While some 9/11 Truthers will debate endlessly with debunkers about the evidence of controlled demolitions in the WTC, I have found that path to be futile. Even after directing them to the WPI Study, cleverly buried in Appendix C of the FEMA report, which details the WTC steel being "melted like swiss cheese" by temperatures impossible by burning jet fuel in a diffuse environment, the debunkers still stubbornly insist that does not "prove" the use of a thermite type demolition charge. Although they can offer no alternative hypothesis to explain this phenomena, trying to convince them of any foul play on 9/11 is like banging your head against a wall.
So in my own experience at debating 9/11 with debunkers, a list has developed of common debunker tactics, which I call the "Four Ds of Debunking":
1. Deceive - Misrepresent the claims of 9/11 researchers into "Straw Man" issues that are easily knocked down.
2. Dodge - Try to avoid or ignore any 9/11 evidence that you cannot explain away.
3. Deny - Refuse to acknowledge that any irrefutable evidence given is relevant to the 9/11 argument.
4. Discredit - Use any possible ad hominem accusation to ruin the credibility of 9/11 researchers.
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20081129155152524
Mr Bradley favours the Let It Happen On Purpose argument when debating debunkers. However it is clear from the scientific evidence that the attacks MUST have been an Inside job.
Although Bradley, in this instance, has focused on the Molten Steel aspect of the scientific 911 evidence he should remember that clear evidence of Thermite WAS found from samples found in the dust and from the steel.
In response to the debunkers claim that the evidence indicating the WTC steel had been melted does not constitute "proof" of Thermite, I would point out that on this planet, as far as anyone knows, there can be NO OTHER explanation for this phenomena other than by the action of some type of explosive incendiary (barring the possibility that the building steel fell into some invisible blast furnace that happened to be in the basements). Although melted steel does not definitively isolate Thermite, it constitutes hard evidence of an exotic agent.
Regardless, we have independent scientific analysis that tells us this agent was a military-type, sulfur-rich version of Thermite know as Thermate. The debate here is over, and it has been for some years.
I would also add that some of the debunkers appear to be paid, or ideologically motivated, shills who deliberately lie for ulterior purposes. Not everyone is being honest in this high stakes information war.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 30th, 2008.]
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Mumbai attacks: Seven terrorists were British, claims Indian government
SEVEN of the Mumbai terrorists were British Pakistanis, Indian government sources claimed last night.
Insiders said two Brits had been arrested and another five suspects were from the UK.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2008/11/29/mumbai-attacks-seven-terrorists-were-british-claims-indian-government-86908-20932992/
This does not prove that Pakistan was behind the attacks. At the moment they are denying involvement. Various entities who want a war with Pakistan could have easily recruited these people to sow chaos in the region.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 30th, 2008.]
Insiders said two Brits had been arrested and another five suspects were from the UK.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2008/11/29/mumbai-attacks-seven-terrorists-were-british-claims-indian-government-86908-20932992/
This does not prove that Pakistan was behind the attacks. At the moment they are denying involvement. Various entities who want a war with Pakistan could have easily recruited these people to sow chaos in the region.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 30th, 2008.]
Sun-Tzu Described The US Iraq/Afghan War
Sun Tzu accurately described the consequences of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan centuries ago. Just shows we don't learn from history.
Sun Tzu said:
If the army is exposed to a prolonged campaign, the nation's resources will not suffice.
When weapons are blunted, and ardor dampened, strength exhausted, and resources depleted, the neighboring rulers will take advantage of these complications.
Then even the wisest of counsels would not be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
Therefore, I have heard of military campaigns that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen military campaigns that were skilled but protracted.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8883679973216384639
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 30th, 2008.]
Sun Tzu said:
If the army is exposed to a prolonged campaign, the nation's resources will not suffice.
When weapons are blunted, and ardor dampened, strength exhausted, and resources depleted, the neighboring rulers will take advantage of these complications.
Then even the wisest of counsels would not be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
Therefore, I have heard of military campaigns that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen military campaigns that were skilled but protracted.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8883679973216384639
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 30th, 2008.]
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Some of the Mumbai Terrorists were not Muslims and were described by Witnesses as "Foreign Looking"
There are four reports indicating that some of the Mumbai terrorists might not have been Muslims, and that some of them were fair skinned foreigners.
This first report indicates the purchase of alcohol: “They had purchased around two crates of chicken and liquor worth Rs25,000 from two shops in Colaba,” another resident Joseph D’Mello said. Muslims are forbidden from drinking.
This BBC article has 2 more reports that are even more disturbing. There are two separate descriptions of the attackers that indicate they were "foreigners":
Then, the "foreign looking, fair skinned" men, as Mr Mishra remembers them, simply carried on killing.
and this from another witness in a completely separate location (ie. observing a second group):
"They did not look Indian, they looked foreign. One of them, I thought, had blonde hair. The other had a punkish hairstyle. They were neatly dressed," says Mr Amir.
plus I found this story containing a report from a policeman:
One police officer who encountered the gunmen as they entered the Jewish centre told the Guardian the attackers were "white", although this could mean they were paler-skinned Indians from the country's north. [equally it could mean they were foreigners]
"I went into the building late last night," he said. "I got a shock because they were white. I was expecting them to look like us. They fired three shots. I fired 10 back.
We do know some of the terrorists were from the India/Pakistan region because of the pictures we have seen in the newspapers and TV, but it's very possible some of them are not. These witness observations need to be followed up.
UPDATE: British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 155.
As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.
Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead
We'll need more information on this report to be sure of the connection.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 29th, 2008.]
This first report indicates the purchase of alcohol: “They had purchased around two crates of chicken and liquor worth Rs25,000 from two shops in Colaba,” another resident Joseph D’Mello said. Muslims are forbidden from drinking.
This BBC article has 2 more reports that are even more disturbing. There are two separate descriptions of the attackers that indicate they were "foreigners":
Then, the "foreign looking, fair skinned" men, as Mr Mishra remembers them, simply carried on killing.
and this from another witness in a completely separate location (ie. observing a second group):
"They did not look Indian, they looked foreign. One of them, I thought, had blonde hair. The other had a punkish hairstyle. They were neatly dressed," says Mr Amir.
plus I found this story containing a report from a policeman:
One police officer who encountered the gunmen as they entered the Jewish centre told the Guardian the attackers were "white", although this could mean they were paler-skinned Indians from the country's north. [equally it could mean they were foreigners]
"I went into the building late last night," he said. "I got a shock because they were white. I was expecting them to look like us. They fired three shots. I fired 10 back.
We do know some of the terrorists were from the India/Pakistan region because of the pictures we have seen in the newspapers and TV, but it's very possible some of them are not. These witness observations need to be followed up.
UPDATE: British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 155.
As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.
Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead
We'll need more information on this report to be sure of the connection.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 29th, 2008.]
Many More Questions about the Terror Attacks:
*How many terrorists were there? Did they number 20 as Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference on Thursday? Or did they number many more?
*If two or three terrorists attacked the CST, how many terrorists were present at the Taj and Trident? Did the CST terrorists drop a grenade/explosive device at Dockyard Road on the way to the station? Or was someone else responsible for that act of terror which claimed three lives?
*The terrorists are said to have set up control rooms at the Taj and Trident hotels, a Cabinet minister told PTI on Thursday. When were these bookings made? A detailed investigation into the bookings made at both hotels in the months, weeks and days before the attacks may reveal the names of suspicious guests who registered there.
*Military sources tell rediff.com that there was no way the terrorists could have carried so much ammunition with them when they assaulted the two hotels with their guns blazing. They believe the ammunition may have been stored earlier in rooms at both the hotels, perhaps on the higher floors.
*If some of the terrorists had registered at the hotels earlier, could these men/women have left along with the guests who were released? Did the police record the identities and addresses of the guests who were released from both hotels?
http://www.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=/news/2008/nov/28-some-questions-about-the-terror-attacks.htm
Good questions. These are the sorts of questions that need to be addressed in order to find out what happened including the need to follow up on the reports that some of the gunmen were white.
At the moment it is too early to understand what happened.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 29th, 2008.]
*If two or three terrorists attacked the CST, how many terrorists were present at the Taj and Trident? Did the CST terrorists drop a grenade/explosive device at Dockyard Road on the way to the station? Or was someone else responsible for that act of terror which claimed three lives?
*The terrorists are said to have set up control rooms at the Taj and Trident hotels, a Cabinet minister told PTI on Thursday. When were these bookings made? A detailed investigation into the bookings made at both hotels in the months, weeks and days before the attacks may reveal the names of suspicious guests who registered there.
*Military sources tell rediff.com that there was no way the terrorists could have carried so much ammunition with them when they assaulted the two hotels with their guns blazing. They believe the ammunition may have been stored earlier in rooms at both the hotels, perhaps on the higher floors.
*If some of the terrorists had registered at the hotels earlier, could these men/women have left along with the guests who were released? Did the police record the identities and addresses of the guests who were released from both hotels?
http://www.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=/news/2008/nov/28-some-questions-about-the-terror-attacks.htm
Good questions. These are the sorts of questions that need to be addressed in order to find out what happened including the need to follow up on the reports that some of the gunmen were white.
At the moment it is too early to understand what happened.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 29th, 2008.]
Friday, 28 November 2008
US Bailout Costs $8.5 trillion
With the credit crisis continuing to worsen, the US federal government is pledging a seemingly endless amount of money to shore up failing institutions hit hard by toxic assets. Federal government pledges now top $8 trillion with the most recent $800 billion announced Tuesday.
(8:54)
The news item here goes for about 5 mins 30 secs, the rest is a promo for the Real News Network.
The 8 trillion is dwarfed by the threat of failure in the Derivatives markets which would eat up this "capital"/debt in a second. There are over 600 trillion dollars worth of "assets" in this make-believe market ready to swamp the real economy. Derivatives instruments need to be rended null and void immediately.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 28th, 2008.]
(8:54)
The news item here goes for about 5 mins 30 secs, the rest is a promo for the Real News Network.
The 8 trillion is dwarfed by the threat of failure in the Derivatives markets which would eat up this "capital"/debt in a second. There are over 600 trillion dollars worth of "assets" in this make-believe market ready to swamp the real economy. Derivatives instruments need to be rended null and void immediately.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 28th, 2008.]
Mumbai Gunman goes on TV to Justify Terror Attacks
One of the gunmen involved in terrorist blasts in Mumbai told a television channel he belonged to an Indian Islamist group seeking an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims.
Identifying himself as a member of a group calling itself Deccan Mujahedeen, the gunman, who was holed up in the Oberoi Trident Hotel, called for the release of all fellow Islamic militants detained in India.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/mumbai-gunman-goes-on-tv-to-justify-terror-attacks-20081127-6jt6.html
I don't usually cover straightforward news items preferring to narrow focus on issues that fall under the radar of the mainstream press. However, I would like to comment here to say that some terrorist actions are real events that reflect issues dealing with a perceived inequality or injustice. Real terrorists, of which there are very few, don't just go on the rampage for no reason. Also, the issues sparking such actions are usually matters internal to the politics within a country.
Thus far this India massacre, in large part, originates from an internal dispute between the Muslim minority and the majority Hindu. The main question to be asked is from where did these insurgents get their weapons ? They were well equipped with AKs, grenades and military-type RDX explosives. This stuff had to be sourced from somewhere. If it can be found where the material came from we might find a hidden hand (possibly from an intelligence agency) that enabled these attacks.
There's a lesson here relevant to "straight up" staged terror: that the whole point of staging a false flag operation is to take advantage of the fact that there are real fanatics. Ordinary people will almost never believe their own side had a hand in running a murderous attack that was designed to make themselves look like the victim. In the case of the Mumbai terror attacks there are many groups that may have provided the weapons used in the atrocity. Until proven otherwise, EVERYONE must remain a suspect-- which is something we did not see with the 911 Commission Investigation.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 28th, 2008.]
Identifying himself as a member of a group calling itself Deccan Mujahedeen, the gunman, who was holed up in the Oberoi Trident Hotel, called for the release of all fellow Islamic militants detained in India.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/mumbai-gunman-goes-on-tv-to-justify-terror-attacks-20081127-6jt6.html
I don't usually cover straightforward news items preferring to narrow focus on issues that fall under the radar of the mainstream press. However, I would like to comment here to say that some terrorist actions are real events that reflect issues dealing with a perceived inequality or injustice. Real terrorists, of which there are very few, don't just go on the rampage for no reason. Also, the issues sparking such actions are usually matters internal to the politics within a country.
Thus far this India massacre, in large part, originates from an internal dispute between the Muslim minority and the majority Hindu. The main question to be asked is from where did these insurgents get their weapons ? They were well equipped with AKs, grenades and military-type RDX explosives. This stuff had to be sourced from somewhere. If it can be found where the material came from we might find a hidden hand (possibly from an intelligence agency) that enabled these attacks.
There's a lesson here relevant to "straight up" staged terror: that the whole point of staging a false flag operation is to take advantage of the fact that there are real fanatics. Ordinary people will almost never believe their own side had a hand in running a murderous attack that was designed to make themselves look like the victim. In the case of the Mumbai terror attacks there are many groups that may have provided the weapons used in the atrocity. Until proven otherwise, EVERYONE must remain a suspect-- which is something we did not see with the 911 Commission Investigation.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 28th, 2008.]
