Vol 1. No. 25.Baltimore, MD  Sat September 04th 2010GIVING YOU THE NEWS THE MSM IGNORES 
Our Contributors:
Comments:
Categories


O's can't rally after Millwood's shaky start
O's can't rally after Millwood's shaky start

Hernandez to pitch for Bowie on Saturday
Hernandez to pitch for Bowie on Saturday

Tillman to start Sunday for O's against Rays
Tillman to start Sunday for O's against Rays

Jones out of lineup; no timetable on his return
Jones out of lineup; no timetable on his return

Four-run rally can't mask defensive miscues
Four-run rally can't mask defensive miscues

Jones gets cortisone shot in ailing shoulder
Jones gets cortisone shot in ailing shoulder

Orioles not ready to shut down Simon yet
Orioles not ready to shut down Simon yet

Matusz, Hudson nab Rookie of Month honors
Matusz, Hudson nab Rookie of Month honors

Jones exits with back soreness
Jones exits with back soreness

Early voting starts smoothly in area
Voters like convenience and speed

Charlotte McDowell usually has to set aside a few hours to vote, but she hoped that voting early would be somewhat faster. This morning, she and others praised Maryland's first-ever experience with early voting as a great time-saver.




Violetville school community celebrates opening of new building
City, state leaders hold celebration for first new city school building since 1998

State and local leaders joined the community of Violetville Elementary/Middle School on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the school's brand-new building, which is the first new school facility to be constructed in Baltimore in more than a decade.




Hurricane Earl briefly batters Ocean City
Swimming prohibited as surf rises; beautiful weekend expected

Swimming prohibited as winds, waves strengthen




Md. college student collapses while playing volleyball, dies
Freshman collapsed while playing volleyball

Barely three months ago, Catherine "Catie" Carnes and her friends were celebrating their graduation from McDonogh School.




State: Doctor performed abortions without license
Three weeks ago, physician Steven Brigham led a car caravan of patients from his Voorhees, N.J., abortion clinic to his facility in Elkton. After one of the patients was critically injured during her surgery there, Brigham put the semiconscious, bleeding woman into the back of a rented Chevrolet Malibu and drove her to a nearby hospital emergency room rather than call an ambulance.




Columbia Association considers more funds to dredge lake
Project may get half the needed cash

The Columbia Association is moving toward approving half the additional money needed to dredge Lake Kittamaqundi to the depth originally planned after heavy storms in the past four years dumped unexpectedly high levels of silt into it.




Md. fisherman pulls 8-foot shark from Potomac River
A St. Mary's County fisherman says he pulled an 8-foot shark from the mouth of the Potomac River.




La Plata teenager dies of injuries sustained in dirt bike crash
The Charles County sheriff's office says a La Plata teenager has died of injuries suffered in a dirt bike crash.




Woman killed in triple shooting in city's Mill Hill neighborhood
A 30-year-old woman was killed in a triple shooting Thursday night in Southwest Baltimore, a police spokesman said.



Comments about Baltimore Reporter:

Perhaps the best part of blogging or the internet in general is the occasional discovery of something unexpected.Over on Baltimore Reporter and Conservative Thoughts is a great and thought provoking article by Robert Farrow.I hope you will follow this link and read this great post.

from conservativecontracts.com


I love your blog

Once again - as happens so often - I have been positioned here on the living room couch, immersed in your blog. You are better than Fox News.

Kevin Dayhoff



Awards and Rankings:

Voted one of the best local blogs:
Baltimore Examiner: 2006



Voted Top 10 most influential blog in Maryland in 2007.
Blog Net News



ElseWhere
Other sites I write for:
Flopping Aces
and Red Maryland

Want to help?
Baltimore Reporter is looking for writers to help counter the biased media. Email us if interested.

My Count Since 10/11/07
~ 4933 ~
Site Meter

.

   

5/5/2009

Perella-Weinberg / Xerion silences Lauria on auto czar intimidation tactics
Filed under: — Robert Farrow @ 9:59 pm

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Just yesterday, I was pondering just what dirt Obama and his auto czar had on Perella-Weinberg/Xerion that could be used to “ruin their reputation” or “embarrass” them.

