TARP explained visually

This is hilarious.

(Scroll down to view all the photos.)

A French approach to handling electricity usage

In France, you can pay a flat fee for an amount of electricity of your choosing. But if you go over the limit, they turn to power off. Then you unplug enough stuff to drop below the limit.

It sounds like a pretty inventive way to manage power consumption. Sounds good in theory, anyway. I [...]

Joel Kovel fired from Bard College for anti-Zionism

His book “Overcoming Zionism” published by Pluto, saw the Zionist lobby mobilise against him and his continuing criticism of Israel has unleashed more persecution.

Anti-Zionism even from Jewish anti-racists is labelled anti-semitism and suppressed.

He is for many of us a bit of a modern Lenin, he coined the term ‘ecosocialism’ and launched a [...]

Stanford, Madoff, and the SEC

But the bottom line is that a guy in the drug trade, with amazing connections to politicians (the latest are Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi), was treated with kid gloves by regulators, who could’ve easily nailed him first but… didn’t. But maybe that’s just a coincidence.

“Stanford employees yelled ‘Ponzi Scheme!’ 3 years ago”, [...]

California finally passes budget

But I’m unclear if the 8 ballot measures to be voted on in an emergency election in May must pass else the whole train wreck starts over again.

There’s nothing to cheer about here. The budget cuts will affect the poor and disabled the hardest, schools too. Nor was there any long-term planning to determine [...]

Recovery.gov

Because Obama wants you to know where and how the money is being spent.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be carried out with full transparency and accountability — and Recovery.gov is the centerpiece of that effort.

Solar energy in remote Pakistan villages

Homes in remote areas of Pakistan without electricity are using small solar panels to generate power for two lights and a fan at night. Imagine the difference that would make to a small village.

The author of the article says perhaps Pakistan could build its own solar energy industry to power villages, irrigate crops, [...]

Sigh

So once again we gaze in bewilderment upon a world in which someone who confronted and physically fought fascists is routinely accused of selling out to the Right, while someone who celebrated with their Canadian fellow fascists is viewed by some as a hero of the Left.

Stanford may have laundered drug money for Mexican cartel

Told you this story would be bigger than Madoff!

Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford’s private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be [...]

Allen Stanford scandal

I think this one will be bigger than Madoff. No one knows how much of the $50 billion is left or even where Stanford is. All these links come from the Business Insider family of sites who are doing a superb job of reporting and digging.

No one knows where Stanford is.

Of course, this [...]