Author: Serkadis

Berkeley, California | Purveyors of Curiosities

The Bone Room is a fascinating natural history/curiosity store in North Berkeley that sells all manner of mammal, bird, reptile, and fish bones, human bones, mounted insects, feathers, fossils, strange artwork, and many other types of animal curiosities. Each visit can provide one with some sort of new find, each time stranger than the last. The retail store is often a destination for travelers, artists, crafts people, and awe-struck school children.

“Created in 1987 by Ron Cauble, who simply wanted an excuse to learn more about Natural History…Though Ron could claim to be a professional in at least one field, he proudly affirms his amateur status with bones, insects and fossils. He asserts that ‘amateur’ is a dignified and important title. He likes to remind us that it means ‘lover’, and that the world needs more amateurs…and more lovers.”

Join us on Obscura Day – Marth 20th, 2010 – at the Bone Room, for a show-and-tell tour with the owner and founder, Ron Cauble. Explore the wonders of Berkeley’s venerable natural history store with the man who knows it best. Hear behind-the scenes stories and get a chance to ask all those questions we know you have.

ELGIN, Ill. (STMW) – Call him, perhaps, Mini-Madoff.

Not unlike Bernie Madoff — the infamous former New York investment adviser now serving time in a federal penitentiary for defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme — Jason Hyatt of west suburban St. Charles was charged in June 2008 with 11 counts of wire and tax fraud after bilking investors in his company, Hyatt Johnson Capital.

Like Madoff, Hyatt pleaded guilty to some of the charges against him. And while Hyatt is still awaiting a March sentencing hearing, he will, like Madoff, see his allegedly ill-gotten gains auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Elgin’s Bunte Auction Services Inc. will hold an auction Saturday and Sunday that includes property seized from Hyatt’s homes in St. Charles and Michigan City, Ind.

Among the items set for auction are player pianos, cars, electronics, art, antique furniture and phonographs.

Employees from Bunte helped clear out Hyatt’s St. Charles home in 2008, said Kevin Bunte, president of the Elgin auction house, and held it in storage for a receivership working with the U.S. government.

Then, about six months ago, Bunte was called in to clear out the Michigan City house, too.

This isn’t the first time that Bunte’s, or its predecessor, Dunning’s Auctions, has held an auction of items seized as part of a criminal case. It is one of the most unusual.

“There are phonographs and a player piano collection,” Bunte said.

Those phonographs include antique Victor Victrolas. The pianos are 5 feet high, he said, and the next owner doesn’t even need know how to play piano, since they play themselves.

Bunte called the dozens of art pieces “unique.”

“He (Hyatt) had very contemporary taste,” he said. “He spent a lot of money on them, buying them at galleries.”

Because the artists are relatively unknowns, it is also difficult to put an auction value on them, Bunte said. There have not been enough of the pieces auctioned previously to compare them to, meaning Bunte’s might set a standard this coming weekend.

Hyatt also had a large collection of Oriental art including a water buffalo, urns and 40-inch tall Chinese warriors. “After that, there is a lot of furniture, sofas, chairs, ottomans — high-quality stuff from the two houses,” Bunte said.

Interest in the auction might be high not only due to the quality of the art and collectibles, but also because of the charges against its former owner. Hyatt is accused of defrauding investors out of about $1.6 million.

According to the indictment, from the spring of 2006 through February 2007, Hyatt offered investments in a pair of limited-liability companies and intended to divert those investments via wire transfers into his personal accounts.

Once the court-appointed receiver and Bunte’s receives their shares, the remainder of the funds raised by the auction likely will help pay back some of those who were defrauded, Bunte said.

The entire collection, including items not part of the seized property, will be available to view from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, and before the auctions on Saturday and Sunday.

More information at www.bunteauction.com

Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

nzherald (Jill Worrall)

A quick dash around the treasures of Tutankhamun and a battle through the tourists around the pyramids and the Sphinx can be the extent of many Cairo itineraries.

But east of the Nile lie two neighbourhoods where life continues at a less frenetic pace than in the rest of the city and that have associations with no less than Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Islamic hero who retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders, Salah ad-Din (Saladin).

Egypt’s Christian heritage is said to date back to the arrival of Mark, one of the 12 Apostles in the first century AD. Believers were known as Copts (which, via Arabic and Greek simply means Egyptian).

Today there are about six million Copts in Egypt, about 10 per cent of the population, but 1600 years ago Christianity was the official religion of the entire nation.

I reached the area through a vegetable market where fresh produce was still arriving by donkey cart and men were sitting in shady alleys over tiny round tables sipping coffee and smoking sheesha.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Land Rover acaba de anunciar una nueva edición de uno de sus modelos más interesantes. Esta versión especial recibe el nombre de Land Rover Discovery 4 S Snow Edition.

Tal y como se puede deducir, esta versión esta basada en el Discovery 4 S al que se ha equipado de serie con diferentes elementos como airbags frontales, laterales y de cabeza programa de estabilidad antivuelco RSC y dinámico DSC, ordenador de abordo, control de velocidad, climatizador automático, equipo de sonido MP3 y unas llantas de aleación de 17 pulgadas.

