Organic sales dropped in UK during crisis

Looking at the British economy, it's not a complete surprise. I've heard plenty of stories about global businesses moving quickly into this space though. What they are saying is that buyers may be purchasing less, but they are often leaning towards organic products. Even at our local grocery store we see more organic each week and much more advertising for it as well. Last week they even dedicated 3 pages in the weekly flier to organic wine. In general, the organic prices are higher though not substantially higher. For the wine, the prices were in line with the other products.

We can't afford to buy all organic though we do make an effort to include some in the mix. For us, we prefer the quality and taste but really wish it was more affordable. It's surprised me to read online stories of otherwise conservative people buying specific organic products such as milk due to problems of kids (girls in particular) maturing faster than normal. Do you buy organic? Any specific products? If price was not an issue, would you buy more? Read More......

Russian judge who targeted extreme right murdered

Fighting crime in Russia has to be a tough, thankless job. It's amazing that they can find anyone who wants to take jobs like this and be serious about their work.

A leading Russian judge who received death threats after handing out long prison sentences to nationalist and neo-Nazi groups was shot dead yesterday in Moscow.

Eduard Chuvashov was shot three times in the stairwell outside his second-floor apartment, just before 9am as he was leaving for work. Sources in Russian law-enforcement said that nationalist groups could have been behind the attack. Mr Chuvashov, 47, had handled several high-profile cases involving racist killings, and death threats were posted along with his photograph on extremist online forums.

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Lieberman thinks everybody should listen to Sarah Palin

I get that Palin has power because she has a lot of fans on the far right. But she's brain dead. She's not presidential material. She's not particularly smart or informed. And yes, I get that a lot of the Republican base is the same. But that's hardly a justification for making her president, that she's as ill-informed as the masses she represents. As Jon Stewart once said, I want to vote for a president who's smarter than me. Here's Lieberman:

“I do disagree with her on some of the specifics that she has said, but I think anybody who underestimates Sarah Palin as a political force in America does so at some peril, because she is speaking for a lot of people out there," he said. “I don’t know what her future is, but I’m just saying everybody should listen.”

So does Sarah Palin deserve the attention she's getting? Read More......

DC lawmakers flocking to Wall Street to destroy reform

This is what the US is up against with reforming the industry that trashed the global economy. These people - Republicans and Democrats alike - have no shame. The money is surely good but how do they sleep at night? Why do flag-waving politicians hate America? Hypocrites. Every last one of them.

The former congressman Michael G. Oxley, the Ohio Republican whose name is on one of the most famous pieces of business regulatory legislation in history — the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act that imposed tougher accounting measures on firms after scandals at Enron and other companies — is a senior adviser to the Nasdaq stock market. Mr. Oxley received $40,000 in the last quarter of 2009 for lobbying to limit the ownership of banks and other competitors in clearinghouses.

Another former Republican congressman, Richard H. Baker of Louisiana, served for 12 years as chairman of the House banking panel that oversaw capital markets before he left Congress in 2008. He is now president and a registered lobbyist for the Managed Funds Association, which represents the largest trading firms in the multitrillion-dollar hedge fund industry. The association reported spending $3.7 million last year alone to lobby federal officials on regulations for the hedge fund industry.

An analysis by Public Citizen found that at least 70 former members of Congress were lobbying for Wall Street and the financial services sector last year, including two former Senate majority leaders (Trent Lott and Bob Dole), two former House majority leaders (Richard Gephardt and Dick Armey) and a former House speaker (Dennis Hastert).

In addition to lawmakers themselves, data from the Center for Responsive Politics counted 56 former Congressional aides on the Senate or House banking committees who went on to use their expertise to lobby for the financial sector. Visa Inc. had the most former Congressional officials with 37 lobbyists, following closely by other financial powerhouses like Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Citigroup and the American Bankers Association, according to the Public Citizen analysis.

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Haley Barbour says Sarah Palin is 'legally qualified' to be president. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Legally qualified? That's the standard now for GOP presidential candidates - they have to be the right age and the born in America. That's it. You too can be president! This is actually quite a hedge from a pretty big name Republican. From CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley:

CROWLEY: Do you think she's qualified to be president right now? Do you think she has had the background to be experienced if she does run, is she qualified for the job?

BARBOUR: Well, because I didn't think President Obama had the background experience to be qualified, so the fact of the matter is, she is legally qualified, and after that it's up to the American people. Just like it was for Senator Obama, now President Obama.

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Ship that crashed into Great Barrier Reef severely damaged the reef

Someone is going to be paying for this either in jail or via a bank account or perhaps both. The damage to the reef was just over a half mile long. It's not every day that the world sees such extensive damage to a World Heritage site.

The Australian authorities have said a Chinese bulk carrier which ran aground off Queensland has caused widespread damage to the famed Great Barrier Reef.

The cleanup is likely to be the biggest operation ever undertaken there.

The Shen Neng 1 was refloated on Monday night, in a salvage operation brought forward because of the threat of bad weather and heavy seas.

