Freddie Mac chief warns of recession

Saskia Scholtes, David Wighton and Stacy-Marie Ishmael
Financial Times
Friday September 28, 2007

The US economy faces a 40 to 45 per cent risk of recession induced by the housing market downturn, the chief executive of Freddie Mac warned on Thursday as data showed sales of new homes hit a seven-year low in August.

Richard Syron, chief executive of the government-sponsored mortgage company, said the credit squeeze had left some parts of the US housing market “literally frozen”. This was a “substantial depressive to the overall economy”. He forecast the Federal Reserve would make another “material” cut in interest rates.

Mr Syron also predicted that Congress would bring some relief to the troubled US mortgage industry by lifting restraints on the operations of Freddie Mac and its sister mortgage company, Fannie Mae.

He said the $417,000 ceiling on the size of home loans they can buy was likely to be raised to help support the US mortgage market.

His comments came as data showed sales of new US homes plunging 8.3 per cent in August amid rising borrowing costs and tighter lending standards that have restricted the availability of mortgage credit.

KB Home, one of America’s biggest housebuilders, also warned that the housing market was likely to worsen next year as it posted a loss in its third quarter.

Thursday’s weak housing data from the Commerce Department show the number of unsold new homes fell only 1 per cent to 529,000 on the month, about 140,000 above levels in a healthy housing market. Median new home prices were down 7.5 per cent year-on-year to $225,700, the biggest fall since 1970.

? Separately, Freddie Mac has agreed to pay $50m to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it concealed wide swings in earnings from 1998 to 2002.

EU's Almunia says worried by dollar's fall

Jon Boyle
Reuters
Friday September 28, 2007

European Union Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he was concerned by the dollar's fall and urged the United States to match its stated support for a strong dollar with action.

"It's true that the fall in value of the dollar worries us," Almunia said in an interview with the Le Figaro newspaper published on Friday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on September 21 that a strong U.S. dollar was in American interests but Almunia told the paper: "From now on, we want a bit of coherence between speeches and actions."

The European Union had warned about the risks of excessive currency instability for the past four years but euro zone economies were not responsible for the situation, he said.

Unlike those of the United States and China, our current account is balanced. If it is a question of making us Europeans pay for the consequences of these imbalances, one cannot expect us to remain passive," he said.

Almunia said he had discussed the yuan with the Chinese authorities but that country's foreign exchange rate was still not flexible enough.

The dollar remained under pressure near record lows against the euro and a basket of currencies on Friday. The euro hit an all-time high of $1.4190 on electronic trading platform EBS and was trading at around $1.4165 at 0705 GMT.

Almunia told Le Figaro that while the strong euro was hurting some European exporters, the single currency's strength protected the euro zone from the impact of high oil prices.

ONE VOICE

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has waged a noisy campaign against the rise of the euro, blaming it for sluggish French growth and saying it was hurting exporters.

He has called on the European Central Bank to focus on boosting growth and jobs rather than just fighting inflation, a criticism roundly rejected by ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and largely shunned by other EU leaders.

"It is obvious that if we want to be heard by the European Central Bank, we must speak with one voice and in a disciplined way," Almunia said.

"There are reasons for France to be worried by the rise in the euro but one should not forget the other factors which explain the imbalances in the French trade balance," he said.

The EU commissioner said he would wait for French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde to present the French 2008 budget to an October Ecofin meeting before commenting on whether Paris was doing enough to reduce its budget deficit.

Almunia said at this stage he saw no reason to doubt France's willingness to respect its obligations, although he said Paris and Rome were creating difficulties in the euro zone because of the state of their public finances.

"I will continue to act so that Paris respects the undertakings made in Berlin last April," he said, referring to a pledge by the previous conservative government to reach a balanced budget by 2010. Sarkozy has said France will do so if growth allows, otherwise the budget will be balanced in 2012.

The European Commission would continue to monitor the situation, Almunia said, but added: "At this stage I do not expect recourse to any particular instrument.

"If in the future, we were faced with a situation that justified it, we will not hesitate to use the range of measures provided for in the treaty, like early warnings or the start of excessive deficit procedures.

"I would have no problem with that."

On markets turmoil, Almunia said he expected minimal impact on the European economy in 2007 and, while he expected the recovery to continue next year, risks had increased.

Report: Security on U.S.-Canada border fails terror test

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A terrorist wanting to smuggle radioactive material from Canada into the United States probably would find it easy to do, a new report from congressional investigators said.

A clearing through the forest marks the U.S.-Canada border near Beecher Falls, Vermont.

Government investigators were able to cross from Canada into the United States carrying a duffle bag with contents that looked like radioactive material and never encountered a law enforcement official, according to a report released Thursday by investigators from the Government Accountability Office.

"Our work clearly shows substantial vulnerabilities in the northern border to terrorist or criminals entering the United States undetected," the GAO's Greg Kutz testified Thursday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the topic.

"Although the southern border appears to be substantially more secure, we did identify several vulnerabilities on federally managed lands where there was no CBP [Customs and Border Protection] control."

The investigators made crossings from Canada into the United States three times in fall 2006, the report said. Watch GAO video of a man with a gym bag easily crossing into the U.S. from Canada »

In one of those instances, the GAO said, the Customs and Border Protection agency reported an alert citizen notified authorities of the suspicious activity of the undercover investigators and described their vehicle.

However, the report said the Border Patrol was not able to locate the rental vehicle.

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The GAO's task was to perform what it called a "limited security assessment to identify vulnerable border areas." The focus was on border ports where the U.S. government does not maintain a manned presence 24 hours a day and has no apparent monitoring equipment in place. The study was meant to simulate how easy it would be to cross the border with radioactive material or similar items.

Senators voiced concern about the report's findings during Thursday's hearing.

"There may not be an awful lot of crossings across the northern border, but the vulnerability is obvious. ... Are you going to reassess it and redeploy personnel based upon the vulnerability of the northern border?" Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee, pointedly asked Ronald Colburn, national deputy chief of the Border Patrol.

"We already knew this, senator," Colburn answered. "This is not a surprise report to us."

He defended the priorities set by the Border Patrol, pointing out that a vast majority of the traffic coming into the United States comes across the southern border, not the northern one.

He also testified that federal authorities are making progress toward getting operational control of both borders.

"We are getting there," Colburn said. "We are bringing manpower. We are bringing ... unmanned aerial vehicles. We are bringing aircrafts. We are bringing boats, and we are bringing more manpower and sensing systems."

Investigators also noted several ports of entry have posted daytime hours and are not manned overnight.

