11.21.2008

The Crucible: Summer 2009

If you read over at Urban Survival, you know that George Ure has spoken of the Summer of Hell coming next year. Something about money being a lot less important to people in 2009, blah blah blah.

Here's a prediction site targeted toward Europeans, the GlobalEurope Anticipation Bulletin, and lo and behold, they also predict terrible things be happening by next summer. Maybe we should take this seriously, hmm?
The G20-meeting held in Washington on November 14/15, 2008, is in its essence a historical indicator that the Western - above all Anglo-Saxon - monopoly on global economic and financial governance, is coming to an end. Nevertheless, according to LEAP/E2020, this meeting also clearly demonstrated that this kind of summits is doomed to inefficiency because they concentrate on curing the symptoms (banks’ and hedge funds’ financial difficulties, derivative markets’ explosion, financial and currency markets’ dramatic volatility, ...) rather than the fundamental root of the current crisis, i.e. the collapse of the Bretton Woods system based on the US Dollar as sole pillar of the global monetary system. Without a complete overhaul of the system inherited from 1944 by summer 2009, the failing of the current system and that of the United States at the center, will lead the whole planet to an unprecedented economic, social, political and strategic instability, and more specifically to a breakdown of the global monetary system by summer 2009. In light of the technocratic jargon and calendar of the declaration released after this first G20-meeting (totally disconnected from the speed and scope of the unfolding crisis (1)), it is more than likely that the disaster will have to happen for the fundamental problems to be seriously addressed and for the beginning of a reply to be initiated.
But wait there's more!
The agitation that has seized global leaders since the end of September 2008 indicates that panic has struck at the highest level. Worldwide political leaders have now understood that the house is on fire. But they have not yet perceived something obvious: that the very structure of the building is involved. Improving fire-regulations or reorganizing emergency services will not be sufficient. To use a strong symbolic image, the World Trade Center’s twin towers did not collapse because firemen were late or because water was missing in the automatic fire-system, they collapsed because their structure was not meant to support the shock of two airliners hitting them in just a few minutes.
Wrong. The towers collapsed because they were previously rigged with explosives. The airliners hitting the buildings provided a pretext to 'pull' the towers, allowing Larry Silverstein to collect on his insurance policy, allowing the enormous Patriot Act to be pulled out of the bottom storage drawer and shoved through Congress, allowing the demonization of Muslims, allowing the endless War on Terror, allowing the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq and the murder of over one million innocent civilians and over 4,000 US servicepeople, allowing war profiteers to rake in money hand over fist, etc. etc. etc.
Today’s global monetary system is in a similar situation: the twin-towers are the Bretton Woods system, and the airliners are called « subprime crisis », « banking failures », « economic recession », « Very Great US Depression », « US deficits », … a whole squadron.
Well, if that's true, then perhaps we can conclude that the Bretton Woods system is being 'pulled' on purpose, and the squadron of problems crashing and burning into the Bretton Woods systems actually provide a convenient pretext for imploding the system and consolidating wealth into a few hands.
In his testimony before Congress, the then CEO of Bear Stearns, Alan Schwartz, said that the run on Bear's stock had been "induced." He went on to say that his company, while saddled with a substantial amount of bad paper in the form of these worthless MBS (mortgage backed securities), was not in such bad shape that it could not have recovered had not there been a "whisper" campaign insisting that Bear's collapse was inevitable. It was this which doomed Bear Stearns, Schwartz told Congress, otherwise they would have recovered in a year or two without the need of governmental intervention.

Instead what happened was that J. P. Morgan Chase (the Rothschild banking empire, prominent members of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and other national banks), after the sell-off, came forward to "rescue" Bear by successfully offering pennies on the dollar of the pre-fall value of the company. JPMC also got the government to indemnify against potential losses from Bear's bad paper to the tune of thirty billion dollars. This sum to be borrowed from the Fed.

Crisis? Not for the Rothschilds. As Fed members they and other cartel members had their chairman and servant, Alan Greenspan, not only sanction these new mortgage-based derivatives but advocate for them as well. These MBS led to a general decline in the housing and credit markets which, in turn, accompanied by whispers, led to an investor confidence crisis and a large reduction in the share prices of investment banks. Then JPMC, like the cavalry of olde, rode in to offer help by buying Bear for next to nothing and infusing it with much needed capital. How magnanimous!
Back to GEAB...
Today’s leaders, who all belong to the collapsing world (including Barak Obama (3)), cannot possibly imagine how to solve the problem, just like central bankers in 2006/2007 could not possibly imagine the scope the unfolding crisis could reach (4). It is their world which is disappearing under their eyes, their beliefs and their illusions (sometimes similar) (5). According to our team, a 20 percent renewal of worldwide leaders is required to begin to see sustainable solutions (6) appear. This is indeed, according to LEAP/E2020, the « critical mass » needed to permit any fundamental change of perspective in a complex not very hierarchical human group. Today we are still far from reaching this critical mass: in order to contribute to finding solutions to the crisis, those new leaders must accede power in full awareness of the crisis’ specific nature.

