text:
Tag Archives: greaterfool
The President Has The "Doomsday" Plane. Who's going to save you?
September 23, 2011 PecanGroup Leave a comment
Doomsday Plane' Would Save President and Joint Chiefs in Apocalypse Scenario
By MICHAEL MURRAY
In the event of nuclear war, a powerful meteor strike or even a zombie apocalypse, the thoroughly protected doomsday plane is ready to keep the president, secretary of defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff and other key personnel in the air and out of danger. It may not deflect a Twitter photo scandal, but it can outrun a nuclear explosion and stay in the air for days without refueling.
The flight team for the E-4B, its military codename, sleeps nearby and is ready to scramble in five minutes. It was mobilized in the tumultuous hours after planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and southern Pennsylvania on 9/11.
"If the command centers that are on the ground in the United States have a failure of some sort, or attack, we immediately get airborne. We're on alert 24/7, 365," Captain W. Scott "Easy" Ryder, Commander, NAOC, told ABC News' Diane Sawyer as she traveled to Afghanistan with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the apocalypse-proof plane. "Constantly there's at least one alert airplane waiting to get airborne."
All E-4B aircraft are assigned to the 55th Wing, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. The modified 747s can travel at speeds up to 620 miles per hour, 40 miles per hour faster than their commercial counterparts.
The $223 million aircraft is outfitted with an electromagnetic pulse shield to protect its 165,000 pounds of advanced electronics. Thermo-radiation shields also protect the plane in the event of a nuclear strike.
A highly-trained security team travels with the plane.
"The first people off of the airplane are these guys, they'll position themselves appropriately around the airplane," Ryder said to ABC News. "The secretary also has his own small security staff that does similar things. So these guys are predominately designed to protect our airplane, and the secretary's staff protects him, as an individual."
Even though it carries VIPs, their staff and security personnel, the plane is highly fuel efficient. The plane can stay in-flight for days without refueling, a necessity if circumstances demanded the plane's use by the nation's top officials.
A precision tech team mans the sensitive electronic technology found on the plan. There is so much powerful electrical equipment onboard a specially upgraded air-conditioning system is necessary to keep it cool and functional.
"Give us the phone number of anybody, anytime, anyplace, anywhere on earth, we can get a hold of them," Master Sgt. Joe Stuart, US Air Force, told Diane Sawyer.
It can even communicate with submerged submarines by dropping a five-mile-long cable out the back of the plane. "[We] drop is down and [it] transmits coded message traffic to US submarines," Ryder told ABC News.
Although the extreme amount of survival technology on the plane more than makes up for it, the plane lacks the amenities found in bases on the ground.
"It's like being Fedexed," Gates told Sawyer. "It's fairly Spartan, with no windows or anything."
Even the Secretary of Defense only gets a tiny bathroom with a sink, but no shower. A small trade-off for being able to board this plane as the rest of us dive for cover in a worst-case scenario.
Some more details on the general characteristics of the plane, according to the official U.S. Air Force website:
Primary Function: Airborne operations center
Contractor: Boeing Aerospace Co.
Power Plant: Four General Electric CF6-50E2 turbofan engines
Thrust: 52,500 pounds each engine
Wingspan: 195 feet, 8 inches (59.7 meters)
Length: 231 feet, 4 inches (70.5 meters)
Height: 63 feet, 5 inches (19.3 meters)
Weight: 410,000 pounds (185,973 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 800,000 pounds (360,000 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 410,000 (185,973 kilograms)
Payload: communications gear permanently installed on aircraft
Speed: 602 miles per hour (523 knots)
Range: 6,200 nautical miles
Ceiling: Above 30,000 feet (9,091 meters)
Crew: Up to 112 (flight crew and mission crew)
Unit Cost: $223.2 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: January 1980
Inventory: Active force, 4
7479-11911Afghanistanair force 1air force oneamericaapocalypsearmageddondeathdoomsday planedrudgereportearthquakeeconomic collapseeconomyeducate yourselfevilfederal reservefukushimagreaterfoolInflationisraeljapanlibyaNew World Ordernow the end beginsObamaOilpresidentstansbury institutethe economic collapse blogThe President Has The "Doomsday" Plane. Who's going to save you?United Statesvice presidentWar
China To US: Any Attack on Pakistan Would be Construed as an Attack on China
September 6, 2011 PecanGroup Leave a comment
Posted on Pakalert
China has officially put the United States on notice that Washington's planned attack on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing. This blunt warning represents the first known strategic ultimatum received by the United States in half a century, going back to Soviet warnings during the Berlin crisis of 1958-1961, and indicates the grave danger of general war growing out of the US-Pakistan confrontation.
"Any Attack on Pakistan Would be Construed as an Attack on China"
Responding to reports that China has asked the US to respect Pakistan's sovereignty in the aftermath of the Bin Laden operation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu used a May 19 press briefing to state Beijing's categorical demand that the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan must be respected." According to Pakistani diplomatic sources cited by the Times of India, China has "warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China." This ultimatum was reportedly delivered at the May 9 China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, where the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.1 Chinese warnings are implicitly backed up by that nation's nuclear missiles, including an estimated 66 ICBMs, some capable of striking the United States, plus 118 intermediate-range missiles, 36 submarine-launched missiles, and numerous shorter-range systems.
Support from China is seen by regional observers as critically important for Pakistan, which is otherwise caught in a pincers between the US and India: "If US and Indian pressure continues, Pakistan can say 'China is behind us. Don't think we are isolated, we have a potential superpower with us,'" Talat Masood, a political analyst and retired Pakistani general, told AFP.2
The Chinese ultimatum came during the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani in Beijing, during which the host government announced the transfer of 50 state-of-the-art JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, immediately and without cost.3 Before his departure, Gilani had stressed the importance of the Pakistan-China alliance, proclaiming: "We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend. And China will always find Pakistan standing beside it at all times….When we speak of this friendship as being taller than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans it truly captures the essence of our relationship."4 These remarks were greeted by whining from US spokesmen, including Idaho Republican Senator Risch.
The simmering strategic crisis between the United States and Pakistan exploded with full force on May 1, with the unilateral and unauthorized US commando raid alleged to have killed the phantomatic Osama bin Laden in a compound at Abottabad, a flagrant violation of Pakistan's national sovereignty. The timing of this military stunt designed to inflame tensions between the two countries had nothing to do with any alleged Global War on Terror, and everything to do with the late March visit to Pakistan of Prince Bandar, the Saudi Arabian National Security Council chief. This visit had resulted in a de factoalliance between Islamabad and Riyadh, with Pakistan promising troops to put down any US-backed color revolution in the kingdom, while extending nuclear protection to the Saudis, thus making them less vulnerable to US extortion threats to abandon the oil-rich monarchy to the tender mercies of Tehran. A joint move by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to break out of the US empire, whatever one may think of these regimes, would represent a fatal blow for the fading US empire in South Asia.
As for the US claims concerning the supposed Bin Laden raid of May 1, they are a mass of hopeless contradictions which changes from day to day. An analysis of this story is best left to literary critics and writers of theatrical reviews. The only solid and uncontestable fact which emerges is that Pakistan is the leading US target — thus intensifying the anti-Pakistan US policy which has been in place since Obama's infamous December 2009 West Point speech.
Gilani: Full Force Retaliation to Defend Pakistan's Strategic Assets
The Chinese warning to Washington came on the heels of Gilani's statement to the Pakistan Parliament declaring: "Let no one draw any wrong conclusions. Any attack against Pakistan's strategic assets, whether overt or covert, will find a matching response…. Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full force. No one should underestimate the resolve and capability of our nation and armed forces to defend our sacred homeland."5 A warning of full force retaliation from a nuclear power such as Pakistan needs to be taken seriously, even by the hardened aggressors of the Obama regime.
The strategic assets Gilani is talking about are the Pakistani nuclear forces, the key to the country's deterrent strategy against possible aggression by India, egged on by Washington in the framework of the US-India nuclear cooperation accord. The US forces in Afghanistan have not been able to conceal their extensive planning for attempts to seize or destroy Pakistan's nuclear bombs and warheads. According to a 2009 Fox News report, "The United States has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists." This plan was developed by General Stanley McChrystal when he headed the US Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. JSOC, the force reportedly involved in the Bin Laden operation. is composed of Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs and "a high-tech special intelligence unit known as Task Force Orange." "Small units could seize [Pakistan's nukes], disable them, and then centralize them in a secure location," claimed a source quoted by Fox.
Obama Has Already Approved Sneak Attack on Pakistan's Nukes
According to the London Sunday Express, Obama has already approved an aggressive move along these lines: "US troops will be deployed in Pakistan if the nation's nuclear installations come under threat from terrorists out to avenge the killing of Osama Bin Laden… The plan, which would be activated without President Zardari's consent, provoked an angry reaction from Pakistan officials… Barack Obama would order troops to parachute in to protect key nuclear missile sites. These include the air force's central Sargodha HQ, home base for nuclear-capable F-16 combat aircraft and at least 80 ballistic missiles." According to a US official, "The plan is green lit and the President has already shown he is willing to deploy troops in Pakistan if he feels it is important for national security."7
Extreme tension over this issue highlights the brinksmanship and incalculable folly of Obama's May 1 unilateral raid, which might easily have been interpreted by the Pakistanis as the long-awaited attack on their nuclear forces. According to the New York Times, Obama knew very well he was courting immediate shooting war with Pakistan, and "insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops."
The Shooting Has Already Started
The shooting between US and Pakistani forces escalated on Tuesday May 17, when a US NATO helicopter violated Pakistani airspace in Waziristan. Pakistani forces showed heightened alert status, and opened fire immediately, with the US helicopter shooting back. Two soldiers at a Pakistani check post on the border in the Datta Khel area were wounded.8
Possible Pakistani retaliation for this border incursion came in Peshawar on Friday, May 20, when a car bomb apparently targeted a 2-car US consulate convoy, but caused no American deaths or injuries. One Pakistani bystander was killed, and several wounded. In other intelligence warfare, Ary One television reported the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad, the second top US resident spook there to have his cover blown in six months.
US Envoy Grossman Rejects Pakistani Calls To Stop Border Violations
US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, the replacement for the late Richard Holbrooke, on May 19 arrogantly rejected Pakistani calls for guarantees that no more Abottabad-style unilateral operations would be mounted in Pakistan.9 In refusing to offer such assurances, Grossman claimed that Pakistani officials had never demanded respect for their border in recent years.
In the midst of this strategic crisis, India has gone ahead with inherently provocative scheduled military maneuvers targeting Pakistan. This is the "Vijayee Bhava" (Be Victorious) drill, held in the Thar desert of north Rajastan,. This atomic-biological-chemical Blitzkrieg drill involves the Second Armored Corps, "considered to be the most crucial of the Indian Army's three principal strike formations tasked with virtually cutting Pakistan in two during a full-fledged war."
The Nation: A CIA-RAW-Mossad Pseudo-Taliban Countergang
One way to provide the provocation needed to justify a US-Indian attack on Pakistan would be through an increase in terrorist actions attributable to the so-called Taliban. According to the mainstream Pakistani media, the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, and the Indian RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) have created their own version of the Taliban in the form of a terrorist countergang which they control and direct. According to one account, "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives have infiltrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda networks, and have created their own Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) force in order to destabilize Pakistan." The former Punjab Regional Commander of the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), retired Brigadier General Aslam Ghuman, commented: "During my visit to the US, I learned that the Israeli spy agency Mossad, in connivance with Indian agency RAW, under the direct supervision of CIA, planned to destabilize Pakistan at any cost."12 Was this countergang responsible for last week's double bombing in Waziristan, which killed 80 paramilitary police?
According to the same account, Russian intelligence "disclosed that CIA contractor Raymond Davis and his network had provided Al-Qaeda operatives with chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, so that US installations may be targeted and Pakistan be blamed…." Davis, a JSOC veteran himself, was arrested for the murder of two ISI agents, but then released by the Pakistani government after a suspicious hue and cry by the State Department.
