CIA Recruiting Laid-Off Bankers in NYC
NEW YORK – Laid off from Wall Street? The CIA wants you -- as long as you can pass a lie detector test and show that you are motivated by service to your country rather than your wallet.
The Central Intelligence Agency has been advertising for recruits and will be holding interviews on June 22 at a secret location in New York.
"Economics, finance and business professionals, if the quest for the bottom line is just not enough for you, the Central Intelligence Agency has a mission like no other," one radio advertisement for the agency says.
"Join CIA's directorate of intelligence and be a part of our global mission as an economic or financial analyst. Make a difference in your career and for your nation," it says.
Ron Patrick, a spokesman for recruitment and retention at the CIA, told Reuters Television the agency had received several hundred resumes so far from applicants ranging from people just out of graduate school to laid-off bankers.
"It's going to be a very different use of their skill set than perhaps they've used on Wall Street," Patrick said.
Recruits will have to pass rigorous background and medical checks, as well as a polygraph, or lie-detector test.
Starting salaries range from around $60,000 for a new graduate to $100,000 for somebody with more experience, and top out at $160,000. Generous benefits are included.
SOURCE: NEWS MAX
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Inside the Military’s Secret Terror-Tagging Tech
Inside the Military’s Secret Terror-Tagging Tech
Wired | Jun 3, 2009
By David Hambling
The story that the CIA uses tiny homing beacons to guide their drone strikes in Pakistan may sound like an urban myth. But this sort of technology does exist, and might well be used for exactly this purpose. It might even have been the “secret weapon” that Bob Woodward said helped the American military pacify Iraq.
The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars researching, developing, and purchasing a slew of “Tagging tracking and locating” (TTL) gear — gizmos designed to keep covertly tabs from far away. Most of these technologies are highly classified. But there’s enough information in the open literature to get a sense of what the government is pursuing: laser-based reflectors, super-strength RFID tags, and homing beacons so tiny, they can be woven into fabric or into paper.
Some of the gadgets are already commercially available; if you’re carrying around a phone or some other mobile gadget, you can be tracked – either through the GPS chip embedded in the gizmo, or by triangulating the cell signal. Defense contractor EWA Government Systems, Inc. makes a radio frequency-based “Bigfoot Remote Tagging System” that’s the size of a couple of AA batteries. But the government has been working to make these terrorist tracking tags even smaller.
SOURCE: AFTERMATH NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Wired | Jun 3, 2009
By David Hambling
The story that the CIA uses tiny homing beacons to guide their drone strikes in Pakistan may sound like an urban myth. But this sort of technology does exist, and might well be used for exactly this purpose. It might even have been the “secret weapon” that Bob Woodward said helped the American military pacify Iraq.
The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars researching, developing, and purchasing a slew of “Tagging tracking and locating” (TTL) gear — gizmos designed to keep covertly tabs from far away. Most of these technologies are highly classified. But there’s enough information in the open literature to get a sense of what the government is pursuing: laser-based reflectors, super-strength RFID tags, and homing beacons so tiny, they can be woven into fabric or into paper.
Some of the gadgets are already commercially available; if you’re carrying around a phone or some other mobile gadget, you can be tracked – either through the GPS chip embedded in the gizmo, or by triangulating the cell signal. Defense contractor EWA Government Systems, Inc. makes a radio frequency-based “Bigfoot Remote Tagging System” that’s the size of a couple of AA batteries. But the government has been working to make these terrorist tracking tags even smaller.
SOURCE: AFTERMATH NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Obama Regulatory Reform Plan Officially Establishes Banking Dictatorship Paul Joseph Watson & Steve Wat
Obama Regulatory Reform Plan Officially Establishes Banking Dictatorship
Paul Joseph Watson & Steve Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009
President Obama’s plan to give the privately-owned and unaccountable Federal Reserve complete regulatory oversight across the entire U.S. economy, which is likely to be enacted before the end of the year, will officially herald the beginning of a new form of government in the United States - an ultra-powerful banking dictatorship controlled by a small gaggle of shadowy and corrupt elitists.
The new rules would see the Fed given the authority to “regulate” any company whose activity it believes could threaten the economy and the markets.
This goes a step further than the centrally planned economies of the Soviet Union or Communist China, in that the Federal Reserve is not even accountable to the U.S. government, it is a private entity that according to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, is accountable to nobody but the banking families that own it.
Obama’s regulatory “reform” plan is nothing less than a green light for the complete and total takeover of the United States by a private banking cartel that will usurp the power of existing regulatory bodies, who are now being blamed for the financial crisis in order that their status can be abolished and their roles handed over to the all-powerful Fed.
According to an Associated Press report today, Democratic leaders have committed to enacting the plan before the end of the year and Republicans in both the House and Senate have indicated that they won’t stand in the way of the overhaul.
