appetite:

In just the year before the A.I.G. bailout, Goldman collected more than $7 billion from A.I.G. And Goldman received billions more after the rescue. Though other banks also benefited, Goldman received more taxpayer money, $12.9 billion, than any other firm.

In addition, according to two people with knowledge of the positions, a portion of the $11 billion in taxpayer money that went to Société Générale, a French bank that traded with A.I.G., was subsequently transferred to Goldman under a deal the two banks had struck.

Goldman stood to gain from the housing market’s implosion because in late 2006, the firm had begun to make huge trades that would pay off if the mortgage market soured. The further mortgage securities’ prices fell, the greater were Goldman’s profits.

Read more

Hat-tip to Lordrag of DelphiForums.

Posted without further comment:

Click image for source and larger rendering.

When filmmaker Josh Fox got a lucrative offer to release his family land for natural gas drilling, he didn't sign it—instead, he went out to investigate the drilling process, known as hydraulic fracturing, and its effect on the environment. The technique, developed by Halliburton, has opened up new land in 34 U.S. states to drilling. At a time when the U.S. is dependent on foreign countries for most of its energy and the country is in the midst of a recession, the appeal and immediate benefits of the technique are obvious. But on his 24-state journey, Fox discovers that in disparate areas affected by drilling, streams have turned toxic, aquifers are ruined, livestock is dying, residents are ill—and their tap water is flammable.

Here's the clip they provided:

For those interested in more reading, there's a short list of pieces on hydraulic fracture already available on ePluribus Media over the fold.

  __________  

  Missing man in Iraq identified as Army civilian employee

(CNN) -- An Army civilian employee missing in Baghdad, Iraq, since January has been identified as a 60-year-old man from California, the U.S. military said.

Issa T. Salomi of El Cajon was last seen in the Iraqi capital and has been unaccounted for since January 23, the Department of Defense said Friday.

Salomi was working with U.S. Forces-Iraq in the country. Search efforts are under way, the military said. No more information was available.

This is not "new" news -- civilian contractors in Iran have been having a rough go of things throughout this whole debacle. For more information, check out these recent stories by Susie Dow related to civilian contractors in Iraq:

  Thank You - A Sliver of Justice

and

  Americans Missing in Iraq as of June 2008

You may also find the following Journal articles of use, interest and relevance:

• Missing Contractor: US Military Mechanics may Hold the Keys

  Missing Contractor: U.S. Military Mechanics May Hold the Keys

  Both Kirk von Ackermann and Ryan Manelick worked for Ultra Services of Istanbul, Turkey.

  October 9, 2003 -- Kirk von Ackermann left a meeting at FOB Pacesetter, a small and isolated...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/42-the-world/71-missing-contractor-us-military-mechanics-may-hold-the-keys

• Defense Base Act Conference - Part I

  In cooperation with the Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation, the Loyola Law School of New Orleans held a two-day conference in Washington D.C. on October 23 and 24, 2008. The conference coincided with the publication of a unique...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/1-latest-news/195-defense-base-act-conference-part-i

• Iraq Contractors - Raw Data From CENTCOM - Pt II

  Susie Dow and ePluribus Media issued a FOIA request in August of 2007 for Central Command (CENTCOM) for data on civilian contractors in Iraq.   New contractor census data addressing that request was recently received by ePluribus Media this October,...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/1-latest-news/203-iraq-contractors-raw-data-from-centcom-pt-ii

All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.
- Mark Twain

"We're still pretty good at invention or discovery but in terms of deployment, we're losing ground. In fact, you could say we suck," said Mike Davis . . Pacific Northwest National Laboratories . . "Our ability to throw sand in the gears in terms of development in this country is just phenomenal. We've perfected it."

Guy must be a holdover from the Reagan years. Or be a Norquist fanatic. Yes, we're very good at invention, but it isn't "we" who suck. The problems arise when big development truly believes in "forgiveness is easier than permission" as a business plan. Like Love Canal, Three Mile Island, half the military bases in the Country, virtually all of our major cities, Bhopal . . .

You get the idea.

The remedy for development delays is simple: get those multi-million and multi-billion dollar multinationals to cough up the money to pay for enough professional staff to review, analyze, and advance the projects in less time.

After all, it's only money. They have it. "We" don't.

Bumped and promoted. Posted 2010-02-06 05:52:18 -0500. -- GH

Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $US2.4 trillion ($2.8 billion) to $US24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday.

The research project involved more than 370 scientists from 27 countries who collectively spent 15 months, starting in June 2007, aboard a research vessel above the Arctic Circle. It marked the first time a ship has stayed mobile in Canada's high Arctic for an entire winter.

"It's happening much faster than our most pessimistic projections," said University of Manitoba Prof. David Barber, the lead investigator of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead study. A flaw lead is the term for open water between pack ice and coastal ice.

Folks, there's a serious weather emergency going on in the middle of the United States that needs your help and further attention. We were fortunate to have a recent post here from navajo to bring our attention to it, now I'd like to remind folks to go to the ongoing effort that is contained within a diary at DailyKos in order to do what you can to help our Native American brothers and sisters -- our fellow Americans -- in need. Even more snow has arrived, making things that much more desperate.

From the current DailyKos diary, updated by TiaRachel:

Background:Centuries of abuse and neglect of the original inhabitants of what is now the United States has not ended. Our reservations are still like third world countries. When massive ice storms and high winds hit the reservations in the Dakotas mid January poor housing, weak heating systems, sparse cupboards, lack of warm clothing and health problems make it difficult to survive. Add to that a utilities infrastructure that was brought to its knees on the Cheyenne River Reservation when 3000 poles and power lines came down from 6 inches of ice weight also crippling the water system. Ongoing storm conditions hampered repair. The reservation has been without power since Jan. 21st and Federal funds are still weeks away.
update Feb 5 11-ish PM EST: News reports are saying that 'most' of the power has been turned back on, but water (& keeping that power from being shut off) continues to be a problem.

Please help in any way you can, even if only by helping to spread this information and link back to the DailyKos piece for updated news, information and ways to help.

Thank you.