CIA Claims The New Al Qaeda Boss Lives in Waziristan
If the US needs a further pretext for additional raids, it will also be easy to cite the alleged presence in Waziristan of Saif al-Adel, now touted by the CIA as bin Laden's likely successor as boss of al Qaeda.13It is doubtless convenient for Obama's aggressive intentions that Saif al-Adel can be claimed to reside so close to what is now the hottest border in the world, and not in Finsbury or Flatbush.
In the wake of the unauthorized May 1 US raid, the Pakistani military chief General Kayani had issued his own warning that similar "misadventures" could not be repeated, while announcing that US personnel inside Pakistan would be sharply reduced. In the estimate of one ISI source, there are currently about 7,000 CIA operatives in country, many of them unknown to the Pakistani government. US-Pakistan intelligence sharing has reportedly been downgraded. In response to Kayani's moves, the CIA limited hangout operation known as Wikileaks once again showed its real nature by attempting to discredit the Pakistan commander with dubious US cable reports that he had demanded more Predator drone attacks, not fewer, in recent years.
Especially since Obama's West Point speech, the CIA has used Predator drone attacks to slaughter civilians with the goal of fomenting civil war inside Pakistan, leading to a breakup of the country along the ethnic lines of Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, and Pushtunistan. The geopolitical goal is to destroy Pakistan's potential to be the energy corridor between Iran and China. Selig Harrison has emerged as a top US advocate for Baluchistan succession.
Since May 1, six reported US Predator drones attacks have slain some 42 Pakistani civilians, goading public opinion into a frenzy of anti-US hatred. In response, a joint session of the Pakistani parliament voted unanimously on May 14 to demand an end to American missile strikes, calling on the government to cut NATO's supply line to Afghanistan if the attacks should continue.14 Since the Karachi to Khyber Pass supply line carries as much as two thirds of the supplies needed by the Afghanistan invaders, such a cutoff would cause chaos among the NATO forces. All of this points to the inherent insanity of provoking war with the country your supply line runs through.
US Wants to Use Taliban Boss Mullah Omar Against Pakistan
The State Department dropped all preconditions for negotiating with the Taliban back in February, and the US is now reported by the Washington Post to be talking with envoys of Mullah Omar, the legendary one-eyed leader of the Quetta Shura or Taliban ruling council. It is apparent that the US is offering the Taliban an alliance against Pakistan. US regional envoy Grossman is hostile to the Pakistanis, but when it comes to the Taliban he has been nicknamed "Mr. Reconciliation."15 By contrast, the US is said to be determined to assassinate the head of the Haqqani network using a Bin Laden-type raid. The Pakistanis are equally determined to keep the Haqqani as an ally.
If China stands behind Pakistan, then Russia might be said to stand behind China. Looking forward to the upcoming June 15 meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Chinese President Hu praised Sino-Russian relations as being "at an unprecedented high point," with an "obvious strategic ingredient." In a press conference this week, Russian President Medvedev was obliged indirectly to acknowledge that the much-hyped Obama "reset" with Russia had amounted to very little, since the US ABM missile program in Romania and the rest of eastern Europe, so obviously directed against Russia, means that the START treaty is of dubious value, thus raising the specter of a "new Cold War." Given the NATO assault on Libya, there would be no UN resolution against Syria, said Medvedev. Putin has been right all along, and Medvedev is trying to imitate Putin to salvage some chance of remaining in power.
Are We in July 1914?
The crisis leading to World War I began with the Sarajevo assassinations of June 28, 1914, but the first major declaration of war did not occur until August 1. In the interim month of July 1914, large parts of European public opinion retreated into a dreamlike trance, an idyllic la-la land of elegiac illusion, even as the deadly crisis gathered momentum. Something similar can be seen today. Many Americans fondly imagine that the alleged death of Bin Laden marks the end of the war on terror and the Afghan War. Instead, the Bin Laden operation has clearly ushered in a new strategic emergency. Forces which had opposed the Iraq war, from MSNBC to many left liberals of the peace movement, are variously supporting Obama's bloody aggression in Libya, or even celebrating him as a more effective warmonger than Bush-Cheney because of his supposed success at the expense of Bin Laden. In reality, if there were ever a time to mobilize to stop a new and wider war, this is it.
This post first appeared on Webster Tarpley's website.
1 economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/china-asks-us-to-respect-paks-sovereignty-independence/articleshow/8454577.cms
2 "China-Pakistan alliance strengthened post bin Laden," AFP, May 15, 2011,www.sundaytimes.lk/index.php/analysis/7546-china-pakistan-alliance-strengthened-post-bin-laden
3 www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20pakistan.html?_r=3
4 www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/05/08/Gilani-China-best-most-trusted-friend/UPI-96101304911435/
5www.nypost.com/p/news/international/pakistani_pm_regrets_unilateral_GAOWNTpBXGJaJtwzWaZu0K?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=
6 Rowan Scarborough,"U.S. Has Plan to Secure Pakistan Nukes if Country Falls to Taliban, Fox News, May 14, 2009.
7 "US 'To Protect Pakistan," London Sunday Express, May 15, 2011,www.express.co.uk/posts/view/246717/US-to-protect-Pakistan-
8 www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/us-pakistan-nato-idUSTRE74G0PS20110517
9 "US refuses to assure it will not act unilaterally," thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15758
10 "No US assurance on unilateral ops," nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/20-May-2011/No-US-assurance-on-unilateral-ops
11 "Getting leaner and meaner? Army practices blitzkrieg to strike hard at enemy," Times of India, May 10, 2011, articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-10/india/29527731_1_three-strike-corps-army-and-iaf-transformational
12 "CIA has created own Taliban to wreak terror havoc on Pakistan, claims Pak paper," ANI, May 12,my.news.yahoo.com/cia-created-own-taliban-wreak-terror-havoc-pakistan-091621821.html
13 "New al-Qaeda chief in North Waziristan," May 19, 2011
14 www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43033985/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
15 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8519535/US-steps-up-face-to-face-peace-talks-with-Taliban.html
9-11911AfghanistanamericaAnti-Christapocalypsearmageddonattackbiblebin ladenChinachristdeathdebtdrudgereportearthquakeeconomic collapseEgyptevilFinancialgodgreaterfoolindiaisraeljesusMuslimNew World Ordernuclear warpakistanprophecyRon PaulRussiasinothe economic collapse blogUSWarWorld War 3zero hedge
How Mexican killers got US guns from 'Fast and Furious' operation
August 6, 2011 PecanGroup Leave a comment
By Patrik Jonsso
On May 29, Mexican federal police in four helicopters attacked a drug cartel in a mountain redoubt. They were rebuffed by heavy fire, including from a massive .50 caliber rifle.
A bullet hole left in one helicopter's plate glass window is one exhibit in an exhaustive House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report released Tuesday showing the breadth of a high-stakes, unprecedented, and, ultimately, ill-advised US scheme called "Operation Fast and Furious."
The .50 caliber bullet hole, the report says, likely came from a gun trafficked via Fast and Furious, an operation to allow nearly 2,000 arms to leave US gunshops via certain traffickers who the US government had identified and thought it could track. The idea was to trace these "straw buyers" to key cartel figures in an attempt to score major gun busts to prove the US was serious about stopping arms trafficking across the border.
Instead, the report alleges that the operation – which one US official has called "a perfect storm of idiocy" – likely allowed hundreds of powerful guns to cross into Mexico, possibly changing the outcome of cartel battles with Mexican police, leading to the deaths of many Mexicans and one federal agent, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, and damaging diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico.
The Fast and Furious scandal is still playing out, with hearings in the House Oversight Committee Tuesday. Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R) of California says he is intent on finding out how high in the Obama administration knowledge of the operation went.
The report, "Fueling Cartel Violence," backs reports that leaders in the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) were aware of the operation. But it also names several key Department of Justice officials, such as Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, as "clearly" being aware of the operation – a charge that the Obama administration denies.
According to whistleblowers and key witnesses, however, the real lesson behind Fast and Furious, a two-year operation that ended in January 2011, is how "groupthink" clouded decision-making at the highest levels of government, causing an agency to go against its basic instincts – which is to not allow arms to be trafficked illegally – and consequently contribute, not detract, from border violence.
"These guns weren't going for a positive cause, they were going for a negative cause," ATF attaché Carlos Canino told the congressional oversight committee. "The ATF armed the [Sinaloa] cartel. It's disgusting."
Despite repeated pushback from some agents and the attaché office in Mexico City, ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson assessed it as "a good operation," the report says. According to witnesses, Assistant Attorney General Breuer appeared to cite Fast and Furious in meetings with Mexican officials, saying the US had a major gun-interdiction effort underway out of Phoenix, the report adds.
Where the guns went
The plan was to trace the guns through straw buyers to major cartels, to then build cases and make arrests. But early on, it became evident that tracking the guns had become a problem and that hundreds had made their way across the border and disappeared into cartel gun caches. According to the report, Fast and Furious guns made their way to three prominent Mexican cartels: Sinaloa, El Teo and La Familia.
Those within ATF who raised concerns about the fundamental flaw in the strategy were rebuffed or simply kept in the dark, Daniel Kumor, the ATF's international affairs chief, told congressional investigators.
At least one witness cited in the report contended knowledge of the tactics in Fast and Furious was widespread in ATF and Justice: "It was common knowledge that they were going down there to be crime guns."
The report names main Justice Department trial attorney Joe Cooley as saying the movement of vast numbers of guns to Mexico was "an acceptable practice." Mr. Cooley was Breuer's main contact with Fast and Furious, according to the report.
The Justice Department has maintained that it never knowingly allowed guns to "walk" to Mexico.
In the report, at least one higher-up fought back against accusations that field officers and ATF attachés in Mexico were raising concerns about the program. Asked if his reports raised concerns about the operation, Bill McMahon, deputy field operations director for ATF, told Congress: "Not that I can remember."
So far, nobody at the Justice Department has publicly acknowledged a role in the case, and President Obama has said neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder knew anything about it until the story broke after the murder of Brian Terry in a Sonora, Ariz., gun battle in December 2010. President Obama has ordered the Justice Department inspector general to investigate.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department fought back against the report's characterizations of Breuer's involvement.
"The Committee's report promotes unsubstantiated theories by selectively releasing excerpts of transcripts while ignoring testimony and other information," writes spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler in an e-mail. "For whatever reason, the leadership of the Committee chose not to release witness testimony that makes clear that operational details relating to this investigation were unknown to senior Department of Justice officials."
In previous testimony, Acting Director Melson, said the strategy was not "intended to allow the guns to go to suspected straw purchasers without any good faith belief that you could recover those weapons."
But he also suggested that the field agents had wide latitude. The agents, not the supervisors, "do the tactical stuff," Melson said. ATF Acting Deputy Director William Hoover added in his testimony that there was no reason for Justice officials to be aware of the tactics, "because I certainly didn't brief them on the techniques being employed in Fast and Furious."
International fallout
The fallout from the operation has taken its toll on lives and diplomatic relations, say congressional investigators.
In October, 2010, cartel members kidnapped Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, the brother of Chihuahua Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez. A few days later, police found Mr. Rodriguez's body in a shallow grave. Shortly thereafter, police engaged cartel members in a gun fight, from which several guns were recovered. Two were traced to Operation Fast and Furious.
When Mr. Canino confronted other ATF officials about the need to inform the Mexican government about the link, he says he got "zero instructions," and that "every time I mentioned it, guys started looking at their cellphones, silence in the room."
Eight months after the murder, Canino finally told Mexican Attorney General Maricela Morales about the link. "Hijole" (oh my), she said.
Today, most people understand the fallacy of the WAR ON DRUGS. THe drug trade, particularly Cocaine, is a billion dollar industry. With money comes corruption. The government is intimately involved in the drug trade. Profiting on all sides. While Governor, Bill Clinton is alleged to have operated a drug ring out of Mena, Arkansas. War on drugs? We supply the drugs. We even guard the Opium supply in Afghanistan. Learn the truth. – PECAN
armageddondrugsevilFinancialgreaterfoolLatin American Politics World Politics Politics Mexican Politics U.S. PoliticsUnited Stateswar on drugs
20 Signs That The Fabric Of American Society Is Coming Apart At The Seams
July 21, 2011 PecanGroup Leave a comment
Source: The American Dream
There is wild disagreement about what is causing it, but what most people can agree on is that there is something fundamentally wrong with America. The fabric of American society just does not seem to be as strong as it used to. In fact, many would argue that society is coming apart at the seams. Corruption and decay seem to be everywhere. I spend a lot of time in my other articles blaming a lot of this corruption and decay on politicians, bureaucrats and business leaders, but the reality is that they are only part of the story. The truth is that those who are leading us are a reflection of what we have become as a nation. If you got rid of all of our corrupt leaders that would not suddenly "fix" this country. Millions of ordinary Americans have become deeply corrupt as well. The kinds of things that you are about to read about below were very rare in past generations. Society is falling apart all around us and we haven't even seen the complete collapse of the U.S. economy yet.
