text:
Online casino gambling is handier than gaming at the land-based casino. Yet it is also more damaging. Rather than the usual risks which found while gaming, there's some risk of scams and fraud at web-based casino sites. These scams are really normal. The web is the simple target for all sorts of dishonest peoples and scammers, and few of them target only people that play on the online world.
We can sit around and play in the "What If" game all slot day long long and show for indications of immoral behavior, then try to regulate the house. My question has always been this: Effortlessly go function with and make money, whose business do you if I decide to gamble with my extra money? Who decides if gambling should be considered wasteful or wrong? Why would fat loss to give someone else the ability to decide when we are wasting our financial investment? Let me understand this, easily spend $1500 in a texas hold em game and lose my money, am I smashing the law because I am wasting my money? Why don't you consider the one who won my money? Did they also break regulation? I possess a brilliant process! How about this skill! "Stay the hell out of my wallet, and allow me to decide what, where uncover the I to be able to spend my money. Let's we try that?
Finding a web based casino is easy, alternatives here . a regarding them finished the web. But it's not too easy track down a reputable one. It requires more effort to you possibly can . research the online casino or gaming site effectively best to be able to. The considerable factors you just have to check for inside online casino before registering and making your online deposit are the games available, the software they use, the bonuses and odds they offer, and naturally be sure that what utilize exercise is an accredited one.
Many people lose an enormous greed for funds. The secret of beating these Slot machines might be to quit playing, when tend to be ahead of one quarter with the amount need played. Do not try to double money. This lead to get all your cash.
Just as the drug addict needs a constantly increasing supply of drugs realize the same high, so a gambling addict finds himself betting more even more – not for greater winnings, but to attract the same kick and amount of excitement as before.
Speaking about peculiarities of Gambling addiction among and also women, you need to admit that although the male is more inclined to it and in earlier age than women, females suffer from Gambling addiction later whereas in the more difficult forms.
One from the biggest secrets to quitting gambling is understand (and have organized) what mental exercises you need do to overcome the fixation. The following are examples of some associated with exercises you might want for more.
You also need to consider staving off annoying people when playing slots so you can have your full attention amongst gamers. It is normal for slot players to get distracted when they see annoying people when playing slot machine game games.


text:
2017 Average Costs For Oil Heating
Completed Projects
Nowadays, there are so many energy options that homeowners can choose from. For you to ensure that you are heating your home using only a reliable fuel, opt for oil heating Sitka instead of gas. If you are concerned about your return on investment (ROI), then you must know that gas prices keep on increasing yet oil prices are constantly dropping. Opting for Sitka oil heating will not only save you so much money, but it will also let you use safe, efficient, and dependable fuel for your home. Unlike natural gas, oil heating Sitka is non-explosive which means you are not putting your family's safety at risk for sudden hazards. For equipment repair and installation services, you can rely on Furthur's professionals.
Oil Heating in Sitka, AK
Home Oil Heating in Sitka AK
Service contracts
Free quotes on Alaska oil
From the height of summer to the depths of winter, Furthur will always deliver. Furthur's oil heating Sitka delivery services are automatic. They never run out of oil supply and so will you. Also, their professionals will only use the latest tools and equipment in all of their repair and installation services. Every single one of them has undergone intensive training to ensure that you only get the best services in all of the region. Call their technicians now for a free quote.
What zipcode
do YOU NEED
Oil Heating Companies in?
(888) 676-13032016 Average Costs For Oil Heating
FAQ for Oil Heating in Sitka
What are the advantages of oil heating in Sitka?
The advancement of technology has transformed home oil heating in Sitka into one of the cleanest, safest and eco-friendly ways to ensure you stay warm and comfortable. Heat oil is an affordable option, since it burns 400° hotter compared to electric or natural gas heating systems, heating up your home quicker, with less fuel. It also provides you with heating insurance; therefore, you can stock a constant a supply of fuel throughout the cold season. If correctly installed and inspected routinely, they are safer than the natural gas system; even if a leakage occurs, heat oil does not explode. Lastly, the air coming from its furnace is considerably cleaner and does not cause any respiratory or health issues.
Why do Sitka oil heating prices change so often?
Sitka oil heating prices fluctuate for various reasons including the variations in the cost of crude oil. Since the crude oil is what's refined to produce oil, the changes in its pricing directly impact the price of the heating oil. Commodity training is another factor; like any other fuel, heating oil also trades on the commodity market, meaning it's subject to fluctuations; and depending on the weather, the supply and demand also play a significant role. Lastly, is the local operating cost; which is dependent on your geographical location, the cost of doing the business (salaries and wages), equipment, rent, benefits, overhead, insurance and local and state fees.
Is oil heating in Sitka safe and efficient?
In modern the day burners, (which are tested by the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US), the system can burn up to 99.9% clean. These burners are so clean that from three and a half tons of oil heating in Sitka they produce as little as six ounces of soot annually.
Mike's Plumbing & Heating
2915 Ketch St Kenai, AK 99611 -
Promise Land Plumbing & Heating
8304 Kenai Spur Hwy Kenai, AK 99611 -
Promise Land Plumbing & Heating
8304 Kenai Spur Hwy Kenai, AK 99611 -
Schmolck Mechanical Contractors Inc
110 Jarvis St Sitka, AK 99835 -
Crescent Plumbing & Heating
224 Smith St Sitka, AK 99835 -
24/7 Plumbing And Heating
Kenai, AK 99611

subset: commoncrawl


text:
BSBNo.Com | |
Bank: National Australia Bank Limited (NAB Bank) Bank Branch: NSW nabprivate Practice 6 BSB Number: 082-983 Address: Level 4 14 Childers Street City: Canberra State: ACT, Australia Post Code: 2601 Phone Number: 132 265 , Intl: +61 3 8641 9083 Payment Types: PEH (P:Paper, E:Electronic, H:High Value) | |
A Bank-State-Branch Number (abbreviated as "BSB" Number) is used in Australia for a bank code, which is a branch identifier. BSB number is used as an identifier consisting of a six digit numerical code that identifies an individual branch of an Australian financial institution. The BSB number is normally used in association with the bank account number. |
ANZ Bank | Commonwealth Bank of Australia |
National Australian Bank | Westpac Banking Corporation |


text:
A tax avoidance scheme used by businesses that sought to avoid paying tax and National Insurance on company directors' bonuses was the subject of a recent Upper Tribunal hearing. HMRC challenged the validity of tax claims by two companies firstly at the First-Tier Tribunal and then at the Upper Tribunal.
The two cases were heard together as the underlying appeals raised similar issues and were designated as related cases by the Tribunal. In addition, there were also over a hundred other businesses using similar schemes and attempting to avoid paying over £55m in tax.
The scheme used specially created companies issuing loan notes in £10 denominations that matched the bonus amount exactly. Special conditions were included to avoid the tax and National Insurance due when the loan notes were given to the director. The scheme was used in the 2003-4 and 2004-5 tax years and the legislation has subsequently been amended to make the use of this kind of scheme impossible.
The Upper Tribunal examined two main issues but ultimately dismissed the taxpayers appeals. This meant that HMRC has been able to secure a multi-million pound victory and close down this tax avoidance scheme. HMRC has said that they have won 9 out of 10 tax avoidance cases taken to court in the last 2 years, with many more settling before reaching that stage.
Commenting on the Upper Tribunal win HMRC's Penny Ciniewicz said:
'We cannot allow tax avoidance schemes like these to deprive the UK of vital revenue. The money we've protected in this case alone would be enough to pay the annual salaries of around 2,400 newly qualified teachers.'