According to LEAP/E2020, if global leaders fail to realize that in the next three months and to take actions in the next six months, as explained in GEAB N°28, the US debt will « implode » by summer 2009 under the shape of the country’s defaulting or the Dollar’s dramatic devaluation. This implosion will follow closely a number of similar episodes affecting less central countries (see GEAB N°28), including the United Kingdom whose already huge debt is ballooning at the same pace as Washington’s (7). In the same way as the US Federal Reserve saw, month after month, its « Primary Dealers » (8) being swept away by the crisis before it was itself confronted to a real problem of capitalization and therefore survival, the United States in the coming year will witness the implosion of all countries too-closely integrated to their economy and finance, and of their allies financially too-dependent on them (9).
Alternatively, one might conclude that today's leaders understand precisely what is happening, and allow it to happen anyway. Hmm? Let us give them a little more credit in the intelligence department and much less credit in the ethics department. I am willing to believe that some of them may be Deeply Troubled by this state of affairs, but unfortunately for them, they are apparently powerless to stop the train; and furthermore, most if not all of them have been bribed or otherwise compromised. For instance, here Christopher Story describes how collective treaties come about:
Successive European collective treaties are routinely procured by means of gross bribery. In that report, we exposed the fact that slush fund payments worth $100 million equivalent for each of the 25 EU 'Member States' had been 'bunged' to prime 'facilitators' of the (subsequently unratified) EU 'Constitution' Treaty. The normal procedure is for 50% of the available slush money to be paid to the national 'facilitators' on completion of the Intergovernmental Conference at which these odious anti-nation state EU collective treaties are 'negotiated', and for the second 50% (in that instance, worth a further $2.5 billion in total) to be paid to the corrupt 'facilitators' on ratification.
Bribes. Half paid on negotiation, the other half paid on ratification. It's so simple a monkey can do it. All you need is a bunch of ethically challenged people in power, and as we all know, nobody in any position of power has achieved his or her status ethically intact. In fact, the very essence of success in the world today depends on functioning in a ponerologically sick environment. You must be compromised or you will not move up. It is simply too dangerous for the people at the top to have ethically uncompromised people around. Somebody could get caught! Perish the thought.

So let's cut right through the BS now. The people who own the money are taking the system down on purpose. They have enough money to pay off all of our leaders, who will therefore do nothing about it. Anybody who opens his or her mouth will be taken down or out.

Maybe by next summer we will find people cooperating to survive. Maybe by next summer we will redefine success. Maybe by next summer we will begin to honor people who value people, not money. Maybe something good will come out of all this suffering.

Stacks of dead presidents or flesh and blood companions?

Jason Miller interviewed by Robert Turnbull

RT: What is that you consider your purpose on Earth to be?

JM: It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and socialism.

I realize that socialism is a loaded word, particularly in our benighted land here in the US. But as we talk you’ll get a better sense of what I mean when I talk about socialism, which I use as a bit of a catch-all term to describe a more logical and just way of interacting socially, politically and economically.

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Tomorrow is End the Fed Day

Go here for more information.

Predictions: Two Quakes in Three Weeks

I had a chance to talk with my colleague Cliff of www.halfpasthuman.com about the major earthquakes that show up in his predictive linguistics work for the window around December 10-12 for a first major earthquake and then a couple of days later, perhaps as late at the 15th for a second large quake.

I know, I know, you come here for the insightful commentary on the financial markets, so what is this earthquake stuff all about? Well, Cliff's built a rickety time machine - that works by sampling huge numbers of posts on the internet, and then looking at the change in language which seems to have pretty good predictive powers in terms of spotting what's coming.

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Clinton accepts State

President-elect Barack Obama will name Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as his secretary of State shortly after Thanksgiving, two senior Obama aides told Politico's Mike Allen late Thursday. AP confirmed quickly thereafter.

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Mukasey collapses giving speech to Federalist Society

Will Mike take God's hint to stop defending Bush's legal policies? - Ed.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech Thursday at the Federalist Society dinner at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington.
Michael Mukasey was giving a speech defending the Bush administration's legal policies.

Michael Mukasey is helped as he begins to collapse during his speech Thursday night.

Mukasey, 67, was giving a spirited defense of the Bush administration's legal policies when his speech began to slur and he lost track of his thoughts about 30 minutes into his talk. Seconds later, he became rigid and then began to slump.

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EU is costing Britian 106K pounds a MINUTE

Christopher Story has the solution: Stop Paying the EU. - Ed.

The European Union is costing Britain a staggering £106,000 a minute, a think-tank has revealed.

As the UK teeters on the brink of what experts predict will be the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Government has surrendered £55.8billion to Brussels this year.

That is equivalent to paying a whopping £900 for every man, woman and child in the country.

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Judge removes Guerra as prosecutor for 5 of 9 criminal cases involving Cheney

This gets stranger and stranger by the day. You have to love the anonymous comment discrediting Guerra. I mean, to suggest that Dick Cheney would be guilty of crimes, *obviously* this guy Guerra is a total whack-job. Right? RIGHT?!?!?! - Ed.

After being AWOL from the job and violating sections of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct - Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel "Johnny Guerra" has been replaced in five (5) of the nine (9) criminal cases he convinced a grand jury to file against Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., District Judges Migdalia Lopez and Janet Leal, former Willacy D.A. Gustavo "Gus" Garza, and District Clerk Gilbert Lozano, along with GEO Corp., and former warden David Forrest.

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Crisis? What Crisis?

The economic mess that has been unfolding the last few months is not, as the right fear and the left hope, an organic collapse of the global capitalist system But rather it is, as so many so-called financial crises before it, a scam perpetrated by what Lincoln used to call the "money power." The goals are to capture other lucrative businesses, reduce government and its ability to constrain its hegemony over capital, and to reduce union membership by creating such dire economic circumstances as to make unions powerless to save their members from hardship.

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Paulson behind bailout martial law threat




There he is with his creepy right eyeball. That eye is not normal. Look at the left eye -- all bleary. Look at the right eye. Here is his official picture at Treasury. I'm sorry, but that is *not* normal. Are you ready for the snake tongue to come flickering out of that mouth? - Ed.

Senator James Inhofe has revealed that Henry Paulson was behind the threats of martial law and a new great depression prior to the passage of the bailout bill, having made such warnings during a conference call on September 19th, around two weeks before the legislation was eventually approved by both the Senate and Congress.