A lot of people like to blame the increasingly bizarre behavior of the American people on the economy, but the reality is that things are not nearly as bad as they are eventually going to be. Yes, the U.S. "Misery Index" recently hit a 28 year high. Tens of millions of American families are deeply suffering. Unemployment is rampant and unprecedented numbers of Americans have been getting kicked out of their homes.
But that is nothing compared to what is coming.
So what is America going to look like when true economic suffering comes along?
That is something to think about.
A lot of the items in the list below may seem easy to dismiss as "isolated incidents". But when you start examining patterns of behavior over an extended period of time, certain trends begin to emerge. America is become a very cruel place. The love of most people seems to be growing cold. What some people are willing to do for a little bit of money or just because someone has "pissed them off" is absolutely stunning. The America of today is fundamentally different from the America of past generations.
We have changed, and not for the better.
The following are 20 signs that the fabric of American society is coming apart at the seams…..
#1 A 17-year-old Florida teen is being accused of killing his parents with a hammer, hiding their bodies in the master bedroom, and then inviting dozens of people over for a massive house party.
#2 What is it with 17-year-olds? Another 17-year-old has been charged with putting a plastic bag over the head of his mother and choking her to death with a belt. His two brothers just stood by and watched while this happened. Apparently the 17-year-old was infuriated because his mother wanted them to play a game of Yahtzee with her.
#3 The largest school cheating scandal in the history of the United States was recently uncovered in the Atlanta area. Dozens of teachers and principles were involved according to a recently released 413 page report….
More than three quarters of the 56 schools investigated cheated on a 2009 standardized state test, with 178 educators implicated, including 38 principals. Eighty-two teachers confessed to erasing students' answers and correcting tests. The report says widespread cheating has occurred since at least 2001 and that orders to cheat came from the top.
#4 A Vancouver, Washington woman has been charged with trying to sell her newborn baby in front of a Taco Bell. Apparently she was hoping to get somewhere between $500 and $5000 for the baby.
#5 In the United States today, if you don't show cops "proper respect" there is a good chance that you are going to get tazed. Just check out this disturbing video of an incident that recently happened in Alabama.
#6 A 48-year-old woman in California was recently arrested after she drugged her husband, chopped off his manhood and threw it into the garbage disposal.
#7 In the Dallas area, five people (including a pregnant woman) were trampled while lying on the ground as thousands of desperate people madly dashed to get into line to get on a waiting list for rental assistance vouchers.
#8 A 35-year-old New York man that has been charged with "kidnapping, killing and dismembering an 8-year-old boy" says that he "hears voices" and he has been ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.
The world is dangerous. Are you prepared? Get a Safety Kit and Stay Safe Today!
#9 There has been a rash of car robberies in the Atlanta area recently. Just a couple of nights ago, more than 30 cars were broken into in a single night in south Buckhead.
#10 All over the United States this summer, thieves are stealing just about anything they can get their hands on. People are stealing air conditioners, copper wiring, restaurant furniture, metal drain covers and even hair extensions.
#11 In Woodstock, Georgia a 61-year-old man reportedly promised to give a 17-year-old boy money if he would do certain "things" for the man. Well, it turns out that the 61-year-old man ended up setting the teen on fire….
A 61-year-old man has been arrested on charges of aggravated battery, cruelty to children, false imprisonment, and solicitation of sodomy after he set a 17-year-old boy on fire in Woodstock.
#12 In Washington state, a 23-year-old woman is accused of dumping her newborn baby into a trashcan at the hospital. When a nurse finally found the plastic bag with the baby boy inside of it, the child was blue in the face from a lack of oxygen. Fortunately, the baby survived the ordeal.
#13 In another story from Washington state, a man that is being charged with producing child porn is being allowed to watch that porn all he wants while he is in prison because he is acting as his own lawyer and needs to have "access to the evidence"….
So because he's acting as his own lawyer, he gets full access to the evidence against him. Which means that as he prepares for trial, a private room has been set up in the jail where Gilbert can watch the full 30-hour archives of his own child porn collection.
#14 The National Retail Federation says that "inventory loss" for retail stores was up 11% last year. Most of the "inventory loss" is attributed to such things as shoplifting and employee theft.
#15 In Minnesota recently, a mob of teen girls brutally pummeled a mother and her two daughters until they were black and blue. Apparently the mob of teen girls was enraged over a pair of missing sunglasses.
#16 One of the hot new trends for young males is to play the "knockout game". In this "game", a group of young men picks out an innocent bystander and the first one to knock that person out is the "winner".
#17 Prior to 2011, most Americans had never even heard of "mob robberies". Today, they have made headline news all over the nation.
#18 In the San Francisco area recently, fire crews and police just stood on the shore and watched as a suicidal 50-year-old man slowly drowned to death in the San Francisco Bay.
#19 Meanwhile, the federal government continues to waste money on some of the most bizarre things imaginable. For example, the federal government actually gave money to the National Institutes of Health to study the effect that the size of "a certain part of the body" has on the sex lives of gay men. Can anyone think of a reason why the federal government would want to throw money away on such frivolous studies when millions of Americans can't even find jobs right now?
#20 Many believe that a big reason for all of this chaos in America today is the decline of the American family. In 1960, married couples accounted for 75 percent of all households in America. Today, they account for just 48 percent of all households.
If you thought these were crazy, check out 8 Weirdly Sexual Products You Won't Believe Are for Kids and 15 "Unintentionally" Perverted Toys for Children
Whatever your political or religious philosophy is, hopefully you can agree that America is in trouble. Every single day, there are more shocking revelations about the corruption and the decay that are spreading throughout this nation.
Sadly, instead of coming together to work on some solutions to our growing problems, Americans are becoming more divided than ever.
The mainstream media teaches us that our "opponents" are those that belong to political, social or religious groups that are different from our own. They love to divide us and play us off against each other. Everywhere you look in America, hate is growing.
But hatred is never the answer. Yes, we should always stand up for what we believe is right, but we can do that and still love one another at the same time.
Unfortunately, as America continues to come apart at the seams we are probably going to see this country become even more divided.
United we stand, divided we fall – you make the call America.
americaapocalypseearthquakeeconomic collapseeconomyeducate yourselfEgyptFinancialgreaterfoolinfowarsjapanmoral fabricmoral societyNew World Ordernow the end beginsObamapecan groupsomething wrong with americawatch
Will Financial Problems In Portugal Cause The European Debt Crisis To Spiral Out Of Control?
Most Americans have no idea just how bad the financial problems over in Europe are right now. The truth is that the entire European financial system is teetering on the brink of disaster. Ireland and Greece have already received bailouts and Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Belgium are all drowning in an ocean of unsustainable debt. Sovereign credit ratings all over Europe have being slashed in recent months. For example, a while back Moody's Investors Service cut Ireland's bond rating by five levels. Up until now Europe has weathered all of this financial instability fairly well, but now huge new financial problems in Portugal threaten to send the European debt crisis spinning out of control.
The Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, resigned on Wednesdayafter the major opposition parties banded together to vote down the austerity measures that he was requesting. The package of budget cuts and tax increases was intended to get Portugal's horrible debt crisis under control. Prior to the vote, the prime minister warned that he would no longer be able to run the country if the austerity package was not passed.
Now there are all kinds of questions about what is going to happen to Portugal. At this point most financial authorities in Europe seem to be assuming that Portugal is going to need a bailout.
Today, Standard & Poor's reduced the credit rating of long-term Portuguese government debt from from \"A-\" to \"BBB\". Standard & Poor's is also warning that the credit rating may be cut further if negotiations for a bailout do not go well.
Without a bailout, it seems almost certain that Portugal will default.
Interest rates on Portuguese government debt have risen to unsustainable levels. The yield on 10-year Portuguese bonds hit 7.78%on Friday. That was the highest it has been since Portugal joined the euro.
Authorities in Portugal are publicly saying that they simply cannot afford to pay that kind of interest. Unfortunately for them, it appears that Portugal is going to be forced to issue more bonds by June at the very latest.
So how much would a bailout of Portugal cost?
Well, according to one estimate, it would probably be in the neighborhood of $70 billion euros ($99 Billion Dollars).
That isn't going to sink Europe.
However, the concern is that the crisis in Portugal could have a domino effect.
There is increasing worry in Europe that Portugal's neighbor, Spain, could also need a bailout. But a bailout of Spain would potentially be so large that it would cause a financial nightmare for Europe.
The following is how a recent article in the Wall Street Journal sized up the problem….
Portugal's admission that it will probably need a financial bailout raises a question that will shape the outcome of the euro zone's debt crisis: Is Spain next? The cost of saving Spain, a €1.1 trillion ($1.56 trillion) economy, would dwarf previous bailouts and could test the financial strength of Europe as a whole.
The truth is that the rest of Europe simply does not have the kind of financial muscle necessary to continue putting together huge bailouts indefinitely. If Spain does go down, it is going to put a massive amount of strain on the rest of the continent.
There are other financial problems simmering in Europe right now as well.
According to a recent Business Insiderarticle, the financial problems in Ireland are also creating a lot of concern at the moment….
Ireland's banks are likely to need another $39 billion in support, which would use up 80% of its current bailout funds.
Ireland is a financial basket case right about now. Confidence in Irish debt is rapidly evaporating. In fact, the yield on 10-year Irish bonds recently hit 10.12%.
But that is nothing compared to what Greece is being forced to pay.
The yield on 10-year Greek bonds recently reached an astounding 12.58%.
There are persistent rumors that Greece is going to need yet another bailout. The truth is that Germany and the other European nations that are coming up with the cash for these bailouts are just pouring their money into financial black holes.
Nations like Greece and Ireland are just money pits at this point.
As I have written about previously, the financial collapse of Europe has basically become inevitable. The EU can keep coming up with bailout plan after bailout plan, but they are only putting off the crash for a while.
Eventually a point will come when all of the balls simply cannot be kept up in the air anymore.
So what is going to happen once that point is reached?
Well, many believe that we could actually see the end of the euro and potentially even the break up of the European Union.
Of course top politicians in Europe will fight tooth and nail to keep that from happening, but the truth is that at some point we are going to see some incredibly challenging financial problems in Europe. How the EU responds to the crisis is going to be extremely interesting to watch.
So many people talk about the death of the U.S. dollar, but the truth is that we could very easily see a financial collapse and a major currency crisis in Europe prior to the collapse of the dollar. Europe is in really, really bad shape right now.
Of course it doesn't help that the entire world is so incredibly unstable right now. The disaster in Japan, the war in Libya, the revolutions across the Middle East and the surging price of oil all threaten to throw the global economy into turmoil.
As I discussed in a previous article, people need to start preparing for economic disaster. The entire global financial system is coming apart. The U.S. economy is crumbling, Europe is dealing with an unprecedented debt crisis and Japan has just been struck with the worst economic disaster that it has seen since World War 2.
Most Americans don't pay much attention to what is going on in Portugal (or in the rest of Europe for that matter), but they should. The world is more interconnected than ever, and if Europe experiences a financial meltdown it will have dramatic consequences for the United States as well.
The financial crash of 2008 swept the entire globe and virtually every nation on earth was deeply affected. The next wave of the financial crisis is also going to be felt globally.
We live in one of the most interesting times in the history of the world.
