11.14.2008

Heads up

I wasn't going to post the Larry Edelson piece, but since George likes it, here you go via UrbanSurvival. - Ed.

All of which gets us to considering the November 14th predictive linguistics expectation that 'something big' will be happening either today or right around this time period. My best guess (and this is my interp, not the time monk's) is that the G-20 this weekend really is going to lay the groundwork for a new global currency system. Don't know if you caught Larry Edelson's piece on Thursday about "The G-20's Secret Debt Solution" but it's a very good article and well worth reading.

My 'best guess' is that when the G-20 meets this weekend, they will announce something - and I don't know what, further special meetings maybe, but it would seem (from a wave count perspective) to be something that would be enthusiastically received on Monday morning at the open. However, as soon as the real deeper meaning of the G-20 sinks in, that would set up the beginning of wave (5) and THAT means a trip to Dow 7,200 or worse, 5,800 in short order. Like by Christmas as I outlined in last week's "Dow 4,000 for Christmas" article.

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Celente predicts revolution, food riots, tax rebellions by 2012

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

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Israeli army officials: "War with Gaza could take place in the coming two months"

Senior Israeli military officials stated on Wednesday that they believe that the Gaza Strip will witness a new war in the coming two months. The officials said that this war could happen although Hamas, in control of Gaza, is not interested at all in ending the truce.

The officials stated that the Palestinians consider December 19 as the last day of truce as the six-month truce deal was achieved through indirect talks mediated by Egypt between Israel and Hamas nearly six months ago, also the term of President Mahmoud Abbas in office officially ends on January 9 of 2009.

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A CONSERVATIVE estimate of total direct US aid to Israel: almost $114B

That's $113,855,400,000. What? You didn't need that for anything, did you? - Ed.

This estimate of total U.S. direct aid to Israel updates the estimate given in the July 2006 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. It is an estimate because arriving at an exact figure is not possible, since parts of U.S. aid to Israel are a) buried in the budgets of various U.S. agencies, mostly that of the Defense Department (DOD), or b) in a form not easily quantifiable, such as the early disbursement of aid, giving Israel a direct benefit in interest income and the U.S. Treasury a corresponding loss. Given these caveats, our current estimate of cumulative total direct aid to Israel is $113.8554 billion.

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Denninger: OK Mr. Obama, Time to Choose

Are you really "Change We Can Believe In"?

Are you really "Yes We Can"?

If so, here are the acts you must undertake as soon as you are sworn in, and you should announce them tomorrow so the market will stop tanking due to the lies of Mr. Paulson and Bernanke:

  1. You will send up a bill that enacts a full repeal Gramm-Leach-Bliley. This was the law that repealed the Glass-Steagall act (the majority of it, anyway.)
  2. You will send up a bill that reinstates the leverage limit of 12:1 that used to apply to investment banks (the dropping of which is the proximate cause of this mess, and which Henry Paulson was directly responsible for through his lobbying and requests) and apply it to all institutions doing business in The United States.
  3. You will send up a bill that repeals the 2005 "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention" act - an act you voted no on originally. This one should be a no-brainer, since you didn't support it originally.

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Is it possible all mortgage contracts are void and foreclosures are invalid?

The following article should probably be considered for educational or entertainment purposes only. It is rare to find such a knowledgeable judge working for government that puts the interest of the individual over the financial interests of the banks and their system of credit and money creation. Homeowners facing foreclosure should absolutely be aware of this case and the arguments, but taking any of this as actual legal advice should be warned against.

I first stumbled across the very curious case of Jerome Daly through an article by Ellen Brown, author of the book Web of Debt. It concerns a foreclosure case in Minnesota in 1968 that has yet to be overturned, and the issues go straight to the heart of the sleight of hand that the banking system is built upon. The case also presents an optimistic view of how individuals can take back the power to create money from the private banks.

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Credit Crisis tentacles spread to every sector of finance markets

Finally there is a 100% consensus between economists, experts, journalists, and government officials that restoring interbank lending will restore the stability of the financial system and will reignite economic growth. Too bad, the consensus has gotten again all wrong. This is a pure myth and nothing can be further from the truth.

The grim reality is very different and already forgotten. The reality is that most markets for the majority of financial instruments have collapsed completely and reviving interbank lending will not resurrect any of those markets. In other words, resolving the problem of interbank lending will not help the economy in any way. It is like an air balloon that has deflated and we desperately need to reflate it again with helium, but we are told that even ordinary cold air will lift it off the ground; since the balloon is stubbornly stuck on the ground, we are told we simply need more air!

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Bailout lacks oversight despite billions pledged

In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.

Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.

Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed.

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UBS exec indicted for tax scheme

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a senior executive with the Swiss banking giant UBS, for conspiring with fellow bankers and wealthy clients to evade U.S. taxes. The news was announced by the Department of Justice today in a press release which did not mention UBS by name.

According to the indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, Raoul Weil, a top wealth management executive with the company, mandated that bankers under his supervision take various steps to conceal from the IRS assets worth about $20 billion, belonging to about 20,000 U.S. clients.

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Simulation shows what would happen if 7.8 earthquake hit CA

ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2008) — What would happen in California was hit by the Big One? New 3-D animations of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake scenario are now available to the public.*

Fourteen animations can be downloaded from the site in high definition format. The 3-D animations show, from the perspective of a several different Southern California locations, how intensely the ground would shake and shift during a very strong 7.8 earthquake with an epicenter on the southern end of the San Andreas Fault.