In addition, the GAO investigators identified a security vulnerability regarding federally managed land adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border.

"These areas did not appear to be monitored or have a manned [Border Patrol] presence during the time our investigators visited the sites," the report said.

While the U.S.-Mexican border has received much of the national attention lately with the recent debate over illegal immigration, the report pointed out the dramatic disparity in the law enforcement presence at crossings there versus ones between the United States and Canada.

As of May, the U.S. government had 972 Border Patrol agents on the northern border but almost 12,000 on the southern one. The United States and Canada share more than 5,000 miles of border, while the U.S. and Mexico share 1,900 miles.

The border report was the second in two days to show how terrorists might find ways to strike the United States.

CNN reported on Wednesday that the U.S. electrical grid could be vulnerable to a cyber attack that would make generators self-destruct.

Euro hits record high against dollar

LONDON (AFP) — The euro set another record high against the dollar on Thursday as dealers waited nervously for the latest round of data on the United States economy.

The European single currency hit 1.4166 dollars, beating its previous record of 1.4162 that was set on Wednesday.

Dealers said the foreign exchange market was jittery ahead of final US second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures and new-home sales due out later Thursday amid speculation about more US interest rate cuts.

In recent days, the dollar hit a series of historic lows against the euro as dealers tracked the outlook for the shaky American economy after the US Federal Reserve slashed borrowing costs to 4.75 percent last week.

"The dollar is unlikely to get a breather today," said Commerzbank analyst Gavin Friend on Thursday.

"A moderate downward revision of the Q2 US GDP and particularly falling new homes sales will generate further selling pressure for the dollar, since in the current environment investors are reacting sensitively to negative US economic data.

"Even though markets are to a certain extent preempting the effects of the (subprime) financial crisis on the US economy ... we expect notably weaker US data towards the end of the year."

The Fed last week dropped its main interest rate from 5.25 percent to 4.75 percent in a bid to galvanise the embattled US economy, which has been battered by the crisis in the "subprime" home loan sector.

Lower US borrowing costs reduces interest in the dollar and boosts the attractiveness of the euro.

Saudis worried Iran nuclear issue headed to 'confrontation'

AFP
Thursday September 27, 2007

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said here Wednesday that Iran's standoff with Western powers over its nuclear program is heading toward a "confrontation."

Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal met in New York with other Gulf foreign ministers as well as the chief diplomats of Jordan and Egypt, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"We talked certainly about Iran with the Secretary Rice," Prince Saud told reporters.

"Definitely what we are seeing is a confrontation in the making," the prince said.

"And we have pressed in our mutual discussions with the Iranians the question on them: 'Why such a precipitous move toward confrontation, what is your intent in this?' And their answer was that they are not looking for confrontation or building nuclear weapons."

He said Saudi Arabia is "very concerned" about Iran's nuclear program, which Western powers charge is a cover for building an atomic bomb. Tehran rejects the charge, saying it only seeks to produce energy.

Prince Saud said Tehran must prove its program is peaceful.

"We hope that, if anything, that this will be settled through negotiations," he said. "The region is volatile and a conflict in that region is the most dangerous thing to conceive and therefore we hope it can be solved diplomatically."

Missouri: Police Stake Out Brett Darrow Home

The Newspaper
Thursday September 26, 2007

A young Saint Louis, Missouri motorist faces trouble with local police upset at the national attention his September 7 video of an out-of-control officer has drawn to ongoing problems within area law enforcement agencies. On Sunday, Brett Darrow filmed a Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department cruiser staking out his home.

"It was the first time I've seen it," Darrow told TheNewspaper. "But my neighbor said he's seen a lot of police down our dead end street since all of this happened."

When Darrow walked outside to his 1997 Nissan Maxima, he noticed two officers sitting in a marked squad car, numbered 65. There is little question as to why the officers were there.

"As I got into the car, he started to pull up the street and he and his partner just stared me down," Darrow explained.

The patrol car drove away as Darrow started his car and followed. Because his camera had been set to capture night-time footage, the first 45 seconds of the video is obscured. It does, however, capture the police car making questionable turning maneuvers in order to get away. Members of the police community are on the record regarding their desire to stake out Darrow's home and harass the twenty-year-old. In late June, users of St. Louis CopTalk, an unofficial forum for Saint Louis area law enforcement, posted Darrow's home address along with messages containing apparent death threats in retaliation for the young motorist's taping of a DUI roadblock in November and a traffic ticket in June. One CopTalk user repeating the address wrote, "Every copper, City and County, should etch this little punks [sic] name in their [sic] memory. Brett Darrow, [address deleted], city of St. Louis." (View screen capture of post)

This month, however, scandals within the Saint Louis Police Department which otherwise would have been a local story, gathered national attention and fueled additional resentment. Some $40,000 in cash turned up "missing" from the police evidence room on September 17. The city of St. George was forced to fire Sergeant James Kuehnlein for his threat to "come up with reasons" to "lock up" Darrow. An investigation into whether Kuehnlein's actions merit criminal charges is under way. Darrow met on Monday with a Saint Louis County Police Department detective.

"I quickly learned that this was about finding something I did wrong and not the officer," Darrow said.

Despite the official harassment, Darrow has been comforted by an unexpected level of support from the general public. Motorists who recognized him from various television interviews have stopped to thank him or give him the "thumbs up." A judge also dropped charges from the June traffic stop after a Saint Louis police officer failed to show up at a trial where Darrow had been prepared to defend himself with video evidence.

View stalking video.

Jon Stewart tells Bolivian president America's elections are 'rigged'

Mike Aivaz and Jason Rhyne
Raw Story
Thursday September 27, 2007

Bolivian president Evo Morales and his translator joined Jon Stewart to discuss the leader's rise from poor farmer to Bolivia's "first indigenous president." Morales also made use of the the opportunity to take some jabs at America and the West.

"I understand that all have rights. It's not just intellectuals and professionals who can become president," Morales said through translation. "People who have other experiences, who have a working life as well, can become president. Therefore indigenous persons can also become president."

"In Bolivia," Steward deadpanned. "In America, it's a little rigged."

"So if it's rigged, then something needs to be done to change that," the leader said.

Discussing Morales's accomplishments, Stewart noted that the president's campaign promises, which had included pledges to nationalize resources, convene a constitutional assembly and institute agrarian reform, were all completed within eight months of his election.

"What are you trying to pull?" Stewart asked.

"On the issue of nationalization of oil and gas," Morales said, "in 2005, before I came president, the Bolivian state received only 300 million dollars from its oil and gas exports. And now since they've been nationalized, the Bolivian state receives more than two billion dollars. Therefore, we followed through on what we promised."

