Corruption Information 1096
The politics of greed is what keeps this world wrapped in corruption. If you want to stick around for a while longer, I suggest you educate yourself and try to do something constructive to help save what little good, honesty, and trust we have left.
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Go to 12476
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/01/25/on_fbi_whistle_blower_sibel_edmonds
FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds told the London Sunday Times in January, 2008 that a court order muzzling her protects people who sold nuclear secrets to a Turkish-Israeli network. The Liberty Coalition attempted to acquire, through the Freedom of Information Act, a Justice Department file ( 203A-WF-210023) that would verify her story. The FBI responded that the file did not exist, but then the Times came up with a document that proved that the file exists. A Justice counter-intelligence unit had been investigating the network since 1996. The document states that the Turks had been warned that Brewster Jennings was a CIA front working to stem nuclear proliferation.
Edmonds learned through translating tapes that a senior State Department official and senior Pentagon people were selling information to the Turks and others. The State Department official was useful in obtaining the release of four foreign operatives who had been rounded up after 9/11.
Secrets were sold to Turkish officials and people connected with the American-Turkish Council. Sometimes, Turks bought information on the behalf of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence( ISI). Some of the secrets went to Saudi Arabia. Edmonds said it was clear that the Turks and Israelis had planted moles in US military and scientific operations.
It appears that the cases of Sibel Edmonds and Valarie Plame are linked. Plame was in hot pursuit of the same network. Wayne Madsen, an investigative reporter, was the first to see the connection between the Edmonds and Plame cases. He wrote that Plame’s Brewster Jennings operation had intercepted a nuclear materials shipment that was supposed to have been planted in Iraq to make the case for weapons of mass destruction there. Madsen traces the corrupt tie to Turkey and other Islamic countries far beyond 1996 and, like The Times, links it to the Pakistani bomb. .Richard Barlow, head of the Counter-Proliferation Division, was fired in 1989, when he found evidence that the George H.W. Bush administration was helping the A.Q. Khan nuclear manufacturing program in Pakistan. Stephen Hadley, then an assistant to Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, led the effort to fire Barlow. Today, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office has been complaining that the administration of George W. Bush will not assist it in its investigation of AQ Khan.
The Scooter Libby case is interesting because “Turkey” kept turning up in documents that were released. When Cheney aids and Rove discussed Plame, their discussion evolved into a discussion of Russian mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky, A Q Khan and the Turks. At one point, some of the White House e-mail had been lost, but prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald learned that it was stored at a facility in Olney, Maryland. After he found what he needed, the White House also found the missing e-mail and turned it over. In the trial, the prosecution produced hand written notes that proved that Cheney, Libby, Deputy White House communications director Cathie Martin, and others conspired to besmirch the reputation of Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Despite revelation of this damaging information, some believe that Fitzgerald, who covered up some important information regarding the first World Trade Center bombing, has little choice but to take a dive in the current case for the Bush administration and that only Libby would suffer in connection to the revelation that Plame was a CIA covert operative. The defense continually said it would put Vice President Cheney on the stand, but declined to do so in the end. Libby was found guilty of lying, and President Bush subsequently commuted Libby’s sentence.
Sibel Edmonds , then 32, was employed by the FBI after 9/11 to translate intercepts of conversations in Turkish and Farsi. She was employed as a language specialist for the FBI’s Washington Field Office. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. She repeatedly claimed that the government had enough information to enable it to foil the 9/11 plot. Specifically, she said the FBI had information that terrorists planned to fly planes into the World Trade Center. She also believed the evidence she saw meant that narcotics money was going to both Al Qaeda and US politicians. Three weeks after she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she was terminated. That left the FBI with no really proficient Turkish translators.
Edmonds found one co-worker who had worked for an organization that was then under FBI surveillance. Edmonds was sure that that woman was changing texts that dealt with Turkish interests. She found a nest of Turkish spies operating in the US, some at the Turkish embassy and others in the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, the American Turkish Associations, and the American Turkish Council. Questionable activities included bribery, espionage, and infiltration of nuclear research labs. Some investigators assume that many of the weapons and secrets were not intended for Turkey, but were to be resold to China and others.
Edmonds first got into trouble with her FBI employers when she complained of sloppy translations being done by others and that one translator was asked to translate communications from a former employer. She was forced to take a polygraph test and was hounded for typing her complaints on a home computer even though the inspector general later determined that her supervisor said she could do this.
She claimed that she was instructed to translate slowly so the agency could claim it needed more staff. After she reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Edmonds found Turks trafficking in nuclear materials and narcotics, and they also has some links to Israel. Moreover, she seemed to be suggesting that profits from these criminal dealings made their way to the office of Speaker Dennis Hastert in the form of campaign contributions and bribes. According to Daniel Ellsburg’s account of her message: “Suitcases of cash were delivered to the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert at his home near Chicago from Turkish sources, knowing that a lot of that is drug money.” He interpreted her to mean that Afghan drugs made their way to Turkey where they were processed and sent to Europe via the Kosovo Liberation Army and a number of private military contractors, especially Dyn Corp.
The KLA, in turn, had relations with Al Qaeda through Al-Zawahiri’s brother. Some American money filtered to KLA by Douglas Feith and Richard Perle probably spilled over to Al Qaeda.
She also claimed that Al Qaeda was 95% financed by drugs, but the 9/11 Commission went out of its way to write “there is no reliable evidence that Bin Laden was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking.” This drug trade goes back to the CIA’s long-time involvement with Pakistan’s ISI and the BCCI. It grew greatly during the effort to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan. If today, the CIA, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda are all involved in the Afghan drug trade, it would not be surprising if they had some common business relationships or, at the least, were all dealing with the same major Afghan drug lords.
Edmonds has hinted at corrupt roles of unelected officials, whom some investigators thought could well have been neocons Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, and Marc Grossman. It is known that Grossman worked hard to stop probes of the possible link between Turkey and Al Qaeda. She has repeatedly spoken about how the international black markets in arms, sex, and drugs are interlinked. Before Congress, she also described the sale of information by State Department employees, various payments, and “dead drops. ‘ There were also Pentagon officials being paid for passing on secret information.
Representative Henry Waxman and two Senators defended her, Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley. Grassley, a Republican, even went on camera to speak up for her. Behrooz Sarshar, another translator, took information to Grassley to support her claims, but the senator has not acted on it. In an informal meeting, FBI investigators confirmed that there was substance to her charges. John M. Cole, now a retired FBI counter intelligence agent, made the mistake of supporting her and saw his career go up in flames. He was forced to resign in 2004, but not before he was able to use numerous bureau contacts to confirm her story. A Justice Department Inspector General’s letter, released January 14, 2004, concluded that her claims "were supported, that the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision to terminate her services." Attorney General John Ashcroft, retroactively classified what she had told Congress as well as the Inspector General’s report.
