Chinese Expand Rio Tinto Allegations

SHANGHAI — China stepped up its campaign against the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday by saying the company had bribed virtually every one of China’s big steel makers.

The stunning allegation, published on the front page of China Daily, the country’s official English language newspaper, ratcheted up the stakes in a case that has already rocked the country’s steel industry and threatened to strain relations between China and Australia.

In its report, China Daily, which regularly delivers government messages, said Rio Tinto bribed 16 large Chinese steel companies, all members of the China Steel & Iron Association, to gain access to industry data. The paper attributed the allegation to an unidentified “industry insider” and did not identify the 16 companies.

The report comes more than a week after Chinese authorities detained four Rio Tinto employees, including one Australian national, on suspicions of espionage, stealing state secrets and harming the nation’s economic interests and security.

A Chinese government-controlled Web site said last week that Rio employees had bribed Chinese steel executives to gain access to confidential government documents that could have given Rio Tinto an edge in its annual iron ore negotiations with China’s state-owned steel mills.

But Wednesday’s report is the first time a government publication has alleged that many of the country’s biggest steel companies may have been involved in the scandal.

Rio Tinto has expressed shock at the allegations and said that the company has strict ethics policies that forbid bribery. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the company declined comment.

Also on Wednesday, several large Chinese steel companies, including BaoSteel, strongly denied they were under investigation in the Rio Tinto case.

“BaoSteel has no executive cooperating with the government investigation or being investigated,” said Meng Haibiao, a company spokesman.

Several other steel companies, including Jinan Steel, called the China Daily’s report “fake news,” insisting none of the company’s executives was under investigation.

But at Laiwu Steel in north China’s Shandong Province, a spokesman who gave his name only as Mr. Liu said one of the company’s shipping executives was cooperating with the Rio investigation.

Also, an executive at Shougang Steel, one of China’s biggest steel producers, was detained last week as part of the Rio investigation.

In the past week, China has questioned or detained at least 10 steel executives, including shipping agents, traders and members of the steel association, according to the state-run news media and interviews with industry officials.

In Australia, several government officials have criticized the detention of the four Rio employees and suggested that Beijing is retaliating against Rio Tinto for scuttling a deal last month that would have given a Chinese state-owned company a large stake in the mining giant.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia, who has kept a relatively low profile since the detentions, signaled on Wednesday his concern about the state secrets law case against Rio employees.

According to Reuters, Mr. Rudd told reporters, “A range of foreign governments and corporations will be watching this case with interest and will be watching it very closely, and they will be drawing their own conclusions as to how it is conducted.”

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Wednesday.

Although Beijing says the Rio Tinto case involves state secrets, that has not stopped state-run newspapers from printing details about it during the past week. Many articles have described rampant corruption in the trading of iron ore.

More than a dozen industry officials, steel analysts and traders interviewed this week also said China’s iron ore trade was plagued with corruption.

Experts blame China’s two-tiered system for purchasing iron ore for fostering corruption. While big steel mills are allowed to negotiate long-term, fixed-price contracts, most small and medium-sized steel mills are expected to buy from the more volatile open market — or what is called the spot market.

The system, analysts say, has created huge arbitrage opportunities, allowing big steel mills with fixed contracts to buy far more supplies than they need and then sell excess supplies to smaller mills on the black market.

“There’s a huge underground arbitrage market in China,” said Ren Qiang, general manager at Zibo Anti Import and Export Company, which deals in the iron ore trade.

Small mills have long complained about being at a huge disadvantage.

The practice violates industry regulations, as well as the fixed contract agreements signed with Rio Tinto and other mining companies, analysts say.

The government has repeatedly warned about this kind of speculative trading, most recently in a regulation released in February.

But industry experts say regulators rarely enforce the rules. They say black market trading was particularly strong in 2007 and early 2008, when iron ore prices skyrocketed.

Analysts say the two-tier system may have also created friction between big mining companies, like Rio Tinto, and the government controlled China’s Steel & Iron Association, which represents the biggest mills in annual fixed contract negotiations.

Analysts say a lower contract price would benefit association members if they choose to secretly sell in the black market.

Tensions boiled over in 2008, when the association urged Chinese mills and traders to boycott Rio Tinto’s spot market iron ore because of dissatisfaction with the negotiations. Rio, in turn criticized the association for using aggressive tactics.

The two side failed to reach an agreement last month on prices for this year’s contracts. One of the lead negotiators for Rio Tinto was Stern Hu, an Australian national who was detained on July 5 for what Beijing says was stealing state secrets and harming China’s economic interests.

Chen Yang contributed research.

總統：謀求兩岸和平 政府最高價值之一

（中央社記者李淑華、李明宗台北15日電）解嚴22週年紀念，總統馬英九今天指出，當初戒嚴是因為發生內戰，因此必須把戒嚴賴以發生的情境消除掉，使戰爭不再發生，所以謀求海峽和平，是政府最高的價值之一。

總統上午出席白色恐怖政治受難者紀念追思儀式，也紀念解嚴22週年。總統指出，為什麼會有戒嚴，是因為內戰，戰爭的發生，才會使得許多限制、乃至剝奪自由與人權的行動合理化。

總統強調，戰爭的發生，往往就是人權自由受限制的開始，戒嚴有其歷史背景，當年因為發生國共內戰，因此如何才能讓歷史不要重演，讓受難者家屬受到的苦痛不要再重複，最重要的，就是不要有戰爭的發生。

總統指出，台灣現在唯一可能發生戰爭的，就是台灣海峽，因此去年上任後，全力改善兩岸關係，透過各種步驟讓海峽可能發生衝突的機會，減到最低的限度，1年多來，兩岸恢復了中斷10年的協商，一共簽署9項協議、達成1項共識，讓海峽出現了和平的曙光。

總統強調，要把當初戒嚴所賴以發生的情境解除掉、消除掉，因此應該思考各種手段，讓戰爭不要發生，不過，這種手段不包括犧牲台灣的尊嚴、主權。

總統表示，台灣跟大陸接觸了1年多，「對於中華民國的主權、台灣的尊嚴，我們一吋都沒有改變」，只要大家有心、有力，就能夠做到，而這一路走來，就是大家對於自由民主有非常強烈的信念。

此外，總統表示，他在台北市長任內協助白色恐怖事件的家屬，一方面建立馬場町紀念碑，二方面整理六張犁的公墓。

總統強調，人權只有一個標準，沒有顏色，不論是紅的、藍的、綠的、黃的都一樣，而關鍵是在於，對這個過程當中，出現了冤案、假案、錯案，他個人在兩年前也被起訴過，因此可以非常深刻體會，「如果最後是以冤案終結的話，我相信我的感受跟所有的家屬會是一樣的」。

Twitter安全拉警報 駭客入侵員工帳戶

（中央社舊金山14日法新電）據信一名先前攻擊微型部落格推特（Twitter）名流帳戶的駭客傳出再度犯案，這回是侵入部份推特員工帳戶，連共同創辦人威廉斯（Evan Williams）也未能逃過一劫。

駭客竊取的Twitter員工資料今天在法國網站曝光，科技網站TechCrunch指稱威廉斯在電子郵件中證實遭駭。

駭客竊取的資料據稱包括簡歷、薪資數據、信用卡號碼、名流交換簡訊，員工執勤表，甚至於員工飲食喜好資料。

Twitter舊金山新辦公室的建築平面圖也曝光，以及Twitter擬籌拍實境電視節目計畫。

名為克羅爾（Croll）的駭客宣稱能入侵威廉斯和其他Twitter員工在亞馬遜（Amazon）、PayPal等網站的帳戶。

據稱克羅爾在法國網站貼文，警告「即使最大的、最強的，也會做出蠢事，我希望這一回能讓他們明白虛擬世界中沒有人是安全無虞的。」

TechCrunch引述威廉斯談話指出，大部份遭竊敏感資料屬於個資，「令我本人和妻子，及其他受駭Twitter員工苦惱不已」。Twitter據報已加強安全措施。（譯者：中央社楊玫寧）

人民幣為管制貨幣 國際化之路漫長

（中央社記者高照芬台北15日電）中國的銀行近來頻與香港及東南亞的銀行簽署跨境貿易人民幣結算協定，為人民幣國際化舖路。經濟學家認為，人民幣仍是管制貨幣，要想躍上國際舞台成為儲備貨幣，仍有長路要走。