Como elementos extras, tendremos a nuestra disposición el pack Terrain Response o el sistema de suspensión neumática con control electrónico. En lo que respecta a la motorización, hará uso de un motor turbodiésel TDV6 de 2.7 litros que desarrolla 190 CV y un par máximo de 440 Nm. Su precio base sin extras será de 35.050€.

Related posts:

1. Land Rover LRX, fotos espía
2. Land Rover LRX disponible en el 2010
3. Jaguar y Land Rover comienzan a dar beneficios

Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)

With videos and an excellent photo of Lord and Lady Carnarvon on a visit to Egypt in 1921.

The fifth and final instalment of Discovering King Tut has now been posted on Heritage Key. It signed off the fantastic videos series – based around an exclusive interview with George and Fiona Herbert, Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, at their Highclere Castle home – with an illuminating look at some of the treasures from the boy king’s tomb that George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon and financier of the Tutankhamun tomb investigation, was able to view before his untimely death in 1923.

With all of Discovering King Tut – totalling almost half an hour of footage – now up online and ready to view, we figured it would be a good idea to put together a single round-up of the films in one handy blogpost. They’ve together yielded all kinds of fascinating, funny, strange, sad and sensational insights into the Tutankhamun tomb exploration. We’ve learned about all from the unique relationship Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter shared, to the significance of the beautiful wall-paintings that covered the walls of KV62, the scandal in Carnarvon’s family that inadvertently helped keep cash for his dig flowing, and the tragic circumstances surrounding the aristocrat’s premature demise.

The exceptional educational content of these videos is plain to see, and they should prove a valuable learning tool for students of King Tut and the discovery and examination of his incredible tomb in the Valley of the Kings, not to mention the lives of the two remarkable men who brought its glittering contents to the world.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Y. Tzvi Langermann)

Kevin van Bladel, The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science. Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Preview

Kevin van Bladel has produced an admirable study of the Arabic Hermetic tradition, fleshing out in considerable detail the evolution of Hermes’ image, his identification with Qur’anic prophet Idris as well as the forces driving this transformation, and his connections, real, imagined, and still controversial, with the Harranians, the last organized group of astrolators to continue functioning within Islamic civilization. To do this, van Bladel constrains his use “Hermetic” to refer “only to texts attributed by name to Hermes” (p. 21), a definition that he admits is a bit too severe to apply throughout, but which serves well the purpose of weeding out much “Hermetic” nonsense that has no place in his book.

Part One, “Background”, comprises three chapters. In the first of these, “Introduction”, van Bladel establishes that the Greek Hermetica were produced in Roman Egypt.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Carl Zeiss is expanding its CONTURA® G2 product line. Already very popular with mid-sized companies, it now includes the very accurate and fast CONTURA G2 navigator coordinate measuring machine. The dynamic navigator technology from Carl Zeiss delivers a considerable improvement to the scanning speed without sacrificing measuring accuracy. Quickly navigating from one feature to the next is now a given. With the introduction of CONTURA G2 navigator, this unique technology is now available in this class for the first time.

CONTURA G2 navigator is available with measuring ranges of X = 700, Y = 700 and Z = 600 millimeters and X = 700, Y = 1000 and Z = 600 millimeters. The technological features include the highly sensitive VAST® XT gold active probe, CAD-based CALYPSO® measuring software in conjunction with the VAST navigator option and an intelligent scanning engine for a control unit. The optimal interaction of these elements delivers considerably higher productivity than traditional scanning – through very short calibration times; very fast determination of size, form and position; and precise measurements even with complex stylus systems. Additional practical benefits include the self-centering probing function, mechanical collision protection and automatic counterbalancing every time the stylus is changed. Styli with a length of up to 500 millimeters and weight of up to 500 grams can be used. CONTURA G2 navigator also achieves the length measuring error threshold of MPEE = 1.5 + L/333 as an HTG measuring machine (High Temperature Gradient) for the expanded temperature range of 18-26 degrees Celsius. Equipped with additional temperature sensors, the measuring machine can also be operated with minimal climatization.

Before you go thinking that I found an impressive new game, hold up when I say that this new game is Kick Ass, it’s mainly because that’s what it’s called. Kick Ass: The Game, to be

Friday April 2, 2010

The San Francisco Police Department has now widened the investigation of its crime lab and must determine whether thefts, sloppy evidence handling and other problems documented as having existed at the crime lab in 2009, actually began several years earlier.

While this sort of misconduct uncovered in San Francisco may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct.  Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.

Thursday April 1, 2010

Today, The Justice Project released the April edition of the TJP monthly newsletter!

Please take some time to read our newsletter and browse our website to learn more about the troubling stories of wrongful convictions, the encouraging work taking place around the nation, and to learn what you can do to help.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Today Florida State Senator Mike Haridopolos will seek funding from the legislature, through state budget amendments, for a commission to study wrongful convictions and incarcerations.