Are you prepared for what is about to happen?
austeritybailoutdefaultdrudgereporteducate yourselfeuropean debt crisisgreaterfoolinfowarsItalynow the end beginspecan groupportugalprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesspainstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogwatchzero hedge
Rich vs Poor: 14 Funny Statistics…and 14 Not So Funny Statistics About This "Economic Recovery
Rich vs Poor: 14 Funny Statistics And 14 Not So Funny Statistics About This "Economic Recovery
Today there are two very different Americas. In one America, the stock market is soaring, huge bonuses are taken for granted, the good times are rolling and people are spending money as if they will be able to "live the dream" for the rest of their lives. In the other America, the one where most of the rest of us live, unemployment is rampant, a million families were kicked out of their homes last year and hordes of American families are drowning in debt. The gap between the rich and the poor is bigger today than it ever has been before. In fact, this article is not so much about "rich vs poor" as it is about "the rich vs the rest of us". Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke keep touting an "economic recovery", but the truth is that the only ones that seem to be benefiting from this recovery are those at the very top of the economic food chain.
Below you will find 14 funny statistics about this economic recovery and 14 not so funny statistics about this economic recovery. Actually, if you find yourself deeply struggling in this economy you will probably not find any of the statistics funny. In fact, you will probably find most of them infuriating. After all, there are very few people that actually enjoy hearing about how well the rich are doing when they are barely able to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.
In any event, the 28 statistics below show the stark contrast between the "two Americas" that share this nation today. Many liberals will likely try to use these statistics as an example of why we should tax the rich. But handing more money to the government is not going to magically create more jobs for the poor. What the American people desperately need are good jobs, and many liberals don't seem to understand that. Many conservatives will likely try to use these statistics as evidence that "capitalism" is working. But the truth is that what we have in the United States today is not capitalism. Rather, it is more aptly described as "corporatism", because money and power is increasingly becoming concentrated in the hands of gigantic corporations that individuals and small businesses simply cannot compete with. The truth is that when wealth is concentrated at the very top it does not "trickle down" to the rest of us. In the old days the wealthy at least were forced to hire the rest of us to run their factories and their businesses, but with the advent of globalism that isn't even true anymore. Now they can just move their factories and businesses overseas to places where they can legally pay slave labor wages to their employees.
Very large concentrations of money and power are almost always bad for the prosperity of average citizens. Our founding fathers never intended for our central government to have so much power and they never intended for giant corporations to have so much power. But we have abandoned the principles of our founding fathers.
When large concentrations of power (whether governmental or corporate) are allowed to flourish, it almost becomes inevitable that the gap between the rich and the poor will grow. We are seeing this happen all over the world today.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that any of this is going to change any time soon. In the United States, both the federal government and multinational corporations are constantly attempting to grab even more power. It has gotten to the point where individual Americans really don't have much power left at all.
In any event, hopefully you will find the following statistics informative or at least entertaining. The wealthy are most definitely enjoying an "economic recovery" while most of the rest of us are still really struggling….
Funny – Who said that the titans of Wall Street couldn't look hot? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, facelifts for men jumped 14 percentlast year.
Not Funny – According to the U.S. Labor Department, unemployment actually increased in 351 of the 372 largest U.S. cities during the month of January.
Funny – The average bonus for a worker on Wall Street in 2010 was only $128,350. It appears that more Wall Street bailouts may be needed.
Not Funny – During this most recent economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic product in over 50 years.
Funny – According to DataQuick Information Systems, the sale of million dollars homes rose an average of 18.6 percent in the top 20 major metro areas in the U.S. in 2010. But is spending a million dollars on one house really worth it? After all, over the past several years there have been times when you could buy a house in some bad areas of Detroit for just one dollar.
Not Funny – In 2010, for the first time ever more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.
Funny – According to Moody's Analytics, the wealthiest 5% of households in the United States now account for approximately 37% of all consumer spending. Most of the rest of us don't have much discretionary income to spend these days, but at least we have Justin Bieber, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars to keep us entertained.
Not Funny – According to Gallup, the U.S. unemployment rate in mid-March was 10.2%, which was virtually unchanged from the 10.3% figure that it was sitting at exactly one year ago.
Funny – According to the Wall Street Journal, sales of private jumbo jetsto the ultra-wealthy are absolutely soaring….
Sales of private jumbo jets are so strong that Airbus and Boeing now have special sales forces devoted to potentates and the hyper-rich.
Not Funny – There are now over 6.4 million Americans that have given up looking for work completely. That number has increased by about 30 percent since the economic downturn began.
Funny – Porsche recently reported that sales increased by 29 percentduring 2010. Even Porsche jokes are coming back into style….
Question: Why did the blonde try and steal a police car?
Answer: She saw "911" on the back and thought it was a Porsche.
Not Funny – Approximately half of all American workers make $25,000 a year or less.
Funny – Cadillac recently reported that sales increased by 36 percent during 2010.
Not Funny – According to the U.S. Energy Department, the average U.S. household will spend approximately $700 more on gasoline in 2011 than it did during 2010.
Funny – Rolls-Royce recently reported that sales increased by 171 percent during 2010.
Not Funny – According to a new study by America's Research Group, approximately 75 percent of all Americans are doing less shopping because of rising gasoline prices.
Funny – According to the New York Post, Barack Obama enjoyed a total of 10 separate vacations that stretched over a total of 90 vacation days during the years of 2009 and 2010. Apparently Barack Obama was not talking about himself when he told the American people the following….
"If you're a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner, or you might put off a vacation."
Not Funny – When 2007 began, 26 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, an all-time record 44 million Americans are on food stamps.
Funny – Ralph Lauren reported a 24 percent increase in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010. It is good to know that preppies are thriving in this economy.
Not Funny – The Ivex Packaging Paper plant in Joliet, Illinois is shutting down for good after 97 years in business. 79 good jobs will be lost. Meanwhile, China has become the number one producer of paper products in the entire world.
Funny – Luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. recently announced that their profits increased by 29 percent in the 4th quarter of 2010. All of the men that did not buy their women jewelry during the holidays are trying to keep this particular news item from getting passed around.
Not Funny – Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income.
Funny – In 2009, only 18,288 vehicles with a price tag of $100,000 or more were sold in the United States. In 2010, 32,144 such vehicles were sold. It appears that "showing off for chicks" is now very much back in style.
Not Funny – The U.S. economy now has 10 percent fewer "middle class jobs" than it did just ten years ago.
Funny – Porsche has announced that they will soon be taking orders for their first hybrid sports car, the 918 Spyder. The price tag on one of these puppies will only be $845,000.
Not Funny – The average CEO now makes approximately 185 times more money than the average American worker.
Funny – Barack Obama recently played only his 61st round of golf since moving into the White House. Many are now concerned that Obama is simply not getting enough free time.
Not Funny – According to one recent study, 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line during 2010.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/rich-vs-poor-14-funny-statistics-and-14-not-so-funny-statistics-about-this-economic-recovery
americansdrudgereporteconomic recoveryeducate yourselffood stampgreaterfoolinfowarsjobjoblessno jobnow the end beginspecan groupprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogwatchworkzero hedge
How Is The Central Economic Planning That The Federal Reserve Does Different From The Central Economic Planning That Communist China Does?
Most Americans believe that we still live in a capitalist system and that free markets primarily determine the growth and development of our economy. But is that really the case? No, sadly it is not. The truth is that the U.S. Federal Reserve does a tremendous amount of central economic planning. So what makes the central economic planning that the Federal Reserve does different from the central economic planning that communist China does? Yes, in China it is the government that does the central planning and in the United States it is a private central bank that does the central planning, but other than that are there any huge differences? And if our economy is centrally planned, then how can we continue to claim that we still have a free market capitalist system?
Certainly China goes into greater detail in their economic planning, but that does not mean that the economic planning that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government do is not similar.
After all, free markets do not set interest rates in this country – the Federal Reserve does.
The Federal Reserve also determines what the money supply will be.
The Federal Reserve is the one that decides if inflation is too high or too low.
The Federal Reserve is the one that decides if unemployment is too high or too low.
In addition, the Federal Reserve has a tremendous amount of regulatory power over U.S. banks and the entire financial system. Most Americans simply do not realize how much power the Federal Reserve has over our banks. Just last year Federal Reserve officials walked into one bank in Oklahoma and demanded that they take down all the Bible verses and the Christmas buttons that the bank had been displaying.
Like the communist Chinese, the Federal Reserve is not elected and it is essentially accountable to nobody.
Like the communist Chinese, the Federal Reserve also picks winners and losers. You see, not all financial institutions are treated equally by the Fed. For example, some have access to the Fed's discount window and others do not.
How is that fair?
Certainly the Federal Reserve does not do all of the central economic planning in this country. The U.S. government loves to get involved in economic planning as well. For example, the U.S. government has decided that there are certain types of light bulbs that we are allowed to buy and certain types of light bulbs that we are no longer going to be allowed to buy. It doesn't matter that the new light bulbs are far more dangerous to children or that most of us would still like to have the choice to buy the old light bulbs.
But getting back to the Federal Reserve, how "democratic" or how "capitalist" is it to have 12 unelected people sitting around a table deciding the economic direction of this country?
The truth is that we live in a system that simply does not trust free markets and that believes that our economy needs to be "managed".
I have to admit that my thinking on these issues was stimulated when I recently read an excellent article by Vitaliy Katsenelson in which he asked the following question….
It is a fundamental tenant of American capitalism that central planning of economies doesn't work in the long term, whether in Soviet Union historically or in China today. But I often wonder: How is the Fed's Board of Governors – the proverbial 12 guys in a room – any different than the 24 guys in a room who make up the Chinese politburo?
Is Katsenelson not right about this?
How in the world is the Fed's Board of Governors all that much different from the Chinese Politburo?
In both cases, a group of unelected elitists makes the major economic decisions for all the rest of us.
That certainly does not sound like "capitalism" to me.
Would the free markets really produce worse results for our economy than the Federal Reserve does?
Would America ever have gone through the Great Depression if the Federal Reserve had not been created in 1913?
Would we have experienced the financial crash of 2008 if the policies of Greenspan and Bernanke had not created tremendous bubbles in the financial system?
Would the U.S. dollar have lost over 95 percent of its value since 1913 if the Federal Reserve was not around to constantly inflate our currency?
Would the U.S. government have the largest debt in the history of the world if we were not using the debt-based monetary system imposed upon us by the elite international bankers?
Now that the total debt of the U.S. government is $14,228,193,126,138.72, it is getting really hard to deny that the federal government is drowning in debt.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher unknowingly indicted the very system he serves when he recently made the following statement….
"If we continue down on the path on which the fiscal authorities put us, we will become insolvent, the question is when."
If the Federal Reserve had never been created, and the U.S. government had been issuing debt-free currency all this time, it is entirely conceivable that we would have absolutely no federal government debt at this point.
But defenders of the Federal Reserve tell us that if not for the brilliant people over at the Fed, America would be an economic basket case by now.
Oh really?
In case anyone has not noticed, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a very long track record of incompetence. Nearly every major judgment that he has made since taking over that position has been wrong. If one of us could go down the street and appoint the manager of our local Dairy Queen as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, it is very doubtful that person could do a worse job than Bernanke has done.
Unfortunately, most Americans do not understand this. Most Americans are still convinced that "the greatest economy on earth" will just keep roaring along forever. Most Americans are spending and partying as if everything is going to be just fine.
Sadly, as Richard Daughty recently pointed out, most Americans will not wake up and realize just how bad our economic problems really are until it is too late….
In fact, to use an analogy, the economy is like a group of overpaid people, milking the government for every dollar and benefit they can get, on a chartered airplane that has been certified as "unsafe," where one minute everybody is having fun, drunk as skunks, laughing and telling dirty jokes, and the next minute the plane is plunging out of the sky, out of fuel, one wing is in flames, the engines are dead, the entire electrical system is kaput, and, worst of all, the beverage cart is completely empty of cold beer and those little bottles of different kinds of tasty liquors. Uh-oh!
Most Americans have become so "dumbed down" that they still won't even understand what is happening even after the economy has collapsed. Newsweekrecently found that 63 percent of Americans do not know how many justices are on the Supreme Court and 29 percent of Americans cannot even name the current Vice-President.
America today is rapidly degenerating in many of the same ways that the Roman Empire once did. Tens of millions of Americans are lazy, slothful and absolutely addicted to entertainment. It is frightening to see just how many Americans did not show any empathy during the recent crisis in Japan or when we started launching missiles on Libya. The following mini-documentary that was recently posted on YouTube does a beautiful job of making this point….
