From MSNBC – PVM Oil Associates, the world’s biggest over-the-counter oil brokerage, says it lost nearly $10 million this week because of unauthorized trades that caused a temporary spike in Brent crude markets.

The firm said in a statement late Thursday that it was investigating the trades, which drove up the price of Brent futures by more than $2 in one hour early Tuesday London time. It did not identify the trader involved in the transactions.

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So, regulation is a bad thing? This is what happens when controls and check-and-balance policies are not in place. How can 1 trader cause all of this?

From CNN:

North Korea test-fired a fourth short-range missile off its east coast Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

A U.S. official told CNN “the missile firings come as no surprise.”

“The North has been carrying out provocative acts for some time,” said the official, who did not want to be named for security reasons. “North Korea needs to stop this type of activity and return to the process of bringing about a denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

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Well, no kidding. North Korea is not feeling the love again. Kim Jong Il is looking down the barrel of time now, and realizes he probably doesn’t have much time left to make his mark.

Interesting position on this from Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (AKA the “New” Nostradamus.)

This from MSNBC:

United Airlines has caused an uproar among travel agents with plans to force them to the pay credit-card fees when their customers buy tickets with plastic.

The agents say it’s an unfair move by United to shift a cost of its business on to their backs. They add that if other airlines copy United’s move, it will end up costing consumers because agents will pass along the fee.

In the notice, a United vice president told the agencies to report the sale to the airline as a cash transaction. He warned that agencies that try to assign the credit-card processing fee to United’s account would be dinged $75 per ticket.

Agents also said consumers wouldn’t be able to get their credit card company to resolve a dispute with United because the card transaction would be through the agent instead.

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Here is the key sentence…Consumers wouldn’t be able to get their credit card company to resolve a dispute with United.

Issue with the travel? Call the credit card company. Oh, they say, this charge is from XYZ travel, you will need to call them. You call XZY travel, and they tell you to call United. Perfect circle jerk for consumers. You’re gonna love that customer service.

More from Tripso.com…

CNN reports that: Extramarital affairs have sidelined two potential Republican presidential hopefuls in recent weeks, but former Vice President Dick Cheney said the 2012 GOP bench remains strong.

“I think that it’s just a matter of time before the party begins to sort of firm up around a few key individuals, and we’ll hear big things from them in the future,” Cheney said.

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Ha…Firm up around a few key individuals. Did he really say “firm up”? What does that really mean. Is that code for “keep your affairs quiet and we will keep the “Condom of Silence” wrapped around you”?

MSNBC reports that:

“Each Sunday afternoon in May, Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife hosted five other couples at the executive mansion for a spiritual “boot camp.” Topics discussed during the hour-and-a-half-long sessions included forgiveness and “not loving your wife as Christ loved the church.”

Group leader Warren “Cubby” Culbertson did not tell the other four couples what he and his wife, Susan, had known for months: The governor was having an affair with a woman in Argentina.”

“Janine Driver, a Washington, D.C.-based body language and deception detection expert, said Sanford showed more emotion when apologizing to Culbertson and longtime political aide Tom Davis than he did when speaking of his wife and four sons. She also believes he lied when a reporter asked if this was the first time he had been unfaithful.”

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Well, the good Govenor may be wary of what is yet to be let out of the bag. When you get caught is usually at the end of the gig, not at the beginning. Led Zeppelin put it best in “When the Levee Breaks” – “Cryn’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good”

*UPDATE*

HA! Am I psychic or what?

MSNBC reports that Sanford admits to more encounters

*UPDATE 2*

And the hits just keep on coming!

Sanford also told the AP he’d “crossed lines” with other women, although Chapur was the only one he had sex with. He said his experiences with other women took place outside of the United States while he was married, but before he knew Chapur, the AP reported.

Uhhh…is that the faucet I hear dripping?

From the State:

The State newspaper in South Carolina released e-mail exchanges between the governor and the woman, identified only as Maria. Sanford’s office Wednesday did not dispute the authenticity of the emails, The State reported. One exchange was dated July 10, 2008 when the governor is reported to have written to her:

“Two, mutual feelings …. You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light – but hey, that would be going into sexual details …”

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Well hey, don’t stop there! I am anxiously waiting for the You Tube video!