“The final plan….is expected to sidestep most jurisdictional disputes and simply impose across the board standards to be applied by all financial regulators, according to administration and industry sources, ” reports the Washington Times.
In other words, the Fed, which is already totally unaccountable to Congress, is to be placed in complete control of the entirety of the U.S. financial system, to do as it wishes without repercussion.
SOURCE: INFOWARS
(ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Judge rejects argument Cheney needs to be shielded from Daily Show
Judge rejects argument Cheney needs to be shielded from Daily Show
By Raw Story
Published: June 19, 2009
Tired of waving the national security flag, Obama administration lawyers are apparently trying another tactic to get the courts to back Bush administration arguments which never worked to prevent the release of critical documents. Forget Qaeda or North Korea, late night hosts who tell jokes are why the government should retain its secrets.
“A federal judge yesterday sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration that former Vice President Richard B. Cheney’s statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney’s political enemies or late-night commentary on The Daily Show,” R. Jeffrey Smith reports for The Washington Post.
The AP reports, “Justice Department lawyers told the judge that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.”
“If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren’t going to cooperate,” Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said. “I don’t want a future vice president to say, `I’m not going to cooperate with you because I don’t want to be fodder for ‘The Daily Show.’”
More from the Post:
" U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan expressed surprise during a hearing here that the Justice Department, in asserting that Cheney’s voluntary statements to U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald were exempt from disclosure, relied on legal claims put forward last October by a Bush administration political appointee, Stephen Bradbury. The department asserted then that the disclosure would make presidents and vice presidents reluctant to cooperate voluntarily with future criminal investigations.
But career civil division lawyer Jeffrey M. Smith, responding to Sullivan’s questions, said Bradbury’s arguments against the disclosure were supported by the department’s current leadership. He told the judge that if Cheney’s remarks were published, then a future vice president asked to provide candid information during a criminal probe might refuse to do so out of concern “that it’s going to get on ‘The Daily Show’ ” or somehow be used as a political weapon.
Sullivan said Bradbury, who was the acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, was not obviously qualified to make such claims and that they were in any event unsubstantiated. Sullivan said the department needed new evidence, if it hoped to prevail, and said the administration should supply him with a copy of Cheney’s statements so he could directly assess whether the claims are credible."
SOURCE: THE RAW STORY
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
By Raw Story
Published: June 19, 2009
Tired of waving the national security flag, Obama administration lawyers are apparently trying another tactic to get the courts to back Bush administration arguments which never worked to prevent the release of critical documents. Forget Qaeda or North Korea, late night hosts who tell jokes are why the government should retain its secrets.
“A federal judge yesterday sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration that former Vice President Richard B. Cheney’s statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney’s political enemies or late-night commentary on The Daily Show,” R. Jeffrey Smith reports for The Washington Post.
The AP reports, “Justice Department lawyers told the judge that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.”
“If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren’t going to cooperate,” Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said. “I don’t want a future vice president to say, `I’m not going to cooperate with you because I don’t want to be fodder for ‘The Daily Show.’”
More from the Post:
" U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan expressed surprise during a hearing here that the Justice Department, in asserting that Cheney’s voluntary statements to U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald were exempt from disclosure, relied on legal claims put forward last October by a Bush administration political appointee, Stephen Bradbury. The department asserted then that the disclosure would make presidents and vice presidents reluctant to cooperate voluntarily with future criminal investigations.
But career civil division lawyer Jeffrey M. Smith, responding to Sullivan’s questions, said Bradbury’s arguments against the disclosure were supported by the department’s current leadership. He told the judge that if Cheney’s remarks were published, then a future vice president asked to provide candid information during a criminal probe might refuse to do so out of concern “that it’s going to get on ‘The Daily Show’ ” or somehow be used as a political weapon.
Sullivan said Bradbury, who was the acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, was not obviously qualified to make such claims and that they were in any event unsubstantiated. Sullivan said the department needed new evidence, if it hoped to prevail, and said the administration should supply him with a copy of Cheney’s statements so he could directly assess whether the claims are credible."
SOURCE: THE RAW STORY
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Insane’ file-sharing verdict could challenge law’s constitutionality
Insane’ file-sharing verdict could challenge law’s constitutionality
By Muriel Kane
Published: June 19, 2009
In the first file-sharing case to go to trial in the United States, a Minnesota jury has ruled that a 32 year old woman must pay the music industry $1.92 million dollars for illegally making 24 songs available for sharing from her hard drive.
The woman, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, had originally been accused of uploading 1700 songs to Kazaa. An earlier verdict of $220,000 was overturned because of a faulty jury instruction, with the judge describing even that lower amount as “unprecedented and oppressive.”
