independent thought

Willie Nelson: Impeach Bush, “Throw The Bastards Out”

2008-02-19T16:27:00.003-07:00

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
February 18th, 2008

American icon Willie Nelson says he supports efforts to impeach President Bush and "throw the bastards out," adding that the administration will do anything to stay in power, including staging an event to cancel the election.

In his second appearance this month, Nelson told The Alex Jones Show today that he supported Dennis Kucinich’s attempt to impeach Bush, adding, "If you break the law you have to pay for it one way or another and if these guys haven’t broke the law nobody has."

"The deck’s been stacked and we need to figure out a way to get a new fresh deck in there in the deal and I don’t know how else to do it except throw the bastards out," said Nelson.

But the award winning star of stage and screen was quick to clarify that he didn’t see the Democrats as any kind of viable alternative.

"We went through a couple of elections now and we didn’t do anything, we thought we did but come to find out that the voting machines are crooked, everything’s stacked against us, the politicians that we vote for won’t stay and fight and they won’t count the votes."

Nelson agreed that an elite cherry picked presidents and leaders to do their bidding against the interests of the people.

"They find them and they groom them and they put them in office and tell them exactly what to do and you give the speeches will small words and big letters and let them go," said Nelson.

"I really believe that George Bush believes he’s right, he believes what he’s saying and that makes it even more pathetic because to have someone that wrong think they’re right and have him be the leader of our country - that’s a scary thought," he added.

The star also re-iterated a warning made during his last appearance on the show, that the Bush administration could potentially stage an event to postpone or cancel the presidential election.

"It could be anything and anything will work because they have everyone scared to death, I just think there are people out there who will do anything to stay in power, anything to keep what they have, they’ve already proven they’ll do anything to keep it," he said.

Reacting to the big response his last appearance on The Alex Jones Show generated, Nelson said "I think it would take courage not to say something, I usually say what I think and it’s harder for me to shut up."

"I don’t have the ability to remain quiet when all this stuff is going on all around us," he added.

Nelson clarified his previous comments about Building 7 after the news media attempted to skew his words and claim he said that no planes hit the WTC on 9/11. Nelson made it clear he was talking about WTC 7, which imploded symmetrically within seven seconds on the late afternoon of 9/11 despite the fact that it was only hit by minimal debris from the falling towers and not a commercial airliner.

"I was talking about the third building that nothing hit and yet it fell as if it was hit the same way, all three buildings fell the same way, but the third building wasn’t hit by anything," said the country music star.

Nelson’s contention that the twin towers were deliberately imploded received media attention after his first appearance on the radio show two weeks ago.

"'Jane Roe' (Roe v. Wade)"

2008-02-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

1-25-08
Rense.com

About an hour ago Norma McCorvey, a.k.a "Jane Roe" from the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, formally endorsed Ron Paul at the Phoenix Park hotel in Washington. Why didn't she endorse a frontrunner like Mike Huckabee? Thank the grassroots: She saw a newspaper ad in Nevada, bought by Paul supporters, using the analogy of the frog and the pot of boiling water to demonstrate what was happening to America. "It touched my heart." That was three weeks ago, and McCorvey keynoted a pro-life Paul rally in Nevada on January 12th, but the campaign made the official announcement today before Paul spoke at the March for Life. McCorvey:

I support Ron Paul for president because we share the same goal, that of overturning Roe v Wade. Ron Paul doesn't just talk about being pro-life, he acts on it. His voting record truly is impeccable and he undoubtedly understands our constitutional republic and the inalienable right to life for all. Ron Paul is the prime author of H.R. 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v. Wade. As the signor of the affidavit that legalized abortion 35 years ago I appreciate Ron Paul's action to restore protection for the unborn. Ron Paul has also authored H.R. 1094 in Congress, which seeks to define life as beginning at conception. He has never wavered on the issue of being pro-life and has a voting record to prove it. He understands the importance of civil liberties for all, including the unborn.

Article by: Rense.com
Links provided by: interpreter (the interindependent crew)

"Willie Nelson: Twin Towers Were Imploded On 9/11"

2008-02-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, February 4th, 2008

Straight talking American icon Willie Nelson today told a national radio show that he thought the twin towers were imploded like condemned Las Vegas casino buildings, as the country music superstar forcefully voiced his doubts about the official 9/11 story.

Agreeing with host Alex Jones that he questioned the official story, Nelson elaborated, "I saw those towers fall and I’ve seen an implosion in Las Vegas - there’s too much similarities between the two, and I saw a building fall that didn’t get hit by nothing," added Nelson, referring to WTC Building 7 which collapsed in the late afternoon of September 11.

"How naive are we - what do they think we’ll go for?," asked Nelson, pointing out that his doubts began on the very day of 9/11.

"I saw one fall and it was just so symmetrical, I said wait a minute I just saw that last week at the casino in Las Vegas and you see these implosions all the time and the next one fell and I said hell there’s another one - and they’re trying to tell me that an airplane did it and I can’t go along with that," said Nelson.

The former Highwayman, fresh from his appearance at this past weekend’s superbowl, questioned why Afghanistan became an immediate target in the aftermath of 9/11 when the official story posited that mostly Saudi Arabians were responsible for the attack.

"When I get hit I like to look around and see who did it before I start swinging at everybody in the room and that’s kind of what we were doing," said Nelson, "We get hit over here and then next thing you know we’re jumping on everybody in the town - so (if) we got hit from Saudi Arabia, I think we’ve got some questions that need to be answered from those folks," said Nelson.

In light of his viewpoint, Nelson said that recent revelations concerning the impartiality of the 9/11 Commission and its close links with the White House did not surprise him.
"
What does it take for us to realize we’re having the wool pulled over our eyes one more time?" he concluded.

Nelson is not the first high-profile public figure to question 9/11. In March 2006, actor Charlie Sheen voiced his doubts and was followed last year by his father Martin Sheen.

Aside from celebrities - professors, scientists and other experts the world over have questioned the inconsistencies in the official story, and the topic was most recently even a subject of serious debate in the Japanese Parliament.

In December, former Italian President Francesco Cossiga told Italy’s most respected newspaper, Corriere della Sera, that the attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad and that this was common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies.

Former German Secretary of Defense Andreas von Bülow also went public in blaming American intelligence for instigating the attack.

Nelson’s country music contemporaries The Dixie Chicks were savaged by the establishment when they criticized the Bush administration shortly before the invasion of Iraq. It remains to be seen whether the corporate media will dare take on Nelson for his views or whether they will just try to ignore the story as happened with Martin Sheen.

Listen to the interview with Charlie Sheen here.

Even if they choose to ignore Nelson’s comments, the power of the alternative media should organize now to get this story out.

Listen to the interview with Willie Nelson here.

Not So Newsweek

2008-01-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Today, just like any other day, we all look in our mail for something interesting, and if you read this week's "Newsweek" ("Road to Recession", Feb. 4th, 2008) you did find something interesting. If you are a regular to the 'independent thought' zone (this blog) then you are familiar that most of the stories have been published here and elsewhere (and their content).

This week's "Newsweek" further weighted down their articles with the usual globalist rhetoric (which none of us should be shocked about). In three of their articles they talk about recession, the global market, the frivolity of the American Dollar ($) and even our old friend plastics. If you read or even check up on the independent thought articles that we publish here then you are no stranger to these items. Chances are that you are ready for anything and have no fear (which is the goal of this blog and writer). The reasons that these articles sound familiar is because they are. I wrote about these topics in "Dollar Devaluation Doom", "Home Un-Sweetened Home", "Effete Plastics", and so on and so on.

