When the fiscal times are tough, the tough go and install still more red light cameras to nab drivers with $50 fines? That's New York City's plan, although their excuse is to improve motor vehicle safety at 50 locations around the City. That will bring the total number of cameras to 150.
The City hopes to generate $6 million in fines.
I'm a fan of the tv show House, and last night's episode was truly a shocker as Kal Penn's character, Dr. Kutner, committed suicide. Everyone is left grappling with the issue, and Penn wanted to leave the show in order to pursue other interests.
Penn is going to the White House. He's going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison.
Yes. I was incredibly honored a couple of months ago to get the opportunity to go work in the White House. I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I'm going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They're basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It's similar to what I was doing on the campaign.Penn's character was one of my favorites on the show among the new characters brought on in the past season. The role on House and the new job at the White House is quite a leap from Penn's prior roles in stoner movies like Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
Will you actually be working in the White House?
PENN: This particular office is in the executive building. The White House has two buildings: the actual White House and an old Navy building called the Old Executive Office.
Are you there as long as Obama's in office?
PENN: A lot of that stuff is up in the air. This is a relatively recent development.
Safe to say you're taking a huge pay cut?
PENN: Oh, yeah. There's not a lot of financial reward in these jobs. But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honor.
The Vermont Legislature voted to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill granting gays and lesbians the right to marry in Vermont. The override means that Vermont will authorize such marriages. It is the fourth state to do so behind Connecticut, Iowa, and California Massachusetts [ed: thanks to anonymous emailer for the fix]. However, in those states, it was the courts that dictated the policy, not the legislature.
Vermont was the first state in the country to authorize civil unions as a means to extend benefits to gay couples.
Under the US Constitution, such marriages will be given full faith and credit by other states.
You may not agree with the idea of gay marriage, but the legislative approval is preferable to judicial diktat.
Every time there's an energy crisis, we're told that we should turn down our thermostats to save energy and to save the environment by reducing smokestack emissions. People can save significantly on their energy bills:
You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home. By turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for 8 hours, you can save about 5%–15% a year on your heating bill—a savings of as much as 1% for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long. The percentage of savings from setback is greater for buildings in milder climates than for those in more severe climates.So, why is NJ Transit keeping the programmable thermostat in the Radburn train station set at 75 degrees?
To what end is Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) planning on visiting Darfur, Sudan?
US Democratic Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will visit Darfur next week, a US official said on Monday, amid signs of thawing US-Sudan relations.It's being billed as a fact-finding mission, but we already know the facts. There's no way that the US is going to take action against Sudan to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and the Sudanese government in Khartoum is well on the way to finishing the job.
"John Kerry will arrive in the middle of next week, he will visit Darfur and meet with officials in the country. His visit will last a few days," the official said, requesting anonymity.
US President Barack Obama's new Sudan envoy Scott Gration is currently in Sudan, where he appealed for stronger relations with Khartoum and met several Sudanese officials.
Gration was in south Sudan on Monday and might meet President Omar al-Beshir in Khartoum before returning to the United States at the end of the week.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Beshir last month for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the six-year conflict in Darfur.
Beshir's regime has since expelled many international aid organisations working in Darfur, where Gration has said the humanitarian crisis is "on the brink of deepening."
The NY Daily News has learned that the Iranian nuclear program was getting aid and support through various New York banking transactions used by Chinese individuals:
The Manhattan district attorney's office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.Expect those involved to claim that these are dual-use materials and that they are not meant for Iran's nuclear program, but the fact that all of these materials were involved suggests that they were for Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.
"This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already," a law enforcement source close to the case said.
"We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran."
Experts say Iran, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears close to amassing enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb. A United Nations embargo bans Iran from acquiring the high-tech metals needed to make a long-range nuclear weapon a reality.
The indictment will outline the financial conspiracy behind 58 different transactions, including shipments of various banned materials from China to Iran between 2006 and late 2008.
Among them:
* 33,000 pounds of a specialized aluminum alloy used almost exclusively in long-range missile production.
* 66,000 pounds of tungsten copper plate, which is used in missile guidance systems.
* 53,900 pounds of maraging steel rods, a superhard metal used in uranium enrichment and to make the casings for nuclear bombs.
The recipient is believed to have been a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense Ministry.
The suspect, who is not believed to be in the U.S., set up four bogus import-export companies that did business with six Iranian shell firms, one source said.
"They took elaborate steps to conceal the identity of the shipper and the recipient," the source said.
The deals went through "several" New York banks, which cooperated when the alleged plot was uncovered.
"The New York banks were completely unaware," the source said.
In June 2006, the United States Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned LIMMT for its support of and role in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to Iran. As a result of the sanctions, LIMMT was banned from engaging in transactions with or through the U.S. financial system, and remains banned to this day. Subsequently, LI FANG WEI and LIMMT used alias names and shell companies to continue LIMMT’s international business. LI FANG WEI and LIMMT’s purpose in doing so was to use fraud and deception to gain access to the U.S. financial system, to deceive U.S. and international authorities, and to continue the proliferation of banned weapons material to the Iranian military. The aliases presented above and charged in the indictment were some of the names employed by LIMMT in its fraudulent scheme.UPDATE:
The indictment charges that during the period from November 2006 through September 2008, LIMMT sent and received dozens of illegal payments through U.S. banks by using aliases and shell companies. Because LIMMT was banned from transacting with U.S. banks, any transfers sent in its real name would have been blocked by the U.S. banks. U.S. banks employ sophisticated anti-fraud and anti-money laundering computer systems to detect illegal payments from sanctioned entities and people. By substituting aliases in the place of its true name, LIMMT deceived U.S. banks into processing its transactions. The result was the falsification of the records of banks located in Manhattan relating to dozens of illegal transactions.
