Land Of The Flea

Obama mocks Lew’s loopy signature: Don’t devalue the dollar with illegible writing

"President Barack Obama jokingly joined in criticism of Jack Lew’s signature on Thursday, urging his Treasury nominee to change it before it appears on the greenback and risks devaluing the dollar. Lew’s doodle-like eight-loop signature — a cute but utterly undecipherable scrawl described as an 'unraveled slinky' by one graphologist — has quickly drawn more media buzz than the budget guru’s politics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama mocks Lew’s loopy signature: Don’t devalue the dollar with illegible writing

Critics object to Obama nominating ‘Mr. Drone’ John Brennan to CIA head

"The nomination of President Barack Obama’s top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan to head the CIA has sparked outrage and concern about America’s growing drones programme and its use for targeted killings of suspected Islamic militants. Brennan has been a key architect of drones policy under Obama and many experts believe that the use of the unmanned robot planes in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia is likely to increase if he becomes America’s top spy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCritics object to Obama nominating ‘Mr. Drone’ John Brennan to CIA head

H.R. 193 would force farmers to pay a fee on saved seeds and register them

"H.R. 193 would change things for farmers who purchase patented seeds and then grow those seeds. After the harvest, many farmers save the seeds that they can, seeds produced from the product they already paid for. H.R. 193 would force those farmers who save their seeds to register those seeds with the Secretary of Agriculture. After they register those seeds, the farmers would then have to pay fees set aside by the Secretary of Agriculture for keeping the seeds, 'and for other purposes'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingH.R. 193 would force farmers to pay a fee on saved seeds and register them

Full Disclosure: Lew Received a Million Dollars in Cash From Citigroup During Bailout

"Jacob J. Lew, President Obama’s presumed choice to lead the Treasury Department, has close ties to Wall Street, receiving more than $900,000 in bonus cash from a division of Citigroup just as the company was getting bailed out by U.S. taxpayers[...] Formerly chief operating officer at Citi Alternative Investments, a division of Citigroup, Mr. Lew received a bonus of $944,578 in January 2009, a payment that came days before he joined the State Department and later surfaced in a government ethics form. The bonus came on top of $1.1 million in other Citigroup compensation he reported receiving during 2008 and the first two weeks of 2009." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFull Disclosure: Lew Received a Million Dollars in Cash From Citigroup During Bailout

Doug Casey on Orwell’s Nightmare – the Darker Side of Modern Technology

"I'm an optimist on the future of technology. But the way a lot of it is going to be applied by people in government is a different question. The current developments are quite disturbing, especially the emerging capability of police to use cameras and computers to scan millions and millions of people and identify individuals in seconds. They say it's to track sex offenders or catch terrorists, but what's clearly at stake here is the universal monitoring of everyone all the time – just like in 1984. The bad news is that it's here now, and spreading around the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoug Casey on Orwell’s Nightmare – the Darker Side of Modern Technology

Bill Bonner: Zombie Nation

"When an industry is only profitable with government backing it means that the industry uses resources — labor, energy, raw materials — and turns them into finished products that are worth less than the inputs required to make them. The more of these zombie industries the government supports, the poorer the society becomes. 'Rentier' is a French word that has leaked into English. It describes people who have found a way to exploit the system for their own benefit — people who have legal entitlements to income streams. In other words, 'Rentier' describes a class of folks who contribute absolutely nothing to national prosperity — zombies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Zombie Nation

Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission

"'It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI,' said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year. Because drunk-driving stops are such an everyday occurrence, 'it's going to affect a broad area of society,' he told NBC News, adding: 'This may be the most widespread Fourth Amendment situation that you and I are going to face' for the foreseeable future." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission