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Monday, December 12, 2011

The Big Picture

The Big Picture


QOTD: UK Isolation

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST

Terribly amusing . . .

The UK is as isolated as someone left on the dock in Southampton as the Titanic sailed away.

-Terry Smith of Tullett Prebon

via FT’s Alphaville

Core of Patriot Act Was Drafted in 1995 … By Joe Biden

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 10:30 PM PST

December 10, 2011

Joe Biden Drafted the Core of the Patriot Act in 1995 … Before the Oklahoma City Bombing

Everyone knows that the Patriot Act was drafted before 9/11.

But few know that it was Joe Biden who drafted the core provisions which were included in that bill … in 1995.

CNET reported in 2008:

Months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of "terrorism" that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review.* The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode "constitutional and statutory due process protections" and would "authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and assocblank Joe Biden Drafted the Core of the Patriot Act in 1995 ... Before the Oklahoma City Bombingiations."

Biden himself draws parallels between his 1995 bill and its 2001 cousin. "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill," he said when the Patriot Act was being debated, according to the New Republic, which described him as "the Democratic Party's de facto spokesman on the war against terrorism."

***

Biden's proposal probably helped to lay the groundwork for the Bush administration's Patriot Act.

The Center for National Securities reported in 1995:

On February 10, 1995, a counterterrorism bill drafted by the Clinton
Administration was introduced in the Senate as S. 390 and in the House of
Representatives as H.R. 896.

The Clinton bill is a mixture of: provisions eroding constitutional and
statutory due process protections, selective federalization — on political
grounds — of state crimes (minus state due process rules), discredited
ideas from the Reagan and Bush Administrations, and the extension of some of
the worst elements of crime bills of the recent past.

The legislation would:

1. authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to
investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations;

2. repeal the ancient provision barring the U.S. military from civilian
law enforcement;

3. expand a pre-trial detention scheme that puts the burden of proof on
the accused;

4. loosen the carefully-crafted rules governing federal wiretaps, in
violation of the Fourth Amendment;

5. establish special courts that would use secret evidence to order the
deportation of persons convicted of no crimes, in violation of basic
principles of due process;

6. permit permanent detention by the Attorney General of aliens convicted
of no crimes, with no judicial review;

7. give the President unreviewable power to criminalize fund-raising for
lawful activities associated with unpopular causes;

8. renege on the Administration's approval in the last Congress of a
provision to insure that the FBI would not investigate based on First
Amendment activities; and

9. resurrect the discredited ideological visa denial provisions of the
McCarran Walter Act to bar foreign speakers.

* Note: The CNET article contains a typographical error, using the word "detection" instead of "detention" in the sentence: "allowing permanent detection of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review". Not only does this make no sense, but a review of the bill confirms that it provided for permanent detention.

What Makes Someone Leave A Website?

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST

++ Click Image to Enlarge ++
What Makes Someone Leave A Website?
Source: What Makes Someone Leave A Website?

Where is the Bubble — Gold or Credit?

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 10:47 AM PST

Interesting observation (with caveats):

“In his latest market dispatch, the venerable technician Ian McAvity makes proper hash of the theory being bruited about by the usual suspect sources that gold is a bubble.

At $1,900 an ounce, he observes, gold was 2.2 times its early 1980 peak. U.S. gross domestic product and federal debt, he goes on, are some 5.5 times their early 1980 levels, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 and overall credit-market debt are 11 to 12 times their levels in the early ’80s.

Thus, “the real bubble,” he contends, has been the “issuance of debt that is increasingly stifling any recovery in the Main Street economy.” And there is no sign it won’t continue to do so any time soon.

Little wonder, then, that he’s convinced we’re in the fierce grip of a bear market that could get quite ugly between now and next year’s election day, with the already-battered housing and financial sectors pacing the decline.”

I have no problem with the argument that we’ve had a bubble in credit and an unfortunate reliance on printing and debt.

However, I find the rest of the argument hollow. The S&P in niminal terms may be up 12-fold, but so are earnings. So the value of the index has not risen, only its price.

Gold on the other hand is priced based on what the last guy paid for it (as are equities) — but without any other frame of reference. There are no earnings or yield, so it is strictly a function of last price paid. I don’t see how eventually, that does not end terribly.

>

Source:
Pocketbook Love
ALAN ABELSON
Barron’s DECEMBER 10, 2011
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704221204577080552451095224.html

Tony Blair: Final Decision Point Nears for Euro

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 05:30 AM PST

The euro zone has only a matter of weeks to take steps that will ensure the common currency’s survival, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair says in an exclusive interview with the Journal’s Managing Editor, Robert Thomson.

12/1/2011 5:36:22 PM

Driven: Jaguar XKR-S Convertible

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST

jag_xkrs_convertible_01pop jag_xkrs_convertible_03pop jag_xkrs_convertible_04pop jag_xkrs_convertible_06pop jag_xkrs_convertible_07pop jag_xkrs_convertible_08pop jag_xkrs_convertible_09pop jag_xkrs_convertible_11pop

Source:
Driven: Jaguar XKR-S Convertible
Classic Driver, November 2011

Cuisinart Grind&Brew Coffee Maker $49

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:44 AM PST

Amazon is running a one day special on the Cuisinart DGB-550BK Grind-and-Brew 12-Cup Automatic Coffeemaker for $49. AMZN list price is $189, (its typically $99-129).

The last time Amazon ran this one day special it was for $59.

Regardless, $49 is a great price for a very decent grind & brew coffee maker. Makes a great gift, or a backup machine.

If you want to spend appreciably more, you easily can. The Capresso equivalent (w/o the thermos carafe) runs ~$162. And my favorite coffee maker, the Capresso 465 CoffeeTeam (Burr Grinder and Thermal Carafe) is $198. Its a great piece of machinery at a premium price.

You can always go classic Bodum French Press ($26) but its nowhere near as convenient as the combination of a grinder/timer/thermos.

>

Previously:
Your Coffee Sucks!

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