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See animations (eesh)

Sourcewatch: Richard Danzig

Richard J. Danzig[1] is Chairman of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

During the William Jefferson Clinton Administration, Danzig served as Secretary of the Navy from November 1998 until early 2001, and prior to that as Under Secretary of the Navy from November 1993 to May 1997.

Danzig was a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC. from 1981 to 1993; between 1972 and 1977, Danzig served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, first as a Deputy Assistant Secretary, and then as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics.

Danzig has taught contracts at Georgetown Law School, was a Trustee of Reed College, and has served as litigation director and vice chair of the International Human Rights Group. Danzig received a B.A. degree from Reed College, a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and Bachelor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Upon graduation from Yale, he served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White.

Link


Bio: Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig

The Secretary of the Navy heads the Department of the Navy consisting today of 372,000 active duty and 90,000 Reserve Sailors, 172,000 active duty and 40,000 Reserve Marines, and, 198,000 civilians. Its annual budget is approximately $84 billion dollars. It has over 315 warships and 4,100 aircraft, four universities and a research, development, test and evaluation budget of nearly $9 billion.
Mr. Danzig was sworn in as the 71st Secretary of the Navy on November 16, 1998. He served as Under Secretary of the Navy between November 1993 and May 1997. In the period between these two jobs, he and his wife lived in Asia and Europe while Mr. Danzig served as a Traveling Fellow of the Center for International Political Economy and as an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs.

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Top 2 Officials in US intelligence expected to lose jobs

The nation's top two intelligence officers expect to be replaced by President-elect Barack Obama early in his administration, according to senior intelligence officials.

A number of influential congressional Democrats oppose keeping Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael V. Hayden in their posts because both have publicly supported controversial Bush administration policies on interrogation and telephone surveillance. One Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said there is a "consensus" view on the matter.

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Howard F. Ahmanson: Christian Wacko behind Prop 8

(Nov 10, 2008) Who is funding California's Prop 8, the country's most controversial ballot measure? The Mormons' donations are well known, and are a source of outrage among the church's more moderate elements.

But little attention has been focused on two of the proposition's biggest individual donors: Elsa Broekhuizen, the mother of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., the reclusive theocratic millionaire who inherited $300 million from his philanthropist father at age 18.

When I profiled Ahmanson in a 2004 article for Salon.com, I became the first journalist in 20 years to interview him. Yesterday I resurrected my reporting for The Daily Beast, updating it to cover Ahmanson's recent machinations, particularly his role in Prop 8.

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SC priest: no communion for Obama supporters

But all those innocent people killed in Republican wars of choice? No problem. - Ed.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

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US: 3 Flat-screen makers plead guilty to price fixing

Prices for the flat screens in televisions, personal computers and cellphones have plummeted in recent years — but the decline would have been even faster if it hadn’t been for an international price-fixing cartel, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.

Three leading flat-screen producers — LG Display of South Korea, Sharp of Japan and Chunghwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan — pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a total of $585 million in criminal fines for their role in fixing the price of liquid-crystal display panels.

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11.13.2008

Patriots, your country needs you!

Patriots, get us out of this Zionist nest! We were warned by our wise forefathers of the danger of becoming beholden to a partner in our government. President Washington showed us the light but our government blew it out and now are paying a dear price, in blood and treasure, to keep our beloved America from being sucked down the proverbial Zionist drain of no return.

America is not at a crossroad. We are way beyond that and have been for 41+ years. The Six Day War in June of 1967 was the path to our prosperity and the joy of real freedom but our bought and paid for government, from LBJ to the congress and courts took the road of a snake’s forked tongue and the snake has all but devoured all that this great land is endeared for, such as our dignity, fairness, love of family, friends, love of country and our planet, and, most of all, God. We have given until we can’t give anymore. The greedy Jewish Zionist bankers have bankrupt this country from Wall Street to your street, to your house, to your farm, your land, your car, your boat, and your life.

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Obama sending Albright, Leach to economic summit

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama named former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican Representative Jim Leach as his emissaries at the international economic summit in Washington.

Albright and Leach will be available for unofficial meetings with representatives of industrial and emerging countries who will be at the summit being hosted by President George W. Bush on Nov. 14-15.

``There is one president at a time in the United States, so the president-elect has asked Secretary Albright and Congressman Leach, an experienced and bipartisan team, to be available to meet with and listen to our friends and allies on his behalf,'' Obama's senior foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said in a statement.

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Boehner demands Fed identify recipients of loans

Yes, do it. - Ed.

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- House Republican leader John Boehner called for the Federal Reserve to disclose the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers and the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Boehner, in a prepared statement, also asked the Federal Reserve to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details about the loans.

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Experts: Obama will demand end to Swiss banking secrecy

Yes, do it. - Ed.

The majority of Swiss were in favor of Barack Obama's candidacy. But now that he's been elected, they may find out that they'll be asked to make more changes, especially in the financial sector, than they bargained for.

Going after tax havens was a minor part of Obama's campaign platform. But with America mired in which some are calling the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Switzerland has every reason to believe that the president-elect means business on this issue.

