Corruption Information 1103
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.
A motto for us old vets: Take one with you!
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Wells: Subdue Yourself To World Federation
02-07-2008
Old Thinker News
Daniel Taylor
H.G. Wells is perhaps best known for his status as the father of science fiction and his "War of the Worlds", which was recently transformed into a modern Hollywood production. Unknown to many, Wells penned several other books and essays which were not of the science fiction genre. The "New World Order", and the "Open Conspiracy" are two notable pieces that Wells produced.
Wells wrote the first edition of "The Open Conspiracy" in 1928. This book details what Wells called the "Open Conspiracy" among intellectual elites who despise the old order of things and desire to work towards a grand world directorate, a global society in which individuals no longer hold fast to tradition, but yield themselves willingly to the world state for the good of all. The Open Conspiracy utilizes propaganda, educational and governmental reform, and other forms of influence to achieve its goals. The scientific management of the world is at the heart of the open conspirators agenda. Of course, this tight management is sold as being for the benefit of all.
Population control is named by Wells in the Open Conspiracy as a "primary condition" of the world directorate. Wells writes,
"There is a clear hope that, later, directed breeding will come within his [mankind's] scope, but that goes beyond his present range of practical achievement, and we need not discuss it further here. Suffice it for us here that the world community of our desires, the organized world community conducting and ensuring its own progress, requires a deliberate collective control of population as a primary condition.
Very slight adjustments in social and economic arrangements will, in a world of clear available knowledge and straightforward practice in these matters, supply sufficient inducement or discouragement to affect the general birth rate or the birth rate of specific types as the directive sense of the community may consider desirable.
We want watchful and understanding guardians and drivers of complex delicate machines, which can be mishandled and brutalized and spoilt all too easily. The less disposed these masters of our machines are to inordinate multiplication, the more room and food in the world for their ampler lives. Even to the lowest level of a fully-mechanicalized civilization it is required that the human element should be select."
A concise and bluntly stated summary of Wells' idea of a federation of the world can be found in the introduction that he wrote for prominent eugenicist Margaret Sanger in her book "Pivot of Civilization", written in 1922. Wells speaks with an authoritarian and elitist voice condemning the world for misusing the "gifts" that the elite have so kindly presented to mankind. He writes these chilling words,
"The New Civilization is saying to the Old now: "We cannot go on making power for you to spend upon international conflict. You must stop waving flags and bandying insults. You must organize the Peace of the World; you must subdue yourselves to the Federation of all mankind. And we cannot go on giving you health, freedom, enlargement, limitless wealth, if all our gifts to you are to be swamped by an indiscriminate torrent of progeny. We want fewer and better children who can be reared up to their full possibilities in unencumbered homes, and we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict upon us."
With this one paragraph, Wells succeeds in presenting the full intent of population control: total domination.
See more on this in an upcoming report: An Introduction to The Open Conspiracy - Utopian Dreams of a World Scientific Dictatorship
Preview:
"The world is shifting to a globalized structure. The infrastructure of world governance is nearly complete. Proclamations of a "New World Order" herald the emergence of a new global order of nations, once sovereign but now interlocked with international organizations and bound by allegiance to the world state. Is this the natural trend of governance and human affairs, as some would say, or a deliberate, systematic, scientific attempt by the elite of the world to forge a new global order?"
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http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6534
Afghan Poppy Set For Another Big Year
02-08-2008
IHT
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan will produce another enormous opium poppy crop this year, close to last year's record harvest, and Europe and other regions should brace themselves for the expected influx of heroin, the United Nations warned Wednesday in its annual winter survey of poppy planting patterns.
Cultivation is still increasing in the insurgency-hit south and west of the country, the report said, and taxes on the crop have become a major source of revenue for the Taliban insurgency.
"This is a windfall for anti-government forces, further evidence of the dangerous link between opium and insurgency," Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, wrote in the report's preface.
The report was released by the Office on Drugs and Crime on Wednesday at an international donors conference in Tokyo.
"Cultivation levels will be broadly similar to, perhaps slightly lower than, last year's record harvest," Costa said. There is some evidence that the sharp increases of recent years are leveling off, which is encouraging, he said, but the "total amount of opium being harvested remains shockingly high."
Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's opium, the report said.
The cultivation of cannabis, the plant that yields marijuana and hashish, is increasing, the report added, making Afghanistan one of the biggest suppliers of cannabis as well.
The winter survey, which the UN teams conduct every year by talking to village leaders across the country, outlines trends in poppy cultivation. It is only an estimate because half of the country has not yet begun planting, and in the other half the plants are not yet visible beneath the snow.
In 2007, 477,000 acres, or 193,000 hectares, were under poppy cultivation, yielding an estimated 9,000 tons of opium. The survey said the 2008 harvest would depend on levels of eradication and the weather. Good rainfall and water supply are expected to help the harvest in 2008, and no efforts at eradication were observed by mid-January, the report said.
The Afghan government has opposed an aerial herbicide spraying program, advocated by the White House, fearing a potential backlash if people and food crops are harmed. However, a ground spraying program was being considered.
There is some evidence that agricultural assistance can persuade farmers not to grow poppies, the report said. Of the 469 villages visited by the UN teams over a month in December and January, a third had received assistance in the form of seeds, fertilizer and irrigation. A majority - 67 percent - of those that received assistance did not grow poppies, the report said.
The UN also said there was a strong link between instability and opium production. In the south and west, where security is worst, 100 percent of studied villages that had poor security cultivated poppies, the report said. At the same time, poppy cultivation is decreasing in places that have good security, it said.
Go to 12568
http://cafr1.com/RetireGov.html
Government Retirement Funds - The tricks revealed
by Walter Burien - http://CAFR1.com
02/07/08
To stay on base when it comes to your thinking towards the local Government Retirement funds, read what follows:
1. The fund's balance is calculated whereby the investment return is to equal annual liability of implied payouts to the retirees now and for each year in the future based on the number of "projected" employees.
2. The 1st trick government played on the employees is: the employee does not own 1c of those funds. Local government investment funds are "strictly participatory", the employee gets a benefit but does not own 1c of the fund.(The same as if you bought a train ticket. You get a ride but do not own the train).
3. The 2nd trick government played on the employee and the taxpaying public was: the actuarial projections used to say what the funds balance should be. If they could get away with saying they were going to get a projected 7% return average over the next ten years and in reality they were getting a 14% return, here they just doubled the funds balance over what was needed and the employee will not get 1c extra and the taxpayer and employee gets hit for higher contributions when in fact they should have received refunds. (1990 - 2000 most were accomplishing 16% to 21% per year and the employee was told 7%, or the actuarial projection being used not the real rate of return)
4. The third trick pulled off by government was; they would hire many new employees to cover surpluses in the pensions. This was done by "vesting" the new employee with the full amount from the fund to equal the employee's projected payout when they retired. EXAMPLE: 1,000 new hires at this time will require say $785,000,000 additional in the fund at retirement, poof there goes 785 mill locked in. On the other hand, if they lay off 1000 new hire employees, gee-wiz , look we are over funded by 785 mill and they now can slip it out for their use. Local governments (especially NJ) will use this tactic to raise taxes let's say by 785 mill and then after the fact lay off employees where they now take out 785 mill from the fund and here they get two bangs for the buck, 785 tax increase plus 785 from the fund or 1.5 billion in benefit and the public nor the dismissed employee is any the wiser.
