（澳洲‧昆士蘭）澳洲一名15歲華裔少年醫科生，將會很年輕便取得醫生資格，成為“天才小醫生”。他是Welwyn Aw-Yong（姓氏歐陽），現為昆士蘭省一所大學的醫科第二年級學生。
他的父親為了兒子學醫，不惜由柏斯遷到昆省。這位西澳神童，一歲便曉讀單字卡，3歲上新教學法的蒙特梭利學校。做工程師的父親和任數學老師的母親，在兒子上小六時發覺兒子沒有興趣上學。柏斯名氣大的衛斯理書院給他獎學金，並准他跳班，13歲便中學畢業。
他在大學入學評分考到99分以上，但考醫科入學試不夠高分，被西澳的大學醫科拒之門外。
於是在西澳大學轉修工程及科學，不久便失去興趣，2007年餘下學期時間花在音樂、化學及英國文學方面，還參加了教堂的樂隊，至去年才被昆省一所大學醫科錄取，他將於20歲取得醫生資格。
（日本‧東京）日本國會將於9月16日投票選新首相，民主黨黨魁鳩山由紀夫將出任新首相。
與此同時，鳩山今日（週二，9月1日）與民主黨幹部召開會議，商討組閣事宜，包括設立一個負責編製預算和外交安保等基本方針的部長職位。
與民主黨幹部商組閣
民主黨在週日（8月30日）眾議院選舉中取得壓倒性勝利後，鳩山當夜就確認將和社民黨，國民新黨組建聯合政權，並與民主黨幹部磋商，以確保權力移交順利進行。
鳩山將在未來數週內正式接替現任首相麻生太郎。共同社分析，9月中旬國會召開特別會議期間，鳩山可能於9月14日在國會當選新首相，新內閣名單可能於9月18日出台。
未上台卻先惹麻煩
不過，鳩山未上台卻先惹麻煩，政治資金管理團隊被指借死人“過橋”偽造獻金名單，檢察當局正展開調查。
《讀賣新聞》週一（8月31日）報導，東京檢方特搜部將就鳩山資金管理團體的帳簿上有死人捐款 的問題展開調查。鳩山的政治獻金風波在今年7月出現。當時一個名為“告發鳩山由紀夫之會”的團體，揭發鳩山政治資金管理團體的收支報告書中，有已故者及未 捐錢者的名字。鳩山方面解釋稱，是負責記帳的秘書犯錯，涉及金額約2177萬日圓（約馬幣90萬令吉），他們已修正報告，犯錯者亦已被炒。
設立“國家戰略局”
增新部長主導決策
《讀賣新聞》和其他媒體報導，未來的鳩山內閣在閣位部署環節上出現最大變動是，將設立一個負責編製預算和外交安保等基本方針的“國家戰略局”，由此也將產生一個新部長職務。
依照鳩山設想，國家戰略局應當是構建政治主導的政府決策系統，是新政策制定的核心部門。
鳩山在今日（週二，9月1日）並未向記者發表講話，民主黨也未對媒體報導置評。
與此同時，民主黨週二雄心萬仗地聲稱，將對根深蒂固的官僚治理國家體制展開一場硬仗。
100議員委以重任
鳩山聲稱，在內閣成立後，將委派執政聯盟中的100名國會議員到各中央機關去擔任部長、副部長、政務官等一些重要職務，以便實現國民的“下情上達”，同時保證國家機關的“上情下達”。
民主黨這樣做，是為了架空日本一脈相承百餘年的官僚體制，讓首相官邸能切實掌控中央各省廳，而不是讓官僚們抱團來戲弄執政黨。
鳩山的一名幕僚向朝日電視台稱，民主黨已經準備迎戰官僚體制。他說：“我們已經擺好姿勢，現在要看誰將會先出擊或遭痛擊。”
諢號“塔勒班”‧被抨“媚中”‧下任外長岡田反台獨
日本傳媒稱，鳩山料將起用強調反對台獨的岡田克也出任外長。岡田現擔任民主黨幹事長。
岡田克也以嚴肅認真、不苟言笑見稱，因堅守原則而贏得“塔勒班”的諢號。他在小泉純一郎執政時代，曾帶領民主黨與小泉直接交鋒。
在對華關係上，他曾多次向台灣領導人表示反對台獨。在靖國神社問題上，岡田克也堅決反對首相前 往參拜。有次，在國會和前首相小泉純一郎辯論時，岡田質問小泉：“你經過中國同意了嗎？”這話讓岡田得了個“中國代言人”的稱號，更讓不少日本右翼人士直 接給他貼上了“媚中”的標籤。
另一方面，日本眾議院選舉後，親台議員組織“日華議員懇談會”原本的300名成員中，僅存142名當選連任。
台灣對日交流機構“亞東關係協會”副秘書長粘信士稱，由自民黨及超黨派組成、與台友好的“日華議員懇談會”成員大減，只剩下142名，包括自民黨70名、民主黨60名及12名其他政黨的議員。
粘信士表示，日本外交政策有連貫性，相信台日關係在民主黨主政下，仍將持續穩定發展，日本政黨輪替不會影響台日關係。
（印尼‧雅加達）一名相信與策劃雅加達酒店爆炸案的組織有聯繫的男子，秘密滲入印尼國營的嘉魯達航空公司（Garuda Airlines），企圖發動更大宗的恐怖襲擊。他在形跡敗露後遭到警方的通緝。
印尼全國總警長班邦指出，目前只知道這名男子名為沙立爾，他被一個武裝組織僱用，案發前在這家航空公司擔任技術人員。
根據警方所掌握的資料，這名男子企圖對機場或航線進行恐怖襲擊。不過，他沒有透露此項襲擊將在何時、何地發動。
達努立指出，沙立爾已經向航空公司呈辭，並且在逃中。據瞭解，早前在中爪哇與警方駁火中喪命的疑犯依伯拉欣，與沙立爾是姐妹夫關係。
警方指依伯拉欣在發動爆炸案前，就已經在兩家酒店內擔任花王長達數年的時間。
（中國‧北京）中國今日（週二，9月1日）首次就日本大選變天作出正式回應，指中國“準備好與日本新政府合作”。
外交部發言人姜瑜向記者說：“我們準備好與日本新政府合作，加強雙邊合作和維持高層交流的動力……共同為亞洲的和平與發展作出貢獻。”
日新外長反台獨
另據日本傳媒稱，鳩山料將起用強調反對台獨的岡田克也出任外長。岡田現擔任民主黨幹事長。
岡田克也以嚴肅認真、不苟言笑見稱，因堅守原則而贏得“塔勒班”的諢號。他在小泉純一郎執政時代，曾帶領民主黨與小泉直接交鋒。
在對華關係上，他曾多次向台灣領導人表示反對台獨。在靖國神社問題上，岡田克也堅決反對首相前往參拜。不少日本右翼人士直接給他貼上了“媚中”的標籤。
親台議員大減
另一方面，日本眾議院選舉後，親台議員組織“日華議員懇談會”原本的300名成員中，僅存142名當選連任，包括自民黨70名、民主黨60名及12名其他政黨的議員。
不過，台灣對日交流機構“亞東關係協會”副秘書長粘信士表示，日本外交政策有連貫性，相信台日關係在民主黨主政下，仍將持續穩定發展，日本政黨輪替不會影響台日關係。
