$100 Million Payout for Retiring CEO. When Will This Excess Come To An End?

$100 Million to leave a company whose stock is tanking? WTF? And to a scumbag who was named one of the 5 highest overpaid CEOs in the US? How many regular employees of this company do you think have "replaced or fired" clauses in their contracts that pay them exorbitant sums when the door hits their asses? Our guess is Zippo! 

These Golden Parachute deals must stop! 

Wake Up America

"Corporate Thief" Eugene Isenberg

Nabors Industries CEO Eugene Isenberg is stepping down, and he's taking $100 million with him.

The 81-year-old Isenberg will be replaced as CEO of the oil and gas drilling firm by Nabors President Anthony Petrello but will remain as the firm's chairman of the board.

According to an April SEC filing, Isenberg is contractually entitled to a $100 million payment in the event that he is fired or that the firm otherwise makes a change in control.

Isenberg, or presumably his estate, would have been paid the money even in the event of his death.

News of the payout was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Brian Uhlmer, senior oil service analyst at Global Hunter Securities, called Isenberg's payout "obviously a negative for shareholders."
20 biggest CEO pay raises

"The man obviously doesn't need the money and he's already been compensated for all of the work that he's done there," Uhlmer said.

"This is an unnecessary expense in my mind, but there's no way around it," Uhlmer added. "The board was not going to be able to push him out of the position without the payment."

In a non-binding vote at the Nabors annual meeting earlier this year, 57% of shareholders who voted came out against the compensation packages for Nabors executives, according to a June SEC filing.

Isenberg took over Nabors as it emerged from bankruptcy in 1987 and showed "extraordinary leadership" in leading it to profitability, the firm said in a statement Friday, though it did not offer a reason for his departure.

Since the start of this year, Nabors' share price is down 20%. That's a steeper decline than its rivals: Schlumberger's stock is down around 11% so far this year, while Halliburton is down 8% and Anadarko is up 5%.

Shares of Nabors were down 2.9% in trading on Monday afternoon.

In 2009, Isenberg was ranked on CNN Money's list of the "5 most overpaid CEOs" after earning $79.3 million in compensation the previous year and more than $600 million over his career.

Original Source

UNFATHOMABLE RUBBISH! This Voting Rights Decision Must Not Be Allowed To Stand!!

 

A federal government judge ruled he has no power under the Constitution of the United States of America to hear a constitutional challenge to the government's system of counting votes in secret.

This, in spite of the plain language of Article III of the Constitution:

"The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish... The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties.."

The case was brought against the two major political parties, also known as the New York State Board of Elections.
 
The case is being pursued by two citizen voters - Bob Schulz and John Liggett, who charged voting systems being used to count their votes in secret violate the letter and the spirit of our Constitution.
 
What reason did the Judge give to justify his "I have no power to hear this case" ruling?
 
He held Schulz and Liggett had no Right to stand before his court any longer.  Coming in October of 2011, this is a most peculiar decision. The case was filed in 2007, survived an early motion to dismiss for "lack of standing," was scheduled for jury trial and had been nearing the end of a long discovery phase that produced damning evidence against the government.
 
Why did the Judge issue such a ruling?
 
The two major political parties (read State Board of Elections) asked him to do so.
 
What reason was given to justify his "lack of standing" conclusion?
 
He held the constitutional injury to Schulz and Liggett, by not having their votes counted in public and, therefore, not knowing if their votes were being accurately counted, was no different from the injury being suffered by all other voters so the matter is a political question that should be settled by Congress.
 
Congress? Our Rights are individual Rights, guaranteed by the letter and spirit of our Constitution, not the will of a majority of a group of men and women.
 
Congress? Those whose loyalties flow not to the Constitution, but to political parties, at the risk of not being designated for the ballot for the next electoral cycle?

Congress? Whose political parties are bought and paid for by lobbyists?

Congress? Whose lobbyists include the purveyors of the very secret vote counting machines that are at the heart of the case before the Court?

Balderdash!

In telling Schulz and Liggett to turn to Congress for a remedy to their grievance, the Judge turned a blind eye and a deaf ear not only to common sense, reason and justice, but to the intelligent, rational and professionally crafted arguments presented by Schulz and Liggett that were directed at the need to correct a clear error of law and the need to prevent manifest injustice.

