Filed under: 9/11 Truth, Anti-War, bill of rights, Congress, Dictatorship, Dissent, domestic terror, domestic terrorist, Empire, end the fed, enemy combatants, John McCain, mandatory detention, mccain, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Protest, rendition, tea party, Torture, truth movement, US Constitution, War On Terror
Americans Could Be Locked-Up For Life Without Trial Under New Bill
Filed under: 1st amendment, 2008 Election, ACLU, Barack Obama, civil liberties, civil rights, colorado, Dictatorship, Empire, free speech, John McCain, Michelle Obama, obama, obama deception, u.s. constitution | Tags: Blake Benson, nobama
Student arrested over “Nobama” sticker gets settlement
Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post
January 7, 2010
 Blake Benson showed up for a Michelle Obama speech at Dakota Ridge High School wearing a “Nobama” sticker on his shirt. (provided by ACLU) |
A Dakota Ridge High School student who wore a “Nobama” sticker taped across the front of his shirt prior to an appearance by Michelle Obama will receive $4,000 from Jefferson County authorities, the ACLU of Colorado announced today.
The $4,000 settlement agreement with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and the Jefferson County School District avoided a potential lawsuit, according to a news release from Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU staff attorney.
On Nov. 3, 2008, Blake Benson showed up outside the high school gym as others were lined up to enter the gym to hear Michelle Obama speak.
Benson was one of three students who chose to “stay and campaign” for Sen. John McCain at the school prior to the speech.
According to the ACLU, Dakota Ridge school officials told Benson to leave. When he refused, officials had Benson handcuffed, searched and arrested for interference — a charge that carries up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Filed under: 2-party system, bailout, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, bush, Credit Crisis, DEBT, debt clock, deficit, devaluation, Dictatorship, Dollar, dollar collapse, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, GDP, George Bush, Great Depression, Greenback, health care reform, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, left right paradigm, main street, middle class, national debt, obama, obama spending, obama stimulus, obamacare, stimulus, Stock Market, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, White House
U.S. Debt Hits $12 Trillion, Will Double By 2019
Outside the Beltway
November 18, 2009
Barack Obama has been president for just under 10 months but he’s added two trillion to the national debt and will double it by the end of the decade. CBS’ Mark Knoller:
- This latest milestone in the ever-rising journey of the National Debt comes less than eight months after it hit $11 trillion for the first time. The latest high-point is not unexpected, considering the federal deficit for the just-ended 2009 fiscal year hit an all-time high at $1.42-trillion – more than triple the previous year’s record high.
Much of the increase in the deficit and debt is attributed to government spending outpacing revenue – both exacerbated by the recession and the government response to it – including hundreds of billions in bailouts and stimulus spending and tax cuts along with decreased tax revenues due to rising unemployment.
[…]
The National Debt has increased about $1.6 trillion on Mr. Obama’s watch, though less than $4.9 trillion run up during the presidency of George W. Bush.
But the White House budget review issued in August projects that by the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30th, the National Debt could top $14 trillion. It gets worse. The same document projects that by the end of the decade, the National Debt will hit $24.5 trillion — exceeding the Gross Domestic Product projected for 2019 of $22.8 trillion.
According to the Treasury Department, the debt stood at $5.727 trillion on January 19, 2001, Bill Clinton’s last day in office, and $10.627 trillion when Bush left office eight years later. That’s $612.5 billion (or $0.6125 trillion) a year, during which we fought two major wars, had the 9/11 attacks, and at least two major bailouts to deal with a global financial crisis.
We’re thus far averaging $1.92 trillion a year under Obama, or a factor of 3.146 more. And the government is projecting that we’ll continue spending at this crisis rate for the next decade, more than doubling the current record level?
That ain’t good.
Presumably, we’d have had another major bailout had Bush stayed in office for a third term (were that Constitutionally or politically possible) or had John McCain been elected. So spending and thus the debt would have escalated substantially regardless. But we likely wouldn’t be talking about adding a massive health care payment on top of the pile.
Obama: We must spend our way out of recession (and into deeper debt)
No End in Sight to Govt. Spending Spree: $12.1T Debt Ceiling Set to Be Raised
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Barack Obama, big bankers, Big Banks, campaign contribution, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deflation, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, House, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, left right paradigm, middle class, Neolibs, New York, obama, socialism, Stock Market, Taxpayers, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street
Obama turns to Big Bankers for campaign cash
WSWS
October 21, 2009
Under conditions of growing unemployment and deepening social misery for working people throughout the US, President Barack Obama flew into New York City Tuesday to raise millions of dollars in campaign donations from America’s financial elite.
He was expected to clear at least $3 million, largely from a Manhattan bash with an entry fee of $30,400 per couple—the maximum contribution allowed by law.
According to the Los Angeles Times, four of the seven co-chairs of the event and about a third of the guests come from the big banks and Wall Street.
Behind all the rhetoric about “change,” this is Obama’s most important constituency. In his run for the presidency in 2008, he captured the lion’s share of donations from Wall Street, taking in $15 million from securities and investment firms, $3 million from commercial banks, and $6 million from other financial institutions.
Filed under: 2-party system, Arizona, Barack Obama, big pharma, Dictatorship, Empire, Fascism, government bureaucrat, government control, government regulation, health care, health care reform, Healthcare, John McCain, Kennedy health care bill, left right paradigm, mccain, medicaid, medical care, medical industrial complex, medicare, neocons, Neolibs, obama, obama care, obama deception, obamacare, Senate, socialism, Ted Kennedy, town hall, universial health care, US Constitution
McCain Booed For Saying Obama Respects The Constitution
Filed under: 1984, 1st amendment, 9/11 Truth, Airport Security, Anti-War, Australia, Big Brother, biometrics, Bloggers, Britain, California, cashless society, cell phones, Censorship, China, Cold War, Congress, Control Grid, copyright, Darpa, data mining, DHS, Dictatorship, Dissent, Echelon, Empire, Europe, european union, facebook, False Flag, free speech, George Bush, Germany, global elite, global government, Globalism, google, gps, Homeland Security, inside job, internet, Internet 2, internet blackout, internet censorship, Internet Filtering, internet of things, internet police, IOT, IP, ISP, John McCain, john roberts, korea, london, Media, michael chertoff, microchip, microchips, Microsoft, nanny state, New World Order, New York, Oppression, orwell, Pentagon, Police State, Propaganda, RFID, RIAA, Science and technology, south korea, Spy, Surveillance, Tony Blair, uav, United Kingdom, US Constitution, Verichip, War On Terror, White House | Tags: HP, incheon, intel, internet regulation, john reid, korea, motorola, National Intelligence Council, new songdo city, NIC, NWO, paul otellini, privacy, Recording Industry Association of America, seoul, u-city, Ubiquitous computing, Ubiquitous living, Ubiquitous positioning, utopia, Video and Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool, VIRAT
Australia To Enforce Mandatory Chinese-Style Internet Censorship
Government to block “controversial” websites with universal national filter
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
October 29, 2008
The Australian government is set to impose Chinese-style Internet censorship by enforcing a universal national filter that will block websites deemed “controversial,” as part of a wider agenda to regulate the Internet according to free speech advocates.
A provision whereby Internet users could opt out of the filter by contacting their ISP has been stripped from the legislation, meaning the filter will be universal and mandatory.
The System Administrators Guild of Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia have attacked the proposal, saying it will restrict web access, raise prices and slow internet traffic speeds.
The plan was first created as a way to combat child pornography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia,” reports the Australian Herald Sun.
Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to “protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users”. (Complete black is white, up is down, double talk).
Human Rights Watch has condemned internet censorship, and argued to the US Senate “there is a real danger of a Virtual Curtain dividing the internet, much as the Iron Curtain did during the Cold War, because some governments fear the potential of the internet, (and) want to control it.”
Speaking from personal experience, not only are “controversial” websites blocked in China, meaning any website that is critical of the state, but every website the user attempts to visit first has to pass through the “great firewall,” causing the browser to hang and delay while it is checked against a government blacklist.
This causes excruciating delays, and the user experience is akin to being on a bad dial-up connection in the mid 1990’s. Even in the center of Shanghai with a fixed ethernet connection, the user experience is barely tolerable.
Not only are websites in China blocked, but e mails too are scanned for “controversial” words and blocked from being sent if they contain phrases related to politics or obscenities.
Googling for information on certain topics is also heavily restricted. While in China I tried to google “Bush Taiwan,” which resulted in Google.com ceasing to be accessible and my Internet connection was immediately terminated thereafter.
