Travelling light, Obama-style: 20-vehicle convoy, SWAT team, Air Force One and nuclear codes accompany him on holiday

Most families go on holiday to get away from it all, to forget work and responsibilities and day-to-day worries.

For Barack and Michelle Obama, there has been no such escape since taking their daughters for a 10-day holiday on the exclusive island of Martha's Vineyard.

Accompanied by legions of secret service agents, aides, medical staff and friends, the 'first family' have had their every move followed by press and fans as they stay on a rented farm.

Protected: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks with reporters outside Nancy's restaurant in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, accompanied by four secret service agents

Superstars: Crowds of hundreds of people turned out to greet the President on his holiday as First Lady Michelle Obama says hello to a young child

Family outing: President Obama with daughters Sasha, centre, and Malia as they leave a bookshop while on holiday

Just popping to the shops for some light reading in the Massachusetts town proved a logistical headache for minders who made up part of a 20-vehicle motorcade.

The attention-grabbing column was headed by a titanium-plated Cadillac One dubbed The Beast for its five-inch thick bulletproof glass.

Other security measures in the Presidential limousine include unbreakable tyres, an air filtration system to protect against biological attack and a tear gas cannon.

The rest of the motorcade was made up of four bullet-proof vans filled with secret service agents, two buses for journalists and TV crews and an ambulance with six medics on board.

Additional security was provided in the shape of SWAT team van and a radar-jamming vehicle.

Motorcade: The 20-strong convoy containing the presidential limousine includes an ambulance, right, a radar-jamming vehicle (in front) and a SWAT team van (next)

Protection: Cadillac One, also known as The Beast, has five-inch thick bulletproof glass, tyres that can't be burst and an anti-biological warfare system to keep the President safe

Another member of the entourage is a military officer who carries the codes needed to initiate a nuclear attack.

Arriving at the shops, the Obamas were then surrounded by well-wishers and spent minutes shaking hands and speaking to fellow holidaymakers.

Earlier in the trip, the couple and daughters Malia, 12 and Sasha, nine, arrived by Air Force One which has armour-plated wings allegedly capable of withstanding a nuclear blast from the ground.

They then transferred to presidential helicopter Marine One, preceded by a police helicopter which swept the across the island.

On the ground, police sniffer dogs were used to check for terrorist threats on the route to the 25-acres holiday estate.

It boasts a five-bed farmhouse and three other houses with ocean views and access to a private dock.

Waiting: Crowds of holidaymakers wait patiently for the Obamas to finish their lunch in the holiday island of Martha's Vineyard

Crowd pleaser: President Obama is happy to spend time shaking hands with fans after his lunch

Yesterday, President Obama managed to complete his fourth trip to the golf course, playing 18 holes at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs.

It came a day after skies over the island off Cape Cod finally cleared following four straight days of drenching rain.

In the president's foursome at Farm Neck were White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, Obama's Chicago friend Eric Whitaker, and Cyrus Walker, a cousin of White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The White House allowed reporters and photographers to watch the group from a distance as they putted on the first green.

Obama gave Nicholson one of his trademark fist bumps after the aide sank his putt.

Reporters also saw the president as he drove a golf cart between the ninth and 10th holes, and briefly as he teed off at No. 10.

Golf course convoy: Usually uncrowded fairways become a traffic jam when Mr Obama arrives, requiring a motorcade of golf buggies

Even a bike ride! Mr Obama and daughter Malia can't even get in a little two-wheel fun without an entourage of pedalling secret agents following along behind them

After he finished, Obama returned to his rented farm in Chilmark for the evening.

Obama played the semi-private Farm Neck course during last year's summer holiday.

It also was a frequent stop for Bill Clinton when he holidayed on the Vineyard as president.

On Wednesday, Obama took the first family and some friends to a wharfside restaurant for lunch, then played nine holes at the Mink Meadows Golf Club in Vineyard Haven.

And before the weather turned, he played 18-hole rounds last Friday and Sunday at the Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown.

National Debt Poses Security Threat, Mullen Says

American Forces Press Service

DETROIT, Aug. 27, 2010 – The single biggest threat to national security is the national debt, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday, underscoring the importance of good fiscal stewardship and a need to stimulate economic growth.

American taxpayers are going to pay an estimated $600 billion in interest on the national debt in 2012, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told local leaders and university students here.

“That’s one year’s worth of defense budget,” he noted, adding that the Pentagon is going to have to work to “cut the fat” from its overhead spending.

“We’re going to have to do that if it’s going to survive at all,” he said, “and do it in a way that is predictable.” The Defense Department must be more fiscally responsible to prevent future appropriation cuts, the admiral explained.

