Cioffi and Tannin, Bear Stearns Dynamic Duo led away in handcuffs by the FBI, charged with criminal offences ...après nous, le déluge

A September 2007 Business Week report said that at a London conference in February, 2006, Matthew Tannin, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, told investors that...

"... buying into one of the hedge funds he was hawking, the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund, was akin to putting money in an ordinary bank account"

The Feds.the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission made two major and very public moves today to crackdown, swiftly and very visibly, to demonstrate that wrongdoers in the mortgage meltdown can expect to be handled with ruthless efficiency.

The Bear Stearns Dynamic Duo, Ralph R. Cioffi, 52, and Matthew Tannin, 46, who just 18 months ago enjoyed their status (and 6 figure rewards) as top hedge managers in a firm at the vanguard of the residential mortgage backed seciritisation boom , were arrested at their homes early today. Cioffi at his family home in Tenafly, New Jersey, and and Tannin in his Manhattan duplex by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation .They were later indicted for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud this morning by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation .

The two men were charged with misleading investors about the health of two Bear Stearns hedge funds whose collapse last year ignited the subprime mortgage crisis. Cioffi was also charged with insider trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the men today, claiming they duped investors before the funds imploded.

If convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud or mail fraud, the defendants face as long as 30 years in prison. The case is U.S. v. Cioffi, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) about which we are going to hear a great deal more in the coming months.

Cioffi managed the two funds that collapsed, and Tannin served as his chief operating officer. The hedge funds invested virtually all their assets in subprime-mortgage-related securities. Their investment bets failed last June when prices for collateralized-debt obligations - CDOs, linked to residential mortgage loans plummeted , as they turned sour amidst rising late payments by and defaults by borrowers with poor credit histories or heavy debt.

U.S. prosecutors are focusing on an e-mail allegedly sent by the two suggesting that their funds were headed for trouble, four days before they told investors they were comfortable with their holdings, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people familiar with the situation.

Today, both men walked out of FBI headquarters in lower Manhattan looking straight ahead with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Cioffi, wearing a blue blazer, tan slacks and no tie, and Tannin, wearing a blue suit and tie, were led into separate vehicles.

In another move today, two government officials said more than 400 people have been charged in a U.S. Justice Department mortgage-fraud sweep.

Called Operation Malicious Mortgage, the arrests are to be announced this afternoon by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip at the Justice Department in Washington. A number of arrests were made earlier this week.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it was pursuing 144 cases against the 406 defendants.

The DOJ estimates that total losses to homeowners and borrowers from the identified mortgage frauds in this sweep amounted to about US$1bn (£500m).

"Mortgage fraud and related securities fraud pose a significant threat to our economy, to the stability of our nation's housing market and to the peace of mind to millions of Americans," Mark Filip, Deputy US Attorney General is reported saying. Filip was a Federal judge in Chicago and selected by Ed Mukasey to take over effectively from the position of Gonzalez's no 2 Paul McNulty who resigned last summer. He has an impressive pedigree, there will be a lot of cell doors slamming shut this summer.

Cases involve false employment records and inflation of property values.

As nanny used to say..."There'll be tears before bedtime"

For those who missed it, start at the bottom ....

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Bear Stearns : the gig is up , Bank Robbers to be charged this week

Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Bradford and Bingley catch cold, Wall Street gets pneumonia : S&P cans Big US Banks ratings - shares slide

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Lehman Bros 17/3 - " Our liquidity position has been and continues to be very strong,'' Offers US$3 Bn. Convertible stock 7.25% coupon / 33% discount

Monday, March 31, 2008 German Financial regulator BaFin estimates global shakedown of US$600 Bn of which German share is 10%

Ludwig von Mises summed it up like this:"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The question is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

Friday, March 28, 2008 The Banker's Money Pit swallows helicopter funds at an increasing and alarming rate. When do the Fed and the BOE run out of paper and printing ink ?

Monday, 17th March 2008 Bear Stearns basket case goes to J P Morgan for US$2 a share - share prices shrinking faster than Glaciers - Nightmare on Wall Street Part : 13

Friday , 4th March 2008 Bear Stearns shares crash 42% - Joe Lewis has lost US$600 Mn.

Friday, December 21, 2007 Bank robbers don't carry guns and wear masks these days

October 15th 2007 - You Tube- John Bird and John Fortune

Saturday, September 01, 2007 Bear Stearns - serial NY Bankruptcy Court appearances - fugitive UK citizen in the dock in Vienna - white collar crime - banking Caribbean style (Cioffi first fingered)

US Housing defaults rise again, City budgets hit , and bankruptcy looms as reduced Property tax incomes cut State employee retirement benefits

Realty Trac report today that default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 243,353 properties in the US which shows nationwide ;

1. A 4 % increase from the previous month
2. A 65 % increase from April 2007.
3. This represents about 2% of the total number of households in the US.

Nevada, California, Arizona continue to see the highest rates of foreclosure, with Nevada still highest, leaving one in every 146 Nevada households in April having a foreclosure filing, nearly 4 times the national average nearly and double the rate in April 2007.

California with 64,683 reorted filings came second , slightly down in numbers from March but 112 % up from April 2007.

6 California cities feature in the Nations Top 10. Merced took the top spot, followed by Stockton at No. 2, Modesto (3rd) Riverside-San Bernardino (4th) ,Vallejo-Fairfield (6th) Bakersfield (8th) - site of the ill fated Lehman / Sun Cal backed McAllister Ranch debacle. see Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Lehman Brothers investments exposed as losses pile up..Alpha female CFO Ms Erin Callan NYPD cop's daughter's is on the case (leaving Florida cities Cape Coral-Fort Myers (5th), Port Lucie-Fort Pierce (9th) Fort Lauderdale at No. 10.

Arizona showed accelerating foreclosure activity with a monthly increas in April of 26% a total increase of 181 % from April 2007,

Not only do foreclosures slow sales and depress prices it can affect Property Tax incomes , putting municipal budgets in peril. For example, the city council in Vallejo, California - with the nation's 6th highest foreclosure rate in April , and facing a projected US$16 million deficit in the fiscal year 2008-09 (commences July 1st) voted unanimously on May 7th to have the city file for bankruptcy. Which they did, on May 27th (City Press release)

Chapter 9 bankruptcy allows the city to gain temporary protection from creditors whilst allowing the city to continue to offer citizens necessary services.

The bankruptcy process will however $750,000 to $2 million in legal fees alone, city officials said.

More California cities may file for bankruptcy because they face the same toxic mix of falling tax revenue, rising payroll expenses and a slumping housing market . "I don't think Vallejo is unique," said Mark Levinson, a bankruptcy attorney hired by Vallejo. "Vallejo is not the only city in California or the U.S. that is saddled with employee contracts that are burdensome."

Vallejo promised its employees salaries, benefits and retirement packages that it simply cannot pay, signing generous labour contracts during economically flush times, claims Marcia Fritz, vice president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Gerald Parsky ( he served as the California campaign chairman for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.) of Los Angeles, former chairman of the UC Board of Regents to head a bi-partisan gubernatorial commission - Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission - that studied California's public pension and healthcare liabilities. Parsky's firm, Aurora Capital Partners, also happens to invest $150 million for CalPERS, which just happens to be one of the world's largest pensions.