After today’s ruling, Thomas-Rasset called the damages “ridiculous” and said she had no means of paying them. A representative of the Recording Industry Association of America said the music companies were willing to settle for a much smaller amount, which based on past cases might still be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
A blog entry at technology news site ZDNet, however, describes the verdict as “insane” and suggests that it “could prove [the] RIAA’s downfall.”
Lawyer and tech writer Richard Koman points out several serious problems with the amount of the verdict. For example, the law used in the case normally prescribes damages of $750 to $30,000 per infringement. The judgement against Thomas-Rasset comes out to $80,000 per song — an amount which is considered appropriate only when there has been “willful” infringement, which would seem to mean a crime committed for profit or out of a desire to do deliberate harm.
SOURCE: THE RAW STORY
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
By Muriel Kane
Published: June 19, 2009
In the first file-sharing case to go to trial in the United States, a Minnesota jury has ruled that a 32 year old woman must pay the music industry $1.92 million dollars for illegally making 24 songs available for sharing from her hard drive.
The woman, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, had originally been accused of uploading 1700 songs to Kazaa. An earlier verdict of $220,000 was overturned because of a faulty jury instruction, with the judge describing even that lower amount as “unprecedented and oppressive.”
After today’s ruling, Thomas-Rasset called the damages “ridiculous” and said she had no means of paying them. A representative of the Recording Industry Association of America said the music companies were willing to settle for a much smaller amount, which based on past cases might still be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
A blog entry at technology news site ZDNet, however, describes the verdict as “insane” and suggests that it “could prove [the] RIAA’s downfall.”
Lawyer and tech writer Richard Koman points out several serious problems with the amount of the verdict. For example, the law used in the case normally prescribes damages of $750 to $30,000 per infringement. The judgement against Thomas-Rasset comes out to $80,000 per song — an amount which is considered appropriate only when there has been “willful” infringement, which would seem to mean a crime committed for profit or out of a desire to do deliberate harm.
SOURCE: THE RAW STORY
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Alcohol Abuse By GIs Soars Since 2003
Alcohol Abuse By GIs Soars Since 2003
Published on 06-19-2009
Source: USA Today
The rate of Army soldiers enrolled in treatment programs for alcohol dependency or abuse has nearly doubled since 2003 — a sign of the growing stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Army statistics and interviews.
Soldiers diagnosed by Army substance abuse counselors with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31, according to the data. The latest data cover the first six months of the fiscal year that began in October.
"We're seeing a lot of alcohol consumption," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, told top officers during a briefing on the Army's growing number of suicides.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed concern. "I'm sure there are many factors for the rising numbers (of enrollments) ... but I can't believe the stress our people are under after eight years of combat isn't taking a toll," he said.
Likewise, Marines who screen positive for drug or alcohol problems increased 12% from 2005 to 2008, according to Marine Corps statistics. In addition, there were 1,060 drunken-driving cases involving Marines during the first seven months of fiscal 2009, which began in October, compared with 1,430 cases in all of fiscal 2008.
In an interview last week, Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent said alcohol abuse is an indication of the stress, particularly with the ongoing cycle of combat deployments. "Alcohol can tie into a lot of things, and we're just keeping a close eye on it," Kent said.
Mullen and Chiarelli said the U.S. needs to reduce the overall number of deployed troops as planned to ease the strain.
Concerns about alcohol abuse led Chiarelli to issue a memo in May urging commanders to treat and, where necessary under Army rules, punish soldiers who test positive for substance abuse or fail blood-alcohol tests. During a visit to six Army installations this year, Chiarelli said, he found hundreds of cases where soldiers who failed those tests, in some cases more than once, were not treated for the problem or processed for possible discharge, as required by Army regulation.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Published on 06-19-2009
Source: USA Today
The rate of Army soldiers enrolled in treatment programs for alcohol dependency or abuse has nearly doubled since 2003 — a sign of the growing stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Army statistics and interviews.
Soldiers diagnosed by Army substance abuse counselors with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31, according to the data. The latest data cover the first six months of the fiscal year that began in October.
"We're seeing a lot of alcohol consumption," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, told top officers during a briefing on the Army's growing number of suicides.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed concern. "I'm sure there are many factors for the rising numbers (of enrollments) ... but I can't believe the stress our people are under after eight years of combat isn't taking a toll," he said.
Likewise, Marines who screen positive for drug or alcohol problems increased 12% from 2005 to 2008, according to Marine Corps statistics. In addition, there were 1,060 drunken-driving cases involving Marines during the first seven months of fiscal 2009, which began in October, compared with 1,430 cases in all of fiscal 2008.
In an interview last week, Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent said alcohol abuse is an indication of the stress, particularly with the ongoing cycle of combat deployments. "Alcohol can tie into a lot of things, and we're just keeping a close eye on it," Kent said.
