The High Price of American Gullibility
Many Americans have turned a blind eye to the administration’s illegal and unconstitutional spying on the grounds that, as they themselves are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. If this is the case, why did our Founding Fathers bother to write the Constitution? If the executive branch can be trusted not to abuse power, why did Congress pass legislation establishing a panel of federal judges (ignored by the Bush administration) to oversee surveillance? If President Bush can decide that he can ignore statutory law, how does he differ from a dictator? If Bush can determine law, what is the role of Congress and the courts? If "national security" is a justification for elevating the power of the executive, where is his incentive to find peaceful solutions?

Supreme Court Blocks Guantánamo Tribunals The Supreme Court today delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Bush administration, ruling that it exceeded its authority by creating tribunals for terror suspects that fell short of the legal protections that Congress has traditionally required in military courts.

Israeli missiles pound Gaza into new Dark Age in 'collective punishment'

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark federal funds rate to 5.25 percent from 5.00 percent on Thursday, the central bank's 17th consecutive interest rate hike since it began tightening monetary policy in June 2004
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Commerce said that U.S. GDP was up at the rate of 5.6% in the first quarter of 2006. YoY, GDP was up 3.7%. YoY the core rate of personal consumption expenditures was up 2.0%.
  

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were up 4,000 last week to 313,000.
  
  
  

• The. DOE said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 66 billion cubic feet to 2.542 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 20% from a year ago
  
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.1% in April and 3.1% YoY
  

• Japan's industrial production was down 1% in May and up 4.2% YoY
  

• Taiwan's Central Bank raised interest rates from 2.375% to 2.50%.
  
  

• Japan plans to fight global warming and surging oil prices by requiring all vehicles to be able to run on an environment-friendly mix of ethanol and regular gasoline by 2030, an official said Thursday. "The main goal is to counter global warming," Sekiya said. "Adopting the new technology is not that difficult."
  

Complaint filed in 32 countries against U.S. bank data mining
A civil liberties group on Wednesday asked 32 national governments to block the release of confidential financial records to U.S. authorities as part of American anti-terrorist probes.
London-based watchdog Privacy International demanded a halt to the "completely unacceptable" monitoring of millions of transactions as part of a CIA-U.S. Treasury program

GOP bill targets NY Times

House Republican leaders are expected to introduce a resolution today condemning The New York Times for publishing a story last week that exposed government monitoring of banking records.


Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost: Thomas Jefferson

Quick Overview

• U.S. Mortgage applications dropped from 567.6 to 529.6 last week, hurt by the recent rise in mortgage rates.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 3.4 million barrels last week to 343.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were down 1.0 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 1.2 million barrels.
  Over the past four weeks gasoline demand was up 0.9% YoY.
  

• YoY Retail sales in Japan were up 0.1% in May
  

• Mexican retail sales rose a lower-than-expected 3.3 percent in February even as a broader economic recovery picked up speed.
  
  

• Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly voted to approve a free trade pact with the United States early Wednesday, rejecting claims the treaty will hurt Peru's farmers by flooding the Andean nation with subsidized cotton, rice, corn and potatoes.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence rose in the latest week as gasoline price hikes moderated, regaining its highest level since April, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  

• The United States needs to preserve a welcome investment climate to ward off the risk of an abrupt adjustment in the current account that harms the economy, a top White House economic adviser said on Tuesday.
  

• The Conference Board's index of U.S. consumer confidence increased from 104.7 to 105.7 in June, stronger than expected.
  

• U.S. existing home sales were at an annual rate of 6.67 million units in May, down 1.2% from April's pace,
  

• Business confidence in Germany increased from 105.7 to 106.8 in June, the highest reading in 15 years.
  

• The average national price of retail diesel fuel fell 4.8 cents to $2.867 a gallon, the biggest decline this year, the Department of Energy reported.
  
  

• The International Copper Study Group said that world copper production exceeded demand in the first quarter of 2006 by 64,000 tons, up from an 89,000 ton deficit in the first quarter of 2005. Production was up 4.8% YoY while usage was up 1%.
  

