Puppet MastersS


Dollar

Energy crisis? Nah, it's just business: Private British energy corporation made £571 million profit after hiking gas prices 6% during record cold winter


The Guardian
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 07:30 UTC
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Thousands of elderly people died in recent record cold winters? Sorry, it's just business, innit?
British Gas owner Centrica has revealed a £571m profit haul from its residential energy arm for 2013, months after hiking gas and electricity prices.

It marks a 6% drop on the £606m the year before but is unlikely to calm public anger over rising energy costs.

Centrica said British Gas shed 2% of residential customer accounts in 2013 to 15.3m as households switched to other suppliers following its move to increase tariffs by 9.2% on average from November as part of a round of winter bill rises across the industry.

It added that another 100,000 people had quit the group so far this year, but customer switching was now "stabilising" after it scaled back its price rise by 3.2% following a shake-up of the government's so-called green levies on bills. Across the group, operating profits were 2% lower at £2.7bn last year.
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USA

Money for nothing: Feds in D.C. closed 25% of the time

Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 07:10 UTC
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© Pete SouzaPresident Barack Obama has lunch with members of the Congressional Leadership in the Oval Office Private Dining Room, May 16, 2012
Between snow days, official holidays and the government shutdown, federal employees have worked a normal business day less than 75 percent of the time since Oct. 1, marking a startlingly chaotic beginning to the fiscal year.

Offices have been closed in whole or in part for 27 of the 105 weekdays so far in the fiscal year, according to a Washington Times analysis of announcements from the federal Office of Personnel Management that found the government was closed for 21 days because of the shutdown, snow days or holidays. Delayed openings or unscheduled leave and telework policies were in effect for six more days.

Congress is the worst offender when it comes to time away from the main office. Neither the House nor the Senate has worked a full Monday-to-Friday workweek in 2014. House members have been in session for 17 of the 35 weekdays so far this year, less than 50 percent. Senators have met in full session for 18 days, slightly better than 50 percent.
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Red Flag

Health law's impact has only begun

Anne Wilde Matthews
Wall Street Journal
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 07:03 UTC
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Faces of the Affordable Care Act
Insurers Seek Healthy Enrollees, Doctors Educate New Patients, Employers Wrestle With Added Costs

On Jan. 1, the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. Americans gained access to new health plans subsidized by federal dollars. Insurers no longer can turn away people with existing conditions. Millions are now eligible for new Medicaid benefits.

But the federal law also upended existing health-insurance arrangements for millions of people. Companies worry about the expense of providing new policies, some hospitals aren't seeing the influx of new patients they expected to balance new costs and entrepreneurs say they may hire more part-time workers to avoid offering more coverage.

The law's true impact will play out over years. It will depend in part on whether backers overcome serious early setbacks, including crippling glitches in the new online insurance marketplaces and many states' rejection of the Medicaid expansion. But another obstacle the law faces is pushback from some consumers and industry over the higher costs, complex rules and mandatory requirements it imposes.
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Snakes in Suits

Tony Blair 'advised Murdoch executives over hacking'


Raw Story
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 06:46 UTC
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© AFP
Former British prime minister Tony Blair advised a key executive in Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire days before she was arrested over phone hacking at the News of the World, a court heard on Wednesday.

Blair also offered to be an "unofficial" advisor to Murdoch and his son James at the height of the scandal which led to the closure of the tabloid in July 2011.

An email written by Rebekah Brooks, then chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper group, News International, described an hour-long phone call with Blair in which he allegedly told her to "tough up".

The email was shown to the jury at the end of almost four months of prosecution arguments in the phone-hacking trial, in which Brooks is expected to take the stand later this week.
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Bad Guys

Convicted criminals serve as "freedom fighters" in Syria: Saudi, Pakistani and Iraqi prison inmates replenish Al Qaeda ranks

Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 03:42 UTC
Abu Ghraib prison
© APA file photo of renovated Abu Ghraib prison, now renamed Baghdad Central Prison, Iraq.

Several hundred convicted criminals who escaped from carefully guarded prisons in Iraq have recently joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as well as the Al Qaeda affiliated rebel force, Jabhat Al Nusra.

According to the NYT: "the prison breaks also reflect the surging demand for experienced fighterswhich led to a concerted effort by militant groups, particularly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, to seek them in the one place where they were held en masse - Iraq's prison cells." (Tim Arango and Eric Schmitt, Escaped Inmates From Iraq Fuel Syrian Insurgency, NYT, February 12, 2014):
"American officials estimate, a few hundred of the escapees have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, several in senior leadership roles."
Acknowledged by the NYT, the prison breakouts are part of the recruitment of jihadists to serve in the Syrian insurgency. What is not mentioned, however, is that the recruitment of mercenaries is coordinated by NATO, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar with the support of the Obama administration. Moreover, known and documented, most Al Qaeda affiliated forces are covertly supported by Western intelligence including the CIA, Mossad and Britain's MI6.
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Piggy Bank

Japan monthly trade deficit hits record


Press TV
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 02:56 UTC

Haruhiko Kuroda
© BCCLJapan's trade deficit has surged to a monthly record of 2.79 trillion yen (USD 27.30 billion).
Japan's trade deficit has surged to a monthly record of 2.79 trillion yen (USD 27.30 billion).

The figure for January was up from the trade deficit for the same month last year of 1.63 trillion yen.

The development came as the country's imports jumped 25 percent.

The Finance Ministry reported that exports had risen 9.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.25 trillion yen while imports were 8.04 trillion yen.