The Australian government will no doubt insist that their filter is in our best interests and is only designed to block child pornography, snuff films and other horrors, yet the system is completely pointless because it will not affect file sharing networks, which is the medium through which the vast majority of such material is distributed.
If we allow Australia to become the first “free” nation to impose Internet censorship, the snowball effect will only accelerate – the U.S. and the UK are next.
Indeed, Prime Minister Tony Blair called for Internet censorship last year.
In April 2007, Time magazine reported that researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time. The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2.
Moves to regulate the web have increased over the last two years.
– In a display of bi-partisanship, there have been calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike.
– In December 2006, Republican Senator John McCain tabled a proposal to introduce legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards. It is well known that McCain has a distaste for his blogosphere critics, causing a definite conflict of interest where any proposal to restrict blogs on his part is concerned.
– During an appearance with his wife Barbara on Fox News in November 2006, George Bush senior slammed Internet bloggers for creating an “adversarial and ugly climate.”
– The White House’s own de-classified strategy for “winning the war on terror” targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to “diminish” their influence.
– The Pentagon has also announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror.
– In an October 2006 speech, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a “terror training camp,” through which “disaffected people living in the United States” are developing “radical ideologies and potentially violent skills.” His solution is “intelligence fusion centers,” staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will are already in operation.
– The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance.
– A landmark November 2006 legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations sought to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web – and their argument was supported by the U.S. government.
– A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.
– The European Union, led by former Stalinist John Reid, has also vowed to shut down “terrorists” who use the Internet to spread propaganda.
– The EU data retention bill, passed after much controversy and implemented in 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months. Under this law, investigators in any EU country, and most bizarrely even in the US, can access EU citizens’ data on phone calls, sms’, emails and instant messaging services.
– The EU also proposed legislation that would prevent users from uploading any form of video without a license.
– The US government is also funding research into social networking sites and how to gather and store personal data published on them, according to the New Scientist magazine. “At the same time, US lawmakers are attempting to force the social networking sites themselves to control the amount and kind of information that people, particularly children, can put on the sites.”
Governments are furious that their ceaseless lies are being exposed in real time on the World Wide Web and have resolved to stifle, regulate and control what truly is the last outpost of real free speech in the world. Internet censorship is perhaps the most pertinent issue that freedom advocates should rally to combat over the course of the next few years, lest we allow a cyber-gag to be placed over our mouths and say goodbye to our last medium of free and open communication.
DARPA building search engine for video surveillance footage
Ars Technica
October 21, 2008
The government agency that birthed the Internet is developing a sophisticated search engine for video, and when complete will allow intelligence analysts to sift through live footage from spy drones, as well as thousands of hours worth of archived recordings, in order to spot a variety of selected events or behaviors. In the past month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced nearly $20 million in total contracts for private firms to begin developing the system, which is slated to take until at least 2011 to complete.
According to a prospectus written in March but released only this month, the Video and Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool (VIRAT) will enable intel analysts to “rapidly find video content of interest from archives and provide alerts to the analyst of events of interest during live operations,” taking both conventional video and footage from infrared scanners as input. The VIRAT project is an effort to cope with a growing data glut that has taxed intelligence resources because of the need to have trained human personnel perform time- and labor-intensive review of recorded video.
The DARPA overview emphasizes that VIRAT will not be designed with “face recognition, gait recognition, human identification, or any form of biometrics” in mind. Rather, the system will search for classes of activities or events. A suggested partial list in the prospectus includes digging, loitering, exploding, shooting, smoking, following, shaking hand, exchanging objects, crawling under a car, breaking a window, and evading a checkpoint. As new sample clips are fed into the system, it will need to recognize the signature features of new classes of search terms.
EU Set to Move ‘Internet of Things’ Closer to Reality
Daniel Taylor
Old-Thinker News
November 2, 2008
If the world-wide trend continues, ‘Web 3.0′ will be tightly monitored, and will become an unprecedented tool for surveillance. The “Internet of Things”, a digital representation of real world objects and people tagged with RFID chips, and increased censorship are two main themes for the future of the web.
The future of the internet, according to author and “web critic” Andrew Keen, will be monitored by “gatekeepers” to verify the accuracy of information posted on the web. The “Outlook 2009″ report from the November-December issue of The Futurist reports that,
“Internet entrepreneur Andrew Keen believes that the anonymity of today’s internet 2.0 will give way to a more open internet 3.0 in which third party gatekeepers monitor the information posted on Web sites to verify its accuracy.”
Keen stated during his early 2008 interview withThe Futurist that the internet, in its current form, has undermined mainline media and empowered untrustworthy “amateurs”, two trends that he wants reversed. “Rather than the empowerment of the amateur, Web 3.0 will show the resurgence of the professional,” states Keen.
Australia has now joined China in implementing mandatory internet censorship, furthering the trend towards a locked down and monitored web.
The Internet of Things
Now, the European Union has announced that it will pursue the main component of Web 3.0, the Internet of Things (IoT).
According to Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media for the EU, “The Internet of the future will radically change our society.” Ultimately, the EU is aiming to “lead the way” in the transformation to Web 3.0.
Reporting on the European Union’s pursuit of the IoT, iBLS reports,
“New technology applications will need ubiquitous Internet coverage. The Internet of Things means that wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices will take place using the Internet. It already makes electronic travel cards possible, and will allow mobile devices to exchange information to pay for things or get information from billboards (or streetlights).”
The Internet of Things consists of objects that are ‘tagged’ with Radio Frequency Identification Chips (RFID) that communicate their position, history, and other information to an RFID reader or wireless network. Most, if not all major computer companies and technology developers (HP, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, etc.) are putting large amounts of time and money into the Internet of Things.
Cisco and Sun Microsystems have founded an alliance to promote the Internet of Things and further its implementation.
South Korea is at the forefront in implementing ubiquitous technology and the Internet of Things. An entire city, New Songdo, is being built in South Korea that fully utilizes the technology. Ubiquitous computing proponents in the United States admit that while a large portion of the technology is being developed in the U.S., it is being tested in South Korea where there are less traditional, ethical and social blockades to prevent its acceptance and use. As the New York Times reports
“Much of this technology was developed in U.S. research labs, but there are fewer social and regulatory obstacles to implementing them in Korea,” said Mr. Townsend [a research director at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California], who consulted on Seoul’s own U-city plan, known as Digital Media City. ‘There is an historical expectation of less privacy. Korea is willing to put off the hard questions to take the early lead and set standards.’”
An April 2008 report from the National Intelligence Council discussed the Internet of Things and its possible implications.
A timeline shown in the April 2008 NIC report
The report outlines uses for the technology:
“Sensor networks need not be connected to the Internet and indeed often reside in remote sites, vehicles, and buildings having no Internet connection. Smart dust is a term that some have used to express a vision of tiny, wireless-connected sensors; more recently, others use the term to describe any of several technologies that range from the size of a pack of gum to a pack of cigarettes, and that are widely available to system developers.
Ubiquitous positioning describes technologies for locating objects that may reside anywhere, including indoors and underground locations where satellite signals may be unavailable or otherwise inadequate.
Biometrics enables technology to recognize people and other living things, rather than inanimate objects. Connected everyday objects could recognize authorized users by means of fingerprint, voiceprint, iris scan, or other biometric technology.”
These trends towards internet censorship and the internet of things are undoubtedly going to continue, but restricting your free speech and violating your privacy will be harder with your outspoken resistance.
DARPA spies on analyst brains; hopes to offload image analysis to computers
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20..-image-analysis-to-computers.html
Security services want personal data from sites like Facebook
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/15/terrorism-security
UK.gov says: Regulate the internet
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/20/government_internet_regulation/
Filed under: 2008 Election, 9/11 Truth, Afghanistan, airstrikes, al-qaeda, biden, Bill Clinton, catastrophic event, Colin Powell, Coup, DHS, Dictatorship, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, egypt, Empire, False Flag, FBI, food crisis, food shortage, George Bush, Great Depression, Homeland Security, Hugo Chavez, inside job, Iran, Israel, joe biden, John McCain, Lebanon, Madeleine Albright, Martial Law, michael chertoff, middle east, Military, military strike, Mossad, nation building, neocons, Neolibs, New World Order, Nuke, NWO, obama, occupation, palestine, Russia, State Sponsored Terrorism, Syria, Taliban, Tehran, US Economy, us military, Venezuela, War On Terror, World Trade Center, WW3, ww4 | Tags: cuban missile crisis, Emad A. Salem, greek, Heracle, international crisis, Ramzi Yousef, roman
Biden Predicts “International Crisis” Within First 6 Months Of Obama Presidency
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
October 20, 2008
In a striking moment of candor, Joe Biden tells us would-be president Obama will face “an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions,” Matthew Jaffe reports on ABC News’ Political Radar blog. Speaking at a Seattle fundraiser, Biden said this “test” would likely unfold in the Middle East or Russia. It would likely be coupled with the economy.