（日本‧東京）首相麻生太郎辭任自民黨總裁職務後，自民黨決定於10月28日選舉新黨魁。
媒體揣測，厚生勞動部長舛添要一、東京都知事石原慎太郎的兒子石原伸晃、農林水產部長石破茂及經濟財政部長林芳正，被視為接掌自民黨的四大熱門。
麻生本人雖然在自己的選區當選，但面對自民黨半個多世紀以來最慘的選戰表現，他立即宣佈辭去黨總裁。分析家指出，不管最終由誰接任黨魁，重建自民黨的形勢都不容樂觀。
根據英國波茅斯大學對監獄與公立醫療系統提供的飲食所做的研究，服刑人的伙食品質營養成份不僅優於住院病人，甚至好過一般民眾。
波茅斯大學教授愛德華茲指出，40%的病人住進國家醫療保健服務（NHS）醫院時已有營養不良的情況，入院後營養不良的情況未改善，主要因為進食時沒有人協助，或是醫護人員沒有注意他們的飲食。
愛德華茲說：“反觀監獄裡的伙食，就營養的成份來看，簡直是棒透了”，甚至比多數民眾吃得好。
他說：“監獄的伙食注重碳水化合物，獄方烹煮食物的方法很健康，他們不放鹽巴，炸的食物也不多，如果你要吃漢堡，漢堡肉是放進烤箱煮的”。
波茅斯大學另一位研究人員哈特威爾指出，醫院病患身體狀況欠佳，除了因為疾病使他們沒有胃口，另一方面是沒有人協助他們進食和飲水。
研究人員還發現，院方供餐的時間固定，但有時侯病人可能正在接受測試或治療，無法趕上吃飯的時間，也可能產生問題。
（新加坡）公司請人出怪招，求職者需通過“銷售測試”，1天賣出2支筆，才能通過面試。
有網民透露，一家禮品公司在招聘零售助理或電話營銷員時，要求職者接受一項銷售測試，證明自己在1天內能賣出2支售價9元的筆，才能通過面試，接受培訓。
一個網民在新加坡某個論壇指出，她在6月間接到那家公司的來電，邀請她到快餐店進行面試。
“公司說，薪金是每小時8元，我猜很多人會像我這樣，直接自掏腰包買下那2支筆，就可以去接受培訓。”
不過，當她參加培訓後才知道，那份工作並不是在零售店工作，也沒有基本薪金，必需通過電話營銷賣手表，有賣出東西才有傭金拿。公司表示，她每賣出4支手表，就能獲得薪金14元。
Career Express人力咨詢公司董事經理郭香伶受訪時說，要求求職者在面試時進行職務測試是普遍甄選員工的方式，不過，在新加坡有90%以上的公司進行筆試，類似這種實際去進行銷售的測試，則很少見。
不過，她指出，上述公司的銷售測試不算違法。
（新加坡）7月歌台火辣秀越演越烈，性感女歌星邊唱邊脫，還走下歌台，與熱情的觀眾握手，打成一片，結果惹來警方到場調查，台主及中元會負責人被警告！
這起事件週一（8月31日）晚上發生在牛車水的“牛車水之夜歌台”，地點在佛牙寺旁的空地，歌台是由牛車水商聯會主辦。
5000人圍觀場面熱爆
這場歌台共吸引了近5000人圍觀，場面熱爆。
歌台的兩名司儀分別是節目策劃兼司儀的吳頷興及火辣性感的郭敏。當時下台與觀眾及理事握手的，除了兩名男女司儀，還有台灣女歌手凱莉。
凱莉是第二名出場表演的歌手，她上台時先是一套密實的套裝加上外套，第一首歌過後竟“變身”成性感女神，一邊唱，一邊脫，引得台下觀眾熱血沸騰，紛紛要求她下台握手及合照。
凱莉起初婉轉回拒，可是觀眾卻紛紛起哄，嚷嚷要她下台。兩名司儀趕上台解圍，觀眾在台下叫喊，要他們下台握手。凱莉在郭敏的陪同下，一起走下舞台，與一些觀眾握手合照。
2警員出現發出警告
想不到不久後，兩名身穿制服的警員突然出現，要求見台主和負責人。相信是有人投訴，警員到常進行調查。
警員在場逗留了半小時，他們檢查了表演准證後，分別給台主及中元會負責人發出警告，才在較後離去。
見到警員出現，一些好奇的公眾都被吸引圍觀，台前觀眾看歌台，後台也有人圍觀看警員查案，現場一時之間也引起一陣騷動。
由於已遭警告，歌台節目流程被逼加緊進行，以便趕在准證上規定的10時30分前結束。
女司儀及歌手照脫不誤
週一晚上“牛車水之夜歌台”，火辣女司儀郭敏及性感女歌手凱莉和百美蕙照脫不誤，郭敏更表示“我不會為了別人而活”。
面對在台上不應該穿太過暴露及邊唱旁邊脫的指責，郭敏說，穿著性感是她身為表演者的自由，而且最重要是觀眾喜歡看，她也沒有聽到有任何人指責她的衣著太過火。
她週一其中一套衣服真空上陣，背後則露出一大片玉背，讓台下觀眾熱血沸騰。
凱莉在台上也照脫不誤，並表示她完全不擔心。
百美蕙週一晚上也穿上之前數晚的表演服裝，大露臀部，她週一晚上不但要如其他歌手一般連趕數場，還要漏夜搭機飛到英國演出，3天後再回到獅城繼續7月的演出。
（新加坡）最近歐美刮起整乳頭的時尚風，要把乳頭加大，但本地女性反其道而行，嫌自己乳頭大，要動手術縮乳頭。
整容醫生表示，由於亞洲婦女的乳頭大過一般歐美婦女，因此一些新加坡女性不惜花2000元左右（馬幣約4800令吉）縮乳頭。
據《新報》報導，有些亞洲婦女的乳頭會下垂，為了讓乳頭看來較有美感，醫生會減少乳頭的長度和圓周。手術只需1小時就可完成。
整容醫生Martin Huang就表示，找他縮小乳頭的女性以華裔居多，她們多因哺乳而導致乳頭變大。
一名韓國醫生受訪時說，他的顧客通常是生育過，年紀較大的女性。他平均每個月要進行20至30個乳頭縮手術。
顧客通常要把乳頭整容得較小和乳暈較淺色，讓自己顯得較年輕。
醫生表示，乳頭的直徑和高度都可以長1.5公分。但是對乳房較小的女性來說，即使乳頭只有4毫米，看來也覺得“大”。
動乳頭手術有15年經驗的吳志良醫生表示，吃含維他命C和E的混合物，也有助於改變乳暈顏色。
手術或影響性生活
未婚未孕者不宜
手術可能影響性生活，未婚未孕者不宜。
縮小乳頭是非常精細的手術，可能影響乳頭敏感度，較適合已婚已生育的婦女。
醫生須具備豐富的乳頭血管神經解剖知識，而且要非常熟練和細心，因為多少會影響女性日後的性生活。
手術是在局部麻醉下進行，手術後一般以紗布覆蓋7到8天後拆線。
手術需知
要哺乳女性應避免
‧日後要哺乳的女性，應避免這項手術。
‧月經期、妊娠期，及哺乳期6個月內，不宜做手術。
‧手術後一週內，應避免性生活，其後一個月內，對乳房要極為小心。
‧手術多少會影響乳頭的敏感度，間接影響性生活。
獅城男人：不介意伴侶乳頭大小