Research on the exonerations of innocent people has identified many of the primary causes of wrongful convictions. A number of states have already created similar commissions that use case studies and research to make meaningful recommendations to enact safeguards through legislation.  Learn more about the reforms designed to eliminate common, preventable errors that undermine the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Despite The Justice Project’s statewide study last year highlighting the lack of written eyewitness identification procedures and best practices among Texas law enforcement agencies, the Houston Chronicle reports that many departments still have not adopted policies or procedures that can reduce faulty eyewitness identification. While important progress has occurred in Dallas and Austin, most jurisdictions lag behind in the implementation of best practices.

Eyewitness misidentification is widely recognized as the leading causes of wrongful convictions, playing a role in more than 75 percent of DNA exonerations nationwide and about 82 percent of DNA exoneration in Texas. The Justice Project has outlined recommendations for policy improvements that will enable law enforcement to obtain the most reliable evidence from eyewitnesses for use in a criminal investigation.

Monday, March 29, 2010

San Francisco prosecutors may be forced to drop an additional 1,400 cases because of the growing scandal at the San Francisco crime lab. Last month officials discovered that a long-time crime lab technician had stolen and used cocaine held as evidence. The lab was shut down on March 9^th by Police Chief George Gascón.

While the sort of blatant misconduct uncovered in San Francisco may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct.  Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.

Friday, March 26, 2010

On March 25^th Broward County, Florida circuit court judge declared Anthony Caravella fully exonerated.  He was wrongfully convicted of a 1983 rape and murder based on a false confession.

Caravella spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Learn about other cases of wrongful conviction and how recording suspect interrogations is a critical safeguard that can prevent injustices caused by false confessions.

Photo from South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Thursday, March 25, 2010

David Kofoed, the chief criminal science investigator of Douglas County, Nebraska, was recently convicted of evidence tampering for planting blood evidence during a murder investigation. This conviction calls into question the legitimacy of other cases on which he worked and has spurred calls for a review of Kofoed’s past cases.

While the sort of blatant misconduct uncovered in Omaha may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct.  Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Oklahoma’s commissioner of health recommended Tuesday that more funding and new headquarters be provided to the embattled Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to help it regain its national accreditation and reduce a backlog of more than 1,000 incomplete autopsy reports.

It is important that states allocate sufficient funding so that our criminal justice system has access to reliable, efficient forensic services. Read The Justice Project’s recommendations for improving forensic standards.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Vermont Senate has passed legislation that asks a law enforcement advisory committee to study the implementation and costs of electronic recording of custodial interrogations as well as expanded preservation of forensic evidence.

Electronically recording custodial interrogations ensures the availability of strong and reliable evidence, and is a proven method of reducing wrongful convictions. Click here to learn more about the benefits of electronically recording interrogations.

Friday, March 19, 2010

On March 18^th a Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled Ronald Taylor and George Gould actually innocent of a 1993 murder, overturned their convictions, and ordered their immediate release from prison. The judge’s ruling came after a star eyewitness recanted her original testimony and DNA analysis eliminated Taylor and Gould as the culprits.

Both Taylor and Gould spent 16 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Click here to read other cases of wrongful conviction that expose the common errors in our criminal justice system.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Detroit Police Department Crime Lab closed in 2008 after an audit showed erroneous weapons ballistics tests in a number of criminal cases.  Now the Detroit City Council has approved funding for a special unit to review years worth of evidence that was processed by the lab and used in criminal trials. A county prosecutor stated Tuesday that five cases already are slated to be retried as a result of the tainted evidence.

Unfortunately, carelessness, inadvertent bias and misconduct in crime labs have compromised the reliability of forensic evidence, largely because of a lack of meaningful oversight and quality standards. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Rhode Island State Senator recently introduced a bill that would establish uniform procedures and requirements for eyewitness identification lineups. The bill also calls for the creation of a task force to identify and recommend policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identification.

Eyewitness evidence is critical to our criminal justice system. Decades of research on eyewitness memory have demonstrated that eyewitness evidence, much like trace physical evidence, must be collected carefully, according to scientifically sound protocols, or its accuracy can be tainted or ruined. Read TJP’s recommendations for improving the reliability of eyewitness evidence.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

In Nebraska, Douglas County’s chief crime-scene investigator is on trial for the second time.  This time he is charged with one count of evidence tampering for allegedly planting evidence in a 2006 murder, which was used against two men who were wrongly charged and imprisoned.

Unfortunately, forensic misconduct, carelessness, and inadvertent bias in crime labs have compromised the reliability of forensic evidence. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Ohio State Legislature will likely vote this week on a bill that would require more accurate lineup protocols, encourage video-recording of interrogations, and improve access to DNA evidence. Supporters of the bill say that it includes vital components that will improve criminal investigations.

Read The Justice Project’s recommendations to improve eyewitness identification, increase access to DNA-testing, and promote electronic recording of custodial interrogations.

Friday, March 12, 2010

In a letter to the Broward County, Florida public defender, Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz explained his new office policy regarding the disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence concerning police officers under investigation for misconduct.   Previously, individual prosecutors used their discretion to determine whether such information was material to a defendant’s case.  Now, notices of police officers under investigation will be automatically disclosed to the defense.

