Frank Lordi of Salvation Revelation and Chris White of Nowhere to Run Team Up to Take on the New World Order in this Revelations Radio Network Production. Featuring guests and guest hosts from the Revelations Radio Network. click here to download http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-38723/TS-117168.mp3?dl=1 This episode talks about new changes and exiting developments with the Revelations Radio Network, sleep paralysis, food/gas crisis, spiritual warfare, deception in the truth movement and much much more This show is broadcast live on Talkshoe.com and its a very interactive and fun way to broadcast. visit the http://talkshoe.com website and register so you can participate next week. stay tuned to this site for details on the time. here is the website to the show. the chatroom opens up 15 min before each show

May 22, 2008 04:05 AM

THe CaTHaRi ORIGINAL SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism Catharism Cathars being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209 Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. Catharism had its roots in the Paulician movement in Armenia and [...]

May 22, 2008 03:35 AM

Summary: [[Draft G-8 plurilateral intellectual property trade agreement discussion paper]] moved to [[G-8 plurilateral intellectual property trade agreement discussion paper]]

---

{{leak
|country=United States
|description=1. Not to our knowledge.

2. This document details provisions of a proposed plurilateral trade agreement that would impose strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods. If adopted, a treaty of this form would impose a strong, top-down enforcement regime imposing new cooperation requirements upon ISPs, including perfunctory disclosure of customer information, as well as measures restricting the use of online privacy tools. The proposal also specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime. Talking points from the European Commission, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and others have published selected passages ostensibly from this document; refer to http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/acta/ for useful links.

3. Trade officials, copyright claimants.

4. Call Office of the United States Trade Representative, European Commission, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other trade officials including the corresponding offices in Canada, Japan, and Switzerland.

5. Not clear; suspect that one of the parties to the agreement may have had an interest in releasing details to the public.

6. Trade representatives intend to formalize the agreement at the G-8 summit in July 2008.
|file_digest=SHA256 3b42762e293bab65bebfeacbf648ef9afd0160e83e9ed972034882817e850422
|file_info=Zip archive data, at least v1.0 to extract
|file_name=anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement.zip
|file_size=378251
|lang=en
|organization=Office of the United States Trade Representative
|organization_type=GOV
|release_date=2008-5-22
|title=Draft G-8 plurilateral intellectual property trade agreement
}}

[[category:European Union]]
[[category:Australia]]
[[category:Canada]]
[[category:Japan]]
[[category:Switzerland]]

May 22, 2008 01:52 AM

Wilbur Ross, US's second largest servicer of subprime mortgages via acquiring American Home Mortgage and Option One, has a self serving non-solution to negative home equity.

Inquiring minds may wish to consider A positive solution to negative equity in America.

The US federal government has tried to stabilise residential real estate, but nationwide prices have dropped by 13 per cent in the past 12 months. Analysts have forecast that by June 30, 10.6m families will have either no equity in their homes or a negative equity.

This problem seems likely to become more severe. The solutions proposed so far have been directed mainly towards helping delinquent borrowers avoid foreclosure, but the incentives have been weak. Remedies are needed to reduce delinquent mortgages to present property values, provide lenders with possible future recovery of the amounts by which they discounted their loans, restore mortgage lender liquidity and make mortgages available for future home buyers.

My Comment: Wilbur Ross does not accurately state the problem. He only states his problem which seems to be the acquisition of American Home Mortgage and Option One. The real problem in the US is that home prices are still too high and those prices need to come down, not propped up by self serving bailouts.

Many lenders would reduce the principal amount of troubled loans to the present value of the house if they could liquefy part of the loan and share in the eventual upturn in property values. To provide some liquidity, the Federal Housing Administration, the government insurer for low-income housing, should be authorised to guarantee $1 of existing troubled mortgages on primary residences for each $1 forgiven by the lender. The lender would be able to resell the guaranteed portion of its principal amount.

The FHA would receive an insurance premium, as it already does on other mortgages, and on the first resale of the home would receive the lesser of 25 per cent of the gain or the amount it guaranteed. The total of the premiums and appreciation on some sales would more than offset losses on foreclosed homes. The FHA would require that government-approved appraisers confirm the house's market value. Also, if there were a shortfall on foreclosure and resale, the FHA would not pay a lump sum but instead make the payments when originally due. Therefore, at worst the FHA's payments would be spread over many years and the FHA's risk would decline whenever the borrower made payments.

My Comment: Ross's solution is to bailout Ross and spread the risk to taxpayers over a number of years.

Lenders would be able to sell the guaranteed portion of the loan, thereby restoring their liquidity. Lenders also would receive on the first resale of the home the lesser of 25 per cent of the gain or the amount forgiven. This would enable them to recapture some of the principal amount they forgave, thereby providing them with an incentive to restructure the mortgage rather than foreclose. Appreciation sharing would not carry over to the next owner, but qualified home purchasers would be able to assume these favourable mortgages. Thus the resale market for these properties would be largely self-financing for several years and this would stabilise or improve property values. Meanwhile the original borrower would retain 50 per cent or more of the appreciation on a property that otherwise would have been foreclosed. It would be unreasonable for home-owners to expect a totally free ride on concessions granted by lenders, but retaining half of the upside would motivate the homeowner to make monthly payments even though there initially would be no equity value.

My Comment: What's unreasonable is to expect those not in trouble to bail out those in trouble. As taxpayer I do not want to have the FHA bail out anyone. In fact, I want the FHA to be abolished before more hair brained schemes like Ross's are considered. Imagine having a $400,000 mortgage but your neighbor in the identical house down the road has a $250,000 mortgage. Guess what Ross's proposal does? It is begging for all loans to become troubled. Besides, many borrowers are better off walking away where they would have 100% of any future appreciation.

If a mortgage had been $180,000 against an original home value of $200,000 and the loan were now reduced to $160,000, the lender would have lost $20,000. If the home later were sold at its original $200,000 value, the lender would have recovered $10,000, or half of the concession. The FHA would have gained $10,000 and the homeowner would have made $20,000, thereby restoring his original equity position.

This co-operation between public and private sectors would provide both lenders and borrowers with a rational, incentivised alternative to foreclosure.

My Comment: The public sector has no business promoting housing, bailing out housing, or being involved in housing to the likes of what Ross is proposing. Such bailouts are a moral hazard and it was government meddling that created this mess in the first place. With that in mind GSEs should be abolished as well, and the "ownership society" should be put on the scrap heap of history's bad ideas.

The government's present voluntary plan of restructuring brings neither added incentives to the lender nor liquidity to the mortgage market. This FHA-based plan would do both. Lenders and borrowers would negotiate interest and repayment terms without government intervention and existing servicers would continue to service the loan. All parties would benefit from stabilisation of housing markets.

My Comment: There should not be a government plan, period. But Ross proposes a plan then states that "Lenders and borrowers would negotiate interest and repayment terms without government intervention". That is of course nonsense. The plan itself is government intervention, and as noted above encourages more people to stop paying their mortgages.

Most important, the process would be voluntary and therefore would not chill the willingness of lenders to make loans in the future. In contrast, the proposed remedies incentivise all parties to negotiate but do not create moral hazard by bailing out reckless lenders or borrowers. The lenders will write down their loans and borrowers initially will lose their original equity. Both will have a chance to recoup and substantial liquidity will be brought back to the mortgage market.

I am disgusted with this self serving bailout proposal by the person who would benefit most: Wilbur Ross. Here is the key phrase: "existing servicers would continue to service the loan." Ross is asking for a bailout of Ross. No one else wins regardless of how much he tries to sugar coat it otherwise. The plan simply has too many flaws.

Mike Morgan's Take

Mike Morgan at Morgan Florida agrees. His article is Wilbur Ross ... "Bail Me Out". Here are a few snips:

Mr. Ross proposes that the FHA guarantee dollar for dollar existing troubled mortgages on primary residences for each dollar forgiven by the lender. And the lender should be able to resell the guaranteed portion of its principal amount. This is absolutely ludicrous. He’s asking for a back-door bail out because he bought what he thought was a bargain. He is now acting no differently than the flippers that bought homes to flip. Instead of pre-construction condos, he bought pools of mortgages to service and flip. So please tell me why taxpayers should have any part in the bail out of Mr. Ross?

I love the part where Mr. Ross downplays the risk to the FHA, when he points out the FHA’s payments on losers would be spread over many years. Big deal. A loss is a loss is a loss. But here we go again trying to creatively hide the loss and give it a little coating of syrup.

Let me bring Mr. Ross around to one other issue in his proposed bail out of his reputation and wallet. His plan is for primary residences only. I get calls from people every week that are losing their primary residences because they bought a dozen condos in Florida, Arizona and Vegas. I get calls from people every week that bought primary residences they couldn’t afford in the first place. I get calls from people every week that used their primary residence like an ATM to buy third cars, vacations, ,jet skis, boats, and you name it.

What’s wrong with America? LOA - Lack Of Accountability. Mr. Ross, in all due respect, you need to take your medicine just like everyone else. C’est la vie Mr. Ross.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.

May 22, 2008 01:17 AM

MEPs currently in Strasbourg for their monthly session are getting worried about a French railway strike, which might make it difficult for them to get home today.

Their unease was articulated by Scottish Tory MEP who told a plenary meeting of the EU parliament: "France does nothing to make our life easier. It's almost impossible," apparently to thunderous applause.

As the rail strike was due to start yesterday night, Stevenson added that, since France forces MEPs and thousands of staff to travel from Brussels to Strasbourg once a month, it should also ensure services are not disrupted by strikes.

However, one is not sure why this particular MEP – or any – is that concerned. Most fly back home, and are given chauffeur-driven cars to the airport. Hence, they are entirely unaffected by rail strikes.

Even those returning to Brussels tend to fly there and, if there are problems with the service, the Mayor of Strasbourg provides free luxury transport over the border to Frankfurt airport, where they can pick up cut-price Ryan Air flights to most European destinations.

By and large, it is the staff who suffer any inconvenience – the scene above, at Strasbourg station, is one very few MEPs ever see. And it is a rare MEP that gives a toss about their staff travel arrangements.

We used to have a crowded, rickety old bus to take us into town, having to wait lengthy periods while the MEPs were provided with chauffeured limousines. Oddly though, my e-mail to the parliament "services" asking if we were required to genuflect, or doff our caps as they swept past was never answered.

COMMENT THREAD

May 22, 2008 12:47 AM

Summary: Removing all content from page

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May 21, 2008 11:31 PM

Alas, as a natural substance, Iboga/Ibogaine is not patentable and hence ignored by officially sanctioned 'anti-addiction' persons as those included in the recent Newsweek article, other then being criminally made a US Schedule 1 controlled substance.

Useful Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ibogaine/ibogaine.shtml
http://www.ibeginagain.org/

May 21, 2008 10:38 PM

From the academic who wrote this book, an exploration of the fauxtography phenomenon and the "blogstorms" that exposed it.

The paper includes an analysis of the role of EU Referendum in the lifting the lid off Qanaqate.

It is longish (22 pages) but well worth reading as a clinical analysis of an important series of events, where the blogosphere took on the MSM and challenged its partisan and mendacious reporting of the Lebanese War in the summer of 2006.

It is interesting that, of the blogs mentioned, most were American. This was the only significant British blog that took up the issue, which was largely (with some honourable exceptions) ignored by other UK-based political blogs. If that is a reflection of something, I am not sure quite what. Perhaps, others can explain the narrowness of vision that seems to pervade our blogosphere.

In the US, blogs have continued to challenge the establishment and the media, creating a powerful political constituency of their own. In contrast, the UK scene is progressively being taken over by media blogs (the so-called "clogs"), which are seeking to dominate (and dictate) what should be an independent and vibrant new medium.

One day – if they have not already – someone will write a thesis on this, in a nation that claims to be the home of free men and women, where we are in fact hopelessly conformist. Why that should be, I do not understand – and perhaps never will.

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 10:38 PM

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that a federal court judge issued a May 20 ruling that granted a stay to the National Archives and Records Administration, which will allow the agency to withhold Hillary Rodham Clinton’s White House telephone log books from the American people for at least one year [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Case No: 1:07-cv-1267 (JR)]. The court had previously allowed Judicial Watch to conduct discovery with regard to how the National Archives processes open records requests related to the Clinton Presidential Library.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton offered the following statement in response:

"Federal law requires these documents be turned over to the American people within 20 days unless an agency presents evidence demonstrating why it should be allowed additional time. The Clinton Library took nearly two years before providing any documents to us. It is as simple as that. Our lawyers argued to the court that the Clinton Library failed to meet its substantial burden in requesting yet more time to produce the remainder of the records we requested.

"This is not about who gets their requests for records handled first, but whether an agency can violate the Freedom of Information Act with impunity.

"It is unacceptable for the American people to be told they will not receive the additional information about Hillary Clinton, to which they are legally entitled, because Archivists are 'overworked.'

"The Archives processed requests for information about UFOs, while refusing to process requests for important information about a presidential candidate and U.S. Senator. This delay benefits no one but bureaucrats who refuse to do their jobs and politicians running for office."

For more information on Judicial Watch’s pursuit of Hillary’s White House records, please visit www.judicialwatch.org.

###

May 21, 2008 09:02 PM

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64828A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 09:48 PM

http://truthseeker24info.blogspot.com/2008/05/crown-temple.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 09:46 PM

It's been a long day and there is so much I want to say, but there just isn't enough time.

I just got in... Attended my son's H.S. Graduation Awards Ceremony tonight and I'm proud to report that he's graduating with High Honors (4.2GPA).

One wonders, with the economic situation being what it is, what opportunities will be available to him 4 years from now when he has a B.S. Degree in hand. Scary to even contemplate...

Anyway, much happening in the markets of late. The US Dollar index is plummeting again. Will it make another historic "all-time low" this time around? I think it's quite possible, though 70 will provide very tough downside resistance.

And how about that Oil? Holy Crap--Light Sweet Crude Oil just broke through $135 in Asian Trading tonight! The Chart below hasn't even had a chance to catch up yet.... Anyway, with that said, I want you to note the severely overbought condition in Oil. Don't be surprised to see a pullback sometime soon, but I honestly don't think it will fall below $110 and when it does, it won't stay down for very long. Expect $150 tops before a nice correction.

Gold, as I've been forecasting for weeks now, is rebounding nicely. It has cut back through the 50DMA and the MACD has decidedly turned upwards. I still stand by my earlier comment: $1,200 gold by end of 2008.

The DOW on the other hand is looking pretty ugly -- it sliced back through its 50DMA and the MACD is also turning down. I don't think we'll test the March lows just yet, but think it's inevitable over the longer run -- and when we finally do: look out below!

I expect tomorrow to be a very interesting day also... All the Asian Indexes are currently in the red on inflation concerns, and existing home sales data gets released tomorrow at 10:00 EST. Consensus expects the numbers to come in at 4.85 Million (annualized) sales -- keep your eye on market reactions.

With that, I'm going to have to call it a night (told you I didn't have much time). I hope all of you have a great evening.

Regards

Randy

May 21, 2008 09:46 PM

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64830A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 09:34 PM

Transporting Prisoners to Iraqi Jails to Avoid Media & Legal Scrutiny
May 19, 2008

Clive Stafford Smith: US Holding 27,000 in Secret Overseas Prisons; Transporting Prisoners to Iraqi Jails to Avoid Media & Legal Scrutiny
“There is a huge number of [secret prisoners] being held in Iraq, and one of the intriguing aspects of this that doesn’t get much reporting is that the US is bringing people into Iraq from elsewhere to hold them there, simply because that keeps [the media and lawyers] away from the prisoners so they can’t get any sort of legal rights,” reports British attorney Clive Stafford Smith.

http://i2.democracynow.org/2008/5/19/clive_stafford_smith

May 21, 2008 09:07 PM

May 21, 2008 07:45 PM

Police departments throughout one state with a huge illegal immigrant population are uniting to reject immigration enforcement with the chief in one major county starring in commercials assuring those in the country illegally not to be afraid of police.

Local law enforcement agencies throughout Maryland say immigration policy isn’t their business and, with the exception of one county sheriff’s department, they refuse to cooperate with federal authorities regarding the matter. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Department is the state’s only local law enforcement agency to sign an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the immigration status of arrestees.

The others refuse, saying that immigration is a federal matter. The police chief in the jurisdiction with the state’s largest immigrant population, Montgomery County, even appears in public service commercials with a Bolivian soccer player to inform the community of the department’s hands off immigration policy. In the advertisement, Chief J. Thomas Manger tells illegal immigrants: “Don’t be afraid to call the police.”

Like many law enforcement agencies throughout the nation, the Montgomery County Police Department has had a long-standing policy of not inquiring about the documentation status of immigrants living and working in the area. Similar don’t-ask-don’t-tell policies have allowed criminal illegal immigrants throughout the nation to repeatedly commit atrocious crimes against innocent Americans.

Recent examples include a notorious Los Angeles gang banger who murdered a high school football star a day after being released from jail, cop murderers in Houston and Arizona, a drunken driver who murdered an entire family on a U.S. highway and a child rapist. In every case, the illegal immigrants had previous convictions when they committed the new crime.

May 21, 2008 07:27 PM

http://jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/submission-criminal_gov.htmA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 08:06 PM

From

http://z13.invisionfree.com/THE_UNHIVED_MIND/index.php?showtopic=55250

OH I SEE A SOMETHING POPPING IT'S HEAD
OUT INTO THE WORLD. DOES IT NOT LOOK
LIKE A JESUIT ORDER SUN SYMBOL AND
THEIR LOGO? OH I SEE IN HOC SIGNO OF
THE ORDER. OH WHAT A SHOCK.



TAKE NOTE OF THE ISIS WORSHIP WITH THE
WAVEY RAYS WHILST OSIRIAN WORSHIP
WITH THE STRAIGHT RAYS. WE NOTICE ONE
HALF OF THE JANUS LINKED TO THE GAELIC
NAME OF GENEVA. THIS WESTERN EAGLE IS
WEARING THE SUN CROWN OF LIFE AS USUAL.

 

______

 

QUOTE

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Ro also see the images at the lower right of this email. That IHS/Sun symbol in the Geneva coat of arms may well have dated from the 15th Century & pre-Jesuits, for did not the Illuminati that Ignatius L. belong to pre-exist the Jesuits? Surely this symbol cold have easily been theirs to? I would suggest it unlikely that what was called the Alumbrados in Spain ("Illuminated Ones") was merely restricted to that region. In Christ - Troy

QUOTE

Its use in the West originated with St. Bernardine of Siena, a 13th Century priest who popularized the use of the three letters on the background of a blazing sun to displace both popular pagan symbols and seals of political factions like the Guelphs and Ghibellines in public spaces. One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho or Labarum. It consists of the superimposed Greek letters Chi ×; and Rho Ñ, which are the first two letters of christ in Greek. Technically, the word labarum is Latin for a standard with a little flag hanging on it, used in the army. A Christogram was added to the flag as an image of the Greek letters Chi Rho, in the late Roman period. So Christogram and labarum are not originally synonyms. The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the X (or more accurately, Greek letter Chi) in the abbreviation Xmas (for "Christmas"), which represents the first letter of the word Christ.

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 07:31 PM

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 07:28 PM

From http://www.infowars.com/?p=2284

 

Of White Elephants and Demolition: Jesse Ventura on the Howard Stern Show

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
May 21, 2008

Listen to Ventura describe the WTC buildings as "white elephants."