Mr. Morgenthau said, “Our banks have high standards and sophisticated systems to stop these transactions, but this conduct was specifically designed to defeat their systems.”
Mr. Morgenthau noted the parallels between this investigation and his Office’s ongoing investigation into “stripping,” as announced in the recent $350 million settlement with Lloyds TSB Bank of the United Kingdom. Like that investigation, the investigation of LI FANG WEI and LIMMT presents an example of the use of fraud and deceit to access the world’s financial systems, including banks in Manhattan.
LIMMT conducted its non-military commercial business primarily with U.S. dollar payments. These payments were processed, or “cleared,” by U.S. banks. These payments, although from non-military customers, were nonetheless illegal under U.S. law because of LIMMT’s status as a proliferator of WMD. LIMMT’s Iranian military shipments were paid for primarily in Euros. For all of these payments, from both the Iranian military subsidiaries and LIMMT’s commercial customers, LIMMT used its alias names to complete the transactions.
In all of LIMMT’s transactions, the wire payments were sent to and from a limited number of Chinese banks that handled the accounts of LIMMT’s front companies. The investigation into the role of the stripping banks and the Chinese banks continues. Mr. Morgenthau said, “Banks that provide access to the world’s financial systems to criminals, proliferators and terrorists should expect that they will be found out and prosecuted. Sanctions are effective only if they are enforced. We may not be able to shut down Mr. LI’s factories, but we can shine a spotlight on his conduct and the conduct of the foreign banks that permit these types of operations to flourish.”
A strong 6.3 quake hit central Italy, killing more than 150 people and wounding 1,500+.
Rescue workers using bare hands and buckets searched frantically for students believed buried in a wrecked dormitory after Italy's deadliest quake in nearly three decades struck this medieval city before dawn Monday, killing more than 150 people, injuring 1,500 and leaving tens of thousands homeless. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake buckled both ancient and modern buildings in and around L'Aquila, snuggled in a valley surrounded by the snowcapped Apennines' tallest peaks.And despite the fact that Italy is a NATO ally and a staunch supporter of the US, the US has thus far provided $50,000 in relief. You would think that's a joke, but it isn't. That's the precise amount that the US has donated to the Italians for the relief effort, which also happens to be a fraction of a percent of the amount that the US has pledged to the Palestinians, who have repeatedly attacked Israel and killed Israelis and Americans.
It also took a severe toll on the centuries-old castles and churches in the mountain stronghold dating from the Middle Ages, and the Culture Ministry drew up a list of landmarks that were damaged, including collapsed bell towers and cupolas.
The quake, centered near L'Aquila about 70 miles northeast of Rome, struck at 3:22 a.m., followed by more than a dozen aftershocks.
Firefighters with dogs and a crane worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory of the University of L'Aquila where a half- dozen students were believed trapped inside.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, thank you very much. And, President Gul, you could not be a better host, and we are grateful to you and your team, as well as all the people of Turkey for the extraordinary hospitality that you've extended to us.I'm curious how exactly he would intend to bring in rescue crews and provide immediate assistance in the future if he's busy directing the Defense Secretary to gut the airlift capabilities and contemplates dropping an aircraft carrier or more from the fleet? At the same time, how exactly is he going to minimize the damage as much as possible moving forward since this was a natural disaster - an earthquake in a region prone to quakes? Would not a better way of stating things be that he hopes that the relief and recovery efforts get underway and the US will be there to provide whatever assistance is needed if asked?
As you mentioned, we just heard the news of the earthquake in Italy, and we want to send out condolences to the families there and hope that we are able to get rescue teams in and that we can minimize the damage as much as possible moving forward.
The Obama Administration is wasting no time in listing programs it would love to cut in the Defense Department, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has prepared the list for the Administration. Top among those programs to be cut are the F-22 fighter and C-17 transport. Also to be cut are the airborne laser program, the Marine VH-71 presidential helicopter program, and the Future Combat Systems, which is an Army program to integrate combat systems all across the battlefield..
While the media is going to focus on the C-17 and F-22 program cuts and eliminations, I'm more concerned about the possible reduction in carrier task forces beyond the number already in active service.
Obama cutting weapons systems may make sense if they're going to dedicate more money to other needed weapons programs or to prepare for other combat scenarios.
That isn't going to be the case, as the cuts are literally all over the place and cut programs large and small.
These program cuts are going to affect military preparedness is ways large and small. They're going to make US forces more susceptible to danger from new technologies being deployed by our enemies (and they're out there and testing the US at every turn). They're going to make the US more reliant on older systems, like older transport aircraft and combat aircraft, which are nearly the end of their useful lives.
Heck, the biggest stimulus package could have been achieved through a significant weapons buildup since guess who could benefit from the defense expenditures on planes and tanks and Humvees - the unions via GM, Chrysler, GD, Boeing, and Lockheed. Instead, we get porkfest and a gutted military.
Worst of all is the idea that we're going to cut the number of active carriers still further. Time was, the US wouldn't do with less than 14 active carriers. Now we're facing the possibility of fewer than 10? There are more threats, and more demands in more places around the planet, and Obama's looking to cut carrier task forces as a cost saving measure? Indeed every President since FDR has wanted to know where the carriers are should a crisis arise, and here the Administration is looking to cut the carrier fleet even further?
How many lives will be lost as a result of that decision. All you have to do is think back to the SE Asian quake/tsunami and know that it was US Navy carrier task forces that were on scene and providing aid faster than anyone else, and lives were saved through the hard work and dedication of our sailors and Marines. That would not be possible if we scale back our carrier numbers, and it means that enemies like China, who are announcing that they've got new weapons to attack carriers from standoff distances, would have an even greater advantage.
