MindMover
MindMover's JournalCrude Eases After Blast Denied
NEW YORK—Oil futures retreated after Saudi Arabia denied reports of a major pipeline explosion, easing fears about an imminent supply disruption.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 95 cents, or 0.9%, to $107.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe traded $1.38, or 1.1%, lower at $124.82 a barrel.
Futures declined after Saudi officials said late Thursday that reports of an explosion at a main pipeline in the country's oil-rich Eastern Province were untrue. ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203986604577256720551953632.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fxml%2Frss%2F3_7011+%28WSJ.com%3A+What%27s+News+US%29
and the rest of the story......when a Saudi oil prince farted, the traders on wall street panicked......
5 U.S. Service Members Found Responsible for Koran Burnings
Source: NYT
KABUL, Afghanistan — Five American service members and an Afghan-American linguist were directly involved in the burning of Korans at a NATO base, an event a week ago that plunged Afghanistan into days of violent protests, according to the preliminary conclusions of a joint military investigation.
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“All six will be referred to the proper U.S. authorities for further action,” said an official familiar with the joint Afghan-American investigation into the Koran burnings, who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.
Significantly, the five service members found responsible so far include military “leaders,” according to the report. While it was unclear whether that meant any senior officers would be held to account, it was taken as a sign here that the investigation was focusing more on decision-making along the chain of command rather than simply focusing on soldiers who may have been carrying out orders with little understanding of their potential impact.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/world/asia/5-soldiers-are-said-to-face-punishment-in-koran-burning-in-afghanistan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
One part of the Afghan's response was this.....
The preeminent religious authority in Afghanistan, the Ulema Council, said Friday that those responsible for the burning of the Korans and other religious texts should be put on trial and punished. And it called for the American-led coalition to respond by handing over all Afghan prisoners in its custody and ceding control of its prisons.
which is really tooo incredulous a cognitive jump for me to make......
Paul Krugman: Four Fiscal Phonies
And nobody should be surprised. It has been obvious all along ... that the politicians shouting loudest about deficits are actually using deficit hysteria as a cover story for their real agenda, which is top-down class warfare. To put it in Romneyesque terms, it’s all about finding an excuse to slash programs that help people who like to watch Nascar events, even while lavishing tax cuts on people who like to own Nascar teams. ...
Is there any way to make the G.O.P. proposals seem fiscally responsible? Well, no — not unless you believe in magic. Sure enough, voodoo economics is making a big comeback, with Mr. Romney, in particular, asserting that his tax cuts wouldn’t actually explode the deficit because they would promote faster economic growth and this would raise revenue. And you might find this plausible if you spent the past two decades sleeping in a cave somewhere. ...
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/03/paul-krugman-four-fiscal-phonies.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconomistsView+%28Economist%27s+View+%28EconomistsView%29%29
Power Tends to Corrupt Decision-Making
New research explores how power can fuel overconfidence and negatively impact decision-making.
Case in point: the 2009 Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster. British Petroleum (BP) executives had downplayed potential risks associated with their oil well, claiming that it was virtually impossible that a major accident would ever occur.
That same oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and causing a massive oil spill that is costing BP an estimated $100 billion.
Nathanael Fast and his co-authors say the BP case represents only one example that illustrates a fundamental truth in the world of business: unconstrained power can hinder decision-making.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/03/02/power-tends-to-corrupt-decision-making/35498.html
Rush, are you listening.......?
Chipping Away At The First Amendment: New 'Trespassing' Bill Could Be Used To Criminalize Legitimate
Don't you just love Congress, where almost no bills actually are what they say on the tin? There's some buzz building online about the "Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011" (or HR 347), which has been positioned as a simple updating of trespassing laws concerning federal grounds. However, as some are pointing out, hidden in there is quite the Easter egg that effectively outlaws protests near people who are "authorized" to be protected by the Secret Service (mainly the President and Vice President, but it could include a lot more as well). Only three Representatives voted against it, including Rep. Justin Amash who explained his concerns via Facebook:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120301/15425317936/chipping-away-first-amendment-new-trespassing-bill-could-be-used-to-criminalize-legitimate-protests.shtml
I do not know where they will put all the occupiers.....?
Drummer Boy of the Day
&feature=player_embeddedOh if I could only be a drummer man......
EU leaders sign new fiscal treaty
Agreement, signed by all but two European Union members, seeks to control budget deficits and impose fiscal discipline.
European leaders have signed a new fiscal treaty aimed at preventing the 17 eurozone countries from accruing the crippling budget deficits that have led to the currency union's current debt crisis.
Signed in Brussels on Friday, the accord, known as the "The Treaty for Stability, Co-ordination and Governance", paves the way towards closer political and economic integration in the eurozone.
"It will bring us, as it were, the economic and monetary union that is finally walking on two legs," said Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, who oversaw the drafting of the treaty.
Of the bloc's 27 members, only the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic decided not to sign the agreement.
The treaty is "a strong signal that we are drawing lessons from the crisis and that we are focusing on the future of a politically united Europe", said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the main architects of the pact.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/03/201232112348976588.html
Can anyone tell me why UK and Czech Republic opted out of signing....?
Red Crescent blocked from Homs district
Source: AlJAZEERA
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that it was unable to enter the Homs district of Bab Amro on Friday, where it had hoped to bring in aid and evacuate the sick and wounded.
"The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society [SARC] were not allowed to enter the Bab Amr district of Homs today," Jakob Kellenberger, ICRC president, said in a statement issued in Geneva on Friday.
"It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help. We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Bab Amr in the very near future. In addition, many families have fled Bab Amr, and we will help them as soon as we possibly can."
Syrian authorities had given the independent agency a "green light" on Thursday to enter on Friday, the statement said without providing further details on what had prevented their humanitarian operation to start.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/20123215518519445.html
Can anybody spell M O N E Y.........to the person that says yes, it is OK to provide humanitarian relief.....
Man Drinks Gas, Smokes, Dies
A Havelock, N.C., man has died after he accidentally drank from a jar of gasoline Monday and then smoked a cigarette, police said. Gary Allen Banning, 43, was at a friend's apartment when the accident occurred, investigators believe. He died from burn injuries at a hospital Tuesday morning.
http://www.drudge.com/news/154133/man-drinks-gas-smokes-dies
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