The Columbia State newspaper (and every other media outlet) is reporting that Gov. Mark Sanford admitted today that his secret trip to Argentina over Father’s Day weekend was to visit a woman he is having an affair with.

“I have developed a relationship with what started as a dear dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently as I expect many of these things do, just casual email back and forth,” Sanford said. “But here recently this last year developed into something much more.”

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Well, spring has sprung and love is in the air, just not with the wife.

Another “Christian Family Values” Republican politician admits, shall we say, less than christian family values. Beware that stone you cast, the glass you break may be you own.

At least he has John Ensign to pal around with now.

All this hypocrisy is just killing me…

And Time.com has this for us to peruse.

And more from CNN…

Earlier Wednesday, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said in a statement it was the “height of irresponsibility for the governor to walk out on his solemn duty to the people of South Carolina.

“When it comes to the real needs and concerns of South Carolinians, Mark Sanford has been pretty much missing in action for the last six-and-a-half years. But it is not acceptable for him to be actually missing.

“However, as disturbing as it is to walk out on your responsibilities without telling anyone, what’s more troubling is that the governor and his staff have been less than truthful about his whereabouts,” the statement said.

Monica Crowley writes today:

“During his press conference today, President Obama said that there is a “debate going on in Iran over their future.”

A “debate?”

He actually believes that the slaughter in the streets of Tehran is a “debate.”

He believes that the guns of the Islamic regime are part of the “debate.”

He believes that the unarmed, democratic protesters getting mowed down in the gutter are part of the “debate.”

He thinks the regime firing the guns is the “debating” partner.

He thinks that the violent crackdown by a theocratic dictatorship is a “debate.”

And that the silencing of voices crying out for greater freedoms—and the bullets, tear gas, and water cannons used to do it—are part of a “debate.”

He really believes that what we are witnessing is a “debate.”

And that tells you everything you need to know about The Bama.”
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Monica, really? And the 8 years under Bush were great for Middle East policy?

And our country has had its (debate) moments too. Remember Kent State? Chicago during the Democratic Convention? The Civil Rights Movement? I think those folks could talk to you about water cannons and tear gas and bullets.

Obama is working from a position of strength if you really think about it. Any hostage negotiator worth their salt will tell you that keeping the “perp” on the phone talking is the best way to get the hostages out. The longer we engage Iran in discussions keeps the U.S. out of the day-to-day blame game, and keeps the door open for the reformers.

Nation building skills are not our best asset…

My Way News sums it up pretty well…

“The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “He’s been timid and passive more than I would like.”

“I’d like to see the president be stronger than he has been, although I appreciate the comments that he made yesterday,” McCain said. “I think we ought to have America lead.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a slow or muted U.S. response risks undermining the aspirations of Iranian voters to change or question their government.

“If America stands for democracy and all of these demonstrations are going on in Tehran and other cities over there, and people don’t think that we really care, then obviously they’re going to question, ‘do we really believe in our principles?’” Grassley said.

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Well, the 8 years under Bush went really well for Middle Eastern relationships, right?  Threats and carrying the big stick only incited the Iranian leadership to call for America’s demise. Now that we have an administration that understands foreign policy, we should give it a chance.

Politico is reporting that The Las Vegas Sun has printed a bombshell letter from Doug Hampton, the husband of the former campaign treasurer with whom John Ensign had an affair, to FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly, asking her to investigate his charges that senator’s behavior made him unfit to serve as the Senate’s fourth-ranking Republican.

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The Las Vegas Sun is asking the right questions:

“So among the key questions that remain unanswered are:

— Did Fox News receive the letter, and if the network did, what did it do with the information?

— How did Ensign learn that Hampton had “approached a major television news channel”?

The letter was dated five days before Sen. John Ensign’s public confession of an extramarital affair.

Fox News did apparently nothing with it, other than to not report on it. Not surprising as they are  (F)ox News, (U)nbalanced and (D)efensive when it comes to politicians of the Republican persuasion.

I would sure like to see Megyn Kelly’s phone logs between the time the letter was sent and Ensign admitted the affair.

Didn’t Fox News call for Clinton’s head? And it seems they “reported” John Edward’s woes “fairly” aggressively too.