Many U.S. Iraq War vets return to homelessnessThe reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment

Buyers in more markets find housing out of reach
San Diego could be a poster child for the affordability crisis. Home prices here have risen 142% since the start of 2000. Only 9% of residents could afford the median home if they had to put down 20% of the purchase price. Even so, a dizzying array of high-risk adjustable-rate mortgages has sustained the market by helping more people qualify.

Failure to deliver on G8 pledges has left millions to die, says charity report
World leaders agreed to cut subsidies and open their markets to the poorest countries, who cannot compete in world markets. But the report found that the US and the EU are still spending more than $100bn a year on subsidy payments to their own farmers, while continuing to dump cheap exports in developing countries so local producers cannot sell their goods in their own markets

Quick Overview

• U.S. New home sales were up 4.6% from April's pace and more than expected. For 2006, new home sales are down 11% YoY.
  
  

• Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Economics forecast World sugar production next fiscal year at 152.5 million tons, up from 149.7 million tons this fiscal year, and Global consumption at 151.2 million tons up from 150.6 million tons this year.
  

Resist the tobacco Taliban
There is within some people a deep-seated need to victimise those they consider racially, socially, sexually or ideologically aberrant. Smokers are a convenient and politically correct target for those who wish to take out their inchoate anger but are sharp enough to realise that, these days, you can’t vent it on Jews or homosexuals.

Jim Rogers Says China Equities, Commodities Will Boom Rogers said if he looks for new opportunities in commodities today, he would start with agriculture. ``I think there will be fortunes made in agriculture in the next decade.'' He is looking at cotton, coffee, wheat, soybeans and sugar. ...``Agricultural prices are historically very, very low,'' Rogers said. ``Inventories are the lowest in 34 years. We haven't even had a major worldwide drought in many years.''

Britain's first olive grove is a sign of our hotter times
In one of the most remarkable signs yet of the advance of global warming, Britain's first olive grove has been planted in Devon.

Who Will Hold Them Accountable?
Now the House has once again, in effect, abandoned its role in any future decision about the need for and the wisdom of initiating war in the name of the people they represent

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods were down 0.3% in May, weaker than expected.
  

• Mexico's central bank left the country's benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged.
  
  

• New Zealand's GDP was up 0.7% in the first quarter of 2006 and up 2.2% YoY
  

• The Florida Department of Citrus Processors said there were 100 million gallons of frozen orange juice concentrate in inventory on June 17th, down 30% YoY.
  

• Panama's Congress will debate next week whether to push ahead with an ambitious and costly plan to expand its canal.

Bush is the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover
The Wall Street Journal worried that Bush’s direction on steel was weakening his ability to influence other countries on a variety of issues. “The policy mattered less than the abandonment of principle,” it editorialized. “It signaled to the world that Mr. Bush was not the president he had seemed after September 11; his moral and strategic clarity could be compromised for a price.”

Heaven or hell?

Nanotechnology, genetics and cybernetics will mean that we will become faster, stronger and more beautiful; we will live longer and banish disease; we will be more intelligent and quicker-witted with photographic memories and the ability to go days without sleep.

(how about just a wee bit more morals?)

Tom Ridge: War on Terror to Last Decades


Ridge, speaking at the opening of a new RAND Corp. office, said the war on terror is likely to last for decades, much like the Cold War.

Lawmakers' Profits Are ScrutinizedHouse Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

AT&T revises privacy policy, says owns customer dataAT&T Inc. said on Wednesday it was revising its privacy policy, explaining to customers that it owns their phone records and can hand them over....

EU way off course for meeting Kyoto targets: latest figures
Instead of falling, EU greenhouse-gas pollution actually rose in the latest year of monitoring..

Quick Overview

• The Conference Board, said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell to 137.9 (0.6%) in May after it declined 0.1 percent to 138.7 in April. Suggesting the economy could worsen in coming months.
  
  

• The Chicago Federal Reserve's index of national activity fell from +.26 to -.16 in May, a sign of slower economic growth.
  
  

• The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims rose from a four-month low last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
  
  

• YoY Argentina's economy grew by 6.4% - less than expected.
  
