John Pilger's The two sides of Barrack Obama

John Pilger is a world-renowned journalist, author and documentary filmmaker, who began his career in 1958 in his homeland, Australia, before moving to London in the 1960s.

He regards eye-witness as the essence of good journalism. He has been a foreign correspondent and a front-line war reporter, beginning with the Vietnam war in 1967. He is an impassioned critic of foreign military and economic adventures by Western governments.

"It is too easy," he says, "for Western journalists to see humanity in terms of its usefulness to 'our' interests and to follow government agendas that ordain good and bad tyrants, worthy and unworthy victims and present 'our' policies as always benign when the opposite is usually true. It's the journalist's job, first of all, to look in the mirror of his own society."

He believes a journalist also ought to be a guardian of the public memory and often quotes Milan Kundera: "The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Noam Chomsky wrote: "John Pilger's work has been a beacon of light in often dark times. The realities he has brought to light have been a revelation, over and over again, and his courage and insight a constant inspiration."

Harold Pinter wrote: "John Pilger unearths, with steely attention, the facts, the filthy truth, and tells it as it is."

For more biographical details, go to the introduction in Articles

Orwellian Behavior Detection Officers Roam Airports

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

-- George Orwell


Since 2006, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration employs a technique know as (SPOT) -- Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique. According to TSA's 2006 Federal Security Director, "This system is conducted by trained personnel and closely monitored by supervisors."

TSA Website:

The SPOT program utilizes behavior observation and analysis techniques to identify potentially high-risk passengers. Individuals that exhibit suspicious behaviors, such as physical and physiological reactions, may be required to undergo additional screening. The SPOT program serves as additional layer of security and is highly beneficial to all modes of transportation security in that it maximizes the effectiveness of TSOs already deployed, and requires no additional specialized screening equipment. The SPOT program has been deployed to an initial number of airports. A nationwide rollout is planned for the near future.

Three years ago, Time's Sally B. Donnelly described it this way: "Select TSA employees will be trained to identify suspicious individuals who raise red flags by exhibiting unusual or anxious behavior, which can be as simple as changes in mannerisms, excessive sweating on a cool day, or changes in the pitch of a person's voice. Racial or ethnic factors are not a criterion for singling out people, TSA officials say. Those who are identified as suspicious will be examined more thoroughly; for some, the agency will bring in local police to conduct face-to-face interviews and perhaps run the person's name against national criminal databases and determine whether any threat exists. If such inquiries turn up other issues countries with terrorist connections, police officers can pursue the questioning or alert Federal counterterrorism agents. And of course the full retinue of baggage x-rays, magnetometers and other checks for weapons will continue."

In 2007, SOP Newswire claimed "TSA's SPOT-trained security officers are screening travelers for involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered...Individuals exhibiting specific observable behaviors may be referred for additional screening at the checkpoint to include a handwanding, limited pat down and physical inspection of one's carry-on baggage."

Last Thursday Ian MacLeod, with Canwest News Service reported that beginning next year, some air travellers will be scrutinized by airport "behaviour detection officers" for physiological signs of hostile intent -- in other words: screening for dangerous people rather than just for dangerous objects.

Planning for the training and deployment of the plainclothes security officers is to begin this fall, with a pilot project expected to roll out at a major airport in 2010, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said yesterday. The project's budget is about $400,000.

If successful, "behaviour pattern recognition" could land at major airports across the country.

Similar programs operate in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, which pioneered spying on people's expressions and body movements for involuntary and fleeting "micro-expressions" and movements suggesting abnormal stress, fear or deception.

"This might indicate a passenger has malicious intentions," said Mathieu Larocque, spokesman for the security authority, which is responsible for pre-board screening of airport passengers. "It offers an additional security layer for the aviation system."

The largest pilots' union in the world has been lobbying the federal government to adopt these procedures for several years.

"We're very, very pleased," said Captain Craig Hall, Canadian director of the national security committee of Air Line Pilots Association International.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says its "Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques" program has been so successful, it now has more than 2,000 behavioural detection officers patrolling concourses and departure lounges for unusual, anxious or otherwise "suspicious" passenger behaviour.

Without revealing details, the U.S. agency said the officers are trained to discount the typical nervousness, anger and confusion that many travellers experience.

