IT'S HAPPENING HERE!

What Is Really Wrong With the Freedom Movement?

2011-09-24T14:33:00.003-04:00

The other evening I attended a meeting of one of many groups here in Upstate South Carolina that have congregated under the "restore the republic" or freedom label. One of the speakers made the following observation which has stuck in my mind: suppose you have, in the same room together, a pair of lesbian gay-rights activists, a radical feminist from a nearby Department of Women's Studies, an Earth First environmental extremist, a black activist, an Alinsky-trained community organizer and a tenured radical from the same university as the feminist. While they probably wouldn't see eye-to-eye on every point, before the evening was done they'd form a coalition to advance the goals they have in common.

Now suppose you had a group of "restore the republic" types. One of them might be pro-South and outspokenly conservative. Another might be a Christian libertarian promoting Ron Paul. A third might also be a Christian but have doubts about Ron Paul because he has misread Romans 13. A fourth might be a libertarian like the second but would proudly trumpet his atheism; all we need to do, the fourth would insist, is read Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. A fifth would emphasize abortion. A sixth will focus on illegal immigration. A seventh would try to turn attention to the history of the money and banking system in this country, and focus on the role of a power elite in corrupting our economic institutions operating in secret leading to many of the above results, ending with a caution against attacking symptoms instead of identifying underlying problems. An eighth might pooh-pooh his predecessor as a "conspiracy nut." And so on and so on.

What would happen? I can tell you from experience what would happen. The members of this group would focus more on their differences than what they have in common; most would lose sight of the larger picture. No coalition would form. Each would continue running around on his own. Few if any would assist any of the others; any assistance would be temporary and conditional on absolute and total agreement with the assistor's worldview. The point is: no coalition would form.

There is--in my area at least, and therefore probably in most other parts of this country--no lack of groups to join. Some study the Constitution. Some engage specific problems, such as taxes. Some promote Ron Paul. Some work to expose RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). Some study the Bible. All of these are, of course, laudable projects. But none of the groups work together. Some, indeed, barely talk to one another. In my neck of the woods in Upstate South Carolina, there are groups whose monthly meetings are scheduled on the exact same night and at the exact same time as another group's monthly meetings--not out of malice on somebody's part, of course, but of indifference born of the fact that in the freedom movement, almost no one talks to anyone outside their niche.

Specific things can get done in this environment--I know of people who have been helped by the Patriot Network group to win court cases against the IRS, for example; other groups have made life difficult for politicians such as Senator Lindsay Graham (RINO-S.C.)--but I have a sense that while we win occasional specific battles we are losing the larger war, which is to keep this country from turning into a full-fledged techno-feudalist police state.

And not to imply that malice never erupts between different factions within the Freedom Movement. I've already mentioned that the atheists refuse to work with Christians (in fairness, the reverse is often true as well). Many who fancy themselves taking a "rational" (or perhaps it's an "empirical") view of society, based invariable on what is visible and open to immediate documentation, dismiss "conspiracy theories" no less than atheists dismiss Christian theists.

This is just one problem with the Freedom Movement, I can call it as if we were talking about one movement and not many disunited movements.

Other problems are not hard to find. I am not sure there is much discussion, much less agreement, on where the locus of control really is in complex societies such as ours. The answer to this isn't self-evident. Is it with what I call the power of the sword (the power of those in government to make laws and impose their will on society by direct coercion) or with the power of the purse (the power of those in private associations, such as foundations, think tanks, and a lot of large corporations to set the direction of policy and ideas by bankrolling certain ventures while withholding support from others)? Both the conservative wings and the libertarian wings trust corporations more than they should, as I have argued elsewhere. Pointing this out, though, that many corporations and cartels of corporations are as drawn to power as governments annoys free market absolutists. All one has to do to see this is investigate Big Pharma's war against the dietary supplement industry.

Not entirely unrelated is a third problem, as it see it: it is easy to fall into the trap of interpreting freedom as an every-man-woman-and-child-for-himself extreme individualism, which sees itself as having no social obligations at all, even though F.A. Hayek refuted this interpretation in one of his most important essays, "Individualism: True and False."<1> Many infer from the claim that "the government should not be doing x" that "no one should do x" even if x is a matter of someone's survival--maybe of many people's survival. Let me ask the question this way: were all government programs assisting the elderly, the infirm, the unemployed, etc., to cease, would it follow that these people should be left to die in the streets? Normal human beings, most of whom have social consciences, recoil against that and it hurts the Freedom Movement.

Consider a concrete illustration: the preventable death back in 2008 of Ron Paul's campaign manager, Kent Snyder, 49, from complications from pneumonia. He was penniless despite having handled millions of dollars four years ago. He could have been saved, but had no health insurance. His medical and hospitalization bills totaled over $400,000. Snyder had singlehandedly raised over $19.5 million. The money that could have saved his life and paid his bills existed, had someone chosen to allocate it in that direction.

The mindset amongst at least some Ron Paul supporters boils down to: tough! Even Dr. Paul himself was quoted as saying, "That's what freedom is all about: taking your own risks. This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody—" Wolf Blitzer, who had been questioning Paul that night, followed up by asking if "society should just let him die." Paul needn't have answered; the crowd cheered at the idea!

To be honest about it, that moment made my blood run cold! I even wondered, just for that moment, if I had been defending the right people all these years! A number of things had come into focus, including things that have happened to me these past few years, some of them minor such as Libertarian online publications that will no longer publish me because I am not a "pure" enough Libertarian--but others less minor and bound to hurt the cause of liberty such as the general sense communicated to the public that if a Ron Paul were to be elected president we could kiss every safety net in this country goodbye. The reason such events as the preventable death of Kent Snyder will hurt the cause is that most people are bound to recoil instinctively against such things. I am sure that there were onlookers that night who decided after that display of coldness that they could not support Ron Paul. Dr. Paul's followers ought to be more cautious of the message they often send out, and how that message will be received by others, including some who probably sincerely have not made up their minds about him.

The bottom line is: there are a lot of people suffering right now because of this economy. Some of their suffering might be traceable to their own bad decisions, such as buying houses they couldn't afford; but not all of it. And where did any of us get the idea that we have the right to make that judgment? For all the presumption, evident in a lot of Libertarian writings, of an absolute dichotomy between free, voluntary choice and state coercion, I for one see a large gray area where ordinary people are influenced by a wide range of factors in an environment filled with their own peers, incomplete information, and outright propaganda which after continuous exposure they easily come to see as the truth. Western rationalism is rife with dichotomies. This is perhaps Western rationalism's biggest drawback as a philosophy of life since life is full of continua and shades of gray.

The view is tempting that what we Freedom Movement people need to do is revisit our first premises as a group and decide, ahead of recommending or taking specific actions or even supporting specific candidates for office, what we are going to do when we find ourselves disagreeing over fundamentals? Are we going to talk to each other and try to get past our differences and work together, as the Left has always managed to do? Or are going to ignore others, or perhaps, attack them because their, e.g., religious beliefs are different than ours? We also need to revisit some of our ethical premises, the ones lying behind our political and economic philosophies respectively of Constitutionally limited government and free enterprise. The business enterprise operates under the assumption that we serve others in order to advance our own ends; we produce a good or a service others want, or we go out of business? But does service to others end with monetary compensation? Do our ethical premises preclude helping one another unless an immediate material profit comes our way? Do our premises preclude helping others, including strangers we don't know? Do they preclude recognizing that if we take seriously the value of individual liberty, then we ought to think about ensuring that those liberated from government aren't then left to starve in the dark--both through our own actions both individually and in coordination with others? I fear that if the various freedom, Libertarian, and restore-the-republic movements out there--and how interesting that there are so many of these names and phrases to choose from--do not begin thinking these things through it will continue to do what it is doing now, which is whither on the vine. It will die not from having been smashed by leftists and mainstream media hostility, but from those located somewhere in the middle who looked at the Freedom Movement and saw only the coldness and indifference of something vaguely inhumane--something they wanted nothing to do with.

With much of the mainstream clearly floundering, largely defenseless both intellectually and politically against the global superelite which has almost destroyed this country, a Freedom Movement that is disunited and more apt to shoot itself in the foot than produce constructive policy ideas is not what we need right now.

<1> Friedrich A. Hayek, "Individualism: True and False" in F.A. Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), pp. 1 - 32.

New Article: Ron Paul and Social Issues

2011-09-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

Ron Paul and Social Issues

I supported Ron Paul for the Republican Party nomination back in 2007-08—including with campaign contributions, time, and creative work (I designed a “Restore Our Constitution” t-shirt and sold shirts online and at events). Even then I received a few emails from Christians arguing that they could not support Ron Paul because of his stand on social issues. One person, for example, handed me an article entitled “Is homosexuality a sin? Ron Paul can’t say.”

The response is that of course he can. He says he is a Christian. Only he knows for sure, but I tend to believe him. He does not base any proposals for specific laws or policies on religious beliefs, though—his or anyone else’s—and this is what bothers many Christians. Let’s look more closely.

[Read the rest here.]

New Article: Brave New Generation Revisited

2011-09-09T17:41:00.002-04:00

(NOTE: this was originally submitted to LewRockwell.com (LRC) for reasons that should be clear upon reading it; no reply: apparently he now simply refuses to publish me. Only one reason I can think of, which to save time I'll pose as a suggestion to any other writers who happen to surf in here: do not--repeat, do NOT, under any circumstances, submit your book manuscript to Transaction Publishers. I can elaborate for anyone who wants to know why. But then again, others have also not responded to this submission or to a query: NewsWithViews.com and TheNewAmerican.com. Not sure what I did to honk them off, but here is the article--somewhat lengthened beyond what it would have been had LRC published it.)

Brave New Generation: Revisited

by Steven Yates
September 9, 2011

Back in 1994 I published a book entitled Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action (ICS Press). In addition to criticizing the standard defenses of affirmative action that typically come from leftists, the book drew connections between affirmative action and academic movements such as radical feminism and multiculturalism, and the meteoric rise of political correctness (PC) on college and university campuses. PC was, and is, thought control. During the 1980s affirmative action had come under increasing criticism, including from black intellectuals (the most visible being economists Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell, and former University of California Regent Ward Connerly). The racial preferences and set-asides it had inaugurated throughout government and industry had prompted numerous court challenges, where the final decisions often confused rather than clarified the issues (Bakke v. University of California at Davis being the best known 1970s case, with Ward’s Cove v. Atonio and City of Richmond v. Croson being the best known late 1980s cases). This wave of dissent had to be stopped. The only way to stop it was to repress the thought that led to it by demonizing it as racist and destroying those who ran afoul of the new speech and behavioral codes.

My book didn’t go far enough or deep enough. For example, it didn’t probe the role of the British Fabian Society in paving the way for the rise of the far left in this country. The book’s sole effect was to nearly destroy my academic career: I was out of a job the year after it appeared, and haven’t taught “full time” since. I can’t say I wasn’t warned, and I am not saying I was singled out. I simply had not grasped how deeply the academic left—protégés of Frankfurt School luminaries such as Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse or of radical feminist Simone de Beauvoir—had sunk its claws into academia, or how the deep pockets of foundations such as Ford, Rockefeller and a multitude of others were bankrolling the leftist agenda for the country. By 1990 leftists had become unofficial gatekeepers to tenure-track jobs in nearly all humanities and social sciences departments. I had seen a couple of “searches” from the inside and observed, first hand, the bureaucratic preoccupation with race and gender; as sociologist Frederick R. Lynch put it in his book Invisible Victims: White Males and the Crisis of Affirmative Action (1989), word came down but did not go out. Moreover, in an overcrowded job market, conformists are hired and dissidents are weeded out. It was clear that law schools had been fully captured by what I called the affirmative action mind-set; it had captured most academic publishers (Civil Wrongs, actually completed in 1991, was rejected by over 50 publishers; some of the rejection letters were openly hostile.). I warned anyone who would listen that if the leftist agenda wasn’t identified for what it was and opposed from the inside, whether from within the universities (by sensible senior faculty and administrators) or from without (through independent organizations capable of reaching alumni groups, boards of trustees, etc.), it would spread outward to every major institution in this country.

I hate to say it, but I was right. By 1993, with Civil Wrongs still in the pipeline, PC had spread to the military with the women-in-combat issue and with the forced admission of women to former male bastions such as The Citadel. It had taken over mainstream journalism. By 2000 it had spread to large corporations. Think how Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker’s career was destroyed following his less-than-politic description of New York subway riders. Or think of the malicious destruction of Columbia, South Carolina barbecue baron Maurice Bessinger’s thriving distribution business in a matter of a few weeks that same year when one reporter could make the irresponsible claim that tracts available in his restaurants indicated a belief in slavery—a claim which didn’t make a whole lot of sense and which no one at the newspaper of record in South Carolina bothered to check. Large grocery chains, under pressure from the NAACP, refused to carry his products, and that was that. Or think of how Rolf Szabo was forced from his job at Kodak, a position he’d held for 23 years, following his refusal to apologize for calling a pro-homosexual email sent to all employees “offensive” (can anyone imagine so unprofessional a communication being sent to everyone in a business prior to the 1990s and 2000s?).

A generation then in its teens was watching and learning—and becoming immersed in the captured culture. This was around the time I began penning articles for the then-new LewRockwell.com: against the wretched world of mainstream commentary, such sites were a breath of fresh air! One of my earliest was entitled “Brave New Generation.” It made another disturbing prediction: that in just a few short years we would see the rise of a generation, its leading-edge members born during the late 1980s, which would grow up with no memory of a world without PC. The lion’s share of its members would not even need to censor themselves. They would believe fully in the assumptions behind PC: that white males were history’s villains and not to be trusted, that minorities and women were victims who had overthrown their victimhood through political action, and that the country could be transformed into a multicultural paradise of hope and change. As George Orwell opined, “Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.” The whip is still there, but mostly unnecessary among members of this generation who largely police their own.

The Brave New Generation whose rise I predicted in that article came fully of age with the meteoric rise of a single political figure: Barack Hussein Obama.

Given the arguments and warnings of Civil Wrongs and of “Brave New Generation,” it is easy to think of Obama as having been the perfect affirmative action candidate back in 2008. He’d come almost out of nowhere in comparison to candidates, Republican or Democratic, who’d had long careers in Congress—or perhaps been governors as had both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. His university grades—to the extent we even knew what they were—were unremarkable. His first “job” of note was as a “community organizer” under the spell of Saul Alinsky. He went to law school, then went on to serve an undistinguished term in the Illinois State Senate. Then he became an undistinguished U.S. Senator. He all but abandoned that office to … were we ready for this? ... to run for President.

He’d written Dreams of My Father back in 1995, but otherwise had no accomplishments of note. He had no legislative accomplishments.

Where did anyone—even far-left Democrats—get the idea that this guy ought to have been nominated for President of the United States?! Obama’s connection to Alinsky didn’t even scratch the surface. Those who dug into his past turned up a variety of shady characters, some of them merely anti-white racists like his former pastor, some of them former terrorists who had engaged in criminal bombings, and one or two out-and-out Communists. This was known even then, but the Obama train proved unstoppable, and for many of the same reasons the affirmative action and PC trains proved unstoppable in the universities. Not even Hillary Clinton, whom many of us had believed would be the Democrats’ presidential candidate that year, could slow it down. There was plenty of reason for a national party with integrity and concern for the future of this country—already immersed in what was arguably the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression—not to give this fellow the nod. Even if one subtracted the shady associates from his past from consideration, there just wasn’t the slightest evidence he could handle the job. The Democrats nominated him anyway.

Obama had things going for him that overrode all common horse sense. First, he could speak very well—with or without a teleprompter. He had a voice that resonated in the right way, and he knew how to use it. His voice bespoke of calm amidst the economic storm. It carried a sense of promised restoration of order even as hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost. Very early on he had audiences in the palm of his hands. I recall watching some of those audiences and noting the glassy stares you’d expect in the eyes of people gazing at a religious icon. Many of these people were twentysomethings—born during the mid to late 1980s. The Brave New Generation had come of age and was voting for the first time! When all is said and done, they went for Obama over the rather stodgy-appearing Hillary Clinton. To some, he really was the Messiah!

You see, Obama was a minority! With a black father born in Kenya and a white mother (a Marxist, by the way), and having lived and been raised overseas, Barack Hussein Obama was a dream-come-true for the twentysomething college graduate indoctrinated into the tenets of multiculturalism and globalism—and who knew nothing of their own heritage and history except that blacks had once been slaves and then had suffered from discrimination by whites.

Obama could thus pitch the oft-repeated message of “change you can believe in” without offering a single specific, and the Brave New Generation went for it—because Obama had said it. Some of us asked members of this generation what they liked specifically about Obama. The answer I recall best: “He’s not Bush.”

Bush II was an easy target, after all. It was obvious from the get-go that the man was not the brightest puppy in the litter. But he would do what his handlers told him to do, furthering the corporatist brand of globalism to which Republicans tend to succumb. He got this country into two needless wars; under his watch a supposed budget surplus achieved during the Clinton years vanished, and the national debt rose from around $6 trillion to over $10 trillion. The worst economic downturn since the 1930s then began. However simplistic, it was easy to blame Bush for the third in particular, since the Meltdown of 2008 was the biggest news event of the year. Not too many looked to Alan Greenspan’s money-creation policies (or, after 2006, those of Ben Bernanke). That would have taken more education and insight than either the average journalist or the average Brave New Generation twentysomething had. So only a relative few of us investigated the complicated intersections of superelite-controlled leviathan banks, insurance giants, and bundled-mortgage lenders. Few looked deeper to the fundamental false premise of the bubble economy that began to rise over three decades ago: it is possible to achieve genuine, sustainable prosperity through incessant fiat money creation. The Achilles heel of our money system has been its basis in debt, and the downfall of the Anglo-European system will be its addiction to debt: and our political class’s collective deer-in-the-headlights unresponsiveness to the runaway train of debt implosion heading straight for us.

Now let’s consider the track record of three years of “change you can believe in.”

(1) A lot of misguided conservatives call Obama a socialist. He isn’t a socialist. He never was. He’s Bush III. He’s driven the corporatist-superelitist train more effectively than Bush II ever could have. Even leftists have begun to lose patience with him. They realize that the wealth gap, for which leftists blame “capitalism,” has gotten worse under the current regime’s watch. The left can’t blame the Tea Party, although they are making a colossal effort to do so. Tea Party Republicans had no political power until early this year.

(2) The overseas wars Bush II started have not only not ceased, they have expanded. The U.S. empire is now involved not just in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but has been hip-deep in the ongoing internal conflicts in Egypt, Libya, and doubtless elsewhere. The deindustrialization of America, the outsourcing of jobs for cheap labor, has continued apace under Obama. Meanwhile, Obama’s 2008 promises have failed to materialize. He promised, for example, to close Guantanamo Bay, where it is clear prisoners were tortured in violation of the Geneva Convention. Has it been closed? Has the torturing of prisoners ended? (Ask Bradley Manning!)

(3) The national debt has risen from around $10 trillion to over $14.7 trillion as of this writing. If the Republicans under Bush II were addicted to spending, this administration is even more addicted to spending, provoking the recent crisis when a few Tea Party Republicans tried unsuccessfully to put the brakes on federal spending.

(4) The domestic police state has ratcheted up to a level never seen before. New incidents of citizens not having been accused of a crime and not resisting being brutalized by police now appear on a regular basis. I couldn’t begin to recount even a fraction of them. Lawsuits are making their ways through the courts. One recent case, in Fullerton, Calif., involves a homeless man suffering from schizophrenia being beaten to death by six cops.

(5) We are seeing spectacles of “flash mobs,” as they are called. Where such gatherings used to be harmless fun, there are now numerous cases where youth—mostly minorities—swarm into a store, strip its shelves, and swarm out again past terrified clerks and helpless store owners. Some of these mobs have swarmed through streets, attacking passersby or pulling motorists out of cars and beating them. Clearly the rule of law is all but dead in large cities.

(6) And then there is the U.S. economy. It is on the equivalent of life support. As much as the government’s court economists insist that the Great Recession ended in June 2009, there hasn’t been a scrap of evidence of long-term, sustainable improvement in the economy during the past two and a half years. For all practical purposes, job creation has flatlined. Those created are typically low-wage “services sector” fare—because, as Paul Craig Roberts would doubtless interject at this point—much of the manufacturing base necessary for a strong economy has been outsourced via the labor arbitrage that passes for “free trade.” Government had grown larger; now even state and local governments are shedding employees.

Obama had once pledged to “revisit” NAFTA. This pledge, too, dropped down the memory hole. NAFTA is untouchable because powerful people throughout government and spread through the corporate leviathans that use governments to maintain control within the global economy want it that way. (In the U.S. at least, corporations now have the same legal standing as individual persons. The Supreme Court says so.)

But irrational trade policy is far from the only problem with this economy. Government bureaucrats are not satisfied unless they are micromanaging everything in sight. The hiring process has become a nightmare of documentation! A business person focused on his business and not keyed to government needs to keep lawyers on retainer to assist him in negotiating the hiring minefield! Large corporations can afford layers of lawyers, of course. Small businesses, which have always created the majority of jobs in middle America, cannot. In this environment, is there any wonder there is massive competition for a dwindling number of jobs, and that the American middle class is disappearing?

The plain truth is, economic recovery not only has not happened, but there is now good reason for believing the economy is going to worsen—possibly over the next couple of years but maybe much sooner. The interconnectedness of markets globalism has ensured has rendered us vulnerable to the collapsing debt-based system in Europe; our markets reflected extreme unease by dropping 2,000 points from July 7, when the Dow closed at 12,719.50, to August 10 when it closed at 10,719.94. Markets everywhere have remained unstable, reflecting investors’ continued unease. (Gold has skyrocketed, of course, at one point going over $1,900/oz. as some investors have fled fiat currencies to gold’s promised safe haven.)

The Dow would be much lower, of course, had the Federal Reserve not injected trillions of printing-press money into the system. Now the jig is up. The Federal Reserve is out of credible tricks. The rancorous debate over the debt ceiling has brought many Americans around to the view some of us have held all along: either our fearless leaders are stupid beyond belief or they are working for a supranational elite—a superelite—that is purposefully trying to destroy this country and its people’s standard of living—because reducing Americans to third world status is the only way they are going to reduce resistance to their world government agenda.

So here we are: a little over two and a half years into the first term of President Affirmative Action. It should be becoming clear to anyone with a functioning brain that this man is so far in over his head, you almost feel sorry for him. Meanwhile, the “progressives” are on the move—ready to defend unsustainable entitlement programs and pushing for still more government programs under the illusion that these will get the economy going again. Neocon “righties” are also on the move—ready to defend foreign wars we can no longer afford to fight. As always, the only person up in the Asylum on the Potomac who is making sense, presenting a consistent message of freedom (genuine free markets, a federal government limited to the powers granted it by the Constitution, and sound money), is Ron Paul. As Ron Paul did come in second—very close behind Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann—in Iowa, this means the message is getting out, and this means there may yet be at least some hope for this country.

But at this point—following years of warnings against racial favoritism and political correctness, years of lecturing about the dangers of incessant money creation, years inveighing against central planning and the world government (“global governance”) agenda, years predicting the present calamity, and tens of thousands of Brave New Generation twentysomethings who remain sold on the idea that doing the same things over and over again will somehow yield a different result—we are now in a much deeper hole than when I wrote Civil Wrongs! Heck, sometimes I gasp as I catch myself actually missing the Clinton decade!

______________

Steven Yates has a Ph.D. in philosophy. He is the author of the books Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action (1994) and Worldviews: Christian Theism versus Modern Materialism (2005); also many articles and reviews both in the professional journals of his field and online (sites: LewRockwell.com, NewsWithViews.com, TheNewAmerican.com, AmericanDailyHerald.com, and others). His new book Four Cardinal Errors: Reasons for the Decline of the American Republic is scheduled for publication in November. He teaches philosophy at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

THIS BLOG IS BACK!

2011-09-09T05:42:00.002-04:00

This blog has been dormant for a long time, but as of today, September 9, 2011, it is back in business! Much has changed, both for its author personally* and for the country. The biggest change for the latter: as everyone knows, the economy nearly collapsed back in 2008. Otherwise: the foreign wars are still going on; the domestic police state is still tightening down the screws; we may have changed parties in the White House and partially in Congress, but the country is still heading in the same direction, which is toward a cliff. The elites' commitment to globalism hasn't changed. So we're back. We'll have to do some reconstructing and perhaps some waiting for whatever audience I had before to rediscover this blog (hopefully minus the trolls, partisan idiots, and jokers who think this is a good place to advertise for free). But there's plenty of reason to blog. From what I can tell, the blogosphere has drifted "leftward" somewhat especially since the Meltdown of 2008--those locked into the left/right paradigm would look at it that way, but we could still use a corrective, in the form of thinking outside that particular box. Much of my "blogging" has been done on Facebook. That will now change. What has been going on there will be going on here as well, more publicly. Others have as much right to this information as I do, and so anyone who surfs in will be able to find it.

(*Biggest personal changes: my parents both passed away in 2009 & this year respectively; I will be relocating to Chile possibly in February 2012; and my book Four Cardinal Errors: Reasons For the Decline of the American Republic will be out hopefully in November of this year.)

THE SHEARING IS NEARING

2007-02-15T08:03:00.000-05:00

Dr. Edwin Vieira Jr.'s account of the real dangers we are facing, as always cutting through the federal government's and the mainstream media's cover-ups and propaganda devices like a sharp knife through warm butter. How much trouble are we really in? A lot! How long can our present situation last? With no significant changes of direction, we might make it into part of the next presidential regime if we are lucky--unless, of course, the big box party handlers and the American sheeple are dumb enough to elect an idiot like Obama, in which case we won't make it past summer of 2009.

The sheeple are about to be sheared, if they are stupid enough to permit it!

I wonder if the Minutemen could form the core of the kind of national Militia Vieira is calling for, as a means by which the few remaining Americans who have a clue could defend themselves against their own government when the you-know-what hits the fan.

The article:

THE SHEARING IS NEARING

PART 1 of 2

Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
February 14, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

One reason why patriotic Americans are accomplishing precious little in reasserting control over their country, while the Establishment steadily advances its agenda on almost all fronts, is that patriots are not taking advantage of their overwhelming numerical superiority in the places where they can best bring it to bear. Instead of joining together for effective—indeed, potentially unstoppable—political, and particularly legislative, action in favorable venues at the State and Local levels, all too many of them are sitting out the contest as mere spectators.

This is because most Americans are not rabid political animals with ravenous appetites to dominate, oppress, and exploit others, but instead are basically decent people who want only to be left alone to lead their own lives, as they see fit, in peace and quiet. They may be aware of some of the schemes the Establishment’s political Pinocchios are hatching in the Disgrace of Columbia and various State capitals. Yet they hope that the worst of these complots will not come to fruition during their lifetimes, or that in any event they personally can avoid trouble, remain well employed, and continue to enjoy reasonably good incomes, live in respectable homes, and eventually enjoy comfortable retirement. But why do they hope and imagine that such a scenario is possible?

The notion that a placid and prosperous life for most Americans can continue indefinitely is unrealistic. There will be trouble. Big trouble. And sooner rather than later.

An article entitled “Is the United States Bankrupt?,” in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review of July/August 2006 (page 235), provides rather disturbing evidence supporting this prediction.

[To read the rest, click here.]

Maine Rejects Real ID; Other States Preparing to Follow Suit--Good News! (For a Change)

2007-01-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

Maine Becomes First State to Reject Participation in Real ID

On January 25, Maine became the first state to reject participation in the Real ID national identity card scheme, despite a supposed threat that the state’s Driver’s Licenses would no longer be recognized by the federal government for a variety of purposes including boarding an airplane and entering federal courthouses. Acivity in other states suggests that Maine's action will be just the first in a cascade of state refusals. (For other states where action is pending, see Status of Anti-Real ID Legislation in the States)

The resolution passed unanimously in the State Senate (34-0), and nearly unanimously in the State House of Representatives (137-4).

Ever since Real ID was rammed through Congress over 18 Months ago, the big question has been whether any states would take the leap and opt out of Real ID. Now a state has done that, and it may well throw the whole scheme into crisis.

Maine resolution against Real ID.
National ACLU press release on Maine's action
Associated Press, "Maine Lawmakers Take Stand Against Real ID Act" Online >
Los Angeles Times, "Maine Lawmakers reject national identification," Online>
Reuters, "Maine revolts against digital U.S. ID card," Online >
Declan McCullagh, "Maine rejects Real ID," CNET Online >
UPI, "Maine Lawmakers reject Real ID," Online >

Real ID an Expensive Headache for Vermont

Lawmakers are dismayed by the cost to the state, and a bill in the legislature calls on Congress to fund the program and adopt changes advocated by the National Conference of State Legislatures and National Governors Association.

"Lawmakers Question Cost and Purpose of Federal ID Program," Boston Globe, January 19, 2007. Online >

"A Cynical Law," Rutland Herald Editorial, January 20, 2007. Online >

More information on the Vermont resolution available here.

The NCSL/NGA/AAMVA Report available here.

Washington Introduces Bill Defying Real ID Act

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and others, prohibits the state from implementing Real ID unless it is funded by the federal government and includes privacy protections.

Read the bill text here (PDF).
Check status here.

Bill to Refuse Participation in Real ID Introduced in Montana Senate
The bill, introduced by Sen. Brady Wiseman, calls Real ID "inimical to the security and well-being of the people of Montana."

More information available here.

Sens. Akaka and Sununu Introduce Real ID Fix Bill

Read Sen. Akaka's floor statement here: PDF >
Bill text; PDF >
ACLU press release Online>
"NGA and NCSL Applaud Congressional Recognition of Real ID Shortcomings," Online >

Are You a Citizen? Prove It.

When Colorado state Sen. Andy McElhany (R) championed adoption of the strictest identification requirements in the country, his aim was to keep illegal immigrants off state welfare rolls. He didn’t anticipate making it harder for his 15-year-old daughter to get a learner’s permit.

Stateline.org, January 8, 2007. Online >

Nation's Governors "Universal" in Opposition to Real ID

"Will Real ID Cause Chaos at the DMV? Governors Revolt Over New Rules in Driver's Licenses," US News & World Report, December 10, 2006. Online >

DHS Regulations Said to be Approaching; Delays Have Made Deadline Impossible

The Department of Homeland Security continues to struggle with the complexity of implementing Real ID.

"Real ID Comes With Privacy Pitfalls," Federal Computers Weekly, October 23, 2006. Online >

"New Real ID Pointer System May Be Modeled After Trucker Database," Washington Technology, October 23, 2006. Online >

"Real ID Draft Regs Due by Year's End," Federal Computers Weekly, October 20, 2006. Online >

"Pointer System Could Speed Real ID Info Sharing," Federal Computers Weekly, October 20, 2006. Online >

Real ID: Where Rubber Meets the Road in Privacy Debate

Part four in MSNBC's five-part "Privacy Lost" series examines the Real ID Act, which eviscerates "any hope we may have of keeping government, industry and criminals out of our personal business."

Mike Stuckey, "Where Rubber Meets the Road in Privacy Debate," MSNBC, October 20, 2006. Online >

Threats to privacy discussed at ACLU Membership Conference in Washington DC.

"Your Papers Please! Fighting the Total Surveillance Society," Reason Online, October 19, 2006. Online >

Wall St. Journal Slams Real ID

"State agencies put the total cost of standardizing drivers' licenses at upwards of $11 billion; Congress has so far appropriated all of $40 million. Again, this is from a Republican Congress that made its first legislation upon taking power in 1995 a bill against imposing 'unfunded mandates.' It included a pledge not to impose any burden on the states that wasn't fully financed from Washington. Now comes Real ID, transforming state departments of motor vehicles back into everyone's worst nightmare. Some accomplishment."

--"Real Bad ID," The Wall Street Journal Editorial, October 10, 2006. PDF >

ID Requirements Keeping Deserving Kids Off Medicaid

A report in The Washington Post shows that identity verification requirements similar to those in Real ID are preventing thousands of low-income children from obtaining health insurance. Rules requiring proof of citizenship and birth certificate verification are cited as "the single greatest factor" for why eligiible children are being denied Medicaid coverage.

"Rules Deter Poor Children From Enrolling in Medicaid," Washington Post, October 8, 2006. Online >

Nation's Governors, State Legislators, DMVs Jointly Call For Major Revisions to Real ID, Issue Partial Cost Estimate Of Over $11 Billion

The National Governors' Association (NGA), the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) issued partial cost estimates for Real ID. Even omitting the costs of many major elements of the Act that could not be estimated, the groups found that Real ID would cost at least $11 billion. (State-by-state estimates were not made available.)

NGA, NCSL & AAMVA's National Impact Analysis Report, Sept. 21, 2006: Online >

ACLU press release on report: Online >

"ID Program Will Cost States $11 Billion, Report Says," Washington Post, September 22, 2006. Online >

"New driver's license system short-sighted," Daily News, Longview, WA, September 23, 2006. Online >

"Deep Six Real ID," Opinion, Baltimore Sun, September 27, 2006. PDF >

Lawmakers Demand Funding for Real ID Requirements

At the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislators, lawmakers from across the country said the Federal Government either needs to come up with a way to pay for Real ID, or repeal it.

Associated Press, August 15, 2006. Online >

Real ID Problems Continue to Roil Alabama

State administrators, governors, and others have been warning about the disruption and chaos that actual implementation of Real ID will likely bring. This is not mere speculation, however - one attempt to begin initiating early compliance with the law has already created a "perfect storm" of confusion and disruption.

"Wait to get driver license is expected, but this long? Server failure causes computers to crash statewide," Decatur Daily News, July 30, 2006. Online >

"Long Lines for Licenses," Decatur Daily News, July 23, 2006. Online >

"New Driver Licenses Come With Delays," The Auburn Plainsman, March 9, 2006. Online >

"New License System Slows Drivers Nationwide," The Birmingham News, February 23, 2006. Online >

"Real ID: Really Aggravating?" Decatur Daily News, February 10, 2006. Online >

"Concerns About Real ID," Decatur Daily News, February 10, 2006. Online >

"Alabama's Use of Real ID Brings Delays for License Applicants," [Northwest Alabama] Times Daily, February 10, 2006. Online >

Associated Press, "Alabama puts brakes on license notification," Decatur Daily News, October 7, 2005; Online >

Breach of Veterans' Data Reveals Vulnerability of ID Information

Real ID would make this problem far worse by creating a "one-stop shop" for identity thieves.