Am I mad or even angry that "Newsweek" is reporting these things? No, not at all, actually I am over joyed. Why am I writing this article then? Because the pile on globalist solutions to personal problems. They (and I include "U.S. News & World Report", "Newsday" and many others in this pile) are all promoting the idea of the Dollars collapse so they can have their wonderful Amero.

This all makes sense when I tell you that Mr. Zakaria (Fareed) was a Bilderberg attendee (Bilderberg 2005). He was named Newsweek International Editor in 2000. He writes quite regularly in "Newsweek" (US edition) and frequents Public Broadcasting Systems (PBS) and ABC News Sunday Morning with Stephenopolis (who is a fellow CFR members (look for CFR Senior Research Staff, he's the last one on that list) along with George Will, David Gergen, Bill Moyers, Dan Rather and yes Jim Lahrer). "He currently serves on the boards of Yale University, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council of Foreign Relations among others." (Bio page). For more on who sold out (blogs and otherwise) click here.

The reason that we get the news out there faster than "the news" is because they have a plan for the news and we do not. They want the news to get out there at a certain time so that they can groom you. It doesn't work that way here. We give you facts, news and real issues that effect all of us on a daily basis. Do you think that Brittney Spears is going to bring back a gold standard? Or will the writers strike cause you to not foreclose on your house? Please, this is all window dressing in the 'slight-of-hand' game they like to play.

They are addressing the dollar problem now so that you will lose confidence in it and then they will have their chance to get rid of it.

They are addressing the global market so when the British Royals or the Dutch Royals come in and 'save the day' you will not look puzzled (but you probably will anyway, because you are watching the NFL or football and you don't care). They want to lull you to sleep then come in and steel everything you have. They do it for power.

They are addressing the plastic problem (which we uncovered last year and other independent news outlets uncovered years before we did) not because they care about you, but instead they care about the environment. They are pushing the global warming initiative harder than ever. This time instead of being right there in your face about it, they will put out articles about minor issues that have something to do with the problem. Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle; every minor piece has something to do with the major issue. Do I think plastics are bad? Yes, and that is the reason we wrote about that issue. Except we did not write to save the world from global warming we are writing to save your life and to save you from major health problems down the road.

To read about what not to do during this time read this article by Linda Stern (Newsweek).

Again I want to stress that major news outlets are not places to get real news. If you want real news then you can use the links that we have given to you. Or you can delineate for yourselves what is and is not real news. I would personally pick the former.

"Scientific Study Finds Fluoride Horror Stories Factual"

2008-01-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

"Industrial by-product consumed by millions of Americans lowers IQ, causes cancer"

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The establishment media will have to find a new tactic with which to ridicule those who oppose the fluoridation of water after a major new Scientific American report concluded that "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to shift" as new evidence emerges of the poison's link to disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland, as well as lowering IQ.

"Today almost 60 percent of the U.S. population drinks fluoridated water, including residents of 46 of the nation’s 50 largest cities," reports Scientific American's Dan Fagin.

Fagin is an award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.

"Outside the U.S., fluoridation has spread to Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and a few other countries. Critics of the practice have generally been dismissed as gadflies or zealots by mainstream researchers and public health agencies in those countries as well as the U.S. (In other nations, however, water fluoridation is rare and controversial.)"

Indeed, the zeitgeist for scoffing at those who spoke of the dangers of mass medicating the public against their will with fluoride was the deranged and paranoid character of General Ripper in the hit 1964 Peter Selllers movie Dr. Strangelove.

But that stereotype is quickly fading as serious scientific research uncovers proof that all the horror stories about sodium fluoride told down the decades are essentially true.

The Scientific American study "Concluded that fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function, especially in the thyroid -- the gland that produces hormones regulating growth and metabolism."

The report also notes that "a series of epidemiological studies in China have associated high fluoride exposures with lower IQ."

Fagin interviewed Steven Levy, director of the Iowa Fluoride Study which tracked about 700 Iowa children for sixteen years. Nine-year-old "Iowa children who lived in communities where the water was fluoridated were 50 percent more likely to have mild fluorosis... than [nine-year-old] children living in nonfluoridated areas of the state," writes Fagin.

The study adds to a growing literature of shocking scientific studies proving fluoride's link with all manner of health defects, even as governments in the west, including recently the UK, make plans to mass medicate the population against their will with this deadly toxin.

In 2005, a study conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health found that fluoride in tap water directly contributes to causing bone cancer in young boys.

"New American research suggests that boys exposed to fluoride between the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma - bone cancer - between the ages of 10 and 19," according to a London Observer article about the study.

"Epidemiological studies and tests on lab animals suggest that high fluoride exposure increases the risk of bone fracture, especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly and diabetics," writes Fagin.

Based on the findings of the study, the respected Environmental Working Group lobbied to have fluoride in tap water be added to the US government's classified list of substances known or anticipated to cause cancer in humans.

Cancer rates in the U.S. have skyrocketed with one in three people now contracting the disease at some stage in their life.

The link to bone cancer has also been discovered by other scientists, but a controversy ensued after it emerged that Harvard Professor Chester Douglass, who downplayed the connection in his final report, was in fact editor-in-chief of The Colgate Oral Health Report, a quarterly newsletter funded by Colgate-Palmolive Co., which makes fluoridated toothpaste.

An August 2006 Chinese study found that fluoride in drinking water damages children's liver and kidney functions.

FACTS ABOUT FLUORIDE

- Fluoride is a waste by-product of the fertilizer and aluminum industry and it's also a Part II Poison under the UK Poisons Act 1972.
- Fluoride is one of the basic ingredients in both PROZAC (FLUoxetene Hydrochloride) and Sarin nerve gas (Isopropyl-Methyl-Phosphoryl FLUoride).

- USAF Major George R. Jordan testified before Un-American Activity committees of Congress in the 1950's that in his post as U.S.-Soviet liaison officer, the Soviets openly admitted to "Using the fluoride in the water supplies in their concentration camps, to make the prisoners stupid, docile, and subservient."

- The first occurrence of fluoridated drinking water on Earth was found in Germany's Nazi prison camps. The Gestapo had little concern about fluoride's supposed effect on children's teeth; their alleged reason for mass-medicating water with sodium fluoride was to sterilize humans and force the people in their concentration camps into calm submission. (Ref. book: "The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben" by Joseph Borkin.)

- 97% of western Europe has rejected fluoridated water due to the known health risks, however 10% of Britons drink it and the UK government is trying to fast track the fluoridation of the entire country's water supply.

- In Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg fluoridation of water was rejected because it was classified as compulsive medication against the subject's will and therefore violated fundamental human rights.

- In November of 2006, the American Dental Association (ADA) advised that parents should avoid giving babies fluoridated water.

- Sources of fluoride include: fluoride dental products, fluoride pesticides, fluoridated pharmaceuticals, processed foods made with fluoridated water, and tea.

Click here to find out if your water supply is poisoned with deadly fluoride.

"Security showdown over secure driver's licenses"

2008-01-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

11:30 AM PST on Friday, January 11, 2008
Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Residents of at least 17 states are suddenly stuck in the middle of a fight between the Bush administration and state governments over post-Sept. 11 security rules for driver's licenses -- a dispute that, by May, could leave millions of people unable to use their licenses to board planes or enter federal buildings.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who was unveiling final details of the REAL ID Act's rules on Friday, said that if states want their licenses to remain valid for air travel after May 2008, those states must seek a waiver indicating they want more time to comply with the legislation.

