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June 14, 2012
From The Federation of Connecticut
Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Contact Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
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You Call This A Penalty? Waterbury
Firefighter Suspended In June
06-14-2012 08:18:51 AM Posted by Dan Lovallo on Jun 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment So
let me get this straight. Waterbury firefighter Edgardo
Gonzalez, who took four months of sick time to attend nursing school in Puerto
Rico, is now going to be suspended one month
without pay for violating company policy? And Waterbury officials are patting themselves on
the back for acting tough? Two superiors are also getting one month
suspensions, because they allowed this sick pay abuse to occur. Hmmmm.
One month suspension in June and July. Some penalty. Read more at http://cttalking.com/government/connecticut/you-call-this-a-penalty-waterbury-firefighter-suspended-in-june/
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US Stocks Push to Session Highs;
Traders Fixate on Possible Stimulus
CT Government By
The Pork Barrel
Nokia to cut up to 10000 jobs globally by end-2013
Wall St Journal Reports Today that The
U.S. is stepping up contacts with
Syrian rebels. The CIA and State Department are helping the opposition Free
Syrian Army develop logistical routes for moving supplies into Syria and are
providing communications training. U.S. officials also are considering
sharing intelligence with the rebels to help them evade Assad
forces. And France said it would seek a U.N. vote on a resolution to give members a mandate
to intervene in Syria.
Democrats hold on to Arizona congressional seat Associated Press June 14, 2012 (AP) Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' hand-picked Democratic candidate won a special
election Tuesday in southern Arizona
to finish her term, defeating a Republican who narrowly lost to Giffords in 2010. The race was a hard-fought preview of the
broader fall campaign to come. Read complete article at ….. http://golackawanna.com/stories/Democrats-hold-on-to-Arizona-congressional-seat,162658
The Obama Administration Is Criminalizing Investigative
Reporting Huffington
Post - by Dan Froomkin - 1 day ago Criminally investigating the kinds of leaks
that are the bread and butter of national security investigative reporting is a
noxious overreaction by hyper-controlling government officials who don't want
us to know what's being done in our name.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced last week that
he has assigned two U.S.
attorneys to lead criminal leak investigations into recent media reports about
topics including how drone attacks are approved at the White House and how a
computer virus attack was launched against Iran's nuclear program. Continued at ….. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-froomkin/white-house-leaks-obama-administration_b_1590950.html
Dimon: U.S. Should Let Big Banks
Fail.. Cozy Connections Between JPMorgan And
Senate Banking Committee Jennifer
Bendery jen.bendery@huffingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON -- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon
on Wednesday made the case that the government should step aside and allow big banks to fail when they mismanage their
investments. But Dimon's
own bank, the biggest in the U.S.,
received a $25 billion taxpayer bailout in
2008. At least one Democratic senator said JPMorgan
would have collapsed -- and Dimon would have been out
of a job -- if the government hadn't come to its aid. Continued at …. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/jamie-dimon-who-benefited_n_1594556.html
Sneaky, Last-Minute Bills Clutter
Special Session Too many leftovers on the agenda June 12, 2012 …..Republican House leader Lawrence F. Cafero
accuses Democrats of
ramming through special-interest legislation as carelessly as they please —
without consulting Republicans —
"because, with one-party rule, they can." Read complete article at
….. http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-legislative-session-run-amok-20120611,0,652838.story?obref=obinsite
Flame virus, most sophisticated malicious code ever seen, was
... developed by U.S.