Mullen and Chiarelli said the U.S. needs to reduce the overall number of deployed troops as planned to ease the strain.
Concerns about alcohol abuse led Chiarelli to issue a memo in May urging commanders to treat and, where necessary under Army rules, punish soldiers who test positive for substance abuse or fail blood-alcohol tests. During a visit to six Army installations this year, Chiarelli said, he found hundreds of cases where soldiers who failed those tests, in some cases more than once, were not treated for the problem or processed for possible discharge, as required by Army regulation.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
To fight deflation, abolish cash. Could Japan make reality of ‘science fiction’?
To fight deflation, abolish cash. Could Japan make reality of ‘science fiction’?
Published on 06-19-2009
Source: Times Online
With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all — the abolition of cash.
Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, “in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.
The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index.The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.
Other extreme ideas mooted by the financial authorities include a tax on physical currency or introducing one to operate alongside the yen.
All three ideas are based on a theory concerning interest rates and the concept that a nominal rate of zero — as Japan has now lived with for much of the past decade — may be too high. In Japan’s case, the theory would suggest that nominal rates of -4 per cent might be closer to what is required to rescue the economy from another deflationary spiral. Having agreed that this might be necessary, the next question is how it could be imposed.
Several MPs in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe the abolition of cash, though politically radioactive, might be technically feasible. Richard Jerram, a senior economist with Macquarie bank, told investors that “the proposal has become practical with the broad penetration of electronic money and credit cards in Japan”.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Published on 06-19-2009
Source: Times Online
With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all — the abolition of cash.
Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, “in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.
The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index.The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.
Other extreme ideas mooted by the financial authorities include a tax on physical currency or introducing one to operate alongside the yen.
All three ideas are based on a theory concerning interest rates and the concept that a nominal rate of zero — as Japan has now lived with for much of the past decade — may be too high. In Japan’s case, the theory would suggest that nominal rates of -4 per cent might be closer to what is required to rescue the economy from another deflationary spiral. Having agreed that this might be necessary, the next question is how it could be imposed.
Several MPs in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe the abolition of cash, though politically radioactive, might be technically feasible. Richard Jerram, a senior economist with Macquarie bank, told investors that “the proposal has become practical with the broad penetration of electronic money and credit cards in Japan”.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Japan warns that North Korea may fire missile at U.S. on Independence Day
Japan warns that North Korea may fire missile at U.S. on Independence Day
North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched in early July from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country.
Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii’s main islands, which are 4,500 miles from North Korea.
Details of the launch came from the Japan’s best-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun.
Both Japanese intelligence and U.S. reconnaissance satellites have collated information pointing to the launch, according to the report.
It is understood the communist state is likely to fire the missile between July 4 and 8. A launch on July 4 would coincide with Independence Day in the States.It would also be the 15th anniversary of North Korean president Kim Il-Sung’s death.
The Japanese newspaper also noted that North Korea had fired its first Taepodong-2 missile on July 4, 2006.
source: mail online
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Iran accuses the US of meddling in election crisis
Iran accuses the US of meddling in election crisis
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI – 2 hours ago
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran directly accused the United States of meddling in the deepening crisis over a disputed presidential election and broadened its media clampdown Wednesday to include blogs and news Web sites. But protesters took to the streets in growing defiance of the country's Islamic rulers.
The sweep of events — including more arrests and a call for another mass opposition march through Tehran — displayed the sharpening attacks by authorities but also the unprecedented challenges directed at the very heart of Iran's Islamic regime: its supreme leader and the cleric-run system.
Any serious shift of the protest anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the core premise of Iran's system of rule — the almost unlimited authority of the clerics at the top.
For the moment, however, both sides appear to be using the same tactics since the disputed results showed hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the landslide winner.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called for another mass rally Thursday in defiance of Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state.
Authorities rounded up perceived dissidents and tried to further muzzle Web sites and other networks used by Mousavi's backers to share information and send out details of Iran's crisis after foreign journalists were banned from reporting in the streets.
Officials also stepped up claims that foreign hands have been behind the unrest.
An Iranian statement blamed Washington for "intolerable" interference in the showdown over allegations of vote-rigging and fraud. The report, on state-run Press TV, cited no evidence.
It said the government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to complain about American interference. The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
soure:
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI – 2 hours ago
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran directly accused the United States of meddling in the deepening crisis over a disputed presidential election and broadened its media clampdown Wednesday to include blogs and news Web sites. But protesters took to the streets in growing defiance of the country's Islamic rulers.
The sweep of events — including more arrests and a call for another mass opposition march through Tehran — displayed the sharpening attacks by authorities but also the unprecedented challenges directed at the very heart of Iran's Islamic regime: its supreme leader and the cleric-run system.
Any serious shift of the protest anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the core premise of Iran's system of rule — the almost unlimited authority of the clerics at the top.