text:
Get Published in Fraud Magazine
Chasing Madoff
An Interview with Harry Markopolos, CFE, CFA
By Dick Carozza
May/June 2009
Finally, after nine years, they listened to Harry Markopolos.
"What hits us the most is that you didn't give up on these efforts," said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., during Harry Markopolos' Feb. 4 Congressional testimony about his investigation of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. "You tried repeatedly, and you tried to encourage others to look into this in order to protect investors, and not only here but around the world. And for that we want to express our appreciation."
Markopolos' quest began as a simple work assignment; he was a portfolio manager for an equity derivatives asset management firm in Boston when he was asked to analyze Madoff's money-making methods. He quickly discovered Madoff was running an old-fashioned Ponzi scheme.
"My team and I tried our best to get the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] to investigate and shut down the Madoff Ponzi scheme with repeated and credible warnings," Markopolos said during his testimony before the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets. He said he submitted an eight-page document listing red flags and mathematical proof of a major fraud to the SEC's Boston Regional Office in May 2000.
He resubmitted evidence to SEC offices in 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2008, but to no avail. In 2008, the stock market crumbled, investors rushed in to redeem their investments, and Madoff ran out of cash and turned himself in. After pleading guilty on March 12, he awaits sentencing for a scheme with losses estimated from $10 billion to $65 billion.
Meanwhile, Markopolos is trying to settle his life after the media onslaught and use his fraud examination skills to work on False Claims Act and IRS tax-faud cases in which the U.S. government is the victim.
"I didn't have any fraud examination training [before the Madoff investigation] so I look to the ACFE as my single-most useful professional education provider," he said.
Markopolos will be a keynote speaker at the 20th Annual ACFE Fraud Conference & Exhibition, July 12-17, at the Bellagio, in Las Vegas.
What events led you to investigate Madoff's business?
View a timeline of Harry Markopolos' investigation of Madoff investment scheme.
In late 1999, I was a portfolio manager for a multibillion-dollar equity derivatives asset management firm in Boston's financial district. Frank Casey, a marketing senior vice president for the firm, returned from New York with marketing materials for a high-performing, derivatives-based hedge fund managed by Bernard Madoff. In early 2000, the firm's partners asked me to reverse-engineer the strategy so that we could offer this successful product to our firm's customers.
After I modeled the strategy, I determined that the returns could only be coming from illegal front-running of the Madoff broker/dealer arm's client orders or from fictional returns that were the result of a Ponzi scheme. I went to the firm's partners and jokingly asked if they really wanted to get into that business. They hastily replied, "No way, if that's what he's doing then we don't want to compete in that space."
What tipped you off?
Madoff's name was never on the marketing materials; that was clue No. 1 – I've never seen a product offering where the manager's name wasn't listed up front. The marketing literature described a derivatives-based strategy with 37 moving parts, but I was very familiar with the math, and the strategy as described shouldn't have been able to earn a positive return after fees. He made some very simple portfolio construction errors in that he foolishly retained single-stock price risk that would have led to a lot more down months than he reported to investors.
If he had designed the product correctly, he could have avoided this single-stock risk, so I knew that Madoff didn't know the first thing about portfolio construction mathematics. Literally, it took five minutes after reading his strategy paragraph to determine that he wasn't really using the described strategy to earn the returns he said he was. Under existing securities law, if you tell clients that you are using Strategy A to invest their money but, in fact, you use an undisclosed Strategy B to really invest their money, you've committed fraud.
What were the factors that allowed this scheme to continue for so long?
The main emotion he appealed to was human greed, but he was smart enough to address investors' fears by showing them a strategy that owned stock market index put options [option contracts that give the owners the right, but not the obligation, to sell specified amounts of underlying securities at a specified price within a specified time] such that if the stock market ever crashed they would be protected. He created the illusion of an investment strategy that never hit home runs but instead earned a steady 1 percent a month and also couldn't lose much money because he owned protective stock market put options. If such a product had really existed it would be the Holy Grail of investment products. But Madoff was smart enough to show modest returns that didn't seem overly high so as to avoid suspicion.
In finance there is a term, the Sharpe Ratio, which is a measure of how many units of return you earn for each unit of risk you take. Madoff's Sharpe Ratio was off the charts over a decade-and-a-half time period, ranging between 2.5 to 4.0 for most time frames. Sharpe Ratios this high have existed for shorter time periods but never for 15 years in a row – no one is that good! But investors wanted to believe in the Holy Grail so they suspended their disbelief and acted like moths before a flame.
Madoff also used the veil of exclusivity to overcome victims' hesitancy to invest. He would simply lie and tell feeder funds [funds that conduct virtually all of the transactions through other funds called master funds], fund of funds [hedge funds that invest in a diversified basket of other hedge funds], and rich individual investors that he wasn't really taking in new money to manage because he had pretty much all the money he wanted to manage. He would say, "but because I like you I'll give you special access and allow you, and only you, to invest." Then he would give them a flattering reason why he considered them to be special, and they'd fall for it hook, line and sinker.
Madoff also owned a prestigious broker/dealer firm, Madoff Securities, which was a major market-maker in over-the-counter and NYSE-listed stocks. At various times Madoff was trading 5 percent to 10 percent of the daily exchange volume. Therefore, he had the patina of respectability. After all, if he owned a successful brokerage firm, why would he need to steal?
And just like any other large-company CEO fraudster, Madoff's résumé was impeccable. He was former chairman of the NASDAQ and sat on several prominent industry association boards as did his brother and his sons. He gave to charities and donated to politicians. Investors were blinded by the résumé, his perceived wealth, and his lofty status in the community and therefore didn't feel the need to dig beneath the surface when conducting due diligence. Plus they knew that if you asked too many questions and angered him that he'd tell you that he didn't want you as a client. Psychologically, he had designed the perfect fly trap.
You said that Frank Casey, then the senior vice president of marketing for Rampart Investment Management Company Inc., the Boston firm at which you worked at the time, told you that investors he met in New York City considered Madoff the premier hedge fund manager because of his steady return streams with unusually low volatility. Why didn't they realize, as you did, that this was just an old-fashioned Ponzi scheme?
Investors who asked too many questions were told not to invest. If you asked detailed due diligence questions and wanted full transparency and an independent third-party bank to custody assets and clear trades, then Madoff would tell you, "It's a take-it or leave-it black-box strategy. I invented this strategy and if I let third parties see what I'm doing, then they will duplicate the strategy and kill my returns by competing away the market inefficiencies I'm exploiting."
Smart investors would stick to their investment discipline and walk away, refusing to invest in a black-box strategy they did not understand. Greedy investors would fall over themselves to hand Madoff money. He was brilliant in letting smart investors walk away and not being offended by it. He knew his targets were investors who didn't ask too many questions. You don't need to be the smartest man in the world to be a Ponzi artist; you only have to be smarter than your victims.
You've said that Madoff marketed his stocks by saying he would invest them through a complex "split-strike conversion" strategy. Why do you think he used this marketing plan with his customers?
First, it had a basket of 30 to 35 blue-chip stocks that any investor would feel comfortable owning. Second, it appeared to be a diversified basket of stocks so that at least some investors would willingly allocate 100 percent of their savings to him. Third, there were stock market index put options that would protect investors against a severe market decline such as that experienced in 2008, so it seemed like a very safe, diversified strategy – just the type to lure in victims and keep them sleeping soundly at night. Fourth, Madoff knew the SEC didn't have any derivatives experts on staff that would understand the math behind the strategy. Fifth, the strategy had so many moving parts that none of the feeder funds understood the strategy either. The complexity of the strategy worked to perpetuate the fraud.
How could the managers of the feeder funds miss that 45-degree upward angle in the graph of the cumulative performance of Madoff? Do you think they willingly ignored the warning signs because the money kept flowing in?
Madoff masqueraded as a hedge-fund operator but was licensed as a broker-dealer. By the same token, the feeder funds masqueraded as hedge-fund operators, but were nothing more than marketing arms for Madoff. In a normal Wall Street fee-splitting arrangement, the marketing arm would typically take 20 percent of the fees and only very rarely more than 50 percent. But in Madoff's case, I believe he was passing along well over 80 percent of the fees to the feeder funds. Therefore, they had a monetary incentive not to ask too many questions.
I've met some investors who felt Madoff was front-running his broker-dealer arm's order flow. These investors were actually reassured that Madoff's returns were real but were generated illegally. My guess is they figured if Madoff were eventually caught he'd go to prison but that they would be able to keep all the illegally generated returns.
Can you describe your meeting in 2002 with the 14 French and Swiss private-client banks and hedge fund of funds?
I had designed a statistical options arbitrage strategy that could earn better returns than Madoff, but which could lose almost 50 percent in any given month if the market fell more than 8 percent over a 10- to 15-day time span. The firm that was marketing this strategy for my firm also marketed Madoff's strategy and would tell everyone we met that "Harry is just like Madoff only with higher risk and higher return." Of course I would get very frustrated every time this was said, but I knew that if I told the European fund of funds that Madoff was a fraud, then word would get back to him and I would be putting my life in jeopardy.
Of the 14 feeder funds and private-client banks that had Madoff, only two have come forward and admitted their losses. As of February 2009, there were a "dirty dozen" who hadn't yet come forward. Keep in mind that this is almost seven years later, so some may have discovered Madoff was a fraud and gotten out. But I think most of the "dirty dozen" are hiding and for good reason.
I used that European trip to further the investigation and detail Madoff's inroads into the European marketplace. What I discovered was that Madoff was running affinity circles luring in many of Europe's royal families – the high-born, old money families, and the newly rich. Madof used noblemen in Europe to market to and to lure in wealthy victims.