At a time when China is announcing that they've got new capabilities to take out US aircraft carriers and surface ships, we're signaling that we're going to drop their numbers even further?
At a time when the number of threats is rising and countries like North Korea are openly flouting and ignoring UN resolutions by carrying out missile tests, we're canning airborne laser systems designed to take out those kinds of threats?
These are bad policy choices and the result of an Administration that would rather remake the US as a far weaker version of itself that is incapable of waging war overseas. After all, if you have an army but have no way of deploying it, you can't start wars (or finish them).
UPDATE:
Of course, if you've been paying attention to the Democratic party for the past decade, you'd know that they were looking to cut the military wherever possible. Now, they've got the knives out and are looking to carve up the capabilities at a time when our enemies are probing to see what we're made of.
Which is more important? City Council staffers getting raises or NY Police Department raises? In a recession? Well, the police department is putting a hold in grade promotions, but the City Council, which sets the city's budget, is more than happy to provide raises to staffers.
Despite the city's dire fiscal situation, the City Council doled out 90 staff raises this year, with one aide getting a $20,000 increase even though his title did not change, The Post has found.The Post does not provide the total amount of money involved from these raises, but it could have gone to the police officers deserving of promotions.
A review of council salaries from fiscal years 2008 and 2009 show 64 staffers got double-digit increases in pay. Kenneth Mitchell got a bump from $95,976 to $115,976 when he worked as chief of staff and general counsel to Councilman Michael McMahon (D-SI) Mitchell did not return calls
In the first three months of the year, just one cop has gotten a discretionary promotion -- compared to 180 in the same period last year, records show.So, at a time when the NYPD is looking to cost cutting measures, the City Council is finding new ways to spend limited tax dollars.
This affects all promotions up to the rank of chief that do not require passing a civil-service test. For example, when a detective third grade is promoted to second grade, the pay jumps from $80,000 to $92,000 a year. A promotion to first grade nets a $104,000 salary.
The moratorium also affects raises for sergeants and lieutenants on special assignments that pay more.
Sources say the discretionary promotions are on hold until the department's fiscal year ends in July. With the force thinning its ranks by 5,000 officers over the last six years, there's little room to slash jobs, so the NYPD has to find other cost-saving measures.
Will jetBlue move out of its Queens headquarters? That's the multimillion dollar question as the airline's lease is set to expire in 2012. The company wants to consolidate offices spread throughout the region and the company says that it will continue to maintain a strong presence in New York City as its main hub is at JFK airport, but that doesn't mean it can't leave for a cheaper location somewhere else in the region; whether it is in Connecticut, New Jersey, or somewhere else in New York City for a reduced rent.
One place that might make sense is Lower Manhattan with the influx of new office space and the Freedom Tower under construction. There is also space at Battery Park City and the Goldman Sachs headquarters that will be available due to the consolidation of the banking industry. That means that there is the possibility of large amounts of rental space coming on the market at reduced prices.
Tampa, Florida may try to make a play to land jetBlue since Tampa is a major destination for jetBlue flights (and my experience with jetBlue in Tampa was wonderful). Still, I think the company will stick with the NYC metro area.
Isn't this how the TARP system was supposed to work? We were told that as banks become more capable of lending on their own, the banks could repay TARP and end their involvement in the program.
However, the Administration is proving itself more adept at changing the rules to maintain control over the financial institutions than it is at filling slots at the Treasury Department. They are now telling banks that they can't escape the TARP program, even if they want to.
I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back?It is all about control, and now that the door was opened by the Bush Administration as a temporary measure, President Obama pushing ahead with a series of corrosive and destructive policies that will undermine the US fiscal and monetary system all in the name of expanded government control.
My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP-stuffed is the key to control. And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough. The White House wants to tell 'em what to do. Control. Direct. Command.
It is not for nothing that rage has been turned on those wicked financiers. The banks are at the core of the administration's thrust: By managing the money, government can steer the whole economy even more firmly down the left fork in the road.
If the banks are forced to keep TARP cash -- which was often forced on them in the first place -- the Obama team can work its will on the financial system to unprecedented degree. That's what's happening right now.
Here's Metallica's performance at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You'll note that there are five people on stage: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo and former bandmate Jason Newsted.
Others inducted include Jeff Beck, who previously was inducted as a member of the Yardbirds. Here's his induction performance with his former bandmate Jimmy Page:
The big jam, Train Kept On Rolling:
Last week, it came to light that the Israeli air force attacked several convoys of trucks in Sudan. Those convoys carried weapons and equipment from Iran destined for Gaza. How exactly were they getting into Gaza from the Sudan unless they were crossing Egyptian territory?
And now, here is a question that has to do with current affairs: Can anyone imagine that Egyptian authorities would not be able to spot and stop such large convoy before it reaches its destination?A look at a map tells the tale. Even if the weapons made it out of Sudan, they would have required the Egyptians looking the other way.
The answer: This is perhaps imaginable, but it is difficult to believe. After all, Egyptian border officials have distinguished themselves in their ability to spot even two bullets that were forgotten in the cars of Israelis during their latest reserve service. Therefore, it makes no sense that these border officials would fail to spot a weapons smuggling operation comprising 13 trucks.
If you want to know the real reason why so many banks are suddenly so interested in getting out from TARP restrictions, look no further than Obama's advisers and their statements.
They want heads to roll.
Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and chair of the congressional oversight committee monitoring the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, told The Post that letting banking leaders off the hook for the mess their companies are in will plunge the country into a deeper hole.They want private companies to fire their chief executives on the government's say so.
"The management of the institutions receiving subsidies from the government must be replaced," she said in an interview last week.