Learn more about the need for prosecutors’ offices to adopt and enforce clearly defined, uniform policies and procedures, and the importance of an open discovery process to ensure fairness in criminal cases.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Hundreds of cases may be dismissed pending allegations that a long-time crime lab technician tampered with evidence at the San Francisco crime lab. In light of these events, San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi is calling for a larger independent investigation into operations at the lab.

It is important that an independent body oversees the operations of forensic science labs in order to develop and enforce quality standards. Read more recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Two Virginia prosecutors will face Virginia State Bar misconduct hearings regarding alleged Brady violations in the 1998 capital murder trial of Daryl Atkins. Defense attorneys alleged that the two prosecutors coached Atkin’s co-defendant during a pretrial meeting to make his testimony better conform to physical evidence, and withheld information during trial.

Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. Learn more about their principal responsibilities and how to ensure they are held accountable.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

An Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge today granted a new trial for Michael Anderson, saying that prosecutors acted improperly at his August trial. In a seven-page ruling the judge found prosecutors’ withholding of a videotaped interview with the sole eyewitness, and a jailhouse informant’s plea deal, could have blindsided his defense attorneys.

Learn more on the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and how to ensure they are held accountable.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Prompted by the recent exoneration of Gregory Taylor, North Carolina’s Attorney General has ordered an independent review of the state’s crime lab. The questionable practices of the state lab became a critical issue in Taylor’s case and were a major factor in his wrongful conviction.

Learn more about steps states should take to improve the reliability of forensic evidence.

Friday, March 5, 2010

According to prosecutors, it was mistaken eyewitness testimony that led to the wrongful conviction of the two men in 1997.  Read The Justice Project’s blog to learn more about this case, and learn about recommendations for the state of Texas to improve their eyewitness identification procedures and to ensure accurate and reliable testimony.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Pennsylvania Senate advisory committee is reviewing eyewitness identification practices for photographic lineups that may lead to misidentifications, and plans to produce a report late spring. Senators are also considering mandating procedures across the state.

Eyewitness identification is a critical tool for apprehending and prosecuting criminals. Yet, eyewitness misidentification is widely recognized as one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. The Justice Project outlines recommendations for policy improvements that will enable law enforcement to extract the most reliable evidence from eyewitnesses for use in a criminal investigation.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

On March 2^nd a Criminal District Court judge blasted the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office for wiping clean a prolific jailhouse snitch’s record after his testimony helped send defendant Michael Anderson to death row.

Testimony from in-custody informants, often referred to as “jailhouse snitches” has been widely used in the American criminal justice system. The motive for jailhouse snitches to fabricate testimony dramatically increases when the state offers incentives for the incarcerated person in exchange for testimony.  Unfortunately prosecutors often utilize jailhouse snitches despite their testimony being widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system.

Click here to learn more about how states can improve the standards for admissibility of such testimony and help ensure that the most reliable evidence is making it into the courtroom and before the jury.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

On March 1 Texas Governor Rick Perry officially pardoned Timothy Cole, who was wrongfully convicted over two decades ago, and died in1999 while serving prison time for a rape he did not commit. Cole’s case was one of dozens profiled in The Justice Project’s report, Convicting the Innocent: Texas Justice Derailed. Cole’s case is a powerful reminder of the need for eyewitness identification reforms that increase the reliability of evidence and can help prevent tragic mistakes.

Eyewitness identification reform is one of the issues being addressed by the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions, created by the Texas Legislature to make recommendations on the prevention of wrongful convictions.

Monday, March 1, 2010

North Carolina’s Attorney General ordered a review of thousands of old cases that included evidence from a forensic lab to determine whether any evidence may have been withheld from defendants by the State Bureau of Investigation.  The decision comes after the exoneration of Gregory Taylor.

The Attorney General’s decision also highlights the need for significant forensic oversight.  To learn more about the importance of forensic oversight, read The Justice Project’s policy review, Improving the Practices and Use of Forensic Science: A Policy Review.

Friday, February 26, 2010

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)  is meeting in Seattle this week to address the  National Academies of Science (NAS) 2009 report, an attempt to improve the validity and accuracy of forensic science.

To learn more about improving the practice and use of forensic science, read The Justice Project’s solutions and recommendations.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Prosecutors are the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system with the duty to protect the innocent and guard the rights of the accused.  Unfortunately, cases continue to emerge that demonstrate a lack of accountability when these duties are disregarded. Earlier this week, a Massachusetts District Judge ruled not to impose sanctions on Boston a federal prosecutor for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence in a timely fashion.

Read The Justice Project’s recommendations and solutions for improving prosecutorial accountability.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Despite the high expectations many Americans have for crime labs and the field of forensic science–what specialists call the “CSI effect” –crime labs across the country struggle under backlogs and shortage of resources, threatening to make credible crime scene analysis a lost art, according to law enforcement officials and forensic specialists.