30名年齡介於20至40歲的男性受訪時表示，不介意伴侶乳頭的大小。
他們其實討厭伴侶為此去做整形手術，並認為這是他們無法容忍的。
23歲的麥克斯說︰“乳頭就像耳墜，我認為，乳頭的大小並不重要。”
（印尼‧雅加達）據報導，印尼電腦駭客週一（8月31日）趁馬來西亞國慶日發動網絡襲擊，侵入馬來西亞120多個網站，以報復馬來西亞被指盜竊印尼文化遺產及虐待印尼外勞。
《雅加達環球報》報導，這群駭客在名為“Terselubung”的部落格網站上發表聲明說，為了“慶祝”馬來西亞獨立52週年的國慶日，馬來西亞的好幾個網站已經被襲擊。
他們還在聲明中表示，身為印尼的“好公民”，他們將以自己的方式來慶祝馬來西亞的獨立，即針對大馬的網站展開大規模的襲擊行動。
這個部落格網站共列出了120多個馬來西亞的網址，其中還包括教育和旅遊網站。點擊這些網址後，接下來所看到的就是一面印尼國旗和“被印尼襲擊”的字樣，以及印尼前總統蘇卡諾有關馬來西亞的語錄。
When a banks’ loans begin to non-perform, they begin to eat into their capital reserves. Each banks’ Board of Directors is responsible to assess their reserves and make certain that they comply with legal and accounting requirements and, of course, they are certainly free to maintain standards that are higher than minimums.
The Fed tracks the banks’ Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) and produces charts showing ALLL versus NONPERFORMING loans. A ratio of 100 would mean that all the banks in that size have ALLLs that exceed their nonperforming loans – a condition of health. The lower the ratio number, the less healthy the banks are for that size stratum. The banks are complaining about arbitrary rules regarding ALLL, to learn more here is an article from July of this year; Banks’ loan loss reserves are lagging behind delinquent loans (site will only let you view article once w/o login).
The Fed groups banks into those with ASSETS less than $300 million, those with assets $300M to $1B, those $1B to $20B, and those $20B and Higher. Of course, you and I don’t know how those “assets” are valued or by who. That’s where Enron accounting mark-to-model accounting standards come in – thus the charts below are likely indicating a false sense of health, if you can call them healthy at all. Also keep in mind that there are now millions of home owners underwater on their loans, and many commercial real estate loans are facing the same fate. As asset deflation drives prices lower, any hiccup in income drives those loans into the nonperforming category. Let’s examine the small to medium size ($300M to $1B) and the large banks above $20B…
BANKS $300M to $1B:
Nonperforming loans:
ALLL Ratio:
BANKS over $20B:
Nonperforming loans:
ALLL Ratio:
Here’s the chart of TOTAL nonperforming loans:
So, the big banks would appear to have fewer nonperforming loans, but their ALLL ratio is running around 12 while the smaller banks are up around 30. Again, I’m betting that the REAL ALLL is much, much lower due to mark-to-model, but what you’re seeing here regardless is NOT a picture of health, that’s for sure.