Another FBI translator said to her: “Why are you doing this, Sibel? Why don’t you just drop it? You know there could be serious consequences. Why put your family in Turkey in danger over this?” After this, Turkish police made an effort to locate her sister.
The Justice Department quickly muzzled Edmonds, and her efforts in court to regain free speech were not successful. The first gag order was issued by Michael Chertiff. Court proceedings were blocked when the government twice employed the assertion of the “State Secret Privilege. ‘ The Project on Public Oversight and The ACLU supported her efforts to regain free speech. Federal Circuit Judge Reggie Walton upheld the government’s right to silence her. He was later to preside over the case of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was accused of perjury in the matter of the exposing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. Oddly, Walton listed no prior employment on the disclosure forms that federal judges must sign. He was the drug czar under G.H.W. Bush and now is the only federal judge whose past employment and financial records are not available
At the heart of her problems were her claims that Turkish money was making its way to US politicians and that the Turks and others were involved in the drug and illicit arms trade. She has repeatedly claimed that she was gagged because she knew criminally obtained money was reaching people in high places in the United States government. In 1997, British Home Secretary Tom Sackville angered his government by openly stating that Turkey was neck-deep in the international drug trade. He was correct in point of fact, but Turkey is an important western ally, and it would be disconcerting to take the next step and suggest that the US and UK simply look the other way, even when some of this drug money ends up in the coffers of Al Quada.
About $40 billion worth of heroin and illegal drugs pass through Turkey each year; most of it going to Europe. Turkey receives, processes, and ships heroin from a “Golden Triangle,” Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. The Turkish mafia coordinates all this, but they work in conjunction with the MIT (Turkish Intelligence Agency), the military command, and police. The trade comprises about a quarter of the nation’s GNP, and it can be assumed that much of the profit goes to the state itself. For some reason, the people on Vice President Cheney’s staff who were busy discrediting CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson had close ties to Turkey. So did their ally Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman, who busily discredited Plame and her husband. He was also under investigation for passing classified information to Turkey and AQPAC. It is ironic that Ambassador Joe Wilson first met his wife at the American Turkish Council in 1997. Brewster Jennings, a CIA front for the counter-proliferation division, had dealings with all the Turkish American organizations. Some of Sibel’s comments suggest that she thought someone within those organizations found out Plame was a spy and could have been tied to the effort to out her .
It is probably more than coincidental that a number of top neo-cons have business relationships with Turkey. Richard Perle and Doug Feith do consulting and lobbying for Turkey through International Advisors, Inc. Others who work or worked for Turkey are Marc Grossman, Paul Wolfowitz, Eric Edelman, and former Congressman Stephen Solarz. Most of these people also have close ties to Israel. Of course, there is a strong de facto, but silent, alliance between Turkey and Israel. Citizens of both countries work together moving illegal arms and procuring illegal end user certificates to cover their shipments. Perle, Wolfowitz, and Feith have established records of trying to create loopholes in regulations affecting the arms trade.
In January, 2004, Israeli citizen Asher Karni, who was connected to the network, was arrested for shipping 66 nuclear triggers to Pakistan. Federal judge Thomas Hogan released him on $100,000 bail--- which t he prosecutor did not challenge, and Karni moved into a Jewish rest home. Hogan is the same judge who permitted the FBI to raid William Jefferson=s Congressional office. Karni ws eventually given a three year sentence. Zeki Bilman, his alleged accomplace, died under strange circumstances.
Karni lived in South Africa for twenty years and is said to have masqueraded as a Muslim. FBI leakers claim that wiretaps named Douglas Feith and Turkish MIT intelligence agents working in the American Turkish Council. In 1995, Der Spiegel claimed that Urs Tanner, who operated a plant in Switzerland and was allegedly tied to the ring, was a CIA agent, probably tied to Plame=s Brewster Jennings counterproliferation effort. The same leakers claim that Eric Edelman , former ambassador to Turkey, was deeply involved in the drug and nuclear arms network. He had served as Scooter Libby=s assistant and is now Undersecretary of Defense. Richard Pearle=s International Advisors, Inc., a lobbyist for Turkey, was also tied to the network. Former Speaker Bob Livingston also lobbies for Turkey, and Dennis Hastert has received large political contributions from the Turkish lobby.
Go to 12475
http://www.rense.com/politics4/20th.htm
Great Secrets Of The 20th
Century - Part One
By Sherman H. Skolnick
7-8-99
1912 - The British ship TITANIC sunk moreso from an internal explosion in the coal bunker than from hitting an iceberg. Those who produced the most recent version of the movie "Titanic", viewed, in a special submarine, the remains of the ship on the bottom of the Atlantic, off of Newfoundland. They reportedly noticed the side of the ship showed there had been a massive internal explosion in the vicinity of the coal bunker.Was it sabotage? Knowledgeable sources contend the ship, on its maiden voyage, had been the target of blackmail and espionage intrigue implicating England and Germany who two years later went to war against each other. With the ship not having sufficient life-boats to save costs, were the passengers coldheartedly sacrificed as part of a bloody scheme to profit war-mongering large corporate interests while from 1914 to 1918, millions of ordinary people killed each other?
The movie producers, in a re-make of a prior movie on the Titanic sinking, spent some 200 million dollars in the production. They were not about to risk that by raising the question of the internal explosion requiring a revision of history books. [Sidenote: my late father was on the ship behind the Titanic.] In 1915, the ship "Lusitania" was likewise the subject of a bloody scheme. Supposedly just a passenger ship, yet the British withdrew protection from the ship in wartime as it approached off of England. Knowing the truth that the Lusitania was a secret munitions carrier, a German U-boat sank the ship with great loss of life including U.S. citizens. The British sacrificed the passengers as part of a scheme to draw the U.S. into World War One to aid Great Britain. Remember: the British and French Rothschilds, and the Rockefellers, created the conspiratorial Federal Reserve just prior to the war, to use American assets to finance both sides of Europe's war.