“Gird your loins,” Biden told the crowd. “We’re gonna win with your help, God willing, we’re gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It’s like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy.”
It is interesting Biden would mention Greek mythology to make his point. Augeas, one of the Argonauts, is best known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number of cattle in the country and had never been cleaned until the great hero Heracles came along. Apparently Biden would have us believe Obama is Heracles, the son of Zeus, know for his extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females. Biden also put the senator from Illinois in the same league as John F. Kennedy.
Biden said Obama, if elected, will do something extremely unpopular within the next year and will trend down in the polls. “I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’ We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I’m asking you now, I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us,” said Biden.
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
October 22, 2008
Joe Biden’s “guarantee” that an “international crisis” will unfold shortly after President Obama takes office conjures up several different possibilities, but it seems the likely outcome will revolve around an announcement that Iran has developed a nuclear bomb, prompting a potential military attack.
“It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy,” Biden told an audience in Seattle this past weekend.
“Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
The assured tone with which Biden delivered his forecast was staggeringly convincing, and left the observer in no doubt that there will be a major world crisis shortly after Obama takes office. “Mark my words, mark my words,” Biden stressed, adding that “tough” and “unpopular” foreign policy decisions will have to be made.
“I promise you it will occur,” Biden added, “As a student of history and having served with seven presidents, I guarantee you it is going to happen.”
Biden’s use of the word “generated” is even more startling. One of the dictionary definitions we find for the word “generated” is “to bring into existence; cause to be; produce,” which begs the question, will this be another staged and manufactured crisis like the 9/11 attacks, which occurred less than 8 months after Bush took office?
Or will it be something even more serious, a nuclear conflagration involving Russia or Iran?
John McCain raised the specter of nuclear war yesterday when he warned that the United States faces “many challenges here at home, and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world,” before mentioning the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis.
Echoing Biden’s comments, McCain said the next president “won’t have time to get used to the office” and “I know how close we came to a nuclear war and I will not be a president that needs to be tested. I have been tested. Senator Obama has not.”
What is the test to which McCain and Biden refer, and how can they be so sure that it will arrive shortly after Obama takes office should he win the election as expected? What was Colin Powell referring to on Meet The Press when he said, “There’s going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.”
The most likely scenario seems to revolve around Iran announcing, or the U.S. government claiming, that they are ready to build their first nuclear bomb.
Indeed, the Mossad front news outlet Debka File reported yesterday that “Iran will be ready to build its first bomb just one month after the next US president is sworn in.” The very next sentence of the report ties this in with Biden’s promise of an international crisis immediately after Obama takes office.
“DEBKAfile’s military sources cite the new US timeline: By late January, 2009, Iran will have accumulated enough low-grade enriched uranium (up to 5%) for its “break-out” to weapons grade (90%) material within a short time. For this, the Iranians have achieved the necessary technology. In February, they can move on to start building their first nuclear bomb,” according to the report.
Of course, the legitimacy of these claims are likely to be completely fabricated – the official U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concluded in December that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons campaign in late 2003 – but the Israelis may be laying the groundwork for a propaganda offensive similar to the “weapons of mass destruction” scam that preceded the invasion of Iraq.
Will the military assault on Iran occur not under the highly unpopular Bush administration, as many had predicted, but under an Obama presidency? Riding into office on a wave of popular approval and support, Obama will have the political capital to get the country behind the attack if the threat of imminent danger is cited – or at least stand by and allow Israel to do the dirty work.
Will a nuclear flash point on the scale of the Cuban Missile Crisis turn out to be the “international crisis” that Biden so vehemently promised? Or will the event take on a different characteristic.
Bush exploited 9/11 to realize the pre-set agenda of his Neo-Con masters months after he was inaugurated and Bill Clinton seized upon the Oklahoma City Bombing shortly into his second term to expand federal power. What will Obama’s crisis be that enables him to offer his contribution to building the American police state?
– A terror attack, or a series of attacks, on major American cities, possibly involving crudely designed nuclear bombs or dirty bombs?
– A complete economic collapse and a new great depression leading to food riots and the imposition of martial law?
– A military showdown with Russia should Russia attempt to invade Georgia or another pro-U.S. Russian satellite country?
– A nuclear showdown with Russia should Russia start a nuclear war with Ukraine, as has been threatened?
– The necessity for another military attack on Afghanistan should the Taliban continue to regain control of the country?
– A confrontation with Venezuela should it be revealed that Hugo Chavez is receiving nuclear bomb technology from Russia or Iran?
– A new escalation in the Middle East should Israel deploy its nuclear arsenal to attack Iran, Syria Lebanon, or even Egypt?
Whatever the new “international crisis” that we have been guaranteed turns out to be, you can bet your bottom dollar that the response to it will ultimately lead to more carnage and a further assault on the fast-disappearing freedoms that we still enjoy – and in that sense under an Obama presidency, the more things “change,” the more they will stay the same.
National Intelligence Spooks Promise Terror Attack For New President
Both Clinton and Bush exploited bombings within first year of taking office, Obama or McCain likely to enjoy the same opportunity
Prison Planet
May 27, 2008
National intelligence spooks are all but promising that history will be repeated for a third time running, and the new President of the United States – likely Barack Obama or John McCain – will be welcomed into office by a terror attack that will occur within the first year of his tenure.
“When the next president takes office in January, he or she will likely receive an intelligence brief warning that Islamic terrorists will attempt to exploit the transition in power by planning an attack on America, intelligence experts say,” according to a report in the Washington Times.
“Islamic terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993, in Mr. Clinton’s second month as president. Al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks came in the Bush presidency’s first year….The pattern is clear to some national security experts. Terrorists pay particular attention to a government in transition as the most opportune window to launch an attack.”
Naturally, the Washington Times article makes out as if a terror attack within the early stages of a new presidency is a bad thing, but both Clinton and Bush exploited terror in America to realize preconceived domestic and geopolitical agendas.
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was an inside job from start to finish – it did not come as a “surprise” to the U.S. government since they ran the entire operation, having cooked the bomb for the “Islamic terrorists” that they had groomed for the attack.
In 1993 the FBI planted their informant, Emad A. Salem, within a radical Arab group in New York led by Ramzi Yousef. Salem was ordered to encourage the group to carry out a bombing targeting the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Under the illusion that the project was a sting operation, Salem asked the FBI for harmless dummy explosives which he would use to assemble the bomb and then pass on to the group. At this point the FBI cut Salem out of the loop and provided the group with real explosives, leading to the attack on February 26 that killed six and injured over a thousand people. The FBI’s failure to prevent the bombing was reported on by the New York Times in October 1993.
“Islamic terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993, in Mr. Clinton’s second month as president. Al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks came in the Bush presidency’s first year….The pattern is clear to some national security experts. Terrorists pay particular attention to a government in transition as the most opportune window to launch an attack.”
Naturally, the Washington Times article makes out as if a terror attack within the early stages of a new presidency is a bad thing, but both Clinton and Bush exploited terror in America to realize preconceived domestic and geopolitical agendas.
Powell Warns Of Coming Crisis “which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now”.
Echoes Biden comments that Obama will be tested in early days of his term
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
October 21, 2008
Colin Powell has made bizarre comments that echo the recent declaration by Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden that there will be an “international crisis” early into Barack Obama’s presidency that will test the new president by forcing him to make unpopular decisions.
Speaking on meet the press two days ago, Powell officially endorsed Obama and also made the following statement:
“The problems will always be there and there’s going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.
So I think what the President has to start to do is to start using the power of the oval office and the power of his personality to convince the American people and convince the world that America is solid, that America is going to move forward, we are going to fix our economic problems, we’re going to meet out overseas obligations.”
Watch Powell make the comment at 2.35 into the following video:
Is Colin Powell referring to a theoretical crisis that could occur at any time? If so why does he choose a specific date, within the first two days after the inauguration? Also why does he refer to general problems that the new president will have to deal with in a separate context? We are already in an economic crisis, everyone knows that, so what new crisis is Powell talking about?
Chertoff: Change In President Fuels Vulnerability
Bloomberg
October 21, 2008
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the U.S. may be vulnerable to a terrorist attack during the next six months, with violent groups more likely to try to take advantage of a new president and administration.