Howard Stern was incredulous. “It was an insurance job?” he asked when Jesse Ventura postulated that the WTC buildings were brought down because WTC 1 and 2 were “white elephants,” that is to say the cost of the buildings exceeded their usefulness. “They were losing money, they had asbestos in them, and they were required by law to do over a billion dollars worth of asbestos removal.”

“It was an insurance job?” asked Stern.

Ventura continued. Larry Silverstein had insured the buildings against terrorist attacks for $7 billion dollars, “of which he settled for four.” Again, Stern and crew were incredulous, although Stern said he would have to read Ventura’s book, Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me. Jesse urged him to do so.

It may have been a near perfect crime, at least in the beginning, so perfect Allianz Group, the company that carried a significant portion of the insurance coverage on the WTC, didn’t put two and two together. However, one company stockholder, publisher John Leonard, did put two and two together, suggesting demolition. Allianz, however, would have nothing of it, as the insurer relied on the official 9/11 fairy tale as an explanation. It apparently did not occur to the German company that Silverstein had over-insured the buildings.

“The WTC catastrophe was doubtless one of the biggest insurance incidents in history. A significant portion of the multi-billion dollar loss is expected to be borne by Allianz,” Leonard wrote in a letter to shareholders. “Numerous observers and researchers find the WTC case very suspicious.” Noting that a staggering 49.3% of respondents to a survey conducted in New York City “agreed that ’some of our leaders knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act,’” Leonard was taken aback that Allianz had not “asked whether perhaps the US Government instead of the insurers is responsible for the damages, or whether the possibility of insurance fraud has been investigated.”

Allianz eventually balked at paying out and in stepped Brooklyn-Queens Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, who threatened to punish the insurer with fines or operating restrictions if they did not cough up the cash.

“Silverstein is determined to rake in every last penny possible from 9/11 and has already secured billions from other insurers without a blink of an eye over the fact that he leased the property just six weeks before the attacks and has since been caught in an admission that he ordered at least one of the buildings, WTC 7, ‘pulled’ on 9/11,” writes Steve Watson. It is indeed strange, Watson notes, that any “building that was not owned by Silverstein Properties that day strangely remained upright, despite being a lot closer to the two towers that collapsed onto them,” leading no shortage of people to smell something rotten in Brooklyn – or rather on Manhattan.

Considering the amount of insurance fraud, corruption, and rampant malfeasance in the corporate world, the possibility that Silverstein was involved in a plot to bring down the buildings — as they were excessively expensive “white elephants,” as Ventura notes – it is a possibility that cannot be discounted out of hand, although Howard Stern and his crew, like millions of other gullible Americans, are incapable of believing ruthless business interests would do such a thing.

Of course, insurance fraud alone cannot explain the events of September 11, 2001. In fact, such an event would be impossible without the complicity of government and — as Ventura recently stated on the Alex Jones Show — the government had reason enough to plan and orchestrate such an event, from scheming a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq to providing an excuse to erect a military police state at home.

Unfortunately, far too many people naively believe the government — and for that matter, ruthless business interests — would not do such a thing, and that includes Howard Stern.

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 07:18 PM

The Primaries for Kentucky and Oregon have ended. Hillary Clinton won the Kentucky primarily in a wide margin. She had a 35 point margin in the victory which was 60% to Barack Obama's 35%. Again, Hillary Clinton expressed a speech in Florida about not quiting until all of the primaries are over. There are few left in South Dakota, Montana, and Puerto Rico. Barack Obama won mightily in Oregon. He wins it as of now at 58% to 42%. Obama said that he has the majority of the delegates elected in the primary. Obama posseses great oratory abilities. Therefore, Barack outlined another speech. Since he believes this time is close to the Presidential race, his speech in Iowa was directed more towards John McCain. He criticized McCain's foreign and dometic policies. Obama talked about wanting to reward companies that don't shipped their jobs overseas from America. This primary is beginning to be very long lasting over a year. Usually, the primaries are over before June. The theory of Global Warming being man-made has been discredited like never before in 2008. We have record winters worldwide (in the 2007-2008 season) and a stabilization of the global temperature since 1998. Yet, numerous extremists believe in this myth (They talk about polar bears when the polar bear population increased for decades). Some of these climate alarmists want to engage in the most radical efforts to back up their myths. Reports from The Age describe how the Australian scientist Tim Flannery propose to put sulphur into the sky to stop global warming. In his demented mind, the sulphur will enter the earth's statrosphere to block the sun's rays. Therefore it will cause a process called global dimming. What's ironic is that Flannery admits that this procedure will have consequences that he doesn't know about. Why would he promote this when he isn't sure of the results. The truth is that sulphur is one of the most potent poisons in the world. Why would you try to damage the environment in an urgent attempt in trying to help the environment? That's illogical to say the least. Sulphur can cause neurological damage, heart problems, eye problems, hearing defects, and other evils. This isn't unusual since the government has been caught experimenting with glass particles in the air. Atmospheric scientist Ning Zeng recently told New Scientist magazine, urging the process of destroying trees to stop global warming. That's wrong since trees need CO2 for survival. Wanton destruction of the rain forest is immoral since real species need those ecosystems for basic survival. Even Wired Magazine says that a tree can absorb about 1,500 CO2 in its 55 years. If you kill trees, more CO2 is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is a natural compound necessary for life. The extremists can't cease to amaze me. Over 30,000 scientists have oppose global warming hysteria. Technology like electric motors, water-propelled cars, etc. exist now that can replace gas combustion engines if independent people were restricted from carrying it forward on a higher level. There is news about a Long Beach police officer killing a mentally and terminally ill man. KNBC from May 20, 2008 report on this story. Witnesses and police outline differeing accounts of what actually happened. Roketi Su'e who was 46 was the mentally ill man was killed in about 7 pm. at Saturday. He was walking home from a birthday party. Police said that he fought with officers, but witnesses proclaim that he was shot as he lay unarmed on the sideway. Su’e’s niece, Lagilelei Saolotoga, 36, told the Los Angeles Times that he never had a weapon. He was Samoan and the Samoan community is angry about it. The police believed that Su'e grabbed a police's baton in a fight, hitting an officer, then a police officer shot him in self defesne. Witnesses like Uli Tommalatai (Su'e's nephew) said that Su'e didn't listen. Then the police tasered him and he was shot. She claims that Su'e didn't fight the officers. An autopsy is coming. Police problems are nothing new. A lot of the police are good while others aren't. Lately, the police have been more militarized and federalized, which is against the Consitution. For example, a former US Army driver helps an SPC SWAT tank used to police cops while the police kidnapped kids from the West Texas polygamist retreat. The Associated Press reported that police had body armor and automatic weapons. Gary Roberts who was a veteran Army tank driver in the 1980's said that 2 figures on the sides of the US M113 Armored Personnel Carrier denote "kills," as in how many people the SWAT unit has killed. Back in 2004, innocent protestors were forced into an abestos-filled Pier 57 concentration camp during the 2004 NYC Republican national convention. Free speech zones and checkpoints are everywhere in America today. Rob Hotakainen from McClatchy Newspapers on May 19, 2008 wrote about Big Brother. The article apparently described about how the federal government are requiring the country's 7.4 million employers to provide the government with Social Security numbers for all new employees (that includes more than 55 million people each year). The government also wants a massive electronic database to perform crosschecks. They want to stop illegal immigration and detect any workers using fake Social Security numbers in attempting to recieve jobs. Some Congressmen like Rep. Dennis Moore who is a Democrat from Kansas agree with the proposal including 32 House members. The ACLU opposes it since it creates a no work list for jobs and that's true. Jobs shouldn't be totally based on whether you have a Social Security card or not. Many American citizens refuse to have a Social Security card ought of their political philosophies. We shouldn't ask the federal government permission to earn a job at all. Also, this plan is very costly estimating at about $10 billion over nine years. You don't need Big Brother in stopping illegal immigration. Not to mention that laws exists forbidding illegal immigrants from getting jobs. What's needed is enforcing laws, protecting the borders, and illegal immigrants will have to face punishment if they want to be citizens in the future (without anmesty since amnesty is just a pardon with no compensation or punishment whatsoever. I do believe in compassion) .

Jerusalem Post from Tuesday, on May 20, 2008 outlined the White House talking about Iran. They reported that George W. Bush denied that he intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. He said that military options aren't off the table, but he preferred to use diplomatic means with Iran. This is in total contradiction to his statements about equating individuals wanting to talk with Iran with appeasement among Neville Chamberlain and Jesuit-inspired Adolf Hitler (The Jesuits were expelled from numerous nations like France and Japan for trying to manipulate the political areans of sovereign nations. Ignatius of Loyola founded the group. That's why the Vatican Edict of 1778 called the Decrlaration of Independence an abomination. Today, the mercenary group of Blackwater is influenced by the Knights of Malta). Army radio quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entrourage of President Bush said something. He said that Bush and Cheney were prevented from taking military action from Iran by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the CFR member Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The truth is that neo cons always clamored for an attack against Iran for many years. Time will tell if Bush will invade Iran during his term, but the prospects seems very unlikely. Some neo conservatives are continuing to lie about the Iraq war. Neo Con Douglas Feith is writing a book commenting that there was no lie about WMDs in Iraq. He said that Iraq was a serious WMD threat in Iraq, which is a lie. The truth is that US and British government leaders gave Saddam chemical and biological weapons. Later, in the 1990's, Iraq was forced to get rid of those weapons. Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusettes just left the hospital in Boston. Ted Kennedy experiencing a seizure was the reason why he visisted the hospital. This seizure was related to him having a cancerous brain tumor. It 's a malignant gliomas on the left parietal lobe of his brain. Ted Kennedy is famous for being part of the Kennedy family. Ted is a strong liberal leader of the Senate. As far back as 1965, he was crucial in passing the Immigration Bill when LBJ was President. My opinion of the situation is that he should recieve the best treatment avaliable even if I disagree with him on some issues. Jim Tucker said that via 3 sources, the Bilderberg Group will meet in Chantilly, Virginia at the Westfields Marriott Hotel from June 5-8, 2008. Chantilly is in North Virginia next to Washington, D.C. Tucker thinks that the Athens story was a ruse to misdirect attention from the actual location of the real Bilderberg meeting. The Bilderberg Group is a geo-political group made up of about 200 of some of the world's most powerful bankers, folks in academia, businessmen, media, etc. Tucker has been a researcher of the Bilderberg Group for decades. This organization was founded by Prince Benhard of the Netherhands (being a Nazi during WWII) and Joseph Rettinger (a pro-Vatican advocate of an European Union). The Pilgrim Society and other more secret groups are more powerful than the Bilderbergers. Although, the Bilderberg Group is still very strong in the world. Tucker is encourging activists to turn out and cover the meeting since the mainstream media for the most part isn't going to delve into the Bilderberg Group. Virginia is my home. In my region, there is Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern Carolina. It's mixture of urban and rural areas. Also, to me it has a great climate. It's not too hot and it isn't too cold. It's a moderate climate with a hot summer. Abortion news keeps coming in Virginia. An appeals court in Richmond declares that the Virginia state partial birth abortion ban law was unconsitutional, because of the words in the law. The 2 judges in support of the repeal believe it punishes doctors who accidently do the procedure. This is strange, because partial birth abortion is a grosteque procedure. It's about using scissors in killing a baby, sucking its brains out, and retrieving it out of the mother's womb. It's so evil that most Americans oppose partial birth abortion in polls. The Virginia Society for Human Life want the ban to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court via Virginia's Attorney General McDonnell.





Gun Rights is not about hunting totally. It's about people having the right to prevent the onslaught of the formation of a tyrannical government. America was create in part because of gun rights. Other factors were involved in the development of the USA of course, but one factor was about the right to bear arms. For example, in the late 1700's, British soldiers tried to confiscate guns from innocent citizens in Massachusettes (they were sent into Lexington and Concord in order to do it) That event occured in April 19th, 1775. The colonists refused and this lead into battles and the Revolutionary War. Gun rights are threatened now more than ever. Jake McGuigan and others are exposing this fact. Silly things like gun microstamping (which doesn't work because criminals via stolen weapons will get around it and you can take the pin off the gun easily. It's supported by phony conservative Arnold Schwarzenegger), going through tons of procedures just to own a gun, and Bloomberg's targeting even innocent gun manufacturers are new threats today. Michael Bloomberg and other mayors want gun control to not only have oppressive databases for citizens and arrests, but restrict individual gun rights. An article described how people can go to jail if they refuse to cut their grass. ED BALINT from CatnonRep at May 20, 2008 made known about these news. The city council wants residents to cut overgrown grass or face a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail. This is interesting, because how do they define what is overgrown grass or not. They believe that more than 8 inches high is defined as high grass. The first time offenders get a 150 dollar fine, but get no jail time. They are getting it ready for a vote at next Monday's council meeting. There are more important things to be concerned with other than grass. I've seen neighbors' grass years ago rise much above 8 inches, but no one fine the occupants of that house (nor should they necessarily). It's a nanny state in many areas across America. In other nations, it's worse like in China. Casey Kazan from The Daily Galaxy on May 20, 2008 focused on China's authoritarian rule. The city of Shenzhen has became a Big Brother, high tech area. Noami Klein wrote information about how U.S. defense contractors are building China up into a next generation police state. This city has about 200,000 surveillance camera throughout the location. Some Chinese security executives said that they desire to install 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, Canada to make it more watched than even London. Paul Nussbaum from Philly.com at May 20, 2008 instituted more foreign control over our infrastructure. A Spanish toll road operator won the bidding war to control the Pennslyvania Turnpike. They offered $12.8 billion for a 75 year lease as said by Governor Rendell. The proposal by Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona, must be approved by the Pennsylvania legislature. It faces stiff resistance from lawmakers. The Abertis/Citi consortium is the company attempting to finish the deal. To pay for it, Rendell wants to raise tolls by 25% next year and 2.5 percent or the rate of inflation every year after that. Rendell says it's a plus for Pennsylvania's roads. If approved, the lease would be the largest-ever of a U.S. toll road. Jesse Ventura is considering running for the Senate in Minnesota. Ventura is a Libertarian and he has strong feelings on issues. He's right that the Republicans and Democrats are so controlled by special interests that it's unbearable for many Americans to vote for either of them. Ventura is readily known now for questioning the official account of the attacks of 9/11. Ventura is right that controlled demolition is possible for the explanation of the collapse of Building Number Seven. The reason is that it fell after 5 hours of burning and it wasn't hit by planes (Witnesses heard explosions in the Building. Building Number Seven fell in its own footprint).

There are many people running for President now. Bob Barr wants to run for President on the Libertarian side. He claims to represents the continuation of the philosophy of Ron Paul. Some claim that he could take votes away from John McCain. I disagree with that because some won't vote for John McCain anyway because some of his positions are anti-First Amendment, pro-illegal war, and pro-neo conservative. Bob Barr was once a CIA official. Some criticize him for voting for the Patriot Act and supporting the war on Drugs (which is a real war on civil liberties and a war on personal freedom. Not even the Constitution justifies such a war). Marijuana is more regulated than Prozac and other antidepressants. Although, Some antidrepressants have risks of sucidal thoughts and other ills. Many serial killers and school shooters (including the murderer of kids in Virginia Tech) are known to have abused or were involved with antidepressant drugs. Chuck Baldwin is the candidate for the Constiution Party. He's a conservative, but is more independent. He doesn't agree with the Patriot Act, he opposes the Iraq War, opposes torture, disagrees with the Republican Party's brand, and hates abortion. A lot of conservatives might vote for this man. Cythnia McKinney is another independent liberal Green Party candidate. She wants the war in Iraq to end, the Pentagon to be held accountable for the missing $1 million, and other solutions for complications in our society. Regardless, we have a right to vote for whatever party we want or wish not to vote at all. Secret Societies like Freemasonry, the Rosicurcians, the Jesuits, and others order play a big role in world affair. The leaders of these groups are readily related to each other. These similar bloodlines are based mostly in European countries (although it isn't limited to Europe) and have origins from the ancient Empires of Greece and Rome. These families are the Saxe-Coburg Gothas (who are a Germanic family related to European Royal Kings like the Windsors even those in Spain like Knight of Malta King Juan Carlos of Spain), the Grosvenor family, the Black Nobility, the Rothschilds, the Merovingians, etc. Now, these (including the Vatican/Jesuits and the City of London) are the leaders of such Secret Societies. Spanning thousands of years, these related leaders have stirred civilizations via war, taxation, feudalism, and control of people in centralized, monopolized institutions. Some of them embrace the occult. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and even Barack Obama have Merovingian bloodlines. The Mervongians originated in France and intermingled with Germanic families to form a very powerful family tree. For example, John McCain is a descendant of Robert the Bruce, an early Merovingian Scottish king. Barack Obama is related to William I, the King of Scotland. Obama is related to Jimmy Carter and of course Dick Cheney. Hillary Clinton is related to Prime Minister Jean Chretien and she is the 10th cousin of Camila Shand (the Duchess of Cornwall. She's the wife of Prince Charles. Hillary is related to Madonna and CFR media Angelina Jolie). The occult is wrong because the occult's purpose is the restriction of information about the world and nature from the common man. The occult means secret plainly. One aspect of the occult is Sacred Geometry. Sacred Geometry is an over obsession with shapes and geometry to the point of assigning spiritual or esoteric characteristics to geometric patterns. It's true that geometry is beautiful and a reflection of God's magnificent creative power. Yet, we should not worship these things or give false spiritual interpretations to geometric shapes or patterns. The Pentagon and the Statue of Liberty (constructed by a Mason) have examples of Sacred Geometry or occult symbolism. This geometry goes into higher levels of mathematics. For example, the Great Pyramid of Giza is a Square. It's perimeter (according to a website) is equal to the circumference of a circle with a radius that is the height of the Great Pyramid. Symbolism can be in hundreds or more images usually relating to animals, humans, stars, planets, and other things relating to Nature and fictional entities. The elite help invent much of Muslim radicals 80+ years ago via the Muslim Brotherhood and MI6 in order to disrupt secular Arabic governments, create wars, and control their resources. They've created crisis then offer some "solutions." Peter Goodgame wrote an excellent article on many Freemasons who were the original leaders in the early Muslim Brotherhood. That's why Osama Bin Laden was educated by those related to the Muslim Brotherhood. The CIA funded Osama as a tool to invade Afghanistan to get the Soviets out of that country. Western governments aided numerous Muslim radicals for decades. In the 21st century, Freemasons now want to have a more "hip" image, but they have the same principles. They desire the merging of theism (i.e. Ecumencialism) with the Ancient pagan Mysteries (i.e. Pike admitted in his Morals and Dogma book that Masonry is related to the Mysteries and the Kabbala) in order to influence the world. 33rd Degree Freemason C. William Smith said outright (in the September 1950 edition of the Scottish rite new Age) magazine that he wants a new religion called the Religion of "Light" and a New Age on planet Earth. Many Masons worship Lucifer (like Manly P. Hall) and call for the new world order. CAFTA, an anti-sovereignity trade deal, is ironically supported by Freemason Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. So, I wouldn't be a Freemason for many reasons like swearing death oaths, their promotion of the Mysteries, promoting using false interpretations in lower levels, and their secrecy. Not all Masons are Devil worshippers, but Freemasonry is composed of deception to the point of even decieving their lower levels "Brothers." David Edwards and Muriel Kane from Raw Story on May 20, 2008 wrote about the View exposing how Prescott Bush aided the Nazis. Prescott Bush is George W. Bush's grandfather and he's a member of the Skulls and Bones Secret Society (a ceremony have a person kissing the feet of figure dressed up as a Pope). Joy Behar said that Prescott was a director and shareholder of companies with involvement with Nazis financiers. That's true and has been conclusively documented by researcher John Buchanan. Buchanan went into the Library of Congress and gather the sufficient evidence in backing up this fact. Behar was responding to how Bush falsely equating diplomacy with nations like Iran to appeasement. Appeasement is different than just talking with people. Prescott Bush was accused of being involved in a plan for a fascist coup (with others like of the Roosevelt government in creating martial law). The Bush family is known to have a legacy of eugenics, abortion, population control, and other evil fruits. Prescott Bush served as the treasurer of the first national capital campaign of Planned Parenthood in 1947. I will say this though. Now, I view things bigger than political parties. If you're a real man or a real woman you should realize that folks from across the political spectrum are waking up about real issues. Collectively blaming everyone in a political ideology is just as much false and omitting the evil in major political parties. That's why George W. Bush is responsible for the bad policies he enacted, but ultimately he's a puppet under the military industrial complex (controlled by the European elite, who are based in the Vatican/Jesuits, the City of London, various bloodlines & secret societies, etc.). We may not agree on everything, but we should have the inspiration to act and help to improve our lives plus other people's lives.