"We are going forward with the idea of a multi-cultural state," he continued, "a multi-national state, trying to live in unity at the same time respecting our diversity."

"We're so diverse, there are blue and green-eyed people like you,"the president joked, pointing at Stewart.

Responding to a question about the US and its relationship with countries including Venezuela and Cuba, Morales said the nations should come together to think about "how we can support life and human kind."

"It should be the millennium of life," he said.

"I personally know that there are presidents in countries who send troops abroad to save lives," Morales added later in the program, "but there are also countries who send troops abroad to take away lives. If we compare these two things...certainly we're going to the conclusion that these policies must change."

"And please don't consider me to part of the axis of evil," he begged.

The following video is from Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, broadcast on September 25, 2007

73,000 Dead U.S. Troops In Iraq Story a Complete Hoax

Websites pushing deliberate dsinformation harmful to serious researchers

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Thursday, September 27, 2007

All but the most naive would accept that U.S. casualty figues in Iraq, both dead and injured, are being deliberately underreported, but a story circulating that 73,000 have died is a complete hoax and its advocates are disseminating harmful disinformation.

The worst of the bunch is probably this website, which claims that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a report "confirming 73,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq."

If you actually read the report it becomes clear that the figure represents how many veterans, whether retired or active duty, have died since the first Gulf War in 1990 - from any cause and not solely as a result of fighting in Iraq. The figure is merely a rough head count of how many veterans are still living compared to those that have died since 1990.

Indeed, over 55,000 of the deaths are listed under the ERA category - which means they were never even deployed to Iraq during their militay service.

The fact that 73,000 veterans have died since 1990 does not mean that they were all killed while fighting in Iraq and to report such an assertion is to disseminate a deliberate hoax.

This disinformation is harmful to those who are seriously trying to verify if the Pentagon's death toll figures are accurate and will only be used by Neo-Cons as ammunition to claim that people who question troop casualty figures are all using flawed data and skewing figures.

U.S. Government About to be Broke

CNN
Thursday September 27, 2007

With the end of the government fiscal year approaching, President Bush has criticized Congress, saying that they have "not sent a single appropriations bill to my desk, not one..." Appropriations provide funding for the governments day-to-day affairs.

"Congress needs to pass these annual spending bills. And if they need more time, I urge them to pass a clean continuing resolution," added the President. A continuing resolution would provide funding at current levels, without approving a new budget.

The apparent disparity in the current proposed budget is around $22 billion requested by Democrats, less than 1 percent of the current budget. Democrats struck back to the Presidents comments, pointing out Bush's 3 trillion dollars of new debt.

Full CNN Article here.

Philadelphia Fed President Reduces Heat On Dollar

Peter Garnham
Financial Times
Thursday September 27, 2007

The dollar pulled back from a record low against the euro on Wednesday as hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official gave the beleaguered greenback some respite.

The dollar fell to a fresh all-time low against the single currency for the fifth consecutive session, hitting $1.4162 early in Asia trading.

But analysts said comments from Charles Plosser, Philadelphia Federal Reserve president, helped stem the tide of dollar selling.

Mr Plosser said it was a mistaken perception that the Fed had changed its policy approach, and that US interest rates would have to be adjusted if inflation picked up. He added that the recent Fed rate cut “runs the risk” of higher future inflation.

By midday in New York, the dollar rose 0.2 per cent to $1.4125 against the euro, climbed 0.4 per cent to SF1.1705 against the Swiss franc and gained 0.2 per cent to $2.0150 against the pound.

Mansoor Mohi-uddin at UBS said last week’s aggressive 50 basis point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve had reinvigorated markets around the globe, easing heightened levels of risk aversion sparked by the recent turmoil on the world’s credit markets.

“Paradoxically, it may have made it easier for other central banks to continue with their tightening cycle, putting downward pressure on the dollar via yield differentials,” he said.

Indeed, the Norwegian central bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 5 per cent on Wednesday, a move that had the market split down the middle in the run-up to the decision. The krone rose 0.2 per cent to Nkr7.7760 against the euro.

Meanwhile, the rebound in risk appetite put the low-yielding yen under pressure. It fell 0.7 per cent to Y115.55 against the dollar, lost 0.6 per cent to Y163.22 against the euro and dropped 1 per cent to Y86.10 against the New Zealand dollar.

The pound endured a volatile session, falling to a low of £0.7029 against the euro, its weakest level since January 2005, as worries over the health of the UK financial system continued.

But the pound rallied later to stand flat at £0.7005 against the single currency after the Bank of England announced it had received no bids for its £10bn auction of three-month funding, easing some concerns over liquidity problems in the UK money markets.

Elsewhere, the Saudi riyal fell 0.2 per cent to SR3.7400 against the dollar after the Saudi central bank said it had no plans to alter the currency’s SR3.75 peg against the greenback.

However, Gabriel Stein at Lombard Street Research said it was unlikely that speculation over a possible revaluation of the riyal would evaporate.

“The underlying problems cause by the peg – accelerating inflation fuelled by domestic overheating as well as by imported inflation – remain,” he said.

Myanmar protesters defy crackdown

Reuters
Thursday September 27, 2007

Police tear gas and baton charges have failed to quell the biggest anti-government protests to take place in Myanmar in 20-years

At least three people were killed, including two Buddhist monks, as decades of pent up frustration at almost half a century of miltary rule in the former Burma produced the biggest crowds yet during a month of street protests.

Helen Long reports.

Saddam Offered Exile, But Neo-Cons Unleashed Carnage Anyway

What could have been saved? A trillion dollars, a million lives, the global reputation of the U.S. - but that wasn't the plan

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Thursday, September 27, 2007

Neo-Cons could have saved a trillion dollars, spared over a million lives and prevented tens of thousands of dead and injured U.S. soldiers but decided to unleash carnage anyway, after it was revealed last night that Saddam Hussein offered to step down and go into exile one month before the invasion of Iraq.

"Fearing defeat, Saddam was prepared to go peacefully in return for £500million ($1billion)," reports the Daily Mail.

"The extraordinary offer was revealed yesterday in a transcript of talks in February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the President's Texas ranch."

"The White House refused to comment on the report last night. But, if verified, it is certain to raise questions in Washington and London over whether the costly four-year war could have been averted."

According to the tapes, Bush told Aznar that whether Saddam was still in Iraq or not, "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

Why didn't the Neo-Cons take Saddam's offer? After all, the invasion was about "weapons of mass destruction" and "spreading freedom", we were told. With the dictator gone, the U.N. and American forces were free to roam the country in search of the non-existent weapons while setting up the "utopian democracy" that Iraqis now live under.