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Czeck rep to ask Obama to April 2 Prague EU summit

Sarkozy's term as EU president ends soon. The next eight weeks are a critical hinge of history. May we pass through it in one piece. - Ed.

Milena Vicenova said transatlantic relations and improving economic cooperation with the United States would be a priority for the six-month Czech EU presidency starting in January.

The European Union plans to invite U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to a summit meeting with the 27 EU states in Prague on April 2, the ambassador of the Czech Republic, the next EU presidency, said on Thursday.

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Haaretz: Construction of Negev missile defense base run by US troops completed

US troops permanently stationed in Israel. Great. No chance of staying out of Israel's conflicts now. - Ed.

Pictures of an American anti-missile radar installed in southern Israel were released earlier this week, depicting a recently completed military base, which will house the first permanent U.S. force to be deployed on Israeli soil.

Construction of the base was completed in the last few days at Mount Keren near the Ketziot prison in the Negev. The star of the show is the new early warning radar system, which is meant to augment Israel's defenses against Iranian ground-to-ground missiles.

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Sources: SecDef race focuses on Danzig

President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward making Richard Danzig, a former Navy secretary and one of his top defense advisers, the next U.S. defense secretary, according to sources.

“The Bush appointees are preparing to turn it over to [Danzig],” said a former Army official, citing conversations with high-level defense officials.

A second source close to the campaign’s planning process said that while no final decision has been made, “that definitely seems to be the direction we’re headed in.” How the shift from incumbent Robert Gates to Danzig would be carried out, the official said, has yet to be ironed out within the Obama camp.

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Les Vis: The Obama Drama, Osama and Al Qaeda Marching Band

Lots of links here. - Ed.

I want to give Obama a chance. I really do but then he put that Mossad Capo with short man’s disease in charge of who sees Obama and what Obama hears …and now comes another curious thing which actually should be put in the “None of Obama’s Business File” and I’m starting to think that Ozzy Osborne may be singing “Chosen One.” to the tune of “Fortunate Son.” at the inaugural ball.

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Forget Red v 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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Winter Patriot: Beyond Sick: Canada Mourns a Fallen Psycho Warrior

The American way of war has come to Canada, and it's incredible what a dose of manure can do, even in the cold!

Here's a case study in the process by which a government can take a menace to society, put him in a uniform, and ship him halfway around the world where he can be a menace to some other society until he gets himself killed there and comes home a national hero.

Either sheer ignorance is sheer bliss, or Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star had to be very, very careful writing the story of Darryl Caswell.

Under the headline "Loved son a family's loss, a nation's hero", and with the sub-title: 'Why didn't he get one more ticket?', Daniel Dale's ode to a national disgrace begins this way:

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Earthquake drill set for Thursday

More than 5 million Southern Californians, including nearly a million in San Diego and Riverside counties, are poised to take part this week in what is being billed as the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, about 565,000 people in Riverside County and 405,000 in San Diego County plan to drop to the floor at school, home or the office as if a real quake were rocking the region, duck under a sturdy table or desk and hold onto the desk for 1 1/2 minutes.

"You want to hold on," said Sue Perry, staff scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey's Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Pasadena, which is helping coordinate the event. "You and the desk could be relocating during the shaking."

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How can you ignore your sister's violation?

To those who describe the act of killing American soldiers as brutal, we say: was the treatment and rape of men, women and children in Abu Ghraib humane?

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Bhutan crown new king: refugees barely remembered

This has certain hallmarks of a potential hotspot for meddlesome NWO-types: an Oxford-educated handsome young king from a dynasty, entertainers from Bollywood, promises to shield the country from 'outside influences', refugees, NGOs and controversy over what really happened. This is exactly the kind of place where 'tensions' suddenly 'flare' requiring 'humanitarian missions' and so forth, and next thing you know our military is involved. - Ed.

On November 6th, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan officially crowned a new King, who was appointed almost two years ago. The fifth Dragon King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is an Oxford educated 28 year old and the eldest son of the fourth and previous Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. His coronation ceremony was attended by political heavy weights from neighboring India-including President Ms. Pratibha Patil and entertainers from Bollywood.

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Noosphereoogle detects flu outbreak faster than CDC

Try Scroogle instead. - Ed.

It’s the Noosphere. It’s Google. It’s the Noosphereoogle.

Here are some comments from a previous post called, Astonishing Security Breach at South African Nuclear Facility:

There’s a google tool anyone can use to observe meme saturation over time. It’s interesting stuff.

http://www.google.com/trends

Maybe .mil/.gov has a way of excluding the influence of crap culture and media induced noise. That would be critical. You’d have to have some kind of structured set of popculture memes to exclude from the tasking package. Otherwise, how do you know that you’re not just picking up on some crap that millions of idiots saw on a TV show the night before?

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Spam volumes drop by 2/3 after firm goes offline

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide plummeted on Tuesday after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity was taken offline. (Note: A link to the full story on McColo's demise is available here.)

scmc.jpg

Experts say the precipitous drop-off in spam comes from Internet providers unplugging McColo Corp., a hosting provider in Northern California that was the home base for machines responsible for coordinating the sending of roughly 75 percent of all spam each day.

