Sweeping Financial Reform Now Law

President Obama has signed into law the biggest overhaul of American financial regulation in decades. The president said the law will ensure "that everyone follows the same set of rules, so that firms compete on price and quality, not tricks and traps".
 The law is a major victory for Mr Obama and the Democrats, who passed it with little Republican support after months of political wrangling. It was vehemently opposed by the financial services industry.


The law tightens mortgage and consumer lending rules, improves disclosure for student borrowers and average investors and establishes a new consumer protection agency, among other provisions.
Almost every Congressional Republican opposed the bill, saying its new regulations would prove burdensome to businesses trying to create jobs.
The bill "fails to address the root causes of the kind of crisis it's meant to prevent", Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said last week.


Several provisions are intended to eliminate government bailouts by dealing with an issue known as "too big to fail", where a financial firm cannot be allowed to collapse because of the wider damage it would do.
There are provisions to enable regulators to shut down a failing large firm in an orderly manner and others intended to curtail their size in the first place. These and other measures probably do reduce the risks of bailouts being needed.


For critics, the big omission is the two housing finance companies, known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were rescued by the government and which had a definite role in the crisis. The administration plans to reform them later.


But Mr Obama described the bill as a necessary measure to prevent future economic disaster, saying world's current economic troubles were caused in large part by "a breakdown in our financial system" and "a failure of responsibility from certain corners of Wall Street to the halls of power in Washington".
"Our financial system only works - our markets are only free - when there are clear rules and basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excess, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system," Mr Obama said at the White House.  "Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes."

We certainly hope so Mr President.

Haiti : High -Tech Hospital Goes Belly-Up In Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (July 20) - Two months ago, Dr. Reynold Savain was the director of the state -of-art  hospital in this country. Now, he walks the empty corridors of the 43,000-square-foot Centre Hospitalier du Sacre-Coeur with a stunned expression.
Millions of dollors of equipment gather dust. In the drive way, tarps cover two brand -new ambulances. A colorful school of koi, still young, swim  unnoticed in the rapidly dying pond in the front lobby.
 "Any private hospital, in any country, anywhere in the world, that sees 12,600 patients in three months  - for free - is going to go bankrupt," Savain said.
The  private hospital, known as CDTI, is located in the heart of Port-au-Prince, just a few blocks from Haiti's collapsed National Palace. Physically, the medical building withstood the earthquake, but finanically, the weight was too much  to bear.

For three months, the hallway was ground zero for thousands of victims of the January 12 Haiti earthquake. On January 12, Savain  opened the doors of the hospital to Haiti's wounded and  numerous international organizations and volunteer doctors. But even after treating thousands of patients , no one stepped up to pay his staff of 1,777. Medical machinery was worked to its limits then went unrepaired. Dr Savain was forced to close the hospital in March.

Facing mounting debt, Sevain had no choice but to close the doors to CDTI on March 31. Savain 's facility saved lives because it had the equipment , staff and resources of a private hosiptal. And now, it has collapsed for the same reason. "If nothing happens by July 31, I'm just going to sell all the equipment and rent the place out as offices," Savain says. Savain would like to see the hospital either bought by the government of Haiti or  offer a mix of paid and subsidized health care, with the facility run by an American university.

The government of Haiti has stalled these plans, wary of collaborations with the private sector or the aid community, which has proved to be a fickle investor.
"If I just give the money like this, people will say I put it in [savain's] pocket," Haiti's minister of health, Dr. Alex Larsen, said abouy CDTI at a recent press conference."I can't take the money of the government and give it away.
International organizations  and private investers have followed Larsen's statements on CDTI. Privately, one investor conceded that the hosiptal would never be able to receive international backing  unless and until the government of Haiti committed to long-term public funding for the facility.