The Neo-Cons didn't take the offer because the invasion of Iraq was not about Saddam Hussein, it was about making fat profits for the military-industrial complex by bombing the country back into the stone age, slaughtering countless innocents in the process, seizing control of oil factories, and setting up military bases as a means of launching the Empire's next jaunt into Iran.

The invasion of Iraq was about having a justification to stay there indefinitely and break the country up into different pieces as was the plan all along.

Here's what $1 billion could have saved us.

- At least $200 million every single day that could have been spent on fighting poverty, building schools, taking men to Mars, ad infinitum.

- At least $1 trillion that the Iraq war will eventually cost if we ever leave. A trillion is a million millions.

- At least 1 million dead Iraqis according to the latest numbers, along with millions more that will die in the years to come as a result of depleted uranium poisoning, malnutrition, cholera and all manner of other horrors brought about by the invasion.

- Over 1.1 million displaced Iraqis who have been forced to leave their new "utopian democracy" and another million who have been forced to leave their homes due to sectarian violence and persecution.

- Over 3800 dead U.S. soldiers since the invasion began.

- 300 dead coalition soldiers since the invasion began.

- Anything from 23,000 to 100,000 injured U.S. soldiers since the invasion began.

- The reputation of the U.S. around the world as the most hated nation on earth.

- The ballooning deficit and the probable eventual collapse of the U.S. dollar and the economy.

Thanks Neo-Cons - I hope it was worth it.

Bush threatened nations that did not back Iraq war: report

MADRID (AFP) — US President George W. Bush threatened nations with retaliation if they did not vote for a UN resolution backing the Iraq war, according to a transcript published Wednesday of a conversation he had with former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

In the transcript of a meeting on February 22, 2003 -- a month before the US-led invasion of Iraq -- published in El Pais newspaper, Bush tells Aznar that nations such as Mexico, Angola, Chile and Cameroon must know that the security of the United States is at stake.

He says during the meeting on his ranch in Texas that Angola stood to lose financial aid while Chile could see a free trade agreement held up in the US Senate if they did not back the resolution, the left-wing paper said.

The confidential transcript was prepared by Spain's ambassador to the United States at the time, Javier Ruperez, the paper said.

The White House did not challenge the accuracy of the transcript, with national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe declining to comment.

Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, Washington unsuccessfully lobbied the 15 members of the UN Security Council for a second resolution paving the way for military action against Iraq if Saddam Hussein failed to comply with demands to disarm.

But during the meeting with Aznar, Bush made it clear the US would invade Iraq by the end of March 2003 whether or not there was a UN resolution to authorize it, El Pais reported.

"We have to get rid of Saddam. There are two weeks left. In two weeks we will be ready militarily. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March," Bush said in the transcript which was translated into Spanish by the newspaper.

"We can win without destruction. We are already planning a post-Saddam Iraq and I think there is a good basis for a better future. Iraq has a good bureaucracy and a relatively robust civil society," he added.

During the meeting Aznar tells Bush that he is worried by the US president's optimism.

"I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself," Bush responded according to the transcript.

Bush also told Aznar that Saddam wanted to go into exile.

"The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take one billion dollars (700 million euros) and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Asked by Aznar whether Saddam could leave with a guarantee that he would not be prosecuted, Bush replied: "No guarantee. He is a thief, a terrorist, a war criminal."

"Compared to Saddam, (former Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosovic is a Mother Teresa. When we go in we are going to find many more criminals and take them to the International Court of Justice in The Hague," he added.

Bush said Saddam could be assassinated or even be ousted from power.

"For me that would be the perfect solution. I don't want war," he said in a reference to Saddam's possible ousting from power, while estimating that the operation to remove his regime by force would cost some 50 billion dollars.

Prof. Peter Dale Scott publishes: "9/11 Commission Deception, Cheney’s Actions on 9/11, and Why He Should Testify Under Oath"

9/11 Blogger
Thursday September 27, 2007

Professor Peter Dale Scott has written an insightful and provocative paper, published today in the Journal of 9/11 Studies. Excerpts from the paper:

"The 9/11 Commission Report is an example of concerted cover-up, partly by omissions, and just as importantly by its cherry-picking of evidence to create impressions that are in fact authoritatively disputed, and in some cases probably not true. There are many examples of cherry-picking and contrived simulations of fact. More importantly, there is a consistent pattern in this: to minimize Cheney’s responsibility for what happened that day."

"In this presentation I have focused on anomalies in the behavior, especially on 9/11, of Richard Cheney. He, and Donald Rumsfeld and others, should testify, under oath, about

1) The June 1 JCS Order requiring highest-level approvals for intercepts of off-course planes,

2) The contested time of Cheney’s arrival in the Presidential bunker,

3) Cheney’s orders with respect to a plane approaching Washington, and did this occur around 9:27 AM (as testified to by Mineta), or 10:15 AM (as per the 9/11 Report)?

4) Cheney’s call or calls with Rumsfeld and the President before or about 10 AM, and did they discuss so-called “Continuity of Government” (COG), including warrantless surveillance, suspension of habeas corpus, and arrangements for mass detention.?

The story the Report presented was embarrassing enough: of a trillion dollar defence system that broke down on 9/11, and completely failed to perform its allotted function. But the Report’s systematic and repeated distortions lead one to suspect that some even more embarrassing truth is being concealed, and that this truth has to do with orders given on that day by the Vice President.

I believe that COG may be the answer to the mystery question about Cheney’s actions at a time when he was talking to the President and Rumsfeld. If so, the three men were almost certainly not acting on their own. Rather, they would have been key figures in a highly classified agenda that must have involved other people.

The question to be explored is whether that agenda involved revising the U.S. constitutional balance of powers, and whether Cheney on 9/11 was primarily occupied in exploiting the attacks as a means to implement an agenda of constitutional revision which he already had in place.

The 911 Commission decided that its supporting evidence and records should be withheld from public view until January 2, 2009 – a date which would obviously insure the President and Vice-President from possible impeachment. But many would concede that since 9/11, and as a result of 9/11, the American nation has drifted towards a constitutional crisis, requiring a change of policy direction. The issues posed by what happened on 9/11 are very relevant to this crisis, and too significant to be postponed until 2009. As it did belatedly in the case of the John F. Kennedy assassination, Congress should initiate a procedure for these records to be reviewed and released expeditiously.

