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A Goldman trading scandal? Posted by: Matthew Goldstein Did someone try to steal Goldman Sachs’ secret sauce? While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs. The allegations, if true, are big news because the codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, tried to steal is the secret code to unlocking Goldman’s automated stocks and commodities trading businesses. Federal authorities allege the computer codes and...

Sen. John McCain touched on a variety of topics with The Daily Courier while visiting Prescott July 4, from single-payer health care to a revived push for a national scenic area designation in the Sedona area. . . . . . Other topics with McCain included: . . . . . * Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. McCain said he hasn't decided how he will vote on Sotomayor, especially since he still needs to talk to fellow Sen. Jon Kyl about her. Kyl serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Suspicious N. Korean freighter yet to reach home: official By Sam Kim SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean freighter suspected of carrying weapons banned under a U.N. resolution has yet to enter North Korean waters, a South Korean official said Monday. "It has not yet entered North Korea. (The journey) will likely end within the day," South Korean defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said in a briefing.

140 slain as Chinese riot police, Muslims clash in northwestern city Eight hundred people are injured and hundreds are reported arrested in Urumqi. The Uighur demonstrators were protesting against racial discrimination. By Barbara Demick July 6, 2009 Firefighters are seen dousing a bus in Urumqi, the main city in Xinjiang, where China's ethnic Uighur minority is concentrated. Eight hundred people were injured and hundreds held as demonstrations against racial discrimination erupted into street violence. (Shen Qiao / New China News Agency / July 5, 2009) Reporting from Beijing - China's worst ethnic violence in years broke out Sunday in the...

After a low-profile Fourth of July, Sarah Palin took to Twitter this morning to decry her critics and urge supporters to weather the media criticism over her decision to resign as governor of Alaska. "Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again," she wrote through TwitterBerry, a mobile device application for the popular 140-character-per-"tweet" social-networking site. The brief message, consistent with the tone of her Friday news conference, during which she condemned as "blood sport" the national political process, came...

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" and didn't foresee unemployment levels nearing double digits, in comments likely to intensify calls for the administration to do more to counter job losses. Some economists are pressing the White House to enact a second round of stimulus spending or find some other way to avert a prolonged job and wage slump. But the White House is in a tough spot. Officials want to give the $787 billion stimulus package passed in February time to work -- only 10% of the spending is out...

More than 100 people have been killed and 800 injured in a riot which broke out in the ethnically sensitive far-Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. The death-toll, which stands at 129, marks a major escalation in the casualty figures from the disturbance which broke out on Sunday night after police tried to disperse a demonstration by members of the Uighur Muslim minority in the provincial capital, Urumqi. Initial reports said that just three people had been killed in running battles with police that left burned-out cars and buses and several smashed shop-fronts. Xinhua, the state-operated news service, did not provide...

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell had an unremarkable first year in office, loyally supporting Gov. Sarah Palin. But in the past year and half, a crescendo of unexpected announcements and dramatic developments have thrust him into a more prominent role, culminating with his unanticipated move into the No. 1 seat announced Friday. One day later a spokesman for the governor's office said Parnell would seek a full term in 2010. But for the next year and a half the job is all his. Parnell made headlines in March 2008 with his surprise decision to run against 18-term incumbent Don Young in...

A leftist candidate backed by an array of political parties successfully staved off his far-right opponent in a mayoral race Sunday that the National Front had hope would start its comeback. Other parties, from communists to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, rallied behind Daniel Duquenne whom voters designated the new mayor of Henin-Beaumont, a former mining town in northern France, in a runoff race. The victor was sprayed with tear gas minutes after the results were announced, a police officer said by telephone, confirming reports on France-Info radio and the French TV station iTele. Duquenne was not injured and the aggressor...

California's utilities are barreling ahead to try to meet a state mandate to garner 33% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, and some officials are concerned the effort might push up electricity prices and crimp supplies. The state auditor warned this week that the electricity sector poses a "high risk" to the state economy. A staff report from the state energy commission also warns that California could find itself uncomfortably tight on power by 2011 if problems continue to pile up. Utilities complain that the ambitious renewable-energy mandates, combined with tougher environmental regulations on conventional plants, are compromising...

Everyone's favorite Congressman, Barney Frank, made an appearance at the 2009 World Series of Poker Sunday, perhaps even upstaging bracelet record holder, Phil Hellmuth, who arrived dressed as a Roman emperor, complete with 100 models, 11 muses and a trumpeter.

Here is the You Tube address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStcIyQY-8s&feature=channel_page

Sarah Palin lacks what the GOP needs most The Republicans need a White House candidate with ideas, steadiness and the ability to unify. That's not Alaska's departing governor. Doyle McManus July 5, 2009 Is Sarah Palin the answer the Republican Party is looking for? Not likely. Palin's abrupt announcement that she's quitting as governor of Alaska may be part of a long-term strategy that leads to the Oval Office. But at the moment, it looks more like the impulsive act of a hot-headed politician who can't abide criticism -- poor attributes for anyone who hopes to run for president. Take...