Mullen addressed several venues here yesterday, including Detroit’s Economy Club, Detroit’s Regional Chamber and Wayne State University students. He noted that Detroit is one of the hardest-hit cities as the nation struggles to overcome a faltering economy.

The chairman called for a strong defense industry that seeks veterans for employment. A more fiscally responsible Pentagon, coupled with a growing veteran work force in the defense industry, could create jobs and prevent wasteful spending, he said.

“I need the defense industry, in particular, to be robust,” he said. “My procurement budget is over $100 billion, [and] I need to be able to leverage that as much as possible with those [companies] who reach out [to veterans].”

Mullen asked industry leaders to help in this endeavor. Industry leaders need to be more vocal and offer meaningful ideas to streamline their efforts, he said. Also, business leaders, the federal government and local communities need to determine better ways to integrate veterans into society and into their local work force.

Ultimately, industry, community and military leaders share the same goals, he said.

“I have found that universally, [industry workers] care every bit as much about our country, are every bit as patriotic and wanting to make a difference … as those who wear the uniform and are in harm’s way,” he said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates earlier this month called for reform in the way the Pentagon does business by working to eliminate duplicative, unnecessary overhead costs. Since 2000, the defense budget has doubled. The fiscal 2010 budget is $664 billion, compared to roughly $300 billion before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, Gates tasked the services to find $100 billion in overhead savings over the next five years. He also authorized the services to consider consolidation or closure of excess bases and other facilities.

Another immediate step Gates announced is the reduction in funding for support contractor personnel by 10 percent a year for the next three years. Gates is looking for ways to ensure the defense budget grows 2 to 3 percent each year.

That’s what is needed for the Defense Department to sustain itself, Gates said Aug. 9, but President Barack Obama can ensure only 1 to 2 percent growth of future budgets.

The Defense Department is determined to save money, Gates said, but it will be a challenge.

Mullen agreed.

“We’re not a business,” he said. “Part of us does this really well. Parts of us have never had to, plus our budget has doubled over the last 10 years.” Defense spending has not been prioritized as well as it should have, he explained, and leaders have not had to make tough decisions about programs and procurements. The Pentagon must return to more responsible fiscal practices, he added.

“A lot of those skills have to be sharpened,” Mullen acknowledged.

For industry and adequate defense funding to survive, the chairman said, the two must work together. Otherwise, he added, “this wave of debt” will carry over from year to year, and eventually, the defense budget will be cut just to facilitate the debt.

“It’s the responsibility of both sides,” Mullen said. “We have to gird ourselves for some pretty significant challenges, given the national security challenges that we have as well as the responsibility to steward every dollar that we have.”

Mullen was in Detroit as part of a three-day “Conversation with the Country” tour across the Midwest. The trip is geared toward urging community and business leaders and the academic community to step up in honing veterans’ skills and life experience. He met with business and community leaders in Chicago Aug. 25 and will be in Cleveland today.

EPA Surrenders to NRA on Gun Control Issue

In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency today rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn't have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. The decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories from Washington Whispers and the Weekly Standard about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban.

The EPA had planned to solicit public responses to the petition for two months, but this afternoon issued a statement rejecting a 100-page request from the Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, and three other groups for a ban on lead bullets, shot, and fishing sinkers. The agency is still considering what to do about sinkers.

The decision was a huge victory for the National Rifle Association which just seven days ago asked that the EPA reject the petition, suggesting that it was a back door attempt to limit hunting and impose gun control. It also was a politically savvy move to take gun control off the table as the Democrats ready for a very difficult midterm election.

The NRA has spent two years tracking down rumors that the Obama administration wants to impose gun and ammo bans on the public, but hasn't found anything credible. While the lead ban was viewed initially as a substantial chance for the administration to move into challenging the Second Amendment, the swift rejection by the EPA settled concerns inside NRA headquarters today.

Here is what the EPA just sent Washington Whispers:

EPA Denies Petition Calling for Lead Ammunition Ban

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today denied a petition calling for a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA sent a letter to the petitioners explaining the rejection – that letter can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/chemtest/pubs/sect21.html

Steve Owens, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, issued the following statement on the agency's decision:

"EPA today denied a petition submitted by several outside groups for the agency to implement a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA reached this decision because the agency does not have the legal authority to regulate this type of product under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – nor is the agency seeking such authority.

"This petition, which was submitted to EPA at the beginning of this month, is one of hundreds of petitions submitted to EPA by outside groups each year. This petition was filed under TSCA, which requires the agency to review and respond within 90 days.

"EPA is taking action on many fronts to address major sources of lead in our society, such as eliminating childhood exposures to lead; however, EPA was not and is not considering taking action on whether the lead content in hunting ammunition poses an undue threat to wildlife.