So far, 17 states have passed legislation or resolutions objecting to the REAL ID Act's provisions, many due to concerns it will cost them too much to comply. The 17, according to the ACLU, are: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state.

Video

But Chertoff, as he revealed final details of the REAL ID Act, said that where a particular state doesn't seek a waiver, its residents will have to use a passport or a newly created federal passport card if they want to avoid a vigorous secondary screening at airport security.

"The last thing I want to do is punish citizens of a state who would love to have a REAL ID license but can't get one," Chertoff said. "But in the end, the rule is the rule as passed by Congress."

Chertoff spoke as he discussed the details of the administration's plan to improve security for driver's licenses in all 50 states -- an effort delayed due to opposition from states worried about the cost and civil libertarians upset about what they believe are invasions of privacy.

Under the rules announced Friday, Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years.

The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification. The effort once envisioned to take effect in 2008 has been pushed back in the hopes of winning over skeptical state officials.

To address some of those concerns, the government now plans to phase in a secure ID initiative that Congress approved in 2005. Now, DHS plans a key deadline in 2011 -- when federal authorities hope all states will be in compliance -- and then further measures to be enacted three years later.

To make the plan more appealing to cost-conscious states, federal authorities drastically reduced the expected cost from $14.6 billion to $3.9 billion, a 73 percent decline, said Homeland Security officials familiar with the plan.

The American Civil Liberties Union has fiercely objected to the effort, particularly the sharing of personal data among government agencies. The DHS and other officials say the only way to ensure an ID is safe is to check it against secure government data; critics such as the ACLU say that creates a system that is more likely to be infiltrated and have its personal data pilfered.

In its written objection to the law, the ACLU claims REAL ID amounts to the "first-ever national identity card system," which "would irreparably damage the fabric of American life."
The Sept. 11 attacks were the main motivation for the changes.

The hijacker-pilot who flew into the Pentagon, Hani Hanjour, had four driver's licenses and ID cards from three states. The DHS, created in response to the attacks, has created a slogan for REAL ID: "One driver, one license."

By 2014, anyone seeking to board an airplane or enter a federal building would have to present a REAL ID-compliant driver's license, with the notable exception of those more than 50 years old, Homeland Security officials said.

The over-50 exemption was created to give states more time to get everyone new licenses, and officials say the risk of someone in that age group being a terrorist, illegal immigrant or con artist is much less. By 2017, even those over 50 must have a REAL ID-compliant card to board a plane.

Among other details of the REAL ID plan:

--The traditional driver's license photograph would be taken at the beginning of the application instead of the end so that if someone is rejected for failure to prove identity and citizenship, the applicant's photo would be kept on file and checked if that person tried to con the system again.

--The cards will have three layers of security measures but will not contain microchips as some had expected. States will be able to choose from a menu which security measures they will put in their cards.

"Diebold Voting Machine Contractor Executive Has Criminal Background"

2008-01-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

"Company responsible for machines throughout New Hampshire directed by convicted drug dealer"

Steve Watson
INFOWARS.NET
Thursday, Jan 10, 2008

It has been revealed that a high ranking executive at the company that was contracted to program all of New Hampshire's Diebold voting machines has a criminal record and has previously defended the illegal act of "swapping out" memory cards for the machines during live elections.

The revelations, which were uncovered by investigative journalist and vote fraud expert Bev Harris of Blackboxvoting.org and announced yesterday on the Alex Jones show, once again plunge Diebold and the controversial electronic voting systems into the spotlight.

Harris reports that Ken Hajjar, the Marketing and Sales Director at LHS Associates was arrested, indicted, and pleaded guilty to "sale / CND" (sale of controlled narcotic drugs) and sentenced to 12 months in the Rockingham County Correctional facility, and fined $2000. As things go for the politically connected, he was then given a deferred sentence and $1000 of his fine was suspended.

LHS Associates is a private company that counted over four fifths of the New Hampshire vote with no oversight whatsoever and also holds Diebold contracts for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Harris exclusively revealed some of the details on the Alex Jones show yesterday as she was still awaiting triple confirmation on the information and a full copy of the criminal record from a source who was investigating Hajjar regarding a separate matter.

"They program every single voting machine in New Hampshire, Connecticut, almost all of Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine." Harris comments. "But did state officials in five New England states ever do a criminal background check on this company's executives? Do the laws of these five states even ALLOW them to hire convicted criminals for services paid for by the state? What about over 500 local towns and municipalities?"

The story becomes even more compelling given comments made by Ken Hajjar himself in a recent interview as he revealed that he totes memory cards around in the trunk of his car and defends the concept of swapping out memory cards during live elections!

Other LHS staff members we spoke with, including Mike Carlson and Tom Burge, provided similar comments. They said they would open machines up during an election and swap memory cards as needed. This is illegal under Connecticut law and Deputy Secretary Mara told us she has since informed LHS that such actions were in violation of Connecticut election laws.

"In 2006, as Hajjar argued in favor of their policy to change cards during elections, I asked him about about the laws which govern chain of custody issues. His response: "I mean, I don't pay attention to every little law. It's just, it's up to the Registrars. All we are is a support organization on Election Day".

He said he had three memory cards in the trunk of his car and, in the event they had to be used, the chain of custody issues wouldn't matter since, "once you run the [pre-election] test deck through, you're golden"."

Bev Harris has also asked for complaints filed on a threat allegedly made in recent years to a New Hampshire woman, and any other reports for Hajjar or LHS owner John Silvestro. The pair grew up together in Lawrence, Massachusetts before moving to Londonderry, New Hampshire.

As we detailed in our report on Tuesday, John Silvestro has been at the center of a long-running public dispute in trying to deflect accusations made by hacker Harri Hursti that the voting machines are wide open to tampering and can easily be rigged.

Video of John Silvestro as he tangles with Harri Hursti recently surfaced on the web:

The Hursti/Silvestro saga formed the centerpiece of the recent 80 minute HBO film "Hacking Democracy".

The new revelations concerning LHS may prove even more explosive in the wake of Tuesday's New Hampshire results vastly differing from the pre-election polls and the emergence of clear widespread evidence of vote fraud involving the machines.

If the allegations are accurate, it won't be the first instance of Diebold employing a convicted felons to run its ballot printing operations.

Harris previously revealed that an embezzler named Jeffrey W. Dean, who specialized in sophisticated alteration of records of computerized systems, was a programmer of voting systems.

Dean was the senior vice president of Global Election Systems and a director of the company previous to Diebold's takeover in 2002. Despite Diebold's claim that Dean left the company when they took over it was later revealed that they retained Dean as a consultant.

Dean and his prison buddy John Elder, who did five years for cocaine trafficking, ran a ballot plant on the West coast and were also responsible for writing vote tallying software. Harris' research has further shown that Global Election Systems/Diebold vote machines were specifically built to allow tampering.

"It's weird, these guys are not even allowed to vote because they are convicted felons!" Harris commented yesterday.

Related Articles:
Clear Evidence Of Widespread Vote Fraud In New Hampshire
Report: Ohio voting machines have 'critical flaws,' could undermine ’08 election
Vote machine flaws force scramble back to paper
NY fights US suit on voting machines
Colorado voting machines rejected

"Iowa Republicans STILL missing 65 precincts in results"

2008-01-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Bev Harris
BlackBoxVoting.Org

The Republican caucuses usually take only half as long as the Democratic caucuses, due to simpler procedures. Yet the Republicans are lagging behind the Democrats now by over TEN HOURS in having all their results in. Results delays are a red flag.