What you must keep in the forefront of your mind is the power base that has been created by "where" those funds are invested. Any project, corporation, or fortune can be guaranteed internationally by where those funds (trillions in composite totals) are invested. So, the underlying motive was not the employee or the taxpayer, it was the power base of who was going to be the next millionaire if not billionaire based on where that money was placed and thus more, more, more, anyway, more. Bigger is better, more slices of the pie to go around. (and I note in final effect not primarily to the employee or the taxpayer, quite the opposite)
People would not look being that the gang would throw out sound bites to make the public and employees not look (make them falsely feel guilty if they even thought about looking)
The good point of that excessive growth in the government pensions was that it helped drive the economy over the last forty years and gave the ability to control a guaranteed high return on the funds as a monopoly of no equal, whereby the takeover of the international market place through the use of those funds occurred. The bad point was those funds were getting their best return from "International" investments taking advantage of the cheap labor and thus; outsourcing and a drop in US investments.
Now you know why the markets have done what they have done over the last twenty years and those government pension fund balances were ever growing and in the black each year. The control of those funds built up the definition of underlying greed applied, and I make special note that as a result of the 911 event, my did they make a killing for the stage to be set at that time and over the next six years. Set the stage for almost doubling their funds in some cases. Coincidence I guess. To bad those mid-eastern boys did not know what our boys knew here. They could have become wealthy instead of having their countries looted and over a million of their people killed. Dumb Mid easterners. I guess they were not as greedy as we were, but give them a chance we are in the process of assimilating them and they will be conditioned to follow our ways. We dangle that greed carrot oh so well to convert populations, even to new comers with strange and old ways.
On a last note per government pensions, even though government accounts in their fund balances for the full ride on the train, the employee only has an optional ticket on the train so where they get off on the ride, if before the end of the tracks, they do not get a refund, the funds balance does. The employee gets the benefit up to the point of where they get off. So it is "very" important to look at governments growth over the last 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years to compare government employees vs. population growth. You may just notice some excessive trends there that may need a little trimming. My suggestion would be to look at where government was in 1960 and after accounting for population increases, use that as a target mark for the return of government size to where it should be. New Zealand did it, why not we....? Knock out the implanted greed factor (kill it now before it is to late) and it could, no would happen as time goes; over night..
Walter Burien
Go to 12567
http://CAFR1.com
Tel. 928-445-3532
Go to 12566
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6530
McCain Aide Is Dual Citizen Of Mexico
02-07-2008
AFP
John McCains Hispanic outreach director, Juan Hernandez, has become an issue in the Republican presidential campaign because he has served in the Mexican government, The Washington Times reports.
The week of the Florida campaign, McCain was asked about the situation but managed to tap dance his way out of answering directly.
After Mexican President Vicente Fox was elected in 2000, he named the U.S.-born dual citizen Hernandez, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, to head the newly created, cabinet-level Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad. This, in effect, made him Foxs and Mexicos American outreach director.
The influential American began doing public relations work among the Mexicans living in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. But the situation borders on explosive when the same man, a fellow supporter of amnesty and mass immigration, assumes an equivalent position in McCains campaign.
And why does McCain need a Hispanic outreach director, unless it is to lure the Hispanic vote? The association alone trumpets again McCains favorable tilt toward the NWOs North American Union and the Super Highway from Mexico to Canada through the heart of America.
Why havent you seen this in your mainstream press? Because McCain is currently the anointed Republican, a sense reinforced with the late January endorsement by The New York Times. He will continue to be as protected as President Bush has been.
Nothing controversial affecting their own will be introduced to the public by the media, and anything uncovered by other candidates, the Internet or AFP, will be either ignored or disparaged.
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http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6531
Futuristic Toy Car Runs On Tap Water
02-07-2008
London Times
A remote-control car produced by the toymaker Corgi is the first household item to be powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology.
The car, called H2GO, uses hydrogen derived from tap water as its fuel and was developed by the Leicester-based company in partnership with Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, an international firm based in Shanghai that hopes to extend the technology to home appliances.
The hydrogen is separated from oxygen in the tap water via a miniaturised unit powered by a rechargeable battery. A tiny solar panel to charge the battery is an optional extra. The H2GO, which is billed as the first zero emissions remote-control toy, went on show at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. It is expected to sell for 130 from September.
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http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6533
FOX-5 Foreknowledge of WTC-7 Collapse
02-08-2008
www.roguegovernment.com
Lee Rogers
It is a known fact that both CNN and the BBC reported on September 11th, 2001 that WTC-7 a 47-story building had collapsed despite the fact that the building was still standing in their own video footage. These video clips are proof that someone fed information to the media with a cover story for the WTC-7 building collapse knowing full well that the building was going to be brought down in advance. The only way that they could know that the building was coming down in advance, is if the building was to be intentionally brought down with explosives. How could anyone predict a building coming down that had very little fire damage unless they knew that a controlled demolition was set to take place? The official story of structural failure just doesnt add up. Amazingly, it appears now that CNN and the BBC werent the only news agencies to have been fed and reported on this information prior to WTC-7s actual collapse. Video footage straight from the September 11th, 2001 Internet archives shows the news anchors from Foxs Washington DC affiliate Fox-5 reporting that a 47-story building had collapsed in downtown New York City and just moments later their own video footage shows the same building they said already collapsed, collapse at free fall speed. The video clip is surreal. Watch the approximately three-minute long segment below. The raw WMV file can be downloaded here, or view the full clip from the Internet Archive, here.
FOX-5 Reports WTC-7 Collapsed Before Actual Event
The video footage speaks for itself. Fox-5 anchor Tracey Neale says that a 47-story building had collapsed in downtown Manhattan which is an obvious reference to WTC-7 because it too was a 47-story building in downtown Manhattan. Then just seconds after Neale reports on the building collapse, they witness WTC-7 collapse at free fall speed in their own video footage.
Following the collapse both news anchors state that the building must have come down due to structural failure which has of course been the official cover story for the WTC-7 collapse. Neale appears visibly flustered after she realizes that she reported on a building collapse in advance of the collapse actually happening. After the collapse, Neales co-anchor states the following which is incredibly surreal considering all the information that has now come out about the events of 9/11.
We are seeing video today that only Hollywood could have produced at another time. We have seen the Twin Towers come apart right in front of our eyes. We have seen aircraft smashing in the side of them. Just now, we saw another building as a part of that complex go down. It is so unbelievable; it is so surreal, that it is very hard for most Americans, most anyone in the world to be able to grasp what is really taking place here. The folks running who are running things however do have a grasp of it.
Below are the other known clips of media foreknowledge of the WTC-7 collapse from both CNN and the BBC.
BBC Reports WTC-7 Collapses Before Actual Event
CNN Reports WTC-7 Had Collapsed Before Actual Event
Can there be any doubt at this point in time that WTC-7 was brought down in a controlled demolition? We now have three major news networks reporting that WTC-7 collapsed before the event took place indicating that people had foreknowledge of the building collapse. The building fell in 6.5 seconds at free fall speed despite the building only have minor fire damage. Demolition experts have also watched the collapse of WTC-7 and have concluded that it was a controlled demolition.
