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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Go to 12939
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=7475
Wall Street Fears Next Great Depression
03-17-2008
London Independent

Wall Street is bracing itself for another week of roller-coaster trading after more than $300bn (£150bn) was wiped off the US equity markets on Friday following the emergency funding package put together by the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase to rescue Bear Stearns.

One UK economist warned that the world is now close to a 1930s-like Great Depression, while New York traders said they had never experienced such fear. The Fed’s emergency funding procedure was first used in the Depression and has rarely been used since.

A Goldman Sachs trader in New York said: “Everyone is in a total state of shock, aghast at what is happening. No one wants to talk, let alone deal; we’re just standing by waiting. Everyone is nervous about what is going to emerge when trading starts tomorrow.”

In the UK, Michael Taylor, a senior market strategist at Lombard, the economics consultancy, said on Friday night: “We have all been talking about a 1970s-style crisis but as each day goes by this looks more like the 1930s. No one has any clue as to where this is going to end; it’s a self-feeding disaster.” Mr Taylor, who had been relatively optimistic, has turned bearish: “It really does look as though the UK is now heading for a recession. The credit-crunch means that even if the Bank of England cuts rates again, the banks are in such a bad way they are unlikely to pass cuts on.”

Mr Taylor added that he expects a sharp downturn in the real UK economy as the public and companies stop borrowing. “We have never seen anything like this before. This is new territory for us. Liquidity is being pumped into the system but the banks are not taking any notice. This is all about confidence. The more the central banks do, the more the banks seem to ignore what’s going on.”

Mr Taylor added that the problems unravelling at Bear Stearns are just the beginning: “There will be more banks and hedge funds heading for collapse.”



Go to 12938
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=7481
Stock Guru Granville: We Are In A Crash
03-17-2008
Bloomberg

Joseph Granville and Robert Stovall, octogenarians who’ve seen every financial market downturn since the 1950s, say the current one may be the worst and is far from over.

Granville, born in 1923, remembers his banker father’s bad moods following the stock-market crash of 1929. The younger Granville began his career at defunct brokerage E.F. Hutton in 1957, quit in 1963 to begin publishing a weekly newsletter and wrote nine books on investing.

“We’re in a crash,” Granville, 84, said in a telephone interview from Kansas City, Missouri, where he lives and works. “This is the worst I’ve seen, and I’ve studied every bit of history all my life.”

U.S. stocks plunged to the lowest since July 2006 today after JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. for less than a 10th of its market value sent financial shares falling around the world. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index neared a so-called bear market drop of 20 percent from its Oct. 9 record.

Bear Stearns, the fifth-largest securities firm and once the biggest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, collapsed as the residential real-estate slump led to bank losses approaching $200 billion globally.



Go to 12937
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=7480
Dollars Tough To Sell On Amsterdam
03-17-2008
Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands.

"Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."

That's because the smaller currency exchanges -- despite buy/sell spreads that make it easier for them to make money by exchanging small amounts of currency -- don't want to be caught holding dollars that could be worth less by the time they can sell them.

The dollar hovered near record lows on Monday, with one euro worth around $1.58 versus $1.47 a month ago.

(Reporting by Svebor Kranjc, writing by Reed Stevenson)



Go to 12936
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=7486
Landlords Find Deals In Housing Crisis
03-17-2008
Reuters

The housing crisis and credit crunch may end the American dream of property ownership for millions of people, but for landlords seeking bargain investment properties the market is looking up.

"There will be a lot of product hitting the street in the coming months and it should be pretty cheap," said Mike Bacza, watching the bidding at a foreclosure auction last month in this western suburb of Chicago. "This year I expect I'll buy at least two multi-family units in a decent neighborhood."

The 48-year-old union carpenter is not ready to purchase today, but observes from the back of a large conference hall crowded where hundreds of people -- most of them investors -- are looking to snap up one of some 170 foreclosed homes.

"I'm on a reconnaissance mission," Bacza said, jotting down bids. "I want to know what's selling and for how much."

Building contractor Chad Blankenbaker seeks foreclosed homes to "flip" -- buying at well below market value, refitting then selling them at a hefty profit. "I'm shocked at how low the prices are here," he said. "There's so much inventory that no one has to fight to buy anything."

Around the country the housing crisis represents both a business opportunity for landlords and a huge shift in the rental market.

During the property boom, mortgage rates were low and people could buy a home with little or no money down, so there was no incentive for many Americans to rent.

"The U.S. rental market was nearly flat between 2000 and 2005," said Ken Fears, an economist at the National Association of Realtors. "Some landlords were so desperate to get tenants that we saw cases where they would offer three months free rent and other promotions to fill vacancies."

"Now mortgage rates have risen and it's harder to gain access to credit, allowing landlords to jack up rents for the first time in years," he added.

What is good news for small-time landlords, however, may not be good for publicly traded U.S. real estate investment trusts as the extra supply is expected to push prices down.

Some real estate analysts also worry that many landlords will turn their units into government-subsidized rental housing and stifle the rebirth of some U.S. inner city areas.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

For many people, the housing market is all bad news now.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on March 6 that in the fourth quarter of 2007 a record 0.83 percent of U.S. home loans entered the foreclosure process. The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate of 5.82 percent was the highest since 1985, the MBA said. Officials added that they didn't expect foreclosures to peak until mid- to late 2008.

Dave Webb, principal of Texas-based firm Hudson & Marshall, which held the auction in Lombard on behalf of lenders, said he expects business will be brisk all year, nationwide.

"Last year we sold 7,000 units, in '08 we should sell 15,000," he said. "If we had the capacity we could do 40,000."

Even markets like Chicago, which has not experienced the same boom-and-bust intensity of states like Florida or California, have seen many foreclosed homes hit the market.

According to real estate data company RealtyTrac, Chicago was the 30th ranked U.S. city for the percentage of homes with foreclosure filings in 2007. In absolute terms, its 73,469 filings put it in fourth place.

Auctions are often the last resort for lenders to offload foreclosed properties they could not sell using real estate agents. At the Lombard auction, most prices were around 60 percent to 70 percent off the list price -- itself well below market value. Projection screens showed photos of properties boarded up in inner city areas, but there were also many higher-end houses in wealthy suburbs up for sale.

"There's no emotion here," said real estate agent Greg Fisher, looking around the conference hall. "These investors know what to bid, what it will cost to get these properties into reasonable shape and what to sell or rent them for."

The lack of easy credit following the credit crunch means that there will be no shortage of renters in most markets.

"The housing crisis has removed the ability of people to get out of the rental market and onto the property ladder," said Van Johnson, president of the Georgia Association of Realtors.

John Vranas of Vranas & Chioros Realty Group, which owns rental properties throughout the Chicago area, said the "rental market has been firming since the first quarter of last year."

"We're now seeing normal vacancy rates of 3 percent to 5 percent compared with double digits during the property boom."

BMO Capital Markets analyst Rich Anderson said he expects that "an unprecedented flow of rental properties hitting the market could be a negative for multi-family REITs over the next few years."

He said the influx of properties could especially be a "thorn in the side" for REITs like Apartment Investment and Management Co and Camden Property Trust with exposure to hard-hit areas like Florida, Texas or California.

Observers like Boston-based real estate analyst John Anderson worry that investors will seek to get properties registered in government-subsidized rent programs. Commonly referred to as "Section 8" housing -- a reference to the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 -- under which the U.S. government guarantees the rent.

"Guaranteed cash flow like this actually raises the property's value," John Anderson said. "But flooding inner city neighborhoods with Section 8 housing will kill off the recovery or gentrification that has taken hold in recent years."