The only idea I had in the above referenced post was that Xerion also received funds from the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and that perhaps Rattner/Obama admin was using a blackmail tactic by threatening to drag them into the pay-to-play investigation involving Rattner’s Quadrangle, placement agent Henry Morris and former deputy comptroller David Loglisci.

Tom Lauria, a man genuinely indignant at the White House intimidation tactics used against his legal clientele, has now been silenced by Perella-Weinberg themselves.

H/T to Ace for video link

If P-W insists Lauria dodge the subject, could it be whatever dirt Rattner/Obama have is true, and Lauria’s indignation resulted in shining a spotlight where P-W did not want it to be?

As Lauria says to Fox’s Megyn Kelly,

… I really don’t want to comment, but I’m sure… uh… that… uh… if people keep pressing, the truth is going to come out.

Also:

Hedge Fund Manager Responds to Barack’s Bullying

Kudos to Zero Hedge for posting this commentary written by hedge fund manager, Clifford S. Asness. Major kudos to Mr. Asness for having the heart and courage to stand up for capitalism and free market principles. Asness addresses the implications of President Obama’s browbeating hedge funds’ representation and management of client interests involved in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

Our country was founded on the principles of free speech, fair and equitable trade, property rights, and the ability to operate without intimidation. In writing and publishing this post, Mr. Asness has done our country a great service. I commend him!! I strongly encourage people to share this message with friends and colleagues. Please share your sentiments here as well!! ~LD

Unafraid In Greenwich Connecticut
Clifford S. Asness
Managing and Founding Principal
AQR Capital Management, LLC

The President has just harshly castigated hedge fund managers for being unwilling to take his administration’s bid for their Chrysler bonds. He called them “speculators” who were “refusing to sacrifice like everyone else” and who wanted “to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.”

The responses of hedge fund managers have been, appropriately, outrage, but generally have been anonymous for fear of going on the record against a powerful President (an exception, though still in the form of a “group letter”, was the superb note from “The Committee of Chrysler Non-TARP Lenders” some of the points of which I echo here, and a relatively few firms, like Oppenheimer, that have publicly defended themselves). Furthermore, one by one the managers and banks are said to be caving to the President’s wishes out of justifiable fear.

I run an approximately twenty billion dollar money management firm that offers hedge funds as well as public mutual funds and unhedged traditional investments. My company is not involved in the Chrysler situation, but I am still aghast at the President’s comments (of course these are my own views not those of my company). Furthermore, for some reason I was not born with the common sense to keep it to myself, though my title should more accurately be called “Not Afraid Enough” as I am indeed fearful writing this… It’s really a bad idea to speak out. Angering the President is a mistake and, my views will annoy half my clients. I hope my clients will understand that I’m entitled to my voice and to speak it loudly, just as they are in this great country. I hope they will also like that I do not think I have the right to intentionally “sacrifice” their money without their permission.

Here’s a shock. When hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and individuals, including very sweet grandmothers, lend their money they expect to get it back. However, they know, or should know, they take the risk of not being paid back. But if such a bad event happens it usually does not result in a complete loss. A firm in bankruptcy still has assets. It’s not always a pretty process. Bankruptcy court is about figuring out how to most fairly divvy up the remaining assets based on who is owed what and whose contracts come first. The process already has built-in partial protections for employees and pensions, and can set lenders’ contracts aside in order to help the company survive, all of which are the rules of the game lenders know before they lend. But, without this recovery process nobody would lend to risky borrowers. Essentially, lenders accept less than shareholders (means bonds return less than stocks) in good times only because they get more than shareholders in bad times.

The above is how it works in America, or how it’s supposed to work. The President and his team sought to avoid having Chrysler go through this process, proposing their own plan for re-organizing the company and partially paying off Chrysler’s creditors. Some bond holders thought this plan unfair. Specifically, they thought it unfairly favored the United Auto Workers, and unfairly paid bondholders less than they would get in bankruptcy court. So, they said no to the plan and decided, as is their right, to take their chances in the bankruptcy process. But, as his quotes above show, the President thought they were being unpatriotic or worse.

Let’s be clear, it is the job and obligation of all investment managers, including hedge fund managers, to get their clients the most return they can. They are allowed to be charitable with their own money, and many are spectacularly so, but if they give away their clients’ money to share in the “sacrifice”, they are stealing. Clients of hedge funds include, among others, pension funds of all kinds of workers, unionized and not. The managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the President, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their personal political views. That’s how the system works. If you hired an investment professional and he could preserve more of your money in a financial disaster, but instead he decided to spend it on the UAW so you could “share in the sacrifice”, you would not be happy.