I’m confused by all the confusion among the chattering classes about Palin. I thought her press conference explained it very clearly – though she couldn’t put it precisely this way without sounding vain, but it’s obvious. Even though she’s just a state governor, she’s a HUGE national star who is both sought after and attacked as if she is already a president (a Bush, not an Obama). But she basically can’t participate because she’s tethered to the governor’s office up in Alaska. Consequently, she has to fight with one hand tied behind her back and she also can’t go around...

The top Russian military commander, the Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Makarov during the Paris air show this week said: "Georgia is saber-rattling and preparing weapons to resolve its territorial problems by any means." Makarov accused NATO of supporting Georgian aggressive intentions and E.U. observers of ignoring Georgian rearmament and war preparations. Makarov stated that the Russian army and the FSB Border Guards in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are preparing together with local forces and forming new military infrastructure. He confirmed that the defense ministry will permanently station "somewhat less combat troops in...

MOBILE, Ala. — A woman who suffered third-degree burns after stepping into a shower of 136-degree water has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit against the apartment manager. The Mobile County court award to 25-year-old Treon Moorer, in late June, followed mediation with JRS Management Inc. of Florida. The company's lawyer, Larry Matthews of Pensacola, declined comment. . . . He said Moorer was "horribly scarred" from the neck down. Taylor says the water heater industry and burn doctors recommend a setting of 120 degrees.

Grand Strand marketers turn eyes toward Europe. BY MIKE CHERNEY MYRTLE BEACH — When it comes to attracting foreign visitors to the Grand Strand, some local tourism leaders are looking to Congress for help. The Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which has been introduced in the House and Senate, would create a nonprofit corporation to advertise the U.S. as a travel destination in foreign countries. The campaign would be funded by industry contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who do not have to pay for a visa. The travel industry, including the U.S. Travel Association and the American...

The debate about whether thoroughbreds should be treated with a diuretic on the day of a race became thornier Monday when researchers released a study showing that furosemide, known as Lasix, significantly reduces bleeding in horses’ lungs. Furosemide has been used to treat racehorses since the 1970s. Most countries ban race-day use of Lasix because it improves performance. In the United States, however, virtually every horse receives it on the day of the race. “The results of this study do not eliminate debate about the use of this medication in racehorses, but it does provide evidence needed to aid making...

A national strike by thousands of rain-forest Indians is spawning accusations of a proxy war involving Venezuela and an emboldened peasant movement seeking to undermine Peru's pro-U.S. president. For more than two months, thousands of natives have been protesting land reforms issued by President Alan Garcia. The laws -- required by a U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement -- open vast tracts of rain forest to private energy and agriculture investment. In April, natives angered by the new laws donned war paint and grabbed spears, overran roads and rivers, seized control of jungle oil facilities and blocked rural airports. Mr. Garcia initially...

US ambitions to send astronauts back to the moon as a prelude to missions to Mars have been put in doubt by budgetary constraints 40 years after man's triumphant landing on Earth's nearest neighbor. After the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003, former president George W. Bush decided to phase out the shuttle flights by 2003 and set a more ambitious mandate for America in space. Launched in 2004, the so-called Constellation program aims to take Americans back to the moon by 2020 to use as a launch pad for manned voyages to Mars.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "very destabilizing," top US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen said Sunday, warning that any attack could have serious "unintended consequences." "I've been one who has been concerned about a strike on Iran for some time, because it could be very destabilizing, and it is the unintended consequences of that which aren't predictable," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Fox News Sunday television program.

WASHINGTON'S traditional means of projecting power abroad was growing "increasingly obsolete" and its billion-dollar military hardware could be as ineffectual against future threats as the heavily fortified Maginot line was in defending France against the Nazis, a senior Pentagon adviser has warned. In a wake-up call to US military chiefs, Andrew Krepinevich, a leading architect of the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, argued that the Pentagon was ill-equipped to counter rising powers such as China, hostile states such as Iran, the threat from irregular forces such as Hezbollah, and terrorists such as al-Qa'ida. It was also wasting billions on...

Few small-business owners think the federal economic stimulus will help their companies, according to a survey by Intuit Inc., creator of QuickBooks and other software that manages finances. In addition, 98% have not received any money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and 86% doubt the $787 billion government spending and incentive plan will directly benefit their businesses. What do you think? Vote here

"Iran said Sunday it has released a British-Greek journalist detained for two weeks during its postelection crackdown..."