Alert CSPAN watchers caught TV screen shots of Giuliani vote totals going down by a couple thousand votes midstream in, I believe it was, Linn County. That needs a confirm; screen shot images were posted on various blogs, but if anyone recorded the coverage and can corroborate those screen shots, please let us know.

As many of us know, vote totals that go DOWN during the middle of the count can be an error, but also can signal an election theft tactic whereby votes from a candidate finishing very low in the pack are skimmed off and given to a favored candidate higher in the pack. If corroborated, the vote total shift will be another red flag.

And with the Republican race, I wouldn't look first at fraud in the number one position. I'd look for it in the area of repositioning candidates in the second through sixth spot.

- The delay in results is a red flag.
- The vote totals going down during the count is a red flag.
- The failure to release county results in live time, as promised in a Republican Party press release on Jan. 2, is a red flag.
- The failure to release precinct totals at all is a corrupt procedure.

Note that the day before the caucuses, after much pressure, the Republicans did (belatedly) promise to release the precinct results on election night. They didn't.

In addition: I'm trying to get information on whether the public was kicked out of the room during hand counting in all locations, or just some.

Dollar Devaluation Doom

2008-01-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Recently we have been finding that bees are dying, the US is fighting an illegal war in Iraq (and spending trillions in the process), illegal immigrants are taking jobs (because businesses don't have to pay a living wage to these workers), and the US government wants to devalue the Dollar (continuously). All the while we the people are spending more for products that in 1913 would be much less. How much? Well imagine, you go to a store in 1913, and spend $5.00 for a suit. That same suit would be over $200.00 today. The American Dollar has been devalued so much that $1.00 is actually only worth $0.04 .

How does this affect me? As the scenario above shows, you are paying more today than what you paid, or rather what you would have paid earlier in the last century. Our current devaluation (about 50%) of the Dollar is in accordance with our conflicts (whether real or imagined) abroad. Take China for example, the US government continues to ask for a floated currency, just like ours. China will not bit on this proposal, because they know that if they did such a thing, their currency would be too inflated (just like ours). Our borrowing is outrageous, we borrow over $85 million from our sons, daughters, and grandchildren. This kind of borrowing, whether you are a democrat or a republican, is going to damage their futures for many years after they are born. The current generation is feeling the pinch, and even though they don't recognize it now, ten years down the road when they want to go to college, they won't be able. They will have to borrow against their grandchildren, and the cycle will continue.

A floated currency means that the proposed currency is 'floated' against the stock exchange (Dow Jones Industrial Average, NYSE, et cetera). When the commodities go up we devalue the Dollar, or "adjust" by raising interest rates, which effects everything from bread to gas (petrol for my UK readers). This fluctuation can work both ways, where commodities can go up as the Dollar is devalued. A Dollar's devaluation can have effects on our natural resources, by raising the price of drills, rigs, and mining equipment. When this price goes up, then so too does the price of such materials. China doesn't want to 'float' their currency for several obvious reasons, and because they are a nation that has a continuously effective industrialization. When the US gives reasons for a floating currency to the Chinese, it is a worthless explanation at best. They want the Chinese to do this because it creates a trade gap and covers their butts when it comes time to pay their trade debts.

Some articles like the New York Times article about the devaluation of the Dollar, says that people are too anxious and need to calm down. Well NYT writers, do you want to make less? Do you want to have your pensions? Do you want to have outrageous heath costs? Then keep writing the same filth that you continuously write. Just like "global warming" (myth), and everything else, they don't ask questions, do research, or interview people (besides government subsidised scientists). The US News and World Report wrote an article about this topic and stated that this policy of adjustment will backfire and cause even more economic hardships in the years to come. Hardships will come in the form of, more manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas, crop shortages due to farmers losing their land and in the end everyone will be paying $8.00 a gallon for gas (petrol). Housing prices will inevitably go up as well, this is due to greed however. Back in the 1940's and 50's a family paid roughly $5,000 to $10,000 for a good house, in 2006, you would be lucky to get a house under $140,000. This is because as we adjust for inflation (devalue the dollar/ raise interest rates) we are causing the "cost of living" to rise as well. Then the property taxes rise, then the cost of commodities rise and this becomes a viscous circle that will continue as long as we have the Central Bank, I mean, the "Federal" Reserve in power.

If the Chinese stopped buying our Dollars, and yes they do buy our Dollars, and start selling them back, our economy would collapse. The Chinese are the only thing keeping the US from becoming a second world country. That is why the only thing that will help the US has a President like Dr. Ron Paul (Rep. TX). He will bring back a stable form of economy and we will again become the richest country in the world. He will slowly begin to incorporate gold as a currency backer and this will stabilize the economy. Anyone who is interested in learning about economics and how this works click here.

Yes I understand that many of you think that the Dollar is still backed by gold, unfortunately that too is incorrect. The Federal Reserve has complete control of all gold reserves in the US and can not be audited, therefore the people no longer own the gold and the Dollar is a fiat currency. The same goes for the Canadian, Australian and the Euro. Any one whom doesn't believe this look it up on Google. Laws may say one thing but the economy and the World Bank says another. Ask yourself, why or how can these people manufacture money out of thin air, any time they want? How can they adjust interest rates when they do not correspond to the rates of gold that is on the market? When I say the 'Dollar', for clarification, this is talking about the US Dollar, and since the Dollar is controlled by the Fed. and the Fed. is controlled by the global elite, then you'll see that devaluation of the Dollar is a good thing. In other words if the Dollar becomes so devalued then they can buy up the US lock, stock and barrel. That is a bad thing for the people of the US and their sovereignty.

Richard Nixon eliminated the gold standard.

As many of my "loyal readers" may or may not know I posted this article on the seventh of May, last year (2007). However I am choosing to augment this post with the addition of an article that was sent via Mises.org. The post reads:

"Economic Outlook 2008: Darkening Clouds"
By Dominick Armentano
Posted on 1/2/2008

Presidential election years usually are not recessionary but next year will be an exception. Several economic factors are colliding in an almost perfect storm to markedly slow the general economy and the stock market.

The most important signal flashing recession is, of course, the subprime mortgage fiasco. After years of monetary inflation on the part of the Federal Reserve, individuals and families with poor credit were suckered into low-down-payment/low-interest adjustable mortgages that simply cannot be maintained or repaid under current conditions. Their incentive is to sell the property quickly before their equity evaporates or the financial institution repossesses it. Yet the massive oversupply of homes and condos for sale has pushed prices down at a record clip and made additional foreclosures even more likely. Next year, unfortunately, will be the Year of the Auction.

The financial institutions have also been punished … well sort of. Various institutions including hedge funds that hold these poorly performing debt obligations have been forced (by accounting rules) to "write down" the value of these assets, take huge paper losses in the bargain, and pull in their financial horns. Thus, any near-term recovery in housing must now fight a record supply availability, falling prices, higher insurance costs and restricted credit … a near-term impossibility in my view.

Moreover, the slowdown in residential and commercial construction will send secondary ripple effects throughout the economy. Laid-off construction workers don't spend money. Construction and home furnishing suppliers sell less output and make fewer investments. Even local governments will be pinched by declining property-tax assessments and fewer developer fees. Things are likely to get worse before they get any better.