Thursday, 27 November 2008
How the Mainstream Media Actually Works
(7:17)
This is good. The host here explains quite simply that the mainstream media view of events is tainted by a need to pander to political power.
To expand this point, the pandering is directed to both government and corporate power interests and is fuelled by its own untruthful view of events. The rest of the mainstream media often gets caught following the same discourse or meme that is created by the corporate media in the USA. For instance we live with the myth that the Iraq War went ahead due to 1. intelligence failures or 2. to oust a "evil dictator". Both these explanations are false. A truthful non-politicised summation should say that the war went ahead because of deliberate WMD lies cooked up by the heads of the US and British government and intelligence agencies. The evidence is conclusive on this point, and yet we still have the false descriptions broadcast to us by our mainstream media.
The clip is correct, the mainstream media panders, as much as possible, to those in government (often to hide the evidence of criminal wrongdoing).
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
David Ray Griffin's 'The New Pearl Harbor Revisited' rated 'Pick of the Week' by Publishers Weekly
The nearly 40% of American people who doubt the official account regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks will be gratified to learn that their misgivings have become recommended reading by a pillar of the book trade, Publishers Weekly.The leading starred review on PW's "Web Pick of the Week" is Dr. David Ray Griffin's newly released "The New Pearl Harbor Revisited," (Interlink/Olive Branch press, 2008).
In its November 24, 2008 online issue, PW writes:
Griffin "addresses many points in exhaustive detail, from the physical impossibility of the official explanation of the towers' collapse to thehttp://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20081125040523682
Commission's failure to scrutinize the administration to the NIST's contradiction of its own scientists to the scads of eyewitness and scientific testimony in direct opposition to official claims.
"Citing hundreds, if not thousands, of sources, [Griffin's] detailed analysis is far from reactionary or delusional, building a case that, though not conclusive, raises enough valid and disturbing questions to make his call for a new investigation more convincing than ever."
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
George W. Bush Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame
(10:07)
The actions of the President outlined by McClellan, that also include using propaganda to sell the Iraq War, are criminal. Outing a covert CIA agent for political reasons is tantamount to committing treason and starting an unnecessary war, whilst justifying this with lies, is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
Cynthia McKinney Prevented From Leaving U.S.
Former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney has been prevented from leaving the country after she planned to give a speech in Damascus Syria at a Conference being held to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Today, November 23rd, I was slated to give remarks in Damascus, Syria at a Conference being held to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, sadly, the 60th year that the Palestinian people have been denied their Right of Return enshrined in that Universal Declaration. But a funny thing happened to me while at the Atlanta airport on my way to the Conference: I was not allowed to exit the country,” writes McKinney.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6176
Welcome to the US Police State.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
“Today, November 23rd, I was slated to give remarks in Damascus, Syria at a Conference being held to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, sadly, the 60th year that the Palestinian people have been denied their Right of Return enshrined in that Universal Declaration. But a funny thing happened to me while at the Atlanta airport on my way to the Conference: I was not allowed to exit the country,” writes McKinney.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6176
Welcome to the US Police State.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
Hank Paulson appears TERRIFIED
(1:51)
Mike Rivero at WhatReallyHappened.com pointed this out. Why is Mr Paulson acting like this ? He looks like he's very very fearful and I am guessing it is not simply from the fact the Bush is talking to the press. Perhaps Bush told him something sinister that freaked him out, or perhaps he has realised something that Bush does not know, that frightens him. It's very interesting body language.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 27th, 2008.]
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Evidence Suggests Brit Liquid Bomb Plot was Directed by UK/Paki/US Intel
How can one speak of a "thwarted" plot when intelligence agents were an inherent part in leading the conspiracy from the very beginning?
When you put the pieces together the following picture emerges about the liquid explosives conspiracy:
* It was first penetrated by Pakistani intelligence in May 2005.
* British intelligence have been actively involved for more than a year.
* U.S. intel having been first made aware of the surveillance operation for at least several months.
* The Bush Administration decided the timing of the arrests a few weeks ago.
That makes this terrorist conspiracy as much a conspiracy of state as it is a real terrorist plot. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1913199
Almost every recent terror plot "uncovered" by the authorities has seen undercover members of the intelligence community pushing the "plotters" towards violent action.
It is matter of history that intelligence agencies throughout the world have staged numerous small scale events in order to maintain their funding/relevance.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
When you put the pieces together the following picture emerges about the liquid explosives conspiracy:
* It was first penetrated by Pakistani intelligence in May 2005.
* British intelligence have been actively involved for more than a year.
* U.S. intel having been first made aware of the surveillance operation for at least several months.
* The Bush Administration decided the timing of the arrests a few weeks ago.
That makes this terrorist conspiracy as much a conspiracy of state as it is a real terrorist plot. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1913199
Almost every recent terror plot "uncovered" by the authorities has seen undercover members of the intelligence community pushing the "plotters" towards violent action.
It is matter of history that intelligence agencies throughout the world have staged numerous small scale events in order to maintain their funding/relevance.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
German Intelligence Agents Caught Staging False Flag Terror
The bombing attempt happened just days after Kosovan leaders rejected a plan by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s for the deployment of a 2000 strong EU police and justice mission, EULEX.
A Kosovan judge has ordered that the men be detained for a further 30 days as prosecution lawyers seek terrorism charges that carry a maximum 20-year sentence.
The three men were not in Kosovo under official auspices but were working on behalf of a contractor, named by German media as Logistic Assessments.
“The alleged presence of covert intelligence operatives has led to a deterioration in the cordial relations between Germany and the newly independent Kosovo. The German foreign ministry confirmed that three German citizens had been detained in Kosovo. The BND had no comment,” reports the European Voice.
The German secret service, the BND, is notorious for infiltrating extremist groups and using them for their own political ends.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6159
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
A Kosovan judge has ordered that the men be detained for a further 30 days as prosecution lawyers seek terrorism charges that carry a maximum 20-year sentence.
The three men were not in Kosovo under official auspices but were working on behalf of a contractor, named by German media as Logistic Assessments.
“The alleged presence of covert intelligence operatives has led to a deterioration in the cordial relations between Germany and the newly independent Kosovo. The German foreign ministry confirmed that three German citizens had been detained in Kosovo. The BND had no comment,” reports the European Voice.
The German secret service, the BND, is notorious for infiltrating extremist groups and using them for their own political ends.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6159
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House
While the verdict is still out on a few people, many members of his inner foreign policy circle -- including some who have received or are bound to receive Cabinet posts -- supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Some promoted the myth that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. A few have worked with the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, whose radical agenda was adopted by the Bush/Cheney administration. And most have proven track records of supporting or implementing militaristic, offensive U.S. foreign policy. "After a masterful campaign, Barack Obama seems headed toward some fateful mistakes as he assembles his administration by heeding the advice of Washington's Democratic insider community, a collective group that represents little 'change you can believe in,'" notes veteran journalist Robert Parry, the former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter who broke many of the stories in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s.
http://www.alternet.org/story/107666/?page=entire
This article contains a rundown of key Obama officials. The people chosen here do not inspire confidence for the mapping of a new direction in US affairs. It's very interesting reading.
In the end, real change in America will be up to the American people. The population needs to become aware of the danger (usually AFTER something very bad has happened) and then act to install individuals who will uphold the values of the US Constitution (like Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul).
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
http://www.alternet.org/story/107666/?page=entire
This article contains a rundown of key Obama officials. The people chosen here do not inspire confidence for the mapping of a new direction in US affairs. It's very interesting reading.
In the end, real change in America will be up to the American people. The population needs to become aware of the danger (usually AFTER something very bad has happened) and then act to install individuals who will uphold the values of the US Constitution (like Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul).
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
WHAT IS KILLING THE BEES? (A solution ?)
For several years I have been curious and concerned about reports from many parts of the world that bee colonies were vanishing or dying. Because of their ability to pollinate fruit and vegetables bees are of enormous importance to mankind. . Finally a breakthrough in understanding this problem has appeared on the scene. Whether this solves the whole bee problem or is simply one part of a more complex issue remains to be seen.
An article in Natural News by David Gutierrez on September 30, 2008 has linked the bee die-off in the Baden-Wurttemburg state of Germany to direct contact with the insecticide clothianidin found on corn seeds(German Research Center for Cultivated Plants). This pesticide had been applied to rapeseed and sweet cornseeds in the Rhine River Valley. Piles of dead bees were discovered at the entrance of hives in early May 2008. Clothianidin was found in the tissues of 99% of the dead bees. This is the time when corn seeding takes place according to Walter Haefeker, president of the European Professional Beekeeping Association. The Julius Huehn Institute(federal agricultural research agency) stated “it can be unequivocally be concluded that a poisoning of the bees is due to a rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from cornseeds.” This chemical is estimated to have killed two-thirds of the bees in this state.
Clothianidin is widely used insecticide marketed in Europe under the brand name Poncho. This insecticide is a derivative of nicotine which acts systemically as a neurotoxin which poisons the nervous system of insects. After application to the seeds of plants clothianidin spreads throughout all plant tissues.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified clothianidin as “highly toxic” to honeybees. This chemical was approved for U.S. use in 2003 and German use in 2004.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james171.htm
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
An article in Natural News by David Gutierrez on September 30, 2008 has linked the bee die-off in the Baden-Wurttemburg state of Germany to direct contact with the insecticide clothianidin found on corn seeds(German Research Center for Cultivated Plants). This pesticide had been applied to rapeseed and sweet cornseeds in the Rhine River Valley. Piles of dead bees were discovered at the entrance of hives in early May 2008. Clothianidin was found in the tissues of 99% of the dead bees. This is the time when corn seeding takes place according to Walter Haefeker, president of the European Professional Beekeeping Association. The Julius Huehn Institute(federal agricultural research agency) stated “it can be unequivocally be concluded that a poisoning of the bees is due to a rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from cornseeds.” This chemical is estimated to have killed two-thirds of the bees in this state.
Clothianidin is widely used insecticide marketed in Europe under the brand name Poncho. This insecticide is a derivative of nicotine which acts systemically as a neurotoxin which poisons the nervous system of insects. After application to the seeds of plants clothianidin spreads throughout all plant tissues.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified clothianidin as “highly toxic” to honeybees. This chemical was approved for U.S. use in 2003 and German use in 2004.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james171.htm
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
Colossal Financial Collapse: The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization”
On Friday November 21, the world came within a hair’s breadth of the most colossal financial collapse in history according to bankers on the inside of events with whom we have contact. The trigger was the bank which only two years ago was America’s largest, Citigroup. The size of the US Government de facto nationalization of the $2 trillion banking institution is an indication of shocks yet to come in other major US and perhaps European banks thought to be ‘too big to fail.’
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6160
The rest of this article mentions the Auto maker bailout cash required (at the moment) is only 25 billion, and that the Congress is loath to hand over this money while they hand out mountains of cash to the banks.
The worse thing about the bailout is that the US taxpayer is getting almost nothing in return while those running the bankrupt companies receiving the money keep their multi-million dollar jobs.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6160
The rest of this article mentions the Auto maker bailout cash required (at the moment) is only 25 billion, and that the Congress is loath to hand over this money while they hand out mountains of cash to the banks.
The worse thing about the bailout is that the US taxpayer is getting almost nothing in return while those running the bankrupt companies receiving the money keep their multi-million dollar jobs.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 26th, 2008.]
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Barack Obama accused of selling out on Iraq by picking hawks to run his Foreign Policy
Mr Obama has moved quickly in the last 48 hours to get his cabinet team in place, unveiling a raft of heavyweight appointments, in addition to Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.
But his preference for General James Jones, a former Nato commander who backed John McCain, as his National Security Adviser and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, a supporter of the war, to run the Homeland Security department has dismayed many of his earliest supporters.
The likelihood that Mr Obama will retain George W Bush's Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has reinforced the notion that he will not aggressively pursue the radical withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq over the next 16 months and engagement with rogue states that he has pledged.
Chris Bowers of the influential OpenLeft.com blog complained: "That is, over all, a centre-right foreign policy team. I feel incredibly frustrated. Progressives are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3502411/Barack-Obama-accused-of-selling-out-on-Iraq-by-picking-hawks-to-run-his-foreign-policy.html
Obama is not a progressive, he is an establishment insider. The more I read about Mr Obama's appointees and the people backing him, the more I become concerned about the future direction the USA is headed.
Judging from his close advisors, we will see a continued meddling in the Middle East and perhaps new wars in an expanded conflict. I would not be surprised to see another false flag attack, "worse than 911", to be used so that there is "no choice but for America to fight back". A leader like Obama would rally people behind him in extremely tough times having the ability to "draft" hundreds of thousands of people to help fight against "terrible hardship", whether it be economic or terrorist in origin (both being manufactured events).
Expect to see a massive economic collapse and another 911 in Obama's first term ... as soon as the infrastructure is in place to draft people into various government programs.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 25th, 2008.]
But his preference for General James Jones, a former Nato commander who backed John McCain, as his National Security Adviser and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, a supporter of the war, to run the Homeland Security department has dismayed many of his earliest supporters.