學者分析，人民幣在香港、東南亞地區被貿易夥伴接受度可能性較高，但跨越東南區及東亞地區，在拉丁美洲、中東的接受度仍值得考驗。

中國大陸中國銀行7月6日與香港的渣打銀行、東亞銀行、馬來西亞馬來亞銀行、新加坡華僑銀行、韓國韓亞銀行香港分行等11家銀行簽定「跨境貿易人民幣結算項下清算帳戶協定」，啟動人民幣國際化開端。

匯豐銀行（HSBC）接受英國金融時報訪問時指出，中國已啟動人民幣國際化的宏圖大計，使人民幣成為國際貿易主要貨幣，減低對美元依賴。計畫如果成功，三年內中國貿易總額可能有半數是以人民幣結算，每年金額達2兆美元。

面對人民幣欲成為國際貿易主要貨幣的雄心，花旗銀花首席經濟學家鄭貞茂表示，目前中國政府管制人民幣做法沒改變，除限制海外人民幣的數量，對匯率也進行控管。

他認為，中國的銀行近來頻頻與香港及東南亞地區的銀行簽署跨境貿易人民幣結算協定，主要的目的是在香港優先試驗，以人民幣做為貿易清算交割工具的可行性。

他分析，長久以來，中國對外貿易大多採用美元及歐元計價，國際金融風險後，美元及歐元波動大，美元甚至長期看貶。針對中國內地企業及鄰近貿易夥伴，若改以人民幣直接定價，可享較優惠匯率，降低交易成本。

不過，鄭貞茂認為，人民幣國際化仍有一段漫長的路要走！人民幣在香港、東南亞地區被貿易夥伴的接受度可能較高；但是跨越東南區及東亞地區，在拉丁美洲、中東的接受度仍值得考驗。

永豐金控首席經濟學家黃蔭基認為，人民幣國際化之路值得觀察，首先一個國際化貨幣要被世界各國央行所接受，目前各國央行以人民幣做為儲備貨幣的畢竟不多；且中國對人民幣仍多所管制，有礙國際化的進程。

他表示，中國有心推動人民幣國際化，但人民幣國際化仍有一段漫漫長路要走。

英國‧本身近盲聾‧枕邊人癌末‧指揮家攜妻安樂死

（英國‧倫敦）他一生指揮過數個知名的世界級古典樂團，這一次，他決定親自指揮自己生命的終曲樂章，英國著名指揮家唐斯上週與癌症末期的妻子一同在瑞士蘇黎世接受安樂死逝世。

唐斯臨終前近乎失明，聽覺也越來越差，要由編舞家妻子瓊全天照顧，2人上週是在瑞士一所協助自殺診所一同了結此生，終年分別85歲和74歲。他們子女形容2人死得很安詳，子女都陪伴在側。

2人的離世為唐斯的傑出音樂生涯畫上句點，同時也在英國引起爭論，質疑對方是否有權利結束患病親人的生命。

他們的一對子女在向英國廣播公司（BBC）發佈的聲明中說父母死得安詳，而且是以自己選擇的方式離去。

聲明又說：“他們共度了愉快的54載後，決定自行了斷，不想繼續為嚴重的健康問題掙扎。”

出生於伯明翰的唐斯，音樂生涯漫長而輝煌，1991年獲封爵，生前是英國最受尊崇的指揮家之一。他是澳洲悉尼歌劇院首場表演的指揮家，又曾為英國廣播公司管弦樂團和倫敦皇家歌劇院擔任指揮。

唐斯的妻子瓊則是一名編舞家和電視監製。

唐斯的經理人格瑞夫斯指出，唐斯不願妻子死後，獨自生活，才決定與妻共赴黃泉。

中國‧避塞車出高招‧東莞學生搭直升機上學

（中國‧廣州）上學遇上惱人的塞車，結果遲到要被老師罰站，廣東東莞近日出現“直升機”父母，讓孩子搭直升機上學避塞車。

中國網站近日流傳一則名為“東莞東華高級中學一學生搭直升機上學”的短片，引起了眾多網友關注。在求證學校後，校方表示確實有一名男學生曾經坐他父親的直升機來學校。

此短片長度僅15秒，一開始的畫面為一架白色直升機停在學校的操場上，5秒鐘之後，從直升機上走下來一個穿校服的學生，這名學生手提白色袋子，下飛機後就開始跑，2秒鐘後，直升機就起飛飛走。

據瞭解，坐直升機上學的這名學生是東莞市常平人，當時就讀高二，父親是一名企業家，直升機是他所有。學校負責人當日聯繫了這名學生家長，他解釋用直升機送孩子上學是因為塞車。

東華高級中學是廣東著名貴族學校，每天下課一到校門口停滿了接孩子的各種名車。

有網友抨擊這種行為根本是炫富、寵溺孩子，但也有網友認為，“這是社會發展的必然，他只是先驅者而已，就像7、80年代開轎車送孩子上學一樣！”

中國‧參加接吻賽受感染‧男子患“接吻病”

（中國‧福建）如果你近期食慾不振，並出現發燒、喉嚨疼等症狀，有可能是患上了“接吻病”！

小劉6月下旬被女友逼著參加福州某商場舉辦的情侶接吻大賽。一個多小時後，他開始不停流汗，喉嚨疼痛，不得已下退出了比賽。

社區衛生服務站醫生診斷為“扁桃體發炎”，並開了抗生素和退燒藥給他，“可吃完藥後不僅症狀沒有減輕人反而越來越疲勞。”

在連續半月出現食慾不振，並出現發燒、喉嚨疼等症狀卻久藥不癒的小劉，終於在福建省急救中心查明瞭病因，醫生告訴他：“你患上了接吻病！”

此急救中心楊醫生介紹說，接吻病是一種叫艾柏斯坦（E-B）病毒感染所致，經由雙方的唾液、口腔、飛沫等傳染。

患病原因可能是遺傳、過於疲勞或在某些情況下吸入了化學物質。若遇上對方身體抵抗力較差，或者是口腔發炎、損傷，接吻超過10秒就有可能感染此病。

美國‧連任印尼總統‧奧巴馬祝賀蘇西洛

（美國‧華盛頓）美國總統奧巴馬週二（7月14日）祝賀蘇西洛上週當選連任印尼總統，並向他表達希望“兩國之間達致更堅固關係”的意願。

奧巴馬透過白宮發出的一項聲明指出：“印尼於7月8日舉行了一場自由且公平的大選，蘇西洛獲得壓倒性勝利，再次當選總統。”

曾在印尼渡過部份童年時光的奧巴馬表示：“我希望向蘇西洛總統傳達個人祝賀，並闡明美國希望與他和印尼人民在未來合作的意願，以建立兩國之間更堅固的關係。”

奧巴馬表示：“印尼近幾年來在全球扮演的角色日益變重，我們歡迎。印尼在亞洲以及全球維和、保護環境、在亞太區多邊組織發展，以及推廣民主和文明社會等領域做出了重要貢獻。”

新加坡‧稅務局烏龍百出‧有人沒花紅有人拿2筆

（新加坡）稅務局發花紅，烏龍百出，有人少了近2000元，有人多拿近2萬元；有人沒收到，也有人拿2筆！

審計署發現，新加坡國內稅務局（IRAS）去年7月為員工分發表現花紅時，出錯14次。

審計署（Auditor-General´s Office）在新出爐的2008/09財政年審計報告中指出，有12起案例是分錯表現花紅，其中有人少得1710元，也有人多拿1萬6800元。另外，一名退休員工沒獲得表現花紅，卻有一人連獲2筆花紅。

針對這個失誤，國內稅務局解釋說，為了應付發薪期限，當局邊核對員工記錄邊發花紅，如果發現錯誤，下次發薪時會糾正過來。

審計報告是提呈給總統和國會的報告，裡頭對各政府部門、法定機構及新加坡政府投資公司進行審查，指出使用公款的疏漏，並提出改進建議。

裝修後放空又另租一間
標新局被指浪費錢

裝修新辦公室後放空，又花9萬元另租一間，審計署指標新局浪費錢。

新加坡標新局（SPRING）是在前年初，為新任主席楊烈國和執行管理層，裝修辦公室和董事會議室。

但原是國家科技局局長的楊烈國，前年4月至去年8月間，在啟奧生物醫藥園辦公，結果標新局花超過9萬元租用這間辦公室。

之後，標新局又花近188萬元，為主席、總裁、副總裁和科技創新部門，裝修和租用位新加坡啟匯城的辦公室，租期到2010年6月。

審計報告指出，標新局在裝修和租用辦公室方面，多花約197萬元。

儘管標新局大廈有足夠的辦公室，卻另租辦公室，並在沒增加員工下，為科技創新部門租用比原本大2倍的辦公室。審計署建議標新局在2010年搬到新辦公室時，遵守財政部制定的辦公空間條規。

