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"Sandwiched in between a young Protectionist state and an old Communist regime is a thin slice of Socialist baloney; Freedom comes only a la carte."
...FM Duck

Historical Quack Offs

 Quack Off               

 

 

by Free Market Duck

Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows
by
David Reilly
Feb 05, 2010

New York, NY Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc, you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all.

   Wednesday’s hearing described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials.

We’re talking about the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose role as the most influential part of the federal-reserve system -- apart from the matter of AIG’s bailout -- deserves further congressional scrutiny.

   The New York Fed is in the hot seat for its decision in November 2008 to buy out, for about $30 billion, insurance contracts AIG sold on toxic debt securities to banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank AG, among others. That decision, critics say, amounted to a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had AIG been allowed to fail.

   That move came a few weeks after the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department propped up AIG in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s own mid-September bankruptcy filing.

Saving the System

   Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was head of the New York Fed at the time of the AIG moves. He maintained during Wednesday’s hearing that the New York bank had to buy the insurance contracts, known as credit default swaps, to keep AIG from failing, which would have threatened the financial system.

  The hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also focused on what many in Congress believe was the New York Fed’s subsequent attempt to cover up buyout details and who benefited.

   By pursuing this line of inquiry, the hearing revealed some of the inner workings of the New York Fed and the outsized role it plays in banking. This insight is especially valuable given that the New York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isn’t subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve.

   This impenetrability comes in handy since the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Fed’s bailout programs. It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank.

Geithner’s Bosses

   The New York Fed is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks that operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke. Member-bank presidents are appointed by nine-member boards, who themselves are appointed largely by other bankers.

   As Representative Marcy Kaptur told Geithner at the hearing: “A lot of people think that the president of the New York Fed works for the U.S. government. But in fact you work for the private banks that elected you.”

   And yet the New York Fed played an integral role in the government’s bailout of banks, often receiving surprisingly free rein to act as it saw fit.

   Consider AIG. Let’s take Geithner at his word that a failure to resolve the insurer’s default swaps would have led to financial Armageddon. Given the stakes, you might think Geithner would have coordinated actions with then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Yet Paulson testified that he wasn’t in the loop.

   “I had no involvement at all, in the payment to the counterparties, no involvement whatsoever,” Paulson said.

Bernanke’s Denials

   Fed Chairman Bernanke also wasn’t involved. In a written response to questions from Representative Darrell Issa, Bernanke said he “was not directly involved in the negotiations” with AIG’s counterparty banks.

   You have to wonder then who really was in charge of our nation’s financial future if AIG posed as grave a threat as Geithner claimed.

   Questions about the New York Fed’s accountability grew after Geithner on Nov. 24, 2008, was named by then-President-elect Barack Obama to be Treasury Secretary. Geither said he recused himself from the bank’s day-to-day activities, even though he never actually signed a formal letter of recusal.

   That left issues related to disclosures about the deal in the hands of the bank’s lawyers and staff, rather than a top executive. Those staffers didn’t want details of the swaps purchase to become public.

   New York Fed staff and outside lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardell edited AIG communications to investors and intervened with the Securities and Exchange Commission to shield details about the buyout transactions, according to a report by Issa.

   That the New York Fed, a quasi-governmental body, was able to push around the SEC, an executive-branch agency, deserves a congressional hearing all by itself.

   Later, when it became clear information would be disclosed, New York Fed legal group staffer James Bergin e-mailed colleagues saying: “I have to think this train is probably going to leave the station soon and we need to focus our efforts on explaining the story as best we can. There were too many people involved in the deals -- too many counterparties, too many lawyers and advisors, too many people from AIG -- to keep a determined Congress from the information.”

   Think of the enormity of that statement. A staffer at a body with little public accountability and that exists to serve bankers is lamenting the inability to keep Congress in the dark.

   This belies the culture of secrecy obviously pervasive within the New York Fed. Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns noted during the hearing that the bank initially refused to disclose even the names of other banks that benefited from its actions, arguing this information would somehow harm AIG.