The Australian government has indicated that a prosecution will follow because the ship ran aground in a no-go zone.

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Oklahoma Republicans conspire with Teabaggers to form anti- federal government militia

ThinkProgress:

The Associated Press reports that Oklahoma tea party leaders, “frustrated by recent political setbacks,” are working with right-wing Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature to create a new “volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.”

So how does that work? The armed Teabagger militia doesn't like health care reform so they use their guns to stop the "infringement on state sovereignty"? Read More......

CEO who led WaMu into failure made over $25 million in final year

Until someone decides to make behavior like this illegal, there's no reason why business leaders like this will act differently. What's the downside? It's hard to even imagine such an enormous failure could not have any legal consequences but when the bank lobbyists are writing the laws, this is what happens. Why should we expect any other results? Seattle Times:

Kerry Killinger took home $25.1 million in 2008 — the year he was fired as Washington Mutual's chief executive and the company itself effectively ceased to exist.

Killinger, who had been CEO since 1990, received a $15.3 million severance payment after he was let go in September 2008, as well as a $445,200 lump-sum payment for vacation benefits and a $300,669 "special payment," not further identified.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations unearthed Killinger's 2008 compensation during its 18-month-long investigation into the financial crisis.

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Lieberman: 'The momentum is with the Republicans.... thank God'

It's so great that Barack Obama stepped in to save Lieberman's chairmanship after Lieberman campaigned so viciously against Obama during the 2008 elections. It's so great to see how Lieberman has been grateful to Obama and the Democrats. He's still such a class act. Now, very pious Lieberman is thanking god that the GOP has the political momentum. And, Lieberman said this to the right-wing publication, Newsmax, no less. Via The Hill:

It's a good thing that voters have moved against the prospect of one-party control of Congress for decades, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said.

Lieberman, an independent senator who caucuses with Democrats, acknowledged momentum for the GOP, and said that independents had become alienated from Democrats, who control both the House and the Senate.

"There were a lot of people, particularly Democrats, who were declaring after the 2008 election that we were beginning a period of Democratic dominance that would go on for decades," Lieberman said during an interview with the conservative Newsmax magazine. "Now, all of a sudden, the momentum is with the Republicans. And that's -- thank God -- that's the way people have spoken, you know? That's our democracy."

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A Live Discussion of Executive PayWatch with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

Starts at noon. Read More......

Hey, let's listen to the failed spokesman of a failed Speaker of the House

When I'm looking for really bad advice to give the Republican party, I turn to someone who was the mouthpiece for one of the biggest failures in Congress. If you can't get the failure, get the guy who helped him orchestrate the failure. Newt Gingrich's ex-spokesman, Tony Blankley, thinks the GOP needs to go more to the right.

Among other things, Blankely is for repealing health care reform (i.e., reinstating pre-existing conditions and taking young 20-something children off of their parents' health plans) and dismantling the Department of Education. It also sounds like he has a problem with Medicare and Social Security. Real winner this guy. Hope the GOP listens to him. Read More......

Speculating over possible Supreme Court nominees

This morning, ABC's Jake Tapper has a list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Word is that Obama will announce his nominee in early May. The Republican Senators are waiting to see who gets nominated before finalizing their strategy. The GOP base will want a fight, but GOP Senators will be wary of creating so much of a battle that it awakens the moribund Democratic base. I think it's safe to say Obama won't consider the Democratic base when he makes his decision:

The short list includes: Solicitor General Elena Kagan; Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit; Judge Diane Wood of the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court in Chicago; Democratic Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm; former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow, who was once the president's professor; and Judge Sidney Thomas of the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court in San Francisco.

There are others not on the short list whom the president might consider, including White House official Cass Sunstein, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is being pushed by some on Capitol Hill, sources said.

No doubt some of these are trial balloons to gauge the level of GOP opposition.

CNN reported that Elizabeth Warren is also on its version of the short list. The widely-respected Warren is ccurrently the chair of Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversees TARP. She'll play a key role over the next few weeks as the Senate consider its financial reform bill.

Apparently, Hillary Clinton is not under consideration.

Also, Marc Ambinder took the speculation to a new level in a post he wrote yesterday about whether the first name on Tapper's list, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, is gay:

Given the confusion and rumors about Kagan's sexuality, the issue is bound to come up. It's tough for the media to cover, because reporters have trouble writing openly and honestly about a very contested subject, and because they don't want to appear to be outing anyone. There's no consensus within "The Village" about whether sexual orientation is a private matter -- or about when it becomes a public matter.

Instead of actually discussing the issue, the Villagers just whisper about it. I believe this falls into that trial balloon classification. There is still a mindset among many in the media that there's something wrong with being gay. Unfortunately, that's reinforced by politicos, media types and pundits who lead closeted lives. I would be shocked if Obama appointed someone to the Supreme Court who is gay or even someone whose sexual orientation is the source of "confusion and rumors." It's not his style. Read More......