棄便宜學校清潔公司選貴的
教部浪費3600萬

有便宜的學校清潔承包公司不選，卻挑較貴的，教育部白白浪費100萬至1500萬元（馬幣約240萬至3600萬令吉）。

審計署是在接獲投訴後，調查教育部的清潔承包公司競標事件，結果發現11家提出最低標價的公司落選。原因是教育部認為標價太低的話，公司無法提供良好的清潔服務。

但審計署發現其中4家公司曾提供學校清潔工作，服務也合格，顯示其實可以考慮他們。

審計署指出︰“教育部如果接受11個最低競標價公司的其中一個或多個，可節省100萬至1500萬元。”

審計署也說，教育部的競標評估程序，不符合公平競爭原則。

中國‧西安秦俑考古‧出土彩繪軍官

（中國‧西安）6月再度進行發掘工作的西安秦始皇兵馬俑一號坑，近日有2件殘留有彩繪的陶俑出土，包括一個高級軍吏俑和一個武士俑。

據此次挖掘的執行領隊許衛紅表示，新發現的高級軍吏俑袍子角和褲子上有呈厘米零星分佈的彩繪，褲子上發現於中國漢代的器物上而被命名為“漢紫”的紫色矽酸銅鋇，且面積較大。

她表示，由於年代久遠，這陶俑已斷裂為幾大截，頭部尚未找到，所發現部份目前都已得到有效保護。

中國‧河南化工廠爆炸‧5死‧百餘村民傷‧街上佈滿震碎玻璃

（中國‧北京）中國河南省偃師市一間化工廠今日（週三，7月15日）發生爆炸，造成5人死亡，2人失蹤，108人受傷送院，其中7人重傷。爆炸原因還在調查中。

當局緊急疏散民眾，並清除爆炸釋出的有害氣體。

位於河南省偃師市顧縣鎮的“河南洛染公司”，於當天凌晨2時左右發生爆炸。洛染公司初步判斷認為，爆炸可能是“一氯苯中轉罐”爆炸所致，當時現場有10至11人值班。

中央電視台形容，事件是“重大爆炸事故”。

方圓30公里受震撼

現場方圓30公里左右的區域，都受爆炸震撼。爆炸引發大火，刺鼻氣體瀰漫在空氣中。廠房的玻璃及附近村莊民房的玻璃，都被震碎，街上全是被震碎的玻璃。

數以百計的村民，被飛來的碎片和震壞的玻璃、門窗砸傷。其中有108人被送往醫院。

搶救5小時疏散居民

雖然爆炸引發的大火，歷經5個多小時的搶救後，於早上7時40分許被撲滅，但方圓1公里內的居民和可能受影響的群眾，都已被疏散。

環保部門正在監測大氣受污染情況，並阻斷洛染公司的出水口，防止伊河水遭到污染。

中國‧又一海外媒體收購行動‧溫州商人購英電視台

（中國‧杭州）據報導，北京西京集團與英國衛星電視台PROPELLER（譯為螺旋槳）正式簽訂合同，全資收購了這家電視台。

這是溫州人近年來繼收購阿拉伯亞洲商務電視台和歐洲華語廣播電台後，又一涉足海外媒體的收購行動。

據介紹，這家電視台位於英國東北部林肯郡，是當地政府投資的衛星電視台，頻道覆蓋歐洲45個國家和地區，擁有850萬用戶，英語播送，主要節目播送教育、文化、經濟等，在當地頗有影響力。

西京集團是在北京創業多年的溫州知名企業家葉茂西於1994年創辦的企業。

西京集團有關負責人馬紅霞告訴記者，收購PROPELLER後，將以英中兩國語言，報導中國經濟、文化、歷史、旅遊節目，讓西方人更多、更真地瞭解中國。同時，也讓海外的中國人更好地瞭解、開拓國外市場。

Audit the Federal Reserve

Check this link ............ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5CPaTWQuA

Neocon Rodeo

Imagine this headline "George Bush arrested and extradited to the Hague for crimes against humanity." Upon further reading, "Prosecutors say George Bush is allegedly guilty of mass murder for the atrocities of 911 where over 3000 innocent people were murdered." One would think, "justice is served," but lets take a journey down this phantasmal path and weigh the ramifications of this price of corruption.

If by some miracle the Hague could safely incarcerate Mr. Bush to obtain testimony and from his lips spews the complete sordid affair, after the shock wore off, the riots and mayhem would ensue. Think about it. Everything that has happened since 911 is now uncovered as a lie. Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan would demand restitution as George starts naming names and the likes of Cheney, Rice, Powell, Gates, Rumsfeld, and congress, just to scratch the surface, would be rounded up and carted off. In the mean time, the burning mega rat ship would be abandoned, world leaders lynched by outraged mobs as the global markets tank with guilty CEOs raping what is left of this rotten carcass called an economy and head for their underground bunkers on their deserted islands guarded by Xe.

As the testimonies continue, the CIA would be frantically tying up loose ends (assassination) with the troops getting slaughtered in the theaters after laying down their arms and surrendering because the indisputable heavyweight granddaddy of all historic scandals has exploded across the globe and there is no place to hide. The Global War on Terror is a farce and hell is awaiting payday.

The Blood; already shed in the millions of gallons from the counterfeit WOT would be dwarfed by the Mack Truck of truth. All the leaders lockstep in known lies would be in the crosshairs as standing armies turn against themselves with citizens going apeshit mad burning down the world in their justifiable outrage sending smoke reaching to the heavens while the angel in a mighty voice cries "Babylon has Fallen." Guilty leaders desperately attempt an all to obvious distraction by instigating insurgencies against enemies both foreign and domestic in a futile last ditch effort knowing full well the world policeman is dead further adding to the misery and despair with a massive tsunamic flood of blood.

Pity the righteous indignant fools that have cemented their heads firmly in the sand and refused to look at the continuing facts uncovered in the ongoing saga unfolding around 911. From the thousands of experts coming forward debunking the 911 Commission's lame excuse for the towers free fall collapse and the obvious demolition of Building 7 to the recent uncovering of thermite residue in the ashes



is there any option left than to hang oneself for being such an imbecile?

In signing off I would love to see justice brought even tho the consequences could be ugly, but the "all systems normal" war on terror will undoubtedly result into even more deaths as it is expanding into more countries and could very well lead to a nuclear exchange between super powers.... all because of a lie.

House Democrats Propose 5.4% Income Tax Surtax on Millionaires to Fund Health Care Reform

House Democrats today unveiled their 1018-page health care reform bill, (H.R. 3200) which increases their previously announced income surtax to (page 197 of the bill):

• 1.0% on married couples earning $350,000 - $5,000
• 1.5% on married couples earning $500,000 - $1,000,000
• 5.4% on married couples earnings > $1,000,000

The 1.0% and 1.5% surtaxes would increase to 2.0% and 3.0% in 2013, unless the OMB certifies $150 billion in health care savings. Other revenue raisers are:

• Tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage
• Delay in application of worldwide allocation of interest
• Limitation on treaty benefits for certain deductible payments
• Codification of economic substance doctrine
• Penalties for underpayments

Press coverage:

• Associated Press
• Bloomberg
• Wall Street Journal

The Joint Committee on Taxation has released its Description (JCX-30-09) and Estimated Revenue Effects (JCX-31-09) of the House Bill.

For a state-by-state breakdown of the impact of the surcharge, see Citizens for Tax Justice.