‘Penchant for Secrecy’

   “In fact, when the information was finally released, under pressure from Congress, nothing happened,” Towns said. “It had absolutely no effect on AIG’s business or financial condition. But it did have an effect on the credibility of the Federal Reserve, and it called into question the Fed’s penchant for secrecy.”

   Now, I’m not saying Congress should be meddling in interest-rate decisions, or micro-managing bank regulation. Nor do I think we should all don tin-foil hats and start ranting about the Trilateral Commission.  [FM Duck, however, does think Congress should “meddle” into – i.e. audit and then abolish – the Federal Reserve for precisely the reasons that reporter David Reilly has just revealed.  Nor is this tantamount to donning “tin-foil hats” as if the conspiracy that Reilly just revealed is not real.]

   Yet when unelected and unaccountable agencies pick banking winners while trying to end-run Congress, even as taxpayers are forced to lend, spend and guarantee about $8 trillion to prop up the financial system, our collective blood should boil.

( David Reilly is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) – FM Duck

Historical Quack-Offs:

Misc:

12-21-2009
ObamaCare is not about health care; it’s about control and profits.  Oddly enough, it’s not the insurance companies; it’s the central bankers…  More...

12-07-2009
How Big is a Trillion Dollars?  More...

12-02-2009
Boise Trolley Folly DOES Justify Legislative Intervention  More...

11-06-2009
Federal Reserve to Switch to New "Scratch 'N Sniff" Currency  More...

10-27-2009
New Government Health Care Plan Struggling to Find "Single Payer" Name  More...

10-26-2009
Jesus appoints Obama as "Associate Christ"  More...

09-23-2009
Has Congress become an anachronism?  More...

09-18-2009
Leftist Boise Mayor Dave Bieter in secret meetings to blow $560 million of federal welfare dollars on downtown Boise streetcar named “Desire”… or is that a streetcar named “Huge Deficit?”  More...

09-8-2009
Hey, kids, got game?  Got rap?  Wanna be a rich movie star?  “That isn’t hard work,” says Obama, “and chances are you ain’t gonna be any of those things.”  More...

09-8-2009
"Obama's speech to schools:  what civics lesson will parents teach their kids?”  More...

09-1-2009
Ted Kennedy: "Lion of the Senate" or Drunken Homicide at Chappaquiddick?  More...

08-14-2009
Two Governors Bankrupt Idaho's Highways, or Who let the GARVEE bonds out?  More...

08-07-2009
"National" health care?  Stop thinking in terms of "collectives," we are individuals  More...

08-05-2009
Fed Reserve, America's legal counterfeiting ring   More...

08-05-2009
Off Balance Sheet, Out of Mind  More...

07-23-2009
National Health Care is illogical  More...

07-09-2009
The Fed Must Be Stopped  More...

06-17-2009
Idaho Congressmen introduce Federal Streetcar Revitalization Act of 2009…ask for $300 Million to build streetcars across America…$65 Million for Boise  More...

06-12-2009
Idaho Statesman supports spending $65 million of federal stimulus booty for Boise Trolley Cars  More...

05-31-2009
Idaho Statesman thinks socialist economics can enrich economy and create Idaho jobs  More...

05-05-2009
The Idaho Transportation Solution  More...

04-23-2009
B of A CEO ordered by Fed Reserve and U.S. Treasury to shut up about Merrill Lynch's billion dollar losses   More...

04-23-2009
Boise's Watergate is alive and well as Idaho's SBOE allows U of Idaho to raid private U of Idaho Foundation for $111,000 to pay for new U of I Prez  More...

04-08-2009
Failed $250 Million University Place fiasco participant, Bob Hoover, named as president of the Idaho Community Foundation  More...

03-13-2009
More Voo-Doo Economics: "Good Bank, Bad Bank"  More...

02-17-2009
The Great "Stimulus" Hoax  More...