For the moment, however, both sides appear to be using the same tactics since the disputed results showed hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the landslide winner.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called for another mass rally Thursday in defiance of Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state.
Authorities rounded up perceived dissidents and tried to further muzzle Web sites and other networks used by Mousavi's backers to share information and send out details of Iran's crisis after foreign journalists were banned from reporting in the streets.
Officials also stepped up claims that foreign hands have been behind the unrest.
An Iranian statement blamed Washington for "intolerable" interference in the showdown over allegations of vote-rigging and fraud. The report, on state-run Press TV, cited no evidence.
It said the government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to complain about American interference. The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
soure:
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Thursday, June 4, 2009
If You Are Stressed Now, Just Wait
If You Are Stressed Now, Just Wait – Policymakers Have Created A Perfect Storm.
(Paul Craig Roberts) – Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the US dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
Earlier this year the dollar’s exchange value rose against currencies, such as the euro. UK pound, and Swiss franc, against which the dollar had been steadily falling. The dollar’s rise made US policymakers complacent, even though the rise was due to flight from over-leveraged financial instruments and falling stock markets into “safe” Treasuries. Since April, however, the dollar has steadily declined as investors and foreign central banks realize that the massive federal budget deficits are likely to be monetized.
What happens to the dollar will be the key driver of what lies ahead. The likely scenario could be nasty.
America’s trading partners do not have large enough trade surpluses to finance a federal budget deficit swollen to $2 trillion by gratuitous wars, recession, bailouts, and stimulus programs. Moreover, concern over the dollar’s future is causing America’s foreign creditors to seek alternatives to US debt in which to hold their foreign reserves.
SOURCE: DPROGRAM.NET
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
(Paul Craig Roberts) – Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the US dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
Earlier this year the dollar’s exchange value rose against currencies, such as the euro. UK pound, and Swiss franc, against which the dollar had been steadily falling. The dollar’s rise made US policymakers complacent, even though the rise was due to flight from over-leveraged financial instruments and falling stock markets into “safe” Treasuries. Since April, however, the dollar has steadily declined as investors and foreign central banks realize that the massive federal budget deficits are likely to be monetized.
What happens to the dollar will be the key driver of what lies ahead. The likely scenario could be nasty.
America’s trading partners do not have large enough trade surpluses to finance a federal budget deficit swollen to $2 trillion by gratuitous wars, recession, bailouts, and stimulus programs. Moreover, concern over the dollar’s future is causing America’s foreign creditors to seek alternatives to US debt in which to hold their foreign reserves.
SOURCE: DPROGRAM.NET
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Is California The Next GM?
Is California The Next GM?
With GM’s bankruptcy no longer hanging over Wall Street, perhaps now investors can get their minds right for some really bad news. We’re talking about the looming bankruptcy of California, of course, and of at least a few more big-budget states whose books are in equally disastrous shape, including New York, Arizona, New Jersey, Nevada, Rhode Island and Florida. All told, the 50 states are looking at budget shortfalls totaling $350 billion over the next two-and-a-half years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
A disaster is taking shape before our eyes, although you’d never know it from all the celebrating that’s been going on in the stock market. Consider these sobering statistics from the Rockefeller Institute. They were cited by our colleague Bill Buckler of The Privateer, one of our favorite reads : “[With California leading the pack,] state tax collections continued to fall in the first quarter as muted consumption, falling incomes and weak profits plunged the states into a deeper fiscal hole,” writes Buckler. “The 47 states that have reported first-quarter revenues saw total tax collections fall 12.6 percent compared with the first three months of 2008. The steepest drops were in income taxes due to climbing unemployment. Corporate taxes declined 16.2 percent in the latest quarter, reflecting weaker profits. Personal income taxes fell 15.8 percent. Sales taxes were down 7.6 percent. Forty-five of the 47 states saw revenues decline.”
SOURCE: DPROGRAM.NET
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Is Larry Summers Taking Kickbacks From the Banks He’s Bailing Out?
Is Larry Summers Taking Kickbacks From the Banks He’s Bailing Out?
Via: AlterNet:
Last month, a little-known company where Summers served on the board of directors received a $42 million investment from a group of investors, including three banks that Summers, Obama’s effective “economy czar,” has been doling out billions in bailout money to: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. The banks invested into the small startup company, Revolution Money, right at the time when Summers was administering the “stress test” to these same banks.
A month after they invested in Summers’ former company, all three banks came out of the stress test much better than anyone expected — thanks to the fact that the banks themselves were allowed to help decide how bad their problems were (Citigroup “negotiated” down its financial hole from $35 billion to $5.5 billion.)
The fact that the banks invested in the company just a few months after Summers resigned suggests the appearance of corruption, because it suggests to other firms that if you hire Larry Summers onto your board, large banks will want to invest as a favor to a politically-connected director.