government Tuesday, June 12, 2012 by: J. D. Heyes (NaturalNews) Anyone who has spent longer than a day on a computer knows
how dangerous to your hard drive malware and other
malicious code can be. Most of us have fallen victim to one or the other and
have cursed the day the hacker who developed it was born. Now, according to reports, some of the most
sophisticated malicious code ever developed is a product of the United States
government, leaving more than a few tech experts and analysts concerned that
maybe now, Washington has become a bigger info-terrorist than some of the
country's worst enemies. If you've been
following the so-called "shadow war" the U.S. and Israel have been
waging against Iran (you didn't know about that?) then you are aware of a
malicious code called Stuxnet, a computer worm
reportedly developed jointly by Tel Aviv and Washington and dissected in 2009
and 2010, that created havoc among the computer systems managing Iran's nuclear
facilities. Continued at ….. http://www.naturalnews.com/036147_Flame_virus_malicious_code_cyber_terrorism.html
Nations must talk to halt "cyber terrorism": Kaspersky
Reuters - by Tova Cohen and
Maayan Lubell TEL AVIV | Wed Jun 6, 2012 11:46pm IST (Reuters) - Eugene Kaspersky,
whose lab discovered the Flame virus that has attacked computers in Iran and
elsewhere in the Middle East, said on Wednesday only a global effort could stop
a new era of "cyber terrorism".
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism
and I'm afraid it's just the beginning of the game ... Continued at ….. http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/net-us-cyberwar-flame-kaspersky-idINBRE8550HM20120606
Fed Says U.S. Wealth Fell 38.8% in
2007-2010 on Housing By Jeff Kearns - Jun 12, 2012 12:01 AM
ET The financial crisis wiped out 18
years of gains for the median U.S.
household net worth, with a 38.8 percent plunge from 2007 to 2010 that was led
by the collapse in home prices, a Federal Reserve study showed. Median net worth declined to $77,300 in
2010, the lowest since 1992, from $126,400 in 2007, the Fed said in its Survey of Consumer Finances.
Mean net worth fell 14.7 percent to a nine- year low of $498,800 from $584,600,
the central bank said yesterday in Washington.
Almost every demographic group experienced losses, which may hurt retirement
prospects for middle-income families, Fed economists said in the report.
Continued at ….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-11/fed-says-family-wealth-plunged-38-8-in-2007-2010-on-home-values.html?cmpid=sfc
Indiana Gov. Daniels: Public sector unions a 'bad idea' -
Washington ... By Sean Lengell
The Washington Times Sunday,
June 10, 2012 Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Sunday he would like to
see public sector unions’ power curtailed because “government works better
without them.” While calling organized labor a “necessary freedom” in the
private sector, the Republican governor told “Fox News Sunday” they were a “bad idea in
government.” “I think we’ve seen through its excesses … now visible to voters
almost everywhere that [public sector organized labor] really needs to be
brought under some sort of control in the interest of the people who pay the
taxes,” he said. Mr. Daniels said that while Wisconsin GOPGov. Scott Walker’s successful beating back of a
recall effort last week shouldn’t be considered a “watershed,” he said it was a
turning point in “trying to address the balance” between public sector unions
and local governments. Continued at …… http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/10/indiana-gov-daniels-public-sector-unions-bad-idea/
Will Political Campaigns Results Be Driven by an Election or an Auction? What are your thoughts on the issue?
PAC Track: What and where are the super PACs spending?
Obama donors get deal; depositors get 'stiffed again' - Washington
...
FDIC eases settlement for
bankers
By Chuck Neubauer
June 10, 2012 Washington Times A
billionaire Chicago family that has donated and raised hundreds of thousands of
dollars for President Obama got a deal from the federal government to avoid paying all of a $460
million settlement it agreed to in the 2001 failure of a Chicago-area bank it
owned, while 1,400 former depositors are still owed more than $10 million in
lost savings. And now, 11 years later, the prospect that any of the depositors
will get their money back is bleak. The Pritzker family, which made its fortune in hotels
and manufacturing, agreed to a $460 million settlement offer in December 2001
to avoid sanctions and civil lawsuits in the failure of Superior Bank in Hinsdale, Ill.
But after paying $316 million of the interest-free debt, the family quietly
struck a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) in June 2011 to discount the balance in
return for paying off the debt early. “We have been stiffed again,” said Fran Sweet, 67, a depositor still owed $70,000.