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Eddie Evans)



Go to 12935
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59138
The crumbling U.S. empire
Posted: March 16, 2008
6:57 pm Eastern
© 2008

House Democrats recently adopted a budget with massive tax hikes, many of which are directed at those Americans who can least afford them.

By allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire in 2010, this budget will raise income taxes not only on those in the highest income brackets, but raises the lowest bracket from 10 percent to 15 percent as well. Estates would again be taxed at 55 percent. The child tax credit would drop from $1,000 to $500. Senior citizens relying on investment income would be hurt by increases in dividend and capital gains taxes. It's not just that the Democrats want to raises taxes on the rich; they want to raises taxes on everybody.

The problem is, policing the world is expensive, and if elected officials insist upon continuing to fund our current foreign policy, the money has to come from somewhere. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost us more than $1 trillion.

The Democrats' budget gives the president all the funding he needs for his foreign policy, so one wonders how serious they ever were about ending the war. While Democrats propose to tax and spend, many Republicans aim to borrow and spend, which hurts the taxpayer just as much in the long run.

Supporting a welfare state is expensive as well. More than half of our budget goes to mandatory entitlements. The total cost of government now eats up more than half of our national income, as calculated by Americans for Tax Reform, and government is growing at an unprecedented rate. Our current financial situation is completely untenable, and the worst part is, as government is becoming more and more voracious, the economy is shrinking.

The bottom line is that Washington has a serious spending addiction. While both parties debate how to raise the revenue, both parties seem happy to spend more than $3 trillion of your money in various ways.

While some in Washington criticize the war in Iraq, very few are criticizing the interventionist mindset that got us into the war in the first place. Many so-called "Iraq war critics" criticize this administration rather than truly oppose the decades-old policies that led to war. They claim they will eventually get the troops out of Iraq, but the danger is that they simply plan to move them around to other countries, not bring them home. The American people want peace. Minding our own business is the best way to achieve it. Not only is it also a whole lot cheaper, but free trade and friendship with other countries benefits all involved.

This spending spree is exactly the wrong policy for an economy on the brink of recession. History has shown that all empires eventually crumble under a worthless currency and with an exhausted military.

Since too many of our nation's leaders haven't taken the time to learn from history, we are seeing mistakes repeated through recently enacted policies such as the new House budget.



Go to 12934
http://www.rense.com/general81/crimeag.htm
German Scientist Exposes
Chemtrails As Military Operations
Chemtrails are Covert Weather Warfare
Against Unsuspecting Populations
From Dick Eastman
3-16-8

A TV news report from Germany has confirmed that the German Military is manipulating the climate in Germany. As a result scientists have filed a lawsuit against the government for climate manipulation. ...

Go to 12933
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVc9GX5K

The video concludes, "We can state with a 97% certainty that we have on our hands chemical trails (chemtrails) comprised by fine dust containing polymers and metals... The purpose of chemtrails, which are well documented over the United State and other parts of the world, according to researchers, is to manipulate the weather.
Go to 12932
http://www.rense.com/general79/barium.htm

Karsten Brandt, German meteorologist states, "The Federal Army is Manipulating the Meteorological maps." ... Mr. Brandt in the interview, "I was surprised that this artificial cloud was so wide-spread. The radar images are stunning considering the needed tons of dispersed elements - although, the federal army claims that only small amounts of material were propagated. The military heads claim that the substances used are not harmful." ...


The forefront of these operations in the United States appears to be the US Navy, as detailed in "Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism & Toxic Warfare," by Dr. Len Horowitz. An alternative theory to direct toxification of the atmosphere to explain Chemtrails, is that a new weapon related to controlling weather events is being deployed. By creating droughts and thus famines, large populations could be easily controlled or eliminated. Other countries could be easily controlled and brought to their knees by a global power if the weather could be controlled or altered.

Johannes Remmel, German Green party representative states, "The government must provide explanations to the unsuspecting population." While radar is tracking suspicious aircraft, the Germany Military then uses counterfeit satellite imagery to hide their operations.

... In Germany, weather manipulation is prohibited, and I would likewise believe that it is prohibited in the U.S. as well.

Since Chemtrails are so widespread, I would rule out the idea that this is just military performing operations to disrupt radar signals as part of some sort of drill.

Many government watchdogs claim global depopulation, the targeted reduction of the world's population by two-thirds, is secretly the reason behind chemtrail spraying. ...

For a while I was confused between chemtrails, and contrails. Contrails are the exhaust of an air craft, it leaves a trail in the sky and the trail rapidly dissipates. With chemtrails, they initially look identical to contrails, but rather than the trail dissipating, the trail expands and then starts to look like a cloud. Over the Silicon Valley where I live, I daily witness these chemtrails starting and stopping from airplanes. In other words, the plane has control over the chemicals it is releasing. Also, I have noticed on some days the area is filled with a gray hazy muck, and the mountains almost disappear. This is highly unusual especially when just one day before, the mountains were totally clear.

Part of the undercurrents, at least in the United States, is the concept being marketing through radio, television and schools, that the earth is overpopulated. The idea of overpopulation, as the cause of our problems, was something that I had believed in for a time.

I believed in that idea until I realized the abundance of nature. Just seeing the amount of food produced by one healthy tree, and the millions of acres of unused land in central California, helped me understand Nature's abundance. ...


Humans are grossly misusing earth's delicate resources, and thus we have created an experience of lack and deprivation. The lack we experience is not natural, but a reflection of our disconnection from the source of life. ...

Every action, thought, and feeling has a cause and an effect. We all need to work together to bring more awareness to the dreaded reality - that our government seems bent on making this planet a military war zone. ...


Clandestine Weather Modification
By Dick Eastman
3-16-8



Go to 12931
http://depression2.tv/d2/node/42
Welcome to the Future
Sun, 03/16/2008 - 22:50 — manystrom
by Michael Nystrom
March 16, 2008

Last Friday we got a taste of what the future is likely to be like as we make our way further into the belly of the second great depression. The Fed rushed to bail out a venerable Wall Street institution, which was rumored to be insolvent. Sunday evening, that rumor was confirmed to be true, as Bear Stearns agreed to sell itself to JP Morgan for a paltry $2 per share. Two dollars! This for a firm that was trading at $170 just over a year ago, and was as high as $54 just Friday! If Bear Stearns is only worth $2 per share, how can we possibly say with any confidence what other "investment banks" are worth?


While this bankruptcy comes as a shock to nearly everyone, it should be a surprise to no one. The global financial system has been teetering on a precipice for years if not decades, pumped up by unsustainable amounts of debt at every level of the economy, and is primed for a crash. That the crash has been postponed countless times by even easier money lent to yet poorer credit risks has served only to instill a false sense of confidence in markets and to magnify the impending calamity that seems finally to be at hand. Warnings that have been sounded on websites such as this one appear finally to be coming true, as confirmed by none-other than the venerable Wall Street Journal in a front page article titled, "Debt Reckoning: US Receives a Margin Call."
The US is at the receiving end of a massive margin call: Across the economy, wary lenders are demanding that borrowers put up more collateral or sell assets to reduce debts.