"Technology and Easy Credit Give Identity Thieves an Edge," New York Times, May 30, 2006.

"ID Theft Made Easy," USA Today Editorial, May 24, 2006.

"Analysts: 'Real ID' Act Could Help ID Thieves," E-week, May 6, 2005.

Real ID Narrowly Dodges a Bullet in New Hampshire

New Hampshire Bill on Quitting Real ID Shows Act's Troubles

The State Senate narrowly defeated a measure that would have rejected the Real ID act. Passage would have seriously disrupted the unified national identity card system that proponents are hoping to create. Nevertheless, while Real ID continues to cling to life, having dodged a bullet in the Granite State, the act is still troubled and will remain so despite having survived its latest crisis.

Read the full statement of ACLU Technology and Liberty Project Director Barry Steinhardt here.

Sen. John E. Sununu, "Real ID: Unnecessary, Unfunded, and Unlikely to Make You Safer," Manchester Union Leader, May 17, 2006.

"A Missed Chance: Real ID Deserved Rejection," Union Leader Editorial, May 15, 2006.

"Mandate for ID Hits Resistance Among States," New York Times, May 6, 2006.

"Real ID Battle Takes on New Face in the Senate," Union Leader, May 5, 2006.

"ID Law Stirs Passionate Protest in N.H.," Washington Post, May 1, 2006.

"Senate Panel Unanimous Against Real ID," Union Leader, April 27, 2006.

"Real ID Protest is Right Stand to Take," Concord Monitor Editorial, April 26, 2006.

"Gov. Lynch Says He Will Sign Bill Opposing Real ID," Associated Press, April 26, 2006.
"Real ID Dealt Another Defeat in Legislature," Union Leader, April 26, 2006.

"N.H. Leads Revolt Against Real ID," Associated Press, April 25, 2006.

"This small state cannot be coerced or bribed into abandoning the principles embodied in its state motto," said Neal Kurk, one of the bill's Repbulican sponsors. He urged lawmakers to fire "a shot that will be heard around the nation." Online >

New Hampshire House bill prohibiting the state from participating in Real ID
New Hampshire Senate resolution opposing Real ID and calling for its repeal.

National Conference of State Legislatures Head Says Real ID Comes at "Too High a Price"

NCSL Executive Director William T. Pound writes, "...Federal legislators and rule makers are negating state driver's license security efforts, imposing difficult-to-comply-with mandates and limiting their flexibility to address new concerns as they arise. In other words, decades of state experience is being substituted for a 'command and control regime' from a level of government that has no driver's license regulatory experience."

"Real ID; Real Questions," Stateline.org, February 24, 2006. Online >
The NCSL's February "Recess Alert" on Real ID: Online >

Computer Problems Already Causing Long Waits For Drivers

The Birmingham News is reporting that driver's license applicants in Alabama and other states are already being subject to long waits and repeat visits due to cross-database checks of the kind that are mandated by Real ID. One official told the newspaper:

"I can tell you people are spending a full day here. . . We are getting a backlash from parents who have to stay here with a 16-year-old applying for his license. It blows a whole day, and the vast majority of people have taken a day off work."

"New License System Slows Drivers Nationwide," The Birmingham News, February 23, 2006. Online >

Security Experts Say Real ID Won't Stop Terrorism

At the RSA Conference in San Jose, CA, the consensus among security experts was that Real ID would be ineffective as a tool against terrorism, and would be huge waste of money and resources.

Security Focus, February 17, 2006. Online >

Real ID Act Faces Real Challenges

"Opposition is building against the Real ID Act requirement that, among other things, forces states to standardize driver licenses. Many at the state level fear that the under-funded, aggressive mandate will be overly burdensome and difficult to meet. At least one coalition of privacy-concerned groups fear the new rules, in development now, could force states to include RFID chips on their driver licenses."

More from SecureID News, January 31, 2006. Online >

DMVs Nationwide Say Real ID Will Be a Real Nightmare to Implement

Newly uncovered documents reveal that state officials believe that federal legislation called the Real ID Act will require extensive changes to existing practices at motor vehicles departments, will be extremely difficult to implement by the Act's deadline, and will carry heavy expenses.

The survey, which was unveiled by the Associated Press, was conducted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, apparently to take a sounding of the states' challenges and readiness for tackling compliance with the federal Real ID mandate. The states' responses reveal widespread concern about various provisions of the Act, and a general skepticism that implementation will even be possible by the 2008 federal deadline.

AP Story (January 12, 2006); Online >
Learn more about the AAMVA survey here.
Find your state's response to the AAMVA survey here.

Virginia Task Force Calls on Congress to Revise Real ID

A task force assembled by Virginia Governor Mark Warner to study the impact of implementing Real ID in the state warned that it would "have significant financial impact on the Commonwealth," and that every ID applicant "will have to wait in line much longer at the DMV, and provide significantly more paperwork." The task force also warned about dangers to privacy, and urged Congress to revise Real ID.

Virginia Real ID Task Force report (December 29, 2005)

New York City Council Resolution Denounces Real ID

The NYC Coucil has passed a resolution denouncing Real ID for imposing "onerous burdens on states to develop new technology for data collection and document verification, while providing no financial support," and asking New York State to opt out of the program.

Daniella Gerson, "Council to State: Opt Out of Law Barring Illegal Immigrants from Driver's Licenses." New York Sun; December 23, 2005; Online >

Republican Mike Huckabee, Chairman of the National Governors Association, Opposes Real ID
"The federal government doesn't have the guts to put out a national ID card, and they are trying to make 50 states come up with this program. Congress is now asking the states to make every driver's license a national ID card, or passport. It's absurd. The cost to the states will be staggering."

Deborah Solomon, "Questions for Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee," New York TImes Magazine, August 7, 2005; Online >

Governors Project Skyrocketting Costs at Annual Meeting

At the National Governors Association annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, governors blasted the federal government for passing off the costs of the Real ID Act to the states. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico called the law "a shortsighted, ill-conceived initiative,’’ and promised that the governors would challenge it in court.
Associated Press, "Driver's License Costs will Skyrocket, Governors Warn," Des Moines Register, June 18, 2005; Online >

See the NGA press release on Real ID here.

Washington State Estimates High Costs for Implementing Real ID

The State Department of Licensing put the initial costs for implementing Real ID at $50 million a year, and also indicated that fees for obtaining licenses would have to be raised. Department of Licensing Press Release (May 17, 2005); Online >

Click here for updates on Washington State.

States Blast Real ID Act

States are threatening to challenge in court and even disobey new orders from Congress to start issuing more uniform driver's licenses and verify the citizenship or legal status of people getting them.

Suzanne Gamboa, "Senator Slams New Driver's License Rules," Associated Press and SFGate, May 10, 2005; Online >

Brilliant New Guide to the Emerging North American Union

2007-01-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

A writer I was previously unfamiliar with, Debra K. Niwa, has compiled a tremendous guide to the emerging North American Union. Her package has five parts: a reproduction of H.C.R. 487, an extensive timeline going back to 1921 (the year the Council on Foreign Relations was founded), a reproduction of the Declaration of the Presidents of America of 1967, a reading list in addition to an extensive list of endnotes for the timeline, and a membership list of the 110th Congress, now in session.

This is a definitive contribution to the growing literature on the slow submerging of the U.S. (and what little remains of Constitutional controls on government) into a North American Union. Niwa presents compelling evidence not just that we are seeing the early stages of a North American superstate--called by its proponents a North American Community--but that this process has been going on all-but-unnoticed (and certainly not reported by the mainstream media, obviously) for most of the past century.

Niwa shows how numerous agreements, the first one in 1934, began the integration process in North America, even as a very similar process was being talked about in Europe and would come to fruition as the European Union. The Declaration of the Presidents of America, issued in 1967, began the move toward a Latin American Common Market, intended to come to fruition in the 1980s. "Free trade" became the watchword as we saw the founding of the Trilateral Commission in the early 1970s and the beginning of a period of bilateral trade agreements between all three nations leading up to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which went into effect on January 1, 1994.

Since NAFTA the process has accelerated — eventuating in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) created in March 2005. Strictly speaking, even these are just components of the larger process of bringing about "global governance" through, e.g., the transnational World Trade Organization, developed out of the vastly upgraded General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994-95. Trade accords worldwide are leading to the development of regional entities all around the globe, the European Union being the most developed.

Today, in North America, we see task forces and working groups that bypass elected officials in order to "harmonize" laws and regulations across national borders, the selling of infrastructure to transnational corporations or other extremely wealthy private investors, and finally preparation for the use of (Kelo-revised) eminent domain to seize private property as part of the removal process of barriers to "free trade." These plans include the Trans-Texas Corridor, the first leg of what has been called the envisioned NAFTA Superhighway System that would connect Canada and Mexico through the U.S., with a major trade port in Kansas City, thus creating a transnational "free trade" corridor.

We are also seeing increasing grassroots opposition from people and organizations who recognize that the primary (and in some cases the only) beneficiaries of economic and political integration will be the elites who developed and are directing the process, and the transnational corporations that have grown up around them. Motivating this opposition is the realization that regional integration and the flow of power into international organizations (corporations and transnational bureaucracies) are eroding Constitutional controls on government. This includes such mainstays of a free society as individual private property rights.

Many people now recognize that our elites have trapped us in a "race to the bottom" as America's middle class pinwheels over the economic cliff to third-world status, while at the same time "public education" continues its focus on vocational training for the low-wage global workforce desired by the elites. A two-tiered society — a world oligarchy of elites ruling over poorly educated and economically strapped masses — is the long-term goal.

Recently the opposition has focused on efforts to expose this process before a public almost certain to reject it, as France and the Netherlands have attempted to reject the EU Constitution. Is it possible to alert a sufficiently large critical mass of Americans to this process?

This study by Debra Niwa, clearly written, and with statements granting full permission to reproduce and disseminate, is the sort of thing we need. Opponents of North American regional integration must marshal support for H.C.R. 487, introduced on September 28, 2006 by Virgil Goode (R-Va.) and cosponsored by Ron Paul (R-Tx), Tom Tancredo (R-Co.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

We should urge our elected representatives to support this measure through additional cosponsorship, reminding them that they were elected to serve the American people, not the global elite. We must instruct them in particular to halt the erosion of Constitutionally-limited government through regional integration written in the language of "free trade," which has become a Trojan horse for world government--the emerging New World Order.

Read Niwa's document here.

You may also consult reams of supporting documentation here.

You may get involved opposing what will be completing the destruction of the United States of America, sovereign nation and Constitutional republic, starting here.

From AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM to REAL ID and RFID

2007-01-16T20:52:00.000-05:00

This evening while eating my supper I watched this again. It affects me deeply each time I see it. Aaron Russo really has put together an incredible package. In just 1 hr and 49 mins (approx) he shows how Americans went from being independent citizens who had property rights and could do pretty much as they pleased so long as they didn't harm anybody else--first to a nation of employees and then to where we are today, employees on the verge of being branded like cattle. (The major turning point was 1913, the year of the creation of the IRS and the Federal Reserve, which allowed private bankers essentially to take control over the financial life of the country and of the economic system as a whole, which accordingly shifted from capitalism to corporatism, defined as a state of affairs in which powerful corporations work closely with expanding government to create and impose policy.)

There is now a law on the books--the Real ID Act of 2005 (Division B of Public Law 109-13)--that will require us to obtain a de facto national identification card in order to drive legally, open a bank account, board a plane, or enter a federal building. Their use will accelerate until it becomes impossible to work legally in the United States of America without one. The Real ID is being sold to Americans--to the extent it is talked about at all--as a tool in the war on terror, when it is manifestly clear that it will do nothing to stop any terrorists but plenty to enable the government to track our every move. You see, it is becoming increasingly likely that the Real ID will come with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, a tiny computerized device smaller than a grain of rice. Russo observes--having interviewed Katherine Albrecht (coauthor of the book SPYCHIPS)--how the Real ID is a large step toward implanting these devices in human beings.

They are already being implanted in farm animals. It is called the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Farmers, of course, are dead set against this! It is costing them a fortune, and the logistics of compliance with this intrusive system is proving to be an absolute nightmare!

Below is an article that was emailed to me today on how RFID could move from animals to human beings, from a "mainstream" (not a "conspiracy") publication: BusinessWeek.

It's all about power for the politicians, profit for the transnational corporations, and control over people for both. The edifice of control around every single U.S. citizen has been slow and gradual--almost unnoticeable until it becomes too late. Do you realize that the Social Security number, for all practical purposes a national ID number now, was never intended to be a permanent fixture when it was introduced during the Great Depression.

Do you want to be controlled?

I'm not sure about RFID, but there is now a MySpace group devoted to fighting "Real ID": No To Real ID Act. If you agree, follow the link and join the group. We need to begin now to build a nationwide network to impress upon our state legislatures and DMV agencies the liberty-destroying aspects of where Real ID is taking us, not to mention the fact that having your drivers license turned into a Real ID card will likely cost you around $100!!

I have written to my state DMV (have yet to receive a response).

By the way, if you think this is a joke--or the product of "conspiracy kooks"--just remember: YOU WERE WARNED!

Having said all that, here is the article (original here).

Animal Tags for People?
Two cousin companies bet the fast-expanding market for animal RFID chips will extend to humans before long

by David E. Gumpert

Under the federally supported National Animal Identification System (NAIS), digital tags are expected to be affixed to the U.S.'s 40 million farm animals to enable regulators to track and respond quickly to disease, bioterrorism, and other calamities. Opponents have many fears about this plan, among them that it could be the forerunner of a similar system for humans. The theory, circulated in blogs, goes like this: You test it on the animals first, demonstrating the viability of the radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) to monitor each and every animal's movements and health history from birth to death, and then move on to people.

Well, all you conspiracy buffs, let me introduce you to Kevin McGrath and Scott Silverman.

McGrath heads a small, growing company that makes RFID chips for animals…and people.

Silverman heads a second company that sells the rice-size people chips, which are the only ones with Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval, for implantation in an individual's right biceps. They carry an identity marker that would be linked to medical records. His goal is to create "the first RFID company for people."

Human-Chip Company Plans IPO

While the NAIS remains voluntary on a federal level, and there is no formal people identification system as yet, both executives are moving aggressively to position their companies for the day when chips in animals and people are the norm rather than the exception. Mary Zanoni, a lawyer and critic of NAIS who has written extensively about the system, says that "the microchipping of livestock and pet animals is intended to make tagging more acceptable in helping these companies market their devices for people."

McGrath's company, Digital Angel (DOC), does nearly $60 million in annual sales and has sold several million chips for attachment to livestock, mostly in the U.S. and Canada.

Silverman's company, VeriChip Corp., is preparing for widespread marketing of its people chips with an initial public offering that it expects to complete within the next 60 days. It has begun building what he refers to as "the infrastructure" by signing up more than 400 hospitals to adopt system scanners and databases and about 1,200 physicians to make chips available to patients likeliest to benefit from them, such as diabetics.

While McGrath and Silverman aren't related, their companies are. Digital Angel and VeriChip have the same majority owner. Applied Digital Solutions (ADSX), the parent of seven smaller companies, owns 55% of Digital Angel and all of VeriChip.

Larger Farms Join the RFID Program

Digital Angel has a big head start in marketing, thanks in part to the Agriculture Dept.-sponsored NAIS program, which, while it is billed as voluntary, is expected by various opponents of NAIS, including Zanoni as well as blogs such as nonais.org, to be imposed on farmers by growing numbers of states. Michigan begins requiring RFID tags for cattle on Mar. 1 in the first such effort (see BusinessWeek.com, 12/19/06, "Farmers Say No to Animal Tags").

Farmers running midsize and large operations are signing up for NAIS in growing numbers. The USDA says 343,186 farms have registered, which translates into millions of animals, driven by what McGrath says are significant economic incentives.

One is inventory control. He points to a pig farm as an example. The farmer can use RFID tags "to monitor the amount fed to the sows, the medications they receive, when they get pregnant, the length of pregnancies, the number born to each sow, and the number of days to weaning."

As another example, he cites a farm with about 5,000 pigs that had an outbreak of disease, where some of the pigs got fever and several died. By being able to spot health problems earlier via scanning of RFID chips compared to "managing by clipboard," says McGrath, the cost of the disease in lost animals and treatment was about $75,000, vs. an expected $250,000 without chips.

McGrath acknowledges that Digital Angel's chips are more appropriate for factory farms than for smaller farms focused on selling locally. "If you're a farmer who sells to a neighbor, who cares" about RFID chips? "But if you are a farmer who sells to Japan, the Japanese say they want you to categorically state [the animal] is this age and has not had these diseases. If you cannot show this, the Japanese won't buy it." For those farmers who can pass the test, $25-per-head premiums await, he says.

People Tags Are More Profitable

McGrath, for now, is content to focus Digital Angel on the factory farm market, having seen sales of the animal chip rise from 200,000 in 2003 to about 3 million last year. "We believe we will continue to grow at that rate," he says. In addition, Digital Angel continues selling tags to track lost pets and to monitor fish like salmon for environmental purposes.

Silverman is taking a similar tack with VeriChip by expanding existing markets—the two primary ones are tags for the bracelets and anklets worn by newborn babies and their parents to prevent kidnappings, and those for elderly nursing home patients with Alzheimer's disease to recover "wanderers." Its 2005 revenues were $24 million.

But the big attraction for both companies, and the reason for the upcoming VeriChip public offering, is the lure of implanting the chips into people. McGrath points out that while the RFID chips attached to animals sell for about $1.50 each, and will likely decline to under $1 within a few years because of competitive pressures, the chips for people sell for $25, based on special design to allow implanting. "To the extent they [VeriChip] would need 1 million [chips], it would be huge for us," McGrath says.

For now, VeriChip has only "a couple hundred patients" who have had the RFID chips surgically implanted in their arms. The company is focusing its attention on building databases of patient medical information to attract hospitals to adopt the company's chips. The chips are being targeted at an estimated 45 million "high-risk patients"—diabetics and heart patients, for example, who could be brought into hospitals unconscious or semiconscious and thus not be able to identify themselves.

Business May Compel Chip Wearing

Of course, no discussion of these cousin companies would be complete without addressing the privacy concerns many people have about being tagged. Both McGrath and Silverman say their companies protect privacy by limiting data stored on the chips for both farm animals and people to identification numbers only, which are extracted via special scanners and then matched to records in databases.

McGrath also says he appreciates the concerns many small farmers have about the potential infringement on their privacy that NAIS represents. "You're dealing with people who are intensely independent," he says. "They don't like people looking over their shoulders."

Silverman says: "We are leaders in the RFID industry in facing privacy issues head on." The chip for people "should always be a voluntary product, with opt-in and opt-out capability."

As comforting as such statements appear, it's important to remember that adoption of the RFID chips doesn't necessarily need to be legislated to become nearly universal. If enough hospitals and insurance companies begin requiring them, or treating patients wearing them more expeditiously than nonusers, or providing discounts for usage of the chips, they well could become the norm. Then, not wearing a chip might be akin to not having a bank ATM card or, increasingly in Eastern states with toll roads and turnpikes, not having a transponder to pay tolls in your car (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/9/06, "Radio-Shipment Tracking: A Revolution Delayed").

Animal Farms Put Us on Notice

It's also important to keep in mind that the real prize for VeriChip is in assembling the databases of patient health information. The more patients in the database, the more leverage it has in the health-care marketplace. In that sense, it's in competition with retailers like Walgreens (WAG) that are collecting data via their walk-in clinics (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/17/06, "Drugstore Clinics Are Bursting with Health").

The most important opinion may be rendered by the financial marketplace, and so far, investors haven't fallen over themselves for either company. Digital Angel's stock over the past two years has declined from about $7.50 a share to the current $2.60. VeriChip's IPO has been put off several times by "market conditions," says Silverman, since it first filed in December of last year. Since then, it has filed five amended offering statements, the most recent on Jan. 9.

It may be a while before we all begin wearing medical information chips in our arms, but the farm animals are telling us it's closer than we may have imagined.

David Gumpert provides updates on this issue at his blog, www.thecompletepatient.com.

Gumpert covers business/health issues for BusinessWeek.com's SmallBiz channel and also writes the weekly What Entrepreneurs Need to Know column. He is the author or co-author of seven books on small business and entrepreneurship. His Web site is http://www.davidgumpert.com and his blog is www.thecompletepatient.com.

It Happened Quite Suddenly ...

2007-01-15T23:13:00.000-05:00

We are blogging a couple of times a week, which may have to be adequate with all that is going down just now (a friend going through a nasty divorce, another very dear friend very sick with a kidney infection and a lymphoma). This was in my email when I returned home yesterday evening. Judging from the given date & time, it had been kicking around for a while before it got to me. I don't know the identity of the author, but this is a scary possibility of what could happen if we don't disempower the international banking cartel & get our economic house in order! (Watching this documentary will do for a start.)

It Happened Quite Suddenly…
Posted by: "gswilliamson57@windstream.net" gswilliamson57@windstream.net
Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:35 pm (PST)

This essay presents a very haunting outlook on how our economy could collapse in just two months. It is unpleasant to consider the essay as a very plausible scenario, especially when considered in context with the still ongoing civil and economic chaos resulting from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

It Happened Quite Suddenly…

…Really, more suddenly than most people thought that it could. Even some of the doomsayers were caught by surprise. Who would have thought that America could go from super-power to third world status, in just two short months?

Some blamed the Chinese. Others blamed OPEC. Still others knew that it had been building for a long time and that all it would take is one or two major currency crisis’ to make things go from bad to terrible.

In late 2006, the US sent an economic A-team to China. Their stated purpose was to cut a deal with China on trade and currency issues. But the real purpose was to go with hat in hand to their creditor and ask for an extension on their credit line. Unfortunately, China had already made up its mind that there would be no further credit increases and in fact, the US needed to make good on its repayment promises, …namely Treasury Bonds. Of course, the A-team offered to buy the bonds back and even offered a premium to sweeten the deal. However, China demanded to be paid for the face value of the bonds in gold. The US Treasury no longer had any gold. Fort Knox had lain empty for many years, as the Treasury had sold off gold to keep the price down and make it look like monetary inflation wasn’t as bad as it really was. If the US began trying to buy gold to pay the Chinese off, the additional money they would have to create would flood the market making things worse and the demand on gold would make the price skyrocket, thus exposing the Dollar fraud.

China had the upper hand and they knew it. If they couldn’t get a private deal for gold from the US, they would have to make deals for machinery, oil, gold and other metals with other countries. They would have preferred that those be in private also, since once exposed, they would create a run on Dollars. But such things are hard to keep secret in the world market. Markets and currencies talk. They are the best forms of communication that ever existed, especially on matters of an economic nature.

Even though China had over a Trillion Dollars in their reserves, they also knew that they had a tiger by the tail. And even though the tiger probably couldn’t devour them, they new it could do some major damage if they let go without wearing it down a little. They needed to ditch their Dollar reserves, but they needed to do it in such a way that it didn’t promote a Dollar panic. Such a panic would cost them in the later stages of their divestment, and that needed to be avoided, if possible. At the same time, they realized that they needed to start the divestment as quickly as possible. If they waited until another nervous holder of Dollars started to dump them, they would be hurt even worse. They couldn’t take that chance. Better to be the one to start the panic than end up on the other end with worthless paper. They knew they couldn’t get their trillion dollars out the reserves, but they figured that if they were careful they might be able to retrieve 70 cents on the dollar.

After the A-team’s uninspiring trip, the President went to China to beg, in person. This only made the Chinese smile. They knew they would not be budged and it amused them, the antics that their American counterparts were willing to go. They viewed the circumstances as very big embarrassment, and it was. The US had lost face.

Soon after the president returned, trade sanctions were proposed and passed in Congress. 30% tariffs were to be levied on all Chinese imports. Apparently, the Congress hadn’t been paying much attention and didn’t realize that most of the products sold in American stores were made in China. The President made one last call to the Chinese in a last minute attempt to get some additional credit, but the Chinese refused to budge. So, the president signed the tariff bill into law.

The immediate effect was that prices in stores went up some 30-40%. That same week, China began quietly buying as much material and commodities as it could, use their Dollar reserves. At first, this was barely a blip on the radar. Oh, the dollar index began to fall, to be sure, but that had been forecast anyway. The treasury department had been going back and forth on a “strong Dollar” vs. “weak Dollar” policy for several years. No one really knew what they had in mind, but anyone who could add and subtract realized that wildly expanding money supply could only mean inflation and a weak Dollar, so no one got real excited that first week.

By the second week, politics were getting very interesting in the United States. People who were on fixed incomes, and especially people who were on Social Security and government pensions, were suddenly finding it hard to make ends meet. They had used up half on their monthly income in one week. They could read the writing’ on the wall and started calling their congressional representatives. At the same time, Congress was in the process of raising taxes to try to offset the loss of bond sales. This then hit those who worked. Suddenly, at the same time that things were getting more expensive in the stores, they had, on average, 20% less money to begin with. It was being taken through the additional taxes. They also called their congressional representatives.

So the legislators were getting calls from two very vocal groups, one telling them to raise benefits and the other telling them to cut taxes. With the loss of bond sales they knew they couldn’t do both, so they did what they had always done…they stalled.

It was about the third week that many more oil producers started requiring purchasers to use any currency other than Dollars. Venezuela had already done so, as had Iran and the UAE. As soon as they realized what China was up to, they also began to divest themselves of the Dollar. Soon the Dollar index was falling like a rock. The Euro and Yuan were gaining rapidly, as they were still easier to trade than gold and had a lot less debt attached to them. But because they were fiat currencies as well, many were also trading gold. This made gold “shoot for the moon”. It quickly reached its real value to the Dollar of $3000/oz and continued to climb. Silver, being the poor man’s gold also started climbing at an accelerated rate. It grew even faster than gold, for as the demand climbed it became apparent that there was a lot less silver in the world than was previous thought…. far less. Silver quickly attained $100/oz, then $200, then and $300 in a matter of days.

The result on the COMEX was complete collapse. Several major trading firms had been manipulating the price of gold and silver for years. Suddenly their short contracts had to be delivered in metals that were very expensive. It wiped out the market place and several large corporations with it. As the COMEX collapsed, the Stock market came under fire. Usually these markets traded off of one another. But with the collapse of the COMEX and the Bond markets, the Stock market started to look like a suckers bet. So, investors started to flee in droves.

All the while, the market programs on CNBC, Bloomberg and CNN Financial, continued to tout it all as a correction that would quickly be over with little harm to anyone. The trouble was, no one was watching anymore. Most had ditched their cable and satellite when the bills became difficult to pay. As the prices went up in the stores, businesses had to give their employees a raise in order to keep them on. This led them to an increase in the price of the domestic products that they sold. So, prices all around were going up at an alarming rate. Crime exploded, especially in the cities. But people weren’t stealing TVs or cars; they were stealing food, gas, silver jewelry and flatware, gold (where they could find it) and currency. Banks were getting robbed two and three times a week as people became desperate to find currency with which to buy food and gas.

Police were over-worked, like everyone else, over-taxed and suddenly underpaid. At the same time, they were coming under fire for trying to enforce traffic laws, drug laws, and gun laws. It never occurred to them that these laws were foolish to begin with, that they violated the very essence of the Constitution and freedom that was supposed to be the “Spirit of America”. But suddenly, if an officer tried to stop a speeder, he was likely to be fired on by an angry citizen who saw no useful purpose to his being pulled over for a regulatory infraction that harmed no one. People were packing firearms. Some concealed, but most not. After a few officers were killed trying to take arms away from the citizens, they decided to let that go too. Soon, they stopped responding to all regulatory functions and simply responded to actual crimes…you know…the ones that had actual victims.

It was along about the fifth week that power disruptions began to appear. Many of the power companies still employed union workers, and like everybody else in America, they were finding it hard to make ends meet. But they weren’t calling their congressional representatives, they were calling their union leaders and complaining about unfair wage practices and that the union leaders were failing in their representation responsibilities. Initially the unions went to the employers and tried to work out a deal. But, the companies were already in a bind as the price of everything was going up faster than they could get rate increases from the state regulatory boards. They were already operating in the red and the banks weren’t being very helpful.

So the unions began work slowdowns, and sabotage of the systems. The North American electric grid had been in dismal shape for years anyway, and the tampering and work slow downs quickly brought it to its knees. Rolling blackouts became the norm. Some areas never saw commercial power again. The power companies were taken over by the government, and the military was sent in to the major cities to restore the distribution system. In order to conserve power, distribution to residential areas was cut off. The people there were told to relocate to camps that were set up in all of the major cities to provide better efficiency in distribution of food and services and to conserve electrical power. About half of the population went to these camps only to find out that they were then stuck there. His or her vehicles were confiscated, but it really didn’t matter, no one could afford gas anymore. They were given work assignments under the guise of “helping America get back on her feet”. But most of these jobs consisted of maintaining the camps and assisting the military in working on the power grid and the telephone system. Some worked on water systems, others in shipping areas of the remaining businesses, which had also been taken over by the government or had to operate under heavy supervision. Pirating and stealing were rampant.

By the sixth week, most of the interstates were empty. The gas stations had long since run out of customers. They could still get fuel, but few could afford it. Gasoline was running around $35/gal. Before the crash, they had used gas prices to entice customers into their store. They rarely made more than 2-3% on the fuel sales; their real money was made in the food and drinks they sold. But they couldn’t get supplies anymore. Many of the distributors had gone out of business, unable to afford the rising costs of their workers and fuel. Some distributors had been taken over by the government, but these serviced the camps and elite who lived in the big cities. Highway robbery was common if one were to venture down a lonely highway without a military escort. Farmers would come in and trade crops and fresh meat for fuel. This kept the stores in business, but it was slow and they had to be wary of thieves coming in to steal their goods. Everybody took their safety seriously, so everyone in the rural areas carried firearms. They knew that they were the only ones who could be responsible for their safety. It really was that way all along, but they had let the government convince them that it could protect them from all crime. Some chuckled at that thought, but most just smacked their head at their past foolishness. The folks in the camps weren’t so lucky. They were disarmed upon entering the camps. So, they became victims of the various camp gangs that ran the underground economies.

By the seventh week, government offices were all closed. The Dollar had completely collapsed and wasn’t accepted for payment on anything. Dollar bills of all denominations blew down the semi-empty streets of the cities. Many government workers were thrown into the camps or out on the street. The government could only pay them in goods that it stole from businesses and farms that it had taken over. Some people revolted directly. This mainly happened in small towns and counties where leaders had refused to believe that their authoritarian reign was over. Judges and lawyers who had cheated citizens in court were commonly seen hanging from trees and lamp posts, their houses burned to the ground. A few sheriffs and deputies went that way too. Tax collectors had long been dispatched or had gone into hiding.

By the eighth week, the government ran the cities and the country folk ran themselves. There were too much ground and not enough soldiers to police the whole country. The government was able to use its forces more efficiently in the higher density areas of the cities, and for the most part that is where they stayed. Even though convoys were escorted by the military, they often came under fire and were pirated. Trade sometimes occurred between the country folk and the city folk, but it was illegal from the government’s position, even if a few of the city leaders and elite were some of the major players. So, the government turned a blind eye. It had no choice.

In two months, the United States had gone from being the biggest consumer market in the world, to a country that had nothing to trade and no currency with which to trade. Prices worldwide had exploded, as foreign central bankers divested themselves of Dollars and had to buy much more expensive currency to replace it. This required them to do what all central banks do…. print more money, which continued their own vicious cycle towards worthlessness.

Some Good News (For a Change)--Ron Paul

2007-01-12T05:21:00.000-05:00

From MarketWatch:

Rep. Ron Paul files for Republican presidential bid: AP
By Katherine Hunt
Last Update: 6:39 PM ET Jan 11, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Rep. Ron Paul has filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money, the Associated Press reported late Thursday. The nine-term congressman from southeast Texas was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988 and received more than 400,000 votes, the AP reported. This time he plans to run as a Republican.

North American Union--"Wacko Conspiracy Theory" or Ongoing Process?

2007-01-08T20:12:00.000-05:00

Plenty of North American Union material this past week--or, if you prefer, North American Community.

The first item that came to my attention was a new one by Jerome Corsi, "Michael Medved Loses His Cool Over North American Union". Boy, did he ever! You can read Medved's screed here assuming you're inclined to one of the silliest and most hysterical rants I've seen in a long time. This thing says more about Medved than it does about any North American Union scheme. I can't say I know a whole lot about Medved, although following up I learned he's a film critic of sorts. He should have stuck with what he knows. From Medved: "This paranoid and groundless frenzy has been fomented and promoted by a shameless collection of lunatics and losers; crooks, cranks, demagogues and opportunists,... [T]here’s no reason at all to believe in the ludicrous, childish, ill-informed, manipulative, brain dead fantasies about a North American Union...." He's just getting warmed up. Check this out: "... bastards and creeps and jug-heads and drunks and reprobates (yes, they are all of the above)..."

Don't you just love good namecalling? With this piece, Medved has blown his credibility--although he's probably well enough connected to weather whatever rational rebuttals come his way and keep on keepin' on. (We nobodies out here in the boonies could never get away with a hysterical tirade like that! We'd never be published again--anywhere!)

The amusing thing is, I doubt I would have even seen Medved's screed had Corsi not linked to it in rebutting it. Corsi's piece is useful in offering us a very nice summation of the entire case that a process is going on mostly "behind the scenes," a process that will lead eventually to a North American superstate. By behind the scenes I only mean that this process is not reported on the 6 pm news or on other mainstream media outlets. Doubtless the American people would reject it if it were brought to their attention.

Just as the process leading to the European Union would have been rejected by Europeans had that process been brought to their attention. Corsi references the book The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? by Christopher Booker and Richard North. I decided I have to have this, so I ordered one off the Amazon.com site that very online session.

Jean Monnet was the leading brain behind the European Union. He was opposed to national sovereignty in principle. And it is clear from his own recently released writings that Monnet was interested in having the process of European integration sail under the radar screen until it was irreversible.

The North American Union argument holds that the same thing is occurring here--has been since this country passed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The different parts of the puzzle fall into place when we lay them side by side: the case made for a North American currency, the Amero, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North American, Building a North American Community (published by the Council on Foreign Relations), the Trans-Texas Corridor, The North American Forum on Integration, and much else--including the more recent revelation that at Arizona State University there is now a program for training students to think of themselves as "North Americanists" (funded by the taxpayers). Viewed in isolation, of course, none of these might be particularly significant--but taken together, all of them occurring at once?