After 12 months looking at the California's liabilities they reported in January that their unfunded obligations were a jaw dropping US$118 billion for retiree healthcare -- the state of California was on the hook for US$48 billion -- plus US$63.5 billion for pensions.(Full report pdf) pensions were funded up to 89% , they were 119% funded in 2000.

Last month Schwarzenegger ordered his finance director, Mike Genest, to find a way to pay down the state's $48-billion unfunded healthcare obligation over a 30-year period without "raising taxes or dipping into the state's general fund." Genest estimates it will cost the state an extra $1.1 billion annually to fully fund retiree healthcare. It's already kicking in $1.6 billion, plus $4 billion for pensions.

As a small aside the Parsky report recommendation 28 has widespread utility worldwide...

Which means, don't trust the actuaries, investment analysts, brokers, and check every assumption and calculation they make to arrive at their conclusions. Many (if not all) listed UK companies underfunded pensions to boost profits, share prices and Director's share option and bonuses.

At Appendix 3 Page 231 they even provide a through 16 page handy guide, "How to read an Actuarial Valuation" ...which is recommended reading to anyone with a Pension of any sort.

...and Lord Patel wished he had been able to read a copy about 15 years ago.

Mervyn the Moron ...Inflation Busters'R'Us .. or not as the case maybe in this global world of unexpectedly high prices which is due to Chinamen, er..

The Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn the Moron commenced his speech tonight in the most extrordinary fashion ...
"Can it really be only a year since we last met in this magnificent room? With the financial crisis continuing, I was tempted to deliver last year’s speech again."

Well up to a point Lord Copper , let us remind ourselves of Mervyn the Moron's wise words of wisdom last year ....

"Our central view remains that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills."

"Yesterday" said Mervyn, sounding as though he had just discovered the world wasn't flat....."Yesterday we learnt that inflation in May rose to 3.3%." .. continuing in Economics 101 he added to the world class crop of bankers and toilers at the economic cliff faces of the City of London ..."increases in food and energy prices ......are caused by the pressure of demand on the supply of food and energy in the world as a whole." Well might he have added "Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away ...."

He pursued Economics 101 and the Port moved on to the left (or is it the right?) "Where Bank rate will ultimately need to move to bring inflation back to target is impossible to judge now." (This is the MPC what goes up ...er.. might ..er. go down up or down ...er up ..er maybe . "Decisions on Bank Rate will be made one month at a time in the careful way that the MPC has developed over more than ten years..... "which is why the target is 2% and we have suddenely arrived at 3.3% and rising , the Unions baying for blood and more wages and the energy cartel companies (one of whom has as head of PR the Prime Minister Bro.) asking for a modest 40% increase real soon now.

What has slipped by King, Brown, Darling , Balls and his crew, is that the MPC is a one trick pony. It has one target, and one stick, no carrots. Living in a global world the much forecast, predicted and predictable huge rise in European energy costs (eg FCUKED) , the accompanying rise in grain costs as yearly stocks fell ,and living standards in the third world accelerated has hit us just as the money jugglers have destroyed our currencies.

Mervyn moved onto the UK Housing market ..."Banks are adjusting to the fact that many asset markets are unlikely to re-open in their old form and..." this on the day (see previous post) when the Treasury blithely state that the Northern Wreck debacle is going to cost the tax payer. £19.3 Bn by the time it hits the books and not £14 Billion as recorded just now. ..slight accounting adjustment you understand.. but then in Sir John Gieve you had an expert in adjustments to the books ...see below.

Asset markets won't re-open in their old form.. a new form has arrived in which the tax payer is shoring up God alone knows how many shaky balance sheets in the City through the Bank of England taking in any old iron as collateral.

Sir John Gieve ,Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

It is with enormous satisfaction that we can report exclusively that the most incompetent living Civil Servant, Sir John Gieve has "stood down" from the comical role of Deputy Governor of the Bank of England following his previous comic turn at the Home Office.

It will be remembered that he rushed along his Minister's mistress's, nanny's visa so she could accompany his mistress on a foreign holiday. It was his wife who acted as solicitor to David Blunkett when THAT affair was examined - but no conflict of interest there then.

Sir John left the Home Office to appear magically (and without any banking experience whatever) at the Bank of England , John Reid described the Home Office as "unfit for purpose" and the Auditor General wouldn't sign off the Accounts.(The National Audit Office report 31st January 2006: Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Home Office Resource Accounts 2004-05 (.pdf))

It will also be remembered (seeing ID cards enter the public conscience and the Press again) that Sir John Gieve was unable to provide accurate cost estimates to the nearest £2 billion or so for the Identity Cards Programme which Sir John had significant oversight of, and over which he came to blows with the better informed London School of Economics.

The National Audit Office report :

Could not reconcile Home Office cash bank balances, to the tune of £ 3 million or so, but they "do not suspect any fraud"

The Adelphi computer system (about which the previous years NAO report warned them) appeared to be unable to deal properly with failed Bank Automated Clearing System payements i.e. a bog standard function of a large accounting system.

There were lax financial controls and insufficient audit trails.

Subsequent investigations showd that £946 million of "adjustments" had to be made to the accounts.

"To illustrate the scale of the movements: the amount owed to the Exchequer by the Home Office of £68 million in the September draft accounts became an amount owed by the Exchequer to the Home Office of £112 million in the December draft accounts".

Considering the present levels of leakage of secrets from Government offices it is worth while remembering what the much maligned Sir John Bourne said about security ..

15. Additionally, reviews carried out by the Home Office's Audit and Assurance Unit (the internal audit function) and by my staff revealed significant control weaknesses within the main accounting systems. The reviews found control weaknesses within key Information Technology applications including access to the system, inadequate segregation of duties, the creation of standing data and the ability to interrogate and monitor changes made. These weaknesses made access to the database by unauthorised staff possible, representing a risk to the integrity of Adelphi data and exposing the Home Office to a greater risk of fraud and error.

21. ...... Absence of checks made against Human Resources records to ensure that new users are authorised, and leavers are removed promptly; and

Absence of controls to detect unauthorised access to the database.

It was of course during Sir John's time at the Home Office that the loveable Beverley Huighes lost her job because the ome Office c ouldn't count up how many immigrants there were or weren't and the "scam" that continued for 18 months over the handling of migration applications from Romania and Bulgaria.

Sir John's fuck up at the Bank of England was, one has to say, as unlikely an event as say.... forecasting exactly one year ago ..."that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills."

Mervyn the Morons Speech tonight is available on the BOE website here which is a bit easier than going to the BOE site and selecting About the bank > People> Mervyn King>Speeches by Mervyn King > select tonights speech

Odds on Sir John Gieve being ennobled soon ?

Northern Rock ... how to turn £14 Billion into £19.3 Billion between April and "over the summer" .Treasury prestidigitation and legendary legerdermain

Summer is here and with it the rain and the Treasury Summer Supplementary Estimates today ..

"At the Budget the Treasury announced that the Bank of England loan facilities to Northern Rock would be replaced with direct Treasury funding during 2008-09 in line with restrictions on central bank financing of government undertakings set out in the Treaty Establishing the European Community. The Main Supply Estimates published in April included a sum of £14 billion, the amount of the outstanding loan facilities projected at the end of the 2008-09 financial year.