Several Hawaii churches are uniting to register tens of thousands of new voters in hopes of influencing 2010 elections for the Legislature and governor's office. Hawaii Family Forum is leading the effort, which also includes several Protestant Churches, the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, and the Mormon Church.... Even in the 2nd most unionized US state (NY is #1), churches are 64% larger than unions.

Three Republicans on the House panel that oversees the Census Bureau have asked fellow GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota to end her plans to boycott next year’s count. Reps. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia and John Mica of Florida issued a statement saying every elected representative has a “responsibility” to encourage participation in the 2010 Census. “Boycotting the constitutionally mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country,” they stated. . . . . . McHenry, Westmoreland and Mica – no fans of Acorn – pointed out an “unfortunate irony”...

US pressures IAI to drop bid on fighter jets to India By YAAKOV KATZ Under pressure from the Pentagon, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been forced to back out of a joint partnership with a Swedish aerospace company to compete in a multi-billion dollar tender to sell new multi-role fighter jets to the Indian Air Force. The deal, estimated at a whopping $12 billion for over 120 new aircraft, is being fought over by Lockheed Martin's F-16, Boeing's F-18/Hornet, Russia's MiG-35 and BAE's Eurofighter. IAI was asked by Saab, manufacturer of the Gripen fighter jet, to jointly develop an advanced...

ALL too often, natural disasters and human atrocities make only a fleeting impression. We watch fascinated and horrified as TV anchors give us their impressions while images of death and disaster roll across our screens. But soon, one particular crisis is overtaken by another, and relentlessly, the news cycle moves on. It is not until one sees and hears the survivors that the magnitude of a disaster really sinks in. This is what I experienced while watching Channel 4’s programme on its Dispatches series. Called Terror in Mumbai, the documentary retraces the steps of the terrorists as they first landed...

JULY 6, 2009 Minimum-Wage Increase Comes at a Bad Time for Weakened Job Market By KRIS MAHER The federal minimum wage goes up this month just as job losses are sending new alarms about the economy, giving traction to perennial fears that higher wages will hurt job creation. In the past, minimum-wage increases have done little to dent job creation. And pouring more money into people's pockets -- especially low-wage workers who are likely to spend the increase to meet living costs -- would normally boost the economy. But these aren't normal times. "It's tough timing," said John Silva, chief...

Andrew Breitbart takes on the elitist media, specifically the three female "feminists" who have been on the trash Sarah bandwagon from the beginning, and he does it with gusto: What a shock that Maureen Dowd devoted her New York Times column Sunday to attack Sarah Palin. It did not so much criticize Alaska's governor for prematurely stepping down from her official duties as to finish off what sister snipers Katie Couric and Tina Fey began last fall. The assassination of Sarah Palin - by media. For those who didn't pay attention, Mrs. Palin's unexpected stratospheric rise as a national political...

On Monday July 6, President Barack Obama is expected in Moscow for a summit to discuss nuclear arms control, Iran, Afghanistan the post-Soviet space and other issues. It has been announced that Obama will spend most of July 6 in formal as well as informal talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. There will be a joint press conference and a late night dinner with spouses (RIA Novosti, July 1). The two presidents will concentrate on discussing a progress report from the Russian and American negotiating teams that are working on preparing a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) (Interfax,...

The KEY sentence, of this Story is... "The new equipment requires fewer people to operate, making it more cost-effective in the long run, TSA officials say."

Obama says he gets daily prayers on BlackBerry Tech-savvy Obama is the first president to use e-mail while in office Sun., July 5, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he gets a prayer every morning on his BlackBerry. Obama told reporters from religious news organizations on Thursday that White House faith director Joshua DuBois sends him a morning devotional every day to his e-mail device. He says it's a "wonderful practice" that started during the campaign. Tech-savvy Obama is the first president to use e-mail while in office and is seldom seen without his BlackBerry. Only a handful of...

WINNIPEG — Manitoba exported a cache of guns worth $1.2 million to Saudi Arabia last year, but the federal government won't say who sold them, who bought them, or what they were used for. According to international-trade data available on the Industry Canada website, Manitoba exported a total of $3.1 million in "arms and ammunition" to foreign countries last year. That could include anything from flame-throwers to shotgun cartridges to rocket-launchers, and it's double what the province exported in 2004. Except for Manitoba's guns, Canada sold virtually no other weapons or ammunition to Saudi Arabia last year. Ontario was the...

MOSCOW -- With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.

BELEN, N.M. -- A Belen man is facing murder charges after deputies said he chased down two burglary suspects and then shot and killed one of them. The incident happened near Highway 314 and Gabaldon Road at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Authorities said 38-year-old Luke Sanchez somehow knew a business was getting robbed and took matters into his own hands. "As you can see, they had a good time," said Gerald Schell, manager of Enchanted Propane. When Schell showed up to his place of business Sunday morning, he said he found the place ransacked. Sheriff's deputies said two men are...