The story got more interesting as last week progressed--and I delayed this entry on purpose waiting to see how things would play out. (Did not want to delay longer than today, though, lest we fall into the bad habits of the last couple of months.) Another Human Events writer, John Hawkins, placed Corsi at #3 on his list of "20 Most Annoying People on the Right". Hawkins, too, was unable to avoid attacking ad hominem, as opposed to arguing on the facts. Corsi replied here. Hawkins reply indicates that he still can't distinguish sound reasoning from invective. In the first sentence he calls Corsi a "conspiracy theorist," when Corsi has gone to great lengths--as have most of us--to explain why the North American Community process is not a conspiracy. There is simply too much going on where anyone with a computer, online access, and the motivation to find out what is going on, can do so. Of course it is not on the 6 pm news, and of course neither Bush nor Robert Pastor nor anyone else is going to come right out and tell everyone that they are hatching a scheme that will end the United States of America as we know her. They would have to be out of their minds to do that.

To those who respond to allegations about this process with, "There's no evidence," I will from now on ask how much evidence there was that a European Union (or a euro) was out in the open and readily available in, say, the 1970s? Remember Jean Monnet, who understood the value of secrecy. The same events are happening here that happened there: "free trade" agreements leading to a gradual economic integration, and behind-the-scenes efforts at harmonization of laws, regulations and standards. Europe went on to a common customs union, a common currency, the formation of a European Parliament and finally the European Constitution, when both France and the Netherlands suddenly noticed what was going on and got cold feet.

We have NAFTA, which is just the most visible of several "free trade" agreements going back to the 1980s. We have the documents and organizations listed above, along with the same efforts at harmonization and the promotion of a large "security perimeter" around North America (via the North American Cooperative Security Act). The idea of the amero has been floated; our economic reality is that of a very troubled dollar. North American studies programs are being held on universities.

If all of these do not add up to something--in light of the history of Europe--than I have no idea what would. Tbose who wish to take the Blue Pill and continue to believe that nothing out of the ordinary is going on are, of course, going to do so no matter what any of us say. One may hope they don't wake up one day and realize that we have lost our country to a North American Parliament or, what is more likely, at least initially, to a host of overlapping, cooperative, transnational bureaucracies answering only to transnational corporations and not to the American people.

Just as a footnote, it might be worth nothing that independent-minded Canadians have looked at the evidence and come to the same conclusions as Corsi. Some of the players are different. We have the Council on Foreign Relations; Canada has the Ottawa-based Canadian Coucil of Chief Executives to represent corporatism and "free trade" there. The Canadian Action Party has released their definitive statement on the sabotage of Canada by their government.

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control

2007-01-01T10:18:00.000-05:00

Dennis Cuddy has just completed a four-part series for NewsWithViews.com that ought to be required reading, incorporated into our account of how the super-elite (the power elite, he calls them) has built our modern world. The title calls for some explaining:

Dialectics

It is always helpful to understand Hegelian dialectic and how it has been used. As originally formulated by the German philosopher Georg W.F. Hegel, Hegelian dialectic consisted of the triad of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Applied to history, the Hegelian approach sees crucial events as the result of a union or fusion of opposed opposites--e.g., the Marxian bourgeois and proletariat struggling for control of an economic system, with the outcome of that fight being Socialism. As easier way of understanding how the elites have used Hegelian dialectic to push history in their desired direction is with a different triad: crisis, reaction, response. If a specific crisis can be fomented (e.g., a brutal attack somewhere, or a depression), this crisis will provoke a specific and predictable reaction (e.g., public outcry, calls for retaliation against the attack, controls over the economy to create jobs and end the depression). At this point, the power elite steps in an orchestrates the response through those it handles (visible politicians such as an FDR or a George W. Bush).

Rockefellers

Most everybody knows who John D. Rockefeller was, and associates him with the original Standard Oil corporate colossus of the late 1800s. Most do not know that he didn't pull himself up by his own bootstraps, as industrial-revolution mythology would have it, but received money from the European House of Rothschild financial empire, who sought to control America. Most also do not know that Rockefeller along with his oldest son founded the General Education Board in 1902, its long term goal being to control public education in the U.S. (the General Education Board would eventually be joined by the Carnegie financial empire). The Rockefeller Foundation originally supported eugenics, the idea that only the "superior" should be allowed to breed. This became the unnamed parent of Planned Parenthood, which also got its start through Rockefeller influence. The most powerful Rockefeller today is, of course, David Sr., the youngest son of John D. Rockefeller II, who after years of having led the Council on Foreign Relations founded the Trilateral Commission with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger. The Rockefellers have been about power from Day One. John D. Sr. once said, "Competition is a sin."

Population Control

The Rockefellers began to bankroll numerous programs and projects under the assumptiont that they, as the guiding lights of the super-elite, knew best where the world should go, and that we "peons" only exist to service the economic order they control. Thus Dennis Cuddy reports on Rockefeller support for the idea that "the Social Sciences will concern themselves with the rationalization of social control,... the control of human behavior." That was by the early 1930s. In 1937, the Rockefeller Foundation gave a huge grant to Princeton University to study the influence of radio on different groups--including a study of what could be learned about mass manipulation from the broadcast of Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds. The Rockefellers also funded the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, and began to move to the idea of actual population control--there were getting to be just too dadgum many of us "peons" to be easily controlled. Thus the Rockefeller Brothers Fund publication of The Mid-Century Challenge to U.S. Foreign Policy in 1959 where one reads, "We cannot escape, and indeed should welcome, the task which history has imposed on us. This is the task of helping to shape a new world order in all its dimensions--spiritual, economic, political, social."

In March 1969, we read of Planned Parenthood-World Population Frederick Jaffe's "Activities Relevant to the Study of Population Policy in the U.S." suggests these measures aimed at reducing the "peons'" tendency to breed like flies (these measures all serve other super-elite goals as well, of course):

(a) legalize and support abortion on demand;
(b) encourage women to work;
(c) place fertility control agents in the water supply;
(d) support the normalization and eventual mainstreaming of homosexuality;
(e) make contraception available and accessible to all.

With this as background for changing the basic unstated philosophical premises of the public consciousness and the production of the new lifestyle "choices," the changing of the economic paradigm recommended in such works as Brzezinski's Between Two Ages can be foisted on a distracted, dumbed-down public. Hence NAFTA, etc.

We've only scratched the surface here. Just remember: for the super-elite, it's all about control. Wealth is simply their most effective tool. And the more subtle the controls, the better--so that eventually, the masses will simply take all these things for granted and never realize that they are living in an artificial "Matrix" environment. None of this is going to be widely publicized, of course. It can never be allowed to become part of the mainstream. We are still encouraged to believe that America is a free society--because, after all, we can choose to shop at Wal-Mart instead of Target! Goethe once wrote that "none are more thoroughly enslaved than those who falsely believe themselves to be free." And to paraphrase George Orwell: The really well trained dog is the one who jumps through the hoops when there is no whip.

Here are the links to the four parts of the Dennis Cuddy series:

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control Part One

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control Part Two

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control Part Three

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control Part Four

Three From Pastor Chuck Baldwin

2006-12-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

Pastor Chuck Baldwin has been producing tremendous material of late on the threats to our liberties. The former Vice Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party just calls things as he sees them, and usually calls them right. Here are three, including two from our recent "dead period." Of course, whether there is still time for a credible third party challenge to emerge to whatever pair of globalists emerge as the Democratic and Republican frontrunners in 2008 remains to be seen (an attempt to recapture the Republican Party via a Tom Tancredo run for the nomination ought to be considered as well).

Pay special attention to the third. (Note: I will return to edit and fill in the rest of the links.)

Military Commissions Act: A Precursor To Tyranny?
by Chuck Baldwin
December 5, 2006

In an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas recently discussed President Bush's support for the Military Commissions Act. During the interview, Paul said that "the law officially allows for citizen concentration camp facilities."

Paul also warned that "the Military Commissions Act and the Defense Authorization Act . . . essentially wipes out Habeas Corpus."

Paul continued by noting, "Right now we don't have concentration camps, but . . . the authority has been given so that concentration camps can come without Habeas Corpus." He then said, "If they can lock you up, what good is freedom of speech or what good is a gun?"

Couple the implementation of the Military Commissions Act with the already-passed USA Patriot Act and all the legalities necessary to completely eviscerate America's constitutionally-protected liberties are in place. Think of it. Without firing a shot or dropping a bomb, President George W. Bush has done more to strip the American people of their liberties than all the world's despots and dictators combined!

Consider further the recent statements of former house speaker Newt Gingrich. According to the (Manchester, NH) Union Leader, "Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday [Monday, Nov. 27] in Manchester said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

"Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a 'different set of rules' may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message."

Of course, Mr. Gingrich did not say how he plans to reduce people's free speech rights. Neither did he say a word about the fact that our greatest potential for terrorism is coming in the form of an invasion of illegal aliens across our southern border, and that it has been the words and policies of one George W. Bush that have mostly contributed to this threat.

Will someone please tell me how expunging the free speech of the American people is going to make the United States safer? And, pray tell, why are our brave troops fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, ostensibly to "promote democracy," if the same political leaders who sent them to the Middle East are working to shrink democracy here at home?

Ladies and gentlemen, please wake up! Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, rights and freedoms that have been lost to you include your right to an attorney, your right to know the charges being levied against you, the right to a speedy trial, the right to trial by a jury of your peers, the right to not be subjected to torture, the right to not have your home and personal items searched and seized without warrant, the right to not have your personal conversations (including letters and email) intercepted without court order, and the right to not incriminate yourself, just to name a few. And now we learn that our government has authorized and is planning to build "concentration camp facilities."

Furthermore, just because you or I have not yet been personally subjected to this tyranny, does not mean that we won't be! The seeds are already planted; the die is already cast. The time to act is not when you are being carted off to an "undisclosed location." By then, it is too late.

Thank God for Congressman Ron Paul. If it weren't for him, there would be practically no one on Capitol Hill willing to sound the alarm for the American people. I wish someone could convince him to run for President of the United States on the Constitution Party ticket. The GOP would never support his candidacy for president, but the CP would welcome him with open arms. And, given the American people's frustration with both major parties, a serious third party challenge is very possible in 2008.

In the meantime, the power establishment in Washington, D.C., continues to undermine our Constitution and fritter away our freedoms.

© Chuck Baldwin

This column is archived as http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2006/cbarchive_20061205.html

Is It Ignorance Or Misplaced Trust?
by Chuck Baldwin
December 12, 2006

For the life of me, it is difficult, even exasperating, to understand how my fellow Christian ministers can excuse and condone the un-American and un-Christian actions and policies of modern politicians. What in the world is going on? Are they blind to what is happening, or do they just not care? It is truly frustrating!

For example, I received a letter from a trusted friend (whose name I will not divulge) who told me of a private conversation he had with a notable conservative Christian leader (whose name shall also be withheld). During the conversation, my friend asked the esteemed Christian leader what he thought of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). To my friend's dismay, the popular Christian leader said that he knew absolutely nothing about the CFR.

Is it really possible that exalted, preeminent Christian leaders in America today truly know nothing of sinister organizations such as the CFR? If so, what else are they ignorant of?

Have Christian leaders and ministers not read any of Jerome Corsi's investigative reports regarding the North American Union, the NAFTA superhighway, or the soon-coming Amero? Have they never read any of Rep. Ron Paul's or former Congressman Bob Barr's reports regarding the dangers of the USA Patriot Act? Have they never questioned the official explanation of the 9/11 attacks? Have they never wondered what happened to the oil wells in Iraq? Have they not bothered to watch Aaron Russo's film, "America: From Freedom To Fascism"?

Are today's Christian leaders really that ignorant? In this ultramodern, technologically-advanced information age, how can Christian ministers be that uninformed? Or is it something else?

Is it possible that our illustrious Christian leaders have become so trusting, so gullible, that they choose to know only what they are told by the mainstream media or by political campaign offices? If so, will these same Christian leaders be as trusting of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? I doubt it. Furthermore, I cannot imagine my esteemed preacher-brethren glibly swallowing the press releases of President Hillary Clinton.

Yet, when it comes to many of the aforementioned issues, there is virtually no distinction or disagreement between Pelosi and Clinton on the one hand, and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney on the other. When it comes to issues that facilitate a burgeoning One World Order and an emerging federal police state, both sides of the political aisle act as one. And the esteemed leaders of the Religious Right say nary a word. In fact, they act as if they know nothing about any of it. Not only that, if anyone tries to speak with them about these things, they dismiss the thought as totally irrelevant and unimportant.

In addition, virtually every one of our esteemed Christian leaders professes allegiance to historic American principles. They claim loyalty to the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights. They profess knowledge of American history and love to quote the Founding Fathers. They boast appreciation for the men who fought at Bunker Hill and the Alamo.

Beyond that, conservative Christian leaders almost universally laud Biblical stories such as Daniel and the three Hebrew children, men who defied their government for a Godly cause, along with Simon Peter who declared, "We must obey God rather than men." They promote the examples of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, great men of Biblical history who were willing to defy the powers that be in order to be true to a righteous principle.

Yet, when it comes to the way America's political leaders from both parties are trampling constitutional government, defying Declaration principles, and destroying liberties heretofore protected by the Bill of Rights, our illustrious Christian leaders claim to know nothing about it. Like Sergeant Schultz (from the old Hogan's Heroes TV show), they know nothing!

It is as if our Christian leaders today are unable to compute any issue other than abortion or gay rights. Or could it be that rather than address the hard issues, today's Christian leaders conveniently choose to trust their politicians with these matters?

However, do they not remember the sober warning of Thomas Jefferson, "In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution"? And if they forgot Jefferson, can they not recall how the Apostle Paul said, "Put no confidence in the flesh"?

Our entire system of government is established on distrust. That is, the people's distrust of their political leaders. Why else did America's founders set up three "separate but equal" branches of government, except that each was designed to serve as a check and balance to the others? Why else are congressional elections held every two years? Why else are we guaranteed a free and independent press, the freedom of speech, the freedom to redress government, and the freedom to keep and bear arms?

It is time today's Christian leaders learned an elementary truth: distrust of government is healthy. As our first and greatest President, George Washington, said, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." Yet, why should we have to remind our esteemed Christian leaders of this truth? It is they who should be teaching the rest of us this valuable lesson. So, why aren't they?

Again, I ask the question, are our Christian leaders ignorant and blind, or is it a simple matter of lazy, misplaced trust? I honestly do not know. However, what I do know is, for whatever reason, America's conservative Christian leaders today are either wittingly or unwittingly, either through action or inaction, contributing to our nation's demise. And saddest of all, they-America's Christian pastors and preachers-are the ones who truly have it in their power to turn the country around. If only they would!

© Chuck Baldwin

This column is archived as http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2006/cbarchive_20061212.html

What Patriotic Christians Can Do For America
by Chuck Baldwin
December 19, 2006

Among the hundreds of email letters I receive, scores of them ask the same question: "I see the problem, but what can I do?" Today's column is an attempt to answer these people.

First, let's acknowledge that our Pilgrim forebears answered this question by leaving their homeland and risking their lives on a dangerous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to a new world. There is no doubt in my mind that conditions in America today rival those of the ancient Pilgrims in Europe. (They are probably worse!) Obviously, there are no new worlds to settle, but I do know of people who are relocating to other countries for reasons very similar to those of our Pilgrim fathers.

However, what can those of us do who plan to stay and "tough it out" in America? Are we totally without recourse? Is there nothing we can do to truly help turn the ship of state around?

Let me begin by stating some things that will have very little impact on much of anything.

Continuing to vote for the majority of establishment candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties will accomplish nothing. Voters have been changing the composition of their various and sundry elected offices for decades, and nothing has changed. The country continues to plummet down the proverbial slippery slope.

Attending the average church in the United States will produce little salt to protect against the forces of evil which currently seem to dominate our country. Regardless of denomination, most churches today refuse to address the crucial, salient issues that would educate and inspire people to make a difference.

Neither will listening to the major news media, including Fox News, prepare one to be a difference-maker. With very few exceptions, the major TV newscasts and radio talk shows are regurgitating the same redundant propaganda.

So, for those of you who really want to do something that will prepare you to make a difference in your country, I offer the following suggestions.

If you are a Christian, do your best to find a church where the pastor knows what is going on and is not afraid to teach and preach politically incorrect Bible truth. How far one might have to drive should not be a factor. Neither should denomination be a factor. Obviously, one cannot compromise fundamental convictions, but I would far rather worship in a church outside my denominational preference where the pastor was a bold and courageous champion of truth than stay in the denomination of my preference and sit under a milquetoast preacher. If one is not a Christian, he or she should become one and find this kind of church.

Our country's problems are, first and foremost, spiritual in nature. Therefore, solutions will ultimately never be discovered inside the halls of Congress; rather, they will be found in the hearts and lives of God's people. "Judgment must begin at the house of God." If enough people would leave these panty-waist, compromising, entertainment-evangelism, prosperity-theology, "purpose-driven" social clubs and start supporting true tell-it-like-it-is men of God, we could see a genuine revival in America.

Secondly, begin educating yourself. Stop relying on the major news outlets to bring you the news. I heartily recommend the New American Magazine. In my mind, it is the best news magazine out there. I also find Human Events newspaper very informative, and Middle American News is another good one. There are several smaller, independent papers out there, too. For example, in the Greenville, South Carolina area, the Times Examiner is an excellent resource.

Internet news sites such as News With Views and World Net Daily are also valuable sources of information. Read everything Jerome Corsi writes. Get on Congressman Ron Paul's mailing list. Everyone should subscribe to Howard Phillips' "Issues and Strategy Bulletin." It is a fantastic resource! For educational matters, read John Stormer. John Eidsmoe is as good as they get regarding constitutional issues. For a thorough and in-depth study of economics, read Don McAlvany.

Find non-establishment or independent radio talk shows. People such as George Putnam in California, Barbara Jean Whiteley in Utah, Stan Monteith in Colorado, and Adam McManus and Alex Jones in Texas come to mind. Alex is tough to take, sometimes, and I'm not sure I subscribe to everything he says, but at least he is in the fight and not afraid to take on the hard issues.

Joel Skousen's web site is a treasure-trove of useful information. Christians will, no doubt, enjoy David Alan Black's web site. Covenant News might be the best web site regarding pro-life issues. Alan Keyes and Tom DeWeese also have excellent web sites. For family resources, I recommend Doug Phillips' Vision Forum. One should definitely receive Phyllis Schlafly's newsletters. Pat Buchanan is an author and political commentator worth reading and listening to.

Thirdly, get involved with likeminded patriots. Hook up with your local John Birch Society. Join Larry Pratt's Gun Owners of America. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership is another terrific pro-Second Amendment organization you should be familiar with.

In addition, I recently left the GOP and am now proud to be identified with the Constitution Party. I recommend the CP to my readers. I also like what Jim Gilchrist is doing with the Minuteman Project. Congressman Tom Tancredo deserves our support, too.

Fourthly, never discount prayer. God's true champions have seldom, if ever, been a majority. Throughout history, God has used a small number of faithful and courageous Christian soldiers to accomplish His divine will. He can still do so.

If everyone reading this column would sincerely and seriously be willing to change their affiliations and associations, would endeavor to personally educate and inform themselves with the truth, would endeavor to not knowingly support organizations and individuals that contribute to the compromise of our national sovereignty and independence, and would be willing to fervently and faithfully pray for America, there is no telling what may result.

So, what are you waiting for? Get busy!

© Chuck Baldwin

This column is archived as http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2006/cbarchive_20061219.html

Dr. Robert Pastor: North American Union Is Just a Crisis Away

2006-12-19T19:09:00.000-05:00

The Feds have long been warning us that another 9/11 is possible, while doing nothing substantive to protect our borders or profile potential suspects—keeping in mind that even according to the government's official account of 9/11 it wasn’t the Methodists who brought down the Twin Towers.

Enter Dr. Robert Pastor, stage left. Pastor is the author of the 2001 book Towards a North American Community and was lead author of that now-infamous 2005 CFR study Building a North American Community. WorldNetDaily.com recently interviewed Pastor, who spoke with surprising candor. Although he refuses to use the phrase North American Union, he clearly does favor the deep integration of the three North American nations, spelling out such steps as the creation of a customs union and a North American Investment Fund, and encouraging a mindset “in which people are able to think as citizens of North America.” His remarks on what could bring this about ought to give us pause: referring back to 9/11, he observed that another such event might be the catalyst for establishing an integrated North America with a single currency: the amero.

Read for yourself what is motivating the economic integration zealots: not freedom but efficiency--the protection of freedom built into Constitutionally limited government, we find out from Dr. Pastor, is in their way! Freedom prevents their "mov[ing] forward on important issues"--like consolidating wealth and power the world over and centralizing the planet!

Pastor's remarks make crystal clear how far out of touch with this country’s founding principles globalists really are. Our system was indeed designed to protect our freedoms; it was not designed to be “efficient”! “Efficiency” is often assumed by economists to be a good thing. It is manifestly not a good thing if it results in systems that run roughshod over ordinary citizens. In the hands of the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, and their more visible minions the Robert Pastors of the world, “efficiency” will lead us to economic serfdom if it continues to be the priority within the corporatist economic system likely to consume the planet if the global power elites gets its way.

No "conspiracy theory" here. It's right out in the open. Read Pastor's words for yourself. Or get his book. Also be thinking: Hegelian dialectic. Crisis, reaction, response. If another 9/11 does occur, there will be even more reason for thinking it an "inside job" designed to move a specific process forward.

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
North American Union leader
says merger just crisis away
Leading intellectual force behind effort toward EU-style unity looks at future
Posted: December 15, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Original here

Robert Pastor, a leading intellectual force in the move to create an EU-style North American Community, told WND he believes a new 9/11 crisis could be the catalyst to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Pastor, a professor at American University, says that in such a case the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP – launched in 2005 by the heads of the three countries at a summit in Waco, Texas – could be developed into a continental union, complete with a new currency, the amero, that would replace the U.S. dollar just as the euro has replaced the national currencies of Europe.

In May 2005, Pastor was co-chairman the Council on Foreign Relations task force that produced a report entitled "Toward a North American Community," which he has claimed is the blueprint behind the SSP declared by President Bush, Mexico's then-President Vicente Fox, and Canada's then-Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Robert Pastor of American University

At American University in Washington, D.C., Pastor directs the Center for North American Studies where he teaches a course entitled "North America: A Union, A Community, or Just Three Nations?" As WND previously has reported, Pastor is on the board of the North American Forum on Integration, the NAFI, a non-profit organization that annually holds a mock trilateral parliament for 100 selected students drawn from 10 universities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Pastor had published an interview in Spanish in the Oct. 24 issue of Poder y Negocios. He told the magazine crises can force decisions that otherwise would not be made.

"The 9/11 crisis made Canada and the United States redefine the protection of their borders," Pastor explained. "The debt crisis in Mexico forced the government to adapt a new economic model. The crises oblige the governments to make difficult decisions."

This was the first time WND had found a major intellectual leader behind the push to integrate North America suggesting that a crisis of 9-11 proportions might be just what was needed to advance the process toward establishing a North American Union and the amero. WND reached Pastor in his office at American University and conducted a telephone interview to make sure the Spanish publication accurately reflected his views.

He affirmed the Spanish interview represents his thinking.

"What I'm saying is that a crisis is an event which can force democratic governments to make difficult decisions like those that will be required to create a North American Community," he said. "It's not that I want another 9/11 crisis, but having a crisis would force decisions that otherwise might not get made."

Pastor noted, for example that "Europeans, facing the crisis of two World Wars, turned to the European Community as a means to prevent war and advance their economic interests."

"The United States turned to the Marshall Plan when faced with the crisis of Western Europe falling into the hands of communism," he said. "So, I'm not advocating, or encouraging, or wanting a crisis, I'm only saying that in order to take important initiatives, sometimes one manner in which this occurs is when there is a crisis to which leaders need to respond."

Pastor told WND he lamented that the leadership of the three North American countries is not positioned to make the type of tough decisions needed to advance a North American Community agenda.

In his interview with Poder y Negocios, he argued, "Canada has a minority government and Mexico will soon have a minority government that will be confronted with what amounts to an uprising that we hope will be peaceful. The United States has a lame duck president whose principle preoccupation is the war in Iraq and instability in the Middle East."

Pastor further told WND Mexico's Fox made a tactical mistake by laying out an overly ambitious agenda to integrate with the United States.

"President Bush then took on the issue of illegal immigration, and it proved to be much more difficult than anticipated," he said. In the absence of strong North American leadership, is a crisis the way greater North American integration can be expected to happen?

"There are alternatives to a crisis for getting a major decision adopted by the president and by the congress," Pastor responded. "But what I am saying is that we lack the kind of North American leadership we need. Our founding fathers created a system of governance that was not designed to be efficient but was designed to protect freedom. Therefore, you created checks and balances that did protect freedom but also made it difficult to move forward on important issues."

Pastor was asked what North American leaders would need to do to move toward integration.

"We need to form a customs union to move North American integration to a new level," Pastor argued. "A customs union would eliminate rules of origin on the border and agree to a common external tariff. This would not be easy but not as difficult as NAFTA was, and it would lead to efficiencies in our economies and in the end contribute to a better standard of living for all parties."

Pastor also called for a North American Investment Fund to invest in Mexico's infrastructure.

"If we had a North American Investment Fund," Pastor explained, "over the long term, you would narrow the income gap between Mexico and the U.S."

WND previously reported Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, dropped his support for legislation (S. 3622) he introduced in the 109th Congress to create a North American Investment Fund after WND pointed out the proposed law would advance an important part of Pastor's agenda to create a North American Community.

Pastor was careful to distinguish that his proposals were designed to create a North American Community and that he never has proposed to create a North American Union as an EU-style regional government.

"What I am recommending is a series of functional steps that are more than incremental," Pastor admitted. "Each of the proposals I have laid out represent more than just small steps. But it doesn't represent a leap toward a North American Union, or even to some confederation of any kind. I don't think either is plausible, necessary, or even helpful to contemplate at this stage."

The idea seems to be to put new structures in place that change the look of the landscape. WND pointed out to Pastor that this step-by-step approach is the same approach taken to create the European Union. The memoirs of Jean Monnet, regarded as the architect of European unity, finally disclosed he had used a strategy of deceit, knowing his plan to form a European Union would never succeed if it were openly disclosed.

Pastor was asked if he thought a North American Union was a bad idea.

"No," he replied. "I don't think a political union of North America is an inherently bad idea, nor do I think it is a good idea for North America right now. I teach a course at American University in which I look at the different options for political integration of North America, and I put the options before the students."

Then why is a North American Union a bad idea right now?

"The reason the political integration is not a good idea at this stage now, perhaps never, is because of people like yourself who immediately begin to fear that their sense of America could disappear," Pastor responded. "Somehow, if you're fearful that America's sovereignty will disappear, you won't even take small steps forward. You just get mired in the status quo. The problem is that the world is moving very rapidly, and you can't stay competitive if you don't move."

Pastor did not reject the idea that a North American Union could form, but only after further continental economic integration and the development of a North American Community in which people are able to think as citizens of North America.

Is China the winner in the NAFTA super-corridors being planned for North America?

"If you define trade in zero-sum terms, China may be the winner in the transportation corridors," Pastor conceded. "But even in zero-sum terms, consumers benefit from the increasing imports that give them more choice and give them more quality. In the final analysis, we are all consumers."

Pastor affirmed he favors globalism.

"I believe," he explained to WND, "that globalization is a net plus for the world economy, for the middle class, and for all people."

Real Trouble: the $4.6 Trillion Shortfall--We Are Swimming in a Near-Bottomless Sea of Red Ink

2006-12-18T08:46:00.000-05:00

WE'RE BACK!!! To those who emailed and asked, thank you for your concern. It's been a difficult several weeks--with a friend having been hauled off to jail on a bogus CDV charge, term papers to grade for three classes, final exams to prepare and grade for five classes, and ... well, isn't that enough? There's a lot that should be here but isn't, because a lot has happened over the past several weeks. Suffice it to say, we're in more trouble now than we were before, shall we say, October 17, the day Bush signed the two most draconian and dangerous pieces of legislation yet produced by that gaggle of certifiable idiots we dignify by calling a Congress.

Meanwhile, if the news of the past several days can be trusted, the bankster class has almost succeeded in completely ruining this country's finances--to put the dollar out of its misery to make way for the Amero? We'll see.

The object lesson here is simple: YOU CANNOT AND SHOULD NEVER TRUST GOVERNMENT NUMBERS! The political / bureaucratic / bankster class lies routinely about the unemployment rate (at least double the "official" number), the inflation rate (probably at least triple the "official" number), just as they lied about the existence of "surpluses" back in the 1990s (from having raided the Social Security trust fund). These people are criminals and should be locked up in penitentiaries for the rest of their lives for what they've done to this once-free, once-prosperous nation!

Especially the banksters, whom Andrew Jackson once told to their faces, "You are a den of vipers & thieves! I want to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I WILL rout you out! If the American people understood the rank injustice of our money & banking system, there would be a revolution before morning!"

That was in 1832. What makes anybody think the bankster mindset has changed??? Anyway, on with the star of the show, Jerome R. Corsi who has become--IMHO--a national treasure as a whistleblower. He exposed Kerry as unqualified to be president, exposed the Peak Oil myth (in BLACK GOLD STRANGLEHOLD), has worked diligently to expose the North American Union plot, and his current research reveals--voila--that the banksters have succeeded in leaving us all swimming in a bottomless sea of red ink!

The Yates recommendation: BUY GOLD / BUY SILVER! I built a "cash stash" while I was living in Columbia--it now consists mostly of precious metals with a little extra cash set aside for minor emergencies.

Real U.S. shortfall: $4.6 trillion in red
'Taxing 100% of all wages, salaries, corporate profits would not eliminate a deficit of this magnitude'
Posted: December 17, 2006
11:45 p.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com [orig. here.]

The real 2006 federal budget deficit was $4.6 trillion, not a previously reported $248.2 billion, according to the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government as released by the Treasury Department Friday.

"The 2006 federal budget deficit of $4.6 trillion is $1.1 trillion more than the 2005 federal budget deficit," econometrician John Williams, who publishes the website Shadow Government Statistics, told WND. "The Bush administration is in an untenable situation with a budget deficit this dramatic. Taxing 100 percent of all wages, salaries, and corporate profits would not eliminate a deficit of this magnitude, and cutting Social Security and Medicare spending is politically impossible."

In his subscription newsletter, Williams comments that the GAAP accounting numbers reported in the 2006 Treasury report show that, "the actual deficit number was nearly 19-times the size of the gimmicked 'official' deficit for 2006 of $248 billion. Total obligations were 4.2-times annual U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)."

The difference between the $248 billion "official" budget deficit numbers and the $4.6 trillion budget deficit reported in the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur.

The calculations in the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government are calculated on a GAAP basis ("Generally Accepted Accounting Practices") that includes year-for-year changes in the net present value of unfunded liabilities in social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Under cash accounting, the government makes no provision for future Social Security and Medicare benefits in the year in which those benefits accrue.

"Truthfully," Williams points out, "there is no Social Security 'lock-box.' There are no funds held in reserve today for Social Security and Medicare obligations that are earned each year. It's only a matter of time until the public realizes that the government is truly bankrupt and no taxes are being held in reserve to pay in the future the Social Security and Medicare benefits taxpayers are earning today."

(Story continues below)

Calculations from the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government also show that the GAAP negative net worth of the federal government has increased to $53.1 trillion, while the total federal obligations under GAAP accounting now total $54.6 trillion.

"The Treasury is right in that Social Security and Medicare must be shown as liabilities on the federal balance sheet in the year they accrue," Williams argues. "To do otherwise is irresponsible, nothing more than an attempt to hide the painful truth from the American public. The public has a right to know just how bad off the federal government budget deficit situation really is, especially since the situation is rapidly spinning out of control."

"The federal government is bankrupt," Williams explained to WND. "In a post-Enron world, if the federal government were a corporation such as General Motors, the president and senior Treasury officers would be in federal penitentiary."

In a letter included in the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government, David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, commented on the $53 trillion federal government GAAP accounted negative net worth by noting, "This translates to a current burden of about $170,000 per American or approximately $440,000 per American household."

Remarkably, the U.S. Government Accountability Office refused to certify or render an opinion on the consolidated financial statements contained in the 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government, noting serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense, the federal government's inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernmental activity and balances between federal agencies, and the federal government's ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements.

In his letter, David Walker commented that until these financial reporting problems were resolved within the federal government, the problems outlined in the audit report "will continue to have adverse implications for the federal government and American taxpayers."

"That's an understatement," Williams told WND.

"What the comptroller of the United States is telling us is that as bad as a $4.6 trillion federal budget deficit and a $53.1 trillion GAAP negative net worth are today, the situation with the Bush administration federal budget deficit might even be worse yet if the government’s overall bad accounting procedures could be fixed. With truly accurate GAAP reporting by the various administrative agencies, the 2006 financial report of the federal government would have shown even larger deficits and a larger negative net worth, hard as that may be to imagine."

Pro Libertate: Opening the Gates of the Gulag (Pt. I)

2006-11-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

Pro Libertate: Opening the Gates of the Gulag (Pt. I)

Congressman: Concentration Camps "On the Books" for the Amerika of the Future

2006-11-15T05:37:00.000-05:00

Last night I stepped down as leader of the fledgling and arguably struggling John Birch Society chapter here in Greenville. At present I am remaining in the Society itself, but sent out an email suggesting an immediate strategy including: (1) repudiating any move to merge the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a "North American Union," which is on the JBS national agenda; (2) having a law passed at the state level making it illegal for the State of South Carolina to participate in any national identification citizen vis a vis the Real ID Act of 2008 (not presently on the national JBS agenda so far as I can tell); and (3) having a law passed at the state level making it illegal to implant RFID chips in human beings for any reason (not on the national JBS agenda so far as I can tell).

These are all part of a package, and if they come to pass--and Real ID goes online, so to speak, in early 2008--we have lost the strugggle to thwart the power brokers of the emerging New World Order. In the cashless society likely to be instituted after the dollar crashes and burns, to thwart dissent, all those in power have to do to the dissident is turn his RFID chip off, and he is unable to buy food legally.