Being that WTC-7 is a clear cut case of a controlled demolition, there is no way that a 47-story building could be wired with explosives in 8-hours worth of time right after the planes hit the Twin Towers. WTC-7 must have been wired with explosives in advance, indicating that someone knew what was going to happen on 9/11, meaning that the events of 9/11 were an inside job. This is just one of many pieces of evidence that indicate the official story is a complete and total fraud. The 9/11 Commission was formed to white wash the official story with establishment cronies like Phillip Zelikow placed on it to ensure that the investigation didnt get too close to the Bush administration. This video clip is more proof that high profile individuals like Willie Nelson and Charlie Sheen who have come out questioning the official story of 9/11 are the true patriots and people like Bill OReilly who refuse to investigate this information and name call those who do are the real pinheads.
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http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6535
Gunman Kills Government Tyrants
02-08-2008
AP
KIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) - A gunman carrying a grudge against City Hall left a suicide note on his bed warning "The truth will come out in the end," before he went on a deadly shooting spree at a council meeting, his brother told The Associated Press Friday.
Arthur Thornton, 42, said in an interview at the family's home that he knew his brother was responsible for the killings when he read the one-line note.
"It looks like my brother is going crazy, but he's just trying to get people's attention," Thornton said, explaining he believed the note reflected his brother's growing frustration with local leaders.
After storming the meeting and killing five people Thursday night, Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton was fatally shot by law enforcers. Friends and relatives said he had a longstanding fued with the city, and he had lost a federal free-speech lawsuit against the St. Louis suburb just 10 days earlier. At earlier meetings, he said he had received 150 tickets against his business.
Go to 12562
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/02/evidence-wachovia-knew-of-and-profited.html
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Evidence Wachovia Knew of and Profited from Theft
This story is so heinous that I couldn't let it go by. Court filings indicate Wachovia not only permitted telemarketers to steal from individuals, but they were aware of the practice and turned a blind eye because it was profitable to them. And the targets of the fraud were typically elderly.
The suit was filed last spring; Wachovia implemented some anti-fraud measures last summer, after the case was written up in the New York Times, with the usual blandishments about ": Earning the trust of our customers is at the heart of what we do every day." Actually, that bit of corporate pablum is true even if the fraud allegations are proven true (likely). The Wachovia customers were stealing from accounts at other banks, yet Wachovia refused to shut them down, despite warnings from other institutions and red-flag levels of bad checks.
Note also that the victims of the fraud had to turn to civll suits because banks accused of participation in this type of fraud have never been prosecuted or publicly fined.
From the New York Times:
Last spring, Wachovia bank was accused in a lawsuit of allowing fraudulent telemarketers to use the banks accounts to steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims. When asked about the suit, bank executives said they had been unaware of the thefts.
But newly released documents from that lawsuit now show that Wachovia had long known about allegations of fraud and that the bank, in fact, solicited business from companies it knew had been accused of telemarketing crimes.
Internal Wachovia e-mail, for example, show that high-ranking employees at the nations fourth-largest bank frequently warned colleagues about telemarketing frauds routed through its accounts.
Documents also show that Wachovia was alerted by other banks and federal agencies about ongoing deceptions, but that it continued to provide banking services to multiple companies that helped steal as much as $400 million from unsuspecting victims.
YIKES!!!! wrote one Wachovia executive in 2005, warning colleagues that an account used by telemarketers had drawn 4,500 complaints in just two months. DOUBLE YIKES!!!! she added. There is more, but nothing more that I want to put into a note.
However, Wachovia continued processing fraudulent transactions for that account and others, partly because the bank charged fraud artists a large fee every time a victim spotted a bogus transaction and demanded their money back. One company alone paid Wachovia about $1.5 million over 11 months, according to investigators.
We are making a ton of money from them, wrote Linda Pera, a Wachovia executive, in 2005 about a company that was later accused by federal prosecutors of helping steal up to $142 million.
Ms. Pera left Wachovia in 2006, and could not be located.
Lawyers pursuing the lawsuit against Wachovia, which was filed in a Pennsylvania federal court on behalf of a woman named Mary Faloney and other apparent victims, have asked a judge to declare the case a class action, which could expand it to as many as 500,000 plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that Wachovia accepted fraudulent, unsigned checks that withdrew funds from the accounts of victims, often elderly. Wachovia forwarded those checks to other banks that were unaware of the frauds, which in turn sent money to the swindlers.
A judge is expected to rule on the class action request by this summer. Wachovia, in court filings, has denied the suits allegations. The company declined to comment on the pending litigation.
However, Wachovias senior vice president for risk management, Alan Chudoba, said that the bank introduced reforms aimed at telemarketing frauds last summer. Those changes, which came about after an article in The New York Times last May reported that thieves had used Wachovia accounts, include greater scrutiny of accounts used by telemarketers and stronger fraud protections...
The Pennsylvania suit against Wachovia alleges that the banks involvement with telemarketing thefts dates to October 2003, when Wachovia was warned by another bank that a Wachovia client named AmeriNet had tried to process more than $100,000 in improper withdrawals.
AmeriNet was a payment processor, a company that creates unsigned checks on behalf of telemarketers to withdraw funds automatically from customer accounts. Such checks, once widely used by businesses collecting monthly fees, are legal if customers approve the transactions.
However, a Wachovia executive wrote to colleagues, evidence suggested AmeriNet was creating unapproved checks.
Keep in mind historically, telemarketing is an easy way to money launder and commit fraud. To knowingly bank a customer who is perpetrating fraud places the bank at great exposure, wrote that executive, Tim Brady, according to documents that are part of the lawsuit.
Mr. Brady, who did not return phone calls, recommended closing the AmeriNet account in 2003, according to that e-mail message. But Wachovia continued working with the company until 2005, when AmeriNet paid $50,000 to settle complaints filed by the attorneys general of five states. Wachovia was not named in those complaints.
In late 2003, a Wachovia executive announced to colleagues via e-mail that her unit, because of AmeriNet, had seen an increase in our annual revenue projection.
Wachovia declined to comment on those e-mail messages, citing pending litigation.
Wachovia also worked with other payment processors, according to court documents. In 2004, Wachovia held a lunch for the owner of a payment processor that the bank knew had drawn thousands of previous complaints.
It is important that our relationship is firm and in good standing with the owner of that company, Your Money Access, wrote the Wachovia executive, Ms. Pera, to colleagues. Your Money Access was sued last year by the Federal Trade Commission and seven states on suspicion of helping to steal up to $69 million.
There were other internal warnings, as well.
In 2005, a Wachovia fraud investigator wrote to colleagues that 79 percent of the checks submitted by one Wachovia client, Suntasia, had been returned in August because of unauthorized withdrawals and other problems. Regulators say return rates in excess of 2.5 percent is evidence of potential fraud.
I have good reason to believe that all of the deposited items are unauthorized drafts, wrote the fraud investigator, Bill McCann in a 2005 e-mail message.
But Wachovia continued doing business with Suntasia until last year, when the company was shut down by a court order, according to the lawsuit.
Wachovia declined to comment on Mr. McCanns e-mail. Mr. McCann declined to return calls.
