Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, fending off questions about whether she used her Native American heritage to advance her career, said today she enrolled herself as a minority in law school directories for nearly a decade because she hoped to meet other people with tribal roots.

“I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off,” said Warren.

The Harvard Law professor argued she didn’t use her minority status to get her teaching jobs, and slammed her Republican rival U.S. Sen.Scott Brown for suggesting otherwise.

CONTINUED at the Boston Herald.

From his first days on the political scene, Sen. Marco Rubio has never strayed far from his close friend, Rep. David Rivera. The men first met while volunteering for then Florida State Senator Lincoln Diaz-Balart’s first congressional campaign in 1992.  A few years later, Rivera hired Rubio out of law school in Miami to work on Bob Dole’s doomed presidential bid.

By 2002, they were colleagues in the Florida state house and when Rubio was elected speaker in 2006, Rivera took up as his top lieutenant. They rode into Washington together on the crest of a powerful GOP midterm wave in 2010, Rubio as a senator, Rivera as the new house representative from Florida’s 25^th district.

Today, Rubio is one of the Republican’s party’s most buzzed-about young stars and an early favorite to run alongside presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the coming general election. Despite repeated statements that he “won’t be the vice president,” operatives in both parties told ABC News they believe Rubio is seeking the bid.

“He wants it,” one Democratic strategist said. “He can say what he wants, but he’s doing all the things that people who want to be the running mate do. He’s going to South Carolina [to speak before state party bigwigs at their annual Silver Elephant dinner] and working on some Republican version of the Dream Act.”

What Rubio has not done – and recently told POLITICO he never will — is break his ties to David Rivera.

Featured prominently in the non-partisan “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington” 2011 “Most Corrupt” list, Rivera has been “under investigation by at least five different law enforcement agencies for a range of violations,” including payments he allegedly received in connection with the successful campaign (led, at times, by his mother’s consulting firm) to legalize slot machines at horse and dog-racing tracks.

(On Wednesday night, The Miami Herald reported that Rivera would not be charged by state prosecutors for actions detailed in a scathing report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement because the statute of limitations had expired on the alleged crimes. The same Herald story maintains that the IRS and FBI are still investigating his role in a $510,000 payment made by dog track owners to his mother and godmother’s firm.)

The alleged dog track shenanigans cap off a decade of sometimes odd brushes with the law. On Sept. 6, 2002, the Florida Highway Patrol recorded an incident in which a car driven by Rivera ran a truck carrying flyers authored by a political opponent off the road, forcing it to the shoulder. The delay kept the potentially damaging mailers on board from arriving at the post office before a 6 p.m. deadline.

Rivera said in a statement shortly after the incident that the truck was carrying his mailers, too, and that he was only trying to retrieve his own materials.

Earlier this year, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor expressed “concern” about the probes and at least one GOP strategist, speaking to ABC News, referred to Rivera as one of the “possible skeletons in [Rubio's] closet.”

Asked if he was concerned that the allegations, from the 2002 highway incident to the dog track controversy and the revelation that he had not, despite reporting it as a source of income, ever worked for USAID, could hurt his friend Rubio’s standing in the party, Rivera told ABC News, simply, “No.”

When pressed for specific details about the timeline of events surrounding a threatened foreclosure on — and eventual decision to sell — a home he and Rubio bought together in Tallahassee during their time in the statehouse, Rivera said, “You’ll have to ask Marco.”

Faced with that, a spokesman for Rubio wrote: “The issue over the home mortgage payments has been really well documented. There was confusion over the payments, and Sen. Rubio paid the bank as soon as he became aware of the issue.”

The reality is a bit more complicated. Rivera said the bank “was overcharging us,” so he and Rubio decided to withhold payment until the dispute was settled. But it was only after Deutsche Bank filed suit and threatened to foreclose that Rubio delivered a check to the mortgage company’s lawyers.

Later on they tried and failed to sell the home. “The real estate market is still really struggling there,” Rivera said. The property is now being rented.

Even with allegations and investigations swirling, Rubio has remained steadfast by his friend’s side. He will hold a fundraiser for Rivera in Washington, D.C., later next month and, according to Rivera, Rubio speaks to him regularly about matters both personal and political.

