Thursday June 26th 2008

Court: A constitutional right to a gun
Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession.Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the majority stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, or laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, or laws putting conditions on gun sales.In District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), the Court nullified two provisions of the city of Washington’s strict 1976 gun control law: a flat ban on possessing a gun in one’s home, and a requirement that any gun — except one kept at a business — must be unloaded and disassembled or have a trigger lock in place. The Court said it was not passing on a part of the law requiring that guns be licensed.

Gold Jumps to Month-High as "Tough Talking" Central Banks Fail to Act Against Inflation in US, Europe and London; Oil Gains, Finance Stocks Plunge
THE SPOT PRICE OF GOLD jumped ahead of the Wall Street opening on Thursday after the Federal Reserve left US interest rates some 2.0% below the rate of inflation.Breaking $908 per ounce, Gold rose above last week's closing level as crude oil bounced and the US Dollar fell hard on the currency markets.The London Gold Fix had earlier recorded its best level since Monday morning at $892.50."Given gold's sensitivity to inflation and the monetary response to inflation," says James Steel, metals analyst at banking giant HSBC, "we believe the Fed's statement is bullish for Gold Prices.

Gold surges above $900/oz as dollar weakens
Gold surged almost 3 percent on Thursday as the dollar weakened against the euro after comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve dampened expectations for an interest rate hike, and amid concerns over equities.Volatility in the stock markets ahead of an expected lower opening on Wall Street is unsettling investors, boosting gold's appeal as a safe haven.Gold rose to $904.60/905.60 an ounce at 1226 GMT against $879.60/880.60 late in New York on Wednesday. Earlier it touched a session high of $905.70."The Fed wasn't as hawkish as the market expected, hence the dollar is under pressure," said JP Morgan analyst Michael Jansen. "People are starting to worry that the Fed might be slightly behind the inflation story."

Oil price could hit $170 a barrel, says Opec head
Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), forecast on Thursday that oil prices could rise to $150 to $170 a barrel during the northern hemisphere summer."I predict probably prices of $150 to $170 this summer. It [the market] will probably fall a bit towards the end of the year," he said in an interview with the France 24 television channel.Khelil said he did not expect prices to hit $200 a barrel, barring a major market crisis such as a halt in production in Iran.

The Specter of Speculators
by Butler Shaffer
Chance is a word devoid of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.~ Voltaire
Whenever regulatory schemes of the state go awry, urgent campaigns are undertaken to find scapegoats upon whom to unload explanations for the ensuing failures. We saw this in the so-called "savings and loan scandals," when governmental restrictions on the industry combined with rapidly growing inflation that raised interest rates into double-digit numbers, produced disastrous consequences.

McCain Echoes Obama's Call to Reign in Oil Speculation
(CNSNews.com) - At a speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who decried oil speculators early this week on the campaign trail."Fairness also requires that we reform the oil futures market," McCain said during a speech that his campaign is billing as part of the presumptive GOP presidential candidate's "comprehensive plan for energy security."

US outlook bleak as confidence plunges
AMERICAN consumers, battered by falling house prices and soaring fuel prices, are at their gloomiest in decades, raising fears they may cut back on spending later this year and tip the economy into a recession.Consumer confidence plunged in June to its lowest level since 1992, and house price declines accelerated in April, according to data released yesterday. The renewed signs of economic weakness underscored why Federal Reserve policy makers, who wrapped up a two-day meeting overnight, were likely to hold the target for their benchmark interest rate steady at 2 per cent.
The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, said consumer confidence dropped to 50.4 in June from 58.1 last month. The scale - which uses as its benchmark a 1985 level of 100 - peaked most recently at 111.9 in July last year.

Not clear why food, fuel costs spiked: Fed's Kohn
Sees 'few tentative signs' that higher prices are boosting core inflation
The cause of the spike in food prices and energy costs this year remains a mystery, but the increases seen to date are not yet a full-blown emergency, Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn told a German audience Thursday.
Speaking behind closed doors at the International Research Forum on Monetary Policy sponsored by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Kohn said higher headline rates of inflation popping up around the globe "have shown only a few tentative signs of embedding themselves in core inflation or in longer-term inflation expectations."

Bernanke's words strike false note
By Julian Delasantellis
In 1968, the Australian rock band The Bee Gees sang the song Words, a melancholy ballad of a penurious lover, trying to win the hand of his intended through verse and prose, the only romantic tools at his disposal:
Talk in everlasting words, and dedicate them all to me.
And I will give you all my life, I'm here if you should call to me.
You think that I don't even mean a single word I say.
It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away.
Now, 40 years later, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke tells the world that he has reached the point where "only words, and words are all I have" to deal with the simultaneous problems of inflation and unemployment now bedeviling the global economy.