Since then, the date of transfer has been agreed by the parties involved and the Treasury will transfer the loan facilities over the summer, at which point the outstanding balance is projected to be £19.3 billion. This Supplementary Estimate updates the provision made in the Main Estimate and will enable the transfer of the Northern Rock loan from the Bank of England to the Treasury at the agreed time. "

Monbiot's Calculus at work ...think of a number ... make it bigger.

Talking of Barclays and their Black, Black Hole ...1st May CEO Paul Idzik announced he was leaving Barclays. " seeking new challenges" ....Nothing heard of him since. CEO of one of the biggest banks in the world wants "new challenges" - flying to the moon / Mars maybe ?

So he had spats with John Varley and Bob Diamond .. he was CEO for fucks sake.

Pic GG at the Gee Gees - Gemma Garrett MP elect for Haltemprice and Howden, is struggling to keep her slim beautiful, lissom, (dare we say nubile?) figure as she is off to a family celebration in Belfast to celebrate big sister Lisa's baptism..."Mum is going to lay on a very big spread for all the friends and family" says Gemma trying to dodge the summer rain.

GG says,"Lord Patel had better have some super speeches ready for me" see website

GAO upholds Boeing Bid Protest for EADS/NG KC- X Air Force Contract FA8625-07-R-6470 -"Buy America" campaign pays an early Dividend, war not over yet

EADS CEO Louis Gallois was a model of calm this morning when he spoke to Lord Patel prior to the publication of the U.S. Government Accountability Office's "Bid Protest decision" on the protest by Boeing (69 page protest June 18, 2008) of the contract FA8625-07-R-6470, issued by the Department of the Air Force, for up to 179 KC-X aerial refueling tankers (see pic) . The initial contract announced on February 29, 2008, for EADS and their partners Northrop Grumman Corp. was to supply an initial 80 of their innovative and low cost tankers to the Air Force.

It is worth noting that on Page 2 the GAO say,"Our decision should not be read to reflect a view as to the merits of the firms’ respective aircraft." which doesn't lighten the burden on the Pentagon of the GAO's damning indictment and conclusion ; "We recommended that the Air Force reopen discussions with the offerors, obtain revised proposals, re-evaluate the revised proposals, and make a new source selection decision, consistent with our decision."

Louis' early morning calm will have evaporated as the GAO have backed Boeing’s protest on the contract award process for the EADS / Northrop Grumman contract , saying the Air Force made errors during the process and recommended that the Air Force should reopen the bidding and obtain revised proposals for the squilion billion dollar contract.

The Air Force (as does the RAF) need to replace their fleet of ageing aerial tankers - some dating back to the Eisenhower administration.

It is more than a battle over planes. It is a trans-Atlantic battle. Gallic and Teutonic pride, lost jobs , lost contracts as delays pile on delays. This involves not only the major players directly, but many hundreds of global subcontractors and suppliers depending on the outcome.

The February decision wounded the pride of Boeing ,who see the Air Force an essential teat for Government cash - and some claim, is a hidden subsidy for their civilian plane programs. To some it was proof (if needed) of the growing influence of foreign influence pedlars at the Pentagon - rather than , as some would claim ,signs of US technological leadership being eroded and overtaken , and plump overfed and complacent aerospace contractors used to getting contracts having to sharpen up their act.

Boeing have always held the inside track and their decision to protest about the Air Force choice whilst reflexive , carries some worrying baggage. Whatever the decision it delays provision of a much needed fleet and force requirement - in a global world they will have upset some major players with their multi million "Buy America" campaign - not least the Northrop Grumman workers in Mobile, Alabama , and NG managment who counter claim how they support American jobs on the contract. see pic (clickto enlarge or goto the website for more info) .

Boeing claimed the Air Force decision-making process was flawed (which is rich , considering their recent history of bribery and influence mongering - resulting in jail for a former senior Air Force procurement official and a former senior Boeing executive) and that their rebuilt and revamped Boeing 767 ( a smaller plane than the Airbus 330) — would cost less over the life of the plane than the EADS-Airbus tanker. They also questioned the maths of the Air Force when it concluded that the costs of the two planes were about equal - a point the GAO have upheld.

The GAOsay in the 6th of their 7 stated objections (page 3) -"6. The Air Force’s evaluation of military construction costs in calculating the offerors’ most probable life cycle costs for their proposed aircraft was unreasonable, where the agency during the protest conceded that it made a number of errors in evaluation that, when corrected, result in Boeing displacing Northrop Grumman as the offeror with the lowest most probable life cycle cost;..." sounds fairly damning. "Errors in evaluation" ...these guys are spending Billions of tax payers dollars.

If the decision is reversed (and the Air Force are given only 60 days by the GAO to resolve the issue) the GAO say the contract FA8625-07-R-6470 should be cancelled , and the Air Force pay Boeing's bid protest costs.

Boeing shares rose nearly US$3 on the news, about 5% ,but then settled back , up 50 cents. EADS shares reacted promptly and fell 50 E cents of about 3.5%. The Northrop Grumman website has an official response from Randy Belote, Vice President of Corporate & International Communications , "We respect the GAO’s work in analyzing the Air Force's tanker acquisition process. We continue to believe that Northrop Grumman offered the most modern and capable tanker for our men and women in uniform. We will review the GAO findings before commenting further." (see NG KC25 website)

This show won't be over until the fat lady has sung her song.

The Washington summer will be loud with well paid counsels hornswoggling, wheeling, dealing, ducking and diving, and sweaty browed Pentagon procurers busy at their lap tops - the result ? Yet more delay, a lower initial cost and an untidy and grubby compromise that will allow Boeing a share of the spoils.

Everyone has to win, their must be no losers. Watch out for Boeing having to ditch some over priced unwanted projects like the Hummingbird... and some lobbyists hospitalised with hernias hauling their wallets to the bank.

PS: An Associated Press report in the International Herald Tribune says "The Government Accountability Office said Wednesday that it found "a number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman." - those words do not appear in the official bid protest report on the GAO website and haven't been attributed to any source by AP. ... the lobbyists lies , counter lies, claims, and counterclaims have just begun.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 The GAO Reminds Us Why The Republicans Can't Be Trusted to Defend America

Bre(atht)aking News - David Davis is a Free Man bound for Glory on Freedom's Train

Three Hundreds Of Chiltern

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today appointed the Right Honourable (which means he is a Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council) David Michael Davis to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern. The Chancellor has also granted Mr Davis's request to be released from this appointment today.

Which means he couldn't (and didn't ) make his expected appearance at PMQ's today.

All very Odd.

Gemma Garrett (see exclusive pic)on hearing the news said " ... bring him on !"

Lord King continues to talk out of his arse... Situation Normal ...Amazing Pictures

This is what Lord King Chairman of the Bank of England said in his annual speech to the great and the good of the City of London at the Mansion House almost exactly one year ago on the 16th June 2007...

"Our central view remains that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills."

Since then he has had his term of office extended by a further 5 years. Today he wrote a letter the Chancellor of the Exchequer. His letter started rather abruptly and gave hime some information somwhat at variance with his thoughts just a year ago.