“I don’t think there’s another vice presidential candidate that could energize the ticket the way Marco could,” Rivera said over the phone Monday night. “Both in substance and style, he has the ability to communicate an optimistic and conservative message.

“But he’s told me in private exactly what he’s said in public, that he’s not going to be picked. He has told me he’s not going to be picked [as Romney's running mate.]”

One GOP strategist with strong ties to Florida state politics, Tim Baker, said he “takes Sen. Rubio at his word that wants to remain a great senator from Florida.”

And that may well be the case, but after years operating at the center of South Florida’s politically powerful Cuban-American community, Rubio must maneuver carefully. Breaking with Rivera could solve one problem, but create another, more damaging set of circumstances.

If Rubio’s appeal as a running mate is primarily rooted in his perceived ability to rally the Hispanic vote, which broke strongly for President Obama and the Democrats in 2008, it is critical that he has the full support of his constituency back home. Should Miami turn its back on him, his very reason for cutting ties with Rivera — ending their very real friendship — would be mooted and his Florida-based political career placed in unique peril.

Source: ABC News.

Congressional investigators say former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine ordered a $200 million transfer out of the firm in its final days, raising further questions about what he knew of some $1.6 billion missing from customer accounts.

In a memo made public on Friday, staff from the House Financial Services Committee cited an internal email from MF Global assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien saying that the $200 million transfer came “Per JC’s [Jon Corzine's] direct instructions.” This money, sent to JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) to cover an overdraft, came from customer accounts, the memo says.

The memo does not say whether Corzine knew if the transfer in question included customer property. Testifying under oath before the House Financial Services Committee in December, Corzine acknowledged ordering this transfer to resolve the overdraft but said he had no indication that the funds belonged to customers.

“I contacted the firm’s back office in Chicago, and others, and asked them to resolve this issue, which I understood they did,” said Corzine, a former governor and senator from New Jersey. Later in the day, he added, JPMorgan staff contacted him to make sure that the fund transfer did not violate industry rules.

CONTINUED at CNN.

Dr Jerome Corsi reports on the leak of 1,000 pages of HSBC internal records including customer account ledgers for dozens of companies through which the global banking giant apparently was laundering money each month.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I’m still hungover from the South Carolina results, then again seven big cans of Foster’s Premium Ale before bed last night might be a contributing factor in how I’m feeling right now. Regardless, I’m still pretty pissed off about the stupidity of 87 percent of South Carolinians and am hoping that Florida, my home state, gives us some better results. Unfortunately, Gingrich is killing it in the polls right now but at least Rick Santorum is in last place and not Ron Paul. However, as with all these pivotal stops on the campaign trail, the numbers will shift and things will change. I just hope that my state shows Ron Paul as much love as New Hampshire did. Where I live locally, I have seen more Paul signs than any other candidate, especially in front of big local businesses. A well-known seafood joint in town has huge Paul banners in front of it and since it is on a major road and probably feeds over a thousand people per week, hopefully these loyal regulars will jump on board. Then again, my pocket of Florida certainly doesn’t represent the whole state and I do know that some of the local Tea Party leaders are endorsing everyone but Paul. That just goes to show how shit the whole Tea Party thing has become, at least in Southwest Florida.

Apparently the Paul fans are out in droves, which is always a good thing if you actually love liberty. Just yesterday they bumrushed a Rick Santorum event in Coral Springs, turning it into a sign waving war. Why anyone would want to go to a Santorum event other than to antagonize him is beyond me. The Daily Caller did a good job of covering the event, as most of the mainstream media ignored it. In their story, they quoted a Paul supporter who said, “I would have stayed in the same spot if it wasn’t for people coming up right in front of me and putting their signs in front of me. I wasn’t really going for anything specific. I just wanted to vocalize and say — ’cause I knew there would be other conservative here — I wanted to make sure they knew that Ron Paul was still in the running.” One of the seven irritated Santorum supporters interrupted the interview and said exactly what you’d think an uneducated Bible-thumping Santorum supporter would say, “(Ron Paul supporters) are usually known as being somewhat on the fringe, a little bit on the nutty side just like Ron Paul himself.” Wow, what a jab! What is this, 2008?! The only reason a Santorum fan can call Ron Paul nuts is because you’d have to be certifiably insane to be behind Santorum. Santorumites are like crazies locked up in the asylum trying to convince the doctors that they’re the ones who are nuts.