For more on bank capital requirements, you may want to start your research with a visit to Wikipedia - Capital Requirements.
Note that the total loans and leases at all commercial banks are now negative:
And that net commercial loan charge offs are continuing to skyrocket:
And I think the chart of the week is the chart showing net capital inflows. Is that what a loss of confidence looks like?
Here’s the St. Louis Fed’s most recent Monetary Trends Update. Note the dates in the top margin on each page to see the latest. Not a lot of change from the last couple of weeks, but I still think these charts have deflation written all over them…
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So, do banks really have “excess reserves?” It seems to me that at least in relation to nonperforming loans, reserves are free fallin’…
By Nathan A. Martin日本30日舉行眾議院選舉，在野的民主黨大勝，實現政權輪替。粘信士上午在外交部記者會表示，對於日本各黨候選人及日本選民展現的民主素養，外交部表示敬佩，並電請駐日代表處向民主黨表示祝賀。
他說，政府與民主黨關係一向良好，未來台日關係將在既有的良好關係上繼續強化雙方實質關係，並將持續與關係良好的自民黨國會議員維持友好關係。
粘信士指出，日本是成熟的民主國家，這次大選雖是政黨輪替，但外交政策有其連貫性，相信台日關係在民主黨主政下仍將持續穩定發展。
他表示，民主黨相關負責人對台灣有一定理解，與台灣朝野政要也有密切往來，日本政黨輪替不會影響台日關係。
不過，自民黨及超黨派組成的「日華議員懇談會」在這次大選後有大幅變動。粘信士說，日華議員懇談會成員原為300名，大選後只剩下142名，包括自民黨70名、民主黨60名及12名其他政黨的議員。
他表示，未來外交部與駐日代表處將積極辦理國會外交，爭取更多新當選的議員加入日華議員懇談會，「這部分我們有很大的努力空間」。
在馬總統支持度創新低的時間點，馬英九的愛將、葉金川的落「馬」，一葉知秋，很難不被解釋為馬英九的總統牌已經失靈了嗎？
葉 金川把問題癥結歸咎在時間太匆促，但民調數字對這位黨中央屬意的人選實在不好看。三家民調單位中，國家發展研究院的調查，杜麗華以52.33%贏過葉金川 的47.67%，社會資訊管理公司調查，葉金川更是慘敗，第三份民調，這位前衛生署長還是以些微差距輸給杜麗華，最後兩人平均值，葉金川就以 45.524%敗給杜麗華的54.476%，相差達10%。
對於署長、縣長兩頭空，會不會在回到中央，葉金川無奈的說， 未來他將留在花蓮當志工，了解鄉親們的需求。他表示，投入花蓮縣選舉的起步時間晚，而且國民黨內初選的民調並未「排綠」，對他不利，但是願賭服輸，他當初 答應參加黨內初選，結果失利，他口服心服，如果對手杜麗華邀請他站台，他樂意之至。
台灣年均雨量2510公厘，水利署指出，莫拉克颱風在2至3天內就超過這個雨量，治水硬體擋不住這次豪雨；在災後復建部分，將把部分非急要河川環境改善工程經費，以移緩濟急方式，挹注在莫拉克颱風災害復建經費。
水利署表示，這次水災主要造成高屏溪水系包括旗山、隘寮、荖濃等溪災害，目前預估所需復建工程經費約22億元，加上疏濬工程經費約30億元，合計52億元，已編列在88水災重建計畫特別預算中。
水利署強調，後續將加強執行治水疏濬復建工程，並配合國土復建、規劃方案，同時提升防災、避災、減災作法。
（中央社台北1日綜合外電報導）為了拚經濟，澳洲央行今天決議維持隔夜現金利率3%不變，連續第5個月按兵不動。
澳洲央行總裁史蒂文斯 (Glenn Stevens)這項決議符合經濟家一致預期。他上月曾指出，隨著消費者與企業信心攀升，澳洲央行在某個階段將有必要上調目前處於「緊急」水準的利率。
澳洲明天將發布第2季國內生產毛額 (GDP)數據，分析師預期可能出現成長。
雪梨野村澳洲公司 (Nomura Australia Ltd.)資深經濟家羅伯茲 (Stephen Roberts)指出：「決策官員難以判定近期經濟數據的報喜，究竟是景氣穩健復甦抑或是已經到頂即將再度衰退的早期跡象。」
今天稍早出爐的數據顯示，澳洲營建許可攀升、經常帳逆差擴大，且8月製造業活動14個月來首見擴張。
澳洲央行自去年9月至今年4月間累計降息4.25個百分點，降幅破紀錄。史蒂文斯在8月14日表示：「目前的非常貨幣政策未來某個時點將不再需要。」
雪梨期貨交易所的交易顯示，交易員認為澳銀10月份升息一碼的機率達50%。相較下，交易員預期美國與歐洲今年料不致升息。(譯者：中央社趙蔚蘭)
Splenda is not satisfying—at least according to the brain. A new study found that even when the palate cannot distinguish between the artificial sweetener and sugar, our brain knows the difference.
At the University of California, San Diego, 12 women underwent functional MRI while sipping water sweetened with either real sugar (sucrose) or Splenda (sucralose). Sweeteners, real or artificial, bind to and stimulate receptors on the taste buds, which then signal the brain via the cranial nerve. Although both sugar and Splenda initiate the same taste and pleasure pathways in the brain—and the subjects could not tell the solutions apart—the sugar activated pleasure-related brain regions more extensively than the Splenda did. In particular, “the real thing, the sugar, elicits a much greater response in the insula,” says the study’s lead author, psychiatrist Guido Frank, now at the University of Colorado at Denver. The insula, involved with taste, also plays a role in enjoyment by connecting regions in the reward system that encode the sensation of pleasantness.