Aid money poured into Haiti after the earthquake , much of it earmarked for health care, but it remains invested in traditional funding patterns : malaria, tuberculosis,  HIV/AIDS, pregnant women, vaccinations, etc. Additional public health infrastructure is a tenet  of Haiti's reconstruction plan, but so far, no progress has been made.
The vision of CDTI was to provide specialized care to  those who could afford  it, and ultimately, to create a space to educate medical students, who,  in their residencies,  are generally unable to learn anything about speciaties such as cardiology or oncology because public hospitals are ill equipped.

His story has circulated as a cautionary  tale for people thinking of investing here.For his part, Savain knows the future of the hospital is not up to him. If it fails , it will at least have the legacy of January 12.
"I know some of the investors wish I hadn't opened the doors at all after the earthquake," Savain said. "They think it's  my fault. But, If I had it all to do over again, I'd do the same thing."
There are  people out there who were injured during the earthquake and still have untreated wounds.  How can a hospital close when it is so desperately needed?? The government has the money to subsidize the facility. Open your purse.

'Billy The Exterminator' : Saves the Shreveport Fire and Police Training Academy

Billy  Bretherton, better know as billy the Exterminator , and his brother Rickey discuss a job at the Shreveport ( my hometown) Fire and Police Training Academy on  Monday afternoon. 

 TV's battiest exterminators took on some Shreveport pests that have caused a buzz.

A&E's "Billy the Exterminator " team worked on a massive honey bee colony holed up in a tower at the Fire and Police Training Academy.  Fire officials say the insects have built  their hive there off and on for the last 25 years.until recently , public safety leaders said, they've been a nuisance. Now they're a danger. The school closed the four -story building - (used to run up and down stairs , rappel and simulate burning homes) - two weeks ago after several fire and police recruits got stung . Smaller infestations were easier to manage . But the swarm had grown huge.

After using Fire Department smoke machines to try them out  and emptying countless aerosol pesticide cans, officials decided it was time for help. "We can't teach search-and-rescue without an area to teach in it, and the area we use primarily is our fire tower.," said Chief training Officer Louis Johnson. "It's important because the training that we provide for them here is what keeps  them safe when they are on the streets.

So Bily Bertherton and crew entered  with a guarantee to rid the city of it's problem.

"This one going to  be lethal," Bretherton said in his oh-so- serious but silly tone. But what's reality TV without a little artificial excitement?  Besides entertainment value, tax-payers should know the extermination shouldn't cost them a cent. The show will cover all expenses, Fire Chief Brian Crawford said. Once the drones are gone , Bretherton said, he will  reseal windows with flame-proof caulking. Since the tower  is used for fire training, it melts and give insects an entrance.The actual gig may  take a few days to finish. Officers and firefighters were glad to see Vexcon on the scene.

Bretherton  has a knack for uttering phrases such as, "One wrong move, and I find myself  staring into the jaws of death." He has tackled alligators , big cats and bats. Billy paraphrased a quotation often attributed to Albert Einstein that says people will perish if bees disappear. Their pollination keeps plants growing, and that helps create oxygen.  "We don't like to kill a lot of honey bees," Bertherton said. "But we've got too big a swarm for such a populated area."

Many "Billy the Exterminator" episodes include two or three jobs. But this one, Producers said, could fill a full 30 mintues. Catch Billy and his sidekick and brother, Rick Bertherton, this fall or early 2011.

My spin : Billy you are one tough cookie and  we like your style....

Kicking back , keeping it real and having fun and of Course if I get a gator in my yard, you betcha, I will call Billy

Deep Sea Dive...New Species

The deep sea is the only realm of  mystery, wonder and discovery left on earth. Please don't poison it any more.These wonderful creatures have the right to survive and they cannot speak for themselves.

Seepage on Seabed...What Does That Mean ??

Though the cap on the damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is reportedly holding, hydrocarbon seepage has been detected on the seabed.The hope has been that the cap – successfully placed over the wellhead last week – would stop the flow of oil into the Gulf until permanent relief wells are in place.


US Admiral Thad Allen has written to BP chief of operations Bob Dudley demanding answers. He is quoted in a report in the Guardian:"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed."