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11.12.2008

'Too Big to Fail' Has an Easy Answer: Anti-Trust or Public Control and Ownership

The one thing we are not hearing from Congress or from incoming president Barack Obama in the current economic crisis facing the country are the words “anti-trust” and “public ownership.”

From the moment the crisis first struck, with the near collapse of AIG, the mantra has been that companies like AIG, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Citibank, etc.--and more recently General Motors Corp. and Ford--are “too big to fail.” That is, it is argued that these companies are so huge that if they were to collapse into the rubble they deserve to be, it would damage the nation irreparably.

The question is, if that is genuinely the case, why were they allowed to be that big in the first place, and why aren’t we rethinking that policy?

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Tom Henegan: False Flag planned between now and 11/22/08

I'm just passing this along, as you should judge for yourself what to make of this, especially in light of the following stories. - Ed.

United States of America – It can now be reported that CNN Network (202) 898-7900, along with rogue Israeli Mossad-Pentagon forces, are trying once again to play the Osama bin Laden card aka CIA asset Tim Osman.

Remember Osama bin Laden has been dead for seven (7) years.

The purpose of this propaganda is to create a script involving a FALSE FLAG terrorist attack that would take place on American soil between now and November 22nd.

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US special ops get robot whispercopter fleet this month

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) secret military forces are receiving their first robotic whisper-mode helicopters, according to reports. The plan is for the you-never-saw-us-we-aren't-even-here brigade to receive a ten-strong fleet of Boeing A160T "Hummingbird" droid kill-choppers, under an extended demonstration programme.

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Malmstrom missile wing fails nuke inspection

The 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., failed its nuclear surety inspection after inspectors found problems with the wing’s weapons storage area and its personnel reliability program, which monitors who can work with nuclear weapons, an Air Force official said.

Air Force Space Command inspectors allowed the wing to keep its certification to handle nuclear weapons and will return in 90 days to re-inspect the areas where it found deficiencies, according to an official statement from Space Command.

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KBR wins Army Corps contract

BR Inc. has been awarded a $75 million disaster relief contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for emergency power.

The Houston-based engineering company will be supplying the power to the Western region of the United States.

The five-year contract was created by the Army to respond immediately to power emergencies caused by natural or manmade disasters.

KBR (NYSE: KBR) will provide labor, transportation, equipment, materials, supervision and required internal logistics support to perform generator set activities.

Source


Human Conflict (part 1 of 5)

The Five Stages of Collapse, by Dmitry Orlov

This is has been around a while. Great stuff. - Ed.

Hello, everyone! The talk you are about to hear is the result of a lengthy process on my part. My specialty is in thinking about and, unfortunately, predicting collapse. My method is based on comparison: I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and, since I am also familiar with the details of the situation in the United States, I can make comparisons between these two failed superpowers.

I was born and grew up in Russia, and I traveled back to Russia repeatedly between the late 80s and mid-90s. This allowed me to gain a solid understanding of the dynamics of the collapse process as it unfolded there. By the mid-90s it was quite clear to me that the US was headed in the same general direction. But I couldn't yet tell how long the process would take, so I sat back and watched.

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Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects -- The Thom Hartmann 'Independent Thinker' Review

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Globalization and the rise of monopolization speeds economic failure

Capitalism's base tenant of supply and demand requires a healthy environment of competition. Many of the calculated moves toward a global market have undermined that tenant. In a competitive arena, there are bound to be winners, and the governments used to regulate that to prevent monopolies from consolidating control in market sectors.

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The New Kleptocracy

“Considering that there is an $800 billion giveaway, to be followed by another trillion and another trillion after that, this is the biggest giveaway since the land giveaway to the railroads in the mid-nineteenth century and just as that giveaway created a power elite that would rule America for a century and a half, this is creating a new power elite that has changed America from a democracy into an oligarchy. And as Aristotle said, ‘what is democracy but the stage immediately preceding oligarchy?’” --

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For Russia's Putin, knockabout with Obama is just the ticket

MOSCOW (AFP) — Still Russia's dominant politician, Vladimir Putin can only relish the prospect of a new bout of Russian-US rivalry with American leader-in-waiting Barack Obama, say analysts.


Vladimir Putin

While much of the world celebrated Obama's US presidential win, a stony-faced Russian reaction was a reminder of Cold War-style tensions between Washington and Moscow.

On the Internet, Russian bloggers portrayed the victory of a black candidate as evidence of American decline. On an official level, President Dmitry Medvedev chose the day of Obama's win to announce the deployment of short-range missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian outpost in Europe.

Numerous analysts said Medvedev's response was clearly authored by Putin, no longer president himself but powerful in the prime minister's post and long the spearhead of Russian attacks on the United States.

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Ex-KGB general cautions US against Iran war

A former KGB general and Russian prime minister says a war on Iran would produce a question mark over the Republican Party's sanity.

In a televised interview on Monday, Yevgeny Primakov downplayed the prospects of a US- or Israeli-waged war on Iran over its nuclear program.

"I doubt Republicans would commit themselves to such an imprudent measure," said Primakov.

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Obama foreign policy may not require a 'clean break'

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (IPS) - While much of the world and many of his U.S. supporters are expecting a sharp break with his predecessor's foreign policy after President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, they may be surprised by the degree of continuity between the two administrations.