The unfolding financial crisis - one that began with bad bets on securities backed by subprime mortgages, then sparked a tightening of credit between big banks - appears to be broadening further. For years, the US economy has been borrowing from cash rich lenders from Asia to the Middle East. American firms and household have enjoyed readily available credit at easy terms, even for risky bets. No longer.
Did you ever think news like that would ever make it off the internet and into the pages of the Wall Street J? Even I was beginning to have my doubts. But the news is seeping even further into the mainstream. This week's Time Magazine has an article titled "10 Ideas that are Changing the World." Idea #8 is "The New Austerity:"
Americans simply don't have enough money to pay back the mortgage and credit-card debt they've run up. That reality is forcing banks to retrench as loans gone bad shrink their capital bases and falling house prices shrink the collateral that homeowners can borrow against. And it will presumably force chastened consumers to change their ways as well.
Americans simply don't have enough money... What does it mean? It means defaults, economic loss and a spiral of fear and more loss. It means more Bear Stearns. Time's article quotes David Rosenberg, an economist at Merrill Lynch: "I'm not saying we're going back to our parents' level of frugality, but what we have witnessed in the past 20 to 30 years - and especially the parabolic credit growth of the last five years - is going to be bursting in the next decade." If not back to our parents' level of frugality, then what? To our grandparents' level? How can anything less be avoided, in an era when most people are already working full speed, maxed-out and yet still need credit to survive? And now they're cutting off the credit!? The result for households will be the same as for Bear - massive liquidation. And the Fed is in no position to do anything about it. The Fed is currently operating in triage mode - desperately trying to aid the banks and save the global financial system as we know it. But what ammunition does the Fed have to save the average American working stiff, who is up to his eyeballs in debt?



Go to 12930
http://www.rense.com/general81/worms.htm
5 Years After Iraq 'Liberation'
There Are Worms In The Water
By Hannah Allam
McClatchy Newspapers
3-17-8

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's most prominent clerics have ruled that using a water pump on one's own pipes is akin to stealing resources from a neighbor, so what does a person do when it takes half an hour to fill a cooking pot with water from the tap?

Iraqis pray for forgiveness, then pump away.

To them, the real crime is that five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq , they still swelter in the summer and freeze in the winter because of a lack of electricity. Government rations are inevitably late, incomplete or expired. Garbage piles up for days, sometimes weeks, emanating toxic fumes.

The list goes on: black-market fuel, phone bills for land lines that haven't worked in years, education and health-care systems degraded by the flight of thousands of Iraq's best teachers and doctors.

When the Iraqi government announced that 2008 would be "the year of services," workaday Iraqis had their doubts.

"Under Saddam's regime, we had limited salaries but we had security and decent services. Now, we have decent incomes but we lose it all to water, propane, groceries, fuel. We save nothing," said Balqis Kareem , 46, a Sunni Muslim housewife who lives in the predominantly Shiite Muslim district of Karrada. "This government gives with the right hand and takes away with the left."

At Kareem's modest, single-story home, a wall in the living room sprouts a tangle of electrical wires, a reflection of the three power sources she juggles throughout the day: the government's supply, her own small generator and the neighborhood's larger generator. Even so, for five years she hasn't been able to keep milk or meat in the refrigerator for more than a few hours because it spoils so quickly in the daily blackouts.

A kitchen cupboard holds a barely touched box of rationed tea, which Kareem described as "so bitter no amount of sugar can sweeten it." She said that she'd once used a magnet to clean metallic flakes from a bag of government-supplied rice. She barred her four children from drinking tap water after she found worms floating in a glass she'd poured.

The family's home phone rarely works, though earlier this month a worker from the phone company showed up demanding payment for calls that they both knew she hadn't made. Like so many employees of government utilities, he wanted a bribe.

"I just got to the point and told him, 'Don't waste my time. How much do you want?' " Kareem said. "He told me, I paid him and then went on with my day. I'm practical."

As another scorching summer approaches, everyone has to improvise to find electricity. Those who can't afford generators have to grease the meter men to look the other way as they splice wires and steal more than their permitted amount of power. At most, they'll be able to run a TV set, a couple of fluorescent bulbs and maybe the water pump. Of course, that's only when the electricity is on- never more than five hours a day and typically closer to two.

A popular joke here goes that a distraught boy approached his mother and sobbed that his father had touched a live wire and was electrocuted, to which the mother replied, "Thank God! There's electricity!"

When a reporter asked the official spokesman Ali Dabbagh how the Iraqi government could restore faith in its leaders' promises of services, he hung up the phone, offended at the question.

"Anyone who says that solving the services issue will take two or three years is exaggerating. Iraqi cities need years of work and billions of dollars," said Sadiq al Rikabi , a political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki . "The destruction that we inherited, which was increased by terrorism, makes the suffering of Iraqis very difficult. Ending this needs time and effort, but the prime minister is determined to start the work and, God willing, Iraqis will feel the improvement in the coming few months."

Adil Hameed , a senior adviser to the minister of electricity, defended his embattled employer, listing a number of setbacks to power production that range from the devastating looting of a main control center in the early days of the U.S.-led invasion to the shortages in Baghdad caused by populous southern provinces using far more than their allotted share of electricity.

This year's electrical infrastructure-improvement budget of $1.4 billion is half of what it would take to make a dent in the problem, Hameed said. Yet there have been modest gains: a month-old operations room that reports directly to the prime minister, the deployment of U.S. forces to protect electricity facilities and a stepped-up search for international companies to build power plants.

"We're now producing at about 50 percent, but the people get only about 25 percent of their needs because we use nearly half the production to supply Iraqi infrastructure such as hospitals and government departments," Hameed said, adding that he expected outages to increase as usual during the summer.

Increasingly, Iraqis are relying on militias and other armed groups to fill the services void. Stories abound of neighborhood militiamen commandeering power plants and forcing terrified engineers to flip the switches even during government blackouts, turning militants into heroes and further undermining the unpopular Maliki administration.

In some poor areas of Baghdad , militias or Iranian-backed charities have become the main source of propane tanks, food staples, garbage collection and other services that the government should provide.

"They always talk, but nothing is tangible so far," Karam Hussein , 60, a Shiite retiree, said of the government. He lives in Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood, which is mostly under the control of the Mahdi Army militia. "On the contrary, when they talk, things always get worse. It's better if they just stop talking."

In the hardscrabble, mostly Shiite neighborhood of Shohada, 67-year-old Hani Abdel Hussein is desperately trying to sell the family home in hopes of moving to an area with better services. Damage from a stray mortar shell that plunged through the roof isn't the only deterrent for buyers, however.

Trash collection is so sporadic that residents tie up their garbage in plastic bags and fling them onto a reeking pile at the end of the street. Electricity is mainly from a private generator, and water shortages have forced Abdel Hussein to shower at a public bathhouse in another neighborhood.

His land line has been dead for the past three years, though he recently received a bill for about $70 .

"If the phone actually worked, I'd be happy to pay today," the soft-spoken father of three said. "I don't believe it's that hard for the government to bring back services. But they had 50 sessions of parliament just to remove the stars from the flag. I guess they're too busy."

(McClatchy special correspondents Laith Hammoudi and Jinan Hussein contributed to this article from Baghdad)



Go to 12929
http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=174
JEWS ARE PLOTTING TO SEIZE our “right to bear arms.” This “right” is supposedly guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution.

Here are the Jews who want to seize the guns of American citizens:

Emanuel Celler

1968: The Gun Control Act of 1968 comes from NY Congressman Emanuel Celler. America’s biggest & most far-reaching Gun Control Law comes from this Jew.

Howard Morton Metzenbaum

1993: Senate Bill S.653 comes from Cleveland Jewish Senator Howard Metzenbaum. The Bill bans specific semiautomatic rifles.

1994: The Brady Bill which requires long waiting periods to buy handguns also comes from this Jew, Senator Metzenbaum.

Diane Feinstein

1993: The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 comes from San Francisco Jewish Congresswoman Diane Feinstein. The Bill bans the possession of semiautomatic rifles described as “assault weapons.” [Note: true assault weapons are fully automatic, not semiautomatic].