It insists the officers do not use racial, ethnic or religious profiling.

An independent panel of security and aviation experts that reviewed Canadian Air Transport Security Authority operations cautiously recommended to Transport Canada in 2007 that behavioural profiling might work in Canada.

The panel attached some conditions, including that the concept must be planned and implemented so that offensive forms of profiling by front-line personnel are minimized, if not eliminated, and that it not be a substitute for pre-board screening of carry-on luggage.

The U.S. boasts that between January and December 2006, their behavioural screening program stopped 70,000 people for questioning, resulting in upwards of 700 arrests.

But that one-in-100 hit rate involved everything from alleged money-laundering, drug and weapons possession to immigration violations and outstanding arrest warrants. None of the incidents was terrorism related.

The Transportation Security Administration said some did lead to counter-terrorism investigations, but has not elaborated.

Five More Banks Seized Late on Friday

1. Colonial BancGroup Inc.'s Colonial Bank
2. Community Bank of Nevada
3. Union Bank NA, of Phoenix, AZ
Union Bank NA of Gilbert, AZ
4. Community Bank of Arizona
5. Dwelling House Savings and Loan Association, PA

WSJ:

Friday's five failures put at 102 the number of U.S. institutions that have been seized by regulators since the beginning of 2008 as the credit and broader economic problems continue to reverberate through the financial system. The failures put further pressure on the FDIC's deposit insurance fund, which stood at just $13 billion as of the end of March. The agency expects to offset some of the losses by collecting a one-time fee of $5.6 billion from the banking industry in September, and also from a $25 billion reserve fund announced earlier this year to help account for expected failures. The seizures Friday evening came hours after regulators moved to seize Colonial Bancgroup Inc.'s Colonial Bank in the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Boy, do I love it when predictions come true

From Urban Survival:
Remember, I’ve been talking about the possibility of a melt-up going into options expiration next week as the nears are in about perfect field position to do a record-book ‘running of the shorts’? (Maybe you don’t get Peoplenomics, but it was there in a recent ChartPack…) The Fed meeting yesterday was - also as predicted - a non-event. Except for this one little part of the FOMC statement:

“As previously announced, to provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve will purchase a total of up to $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt by the end of the year. In addition, the Federal Reserve is in the process of buying $300 billion of Treasury securities. “

They might have just as well put a sign out front that said “This Casino is rigged! Come on it - everyone’s a winner! Step right up!

And so, the price of gold is up over $950 again this morning, silver is back knocking on the door of $15 an ounce, and the futures are up like crazy. Why, at this rate, I may have to send in some dough to my brokerage outfit so I can go short as soon as the upside stampede gets ready to set new high water marks. More...

Does anyone really believe this can continue indefinitely?

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr

I wonder almost daily how long this dog and pony show can go on.

by Bob Chapman

The Fed’s Wall Street bubble, as we forecast in January, will need at least $2 trillion more in 2010, if the economy is to just stay on an even keel. The massive debt liquidation particularly in banking, Wall Street and in insurance demands many more trillions of dollars. $23.4 trillion is not going to be enough. Presently the Fed is in the process of monetizing $2 trillion in Treasuries, Agency paper, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and collateralized debt obligations held by lenders. It is a secret what the Fed is paying for this almost worthless paper. Is it any wonder the public has lost trust and confidence in these players and our government?

In order to escape from this global expansion of debt from government, corporations, banking, Wall Street and even state indebtedness, the bubble has to be maintained. The longer it lasts the worse will be the collapse when it bursts. Does anyone really believe that this can continue indefinitely?

People talk about robust inflationary environments in China, Asia and emerging markets In America the Fed’s game of lowering interest rates and increasing money and credit and monetizing paper will end over the next two years, maybe three. What is already in the system guarantees inflation.

Many believe American re-flation boosts real estate values. Not a chance. The recovery is not going anywhere. Americans are starting to save and pay down debt, and that means eventually consumption, as a percentage of GDP will fall to the long-term mean of 64.5%.