Read The Justice Project’s recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.

from turbellaria, 21 February 2010: “The sentence of appeal was to be finally pronounced on February 10 2010, but it has once again been postponed following the decision of the jury to examine further ‘evidence’ provided by the public prosecutor. The intention to charge the anarchists involved in this shameful story of repression with yet more serious charges is evident, and it is also clear how the local powerful are determined to silence the entire matter as well as the violence and the abuse inflicted on immigrants by the operators of the Regina Pacis concentration camp…” more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2010

Indianapolis — Clean energy industries will provide the catalyst to create long-term, good-paying jobs in Indiana, according to business leaders from Ameresco, Duke Energy and Vela Gear Systems who took part in a roundtable discussion here last night. Their views were supported by a new Indiana public opinion survey, commissioned by the Apollo Alliance, which showed that by a 2-1 margin, Hoosiers believe that public and private investment in the manufacture of clean technologies can help revive the state’s economy and create jobs.

“It’s time for Congress to pass a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill that significantly boosts clean energy demand in this country,” said Kevin Leahy, managing director for climate policy and economics for Duke Energy. “Once this legislation is in place, companies like those here tonight will be poised to meet the resulting demand for clean energy.”

The roundtable, sponsored by the Apollo Alliance, the National Wildlife Federation and the Richard G. Luger Center for Renewable Energy, identified ways that Indiana is already creating jobs in the state’s booming clean energy industry, and the need for state and federal policies that will keep new green jobs in the United States.

Between 1998 and 2007, clean energy jobs in Indiana grew by 17.9 percent, even as overall jobs declined by one percent. During that time, green jobs grew nearly two-and-a-half times faster than overall job creation, according to a national study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Today, Indiana is home to more than 1,200 clean energy companies that employ over 17,000 people across the state.

According to a statewide poll conducted earlier this month by Research 2000, Indianans are strong believers in the opportunity for economic recovery posed by boosting investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. Fifty-four percent of poll respondents believe that investments in clean technologies will help revive the state’s economy, while only 26 percent disagree.

“The new global economy will run on clean energy, and Indiana is helping lead the way,” said Andrea Alderson-Bazemore, Indiana state coordinator for the Apollo Alliance. “With more investment in clean technologies and manufacturing, new industries will be born and supported right here, putting you and your neighbors back to work.”

Investments in clean energy technologies have the added benefits of increasing domestic security by reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and mitigating the potentially devastating impacts of global climate change.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said that businesses, labor and environmental advocates see a common goal in bolstering clean energy. “Americans go back to work, our economy booms, and the environment is protected for future generations,” he said. “It’s a win-win-win situation.”

The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009, would put a cap on carbon and establish a Renewable Energy Standard that will generate unprecedented demand for clean energy, its components and systems. The Senate has yet to act on its version of the climate and energy bill.

The House energy bill would provide capital for small and mid-sized manufacturers to become more energy efficient and retool to expand into the clean energy supply chain. Once enacted, these investments – based on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s “Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act” – will create or retain at least 680,000 direct manufacturing jobs across the country and nearly 2 million more jobs in related industries over the next five years.

For more on the Apollo Alliance, visit www.ApolloAlliance.org. To learn more about the National Wildlife Federation’s work in Indiana, visit www.indianawildlife.org.

CONTACTS:  Sam Haswell, (415) 371-1700 x201, Kathleen Shea Porter, (703) 276-2772, x14

###

The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders
working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work
in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs.

The National Wildlife Federation is America’s largest conservation organization. We work with more than 4 million members, partners and supporters in communities across the country to protect and restore wildlife habitat, confront global warming, and connect with nature.

I wrote a post a while back about How to Get Rich.  The no shortcuts version. It is posted below. I wanted to repost it because its been so popular in the archives. Plus, with the advent of some new banking laws, I wanted to update it with a quick note.

On July 1, laws for banks change so that they can not charge you overdraft fees UNLESS YOU OPT – IN. In other words, if you want your bank to give you cash at an ATM, or cover a debit charge on your debit card when there isn’t enough money in your account to cover it, you have to give the bank permission to do so. When you give that permission, you also give them permission to charge you HUGE amounts of money in the form of an Overdraft Charge. When I say HUGE, I mean HUGE. To the impact of 10s of Billions of Dollars per year in revenue for banks.

If you want to get rich, one of the first steps you need to take is NOT OPT IN. No matter how the banks package and market the benefits and wonders of overdrafts at the ATM or on your debit card, don’t fall for it !

Thats the How to get Rich lesson for the day. Dont be an overdraft sucker !

And here is a repost of my How to Get Rich post from 2008

ShareThis

Today’s bleak consumer confidence number is undoubtedly bad news for the economy. The bigger than expected drop suggests that consumers have lost confidence in the recovery, which will drive down home prices and consumer spending.

Consumer confidence is typically our “first look” at the state of the economy. While most government aggregated data come out with a two-month lag, or more, consumer confidence hits with just a one month lag. Studies have shown that consumer confidence is a good predictor of consumer spending numbers. Basically, people surveyed seem to be good at accurately reading their own economic situation, and those surveyed accurately reflect the broader economy. When consumer confidence drops to such deep unexpected levels–today’s were the worst in 27 years–then it is a flashing red-light about the economy.