  
  
  

• December Eurodollar futures sank, pricing in with conviction the Fed will raise rates to 5.5% by year's end, from the current 5%.
  
  
  

• Canadian nickel producer Inco said Thursday that booming demand for nickel will lead to a 30,000 metric ton shortfall in supply in 2006.
  
  
  

• The USDA said there were 473 million pounds of frozen pork in cold storage, down 8% YoY.

• Frozen bellies totaled 64.9 million pounds, down 21% YoY.
  
  

• The USDA said there were 1.16 billion pounds of frozen orange juice in storage, down 31% YoY.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 79 billion cubic feet to 2.476 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are up 22% YoY.
  
  

Quick Overview

• Retail sales in Canada were up 1.7% in April and 6.7 YoY,
  

• Canada's composite index of leading indicators was up 0.3% in May.
  

• Japanese Finance Minister said that a rapid rise in interest rates would hurt the Japanese economy as it has not fully emerged from deflation.
  
  

• Demand for ordinary wines is falling and tough competition from strong New World brands mean some European wine makers are finding it increasingly difficult to sell all they produce. The European Union will therefore step in to buy 1.5 billion liters of surplus wine and distill it into biofuels.
  
  

• Worldwide, 38.7 billion liters of ethanol should be produced this year versus 33.6 billion in 2005, Peter Baron, head of the International Sugar Organization said.
  
  

• Venezuela plans to produce significant amounts of ethanol for domestic use with Cuban support Venezuelan officials said.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 1.4 million barrels to 347.1 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 300,000 barrels
  Supplies of and heating oil supplies were up 2.7 million barrels.
  

• Japan may, by the end of June, allow U.S. beef back in the country.
  

Iraq: US may be asked to leave In an exclusive interview with The Australian, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage has given a gloomy assessment of the situation.

'Thirst for knowledge' may be opium craving Neuroscientists have proposed a simple explanation for the pleasure of grasping a new concept: The brain is getting its fix.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence edged up in the latest week because of moderating gasoline prices, ABC News and the Washington Post said.
  
  

• The U.S. Census Bureau said housing starts were at an annual rate of 1.957 million units in May, up 5.0% from April's pace and more than expected. YoY housing starts are down 1.7%.
  
  

• JP Morgan expects the Fed to raise rates in June and August to
  5.5%. JP Morgan expects further moves in December 2006 and February 2007 to take the benchmark rate to 6.0%, according to a research note.
  
  

• A group of 12 large corporations (including eBay, Eli Lilly, Google, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble) will push Congress to pass a comprehensive federal consumer-privacy law, citing mounting concern that consumer trust in Internet safety is eroding.

• Sweden raised rates to 2.25% from 2.00% as expected. The Riksbank said it is reasonable to assume further interest rate hikes are needed and says market expectations for rates over next year may be too low.
  

• Bank of Japan Governor said policy decisions should be taken "early" if warranted by economic conditions, rekindling speculation the central bank would soon raise interest rates from zero.
  

• Producer prices in Germany were up 0.1% in May and up 6.2%YoY,
  
  

• India's sugarcane ethanol output is enough to cover the government's plan to blend 5% ethanol with gasoline starting in October 2006, the U.S. Dep. Of Agriculture said.
  
  

• The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is planning to launch futures
  contracts tied to the Chinese yuan.
  
  

• The Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics said that Australia's wheat crop will total 22.8 million tons this winter, down from 25.1 million tons last year, due to dry weather.
  
  
  
  

Brazil sees doubts about WTO farm deal in June
A key condition was that the United States came up with a "more courageous move" on cutting farm subsidies.

Pentagon lists homosexuality as a mental disorder

Aaugh!
Aaugh! The last time a nation’s civilian and military leadership was this incapable of learning from experience was under the Ching dynasty.

Enigmatic object baffles supernova team
The object's behaviour doesn't match any known quasar. The team is not convinced the object is outside our galaxy, but nothing like it is known inside the galaxy.