Records that should be released would include all of the phone logs from the White House on 9/11, to determine, as a matter of priority, the precise time and circumstances of Cheney’s orders on that day. They would also include materials (such as COG files and the videotape of the White House teleconference) that the Commission apparently never requested. The public also needs to establish why other records requested by the Commission did not initially reach them.

And then, I believe, it would be appropriate for a venue to be established in which the Vice President would testify for the first time about 9/11 under oath."

I'm confident you will want to read Prof. Scott's paper, here.

Poll: US troop surge ineffective

Press TV
Thursday September 27, 2007

A poll indicates most of the Americans believe the US troop surge in Iraq has not had any effect on security in the war-torn country.

45 percent of the respondents believed the recent increase in US troops did not make any difference in situation in Iraq, while only 17 percent said the troop surge had led to major improvements, the Opinion Dynamics' poll released by Fox News and published in Angus Reid Website indicates.
Meanwhile, 32 percent believe the rise in the number of US troops in Iraq has caused slight improvement in Iraq security.

42 percent of the respondents believe the US forces should leave Iraq within a year, as laid out in a report by US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus, while 22 percent say the troops must immediately leave the country.

24 percent said the US should withdraw its troops when the Iraqi forces are able to take control of the situation and only two percent believe more troops should be sent. 10 percent of the respondents refused to comment.

Some 900 people took part in the opinion poll, which was conducted on August 21 and 22 by phone

Key provsions of Patriot Act unconstitutional, says judge

AP
Thursday September 27, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore. - Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment."

Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield sought the ruling in a lawsuit against the federal government after he was mistakenly linked by the FBI to the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in 2004.

The federal government apologized and settled part of the lawsuit for $2 million after admitting a fingerprint was misread. But as part of the settlement, Mayfield retained the right to challenge parts of the Patriot Act, which greatly expanded the authority of law enforcers to investigate suspected acts of terrorism.

Mayfield claimed that secret searches of his house and office under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act violated the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure. Aiken agreed with Mayfield, repeatedly criticizing the government.

"For over 200 years, this Nation has adhered to the rule of law — with unparalleled success. A shift to a Nation based on extra-constitutional authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised," she wrote.

By asking her to dismiss Mayfield's lawsuit, the judge said, the U.S. attorney general's office was "asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. This court declines to do so."

Elden Rosenthal, an attorney for Mayfield, issued a statement on his behalf praising the judge, saying she "has upheld both the tradition of judicial independence, and our nation's most cherished principle of the right to be secure in one's own home."

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the agency was reviewing the decision, and he declined to comment further.

Received apology from FBI
Mayfield, a Muslim convert, was taken into custody on May 6, 2004, because of a fingerprint found on a detonator at the scene of the Madrid bombing. The FBI said the print matched Mayfield's. He was released about two weeks later, and the FBI admitted it had erred in saying the fingerprints were his and later apologized to him.

Before his arrest, the FBI put Mayfield under 24-hour surveillance, listened to his phone calls and surreptitiously searched his home and law office.

The Mayfield case has been an embarrassment for the federal government. Last year, the Justice Department's internal watchdog faulted the FBI for sloppy work in mistakenly linking Mayfield to the Madrid bombings. That report said federal prosecutors and FBI agents had made inaccurate and ambiguous statements to a federal judge to get arrest and criminal search warrants against Mayfield.

US Military Official: Blackwater "May Be Worse Than Abu Ghraib"

Steve Benen
Alternet
Thursday September 27, 2007

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

To describe the ongoing Blackwater scandal as a fiasco would be a dramatic understatement. Not only do we have a situation in which private security contractors stand accused of killing Iraqi civilians without provocation, we also have deep divisions brewing between the Pentagon and the State Department, coupled by State stonewalling a congressional investigation.

A confrontation between the U.S. military and the State Department is unfolding over the involvement of Blackwater USA in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians in a Baghdad square Sept. 16, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions between the military and private security companies in Iraq, according to U.S. military and government officials.

In high-level meetings over the past several days, U.S. military officials have pressed State Department officials to assert more control over Blackwater, which operates under the department's authority, said a U.S. government official with knowledge of the discussions. "The military is very sensitive to its relationship that they've built with the Iraqis being altered or even severely degraded by actions such as this event," the official said.

"This is a nightmare," said a senior U.S. military official. "We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term."

At this point, the State Department seems to be treating Blackwater contractors as the agency's own private army, accountable to no one outside the department. The Maliki government believes Blackwater is a criminal enterprise, the Iraqi people resent Blackwater's presence, the Pentagon believes Blackwater is lying about the Sept. 16 incident in Nisoor Square, and congressional Democrats have questions about what has transpired -- which the State Department refuses to answer.

This is a debacle so severe and humiliating, only the Bush administration could pull it off.

David Kurtz offers this helpful timeline of events that sets the stage for where we are now.

Sun, Sept. 16: Blackwater incident in which 11 Iraqi civilians are killed after State Department convoy reportedly comes under fire, an account disputed by the Iraqis.

Mon, Sept. 17: Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee announces his committee will investigate the Blackwater incident.

Tue, Sept. 18: The American Embassy in Baghdad suspends diplomatic convoys outside the Green Zone.

Wed, Sept. 19: In a phone call, Acting Assistant Secretary of State William Moser warns Blackwater that no information regarding the Blackwater contract can be released without State's prior written approval.

Thu, Sept. 20: Moser repeats the warning in a second call to Blackwater, and State sends Blackwater a follow-up letter again asserting again that the information possessed by Blackwater belongs to State and cannot be disclosed.

Fri, Sept. 21: The four-day suspension of State Department convoys ends and Blackwater resumes business. Secretary of State Condi Rice announces that her department will undertake a "full and complete review" of diplomatic security in Iraq.

And while it's certainly nice of Rice to suddenly take an interest in accountability, Congress, which has oversight responsibility and is paying the bills for all of this, believes a bipartisan review on Capitol Hill will produce a more accurate picture of what's transpired.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not only refuses to cooperate, her office has also ordered Blackwater not to answer any questions from lawmakers.

The State Department has interceded in a congressional investigation of Blackwater USA, the private security firm accused of killing Iraqi civilians last week, ordering the company not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without approval from the Bush administration, according to documents revealed Tuesday.

In a letter sent to a senior Blackwater executive Thursday, a State Department contracting official ordered the company "to make no disclosure of the documents or information" about its work in Iraq without permission.

I appreciate the fact that outrage fatigue is inevitable when dealing with the Bush gang, but this is truly ridiculous. We have American taxpayers financing a private security army, whose members stand accused of slaughtering civilians. The Secretary of State believes no one should ask any questions about this, and those who do must be ignored. It's pure lunacy.