Total US Fuel Taxes by State

After crude oil costs, taxes are the second largest contributor to the price paid at the pump. Together Federal and State excise taxes on fuel account for an average cost of approximately 62 cents per gallon. Rates include Federal excise taxes 18.4 cpg for gasoline and 24.4 cpg for diesel. cpg = cents per gallon

State	Gasoline (¢/g)	Diesel (¢/g)	Comment
Alabama	38.6	45.6	2 cent inspection fee. 1 cpg Transport Fee. City and Couny levies can be from .5 to 6 cpg.
Alaska	26.4	32.4
Arizona	37.4	52.4	1 cpg UST tax. Use class vehicles pay an additionsl 9cpg for diesel
Arkansas	40.2	47.2	.3 cpg environmental assurance fee for underground storage tank fund
California	63.9	72.0	6% Sales Tax. 1.25% county tax. 1.2 cpg state UST fee. plus local sales tax
Colorado	40.4	44.9
Connecticut	62.5	61.4
Delaware	41.4	46.4	.9% gross receipts tax for Hazardous substance cleanup fund.
Dist. of Columbia	38.4	44.4
Florida	51.6	53.4	Sales tax 11.6. 4 cpg excise tax. 2.2 cpg environmental inspection.
Georgia	44.4	52.6	4% sales tax. Local option sales taxes from 1% to 3%
Hawaii	51.0	71.1	4% sales tax. county tax and 0.1 cpg environmental reponse tax.
Idaho	43.4	49.4
Illinois	57.9	65.7	6.25% sales tax. 0.003 per gallon tax for underground storage tank fund. Additional 12.75 cpg in City of Chicago
Indiana	50.1	69.2	7% sales tax. 0.01 per gallon inspection fee.
Iowa	40.1	47.9	1 cpg UST fee.
Kansas	43.4	51.4	1 cpg environmental fee
Kentucky	36.9	39.9	1.4cpg underground storage tank fund. Commercial carriers pay surtax 2.2cpg quarterly on gas and 5.2 cpg on special fuels
Louisiana	38.4	44.4
Maine	47.5	53.9	.07 Coastal and Inland Water fund. 1.38 groundwater fund. 40 cpg/10
Maryland	41.9	48.7
Massachusetts	41.9	47.9	2.5 cp UST fund.
Michigan	54.4	60.3	6% sales tax. .875 cpg for environmental regulation fee for refined petroleum fund
Minnesota	40.4	46.4	2 cpg UST cleanup fee at wholesale level
Mississippi	37.2	43.2	.4 cpg Environmental Protection Fee. In Hancock
Missouri	36.0	42.0
Montana	46.2	53.0	0.75cpg fee assessed at the pump to go toward the state cleanup fund.
Nebraska	42.3	47.7	0.9cpg release prevention fee for gasoline and 0.3cpg release prevention fee for diesel
Nevada	50.9	53.0	up to 10cpg county tax on gasoline.0.75 cpg cleanup fee. .055 cpg inspection fee.
New Hampshire	38.0	44.0	0.125 cpg for oil pollution control fund.1.5 cpg for UST cleanup fund.
New Jersey	32.9	41.9	4 cpg Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax.
New Mexico	36.4	43.4	1 cpg loading fee.
New York	59.6	64.7	local county sales tax of between 3.125% to 4.75%.
North Carolina	48.6	54.6	0.25cpg inspection tax.17.5 cpg flat rate plus a variable rate of 12.35 cpg wholesale price component
North Dakota	41.4	47.4
Ohio	46.4	52.4	Surcharge of 3 cpg for commercial vehicles.
Oklahoma	35.4	38.4	1 cpg per gallon UST fee.
Oregon	43.4	48.7	additional optional county gasoline (ranging from 1 to 3 cpg) and city gasoline and diesel taxes (ranging from 1 to 5 cpg).
Pennsylvania	50.7	63.6	19.2 cent per gallon oil company franchise tax on gas. 26.1 cpg oil company franchise tax on diesel.1.1 cpg UST fee
Rhode Island	49.4	55.4	1 cent per gallon environmental protection regulatory fee for UST program.
South Carolina	35.2	41.2	0.25 cpg inspection fee for inspection program and 0.50cpg environmental fee for UST cleanup.
South Dakota	42.4	48.4	2 cpg Tank Inspection Fee. Ethanol is taxed at 20 cents per gallon; E85 and M85 are taxed at 10 cpg.
Tennessee	39.8	42.8	1cent special petroleum tax for gasoline and .4 cpg environmental assurance fee.
Texas	38.4	44.4
Utah	42.9	48.9
Vermont	38.4	50.4	1 cpg license fee for UST fund.
Virginia	38.0	44.0	0.6cpg petroleum storage tank fee and 2% sales tax on motor fuels in localities that are part of the Northern Virginia Transportation District
Washington	54.4	60.4
West Virginia	49.9	55.9
Wisconsin	51.3	57.3	2cpg UST fee on gasoline and diesel.
Wyoming	32.4	38.4	1 cpg to the environmental cleanup costs.
Please note the above rates are meant as only guidelines of pump taxes and may not represent the full tax amount at the pump. Source: Compiled by GasBuddy Organization from various sources. * UST = Underground Storage Tank

NYC CAN

The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now has come together to lead a disciplined and patriotic search for answers about September 11th towards one tangible goal: the creation of an independent and impartial subpoena powered investigation into the September 11th attacks on our great nation.

The 9/11 Commission?

“Set Up To Fail”, in the words of its Chairmen, Governor Thomas Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton. That's why 66% of New Yorkers want a new investigation. On November 3, 2009, we will go to the polls to vote for a Commission to finally address the unanswered questions surrounding the tragedy we as Americans will never forget.

America Deserves Better

Honor our country and all she stands for by raising your voice in support of an investigation that answers to nothing and to no one but evidence and fact wherever they may lead. Join the families, first responders and survivors of September 11th and millions of proud citizens in support of the principles and the freedom for which our forefathers fought and died.

One Real Chance.

One Real Investigation.

Ex-FBI Agent: Why I Support a New 9/11 Investigation

n the absence of my being there in New York City to stand with the 9/11 families, first responders and survivors, I offer the following statement in support of your goal of a new investigation into the attacks of September 11th and the NYC CAN campaign to place it on the ballot for November.

At the time of 9-11, I had been an FBI agent for over 20 years. My main responsibilities by then were teaching criminal procedure to FBI agents and other law enforcement officers, mostly about 4th Amendment search and seizure, 5th and 6th Amendment law of interrogation, right to attorney and constitutional protection of rights to “free speech”, due process, habeas corpus, and against cruel and unusual punishment. A week before 9-11, I and the rest of the FBI’s ethics instructors were mandated (as a result of an earlier public FBI scandal) to give a one hour PowerPoint presentation, a form of remedial training on “law enforcement ethics” which I accomplished in a fairly perfunctory way, just reading the slides.

After 9-11, with the knowledge I had of the bitter internal dispute inside the FBI that was being hushed up but had kept some of our better agents from possibly uncovering more of the 9-11 plot before it happened, I couldn’t forget two of the slides in that Law Enforcement ethics curriculum: “DO NOT: Puff, Shade, Tailor, Firm up, Stretch, Massage, or Tidy up statements of fact.” And “Misplaced Loyalties: As employees of the FBI, we must be aware that our highest loyalty is to the United States Constitution. We should never sacrifice the truth in order to obtain a desired result (e.g. conviction of a defendant) or to avoid personal or institutional embarrassment.”

The official dissembling and excuse-making about the true causes and prior mistakes that gave rise to and allowed the terrorist attacks to happen, almost immediately ushered in the Bush-Cheney Administration’s egregious and lawless, post 9-11 “war on terror” agenda which bore no connection to the original causes and no connection to the goal of reducing terrorism and making the world safer. When I got a chance, about 8 ½ months after 9-11 to tell what I knew, I did so and my disclosures led to further investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General and figured in the 9-11 Commission Report.

But it was way too late for this emerging bit of truth that has continued to leak out in dribs and drabs to have any impact. The laws themselves, especially the criminal procedure ones rooted in the Constitution that I had spent my career teaching to law enforcement, have largely gone up in smoke. Having seen the cost of remaining silent, I publicly warned, a few months after my first memo, against launching the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. But false agendas had already filled the vacuum created by lack of truth. And we are still dealing with the disastrous consequences of these unjustified, pre-emptive wars.

Let me therefore simply repeat the request I made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2002: “Foremost, we owe it to the public, especially the victims of terrorism, to be completely honest. I can only imagine what these crime and terrorism victims continue to go through. They deserve nothing but the complete, unfettered truth.”

Therefore, I fully support the 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and over 60,000 other New Yorkers who have endorsed a new 9/11 investigation in New York City as advanced by ballot referendum this coming November election.

Coleen Rowley is a former FBI staff attorney who turned whistle-blower after witnessing repeated failures within the bureau to properly investigate alleged 9/11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. She was one of three Time Magazine Persons of the Year in 2002.

