CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

Reserve Reveals Bear Stearns Assets it Swallowed

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- After months of litigation and political scrutiny, the Federal Reserve yesterday ended a policy of secrecy over its Bear Stearns Cos. bailout.

In a 4:30 p.m. announcement in a week of congressional recess and religious holidays, the central bank released details of securities bought to aid Bear Stearns’s takeover by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bloomberg News sued the Fed for that information.

The Fed’s vehicle known as Maiden Lane LLC has securities backed by mortgages from lenders including Washington Mutual Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp., loans that were made with limited borrower documentation. More than $1 billion of them are backed by “jumbo” mortgages written by Thornburg Mortgage Inc., which now carry the lowest investment-grade rating. Jumbo loans were larger than government-sponsored mortgage buyers such as Fannie Mae could finance -- $417,000 at the time.

“The Fed absorbed that risk on its balance sheet and is now seen to be holding problematic, legacy assets,” said Vincent Reinhart, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington who was the central bank’s monetary- affairs director from 2001 to 2007. “There is both an impairment to its balance sheet and its reputation.”

The Bear Stearns deal marked a turning point in the financial crisis for the Fed. By putting taxpayers at risk in financing the rescue, the central bank was engaging in fiscal policy, normally the domain of Congress and the U.S. Treasury, said Marvin Goodfriend, a former Richmond Fed policy adviser who is now an economist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.


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*Everything You Need To Know About The Latest Jobs Figures

*Sharp Increase in March in Personal Bankruptcies

*Hiring Hot Spots: These companies have been expanding their workforces aggressively

*VIDEO: Congressman says New Health Care Law Trumps Constitution



*California probe clears ACORN of criminal activity

*Cops & CPS Seize Child From Parents For Mistrusting Government

*“We Are in a Cabal... Five or Six Players ... Own the Regulatory Apparatus. Everybody Is Afraid to Regulate Them"

*VIDEO: Officers Accused Of Using Taser On 10-Year-Old



*Second Mexican helicopter sighted in US airspace

*Great-grandmother given an electronic tag and curfew for selling a goldfish to a 14 year-old

*100 million Americans question or find fault with the official 9/11 story

earlier:

Census Project Adds to the Job Picture

200,000 new jobs will be announced today, half of those are temporary Census positions. Critics say that's a drop in the bucket.

When March employment figures are released Friday by the Department of Labor, analysts are expecting to see the biggest U.S. job gains in more than two years.

But perhaps half the 200,000 or so positions expected to be added to payrolls may be the byproduct of a government effort that has turned into a fortuitous job generator: the U.S. census.

The constitutionally mandated nationwide head count arrives this year at a crucial time -- after the start of the country's economic recovery, but before private-sector employers have created many jobs. That's a stroke of luck for the Obama administration, which has been criticized for failing to revive the labor market. And it's a windfall for the 700,000 temporary employees the census expects to hire, although most of the jobs will last only two to six weeks.

This year's census isn't just about counting heads, it's helping create jobs in an economy that needs them badly.

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*Banks, Debt Collectors Find Ideal Debtors: Working Poor

*For Unemployed, Tax Deadline Brings New Worries...

*...Health Care's Job Creation: up to 100,000 New IRS Agents


*2 million eager for health care on parents' plans

*Five Reasons the Democrats Are Not Running Scared - Yet

*US to impose new airline security measures

*Army chief reverses course, to uphold policy on gays

*Rhode Island looks to slow recovery


*Mexico drug gangs turn weapons on army

*Obama and China's Hu discuss nuclear Iran in phone call

*Vanishing Beaches: Southern California beach erosion is worst in a decade

*Thirteen Israeli air strikes hit Gaza Strip

*US Sues KBR On Security Costs

*One of the Metro bombers could be teen 'Black Widow' – report

CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

Regulated or Not, Nano-Foods Coming to a Store Near You

For centuries, it was the cook and the heat of the fire that cajoled taste, texture, flavor and aroma from the pot. Today, that culinary voodoo is being crafted by white-coated scientists toiling in pristine labs, rearranging atoms into chemical particles never before seen.

At last year's Institute of Food Technologists international conference, nanotechnology was the topic that generated the most buzz among the 14,000 food-scientists, chefs and manufacturers crammed into an Anaheim, Calif., hall. Though it's a word that has probably never been printed on any menu, and probably never will, there was so much interest in the potential uses of nanotechnology for food that a separate daylong session focused just on that subject was packed to overflowing.

In one corner of the convention center, a chemist, a flavorist and two food-marketing specialists clustered around a large chart of the Periodic Table of Elements (think back to high school science class). The food chemist, from China, ran her hands over the chart, pausing at different chemicals just long enough to say how a nano-ized version of each would improve existing flavors or create new ones.

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*55% Favor Repeal of Health Care Bill

*NATO rejects Russian call for Afghan poppy spraying

*Soldiers Take Psychiatric Medications for Stress

*Swine Flu Virus Not So New, Study Finds

*Pentagon eases 'don't ask, don't tell' law

*US supports Pakistan economic zones

*Is US using Google proxy to attack China?