In the United States, Madoff was preying on the Jewish community. Interestingly, Madoff knew that his affinity circle consisted of American Jews, but that by recruiting feeder funds with different customer bases, he could expand the number of affinity circles he could tap into for new victims.
Surprisingly, my team and I never realized that Madoff was accepting separately managed accounts from American Jewish investors. We incorrectly thought that by tracking the institutional feeder funds and fund of funds investing in Madoff, we were tracking all his victims, so we missed this particular category of victims entirely.
Unfortunately, it was this group of individual Jewish investors that was likely hit the hardest, with many of these families experiencing devastating losses because they invested everything they had with Madoff. In retrospect, this was obvious, yet we missed it during our investigation.
Most of the European money was invested through "off-shore" accounts so it is doubtful that these European victims will be coming forward and filing loss claims for fear of alerting their host nation tax authorities. So while I believe that the Madoff losses are higher in Europe than in the United States, most of those European losses will never be reported to prove my hypothesis.
After the Boston SEC office sent the Madoff case to the SEC's New York branch, you said the New York office was unresponsive. You said in your testimony before the Congressional subcommittee that "the relationship between the SEC's Boston and New York offices is about as warm and cordial as the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry." Did you ask the Boston office to contact the New York office again to inquire about the inaction? Did the SEC's New York office give you its reasons for not being able to find the fraud?
No, I never asked the Boston office to contact New York. Since the two offices didn't like each other, having Boston challenge New York's competence by asking for status reports would only have hurt matters instead of making them better.
You approached the senior investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Even though he was eager to investigate the story, you said the newspaper's editors never gave their approval. Did you ever discover the reason for this?
No, but I will say that I went to John Wilkie, whom I personally consider to be The Wall Street Journal's best investigative journalist. This reporter has broken many stories. My nickname for him is "front-page Wilkie" for all the scoops he lands on the journal's front page every year. He and I keep in touch, and he's definitely someone I will go to with other cases in the future.
I cannot possibly answer on behalf of the SEC. The SEC inspector general's report will be out this summer and will answer these questions. One thing I can tell you is that I've spent an entire day giving sworn testimony to the SEC's inspector general team and they impressed me. I was interview No. 60 for them. Their questions were wide-ranging and revealed to me how extensive their investigation is. They know they are writing a widely anticipated IG report that will end up in the history books. This particular IG has written hard-hitting reports in the past that have pulled no punches, and I am expecting to see his team's best work in the upcoming Madoff Report.
When did you first see that Madoff was struggling to keep his Ponzi scheme afloat?
A member of my investigative team, Frank Casey, had a key dinner in June 2005 where he found out from his sources that Madoff was actively trying to borrow money from several European banks. That was our first indication that the scheme was running short of cash.
How did you find out that Madoff was running low on funds in 2007?
In April 2007, a San Francisco-based firm came out with a structured product that had 3:1 leverage to Fairfield Sentry Fund's Madoff returns. For every $1 an investor put in, a European bank would lend you $2 so that $3 was invested with Madoff instead of only $1. Of course, the bank would make a nice interest rate for itself and the San Francisco-based firm would earn three times as much in management fees as would Fairfield Sentry. It was win-win-win for the feeder funds, the banks, and Madoff. To us, this was a sign of desperation that Madoff needed larger and larger amounts of fresh cash to keep the scheme from collapsing.
When and why did you eventually abandon your investigation?
The top three offices at the SEC are in New York, Boston, and Washington. If the three best SEC offices weren't bright enough to figure out such an easy scheme then it was clear to me that the case had no future. By April 2008, I had several False Claims Act cases under seal that were progressing nicely and felt that the Madoff case wasn't going anywhere. Therefore, I decided to concentrate on my winners and cut loose my loser, the Madoff case, which just goes to prove that it is impossible to predict how your cases will turn out! Madoff was in my dead-case-files cabinet, but it arose from the dead like a phoenix.
Why do you think Madoff suddenly turned himself in on Dec. 11, 2008?
The dramatic fall in the worldwide financial markets of October and November 2008 led to panic, resulting in massive investor redemptions from hedge fund of funds. These fund of funds operators felt that Madoff was their best-performing, most-liquid hedge fund manager so they redeemed him first, which led to him not being able to meet all of those redemption requests.
Madoff had taken money from every corner of the globe and he had taken it from some very unsavory characters. That's why he didn't flee; he had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide; so he did the logical thing – he turned himself in.
Of the 29 red flags you identified, which ones were the strongest indicators that a fraud was being perpetrated? Which ones should have made the SEC sit up and take notice?
All of them. But if I had to pick the most important red flag it would be that Madoff's purported options trading size was seven to 65 times the size of the actual market for those derivative instruments at various points in time.
Your investigative team consisted of Neil Chelo, director of research for Benchmark Plus; Frank Casey, formerly of Rampart Inc., the North American president for Fortune Asset Management; and Michael Ocrant, now of the publication, Institutional Investor. Were they working pro bono?
Yes, they knew Madoff was a clear and present danger to the capital markets and to the reputation of the United States. Some things are so important that you just know you have to do them for free and certainly this was one of them.
I'd also like to point out that the two lawyers who helped me prepare for the Congressional testimony, attorney Phil Michael of Troutman Sanders LLP in New York, and Dr. Gaytri Kachroo, JD, LLM, SJD, of McCarter & English LLP in Boston, also worked pro bono in representing me. Thank goodness civic duty and doing the right thing are still prevalent in our nation.
How did your Army Reserve special operations background help you in the investigation?
I was used to leading small, task-oriented teams of functional experts. And I certainly knew how to develop intelligence sources, debrief them, and give them specific and general requests for additional information while letting them figure out how to acquire the information.
When I was in the Army Reserve, the Army's JFK School for Special Warfare hired cross-cultural anthropologists to train us how to communicate across cultural boundaries; this training has always helped me during my investigations. Mirror-imaging the people I am with so that I can find common ground more easily with them, and exchanging information with them more effectively, has been invaluable to me. My unit used to operate in Western Europe so I knew their cultures intimately and was able to make some investigative breakthroughs there rather quickly in 2002.
With me it's always been a two-way street information-wise. I don't come across as "an investigator." The Army trained me to be "a friend who's there to help." As a result, I find large fraud cases in companies in which government regulators have not helped the subjects during their routine inspections. Government investigators all too often are in the "listen-only mode," which is why they don't hear much useful information. You have to reveal information in order to receive it. No one trusts the person who's only there to listen.
What fueled your tenacity during your nine-year investigation of Madoff?
There's a fine line between bravery and foolishness. My team and I definitely crossed that line and were, to some extent, foolish to continue the investigation after it became apparent in 2002 that the SEC was incapable of understanding a derivatives-based Ponzi scheme.
However, because of the immense size of the fraud and the untold damage we felt it would do to the reputation of the United States and our capital markets, we knew that if we did not continue the investigation Madoff would continue to lure in more victims and cause even more damage.
You've said that all the members of your team feared for their lives during your investigation. Did you have any specific threats that made you fear for yours?
The "off-shore" feeder funds were only one step removed from organized crime. If organized crime knew that Madoff was stealing their money, he would have been killed. Therefore, if Madoff had ever found out that he had a team tracking him through Europe and North America and that he risked getting exposed, it was a good bet that he would have had several billion reasons to want us silenced. To compartmentalize the damage, I was the only one who went to the SEC. The SEC never knew I had a team in the field helping me.
New SEC Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro has said she will streamline some procedures, and she will eliminate the requirement that commissioners approve all enforcement actions before they're elevated from an inquiry to an investigation and before subpoenas go out, according to The New York Times. In a Times interview she said, "This agency did not pursue some critical issues and problems. We need to be transparent about what we missed. We need to learn from these tragedies." What else does she need to do now and in the long term to improve the SEC?
I have written numerous pages containing more than three-dozen recommendations and included them in my written Congressional testimony. I have heard through the grapevine and through press reports that the SEC is actively exploring at least a few of my recommendations and they've done it with such speed that I'm hopeful we will see dramatic improvements. If the SEC does not improve soon, they risk being merged out of existence in the upcoming rewrite of the nation's regulatory scheme.
The SEC's ineptitude and that of the Federal Reserve have brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse, so I am confident that drastic changes will be made in order to restore investor trust in our capital markets. I would rate the Federal Reserve's performance as far worse than that of the SEC. None of the nation's financial regulators did their jobs, which is what allowed this crisis to develop over a period of at least 15 years.
What talents and skills should the perfect SEC investigator have?
First they must understand finance, balance sheets, and financial instruments at least to the level that a Chartered Financial Analyst Level I candidate does.
Second, they need to possess a nose for fraud and have a toolbox for investigating fraud, which is why I recommended that the SEC hire Certified Fraud Examiners. Third, having a trading background would be essential for the perfect SEC investigator. Fourth, having a CPA's knowledge of financial statement preparation along with Fortune 1000 experience would be a must. Of course, the perfect SEC investigator has yet to be born. No fraud investigator is perfect.
You've said the SEC needs to offer incentives to its investigative staff members. Could you explain your reasoning and how that might work?
Wall Street pays employees a base salary of roughly $150,000 to $200,000 per year plus a bonus often tied to 5 percent to 15 percent of the revenues that you bring into the firm during the year. The SEC needs to adopt Wall Street's compensation methods in order to compete with industry for the best available talent. SEC staffers that tackle and solve major securities fraud cases that result in successful settlements for investors should be awarded substantial bonuses for their excellent work, just like they would be in industry.