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Bush: Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna eat some worms

US: Undoing Bush

From Switzerland, home of many mysterious bank accounts. - Ed.

Almost immediately after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, a flurry of speculation began over when and how he would use his executive powers to undo some of the excesses of President George W Bush.

Published reports indicate that over 200 Bush-era executive orders are currently under review by the Obama transition team.

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30 reasons for Great Depression 2 by 2011

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- By 2011? No recovery? No new bull? "Hey Paul, why do you keep talking about a bigger crash coming by 2011?" Readers ask that often. So here's a sequel to my predictions of 2000 and 2004, with a look three years ahead:
First. Dot-com crash
We pinpointed the dot-com crash at its peak, in a March 20, 2000 column: "Next crash? Sorry, you won't see it coming." Bulls-eye: The dot-com bubble popped. The economy went into a 30-month recession. The stock market lost $8 trillion.

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Congressional Report: Misleading information from the battlefield: The Tillman and Lynch episodes

pdf

First Report by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform together with Additional Views, September 16, 2008

This report summarizes what the Oversight Committee has
learned about (1) the misleading information given to the Tillman
family and the public following the death of Corporal Patrick Tillman
on April 22, 2004, and (2) the misleading information released
about the capture and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq in
March and April, 2003.

Read report

Superbug found in grocery meats

A potentially deadly intestinal germ increasingly found in hospitals is also showing up in a more unsavory setting: grocery store meats.

More than 40 percent of packaged meats sampled from three Arizona chain stores tested positive for Clostridium difficile, a gut bug known as C. diff., according to newly complete analysis of 2006 data collected by a University of Arizona scientist.

Nearly 30 percent of the contaminated samples of ground beef, pork and turkey and ready-to-eat meats like summer sausage were identical or closely related to a super-toxic strain of C. diff blamed for growing rates of illness and death in the U.S. — raising the possibility that the bacterial infections may be transmitted through food.

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11.20.2008

Marketing 101: Selling Israel for almost 50 years

1962-1963 US Public Relations Plan (click through to see original document)

American Zionist Council
Committee on Information and Public Relations

The Committee carries on a major part of its work through highly specialized subcommittees composed of professionals in specific areas of activity who volunteer their services to the American Zionist Council. It is the subcommittee chairmen who have been instrumental, for the most part, in mobilizing these experts to serve with them to help interpret Israel to the general American public. In addition, the AZC staff carries on a number of activities on its own without benefit of these volunteers.

1. Magazines
Cultivation of editors.
Stimulation and placement of suitable articles in the major consumer magazines.
Reprinting and distribution of favorable materials which appear in the above publications.
Stimulation of articles in trade and specialized journals.
Liaison with writers resident in Israel via a literary agent in New York for ideas and placement.

2. TV, Radio, Films
The department arranges for talks and interviews on Radio and TV, and servicing of film requests.
It also cultivates leading personalities in these media.
It encourages networks and stations to create programs revolving around Israel.

3. Christian Religious Groups
Cultivation of key religious leaders and groups.
Setting up seminars on Israel for Christian clergy.
Stimulating of positive articles in the Protestant and Catholic press.
Counteraction of hostile material in that press.
Reprints and distribution of favorable materials in the church press.
Stimulation of suitable articles in the journals of the Jewish religious groups.

4. Academic Circles
Support of the American Association for Middle East Studies.
Support of the Inter-University Committee on Israel.
Cultivation of leaders in the academic community.
Stimulation of "Israel Day" on college campuses.
Cooperation with colleges and universities in setting up of seminars on the Middle East.
Monitoring and counteraction of materials in the campus press.
Stimulating of articles in academic journals.
Guidance to student Zionists and other Jewish students on Arab-Israel issues.
Counteraction of hostile faculty and Arab students.
Preparation of materials for elementary and high school faculty.

5. Daily Press
Cultivation of editors.
Stimulation of positive material via syndicated writers, columnists, etc.
Counteraction of hostile material.
Reprinting and distribution of favorable materials.

6. Books
Assistance to publishers in the promotion of worthwhile books.
Promotions of reviews of favorable books.
Distribution of books to public and college libraries.

7. Speakers
The Speakers Bureau will continue to utilize Israelis, American Christians, and American Jews on academic, religious, civic and other platforms around the country for positive presentations on Israel.

8. Liaison with organizations, both on the national and local levels, especially those with an international relations program.
Special liaison with Negro community.

9. Projects and Issues
Issuance of special material and guidance on controversial issues such as Arab refugees, Syrian-Israel situation, etc.
Programming for special occasions such as Yom Haatzmaut, etc.

10. Visitors to Israel
Subsidization to individual public opinion molders to help provide them with an experience in Israel.
Inter-University Committee Study Tour to Israel.
Organize other tours in which public opinion molders will participate.
Provide suitable arrangements in Israel for handling of American visitors.

11. Counteracting the Opposition
The monitoring and counteraction of all activities carried out here by the Arabs, American Friends of the Middle East, and the American Council for Judaism.

12. Miscellaneous
Answering requests for information and providing suitable literature for the many thousands of requests annually received.

And you can see how this marketing plan, 45+ years later, is working out.
As shown by our Media Report Cards, the American press tends to provide extremely distorted coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. There are a number of factors that contribute to this troubling pattern of omission and misrepresentation. One of them is bias. In this section, we will provide information about how bias influences media coverage of this topic, and where this bias originates.

The Israel Lobby Archive

The Archive is an independent research unit located at The Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy in Washington DC. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents about the Israel lobby, most obtained through Freedom of Information Act filings with law enforcement officials and US intelligence agencies. The Archive also serves as a repository for records that briefly enter the pubic domain but vanish into obscurity for lack of mainstream press interest.