The second major factor indicating a near-term recession is the sky-high price of crude oil and refined product. Pushed upward by world-wide speculative Middle East war fears and increases in demand (especially from China), increasing energy prices act as an inflationary "tax" on domestic production and consumption throughout the market economy. Higher costs of production will lower profits; higher prices will reduce some consumption. The only good news here is that any substantial economic slowdown in 2008 will eventually moderate the price of oil and other commodity prices as well.

The third factor in the current recession scenario — and the real wild card — is the continuing decline in the value of the dollar in international money markets caused by our Iraq blunder and the Federal Reserve–generated oversupply of dollars. Some economists would argue that a devalued dollar is good for US exports, and thus positive for the economy as a whole. I disagree for three reasons.

First, the bulk of crude oil purchases takes place in dollars; a falling dollar translates into still higher crude oil prices. Second, the US dollar is the major reserve currency of the international monetary system and dollar-paying investments (such as US Treasury bills and bonds) are held in massive amounts by foreign banks and governments. Dollar devaluation makes these investments less attractive and any disinvestment in these areas would sharply drive bond prices down and increase interest rates.

The third reason why dollar devaluation makes recession more likely is that it effectively prevents the Federal Reserve from pushing US interest rates much lower. Any additional Fed easing (inflation) would be seen as a signal of even further future dollar devaluation and even higher dollar prices for oil. Unfortunately, we will not be able to "inflate" our way out of this recession this time. We will simply have to take our lumps and let market forces liquidate the bulk of the malinvestments caused by the unprecedented Greenspan money bubble. This liquidation process will not be pretty but it is necessary to restore a sustainable economic recovery in the years ahead.

A note on Dr. Dominick T. Armentano:

is professor emeritus in economics at the University of Hartford (Connecticut). He is the author of numerous reviews, articles and op-eds on regulatory policy, some of which have appeared in "National Review", the "Cato Journal", "The Antitrust Bulletin", "The New York Times", the "London Financial Times" and "The Wall Street Journal". He has presented talks to academic and business audiences in the United States and abroad. Between 1978 and 1985 he was a regular commentator on BYLINE, a nationally syndicated public affairs radio program. His books include The Myths of Antitrust: Economic Theory and Legal Cases (Arlington House, 1972), Antitrust & Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure (John Wiley, 1982 and Independent Institute, 1990) and Antitrust: The Case for Repeal (Mises Institute, 1999). Send him mail.

"Mall shooter hid assault rifle in sweatshirt"

2007-12-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Thu Dec 6, 2007 1:00 PM EST

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters)

A 19-year-old school dropout who shot and killed eight people and himself at a Nebraska shopping mall smuggled a stolen assault rifle into the building wrapped in a sweatshirt and opened fire without warning when he got out of a third-floor elevator, police said on Thursday.

Robert Hawkins left text and voice messages with friends and family before Wednesday's bloodbath. "He had apparently been experiencing some mental health problems, ideations of suicide," Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren told a briefing.

His victims ranged in age from 24 to 66. They included two male customers and another man and four women who were employees of the Von Maur department store where most of the carnage occurred.

Warren said Hawkins fired more than 30 rounds from the assault weapon.

"It appears that the shooting victims were randomly selected" with little if any words exchanged between the shooter and his victims, the chief said. He killed one mall customer by shooting from the third to the second floor of an atrium but the rest of the victims were mostly store employees in a customer service area.

Four other people were wounded, two of whom remain in critical condition, Warren said. A fifth person suffered a medical problem during the incident and was taken away for treatment.

Warren said a review of security tapes and interviews revealed that unarmed mall police were aware that Hawkins had entered the Von Maur store on the second floor of the Westroads Mall. He quickly took an elevator to the third floor and began firing when the elevator door opened, he said.

Warren said the tapes seem to show that Hawkins had the gun wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt. He said the gun was stolen from the boy's stepfather. Investigators had not determined if the weapon's owner had acquired it legally, he said.

The Omaha World-Herald reported in Thursday's editions that Hawkins had recently lost both his job and his girlfriend and felt worthless.

"I'm a piece of shit," said a suicide note he left behind "but I'm going to be famous now," the newspaper said.

Hawkins had been living since last year with the family of a teenage friend who's mother said Hawkins had shown her family the rifle the night before the shootings. She thought it was too old to be functional.

The newspaper reported that Hawkins's parents divorced when he was 3 and he had spent time in foster care. He had also broken up with a girlfriend recently and was fired from a fast food restaurant after being accused of stealing $17.

The friend's mother said he appeared to be trying to turn his life around. When she heard about the mall shooting, she told the newspaper, "I thought 'Oh, my God, I hope this is not Robbie." It was then she found the note he had left, which included a will.

"Our entire state is grieving," said Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman. Local media said it was the worst single day of violence in the state's history.

It was the latest in a series of mass killings that have shocked the United States, where gun ownership is widespread and the right to possess arms is a fiercely contested constitutional issue currently on the agenda of the Supreme Court.

The White House said it was a "terrible tragedy."

(Reporting by Michael Conlon; editing by Andrew Stern and David Storey)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

See also: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/12/06/mall.shooting/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

In Remembrance

2007-11-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

"Guy Fawkes Night (more commonly known as Bonfire Night and sometimes Fireworks Night)"

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

"Neocons Dream Up Nefarious Alex Jones - Ron Paul Plot"

2007-10-30T11:10:00.000-06:00

TruthNews October 30, 2007
Kurt Nimmo

Neocons never rest, especially when they are tasked with shooting down the only Constitution-based presidential candidate out of fear he will, when elected, put an end to their clash of civilizations mass murder campaign.

For instance, the neocon blogger “Allahpundit,” posting on the Hot Air site, is busy accusing Ron Paul and Alex Jones of some sort of shadowy collusion. “…it seems now we’ve got money moving in both directions between America’s Greatest Patriot and this bottom-feeding Truther jackass: a $2,300 donation from Jones to Paul and a $1,300 payment this quarter from Paul’s campaign to ‘Jones, Alex.’ Assuming it’s the same Alex Jones, which seems a safe bet, pray tell what might that payment have been for?” writes the dirt-sniffing blogger.

Nothing nefarious here, folks. Indeed, Alex Jones donated to the Ron Paul campaign, as radio talk show hosts are allowed to donate to the political campaigns of their choice. As for the supposed “$1,300 payment” to Alex Jones, this was merely a refund. Jones made a mistake—he intended to donate $1,000, not $2,300, and the $1,300 was a refund. The transaction was noted by OpenSecrets, an organization covering presidential funding.

But never mind. In the demented recesses of the average neocon mind, this transaction is considered some sort of “sinister” conspiracy—one they hope may bring down the Ron Paul campaign, as the neocons want to make it look like Ron Paul is paying Alex Jones for favorable coverage on his radio show and websites.

It irks the neocons to no end that a real conservative is running for the presidency. Obviously, the cons want the snake Rudy Giuliani to reign as decider-commander in 2009—they have packed his campaign with their Machiavellian-Straussian “advisors,” including the swami of destruction, Norman Podhoretz, who never encountered a Muslim he did not want to kill, or at least make suffer by way of bunker-buster.

Finally, Rick Moran posted a partial retraction on the American Thinker site:

As far as the specific charge in my piece yesterday that the Paul campaign paid 9/11 truther and New World Order conspiracist Alex Jones $1300 in “services,” the facts of the matter are different. The “disbursement” that was paid to Mr. Jones was a partial refund of a campaign contribution made by Jones, who originally donated the maximum amount of $2300.

I regret the confusion caused by the difference between “services” rendered by Mr. Jones and the partial refund of his contribution.