1918 - History books declare that Russian Czar Nicholas 2nd and his family, following the Russian Revolution, were assassinated by the Bolsheviks, July, 1918,in a basement of a house in Ekaterinburg, Siberia. By the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, arranged by Lenin, in March, 1918, the Russians ended their war with Germany enabling the Germans to devote their efforts to the Western fron against U.S., France, and Great Britain. [Lenin's elder brother was among those who assassinated Nicholas's grandfather, 1881, Emperor Alexander 2nd.] The Treaty had a secret codicil, arranged by the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds who financed Lenin, providing for the safe passage of the Czar and his family in exile, the Czar having abdicated the throne on behalf of himself and his young son, heir to the throne, Alexei, in the spring of
1917 - The Rockefeller banks, Chicago and New York, had the PRIVATE fortune on deposit of the Romanov family, separate from Nicholas's government position as Czar of all the Russias. This consisted of 400 million dollars in gold, at the then price of 20 dollars per ounce. Declaring the Czar and his family falsely dead enabled the Rockefeller bankers to spread out their empire using the fraudulent bankers' use of fractional reserves. Through secret accounts, the Rockefellers for decades thereafter rolled over these funds, to their benefit, in violation of state escheat laws providing that bank accounts revert to the State government if not claimed after, in most states, seven years. Of course, corrupt bank regulators in Illinois and New York have condoned this by the Rockefellers' First National Bank of Chicago and their Chase Bank of New York.
By 1970, documents were being released by the British, after more than 50 years of suppression, showing the British monarchy, cousins of the Czar, secretly with U.S.aid rescued the Czar and his family. So to perpetuate the big lie of royal murder, the Rockefellers financed an elaborate movie "Nicholas and Alexandra" which in its final scenes shows the alleged assassination by the Bolsheviks of the Czar and his family in Siberia. In only one edition, the pro-British monarchy Chicago Tribune had a story headlined "U.S. Aided Rescue of Czar Nichola, British hint" [Chicago Tribune, 12/14/70.) Excerpts: "British government documents which recently were placed in the public record office in London indicate that President Woodrow Wilson backed a secret mission to Russia which may have resulted in the rescue of Czar Nicholas and his family in 1918." and "A retired U.S. official, who has aided the investigations and asked to remain anonymous, said continued secrecy on the part of the British and American governments 'frustrates or makes liars out of all those who are ridiculed for stating the assassination never took place.' He said some who participated in the rescue are still alive and 'should be interviewed'" While not mentioning the Rockefellers and their banks, the story stated quoting that official " 'It is a preposterous claim that full disclosure would strain the relations among any of the involved governments', he said. 'A whole neew breed has taken over in all the chancelleies. Certainly there can be little fear anywhere of a Czarist revival.' "
In 1974, I and research associates of mine, spent two whole days in New York interrogating the one who claimed to be ALexei Romanov, heir to the throne, and son of Czar Nicholas 2nd. He candidly and accurately without hesitation answered each and every one of my critical questions to my satisfaction. He said his parents lived out their lives in secret exile in Poland, and that some of his sisters, such as Anastasia, were still alive and he has met with two of them in the United States, one living in a suburb of Chicago. As a cover, he stated, he was trained as part of Polish Intelligence, and studied Marxism, and supposedly became part of the Post World War Two Communist regime in Warsaw, using the cover name Michal Goleniewski. About the time John F. Kennedy was inaugurated President in January 1961, Alexei defected to the U.S. By a private act of Congress he made a U.S. citizen and promised a sizeable pension by the American CIA. His disclosures caused the fingering of some 60 Soviet spies in the West. The CIA, he claimed, reneged on his yearly stipend, and he went public through ads, for example, in the dissident publication in the U.S. "Ramparts Magazine". He wanted publicity to help him collect. A hemophiliac, he had the marks on his feet of having worn for many years metal leg braces, part of a plan to prevent him from falling down and bleeding to death as others with the disease.
He gave us many specific, verifiable details how the Russians to keep mum about the survival of the Czar, have been blackmailing large sums out of the Rockefellers and their banks. Also, Russia claims ownership of Alaska. In 1867, "Seward's folly", the U.S. obtained Alaska from Russia BY A 99 YEAR LEASE, NOT AS HISTORY PROCLAIMS, an outright purchase. The lease was arranged by a secret, midnight deal following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln who obtained aid during the American Civil War from the then-Czar of Russia. Forcing the Rockefellers to disgorge the long-secret Romanov family deposits would severely wreck the Rockefeller banks. Note: Rockefellers' Chase Bank is the advertiser on major TV Network talk shows.
Sidebar: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin reportedly had an illegitimate son. The offspring, Stalin's illegitimate grandson reportedly is U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut. His father was also a U.S. Senator who was censured by the U.S. Senate as a result of a scandal. A close associate of Chris Dodd in the past often visited Moscow and Siberia reportedly as part of the "U.S. State Department". More Great Secrets of the 20th Century to follow.
Go to 12474
http://www.rense.com/general80/natbride.htm
The National-Bribe Is DOA
Jim Kirwan
1-25-8
The dust is settling, and the farce becomes clearer with every passing hour. If the nation's 'leadership' were serious they would reinstate the taxes they removed from the mega-corporations, and add a War-tax on top of that.
Then they could easily follow up by cutting taxes in half on everyone earning under $75,000 and that would put real money in real pockets, and take money from those that have reaped far too much in the illegal and unilateral wars of aggression that are breaking the backs of everyone that still has to work in this country.
As it is now, the "rebates" won't arrive until the targeted population has already run out of both luck and hope. On top of that insult; which the pathetic amount of money per person involves-it is crystal clear that those who are making the decisions have no idea that this tiny bit of money in this economy will do less than nothing to assist the recipients with anything of substance.
Listening to the discussions with all the "experts," there is a total absence of any working people on any of those programs. No one has consulted any real people. Those they choose to talk to, do not live as the rest of us must. Whether it is $300, $600 or $800 in these times, that bit of money provides virtually nothing against the massive uncertainties, the ever climbing prices, and especially the overwhelming problems which this government has dumped onto the backs of the working poor in this country. These are things that the rest of the world have noted-and that's why the rest of the world is beginning to panic over what we are not doing about the situation into which this country has gotten itself.
All of the problems can be traced directly back to the Decider and his policies that go hand and hand with his wars! He blames things on 'the increased costs of fuel.' When he invaded Iraq Oil was selling at $25 a barrel. Today that same barrel of oil has more than quadrupled. The military is disillusioned and war weary; their equipment has been driven into the ground or been blown to pieces, along with the GI's that tried to use it: Yet all this administration seems to care about is starting a much bigger war, a war that will spill over from Iran into Syria and Lebanon and possibly into Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well: All because our foreign policy has been hijacked by Israel. These war plans were designed by Israel, these are her enemies not ours and yet the US government refuses to even talk to these sovereign nations that we threaten on a daily basis, because Netanyahu and Cheney have demand that we do it this way.
This barbaric behavior has captured the attention of both the Russians and the Chinese, neither of whom share our empirical attitudes-in fact they oppose this new Colonialism by the United States and Israel-vehemently!
Still Cheney and Netanyahu continue unabated with their plan to start the Third World War, supposedly to protect poor little Israel. This is insanity, and the people of this nation do not seem to give a damn about anything we do overseas, so long as they don't have to look at it on the nightly news.
