Bill Cara’s Blog for Sept 2, 2010 [See post-close report]

ALOHA!!

A quick visual that kind of sums up the past present and future ... Here is the "dashboard" of news stories over at the BANK IMPLODE website today.

Romer Calls for More Stimulus [2010-09-02] - "U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Christina Romer, in her final speech before stepping down, called on the country to ...
Blame For Lehman Bankruptcy Lies With Richard Fuld [2010-09-02] - "Richard Fuld, who pocketed $484 million in compensation between 2000 and 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed, must be a masoch...
Foreclosures' heavy toll on health [2010-09-02] - Almost a third of those dealing with home foreclosure threats reported that their mental and emotional health had worsened duri...
Wall Street Insiders Want Out, Selling $100 Million in Stock [2010-09-02] - "Officers and directors of Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have sold about $100 million worth of stock so...

I can summarize all of these headlines as classic symptoms of a corrupt monetary system. Changing Congress from DEM to REP won't change any thing for America. Eliminating the US FED will ...

Its a LIABILITY BUBBLE ...

This is from Mish today and is far beyond my understanding, but someone here will probably get it.

The Atlantic

Market Data Firm Spots the Tracks of Bizarre Robot Traders

http://tiny.cc/u01oy

Also:

Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license

Read more at the Washington Examiner:

http://tiny.cc/bxpbt

US Jobless Claims -6K To 472K In Aug 28 Wk; Survey -3K

US Aug 21 Week Jobless Claims Revised To 478K From 473K

Reply to yesterday's post: Submitted by Les (3311 comments) on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 02:04 #68356

This has been building gradually for some time. My wife's cousin, a retired police officer, lives in Malmö.

The Islamic influence is now the dominant one Swedes once welcomed all. These immigrants have used the Swedish constitution and openness to their advantage.

We should keep these articles, videos and events in mind regarding the building of a Muslim Mosque near Ground Zero.

They are not to be trusted.

Last month I read an article by a Dutch MP warning of a similar takeover in his country. These people have taken the "mole" technique to an ultimate level — like human cockroaches they will overrun us all if not kept in check.

Forget "diversity" — they have.

Malmö, Sweden: Growing Muslim Influence
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/556299.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRnP-XzB_U0

Unfortunately Grym, people will act when they are inconvenienced and their lifestyle threatened and not before that occurs...

CBN news - "christian broadcasting network". I'm just going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that they're not likely to do a pro-muslim story.

At the same time, I'm definitely in favor of limited immigration in the US. Its the nature of the beast that the current occupants of a nation want it to remain more or less unchanged by immigration. Who wants all your favorite Thai food restaurants to suddenly become Falafel shops? And - really, life without bacon? I don't think so.

Seriously though, this topic reminds me of a great book I read a few years back that coined the phrase "Fault Line War" by Samuel Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. He presented a number of cases. The book didn't leave me with a lot of hope of peaceful resolution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_Line_War

"A fault line war is one that takes place between two or more identity groups (usually religious or ethnic) from different civilizations. It is a communal conflict between states or groups from different civilizations that has become violent.

The issue at stake in a fault line war is very symbolic for at least one of the groups involved. Because the issue is one of fundamental identity, these wars are longer and more difficult to resolve than conventional warfare. And even when agreements are reached, the groups are rarely fully satisfied, and often the hatred is only dissolved through genocide."

Simply in the interests of maintaining a peaceful state, it seems unwise to accept large numbers of immigrants whose culture or religion place them "on the other side" of a major fault line conflict with large sections of your nation's current population. Small numbers can be peacefully assimilated over time, but large numbers would seem to make that task much harder.

Grym, That's pretty dangerous talk, substitute "Irish" or "Protestant" or "Baptist" and call these people "not to be trusted" and see what reaction you get.

As for calling any race creed or religious group "human cockraches" that has the stench of Nazi all over it.

Step back and take a deep breath, and don't get caught up in the cycle of disinformation and hatred.

Some perspective: We invaded their country, make that 'COUNTRIES'.

But not the one where the majority of the 9/11 attackers came from.

Go figure, Christian Soldiers...

Ciao Z.