Some have told me that the JBS is part of the controlled opposition. I haven't decided yet, but it would explain why none of its strategies even to stop continued bad trade accords are working. A strategy designed at the highest levels to fail obviously will not succeed, and it is increasingly dubious that working within the system--writing to our Congresscritters, appealing to them to pass laws even at the state level, etc.--has any hope of succeeding. Even those who believe as we do are afraid to take the necessary actions, or don't believe all this is really happening. I often have the sense that we are spinning our wheels, with poor organization, working essentially for free due to lack of resources (I am posting this at this ridiculous early morning hour because with my two jobs I will not have the time to post it later), and up against people who are very well organized and absurdly wealthy in a society whose real god is Money. What will work at this point? I am open to suggestions.

But whatever we do, we better plan it out both rationally and work very fast, because we are rapidly running out of time!

Congressman: American Concentration Camps "On The Books"
Texas Representative urges repeal of neo-fascist laws in America before it is too late

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Monday, November 13, 2006

Orig. here.

Re-elected Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul joined Alex Jones on air last week to discuss the fallout of the midterm elections and what he sees transpiring over the next two years. He ended by ominously warning that if something is not done soon to overturn legislation such as the Military Commissions act, the law officially allows for citizen concentration camp facilities.

Beginning with the positives to come out of the election, Ron Paul stressed that it has provided an important indication to the rest of the world that the people of America are unhappy with the usurpers that have seized control of their government and are trying to initiate change. The Congressman was quick to point out that this may not be carried into policy however:

"Not a whole lot will change because the leadership on the Democratic side, even if they had their way, don't have a different foreign policy. They have been supportive of an interventionist foreign policy in the middle east, and they are not about to back away from that... They are willing to criticize the policy but only as a means to get power."

As we have seen over the past week, leading Democrats are all towing the party line, unreservedly dismissing any notion of the possibility of impeaching the President over Iraq.

The Congressman also stated that monetary policy will stay the same, which can only mean bad news for the American economy.

"They all believe in the federal reserve, they are not going to get rid of the IRS and the income tax. I think the dollar is going to keep sliding, which means prices are going to rise, when currencies self destruct, the end goes quickly. There are no signs that there is anything being done in Washington to correct the problem. Spending is going to continue and probably going to get worse, the deficits are going to stay high if foreign policy is not going to change."

The Congressman agreed that the elite globalists within the US government may not care about this too much because it means they can blow out the economy and then come back and buy it up very cheaply. These Internationalists care not about preserving and protecting American sovereignty when there is a quick buck to be made.

"That's also part of the foreign policy to be in position to hold onto natural resources, that's one of the major reasons why we're in the middle east, so yes if there is a financial crisis, they're going to have the guns, and they have control of the natural resources... It's not a good scenario, because what usually happens when you wipe out a currency is that you wipe out the middle class, and we already see this happening. The standard of living is going down." Paul asserted.

Ron Paul's comments echo those of Former World Bank Vice President, Chief Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who two weeks ago predicted a global economic crash within 24 months - unless the current downturn is successfully managed. Asked if the situation was being properly handled Stiglitz emphatically responded "no," and also drew ominous parallels to the development of the NAFTA Superhighway and the North American Union.

What real Conservatism there was left in the House, to block such moves, as well as Bush's amnesty program for illegals, is gone. With Pelosi at the helm Ron Paul sees it as a forgone conclusion that such policies will sail through.

"I think that's right, although I complain about the two parties being exactly alike, I would say on this amnesty issue and what's happened with the election, there probably was a difference between the two. It is more likely with the Democrats in charge, and Judiciary and the other major committees, and with the President not really fighting for our national borders, he's always argued for some type of worker program, yes I think there's a much greater danger that that is going to be coming in the next session."

Commenting on strategies to defeat the North American Union, the Congressman urged a continuance of educating people on the real issues and reaching more and more Americans who care about preserving their national sovereignty:

"You have to keep doing what you are doing, you are reaching a lot of people, and they have to get to their members of congress, and in many ways the current House has been pretty good with this. With the new House we don't know exactly what is going to happen, but I had something very encouraging come to my attention just this week. I had a call from a young lady that won in Kansas as a Democrat, and in her literature she put my whole article on the NAFTA super corridor in there... She is not going to vote with Nancy Pelosi."

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, The Congressman spoke on the issue of going about demanding a repeal of freedom crushing legislation such as the Patriot act and the Military Commissions act and the Defense Authorization Act which essentially wipes out Habeas Corpus.

"We might have to hope that our Supreme Court helps us out a little. The Court has been better than the executive branch and a heck of a lot better than the Congress, because we've given the President everything he's asked for and the President has been begging for all this authority, so immediately we have to hope that the courts will save us on some of these things. But once again ultimately its only when the people wake up and say they don't like this... sometimes the people wake up to late. Right now we don't have concentration camps, but like you have pointed out, the authority has been given so that concentration camps can come without Habeas Corpus . I have heard the argument that there is nothing else left in the Bill of Rights. If they can lock you up, what good is freedom of speech or what good is a gun? That is now part of the books, part of the law."

Take Ron Paul's suggestion up and contact your new or re-elected members and demand a move to repeal legislation paving the way for fascist government control in America today.

"If A Nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be"
~~Thomas Jefferson.

Get your copy of Aaron Russo's AMERICA: FROM FREEDOM TO FASCISM here, while it is still legal for me to sell it and legal for you to watch it! Neither may be the case in little more than a year from now!

The Draconian and Absolutist USA Patriot Act Strikes Again

2006-11-15T05:31:00.000-05:00

I imagine you won't read about this in your city newspaper or hear about it on the 6 pm news. This is how supposed anti-terrorist legislation can be turned against U.S. citizens who obviously aren't terrorists.

Mid-flight sexual play lands US couple afoul of anti-terrorism law
Nov 14 6:53 PM US/Eastern

Original here.

A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act, intended for terrorist acts, and could land them in jail for 20 years.

According to their indictment, Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell were allegedly snuggling and kissing inappropriately, "making other passengers uncomfortable," when a flight attendant asked them to stop.

"Persing was observed nuzzling or kissing Sewell on the neck, and ... with his face pressed against Sewell's vaginal area. During these actions, Sewell was observed smiling," reads the indictment filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On a second warning from the flight attendant, Persing snapped back threatening the flight attendant with "serious consequences" if he did not leave them alone.

The comment was enough to have the couple, both in their early 40s, arrested when the plane reached its destination in Raleigh, North Carolina, and charged with obstructing a flight attendant and with criminal association.

They have been placed under legal surveillance until their trial on February 5. If found guilty, they both could be sent to jail for up to 20 years.

Persing's lawyer William Peregoy said his client was not feeling well when he placed his head on his companion's lap, and that he only threatened the flight attendant with reporting him to his superiors on landing.

More Evidence of How a North American Union Would Destroy America!

2006-11-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

This comes courtesy of several people forwarding it on--indication of how seriously out of touch with reality our regional elites are, in thinking they can successfully merge the United States of America with Mexico. If what the article below describes is going on to any extent, Mexican culture has sunk into a barbarism we thought existed in the Middle East. Merge Mexico with the United States, and there will be beheadings in the United States in just a matter of a few years!

Comment from Wes Drawdy: PROBABLY NO MORE ELOQUENT STATEMENT OF WHY ANGLO-AMERICANS MUST PUT A HALT TO THE 3rd WORLD-IZATION OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA CAN BE FOUND THAN THIS....

------------------------------------

Commander Domínguez was one of 16 state and federal police commanders assassinated this year across Mexico , along with 2 judges handling drug cases and 2 federal prosecutors. Local police chiefs have also been targets. Eight have been murdered, most of them in Michoacán.

.......................................................

Original here.

October 26, 2006
With Beheadings and Attacks, Drug Gangs Terrorize Mexico

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

URUAPAN , Mexico — Norteño music was blaring at the Sol y Sombra bar on Sept. 6 when several men in military garb broke up the late night party. Waving high-powered machine guns, they screamed at the crowd to stay put and then dumped the contents of a heavy plastic bag on the dance floor.

Five human heads rolled to a bloody stop.

"This is not something you see every day," said a bartender, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his own head. "Very ugly."

An underworld war between drug gangs is raging in Mexico , medieval in its barbarity, its foot soldiers operating with little fear of interference from the police, its scope and brutality unprecedented, even in a country accustomed to high levels of drug violence.

In recent months the violence has included a total of two dozen beheadings, a raid on a local police station by men with grenades and a bazooka, and daytime kidnappings of top law enforcement officials. At least 123 law enforcement officials, among them 2 judges and 3 prosecutors, have been gunned down or tortured to death. Five police officers were among those beheaded.

In all, the violence has claimed more than 1,700 civilian lives this year, and federal officials say the killings are on course to top the estimated 1,800 underworld killings last year. Those death tolls compare with 1,304 in 2004 and 1,080 in 2001, these officials say.

Mexico 's law enforcement officials maintain that the violence is a sign that they have made progress dismantling the major organized crime families in the country. The arrests of several drug cartel leaders and their top lieutenants have set off a violent struggle among second-rank mobsters for trade routes, federal prosecutors say. The old order has been fractured, and the remaining drug dealers are killing one another or making new alliances.

"These alliances are happening because none of the organizations can control, on its own, the territory it used to control, and that speaks to the crisis that they are in," said José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the top federal prosecutor for organized crime.

Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said a steadily rising tide of drug addiction within Mexico had spurred some of the murders, as dealers fought for local markets. At the same time, more and more honest police officers are trying to enforce the law rather than turn a blind eye to drug traffickers, often paying with their lives, prosecutors say.

But those assessments, other authorities say, are overly rosy and may explain only part of the picture. Some experts say the Mexican police forces, weakened by corruption and cowed by assassinations, are simply not up to the task of countering the underworld feuds unleashed by the arrests of cartel leaders over the last six years.

Many of the dead made their living in the drug trade and perished in a larger struggle for territory between a federation of cartels based in Sinaloa, on the Pacific Ocean , and the Gulf Cartel from the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, federal prosecutors say.

The five men beheaded in Uruapan , in Michoacán, were street-level methamphetamine dealers, addicted themselves to the synthetic drug. They were linked loosely to the Valencia family, which once controlled most of the drug trade in the state and is a part of the Sinaloa group, the police say. The killers came from a gang called The Family, believed to be allied with the Gulf Cartel.

A day before, the killers had kidnapped the five men from a mechanic's shop they had been using as a front for selling "ice," as crystal methamphetamine is called on the street. They sawed their victims' heads off with a bowie knife while they were still alive shortly before going to the bar, law enforcement officials said.

"You don't do something like that unless you want to send a big message," said one United States law enforcement official here, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The beheadings, in fact, have become a signature form of intimidation aimed at both criminal rivals and federal and local authorities. In the tourist town of Acapulco , killers from one drug gang decapitated the commander of a special strike force, Mario Núñez Magaña , in April , along with one of his agents, Jesús Alberto Ibarra Velázquez .

They jammed the heads in a fence in front of the municipal police station. "So you will learn to respect," said a red note next to them.

"This year has been one to forget, a black year," said Jorge Valdez , a spokesman for the Acapulco police. "It's the most violent year in the last 50 years, and the acts are barbaric, bloody, with no trace of humanity."

The violence is by no means limited to Acapulco . In mid-July, about 15 gunmen attacked a small-town police station in Tabasco State at dawn with grenades, a bazooka and machine guns in an attempt to liberate two of their gang members, who were arrested after a bar fight the night before.

Two police officers died in the assault. The authorities said the attackers were dressed in the commando outfits of federal agents and belonged to the Zetas, former soldiers who work for the Gulf Cartel.

One reason for the wave of law enforcement killings is that the Mexican police do a poor job of protecting their own. Arrests have been made in only a handful of the assassinations of police officers this year. The overwhelming majority remain unsolved because witnesses fear testifying against drug traffickers. Even seasoned investigators are afraid to dig too deep into the murders.

"There is an atmosphere that affects us, of distrust, of terror inside the police force," said Jesús Alemán del Carmen , the head of the state police in Guerrero , where 22 law enforcement officials have been brutally assassinated this year.

One of the officers killed was Gonzalo Domínguez Díaz , the state police commander in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. In February, he received a death threat from a local businessman who law enforcement officials say has links to the Valencia crime family.

The threat came just minutes after Commander Domínguez arrested two men on weapons possession charges. He arrived home that night pale and shaken, said his widow, Fanny Carranza Domínguez . His anxiety grew over time, after prosecutors released the men he had arrested, for a lack of evidence, his wife said.

In early May, he told his wife that he had heard on the street that gunmen were looking for him. "He said, 'I know that if I arrest them I am risking my life,' " she recalled. " 'I bring them to the capital, and they let them go.' "

On May 8, a car cut off Commander Domínguez 's police car as he was driving home alone about 6:30 p.m. Within minutes, he was shot point blank in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun and twice in the chest with an AK-47. He never unholstered his sidearm. So far, prosecutors have made no progress in solving his murder. He was 47, the father of three.

"I think the commanders that haven't been killed are in the game, and the ones that have been killed, it is because they attacked crime," Mrs. Carranza Domínguez said.

"The prosecutor seems asleep here," she added. "He doesn't do anything but collect his salary and go home."

Commander Domínguez was one of 16 state and federal police commanders assassinated this year across Mexico , along with 2 judges handling drug cases and 2 federal prosecutors. Local police chiefs have also been targets. Eight have been murdered, most of them in Michoacán.

Most were ambushed in their cars or outside their homes by men with machine guns. A few were kidnapped by men posing as federal agents. In these cases, the bodies were found later, shot full of holes, often showing signs of torture.

Commander Cándido Vargas , 40, the second in command of the state police in Uruapan , died that way in August. Prosecutors say he was walking to his car when he was surrounded by about 15 heavily armed men dressed in black commando outfits like those used by federal agents. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, and he was just 100 yards from the police headquarters.

The men hustled him into one of their vehicles and sped off. He was found the next day on a nearby ranch, shot 25 times. A sign next to his body read: "For playing with two bands."

No one from the police department visited his wife and three children, who live in another town, to tell them of his death. "We found out through the newspaper," said Paula Vargas , his wife of 23 years. "It was as if the whole world fell down on me."

The state prosecutor in Uruapan , Ramón Ponce, says he has found no evidence of Commander Vargas 's being corrupt. Neither does he have any leads, he said. "The atmosphere is very tense," Mr. Ponce said. "It's very difficult."

While attacks on the police have risen, they have been far outpaced by grisly gangland killings. In Michoacán, The Family is believed to be responsible for the beheadings of a dozen people besides the ones they delivered to the Sol y Sombra bar. The heads have often been accompanied by cryptic messages declaring the killings divine justice, accusing the victims of crimes, or daring their rivals to send more henchmen.

Nearly every day, new victims are found in states along the major drug shipment routes, especially Quintana Roo , Michoacán, Guerrero , Tamaulipas and Baja California . Most are bound, gagged and shot to death, their bodies dumped on lonely roads.

In the towns hardest hit by the gangland warfare, the fear is palpable. For two years now, Nuevo Laredo has been the main battleground for a fight between gunmen loyal to Joaquín (Chapo) Guzmán of Sinaloa and the remnants of the Gulf Cartel, whose leader, Osiel Cárdenas , is in prison awaiting trial.

"I wouldn't be human if I said I wasn't afraid," acknowledged Elizabeth Hernández Arredone , a state prosecutor in Nuevo Laredo who has taped to her door a photograph of a female judge who recently disappeared.

The effects are everywhere. Many local journalists have stopped covering drug violence for fear they may become targets themselves. Tourists used to spill across the border from Laredo , Tex. , to swig tequila, buy trinkets and run wild. Not anymore.

Church attendance is down, said the Rev. Alberto Monteras Monjarás of Santo Niño Church , because even a Sunday morning can be dangerous.

"People used to sleep outside on the porch if it got too hot," he said. "Not anymore. You stay inside, and you put three or four locks on the door."

Antonio Betancourt contributed reporting from Mexico City , and Marc Lacey from Nuevo Laredo .

Get your copy of Aaron Russo's film documentary below:

The Truth About the U.S. Economy Revealed Again

2006-11-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

Wage slaves are what is wanted by those in power, or "entrepreneurs" involved in public-private partnerships, not genuine entrepreneurs capable of maintaining self-sustaining small business enterprises. This article deserves to be plastered all across the halls of every Chamber of Commerce building in the country. Maybe he should have entered this country illegally from Mexico! Thanks to Wes D. for this.

Wes's introductory remarks:

SEEMS THIS GENT DOESN'T FIT THE "PROFILE" OF THE NEW AMERIKAN VOTER.

HECK, HE'S AN ENTREPRENEUR AND FEDGUB WANTS LABORERS!

THEY VOTE THE RIGHT WAY DONTCHA KNOW!

-------------------------------------------------------

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/cda/article_print/0,1983,MCA_451_5117736_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html

commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN

Swiss national's U.S. stay nears end

DeSoto record business doesn't qualify him for permanent visa

By William C. Bayne
Contact
November 4, 2006

A Horn Lake man and his family face deportation after immigration officials determined his business was not substantial enough to qualify him for permanent residency.

"We're faced with having to sell our home and our business," said Martin Enderli, a Swiss national who moved to Horn Lake after visiting in April 2005.

"Maybe we would have been better off if we had come in across the Mexican border, without asking for visas and trying to do everything according to the law," he said.

Enderli has been told he has from three to six months to sell his business and his home before being deported.

He owns Crossroads Records on Goodman Road. Crossroads specializes in old records, tapes and CDs, and has developed a loyal following among collectors.

Enderli said the shop has been growing in spite of the government ruling that the business was not substantial.

Immigration officials said earlier that Enderli's business plan didn't meet minimum requirements that would allow him to stay in the country.

After the April 2005 visit here, Enderli and his family returned on six-month visas in August 2005 and applied for permanent residency. That request was denied, and his temporary visas expired in February.

Enderli had joined the Horn Lake area Chamber of Commerce and drew support from Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker and from state Rep. John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, in his bid for permanent residency.

"Everybody who worked on this is just crushed," Larry Witherspoon, executive director of the Horn Lake chamber, said of Enderli losing his bid to stay.

Enderli said the notification that his applications to extend visas had been denied came from his attorneys.

"We're still hoping that maybe we could get some favorable ruling from the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland, but we really don't see a silver lining," Enderli said. "We're hoping for help, but this has brought a lot of tension."

Attorneys advised him to return to Switzerland and apply for re-entry with a new visa, but Enderli said that would place him at considerable risk.

"Since I overstayed my 6-month visa, they (immigration officers) would flag my passport immediately if I tried to re-enter the country. Then I would be barred from seeking another visa for an additional three years.

"It's obvious we don't have another chance (unless immigration officials change their stance)," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the snarl of red tape has brought hardship to his family.

"We Swiss are cautious people," he said. "If we had had any idea that our applications would have been denied, we never would have come to this country. We're not the type of people to take risks.

"But as it is, we have invested all our money in a home and business, and now we could lose everything."

Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.

Your copy of Aaron Russo's AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM is available here:

Richard Lamm on the Destruction of America

2006-11-06T07:35:00.000-05:00

I may have Blogged this once before, but it's worth revisiting. By the way, this is Snopes approved. It is not an urban legend. Snopes reported: Richard D. Lamm was a Democrat who served as governor of Colorado for twelve years from 1975 to 1987. Of the above-quoted third person account regarding his speech on the perils of multiculturalism, he told us in mid-June 2005: Yes, it is a speech I gave a year and a half ago in Washington D.C. It was a 5 minute speech, and I am amazed and gratified it has received so much coverage.

Read and Tremble... it's happening and very few care.....

How To Destroy America.

In one easy lesson.

Please take the time to read this; it's frightening.

We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, Mexifornia, explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.".

Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together." Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- >From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America. deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book 1984. In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.

If you care for and love our country as I do, take the time to pass this on just as I did for you. Trust me NOTHING is going to happen if you don't !

Get your copy of AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM by clicking on the image below.

Soon You Will Need Homeland Security Permission to Enter--Or Leave--the U.S. / A Comment on Central Banks

2006-11-03T13:02:00.000-05:00

The U.S.--becoming more and more of a police state with each passing day. ~SY

Thursday, November 2, 2006
Vol. 8 No. 219
In Today's Letter:
Comment: Permission to Leave the U.S.?
Sovereignty: The Fences Between Us
Wealth: Con Artists At the Central Banks
Now You Need Permission to
Exit or Enter the Country?

Today's comment is by Mark Nestmann, our Wealth Preservation & Tax Consultant and President of The Nestmann Group.

Dear A-Letter Reader:

Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14, 2007, we'll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all airlines, cruise lines--even fishing boats--be required to obtain clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the United States.

It doesn't matter if you have a U.S. passport--a “travel document” that now, absent a court order to the contrary, gives you a virtually unqualified right to enter or leave the United States, any time you want. When the DHS system comes into effect next January, if the agency says “no” to a clearance request, or doesn't answer the request at all, you won't be permitted to enter--or leave--the United States.

Consider what might happen if you're a U.S. passport holder on assignment in a country like Saudi Arabia. Your visa is about to expire, so you board your flight back to the United States. But wait! You can't get on, because you don't have permission from the HSA. Saudi immigration officials are on hand to escort you to a squalid detention center, where you and others who are now effectively “stateless persons” are detained, potentially indefinitely, until their immigration status is sorted out.

Why might the HSA deny you permission to leave--or enter--the United States? No one knows, because the entire clearance procedure would be an administrative determination made secretly, with no right of appeal. Naturally, the decision would be made without a warrant, without probable cause and without even any particular degree of suspicion. Basically, if the HSA decides it doesn't like you, you're a prisoner--either outside, or inside, the United States, whether or not you hold a U.S. passport.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized there is a constitutional right to travel internationally. Indeed, it has declared that the right to travel is "a virtually unconditional personal right." The United States has also signed treaties guaranteeing “freedom of travel.” So if these regulations do go into effect, you can expect a lengthy court battle, both nationally and internationally.

Think this can't happen? Think again. . . it's ALREADY happening. Earlier this year, HSA forbade airlines from transporting an 18-year-old native-born U.S. citizen, back to the United States. The prohibition lasted nearly six months until it was finally lifted a few weeks ago.

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are two countries in recent history that didn't allow their citizens to travel abroad without permission. If these regulations go into effect, you can add the United States to this list.

For more information on this proposed regulation, see http://hasbrouck.org/IDP/IDP-APIS-comments.pdf

MARK NESTMANN, Wealth Preservation &
Tax Consultant on behalf of
The Sovereign Society
assetpro@nestmann.com
www.nestmann.com

Wealth
What's Really Going On at the Central Banks

Central banks are usually the worst con-men in the world. Case in point: the tough talk on inflation and interest rates in May resulted in a nosedive for world markets.

I personally believe the Fed and the Europeans purposefully "talked down" the markets in early May because gold was running like wildfire, hitting a 26-year high of $731 an ounce. If you're a major central bank, you don't want to see high gold prices. By smashing down the gold price down to where it stands today ($600 an ounce), the Feds bought some time.

But despite the tough talk on remaining vigilant on inflation, the Americans, Europeans, and Canadians are still printing scads of money, creating an abundance of credit in the process. This explains, in great detail, why financial assets are still soaring after a major correction in May and June. It also explains why gold has probably bottomed around $600 an ounce.

Over the next 12 months, you're going to see even higher stock prices. Bonds will also do well, but not better than stocks. And commodities, which bottomed two weeks ago, will resume their bull market that started in Q4 2001. But let me give you a piece of advice: Just in case the housing market collapses, or just in case a major financial debacle occurs in 2007, make sure you have some gold, U.S. T-bonds, and money-market funds. The big risks for the market this year and into 2007 are housing, the auto sector, and a rogue or several rogue hedge funds.

If the Fed cuts rates over the next several months, which I'm betting has better than a 75% chance of happening, then I'll grow even more bullish on these sectors. Lower short-term rates might not deter a financial panic, but it will lower the risks as more liquidity is created. I'm betting (and hoping) on lower rates in 2007.

ERIC ROSEMAN, Investment Director

THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
* Bob Bauman, Editor * Kathlyn Von Rohr, Managing Editor
* Eric Roseman, Investment Director
* Erika Nolan, Managing Director
SUBSCRIBE to The A-Letter for FREE or send to a friend at
LINK: http://www.sovereignsociety.com/

Bush Is Taking This Country Ever Closer to Martial Law

2006-11-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

It is not happening all at once, any more than any other aspect of our country's drift from mere authoritarianism to out-and-out totalitarianism is happening all at once. But it is happening. What is even scarier is that the public is oblivious. They should be staging marches on Washington, ordering the political class to put a stop to this. But most people remain hooked on the fall football season and on American Idol.

Bush Moves Toward Martial Law

October 28, 2006
By Frank Morales
InformationLiberation

Original here.

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ("refuse" or "fail" in) maintaining public order, "in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."

For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

An article on "recent contract awards" in a recent issue of the slick, insider "Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International" reported that "global engineering and technical services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency." "With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five year term," the report notes, "the contract is to be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," "for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." The report points out that "KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton." (3) So, in addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, including a $70-billion "supplemental provision" which covers the cost of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an "emergency managed" and seemingly willfully gullible public as a "global war on terrorism."

Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, an executive intent on using force to enforce its will.

Unfortunately, this past week, the president dealt posse comitatus, along with American democracy, a near fatal blow. Consequently, it will take an aroused citizenry to undo the damage wrought by this horrendous act, part and parcel, as we have seen, of a long train of abuses and outrages perpetrated by this authoritarian administration.

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation's governors."

Senator Leahy went on to stress that, "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders."

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

Senator Leahy's final ruminations: "Since hearing word a couple of weeks ago that this outcome was likely, I have wondered how Congress could have gotten to this point. It seems the changes to the Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and the White House want it."

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

The Pentagon, as one might expect, plays an even more direct role in martial law operations. Title XIV of the new law, entitled, "Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Legislative Provisions," authorizes "the Secretary of Defense to create a Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Consortium to improve the effectiveness of the Department of Defense (DOD) processes for identifying and deploying relevant DOD technology to federal, State, and local first responders."

In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.(4)

It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source:
(1) http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/091906a.html and http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/092906b.html See also, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, "The Use of Federal Troops for Disaster Assistance: Legal Issues," by Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney, August 14, 2006

(2) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5122

(3) Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International, "Recent Contract Awards", Summer 2006, Vol.12, No.2, pg.8; See also, Peter Dale Scott, "Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps," New American Media, January 31, 2006.

(4) "Technology Transfer from defense: Concealed Weapons Detection", National Institute of Justice Journal, No 229, August, 1995, pp.42-43.

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=17432
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/

Get your copy of Aaron Russo's AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM directly from this Blog by clicking on the image below and purchasing the DVD directly from the AFTF website!

THE MOST IMPORTANT FILM DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR, NOW ON DVD!

2006-10-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

Every American needs to purchase this DVD (since the film hasn't been shown in that many theaters--for obvious reasons); every American needs to watch this DVD multiple times; every American needs to show this DVD to his/her family members, friends, colleagues, and other associates. With last year's Real ID Act, the formation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (which will bring neither security nor prosperity for America's struggling middle class and working poor), bad Supreme Court decisions like Kelo, and this year's revelations about the North American Union in the works--and finally the Military Commissions Act of 2006--we probably have no more than four years to turn this tide back, and may have less than two years!

Here is Michael Revero's review of the film.

"America: Freedom to Fascism"

By Mike Rivero, WhatReallyHappened.com:

AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM

I finally received a DVD of the full length movie, and watched it last night.

The short review is that if Fahrenheit 9-11 won the "Palm D-Or", then AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM deserves the whole tree! This is the film that F/9-11 aspired to but failed to be.

Far from the extremist screed that its attackers portray it to be, "America" starts out as a genuinely objective search to find out the reality behind the claims of the Tax Honesty movement. In scene after scene, Aaron Russo tries to get the answer to one simple question; what is the law that requires American workers to pay income tax on their wages and salaries. At every turn, he is rebuffed by IRS officials, with one notable exception. Aaron did secure an interview with former IRS Commissioner Sheldon Cohen who makes the amazing statement that US Supreme Court rulings are irrelevant when it comes to interpretation and enforcement of the IRS code, and moreover chides Aaron for refusing to "believe" that he owes taxes. By this time, Aaron and the audience are convinced that the Tax Honesty people are onto something!

Numerous examples are given of cases against non-filers collapsing in court when the prosecutions are unable to produce the law they supposedly are in violation of. These are juxtaposed against successful prosecutions in which the judges clearly browbeat the juries into accepting at face value what the prosecutors claim. In one frightening case, a Federal Judge rules from the bench that the government is not under any legal obligation to show any laws it claims are being broken during a trial.

Russo them moves into the police state tactics used by the IRS in enforcement actions, detailing how accusation alone (in this case, false) can trigger the complete ruin of the victims' homes and businesses.

Having laid the foundation that the income tax on wages may be as big a hoax as Iraq's 'nookular' bombs, Russo takes his film into the reality of life in America, where far from the freedom we are told we enjoy, one must get the government's permission to do just about anything these days, while the government watches our every move. With the planned national ID card, things are likely to get worse.

This is a film that will probably give nightmares to those who have not been following the nation's devolution here on the internet for the last several years. The film is a convincer, and Russo has carefully laid out the path for his audience, who will be reluctant to see what Russo sees, to follow.

This is a movie you MUST see. This is a movie the government MUST keep you from seeing. Call your local theaters and ask when it will be showing. When enough people call, the film will be booked, because after all, in America, money rules all. - M. R.

Forcible Gun Seizures Are Part of the New World Order

2006-10-19T08:49:00.000-04:00

Following Hurricane Katrina, government thugs entered New Orleans and seized all firearms, lawfully owned or not. Of course, this left law-abiding citizens defenseless against predators. But what was this all about? Was it about having a trial run, for the day when the Feds finally move nationwide against gunowners? The Second Amendment was placed in our Bill of Rights for a reason. It was not about the rights of hunters to shoot ducks. It was based on the realization that an armed citizenry is the best defense against tyrannical centralized government. Those who wish to seize power and rule by force rather than according to law, must therefore render those to be ruled over disarmed and helpless. That, I submit, is what this is all about. Read the following letter, from the president of the National Rifle Association.

Add to it the fact that under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, resisters can be labeled "unlawful enemy combatants," rounded up and thrown into a legal black hole, without any Constitutional protections.

It might be worthwhile to check this out as well:

Dear Fellow NRA Member,

I want you to visit NRA's new web site www.givethemback.com today. Please do it today, when you have a few minutes. This is important.

This site gives gun owners a stark and brutal reminder of why we must defend our firearm freedoms with passion and vigilance in Congress, in state legislatures, in the courts... AND ON ELECTION DAY.

This site makes it clear why gun owners can never, ever sit on the sidelines during an election. This site is a slap-in-the-face wake up call for every gun owner who thinks anti-gun politicians don't have the nerve or the will to confiscate our guns.

And why they must be defeated before they ever get their hands on power.

Take a long hard look at the section titled "Brutally Disarmed" on www.givethemback.com. You'll see unbelievable violence caught by Fox News when police entered the residence of sixty-year old, Patricia Konie, and demanded that she evacuate her home.

You'll see them body-slam this tiny woman into a wall-sending dishes flying-then confiscate her firearm and drag her from her home.

You never saw this footage and you never will see it on ABC, NBC or CBS. You never will see the photos or read about these crimes in The New York Times, The Washington Post or any of the major dailies.

The anti-gun media doesn't want you to see it because it will prove that everything they've been saying about how politicians and bureaucrats can be trusted to protect your Second Amendment rights IS A LIE.

Please help NRA guarantee that the first time guns were confiscated in New Orleans is the LAST time in America. Act now to get your DVD, Never Again! www.givethemback.com.

Patricia Konie is just one of hundreds of gun owners who felt the heavy hand of gun confiscation in New Orleans.

When Hurricane Katrina wrecked New Orleans, the local police chief unleashed a wave of gun confiscations with these chilling words. "No one will be able to be armed. We will take all weapons. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns. All firearms, lawfully owned or not, will be seized."

No words can express the horror of these gun owners at what the anti-gun politicians did to THEM. That's why we've built this web site. I urge you to go to it today...look at this shocking video footage compiled by NRA... Then forward the link to every gun owner you know.

For 25 years, hundreds of anti-gun politicians like Charles Schumer, Dianne Feinstein and Hillary Clinton have been telling me:

"Come on, Wayne, you're just trying to scare people. Nobody's
going to break down doors and take away guns from law-abiding
Americans. ...That will never happen."

Guess what. They did and we have it on videotape...Chilling proof that Katrina blew a gaping hole in Constitutional freedom that a convoy of confiscators will roll through until we roadblock them.

Because what happened in New Orleans can now happen anywhere in America.

Don't let anybody tell you this is the NRA attacking rank and file police. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rank and file police support NRA.

I met a lot of them down in New Orleans. They hated what they saw. They were horrified when they were ordered to confiscate citizens' firearms. Rank and file officers don't want political leaders to make them instruments of tyranny who disarm their fellow townsmen-townsmen who are their friends and families!

The law is the law, the Constitution is the Constitution. If ONE local mayor or police chief can decide what the Second Amendment means, it opens the door to tyranny-where ANY mayor or police chief can say what the Second Amendment means.

We can't allow this reckless disregard for law of our land to become standard operating procedure for any anti-gun government official.

Because you know as well as I do that it's only a matter of time before the next disaster hits. Then what do we do? Sit huddled in our pitch-black homes waiting to be terrorized at the hands of some armed-to-the-teeth thug?

In the days after Hurricane Katrina-right up to today-NRA has fought for the return of the confiscated firearms to their rightful and law-abiding owners.

Even though NRA secured a court order demanding their immediate and unconditional return, almost every single confiscated firearm remains locked in government trailers. Now, New Orleans gun owners are showing up at these trailers, with serial numbers of their firearms, expecting Nagin and his band of anti-gunners to respect the Federal courts.

They are met by stony-eyed bureaucrats who say serial numbers aren't enough- and that gun owners now need PROOF OF PURCHASE of these firearms.

How many of those gun owners do you think had original receipts for those firearms? And even if they did, how many do you think could find those receipts in the wreckage of a hurricane?

Please help NRA guarantee that the first time guns were confiscated in New Orleans is the LAST time in America. Act now to get your DVD, Never Again! www.givethemback.com.

Many of these firearms were passed down from father to son, generation to generation. Some are precious heirlooms. Some are collector's pieces won in our wars. Others are workaday hunting rifles or handguns used for self-defense. And they were all lawfully owned and they must be returned to their owners.