Last month, it was revealed that Summers, whom President Obama appointed to essentially run the economy from his perch in the National Economic Council, earned nearly $8 million in 2008 from Wall Street banks, some of which, like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, were now receiving tens of billions of taxpayer funds from the same Larry Summers. It turns out now that those two banks have continued paying into Summers-related businesses.
According to filings obtained for this story, Summers first joined the board of directors of Revolution Money back in 2006 (when it was called “GratisCard”), the same year that Summers was forced to resign as president of Harvard after his disastrous tenure. Revolution Money/GratisCard was a startup headed by former AOL chief Steve Case. Revolution Money billed itself as the Next Big Thing in online payment, “PayPal meets Mastercard,” according to their own pitch.
In September 2007, Revolution Money announced that it had raised $50 million from a group of investors including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. Some found the investment strange even then, because normally big banks don’t get involved in seeding small startups — that’s the domain of venture capitalists, not mega-banks. Especially not in September, 2007, when these same megabanks were Chernobyling their way into full-fledged balance-sheet meltdown.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Via: AlterNet:
Last month, a little-known company where Summers served on the board of directors received a $42 million investment from a group of investors, including three banks that Summers, Obama’s effective “economy czar,” has been doling out billions in bailout money to: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. The banks invested into the small startup company, Revolution Money, right at the time when Summers was administering the “stress test” to these same banks.
A month after they invested in Summers’ former company, all three banks came out of the stress test much better than anyone expected — thanks to the fact that the banks themselves were allowed to help decide how bad their problems were (Citigroup “negotiated” down its financial hole from $35 billion to $5.5 billion.)
The fact that the banks invested in the company just a few months after Summers resigned suggests the appearance of corruption, because it suggests to other firms that if you hire Larry Summers onto your board, large banks will want to invest as a favor to a politically-connected director.
Last month, it was revealed that Summers, whom President Obama appointed to essentially run the economy from his perch in the National Economic Council, earned nearly $8 million in 2008 from Wall Street banks, some of which, like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, were now receiving tens of billions of taxpayer funds from the same Larry Summers. It turns out now that those two banks have continued paying into Summers-related businesses.
According to filings obtained for this story, Summers first joined the board of directors of Revolution Money back in 2006 (when it was called “GratisCard”), the same year that Summers was forced to resign as president of Harvard after his disastrous tenure. Revolution Money/GratisCard was a startup headed by former AOL chief Steve Case. Revolution Money billed itself as the Next Big Thing in online payment, “PayPal meets Mastercard,” according to their own pitch.
In September 2007, Revolution Money announced that it had raised $50 million from a group of investors including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. Some found the investment strange even then, because normally big banks don’t get involved in seeding small startups — that’s the domain of venture capitalists, not mega-banks. Especially not in September, 2007, when these same megabanks were Chernobyling their way into full-fledged balance-sheet meltdown.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Vatican endorses genetically modified organisms for food security
Vatican endorses genetically modified organisms for food security
Source: National Catholic Reporter - John L Allen Jr
ROME, Italy – In what seemed largely a foregone conclusion, a May 15-19 study week on genetically modified organisms sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences ended with a strong endorsement of GMOs as “praiseworthy for improving the lives of the poor,” and promising “improved food safety and health benefits, better food security, and enhanced environmental performance in a sustainable manner.”
Although the Pontifical Academy for Sciences is a prestigious Vatican body, it does not set official church teaching, and it remains unclear whether its conclusions will drive the Vatican toward a formal position on GMOs.
While a concluding document from the study week had not been released as NCR went to press, participants who characterized its content said its pro-GMO conclusions enjoyed “unanimous agreement” among the 41 experts from 17 countries who took part.
Organized by German scientist Ingo Potrykus, the inventor of “golden rice,” the study week had beencriticized by anti-GMO activists for including only voices already convinced of the benefits of genetically modified crops. This is the second time that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has endorsed GMOs, following an initial report adopted in 2001 and published in 2004.
Critics charge that GMOs give excessive control over farming practices to large agribusiness corporations, and pose unknown risks to both the environment and human health.
In general, the aim of the academy’s weeklong event seemed less to conduct an objective appraisal of GMOs than to mobilize public support, aiming to overcome what participants see as burdensome regulations and negative public images that sometimes stand in the way of the wider adoption of GMOs, especially in Europe and in parts of the developing world, above all Africa.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Source: National Catholic Reporter - John L Allen Jr
ROME, Italy – In what seemed largely a foregone conclusion, a May 15-19 study week on genetically modified organisms sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences ended with a strong endorsement of GMOs as “praiseworthy for improving the lives of the poor,” and promising “improved food safety and health benefits, better food security, and enhanced environmental performance in a sustainable manner.”