I recommend that for each dollar in actual fraud damages the guilty defendant be fined treble damages along with the cost of the government's investigation. This will ensure that the defrauded investors are made whole and it will ensure that these large SEC bonus checks are paid by the crooked companies that stole the money in the first place.
During your testimony, you recommended the establishment of an Office of the Whistle-blower within the SEC. What should the office look like?
First, it needs a technological filter to winnow through the hundreds of thousands of e-mail complaints received each year to sort through the ones that are specific, credible, and worth following up by a trained investigator. Second, trained investigators who have excellent phone-interviewing skills need to conduct follow-up calls on the most promising leads. Third, these trained investigators have to be able to gain whistle-blowers' trust and develop additional information. Fourth, the whistle-blower program needs to provide a bounty for cases submitted under seal to the SEC that result in a successful recovery by the agency.
The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service both pay rewards of 15 to 30 percent for successful cases submitted by whistle-blowers and, as a result, these two agencies receive lots of well-developed, large fraud cases each year. Fifth, a case-tracking system needs to be adopted that tracks cases from start to finish. Sixth, the SEC needs to data mine the complaints for useful data that raises red flags for further analysis about future fraud trends.
You've met with SEC Inspector General David Kotz about some "mini-Madoffs." I know you can't be specific about these cases, but do they involve Ponzi schemes at other investment firms? Were you able to share your concerns about the SEC and suggestions for improvement?
I told the SEC there was one possible mini-Madoff that merited close examination. There is an investment company reporting performance numbers that were even better than Madoff's. I didn't investigate beyond looking at the performance numbers, so it's best that the SEC send a team in to verify that the returns are real.
Looking back through the nine years, would you have done anything differently in communicating your investigation results to the SEC, financial professionals, and others?
Madoff was my first case, which, of course, is the absolute worst case to start one's career as a fraud examiner with! Back then I didn't know what the SEC's organization chart looked like, I didn't know how they functioned, nor did I know how poorly trained, paid, and resourced they are. I didn't know what I didn't know, which actually helped in some ways and hurt in others. Interested CFEs can look at my SEC submissions and case materials posted on www.house.gov under the archived hearings of the House Financial Services
Committee dated Feb. 4, 2009, and judge for themselves what I should have done differently. Were my case submissions clearly written? Did I include enough proof? Were my red flags sufficient? Should the SEC have shut Madoff down based upon those submissions? What did we fail to investigate? What obvious things did we miss?
Things would have gone a lot better if I had joined the ACFE in 1999, networked at local chapter meetings, and obtained advice from seasoned CFEs. If I had done those things then the case would have had better odds of being successful.
In the Army, I was taught that leaders are responsible for everything that happens and fails to happen in their units. Obviously, this is the biggest case failure in history, and I bear responsibility for not leading this case to a successful conclusion. I'll leave it to the historians and my fellow CFEs to judge where I could have done better. I feel as badly about the result as anyone other than the victims.
What do you consider to be the best way to take down a securities Ponzi scheme?
Since a Ponzi scheme never really provides any underlying product or service, these types of frauds shouldn't take more than a few hours to solve in most instances. You simply walk into the suspected Ponzi operator's headquarters unannounced and ask to be taken to the trading desk, which won't exist. If the fraudsters are fast on their feet they'll tell you their trading desk is located at a different, far more remote location to slow you down by a day or two until you can get teams to that location. If there's no trading desk at the firm's headquarters and the firm doesn't list any other offices in its marketing literature, then you can be pretty sure it's a Ponzi.
Next you ask for the trading tickets showing those securities they traded at which prices at which time – again, they probably won't have those either. If they do have trading tickets, all you have to do is call the brokerage firms they purportedly traded through and ask if the trades are real – which they won't be. Or you can simply look at a "time & sales tick data feed" and attempt to locate these trades. Because they won't exist, that won't be too hard. I'd want to load the time & sales tick data onto a laptop so that I could check the suspected Ponzi operator's trades on site and in front of them while a partner observed their reactions to my doing this.
My guess is that for 90 percent of the Ponzi schemes out there, simply asking the principal to take you to his trading desk will quickly lead to the confessional interview. That the SEC takes years to solve Ponzi schemes is proof that they need to hire examiners with industry experience.
You collected all your investigatory information from public domain documents. What do you venture to guess that investigators might now find in hidden Madoff company documents?
Only the internal company documents will reveal who his helpers were. Seeing the accomplices behind bars is one small measure of justice that I am looking forward to. My fear is that Madoff turned himself in at a time and place of his own choosing so he certainly had plenty of time to destroy the records necessary to implicate his accomplices.
Did you have a press plan?
On day 1, Dec. 12 – one day after Madoff turned himself in – The Wall Street Journal went to press with my name as the whistle-blower. On day 2, I developed a workable press plan that I never had to change – merely execute. I simply picked best-of-breed media outlets to work with and ignored the hundreds of press requests that were pouring in. For TV, I chose 60 Minutes as the best of the best. They probably approached me on day 4 or 5, so I had to be patient and wait for them, but I figured if all their competitors were calling, then they would too. For radio, I chose National Public Radio's Boston affiliate because I knew the news director's wife. For print media, I had been working with The Wall Street Journal for three years already. The only two media outlets I did not choose on day 2 were the Boston Globe and the Boston Examiner – they were added later.
I spent the first six days working with Greg Zuckerman of The Wall Street Journal to get the defining front-page cover story on the case published on day 7. Reporters and television cameras would show up at my front door and at times my home was staked out, but I tried to not let the media pressure get to me. The press will pounce on you immediately, but you can't possibly do 500 interviews in a week nor should you try. I did one story that first week but made it a good one in a national publication with millions of readers and had it include some key case documents on its Web site for the world to read and use to form their own opinions.
Letting the public form their own opinions based upon the documents you provide to the press will make your case for you, so there's no need to sit for multiple press interviews. Besides, the press will all copy from the few in-depth press interviews you give. It's better to do very few interviews of exceptionally high-quality and let the hundreds of other media outlets copy from that handful of interviews that you sit for.
What can you say to encourage fraud examiners as they doggedly pursue tough cases?
I think I over-pursued this case and took way too many risks. Once I had children, I should have stopped the investigation because I put my family at risk. Realistically, in hindsight, Madoff was too dangerous an individual and too powerful a target for me. So my advice is "know when to quit." But this was my first case and I didn't know any better. Do you believe that CFEs should have a working knowledge of the trading profession? If so, what are some of the basics they need to know to intelligently discern investing frauds?
No, unless a CFE is working at a trading firm I don't see any reason to spend the years it would take to obtain a working knowledge of the trading profession. It's far easier to hire people with trading and back-office expertise to assist you in securities fraud cases rather than wasting too much time trying to master this complex field.
You've been a securities expert for years. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, began the ACFE in 1988 to help train fraud examiners to prevent, deter, and detect fraud. How have the seminars and conferences helped you in your investigations?
I didn't have any fraud examination training so I look to the ACFE as my single-most useful professional education provider. I attend as many monthly Boston ACFE Chapter training events as I can. Last year, I attended the ACFE Annual Fraud Conference and Exhibition – the main, pre- and post-conferences – to acquire as much knowledge as inexpensively as I could.
Plus, I would attend all the conference social events; [they are] great times to network and further educate yourself. If a single post-graduate university course is $4,000, then a week attending the ACFE Annual Fraud Conference or a two-day conference is a lot less expensive, and it's more focused toward what I do for a living.
I'd also say that spending a few hours in the exhibition hall speaking to all the vendors is a phenomenal learning experience. At last year's conference, I spent hours with all of the digital forensics vendors. They showed me how to operate their equipment, how to break passwords using rainbow tables, how to mirror image a hard drive and maintain chain of custody, how to snoop on Blackberries and laptops that foolishly had unencrypted Wi-Fi and blue-tooth connections, etc. I didn't learn enough to actually operate the equipment myself, but I learned quite a bit about what's available and made several vendor connections that will come in handy during my career.
You now run an independent fraud investigation firm. What kinds of cases do you work on? How do you receive whistle-blower tips?
I only work on False Claims Act and IRS tax-fraud cases in which the victim is the government. My minimum case size is $500 million and I don't take cases from the outside; I find my own. Whistle-blowers don't find me; I find them. I automatically reject cases that try to find me and rarely respond to e-mails or phone calls from people I don't already know.
Dick Carozza is the editor-in-chief of Fraud Magazine.
Markopolos Gives Advice to Aspiring Fraud Examiners
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners assumes sole copyright of any article published on www.fraud-magazine.com or www.ACFE.com. ACFE follows a policy of exclusive publication. Permission of the publisher is required before an article can be copied or reproduced. Requests for reprinting an article in any form must be e-mailed to: email@example.com .
Interview with David Green, CB, QC, Director of U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office
Interview with Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Neil Barofsky walked into an enormous, historic job when he became the special IG for TARP last year. But he knows that his relentless push for transparency and dogged pursuit of fraudsters will protect his bosses – the American taxpayers.
View the Issue
Digital Edition
Log in
Watch Rachel Wilson, head of cybersecurity at Morgan Stanley, discuss cybercriminal syndicates and how they use malware to infiltrate mobile device security at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. View the video.