Alan Dershowitz

2001: In a speech to a Jewish audience at the Jewish Community Center of Creve Coeur, Harvard Jew Alan Dershowitz said:

— “I support abolishing self-defense. No one has the right to take responsibility for their own defense. That’s what the police are for. Everyone who is arming themselves for self-defense are wrong.

“I’m in favor of broad controls on guns. If I oppose individuals defending themselves, I have to support police defending them. I have to support a police state.” — Here


THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE USES THEIR $$$
TO BUY GUN CONTROL LAWS

THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE IS ONE OF THE MOST powerful Lobby Groups in America. US Senators and Congressmen are beholden to the $$$ power of the AJC which “buys” Bills that support its Jewish agenda.

The American Jewish Committee brags about the number of Gun Control Laws they have helped to ram through, or rather, “buy.” According to their own Website:

— “The AJC has a long history of supporting Gun Control Laws, including the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968, the Federal Assault Weapon Control Act of 1989, and the Brady Handgun Prevention Act of 1993.” — Here


HOW CAN WE STOP THE JEWS
FROM TAKING AWAY OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS?

Here are 3 options:

+ Accept the fact that Jewish $$$ decides what Bills get passed in Congress & the Senate.

+ Accept the fact that the Jews run America and will continue to deprive us of our freedoms.



Go to 12928
http://www.rense.com/general51/over51.htm
The Overthrow Of The
American Republic - Part 51
Plan To Attack Syria & Iran--Saving Bush
By Sherman H. Skolnick
4-7-4

Without a Declaration of War by Congress, the Bush White House and their War Cabinet intend to go forward with a secret plan to spread the Mid-East conflict by an attack on Syria and Iran.

This comes at a time that the U.S. foreign invasion of Iraq appears to be spinning out of control. Insurgents are attacking U.S. troops across the country.

The justification for the plan includes the following but is not limited thereby:

1. That alleged satellite images from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, NRO, purport to show that the spreading shoot-back within Iraq is, in part, from weapons supplied in part from Iran and from weapons trans-shipped through Syria.

2. The weapons supposedly contain toxic substances including bio-chemical agents to be supposedly let loose on U.S. forces, together with the small number of coalition troops, within Iraq.

3. Further purported justification is that the use of such weapons within Iraq by purported insurgents might, inevitably, draw Israel into the conflict. In that, Israel, being nearby, would feel endangered thereby. And further, Israel has already quietly informed the Bush White House and their War Cabinet, that Israel reserves the sovereign right to defend themselves, with sub-nuclear retaliatory weapons if they so deemed it necessary .This, against whosover appears to be, or is actually, threatening the entire safety of Israel, surrounded as they are by religious enemies pledged to the destruction of that tiny sliver of map. [Americans find it convenient to forget that the British, to control the Arab oil fields, in 1948, inserted the Jews to be amongst their mortal enemies, and be surrounded by enemies, to forever irritate the Arabs, with the Jews and Arabs attacking each other, with no clear-cut remedy available.]

4. Dissidents amongst U.S. Admirals and Generals, as "flag officers", contend they have documented, irrefutable proof, as follows:

(a) That Daddy Bush together with certain crazies in the Joint Chiefs Of Staff, on behalf of a faction in the Aristocracy, felt the necessity for a latter day "Pear Harbor". To force the half-asleep U.S. populace to warrant a necessary attack by the West on the Moslem world, in part to control large reserves of in-ground petroleum, such as in Iraq. This at a time that the Saudi oilfields were scheduled in a few years to be tapped out. [Pearl Harbor was to mask the U.S. entering the War to save the ill-equipped British in their War with Germany. About the same number of Americans were "thrown away", sacrificed by the Aristocracy, December 7, 1941, and on September 11, 2001.]

A similar but aborted plan, 39 years prior to 9-11, was documented in a book that was published right before September 11, 2001, "Body of Secrets" by James Bamford.
It details "Northwoods" Plan, a scheme to blow up U.S. airplanes with innocent Americans onboard, and similar orchestrated violence, in 1962, to falsely blame onto Fidel Castro, to start an out-cry for the U.S. invasion and seizure of Cuba.

Under the prior conceived home-grown plan for 9-11, it was designed to be blamed onto Saudi exchange students and such others, resident in the U.S. on U.S. military facilities, to be the "airplane hi-jackers" and patsies. [No such Arabs were onboard the purported airplanes hi-jacked, or actual ground-controlled drones. ] George W. Bush was simply forewarned by Daddy Bush, unconstitutionally the actual controller of the White House, to "stay out of it", delay any action. So although informed of two planes or something similar, hitting the twin towers at the New York World Trade Center, George W. Bush, nevertheless, continued to joke about goats with Grammar School students at a school in Florida. Bush, Jr., did nothing, as Commander-in-Chief , to counter-mand a U.S. Military stand-down for that very morning.

(b) To also jexplain away the seizure by U.S. forces of Afghanistan to enable certain oil interests, including the Bush Crime Family, to profitably run a oil and gas pipeline across Afghanistan. And from there to Pakistan, India, China, and points East. This from a time prior to 9-11, that Condoleeza Rice, a Director of Chevron-Pennzoil-Texaco, with large Bush ownership; she did not succeed in her negotiations with Osama bin Laden, as to the per centage to be paid to the Taliban and others for pipeline approval.

With the eventual U.S. grab of Afghanistan right after 9-11, but conceived by the Bushies prior thereto, two top consultants of the Chevron oil cartel became the top officials of the U.S. puppet government in Kabul.

5. Daddy Bush and George W. Bush have become aware that the current dissident "flag officers", have been planning, at least since March 20, 2003, if not before, to arrest their Commander-in-Chief, as authorized by the Uniform Military Code. If the White House occupant and resident arrests them for mutiny, if they are not assassinated, then they intend to defend themselves at Courts Martial, with the irrefutable, documented proof of treason against the U.S. Constitution and the American people, committed by George W. Bush and his father.

[On our website and others, and on radio talk shows, we ran exclusive details since about 1996 of a smaller but similar group of 24 "flag officers" who vowed to arrest Comander-in-Chief Bill Clinton for treason. Ten of them were assassinated, some of whom we named only after their murder, pledged as we were to complete secrecy. Included were General David McCloud, head of the Alaska Military District. And Admiral Jeremy Boorda, Chief of Naval Operations, highest naval officer in Uniform, head of the patriotic military team. He was falsely described as having "committed suicide" with two different caliber of weapons, shooting himself, supposedly, in the chest and head. [Clinton's assassins falsely justified their killing of Admiral Boorda, with statements that since he was a Jew, that by their twisted view of the world, he was automatically plotting against a sweet nice Christian, named William Rockefeller Clinton. As to Clinton and the Rockefellers, visit our website series, "Wal-Mart and the Red Chinese Secret Police".]

6. The current dissident "flag officers" have documented, irrefutable proof:

(a) that Daddy Bush and George W. Bush had prior knowledge and were part of a home-grown, NOT Moslem, plot to murder several thousands supposedly "expendable" Americans, to make half-awake Americans approve of a supposedly American Christian war against the Moslem World. Seldom mentioned, naturally, is that centuries prior, the Christian Crusades against the Moslem World, were a failure. And that a Kurd, Saledin, rallied that part of the planet against the West.

(b) that there was no basis for a supposed pre-emptive strike against, and U.S. foreign invasion of, Iraq. That Saddam Hussein, became one of the richest men on the planet while a private business partner of George Herbert Walker Bush.
[Visit our website series as to the unpublicized pertinent Chicago Federal lawsuit, "The Secrets of Timothy McVeigh", as to the Saddam/Bush business relationship. Other details, earlier parts of this series.]