“Any period of transition creates a greater vulnerability, meaning there’s more likelihood of distraction,’’ Chertoff said in an interview. “You have to be concerned it will create an operational opportunity for terrorists.’’
Albright Agrees with Biden: Obama Will Face Unexpected Test
http://blacklistednews.com/news-1974-0-20-20–.html
Obama Wants U.S. Troop Surge In Afghanistan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/se..AM.20081022.wcampaign_speech23
Low priority for Palestinian issue if Obama elected US president
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5655
Filed under: 1st amendment, 2008 Election, Animal Abuse, animal cruelty, Anti-War, Chicago, Dissent, free speech, Iraq, IVAW, John McCain, Oklahoma, Oppression, police brutality, Police State, Protest, riot, sarah palin, Taser Guns, US Constitution, veterans | Tags: Hofstra University, iraq war veterans, Nassau County Hospital, Nick Morgan, police horseback, salem police
Veterans Trampled And Crushed By Police On Horses
Indy Bay
October 17, 2008
One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen members of IVAW marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions for the candidates. IVAW had requested permission from debate moderator Bob Schieffer to ask their questions during the debate but got no response.
The contingent of veterans in dress uniforms and combat uniforms attempted to enter the building where the debate was to be held in order to ask their questions but were turned back by police. The IVAW members at the front of the formation were immediately arrested, and others were pushed back into the crowd by police on horseback. Several members were injured, including former Army Sergeant Nick Morgan who suffered a broken cheekbone when he was trampled by police horses before being arrested.
Puppycide in Oklahoma
Police drag protesters away from Palin motorcade
Cop Choke Slams Unarmed Youth
http://thehill.com/index2.php?option=..=0&Itemid=70
Man dies after Chicago police use taser on him
http://www.chicagobreakingnews..eportedly-use-taser-on-west-side.html
Filed under: 2008 Election, Alex Jones, Amero, asia, Australia, BP, Britain, Canada, China, Control Grid, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, dubai, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, exxon mobil, Federal Reserve, gas prices, global economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, Great Depression, Greenback, hyperinflation, Inflation, internationalist, internationalists, Iran, Japan, John McCain, kuwait, Lindsey Williams, london, manipulated economy, manipulated oil prices, manipulated prices, market manipulation, Mexico, middle east, muslims, neocons, New World Order, North American Union, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, price fixing, Saudi Arabia, single currency, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: global currency, global currency system, globalization, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, oil bourse, oil cut, one world currency, shell, Stanley Monteith, t-bills, the energy non crisis
Lindsey Williams Predicted Oil Will Be $50 a Barrel
Insider of the Global Elite was told: “Price of crude oil is going down to $50 a barrel. . . gas will be $2 to $2.50 a gallon” (1st video @ 7:11). “The entire Arab world will be bankrupt” (2nd video @ 7:34) “. . . you are going to shout and dance on the street at $2 a gallon and mark my words within 3-4 weeks time you are going to shutter in your boots because the dollar is going to go to zero, they’ll have an excuse to bring in the North American Union, they will be able to issue a new currency . . .” (3rd video)
Lindsey Williams on Alex Jones Show, October 26, 2008
Oil falls to $63, OPEC plans on cutting supply of oil
AP
October 26, 2008
Oil prices fell to 17-month lows at $63 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors weighed Friday’s OPEC output cut against growing evidence of a severe global economic slowdown that would undermine crude demand.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 32 cents to $63.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.
Investors brushed off a 1.5 million barrel-a-day cut announced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Friday, focusing instead on falling crude demand as economies across the globe reel from the impact of a credit crisis.
On Friday, oil fell $3.69 to settle at $64.15. Prices have plunged 57 percent from a record $147.27 on July 11.
“The mood is fairly negative reflecting worry about the international economic outlook,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “If there is further weak economic data in the U.S. or Europe, prices could come under more downward pressure.”
Iran’s OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said Sunday a reduction in production “will be considered” at the group’s next meeting in Algiers in December — a meeting that might even be held early if necessary.
“I thought the OPEC cut was a fairly decisive act, but concerns of recession in the major economies remain dominant,” Moore said. “OPEC’s cut does take a step toward tightening the market.”
http://www.reuter..dName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Oil Can Fall to $50-$60 if Credit Stays Tight
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27160853
Oil down 50pc from July high
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/finance..-July-high.html
Filed under: 2008 Election, Amero, angela merkel, asia, bailout, Bank of America, Big Banks, brad sherman, Britain, C-Span, Canada, Carroll Quigley, central bank, CFR, China, civil liberties, civil rights, CNBC, Congress, corporations, corporatism, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Europe, european central bank, european union, Fascism, Federal Reserve, France, g8, George Bush, Germany, glenn beck, global economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, gordon brown, Great Depression, Greenback, Habeas Corpus, henry paulson, Hitler, House, hyperinflation, imf, Inflation, interest rate cuts, internationalist, internationalists, job market, John McCain, liquidation, london, Martial Law, Media, middle class, morgan stanley, mortgage, national socialism, Nazi, New World Order, paris, Paulson, peter schiff, Police State, Posse Comitatus, rate cut, Sarkozy, Senate, single currency, socialism, sovereignty, Stock Market, tax, Taxpayers, unemployment, United Kingdom, US Economy, us sovereignty, US Treasury, Wall Street, World Bank, WW2, Zimbabwe | Tags: Ewald Nowotny, fiat currency, global currency, global currency system, global financial order, globalists, globalization, international order, Jean-Claude Trichet, Jeffrey Garten, John Mack, José Manuel Barroso, new global monetary authority, one world currency, Timothy Geithner, weimar republic, world economic crisis, world financial system, world monetary system, world money system, world order
Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency
Paul Joseph Watson & Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet
October 20, 2008
The swift and ruthless exploitation of the economic meltdown on behalf of globalists and central banks revolves around their drive to move towards a one world currency system and an unprecedented centralization of global financial power.
Statements on behalf of world leaders and central banks over the past two weeks have made it clear that the agenda to further collate economic power and control of currencies into the hands of the few is rapidly accelerating – all in the name of solving a financial crisis that was caused as a result of the same fiat money system that the elite themselves created and maintained.
The original Bretton Woods agreement in 1944, spurred by the depression of the 1930s and the second world war, created the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and laid down common standards for markets around the world. Now with the current financial crisis EU leaders see another opportunity to impose global regulations on sovereign economies.
As the crisis reached its peak at the end of September, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the call for “a new global financial order” in which the world financial system would be built around a centrally coordinated policy of international regulation.
Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack has also called for a new global body to oversee the financial crisis, warning that it is like nothing he’s ever seen before.
The sentiment echoes those of elite figures such as CFR member Jeffrey Garten and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who have both recently called for a “new global monetary authority”, a de-facto global financial dictatorship, operating across borders and forcing nations and corporations to register and adhere to strict monitoring and regulations.
European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny told Bloomberg yesterday that the centrality of the U.S. dollar was in question and that a “tri-polar” global currency system is in development between the U.S., Asia and Europe to replace it.
This followed a call by French President to question whether a “worldwide currency system” should be introduced in response to the financial crisis.
“Another subject in tomorrow’s world is that of the great currencies. How many should there be? What should the agreement between these great currencies be? Should we organize a discussion? Should a country like India one day have a global currency?” Sarkozy told a news conference, reports Reuters.
Any discussion would be purely academic, as the ruling elite long ago decided to force a global currency down our throats. In fact, a global currency is at the very core of their plan to dominate the world. Control money and you control the destiny of states, you eliminate national sovereignty. “The control of money and credit strikes at the very heart of national sovereignty,” A.W. Clausen, president of Bank of America once observed.
As Georgetown professor and CFR historian Carroll Quigley noted, the goal of the banking families and their minions consists of “nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole… controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.”
It remains to be seen if the EU will realize its “solution” to the world economic crisis. In 2007, Robert Mundell, “the father of the euro,” noted that “international monetary reform usually becomes possible only in response to a felt need and the threat of a global crisis.”
Certainly, the elite cooked up an appropriate global crisis, now they will engage in a full court press to establish a global currency and eventually a global government.
EU Leaders Call for Global Currency
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
October 18, 2008
If we are to believe the Washington Post, French president and current EU leader Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to save us from nameless “freewheeling bankers and traders” who get the blame for the current economic crisis.
Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, and EU honcho José Manuel Barroso are talking up an international summit to discuss an “urgent overhaul of the world’s financial architecture,” that is to say a new Bretton Woods to establish a brand spanking new international economic order. Sarkozy has managed to grab George Bush’s ear and he will travel to Washington on Saturday to lay the groundwork for a conference.
