Julian Englis
Julian Englis's JournalThe Dallas Fed Is Calling For The Immediate Breakup Of Large Banks
Source: The Business Insider
Richard FisherIt's hard not to think it's a big deal when a branch of the Federal Reserve system calls for the breakup of major American banks.
The bank has just released its annual report, and the title of the letter is: Choosing the Road to Prosperity Why We Must End Too Big to Fail—Now.
Here's the full letter from Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, generally known as one of the most hawkish and conservative Fed Presidents.
Letter from the
President
If you are running one of the “too-big- to-fail” (TBTF) banks—alternatively known as “systemically important financial institutions,” or SIFIs—I doubt you are going to like what you read in this annual report essay written by Harvey Rosenblum, the head of the Dallas Fed’s Research Department, a highly regarded Federal Reserve veteran of 40 years and the former president of the National Association for Business Economics.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dallas-fed-calls-for-breakup-of-big-banks-2012-3#ixzz1plgWWQ7l
I am surprised that this is not bigger news.
U.S. Marine faces boot for anti-Obama Facebook posts
Source: USA Today
A Marine sergeant who started a Facebook group that is openly critical of President Obama and posted comments saying he will not follow the unlawful orders of the commander in chief is facing possible dismissal from the Corps.
The Marines on Wednesday told Sgt. Gary Stein — a Camp Pendleton Marine who started the Facebook page called Armed Forces Tea Party — that he is in violation of Pentagon policy barring troops from political activities.
Stein, a nine-year member of the Corps, said he started the page to encourage fellow service members to exercise their free speech rights. He has also criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his comments on Syria.
The Marine Corps said in a statement that Stein's commanding officer ordered a preliminary inquiry on March 8 after receiving allegations that Stein posted the political statements violating the Pentagon's directives.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2012-03-22/marine-obama-facebook-free-speech/53697996/1
The Trayvon Martin tragedy is shining a national spotlight on "stand your ground" laws in at least 2
The laws — in places like Texas, Idaho, and Alaska — allow every day citizens to use deadly force against someone else if they fear for their life. They also say people do not have to retreat if threatened or attacked.
George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Fla., fatally shot Martin as the 17-year-old was walking to his father's home from a 7-Eleven. Zimmerman told police he was attacked by Trayvon and acted in self-defense. He has not been arrested or charged. Civil rights groups are calling for Zimmerman's arrest, saying Martin was targeted because he was black. Zimmerman's father says he is Hispanic.
Police have said officers were prohibited from arresting Zimmerman because he claimed to have used "justifiable" force.
More at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-21/stand-your-ground-law-trayvon-martin-florida/53690608/1?csp=34news
Rush Limbaugh Show fires back at Media Matters and David Brock
Yesterday, David Brock posted a piece on Politico entitled "Fleeing advertisers doom Rush Limbaugh’s business model."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74237_Page2.html
Today, spokesperson (their term) Brian Glicklich published a response to Mr. Brock's well reasoned opinion piece, "'Rush Limbaugh Show' responds to Brock."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74307.html
Here's a summary from RadioNews of Glickich's tirade:
Limbaugh Show spokesman Brian Glicklich says Media Matters for America, which has been alerting listeners and particularly advertisers to Rush's remarks about Sandra Fluke, "stands for censorship, and nothing more than that." The statement posted on Politico says "David Brock is so outraged at Rush Limbaugh’s words of three weeks ago that he started organizing a protest - almost 3 years ago. It was planned ahead and activated at the first moment Brock could manipulate a media frenzy." Glicklich is the Limbaugh spokesman who issued a statement several weeks ago telling a longtime advertiser it would not be welcome back on the program. Now he says "By putting small business in the crosshairs of their war on expression, Media Matters is causing real harm. They are hurting these businesses, their employees and their families. As a business owner, imagine waking up one morning and being assaulted by hundreds of coordinated attacks from operatives who never were or will be your customers." Glicklich says the tactic is to "barrage small business with threats until they cancel their advertising."
More at http://www.radio-info.com/news/rush-limbaugh-show-fires-back-at-media-matters-and-david-brock
I get the feeling that Mr. Limbaugh is running scared.
Author of "stand your ground" law: George Zimmerman should probably be arrested for killing Trayvon
Source: CBS News
The authors of Florida's controversial "stand your ground" self-defense law say George Zimmerman should probably be arrested for shooting Trayvon Martin, reports the Miami Herald.
"He has no protection under my law," former Sen. Durell Peaden told the newspaper.
Florida's law, called "stand your ground" by supporters and "shoot first" by critics, was passed in 2005 and permits residents to use deadly force if they "reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."
Traditionally, self-defense laws did not typically extend beyond a person's home, but the Florida law, and at least 20 more passed across the country since them, allows a resident to "meet force with force" almost anywhere, including the street or a bar.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57401619-504083/author-of-stand-your-ground-law-george-zimmerman-should-probably-be-arrested-for-killing-trayvon-martin/
An interesting attempt to distance the "stand your ground" law from its natural consequences.
Israel Bans Ultra Skinny Models
From Reuters:
Israeli lawmakers have banned underweight models from catwalks and commercials, a measure they hope will reduce eating disorders and promote a healthy body image.