Although Splenda elicits less overall activity within the brain, the researchers were surprised to find that the artificial sweetener seems to inspire more communication between these regions. “Looking at the connection between the taste areas, Splenda is stronger,” Frank says. He suggests that when we taste Splenda, the reward system becomes activated but not satiated. “Our hypothesis is that Splenda has less of a feedback mechanism to stop the craving, to get satisfied.”
If that theory plays out, there could be implications for those who use artificial sweeteners as a weight-control aid. Recent research indeed suggests a correlation between artificial sweetener intake and compromised health. In one large survey, diet soda consumption was found to be associated with elevated cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk. A different study reveals a possible mechanism behind this effect: rats that were fed artificially sweetened yogurt in addition to their regular feed ended up eating more and gaining more weight than rats that ate yogurt with real sugar. The study’s authors suggest that exposure to an artificial sweetener may undermine the brain’s ability to track calories and to determine when to stop eating.
“There is good evidence that the brain responds differently to artificial sweeteners, and you should take that into account when designing weight-loss programs,” Frank says. The team plans to extend this research to elucidate mechanisms that underlie eating disorders.
This story was originally printed with the title, "Faux Sugar: Bittersweet"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said he plans legislation to restrict the Federal Reserve's emergency lending powers and subject the central bank to a "complete audit."
At a recent town hall meeting, Frank said the House would pass a bill to use an audit to crack open the central bank's books more widely, but in a way that will not encroach on the central bank's monetary policy independence.
In addition, he said the House would move to rein in the authority that allows the Fed to lend to a wide range of non-bank firms in "unusual and exigent circumstances."
A bill sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul that would allow the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, to audit Fed interest-rate decisions has won the co-sponsorship of more than half of the House.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that the bill would compromise the U.S. central bank's policy-making independence and could undermine financial markets and the economy.
Frank said he has been working with Paul on compromise language. "He agrees that we don't want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy because that would be inflationary," Frank told constituents. A video of his remarks was posted on the popular video file-sharing website YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2DX9Iu4wNo
Steven Adamske, a spokesman for Frank, told Reuters compromise language had not yet been written. He provided no further details. A spokesman for Paul could not be reached.
OCTOBER TARGET
Frank said the audit and emergency lending provisions would be incorporated in broader legislation to revamp U.S. financial regulation that would likely pass the House in October. By seeking a compromise with Paul, Frank could strengthen the broader legislation's chance at passage.
As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank is a key player in the effort to overhaul U.S. financial regulation.
The Obama administration has proposed giving the Fed responsibility for overseeing firms whose collapse could endanger the entire financial system. At the same time, it wants to strip the central bank of its consumer protection function, and invest that authority in a new agency.
Frank expressed unease at what he called the Fed's power to "lend money to anybody they want" in emergency circumstances. "We are going to curtail that lending power. We are going to put some restraints on it," he said.
Since the financial crisis struck two years, the Fed has used this emergency authority to prop up a number of non-bank financial firms with billions of dollars in loans, including insurer American International Group.
The Fed's actions have angered many lawmakers who are concerned the central bank has put taxpayer money at risk. Fed officials have defended their actions as necessary to prevent a deeper credit crisis and widespread damage to the economy.
Bernanke, who President Barack Obama nominated this week to serve a second four-year term at the helm of the central bank, told lawmakers in July that the Fed understands the need to be accountable to taxpayers but that monetary policy decisions needed to be shielded from political interference.
In congressional testimony on July 22, he signaled a willingness to work toward a middle ground. "We are quite willing to work with Congress to try to figure out exactly where the line should be," he said.
Frank said the House legislation would pave the way for an audit to look into what the central bank "buys and sells," but he said the data would be released after a period of several months to avoid impacting financial markets.
Bernanke is widely expected to win needed Senate backing for a new term as Fed chairman, but the central bank's aggressive efforts to stem the financial crisis have stirred controversy that is likely to color his re-nomination hearing.
His current term expires on January 31, 2010.
By Tim AhmannThis is an old intelligence trick called "Poisoning the well", the intentional promotion of lies to blend with an embarrassing truth to discredit it. The government shills are trying to conceal real news stories such as the Israeli Spy Ring and its connections to the attacks on the World Trade Towers. So, we get hoax stories poured onto the net by government propagandists, to be used by the media to attack the credibility of anyone who dares doubt the official story.
At some point in the near future, photographs, or video will be "discovered" clearly showing the impact, and the mainstream media will have a field day ridiculing those "kooky Internet web sites" and their "silly conspiracy theories", all based on a silly theory the government is itself planting on the web.
But if you think about it, common sense tells you their claims are just plain silly. After all, if the passenger jet didn't hit the Pentagon, then where did it go? And since the people behind 9-11 had to get rid of the passenger jet and its contents anyway, there was no reason for them NOT to ram it into the Pentagon. Why risk a swap? Why complicate matters even further?
Lately, in their efforts to plant more bogus information on the web for the media to use to ridicule doubters of the official story, the shills have used over-processed and blurry photos of the 9-11 planes to claim that they carried "pods" on the outside (which the ground crews at all the airports somehow never noticed). For that reason, the government shills have come to be known as the 9-11 "Pod People".