The State Department's cooperation with a congressional inquiry is not optional. Rice can't simply refuse to divulge information, and ordering others to remain silent is getting fairly close to the obstruction-of-justice line.

When these guys act like they have something to hide, it's almost always because they have something to hide. Stay tuned.

Congress debate begins on North American Union

WND
September 25, 2007

A House resolution urging President Bush “not to go forward with the North American Union or the NAFTA Superhighway system” is – according to its sponsor Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., in an exclusive WND interview – “also a message to both the executive branch and the legislative branch.”

As WND previously reported, on Jan. 22 Goode introduced H.C.R. 40, titled “Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.”

The bill has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

WND asked Goode if the president was risking electoral success for the Republican Party in 2008 with his insistence on pushing for North American integration via the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP.

“Yes,” Goode answered. “You won’t hear the leadership in the Republic Party admit it, but there are many in the House and Senate who know that illegal immigration has to be stopped and legal immigration has to be reduced. We are giving away the country so a few very rich people can get richer.”

How did he react when President Bush referred to those who suggest the SPP could turn into the North American Union as “conspiracy theorists”?

“The president is really engaging in a play on words,” Goode responded. “The secretary of transportation came before our subcommittee,” he explained, “and I had the opportunity to ask her some questions about the NAFTA Superhighway. Of course, she answered, ‘There’s no NAFTA Superhighway.’ But then Mary Peters proceeded to discuss the road system that would come up from Mexico and go through the United States up into Canada.”

Goode is a member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development of the House Committee on Appropriations.

“So, I think that saying we’re ‘conspiracy theorists’ or something like that is really just a play on words with the intent to demonize the opposition,” Goode concluded.

Goode stressed that the Bush administration supports both a NAU regional government and a NAFTA Superhighway system: “The Bush administration as well as Mexico and Canada have persons in the government in all three countries who want to a see a North American Union as well as a highway system that would bring goods into the west coast of Mexico and transport them up through Mexico into the United States and then in onto Canada,” Goode confirmed.

The Virginia congressman said he believes the motivation behind the movement toward North American integration is the anticipated profits the large multinational corporations in each of the three countries expect to make from global trade, especially moving production to China.

“Some really large businesses that get a lot from China would like a NAFTA Superhighway system because it would reduce costs for them to transport containers from China and, as a result, increase their margins,” he argued.

“I am vigorously opposed to the Mexican trucks coming into the country,” Goode continued. “The way we have done it and, I think, the way we should do it in the future, is to have the goods come into the United States from Mexico within a 20-mile commercial space and unloaded from Mexican trucks into U.S. trucks. This procedure enhances the safety of the country, the security of the country, and provides much less chance for illegal immigration.”

As WND reported, the Department of Transportation has begun a Mexican truck “demonstration project” under which 100 Mexican trucking companies are being allowed to run their long-haul rigs throughout the U.S.

Previously, Mexican trucks have been limited to a 20-mile commercial zone in the United States, with the requirement that goods bound for locations in the U.S. beyond the 20-mile commercial zone be off-loaded to U.S. trucks.

WND reported last month that Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., successfully offered an amendment to the Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2008 appropriations bill to block DOT from spending any federal funds to implement the truck project.

Dorgan’s amendment passed 75-23, after Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., changed her vote to support Dorgan.

By a voice vote, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., to the DOT appropriations bill comparable to Dorgan’s, designed to block the agency from using federal funds to implement the truck project.

DeFazio chairs the House transportation subcommittee that oversees motor carriers.

“With the Trans-Texas Corridor, which I would say is part of the NAFTA Superhighway system, and with this NAFTA plot with the Mexican trucks just coming in and not loading off to U.S. trucks, they will just drive right over the Rio Grande and come on over into Texas,” Goode argued. “A lot of these Mexican trucks will be bring containerized cargo from the west coast of Mexico where they will be unloaded in Mexican ports to avoid the fees and costs of unloading at U.S. ports.”

“So, when you look at the total package,” he continued, “we do have a NAFTA Superhighway system already in place. There are those in all three countries that believe we should have a North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, in my opinion takes us down that road. And I am vigorously opposed to the loss of our sovereignty.”

Why, WND asked, do so many congressmen and senators insist on writing and telling their constituents that they don’t know anything about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or that SPP working groups are really just to increase our competitiveness?

“In the House, a strong majority voted to provide no money in the transportation funding bill,” Goode responded. “I commend Congressman Duncan Hunter for submitting an amendment to the Department of Transportation funding bill [which] got over 360 votes that said no funds in the transportation appropriation measure, prohibiting Department of Transportation funds from being used to participate on working groups that promote the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”

As WND reported, Hunter’s amendment to the FY 2008 Department of Transportation funding bill prohibiting DOT from using federal funds to participate in SPP working groups creating NAFTA Superhighways passed 362 to 63, with strong bipartisan support. The House approved H.R. 3074 by 268-153, with the Hunter amendment included.

“So, I think a majority the House, if you had an up or down vote on the SPP, would vote down on the SPP,” Goode concluded. “But some still say, and it’s a play on words, that we don’t have a Security and Prosperity Partnership that will lead to a North American Union. I don’t think they can say anymore that we don’t have a Security and Prosperity Partnership arrangement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, because that was done in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005, and the recent meeting at Montebello was to talk about it further.”

WND asked Goode to comment on the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC, a group of multinational corporations selected by the Chambers of Commerce in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. as the central adviser of SPP working groups.

At the SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec, the NACC met behind closed doors with the three leaders, cabinet secretaries who were present, and top SPP working group bureaucrats, while various public advocacy groups, environmental groups, labor unions – and the press – were excluded.

Should SPP working group meetings be open to the public?

“I wish they were,” Goode responded. “If it is as the Bush administration says, ‘We’re not planning any North American Union,’ then why wouldn’t those meetings be open, why wouldn’t you let the media in?” Goode asked.

“But some of the very big corporations want the goods from China to come in here unchecked,” he continued. “It costs money for U.S. trucks to transport Chinese goods from West Coast ports like Los Angeles or Long Beach. But if you can have a Mexican truck and Mexican truck driver, that’s going to be cheaper. And it’s all about the margins. The margins relate directly to how much money the multi-national corporations are going to make.”

Has the Senate debate on the Dorgan amendment brought the issues of the NAU and NAFTA Superhighways more to the attention of the Senate?

“I think so,” Goode said. “That debate had a very positive effect. You had grassroots support calling the Senate on the Dorgan amendment.