Warren picked out the head of Citigroup for special mention, but will recommend all bailout recipients -- which include Goldman Sachs and Bank of America -- get the same clean-out at the top.
She said failure to do so in past financial crises -- particularly in Japan in the 1990s when that country's government handed out cash but left banking leaders in their jobs -- slowed recovery drastically.
"It is crucial for these things to happen," she said.
"Japan tried to avoid them and just offered subsidy with little or no consequences for management or equity investors, and this is why Japan suffered a lost decade."
Some New Jersey bankers are saying they may give back to the government millions of dollars in Troubled Asset Relief Program money.As I said above, where are the criminal charges and actions against the staff at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for their failure to oversee mortgage lending standards, which they purposefully watered down to the point that anyone could receive a mortgage on little more than a person's say so.
They say they didn't really need it, and they believe the government went too far when it imposed new restrictions on executive pay and other spending by TARP recipients, changing the rules after deals were done. They also are worried about more rules under consideration by lawmakers in a politically charged anti-banker climate.
"They want to pass legislation where you can't even have a golf outing," said Gerald Lipkin, chief executive officer of Valley National Bancorp, which received $300 million, more than any other New Jersey-based bank.
And please, he insists, don't call it a bailout, noting that Valley and other banks are paying dividends to the U.S. Treasury of about 8 percent a year, pre-tax. Lipkin and other top executives at Valley took big pay cuts in 2008, forgoing year-end bonuses to satisfy federal authorities. "Two-thirds of our compensation is bonuses. Now we can't do that, and that came through retroactively," he said.
Valley is considering joining other banks around the country in buying back the preferred shares it sold to the government to get more money to lend.
Oak Ridge-based Lakeland Bancorp, which received $59 million in early February, also is having second thoughts. Lakeland CEO Thomas Shara said TARP recipients have been unfairly stigmatized by lawmakers and the public to the point where it may be hurting their business. For customers, prospective customers and shareholders, the bank's TARP participation turned out to be "more a negative than a positive," Shara said. Giving the money back "is something we are evaluating," he said.
North Korea carried out its threat to fire a long range missile that they claimed would be capable of launching a satellite into orbit. The first two stages of the missile apparently worked, but according to sources, the third stage carrying the satellite failed to work. The North Koreans claim that they did successfully insert a satellite into orbit, but if that's the case, there would be independent confirmation from multiple sources.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the focus is on the failed third stage. Some are saying that the failure of the third stage shows that the North Koreans still can't hit the US. That fails to take into account that the two stage missile was capable of hitting targets within
The world shrugs its collective shoulders and Japan, the South Koreans, and the US are busy hoping that the UN will do what it always does - write the strongly worded letter to North Korea's Kim Jong-Il because the missile launch is a violation of UN SCR 1718, which prohibits ballistic missile tests.
Japan called the move "extremely regrettable", while South Korea said it constituted a clear breach of a United Nations resolution.And what will the UN do with such a violation other than write a strongly worded letter? There's nothing that indicates the UN will take any action to enforce its resolutions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said North Korea's actions were not conducive to regional stability, as did the European Union.
China and Russia both called on all sides to act with restraint, while the UK urged North Korea to immediately halt all missile-related activity.
The UN Security Council has approved a Japanese request for an emergency session.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul regard the launch as a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1718 adopted in October 2006, which bans North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile activity.
He again pointed to history to say that America must lead. “As a nuclear power – as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon – the United States has a moral responsibility to act,” he said.Never mind that rogue nations like North Korea or Iran aren't going to give up their pursuit for nuclear weapons and Iran is more than willing to use them to fulfill religious apocalyptic visions. President Obama has previously called for the shutdown of unproven missile defense systems and has been more than willing to backtrack on stationing missile defense systems that work in Eastern Europe; missile defense systems that would protect the US and its allies and their strategic and tactical interests around the world. Obama is more than willing to concede US national security to the likes of unstable regimes like Iran or North Korea.
Obama proposed doing so by reducing America’s arsenal, if not altogether eliminating it; hosting a summit on nuclear security; seeking ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and pursuing a new agreement aimed at stopping the production of fissile materials.
Also, he proposes gathering up all vulnerable nuclear material – or “loose nukes” – within four years. That’s an issue Obama also worked on in the Senate, with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.).
Though there is bipartisan support for many of the steps, Obama may face resistance from Republicans in the Senate on ratification of the Test Ban Treaty and other moves.
The left loved to claim that the European failure to commit more NATO troops to the Afghan operation in support of the US under NATO alliance commitments was the result of President Bush's cowboy diplomacy.
That was always a naive and foolish position, because the Europeans had let their military capabilities slide and simply didn't have the troops to commit, especially for a military operation.
Now, the stark reality is that even President Obama, whom the media portrayed as the great savior of transatlantic relations, can't do any better than President Bush did.
All that Obama has to show for his meetings with European leaders is a couple hundred troops.
Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the US was hoping to prise from the Prime Minister.These troops aren't even for combat roles, but to support and train Afghan troops. They're not going to be used to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Related Links
* Alliance for Liberty
* Obama dazzles Europe with campaigning style
* Brown under fire over Afghan troop numbers
Multimedia
* PICTURES: Nato summit
Just two other allies made firm offers of troops. Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12. Mr Obama’s host, Nicolas Sarkozy, refused his request.
The derisory response threatened to tarnish Mr Obama’s European tour, which yesterday included a spellbinding performance in Strasbourg in which he offered the world a vision of a future free of nuclear weapons.
Mr Obama – who has pledged 21,000 more troops to combat the growing insurgency and is under pressure from generals to supply up to 10,000 more – used the eve of Nato’s 60th anniversary summit to declare bluntly that it was time for allies to do their share. “Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone,” he said. “This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort.”