Let’s quickly review a few side issues.

The President’s attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him. Why is he not calling on his party to “sacrifice” some campaign contributions, and votes, for the greater good? Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power.

Let’s also mention only in passing the irony of this same President begging hedge funds to borrow more to purchase other troubled securities. That he expects them to do so when he has already shown what happens if they ask for their money to be repaid fairly would be amusing if not so dangerous. That hedge funds might not participate in these programs because of fear of getting sucked into some toxic demagoguery that ends in arbitrary punishment for trying to work with the Treasury is distressing. Some useful programs, like those designed to help finance consumer loans, won’t work because of this irresponsible hectoring.

Last but not least, the President screaming that the hedge funds are looking for an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout is the big lie writ large. Find me a hedge fund that has been bailed out. Find me a hedge fund, even a failed one, that has asked for one. In fact, it was only because hedge funds have not taken government funds that they could stand up to this bullying. The TARP recipients had no choice but to go along. The hedge funds were singled out only because they are unpopular, not because they behaved any differently from any other ethical manager of other people’s money. The President’s comments here are backwards and libelous. Yet, somehow I don’t think the hedge funds will be following ACORN’s lead and trucking in a bunch of paid professional protestors soon. Hedge funds really need a community organizer.

This is America. We have a free enterprise system that has worked spectacularly for us for two hundred plus years. When it fails it fixes itself. Most importantly, it is not an owned lackey of the oval office to be scolded for disobedience by the President.

I am ready for my “personalized” tax rate now.

Originally published at No Quarter.

Read more of Mr. Doyle’s posts at his blog,
Sense on Cents

Finally:

Obama Pushing Gun Control Treaty That Takes Oversight Away From Lawmakers

Lou Dobbs had a segment that re-aired yesterday which should scare the crap out of those of you who believe, as I do, that the 2nd Amendment is not a right that can be brushed away so easily…..it’s about CIFTA. A little known treaty that Obama wants ratified that is major….MAJOR gun control:

Alan Corwin has done a great job of detailing the specifics of the treaty:

  • EVERY aspect of the treaty introduces major required gun controls, most of which will affect average citizens (as well as the targeted criminal syndicates, dictators and other bad actors).
  • The controls go way past anything EVER attempted by gun-control groups in the United States.
  • NONE of the proposed gun controls are likely to pass by themselves through Congress. If the treaty is enacted they don’t have to — they become law when the treaty is ratified.
  • Virtually NO PROTECTIONS FOR RKBA are to be found, and the wordings are loose enough to allow all sorts of attacks on gun rights American enjoy today.
  • The U.S. government under this treaty GAINS POWER to manage firearms almost any way it would like to, without checks and balances.
  • Once signed, many of the restrictions and government intrusions become MANDATORY, and the full Congress, already cut out of ratification (only the Senate approves treaties) would be cut out of the implementation process entirely.
  • Top to bottom registration of all firearms, ammunition, ammunition components and other related materials is required if they are “in transit” and records must be kept indefinitely. This vague language, and the requirement to comply are a gun-banner’s dream and a rights advocate’s nightmare.
  • “Transit licenses or authorizations” for transfers of firearms are required for imported firearms, and loose language could include the same for all domestic firearms.
  • Lengthy recordkeeping is required that directly conflicts with U.S. law, and would be left up to bureaucrats and arbitrary controls and implementation.
  • Home reloading of ammunition would become illegal and subject to severe sanctions, without government licensing that is undefined and could include almost any conditions, taxes and limitations, including scrupulous inventorying, recordkeeping and unscheduled audit searches of people who reload.
  • Similar licensing and controls will be required on anything made “that can be attached to a firearm,” known as “other related materials.” This includes components, parts, replacement parts and such items as wood or composite stocks, slings, bayonets, bayonet lugs, sights, scopes, rails, lasers, grips, flash hiders, suppressors, muzzle brakes and other paraphernalia. Attaching any such parts without a government license would be “illicit manufacture,” a criminal act with undefined penalties.
  • Record sharing requirements ensure that any gun-owner data that must be destroyed under current U.S. law can be easily stored abroad, and can be retrieved at will as required under various international “cooperation” clauses.