The Archive is dedicated to preserving and contextualizing the historical records about the Israel lobby's operations in the US while educating Americans through enhanced access to both recent and older primary source material.

Visit site.


Debate flares of Israel's access to American secrets

A bestselling author writing about America’s most secretive intelligence agency is raising eyebrows with his claims that Israeli intelligence has potentially gained access to sensitive American communications information.

Investigative writer James Bamford contends in his new book, “The Shadow Factory, the Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America,” that at least two high-tech companies with alleged ties to Israeli intelligence mined American communications data on a mass scale. The companies were hired to help major American telecommunications firms that were cooperating with the National Security Agency on its controversial eavesdropping program.

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US-Iraq security pact may be in violation, Congress told

WASHINGTON - Passage of the US-Iraq security pact under the terms both countries' leaders have advocated could violate the constitutions of both countries, specialists told a congressional subcommittee yesterday.

They instead pressed for an extension of the United Nations mandate authorizing US troop involvement in Iraq, which expires Dec. 31.

American constitutional law scholar Oona Hathaway said she believes the Constitution requires Congress to also approve the agreement. The Bush administration has labeled the pact a "status of forces agreement," which can be implemented without congressional approval.

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Gates in talks to stay on as Pentagon chief

???????? WHY??????????????? - Ed.

Barack Obama and Robert Gates are negotiating terms under which the defence secretary would remain as Pentagon chief in the next administration, the Financial Times has learnt.

The president-elect has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defence secretary under George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican in his cabinet. According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option.

The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues through an intermediary before a final offer is made.

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Arizonan will head DHS

Buh bye, Skeletor. - Ed.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.

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Story: Britian's way out of crisis: Stop paying the EU

The two signatories of Britain's accession to the European Economic Communities, the long-range entrapment device developed by the secret Nazi strategic continuum since exposed as Deutsche Verteidigungs Dienst (DVD), Dachau, were recruited by the Nazis before the war. Their names were: Edward Heath and Geoffrey Rippon. This report remains, like all our analyses, easy to access via our Archive: see the report dated 12th October 2005.

Successive European collective treaties are routinely procured by means of gross bribery. In that report, we exposed the fact that slush fund payments worth $100 million equivalent for each of the 25 EU 'Member States' had been 'bunged' to prime 'facilitators' of the (subsequently unratified) EU 'Constitution' Treaty. The normal procedure is for 50% of the available slush money to be paid to the national 'facilitators' on completion of the Intergovernmental Conference at which these odious anti-nation state EU collective treaties are 'negotiated', and for the second 50% (in that instance, worth a further $2.5 billion in total) to be paid to the corrupt 'facilitators' on ratification.

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Dick Cheney, Al Gonzales, GEO Group indicted in South Texas

A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners at the Willacy County Detention Center in Raymondville, TX. Other people who were indicted were, Cameron County’s Justice of the Peace Judge Gustavo Garza; former US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Mervyn Mosbacker; Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra; State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr; Willacy County Clerk Gilbert Lozano, District Judges Janet Leal and Migdalia Lopez and special prosecutor Gustavo Garza. They all face a stream of criminal charges including abuse of office and profiting from office.

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Related:

GEO Group Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Pentagon: Booz Allen Conspiracy vs SE Colorado

(July 11, 2008) Booz, Allen & Hamilton (hereafter Booz Allen), a privately held corporation owned by about 300 senior executives, is the Army's accomplice in their attempted private property seizure in southeast Colorado. Their expertise, they declare, is strategy and public sector mission effectiveness.

Booz Allen contracted with the Army for $500,000 to maneuver the ranchers out of their property rights. Skillful facilitators (provocateurs), despite their friendly demeanor, very likely use an advanced version of the deceptive Delphi Method, mind-games developed by the U.S. Air Force's RAND Project, financed by the Ford Foundation.

Project RAND became the "premier think tank" and "purveyor of American imperialism" and facilitated the Cold War façade. Their activities contributed to the exponential growth of the military-industrial complex. RAND encouraged numerous U.S.-backed military dictatorships in third world countries.1

Booz Allen's professional provocateurs use psychologically-designed surveys in an alleged attempt to "gather opinions.

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Putin in the dock

The alleged assassins of Russian war journalist Anna Politkovskaya are on trial. So too is the reputation of Vladimir Putin.

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Whitney: Paulson the Bungler

Henry Paulson's time at Treasury has been one pratfall after another. Even so, on Tuesday he managed to outdo himself. Paulson held a "surprise" press conference where he announced that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) wouldn't be used to buy troubled assets after all. Instead, the money will used to bail out insurance giant AIG, provide extra capital for the banks to hoard, and now (this is the new part) give money to "nonbank financial institutions, like insurers and specialty-finance companies" so they can lend to credit-worthy consumers. Isn't that why we gave money to the banks?

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Israel to boycott antiracism conference

It's Tewtally Racist to notice that Israel is a Totally Racist State. - Ed.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has said the regime will boycott the United Nations "Durban II" conference on human rights this spring.


"The conference has nothing to do with fighting racism," Livni was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "In view of this situation, I decided that Israel will not participate and will not legitimize the Durban II conference," the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on Wednesday.


The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in Geneva in April, is a follow-up to a 2001 summit in Durban, South Africa on the same issues.

Livni claimed that the conference "seeks to legitimize hatred and extremism under the banner of a fight against racism."

The first Durban conference held under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights focused on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

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Declassified Papers: DOJ accepted AIPAC's parent's demand for secrecy

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Papers kept secret for 43 years show that the US Department of Justice attempted to register the parent organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, as the foreign agent of Israel.