02-13-2009
Why President Obama’s Trillion Dollar “Stimulus” Package is Unconstitutional – Part 2  More...

02-12-2009
Why President Obama’s Trillion Dollar “Stimulus” Package is Unconstitutional – Part 1  More...

02-01-2009
Petition of the Electric Light Bulb Manufacturers  More...

01-20-2009
Obama parties down at most expensive Inauguration in history -- over $170 million -- as U.S. falls further into huge Recession  More...

12-25-2008
Is The Medicine Worse Than the Illness?  More...

12-17-2008
Idaho Statesman prints insightful Reader’s View by young economist, “Don’t fall for the Big 3’s doomsday predictions – they’re unlikely”  More...

12-14-2008
Did U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald jump the gun in premature arrest of Gov. Blagojevich?  More...

12-11-2008
Idaho Statesman editors publish whitewash of Weatherman bomber Bill Ayers to save Barack Obama…
then, up pops the FBI and Illinois Gov. Blagojevich…
 
More...

12-07-2008
Idaho Statesman parent McClatchy confuses socialism with free market  More...

11-29-2008
Boise’s Watergate morphs into Nampa's and Caldwell's Watergate to pay for Oregon community college in Idaho  More...

11-17-2008
Victoria's Secret Reorgs as Savings & Loan Bank, Qualifies for Treasury's $700 Billion Bailout Booty  More...

11-14-2008
Stable Money Is the Key to Recovery  More...

10-31-2008
Is America on the verge of electing a socialist Islamic terrorist supporter as U.S. President?  More...

10-25-2008
U.S. bankers whine for 30 seconds, kiss Godfather Paulson’s ass, then sign off on bank nationalization  More...

10-10-2008
‘Toys R Us’ offers to bail out U.S. economy with
injection of $700 Trillion in cash from Parker Bros. Monopoly Game…
Sweetens deal by throwing in Marvin Gardens
 
More...

10-06-2008
Recession 2008: The blind leading the blind  More...

09-26-2008
Congressman Ron Paul's answer to President Bush's $700 Billion bailout   More...

09-24-2008
Sec of Treasury Paulson suspends U.S. Constitution, anoints himself Wizard of Oz, demands $700 billion to unclog nation’s toilets…
Will Congress assume Dying Cockroach Position?
 
More...

09-15-2008
Money, money everywhere, nor any drop to drink...
U.S. Dollar is pulp fiction
 
More...

09-11-2008
Weekend at Fannie's  More...

09-08-2008
Idaho Statesman pushes Fascist Business Model as “Vision for the Valley”  More...

09-06-2008
Look out!
Pistol Packing Mama, Gov Sarah Palin, blasts her way into the Republican National Convention...
accepts VP slot with John McCain 
More...

08-29-2008
McCain chooses Idahoan Sarah Palin, a moose-hunting, fisher-babe, free market Governor of Alaska, as Vice Prez running mate on GOP ticket  More...

08-23-2008
Idaho stockpiles $500 million to $1 billion tax surplus on top of last year's $224 million surplus?  More...

08-19-2008
Washington politicians lie about true size of budget deficit  More...

08-12-2008
Corporate Welfare Alive and Well in Idaho  More...

08-01-2008
"Covered Bonds" new mortgage gimmick by "Banksta Gangsta" Treasury Sec Hank Paulson  More...

07-17-2008
History of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reveal gross corruption, fundamental flaws  More...

07-03-2008
Zimbabwe inflation hits 1,000,000% per year…
Government central bank issues new $50 Billion denomination notes as paper currency becomes worthless 
More...

06-23-2008
Idaho Supreme Court enforces socialist health care law…
Taxpayers must cough up $187,000 for illegal immigrant’s heart attack 
More...

06-04-2008
Obama-Clinton “nightmare ticket” promises to drag U.S. down the road to serfdom via Marxist socialism  More...

05-30-2008
Idaho Pub Ed System Run by Village Idiots?...
State Board Asks Feds to Restart Failure Clock for “No Child Left Behind” Program 
More...