By TimothyA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 06:52 PM

Lately there's been a lot of debate here and elsewhere about whether oil prices are being determined by fundamentals -- i.e. by supply and demand -- or by financial flows (i.e. dollar weakness, inflation hedging, speculation, hoarding). So let's take a look at the actual figures for world supply and demand from the IEA. These figures are taken from P. 51 of the IEA's 11 April 2008 Oil Market Report, available as a pdf here.

For each time period below, the figure on the left is demand, and the figure on the right is supply, in millions of barrels per day.

2004: 82.5, 83.4
2005: 83.9, 84.6
1Q06: 85.6, 85.4
2Q06: 83.6, 85.1
3Q06: 84.6, 85.7
4Q06: 85.6, 85.4
2006: 84.9, 85.4
1Q07: 86.1, 85.6
2Q07: 85.1, 85.2
3Q07: 85.6, 85.2
4Q07: 87.1, 86. 5
2007: 86.0, 85.6
1Q08: 87.3, 87.3

Now, let's compare these figures against the graph of oil prices:

1) For the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, oil prices rose consistently despite the fact that there was no shortage, and supply was more than adequate to meet demand. The surplus of supply over demand was 0.9mbd in 2004, 0.7mbd in 2005 and 0.5mbd in 2006. The theory that oil prices rose in this period due to demand exceeding supply doesn't hold water. The figures clearly state otherwise. Supply substantially exceeded demand the whole time.

2) In 2007, there was a genuine shortage of oil. Demand exceeded supply by 0.4mbd, so a price rise was justified on fundamental grounds.

3) In the first quarter of 2008, demand remains strong but IEA stats show there has been a large surge in supply which is enough to meet that demand:
In 1Q08 (Jan, Feb, Mar), WTI spot prices fluctuated up and down, but started and ended the period around $100/barrel. That would seem to accord with the fundamentals. Supply and demand were balanced during the quarter at 87.3mbd.

Finally, since the beginning of April, oil has shot through the roof like a rocket. Was that justified by the fundamentals? We don't know yet. The 11 April 2008 OMR (P. 3) says: "This report projects April and May oil balances tipping towards a supply surplus." Another data point:

A decline in China's oil imports in April, the first year-on-year drop in 18 months, also raised questions over demand. China is the world's second-largest oil consumer after the United States. [...] China's April crude oil imports fell by 3.9 percent from a year ago to 3.47 million bpd, and were also down from the record of 4.07 million bpd in March, official Chinese data showed.Source

I'll revisit this as the figures are updated, but, at the moment, the "demand is overshooting supply" theory looks pretty unlikely as an explanation of the feverish price behavior in April.
by JD

May 21, 2008 06:31 PM

http://www.saveourguns.com/gunalerts.htmA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 06:29 PM

http://z13.invisionfree.com/THE_UNHIVED_MIND/index.php?showtopic=55208A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 06:28 PM

Orlando Letelier

Execution by Cruise Missile - Killing Enemies Without Trial
By JACOB HORNBERGER
May 6, 2008

In an editorial published last Saturday, the Washington Post celebrated the killing of a man in Somalia who the Post said "deserved the label of 'evildoer.'" The man was killed when a U.S. Navy ship fired Tomahawk missiles at a Somali home in which the man was apparently located. The Post said that the missile "killed a vicious militia leader and an al-Qaeda operative."

The Post did point out that the U.S. operation had a "distinct downside": Some 24 other people were also killed in the attack. Notwithstanding that unfortunate side effect, the Post said that the operation was "a victory for the Bush administration's counterterrorism operations in Africa."

I wish the Post had compared the U.S. operation against the terrorist in Somalia to a similar operation carried out against a communist in 1973 on the streets of Washington, D.C., by agents of the Augusto Pinochet regime. It would be interesting to know whether the Post would, in retrospect, celebrate that killing as well, as part of Pinochet's counter-communism operations in the Americas during the Cold War.

The victim of the killing, Orlando Letelier, was a Chilean citizen who had served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Interior Minister, and Defense Minister in the administration of Chilean president Salvador Allende, a socialist and communist politician whom the Chilean people had democratically elected as their president.

When Chilean Army General Pinochet ousted Allende in a military coup, a coup with which U.S. officials were not displeased, Letelier was among the first seized and arrested. After being severely tortured and incarcerated for eight months, he was ultimately released on the condition that he leave Chile immediately.

In 1975 Letelier moved to Washington to join the staff of the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent research institute. He also taught at American University. While living in Washington, Letelier became a leading spokesman against the Pinochet regime, thereby sealing his fate as a communist enemy of the state operating abroad.

Since Chilean government officials lacked a Navy that could fire Tomahawk missiles, they decided to take out Letelier using a more conventional means — a regular bomb planted in his automobile. The killing was apparently part of Operation Condor, a program in which right-wing and military regimes in South America, working with the CIA, had embarked on a program of torture and assassination against left-wing "communist" opponents, who government officials considered at least as dangerous as "the terrorists" against whom the U.S. government is currently waging war.

Letelier's killing was organized by a man named Michael Townley, who had been CIA's liaison with intelligence agents in the South American governments. Townley retained the services of five Cuban anti-communist exiles in the United States to plant a bomb in Letelier's car. The bomb blew up, killing Letelier along with his American assistant, Ronni Moffit, who was not alleged to be a communist.

Interestingly, the Justice Department treated the killing as a murder rather than a covert operation as part of Chile's war on communism. Townley, along with the Cubans, were indicted. Townley confessed to the crime and was convicted in a Washington, D.C., court, but things didn't turn out too bad for him. For organizing an operation that ended up killing two people, he served only three years and four months in prison before being released into the U.S. government's "witness protection program" for implicating higher-ups in the Chilean government, including Pinochet himself. (Also, see: "My Case Against Pinochet" by Letelier's son, Francisco Letelier, CounterPunch, Dec. 20, 2004.)

After Pinochet left office, his henchmen, Chilean Army Generals Manuel Contreras and Pedro Espinoza Bravo, were convicted of the Letelier murder in Chile. Contreras told the presiding judge in the case that Townley had been supported in the Letelier killing by the CIA.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government continues to withhold classified documents relating to the Letelier-Moffitt assassination on the grounds that they are associated with an ongoing investigation, 35 years after the murder. Apparently they're referring to outstanding U.S. extradition requests for Contreras and Espinoza.

The rationale for the Letelier killing was that Chile, along with other right-wing military regimes and the CIA, were at war — the war on communism. Why should government officials, the thinking went, have to deal with indictments, lawyers, trials, and extradition against communists, who were arguably more dangerous and threatening than terrorists? Better to simply kill them (or torture them and then kill them). Yes, war is hell, and sometimes innocent people are killed in the process. But what better, more efficient way to rid a nation of its enemies in the war on communism than by simply assassinating them, either with missiles or bombs?

It's a mindset with which U.S. officials, who recently killed those people in Somalia with their Tomahawk missiles as part of their war on terrorism, can surely sympathize.

Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

http://www.counterpunch.org/hornberger05062008.html

May 21, 2008 06:05 PM

VictorSRMoore writes:

As George BuSSh cousin Winston Churchill said, the only British Royal Navy Tradition is Rum Sodomy & the Lash! They starved our 1776 hero POWs to the death in derelict ships offshore similiar to their later Konfederate KKK partners against Union Soldier POWs & Nazi Death camps POWs.

UK BIA MI5 Nazi Bondage Sex Orgy

UK: MI5 Faces Questions after Agent's Prostitute Wife Took Part in 'Nazi-Style' Orgy with F1 Boss Mosley

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/mi5-faces-questions-after-agents.html

B.I.A. Bloody British Imperialist Elite Ruling Class Extortionist

Slave-Master Intelligence Agent A Satanic Bixexual Brain Wash Jaymz Bond M.M.M.I.C.
www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/aleister-crowley

MI5 Accused of Colluding in Torture of Britons in Pakistan

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/mi5-accused-of-colluding-in-torture-of.html

Video: ABC Segment, Revenge Against the Children of God Sect. One of many Republican Nazi Child Prostitution, Kiddie Porn Brainwash Slave Cults like Waco Texass, Jonestown Guyana, Manson Family Massacres. See:

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/video-abc-segment-revenge-against.html

-- VSRM

May 21, 2008 04:30 PM

The Documentary Channel will showcase the U.S. premiere of a documentary on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy June 9. See:

http://constantineinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/05/documentary-channel-to-premiere-robert.html

May 21, 2008 04:28 PM

Taxpayers Alliance is planning an elephant hunt.

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 04:24 PM

Dallas Morning News - Editorial
May 21, 2008

The buzz in San Angelo's courthouse this week is about the women and children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Judges are working to determine where the mothers and their young ones from the offshoot Mormon sect should go.

What hasn't received as much attention is the plight of boys from the West Texas ranch. The mystery surrounding them is one more reason the state should examine the sect's practices.

According to Child Protective Services, the number of boys and girls under age 13 under CPS' watch are almost exactly even. But the 1-to-1 ratio drops off precipitously for children 14 and older – with 53 girls and 17 boys.

The way we look at it, either there was an unprecedented quirk in boy-girl birth rates more than 14 years ago, or some young males risk becoming part of the sect's "lost boys." We worry more about the latter, given what's known about the sect's practices around the country.

By various accounts, 400 to 1,400 boys have been shunted aside nationally so older men can have first dibs on younger girls. The Diversity Foundation in Utah has been studying the problem for some time, and the picture's not pretty.

According to the foundation's Web site, some boys may be moved out of a compound for something as simple as talking to a girl. Others may be kicked out for standing in the way of older men getting young girls. Whatever the reason, it's not unusual for them to end up on the streets. And they can land there with no more than an eighth-grade education.

There's no magic answer for their predicament. But one way CPS plans to deal with this challenge is through an individual educational plan for each child, including the boys under its jurisdiction. The agency will work with the Texas Education Agency so that fewer children fall behind.

Good.

The boys on the West Texas ranch deserve their own attention. Too many are lost already.

This article was found at:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/
dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/
DN-lostboys_21edi.ART.State.Edition1.
461e1ac.html

May 21, 2008 04:16 PM

A professor emeritus at a public university in Tennessee has been indicted by a federal grand jury for passing sensitive U.S. military secrets to the communist government of China through graduate research assistants and wire transmissions.

The electrical and computer engineering professor (J. Reece Roth) at the University of Tennessee violated the Arms Export Control Act by disclosing restricted military data about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones, to foreign nationals without required government license or approval.

According to an 18-count indictment, between 2004 and 2006 Professor Roth transmitted technical data on a restricted U.S. military contract with a university research spin off company he helped found. The information involved an Air Force project to develop plasma actuators for munitions-type drones. Roth gave the information to a Chinese national who was a graduate research assistant at the university.

The professor also took a trip to China in May 2006 to supposedly deliver an academic lecture. Federal investigators say Roth also delivered more delicate technical data about the military project that was clearly controlled by the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cornell University graduate put America’s security at risk, according to federal prosecutors. He faces more than two decades in prison.

May 21, 2008 03:07 PM

Business in the House is managed through "usual channels", by agreement between the government and the opposition parties. None of these want to engage in a high profile debate about the constitutional Lisbon treaty.

Is it entirely a coincidence, therefore, that the major votes in the Commons on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill were scheduled for the same day that the Lords were voting on whether there should be a referendum on the treaty?

Whether it was or not, the proceedings in the Commons effectively drowned out the debate in the Lords on the amendment introduced by Lord Blackwell. So, while the media gorged themselves on the question of whether children born with the aid of IVF should have fathers, the debate over the referendum merited only a routine report on the BBC website and very little else.

Blackwell's motion was defeated by 60 votes - 195 votes to 135 – leading the Tory leader in the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, to said there was "something very fishy" about the government's refusal to back its own policy. He added: "This astonishing vote will arouse deep suspicion in the minds of the public in view of the broken promises from Labour and Liberals over a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty."

Unfortunately, the passage of the vote has passed with such limited reporting that the event is virtually unknown to the public. Rather than "deep suspicion", therefore, the vote will attach next to no reaction.

Nor was there any reaction to a later vote, taken after an amendment had been tabled by UKIP peer Lord Pearson calling for a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU. This was primarily intended to smoke out the Lib Dims, whose policy it is to call for such a referendum. But, true to form, the Lib Dims bottled out, abstaining from the vote.

While the Lords were our last, best hope of forcing a referendum, as the issue drained into the sands, expectations have reduced and, of the main referendum vote, there was little chance of success.

It is not quite yet over. The Conservatives are expected to make their final push for a referendum when the ratification Bill reaches its report stage in the Lords on 4 and 9 June, with a vote expected on 11 June - the day before Irish voters go to the polls in their referendum. But with Lib Dim peers expected to vote with the government, their chances of success then are equally limited.

Then, as far as the UK goes, it is all over. The Bill will go for Royal Assent, signalling the "assent" of Parliament to the ratification of the treaty.

But, has the low-key media coverage been part of a broader conspiracy to bury the debate? Of course not. As the man said, "Ceci n'est pas un complot."

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 04:07 PM

The White House Watch - May 21, 2008

Sex abuse allegations shock community

by SHANTELE KEMPVANEE

Whispers of child molestation at Christian Gospel Temple, once based in Chino, California, came to a deafening roar in recent weeks with four civil lawsuits alleging abuse, cover-ups and cult-like conditioning.

The Cross Plains church has come under fire chiefly at the hands of four women who grew up in the church and claim their abuse was brought forward to the leadership and swept aside.

Cheryl Mears Morrell, Crystal Mears, and Lynette Fay each point to their biological grandfather, former assistant pastor Reverend Paul Mears, as the perpetrator of their abuse.

The fourth litigant, Jennifer Meier-Beita, says her abuse occurred at age 8 at the hands of Carlos Cruz, a member who was 17-18 at the time. According to Beita, Cornelius Mears, the founder and pastor of Christian Gospel Temple, instructed her and her mother not to report the abuse either to authorities or to her own father.

Beita says a confrontation in 2004 with current pastor Steve Farmer resulted in a church meeting where multiple members alleged abuse.

“Pastor Farmer said Brother [Cornelius] Mears never knowingly allowed a child molester to sit among us, even though he had just learned of my abuse story and how it was handled,” recalled Beita.

Several former members confirm the meeting resulted in an emotional outpouring of allegations from an estimated 30 victims and heartfelt apologies from members who said if they had known of the abuse, they would have protected the girls.

“Carlos tormented me for years,” said Beita, “making sexual gestures and comments - he knew he had gotten away with something.”

Amidst claims she is in it for the money, Beita countered, “I don’t care if I ever see a courtroom; this is my courtroom-to give other victims a voice. I want people to drive by that exit and know not to take their children there.”

When asked what the church had done to help the alleged victims of the lawsuits after coming forward, Steve Farmer said in a forum given Monday night at the church, “We have met with each of one of these [women] at different times and talked with them and listened to them and prayed with them and encouraged them. And we encouraged them to do what was necessary and reporting what they needed to – we supported them in whatever they wanted to do. But because they were allegations, we didn’t know exactly what to do with that.”

Allegations and convictions

Roger DeWitt, a Christian Gospel Temple member who eventually followed the move to Tennessee, was convicted of child molestation in Chino when his sister-in-law Laura Pedigo filed charges for the abuse of her 11-year-old daughter in 1992.

“Five or six families knew of our situation, and no one tried to cover it up,” said Pedigo, who unlike others, went to authorities before approaching the pastorate. Pedigo left Christian Gospel Temple for an affiliated church in Houston, Texas where she remained. She left the church in 2004.

Former member Janice Linder said she was shaken to the core when faced with the fact her own father had abused two of her daughters and according to his written confession, several others within the Christian Gospel Temple Church over the course of 20 years. Thomas Cassalery, now deceased –retired to Salem, Oregon and was later convicted of child molestation and spent five years on probation.

“He was glad we had stopped him,” said Linder of her father, who was a Bible scholar fluent in seven languages. “It was hard knowing he had taken advantage of the children of my friends during their visits and vacations.” Linder says her father later told her Cornelius Mears had been made aware of the abuse by the mother of one of his victims.

Paul Mears

Several men have been alleged as perpetrators of sexual abuse, but Paul Mears is at the center of the controversy with his connection to the foundation of the church, its ministry, and the current lawsuits alleging fraud and cover-up.

While Paul Mears remained in the ministry despite allegations that Cornelius was aware of his problems, former members say Alberta and Terry Mears, the wife and son of Cornelius, were removed from church membership after being accused of mishandling money.

The official Christian Gospel Temple timeline provided Monday night at the church states Mears did step down from his Phoenix, Arizona pastorate after he was confronted by Lynette Fay’s maternal grandfather Dewayne Bobbit in 1998, the year CGT states they officially had knowledge of allegations against Paul Mears.

“We believe the claimed abuse happened outside our church confines,” said Pastor Steve Farmer, who was assistant pastor to Cornelius from 1981 until he took over sometime after 2001.

“We did not hide or condone this claimed abuse in any way. We urged the families to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the claimed abuse was reported.”

According to the timeline, Paul Mears returned to Christian Gospel Temple when it was on Dickerson Road after the failure to launch a Clarksville church in 1998.

He sat on the platform “a place of prominence during worship services” until Cornelius confronted him. After the confrontation, according to the timeline, “he [Paul Mears] sat in the back of the church and never again held a place of prominence.”

Farmer began preaching against pedophilia and incest during 2001 in response to allegations against Paul Mears.

According to the printed chronology, “Farmer never publicly calls Paul by name, but the congregation knows who he is addressing.”

These sermons apparently led to a confrontation between Mears and Farmer in 2003, when Farmer admitted the messages were in fact aimed at Mears and his refusal to respond to the allegations of his granddaughters. According to CGT records, Paul Mears “angrily tells Farmer to stay out of his business…walks out and doesn’t come back to the church.”