The stock market and major market players are again highly leveraged even after 50% gains. They do not seem to understand that the sustained injection of trillions of dollars in money and credit is not going to work. It is not creating anything. Wild speculation is fine; it’s the leverage that kills. As a broker I never had a margin account. The market is not discounting a rosy future, but the players do not understand that. Prices are simply disconnected from reality. Short covering and the reversal of derivative positions cannot go on indefinitely. Market performance is led by second and third tier companies that are in serious positions, some on the edge of bankruptcy. This is a very frustrating but temporary phenomenon. You are short failing companies, and good companies languish. This is one of the unpredictable parts of the market. All we can say is that current stock market action is a reflection of the current dysfunctional financial chaos that we are trapped in. Mis-pricing is legion. All we can say is it is not going to work. Your only alternative is to back in the safety of gold and silver related assets.

The same elements that were responsible for the collapse of the market in 2000 are at work today. Incidentally we recommended selling in the second week of April, two weeks after the top. Only 2% of analysts accompanied us. Then again, we called the top at 14,100. That element was interest rate carry trades. The players are taking advantage of the ability to borrow cheap dollars, yen and euros to buy other higher yielding currencies, which in turn strengthens their currencies, making their exports uncompetitive. South Africa and Turkey are such examples. Thus, currency appreciation caused by differing interest rates is reigniting third world countries. Free trade and globalization are having some unintended consequences. The dollar is headed down and at the G-20 meeting in London on September 4-5; the US will ask China and others to cut it more slack, because they cannot now reverse the reversal of fortune.

When we called the top on the dollar at 89.5 on the USDX a few months ago we never expected its decent to be as sharp as it has been. As we write it is 79, up from 77.60 in a normal bear market rally assisted by a temporary manipulation by the US government that will be of no lasting consequences. You might call this a normalization process, as a result of the unwinding of dollar gains in the de-leveraging process. The speculators got out and the banks are still upside down. The unwinding process is only half complete and that means the dollar will test 71.18 on the USDX by yearend and probably by the end of October. The banks have to reduce leverage and that makes it a lock. They are still leveraged 40 to 50 times deposits. You talk about stupid. Even Mr. Bernanke tells us tightening by raising interest rates is a long way off. In addition, world central banks are dollar sellers, even if only in a minor way. As long as the US Congress refuses to enact tariffs on goods and services the dollar will remain chronically and perpetually weak. As an aside, the further the dollar weakens the more expensive it will be for the US to purchase foreign goods, which will lead to higher inflation. That will force further dollar selling. Thus, you can more clearly see how this combination of events, accompanied by others, will continue to suppress the dollars value.

The result has been that second and third world currencies are strengthening against G-20 currencies, a result of unintended consequences in the elitists grab for profits and power. What they have done via free trade and globalization, offshoring and outsourcing is to allow China, Brazil, India and Russia to take their places at the head of the table. The developed economies have dug their own graves as they experience staggering unemployment and dollar depreciation simultaneously. It may not be evident now but it is every man for himself sooner than you think. Already officially manipulating their currencies are Sweden, New Zealand, Australia and the Swiss. This does not create a fair playing field and it pulls the underpinnings out from under the WTO, the World Trade Organization, which is the major element in the destruction of the industrial power of Japan, Canada, the US and Europe. All it really was created for was a redistribution of wealth from the first to the second and third worlds in the early 1960s. We wrote about this in the American Mercury in 1967, but, of course, no one was listening. A massive socialization process, a leveling if you may, so that the inhabitants of the world, and particularly the citizens of the more powerful nations, would accept world government. This did not just happen. It was done deliberately by design. As a result of this plan currently these second and third tier nations are growing 50% faster than the G-20, or more specifically Canada, the US and Europe.

We are going to see strong resistance to currency appreciation in the future and increases in subsidies in many nations – first, second and third tier currencies. Perhaps even currency wars. The damage done via free trade and globalization is vastly underestimated when related to the first world, which brings us back to the dollar and other carry trades that are a result of this. It is not only the dollar that will be destroyed, but also all major currencies. That accomplished, the elitists will then attempt to implant world government. That is what this is all about and few have the foresight to listen. Most do not even recognize the enemy at the Council on Foreign relations or at the Bilderberger meetings, because he or she wears a $3,000 suit and they look like nice people. When are people going to wake up and stop allowing themselves to be propagandized? Is the fog so thick that they cannot see what is being done to them? Do they not understand why they are unemployed; have to take mandatory swine flu shots; why socialized medicine will destroy our medical system; why Cap and Trade is a scam by Goldman Sachs to increase their taxes 20% or that our privately owned Federal Reserve is totally corrupt? This is part of a major plan to destroy the major nations, as we now know them. The carry trade, derivatives and massive injections of money created out of thin air are but nails in our coffins and if we do not stop these evil people it will mean destruction.