05-23-2008
Global Monetary Recap - 1944 to 2008  More...

05-21-2008
Kempthorne Hugs Polar Bears, Bankrupts America  More...

05-16-2008
Yeah, Kempthorne, "Cough up" those gubernatorial records, will ya?  More...

05-11-2008
Idaho:  nuclear waste dump of America  More...

04-22-2008
2008 Legislative Report Card for Idaho: F-minus More...

04-01-2008
Fed scientists discover new element in Periodic Table of Elements:  Paper  More...

03-25-2008
Gov Butch Otter signs corporate welfare Bill for $2 billion Uranium-235 enrichment plant to set Idaho up for Perfect Nuclear Storm:  a radioactive, volcanic firestorm on top of Snake Plain Aquifer's Lake Erie  More...

03-17-2008
Who Killed the U.S. Dollar?  More...

03-08-2008
Prescription for Prosperity:  A Comprehensive Economic Revitalization Plan  More...

03-13-2008 Revised
Idaho Grocery Tax Rebate to equal 9/10 of 1% of your grocery bill?... Ooooh, Whoop-tee-doo, Governor  More...

03-03-2008
Idaho Grocery Tax Rebate to equal 3/10 of 1% of your grocery bill?... Ooooh, Whoop-tee-doo, Governor  More...

02-22-2008
Idaho Legies create Perfect Storm:  yellowcake plus Yellowstone plus Snake Plain Aquifer equals radioactive Super Volcanic blast  More...

02-14-2008
Parliament of Whores admonishes one of their own  More...

02-10-2008
Anybody Seen Our Gold?  More...

02-06-2008
(Updated 02-14-2008)
GOP and Liberal Disconnected Thought Globs (DTGs) dominate 2008 presidential debates  More...

01-31-2008
Earmarks for Idaho are good but earmarks for Alaska are bad, says Idaho Statesman  More...

01-29-2008
Osama to visit Boise on Saturday  More...

01-28-2008
Smoke 'n Mirrors Economic Stimulus Package:  $600 for you, $730,000 for Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac  More...

01-24-2008
The Paper Chase:  Dollar becomes pulp fiction as Fed injects trillions into the market... But Dollar is not real capital, thus cannot stimulate economy  More...

01-19-2008
Federal Reserve drives U.S. into Super Recession, then Depression, then Martial Law  More...

01-10-2008
New Thought Police Bill passes U.S. House 404-6, awaits Senate vote  More...

01-01-2008
U.S. Federal Reserve Note:  America's Pulp Fiction  More...

12-28-2007
Who shot Pakistani ex Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto?  More...

12-19-2007
Idaho Congress-crooks Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craig and Rep Mike Simpson rob all Americans for Idaho earmarks More...

12-18-2007
Goldman Sachs creates subprime slime with left hand, shorts subprime slime with right hand More...

12-17-2007
Ada County to operate Detox Center for drunks & dopers?  Cost to taxpayers: $1.8 million per year  More...

12-14-2007
Central Banks Conspire to Hyper-Inflate Global Economy  More...

12-11-2007
Boise's Watergate fiasco continues as Univ of Idaho plans to blow $300 million on new marketing campaign  More...

12-10-2007
Why should Boise's "Special Olympics" be funded by taxpayer earmarks and what is the true concept behind the "Special Olympics?"  More...

12-07-2007
President Bush, Sec of Treasury Paulson save America's subprime home borrowers...you bet... Just Call Hotline to Mortgage Heaven: 1-888-995-HOPE  More...

12-03-2007
U.S. Treasury to Bail Out Billionaire Bankers on Wall Street Under Guise of Saving Subprime Borrowers  More...

12-01-2007
Idaho Gov Butch Otter Holds Secret Meeting to Tax Inner Tubes on Boise River  More...

11-26-2007
Idaho's Property Tax Solution  More...

11-16-2007
The Fed's "Prime Interest Rate" Joke  More...

