"The Obama administration may call for stripping the Securities and Exchange Commission of some of its powers under a regulatory reorganization that could be unveiled as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said.
The proposal, still being drafted, is likely to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise financial firms deemed too big to fail. The Fed may inherit some SEC functions, with others going to other agencies, the people said. On the table: giving oversight of mutual funds to a bank regulator or a new agency to police consumer-finance products, two people said.
The 75-year-old SEC, chartered to oversee Wall Street and safeguard investors, has seen its reputation tarnished as some lawmakers blamed it for missing the incipient financial crisis and failing to detect Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Any move to rein in the agency is likely to provoke a battle in Congress, which would need to approve the changes, and draw the ire of union pension funds and other advocates for shareholders.
""Senator praised staff last week, saying their positions were ‘in harmony’ with GOP.
The chief Republican counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee penned a blog post last month linking same sex marriage to pedophilia — and subsequently yanked it when it drew attention.
William Smith, who was installed as Judiciary chief counsel last week by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL, above right), wrote a seething blog post last month responding to a speech advocating that the party embrace same sex marriage.
Smith was responding to a speech given by a McCain consultant and former Bush aide Steve Schmidt to the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican lobbying group. In his post, Smith linked same sex marriage to child rape, bestiality and pedophilia.
""If people are -- if terrorists are released in the United States, part of what we don’t want is them be put in prisons in the United States. We don’t want them around the United States."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Holds News Conference. He's been terrorized?
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."
Amendment VI of the Constitution.
"In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."
Amendment VII of the Constitution.
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
Amendment V of the Constitution.
"On Christmas morning 1869, in the dust bowl town of Towash, Texas, the patrons of Jackie’s Saloon heard the ringing of spurs against the wooden entrance steps and turned to see a tall man with a boyish face casually slide through the swinging doors. John Wesley Hardin, the 16-year-old son of a Confederate preacher, raised his gun with the grace of a portrait artist and painted the back wall of the bar with the blood of James Bradley — over a game of cards.
In the old West, this may have been a common way to ensure honesty at cards. Yet, as alien as that world seems to us today, some pundits and members of Congress suggest that things have not changed much since those gun-slinging days.
Today, gambling is legal in some form in all but two states and an over whelming majority of Americans enjoy gambling — or have at least gambled once — and they do so in ever increasing numbers on the Internet. Dozens, if not hundreds, of websites let Americans place legal bets on everything from the spin of a virtual roulette wheel to the outcome of a horse race.
As the popularity of online gambling has grown, so too has the urge among some politicians and regulators who see it as a problem to “do something” about it. Fears about online gambling range from under age and problem gamblers accessing gaming sites to money laundering and threats to financial privacy.
""A man who robbed his local takeaway pizza shop forgot one important element of a hold up - leaving the scene of the crime.
Ante Baranovic's attempt to hold up the shop was foiled by his favourite food.
After he ordered the staff at the shop in Croatia to hand over half a dozen pizzas, he pulled out a knife and robbed them.
But the lure of the pizzas proved too much for Baranovic, who promptly sat down and started eating his way through them.
The Austrian Times reports Baranovic told detectives: "I know I should have run but those pizzas are good."
"
in which Thom appears, for saying in the chat room,did someone say cartoon? Cheney is the biggest cartoon villain I've seen in a long time, and he's for real!
"The case against Nancy Pelosi remaining Speaker of the House is as simple as it is devastating:
The person who is No. 2 in line to be commander in chief can’t have contempt for the men and women who protect our nation. America can’t afford it.
To test how much damage Speaker Pelosi has done to the defense of our nation, ask yourself this: If you were a young man or woman just starting out today, would you put on a uniform or become an intelligence officer to defend America, knowing that tomorrow a politician like Nancy Pelosi could decide you were a criminal?
"
