Friday Reads
Posted: July 6, 2012 Filed under: Banksters, fetus fetishists, Mitt Romney, morning reads, U.S. Politics, VAGINA MItt Romney, War on Women, Women's Rights | Tags: Banksters, Barclay, Bobby Jindal, Libor Rate fixing, Rush Limbaugh 40 Comments
Good Morning!!
There are a couple of finance stories that I’ve been following that I’m getting ready to write more bout. One is the story about the manipulation of LIBOR by Barclays with possible involvement of JPM and others. Here’s an article from The Economist to get us started on the topic. Its title includes the word “banksters”. That should be telling.
At present, the scandal rages in one country and around one bank. Barclays has been fined $450m by American and British regulators for its attempts to manipulate LIBOR. The bank’s first attempt to ride out the storm failed miserably; Bob Diamond, Barclays’ chief executive, resigned this week. The British government has ordered a parliamentary review into its banks. The reputation of the City of London, where LIBOR is set by collating estimates of their own borrowing costs from a panel of banks, has been further dented.
But this story stretches far beyond Britain. Barclays is the first bank in the spotlight because it offered to co-operate fully with regulators. It will not be the last. Investigations into the fixing of LIBOR and other rates are also under way in America, Canada and the EU. Between them, these probes cover many of the biggest names in finance: the likes of Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Employees, from New York to Tokyo, are implicated (see article).
I’m just delving into the details now. It will take me awhile to get to the point of being able to describe it nontechnically so please be patient. This is huge. It will likely show us why the moves to remove Dodd-Frank and the Volker Rule are as criminal as the intent.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t wish Bobby Jindal on the country but it appears that our Governor has made the short list in the Romney VP stake. Frankly, anything he does is only to further his professional political career having done nothing else. Judging from my LA twitter feed, he might just have fled the state because every one is mad at him over his move to end public education as we know it. The man has a weird personality and he excels at ambition and lying. He’d be perfect for the job, frankly. Romney and Jindal are a matched set of amoral liars. Unfortunately, he won’t quit even if he gets the nod which only puts my state in worse condition than it is since he took over. Ask me about our more than double unemployment rate since he took over. He’s got his eye on 4 years from now.
On readiness for office, conversations with Romney insiders and allies suggest that they have no qualms about Portman or Pawlenty. One of Romney’s biggest complaints about President Obama is that he is in over his head and had “never run anything before.” Pawlenty governed the state of Minnesota for two terms; Portman ran the Office of Management and Budget as well as the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Jindal is in his second term as governor of Louisiana. Paul Ryan, however, falls short in this regard; he was a Capitol Hill staffer and a marketing consultant before becoming a congressman at age 28.
As for chemistry with the candidate, Pawlenty, Portman and Ryan have all campaigned alongside him multiple times. Each endorsed him at critical moments in the primary process and appeared with him on the stump when they did. And each got a turn as his key surrogate on Romney’s June bus tour, which ran through their states. Jindal has not yet campaigned with the presumptive nominee, so look for that to happen soon in a swing state near you.
Does this picture remind you of something from the John Kerry Files? Notice the dressage horses are missing. Romney going one way on the lake. Then, the other 
way on the lake … then back again the other way on the lake …
I’ll just say it: I don’t think the political pundit class understands just how toxic the Swiss/Caymans/Bermuda accounts issue is for Romney. Not that they don’t know it’s a liability at all. But I don’t think they realize the extent of it.
Here’s a report just out from ABC News on how Ted Strickland introduced Obama in Ohio …
“Oh, what a contrast, my friends, between these two men who would be president!” Strickland said, standing outside the Wolcott House Museum. “President Obama is betting on America and American workers, and Mitt Romney is betting his resources in the Cayman Islands, in Bermuda, in Switzerland and God only knows where else he is putting his resources.”Fair or not, it just rolls off the tongue. Immediately understandable. And assuming you’re not talking to the deeply ideological committed or hyper-partisans, how exactly do you understand that a man running for president has parked a lot of his money in offshore tax havens?