11-09-2007
Idaho Statesman's parent McClatchy posts $1.4 billion loss in 3rd Qtr  More...

10-29-2007
The AMT - Worst Piece of U.S. Tax Legislation  More...

10-29-2007
What is The Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit?  Hint: It's not a plastic flex straw to a bottle of Ripple wine  More...

10-17-2007
Can Idaho U.S. Senator Larry Craig be recalled?  More...

10-13-2007
How to Recall Idaho U.S. Senator Larry Craig  More...

10-10-2007
Will the real $50 please stand up?  More...

10-03-2007
President Bush and Federal Reserve bankers plan for nationwide bankruptcy with fake 3-week flu test  More...

10-01-2007
Idaho to implement ButchCare?  More...

09-25-2007
Wherein lies the value of today's paper money?... The solution:  abolish fractional reserve central banking, the Federal Reserve and govt monopoly of money; allow private minting and free choice of currencies - Part 5  More...

09-20-2007
Wherein lies the value of today's paper money?... The problem:  unconstitutional  Federal Reserve plays Quantitative Economics (as if econ is physics) rather than Qualitative Economics, which is based upon individual rights and freedom - Part 4  More...

09-17-2007
Wherein lies the value of today's paper money?... Derivative markets now exceed half a quadrillion dollars or $500,000,000,000,000 of non-collateralized paper - Part 3  More...

09-16-2007
Wherein lies the value of today's paper money?...or, the root cause of today's monetary crisis and impending recession - Part 2  More...

09-15-2007
Wherein lies the value of today's paper money?...or, the root cause of today's monetary crisis and impending recession - Part 1  More...

09-05-2007
Boise's Toiletgate morphs into Pinocchio-gate as Senator Craig's nose mysteriously grows another 2 feet overnight  More...

09-02-2007
Senator Larry Craig did not resign and hired two lawyers, 1 for the Ethics Committee and 1 for the Minneapolis men's room debacle  More...

08-31-2007
Senator Larry Craig's abuse of power & lame excuses are symptomatic of long list of GOP political abuses in Idaho - Part 1  More...

08-23-2007
J'accusse, Mr. Federal Reserve did it with the Candlestick, the Rope, the Revolver, the Knife, the Wrench, and the Lead Pipe in the House, the Senate, the University, and Wall Street  More...

08-13-2007
Ada County Commissioners condemn own property through eminent domain... Pay Cryptic Partners $3.2 million in fake "takings" - Part 1  More...

08-11-2007
Central bankers redefine "hyper-inflation" as "liquidity"... Inject over $326,000,000,000 into global economy to stave off stock market crash & recession  More...

08-10-2007
NY Stock Market crashes 387 points as sub-prime fiasco hits Germany, France  More...

08-09-2007
WSJ, Fox News pretend Ron Paul votes for earmarks  More...

08-08-2007
"The Fix" is still in, new community college trustees interview only 1 person for Prez... and guess what?  He got the job!  More...

07-30-2007
Harry Potter dies on page 597... in Boise  More...

07-18-2007
"The fix was in... But that's OK; This case warranted an inside job." -- Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman  More...

07-17-2007
Is the War in Iraq a Mafia-style protection racket: U.S. military protects OPEC and OPEC promises to use only inflated petro-dollars?  More...

07-10-2007
Ex Ada County Commish Judy Peavey-Derr threatens libel lawsuit against Deep Throat II More...

07-05-2007
Idaho Senator Craig loses Illegal Immigration Amnesty bill...Does Craig support prison inmates picking Idaho crops?  More...

07-03-2007
U.S. Constitution not signed by authors  More...

06-28-2007
"Bong Hits 4 Jesus"  More...

06-14-2007
Court transcripts reveal judge knows University Place fiasco was a financial scam and who the perps were More...

06-14-2007
Cheap Community College "need" is a hoax...BSU rated cheapest university in the nation by US News & World Report More...

06-13-2007
Ada County screws taxpayers, again...pays Cryptic Partners $1.4 million for $900,000 office space in Eminent Domain settlement  More...