But the anti-gun officials who are behind the confiscations are laughing at the law and the courts.

That's why I need your help in putting an end to this bald-faced abuse of power. Can I count on you to Vote Freedom First this Election Day? Can I count on you to spread the word? And help NRA make the first time in New Orleans the last time in America?

I hope your answer is YES, because your NRA is fighting back and we need your help with our three-pronged battle plan...

1. With your help, we will file an injunction against Nagin that bars city
officials from destroying, keeping, selling or auctioning any of the
firearms in their possession.

2. With your help, we will demand that Nagin publish a list of confiscated
firearms and spend the money needed to locate firearm owners and return
every firearm. We will demand that Nagin spend as much money as he
did finding lost voters who moved to other states--voters he needed to win
re-election!

Last, and most important...

3. With your help, we will help file lawsuits on behalf of every victim of this
gun confiscation, so that Nagin, Compass and Riley pay civil AND financial
penalties for their illegal assaults on our freedoms.

The gloves are off and we will use every tool and tactic within our reach. We will shoot holes in every legal trick and stalling tactic. We will answer them blow for blow.

That's why I'm also asking you to make a special contribution help freedom-loving Americans win this critical battle for the future of our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Your contribution will help us send this crystal-clear message to every anti-gun mayor and police chief in America: If you trample our Constitution and seize guns from the law-abiding, you will pay a heavy price.

I'm making this request to friends who've pulled NRA through thick and thin. Friends who've come to NRA's rescue when freedom was on the line. I'm making this request of you because we don't have any time to waste. There won't be a second chance to win this fight.

This is the second Battle of New Orleans. And just like freedom-loving Americans did in 1814 when the British came to seize our guns and liberties, we will fight this battle to the bitter end.

You know as well as I do that it's only a matter of time before the next disaster hits. Whether it's a terrorist attack, earthquake, wildfire or bird flu-when government breaks down and the police are AWOL-the only thing that stands between you and injury, assault or death is your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

With your help we're going to make the first time in New Orleans the LAST time in America.

Even though you didn't ask for it, this fight is your fight, too. And it's a fight you and I need to win together. Thanks for your help.

Wayne LaPierre
Executive Vice President
National Rifle Association

Colorado Man Jailed Following Public Criticism of Bush Administration's Iraq Policy; Files Federal Suit

2006-10-13T18:03:00.000-04:00

Is it still possible to criticize Executive Branch policies directly to members of the Executive Branch without facing arrest and possible jail time? With the Military Commissions Act of 2006, will such people as this Colorado man begin simply to disappear down a government-military black hole?

I say Executive Branch instead of Bush Administration because no one really thinks this problem will go away when Bush leaves office. If the problems are not addressed within the next couple of years does anyone realize what a quantum leap in dictatorship we might be looking at if by some chance Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected president in 2008?????

This has been sent to me by several individuals.

Man files suit over Cheney encounter

Golden resident was cuffed, jailed after comment to VP in Beaver Creek encounter
by Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News

October 4, 2006

Steven Howards saw a news story one morning this summer reporting the latest casualty totals from Iraq, and a few hours later had the rare opportunity to voice his feelings to a man he considers directly responsible.

Doing so, Howards said, sent him to jail for allegedly harassing the vice president of the United States. And now he is responding with a federal lawsuit against the Secret Service agent who put him in handcuffs.

The suit filed Tuesday alleges that Howards was arrested in retaliation for having exercised his First Amendment right of free speech, and that his arrest also violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful arrest.

Howards' lawyer, David Lane, said at a Tuesday press conference that he believes it's possible the case could land Vice President Dick Cheney on the stand as a witness in the case, or even be added as a defendant.

The lawsuit stems from a chance meeting on an outdoors mall in Beaver Creek on June 16, when Howards and his wife were walking their two sons to a piano camp.

They were surprised to see Cheney there, posing for pictures and shaking hands with members of the public.

"Many of us fantasize what would we do if we had the opportunity to really tell Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney how we feel," said Howards, 54, of Golden.

"And to be honest, when I passed him, my initial thought was to keep walking. And then I said, I couldn't with a clear conscience let this opportunity pass."

So Howards approached the vice president and told him, " 'Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.' And I moved on. I didn't want to give anybody any excuses to come after me."

But a few minutes later, according to Howards, he was walking back across the mall with his younger son, Jonah, then 8, when he was approached by an agent identified in the lawsuit as Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr.

The agent, Howards said, "came out of the shadows and literally said, 'Did you assault the vice president?'

"If this had happened, I would think if they were doing their job, I would have been face-down in the concrete five or 10 minutes earlier," said Howards. "To me, this was just absolute, transparent harassment."

Howards denied touching Cheney, repeated for the agent what he had said to the vice president, and promptly found himself being handcuffed and taken to the Eagle County Jail, where he said he remained cuffed for three hours prior to being bailed out by his wife.

Howards' lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver and requesting unspecified damages and a jury trial, states that he was told by Reichle he would be charged federally with assaulting the vice president.

In fact, Howards was charged in state court with misdemeanor harassment, punishable by up to one year in jail. The harassment charge was then dismissed July 10 at the request of Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert.

Initially, Hurlbert said Tuesday, "We had information that . . . he had pushed the vice president. That was our original information."

"Later on, it appeared it was just essentially his disagreeing with the vice president's policies. That's not harassment."

Hurlbert said he has seen no information indicating that Howards' arrest came at Cheney's request or direction.

Lane said it's possible the agent's superiors, and those who trained him, could eventually join Reichle as defendants.

A Secret Service spokesman in Washington, D.C., declined comment on the suit. U.S. attorney's spokesman in Denver Jeff Dorschner said Reichle could elect to be defended either by the U.S. attorney's office or by a private attorney.

Reichle did not return a call left for him at his Denver office.

Howards is formerly the executive director of the Denver Metropolitan Air Quality Council. He currently works as a consultant to public and private sector organizations on environmental issues.

"This (lawsuit) is really about whether we in fact live in a free nation, whether we in fact still have the ability to speak freely in our opposition to government policies," Howards said.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5040783,00.html

Timeline of the Progress Toward a North American Union

2006-10-12T22:50:00.000-04:00

Of course, some (and to some extent I am among them) prefer the phrase North American Community, as if this was a difference that really made a difference. This is an ongoing process that has been going on for years, and only in the present decade begun really to accelerate. I've reproduced the Introduction; link to the Timeline itself is below. The Timeline is loaded with links. The documentation for this is simply overwhelming--so overwhelming that the temptation some doubtless feel to dismiss all this as "Internet conspiracy theory" is laughable.

Timeline of the Progress Toward a North American Union

Canadian, U.S., and Mexican elites, including CEOS and politicians, have a plan to create common North American policies and further integrate our economies. This plan goes by various names and euphemisms, such as "deep integration", "NAFTA-plus", "harmonization", the "Big Idea", the "Grand Bargain", and the "North American Security and Prosperity Initiative". Regardless of which name your prefer, the end goal of all of these plans is to create a new political and economic entity that would supercede the existing countries. Advocates refer to it as a "North American Community", but it is also known as the North American Union (NAU). Theoretically, it would be similar to and competetive with the European Union (EU). The individual currencies of each country would be replaced by a common currency called the "Amero" and everything from environmental regulations to security would be brought in line with a common standard.

Vive le Canada.ca offers the following timeline as a resource to educate the general public about the progress of the three countries toward a new North American Union (NAU).

Vive le Canada.ca opposes the creation of the North American Union (NAU) because we believe it will mean the loss of Canadian sovereignty and democracy and hand over more power to giant, unelected corporations. We also believe that unlike the EU, the countries joining the NAU are not roughly equal in size and power and that this means the U.S. will most certainly be setting policy for all three countries. Considering the unpopularity of the Bush administration and its policies in the U.S., Canada, and around the world we believe that erasing the borders between our countries and adopting U.S. policies at this time is a bad idea and will create economic, political and military insecurity in this country. We hope that raising awareness about the plan to create a North American Union (NAU) will create opposition and encourage debate in all three countries, but especially in Canada.

Read the Timeline here.

Why Are We Supporting These People in the Middle East?????

2006-10-10T10:55:00.000-04:00

Probably because of who controls the neocon establishment that really controls the country just now, of who controls the banks that in turn control the flow of most of the money supply, and who is the primary motive force behind the gathering New World Order.

Have you heard . . .
You probably haven't. After all . . .

Almost no one bothered to report it. A search of the nation's largest newspapers turned up nothing in USA Today, the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Chicago Sun-Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, Tampa Tribune, etc.

There was nothing on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, PBS, NPR, Fox News.

Nothing.

The LA Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Associated Press each had one sentence, at most, telling about her. All three left out the details, the LA Times had her age significantly off, and the Washington Post reported that she had been killed by an Israeli tank shell.

It hadn't been a tank shell that had kille[d] her, according to witnesses. It had been bullets, multiple ones, fired up close.

Neighbors report that Israeli soldiers had been beating her husband because he wasn't answering their questions. Foolishly or valiantly, how is one to say, the 35-year-old woman had interfered. She tried to explain that her husband was deaf, screamed at the soldiers that her husband couldn't hear them and attempted to stop them from hitting him. So they shot her. Several times.

Her name was Itemad Ismail Abu Mo'ammar.

She didn't die, though. That took longer. It required her life to flow out of her in the form of blood for several hours, as Israeli soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to transport her to help. Her husband and children could do nothing to save her.

Finally, after approximately five hours, an ambulance was allowed to take her to a hospital, where physicians were able to render one service: pronounce her dead, a few days before the commencement of Ramadan, a season of family gatherings much like the Christmas season for Americans. She left 11 children. None of this was in the Washington Post story, which had reported her death in one half of one sentence.
Her husband's brother, who lived in the same house, was also killed. He was a 28-year-old farmer.

Why did this all happen? The family lived behind a resistance fighter wanted by Israel. They were simply "collateral damage" in a failed Israeli assassination/ kidnapping operation.

All together, five Palestinians were killed that day. The other three were young shepherds killed in another area, two 15 years old and one 14, who seem to have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gaza.

None of this was reported in most of America's news media, and so the American public never learned about a mother bleeding to death in front of her children, or young shepherds being blown to pieces.

Apparently, it just wasn't newsworthy.

Of course, THEY are the ones who decide what's newsworthy and what is NOT.

If your mother dies because she was shot several times and left to bleed to death before your eyes because she was trying to protect your deaf father from bloodthirsty soldiers, will "the media" report it?

That depends - on whether she was human and whether it was newsworthy.

And of course, THEY get to decide.

Make no mistake - it's just a matter of time before those who treat other human beings like they did this woman do the same to US.

"Diversity" is Corrosive

2006-10-09T21:58:00.000-04:00

Whenever the actual effects of the 1990s-2000s cult of "diversity" are studied, we get results indicating that it is destructive rather than beneficial. "Diversity" is just the more recent term for the less and less popular cult of multiculturalism (the idiotic notion that "all cultures are equal") protected by political correctness (thought control). Ultimately these contemporary myths tie back into affirmative action programs, those ghastly cultural wrecking balls dating from the 1960s and 1970s that ended up discriminating in reverse against white men, provoking more racial/ethnic and gender hostility than they solved, thus creating the need for the strategy of protection provided by political correctness. With that in place, the affirmative action mindset ("proportional representation," meaning favoritism towards the "underrepresented") soon evolved into multiculturalism and the cult of "diversity" which now controls academia.

With our country being invaded by Mexicans, and the open borders mindset placing us at risk of eventual genuine terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, one wonders how long it will take before Americans actually rise up and resist the cult of "diversity"--as oppose to waiting on college professors to produce "studies" providing data to "prove" what ought to have been common sense.

Harvard study paints bleak picture of ethnic diversity

Financial Times
All Financial Times News
October 8, 2006

A bleak picture of the corrosive effects of ethnic diversity has been revealed in research by Harvard University's Robert Putnam, one of the world's most influential political scientists.

His research shows that the more diverse a community is, the less likely its inhabitants are to trust anyone – from their next-door neighbour to the mayor.

This is a contentious finding in the current climate of concern about the benefits of immigration. Professor Putnam told the Financial Times he had delayed publishing his research until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity, saying it "would have been irresponsible to publish without that".

The core message of the research was that, "in the presence of diversity, we hunker down", he said. "We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it's not just that we don't trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don't trust people who do look like us."

Prof Putnam found trust was lowest in Los Angeles, "the most diverse human habitation in human history", but his findings also held for rural South Dakota, where "diversity means inviting Swedes to a Norwegians' picnic".

When the data were adjusted for class, income and other factors, they showed that the more people of different races lived in the same community, the greater the loss of trust. "They don't trust the local mayor, they don't trust the local paper, they don't trust other people and they don't trust institutions," said Prof Putnam. "The only thing there's more of is protest marches and TV watching."

British Home Office research has pointed in the same direction and Prof Putnam, now working with social scientists at Manchester University, said other European countries would be likely to have similar trends.

His 2000 book, Bowling Alone, on the increasing atomisation of contemporary society, made him an academic celebrity. Though some scholars questioned how well its findings applied outside the US, policymakers were impressed and he was invited to speak at Camp David, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.

Prof Putnam stressed, however, that immigration materially benefited both the "importing" and "exporting" societies, and that trends "have been socially constructed, and can be socially reconstructed".

In an oblique criticism of Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, who revealed last week he prefers Muslim women not to wear a full veil, Prof Putnam said: "What we shouldn't do is to say that they [immigrants] should be more like us. We should construct a new us."

Copyright 2006 Financial Times

The Dow's New High: A Scam?

2006-10-09T19:51:00.000-04:00

This, from the latest International Forecaster (dated Saturday, October 7, 2006). Contact information: P. O. Box 510518, Punta Gorda, FL 33951-0518. An international financial, economic, political and social commentary. Published and Edited by: Bob Chapman E-mail Address International_forecaster@yahoo.com
www.theinternationalforecaster.com

The economy healthy because the Dow hit a new high last week? Don't bet on it! Continue buying gold and silver if you are doing so. Thanks to Cal S. for this.

U.S. MARKETS

We just happened to catch a Wednesday mid-morning CNBC flash. The Dow is making new highs quickly followed by a dissertation as to why gold is falling.

Finally more financial market participants are realizing that our government and its agents are intervening in our markets. The chief investment strategist for Raymond James cited as we did in an earlier issue that the change in the gasoline component of the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the massive selling this caused in gasoline futures, was responsible in part for the collapse in gasoline prices. They speculated as we did that this had something to do with the coming elections and the Republicans desire to have lower gasoline prices before voters go to the polls. Raymond James was correct, it is just that they were three weeks late. Another reference that lends credence to our and their synopsis is that the DOE has delayed the purchase of oil to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until at least after the winter heating season.

The new high on the Dow is a total scam. While the Dow hit a new high this week, not a single component stock did. Seventy percent of the components are 20% or more. How can this be?

Only seven stocks made their new high in 2006, and of these only three of them are within 5% of their new high today, Wednesday, with 21% of the 30 Dow stocks, or 70%, down 20% or more.

Using the BLS’s inflation statistics, it would take a Dow of 13,817 to equal the Dow high of 11,750 of 2000. Inversely 11,754 is equal to 9,995 in 2000.

If you calculate the Dow using gold, the Dow is 5,100. Using an average gold price of $275.00 in 2000 and today’s price of $580, we have a 52.5% drop equivalent to Dow 5,000. Why is the Dow supposedly hitting new highs in October, when it is almost always the worst month? It’s the election of course. That is why gold was off $40 in two days.

The latest hedge fund to stumble is Vega Asset Management. It has $3 billion in assets and is off 75% in two years. 1,071 hedge funds have shut down in the past two years. They, like others, have made concentrated bets that have backfired. Vega two years ago managed $12 billion - that is now $6 billion.

A number of hedge funds are in trouble and for those of you who have not studied history, these same kind of investment pools were significant pools in part responsible for the collapses in 1929 and 1932. That is why they were outlawed and why banks were banned from having brokerage firms. That, of course, has changed again. A consolidation in hedge funds is about to take place and once the market collapses again, they will be outlawed again. Yes, in almost two years 2,622 new hedge funds have been launched. Once the market begins its decent the world had best run for cover.

Whirlpool announced it will fire 1,200 workers in Arkansas and Indiana and shift production to Mexico. Let’s hear it again for free trade and globalization.

The latest statistics show us that consumers depended on new debt for 88% of their cash flow during 2005. 2006 should run about the same. Historical usage has been 45% of cash flow. As home equity declines the consumer has two choices – either cut back on credit, borrowing, and spending, or increase debt to continue spending somewhere near current levels. We do not know as yet which way they will go, but we will find out over the next six months.

As you know we believe the economy topped out in the first quarter and if consumer direction is not changed the final quarter of 2006 could well be a negative one. M2 hasn’t changed since June and our estimated M3 in August was somewhat lower. We will have new figures in another week. We won’t know until early to mid-November where we are really headed, if then.

We wonder why politicians take trips and gratuities, which are legal, and then deliberately don’t report them? We ask how Oregon Speaker Karen Minnis can forget to file her $4,000-trip to Israel last year, paid for by the Portland Jewish Federation. It just isn’t Minnis – its scores of politicians that conveniently forget to report legal payoffs they received usually from lobbyists or specialized groups. Why hide them? The practice is so widespread that we believe those taking the trips are ashamed of what they are doing.

Jack Abramoff was told on 3/18/02 by Karl Rove that there was an up coming war with Iraq.

New orders at factories were unchanged in August. If transportation was stripped out they fell 0.7%. Transport orders rose 4%. Excluding defense overall orders fell 0.2%.
The ISM service index fell to 52.9% from 57 in August. Their measure of prices declined to 56.7 from 72.4, the biggest slide since the survey began in 1997.

The State of Ohio will use RFID chips to track all of its 44,000 prison inmates. The $415,000 contract went to Alanco Technologies. Inmates will wear “wristwatch-size” transmitters that can detect if prisoners have been trying to remove them and send an alert to prison computers. Staff will also wear the technology on their belts so they can be tracked for security purposes. Wardens can activate an alarm themselves, but the alert will also be sent if the transmitter is forcibly removed or the warden is knocked down. Facilities in Michigan, California and Illinois already employ the technology and evidentially three more states are ready to sign up.

The Bush administration has had another disastrous foreign policy debacle. Paraguay has refused diplomatic immunity for US troops and will not renew its military cooperation pact. Another factor was that European and Asian nations helped with road, hospital, school and infrastructure projects, which the US had no interest in doing. Their attitude was it is our way or the highway. The Mercosur bloc, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela have completely outflanked the US. Eventually South American countries will all be in Mercosur, they want to make their own mistakes and run their own lives.

Democrats held leads in races for 11 of 15 key Republican-held House seats as the Speaker is being pressured to resign over the Mark Foley child molestation-pedophile scandal. Remember, do not vote for an incumbent unless he has voted the way you wanted him to at least 80% of the time.

Mortgage applications rose by the most since June 2005 as borrowing costs hit an 8-month low. The MBA Index of applications for both purchase and refi loans rose 11.9%, the second highest level this year. Refinancing surged 17.5% and home purchases 7.6% last week. The average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.24%, up from 6.18%. Applications y-o-y fell 29%. Purchase apps fell 24% y-o-y.

Prices of existing homes fell in August for the first time in 11 years. The y-o-y median price of new homes fell in August as well. Inventories of new homes were the highest in more than 13 years. Housing starts fell 6% despite more than 50% of builders giving rebates.

Teddy Roosevelt once wrote, “Speak softly and carry a big stick ˆ you will go far.” Had Roosevelt been speaking at a recent Federal Reserve luncheon, rather than addressing the public at the opening of the Minnesota State Fair in 1901, he might have chosen to write, “speak loudly and carry a little stick ˆ you will have discovered economic spin.” Along those lines, the Fed continues to speak loudly against the evils of money creation and inflation. Unfortunately, total bank credit and money creation (estimated M3) continue to increase 8 and 8.5% year-over-year, respectively. Not only has the Fed mastered the art of speaking loudly, they do so without the need to carry stick. Just like the calculation of M3, sticks can be very expensive.

With the help of little in the way of wage increases until this year corporate profits have grown at a double digit rate for 17 consecutive quarters, which with offshoring and outsourcing have offset higher interest rates and energy prices. Wall Street looks forward to more of the same in 2007 with S&P 500 earnings of 12.9%.

Not so fast, wages are now increasing at a 5% rate, the cost of doing business overseas is rising and a housing slowdown has already affected consumer spending. It could be that lessening of the wealth affect and a consumer cutback in spending could take earnings down to 4 or 5 percent. This is what happens when wage gains are double productivity gains. Six years of labor exploitation are over. The era of the home being an ATM machine is nearing an end as well. Household savings are still -.5%. We do not see improvement in exports even if the dollar falls. All we have left for export is services and their costs are increasing, making them less competitive. In spite of what Wall Street thinks, 2007 will be a year of declining profits.

Nearly three years after hearing arguments in the case, a federal judge has ruled that the ACLU challenge to the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act may proceed. The ACLU contends Section 215 of the Act, which allows the FBI access to any tangible things, such as books and documents through an order from a secret court, does not require investigators to show probable cause. The ACLU wants the judge to declare Section 215 unconstitutional, and block the Justice Department from using that part of the Act.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Senator from Connecticut running for reelection, as an Independent, says the party leadership has assured him he would keep his seniority if he returns to Congress. Local Democrats are responding in disbelief and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) denies making a decision. Reid is a disgrace to even consider such a thing and Lieberman is a liar.

A study of 70 top CEO’s says most believe the economy will deteriorate over the next six months. 45.6% see problems and 41.2% see improvement.

House prices in metropolitan areas in Las Vegas and Washington may decline by more than 10% in the months ahead as borrowing costs increase. The slump may last into 2009.

On 9/21/06 Homeland Security announced Boeing has won a $2.5 billion contract to install sensors and radar along the US border. We’ve been told the sensors won’t work. When Chertoff was asked why Boeing was chosen, he refused to answer. The reason is the Boeing team includes an Israeli military contractor, which will play a lead role. It is called Kollsman, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems of Haifa, Israel. They will man 1,800 towers on the borders with cameras developed to spot people nine miles away.

The AP/IPSOS Poll found abut 50% of likely voters say recent disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they cast their votes.

Our contacts tell us the US is training Sunni militias in Iraq that will eventually add to the chaos in that mutilated land. Our occupation forces now back both Shia and Sunni militias in different areas of the country. What can these people be thinking of?

The AP/IPSOS Poll also showed Bush’s handling of the war was 37% down from 41% last month and his handling of foreign policy and terrorism fell from 47% to 43%.

Apple Computer got caught backdating options and CEO Steve Jobs knew all about it. Corporate corruption marches on.

Freddie Mac says refinancing activity jumped 18% last week, accounting for 46.7% of total applications for the week and up 17.5% from the previous week. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.30%, down from 6.31%. The 15’s were 5.98%, unchanged and the one-year ARM averaged 5.46%, down from 5.47%.

The Monster Employment Index fell to 172 in September from a record 173 in August.

First time claims for jobless benefits fell 17,000 to 302,000 for the week ended 9/30. The four-week moving average fell to 313,500 from 316,250. Those collecting state unemployment benefits rose to 2.448 million from 2.433 million.

Service industries grew at the slowest pace in more than three years in August as the ISM Index of non-manufacturing businesses fell to 52.9 from 57. This includes banking, retailing and construction that account for almost 90% of GDP. This is the biggest fall since the survey began in 1997. There is little doubt as we predicted that the economy is slowing.

The MBA Index of applications rose 11.9%. Refi’s surged 17.5% and home purchases 7.6%. They saw the 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6.24% versus 6.18% in the prior week. Year-on-year apps fell 29%. The purchase index fell 24% y-o-y. The y-o-y median price also fell in August, the first drop since 2003. Inventories are at record levels.

It was not a good week for the economy, despite the higher stock market. Our Fed Chairman finally has admitted housing is in a substantial correction. That is in spite of his having stopped raising interest rates and continuing to raise money and credit by more than 10%. The service industry and manufacturing industries are in the worst slump in three years and the job situation deteriorates.

Prosecutors in California have filed criminal charges against former Hewlett-Packard Chairwomen Patricia Dunn, and four others implicated in a corporate spying campaign, including a private investigator. Pretexting was part of the charges or lying to obtain the personal phone records and other data about company directors. They are accused of using false or fraudulent grounds to obtain confidential information from a public utility, unauthorized access to computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy. Corporate America continues to wallow in crime.

Sen. John McCain manages both the anti-Bush group within the party as he enables Bush to accomplish all his goals. He in great part was responsible for the torture bill and the warrantless spy bill. After challenging the bills both were passed in almost their original form. A scam pure and simple. The bills presently won’t stand up to the Supreme Court, but as we mentioned before, one more change in the court and they will uphold Bush’s tyrannical rule. Just pray that doesn’t happen. McCain votes 90% of the time as an ordinary right-wing conservative, and when push comes to shove, he gives the corporatist fascists what they want. He has even made overtures to the religious right. McCain is a dangerous phony who wants the presidency at any cost.

Falling Gas Prices--Micromanaged?

2006-10-08T08:48:00.000-04:00

Gas prices have fallen, on average, almost a full dollar per gallon over the past six weeks or so. How serendipidous, right before an election now less than a month away. The question in many people's minds: is someone at the very top of the economic hierarchy in this society manipulating the market in an effort to ensure that the Republicans retain control of Congress--a control jeopardized by this country's involvement in two increasingly unpopular foreign wars and mounting unease over domestic police-state legislation at home? If the superelite wants Republicans in control, it is probably because they can be counted on to take this country into globalist socialism far more smoothly than the Democrats, who always get tied up in disruptive shenannigans (witness the Clinton era--although the Mark Foley debacle proves that Republicans are hardly free of this sort of thing).

Here is one very interesting theory about what might be happening. Before turning this one loose, I should note that Goldman Sachs is part of the vast Rothschild-controlled global network. Having researched the House of Rothschild for the past year, there is no doubt in my mind that this is possible.

Gasoline Price Manipulation Before the Elections

by Peter Stojan

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/stojan1.html

Is Goldman Sachs manipulating the gasoline futures market to push prices down before the November elections?

It sure looks that way.

An article appeared this Saturday in the New York Times pointing to some unusual trading by Goldman Sachs in the gasoline futures market. As Raymond Keller, who spotted the article, points out, "They always hide the good stuff in the low circulation Saturday edition."

What’s Goldman doing?

Here’s how the Times reports it:

Politics and worries about oil supplies may have caused gasoline prices to go up at the pump earlier this year, but one big investment bank quietly helped their rapid drop in recent weeks, according to some economists, traders and analysts.

Goldman Sachs, which runs the largest commodity index, the G.S.C.I., said in early August that it was reducing the index’s weighting in gasoline futures significantly. The announcement did not make big headlines, but it has reverberated through the markets in the weeks since and some other investors who had been betting that gasoline would rise followed suit on their weightings.

"They started unwinding their positions, and those other longs also rushed to the door at the same time," said Lawrence J. Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. The August announcement by Goldman Sachs caught some traders by surprise. The firm said in early June that it planned to roll its positions in the harbor contract into another futures contract, the reformulated gasoline blendstock, which is replacing the harbor contract at the end of the year because of changes to laws about gasoline additives. Later in June, Goldman said it had rolled a third of its gasoline holdings into the reformulated contracts but would make further announcements as to whether the remainder would be rolled over. Then in August, the bank said it would not roll over any more positions into gasoline and would redistribute the weighting into other petroleum products...

Some traders speculated that Goldman might have been concerned about the liquidity of the reformulated contract and whether other traders would embrace it because there were so few contracts outstanding. The open interest, or number of futures contracts taken out, has increased ninefold in the reformulated contract since then.

Unleaded gasoline made up 8.72 percent of Goldman’s commodity index as of June 30, but it is just 2.3 percent now, representing a sell-off of more than $6 billion in futures contract weighting.

A sell-off of more than $6 billion in gasoline futures contracts? Let’s put it this way, a $6 billion trade is not decided on at the lower levels of the firm.

Keller provides some insight into the curious timing of this trade:

President George W. Bush nominated Henry M. Paulson, Jr. to be the 74th Secretary of the Treasury on June 19, 2006. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed Paulson to the position on June 28, 2006 and he was sworn into office on July 10, 2006. Before coming to Treasury, Paulson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. So what does Goldman do just weeks after Paulson is sworn in as Treasury Secretary? It announces a subtle move that drives down gasoline prices, short-term. Nice move, coming just months before the election.

Now it may be hard to swallow for some that market manipulations go on, but they do at all levels. Penny stock promoters cook up their schemes, and power players have their schemes. In traders jargon, it’s called painting the tape. Indeed, the Washington Post has revealed that the government has formed something that is casually known as the Plunge Protection Team. PPT is supposed to jump in and buy stocks when things are unruly. Ronald Reagan formed the PPT when he signed Executive Order 12631. It’s just another way of painting the tape (Using your tax money, or newly printed Federal Reserve dollars, of course). Goldman is a member of the secretive PPT.

But some just don't believe these kinds of manipulations go on. I have had some email discussions in recent days with some pretty sophisticated economists who don’t believe Goldman has manipulated the gasoline market. Their argument goes: "I will continue to be an economist and look at the supply and demand issues."

My reply has been, Goldman Sachs understands supply and demand – and they also understand trading. When you sell-off $6 billion in gasoline futures contracts, you are going to have an impact – as the New York Times story correctly pointed out. That is an awful lot of supply. Further, this type of aggressive selling will result in selling by others who will receive margin calls they can’t meet. And by trend followers, who will suddenly dump gasoline and other commodities. This is, indeed, exactly what is happening. Goldman Sachs didn’t get to be Goldman by not understanding this stuff. Supply and demand can explain this manipulation completely.

My email correspondents also raise a few other points.

They ask, "Why would Goldman Sachs trade this way and lose money?" The answer here is that Goldman doesn’t lose money. This is a managed commodity index. Goldman manages the index, but the actual money put up comes from institutions, hedge funds and other unlucky saps that trusted Goldman to manage the commodity index as a hedge against inflation – not to bail out of $6 billion in contracts over a few weeks. The result: Unlucky saps – Major losses. Goldman – Zero losses and their man running the Treasury. Which side of this trade would you want to be on?

But, my email correspondents continue on with one more charge: "Are you trying to tell me that refiners are trying to deplete their inventories and leave themselves with real supply problems in the future? That does not make sense to me." In fact, depleting inventories is exactly what refiners would do. If the price of gasoline is plunging in the futures market, they are going to push out the door as much inventory as they can, to make room for the new cheap gasoline they can buy up on the futures market.

Bottom line, Goldman had to know they were going to plunge gasoline prices short-term with this type of trading. This smells to me like a Paulson operation all the way. He is the ultimate behind the scenes operator if there ever was one, and future biographies of him are very likely to note such.

October 7, 2006

Peter Stojan [send him mail] has traded commodities full time for over twenty years.

Copyright © 2006 LewRockwell.com

Where the Open Borders Philosophy Is Taking Us

2006-10-06T06:12:00.000-04:00

A brawl erupted yesterday when leftists disrupted a campus appearance by Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist. Note the reference to "free speech" by one of the protesters. Free speech for us, but not for you. That's the totalitarian mindset of political correctness speaking, which is very much aligned with the open borders / dissolve the borders movement, and explains further why, if that movement succeeds, it will be the end of whatever is left of genuine freedom in the U.S.

Protestors Rush Minutemen
Gilchrist's Speech Cut Short by Ensuing Brawl
By Laura Brunts
Columbia Daily Spectator
Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: News

Protestors took the stage minutes after Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, came to the microphone in Roone Arledge Auditorium Wednesday night, sparking a chaotic brawl involving more than 20 students, other attendees, and guests.

Two students in the International Socialist Organization unfurled a yellow banner reading, "No human being is illegal!" which prompted other protestors to rush the stage. Gilchrist supporters then clamored on stage while the speakers were ushered out of the auditorium.

"We were aware that there was going to be a sign and we were going to occupy the stage," said a protestor who was on stage and asked to remain anonymous. "I don't feel like we need to apologize or anything. It was fundamentally a part of free speech. ... The Minutemen are not a legitimate part of the debate on immigration."

Read the rest here.

Watch a video here.

North American Union / From an American Schoolteacher

2006-10-05T17:32:00.000-04:00

New article on NewsWithViews.com here. I should note that this is the lengthened version of an article originally done for the local (Greenville-based) Times Examiner. Here's a fragment:

QUIETLY, QUIETLY BUILDING THE NORTH AMERICAN UNION

By Steven Yates
October 5, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Just when you thought it might be safe to go on to topics other than regional integration and trade practices driven by the love of money and the lust for power, you get blindsided again.

While ordinary Americans were reflecting on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, globalists of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico were making their way quietly, quietly, to Banff, Alberta for the North American Forum held at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel Sept. 12–14. The meeting was closed-doors. According to some reports buses with attendees were arriving at night. There was no print media coverage in the U.S. and very little in Canada; I was able to download an article from the Toronto-based Star. Those who do not get their news from the Internet remain in the dark about one of the biggest unfolding events of the present decade: the globalist social engineering of a North American Union.

WorldNetDaily was able to obtain materials marked Internal Document, Not For Public Release. The whistleblower, Mel Hurtig, noted Canadian author, publisher, and leader of the National Party of Canada, told WorldNetDaily that the “secret meeting was designed to undermine the democratic process…. It was clear that the intention was to keep this important meeting about integrating the three countries out of the public eye.”

Representing the U.S. in Banff was Former U.S. Secretary of State George Schulz. Representing Mexico was Former Mexican Finance Minister Pedro Aspe. Representing Canada was Former Premier of Alberta, Peter Lougheed. The first session featured opening comments by each. The sessions that followed had names like, “A Vision for North America: Issues and Options,” “Toward a North American Energy Strategy,” “Demographic and Social Dimensions of North American Integration,” and “Border Infrastructure and Continental Prosperity.”

The event was co-hosted by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the business wing of Canada’s superelite, and the Canada West Foundation, a “think tank” that has been promoting regional integration.

Prominent on the panel of the “Vision for North America” session was none other than Robert Pastor, who might go down in history as the Father of the North American Union. Paster is the author of Toward A North American Community (2001) published by the globalist Institute for International Economics. He chairs the Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force on North America and served as lead author of the CFR’s Building a North American Community (May 2005). Among other things, this document proposes a North American “security perimeter” around all three nations by 2010. It was this that inspired CNN commentator Lou Dobbs to wonder, last summer, if our elites “had gone mad.”