“It is a lot to lose. We are not wealthy people. We are white-collar and
blue-collar workers who saved this money, [or] thought we saved this money.”
Read complete article at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/10/obama-donors-get-deal-depositors-get-stiffed-again/
Pledges forgotten, local governments repurpose federally
funded parks By Robert
McClure, InvestigateWest June 11, 2012 Forty-eight years after
Congress and President John F. Kennedy promised parks to the public, the
budget-battered National Park Service program that awarded $3.9 billion-plus to
state and local governments to buy or improve those parks has routinely allowed
the land to be converted to other uses, records and interviews by InvestigateWest show. Continued at ….. http://www.invw.org/article/pledges-forgotten-local-g-1277
How Microsoft and Yahoo Are Selling
Politicians Access to You by Lois Beckett
ProPublica, June 11, 2012, Microsoft and Yahoo
are selling political campaigns the ability to target voters online with
tailored ads using names, Zip codes and other registration information that
users provide when they sign up for free email and other services. The Web giants provide users no notification
that their information is being used for political targeting. Continued at ….. http://www.propublica.org/article/how-microsoft-and-yahoo-are-selling-politicians-access-to-you
More coverage: Campaign 2012
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The Real Lesson from the Wisconsin Recall When the
issues were clear, voters were rational.
Steven Greenhut | June 8, 2012 “The art of government is to make two-thirds
of the voters pay all it possibly can for the benefit of the other third,”
wrote Voltaire, in one of the most counterintuitive yet accurate quotations
about modern governance. Why are voters so willing to pay more of their
hard-earned money to support the demands of a minority of their fellow
citizens? Article is continued at ….. http://reason.com/archives/2012/06/08/the-real-lesson-from-the-wisconsin-recal
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Day care centers, nonprofits on
Camden's tax lien list Cherry Hill
Courier Post June 9, 2012 courierpostonline.com The
city has published a staggering list of almost 10,000 properties that it says
owe money for unpaid property taxes or water and sewer service charges. But some property owners long considered
tax-exempt — especially day care centers and nonprofit social service agencies
— contend the city has wrongly targeted them and they do not belong on the lien
list. Continued at ….. http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120610/NEWS01/306100030/Day-care-centers-nonprofits-Camden-s-tax-lien-list
Our View: All legislators now under
scrutiny because of sting Norwich Bulletin The Bulletin Posted Jun 09, 2012 @ 10:32 PM Although it is
still unclear what exactly initiated the FBI corruption sting that ensnared
Speaker of the House Chris Donovan’s congressional campaign, it appears the
initial focus was a much broader investigation, one that apparently was
initially focused on the state Legislature.
“Sickening” is how Senate President Pro Tem Don Williams, D-Brooklyn,
described it in a phone conversation last week.
We agree, and we share Williams’ concern of the dark shadow that has now
been cast over all members of the Legislature.
Continued at ….. http://www.norwichbulletin.com/Opinion/x465791716/Our-View-All-legislators-now-under-scrutiny-because-of-sting#axzz1xUX569If
U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show - CNET News
by Declan
McCullagh and Larry Downes June 7, 2012 Global Internet tax suggested by European
network operators, who want Apple, Google, and other Web companies to pay to
deliver content, is proposed for debate at a U.N. agency in December. The
United Nations is considering a new Internet tax targeting the largest Web
content providers, including Google, Facebook, Apple,
and Netflix, that could cripple their ability to
reach users in developing nations. The European proposal, offered for debate at
a December meeting of a U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, would amend an existing telecommunications treaty
by imposing heavy costs on popular Web sites and their network providers for
the privilege of serving non-U.S. users, according to newly leaked
documents. Continued at ….. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57449375-83/u.n-could-tax-u.s.-based-web-sites-leaked-docs-show/
Check Previous Publications by the Federation
at http://ctact.org/
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