All this under the guise that guns from our country make up a huge percentage of the weapons used by drug cartels in Mexico…..lies, as Rep. Tancredo pointed out:

The ambassador says Americans are to blame for the violence wrecked on his country by the Mexican drug cartels because “most of the guns confiscated by Mexican police can be traced back to the United States.” That is not true, but the way that claim has been accepted by American politicians and the mainstream media raises suspicions about a hidden agenda.

We can almost forgive the Mexican ambassador for being confused when the United States agency responsible for enforcing our gun laws, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has made so many contradictory statements on the matter. ATFE Assistant Director William Hoover told Congress last year that 90% of the weapons seized in Mexico crime scenes can be traced to gun sales in the US.

The problem is that 90% number isn’t true. Yet, that hasn’t kept it from being picked up and used by members of Congress, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, of course, Mexican officials like Ambassador Sarukhan who are eager to blame the US for Mexico’s problems.

The 90% number reported by Hoover came from a small group of weapons turned over to the U.S. for tracing, but they were by no means all of the weapons seized by Mexican authorities. A spokesman for the ATFE, Matt Allen, has now “clarified” the number and admitted that only 17% of the weapons found at crime scenes in Mexico have been traced to the U.S. Ironically, while Mexican officials have freely used the 90% number from the ATFE, they have not themselves made such a charge based on their own numbers. The truth is, they know better.

Another shredding of our Constitution moment from our President. But wait a minute? A treaty cannot supersede our Constitution right?

Your right……but the way our courts are headed, do you want to trust this will never change? Alan tackles this issue:

Numerous attorneys and others wrote to challenge my position in Page Nine #63 that Mr. Obama’s run-around gun treaty could conveniently bypass the legislative process and the Constitution, like John M. says here:

“While your item in “Page 9″ about Congress and the Obamanation Administration using an Inter-American Treaty on ‘arms trafficking’ to do an end-run around the Second Amendment is certainly scary, I’m not ready to concede (as you appear to do) that a treaty supersedes the Constitution under Article VI.”

He goes on to describe why Art. VI and other safeguards will protect us.

Many people went into greater detail. Cases were cited (Reid v. Covert; Missouri v. Holland; Whitney v. Robinson; Cherokee Tobacco). One high-placed lobbyist felt fairly safe because:

“While an international treaty bypasses House consideration, it requires two-thirds of the Senate for ratification – a tall order even in ObamaNation.”

Other people were less sure, like Chuck G. here:

“I’m still up in the air about it as I’ve heard all my life exactly what you stated.”

I too always heard what he had heard — treaties supersede the Constitution — and always thought it odd. Go read Article VI, cl. 2 yourself. The language is crystalline. One attorney at a high-profile think tank believes:

“The federal government will have arguable legal authority to seize our guns and ammunition if this treaty is signed.”

So…

1. Opinions on the supremacy issue are inconsistent (though often adamant).

2. People who say the treaty won’t be a problem point to a number of SCOTUS decisions, and perhaps stare decisis. Maybe that makes those folks fully comfortable with where Mr. Obama is heading on this. Less so for me.

3. SCOTUS precedents are increasingly ignored by those in power, with groovy rationalizations each time. And SCOTUS decisions have so eviscerated key elements of the Constitution, my faith there is shaken, not stirred.

4. The courts, which should provide more balance, a) don’t, b) are run by the very people they’re supposed to balance, and c) all too often use the completely worthless rational-basis test, knowing it’s worthless, to allow every short-of-insane law to stand.

5. Given a choice of support for gun-rights or outright gun bans, we know which way this administration will go.

6. Four of the current SCOTUS Justices have expressed interest in defining U.S. law from foreign sources, leaving us one vote away from a new understanding of the supremacy clause.

7. Perhaps the biggest issue, though, making all else moot, is that new regs you can easily forecast coming from this treaty will be portrayed as a) required by international law so we’re only doing what’s right, b) required by Article VI however you like to read it, c) consistent with precedent, and most of all, d) not violative of the Second Amendment so no big deal.