That continuity -- which would be made more concrete if, as expected, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is asked to remain at his post -- has less to do with Obama's hesitation in following through on his more sweeping campaign promises than with the fact that President George W. Bush, has quietly -- if grudgingly -- moved key U.S. policies in directions that are largely compatible with Obama's own intentions.

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Froomkin: Plotting Bush's Undoing

Excerpts:

"'The important thing he gets out of it,' the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said, 'is a public perception of him as somebody who is leaving in classy fashion, by opening his house and his information and his government. He wants to leave on a note that says he did everything possible to help this next president run the country.'"

Oh, Doris. His house, our house...what's the difference? - Ed.

...In this excerpt from his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama recounted two early meetings with Bush. At the second, Bush called Obama over -- "Obama!" -- and after some smalltalk, "[t]he president turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand," Obama wrote. "'Want some?' the president asked. 'Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds.' Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt."


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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.

The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents, according to a Vienna-based diplomatic source close to the IAEA, who spoke to RAW STORY on condition of anonymity.

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Retired auto workers 'scared to death' about potential industry collapse

Shares of General Motors stock hit a 60-year low Monday.

Some fear the company is close to collapsing. GM recently reported a $2.5 billion loss, and analysts say the company doesn't have enough cash flow to keep it open past December without a bailout package.

There are 4,000 retired auto workers who now call Florida home. Those who live in our area have a monthly union meeting Tuesday, and Monday night the union president tells WINK News he's afraid he won't have good news to share about their future.

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Palin says she might run for high office again


WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she wouldn't hesitate to run for the presidency in four years if it's God's will, even though she never thought Campaign 2008 would be "as brutal a ride as it turned out to be."

In a series of interviews in the wake of last Tuesday's elections, Palin said she had no problem with Republican presidential nominee John McCain, but that she resents rumors she said were spread about her and her family by the Arizona Republican's aides. She emphatically denied that she was a drag on the GOP ticket.

"I think the economic collapse had a heckuva lot more to do with the campaign's collapse than me personally," the governor said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

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Kamen's Revolt

The same day that Ford and General Motors announced catastrophic third-quarter losses, Dean Kamen was showing off his new electric car.

The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback designed with more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle, can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery and with practically zero emissions.

The secret?

"It's the world's first Stirling hybrid electric car," its inventor said with a flourish.

Installed in the car's trunk compartment is a Stirling engine invented at DEKA, Kamen's technology company in the Manchester Millyard. It powers the features that would normally drain huge power from the battery, notably the defroster and heater.

That leaves the battery primarily for propulsion. "You're running a pure electric, which is enormously cheaper to operate and enormously more environmentally friendly," Kamen explained.

And if the battery does run low, the Stirling can recharge it, so you'll never get stranded, he said. That's why Kamen calls his Stirling engine "an insurance policy" for the electric car.

Kamen showed off his state registration for his new car, listed as a 2008 DEKA Revolt. "I'm a car manufacturer!" he grinned. "It's so exciting!"

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Intelligent pill, 'iPill', gets good gut reaction

New York An “intelligent pill” that can be targeted to release drugs in a specific area of the body has been developed by scientists. Containing a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir for medication, the inch-long capsule is designed to treat digestive tract disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Developed by Philips, the “iPill” measures acidity to determine its location in the gut and can release drugs exactly where they are needed, so doses can be lower and the risk of side-effects reduced. It can also record temperatures and report to an outside receiver.

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KarmaTube: Do Something

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11.11.2008

Why There Will Be No Change

Conned Again

By Paul Craig Roberts

If the change President-elect Obama has promised includes a halt to America’s wars of aggression and an end to the rip-off of taxpayers by powerful financial interests, what explains Obama’s choice of foreign and economic policy advisors? Indeed, Obama’s selection of Rahm Israel Emanuel as White House chief of staff is a signal that change ended with Obama’s election. The only thing different about the new administration will be the faces.

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The Election: It Had to Be this Way

By Timothy V. Gatto

The Democrats winning Congress and the White House just had to happen. If we are ever going to change this country from an empire to a representative democracy, we have to rid ourselves of the notion that one corporate political party can do anything toward that goal. Barack Obama will be the catalyst for a new movement, away from false hope and false promises, not because he will deliver to the people of this country anything worthwhile, but because he won’t. This will be the final nail in the coffin of our corporatist society.

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Won't Get Fooled Again


Now THAT'S necessary in Georgia, USA.

Mm hmm. Isn't Georgia also where they have a million plastic coffins laying around, too? - Ed.

“You always hope that you don’t have to use it, but this is becoming a fact of life,” SWAT commander Lt. Joel Preston said.

Story at BagNewsNotes

Secret plan for IMF world dictatorship

This is a confidential strategy paper for the November 15 G-20 summit in Washington DC. This is not a new Bretton Woods in any sense, but rather a British-steered attempt to impose the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the entire planet, wiping out all hope of economic recovery, the modernization of the developing countries, and national sovereignty at the same time.
Under this plan, the IMF would dictate the economic policies of all states. The IMF orthodoxy is austerity, sacrifice, deregulation, privatization, union busting, wage reductions, free trade, the race to the bottom, and prohibitions on advanced technologies. These policies would strangle humanity.
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Gordon Brown calls for NWO to beat recession

Mr Brown will call on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new "truly global society" with Britain, the US and Europe providing leadership.