Whatever harsh message you’re trying to prove — out of touch with lives of ordinary Americans, plays by a different set of rules, isn’t focused on America and American workers — it fits right in.
Set aside all questions of legality. And I think Romney’s probably too smart and close to the vest to break any laws. But how do you explain it? What’s the good explanation?
Do you seek the safe harbor of Romney’s 15% tax rate?
How many of you know any one that hides assets in off shore banking havens? Better yet, how many savvy politicians would do it?
The attacks on Mississipi’s sole abortion clinic seem to be aimed at sending a court case to SCOTUS to test Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade. Creeping theocracy threatens the health of American women.
Earlier this week a district court issued an eleventh-hour stay to block a Mississippi law designed to shut down the state’s last surviving abortion clinic. It’s the only one that has muscled through a spate of regulations aimed at making Mississippi “abortion-free,” in the words of Gov. Phil Bryant (R).
“The Court has considered the parties’ arguments and finds Plaintiffs satisfy the requirements for temporary injunctive relief to maintain the status quo until the newly framed issues can be more thoroughly examined,” wrote U.S. district judge Daniel P. Jordan III.
Bryant’s intentions are clear: make Mississippi the first state without access to abortion. But that’s a tricky legal proposition as a result of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two key Supreme Court rulings that protect abortion rights.
The question before the courts is whether the new state law is legitimate under Roe and Casey. If so, pro-choice advocates fear it would threaten abortion rights protections nationwide
“In this case, Plaintiffs have offered evidence — including quotes from significant legislative and executive officers — that the Act’s purpose is to eliminate abortions in Mississippi,” wrote Jordan. “They likewise submitted evidence that no safety or health concerns motivated its passage. This evidence has not yet been rebutted.”
A hearing is scheduled for July 11 to determine if a preliminary injunction should follow. That’s a reasonably likely scenario since the Bush-appointed Judge Jordan issued the stay on the basis that the plaintiffs have “a substantial likelihood of success on the merits.”
Whether or not the case climbs up to the Supreme Court and puts Roe at risk of being overturned depends on the breadth of the lower courts’ ruling. But neither side is particularly keen on going down that road — at least for now.
“From a pro-choice perspective, the less the current Court does to define Casey, the better. From a pro-life perspective, they want to wait until there’s a clear shot at Roe v. Wade,” said Scott Lemieux, a political science professor at the College of Saint Rose.
Rush Limbaugh has a major problem when it comes to women. In the past, the conservative talk radio host has accused them of being sluts for using birth control and called those who support feminism “feminazis.” (Media Matters has compiled a pretty good list of Limbaugh’s sexist and misogynistic remarks over the years.) Now, the caustic commentator has come up with a new calumny: “When women got the right to vote is when it all went down hill.”
He made the remark on his radio program Tuesday, adding: “Because that’s when votes started being cast with emotion and maternal instincts. …”
That’s right. According to Limbaugh, America messed up big-time when it allowed all of its citizens—not just men—to vote.
I have no idea what makes people vote Republican any more but I don’t think it has anything to do with sanity. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Mitt Romney is a creepy guy. His life is so glaringly removed from the reality of most American’s, it doesn’t register with him that ordinary people see off-shoring Money and out-sourcing jobs as a desertion of commitment to the American economy and the American worker. To his mind the ultimate goal is making money, so moving jobs offshore or destroying jobs altogether for the sake of profit and then being savvy and rich enough to avoid paying taxes IN THE VERY COUNTRY HE ASPIRES TO LEAD, is a testament to his business “ability”. He doesn’t today and will never see it as his total disconnect from and abandonment of the American working class.
I
He also received over $50,000 in tax breaks by claiming his Utah residence as primary in the late 90’s and declaring himself a nonresident of MA, then turned around and claimed that he magically met the 7 year residence requirement for running for office in MA. When challenged on the discrepancy, he pulled a Turbo Tax Timmy and claimed a “clerical error.” Nothing says you’re a fully vested member of the community and the country like ripping off the state you claim to represent and hiding your money in off-shore tax havens. His inaugural address can be a seminar in strategies for hiding assets for greedy people.
