Corzine’s MF Global files for bankruptcy

You all remember John Corzine, don't you?

Besieged broker MF Global filed bankruptcy today after a frantic effort over the weekend by CEO John Corzine to strike an out-of-bankruptcy sale came up short.

MF Global had a tentative deal to sell assets to Interactive Brokers Group as of late Sunday, but the agreement fell apart as talks continued overnight, people familiar with the matter said. Discussions ended around 5 a.m. Eastern Time, one of these people said.

MF Global had been considering filing just its holding company for bankruptcy protection and then executing the sale. That plan is now off the table, one of the people said. This person said MF Global's parent company would be included in the bankruptcy filing. Eighth largest corporate bankruptcy in history, what a guy.

Voluntary bankruptcy petitions for MF Global Holdings Ltd. and MF Global Finance USA Inc. hit the docket in a US bankruptcy court in Manhattan mid-morning Monday.

Scientist who said climate change sceptics had been proved wrong accused of hiding truth by colleague

Here they go again...

It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’.

Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually.

But today The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped.

Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis.

Prof Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers.

Fact Check: Obama Exaggerates on Campaign Promises

How many people in the business world would still have a job with a 30% success rate?

During recent political rallies, President Obama ambitiously claimed that he has delivered 60 percent of his 2008 campaign promises, but the watchdog organization Politfact.com reveals that the President’s assertion is far from accurate. Speaking at two fundraisers earlier this week, Obama recounted a list of "accomplishments" which he has resolved during his first term in the White House, as he rattled off a catalog of completed initiatives, including financial regulation, healthcare reform, and pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq

According to PolitiFact’s data, the stark contrasts between candidate Obama and President Obama may help explain why so many "Hope" and "Change" posters have faded. The government watchdog calculated that of the 506 pledges candidate Obama offered during his 2008 campaign, he fulfilled only 151, or just below 30 percent. Tacking on campaign vows that the President compromised on, his "mission accomplished" score rises to a meager 39 percent. The Washington Times reported on one of Obama’s most politically crucial campaign promises...

Halloween Pic of Day

Now that's scary!

No cheap seats for Cain, Gingrich 'Lincoln-Douglas-style' debate

Someone dam% well should and probably will televise this, could and likely will be outstanding!

No television station has signed on to broadcast the “Lincoln-Douglas” debate between GOP presidential rivals Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, and those hoping to attend the Nov. 5 debate will pay a steep price to see the drama unfold in-person.
General admission for the debate costs $200 – although the price includes a slice of “good ole apple pie,” according to the Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC, which is sponsoring the event.

Then there’s the “Patron Ticket,” which costs $500. Patron-level purchasers will get “prime seating” and admission to a “Nite Cap party after the debate,” as well as a chance to mingle with the candidates over drinks and hors d’oerves afterward.

Top-level donors will pay $1,000 for “the best seating in the house,” a special room at the Woodlands Resort in Houston for the Nite Cap party, and a “professional picture” taken with the candidates.

Students can get in for $150, but those tickets are sold out.

Cher's tears over 'Dancing' result

Perhaps your tears AND PARENTING EFFORT should have been applied years ago when it mattered. Now you have a his/her offspring that has no talent and is a virtual poster child for how totally screwed up we have become.

According to her Twitter account, Cher shed tears on Tuesday after her son Chaz Bono was voted off "Dancing With the Stars." The transgender star and his professional partner, Lacey Schwimmer, were kicked off the contest after ending up at the bottom of the leaderboard for their "Phantom of the Opera"-inspired tango.

Bono took the result in stride as he cited "struggling" youngsters as his inspiration for joining the show.

He said, "I took so much away from this. This was an amazing journey that really pushed me and showed me that I could do so much more than I ever thought I could. I came on this show because I wanted to show America a different kind of man. I dedicate everything I did to all the people out there like me, especially the kids and teens who are struggling. You can have a wonderful, great life and be successful and happy."

