One of the better points of this video:
How serious is the Federal government about justice in regards to the largest financial crisis in American history? Look at the number of persons investigating and prosecuting mortgage fraud and securities fraud. And until those numbers increase, we will not have justice.
Interestingly, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio stood on the House floor and encouraged citizens to not leave their homes when they were being forced out.
Event: 8-12 June Narobi Africa Agriculture GIS Week 2010
01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, Africa, Geospatial
Jointly organized by the Consortium for Spatial Information (CSI) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), HarvestChoice, and the Agricultural Geospatial Commons (AGCommons) Program, the event builds on the success of last year’s meeting. However, AAGW 2010 has a broader scope and will be presented as a “GIS ShareFair”, complete with a market place that will include exhibitors, training sessions, thematic workshops, presentation sessions, CGIAR Spatial Science Sessions, the third gathering of WhereCampAfrica, and the unveiling of the AGCommons service bureau.
EVENT: 9-16 Oct, Univ Passau Germany, Economics of Corruption 2010: Lecture and Workshop in Good Governance and Reform
03 Economy, 09 Justice, Corruption, Government, Open Government
Training and qualifying practitioners, researchers and students in anti-corruption is increasingly requested, utterly needed, but still in its infancy. For many years now we developed a training program that fills this gap, joining the world of theory with the world of practice. An analysis of political, economic and organizational incentives allows participants to obtain a profound understanding of the forces that are at play.
Survey techniques and statistical analysis confront theory with data. Interactive tools such as games, poster presentations and case studies involve participants and make them acquainted with today's challenges. Prof. Johann Graf Lambsdorff and his team have spearheaded models for reform related to such issues as contract penalties, compliance systems, debarment, procurement, leniency and corporate liability. Participants are introduced into this body of research.
This international event continues to be offered on a pro bono basis. It is directed towards anti-corruption policymakers and practitioners, as well as towards graduate and post-graduate students and faculty in the social sciences.
Journal: US Government Party to $4 Trillion Fraud
03 Economy, 09 Justice, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, GovernmentThursday, April 01, 2010
AltNews3 http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/
CMKM Diamonds was used by the US government as part of a covert sting operation – unbeknown to shareholders – to apprehend criminals for their offences. However, instead of prosecuting most of them, restitution deals were cut. CMKM was registered as a publicly traded diamond and gold mining company. By 2005, concrete evidence detailing fraud within the company emerged. CMKM sold hundreds of billions of unregistered shares (naked short selling) to third parties. One official estimate cites two trillion phantom shares and 40,000 shareholders as being involved. Eventually, the US Securities and Exchange Commission moved to delist CMKM stock, whose value never exceeded one penny per share. After several administrative proceedings, CMKM Diamonds stock was ultimately deregistered in October 2005. The legal status of a meeting held in Las Vegas and chaired by Robert A. Maheu is being questioned. In exchange for a US Government promise of no prosecution for phantom share sales in CMKM Diamonds, brokers, dealers, market makers and hedge fund managers promised to pay negotiated amounts to a frozen trust for disbursal at a later time. What happened to these trust monies is not clear. Robert A. Maheu was heart-attacked out in Las Vegas on Monday 4th August 2008, and died aged 90. The Central District of California Court document (08.01.10 – Case Number CV10-00031-JVS [MLGX]) can be viewed heere. Deep background here (31.03.10), here (02.03.12), here (29.01.10) and here (09.01.10). And more about Bivens Actions (Constitutional Torts) can be found here.
Journal: Audit the Fed & Cost of Wall Street Charity
03 Economy, Collective Intelligence, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, GovernmentFederal Reserve Transparency Working Group and Supporters:
We have 32 cosponsors for S.604 ” Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009″ and 319 cosponsors for H.R. 1207 ” Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009″
See also:
Total Wall Street Bailout Cost (Thanks Nicole, U.S. PIRG)
The Federal Reserve as a Confidence Game: What They Were Saying in 2007
Salon: The Federal Reserve has come clean about its covert actions
“Thomas Jefferson put a stop to Alexander Hamilton’s idea of a powerful central bank out of fear it would be unaccountable to the public. The Fed has just proven Jefferson’s point.”
Banksterism: Total Wall Street Bailout Cost, Financial Crisis Tracker
03 Economy, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Government, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth
The Wall Street Bailout Cost table is produced and updated monthly by the Real Economy Project of the Center for Media and Democracy, which publishes SourceWatch. The total is reflected on the Financial Crisis Tracker widget (to the left). This calculation was peer-reviewed by economists at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. This table represents a unique accounting of actual funds disbursed. Our total includes major programs of the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other government agencies to assist the financial sector and institutions that had a role in the crisis. It does not include stimulus funds, unemployment, student loans, auto bailout and other initiatives to create jobs or support citizens.
Afghanistan Hashish, (not only opium) Declared World’s Largest Producer
01 Agriculture, 01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Education, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, 12 Water, Threats
By VIVIENNE WALT
It's hardly news that Afghanistan's huge opium crops supply more than 90% of the world's heroin. But now U.N. officials say Afghanistan is also the world's biggest producer of another drug – hashish. In its first attempt to calculate how much cannabis is grown in the country, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime says in a report released in Kabul on Wednesday that Afghan farmers earned up to $94 million last year from selling between 1,500 and 3,500 tons of hash – the resin extracted from cannabis crops.
U.S. and NATO officials believe that at least part of this revenue goes to insurgent groups to finance their attacks against coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, where almost all of the 139 soldiers killed this year have died. The report found that farmers grow about 17,000 hectares (about 42,000 acres) of cannabis in half of the country's 34 provinces – largely in the south. That is where Afghanistan's most fertile land is, the report says, and its rich soil produces an “astonishing yield” of potent hashish of about 320 pounds per hectare – more than three times the yield from cannabis grown in Morocco, another big hash producer. “Afghanistan is using some of its best land to grow cannabis,” says Antonia Maria Costa, director of the U.N. drug office in Vienna. “If they grew wheat instead, insurgents would not have money to buy weapons and the international community would not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on food aid.” (See pictures of cannabis culture.)
- Afghanistan Cannabis Survey (Full report) (pdf)
Income from cannabis per ha (gross/net) US$ 3,900 / US$ 3,341
Income from opium per ha (gross/net) US$ 3,600 / US$ 2,005
Income from wheat per ha (gross/net) US$ 1,200 / US$ 960