Police arrested a man early Saturday who had a bomb in a backpack that he may have been preparing to use at a school in the area, officials said. The man, identified as Jason A. Babson, 29, of 13 School St., Hudson Falls, was found with an explosive device just before 3 a.m. Saturday, said Hudson Falls Police Chief Randy Diamond. The FBI was notified of the incident and is conducting its own investigation into the matter. Hudson Falls Police Detective Scott Gillis said residents of the area where Babson was walking believed he made a comment about using a...

Rush Limbaugh Comments on Sarah Palin's Resignation  July 5, 2009  BEGIN TRANSCRIPTRUSH: This is Rush. I’m on a golf vacation, parts unknown, all week long. Six cities, six courses, starting today. On this Palin business, you know, one of the reasons I haven’t said anything to anybody is I don’t know what this means – and I think all of this is just speculation. We don’t know what her reasons for doing this are yet. The speculation here and the predictions here rival some of the irresponsibility I saw with people speculating on the cause of death of Michael Jackson when...

Workers at C.F Martin & Co. are putting finishing touches on the solid-wood 1 Series model, so named for its simplicity. It lacks inlay, as did the company's stripped-down 1930s model, and is expected to sell for less than $1,000, breaking a key price point and far less than its $100,000 limited-edition guitars made of Brazilian rosewood. More popular Martins generally sell for $2,000 to $3,000. Initial reaction is promising. The company, which had sales of $93 million last year, introduced the 1 Series in April and promptly sold out its first year's output of 8,000 guitars. "We needed something...

In his landmark 1942 book, "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy," economist Joseph Schumpeter emphasized the key role that creative destruction plays in generating long-run economic growth. It is the driving force of capitalism.

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya says he can't land at the main Honduras airport because soldiers are blocking the runway with several military vehicles. The pilot of his Venezuelan plane circled around the airport and decided that landing is "totally impossible" because of the trucks in the way. Groups of police and soldiers also are stationed around the runway and the perimeter of the airfield, facing off against thousands of Zelaya supporters outside. Zelaya says he'll announce later where they'll land. A crew of the Venezuelan network Telesur is on the plane. He told them Sunday that the pilots won't risk...

Great profile of the July 4th Tea Party, featuring Colonel Allen West, Everett of South Florida Tea Party and all the fiscally conservatively minded citizens of South Florida!

LOS ANGELES — Firefighters are battling a wildfire that has burned about 130 acres in the Angeles National Forest northwest of Los Angeles. Forest spokeswoman Dee Dechert says the fire was burning Sunday afternoon in the Little Tujunga Canyon area. She says it is 60 percent contained, with full containment expected Sunday night. Officials say there have been no injuries or evacuations. Moderate winds in the area are pushing the fire away from any structures. The blaze is burning near the site of October's Marek fire, which burned more than 4,800 acres.

As I was watching Sarah Palin these past weeks, even before her surprise announcement that she was stepping down as Governor of Alaska – to do what, exactly? – something kept nagging at me. What did she remind me of? Finally I figured it out: She's the Fatal Attraction of the Republican party. In the movie, Glenn Close plays an attractive and seductive woman with whom the married Michael Douglas character has a vigorous fling, never dreaming she is so loopy she will end up stalking him and his family. In one horrifying scene, Ms. Close's character boils the family...

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Oil price surge 'jeopardizes global recovery'... Developing...

July 4th Independence Day Tea Party - Philadelphia - Speaker

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! Sundays - 12-1 AM EDT, 11-12 PM CDT, 10-11 PM MDT, 9-10 PM PDT KRLA - 870 AM - Los Angeles -- KDWN - 720 - Las Vegas -- KFNX - 1100 - Phoenix "Stupid People of America !!! If You Ain't Mad, You Ain't Payin' Attention!" Call-In Number - (866) 870-5752 Don't miss Terry's July 5th show... When Terry will say ... "Geraldo says 'the immigration debate has demonized an entire race of people'. THAT'S THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK !!!!!" Plus: Can you guess WHO the most Horriblest Clown...

An elementary school under construction in Upper Marlboro will be named for President Barack Obama. The Prince George's County school board approved the name by a unanimous vote Thursday night. The 792-student school being built next to Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School is expected to open in August 2010. Board member Pat J. Fletcher (Dist. 3) spoke of civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Shirley Chisholm who gave generations hope for the future. "For my grandchildren, it is no longer a hope but a reality, and for many of our children, it's a reality now," Fletcher...

California teacher Crystal Defanti sent her students home with a video of class memories, but the DVD contained certain "memories" that were not appropriate for the students to see, Associated Content reports. The class memories DVD contained six seconds of the teacher having sex on a couch spliced between shots of the children, students at Isabelle Jackson Elementary School in California, sharing their memories in class.