Mitt Romney, who lost some steam after Iowans re-tallied their votes and took away his victory and after losing to Gingrich in South Carolina, came out and suggested that Newt Gingrich was a criminal. Now considering that Newt has been all over Mitt regarding the whole lame ass Bain Capital issue, it is only natural for Romney to put Gingrich on blast for his involvement with Freddie Mac, who caused the housing crisis. With the media saying that unemployment and immigration will be the big issues for Florida, Mitt’s pushing of the Newt-Freddie Mac alliance could shift the discussion towards the bursting of the housing bubble. Since Florida was one of the biggest states hit by the crisis, tapping into this issue right now might prove successful for Romney and detrimental for Gingrich. Then again, both of the weasily bastards have been so dastardly the last few weeks that this all may just backfire. It could blow up in Romney’s face or it could just turn into pointless bickering between the two and open the door for Ron Paul (fingers crossed). With Gingrich pressing the issue about Romney not releasing his tax info, Romney returning and asking Gingrich to release the info on his dealings with Freddie Mac is completely justified, in my honest opinion. In the end, Gingrich can’t run and hide from this if he is accusing Romney of the same thing. Now if Newt does drop the info and there is nothing incriminating, Mitt will have to release his tax info or face extreme scrutiny from the other candidates and the media, which will in turn bring a strong level of distrust in the voter. Politics is a fucking game and these guys are taking some pretty big risks but it’s crunch time! Truthfully, I don’t trust either of them as far as I could kick them.

Now Ron Paul has come under some scrutiny, which is understandable, about not being in Florida on the night when the primary is decided. I find it disheartening to a degree that the guy I’ve supported and donated a lot of money to won’t be on hand, somewhere in the Sunshine State, to give another fabulous post-primary speech but when looking at how Florida operates, I don’t really disagree with Paul’s decision. First of all, it is incredibly expensive to run a statewide campaign in Florida without a real payoff unless you finish first. You see, Florida has the strange rule where the “winner takes all” in regards to delegates. Basically, if you come in second, even if you are just a few votes behind, you are awarded zero delegates! It’s a pretty fucked up way of doing business in my opinion. Also, Florida is the first state on this journey that has closed primaries. Therefore, only Republicans can vote in the primary. Unlike Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Ron Paul can’t pull in the votes he’d get from either independents or Democrats who may be sick of Obama. In all honesty, this is the only reason why my voter registration card says “REP” on it. In a few weeks, I’m switching it back to the Libertarian Party. The bright side of this situation is that Paul will indeed increase the amount of votes he got in the state just four years ago. In 2008, he only walked away with 3 percent of the votes in Florida. As with all the other states that have voted thus far, it can pretty much be expected that Ron Paul’s numbers will multiply significantly and in the end, this race is about the message. As long as Paul stays in the hunt, the message will grow.

As with every stop on the campaign trail, Florida will be really interesting to watch. I hope my state does the right thing and votes for the guy who truly represents what conservatism is supposed to be about. Most likely the state will hand their delegates over to Gingrich or Romney. I just hope my guy gets a strong finish in second but will probably wind up in third place. If Paul ends up getting in the fourth and final spot, not only is this country doomed but his chances of recovering will be incredibly hard. If Florida fails, Paul’s best chance at shocking the world will come on Super Tuesday in March.

It’s a seemingly absurd idea on the surface: Why would democrats and liberals want to vote for Ron Paul (a Republican) over President Obama? Maybe because they want freedom instead of tyranny, it turns out. Because if you’re a total slave to the police state, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re on the left or the right, does it?

Here, I give you ten solid reasons why even liberals and progressives are supporting Ron Paul. And by the way, I don’t worship Ron Paul or any individual. What I honor isthe principlesthat Ron Paul stands for — the very same principles President Obama has outright abandoned in his broken promises and disturbing reversals against the American people. Out of all the candidates, only Ron Paul has the ethical and moral strength to carry out his office from a place of principle rather than betrayal.