Providing the keynote address at the Banff confab was our very own Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. Rummy’s speech was entitled, “Opportunities for Security Cooperation in North America: Military-to-Military Cooperation.”

When the powerful begin reading papers on “cooperation” between the military hierarchies of three nations, are there really grounds for doubt that we are looking at compromises of U.S. sovereignty and possibly security on an unprecedented scale? Currently there is a North American Cooperative Security Act, sponsored also in 2005 and languishing in committee, but doubtless far from dead. The plan here is to integrate Mexican and Canadian security forces into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The terms security and prosperity were bandied about freely. This, of course, ties the North American Forum—actually the second (the first, at Sonoma, Calif. in October 2005 was also held in maximum secrecy)—to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), now housed in the NAFTA office of the U.S. Department of Commerce where it has received the full backing of our Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez.

The watchword, however, was deep integration ....

To read the rest, go here.

Now this, courtesy of Ken Porter of Spartanburg, S.C. I get more convinced everyday that those who rationalize the invasion/colonization of the United States by illegal aliens with abstract economic arguments like, "They do the jobs Americans won't do," are just idiots who have spent too much time either in the ivory tower or the antiseptic think tank office or the upper echelon corporate boards. They have no idea what is going on in the real world.

THE COST OF TOMATOES & MAIDS & GARDENERS

From an American school teacher - - -

"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower in socio-economic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about-South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc.-where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

One hundred percent of the students in this school and other Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll --but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud.

The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.

The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial.

I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center; half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas"(whores) and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care, etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To my bleeding-heart friends who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: Spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, Medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases, etc., etc., etc. As for me, I'd be glad to pay more for my tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it.

Does anyone in their right mind really think they (the illegal immigrants) will voluntarily leave and return?

There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends. We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way.

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about "politically correct" that we don't have the will to do anything about it.

If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know."

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

As America Becomes a Dictatorship ...

2006-10-03T16:03:00.000-04:00

Holy smoke! If this doesn't say it all.... After the latest draconian legislative Act was supported 100-0 in the Senate (last Friday) even though it turns U.S. citizens into potential "enemy combatants" at the will of the President, we should be hearing a few alarm bells, although as usual, the American sheeple remain blind, deaf and dumb--still more interested in sports than anything else.

Weighing the available evidence, you decide.

America the Tyranny
Manuel Valenzuela, thepeoplesvoice.org

October 3, 2006

The Road to Authoritarianism

Behold and bear witness to what has become of America, in this era of uncertainty and bewilderment, in this time of fear and intimidation, that since towers were brought down and demolished has methodically fallen into the viper pit of neocon decadence, becoming, as it stands today, an authoritarian’s heaven and a corporatist’s promised land, its people ignorant, as always, to the barrage of waves systemically eroding centuries of rights, freedoms and liberties. From sea to shining sea, despotism is what today those who pay attention see.

The road to fascism is being paved at a clandestine yet alarming velocity, across valleys, prairies and forests, surrounding cites, towns and states, from Atlantic to Pacific, immersing 300 million individuals into a fog of engendered tyranny, who without a care or whisper or concern remain trapped by comfortable surroundings born through perpetual indebtedness. Even as their rights and freedoms and liberties are made to disappear, even as their Constitution is burned, even as their nation hangs on the precipice of despotism, even as their collective destiny is being destroyed those residing inside the belly of the beast hear no evil, see no evil and feel no evil, preferring to gossip about pedophile politicians and celebrity failings than informing themselves to the last throes of the American republic.

The waves of autocracy are upon the shores of America, the demons of the past find themselves resurrected once again, free to unleash fear, intimidation and enslavement onto hundreds of millions of human beings. The high tide of tyranny has returned from the unlearned lessons of history, again engulfing humankind with human wickedness and Machiavellian rule, soon to subjugate the masses in the slavery endemic throughout man’s brief – yet thoroughly destructive – reign over Earth.

Read the rest here.

Building the North American Union - But Not Without Opposition

2006-10-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

Today is the official publication date of my latest piece, "Your New North American ID Card," in The New American. Here is an excerpt:

Your New North American ID Card (Excerpt)
by Steven Yates
October 2, 2006

One element of the merger of the United States, Canada, and Mexico is an effort to create a common "North American" ID card.

Steven Yates, Ph.D., teaches philosophy at the University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College.

Beef cattle come down a loading chute leading into a slaughterhouse, mooing as they walk. Each steer has a yellow ear tag containing a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, which is scanned by a tag reader to assure that the proper animals are in the proper place.

The RFID system was promoted as a means to prevent the spread of animal diseases into the food-supply chain and to prevent bio-terrorism. But there were already adequate measures in place to stop diseased cattle from getting into the food chain, and many ways that the deviously minded would be able to circumvent the RFID system. Critics of the system pointed out that there must be some ulterior motive to the government's insistence on requiring such a tagging system, such as increased profits for importers of non-tagged foreign beef.

Now, in the name of national security, it's our turn to be "tagged."

It is true, of course, that America faces a serious terrorist threat. But instead of instituting commonsense, non-intrusive security measures, such as securing our borders so that terrorists cannot come here undetected, we are openly inviting unscreened foreigners across our borders. Any terrorist able to get into Canada or Mexico could then easily come here. Terrorists among us then serve as the rationale for monitoring the American people themselves through the use of a RFID national ID card....

To continue reading the complete article, place an online order for a PDF version of the October 2nd issue of The New American, and get instant access to the full-text of this article along with the full-text of all the other articles in the same issue. Similarly, if you place an online order for one or more copies of the print version of the October 2nd issue, you'll receive a complimentary link to the PDF version of that issue, also giving you instant access to the full-text of "Your New North American ID Card" article and all of the other articles in that issue.

Indeed, there has been such a flurry of activity on this topic that it would be impossible to list all the relevant links; most can be found on WorldNetDaily.com which has given this developing story good coverage, and also on Human Events where Jerome Corsi publishes semiregularly.

There is also the secret Banff, Albert meeting of the 2nd North American Forum, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, the Trans-Texas Corridor, and much, much more. The attempt by the superelite to dissolve our national borders and merge the U.S., Canada and Mexico may turn out to be the third biggest story of the present decade (after the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq War)--and the biggest story that the mainstream news media refuses to touch.

They may have to touch it sooner or later. For Rep. Virgil Goode Jr. (R-Va) has introduced a resolution (H.R. 487) that would express "the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union (NAU) with Mexico and Canada."

There are three co-sponsors: Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), Ron Paul (R-Tx.), and Walter Jones (R-N.C.). For details go here.

The Plan For Martial Law

2006-09-20T10:46:00.000-04:00

This is not entirely new information, but certainly worth revisiting, as we are at most one 9/11-level national emergency away from a declaration of Martial Law in America, whether by Bush or by his successor, and it will not matter if that successor is a Republican or a Democrat. And note that huge corporations like Halliburton are as involved in this as the federal government--so much for the much vaunted "private sector." Thanks to Joe Baumie in this area for the memory refresher. Read this and enjoy your sleepless night, realizing that what was once called American exceptionalism is dead and that our federal government is no longer significantly different from any other tyranny-prone government on this planet. All are, in the end, based on force or the threat thereof (intimidation).

Steven Yates

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheer up! Big Brother will take care of you! (As long as you are useful.) JEB

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe [mailto:jkress@sc.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:01 AM
To: Joe Kress
Subject: Fw: Fwd:F*MA Concentration Camps: Locations and Executive Orders

You may question what is contained in this message is credible. On the other hand, it should be looked into by someone with authority or one having the ability to investigate what is in the plan for crowd control as specified in FEMA's charter when it was first established.

Joe

-------Original Message-------

From: Rebekah Sutherland
Date: 09/20/06 05:20:43
To: becworks@bellsouth.net
Subject: Fwd:F*MA Concentration Camps: Locations and Executive Orders

Forwarded - Not spam - contact: becworks@bellsouth.net
>
> From:> Date: 2006/09/16 Sat PM 10:10:10 EDT
> To:
> Subject: FEMA Concentration Camps: Locations and Executive Orders
>
> FEMA Concentration Camps:
> Locations and Executive Orders
>
> Friends of Liberty (undated) 3sep04
>
> Mindfully.org note:
>
> It may be easy to find fault with the premise of this article. But the plain fact remains that the USA maintains illegal prisons around the world. It remains a secret only to imbeciles in the US. The rest of the world knows for certain that it's quite real.
>
> The way things are going in the US, it's only a matter of time before these underused facilities come online to serve the master. We would bet that not many Japanese in the US doubt the! premise of this article. And for Jews in Europe during the Holocaust, the article must hit a hard note.
>
> So, what makes you think it can't happen here?
>
> The executive orders below are quite real. The camps exist. Do the math.
>
> Update. . . 31jan2006 - Halliburton subsidiary KBR Awarded $385 Million Contract to Build Detention Facilities in USA

> There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft's list. The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.
> Operation Cable Splicer and Garden Plot are the two sub programs which will be implemented once the Rex 84 program is initiated for its proper purpose. Garden Plot is the program to control the population. Cable Splicer is the program for an orderly takeover of the state and local governments by the federal government. FEMA is the executive arm of the coming police state and thus will head up all operations. The Presidential Executive Orders already listed on the Federal Register also are part of the legal framework for this operation.
> The camps all have railroad facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention facilities. Many also have an airport nearby. The majority of the camps can house a population of 20,000 prisoners. Currently, the largest of these facilities is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaskan facility is a massive mental health facility and can hold approximately 2 million people.
> Now let's review the justification for any actions taken...
> Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:...
>
>
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990
> allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995
> allows the government to seize and control the communication media.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997
> allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998
> allows the government to seize all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 10999
> allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000
> allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001
> allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002
> designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003
> allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004
> allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005
> allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051
> specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310
> grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049
> assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.
> EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921
> allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S . financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA's Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA's role as a "new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis." FEMA's powers were c! onsolidated by President Carter to incorporate the...
> National Security Act of 1947
> allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services, government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower, resources and production facilities.
> 1950 Defense Production Act
> gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of the economy.
> Act of August 29, 1916
> authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the emergency.
> International Emergency Economic Powers Act
> enables the President to seize the property of a foreign country or national. These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.
>
>
> Where are these camps?
>
> ALABAMA
> Opelika - Military compound either in or very near town.
> Aliceville - WWII German POW camp - capacity 15,000 Ft. McClellan (Anniston) - Opposite side of town from Army Depot;
> Maxwell AFB (Montgomery) - Civilian prison camp established under Operation Garden Plot, currently operating with support staff and small inmate population.
> Talladega - Federal prison "satellite" camp.
>
> ALASKA
> Wilderness - East of Anchorage. No roads, Air & Railroad access only. Estimated capacity of 500,000 Elmendorf AFB - Northeast area of Anchorage - far end of base. Garden Plot facility.
> Eielson AFB - Southeast of Fairbanks. Operation Garden Plot facility.
> Ft. Wainwright - East of Fairbanks
>
> ARIZONA
> Ft. Huachuca - 20 miles from Mexican border, 30 miles from Nogales Rex '84 facility.
> Pinal County - on the Gila River - WWII Japanese detention camp. May be renovated.
> Yuma County - Colorado River - Site of former Japanese detention camp (near proving grounds). This site was completely removed in 1990 according to some reports.
> Phoenix - Federal Prison Satellite Camp. Main federal facility expanded.
> Florence - WWII prison camp NOW RENOVATED, OPERATIONAL with staff & 400 prisoners, operational capacity of 3,500.
> Wickenburg - Airport is ready for conversion; total capacity unknown. Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson) - Fully staffed and presently holding prisoners!!
> Sedona - site of possible UN base.
>
> ARKANSAS
> Ft. Chaffee (near Fort Smith, Arkansas) - Has new runway for aircraft, new camp facility with cap of 40,000 prisoners Pine Bluff Arsenal - This location also is the repository for B-Z nerve agent, which causes sleepiness, dizziness, stupor; admitted use is for civilian control. Jerome - Chicot/Drew Counties - site of WWII Japanese camps Rohwer - Descha County - site of WWII Japanese camps Blythville AFB - Closed airbase now being used as camp. New wooden barracks have been constructed at this location. Classic decorations - guard towers, barbed wire, high fences. Berryville - FEMA facility located east of Eureka Springs off Hwy. 62. Omaha - Northeast of Berryville near Missouri state line, on Hwy 65 south of old wood processing plant. Possible crematory facility.
>
> CALIFORNIA
> Vandenburg AFB - Rex 84 facility, located near Lompoc & Santa Maria. Internment facility is located near the oceanside, close to Space Launch Complex #6, also called "Slick Six". The launch site has had "a flawless failure record" and is rarely used. Norton AFB - (closed base) now staffed with UN according to some sources. Tule Lake - area of "wildlife refuge", accessible by unpaved road, just inside Modoc County. Fort Ord - Closed in 1994, this facility is now an urban warfare training center for US and foreign troops, and may have some " P.O.W. - C.I." enclosures. Twenty-nine Palms Marine Base - Birthplace of the infamous "Would you shoot American citizens?" Quiz. New camps being built on "back 40". Oakdale - Rex 84 camp capable of holding at least 20,000 people. 90 mi. East of San Francisco. Terminal Island - (Long Beach) located next to naval shipyards operated by ChiCom shipping interests. Federal prison facility loca! ted here. Possible deportation point. Ft. Irwin - FEMA facility near Barstow. Base is designated inactive but has staffed camp. McClellan AFB - facility capable for 30,000 - 35,000 Sacramento - Army Depot - No specific information at this time. Mather AFB - Road to facility is blocked off by cement barriers and a stop sign. Sign states area is restricted; as of 1997 there were barbed wire fences pointing inward, a row of stadium lights pointed toward an empty field, etc. Black boxes on poles may have been cameras.
>
> COLORADO
> Trinidad - WWII German/Italian camp being renovated. Granada - Prowers County - WWII Japanese internment camp Ft. Carson - Along route 115 near Canon City
>
> CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE
> No data available.
>
> FLORIDA
> Avon Park - Air Force gunnery range, Avon Park has an on-base "correctional facility" which was a former WWII detention camp. Camp Krome - DoJ detention/interrogation center, Rex 84 facility Eglin AFB - This base is over 30 miles long, from Pensacola to Hwy 331 in De Funiak Springs. High capacity facility, presently manned and populated with some prisoners. Pensacola - Federal Prison Camp Everglades - It is believed that a facility may be carved out of the wilds here.
>
> GEORGIA
> Ft. Benning - Located east of Columbus near Alabama state line. Rex 84 site - Prisoners brought in via Lawson Army airfield. Ft. Mc Pherson - US Force Command - Multiple reports that this will be the national headquarters and coordinating center for foreign/UN troop movement and detainee collection. Ft. Gordon - West of Augusta - No information at this time. Unadilla - Dooly County - Manned, staffed FEMA prison on route 230, no prisoners. Oglethorpe - Macon County; facility is located five miles from Montezuma, three miles from Oglethorpe. This FEMA prison has no staff and no prisoners. Morgan - Calhoun County, FEMA facility is fully manned & staffed - no prisoners. Camilla - Mitchell County, south of Albany. This FEMA facility is located on Mt. Zion Rd approximately 5.7 miles south of Camilla. Unmanned - no prisoners, no staff. Hawkinsville - Wilcox County; Five miles east of town, fully manned and staffed but no prisone! rs. Located on fire road 100/Upper River Road Abbeville - South of Hawkinsville on US route 129; south of town off route 280 near Ocmulgee River. FEMA facility is staffed but without prisoners. McRae - Telfair County - 1.5 miles west of McRae on Hwy 134 (8th St). Facility is on Irwinton Avenue off 8th St., manned & staffed - no prisoners. Fort Gillem - South side of Atlanta - FEMA designated detention facility. Fort Stewart - Savannah area - FEMA designated detention facility
>
> HAWAII
> Halawa Heights area - Crematory facility located in hills above city. Area is marked as a state department of health laboratory. Barbers Point NAS - There are several military areas that could be equipped for detention / deportation. Honolulu - Detention transfer facility at the Honolulu airport similar in construction to the one in.Oklahoma (pentagon-shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to).
>
> IDAHO
> Minidoka/Jerome Counties - WWII Japanese-American internment facility possibly under renovation. Clearwater National Forest - Near Lolo Pass - Just miles from the Montana state line near Moose Creek, this unmanned facility is reported to have a nearby airfield. Wilderness areas - Possible location. No data.
>
> ILLINOIS
> Marseilles - Located on the Illinois River off Interstate 80 on Hwy 6. It is a relatively small facility with a cap of 1400 prisoners. Though it is small it is designed like prison facilities with barred windows, but the real smoking gun is the presence of military vehicles. Being located on the Illinois River it is possible that prisoners will be brought in by water as well as by road and air. This facility is approximately 75 miles west of Chicago. National Guard training area nearby. Scott AFB - Barbed wire prisoner enclosure reported to exist just off-base. More info needed, as another facility on-base is believed to exist. Pekin - This Federal satellite prison camp is also on the Illinois River, just south of Peoria. It supplements the federal penitentiary in Marion, which is equipped to handle additional population outside on the grounds. Chanute AFB - Rantoul, near Champaign/Urbana - This closed base had WWII - era bar! racks that were condemned and torn down, but the medical facility was upgraded and additional fencing put up in the area. More info needed. Marion - Federal Penitentiary and satellite prison camp inside Crab Orchard Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. Manned, staffed, populated fully. Greenfield - Two federal correctional "satellite prison camps" serving Marion - populated as above. Shawnee National Forest - Pope County - This area has seen heavy traffic of foreign military equipment and troops via Illinois Central Railroad, which runs through the area. Suspected location is unknown, but may be close to Vienna and Shawnee correctional centers, located 6 mi. west of Dixon Springs. Savanna Army Depot - NW area of state on Mississippi River. Lincoln, Sheridan, Menard, Pontiac, Galesburg - State prison facilities equipped for major expansion and close or adjacent to highways & railroad tracks. Kankakee - Abandoned industrial area on west side of town ( Rt.17 & Main) designated as FEM! A detention site. Equipped with water tower, incinerator, a small trai n yard behind it and the rear of the facility is surrounded by barbed wire facing inwards.
>
> INDIANA
> Indianapolis / Marion County - Amtrak railcar repair facility (closed); controversial site of a major alleged detention / processing center. Although some sources state that this site is a "red herring", photographic and video evidence suggests otherwise. This large facility contains large 3-4 inch gas mains to large furnaces (crematoria??), helicopter landing pads, railheads for prisoners, Red/Blue/Green zones for classifying/processing incoming personnel, one-way turnstiles, barracks, towers, high fences with razor wire, etc. Personnel with government clearance who are friendly to the patriot movement took a guided tour of the facility to confirm this site. This site is located next to a closed refrigeration plant facility. Ft. Benjamin Harrison - Located in the northeast part of Indianapolis, this base has been decommissioned from "active" use but portions are still ideally converted to hold detainees. Helicopter landing a! reas still exist for prisoners to be brought in by air, land & rail. Crown Point - Across street from county jail, former hospital. One wing presently being used for county work-release program, 80% of facility still unused. Possible FEMA detention center or holding facility. Camp Atterbury - Facility is converted to hold prisoners and boasts two active compounds presently configured for minimum security detainees. Located just west of Interstate 65 near Edinburgh, south of Indianapolis. Terre Haute - Federal Correctional Institution, Satellite prison camp and death facility. Equipped with crematoria reported to have a capacity of 3,000 people a day. FEMA designated facility located here. Fort Wayne - This city located in Northeast Indiana has a FEMA designated detention facility, accessible by air, road and nearby rail. Kingsbury - This "closed" military base is adjacent to a state fish & wildlife preserve. Part of the base is converted to an industrial park, but t! he southern portion of this property is still used. It is bordered on the south by railroad, and is staffed with some foreign-speaking UN troops. A local police officer who was hunting and camping close to the base in the game preserve was accosted, roughed up, and warned by the English-speaking unit commander to stay away from the area. It was suggested to the officer that the welfare of his family would depend on his "silence". Located just southeast of LaPorte. Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area - Youth Corrections farm located here. Facility is "closed", but is still staffed and being "renovated". Total capacity unknown. Grissom AFB - This closed airbase still handles a lot of traffic, and has a "state-owned" prison compound on the southern part of the facility.
>
> UNICOR
> Jefferson Proving Grounds - Southern Indiana - This facility was an active base with test firing occuring daily. Portions of the base have been opened to create an industrial park, but other areas are still highly restricted. A camp is believed to be located "downrange". Facility is equipped with an airfield and has a nearby rail line. Newport - Army Depot - VX nerve gas storage facility. Secret meetings were held here in 1998 regarding the addition of the Kankakee River watershed to the Heritage Rivers Initiative. Hammond - large enclosure identified in FEMA-designated city.
>
> IOWA
> No data available.
>
> KANSAS
> Leavenworth - US Marshal's Fed Holding Facility, US Penitentiary, Federal Prison Camp, McConnell Air Force Base. Federal death penalty facility. Concordia - WWII German POW camp used to exist at this location but there is no facility there at this time. Ft. Riley - Just north of Interstate 70, airport, near city of Manhattan. El Dorado - Federal prison converted into forced-labor camp, UNICOR industries. Topeka - 80 acres has been converted into a temporary holding camp.
>
> KENTUCKY
> Ashland - Federal prison camp in Eastern Kentucky near the Ohio River. Louisville - FEMA detention facility, located near restricted area US naval ordnance plant. Military airfield located at facility, which is on south side of city. Lexington - FEMA detention facility, National Guard base with adjacent airport facility. Manchester - Federal prison camp located inside Dan Boone National Forest. Ft. Knox - Detention center, possibly located near Salt River, in restricted area of base. Local patriots advise that black Special Forces & UN gray helicopters are occasionally seen in area. Land Between the Lakes - This area was declared a UN biosphere and is an ideal geographic location for detention facilities. Area is an isthmus extending out from Tennessee, between Lake Barkley on the east and Kentucky Lake on the west. Just scant miles from Fort Campbell in Tennessee.
>
> LOUISIANA
> Ft. Polk - This is a main base for UN troops & personnel, and a training center for the disarmament of America. Livingston - WWII German/Italian internment camp being renovated?; halfway between Baton Rouge and Hammond, several miles north of Interstate 12. Oakdale - Located on US route 165 about 50 miles south of Alexandria; two federal detention centers just southeast of Fort Polk.
>
> MAINE
> Houlton - WWII German internment camp in Northern Maine, off US Route 1.
>
> MARYLAND, and DC
> Ft. Meade - Halfway between the District of Criminals and Baltimore. Data needed. Ft. Detrick - Biological warfare center for the NWO, located in Frederick.
>
> MASSACHUSETTS
> Camp Edwards / Otis AFB - Cape Cod - This "inactive" base is being converted to hold many New Englander patriots. Capacity unknown. Ft. Devens - Active detention facility. More data needed.
>
> MICHIGAN
> Camp Grayling - Michigan Nat'l Guard base has several confirmed detention camps, classic setup with high fences, razor wire, etc. Guard towers are very well-built, sturdy. Multiple compounds within larger enclosures. Facility deep within forest area. Sawyer AFB - Upper Peninsula - south of Marquette - No data available. Bay City - Classic enclosure with guard towers, high fence, and close to shipping port on Saginaw Bay, which connects to Lake Huron. Could be a deportation point to overseas via St. Lawrence Seaway. Southwest - possibly Berrien County - FEMA detention center. Lansing - FEMA detention facility.
>
> MINNESOTA
> Duluth - Federal prison camp facility. Camp Ripley - new prison facility.
>
> MISSISSIPPI
> These sites are confirmed hoaxes. Hancock County - NASA test site De Soto National Forest. "These two supposed camps in Mississippi do not exist. Members of the Mississippi Militia have checked these out on more than one occasion beginning back when they first appeared on the Internet and throughout the Patriot Movement." - Commander D. Rayner, Mississippi Militia
>
> MISSOURI
> Richards-Gebaur AFB - located in Grandview, near K.C.MO. A very large internment facility has been built on this base, and all base personnel are restricted from coming near it. Ft. Leonard Wood - Situated in the middle of Mark Twain National Forest in Pulaski County. This site has been known for some UN training, also home to the US Army Urban Warfare Training school "Stem Village". Warsaw - Unconfirmed report of a large concentration camp facility.
>
> MONTANA
> Malmstrom AFB - UN aircraft groups stationed here, and possibly a detention facility.
>
> NEBRASKA
> Scottsbluff - WWII German POW camp (renovated?). Northwest, Northeast corners of state - FEMA detention facilities - more data needed. South Central part of state - Many old WWII sites - some may be renovated.
>
> NEVADA
> Elko - Ten miles south of town. Wells - Camp is located in the O'Niel basin area, 40 miles north of Wells, past Thousand Springs, west off Hwy 93 for 25 miles. Pershing County - Camp is located at I-80 mile marker 112, south side of the highway, about a mile back on the county road and then just off the road about 3/4mi. Winnemucca - Battle Mountain area - at the base of the mountains. Nellis Air Force Range - Northwest from Las Vegas on Route 95. Nellis AFB is just north of Las Vegas on Hwy 604. Stillwater Naval Air Station - east of Reno . No additional data.
>
> NEW HAMPSHIRE / VERMONT
> Northern New Hampshire - near Lake Francis. No additional data.
>
> NEW JERSEY
> Ft. Dix / McGuire AFB - Possible deportation point for detainees. Lots of pictures taken of detention compounds and posted on Internet, this camp is well-known. Facility is now complete and ready for occupancy.
>
> NEW MEXICO
> Ft. Bliss - This base actually straddles Texas state line. Just south of Alomogordo, Ft. Bliss has thousands of acres for people who refuse to go with the "New Order". Holloman AFB (Alomogordo)- Home of the German Luftwaffe in Amerika; major UN base. New facility being built on this base, according to recent visitors. Many former USAF buildings have been torn down by the busy and rapidly growing German military force located here. Fort Stanton - currently being used as a youth detention facility approximately 35 miles north of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Not a great deal of information concerning the Lordsburg location. White Sands Missile Range - Currently being used as a storage facility for United Nations vehicles and equipment. Observers have seen this material brought in on the Whitesands rail spur in Oro Grande New Mexico about thirty miles from the Texas, New Mexico Border.
>
> NEW YORK
> Ft. Drum - two compounds: Rex 84 detention camp and FEMA detention facility. Albany - FEMA detention facility. Otisville - Federal correctional facility, near Middletown. Buffalo - FEMA detention facility.
>
> NORTH CAROLINA
> Camp Lejeune / New River Marine Airfield - facility has renovated, occupied WWII detention compounds and "mock city" that closely resembles Anytown, USA. Fort Bragg - Special Warfare Training Center. Renovated WWII detention facility. Andrews - Federal experiment in putting a small town under siege. Began with the search/ hunt for survivalist Eric Rudolph. No persons were allowed in or out of town without federal permission and travel through town was highly restricted. Most residents compelled to stay in their homes. Unregistered Baptist pastor from Indiana visiting Andrews affirmed these facts.
>
> NORTH DAKOTA
> Minot AFB - Home of UN air group. More data needed on facility.
>
> OHIO
> Camp Perry - Site renovated; once used as a POW camp to house German and Italian prisoners of WWII. Some tar paper covered huts built for housing these prisoners are still standing. Recently, the construction of multiple 200-man barracks have replaced most of the huts.
> Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus - FEMA detention facilities. Data needed. Lima - FEMA detention facility. Another facility located in/near old stone quarry near Interstate 75. Railroad access to property, fences etc.
>
> OKLAHOMA
> Tinker AFB (OKC) - All base personnel are prohibited from going near civilian detention area, which is under constant guard. Will Rogers World Airport - FEMA's main processing center for west of the Mississippi. All personnel are kept out of the security zone. Federal prisoner transfer center located here (A pentagon-shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to). Photos have been taken and this site will try to post soon! El Reno - Renovated federal internment facility with CURRENT population of 12,000 on Route 66. McAlester - near Army Munitions Plant property - former WWII German / Italian POW camp designated for future use. Ft. Sill (Lawton) - Former WWII detention camps. More data still needed.
>
> OREGON
> Sheridan - Federal prison satellite camp northwest of Salem. Josephine County - WWII Japanese internment camp ready for renovation.
> Sheridan - FEMA detention center. Umatilla - New prison spotted.
>
> PENNSYLVANIA
> Allenwood - Federal prison camp located south of Williamsport on the Susquehanna River. It has a current inmate population of 300, and is identified by William Pabst as having a capacity in excess of 15,000 on 400 acres.
> Indiantown Gap Military Reservation - located north of Harrisburg. Used for WWII POW camp and renovated by Jimmy Carter. Was used to hold Cubans during Mariel boat lift.
> Camp Hill - State prison close to Army depot. Lots of room, located in Camp Hill, Pa. New Cumberland Army Depot - on the Susquehanna River, located off Interstate 83 and Interstate 76.
> Schuylkill Haven - Federal prison camp, north of Reading.
>
> SOUTH CAROLINA
> Greenville - Unoccupied youth prison camp; total capacity unknown.
> Charleston - Naval Reserve & Air Force base, restricted area on naval base.
>
> SOUTH DAKOTA
> Yankton - Federal prison camp
> Black Hills Nat'l Forest - north of Edgemont, southwest part of state. WWII internment camp being renovated.
>
> TENNESSEE
> Ft. Campbell - Next to Land Between the Lakes; adjacent to airfield and US Alt. 41.
> Millington - Federal prison camp next door to Memphis Naval Air Station.
> Crossville - Site of WWII German / Italian prison camp is renovated; completed barracks and behind the camp in the woods is a training facility with high tight ropes and a rappelling deck.
> Nashville - There are two buildings built on State property that are definitely built to hold prisoners. They are identical buildings - side by side on Old Briley Parkway. High barbed wire fence that curves inward.
>
> TEXAS
> Austin - Robert Mueller Municipal airport has detention areas inside hangars.
> Bastrop - Prison and military vehicle motor pool.
> Eden - 1500 bed privately run federal center. Currently holds illegal aliens.
> Ft. Hood (Killeen) - Newly built concentration camp, with towers, barbed wire etc., just like the one featured in the movie Amerika. Mock city for NWO shock- force training. Some footage of this area was used in "Waco: A New Revelation" Reese AFB (Lubbock) - FEMA designated detention facility.
> Sheppard AFB - in Wichita Falls just south of Ft. Sill, OK. FEMA designated detention facility.
> North Dallas - near Carrolton - water treatment plant, close to interstate and railroad.
> Mexia - East of Waco 33mi.; WWII German facility may be renovated.
> Amarillo - FEMA designated detention facility
> Ft. Bliss (El Paso) - Extensive renovation of buildings and from what patriots have been able to see, many of these buildings that are being renovated are being surrounded by razor wire.
> Beaumont / Port Arthur area - hundreds of acres of federal camps already built on large-scale detention camp design, complete with the double rows of chain link fencing with razor type concertina wire on top of each row. Some (but not all) of these facilities are currently being used for low-risk state prisoners who require a minimum of supervision.
> Ft. Worth - Federal prison under construction on the site of Carswell AFB.
>
> UTAH
> Millard County - Central Utah - WWII Japanese camp. (Renovated?)
> Ft. Douglas - This "inactive" military reservation has a renovated WWII concentration camp. Migratory Bird Refuge - West of Brigham City - contains a WWII internment camp that was built before the game preserve was established.
> Cedar City - east of city - no data available. Wendover - WWII internment camp may be renovated.
> Skull Valley - southwestern Camp William property - east of the old bombing range. Camp was accidentally discovered by a man and his son who were rabbit hunting; they were discovered and apprehended. SW of Tooele.
>
> VIRGINIA
> Ft. A.P. Hill (Fredericksburg) - Rex 84 / FEMA facility. Estimated capacity 45,000.
> Petersburg - Federal satellite prison camp, south of Richmond.
>
> WEST VIRGINIA
> Beckley - Alderson - Lewisburg - Former WWII detention camps that are now converted into active federal prison complexes capable of holding several times their current populations. Alderson is presently a women's federal reformatory.
> Morgantown - Federal prison camp located in northern WV; just north of Kingwood.
> Mill Creek - FEMA detention facility.
> Kingwood - Newly built detention camp at Camp Dawson Army Reservation. More data needed on Camp Dawson.
>
> WASHINGTON
> Seattle/Tacoma - SeaTac Airport: fully operational federal transfer center
> Okanogan County - Borders Canada and is a site for a massive concentration camp capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people for slave labor. This is probably one of the locations that will be used to hold hard core patriots who will be held captive for the rest of their lives.
> Sand Point Naval Station - Seattle - FEMA detention center used actively during the 1999 WTO protests to classify prisoners.
> Ft. Lewis / McChord AFB - near Tacoma - This is one of several sites that may be used to ship prisoners overseas for slave labor.
>
> WISCONSIN
> Ft. McCoy - Rex 84 facility with several complete interment compounds.
> Oxford - Central part of state - Federal prison & satellite camp and FEMA detention facility.
>
> WYOMING
> Heart Mountain - Park County N. of Cody - WWII Japanese interment camp ready for renovation.
> Laramie - FEMA detention facility
> Southwest - near Lyman - FEMA detention facility
> East Yellowstone - Manned internment facility - Investigating patriots were apprehended by European soldiers speaking in an unknown language. Federal government assumed custody of the persons and arranged their release.
>
> OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
> There are many other locations not listed above that are worthy of consideration as a possible detention camp site, but due to space limitations and the time needed to verify, could not be included here. Virtually all military reservations, posts, bases, stations, & depots can be considered highly suspect (because it is "federal" land). Also fitting this category are "Regional Airports" and "International Airports" which also fall under federal jurisdiction and have limited-access areas. Mental hospitals, closed hospitals & nursing homes, closed military bases, wildlife refuges, state prisons, toxic waste dumps, hotels and other areas all have varying degrees of potential for being a detention camp area. The likelihood of a site being suspect increases with transportation access to the site, including airports/airstrips, railheads, navigable waterways & ports, interstate and US highways. Some facilities are "disgu! ised" as industrial or commercial properties, camouflaged or even wholly contained inside large buildings (Indianapolis) or factories. Many inner-city buildings left vacant during the de-industrialization of America have been quietly acquired and held, sometimes retrofitted for their new uses.
>
> CANADA
> Our Canadian friends tell us that virtually all Canadian military bases, especially those north of the 50th Parallel, are all set up with concentration camps. Not even half of these can be listed, but here are a few sites with the massive land space to handle any population:
> Suffield CFB - just north of Medicine Hat, less than 60 miles from the USA.
> Primrose Lake Air Range - 70 miles northeast of Edmonton.
> Wainwright CFB - halfway between Medicine Hat and Primrose Lake.
> Ft. Nelson - Northernmost point on the BC Railway line.
> Ft. McPherson - Very cold territory ~ NW Territories. Ft. Providence - Located on Great Slave Lake. Halifax - Nova Scotia. Dept. of National Defense reserve.... And others.
>
> OVERSEAS LOCATIONS
> Guayanabo, Puerto Rico - Federal prison camp facility. Capacity unknown.
> Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - US Marine Corps Base - Presently home to 30,000 Mariel Cubans and 40,000 Albanians. Total capacity unknown.
>
> Source:
> www.mindfully.org
>
> Related reports:
> SHACKLED BOXCARS in OR,TX,,MT,NH, NC; & intervew w/imported NATO crack troops
>
> Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
>
>
> One reason to NOT go to war... One reason NOT to pay taxes. One reason NOT to purchase DL's or registrations, or licenses. Why keep giving them money so they can pay Halliburton and continue in policies of death, destruction, and slavery... at our expense?
> The distinction is Americans are the threat to this government.