"As there are no similar jurisdictional issues relating to the agency's authority over fishing sinkers, EPA – as required by law – will continue formally reviewing a second part the petition related to lead fishing sinkers.

"Those wishing to comment specifically on the fishing tackle issue can do so by visiting http://www.regulations.gov. EPA will consider comments that are submitted by September 15."

Recession may have pushed US birth rate to new low

The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record: lowest in a century.

Births fell 2.7 percent last year even as the population grew, numbers released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics show.

"It's a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before," said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.

The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That's down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.

"It doesn't matter how you look at it — fertility has declined," Ventura said.

The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation's history. The recession began that fall, dragging stocks, jobs and births down.

"There is quite possibly a connection between the decline in births and the economic downturn," says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes the health statistics center. "More details on the demographics of mothers who gave birth in 2009 are needed to more strongly make this connection."

Another possible factor in the drop: a decline in immigration to the United States.

The downward trend invites worrisome comparisons to Japan and its lost decade of choked growth in the 1990s and very low birth rates. Births in Japan fell 2 percent in 2009 after a slight rise in 2008, its government has said.

Not so in Britain, where the population took its biggest jump in almost half a century last year and the fertility rate is at its highest level since 1973. France's birth rate also has been rising; Germany's birth rate is lower but rising as well.

The new U.S. report is a rough count of births from states. It estimates there were 4,136,000 births in 2009, down from 4,251,095 in 2008 and more than 4.3 million in 2007.

The report does not give details on trends in different age groups. That will come next spring and will give a clearer picture who is and is not having children, Ventura said.

Last spring's report, on births in 2008, showed an overall drop but a surprising rise in births to women over 40, who may have felt they were running out of time to have children and didn't want to delay despite the bad economy.

Heather Atherton is nearing that mark. The Sacramento, Calif., mom, who turns 36 next month, started a home-based public relations business after having a baby girl in 2003. She and her husband upgraded to a larger home in 2005 and planned on having a second child not long afterward. Then the recession hit, drying up her husband's sales commissions and leaving them owing more on their home than it is worth. A second child seemed too risky financially.

"However, we just recently decided that it's time to stop waiting and just go for it early next year and let the chips fall where they may," she said. "We can't allow the recession to dictate the size of our family. We just need to move forward with our lives."

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The Broken Window Fallacy

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Gold 2008! JP Morgan Fixes Prices and the Saudis Snag 180 Tons, Cheap

Something is bugging me. Where did Saudi Arabia find 180 tons of gold to buy at a bargain price in the first two weeks of November, 2008? During that period, buried among the stories about our newly elected president and our tanking economy, a few financial bloggers had time to post this

http://gulfnews.com/business/markets/gold-...

There has been an unprecedented demand for gold in the Saudi market recently, with over 13 billion Saudi riyals (Dh12.75 billion) being spent on the yellow metal during the last two weeks.
snip
Since soaring to an all-time high of $1,033.39 per ounce in March this year, gold has plummeted 30 per cent.
Gold for December delivery on Monday rose $8.60 to settle at $726.80, roughly the same level at which it traded a year ago.
"Many Saudi investors see this as the right time for making investments in gold as its price is the most reasonable one at present," said Al Mohna.

http://gulfnews.com/business/markets/gold-...

Wow! The Saudis got a bargain! Gold was down 30% right when it came time for them to start diversifying their oil portfolios. Obama had just been elected signalling the rise of the nuclear power and alternative energy industries in the US. The banks had collapsed. Mortgages were in default. Carlyle’s investment group was in debt. The U.S. dollar was circling the toilet. Where and how did the Bush family’s bosses in Saudi Arabia find that much gold for that kind of price?

Of course, no one is talking. So I will play my favorite game. Connect the dots:

In the Spring of 2008, when Bear Stearns was sacrificed to save Morgan Chase and Eliot Spitzer was being prosecuted by the DOJ for revealing the Banksters’ investment frauds, gold must have seemed like a safe bet. Prices were over $1000/ounce.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/13/markets/go...

By August, 15, 2008 gold was down to $786/ounce.

http://silver-and-gold-prices.goldprice.or...

Why? There are a whole bunch of theories, but this is the one that makes the most sense.

http://www.buy-high-sell-higher.com/2008/1... /

Briefly, the author of this article believes that the Banksters at JP Morgan and HSBC conspired to keep down gold prices for a few months in 2008. Why? So they could steal more of our money. Though demand for the metal was high all through 2008, and the supply was low, the price fell and remained artificially depressed.