The CPI inflation rate for may ..is 3.3% more than 1 percentage point above our target of 2%.

It didn't get any better

That rise can be accounted for by large and, until recently , unanticipated increases in the price of food, fuel, gas and electricity. These components alone account for 1.1 percentage points increase in the CPI inflation rate since last December

Lord King probably mentioned December as Lord Patel as explained in these post wrote to him about his Mansion House speech on the 4th of January 2008..."Should you seek an explanation from Lord King and the BOE how they, and their serried ranks of Oxbridge double firsts in PPE, economists, econometricians, money jugglers, and forecasters so misread the global and (more importantly) the EU energy market you might contact them at enquiries@bankofengland.co.uk or even enquiries press@bankofengland.co.uk Lord Patel has ... and he will keep you informed of the consequences.

This was mentioned in a post Friday, January 04, 2008 Npower lead the rush with domestic UK energy prices rising over 17% when Npower led the charge putting up the prices of the UK gas cartel. The letter was brief and ..er. ... to the point "Can someone explain how the consistent and constant rise in global and especially EU energy costs had been ignored / overlooked when Lord King made his speech ? Regards Lord Patel PS An early response would be welcome."

Lord Kings reply arrived (eventually) and you can read it here...Friday, February 08, 2008 Lord Patel gets a response to letter to Lord King - eventually ..well a reply from Roger Beaton, Public Information & Enquiries Group which allowed, through the passage of time from Lord Patel's missive to it's reply for Marvellous Mervyn to cover his arse ..."the Governor has already addressed these matters in a speech he gave on 22 January this year. In particular he said “2008 is likely to see higher energy prices, higher food prices and, with a lower exchange rate, higher import prices, pushing inflation above the 2% target. It is possible that inflation could rise to the level at which I would need to write an open letter of explanation, ..." and so it came to pass.

One phrase from Mr Beaton is worth passing on and may be quoted in extenso "There is inevitable uncertainty about the future." ... and so say all of us.

Mervyn ends his leter to the Chancellor today ...

"The MPC remains determined to set interest rates at a level required to bring interest rates at the level required to bring inflation back to the 2% "target"

A pity that Lord Patel's letter did not prompt him and the MPC to an earlier response... he cannot say he was not warned.

David Davis - a resigning matter ?

Harry Barnes retired MP has a useful update on David Davis When Will David Davis Actually Resign? at his Blog 3 score Years and Ten

Up to press the Jackanory is that DD (website)will make some snide remarks at PMQ's on the morrow, resign and a writ moved for the bye election which could happen " if the Tory whips play ball" , (which is not a given) so that the bye-election is then likely to take place on 17 July.

Do not hold your breath.

UPDATE : Doh! Of course any money spent on flshy websites / PR bullshit / etc etc., BEFORE the writ for the bye election does NOT count as electroal expenses.

Meanwhile here is a picture of MP elect the glamourous , warm hearted, generous, fun loving Gemma Garrett who has asked Lord Patel to be her Speech writer .. her election blog is available here . Bookmark it , Gemma has some astonishing news that she will be revealing very soon.

Coming soon to a Supermarket near you. Kelloggs smaller boxes, Higher prices.

Cheetham Bell JWT advertising Agency won the Bronze Global Effie award for Kellogg's Special K -- "Drop a Jeans Size Challenge". The Effie Awards (it says here) "honour the most significant achievement in the business of marketing communications: ideas that work." Which is a smart thing for a promotion launched in 2003 .(Kelloggs Official History)

Which is even better news for a company (NYSE:K) that announced Q1 sales growth of 10% and operating profit growth of 9% (2007 sales US$12 Bn.) Results driven by price increases, innovation, and effective brand building - so the Company's Board of Directors announced plans to increase the quarterly dividend by 10% beginning in the third quarter.

Which is remarkable given the massive global increase in grain costs - well that's where the price rises come in . Innovation well, it's like the "Drop a Jeans size" challenge... Kellogs have come up with a winner, just as thair customers can shrink... so can their boxes.

Yes. Coming soon to a Supermarket near you. Kellogs smaller boxes, Higher prices.

Kellogs started rolling out the new cereal boxes with 2.4 ounces less per box from June 2nd., which equates to a price rise "to low or midsingle wholesale price increases " Kellogg spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz said today.

According to recent reports from Kellogg Co., costs from commodities, energy, fuel and benefits would rise by an amount equal to about 80 cents per share for the year, from an initial forecast of 65 cents.

Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies and Apple Jacks are the first off the line in their new compact higher cost content. This is after raising prices acros the whole Kellog product portfolio in January. They are not the first rival General Mills Inc. reduced the size of its boxes in 2007 to bring the shelf price in line with competition.

Of course this doesn't always work Germany-based retailer Metro (sales of €56.4bn last year) took Kellogg's products off its shelves last year after the cereal company attempted to pass on higher commodity costs through price hikes - an average of 2.7% .

We have brought this to readers attentuion earlier this year on Monday, February 25, 2008 Spring Wheat jumps 16% to US$23.10 a bushel as MGX opens with no limits trading - Big Food improves product pumps the price ...profits ..???? General Mills cut in half the number of pasta shapes it uses in Hamburger Helper, to 10. Food engineers and marketers even worked on the pasta bits so they nested together, enabling the company to shrink the box reducing packaging raw material costs 10%.

ConAgra wants to save US$225 Mn in cost savings - for example they will cut US$20 Mn. annually by reducing the number of can sizes from over 100 to 20 over 2 years, for everything from Hunt's tomato sauce to VanKamp beans. ...

Others like Sara Lee Bread - well they just keep pumping up the shelf prices. This is called their "Fuck the customer " Pricing Policy.

Bear Stearns : the gig is up , Bank Robbers to be charged this week

We wrote on Friday, December 21, 2007 in a post Bank robbers don't carry guns and wear masks these days about Barclays Bank seeking damages from Bear Stearns .


It appears that the smart stockpickers at Barclays had lent up to US$400 million to BS's asset management division (BSAM). It claims that it was defrauded by the unit and Matthew Tannin, a Bear Stearns fund manager, with the help of Vermonter Ralph Cioffi, 54, another executive.

BS at the time said , "we believe this lawsuit is an attempt by Barclays to avoid taking responsibility for its own actions."

Barclays alleges (with good cause) that Mr Ralph R. Cioffi ( A Trustee of The Boys' Club of New York ) and Mr Tannin misled them about the value and security of the funds, the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund and the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund. In the court papers Barclays (who had just written off US$1.7bn of shareholders funds in loans and mortgages) also claims that Bear Stearns dumped troubled investments in the riskier of the two funds. (Bankers , my word is my bond etc., ?????)The suit describes Bear Stearns' conduct as "wilful, malicious, reckless and without regard to Barclays' rights and interests".

Barclays has been under pressure over its exposure to the credit crunch, which has frequently depressed its shares. The bank announced the month prior to this action that it had written off US$1.7bn in loans and mortgages.

Their claim states: "Bear Stearns, BSAM and Cioffi hatched a plan to make more money for themselves and further, to use the Enhanced Funds a repository for risky, poor-quality investments by creating a new investment vechicle called Everquest Financial Ltd ... co-led by Cioffi and through which he stood to benefit personally."