Are the "Banksters" Getting Nervous?

2006-09-19T09:42:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday, September 17, 2006, was Constitution Day, and I know of only one church, South Pointe Baptist Church just outside tiny Pelzer, S.C., that devoted its morning services to the topic of how Christianity and Constitutionally limited government dovetail. The Constitution assigns to Congress the task of "coining money and regulating the value thereof," not private corporations. The Federal Reserve, as should be known, is a private corporation and not a branch of the federal government. It answers not to the people but to the "banksters"--the international banking / financial elite (centered in the House of Rothschild and its countless satellite operations around the world). Its purpose has been to gain control over as much of the world as possible by gaining control over the finances and economies of once-sovereign nation states, making them dependent; and making a once free people, Americans, into economic dependents by devaluing their currency. Today some are prone to saying that wages have not kept up with inflation. This is true: what has been inflated over the years is the supply of fiat money in circulation, so that it buys progressively less over time. Strictly speaking, therefore, our wages have not merely remained stagnant but have gone down.

Working with the U.S. Treasury Dept. over the years, the two have become the ultimate public-private partnership!

The truth about the nature of fiat money and its invariable collapse has emerged in many communities, some of whom have actually begun to supply alternatives to official Federal Reserve / U.S. Treasury Dept. fiat money. The Liberty Dollar is an example. As of this week, the Liberty Dollar is under attack. The powers that be do not want people circulating Liberty Dollars, and do not want ordinary people using them as currency.

Doubtless the "banksters" are nervous over a number of recent events: (1) the fact that growing numbers of people do not believe the official account of the 9/11 attacks, which were very likely a combined effort including federal agencies aimed at war in the Middle East and domestic police state conditions at home; (2) the growing numbers of people who are educating themselves about how the Federal Reserve operates, and realize that it (and the Infernal Revenue Service) amount to the biggest ripoffs in human history; and (3) the appearance of Aaron Russo's film America: Freedom to Fascism, which if it "catches on" could precipitate a large scale rebellion against the "banksters" themselves which would include the gradual abandonment of our present-day fiat currency and its replacement with, e.g., Liberty Dollars. Here is an informative account of what has been going on with the Liberty Dollar and why it makes the "banksters" nervous. Stay tuned. (Thanks to Wes Drawdy for this.),

Banksters getting Edgy?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-09-14-liberty-usat_x.htm
Feds lower boom on alternative money
Updated 9/15/2006 3:01 AM ET

By Barbara Hagenbaugh, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The government Thursday warned consumers and businesses that it is illegal to use alternative money known as "Liberty Dollar" coins, which organizers promote as a competitor to the almighty dollar. "We don't want consumers to be fooled," U.S. Mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey says, noting U.S. Attorneys offices across the USA have noticed a marked increase in inquiries about the coins.

The coins' producers vowed to fight the government's decision.

Evansville, Ind.-based National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code, otherwise known as NORFED, has been making the Liberty Dollar coins for eight years and claims $20 million is in circulation. The group says the money, unlike official U.S. cash, has a hedge against inflation because it is made almost entirely of silver and is backed by stocks of silver and gold in a vault in Idaho.

The coins are then spent by the group's 2,500 Liberty Associates in stores run by fellow supporters or are accepted unknowingly by clerks who are unaware they are not receiving real money.

The Justice Department has determined that use of Liberty Dollars, which come in varying denominations, "is a crime," according to the Mint, which issued a rare public warning Thursday.

"The United States Mint is the only entity that can produce coins," Bailey says.

The Mint notes the coins share some resemblances to real money, such as the term "Trust in God" instead of "In God We Trust" and use of a torch in the design. Such similarities may confuse people into thinking the money is real, the Mint says.

But NORFED says it will challenge the government, arguing it has never claimed Liberty Dollars were official money and that it has a right to offer an alternative.

"The designs and verbiage ... are original and are not copies of any U.S. Mint currency," NORFED Executive Director Michael Johnson said in a statement.

It's unclear how many people or businesses are unknowingly holding Liberty Dollars, which cannot be exchanged for real money at banks.

In a case in Buffalo, a man and his son are set to go on trial next month after they knowingly tried to buy beer at a Buffalo Sabres hockey game with Liberty Dollars.

The Mint did not say if government officials will seek to prosecute individuals or NORFED after its warning.

Reed Runk, part-owner of Kendall Funk & Bismark Jewelers in Chambersburg, Pa., says the store has been accepting Liberty Dollars for about a year and has sold a few as well. Runk says the store will continue to accept and sell the coins.

"We just feel that they are something that educates people as to what the monetary systems are like in the world, that they are a fiat system, that if people lose faith in them, they will collapse," he says. Besides, "They are a good-looking coin."

Henry Kissinger Calls for American-European Unity

2006-09-18T21:26:00.000-04:00

Henry Kissinger has done it again. Having been an archglobalist's archglobalist for much of the past half-century, including being a founding member of the Trilateral Commission and one of the chief architects of NAFTA, Kissinger is now calling for close American (i.e., North American Union) and European (Union) cooperation to head off a "war of civilizations" for which the Western international banking power elite holds the primary responsibility. Part of their maintenance of power lies in the following: only countries dominated by Rothschild-controlled central banks are allowed to have weapons of mass destruction, which of course excludes Iran. (With North Korea, it is too late.) Note the final sentence, and the dichotomy it presumes: either we have a New World Order or we have a "war of civilizations."

Kissinger warns of possible "war of civilizations"

Wed Sep 13, 11:54 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned that Europe and the United States must unite to head off a "war of civilizations" arising from a nuclear-armed Middle East.

In an opinion column in the Washington Post, the renowned foreign policy expert said the potential for a "global catastrophe" dwarfed lingering transatlantic mistrust left over from the Iraq war.

"A common Atlantic policy backed by moderate Arab states must become a top priority, no matter how pessimistic previous experience with such projects leaves one," Kissinger wrote.

"The debate sparked by the Iraq war over American rashness vs. European escapism is dwarfed by what the world now faces.

"Both sides of the Atlantic should put their best minds together on how to deal with the common danger of a wider war merging into a war of civilizations against the background of a nuclear-armed Middle East."

Kissinger wrote that the big threat lay in the erosion of nation states and the emergence of transnational groups.

Iran was at the centre of the challenge, he said, with its support for Hezbollah, radical Shiite groups in Iraq and its nuclear program.

Washington must accept that many European nations were more optimistic about talks designed to convince Iran to halt uranium enrichment--a process Tehran denies is aimed at making weapons, he wrote.

But in return, he said, Europe should accept the process must include a "bottom line" beyond which diplomatic flexibility must not go and a time limit to ensure talks did not become a shield for "developing new assaults."

In the article, Kissinger, national security adviser for former president Richard Nixon, and secretary of state for Nixon and his successor Gerald Ford, warned the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah was still dangerous, after its month-long conflict with Israel.

"Hezbollah's next move is likely to be an attempt to dominate the Beirut government by intimidation and, using the prestige gained in the war, manipulating democratic procedures," he said.

He concluded by noting that observers wondered whether, after the Cold War, trans-Atlantic ties could survive the loss of a common enemy.

"We now know that we face the imperative of building a new world order or potential global catastrophe. It cannot be done alone by either side of the Atlantic. Is that realization sufficient to regenerate a common purpose?"

Commentary by William Norman Grigg:

Kissinger Calls for U.S.-European Cooperation to Head Off "War of Civilizations"
By William Norman Grigg at 2006-09-15 19:34 |

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:

The threat of a nuclear-armed Middle East should induce the "best minds" of Europe and the United States to cooperate in "building a new world order" to prevent a "global catastrophe. It cannot be done alone by either side of the Atlantic."

COMMENTARY:

Whenever the Power Elite has something really nasty on the drawing boards--a war, a sovereignty-sapping multilateral initiative, a diplomatic overture that preserves totalitarian gains while undermining what's left of the Free World, a cover-up--it will flash the equivalent of the Bat-Signal in the skies, summoning Henry the K from his lair to do whatever is necessary.

In recent years, given his age and debility, K's once-formidable malignant superpowers have largely evaporated, but he can still issue edicts through op-ed columns, such as the recent Washington Post essay urging the United States and Europe to pool diplomatic (and perhaps military) efforts to deal with the Middle East.

"The debate sparked by the Iraq war over American rashness vs. European escapism is dwarfed by what the world now faces" in the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, Kissinger insists. "Both sides of the Atlantic should put their best minds together on how to deal with the common danger of a wider war merging into a war of civilizations against the background of a nuclear-armed Middle East."

Kissinger, predictably, doesn't refer to his own role, in the Nixon-Ford era, in cultivating that potential threat by abetting the build-up of Iran's capabilities, which were inherited by the Islamic revolutionary regime after the Power Elite pulled the plug on the Shah, or, for that matter, the pivotal role played by his international deal-making firm, Kissinger Associates, in facilitating the Iraqi arms build-up during the 1990s. Like the Power Elite he has represented for decades, Kissinger is a past master at creating the poison and the "antidote" in the same laboratory.

Follow this link to the complete article, "Kissinger warns of possible 'war of civilizations'":

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060913/ts_alt_afp/usattackseurope

JBS News Feed by William Norman Grigg, Senior Editor, The New American

Email From the Sheeple

2006-09-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

Again I've been away for some kind. Perhaps that calls for explanation. For starters, I have to admit that I've grown a bit bored with it, wondering if this sort of thing is accomplishing anything worthwhile. I was struggling to get The Real Matrix finished, as I am more than aware that if it takes another year I might as well not bother; with RFID going into passports next month and into human volunteers as well, very soon now it will be too late! Simultaneously, I am now teaching five classes for two institutions spread out over three campuses (if you can call University Center, a converted shopping mall, a campus), writing a weekly column for the Times Examiner based here, polishing an article for The New American, working on a number of articles for NewsWithViews.com (hopefully), assisting a friend and associate with his campaign for Bob Inglis's SC 4th District seat in the House, and keeping up with the workaday chores a single guy who lives alone has to take care to keep his place from disintegrating into chaos. Hence the recent scarcity of articles posted here, which is not intended to mean that there aren't plenty of materials worth reading out there. Jerome Corsi's pieces on the stealth effort to create a North American Community (or North American Union) are out there, as is the ongoing counterattack by Establishment media against 9/11 "conspiracy theories" which now have (in one form or another) the support of approximately a third of those polled according to two recent polls. It is clear that the Establishment is worried, and it will be interesting to watch how this plays out--just so long as whoever was really behind the 9/11 attacks doesn't decide that Americans haven't been sufficiently reduced to the status of a terrified sheeple and launch a new strike somewhere on American soil. That there will be another attack at some point in time wouldn't surprise me any, although if severe enough it will probably be enough for this Administration to say, in effect, "Screw it!" suspend the Constitution and declare Martial Law. We're not there yet, but we're getting close!

Speaking of sheeple, every so often--perhaps once every two or three months--I get an email that strikes fear in me given the fact that the idiot who sent it probably votes. In the following, reproduced unchanged, note the dichotomous thinking ("either you're for the Republicans or you're a "liberal") among the other lapses in basic logic.

I was reading your web site and I guess I pretty much agreed with you until I noticed the only villians [sic.] in your piece were Republicans.

The Democrats, who have wreaked most of the damage you are crying about, get no mention at all. I suppose they are totally innocent and are mere bystanders to your diatribe.

Im [sic.] my opinion, the Democrats have done more damage to America in the last 40 years than any other entity on this planet.

You have, therefore, Mr. Liberal Innocence, lost me as a reader or supporter that never was but could have been.

Your Democrat, President Traitor, known in some circles as Jimmy "Hambone" Carter, is the VERY person who handed over our school system (that you pretentiously lament the demise of) to the socialists. It has been a downward spiral ever since. Yes, public education has been dumbed down, but who is responsible? Not your beloved and protected Democrats.

You are easy to see through, just like most "Professors".

I am sure you do not know how disrespected people of your profession have become. I am also sure you lunatics in the Unviversities [sic.] have no clue just how you are viewed by us outside of your profession.

For those of us who you cannot punish within your little fiefdoms for disagreeing with you, you people are a joke and a scourge on the land. We, who you cannot punish can openly disagree with your idiocy. SO, fail me.................

Someday, you will be made to pay dearly for your subversive activies [sic.].

Joel

Now I just love good namecalling and ridicule, in addition to the lapses of logic already mentioned above. And I also just love it when a guy like this hides behind the relative anonymity of a first name only. To be sure, there is bad intellectualism and pseudo-intellectualism on college and university campuses; if this joker only knew what I have gone through during the past 15 years to have any kind of a genuine intellectual career at all! Probably replying at length was a waste of my time, but I did it anyway--again reproduced without change.

I have to chuckle at the thought that someone out there, probably a Neocon, thinks I am a "liberal" b/c I am critical of a lot of things Republicans are doing these days.

First, I'm not sure what "web site" you're referring to. My blog ("It's Happening Here: the Emerging New World Order ..."), one of the many articles I have on many pages, or something else. (I don't have an active personal web site as such.)

But back to Republicans. Hellooooo! Republicans control both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch, and over the past 5 1/2 years we've seen the largest expansion in the size and scope of government in U.S. history--larger than under Roosevelt, larger than under LBJ and larger than under Clinton. Most of the expansion of government has had nothing to do with the so called "war on terror," since it involves domestic programs that have nothing to do with terrorism (expanding Medicare, for example). Plus we've seen a full scale attack on private property rights following the Supreme Court's disastrous Kelo decision last year, which Congress has (so far) refused to reverse! Not to mention the fact that the Bush Regime has gotten us into two unwinnable wars against nations that didn't threaten us first and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. The neocons running Washington are practically salivating at the nouth to attack Iran, which would be an even bigger disaster for the country.

The long and the short of it is: the Bush Regime has been a disaster for the country. If saying that makes me a "liberal," then so be it. I couldn't care less about these labels. Paul Craig Roberts (who once worked in the Reagan Administration) is also highly critical of the Iraq War and of the way Bush has handled the "war on terror" generally. Does this make him a "liberal"? There are many others who are critical of this Administration's Utopian globalist, erase-our-borders policy: Patrick J. Buchanan, Tom Tancredo (a Republican, btw), Ron Paul, to name just three examples. All closet "liberals," I presume! (Actually, the Republican Party wasn't all that bad until the neocons took it over and destroyed it.)

Have you not noticed that under this Regime we are moving steadily closer to Martial Law (or something akin to it). Bush now issues "signing statements" informing Congress which laws he will obey and which portions he will simply ignore. Always in the interests of "national security," of course. I forget off the top of my head who said it, but when the chief executive decides which laws he will obey and which ones he won't, he places himself above the law, and "we don't have a Constitution, we have a king!" Call him King George II.

I was no fan of Clinton, and I was no fan of Carter. Perhaps you should ask before simply assuming; you are utterly clueless who I am or anything about me. If you're not a neocon I'll be very surprised; most neocons are intellectual lightweights who, in an anti-intellectual society, fit right in! Perhaps you don't even know of your hero King George II's close cooperation with his Mexican buddy Vicente Fox's scheme to dissolve our national borders, and pave the way for a North American Community that would finish the job of trashing the Constitution:

http://www.spp.gov
http://www.cfr.org/publications/8102/building_a_north_american_community.html

Their corporate-elite buddies are cooperating fully, since they believe this scheme to create a regional superstate will make them rich. In the short term, it probably will--off the backs of all the cheap Mexican labor! We've got a good explanation here for why King George II won't lift a finger to secure our border with Mexico, or why those idiots in the Senate passed an immigration bill that would allow over 100 million Mexicans to enter this country and eventually become citizens despite the 20 million or so who have broken our laws. No, King George II simply lied through his teeth on May 15 about the need to secure our border. [Slight goof here; I meant to say, He lied about his intention to secure our border.] All of this in an era when--supposedly--we are at risk from terrorists who can cross our southern border just as easily as all the illegal aliens that are colonizing this country. Geez! Small wonder 30 percent of the public now thinks 9/11 was an "inside job"! I guess you have to be one of those "intuh-lekshul" professors to think that what this Administration is doing doesn't add up!

I am not a socialist or anything close--but I am fed up with the brand of predatory corporatist pseudo-capitalism in which EVERYTHING is FOR SALE including, apparently, the nation itself! Think of Bush's idiotic Dubai Ports deal of a couple months back (public outcry got rid of that, thank God!)--or the Trans-Texas Corridor being built, again, by foreign corporate empires. We now have the hugest national debt in history, the hugest trade deficit, the highest-ever consumer debt, and a savings rate that has gone negative. The unemployment rate and inflation rate are both lies--believed by a clueless sheeple. These are the fruits of the hard-core materialism of today's superrich who are, in fact, the major constituency of your hero King George II. Btw, it was not the Democrats that destroyed education in America; huge, superrich-controlled foundations (Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, and a handful of others) bankrolled the policies and the programs that wrecked the government schools, just like they've bankrolled most of the hardcore left. The Democrats--who know a gravy train when they see one--simply went along for the ride.

Should I take the end of your email as a kind of threat against professors? As a person who was once basically fired from a teaching position because I wrote a book critical of affirmative action programs, I have to laugh at any insinuation that I am part of today's academic Establishment.

But this aside, I've no doubt that we are in a deepening, downward spiral of anti-intellectualism that can't be blamed exclusively on academic "liberals." As the level of dumbth deepens, perhaps when your hero King George II or his successor has finished trashing the Constitution and declares Martial Law (we are, at most, one "emergency" away from such), you neocons can have yourselves some lynching parties and get rid of all those "intuhlekshuls" who ask pesky questions like, Where did the Constitution authorize King George II to create and consolidate power in the Department of Homeland Security? or Who is really benefitting from the Iraq War?--or even, where is all this prosperity all these globalist trade agreements are supposed to have brought us? Heretics!! Burn 'em at the stake!! THen you can all go back to watching American Idol. Hell, I am starting to think most of you sheeple are too stupid to live in a free society! Baaaah!

Perhaps it goes without saying that "Joel" didn't address a single issue I raised. Of course, there are people out there for whom using their brains to engage issues is literally a new experience. Today these are the people who lash out in mindless rage whenever they see their hero George W. Bush criticized. Pathetic, and in a way, scary. If these people got power, would they be any different than the most ardent, politically correct, power-hungry feminazi?

Employer Advises Dumpster-Diving for the Future Unemployed

2006-08-21T14:24:00.000-04:00

Isn't this nice of someone most likely with a permanent, well-paying job to suggest to those whose lives he/she is about to disrupt--probably to outsource their jobs to China or India where there are plenty of economic slaves? It is sure nice to see this during a period when our middle class is being destroyed before our very eyes, by politicians and bureaucrats (and some CEOs whose "talent" consists of inheriting wealth or being well-connected) who have never done an honest day's labor in their lives?

The News Bizarre

Aug. 15, 2006, 4:58PM
Employer advises Dumpster-diving for axed workers

Reuters News Service

NEW YORK - Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Corp. advised workers to fish in the trash for things they like or take their dates for a walk in the woods in a move to help workers facing the ax to save money.

The No. 5 U.S. carrier, which has slashed most employees' pay and is looking to cut jobs as it prepares to exit bankruptcy, put the tips in a booklet handed out to about 50 workers and posted for a time on its employee Web site.

The section, entitled "101 ways to save money," does not feature in new versions of the booklet or the Web site.

Northwest spokesman Roman Blahoski said some employees who received the handbook had taken issue with a couple of the items. "We agree that some of these suggestions and tips ... were a bit insensitive," Blahoski told Reuters.

The four-page booklet, "Preparing for a Financial Setback" contained suggestions such as shopping in thrift stores, taking "a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods" and not being "shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."

The booklet was part of a 150-page packet to ground workers, such as baggage handlers, whose jobs will likely be cut after their union agreed to allow the airline to outsource some of their work, Blahoski said.

Prepared with the help of an outside company, the booklet encourages employees to manage their money better and prepare for financial emergencies.

"If you have saved some money, pat yourself on the back -- you deserve it," the booklet reads. "Take out only what you need and spend prudently."

Police (State) Brutality in the Emerging New World Order

2006-08-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

Give these guys medals of valor!

Protester Shot with Rubber Bullets Shows Police Disconnect, Brutality

Jones Report | August 17, 2006

http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/170806_rubber_bullets.html

Watch the video here.

Elizabeth Ritter was shot four times with rubber bullets by police while she was protesting a Free Trade Summit in Miami, August 10.

This horrifying example truly shows the disconnect between police and the citizens they pose as protecting and serving.

These police actually laugh at their victims, in spite of news cameras and hundreds of witnesses of which they were certainly aware. Arrogant and unchecked power now threatens to be the norm for ever-increasing riot police.

They rule with faux violence and real threats (rubber bullets been known to cause death, in certain cases). Here, Ritter was even shot in the face in an archetypal showdown with goons dressed in black 'storm trooper' uniforms, over-armed to handle a peaceful protest.

They shoot at a business woman repeatedly, even after seeing blood drip from her body. Somewhere, behind a disconnected, under-informed and wrongly influenced "peaceful" force, these instruments of terror think they are protecting the populace rather than subjecting them to tyranny, all the more terrifying for being out in the open.

Police demonstrated similar excessive force after the Red Sox's American League Championship Series Victory in October of 2004. Police tried to subdue a 'belligerent' crowd by firing upon them.

Twenty-one year old Emerson University student, Victoria Snelgrove, was killed after she was hit by a rubber bullet in the crowd that was merely celebrating a sporting event.

Police in the Boston case say they did not also beat the woman victim, those that was apparently the case with other fans deemed rowdy.

The crowd was described as out-of-control and reportedly also set a car on fire. However, police have clearly over-reacted when police simply fire into a crowd and irresponsibly shoot the student in the eye, who was otherwise not a particular subject of police control.

The weapons are 'meant to be non-lethal,' just as the police themselves are meant to maintain peace in the society they serve. Yet, it is the police committing the atrocities-- the forces that should be scaled back, not re-inforced and escalated.

Boston mayor Tom Menino sees the need for such violent escalation, however.

"We're going to have to take some drastic measures since people won't act responsibly. I as mayor will take it into my own hands, and probably ban liquor being sold in bars and, once the game starts, bar TV cameras in the bars during the games; try to do everything we can to keep the peace," Menino said.

The point here is that these are not isolated cases, but an unfortunate trend of an emerging police state, taking its first aims at large public gatherings, like sporting events, deemed otherwise difficult to control.

Police are increasingly equiped like armies. They have been unleashed in full riot formation at both Democratic and Republican National Conventions, at Mardi Gras festivals and other large events.

Police fired rubber bullets during Mardi Gras festivities in Austin, Texas in February of 2001. When police determined the largely peaceful crowd to be unruly, they opened fire, shooting University of Texas Economics student Saif Siddiqui in the eye.

"They say that they're supposed to fire the pellets in the legs, not in the face," Isram Siddiqui said. "There was no warning that they were using bullets to dispose the scene if they can't control it, they shouldn't have it."

35 people were arrested that night, including several injuries.

Jason Morgan says he was subdued by police, told to kneel on the ground, after which he was beaten, hit with pepper spray and shocked. Jessica Murray was subsequently struck in the chest when she protested police action against her friend.

Similar actions took place in Seattle in February 2001, where police again used pepper spray and rubber bullets to break up crowds after the bars closed.

This is all demonstrative of unacceptable attacks against largely unarmed, largely peaceful people by police who have over-stepped the bounds of their role in society. They have completely lost touch with their purpose and relationship with society.

In the aftermath and organization purpose of such forces, however, police continue to justify themselves on the grounds of "keeping the peace"-- how far out on a limb will they go?

Another Heavy-Hitter Claims 9/11 Was an Inside Job!

2006-08-16T21:18:00.000-04:00

Another heavy-hitter claims 9/11 was an inside job.

"My father used to say artists use lies to tell the truth while politicians use them to cover the truth up."
~~Evey Hammond, V For Vendetta

Paul Craig Roberts' articles have appeared on this illustrious Blog before, but it is worth iterating: he was a key advisor to Ronald Reagan and considered a staunch conservative before the neocons took over the Republican Party and gave us the Bush era.

“Gullible Americans have been duped by the 9/11 Hoax... Wise up -- the world is laughing at you."

Who is Paul Craig Roberts?

* Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan (awarded the Treasury Department’s Meritorious Service Award for "his outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy.")
* Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute.
* Former editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service
* Held the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1982 –1993)
* Distinguished Fellow at the Cato Institute from 1993 to 1996
* Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy
* Nationally syndicated columnist for Investor’s Business Daily
* Winner of the 1992 Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism
* Ranked “One of the top seven journalists” by the Forbes Media Guide (1993)
* Author of, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, and Marx’s Theory of Exchange, Alienation and Crisis

Dr. Roberts was educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S.), the University of Virginia (Ph.D.), the University of California at Berkeley and Oxford University where he was a member of Merton College.

He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, The Dictionary of International Biography, Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century, and 1000 Leaders of World Influence.

Could anyone in their right mind consider this man a crackpot “conspiracy theorist”?

___________________________________________________________________________

Gullible Americans

By Paul Craig Roberts
Information Clearing House
08/14/06

I was in China when a July Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when Bush invaded that country, and that 64 percent of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links with Al Qaeda.

The Chinese leaders and intellectuals with whom I was meeting were incredulous. How could a majority of the population in an allegedly free country with an allegedly free press be so totally misinformed?

The only answer I could give the Chinese is that Americans would have been the perfect population for Mao and the Gang of Four, because Americans believe anything their government tells them.

Americans never check any facts. Who do you know, for example, who has even read the Report of the 9/11 Commission, much less checked the alleged facts reported in that document. I can answer for you. You don’t know anyone who has read the report or checked the facts.

The two co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission Report, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, have just released a new book, Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. Kean and Hamilton reveal that the commission suppressed the fact that Muslim ire toward the US is due to US support for Israel’s persecution and dispossession of the Palestinians, not to our “freedom and democracy” as Bush propagandistically claims. Kean and Hamilton also reveal that the US military committed perjury and lied about its failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. The commission even debated referring the military’s lies to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Why should we assume that these admissions are the only coverups and lies in the 9/11 Commission Report?

How do you know that 9/11 was a Muslim terrorist plot? How do you know that THREE World Trade Center buildings collapsed because TWO were hit by airliners? You only “know” because the government gave you the explanation of what you saw on TV. (Did you even know that three WTC buildings collapsed?)

I still remember the enlightenment I experienced as a student in Russian Studies when I learned that the Czarist secret police would set off bombs and then blame those whom they wanted to arrest.

When Hitler seized dictatorial power in 1933, he told the Germans that his new powers were made necessary by a communist terrorist attack on the Reichstag. When Hitler started World War II by invading Poland, he told the Germans that Poland had crossed the frontier and attacked Germany.

Governments lie all the time--especially governments staffed by neoconservatives whose intellectual godfather, Leo Strauss, taught them that it is permissible to deceive the public in order to achieve their agenda.

Some readers will write to me to say that they saw a TV documentary or read a magazine article verifying the government’s explanation of 9/11. But, of course, these Americans did not check the facts either--and neither did the people who made the documentary and wrote the magazine article.

Scientists and engineers, such as Clemson University Professor of Engineering Dr. Judy Woods and BYU Professor of Physics Dr. Steven Jones, have raised compelling questions about the official account of the collapse of the three WTC buildings. The basic problem for the government's account is that the buildings are known to have fallen at freefall speed, a fact that is inconsistent with the government's "pancaking" theory in which debris from above collapsed the floors below. If the buildings actually "pancaked," then each floor below would have offered resistance to the floors above, and the elapsed time would have been much longer. These experts have also calculated that the buildings did not have sufficient gravitational energy to accommodate the government's theory of the collapse. It is certainly a known and non-controversial fact among physicists and engineers that the only way buildings can collapse at freefall speed into their own footprints is by engineered demolition. Explosives are used to remove the support of floors below before the debris from above arrives. Otherwise, resistance is encountered and the time required for fall increases. Engineered demolition also explains the symmetrical collapse of the buildings into their own foot prints. As it is otherwise improbable for every point in floors below to weaken uniformly, "pancaking" would result in asymmetrical collapse as some elements of the floor would give sooner than others.

Scientific evidence is a tough thing for the American public to handle, and the government knows it. The government can rely on people dismissing things that they cannot understand as "conspiracy theory." But if you are inclined to try to make up your own mind, you can find Dr. Jones' and Dr. Woods’ papers, which have been formally presented to their peers at scientific meetings, on line at http://www.st911.org/

Experts have also pointed out that the buildings' massive steel skeletons comprised a massive heat sink that wicked away the heat from the limited, short-lived fires, thus preventing a heat buildup. Experts also point out that the short-lived, scattered, low-intensity fires could barely reach half the melting point of steel even if they burned all day instead of merely an hour.

Don't ask me to tell you what happened on 9/11. All I know is that the official account of the buildings' collapse is improbable.

Now we are being told another improbable tale. Muslim terrorists in London and Pakistan were caught plotting to commit mass murder by smuggling bottles of explosive liquids on board airliners in hand luggage. Baby formula, shampoo and water bottles allegedly contained the tools of suicide bombers.

How do we know about this plot? Well, the police learned it from an “Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago.” And how did someone so far away know what British-born people in London were plotting?

Do you really believe that Western and Israeli intelligence services, which were too incompetent to prevent the 9/11 attack, can uncover a London plot by capturing a person on the Afghan border in Pakistan? Why would “an Islamic militant” rat on such a plot even if he knew of it?

More probable explanations of the “plot” are readily available. According to the August 11 Wayne Madsen Report, informed sources in the UK report that “the Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new ‘terror’ scare to avert the public’s eyes away from Blair’s increasing political woes. British law enforcement, neocon and intelligence operatives in the US, Israel, and Britain, and Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire cooked up the terrorist plot, liberally borrowing from the failed 1995 ‘Oplan Bjinka’ plot by Pakistan- and Philippines-based terrorist Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to crash 11 trans-Pacific airliners bound from Asia to the US.”

There are other plausible explanations. For example, our puppet in Pakistan decided to arrest some people who were a threat to him. With Bush’s commitment to “building democracy in the Middle East,” our puppet can’t arrest his political enemies without cause, so he lays the blame on a plot.

Any testimony against Muslim plotters by “an Islamic militant” is certain to have been bought and paid for.

Or consider this explanation. Under the Nuremberg standard, Bush and Blair are war criminals. Bush is so worried that he will be held accountable that he has sent his attorney general to consult with the Republican Congress to work out legislation to protect Bush retroactively from his violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Tony Blair is in more danger of finding himself in the dock. Britain is signatory to a treaty that, if justice is done, will place Blair before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

What better justification for the two war criminals’ illegal actions than the need to foil dastardly plots by Muslims recruited in sting operations by Western intelligence services? The more Bush and Blair can convince their publics that terrorist danger abounds, the less likely Bush and Blair are ever to be held accountable for their crimes.

But surely, some readers might object, our great moral leaders wouldn’t do something political like that!

They most certainly would. As Joshua Micah Marshall wrote in the July 7 issue of Time magazine, the suspicion is “quite reasonable” that “the Bush Administration orchestrates its terror alerts and arrests to goose the GOP’s poll numbers.”

Joshua Micah Marshall proves his conclusion by examining the barrage of color-coded terror alerts, none of which were real, and, yes, it all fits with political needs.

And don’t forget the plot unearthed in Miami to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Described by Vice President Cheney as a “very real threat,” the plot turned out to be nothing more than a few harmless whackos recruited by an FBI agent sent out to organize a sting.

There was also the “foiled plot” to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood downtown New York City with sea water. Thinking New Orleans, the FBI invented this plot without realizing that New York City is above sea level. Of course, most Americans didn’t realize it either.

For six years the Bush regime has been able to count on the ignorant and naive American public to believe whatever tale that is told them. American gullibility has yet to fail the Bush regime.

The government has an endless number of conspiracy theories, but only people who question the government’s conspiracies are derided for “having a conspiracy theory.”

The implication is even worse if we assume that the explosive bottle plot is genuine. It means that America and Britain by their own aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by enabling Israel’s war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, have created such hatred that Muslims, who identify with Bush’s, Blair’s, and Israel’s victims, are plotting retaliation.

But Bush is prepared. He has taught his untutored public that “they hate us for our freedom and democracy.”

Gentle reader, wise up. The entire world is laughing at you.

Globalism Gone Mad: the "Cybercrime" Treaty

2006-08-13T00:33:00.000-04:00

I do not see how anyone can support this bill and still believe we can maintain U.S. sovereignty. This is just another of those "end runs around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece."

Congress Cuts Outs, Wrecks Cyberprivacy
By Bob Barr
Special to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
8-12-6

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The most dangerous time of the year for America is right before a congressional recess, and it matters not whether the Republican Party or the Democratic Party is in charge.

Congress is now in its August recess, and at least the damage it can visit on the American people is on hold. Unfortunately, right before it took its latest break, the Senate adopted by voice vote a treaty that will stand as a tribute to Big Government and internationalism - the Cybercrime Treaty.