You don’t believe that JP Morgan would or could manipulate the precious metals market? Here is a whistleblower who described how they do it earlier this year:

http://www.gata.org/node/8466

In November 2009 Maguire contacted the CFTC enforcement division to report this criminal activity. He described in detail the way JPMorgan Chase signals to the market its intention to take down the precious metals. Traders recognize these signals and make money shorting the metals alongside JPM. Maguire explained how there are routine market manipulations at the time of option expiry, non-farm payroll data releases, and COMEX contract rollover, as well as ad-hoc events.

On February 3 Maguire gave two days' warning by e-mail to Eliud Ramirez, a senior investigator for the CFTC's Enforcement Division, that the precious metals would be attacked upon the release of the non-farm payroll data on February 5. On February 5, as market events played out exactly as predicted, further e-mails were sent to Ramirez while the manipulation was in progress.

It would not be possible to predict such a market move unless the market was manipulated.

The day after he testified. Maguire and his wife were the victims of a hit and run driver. They survived. There was also a fire at the CFTC (although we are assured that nothing of value was lost)

http://mindbodypolitic.com/2010/03/27/cftc... /

Firedoglake complained of a media blackout, including the WSJ which is supposed to report all the financial news, right?

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/38690

More on the U.S. news media blackout here:

In the twelve days since this evidence was presented at the CFTC hearings, there have been no statements of denial coming from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, or any US government agency. The lack of coverage by mainstream US financial media is notable by its absence.
Outside of the US, this evidence has received extensive coverage. Murphy and Maguire have been interviewed for broadcasts in many European nations, including Russia.

http://news.coinupdate.com/strange-reactio... /

I became interested in the possibility of gold price manipulation today when an investment adviser said that if such manipulation was taking place, the U.S. government would cover it up to protect the value of its own gold supply. What if such a revelation had already been made? I wondered. I decided to start looking into gold. Unfortunately, there is one little fact that I have not been able to find. Where did the Saudis buy their gold?

Back to 2008. While ordinary investors were scouring stores trying to locate gold, the Saudis had no problem finding 180 tons of it.

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/News/2010/...

All of this leads to more questions:

Who told the Saudis that the price was heading back up? Folks at JP Morgan? Members of the Bush administration who were in on the Banksters’ little scheme? We will never know.

How much has the Saudi investment made them? Around $4 billon dollars according to my calculations. A drop in the bucket compared to their total wealth, but the ultra-rich are notoriously attached to money.

Where did that $4 billion profit come from? There ought to be a record somewhere. No one sells 180 tons of gold without leaving a paper trail. But I can not find this information anywhere! Help!

Why should you or I care? If you sold your gold between April and November 2008 for an (artificially) low price, it came from you. If your country (say the United States) sold some of its gold reserve---say, the reserve that is also described as being in the International Monetary Fund---for a low, low price, it came from you too.

FYI, interesting article about how difficult is to figure out exactly how much gold is where with the feds and the IMF sometimes declaring that they possess the same gold.

http://theostrichhead.typepad.com/index/20...

Who cares if the fed sold it? I care. Papa Bush works for the Saudis. If his son sold our gold (cheap) to his father’s employers that sounds like more insider trading to me. And we all know what an expert Shrub is on insider trading. If the IMF sold U.S. gold to the Saudis in 2008, that was illegal. The U.S. Congress did not authorize such sales until 2009 . Since then, the IMF has been on a wild selling spree.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61H3...

Note that India, the world’s biggest consumer of gold bought about the same amount which the Saudis acquired---at a 30% higher price. I don’t see why people are always putting down Islam. Allah obviously loves the Saud Family. He keeps throwing money their way.

Bad statistics for summer employment for youth

The share of young people aged 16 to 24 who were employed this summer fell to 48.9 percent -- the lowest rate on record since 1948.

Meanwhile, the raw number of youth who held jobs in July 2010 actually rose by 1.8 million from July 2009 to 18.6 million.

But as a percentage of the population, the share of workers in that age group fell, according to annual data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, released today.

The youth employment rate always rises in the summer -- and it went up this year by 571,000 from April. But that was half as much as in each of the two previous summers, the bureau said.

For the summer of 2010, the youth labor force totaled 22.9 million workers in July, an 11.5 percent growth from April youth payrolls.

Knowledge of the recession and bad job market may have kept young people from even looking for work. Also, many in that age group could have been enrolled in summer classes and not seeking employment.

For whatever reason, the proportion of the 16-24 age group that was working or looking for work also dropped this summer to its lowest percentage on record -- 60.6 percent. That was 2.5 percentage points below the rate recorded in Juy 2009 and 17 percentage points below the peak of labor force participation for that age group in July 1989.

About 4.4 million youth were actively searching for work and considered unemployed in July this year. That produced a youth unemployment rate of 19.1 percent, the highest rate on record for the month.