#1) Ron Paul supports decriminalizing marijuana and ending the War on Drugs. Obama does not.

Remember when Obamapromisedhe would decriminalize marijuana, but now his own administration continues to raid legal drug dispensaries in California? That’s a classic Obama lie: Say one thing to get elected, then turn around and do the exact opposite.

Ron Paul, on the other hand, openly supports decriminalizing marijuana and ending the failed War on Drugs. Although he doesn’tpromoterecreational drug use (and neither do I), he understands that treating weed smokers as hard-core criminals is ethical, morally and economically wrong. See my related article on Snoop Dogg and his recent drug bust in Texas:http://www.naturalnews.com/034612_S…

#2) Ron Paul supports the freedom to choose what you eat and drink, including raw milk, but the Obama administration continues to run armed raids on raw milk farmers

Under Ron Paul, the FDA would be forced to end its vicious armed raids on Amish farmers and raw dairy producers. Obama has openly allowed such armed raids to continue under his watch, refusing to even take a stand for food freedom in America.

Ron Paul understands thatliberty is the most important component of abundance. If you are not free to choose what you want to eat, smoke what you want to smoke, and choose your own type of medicine and health care, then you are a slave, not a citizen. Ron Paul seeks toget Big Government out of your life, away from your kitchen, out of your medicine cabinet and away from your children.

#3) Ron Paul would seek to eliminate FDA censorship of the scientifically-validated health claims for herbs, nutritional supplements and natural remedies

Under Bush and Obama, the FDA’s continued censorship of truthful statements about medicinal herbs, homeopathy and nutritional supplements has been fully supported by the White House. Obama is just a corporate puppet, of course, and that means he does whatever the powerful corporations tell him to do — especially the Wall Street and Big Pharma corporations. So it’s no surprise he hasn’t taken a stand to support health freedom for foods and supplements.

But Ron Paul has pushed theHealth Freedom Protection Actyear after year (http://www.naturalnews.com/019382_H…), tirelessly working tolegalize nutrition in Americaand restore Free Speech for Chinese Medicine herbs, Western medicine herbs and dietary supplements. Where Obama wants people to remain ignorant and malnourished, Ron Paul wants to restore your right to know the truth about supplements and natural medicine. As Ron Paul said in late 2005:

“The Health Freedom Protection Act will force the FDA to at last comply with the commands of Congress, the First Amendment, and the American people by codifying the First Amendment standards adopted by the federal courts. Specifically, the Health Freedom Protection Act stops the FDA from censoring truthful claims about the curative, mitigative, or preventative effects of dietary supplements, and adopts the federal court’s suggested use of disclaimers as an alternative to censorship. The Health Freedom Protection Act also stops the FDA from prohibiting the distribution of scientific articles and publications regarding the role of nutrients in protecting against disease.”

#4) Ron Paul would shut down secret military prisons like Gitmo, but Obama wants to expand those prisons and fill them with Americans!

It is now common knowledge that Obama lied when he said he would shut down Guantanamo Bay. As it turns out, Obama actually signed the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) on New Year’s Eve (when no one would notice). The NDAA grants the U.S. government the claimed “legal” right to “indefinitely detain” U.S. citizens, throw them in secret military prisons, interrogate them and even kill them withno due process. All this can now take place without a person even beingchargedwith a crime, much less given their day in court. (http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_N…)

Obama quietly signed this bill on New Year’s Eve, hoping no one would notice. This is how low his morals have stooped, by the way — to signing traitorous bills in the dark of night, on the evening before a major holiday where half the nation is hung over from alcohol. Why no signing ceremony with full coverage by CNN, huh? Maybe it’s because nationaltraitorsdon’t want their crimes against the United States Constitution to be filmed on camera.

In signing this, Obama violated his own oath of office, nullified the U.S. Bill of Rights, and essentially committed an act of mass civil rights violations against the People of America. Rep. Ron Paul, on the other hand, is one of the very few people who has openly and sternly opposed this unlawful NDAA which blatantly and arrogantly violates the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights.