See, for instance the Court's Decision and Order of July7, 2011, Schulz and Liggett's Motion for Reconsideration , the State's Response, Schulz and Liggett's Reply and the Court's Decision and Order of October 13, 2011.
 
Fanning the Flames of Discontent

Our government (read political parties and their servile followers) has been an overachiever in terms of promoting itself despite its problem of growing civil and human rights violations and the economic imbalance.

The Judge's decision is but another example in a growing list of failures of the government (read two major political parties) to comply with their constitutional mandates and their constitutional obligation to listen and respond to the People's legitimate grievances.

The international community, the media and observers might go on being fooled by the rhetoric of America's success story, but the People are waking up to the problems of constitutional violations and the resultant economic and other devastating effects.

Government's refusal to respond to the merits of petitions to remedy the violations and infringements is to squelch public dissent.

To squelch public dissent is to breed public discontent.

This Judge did more than squelch public dissent, he crushed and trampled it.

Tyranny and oppression with all its trappings are on the rise in America.

Resentment at government is seething.

People are protesting in the streets of America, openly complaining of their suffering, corruption, impunity of those in power and lack of accountability.

Unless the major political parties and their abjectly submissive minions on or off the bench begin to respect and honor the People and their Constitution, regardless of the level of practical difficulty and their political futures, tensions between the People and the government will continue to rise to the breaking point.  And then what?

On December 17, 2010, with no official willing to hear his legitimate grievances against government tyranny and oppression, twenty-six year old Mohamed Bouazizi brought paint fuel, returned to the street outside a government building in Tunisia, and set himself on fire, sparking the Arab Spring and rise of freedom loving people in Tunisia and elsewhere. Video

Human life is precious.  This was a tragic event, though it sparked a revolt by the People against their Form of Government, exercising their Right, "to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

A recent story on BBC Worldwide News showed the people of Tunisia voting in a Clean Election for the first time, using hand counted paper ballots in a process that is open, transparent and verifiable by all, with the results of the count announced and posted on the wall at the end of the voting period at each polling station -the very voting system now used in almost all the industrialized countries in the western hemisphere (except the United States). This is worth watching. Video

The Tunisians were voting to establish a 217 seat Assembly that will write a Constitution, then disband. There were 11100 candidates from 110 political parties vying for those 217 seats (so much for "complicated ballots")

We watch from America grateful to see the People of Tunisia Rise to such heights, but tortured that we have allowed electronic voting machines to move in across our country, casting a dark cloud over our entire electoral process.  Awake Thou that Sleepest, before it is too late!

Self-immolation has long flowed from government violation of civil rights and its refusal to respond to the People's Petitions for Redress. As was the case in Tunisia, it, and its political consequences are difficult for government to deal with: the person hasn't hurt anyone else or destroyed government property.

Self-immolation need not come to America. Here the People already have a Constitution and its Bill of Rights guarantees the Right of each one of us to Petition the government to remedy its violations and government's obligation to respond, including our judges.

In the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, we intend to appeal District Court's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where we will immediately file a Motion to expedite the appeal in order to achieve a favorable decision before the 2012 primaries and general elections, banning the use of electronic vote counting systems.

Granted, the government has already taxed the People and paid for the secret vote counting machines it has installed across New York State and America in recent years (machines that have their genesis in the touch screen gaming industry in Las Vegas), but it must be stopped from continuing to tax Freedom by its continued use of those machines.

In the interest of democracy and election integrity the further use of those machines should have been prohibited by the District Court.

Germany's high Court did just that in 2009, at the request of two of its citizens, banning all the electronic vote counting machines in Germany, returning Germany to paper ballots, hand marked in private, but hand counted in public, with the results announced and posted at each polling place. It's profound that Germany's "supreme court" is officially named, "CONSTITUTION COURT."

For more information about the NCEL lawsuit and to access all recent NCEL related legal pleadings, court orders and WTP updates, please click here.

Mounting the People's Campaign

Everything possible must be done to put America back on course and prevent further unrest.

Virtually every objective sought by the election integrity community, and the whole of the Free People of America, to ensure the true outcomes of all future elections rides on this single lawsuit. A reversal in the appellate court will, by Federal Court Order, not only prohibit ALL voting machines in the State of New York from that day forward, it will establish a legal and judicial beachhead for every subsequent state and federal case challenging voting systems that are repugnant to the individual's voting rights.

Our plan therefore, is to not give up and accept this decision.  We will file a Notice of Appeal before November 13th.  