His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend.

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Treasury slipped in a secret windfall of $140B for bank in bailout bill

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

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Fed defies transparency aim in refusal to disclose

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- 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.

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Treasury covering for banks' failure to lend

Did you get mad when you learned that the banks admitted they wouldn't use your bailout money to make new loans?

How about when you found out that the banks are using your money to pay executive bonuses, distribute dividends to shareholders, and - with the government's assistance - to buy out their competitors?

Well, the head of Treasury's bailout program is making excuses for the banks' failure to lend. As CNBC writes:

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Who are the architects of economic collapse?

The October 2008 financial meltdown is not the result of a cyclical economic phenomenon. It is the deliberate result of US government policy instrumented through the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve Board.

This is the most serious economic crisis in World history.

The "bailout" proposed by the US Treasury does not constitute a "solution" to the crisis. In fact quite the opposite: it is the cause of further collapse. It triggers an unprecedented concentration of wealth, which in turn contributes to widening economic and social inequalities both within and between nations.

The levels of indebtedness have skyrocketed. Industrial corporations are driven into bankruptcy, taken over by the global financial institutions. Credit, namely the supply of loanable funds, which constitutes the lifeline of production and investment, is controlled by a handful of financial conglomerates.

With the "bailout", the public debt has spiraled. America is the most indebted country on earth. Prior to the "bailout", the US public debt was of the order of 10 trillion dollars. This US dollar denominated debt is composed of outstanding treasury bills and government bonds held by individuals, foreign governments, corporations and financial institutions.

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Bush spy revelations anticipated when Obama is sworn in

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping.

Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

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The ascendency of the scientific dictatorship

?? - Ed.

As antiquity gave way to modern history, the religious power structure shifted to an autocracy of the knowable, or a 'scientific dictatorship.' Subtly and swiftly, the ruling class seized control of science and used it as an 'epistemological weapon' against the masses. This article will show that the history and background of this 'scientific dictatorship' is a conspiracy, created and micro-managed by the historical tide of Darwinism, which has its foundations in Freemasonry.

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We are sick of the American-Israeli interference

Excerpt:

We Palestinians are sick and tired of the Palestinian Authority, which is implementing the Israeli-American so-called “security plan” instead of the Israeli military, with a mission of terrorizing, chasing, arresting people, destroying the houses of civilians and boasting about their vile crimes in the streets. Everybody knows that these forces are useless cowards during the Israeli raids on Palestinian cities under their authorities. The Palestinian civil society is sick of the so-called “Hamas authority”, the radical Palestinian movement which distorts the face of Islam, and which has turned the holy mission of the Palestinian struggle into a struggle for their own pockets and unknown foreign agendas.

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Catholic priests can marry says leading bishop (UK)

Hell freezing over now... - Ed.

London, Nov 9 (ANI): Priests should be allowed to marry, according to a leading candidate to become the next head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, Bishop of Nottingham, said that there is no doctrinal reason preventing them from getting married.

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11.10.2008

Epochal Transformation Accelerates As Global Financial Matix Disintegrates

Now that the genie is out of the bottle, worldwide economic, political and social events will proceed with the inexorable force of destiny. The forthcoming changes, shifts and breaks with the past that are delineated below do concern the unsavory business of WHAT, positively, will not be brought into the future. This is of critical importance. Why? Because those who do not know, and understand, and heed history, are always, always forced to repeat it.

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George Ure sorts through the 'Another 9/11?' scenario

Not that we don't have enough to worry about, what with the economy seeming to surge, the futures pointing up, but perhaps that is largely based on what I told you to expect last week - a renewed call for more funding to be pushed into the failing automakers, but nevertheless, the timing of a new attack on the West would be, to say the least, "convenient" this week. Especially given that the G20 meetings may try to bust up some of the US dollar's supremacy as the global reserve currency.

Specifically I refer to the curious piece reported on the web site News from Jerusalem headlined "Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours."

Maybe it's just the 'old newsman' in me being overly worried, but there are a number of items floating around the inbox that give me pause. Little things: A Seal's family advising that their son is being rushed back for expected action this week, The prime minister saying "Now is the time to build global society" and the NY Times revelation today that a previously undisclosed secret order has allowed for additional attacks against al Qaeda that have not been publicized. Over the weekend, the UK's Sun headlined "Bin Laden video alert for Obama."


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Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours

"Australian PM Kevin Rudd - “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant” and other weird warnings"

"Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States.

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Putin v Obama: the Ukraine...a thought experiment

The more that I think about, the more that I am convinced that it will be Vladimir Putin that will test Barack Obama like Joe Biden predicted. First, with oil prices in a free fall, there is only so long that Putin can wait until permanent damage is done the Russian economy. The Ukraine is located strategically by the Odessa/Brody pipeline. Putin no doubt noticed that Europe was weak when he brazenly invaded Georgia. Finally, he must be licking his chops to test the mettle of this foreign policy novice.

Domestically, President Obama would face a very difficult situation in any confrontation with Vladimir Putin. With the economy top priority, it's unclear just how much preparation President Obama would make in such a confrontation. Russia has already rattled sabres with little notice.