“The Bush administration engages in the same play of words with all these issues,” Goode added. “Take a look at the Kennedy-McCain comprehensive immigration reform, which the Bush administration has now tried to jam through the Senate not once, but twice.

“The Bush administration claims it’s not [amnesty] when you let someone stay in the country and give them a path to citizenship,” Goode pointed out. “Well, that’s their definition, not my definition, and not the definition of the majority of the public. The majority of the public called in and buried the amnesty bill because of public pressure. Public pressure also got de-funded the pilot program on Mexican trucks in this country.”

So should the U.S. pull out of the SPP?

“Yes,” Goode answered, “but the best way to end SPP would be to have a chief executive that wouldn’t do anything with it.”

What does Goode think of the state legislatures that are passing anti-NAU, anti-NAFTA Superhighway and anti-SPP resolutions?

“If enough state legislatures pass resolutions like that, it surely should have an impact on the House and the Senate,” Goode said.

“President Bush’s position is that we need to carry out NAFTA and we need to have this free flow of goods with Mexico and Canada,” Goode explained. “Well, Bush’s approach involves a derogation of our sovereignty and it also undermines the security and the safety of the country.

“It will be much easier for a truck to get a container on the west coast of Mexico and haul in a biological or radiological or nuclear weapon than it would be if you are going to have to unload the trucks on the Texas-Mexico border and put the goods and material in a U.S. truck,” he continued.

“The problem is that the NAU, NAFTA Superhighways and SPP all go back to money,” Goode stressed. “The multinational companies want their goods from Mexico and China because they want the cheap labor.”

What about the U.S.’s large and growing trade imbalance with China?

“I don’t want to have to be an ‘I told you so’ person,” Goode answered, “but I was a vigorous opponent of PNTR (”permanent normal trade relations”) and before that of ‘most favored nation’ trade status with China. We need tariffs and quotas with China. Personally, if I know food is coming in from China, I won’t buy it. The American people with the adoption of COOL, country of origin labeling, with the food clearly labeled, I think you will see the American public will shy away from Chinese products.”

In 2000, Congress voted to extend to China PNTR. “Most favored nation” or MFN trade status, was given to China first in 1980 by the Carter administration. COOL rules are administered by the Department of Agriculture.

Goode concluded the interview by thanking WND for covering the SPP, NAU and NAFTA Superhighway issues: “I want to thank you for putting these issues out where people can read it,” Goode said. “You have enlightened hundreds of thousands if not millions of American citizens who otherwise would have been greatly in the dark on the SPP.”

Housing Chill Grows Worse, Bites Consumers

By SUDEEP REDDY and MICHAEL CORKERY
September 26, 2007
WALL STREET JOURNAL

The housing market is going into a deeper chill, and consumers are starting to shiver.

Sales of existing homes in August fell sharply, and home inventories by one measure soared to an 18-year high, according to data released yesterday. One major home builder, D.R. Horton Inc., is auctioning homes this weekend with starting prices for some units at 50% off an earlier price.

The housing market is worrying consumers, raising fresh concerns about economic growth. Consumer confidence fell this month to its lowest level in almost two years, a new survey showed. Retailers such as Lowe's Cos. and Target Corp. said they're feeling the pain. Both reported softer-than-expected sales Monday.

"The combination of all this is indicative of an economy that has lost quite a bit of momentum," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at the consulting firm MFR Inc., an economic forecasting firm that advises investors.

Wall Street seems unconcerned for now. Broad stock indexes moved little yesterday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is just a few hundred points from its all-time high.

Optimists believe the Federal Reserve's aggressive move last week to cut interest rates will help keep the economy out of recession. Also, exports are rising, thanks to a weaker dollar, and business investment is holding up.

Still, the pace of housing's downturn is accelerating, surprising even some bearish analysts.

Lennar Corp., the nation's second-largest home builder by market value, reported a net loss of $514 million for the quarter ended Aug. 31. That was nearly six times the loss Wall Street analysts on average had expected, and compared with net income of $207 million a year earlier. The company was forced to write down the value of land and write off deposits for land it no longer wants to build on. The writedowns totaled $847.5 million in the quarter. Lennar said it has cut its work force by 35% since last year.

REAL TIME ECONOMICS

• Read more about the decline in home prices at WSJ.com's Real Time Economics blog.

Lennar shares fell 4% and have lost more than half their value this year.

Chief Executive Stuart Miller said the problems are broad-based and stem from an oversupply of homes, turmoil in the mortgage market and weak consumer confidence. "We have not only not seen evidence of any of these items resolving, but instead we have seen further deterioration," Mr. Miller told investors and analysts during a conference call.

Overall, sales of existing homes tumbled 4.3% in August to an annual pace of 5.5 million, the slowest in five years, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. More worrisome: The number of homes for sale is enough to satisfy 10 months of demand at the current pace. Two years ago the figure was below five months. Analysts cite excess supply in forecasting that an upturn in sales and prices may not come until 2009.

Home prices in July fell 3.9% from a year earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. The index, which tracks prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas, hadn't measured that big of a decline since just after the 1990-91 recession.

The bottom is "not yet in sight" for housing, said Mr. Shapiro, the economist. He said the growing number of unsold homes "argues for accelerating declines of prices."

The worsening housing slump and turmoil in the credit markets is beginning to take a toll on retailers. Lowe's Chief Executive Robert Niblock, addressing analysts and investors at a conference in Charlotte, N.C., yesterday, refused to hazard a guess on when the housing slowdown will bottom. "The only thing that is consistent is the inaccuracies of the economic forecasts," he said. Late Monday, Lowe's reduced its earnings outlook for this year and 2008. Its shares fell 6.7% yesterday.

Other well-regarded retailers are missing forecasts. Target on Monday lowered its estimate for September sales. In August, Costco Wholesale Corp.'s sales at stores open at least a year rose just 1%, much lower than its original forecast. It cited weakness in California, which has been hard-hit by the housing slowdown. Target mentioned soft sales in the Northeast and Florida.

The Conference Board said yesterday that its index of consumer confidence dropped to 99.8 in September from 105.6 in August, putting it at the lowest point since November 2005. The survey ended on Sept. 18, the day the Fed lowered interest rates by half a percentage point. The share of consumers reporting jobs as "hard to get" rose to 22.1% from 19.7%.

"Looking ahead, little economic improvement is expected," said Lynn Franco, who directs the Conference Board survey.