The likelihood that Mr Obama will retain George W Bush's Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has reinforced the notion that he will not aggressively pursue the radical withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq over the next 16 months and engagement with rogue states that he has pledged.
Chris Bowers of the influential OpenLeft.com blog complained: "That is, over all, a centre-right foreign policy team. I feel incredibly frustrated. Progressives are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3502411/Barack-Obama-accused-of-selling-out-on-Iraq-by-picking-hawks-to-run-his-foreign-policy.html
Obama is not a progressive, he is an establishment insider. The more I read about Mr Obama's appointees and the people backing him, the more I become concerned about the future direction the USA is headed.
Judging from his close advisors, we will see a continued meddling in the Middle East and perhaps new wars in an expanded conflict. I would not be surprised to see another false flag attack, "worse than 911", to be used so that there is "no choice but for America to fight back". A leader like Obama would rally people behind him in extremely tough times having the ability to "draft" hundreds of thousands of people to help fight against "terrible hardship", whether it be economic or terrorist in origin (both being manufactured events).
Expect to see a massive economic collapse and another 911 in Obama's first term ... as soon as the infrastructure is in place to draft people into various government programs.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 25th, 2008.]
Monday, 24 November 2008
Congressman Paul on Financial Services Hearing
(8:16)
Congressman Ron Paul talks about the fake debt-based economy which is unwinding and dragging down the world markets. According to the Congressman, it is a fundamental flaw, that of living beyond our means, and the glossing over the debt bubble created by this system that is the cause of all our troubles. A new monetary system is needed to stop the rot.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 24th, 2008.]
[Video] Police dash cam of Meteor over Edmonton, Canada
(0:16)
An awesome video of a very bright meteor that lights up the whole sky ... wow ....
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 24th, 2008.]
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Cheney & Gonzales Indicted: For Profit Deprivation of Liberty in Prisons in TX
A Texas judge has set an arraignment date for Friday (11/21) for Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. They were indicted this week by a Texas grand jury on state charges accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a privately-run federal jail. Cheney, Gonzales and the others named in the indictments will not be arrested, and do not need to appear in person at the arraignment, the judge said.
(8:44)
It looks like there is a good case to answer here because of official attempts to derail the investigation.
Dick Cheney and friends are likely to find themselves facing many more charges, coming from many other dealings in the years to come ...
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 23rd, 2008.]
(8:44)
It looks like there is a good case to answer here because of official attempts to derail the investigation.
Dick Cheney and friends are likely to find themselves facing many more charges, coming from many other dealings in the years to come ...
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 23rd, 2008.]
The Truth comes out about Gulf War Illness
AFTER AN agonizing 17 years, the U.S. government will finally have to admit what veterans and their families have long known--Gulf War Illness is a very real and debilitating condition that has affected one-quarter of soldiers who served in the 1990-91 war.
The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses (RAC-GWVI)--a committee of scientists and veterans appointed by Congress in 2002 to investigate the illnesses experienced by veterans of Operation Desert Storm--presented its 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake on November 17.
The new report, which chronicles the ailments suffered by some 175,000 Gulf War veterans--including memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue, widespread pain, respiratory symptoms, digestive problems and skin rashes--contradicts previous reports, which denied that Gulf War Illness even existed.
Among those previous reports, a 2006 National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, claimed that the soldiers were simply suffering from merely suffering from stress disorders typical to any combat zone.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48941&s1=h1
Although some medical conditions are hard to diagnose, when it comes to potential government culpability, you will often find strong opposition to any claims coming from the official bodies charged with the initial investigations.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 23rd, 2008.]
The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses (RAC-GWVI)--a committee of scientists and veterans appointed by Congress in 2002 to investigate the illnesses experienced by veterans of Operation Desert Storm--presented its 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake on November 17.
The new report, which chronicles the ailments suffered by some 175,000 Gulf War veterans--including memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue, widespread pain, respiratory symptoms, digestive problems and skin rashes--contradicts previous reports, which denied that Gulf War Illness even existed.
Among those previous reports, a 2006 National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, claimed that the soldiers were simply suffering from merely suffering from stress disorders typical to any combat zone.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48941&s1=h1
Although some medical conditions are hard to diagnose, when it comes to potential government culpability, you will often find strong opposition to any claims coming from the official bodies charged with the initial investigations.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 23rd, 2008.]
The JFK Assassination Autopsy Cover-up; Only one Picture is telling the Real story here:
I found this photo (here) that one could consider as a brief "anatomy" of the cover-up.When these photos are juxtaposed with the damning physical evidence, indicating that Kennedy was shot from the front, we are left with the conclusion that the Dallas Doctors, who first saw the victim, correctly understood the nature of the wounds.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 23rd, 2008.]
Saturday, 22 November 2008
The JFK Assassination: The Core PHYSICAL EVIDENCE, simply explained, showing that the Official Account is a LIE
The physical evidence in relation to the assassination confirms that Lee Harvey Oswald could not have been the lone gunman in this crime. To recap:According to the official story Oswald could only have fired three shots (it was impossible to fire more from his position when compared to the film evidence), that the first shot went through the President and into Governor Connolly, the second shot missed (it hit the sidewalk), while the final shot was into JFK's head.
HOWEVER:
1. An audio recording of the attack clearly indicates more than three shots were fired. According the the official story it was impossible for Oswald to have fired more than three times, therefore a second gunman must have been present.
1. An audio recording of the attack clearly indicates more than three shots were fired. According the the official story it was impossible for Oswald to have fired more than three times, therefore a second gunman must have been present.
2. The "magic bullet", that MUST have caused wounds to both JFK and Governor Connolly, if the official story is to be believed, is planted evidence. It's impossible for this particular bullet to have remained in such a pristine condition after punching though the muscle and bone of two people. The one claim saying that the bullet could have survived with so little deformation should be viewed suspiciously, seeing as there has never been a successful repetition of this questionable ballistics test.
3. The Zapruder Film indicates the head shot came from the front. Oswald was shooting from behind.
When we take the physical evidence together with the witness testimony from Governor Connolly, who said he heard gunfire BEFORE he was shot (you can see him turning around in the car to look while JFK is struggling with the wound in his neck) it's obvious the official timeline is false. Remember the official story has JFK shot through the neck, with the first round, simultaneous to Connolly being hit. Yet we have Connolly indicating he was still unhurt after already hearing the first shot. The Zapruder film confirms this account rather than the official narrative.
So we have one shot to JFK's neck, one into the road, one to Connolly and one more to JFK's head. That is 4. The sound recording also shows that there were at least 4, maybe up to 7 shots. If there were more than 3 shots, then there must have been more than one shooter.
So we have one shot to JFK's neck, one into the road, one to Connolly and one more to JFK's head. That is 4. The sound recording also shows that there were at least 4, maybe up to 7 shots. If there were more than 3 shots, then there must have been more than one shooter.
It's more than likely that Oswald did not fire any shots at all and was, as he claimed, "just a patsy."
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 22nd, 2008.]
Friday, 21 November 2008
Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty [Faked] Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team
John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [includes rush transcript]
-------------------------------------------------------------
MELVIN GOODMAN: OK. John Brennan was deputy executive secretary to George Tenet during the worst violations during the CIA period in the run-up to the Iraq war, so he sat there at Tenet’s knee when they passed judgment on torture and abuse, on extraordinary renditions, on black sites, on secret prisons. He was part of all of that decision making.
Jami Miscik was the Deputy Director for Intelligence during the run-up to the Iraq war. So she went along with the phony intelligence estimate of October 2002, the phony white paper that was prepared by Paul Pillar in October 2002. She helped with the drafting of the speech that Colin Powell gave to the United Nations—[inaudible] 2003, which made the phony case for war to the international community.
So, when George Tenet said, "slam dunk, we can provide all the intelligence you need,” [inaudible] to the President in December of 2002, it was people like Jami Miscik and John Brennan who were part of the team who provided that phony intelligence. So what I think people at the CIA are worried about—and I’ve talked to many of them over the weekend—is that there will never be any accountability for these violations and some of the unconscionable acts committed at the CIA, which essentially amount to war crimes, when you’re talking about torture and abuse and secret prisons. So, where are we, in terms of change? This sounds like more continuity.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/17/obama_taps_ex_cia_officials_tied
As Mr Goodman points out, the intel on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was fabricated. I modified the original heading to highlight the fact that it was not faulty, or mistaken intelligence, but DELIBERATELY FAKED. Launching an unnecessary war of aggression, like the authorisation of torture, is a war crime and now Obama has hired unidicted war criminals to make recommendations. Someone better let him know !
[I recommend that readers visit the link provided and listen to the whole interview while conducting whatever other business you have online.]
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 21st, 2008.]
-------------------------------------------------------------
MELVIN GOODMAN: OK. John Brennan was deputy executive secretary to George Tenet during the worst violations during the CIA period in the run-up to the Iraq war, so he sat there at Tenet’s knee when they passed judgment on torture and abuse, on extraordinary renditions, on black sites, on secret prisons. He was part of all of that decision making.
Jami Miscik was the Deputy Director for Intelligence during the run-up to the Iraq war. So she went along with the phony intelligence estimate of October 2002, the phony white paper that was prepared by Paul Pillar in October 2002. She helped with the drafting of the speech that Colin Powell gave to the United Nations—[inaudible] 2003, which made the phony case for war to the international community.
So, when George Tenet said, "slam dunk, we can provide all the intelligence you need,” [inaudible] to the President in December of 2002, it was people like Jami Miscik and John Brennan who were part of the team who provided that phony intelligence. So what I think people at the CIA are worried about—and I’ve talked to many of them over the weekend—is that there will never be any accountability for these violations and some of the unconscionable acts committed at the CIA, which essentially amount to war crimes, when you’re talking about torture and abuse and secret prisons. So, where are we, in terms of change? This sounds like more continuity.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/17/obama_taps_ex_cia_officials_tied
As Mr Goodman points out, the intel on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was fabricated. I modified the original heading to highlight the fact that it was not faulty, or mistaken intelligence, but DELIBERATELY FAKED. Launching an unnecessary war of aggression, like the authorisation of torture, is a war crime and now Obama has hired unidicted war criminals to make recommendations. Someone better let him know !
[I recommend that readers visit the link provided and listen to the whole interview while conducting whatever other business you have online.]
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 21st, 2008.]
Naomi Klein: Bailout is ‘Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene’
The Bush administration has already handed out almost half of the $700 billion in bank bailout money authorized by Congress but has not even filled the mandated oversight positions to review how it is being used.
Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, has described the handling of the bailout as “borderline criminal” because of this and other problems. Klein spoke to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! on Monday to explain her accusations.
“We were all reassured that there was going to be transparency, accountability, legality,” Klein stated. “But now we’re finding out that, in fact, Henry Paulson has achieved his original goal by stealth, because there is no accountability, and lawmakers are very hesitant to challenge this. … Essentially, what the Bush administration has done is said, ‘We dare you to challenge us and be responsible for the Great Depression.’”
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6079
Klein also points out that Paulson has outsourced the whole bailout and turned it over to the banks that are involved in the mess (the whole thing has been outsourced- just as we saw with Iraq). The legal firm overseeing the bailouts, on behalf of the government, is tied to, and earns money from, 7 out of the 9 big banks that are benefiting most from the deal. The law firm has a massive conflict of interest here.
This all reminds me of one of those bank heist films.
Anyway, now we find that Obama's economic advisors include some of the same people who fought for all the deregulation that allowed the catastrophic debt bubble to form in the first place. The situation for middle and working class American may not get much better, even if there is the opportunity ...
Transcripts and audio from the complete interview can be found at Democracy Now here.
I highly recommended listening to the broadcast. [I suggest that readers listen to the audio while doing whatever else you are doing online].
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 21st, 2008.]
Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, has described the handling of the bailout as “borderline criminal” because of this and other problems. Klein spoke to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! on Monday to explain her accusations.
“We were all reassured that there was going to be transparency, accountability, legality,” Klein stated. “But now we’re finding out that, in fact, Henry Paulson has achieved his original goal by stealth, because there is no accountability, and lawmakers are very hesitant to challenge this. … Essentially, what the Bush administration has done is said, ‘We dare you to challenge us and be responsible for the Great Depression.’”
http://www.infowars.com/?p=6079
Klein also points out that Paulson has outsourced the whole bailout and turned it over to the banks that are involved in the mess (the whole thing has been outsourced- just as we saw with Iraq). The legal firm overseeing the bailouts, on behalf of the government, is tied to, and earns money from, 7 out of the 9 big banks that are benefiting most from the deal. The law firm has a massive conflict of interest here.
This all reminds me of one of those bank heist films.
Anyway, now we find that Obama's economic advisors include some of the same people who fought for all the deregulation that allowed the catastrophic debt bubble to form in the first place. The situation for middle and working class American may not get much better, even if there is the opportunity ...
Transcripts and audio from the complete interview can be found at Democracy Now here.
I highly recommended listening to the broadcast. [I suggest that readers listen to the audio while doing whatever else you are doing online].
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 21st, 2008.]
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Do You Care Who Carries Out the Next Attack on America?
From George Washington's Blog:
Before we launch world war 3, ask yourself: would you care if Iran, China and Russia were really behind the attacks?