There wasn’t anything good about today’s numbers. Every part of the survey was awful. On jobs, the optimistic folks who say jobs are plentiful fell to 3.6 percent from 4.4 percent. The pessimistic people who said jobs are hard to get increased to 47.7 percent from 46.5 percent. The gauge of expectations for the next six-months fell to 63.8, from 77.3 the prior month. The share of people who believe their incomes will increase over the next six months fell to 9.5 from 11 percent. The share of those expecting more jobs fell to 12.4 percent from 15.8 percent.

The message: the economy sucks.

The recovery we were supposed to have.
You’ll read a lot about how the consumer confidence numbers are a lagging indicator. Indeed, they are a lagging indicator when measured against the stock market. The real time data conveyed by the stock market is often a better indicator than any survey or government data. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to the consumer confidence number, especially since stocks have declined for most of this year.

Let’s be clear here. The story-book recovery was dependent on a recovery of the consumer and a decline in the saving rate. If consumers lost some of their apprehension about future income prospects and future employment, they might begin to spend more on both retail goods and to purchase homes again. Anticipating this return of the consumer, businesses would increase capital spending and inventory. 

We got half of that equation. Business spending on new equipment and software reversed course from the sharp drop recorded during the recession. Exports began to grow, as well. The inventory swing–from liquidation of early 2009 to inventory accumulation at the end of the year–automatically boosted GDP.

The idea was that this would create positive feedback loop, with more production necessitating the hiring of new workers, adding to household income. Consumers would respond to increased household income with higher spending. That’s pretty much the textbook end of a recession.

The expectation that we would have a textbook end to the recession informed many of the expectations that were blown away by today’s drop in consumer confidence. We’ve have a historical record of 31 previous recessions in the United States, most of which indicate that the end of the inventory cycle boosts production and therefore employment and incomes. More importantly, the workers who kept their jobs become more confident about their future job and income prospects and begin to spend a larger fraction of their incomes. Deferred spending during a recession usually creates pent-up demand by consumers and businesses that then boosts spending once the recession ends.

The recovery we actually got.
But this cycle seems to be different. Workers who have kept their jobs are not gaining confidence. Boosted production seems to be being built on the backs of the current workers, driving up worker productivity, instead of increasing incomes or employment. The apprehension about future income prospects and employment is growing, not diminishing.

This could have some dire consequences. The inventory build was premised on the idea of the recovering consumer. Since that premise is wrong, businesses will find they have made a mistake. Inventory will have to be discounted and or scrapped. New equipment will remain under-utilized, and some of the new hires will have to be let go. In other words, the half of the recovery equation we got will simply have to be liquidated or put in cold-storage because of the half we didn’t get.

How did we screw up the recovery? Why did businesses get this so wrong that we’re headed back for the double dip instead of slowly climbing out of the recession?

What went wrong?
The answer will sound familiar to anyone acquainted with the work of Ludwig Von Mises or Friedrich Hayek. Cheap money created an illusion of wealth that businessmen interpreted as pent up demand. They invest money in inventory and equipment on the assumption that the consumer would recovery. And there assumption was based on very good evidence from past recoveries and the notion that loose monetary policy inevitably spurs a recovery.

Why was it different this time? The problem this time is that we’re in what the Keynesians would call a “liquidity trap.” Consumers, having been savaged by the housing bubble and its consequences, continue to be fearful of the future. Government regulation is making consumer spending more difficult by increasing capitalization requirement for banks and squeezing consumer access to credit. Huge debt overhangs from the boom still have many people trying to pay down debts instead of engaging in new spending. To put it briefly, the supply of funds to fuel economic growth is still very low because cautious Americans do not have faith in the recovery.

Economic planners will describe the situation as an “excess liquidity preference” and recommend more government spending to push the economy toward higher employment. Unfortunately, unless we’re really lucky, much of this government spending will likely be long-term destructive because it will direct funds in the wrong directions because it isn’t subject to market discipline. In any case, the current political atmosphere seems particularly unwelcoming to additional deficit spending. So we’d better hunker down and get ourselves adjusted to an economy with a higher than historical liquidity preference.

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See Also:

• Market PUKES After The Latest Consumer Confidence Numbers
• Consumer Confidence Collapses, Missing Expectations Big Time As Present Situation Index Hits 27-Year Low
• Consumer Confidence Expected To Tank And Everyone WIll Blame The Snow Storms

The market is turning sharply away from anythign that has to do with risk or economic strength. That’s party evidenced by the Dow — now down triple digits — but really obvious when you look at the ugly copper charts.

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See Also:

• Once Again, Copper Nails The Trade
• Don’t Look Now But Copper Is Making A Hugely Bullish Move
• CHART OF THE DAY: Dr. Copper Is Telling You To BUY

Claiming he would be a threat to his family and the public if set free, McHenry County prosecutors filed court documents Tuesday asking a judge to hold murder suspect Martin N. Green without bond until he goes to trial on charges he killed his stepmother.