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| In response to the question of "where is the wreckage of the plane", the answer is that much of the wreckage slid into the ground floor of the Pentagon. It slid INTO the building, into the first floor space, starting a fire in the first floor, whereupon the upper floors later collapsed down onto the remains of the aircraft. Most of the aircraft wreckage is therefore under the collapsed roof section in the photo. So where is the rest of the wreckage from the passenger plane? Right in plain view, for those who actually look. |
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| In the above copy of the wide area view, a red rectangle marks an area to be examined. This area appears below. |
| The Pentagon is a building mostly made of concrete and wood. Yet here is a pile of crumpled aluminum debris, and clearly seen mixed in with it are pieces of luggage. Since the Pentagon itself does not travel, we can conclude that the luggage (and the aluminum shards mixed with them) are part of the remains of the passenger jet which hit the Pentagon. In similar crashes, the resulting debris was in small pieces, 6 feet long at most. You don't SEE huge pieces of airplane sitting at crash sites in head on collisions such as slamming into the wall of the Pentagon. Despite their impressive size, aircraft and relatively fragile objects due to weight considerations. |
THE POD PEOPLE'S CARTOON WORLD Only in Warner Brothers cartoons does the Coyote leave a cookie-cutter outline of himself as he crashes into the rock face. In the real world (someplace that the "pod people" need to spend more time in) collisions are more complex. Airplanes do not make clean outline holes in buildings they collide with any more than cars make clean outline holes in walls they collide with. The Pentagon, built mostly of wood and concrete, and in that one section having been recently reinforced, is a heavy and solid object. Jet aircraft, designed to be able to fly, are very thin and lightweight. They are, if you think about it, mostly filled with air, like an aluminum balloon. They are not designed to penetrate other objects or to remain intact while doing so.
Take a glass Christmas ornament and hurl it against a brick wall. Do you get a round opening in the brick wall the size of the ornament? No, of course not. Neither will an aluminum plane leave a clean outline of itself crashing into concrete. In the case of the plane, there are subassemblies which are heavy and solid, such as the engines, the frames supporting the landing gear, cockpit avionics, the potable water tanks, APU, etc. On impact, these would break loose from the aircraft and continuing forward, produce smaller holes. |
| The "Pod People" will no doubt scream that the above photos are fake, just as they have insisted that all the photos which show debris at the crash site are fakes, and just as they scream that the witnesses to the passenger jet at the Pentagon "have to be" wrong. But witness-smearing is the exact same tactic the government has used to silence contradictory witnesses from JFK to the shoot down of TWA 800. As the "Pod People" use the same tactics, they reveal who they really are. |  |
PICTURES OF THE PENTAGON IMPACT AREA BEFORE THE COLLAPSE. |
Eyewitness Account of Flight 77's Pentagon Impact
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From the Readers Letters:
I'm the guy that wants to advertise and offered you free Internet radio and playerless video licenses. You should respond to this quote about you from:
http://www.public-action.com/911/bumble.html
"In the last several months, largely as a result of Mr. DiNardo's work, there has been growing Internet discussion of the lack of Boeing 757 debris outside the Pentagon. Now, magically, new photos of "Boeing 757" Pentagon wreckage are beginning to appear. Check out the websites of Mike Rivero and Joe Vialls for copies of these fakes. Rivero and Vialls, by endorsing them as real, have surely identified themselves as members of the fake opposition."
During the Jim Garrison trial of Clay Shaw in the JFK assassination, a witness showed up who linked Lee Oswald and Shaw. Despite warnings from his staff, Garrison used this witness. But once he was on the stand, the witness claimed that he fingerprinted his own daughter every night to prevent substitutions by "them". During the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the committee made a point of calling a witness who claimed that the open umbrella by the motorcade route in Dallas was actually a poison dart gun that had fired a dart at JFK to paralyze him, in order to make him an easier target. The actual umbrella was then displayed amidst jokes and laughter and great rolling of eyes, and shown to be merely an umbrella. More recently, Congressional hearings into abuses by the BATF featured one witness, dressed in camo and identifying himself as a member of a free militia, who claimed that the US Government had built and was testing a machine that made tornados.
In all three cases the witnesses were plants by the government whose job it was to taint any real questions of what the government was up to with silliness that the media could use to make fun of the whole issue and those who dared question the official story. The media focused on the "fingerprint man" to ridicule Jim Garrison. (Years later Richard Secord admitted under oath that Clay Saw had been a CIA contract agent after all.) The story about the umbrella at Dealey Plaza was focused on by the media to show how silly the entire issue of questioning the Warren Report was (but fell flat on its face when the HSCA concluded that there had been more than one gunman in Dealey Plaza that day) and, of course, "Tornado man", camo and all, was the featured video clip on the news reports of the hearings into BATF, to the exclusion of the family members of dozens of people mistakenly shot by the BATF when the BATF raided the wrong homes. BATF, it should also be remembered, was the agency which, in an attempt to stage a news-worthy raid on "gun nuts", initiated the Waco disaster.
The game is an old one, to plant bogus and easily disproved claims in any inquiry into what the government is doing, in order to ridicule those asking questions. In the old days it worked, because the media was under government control and could be counted on to withhold exposure of the fraud until it could most damage those who asked questions. These days, in the age of the Internet, such planted hoaxes do not survive because the questions the media should ask but refuse to do so ARE asked and answered.
For example, the claim is that the 9-11 masterminds used a missile on the Pentagon to simulate the impact of the aircraft then spirited away the actual plane and killed the crew and passengers. Why would anyone bother? If the end result is the death of the occupants, why not go ahead and carry the crash out?
Those who argue that there was no plane at the Pentagon are either spooks, or those whose knowledge of physics is based on cartoons where characters leave clear outline shapes in walls they penetrate. Airplanes are built to fly through the air, not burrow through solid objects. Built for economy, not combat, passenger jets are, compared to a building, as light and as fragile as a glass Christmas tree ornament.
The "No plane at the Pentagon" story has failed to catch on to the degree where it can be used to discredit those who wonder just who was really behind the 9-11 staged terrorist attacks. Those spooks who promoted the story realize that they are at risk of exposure so their only remaining tactic is to try to claim that anyone who does not agree with them must be the government plant. If I directly responded, their goal would be not to conduct a debate, but simply to tie up as much of my limited time as they could in an endless unwinnable argument while they stand there with their hair on fire claiming they cannot smell any smoke.
The Internet has become the high ground in the war for the minds of America. The other side likes to play dirty. The claim that there was no plane at the Pentagon is a hoax by an enemy that survives by deception and lies.