Of course you would.
Well, then you would also want to know whether Bin Laden was really behind 9/11, whether rogue elements within the U.S. allowed the attacks to succeed, or whether it was actually an "inside job".
Think about it. If, like Howard Zinn, you say "I don't care if 9/11 is an inside job", you are really saying you don't care if future attacks are real attacks or false flag attacks intended to justify war against a concocted enemy.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/do-you-care-who-carries-out-next-attack.html
Nothing will come from nothing. If we accept the status quo, all we will see is a repeat of what has gone before. We have to expose the truth about the 911 attacks in order to prevent further false flag terrorism.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
Before we launch world war 3, ask yourself: would you care if Iran, China and Russia were really behind the attacks?
Of course you would.
Well, then you would also want to know whether Bin Laden was really behind 9/11, whether rogue elements within the U.S. allowed the attacks to succeed, or whether it was actually an "inside job".
Think about it. If, like Howard Zinn, you say "I don't care if 9/11 is an inside job", you are really saying you don't care if future attacks are real attacks or false flag attacks intended to justify war against a concocted enemy.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/do-you-care-who-carries-out-next-attack.html
Nothing will come from nothing. If we accept the status quo, all we will see is a repeat of what has gone before. We have to expose the truth about the 911 attacks in order to prevent further false flag terrorism.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
Obama Warned Of Huge al Qeada Threat
Barack Obama is being given ominous advice from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to brace himself for an early assault from terrorists.
General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2008/11/16/obama-warned-of-huge-al-qeada-threat/
The only terror an Obama Administration is likely to face is another false flag operation set up by one or more of the intelligence agencies. This talk of a "threat" is a sick joke.
The best way of overcoming future terror is to concentrate on the hard evidence already known about the 911 attacks and create a situation in which everyone is aware of the deception. Do not be complacent here, the future depends on us acting.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2008/11/16/obama-warned-of-huge-al-qeada-threat/
The only terror an Obama Administration is likely to face is another false flag operation set up by one or more of the intelligence agencies. This talk of a "threat" is a sick joke.
The best way of overcoming future terror is to concentrate on the hard evidence already known about the 911 attacks and create a situation in which everyone is aware of the deception. Do not be complacent here, the future depends on us acting.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
Banker Manipulation Of Gold And Silver Prices Further Exposed
Commodities experts are in agreement that the price of gold and silver is being manipulated by bankers and government officials in order to halt a mass abandonment of paper currencies and the debt based economy.
The New York Post today carries a column by John Crudele declaring that there is a global run on gold coins and that demand is not being met by government mints.
"The price that the government charges coin dealers has recently been increased by as much as 10 percent for a 10-ounce coin." Crudele comments, also pointing out that gold purchases that were easily filled immediately six months ago are now subject to two week waiting periods.
"There's another more puzzling aspect to the recent gold rush." Crudele writes, referring to the fact that the market price of gold is declining, despite the increase in demand.
http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2008/181108gold.htm
If you have stock, I have heard that it might be a good idea, if you can, to have 5-10% of your wealth in gold. At the moment it might be a good idea to have a higher percentage.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
The New York Post today carries a column by John Crudele declaring that there is a global run on gold coins and that demand is not being met by government mints.
"The price that the government charges coin dealers has recently been increased by as much as 10 percent for a 10-ounce coin." Crudele comments, also pointing out that gold purchases that were easily filled immediately six months ago are now subject to two week waiting periods.
"There's another more puzzling aspect to the recent gold rush." Crudele writes, referring to the fact that the market price of gold is declining, despite the increase in demand.
http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2008/181108gold.htm
If you have stock, I have heard that it might be a good idea, if you can, to have 5-10% of your wealth in gold. At the moment it might be a good idea to have a higher percentage.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 20th, 2008.]
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Democrats Cover Up Bush Era War Crimes
By George Washington
The Associated Press writes:
"Two Obama advisers said there's little—if any—chance that the incoming president's Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provoked worldwide outrage."
And when Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy was asked if Bush officials could face war crimes, he responded:
"In the United States, no. These things are not going to happen."
This is not entirely surprising, given that Democratic congress members Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman and John D. Rockefeller were secretly briefed on torture many, many years ago, and yet did nothing to stop those unlawful programs. Indeed, they egged the torturers on (for example, the above-linked Washington Post article says "no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder").
Remember, those who authorize or cover up war crimes are themselves guilty of war crimes. The Democratic leadership thus has every incentive to cover up war crimes.
The fix is already in. Only massive pressure on the government can force war crimes trials.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/democrats-cover-up-bush-era-war-crimes.html
We can demand nothing less than criminal charges to be brought against corrupt officials. To accept less will allow the criminal system to flourish unchecked. We will see more wars and more suffering regardless of whoever the President may be.
Although it's difficult, we must always aim to see justice, and the the rule of law, prevail. There should be no difference in evaluating the crimes committed by officials in high office and those crimes committed by the rest of the population. The "moving on, looking forward" excuse is no excuse at all.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
The Associated Press writes:
"Two Obama advisers said there's little—if any—chance that the incoming president's Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provoked worldwide outrage."
And when Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy was asked if Bush officials could face war crimes, he responded:
"In the United States, no. These things are not going to happen."
This is not entirely surprising, given that Democratic congress members Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman and John D. Rockefeller were secretly briefed on torture many, many years ago, and yet did nothing to stop those unlawful programs. Indeed, they egged the torturers on (for example, the above-linked Washington Post article says "no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder").
Remember, those who authorize or cover up war crimes are themselves guilty of war crimes. The Democratic leadership thus has every incentive to cover up war crimes.
The fix is already in. Only massive pressure on the government can force war crimes trials.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/democrats-cover-up-bush-era-war-crimes.html
We can demand nothing less than criminal charges to be brought against corrupt officials. To accept less will allow the criminal system to flourish unchecked. We will see more wars and more suffering regardless of whoever the President may be.
Although it's difficult, we must always aim to see justice, and the the rule of law, prevail. There should be no difference in evaluating the crimes committed by officials in high office and those crimes committed by the rest of the population. The "moving on, looking forward" excuse is no excuse at all.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
Top Forecaster Gerald Celente Predicts US Depression (December 2007)
(4:59)
http://www.trendsresearch.com/
Recently Celente appeared on the Alex Jones Radio Show predicting US bank runs in the very near future and widespread civil unrest in the US within 24 months.
The claims of civil unrest makes sense. With a failing economy and mass unemployment we are likely to see a great many more homeless people. With increasing poverty there will be an increase in crime.
Those recently built FEMA camps, designed to hold millions, are just the thing to house troublesome Americans. We should also witness the creation of large scale state or federal welfare programs for those less angry citizens who have fallen on hard times. We might see a call to sign up for national service and the rise of a big brother police type state of America in which you serve the government for a living. Pay will be very low because the government will be bankrupt. It will be a case of slave labour, perhaps in co-operation with select "charitable" corporations. Rigid controls will be placed on many aspects of one's life.
I would also add that in this climate it would not be surprising to witness another false flag terror attack designed as an excuse to attack US "targets" overseas (Syria/Iran) and will provide further cover for the rounding up of dissident Americans who have long criticised the policies of the US government (off to FEMA camps!).
The fact that Obama will be President will not change much in the false war on terror effort. His close advisers and backers are all insiders who are up to their eyeballs in this sort of murky stuff. It will be US police state tyranny, and a world financial collapse ...
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions
Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial crisis, the average taxpayer, never mind member of Congress, might not be faulted for losing track.
CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved.
Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's $4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources*.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27719011
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved.
Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's $4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources*.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27719011
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
RECAP: Shut Down The Derivatives Markets To Save Civilization [Essential Reading !!]
By John Hoefle
"It is time to break the silence on derivatives," Lyndon LaRouche said yesterday, after observing the carnage in the financial system and the pathetic response from the so-called regulators. "The true, hyperinflationary factor in the situation is the unregulated, insanely leveraged derivatives trade. This is what is killing us. This is the great crime of Alan Greenspan."
LaRouche described the derivatives market as a "hyperinflationary bomb, crushing the international financial system," warning that "Until you just shut down the whole derivatives trade--wipe these gambling obligations off the books of the financial system--you are just kidding yourself."
"Unless and until you deal with this derivatives bubble, which cannot be bailed out, you are just kidding yourself," he continued. "It is time for Hank Paulson to swallow the only real medicine: bankruptcy reorganization of the entire, dollar-based financial system. And the first step in any such bankruptcy reorganization would be the cancellation of these quadrillions of dollars in pure gambling obligations. Without such action, this planet is doomed to a horrible dark age, just like the dark age of the fourteenth century, that followed the collapse of the Lombard banking system."
Blood In The Streets
You don't have to be a financial insider to see that the entire global financial system is collapsing, since that collapse is now front-page news every day. The Bush Administration, its co-conspirators in Congress, and the Federal Reserve have passed the largest financial bailout scheme in history, and the Fed and the Treasury are cooking up new bailout facilities and increasing the money available in existing facilities on practically a daily basis. The stock markets are plunging, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index down 40 percent in a year, and dropping like a rock. The banks, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, are vaporizing faster than most people would have thought possible a year ago, with governments in most major European countries belatedly taking steps to prop up the banks and stop runs by protecting deposits. Yet despite it all, the crisis deepens by the day.
The carnage is becoming increasingly more visible in the daily lives of our citizens, as the effects of demise of the securities market "debt machine" wipes out the credit most Americans had come to depend upon, in their households and workplaces. Banks are cutting back on credit-card limits and other consumer loans; mortgages are harder to come by, cash-out refinancings and home equity lines of credit are drying up as home prices fall; and businesses are finding it harder and harder to sell new debt in the bond, commercial paper and other corporate debt markets. For an economy which is dependent upon debt, and already in hock up to its eyeballs, these are ominous developments. The fabric of society is breaking down, and the blood in the streets is spreading.
Deadly Derivatives
The chief financial factor in this carnage is the world's largest casino, the derivatives market. The derivatives market is far larger than the world's stock and bond markets combined, with bets in the quadrillions of dollars compared to the trillions of stocks and bonds. While it is impossible to put an exact number to the size of the overall derivatives market, given its unregulated operations and the way most derivatives deals are privately negotiated, it is possible to put a number to the value of the derivatives bets outstanding, and that number is zero.
Derivatives were the great financial innovation of the Greenspan era, a form of sleight of hand designed to hide the bankruptcy of the financial system after the stock market crash of 1987, the collapse of the savings and loan sector, the bankruptcy of the banking system as a whole, and the collapse of the junk-bond bubble. The derivatives market was a fraud from its inception, a virtual market where the big banks and other speculators could bet on the movements of currencies, bonds, stocks and the indices associated with them. Because the derivatives did not require the ownership of the instruments upon which they were nominally based, the level of bets soon outstripped the levels of the underlying instruments, with, for example, far more derivatives bets on bonds than there were actual bonds.
The derivatives market also employed high degrees of leverage, placing bets with borrowed money. Using leverage, the speculators could place far larger bets than they could were they limited to their own money. This leverage was highly profitable--at least virtually--as long as the game was expanding, but turned deadly when the music stopped. The, reverse leverage set in, and the players began losing not only their bets but the money they borrowed to place those bets. This reverse leverage made it possible for the gamblers to lose multiples of the money they put in, before the loans.
Another innovation that was highly "profitable" before it blew up was the market for credit derivatives (a.k.a., credit default swaps, or CDS), a form of insurance policy for bonds and derivatives bets. While the derivatives market was in full swing, banks, insurance companies and other financial firms sold trillions of dollars of credit derivatives to guarantee the value of a wide range of securities. The credit derivatives were a fig leaf, a necessary part of the derivatives scam. The derivatives sellers, for example, routinely created triple-A rated mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations out of pools of subprime debt, and through the use of credit derivatives, were able to sell such triple-A rated junk to pension funds and other buyers who had a fiduciary obligation to buy only high-quality securities. Without the fig leaf of credit derivatives, this scam would not have been possible, nor would all the losses which followed.
The obvious point is that, in any widespread securities crisis, the credit derivatives sellers would never be able to cover the insurance they wrote. A.I.G., for example, wrote hundreds of billions of dollars of credit derivatives, including a substantial amount based upon securities issued by Lehman Brothers. When Lehman failed, so did A.I.G., which has now received some $120 billion in emergency loans from the Fed.
The settlement date for credit derivatives written on Lehman securities was Oct. 10, at which point the Lehman securities were valued, optimistically, at just 8.6-cents per dollar of face value. This will be the largest payout ever for the credit derivatives market, assuming the sellers can afford the payments.
Shut It Down
The attempt to save the fictitious "values" and "profits" of the derivatives market is one of the prime drivers of the largest bailout attempt in history. We stress attempt, because the bailout is not working, and can not work--there isn't enough money in the world to cover all these funny-money bets, and the efforts by the central banks to print that money, is fueling a hyperinflationary bomb which will wipe out not only the remnants of financial system, but also the governments, national economies and the means of existence for most of the world's population.