*Apartment rents cheaper than stays in homeless shelters

*Why Greenspan's Explanation for the Economic Collapse is Rubbish

*Nano car bursts into flames, raising safety fears

*Tea Party protester apologizes for cruelty to Parkinson's victim

*Philip J. Berg Reveals More About "Barry Soetoro"

earlier:

Al Gore Backs Mayor's 'Carbon Surcharge' Rate Hikes For DWP Customers

Former Vice President Al Gore on Tuesday backed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's "carbon surcharge" proposal for Department of Water and Power customers despite reports indicating that the plan could hike power fees as much as 28.4 percent.

"Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles has introduced one of the most forward-thinking clean energy plans I have ever seen," Gore said in a statement. " ... This innovative proposal can be the catalyst the Department of Water and Power needs to power Los Angeles' use of green energy."

Villaraigosa's plan, which he said would cost the average customer about an extra $2.50 month (now he says it's up to $3.50 a month), is aimed at weening the city off coal power and onto 20 percent renewable energy by the end of the year. It will also create 16,000 jobs and retrofit homes and businesses with energy efficient gear.

But ... the Los Angeles Times reports that the hikes, the first of which has already been approved by the DWP board, would amount to 8.8 to 28.4 percent power-bill increases, and that some of the extra cash would go to initiatives already underway at the DWP.

Some on the City Council are challenging the initial rate hike and will debate whether to send the plan back to the DWP board for reconsideration Tuesday. Opponents are concerned that the hike comes at the worst time -- high unemployment plagues the city -- with a DWP that is the city's richest department. While the city faces a near-$700 million deficit in July and the possibility of 4,000 layoffs, many DWP workers are getting raises.

Still, Gore likes the plan

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*Poll: Americans Hate Wall Street

*Cops In N.J. Town Given Keys To Homes

*How to tell if you are Middle Class

*Panel to study what to do with U.S. nuclear waste

*UN body to look at meat and climate link



*Airport Worker Caught Ogling Image of Woman on Naked Body Scanner

*US authorities "deal" with Wikileaks

*UN head in Afghanistan meets with militant group

*Hungary, Latvia and Romania on verge of collapse Spain, Greece call for bailout fund

*Measure to legalize marijuana will be on California's November ballot

*Explain why you sold Britain's gold, Gordon Brown told

*Georgia accepts Gitmo inmates

*France ditches carbon tax as social protests mount

*"Childless on Principle" gains ground in Russia

*Ottawa joins the war on photography

*Why did Barry Soetoro change his name to Barack Hussein Obama?

CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

Idaho Leads State Revolt Against Naked Body Scanners

Idaho has set the example for others states to follow in the continuing revolt against naked body scanners, by passing a law that limits the use of the x-ray scanning devices in airports and government buildings and also forces Homeland Security to disprove health concerns.

Athol Republican Rep. Phil Hart’s bill, which was passed 58-9 on Thursday by the Idaho state legislature, limits use of the scanners to people who have failed a prior security check, such as a metal detector.

The bill also enforces by law the option to take a manual pat-down as an alternative to the body scan, a choice that was never available in other countries that have introduced the scanners and one that the TSA has made clear it seeks to abolish, forcing everyone to use the scanners.

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*U.S. warns ships off Yemen of possible al Qaeda attack

*Underemployment At Record 20% According To Gallup

*Health Reform Bill Summary: The Top 18 Immediate Effects (editor's note: some points are up for debate)

*VIDEO: Profiting off Haiti's disaster?



*Health Care Mandate to Be Enforced by IRS ‘Bounty Hunters’

*New York Times Admits Right-Wing Duped Them on Now Defunct ACORN

*The Dodd Status Quo: Too big to fail is alive and well in the Senate's financial reform

*How the West poisoned Bangladesh

*The UK town printing its own currency

earlier:

Iraq: 7 Years in, thousands rally to pull troops

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of protesters - many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama - marched through the nation's capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least eight people, including activist Cindy Sheehan, were arrested by U.S. Park Police at the end of the march, after laying coffins at a fence outside the White House. Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"Arrest that war criminal!" Sheehan shouted outside the White House before her arrest, referring to Obama.

At a rally before the march, Sheehan asked whether "the honeymoon was over with that war criminal in the White House" - an apparent reference to Obama

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*Census questions raise privacy, security fears

*Privately-owned Reserve wants to stay watchdog of small banks

*Obama Pays More Than Buffett as U.S. Risks AAA Rating

*Clinton Says U.S. Seeking Iran Sanctions That 'Bite'

*House approves huge changes to student loan program

*Cut off the cash and Israel might behave

*What Has MoveOn Moved On To?

*Chris Hedges: The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed

*Do women have a place in the US army?



*34% more homeless people sleeping on New York City streets than last year

*Schwarzenegger Approval Rating Falls To Gray Davis Recall Level

*Socialist party crushes in French elections