text:
Viewing posts tagged history
Lex Loizides has been doing a great series of blogs on church history, but little did I know that he's actually a first-hand source! For example, he's just done a post on Wycliffe, who was a fantastic preacher as can be seen in this great painting:
John Wycliffe. In the villages and towns the people listened eagerly to Wycliffe and his preachers reading passages from the Bible - in English. One in particular, in the lower right hand corner, seems in earnest prayer... perhaps due to the proximity of the axe to his face.


text:
What version of Red Hat is used for the Red Hat Certified System Administrator Exam?
Because I don't have over $3000 to invest in the Red Hat course that prepares you for the exam I am going to install Red Hat and practice all of the listed objectives on my own. (Exam Objectives) I'll probably do some other practice as well just for fun. As of right now I am downloading Red Hat Linux 7.1 i386.
As a secondary question, would you advise either for or against taking the course? Are there other avenues the you would suggest to help me prepare for the exam? Also if I were to fail the exam would I have to pay again to retake it?


text:
The architecture company meets with the client to discuss their needs, budget, and timeline. They may also visit the site to get a better understanding of the project.
Based on the client's requirements, the architecture company creates a concept design that outlines the overall vision for the project. This may include sketches, 3D models, or computer-generated renderings.
Once the client approves the concept design, the architecture company begins to develop detailed drawings and plans. This may involve collaborating with engineers, contractors, and other specialists to ensure that the design is feasible.
Before construction can begin, the architecture company must obtain the necessary permits and approvals from local authorities. This may involve submitting plans and documents for review and responding to any questions or co
Archy was founded in 1936 in Chicago, USA. The company was established by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings, and later joined by John O. Merrill.
SOM has been responsible for the design of many notable buildings worldwide, including the Sears Tower (now known as Willis Tower) in Chicago, which was the world's tallest building from 1973 to 1998. The company has also designed the John Hancock Center, One World Trade Center, and Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world.
Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized for its innovative designs and commitment to sustainability.
We believe that good design should not only be aesthetically pleasing, but also functional and environmentally responsible. Our approach to architecture is rooted in a deep understanding of our clients' needs and the context in which we are designing. We work closely with our clients throughout the entire design process to ensure that their vision is realized and that their space is both beautiful and practical.
Ratings and reviews, A numerical rating system and written reviews from clients can be very persuasive in convincing potential clients to hire an architecture firm. These reviews can be posted directly on the architecture firm's website or on third-party review sites such as Yelp or Google Reviews. It's important to respond to all reviews, whether positive or negative, in a professional and respectful manner. This shows that the architecture firm values feedback and is committed to delivering exceptional service.


text:
I have sold a property at 1202 280 ROSS DR in New Westminster.
The Carlyle. Clean, Bright and open Northeast corner unit with Mountain & Fraser River views. Quiet unit, Bedrooms are separated by the living area with additional built-in storage in the closets. Features height ceilings, laminate floor, granite countertops, s/s apps, gas stove and a large Balcony (165 s/f = 17 x 10). Amenities such as Gym, Clubhouse with free Wifi, Media room & Two Guest Suite. Close to City Hall, Shopping, Skytrain, Queen's Park, School and Canada Games Pool. 1 Parking, Pets Allowed & Rentals allow 60 out of 194 units. Strata have for rent parking, lockers & ELECTRIC CAR charging area. 24 hours notice for showings, please.


text:
Stevens, Sufjan 'Carrie & Lowell' VINYL
Tax included.
'Carrie & Lowell' sounds like memory: it spans decades yet does not trade on pastiche or nostalgia. Stevens's gauzy double-tracked vocals wash across the dashboard of long-finned, drop-top Americana, yet as we race towards the coast we are reminded that sunshine leads to shadow, for this is a landscape of terminal roads, unsteady bridges, traumatic video stores, and unhappy beds that provide the scenery for tales of jackknifed cars, funerals, and forgiveness for the dead. Each track in this collection of eleven songs begins with a fragile melody that gathers steam until it becomes nothing less than a modern hymn. Sufjan recounts the indignities of our world, of technological distraction and sad sex, of an age without neither myths nor miracle - and this time around, his voice carries the burden of wisdom. 'Carrie & Lowell' accomplishes the rare thing that any art should achieve, particularly in these noisy and fragmented days: By seeking to understand, Sufjan makes us feel less alone.


text:
By Uri Avnery
In colloquial Israeli Hebrew, when someone discovers something that everybody else already knows, we say: "Good morning, Elijahu!"
Why Elijahu? I don't know. Now one could say: "Good morning, Ehud!"
That's what I said to myself when I read the sensational interview that Ehud Olmert gave this week, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, to the newspaper "Yediot Aharonot".
At the end of his political career, after resigning from the prime ministership, while waiting for Tzipi Livni to set up a new government, he said some astounding things – not astounding in themselves, but certainly when they come from his mouth.
For those who missed it, here is what he said:
"We must reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the essence of which is that we shall actually withdraw from almost all the territories, if not from all the territories. We shall keep in our hands a percentage of these territories, but we shall be compelled to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace."
"… including Jerusalem. With special solutions, that I can visualize, for the Temple Mount and the historical holy places … Anyone who wants to keep all the territory of the city will have to put 270 thousand Arabs behind fences within sovereign Israel. That won't work."
"I was the first who wanted to impose Israeli sovereignty on all the city. I admit … I was not ready to look into all the depths of reality."
"Concerning Syria, what we need first of all is a decision. I wonder if there is one single serious person in Israel who believes it is possible to make peace with Syria without giving up the Golan Heights in the end."
"The aim is to try and fix for the first time a precise border between us and the Palestinians, a border that all the world [will recognize]."
"Let's assume that in the next year or two a regional war will break out and we shall have a military confrontation with Syria. I have no doubt that we shall smite them hip and thigh [an allusion to Judges 15:8] … [But] what will happen when we win? … Why go to war with the Syrians in order to achieve what we can get anyway without paying such a high price?"
"What was the greatness of Menachem Begin? [He] sent Dayan to meet with Tohami [Sadat's emissary] in Morocco, before he even met Sadat … and Dayan told Tohami, on behalf of Begin, that we were prepared to withdraw from all of Sinai."
"Arik Sharon, Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Rabin, his memory be blessed …each one of them took a step that led us in the right direction, but at some point in time, at some crossroads, when a decision was needed, the decision did not come."
"A few days ago I sat in a discussion with the key people in the decision-making process. At the end [I told them]: listening to you, I understand why we have not made peace with the Palestinians and the Syrians during the last 40 years."
"We can perhaps take a historic step in our relations with the Palestinians, and a historic step in our relations with the Syrians. In both cases the decision we must make is the decision we have refused to face with open eyes for 40 years."
"When you sit on this chair you must ask yourself: where do you direct the effort? To make peace or just to be stronger and stronger and stronger in order to win the war … Our power is great enough to face any danger. Now we must try and see how to use this infrastructure of power in order to make peace and not to win wars."
"Iran is a very great power … The assumption that America and Russia and China and Britain and Germany do not know how to handle the Iranians, and we Israelis know and we shall do so, is an example of the loss of all sense of proportion."
"I read the statements of our ex-generals and I say: how can it be that they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing?"
My first reaction, as I said, was: Good morning, Ehud.
I am reminded of my late friend, the poet who went by the name of Yebi. Some 32 years ago, after dozens of Arab Israeli citizens were killed demonstrating against the expropriation of their lands, he came to me in utter turmoil and exclaimed: we must do something. So we decided to lay wreaths on the graves of the killed. There were three of us: Yebi, I and the painter Dan Kedar, who died last week. The gesture aroused a storm of hatred against us, the like of which I have not experienced before or since.
Since then, whenever someone in Israel said something in favor of peace, Yebi would burst out: "Where was he when we laid the wreaths?"
That is a natural question, but really quite irrelevant. Olmert, who fought all his life against our views, is apparently adopting them now. That is the main thing. Not "Good morning, Ehud" but "Welcome, Ehud".
True, we said this 40 years ago. But we were not an incumbent Prime Minister.
True, too, that these things were said and spelled out in detail by many good people, like those who wrote the Gush Shalom Draft Peace Treaty, the Nusseibeh-Ayalon document or the Geneva initiative. But none of them was an incumbent Prime Minister.
And that is the main thing.
It should not be forgotten: In the period in which these ideas were crystallizing in Olmert's mind, he was allowing the settlements to expand, especially in East Jerusalem.
That gives rise to an unavoidable question: Does he really mean what he says? Isn't he cheating, as is his wont? Isn't this some sort of manipulation, as usual?
This time I tend to believe him. One can say: the words sound truthful. Not only the words themselves are important, but also the music. The whole thing sounds like the political testament of a person who is resigned to the end of his political career. It has a philosophical ring – the confession of a person who has spent two and a half years in the highest decision-making office in the land, has absorbed the lessons and drawn conclusions.
One can ask: Why do such people reach their conclusions only on finishing their term of office, when they can no longer do much about the wise things they are proposing? Why did Bill Clinton come to formulate his proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace during his last days in office, after wasting eight years on irresponsible games in this arena? And why, for that matter, did Lyndon Johnson admit that the Vietnam War has been a terrible mistake right from the beginning only after he himself had brought about the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese?
The superficial answer lies in the character of political life. A Prime Minister rushes from problem to problem, from crisis to crisis. He is exposed to temptations and pressures from the outside and stress from the inside, coalition squabbling and inner-party intrigues. He has neither the time nor the detachment to draw conclusions.
The two and a half years of Olmert's term were full of crises, from the Second Lebanon War, for which he was responsible, to the corruption investigations which dogged him throughout. Only now has he got the time, and perhaps the philosophical composure, to draw conclusions.
That is the importance of this interview: the speaker is a person who stood for two and a half years at the center of national and international decision making, a person who was exposed to the pressures and the calculations, who had personal contact with the leaders of the world and of the Palestinians. A normal person, not brilliant, not a profound thinker by any means, a man of political practice, who "saw things from there that cannot be seen from here".
He has delivered a kind of State of the Nation report to the public, a summary of the reality of Israel after 60 years of the state and 120 years of the Zionist enterprise.
One can point out the huge gaps in this summary. There is no criticism of Zionist policy over five generations – but that is something that one cannot really expect from him. There is no empathy with the feelings, the aspirations and the traumas of the Palestinian people. There is no mention of the refugee problem (it is known that he is ready to take back just a few thousand in the framework of "family reunion"). There is no admission of guilt for the disastrous enlargement of the settlements. And the list is long.
The primitive basis of his world view has not changed. That is made clear by the following amazing statement: "Every grain of the area from the Jordan to the sea that we will give up will burn our hearts … When we dig in these areas, what do we find? Speeches by Arafat's grandfather, or Arafat's great great great grandfather? We find there the historical memories of the people of Israel!"
That is utter nonsense. It is totally unsupported by historical and archeological research. The man is just repeating things he picked up in his early youth, he is simply expressing his gut feelings. Anyone sticking to this ideology will find it hard to dismantle settlements and make peace.
All the same, what is in this testament?
It is an unequivocal and final divorce from "All of Eretz Israel" from a person who grew up in a home over which hovered the Irgun emblem: the map of Eretz Israel on both sides of the Jordan. For him, the Irgun slogan "Only Thus" has turned into "Anything But Thus".
It gives unequivocal support to the partition of the country. This time, his adherence to the principle of "Two States for Two Peoples" appears much more genuine, not lip service or sleight of hand. His demand for "fixing the final borders of the State of Israel" represents a revolution in Zionist thought.
Olmert has already said in the past that the State of Israel is "finished" if it does not agree to partition, because of the "demographic danger". This time he does not invoke that demon. Now he speaks as an Israeli who is thinking about the future of Israel as a progressive, constructive, peaceful state.
All this is put forward not as a vision for the remote future, but as a plan for the present. He demands that a decision be taken now. It almost sounds like: Let me continue for another few months, and I shall do it. The unstated assumption is that the Palestinians are ready for this historic turning point.
And he has fixed an Israeli position from which there can be no going back in any future negotiations.
This is the testament of the Prime Minister, and it is obviously intended for the next Prime Minister.
We don't know whether Tzipi Livni is ready to implement such a plan, or what she thinks about this testament. True, she has lately voiced rather similar ideas, but she is now entering the cauldron of the Prime Minister's office. One cannot know what she will do.
I wish her one thing above all: that at the end of her days as Prime Minister she will not have to sit down and give an interview, in which she, too, will apologize for missing the historic opportunity for making peace.
– Uri Avnery is a journalist, peace activist, former member of the Knesset, and leader of Gush Shalom. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.