So is there any hope for America?
Let us hope that people wake up, because there are going to be even more economic disasters coming our way. Right now a large percentage of the American people don't even know enough to realize what the real problems are, much less what the solutions may be.
When most Americans talk about economics, they instantly start blaming "Obama" or "Bush" and a lot of them never even bring up the Federal Reserve.
But it is the Federal Reserve that has the most power over our economy.
If Americans want to blame someone in Washington D.C. for the economic mess that we are in, the number one culprit is the Federal Reserve.
Yes, Obama, Bush and virtually every member of Congress has played a role in our economic nightmare as well. But it is the Federal Reserve that is actually "managing" our economy.
We would have been much better off if we had allowed free markets to "manage" our economy all this time, but very few Americans actually seem to still believe in free markets anymore.
americaChinesedrudgereporteconomic collapseeconomy plannededucate yourselffederal reservefree market capitalistgreaterfoolinfowarsnow the end beginspecan groupprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogUSwatchzero hedge
Climate Change is Natural: 100 Reasons why
HERE are the 100 reasons, released in a dossier issued by the European Foundation, why climate change is natural and not man-made:
1) There is "no real scientific proof" that the current warming is caused by the rise of greenhouse gases from man's activity.
2) Man-made carbon dioxide emissions throughout human history constitute less than 0.00022 percent of the total naturally emitted from the mantle of the earth during geological history.
3) Warmer periods of the Earth's history came around 800 years before rises in CO2 levels.
4) After World War II, there was a huge surge in recorded CO2 emissions but global temperatures fell for four decades after 1940.
5) Throughout the Earth's history, temperatures have often been warmer than now and CO2 levels have often been higher – more than ten times as high.
6) Significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout geologic time.
7) The 0.7C increase in the average global temperature over the last hundred years is entirely consistent with well-established, long-term, natural climate trends.
8) The IPCC theory is driven by just 60 scientists and favourable reviewers not the 4,000 usually cited.
9) Leaked e-mails from British climate scientists – in a scandal known as "Climate-gate" – suggest that that has been manipulated to exaggerate global warming
10) A large body of scientific research suggests that the sun is responsible for the greater share of climate change during the past hundred years.
11) Politicians and activists claim rising sea levels are a direct cause of global warming but sea levels rates have been increasing steadily since the last ice age 10,000 ago
12) Philip Stott, Emeritus Professor of Biogeography at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London says climate change is too complicated to be caused by just one factor, whether CO2 or clouds
13) Peter Lilley MP said last month that "fewer people in Britain than in any other country believe in the importance of global warming. That is despite the fact that our Government and our political class—predominantly—are more committed to it than their counterparts in any other country in the world".
14) In pursuit of the global warming rhetoric, wind farms will do very little to nothing to reduce CO2 emissions
15) Professor Plimer, Professor of Geology and Earth Sciences at the University of Adelaide, stated that the idea of taking a single trace gas in the atmosphere, accusing it and finding it guilty of total responsibility for climate change, is an "absurdity"
16) A Harvard University astrophysicist and geophysicist, Willie Soon, said he is "embarrassed and puzzled" by the shallow science in papers that support the proposition that the earth faces a climate crisis caused by global warming.
17) The science of what determines the earth's temperature is in fact far from settled or understood.
18) Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, CO2 is a minor greenhouse gas, unlike water vapour which is tied to climate concerns, and which we can't even pretend to control
19) A petition by scientists trying to tell the world that the political and media portrayal of global warming is false was put forward in the Heidelberg Appeal in 1992. Today, more than 4,000 signatories, including 72 Nobel Prize winners, from 106 countries have signed it.
20) It is claimed the average global temperature increased at a dangerously fast rate in the 20th century but the recent rate of average global temperature rise has been between 1 and 2 degrees C per century – within natural rates
21) Professor Zbigniew Jaworowski, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Warsaw, Poland says the earth's temperature has more to do with cloud cover and water vapor than CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
22) There is strong evidence from solar studies which suggests that the Earth's current temperature stasis will be followed by climatic cooling over the next few decades
23) It is myth that receding glaciers are proof of global warming as glaciers have been receding and growing cyclically for many centuries
24) It is a falsehood that the earth's poles are warming because that is natural variation and while the western Arctic may be getting somewhat warmer we also see that the Eastern Arctic and Greenland are getting colder
25) The IPCC claims climate driven "impacts on biodiversity are significant and of key relevance" but those claims are simply not supported by scientific research
26) The IPCC threat of climate change to the world's species does not make sense as wild species are at least one million years old, which means they have all been through hundreds of climate cycles
27) Research goes strongly against claims that CO2-induced global warming would cause catastrophic disintegration of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets.
28) Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, rising CO2 levels are our best hope of raising crop yields to feed an ever-growing population
29) The biggest climate change ever experienced on earth took place around 700 million years ago
30) The slight increase in temperature which has been observed since 1900 is entirely consistent with well-established, long-term natural climate cycles
31) Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, rising CO2 levels of some so-called "greenhouse gases" may be contributing to higher oxygen levels and global cooling, not warming
32) Accurate satellite, balloon and mountain top observations made over the last three decades have not shown any significant change in the long term rate of increase in global temperatures
33) Today's CO2 concentration of around 385 ppm is very low compared to most of the earth's history – we actually live in a carbon-deficient atmosphere
34) It is a myth that CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas because greenhouse gases form about 3% of the atmosphere by volume, and CO2 constitutes about 0.037% of the atmosphere
35) It is a myth that computer models verify that CO2 increases will cause significant global warming because computer models can be made to "verify" anything
36) There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes
37) One statement deleted from a UN report in 1996 stated that "none of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases"
38) The world "warmed" by 0.07 +/- 0.07 degrees C from 1999 to 2008, not the 0.20 degrees C expected by the IPCC
39) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says "it is likely that future tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes) will become more intense" but there has been no increase in the intensity or frequency of tropical cyclones globally
40) Rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere can be shown not only to have a negligible effect on the Earth's many ecosystems, but in some cases to be a positive help to many organisms
41) Researchers who compare and contrast climate change impact on civilizations found warm periods are beneficial to mankind and cold periods harmful
42) The Met Office asserts we are in the hottest decade since records began but this is precisely what the world should expect if the climate is cyclical
43) Rising CO2 levels increase plant growth and make plants more resistant to drought and pests
44) The historical increase in the air's CO2 content has improved human nutrition by raising crop yields during the past 150 years
45) The increase of the air's CO2 content has probably helped lengthen human lifespans since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
46) The IPCC alleges that "climate change currently contributes to the global burden of disease and premature deaths" but the evidence shows that higher temperatures and rising CO2 levels has helped global populations
47) In May of 2004, the Russian Academy of Sciences published a report concluding that the Kyoto Protocol has no scientific grounding at all.
48) The "Climate-gate" scandal pointed to a expensive public campaign of disinformation and the denigration of scientists who opposed the belief that CO2 emissions were causing climate change
49) The head of Britain's climate change watchdog has predicted households will need to spend up to £15,000 on a full energy efficiency makeover if the Government is to meet its ambitious targets for cutting carbon emissions.
50) Wind power is unlikely to be the answer to our energy needs. The wind power industry argues that there are "no direct subsidies" but it involves a total subsidy of as much as £60 per MWh which falls directly on electricity consumers. This burden will grow in line with attempts to achieve Wind power targets, according to a recent OFGEM report.
51) Wind farms are not an efficient way to produce energy. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) accepts a figure of 75 per cent back-up power is required.
52) Global temperatures are below the low end of IPCC predictions not at "at the top end of IPCC estimates"
53) Climate alarmists have raised the concern over acidification of the oceans but Tom Segalstad from Oslo University in Norway , and others, have noted that the composition of ocean water – including CO2, calcium, and water – can act as a buffering agent in the acidification of the oceans.
54) The UN's IPCC computer models of human-caused global warming predict the emergence of a "hotspot" in the upper troposphere over the tropics. Former researcher in the Australian Department of Climate Change, David Evans, said there is no evidence of such a hotspot
55) The argument that climate change is a of result of global warming caused by human activity is the argument of flat Earthers.
56) The manner in which US President Barack Obama sidestepped Congress to order emission cuts shows how undemocratic and irrational the entire international decision-making process has become with regards to emission-target setting.
57) William Kininmonth, a former head of the National Climate Centre and a consultant to the World Meteorological Organisation, wrote "the likely extent of global temperature rise from a doubling of CO2 is less than 1C. Such warming is well within the envelope of variation experienced during the past 10,000 years and insignificant in the context of glacial cycles during the past million years, when Earth has been predominantly very cold and covered by extensive ice sheets."
58) Canada has shown the world targets derived from the existing Kyoto commitments were always unrealistic and did not work for the country.
59) In the lead up to the Copenhagen summit, David Davis MP said of previous climate summits, at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Kyoto in 1997 that many had promised greater cuts, but "neither happened", but we are continuing along the same lines.
60) The UK 's environmental policy has a long-term price tag of about £55 billion, before taking into account the impact on its economic growth.
61) The UN's panel on climate change warned that Himalayan glaciers could melt to a fifth of current levels by 2035. J. Graham Cogley a professor at Ontario Trent University, claims this inaccurate stating the UN authors got the date from an earlier report wrong by more than 300 years.
62) Under existing Kyoto obligations the EU has attempted to claim success, while actually increasing emissions by 13 per cent, according to Lord Lawson. In addition the EU has pursued this scheme by purchasing "offsets" from countries such as China paying them billions of dollars to destroy atmospheric pollutants, such as CFC-23, which were manufactured purely in order to be destroyed.
63) It is claimed that the average global temperature was relatively unchanging in pre-industrial times but sky-rocketed since 1900, and will increase by several degrees more over the next 100 years according to Penn State University researcher Michael Mann. There is no convincing empirical evidence that past climate was unchanging, nor that 20th century changes in average global temperature were unusual or unnatural.
64) Michael Mann of Penn State University has actually shown that the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age did in fact exist, which contrasts with his earlier work which produced the "hockey stick graph" which showed a constant temperature over the past thousand years or so followed by a recent dramatic upturn.
65) The globe's current approach to climate change in which major industrialised countries agree to nonsensical targets for their CO2 emissions by a given date, as it has been under the Kyoto system, is very expensive.
66) The "Climate-gate" scandal revealed that a scientific team had emailed one another about using a "trick" for the sake of concealing a "decline" in temperatures when looking at the history of the Earth's temperature.
67) Global temperatures have not risen in any statistically-significant sense for 15 years and have actually been falling for nine years. The "Climate-gate" scandal revealed a scientific team had expressed dismay at the fact global warming was contrary to their predictions and admitted their inability to explain it was "a travesty".
68) The IPCC predicts that a warmer planet will lead to more extreme weather, including drought, flooding, storms, snow, and wildfires. But over the last century, during which the IPCC claims the world experienced more rapid warming than any time in the past two millennia, the world did not experience significantly greater trends in any of these extreme weather events.
69) In explaining the average temperature standstill we are currently experiencing, the Met Office Hadley Centre ran a series of computer climate predictions and found in many of the computer runs there were decade-long standstills but none for 15 years – so it expects global warming to resume swiftly.
70) Richard Lindzen, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote: "The notion of a static, unchanging climate is foreign to the history of the Earth or any other planet with a fluid envelope. Such hysteria (over global warming) simply represents the scientific illiteracy of much of the public, the susceptibility of the public to the substitution of repetition for truth."
71) Despite the 1997 Kyoto Protocol's status as the flagship of the fight against climate change it has been a failure.
72) The first phase of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which ran from 2005 to 2007 was a failure. Huge over-allocation of permits to pollute led to a collapse in the price of carbon from €33 to just €0.20 per tonne meaning the system did not reduce emissions at all.
73) The EU trading scheme, to manage carbon emissions has completely failed and actually allows European businesses to duck out of making their emissions reductions at home by offsetting, which means paying for cuts to be made overseas instead.
74) To date "cap and trade" carbon markets have done almost nothing to reduce emissions.
75) In the United States , the cap-and-trade is an approach designed to control carbon emissions and will impose huge costs upon American citizens via a carbon tax on all goods and services produced in the United States. The average family of four can expect to pay an additional $1700, or £1,043, more each year. It is predicted that the United States will lose more than 2 million jobs as the result of cap-and-trade schemes.