Builders are divided on how drastically to cut prices to put a dent in supply. Earlier this month, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. held a 72-hour weekend sale nationwide, dubbed "The Deal of the Century," and offered discounts of up to 30% on certain homes. The company sold 2,100 homes during the promotion, about 10 times the usual weekly number. Hovnanian executives said that demonstrates buyers will come if the price is right.

On Saturday, D.R. Horton is using an auction to sell 53 homes in San Diego. The starting bid for some units will be as much as 50% lower than previous prices, according to the auction Web site. On a one-bedroom unit, the starting bid is $149,000, down from a previous price of $309,990.

Lennar's Mr. Miller questioned the wisdom of deep discounts, saying he's not willing to match some of the incentives offered by competitors. He said some recent price cuts were "just unrealistic and maybe even ridiculous."

Lennar's average home price nationally declined 6% in the third quarter to $296,000 from $316,000 from a year ago. Its average incentive per home -- a figure that includes extra amenities and price discounts -- increased to $46,000 from $36,000 a year ago.

Individual home owners have been slower than builders to bring down their prices to match demand, but that may be changing as the housing slump worsens. "The existing-home market is moving much more rapidly to adjust downward," Mr. Miller said.

The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that the median national home price was $224,500 in August, up 0.2% from $224,000 in August 2006. Those numbers can be skewed by the mix of homes sold in a particular month. Economists say the Case-Shiller index is less vulnerable to that distortion because it tracks the sales of individual homes over time.

Mortgage companies are scaling back loans to people who have poor credit or can't document their income, while looking to make more loans that can be insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

That trend showed up in Lennar's figures. In the third quarter, 25% of buyers using Lennar's in-house mortgage company used an "Alt-A" mortgage, a category between prime and subprime that often requires little documentation, down from 41% a year earlier. The proportion of FHA-insured loans rose to 25% from 12%.

"The days of no verification, no down payment and low credit scores are past," said Lennar's chief financial officer, Bruce Gross.

--Ann Zimmerman contributed to this article.

Sarkozy calls for UN-led 'new world order'

DPA
Wednesday September 26, 2007

New York - The United Nations should avail itself as an instrument for a "new world order of the 21st century," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday in his first address to the General Assembly. Sarkozy, who won the presidency this year on a strong reform platform to modernize France, urged the world body to embark on programmes ranging from equal wealth distribution to fighting corruption in his speech full of references to France's past revolutionary ideals.

"In the name of France, I call upon all states to join ranks in order to found the new world order of the 21st century on the notion that the common goods that belong to all of humankind must be the common responsibility for us all," he told the General Assembly.

The UN should ensure access for all human beings to vital resources, such as water, energy, food, medication and knowledge, he said. He called for "more morality" in "financial capitalism" and a fairer distribution of profits, earnings in commodities, raw materials and new technologies.

"There must be a change of mindset and behaviour," Sarkozy said in a long list of demands to the international community.

Known for his admiration of the United States and its culture, Sarkozy said France will remain loyal to its friends and the values it shares with them.

But he warned that loyalty should not be equated with submission, a reference to Paris' disagreement with the US-led war in Iraq.

"What I want to say to the world is that France, faithful to its friends, stands ready to talk to all people, on every continent," he said.

Harper takes shot at Bush administration

Focus on nationalism hurts economic ties: PM

Sep 26, 2007 04:30 AM

Allan Woods the star
Ottawa Bureau

NEW YORK–Canada's relationship with the United States is stalled thanks to an "unhealthy" trend in the U.S. toward nationalism and away from deeper economic ties, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a prestigious foreign policy think-tank here yesterday.

He said he was "deeply concerned" that the political discourse in the U.S. had been infected by "populism, protectionism and nationalism in an unhealthy sense."

His candid comments came in an analysis of the Canada-U.S. relationship, one that Harper said is "the closest ... probably of any two countries in history."

The Prime Minister delivered a speech and took questions for more than an hour from the members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan organization and resource for foreign affairs discussion.

In his speech, Harper emphasized the "shared values" of Canada and the U.S., and seemed taken by surprise when an audience member asked why, despite these common traits, Canada was not hated internationally, as is the U.S.

"It's certainly hated in some circles," Harper said.

"I suspect in the circles where the United States as a nation is genuinely hated, I suspect Canada is equally hated as are all countries that stand for these values. The American administration is, to be frank, more widely unpopular than the United States itself, but that's an issue for American domestic politics."

Unlike the U.S., Harper said, "Canada has no history anywhere in the world of conquest or domination. It's probably hard to perceive of Canada being in that type of a position."

In contrast, Canada is seen in the world as a "positive and non-threatening force," he said. "What my government is trying to do is to use those values to promote positive change in concert with our allies."

The shot at the administration of U.S. President George Bush was surprising from a prime minister seen as the most pro-American since Brian Mulroney.

But Liberal foreign affairs critic Ujjal Dosanjh said Harper was "simply acknowledging the truth." In light of the Prime Minister's comments, Dosanjh said he was puzzled that the government has set a foreign policy that is so closely aligned with the U.S. "I'm sorry to use the same old expression; he remains an echo of the U.S. whether it's on Afghanistan, whether it's on Kyoto," Dosanjh said in a telephone interview from Vancouver.

The fight between the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress and the Bush administration means ties between the two nations could be further frustrated if a Democrat becomes president in 2008, he said.

"Mr. Bush is a lame-duck president ... and we have not been able to push our agenda for some time, whether it's on softwood lumber or any other policies. In a sense, Mr. Harper is whistling in the wind when he's talking to Washington," Dosanjh said.

Harper has been cast as a pro-American hawk on security and foreign policy matters, but he said he was concerned that Bush's Republican administration was "preoccupied" with security and that economic ties with Canada and other countries, particularly in Latin America, were suffering.

Harper said the U.S. focus on "national sovereignty and national borders" have limited the prospect of deeper trade ties. On issues like the U.S. law requiring passports to be presented at the border with Canada – one that MPs say puts the country's economy in jeopardy – Harper said he would continue to put up a fight to ensure "that we don't go backwards."

"Any talk of deepening NAFTA or strengthening trade relationships on this continent is not gonna happen in the immediate future," the Prime Minister said.

He used Colombia as an example, noting that the U.S. Congress recently blocked a free trade agreement proposed by Bush because of concerns over the country's human rights record. Harper travelled this summer to Colombia to meet President Alvaro Uribe and formally launch free trade talks.

"Colombia needs its democratic friends to lean forward and give them a chance at partnership and trade with North America," Harper said. "I am very concerned that some in the United States seem unwilling to do that. What message does that send to those who want to share in freedom and prosperity?"