Senate subcommittee on WaMu: failure led by greed and fraud

Doesn't the Senate subcommittee know that they're not allowed to blame anyone for any failure, ever? That's the new model that has been in high gear in recent years. Remember how 9/11 wasn't really the fault of anyone? Heck, they even handed out a medal. The economic crisis? Bah! Bring on the Wall Streeters and let them write the watered-down "reform" using the billions that were handed over to them.

This pointing the finger thing is really not the way but there's still time to soften the blow and make sure nobody from WaMu gets upset. Double check that none of the "greed team" have moved over to JP Morgan Chase though. Heaven knows we wouldn't want to criticize any of those folks who are happily hiding behind their protective lobbyists. As they say, you never want to step in between a lobbyist and a re-election campaign fund donation.

"Using a toxic mix of high risk lending, lax controls and destructive compensation practices, Washington Mutual flooded the market with shoddy loans and securities that went bad," the subcomittee's Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich), said in a statement.

Levin said his subcommittee looked at the Seattle-based thrift as a case study.

He described it as the story of a 100 year old traditional lender that turned away from safer lending practices to pursue the higher profits reaped from selling high risk mortgages to Wall Street firms.

As it did, the thrift failed repeatedly to bring the hammer down on fraudulent practices rampant in some of its most profitable mortgage centers.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The nuclear summit continues today in Washington. Yes, this is an event discussing important policy. But, from the perspective of a DC resident, it's motorcade madness. The city must be setting some kind of world record for concentration of motorcades. But, not all motorcades are created equal. Some get motorcycles. Some don't. Some have limos. Some have SUVs. Some get the street blocked, others don't. I'm sure there's some complicated system for figuring it all out.

The House Democratic caucus is meeting tonight to discuss strategy for the rest of the year. Yesterday, John posted an article from The Hill, which quoted "a Democratic leadership aide" saying there won't be any "tough votes" coming up. I suspect that's the prevailing mood. With control of the House in play, many Democrats are nervous and skittish. Instead of trying to rally the base, I suspect many Democrats in the House will opt to do nothing that anyone in the caucus considers controversial or hard. I have no doubt that most of the milquetoast Democratic consultants are urging that "do nothing" approach.

The Senate is gearing up for the financial reform debate. Republicans are devising their strategy to destroy real reform. If anyone has any doubts about where Republicans stand, remember what the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, Richard Shelby, told a group of bankers. He told the whining bankers that the best way to defeat reform was to elect "more Republicans" and to give contributions to GOP Senate candidate Roy Blunt in Missouri:

Also at the conference, attendees told Republican Senator Richard Shelby they view as unfair the Obama administration's proposal to set up a new government watchdog for financial consumers that would protect Americans from deceptive credit cards and abusive mortgage loans.

Asked what bankers could do to change the agenda, Shelby said, "What you can do is elect more Republicans to the U.S. Senate, that would help immensely." He asked each of the attendees to send $10,000 to Roy Blunt, a former House leader who is now running for Senate as a Republican in Missouri.

Kinda says it all. Many bankers and banks still have banks because of taxpayer bailouts.

Let's get it started.... Read More......

Japan's whale catch cut in half this season

As good as it is to hear about the drastic reduction, the numbers are still very high. Perhaps this will help add even more energy and resources to the anti-whaling groups as they can now show the results of their activities. The Japanese have always been willing to throw money at this issue so they could also make major changes next year. BBC:

The ships have returned to port with just over half as many whales - 507 - as they had set out to catch.

Whalers said they were angry, and blamed what they described as "violent interference" from the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Clashes at sea between Sea Shepherd and the whaling ships paralysed the hunt for 31 days.

The last ship of the whaling fleet to return home sailed into Tokyo bay, with much of the hunt's catch in her hold.

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Iceland delivers report on banking crash

It's a list of who's who in the country, though probably not a list anyone wants to be on. Whether they will take legal action is difficult to say but they should. One hopes that when the US finally gets around to doing its report on the financial crisis, they will name names and prosecute. The 9/11 commission was a sorry whitewash that only delivered the traditional "nobody did anything wrong" report that we've come to expect. The Guardian:

"Rules about large risk exposures were not followed," the truth commission report found. "Judging by data the commission has requested from Kaupthing, it is hard to see that lending, to the extent that Tchenguiz companies received it during times of liquidity crisis, was decided with the banks' interests in mind."

The report also delivers unflinching attacks on Iceland's most senior politicians and civil servants, for their role in presiding over an out-of-control banking system. The most high-profile among them is David Oddsson, chairman of Iceland's central bank at the time of the crash, who shaped Iceland's economy as prime minister between 1991 and 2004, during which time he was the driving force behind a rapid privatisation of the banking sector.

The truth commission's report delivers formal findings of "mistakes or negligence" against Oddson, former prime minister Geir Haarde, former finance minister �rni Mathiesen and former minister of commerce Björgvin Sigurdsson. Two other former governors of Iceland's central bank are also named and shamed, as is the former head of the financial supervision authority (FME), Jónas Jónsson.

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