If we should win on appeal and have the NCEL case reinstated, we will need to quickly re-engage in full-out preparation for an historic jury trial, including completion of evidence discovery.

From our view, we don't need any more election challenges or recounts, we don't need more studies or videos documenting machine failures, we don't need blogs reporting more election fraud, we don't need more lawsuits nibbling at the edges of the problem.  

THOSE WHO COUNT THE VOTES, CONTROL THE ELECTIONS. PERIOD!

 

Article by GiveMeLiberty.org

Canadian Pipeline Company Suing US Landowners For Eminent Domain

WTF? Since when does our quirky neighbor to the north have the right to confiscate US land owned by US citizens for their pipeline? How can our courts even entertain these lawsuits? I say we show these Canucks just who is who in the zoo. What about them geese, eh?

Wake Up America!

A Canadian company has been threatening to confiscate private land from South Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is already suing many who have refused to allow the Keystone XL pipeline on their property even though the controversial project has yet to receive federal approval.

Randy Thompson, a Nebraska landowner, is challenging the assumption by TransCanada that it can seize land for an oil pipeline.

Randy Thompson, a cattle buyer in Nebraska, was informed that if he did not grant pipeline access to 80 of the 400 acres left to him by his mother along the Platte River, “Keystone will use eminent domain to acquire the easement.” Sue Kelso and her large extended family in Oklahoma were sued in the local district court by TransCanada, the pipeline company, after she and her siblings refused to allow the pipeline to cross their pasture.

“Their land agent told us the very first day she met with us, you either take the money or they’re going to condemn the land,” Mrs. Kelso said. By its own count, the company currently has 34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas and an additional 22 in South Dakota.

In addition to enraging those along the proposed pipeline’s 1,700-mile path, the tactics have many people questioning whether a foreign company can pressure landowners without a permit from the State Department — the agency charged with determining whether the project is in the “national interest.” A decision is expected by year’s end on the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Alberta to American refineries.

A government official with knowledge of the permitting process who would address the issue only on condition of anonymity said, “It is presumptuous for the company to take on eminent domain cases before there is any decision made.”

Landowners have begun joining forces and challenging the company’s assumption that it can legally seize land.

“With so many unanswered questions about the safety of this project, perhaps it’s time for the U.S. to hit the brake pedal,” Mr. Thompson wrote in testimony for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in May. “And perhaps it’s time that our government starts placing the concerns of American citizens over and above those of a foreign corporation.”

Mr. Thompson said he intends to fight to keep the pipeline, 36 inches in diameter, off his land. Eminent domain laws generally allow for the confiscation of private property if taking it is judged to serve a larger public good. These kinds of laws differ slightly from state to state as do the processes by which pipelines are approved and licensed. As a result, there is both debate and confusion over whether TransCanada has the right to use the courts to demand easements from property owners in advance of final approval for the project.

A TransCanada spokesman, Shawn Howard, says the company does not have to wait for a license from the State Department to begin securing land. He said the company has tried to obtain voluntary agreements, but when that fails the company has the right to force lease agreements upon landowners in all six states the pipeline would pass through.  All of TransCanada’s permit applications, he said, have been made through its subsidiary in Omaha, Keystone Pipeline.

“We have been given the legal advice that we can do this in parallel to the process going on in Washington,” Mr. Howard said. “If we didn’t think we had the authority or ability to do this, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

A senior State Department official, who asked not to be identified because the permit process is continuing, said TransCanada had not sought federal approval to invoke eminent domain. He said the department had no authority on the issue and that it was up to state law and the courts to determine appropriate use of eminent domain laws.

Landowners and their lawyers are pushing local courts to do just that. While it is impossible to say how many cases are working their way through the legal system, in addition to the 56 Texas and South Dakota cases, TransCanada acknowledges it has sent “Dear Owner” letters to dozens of families in Nebraska.

Timothy Sandefur, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit advocate for property rights issues, said that if the project is approved, the company will be on firmer ground. As unfair as the laws might seem, he said, the right of way of pipelines and railroads as public goods has been well established, regardless of whether they are foreign-owned. “Property owners almost never win these suits,” he said.

But lawyers for the landowners, particularly in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, argue that TransCanada has not met the requirements to invoke eminent domain under those states’ laws. In South Dakota, however, a judge has already ruled that TransCanada could use eminent domain to secure land for a previous pipeline project.