It is therefore essential that the bailout of the derivatives bubble be stopped, immediately. All derivatives trades should be declared null and void, and wiped off the books of the speculators. Any financial instrument containing a derivative should also be declared null and void, and wiped off the books. This unregulated, insanely leveraged casino should be shut down, and all claims arising from derivatives bets nullified, as if the bets had never occurred.
There can be no compromise on this. Shut it down, and shut it down now. Your life, and the nation, depends upon it.
http://www.rense.com/general83/lod.htm
An excellent explanation of the crisis and why so much money is being sucked up by the big banks, even though theses same banks are now using up this money to buy up other banks. The mere threat of a derivatives failure is enough to extort a ton of cash out of the US treasury.
Furthermore, these derivatives instruments have poisoned the well world wide, and now hold to ransom financial institutions globally. If the game is let go then they'll be a disaster. Therefore everyone in the derivatives club tries to put off the looming failures as well as can be while the big banks on Wall Street extort the situation for all it is worth. Derivatives must be abolished, the contracts made null and void. The global economic system needs to come back to reality.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
"It is time to break the silence on derivatives," Lyndon LaRouche said yesterday, after observing the carnage in the financial system and the pathetic response from the so-called regulators. "The true, hyperinflationary factor in the situation is the unregulated, insanely leveraged derivatives trade. This is what is killing us. This is the great crime of Alan Greenspan."
LaRouche described the derivatives market as a "hyperinflationary bomb, crushing the international financial system," warning that "Until you just shut down the whole derivatives trade--wipe these gambling obligations off the books of the financial system--you are just kidding yourself."
"Unless and until you deal with this derivatives bubble, which cannot be bailed out, you are just kidding yourself," he continued. "It is time for Hank Paulson to swallow the only real medicine: bankruptcy reorganization of the entire, dollar-based financial system. And the first step in any such bankruptcy reorganization would be the cancellation of these quadrillions of dollars in pure gambling obligations. Without such action, this planet is doomed to a horrible dark age, just like the dark age of the fourteenth century, that followed the collapse of the Lombard banking system."
Blood In The Streets
You don't have to be a financial insider to see that the entire global financial system is collapsing, since that collapse is now front-page news every day. The Bush Administration, its co-conspirators in Congress, and the Federal Reserve have passed the largest financial bailout scheme in history, and the Fed and the Treasury are cooking up new bailout facilities and increasing the money available in existing facilities on practically a daily basis. The stock markets are plunging, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index down 40 percent in a year, and dropping like a rock. The banks, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, are vaporizing faster than most people would have thought possible a year ago, with governments in most major European countries belatedly taking steps to prop up the banks and stop runs by protecting deposits. Yet despite it all, the crisis deepens by the day.
The carnage is becoming increasingly more visible in the daily lives of our citizens, as the effects of demise of the securities market "debt machine" wipes out the credit most Americans had come to depend upon, in their households and workplaces. Banks are cutting back on credit-card limits and other consumer loans; mortgages are harder to come by, cash-out refinancings and home equity lines of credit are drying up as home prices fall; and businesses are finding it harder and harder to sell new debt in the bond, commercial paper and other corporate debt markets. For an economy which is dependent upon debt, and already in hock up to its eyeballs, these are ominous developments. The fabric of society is breaking down, and the blood in the streets is spreading.
Deadly Derivatives
The chief financial factor in this carnage is the world's largest casino, the derivatives market. The derivatives market is far larger than the world's stock and bond markets combined, with bets in the quadrillions of dollars compared to the trillions of stocks and bonds. While it is impossible to put an exact number to the size of the overall derivatives market, given its unregulated operations and the way most derivatives deals are privately negotiated, it is possible to put a number to the value of the derivatives bets outstanding, and that number is zero.
Derivatives were the great financial innovation of the Greenspan era, a form of sleight of hand designed to hide the bankruptcy of the financial system after the stock market crash of 1987, the collapse of the savings and loan sector, the bankruptcy of the banking system as a whole, and the collapse of the junk-bond bubble. The derivatives market was a fraud from its inception, a virtual market where the big banks and other speculators could bet on the movements of currencies, bonds, stocks and the indices associated with them. Because the derivatives did not require the ownership of the instruments upon which they were nominally based, the level of bets soon outstripped the levels of the underlying instruments, with, for example, far more derivatives bets on bonds than there were actual bonds.
The derivatives market also employed high degrees of leverage, placing bets with borrowed money. Using leverage, the speculators could place far larger bets than they could were they limited to their own money. This leverage was highly profitable--at least virtually--as long as the game was expanding, but turned deadly when the music stopped. The, reverse leverage set in, and the players began losing not only their bets but the money they borrowed to place those bets. This reverse leverage made it possible for the gamblers to lose multiples of the money they put in, before the loans.
Another innovation that was highly "profitable" before it blew up was the market for credit derivatives (a.k.a., credit default swaps, or CDS), a form of insurance policy for bonds and derivatives bets. While the derivatives market was in full swing, banks, insurance companies and other financial firms sold trillions of dollars of credit derivatives to guarantee the value of a wide range of securities. The credit derivatives were a fig leaf, a necessary part of the derivatives scam. The derivatives sellers, for example, routinely created triple-A rated mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations out of pools of subprime debt, and through the use of credit derivatives, were able to sell such triple-A rated junk to pension funds and other buyers who had a fiduciary obligation to buy only high-quality securities. Without the fig leaf of credit derivatives, this scam would not have been possible, nor would all the losses which followed.
The obvious point is that, in any widespread securities crisis, the credit derivatives sellers would never be able to cover the insurance they wrote. A.I.G., for example, wrote hundreds of billions of dollars of credit derivatives, including a substantial amount based upon securities issued by Lehman Brothers. When Lehman failed, so did A.I.G., which has now received some $120 billion in emergency loans from the Fed.
The settlement date for credit derivatives written on Lehman securities was Oct. 10, at which point the Lehman securities were valued, optimistically, at just 8.6-cents per dollar of face value. This will be the largest payout ever for the credit derivatives market, assuming the sellers can afford the payments.
Shut It Down
The attempt to save the fictitious "values" and "profits" of the derivatives market is one of the prime drivers of the largest bailout attempt in history. We stress attempt, because the bailout is not working, and can not work--there isn't enough money in the world to cover all these funny-money bets, and the efforts by the central banks to print that money, is fueling a hyperinflationary bomb which will wipe out not only the remnants of financial system, but also the governments, national economies and the means of existence for most of the world's population.
It is therefore essential that the bailout of the derivatives bubble be stopped, immediately. All derivatives trades should be declared null and void, and wiped off the books of the speculators. Any financial instrument containing a derivative should also be declared null and void, and wiped off the books. This unregulated, insanely leveraged casino should be shut down, and all claims arising from derivatives bets nullified, as if the bets had never occurred.
There can be no compromise on this. Shut it down, and shut it down now. Your life, and the nation, depends upon it.
http://www.rense.com/general83/lod.htm
An excellent explanation of the crisis and why so much money is being sucked up by the big banks, even though theses same banks are now using up this money to buy up other banks. The mere threat of a derivatives failure is enough to extort a ton of cash out of the US treasury.
Furthermore, these derivatives instruments have poisoned the well world wide, and now hold to ransom financial institutions globally. If the game is let go then they'll be a disaster. Therefore everyone in the derivatives club tries to put off the looming failures as well as can be while the big banks on Wall Street extort the situation for all it is worth. Derivatives must be abolished, the contracts made null and void. The global economic system needs to come back to reality.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
Scientists Decline to Defend Themselves
“Since when is name-calling a scientist’s appropriate response to something?” he says. “He calls me a charlatan without giving any reason for it, and he labels UFOs a pseudoscience without stating why. It’s science by proclamation.”
Being scientists, no doubt Cottle and Boebinger are familiar with Project Blue Book Special Report #14, in which Air Force analysts determined that roughly 20 percent of their UFO reports were legitimate unknowns by the mid-1950s. And of course they’d read the disturbing 1999 French COMETA Report, presented by the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defense with a foreword by the former chair of the French National Center for Space Studies.
Naturally, being scientists, they had also acquainted themselves with “The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence,” authored by a team of scientists assembled by Dr. Peter Sturrock, professor emeritus of applied physics at Stanford University.
And, in the rigorous spirit of scientific inquiry, they had probably already reviewed the FAA/National Weather Service radar records of the Stephenville, Tex., UFO incident in January. Surely, they had perfectly logical explanations for why the military refuses to release its own radar records, as well as the uncensored flight logs of the F-16s that pursued the object.
De Void wanted to discuss the pseudoscientific aspects of these and other studies with the offended parties. But Cottle’s e-mail response was terse: “I'm not going to comment further. My letter to the editor was a message to my local community, and I'm going to leave it at that.”
Boebinger didn’t bother to respond at all.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081114/blog32/811140285%26tc%3Dyahoo
The author here could also cite, in the literature, the "Condon Report", undertaken by the University of Colorado on behalf of the USAF in the late 1960s. Many people misunderstand the significance of this scientific report since the conclusions are negative. However, anyone who has read the report will find that the conclusions LIE about the content of the study. In fact the findings do not match AT ALL with the various summaries made about the photographic evidence, the Radar-Visual cases, the cases that exhibited physical effects and the Astronaut sightings.
There's two sorts of scientists who are against the study of unexplained aerial phenomena (UFOs), the ignorant and the trolls paid to debunk the material.
Like the science we have see with regard to the 911 material, it does not matter what your preconceived views are, the evidence tells its own story. Follow the evidence, not the rhetoric.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
Being scientists, no doubt Cottle and Boebinger are familiar with Project Blue Book Special Report #14, in which Air Force analysts determined that roughly 20 percent of their UFO reports were legitimate unknowns by the mid-1950s. And of course they’d read the disturbing 1999 French COMETA Report, presented by the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defense with a foreword by the former chair of the French National Center for Space Studies.
Naturally, being scientists, they had also acquainted themselves with “The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence,” authored by a team of scientists assembled by Dr. Peter Sturrock, professor emeritus of applied physics at Stanford University.
And, in the rigorous spirit of scientific inquiry, they had probably already reviewed the FAA/National Weather Service radar records of the Stephenville, Tex., UFO incident in January. Surely, they had perfectly logical explanations for why the military refuses to release its own radar records, as well as the uncensored flight logs of the F-16s that pursued the object.
De Void wanted to discuss the pseudoscientific aspects of these and other studies with the offended parties. But Cottle’s e-mail response was terse: “I'm not going to comment further. My letter to the editor was a message to my local community, and I'm going to leave it at that.”
Boebinger didn’t bother to respond at all.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081114/blog32/811140285%26tc%3Dyahoo
The author here could also cite, in the literature, the "Condon Report", undertaken by the University of Colorado on behalf of the USAF in the late 1960s. Many people misunderstand the significance of this scientific report since the conclusions are negative. However, anyone who has read the report will find that the conclusions LIE about the content of the study. In fact the findings do not match AT ALL with the various summaries made about the photographic evidence, the Radar-Visual cases, the cases that exhibited physical effects and the Astronaut sightings.
There's two sorts of scientists who are against the study of unexplained aerial phenomena (UFOs), the ignorant and the trolls paid to debunk the material.
Like the science we have see with regard to the 911 material, it does not matter what your preconceived views are, the evidence tells its own story. Follow the evidence, not the rhetoric.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 19th, 2008.]
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The failure of the U.S. Auto Industry and the Ripple Effect
(3:57)
This is a promo to get Congress to bailout the US car makers. It's worth considering what will happen if these three companies collapse.
Recently US secretary Hank Paulson stated that he would not give money to the US car industry after he had just given hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks. And the banks, rather than using the money to alleviate the mortgage situation are looking to buy up other banks. The treasury money has not helped calm the situation.
It's likely that the big banks are letting the crisis play out so that they can acquire assets (ie other banks or institutions) at bargain basement prices.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 18th, 2008.]
Paulson's Blunders as Debt Securitization Market Remains Frozen
By Mike Whitney
Henry Paulson's time at Treasury has been one pratfall after another. Even so, on Tuesday he managed to out-due himself. Paulson held a "surprise" press conference where he announced that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) wouldn't be used to buy troubled assets after all. Instead, the money will used to bail out insurance giant AIG, provide extra capital for the banks to hoard, and now (this is new part) give money to "nonbank financial institutions, like insurers and specialty-finance companies" so they can lend to credit-worthy consumers. (Isn't that why we gave money to the banks?)
Paulson's announcement was like tossing a hand-grenade in a San-i-can; it blew the stock market to Kingdom come. Just minutes after the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks plummeted to new lows ending the session in a 400 point death-spiral. Wall Street doesn't like uncertainty and Paulson's sudden about-face sent jittery investors running for cover. The message to investors is clear, the government doesn't have the foggiest idea of what it's doing and is just grasping at straws.
But Paulson's no fool; he knew exactly what the reaction would be on Wall Street. He simply decided that blowing up the equities market was worth the price of reviving "securitization"--the transformation of loans into securities. You see, securitization is Wall Street's Golden Goose. It's the foundation block upon which structured finance and all its complex credit-enhancing derivatives rests. Keep in mind, that all these exotic, financially-engineered products--the CDOs, MBS, and CDS--were all created with one goal in mind; to maximize leverage with minimum capital so that profits can be skimmed off the top. That's how Paulson managed to walk away from Goldman Sachs with hundreds of millions of dollars in his pockets. It's a racket.