U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Drops to Two-Year Low

More wonderful Obama milestones.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Consumer confidence unexpectedly slumped in October to the lowest level since March 2009, when the U.S. economy was in a recession, as Americans' outlooks for employment and incomes soured.

The Conference Board's sentiment index decreased to 39.8 from a revised 46.4 reading in September, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. This month's reading was less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey in which the median projection was 46.

Rasmussen: Obama Hits New Low Water Mark

The Titanic of presidencies.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 18% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22 (see trends).

That’s the lowest level of Strong Approval ever measured for this president.

Just 21% favor the forgiveness of student loans while people remain evenly divided in their opinion of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Judge halts drug tests as condition of Florida payments

A judge on Monday halted a new Florida law that requires low-income parents seeking federal cash assistance to pass a drug test before receiving any money.

In a 37-page ruling in Orlando, District Court Judge Mary Scriven granted an injunction barring the state from enforcing the new law until the case is resolved.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sued on behalf of a University of Central Florida student who refused to take the drug test when he applied for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, a federal program that provides cash assistance to families with children.

The ACLU argued that the drug tests are unconstitutional in other situations.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal

Anyone who believes that this wasn't the Obama administration's design all along needs to contact me about some waterfront propery in Florida immediately.

The US suffered a major diplomatic and military rebuff on Friday when Iraq finally rejected its pleas to maintain bases in the country beyond this year.

Barack Obama announced at a White House press conference that all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of December, a decision forced by the final collapse of lengthy talks between the US and the Iraqi government on the issue.

The Iraqi decision is a boost to Iran, which has close ties with many members of the Iraqi government and which had been battling against the establishment of permanent American bases.

Quote of the Week

Hillary Clinton commenting on Gaddafi's death:"We came, we saw, he died" Aside from being a totally inappropriate comment from a Secretary of State, it's a lie.

Photo: Muammar Gaddafi Dead?

Looks legit, we'll see.

Update:It's confirmed.

Hotel cancels Tea Party event after learning that anti-Islam activist was due to be a speaker

Dhimmitude on parade.

A hotel in Texas cancelled a Tea Party event that was going to be held in their conference room because it didn't approve of the group's keynote speaker. Pamela Geller, a political activist and blogger, was schedule to headline the event and caused hotel representatives to deny the group use of their space.

Officially, the Hyatt Place Houston Sugar Land hotel cancelled the event citing 'changing security needs' after they learned that Ms Geller would be speaking.

This is not the first time that Ms Geller has ruffled feathers: the staunch conservative has written extensively against Islam and regularly attacks the religion because she deems it 'the radical most radical and extreme ideology on the face of the earth'.

'I'm not bashing Muslims. I'm not bashing people. I love people, It's why I do what I do,' Ms Geller said.

SEPTEMBER PPI SURGES 0.8%, WAY HOTTER THAN ESTIMATES

So as long as we don’t eat, heat our homes or go anywhere everthings hunky-dory.

The number is out, and it's HOT!

PPI hs jumped 0.8%, well above the 0.2% analysts had expected.

Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, was only up 0.2%, which is still above the 0.1% that analysts had expected.

The culprit? Blame food and energy.

TX High School Students Made to Recite Mexican National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance

Oh Brenda, so wise for being so young....

Students in a Texas public high school were made to stand up and recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of a Spanish class assignment, but the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson.

Wearing red, white and green, students had to memorize the Mexican anthem and pledge and stand up and recite them in individually in front of the class.

That didn’t go over well with sophomore Brenda Brinsdon. The 15-year-old sat down and refused to participate. She also caught it all on video.

I just thought it was out of hand, I didn’t think it was right,” she told The Blaze. “Reciting pledges to Mexico and being loyal to it has nothing to do with learning Spanish.”

Cain Says His Deadly Fence Plan Was 'a Joke'

After watching some interviews with Cain over the past several months I've suspected he's not ready for prime time, now I'm pretty certain of it.

At two campaign rallies in Tennessee on Saturday night, the Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.

But by Sunday morning, in a dramatic change of tone, Mr. Cain, a former restaurant executive, said he was only kidding.