US destroyer anchors off Georgia for exercises

BATUMI, Georgia (AP) — A U.S. guided missile destroyer dropped anchor Tuesday in Georgia's Black Sea waters ahead of joint naval exercises seen as a show of American support for the former Soviet nation crushed in last year's war with Russia.

The exercises came one day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's first visit to South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that Russia recognized as independent in the conflict's aftermath.

Both events reflect how far apart Russia and the United States remain over Washington's support for the former Soviet nation of Georgia, despite last week's cordial Moscow summit between Medvedev and President Barack Obama.

The USS Stout harbored off Batumi, where its commander, Mark J. Oberley, was welcomed ashore with Georgian music and wine.

"This visit and the combined training demonstrate the U.S. and Georgian commitment to work together, to cooperate and maintain maritime security," Oberley said.

The naval exercises, to begin Wednesday, are to be held in Georgia's territorial waters between the ports of Batumi and Poti, not far from the coast of the Moscow-supported breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Two vessels of the Georgian Coast Guard are to participate. Georgian Navy Commander Beso Shengelia said the small-scale drills would involve averting a sinking after a hull breach, capturing a hostile boat, and joint maneuvers in conflict situations.

Russia strongly objected to NATO military exercises near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in May, and conducted its own drills on a much larger scale near the Georgian border earlier this month.

Medvedev's surprise visit to South Ossetia on Monday was cast by Moscow as a show of solidarity for locals under perpetual threat of renewed military intervention from Georgia.

Georgia, which called Medvedev's visit an act of provocation, insists that South Ossetia is under Russian occupation. Thousands of Russian troops remain in the province after the August conflict, and the boundary with Georgia proper has been fortified.

Last August, Georgia attacked the region, which has long had de facto independence, to try to retake it. Russian tanks and troops poured into the region immediately and overwhelmed the Georgian army.

Russia said it was acting in defense of locals with Russian passports.

Abkhaz rebels also clashed with Georgian forces during the war. Moscow later recognized both regions as independent nations.

Associated Press writer David Nowak contributed from Moscow.

Bailed-out Goldman Sachs profit soars to 3.44 bln dlrs

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs on Tuesday posted second-quarter profit of 3.44 billion dollars, beating market expectations and possibly signaling recovery in the battered US financial sector.

Goldman Sachs, which has repaid a 10-billion-dollar US government bailout in full in the quarter, said its net profit soared 65 percent thanks to robust trading operations.

Goldman is the first of the "big guns" in the financial sector to report second-quarter results. It saw earnings per share of 4.93 dollars, besting analysts' forecast of 3.54 dollars.

Investors are keenly awaiting the quarterly results to see whether massive public aid and better conditions in the stock market have put the ailing sector back on the road to recovery.

"While markets remain fragile and we recognize the challenges the broader economy faces, our second-quarter results reflected the combination of improving financial market conditions and a deep and diverse client franchise," Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

The Wall Street investment giant said the results included its payback of government aid under the Treasury's 700-billion-dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The bailout program was launched as the global financial crisis accelerated after the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers in September.

The government has poured billions into the financial sector in an effort to unblock frozen credit and pull the economy from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Last month Goldman was among 10 major US banks repaying the Treasury for the capital injections, in a sign of a stabilizing financial system.

The repayments came after the Federal Reserve and Treasury agreed to allow some banks to begin reimbursing a total of 68 billion dollars of aid.

The New York-based Goldman repurchased the 10 billion dollars in preferred shares taken by the government in October and paid a dividend of 425 million dollars.

Goldman said that excluding that dividend, it had second-quarter earnings per share of 5.71 dollars.

As widely anticipated by the market, trading was the key profit driver for the bank, which converted to a commercial bank amid the financial meltdown last year to gain access to Federal Reserve resources.

"Goldman Sachs is living up to every bit of its expectations on how it is routinely and systematically taking money out of the markets in its trading activities," said Jon Ogg of 24/7WallSt.com.

For Charles Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College, the consolidation of the financial sector amid the crisis has been a boon to Goldman.

Fewer competitors exist today, he said, "allowing them more latitude in trading and underwriting."

"Also, their appetite for risk never diminished and as a result, they were able to take advantage of the market which has some distinct bargains in it. They may not be that successful in the future, however, if the competition returns."

Goldman's gold-plated earnings came as investors fretted about the possible bankruptcy of CIT Group, a major player in industrial loans.

CIT, which operates in more than 50 countries and provides financial services to small and middle market businesses, said late Sunday it was in talks with regulators "to improve the company's near-term liquidity position."

In December, CIT Group won approval to change its charter to a bank holding company and received 2.33 billion dollars in TARP funds.

Why High Frequency Program Trading Smells

Who does not want the American dream?

Get a decent job, save a few bucks, make some reasonable investments, and try to get ahead. As part of that process, there is a premise that our government officials and market regulators will keep the playing field level.

Why are an increasing number of investors in our country questioning the integrity of our markets? The perception that the playing field is not necessarily level.

Is the field level? Is that perception actually a reality?

I commend Joe Saluzzi of Themis Trading for exposing a few weeks back the questionable integrity of ’high frequency program trading.’ The nature of the trading involved in these high frequency programs is consistent with my feeling that the equity markets are following technical analysis to a much greater extent than fundamental valuations.

I commend Joe and his colleagues at Themis again today for highlighting an example of the effect of high frequency program trading on their ability to execute equity transactions on their customers’ behalf. From the Themis website today, Real Life HFT Hijinks Example:

I am trading a small cap stock for a customer today (I leave out the ticker for anonymity purposes). It has traded 4,300 shares so far today. I have 75,000 shares to buy.

The scenario: 100 shares offered at $11.16, and 400 shares offered at $11.17. I place an order to buy 1,000 shares at 11.17. You would think that I should get at least 500 shares executed (100 at $11.16 and 400 at $11.17). Sigh. I get none. As soon as I hit enter, those offers vanish. No trades on tape even. The HFT players offering the stock have convinced the market centers (ECN’s, Exchanges, and ATS’s) to cater to them and “show” them my order before they have to execute, thereby giving them the split-second option to back away from their offers without honoring them.

Market makers have to honor their quotes, and even have to do so a certain percentage of the time. The HFT’s have to honor NOTHING. In fact, they can back away and even run ahead of your orders! So much for their liquidity. Again the real danger is that fund managers assume that the markets can handle their 250,000 share small cap position, and that they can exit with a predictable minimal trade cost.

God, I hope we don’t retest.

There is nothing level about that field. This high frequency program trading is done with the blessing of the exchanges and the SEC.

It smells.

I welcome any market participants involved in high frequency program trading to make the case for the defense. Since Joe Saluzzi truly brought this issue out into the open earlier this month, I have yet to see any case, let alone a reasonable one, made in defense of this activity.

Thus, with overall liquidity in the marketplace less than what it may appear, investors should factor that into their overall risk assessment when making investment decisions in the equity and commodity markets.

Challenge your brokers and financial planners on this topic. I’d love to hear their responses. Please share this post with them. Please share their thoughts on this topic, if they are even aware of it.

I think we will all learn who is truly looking out for investors’ interests as we navigate the economic landscape.

Gaza in the eyes of Israelis

Private Rocket Successfully Puts Satellite In Orbit for the First Time

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It may not be as exciting as the Apollo 11, but I do find exciting that SpaceX has put a commercial satellite in orbit for the first time, launching a Falcon I rocket from the Marshall Islands.

SpaceX launched a Malaysian satellite into orbit using the two-stage Falcon, a rocket developed and built from scratch by the company. The satellite, called RazakSAT, is designed to take high resolution pictures of Malaysia.

If all goes as planned, SpaceX will soon deliver material to the International Space Station in the future.

Lack of Media Coverage of Pfc. LaVena Johnson's Murder and Army Cover-Up Our Shame

I hope you'll get very, very angry when you read this. I hope you'll curse me out, along with the mainstream media, for our neglect. And I hope you'll realize why we need citizen journalists and determined bloggers who find these horrific, heartbreaking, significant stories and report on them...and repeat them to others, again and again, even when they feel as though they're screaming to be heard over the echoes bouncing back from the walls of indifference that surround them.

I hope you know who LaVena Johnson is. But I'm finding out that very few people do, as compared to Jamie Leigh Jones. There's a couple of big differences as to why one woman's story is virtually unknown, while the other was covered by Brian Ross and ABC News.