There's a myth that credit is contracting because the banks won't lend. But, in truth, total bank credit expanded by $575 billion over the past 10 weeks. The real problem is that the securitzation market remains frozen.
So now Paulson wants to breathe new life into securitization by providing liquidity for nonbank financial institutions who get their money from the wholesale market. Of course, no one really knows how this will work since these operations are completely unregulated by the federal government. No worries; the charade will persist behind the dodgy claim that "it's needed to get credit to the consumer". Baloney. What the consumer needs job security and a pay-raise, not more debt. This is just more Paulson flim-flam.
It was clear that the Treasury Secretary was concocting a new swindle a couple weeks ago when Fed chief Bernanke defended "securitzation in a speech where he said:
"The ability of financial intermediaries to sell the mortgages they originate into the broader capital market by means of the securitization process serves two important purposes: First, it provides originators much wider sources of funding than they could obtain through conventional sources, such as retail deposits; second, it substantially reduces the originator's exposure to interest rate, credit, prepayment, and other risks associated with holding mortgages to maturity, thereby reducing the overall costs of providing mortgage credit."
Nonsense. What it really does is create the optimal environment for speculative leveraging, debt-pyramiding and massive profit-taking. But, that's beside the point. The real issue is that securitization is dead already because Paulson and his ilk poisoned the well by adding subprime garbage and Alt As to the mix. Now investors are steering clear of any securities that bundle debt. It's a confidence issue.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
"Banks and other finance companies making loans for autos, credit cards and college tuition are having virtually no success in selling those loans to other investors, a potent sign of just how tight credit markets remain.
The market for selling such loans — by packaging, or securitizing, them into bonds — had just one $500 million deal for all of October, according to Barclays Capital. That compares with $50.7 billion worth of deals made one year earlier, according to market-research firm Dealogic. The overall market for so-called asset-backed securitization is estimated at $2.5 trillion. (Bond Woes Choke off some Credit to Consumers, Wall Street Journal, Robin Sidel)
$500 million is just 1 percent of $50 billion! Securitization will be dead for a decade or so; it was destroyed by lax lending standards and easy credit. Paulson and his fellows will have to find a new way to fleece gulible investors.
The TARP is most expensive boondoggle in history. No one even knows what the banks are doing with the money. There's neither accountability nor transparency. As a result, investor confidence has deteriorated and stocks have continued to fall. No one trusts Paulson to do the right thing anymore; it's that simple.
The Treasury's new Financial Stability Oversight Board has met four times, but they still can't say how the banks are using the money. It's a joke. Congress has been missing in action, too. They promised to create their own oversight board, but five weeks have passed and still nothing has happened. Apparently, the idea throwing $700 billion down rathole isn't enough to prod Ms. Pelosi and her congressional cohorts into action. All that really matters to them is getting reelected and nuzzling ever-closer to the public trough.
The TARP fiasco is not taking place in a vacuum either; the country is at the beginning of the deepest consumer-led recession in the last half century. Retail spending and automobile sales have been following the same grim flightpath as housing, while unemployment is at a 7 year high soaring to nearly 4 million. Household debt is at record levels of $14 trillion. The job market is steadily weakening while the consumer is more vulnerable than ever. Meanwhile, Paulson has dragged his feet on rewriting mortgages to slow foreclosures, stalled on providing another stimulus package, and diverted all the money from the $700 billion bailout to his friends in the financial industry. Not one dime has gone to a working man or woman. Paulson continues to play games while Rome burns even though, according to his colleague, former G-Sax chairman John Whitehead, the current downturn will be worse than the Great Depression.
According to Reuters: "The economy faces a slump deeper than the Great Depression and a growing deficit threatens the credit of the United States itself, former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead ...
"I think it would be worse than the depression," Whitehead said. "We're talking about reducing the credit of the United States of America, which is the backbone of the economic system. ... I see nothing but large increases in the deficit, all of which are serving to decrease the credit standing of America. ... I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster. I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here."
There is no solution. The first thing to realize is that it is not a matter of "fixing" the economy. The economy is fixing itself by purging the unsustainable debt from the system. That's how markets work. Greenspan's low interest rates created a subsidy for debt which--along with the alphabet soup of leveraged derivatives--buoyed the economy along on the biggest wave of speculative financing the world has ever seen. The distortions that were caused by the unprecedented credit expansion stimulated artificial demand that created the appearance of growth and prosperity but, in truth, was nothing more than an equity bubble. Now the bubble has popped and the financial system is returning to the mean.
That means that credit will probably contract by 30 to 40 percent putting us on the path to another Great Depression. Unless the government takes preventative action to get money into the hands of consumers and restore confidence, the nation will face (what David Brooks called) "grueling scarcity" and widespread panic. That's probably why all the voting machines and exit polls finally matched up with the election results in the 2008 presidential balloting for the first time in 8 years; because the ruling elites know that they need a popular executive to put in front of the cameras when they try to calm the crowds and keep the country from disintegrating into anarchy. It also explains the nervous smiles on the faces of the money-lenders and graybeards assembled on the stage behind Obama at his first press conference. The American establishment is placing all its hopes for economic survival on the narrow shoulders of their newest posterboy, Barak Hussein Obama.
There's more pain to come, but the suffering can be mitigated by sound decision-making and Keynesian policies. That means public work programs, bankruptcy reform, and extensions on unemployment. Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman recommends a stimulus package of $600 billion. That's a good start, but it will take much more than that. And foreign investors will have to be confident in our choices or the sale of Treasurys will slip and the US will face a funding crisis. The Fed's lending facilities have already loaned $2 trillion while the Treasury's bailout is $700 billion. By the end of 2010, fiscal deficits will be nearly $2 tillion and the total cost to the US taxpayer will be at least $5 trillion. That means rising interest rates, flagging growth and hard times ahead.
The present financial crisis is a self-inflicted wound. It started at the Federal Reserve with their cynical neoliberal monetary policies. Any solution, that does not involve the dismantling of the Fed, is unacceptable.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7319.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 18th, 2008.]
Henry Paulson's time at Treasury has been one pratfall after another. Even so, on Tuesday he managed to out-due himself. Paulson held a "surprise" press conference where he announced that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) wouldn't be used to buy troubled assets after all. Instead, the money will used to bail out insurance giant AIG, provide extra capital for the banks to hoard, and now (this is new part) give money to "nonbank financial institutions, like insurers and specialty-finance companies" so they can lend to credit-worthy consumers. (Isn't that why we gave money to the banks?)
Paulson's announcement was like tossing a hand-grenade in a San-i-can; it blew the stock market to Kingdom come. Just minutes after the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks plummeted to new lows ending the session in a 400 point death-spiral. Wall Street doesn't like uncertainty and Paulson's sudden about-face sent jittery investors running for cover. The message to investors is clear, the government doesn't have the foggiest idea of what it's doing and is just grasping at straws.
But Paulson's no fool; he knew exactly what the reaction would be on Wall Street. He simply decided that blowing up the equities market was worth the price of reviving "securitization"--the transformation of loans into securities. You see, securitization is Wall Street's Golden Goose. It's the foundation block upon which structured finance and all its complex credit-enhancing derivatives rests. Keep in mind, that all these exotic, financially-engineered products--the CDOs, MBS, and CDS--were all created with one goal in mind; to maximize leverage with minimum capital so that profits can be skimmed off the top. That's how Paulson managed to walk away from Goldman Sachs with hundreds of millions of dollars in his pockets. It's a racket.
There's a myth that credit is contracting because the banks won't lend. But, in truth, total bank credit expanded by $575 billion over the past 10 weeks. The real problem is that the securitzation market remains frozen.
So now Paulson wants to breathe new life into securitization by providing liquidity for nonbank financial institutions who get their money from the wholesale market. Of course, no one really knows how this will work since these operations are completely unregulated by the federal government. No worries; the charade will persist behind the dodgy claim that "it's needed to get credit to the consumer". Baloney. What the consumer needs job security and a pay-raise, not more debt. This is just more Paulson flim-flam.
It was clear that the Treasury Secretary was concocting a new swindle a couple weeks ago when Fed chief Bernanke defended "securitzation in a speech where he said:
"The ability of financial intermediaries to sell the mortgages they originate into the broader capital market by means of the securitization process serves two important purposes: First, it provides originators much wider sources of funding than they could obtain through conventional sources, such as retail deposits; second, it substantially reduces the originator's exposure to interest rate, credit, prepayment, and other risks associated with holding mortgages to maturity, thereby reducing the overall costs of providing mortgage credit."
Nonsense. What it really does is create the optimal environment for speculative leveraging, debt-pyramiding and massive profit-taking. But, that's beside the point. The real issue is that securitization is dead already because Paulson and his ilk poisoned the well by adding subprime garbage and Alt As to the mix. Now investors are steering clear of any securities that bundle debt. It's a confidence issue.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
"Banks and other finance companies making loans for autos, credit cards and college tuition are having virtually no success in selling those loans to other investors, a potent sign of just how tight credit markets remain.
The market for selling such loans — by packaging, or securitizing, them into bonds — had just one $500 million deal for all of October, according to Barclays Capital. That compares with $50.7 billion worth of deals made one year earlier, according to market-research firm Dealogic. The overall market for so-called asset-backed securitization is estimated at $2.5 trillion. (Bond Woes Choke off some Credit to Consumers, Wall Street Journal, Robin Sidel)
$500 million is just 1 percent of $50 billion! Securitization will be dead for a decade or so; it was destroyed by lax lending standards and easy credit. Paulson and his fellows will have to find a new way to fleece gulible investors.
The TARP is most expensive boondoggle in history. No one even knows what the banks are doing with the money. There's neither accountability nor transparency. As a result, investor confidence has deteriorated and stocks have continued to fall. No one trusts Paulson to do the right thing anymore; it's that simple.
The Treasury's new Financial Stability Oversight Board has met four times, but they still can't say how the banks are using the money. It's a joke. Congress has been missing in action, too. They promised to create their own oversight board, but five weeks have passed and still nothing has happened. Apparently, the idea throwing $700 billion down rathole isn't enough to prod Ms. Pelosi and her congressional cohorts into action. All that really matters to them is getting reelected and nuzzling ever-closer to the public trough.
The TARP fiasco is not taking place in a vacuum either; the country is at the beginning of the deepest consumer-led recession in the last half century. Retail spending and automobile sales have been following the same grim flightpath as housing, while unemployment is at a 7 year high soaring to nearly 4 million. Household debt is at record levels of $14 trillion. The job market is steadily weakening while the consumer is more vulnerable than ever. Meanwhile, Paulson has dragged his feet on rewriting mortgages to slow foreclosures, stalled on providing another stimulus package, and diverted all the money from the $700 billion bailout to his friends in the financial industry. Not one dime has gone to a working man or woman. Paulson continues to play games while Rome burns even though, according to his colleague, former G-Sax chairman John Whitehead, the current downturn will be worse than the Great Depression.
According to Reuters: "The economy faces a slump deeper than the Great Depression and a growing deficit threatens the credit of the United States itself, former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead ...
"I think it would be worse than the depression," Whitehead said. "We're talking about reducing the credit of the United States of America, which is the backbone of the economic system. ... I see nothing but large increases in the deficit, all of which are serving to decrease the credit standing of America. ... I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster. I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here."
There is no solution. The first thing to realize is that it is not a matter of "fixing" the economy. The economy is fixing itself by purging the unsustainable debt from the system. That's how markets work. Greenspan's low interest rates created a subsidy for debt which--along with the alphabet soup of leveraged derivatives--buoyed the economy along on the biggest wave of speculative financing the world has ever seen. The distortions that were caused by the unprecedented credit expansion stimulated artificial demand that created the appearance of growth and prosperity but, in truth, was nothing more than an equity bubble. Now the bubble has popped and the financial system is returning to the mean.
That means that credit will probably contract by 30 to 40 percent putting us on the path to another Great Depression. Unless the government takes preventative action to get money into the hands of consumers and restore confidence, the nation will face (what David Brooks called) "grueling scarcity" and widespread panic. That's probably why all the voting machines and exit polls finally matched up with the election results in the 2008 presidential balloting for the first time in 8 years; because the ruling elites know that they need a popular executive to put in front of the cameras when they try to calm the crowds and keep the country from disintegrating into anarchy. It also explains the nervous smiles on the faces of the money-lenders and graybeards assembled on the stage behind Obama at his first press conference. The American establishment is placing all its hopes for economic survival on the narrow shoulders of their newest posterboy, Barak Hussein Obama.
There's more pain to come, but the suffering can be mitigated by sound decision-making and Keynesian policies. That means public work programs, bankruptcy reform, and extensions on unemployment. Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman recommends a stimulus package of $600 billion. That's a good start, but it will take much more than that. And foreign investors will have to be confident in our choices or the sale of Treasurys will slip and the US will face a funding crisis. The Fed's lending facilities have already loaned $2 trillion while the Treasury's bailout is $700 billion. By the end of 2010, fiscal deficits will be nearly $2 tillion and the total cost to the US taxpayer will be at least $5 trillion. That means rising interest rates, flagging growth and hard times ahead.