76) Dr Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, has indicated that out of the 21 climate models tracked by the IPCC the differences in warming exhibited by those models is mostly the result of different strengths of positive cloud feedback – and that increasing CO2 is insufficient to explain global-average warming in the last 50 to 100 years.
77) Why should politicians devote our scarce resources in a globally competitive world to a false and ill-defined problem, while ignoring the real problems the entire planet faces, such as: poverty, hunger, disease or terrorism.
94) The European Union has already agreed to cut emissions by 20 percent to 2020, compared with 1990 levels, and is willing to increase the target to 30 percent. However, these are unachievable and the EU has already massively failed with its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), as EU emissions actually rose by 0.8 percent from 2005 to 2006 and are known to be well above the Kyoto goal.
95) Australia has stated it wants to slash greenhouse emissions by up to 25 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, but the pledges were so unpopular that the country's Senate has voted against the carbon trading Bill, and the Opposition's Party leader has now been ousted by a climate change sceptic.
96) Canada plans to reduce emissions by 20 percent compared with 2006 levels by 2020, representing approximately a 3 percent cut from 1990 levels but it simultaneously defends its Alberta tar sands emissions and its record as one of the world's highest per-capita emissions setters.
97) India plans to reduce the ratio of emissions to production by 20-25 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2020, but all Government officials insist that since India has to grow for its development and poverty alleviation, it has to emit, because the economy is driven by carbon.
98) The Leipzig Declaration in 1996, was signed by 110 scientists who said: "We – along with many of our fellow citizens – are apprehensive about the climate treaty conference scheduled for Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997" and "based on all the evidence available to us, we cannot subscribe to the politically inspired world view that envisages climate catastrophes and calls for hasty actions."
99) A US Oregon Petition Project stated "We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of CO2, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."
100) A report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change concluded "We find no support for the IPCC's claim that climate observations during the twentieth century are either unprecedented or provide evidence of an anthropogenic effect on climate."
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/146138/146138Climate-change-is-natural-100-reasons-why-#ixzz1HjnXeOsB
activitycap and tradecarbon dioxideclimate changeclimate denierCO2drudgereporteartheducate yourselfflat earthergreaterfoolgreenhouse gaseshistoryinfowarsmanman made global warmingnow the end beginspecan groupprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury instituteSunthe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogwarmingwatchzero hedge
Sick of taking a Cruise? Or is the cruise making you sick?
March 26, 2011 PecanGroup	Leave a comment
Study suggests outbreaks on cruise ships worse than reported
By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
By Mic Smith, AP
The number of people who get sick during outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships often is higher than is officially reported, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta writing this week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases report 40% of passengers who fell ill during a closely studied outbreak of norovirus on a ship in 2009 failed to inform the vessel's infirmary, leaving them uncounted in official tallies.
The researchers say an investigation of the outbreak while it was ongoing by Centers for Disease Control staffers who boarded the ship found that 15.4% of passengers had become sick, but only 60% of the ill passengers had made their illness known to ship officials.
The researchers did not reveal the name of the ship, but details of the voyage disclosed in the study including the length of the sailing (15 days) and total passenger count (1,842) suggest it was the Celebrity Mercury. Public records on cruise ship outbreaks maintained by the Centers for Disease Control's Vessel Sanitation Program show the Celebrity Mercury suffered a norovirus outbreak in January 2009 when sailing for 15 days with 1,842 passengers.
The Vessel Sanitation Program's record of the outbreak, notably, says that just 8.14% of passengers became ill during the voyage, as compared to the study's findings that 15.4% of passengers became ill.
The researchers note the study's findings are consistent with earlier cruise ship outbreak investigations that have found that many sick passengers don't report their illnesses to ship infirmaries. Previous investigations have found that anywhere from just 8% to 77% of sick passengers have made their illnesses known during outbreaks.
The researchers say data from questionnaires given to passengers during the January 2009 outbreak show many passengers did not report their illnesses because they didn't feel all that sick and/or had their own medications to treat symptoms. But, perhaps more troubling for cruise lines trying to reduce the spread of illness on ships, a number of passengers said they didn't report symptoms because they wanted to avoid being ordered into isolation while on vacation.
A small number of passengers also said they did not report their illness to the infirmary because they were worried about having to pay for treatment. The researchers note the line was offering free treatment for outbreak-related illness, so such a response highlights "the importance of proper communication" to passengers during an outbreak.
Norovirus is a common, highly contagious gastro-intestinal illness that causes vomiting and diarrhea, and it is known to break out in settings with close living quarters such as school dormitories, nursing homes and cruise ships. The cruise industry has worked hard in recent years to reduce the number and severity of outbreaks of norovirus and other gastro-intestinal illnesses, and the total number of outbreaks recorded on ships has been on the decline (The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents major cruise lines, posts information on what the industry is doing to prevent norovirus outbreaks at cruiseindustryfacts.com).
The researchers say the 2009 outbreak they studied likely was brought on board the ship by a passenger, noting that several passengers were reported to have gastro-intestinal illness symptoms during embarkation and one vomited in a public area.
The researchers suggest more incentives are needed to convince sick passengers boarding ships to report their illness immediately upon boarding or to delay their trip altogether.
"Incentives to encourage ill passengers to report their illness to ship personnel may help to prevent the introduction of norovirus onto cruise ships and enable more timely interventions, particularly if aggressive sanitation measures are adopted at the first signs of a possible outbreak," stated the researcher.
Posted Mar 24 2011 9:11AM
http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2011/03/cruise-ship-norovirus-disease-outbreak-cdc-study-/149118/1
carnivalcrusie ship making you sickdisneydrudgereporteducate yourselfgreaterfoolinfowarsnorovirusnow the end beginspecan groupprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesanitationsavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogvacationviruswatchzero hedge
Heartland Payments – Largest Data Breach in the History of the World. Is your identity safe?
March 25, 2011 PecanGroup	1 Comment
Heartland Payments – A pattern of risk
Written by J. Russell Stoops
On January 20th, 2009, timed to coincide with the inauguration of Barak Obama, the world was awakened to news from Heartland Payments of the most massive security breach in the history of the payment card industry. The cardholder data of well over 130 million consumers had been compromised; exposing millions of accounts to dangerous international identify thieves. The enormity of the breach highlighted the inadequate security features Heartland Payments provided to safeguard their customers' sensitive data.
https://thesoutherninstitute.com, the processor for more than 250.000 businesses, over 60,000 of which are restaurants, initially released a statement minimizing the extent of the breach, and even created a website to downplay its ongoing effects. The nominal effort to "inform" potential victims as to the extent of their damages have amounted to an open attempt to change the official story and whitewash the damage report while offering little information to the consumer, including none of the names of affected companies. Heartland has neither offered free credit monitoring nor ID theft protection for victims, implying that these efforts may provide information that could lead to more identities being stolen. Protecting the consumer\'s identity is evidently not the responsibility of this card processor
Occurring over a period of 14 months, Heartland took notice only after it was notified by Visa and MasterCard of suspicious transactions stemming from accounts linked to their systems. It took only a modicum of skill using basic hacking techniques to infiltrate their platform. "They found an open window, got in, but they didn't have access to everything right away," says Michael Lloyd, chief scientist at network security firm RedSeal."They stayed inside the network chucking stuff out of the window, and nobody noticed, much less tried to stop them."
Heartland President and CFO Robert Baldwin stated in an interviewRobert Baldwin said in an interview that the company did not find definitive proof that its systems had been breached until mid-January of this year. Perhaps, this may be true, but CEO Bob Carr began selling his stock immediately upon notification of the breach in October, 2008.
Eclipsing the previous record held by TJ Max, which had stolen data to the tune of 45 million people, except for an apology, Heartland Payments has offered little in the way of actual assurance their customers are now secure.
The Heartland breach is the second involving a large payment processor. RBS WorldPay Inc., the payment processing division of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, announced that its systems had been breached, resulting in the compromise of personal information belonging to about 1.5 million card holders.
Visa delivered a public reprimand to Heartland by temporarily removing it from Visa's list of service providers that comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). PCI compliant service providers adhere to a strict set of data security standards to protect consumers' card information and fight identity theft and fraud. Visa has questioned Heartland's security compliance, particularly at the time the processor was breached in 2008, reporting that no merchant processor that has been PCI compliant has ever been compromised. The fact is Heartland had a woefully inadequate cryptographic architecture. Incoming payment data should have been encrypted on a dedicated hardware box upon arrival.
A breach promises significant hardship for its victims who must work as long as a year before they are able to reclaim their identity. Card account numbers make it into the hands of counterfeiters who embed the stolen numbers on the magnetic stripes of blank, wallet-sized cards, and use them to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs.
The stark reality is, in spite of the breach, Heartland Payments has continued to grow and enjoy the sponsorship of numerous associations throughout the nation. The question must be asked, are these associations, such as the Montana Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association, simply unaware of the massive risk they are placing upon themselves and their members by endorsing Heartland? Are all of these associations simply uninformed regarding the breach and other ongoing legal battles Heartland is continually facing? Or, do these associations simply not care?
The shameful truth is that many of these associations are perfectly aware of the liability that their members are open to. Their indifference to the economic well-being of their members, in deference to the potential profit they can receive by sponsoring Heartland as a payment processor, awakens the member to the true loyalties of these associations. Heartland's stock has continued to fall amid ongoing legal disputes related to the breach.
If Heartland's troubles weren't deep enough, Verifone is moving forward with a patent infringement case against the processor and has terminated its support relationship as of December 31st, 2009. "VeriFone is intent on simply helping customers impacted by Heartland's theft of VeriFone's intellectual property, and we continue to do all we can to help these customers ensure that there will be no disruption, despite Heartland's interference," said VeriFone CEO Douglas G. Bergeron. Heartlands is dependent upon VeriFone for updates and support to the VeriFone operating system, runtime libraries, and in most cases the payment application. Since December 31, 2009 the only way for Heartland merchants to ensure ongoing support and efficient operation is to register with VeriFone. Current Heartland merchants can register for VeriFone support at: https://freesupport.verifone.com or the toll-free number 1-888-887-8199.
Called to testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on September 14th, 2009, Heartland Payments CEO Robert O. Carr offered a sugar-coated assessment of recent events. According to his testimony, the breach had cost Heartland over $32 million dollars thus far.
Heartland Payments was under SEC investigation. Rather than working to protect their merchants and stockholders, there is evidence that CEO Bob O. Carr may be guilty of insider trading. It has been confirmed that Visa notified Heartland of suspicious activity on Oct. 28, 2008. According to insider trade filings, Carr sold just under US$8 million worth of stock between Oct. 29 and the day the breach was disclosed. Heartland's stock was trading in the $15-to-$20 range for most of these transactions, but it dropped following the breach disclosure.
The events of the past 18-24 months have highlighted a disturbing pattern of risk associated with processing with Heartland payments. Merchants are opening themselves to unnecessary liabilities, and potential fees and fines, by not adequately protecting their customer's cardholder data. As we know from our judicial system, ignorance is not an excuse. The ongoing risk is unacceptable and all are encouraged to ask every merchant who their processor prior to using their cards for payment.
http://www.andersonfreepress.net/node/20476
http://commonlaw.findlaw.com/2009/01/heartland-payment-data-breach-draws-class-action-lawuit.html
credit card processingdrudgereporteducate yourselfgreaterfoolheartland paymentsheartland payments pattern of riskidentity theftinfowarsj russell stoopsjonathan stoopslargest data breachmerchant processingmerchant processornow the end beginsprisonplanetprophecy watchrenserestaurant associationsavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogunsafevictimwatchzero hedge
19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America
19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America That Will Blow Your Mind
The United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing. It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II. But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America.
Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. The United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little. Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us. The United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was. Once upon a time America could literally outproduce the rest of the world combined. Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world. If the deindustrialization of America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?
Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things. So if the United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace how in the world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month America does into more debt and every single month America gets poorer.
So what happens when the debt bubble pops?
The deindustrialization of the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them.
For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them. Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber.
The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind….
#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,000 factories since 2001.
#2 Dell Inc., one of America's largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.