And thanks to the complicity of the entire Network of media outlets here in the USA we don't ever see what's really going on "over-there!" (1)
It may be all over the net but apparently the news divisions of the major Networks don't have computers or access to the world-wide web-because the real stories never make it to American Network News programs. Even if they might get into a news room three-fourths of every broadcast consists of criminally trivial gossip, about elections that are still ten months away. The Americans that are dying each and every day in our wars of aggression, often, don't even rate a mention. And since their deaths are classified, their funerals are almost never covered either.
Americans are so desensitized that many do not realize that we are no longer living in 1958 ~ apparently a huge number of you still think that you are going to accomplish something by becoming members of Patriotic Letter-Writing-Brigades: that concept ended over a half century ago! This nation is now the world's most visible Criminal Enterprise, and apparently we are proud of that. We have no laws that can restrict our Outlaw-Overlords from doing anything they might choose to do to any one of us: Meanwhile they have increased zero-tolerance on all of us for the slightest infractions of any existing civil law or code.
Our "Peace Officers" have become Storm Troopers that seem to believe that the ordinary people of this nation are the real enemy; given the facts of their propensity to Taser, to Stun, or to just shoot people for no particular reason other than 'Because they can!' The US Department of Justice, the agency that supposedly is charged with overseeing these-thugs-in-uniform, is the same licensing authority that now enforces new rules on torture, on indefinite detention without charges, no rights to an attorney, and there is no need to defend any of their actions because everything they do now is protected by National Security. Oh, and their boss over in the White House, he's in favor of anything and everything "that might protect American lives."
The problem with that is that those he chooses to spy on, harass, and generally convert into the army of the unemployed-are for the most part American citizens? And if he (and his handlers), actually care so much about our welfare-why the hell do they do everything possible to insure that we are worse off each and every month than we were the month before!
The nation has never before even approached the kind of national and international debt that we have now! In case you care every man woman and child, in America, now already owes the government $400,000.00 each, directly because of the failed polices over the last seven years-when will this stop: "Never because we are in the never-ending war" according to President Cheney.
NO-this new band-aid means nothing at all, it's just another waste of time while they try and figure out how to start the final "War to End All Wars"!
What happened to the simple anger that should have been automatic-what about the Outrage that seems to have vanished into thin air. That same bunch of old-white-men that's been dragging the herd around by the short-hairs for decades just keeps on going on the tube and making noises about 'the plight of the people,' then laughing all night long about it, in the sumptuous luxury of their very private mansions.
Congratulations America on your refusal to get involved and your staunch belief in the systems that have been selling you out for over four decades! That must take a great deal of patience: Some might see this as cowardice in the face of your real enemies, but if this fails to bother you-then I guess whatever might be coming next will also be 'okay' with you. Whatever you do Mr. and Mrs. America never, ever Question anything; because then you might be noticed, and if enough of you did that-Well there's just no telling what might happen is there?
Let's review: Each of us owes this government $400,000.00 each-for what this government has been doing in our names for at least the last seven years, much of that for even longer. The nation is now completely broke and none of the criminals that put us in this position have been prosecuted. We've been at war continuously since 2001 and we're losing in both Afghanistan and Iraq-yet now we want to not only "stay-the-course" we want to expand our military intrigues to include as many as five more nations. None of the military war-criminals that mismanaged these wars, or those who followed illegal orders and fought or tortured in these wars have faced any real charges either. Still there are no demands coming directly from the people that these wars were created to protect. Why should we protest? The costs to our values, our way of life, and that matter of the $400,000.00 debt that this government has laid off on each and every one of us-regardless of income.
But what this really is about is that in this "bargain" not only is there nothing for US, but there are problems with the way that everything is being done to us in the meanwhile. Our jobs are there one day and just gone the next-and no one has any say in that, except those who will make billions from each company that is outsourced. Does anyone ask us what we might prefer: of course not, because the laws that govern all the thefts of all those jobs, come from the Global World Order that trumps all US laws: Be sure to thank Bill & Hillary for GATT & NAFTA on that one.
Or you might wonder just why it was that you never got to vote on selling off the Interstate highways, bit by bit, and turning parts of them into toll roads that are owned by foreign corporations-especially given the fact that those roads were bought and paid for by Americans and built by and with American labor now all that is going to the highest bidder because the Bushwhackers can't manage money, or debt, or even manage to successfully manage the aftermath (an occupation) of the wars they start but cannot win.
Same question about selling off our water rights to foreign corporations that are privatizing our water; or mineral rights from our national parks, along with logging rights in our national forests, all of it going, going, gone to the highest bidder, because: Hey-We're in DEBT!
Did I miss something here-when exactly did anyone ask us if this was something that we actually wanted to do, in any of the above instances?
Were we consulted about giving away the rights of American workers just to comply with the terms of international Cabals masquerading as Multi-national Corporations in service to GATT or NAFTA or possibly in the future, to the FTAA or the NAU? When did we find out that the Israeli's are now in charge of our nuclear weapons storage facilities (this leaked out during the mysterious missing cruise missile from the errant B-52 flight from South Dakota down to Louisiana)?
In fact all sorts of things have changed in this country about the way we live our lives, including what we call the nation. Did you never wonder how we came to call ourselves "the Homeland"? That term was lifted straight out of the Nazi field manuals for the camps being built in 1934. It has nothing whatever to do with anything "American." We used to just call this place our country-and that used to be good enough: but you can see now that this is no longer "our" country it belongs to "Anybody but Americans Now."
Just thought you might want to think about this latest bribe you're being offered a bit more before you begin to "jump for joy." Think about what a ridiculous gesture this actually is: especially since that $140 billion or whatever it ends up being - will have to be borrowed money and the interest, on that money, will only add to the $400,000.00 DEBT you personally already OWE to the US government!
The biggest problem I have with that $400,000.00 debt is that I cannot see what I received that could have cost every human in the nation that much money-can you?
kirwanstudios@sbcglobal.net
1) The March to War
Go to 12473
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NAZ20061001&articleId=3361
Go to 12472
http://www.infowars.com/articles/economy/economic_crash_will_it_wake_people_up.htm
Will the Economic Crash Wake People Up?
George Washington's Blog | January 22, 2008
Preface: I am truly sorry for the suffering of those Americans who will lose their home, their job, or their life savings as a result of the economic crash. This article focuses on one potential silver lining -- an opportunity to promote truth and justice.