(c) that the U.S. Military did themselves NOT capture, in December, 2003, Saddam Hussein. He was seized by the Kurds and held by them for U.S. ransom. The pay-off, they demanded, was for 40 Billion Dollars and that Kurdistan be a separate nation, not under the domination of a supposed "New" Iraq, or Turkey across the border with their Kurd population, or the U.S.

The Bushies took over the custody of Saddam. Thereafter, to double-cross the Kurds, George W. Bush ordered the American CIA to murder, by bombing, hundreds of Kurd leaders and followers at a Kurd meeting where many hundreds of Kurds were also severely wounded.

7. The secret plan to spread the conflict to Iran and to Syria, consists of the following, but is not limited thereby:

(a) The U.S. is to use "smart-bombs", missiles, and other airborne and other weapons, to supposedly surgically destroy supposed targets in Iran, where by weapons to Iraq insurgents are being supplied, and from places in Syria from which they are trans-shipped.

(b) the supposed targets are to be shown to half-awake Americans as alleged satellite images from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. BUT, remember, in 1991, Daddy Bush, then President, had lured Saddam Hussein in going forward with his nation's longstanding grievance against Kuwait. That the Kuwait royal family were slant-drilling into Iraq oil fields and that Kuwait was unlawfully keeping Province 19, part of Iraq, as supposed Kuwait territory. U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie falsely assured Saddam that the U.S. would NOT interfere with Iraq pursuing their grievance.

Left unsaid, of course, was that Kuwait, and Saudi, that far into the 20th Century, were still keeping black chattel slaves. And that U.S. Troops, a substantial number being Afro-Americans, were falsely sent into this situation, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, outlawing slavery and making the protecting of slave-masters illegal. [Visit earlier parts of this series.]

So, in 1991, to alarm Americans, and to scare the degenerate Saudi royals to let loose with more Billions for the Bush Crime Family, the Daddy Bush White House used fraudulent supposed "satellite images", showing Saddam's troops already passed through Kuwait and gathering on the Saudi border.

8. Daddy Bush as White House controller and the occupant and resident of the White House (who we refuse to label as "President" because the other candidate won the popular vote, the Electoral Vote was stolen by Bush/and five U.S. Supreme Court Judges, and so the actual elected President was NOT inaugurated)---have secretly arranged with the Five-Judge, Military-style Junta on the U.S. Supreme Court, as follows:

(a) that the high court majority will see to it that no lower federal court is permitted to take jurisdiction of any suit contending the planned attacks, or attacks underway, by the U.S. on Iran and Syria, are unconstitutional and not pursuant to a Congress-voted Declaration of War.This has been secretly arranged with and through Associate high court Justice Antonin Scalia, a latter-day iron-fisted Fascist mindset purported judge. In plain street lingo, a "Go To Hell" Judge. As we have earlier stated, Scalia, on the bench, represents the Billion Dollar stock portfolio of Rockefeller's University of Chicago. In violation of the perjury provisions, and the mandatory federal judge annual financial disclosure, Scalia has not so divulged. Many of the stock interests he thus represents are war-mongering corporations.

(b) Thus, no court or other challenge to the secret plan of Daddy Bush and George W. Bush, will be permitted by the Fascist majority sitting supposedly on the nation's highest tribunal. For the Bushies to so arrange this, is,of course, a violation of the U.S. Constitution's provisions for Separation of Powers, Executive, Legislative, Judicial branches.

9. The current crisis is perfect in view of related events:

(a) because of financial hardships and dislocations, there is in the U.S. an epidemic of anti-Jew sentiment, inclining to blame all the planet's problems on "the Jews", the so-called Jew bankers, the Jew-owned mass media, and so on. Some point, to no avail, to documented studies, such as Martin Mayer's book "The Bankers", that only one bank-bank, that is, a bank housed in a building, in the whole U.S., has as much as one top official, a Jew. Others point, to no avail, to the documented study, "The New Crowd: The Changing of the Jewish Guard on Wall Street", by Judith Ramsey Ehrlich and Barry J. Rehfeld, how the international bond houses with German Jewish names, and head people with Jewish-sounding surnames, have not been actual Jews for more than three generations, having long since converted to being Lutherans, Catholics, and such. It likewise avails nothing to point out that the major media do have managers and supervisors with Jewish surnames, BUT THE ACTUAL OWNERS are not Jews. For example, Citicorp, the actual owners are members of the Saudi Royal Family and the Rockefellers.

(b) The epidemic of anti-Jew sentiment in America has been fed, very conveniently, by the Mel Gibson movie. See my website series "The Ash Wednesday Plot". So that those with Jewish last names are immediately dismissed as worthless when commenting with criticism of the Bushies and their war-mongering. Such as the commentators on the newly created Air America Radio network.

10. Among the motives for the secret planned attack on Syria and Iran, is to save George W. Bush. So that the highly patriotic dissident Admirals and Generals might reconsider arresting him as their Commander-in-Chief, for the treason committed by him and Daddy Bush.

WHAT will stop the war-mongers of America, spreading the Mid-East conflict, into an all-out war against the Moslem and Persian World?



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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8213
Israel raises the ante against Iran
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi – Asia Times March 14, 2008

We are in no danger at all of having an Iranian nuclear weapon dropped on us. We cannot say so too openly, however, because we have a history of using any threat in order to get weapons ... thanks to the Iranian threat, we are getting weapons from the US and Germany."
- Israeli author, Martin van Crevled, June 2007.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on a speaking tour in the United States, putting her considerable personal charm in the service of a shrewd salesmanship - of a US war on Iran.

Although considered a dove by Israeli standards, Livni is now on a historic mission that has begun with a pre-travel warmer in the form of a highly publicized telephone call to the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, assuring him that there is direct linkage "between Iran and the terror groups".

Coinciding with the ominous news that US CENTCOM chief Admiral William Fallon has resigned - or been sacked - for his opposition to a war with Iran, Livni hopes to harvest a blowing wind of war against another Middle Eastern country that dares to challenge Israel's regional hegemony. It is a familiar story with a recent precedent in Iraq and a script for action, requiring high-pitched public diplomacy with the help of a vast network of sympathetic media pundits, that Israel has fully mastered.

Last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's pressure on Israel "to honor peace obligations" fell on deaf ears and as far as Israel is concerned the so-called "Annapolis roadmap" - to have a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital - is a sideshow to a sideshow, with the central focus on the "Iran threat", just as it was on the "Iraq threat" a mere few years ago.

But, of course, the Israelis and their infinite reservoir of support in the US would rather the world fall into a Nietzschean "sham of forgetfulness" on how aptly, and cunningly, they sold the perception of Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda and even his direct connection to the September 11, 2001, atrocities.

Although the US government has conclusively found no evidence of such connections, the various pro-Israel pundits who excelled in their assignment to propagate that false image, refuse to acknowledge their error, let alone recant.

Chief among the latter is an Israeli-turned-US citizen, Laurie Mylroie, who was given free access to the US media as a "terrorism expert" prior to the US's invasion of Iraq, advertising her book on Saddam and September 11, time and again repeating the line that the September 11 attacks "had to be sponsored by a state", that is, Iraq.

In compensation for a job well done, Mylroie landed a full professorship at a US university, despite the fully questionable and empirically refuted nature of her unfounded allegations against Saddam. Who knows, maybe she is even the recipient of an Israeli medal of honor for her unique salesmanship of war.