Last March net wealth declined from a peak of $22 trillion to $12 trillion and due to a bear market rally it has moved back to about $15 trillion. During the past two years consumer debt is about the same, but the market has gotten hit hard. Household equity is off about 90%, and had it not been for the personal stimulus package it would have fallen much more.

What is surprising to most but not to us was that the money in money market funds increased as the market fell. That means that leverage via borrowed money was what has driven the market rally, along with short covering and government manipulation. The Fed was the biggest factor in rigging this bear rally. We have probably seen all the public investor buying we are going to see. The US and European banks were probably given the funds by the Fed with strict instructions to push the equity market higher and use as much leverage as possible. This rally has not enticed the public to spend more and in fact, retail sales are off 6% and still falling, thus, no recovery except in the minds of Wall Street and Washington.

Further to the unemployment figures, the birth/death ratio should have been 113,000 job losses higher or about 350,000. This year the B/D model has added 879,000 jobs and that figure should be 992,000, during the worst employment environment since the ‘Great Depression”, which is simply beyond belief. Then to have short-term unemployment fall from 9.5% to 9.4% is incredulous. You ask how did they do that? It was due to the fact 637,000 people were dropped from the labor force, not from an increase in employment, but they did end up on the U6, which officially is 16.8% unemployment, but if you extract the B/D ratio you end up with unemployment of 20.8%. What we have witnessed is more lies and propaganda, as the administration tries to use smoke and mirrors to regain public confidence to get them to increase spending. Barry and advisors, it isn’t going to work. They are not that dumb.

Home prices continue to fall nationwide. Portland, OR is a good example. It reported a record decline in home values for the 17th straight month in May and month-on-month saw a 16.3% fall, the biggest decline in the index’s 22-year history. Since the July 2007 peak prices have fallen 21% and that is the lowest level since May 2005.

We see the summer pause as natural and as unemployment rises, now by U6 at 20.8%, they’ll be more foreclosures and lower prices. The depression is only pausing to catch its breath.

FED to maintain records on all flights by US citizens

Image via

Beginning this Saturday, air travelers will be required to provide their date of birth and gender status when making airline reservations to comply with Transportation Secretary Administration's "Secure Flight"program; the program is designed to transfer responsibility for checking air passengers' identities from the airlines to the federal government.

The new Secure Flight program requires travelers making reservations -- as well as non-traveler escorts who enter secure areas -- to provide three pieces of information: the passenger's full name on government issued ID, birth date and gender. The airline will transmit that information to the TSA for screening on a "no-fly" list of people prohibited from flying or to a list of "selectees" who can fly after they pass additional physical screening.

TSA claims records for individuals who are not identified as potential matches will be retained for 7 days after the full completion on their flight itinerary, but if you happen to have a name similar to a name on the "no fly" list (don't assume all the names are Arab), even if you're eventually cleared, your identifying records, as well as your full flight itinerary, will be maintained for 7 years. Furthermore, even if you're not on the "no fly" list, the government, at their discretion, may choose to conduct additional criminal searches on travelers from state and federal law enforcement data bases.

My guess is that even if the government does purge the names of travelers who are not identified as potential matches after 7 days, those names, along with their travel itineraries, are transferred to a secondary archived data base.

Privacy Impact Assessment for the Secure Flight Program (pdf)

TSA will retain records for most individuals encountered by Secure Flight for a short period of time. Records for individuals who are not identified as potential matches by the automated matching tool, which comprise the vast majority of travel records held by TSA, will be retained for seven (7) days after the completion of the individual’s directional travel for audit purposes. Records for individuals who are potential or confirmed matches will be retained for no less than seven years after the completion of the individual’s directional travel, as outlined in section 3.0 of this PIA.

What information is to be collected?

Airlines currently collect information from passengers and non-travelers that is necessary both for security purposes and for ensuring passenger comfort during their flights to their destinations.