“That’s a joke,” Mr. Cain told the journalist David Gregory during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he was asked about the electrified fence. “That’s not a serious plan. I’ve also said America needs to get a sense of humor.”

Mr. Cain’s attempt to pass off incendiary comments as nothing but a joke may take more effort, however. In making the initial remarks about an electrified fence killing illegal immigrants, Mr. Cain was detailed and repetitive. He did not introduce his thoughts as anything but serious commentary, beginning with the words, “We have a crisis of illegal immigration.”

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Congress, Governors Nix Obama's High-speed Trains

It's bad enough to spend money on a boondoggle when you have the money, but when you don't, it's shear insanity.

Dead. Kaput. Through. Finished. Washed up. Gone-zo.

That, I think, is a fair description of the Obama administration's attempt to build high-speed rail lines across America.

It hasn't failed because of a lack of willingness to pony up money. The Obama Democrats' February 2009 stimulus package included $8 billion for high-speed rail projects. The Democratic Congress appropriated another $2.5 billion.

But Congress is turning off the spigot. The Republican-controlled House has appropriated zero dollars for high-speed rail. The Democratic-majority Senate Appropriations Committee has appropriated $100 million in its budget recommendation.

That's effectively "a vote of 'no confidence' to President Obama's infrastructure initiative," concludes transportation analyst Ken Orski, "a bipartisan signal that Congress has no appetite for pouring more money into a venture that many lawmakers have come to view as a poster child for wasteful spending."

Issa Issues Holder Subpoena

About time.

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a subpoena Wednesday to Attorney General Eric Holder as part of his investigation into the gun trafficking operation known as "Fast and Furious."

"Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged," the California Republican said in a statement. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It's time we know the whole truth."

Romney says Christie would be on Vice President list

Two RINO peas in a pod.

Leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would be on his short list for vice presidential running mate if he won the Republican presidential nomination.

A day after Romney won Christie's endorsement, the former Massachusetts governor appeared alongside Christie for an interview with NBC's "Today" show and said they were "great friends."

"We agree on a whole host of issues," Romney said. "We've spent time together over the last year getting to know each other better. I've asked for his counsel on policy matters and so I think we're pretty sympathetic on the issues that matter."

69% Oppose In-State Tuition To Illegal Immigrants

Well Duh!

While the battles over the budget underscore how polarized Americans have become, there is one issue that people across the political spectrum agree on: They oppose giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

Fully 69% of Americans in the latest IBD/TIPP poll say they don’t favor states giving in-state college tuition to illegal residents while charging higher fees for legal, out-of-state residents. Just 22% support such a policy.

73% of Republicans are opposed vs. 20% in favor. Independents have even stronger views: 74%-15%. Even Democrats are strongly opposed 58%-32%.

World's oldest running car fetches $4.6 million at auction

If I could auction off the "oldest running wife" I could be a billionaire.....just kidding....just kiding.

The world's oldest running car, an 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trapardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout, made history Friday, fetching $4.62 million at RM Auctions' Hershey, Pennsylvania event. Before a packed house, the 127-year-old ride quickly eclipsed its $500,000 starting bid.

By the time the dust had settled, the gavel fell at $4.2 million. The final price included a ten-percent buyer's premium. The crowd began applauding as soon as the car crept onto the stage and the enthusiasm didn't wane until well after the sale.

The Runabout had been in the same family for 81 years prior to the sale, and is one of six De Dion tricycles known to still exist. A total of 20 of the three-wheelers were built. When new, the trike had a top speed of 38 mph and a range of 20 miles on one tank of water. The vehicle that sold last night was the only car to show up for the world's first auto race, where it averaged 16 mph over a 20-mile course.

New Czars Exercise Unprecedented Control over Government Policies and Programs While Operating Under a “Veil of Secrecy”

Totalitarianism in action...

Judicial Watch, the public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released “ President Obama’s Czarspdf,” a special report on the President’s appointing of “policy advisors,” many of whom enjoy positions of power and authority in the administration and yet have not been subjected to vetting and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Judicial Watch’s extensive investigation exhaustively documents these czar appointments and details the control these czars exercise over government operations.