Moreover, executives at other banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank, the Social Security Administration and the Justice Department Federal Credit Union also warned Wachovia multiple times that its accounts were being used for fraud, according to the lawsuit against the bank.
In 2006, an executive at Citizens Bank wrote via e-mail that thieves were routing unauthorized checks through Wachovia that stole from Citizens account holders.
We have spoken to many of our customers who have been victimized by this scam, wrote the Citizens executive, according to court documents. We would appreciate it if you would shut down accounts of any customers of yours that may be engaging in improper activity.
But Wachovia kept that account open until it was frozen by a federal court a few weeks later, as part of a government lawsuit against the client.
A Wachovia spokeswoman said that in every case where a bank complained, an investigation was opened and that some accounts were closed.
But court records show that many of those accounts stayed open for years after the complaints were received.
Last June, after Wachovias involvement with telemarketing thefts was reported by The Times, Congressional lawmakers, including Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked five regulatory agencies to answer questions regarding the unsigned checking system that fraud artists used. Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, also asked the Senate Banking Committee to investigate the issue.
Many of those agencies responded by saying they lacked jurisdiction. Clearly, more needs to be done to prevent fraud in this area, Mr. Markey said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Mr. Harkin said lawmakers were considering hearings.
Other regulators say the banks are to blame.
These types of crimes only are possible because banks tolerate them, said the United States attorney in Philadelphia, Patrick L. Meehan, who prosecuted a payment processor accused of using Wachovia accounts to steal more than $100 million.
Who knows how many other crimes like this are occurring every day without anyone realizing it? Mr. Meehan said.
Go to 12561
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8000
Greenback's days in Iran numbered
Global Research, February 4, 2008
Press TV
Editor's Note
There are unconfirmed reports that the opening of the Bourse has been delayed due to the cutting of underwater communications cables, which have cut Iran off from internet communication.
Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:55:53
Kish Island, where Iran's oil bourse is to be established
The Iranian Company of Commodities Bourse has been tasked by the government to establish the long-awaited Oil Bourse on Kish Island.
The Cabinet of Ministers on Sunday issued an order to the Oil Ministry, Finance Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Central Bank to implement a plan to set up the Oil Bourse.
The Oil Bourse will serve as a place to trade oil products and crude oil.
The Ministry of Economy will be setting up the petrochemicals section by February 19.
The Oil Bourse is supposed to trade oil products in non-dollar currencies and many analysts hold the opinion that it could deal a blow to the already declining greenback.
Go to 12560
http://www.rense.com/general80/cpn.htm
Congress Moves To Seize
Control Of All US Water
From Bathtubs To Baptismal Fonts, Congress Moves
To Give the Corps of Engineers Control Of All U.S. Waters
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
2-7-8
Issue: Having been slapped down by the U. S. Supreme Court's recent decision that the words "navigable waters" in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only. Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back.
They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR2421 and S1870) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words "navigable waters" with "waters of the United States." Further, it defines "waters of the United States" with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square inch of the U.S., both public and private.
The proposed definition states: "The term 'waters of the United States' means all waters subject to ebb and flow of the tides, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes [a flat dried up area, esp. a desert basin.] natural ponds and all impoundment of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution."
Obviously, those behind this legislation have only contempt for the Constitution, limited government and private property rights. To understand what the framers of the Constitution intended, one need only look to their writings and the writings of those from whom they took wisdom and direction. A few of thousands of quotes follow:
Quote 1: "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments from Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." - John Adams, A Defence of the Constitution of the United States against the Attacks of M. Turgot, 1787.
Quote 2: "What a man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot be taken from him without his consent." - Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Circular Letter, 1768.
Quote 3: ".'tis not without reason that [man] seeks out, and is willing to join in society with others who are already united, or have a mind to unite for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates which I call by the name of property." - John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1690
Quote 4: "The property which every man has in his own labor, as it is the foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Comment 1: Obviously these are foreign concepts to the environmental lobby and their fellow travelers.
By Tom Randall
Winningreen LLC
3712 N. Broadway - PMB 279
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: 773-857-5086
e-mail:
Wetlands (HR 2421) Bill Gives Corps Control Over Your Property
New Wetlands Land Grab Hearing Coming In House. The date has not been finally set yet but send your testimony anyway.
Please Fill Out the Wetlands Testimony Questionnaire Below And Forward It To your Congressman and the Committee.
Go to 12559
http://www.rense.com/general67/IMPEN.HTM
Overthrow Of The
American Republic - Part 79
Bush Indictment Fixing/Bribery Gang
By Sherman H. Skolnick
8-18-5
Impeaching a U.S. President and putting him on Impeachment Trial is a rare occurrence.
It happened once in the 19th Century. Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln just a few days after the Civil War ended, taking his position was Andrew Johnson who angered key members of both houses of Congress by threatening to finger them for their end-of-the-War-Between-The-States conspiratorial commodity speculations in opposition to Lincoln's proposed post-war policy to go easy on the South to get them back in the Union. Some in Congress, jointly with the French Rothschilds, bet on harsh treatment of the South, which would have made Southern farm products, particularly cotton, to zoom up in price to their immense profit. Johnson was Impeached and escaped by one vote from being removed from office at an Impeachment Trial.
In 1998, President William Rockefeller Clinton was subject to Impeachment Resolutions and was put on Impeachment Trial in 1999. Under the U.S. Constitution's provisions,
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist conducted the Senate Impeachment Trial of Clinton. [As to why we properly use Rockefeller as Clinton's middle name, see our series "Wal-Mart and the Red Chinese Secret Police", www.skolnicksreport.com ]
At the trial, like a Commissar, Rehnquist sat in his black robes with gold stripes. Key members of the U.S. Senate were subject to blackmail; such as Orrin Hatch for his bribery in the Salt Lake City Olympics Affair as well as his role in the crooked matter of Bank of Credit and Commerce International, BCCI. Also, the Senate, made up mostly of war mongers, secretly got Clinton to agree, that right after he escaped removal, Clinton would authorize the U.S. to bomb Yugoslavia. Why? Yugoslavia demanded heavy payment from the Oil Cartel (which owns both houses of Congress) to permit the Caspian pipeline to go through the southern Balkans.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the President is subject to removal from office by Impeachment Trial and is still subject to federal criminal prosecution for criminal offenses.
"Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to INDICTMENT, TRIAL, JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT, ACCORDING TO LAW." (Emphasis added.) U.S. Constitution, Article One, Section 3.
In the Valerie Plame CIA leak matter, there is reason to believe that of the several Chicago Federal Grand Juries considering the matter, that one has concluded their work and has handed up through the Foreman, a True Bill, a federal criminal indictment, to a federal judge.
Subject to Federal prosecution thereby are, as federal criminal defendants, among others:
GEORGE W. BUSH; RICHARD CHENEY and his Chief of Staff. "SCOOTER" LIBBY; THEODORE B. OLSON, Bush's attorney in Bush versus Gore in December, 2000, a private law partner of Eugene Scalia, son of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and later Olson as Bush Administration, Solicitor General, favored High Court corrupter Mickey Mouse, Disney, which joined with Coca-Cola to corrupt five judges of the High Court in Bush versus Gore including Scalia and Rehnquist; and also indicted, several media hotshots not previously mentioned in the mass media. Scalia and Rehnquist are listed as unindicted co-conspirators.