#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.
#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? ZeroZero.
#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.
#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.
#7 The United States has lost a total of about5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.
#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.
#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.
#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced theclosure of a factorythat produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.
#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.
#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.
#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.
#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.
#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.
#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times largerthan the U.S. economy by the year 2040.
#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.
So how many tens of thousands more factories do we need to lose before we do something about it?
How many millions more Americans are going to become unemployed before we all admit that we have a very, very serious problem on our hands?
How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy?
How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war zones like Detroit before we understand that we are committing national economic suicide?
The deindustrialization of America is a national crisis. It needs to be treated like one.
If you disagree with this article, I have a direct challenge for you. If anyone can explain how a deindustrialized America has any kind of viable economic future, please do so below in the comments section.
America is in deep, deep trouble folks. It is time to wake up.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/19-facts-about-the-deindustrialization-of-america-that-will-blow-your-mind
deindustrializationdrudgereporteducate yourselfgreaterfoolinfowarsloss of factory jobsnow the end beginspecan grouppost industrializationprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogunionUnited StatesUSwatchzero hedge
Artificial sweeteners: Why we should be afraid of Aspartame.
artificial sweeteneraspartamedangerdrudgereporteducate yourselfgreaterfoolinfowarsnow the end beginsprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogwatchzero hedge
Gas to hit $5 per Gallon by Summer and evidence this was planned for the past 3 years.
Gas to Hit $5 Per Gallon Before Summer
Oil industry experts warn that the price for a gallon of gas will reach $5 by summer. They blame the unfolding conflict in Libya and across the oil-producing Middle East for exploding prices.
The price for a barrel of oil rose .31 cents to $106.07today.
Oil prices do not follow the classic laws of capitalist supply and demand. Despite the fact the Energy Department reported a 2 million-barrel rise in crude oil supplies for the week that ended March 18, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos, the price of gas continues to rise. The increase represented 970,000 barrels.
Supply and demand is an irrelevant theory under globalist mercantilism.
"Supply and demand mean nothing to the oil industry. Basic economics teaches that if supply goes down, prices will go up. If demand goes down, prices go down. The inverse of each is also true, unless you are in the oil industry," writes The Mercury in an op-ed. "Previous excuses for price increases of gasoline have been damage to refineries by Hurricane Katrina, a pipeline leak in Alaska, the increased cost of refining for the summer time driving season, the war in Iraq, and most anything that can be associated with gasoline."
Confronted with an overall supply increase, the industry expects gasoline supplies to decline by 2 million barrels, distillate stocks to shrink by 1.5 million barrels and refinery utilization to increase by 0.3 percentage point to 83.7 percent according to BloombergBloomberg.
Nielsen Wire reports that a 50-cent increase in gas prices would cost the typical U.S. household about $52.50 per month, and if prices were to rise two dollars, that would mean $210 a month, or more than $2,500 a year.
In December, former oil industry chaplain Lindsey Williams said the price of oil would skyrocket to between $150 and $200 a barrel this year. Williams became a friend and trusted confidant of oil industry executives while he served as chaplain for them and their construction crews building the Alaska pipeline during the 1970s.
Williams believes the global elite plan to kill the dollar and bring the once great United States to its knees and reduce it to third world status.
The Energy Non-Crisis
DEBUNKING the MYTH of PEAK OIL
PEAK OIL IS A SCAM
ABIOTIC OIL THEORY – ENDLESS SUPPLY
http://www.infowars.com/gas-to-hit-5-per-gallon-before-summer/
Rising Oil Price Intensifies Speculation Debate
By Dunstan Prial
| FOXBusiness
It happens every time the rising price of crude oil pushes a gallon of gasoline toward $4 in the U.S. — the debate over the role of speculators in commodities markets grows louder and sharper.
Do speculators — that is, traders who purchase futures contracts purely for profit and with no intention of taking delivery of the product — play a necessary role in creating liquid markets for everything from oil to orange juice? Or do they manipulate prices for their own benefit often at the expense of consumers?
The answer, of course, is 'yes' to both questions. But there seems to be a heightened urgency to the debate this time around as global economies struggle to recover from the worst economic downturn in decades.
The concern is that by artificially pushing the price of oil higher, the speculators are threatening the already fragile global economic recovery, especially here in the U.S.
As everyone knows, the price of crude oil and the price consumers pay for a gallon of gasoline are inextricably linked. When crude rises, so does the price at the pump, and that takes money out of the pockets of U.S. consumers, whose spending comprises 70% of domestic economic activity. Since late January, when political turmoil began to spread across the Mideast, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has risen more than 40 cents to $3.52 from $3.10, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
"The real loser becomes the domestic economy," said Hamza Khan, an analyst with the Schork Report, an energy markets newsletter. "When consumers have to pay more at the pump they're going to cut back elsewhere and that is going to hurt U.S. companies."
While traders — especially pure speculators — thrive on market volatility, profiting on sudden surges and plunges, that same uncertainty wreaks havoc on small business owners trying to plan for their future.
Eventually that uncertainty will put a crimp in hiring, Khan warned. "Who's going to hire if they might be going out of business in two weeks?" he asked.
The violence roiling the Middle East has raised genuine concerns that disruptions in the oil supply could create a shortage. Earlier this week a barrel of crude hit a two-year high of $105.
But the concerns so far are nothing more than that — concerns. In Egypt, security along the well-traveled Suez Canal and the important Suez-Mediterranean pipeline was beefed up almost simultaneous to the outbreak of political unrest there. The situation in Libya, which controls the largest oil reserves in Africa, is murkier, but to date global production has not been markedly curtailed by the violence in that country. Besides, Libya only produces 2% of the global oil supply.
Meanwhile, stockpiles remain plentiful and, if anything, demand is expected to slow as China puts the brakes on its overheating economy.
Nevertheless, big speculators (primarily hedge funds) are pouring money into the oil market in the form of net-long positions, or bets that the price will continue to rise. According to data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, net-long positions rose by 30% in the days immediately following the outbreak of violence in Libya.
Khan said the disparity between what's actually happening in the oil markets and the number of contracts betting on a rise in prices represents a "disconnect," one that detracts from speculators' important role of providing liquidity and transparency to markets.
By some estimates speculators have added $15 a barrel to the price of oil.
Kevin Kerr, president of commodities firm Kerr Trading International, pulled no punches, calling the current price levels "simply a money grab and fear trade."
"Speculators in the energy markets right now have a lot of risks to consider but unfortunately it can get overdone and I hope that the various funds and large speculative entities will take a step back and really evaluate the true fundamental picture. We do have plenty of oil on the market right now and while some fear premium is certainly legitimate, in my opinion it is not a justification for over $100 right now," he said.
Kerr said the escalating violence in Libya, as rebel forces attempt to oust long-time dictator Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi, raises legitimate concerns for "real disruption," but still does not justify the current prices.
Kerr also warned of the global impact resulting from artificially high oil prices: "Speculators and funds who are driving up the price of oil based on fear premium and the weak dollar will hopefully evaluate the implications for driving the price much higher than it really needs or deserves to go, at least at this stage," he said.
Finally, Kerr recalled "the extreme liquidation" that followed the last precipitous rise in oil prices, when a barrel passed $147 in the summer of 2008 and then plunged below $40 in a matter of months.
"I would like to say that rampant speculators learned from what happened in 2008 but it seems fiduciary responsibility and true market fundamentals are still on the back burner," Kerr concluded.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/03/10/rising-oil-price-intensifies-speculation-debate/#ixzz1HX3w9uul
abiotic oilcrude oildrudgereporteducate yourselfgas pricesgreaterfoolinfowarslindsey williamsnow the end beginspeak oil mythpecan groupprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogwatchzero hedge
History hidden by the victors, World News
Three World Wars: Albert Pike and the Grand Chessboard
Albert Pike received a vision, which he described in a letter that he wrote to Mazzini, dated August 15, 1871. This letter graphically outlined plans for three world wars that were seen as necessary to bring about the One World Order, and we can marvel at how accurately it has predicted events that have already taken place.
Pike's Letter to Mazzini
It is a commonly believed fallacy that for a short time, the Pike letter to Mazzini was on display in the British Museum Library in London, and it was copied by William Guy Carr, former Intelligence Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. The British Library has confirmed in writing to me that such a document has never been in their possession. Furthermore, in Carr's book, Satan, Prince of this World, Carr includes the following footnote:
"The Keeper of Manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez's knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925".
It appears that Carr learned about this letter from Cardinal Caro y Rodriguez of Santiago, Chile, who wrote The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled.
To date, no conclusive proof exists to show that this letter was ever written. Nevertheless, the letter is widely quoted and the topic of much discussion.
Following are apparently extracts of the letter, showing how Three World Wars have been planned for many generations.
"The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the "agentur" (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions." 2
Students of history will recognize that the political alliances of England on one side and Germany on the other, forged between 1871 and 1898 by Otto von Bismarck, co-conspirator of Albert Pike, were instrumental in bringing about the First World War.
"The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm." 3
After this Second World War, Communism was made strong enough to begin taking over weaker governments. In 1945, at the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin, a large portion of Europe was simply handed over to Russia, and on the other side of the world, the aftermath of the war with Japan helped to sweep the tide of Communism into China.
(Readers who argue that the terms Nazism and Zionism were not known in 1871 should remember that the Illuminati invented both these movements. In addition, Communism as an ideology, and as a coined phrase, originates in France during the Revolution. In 1785, Restif coined the phrase four years before revolution broke out. Restif and Babeuf, in turn, were influenced by Rousseau – as was the most famous conspirator of them all, Adam Weishaupt.)
"The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the "agentur" of the "Illuminati" between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion…We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time." 4
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, world events, and in particular in the Middle East, show a growing unrest and instability between Modern Zionism and the Arabic World. This is completely in line with the call for a Third World War to be fought between the two, and their allies on both sides. This Third World War is still to come, and recent events show us that it is not far off.
Albert Pike's Background
Very few outsiders know about the intimate plans of Albert Pike and the architects of the New World Order. In the 19th Century Albert Pike established a framework for bringing about the One World Order. Based on a vision revealed to him, Albert Pike wrote a blueprint of events that would play themselves out in the 20th century, with even more of these events yet to come. It is this blueprint which we believe unseen leaders are following today, knowingly or not, to engineer the planned Third and Final World War.
Albert Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, and was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. He studied at Harvard, and later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by fellow Freemason President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson the 4th to 32nd Freemasonry degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple.
Pike was said to be a genius, able to read and write in 16 different languages, although I cannot find a record anywhere of what those languages were. In addition, he is widely accused of plagiarism, so take with a pinch of salt. At various stages of his life we was a poet, philosopher, frontiersman, soldier, humanitarian and philanthropist. A 33rd degree Mason, he was one of the founding fathers, and head of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, being the Grand Commander of North American Freemasonry from 1859 and retained that position until his death in 1891. In 1869, he was a top leader in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Incidentally, Freemasonry itself is a fascinating subject and I could devote an entire website to it. Simon Gray, a Freemason, has compiled a stunning amount of information on Freemasonry that I recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about it.
Pike was said to be a Satanist, who indulged in the occult, and he apparently possessed a bracelet which he used to summon Lucifer, with whom he had constant communication. He was the Grand Master of a Luciferian group known as the Order of the Palladium (or Sovereign Council of Wisdom), which had been founded in Paris in 1737. Palladism had been brought to Greece from Egypt by Pythagoras in the fifth century, and it was this cult of Satan that was introduced to the inner circle of the Masonic lodges. It was aligned with the Palladium of the Templars. In 1801, Issac Long, a Jew, brought a statue of Baphomet (Satan) to Charleston, South Carolina, where he helped to establish the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Long apparently chose Charleston because it was geographically located on the 33rd parallel of latitude (incidentally, so is Baghdad), and this council is considered to be the Mother Supreme Council of all Masonic Lodges of the World.
Pike was Long's successor, and he changed the name of the Order to the New and Reformed Palladian Rite (or Reformed Palladium). The Order contained two degrees:
Adelph (or Brother), and
Companion of Ulysses (or Companion of Penelope).