Pastor Farmer made it clear at the Monday night meeting Paul Mears is no longer a member of the Christian Gospel Temple.

Farmer spoke with other affiliated churches beginning in 2005 concerning allegations of sexual abuse among members and the procedure for handling them, and developed a policy to guide the ministry and members of the congregation.

This policy, provided Monday night categorically rejects child abuse as a sin, and operates under several principles including reporting of known abuse to authorities, with reporting of suspected abuse or inappropriate behavior to the pastor or elders, for their investigation.

The church also pledges not to interfere with the reporting of any child abuse.

On cult allegations

Current member James Massie rejects labels people are attempting to attach to Christian Gospel Temple, including the word “cult”.

“We embrace a diversity of ideas, and the pulpit is open for anyone to speak,” he said of the services that have been described by some as ordered and controlled by the pastor. This sentiment was echoed by Todd Morrell at the Monday night forum, as light jokes were made about recent accusations that pastoral approval is necessary for essentials such as hairstyle or dress.

While Christian Gospel Temple’s doctrine does not closely align with traditional evangelicals regarding the trinity, hell, or the devil, Massie said these issues are less important when considering a label like cult.

“At the core of our belief, the early church had the truth,” said Massie who explained much of that eroded after the death of the Apostles and throughout history until the reformation.

“We believe we are still reforming. We are seeking the truth,” said Massie, who said his church invites others on that journey, rather than having any exclusive claims on the truth.

“Labels promote a heart of separation and we are against that separation,” explained Massie.

Concerning the current lawsuits and the women behind them, Massie said “I have love and a deep feeling of sorrow for these girls. I want peace in their lives and if there is anything I could ever do to help them, I would.”

Massie went on to say that pastors everywhere need to start preaching against sin again.

“Sin destroys lives. We need to stop the cycle of pain. The only way to stop it is through the love of Jesus,” said Massie.

This article was found at:

http://www.checkyourwatch.com/wordpress/2008/05/21/
sex-abuse-allegations-shock-community/

May 21, 2008 04:05 PM

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-5-20/70864.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 04:03 PM

From http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/052108_ventura_fears.htm

 

 

Ventura Fears 'We Did 9/11 To Ourselves' Former Governor lectures disbelieving Howard Stern on impossible collapse of buildings

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |

Former Governor Jesse Ventura went further in his 9/11 skepticism than ever before today when he told the Howard Stern Show of his fear that elements of the U.S. government carried out the attack, stating, "I hate to fear....that we possibly did it to ourselves."

"There's a lot of very difficult questions that have not been answered and no one seems to want to provide any answers," Ventura told Stern, adding that the most prescient was, "That a third building could fall into its own footprint five hours later having not been struck by much of anything....the 9/11 Commission didn't even address the issue.

Pressed by Stern as to what he thought had happened, Ventura stated, "I hate to fear what could have happened that possibly we did it to ourselves," to which Stern responded "you're kidding me".

Ventura explained that he worked in demolitions when he was in the Navy and questioned how the buildings could fall at the rate of gravity.

(Article continues below)

The former Governor countered skepticism on behalf of Stern and his co-hosts by pointing out that the WTC towers were built to withstand a jetliner impact.

Stern said it was "unthinkable" that our own government could have perpetrated the attack, to which Ventura reasoned, "Nothing is unthinkable - you're talking about power, you're talking about foreign policy changing over this event, you're talking about getting control over the middle eastern oil."

Stern's co-host then attempted to throw Ventura by asserting that Bush could not be capable of organizing the attack, to which Ventura responded, "I don't know if he is, but I certainly think there are people capable of doing it."

Ventura then pointed out that kerosene does not burn hot enough to melt steel girders and asked why the buildings came down as powder and not in big chunks. Stern's co-host regurgitated the tired old debunker line of claiming the steel weakened and sagged, causing the building to collapse.

"OK if that's the case, if you use that analogy, then when you go camping and use a propane stove, which propane burns hotter than kerosene does, if you leave it on for two hours and you put a big can of beans on your grill, shouldn't the grill collapse?" asked Ventura.

"This is crazy!" exclaimed Stern, without explaining why Ventura's citation of basic physics had Stern and his team so baffled.

"These two buildings were white elephants, they were losing money, they had asbestos in them, and they were being required by law to do over a billion dollars worth of asbestos removal," said Ventura, pointing out that WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein made $7 billion dollars from his insurance claim after the attacks.

Ventura first went public with his questions about 9/11 during an on camera interview with Alex Jones in June 2006. He expanded on his thoughts during two subsequent radio interviews in April and May of this year.

CLICK HERE for MP3 of Ventura on Howard Stern.

RELATED: Ventura Slams Media Witch Hunt For Questioning 9/11

 

 

________

 

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/052108_witch_hunt.htm

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May 21, 2008 04:01 PM

Voice of America - May 21, 2008

by Greg Flakus - Houston

In San Marcos, Texas a judge has ruled that Hindu guru Prakashanand Saraswati may leave the United States to visit his India homeland after a local supporter in Austin posted $10 million as a guarantee. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, advocates for abused children are questioning the wisdom of the judge's action.

Texas-based businessman Peter Spiegel says he will provide the $10 million guarantee that the Indian religious leader would return to the United States.

Authorities arrested 79-year-old Prakashanand Saraswati on April 24 at Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. after he returned from a trip to Europe. He is charged with 20 counts of indecency with two children. His organization paid one million dollars for his initial bond, which allows him to move about in the Untied States but not leave the country. He is also restricted from entering the 80-hectare property in Hays County, near the state capital of Austin, called Barsana Dham, where his temple is located and where he is alleged to have groped two underage girls in the 1990's.

The district attorney handling the case argued that no accused felon out of jail on bond should be allowed to leave the country, but Texas State District Court Judge Charles Ramsay gave his approval. Tom Burton, General Counsel for Houston-based Justice for Children, a non-profit group that is not involved in the case, is among those questioning the judge's decision.

"It is disturbing, from a public policy perspective, that an accused child molester could simply carry around a war chest and pay his way out of trouble and that appears to be what the judge allowed to happen," he said.

Supporters of the Indian cleric say the charges against him are spurious and that he will return so that he can be exonerated in court. But Tom Burton says if the accused is in fact a child molester the judge may have put children in India and elsewhere at risk by letting him leave.

"What assurances do we have that children all around the world are safe? Until we resolve the allegations here in Texas how do we know?," he said.

Saraswati, who is also known as Swami Ji and Shree Swamiji requested permission to leave the country so that he could attend religious ceremonies in India and oversee hospital-building projects there. Janeshwari Devi, a spokesperson for Barsana Dham, says in a prepared statement that testimony and character references presented to Judge Ramsay influenced his decision.

"The judge heard remarks that Shree Swamiji is a globally recognized spiritual leader who is overseeing the construction of charitable hospitals and religious centers in India. Also, letters from prominent members of parliament, high court judges, Supreme Court advocates in India also weighed substantially in the outcome of the hearing," he said.

She says Peter Spiegel put up his own money as a guarantee and told the court he had no fear of losing it since he was confident that Saraswati would return for his trial. Devi says the judge's decision was the proper one given the backing the religious leader has from both his followers abroad and here in Texas.

"We know this is an unusual decision, but it speaks directly to Swami Ji's integrity," he said.

Only a few dozen people live at the Texas Hill Country site of the Barsana Dham temple, but thousands of people have attended services and festivals held at the site.

This article was found at:

http://www.voanews.com/english/
2008-05-21-voa1.cfm

May 21, 2008 03:47 PM

The Wall Street Journal - May 21, 2008

Opinion | Lionel Tiger

The desperate tragedy involving polygamous cultists in Texas has attracted a growing phalanx of lawyers, judges, law enforcers and assorted psychologists.

Those responsible for coping with this astonishing disaster would be well-advised to add a primatologist to the team. The fact is that, despite all the blather about faith and freedom of religion, the men operating the various compounds in question are behaving in virtually the same manner as countless dominant males in countless primate troops observed over the years.

The essence of the case is that the men who control the politics of the group (as well as the hapless women and children who live there) have used junk theology about heaven, hell, paradise and salvation to maintain their unquestioned access to all females of reproductive age (or younger).

That's the reproductive fantasy of any adult male primate.

In this blow to simple decency, the Texas polygamists are not pathfinders. Multiple wives are of course permitted in the Islamic religion, and co-wives are a feature of dozens of human groups in which powerful men control sufficient resources to be able to support more than one woman.

This is usually because the societies in which they live are sharply unequal. Sex and offspring flow to those with resources.

One of the triumphs of Western arrangements is the institution of monogamy, which has in principle made it possible for each male and female to enjoy a plausible shot at the reproductive outcome which all the apparatus of nature demands. Even Karl Marx did not fully appreciate the immense radicalism of this form of equity.

The Texans' faith-flaunting is morally disgraceful and crudely cynical. It also raises bewildering questions about human gullibility on one hand and the efficacy of the Big Lie on the other.

Can anyone really believe that the notorious communal bed to which senior men command 16-year-old girls is part of some holy temple apparatus? Apparently some people do, and the few escapees from the fetid zoo have testified to the power the ridiculous theory wields.

The victims are not only young women but young men too. They are reproductively and productively disenfranchised, and are in effect forced to leave the communities to become hopeless, ill-schooled misfits in the towns of normal life. No dignified lives as celibate monks with colorful costumes for them.

Again, the issue is cross-cultural. Osama bin Laden has at least five wives, which means that four young men of his tribe have no date on Saturday night and forever. They may become willing jihadists, or desperate suicides eager to soothe their god by killing infidels and Americans.

Elsewhere, preference for sons has meant a sharp shortage of women in China. It is known that raiding parties from there cross into bordering countries with more regular sex ratios to steal women.

The deranged cults have been operating in plain sight for years in Texan communities whose police forces have been earnestly writing parking tickets while ignoring what is obvious major criminality. Some 400 young children have been drastically separated from their mothers – who among other derogations of civil life are allegedly part of longstanding welfare fraud engineered by their sexual tyrants.

And now what? It will be intensely depressing but probably useful to acknowledge this is at bottom a natural matter, a product of our inner behavioral nature. Understanding the shadowy sources of this nightmare may help our community cope with its victims.

Mr. Tiger teaches anthropology at Rutgers and is the author of "The Decline of Males" (St. Martin's, 2000).

This article was found at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB121132858677808907.html?mod=
googlenews_wsj

May 21, 2008 03:34 PM

The Globe & Mail - Canada
May 21, 2008

Minors should not make life-or-death choices, court told

by Kirk Makin

OTTAWA -- It is impossible to imagine a situation in which a child should be allowed to make a medical treatment decision that might lead to his or her death, a Manitoba Child and Family services lawyer told the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday.

Arguing at an appeal launched by a Jehovah's Witness who, at 14, was given a blood transfusion against her will, lawyer Norm Cuddy said that mature minors can only hope that the courts and medical system consider their treatment wishes.

"It could never be in the best interests of children to make a decision that costs them their life," Mr. Cuddy told the court. "Even if it is a decision based on religion - whatever their wishes, we must never let a child die."

The child at the centre of the case - known only as A.C. - was given a blood transfusion on Easter Sunday, 2006, after she adamantly refused it in keeping with her faith.

Earlier that day, a judge had determined that, although A.C. was mentally capable of making a treatment decision, doctors could override it to save her life.

Yesterday, Mr. Cuddy said it would be fraught with risk to allow children under 16 to make such choices, given that they could be unduly influenced by spiritual teachers or intensely religious parents.

"It has to do with maturity and judgment," Mr. Cuddy said. "The question is: Is this person making an independent judgment? Three days later, she might be lying in bed, looking death in the face. Would she still think the same way?"

A.C. told reporters that were she facing possible death again, she would make the same decision without hesitation.

"The fact that my choice wasn't respected was heartbreaking," she said, shortly after the court reserved its judgment in her case.

A.C., who has a bowel disorder known as Crohn's disease, added that she has not been in a similar situation since 2006.

Different provinces impose different ages at which an individual can start making life-and-death decisions involving their medical treatment. In Manitoba, the age is 16.

"We would not be any happier letting a 17-year-old die than a 16-year-old, but that's the line the legislature has drawn," Mr. Cuddy remarked yesterday.

Deborah Carlson, a lawyer for Manitoba's Attorney-General, told the court that the legislation is balanced, allowing judges to consider a child's wishes, maturity level and the gravity of the medical situation in coming to a decision on what is in the patient's best interests.

"In this case, the facts are very, very stark," Ms. Carlson said.

"In some cases, it would not be as clear whether treatment would or would not be in the best interests of the child."

Her view was supported by Margaret Unsworth, a lawyer for Alberta's Attorney-General. "Are we, as a society, going to allow a religious conviction to prevail when exercising that conviction would result in death?" she asked.

David Day, a lawyer for A.C., said that some children under 16 can appreciate the weight of a major medical decision.

"Capacity is not a midnight epiphany," Mr. Day said. "The act assumes that some people under 16 will be capable, yet Manitoba locked the door to her medical integrity. The only reason that they locked the door was that she was under 16. But when she is turning 16, what - other than age - changes for her?"

Cheryl Milne, a lawyer for Justice for Children and Youth, told the court that adults cannot automatically take decisions out of the hands of children through arbitrary age limits that disregard their varying levels of maturity.

This article was found at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
LAC.20080521.AGE21/
TPStory/National

May 21, 2008 03:19 PM

Capital Weekly is telling the story of Congresswoman Laura Richardson's decision to Walk Away.

The story of the foreclosure of Long Beach Democrat Laura Richardson's Sacramento home is a tale of a real estate market gone sour. It is also an illustration of how far many candidates will go to seek elected office, even if it means quite literally mortgaging their own financial future.

While being elevated to Congress in a 2007 special election, Richardson apparently stopped making payments on her new Sacramento home, and eventually walked away from it, leaving nearly $600,000 in unpaid loans and fees.

Tax records at the Sacramento County assessor's office show that in January 2007, Richardson took out a mortgage for the entire sale price of the house -- $535,000. The mortgage amount was equal to the sale price of the home, meaning she was able to buy the house without a down payment, even though the housing market was beginning to turn.

A March 19, 2008 notice of trustee's sale indicates that the unpaid balance of Richardson's loan, which is held by Washington Mutual, is more than $578,000 –$40,000 more than the original mortgage.

The Curtis Park house is not Richardson's primary residence. She also owns a four-bedroom house in Long Beach, in her Congressional district. Real estate records show she purchased that house in 1999 for $135,000. An estimate from Zillow.com puts the current value of that house at $474,000

Like many homes that have gone through foreclosure, Richardson's new residence quickly became an eyesore. With Richardson gone, upkeep on the home lapsed, and neighbors began to get angry.

"The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her," said Sharon Helmar, who sold the home to Richardson. "She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."

While Richardson walked away from her loan, she bested Oropeza in a June special election, and moved on to Congress. As a member of Congress, Richardson has been asked to vote on legislation pertaining to the spike in foreclosures around the country.

On the biggest pieces of legislation having to do with government bailouts for people whose homes have entered foreclosure, Richardson has recused herself. She did not vote on legislation by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, which would direct $2.7 billion in government funds to help an estimated 500,000 homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure.

Richardson also did not vote on a measure by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, that would give local governments $15 billion to purchase, rehab and resell foreclosed properties.

While Richardson walked away from her bank loan, she has begun to pay herself back for the money she personally invested in her initial race. Records show that Richardson spent $587,000 out of her Congressional campaign committee since declaring her Congressional candidacy through March of this year. Of those expenditures, Richardson has spent $18,000 of that money to begin repaying herself for the money Richardson loaned to her campaign.

According to documents at the Sacramento County Clerk's office , Richardson first received a default notice in late 2007. By December 2007, less than a year after Richardson purchased the house, she was behind in her payments by more than $18,000.

Three months later, on March 19, a notice was filed with the county that Richardson's property would be sold at auction. According to the documents, the unpaid balance and other charges Richardson owed the bank was $587,384.

No Money Down Strikes Again.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.

May 21, 2008 03:15 PM

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May 21, 2008 03:09 PM

Irwin Stelzer stumbles on a profound truth in his column today (or perhaps he knew it already).

Writing about taxation, he notes the paucity of ideas coming from the Conservative Party and Cameron's limited ambitions for tax reform, and thus concludes that, "… a serious debate about policy can only be had in the think tanks, the universities and on pages such as these."

Actually, it has always been the case that serious policy development comes from outside the political parties – that the "Thatcher reforms" owe their intellectual genesis to the Institute of Economic Affairs is now part of political history.

However, Stelzer is being rather naïve (or self-serving) if he expects policy ideas to be generated or seriously discussed in the pages of newspapers – which have long given themselves over to entertainment and sundry activities, far removed from serious commentary.

And, while there may be (poor quality) debate over some issues, the bigger problem is that – as we have seen – whenever it comes to policies dominated by the EU, there is no debate at all. The "elephant in the room syndome" prevails.

This particularly applies to universities. While they are credited with being the intellectual power-houses of the nation, their capacity for policy generation on a wide range of issues, which have any impact on EU affairs, has been all but emasculated. Essentially, we have seen here another aspect of the slow-motion coup d'état whereby the research funding mechanisms have been captured by the "colleagues" and no policy development will attract grants unless it has a "European dimension".

That leaves the think-tanks but, in contrast with the vibrant scene in the United States, operations here are poorly funded and – as far as we are aware – there are none which are dedicated to researching national policies which might conflict with European policies. Even the so-called Eurosceptic think-tank, Open Europe is dedicated to "reform" of EU structures rather than creating independent British policies.

For sure, taxation is largely a national issue – although not entirely so. The VAT system is "off limits" as an EU requirement, corporation tax is increasingly coming into the sphere of the EU and there are other encroachments in the wings. Thus, even the Taxpayers Alliance fights shy of addressing EU issues.

There is, however, on the internet another force – the political blogs. It was hoped that these could generate a lively "conversation" about policy issues but, so far, that potential has not been realised. Instead, the "big hitters" seem to devote themselves to emulating MSM gossip columns. As for the EU, the "elephant" on the blogs is almost totally invisible.

Thus, it is fair to say that whole areas of (formerly) national policy are no longer discussed, political debate increasingly devoted to areas which remain (wholly or partially) within national control.

That much is most recently evident in the CAP, such discourse as there is being focused on changes to (or the abolition of) the EU’s policy. Nowhere have we seen (except perhaps in my own book) any serious attempt to offer a uniquely British agricultural policy.

The problem with this is that so many policy areas are interlinked and interdependent. How we manage our agriculture impacts on inflation – and thus wages, it has a massive impact on developing countries, and thus affects our aid and development policies and, through that, foreign policy. Failures in these spheres are the drivers of economic migration, which in turn affect immigration to this country, and thus our immigration policy and other related issues.

In other words, individual policies cannot be constructed and managed in isolation – yet that is precisely what is happening. With different policies carved up, some handed to the EU in toto, others in transition – such as road safety and transport – some with shared management, such as foreign policy and aid, there is complete confusion of aims, direction and execution.

As a nation, though, we cannot continue on this self-destructive path. Either we decide on self-management or, for better or worse, we hand over the whole business of government to others – as we are progressively doing. But this half-way house, where no one is really in control and no one really knows or understands where responsibilities lie, is the worst of all possible worlds.