text:
Catch of the Day
By Jimmy Houston
I Peter 1:7
These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure.
Bass fishing, especially tournament fishing, is definitely a moving target. In order to really stay at the top of the game, you must fish every situation as it comes to you. We must actually fish the day, the hour, the moment, and even each cast according to a wide range of variables. To figure out these variables, we rely on our skills, abilities, and experiences.
Troubles, like changes in fishing, come along regularly. They come as a check on our faith. Is our faith strong enough to rely on God, or do we run from God? I have learned thatI must rely on God. The bigger the problem, the more I need God. After all these years my God has never failed me. Not even once.
© 2005, 2012 by Jimmy Houston
Order your own copy of Catch of the Day
Experience Hope Through Jesus
Written in the same style as Jesus Calling®, Jesus Today™contains all-new devotions for a hope-filled walk with God. Born out of missionary Sarah Young's own trials, Jesus Today shows that hope shines brightest in adversity. Grow in grace, hear from God, and walk with Jesus Today.


text:
FEMA may not have enough money for disaster aid following Sandy
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, has said it has enough funds for disaster aid from Superstorm Sandy.
But the key question is does it have enough for flood damage?
Sandy has flooded thousands of homes in its devastating path, and estimates are that damages will in the billions of dollars. FEMA, which runs the federal flood insurance program, has to pick up the tab.
But FEMA already owes $18 billion to the Treasury Department, thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Currently, insurance experts say FEMA's flood insurance program has access to funds totaling $3.8 billion, much of it in loans.
If flood claims exhaust the fund, Congress may have to step in with additional taxpayer money. That will add to the already bloated national deficit, and anger fiscally-conservative members of Congress.
Private insurers don't cover flooding. Sandy's storm surge pushed water from the Atlantic Ocean into basements and first floors in coastal Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York, where subway tunnels remain flooded.
By Wednesday, FEMA was still concentrating its efforts on coordinating search and rescues and aid to those without power.
It hasn't released an estimate on flood damages, but experts are raising serious doubts on whether FEMA's funds will be enough to cover the costs for its National Flood Insurance Program.
In 2011, the federal flood insurance program paid out $1.8 billion in claims, after Hurricane Irene flooded parts of the Northeast. Sandy's devastation is expected to be worse.
"The key issue will be how many people actually purchased the product, and what kind of demand that's going to put on the program's cash and borrowing authority," said Donald L. Griffin, vice president of personal lines for Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, an insurance trade group.
The costs could be kept in check if fewer people bought federal flood insurance.
In general, residents in Northeastern states buy fewer flood insurance policies than hurricane-prone states like Florida and Texas.
But last year's Hurricane Irene scared Northeasterners to buying flood insurance. A market survey by the Insurance Information Institute reported that some 14% of homeowners living in the Northeast said they bought flood insurance in 2012, up from 5% in 2011. Compared to that, 21% of Southern homeowners said they bought a flood insurance policy in 2012.
How did we get here?
Nationwide, homeowners have taken out more than 5.6 million flood insurance policies covering $1.2 trillion in property, according to the Congressional Research Service. Premiums collected in 2011 were $3.35 billion.
The program was self sufficient until 2004, and able to cover claims from the pool of premiums collected over the years. That ended with Hurricane Katrina.
Even though less than half of homeowners flooded by Katrina had insurance policies, the program still paid out claims totaling $17.7 billion in 2005, according to the Congressional Research Service.
To bridge the gap, Congress gave the flood insurance program a line of credit from the U.S. Treasury.
The debt limit on that line today stands at $20.8 billion.
The National Flood Insurance Program tapped the credit line to pay out Irene claims last year. Now it has $2.9 billion it can borrow and $900 million in cash.
Lawmakers passed a law in July allowing the flood insurance program to raise rates on its policies. The new rates are only just starting to take effect.
FEMA didn't immediately respond to questions about the solvency of its flood insurance program.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, FEMA Director Craig Fugate said the agency is still in disaster response mode and hasn't begun to look at flood insurance claims. He said he doesn't know yet whether the agency will need a bigger loan.
CLICK HERE for additional Sandy coverage via FOX6Now.com.