He said that failing to support the US surge would leave Europe open to a fresh terrorist offensive. “It is probably more likely that al-Qaeda would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack on Europe than on the United States because of proximity,” he said.
The presidential charm offensive failed to move fellow Nato countries. President Sarkozy told Mr Obama that France would not be sending reinforcements to bolster its existing force northeast of Kabul.
Settlements were never the death knell or the stumbling block to a peace agreement between Israel and its enemies. It didn't stop the Israel-Egypt peace process from resulting in a comprehensive peace deal. It didn't stop the Israel-Jordan peace agreement either.
Yet, there are those who think that settlements are the key stumbling block.
According to reports in the Israeli media, the area has been earmarked for development under a secret accord between Binyamin Netanyahu, the new, conservative Israeli Prime Minister, and his ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman.They couldn't be more hopelessly wrong.
Better known under its old British mandate name, E1, it is the most controversial development project in the region, one that diplomats and observers warn will trigger the collapse of the weakened Palestinian Authority, or drive it into armed resistance again.
Several hours after IDF soldiers killed two Palestinian terrorists who were trying to plant a bomb along the Gaza border fence, Border Police forces killed a terrorist who tried to carry out a shooting attack at their base in the Negev on Saturday afternoon.Meanwhile, the UN decided to put a Jewish judge in charge of investigating Israeli "war crimes" in Gaza. Gee, that'll work. Instead of investigating Hamas terrorist war crimes, the evidence of which is abundant, they're going after Israel and hope that putting a Jewish judge will somehow diffuse the fact that it's a witch hunt against Jews. Nice.
At approximately 2 p.m. Saturday, a Palestinian woman armed with a rifle arrived at the Border Police base near the Shoket Junction between Beersehba and Arad, and opened fire at the soldiers.
The soldiers returned fire and managed to kill the terrorist. No soldiers were wounded in the incident.
There are still more questions than answers over why the gunman, Jivery Voong, killed 13 people at the American Civic Association offices in Binghamton, New York.
One person who claims to know the motive is none other than Taliban terrorist leader Baitullah Mehsud. He claims that this was a terrorist attack done at his behest.
U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment about Mehsud's claim, Reuters reported, and one Pakistani security analyst dismissed the claim as a publicity stunt.Let's just say I'm highly skeptical of Mehsud's claim. There's no evidence that Mehsud's group has a reach beyond the Afghan-Pakistani border region. It's far more likely that he's trying to expand the visibility of his group and spread fear.
Representative Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, told the New York Times that indications are the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam.
Mehsud's claim comes as a suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at an alleged militant hide-out Saturday in northwestern Pakistan, killing 13 people.
The U.S. is suspected of carrying out more than three dozen such strikes over the past year in Pakistan near the Afghan border, where militants often launch attacks against U.S. and NATO troops. The drone attacks have caused tension with the Pakistani government, which frequently complains about the U.S. carrying out strikes on its territory.
And now here in Binghamton we probably have the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this state. When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can’t even keep track of the incidents?Apparently Gov. Paterson forgets the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, or the 1993 WTC bombing, which killed six and wounded more than 1,000 people.
Jiverly Wong was upset over losing his job at a vacuum plant, didn't like people picking on him for his limited English and once angrily told a co-worker, "America sucks."He was troubled and angry for a long time, so it is possible that his firing from a job at IBM was the precipitating act.
It remains unclear exactly why the Vietnamese immigrant strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on a citizenship class and killed 13 people and himself, but the police chief says he knows one thing for sure: "He must have been a coward."
Jiverly Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but changed course and decided to turn the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, Chief Joseph Zikuski said Saturday.
"He had a lot of ammunition on him, so thank God before more lives were lost, he decided to do that," the chief said.
Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled 41-year-old man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. His rampage "was not a surprise" to those who knew him, Zikuski said.
"He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," the chief said.
Wong, who used the alias Jiverly Voong, believed people close to him were making fun of him for his poor English language skills, the chief said.
Where's the outrage over this? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae together issued more than $200 million in bonuses, despite both entities being at the center of the real estate market meltdown and subsequent credit market crisis.
Congress and the Administration were more than willing to plunder those who were entitled to executive compensation and retention pay in the form of bonuses for AIG and other TARP recipients, but they specifically excluded Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, despite the clear problems in management at both entities.
Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs at the government-controlled companies.If those entities were treated like others receiving bailouts, those executives would be hit with the confiscatory taxes. However, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae get favorable treatment from Congress and the Administration. Something stinks rotten.
The retention awards for more than 7,600 employees were disclosed in a letter from the companies' regulator released Friday by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. The companies paid out nearly $51 million last year, are scheduled to make $146 million in payments this year and $13 million in 2010.
"It's hard to see any common sense in management decisions that award hundreds of millions in bonuses when their organizations lost more than $100 billion in a year," Grassley said in a statement. "It's an insult that the bonuses were made with an infusion of cash from taxpayers."
Fannie and Freddie declined to comment on Friday. Fannie had disclosed that it plans to pay four top executives at least $1 million each in retention payments that run through February. Freddie has yet to report on which executives are in line for the awards.
The two companies, hobbled by skyrocketing loan defaults, were seized by regulators last fall and operate under close federal oversight with new chief executives installed by the government. Since the takeover, Fannie Mae has received $15 billion in federal aid, while Freddie Mac has received nearly $45 billion.
Bill Keller is the editor of the New York Times. This nitwit has the audacity to claim that the dire fiscal situation of the Times (whose stock price is on life support and the company has most of its value since Keller took over), is in the same ballpark as a campaign to save Darfur refugees.
