The Gay Secretary

Iran is building a nuclear power station. Iran has the legal right to build nuclear power stations and to make fuel rods for them under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which both the US and Iran have signed.

The IAEA, which enforces the terms of the NNPT, has repeatedly confirmed that Iran is NOT building nuclear weapons or making preparations to do so.

Under the NNPT, The US is not only required to allow Iran to build power stations, but under Article IV is required to assist! I think it is obvious that the best way to know for a fact that Iran is not building a weapons lab underneath their power station is to be in there helping to pour the foundations and lay the pipes!

So, Israel is now screaming that Iran is a threat because Iran is building a nuclear power station. Israel, which actually does have a used-to-be clandestine weapons lab underneath the Dimona reactor and who has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty apparently assuages its guilt over its weapons program by pointing accusing fingers at their neighbors.

Israel did in fact accuse Iraq of planning to build nuclear weapons at their power station at Osirik. Israel then bombed the power station. Following the invasion of 2003 the IAEA inspected the remains of the power station at Osirik and confirmed that it was indeed only a power station. There was no weapons factory in the ruins. So Israel's past record of knowing who does and does not have a weapons lab is rather abysmal.

So, do you want your kids to die in yet another war fought because Israel is hallucinating yet more paranoid fantasies about hidden nuclear weapons factories underneath power stations?

Sounds Like a Threat To Me

American Scofflaw

The Federal Reserve warned on Thursday that a growing congressional threat to curtail its independence would destabilise markets and raise the cost of servicing US debt for “current and future generations”.

Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, has gathered the support of a majority of the House of Representatives for a bill that would audit the Fed’s monetary policy decisions. He told a Congressional hearing he wanted the power to prevent the Fed being "secret and clandestine and serving special interests”.

Donald Kohn, vice-chairman of the Fed, argued at the House financial services subcommittee hearing that any sense of political interference would negatively affect markets. “Any substantial erosion of the Federal Reserve’s monetary independence likely would lead to higher long-term interest rates as investors begin to fear future inflation,” he said.

Not only did Mr Kohn argue that the Fed should be given the power to regulate large systemically significant companies, but he argued against giving up responsibility for consumer protection, asking Congress to overturn the Obama administration’s proposal to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Grave Robbers

They Are Stoned, Not Crazy

American Scofflaw

So could legalized pot keep California from closing parks and cutting school funding in the state's current budget crunch? Folks at the Marijuana Policy Project say yes -- and they've launched a statewide ad campaign today to reach Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers in California as they wrestle this week over the yawning $26 billion-plus deficit.

Controversy has followed the ads even before they hit the airwaves: they were rejected by the NBC affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area, and by ABC affiliates in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The fear among some broadcasters: they appear to advocate drug use.

But perhaps that's because such ads are a first in California, says Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project, who predicts they're going to "catch people's attention. It's something nobody's come out and said in such a straightforward manner on TV before. I think there's gonna be some interest and it'll help the conversation along.''

Goldman Code Theft

American Scofflaw

Until a few weeks ago, Mr. Aleynikov, 39, was a computer programmer at Goldman, whose prowess in trading has long made it the envy of Wall Street.

But over five days in early June, the authorities say, he stole proprietary, “black box” computer programs that Goldman uses to make lucrative, rapid-fire trades in the financial markets. Their value, experts say, could be incalculable.

Mr. Aleynikov, however, will not get a chance to use those secrets. He was arrested by federal agents on Friday evening, as he got off a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft of trade secrets and transporting them abroad.

This is the software that "earns" GS $100 million A DAY by rapid trading of stocks to catch the small up and down transitions. I want to know just WHERE this code was sent, because it is very dangerous. Used widely enough, it will break down the investor market into two groups.

Those who have the software will reap vast sums of money while those who try to trade without it will be driven out of business. Eventually, as the software comes to dominate trading, the actual worth and productivity of public companies will become irrelevant.

Only their volatility will matter and the more volatile their stock is, the faster money can be leached from those companies into the pickets of the program traders.

At the very least this demands a revival of the ban on program trading.
Or possibly day-trading will go extinct and investment will be long-term only, i.e. you buy a stock for a month at a time.

Left unchecked, the escape of this software "into the wild", could mean the end of publicly traded companies entirely!

That's okay, we have millions of young Americans we can use to protect Israel from Iran's bullets!

The Gay Secretary

US President Barack Obama's administration denied Monday that it is giving Israel the green light to attack Iran or that it is reconsidering plans to engage diplomatically with the Islamic Republic.

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, formerly the country's top nuclear negotiator, warned Tehran would hold Washington responsible for any such strike after Vice President Joe Biden said Washington would not dictate how Israel deals with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

But State Department spokesman Ian Kelly poured cold water on suggestions that Biden could be seen as giving the Jewish state a green light to attack Iran, which it views as an existential threat.

"I certainly would not want to give a green light to any kind of military action," Kelly told reporters.

Unfortunately, Vice-President Biden has all the diplomatic finesse of a meat grinder on steroids.

How is Iran to actually take that statement that "...Biden could be seen as giving the Jewish state a green light to attack Iran, which it views as an existential threat."

There's not a whole lot of wiggle room for interpretation of this statement.

Stand Up, You Bastards

American Scofflaw

The low-cost airline would charge passengers less on "bar stools" with seat belts around their waists.

Michael O'Leary, the chief executive, has already held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing an aircraft with standing room.

He is now seeking approval from the Irish Aviation Authority before ordering a new fleet of carriers, according to The Sun.

A Ryanair spokesman told the newspaper: "If they approve it, we'll be doing it."

Mr O'Leary is reported to have got the idea from the Chinese airline Spring, which has put forward similar plans. It estimates space could be made for up to 50 per cent more passengers and costs could be cut by 20 per cent.

It is not the first time Ryanair has come up with a controversial proposal for cutting costs. Earlier this year Mr O'Leary suggested passengers could be charged £1 to use the on-board lavatories.

In an interview on BBC television he said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door so that "people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny."

Mr O'Leary also considered introducing a "fat tax" for overweight passengers.

Out of Control Drunk