Thursday, December 18, 2014
"Musicians don’t want their tunes used to torment"
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/17/sec-chief-blames-his-staff-in-madoff-case/
The Spokesman-Review
December 17, 2008 in Nation/World
SEC chief blames his staff in Madoff case
Agency failed to investigate allegations for more than a decade
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox said Tuesday his agency repeatedly failed for at least a decade to pursue allegations of wrongdoing by Wall Street figure Bernard L. Madoff, the alleged perpetrator of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Cox ordered a probe by the SEC’s inspector general, saying the agency’s staff had never brought the Madoff matter to the attention of commissioners.
Since the SEC staff never recommended that the commission open a formal investigation, subpoena power was not used to obtain information and the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.
“I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them,” Cox said in a statement.
In a forceful condemnation of the SEC staff, Cox said there had been credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff’s financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999.
The SEC chairman’s criticism of his own agency marks only the latest instance in which federal regulators have overlooked clear warning signs of possible fraud.
Its oversight of the Wall Street investment houses drew significant criticism. A review by the SEC inspector general determined that the agency’s monitoring of the five biggest Wall Street firms, which included Bear Stearns, was lacking.
Cox’s statement on Madoff was a stunning declaration in a scandal that has produced a series of dramatic developments.
Shock waves from the Madoff affair have radiated around the globe as the number of prestigious charitable foundations, big international banks and individual investors said to have fallen victim to an unprecedented fraud has grown. U.S. investigators are laboring to deconstruct the scheme.
The SEC chairman alleged that Madoff kept several sets of books and false documents, and provided false information involving his advisory activities to investors and to regulators.
Cox also ordered the removal from the ongoing investigation of any SEC staff members who have had contact with Madoff or his family.
Madoff remains free on $10 million bail.
Since his arrest on Thursday, the SEC has been under increasing pressure to explain why it didn’t uncover the prominent Wall Street figure’s criminal activity years ago.
Hours before Cox denounced his own staff, a former SEC chief accountant, Lynn Turner, said that “I can’t comprehend how a well-run investigation would have missed a fraud of this magnitude.”
Another expert agreed. “The fact that that this could go on for so long with someone who was known to the agency raises questions of the effectiveness of our regulatory scheme,” said Charles Elson, the director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.
The SEC’s enforcement division looked into Madoff’s business in 2007. The agency did not refer the matter to commissioners for legal action. What did the investigators find and why didn’t they look harder? Until Tuesday night, the SEC had refused to say anything beyond a brief statement it issued Friday revealing the 2007 probe.
Cox himself has come in for strong criticism.
In March, a few days before Bear Stearns nearly collapsed into bankruptcy, Cox told reporters the agency was closely monitoring the five firms and had “a good deal of comfort” in their capital levels. Then as federal officials orchestrated the rescue, Bear Stearns was bought by rival JPMorgan Chase with a $29 billion government backstop.
The chairman of the Senate Banking panel that oversees the SEC, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in an interview Tuesday that the Madoff affair “illustrates the lack of credible enforcement over several years by the SEC.” He criticized the agency’s “lack of a strong commitment to be vigilant.”
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911208&slug=1321860
The Seattle Times
Sunday, December 8, 1991
Schwarzkopf Storms On In His New Civilian Career -- Retired Gulf War Commander Jealous Of Privacy
By Robert Dvorchak
AP
Battlefield fame is fleeting, H. Norman Schwarzkopf tells his audiences.
"I used to be able to make a single command and 541,000 people would listen," the retired general says. "Now I can't get a plumber to do what I want."
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/dec/18/snow-is-slow-to-show-this-ski-season/
The Spokesman-Review
December 18, 2014 in City
Snow is slow to show this ski season
In the past five years, Schweitzer Mountain Resort in North Idaho has invested about $1 million in upgrading its elaborate system for making artificial snow.
This year, the investment is paying off big time.
Schweitzer has been able to stay open – although on limited runs – and fulfill expectations of resort guests.
“It’s worth its weight in gold,” said Sean Mirus, marketing director at the all-season resort near Sandpoint.
Across the Pacific Northwest, a series of mild storms and unusually warm temperatures has all but erased early season snowfall and left three Inland Northwest ski areas idle as the lucrative holiday season approaches.
The closed resorts are Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park, 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort and Silver Mountain Resort.
It’s the thinnest early season snowpack in more than six years, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters are calling for 2 to 4 inches of snow in the mountains through Friday and another 6 to 10 inches over the weekend. But another shot of mild air should turn the snow to rain in the mountains on Sunday, causing the new snow to compress and pack down.
There is a small chance of another storm over Christmas, and then drier conditions are anticipated after that, said Jon Fox, forecaster at the National Weather Service.