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Operation 'The Eagle Strikes'

August 26, 2008

Like most people who have any awareness of the world, you've probably been wondering about the events in Georgia. Is Russia going to be 'isolated'? Is NATO going to expand into Georgia and the Ukraine? Will Russia bomb the missile systems the US is deploying in Poland? Might things spiral out of control into a nuclear exchange? I too have been wondering, and watching the developments carefully. The picture is now beginning to become clear.

The first thing to realize is that everything that is happening has been planned out well in advance by the usual suspects in Washington. The events have not in any sense been caused by tensions in the Caucus, rather those tensions have provided a convenient venue for Washington to pursue its grand designs.

The second thing to realize is that Russia has no interest whatsoever in conflict. By this I don't mean 'Russia is good', but rather 'Russia is sensible'. The conflicts now and to come are entirely the creation of US/EU elites, in their pursuit of global domination.

The third thing to realize — and this is well known in both Washington and Moscow — is that the US has been preparing for many years to carry out a nuclear first-strike against Russia. That's what Reagan's 'Star Wars' was about, and the thread continues to space-based lasers, and right down to the missiles in Poland.

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A message

From the beginning of my part, in the telling of the tale of the program, which would one day change this world, I've have known, it would not be easy. As it was explained all those years ago, if the resistence fought, the powers would be forced to bankrupt them, which would bring a shudder to the world. One that would not be quickly forgotten and in fact, would be the basis of the future generations, a rebirth, if you will. If you are more technical, you could call this a 'reboot' of the system. We have left the 20th century but some have tried to keep it going, so afraid of a world, they no longe controlled, even tho a new system had been designed that served the whole rather than just the few. Trepidation is in the air, as many question what has happened.

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Obama not to attend G20 summit

This is when the world will be settling the score with GWB. - Ed.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week, his spokeswoman said Friday.

Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit.

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The strange case of falling international reserves

During the past 10 years, at least, I have been following the growth of International Reserves. The first graph I elaborated to show their growth was back in 1999 and it was based on IMF data up to 1997. Recently, I have been updating the graph using Alex Tanzi´s numbers. Alex works at Bloomberg and from time to time, Doug Noland at www.prudentbear.com quotes his numbers regarding International Reserves, excluding gold.

As of August 2008, as you can see from the graph, according to Alex Tanzi International Reserves were growing at the explosive annual rate of 26.5%. Suddenly, since August, Reserves have stopped growing.

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Obama wins, Medvedev speaks

Just hours after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev delivered his first address to the Federal Assembly, making statements that grabbed attention both at home and in the West.

To Medvedev's proposal to lengthen the presidential term in Russia from four to six years, LJ user oleg-kozyrev responded (RUS):

I've found a way out. I support Medvedev's proposal to rule for six years. Only along with that, they should also change the legislation regarding the duration of the year. One year has to be 243 days long.

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Putin website shows disputed islets as Japanese territory

MOSCOW--A map on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's official Web site depicts the Russian-held islets north of Hokkaido as Japanese territory, it was learned Friday.

Clicking on the map highlights the disputed islets in magenta, signifying they are part of Japan.

The four islets, which are effectively under Russian control, are known as the northern territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

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Lord Mandelson discussed tarrifs with oligarch

You mean he lied? - Ed.

Lord Mandelson did discuss European Union trade issues with Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch, despite his denials that they had ever talked about the subject.

The business secretary, who at the time was the EU’s trade commissioner, wanted to know whether Deripaska supported or opposed tariffs on Russian timber exports to Europe.

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Credit crunch and lack of faith sees Bush appointees hunting jobs

Many of President Bush's 3,000 political appointees are struggling to find jobs as they leave office because of the ailing economy and a lack of desire among some employees to hire people from an administration with a reputation for incompetence and cronyism.

Mr Bush himself is fine. He told a biographer recently that he will "give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers" — he has assets estimated at $27 million (£16.8m) — and will move to Dallas, Texas, where he will work on establishing his planned Freedom Institute.

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Corporate Government Conspiracy 101

(Nov. 7, 2008) All crimes are commercial and have a commercial value to them.

It makes you look at improvements to the freeways, cities and towns in a different light -- especially when those improvements are funded by 'municipal bonds.'

You'll also understand why there's no hurry to end the war in Iraq.

All criminal prosecution is for the purpose for raising revenue for the United States. Now you'll have a better understanding of why people are in jail, why they are in prison, why they are on probation and why they are charged with everything from jaywalking on up through murder one.

An American soldier who dies in Afghanistan and Iraq probably carries a $10 million life insurance on him carried by the government.

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Settlers stone 6 year old boy in Hebron

Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da’na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said.

Israeli soldiers stationed in the area stood by without preventing the group of settlers from assaulting the boy, locals reported, adding that when Israeli police arrived on the scene, none of the rock-throwers were arrested.

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Student detained after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president

On November 2nd, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres.

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Bush could be executed for war crimes

Progress... - Ed.

November 2008

Members of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally conspired to violate the Geneva Convention, US obligations to it as well as US criminal codes! When it became apparent to Bush that he and high ranking members of his administration were culpable and could be put to death upon conviction, Bush tried to make his crimes legal --but only after he had committed them.Clearly --the Bush administration itself is aware that it is in deep, deep trouble.