As a small sideshow Mr Cioffi was at the time already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the American regulator, over allegations that he withdrew about US$2 million of his own money from one of the funds before its collapse. A 23-year veteran of Bear Stearns, and one of its most highly compensated employees (8 figure bonuses claimed) over the previous 3 years due to his hedge funds' double-digit returns, Cioffi had millions of dollars worth of restricted stock - which are now worthless.



BS lady Elizabeth Ventura who gets got star billing as Senior Managing Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, said on Dec 17th 2007 that Mr Cioffi had "stopped working for the company " the previous week but wouldn't expand on the reasons for his exit.

Anyway what goes around comes around and the with Saturn/Neptune cycle ending as Saturn transits into Virgo, Reuters reports that time is up for the rogue BS traders Cioffi and Tanner.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York is completing interviews this week and has indicated to lawyers that indictments will follow. Any charges brought would be the first brought against Wall Street executives or fund managers stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis. The Times today claims criminal charges will be brought against the dealing duo that they deliberately misled investors about the funds' health, and intentionally overstated the value of their funds assets.


A September 2007 Business Week report said that at a London conference in February, 2006, Matthew Tannin, a senior managing director at Bear, told investors that buying into one of the hedge funds he was hawking, the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund, was akin to putting money in an ordinary bank account, according to "a person in attendance"


A commentator to the above story calling themselves Brandon Davis was extraordinarily perceptive ...." This is just the beginning of the end for the "collateralized debt obligations" feeding trough. " Sep 13, 2007 10:01 PM

Most of this was all detailed in a post Saturday, September 01, 2007 Bear Stearns - serial NY Bankruptcy Court appearances - fugitive UK citizen in the dock in Vienna - white collar crime - banking Caribbean style which provided details of 2 BS funds that got creamed in so-called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, backed by home-loan bonds and other "assets" were"Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Master Fund Ltd., 07-12383 " which raised US $642 million on the launch last last summer. (Ralph Cioffi managed the fund and to lose 20% in it's brief 10 month life - they had "re-stated losses" in April from 6.5% to 18.97% or 23% for the year).

A sister and less ambitiously titled fund - " Bear Stearns High- Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Master Fund Ltd., 07-12384," fared better but flunked all the same. Together both funds lost investors US$1.6Bn and their collapse is said to have "triggered" the summer time "Credit Crunch".

Barclays said that in early 2007 " calls and emails were dodged as they sought performance information " - which was when Cioffi was extracting his own US$2 MN from the crashing "Master" fund. We now know that Cioffi also had with his team inveted an entity called Klios*** in April, 2006, one Klio CDO bought $114 million worth of securities from one of the Bear funds.

Such trades, says Steven B. Caruso, an attorney who represents several Bear hedge fund investors, may be "indicative of an incestuous, self-serving relationship that appears to have been designed to establish a false marketplace." So with Pluto going into Capricorn late last Spring all the bad debt and financial wizardry the investment and commercial banks had engaged in was just ready to pop.

Reuters say, in the po faced way they do, "Former bond portfolio managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin could be charged with securities fraud within the next week, according to one of the people familiar with the matter(OOTPFWTM). A lawyer for Tannin declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Cioffi's lawyer could not immediately be reached."

Remarkably (OOTPFWTM) said no that no charges would be filed against Bear Stearns (the firm) or its top management, which is of course now part of JP Morgan , whose lawyers did not respond ....

At the end of May U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan upheld a bankruptcy court's decision last year requiring that the 2 bankrupt BS funds be liquidated in U.S. courts after an appeal by the liquidators (Simon Whicker and Kristen Beighton, of KPMG). See report on Judge Lifland in the (Bloomberg) S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) post here Saturday, September 01, 2007 Bear Stearns - serial NY Bankruptcy Court appearances - fugitive UK citizen in the dock in Vienna - white collar crime - banking Caribbean style This decision will have implications for other funds that seek protection under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which covers cross-border insolvencies - it will also expose some very interesting aspects about how the money markets and so called mortgage backed securities were bundled up and sold. See Sidley Austin LLP etc.,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote : Maybe in the History of the 2007 Crash the Klio will prove to have a fundamental and starring role. Cioffi needed money for his funds and he tapped into a new investor in the mortgage market - money market funds- the $2 trillion universe of money-market accounts in which individuals and corporations temporarily stash their spare cash.

The Klio was an aggressive form of collateralized debt obligation, or CDO that he launched. It is now evident that this new source of mortgage funding contributed to much of the $10 billion-plus in writedowns that Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) were forced to tell their shareholders about last November.

Cioffi's CDOs, initially branded "Klio Funding," were entities that sold commercial paper and other short-term debt to buy higher-yielding, longer-term securities. The Klios made money market men's eyes sparkle. OK they paid a higher interest rate than the usual short-term debt. Iinvestors didn't need to worry about the risky assets the Klios owned because Citigroup had agreed to refund their initial stake plus interest, through what's known as a "liquidity put," if the market soured. Cioffi engineered three such deals in 2004 and 2005, raising $10 billion in all.
Citigroup got fees, Cioffi collected fees, from each deal he purchased billions in mortgage-backed securities and pieces of other CDOs for his three Klios. He bought many of the assets directly from the two Bear hedge funds he managed. The move also supplied the hedge funds with cash.

Klios also had a welcome feature , hedge funds like the BS duo Cioffi managed would typically borrow short periods of time, days or weeks. Under the terms of the Klio deals, Cioffi could use the money for at least a year.

This magic formula spread - hedge fund money jugglers, CDO managers, and banks, including Barclays, Bank of America, and Société Générale, took the lead from Cioffi. As Klios offered a refund policy, money-market managers didn't have to worry about whether home buyers would pay back their loans. Their investments were protected even if the owners eventually defaulted on their mortgages. (See reports of Feb 2006 investors meeting in London )

Indeed, as the bubble inflated, there was little incentive for the array of middlemen collecting fees—mortgage brokers, real estate appraisers, bankers, money managers, and others—to do the proper checks.

From 2004 through 2007, Wall Street raised some $100 billion through these innovative CDOs, essentially creating a whole new way for the industry to finance risky subprime loans. That success, in turn, inspired copycat products such as structured investment vehicles, which also sold short-term debt. At their peak, in February, 2007, SIV assets were said tio have reached US$300 billion.

Barclays have announced some losses but observers believe many others lie hidden. Société Générale transferred all of its risk to a large, global financial institution to wind down at arms length.

With the Moon in Aries the fall had to come and Cioffi set up another (and final) CDO, High Grade Structured Credit CDO 2007-1. This issued short-term paper and offered investors a money-back guarantee from Bank of America. Cioffi had raised nearly $4 billion by late May, making it the biggest CDO of the year. Weeks after the CDO closed, BS twin Hedge Funds managed by the Dynamic Duo collapsed.

By early August the market to use CDOs to raise cash was dead. Money-market funds had stopped buying the short-term debt, and the credit markets froze. Citigroup and Bank of America were forced to make good on their guarantees to investors in Cioffi's CDOs, triggering huge (and as yet unknown) losses at the two banks.