I'm not interested in emotional toss from CBN or self fulfilling political prophecy which simply regurgitates relations between peoples before Westphalia and the advent of nationhood.

As Kaimu says "it's all about the money". I'm starting to wonder about the connection between immigration and refugee policy and fiat money. You can count the welfare state in that equation too. It's the only way you can pay this fiasco.

I wonder how fewer wars there would be around the world - and subsequently refugees - if fiat money wasn't available to supply parties with cheap and plentiful weapons. Would it have been possible to offshore all the US jobs without fiat money? The credit ponzi scheme/M1 money inflationary environment of the last 2 decades would have surely been more difficult, if not illegal and impossible.

Blame the Muslims Grym? I think its more a case of what Chalmers Johnson calls 'Blowback'. Monetary blowback?

1:2 risk/reward. looks like it wants to break 45.

I was slowly considering selling or lightening my sizable GDX holding I had since end of July, but your words encouraged me to stay put. Like I said before, there is no panic buying yet, so we should be away from a major top. I like what I see today so far.

Thanks for the video Zack. I am familiar with one of Berlin's important tenet's, enjoyed seeing him in person:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Concepts_of_Liberty

edit: lol foot in mouth. The entire video was based around this tenet. Interestingly, I did not correctly understand positive liberty as posed originally by Berlin. I had an alternative understanding that is decidedly more positive (pun intended).

TLT, SPY and VIX crossed their respective MACDs in unison. FXY hard to read.

BTW, SLV is breaking out hard. I meant to enter after consolidation but this train left without me. Besides, I'm 100% engaged now.

I saw on other boards that shorts were shorting yesterday heavily, so short covering probably fuels the action today. If we are to crash at some point (I wish I knew if and when) we will crash from higher levels.

So I noticed that the implied vols on the gold mining stocks seem low, especially given how close they are to a breakout. We have 15 days left until opex for september...

Good point. ATR on GDX is among the lowest in 3 years. That usually is followed by a breakout.

11:14:16
Mariner Energy inc. Ticking lower as Coast Guard reports of explosion on Mariners Vermillion 380 oil and gas rig off of Louisiana
- Follow up: Mariner spokesman confirms explosion on one of the companys oil and gas production platforms.
- Note that back in 2009 the company reported that the platform was currently producing approximately 28 MMcfe per day, about 50/50 oil and gas. At year-end 2009 estimated proved reserves attributed to our Vermillion 380 field were 33.2 Bcfe, consisting of approximately 47% oil and NGLs and 53% natural gas.

Not just the company I call "Ooogle" but also Microsoft and Apple rely increasingly upon revenues from gathering and selling information about you - through their own advertising networks and through 3rd parties. Of course, once the corporate actors have it, the US gov't can get it, and with so can time private eyes working their phone company contacts for your business rival or estranged spouse.

If this doesn't concern you, have you ever surfed to a heart-health or diabetes website? A WSJ reporter (who produced the recent series on intrusive web advertisers) pointed out on NPR that there is NO legal bar against health insurance companies buying info about your surfing habits and using it in underwriting decisions. If there is no legal bar against this, I assume it's happening now. If you have shopped for individual health insurance lately, you'll know how capricious their underwriting decisions seem.

"Do no evil" Ooogle is leading the way into not only browsers but also OS's which collect information about us. Chrome is becoming a net-centric OS, initially for netbooks and tablets. Smartphone OS Android is Ooogle's effort to get around Apple's and Facebook's "walled gardens" which they previously could not penetrate. Yesterday, sci-fi author William Gibson asserted in a NYTimes op-ed that "smart cookies" can now follow a proxy chain - which means going through a proxy server (or series of them) won't protect you from prying eyes.

What's the solution? a browser and an OS made by someone whose business model is not built around collecting and selling to the highest bidder private information about you. And there are some: Linux for PC's and Symbian for smartphones. (Symbian is owned by Nokia.) There's also a browser, which to my knowledge, is not involved in data mining: Opera, which was created by the Norwegian telephone company. They're all good, just not prominent in the US. (In Europe there is a strong tradition of "data protection" laws, which prohibit use of information for purposes other than the purpose for which it was originally and legally collected.)