Will the crash wake Americans up from their comfortable slumber and make them question their government? Stalin said that dictatorships only last so long as the dictators keep their people well-fed. Americans have been strongly motivated not to question the government because they have been led to believe that if they just follow the party line, they'll get nice jobs, make a bundle of dough, buy into "the American dream". A crash has the possibility to awaken Americans from their dangerously cozy nap . It has the potential to get Americans to open their eyes and start questioning the lies they have been told about everything from the "war on terror", to "provocations by hostile foreign nations", to voting in the U.S.
On the other hand, will the financial crash will lower people on the Maslow pyramid to the point that they have no energy to think about political truth or the acts of criminal brutality and fascism of their government? Will they be so preoccupied with holding onto their house and job, their ability to keep the heat and lights on and buy food, that they just hunker down in survival mode?
Unlike the citizens of prior fascist regimes, the current politicians are the ones who caused the economic problem, so they can't pretend they will rescue us from an economic crisis caused by their predecessors. In other words, it might be harder for the Neocons to whip up a "rally around the strong leader to solve the economic crisis" dynamic.
The trick will be to link the pain people feel from economic mismanagement with the pain caused by other destructive acts by the powers-that-be.
As one example, 9/11 truth activists can link 9/11 truth with economic truth, because:
Neither the 9/11 murders or the economic crash occurred due to the causes the government claims
Neither are "no one could have foreseen it" situations
The government had much more control and input into both scenarios than it has admitted
Just as the government used 9/11 as an excuse to carry out its pre-planned anti-American agenda, we have to be on-guard that the government doesn't use the crash as an excuse to implement a "fix" which hurts the vast majority of Americans (and lines just a handful of pockets)
I'll leave it to people with a better economics background than I have to explain the real causes of the market crash. Please don't get speculative. Just stick to the basics of how the government manipulates the economy.
Go to 12471
http://www.infowars.com/articles/economy/market_crash_now_or_face_financial_train_wreck.htm
Let Market Crash Now Or Face Financial Train Wreck
Experts encourage facing reality that stocks are overvalued due to weak dollar, but Fed set to continue with dangerous sweeping rate cuts
Prison Planet | January 23, 2008
Paul Joseph Watson
The Fed's continued obsession with slashing interest rates and printing money in order to maintain the facade of the grossly overvalued stock market while the dollar collapses is precipitating a financial holocaust. Yuppies need to cut their losses and accept a soft crash now or place the very pillars of the American economy in danger.
Sentiment is widespread that yesterday's shock 75 basis points cut in the federal funds rate served only to instill more panic in an already fragile environment, doing more harm that the extra liquidity in the financial system can compensate for.
Some experts are actively encouraging a stock market crash now so as to allow the system to bottom out, rather than sliding down the same path towards fiscal armageddon in two or three years.
Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN, Europe's number one stocks and shares website, writes in Forbes , "In many ways, the best thing that could happen now would be a quick crash. A lot of professionals are praying for a so called "puke" because that would set a bottom for a recovery and signal that the worst is over. A short, sharp shock would be good for everyone. Recovery is better than sickening."
Chambers says the outlook is bleak through to the end of 2010 and that without this "puke" the second leg of the credit crunch could lead to a "financial train wreck on a scale not seen by the current generations".
Facing the reality of the fact that the stock market is grossly overvalued due to the weakness of the dollar and is due a severe correction seems impossible to accept for the yuppies who have buried their heads in the sand and consumed establishment propaganda that the economy was "in good shape" for the past three years.
This is why the Fed's policy of continually lowering interest rates to artificially prop up the stock market by devaluing the dollar looks set to continue, with a 2.5 per cent level expected to be in place by spring.
"We now expect the Fed to cut another cumulative 100 basis points off interest rates. The next instalment will probably come at the formal meeting on 30 January ? another 25 or 50 basis points. We would expect to hit 2.5 per cent by the April meeting," predicts Nigel Gault , chief US economist at forecasting body Global Insight.
But by continually slashing rates in a vain attempt to rescue the illusory strength of the stock market, the Fed will sacrifice the dollar, which will in turn dissuade foreign investors from buying U.S. stocks anyway.
As writer Dave Lindorff explains in his latest column , "The Fed is in a trap. It cannot cut interest rates much more without causing a collapse in the dollar, which, because of the huge US trade imbalance, and all those consumer goods and raw materials--especially oil--that are imported--would lead to serious and politically dangerous inflation. And there is another constraint: with the current rate cut, the US now has the third lowest interest rates in the world. If the Fed makes another cut, as it has hinted it might in a week or so, only Japan would have a lower interest rate environment than the US. That makes the dollar a very undesirable currency for foreigner investors, which means they won't want to hold dollars, and they won't want to hold US stocks. Yet if the Fed doesn't cut interest rates even further, the stock market will continue to plunge, which again discourages foreign investors from pouring their money into the U.S., which in turn puts downward pressure on the dollar."
"The Bush chickens--endless deficits as far as the eye can see, and a $2-trillion military debacle that has no end in sight and that is sucking money out of the country like a giant industrial vacuum cleaner--are coming home to roost," he concludes.
If the Fed really were interested in preventing long-term fiscal armageddon and hyper-inflation, the yuppies would be forced to cut their losses, eat humble pie and see their stocks reduced to their true value - the dollar would survive and the fundamental economic pillars would remain in place for a genuine recovery after 2010.
This would be the best medicine for the vast majority of hard working, tax-paying Americans, but as we are painfully aware - Bernanke, Paulson and the like only have the interests of their bosses at heart and for the elite, economic chaos and a possible depression, as occurred in 1929, only benefits their long-term plan to bankrupt and pillage America to fulfil their own crooked agenda.
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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=7918
Foreclosures Prompt Cities to Make Plea for Aid
Ian Urbina – NY Times January 24, 2008
Facing a collapse in the subprime mortgage market that has pockmarked their cities with vacant houses and crippled their budgets, the nation’s mayors pleaded Wednesday for a huge infusion of federal aid.
As more than 250 mayors gathered in Washington for the winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, many agreed that the collapse of the subprime market had left a growing problem of vacant houses, depressed property values, tighter credit, and a need to cut services to close municipal budget gaps.
“It’s an economic tsunami that is hitting our cities,” said Mayor Douglas H. Palmer of Trenton, the president of the conference. “We need federal action not six months from now, but within the next 30 days.”
The conference called on Congress to raise the limits on loans bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stimulate the mortgage market, and increase Community Development Block Grants to help stabilize neighborhoods.
In December, the conference released a study that said that home values would drop by $1.2 trillion in 2008, hitting city budgets the hardest. States are also beginning to suffer; on Wednesday, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington reported that at least 16 states had predicted budget shortfalls for 2009 totaling over $30.1 billion.