This time, however, with the stakes on Iran relatively higher, the discrete charm of the affable Livni is fully required to pave the way for another disastrous war in the Middle East, since Israel is incapable of peace with the Palestinians and is in dire need of other pretexts to channel public attention away from its oppressive policies against the Palestinian people.

This is reflected in the Israeli government's blunt announcement of a new settlement in the West Bank, timed with Rice's visit, which must have surely sent a signal that no matter how it may be interpreted as a provocation that belies the peace process, Israel's policy of annexation and confiscation of Palestinian lands will continue unabated.

But not everything proceeds according to Israel's wishes, given the United Nations' recent condemnation of Israel's "excessive force" against the Palestinians in Gaza. Much as Livni and other Israeli officials hope otherwise, there is a limit to the gullibility of US public, who are averse toward another costly US "proxy war" on Israel's behalf. No matter how many US editorials spin their services in this direction, the fact remains there is a growing healthy concern in the US regarding the undue influence of Israel on US foreign policy.

Unfortunately, that healthy skepticism is presently staved off by a sophisticated public relations ploy on Israel's part that blames Iran for the death of the peace process and exonerates Israel, while presenting a caricature of independence-seeking Palestinians as mere proxies of Iran's "messianic fundamentalists".

Such self-serving image projections of the Iranian enemy conveniently overlook US-Iran shared interests in the region and, instead, seek desperately to paint a black and white picture of US-Iran relations as a zero-sum game. Of course, this is a harder sell, as the US and Iran both support the same regimes in Baghdad and Kabul and also have a vested interest in preventing the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

Meanwhile, amid new US allegations of Iranian subversive activities in Iraq, a fourth round of US-Iran talks has been postponed and, per an informed Iranian analyst, that is simply because the US does not want to negotiate with Iran from the position of weakness since Tehran has gained much as a result of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent trip to Baghdad. "The US should make a strategic adjustment with Iran or continue with its cold war crusade that is disfunctional because Iran and the US have common interests in the region," the analyst insisted.

So, the clever Israelis and their friends have mounted a serious campaign to convince the world that Iran is in bed with the Taliban and also with al-Qaeda, as well as with practically "every terror group opposed to the US", to paraphrase Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns at his recent talk at Harvard University.

Burns, who was the US's pointman on Iran until recently, boasted of his role in US-Israel strategic dialogue and put a complete seal of approval on Israel's warmongering policy with regard to Iran. Surely, this will earn Burns a suitable position in the next US administration, another reminder of how real change in US foreign policy is foreclosed by the recycling of complaint, pro-Israel voices in the US government. [1]

In conclusion, the waning months of the George W Bush administration represent a golden opportunity for Israel to ignite another Middle East conflict that, in essence, is rooted in Israel's structural inability to make peace with the Arab and Muslim world.

Note
1. At his Harvard talk, Burns discounted the importance of the recent US intelligence report on Iran, regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear work, and insisted the US is determined to stop Iran's development of its "nuclear weapon capability", which he defined first and foremost in terms of Iran's uranium enrichment program. He dispensed with the argument that the International Atomic Energy Agency can detect any diversion from that program, which is allowed under the articles of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, nor did Burns address the question of why the US continues to refuse giving security guarantees to Iran.

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He also wrote "Keeping Iran's nuclear potential latent", Harvard International Review, and is author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.



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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8223
Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
by Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer – via Global Reserch March 14, 2007

The following oped by Eliot Spitzer was published barely a month prior to the unfolding scandal and his demise as Governor of the State of New York.

Does the scandal bear any relationship to Spitzer's intent to reveal the criminal nature of the subprime mortgage scam and the role of the Bush administration? Was the scandal intended to silence Eliot Spitzer?

(M. C. Global Research, 14 March 2008)


Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer – Washington Post February 14, 2008

"When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers."

(Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of the State of New York)

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.
Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation.

Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a precarious position.

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8330



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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8225
Venezuela opts for oil contracts in euros: report
Associated Press – March 15, 2008

Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA has decided to sign some oil contracts in euros in the face of a plummeting dollar, local media reported, citing officials.

"There are some contracts in euros, contracts for crude, products and spot markets in euros. This is a subject which we are working on," said energy minister and Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) chief, Rafael Ramirez, in an interview with the journal El Universal published Friday.

It remained unclear which oil sales would require payment in euros.

Venezuela, Latin America's leading petroleum producer, has previously backed Iran's proposals for OPEC to abandon the dollar and use the euro for oil pricing. But the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has rejected the idea, at least in the short-term.

The head of the journal Petroleum World, Elio Ohep, said the shift to euros was "good business" for Venezuela.

"PDVSA always had an interest to negotiate in dollars because the company had refineries in the United States and needed cash but currently with the euro rising, it is taking in more dollars and (Venezuelan) bolivars," he said.

The dollar hit new lows this week against the euro and yen, with the euro at 1.5669 dollars at 21000 GMT on Friday.

Venezuela produces 3.3 million barrels of oil a day, according to official figures, and 2.4 million according to the International Energy Agency. Half of its production is sold to the United States market.



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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8229
US enters 'checkbook war' with China
By Dmitry Shlapentokh – Asia Times March 15, 2008

One might assume that the approaching end of the George W Bush presidency is the beginning of the end of the American empire, at least as empire-building is usually seen - as an attempt to impose power on others by force.

The reason is simple: US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are badly stretched, and the pleas of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to European countries to send more combat troops have fallen on deaf ears. Still, John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, notes that the war could proceed "for a hundred years".

The war in the Middle East is qualitatively different from the Vietnam War, in which McCain participated. In withdrawing from Southeast Asia, the US actually put itself out of danger, its battered prestige notwithstanding. The point is that Vietnam would not make any attempt to create problems for the US at the end of formal hostilities.

The situation is entirely different in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US debacle will lead to intensifying efforts to harm American interests - and not only those of the US, but countries all over the globe.

From this perspective, the current wars are open-ended conflicts from which the US cannot extricate itself. Therefore, one could argue that the American empire is coming to its end and its global span could well be replaced by other powers, with China as the major candidate. The present situation in Africa serves as a prime example.

Recently, Bush visited Africa. While on the surface this was an expression of goodwill and an indication of US concern for African problems - poverty and the spread of pandemic disease, mostly - there were other purely pragmatic implications of the visit. One of these was Washington's attempt to counter China's growing influence. And in this competition with China, the US employs a weapon quite different from those used in Afghanistan and Iraq: the checkbook.

Financial and economic assistance was widely used during the Cold War. In fact, in Africa, as well as in other parts of the world, attachment to either "socialism" or "capitalism" was directly connected to the amount of cash or assistance received from the respective superpowers. And while the former Soviet Union could often prevail in the case of direct military confrontation between its proxy and the Americans' proxy, it usually failed when the checkbook was employed. The US could easily outspend its rival, as at the time it was engaged in a "checkbook war" on a global scale.

These goodwill trips, which often went along with the distribution of American largesse, were one of the important aspects of US foreign policy of the period. Nothing of this sort can be seen today. For example, in Bush's recent visit to Africa, undertaken on the last leg of his presidency, the amount distributed to African countries has already been given or pledged by Beijing.

The increasing inability of the US to compete with China was voiced some time ago by former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who stated there is a moral reason why the US cannot provide financial help to as many countries as China. Wolfowitz claimed the US helps only those countries with solid democratic credentials, whereas China provides funds to anyone, even to regimes that grossly violate human rights. This assumption does not hold water, for in the past the US has provided generous funding to any regime, regardless if this was in Washington's best interests.

The problem with present-day moralizing is not due to any alleged increase in the US's moral sensitivity, but is much more related to the simple fact that US resources for a "cash war" are dwindling, at least in comparison to the war chests of the other players, such as China.