"The good times of too-high price almost always engender much fraud. All people are most credulous when they are most happy; and when much money has just been made, . . . . there is a happy opportunity for ingenious mendacity."

Walter Bagehot Lombard Street 1873

David Davis who hates ID cards , Fleishman-Hillard, Kevin Bell and getting "Public Acceptance" of ID cards... and more

Paul Borge
paul.borge@fleishman.com
+44 20 7395 7120
This is the man who on 13th June Registered DAVIDDAVISFORFREEDOM.COM with the address 40 Long Acre London WC2E 9LG which magically changed on Monday 16th to David Davis, 32 Main Street, Willerby, East Yorkshire, HU10 6BU

Lots more at Famous for 15 megapixels , ahead of the pack as usual, there are also especially well informed commentators on the subject of Mr Borge's employers who are Fleishman-Hillard Inc., one of the world's leading public relations firms, visit the Fleishman-Hillard Web site at http://www.fleishman.com/.

Fleishman-Hillard is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (http://www.omnicomgroup.com/).

Kevin Bell, Regional Director of FH (and also a M. Thatcher groupie) spoke at the conference organised by Intellect , ID Cards: Towards Procurement and Implementation a one-day conference held in London on June 6, 2005 - the Title of his talk was "Achieving public acceptance". See Intellect web Page about event here.

Many of the companies involved in that event were also members of Eurim who describe themselves .."EURIM brings together politicians, officials and industry to help improve the quality of policy formation, consultation, scrutiny, implementation and monitoring in support of the creation of a globally competitive, socially inclusive and democratically accountable information society. It works across all boundaries to help set the agenda, stage constructive debate and report on progress." ..and example of their work was a meeting last week

Identity Management & Information Assurance: Keys to the Kingdom?
EURIM-APGIF Parliamentary Showcaseon Identity Management and Information Assurance
Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, Westminster, Tuesday 10 June 4pm to 8 pm
Introduced by Margaret Moran MP and Philip Dunne MP
Guest Speeches begin at 5.30pm with Martin Kearsley, Strategy Director, VocaLink and Duncan Hine, Director of Integrity, Identity and Passport Service. Web Page here

The showcase will provide demonstrations of proven, large-scale, secure identity management and information assurance systems from both private and public sector. The event is designed to enable Parliamentarians and invited guests to learn about practical experience with the people and processes, not just the technology used to support these. Event Sponsors ;


Alcatel-Lucent
Lucent Technology Services was considered one of the world's premier communications companies with blue chip customers. It had begun a fledgling customer reference program but needed to broaden and better leverage its relationships in a way that demonstrated their impact to sales and marketing efforts. Fleishman-Hillard consulted with Lucent, acquired by world communications leader Alcatel, to help build a best-in-class program, including measurement vehicles, customer acquisition and fulfillment protocols, audio and video customer testimonial summaries, online customer communities, customer advisory councils, and podcasts to market the program within the company. Today the program enjoys wide support across business units and regions worldwide.

Atos Origin andGovernment Gateway
BT
CSC
DeLaRue
Experian
Edentity
Fujitsu
IdenTrust
Identity and Passport Service
Sapior
VocaLink

FH have good friends too their Homeland Security group can call on ;

Tom Ridge, the first secretary of Homeland Security.
William S. Cohen, former secretary of defense.
David A. Kessler, M.D., former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner.
Dr. Louis Sullivan, former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary.
Howard Safir, former New York City police commissioner and chairman and CEO of SafirRosetti, a full-service security consulting, investigative, and intelligence firm.

PS : As of writing DD still hasn't technically resigned.

Policing your Freedom - War criminals escape

BNP’s Richard Barnbrook (and Mayoral candidate for Bristol) leading Januaru 24th's coppers’ march of shame (Barnbrook’s ’s on the left of the picture looking pleased with himself in the light brown suit)

Searching for details of the news bunny (don't ask) this popped up on Google, thanks to thebristolblogger.wordpress.com who evidently has some sort of long running row with the Editor of the Bristol Cancer (who Bristol Blogger calls News Bunny Norton).

This pic shows 650 brave local bobbies (20% of all serving officers of the Avon & Somerset Police) - who apparently managed to get all the way from Hyde Park Corner to Westminster without stopping for doughnuts or writing off a police car - no room was found in the paper for the uncomfortable truth that this poor hard-done-by bobbies’ march was led by a senior member of the BNP and defied the very SOCPA laws the coppers are happy to violently uphold on most weekends while trousering generous overtime payments.

The law Bristol Blogger refers to is of course the The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Area) Order 2005 which restricts demonstrations in the purlieus of the House of Commons (The Mother of all Parliaments).

It is interesting to note that the march today protesting about the war criminal President George Bush was refused entry down Whitehall . The Daily Mail reports smart arse Deputy Assistant Commissioner Allison of the Metropolitan Police saying : 'We have not banned their march. They asked for a particular route. That route is just not open to them. Part of Whitehall has to be closed, and is being closed, on security grounds.' Film at Indy media as Mp4 or as .wmv Uniformed coppers using batons and then the heavy mob move in. Also available at YouTube

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Area) Order 2005
is of course another of those restrictions on freedoms of expression and right to demonstrate that David Davis and the Conservative Party were happy to support.

See Liberty Briefing Wikipedia Entry Repeal SOCPA website meanwhile if you have trouble going to sleep read this BBC report

A broad consensus in favour of a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities ....

The Israeli government no longer believes that sanctions can prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. A broad consensus in favour of a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities -- without the Americans, if necessary -- is beginning to take shape. Spiegel ONline "We will see the Middle East in Flames"

Israel can only depend on American support for as long as current George "Dubya" Bush is still putting his boots on the table in the Oval Office. They are convinced that the country cannot truly depend on any of the candidates to succeed Bush in office.

A single nuclear strike would have devastating consequences for this small country, which is half the size of Switzerland. International strategists commonly refer to Israel as a "one-bomb country."

Jerusalem's military leaders claim that Tehran could curtail every Israeli military campaign, in the Gaza Strip, for example, with only the credible threat of a nuclear strike. Despite its military strength, they say, the country would be practically defenseless.

Even worse, the mere existence of an Iranian nuclear bomb, the government in Jerusalem believes, would trigger an exodus of the educated elite that could spell disaster for the country, both economically and culturally. "Iran would be in a position to destroy the Zionist dream without even pressing a button," says Ephraim Sneh, a retired general and cabinet minister for many years.

Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who travels regularly to Jerusalem and Washington for political talks, warns that Israel could see the Bush presidency as its last chance to gain American support for a military strike. "Politically speaking, the window for action is now, in the last months of George W. Bush's term in office," Fischer wrote recently. "The Middle East is headed for another major confrontation."

Others share this sense of unease. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, a foreign policy expert and member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), says that he has "the unsettling feeling that the contemplation of a military option against Iran is gaining a new dynamic in Israel." He is on the German Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a staunch supporter of Israel. He was at the NATO Riga summit where people like Uzi Arad, formerly Mossad Director of Intelligence and foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Netanyhu and H.E. Oded Eran Ambassador for Israel to the European Union, Israel were present when the new NATO stance to the Middle East were discussed.