This single point alone outweighs everything else you might think about Ron Paul. Even if you disagree with Ron Paul on other issues, none of that really matters if you’re rotting away in a secret military prison for daring to protest in a public park, for example.Without the Bill of Rights, nothing else really mattersbecause tyranny takes over. The Bill of Rights must be defended first and at all costs. It is the only thing limiting the power of government and protecting the People from tyranny. Without it, we are all little more than slaves to a military dictatorship.

#5) Ron Paul is anti-war, Obama is pro-war.

Remember when Bush was the President, and everybody on the left was screaming about getting us out of all those wars in the Middle East? Funny how they suddenly fell silent when Obama took over the reins from Bush and continued running those same wars, isn’t it?

Ron Paul is solidly anti-war. Although he agrees with the need to “defend our shores,” he also believes that the United States has no moral authority (nor financial stability) from which to engage in running around the world as some sort of global police force, intervening in the business of nations,especially in the Middle East.

He is solidly against a war with Iran even as all the other candidates seem to be almost desperate to throwother people’s sons and daughtersonto the front lines of violent conflict. Only Ron Paul truly honors the troops bybringing them home. All the other war-mongers who say “support our troops” are really screaming, “Let our troops get killed overseas!” And unlike Gingrich, Ron Paul actually served his country as a military man, even with a child to care for:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ron-pau…

#6) Ron Paul’s wants to end the Fed and stop bailing out wealthy banksters, while Obama is a Wall Street sellout

Don’t you find it astonishing that, under the Obama administration, wall street crooks like Jon Corzine have been involved in thetheft of billions of dollarsfrom American farmers and investors, yetno one has been indicted, prosecuted or criminally chargedfor those crimes?

Under the Obama administration, white-collar crime gets a wink and a nod. That’s because people like Vice President Joe Biden actually worship Jon Corzine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3V…). Wall Street crooks were some of the largest contributors to the Obama election campaign, and they continue to promote both Obama and Mitt Romney.

Ron Paul, on the other hand, gets no support from the criminal banksters. That’s because he pledges to reign in the Fed, end the disastrous trillion-dollar bailouts and halt the theft of money from U.S. taxpayers by the wealthy elite.

Once again, this reason alone is enough of a reason to vote for Ron Paul.He’s the only candidate who doesn’t support the financial criminals on Wall Street. Maybe that’s why the crooked corporate media keeps smearing him in the news… they’re all tied in with the same crooks who run Wall Street.

#7) Ron Paul does not need a teleprompter to tell you what he believes, and his message has remained consistent for over 25 years

Obama needs a teleprompter to figure out what to say. That’s because he’s mainly a puppet who says what he’s told to say and signs what he’s told to sign (like the NDAA, which he of course promised he wouldn’t sign but did anyway).

Ron Paul needs no teleprompter. He doesn’t have to keep track of which lies he told in which speech to which group. That’s because Ron Paul tells the truth every time, and his message is the same whether he’s in Iowa, New Hampshire or Texas.

Ron Paul isn’t sexy, trendy or hip. Instead, he’s honest, reliable and ethical. Gee, those might be good qualities for leaders to possess, ya think?

#8) Ron Paul is not really a Republican loyalist

This should come as quite a relief to the Democrats out there. Ron Paul is really aLibertarianwho is running on the Republican ticket thanks to the necessary mechanisms of our two-party system. Most of today’s Republicans are just as corrupt as status quo democrats. They start wars, stage false flag terror events and hand out trillions of dollars in bailouts and government contracts to their corrupt buddies.

Ron Paul is none of that. He’s a humble, highly intelligent and principled individual who often votesagainsthis fellow Republicans on bills that run counter to the United States Constitution.

If Ron Paul wins as a Republican, that would of course give Republicans some additional power in Congress, but Ron Paul answers to no one other than God and the People. As all the corrupt corporate lobbyists realized long ago,Ron Paul thinks for himselfand cannot be bought off, no matter how high the offer. He sticks to principles, he honors the Constitution, and he is dedicated to improving the future of our nation, period!