How the Fed's Decision Impacts You
by: Marc Courtenay
If you have a mortgage, carry credit cards and are considering a home equity loan to cope with soaring food and energy prices, you should be paying attention to what the Fed has to say.If you are heavily invested in the stock, bond or real estate markets, the Fed's decision will directly have an impact on you over the months and coming years, no matter who gets into the White House. [Make sure you read the end of this article].On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held a key short-term interest rate steady, following a series of interest rates cuts - a move that signals to some that rates may soon change direction.

Citigroup May Write Down $8.9 Billion, Goldman Says
Citigroup Inc., the bank that's posted the biggest losses from the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market, may take an additional $8.9 billion in net writedowns in the second quarter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.Goldman also lowered its rating on U.S. brokerages to ``neutral'' from ``attractive,'' saying the pace of deterioration in the industry ``appears to be far worse than'' it originally anticipated, according to a June 25 note.

Bear Stearns fraud probe widens to rival banks
Michael Herman
US prosecutors that charged two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers with fraud last week are also looking into the pair’s dealings with other banks including Merrill Lynch and Bank of America.Investigators are examining whether Ralph Cioffi and Mathew Tannin misled banks that lent money to their failed hedge funds, the online version of BusinessWeek reported, citing people familiar with the case.The pair have each been charged with nine counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, which they deny.

Cheerleaders Will Face Reality, Eventually
John Browne
When listening to the typical, television-based, Wall Street cheerleaders work themselves up into a bull market frenzy, one is tempted to wonder if they ever bother to compare the movie that is rolling along in their heads to the one that is occurring in the outside world. Perhaps for those living in a media bubble, the only reality that matters is the one reflected in the camera lens.Over the past nine months, we have seen increasing signs of economic contraction and falling corporate earnings in America. Although the financials, airlines, auto manufacturers, and retailers have grabbed the headlines, few American sectors are immune from the pain.

The Most Boneheaded Miscalculation Of All Time
Bill Bonner
Americans are on the losing end of the “biggest transfer of wealth in history,”
"Terrorism will be reduced...weapons of mass murder will be limited, people will be safer around the world, human rights and democracy will be unleashed in the Middle East, and the fragile outlook for world prosperity will be improved... The uncertainty tax on world growth will be lowered too, as will the energy tax from temporarily spiking oil prices."This was Larry Kudlow writing in March, 2003.The spike in oil prices he described took place on March 12th, 2003, pushing the price of a barrel of crude all the way up to $37.83 and the price of a gallon of gasoline to $1.72. Yesterday, oil closed at $137 and gas sells for $4.06.

The God Called Democracy
by Jim Fedako
While the US continues to build its empire as an alter to the god Democracy, it is important to note that democracy is not the reason our Patriots rose up against the British. No, our Patriots fought for Liberty. And, democracy is not Liberty.In fact, democracy becomes oppression whenever the majority ignores the plight of the minority. This happens every time a majority of voters uses the ballot box to gain an advantage over everyone else. Such a perversion of democracy has resulted in a sordid record of incidents throughout world history, with the US having no immunity whatsoever.

Obama, McCain Condemn Supreme Court Decision on Child Rape
CHICAGO — Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday he disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing executions of child rapists.“I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes,” Obama said at a news conference. “I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable that that does not violate our Constitution.”

Supreme Court saved some kid's lives today
The Supreme Court saved the lives of many raped children in the United States today. Politicians, ever on the lookout for ways to prove how tough they are on crime from time to time pass legislation ensuring the initiator of force will murder their victim(s) rather than leave them behind sobbing, terrified and scarred. They do this for votes.Such has been the historical case when the rape of a woman, or rape for the third time, or rape of a child, et cetera has brought about the death penalty upon conviction. As any criminal well knows, it is much, much harder to prove a crime without a victim's testimony. If the penalties for murder are the same as the crime one has perpetrated, then murdering your victim makes perfect rational sense to eliminate the witness of your crime.

Nelson Mandela attacks Zimbabwe's 'tragic failure of leadership'
Chris Smyth and Philip Webster, Political Editor
Nelson Mandela accused President Mugabe of a “tragic failure of leadership” last night, as southern Africa turned its back on the Zimbabwean leader.Mr Mandela spoke of his concern and sadness at the chaos engulfing Zimbabwe, amid clear indications that the patience of Mr Mugabe’s remaining allies was at breaking point.Wielding the moral authority of the world’s best-known statesman, Mr Mandela broke his silence at a fundraising event to mark his 90th birthday celebrations in London.

VIDEO: Times journalists chased by Zanu (PF) militia
Times Online
Armed supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu (PF) party today chased away two journalists from The Times as they tried to report on the election campaign.As the reporters stopped outside the Zanu (PF) headquarters, a truckload of Zanu (PF) militia warned them off and pursued in them in a vehicle chase. In a video report from their speeding car, the journalists described what was happening.