Although the Pontifical Academy for Sciences is a prestigious Vatican body, it does not set official church teaching, and it remains unclear whether its conclusions will drive the Vatican toward a formal position on GMOs.
While a concluding document from the study week had not been released as NCR went to press, participants who characterized its content said its pro-GMO conclusions enjoyed “unanimous agreement” among the 41 experts from 17 countries who took part.
Organized by German scientist Ingo Potrykus, the inventor of “golden rice,” the study week had beencriticized by anti-GMO activists for including only voices already convinced of the benefits of genetically modified crops. This is the second time that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has endorsed GMOs, following an initial report adopted in 2001 and published in 2004.
Critics charge that GMOs give excessive control over farming practices to large agribusiness corporations, and pose unknown risks to both the environment and human health.
In general, the aim of the academy’s weeklong event seemed less to conduct an objective appraisal of GMOs than to mobilize public support, aiming to overcome what participants see as burdensome regulations and negative public images that sometimes stand in the way of the wider adoption of GMOs, especially in Europe and in parts of the developing world, above all Africa.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Obama Admits US Involvement in Iran Coup
Obama Admits US Involvement in Iran Coup in 1953, But Doesn't Admit American Involvement in False Flags
Published on 06-04-2009
Source: GW's Blog
Obama has admitted that the U.S. was involved in the Iranian coup in 1953.
I applaud the president for admitting this fact.
When will the U.S. admit that the U.S. was not only "involved", but - as documented by the New York Times - Iranians working for the C.I.A. in the 1950's posed as Communists and staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected president (see also this essay)?
And when will America admit that - as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the former head of Italian counterintelligence - that NATO, with the help of the Pentagon and CIA, carried out terror bombings in Italy and blamed the communists, in order to rally people’s support for their governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As one participant in this formerly-secret program stated: "You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security."
And when will we admit that - as confirmed by recently declassified documents - in the 1960's, the American Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan to blow up AMERICAN airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. If you view no other links in this article, please read the following ABC news report; the official documents; and watch this interview with the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings?
Because the important admission is not that the U.S. helped with a coup, but that America and virtually all other powerful nations throughout history have used "false flag terror" as means to political ends.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Published on 06-04-2009
Source: GW's Blog
Obama has admitted that the U.S. was involved in the Iranian coup in 1953.
I applaud the president for admitting this fact.
When will the U.S. admit that the U.S. was not only "involved", but - as documented by the New York Times - Iranians working for the C.I.A. in the 1950's posed as Communists and staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected president (see also this essay)?
And when will America admit that - as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the former head of Italian counterintelligence - that NATO, with the help of the Pentagon and CIA, carried out terror bombings in Italy and blamed the communists, in order to rally people’s support for their governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As one participant in this formerly-secret program stated: "You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security."
And when will we admit that - as confirmed by recently declassified documents - in the 1960's, the American Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan to blow up AMERICAN airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. If you view no other links in this article, please read the following ABC news report; the official documents; and watch this interview with the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings?
Because the important admission is not that the U.S. helped with a coup, but that America and virtually all other powerful nations throughout history have used "false flag terror" as means to political ends.
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Oklahoma Highway Patrol fight with an EMT unit
Oklahoma Highway Patrol fight with an EMT unit
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Lloyd Pye - Everything you Know is Wrong
Lloyd Pye - Everything you Know is Wrong
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Israeli Proposal: Make Jordan The official Palestinian Homeland Published on 06-03-2009
Israeli Proposal: Make Jordan The official Palestinian Homeland
Published on 06-03-2009
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his cabinet have pushed back hard against a renewed US demand to end settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Sunday that it amounted to "expulsion."
But 53 Israeli parliamentarians have moved to explore another kind of expulsion: Under a proposal to be reviewed this week, Jordan would become the official homeland for Palestinians now living in the West Bank.
Among the challenges facing the proposal is this: nobody asked Jordan if it would support such a plan.
Not surprisingly, it doesn't.
Nearly half of the Knesset's 120 members moved last Wednesday to pass the "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" proposal on to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further discussion.
Israeli officials say the Knesset's vote does not represent the government's position and is unlikely to become official policy, while analysts dismiss it as a bid from the far right to undermine Mr. Netanyahu. But for many in Jordan, the bill personifies concerns about Israel's new, conservative government and its lack of commitment to the peace process.
"It has done big damage," says Mamdouh Abbadi, a member of the Jordanian parliament who has been among the most vocal in calling for government action against the proposal. "Even if it's not passed, when 53 members of the parliament [Knesset] accept this law in the first reading, this is very important. We can't think it's just for show; it's the real thinking of the Israeli parliament and they represent the people."