A weakening in the Japanese yen over the past year has failed to boost exports as hoped. Imports of oil and gas, food, and other products have also surged.

Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said "...the monthly numbers may well look worse before they get better."
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Document

Authoritarian regimes (like the U.S. and Britain) treat reporters like terrorists


Washington Blog
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 01:03 UTC
Press Censorship
© Arcadio Esquivel Cagle Cartoons/La Prensa,Panama
The U.S. Government Condemns Authoritarian Regimes Which Use Anti-Terror Laws to Stifle Journalism

It is widely known that authoritarian regimes use "anti-terror" laws to crack down on journalism.

But this extreme tactic is becoming more and more common. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported a year ago that terrorism laws are being misused worldwide to crush journalism:
The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges. Both are records in the 22 years CPJ has documented imprisonments.
The American government has rightly condemned such abuses.

For example, the U.S. State Department noted last April:
Some governments are too weak or unwilling to protect journalists and media outlets. Many others exploit or create criminal libel or defamation or blasphemy laws in their favor. They misuse terrorism laws to prosecute and imprison journalists. They pressure media outlets to shut down by causing crippling financial damage. They buy or nationalize media outlets to suppress different viewpoints. They filter or shut down access to the Internet. They detain and harass - and worse.
The State Department condemned Burundi in 2012 for treating journalists as terrorists.

The 2012 State Department human rights report on Turkey criticized the country for imprisoning "scores of journalists...most charged under antiterror laws or for connections to an illegal organization."
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Bad Guys

Major oil companies making double profits from oil spills

Alisha Mims
Ring of Fire
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 22:05 UTC
oil
© Reuters
An investigation led by a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) engineer and an environmental and civil rights attorney is uncovering evidence that major oil companies are being paid twice for cleaning up toxic oil spills. Multibillion-dollar companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and BP are being paid for cleanup efforts with state government funds and again, in secret, by insurance companies, Reuters reports.

Thomas Schruben, a Maryland environmental engineer who was involved in drafting government pollution rules while working for the EPA, had long suspected oil companies of double-dipping when dealing with the cleanup of toxic leaks from underground tanks. Schruben has worked as an environmental engineer for over 30 years, specializing in underground storage tanks.

The EPA has noted that leaking underground storage tanks are one of the greatest threats to the nation's groundwater. Underground storage tanks store "enormous quantities" of petroleum and other toxic substances and are found everywhere, "as close as your nearest gas station." Leaks and spills due to corrosion or other tank failures can contaminate soil and groundwater, which is the source of drinking water for nearly 50 percent of Americans.

The vast majority of states in the country have special funds to cover the costs of replacing old tanks and extracting polluted soil and dirty groundwater. Although oil companies have not claimed any wrongdoing, their scheme essentially allows them to be paid double when they are responsible for a spill or leak.
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Newspaper

Brand Putin

Kristen Soltis Anderson
The Daily Beast
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Business Insider
All this exposure, even if it means ridicule, is part of Putin's master plan to maintain Russia as a superpower - and himself as its superhero.

Long before there was Obama Girl, there was Putin Girl. Or, rather, Putin Girls.

It's 2002. Two women - part of a Russian pop duo "Singing Together" - come on screen, dancing to a catchy electro-pop beat. "My boyfriend is in trouble again, got in a fight got drunk on something nasty," they sing in Russian. No, they say, instead of their intoxicated deadbeat boyfriend, they want someone...someone like Putin.

One like Putin, full of strength

One like Putin, who won't be a drunk

One like Putin, who wouldn't hurt me

One like Putin, who won't run away!

In what winds up being a bizarre cross between a pop anthem and a Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man In The World" commercial, the video for "Takogo Kak Putin" (translated as "A Man Like Putin") features footage of Putin taking out an opponent in judo and standing with the Queen of England, interspersed with a Putin look-alike calling up then-President Bush and presumably engaging in very important diplomatic conversations.
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Mr. Potato

Obama ambassador picks cause uproar with bungled answers, lack of ties or knowledge of the countries they're nominated for

Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 16:22 UTC
What does it take to get nominated to a plum ambassadorship? Well, it doesn't hurt to have played for the President's favorite baseball team. Oh, and money.

A century-old debate over whether presidents should reward political donors and allies by making them ambassadors has flared again after a string of embarrassing gaffes by President Obama's picks.

The nominee for ambassador to Norway, for example, prompted outrage in Oslo by characterizing one of the nation's ruling parties as extremist. A soap- opera producer slated for Hungary appeared to have little knowledge of the country she would be living in. A prominent Obama bundler nominated to be ambassador to Argentina acknowledged that he had never set foot in the country and isn't fluent in Spanish.

Presidents have been using ambassador appointments to reward political allies for a long time.

Even former senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the new U.S. ambassador in Beijing, managed to raise eyebrows during his confirmation hearing by acknowledging, "I'm no real expert on China."

The stumbles have highlighted the perils of rewarding well-heeled donors and well-connected politicos with plum overseas assignments and have provided political fodder for Republicans eager to attack the White House. The cases also underscore how a president who once infuriated donors by denying them perks has now come into line with his predecessors, doling out prominent diplomatic jobs by the dozens to supporters.

"Being a donor to the president's campaign does not guarantee you a job in the administration, but it does not prevent you from getting one," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters this week.

For several decades, presidents have generally followed a "70-30" rule when it comes to such appointments, nominating career foreign service officers for roughly 70 percent of U.S. missions abroad and reserving the rest for political allies.
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