#9) Ron Paul wants to legalize Free Speech (again)

Isn’t it interesting how many of the OWS protesters are now being forced to pay daily fees for the “privilege” of protesting? Gee, I thought America was a free country, and I thought you could peaceably assemble anytime you wanted and shout your grievances to your government. Guess not:http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=FF2F1…

Now the police state pepper spraying has begun, all under Obama of course, who now wants to send Americans into secret military prisons and deprive them of their due process rights. If you believe in the First Amendment and freedom of speech, youcan’tbelieve in Obama! He is the polar opposite of freedom (plus, he flat out lies a lot).

Ron Paul has fought for the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution fordecades, and he has a PERFECT voting record in defending it. He does not waver. He does not bend. He fights for your freedoms in a way that no other Democrat or Republican has ever done.

If you want Free Speech to be legal again in America, vote for Ron Paul.

#10) Ron Paul wants to criminally investigate the crooks in Washington

Most Democrats and Republicans are all crooks who just cover each other’s backs. Yeah, you raped a little kid, but I stole a billion dollars from the taxpayers, and we’ll just agree to both remain silent. Sound familiar? That’s what happens in Washington D.C. almost daily.

Ron Paul thinkselected officials should follow the law. Shock! What a concept! Along with that, he also believes that Attorney General Eric Holder should not run guns into Mexico as part of a staged scam to blame the Second Amendment. Gasp!

Who else dares to say the bureaucrats in Washington are crooks who should becriminally investigatedfor their crimes against the People? You won’t find status quo officials pursuing any of this, of course, becausethey’re all corrupt!

Only Ron Paul stands out above the lawless corruption and criminal-mindedness of the status quo in Washington D.C. He is the “anti-insider,” the one man who actually threatens the entire corrupt system (which is why the press smears him every single day). This is why the recent voting in Iowa was falsified and rigged to make sure Ron Paul wouldn’t win (this was openly admitted by the Republican leaders on local radio). The crooks in Washington absolutely do not want Ron Paul to become President, and that alone should be sufficient reason to put Ron Paul into office!

You want real hope? Real change? Support Ron Paul

If you love the way things are today — unemployment on the rise, a government drowning in debt, soldiers coming home in body bags, your friends and neighbors rotting in prison after getting caught with a little weed — then vote for Obama! He’s happy to carry on the insane policies that have led us to this point in history.

But if you wantreal changein America, support Ron Paul.Make a donation today, so that he can raise the necessary funds to clobber “Mittens” Romney and win the Republican nomination. Then we’ll have a faceoff between Barack Obama and Ron Paul, and there’s no question Paul would win that contest if the voters still have a couple of brain cells functioning when they go to vote.

Make your donations at:
www.RonPaul2012.com

Or support theSouth Carolina money bombby donating here:
http://ronpaul-2012.org/mbpledge_sc…

Source: Natural News.

Regulators now have a more complete picture of money transfers in the final days of bankrupt brokerage MF Global, but must sort out which transactions were legitimate before more money can be released to customers, a top official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Jill Sommers, who is heading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s review of MF Global, said regulators “are far enough along the trail” that they know where the money went.

“Now it’s just finding out which ones of those transactions are legitimate and which ones of them are illegitimate,” Sommers said.

The CFTC and the trustee liquidating the firm are under intense pressure from lawmakers and customers to provide answers about what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money that went missing as the firm collapsed.

MF Global officials, including former Chief Executive Jon Corzine, have told lawmakers they simply do not know where the money is, and deny authorizing any misuse of customer money.

“We certainly don’t want to lead anyone to believe we don’t know what happened. We do know, and we see where all the transactions went,” said Sommers, a Republican commissioner, in an interview on Wednesday.

She declined to reveal details on the fund transfers until investigators have determined the purpose of all the transactions. Sommers could not estimate when regulators will complete their investigation, but said “really good progress” is being made.

Fellow CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton, a Democrat, tempered expectations. Chilton said in a statement after Sommers’ remarks were published that a thorough accounting of all customer funds remains a work in progress.

CONTINUED at Reuters.