Finally, in today's NYTimes, it was reported that China is instituting a rule that SIM cards for cellphones may not be bought without giving your ID and phone number. The Chinese gov't says they are fighting spam. What will the US gov't say? "we're fighting terrorism!" (Between fighting communism and terrorism, the US stressed the need to fight organized crime!) I bet the USG won't be far behind China in this control of SIM cards. It's already nearly impossible to buy smartphone or PC/internet access without divulging your identity ...

Scott McNealy, ex CEO, Sun Microsystems, famously quipped: "Privacy? It's gone; get used to it!" He should know, right? Well, I'm not ready to give up the fight just yet ...

Looks like it coincided with a small spike in UNG but not USO.

12:05:45
Mariner Energy inc. Spokesperson: All seven wells connected to Vermillion 380 production platform were shut in and there is no oil spill or sheen at this time - CNBC
- Emphasizes that this was a production platform not a drilling rig. 13 crew members were onboard for sandblasting and painting.
- Not aware of any type of materical adverse clause or any other aveunue that could led to changes in the APA merger deal.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???

Probably every one is sitting and waiting for the NonFarm Payroll and unemployment numbers tomorrow to choose a trend direction whether go long or short. My guess numbers will be bad and market will sell off tomorrow hard before the long weekend, no one wants to hold money over the long weekend in this economy climate but then again people seem to be buying risk here again on bad news too feeling it is not going to get any worse thinking that market has bottomed. If that's the case then we may actually rally tomorrow too on bad numbers, so go figure :). This doesn't have much to do with Mr. Ben promising QE, it may have to do actually more with the general feeling that market is way oversold and Big Blue-chip companies names are now cheaper so it's time to run them up again. I am cautious here as people felt the same way back in Dec/2008 when they thought stocks were cheap too after the sell off in Oct and Nov/2008 and they jumped to buy cheap stocks only to see the Dow heading lower by 2000 more to hit bottom in March 6, 2009. I guess the lesson we learn here is that in a market full of negativity, high unemployment, housing crisis and low growth, futures companies earnings are in big trouble and mostly will be lower if not negative so based on that I would NOT buy here for long term yet as prices have more room to fall. However, I would jump on a short covering small bounces here and there in this bear market knowing that such bounces only going to last a day or two and if you are lucky 3.

Anyway, I am still on the bearish side except for Gold as every one may know that by now. Only the trend tape reversal will change my view to go solidly long on equities. However, since the big DOGS of Wall street trade against the sentiment of the retail investors like us, it's very likely whatever we say here they going to do the opposite and drive the market against our expectation. Therefore, it doesn't really matter what we think here any more, let’s just trade the tape based on setups and price action as Bill and Vad say and use tight stops to conserve capital. I heard Vad use stops like 1 to 2% stop loss maximum and this may be the smart thing to do. Setting stops like 5% to 10% in this very volatile market could cost you very dearly. I guess we all live and learn.

GLTA

Grym - "The problem, or at least a big question, is what if by their very nature they refuse to assimilate?"

Do you know any muslims? I do. They seem to have assimilated pretty well. Often it took a while before I found out they were muslim - it was just another aspect, not even the dominant one. They are probably second generation, I'm not even sure actually.

In relatively small numbers, any group can be assimilated eventually. There will be some holdouts, but the vast majority will take on the culture where they are. It took quite a while for every immigrant group; the irish, the italians, every new group was derided by those who were already here, but we've forgotten long ago about that. "No Irish Need Apply". Ah, but the new immigrants, they're REAL trouble...unlike the old immigrants who were really no big deal at all. Salt of the earth and all that.

Sure, taxi drivers in NYC all seem to come from either India or Pakistan. But their kids will go to public school, become Americans, and 1 generation from now you won't be able to tell other than that they don't get sun burned when they go to the beach...

Jack I'm behind you 100% on that follow through. I'm seeing that move down in TLT - the air seems to be coming out of the long bond rally disproportionate to the move up in equities. It would be interesting to see where the money is going...

Thanks Vad for clarifying this point. What is your position here on this market if I may ask? Put the charts setups, price action, and trading aside, how do you feel about this market and where do you think it's heading? Care to share your views? I know you don't talk much about that here but say I am curious to know :)

Thanks in advance..