It can be stated that the decline of American influence is of no interest to the majority of average Americans. Moreover, many assume that the so-called end of the US empire will mean more American money will be spent at home. Still, the shrinking of the US's imperial presence in Africa and elsewhere would correspondingly shrink its access to vital natural resources. At the same time, access to these resources will increase China's economic might and influence all over the world, the US included.

This aspect of America's global influence has not been discussed by any of the contenders for the presidency. And this is easily understood: the average Joe believes that the American system in both its internal and external applications works perfectly well. Just replace a "bad" president with a "good" one, whoever he or she will be, and the problems will be solved.

This is completely understood by those competing for the White House, and none of the presidential candidates will tell the public about losing the "checkbook" war to China and the implications of the defeat, which might be more serious in the long run than American defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Dmitry Shlapentokh, PhD, is associate professor of history, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Indiana University South Bend. He is author of East Against West: The First Encounter - The Life of Themistocles, 2005.
www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JC15Ad02.html



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3.16.2008 8:15AM
What's the Fuel of the Future? Ask E-Roy
Why You Have to Spend Energy (And Money) To Make Energy
Del.icio.us newsvine stumble What is share?
By Jim DiPeso

One of the occupational hazards of working in the environmental trades is that your head is soon stuffed with acronyms.

Well, here’s one more to fit into your vocabulary. Get familiar with it, because understanding it will be critical for evaluating energy choices as oil brushes against $110 per barrel, coal prices surge, and politicians cast around for alternatives.

The acronym is EROEI. Here’s why it’s worth knowing: When oil was at $20 per barrel, alternatives to conventional fossil technologies seemed like pie in the sky. At $110 per barrel, the pie is on the shelf at a competitive price. But how do we know which flavor to buy?

EROEI can help us decide. EROEI stands for Energy Return On Energy Invested. For clarity, let’s just call it E-Roy.

Every source of energy has an E-Roy rating. To get energy, you have to invest energy in order to produce it, process it, transport it, and store it.

Another way of expressing E-Roy is your return on energy investment. A high net means you get much more energy back than you put in. The bigger the surplus, the more energy at our disposal to create economic wealth.

In 1930, wildcatter Columbus “Dad” Joiner drilled an exploratory well in Rusk County, Texas, that set off one of the great oil booms of the 20th century. Within a few months, more than 100 wells per day were going into production. The National Guard was called in to keep order in the fields.

For every barrel of oil that was expended producing oil from the East Texas oilfield, 100 barrels went to market, a net surplus of 99 barrels.

The huge energy surpluses produced from East Texas and other supergiant oilfields with high E-Roy ratings fueled the industrial machine that won World War II and set the stage for the postwar economic boom.

But that was then. Diminishing returns have set in. Resources like the East Texas oilfield that produce very large energy surpluses with very high E-Roy ratings are much harder to come by today. In the future, absent an unforeseen technological breakthrough, it’s likely we’ll have to spend more energy to get energy. That goes for fossil fuels and for their renewable and nuclear competitors.

In the U.S. today, the E-Roy for conventional oil is anywhere from 11:1 to 18:1. For every barrel of oil expended for production, 11 to 18 barrels go to market. That’s not bad, but it’s not East Texas in its glory years either.

E-Roys for alternative fuels are worse. Some politicians wax poetic about the vast size of oil sands and oil shale resources, but getting useful fuel out of the Alberta tar pits requires a great deal more energy than carting off the gusher from Dad Joiner’s well did.

The numbers vary depending on whom you ask, but a safe guess is that the E-Roy of oil sands is around 3 to 1. For every unit of energy you invest, you get only three back, producing a marketable surplus of only two barrels.

Corn-based ethanol is another dreg. For every unit of energy growing and processing corn, only one and a half units of ethanol go to market. Cane-based ethanol is better, with an E-Roy of 8 to 1.

E-Roy is not the only criterion for making wise energy choices. Other considerations include the impacts of energy resources on human health and the environment, their usefulness, and whether they are easily moved or stored.

Solar photovoltaic systems, for example, have a lower E-Roy than coal. The need to cap and reduce carbon emissions may be the factor that enables solar to cut into coal’s market share.

But E-Roy is an important reason why energy difficulties will be with us for the long term and why yesterday's thinking about solutions won't work. So when you pull into a gas station this summer and the price reads $4 per gallon, you’ll know that E-Roy was here.



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http://www.rense.com/general81/mcroth.htm
McCain...Manchurian
Candidate à la Rothschild
From Elmer Lane
3-17-8

Under the headline "Lord Rothschild Backs John McCain"

The Washington Post(March 15, 2008) informs us that "Sen. John McCain plans at least one campaign event on his week-long congressional trip to Europe and the Middle East: a March 20 fundraiser in London. An invitation sent out by the campaign says the luncheon will be held at Spencer House, St. James's Place, 'by kind permission of Lord Rothschild OM GBE and the Hon Nathaniel Rothschild.' Tickets to the invitation-only event cost $1,000 to $2,300. Attire is listed as "lounge suits.
How innocent is that?
"The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets." This remark was made by an earlier Nathan Rothschild, the one who reduced the Bank of Englands gold reserves by 100,000 pounds by cahsing hundreds of small notes, almost sinking that institution because the bank would not cash his one of his larger notes. You will note that as blood has been running in Wall Street Goldman Sachs has been investing billions in its hedge funds, paying off %16 percent in just one month, "contrarian-like-a-fox" profitably buying up selected assets as share prices tumble. But the Rothschilds are also playing this game with their hedge funds. Are they placing bets which McCain will turn into sure things? Consider what is behind that question:


"Nathaniel Philip Rothschild (b. 1971), British investor, co-chairman of Atticus Capital. More than 200 years after Mayer Amschel Rothschild founded the family dynasty that offered discreet counsel and investment wisdom to kings, queens, emperors and industrial titans, his 35-year-old direct descendant, Nathaniel, has emerged as a kingmaker in his own right and an investor who some say may become the richest Rothschild of them all. In five short years, the man in line to be the fifth Baron Rothschild became close to becoming a billionaire through a web of private equity investments in Ukraine, Eastern Europe and most significant, his partnership stake in Atticus Capital, the fast-growing $14 billion hedge fund. Rothschild began his career in 1994 at Lazard Brothers Asset Management in London, before joining Gleacher Partners, the New York-based mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm founded by Eric Gleacher, former head of M&A at Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. Rothschild is partner and co-chairman of Atticus Capital LLC, an international investment management firm established in 1995, that has offices in New York and London. Mr. Rothschild is also a director of RIT Capital Partners plc, and a director of The Rothschild Foundation. Rothschild is a member of the Belfer Center's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Barrick Gold Corporation. Mr. Rothschild was nominated as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum in 2005. Among the top money makers of the world almost all of the money coming from earnings of his investment in Atticus Capital hedge fund. He is partner and co-chairman of Atticus. In addition to his responsibilities at Atticus, Rothschild is director of RIT Capital Partners, his father's publicly traded U.K. investment trust. He is also director of JNR Ltd. -- the initials stand for Jacob and Nathaniel Rothschild -- a merchant banking boutique that specializes in emerging markets. Like his forebears, Nathaniel Rothschild prefers that his influence remain unseen. Mr. Rothschild is a principal adviser to Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest oligarchs in Russia and the owner of the aluminum giant Rusal, which recently merged with two other companies to create the world's largest aluminum company. Mr. Rothschild received no public credit despite having played a crucial role in getting the deal done.