Jamie Leigh Jones is white. She's alive to tell her tale.

LaVena Johnson is black. She's been dead now for over three years. And until recently, very few people were speaking up for her.

Al Gore rewrites history

Al Gore, the former vice-president, has misrepresented the criticisms of a British High Court judge who found An Inconvenient Truth to be littered with "errors and exaggerations".

Mr Gore made the claim in Australia where he is training volunteers to campaign about climate change which he calls an imminent threat to humanity.

The former vice-president shot to prominence when his documentary An Inconvenient Truth which carried the claims won an Oscar in 2006. Shortly after Mr Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. However after a lengthy hearing the British High Court found that An Inconvenient Truth was inaccurate and contained at least nine significant errors and exaggerations.

However, speaking on ABC Australia Mr Gore misrepresented the judges ruling stating: "Well, the ruling was in my favour".

In reality the judge found at least nine significant errors which "were not in line with scientific consensus" or had "no evidence" to back up his alarmism.

Al Gore and friends create climate of McCarthyism

Article from: The Australian

ANYONE who questions green orthodoxy is accused of committing treason.

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'Australia in the firing line'

Former US Vice-President Al Gore has stressed Australia's vulnerability to the climate crisis. 07/09...

DISCUSSIONS about global warming are marked by an increasing desire to stamp out "impure" thinking, to the point of questioning the value of democratic debate. But shutting down discussion simply means the disappearance of reason from public policy.

In March, Al Gore's science adviser and prominent climate researcher Jim Hansen proclaimed that when it comes to dealing with global warming, the "democratic process isn't working". Although science has demonstrated that CO2 from fossil fuels is heating the planet, politicians are unwilling to follow his advice and stop building coal-fired power plants.

Hansen argues that "the first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections, but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash."

Although he doesn't tell us what the second or third action is, he has turned up in a British court to defend six activists who damaged a coal-fired power station. He argues that we need "more people chaining themselves to coal plants", a point repeated by Gore.

The Nobel laureate in economics Paul Krugman goes further. After the narrow passage of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill in the US House of Representatives, Krugman said that there was no justification for a vote against it. He called virtually all of the members who voted against it "climate deniers" who were committing "treason against the planet".

Krugman said that the "irresponsibility and immorality" of the representatives' democratic viewpoints were "unforgivable" and a "betrayal". He thus accused almost half of the democratically elected members of the house, from both parties, of treason for holding the views that they do, thereby essentially negating democracy.

Less well-known pundits make similar points, suggesting that people with "incorrect" views on global warming should face Nuremberg-style trials or be tried for crimes against humanity. There is clearly a trend. The climate threat is so great -- and democracies are doing so little about it -- that people conclude that maybe democracy is part of the problem, and that perhaps people ought not be allowed to express heterodox opinions on such an important topic.

This is scary, although not without historical precedent. Much of the American McCarthyism of the 1940s and 50s was driven by the same burning faith in the righteousness of the mission: a faith that saw fundamental rights abrogated. We would be well served to go down a different path.

Gore and others often argue that if the science of climate change concludes that CO2 emissions are harmful, it follows that we should stop those harmful emissions, and that we are morally obliged to do so. But this misses half the story.

We could just as well point out that since science tells us that speeding cars kill many people, we should cut speed limits to almost nothing. We do no such thing, because we recognise that the costs of high-speed cars must be weighed against the benefits of a mobile society.

Indeed, nobody emits CO2 for fun. CO2 emissions result from other, generally beneficial acts, such as burning coal to keep warm, burning kerosene to cook, or burning petrol to transport people. The benefits of fossil fuels must be weighed against the costs of global warming.

Gore and Hansen want a moratorium on coal-fired power plants, but neglect the fact that the hundreds of new power plants that will be opened in China and India in the coming years could lift a billion people out of poverty. Negating this outcome through a moratorium is clearly no unmitigated good.

Likewise, reasonable people can differ on their interpretation of the Waxman-Markey bill. Even if we set aside its masses of pork-barrel spending, and analyses that show it may allow more emissions in the US for the first decades, there are more fundamental problems with this legislation.

At a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars annually, it will have virtually no impact on climate change. If all of the bill's many provisions were entirely fulfilled, economic models show that it would reduce the temperature by the end of the century by 0.11C, reducing warming by less than 4 per cent.

Even if every Kyoto-obligated country passed its own, duplicate Waxman-Markey bills -- which is implausible and would incur significantly higher costs -- the global reduction would amount to just 0.22C by the end of this century. The reduction in global temperature would not be measurable in 100 years, yet the cost would be significant and payable now.

Is it really treason against the planet to express some scepticism about whether this is the right way forward? Is it treason to question throwing huge sums of money at a policy that will do virtually no good in 100 years? Is it unreasonable to point out that the inevitable creation of trade barriers that will ensue from Waxman-Markey could eventually cost the world 10 times more than the damage climate change could ever have wrought?

Today's focus on ineffective and costly climate policies shows poor judgment. But I would never want to shut down discussion about these issues, whether it is with Gore, Hansen, or Krugman.

Everybody involved in this discussion should spend more time building and acknowledging good arguments, and less time telling others what they cannot say. Wanting to shut down the discussion is simply treason against reason.

Bjorn Lomborg, the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, is an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming.

The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think

The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession. What we can see on the surface is disconcerting enough, but the inside numbers are just as bad.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate for job losses for June is 467,000, which means 7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war. The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.

Here are 10 reasons we are in even more trouble than the 9.5% unemployment rate indicates:

- June's total assumed 185,000 people at work who probably were not. The government could not identify them; it made an assumption about trends. But many of the mythical jobs are in industries that have absolutely no job creation, e.g., finance. When the official numbers are adjusted over the next several months, June will look worse.

- More companies are asking employees to take unpaid leave. These people don't count on the unemployment roll.

- No fewer than 1.4 million people wanted or were available for work in the last 12 months but were not counted. Why? Because they hadn't searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.

- The number of workers taking part-time jobs due to the slack economy, a kind of stealth underemployment, has doubled in this recession to about nine million, or 5.8% of the work force. Add those whose hours have been cut to those who cannot find a full-time job and the total unemployed rises to 16.5%, putting the number of involuntarily idle in the range of 25 million.

- The average work week for rank-and-file employees in the private sector, roughly 80% of the work force, slipped to 33 hours. That's 48 minutes a week less than before the recession began, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data 45 years ago. Full-time workers are being downgraded to part time as businesses slash labor costs to remain above water, and factories are operating at only 65% of capacity. If Americans were still clocking those extra 48 minutes a week now, the same aggregate amount of work would get done with 3.3 million fewer employees, which means that if it were not for the shorter work week the jobless rate would be 11.7%, not 9.5% (which far exceeds the 8% rate projected by the Obama administration).

- The average length of official unemployment increased to 24.5 weeks, the longest since government began tracking this data in 1948. The number of long-term unemployed (i.e., for 27 weeks or more) has now jumped to 4.4 million, an all-time high.

- The average worker saw no wage gains in June, with average compensation running flat at $18.53 an hour.

- The goods producing sector is losing the most jobs -- 223,000 in the last report alone.

- The prospects for job creation are equally distressing. The likelihood is that when economic activity picks up, employers will first choose to increase hours for existing workers and bring part-time workers back to full time. Many unemployed workers looking for jobs once the recovery begins will discover that jobs as good as the ones they lost are almost impossible to find because many layoffs have been permanent. Instead of shrinking operations, companies have shut down whole business units or made sweeping structural changes in the way they conduct business. General Motors and Chrysler, closed hundreds of dealerships and reduced brands. Citigroup and Bank of America cut tens of thousands of positions and exited many parts of the world of finance.

Job losses may last well into 2010 to hit an unemployment peak close to 11%. That unemployment rate may be sustained for an extended period.

Can we find comfort in the fact that employment has long been considered a lagging indicator? It is conventionally seen as having limited predictive power since employment reflects decisions taken earlier in the business cycle. But today is different. Unemployment has doubled to 9.5% from 4.8% in only 16 months, a rate so fast it may influence future economic behavior and outlook.

How could this happen when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.

About 40% of U.S. workers believe the recession will continue for another full year, and their pessimism is justified. As paychecks shrink and disappear, consumers are more hesitant to spend and won't lead the economy out of the doldrums quickly enough.