06-08-2007
NO campaign thanks YES campaign for abuse of Absentee Ballots, encourages re-vote by mail  More...

06-07-2007
Scientists slap Bible Bangers' definition of "when does life begin" upside their diploid totipotent cells  More...

06-06-2007
What is America's greatest moral challenge?  More...

05-29-2007
Yo, Rudy, follow the money  More...

05-26-2007
What is paper money? More...

05-02-2007
Sec of Interior Kempthorne offers quid pro quo worth billions of dollars to Louisiana Sen Mary Landrieu  More...

04-19-2007
Supreme Court takes giant step backwards  More...

04-06-2007
House Speaker Pelosi violates U.S. Constitution and Logan Act, commits felony by impersonating Sec of State Condoleezza Rice on trip to Middle East  More...

03-28-2007
Education math scores drop across the state as Idaho teachers, administrators, and coaches vacation to Ireland and China on your tax dollars  More...

03-25-2007
Idaho GOP Legies add $400 million pork to Demo's Iraq War Bill  More...

03-19-2007
Ex Gov Kempthorne's original $3 billion Highway Plan exceeds $6 billion... Idaho Statesman says, "Pass the budget, no strings attached"  More...

03-14-2007
Low carb diet kicks government's low fat guidelines in its big fat butt  More...

03-09-2007
The paper chase... Interest rate arbitrage between the Yen and the Dollar  More...

03-08-2007
Bullet train from Boise to Meridian derailed as billion dollar local option sales tax bites the dust...poof  More...

03-01-2007
Stock market plunges 416 points in one day  More...

02-26-2007
"An Inconvenient Truth" morphs into "Convenient Lies" as Hollywood Oscars regurgitate 30-year old Doomsday baloney from the 1970s  More...

02-23-2007
Judge cries at Anna Nicole Smith hearing...wins Oscars for Best Actor, Worst Director  More...

02-22-2007
World Wide Monetary Inflation...the not-so-Good, the Bad, and the Ugly  More...

02-18-2007
Boise's Watergate morphs into Librarygate as Urban Renewal Agency picks Bodo developer for unconstitutionally-funded $130 million "Library Blocks" project  More...

02-16-2007
CAMBR fraud at U of  Idaho ?  More...

02-11-2007
Who's Your Favorite Socialist Candidate for the 2008 Presidency?  More...

02-09-2007
Oink-Oink, Boise City Council Feeds at State & Federal Pig Troughs  More...

02-08-2007
Big Brother mandates vaccine for 11-year old girls  More...

01-31-2007
Ada County Commissioners condemn new Ada County Courthouse, then use Eminent Domain to confiscate their own property...huh?  More...

01-22-2007
Where in Hell did Our 3 Branches of Government Go?  More...

01-18-2007
The Real Purpose of the Federal Reserve  More...

01-17-2007
European Union Dumps German, Officially Adopts English as Universal Language  More...

01-15-2007
GOP "Intellectuals" Propose Socialist Job Corps Program to Rebuild Iraq  More...

01-08-2007
Kempthorne Plays "Polar Bear Politics"  More...

01-02-2007
Boise State outsmarts Oklahoma with Statue of Liberty fake pass, Wins Fiesta Bowl 43-42 in nail-biting overtime  More...

12-30-2006
Saddam Hussein 1937-2006  More...

12-29-2006
Shell Oil hires ex Sec of Interior Gale Norton...
Conflict of interest? 
More...

12-26-2006
"Black box" trading on the Big Board...is it legal... is it moral?  Part 2  More...

12-19-2006
"Black box" trading on the Big Board...is it legal... is it moral?  Part 1  More...

11-30-2006
U of I Wallace pleads guilty to state criminal charges in $136 million University Place fiasco...no fine and 3-year probation  More...

11-19-2006
If Idaho "needs" more nurses, let supply and demand in the free market automatically solve the "problem"  More...