Under the Secure Flight Final Rule, TSA will require covered aircraft operators to send to TSA Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD) that will consist of the below listed elements, to the extent available.

(1) full name;
(2) date of birth;
(3) gender;
(4) redress number (if available);
(5) known traveler number (if implemented and available); and
(6) passport information (if available).

For non-traveling individuals for whom the aircraft operator seeks authorization to enter an airport sterile area (such as to escort minors or passengers with disabilities), TSA also is requiring covered aircraft operators to request from the non-traveler the same information requested from passengers and transmit to TSA that information as well as certain non-personally identifiable information used to manage messages between covered aircraft operators and TSA, including the airport code for the sterile area to which the non-traveler seeks access.

TSA will maintain records for non-traveling individuals for seven 7 days unless they are designated as potential matches, in which case they'll maintain records for 7 years.

Obama Making Back Room Deals with Pharmaceutical Lobbyist

Obama Making Back Room Deals with Pharmaceutical Lobbyist.

FBI Conducting Precrime Minority Report Investigations

The barrier between science fiction and real-life has all but vanished. The 2002 release of the film "Minority Report" based on the short story by Philip K. Dick took place in the year 2054, where "Precrime", a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge of an anticipated crime provided by psychics called "precogs".

Although not based on the information from psychics, the FBI has initiated a profiling program to detect what they refer to as "lone attackers" who may only be contemplating crimes. The program is known as the "Lone Wolf Initiative" and began after Obama's inauguration. One of the goals, FBI officials said, is to develop more comprehensive information on possible lone attackers to disrupt plots before they are launched.

"Finding those who might plan and act alone, the so-called lone offenders ... will only be prevented by good intelligence, the seamless exchange of information among law enforcement at every level, and vigilant citizens reporting suspicious activity," said Michael Heimbach, the FBI's assistant director for counterterrorism.

USA Today's Kevin Johnson reports on two U.S. law enforcement officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about details of the program but said agents from all of the FBI's 56 field offices have been dispatched on a range of assignments.

Among the duties:

• Reviewing records in domestic terrorism investigations that may point to more suspects.

• Analyzing records for suspicious purchases at fertilizer or chemical suppliers whose materials could be used in bombmaking.

• Checking rolls of prisoners scheduled for release or who have been recently released for past links to extremist groups.

ACLU policy spokesman Michael German, a former FBI agent, said the government effort resembles a form of "predictive policing" that can sometimes result in the improper profiling of people based on race, ethnicity or political leanings.

The WSJ reports the lone-wolf initiative is just one element of a broader strategy to fight domestic terrorism, dubbed "Operation Vigilant Eagle" launched late last year in response to what the memo identified as "an increase in recruitment, threatening communications, and weapons procurement by white supremacy extremist and militia/sovereign citizen extremist groups."

The FBI memo also referred to an FBI study launched in partnership with Harvard University that would define characteristics and behavior that signal a potential lone-wolf offender. The memo also called on "bureau offices around the country to assess whether the leaders of known extremist groups might be open to cooperating with law enforcement in identifying potential lone offenders...the bureau has been working with the U.S. military and with prison authorities to identify people who may raise concerns, hoping that 'anyone who would be inclined to act out, we'd have a sporting chance to take any kind of preventative measures we can.'"

The FBI can now effectively profile and arrest anyone they believe may commit a crime based on the FBI's subjective decision of what pre-crime is -- e.g., any openly demonstrated opposition to the government or government policies may, in their view, qualify as precrime. This gestapo-like FBI profiling is being conducted under a domestic security rationale of preventing potential terrorist activities by U.S. citizens. Hypothetically, if the FBI designates a subject under investigation for pre-crime as an "Enemy Combatant", that subject could be detained indefinitely without actually being charged with a crime under the Patriot Act.

Protester With A Gun At Obama Town Hall Meeting

Video from NBC News caught this protester with a hand gun strapped to his leg, waiting for President Obama to Arrive in Portsmouth NH. Secret Service plant, no doubt. Better yet, a presidential/democratic orchestrated PR campaign to discredit protesters.

Topic Swine Flu conference: Unwillingness to follow government orders

Hat Tip to Lew Rockwell's Karen De Coster for this heads up. An International Swine Flu Conference is scheduled for August 19-20 in Washington, DC.