The present financial crisis is a self-inflicted wound. It started at the Federal Reserve with their cynical neoliberal monetary policies. Any solution, that does not involve the dismantling of the Fed, is unacceptable.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7319.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 18th, 2008.]
US Senator Inhofe: “No Way Of Knowing” Where Bailout Money Has Gone
Senator Jim Inhofe has slammed the continued secrecy behind where the bailout money has gone, saying that Hank Paulson could have given it to his friends and that the “blank check” must be cancelled now.
The Federal Reserve has failed to comply with congressional demands for transparency and disclose the destination of at least $2 trillion dollars in bailout funds, underscoring once again the failure of top down socialism and the folly of trusting the foxes to guard the henhouse.
Speaking with Tulsa World, the Oklahoma Republican said, “It is just outrageous that the American people don’t know that Congress doesn’t know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,” adding, “It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don’t know. There is no way of knowing.”
Inhofe chastised Paulson for carrying out a bait and switch in which he abandoned the central promise to buy out bad mortgage debt after passage of the bill by Congress.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/inhofe-no-way-of-knowing-where-bailout-money-has-gone.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 18th, 2008.]
The Federal Reserve has failed to comply with congressional demands for transparency and disclose the destination of at least $2 trillion dollars in bailout funds, underscoring once again the failure of top down socialism and the folly of trusting the foxes to guard the henhouse.
Speaking with Tulsa World, the Oklahoma Republican said, “It is just outrageous that the American people don’t know that Congress doesn’t know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,” adding, “It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don’t know. There is no way of knowing.”
Inhofe chastised Paulson for carrying out a bait and switch in which he abandoned the central promise to buy out bad mortgage debt after passage of the bill by Congress.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/inhofe-no-way-of-knowing-where-bailout-money-has-gone.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 18th, 2008.]
Monday, 17 November 2008
G-20 Wants Quick Action on Credit Default Swaps, But Bush Talks Them Into Toothless Regulation
America's financial elite - the very people who allowed the exponential expansion without oversight of CDS and other " murky investment tools"- pushed for an approach which would would not hold accountable those who created the CDS hurricane in the first place . (Paulson and Greenspan were obviously big derivatives cheerleaders. But the U.S. Congress aided and abetted this mess, as did some of Obama's top economic advisors; and see this).
Bush and company pushed an approach which is so incremental and toothless that it will probably not prevent future catastrophic failures stemming from CDS which are already out there.
This is similar to the Neocon approach to the Iraq war debate. Any Neocon talking head asked about how we got into the Iraq war says "let's not talk about the past, let's talk about what we should do now." This is a way to try to escape blame for a massively illegal war and to try to change the subject away from getting out of Iraq, towards some mythical successful end-game.
Similarly, America's financial elite are trying to talk about the "future" of CDS and how to "safely regulate them", instead of talking about who got us into this financial mess, and how to cancel the suckers before they drag the global economy down into a black hole.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/g-20-wants-quick-action-on-credit.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 17th, 2008.]
Bush and company pushed an approach which is so incremental and toothless that it will probably not prevent future catastrophic failures stemming from CDS which are already out there.
This is similar to the Neocon approach to the Iraq war debate. Any Neocon talking head asked about how we got into the Iraq war says "let's not talk about the past, let's talk about what we should do now." This is a way to try to escape blame for a massively illegal war and to try to change the subject away from getting out of Iraq, towards some mythical successful end-game.
Similarly, America's financial elite are trying to talk about the "future" of CDS and how to "safely regulate them", instead of talking about who got us into this financial mess, and how to cancel the suckers before they drag the global economy down into a black hole.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/g-20-wants-quick-action-on-credit.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 17th, 2008.]
Sunday, 16 November 2008
VETERANS OCCUPY NATIONAL ARCHIVES - AGAIN!
The veterans are demanding Bush administration be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; asking the media to clearly inform the public of the administration's crimes; and encouraging citizens to take similar nonviolent actions.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4468084&mesg_id=4468084
Demand Justice !
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 16h, 2008.]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4468084&mesg_id=4468084
Demand Justice !
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 16h, 2008.]
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Bait & Switch
By Jim Kirwan
Do you remember back in those dark ages before the selection, when Paulson came before congress and the public and demanded that we give him (and the Federal Reserve Bank) $700 Billion? It was a performance that was a metaphorical gun to the head of the people, wherein Mr. Paulson claimed that 'if this massive bequest (with only three pages of specifics) was not immediately given to him, with no questions asked, then the world as we knew it would change forever'?
After that people became alarmed and demanded that this hostile takeover "agreement' either be scrapped immediately or completely rewritten. Then it was voted down, where it died in the US House of Representatives.
The Dictator then huddled with the criminals in charge of the Senate and had them write some legislation (which is completely illegal) as legislation must originate in the House of Representatives. But the Dictator had already told the country not to get upset by "how legislation was written" because 'the important thing was that we had to have legislation.' So the Senate did exactly what they were told to do, and they created hundreds of pages of stuff which they passed and sent back to the House for approval.
The members of the House of Representatives were then threatened with the implementation of Martial Law if this bogus new giveaway was not passed immediately: This time the constituents were ignored, and the now famous $700 Billion (which became $850 Billion) became the law that Junior Bush did finally get to sign.
We were promised that every aspect of this giveaway would be clearly transparent and would be monitored, so that the public could see exactly what their money would be used for. It was supposed to be used to buy up toxic real-estate "securities" so that the banks could get back to normal, and real-money would be available again to those who needed to borrow it. That was then and every bit of that BAILOUT-RESCUE package has now been shown to be nothing more than a pack of lies. On the street this is called 'Bait & Switch.'
In the interim we have learned that the FED paid out billions more per day in the seven days immediately after the legislation was signed: with no information available as to what that was for or who that money went to. A few days ago we also learned that a separate $2 Trillion has been paid to some, for purposes unknown and to persons unknown: and when questioned by the congress about this mystery Congress was told that this information could not be revealed because "it might cause a financial panic."
The evening news yesterday said: Secretary Paulson has admitted that "none of the $700 billion will be used to buy up toxic mortgages now, because the facts have changed." Now the money that he practically stole from the public is going to be given to the banks, in 'the hope' that they will decide to again extend credit to potential borrowers (which is still NOT happening).
When Congress questioned the rules that would accompany these massive amounts of money that Paulson and Bernanke are flinging into the void, they were told 'there are actually no rules that require disclosures concerning the particulars of any of these transactions.' And apparently there are no rules for congressional oversight either. The consensus on CBS was that we would just have to "Trust them on this one."
WOW after all that they have been doing to destroy this system for the last eight years: and in light those original demands they made of the public: It is criminal to scrap it all now and totally redirect the funds to the same institutions that caused this financial-avalanche in the first place-that has to be beyond incredible.
These people: Paulson at Treasury, Bernanke at the FED and whoever is running the Securities Exchange Commission are making this stuff up as they go along-there can be no other explanation for this idiotic behavior that answers to no one and is apparently unlimited in their ability to create "government ownership-stakes" in companies and institutions without regard for existing regulations, rules or laws.
Americans used to have a reputation for being hard-headed, bare- knuckled business men and women-what happened?
The 'facts' concerning this BAILOUT-RESCUE package are so blatantly outrageous that they could not even be used as a script for a cheap paperback-because this entire thing is too unbelievable. Any editor that tried to review such a script would find the very idea that this public would just let this garbage happen and do nothing-would simply be too ridiculous to ever actually happen: and yet that is exactly what's happening now.
Where's the money? The money was given to the major banks, supposedly to loosen credit restrictions: but the banks chose to use the money to buy up the competition (other banks), to increase their hold over everything else in the fiscal world; so "loans" will just have to wait. Astounding! We are actually paying failed institutions to buy-out their competition with our money, so that they can become even bigger, and in the process eliminate what little competition might still exist, so that whatever happens we cannot ever regain control over our own money.
When this is over-because of something called "government ownership stakes" the government might very well end up owning everything from the banks and investment companies to the automotive and insurance industries, as well as virtually everything else that will have to turn-to-them for help-like the Airlines and probably many of the so-called sovereign states within what's left of the nation, that are themselves going bankrupt?
How many more times can they change their story; how many more times can they add to the amounts of money being so freely given to their largest contributors, and to top it off, even the supposed point and purposes behind these public giveaways keep changing with every passing hour: Along with the actual amounts of money that both Paulson & Bernanke are dispensing as if it were water from an open floodgate.
The 'people' that needed to give their permission were blindsided. The money has been paid and is not being tracked and all the while the actual situation (the excuse), deepens and changes with every passing day.
What we are witnessing is a day-light hijacking of the US Treasury and of the public themselves, in order to strengthen institutions that demanded the right to fail, until they failed themselves. Now these New World Pirates are demanding that the people they screwed so thoroughly 'Bail-them-out,' so that they can come back to get even more of our money and create even more disasters with it.
Between Corporate-Welfare and socialistic-corporate-Capitalism as these concepts are practiced today: there will soon be nothing left of this country except Corporations and Only-Private-Interests where there used to be a free Republic in a country that was growing instead of dying!
Let these institutions fail before we give them trillions more to quietly steal for themselves in their unearned subsidies. The end result here will be the collapse of the banks, the markets, and AIG along with the car companies and probably the airlines so why not just hang onto the money and "let the markets sort it out" as these Capitalist have so often told us that 'their private and unregulated world could so easily do.'
This government says it's worried about protecting people's homes: but what good is a home when there are no jobs. For that matter what good is a credit-rating or a loan when there is no source of income on which to base your continued existence?
Yesterday this quagmire just became a whole lot deeper and a lot more personal. "Democrats in the U.S. House (Obama's party) have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers personal retirement accounts" including 401(k)s and IRAs" and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.
Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly.
The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration." (1)
Obama cannot stop this orgy of lawlessness because it has become endemic to this system without order. In fact the congress has become useless in the face of these government-by-Executive- decrees, supported by near total apathy from the public that is being stripped and hijacked in broad daylight. While the thieves squabble among themselves, this nation sinks beneath the rising tides of red-ink and stolen promises that shall leave Americans destitute by the time of Obama's ordination. These creatures will not stop until we demand an end to all of this. At the very least we have to stop them from just making it all up as they go along! If we don't act now - then the global-markets will crash and that dreaded worldwide Depression shall become an indisputable fact.
http://www.rense.com/general84/bait.htm
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 15th, 2008.]
Do you remember back in those dark ages before the selection, when Paulson came before congress and the public and demanded that we give him (and the Federal Reserve Bank) $700 Billion? It was a performance that was a metaphorical gun to the head of the people, wherein Mr. Paulson claimed that 'if this massive bequest (with only three pages of specifics) was not immediately given to him, with no questions asked, then the world as we knew it would change forever'?
After that people became alarmed and demanded that this hostile takeover "agreement' either be scrapped immediately or completely rewritten. Then it was voted down, where it died in the US House of Representatives.
The Dictator then huddled with the criminals in charge of the Senate and had them write some legislation (which is completely illegal) as legislation must originate in the House of Representatives. But the Dictator had already told the country not to get upset by "how legislation was written" because 'the important thing was that we had to have legislation.' So the Senate did exactly what they were told to do, and they created hundreds of pages of stuff which they passed and sent back to the House for approval.
The members of the House of Representatives were then threatened with the implementation of Martial Law if this bogus new giveaway was not passed immediately: This time the constituents were ignored, and the now famous $700 Billion (which became $850 Billion) became the law that Junior Bush did finally get to sign.
We were promised that every aspect of this giveaway would be clearly transparent and would be monitored, so that the public could see exactly what their money would be used for. It was supposed to be used to buy up toxic real-estate "securities" so that the banks could get back to normal, and real-money would be available again to those who needed to borrow it. That was then and every bit of that BAILOUT-RESCUE package has now been shown to be nothing more than a pack of lies. On the street this is called 'Bait & Switch.'
In the interim we have learned that the FED paid out billions more per day in the seven days immediately after the legislation was signed: with no information available as to what that was for or who that money went to. A few days ago we also learned that a separate $2 Trillion has been paid to some, for purposes unknown and to persons unknown: and when questioned by the congress about this mystery Congress was told that this information could not be revealed because "it might cause a financial panic."
The evening news yesterday said: Secretary Paulson has admitted that "none of the $700 billion will be used to buy up toxic mortgages now, because the facts have changed." Now the money that he practically stole from the public is going to be given to the banks, in 'the hope' that they will decide to again extend credit to potential borrowers (which is still NOT happening).
When Congress questioned the rules that would accompany these massive amounts of money that Paulson and Bernanke are flinging into the void, they were told 'there are actually no rules that require disclosures concerning the particulars of any of these transactions.' And apparently there are no rules for congressional oversight either. The consensus on CBS was that we would just have to "Trust them on this one."
WOW after all that they have been doing to destroy this system for the last eight years: and in light those original demands they made of the public: It is criminal to scrap it all now and totally redirect the funds to the same institutions that caused this financial-avalanche in the first place-that has to be beyond incredible.
These people: Paulson at Treasury, Bernanke at the FED and whoever is running the Securities Exchange Commission are making this stuff up as they go along-there can be no other explanation for this idiotic behavior that answers to no one and is apparently unlimited in their ability to create "government ownership-stakes" in companies and institutions without regard for existing regulations, rules or laws.