Ostensibly handling, in secret, some aspect of the handed up indictment has been Chicago Federal District Judge Mark R. Filip (312) 435-5667. Some related and pertinent details.
In 1993-94, Filip was Law Clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. His role at the mergers and acquisitions fixers and manipulators that represent one-half of the Fortune 250 industrial and service corporations, SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER and FLOM:
From 1999-2000, Filip was Associate lawyer with the firm. He was Counsel 2000-2001. From 2001 up to about a year ago when Filip became Chicago U.S. District Judge, Filip was a Partner in the Skadden Arps firm.
In November and December, 2000, during the Electoral College vote controversy in Florida, key members of the DEMOCRAT PARTY in southern Florida were bribed to stop the Gore vote recount. This paved the way for the matter of Bush versus Gore to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
This Obstruction of Justice by bribery pay-offs to members of the DEMOCRAT PARTY, was arranged by former Secretary of State in the Daddy Bush White House, James Baker 3rd, reputedly jointly with fixers/manipulators, called by some "Mergers & Acquisitions Pirates", certain members of the Skadden Arps law firm.
Skadden Arps attorney Mark R. Filip was in a position to know about this Obstruction of Justice and with Theodore B. Olson, Filip reportedly participated in the same.
Used for the bribery pay-offs were illicit funds amounting to forty million dollars of the co-founder of the Colombia Medelin dope cartel, Carlos Lehder. a business partner of Daddy Bush.
[Chandra Levy had knowledge of this. As to why she was murdered, visit my series on her, www.skolnicksreport.com ]
Judge Mark R. Filip is apparently part of a Chicago Federal Courthouse scheme to deal with the Bush indictment, in secret, quashing the same on false contentions that it involves defects of law and fact.
In the same courthouse is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. In the appeals court sit three judges who along with Justice Scalia were professors together, one being the Dean, of Rockefeller's University of Chicago Law School. These four judges, while on the bench, represent the Billion dollar stock portfolio of Rockefeller's University of Chicago. The investment matters are of large firms represented by Skadden Arps. The four judges violate the federal criminal perjury laws by filing as supposedly true and correct, their mandatory annual financial disclosure forms, intentionally omitting that on the bench they represent the selfsame portfolio of stocks and do not disqualify themselves.
Dealt with in earlier parts of this series is the corruption of Theodore B. Olson, including that he is the reputed "bagman", among other places, as to judges "for sale" in the Chicago Federal Courthouse.
Many federal judgeships are bought with criminal funds. Most of the judgeships in the Chicago Federal Courthouse were bought/arranged by the GOP, by Reagan/Daddy Bush, with Daddy Bush arranging matters for Hollywood-script-memorizer Ronald Reagan, as well as by or for George W. Bush. So, in the Chicago Federal Courthouse, Judge Mark R. Filip has plenty of corrupt helpers acting as supposed Judges having taken an oath to supposedly support the U.S. Constitution.
[For related details, visit my extensive series "Coca-Cola, CIA, and the Courts".]
On orders of George W. Bush, the FBI covered up some of the foregoing details of which they became well aware when investigating Mark R. Filip as a presidential nominee to the Chicago federal court bench.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has a difficult task. He has openly tangled with some of the Chicago federal judges regarding Edgewater Hospital against which there have been claims of healthcare fraud done by the doctors/hospital staff. Some of the federal judges in Chicago have for years a secret financial interest in the hospital which has had plaques on the walls praising crooked Chicago federal Judges.
One of those who might have assisted Fitzgerald in secretly dealing with grand jury problems was intimidated to keep hands-off as a result of her husband and mother being murdered. That is the matter of Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, the murders having occurred in February, 2005 and falsely blamed by the FBI on a lone assassin instead of the Russian mafiya which is tight with the Chicago FBI. [See earler parts of this series.]
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http://www.rense.com/general80/hopes.htm
Hillary Hopes You've
Forgotten - Have You?
From Diane Rigali
2-6-8
Hillary Clinton has been telling America that she is the most qualified candidate for president based on her "record," which she says includes her eight years in the White House as First Lady - or "co-president" - and her seven years in the Senate. Here is a reminder of what that record includes:
HILLARY, As First Lady, assumed authority over Health Care Reform, a process that cost the taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill Bradley and Pat Moynahan, key votes were needed to pass her legislation, that she would "demonize "anyone who opposed it. But it was opposed; she couldn't even get it to a vote in a Congress controlled by her own party. (And in the next election, her party lost control of both the House and Senate.)
HILLARY assumed authority over selecting a female Attorney General. Her first two recommendations (Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood) were forced to withdraw their names from consideration, and then she chose Janet Reno. Janet Reno has since been described by Bill himself as "my worst mistake."
HILLARY recommended Lani Guanier for head of the Civil Rights Commission. When Guanier's radical views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.
HILLARY recommended her former law partners, Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy for positions in the Justice Department, White House staff, and the Treasury, respectively. Hubbell was later imprisoned, Foster committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to resign.
HILLARY also recommended a close friend of the Clintons, Craig Livingstone, for the position of director of White House security. When Livingstone was investigated for the improper access of up to 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies (Filegate) and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him. (FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene confirmed in a Senate Judiciary Committee in 1996 both the drug use and Hillary's involvement in hiring Livingstone. After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison Office, after serving seven presidents for over thirty years.)
HILLARY, in order to open "slots" in the White House for her friends the Harry Thomasons (to whom millions of dollars in travel contracts could be awarded), had the entire staff of the White House Travel Office fired. They were reported to the FBI for "gross mismanagement" and their reputations ruined. After a thirty-month investigation, only one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime - mixing personal money with White House funds when he cashed checks. The jury acquitted him in less than two hours.
HILLARY also assumed the duty of directing the "bimbo eruption squad" and scandal defense:
...She urged her husband not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit.
...She refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor. After $80 million dollars of taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about and later admitting his affairs.
...Then they had to settle with Paula Jones after all.
...And Bill lost his law license for lying to the grand jury.
...And Bill was impeached by the House.
...And Hillary almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice (she avoided it mostly because she repeated, "I do not recall," "I have no recollection," and "I don't know" 56 times under oath).
HILLARY accepted the traditional First Lady's role of decorator of the White House at Christmas, but in a unique Hillary way. In 1994, for example, The First Lady's Tree in the Blue Room (the focal point each year) was Decorated with drug paraphernalia, sex toys, and pornographic ornaments, all personally approved by Hillary as the invited artists' depictions of the theme, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
HILLARY wrote "It Takes a Village," demonstrating her socialist viewpoint.
HILLARY decided to seek election to the Senate in a state she had never lived in. Her husband pardoned FALN terrorists in order to get Latino support and the New Square Hassidim to get Jewish support. Hillary also had Bill pardon her brother's clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.
HILLARY then left the White House, but later had to return $200,000 in White House furniture, china, and artwork she had stolen.
HILLARY played the "woman card" in the campaign for the Senate, by portraying her opponent (Lazio) as a bully picking on her.
HILLARY'S husband further protected her by asking the National Archives to withhold from the public until 2012 many records of their time in the White House, including much of Hillary's correspondence and her calendars. (There are ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those records.)
HILLARY, as the junior Senator from New York , passed no major legislation. She has deferred to the senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical problems of workers involved in the cleanup of Ground Zero after 9/11.