11-17-2006
Boise "needs" a detox center like it "needs" another snort of crack  More...

11-17-2006
If Boise's "Library Blocks" project is unconstitutional, then why isn't the Courthouse project unconstitutional?  More...

11-01-2006
Bag Boy Wallace Charged with Felony in U of Idaho Crime Spree... Major Perps Skate Free?   More...

10-27-2006
2006 Nobel Economist praises "Dynamic Capitalism" by assuming socialist principles  More...

10-20-2006 Voters, not the Idaho Transportation Board, must approve billion dollar highway expenditures for "Connecting Idaho"  More...

WALL STREET JOURNAL PHYSICS READERS ARGUE BIG BANG THEORY  More...

PROP 1: IDAHO TEACHERS' UNION EARMARKS 1% OF SALES TAX FOR ITSELF  More...

ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT UNCONSTITUTIONAL  More...

DOES UNIVERSITY PLACE'S SECRET CIVIL SETTLEMENT CONSTITUTE A "BURYING OF PUBLIC INFO?"  More...

WSJ THINKS FUNCTION OF FED RESERVE IS "MAINTAINING AN OVERALL STABLE PRICE LEVEL"  More...

IDAHO LEADS WORLD IN "FAT PILL" PRODUCTION  More...

ARE IDAHO'S "RAINY DAY FUNDS" UNCONSTITUTIONAL?  More...

FEDERALIST PAPERS DO NOT GRANT WARRANT-LESS SEARCHES OR CARTE BLANCHE WIRE TAPPING TO PRESIDENT  More...

BODO DEVELOPER PROPOSES BOISE'S WATERGATE METHOD TO RIP DOWN, REBUILD BOISE'S MAIN LIBRARY  More...

IDAHO BAPTISTS LAUNCH MISSILES AGAINST CALIFORNIA CATHOLICS?  More...

BOISE NEEDS A DRUG CZAR LIKE IT NEEDS A SNICKER-DOODLE CZAR  More...

BILLIONAIRES WARREN BUFFET AND BILL GATES FALL ILL TO SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY  More...

10 REASONS WHY IDAHO GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE SHOULD NOT BE CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR  More...

IS IT SIMPLY LA CAGE AUX FOLLES AT THE KEMPTHORNE CONFIRMATION HEARING OR WILL SOMEBODY ASK A REAL QUESTION?  More...

U.S. CONSTITUTION DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL... NOT SIGNED BY ITS AUTHORS, OR ANYONE ELSE  More...

IDAHO TEACHERS' UNION PUSHES INITIATIVE FOR GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME BY EARMARKING 1% OF SALES TAX FOR ITSELF  More...

IDAHO SUPREME COURT FLUNKS CIVICS TEST  More...

UNIVERSITY PLACE PERPS AGREE TO NOT SUE THEMSELVES...PAY EACH OTHER $8.3 MILLION...CRYPTIC PARTNERS REMAINS AS POSSIBLE 'FALL GUY' -- PART II  More...

UNIVERSITY PLACE PERPS AGREE TO NOT SUE THEMSELVES...PAY EACH OTHER $8.3 MILLION...CRYPTIC PARTNERS REMAINS AS POSSIBLE 'FALL GUY' -- PART I  More...

JFAC GIVES BLANK CHECK FOR GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE'S HIGHWAY ROBBERY  More...

BOISE'S WATERGATE GOES TO WASHINGTON...GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE NOMINATED AS SECRETARY OF INTERIOR  More...

IS IDAHO'S $3 BILLION GARVEE HIGHWAY DEBT UNCONSTITUTIONAL?  More...

WHY IDAHO'S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT IS PRETENDED LAW -- PART II  More...

WHY IDAHO'S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT IS PRETENDED LAW -- PART I  More...

WHY WE DON'T NEED PROPERTY TAXES -- PART II  More...

WHY WE DON'T NEED PROPERTY TAXES -- PART I  More...