“It’s snowing today, so I am going to be positive,” said Alexis Hartmann, marketing director at 49 Degrees North near Chewelah, where a couple of inches of fresh powder fell.
Even so, resort opening remains on standby.
“We want to open as soon as possible,” Hartmann said.
The holiday period from Dec. 19 through Jan. 4 is bread-and-butter in alpine country. “That’s really when we expect the highest number of people here,” Hartmann said.
Across the Selkirk Mountains, the workers at Mount Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park posted a sign on their website: “Pray for Snow.”
The resort’s Facebook page shows a video of them doing their best snow dances and Frosty with a sign saying, “Will beg for snow.”
Elsewhere, Lookout Pass Ski Resort and Recreation Area said it will open again at 9 a.m. today with a snow depth of 8 inches at the lodge and 26 inches at the summit. On Wednesday, the resort reported 2 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours.
An automated snow measuring station at 4,700 feet on Quartz Peak near Mount Spokane showed that only 4 inches of snow covered the ground there on Wednesday.
That compares with the 11 inches on the ground for the same date in 2008, the most recent year with a thin early season snow pack.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/13/winter-storm-watch-continues-today/
The Spokesman-Review
Dec. 13, 2008 in City, News Snowfall in Spokane County this morning and Friday was far less than expected, the National Weather Service said.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/14/cold-front-leaves-roads-dangerously-icy/
The Spokesman-Review
Dec. 14, 2008 in City on Page B1 Road crews south and west of Spokane struggled Saturday to keep pavement clear as wind and snow caused serious crashes and closed highways. Spokane didn’t get the dumping of snow
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/16/winter-storm-bring-snow-wednesday/
The Spokesman-Review
Dec. 16, 2008 in City A winter storm watch was upgraded to a winter storm warning this afternoon for far Eastern Washington and North Idaho as well as locations closer to the Cascades as an
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/16/second-storm-system-rolling-in/
The Spokesman-Review
Second storm system rolling in
Dec. 16, 2008 in City on Page B1 While last weekend’s predicted snowstorm largely bypassed the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas, forecasters Tuesday said the region could get heavy snow today and Thursday. A low-pressure system moving south
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/11/
The Spokesman-Review
Stories for December 11, 2008
Snowpack getting a late start
In City on Page B3 IDAHO FALLS – The buildup of winter snowpack in the mountain ranges across Idaho is off to a slow start.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/12/
The Spokesman-Review
Stories for December 12, 2008
Report blames Rumsfeld for abuse
In Nation/World on Page A1 WASHINGTON – A bipartisan Senate report released today says that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials are directly responsible for abuses of detainees at Guantanamo
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-simpsons&episode=s02e18
Springfield! Springfield!
The Simpsons
Brush with Greatness
I wish every teacher was like you.
Marge, please.
I don't take praise very well! Oh! Another triumph!
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 01/09/07 1:34 PM
yeah.....and that letter from Maria Coleman that was dated 4/11/91. I wrote a while back about how that date was when the First Gulf War ended.
[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 09 January 2007 excerpt ends]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/26/newsid_4716000/4716868.stm
BBC
ON THIS DAY 26 February
1991: Iraqi troops flee Kuwait City
The Kuwaiti capital has been liberated by the Gulf War Allies after 208 days of Iraqi occupation.
Thousands of Iraqi troops began leaving the city after an order from President Saddam Hussein, broadcast this morning, to withdraw immediately.
He said he was ordering the retreat because of "the aggression of 30 countries against Iraq" and the economic blockade led by the US.