“We’re the ones left boarding up these places, cutting their grass, doing demolition on the abandoned structures, picking up the trash, making sure no one breaks in,” said Mayor Frank Jackson of Cleveland.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, has more than 16,800 homes that have been abandoned because of foreclosures.
“Anything from the federal government short of a massive infusion of resources into urban centers to rebuild infrastructure and pay for services is too little, too late,” Mr. Jackson said.
Speaking to the group, Robert E. Rubin, a former Treasury secretary, urged the mayors to be more aggressive in pressuring Washington for strong federal action, particularly in reviving the housing market.
Mr. Rubin said the government needed to provide more aid to homeowners struggling with mortgage payments.
The subprime mortgage problem has left many cities scrambling to cut services to try to close budget gaps.
City officials in Sacramento have responded to a $55 million projected budget shortfall for next year city by ordering an immediate hiring freeze and an end to some discretionary spending.
In Virginia, Fairfax County is facing a $220 million deficit for the coming fiscal year and is considering cuts to school districts.
This month, Baltimore’s mayor and City Council announced plans to sue Wells Fargo Bank, contending that the bank’s lending practices discriminated against black borrowers and led to a wave of foreclosures that has reduced city tax revenues and increased its costs.
Cleveland has sought monetary damages from 21 lenders.
“By driving down the value of nearby homes, foreclosures also drive down city revenues and place additional financial burdens on the city and its residents,” said Mayor Sheila Dixon of Baltimore. “It is our responsibility to do what we can to stop it.”
Mr. Palmer said the conference had not taken an official stance on the issue of cities suing lenders. He said that Trenton had had a 14 percent increase in foreclosures in the past year but that suing did not seem prudent because litigation would take at least two years.
He said cities should require lenders to pick up the cost of upkeep for abandoned properties after foreclosures occur.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/us/24mayors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=7919
Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'
James Hider – The Times January 24, 2008
The wall had already been sliced through before explosions brought it down
As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation that brought down a hated border wall and handed the Islamist group Hamas what might be its greatest propaganda coup.
Hamas, which took control of the coastal territory last June after a stand-off with Fatah, has denied that its men set off the explosions that brought down as much as two-thirds of the 12-km wall in the early hours.
But a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border admitted that the Islamist group was responsible and had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.
That meant that when the explosive charges were set off in 17 different locations between midnight and 1am the 40ft wall came tumbling down, leaving it lying like a broken concertina down the middle of no-man's land as an estimated 350,000 Gazans flooded into Egypt.
The guard, Lieutenant Abu Usama of the Palestinian National Security, said of the cutting operation: "I've seen this happening over the last few months. It happened in the daytime but was covered up so that nobody would see."
Asked whether he had reported it to the government, he replied: "It was the government that was doing this. Who would I report it to?"
Abu Usama, who normally works from a small guard cabin in no-man's land, added: "Last night we were told to keep away from the wall. We were ordered to stay away because they were going to break the blockade."
As Gazans flooded into Egypt, the strip's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, called for an urgent meeting with his rivals in Fatah and with the Egyptian authorities to work a new border arrangement.
Mr Haniya called for the border crossing to be reopened "on the basis of national participation," meaning that Hamas would be prepared to cede some control to President Abbas and his Fatah-led government in the West Bank. "We don’t want to be the only ones in control of these matters," Mr Haniya said, speaking from his Gaza City office live on Hamas TV.
"Everything Haniya is saying is simply to exploit this situation to win political gains. ... It is a part of the problem, not the solution," said Ashraf Ajramim, a Cabinet minister in Mr Abbas's government. Israel refused to comment on the developments in Gaza.
The skill of the Hamas demolition operation was clear to see along the border, although The Times could not visit the entire length of the border. Where the charges had been laid, the wall was heavily damaged. Elsewhere it appeared to be clearly cut.
The destruction of the wall prompted hundreds of thousands to cross into Egypt – and Egyptian border guards did not try to stem the tide of humanity.
Instead Rafah became a huge Middle Eastern bazaar. Thousands of people were herding back cows, sheep and even camels from Egypt into the Gaza strip. Others brought back motorbikes while many women lugged back cans of olive oil and men could be seen weighed down with jerry-cans full of fuel.
Moneychangers flocked to the border, offering Egyptian pounds and American dollars for the Gazans' Israeli shekels. The shops soon began to run out, however, and those returning were complaining of sky-rocketing prices.
Instead, many people jumped into taxis - or even on the roofs of taxis - to take themselves to El Arish, 45km away, the nearest town with shops.
In no-man's land, along the stretch that the Israelis used to call Philadelphia Road before their disengagement in 2005, Hamas gunmen raced along in pick-up trucks flying the group's green flag. Egyptian riot police waited by the gates of the old border crossing, leaning with nonchalance against their riot shields.
Among those returning were Osama Hassan, 25, who went shopping with his 17-year-old fiancee Sarah for their wedding essentials. He bought a special mattress for his injured back; she brought kitchen supplies.
“I’m Fatah, but today, I wish I could see (Hamas prime minister Ismail) Haniya and kiss his forehead, because without the gunmen doing this, we would have been stuck in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Egyptian shopkeepers swiftly raised prices of milk, taxi rides and cigarettes, but that did not deter the Gazans, for many of whom it was their first trip out of the territory.
Some staggered back into Gaza carrying televisions, and others sported brand-new mobile phones. In Gaza City, prices of cigarettes - which had skyrocketed during the total blockade of the past week - fell by 70 per cent in a few hours.
Rami al-Shawwa, a 23-year old falafel vendor, said he planned to head to Egypt in the afternoon, after his brothers returned from there. He was going to buy waterpipe tobacco and just “smell some new air”.
“We have been living in darkness for days, and closure before,” he said, adding that he is not concerned about getting stuck in Egypt. “For my 23 years in Gaza, a year in Egypt will make up for it.”
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3238615.ece
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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=7924
Cartel Time: “Gas OPEC” May Appear
Kommersant – Russia’s Online Daily Jan. 24, 2008
Key players: Ahmadinejad and Chavez
The member states of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which include Russia, plan to convert the forum into one organized on the same principles as OPEC. The charter for the new organization may be presented at the forum's seventh session, which will take place in Moscow in June. This became known after a high-level forum meeting in Cairo yesterday. Iran proposed a new charter of the same type last year that corresponded closely to the OPEC charter. Any move of that type will face strong opposition from the United States and European Union.