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 02:05 PM

http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/newsalert.htm

http://infowars.net/articles/may2008/210508Paul.htm

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May 21, 2008 01:36 PM

Wlodimir Ledochowski
Jesuit Order Superior General
February 11, 1915 - December 13, 1942


George Weigel

http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.1205/pub_detail.asp

(excerpt)

It's a safe bet that no Jesuit provincial in the U.S. has appreciatively quoted Wladimir Ledochowski for rather a long time. That, and the unsparing honesty of Father Levensï's address, suggests that something interesting, and just possibly hopeful, is afoot.

Something very interesting considering that Ledochowski is considered one of the "greatest" Black Popes within the context of being so during some of this world's most turbulent/bloody times, who gave the Jesuit Order the firmest stamp and clearest definition since the Generalate of Claudio Acquaviva in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

About Weigel:

http://www.eppc.org/scholars/scholarID.14/scholar.asp

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals.

Professional Experience

A native of Baltimore, he was educated at St. Mary's Seminary College in his native city, and at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. In 1975, Weigel moved to Seattle where he was Assistant Professor of Theology and Assistant (later Acting) Dean of Studies at the St. Thomas Seminary School of Theology in Kenmore. In 1977, Weigel became Scholar-in-Residence at the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle, a position he held until 1984. In 1984-85 Weigel was a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. There, he wrote Tranquillitas Ordinis: The Present Failure and Future Promise of American Catholic Thought on War and Peace (Oxford University Press, 1987).

Weigel is the author or editor of nineteen other books, including The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism (Oxford, 1992); The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored (HarperCollins, 2001); The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church (Basic Books, 2002); Letters to a Young Catholic (Basic, 2004); The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God (Basic, 2005); God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church (HarperCollins, 2005); Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism (Doubleday, 2007); and Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace (Crossroad, 2008). Weigel has written essays, op-ed columns, and reviews for the major opinion journals and newspapers in the United States, and is a contributor to Newsweek. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Vatican analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, "The Catholic Difference," is syndicated to sixty newspapers around the United States. His scholarly work and his journalism are regularly translated into the major European languages.

From 1989 through June 1996, Weigel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues. From June 1996, as a Senior Fellow of the Center, Weigel prepared a major study of the life, thought, and action of Pope John Paul II. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II was published to international acclaim in the Fall of 1999, in English, French, Italian, and Spanish editions. Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Czech, and Slovenian editions were published in 2000. A Russian edition was published in 2001, and a German edition in 2002; Chinese and Romanian editions are in preparation. A documentary film based on the book was released in the fall of 2001 and has won numerous prizes.

Weigel has been awarded ten honorary doctorates, the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal by the Republic of Poland. He serves on the boards of directors of several organizations dedicated to human rights and the cause of religious freedom and is a member of the editorial board of First Things.

George Weigel and his wife, Joan, have three children and one grandchild, and live in North Bethesda, Maryland.

Education

B.A., St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore
M.A., University of St. Michael's College, Toronto

RSS Feed
Click here for an RSS feed of Mr. Weigel's latest publications and events.

"Gloria Artis"

May 21, 2008 01:32 PM

Norman Davies, author of "God's Playground: A History of Poland"

Wlodimir Ledochowski Un-mentioned in this 700+ page book
on the history of Poland from 1795-present!

Norman Davies



The only Ledochowski mentioned in the index is Wlodimir's uncle Mieczyslaw, who was imprisoned in 1874 by the government of Otto Von Bismarck, at page 127.


Mieczyslaw Ledochowski

NEWS RELEASE

09/05/91

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (415) 723-2558

State appellate court upholds Stanford in Davies case

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/91/910905Arc1210.html

(excerpt)

Davies' works have been criticized at Stanford and elsewhere, by such experts as Lucy S. Dawidowicz (author of The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945) who said they felt Davies minimized historic anti- Semitism in Poland and tended to blame Polish Jews for their fate in the Holocaust. Davies' supporters contend that Poles suffered as much as Jews did in the war and could have done very little to save any of the 3 million Jews living in Poland at the time of the Nazi invasion in 1939.

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
awarded to Norman Davies by the Polish government in 1999

The New York Times in 1892 on the Papacy, Cardinal Ledochowski, the Vatican and Future War

May 21, 2008 01:31 PM

French lawyer Jacques Vergès has represented some of the 20th century's most notorious criminals. Now, as his own mysterious past comes under scrutiny in a new documentary, he explains to Angelique Chrisafis why he defended them.


See: http://alexconstantine.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-said-to-klaus-barbie-i-want-people-to.html

May 21, 2008 01:28 PM

French lawyer Jacques Vergès has represented some of the 20th century's most notorious criminals. Now, as his own mysterious past comes under scrutiny in a new documentary, he explains to Angelique Chrisafis why he defended them.

Angelique Chrisafis
The Guardian
May 15 2008

The lawyer Jacques Vergès sits back in his Paris office, lights a Cuban cigar and recalls the highlights of his notorious client list. He defended the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, advised the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and acted for the terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal. A Buddha head given to him by friends in Cambodia's lethal Khmer Rouge regime watches over him from his desk. Asked if he would have defended Hitler, he smiles, puffs, and says: "I'd even defend George Bush. But only if he pleads guilty."

Vergès is France's most controversial lawyer, an enigmatic 83-year-old charmer, and a walking Who's Who of 50 years of terrorism and armed resistance. He fell in love with women bombers he defended, rubbed shoulders with everyone from Chairman Mao to Che Guevara and Pol Pot. The French secret service tried to kill him in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he vanished for eight years, adding another layer of mystique to his status as a celebrity "devil's advocate".

No one has ever established the extent to which Vergès did, or did not, cross the line into the shadowy world of his clients and their armed struggles. He began his career as an impassioned leftwing anti-colonialist, defending the bombers of the Algerian fight for independence, then later went on to act for Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon" as well as questionable African figures such as the Togo strongman Gnassingbé Eyadéma. He likens his job to that of Shakespeare: presenting characters on the courtroom stage and making the public empathise with and understand them, no matter what their crimes were.

But the most fascinating character is himself. In France's most eagerly awaited documentary of the year, Terror's Advocate, the director Barbet Schroeder has put Vergès himself in the dock, tracing the light and dark aspects of his career. Vergès's life is the story of the past half-century of terrorism - from cafe bombings to plane hijackings and hostage-takings - and the role of lawyers in the courtroom dramas that followed. It won a Directors Guild of America award and a César, France's equivalent of the Oscar. The film's release in Britain tomorrow is timely, given that Vergès is currently defending the former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan - he argues that the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians in the 1970s did not amount to genocide. He was also briefly hired to represent Saddam Hussein, and is about to start defending the former Iraqi vice-president, Tariq Aziz.

In a rare interview in Vergès's Paris mansion - he lives above an office filled with chessboards, tapestries, books and exotic artefacts given to him by clients - the lawyer describes how he would creep into Paris screenings of the film and sit at the back to see how people reacted. He would be delighted when people recognised him and warmly shook his hand at the end. The film's impressive French box office was partly due to the intriguing notion the Vergès has defended an array of indefensible "monsters". But he hates the term. In 1987, when defending Barbie, who was later convicted on 341 charges of crimes against humanity, he wanted to make the court see his human side.

"I said to Barbie: 'What I want is for you to take on a human dimension. You're not a monster. You're not innocent, but neither are you a monster. You're an officer ... of an occupying army in a country that resists. You're no better and no worse than a French officer in Algeria, an American officer in Vietnam, a Russian officier in Kabul.'

"When you treat the accused as a monster, you give up trying to understand what happened. And if you don't try to understand what happened, you deprive yourself of any reflection on how to stop that thing happening elsewhere. If the Americans had reflected on the moral defeat that torture represented for the French army in Algeria, what has gone on at Abu Ghraib would certainly never have happened."

Vergès says he has a "split personality", pulled between the developing world and Europe. He was born in Thailand to a French doctor and a Vietnamese mother. His father had to quit his position as French consul because interracial marriages were not allowed by the French authorities, and Vergès grew up on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion, where his mother died when he was three. But she bequeathed him a fierce sense of the anti-colonial struggle, a sense of outrage at non-white people having to step aside in the street.

At 17, he volunteered to serve in De Gaulle's Free French forces, earning a reputation as a hero. Later, at the Sorbonne, he briefly joined the communist party and was a leader in the anti-colonial student movement. His student acquaintances included Pol Pot, later to become head of the Khmer Rouge. "He was like the other Khmer students: very discreet, very polite, very charming, very courteous. That's all I can say."

In 1957, Vergès made his name defending the FLN, Algeria's National Liberation Front independence fighters, who were struggling against French colonialism, and whose bombs - planted in cafes and bars - set the tone for world terrorism for the following 50 years. He fell in love with his client Djamila Bouhired, the beautiful bomber and revolutionary icon who was tortured and sentenced to death. She was finally freed and he married her. He developed his trademark technique of challenging the legitimacy of the court and turning the trial into a debate on the injustice of colonialism and judges' hypocrisy. He would go on to defend members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Germany's Red Army Faction.

Then, in 1970, he did a vanishing act. He told his wife and children he was going to Spain and wasn't seen for eight years until he turned up in Paris and resumed his law practice in 1979 as if nothing had happened. The film examines some of the theories around the disappearance Vergès calls "my holidays". Was he in Cambodia advising Pol Pot? Training as a KGB spy and going in and out of East Germany? Or was he a Chinese agent in Cambodia, where he ended up in prison? One theory is that he was in Palestinian training camps in Libya, Yemen or Jordan. Schroeder establishes that he was spotted back in Paris several times during the time of his disappearance, but Vergès tells me he can't talk about his "holidays". Does it surprise him that no one has ever worked it out? "That is the biggest mystery and it shows the failure of our special services." Unless you were working for them? "They and I would have to be extremely good in that case, considering that when I defended the FLN [in Algeria], they almost assassinated me."

In 1982, Vergès defended Magdalena Kopp of Germany's Red Army Faction, who had been caught in Paris with explosives. She was the girlfriend of Carlos the Jackal - Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the Venezuelan who made career out of bombings, kidnappings and hijackings. Schroeder's documentary traces the love story between Vergès and Kopp, whom he visited in prison every week. Vergès tells me: "There was a profound friendship, and a friendship between a man and a woman always has something special. But you must understand where that friendship came from. She was in prison for four years, I visited every week, because she didn't speak French. And in a woman's prison, there is much less respect for politics than in men's prisons, where gangsters respect terrorists. I was her only breath of fresh air for four years - that creates a very strong link, beyond whatever liaison."

Once freed, Kopp returned to Carlos, who in 1994 was kidnapped in Sudan by French secret agents and sent to prison for life. Vergès says he was Carlos's lawyer for five months before they fell out over his defence. "Between me and Carlos there's not a lot of friendship."

Vergès insists no one has ever proved any of the supposed shady links he had to terrorist groups he defended. He denies that he has given way to greed and acting for corrupt African figures. He denies he is interested in money, saying he doesn't own his home and his only indulgences are Cuban cigars and linen suits.

A lawyer must be credible and stay true to himself, he says. "If Klaus Barbie had asked me to plead the superiority of the Aryan race I would have said no, because I would have been renouncing myself." His moral code is a question of the "elementary reflexes of human dignity and honour". He says: "There are things that a man of honour can't do. When I'm given a letter, I'm not going to open it."

Vergès maintains that he is a celebrity and not a pariah in France because the French admire anyone who kicks against the establishment. "Whoever is a lone man pitted against the rest, the French like that."

Schroeder, who also made the acclaimed Hollywood films Barfly, Single White Female and the Claus von Bulow epic Reversal of Fortune, has long been intrigued by secrets, charm and the powers of persuasion. But in this film, he has gone back to his roots, and the style of his acclaimed 1974 documentary about the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He interviewed Vergès and his clients and friends at length and describes the film as a "political thriller". But he found Vergès far more "complex and difficult" than Idi Amin. "He's very clever, a master manipulator ... He was a mystery to me. It wasn't the people he defended, it was the fact that he started out very courageous, he started as a great idealist and he changed." Did Vergès tell him the truth? "No," he says.

· Terror's Advocate is released tomorrow.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/15/france.internationalcrime

May 21, 2008 01:24 PM

" ... The Nazi influence on the Silver Arrows isn't avoided; nor is it referred to as a background issue. Instead, Reuss treats it as the centrepiece of his book, and subjects the leading players - normally treated with reverence - to questioning which they would have found deeply uncomfortable if they were still alive to hear it. ... "

Review of Hitler's Motor Racing Battles: The Silver Arrows Under The Swastika, by Eberhard Reuss
www.carkeys.co.uk
by David Finlay (13 May 08)

Being a fan of the original Silver Arrows - the astonishingly fast Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the 1930s - isn't easy. You can marvel at these incredible machines, which went way beyond the imaginations of the rule makers and the resources of the opposition, and admire the brave men (including at least one genius) who raced them, but if you are to understand the subject at all you must also acknowledge that the whole enterprise was devised largely by that bastard Adolf Hitler as a method of promoting his obsecenely evil regime.

I have read a lot of books on the Silver Arrows in the past, and they have always been written from a sporting or personal perspective. In Hitler's Motor Racing Battles, first published in Germany in 2006 and now available in an excellent translation by Angus McGeoch, author Eberhard Reuss could have done the same. He is, after all, one of his country's leading authorities on motorsport, having reported on F1 races for German radio and produced several television documentaries on motor racing history.

But Reuss has in fact approached the business from another angle. The Nazi influence on the Silver Arrows isn't avoided; nor is it referred to as a background issue. Instead, Reuss treats it as the centrepiece of his book, and subjects the leading players - normally treated with reverence - to questioning which they would have found deeply uncomfortable if they were still alive to hear it.

So: the famous driver Hans Stuck, for whom Reuss has barely a good word to say, is described among other things as profiting "constantly and to an astonishing degree from his acquaintance with Adolf Hitler"; the great Mercedes-Benz team manager Alfred Neubauer is more or less accused of fabricating history in his post-War writings (not that he was the only one, but Reuss makes more points about Neubauer in this regard than about anyone else); Manfred von Brauchitsch is suspected of "an inner conviction" of the rightness of the Nazi viewpoint; and the Hitler connections of Ferdinand Porsche, who created the original Auto Union (and whose pre-Nazi career is largely dismissed - the "typical Porsche product" of the 1920s is described as "very sophisticated, very expensive and very unsuccessful"), are regularly emphasised.

Few escape lightly. Reuss seems more sympathetic towards the great Auto Union driver Bernd Rosemeyer, who has always come across as a virtually non-political innocent, than about the majority of his team-mates and rivals, but he makes the point several times that Rosemeyer became a member of the SS a lot earlier than he apparently needed to, and of his own free will rather than because SS status was generally conferred on successful drivers.

"Successful". These men did indeed achieve enormous success. They fought hard to control these immensely fast cars (a Grand Prix Mercedes or Auto Union could reach 200mph in race trim and over 250mph when converted for record-breaking, and had such feeble brakes that it took them a very long time to slow down again). And they were rewarded hugely. In the most dramatic case, Reuss notes that the working-class Hermann Lang (who became a Mercedes works driver to the horror of his higher-born colleagues) earned 15 times more in 1937 than he had in 1936, and that his income had increased by a further 50% by 1939.

But it wasn't just their driving ability that was rewarded. What they were doing - whether they ignored the fact or were secretly proud of it - was promoting Hitler and the Nazis. I fell in love with Auto Unions on the strength of seeing one picture in an old book of my father's when I was eight years old; I can only imagine the effect on thousands, perhaps millions of young boys as they were bombarded with news of Germany's motor racing triumph as it happened, a process which was partly intended to prepare them for war as the boundaries between motorsport and fighting gradually became blurred.

With whatever amount of persuasion, the drivers were often explicit in their acknowledgement of the Nazi involvement. The great Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola was quoted in 1938 as saying that "the unique successes of these new racing cars in the past four years are a victorious symbol of our Führer's achievement in rebuilding the nation. Let us thank him for it on 10 April [the day of the elections for the Greater German Reichstag in 1939] with a heartfelt yes !"

Reuss prints that quote, and another from Lang's memoirs published in 1943 - four years into the War - in which Lang says that "our Führer Adolf Hitler has helped the German nation to achieve acceptance in its constant striving for recognition and equal rights." Reuss then asks, "Even in wartime, was a prominent racing driver compelled to have stuff like that published under his name?"

He answers himself with a "no", but I can't help thinking that the answer could well be "yes". In Germany at that time, you trifled with your health if you argued with the Nazis - and Reuss actually backs that up later in the book with his story of how, in 1939, Auto Union - the forerunner of today's Audi - did not want to employ Hans Stuck to drive in the Swiss Grand Prix but was obliged to do so regardless, "taking account of the wish expressed" by Heinrich Himmler.

There is another sense in which I feel the drivers did not have a choice. They were talented and ambitious, and they put themselves in the service of the source of the money that enabled them to express their talent and fulfil their ambition. It had happened before, and it has been happening ever since. It is what racing drivers do.

But at the same time I can't help suspecting that I'm taking the easy way out here - viewing the subject through Rosemeyer-tinted spectacles, as it were.

Working towards your lifelong ambition isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, but how can it be acceptable to do this by helping to promote (as they must have known they were doing) such a terrible regime (as they must have known it was)? With hindsight, after so many decades in which Hitler and the Nazis have been so widely accepted as an embodiment of evil, it's easy to criticise the Silver Arrows drivers, but even if you try to put yourself in their position, how easy is it to forgive them?

I can't answer these questions, and I don't think that Eberhard Reuss can either, since despite many hints about what he believes there is no definitive conclusion to his book. And perhaps, given the multi-sided nature of the whole Silver Arrows story, that's as it should be.

I was saddened and unsettled by almost every page of this fascinating and important book, so I can't say I enjoyed reading it. But I am very glad that I did - and will do again - and I am grateful to Eberhard Reuss for having written it.

Hitler's Motor Racing Battles: The Silver Arrows Under The Swastika, by Eberhard Reuss, is published by Haynes at £25.00. ISBN 978 1 84425 476 7. More details at www.haynes.co.uk.

http://www.carkeys.co.uk/features/books/15164.asp

May 21, 2008 01:09 PM

40 Years Since RFK Assassination, Mounting Evidence of CIA Involvement
May 20, 2008

by Matt Sullivan
http://www.opednews.com

Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years ago this month at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24 year old immigrant, is the alleged lone gunman and is presently serving a life sentence.

In a new book, An Open and Shut Case, Dr. Robert Joling and Philip Van Praag have joined a growing list of people who don’t believe that Sirhan acted alone.

Joling and Van Praag, both forensic scientists, claim that after analyzing audio recordings of the assassination they have concluded that at least 13 shots were fired. The handgun Sirhan used only had the capacity to fire eight shots. They believe that there were two guns and that the fatal shot came from behind Robert Kennedy, while witnesses claim that Sirhan was in front of Kennedy. According to a March 27, 2008 ABC report by Pierre Thomas, Joling claims, “It can be established conclusively that Sirhan did not shoot Senator Kennedy. And in fact not only did he not do it, he could not have done it.”

Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi conducted the official autopsy on the body of Robert Francis Kennedy on the morning of June 6, 1968. Noguchi stated that the shot that killed RFK “had entered through the mastoid bone, an inch behind the right ear and had traveled upward to sever the branches of the superior cerebral artery.”