From the report’s introduction:

“This Judicial Watch Special Report analyzes the proliferation of so-called ‘czars’ in the Obama administration. President Barack Obama has installed personal advisors in czar positions in the White House and has created new czar positions elsewhere in the Executive Branch. As of the date of this report, the number of czars that have been appointed by the President, or by others in his administration, appears to total 45. In addition, there are as many as 18 other unfilled or planned czar positions.

“Many of these ‘czars’ are unconfirmed by the Senate and are largely unaccountable to Congress. Further, their activities are often outside the reach of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), creating a veil of secrecy about their precise role in the administration.”

Tiger Worship

Foxsports has this headline: Tiger still in hunt at Frys. How ridiculous is that, he barely made the cut and is presently tied for 38th. The only think he's "in the hunt" for is the parking lot.

This reminds me of the infatuation of the media with Obama. It doesn't matter how terrible his performance is, he's still just wonderful.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

DOE Warned Solyndra Loan Could be Illegal

Being that the current administration is above the law, who cares.

A new batch of Solyndra emails shows that the Energy Department was warned that their plan to aid the failing solar company could be illegal and should be cleared with the Justice Department.

The Treasury Department warned DOE that it could be illegal to allow private investors to be paid back ahead of taxpayers. The correspondence also reveals that Steve Spinner, a senior adviser on the loan program, lobbied officials at the Office of Management and Budget to speed up their review—despite saying he would recuse himself from the case because his wife worked for a law firm representing Solyndra.

Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval at 38%

Being that 46+ % of Americans are on some form of government support it appears that even the deadbeats are turning on the ONE.

Gallup tracks daily the percentage of Americans who approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Results are based on telephone interviews with approximately 1,500 national adults; Margin of error is ±3 percentage points.

Home ownership: Biggest drop since Great Depression

Obama's economy, bring back "the projects"!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The percentage of Americans who owned their homes has seen its biggest decline since the Great Depression, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The rate of home ownership fell to 65.1% in April 2010, 1.1 percentage points lower than it was in 2000. The decline was the biggest drop since the 1930s, when home ownership plunged 4.2%.

The most recent decade-over-decade drop, however, only tells half the story.

Home ownership during the 2000s "was really high in the middle of the decade, up to almost 70% at one point around 2004," said Ellen Wilson, a survey statistician with the bureau.

The crash from that peak was more than 4 percentage points in just about five years -- a far more dramatic decline than the 1.1% drop over the 10-year period.

Democrats: $250K isn't rich

Finally they get it. Now their biggest problem, taxing millionaires punitively won't generate enough revenue to amount to a tinkers damn.

Democrats are increasingly abandoning their biggest talking point on taxes: Families earning more than $250,000 a year are “wealthy” and should pay more.

That figure — $250,000 for a household — has been at the tip of the tongue of so many Democratic candidates and lawmakers in the past few elections that it’s become ingrained in the party’s tax philosophy. But they’ve taken a beating from Republicans and have grown increasingly divided on the issue, since that income level would not only cause tax increases for some small businesses but also hit upper-middle-class suburban voters in swing states.

So Democrats on Capitol Hill and the White House are settling on an easier sales pitch: Tax the millionaires, believing that public opinion is firmly on their side that the truly rich should pony up more cash as the economy struggles and the national debt continues to grow. The new rhetoric could force a serious rethinking of the Democratic approach toward the Bush-era tax cuts for high earners that they’ve vilified for the past decade, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Initial Jobless Claims Snap Back Above 400,000

Obama at the wheel and stuck in neutral.

Weekly jobless claims ticked back above 400,000, suggesting that the U.S. jobs market has not yet seen sustained improvement.

Some 401,000 Americans filed for unemployment in the week ended Oct. 1, according to the Labor Department. The latest update was up by 6,000 from the previous week's revised 395,000.

The four-week moving average decreased by 4000 to 414,000.