Don't forget we have the non mfg ISM number out at 10 am ET tomorrow also, a holiday Monday, and very little US data next week.

Thanks Vad for sharing your views. I appreciate your thoughts.

Today fits my definition of a "slow burn" day. All the trapped shorts are trying to judge their conviction. Some are covering while there are still some short-term profiteers left to unload to them. The market is up broadly but moderately up while those who choose not to cover/take losses just get boiled like frogs as the market slowly moves up through out the day.

Another gap up tomorrow could be a stake through the heart of shorts and we certainly created a number of strange gaps on the way down that we could revisit.

AA/AMAT/BAC/CSCO/INTC/WFC/XOM off @ 10.80/10.72/13.23/20.44/18.24/24.89/60.88.

Will be taking FSRBX/FSELX/FSENX off the table at the close.

If I tried to explain why, I'd have to make something up. All I know is I typically change positions on a dime- and right now, I'm not interested in carrying the same risk I was attracted to a week ago. Currently up 6% on the total portfolio in less than 2 days, which I'm happy with- that number could easily take a major dip by the close, but those are the rules we play by with mutual funds.

50% cash. Will be at 100% cash by EOD.

Schwartz's remarks on TLT come at an opportune time. Look likes topping out. Decent gap there to fill.

New high of the day.

Grym,
I regularly read your posts and in general find them well-thought-out and informative. However, on this particular issue, for whatever reason your posts strike me uncharacteristically obtuse.

While it is popular to use the phrase "sharia courts" the decisions appear to have the standing of administrative tribunals, where both parties have to agree to their dispute being heard by the administrative quasi-judicial arbitrator(s). There are far more disputes decided by administrative bodies than courts of law in America as well.

With respect to your last link, you fail to mention those of the Jewish faith have also been applying their religious law to disputes in Great Britain. What justification is there for denying the same right to those of the Muslim faith?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7233040.stm

"The problem, or at least a big question, is what if by their very nature they refuse to assimilate?"

I will start this post by stating up front that I do not approve of the reported vicious and criminal acts of Muslim extremists in Europe. The acts should be universally condemned and the perpetrators should be punished.

Yet, something is happening beneath the surface in Europe that is not being explained or well reported.

Muslim riots and criminal acts occur mostly in Europe and anti-Muslim sentiment is much stronger in Europe than in America.

Large numbers of Muslims have immigrated to America just as large numbers have immigrated to Europe. If the Muslim riots and criminal acts occurred mostly in America it could be explained on the basis that on 9/11 America was attacked by Muslim radicals and America is predominant in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So why is Europe and not America the situs of such angst?

In light of Europe's tepid opposition and constant acceptance of the Nazi oppression of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, the Europeans certainly are not really angered by the Muslim hatred of Jews.

Perhaps the true problem is that Europe is not and has never been a melting pot. Although Gypsies, Jews, Muslims and others have lived among the French, Germans, Swedes, Danes, etc., they were always expected to live non-assimilated lives. And they were expected to live such lives quietly, non-obtrusively and docilely in Ghettos without complaining about oppression.

Muslims are not a quiet, non-obtrusive docile group. They are complaining, sometimes violently.

I do not wish to defend or try to justify Muslim bad behavior. Rather, I would like to understand what is really happening in Europe with Muslims, particularly since today's Muslims are not new immigrants but mostly the children of workers that migrated to European countries since the end of World War II.

This report from yesterday does make an intermediate term bear (such as I) somewhat anxious.
http://tiny.cc/ft34o

Agree, the investors are bearish at a level not seen since March 2009.

But George, isn't that graph based on sentiment 50 S&P points ago, when we were knocking on 1040. It is 1090 now. I went long some SDS and some march 2011 S&P puts today near close. While we may have some more upward movement, there is much more room down IMHO. We should also start hearing some more earnings warnings soon. I think that the jobs numbers will be bad, not horrible, some downward revisions to earlier months. But I really think the Service ISM number is going to lay the egg tomorrow. The National Assn of Credit Mgrs MFG index improved in August but was almost canceled out by the decline in the Service index. Less than 120 days til taxes increase!