Green, 26, has been in custody at the McHenry County jail since his Feb. 11 arrest on accusations he beat 52-year-old Patricia McNamara to death with a hammer inside the family’s Fox River Grove home.

In a written request to revoke bond, prosecutors argue that the evidence against Green is significant and he would present a risk to the community if he posted the $300,000 cash needed to get out while awaiting trial.

“Defendant is unlikely to follow any verbal bond conditions imposed by this court and therefore defendant’s family and the public will remain at risk upon his release,” Philip Hiscock, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State’s Attorney, wrote in the request.

Hiscock declined further comment, but said the state will present evidence supporting its request during a hearing on the issue Friday.

Green attorney Henry Sugden declined to comment on the request.

Hiscock filed the motion Tuesday during a court appearance by Green initially intended for a hearing on his request for a bond reduction. Sugden, however, withdrew the motion and instead asked the court to give the defense up to $3,000 in county funds to hire an investigator.

“Due to the voluminous material in the case, the number of witnesses that need to be talked to (a defense investigator) is needed,” Sugden said.

Sugden is asking Judge Sharon Prather to appoint private investigator Robert Hrodey – a onetime chief investigator for the state’s attorney’s office – at a rate of $100 an hour, up to $3,000.

Prather will consider the request Friday, along with the state’s motion to revoke bond.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Firefighters from at least 15 departments are battling a house fire near Pingree Grove.

A relay of tanker trucks is providing water to the hoses in the subdivision, which has no fire hydrants. A minivan in the driveway is burned and it appears the fire occupied the garage at the front of the house. Smoke continues to billow from the two-story home.

Among the fire departments at the scene are: Rutland-Dundee, Hampshire, Huntley, Hoffman Estates, West Dundee, East Dundee, Carpentersville, Pingree Grove, St. Charles, Elburn, Elgin, Burlington, South Elgin, Bartlett and Genoa-Kingston.

Traffic is blocked off near the subdivision, which is near Route 72 and Big Timber Road.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

When Pam Fender assumed her new post as Grafton Township administrator last week, she predicted it would be a bumpy ride.

She was right.

Just one week after starting her job, Fender filed a police report Tuesday morning stemming from a confrontation with Township Supervisor Linda Moore.

Fender, also a Huntley village trustee, alleges that when she tried to enter Moore’s office to use the copier around 8:35 a.m. Tuesday, Moore tried to close the door on her and slapped her arms to prevent her from coming in.

Both Moore and Fender said the township board voted Monday to have Moore keep her office door open to the public and other township employees, although Moore questions the legality of that vote.

“This is a government building; people should be able to come and go,” Fender said. “The board wants me to have complete access to things, and she’s not letting me do that.”

For her part, Moore says Fender aggressively tried to enter her office without Moore’s permission. According to police, Moore tried to file an assault charge against Fender, but police said it didn’t quite rise to the level of assault. Moore also said she plans to contact her attorney for possible legal action.

“She called police … and I’m the one receiving the aggressive behavior,” Moore said. “I’m trying to cooperate with her, but when she physically forces herself into my office, I have to defend myself.”

Moore also defended her practice of keeping her office door closed, saying it helps her maintain the confidentiality of residents seeking assistance.

Police confirmed Fender called them out to the township offices on Vine Street Tuesday and said no charges would be filed against either woman.

“Nobody was injured, and there was no complaint signed,” Huntley Police Chief John Perkins said. “I’m not sure it was a police matter, but we went up there to deal with it.”

Perkins said police were called out to the township offices for several petty disputes during spring and summer 2009.

“We basically quit responding unless it was a criminal matter,” Perkins said.

The township board voted to hire Fender earlier this month to complete tasks that trustees say Moore refuses to do. Moore says Fender’s salary – $35,000 plus benefits – is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

The fight’s not over for Salem and Rios. EA Montreal has announced a new Army of Two: The 40th Day DLC pack that’ll drop the fist-bumping duo headlong into another firefight.

With John Heinricy, the former head of GM’s performance division, behind the wheel, the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V handled all 12.9 miles of the Nurburgring Nordschleife racetrack and its 73-corners in 7:59.32. This is regarded by many to be the fastest lap-time ever run by a production-sedan. With this in mind, we were absolutely psyched to get behind the wheel of this high-performance animal for a full-week.

The CTS-V totally departs the Cadillac image of the soft-spoken, smooth riding luxury vehicle. In fact, it’s the total antithesis. For those who yearn for the Caddy of yesteryear; look elsewhere. If you’re the type of driver who lives for that feeling of a cars raw power turning your stomach upside down with every stomp of the gas pedal, you have met your match. The CTS-V is well-known as the BMW M5 Killer – a monumental feat for any American-made car; but its true. The CTS-V gives cars like the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, and the Jaguar XJ-R a run for their money, and accelerates and brakes every bit better than the BMW M5.

We have no idea what the engineers at Cadillac were thinking – and frankly, we could care less and have no complaints as the CTS-V departures from what Cadillac is known for.

Hit the jump to read more and to view our high-res image gallery (at the bottom of the post).