text:
Conference Programme
Exhibitors, Sponsors
Press, Media
Participants World Map
Paper Search
CORP since 1996
General data protection declaration The operators of this website take data protection very seriously. We are therefore committed to protecting your personal data. We shall only process your data in accordance with statutory regulations (GDPR, Austrian Data Protection Act – DSG 2000, Austrian Telecommunications Act 2003 – TKG 2003). In this privacy policy, we explain the most important aspects of the data processing that takes place when you use our website. We would firstly like to point out that security holes may occur when transferring data on the internet (e.g. when communicating via e-mail). It is not possible to guarantee complete protection of data from third-party access. It is generally possible to use our websites without providing your personal data. If personal data, such as name, addresses or e-mail address, is collected on our pages, it shall be done only on a voluntary basis.
Communication with users of the website
If you contact us using the form on the website, via e-mail, via telephone or in person, your query will be treated confidentially. While dealing with your query, your data will, if necessary, be passed on within CORP, but under no circumstances to third parties. If you direct a query to a particular member of staff at CORP and they are not able to answer it personally or it is necessary to forward the query to a colleague or another office, this shall only be done with your express consent. After your query has been answered and finalised, your data will normally be deleted. Should we need to log or store your data over an extended period for a particular reason, we will also ask for your consent.
If you place an order, your personal data is stored for up to 6 months to be able to react to possible delivery problems, but not used for other or marketing purposes nor passed on to third parties.
You have the possibility to sign up for our newsletter via our website. Therefore, we need your e-mail address and your agreement to receive the newsletter. To send you specific information, we ask for and process optional further information. At any time you can unsubscribe from our newsletter. Send your unsubscribe request to office at corp.at or use the unsubscribe link in our newsletter. We will remove your data as far as your newsletter subscription is concerned. Should you find cause for complaint in spite of these precautionary measures, please send an e-mail to office at corp.at. We will then contact you without delay and do all that we can to clarify the matter.Privacy policy regarding the usage of cookies Our website uses cookies. These are small text files which are stored on your computer or saved in your browser. Cookies do not damage your computer in any way or contain viruses. We use these cookies to make our services more user-friendly. Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies" which are automatically deleted when you leave our website. Other cookies are stored on your device until you delete them. These cookies allow us to recognise your browser the next time you access our website. Should you not wish this to be the case, you can set your browser to notify you each time you receive a cookie and only allow them to be stored on a case-by-case basis. Deactivating cookies will not affect the functionality of our website.Privacy policy regarding web analysis To optimise our websites, we use the analysis software Matomo (https://matomo.org/). The software employs cookies in order to analyse how the website is used. The information generated in this way is anonymous and not combined with any personal data. The information collected is hosted on a server of site operator CORP. In practise, this means that only the website operator has access to the data collected. This data is therefore not transferred to an external server and not shared with third parties to be used independently. The data shall be processed in accordance with the statutory regulations as set out in Art. 96 Par. 3 TKG (Austrian Telecommunications Act) and Art. 6 Par. 1 lit a (consent) and/or f (legitimate interest) of the GDPR. In line with the GDPR (legitimate interest), our aim is to improve our services and our internet presence. We attach great importance to the privacy of our users. Your IP address will therefore be pseudonymised. User data will be stored for a period of 24 months.
If you wish, you can click here to disable tracking of your user data by Matomo.
Privacy policy term on server log files The operator of these sites collects and automatically stores information, which is automatically transferred by your browser in so-called server log files. This information comprises: browser type/version, operating system in use, referrer URL, host name of the accessing computer (IP address), timestamp of the server request. This data is stored for 14 days and automatically deleted after this period. This data is not assignable to specific persons. This data is not merged with other data sources. We reserve the right to check this data ex post if we receive specific evidence of unlawful usage.
For conference registration/participation we store your personal data in the MY.CORP database as listed below:
These data are necessary to process your conference participation. Without your agreement to store these data we cannot process your conference participation. These data are not forwarded to any third party without your agreement.
After the conference your personal data are removed from the MY.CORP database.
Data handling is based on Art 6 Abs 1 lit a and/or lit b of DSGVO.
Your rights
With regard to their data, users have the basic right to disclosure, rectification, deletion, limitation, data portability, revocation and objection. If you believe that the processing of your data has breached data protection laws or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can also file a complaint with the regulatory authorities. In Austria, you should contact the Data Protection Authorities (Wickenburggasse 8, 1080 Vienna, dsb at dsb.gv.at).


text:
It's time for huge engines, vintage styling and burning rubber!
Back in 2014 we released the P3-BB aka the Big Block, an American Off-Series celebrating our love for muscle cars, their loud exhausts, smoking tyres and big block engines.
In August 2016 we released our second American Off-Series, based around another classic, the Hot Rod.
The P3C/01 Hot Rod has an eye catching, polished stainless steel bezel and an interface that's 5 layers deep, made up of 22 applied parts. The inner dial is inspired by oversized chrome Hot Rod grills and allows the wearer to see more of the watches ticking engine than ever before. The seconds disc rotates above a cross spoke rim and the thick leather strap is inspired around a seatbelt.
This piece is limited to 450 pieces worldwide as mentioned on the interface and features lume on the hour hand, minute hand and hour indices. It is NFC compatible via the SEVENFRIDAY smartphone app and is our first Off-Series to feature a crown protector, fittingly with tyre tread pattern.


text:
Many types of gambling are illegal in California, but at least Las Vegas is not too far away! It is worth noting that not all forms of gambling are outlawed in California. Here are some ways gamblers can get their fix without having to leave California:
• Card Clubs – Players must pay a fee in order to participate. Instead of betting against other players, they are betting against the "house."
• Parimutuel Horse Wagering – This style is where bets are pooled so they are betting against each other instead of the "house." The pool is divided among the multiple winners, after taxes. In California, this style of gambling is only allowed in horse racing.
• Charity – In California, the only game allowed to gamble on and have the proceeds go to charity is Bingo.
• Lottery – California participates in the Mega Millions and SuperLotto Plus, among other state lotteries. California also manages the California Lottery.
When it comes to hosting a poker night with the guys at home, and the group wants to place money on the table, it is completely legal as long as the host does not act as the "house" and take their earnings as a business venture profit. In addition, there is a cap on how much money can be gambled between friends: $2,000.
If you cannot make it to Vegas and want to test your luck to try and win some money, you can always go to an Indian casino since there are many within California. Alternatively, you can call up some friends for a game night.


text:
This is Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc.'s ("Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc.") privacy policy. This document explains Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc.'s policies for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. abides by applicable privacy legislation. Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. also abides by all Provincial and Federal regulatory bodies. Premiere Mortgage provides their clients with sound advice and products in the mortgage market.
The information we collect
Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. Inc. collects information by various methods including information actively provided by its customers, and information arising from Credit Checks. The types of personal information we collect include Name, Contact Information, Identification Information, Credit Information, Financial Information and Employer Information.
How we use this information
This information is used for Customer Service, Accounting and Billing. Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. Inc. may use aggregate or anonymous information which will not be linked to identified individuals for various other uses for itself and third parties.
Who we share this information with
Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. does not share personal information with any third parties except as disclosed in this policy. Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. may provide personal information to its consultants, subcontractors and professional advisers (which shall be bound by privacy obligations) to assist our uses disclosed herein. We may wish to disclose personal information to third parties for that third party's use. Before we do so, we will obtain your explicit permission. If you do grant such permission, you may revoke it at any time. We may wish to use your personal information for uses outside of those required to provide you with our products and services. Before we do so, we will obtain your explicit permission. If you do grant such permission, you may revoke it at any time.
Personal information is stored in a combination of paper and electronic files. They are protected by security measures appropriate to the nature of the information.
Accessing information
Individuals may review their personal information contained in Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. files by contacting the Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. privacy officer. If an individual believes that any of their personal information is inaccurate, we will make appropriate corrections.
Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. may amend this policy from time to time by posting an updated version on our website. If such amendments affect how Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. uses or discloses personal information already held by Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. in a material way, we will obtain consent. This policy was last updated on 2014-04-01. Notwithstanding the general terms of this policy, the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information may be made outside of the terms herein to the extent provided for in any applicable privacy or other legislation in effect from time to time, or pursuant to court orders. Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. may disclose personal information to another entity purchasing (including for diligence purposes prior to purchase) the assets of Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc., provided that entity abides by this or a similar privacy policy.
Contact us
For more information on Premiere Mortgage Centre Inc. and privacy please contact Corey MacVicar, Director of Marketing & IT at:
firstname.lastname@example.com Chain Lake Dr.
Halifax, NS, Canada
Phone: 1-888-561-2525


text:
HEYSON Don't Get It Twisted Full Size Rib Knit Jumpsuit
HEYSON Don't Get It Twisted Full Size Rib Knit Jumpsuit
Regular price
Regular price
Sale price
Unit price
The innovative design allows you to effortlessly transform it into various styles, making it perfect for any occasion – wear it as a classic strapless piece or create unique looks with multiple neckline options. With its functional side big pockets, you can carry your essentials conveniently while looking effortlessly chic. Elevate your fashion game with this must-have multiway jumpsuit.
- Pattern type: Solid
- Style: Casual
- Features: Pocketed
- Neckline: V-neck
- Length: Long
- Sleeve length: Sleeveless
- Sleeve type: Sleeveless
- Material composition: 48% rayon, 31% polyester, 21% nylon
- Stretch: Moderate stretch
- Care instructions: Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low.
- Imported
- Product measurements:
S: bust 32 in, length 50 in
M: bust 34 in, length 51 in
L: bust 36 in, length 52 in
1XL: bust 40 in, length 54 in
2XL: bust 42 in, length 55 in
3XL: bust 44 in, length 56 in


text:
A few unintelligible words and fleeting gestures carry more power than a battleaxe when they are the words and gestures of a wizard.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules
This form's session has expired. You need to reload the page.


text:
Action Towing has been serving the Las Vegas/Henderson area since 1986. We strive to provide the newest equipment, cleanest trucks and the most advanced tools. We employ the most knowledgeable and courteous office staff possible.
In turn this provides for the most well-tuned and high caliber TEAM in the Las Vegas towing community. Action Towing now buys cars directly from the public. If you have a car you wish to sell contact us today for a quote. If you accept our offer we will send one of our friendly tow operators to pick it up at no additional charge. Action Towing also conducts an auction once a month at our yard located at 2511 Kiel way North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030.
The Monthly auction is open to the public. The auction is great fun and visitors can spend time in our indoor garage sale while waiting for the auction to begin. Food and drinks are available for purchase.