Fair enough, except for the fact Moran took the opportunity to slam Alex Jones, Endgame, and Ron Paul. “Paul’s supporters will continue their campaign of intimidation against us, of that I am sure,” Moran concludes after quoting several venomous emails he received. “But I for one will not be deterred from reporting on the decidedly unbalanced and frightening nature of both his supporters and the direction his campaign would take America.”

Of course, as we live in Bushzarro world, it is not “unbalanced and frightening” that a gaggle of pernicious neocons want to launch World War IV, as they fondly call it.

Of course, as we live in Bushzarro world, it is not “unbalanced and frightening” that a gaggle of pernicious neocons want to launch World War IV, as they fondly call it.

For a bit more enlightenment on this story, check out the comments posted on the the Liberty Papers blog.

"Iran says documents show U.S. backing 'terrorists' "

2007-10-30T11:05:00.000-06:00

TEHRAN (Reuters) -

Iran has access to evidence of U.S. support for terrorist groups in the Middle East, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, made the allegation in comments to visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, whose country may soon send troops to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq.

Tehran says the rebels are operating in Iraq with U.S. forces present in the country and this shows Washington is refraining from tackling them.

Like Turkey, Iran also has faced cross-border attacks by Kurdish rebels and has shelled targets inside Iraq in response.

"Escalation of terrorism in the region is one of the direct results of the presence of occupiers in Iraq, particularly America," Jalili, an ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said according to the country's state broadcaster.

"And there are documents and information available proving America's support for terrorist groups in the region," he said, without giving details. Jalili is also the new secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

The United States often accuses Iran of backing and training militias responsible for some of the bloodshed threatening to tear Iraq apart. Tehran denies the charge and blames the violence in Iraq on the presence of U.S. forces.

The two countries are also locked in a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear program, which Western powers suspect is aimed at developing bombs. Iran says it only wants to generate electricity.

Washington last week dubbed Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and accused its Qods force of backing terrorists. It also imposed sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, major banks and individuals.

At a joint news conference with Babacan, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday also accused the United States and Israel of involvement in terrorism in the region.

"We see ... their hand behind some of the regional terrorist activities," Mottaki said. Babacan, whose country's ties with the United States have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks, thanked Iran for helping Turkey fight the PKK guerrillas and said the two sides had talked about continuing their cooperation.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched its campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey in 1984. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then. Jalili on October 20 replaced Ali Larijani as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, a move analysts saw as signaling a toughening of Tehran's position in the atom row.

"Rate Outlook Undercuts Dollar"

2007-10-30T10:58:00.000-06:00

The Solution is the Problem
by Charles Zentay
[retreived: 2007. OCT. 30 from gcnlive.com]

Dear Dr. Bernanke:

I wanted to write to thank you for helping the price of Gold and to encourage you to keep up the good work. I know you will. I've never been a fan of Gold throughout my investing career, but the Fed's policies over the last 10 years have changed my mind.

I also wanted you to be one of the first to know that I am advising my readers to start putting a significant amount of their money in Gold. I recommend long-dated Gold futures, Gold ETFs (like GLD), and Gold producers (such as NEM, TRA, and CGHRF.PK). I especially like the smaller miners as they have more upside potential.

In spite of the run up, Gold continues to be a great investment. Burgeoning inflation is likely to push the price higher, as markets move from discounting Gold relative to stocks and bonds to putting a premium on it. If I'm misguided, please let me know. But I trust you'll be there to pump lots of liquidity into the banking system.

I'm confident you will continue to argue that the appreciation of commodities and the weakness in the dollar are not important indicators of inflation. The true indicator is core inflation. The slowdown in housing and the economy will lead to core disinflation in 2008. In anticipation of this disinflation and to prevent the economy from falling into a recession, you and the FOMC will continue to lower rates. After all, the credit crunch in the banking system is monstrous. The market and the press (in spite of so much talk) are underestimating the threat.

Just two weeks ago, your institution (the Federal Reserve) released a report that got little attention. The report showed that large bank capital had declined by $40 billion since the beginning of August. According to Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenburg, "This has never happened before over such a short timeframe and this is rather serious because such a steep and sudden compression in large-bank capital has the potential to create a negative lending environment...The large banks have been forced to take commercial paper back on their balance sheets and as a result are choking on assets they did not plan on having - thereby tying up regulatory capital." This trend could "significantly inhibit" economic growth. According to the Financial Times, "Big U.S. commercial banks have seen $280 billion of new debt come on to their balance sheets since the credit squeeze, threatening to undermine economic growth by inhibiting their ability to make new loans. The banks have been forced to take on to their books large amounts of commercial paper and leveraged loans after investor demand for such assets dried up in the summer." As you probably know, while these numbers sound quite large, they are only the tip of the iceberg. According to Moody's, the credit rating agency, assets held by bank-sponsored special investment vehicles ("SIVs") were $320 billion in July. Two SIVs announced several days ago that they will be unable to pay their debts. Such moves could force more liabilities onto the balance sheets of banks, further constraining liquidity and possibly even threatening the banks' own solvency.

Through fractional banking and the rules that you set at the Federal Reserve, banks are allowed to have 20 times the amount of liabilities as their net capital. Because SIVs are off-balance sheet, banks can now have even more than 20 times. In addition, many SIVs have their own leverage, sometimes up to 10 times. In other words, only a slight move down in the value of SIV or other assets means that banks could be insolvent. Dr. Bernanke, you need to move quickly to inject more liquidity into the system. 50 bps is not enough. A lot more interest rate cuts are needed. A lot.

Look at Citigroup as an example. Citigroup has just $65 billion in shareholder equity. Yet Citigroup alone has more than $80 billion in exposure to SIVs and another $80 billion to conduits. According to the Associated Press, "Citi said it was suspending share buy-backs because its capital ratios had weakened partly due to the large amount of commercial paper and leveraged loans it had taken on."

You must act now. The cycle is viscous. If banks don't have enough capital, they won't lend. If they aren't lending, what will the American consumer do? And what will support housing prices? Houses are already unaffordable. Imagine what will happen if lending dries up even more! And what will keep the LBO, hedge fund, and derivatives markets running?

So please ignore those cynics who don't understand the severity of the problem. Don't worry about the price of Oil, Wheat, or Gold. Let them rise and let the dollar fall. Because the U.S. economy needs $2 billion a day in foreign cash to make up for its overconsumption and lack of manufacturing, more interest rate cuts could send foreigners fleeing the dollar. The dollar could drop by 50%. That's good. That's exactly what we need to save the banks and housing. Who cares if a further drop in the dollar leads to fleeing capital, a further tightening of credit, and a rise in long-term interest rates? Who do these cynics think where are? Argentina? Please. We are the U.S. and A.

I know you're going to act. After all, PIMCO is now on board with Paulson's SIV plan. PIMCO's support comes as a surprise after Bill Gross, the chief investment officer, criticized the effort as "a little lame" in a television interview. Hmmmm. He must have gotten some assurances that the government hears his call for the Fed to lower rates at least another 100 bps.

Anyway, you know the banking system better than I do. I'm sure you're way ahead of me, and I'm sure you're planning even more interest rate cuts and more core inflation rationalizations. So thanks for the good work, and please tell your friends to listen to what I'm telling my readers: "Don't sit there and moan about how the Fed is taking away your savings. Do something about it. Protect yourself and make some money in the process. Buy Gold."