In 1944, 44 allied nations met at a resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to fiddle with monetary standards, fix exchange rates, and create the IMF and World Bank. “Launching a remake of this old model — particularly in such a short time, with so many new participants — would represent a daunting challenge at any time, but particularly during the twilight of the Bush presidency and the crisis that is still jolting banks and stock markets around the world,” reports the Post.
Sarkozy and the EU leaders would have us believe this new Bretton Woods will call for “globally coordinated regulation of the financial industry, elimination of tax havens and a compensation system in which traders are not rewarded for dangerous risk-taking,” among other things.
It was the demise of Bretton Woods in 1971, insists European Central Bank president Jean- Claude Trichet, that led to the abandonment of regulation and subsequent market turmoil. “The explosion of the first Bretton Woods in a way could be interpreted as a rejection of discipline,” said Trichet, reports Bloomberg.
Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, wants to fix that turmoil with a new spate of regulations aimed at international finance. On October 13 in London, Brown said “we must devise new rules for a world of global capital flows” just as the founders of Bretton Woods “devised rules for a world of limited capital flows.”
“We now have global financial markets but what we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision,” Brown lamented from Brussels.
All of this is nonsense. It should be obvious by now the bankers engineered the current crisis in order to consolidate their hold on the global economy and all the talk about rogue traders, tax havens, and over-compensated executives is merely that — talk, or more specifically a sales pitch, a slick parlor trick devised to fool the commoners.
Glossed over in all the corporate media coverage is the global elite demand that a global currency be established. “Europe wants to present a blueprint for a new worldwide currency system,” reports the AFP in the video here.
“Another subject in tomorrow’s world is that of the great currencies,” Reuters reported Sarkozy musing on October 16. “How many should there be? What should the agreement between these great currencies be? Should we organize a discussion?”
Glenn Beck On One World Currency
“There is a global meltdown coming, it is a global depression, a One World Currency and One World Financial System is the ENDGAME! China said last week said they want One Global Currency, France said yesterday or the day before that they want One World Order a New World Order at the end of this event!” – Glenn Beck
CNBC: The New World Order is in effect on wall street
http://www.prisonplanet.com/calls-for-new-global-financial-order-increase.html
Tri-Polor Global Currency A Possibility
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps..&sid=apjqJKKQvfDc&refer=home
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=885494
G-8 Announces Global Summit On Financial Crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a..t=Ah6wNwIX5KlE5B1m5eFoDXlbbBAF
Bush & Allies Pledge Joint Action On Economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InFBnX87lzU
Brown: Use This Crisis To Create New Financial World Order
http://www.prisonplanet.com/..new-financial-world-order.html
Filed under: 2008 Election, al-qaeda, bailout, Big Banks, bin laden, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, Media, mortgage, neocons, real estate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, War On Terror | Tags: run on banks
John McCain: I’ve Always Aspired To Be Dictator
McCain Proposes $1 Trillion Bailout Bypassing Congress
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/10/03/msm-mccain-billions/
McCain’s Last Hope Is Osama Bin Laden
http://www.prisonplanet.com/mccains-last-hope-is-osama-bin-laden.html
Pro-McCain Group Offering Cash For Frats To Demonstrate At VP Debate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008.._n_130827.html
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Bank of America, Barack Obama, bear sterns, Big Banks, campaign contribution, citigroup, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, FEC, global economy, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, House, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, JP Morgan, left right paradigm, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, Merrill Lynch, middle class, morgan stanley, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, obama, Ron Paul, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, Taxpayers, UBS, Uncategorized, US Economy, Wachovia, Wall Street | Tags: credit suisse group, federal election commission, run on banks
Top contributors to Obama and McCain are big banks
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, brad sherman, Britain, C-Span, California, Chicago, China, chris dodd, citigroup, CNBC, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Europe, european union, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, food crisis, food market, food prices, food shortage, foreclosure, foreign banks, foreign investors, France, general motors, George Bush, Germany, global economy, Globalism, GM, Goldman Sachs, google, Great Depression, Greenback, Harry Reid, henry paulson, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Japan, jim rogers, joe biden, John McCain, Larry Kudlow, left right paradigm, liquidation, london, marc faber, middle class, mortgage, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, obama, Paulson, Propaganda, Psyops, putin, rate cut, real estate, Russia, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wachovia, Wall Street, wells fargo | Tags: earmarks, financial markets bill, financial terrorism, great britain, hr 3997, mental health bill, pork, pork barrel, pork barrel earmarks, Pork Barrel Spending, shanghai
Bailout Bill Will Help Chinese Banks, Foreign Banks
Congress Approves Bailout Bill
AP
October 3, 2008
With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.
The final vote, 263-171 in the House, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than it garnered on Monday. The vote capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.
Dow plummets when bailout passes
List of Representatives who Switched from “Nay” to “Yea”
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=1087#.
Food Riots Have Already Begun as Global Grain Prices Skyrocket, Supplies Dwindle
http://www.naturalnews.com/024372.html
California may need emergency $7 billion bailout
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49229820081003
Hoax Bank Closure Story Peddles Bailout Propaganda
http://www.prisonplanet.co..e-story-peddles-bailout-propaganda.html
Fed Officials Considering Further Rate Cuts: Report
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26986621
Former Head of Fed’s Open Market Operations Says Bailout Might Make Things Worse
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2..ad-of-feds-open-market.html
Bailout Would Only Prolong Crisis: Jim Rogers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49SYpcaWHTE
Wells Fargo Buys Wachovia Nixing Citi Deal
http://biz.yahoo.com/..ls_fargo_wachovia.html?.v=8
Report blames U.S. trade gap for 5.6 million lost jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4913E220081002
Putin blames US for world economy crisis
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71042§ionid=351020602
Bailout bill is 451 pages long
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a..cnWOA64ch9GkocOsJ0lJv24cA
Who’s profiting from the crisis? Goldman Sachs, of course
http://www.marketwatch.c..CDCB7}&print=true&dist=printMidSection
Paulson Bank Rescue Proposal Is ’Crazy,’ O’Neill Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..mClVjevU&refer=home
France Wants $500B Rescue For Europe
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article4864032.ece
Faber: U.S. Bailout Won’t Stop Slowdown
http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=25070&t=1&c=35&cg=4&mset=1011
IMF Adds Pressure On Congress To Pass Bailout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/01/banking.useconomy
Google stock plunges more than 93% in “erroneous trading”
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-39543-118.html
Ford & GM Auto Sales Drop
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_o..OmxGcLJO8EjS5v24cA
Chicago woman buys a house for $1.75
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71130§ionid=3510213
Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/pers..dex.html?iref=mpstoryview
US economic dominance over – Russia
IMF Warned Of Full-Blown Crisis
September’s ISM Manufacturing Index “Screams Recession,” Economists Say
SEC Extends Ban On Short Selling
Brazilian president: Brazilian economy solid, U.S. should do their homework
Western World Will Become Less Wealthy
’Car sleepers’ the new US homeless
Filed under: 2008 Election, airstrikes, alaska, christian, cult, John McCain, Keith Olbermann, kenya, Media, military strike, neocons, Pakistan, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, religion, sarah palin, Shock and Awe | Tags: CSCL, ed kalnins, general council of the assemblies of god, jerimiah wright, jim faye bakker, kiambu, maggie deller, mama jane, morningstar ministries, pastor muthee, pastor thomas muthee, penecostalism, pentecostal, rev. wright, rick joyner, shannyn moore, steve thompson, tammy faye bakker, third wave, Thomas Muthee, wasilla, wasilla assembly of god, witch hunter, witch hunting, witchcraft, world faith church
Palin’s Pastor Hunted Witches in Kenya
Sarah Palin’s Cultish Church Activities Exposed
http://uk..alin-makes-pakistan-terror-gaffe-3fd0ae9.html
Filed under: 2008 Election, 9/11, 9/11 Truth, airstrikes, anthrax, bailout, Big Banks, Censorship, Cindy McCain, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Disinformation, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, false information, Fox News, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Hugo Chavez, hyperinflation, Inflation, Iraq, John McCain, keating 5, Media, media blackout, middle east, military strike, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Saber Rattling, scandal, Shock and Awe, Stock Market, tax, US Economy, Venezuela, Wall Street, War On Terror, WMD | Tags: edwin gray, Fox & Friends, keating five, michael reagan, Mike Papantonio, mohammed atta, run on banks, s&l, savings and loan, Steve Doocy, william black
Fox host tells guest mentioning McCain role in Keating Five scandal to ’pipe down’
Nick Juliano
Raw Story
September 25, 2008
’Cut his mike,’ producer suggests
The Keating Five scandal, and John McCain’s role in it, has received relatively little mention in presidential campaign coverage, and at least one Fox News host seems dedicated to keeping it that way.
Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, radio host Mike Papantonio tried to remind viewers about McCain’s intervention with federal regulators on behalf of real estate mogul Charles Keating, who was trying to avoid regulations of a savings and loan he owned during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.
F&F’s Steve Doocy told Papantonio to “pipe down,” called him “rude” and demanded he “cut it out.” A show producer could be overheard saying “cut his mike.”
As Papantonio tries one last time to explain the details of the Keating Five scandal, Doocy again cuts him off.
“This is not the History Channel,” he says.
Papantonio’s apparent crime was interrupting fellow guest Michael Reagan, the conservative radio host, who was arguing that it would be unfair to judge McCain based on his actions 20 years ago.
“It has everything to do with what’s happening today,” Papantonio said before being told to pipe down.
Regardless of whether Papantonio was being rude, preserving an orderly debate certainly could not have been Doocy’s goal in silencing the guest. Not two minutes before his admonition that Papantonio was “being rude,” Doocy repeatedly interrupted his guest to deliver talking points that might as well have been written by the McCain campaign.
At least three times Doocy interrupted Papantonio as he argued that McCain’s political gambit to “suspend” his campaign and delay Friday’s debate was more a response to his flagging poll numbers than an attempt to fix the economic crisis. Doocy wasn’t buying it.
“If Barack Obama wants to do so much for the economy, why doesn’t he go to his day job and work in the US senate?” he asked Reagan, cutting off Papantonio’s argument.
McCain Links Iraq to 9/11 Two Months After Attack
McCain: Chavez is in the Middle East
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220826.php
McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/28/mccains-failed-to-pay-tax_n_109785.html
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, big bankers, christopher dodd, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, FEC, freddie mac, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, left right paradigm, lobbyists, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, neocons, Neolibs, obama, real estate, Senate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: Davis Manafort, federal election commission, Rick Davis
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac execs Paid Off Obama for LAST THREE Years!
Daily Musings
September 18, 2008
Campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made to Barack Obama may backfire if the Democratic presidential hopeful wages an aggressive campaign to cast blame on rival John McCain and the Republicans in Congress for the mortgage-related losses that forced the U.S. Treasury to take over the quasi-governmental mortgage giants.
A review of Federal Election Commission records back to 1989 reveals Obama in his three complete years in the Senate is the second largest recipient of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae campaign contributions, behind only Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the powerful chairman of the Senate banking committee. Dodd was first elected to the Senate in 1980.
According to OpenSecrets.com, from 1989 to 2008, Dodd received $165,400 in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign contributions, including contributions from PACs and individuals, followed by Obama, who received $126,349 in such contributions since being elected to the Senate in 2004.
A Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain
Newsweek
September 27, 2008
Few advisers in John McCain’s inner circle inspire more loyalty from him than campaign manager Rick Davis. McCain and his wife, Cindy, credit the shrewd, and sometimes volatile, Republican insider with rescuing the campaign last year when it was out of money and on the verge of collapse. As a result, McCain has always defended him—even when faced with tough questions about the foreign lobbying clients of Davis’s high-powered consulting firm. “Rick is a friend, and I trust him,” McCain told NEWSWEEK last year.
Last week, though, McCain’s trust in Davis was tested again amid disclosures that Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid his campaign manager’s firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008. As the mortgage crisis has escalated, almost any association with Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae has become politically toxic. But the payments to Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, are especially problematic because he requested the consulting retainer in 2006—and then did barely any work for the fees, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement who asked not to be identified discussing Freddie Mac business. Aside from attending a few breakfasts and a political-action-committee meeting with Democratic strategist Paul Begala (another Freddie consultant), Davis did “zero” for the housing firm, one of the sources said. Freddie Mac also had no dealings with the lobbying firm beyond paying monthly invoices—but it agreed to the arrangement because of Davis’s close relationship with McCain, the source said, which led top executives to conclude “you couldn’t say no.”
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Barack Obama, blockade, Congress, Coup, False Flag, George Bush, Henry Kissinger, House, Iran, Israel, John McCain, Larry King, left right paradigm, mikhail gorbachev, military strike, neocons, Neolibs, north korea, Nuke, obama, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Saber Rattling, Sanctions, sarah palin, Senate, Shock and Awe, Syria, Tehran, UN, War On Terror, WW3, ww4, Zionism
Obama goes over the top in bashing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Salon
September 24, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama responded with outrage to the remarks made Tuesday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the United Nations General Assembly, expressing regret that the quirky little president was even allowed to speak. Obama’s denunciation was mild compared with that of Gov. Sarah Palin, who accused Ahmadinejad of dreaming “of being an agent in a ’Final Solution’ — the elimination of the Jewish people.” In contrast, “Larry King Live” carried an hourlong interview with Ahmadinejad in which the Iranian was allowed to speak for himself and repeatedly denied any violent intentions. King thus reinforced the trend whereby entertainment television, whether Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” or King’s own dog-and-pony interview hour, conveys reality-based news while politicians continue to paint inaccurate and even fantastic scenarios that are harmful to U.S. foreign policy.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad said “the American empire … is reaching the end of the road” and accused the U.N. Security Council of allowing “Zionist murders” because of “pressure from a few bullying powers.” Obama issued a statement saying, “I strongly condemn President Ahmadinejad’s outrageous remarks at the United Nations, and am disappointed that he had a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views.” He added, “The threat from Iran’s nuclear program is grave.” Obama then called on his rival in the presidential race, Sen. John McCain, “to join me in supporting a bipartisan bill to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by allowing states and private companies to divest from companies doing business in Iran.” He slammed McCain, saying that the senator was playing partisan politics by declining to join Obama in this divestment campaign.
In the heat of the campaign, Obama surely overreached himself in appearing to advocate barring leaders of member states from addressing the United Nations because their views are obnoxious to Americans. He also fell into the trap of declining to make a distinction between anti-Zionist views and anti-Semitic ones. If a policy of exclusion had been adopted by past administrations, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev could not have announced from that podium the reduction of Red Army forces in Eastern Europe in 1988. And if anti-American statements should trigger the denial of a visa to come to New York, should Nelson Mandela, who called the United States the “most dangerous country in the world,” be excluded, too?
Bush lashes Syria, Iran as terrorism sponsors
AFP
September 24, 2008
US President George W. Bush accused Syria and Iran Tuesday of sponsoring terrorism and said that such violence “has no place in the modern world” in his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly.
“A few nations — regimes like Syria and Iran — continue to sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer and they’re growing more isolated from the world,” he said.
“Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has no place in the modern world,” said Bush.
The outgoing US leader told the UN General Assembly that it must also enforce sanctions against North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs.
Bush said UN members must uphold resolutions “enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran” and stressed “we must not relent until our people our safe from this threat to civilization.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians1
Kissinger Backs Direct Talks ’Without Conditions’ with Iran
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/kissinger-backs.html
House Dems Shelve Iran ‘Naval Blockade’ Bill for Now
http://news.antiwar.com/2008/..-shelve-iran-naval-blockade-bill/
’Israel can’t destroy Iran N-facilities’
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=70331§ionid=351020104
Ahmadinejad warns Iran will ‘break hands’ of invaders
http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080921144553.ikvdjmkm.html
Bush: The Iranians Are Assholes
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/09/22..80%98assholes%E2%80%99/
Filed under: 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Alan Greenspan, Alex Jones, army, bailout, bernanke, Big Banks, civil liberties, civil rights, Congress, Coup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, enron, False Flag, Fascism, FBI, FDIC, Federal Reserve, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, liquidation, Martial Law, middle class, Military, military strike, morgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, neocons, Nuke, Posse Comitatus, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, real estate, Ron Paul, Russia, Shock and Awe, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, Tehran, urban warfare, US Constitution, US Economy, Venezuela, Wall Street, War On Terror, WW3, ww4 | Tags: failed banks, run on banks
Ron Paul: Greenspan, Bernanke Should Be Criminally Charged 
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
September 26, 2008
Congressman Ron Paul says that the bailout bill is likely to pass, heralding a 10-year plus economic depression for America and the potential for martial law should civil unrest arise as the financial meltdown worsens.
Speaking on The Alex Jones Show, Paul said of the bailout, “They want dictatorship, they want to pass all the penalties and suffering on to the average person on Main Street,” adding, “We will have a depression or recession, it’s locked in place due to previous Federal Reserve actions.”