It may have made him unpopular in parts of the Obama administration, but Vice President Joe Biden was right when he said a week ago that the administration misread how bad the economy was and how effective the stimulus would be. It was supposed to be about jobs but it wasn't. The Recovery Act was a single piece of legislation but it included thousands of funding schemes for tens of thousands of projects, and those programs are stuck in the bureaucracy as the government releases the funds with typical inefficiency.

Another $150 billion, which was allocated to state coffers to continue programs like Medicaid, did not add new jobs; hundreds of billions were set aside for tax cuts and for new benefits for the poor and the unemployed, and they did not add new jobs. Now state budgets are drowning in red ink as jobless claims and Medicaid bills climb.

Next year state budgets will have depleted their initial rescue dollars. Absent another rescue plan, they will have no choice but to slash spending, raise taxes, or both. State and local governments, representing about 15% of the economy, are beginning the worst contraction in postwar history amid a deficit of $166 billion for fiscal 2010, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and a gap of $350 billion in fiscal 2011.

Households overburdened with historic levels of debt will also be saving more. The savings rate has already jumped to almost 7% of after-tax income from 0% in 2007, and it is still going up. Every dollar of saving comes out of consumption. Since consumer spending is the economy's main driver, we are going to have a weak consumer sector and many businesses simply won't have the means or the need to hire employees. After the 1990-91 recessions, consumers went out and bought houses, cars and other expensive goods. This time, the combination of a weak job picture and a severe credit crunch means that people won't be able to get the financing for big expenditures, and those who can borrow will be reluctant to do so. The paycheck has returned as the primary source of spending.

This process is nowhere near complete and, until it is, the economy will barely grow if it does at all, and it may well oscillate between sluggish growth and modest decline for the next several years until the rebalancing of excessive debt has been completed. Until then, the economy will be deprived of adequate profits and cash flow, and businesses will not start to hire nor race to make capital expenditures when they have vast idle capacity.

No wonder poll after poll shows a steady erosion of confidence in the stimulus. So what kind of second-act stimulus should we look for? Something that might have a real multiplier effect, not a congressional wish list of pet programs. It is critical that the Obama administration not play politics with the issue. The time to get ready for a serious infrastructure program is now. It's a shame Washington didn't get it right the first time.

The Federal Reserve Is The Black Hole In American Democracy

I receive film-video submissions daily, and this is the most impressive piece I've seen: a brand new, short film by Lagan Sebert and Harry Hanbury of The American News Project featuring Ron Paul, Wlliam Greider, Dennis Kucinich, Darrell Issa and Alan Grayson. The subject is HR 1207 and the Federal Reserve. This is not some conspiracy-laden, doubtful screed. There is not a word of hyperbole. William Greider adds a fresh face and a nice touch to the debate, considering he wrote the original Fed Bible, 'Secrets Of The Temple.'

Set aside 8 minutes and then send it to someone else. We have absolutely no shot at victory without greater awareness.

Watch.

Accountant For Harvard Hillel Arrested After Nearly $800,000 Disappears

To add to what already has been a bad year for fraud at Jewish organizations, Harvard University’s Hillel announced that it had lost nearly $800,000, and a former accountant has been accused of diverting funds into his personal account.

William O’Brien was indicted July 6 on 17 counts in connection with the five-year, $780,000 fraud.

The incident was another reminder, after Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme, of the vulnerability of funds held by not-for-profits. Bernard Steinberg, president and director of Harvard Hillel, stressed in an e-mail to the student community that the incident served as a teachable moment.

Harvard Hillel used the missing funds as a jumping-off point for a “thorough review” of its financial operations, conducted by an outside team of financial experts, the July 6 e-mail said.

“With this guidance, we have strengthened our business processes, internal control and oversight of all financial transactions in order to safeguard the assets of the organization and prevent similar situations from occurring in the future,” the organization wrote.

O’Brien, who handled Harvard Hillel’s accounting and bill payment, came to the university in 2003 as a contract worker with InSource Solutions.

According to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Steinberg discovered the money was missing when American Express called him to inform him that his corporate account would be closed after not being paid. After an internal investiagation, Steinberg alleged that O’Brien had funneled payments from the group’s corporate account into a separate account in his own name.

At that point, in October 2008, Hillel referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Office, which began its own investigation.

Harvard Hillel spokeswoman Melissa Monahan said that the organization hopes to regain at least some of the funds, potentially through civil suits. Despite the fiscal losses, Monahan said Hillel anticipates it will be able to continue operations uninterrupted.

“The organization has not been forced to curtail programs and services as a result of the fraud,” she said.

A press secretary for the Attorney General’s Office said that the arrangements for O’Brien’s trial have not yet been set.

British watchdog bans Israeli tourism advert

A British advertising watchdog banned an Israeli tourism poster that implied the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories were undisputed parts of the country.

The posters, featuring a boy snorkelling with dolphins, were placed on London's Underground train stations, as part of an Israeli tourism campaign.

They carried the slogan "few countries pack so much variety into such a small space as Israel" and a contested map that sparked more than 400 complaints from pro-Palestinian groups and members of the public.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the complaints, saying the map implied that the two territories were an undisputed part of Israel.

"We understood that the borders and status of the occupied territories of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights were the subject of much international dispute," the ASA said in a statement on Wednesday.

"And because we considered that the ad implied that those territories were part of the State of Israel, we concluded that the ad was misleading."

Israel's ministry of tourism said the map was "not meant to carry any political messages," the ASA said.

The ministry also pointed out that the aim of the map was to show "areas that could be practically reached and visited when travelling there."

But the ASA said border lines for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were faint and "difficult to distinguish on the map."

The Israelis and Palestinians revived peace negotiations at an international conference in November 2007, but the talks were put on ice after Israel launched its war on Gaza in December.

The Palestinians have said they will not return to the negotiating table unless Israel freezes all settlement activity in occupied territories, one of the main obstacles in the peace process.

If A Revolution Comes, They're Going After Goldman First

Earlier this evening as I headed back to my hotel, I passed through the mall area of the Prudential Center in Boston.

At one point, there was a kiosk in front of me that contained Russian Matryoshka dolls.

I noticed a guy hitting on the sales clerk at the doll kiosk. As I passed by, in total amazement, I heard the guy say to the girl, "Even the central banker of Italy used to work for Goldman Sachs."

Whether they know it or not, Goldman has a PR problem. When you have a guy hitting on a girl by displaying his sophistication about the world, and that sophisticated knowledge is that Goldman Sachs has penetrated every nook and cranny of government financial agencies around the world, Goldman is in trouble.

Not without justification, the masses now know that there is a revolving door between governments and Goldman Sachs. Not without justification, the masses are highly suspicious of the billions in "trading" profits Goldman has been making when most other financial firms are barely surviving on life support. They know that Hank Paulson, as Treasury Secretary, snowed everyone who came within 30 feet of his breath.

I feel we are all in the early stages of a multi-act play. It's hard to tell how it will end, but it is clear this is a tragedy, not a comedy.

Robert W. Endlich: Let's deal with the facts on global warming

The notion of man's use of CO2 as a possible driver of climate has been the subject of several recent Letters to the Editor in the Sun-News. Over geologic time. there has been 15 to 25 times more CO2 than current concentrations; the claim that this time we will reach a tipping point is alarmist, ludicrous, and totally without foundation.

CO2 is a colorless, odorless gas, and essential to life; to regard it as a pollutant is just wrong.

Let us deal with facts - not activism, alarmism, or hyperbole.

The polar bear population is more than 250,000 years old. We are in an interglacial period called the Holocene, a geological epoch now 18,000 years old into which human civilization dates entirely.

About 130,000 years ago, the previous interglacial period, known as the Eemian, was warmer than the Holocene, with sea levels some 15 feet higher than today. Scandinavia was an island and North Cape, Norway, now tundra, was home to forests.

Eemian beaches 15 feet above present sea levels are present in the Bahamas. The polar bear survived the Eemian with warmer temperatures and much less ice than is present today.

During the Holocene, we have had a number of warm and cold periods. The Roman Warm Period, warmer than today, was followed by the Dark Ages, when the Nile froze twice, the weather was cold, cloudy and dark. Crops failed and many babies did not survive. This is why it is called the Dark Ages.

During the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), the temperatures were significantly warmer than today. Today, you can see the 1,000-year-old trunk of a Foxtail Pine on the Bighorn Plateau in Sequoia National Park in California, which is well above today's tree line, proving the MWP was warmer than today.