Sources say that the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Economic Development and Trade oppose the move, arguing that there is no advantage to be gained from it and political repercussions are possible. Final conciliation of the new charter will be made at a high-level session the day before the general forum meeting in Moscow. The exact date of that meeting has not been set yet.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum was founded in Tehran in 2001. The group has no charter, fixed list of members or office at present. Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela are permanent participants in the forum. Turkmenistan has taken part in some meetings and Norway is considered an observer. The purpose of the forum is to promote understanding and dialog between gas producers and consumers, and governments and industries connected with energy, as well as research and the creation of a transparent market for natural gas.
www.kommersant.com/p845025/hydrocarbon_sales/
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Neocons Want It All -
From Ethiopia To India
Scorpion Logic
By Israel Shamir
1-25-8
The Arctic cold spell that has frozen Palestine for a few weeks apparently departed with President Bush, leaving us to ponder why this strange man came here at all. Some incorrigible optimists expressed belief that Bush had called the Annapolis conference and departed on his present journey in order to achieve peace in the Middle East and to improve his image for future generations. "He does not want to retire with the blemish of Abu Ghraib and the Iraqi war, he dreams of being well remembered", they say. The same optimists used to say the same things about General Sharon during his much publicised withdrawal from Gaza .
It took a year or two for even the dumbest optimists to understand that (as we wrote in real time during the withdrawal) this act allowed the Jews to inflict more suffering on Palestinians and at a cheaper price. Now they can bomb Gaza at ease, without worrying about the stray Jew who might be hit as well. Now they can starve Gaza and make billions by selling their goods to the besieged while the price tab is paid by international community. That was Sharon 's nature: if he'd give you a piece of bread, look for a needle in it; if he'd give you a glass of water, check it for poison. Like the scorpion in the Middle Eastern tale, he could not behave differently. Bush is an American twin of his vegetable friend Sharon who is now stuck in a comatose limbo reacting to pain. These guys simply can't do good. If you see Bush doing a good deed, run to the optician! Our friend Jack Graham wrote recently that America is not the Great Satan. True, but under Bush, it will fill the bill until the real Satan comes along.
A psychologist might try to unravel the mystery of Bush's deep connection with the Neocons -- we won't go into his motives (Is he zombified? Blackmailed? Bewitched?), we'll just accept it as a fact. For Neocons, Israel/Palestine is the most important core issue. But they are not satisfied with full control over Palestine ; whatever it is they conspire towards requires securing the entire East from India to Ethiopia . They will come back to deal with Palestinians later, when the rest is secured. Now they wreak havoc and let slip the dogs of war to run free. They intend to undo Pakistan and seize its nuclear assets, they want to bring Russia and China under control, but their immediate desire is to subdue Iran. For this purpose, Bush needs some Arab stooges standing by. The Masters of Discourse claim that the Arabs "are trembling with fear of the alleged 'nuclear ambitions' of Iran and might even be willing to sell out the Palestinian people if the United States were to 'take out' Iran on their behalf", says John Whitbeck, correctly describing this claim as "psychedelic". (In reality, "[t]he [Arab] street would be thrilled if any Muslim state within reach of Israel (even a non-Arab and Shiite one) were to acquire nuclear weapons and establish a ''balance of fear" in place of the unilateral terror of the past four decades," Whitbeck avers.)
It is possible to convince Americans that this psychedelic claim is correct: The Masters of Discourse can convince the majority of US citizens of anything at all, even of Gray Aliens. Americans were convinced that the Vietcong were soon to land in California, that Saddam Hussein has WMD and that Iraqis would embrace the US Marines as their liberators, so they can be convinced again and again, until such time as they undo the brainwashing yoke of the Masters. But the Arabs won't take it, just as the Iraqis did not. For the next move, Bush must deliver some progress in Palestine . It can't be true progress of course, because Palestine is the core, the final goal; it will be enough if it just looks like a step forward.
That is why Bush went on with the futile farce of Annapolis . If you believe Annapolis and Bush's visit have moved the notorious "peace process" forward one inch, you do not need an Electric Monk, the device described by Douglas Adams as a machine created to believe anything people find hard to believe you can beat this machine at its own game! The soon-to-retire Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem , Msgr Michel Sabbah correctly explained in his Christmas talk: "A new peace effort was begun these last few weeks. In order for it to succeed, there must be a firm willingness to make peace. Until now, there has been no peace, simply because there has been no willingness to make it" and he pointed out "the strong party, the one with everything in hand, the one who is imposing occupation on the other". Indeed Israel does not want a peace acceptable to Palestinians, but it [along with President Bush] wants peace on its own terms.
The Arabs understand this as well as anybody. Even the most pro-Western Arab mainstream paper, the Gulf News of Abu Dhabi , wrote a "Letter to George W. Bush" saying: "You said that your current tour aims to realise the long neglected peace in the Middle East . Regional peace will not be achieved by escalating tension and threatening to change regimes. And most importantly, it will not be achieved by supporting Israel , which continues to defy international law, occupy Arab lands, oppress the Palestinians and rebuff peace initiatives."
Al Jazeera says referring to 'analysts' that "the US president is too late in his calls to Arab allies to confront Iranian 'extremism', as key American allies in the Arab world have thrown their weight behind a growing rapprochement with Iran American fumbling in the Middle East has pushed Arabs to adopt dialogue with the Islamic Republic".
Russia 's rejection of the sanctions against Iran was also instrumental in creating the weather change, and it is possible to say that Bush missed his chance for building an anti-Iranian coalition. However, Western anti-Iranian propaganda did influence many Arabs; even the relatively friendly site of Iraqi resistance,
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Desperate Need Of A
Second American Revolution
Commentary
Gary Jacobucci
1-25-8
Editor.
During election cycles, I've often found myself being criticized for not participating in democracy. There is something intrinsically disturbing about the whole process that stuck me as a mockery of what was once a republic.
It may have been for the same reasons that led Westbrook Pegler to write in the New York Journal in 1951: "Did I say 'republic?' By God, yes, I said 'republic!' Long live the glorious republic of the United States of America. Damn democracy. It is a fraudulent term used often by ignorant persons, but no less often by intellectual fakers, to describe an infamous mixture of socialism, miscegenation, graft, confiscation of property and denial of personal rights to individuals whose virtuous principles make them offensive."
Or Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler to write on the decline and fall of the Athenian Republic while our thirteen original states were still colonies of Great Britain: "A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship."
Or the person who said, "If God had intended us to vote, he would have given us candidates." Or maybe the truism that "presidents are selected, not elected." Then there's the idea that Churchill put forward that "the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." But mostly, I suppose, it was my resentment for the general acceptance by Americans of our constitutional republic being seduced into democracy.
But now, our country has come full circle - democracy has worked its magic and we find ourselves on the doorstep of being completely returned to colonial status - we find ourselves facing the same contest of ideologies that Americans faced in the 1700's.
In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin made the key statement that is entirely reflective of the situation in which we currently find ourselves: "The inability of Colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War."