Leave it to the New York Times editor to make that comparison.
NEW York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller equated the Gray Lady to a PBS pledge drive, claiming readers have offered to donate money to keep the Times alive.Well, given the way that newspapers are folding all over the country and that General Motors is on the verge of bankruptcy, Keller's comparison between the opening of the new newspaper and a Pontiac dealership is an apt on. Both aren't likely to survive given the business climate.
Keller was speaking at Stanford University to dedicate a new building for the campus newspaper -- an event he likened to a "ribbon-cutting" for "a new Pontiac dealership."
The bombastic broadsheet editor went on to equate the keep-the-Times-alive movement to the cause of starving African refugees, saying, "Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause."
Keller said he had little use for Web sites like Google and Drudge Report: "If you're inclined to trust Google as your source for news -- Google yourself."
Keller's comments come as the Times sat down with the Newspaper Guild Wednesday in their first serious bargaining session to figure out how to extract $4.5 million in savings from the newspaper company's unionized workforce.
“I think it’s pretty obviously a reflection of my mild astonishment at the earnest fervor with which some people have suddenly embraced the cause of saving newspapers,” Keller wrote. “That’s matched only by my mild astonishment at the silly literal-mindedness with which some people read my occasional public comments.”Funny, but I don't hear too many people calling for newspaper bailouts other than newspaper people themselves. Many bloggers are more than comfortable letting papers die, even if it means they lose the very reporting that provides plenty of blogging fodder.
Details are still coming in, but a number of people have been shot and dozens of hostages appear to be inside the American Civic Association building in Binghamnton, New York.
UPDATE:
Four people left the building with hands on their hands. Police were searching some of them.
Four people have been taken to hospitals. The Binghamton and Broome County SWAT teams are on the scene, along with a negotiator.
The SWAT team is getting ready to re-enter the building. The shooter is still inside, police said.
There were reportedly 41 hostages in the building -- 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room.
Family members of the hostages and victims are gathering at Catholic Charities at 290 Front St. in Binghamton, police said.
At least two ambulances from the scene have arrived at Wilson Regional Medical Center.
Police began staging at Oak and Main Street, the site of the Binghamton High School, shortly after 10:30 a.m. today. Local apartments were evacuated and businesses, such as a nearby nursing home, were placed under lockdown as a precaution.
One male was down with a woman shot in the stomach, according to a police radio. The female victim was a secretary.
Police have since called for 10 ambulances.
Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, who was at the scene, said there was a hostage situation in the Civic Association building, located at 131 Front St. Ryan said the shooter has a high-powered rifle.
At least four people were shot and dozens of others were being held hostage by a gunman in the Binghamton building.Not sure I'd read too much into the report of the two people removed in handcuffs since reports generally note a single gunman with a high powered rifle. They may be considering whether he had accomplices. As I've said, this is a developing situation, so the facts and reporting is fluid and subject to change.
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At least three people have been taken to Wilson Regional Medical Center in Johnson City, one in critical condition, two listed as serious. Another person was taken to Lourdes Hospital in Johnson City.
Both hospitals postponed all elective surgeries and called in extra personnel to staff their emergency rooms.
According to police reports, more than 40 hostages were in the building — 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room. Sharp shooters from the Binghamton SWAT team were poised outside the building at 131 Front Street. The Endicott police bomb squad is also at the scene.
Scanner reports just before 1:30 p.m. indicate that police were asking 26 people in the Civic Association to lie on the floor with the hands above their heads.
Assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators. Fosters cross cultural understanding for the entire community.Gothamist posts the following grim news:
"The suspect was described as an Asian male in his 20s, between 5-feet 8-inches and 6 feet tall, wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses." A community college professor fluent in Vietnamese was also asked to aid cops in communicating with the shooter.ABC News reports 13 are dead, 26 wounded. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who died or were injured at the hands of the gunman.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, said the gunman had recently been let go from IBM in Johnson City and opened fire on a citizenship class.
"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said in a telephone interview. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."
Authorities scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon.
At least 41 people were in the American Civic Association building at the time of the shooting and that citizenship classes had been scheduled Friday at the center, The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.
All the hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending are going to catch up with taxpayers sooner or later. Politicians always hope it's later - when they're no longer around to take the blame. They always try to push it off on someone else.
President Obama is more than willing to blame President Bush for the fiscal mess he inherited, all while doubling down on the national debt with massive new spending that is unprecedented in American history.
So, who will pay for the mess?
Everyone will.
The CBO baseline cumulative deficit for the Obama 2010-2019 budget is $9.3 trillion. How much additional deficit and debt does Mr. Obama add relative to a do-nothing budget with none of his programs? Mr. Obama's "debt difference" is $4.829 trillion -- i.e., his tax and spending proposals add $4.829 trillion to the CBO do-nothing baseline deficit. The Obama budget also adds $177 billion to the fiscal year 2009 budget. To this must be added the $195 billion of 2009 legislated add-ons (e.g., the stimulus bill) since Mr. Obama's election that were already incorporated in the CBO baseline and the corresponding $1.267 trillion in add-ons for 2010-2019. This brings Mr. Obama's total additional debt to $6.5 trillion, not his claimed $2 trillion reduction. That was mostly a phantom cut from an imagined 10-year continuation of peak Iraq war spending.There is one policy that Congress should act on that will spare millions of taxpayers an added burden. It's something that President Obama called for; it is the indexing of the AMT (alternative minimum tax) to inflation. Every year Congress does a dance to index the AMT to inflation so as to spare hundreds of thousands of middle class taxpayers the indignity of getting hammered by the AMT.