Such a registration could have changed the course of Middle East history by giving the president, State Department and American public more insight and leverage over the Israel lobby during peace negotiations to compensate displaced Palestinians and avert Israel's covert development of nuclear weapons.

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Why did the Democrats forgive Joe Lieberman?

Ah, Joe Lieberman.

The so called democrat.

The so called American.

Here is a short history lesson on Joe (big thanks go to Thinkprogress for their hard work compiling all this).

Thinkprogress.org - nice article, lets start there.

“I’m a Democrat with a 35-year record of fighting for progressive causes, for the middle class, for civil rights, for women’s rights, for human rights and a lot more. I voted with my Senate Democratic colleagues 90 percent of the time.” — Joe Lieberman, 7/6/06


Sounds nice.

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Pakistan: Tears as poverty-stricken parents abandon children

KARACHI, Nov 18: Three women abandoned their children, eight in all, to their fate by placing them under the care of the Edhi Foundation on Tuesday.

Aged between five and 12 years, the children, some in tears, appeared scared and unaware of the reason that had forced their parents to leave them at the country’s largest charity.

Bilquees Edhi, of the Edhi Foundation, said she knew of no precedent that eight children of living parents were left at any of its centres.

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Burning Down the House: Capitalism at the Expense of All Life part 2

It is upon us now to confront the greatest crisis in the lifespan of humankind.

Civilization - the destructive way of the City – has carried us to a climax of radical imbalances, a global eco-crisis, a state the traditional Hopi elders called Koyaanisqatsi

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11.19.2008

The disastrous miscalculation of Vladimir Putin

As I have warned over the past few months, Russia is being particularly badly hit by the global financial crisis. Partly this is a function of the severity of the collapse of commodity prices, especially oil and gas, which has had an exceptionally serious impact on a country where 85% of GDP relies on the extraction of raw materials. However the scale of the crisis in Russia has been hugely increased by a number of massive miscalculations by the Silovik state. Now the speed and scale of the Russian meltdown could conceivably become a threat to the stability of the Silovik regime itself.

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The Killing Horizon: Capitalism at the Expense of All Life

The bottom line is profit. Profit and the lust for it is capitalism's event horizon. Much like what happens at the boundary of a black hole ("boundary of a black hole" is roughly what the term “event horizon” means in the theory of general relativity) any energy, information or meaning that passes the threshold of a consciousness driven by profit disappears into the super-gravitational field of the black hole itself – never to be seen or heard of again.

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Blind leading the one-eyed

Finally, a good cynical take on the G20 meeting. ENJOY, dammit. There's NOTHING to look forward to. - Ed.

My worst fears about the weekend gathering in Washington of world leaders to discuss the financial crisis were realized overnight when the statement after their meeting was released. It contained a host of generic fluff and very little mention of the specific actions required to tackle the gargantuan economic problems of today.

The statement accompanying the meeting, held under the Group of 20 (G-20) banner, could have been put together by a bunch of first-year economics students. It probably was, but that's not what worries me about the initiative. In the opening part of the statement, the following section seemed positive: "Our work will be guided by a shared belief that market principles, open trade and investment regimes, and effectively regulated financial markets foster the dynamism, innovation, and entrepreneurship that are essential for economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction."

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The Stirling Proposal for Peace in the Middle East

In 2001 I made a proposal for a peace settlement in the Middle East, which I called the Stirling Proposal for Peace in the Middle East. At the time, I was getting over my wife Michele's death from Ovarian Cancer. I had a web news site, something like my current blog EUROPE, named Third Millennium Global News. This was the same name as a project that I had just obtained financing for when Michele was diagnosed with cancer. That project was to have been the fourth national evening television newscast in the American market, with full local broadcast coverage throughout the United States. The television project was designed to be profitable (very profitable in fact) but the web site was not (and believe me it was never was profitable). I walked away from the evening national television newscast project to take full time care of my dying wife.

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Caught in bed with evil

Crossing points into Gaza have been shut down for almost two weeks, forcing the only power plant there to stop functioning, due to the lack of fuel. Last week, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ran out of food and stopped rations’ deliveries to 750,000 residents of Gaza.

Though the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now immanent, Western media refrains from reporting about the emerging disaster. Apparently, there are far more interesting things to write about, much more interesting than millions of Palestinians who are being starved by the Jewish state.

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Finding the words to say it

November 17, 2008

"The BBC’s Tim Franks in Jerusalem says we have no clue as to when or where this video was shot and it is impossible to know just how frequently such incidents occur."'BBC: Israel army studies 'abuse video’

But right below this it says,

"But a leading Israeli human rights group says "many instances of abuse are not exposed because they have become the norm"".

But is this all this group said? Why isn’t the group named? Why is the source not identified? It seems the 'rules’ that allegedly govern reportage are as flexible as Mr Franks interpretation of events are.

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The 25 most vicious Iraq war profiteers

The Iraq war is many things to different people. It is called a strategic blunder and a monstrous injustice and sometimes even a patriotic mission, much to the chagrin of rational human beings. For many big companies, however, the war is something far different: a lucrative cash-cow. The years-long, ongoing military effort has resurrected fears of the so-called “military-industrial complex.” Media pundits are outraged at private companies scooping up huge, no-questions-asked contracts to manufacture weapons, rebuild infrastructure, or anything else the government deems necessary to win (or plant its flag in Iraq). No matter what your stance on the war, it pays to know where your tax dollars are being spent.

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The Hidden Enemy

Excerpt:

"When I saw the medical symptoms and signs increasing in the fellas, that's when I looked, did the research, brought it up to my management, and my management told me I was being a troublemaker," says Blacke. "When the issues came up, it was denial and intimidation to keep it quiet. And people were getting hurt," added Blacke. "They (KBR) told the men that they had looked at it, it was a mild irritant. That we were making a lot to do about nothing. A mountain out of a mole hill."

