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Strange. Canada and Australia both have AAA rating yet after the S&P downgrade for US to AA+, their currencies slip in value.

James Bond actor Daniel Craig has recently admitted he believes the script for the latest Bond film is far better than Casino Royale. The Cowboys & Aliens actor said he was excited to reunite with Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes for the upcoming Bond 23, where he will be reprising his role as secret agent James Bond. During an interview, the actor told Cowboys & Aliens director Jon Favreau: "I think it's a great choice because Sam has a fervour and energy to really direct a Bond movie, with a capital B."

The first screen adaptation of a James Bond book was telecast on October 21, 1954 on the anthology series, Climax!. Barry Nelson played CIA agent Jimmy Bond. Wikipedia article IMDb article Casino Royale (1954) The Curious Legacy of Casino Royale In spite of the YouTube titles, this was shown in 1954, not 1953. You may have to crank up the volume a bit: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Linda Christian, the Hollywood starlet of the 1940s who married heartthrob Tyrone Power and went on to become the first Bond girl, has died. Her daughter, Romina Power, says Christian died Friday in Palm Desert after battling colon cancer. She was 87.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!!! July 14, 2011 Contact: (323) 556-2623 LOS ANGELES—The newly formed black led South Central L.A. Tea Party group will hold a major rally to expose the lies and misinformation of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) during its 102nd annual convention in Los Angeles on July 24. The purpose of the rally is to bring attention to the failed liberal big government agenda of the NAACP and to expose their lies and hypocrisy on race issues. Who: South Central L.A. Tea Party What: Rally to expose the failed big government agenda and lies...

Bill Gross has reversed course, with the manager of the world’s largest bond fund scaling back bets against the value of US government debt in June as investors sought safety in Treasuries. Pimco’s $244bn Total Return fund increased its holdings of government debt for the second consecutive month and returned its overall position in what it terms “government-related securities” to zero for the first time since February, according to a report issued by the company on Tuesday.

An animal rights activist who burned down a Colorado sheepskin store as well as a leather store and restaurant building in Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday. Walter Edmund Bond, 35, pleaded guilty to felony counts of arson and violence involving animal enterprises. He has already been sentenced to five years in Colorado and could face between five to 20 years for the Utah fires when sentenced Sept. 19. Prosecutor John Huber said the government will argue to make the Colorado and Utah sentences consecutive to one another. "He is unapologetic. He is an unrepentant serial arsonist,"...

"Bond v. United States and Standing to Challenge Putative President Obama on His Eligibility to be President The U.S. Supreme Court on June 16, 2011 decided Bond v. United States, 564 U. S. ____ (2011). The Bond decision does not say anything that has not been expected regarding filing a case which can establish standing to challenge Putative President Barack Obama on his legitimacy to be President. It has always been my position that a criminal defendant or someone being compelled to pay money challenging an Obama-endorsed Congressional statute which is the basis for the criminal charge against him or...

The Space Shuttle has dominated American space policy—and American space culture—for over three decades now. As Wired magazine recently noted, the shuttle appeared in numerous movies and books and television shows for decades, everything from (shudder) Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (not exactly a shuttle, but it had wings), to a classic episode of The Simpsons (“I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.”), to Top Gear, to (shudder again) Armageddon, to Space Cowboys.

The James Bond film series ended the 1970s with one of its most extravagent entries, Moonraker, where James Bond went into outer space. For the first Bond film of a new decade, producer Albert R. Broccoli opted to bring the gentleman agent back down to earth in For Your Eyes Only. Moonraker hadn’t used much of Ian Fleming. For Your Eyes Only would tap the plots of two Fleming short stories, For Your Eyes Only and Risico. Both had been published in the same 1960 collection of short stories by Fleming. Broccoli brought back screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who hadn’t been...