Americans used to have a reputation for being hard-headed, bare- knuckled business men and women-what happened?
The 'facts' concerning this BAILOUT-RESCUE package are so blatantly outrageous that they could not even be used as a script for a cheap paperback-because this entire thing is too unbelievable. Any editor that tried to review such a script would find the very idea that this public would just let this garbage happen and do nothing-would simply be too ridiculous to ever actually happen: and yet that is exactly what's happening now.
Where's the money? The money was given to the major banks, supposedly to loosen credit restrictions: but the banks chose to use the money to buy up the competition (other banks), to increase their hold over everything else in the fiscal world; so "loans" will just have to wait. Astounding! We are actually paying failed institutions to buy-out their competition with our money, so that they can become even bigger, and in the process eliminate what little competition might still exist, so that whatever happens we cannot ever regain control over our own money.
When this is over-because of something called "government ownership stakes" the government might very well end up owning everything from the banks and investment companies to the automotive and insurance industries, as well as virtually everything else that will have to turn-to-them for help-like the Airlines and probably many of the so-called sovereign states within what's left of the nation, that are themselves going bankrupt?
How many more times can they change their story; how many more times can they add to the amounts of money being so freely given to their largest contributors, and to top it off, even the supposed point and purposes behind these public giveaways keep changing with every passing hour: Along with the actual amounts of money that both Paulson & Bernanke are dispensing as if it were water from an open floodgate.
The 'people' that needed to give their permission were blindsided. The money has been paid and is not being tracked and all the while the actual situation (the excuse), deepens and changes with every passing day.
What we are witnessing is a day-light hijacking of the US Treasury and of the public themselves, in order to strengthen institutions that demanded the right to fail, until they failed themselves. Now these New World Pirates are demanding that the people they screwed so thoroughly 'Bail-them-out,' so that they can come back to get even more of our money and create even more disasters with it.
Between Corporate-Welfare and socialistic-corporate-Capitalism as these concepts are practiced today: there will soon be nothing left of this country except Corporations and Only-Private-Interests where there used to be a free Republic in a country that was growing instead of dying!
Let these institutions fail before we give them trillions more to quietly steal for themselves in their unearned subsidies. The end result here will be the collapse of the banks, the markets, and AIG along with the car companies and probably the airlines so why not just hang onto the money and "let the markets sort it out" as these Capitalist have so often told us that 'their private and unregulated world could so easily do.'
This government says it's worried about protecting people's homes: but what good is a home when there are no jobs. For that matter what good is a credit-rating or a loan when there is no source of income on which to base your continued existence?
Yesterday this quagmire just became a whole lot deeper and a lot more personal. "Democrats in the U.S. House (Obama's party) have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers personal retirement accounts" including 401(k)s and IRAs" and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.
Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly.
The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration." (1)
Obama cannot stop this orgy of lawlessness because it has become endemic to this system without order. In fact the congress has become useless in the face of these government-by-Executive- decrees, supported by near total apathy from the public that is being stripped and hijacked in broad daylight. While the thieves squabble among themselves, this nation sinks beneath the rising tides of red-ink and stolen promises that shall leave Americans destitute by the time of Obama's ordination. These creatures will not stop until we demand an end to all of this. At the very least we have to stop them from just making it all up as they go along! If we don't act now - then the global-markets will crash and that dreaded worldwide Depression shall become an indisputable fact.
http://www.rense.com/general84/bait.htm
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 15th, 2008.]
Friday, 14 November 2008
President Elect: Osama bin Laden is Dead
Osama bin Laden had serous kidney disease that required him to have dialysis treatment twice a week. There aren't any dialysis machines floating around in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. A few months back a reporter finally asked the question that should have been asked years ago at a White House press conference.
How is it that a guy who was seriously ill seven years ago is getting treatment for end-stage renal disease in some cave in Afghanistan? The woman conducting the press conference panicked at the thought of answering that most basic question and immediately canceled the rest of the briefing.
The United States does not need a boogieman living in a cave in Asia. Osama bin Laden is dead. Barak Obama should be honest enough with the American people to declare him dead.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty111308.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 14th, 2008.]
How is it that a guy who was seriously ill seven years ago is getting treatment for end-stage renal disease in some cave in Afghanistan? The woman conducting the press conference panicked at the thought of answering that most basic question and immediately canceled the rest of the briefing.
The United States does not need a boogieman living in a cave in Asia. Osama bin Laden is dead. Barak Obama should be honest enough with the American people to declare him dead.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty111308.html
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 14th, 2008.]
Thursday, 13 November 2008
British TV Attempts to Summarize Case for 9/11 Truth
The UK’s Independent Television News dedicated a short segment of a Monday broadcast to briefly explaining several core tent poles of the 9/11 truth movement.
"With new figures showing almost 150 million Web pages devoted to 9/11 conspiracies, here are the big three so-called plot holes in the official version," announced a narrator.
"One theory is that the collapse of both the twin towers was caused not by the impact of the planes and subsequent fires, but by controlled demolitions. Theorists point to the uniform crumbling of individual floors in each tower."
The narrator also mentioned a more obscure 9/11 theory: that the planes which hit the WTC towers had ’shaped charge warheads’ in their nosecones.
Perhaps the most widely discussed theory, that there was no plane crash at the Pentagon, is also mentioned, with evidence cited as the lack of debris and the small impact hole. The program also mentions that the FBI has refused to release video footage of the object impacting the Pentagon, but failed to disclose how many cameras captured it.
Specifically, the FBI confiscated 85 video tapes which may contain footage of the attack.
The program also outlines questions about the alleged crash in Shanksville, PA., citing eyewitness reports of debris raining down across a wide area, as if the aircraft had been shot down by a missile.
Strangely absent was any attempt to summarize questions surrounding the collapse of World Trade Center 7: a highly significant event to 9/11 truth activists, still rife with questions even after the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology report.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5899
See the video at the link for the 2 minute news clip.
The TV summary is quite poor actually, referring to those who believe in 911 truth as simply "bloggers" without indicating that there are hundreds of scientists and building professionals who also share the "belief".
The whole clip makes the truth issue sound rather baseless whereas 911 truth is centred on damning physical evidence that has proven the case.
The three pillars of undeniable 911 truth that the TV program should have mentioned are the fall of Building 7, the molten steel found under all three collapsed high rise buildings and the clear evidence of Thermate explosives found in steel and dust samples.
The key 911 truth groups do not base themselves upon conspiracy "theories" but from known conspiracy FACTS.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 13th, 2008.]
"With new figures showing almost 150 million Web pages devoted to 9/11 conspiracies, here are the big three so-called plot holes in the official version," announced a narrator.
"One theory is that the collapse of both the twin towers was caused not by the impact of the planes and subsequent fires, but by controlled demolitions. Theorists point to the uniform crumbling of individual floors in each tower."
The narrator also mentioned a more obscure 9/11 theory: that the planes which hit the WTC towers had ’shaped charge warheads’ in their nosecones.
Perhaps the most widely discussed theory, that there was no plane crash at the Pentagon, is also mentioned, with evidence cited as the lack of debris and the small impact hole. The program also mentions that the FBI has refused to release video footage of the object impacting the Pentagon, but failed to disclose how many cameras captured it.
Specifically, the FBI confiscated 85 video tapes which may contain footage of the attack.
The program also outlines questions about the alleged crash in Shanksville, PA., citing eyewitness reports of debris raining down across a wide area, as if the aircraft had been shot down by a missile.
Strangely absent was any attempt to summarize questions surrounding the collapse of World Trade Center 7: a highly significant event to 9/11 truth activists, still rife with questions even after the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology report.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5899
See the video at the link for the 2 minute news clip.
The TV summary is quite poor actually, referring to those who believe in 911 truth as simply "bloggers" without indicating that there are hundreds of scientists and building professionals who also share the "belief".
The whole clip makes the truth issue sound rather baseless whereas 911 truth is centred on damning physical evidence that has proven the case.
The three pillars of undeniable 911 truth that the TV program should have mentioned are the fall of Building 7, the molten steel found under all three collapsed high rise buildings and the clear evidence of Thermate explosives found in steel and dust samples.
The key 911 truth groups do not base themselves upon conspiracy "theories" but from known conspiracy FACTS.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 13th, 2008.]
Forget Red vs. Blue -- It's the Educated vs. People Easily Fooled by Propaganda
We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and cliches. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities.
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Political leaders in our post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They only need to appear to have these qualities. Most of all they need a story, a narrative. The reality of the narrative is irrelevant. It can be completely at odds with the facts. The consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount. The most essential skill in political theater and the consumer culture is artifice. Those who are best at artifice succeed. Those who have not mastered the art of artifice fail. In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we do not seek or want honesty. We ask to be indulged and entertained by clichs, stereotypes and mythic narratives that tell us we can be whomever we want to be, that we live in the greatest country on Earth, that we are endowed with superior moral and physical qualities and that our glorious future is preordained, either because of our attributes as Americans or because we are blessed by God or both.
The ability to magnify these simple and childish lies, to repeat them and have surrogates repeat them in endless loops of news cycles, gives these lies the aura of an uncontested truth. We are repeatedly fed words or phrases like yes we can, maverick, change, pro-life, hope or war on terror. It feels good not to think. All we have to do is visualize what we want, believe in ourselves and summon those hidden inner resources, whether divine or national, that make the world conform to our desires. Reality is never an impediment to our advancement.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/106551/forget_red_vs._blue_--_it
The less people understand the more they can be fooled by "obvious" deceptions.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 13th, 2008.]
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Political leaders in our post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They only need to appear to have these qualities. Most of all they need a story, a narrative. The reality of the narrative is irrelevant. It can be completely at odds with the facts. The consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount. The most essential skill in political theater and the consumer culture is artifice. Those who are best at artifice succeed. Those who have not mastered the art of artifice fail. In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we do not seek or want honesty. We ask to be indulged and entertained by clichs, stereotypes and mythic narratives that tell us we can be whomever we want to be, that we live in the greatest country on Earth, that we are endowed with superior moral and physical qualities and that our glorious future is preordained, either because of our attributes as Americans or because we are blessed by God or both.
The ability to magnify these simple and childish lies, to repeat them and have surrogates repeat them in endless loops of news cycles, gives these lies the aura of an uncontested truth. We are repeatedly fed words or phrases like yes we can, maverick, change, pro-life, hope or war on terror. It feels good not to think. All we have to do is visualize what we want, believe in ourselves and summon those hidden inner resources, whether divine or national, that make the world conform to our desires. Reality is never an impediment to our advancement.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/106551/forget_red_vs._blue_--_it
The less people understand the more they can be fooled by "obvious" deceptions.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 13th, 2008.]
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Fed Refuses To Identify Recipients Of $2 Trillion In Emergency Taxpayer Loans, Bloomberg Sues For Info
The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aatlky_cH.tY&refer=worldwide
The only reason to hide this information would be because the news here is bad. It will reveal either the fragility of US institutions or the corrupt use of the money.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aatlky_cH.tY&refer=worldwide
The only reason to hide this information would be because the news here is bad. It will reveal either the fragility of US institutions or the corrupt use of the money.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
Unseen 9/11 Footage Finally Being Released By FBI, DOJ
The FBI and the Department of Justice have released ten new videos relating to the events of 9/11, three years after a freedom of information act request for the footage was submitted.
The newly released videos show footage of the attack on the twin towers in New York on September 11th 2001.
Some of the videos were originally seized by the FBI in the hours after the attacks had taken place, others were handed to 9/11 investigators or discovered throughout the course of the investigation.
The videos were secured by FOIA attorney Scott Hodes, under instruction from his client Mr Scott Bingham.
Bingham has uploaded some of the footage to youtube and has set about writing blogs on the videos at http://www.penttbom.com
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5914
According to the article the FBI still has at least 84 more videos in their care including film from the Pentagon.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
The newly released videos show footage of the attack on the twin towers in New York on September 11th 2001.
Some of the videos were originally seized by the FBI in the hours after the attacks had taken place, others were handed to 9/11 investigators or discovered throughout the course of the investigation.
The videos were secured by FOIA attorney Scott Hodes, under instruction from his client Mr Scott Bingham.
Bingham has uploaded some of the footage to youtube and has set about writing blogs on the videos at http://www.penttbom.com
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5914
According to the article the FBI still has at least 84 more videos in their care including film from the Pentagon.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
Documents linking Iran to Nuclear Weapons Push may have been Fabricated
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html
Another frame up, just as we saw with Iraq. Recently it has been revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate on Iran [PDF] showed it was not pursuing a nuclear bomb. There was no evidence for it as far as could be determined -- contrary to what Bush Administration officials have been implying.
The US government must be held accountable for the crimes already committed in order to stop another war.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html
Another frame up, just as we saw with Iraq. Recently it has been revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate on Iran [PDF] showed it was not pursuing a nuclear bomb. There was no evidence for it as far as could be determined -- contrary to what Bush Administration officials have been implying.
The US government must be held accountable for the crimes already committed in order to stop another war.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, November 12th, 2008.]
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