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Taxpayers will pay for Gonzales' private attorney

Pile on, guys!! - Ed.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has agreed to pay for a private lawyer to defend former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against allegations that he encouraged officials to inject partisan politics into the department's hiring and firing practices.

Lawyers from the Justice Department's civil division often represent department employees who're sued in connection with their official actions. However, Gonzales' attorney recently revealed in court papers that the Justice Department had approved his request to pay private attorney's fees arising from the federal lawsuit.

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Cold realities await Bible Spice in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin, heralded by some conservatives as the future of the Republican Party, faces some cold political realities in present-day Alaska.

Within days of the McCain-Palin ticket's defeat earlier this month, the unsuccessful GOP vice presidential nominee capped her tumultuous two months on the campaign trail with a whirlwind series of national media interviews and a headline-grabbing appearance at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Florida.

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Lieberman: Suck on That, Liberals!

Cillizza:

Asked what it would mean if Lieberman kept his chairmanship, one Senate Democratic aide said bluntly: "The left has been foiled again. They can rant and rage but they still do not put the fear into folks to actually change their votes. Their influence would be in question."

I hope this puts to rest the notion that this is all some master stroke of kumbayah, of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

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Dean defends Lieberman decision, speaks of "mandate for reconciliation"

In a brief but candid and wide-ranging telephone interview with a selection of bloggers and new media journalists, former Vermont Governor and DNC Chairman Howard Dean spoke frequently on themes of reconciliation and pragmatism, defended his party's decision to keep Joe Lieberman within its caucus, and said that the 50-state strategy will continue -- at least in spirit.

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LIEberman keeps Chairmanship

There must be some major, major pressure being applied from *someplace*; because Lieberman is loathsome and everybody knows it. - Ed.

Democrats voted to let Joe Lieberman keep his plum committee post, despite the Connecticut senator's divisive campaigning on behalf of Republican John McCain's presidential bid.

"It's very clear that the vast majority of the Democratic caucus wants to keep Sen. Lieberman as the chairman of his committee, a member of the Armed Services Committee, and that was done, it's all over with," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters after a Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday. "Joe Lieberman is a Democrat, he's a part of this caucus."

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Moscow Times: US is not a threat after all

Every year, the Defense Ministry holds one of its most important conferences. At this annual event, in which all the generals are present and the president gives the key address, we usually learn details about new military reforms and weapons programs.

This year's meeting, which took place on Nov. 11, was unlike any of the previous ones. First, President Dmitry Medvedev did not attend. Second, there was conspicuously little information released from the meeting. The only thing we know from a short, terse document that the Defense Ministry released after the meeting is that the number of officers will be reduced from 355,000 to 150,000 and the number of military educational institutions will be cut by 80 percent. In addition, the ministry announced that the elite Tamanskaya and Kantemirovskaya divisions as well as the 98th and 106th Airborne Divisions are scheduled to be disbanded in 2009.

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The Mayan Calendar and Humanity's Path Toward Enlightenment

In this article Carl Johan Calleman predicts a unification of the modern expressions of some of the most advanced ancient traditions of the West and the East; the Mayan and the Vedic. In this unification it seems that it is the West, the Maya and some other Native American peoples, that is providing the calendrical knowledge about the cosmic plan, while it is the East, the Vedic and Buddhist traditions that is carrying the time-less wisdom of the Self. The practical unification of these thought systems and traditions is then brought about by all those that are taking a path towards Enlightenment And according to the Mayan calendar, the time for this is now.

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11.18.2008

Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies'

14 reasons Main Street loses big while Wall Street sabotages democracy

Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president.

Why? The real "game changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Imagine: Greed, arrogance and incompetence create a massive bubble, cost trillions, and still Wall Street comes out smelling like roses, richer and more powerful!

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California Wild Fires

1. Tom Henegan (yes, I know he is shrill... scroll down to 11/16) claims the fires were deliberately set and alleges that French intelligence services have satellite images to that effect.
Reason given: to fulfull KBR contracts for $75 million, signed earlier this month, to provide emergency power to western states in case of emergency situations like earthquake, wildfires, etc. These wildfires also distract the American people from other important matters and give psyops news outlets plenty of things to talk about. Have you seen the breathless coverage on CNN? Catastrophe porn.

2. Brasscheck TV video has information on suppressed technology that could knock these fires down.

3. Reuters reports on the damage - via Pimpin Turtle.

Bush cheers 'free enterprise' as US capitalism goes bust

US President George W. Bush came to Wall Street Thursday to deliver a speech extolling the virtues of the "free enterprise" system even as multiple economic indicators made it clear that the so-called "magic of the market" is spelling misery for millions more working people in the US and around the globe.

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Afghan article says US bin Ladin hunt phoney

Also, bin Laded has been dead since 12/26/01. So there's that. - Ed.

The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Persian Afghan press alleging that French troops were at one point close to capturing Usamah Bin Ladin in Afghanistan, but that American forces stopped them from doing so. It says that a forthcoming French documentary containing interviews with the French soldiers provides proof for the allegation. The argument is that the Bush administration needed Bin Ladin to be at large in order to justify its military expansionism.

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Federal Air Marshals smuggle coke and molest kids

(Nov. 14, 2008) Shawn Nguyen bragged that he could sneak anything past airport security using his top-secret clearance as a federal air marshal. And for months, he smuggled cocaine and drug money onto flights across the country, boasting to an FBI informant that he was "the man with the golden badge."

Michael McGowan used his position as an air marshal to lure a young boy to his hotel room, where he showed him child porn, took pictures of him naked and sexually abused him.