Last week, Jordan's foreign minister summoned the Israeli ambassador to deliver an official letter rejecting the idea and calling for the Israelis to stop the bill last week. In parliament, a group of at least 36 lawmakers are working to encourage their government to take strong action against Israel.
Right-wing idea, but some support from left.
SOURCE: ROGUE GOVERNMENT
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Published on 06-03-2009
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his cabinet have pushed back hard against a renewed US demand to end settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Sunday that it amounted to "expulsion."
But 53 Israeli parliamentarians have moved to explore another kind of expulsion: Under a proposal to be reviewed this week, Jordan would become the official homeland for Palestinians now living in the West Bank.
Among the challenges facing the proposal is this: nobody asked Jordan if it would support such a plan.
Not surprisingly, it doesn't.
Nearly half of the Knesset's 120 members moved last Wednesday to pass the "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" proposal on to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further discussion.
Israeli officials say the Knesset's vote does not represent the government's position and is unlikely to become official policy, while analysts dismiss it as a bid from the far right to undermine Mr. Netanyahu. But for many in Jordan, the bill personifies concerns about Israel's new, conservative government and its lack of commitment to the peace process.
"It has done big damage," says Mamdouh Abbadi, a member of the Jordanian parliament who has been among the most vocal in calling for government action against the proposal. "Even if it's not passed, when 53 members of the parliament [Knesset] accept this law in the first reading, this is very important. We can't think it's just for show; it's the real thinking of the Israeli parliament and they represent the people."
Last week, Jordan's foreign minister summoned the Israeli ambassador to deliver an official letter rejecting the idea and calling for the Israelis to stop the bill last week. In parliament, a group of at least 36 lawmakers are working to encourage their government to take strong action against Israel.
Right-wing idea, but some support from left.
SOURCE: ROGUE GOVERNMENT
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
$100 Billion Bailout For IMF Tagged On To War Funding Bill
$100 Billion Bailout For IMF Tagged On To War Funding Bill
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
$100 Billion Bailout For IMF Tagged On To War Funding Bill 030609IMF
Democrats in Congress have agreed to provide a $100 billion credit line to the International Monetary Fund, tagging it onto the war supplemental intended for operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
The measure would also increase the U.S. member contribution to the IMF by $8 billion and authorize the United States to back the IMF’s plan to sell 400 tons (12.97 million ounces) of gold, according to lawmakers’ aides quoted in a Reuters report.
This would fulfil Obama’s pledge to the G20 in April, to contribute toward a $500 billion boost for the IMF, which it says will go toward “helping poorer nations” during the economic downturn.
However, what the The Treasury Department is really proposing is an international version of the Wall Street bailout; a $100 billion bailout for the IMF, which amounts to a bailout for European banks facing big losses in Central and Eastern Europe.
If the bill pasess, we will see $100 billion in U.S. tax dollars simply handed over to foreign banks with no oversight.
SOURCE: INFOWARS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
U.S.-Israeli relationship takes new direction Published on 06-03-2009
U.S.-Israeli relationship takes new direction
Published on 06-03-2009
JERUSALEM - Pressure. Defiance. Collision. After George W. Bush's terms of endearment for Israel -- a country he once described as a "light unto nations" -- a different terminology is being used to describe its cloudy relationship with his successor, Barack Obama.
At odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Palestinian statehood and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the new U.S. president will try to patch ties with the Muslim world in an address he will deliver in Egypt on Thursday.
Israelis and Arabs will be listening carefully for one of Obama's expected messages -- policy Netanyahu has met with defiant words -- that creation of a Palestinian state is essential for peace and settlement expansion must stop.
The U.S.-Israeli rift after eight years of a Bush presidency that pursued statehood only late in its second term and turned a blind eye to settlement building is raising questions over whether a close alliance will deteriorate into alienation.
Maariv, a popular Israeli newspaper, summed it up in a one-word, front-page headline on Tuesday: "Pressure".
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
Published on 06-03-2009
JERUSALEM - Pressure. Defiance. Collision. After George W. Bush's terms of endearment for Israel -- a country he once described as a "light unto nations" -- a different terminology is being used to describe its cloudy relationship with his successor, Barack Obama.
At odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Palestinian statehood and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the new U.S. president will try to patch ties with the Muslim world in an address he will deliver in Egypt on Thursday.
Israelis and Arabs will be listening carefully for one of Obama's expected messages -- policy Netanyahu has met with defiant words -- that creation of a Palestinian state is essential for peace and settlement expansion must stop.
The U.S.-Israeli rift after eight years of a Bush presidency that pursued statehood only late in its second term and turned a blind eye to settlement building is raising questions over whether a close alliance will deteriorate into alienation.
Maariv, a popular Israeli newspaper, summed it up in a one-word, front-page headline on Tuesday: "Pressure".
SOURCE: BLACK LISTED NEWS
{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}
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