Thanks Craig for the excellent post.

Interesting.
The chart shows the top bullish stock is C with 15,513 CALLS and only 319 PUTS.
Something is holding C back, last time I checked C was negative 17 days out of 20. Now the bullish chart is suggesting accumulation for C.
I'm with you....going against the grain on C and QQQQ seems to be key here.

Freedom57, Lessmore, Zed II, Craig,

Well, perhaps I am being obtuse, or perhaps I just have a long memory. A good friend who back then was an executive with a major insurance company lost over 200 people on 9/11. He floated between Chicago and NYC. He took it quite hard and I remember him telling me his feelings when dealing with the families.

I was taping something on CNBC that morning, went to check the tape just as the TV anchor was interrupted with the announcement of the "crash of a small plane into the WTC." I knew immediately they were back to finish the botched 1993 job and told my wife, "It's those goddam Arab wackos again."

For the next several hours I watched it live and have played the 6 hour tape only once to be sure I got it all.

These guys have declared a Jihad on us and are biding their time to hit us again. They don't need to hurry — we are too stupid to think about what they are up too. Our entry into the Middle East is just the kind of thing they could count on — create ill will against us, suck us dry economically, turn people against any military action — they are probably laughing about it right now.

They can get away with more in Europe because A. They are more liberal than we and B.They are even less unified than we still are.

My problem is not with those who live in the 21st Century, but with those living in 700AD. Last week a Muslim couple were walking down one of our city streets in 92 degrees of humidity. The husband was wearing shorts and a muscle shirt — his wife was wearing a black umbrella tent and walking 2 paces behind.

I have no problem with people who come to the US and merge in, but for those who come here demanding we accommodate their lifestyle, language or use our constitution to force their antiquate laws be accepted...

I have no tolerance. They can just go back and play in their own sandbox.

All the other allusions to various religions, ethnic or nationality differences ignore the fact that currently none of them are a threat to the general society. Historically there are similarities, but unless they start killing people or announce a similar "Jihad" type intent — no problem.

As far as the NYC mosque — picture the reaction if we built a monument to US Persian Gulf War vets in Mecca, or the Japanese built a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor.

Zed,
"lapsed atheist" leaves you on the fast lane to hell with no pain killer (per Marx, "religion is the opiate of the masses").

Grym, like most here I read your writings with respect, but by allowing a bunch of religious extremist to define our attitude to a religious group, we risk undermining one of the foundations of our country.

I haven't let my atheism lapse, but I'm happy to let everyone else practice their religion as they wish, as long as they don't attempt to impose it on the rest of us.

Incidentally, I think you'll find common ownership between Fox News and the (UK)Times.

So an EOD rally allowed me to close out the 'buy-and-hold' half at the highs of the day.

With time for introspection, my reasons for cashing out:

(a) I was 'hoping' my positions would close at the highs. When I find myself hoping, odds favor closing.

(b) I was up 5-6% over 2 days (I ended the day closer to 5%, as Fidelity charges a short-term redemption fee of 0.75%). What crossed my mind was:

(i) Pigs get slaughtered,

(ii) Just last week I was thinking it would take awhile for my balance(s) to hit this level day trading small positions- now that the target was within reach, why not take it? Last,

(iii) I wouldn't want to be sitting at the dinner table explaining how I let a 5% gain slip away.

Think I flip sides too quickly? Well, sometimes it's an advantage.

deleted

Craig, I wish you would post more often. You slowed to almost nil many moons ago.

!! still love those old houses... had been waiting on news for ' imgn ' for quite awhile.. do believe this one will be mega-status in about 16 months. ( attached )., http://seekingalpha.com/article/223275-immunogen-w...... watching ' cytr ' for signs of life.. plenty of hype, but their Rnai research is valid - reminds me of when ISIS (ex-liver issues )was playing around $ 2.00.. ' arql ' is very interesting ( now that Pfizer dropped the ball ).. anyway, will try to update some ideas soon.. best of trades to ya'...