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Inhofe: Cancel the 'blank check'

When Inhofe starts to sound reasonable, you know things have gone beyond the pale. - Ed.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Saturday that Congress was not told the truth about the bailout of the nation's financial system and should take back what is left of the $700 billion "blank check'' it gave the Bush administration.

"It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,'' the Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World.

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The first law that should be repealed in the US is the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill. Will Obama eliminate debt slavery?

Our centralized government representatives would like us to believe that the subprime mortgage crisis was not expected, however, the truth is that it was expected and authorities knew that a multi-billion dollar crime was being committed.

The Scam

In 1999 the New York Times reported that the easing of credit requirements on loans would mean that Fannie Mae would be “taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's… ‘If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.’” This was reported in 1999.

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Citigroup slashes jobs, jacks up cardholder rates

AP: Citigroup to cut up to 75,000 jobs

If you have a Citigroup-issued credit card and you haven't had a rate increase over the last two years, expect to be notified of a 2-3% rate increase on your November statement. Congratulations! You're going to help Citigroup offset its losses in the global credit card division, whether you were directly part of those losses or not. As the New York Times points out, by doing this Citigroup is breaking the promise they made to Congress in 2007 that they would not arbitrarily raise rates on accounts—which may be why they're offering a fairly lenient opt-out policy.

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The abandoned children of Nebraska

There are a couple of ways law-abiding citizens can abandon children in Nebraska. Sometimes a desperate parent will tell the child they're going to the hospital for something minor, like a rash — then, in the emergency room, the child waits and waits, only to discover only the doctors are there and mother has walked away for good. On the other hand, unruly teenagers might simply be dumped at the ER door. "A parent will pull up and say, 'All right, get out of the car," says Lisa Stites of Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. In other states, laws that allow parents to leave their children in hospitals or fire stations are usually limited to newborns of a few weeks or months. In Nebraska, the law failed to define the word "child." As a result, children as old as 17 have been abandoned.

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Israeli tanks enter Gaza strip

Israeli tanks backed by a bulldozer and military jeep have reportedly rolled into the Gaza Strip, shattering a tenuous truce in the region.

According to local residents and Gaza security officials, Israeli tanks moved about 400 meters (a quarter-mile) into the southern coastal Strip, rolling along the eastern border of Rafah city on Tuesday, AP reported.

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Cohen next Israeli security chief head?

An article published by a US website has revealed the name of the Shin Bet deputy head and the organization's potential next chief.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that the full name of the Israeli security service's deputy head had been revealed in an article he had written for "an important US web site."

According to the report, the Israeli official, who has been identified as "Y", is currently in the United States on "a study leave."

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Do flu shots work? Ask a vaccine manufacturer.

h/t Connecting the Dots in the NWO

In this recorded phone call to a vaccine maker, the caller asks questions about mercury and how well the flu shot actually works. The answer is -- perhaps unintentionally -- a bit more honest than what you might hear from their ads.


11.17.2008

Another Act of Treason: GWB 'outed' Valerie Plame

Former Press Secretary Scott McClellan has revealed that it was George W. Bush himself who authorized Dick Cheney to 'out' Valerie Plame. When he is no longer President, Bush will not be able to 'pardon' himself for the many 'counts' of high treason that will be charged him. Bush must therefore move to pardon himself while he is still in the White House but doing so will prove his guilt! Innocent folk don't 'pardon' themselves of serious crimes.

Nixon left the White House aboard a helicopter. To make a fast getaway, Bush will need a jet. When he is no longer President, Bush will not be able to 'pardon' himself for the many 'counts' of high treason that will be charged him. I accuse Bush of war crimes, high treason, graft, and various capital crimes as stated succinctly in US Codes, Title 18, Section 2441. Amid the lies he told about 911, the lies he told to wage aggressive war, it is now learned that it was Bush --personally --who 'outed' CIA operative Valerie Plame.

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Video: Jeremy Scahill on Bill Moyers: Martial Law in the USA

Five minute video describing the presence of Blackwater agents in New Orleans after Katrina. CEO Prince sent them proactively and got the contract later. Blackwater billed the taxpayers $900+ per day per man; the men told Scahill they made $350 per day. One property owner had Israeli armed guards at the entrance to his gated community, who found it amusing that Americans shied away from them because they carried assault rifles. And so forth. - Ed.

Watch video.

Former FBI agent Geral Sosbee calls for new Nuremberg Trial to hold USA's officials responsible for crimes against humanity

I call for a new Nuremberg Trial to hold individuals of the FBI, CIA, former presidents of the United States of America, members of Congress, Judges, etc. responsible for crimes against Humanity and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Consistent with the rules of the International Military Tribunal a crime against Humanity is defined as:
“Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during…war; or persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.”

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Roubini: Global financial meltdown, no bottom yet

It is useful, at this juncture, to stand back and survey the economic landscape -- both as it is now, and as it has been in recent months. So here is a summary of many of the points that I have made for the last few months on the outlook for the U.S. and global economy, as well as for financial markets:

* The U.S. will experience its most severe recession since World War II, much worse and longer and deeper than even the 1974-1975 and 1980-1982 recessions.

The recession will continue until at least the end of 2009 for a cumulative gross domestic product drop of over 4%; the unemployment rate will likely reach 9%.

The U.S. consumer is shopped-out, saving less and debt-burdened: This will be the worst consumer recession in decades.

* The prospect of a short and shallow six- to eight-month V-shaped recession is out of the window; a U-shaped 18- to 24-month recession is now a certainty, and the probability of a worse, multi-year L-shaped recession (as in Japan in the 1990s) is still small but rising.

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Aftershock

Video by and of former IDF soldiers. - Ed.

Putin wanted to hang Sackass 'by the balls'

Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from being hanged “by the balls” — a threat made last summer by Vladimir Putin, according to an account that emerged yesterday from the Élysée Palace.