“When they say that if we don’t do exactly as they say and turn over more of our money and more of our liberties and exempt themselves from any court in the whole nation, they’re trying to intimidate us and lead us into doing the wrong thing,” said Paul.
The Congressman added that serious problems would arise if nothing was done to address the problem, but that more serious consequences would follow should the bailout be passed.
Paul warned that the only question was whether the meltdown would last one year or ten years and how much liberty would be lost in that time frame.
“It looks like from I see in Congress, that they’re opting for a decade plus of depression rather than saying let’s correct our ways, let’s balance the budget, let’s bring our troops home,” said Paul, adding that the same course of printing money would continue – prolonging the agony and preventing a necessary correction.
Asked if civil unrest was a possibility in the midst of an economic depression, referencing a recent Army Times report concerning the use of active duty military being brought back from Iraq for “Homeland patrols” and “crowd control,” Paul questioned, “Are we going to have martial law or are we going to have more freedoms? The more problems that we have, the more likely it is that we’re going to have martial law, so I do think they anticipate and they plan for these things.”
Asked if criminal investigations and prosecutions of individuals on Wall Street should commence, Paul agreed but said that the main target of criminal inquiry should be the Federal Reserve board itself because, “That’s where the fraud is.”
“They want to be lawless, they don’t want to be held accountable,” he added.
Paul said that grand juries should be convened to take on prosecutions rather than the FBI becoming involved, stating, “We have proper authority with that and experience with it and the Enron case is a good example.”
The Congressman said that Greenspan and Bernanke should be criminally charged but that such an effort would be largely symbolic. “Morally speaking, they’re the culprits,” said Paul.
Asked what his solution to the crisis would be, Paul said, “I think the most important thing to do is to send the message that we’re going to quit living beyond our means and the president can set the standard for that and he has the most control under the Constitution on foreign policy – he can say no more wars, we’re done with the wars, we’re not going to take on the Russians, we’re not going to take on people in Venezuela, we’re going to start talking to the Cubans and bring our troops home and save hundreds of billions of dollars – that would send a powerful message that the dollar would respond to and oil prices would come down.”
Paul said that Americans had to accept a new idea of government that harked back to what the founders envisaged and that the welfare state would have to unravel along with aspirations of building a geopolitical empire.
“In the meantime the policy ought to be – shrink the size of government, decrease regulation, work towards sound money, remove the authority of the Fed to create money out of thin air and get tax reduction,” stated the Congressman. Paul added that eliminating the income tax would mean everybody becoming a lot richer and more money would be ploughed into the economy.
“It will not solve the problem, it just delays the inevitable,” said Paul of the bailout, adding that he expects the bill to pass in a move that would, “Defy the American people.”
“I think they get to the point where they think they’re like God and can control everything and they don’t realize that the market really is more powerful than all the bankers and all the politicians….Ultimately the underground economy is the real economy and I think they could over step themselves and hopefully we could come out with a better world afterwards,” concluded the Congressman.
Ron Paul Grills Bernanke on Wallstreet Bailout
Think Progress
September 18, 2008
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, AIG, Alan Greenspan, bailout, Bank of America, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, Bill Clinton, China, citibank, Condoleezza Rice, Congress, Credit Crisis, David Rockefeller, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, fannie mae, Fascism, FBI, FDIC, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, freddie mac, George Bush, george soros, global economy, global elite, Globalism, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, Harry Reid, henry paulson, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, internationalist, internationalists, Iran, John McCain, JP Morgan, left right paradigm, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, michael mullen, middle class, morgan stanley, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, Nancy Pelosi, nationalization, Nazi, neocons, Neolibs, New World Order, obama, Patriot Act, Paulson, real estate, Robert Gates, rockefeller, Sarkozy, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wachovia, Wall Street, wells fargo, White House | Tags: Commodities Futures Trading Commission, J.P. Morgan Chase, Marcy Kaptur, Peter Defazio, Robert Rubin, run on banks
Bailout: Not $700 Billion, More Like $5 Trillion
Bei Hu
Bloomberg
September 24, 2008
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion plan to buy devalued assets from financial companies is “a joke” because it doesn’t go far enough to calm markets, said Kenichi Ohmae, president of Business Breakthrough Inc.
Ohmae, nicknamed “Mr. Strategy” during his 23 years as a McKinsey & Co. partner, called for a $5 trillion “international facility” to be made available to financial institutions. The system could be modeled on one used by Sweden during its banking crisis in the early 1990s, he said.
“This is a liquidity crisis,” Ohmae said at an investor forum hosted by CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, the regional broking arm of Credit Agricole SA, in Hong Kong yesterday. “The liquidity has to be so big that people won’t get panicky.”
Paulson’s proposal to remove hard-to-sell assets clogging the financial system marks the broadest intervention since at least the Great Depression. Asian stocks fell today, following U.S. shares lower as investors questioned whether the effort is enough to prevent a recession.
The plan came after the collapse of 158-year-old Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the government takeover of insurer American International Group Inc. caused financial markets to seize up last week. The calamity was the culmination of a year during which the U.S. housing market slump left banks and securities firms with more than $520 billion of asset writedowns and credit losses.
NO To The Paulson-Bernanke Derivatives Scam Bailout
Webster G. Tarpley
September 24, 2008
WASHINGTON DC – The grand theft bailout now being rammed through Congress by Treasury Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and other officials of the Bush regime with the help of accomplices Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid, and other parliamentarians is a monstrosity for the ages, combining every hideous feature of monetarism, elitism, oligarchism, and sheer feckless incompetence. It is to all intents and purposes a national suicide note of the United States of America, a contract with the devil that absolutely guarantees irrevocable national decline. For any person of goodwill there can be only one impulse at the present moment, and that is to stop this bailout — to block it, to sabotage it, to bottle it up, to load it with killer amendments, and to do everything legally possible to stop this insane design from going through.
IF MCCAIN VOTES AGAINST THE BAILOUT, HE WILL WIN THE PRESIDENCY
In political terms, McCain is now running well to the left of Obama on this issue, with a much stronger populist profile. McCain has attacked the outrageous greed and corruption of Wall Street. Obama does not dare attack Wall Street, since these are his masters. Obama, sounding like Milton Friedman, only attacks Washington. Obama has said that he will support whatever Paulson demands. That is not a surprise, since Paulson represents Goldman Sachs, and Obama is a wholly owned property of Goldman Sachs, which is his single biggest source of campaign contributions. Obama is a creature of Brzezinski, Soros, and Rockefeller, and without them he has no existence; Obama is an abject Wall Street puppet, an agent of finance capital. This week, both senators will have to decide how they vote on the odious derivatives bailout. Obama will surely vote in favor of it, since this is what Wall Street demands. If McCain votes against it, he will most probably propel himself into the White House on the model of Give ‘Em Hell Harry in 1948. Filthy corrupt Democrats like Schumer are already attacking McCain as the new Huey Long. Huey Long, the Louisiana populist of the 1930s, had many positive features, and we could certainly use a good dose of Huey Long in this country to counteract the elitism, oligarchism, condescension, and arrogant snobbery of foundation operatives like Obama. The bailout is already very unpopular 72% of all voters are opposed to it and it will become more and more hated when it becomes clear that it is also a failure. McCain’s course is clear. Will he have the brains and guts to cross Obama’s T on this vital issue?
PAULSON OF GOLDMAN SACHS, WOULD-BE FINANCE DICTATOR
Paulson is a ruthless and brutal eco-freak usurer who learned his trade at the Goldman Sachs stock-jobbing operation. He is now the leading member of the committee of public safety which rules in Washington, and which includes Gates, Rice, and Mullen. He now demands the astronomical sum of 700 billion dollars for the bailout of mortgage-backed derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, and other poisonous derivatives. Make no mistake — this is not a bailout of homeowners who are threatened with foreclosure; it is a bailout of the lunatic house of cards which desperate bankers have built on these mortgages using derivatives. The entire crisis is not a crisis of subprime mortgages, it is a crisis of the derivatives bubble which was launched by Wendy Gramm of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and Greenspan of the Fed with the connivance of Robert Rubin of Goldman Sachs and Citibank, and others in the Clinton administration, some 15 years ago.
These derivatives now amount to a total worldwide notional value that can be estimated between 1 quadrillion and two quadrillion US dollars. This sum is so large that it dwarfs the total value of the entire planet earth and all those who live here. Compared to the cancerous, bloated, and fictitious mass of derivatives which is at the root of this crisis, the $700 billion demanded by politicians, large as this may seem, is nothing but a drop in the bucket. And a drop in the bailout bucket is what it will be. The mass of world derivatives between $1 and $2 quadrillion represents an insatiable black hole which is capable of putting an end, not just to civilization, but the human life itself. The moral choice could not be clearer: humanity will either destroy the derivatives bubble in our time, or the derivatives bubble will surely destroy humanity. Those are the stakes in the current exercise.