A videotape purportedly showing Osama bin Laden confessing to the 9/11 attacks was made public on December 13, 2001:
| The tape bore a label indicating it was made on November 9. Administration officials wouldn't reveal exactly how or when they got it, except to say it was found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in. [Online NewsHour] |
The videotape was supposedly physically located.
| The size of a standard VHS videotape is 7.5 inches wide by 4.2 inches deep by 1 inch high - if you look in a video cabinet you'll see they're not very big. The satellite photograph on the right shows Jalalabad - it is very big and it contains a lot of buildings (not all single storey). Don't you find it somewhat fortuitous that a very small video tape of Osama confessing to the 9/11 attacks was found in this very big city? Were squads of video watchers sent in to view every tape found just in case one showed Osama confessing? Here's what was said of the "lucky find": | Satellite photo of Jalalabad. |
The video was very effective in diverting media attention away from the deportation of five Israelis who danced as the twin towers burned - "Osama" certainly picks his moments to appear.
The quality of the video was very poor and the authenticity of the tape was questioned. This annoyed President Bush:
Okay, let's take a closer look at bin Laden and his views. The following is an extract from bin Laden's September 28, 2001 denial of involvement in the 9/11 attacks...
...and his views were the same in 1998:
The above demonstrates that bin Laden publicly aired very strong views about Israel and Jews when he was given the chance. Below are still images from bin Laden videos released in 2001. The images are in chronological order. A point to note about bin Laden is he was suffering renal failure...
...therefore his health in the videos is very relevant. Videos 1, 2 and 4 show the real bin Laden, video 3 shows the "lucky find" bin Laden. Points of note regarding the videos:
The "bin Laden" in video #3 has the wrong beard color, and his views and health are inconsistent with those of the real bin Laden. Also, if video #3 was a true bin Laden confession then why didn't he attribute 9/11 to avenging the suffering of Muslims, especially since America was attacking the country in which he was living? The poor image quality of video #3 stands out when compared to the genuine bin Laden videos. There is also excessive noise on the video's audio track, making it impossible to really hear what is being said. Given that the tape was recorded in an area supposedly devoid of audio urban signature there should have been little ambient noise, yet the speech is masked with a great deal of noise. There is clearly good reason to doubt the November 9 tape. This was not the first video claiming to show Osama confessing to the 9/11 attacks...
...and this never-to-be-seen video also appeared right on cue:
Even hard line secular Pakistanis were unconvinced by the released bin Laden video tape. Iqbal Haider, a former senator from the party of ousted prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said he found it hard to believe that bin Laden would allow himself to be filmed confessing to the crime. "It is hard to believe that a man who masterminds the September attacks with such secrecy and finesse could be that stupid and imprudent," he said. "I hate Osama and the Taliban because they inflicted incalculable damage on Muslims ... but it is hard to digest that he can be such a fool."
The above demonstrates the bin Laden "confession video" was a propaganda exercise created to justify the pursuit of a preplanned war. |
| 9/11 White House press briefing: "The United States Secret Service immediately secured the President, the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, and they are all safe." |
Okay, let's have a look at how the Secret Service reacted when President Bush was informed by Andrew Card that America was under attack:
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The fictional Sherlock Holmes solved the crime in "Silver Blaze" by deducing it was the owner of the house who was the criminal. How did he know? Because the dog did not bark. The only person who could have committed the crime without arousing the dog was someone the dog knew as a friend, the dog's owner.
Inspector Gregory: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night time" "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. From "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle |
Now let us turn our Sherlockian logic on 9-11.
Hijacked aircraft were wandering across the eastern half of the country. In theory no-one could have known how many planes had been hijacked. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, Bush was at a publicised photo opportunity at Booker Elementary School, and there is an airport only four miles from this School.
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The Sarasota Herald Tribune announced Bush's visit to Booker Elementary on September 8th, giving the 9-11 planners three days to include Bush as a target for a diving jetliner. Nobody could have safely assumed he was not a target.
| 1913: Congress authorized permanent [Secret Service] protection of the President and the statutory authorization for President-elect protection. [secretsevice.gov] |
The Booker Elementary video shows the Secret Service did not rush in to remove the President to a secure location, or at least to the safety of the armored Presidential Limousine. That's their job. That's what they do in the case of a real surprise attack with many unknowns. They don't do anything else.
But the Secret Service did nothing. The dog did not bark.
Bush defenders try to explain Bush's inaction as his not wanting to upset the children. Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" suggests Bush's inaction was due to his not being told to leave. But Michael Moore fails to follow that line of reasoning through to its logical conclusion; where were the people whose job it is to get the President to a place of safety in event of attack, the people who would have, SHOULD have, pulled Bush out of there, children and public appearances be damned!
The Secret Service did nothing. The dog did not bark.
If the events of 9-11 were truly a surprise to the United States Government then there is no way the Secret Service could have known there wasn't a hijacked or stolen plane heading towards Booker Elementary School that very second.
| Three Secret Service agents, a SWAT member, the Marine and Balkwill turned on the television in a nearby front office as United Airlines Flight 175 out of Boston crashed into the south tower. "We're out of here," the Marine told Balkwill. "Can you get everyone ready?" [Sarasota Herald Tribune] |
The Secret Service did nothing. The dog did not bark.
The Secret Service should be in that video, but they are not. It is clear from their inaction that they KNEW FOR A FACT THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT A TARGET OF ONE OF THE HIJACKED PLANES. The intended targets of the planes had to have been known.
The dog did not bark because the criminal was its master.
Quod Erat Demonstradum, the Bush administration was part of the 9-11 plot.
In the article at http://afrocubaweb.com/news/israelispying.htm there is the following paragraph:
| "To make the situation worse, a private security company called ICTS, owned by an Israeli, Ezra Harel, and registered in the Netherlands, was employed at Charles de Gaulle airport to screen passengers boarding US planes. Most of its personnel are ex-Shin Bet officers. The company covers security at Boston's Logan airport, where the American Airlines plane came down after flight attendants and passengers overpowered Reid." |
The point of the article was that ICTS knew shoe bomber Richard Reid was dangerous, but allowed him on board a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't. But the idea that an Israeli owned company had inside access to the airport used to launch an abortive terror attack brought to mind the strange message Odigo Systems, another Israeli owned company with offices near the World Trade Towers, received that warned of the impending attacks before the hijacked planes had even left the ground.