Vice President Dick Cheney "would still want an attack," says Flynt Leverett, a former official in the US State Department and now a Middle East expert with the New America Foundation.

Many Israelis still hope that the Americans will do the job for them. "It could still be the case," says , Dani Yatom, a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, "that George W. Bush wants to guarantee himself a place in the history books with this last act." Jerusalem recently received approval from Washington for a purchase of F-22 stealth bombers after a visit by Gates and the House of Representatives lifted ban on sale.

PS : The Dream Of Afghan Democracy Is Dead - By Anatol Lieven, New America Foundation The Financial Times June 11, 2008... "public statements of faith in Afghan democracy are coupled with private expressions of near-despair when it comes to hopes of improving Hamid Karzai’s administration" so Gormless Gordon sends more troops ...after wehave Tommy Taliban "on the back foot"

They have a seminar at the New Americ Foundation tomorrow Lessons from Iraq Avoiding the next War

For details of the new centrifuges at Natanz shown to IAEA see :
Iran Installing More Advanced Centrifuges at Natanz Pilot Enrichment Plant: Factsheet on the P-2/IR-2 Centrifuge
Meet Iran's new centrifuge

This is a very rare photograph of 50 that Lord Patel took in April this year when President Ahmenididjad toured the Natanz Uranium fuel processing facility.


Here is one showing the critical bottom bearimg


More available on request.

Compact, pre-fabricated factory built housing - design that should be easy, but isn't

There is a fascinating exhibition at MoMA "Home Delivery - Fabricating the Modern Dwelling" , which few can visit, but a brilliant and absorbing website that everyone can.

Prefabricating modern dwellings should be easy. It isn't . Few people try to attempt it on any large scale although small, easily transported housing is in massive demand in the wake of environmental disasters.

There are six projects underway at MoMA - Cellophane House - Burst 008 - Micro Compact Home - Housing for New Orleans.

This A340 crew rest cabin fascinated -
Simply go to the website and explore - there is a great deal more.

Also see this article today in the Baltimore Sun which takes up the theme of the MoMA exhibition "No need for nails - Home based on sustainable design tosses out conventional building practices"

Malalai Joya's Memoirs "Raising My Voice" to be published by Random House imprint ..

The memoirs of Malalai Joya, "Raising My Voice" have been bought by Judith Kendra, the much-respected publisher of Random House imprint Rider - Judith worked for the highly respected NGO, Minority Rights Group in the '90's.

Malalai Joya who was recently awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, was suspended a year ago from the Afghan Parliament after she likened it to "a stable or a zoo... full of animals". "Raising My Voice," will be published in the US, Canada, Australia and across continental Europe, will recount Joya's story as well as chronicling the situation in Afghanistan, through war, occupation and terrorism and what she sees as the current mockery of democracy.

In the House of Commons, Mohammad Sarwar asked about the Foreign Secretary about her dismissal from Parliament and received this answer from Gobshite Welshman Kim Howells.... :Kim Howells (Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Pontypridd, Labour)9th June 2008

"In May 2007 Malalai Joya was suspended for three years (until the end of the legislative term) by her peers in the Afghan parliament for contravening Article 70 of the Afghan parliament's rules of procedure. Article 70 states that members of parliament who insult others are subject to disciplinary action. Action was taken against Ms Joya after a media interview in which she said that the Afghan parliament was worse than a 'stable or zoo'. (She actually said " "A stable or a zoo is better [than the legislature], at least there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk. This parliament is worse than a stable or a zoo." )

Ms Joya has the right to challenge the decision and has indicated her intention to do so. Together with EU partners, we regularly raise the issue of freedom of expression in Afghanistan and look forward to Ms Joya and the Afghan parliament resolving this internal parliamentary issue.A member of our embassy staff met with Malalai Joya on 1 May 2008.

Ms Joya gave an account of her suspension (to our Ambassador perhaps?) by the Afghan parliament and discussed Afghan politics.

So that's alright then. Article 70 (which was especially promulgated to deal with Ms Malali Joya) can stand then. We, who pour Billions into this sordid corrupt country run by warlords , gangsters and drug dealers can carry on. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch noted that members of parliament have regularly criticized each other, but no one else has been suspended.

"The article banning criticism of parliament is an unreasonable rule that violates the principle of free speech enshrined in international law and valued around the world," said Adams. "The Afghan parliament should be setting an example by promoting and protecting free expression, not by stamping it out."

It is to be hoped her book details the shitty intrigues of the nasty Diplomatic staff in Kabul who deny democracy keep the puppet Karzai with his gangster family on top of his throne of bayonets.

This is a woman with balls... Read her speech in Florence on receiving the Giglio D'oro award July 23, 2007 ..." For speaking the truth against warlords, I am receiving constant death threats, but when they could not silent me by threats, assassination attempts and any kind of abuses, they finally kicked me out of the parliament. But I am happy about that, it shows that I have been successful in my mission to uncover the mask of some criminal and dark-minded elements like Sayyaf, Rabbani, Qannoni (who MJ has publicly exposed embezzled US$25MN from the Education Ministry) , Gulabzoy, Ulumi, Haji Almas, Haji Farid, Mohaqiq, Kazimi, Farooqi and many other such murderers.

Defend Malalai Joya website here

How to buy a Labour MP's vote in one easy lesson by Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith

Some citizens may have missed the sordid detail of how one Labour MP's vote was purchased after meetings with the Prime Minister ...

Mohammad Sarwar (Glasgow Central, Labour)



I want to thank the Home Secretary and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister for the various meetings we have held to address the concerns about the impact that counter-terrorism legislation has on law-abiding British Muslim communities. What safeguards can my right hon. Friend guarantee to ensure that individuals who are arrested and detained for more than 28 days are fully compensated for the immense damage done to them and to their families and communities?


Jacqui Smith (Home Secretary; Redditch, Labour)


I am glad that my hon. Friend has been willing to engage in such a constrictive way in ensuring that we deliver provisions that safeguard all our people regardless of their background. He identifies the wholly exceptional nature of holding anybody in detention beyond 28 days and for up to 42 days. I know that he, like others in the community, has expressed concern about those who have subsequently been released without being charged, and because of the representations that he has made, I have asked my officials to develop an ex gratia scheme that, because of the exceptional circumstances, would be available to compensate those who had been detained and then released without charge, or who had faced any other executive action. I hope that that offers my hon. Friend some reassurance, both about the exceptional nature of our proposals and about the fact that they are designed to protect all our communities, regardless of their background.

"... the Taliban ..on the back foot.... leadership ... severely dislocated and fractured.."licking their wounds" Brig. Gordon Messenger : Part : II

Now that Johnny Taliban is well on the back foot - and as a result of the Commander in Chief's visit to see Gordon Brown the BBC report Defence Secretary Des Browne is due to give details to MPs at 1530 BST that more British soliders are to be sent to a certain death in Afghanistan.

This increase in suicidal soldiers visiting Afghanistan at public expense is expected to bring overall UK suicide soldiers Afghanistan to more than 8,000 - mostly based in Helmand.