The claim to reduce the deficit by half compares this year's immense (mostly inherited) deficit to the projected fiscal year 2013 deficit, the last of his current term. While it is technically correct that the deficit would be less than half this year's engorged level, a do-nothing budget would reduce it by 84%. Compared to do-nothing, Mr. Obama's deficit is more than two and a half times larger in fiscal year 2013. Just his addition to the budget deficit, $459 billion, is bigger than any deficit in the nation's history. And the 2013 deficit is supposed to be after several years of economic recovery, funds are being returned from the financial bailouts, and we are out of Iraq.
Finally, what of the claim not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 a year? Even ignoring his large energy taxes, Mr. Obama must reconcile his arithmetic. Every dollar of debt he runs up means that future taxes must be $1 higher in present-value terms. Mr. Obama is going to leave a discounted present-value legacy of $6.5 trillion of additional future taxes, unless he dramatically cuts spending. (With interest the future tax hikes would be much larger later on.) Call it a stealth tax increase or ticking tax time-bomb.
What does $6.5 trillion of additional debt imply for the typical family? If spread evenly over all those paying income taxes (which under Mr. Obama's plan would shrink to a little over 50% of the population), every income-tax paying family would get a tax bill for $163,000. (In 10 years, interest would bring the total to well over a quarter million dollars, if paid all at once. If paid annually over the succeeding 10 years, the tax hike every year would average almost $34,000.) That's in addition to his explicit tax hikes. While the future tax time-bomb is pushed beyond Mr. Obama's budget horizon, and future presidents and Congresses will decide how it will be paid, it is likely to be paid by future income tax hikes as these are general fund deficits.
Much like software manufacturers who make all kinds of astounding claims about their software and the release turns out to be a massive disappointment, so too is President Obama's tax policy.
The Senate is taking up one of Obama's pet projects, adjusting the tax rates on the "rich".
During the campaign, Candidate Obama told everyone he wouldn't raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. Well, he's already lied about that since enacting an onerous cigarette tax that hits all American smokers regardless of income level to fund a massive expansion of the S-CHIP health care program. Now, he's pushing for adjusting the tax rates such that those making as little as $104,000 are going to get hammered with tax hikes starting in 2011.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal tax law, is seeking a vote this year on legislation that would increase the income tax rates on some Americans who earn as little as $104,425 per year.Throw in the fact that there's no way that taxing the rich even at confiscatory levels not seen since World War II and thereafter and still balance the budget based on Obama's prodigious spending that the country simply cannot afford, and watch the level at which taxpayers get hit with tax hikes actually wanders down and encompasses many more people who are squarely in the middle class.
The bill, which Baucus introduced Thursday, would fulfill many of President Barack Obama’s promised tax changes, including making most of the tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush permanent while raising taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 per year.
But those making more than $250,000 per year would not be the only ones to see their taxes go up if Baucus’s bill becomes law.
The proposed legislation would raise the rates on the top two income brackets, from the current levels of 33 percent and 35 percent respectively, to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. The new rates would become effective after 2010.
The increase in the rates for these two brackets will affect all taxpayers who fall into these two brackets regardless of their filing status, according to Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Curtis Dubay, who reviewed the legislation.
That means some taxpayers earning as little as $104,425—far less than half the $250,000 threshold President Obama set for raising income taxes—would see their income tax rate increased.
It's the age old issue of whether abstinence or condom usage is the appropriate means of reducing the spread of AIDS. Richard Dawkins, a prominent biologist and an avowed athiest, is more than willing to claim that millions will die as a result of Pope Benedict's stance on condoms:
Richard Dawkins yesterday called the Pope 'stupid' for claiming that condoms have made the Aids epidemic worse.To play Devil's Advocate, one could also make the claim that if people abstained from sexual relations outside marriage, the incidence of AIDS would be lessened.
The outspoken biologist - a prominent atheist - said that Benedict XVI would end up with the blood of millions on his hands if they took his words seriously.
On his first visit to Africa a fortnight ago, the Pope said that Aids was 'a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem'.
One of the reasons that the credit markets and lending came to a near standstill last year was the mark-to-market rule that made lending a near impossible proposition because banks found that they were nearly worthless based on the current market values.
Well, the FASB is granting these banks more leeway on the mark-to-market rule, and it should be a catalyst in the stock markets today.
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board, pressured by U.S. lawmakers and financial companies, voted to relax fair-value rules that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. say don’t work when markets are inactive.Because the banks will have greater leeway in valuing their property portfolios, they will be able to show more money on the books and enable more lending and freeing up the credit markets further.
The changes approved today to fair-value, also known as mark-to-market, allow companies to use “significant” judgment in valuing assets to reduce writedowns on certain investments, including mortgage-backed securities. Accounting analysts say the measure, which can be applied to first-quarter results, may boost banks’ net income by 20 percent or more.
The Palestinian Authority declares that any Palestinian selling land to Israelis will be subject to the death penalty.
The latest warning was issued on Wednesday by the Chief [Islamic] Judge of the Palestinian Authority, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, who reminded the Palestinians of an existing fatwa [religious decree] than bans them from selling property to Jews.The Palestinian Authority are the so-called moderates, and they're busy using Islamic law to justify threatening all Palestinians into avoiding any real estate sales to Jews because it would result in the death penalty.
Sheikh Tamimi's warning came in response to reports that Jewish businessmen from the US had purchased 20 dunams of land from Palestinians on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Warning the Palestinians against engaging in "suspicious real estate deeds," the religious leader said that according to Islamic teachings it was a "grave sin" to sell houses and lands to Jews.