David A. Domina, a Nebraska lawyer whose firm represents 45 landowners, said there was “no way” that TransCanada has eminent domain powers under Nebraska law, and that the company was “acting in bad faith.”

In East Texas, where residents are used to having cordial dealings with oil companies, landowners said they had never seen a company behave as aggressively as has TransCanada.

Norman Ladd, a lawyer in Tyler, Tex., whose firm represents more than a dozen landowners, said the company has low-balled on prices and threatened to use eminent domain “instead of coming down here and saying we can work with you.”

TransCanada has taken reticent landowners before special county boards in Texas, one of the first steps in that state’s condemnation process. The boards determine only how much landowners should be compensated, not whether eminent domain laws apply.

With drilling and pipeline building expected to expand into more shale fields and the news over the weekend that Kinder Morgan was buying the El Paso Corporation to expand its pipeline network, these types of land use challenges may well increase in coming years.

Supporters of Keystone XL argue it will help bolster domestic energy security and spur job growth. But many politicians, particularly in Nebraska, oppose much of the pipeline’s route because they say it poses a danger to the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides more than a quarter of the water for the country’s agricultural crops.

Environmental groups argue that extracting and burning the heavy crude drawn from Alberta’s oil sands will increase greenhouse gas emissions. They also warn that if there is a spill or a leak, it would cause severe environmental damage and be extremely hard to clean up.

In what has been interpreted as a virtual green light for the project, a State Department report in August concluded that the pipeline would have minimum environmental impact if operated under federal regulations.

Mr. Howard said the company has already secured legal agreements with 90 percent of the landowners it needs in Nebraska, and that he does not expect a few unhappy landowners to slow the process or force changes to the intended route. But TransCanada backed off and dropped its lawsuit against Sue Kelso’s family, when it was clear that the family was not going to acquiesce. Mr. Howard said the company decided it would be better to reroute the pipeline around the Kelso property for “various reasons” based on convenience.

An East Texas landowner, Eleanor Fairchild, said that a TransCanada representative arrived at her house a few days before her husband died of Alzheimer’s in 2009. At first, she considered the $42,000 offer — later raised by $18,000 — for a 50-foot easement on her 425 acres. But she said that the more she learned about the pipeline, the less she wanted it on her land.

“It was a hard decision whether I wanted to fight and spend all this money even though I could lose the thing,” Ms. Fairchild said in a weary drawl. “But somebody needs to fight them. I decided it would be me.”

TransCanada’s condemnation suit against her is pending.

Article by Leslie Kaufman and Dan Frosch, NYT

D.C. Becomes America’s Richest City; Avg. Federal Employee Makes $126,000 A Year

This is but a microcosm of how our country got so broke! How in the hell does the federal government justify paying bureaucrats that much money? Stop the Insanity!

Wake Up America!!

Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show.

The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046.

The figures demonstrate how the nation’s political and financial classes are prospering as the economy struggles with unemployment above 9 percent and thousands of Americans protest in the streets against income disparity, said Kevin Zeese, director of Prosperity Agenda, a Baltimore-based advocacy group trying to narrow the divide between rich and poor.

“There’s a gap that’s isolating Washington from the reality of the rest of the country,” Zeese said. “They just get more and more out of touch.”

Article by Patriot Update

The Hidden Agendas of Latino Activists. "Racism" is NOT What You Think

Latino activist groups such as MEChA bring a racist agenda to the table of political power. 

This type of activism is a cancer to our country and we have to put a stop to it or it will devour us from the inside out. 

Wake up America!

 

"Chicano is our identity; it defines who we are as a people. It rejects the notion that we ... should assimilate into the Anglo-American melting pot ... Aztlan was the legendary homeland of the Aztecas ... it became synonymous with the vast territories of the Southwest, brutally stolen from the Mexican people marginalized and betrayed by hostile custodians of Manifest Destiny." — Statement on the University of Oregon's MEChA Web site (Jan. 3, 2006)

Reminisant of the anti-Vietnam demonstrations of the past, today carefully orchestrated protests and marches are taking place all over the United States. Crowds of expatriated Latinos (legal and illegal) and their supporters mug for the media carrying signs that insult the rule of law and the will of the American people. They carry foreign flags and sometimes burn the U.S. flag in protest. These organized marches are designed to make it appear to the gullible that the majority of the citizens of the U.S. support open borders and immigration amnesty. This is a lie.