The law, passed late on Monday, says women and men cannot be hired for modeling jobs unless a doctor stipulates they are not underweight, with a body mass index (BMI) -- a measure expressing a ratio of weight to height -- of no less than 18.5.
The law also bans the use of a person who "appears underweight" and says advertisers must explicitly state if graphic manipulation was done to make a model look thinner in a photo.
Rachel Adato, one of the lawmakers who pushed the bill, said ahead of the vote she hoped the law would protect youth from pursuing unattainable ideals of beauty. "Beautiful is not underweight, beautiful should not be anorexic," she said.
More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/20/us-israel-models-law-idUSBRE82J0G420120320
No sex necessary: Women have orgasms at the gym, study shows
Source: MSNBC
Women may not need a guy, a vibrator, or any other direct sexual stimulation to have an orgasm, finds a new study on exercise-induced orgasms and sexual pleasure.
The findings add qualitative and quantitative data to a field that has been largely unstudied, according to researcher Debby Herbenick, co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University. For instance, Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues first reported the phenomenon in 1953, saying that about 5 percent of women they had interviewed mentioned orgasm linked to physical exercise. However, they couldn't know the actual prevalence because most of these women volunteered the information without being directly asked.
Since then, reports of so-called "coregasms," named because of their seeming link to exercises for core abdominal muscles, have circulated in the media for years, according to the researchers.
"Despite attention in the popular media, little is known scientifically about exercise-induced orgasms," the researchers write in a special issue of the journal Sexual and Relationship Therapy released in print this month. [5 Myths About Women's Bodies]
Read more: http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/19/10759818-no-sex-necessary-women-have-orgasms-at-the-gym-study-shows
Politico: For Democrats, GOP budget is Christmas in March
I sure hope Politico is correct:
Democrats are organizing media blitzes, House floor speeches and town halls back home to seize on the changes to Medicare that Republicans are expected to propose Tuesday. To blunt GOP talking points that only Republicans are willing to confront the debt, Democrats intend to unveil their own budget next week calling for a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes on the rich.
The Republican budget plan last year was a political winner for Democrats, and party leaders expect nothing less this time around.
“They can run, but they cannot hide from their Medicare plan, which ends the Medicare guarantee at the same time they’re providing big new tax breaks to millionaires and protecting special interest tax loopholes,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told POLITICO in an interview Monday.
At the heart of the Democrats’ war against the House GOP proposal — spearheaded by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — is its plan to dramatically reshape Medicare in order to contain costs and keep the health care program for seniors viable. This year’s budget is expected to incorporate a modified version of the Medicare revamp drafted by both Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would allow seniors to keep the traditional Medicare program or enroll in an alternative private plan.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74206.html#ixzz1pczsr8d8
Shock Therapy’s Effect on Depression Discovered, Researchers Say
Source: Bloomberg
After using electroconvulsive therapy for more than 70 years to treat severe depression, doctors say they now have discovered how it works.
Shock therapy, in use since 1937, appears to tamp down an overactive connection between two parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, thinking and concentration, according to a study released today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The procedure mimics a seizure, sending a brief electric current to the brain. ECT has the strongest supporting data among treatments for patients whose depression doesn’t respond to medication, according to the American Psychiatric Association. About 10 to 20 percent of depressed patients receive shock therapy, said Paul Holtzheimer, an associate professor of psychiatry and surgery at Dartmouth Medical School.
“This gives us a much more powerful view of the brain,” Holtzheimer, who wasn’t involved in the study, said today in a telephone interview. “If this study holds up, it tells us this is a network problem.”
In the study, nine patients scheduled to undergo shock therapy had their brains scanned using functional MRI before and after treatment. This type of imaging detects blood flow to specific areas of the brain. Then the researchers analyzed the brain’s connectivity using a new mathematical model.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-19/shock-therapy-s-effect-on-depression-discovered-researchers-say.html
ECT is actually very safe compared to medications. The problem is with the side effects. In, particular some people memory loss. This new information may help pave the way to better, safer treatment of depression, where the treatment is more carefully targeted to parts of the brain that most involved in causing the depression.
Here is a link to the abstract of the original article in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Science:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/12/1117206109.abstract?sid=293419e9-94ec-44d4-be58-b49a2740a56d
Election poll: 'Cavernous' gender gap gives boost to Obama
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Andrew Kohut leads the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. He appeared at the March 14 Monitor breakfast in Washington, D.C., to discuss a new Pew national poll.
The gender gap between President Obama and Republican candidates:
"There is a cavernous gender gap in the horse-race poll…. Obama leads [GOP front-runner Mitt] Romney by 20 points among female voters. And [Obama] leads [candidate Rick] Santorum by 26 points among female voters."
Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2012/0319/Election-poll-Cavernous-gender-gap-gives-boost-to-Obama
I believe that this the report on the survey to which Kohut refers:
http://www.people-press.org/2012/03/14/romney-leads-gop-contest-trails-in-matchup-with-obama/?src=prc-headline
The specific data are found on this page, you have to scroll down:
http://www.people-press.org/2012/03/14/section-2-the-general-election-2/
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