The first group of Allies into the city centre was a reconnaissance team of 12 US marines
From 5/27/1954 ( premiere US film "The High and the Mighty" ) To 10/25/2004 is 18414 days
18414 = 9207 + 9207
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 1/17/1991 ( the date of record of my United States Navy Medal of Honor as Kerry Wayne Burgess chief warrant officer United States Marine Corps circa 1991 also known as Matthew Kline for official duty and also known as Wayne Newman for official duty ) is 9207 days
From 5/27/1954 ( premiere US film "The High and the Mighty" ) To 10/25/2004 is 18414 days
18414 = 9207 + 9207
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 1/17/1991 ( RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 - the Persian Gulf War begins as scheduled severe criminal activity against the United States of America ) is 9207 days
From 7/12/1950 ( premiere US film "Winchester 73" ) To 7/4/1989 ( the unmanned Soviet Union MiG-23 crash in Belgium ) is 14237 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 10/25/2004 is 14237 days
From 2/17/1909 ( Geronimo deceased ) To 2/2/1987 ( Ronald Reagan - Letter Accepting the Resignation of William J. Casey as Director of Central Intelligence ) is 28474 days
28474 = 14237 + 14237
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 10/25/2004 is 14237 days
From 12/20/1994 ( in Bosnia as Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps captain this day is my United States Navy Cross medal date of record ) To 10/25/2004 is 3597 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 9/8/1975 ( premiere US TV series "The Invisible Man" ) is 3597 days
From 6/22/1933 ( Dianne Feinstein ) To 10/25/2004 is 26058 days
26058 = 13029 + 13029
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 7/5/2001 ( the George Bush announcement nominating Robert Mueller ) is 13029 days
From 3/16/1991 ( my first successful major test of my ultraspace matter transportation device as Kerry Wayne Burgess the successful Ph.D. graduate Columbia South Carolina ) To 10/25/2004 is 4972 days
4972 = 2486 + 2486
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official Deputy United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 8/23/1972 ( Richard Nixon - Remarks on Accepting the Presidential Nomination of the Republican National Convention ) is 2486 days
[ See also: http://hvom.blogspot.com/2014/08/davenport_31.html ]
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041025-9.html
THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 25, 2004
President's Remarks in Davenport, Iowa
The Rivercenter
Davenport, Iowa
5:30 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming. It is great to be back in the great city of Davenport, Iowa.
Before Senator Kerry got into political difficulty and revised his views, he saw our actions in Tora Bora differently. In the fall of 2001, on national TV, he said this about Tora Bora, "I think we've been doing this pretty effectively and we should continue to do it that way." At the time, the Senator said about Tora Bora, "I think we've been smart. I think the administration leadership has done it well, and we are on the right track." All I can say about that is, I am George W. Bush and I approve of that message. (Applause.)
Senator Kerry's record on national security has a far deeper problem than election-year flip-flopping. On the largest national security issues of our time, he has been consistently wrong. When Ronald Reagan was confronting the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, Senator Kerry said that President Reagan's policy of peace through strength was making America less safe.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: He voted against many weapons systems critical to our defense build-up. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong, and President Ronald Reagan was right. (Applause.) When former President Bush led a coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991, Senator Kerry voted against the use of force to liberate Kuwait.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-simpsons&episode=s02e18
Springfield! Springfield!
The Simpsons
Brush with Greatness
Live from Mt. Splashmore, the county's funnest water park -it's The Krusty the Clown Show! -Hey, kids! You know, today's the last day of our special week on location at fabulous Mt.
Splashmore.
I just want to say these people have been super to me and Sideshow Mel.
The food, the grog.
They threw a brunch with fresh fruit and the most delicious melon.
The thing I'll miss most is those special Mt.
Splashmore water slides, God bless them.
So fun.
So many memories.
Excuse me.
It has been a great week, hasn't it, Lis? Come out and pack this place, just to show them how grateful I am.
I told them you would.
Don't make me a liar! Okay, kids! It's time to.
I want to go to Mt.
Splashmore Take me, take me Take me now Now now now Now now Mt.
Splashmore Take me there right now
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-simpsons/brush-with-greatness-1316/trivia/
tv.com
The Simpsons Season 2 Episode 18
Brush with Greatness
Aired Sunday 8:00 PM Apr 11, 1991 on FOX
Quotes
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No!!!!
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: No! No! No! NOOO! If I take you will you two shut up and quit bugging me?!
Bart: Yeah!
Lisa: Of course!
Bart: Well?
Bart & Lisa: Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?
Homer: YES!
Bart & Lisa: Thanks, Dad!
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/10/
The Spokesman-Review
Stories for December 10, 2008
Illinois scandal is irritant for Obama
In Nation/World on Page A1 WASHINGTON – Though Barack Obama isn’t accused of anything, the charges against his home-state governor – concerning Obama’s own Senate seat – are an unwelcome distraction. And the ultimate fallout
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/10/
The Spokesman-Review
Stories for December 10, 2008
Musicians don’t want their tunes used to torment
In Nation/World on Page A4 GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Blaring from a speaker behind a metal grate in his tiny cell in Iraq, the blistering rock from Nine Inch Nails hit Prisoner No. ...
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-simpsons&episode=s02e18
Springfield! Springfield!
The Simpsons
Brush with Greatness
Mommy! I want my mommy! Step aside.
Spread out.
Lost kid coming through.
Pardon me.
Moving to the front.
Nice work, babe.
No, Maggie! Stay in the shallow end.
The hell with this! Slide inspector coming through! Move to the right.
-Move! I'm here for your safety.
-God bless that man! Bitchen.
What? Come on, you stupid tube! There's a jam in Delta sector.
Too big to be human.
Send kids to dislodge it.
Roger.
- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 8:54 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Thursday 18 December 2014