Now he’s trying to the same thing with the country.
Rather than be appalled at what the GOP stands for, what their dismal proposals mean for the rest of the nation, how far they have gone to radicalize even the SC of this nation, finding any measure of integrity of what they have done to the country over the last 12 years, it is beyond me that any reasonable thinking person would be anxious to vote any one of them into office.
Yet the hatred and disrespect for Obama which began from the day he was sworn into office appears to be the leading factor for those who say they would prefer GOP leadership as it stands now than to employ a measure of commonsense into the dialogue.
Mitt Romney is one of the most dismal candidates ever nominated for higher office. He stands for absolutely nothing. Others who are running for down ticket office are members of the Tea Party faction who have done little in the way of progress in 2 years and some even shown symptoms of having serious mental issues with some of the rhetoric they have expoused.
By putting party labels aside, are we seriously considering voting for those who would strip whole segments of the nation from healthcare access, voting rights, deregulation, education, and quaity of life just to be rid of Barack Obama because 4 years ago he pushed a preferred candidate aside? How does this make any sense?
Even that candidate was able to move on and perform a job as SOS that has been hailed even by her critics as an outstanding performance.
There is more here at stake than just “getting even” for something that is done and over.
All I can say about Rush Limbaugh – He kisses his mother with that mouth?? but then he probably doesn’t kiss his mother at all.
One day the truth will come out and we will learn why Rush Limbaugh is so darn evil and why he hates women. How any company can be a sponsor for his hate of women is beyond logic, but I will boycott his sponsor.
BOYCOTT RUSH!
Matt Taibbi has been all over the LIBOR story from day one. If I remember correctly, RBS has also entered pleas on it and been fined. It seems to have come from the trial he was covering, as the only reporter in court, of all the banks involvement in fixing muni bond ratings.
Taibbi from July 4th.
LIBOR Banking Scandal Deepens; Barclays Releases Damning Email, Implicates British Government
Thanks. I’m going to read it now. Dak has written about it in the past, but I never really understood it. It looks like this is going to be a huge scandal unless the corporate media manages to ignore it.
The original story on municipal bond rigging.
The Scam Wall Street Learned From the Mafia
Crime of the Century
by Robert Scheer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/crime-of-the-century_b_1653321.html
and the take away line
The muni bond rigging had been going on for over a decade. We may find the same with the LIBOR.
O/T but the one thing that keeps me laughing is that the GOP never thought they would be stuck with Mitt Romney as their standard bearer.
For a party that has dedicated itself to holding the nation hostage in an attempt to make Obama a “one termer” believing they had a shot in 2012, this is who emerged as the “winner”
They must have been holding their breath hoping for the likes of that charmer Chris Christie or Paul Ryan to come forth but Mittens, no matter how many voted against him in the primaries, ended up with the nomination.
Now all they can do is stand back and watch him twist, spin, and dodge justifying their doubts from the outset that this shallow piece of humanity is going to lead them to victory. There must be an awful lot of hair pulling, nail biting, and migraines produced every time he opens his mouth and sticks his well shod foot into it once again.
“Defending Mitt Romney” has become an art within the GOP ranks these days if all they have is “he’s not Obama”. Hell, he isn’t even Mitt when all is said and done!
Seems to me they are pinning their hopes now on whoever he chooses for VP. Please let it be Christie because just enough of that “barking seal” bullying his way with the press and the voters would seal his future chances as Blowhard in Chief.
You can only call people “stupid” for so long before they rise up and throw it back.
What Pat said!
Jindal creeps my dad out and he is a die hard Republican despite everything. He watched his response to the SOTU and says the guy can’t even speak intelligibly. Plus, Dad’s hurt me rant about him cutting all the university budgets like 43% since he’s come into office. He’s got every one mad at him but he’s trying to get his resume ready for 2016. He doesn’t care what it does. He only cares how it makes him look to the National Republican Freaks.