Who's pulling the strings on this big puppet show? Surprisingly, some of these puppeteers are from prominent mainstream organizations such as the National Council de La Raza that are funded by millions of taxpayer dollars and federal grants. The Spanish "La Raza" translates literally to "The Race." National Council de La Raza uses these funds to run charter schools and get-out-the-vote efforts to support their political agenda. 

Behind the National Council de La Raza's respectable veneer are the organization's support of other secondary "La Raza" racist organizations such as Movimento Estudantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) or the Chicano Students Movement of Aztlan. Since its beginnings in the radical 1960s, MEChA has spread across the entire U.S. gaining footholds in colleges and universities and promoting racial supremist La Raza ideologies and the "reconquista" agenda of the mythical Aztlan.

The MEChA manifesto can be read on their own Web sites, though few Latino students who join this organization (mostly for the MEChA social events) ever bother to read the garbage they post. The "El Plan Espirtual de Aztlan" (The Spiritual Plan for Aztlan) lays out their founding principles, "We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlan. For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada." The last two sentences translate "For the Race everything. Outside the Race nothing."

MEChA and other Raza movements teach that Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and parts of Washington state are part of an area that was called by the Aztecs Aztlan before the arrival of European settlers. They believe that La Raza, the descendants of the Aztecs, are heirs to this land and La Raza should re-conquer Aztlan by any means necessary. This is what is meant by "reconquista." But they are content to re-conquer Aztlan through illegal immigration if need be, building their numbers until they have complete power without firing a shot.

It's no wonder that MEChA is reported to be one of the primary organizers of anti-immigration laws and pro amnesty demonstrations. To add insult to injury, did you know they do it with your tax dollars? This would be similar to the Ku Klux Klan funding its rallies through government grants and donations provided by the federal government.

Cal State Northridge MEChA member Miguel Perez is quoted as saying, "The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan. Communism would be closest [to it]. Once Aztlan is established, ethnic cleansing would commence—non-Chicanos would have to be expelled—opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep power."

To tell you the truth, this is one of the reasons that I moved my family out of California when I retired. Even Stevie Wonder could see that there were too many La Raza sympathizers and puppets in California's city, state and national politics. Former MEChA firebrand Antonio Villarigosa is now the mayor of Los Angeles. Villarigosa was endorsed by La Raza and received the Graciela Olivarez award from La Raza. California's Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante was also a "MEChista" (member of MEChA) and gave the keynote address at La Raza's 2002 annual convention.  

Across the U.S., there are numerous highly placed lawyers, and city, state, and national officeholders who came through the university system in the southwest where liberal professors preached these La Raza racist ideas and taught the myth of Aztlan. They were former members of organizations such as the Raza Unida party, the Brown Berets, or MEChA.

They don't intend to hold to the will of the people or the wishes of the citizens they represent. In reality, they are representatives of the mythical land of Aztlan and believe—"For the Race everything. Outside the Race nothing."

Note: Much of the material for this article comes from an April 7, 2006 report, "The Truth About La Raza," by Rep. Charlie Norwood, a Republican representing the 10th District of Georgia.

Original Source 

CA Governor Brown Signs 3 Anti-Gun Bills into Law. Blow To 2nd Amendment Rights For Californians

CA Governor "Moonbeam" Jerry Brown takes it upon himself to disregard the rights of law abiding citizens under the 2nd Amendment by signing 3 Anti-Gun Bills into Law. 

CA voters, You DO have the option of sending him back to his Pinko Liberal Planet next election if you would just get your heads out of your posteriors. 

 

On Sunday, California gun owners and sportsmen were dealt another blow when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law three anti-gun bills (AB 809, SB 819 and AB 144) and vetoed a fourth (SB 427) only because there is a pending lawsuit, according to his veto message on the bill. The Governor did sign one pro-gun bill (SB 610) into law.

Below is a description of each of the bills Governor Brown signed into law. AB 144 and SB 819 will take effect on January 1, 2012. AB 809 will take effect on January 1, 2014.

Assembly Bill 809 will require the registration of any newly purchased long guns. Not only does AB 809 violate Second Amendment rights by expanding California's gun registry to include rifles and shotguns, it is also a huge waste of taxpayer money at a time when California is drowning in debt. Gun control advocates estimate the cost of this registration at $400,000, a number that is almost certainly far less than it will actually cost to implement and enforce this registry if enacted. The only value of registration is to help governments confiscate firearms in the future. 