At a conference in Connecticut forensic scientists met to discuss their independent findings. The conference presenters argued that Sirhan Sirhan could not have fired the fatal shot that killed Kennedy. Dr. Robert Joling has studied the Kennedy assassination for nearly 40 years, he concluded that the fatal shot came from behind Kennedy, while Sirhan was four to six feet in front of the senator and never got close enough to shoot him from behind.

Philip Van Praag analyzed the Pruszynski recording (a Canadian journalist’s tape recording) and determined that 13 shots were fired while Kennedy was killed, although Sirhan’s gun only held eight bullets. This suggests that a second shooter was involved in the assassination.

Other questions regarding the assassination of Robert Kennedy have recently been voiced in a new BBC documentary by Shane O’Sullivan, which supports the conclusion that the CIA planned and executed the killing of Robert Kennedy. The result of a three year long investigation includes photographic evidence that puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of the murder. These three operatives have been positively identified as David Morales, Gordon Campbell and George Joannides. All three men worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA’s Miami base for its secret war on Castro. ...

Story continues

May 21, 2008 01:01 PM

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/20/main-core/

May 21, 2008 12:55 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 12:45 PM

From http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/20/main-core/

 

Govt. May Have Massive Surveillance Program For Use In ‘National Emergency,’ 8 Million ‘Potential Suspects’

Think Progress
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Last year, former deputy attorney general James Comey revealed that in 2004, he refused to “certify” the legality of certain aspects of the National Security Agency (NSA) spy program. Comey witnessed Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card try to force a bed-ridden John Ashcroft to approve the program. Comey, however, did not publicly give specifics as to what program he opposed.

CAP’s Peter Swire wrote on ThinkProgress at the time that Comey’s testimony implied that “other programs exist for domestic spying” outside of the NSA program. Radar’s Christopher Ketcham suggests that another spy program does exist: “Main Core,” a program that authorizes “computer searches through massive [unspecified] electronic databases” in order to discover “potential threats” in the event of a “national emergency”:

According to a senior government official…”There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived ‘enemies of the state’ almost instantaneously.” … One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

These so-called “Continuity of Governance” plans, Radar notes, “are shrouded in extreme secrecy, effectively unregulated by Congress or the courts.” “Main Core is the table of contents for all the illegal information that the U.S. government has [compiled] on specific targets,” said a former military operative. Furthermore, the NSA domestic surveillance program reportedly “suppl[ies] data to Main Core.”

(Article continues below)

According to Radar, a “number of former government employees and intelligence sources with independent knowledge of domestic surveillance operations” say Main Core is strikingly similar to what Comey refused to authorize at Ashcroft’s bedside:

[T]he program that caused the flap between Comey and the White House was related to a database of Americans who might be considered potential threats in the event of a national emergency. Sources familiar with the program say that the government’s data gathering has been overzealous and probably conducted in violation of federal law and the protection from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

“We are at the edge of a cliff and we’re about to fall off,” said constitutional lawyer and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein. “To a national emergency planner, everybody looks like a danger to stability.”

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 12:32 PM

In a veto proof margin, no doubt enhanced by election political pandering, the House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto. The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.

"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules, instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.

The lawmaker said Americans "are at the mercy" of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline, which this week hit a record average of $3.79 a gallon.

The White House opposes the bill, saying that targeting OPEC investment in the United States as a source for damage awards "would likely spur retaliatory action against American interests in those countries and lead to a reduction in oil available to U.S. refiners."

Bush Correct Again

Bush was correct in threatening to veto housing legislation, and this veto is clear cut as well. Ironically, after having nothing good to say about President Bush for nearly 8 years, I am now defending him in back to back issues.

Congressional Arrogance

The arrogance of Congress is amazing. Congress actually thinks it can pass legislation the rest of the world must follow. Imagine the outrage if China passed laws and told the US what to do! China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Iran, and five dozen other countries should all issue a joint statement.

It should read as follows:

If you are wondering why oil prices are high you should look into a mirror. You are blowing $trillions in Iraq, wasting countless billions on housing bailout plans, you have troops stationed all over the world, wasting energy at great expense.

The taxes you are collecting do not meet your expenses, on anything. Look at your latest farm bill, your tariffs on ethanol and your policies on grains, all of which are driving up prices. It's no wonder the the US dollar is falling.

Your president and treasury pay lip service to a "strong dollar policy" but the actions of Congress and your administration are doing everything they can to destroy the dollar.

Instead of trying to write laws for the rest of the world, please take care of your own business.

Instead, everyone tap dances around the issue, attempting to be as diplomatic as possible. Clearly diplomacy is not working. And it's no wonder that diplomacy is failing given that Congress is practically brain dead. A nice well deserved "Go To Hell" message just might wake Congress up. I doubt it actually, but it sure can't hurt.

Mish Oil Plan

• Eliminate ethanol subsidies (Brazil produces ethanol at 1/3 our cost but we will not allow ethanol imports)
  
• Eliminate crop subsidies
• Eliminate all tariffs and all subsidies
• Adopt a balance budget (This will strengthen the US dollar, dramatically)
  
• Get out of Iraq, Europe, Japan, and damn near everywhere else (This will ease geopolitical tensions and have Iraq pumping oil within 4-5 years or less)
  
• End US imperialism (This is very dollar supportive)
  
• Legalize hemp for fiber production and biofuels (This will reduce the need for petroleum based fibers, and hemp will be far better at producing biofuels than corn)
  
• Let the free market find a solution (If Congress would get the hell out of the way, the free market will find a practical solution)
  

Instead Congress wants to sue OPEC. In a way, suing OPEC is innocuous because it is a pointless waste of time and going nowhere. I talked about this idea recently in Congress Whistled Offsides. However, this is very frustrating to me because the answers are so easy.

I am all in favor of being able to tell OPEC where to go. But the plan has to start with free market principles, not US imperialism or Congress attempting to dictate laws for the rest of the world.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.

May 21, 2008 12:00 PM

" ... The Nazi influence on the Silver Arrows isn't avoided; nor is it referred to as a background issue. Instead, Reuss treats it as the centrepiece of his book, and subjects the leading players - normally treated with reverence - to questioning which they would have found deeply uncomfortable if they were still alive to hear it. ... "
See - Review of Hitler's Motor Racing Battles: The Silver Arrows Under The Swastika, by Eberhard Reuss

May 21, 2008 11:47 AM

http://lifenews.com/int754.html

http://lifenews.com/state3249.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 11:39 AM

Senator John S. McCain is The Manchurian Candidate

Posted By: A-NON
Date: Thursday, 27 January 2000, 8:25 p.m.

http://www.williamcooper.net/index.htm Senator John S. McCain is The Manchurian Candidate http://williamcooper.net/mccain.htm I knew Senator John McCain's father when Admiral John S. McCain Jr. was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific (CINCPAC). I sincerely believe that Admiral McCain, if he were alive, would tell you exactly what I am about to tell you. Admiral McCain always put his country first and foremost above all other issues. The fact that Senator John McCain was shot down and captured over North Vietnam does not make him a hero. The goal of any pilot is to not get shot down. The fact that he was a Prisoner of War does not make him a hero. The goal of all military personnel is to not become a POW. The fact that he endured prison, torture, and brainwashing for all that time makes him a survival hero in my humble opinion. I am very happy that he survived and that he was able to return home. However, Senator John McCain was tortured and brainwashed by the communists for over 5 years. Regardless of what you may have been told, or what you may believe, no one, not anyone on this earth can withstand torture and brainwashing without breaking down, giving up information, and permanent damage to the mind... usually to traditional belief systems and thought processes in the areas of religion, philosophy, and politics. By his own admission Senator John McCain, while a POW, traded information for special medical treatment which no other POW received. He made public statements while a POW detrimental to the United States Navy and the United States of America. Many brainwashing victims become fractured personalities programmed to perform some task or tasks in the future. Their programming can be activated by audio, visual, or other types of stimulation. These are facts not conjecture. Anyone can confirm these facts with a little research. Remember, what is known about torture and brainwashing is old information, and it is terrifying. I have no access to what is still kept secret. I have no knowledge of what can be done to a victim using the state of the art techniques which are held in the strictest secrecy by all nations. I doubt that Senator McCain knows the extent of the damage done to his mind... and according to all the studies and facts available concerning torture and brainwashing he could not have anything other than a damaged mind. The movie may have been fiction... but Senator John McCain is without any doubt the real Manchurian Candidate. When I look at his voting record in the United States Senate I do not see a conservative Republican. I see a record that reveals a closet socialist, a proponent of the New World Order. Love him if you must, honor him if you can, respect him in his office, but don't ever vote for him again. It was a mistake to put him in the Senate. It would be a much bigger mistake to put a man who has been tortured and brainwashed by communist mind control experts for over 5 years in the White House. William Cooper

Source: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=1297

May 21, 2008 11:38 AM

In common with the EU, the United Nations likes nothing better than a crisis, the dynamic of the "beneficial crisis" creating ideal opportunities for increasing power, influence and cash.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that The Daily Telegraph should be reporting: "World food price crisis 'here to stay'", conveying the views of Sir John Holmes, Britain's former ambassador to Paris who now serves as the UN's under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.

Holmes concedes that, "It is possible that in the next two or three years prices will come down a bit from the peaks we've seen in the last few months …" but he does not think they will revert to previous levels. As a result, he says, the world needs a "green revolution" to feed its rising population.

His argues that the emergence of hundreds of millions of middle class consumers in China and India has increased demand for food, high oil prices have made transporting it more expensive and the supply of grain has been hit by bad weather and the transfer of land to grow biofuels instead of food crops.

However, Sir John clearly has not caught up with the latest developments in the rice market, where prices are plummeting, or with the recent price history of wheat, where it has dropped from its record February level of $13 to around $9 a bushel.

Given reasonable weather over the next few months (in both hemispheres), wheat prices are likely to remain stable over the short-term, while rice has a way to fall yet. Thus, prices are already falling from their record peaks and, with the volatility of the commodity market, next year's prices are anyone's guess.

The great uncertainty is the price of energy. Here, while some are looking to the $200 barrel of oil, others are still maintaining that the current price level cannot be sustained and, sooner rather than later, the bubble will burst.

Either way, the big driver of food commodity prices will be the diversion of land to biofuel production, in which case, it is not so much a "green revolution" that is required, but a "common sense revolution". That, unfortunately, is the less likely of the two events – especially when the spectre of food shortages offers such good opportunities for exploiting the crisis.

It would also help if the media and the collected pundits learnt some economics and, for want of such knowledge, desisted from indulging in economically illiterate drivel.

Such an injunction should apply to The Daily Telegraph which, on top of a emotive piece on Haiti, calculated to tug at the heart strings, then goes on to publish an editorial of stunning vapidity.

Its prescription for "curing" the food crisis is "to stop imposing restrictions on genetic manipulation" and to scrap the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, substituting direct payments made by each state.

The former, of course, would only have a marginal impact - if any. Many of the GM seeds, in fact, require high inputs and intesive cultivation to deliver any benefits, which makes them inappropriate for many developing country agricultural systems. Much more helpful would be a sensible approach to pesticides and other argo-chemicals, in a bid to deal with the massive losses arising from pest attack and plant disease.

As to the CAP, the writer of the piece has cotton-wool for brains. At a time when grain prices are at a record high, and arable farmers are actually making money, what on earth is the point of intoducing a system of "direct payments" to farmers? The market, at this time, is perfectly capable of addressing commodity shortages.

Above all, though, the paper - like Sir John Holmes - needs to recognise that there are no "magic wands" which will deal with what, in fact, are multifarious problems. There needs to be a recognition that the problems in Egypt and not the same as those in Malawi, which are not the same as those in Haiti or the Philippines.

Crucially, most often, local food shortages stem from economic mismanagement - which is certainly the case in Haiti - or stem from structural problems relating to land ownership and the availability of cheap credit at local level, and are exacerbated by trade distortions arising from protectionism.

In a grown-up newspaper, some of these issues might actually be addressed. Instead, this particular paper simply contents itself with a puerile pay-off line: "The time has come to scrap the CAP", which does not even begin to demonstrate and understanding of the issues. Like Sir John's input, it smells more of grandstanding than understanding.

What we need is definitely less of the former and more of the latter.

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 11:30 AM

It would be nice to get away from agriculture for a while, but it is impossible to ignore yesterday's publication of the commission's proposals for further reforms of the CAP.

These are euphemistically called the "CAP Health Check", to avoid using the r-word. Their purpose, declares Mariann Fischer Boel - who seems to have acquired the title, "commissioner for agriculture and rural development" – is to "…modernise the CAP and free farmers to respond to growing demand".

The commission also makes the explicit claim in a separate communication, that the "Heath Check" is part of a package of measures that forms the "European response to mitigate effects of rising global food prices".

Interestingly though, barring one, the changes proposed are exactly those which have been planned for some years, long before "global food crisis" became a fashionable catch-phrase. With that exception – the permanent abolition of set-aside – they are a continuation of the process set in train by Ray MacSharry in 1992.

Then, MacSharry was addressing the problem of over-production – and the "Health Check" is more of the same. One of the key provisions is the extension of modulation, shifting an increased proportion of direct payments into "rural development" – up from five percent to 13 by 2012. Farms receiving more than €100,000 a year have an extra three percent deducted, those getting more than €200,000 have a another six percent cut and those receiving more than €300,000 have an additional nine percent deducted.

This actually takes money out of the farming system altogether, so it effectively amounts to a significant reduction in overall subsidies, despite still being characterised as part of the CAP. Much of the money is spent on projects such as this, which have little relevance to agriculture.

Still less do they address any notional food shortages or encourage production and, perversely, they actually increase the net "take" from the taxpayer. Most of these schemes are co-funded, EU payments requiring up to 50 percent matched funding from member states.

It is not at all an exaggeration to say, therefore, that the commission, in making the claims that it does, is being essentially dishonest (now, there's a surprise). But it has at least achieved the near impossible, in dragging The Daily Telegraph into the fray, with a factual piece about agriculture (although its report does not seem to have made it into the print edition).

Needless to say, the piece is framed in terms of conflict, the headline reading: "Battle looms over CAP Health Check", the text telling us that France and Britain "have squared up for a battle over the future of Europe's farming policy".

The IHT takes a similar line, with the headline: "EU farm proposal set to trigger U.K.-France tussle", although, as we know, Germany is also in the frame. No doubt, other member states will join the fray, in opposition to the British government – which wants direct payments scrapped altogether.

That line also puts the UK in direct conflict with the commission, its current proposals amounting to a direct and personal rebuff to Darling - and to Gordon Brown, who asked the EU it reconsider (i.e., abandon) its biofuels policy.

Although the commission intends to maintain the 10 percent quota, it is however, proposing to phase out the current £36 (€45) per acre biofuels subsidy, which means that there will be no direct incentive for growers to plant energy crops.

Further, the abolition of set-aside – which will be devoted to food production as long as grain prices remain buoyant – will drastically reduce the amount of land available for energy crops. The commission had assumed that the bulk of the biofuels production in Europe was going to come from set-aside and, if this land is to be devoted to food, there is a gaping hole in the energy policy.

The one positive step the commission could make is to fund the intervention system, allowing it to buy in stocks to bolster depleted reserves, providing a strategic margin against the possibility of real shortages.

In times of surplus, it is that system which has led to stocks being dumped on the world market, undermining third world agriculture. But, where shortages are possible, the same system provides a buffer which ensures that we do not run out of food. Yet, as part of the "Health Check", the commission has largely abandoned intervention, abolishing it for a wide range of products.

Generally, therefore, the totality of the "reforms" proposed are such that they will have relatively little, if any, effect on improving food stocks – or on the fate of third world populations. And, as long as global prices for commodities remain high, the market rather than the EU will be the driver of increased production.

One gets the feeling though that the commission's proposals are merely a "starter for ten". The French are making bellicose noises about increasing agricultural spending and, as France holds the presidency from 1 July, we can expect to see much manoeuvring before November when the Agriculture Council meets to decide on the final shape of the "reforms".

By then, we will have some idea of the state of the global harvest for this year and will know whether the commission will need to rethink its proposals completely or whether it can get away with what is, in effect, tinkering at the margins. And then, there are the French …

Tractor pic by North Jr.

COMMENT THREAD

May 21, 2008 11:10 AM

From http://www.infowars.com/?p=2275

 

Feith’s Book of Lies

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
May 21, 2008

Only in neocon America is an unrepentant war criminal allowed to walk around freely and hawk his book. That war criminal is Douglas Feith, Iraq invasion and occupation architect with the blood of a million plug Iraqis on his hands. Feith should be in the docket, not at the National Press Club. At the event, reports Think Progress, Feith “repeated his claim that the faulty intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was an ‘error,’ not a lie. Additionally, he insisted that the U.S. had in fact found ‘a serious WMD threat’ in Iraq,” a complete and utter lie offered by Feith to save his skin and salvage his place in history.

While the failure to find presumed stockpiles of dangerous weapons “was catastrophic to our credibility,” he said, it was not a result of government deception.

“It was an honest error, not a lie,” he said. “Even if you correct for that error, what we found in Iraq was a serious WMD threat.“

Au contraire, Spanky. You knew damn well Iraq did not have WMD one, as the UN made sure to get rid of these back in the mid-1990s, never mind the people you worked for sold these to Saddam Hussein in the first place, mostly for the purpose of killing Iranians back in the 80s. For now, you are allowed to hawk your lies, but in the final wash history will not be kind to you. However, it is more the pity we have to wait that long.

Even the Pentagon’s own inspector general found Feith’s Office of Special Plans was nothing short of a lie factory. It was determined there was absolutely no evidence Iraq had WMD, a conclusion backed up by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Feith and crew simply ignored this. They made the absurd claim that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were buds, never mind the obvious fact they hated each other and said as much. Post invasion debriefs of Hussein, Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi Intelligence Minister Mani al-Rashid, and supposed senior al-Qaeda operative Ibn al-Shaykh, among others, spelled out the obvious — Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. But no mind. Feith and his gaggle of criminals pushed this nonsense incessantly.

Feith had himself a full plate back in the day. In addition to the OSP lie factory, he established the Office of Strategic Intelligence, which was closed down after creating a furor in Congress because of its purported aim of “providing news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations as part of an effort to influence public sentiment and policy makers,” that is to say it passed off lies, by way of fellow neocon David Wurmser, to people such as Judith Miller, the New York Times columnist and neocon operative in Eleana Benador’s stable, connected at the hip with the American Enterprise Institute, a criminal racket.

But war crimes and the lies designed to facilitate them were apparently not enough. He was questioned by the FBI in relation to the passing by one of his employees of confidential Pentagon documents to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which in turn passed them to the Israeli Embassy. Once upon a time, such treason was punished at the gallows, but that was before the country went insane. Now such criminals are allowed to walk free and sell books while antiwar activists receive terms in prison, quite normal in a land where black is white, up is down, and war pigs get teaching gigs and lucrative speaking engagements.

It is worse, though. Feith and his firm, Feith & Zell, in cahoots with the Israel-based Zell, Goldberg, & Co., was allowed to create the Fandz International Law Group, a company unabashedly “dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the recently ended war with Iraq … and is assisting regional construction and logistics firms to collaborate with contractors from the United States and other coalition countries in implementing infrastructure and other reconstruction projects in Iraq,” in other words, profiting mightily off the misery of the Iraqi people, that is minus a million or so souls Feith is responsible for killing.