A BP spokesperson has stated that the seepage was detected some distance from the well, but pressure readings on the well cap were not as high as expected, suggesting that there may be a leak elsewhere in the wellbore. This could mean instability in the seabed and could require a reopening of the newly installed cap. BP and the US government have disagreed on how to proceed.


After nearly three months of harsh criticism as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government’s plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but require up to three more days of oil spillage into the Gulf. BP’s plan would keep the cap in place, while US government plan would allow more oil to leak into the Gulf so that another breach doesn’t occur. Meanwhile, according to Admiral Allen, testing on the cap will continue.
The American view is that it may not be a good idea to keep the well capped if seepage is confirmed because seepage could become leakage, which could be repeated in a dozen more places  on the sea floor if the well bore is breached. How do you cap that??

The Big Melt Down

Bp Ignored Offers of Help From Russian Mini Subs

Russian-owned submersibles would have been able to assist in stopping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the captain of one of the vessels has said. The skipper was speaking of  mini-subs - which can dive to 6,000m .The oval shaped subs recently started a campaign of exploration at the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia, the deepest lake in the world. The subs are searching for gas hydrates - a potential alternative fuel source - on the bed of Baikal.
Anatoly Sagalevich of Russia's Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, which owns the vessels, said that he had an informal conversation with a BP representative asking if Mirs would be able to help stop the leak.
But he said there was no official request and no real discussions about the matter. He thinks they could still be of help. The offer is still out there.

A BP spokesman said that the company had not had any formal contact with the Russians."We've had over 120,000 people come up with ideas," he said in an e-mail.
"We looked through all of these to see which are viable. If [the Russians] want to contact us (or may have done so through some other channel), we can evaulate their ideas."

The US administration has already called the leak the biggest environmental catastrophe in the country's history. Mr Chernyaev said that his team had held numerous discussions about the oil spill in the Gulf and the Russians were  ready to come to the rescue.
The subs have discovered reserves of gas hydrates on the bottom of the lake. Standing on a barge that transports the two subs after their submersion, the Mir-2 captain underlined that the subs were probably the only manned deep-sea vessels in the world capable of working at that depth.
"Our subs are unique. There are two of them and they can submerge and work simultaneously. Also, they are powerful enough to work with any other additional equipment."
"There are only four vessels in the world that can go down to 6,000m - the Mirs, French Nautile and Japanese Shinkai. The Mirs are known to be the best, and we have a very experienced team of specialists," he said. They would have worked closely with BP in a joint effort." We would probably have had to build devices and attachments for the subs but the subs are very adaptable."

He explained that the subs had already worked in much harsher conditions, such as the Arctic.The submersible's pilot also said that the Russians were very surprised that BP and the US government had not asked them for help from the beginning.
"And we would not refuse to help, even though for us it would be very complicated, especially right now, when we're already working on Baikal. But it doesn't look like anyone seriously wants our help," he added.
Mr Chernyaev was one of the pilots on the first manned descent to the seabed under the geographic North Pole, carried out using the Mir mini-submarines. The expedition was widely reported as a bid to further Moscow's territorial claims in the Arctic.

The two submersibles started their third season of exploration in Lake Baikal on 1 July. Over the last two expeditions, they found reserves of gas hydrates on the lake bed - which some consider a possible alternative fuel source of the future.Gas hydrates are usually formed in permafrost or deep in the oceans. These are crystalline water-based solids; gases such as methane are trapped inside them within cages of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. Baikal is the only freshwater basin where gas hydrates are found in its sediments. Scientists say the depth of the lake - reaching 1,637m - and extremely low temperatures of water near the lake bed both help gas hydrates form at depths exceeding 350m. The current expedition aims to obtain important data about these findings, and is also searching for new life forms, which might be unique to Baikal.
Located in eastern Siberia, not far from the Mongolian border, the lake holds one-fifth of the planet's fresh water and many unique species of plants and animals, among them the nerpa - a species of freshwater seal.