Senate Bill 819 allows the Department of Justice to use the Dealer Record of Sales (DROS) funds to help pay for enforcement of California firearm possession laws in the Armed & Prohibited Persons Systems program. The DROS fund monies were originally collected from every firearm purchaser to pay for the administrative process for background checks. This new law will divert hundreds of thousands of dollars of DROS fee monies that YOU have paid for background checks. As a result, the DROS fund will run out of money and when it does, they will want another increase in the fees YOU PAY for FIREARM background checks in California.

Assembly Bill 144 bans the open carrying of an unloaded handgun. In reality, the open carrying of firearms by law-abiding citizens is caused by California's unfair concealed carry laws, which allow citizens from one county to apply for and receive a permit while neighbors in the next county are denied that basic right in an arbitrary manner.
                       
Senate Bill 427 was vetoed by the Governor. Unfortunately, the only reason he vetoed this bill was because of the pending lawsuit against its predecessor, AB 962. Not once did the Governor mention how this bill will negatively affect California gun owners, sportsmen or retailers.

This bill would have granted authority to law enforcement to collect sales records from ammunition retailers, required ammunition vendors to notify local law enforcement of their intention to engage in the business of selling ammunition AND includes a list of calibers which would have to be registered to purchasers at the point-of-purchase. This list contains ammunition popular among hunters and collectors. This point-of-sale registration of all ammunition purchases in the state would be available for inspection by the California Department of Justice at any time.

JP Morgan "Donates" $4.6 Million to NYPD. Money Can't Buy You Love But It CAN Buy Protection (Video)

Corrupt Wall Street Bankers Resort To Paying For Protection Now That John Q. Public Is Rising Up Against Them. Are We Going To Stand Idly By As Daddy Warbucks Buys The Favors Of Taxpayer Paid Law Enforcement?

Wake Up America!

JPMorgan Chase recently "donated" an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation.

The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD's main data center.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a note expressing "profound gratitude" for the company's donation.

"These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," Dimon said. "We're incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work." 

 

Watch the video below to see just how "safe" NYDP goons are keeping those bankers.

The Dollar Is Backed By The FED.. Gold Isn't Backed By Anything? Dumbest Reporter On The Planet Explains (Video)

This Bimbo is Possibly the Dumbest TV Reporter on the Planet!

The Greatest Boat Lift In History. Awe Inspiring And True Untold Story Of American Heroes On 9-11 (VIDEO)

America IS Still The Greatest Country On Earth - Regardless Of The Financial Mess We Have Gotten Ourselves Into. We Are A Nation Of Heroes. This Short Video, Narrated By Tom Hanks, Details The Actions Of Some Of Those Heroes.
On September 11, 2001, On Manhattan Island, The Greatest Evacuation By Sea In History Took Place.
The Following Story And Footage Show The True Spirit Of Who We Really Are.

Citi Is Latest To Hike Fees On Checking Accounts. Bankers Know We Are Too Weak To Fight Back

Big Bankers Are Sticking It To Us Again. Their Message: If You Impose Regulations On What We Can Charge For One Of Our Profit Centers, We Will Ram It Up Your A*s On Another. Aren’t You Sick And Tired Of This Yet? How Much More Are You Going To Take, Sheeple?

Wake Up America!

The fees keep coming. Citi is the latest big bank to slap customers with a round of fee hikes. This time, on its checking accounts.

Starting in December, customers who hold its mid-level Citibank Account will be charged $20 a month if they fail to maintain a minimum balance of $15,000 in their combined accounts. Previously, account holders had to carry a minimum balance of $6,000.

At the same time, customers who have the bank's EZ Checking account will start being charged $15 a month if they don't carry a minimum balance of $6,000. Citi says it is phasing out the EZ Checking package, which currently carries no monthly fee for balances over $1,500, and is instead offering customers either the Citibank Account or its Basic Banking account, which also carries a fee.

Last month, Citi said it is hiking the fee on its Basic Banking account from $8 to $10. Customers will be able to avoid paying the $10 fee by either maintaining a minimum balance of $1,500 or by making one direct deposit and one automatic online payment through their checking account each month, said Citi.