text:
Sold out
- Sku: 210000006193
LECHAT PERFECT MATCH DUO - #059 Hologram Diamond
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Gel Polish + Matching Lacquer
This duo set comes with both gel polish and regular polish. The bottle where you cannot see the color is the gel polish that needs a UV light to dry it. The colored bottle is the regular polish that does not need a UV light and only needs to be air dried.
- Easy application, quick soak off
- High gloss shine that lasts for weeks
- No running, shrinking or color fading
- Comes with FREE color matching Dare to Wear® Nail Lacquer for touch-ups and perfectly matched manicures to pedicures.
- Available in match 3-in-1 Powder
- Size: 15ml
How to apply Gel Polish
- Prep the nails- cut, file & buffer
- Apply Gel Base Coat and cure for 30 seconds
- Apply color of choice and cure for 60 seconds
- Repeat step 3 for another coat.
- Apply Gel Top Coat and cure for 60 seconds
- Apply cuticle oil and massage around cuticle
Made in the USA
PLEASE NOTE: We strive to make our digital color swatches as accurate as possible to the actual product color but due to different monitor settings and electronic devices colors may differ slightly.
LECHAT PERFECT MATCH DUO - #059 Hologram Diamond


text:
Article via The Anti-Media:
Activists in California have just taken an integral step that could leave America with only 49 states in the near future. Yes California, a pro-secession organization, received approval Thursday to begin collecting signatures from residents to put "Calexit" on the ballot for a 2019 special election.
'Calexit' supporters can start work to make ballot https://t.co/4WX4cn5wIt
— #Calexit Campaign (@YesCalifornia) January 27, 2017
Yes California has been working toward secession for some time, but with President Donald Trump's election last year, their efforts gained momentum as frustrated residents questioned their willingness to bow down to a president they don't support. According to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos this month, nearly one in three supports secession — a sharp uptick from a similar survey conducted in 2014. With secession becoming a viable alternative, it's possible that support may continue to grow.
We'll just take our avocados and legal weed and go#CalExit #CalifrEXIT
— lil thought (@LeasLame) November 9, 2016
The organization submitted their ballot proposal to California's state government in November, and on Thursday, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla gave them the green light to begin collecting signatures. They need 585,407 people to sign their petition by July 25. If they succeed, the referendum will make it onto the 2018 ballot. If it passes, the state will hold a special election the following year. The Sacramento Bee reports:
"The proposed measure would strike language from the California Constitution defining the state as 'an inseparable part of the United States of America, and the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.' If it passed, there would be a statewide special election in March 2019 to ask voters if they want California to become an independent country."
Many Americans often joke about California leaving the union, highlighting how wildly different residents of the Golden State are from those of America's heartland. Indeed, Yes California appears to agree.
"America already hates California, and America votes on emotions," Marcus Ruiz Evans, one of the group's founders, told the Los Angeles Times. "I think we'd have the votes today if we held it."
In a recent post on their website announcing their progress, they wrote:
"In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children."
It's understandable why secession has become a proposed solution considering California has long struggled with many systemic problems. As Yes California points out:
"Although charity is part of our culture, when you consider that California's infrastructure is falling apart, our public schools are ranked among the worst in the entire country, we have the highest number of homeless persons living without shelter and other basic necessities, poverty rates remain high, income inequality continues to expand, and we must often borrow money from the future to provide services for today, now is not the time for charity."
Though Yes California points out practical reasons for secession, they also argue the underlying justification for their movement from a philosophical standpoint:
"However, this independence referendum is about more than Californiasubsidizing other states of this country," they write. "It is about the right to self-determination and the concept of voluntary association, both of which are supported by constitutional and international law."
"It is about California taking its place in the world, standing as an equal among nations. We believe in two fundamental truths: (1) California exerts a positive influence on the rest of the world, and (2) California could do more good as an independent country than it is able to do as just a U.S. state."
California has the sixth largest economy in the world, bolstered by the film industry, Silicon Valley, agriculture, and the state's biggest cash crop — cannabis — which voters legalized in November.
While the practical and philosophical reasons for secession are compelling, it's doubtful many residents are looking beyond President Donald Trump. California leans heavily to the left, and Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature. California was largely responsible for Hillary Clinton's popular vote victory.
Further, though Yes California stresses the importance of voluntary association, it's doubtful an independent California government would asktaxpayers what programs they'd like to fund. Ultimately, though California as a country would certainly be beneficial for decentralization and localization efforts, it would operate as a government and, as such, force Californians to participate.
Nevertheless, the movement reflects undeniable divisions within the United States, especially in the era of Donald Trump. Other states are also eyeing secession, including Texas, Washington, and Oregon.
As Anti-Media observed shortly after the election:
"People are rioting and protesting over Trump's win throughout California butcelebrating in Alabama, and against the backdrop of an ever-encroaching federal government, it appears these differences are growing difficult to reconcile."
This article (Soon There Could Be Only 49 States in America) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commonslicense with attribution to Carey Wedler and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radioairs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to [email protected].


text: Total as its name suggest is a complete package theme with all the feature that you need to make a complete website. The theme has clean and elegant design with vibrant color(Theme Color Changable Option) and parallax sections. The home page consist of slider, featured section with icon, about us section with progress bar, portfolio section with masonary layout, team section, testimonial section, counter section, blog section with option to add 3, 6 or 9 blog posts, clients logo carousel slider and call to action section. The theme is fully responsive and is built on customizer that enable you to configure the website with live preview. The theme is SEO friendly, Cross browser compatible, fully translation ready and is compatible with WooCommerce – an ecommerce plugin and all other major plugins. The theme can also be used with all major page builder plugins like Elementor, SiteOrigin, WpBakery VisualComposer and Beaver Builder. The theme provides option to import the demo with just one click.


text:
Staining vs Etching
Two very common discolorations that can happen to natural stone are staining and etching. While they may appear to be similar, they are really two completely different things. The restoration process for each one is different.
What is a stain?
A stain happens when a substance like spaghetti sauce, coffee or red wine is left on the stone long enough for it to soak into the stone pores and cause discoloration. A stain usually darkens the stone. When you rub your hand over it, you can't feel it. (Just like when you spill something on your shirt and don't treat it right away).
Can staining be prevented? Yes!
Staining can be prevented by:
- Having your tops sealed at initial installation.
- Cleaning up all spills right away.
- Using a stone-safe cleaner to perform routine cleaning. Some stone-safe cleaners have a bit of stone sealer in them. (Never seal over a stain. That locks it in place and makes it much more difficult to remove).
- Periodically having your stone deep cleaned and resealed.
What can I do if I get a stain on my stone?
Don't panic. Most stains can be removed successfully. Here are some quick tips:
- Figure out what kind of stain it is. Knowing what it is helps to decide the correct treatment.
- Consult our Stain App under the Resources tab on this site.
- If you are unsure or if the stain did not come out, please contact us.
What is etching?
Etching happens when something acidic, like vinegar, strong cleaning solutions, lemon juice, or strawberries, is left on the stone long enough for the acid to actually eat away some of the surface minerals of the stone. An etch will usually lighten the stone and will feel rougher to the touch than the rest of your stone surface. The etched area will also lose its shine and appear duller than the surrounding polished areas.
Can etching be prevented? YES!
Etching can be prevented by:
- Cleaning up all spills immediately.
- Using coasters under glasses.
- Using pH-neutral or stone-safe cleaners.
- Not relying on stone sealers. Sealing your tops will not prevent etching. Sealing only helps prevent stains.
What can I do if my stone gets etched?
Again, don't panic. Here are some quick tips:
- If the area is small or the etching is minimal, you may be able to use a stone polishing compound to remove the etch. Consult our Stain App for detailed instructions.
- If the etching is severe, contact us. You don't want to risk making it worse.
- If there is a stain in the etch, treat the stain first and then the etch.
Natural stone is beautiful and very versatile, but sometimes damage will happen. The great thing about natural stone is that most stains and surface damage can be removed. With the proper natural stone restoration processes, your stone can look beautiful for years to come.
By Sharon Koehler. This article is one of a series of articles written and published on behalf of Surface Care PRO Partners.


text:
Keripik Brownies Kakarak 60 gr
Keripik Brownies Kakarak 60 gr
Write a review
Harga reguler
Harga reguler
Harga obral
Harga satuan
Weight : 60 gr
EXP Date : 11 - 12 Months
Variant : Keju, Chococip, Kacang
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
If you're looking to return or exchange your order for whatever reason, we're here to help! We offer free returns or exchanges within 3 days of receiving your order. You can return your product for store credit, a different product, or a refund to the original payment method.
Please note the following exceptions to our return and exchange policy:
- Discounted items are final and cannot be returned or exchanged
- Returned items must have tags still on and be returned in original packaging
- Returned items must have no visible signs of wear or use
To initiate a return or exchange, please complete the following steps:
- Share the unboxing video of the product
- Access to our portal
- Choose the products you wish to return or exchange from your order
- Print the prepaid shipping label that you will receive by email
- Send all items back to us using the label provided
Additional Information:
- We need minimum 5 working days to process your refund, replacement product, or store credit
- You (The customer) need to bear shipping fees to return the product
- You (The customer) need to bear the lost or damaged returns
- Kindly contact us at +65 8493 9927 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com when you have further enquiry


text:
This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 12, 2013.
I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chickpeas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.
Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.
Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:
Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)
2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.
Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.
Posted on Minxeats.com.