Quite a resume, isn't it? Sounds more like an organized crime family.
minimaxmall@yahoo.com
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http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/a-voice-crying-out-in-the-wilderness-jewish-convert-to-christianity-trying-to-sound-the-alarm-over-the-jewish-agenda/
A Voice Crying In The WildernessJewish Convert To Christianity Trying To Sound The Alarm Over The Jewish Agenda
February 6, 2008
To say he is amazing is an understatement. In an age where an open season has been declared on Christianity (and with no daily bag limits) while at the same time saying anything even slightly critical towards Jews, Judaism or Israel can be the kiss of death, (sometimes literally) listening to the fiery words of a Jewish convert to Christianity who has made exposing the dangers of Jewish influence in Christian society his mission in life is something of a shocker, to say the least.
Nevertheless, despite being something of a miracle, he is by no means a mere piece of fiction. Made of real flesh and blood, his name is Brother Nathanael Kapner, a convert from Judaism to Greek Orthodox Christianity and these days, the Jewish agendas worst nightmare. He is only a one-man team with no big money behind him whose daily routine includes going into the streets every morning with huge signs reading things such as ACLU Jews Are Anti-Christ and writing articles for his website found at www.realjewnews.com.
But despite the fact he is a one-man operation, he has made some big waves and obviously gotten under the skin of the powers-that-be in a substantive way. He is regularly threatened by all the usual suspects with all the usual threatsdeath, ruination, imprisonment as well as being called the typical namesNazi, anti-Semite, self-hating Jew, traitor, etc.
Its easy to understand why he makes them nervous. Its one thing when someone from outside the Jewish community goes about the business of exposing the mechanics of this subterranean, clannish agenda and another thing altogether when an insider does it. Like Joseph Vallachi, former mob member of the Genovese crime family who came forward and spilled his guts before an awestruck American public over what he knew concerning the criminal organization known as La Cosa Nostra, so too has Br. Nathanael come forward with tales of his own. As Saul of Tarsus proved some 2,000 years ago with his own about-face, sometimes it takes a family squabble to bring down the house, a theme very personal to Br. Nathanael, who sees himself following in the footsteps of Benjamin Friedman, one-time Zionist Jew who converted to Christianity and who spent the balance of his life trying to warn others about what he saw as this dangerous, many-tentacled creature known as the Jewish agenda.
For Br. Nathanael, it began during his childhood while growing up in a middle-class Pittsburg neighborhood of mostly Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christian families. Like a desert wanderer spotting an oasis, at Christmas time he was drawn to the carols and holy hymns announcing the coming of the Messiah, as well as the nativity scenes showing mother and child. As he describes it, the conflict within him was real and powerful. He was always drawn to this world, the world of the man known as the Prince of Peace, but as a Jew, dabbling with Christianity was as verboten as Galileos dabbling in astronomy. His Sabbath school teacher regularly taught the Jewish kids that Christianity was a fraud created by a false Galilean prophet named Jesus and helped along by a manic depressive named Saul who abandoned his people in Judea. Even in courses dealing with comparative religions, where everything from Buddha to Mohammed to Shiva was studied in-depth, talk of Jesus teachings was strictly censored KGB-style by the Judaic thought police who wouldnt give an inch. Br. Nathanael attended an upper middle class synagogue where the main eventmeaning religion, was money, career and influence rather than morality, right vs. wrong, compassion vs. brutality or heaven vs. hell.
Nevertheless, like someone seeking to jump the Berlin Wall into the free world he secretly went out caroling with his Christian friends who regularly commented that he was more Christian than they were. During Christmas holidays, he would wait up late until the coast was clear (when parents and others were safely in bed) and would serf the television channels for Christmas shows. As soon as he graduated High School and went to college he became a Christian, joining what seemed to be the most natural transition for him, the Jews For Jesus group.
I was enthralled with Jesus. Everything he said was pure gold. I studied the prophecies dealing with His coming and was blown away. How could these people (the Jews) not seeboth then and nowthat He was the fulfillment? I called my rabbi back in Pittsburg and gave him what I thought would be music to his earsRabbi, good news! The messiah came, and it was Jesus!
Obviously, he was not as thrilled as I was. He immediately called my mother and told her I had lost it and needed help. My parents brought me home and started taking me to see Jewish councilors and when my parents could see it was going nowhere they took me to see the rabbis, about half a dozen, mostly Hassids and Lubavitchers. I showed them the scriptures in the Old Testament dealing with the Messiah. They told me to leave the Old Testament out of it and quoted the Talmud instead, and especially the really horrible things in it dealing with Jesus and His mother. They told me over and over that Jesus was a freak and his mother was a prostitute. I was livid but maintained my composure. The rabbis rolled their eyes every time I spoke up in Jesus defense and after a while I knew it was a waste of time.
Growing up Jewish was like thisyou belong to the group and its traditions, first and foremost. You can be religious or an atheist but you are still a Jew and your loyalty is based on that first and foremost. Its us vs. them to the extreme and anybody who tells you differently is either a liar, a fool or both. The rabbis are like God and you dont question them or what they say, no matter how awful or illogical it is. Thats what Jesus did and look how it all ended. They play for keeps and cant stand criticism or open debate, which is why they concentrate so much of their energies on controlling what the Gentiles see and hear in the media. Hostility towards others, and especially Christians is not the exception but the rule, and by that I mean 90%.
After college he wanted free time to study scriptures, believing that this would be the key (if possible) to bringing his fellow Jews to Christ, assuming they were just as interested in finding the truth as he was. He took a job as a salesman where he could make his own hours and in his free time devour the scriptures. On his weekends he hit the streets talking about Jesus and sometimes during the week would go to the University of Pittsburg to try and talk to Jewish students. When asked how he knew the Jewish from non-Jewish students his answer was simple and to-the-point: We always know each otherWe can spot each other from a mile away.
Despite the fact that he is very vocally opposed to the Jewish agenda these days, he feels pity for the people themselvesThey live in a prison and dont know it. Jews become psychiatrists and psychologists because they are lost people. They are the most neurotic people on earth because of their rejection of Jesus and because they insist upon clutching to their racial narcissism. They have big brains and intellects but spiritually and psychologically they are empty and lost. Its no mystery why they are the biggest users of prozacIt is the Jewish Eucharist. Their reason for being is their own supposed ethnic superiority. Even the so-called Anti-Zionist Jewsthey are still elitists, even if they say they oppose the state of Israel. Same with the Messianics, they are Jews, first and foremost and like the Neturei Karta guys they are just there to confuse Christians and keep them in the dark about what Israel really is.
When asked about the history of Jewish persecution, he is equally forthrightIts no mystery why this has existed, Jews have done things that have caused people to dislike them. Take for example all those centuries of persecution by the ChristiansWell, lets not forget that this relationship began with the Jews persecuting the Christians, something no one ever talks about, but a fact nevertheless. In almost every case, the Christian countries drove them out for good reasons, whether it was their business practices or their ritual murder of Christian children, something proved true by Jewish professor Ariel Toaf in his recent book. The Talmud and the behavior it produces has been the source of all their troublesIts a book of racism and hatred of gentiles, pure and simple. A black is only slightly above a monkey. Gentile womeneven childrencan be raped and its okWhat other religion teaches stuff like this? Certainly not Christianity. The Jew is on a hell-bent collision course of justifying himself and cannot get on his knees and say Im sorry to anyone, and especially not to God.