Currently, account holders must make five transactions per month in order to avoid paying the fee and there is no minimum balance requirement.
9 most annoying bank fees

Citi's fee hikes come just days after Bank of America announced it would charge a $5 fee for debit card purchases. Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase Sun Trust and Regions Financial have all also rolled out similar fees in select markets in recent weeks.

"The regulatory environment has changed a great deal -- particularly with the Durbin Amendment -- and we're seeing the results of that now," said Claes Bell, banking reporter with Bankrate.com. Going forward, "we're going to see more large national banks announce fees."

With the new regulation that caps how much revenue banks can get from the swipe fees they collect from merchants, banks must look for other ways to cover that lost income, explained Nessa Feddis, vice president and senior counsel of the American Bankers Association.

"We don't expect to pay nothing to ride the train, it's the same thing with a checking account," she said.
Bank accounts: Get a fair shake, not a shakedown

Citibank said it chose not to charge a debit card fee because its customers did not want it. "There's a reason why we structured it this way," said Catherine Pulley, spokeswoman for Citi. There are also no hidden fees, Pulley added, and customers will benefit from free online bill pay and free access to non-Citi ATM machines.

While the majority of checking accounts were free last year, less than half now come without a price tag, according to a recent study from bank-comparison site Bankrate, which looked at 243 interest and 238 non-interest accounts.

Like Citi's new offerings, 92% of checking accounts have fee waivers, meaning that if you can meet certain financially requirements, most checking accounts are -- or could become -- free.

Article by Jessica Dickler, CNN Money

Vice President Biden Says He Doesn't Know Who Van Jones Is. Well Joe.. He Is A Radical Commie. Now You Know

Senile Joe is obviously being kept in the dark by Obama and his Marxist buddies. He is not even aware Barry O. once had the radical commie, Van Jones, as his "Green Czar" and still keeps him around as a trusted insider. 

This administration is more dysfunctional than the Addams Family.

Wake Up America!

In a radio interview Tuesday, Vice President Biden said he didn't know who Van Jones, the former so-called White House "Green Czar," who resigned amid controversy in 2009, is.

Biden was asked about the Tea Party and Van Jones' organization while talking to Tampa radio station 970 WFLA. Jones recently announced he was creating a movement out of the "Occupy Wall Street" group which has been protesting the financial sector in New York City this week.

"I really don't know about the Van Jones group, except what I read in the press," the vice president said when asked.

He went on to say, "There's a great frustration here in America that the two parties haven't been able to get very much moving. We have been in this period where there is just nothing but fighting, and so you have on the one hand Van Jones' guys. whoever he is."

Host Jack Harris then interrupted and pointed out Jones used to work in the Obama administration, at which the host and Biden briefly laughed.

"Oh is that - alright," Biden said.

The Jones group has been presenting its ideas this week at a conference in D.C. Over the weekend, Jones announced he would be launching an "October Offensive" out of the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street protests as a chance to counter the influence of the Tea Party.

Biden was in Florida touting the American Jobs Act and said how it would help jobs for teachers.

As for the Tea Party, Biden actually had some positive things to say, even connecting their mission to Jones'. "And, by the way, I don't disrespect the Tea Party, I think the Tea Party and the Van Jones folks are part - different halves of the same concern, there's an overwhelming frustration," he said.

"The point is talking about the excesses of Wall Street and there's some truth in what he [Jones] says and the Tea Party, there's some truth in what they say, I don't have a disagreement."

Jones left his position as "Green Czar," which was a new administration position, after there were questions raised about his political past, including allegations of ties to a group in the 1990s that associated with Marxism, and his name appearing on a petition for the so-called 9/11 "truther" movement, which questions what happened and if the government actually was covering something up or mischaracterized what happened on September 11th.

Article by Kimberly Schwandt, Fox News

Fiat Currencies vs Gold. The Shiny Metal Is Kicking Butt!

Whether you invest in precious metals or not, the fact of the matter is: Gold is history's best hedge against currency instabilities and worthless monies printed and minted out of thin air.

Figures courtesy of GoldSilver.com

Through the 3rd quarter of 2011 gold appears to be running away with another annual victory in value!

Thus far in 2011, gold has appreciated 17.2% versus 75 fiat currencies from around the world. 

Kenyan Schillings, South African Rands, and Turkey Lira have been the biggest losers to gold thus far in 2011, down over 42%, 38%, and 37% respectively to the yellow metal's value.