Feith’s pernicious influence will not die, apparently. Recall former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee insisting Iraq’s fictional weapons were hidden like “Easter eggs” and moved to Jordan before the invasion. He also called it an “overreach” to say that just because we didn’t find them means they didn’t exist — sort of like saying the tooth fairy exists, never mind nobody has actually ever encountered her.

Douglas Feith needs to be confronted at his book signings and public appearances. But considering how neocons are protected by a bevy of goons — take as an example the mistreatment of We Are Change journalists at a recent Ollie North lie fest in Kentucky — it does not seem likely Feith will be confronted. Recall one of Feith’s partners in crime, David Frum, allowed to attack We Are Change activist Stewart Howe, assaulting him and grabbing at his camera, and you get an idea of the special status these criminals enjoy.

Once upon a time, before criminals hijacked the government, people of Feith’s caliber were dealt a bit of frontier justice. For lesser crimes, they were shellacked with tar and feathers and escorted out of town on a rail. Horse thieves were taken to the nearest tree and hung high for far less egregious crimes.

Now? We love or war criminals. And shower them with book contracts and teaching positions at Georgetown University.

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 10:58 AM

Chapter VI

---

THE PROGRESS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM
IN THE UNITED STATES

AMERICA is the most democratic country in the world, and it is at the same time (according to reports worthy of belief) the country in which the Roman Catholic religion makes most progress. At first sight this is surprising.

Two things must here be accurately distinguished: equality makes men want to form their own opinions; but, on the other hand, it imbues them with the taste and the idea of unity, simplicity, and impartiality in the power that governs society. Men living in democratic times are therefore very prone to shake off all religious authority; but if they consent to subject themselves to any authority of this kind, they choose at least that it should be single and uniform. Religious powers not radiating from a common center are naturally repugnant to their minds; and they almost as readily conceive that there should be no religion as that there should be several.

At the present time, more than in any preceding age, Roman Catholics are seen to lapse into infidelity, and Protestants to be converted to Roman Catholicism. If you consider Catholicism within its own organization, it seems to be losing; if you consider it from outside, it seems to be gaining. Nor is this difficult to explain. The men of our days are naturally little disposed to believe; but as soon as they have any religion, they immediately find in themselves a latent instinct that urges them unconsciously towards Catholicism. Many of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church astonish them, but they feel a secret admiration for its discipline, and its great unity attracts them. If Catholicism could at length withdraw itself from the political animosities to which it has given rise, I have hardly any doubt but that the same spirit of the age which appears to be so opposed to it would become so favorable as to admit of its great and sudden advancement.

One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles and to purchase peace at the expense of logic. Thus there have ever been and will ever be men who, after having submitted some portion of their religious belief to the principle of authority, will seek to exempt several other parts of their faith from it and to keep their minds floating at random between liberty and obedience. But I am inclined to believe that the number of these thinkers will be less in democratic than in other ages, and that our posterity will tend more and more to a division into only two parts, some relinquishing Christianity entirely and others returning to the Church of Rome.

Alexis de Tocqueville,

Democracy in America

Source: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/ch1_06.htm

Note:

Democracy in America

by

Alexis de Tocqueville

Volume II

Chapter VI

THE PROGRESS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN THE UNITED STATES
circa 1840.

May 21, 2008 10:12 AM

http://www.infowars.com/?p=2271A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 10:04 AM

http://www.infowars.com/?p=2276

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9036A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 09:43 AM

http://lifenews.com/state3247.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 09:18 AM

From http://prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/052108_bilderberg_confirmed.htm

 

 

Bilderberg Confirmed: Westfields Marriott In Chantilly June 5-8 Jim Tucker - "possible" that Athens story was a ruse to misdirect people

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |

Veteran Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker has confirmed via three separate sources that the Bilderberg Group will meet this year in Chantilly Virginia at the Westfields Marriott hotel from June 5-8. Tucker told The Alex Jones Show that the earlier story claiming Bilderberg had already met in Athens Greece was a possible ruse to misdirect attention from the real scene of the crime.

The Bilderberg Group comprises around 200 top elitists in government, banking, business, media and academia who meet annually in semi-secrecy and shape the destiny of the world yet are subject to little or no mainstream media scrutiny.

As we discovered last week, original reports that Bilderberg had already met in Athens Greece turned out to be incorrect after Dutch newspapers and the Dutch Embassy let slip that Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was set to attend Bilderberg in Chantilly after a meeting with George W. Bush.

The Bilderberg gathering is now set to take place from June 5-8 and as expected, it will be held at the Westfields Marriott hotel, the same venue of the 2002 meeting. Tucker called the Dutch Embassy and was passed over to the Dutch Embassy in the United States, who confirmed that the meeting would be in Chantilly.

(Article continues below)

"I called the Dutch embassy....they confirmed yes - I asked the question twice I made sure I got it right - yes they will be at Chantilly and of course it will be the Westfields Marriott - Westfields is all booked up," said Tucker, adding that his source inside Bilderberg also confirmed that the meeting will take place in Chantilly.

"A man who's an international financial consultant who knows a lot of Bilderberg people personally....he's helped us locate Bilderberg many times....he has also talked to his Bilderberg buddies who gave us additional confirmation just this morning that Chantilly is the scene of the crime," Tucker added.

Tucker said he was all set to leave for Athens but decided to stay after he discovered that secretaries who routinely attend Bilderberg were all going to be in Washington. The fact that armed guards were not stationed outside the hotel in Athens also indicated that Bilderberg were not meeting there.

Tucker said it was possible that the Athens story was a ruse to "lead people the wrong way, because they do not like to be exposed."

Tucker added that he will be checking into the Hilton in Herndon, Va, which is the closest and cheapest hotel to the Westfields Marriott.

"It surprised me because they were here two years ago and their routine has been three years in Europe and one year somewhere in North America - Canada or the United States," said Tucker, adding that for a while he thought Japan was going to be the venue because the G8 is meeting in Japan for the first time ever this year.

Tucker encouraged activists to turn out and cover the meeting because the American corporate media routinely self-censors and refuses to report on Bilderberg, whereas a smattering of reports do come out when Bilderberg meets in Europe or Canada. Even the Turkish media proved it was more open than the US press last year when several newspaper and TV news stations reported on Bilderberg's meeting in Istanbul.

According to Bilderberg.org, the Dutch Embassy's decision to let the cat out of the bag and announce the venue of Bilderberg may, "Indicate that there are people in the Dutch government, maybe even including the Dutch PM himself, who are not happy about the secrecy upon which Rockefeller, Kissinger and the other Bilderberg chiefs insist."

Tucker has published his "Bilderberg Itinerary" which lays out how he will cover the meeting. A reprint appears below. Alex Jones has also confirmed that he will be traveling to Washington to cover the meeting with his film crew.

Bilderberg meet at the luxurious Westfields Marriott resort from Thursday, June 5, to Sunday, June 8, at Chantilly, Va., near Washington’s Dulles International Airport.

The address: Westfields Marriott, 14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Va. 20151. Phone: 703-818-0300

On Wednesday, June 4, I will check into the Hilton in Herndon, Va., the closest and cheapest motel ($270+ tax daily). The address: 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon, Va. 20171. Phone: 703-478-2900

While I have a lot of help from both journalists and broadcasters in Europe few, if any, will be in Chantilly because of their budget limitations. (They lack the dedicated readers who help finance these missions.)

You can be sure that Donald Graham and Jimmy Lee Hoagland, chairman and associate editor of The Washington Post, respectfully, will attend as usual. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times and executives of the broadcast networks have also attended, among other journalistic whores, on their solemn promises of absolute secrecy. But you will read and hear nothing of this secret meeting of international financiers and political leaders.

Join us. You will help and you will have fun.

Cordially,

Jim Tucker

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 07:51 AM

$130 oil is really working wonders for peak oil websites like this one. I'm getting a nice surge of new visitors lately, so let's do a quick public service message on a little known fact that deserves broader airplay.

An interesting phenomenon has happened in the last couple of days. The oil futures market has gone into a state known as "contango". I'm not going to go into any detail on the specifics -- if you're curious just do some googling. As a layman, all you really need to know is that, thanks to some complicated financial mumbo-jumbo, banks will now begin to hoard oil in storage tanks, driving up the price. And then they will sell that oil back to the public for obscene windfall profits.


Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank got into hoarding early in 2004:

A LARGE warehouse in Amsterdam may seem an unusual place to attract the City’s top traders and hedge funds. But, in the past few months, Morgan Stanley has been accumulating warehouse space in the Netherlands to store its hottest new property — oil.
[...]
Meanwhile, banks such as Morgan Stanley are also beginning to move into the physical market to buy oil — or even entire oilfields.
Goldman Sachs recently bought 10m barrels of oil.
[...]
Morgan Stanley and Deutsche bank recently bought the rights to 36m barrels of oil between 2007 and 2010 direct from a North Sea oilfield.Source

Goldman Sachs, hedge funds:

With BP PLC accused of artificially inflating the price of propane by withholding some of its inventory from the market, government officials and energy traders are grappling with a question: When does smart trading cross the line into market manipulation?

The shrewdest competitors in the energy-trading world these days deal heavily in physical shipments of fuel, not just contracts for the future delivery of such commodities. Owning actual oil, natural gas, propane and even electricity has two big advantages. It provides detailed knowledge of regional supply and demand and the pricing power that comes from holding large quantities of commodities.

[...]

An explosion in the number of participants in the energy-trading world has led to an increase in so-called physical trading.

Dominant commodity traders such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. long have had strategies to own or lease fuel-storage terminals, oil tankers and power plants to give them more flexibility to hold onto inventory or sell it at opportune moments.

More recently, those Wall Street firms have taken physical trading to new levels with bids to buy, not lease, distribution facilities such as pipelines and production facilities including refineries. Hedge funds also have gotten into the game of dealing in physical energy and even metals assets.

Goldman Sachs last year bought a refinery with private-equity firm Kelso & Co. Morgan Stanley this month agreed to buy petroleum-products distributor TransMontaigne Inc. and is negotiating to buy the Heidmar Group of shipping and marine-logistics companies. (Source: Tracking the Numbers / Street Sleuth -- Case Raises a Tough Query: When Do Traders Cross Line?, Ann Davis, Wall Street Journal, Jun 30 2006)

Here's the FYI on oil hoarding by banks during the last contango:

Storing oil became big business. Tank owners and companies that leased storage, including Wall Street giants such as Morgan Stanley, turned sizeable profits simply by sitting on tanks of oil. They would buy oil for immediate delivery and stick it in their storage tanks, then sell contracts for future delivery at a higher price. When delivery dates neared, they closed out existing contracts and sold new ones for future delivery of the same oil. The oil never budged. The maneuver was known as the oil-storage trade.
[...]
Bruce MacPhail, who manages Enbridge's U.S. oil-terminal leasing, estimates financial firms now lease 25% to 35% of the company's storage.(Source: Where Has All The Oil Gone?; After sitting on crude, speculators unload it; The world's eyes fall on Cushing, Oklahoma, Ann Davis, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2007)

Here's another detailed article discussing Morgan Stanley's tank farms and other aspects of the ongoing Enron-ification of the entire energy system:

What's a white-shoe investment bank doing selling oil? The answer unfolds in Purchase, N.Y., where an army of its commodities traders sit before flickering screens on a vast, domed trading floor staffed 24 hours a day. At the former site of Texaco's headquarters, Morgan Stanley veterans Neal Shear and John Shapiro run one of the most profitable energy-trading operations in the world.

But they don't just trade futures, a common way of betting electronically on commodities that involves buying and selling contracts for future delivery. Morgan Stanley also handles real barrels of oil and generates actual megawatts of power.

The reason is twofold. Having access to barges and storage tanks and pipelines gives the bank additional options, to move or store commodities, that most energy traders don't pursue. And by having its finger on the pulse of the business, it hopes to get a more subtle feel for the market, a crucial asset to a trader.
[...]
One member of [Morgan Stanley's] team, Olav Refvik, has amassed leases on storage terminals around the globe.
[...]
In dealing with crude oil, the Morgan Stanley team at times buys the rights to oil companies' production in the Gulf of Mexico, then turns around and sells it while it is still underground.
[...]
That was the beginning of a quiet strategy that later helped Morgan Stanley muscle into another huge petroleum market: home heating oil.

The trader who largely carved out that dominance is Mr. Refvik. In the 1990s, he made a bold real-estate play along a grimy refinery row in coastal New Jersey near New York Harbor. The New York Mercantile Exchange, the country's main hub for trading oil futures, designates about two dozen sites there and in New York as places where exchange-traded oil can be delivered. Through leases, Mr. Refvik locked up a large chunk of the official storage space. He laid claim to tank farms -- clusters of giant metal storage drums. His team also leases a big storage terminal in New Haven, Conn.

Messrs. Shear and Shapiro worried, at first, that the expensive leases could be albatrosses. But the move has worked so well that traders elsewhere dubbed Mr. Refvik "King of New York Harbor," a nickname that also reflects his occasional tour of the waters with his yacht, Song of Norway. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley also acquired large amounts of oil-storage capacity in other countries.Source

by JD

May 21, 2008 07:47 AM

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north628.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 06:37 AM

http://www.covenantnews.com/blog/archives/042226.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 21, 2008 06:35 AM

http://www.letusreason.org/LDS%209.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/LDS25.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp75.htm

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May 21, 2008 06:17 AM

May 19, 2008

The Iranian threat is tiny compared to the USSR

Posted May 19th, 2008 at 2:30 pmOver the weekend, responding to criticisms from Bush and McCain, Barack Obama explained his perspective on diplomacy.

For those of you who can’t watch clips online, Obama explained, “Strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries. That’s what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That’s what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That’s what Nixon did with Mao. I mean, think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’ And ultimately, that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall.”

This strikes me as the kind of sentiment that’s hard to disagree with, but John McCain spoke in Chicago this morning, and went after Obama for saying the potential threat posed by Iran is “tiny” compared to the USSR during the Cold War.

McCain said, “Obviously, Iran isn’t a superpower and doesn’t possess the military power the Soviet Union had. But that does not mean that the threat posed by Iran is insignificant.” McCain went on to argue that Iran is playing a destructive role in Iraq and is “intent on acquiring nuclear weapons.” McCain concluded, “They might not be a superpower, but the threat the government of Iran poses is anything but ‘tiny.’”

Does McCain really want to debate this?

First, Obama didn’t say the possible Iranian threat is “tiny.” He said it’s “tiny” when compared to the Soviet Union. As Josh Marshall explained, Russia was, after all, “the world’s greatest land military power, with a massive strategic nuclear capacity that carried on a multi-decade ideological struggle” with the United States. McCain thinks it reflects poor “judgment” to recognize the obvious difference between a nuclear superpower and Iran?

Second, there’s a bit of a contradiction here. Over the weekend, the McCain campaign said Obama was giving Iran too much credit, offering Iran “the status of a super power akin to the Soviets.” Today, the McCain campaign said Obama isn’t giving Iran enough credit. These guys should probably coordinate talking points among themselves before going on the attack.

And finally, on the substance, Obama is so obviously right about Iran it’s hard to believe this discussion is actually happening. As Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria explained a few months ago: “Iran has an economy the size of Finland’s and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century…. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?”

Ultimately, McCain seems to believe diplomacy just isn’t worth it. We could engage Iranians directly, but Iran might, as a result, get stronger, and our discussions may not stem the country’s ambitions.

Here’s the thing: thanks to the war in Iraq that McCain is so fond of, Iran is already getting stronger and more ambitious. So why keep pursuing an approach that isn’t producing the results we want?

Source: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15589.html

May 21, 2008 04:13 AM

THE POPE AND THE QUEEN ON EQUAL FOOTING by Joan M. Veon, Executive Director
The Women's International Media Group, Inc.
www.womensgroup.org

In a world of very powerful political and corporate leaders, two of the most unlikely people share equal footing- -the pope and the queen. While it seems unlikely that they would share monarchial lineage, status as a head of state, and head of a world religion--but they do. The question is, "Do they share the same goals?"

Monarchial Lineage

While most of us recognize and know of the royal lineage of the British royal family, most are not familiar with the fact that the Papacy is considered to be the oldest monarchy in the world by the world's oldest authority on royalty, The Almanach de Gotha. This makes the Pope a King and the Cardinals of the Church equal to the sons of Kings.

The Almanach de Gotha

In 1999, the Almanach de Gotha was published for the first time since World War II as a result of the reunification of Germany and the restoration of rights to the historic title. From 1763 to1944, The Gotha was the ultimate authority on the reigning and formerly reigning houses of Europe. It has been described as one of the most important books for recognizing and knowing those who are truly royal. If your name is not in this book, you aren't royal! The Almanach primarily focuses on families whose ancestry can be traced back to the Holy Roman Empire (936-1804 A.D.).

In Part One of The Almanach, it lists monarchial families by country. Besides Albania, Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Monaco, and Norway, to name a few, the Holy See is listed among the "Reigning Sovereign Houses." Since when? What kind of light does this shed on the goals and objectives of the Vaticanare they political or spiritual?

The Almanach describes the monarchy and lineage of the Holy See as follows:

The Holy See--also called the Papal See or sometimes the Holy Apostolic Seeis the See of Saint Peter of Bethsaida in Galilee, Prince of the Apostles, personally established in Rome in the first century of Christianity having received from Jesus Christ the suprema potestas pontificia to be transmitted to his Successors. Besides its dignity of Patriarch of the West, the Universal Primacy of the Petrine See within the Church founded by Christ, as well as its sovereignty have been recognized from earliest times, also before the fall of the Roman Empire. The successors of Saint Peter form the uninterrupted line of Popes until today. The Incumbent of the Holy See is usually considered by Christian sovereign families as the "Father of the Family of Kings"; also since His Holiness represents the oldest Monarchy in Europe.

This information puts the Vatican in a whole new light, even though there is no direct blood line back to Peter since Pope's are elected. The Pope is considered equal with royalty and answers to no one on earth. Amazing! Does this mean each diocese is equal to the fiefdoms of temporal monarchies?

British Royalty - A Comparison

When we talk about someone who is "royal", we must ask ourselves what royalty is. Basically, royals are ranked by how long they have been "king of the hill" (my personal description for their power and position). For example, in Britain, those who are dukes and lords today basically did the king's business five to nine hundred years ago, and, in return, the king granted them titles, lands, and castles that have made them exceedingly rich and powerful. Without such support the kind would not have remained "king of the hill."

Royal Orders

Britain's queen gives gifts (knighthoods) to those whom she wishes to honor and also on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Order of the Garter is the most famous and most coveted Order of Knighthood. Others that rank next to it are the Order of the Thistle (the Scottish equivalent to the Order of the Garter) and the Order of Bath (Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George S. Patton have received this award).

Catholic Orders

Similarly, the Catholic Church bestows the same kind of gifts through Pontifical Orders of Knighthood and Orders of Merit, besides countless Cross and Medals. Pontifical Orders of Knighthood are in the personal gift of the Pope.

The Kennedy family received several such titles of recognition. "When Joseph P. Kennedy attended Pius XII's coronation in early 1939 he was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX, which still conferred hereditary nobility by male primogeniture on its grantee and his successors." That same Pope created his wife, Rose, "a papal countess." When John Kennedy Jr. died last year, the hereditary noble rank inherited from his grandfather in 1969.