Agree with others- excellent post. But it is complicated, is it not? We can talk about the muslims but if we are discussing religion and "religious freedom", take the catholic church for example. The same arguments apply, and it is in some ways "closer to home." At times persecuted, many times the persecutor for hundreds of years. Thousands of allegations of pedophilia and child abuse and not a lot of convictions... Imagine another organization that wasn't a "religion" getting away with sweeping something like that under the carpet. It just wouldn't happen. And why should taxpayers foot the bill for pelosi to "meet with the pope." Not bashing a religion, just trying to make a point about religion in general and it's influence/role in our government/society.

And another one.........

Andean up 30% on the ASX tonight.

Eldorado Confirms Proposal to Andean Resources

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 09/02/10) - Eldorado Gold Corporation (TSX:ELD - News)(NYSE:EGO - News)(ASX:EAU - News) ("Eldorado" the "Company" or "we") today confirmed it has approached the Board of Directors of Andean Resources Limited ("Andean") with a proposal to combine the two companies, thus creating the world's fastest growing and lowest cost gold producer.

Andean is a dual listed company (TSX:AND - News)(ASX:AND - News) whose main asset is the Cerro Negro Gold Project ("Cerro Negro") in the southern province of Santa Cruz in Argentina. Cerro Negro is an epithermal gold deposit at feasibility study stage that currently contains 2.1 million oz of gold and 20.6 million oz of silver in Probable Reserves.

The proposal put to the Andean Board was for a share exchange transaction at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.310 of an Eldorado common share for each Andean ordinary share, through a friendly transaction supported by a majority of the Andean Directors (the "Proposal").

Eldorado believes that the Proposal is extremely compelling for all Andean shareholders and represents a fully valued offer for Andean. Based on the closing price of an Eldorado share on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") on August 30th, 2010, the written Proposal, dated August 30th, 2010, followed an earlier initial approach to Andean on August 18th, 2010, and valued Andean at Cdn$6.36 per share, representing:

-- A premium of 61.9% to the Andean 20 day volume weighted average price on the TSX to August 30th, 2010.-- A premium of 89.9% to the Andean recently completed equity financing, which was priced by the Board of Andean at Cdn$3.35 per share.
The Proposal would result in Andean shareholders owning approximately 24% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, based on reported issued capital of each company as of August 30th, 2010.

Somebody else is somewhat freaked about Ooogle. This "ad" mocking Ooogle ran on the Jumbotron in Times Square:

http://insidegoogle.com/2010/08/do-not-track-me/

Hang in there Grym,
I understand exactly what you are saying. I too lost friends in the WTC.

I guess some of us are old enough to have escaped the public school PC curriculum and the Madison Avenue propaganda agenda that teaches that we should all try to understand one another and drink Coca Cola.

America is the most tolerant country in the history of the world. We have a mulato President, women on the Supreme Court, queers in our congress and we will even let girls fight in our military. Pornography is ubiquitous even to our children and if you have enough money and influence you will never fear prison. In some states you can even marry your asshole buddy and collect benefits. Baudelaire who had an unerring sense for the decadent would not be lacking for material were he alive today!

It's just where we are in the cycle of civilization and it must be accepted because we may not live backwards.

No need to get into the theosophy of the Jewish ghettos (now Islamic ghettos) in Europe. Religions that preferred theocratic law have always to some extent been given sway but only for some commercial and cultural purposes where it did not impinge on the host countries sensibilities...or rule.

Jewish/Islamic peoples have for the most part ghettoized themselves in host countries for cultural reasons. They do not wish to assimilate. They are there mainly for economic reasons. Study the 'treason' trials of Uriel Acosta or Spinoza. The Rabinate expelled them and handed them over to their host country as foreign criminals... The Rabinate then and the Imams today cannot be considered as equal to their host governments. Magian peoples (a Spenglarian term) do not recognize a separation of church and state and the people. The question for them becomes who rules; the Caliph or the Sultan.

Islamic peoples who will not or cannot recognize a separation of church and state have no invitation to live in Western Civilization. Their hosts may one way or another invite them to leave.

Any Western civilization person that thinks he understands and can fathom the spiritual depths of Islam, Confucianism or the Slavic mind would do well to order the compete set of CD's from Rosseta Stone on how to speak DOG...

They will never understand us nor we them. Understand this first and save yourself a lot of grief.