Waste Oil Dumps Threaten Towns in Northern Iraq As much as 40 percent of the petroleum processed at Iraq's damaged and outdated refineries pours forth as black oil, the heavy, viscous substance that used to be extensively exported to more efficient foreign operations for further refining. But the insurgency has stalled government-controlled exports by taking control of roadways and repeatedly hitting pipelines in the area, Iraqi and American officials have said.

So the backed-up black oil — known to the rest of the world as the lower grades of fuel oil — was sent along a short pipeline from Baiji and dumped in a mountainous area called Makhul.

Japan seizes control of whaling group after historic vote
In a stunning diplomatic coup, Japan and its allies, including Norway and Iceland, won a voting majority in the IWC for the first time, as a result of a remorseless 10-year Japanese campaign to secure the votes of small African and Caribbean countries in exchange for multimillion-dollar foreign aid packages.

Quick Overview

• Late payments and new foreclosures on U.S. homes declined in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the last quarter of 2005, reflecting an improving economy and job creation, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Monday.
  
  

• Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Jack Guynn urged U.S. elected officials to face up to long-term fiscal problems and said the world will have to get used to higher oil prices.
  
  

• The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that Brazil's economy was less vulnerable amid lower external and domestic debt and foreign reserves that are at more comfortable levels.
  
  

• Russia's GDP increased 5.5% in the first quarter of 2006, more than expected.
  
  

• Bloomberg news reported that sentiment among homebuilders dropped from 46 to 42 in June, the most dire outlook in eleven years.
  

• International apprehensions increased again after North Korea announced that they are going to test-launch a long-range ballistic missile
  

• The Chairman of China’s Cereals and Oils Association says China’s growing
  industrial use of Corn will force the country to import 10 mmt. of Corn by 2010.
  
  

The No-Knock State
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail – its roof may shake – the wind may blow through it – the storm may enter – the rain may enter – but the King of England cannot enter – all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!
~ William Pitt

Lost in translation
My recent comment piece explaining how Iran's president was badly misquoted when he allegedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" has caused a welcome little storm. The phrase has been seized on by western and Israeli hawks to re-double suspicions of the Iranian government's intentions, so it is important to get the truth of what he really said.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. current account deficit totaled $208.7 billion in the first quarter of 2006, smaller than expected.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased from 79.1 to 82.4 in early June, stronger than expected.
  
  
  

• YoY industrial production in Argentina rose 7.3 percent in May.
  
  
  

• China's central bank is raising the reserve requirements by one-half of a percent slow the economy.
  

5-4 Decision Narrows Exclusionary Rule in Police Searches
As a result of Thursday’s opinion, it’s likely that police across the nation will stop knocking and announcing before entering, says David A. Moran, who represented Hudson on appeal.
"I suspect the knock-and-announce rule will become a joke," says Moran, a law professor at Detroit’s Wayne State University. "No longer can Americans expect that they will have the chance to answer the door in a dignified manner."

Judge Rules That U.S. Has Broad Powers to Detain Noncitizens Indefinitely
"This decision is a green light to racial profiling and prolonged detention of noncitizens at the whim of the president," said Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the detainees. "The decision is profoundly disturbing because it legitimizes the fact that the Bush administration rounded up and imprisoned our clients because of their religion and race."

Reducing Night Flights May Ease Winter Global Warming, Report Says
We get one-half of the climate effect from one-quarter of the year, from less than one-quarter of the air traffic," said meteorologist Nicola Stuber, who led the English research team. "If you get rid of the night flights, you can reduce the climate warming effect of the contrails."

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 8,000 last week to 295,000, less than expected.
  

• Industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.1% in May, reflecting weakness in manufacturing.
  

• The U.S. Treasury said that net foreign purchase of U.S. securities totaled $58.5 billion in April while U.S. residents bought $11.9 billion of foreign securities.
  

• Investors pulled a net $6.39 billion from stock funds in the week ended June 14, TrimTabs Investment Research estimated on Thursday.
  

• The Bank of Japan voted to keep the interest rate near zero for now.
  

• YoY consumer prices in the Euro zone were up 2.5% in May.
  
  

• The Green Coffee Association said that U.S. coffee stocks were up 60,391 bags in May to end the month at 5.26 million bags, down 10% YoY.
  