"Lord Jacob Rothschild, OM GBE was born Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, the fourth Baron Rothschild. The 78 year old merchant banker is President of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, an organization dedicated to cooperation in research, analysis and policy planning on issues affecting Jewish life worldwide. He is head of the English branch of the Rothschild family and chairman of RIT Capital Partners plc. Lord Rothschild is a member of the board of trustees of the Open Russia Foundation and serves as chairman of Yad Hanadiv, the Rothschild foundation which built and handed over to the State of Israel the buildings for both the Knesset and the Supreme Court. He is also Chairman of Rothschild Investment Trust (now RIT Capital Partners plc), an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange. He is a shareholder in Rothschild Continuation Holdings, the Swiss-based holding company for the Rothschild interests which has positions in many of the family businesses, including the bank N M Rothschild & Sons. From his headquarters in St James's Place in London, Jacob Rothschild has cultivated an influential set of clients, business associates and friends who have extended his interests far beyond the normal scope of a banker. He maintains strong personal and business links with Henry Kissinger. His country estate has been a regular venue for visiting heads of state including Bill Clinton. He hosted the European Economic Round Table conference in 2002, attended by such figures as James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, Nicky Oppenheimer, Warren Buffett and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Forbes magazine poses lower ranking billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett as the richest men in the World. Retired management consultant Gaylon Ross Sr, author of Who's Who of the Global Elite, has been tipped from a private source that the combined wealth of the Rockefeller family in 1998 was approx (US) $11 trillion and the Rothschilds (U.S.) $100 trillion. A recent article in the London Financial Times indicates why it is impossible to gain an accurate estimate of the wealth of the trillionaire bankers. Discussing the sale of Evelyn Rothschild's stake in Rothschild Continuation Holdings, it states: ...[this] requires agreement on the valuation of privately held assets whose value has never been tested in a public market. Most of these assets are held in a complex network of tax-efficient structures around the World. The power of the Rothschild family was evidenced on 24 Sept 2002 when a helicopter touched down on the lawn of Waddedson Manor, their ancestral home in Buckinghamshire, England. Out of the helicopter strode Warren Buffet, - touted as the second richest man in the World but really a lower ranking player- and Arnold Schwarzenegger (the gropinator), at that time a candidate for the Governorship of California. Also in attendance at this two day meeting of the World's most powerful businessmen and financiers hosted by Jacob Rothschild were James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank and Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of De Beers. Arnold went on to secure the governorship of one of the biggest economies on the planet a year later. That he was initiated into the ruling class in the Rothschilds' English country manor suggests that the centre of gravity of the three hundred trillion dollar cartel is in the U.K. and Europe not the U.S. "

"United Kingdom banker N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd. is one of the last remaining of the great family-controlled banking dynasties established in the 19th century. Dwarfed by its larger, public rivals, Rothschild nonetheless remains a mythical name in the banking world. N M Rothschild provides banking and treasury financing services, treasury metals, and resource banking, including a central position in the world bullion markets, investment banking services (together with its joint-venture partnership with ABN AMRO), and risk management services. Since the 1990s, N M Rothschild has been taking steps to consolidate the operations of the various and far-flung Rothschild financial operations, most of which operate as subsidiaries under the Rothschild family-controlled Rothschild Continuation Holdings AG, established in Switzerland in the early part of the 20th century to protect the family's ownership of its banking empire. N M Rothschild has also been working in close cooperation with the--independent--Paris branch of Rothschild banking interests, Rothschild & Cie, led by David de Rothschild, who also functions as deputy chairman of N M Rothschild and is the heir-apparent to chairman and long-time leader Evelyn de Rothschild.

"N M Rothschild found plenty of work in the great wave of British privatization that swept the country during the late 1980s. The company was involved in a number of the country's most ambitious privatization programs, including the £5.6 billion privatization of British Gas in 1986, the exit of the British government from British Petroleum in 1987, and the privatization of the United Kingdom's water and sewage industry in 1989. At the same time, N M Rothschild, while remaining true to its family-owned and independent status, nonetheless made moves to establish itself as a globally operating entity capable of competing with the financial industry's heavyweights. As such N M Rothschild bolstered its international presence, consolidating its United States operations under the single Rothschild Inc. entity, based in New York, in 1981 and establishing separate Canadian operations with its Rothschild Canada Inc. subsidiary. The firm also opened offices in Germany and Italy at the end of the decade. During the 1990s, N M Rothschild began making stronger moves to draw together the various elements of the Rothschilds' empire. One of the last of these was the highly successful Paris-based banking arm, Rothschild & Cie., which retained its independent status. This business, led by David de Rothschild, had been created in the mid-1980s as France's banking industry shrugged off the ill-fated nationalization of the country's commercial banking system under the Socialist government in the early 1980s. The former Banque de Rothschild had been nationalized in 1982. Two years later, Baron Guy de Rothschild and son David took the compensation they had received--about 80 million--and started a new investment banking firm, Paris-Orleans Finance. It was not until 1986, however, that the French Rothschilds were granted a new banking license and the right to restore the family's name to their bank, as the French banking industry once again became privatized.
David de Rothschild quickly took the lead in rebuilding Rothschild & Cie, transforming it into a new French financial powerhouse and one of the driving forces behind many of the country's largest business deals through the next decade. When Evelyn de Rothschild began to look toward consolidating the family's banking interests, he tapped David de Rothschild to become N M Rothschild's deputy chairman in 1992, establishing his younger cousin as his heir apparent. That position was reinforced in 1996, when N M Rothschild engaged in a restructuring of its global operations, reorganizing its businesses around five main product lines: resource banking and treasury operations; investment banking; asset management; development capital; and private banking and trust management services. At the same time the Rothschild operations set up a group investment banking committee charged with coordinating the global financial business of the Rothschild empire. David de Rothschild was named as head of the new committee. Also in that year, N M Rothschild established a joint venture with Dutch bank ABN AMRO to compete for contracts in the world's equity markets. By 1999, that venture--ABN AMRO Rothschild--was completing deals worth more than $125 billion per year.



In the late 1990s, N M Rothschild client-intensive approach paid off as the group became an important player in the booming European market for mergers and acquisitions.


The firm took part in such important deals as the launch of EADS, the European aerospace group created from the merger of France's Aerospatiale, Spain's CASA, and Germany's DASA. N M Rothschild was also an advisor on the massive restructuring of Deutsche Telekom, valued at more than $15 billion; the firm also backed England's National Grid Group in its $8.9 billion takeover of Niagara Mohawk Holdings in the United States, while playing a supporting role in the takeover of Mannesmann by Vodaphone, worth more than $200 billion.

"As the company celebrated more than 200 years of operations at the heart of the world's financial markets, N M Rothschild continued to explore new frontiers. In 1999 the company announced its plans to extend the ABN AMRO Rothschild joint venture to cover the lucrative market for initial public offerings in the United States.

"N M Rothschild found plenty of work in the great wave of British privatization that swept the country during the late 1980s. The company was involved in a number of the country's most ambitious privatization programs, including the £5.6 billion privatization of British Gas in 1986, the exit of the British government from British Petroleum in 1987, and the privatization of the United Kingdom's water and sewage industry in 1989. At the same time, N M Rothschild, while remaining true to its family-owned and independent status, nonetheless made moves to establish itself as a globally operating entity capable of competing with the financial industry's heavyweights. As such N M Rothschild bolstered its international presence, consolidating its United States operations under the single Rothschild Inc. entity, based in New York, in 1981 and establishing separate Canadian operations with its Rothschild Canada Inc. subsidiary. The firm also opened offices in Germany and Italy at the end of the decade.



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