Since the alliance of the robber barons and Money Trust with the international banking cartel that ruled over Europe - and since losing the ability to issue our own money in 1913 - we have been dragged by a nose ring into a series of international wars, a Great Depression and all manner of entangling alliances that have used our people and resources in a quest for empire that is not our own.
It's very difficult to consider ideology and uphold principle when every new war opens a floodgate of money - and it's been difficult to look critically at the monetary system when the current Federal Reserve chief says that he'll throw money out of helicopters if that's what it takes to keep the economy strong. It's also difficult to organize a resistance to what constitutes a Trojan horse within government, if not government itself at this point, when studies show that half of the people in the United States are now dependent on some aspect of what constitutes 'government' in this country for their livelihood.
But we must try if we are to endure. A voice has emerged as an idea whose time has come in the midst of the usual Manchurian candidates. Despite the fact that the political party system equates to a two pronged attack on America - with the democratic platform consistently selling us into socialism and the republican platform consistently selling us into war - I joined the republican party to support the platform of the Ron Paul.
We are in desperate need of a second revolution in this country and the platform of the Ron Paul revolution is the platform of the republic. We ignore our foundational principles at our peril - if he can't win, then we've lost.
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http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59876
Feds accused of gold-price manipulation
Alleged objective to 'conceal the mismanagement of the U.S. dollar'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 25, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com
U.S. Treasury
The Wall Street Journal has agreed to publish a full-page ad in which the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee charges the U.S. government surreptitiously utilizes gold reserves to engage in international swaps and other market manipulations.
"Anybody Seen Our Gold?" is the title of the ad, which alleges U.S. gold reserves held at depositories such as Fort Knox and West Point may have been seriously depleted. GATA asserts U.S. gold reserves are being shipped overseas to settle complex transactions utilized by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury to suppress the price of the precious metal.
"The objective of this manipulation is to conceal the mismanagement of the U.S. dollar so that it might retain its function as the world's reserve currency," the ad copy reads in a pre-publication version GATA provided to WND.
The U.S. Treasury denies the claim, insisting the stock is accounted for regularly.
(Story continues below)
GATA's chairman, William J. Murphy III, told WND his group was willing to pay the Wall Street Journal's cost of $264,000 to run the ad "to get the message out that the U.S. enters world markets without public disclosure to prop up the dollar and depress the price of gold."
GATA cites as evidence the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee reports dating back to Jan. 31, 1995, showing the U.S. Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund had undertaken gold swaps.
GATA, a non-profit 501 headquartered in Manchester, Conn., further asserts the federal government strategy to manipulate the price of gold has begun to fail.
"Gold's recent rise toward $900 per ounce shows that the price suppression scheme is faltering," the GATA ad reads. "When it is widely understood how central banks have been suppressing gold, its price may rise to $3,000 or $5,000 an ounce or more."
"The gold reserves of the United States have not been independently audited for half a century," the ad charges.
The U.S. Treasury disagrees.
"While the entire gold stock is not physically re-counted in any one year, over a period of years, by our continuous sampling process, the entire stock has been counted, and is effectively re-inventoried," Rich Delmar, counsel to Treasury's inspector general, told WND in an e-mail.
Delmar explained that the annual Office of Inspector General audits of mint facilities involves a physical inspection of certain vaults, which are subject to a 100-percent bar count and assaying. At the end of the inspection, each vault is sealed.
"During each visit, all previously sealed vaults are checked to ensure that the seals have not been compromised or tampered with," he wrote. "This process is the basis for the conclusion that there has been a complete physical inventory."
Delmar said the OIG's work consists of more than reviewing documents.
"Our auditors physically observe the inventory work done at the mint facilities, and we are responsible for the assay sampling process," he said.
WND asked the Treasury if there is a comprehensive listing and accounting of any encumbrances or other restrictions on the gold in the U.S. Mint that may affect ownership.
"This is not within OIG's purview," Delmar responded. "You may want to ask the mint directly."
'Dodging the question'
Murphy called the response "ridiculous."
"The mint does not make complex gold transactions with other countries," he said. "That is the role for the U.S. Treasury. The mint just houses the gold. The Treasury is dodging the question."
GATA has filed a Freedom of Information Request asking the Fed and Treasury to disclose information on encumbrances and swapping or leasing of U.S. gold.
"The Fed and Treasury have not even acknowledged receiving our FOIA request," Murphy said. "It's idiotic to tell you that the mint would have that knowledge."
Murphy asked, "Is the gold in the mint truly U.S. gold reserves or is it just 'custodial gold' held for some other country? That's why we need to know what encumbrances there are on the gold as well as whether any U.S. gold has been shipped overseas to fulfill swap obligations."
The 2006 annual report published on the website of the U.S. Mint lists KPMG as outside auditor.
The KPMG signed audit report in the 2006 Annual Report of the U.S. Mint takes full responsibility for auditing the balance sheets and includes a statement of the custodial activity of U.S. gold reserves.
According to the balance sheets, custodial gold and silver reserves make up 90 percent of the U.S. Mint's total assets.
Still, there is no specific statement in the U.S. Mint's annual report or the KPMG audit report describing any KPMG involvement in a physical inspection of the gold reserves.
KPMG's role as independent auditor for the U.S. Mint is also confirmed in the 2006 audit report prepared by the Office of Inspector General of the Treasury.
Dan Ginsburg, a KPMG spokesman, declined to provide any detail to WND concerning his company's audit procedures for the U.S. Mint, citing client confidentiality.
Greater force
Craig R. Smith, founder of Swiss America Trading Corp., told WND he accepts the GATA arguments because "there has to be a force greater than normal market conditions that has repressed the price of gold."
Smith noted any number of financial crises since the late 1980s that "should have propelled gold way beyond the 1980 high of $850," including the savings and loan debacle and the birth of the Resolution Trust Corporation, as well as the on-going devaluation of the U.S. dollar against virtually all major foreign currencies.
"Gold has been playing catch-up with current world economic conditions," Smith told WND in an e-mail, "and future movements should easily prove gold to be a great value at $900 an ounce. That price will look cheap going forward as the world starts to turn its back on debt-laden currencies and returns to money with a real value."
But the U.S. Treasury, in a statement on its website, denies the Exchange Stabilization Fund has been used to manipulate gold prices.
"The ESF does not engage in any transactions in the market for any metal such as gold, either in spot markets or in any of its derivative forms," the Treasury statement declares. "We would like to emphasize that the Treasury Department does not seek to manipulate the price of gold or any other metal by intervening in or otherwise interfering with the market."
Yvanka Wallner, advertising sales representative for the Wall Street Journal in New York City, confirmed to WND the GATA ad has been approved by the Journal's lawyers and is being prepared to be run next week.
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