Jon Corzine told the House Agriculture Committee, “I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date.” The public is outraged that the former CEO of bankrupt global financial-derivatives broker and prime dealer in US Treasury securities MF Global doesn’t know where the missing $1.2 billion in client funds went.

Corzine is the member a few exclusive clubs: he is a Goldman Sachs alum, former US senator, and former New Jersey governor. After the incumbent Corzine was beat by Chris Christie in the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial race, the MF board probably rejoiced, believing the guy to fix their problems was suddenly available. Now he’s in the club of taking a mere 20 months to create the eighth largest bankruptcy in history.

As a stand-alone entity, MF Global was born in 2007 when it was spun off from UK hedge-fund giant, Man Group. MF booked revenues of $4 billion that year from interest earned by using its customers’ funds, an operation that sounds like fractionized banking: short-term embezzlement used to make profits.

For banks, the practice was sealed in English common law in 1811 in the court case of Carr vs. Carr, where Master of the Rolls Sir William Grant ruled that debts mentioned in a will included bank accounts since the money had been deposited into the bank and wasn’t earmarked in a sealed bag. The deposit was thus a loan rather than a bailment.

The same Judge Grant ruled the same way five years later in Devaynes vs. Noble, despite an attorney’s argument that “a banker is rather a bailee of his customer’s funds than his debtor … because the money in … [his] hands is rather a deposit than a debt, and may therefore be instantly demanded and taken up.”

In 1848, in Foley vs. Hill and Others, Lord Cottenham ruled,

Money, when paid into a bank, ceases altogether to be the money of the principal; it is then the money of the banker, who is bound to an equivalent by paying a similar sum to that deposited with him when he is asked for it.… The money placed in the custody of a banker to do with it as he pleases.

CONTINUED at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Written by Doug French.

Appearing on the Alex Jones Show today, Texas Rep. and presidential candidate Ron Paul said Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired immediately and Congress should investigate his role in the Fast and Furious operation run by the ATF and the Justice Department.

“He should be immediately fired,” Paul told Alex Jones, “and then there should be an investigation and find out if charges should be made.” He specifically criticized the government for continuously engaging in politically motivated and criminal behavior he characterized as false flag operations.

Documents released by CBS News reveal Fast and Furious was exploited to demonize the Second Amendment.

“Emails obtained by the network show ATF agents discussing how they could tie guns involved in Mexican violence to gun dealers based in the U.S. to justify the implementation of Demand Letter 3, a regulation that would require U.S. gun stores to report the sale of multiple rifles,” Paul Joseph Watsonwrote on December 7.

Paul said the government “constantly” engages in such criminal behavior. He cited the example of an allegation made in October by the United States that Iran was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador. Paul characterized the incident as a “propaganda stunt.”

Following the arrest of a suspect it was discovered the plot was concocted by the FBI. An undercover DEA informant had “strongly pushed” the assassination idea on Mansour J. Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American used-car salesman who was “perennially disheveled” and “hopelessly disorganized,” according to news reports.

Source: Prison Planet. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor who presided over the collapse of the commodities brokerage MF Global, says he cannot explain what happened to “many hundreds of millions of dollars” that the firm was holding for customers.

In testimony prepared for delivery to Congress on Thursday, Corzine says he was “stunned” to learn shortly before the firm sought bankruptcy protection at the end of October that MF Global could not account for the money.

“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” the former MF Global chief executive says, according to the testimony.

Regulators pushed MF Global into bankruptcy court on Halloween after an effort to sell the troubled firm unraveled. The firm is now in liquidation.

The firm was required to keep clients’ money separated from its own. But more than $1.2 billion might be missing, the trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation said last month. An attorney for the trustee reiterates that assessment in testimony submitted for Thursday’s hearing.

The FBI, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other authorities are investigating and have had difficulty figuring out what happened to the missing funds.

Meanwhile, the firm’s collapse has become a major disruption for customers and others who depended on MF Global.

The House Agriculture Committee, whose jurisdiction includes agricultural commodities and one of the federal agencies that regulates MF Global, subpoenaed Corzine to appear at a hearing Thursday on the firm’s bankruptcy. The committee turned down Corzine’s request to testify voluntarily in January, he says.

CONTINUED at the Washington Post.