CHICAGO (CNNMoney) -- Pimco founder Bill Gross reiterated his warning to cash out of Treasuries Wednesday afternoon. Investors who have been betting on Treasuries are destined "to get cooked like frogs in an increasingly hot pot of water," the well-known bond bear told attendees at a Morningstar Investment conference in Chicago. Gross, who manages the $235 billion Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTAX), said real interest rates, which remove the effect of inflation to measure the actual yield an investor receives, have fallen into negative territory. He pointed out that Treasury inflation-protected securities with a maturity of 5 years are trading...

Last Monday [March 21, 2011] marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Arthur “Jibby” Jibilian, the WWII O.S.S. radioman who risked his life in Operation Halyard to help rescue more than 500 U.S. pilots who were shot down over Yugoslavia. This was done with brave assistance from the Tuskegee Airmen. The operation was part of the largest WWII rescue from behind enemy lines, and since it couldn’t have happened without the Serbs, the story has been suppressed and remains largely unknown to Americans. Few people can boast Jibby’s patriotic credentials, yet when our fighting men and women were sent...

The voters of Rio Rancho voted down a $22 million bond proposal yesterday by a more than 2 to 1 margin. The proposal - which was strongly opposed by the local Tea Party - would have raised money to repair roads and to expand and extend existing roads. City officials claimed that the bond was needed as general revenues were not sufficient to maintain existing roads. The Tea Party claimed that with recent increases in the Gross Receipt (Sales) Tax and property taxes general revenues should be sufficient. They also argued that the projects were poorly planned and that the...

"Fundamentals are horrifying: unfunded pension liability [is] growing from $7 trillion this year to $11 trillion next year to $15 trillion in two years. Health care costs going up at 9 percent a year, inability to raise taxes ... headline risk is predominant," Albrycht said. "You need to have aggressive reform, like we are seeing in New Jersey. You need to have governments dealing with the situation, like we're seeing in Wisconsin and Illinois," he added. If over the next 24 months there is not pension reform, the munis are in trouble, Albrycht went on to say. "13 states right...

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the text of a statement Thursday by Standard & Poor's regarding it's decision to convert its credit ratings on the United States to "unsolicited": Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said it converted its issuer and issue credit ratings on the U.S. federal government (AAA/Stable/A-1+) to "unsolicited." This conversion follows previously announced conversions of the ratings on seven sovereigns in Europe. These actions, in turn, follow new EU regulations on credit ratings (Article 10(5) of EU Regulation 1060/2009), which address matters relating to the disclosure and presentation of credit ratings, requiring, among other things,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Federal Reserve official says he may push for an early end to the central bank's $600 billion bond-purchase program if inflation shows signs of spreading. Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, is an outspoken critic of the program, which is slated to end in June. Plosser says he "would not rule out" pressing the Fed for an early end to the program if the economy grows more strongly than anticipated and inflation picks up too much speed. The Fed's next meeting is March 13.

Pimco’s Total Return Fund, the largest bond fund in the world and which is run by Bill Gross, has reported that its holdings of US government-related securities fell from 22 per cent in December to 12 per cent in January. The proportion of US government-related holdings, which includes US Treasuries, is at the lowest level held by the $239 billion fund since January 2009 when it held 15 per cent of its assets in the category. In September last year, one-third of the fund was held in government-related securities. Under almost any scenario, interest rates appear to be heading higher....

A Salt Lake City man connected to animal rights activism faces up to 20 years in prison for setting fire to a Denver-area store that sells products made from sheepskin. Thirty-four-year-old Walter Edmund Bond ...also faces federal charges in Utah for fires at the Salt Lake City Tandy Leather Factory Store, and the Tiburon Fine Dining restaurant in Sandy.

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's Mount Shinmoe erupted again on Wednesday, spewing more lava, smoke and ash through the area, the country's meteorological agency said. The volcano erupted twice on Wednesday, at 5:25 a.m. and 10:47 a.m., Japan's Meteorological Agency said. Since January 26 when it broke its decades-long slumber, the volcano has erupted seven times, the agency said. For many outside Japan, Mount Shinmoe is known for its role in the 1967 James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice," where it served as the lair for the villain, Ernst Blofeld. In the nearby town of Takaharu, ash blanketed cars, houses...