From the ISFC Brochure:

Top leaders and key decision-makers of major companies representing a broad range of industries will meet with distinguished scientists, public health officials, law enforcers, first responders, and other experts to discuss pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at the 1st International Swine Flu Summit.

At the summit, attendees will be able to draw on first-hand best practices to create the solid business continuity plans that their companies and organizations need in order to prepare for, respond to, and survive a pandemic. The summit draws on the success of the seven previous Bird Flu summits which featured as speakers several distinguished personalities such as Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, Alex Thiermann of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and Dr. Wenqing Zhang of the WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response. Well-known emergency responders, heads of hospitals from around the world, and hog/swine industry leaders will speak in this summit.

The conference consists of 15 "Concurrent Breakout Sessions". Of interest are sessions number 2 and 6.

Concurrent Breakout Session #2
Psychological Issues
Public’s distress of exposure and safety
Breakdown of public services, utilities
Medical supplies shortage
Unwillingness to follow government orders

Concurrent Breakout Session #6
Law Enforcement Agencies
Protect police forces from falling ill & from being hurt in civil disturbances
Protect the delivery of vaccines & essential goods & services.
Manage a surge in crime & meet routine requests at the same time
Control & diffuse social unrest & public disorder
Isolate prisons & other facilities

Recommended reading:
==========
A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America 1918-1920 (Paperback)

Governors resist Pentagon efforts to seize state control

Rumors of impending martial law can no longer be relegated to the tin foil ramblings of dirty bearded men who direct traffic in the streets. The public got their first official clue last October when Congressman Brad Sherman disclosed that House members were told there would be martial law in America if they voted "no" on the bailout.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted National Level Exercises on U.S. soil in late July 2009.

So it comes as no surprise to read in The Hill that two governors, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R), and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D), oppose a new Defense Department proposal to seize control of state autonomy and command in an emergency. The governors wrote a letter to the Pentagon and told them to shove it where the sun don't shine.

"Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R), chairman of the National Governors Association, and Vice Chairman Gov. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia penned a letter opposing the Pentagon proposal, which they said would hinder a state's effort to respond to a disaster."

The letter comes as the Pentagon proposes a "legislative fix that would give the secretary of Defense the authority to assist in response to domestic disasters and, consequently, control over units stationed in an affected state" -- Orwellian double-talk for federally sanctioned martial law.

"We are concerned that the legislative proposal you discuss in your letter would invite confusion on critical command and control issues, complicate interagency planning, establish stove-piped response efforts, and interfere with governors’ constitutional responsibilities to ensure the safety and security of their citizens," Douglas and Manchin wrote to Paul Stockton, assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America's Security Affairs.

U.S. banks extort customers for $38 billion in overdraft fees

While bonuses paid to executives at nine bailed out U.S. banks in 2008 were greater than the net income at some of the banks, Reuters reports U.S. banks will generate $38.5 billion in customer overdraft fees this year, and a large portion of that revenue comes from the "most financially stretched consumers."

The median bank overdraft fee rose this year by one dollar to $26. "Banks are returning to a fee-driven model and overdraft fees are the mother lode," said Mike Moebs, of Moebs Research Services. Overdraft fees accounted for more than 75 percent of service fees charged on customer deposits, said Moebs.

Bonuses for Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co were "substantially greater" than the banks' net income. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and member of the influential Senate banking committee, called Goldman "tone deaf" on the issue of compensation.

Here are a few comments from authorities in France and Britain on bank sector bonuses:

"Fury erupted in Britain over news that Royal Bank of Scotland, which needed a government rescue, was paying an annual pension of 703,000 pounds ($1 million) to its former chief executive Fred Goodwin. Months later, after a campaign that included windows of his Edinburgh home being smashed, Goodwin agreed to reduce his pension, to 342,500 pounds annually.

"FRANCE -- France reacted to public anger over bonuses for financial traders this week by summoning bank chiefs for a meeting and telling the central bank to ensure that new rules on payouts are respected. President Sarkozy instructed top banking executives to report to him on August 25 on their bonus policies."

Second American Revolution?

Movement to throw all sitting House Reps out of Congress

Opening segment for the show "That's What I Like About the South" with Bea Harrison, filmed in Biloxi, MS and aired on WXXV-TV, the Fox affiliate.