Paulson and Bernanke, both lawyers for the Wall Street jackals, lampreys, vultures and hyenas, argue that the public interest demands a bailout of their cronies at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wachovia, and the other large money center institutions. Before the American public antes up $700 billion just for openers in the game of genocidal poker which run by the infernal croupiers Paulson and Bernanke, we would be very well advised to examine the veracity of this premise.
They Want Mama To Make it All Better! – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
Rep Defazio On The Bailout Package
Recent News:
http://georgewashington2.bl..ke-admits-bailout-is-not-aimed-at.html
Real Estate Bigwig Zell Sees 2009 Recession
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26858394
Bailout Is Financial Equivalent Of The Patriot Act
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/23/business/sorkin.php?pass=true
America Versus the Financial Elite
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/09/america-versus-financial-elite.html
Fed Acted Like a Liquidity Drug Dealer: Economist
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26848829
’Punish’ those responsible for financial crisis: Sarkozy
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQvXaV8mO0SRtfD9FEWqf4Vyrzrg
FBI ‘Probe’ Into Mortgage Giants
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080924/twl-fbi-probe-into-mortgage-giants-3fd0ae9.html
Iran Leader Says American Empire Near Collapse
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRcJGft_Pr8uMaY1Bz9ieBSwBNTgD93CMVM80
US Fed throws $30 billion into foreign credit markets
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5itOHJbNrxCHKetPtXIPIbY3TalIQ
China Paper Calls For A New Financial Order Without U.S.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSPEK4365020080917?sp=true
Top Economist Mishkin: Worse Than the Depression
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26850473
Lehman’s Bankruptcy and the Hidden $138 Billion Bailout of JP Morgan
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26850473
Eveillard Says Gold May Surge as Investors Seek ‘Insurance’
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=a8L00oInO1YM&refer=home
Wachovia, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo tumble
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSN2231756020080922
Goldman, Morgan Stanley Bring Down Curtain on an Era
Goldman Sachs to be regulated by Fed
Fury at U.S. Lehman Brothers’ staff who could net £1.4bn in bonuses as UK employees face bleak future
Europeans on left and right ridicule U.S. money meltdown
Paulson On Verge Of Historic New Powers
Fed To Supervise Goldman And Morgan
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, Communism, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, George Bush, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, left right paradigm, middle class, monarchy, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, Nazi, neocons, Neolibs, obama, oligarchy, Paulson, real estate, SEC, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wall Street, White House | Tags: Nouriel Roubini, run on banks
Bush Administration Seeks “Dictatorial Power”
GETA
September 21, 2008
The Bush administration sought unchecked power from Congress to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets.
“He’s asking for a huge amount of power,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University. “He’s saying, `Trust me, I’m going to do it right if you give me absolute control.’ This is not a monarchy.”
Paulson is seeking an expansion of federal influence over markets that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression, said Charles Geisst, author of “100 Years of Wall Street” and a finance professor at Manhattan College in New York.
“This is going to be a big package because it’s a big problem,” Bush said following a meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the White House. “We need to get this done quickly, and the cleaner the better.”
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said in a radio address that he “fully supports” Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stabilize the financial system. The plan, however, should benefit both main street and Wall Street, he said.
Republican Presidential nominee John McCain “looks forward” to reviewing the proposal while focusing at least in part on “minimizing the burden on the taxpayer,” said Jill Hazelbaker, communications director for the McCain campaign.
The Bush administration seeks “dictatorial power unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts, to try to resolve the crisis,” said Frank Razzano, a former assistant chief trial attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission now at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Washington. “We are taking a huge leap of faith.”
Filed under: 2008 Election, Congress, Department of justice, DOJ, FBI, florida, House, jack abramoff, John McCain, lobbyist, neocons, scandal, Senate, White House | Tags: corruption, corruption scandal
Abramoff gets 4 years in jail
AP
September 5, 2008
Jack Abramoff, the once powerful lobbyist at the heart of a far-reaching political corruption scandal, was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday by a judge who said the case had shattered the public’s confidence in government.
Abramoff, who fought back tears as he declared himself a broken man, appeared crestfallen as the judge handed down a sentence lengthier than prosecutors had sought.
Over the past three years, Abramoff has come to symbolize corruption and the secret deals cut between lobbyists and politicians in back rooms or on golf courses or private jets. The scandal shook Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to Capitol Hill and contributed to the Republicans’ loss of Congress in 2006.
“I come before you as a broken man,” Abramoff said at his sentencing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. “I’m not the same man who happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption.”
He added later that, “My name is the butt of a joke, the source of a laugh and the title of a scandal.”
Already two years into a prison term from a separate case in Florida, Abramoff, 49, will have spent about six years in prison by the time he is released, far longer than he and his attorneys expected for a man who became the key FBI witness in his own corruption case.
With Abramoff’s help, the Justice Department has won corruption convictions against former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles and several top Capitol Hill aides.
Because of that cooperation, prosecutors were reserved in their comments to the court. Rather than regaling the court with a summary of the misdeeds and the seriousness of the corruption, the Justice Department said little in court while urging leniency.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell portrayed Abramoff as a conflicted man. Yes, he corrupted politicians with golf junkets, expensive meals and luxury seats at sporting events. But he also donated millions of dollars to charity, and his good deeds were catalogued in hundreds of letters from friends.
“How can we be talking about the same person?” Lowell said. “But that’s the record: A modern-day ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.'”
Although Abramoff expressed remorse Thursday, he also has spent his time in prison cooperating with a book that portrays him much differently: as a victim of Washington politics.
The book, set for publication later this month and obtained by The Associated Press, says Abramoff was pressured to plead guilty. The book blames The Washington Post and Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee whose Senate committee investigated Abramoff, for making him the fall guy.
“I never expected that I would have to go to prison,” Abramoff says in the book, “until it became clear that the media could not allow this play to close without the hanging of the villain.”
In “The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” Boston journalist Gary Chafetz portrays Abramoff as an innocent man who excelled in an already corrupt system and was undone by biased prosecutors, reporters and political enemies.
McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
That theory was nowhere to be found in court Thursday. Wearing green prison pants and a brown T-shirt, Abramoff wept as his attorney discussed his family’s suffering. He seemed shocked when Huvelle handed down her sentence, looking at his wife and children and shaking his head.
Huvelle could have sent Abramoff to prison for 11 years for conspiring to defraud the U.S., corrupting public officials and defrauding his clients, but she but showed leniency because of his work with the FBI. She rejected, however, proposals to reduce the sentence even further by giving Abramoff credit for the time he already has spent in prison on a fraudulent casino deal in Florida.
Abramoff could appeal the sentence because Justice Department infighting is partly responsible for the lengthy prison term. Prosecutors in Washington had hoped to combine the casino case and the corruption case into one plea deal. But Florida prosecutors refused to give up their piece, as did Washington prosecutors, so the deal was split in two.
Huvelle seemed perplexed by that decision, even as prosecutor Mary Butler asked her to treat the two cases as one. Neither Lowell nor the Justice Department spoke after court.
Filed under: 2008 Election, 9/11, bailout, Big Banks, Bill Kristol, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, flip flop, flip flopping, freddie mac, George Bush, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, neocons, phil gramm, real estate, scandal, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: fa, run on banks
McCain on U.S. economy: from ‘strong’ to ‘total crisis’ in 36 hours
Herald Tribune
September 17, 2008
Early this week, as the American financial system absorbed one of its biggest shocks in generations, Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were “strong.”
Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers, whom he described as the backbone of the economy, were productive and resilient.
By Tuesday he was calling the economic situation “a total crisis” and denouncing “greed” on Wall Street and in Washington. Meantime, he moved from adamant opposition to resigned acceptance of the big government bailouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igAmVs0cvY8
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/mccain-economy-strong-18/
McCain Embraces Government Bailout Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/freddie-mac-mccain/
Phil Gramm would be ‘just the guy’ to lead us into a Great Depression
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/krugman-on-gramm/
Advisor: McCain helped create BlackBerry
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jon..ain_helped_create_BlackBerry.html?showall
John McCain, The Stripper, And Bill Kristol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2COPT6Cxug
Bush: Vote For McCain Because Of 9/11
http://www.prisonplanet.com/bush-vote-for-mccain-because-of-911.html
McCain Manager: ’This Election is Not About Issues’
http://voices.washingtonpost.com..anager_this_election_i.html
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