Asked about his feelings concerning Christians today who support Israel his answer is equally unforgivingThe Christian Zionists are deluded. Theyre stupid and dont know the bible. They take a few passages out of context such as bless those who bless thee, etc and twist it into something not realThe bible is very clear on thisThe seed of Abraham are the Christians, not the Jews. The true Israel of God are the Christians and those who look forward to the coming of the Messiah. The Jews are looking for the coming of the Messiah, but it is a completely different idea of Messiah, the difference between Cain and Abel. They are waiting for someone to make them powerful and justify their wickedness. Our message as Christians is clearDont bless those who are the enemies of Christ, and the false prophets such as John Hagee and Pat Robertson who say we must are as much enemies to Jesus as the Jews themselves are.
I have no problems with Muslims and Christians coexisting. Keep in mind that there was no terrorism prior to Israel. Zionism is what as caused all the terror. The Christian church existed under Muslim rule for hundreds of years with no problems. It is only recently that the Christians and Muslims find themselves at each others throats, and its all the Zionists doing. They want to see the Christians and Muslims wipe each other out for the benefit of the Jewish state, which views them both as a threat. The Jews plan to use Israel as their headquarters for world rule and as an escape hideout. The war on terror is a war on Arabs and Muslims. Its about fighting Israels enemies who are not Americas enemies. Jews are not loyal to anyone but themselves. They are not allies to America. They use America, her money, her technology and her political system until America is of no use, and then when they are done they will dump her just like flushing the toilet. America had no enemies in the Middle East before Israel became our friend, and those who insist Israel is our friend should consider a few factsShe blew up American government buildings and tried to blame it on the Arabs. She attacked the USS Liberty and killed 34 of our sailors. She stole our secrets through the Jewish spy Jonathon Pollard and sold them to the Russians. And, last but not least, she was responsible for 9/11. There is no way that a bunch of guys in caves learned how to fly those planes in a few weeks and did all that damage without help from Mossad, and now we have 2 Jewish traitors sitting as head of Homeland Security and Attorney General.
These days his mission is simple, if it can be called thatHes trying to preserve Western Christian civilization by showing what the enemies of Christianity are doing. The Jews are hell bent on destroying Christianity throughout the western world and have been very successful as of late. But we still have a chance if enough of us are willing to do the hard work in fighting the enemies of the cross. St. Paul didnt give up, and neither should we. We cannot be fatalistsWe must keep fighting and oppose Israel and Zionism. They are my enemies because they are dishonoring my Jesus. Let them kill me, Ill go down swinging.
Br. Nathanaels website can be found at www.realjewnews.com and his email address is bronathanael@yahoo.com
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http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A40029
FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Should we be taxed for eating animals?
CliMeat Change
BY STRATTON LAWRENCE
For those attending any of the presidential candidates' major events last month, it was hard to miss the pigs. Outside of nearly every rally and campaign stop across the state, you could find members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) dressed in bright pink pig costumes, handing out buttons and literature emblazoned with the slogan "Stop Global Warming: Tax Meat."
"Every time someone sits down to a steak dinner, they're basically doing the equivalent environmental damage of taking a very long journey in a Hummer," says Ashley Byrne, a coordinator for PETA's campaign. "One pound of meat is equivalent to driving about 40 miles in a big SUV."
That's surprising to most, but it's true. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found in 2006 that livestock production generates 18 percent of greenhouse gases worldwide more than the entire transportation sector of cars, trucks, planes, and ships combined. Cows constantly belch methane from their four stomachs, and lagoons of pig effluent release the gas into the air. Much of the world's beef comes from deforested areas (70 percent of former Amazon rainforest is now used for cattle grazing), a one-two punch from the loss of carbon dioxide-absorbing trees and the addition of more animals.
Meat and dairy production is predicted by the U.N. to double in the next 40 years, a growth PETA feels could be abated by a 10-cent tax on each pound of meat. Chicken is less of a global warming culprit than beef, which produces eight pounds of CO2 per pound of flesh, but meat tax advocates favor a flat charge across all varieties, citing heightened health risks (and subsequent costs) from consuming any factory-raised animals. They compare the idea to "sin taxes" like those placed on tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline for their costly effect on the environment and public health. The revenue generated, they propose, would be used for education.
"Even though the average American adult would only pay $20 more per year with this tax, it would encourage reduced meat consumption," says PETA's Byrne. "That could save a family thousands in health care costs."
Good Meat?
With its forest of free-roaming pigs who never see a needle or an antibiotic in their feed, Caw Caw Creek Farms, just outside of Columbia, is the antithesis of a crowded factory meat facility. Emile DeFelice "slow raises" the organic heirloom hogs, and he isn't convinced a tax would curb meat consumption. "Gas prices have doubled recently, with little effect on driving habits," he says. "And trying to compare meat to tobacco doesn't work. All cigarettes are bad, but all meat is not bad."
DeFelice is highly critical of the factory system, but believes the solution is in repealing subsidies rather than creating a new tax. "As long as the federal government continues to subsidize corn and soy, the backbone of this industry, then we'll continue to have artificially cheap animal food," DeFelice says. "When you pay your bill at the grocery store, you don't stop paying there. We pay for that food in energy, health care, and the destruction of world communities whose agriculture-based economies can't compete with our subsidies." (Surplus food from the U.S. makes growing crops like corn uneconomical in Mexico and many third-world countries).
Sustainable agriculture requires livestock to provide manure as fertilizer, DeFelice points out, and our current system of plant production relies on petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. "It's not as if growing plants doesn't have its component of climate effects," he says.
The corporate meat industry understandably isn't jumping on board with the tax idea either. Cindy Cunningham, a spokesperson for the National Pork Board, doesn't argue with the statistics indicting meat as responsible for climate change, but says new developments in pork production are geared toward reducing its impact.
"Our producers are good stewards of the land, including managing water, manure, and odor," says Cunningham. "A lot of our (pig waste) lagoons are covered, and the methane is captured and turned into electricity. In the pork industry, we talk about using all parts of the pig everything but the oink."
Pork Board officials couldn't provide a statistic on the percentage of lagoons using methane capturing technology it's a new practice spurned by legislation in states like North Carolina, where industrial hog farms have devastated river water quality and surrounding communities.
The U.N.'s 2006 report concluded that the meat industry is "one of the most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global," and that eating meat contributes to "problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity."
But the S.C. Department of Agriculture isn't ready to publicly acknowledge the connection. "Meat is a very important part of a healthy diet, and we encourage people to eat healthy that's all I have to say," says Becky Walton, spokesperson for the state agency. Our state produces around 225,000 cows and 205 million chickens each year poultry is our largest agricultural export. And judging by our obesity levels, Whopper consumption isn't hurting either.
So What's for Dinner?
"I call the pig an omnivore with no dilemma, but we humans have a dilemma," says hog farmer DeFelice. "My pigs taste great, but you ought not to eat 21 servings a week either. The proper diet is to eat good food, not eat too much, and to eat mostly plants."