This treaty, drafted not by U.S. government lawyers possessed of at least a passing familiarity with our Bill of Rights, but by internationalists with the Council of Europe, had been awaiting Senate ratification since 2001. The Bush administration, long enamored of any instrument granting the federal government broader or expanded power to gather information on citizens, for years had been urging Republican Senate leaders - particularly Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) - to bring the document up for a vote.

Thanks largely to opposition by a broad coalition of conservative organizations and other groups focused on privacy issues, however, the treaty languished.

Unfortunately, just last week before senators careened out of town for another recess - and despite having subjected this far-reaching treaty to but a single cursory hearing in June 2004 - Republican leaders succeeded in accomplishing the administration's directive and passed the treaty by voice vote, with virtually no substantive debate. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) mounted a last-ditch effort to stop or at least slow the cybercrime railroad. But he was unsuccessful due to lack of support from his conservative colleagues, who were eager to give the administration more power or who just didn't care in their rush to leave for vacation.

Now, thanks to the Senate's indifference, any person in this country who uses a computer in a manner that is of interest to a law enforcement agency of another country that has signed the Cybercrime Treaty may find themselves subject to our government collecting information on them and then sharing it with that foreign agency. The list of other nations that have already signed the treaty is not one that inspires confidence the data thus sought will be afforded proper privacy or constitutional protections. The list of signatory countries already includes Albania,Croatia, Ukraine, South Africa and dozens of others.

Why should this treaty, now part of the law of the land, concern the average American citizen?

For starters, its scope. The treaty covers not only crimes commonly considered "cybercrimes," that is, crimes of computers by computers. It covers any activities considered a crime by any signatory country that simply involves the use of a computer somewhere along the line. In other words, if the law enforcement officials in Croatia are investigating activities in their country that they consider criminal - political speech, or possession of a firearm, for example - they can now demand of U.S. law enforcement that it collect and turn over to them information they might demand which they allege involves a U.S. citizen, notwithstanding that U.S. citizen has done nothing deemed a crime under U.S. law. Of course, the U.S. citizen would be unaware his own government was thus snooping on him and sharing the fruits thereof with a foreign government.

Moreover, this latest treaty affords no privacy protections whatsoever for U.S.citizens. It also will force Internet service providers to comply, yet requires neither the U.S. government nor the foreign requesting government to reimburse Internet service providers for costs of such forced cooperation. In addition, if disputes under the treaty arise, the foreign requesting government is empowered to take the issue to the International Court of Justice. Even though the United States has not formally acceded to the court, it would be required pursuant to the terms of the Cybercrime Treaty to be bound by its decisions. Although Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in a letter to the Senate offering unqualified support for the treaty, promised the administration would not submit any disputes to the International Court of Justice, such promises are meaningless, because other nations will do so. Such fine points apparently were unfathomable by senators eager to do the administration's bidding.

The bottom line is that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including many who call themselves "conservative," were far more concerned with getting out of town for junkets than they were interested in protecting the privacy of their constituents and the sovereign interests of this country.

*Former Congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta.
www.bobbarr.org.

For Added Information
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/0809edbarr.html

Latest Terror Threat - Another Exercise in Hegelian Dialectic

2006-08-12T20:45:00.000-04:00

Now that we cannot even take tubes of toothpaste in onto airplanes unless they are in checked baggage, it is time to reflect: is this latest supposely barely-thwarted-in-time terrorist threat to blow up planes in route from London to the U.S. yet another exercise in Hegelian dialectic? Is it an effort to terrify the peoples of both England and the U.S., so that they will give up still more of their liberties in the same of an ill-defined security? We ought to consider: in the U.S. at least, there is an election coming up in November. If the Democrats should retake Congress, then even though there are very few antiwar Democrats there is enough partisan sentiment that the Neocons in the Bush II cabal will lose some power. This they do not want. So why not stage new threats that can be blamed on terrorists?

Our real danger is from a massive staged attack on U.S. soil, one that will paralyze the public into giving up on Constitutional government altogether. Then the Bush regime declares martial law, suspends the Constitution, and we are living under a dictatorship. (The attack may also take place on Israeli soil. This would justify what the Neocons have wanted for months: airstrikes on Iran.)

Latest Terror Threat - More Government Foreknowledge
By Joel Skousen
World Affairs Brief
http://www.rense.com/general73/latest.htm
8-12-6

This week's cross-Atlantic terror alert has all the markings of an orchestrated incident to maintain public support for the ongoing US-British war on terror. White House spokesman Tony Snow admitted that President Bush had not been awakened by the dramatic news of Britain's air traffic shutdown because "Bush had been getting regular briefings on the developments for days." If they knew so far in advance, why the dramatic shut-down of trans-Atlantic air traffic inconveniencing thousands, as if they intervened just in time?

The British press admitted that it was a Scotland Yard "covert operation" that disrupted the alleged plot. Another newspaper admitted that it was a "pre-planned, intelligence-led operation by the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch and security services." What we always find out later is that the government anti-terrorism forces had covert agents within these groups, monitoring their activities at best, and provoking and instructing them at worst. If the recent Canadian sting operation is any example, we will find that government agent-provocateurs were busy enticing angry Muslims to join the group and giving them training on building lethal devices. That is hardly independent, homegrown terrorism. It's induced, controlled terror for political purposes.

Tony Snow also admitted that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair held a lengthy teleconference on the matter Sunday and spoke again Wednesday by phone. This was so pre-planned that Blair did not even break off his vacation to attend to the matter.

Meanwhile, the rest of the air traveling public will be subject to a new round of delays and prohibitions. Because this plot supposedly involved carrying explosive liquids aboard and then mixing them into a bomb while in flight, Britain has gone so far as to ban all carry-on luggage. In the US, all containers containing liquids will be banned, which in typical draconian fashion, will include all make-up, shampoo, bottled juice, etc. - just when we thought the TSA was getting rational and starting to allow nail clippers on board again. No such luck.

Today, both governments are releasing more "details." Keep in mind, information about terrorism is always a tightly controlled government secret. We never have any independent information to confirm what government tells us and much of the information given the public about terrorism has been self-serving and self-justifying.

In this case, we find the same relationship between the Pakistani ISI, the CIA and British Intelligence that produced the supposed terror links to al Qaeda in 9/11. The so called master-mind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, "used to" work for the ISI, and supposedly is still in custody there since 2003, being interrogated by the CIA, has never been brought to trial. Strange. Now the Pakistanis claimed they found two individuals that were key plotters that led to the others in Britain. How can we trust what these incestuous spy organizations do together after their shady dealings and prior contact with the 9/11 terrorists?

The supposed explosive device this time was a Peroxide-based explosive, which is mildly explosive and can be prepared from acetone, hydrogen Peroxide, and an acid catalyst. This type is claimed by governments to be "widely in use by terrorist groups," though we have no known terrorist events where it has been used, except by one Palestinian terrorist, and then as a detonator only-not as the main charge. This explosive material is usually known by its abbreviation TATP (Tri Acetone Tri Peroxide).

Both Peroxide and Acetone are clear liquids, but acetone (laquer thinner) is easily identifiable by smell and its high rate of evaporation. Experts indicate it is very unstable and highly unlikely to be a stand-alone explosive to take down an airliner. The quantities would have to be large enough to be easily noticed. Thus, even though this is a theoretical threat, banning all cosmetics and lotions is stupid and banning all liquids is unecessary. Only clear liquids need checking. There is cheap test equipment for TATP, and simple ways for TSA employees to quickly check for acetone and peroxide.

Naturally, the President's handlers put him to work fortifying the phony War on Terror. According to the AP, President Bush said Thursday that "a foiled plot to blow up multiple flights between Britain and the United States shows 'this nation is at war with Islamic fascists.'" Of course, Bush also wants it both ways. He claimed, "This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11 ... We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people but obviously we're not completely safe ... It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America."

Homeland Security Chief Chertoff chimed in, "We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted." Thus, naturally, all these new security measures and prohibitions will be implemented upon everyone, even though the alleged group in London were all identifiable as Muslims. "We are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," a DHS statement said, adding that passengers will have to go back to showing up 2 hours early for flights.

I suppose one thing we can be grateful for is that dark side government agents didn't create another actual terror event to pursue this fear-of-terror agenda. Another in a long line of phony claims to "disrupt terrorism" is far preferable to allowing provoked young Muslims to actually carrying it out-with a lot of help from insiders. But I suspect the timing of this "save" was not aimed so much as bolstering the war on terror as it was aimed at countering the growing public skepticism and anger over US and Israeli warmongering in the Middle East.

According to the latest CNN poll, fully 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the war in Iraqi. And, although the US is a traditional supporter of Israel's eternal war with the Arabs, support for Israel has dropped significantly as it is obvious Israel is engaged in purposeful bombing of civilian areas and infrastructure in Lebanon. That's probably why the President's speech writers had him use "Islamists" as the threat instead of just al Qaeda.

Political Repercussions: This week, Connecticut Democrats turned against Senator Joseph Lieberman, handing a primary victory to anti-war Democrat Ned Lamont. Most other Democrats, being secret globalists like Bush, supported the president on the war. But Lieberman continued to support the president when most other Democrats began mildly criticizing the conduct of the war. One commentator called Lieberman's defeat the "day of reckoning for US warmongering." I wish it were, but the globalists and Neo-cons aren't licked yet.

Hard core Democrats are divided now because they suspect, rightfully, that the majority of their representatives are just as much a part of the Washington establishment as the "moderate" (meaning liberal) Republicans. The margin of victory for Lamont was only 4%, but the establishment took note and has begun a campaign to stop the anti-war trend. First, Lieberman stunned Democrats by refusing to abide by the results. Instead of retiring gracefully, he immediately launched an Independent campaign. Establishment NY Mayor Bloomberg signaled his support. If other establishment sources come on board, you'll know this is not simply a Lieberman ego trip.

Lieberman didn't miss the opportunity to ride this latest terror threat to his advantage. As the New York Times reported yesterday, "Senator Joseph I. Lieberman seized on the terror arrests in Britain today to attack his Democratic rival, Ned Lamont, saying that Mr. Lamont's goals for ending the war in Iraq would constitute a 'victory' for the extremists who are accused of plotting to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the United States ... If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,' Lieberman told a campaign crowd."

Secondly, the establishment has more war and terror inducements on their agenda to undermine people's resolve to get out of Iraq. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see peace again in our lifetime.

Copyright 2006 Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com)

More on the Approach of Martial Law

2006-08-08T22:56:00.000-04:00

Right now, I wouldn't shed a tear if the Democrats retake control of Congress this November, because the Bush II Regime is so drunk on power that it needs the loyal opposition--even if that opposition is nothing more than the old-fashioned Democratic socialism as opposed to the overt corporatist fascism of Bush II and his Halliburton-connected cronies. (I would actually prefer to see a Second Party emerge and gain public support, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Of course, if the Democrats do start dragging their feet implementing what King Bush II wants, things could start getting hot in this society not in 2008 when (unless overturned) Real ID goes into effect, but as soon as 2007!

What is Bush Preparing For?

http://politics.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/08/08/bush-preparing-for-martial-law/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frogstylebiscuit.com%2Findex.php%3Farticles_function%3Dshow_detail%26name%3Darticles%26id%3D378&frame=true

As the congressional elections later in the year could result in the loss of Republican control of Senate and Congress, Bush is making efforts now to push through some very controversial legislation.

Federal Control of the National Guard

The National Governors Association, a bipartisan organization of American governors, has sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to protest an upcoming bill that would allow the federal government to usurp state control over the National Guard in "emergencies".

This bill is highly significant because, if passed, it will dramatically decrease the security of the U.S. It will allow the federal government to unilaterally declare an emergency and take military control over America's states.

Below is an excerpt of the NGA's letter:

A provision in section 511 of the House-passed DoD Act would allow the President to federalize the National Guard of the states without the consent of the governor. Specifically, this clause amends Title 10 of the United States Code to give the President the authority to take control of the Guard in case of "a serious natural or manmade disaster, accident, or catastrophe that occurs in the United States, its territories and possessions, or Puerto Rico."

...

The possibility of the federal government pre-empting the authority of the state or governor in natural and manmade disasters is opposed by the nation's governors.

...

We urge you to drop this provision that would usurp governor's authority over the National Guard during emergencies."

The Posse Comitatus Act

The Bush administration's push for federal military control was hinted at less than a year ago, mere months after Hurricane Katrina. In October, 2005, George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld embarked on a short-lived media campaign against an important American law: the Posse Comitatus Act.

This federal law was passed in 1878, after the American Civil War. Its purpose was to stop federal troops from supervising elections in Confederate states. The law prohibits federally controlled units of the National Guard, and the US military in general, from acting in a local law enforcement capacity.

Bush and Rumsfeld used avian flu as the rationale for their attacks on the law. The attacks were not well received.

According to Bush:

"I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world," he told reporters during a Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday.

"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move," he said. "So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."

Classified War Plans For Domestic Takeover

Shortly before the attacks against the Posse Comitatus Act, classified war plans, called CONPLAN 2002, had been revealed that are unlike any in U.S. history. In these plans, the enemy is not foreign, but domestic.

A Washington Post article discusses these plans:

The war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement.

...

But the new plans provide for what several senior officers acknowledged is the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources.

The rationale for these plans to usurp local authority is not avian flu, but threats of "biological, chemical or nuclear attack".

Dealing With Insurgency and Media

If "taking charge" of the U.S., the Bush administration would have to concern itself with more than just formal authorities. Grass-roots insurgency and media criticism could also prove obstacles.

In the event of grass-roots insurgency, large numbers of insurgents and suspected insurgents would have to be detained. FEMA currently maintains a network of hundreds of camps (here is a video tour of one) that could be used for this purpose. In addition, a $385 million no-bid contract with KBR/Halliburton provides for building, when needed, many more camps. This sizable contract was purportedly awarded to deal with an "emergency influx of immigrants" (a reason borrowed from the Reagan-era Rex 84 program) and the need to "support the rapid development of new programs".

In the realm of media concerns, Bush has issued an executive order to replace the existing Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) with the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The purpose of the EAS is to "ensure that under all conditions the President can communicate with the American people". The order provides for command-and-control of media "through cooperation with the owners and operators of communication facilities" to "maintain, protect, and, if necessary, restore communications facilities and capabilities necessary for the public alert and warning system".

In regards to legality, the Bush government has already established that is can legally detain U.S. citizens indefinitely, and without trial, in "wartime":

The ruling, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, came in the case of Jose Padilla, a former gang member and U.S. citizen arrested in Chicago in 2002 and a month later designated an "enemy combatant" by President Bush. ... Padilla has been held without trial in a U.S. naval brig for more than three years.

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps

2006-08-07T17:12:00.000-04:00

Clearly the Bush Administration is thinking about martial law, and we remain at most one "emergency" away and possibly less, depending on the "emergency." If the "emergency" is another 9/11 type event--possibly another "inside job"--that will be the catalyst for the Federal Government's simply being done with it. Then those of us who want to remain free had better be prepared either to "hunker down" with our caches of nonperishables and our portable gas-powered stoves or to get out of the country if that's still possible. We've been warned.

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps

News Analysis/Commentary, Peter Dale Scott,
New America Media, Feb 08, 2006

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eed74d9d44c30493706fe03f4c9b3a77#

Editor's Note: A little-known $385 million contract for Halliburton subsidiary KBR to build detention facilities for "an emergency influx of immigrants" is another step down the Bush administration's road toward martial law, the writer says.

BERKELEY, Calif.--A Halliburton subsidiary has just received a $385 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to provide "temporary detention and processing capabilities."

The contract -- announced Jan. 24 by the engineering and construction firm KBR -- calls for preparing for "an emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs" in the event of other emergencies, such as "a natural disaster." The release offered no details about where Halliburton was to build these facilities, or when.

To date, some newspapers have worried that open-ended provisions in the contract could lead to cost overruns, such as have occurred with KBR in Iraq. A Homeland Security spokesperson has responded that this is a "contingency contract" and that conceivably no centers might be built. But almost no paper so far has discussed the possibility that detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law.

For those who follow covert government operations abroad and at home, the contract evoked ominous memories of Oliver North's controversial Rex-84 "readiness exercise" in 1984. This called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to round up and detain 400,000 imaginary "refugees," in the context of "uncontrolled population movements" over the Mexican border into the United States. North's activities raised civil liberties concerns in both Congress and the Justice Department. The concerns persist.

"Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters," says Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers, the U.S. military's account of its activities in Vietnam. "They've already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo."

Plans for detention facilities or camps have a long history, going back to fears in the 1970s of a national uprising by black militants. As Alonzo Chardy reported in the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987, an executive order for continuity of government (COG) had been drafted in 1982 by FEMA head Louis Giuffrida. The order called for "suspension of the Constitution" and "declaration of martial law." The martial law portions of the plan were outlined in a memo by Giuffrida's deputy, John Brinkerhoff.

In 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 188, one of a series of directives that authorized continued planning for COG by a private parallel government.

Two books, James Mann's Rise of the Vulcans and James Bamford's A Pretext for War, have revealed that in the 1980s this parallel structure, operating outside normal government channels, included the then-head of G. D. Searle and Co., Donald Rumsfeld, and then-Congressman from Wyoming Dick Cheney.

After 9/11, new martial law plans began to surface similar to those of FEMA in the 1980s. In January 2002 the Pentagon submitted a proposal for deploying troops on American streets. One month later John Brinkerhoff, the author of the 1982 FEMA memo, published an article arguing for the legality of using U.S. troops for purposes of domestic security.

Then in April 2002, Defense Dept. officials implemented a plan for domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern Command (CINC-NORTHCOM) for the continental United States. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called this "the most sweeping set of changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946."

The NORTHCOM commander, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced, is responsible for "homeland defense and also serves as head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).... He will command U.S. forces that operate within the United States in support of civil authorities. The command will provide civil support not only in response to attacks, but for natural disasters."

John Brinkerhoff later commented on PBS that, "The United States itself is now for the first time since the War of 1812 a theater of war. That means that we should apply, in my view, the same kind of command structure in the United States that we apply in other theaters of war."

Then in response to Hurricane Katrina in Sept. 2005, according to the Washington Post, White House senior adviser Karl Rove told the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, that she should explore legal options to impose martial law "or as close as we can get." The White House tried vigorously, but ultimately failed, to compel Gov. Blanco to yield control of the state National Guard.

Also in September, NORTHCOM conducted its highly classified Granite Shadow exercise in Washington. As William Arkin reported in the Washington Post, "Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military's extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control."

It is clear that the Bush administration is thinking seriously about martial law.
Many critics have alleged that FEMA's spectacular failure to respond to Katrina followed from a deliberate White House policy: of paring back FEMA, and instead strengthening the military for responses to disasters.

A multimillion program for detention facilities will greatly increase NORTHCOM's ability to respond to any domestic disorders.

Scott is author of "Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). He is completing a book on "The Road to 9/11." Visit his Web site .

Now THIS Is Scary!

2006-08-04T18:51:00.000-04:00

You will read this Associated Press (NOT Conspiracy Planet) report correctly: the Bush Administration wants to be able to detain U.S. citizens and hold them indefinitely if authorities suspect (not prove but suspect) connections with terror, a term yet to be defined by anyone in this Administration. It defines "enemy combatants" but so broadly as to refer, in principle, to anyone who opposes this Administration's policies--and who defines "when hostilities cease"?

But this measure, some will retort, is designed to catch Al Qaida members and their contacts in this country. The response is that there is no necessary connection between anything in this bill and Al Qaida. And remember: this bill doesn't require the government to prove the connection between any particular person and Al Qaida. The government's suspicions are sufficient.

Under such suspicions, U.S. citizens have no rights under the Constitution!

And some wonder why we Americanists maintain that neither the Constitution nor any other document nor especially any government gives people rights, but rather secures these rights?

The lack of recognition of this elementary distinction in the legal mainstreaim--and especially its lack of recognition on the part of those in power in this society--is going to transform America into a garrison state! I am wondering how we are going to get through the next two years of this Administration without that happening--and whether, in 2008, King Bush II won't simply be replaced by someone ten times worse (Hillary?).

Randolph Bourne wasn't kidding when he warned us, back in the 1910s, that "war is the health of the State"!

One final point: under the Constitution isn't legislation supposed to originate in Congress, not the Executive branch? Oh, yes, I forgot. This President--or is it King Bush II--once called the Constitution "just a g******ed piece of paper," and uses "signing statements" to authorize which laws or parts of laws originating in Congress he will obey and which he will set aside.

As the movie trailer goes, be afraid! Be very afraid!

Bush submits new terror detainee bill

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 28, 6:53 PM ET

Original here

WASHINGTON - U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last month by the Supreme Court.

Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made.

Senior officials are expected to discuss a final proposal before the
Senate Armed Services Committee next Wednesday.

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all "enemy combatants" until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone "engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute."

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

"That's the big question ... the definition of who can be detained," said Martin Lederman, a law professor at Georgetown University who posted a copy of the bill to a Web blog.

Scott L. Silliman, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, said the broad definition of enemy combatants is alarming because a U.S. citizen loosely suspected of terror ties would lose access to a civilian court — and all the rights that come with it. Administration officials have said they want to establish a secret court to try enemy combatants that factor in realities of the battlefield and would protect classified information.

The administration's proposal, as considered at one point during discussions, would toss out several legal rights common in civilian and military courts, including barring hearsay evidence, guaranteeing "speedy trials" and granting a defendant access to evidence. The proposal also would allow defendants to be barred from their own trial and likely allow the submission of coerced testimony.

Senior Republican lawmakers have said they were briefed on the general discussions and have some concerns but are awaiting a final proposal before commenting on specifics.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England are expected to discuss the proposal in an open hearing next Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Military lawyers also are scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The legislation is the administration's response to a June 29 Supreme Court decision, which concluded the Pentagon could not prosecute military detainees using secret tribunals established soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court ruled the tribunals were not authorized by law and violated treaty obligations under the Geneva Conventions, which established many international laws for warfare.

The landmark court decision countered long-held assertions by the Bush administration that the president did not need permission from Congress to prosecute "enemy combatants" captured in the war on terror and that al Qaeda members were not subject to Geneva Convention protections because of their unconventional status.

"In a time of ongoing armed conflict, it is neither practicable nor appropriate for enemy combatants like al Qaeda terrorists to be tried like American citizens in federal courts or courts-martial," the proposal states.

The draft proposal contends that an existing law — passed by the Senate last year after exhaustive negotiations between the White House and Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz. — that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should "fully satisfy" the nation's obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

Sen. John W. Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Friday he expects to take up the detainee legislation in September.

The 'Hourglass Economy'

2006-08-03T11:16:00.000-04:00

Let's hear it for globalization! Let's hear it for a controlled labor market, and a controlled labor force (via phony "free trade" measures)--and a system in which federal government employees make 100K a year on the average and the rest of us work for peanuts, when we can find any work at all.

Let's hear it for high taxes, to pay the interest on the skyrocketing national debt! Let's hear it for stagnant wages (declining, in terms of our debauched-dollar based money system). Let's hear it for deceptive accounts of unemployment and inflation (deceptive because of what they exclude from the official calculations).

Let's hear it for a divided America, with some rich, many poor, and a dwindling middle class that is pinwheeling over the cliff! Let's hear it for our Super Elite in the international banking cartel and their Emerging New World Order!

`Hourglass Economy' Divides Americans, Defines U.S. Politics

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a5FkS3h6EfeM&refer=home

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Evelyn Dawson and Kevin Manning spent most of their working lives in the same town, living on their paychecks. They now find themselves on opposite sides of a widening wealth gap that increasingly defines American politics and the economy.

Dawson, 58, a former government worker [sic.--SY], owns an expanding business in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Manning, 36, supports a wife and three kids on a truck driver's wage, with nothing left for savings or to buy a house. ``I have pretty much always had to live paycheck to paycheck,'' he says.

Dawson was able to kick-start a second career because she had assets and specialized knowledge, two attributes driving a wedge between an upwardly mobile middle class and others trying to manage on meager income growth in less-skilled jobs. Household wealth grew six times faster than wages from 2001 to 2005, the biggest gap of any five-year period in half a century.

``It bothers me,'' former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said in an interview. ``I tell you, I don't know why there hasn't been more discussion and more unhappiness about this because it's become quite distinct. For a long time now, if we believe the statistics, the average working guy does not have an increase in income.''

The divide is reviving protectionism in Congress, awakening a debate on the minimum wage, and making the Federal Reserve more sensitive to the risks of causing a collapse in financial and housing markets.

`Powerful Impact'

``Asset prices have never had such a powerful impact on the economy,'' Joseph Lavorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, said in an interview. ``Changes in wealth rather than income growth are a main reason why consumer spending and gross domestic product have both been so strong.''

Previously, income grew more or less in step with household wealth. From 1962 to 1966, a period of low inflation and robust economic growth, real private sector wages rose 27.5 percent while real net worth increased 23.6 percent, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on government data. In the five-year period ending in 1996, real net worth gained 15.6 percent while private wages grew 11.3 percent.

More recently, the gap between household net worth and wage growth has widened. From 2001 to 2005, the value of household assets minus liabilities rose 16.6 percent after inflation. Private sector wages rose just 2.7 percent.

Fruits of Success

In some sense, U.S. policy makers are confronted with the results of their own success at reducing trade barriers and keeping inflation low [sic.--SY]. As prices and economies stabilized, interest rates fell and house prices and stocks rose. Meanwhile, the spread of technology and better access to foreign labor suppressed wages for some Americans.

``Asset ownership is now the driving force behind income inequality,'' says Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor and now a professor at the University of California in Berkeley. ``People with education and connections are doing better and better and accumulating extraordinary assets.''

In Roanoke Rapids, Dawson says she and her husband, who worked at a local paper mill, saved their entire working lives, acquiring a house, mutual funds and money in the bank. She started in her 20s with a life insurance policy, and later began putting away $50 a month. ``That was a lot then,'' she says. ``I just grew up and knew you were supposed to save.''

As a storied textile mill was shutting down in her home town in 2003, Dawson was starting a health care consulting business.

While wages are stagnant in the area and unemployment is 6.7 percent [sic.--SY], her firm recently moved into new headquarters she built.

Link to GDP

Dawson's experience illustrates how growth in individual wealth has increasingly become linked to economic expansion. Lavorgna's research finds that, since 1997, increases in household wealth have moved in lock-step with growth in the U.S. gross domestic product 90 percent of the time. Americans have become more inclined to spend as their homes and stock portfolios rise in value.

It hasn't always worked that way. The correlation between household net worth and GDP was only about 20 percent in the decade prior to 1995, according to Lavorgna.

The wealth gap presents Fed officials with new risks. If housing values fall sharply after 17 consecutive interest rate increases, wealth-powered spending may fall off at a time when disposable incomes have grown only about 1.7 percent after inflation over the last year.

Less Dependence on Assets

``It is going to be a problem,'' says Lavorgna, who expects economic growth to slow to an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter. ``Now you are going to depend less on assets and good old traditional wage growth'' at a time when pay is ``moderating.''

The wealth gap helps explain why, after 19 consecutive quarters of economic growth and unemployment at a five-year low, a sizeable minority of Americans don't feel that well off. About half of Americans polled say the economy is doing poorly, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News national poll of 1,478 adults conducted between July 28 and Aug. 1.

Labor economists call it the ``hourglass economy,'' with an educated, asset-owning middle class moving up and families with manual skills and fewer assets being shoved lower.

Wage-Less Recoveries

``Globalization is not win-win [Well, duh!!--SY]. In the last four to five years, countries have had jobless or wage-less recoveries or both,'' Stephen Roach, chief global economist for Morgan Stanley in New York, said in an interview. ``The pressure on the worker in an era of globalization is going to be increasingly an issue for the body politic.''

Manning sees his dream of starting his own truck service business slipping away because his paychecks barely keep up with inflation.

``People are willing to work for less,'' Manning says. ``It is really cutthroat.''

Manning's parents worked at the WestPoint Stevens Inc. textile mill, the site of a unionization movement featured in the 1979 film ``Norma Rae.'' The mill was shuttered in 2003 and his mother lost her job.

After working as a mechanic, Manning became a long-haul truck driver, earning about 28 cents a mile and missing his family after days on the road. Rumbling along U.S. interstates, he did his own market research on citizens band radio, chatting with other truckers under his handle, ``Hubcap.'' He discovered drivers needed a service stop somewhere between New York and Savannah, Georgia. Roanoke Rapids, located right off Highway 95, was an ideal location.

`Saw a Need'

``I always saw a need to work for myself,'' he says during an interview at Ralph's Barbecue in Roanoke Rapids. ``I saw the need for this business.''

The ``biggest obstacle'' he says, is that he doesn't own his home or have savings that he can put up against a bank loan. ``It takes every bit that you make to make ends meet.''

Owning a business, he says, is the way to get beyond that.

``Right now it is just a dream of mine,'' Manning says. ``But I am not going to give up on it.''

Dawson started her business after a 33-year career with the State of North Carolina, during which she rose to director of the Halifax County Department of Social Services, with a budget of $110 million and a staff of nearly 200.

Opportunity

When the state decided to privatize mental health care, she saw an opportunity.

``It just hit me: They have a lot of clients and not many providers,'' she said. ``I said, `I am going to find out more about this.'''

She and a friend started BriteSmilz Family and Community Connections in her remodeled garage in 2003. Her staff of 12 coordinates the work of about 100 consultants who manage about 500 cases, such as helping single mothers get their lives back on track. Her new 6,500-square-foot headquarters opened in July.

Economists say the wealth gap is already influencing policies. Republicans have made a clampdown on illegal immigration a top issue. Democrats want to raise the minimum wage. Five-year-old talks on tariff cuts at the World Trade Organization collapsed last month.

``In terms of trade protectionism, and immigration law, there is a lot of debate in Washington about the right answer,'' says Andrew Tilton, a former Treasury official who is now an economist at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. ``The answer that is best for the U.S. economy may not be the best for the hardest hit parts of the country that are seeing declining wages.'' [Note the affiliation. Does best for the economy equal best for the Super-Elite?--SY}

To contact the reporters on this story:
Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net;
Alexandre Tanzi in Washington atanzi@bloomberg.net

IT'S HAPPENING HERE!

What Is Really Wrong With the Freedom Movement?

New Article: Ron Paul and Social Issues

Ron Paul and Social Issues

New Article: Brave New Generation Revisited

Brave New Generation: Revisited

by Steven YatesSeptember 9, 2011

THIS BLOG IS BACK!

THE SHEARING IS NEARING

Maine Rejects Real ID; Other States Preparing to Follow Suit--Good News! (For a Change)

Maine Becomes First State to Reject Participation in Real ID

Maine Becomes First State to Reject Participation in Real ID

Real ID an Expensive Headache for Vermont

Washington Introduces Bill Defying Real ID Act

Bill to Refuse Participation in Real ID Introduced in Montana Senate

Sens. Akaka and Sununu Introduce Real ID Fix Bill

Are You a Citizen? Prove It.

Nation's Governors "Universal" in Opposition to Real ID

DHS Regulations Said to be Approaching; Delays Have Made Deadline Impossible

Real ID: Where Rubber Meets the Road in Privacy Debate

Wall St. Journal Slams Real ID

ID Requirements Keeping Deserving Kids Off Medicaid

Nation's Governors, State Legislators, DMVs Jointly Call For Major Revisions to Real ID, Issue Partial Cost Estimate Of Over $11 Billion

Lawmakers Demand Funding for Real ID Requirements

Real ID Problems Continue to Roil Alabama

Breach of Veterans' Data Reveals Vulnerability of ID Information

Real ID Narrowly Dodges a Bullet in New Hampshire

National Conference of State Legislatures Head Says Real ID Comes at "Too High a Price"

Computer Problems Already Causing Long Waits For Drivers

Security Experts Say Real ID Won't Stop Terrorism

Real ID Act Faces Real Challenges

DMVs Nationwide Say Real ID Will Be a Real Nightmare to Implement

Virginia Task Force Calls on Congress to Revise Real ID

New York City Council Resolution Denounces Real ID

Republican Mike Huckabee, Chairman of the National Governors Association, Opposes Real ID

Governors Project Skyrocketting Costs at Annual Meeting

Washington State Estimates High Costs for Implementing Real ID

States Blast Real ID Act

Brilliant New Guide to the Emerging North American Union

From AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM to REAL ID and RFID

It Happened Quite Suddenly ...

Some Good News (For a Change)--Ron Paul

North American Union--"Wacko Conspiracy Theory" or Ongoing Process?

Dialectics, Rockefellers, and Population Control

Three From Pastor Chuck Baldwin

Dr. Robert Pastor: North American Union Is Just a Crisis Away

Real Trouble: the $4.6 Trillion Shortfall--We Are Swimming in a Near-Bottomless Sea of Red Ink

Pro Libertate: Opening the Gates of the Gulag (Pt. I)

Congressman: Concentration Camps "On the Books" for the Amerika of the Future

The Draconian and Absolutist USA Patriot Act Strikes Again

More Evidence of How a North American Union Would Destroy America!

The Truth About the U.S. Economy Revealed Again

Richard Lamm on the Destruction of America

Soon You Will Need Homeland Security Permission to Enter--Or Leave--the U.S. / A Comment on Central Banks

Bush Is Taking This Country Ever Closer to Martial Law

THE MOST IMPORTANT FILM DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR, NOW ON DVD!

Forcible Gun Seizures Are Part of the New World Order

Colorado Man Jailed Following Public Criticism of Bush Administration's Iraq Policy; Files Federal Suit

Timeline of the Progress Toward a North American Union

Why Are We Supporting These People in the Middle East?????

"Diversity" is Corrosive

The Dow's New High: A Scam?

Falling Gas Prices--Micromanaged?

Where the Open Borders Philosophy Is Taking Us

North American Union / From an American Schoolteacher

As America Becomes a Dictatorship ...

Building the North American Union - But Not Without Opposition

The Plan For Martial Law

Are the "Banksters" Getting Nervous?

Henry Kissinger Calls for American-European Unity

Email From the Sheeple

Employer Advises Dumpster-Diving for the Future Unemployed

Police (State) Brutality in the Emerging New World Order

Another Heavy-Hitter Claims 9/11 Was an Inside Job!

Globalism Gone Mad: the "Cybercrime" Treaty

Latest Terror Threat - Another Exercise in Hegelian Dialectic

More on the Approach of Martial Law

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps

Now THIS Is Scary!

The 'Hourglass Economy'

by Steven Yates
September 9, 2011