With the exception of the prior week, initial jobless claims have stubbornly clung above the 400,000 level since April of this year. The unemployment rate has remained above 9% since the spring of 2009.

Nearly $500K to send Michelle, family to Africa

I wonder if the White House had some advance warning of this coming out when they concocted that lame picture of MO in Target posed to look like one of the common people.

How much does it cost taxpayers to fly First Lady Michelle Obama, her two daughters and her mother, a niece and a nephew, a hairstylist and makeup artists to South Africa and Botswana to give a few speeches, meet Nelson Mandela, and enjoy a safari on a private game preserve?

Nearly half a million dollars, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) concerning Obama's June 21-27 journey.

Judicial Watch said the U.S. Air Force provided a C-32 - a Boeing 757 modified by the military for the purpose of flying big-wigs around the world - to fly the First Lady and her entourage to and from Africa, at a cost of $424,142. Another $928.44 was listed as the cost of providing 192 meals for the 21 people who made the trip

The Obama daughters were listed on the manifest as "senior staff."

House Republicans to Request Special Counsel to Probe Holder on 'Fast and Furious'

About damn time.

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are going to call for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is sending a letter to President Obama arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself and will request a probe by a special counsel.

The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing in May. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known as Fast and Furious.

However, a newly discovered memo dated July 2010 shows Michael Walther, director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, told Holder that straw buyers in the Fast and Furious operation "are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to the Mexican drug trafficking cartels."

Breaking: Holder Was Aware of Fast and Furious

I guess if you only read newspapers, this would come as a surprise.

New leaked information has indicated that United States Attorney General Eric Holder, was in fact of the operation known as Fast and Furious. Holder testified that he had only heard of the operation "recently."

FoxNews is reporting that Holder was personally identified as being informed of the plan at least twice. One report, from 2010, states that Holder was informed of the plan. This new information premiered just minutes ago on Fox's Special Report with Bret Baier.

If true, this would show that the Department of Justice was far more involved in the operation than it previously admitted. With more revelations spilling out regarding the case, Holder's duplicity could either point to gross incompetence or a cover-up. Both are unbecoming to his office.

Oh what a tangled web we weave...AFT Fast and Furious: New documents show Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed in July 2010

Rick Perry is not a Racist

Read the whole article, it's very enlightening.

Governor Perry, my Governor, is no racist.

I suppose there’s a first time for every baseless accusation, it’s just hard to understand why it always must come from Newsweek, Huffington Post, The New York Times, or, in this case, another usual suspect, The Washington Post.

Crooked River Ranch is the place in question. Apparently at one time the word, Lord forgive me, “niggerhead” was written on a rock at one of the entrances. The word is offensive, terrible, and has no place there or anywhere. The Washington Post wants you to believe that Perry drew the word itself—on his property—and is now trying to hide his white robe.

But facts are stubborn but neutral things.

Perry and his family never, not ever, owned the property. This is a 42,000 acre ranch is owned by the Hendricks Home for Children, a west Texas charity.

I like Herman Cain but this will make me think twice.

Herman Cain wins Republican Women's Straw Poll

I don't know about you all but I find this surprising.

The National Federation of Republican women held a straw poll at their 36th Biennial Convention in Kansas City on Saturday, 10/1/2011. Herman Cain won overwhelmingly with 48.9%.

Bill Maher: "Somehow the Republicans stole the Jews"

No, the Democrats have just pi$$ed them off to the point of no return.

In the last five presidential elections, the Democratic presidential nominee averaged 79 percent of the Jewish vote. However, if the recent election in New York’s Ninth Congressional District is a bellwether, those numbers could change.

This caught the attention of HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher. On his Friday program, Maher lamented the GOP gains and blamed the shift on Republicans’ belief in the Bible.

“And people might say, ‘Why are you talking about it?’” Maher said. “First of all, I’m talking about it because 42 percent of Republicans think the Bible is literally true. A fourth of them think the Antichrist might be Obama. And this stuff does infect politics. I think it infects that discussion they've been having lately about Israel. Somehow the Republicans stole the Jews.”