Although it'll require the government to repeal the subsidies that favor growing plants for animal rather than human consumption, a responsible diet appears to be the simplest and most effective way individual, concerned citizens can help the environment and reduce their carbon footprint. Can't afford a Prius? The University of Chicago found that switching to a vegan diet is 50 percent more effective at fighting global warming than trading in a standard car for a hybrid.
"I think that people are very happy to hear that there's something they can be doing on a daily basis that makes a big difference, without having to make a big investment," says PETA's Byrne.
So can there be such thing as a meat-eating environmentalist? Even if cutting out burgers and barbeque altogether isn't on the menu, for the conservation-minded, limiting meat consumption might be a sensible approach. Otherwise, the spiteful glare thus far reserved for Hummer drivers may soon come the way of the diner ordering a T-bone.
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http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=199924&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28
Gulf states ‘to drop’ dollar peg on Fed Reserve actionPublished: Wednesday, 6 February, 2008, 02:16 AM Doha Time
DUBAI: Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be forced to revalue their currency pegs this year following the dollar’s declines and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cuts, Bear Stearns has said.
Five Gulf nations lowered interest rates last week in step with the US to keep their links to the dollar even as inflation accelerates. When Saudi Arabia left rates unchanged after the Fed’s Sept. 18 reduction, the riyal rose to a 20-year high.
“It’s going to be very difficult for central banks in the region to have adequate control of monetary policy, and hence inflation, when the Fed is slashing rates left, right and centre and the dollar is slumping,” Steven Barrow, chief currency strategist in London at Bears Stearns, wrote in a client note yesterday.
Inflation accelerated to records in all GCC, states last year as the oil-rich nations sought to preserve their dollar links. The regional average was 6.3% in 2007, compared with 0.3% in 2001, according to Merrill Lynch & Co
The Fed cut its target rate for overnight bank lending by 1.25 percentage points in January to prevent the housing slump from pushing the world’s biggest economy into a recession.
The US Dollar Index traded on ICE Futures in New York, which tracks the currency against six major counterparts, dropped 0.7% last week to 75.45. It was at 74.48 on Nov. 23, the weakest level since the gauge started in 1973.
“The only way out, unless the Fed reverses course soon or the dollar soars, is to adjust the currency regime with either a free float, revaluation or the adoption of a currency basket,” Barrow wrote.
Speculation of a Gulf-wide revaluation is rising before a meeting between Saudi Arabia’s advisory council, the Shura, and the finance ministry and central bank, according to Barrow. Saudi Arabia is blocking other Gulf states, such as the UAE and Qatar, from revaluing their currencies, he said.
The meeting will take place on February 17, a newspaper reported at the weekend. “The authorities do not have to act on recommendations from the council and, of course, the council might not even recommend any currency change,” Barrow wrote.
Kuwait became the first GCC state to drop its currency peg to the dollar in May, linking it to a basket dominated by dollars but including the euro, yen and British pound.
Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, cut its benchmark rate for deposits by half a percentage point to 3% on January 31, while Kuwait and the UAE lowered their repo rates by the same amount to 3.5% and 3%, respectively.
Qatar and Bahrain reduced their deposit rates by half a point to 3%. Oman cut its repo rate 0.18 percentage point to 4.14% today, Dow Jones reported.
Traders see a 74% chance the Fed will lower its target for overnight bank lending by half a percentage point to 2.50% at its March 18 meeting, futures on the Chicago Board of Trade show. That compares with 70% yesterday and 14% a week ago.
“Central banks can take other measures to try to limit the damage, such as raising reserve requirements, but we are skeptical that this works and we are also concerned that such tactics can adversely affect the banking sector,” Barrow said. – Bloomberg
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http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=6489
The Official 9/11 Story Is Falling Apart
02-05-2008
www.roguegovernment.com
Lee Rogers
The official story of 9/11 is falling apart. Yesterday on the Alex Jones show, actor and musician Willie Nelson went on the record questioning the official 9/11 story. Nelson joins the ranks of an increasing number of celebrities and prominent individuals who believe that the official 9/11 story is a lie. Nelson cited the building collapses of the Twin Towers and compared them to a controlled demolition of a Las Vegas casino. He also talked about the improbable collapse of WTC-7 the 47-story building which was not hit by a plane, had very light fire damage yet collapsed in 6.5 seconds that same day. In the past, the corporate controlled media has attempted to discredit prominent Americans who have raised questions about the official 9/11 story. In 2006, Charlie Sheen was subjected to hit piece after hit piece by the mass media complex after he questioned the official 9/11 story. Rosie ODonnell was also subjected to the same treatment by the corporate controlled media when it became clear that she had questions about the official version of events. These attempts backfired and encouraged more people to investigate the countless anomalies that were not fully disclosed and reported on by the 9/11 Commission.
Considering that the attempts to discredit Sheen and ODonnell backfired and drew even more people to the 9/11 truth movement, the mass media complex might attempt to use a different strategy this time around. Instead of discrediting Nelson, they might try to ignore the story altogether. Last night, the Drudge Report actually linked to the Nelson story that was covered on Andrew Breitbarts web site. However, the story was taken down a few minutes after the story was linked to on the front page of the Drudge Report. It is interesting that the story was pulled so quickly, as stories generally stay on the page for hours if not days before they are cycled out. It is quite possible that Matt Drudge himself pulled the story acting on orders from his controllers. Besides the coverage from Breitbart, KVUE an ABC affiliate out of Austin, Texas provided TV coverage of the story. ABC News has now also provided coverage of the story on their web site.
It is painfully obvious that the Twin Towers and WTC-7 were brought down by explosives. Never before in the history of modern engineering have any high rise steel framed buildings collapsed as a result of fire damage. Amazingly the official story states that on 9/11, three buildings defied the laws of physics and collapsed due to fire damage from burning jet fuel. This is a ridiculous assertion based not only on a rudimentary understanding of physics, but historical precedent.
Besides the Nelson story, claims by Phillip Shenon in his new book The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation state that the 9/11 Commission was compromised and that Phillip Zelikow the 9/11 Commissions executive director attempted to limit the Bush administrations responsibility for the event. Zelikow is also widely reported to have had close ties to Condoleezza Rice prior to the formation of the 9/11 Commission. This information has been widely reported in the alternative media for years now, but has received very little attention by the corporate controlled press until this time. In addition, information on WTC-7 and other anomalies with the official 9/11 story were recently openly discussed in the Japanese Parliament. The fact of the matter is, that the 9/11 Commission was designed to whitewash the events of 9/11. The 9/11 Commission had the nerve to allow George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to speak with them together behind closed doors with no transcript available to the public. It is amazing that they were not forced to testify under oath in public view. The 9/11 Commission also declined to include in their final report, testimony from people who heard bombs going off in the buildings, refused to include information on the anomalies of WTC-7 and refused to dig into reports of Mohammed Atta being funded by the Pakistani ISI. Even worse, is that the proposed solution provided by the 9/11 Commission to prevent another 9/11 terrorist attack included ratcheting up an already draconian police state and continued investment into the technological control grid.
The official story of 9/11 is a lie and the 9/11 Commission Report is a fraud. Hopefully more celebrities and prominent individuals like Willie Nelson will come forward and question the lies that have given the criminals in the military industrial complex an excuse to fund perpetual war and a technological enslavement grid.
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