"There is no escape from the liberation of the Golan," Assad said in an interview published by the Qatari newspaper A-Sharq. "Either through peace or through war."Syria reiterates that it will continue supporting Hizbullah, which further shows the folly of American foreign policy efforts under the Obama Administration to stop Syria's support for terrorist groups that have American blood on their hands (Hizbullah was behind the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing and numerous other attacks in the region that resulted in American casualties, and Syrian support for Iraqi insurgents had led to the deaths of numerous American soldiers in Iraq).
"When a citizen loses hope, he turns towards resistance in one form or another," Assad added.
The Syrian president also defiantly defended his country's relationship with Hizbullah, and said that although Israel insists the ties must be severed for peace to materialize, Damascus would continue supporting the group.
"Hizbullah has an issue with Israel and we have the same issue," Assad said in an interview published on Thursday by the Kuwait newspaper a-Sharq. "We therefore support the organization."
"We are speaking about a national organization with a religious agenda that acts in the framework of the Lebanese homeland," he said. "We see here a national party. It is therefore natural that we have a relationship with it."
Bob Sheppard, who has been announcing games at Yankee Stadium since the 1950s, is retiring. He had been in ill health and unable to announce games for the past season.
Yet, folks who are still hoping to hear his voice and unmistakable cadence can get to hear it every time that Derek Jeter comes up to bat. Sheppard recorded his introduction for Jeter at Jeter's request.
Now batting.... number two... Derek... Jeter.
Jim Hall, Sheppard's backup, will fill in, but no permanent replacement has been announced by the team as it makes its inauguaral season at the new Yankee Stadium.
Bob announced the last lineup read at the old Stadium, during the pre-game ceremonies closing the Stadium:
The Left consistently derided President Bush as incompetent and a cowboy.
President Obama's recent foreign policy exploits are nothing short of embarrassing and tone deaf. First, he gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a DVD collection that anyone could have picked off of Amazon.com (and which turned out to be for the wrong zone) after Brown gave President Obama a truly memorable and historic keepsake. The Prime Minister gave the President an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet and a couple toys from the White House gift shop.
Now, President Obama has graced Queen Elizabeth II with an iPod. The Queen already has one.
Who the heck does Obama think he is? These aren't gifts fit for our closest ally and historic friend.
Throw in the repeated gaffes by Secretary of State Clinton, including the "reset/overcharge button" to Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov, and we've got ourselves a trend.
The White House has an Office of Protocol, whose job description includes the following:
Under the direction of the Acting Chief of Protocol Gladys Boluda the office is responsible for activities including the planning, hosting, and officiating of ceremonial events for visiting chiefs of state and heads of government, as well as coordinating logistics for the visits; managing Blair House, the President's guesthouse; and overseeing all protocol matters for Presidential or Vice Presidential travel abroad, working alongside the White House.Apparently, providing embarrassing gifts is now part of the job description.
The New York Times headlines that storm clouds are gathering for Obama nominations.
Senate Republicans are struggling to adapt to an altered political world when it comes to candidates for federal courts and senior Justice Department posts.The New York Times is only noticing this now? How can anyone ignore the multiple nominees who had tax troubles and were forced to withdraw or the ones that were picked and are doing a bangup job (Great Job Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner!).
No longer able simply to defend choices made by a fellow Republican, as they did under President George W. Bush, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have turned into vocal critics of many of President Obama’s legal nominees. They complain that several are committed liberal ideologues, much in the way Democrats complained that Mr. Bush’s choices were committed conservative ideologues.
But so far, facing a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, they have been able to do little beyond briefly delaying confirmation. Now they are weighing whether to use the filibuster — a threat of extended debate, the tool many Republican senators regularly denounced when it was used by Democrats to block some Republican nominees. These are certainly different times.
The current Republican focus is on a pair of nominees: Mr. Obama’s first selection for a federal appeals court seat, David F. Hamilton, and his choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen. (By coincidence, the two are in-laws.)
It should come as no surprise that the tax cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has a math problem. He can't add numbers together to come up with the correct figure. His latest mess? He overestimated the amount of money left in the TARP fund. He claims that the figure is $135 billion.
The General Accounting Office, ABC News, and the Wall Street Journal all say he's off by more than $100 billion. The correct figure is $35 billion.
On “This Week” Sunday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me that there was about $135 billion left in the TARP fund, the government’s financial rescue package. But the Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan federal agency, reports that figure is closer to $32 billion, which is what ABC News and other independent analysts thought.How is Treasury responding to this? They're claiming that Geithner's figures include estimated paybacks. In other words, they're counting money that might potentially come back to the government as banks repay TARP funds.
The usual suspects at international financial summits are at it again. The G20 is meeting in London to discuss the financial mess, and the protesters are out in force trying to stop the meetings from proceeding.
The anarchists are busy trying to gum up the works and Gothamist has more.
Of course, whenever these folks riot, it means that businesses suffer the most for it. Storefronts get their windows knocked out, such as this Royal Bank of Scotland branch. Smile for the camera as these thugs knock out the windows. Note that the reflections catch the photographers busy snapping the photos:
The meetings will continue regardless of the anarchists attempts, but the damage has been done to downtown London. These thugs sought to storm the banks and calling for the abolition of money.
Police said at least 23 people were arrested but no serious injuries were reported.UPDATE:
Thousands of anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others jammed into London's financial district for what they called "Financial Fool's Day." The protests were called ahead of Thursday's summit of world leaders, who hope to take concrete steps to resolve the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
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Protesters attacked the offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland, shouting "These streets, our streets! These banks, our banks!"
Some spray-painted the side of the RBS building with the phrases "class war" and "thieves." Others pushed against columns of riot police who swatted them away with batons.
Demonstrators shouted "Abolish Money!" and clogged streets in the area known as "The City" even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference elsewhere in the British capital.