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Hague prosecutor says Bush-Blair could face war crimes charges

March 2007

International Criminal Court prosecutor announced on Sunday that US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair could face war crimes charges at the Hague, after it emerged that up to one million Iraqis have been killed since the illegal invasion.

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that he could envision a situation in which Mr Bush and Mr Blair found themselves in the dock.

"Of course that could be a possibility. Whatever country joins the court can know that whoever commits a crime in their country could be prosecuted by me," Mr Moreno-Ocampo affirmed.

Days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein approached lawyers in Britain about signing up to the International Criminal Court, but his effort was overtaken by events.

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The spy who loves us: pay no attention to the Mossad agent on the line

More flash-backs... - Ed.

After Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1986, the U.S. negotiated an understanding with Israel—a “gentlemen’s agreement” —stipulating that neither nation would thenceforth conduct espionage operations in the other’s territory without consent. But the agreement was a sham from the beginning. The Israeli government didn’t even honor its commitments in the aftermath of the Pollard case, failing to return the estimated 360 cubic feet of stolen information to enable the U.S. to conduct a damage assessment.

The United States, for its part, continued to recruit and run agents inside Israel throughout the 1980s and 1990s. And it was known within the intelligence and counterintelligence communities that Israel did the same in the United States. David Szady, the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence, was so dismayed by the level of Israeli spying in the late ’90s that he called in the head of the Israeli Embassy’s Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Activities (Mossad) office and told him, “Knock it off.”

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Clinton's pardoned buddy spied for Israel

More from the way-back machine, mentioning the agent "mega." - Ed.
President Clinton's close friend, a billionaire and fugitive from justice, was a top Mossad source - and could wreck plans by Hillary Clinton if she decides to run for the presidency.
Billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, a close personal friend of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, was one of the most important high-level contacts Mossad had in the United States.
The revelations, published here for the first time, could be a serious blow for Hillary Clinton's plans to run for the presidency.
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Rahm Emanuel heads N America Mossad + PROMIS + laundered profits to Israel/Russia

A 'conspiracy' link from 10/2006. - Ed.

Rosen is also tied to Ted Olson, Coca Cola copyright controversy and a scandal now developing which will link Rosen to Rahm Emanuel and the Mossad in the sale of and transfer of PROMIS Software involving the alleged Russian spy Robert Hanson and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and laundered profits to both Israel and the Russian Federation...

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FBI finds most terrorism threat reports baseless

Captain Obvious strikes yet again.

Via: Reuters:

The FBI tracked about 108,000 potential terrorism threats or suspicious incidents from mid-2004 to November 2007, but most were found groundless, a Justice Department review found on Friday.

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Treasury, Congressional Dems clash on policing bank loans

Hey, guys, free tip: next time write it into the legislation. - Ed.

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats are demanding that the U.S. Treasury force banks participating in the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan to show they are using the funds to increase lending.

Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey wrote a letter yesterday urging Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to issue rules requiring banks accepting public funding to lend to companies and consumers rather than using the money to finance takeovers.

``Loans must not be used to acquire healthy banks, hoard in their coffers, or pay shareholder dividends,'' the two Senate Banking Committee members wrote to Paulson. ``We are also troubled by the fact that the Treasury Department appears to be taking a `hands off' approach to this issue, preferring instead to leave decisions solely up to the discretion of senior bank executives.''

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Is Rahm Emanuel a security risk?

Ummm...yes? - Ed.

Rahm Emanuel's background is well-known. His father was a member of the Israeli Irgun, which was a violent underground movement against the British in Palestine. Rahm has deep ties to Israel and served as a civilian volunteer in the IDF in 1991. That, in and of itself, doesn't make him a security risk. What is disturbing, though, is that the FBI has, according to Wayne Madsen, a Counterintelligence file on him for his past connections with Mossad, and that this is what forced him out of the Clinton White House in 1998.

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The sun shows signs of life

Nov. 7, 2008: After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life.

"I think solar minimum is behind us," says sunspot forecaster David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

His statement is prompted by an October flurry of sunspots. "Last month we counted five sunspot groups," he says. That may not sound like much, but in a year with record-low numbers of sunspots and long stretches of utter spotlessness, five is significant. "This represents a real increase in solar activity."

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Scientists nearer to understanding dark matter

It is one of the biggest mysteries in science which has baffled scholars for more than 75 years, but now a team of cosmologists believes it has found a way of discovering what the universe is made of. About 85 per cent is neither stars nor planets but some form of mysterious matter. It cannot be seen or detected by conventional scientific instruments, which is why the precise nature of this "dark matter" has eluded the finest minds in science.

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DOD restriced access to troops reactions to election

On a night like no other when America’s open and democratic virtues were put on worldwide display, an ill-advised policy within the Department of Defense proclaimed to servicemembers and the news media alike: “No you can’t.” What a servicemember and a journalist couldn’t do, the policy drafters ordered, was engage in conversation on a military base as the returns from a momentous election rolled in.

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Gun sales soar after Obama's election

Buying Guns, for Fear of Losing the Right to Bear Them
By KIRK JOHNSON

DENVER — Sales of handguns, rifles and ammunition have surged in the last week, according to gun store owners around the nation who describe a wave of buyers concerned that an Obama administration will curtail their right to bear arms.

“He’s a gun-snatcher,” said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which was packed with shoppers on Thursday.

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