So, I went back to another story that had surfaced briefly, reported at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26626 about how at least one hijacker had smuggled a GUN aboard one of the hijacked planes. Even prior to 9-11, getting a gun on board a passenger plane represented a serious lapse of security. I wondered why this story of a gun was being concealed behind talk of box cutters and screwdrivers.
Then I went back to the first article and its mention that ICTS handled security at Logan International Airport, from which two of the 9-11 hijacked planes had departed.
Sure enough, a visit to ICTS' own web site at http://www.icts-int.com/ confirms that ICTS is in fact an Israeli owned company, and that it sells services to every airport from which the hijacked planes operated, including security, sometimes through wholly owned subsidiaries like Huntleigh USA Corporation.
It has been suggested that the incredible feat of hijacking four aircraft without a single arrest at the gate would require the resources of a nation-state. This is even more true with the revelation that at least one gun had managed to be aboard a hijacked plane. One company had automatic inside access to all of the airports from which hijacked planes departed on 9-11, and to the airports used by Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. An Israeli company. One that Mossad agents could easily find employment with without the management knowing who they were or what their purpose really was.
But one thing is clear. By virtue of the Odigo warning, someone knew enough about the planned attacks to warn Odigo before the planes had even departed the airport gates, yet they did not call the Israeli security company at the airports which could have stopped the flights from leaving.
Think about that one for a while.
Hours before the House version of the first Patriot Act went to a vote, "technical corrections" were inserted into the body of the legislation whereby foreign security companies such as ICTS-International would be immune from lawsuits related to the events of 9/11. Talk about not being available for deposition! This "Patriot" act legislative sleight of hand occurred before the inception of the 9/11 Commission when Fearless Leader George W. Bush was still resisting the very IDEA of an investigation into 9/11. Hence, in the face of an institutional cover-up, citizens were denied the possibility of a discovery process which is normally afforded to litigants. Without such discovery process, ICTS-International would never be compelled by a court of law to give testimony and show evidence related to the missing airport video surveillance tapes of 9/11 or any other aspect of security measures in place on 9/11. [rense.com]
| "Evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information." US official quoted in Carl Cameron's Fox News report on the Israeli spy ring. |
| "Investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying ... is considered career suicide." Carl Cameron, as quoted in The Spies Who Came In From The Art Sale |
| "While I agree with you, if I say anything about US geopolitical interests with Israel, I might as well clean off my desk." Unnamed reporter as quoted in American Media Censorship and Israel |
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=77744
Odigo, the instant messaging service, says that two of its workers received messages two hours before the Twin Towers attack on September 11 predicting the attack would happen, and the company has been cooperating with Israeli and American law enforcement, including the FBI, in trying to find the original sender of the message predicting the attack.
Micha Macover, CEO of the company, said the two workers received the messages and immediately after the terror attack informed the company's management, which immediately contacted the Israeli security services, which brought in the FBI.
"I have no idea why the message was sent to these two workers, who don't know the sender. It may just have been someone who was joking and turned out they accidentally got it right. And I don't know if our information was useful in any of the arrests the FBI has made," said Macover. Odigo is a U.S.-based company whose headquarters are in New York, with offices in Herzliya.
As an instant messaging service, Odigo users are not limited to sending messages only to people on their "buddy" list, as is the case with ICQ, the other well-known Israeli instant messaging application.
Odigo usually zealously protects the privacy of its registered users, said Macover, but in this case the company took the initiative to provide the law enforcement services with the originating Internet Presence address of the message, so the FBI could track down the Internet Service Provider, and the actual sender of the original message.
Map of Odigo offices relative to the WTC:
On the left is the aerial photo of New York. The red Building is the edge of Ground Zero. On the right is the corresponding street map, courtesy of Mapquest.
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| Not everyone is convinced by the official story of the towers collapse... The laboratory director from a South Bend firm has been fired for attempting to cast doubt on the federal investigation into what caused the World Trade Center's twin towers to collapse on Sept. 11, 2001. Kevin R. Ryan was terminated Tuesday from his job at Environmental Health Laboratories Inc., a subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., the consumer-product safety testing giant. Ryan wrote that the institute's preliminary reports suggest the WTC's supports were probably exposed to fires no hotter than 500 degrees -- only half the 1,100-degree temperature needed to forge steel, Ryan said. That's also much cooler, he wrote, than the 3,000 degrees needed to melt bare steel with no fire-proofing. |
| Let's take a closer look at the fires in the Twin Towers... |
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| Under solicitation number SB1341-03-Q-0281, a firm fixed-price purchase order has been awarded to Underwriters Laboratory Inc. for the testing of the steel joist-supported floor system of the Word Trade Center towers under the fire conditions prescribed in ASTM E119. The results of the testing will provide the fire endurance ratings of typical floor construction to evaluate three primary factors, 1) test scale, 2) fireproofing thickness, and 3) thermal restraint. Under this solicitation, three ASTM E119 tests of the WTC floor construction will be performed as follows: Findings --- The floor system DID NOT FAIL to support loads in any test. |
9/11 Comparison Fires Both of the above buildings were of inferior build quality to the WTC, yet they burned hotter & far longer than the twin towers & WTC 7 AND REMAINED STANDING.
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The "truss theory" relies on the assumption that 800ºC+ infernos started a catastrophic chain of events which led to the collapse of the twin towers. There were fires in both buildings following the aircraft impacts, but no infernos - "most perimeter panels (157 of 160) saw no temperatures above 250ºC."
The fires were indeed fed by typical office contents, so the buildings should have remained standing. They didn't. Why? |