I heard on one of the talk shows yesterday that Mitt would likely pick a VP he’s really comfortable with. which could put Jindal in the top 3. I’m not sure why except that next to Jindal, Romney looks a tad better. Not much, mind you, but a tad. I don’t think Romney could deal with a character like the bombastic smart-ass Christie, or even a slick guy like Rubio, plus Rubio has some baggage. I think Pawlenty would be the safest choice for Romney.
Dak…I found this at JMG, it’s about the TeaVangelicals and the guy who coined the phrase and wrote a book about the Tevan’s mentions Jindal as a good VP choice for the Teaparty Christian Conservatives. These people are so YUCK!!!
David Brody, who wrote the Teavangelicals book, is a political correspondent for Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network ( CBN ).
That explains why I felt the need to take a shower after watching that … I thought it was just the combination of Hannity and Tucker but that sure makes it a three way
Maybe a little Lysol too!
According to that article Chris Christie has been eliminated. He hasn’t even been vetted. Romney was turned off by Christie’s habit of being late for everything and his crassness.
Actually Christie was vetted:
My guess is Christie is too blue collar for Mitt …
I’m still in shock after reading Joseph Cannon last night. It looks like Bain Capital was really laundering foreign money and may even have been set up as a “black box” for that purpose. Romney’s initial backers were all Latin American and associated with the El Salvador death squads. This seems unbelievable, but it’s for read as far as I can tell. I’ve been read more about it this morning. I don’t know how I missed this, but I guess it never occurred to me to that Romney was that corrupt. No wonder he worked so hard to hide his money!
I read that late last night. It was a jaw dropper.
According to his biographers, Romney heard about the Central American investors from one of his partners. The partner told Romney that he had vetted these guys and their money was clean. Romney himself didn’t investigate, just accepted that. Without that money ($6.5 million), Bain couldn’t have gotten off the ground.
Surprise, surprise. Just imagine what he’d do as POTUS. On 2nd thought, let’s not imagine. I hope the press about Romney & his overseas tax dodges do him in with the majority of non-upper-class voters.
Europe discovers the Higgs Boson and we have this!!!
Evangelical radio host: ‘Tax the atheists who don’t go to church’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/06/evangelical-radio-host-tax-the-atheists-who-dont-go-to-church/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
No thanks, I already pay taxes to support the tax-exempt status of the churches.
lol. Excellent point!
This is so sad … an Islamic school applied for Jindal’s vouchers and a legislator freaked out. She didn’t think any one but christian schools could get the vouchers … she seems to have forgotten Islam is a religion too …
http://www.mahablog.com/2012/07/06/a-dim-light-dawns-in-louisiana/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mahablog%2FXYnP+%28The+Mahablog%29
http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/louisiana-revelation-school-voucher-funding-it-s-not-just-for-christians
That’s so pathetic. The bigotry of their assumptions is breathtaking.
LIBOR fixing from the late 1980s of the trader variety. Another article in The Economist with a lot more information on more institutional rate fixing.
The rotten heart of finance
Taibbi/Spitzer/Kelleher ‘Cartel- Corruption’ Behind Libor Scam
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/07/taibbispitzerkelleher-cartel-corruption-behind-libor-scam/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
It’s from viewpoint so there’s a video there.
Damn, that was really good. Taibbi has done a great job of covering this mess. Maybe it’ll spread now that the UK press and parliament is pushing.
The whole concept of vouchers seems to me to be antidemocratic. You use public funds to give to private, religious or otherwise, organizations, to cherry pick good students from the public schools, then leave the rest to wallow in an even worse educational environment..
Disgusting.
Vouchers are undemocratic — but the religious right has discovered how to loot the schools to finance their backward education (1890 backwards).
Just to remind you all — the voucher system was given a long try out in California and it was a FAILURE. So Jindal and the other Godshop freaks and pushing yet another failed system which will leave thousands if not millions of US students behind with a backwards education.
Bush’s version of no child left behind is yet another GOP system which was a failure — if I remember correctly after reading a detailed review of this Texas based system — the results were “fixed” to look better then they actually were.
Wow, Big Thad McCotter resigned, seems there were fraudlent signatures on his petition…………..good news, he’s gone.