  

• The DoE said underground supplies of natural gas were up 77 billion cubic feet to 2.397 trillion cubic feet.
  

The Price of Madness
How did an America of H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, James J. Hill, Henry David Thoreau, and Anne Hutchinson, manage to become a nation of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Halliburton, and Condoleezza Rice? How did the spiritual voice of a Ralph Waldo Emerson get replaced by Pat Robertson? What epidemic of pests has eaten away at the timbers of the White House since the days of Thomas Jefferson, producing an infestation of such anti-social insects as the Clintons and the Bushes? How was Tom Paine toppled as the all-time best-selling author by the likes of such scrawlers as Al Franken and Ann Coulter?

Bell Labs To Be Demolished
The vaunted Bell Labs, whose scientists invented the laser and developed fiber optic and satellite communications, touch-tone dialing and cellphones, modems and microwaves, was housed in the glass building...

At one time, Lucent employed 5,600 people in Holmdel. The company plans to move the approximately 1,000 who remain to offices in Murray Hill and Whippany by the summer of 2007.

House Accepts $3,300 Raise
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.

Global Image of the U.S. Is Worsening
Although strong majorities in several countries expressed worries about Iran's nuclear intentions, in 13 of 15 countries polled, most people said the war in Iraq posed more of a danger to world peace. Russians held that view by a 2-to-1 margin.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department said the CPI was up 0.4% in May and up 4.2% YoY. Excluding food and energy costs, the price index was up 0.3% in May and up 2.4% YoY.
  

• The Federal Reserves Beige Book showed continuing economic activity in all twelve districts in the past month, but four districts said that activity was slowing - Atlanta, Kansas City, Richmond, and San Francisco.
  

• The unemployment rate in the U.K. increased to 5.3%, up from 5.2%.
  

• Canada's manufacturing shipments were down 1.5% in April.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 900,000 barrels to 345.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 2.8 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 1.8 million barrels.
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department raised the tariff on Canadian lumber from 10.8% to 14.7%.
  

• Brazil's government will likely remove a 10% import tax on wheat in August in response to concerns the country's No. 1 supplier, Argentina, will restrict wheat exports.

• China's industrial consumption of corn will total 27.5 million tons in 2006-07, an increase of 25% YoY, said Xubo Yu, vice president of China's COFCO.

• Engine and heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.’s board of directors voted to raise the company’s quarterly cash dividend 5 cents to 30 cents per share, a 20% increase, the company said .
  

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Department of Labor said the producer price index was up 0.2% in May and up 4.5% YoY. Excluding food and energy costs, prices were up 0.3% in May and up 1.5% YoY.
  

• U.S. Retail sales were up 0.1% in May, as expected, and up 0.5%, excluding autos.
  

• YoY consumer prices in the U.K. were up 2.2% in May.
  

• Retail sales in New Zealand were down 0.1% in April.
  

• Gold had its biggest plunge in 15 years, and copper tumbled to a seven- week low as investors bailed out of commodities and equities on concern about rising global interest rates.

Quick Overview

• (Bloomberg) -- China's retail sales rose 14.2 percent in May as higher incomes spurred consumer spending in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

• Foreclosures rising with debt, job losses
  Michigan and Ohio, battered by automotive-related job losses, together recorded 45,000 mortgages entering some stage of foreclosure in the first quarter. Those are increases of 91 percent and 39 percent, respectively
  
  

• U.S. deficit is a global risk, G-8 warns
  
  

• YoY Japan's GDP increased by 3.1% in the first quarter of 2006.

• Ethanol production averaged 301,000 barrels per day in the U.S. in March, that is nearly 60,000 barrels above March, 2005. Stocks increased 1.3 million gallons.

Rare counting ability induced by temporarily switching off brain region
A minority of people with autism have one or more extraordinary intellectual talents, such as the rapid ability to calculate the day of the week for a given date, or to count large numbers of discrete objects almost instantaneously - they're often called 'autistic savants' or 'idiot savants'. Now Allan Snyder and colleagues have shown that by placing a pulsing magnet over a specific area of the brain, these kind of abilities can, to some extent, be induced in people who aren’t autistic.