After all, if, for instance, every home reloading enthusiast simply has to get a government license, pay an annual tax called a “fee,” pass a test, accept “routine” BATFE searches without notice like FFLs must, and keep detailed records so government can fulfill its obligation to track all guns and ammo, backed up with threats of prison time for paperwork errors or a miscount of a single round, what’s wrong with that?

Besides, you have an attorney general to protect you who’s on record saying a ban on any working firearm in your own home is acceptable under 2A, so, what me worry?

You have a choice: assume the treaty won’t be a problem, the supremacy clause will void any abuse and just let Mr. Obama enact the treaty, or remain a bit more skeptical of this man’s motives. Choose wisely.

Scary scary stuff.

Comments »

The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://www.baltimorereporter.com/wp-trackback.php?p=6402

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)








Search

    What is RSS?
Baltimore Weather

Current Conditions:
Fair, 74 F
FACING UP TO THE
Nation's Finances
National Debt Clock

Ed Reed to begin season on physically unable to perform list (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens star free safety Ed Reed will begin the season on the physically unable to...

Josh Wilson getting up to speed (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Forgive Josh Wilson if his head is still spinning as he tries to get acclimated to his...

Wilson makes self at home with Ravens (The Canadian Press)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. - For cornerback Josh Wilson, the best part about joining the Baltimore Ravens had nothing to do with the team's playoff potential or the proximity to his alma mater, the University of Maryland.

Former Terp Wilson makes self at home with Ravens (AP)
For cornerback Josh Wilson, the best part about joining the Baltimore Ravens had nothing to do with the team's playoff potential or the proximity to his alma mater, the University of Maryland. "Being here and being at home is definitely No. 2," Wilson said Friday. "No. 1 is having a pass rush and a front seven that is amazing.

PFW's preseason draft board (ProFootballWeekly.com)
The draft board below will be updated until the start of the regular season. Quarterbacks Rk.

Antrel Rolle fined $7,500 for hit on Mark Clayton (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle was fined $7,500 for his illegal hit on Baltimore...

Spagnuolo mum on Rams' QB starter (AP)
Sam Bradford will have to wait a few days to learn if he'll start the St. Louis Rams' opener. The No. 1 pick certainly has appeared ready for the job. Bradford's opening drive set the tone for a 27-21 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, giving the Rams a 3-1 preseason finish for the second straight season.

Terrence Cody says knee surgery was successful (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens rookie nose guard Terrence "Mount" Cody proclaimed his...

Owner rankings, Part 2: Split decision at top (Yahoo! Sports)
Jerry Jones has finally gotten a share of the coveted No. 1 spot, sharing the space with a familiar occupant.

Reason for concerns: AFC North (SportingNews.com)
A capsule look at reasons for concern among teams in the AFC North: Baltimore Ravens 1. An offensive line in flux. There is no timeframe when RT Jared Gaither will return from a back injury. The top backup, Oniel Cousins, has missed substantial practice time with a concussion and was inconsistent when healthy. The coaches probably will move RG Marshal Yanda to tackle and insert backup C Chris Chester at right guard. That leaves this unit with little depth.

Ravens Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Expectations have only been raised for the Baltimore Ravens this preseason.

Quarterback Joe Flacco has had a strong preseason, completing 61 percent of his passes and throwing three touchdowns (a rating of 90.9).

Baltimore's starting defense didn't allow a touchdown in three preseason games.

"Anything less than a Super Bowl win, really, is a disappointment to us," wide receiver Derrick Mason said.

"I think we've done more than enough over the last three years to put ourselves in a position to win a championship. To do all we've done and not come out of this thing with a championship would be disheartening."

Most of the excitement has been generated by the Ravens offense.

The Ravens bolstered themselves at wide receiver by trading for Anquan...

Commissioner reduces Roethlisberger's suspension to four games (Yahoo! Sports)
As most people expected, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the decision today to reduce the six-game...

Quick Hits: Bradford is the real deal (Yahoo! Sports)
A few random thoughts from Week 4 of the preseason: -- St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford is going to do...

Maryland News
Links To Others
Maryland Blogger Alliance

National News
Support the Baltimore Reporter. Buy a C.D.



Thank You












Supporters
ConsignmentBee! Auctions


Advertise with Us!
Baltimore Reporter is looking for advertisers to help keep this site going. Email us here.
]
Please ignore the screen cleaner!