 

Currency vs. 1 oz. Gold	1-Jan-11			30-Sep-11	% Gold + / -
Afghanistan Afghanis	61,158			78,334	28.1%
Albania Leke	148,940			168,907	13.4%
Algeria Dinars	104,548			121,100	15.8%
Argentina Pesos	5,642			6,819	20.9%
Australia Dollars	1,389			1,663	19.8%
Bahamas Dollars	1,421			1,621	14.1%
Bahrain Dinars	536			611	14.0%
Bangladesh Taka	100,212			121,789	21.5%
Barbados Dollars	2,843			3,242	14.0%
Bermuda Dollars	1,421			1,621	14.1%
Brazil Reais	2,359			3,004	27.3%
Bulgaria Leva	2,081			2,358	13.3%
CFA BEAC Francs	696,322			791,051	13.6%
Canada Dollars	1,418			1,684	18.8%
Chile Pesos	664,883			846,118	27.3%
China Yuan Renminbi	9,369			10,348	10.4%
Colombia Pesos	2,722,077			3,119,868	14.6%
Comptoirs Français Francs	126,675			143,908	13.6%
Costa Rica Colones	715,132			824,665	15.3%
Croatia Kuna	7,844			9,041	15.3%
Czech Republic Koruny	26,558			29,783	12.1%
Denmark Kroner	7,913			8,974	13.4%
Dominican Republic Pesos	52,878			61,845	17.0%
East Caribbean Dollars	3,838			4,377	14.0%
Egypt Pounds	8,252			9,673	17.2%
Euro	1,062			1,206	13.6%
Fiji Dollars	2,632			2,991	13.6%
Hong Kong Dollars	11,049			12,620	14.2%
Hungary Forint	295,818			353,038	19.3%
IMF Special Drawing Rights	923			1,038	12.5%
Iceland Kronur	163,538			191,474	17.1%
India Rupees	63,539			79,566	25.2%
Indonesia Rupiahs	12,793,050			14,241,724	11.3%
Iran Rials	14,645,199			17,419,182	18.9%
Iraq Dinars	1,658,832			1,894,325	14.2%
Israel New Shekels	5,043			6,069	20.3%
Jamaica Dollars	120,397			139,007	15.5%
Japan Yen		115,351		124,882	8.3%
Jordan Dinars		1,006		1,149	14.2%
Kenya Shillings		114,427		162,592	42.1%
Kuwait Dinars		400		449	12.1%
Lebanon Pounds		2,132,175		2,437,455	14.3%
Malaysia Ringgits		4,384		5,175	18.1%
Mauritius Rupees		42,359		47,007	11.0%
Mexico Pesos		17,571		22,324	27.0%
Morocco Dirhams		11,842		13,494	14.0%
New Zealand Dollars		1,821		2,113	16.0%
Norway Kroner		8,273		9,469	14.5%
Oman Rials		547		623	13.9%
Pakistan Rupees		121,690		141,862	16.6%
Peru Nuevos Soles		3,987		4,495	12.7%
Philippines Pesos		62,032		70,957	14.4%
Poland Zlotych		4,209		5,321	26.4%
Qatar Riyals		5,175		5,903	14.1%
Romania New Lei		4,541		5,249	15.6%
Russia Rubles		43,322		52,183	20.5%
Saudi Arabia Riyals			5,331	6,080	14.1%
Singapore Dollars			1,826	2,110	15.5%
South Africa Rand			9,424	13,004	38.0%
South Korea Won			1,592,877	1,914,735	20.2%
Sri Lanka Rupees			157,696	178,602	13.3%
Sudan Pounds			3,551	4,339	22.2%
Sweden Kronor			9,554	11,062	15.8%
Switzerland Francs			1,328	1,468	10.5%
Taiwan New Dollars			41,421	49,452	19.4%
Thailand Baht			42,672	50,491	18.3%
Trinidad and Tobago Dollars			9,012	10,375	15.1%
Tunisia Dinars			1,992	2,322	16.6%
Turkey Lira			2,185	3,007	37.6%
United Arab Emirates Dirhams			5,221	5,955	14.1%
United Kingdom Pounds			911	1,038	13.9%
United States Dollars			1,421	1,621	14.1%
Venezuela Bolivares Fuertes			6,112	6,971	14.1%
Vietnam Dong			27,711,168	33,768,458	21.9%
Zambia Kwacha			6,794,531	7,854,166	15.6%