Review: 2010 Cadillac CTS-V:

2010 Cadillac CTS-V Specifications:

Base Price: $60,720.
Price as Tested: $69,440.
Engine: 6.2L LSA supercharged V8 – 556-hp / 551 lb-ft of torque.
Transmission: 6-speed manual with dual disc-clutch, 6-speed automatic.
Curb Weight: 4,200 lbs (manual), 4,300 (automatic).
0 to 60 mph: 4.0 seconds.
Fuel-Economy: 12/18 mpg (city/highway).

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

Exterior:

The exterior of the CTS-V builds upon the basic silhouette of the standard CTS, highlighting the aggressive stance and elegant details. The grille on the front is twice the size of that on the standard CTS and is finished in satin, but provides for a more functional and larger air intake. The 6.2L supercharged V8 would not fit in the engine compartment, save for the raised hood, and the aggressive front and rear fascias identify the vehicle as V-series. The 19-inch wheels only augment the aggressive stance on the road and along with the fenders make this car look ferocious.

The design elicits a bit of paradoxical emotion; at times it can seem a bit gaudy and overdone, but then again it will at times feel as though it was a sleeper vehicle. At times you’ll wish it looked less like the standard CTS, and at others you will wish it looked less like it was something out of Cartier’s front-window.

As for exterior options buyers will be rather limited; you can upgrade the 19-inch painted aluminum wheels to high-polished ones for $800, or add the $900 UltraView power sunroof.

Interior:

Sitting inside the car is a pure treat to the senses with the abundant microfiber providing the sense of suede wrapping the steering-wheel and shifter. Why not use real suede you ask? Well, one it’s expensive to maintain and two when your palms get sweaty from aggressive driving, suede may not be the best option.

Our test-car also came with Recaro Performance Racing Seats, which replace the standard front bucket-seats for a mere $3,400. Again for those expecting a plush leather comfortable Caddy, the CTS-V isn’t your friend. The Recaro Racing Seats are very firm and will hurt your back end on longer trips.

Other touches that make you realize that you’re not sitting in ordinary CTS, but a car that is a CTS on steroids include exclusive details like a center stack trimmed in new Obsidian black material that also adorns the center console and trims the door and V-Series logo steering, seats and the speedometer.

The 40GB hard drive, advanced navigation system with ‘pop-up’ screen and 5.1 Bose Cabin Surround Sound system with 10-speakers and factory-installed Bluetooth functionality all come standard. In fact, the only interior options the consumer has with this car are the $3,400 Recaro seats, and $300 sueded rim steering wheel and shift-knob (which we advise against).

Performance:

Under the hood of the Cadillac CTS-V sits a detuned version of the same 6.2L LSA supercharged V8 engine found in the Corvette ZR-1 making 556-hp with a maximum torque of 551 lb-ft. The engine is the most powerful ever offered in Cadillac throughout its nearly 106-year history.

Mated to either a Tremec TR6060 6-speed manual with dual-disc clutch or a Hydra-Matic 6L90 6-speed automatic with paddle-shift control the CTS-V goes from 0-60 in what GM claims is less than 4 seconds, although we couldn’t do better than 4.2 seconds.

All that translates well on the straights, but the question on everybody’s mind is: Can the CTS-V handle? That’s the million-dollar question when it comes to many American performance vehicles as American’s are not known for well-performing vehicles. To put it plainly; the CTS-V handles like any German sports car, thanks to its fast-reacting suspension technology, Magnetic Ride Control. The system uses shocks controlled by what is called “magneto-rheological” technology. Assisting the system are electronic sensors at all four wheels that literally “read the road” every millisecond, making constant adjustments to damping to create virtually instantaneous and extremely precise control of body motions. The system shocks also enable a much broader range of damping control to optimize ride and handling for all driving conditions. Drivers also receive the additional benefit of choosing between two different suspension modes that tailor the suspension for a grand touring or more spirited performance driving; Tour and Sport.

Stopping the CTS-V is no problem thanks to Michelin and Brembo. The CTS-V has Brembo brakes on all four corners; six-piston calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in the rear. Slotted and vented rotors enable strong initial braking force while optimizing heat resistance and eliminating fade. Michelin also worked with GM engineers to develop its acclaimed Pilot Sport 2 (PS2) summer tire for CTS-V and its exclusive 19-inch alloy wheels.

Overall, the CTS-V offers performance that is equivalent to or better than other high-performance sedans in the segment. In fact, we’re going to go out on the edge and say that the performance of the CTS-V surpasses that of the Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG and the BMW M5 – its two biggest rivals from Germany.

Overall:

Prices for the 2010 Cadillac CTS-V start at $60,720 ($61,545 when you include destination freight charges). Optioned out, the 2010 CTS-V fetches an MSRP of $64,345. Add a $2,600 gas guzzler tax and you’re looking at close to $67,000.

Compare those figures to the BMW M5 and all-new Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG and their staring price tags of $85,700 and $85,750 respectively, and the CTS-V is the clear favorite. Even if the price were to top $80,000, Motown would be the one to serve up the winner in this segment as far as overall value.

Review: 2010 Cadillac CTS-V:

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

– By: Omar Rana