The Russian Prime Minister had revealed his plans for disposing of Mr Saakashvili when Mr Sarkozy was in Moscow in August to broker a ceasefire in Georgia.

Jean-David Levitte, Mr Sarkozy’s chief diplomatic adviser, reported the exchange in a news magazine before an EU-Russia summit today. The meeting will be chaired by the French leader and President Medvedev.

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

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Major international drill based at D-M (Arizona) to focus on rescue skills, coordination

To troops downed in combat, few sights are sweeter than the approach of military rescuers. In a few weeks, Tucson will be at the center of efforts to speed up that lifesaving process.

Personnel from around the globe will converge at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12 for the largest rescue exercise of its kind.

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G20 Statement November 15, 2008

1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, held an initial meeting in Washington on November 15, 2008, amid serious challenges to the world economy and financial markets. We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world's financial systems.

2. Over the past months our countries have taken urgent and exceptional measures to support the global economy and stabilize financial markets. These efforts must continue. At the same time, we must lay the foundation for reform to help to ensure that a global crisis, such as this one, does not happen again. Our work will be guided by a shared belief that market principles, open trade and investment regimes, and effectively regulated financial markets foster the dynamism, innovation, and entrepreneurship that are essential for economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction.

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Beginning of an epic fall

No mention of DHL owner, Deutche Bank, being up to it's eyeballs in international financial corruption. - Ed.

International parcel giant DHL plans to cut approximately 9,500 jobs and drastically reduce its U.S. operations, according to The New York Times.

Over 7,000 of those job cuts will occur in Wilmington, Ohio. With a population of 12,000, the impending job cuts are slated to devastate the community and account for the largest single point job loss in the country this year.

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The road to hell is paved with free market capitalism, imperialism, and psychopaths

Last week, Barack Obama was (we presume) elected president of the United States as the country fell deeper into recession. Nearly 300,000 jobs were lost in October in the United States as the official unemployment rate rose almost a half percent since September to 6.5%. The Dow fell 4% last week despite all the good feelings. When he takes office in January 2009 the new president will surely face an economic situation as dire as Franklin Roosevelt faced in 1933 Not only the United States, but the rest of the world, is looking to him to find a way out of economic disaster. Will he deliver?

Obama appears to be as gifted as any U.S. president in a long time. In addition, he seems far more balanced and lacking in personal demons than most presidents. Like Franklin Roosevelt, Obama's talents fit the times well: he appears calm, intelligent, and compassionate, and projects a sense of competence and being in control. Finally, he has, in these hopeless times, given many people, especially young people, hope. Even one of our darkest, most pessimistic poets, Bob Dylan, was moved to remark at a performance in Minnesota that "I was born in 1941, the year they bombed Pearl Harbor. I've been living in darkness ever since. But it looks like things are going to change now." Then he danced a jig. Yes, Bob Dylan danced onstage. Maybe Obama really can work miracles.

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Sailor charged with causing deaths on nuclear sub

There's something really strange about this one... - Ed.

RUSSIAN authorities have charged a sailor with causing the death of 20 people on a nuclear-powered submarine.

Investigators studying the accident, the worst to strike the Russian navy since the death of the crew of the Kursk in 2000, say that the unnamed submariner "set off the anti-fire system without authorisation and for no reason".

Once activated, the system pumped the deadly oxygen- removing gas freon into a compartment in the boat's bow, suffocating its victims. A further 21 required hospital treatment.

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Putin policies provoking protests by Northern peoples

Kuressaare, November 17 – For the first time in their history, the numerically small peoples of the Taymyr peninsula organized a public protest against the way in which Moscow has run roughshod over their rights in its desire to develop natural resources, a protest that is echoing across the northern third of the territory of the Russian Federation.

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Russia expands its military presence in Central Asia

The secretary-general of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Nikolai Bordyuzha, recently announced the planned formation of an international force in Central Asia that "should be prepared to repel any threat."

On November 9, after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev submitted an agreement on the expected 5,000-strong force to the State Duma for approval, Bordyuzha said that the force is to be formed immediately upon the agreement's ratification by all participating states.

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And Now: The Skin Cancer Vaccine

Oh sure.

Via: Daily Telegraph:

THE pioneering Australian scientist who discovered the cure for cervical cancer is on the verge of creating the world’s first vaccine for skin cancer.

Professor Ian Frazer, former Australian of the Year, has revealed the vaccine could be ready within the next five to 10 years.

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Ending profit-driven mandatory vaccination racket

The push to keep adding more vaccines to the mandatory schedules comes directly from a purely profit motivated industry and a recent investor report estimates that the world-wide market will quadruple from about $4.3 billion in 2006 to more than $16 billion in 2016, with the biggest boost coming from kids in the US.

A November 2007 report entitled, "Pipeline and Commercial Insight: Pediatric and Adolescent Vaccines," authored by vaccine analyst, Hedwig Kresse, for the independent market analyst Datamonitor discusses the future outlook for vaccine profits.

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Searaser device in uphill battle for clean energy

A device that harnesses the power of the sea to push water uphill has been developed to provide cheap renewable electricity. The invention is designed to pump water hundreds of feet above sea level from where it can gush downhill to drive hydroelectric generators.

Pumping is made possible by the motion of waves lifting the device, Searaser, as it floats in the sea, and gravity bringing it down again in the wave troughs. A prototype has just completed tests in which it pumped water more than 160ft (50m) uphill through a pipe the diameter of a saucer. The full-size device is expected to pump water through a pipe the diameter of a dustbin lid up at least 650ft (200m) – or easily enough to clear the top of Beachy Head, which is 530ft (160m) high.

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