Want more proof?

We know from history that Eric the Red discovered Greenland about the year 1,000, and at least the fringes were green at that time. It was warm enough to settle and there was a Norse colony on Greenland until the Little Ice Age when it died out.

Generations of Norse colonists were buried in a graveyard, but Lord Moncton reports that the Norse Graveyard on Greenland is now permafrost.

Chaucer wrote during the MWP that there were vineyards in the north of England, but today's climate will not support vineyards in that part of England. Rather than being a cause of alarm, the MWP was a time of riches when the great cathedrals of Europe were constructed.

Then came the Little Ice Age when the Thames froze often; the Brits had ice fairs during the winter on the frozen river. During the 30 Years' War, the Swedes invaded what is now Germany, dragging their canons across the frozen Baltic Sea.

Let us not forget Washington crossing an iced-clogged Delaware River, Christmas 1776, and the cold weather Washington and his troops suffered at Valley Forge during our recorded history!

The warmest year of the 20th century, as measured by thermometers in the U.S., was 1934. This was well before World War II and the post-war industrial boom when CO2 output increased dramatically. The coldest year of the 21st century was 2008. Global temperatures are falling and the Arctic ice sheet is growing.

This means that present temperatures are well within temperatures observed during the past 1,000 years, and CO2 concentrations of up to 25 times higher than now occurred during the time of the dinosaurs with no "tipping point" of "runaway global warming."

By entering "polar bear census" into a Web browser and reading some of the results, the following becomes apparent. There is no accurate census of polar bears. Some census estimates use light aircraft in an attempt to find white polar bears on white ice, a difficult task in smooth air, let alone in turbulent skies with poor visibility and low sun elevations.

There is an estimate in the literature from Vspensky (1961) that sets the world polar bear population at 5,000 to 8,000 animals but, recently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported, "The total number of polar bears worldwide is estimated to be 20,000-25,000."

Robert W. Endlich provided weather and toxic-corridor support to the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range from 1984-1993. He served as a weather officer in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years, and has published papers in the technical literature. At present, he tests weather software at the Physical Sciences Laboratory at NMSU. He has degrees in geology and meteorology from Rutgers University and the Pennsylvania State University, respectively.

by Robert W. Endlich

Retail Sales Rise by Largest Amount Since January

Retail sales advanced in June by 0.6 percent, the largest amount since January, led by a surge in gasoline prices and a slight rebound in the battered auto sector.

WASHINGTON -- Retail sales advanced in June by the largest amount in five months, led by a surge in gasoline prices and a slight rebound in the battered auto sector.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales rose 0.6 percent last month, better than the 0.4 percent gain that economists had expected. It marked the second consecutive increase and boosted hopes that the economy may be on the verge of a rebound.

While much of the strength came from a price-driven surge at gasoline stations, there was also strength in a number of other areas, including the best showing at auto dealerships since January.

The hope is that the battered consumer, bolstered by tax cuts including in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, will resume spending in coming months and this will help end a painful recession that is already the longest in post World War II history.

In June, sales of autos and auto parts jumped by 2.3 percent, the best showing since January. However, even with the gain, auto sales are 14.5 percent below the level of a year ago, underscoring the troubles in the industry.

Excluding autos, retail sales rose by 0.3 percent in June, lower than the 0.5 percent rise that economists had expected.

Much of the strength outside of autos reflected the big jump in gasoline prices during the month, a rise that pushed sales at gasoline stations up by 5 percent, after a similarly big jump in May. Excluding gasoline, retail sales would have risen by 0.3 percent last month, just half the overall gain. Sales also showed strength and electronics and appliance stores and at sporting goods stores.

Sales at general merchandise stores, the category that includes nationwide department store chains and giant retail chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., fell by 0.4 percent following an even bigger 1.7 percent decline in May. Sales at specialty clothing stores were flat last month.

This dismal showing reflected a report last week showing lackluster chain store sales. Consumers appeared to be shopping for necessities and seeking discounts, buoying discounters but punishing brands like Abercrombie & Fitch. That chain's same-store sales fell 32 percent in June, more than expected. American Eagle Outfitters Inc. reported a drop of 11 percent.

Financial and employment worries have discouraged shoppers. The nation's jobless rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June.

Consumer confidence, as measured by the Conference Board, dropped in June, reversing a three-month upward trend fueled by a stock market rally that also is fizzling a bit.

Many economists, however, believe that the economy is in the process of stabilizing after a steep nosedive at the end of last year and first three months of this year. Many are forecasting that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will begin growing again this July-September quarter.

Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water

Pharmaceutical chemicals aren't on list of substances in water that require public notice

Annual water quality reports mailed to Chicagoans this month didn't say a word about sex hormones, painkillers or anti-cholesterol drugs, even though city officials found traces of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances in treated Lake Michigan water during the past year.

Like other cities, Chicago must notify the public if its drinking water contains certain regulated contaminants, including lead, pesticides and harmful bacteria.

But pharmaceutical chemicals, which have been detected in drinking water across the country, are not on that list. So Mayor Richard Daley is technically correct in stating that the "pure, fresh drinking water" pumped to 7 million people in Chicago and the suburbs "meets or exceeds all regulatory standards."

Drinking water standards haven't been updated for years, in part because little is known about how pharmaceutical concoctions might affect public health. But researchers and regulators are concerned about the potential effects of long-term exposure to these substances, which are designed to have an impact at low doses.

"We're just scratching the surface with what's been detected to date," said Dana Kolpin, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey. "And we don't have a clue about what these mixtures can do."

Chicago officials didn't start conducting their own tests until last year, after a Tribune investigation found small amounts of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated chemicals in samples of the city's tap water.

The city collected samples of treated Lake Michigan water four times in 2008. According to results posted on the city's Web site, the tests found small amounts of the sex hormones testosterone and progesterone; gemfibrozil, a prescription cholesterol-fighting drug; ibuprofen, an over-the-counter painkiller, and DEET, the active ingredient in bug spray.

The tests also found caffeine, nicotine and cotinine, a nicotine byproduct, all of which researchers consider to be indicators of pharmaceuticals from human waste.

Drugs end up in drinking water after people take medications and some of the residue passes through their bodies down the toilet. Conventional sewage and water treatment filters out some of the substances, or at least reduces the concentrations, but multiple studies have found that small amounts still get through.

Although treated sewage from the Chicago area drains away from Lake Michigan, more than 300 other cities put treated waste and untreated sewage overflows into the lake and its tributaries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Chicago's tests found tiny amounts of the antidepressant Prozac and sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic, in untreated water collected from Lake Michigan intake cribs. But those prescription drugs weren't found in treated water. Nor were most of the 71 other unregulated compounds the city screened for.

The Daley administration first promised to test for pharmaceuticals monthly, then changed course after the first tests turned up inconsistent results. Now officials plan to collect samples three times a year and send the water off to be tested by three different labs.

"We haven't seen any patterns yet, so it's tough to reach any conclusions," said John Spatz, the city's water commissioner. "But since it's an emerging issue, we're going to keep following it."

As promised, the test results are available online. Yet it requires considerable sleuthing to find them on the Department of Water Management's home page, and the drugs found in the water are not easily discernible amid six pages of numbers.

In the Tribune's tests, conducted in March 2008, water drawn from a drinking fountain at City Hall contained trace amounts of cotinine; carbamazepine, an anti-seizure drug; and acetaminophen, an over-the-counter painkiller. The newspaper's tests also found two unregulated industrial chemicals used to make Teflon and Scotchgard, neither of which the city tested for.

Even though such substances are turning up virtually every time researchers look for them, the EPA says it still doesn't have enough evidence to limit pharmaceuticals and many other unregulated chemicals in drinking water -- in part because cities haven't been required to test routinely for the compounds.

The Obama administration's top water regulator, Peter Silva, promised at his confirmation hearings to step up the government's research efforts. Without direction from federal officials, cities across the nation have slowly begun to test their water for pharmaceuticals, prompted by studies in Europe and later by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Milwaukee, which also draws its drinking water from Lake Michigan, added dozens of pharmaceuticals three years ago to its annual testing for unregulated contaminants and posts easy-to-understand results online. Nothing turned up last year, according to the city's site.

Water officials say not enough is known to justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade treatment plants so they could strip the chemicals from the water. The most effective method, reverse osmosis, is expensive and creates a large amount of waste.