Pike's right-hand man was Phileas Walder, from Switzerland, who was a former Lutheran minister, a Masonic leader, occultist, and spiritualist. Pike also worked closely with Giusseppe Mazzini of Italy (1805-1872) who was a 33rd degree Mason, who became head of the Illuminati in 1834, and who founded the Mafia in 1860. Together with Mazzini, Lord Henry Palmerston of England (1784-1865, 33rd degree Mason), and Otto von Bismarck from Germany (1815-1898, 33rd degree Mason), Albert Pike intended to use the Palladian Rite to create a Satanic umbrella group that would tie all Masonic groups together.
Albert Pike died on April 2, 1891, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, although the corpse of Pike currently lies in the headquarters of the Council of the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Washington, D.C. (see The Deadly Deception, by Jim Shaw – former 33rd degree Mason and Past Master of all Scottish Rite bodies.)
The Albert Pike Monument
Albert Pike made his mark before the war in Arkansas as a lawyer and writer, but as a Confederate Brigadier General, he was, according to the Arkansas Democrat of July 31, 1978, a complete "WASH-OUT," not a hero. Yet, Gen. Albert Pike is the only Confederate general with a statue on federal property in Washington, DC. He was honoured, not as a commander or even as a lawyer, but as Southern regional leader of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The statue stands on a pedestal near the foot of Capitol Hill, between the Department of Labor building and the Municipal Building, between 3rd and 4th Streets, on D Street, NW. More background on the colorful history of the statue can be found at the Masonic Info website. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Lyndon H. LaRouche and his vice presidential running mate, the Reverend James Bevel, launched a mobilization to remove the statue of General Albert Pike from Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square. On February 1, the campaign drew an angry attack from freemasonic leader C. Fred Kleinknecht, who attempted to defend both Pike and the Ku Klux Klan from LaRouche and Bevel's attack. A speech by Anton Chaitkin entitled 'Why Albert Pike's Statue Must Fall' can be found here (September 21, 1992).
The Illuminati and Albert Pike
Adam Weishaupt (1748 – 1811) formed the Order of Perfectibilists on May 1, 1776 (to this day celebrated as May Day throughout many western countries), which later became known as the Illuminati, a secret society whose name means "Enlightened Ones". Although the Order was founded to provide an opportunity for the free exchange of ideas, Weishaupt's background as a Jesuit seems to have influenced the actual character of the society, such that the express aim of this Order became to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government.
An Italian revolutionary leader, Giusseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), a 33rd degree Mason, was selected by the Illuminati to head their worldwide operations in 1834. (Mazzini also founded the Mafia in 1860). Because of Mazzini's revolutionary activities in Europe, the Bavarian government cracked down on the Illuminati and other secret societies for allegedly plotting a massive overthrow of Europe's monarchies. As the secrets of the Illuminati were revealed, they were persecuted and eventually disbanded, only to re-establish themselves in the depths of other organizations, of which Freemasonry was one.
During his leadership, Mazzini enticed Albert Pike into the (now formally disbanded, but still operating) Illuminati. Pike was fascinated by the idea of a one world government, and when asked by Mazzini, readily agreed to write a ritual tome that guided the transition from average high-ranking mason into a top-ranking Illuminati mason (33rd degree). Since Mazzini also wanted Pike to head the Illuminati's American chapter, he clearly felt Pike was worthy of such a task. Mazzini's intention was that once a mason had made his way up the Freemason ladder and proven himself worthy, the highest ranking members would offer membership to the secret 'society within a society'.
It is for this reason that most Freemasons vehemently deny the evil intentions of their fraternity. Since the vast majority never reach the 30th degree, they would not be aware of the real purpose behind Masonry. When instructing Pike how the tome should be developed, Mazzini wrote the following to Pike in a letter dated January 22, 1870. Remember that Freemasonry wasn't started by Pike – rather it was infiltrated by the Illuminati who were looking for a respectable forum in which to hide their clandestine activities:
"We must allow all the federations to continue just as they are, with their systems, their central authorities and their diverse modes of correspondence between high grades of the same rite, organized as they are at the present, but we must create a super rite, which will remain unknown, to which we will call those Masons of high degree whom we shall select. With regard to our brothers in Masonry, these men must be pledges to the strictest secrecy. Through this supreme rite, we will govern all Freemasonry which will become the one international center, the more powerful because its direction will be unknown." 1
In 1871, Pike published the 861 page Masonic handbook known as the Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
After Mazzini's death on March 11, 1872, Pike appointed Adriano Lemmi (1822-1896, 33rd degree Mason), a banker from Florence, Italy, to run their subversive activities in Europe. Lemmi was a supporter of patriot and revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, and may have been active in the Luciferian Society founded by Pike. Lemmi, in turn, was succeeded by Lenin and Trotsky, then by Stalin. The revolutionary activities of all these men were financed by British, French, German, and American international bankers; all of them dominated by the House of Rothschild.
Between 1859 and 1871, Pike worked out a military blueprint for three world wars and various revolutions throughout the world which he considered would forward the conspiracy to its final stage in the 20th Century.
In addition to the Supreme Council in Charleston, South Carolina, Pike established Supreme Councils in Rome, Italy (led by Mazzini); London, England (led by Palmerston); and Berlin, Germany (led by Bismarck). He set up 23 subordinate councils in strategic places throughout the world, including five Grand Central Directories in Washington, DC (North America), Montevideo (South America), Naples (Europe), Calcutta (Asia), and Mauritius (Africa), which were used to gather information. All of these branches have been the secret headquarters for the Illuminati's activities ever since.
Freemasonry Inside Out:
This sensational new analysis of the Masonic brotherhood examines the basic question asked for almost 300 years by the general public and surprisingly by many masons themselves; 'If Freemasonry is simply a fraternal and charitable organisation, why is there an almost fanatical obsession with secrecy and mysterious rituals?' E-book.
A Collection of places named after Albert Pike (Schools, streets, towns, counties, temples, windows, paintings, medals, bronzes, rocks and river pools)
Layout of Washington D.C. and discussion of how President Andrew Johnson considered himself to be the subordinate to Albert Pike, the leader of North American Freemasonry.
Books by Albert Pike
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Beyond the Law : The Religious and Ethical Meaning of the Lawyer's Vocation
Book of the Words
Digest Index of Morals & Dogma 1909
Esoteric Work of the 1 Degree – 3 Degree, According to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
Evil Consequences of Schisms and Disputes for Power in Masonry and of Jealousies and Dissensions Between Masonic Rites, 1858
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren
General Albert Pike's Poems 1900
Historical Inquiry in Regard to the Grand Constitutions of 1786 – 1883
Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems
Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda
Irano-Aryan Faith and Doctrine As Contained in the Zend-Avesta
Lectures of the Arya
Lectures on Masonic Symbolism and a Second Lecture on Symbolism or the Omkara and Other Inefable Words
Legenda and Readings of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 4 Degree – 30 Degree
Liturgy of the Blue Degrees
Lyrics and Love Songs – 1899
Magnum Opus or the Great Work: The Complete Ritual Work of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
Masonic Baptism: Reception of a Louveteau and Adoption
Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women Complete With the Verbatim Degree Lectures and the "Secret Work"
Meaning of Masonry
Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie – 1835
Old Cashier of the 33d Degree
The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols
The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge
Prose Sketches & Poems Written in the Western Country – 1834
Pythagoras and Hermes
Rituals of Old Degrees
What Masonry Is & Its Objects; Ancient Ideals in Modern Masonry – 1919
1. Lady Queensborough: Occult Theocracy, pp. 208-209.
2, 3, 4. Cmdr. William Guy Carr: Quoted in Satan: Prince of This World.
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike.htm
Adam weisphautAlbert Pikechristianityconfederatedrudgereporteducate yourselffreemasonygreaterfoolinfowarsIslamkkkklanmasonmorals and dogmanow the end beginsprisonplanetprophecy watchrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogthird world warthree world warsThree World Wars: Albert Pike and the Grand ChessboardwatchWWIIIzero hedge
Media ignoring astronomical radiation levels in Japan
Corporate Media Ignores Astronomical Fukushima Radiation Levels
The Kyodo News Agency reports that radiation around the hobbled Fukushima nuclear plant is 1,600 times the normal level. The astounding figure was released to the media by the International Atomic Energy Agency officials on Monday.
Data collected by an IAEA team show that radiation levels of 161 microsievert per hour have been detected in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, the officials said, according to a report posted by House of Japan.
Tests carried out by IAEA technicians in numerous locations around the plant revealed radiation levels ranging between 2 and 160 microsievert per hour, while the normal level for the area should not exceed 0.1 microsievert per hour, the Russian newsite RIA Novosti reports.
A CBS affiliate in Wisconsin also reported on the high radiation levels that will ultimately be dispersed around the world and will undoubtedly result in unprecedented health problems and premature death from cancer. Most of the corporate media, however, did not bother to report the story.
Reuters reported that there was 500 microsieverts of radiation per hour on March 18 at the site but does not explain what this means. It did not mention the 1,600 number.
Earlier in the week, nuclear energy critic and author Hirose Takashi wrote about the media effort to obfuscate the truth about Fukushima:
Radiation and the Jet Stream
Around Fukushima Daiichi Station they measured 400 millisieverts – that's per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to health, but he didn't explain what this means. All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that's one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this?
The corporate media as the complaisant handmaiden of the elite are obliged to cover up the truth. In the end, all of us – especially our children – will pay for it.
http://www.infowars.com/corporate-media-ignores-astronomical-fukushima-radiation-levels/
Trace amounts of radiation located in California
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/03/22/trace-amounts-of-radioactive-elements-found-in-anaheim-riverside/
US MILITARY PREPARES EVACUATION OF CITIZENS
US MILITARY LEADS EVACUATION
RADIATIONS " MUCH MORE DANGEROUS" THAN JAPAN IS ADMITTING
FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT REACHES EUROPE – TRACES "TINY"
Fukushima fallout reaches Europe, but traces tiny
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Veronika Oleksyn, Associated Press
VIENNA – Minuscule particles of fallout from a damaged power plant in Japan have reached Iceland and are expected in France and elsewhere in Europe, experts said Wednesday, but stressed they don't pose a health risk.
Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex was hit March 11 by a huge earthquake and massive tsunami, causing it to release radiation, and sparking fears of widespread contamination.
A plume carrying trace amounts of radioactive iodine has been detected in Iceland, the country's Radiation Safety Authority said. However, it added, the concentration was "less than a millionth" of what was found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster that spewed radiation over a large distance.
Recollections of the accident's aftermath continue to haunt many Europeans, putting them on edge as they watch the Japanese nuclear crisis unfold.
"We thus conclude that there is no reason to worry about radioactivity levels in Iceland, nor anywhere in Europe, resulting from the nuclear accident in Japan," said Sigurdur Emil Palsson, head of emergency preparedness.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that the overall situation at the Fukushima plant remains of serious concern. The deposition of radioactive iodine and cesium varies across 10 prefectures on a day to day basis but "the trend is generally upward," said Graham Andrew, senior adviser to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.
In contrast, environmental radiation monitoring in the Fukushima prefecture outside the 20 kilometer evacuation zone shows mostly decreasingly values, he added.
French authorities said very weakly contaminated air is expected to reach France on Wednesday while Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection said if and when radiation arrived it would be in marginal amounts that would pose neither a risk to humans or the environment.
"The measurements will also be much lower that those after the Chernobyl disaster," it said in a statement.
Gerhard Wotawa, an expert at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, said the amounts of radiation detected thus far were a fraction of what people are normally exposed to, adding that doctors, pilots and others are often confronted with much higher concentrations.
For those close to the crippled Japanese plant, the situation is very different — and could keep getting worse.
According to the Austrian institute, local weather conditions at the end of the week could bring more radioactivity inland instead of out into the Pacific.
Cassandra Vinograd in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_japan_radiation_2
Alex Jones answers calls on Japanese Radiation and Obama's Invasion of Libya
ALEX JONES – www.infowars.com
1600 timescoverupdeathdestructiondrudgereporteducate yourselfeuropefukushimagreaterfoolinfowarsKyodonow the end beginsprisonplanetprophecy watchradiationrensesavethemalesstansbury institutethe coming depression blogspotthe economic collapse blogUSAwatchwest coastzero hedge