The PM, speaking at a press conference with President George Bush, said the military presence would be increased to keep up pressure on the Taliban - who is ..on the back foot.... lacking leadership ... severely dislocated and fractured.. er ..."licking their wounds"

MOD Operations In Afghanistan: British Casualties Official website

13th June - Ministry of Defence confirms the deaths of Lance Corporal James Bateman and Private Jeff Doherty of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) on Thursday 12 June 2008 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Commanding Officer of 2 PARA, Lieutenant Colonel Joe O'Sullivan, said ""They died doing what they had been asked to do, operating in difficult country against a dangerous enemy to make it harder for the enemy to influence the people and give those people the chance of a better life."

Cyril Smith and Punishment

There have been frequent and interesting comments made recently to the post Tuesday, February 26, 2008 The UK elites and their prediliction for sex with children which some readers may have missed.

Born again .... or dead in the water ?

There is a curious born again feeling about the (so far) public declarations of support for David Davis. There are some like Tim Collins, BBC 's RentaGobshite on War, Iraq and military pride, you wouldn't really want to travel on the same bus with ... Lord Patel was involved from Day 1 with Craig Murray in successfully unseating the evil Jack Straw in Blackburn in May 2005 - fighting on a single issue ticket.

In this neck of the psephologists dugout we are anxiously waiting for David Shayler to appear ....

UPDATE : The exciting news is that Lord Patel has (with the help of Toni Fabuloso on Make-up) been appointed Official Speechwriter to Miss Gemma Garrett prospective MP for Haltemprice and Howden.

The full texts will be available at her special webpage here.

The first task is to draw up a list of all the legislation which David Davis (59, and boy he looks it) and the Conservative Party have supported the Government which reduces freedom, increases surveillance, proscribes expression of what, where and when a citizen may express their views, maintains databases inaccessible to the public about their movements and personal Details - CCTV - Automatic Number Plate Recognition - Travel (especially to the USA) - DNA (many held by Private companies) - Fingerprints (run by a US defence company) - Bank Transactions (Swift) etc., etc.,

Any help in drawing up this detailed list would be very welcome.

For example :
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
2000 CHAPTER 23 (Full text) Which received Royal Assent on 28 July 2000
HMG Explanatory Notes are here
There is a website that tracks the use of this Act : Regulation of Investigatory Powers Information Centre

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (full text) Which received Royal Assent on 18 November 2004
HMG Explanatory Notes are here
It is worth noting the Act "confers a power on Her Majesty (or in certain very limited circumstances, a senior Minister of the Crown) to make regulations if an "emergency" has occurred or is about to occur. ...Subsection (1) defines "emergency" for the purposes of Part 1. Events ..... disruption of fuel supplies.

All these speeches will be in the context of The Police State Road Map which if you haven't read it you should, it is available here http://www.policestateplanning.com/chapter_1.htm

Gemma Garret will show that the Conservative Party and their Shadow Home Secretary and wannabe leader David Davis have agreed with every piece of legislation over the past 10 years the only time they have forced a vote in the House of Commons is over 42 days detention without charge in the current Counter Terrorism Bill.

That vote was not to enforce a long held freedom, to defend an ancient right, they gave those away a long time ago, it was held purely to embarass a hounded Prime Minister. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't give you bragging rights on the Magna Carta and habeas corpus.

Gemma Garret will ,through a series of superb speeches lay bare the way for a Police State has been prepared, relentlessly and with bi-partisan zeal, and in conjunction with Governments of Foreign Powers.

KeyCorp, Fifth Third and making mistakes on SILO's and LI-LO's about Tax deductions, dividend cuts ... slaughter on Wail Street

On Friday, May 30, 2008 the US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a statement .

Key Bank (NYSE:KEY) and PNC Bank (NASDAQ :PNC) had a partnership which operated a Sale-In/Lease-Out (SILO) transaction on German municipal utility in Wuppertal - to whit , one trash disposal and energy generation plant. The banks claimed their partnership acquired the plant for US$423Mn. and leased the plant back to the utility for at least 25 years on the same day- December 7, 1999. The utility continued to use and operate the plant without interruption, while the banks claimed depreciation deductions on the plant and interest deductions on loans used to finance the SILO transaction.

Judge James Gwin ruled these paper transactions did NOT represent a purchase and that the US$100 plus US Tax deductions were improper and that his court ,"held the partnership was liable for penalties for substantial understatement of tax." The Court DENIES the Plaintiffs’ claimed depreciation deductions under § 168, interest expense deductions under § 163(a), and amortization of transaction costs deductions. The Court also upholds the IRS’s imposition of accuracy-related penalties at the partnership level for substantial understatement of tax liability under § 6662(a). Slam Dunk.

This decision, says the DOJ marks the first time a federal court has addressed the propriety of tax deductions from a SILO transaction. Earlier this year, a jury in Cincinnati ruled in favor of the government in a case involving several Lease-In/Lease-Out (LILO) transactions executed by Fifth Third Bank. (see IRS Press Release from 1999)

A consequence is that Cleveland based KeyCorps Board has decided to halve the dividend on KeyCorp's common shares by 50 % starting Q3 2008 dividend, to an annualized dividend of $0.75 per common share. The dividend reduction will result in Key retaining approximately $200 million of capital annually. The Directors also issued stock (dilution) in order to raise US$1.65B (gross) in fresh capital on Friday the 13th. KeyCorp , the Directors explained will take an after-tax accounting charge to earnings and capital in the range of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion for the leveraged lease tax litigation and all of KeyCorp's other contested leveraged lease transactions.(The Directors declared a Qtrly regular cash dividend of $0.375 per share of its common stock on 15th May)

Ouch!

Which if you look at KeyCorps share price - it took a nosedive and halved and it looks like someone took out some mighty big sell orders last week.

Now how many more SILO's / LI-LO's are out there with their accompanying fancy Federal Tax deductions and "penalties for substantial understatement of tax"? How many dividends were earned by "tax deductions" , how many handsome "bonuses" paid ? How many tax lawyers took their fees ? Keep an eye on Comerica (NYSE: CMA ) and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB )still declaring good yields at 8.3% and 12.0%. Comerica down 26.7% and Fifth Third's stock down 41.5% since January .....

PNC Bank

To those interested in how banks minimise their liabilities here is a remarkable tale ....

Lilia Odhner was employed by Pittsburg based PNC Bank in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, as a Customer Service representative on September 28, 2006 when Lilia suffered a traumatic brain injury at her workplace and became permanently disabled. Her employment was terminated by PNC Bank after 90 days of her disability for allegedly "abandoning her work." Her full and permanent disability was confirmed by a Federal Judge in her Social Security Disability decision in November 2007.

Her disability Workman's Compensation insurance coverage was denied by PNC Bank and Zurich American, a unit of Swiss insurance giant Zurich Financial Services.

Even so Lilia doesn't have memory of immediate events resulted in her brain injury, the alarming circumstances around Lilia Odhner's injury were recorded by the bank branch surveillance video camera. However, PNC Bank and Zurich Insurance Company refuse to surrender the videotape to the court despite of Lilia's attorney requests to the Workman's Compensation Judge Michael Rosen and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Workers' Compensation Appeal Board presiding by the Commissioner Joseph Hoeffel.

More Links here
http://loveyourbrainnow.com/
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/PNC_Bank_Pensylvania_and_Zurich_Insurance_Lilia_Odhner_case
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