P.S. While you're at it, can you do something to quiet that Greenspan guy? Now that he's out of office, he can tell the truth and it keeps hurting the markets. He's desperately trying to disassociate himself from the inflationary policies of the Fed, in a last ditch effort to save his legacy. Just the other day, according to the Associated Press, "Greenspan suggested it would be best to let SIVs and banks bear the burden of holding bad assets by making them lower prices as much as necessary to sell them, rather than setting up a fund that some see as a bailout for the banks...'What creates strong markets,' he said, 'is a belief in the investment community that everybody has been scared out of the market, pressed prices too low and there are wildly attractive bargaining prices out there.'" Doesn't he get it? The government must do something. You can't be Fed Chairman and sit idly by while a recession occurs. He never did. Why should the burden fall on you? When asked about his own attempts to bail out the banking industry while he was in office, Greenspan "said the 1998 Fed-sponsored rescue of Long-Term Capital Management worked because it took a set of assets that would otherwise have been dumped at firesale prices off the market, allowing prices to find a true equilibrium. But he said today 'we are dealing with a much larger market.'" Wasn't the entire argument behind bailing out Long-Term that the market effect was so large it threatened global stability? Ah, how short memories are.

Charles Zentay is an independent business person who monitors the financial markets very closely.

Visit his (Charles Zentay's) blog at thinkinvest.blogspot.com.

"Reports Assail State Department on Iraq Security"

2007-10-26T22:44:00.000-06:00

The New York Times October 23, 2007
ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID ROHDE

Question: How much was spent on establishing a prostitution and slave ring in Bosnia?

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 - A pair of new reports have delivered sharply critical judgments about the State Department's performance in overseeing work done by the private companies that the government relies on increasingly in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out delicate security work and other missions.

A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA, according to people who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater, the State Department's two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.

At the same time, a government audit expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp, the State Department's largest contractor, are in such disarray that the department cannot say "specifically what it received" for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to train the police officers in Iraq.

The review of security practices was ordered last month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and it did not address the Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater guards, which Iraqi investigators said killed 17 Iraqis. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading a separate inquiry into that episode.

But in presenting its recommendations to Ms. Rice in a 45-minute briefing on Monday, the four-member panel found serious fault with virtually every aspect of the department’s security practices, especially in and around Baghdad, where Blackwater has responsibility.

The panel’s recommendations include creating a special coordination center to monitor and control the movement of armed convoys through areas under the command of the American military, who have long complained that contractors operate independently in the field.

The report also urged the department to work with the Pentagon to develop a strict set of rules on how to deal with the families of Iraqi civilians who are killed or wounded by armed contractors, and to improve coordination between American contractors and security guards employed by agencies, like various Iraqi ministries.

“They don’t have the right communications, they don’t have the right procedures in place, and you’ve got people operating on their own,” said one official who has been briefed on the report’s findings but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they have not been released yet. “This is not up to the degree it should be.”

Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said Ms. Rice would closely examine the report’s findings and recommendations and consult with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on what steps to take.

Mr. Gates, who is traveling overseas this week, is pressing for the nearly 10,000 armed security contractors now working for the United States government in Iraq to fall under a single authority, most likely the American military, in an effort to bring the contractors under tighter control.

State Department officials say they have already tightened controls over Blackwater by sending State Department personnel as monitors on Blackwater convoys in and around Baghdad, and by mounting video cameras on Blackwater vehicles.

The panel was led by Patrick F. Kennedy, the State Department’s director of management policy. The other members were Eric J. Boswell, a former diplomat and intelligence office and a former head of the bureau of diplomatic security; J. Stapleton Roy, a former ambassador to China and Indonesia; and George Joulwan, a retired four-star Army general.

While the panel’s review focused on work overseen by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the second report, focusing on DynCorp, was an audit carried out by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and it focused on another department office, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

The audit said that until earlier this year the State Department had only two government employees in Iraq overseeing as many as 700 DynCorp employees. The result was “an environment vulnerable to waste and fraud,” the audit said.

Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the chief of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said in an interview that while the department had made “significant strides” in scrutinizing payments to DynCorp in the past year, the police training contract “appears to me to be the weakest-staffed, most poorly overseen large-scale program in Iraq.”

He added that “when you put two people on the ground to manage a billion dollars, that’s pretty weak.”

The contract gave DynCorp the job of building police training facilities and deploying hundreds of police trainers to instruct more than 150,000 Iraqi police officers.

Developing a police force was considered central to stabilizing Iraq, but the effort, led first by the State Department and then later by the Defense Department, has been criticized by administration opponents as well as by the White House commission on the war led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton.

John M. Broder contributed reporting.

Correction: October 24, 2007

A front-page article yesterday about two official reports highly critical of the State Department’s performance in overseeing private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan referred incorrectly in some editions to the origins of the Iraq Study Group, a commission on the war led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, which expressed criticism of American strategy in Iraq in a report issued in December 2006. The commission was a bipartisan group appointed by Congress, not the White House.

"Thought Crime Bill" Could Ensnare Peaceful Activists

2007-10-26T12:06:00.001-06:00

"Fears that government could define "Internet radicalization" and criticism as terrorism mount, violent comments left on messageboards by trolls could be exploited to entrap peaceful 9/11 truthers"

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, October 26, 2007

A new bill that recently passed the House and is headed for Senate approval has online activists worried that the vague definitions used for defining the Internet's contribution to radicalization of potential terrorists could lead to a government crackdown on talk radio, free speech and the 9/11 truth movement.

The bill is H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 and passed Congress after a bipartisan vote on October 23rd.

Ostensibly, the bill targets United States citizens because of its constant reference to basic Constitutional protections, but this has led some to fear that it is intended to shut down free speech on the Internet and stifle patriot and alternative talk radio networks.

The bill defines "violent radicalization" as "The process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change."

It further defines "homegrown terrorism" as "The use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

The term "planned use" has caused concerns that "thinking about violence," ie thought crime, could be considered a terrorist act. But since to plan violence must involve some form of planning, whether that be drawing up bomb diagrams or making violent statements, the real threat seems to have been overlooked.

A disturbing trend in recent months has been the proliferation of violent postings on messageboards of websites affiliated with peaceful 9/11 truth organizations.

These messages are being posted by shameless trolls, COINTELPRO operatives and their stooges in a clear effort to discredit the 9/11 truth movement by making us all appear to be crazy nutcases who plan to commit terrorist acts.

Establishment media hacks like Glenn Beck have then seized upon the idea to spew propaganda about how the next Timothy McVeigh will come from the truth movement, despite the fact that the leadership of the truth movement have practiced what they preach all along, by engaging in completely peaceful protests and other forms of non-violent educational activism.

The bill's reference to how "The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens," is shocking.

Remember, the bill is not aimed at "Al-Qaeda" websites or arabic forums that post alleged Bin Laden video tapes, it is aimed at American citizens using American based websites, like the very one you're reading now.

The opportunity for the state to seize upon violent posts left by trolls and use them to entrap peaceful 9/11 truthers under the guise that they "promoted violence" should be a major concern for us all.

Our message is simply this - don't even try it.

We have preached a doctrine of absolute non-violence from the very beginning and we will continue to do so. Anyone who calls for violence in a messageboard post is either a Fed, a Mom's basement dwelling troll who spends their entire day attempting to debunk the 9/11 truth movement, or a completely deluded moron who is unrepresentative of the vast majority of the 9/11 truth movement.

Those individuals who advocate violence should be sought out and investigated individually. Any plans to try and entrap prominent 9/11 truth movement figures using guilt by association should be abandoned immediately and we will ceaselessly emphasize this point until this current wave of propaganda subsides.