ALOHA!!

Looks as if GOLDCORP(GG) has scooped the deal ... The largest AND shareholder is going to go with the GoldCorp offer, at $3.6BIL, unless a better offer comes in.

LINK: http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100903/pdf/31sb551m...

FD: 481MIL shares

A brief review of the Management and I see someone needs to follow Krista Muhr around to see where she ends up next as prior to this she was at Meridian Gold that was taken over by Yamana Gold in 2007. Providing she owned shares in AND she has done well for herself in the role of VP,Investor Relations.

It is sometimes fortuitous to work in minor roles in major companies. Just down from one of our flower deliveries right on the ocean at Kaloli Bay is an ex-mailroom supervisor from EBay who looks all of 40 and retired!

All that said I see by the share structure that AND management had a 1% stake in the company. Not very high at all compared to management's 14.2% stake at Silver Lake Resources(SLR:ASX), which by the way closed up 6.5% at yet another all time high of $2.30AUD. That moves SLR up to a 1300%+ gain ... Also Sprott Asset Management holds a 9.5% share of SLR.

Congratulations to AND shareholders ... Seems the M&A juggernaut is on the move!!

S&P +1.10 / +0.10%
Level 1,090.70
Fair Value 1,089.21
Difference 1.49
Nasdaq +5.25 / +0.29%
Level 1,842.50
Fair Value 1,840.41
Difference 2.09
Dow +4.00 / +0.04%
Level 10,313.00

Autos in choppy trading, French Banks getting a solid bid.
6am Euro and Dollar look like they are about to part in opposite directions.
EUR/JPY broke, whether it has follow through is yet to be seen.

ChrisM,

"...by allowing a bunch of religious extremist to define our attitude to a religious group, we risk undermining one of the foundations of our country."

An alternate view: I define the problem as including not just the extremists, but the rank and file as well.

Islam is set up along a chain of command — the extremists are wiling to do anything (including kill) to anyone (including their own) which is the "will of Allah". The Mullahs call the shots in the immediate region and issue decisions on any topic in question. The so called "moderates" may not hate us or want to kill us, but like Woody Allen who said, "Just in case their is an afterlife, I'm taking a clean set of underwear," are unwilling to take a stand in opposition.

Not to see the concentration of power which is taking place in so many places or to think this is a civil rights matter is, IMO, extreme folly.

The "imposition" is insidious.

Incidentally, to ignore Fox, the Times or anyone due to prejudice is narrow minded. Did you watch the video from Malmö? The comments of acceptance sound like yours —"It is their right."

Thanks Ross,

I feel like the Lone Ranger here. My analogy of cockroaches apparently shut off any further comments or explanations from me or any of the links I included.

I'm not out to lynch anyone because of religious beliefs, but I see this as something other than a difference of theological opinion.

There is a group within Islam who have openly declared war (Jihad) on all not believing just like themselves. Sure, other religions have a history of killing in the name of their religion, but it is no longer a problem — this bunch is and their influence and intimidation is wide reaching.

Our openness approaches that in Sweden where my wife's cousin lives. We ignored the forces behind the 1993 WTC attack and treated them like a crime rather than military operation and got 9/11. There it is a virtual invasion and the sheer numbers are allowing them to impose their own aims.

The emotions of that day did not result in anything like the Japanese internment camps, nor do I think they should have. But the NYC mosque has tremendous symbolism which transcends any PC considerations.

Jihad is not about making war on anyone who does not believe. This is propoganda only available from propoganda makers. This is exactly the issue, in a few sentences you warp the problem from people to their belief system and say anyone who believes X is incompatible with Y, so we must wage war back on them (effectively). Anyone who I have engaged at the theological level usually has very little to support their understanding.

People who are terrorists are either vengeful, depressed, hopeless, or angry.

People who go to rallys and instigate problems (whether that be Israeli support rallys in Malmo or G8 rallys in Toronto) feel hopeless (at core), and are angry. Often they are the unemployed (70% unemployment). The things they are angry about are often real, not imaginary, but they may not be effective.

I might say that the Fed is a blight to America, but I would not be effective in waging "Jihad" against Ben Bernanke.