The silent neighbours finally find their voice
Analysis: Jonathan Clayton
It was a day when President Mugabe must have realised that the tide in Africa had turned against him. As Nelson Mandela joined the chorus of international criticism of his regime, almost all of his last, long-time allies finally presented a united front and called for tomorrow’s election to be postponed.Although leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were merely repeating what the rest of the world has already said, it was one of the toughest and most significant statements ever issued by the group.

South Africa warned it might lose 2010 World Cup if doesn't intervene in Zimbabwe
By Bob Roberts
South Africa was last night warned it risked losing the 2010 football World Cup if it fails to intervene in Zimbabwe.
As pressure increased on Robert Mugabe, campaigners and politicians said it was outrageous South African President Thabo Mbeki continued to back him.And they said the World Cup should not go ahead in South Africa unless Mbeki demanded Mugabe step down.The tournament is massively important to South Africa as it is seen as a chance to celebrate how the country has changed since the collapse of white-rule.

Israeli 'suicide cop': family refute claims that he killed himself
Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem
The death of an Israeli guard who was shot in the head during a farewell ceremony for President Sarkozy of France continued to provoke debate yesterday as the family disputed claims that he committed suicide.Raed Ghanan’s death created a security scare at the airport where Mr Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, were saying their farewells to the Israeli Prime Minister and President. Officials at the French Embassy said they were sorry that the incident had overshadowed an otherwise productive visit by Mr Sarkozy.

Perhaps we killed Christ after all
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
It's been some time since the actions of a mainstream Christian church were so deeply offensive as to be able to bring Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform Jewish leaders closer together.But you have to hand it to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In publishing a church document whose expressed purpose was to promote Presbyterian vigilance against anti-Jewish bias, it has done just that. What would it take for a dozen of the most prominent U.S. Jewish organizations to state collectively that they were "deeply distressed" and "profoundly hurt" by the actions of the largest Presbyterian denomination in America?

Israeli threats stiffen Iran's resolve
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Although it is manifestly clear that Israel runs major risks for minor gains by planning to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, the tendency of Israeli politicians and pundits to underestimate the risks and the likelihood of success is growing by leaps and bounds.Following the argument that Israel does not want to wait for a new administration in the United States, to paraphrase one of Israel's voices in the US, CBS consultant Michael Oren, Israel's increasingly bellicose attitude against Iran actually has the adverse effect: it sets barricades in the path of Iranian politicians who want to reach a compromise with the "Iran Six" over Tehran's nuclear program.

US military chief heads to Israel
Pentagon tries to play down announcement Admiral Michael Mullen will be in Jerusalem this week due to estimations Israel is exerting pressure on Washington to launch strike on Iranian nuclear facilities
WASHINGTON - US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen will be arriving for an official visit to Israel in the coming days for discussions on the Iranian nuclear threat, the US Department of Defense confirmed on Wednesday. Meanwhile, speculation is growing in Washington that Israel is exerting pressure on the United States to launch a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.The press office of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that Mullen left the US on Tuesday "to go overseas to visit counterparts as well as combatant commands, and Israel is not his only stop."

Three US soldiers killed as violence in Iraq escalates
By Patrick Cockburn
Three US soldiers and an interpreter have been killed by a roadside bomb in northern Iraq, bringing to 25 the number of Americans killed in Iraq this month and underlining that Iraq remains a very dangerous place for the US army, despite a drop in the number of attacks on it.US forces are now coming under regular attack in Shia as well as Sunni areas of Iraq with wide differences within the US government about the extent to which Iraqi security forces can operate without American assistance.

Laptop searches at U.S. airports draw fire at Senate hearing
By Austin Bogues
WASHINGTON: Advocacy groups and some legal experts told Congress on Wednesday that it was unreasonable for U.S. government officials to search the laptops of United States citizens when they re-enter the country from traveling abroad.Civil rights groups have said certain ethnic groups have been selectively profiled in the searches by Border Patrol agents and customs officials who have the authority to inspect all luggage and cargo brought into the country without obtaining warrants or having probable cause.

The Democrats Betray the Fourth Amendment
Anthony Gregory
A bill essentially legalizing Bush’s warrantless surveillance program just sailed through the Democratic House and is expected to sail through the Democratic Senate. It would expand wiretapping powers against foreign targets, extend the grace period of warrantless domestic eavesdropping on Americans at home, and grant retroactive immunity to telecom companies that cooperated in illegal domestic spying. The New York Times calls it “the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years,” but it is also just the latest example in 30 years of Democratic betrayals of the Fourth Amendment.

Bible thumpers don't trust McCain
If Christian conservatives stay on the sidelines during the fall campaign, presidential hopeful John McCain probably stays in the Senate.Christian conservatives provided much of the on-the-ground, door-to-door activity for President Bush's 2004 re-election in Ohio and in other swing states. Without them, the less-organized and lower-profile McCain campaign is likely to struggle to replicate Bush's success. And so far, there's been scant sign that the Republican nominee-in-waiting is making inroads among these fervent believers.

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