BOISE RESIDENTS PAY 10-12 TIMES AS MUCH IN "M & O" SCHOOL PROPERTY TAXES AS MERIDIAN FOR SAME NUMBER OF STUDENTS  More...

SHOULD IDAHO ABOLISH PROPERTY TAXES AND IMPLEMENT A FLAT SALES TAX?  More...

WHY WE DON'T NEED FEMA OR BOISE'S "BLUEPRINT FOR GOOD GROWTH   More...

DID JAPANESE MAFIA STEER HURRICANE KATRINA DOWN BOURBON STREET FOR FUN AND PROFIT...OR REVENGE?  More...

GOV KEMPTHORNE IS NOT OUR "CEO"  More...

EAST PARK CENTER BRIDGE IS A JOKE  More...

WILL "BLUEPRINT FOR GOOD GROWTH" MORPH INTO BOISE TROLLY GATE?  More...

BIRTH:  NATURE'S TRANSFER OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS  More...

WHOSE COLLECTIVE RIGHTS?  More...

IS MICRON WHINING FOR CORPORATE WELFARE OR DEMANDING FREE MARKET CAPITALISM?  More...

CATHOLICISM IN LATIN AMERICA MORPHS INTO SOCIALISM  More...

OIL COMPANIES TURN EARTH INTO GIANT CO2 SODA POP BOTTLES  More...

SEX IS ILLEGAL IN IDAHO?  More...

IN DEFENSE OF THE WOMAN  More...

AMERICA'S INTELLECTUAL HIERARCHY  More...

EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES  More...

ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE:  THE STATE VS. THE INDIVIDUAL  More...

TAX RATES ARE NOT THE SAME AS TAX BURDENS  More...

DEFICIT FARMING  More...

IRS AUDIT MICKEY MOUSE, FILES CRIMINAL CHARGES  More...

PHILOSOPHY RULES, SCIENCE DROOLS  More...

NEW ENERGY SOURCE DISCOVERED IN WASHINGTON DC
OIL STOCKS PLUNGE  More...

STATUE OF LIBERTY SHOE SIZE, WOMEN'S 879  More...

U.S. PRISON POPULATION SOARS, TOOTHBRUSH INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PROSPERS  More...

Church and State:

GRAND INQUISITOR VISITS AUSCHWITZ  More...

KING TUT GRANTS CEASE FIRE FOR DECEMBER HOLY MONTH
INTERMISSION ALLOWS BOTH ARMIES TO ORDER FAST FOOD
  More...

FED NATIONALIZES CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM CONES
KIDS CAN'T LICK CONES ON CHURCH PROPERTY  More...

RELIGIOUS DISCOVERY: MUHAMMAD BORN IN SHANGHAI
MID EAST WAR SHIFTS TO CHINA  More...

FATHER FLANAGAN RAPES 25,000 CHILDREN OVER 30-YEAR SPAN, CLAIMS AMNESIA  More...

School and State:

SANTA 'CLAUSE' SHOWS UP TO SAVE FLORIDA'S TEACHERS' UNION  More...

ETHNOMATHEMATICS  More...

WHY JOHNNY CAN'T READ  More...

EVOLUTION OF MATH INSTRUCTION IN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS  More...

O’CONNOR REAFFIRMS Step ‘n Fetch it IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS  More...

STUDENT WINS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE; SPELLS “CHRISTMAS” WITH AN ‘X’  More...

STATE GROCERY STORES  More...

PRO-CHOICE FREE MARKET SCHOOLS  More...

EDUCATION TAXES  More...

Health and State:

12-31-2005 Does surgery for cancer cause more cancer?   More...

FAT IDAHO   More...

IDAHO'S LOOMING FAKE HEALTH CARE "CRISIS"  More...

WHEN GOOD CELLS GO BAD  More...

PRO-CHOICE CANCER TREATMENT  More...

Money and the Federal Reserve:

THE FUZZY MATH OF U.S. COINAGE  More...

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"A communist is somebody who doesn't have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody."
...G. B. Shaw

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