[This article was writen by and posted by Prison Planet and Paul J. Watson]

"FBI agents shoot dead 'arsonist' as police reveal California fires were started deliberately"

2007-10-26T12:00:00.000-06:00

UK Daily Mail October 25, 2007

A suspected arsonist was shot dead by police as FBI agents revealed several of the fires that have forced one million people from their homes in southern California had been started deliberately.

Police said officers killed a man during a chase as he tried to escape when challenged in the city of San Bernardino.

A motorcyclist who police say set a small fire in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains was arrested but investigators said they did not know whether he was connected to any of the larger fires.

FBI agents confirmed that a huge fire in the town of Santiago in Orange County that destroyed 10 homes was started on purpose in two different places.

A £35,000 reward was offered for information to trace the arsonists today as a break in the weather finally allowed firefighters to make progress after virtually conceding defeat to the series of wildfires that have been fanned by fierce winds.

President Bush arrived in California after declaring the country's worst nightmare since Hurricane Katrina a "major disaster".

Insurance companies estimated that property worth more than £600 million has been destroyed in four days of fires.

More than 1,500 homes and more than 700 square miles of land have been scorched across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way down to Mexico. The office of emergency services said 28,000 homes were still threatened.

Many residents along the coastline from Malibu to San Diego, through the inland canyons to the mountain playgrounds of Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, returned home last night to find just burning rubble.

Thousands more waited anxiously in makeshift evacuation camps, not knowing if they had lost everything they own.

The improving weather has allowed for a greater aerial assault on the flames with helicopters and air tankers dropping tons of water.

Just one death has been directly attributed to the fires, a man who refused to leave his home, although six others died during the evacuations and about 50 people have been injured, including 20 firefighters.

"Pro-Bush Group Allowed, Protest Group Banned at APEC"

2007-09-06T11:21:00.000-06:00

"Demonstrators refuse to submit to repugnant totalitarian orders, promise civil disobedience, police hype threat of riots"

Prison Planet September 5, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

A pro-Bush organization have been allowed to demonstrate within the 3-mile-wide security cage that has been erected around the business district in Sydney for the APEC summit, while authorities have banned other protest groups from even marching up to the police line outside in a brazen display of favoritism and double standards.

Members of the Stop Bush Coalition are now promising non-violent civil disobedience as the only recourse to counter court orders that have set the precedent to effectively ban free speech in Australia.

The Aussies for ANZUS group, a Neo-Con organization that professes its love for Prime Minister John Howard and President George Bush, has been granted permits to access the restricted security zone and assemble near the InterContinental Hotel, where Bush will be staying for the duration of the conference.

Police restrictions on banner sizes and other measures have also been waived for benefit of the organization.

In contrast, the Stop Bush Coalition have been told by the NSW Supreme Court that they will be arrested if they merely attempt to march up to the police line outside the security perimeter. A list of other potential protest routes presented to the authorities was also rejected, effectively characterizing a complete ban on any form of protest anywhere in the city.

In Australia, free speech is only permitted for those who agree with the government and the Neo-Con policies of Prime Minister John Howard.

"PROTESTERS have been denied permission to march to the edge of police lines during an anti-APEC rally in Sydney on Saturday," reports the Courier Mail .

The NSW Supreme Court today granted Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione's application for an order preventing up to 20,000 people marching to the corner of George and King streets.

Outside the court, rally organiser Alex Bainbridge would not rule out going ahead with the march to King Street, and accepted that he and others faced the possibility of arrest.

"The court has made very clear that we have got a right to protest. The court order today prohibits nothing, our rally and demonstration will be going ahead. As we have always said we intend for this to be a peaceful protest," Mr Bainbridge told reporters.

Meanwhile, police are gearing up for a "full scale riot" having acquired new taser weapons and water cannons in anticipation of a little 'homeland repression' for those who dare speak out against the APEC gangsters and their agenda for global tyranny.

As we reported yesterday , New South Wales (NSW) state Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione characterized the protests as "an unlawful act" during a press conference and urged others not to get involved.

Over 5,000 thugs have been drafted in to patrol the city, including military troops as well as secret service personnel. Accredited photo journalists have been threatened for simply taking pictures of the security fence and residents are being harassed and asked to show their ID at checkpoints throughout the city. Armed jet fighter and helicopter gun ship patrols are whizzing around the skies as Australians get a chance to experience the kind of hellish measures that the would-be dictators attending APEC would like to impose on a permanent basis.

Should the expected riots take place, we'd be loathe to overlook the culprits who always seems to instigate them - the authorities themselves, via their complete infiltration of a hired goon squad known as the black bloc anarchists.

Last month, police in Canada were outed as they posed as violent anarchists during the SPP summit in Montebello . A You Tube video caught the undercover cops disguised as masked protesters wielding rocks and attempting to stage a riot. Authorities were later forced to admit that they had infiltrated agents as a means of gathering intelligence on the protest groups.

Previous violence in Genoa, Seattle and Miami all came as a result of a deliberate policy on behalf of the authorities to incite riots in order to justify a brutal police response and demonize peaceful protest groups in the eyes of the watching world.

[Posted on Infowars.com 2007. SEPT. 06]

Home Un-sweetened Home

2007-08-16T09:26:00.000-06:00

Our home is our investment, not for us but for our children. In recent days, and months we have seen the market go down upon further notice of liquidity among news of lending services and banks foreclosing on the homes that we tried to invest in. The liquidity is due, in part, to these "Sub-prime" lenders and interest rates that the Fed controls. Knowing this we can make the assumption that the Fed doesn't want us buying houses or cars. Last week we saw that Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac amongst others were giving out loans to persons with less than scrupulous credit ratings. This caused, when the interest rates went higher, the lendee to not be able to handle payments any longer. When this happens the lender doesn't get paid, no one gets their loan from them any longer and their stock goes down. This week we see that Countrywide is losing money the same way.

If there is one lesson that we should learn is that if you don't have the money to pay it off then don't buy that product. Those people that foreclosed on their homes are now going to be hard pressed to find anyone to lend them any money. Banks are trying to control you, that is what others and myself have been saying for years, and yet no one listens; why? Do you not want to hear the truth? Do you not want to hear what is really going on here? Of course you do, and we the blog community and the alternative media are the ones that try to tell you these things (warn you).

Sub-prime lending works by giving loans to people that have low credit scores. They raise the price by giving you an adjustable interest rate. The interest rate maybe 3.79% at first, then it skyrockets to 10.05% the next month and you are stuck paying the interest, instead of the principle. By the time you are close to paying the thing off (if you ever do) you will either be old and gray or dead. If you die they just don't say, 'well he or she is dead, so lets go our merry way.' No, what they do say is ' let's take their kids to court and get the house, the cars and the inheritance' and if you haven't paid them everything that you owe them then they have the legal right to do this.

The best thing to do is, if you have kids, when they turn 18, have them get a "Student credit card". Not a credit card that college students get, this is a credit card that has a limit of a certain amount so that your child learns responsibility with plastic. You also have to co-sign the card so that if they go over the limit and can't pay then you have to pay, but if it's a $600.00 limit then you aren't sweating the payment (maybe). Another thing is start a college fund. Don't pay with your credit card too much, because then you build a dependence, and if you have low payments on your card then you are more likely to pay them off ON TIME. That is another thing, pay your bills on time, that helps your credit more than anything.

The best thing, right now, is to hold off on buying a house. Wait until the houses cost the amount that you can afford with out killing yourself.