Head of State

While we are told that the queen, who comes from the world's second oldest monarchy, is not a head of state, her titles suggest otherwise. The sovereign not only appoints the Prime Minister and dissolves Parliament but upon the death of her father George VI, Elizabeth II, became "Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Head of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. All government is, carried out in her name: its ministers are her ministers".

The Vatican is a recognized country and has observer status at the United Nations, making the pope a head of state. As such, the Vatican sends its Ambassador to the United Nations and has actively participated in all of the deliberations and mega-conferences. Other than dissenting on pro-life issues, the Vatican is in full agreement with the goals and objectives of the United Nations which call for the transfer of national sovereignty to the international level, thus confirming speculation that its structure is configured to hold and host a world governmental system.

At a 1999 World Federalist Association conference, its senior vice-president, Dr. John Logue, a practicing Catholic stated, "We must work as hard as we can to build a world commonwealth, a United Nations world commonwealth, which has the power to enact, interpret, and enforce world lawlimited world law on individualson you and on me." He also explained "that Pope Pious XII and John XXIII agree" with the doctrines of the World Federalists for world government.

Leader of a world religion

As part of the titles which are bestowed on the king or queen of England, "Defender of Faith" is one of them as a result of the break by King Henry VIII with the Roman Catholic Church. For years, Prince Charles has made it clear that he wants to be the "Defender of Faiths". Most recently The London Daily Mail confirmed his wishes to have every religion participate in his Coronation. Charles who is a New Ager and pro-Muslim appears to be uniting the eastern religions.

In 1995 the Pope issue an encyclical, "'That They All May Be One' which is dedicated to the search for unity among Christian churches." In commenting on it, Cardinal Edward Cassidy said: "The pope sees the Catholic position on primacy as an essential point of faith...[he] made it clear he would not accept a symbolic papacy without teeth and that Rome would have to hold the primary place among Christians."

Common Goals

In Prince Charles the Sustainable Prince I show and document how the British royal family is the major power behind the United Nations which is as a result of the dream and legacy of Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes not only created the Rhodes Scholarship program (Bill Clinton is our first Rhodes Scholar president) but wanted to find a way to bring America back under British rule through the League of Nations, now the United Nations. This concept, coupled with the understanding that the Holy See considers itself the oldest monarchy in the world, reveals another aspect of the race for who will be supreme "King of the Hill (world)." The British royal family is the hidden power behind the United Nations, while the Holy See wants to unite the world spiritually to support its own political power. Time will tell who gets there first!

Source: http://www.womensgroup.org/popequeen_20000903.html

May 21, 2008 04:04 AM

US Navy jet violates Venezuela airspace

Published: Wednesday, 21 May, 2008, 02:16 AM Doha Time

WASHINGTON: A US Navy surveillance jet lost its way during a counter-drug mission and strayed into Venezuelan airspace, US officials said on Monday following a vehement Venezuelan protest.
Venezuelan Defence Minister Gustavo Rangel called the overflight “a deliberate action” and “another link in a chain of provocations.”
Rangel said the Venezuelan air defense system tracked the S-3 Viking over the Venezuelan island of La Orchila on Saturday at 8:40pm (0010 GMT Sunday).
The island is a military base and a presidential retreat that lies in the Caribbean just north of the Venezuelan mainland.
The US, responding hours later, portrayed the incident as an inadvertent incursion into Venezuelan airspace.
“A US S-3 aircraft conducting counter-drugs operations lost navigational situational awareness causing it to fly into Venezuelan airspace off the mainland coast,” the Joint Interagency Task Force South said in a statement.
The aircraft was assigned to the military-led task force, which directs US counter-drug operations in the Caribbean from its headquarters in Key West, Florida.
Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said the S-3 aircrew was queried by Venezuelan air traffic control at Maiquetia after experiencing “intermittent navigational problems” while on a mission originating in Curacao.
The US Air Force operates a base for US counter-drug operations in Curacao, one of the Netherlands Antilles near Venezuela. – AFP

Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=219586&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19

May 21, 2008 03:50 AM

Olmert’s legal challenge fails

Published: Wednesday, 21 May, 2008, 02:16 AM Doha Time JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lost his first court challenge yesterday against a bribery investigation that could force him from office. The Supreme Court, rejecting Olmert’s petition, cleared the way for a lower court to hear preliminary testimony from a US businessman who prosecutors said handed the veteran politician cash-filled envelopes before he became prime minister. Before the three-justice panel announced its decision, police said they planned to question Olmert for a second time, on Friday. Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but said he would resign if indicted in the corruption investigation, a move that could trigger an early election in Israel and likely disrupt US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians. Police, who first questioned Olmert on May 2, have said he is suspected of taking “significant sums of money from a foreigner or a number of foreign individuals over an extended period of time”. Prosecutors can now summon businessman Morris Talansky to a Jerusalem district court to provide testimony in the case, before the New York resident, who is currently visiting Israel, returns to the US next week. Israel Radio said Talansky would appear in the district court on Sunday. Olmert’s attorneys had tried to persuade the Supreme Court that such testimony, at an early stage of the investigation, would impinge on his right to a fair trial by effectively indicting him before any formal charges were brought. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said it “saw no reason” to overturn the lower court’s decision to hear Talansky’s testimony, noting that as a result prosecutors would be obliged to disclose to Olmert’s attorneys evidence gathered so far. – Reuters

Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=219618&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17

May 21, 2008 03:41 AM

Israel PM seeks 'naval blockade' of Iran

May 21, 2008 - 6:29PM

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has urged the United States to impose a naval blockade on Iran to pressure it to stop its controversial nuclear program, the Haaretz daily reported.

Olmert raised the issue during a meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the newspaper said.

"The present economic sanctions on Iran have exhausted themselves," Olmert was quoted as telling the California Democrat.

Asked about the report, Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev would say only: "We do not confirm this information."

Rafi Eitan, a member of Olmert's security cabinet, said he also favoured air travel restrictions against Iran.

"A blockade of maritime and air routes against Iran is a good possibility," Eitan, the minister in charge of pensioners' affairs, told public radio.

"There are voices we hear in Washington that indicate the military option remains open," he added.

Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, suspects, like Washington, that Tehran's nuclear program is cover for a drive to develop an atomic bomb, something Iran strongly denies.

© 2008 AFP

Source: http://news.theage.com.au/world/israel-pm-seeks-naval-blockade-of-iran-20080521-2gsy.html

May 21, 2008 03:33 AM

Death toll from Philippines storm now 37

May 21, 2008 - 5:08PM

The death toll in a tropical storm that pummelled the Philippines over the weekend rose to 37 as rescuers reached far-flung villages in the worst-hit areas.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said 16 more people were injured in the aftermath of storm Halong that brought heavy rains which triggered landslides and flash floods in several northern provinces.

The NDCC said more than one million people were adversely affected by Halong's fury and several roads have been rendered impassable and bridges swept away by swollen rivers.

Most of the fatalities were in the province of Pangasinan, 180km north of Manila, which was worst hit by Halong.

Many of the victims drowned in flash floods, died when struck by tin sheets torn off from roofs by Halong's strong winds or were buried in collapsed structures.

Damage to agriculture and infrastructure was estimated at 3.49 billion pesos ($A84.74 million).

© 2008 AAP

Source: http://news.theage.com.au/world/death-toll-from-philippines-storm-now-37-20080521-2gs7.html

May 21, 2008 03:26 AM

Deuteronomy 10

1At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

2And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

3And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

4And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

5And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

6And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

7From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

8At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

9Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

10And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

11And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

12And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

21He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

22Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

May 21, 2008 03:08 AM

The Financial Times is reporting a Plunge in US commercial property.

Commercial property prices in the US in February saw their sharpest decline since records began nearly 15 years ago as sources of finance for deals has dried up, according to data from Standard & Poor’s out yesterday.

The value of commercial buildings fell 1.03 per cent between January and February, the largest monthly decline since at least 1993, when the industry was just emerging from a deep slump.

The fall in national property prices comes as banks have retrenched on lending due to credit crisis and the slowing economy, causing the volume of deals to slow sharply. The market for commercial mortgage-backed securities, which until last August was a major route to cheaper borrowing, has largely ground to a halt.

Sales of commercial properties were down 71 per cent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, according to data from Real Capital Analytics.

Less Shopping = Fewer Malls

The Wall Street Journal is reporting Less Shopping = Fewer Malls.

Many of the largest U.S. developers of malls and shopping centers have reacted to retailers' waning demand for space by postponing by a year or more some of their projects. Other venues will be built piecemeal as leasing progress allows. Still others have been canceled before the start of construction.

The slowdown comes as consumers rattled by the credit crisis rein in spending, causing retailers to rethink their previously aggressive expansion plans. Among the national chains that recently pared their growth plans are J.C. Penney Co., Chico's FAS Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Home Depot Inc. At least partly because of the spending lull, nearly 6,500 U.S. stores are expected to close this year, the highest tally since 2001, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

My Comment: I have talked about this on several occasions. Inquiring minds may wish to consider Shopping Center Economic Model Is History and Does The Shopping Center Economic Model Work?

Standing in the way of a recovery are deep-seated problems such as depleted home equity and high personal-debt levels. "We believe it is going to be harder for consumer confidence to come back quickly until some of these issues are resolved," J.C. Penney's chairman and chief executive officer, Myron Ullman, said Monday at the shopping-center council's annual trade show here.

My Comment: I certainly agree about consumer confidence as noted in Consumer Sentiment: Is the Worst Yet To Come?

The mood at the five-day conference, which attracted nearly 50,000 attendees and is slated to conclude Wednesday, is cautious. "I'm not afraid for '08 [results]," said Michael Glimcher, chairman and CEO of Glimcher Realty Trust, which owns 23 malls. "Where you get nervous is thinking about '09. Retailers are clearly opening fewer stores, and they're being more aggressive" in negotiations with landlords.

Developers, in turn, are hitting the brakes. This year, they are expected to complete retail projects totaling 136.4 million square feet in the top 54 U.S. markets, says market researcher Property & Portfolio Research Inc. But, next year, newly completed projects will amount to only 70.9 million square feet, reflecting the construction slowdown initiated in recent months. In comparison, the average annual production from 1998 to 2007 was 122.7 million square feet.

My Comment: A slowdown in commercial real estate means a slowdown in hiring at major retailers. The last 4 jobs reports were all negative (see April Jobs - Another Report From Bizarro World). When this slowdown hits full force unemployment is going to skyrocket.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, or PREIT, which owns 55 malls and shopping centers, has altered plans more than once because of waning demand from tenants. The developer had lined up Target Corp. and Home Depot to anchor its $73 million Monroe Marketplace shopping center to be built in Selinsgrove, Pa. But Home Depot, which hadn't signed a lease, recently backed out, so PREIT is building only half of the project, with the rest put on hold. Similarly, PREIT recently canceled plans for a shopping center in suburban Chicago.

My Comment: Both Home Depot and Lowes are in deep trouble as noted in Disastrous Quarters At Home Depot, Lowe's. The pullout of majors like Home Depot, Target, Lowes, etc from a new shopping center can cause a cascade of pullouts by by other retailers down the line. When the "anchor" store pulls out, it is inevitable other stores will follow. Entire malls can be in jeopardy when the anchor stores leave.

Massive projects backed by big-name developers are no exception. Real-estate tycoon Stephen M. Ross's Related Cos. recently postponed portions of two enormous mixed-use projects in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Dallas billionaire Thomas Hicks opted this month to redraft plans for his 1.3 million-square-foot, $500 million Glorypark mixed-use development in Arlington, Texas, after a partner's efforts to land department store Dillard's Inc. for the project failed and financial backers balked. Mr. Hicks now sees Glorypark spanning a more modest 400,000 to 500,000 square feet, perhaps hosting more entertainment-focused tenants than retailers. He still plans for the first phase to open by 2011. "It's going to happen," Mr. Hicks said. "But I can't control the capital markets."

The party is over and so are insane financing schemes. Commercial real estate is going to be a disaster. That disaster is not priced in, nor is the effect of a slowing CRE market on jobs, on sentiment, on consumer spending, or on foreclosures.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.

May 21, 2008 02:19 AM

There's more than meets the eye when it comes to the PPI. The variance between raw materials and finished goods on the PPI is enormous. Let's start with a look at the April 2008 PPI report.

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.2 percent in April, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This rise followed a 1.1-percent advance in March and a 0.3-percent increase in February. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 0.9 percent following a 2.3-percent gain a month earlier, and the crude goods index advanced 3.2 percent after climbing 8.0 percent in March.

Finished Goods, Intermediate Goods, and Crude Goods



click on chart for sharper image

Charting The PPI Variance

Mr. Practical was commenting on the variance between the crude goods PPI and the finished goods PPI. This is what Mr. P has to say:

I sent this chart of the Producer Price Index out to a few friends. I began getting calls from people I barely knew. Apparently, the chart really made the rounds and astounded people.



click on chart for sharper image

I've talked about this before. I'm surprised people still don't get this. They look at the headline statistics the government puts out and don't bother to think about the real information embedded in the numbers.

The crush on profits is beginning to take full force as companies are having more and more difficulty passing higher input costs on to consumers, as they're getting squeezed too.

This is the most important statistical relationship to stock prices by far.

The charts show there is virtually no ability to pass on rising input costs. This will translate into declining profits. Declining profits are never good for stock prices. There is simply no other rational way of looking at this.

Five Things

Professor Kevin Depew was also talking about the PPI in point number 2 of "Five Things".

First up, the Producer Price Index. Producer prices rose twice as much as forecast in April, according to the Labor Department. The PPI excluding food and energy rose 0.4%, the year-over-year gain ratcheting up to 3%, the highest level since 1991.

But what is interesting about this report is the ongoing widening of the spread between finished goods prices paid less core goods. (see above chart)

This shows increasing pressure on producers to rein in raw materials costs that are not keeping pace with finished goods costs. Virtually every conference call we listen to says the same thing. That is why the consumer is so important now. Corporate profits are getting crushed right as we head into a consumer recession.

I keep hearing that there "must" be a passthru of cost increases. Where is it?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post ListMike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.

May 21, 2008 01:26 AM

BP's Moscow offices searched by Russia’s Federal Security Service agents. Murder suspect Lugovoy, wanted in London, to attend soccer final in Moscow. British correspondent runs into Lugovoy’s alleged accomplice in Moscow. Former Social-Democratic (united) Party of Ukraine leader Medvedchuk summoned to SBU questioning. Bulgaria’s former Interior Minister connected with disclosing secret agent’s identity. Prosecutor’s Office, Interior Ministry and court must exert control upon special intelligence means in Bulgaria...

May 21, 2008 12:00 AM

by Jonathan Nack
5/14/08
http://www.opednews.com

OAKLAND - Independent candidate for President Ralph Nader described the current government and economic system of the United States as "corporate fascism" at a campaign event held in Berkeley on May 12.

"We're living in a country whose democracy is beyond the breaking point. The extent of corporate control has developed into corporate fascism," declared Nader. "We don't have a capitalist economic system - it's corporate fascism. Every major tenet of capitalism is violated by corporate power," said Nader. Only small businesses still practice capitalism, according to Nader.

Nader explained that major corporations buy politicians and write the laws through their lobbyists, thus owning the Capitol. They receive billions in government subsidies and hand-outs, but 68 percent of corporations pay no federal income tax, according to Nader.

Corporate fascism not only rules U. S. politics and the economy, but also other aspects of life including the way people think, said Nader. "We grow up corporate with commercialized childhoods. We get a corporate education."

Nader has spent his life fighting corporate power, so his anti-corporate theme is not new, having been at the center of his three previous campaigns for President. However, he clearly thinks things have gotten much worse and that the accumulation of corporate power has gone beyond the tipping point.

"We used to be able to challenge corporate influence in Washington, but they have so much power now that we can't. The corporations are laughing at us. They're daring us to try to take away their power," said Nader.

The choice between a Democrat and a Republican is to Nader a "choice between horrible and terrible." He warned against voting for a candidate because they're not as bad as the other. "If you have a low expectation level of politicians, then they're going to oblige you," said Nader.

Nader warned against continued complacency. "What's wrong with us? Are we the biggest suckers? Are we super-suckers?" He exhorted his audience at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian-Universalists to find their "constructive anger."

He doesn't think it's too late to turn things around, but it will require, "people to break from corporate thinking." Nader called on Americans to reach out to each other, get active and organized, and to make demands for what they need and want.

Nader called on people to become "tough citizens" who are "resilient, informed, and able to bounce back."

He described his campaign for President as an effort to "restore democracy" and to build "resistance and enlightenment.". Nader and his running mate, Matt Gonzalez, former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, are collecting signatures so that they can appear on the ballot in all fifty states. Information about the campaign is available at www.votenader.org .

Jonathan Nack has been a journalist and activist since 1984. He resides in Oakland, California.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_jonathan_080514_nader_calls_u__s___22c.htm

May 20, 2008 10:33 PM

Alleges Guantanamo Personnel Softened Up Detainees at Request of Chinese Intelligence

By JUSTIN ROOD
ABC News
May 20, 2008—

U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay allegedly softened up detainees at the request of Chinese intelligence officials who had come to the island facility to interrogate the men -- or they allowed the Chinese to dole out the treatment themselves, according to claims in a new government report.

Buried in a Department of Justice report released Tuesday are new allegations about a 2002 arrangement between the United States and China, which allowed Chinese intelligence to visit Guantanamo and interrogate Chinese Uighurs held there.

According to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, an FBI agent reported a detainee belonging to China's ethnic Uighur minority and a Uighur translator told him Uighur detainees were kept awake for long periods, deprived of food and forced to endure cold for hours on end, just prior to questioning by Chinese interrogators.

Susan Manning, a lawyer who represents several Uighurs still held at Guantanamo, said Tuesday the allegations are all too familiar.

U.S. personnel "are engaging in abusive tactics on behalf of the Chinese," she said Tuesday. When Uighur detainees refused to talk to Chinese interrogators in 2002, U.S. military personnel put them in solitary confinement as punishment, she said.

"Why are we doing China's dirty work?" Manning said. "Surely we're better than that."

An official authorized to speak on behalf of the Defense Department but who declined to be named confirmed it was Pentagon policy to allow officials from other countries to have access to interview their nationals at Guantanamo but declined to discuss the specifics alleged in the report.

According to Fine's report, the FBI agent said the Uighur detainee told him that the night before his interrogation by Chinese officials, "he was awakened at 15-minute intervals the entire night and into the next day." The detainee also allegedly said he was "exposed to low room temperatures for long periods of time and was deprived of at least one meal."

"The agent stated that he understood that the treatment of the Uighur detainees was either carried out by the Chinese interrogators or was carried out by U.S. personnel at the behest of Chinese interrogators," the report by the Department of Justice inspector general stated.

U.S. forces captured roughly three dozen Uighurs in eastern Afghanistan shortly after invading the country in October 2001. The men said they were working there to earn money for families back home and to evade the Chinese government, which is known for taking a harsh and uncompromising line with separatist Uighurs.

The U.S. State Department has found China to have suppressed the religious freedom of Uighurs, who are Muslim, and has accused the Chinese government of persecuting, even executing, those who advocate Uighur independence.

In 2006, after the United States released five Uighurs from Guantanamo, China asked for them to be repatriated so they could be prosecuted as terrorists. The United States declined to do so, out of concern they would not be treated humanely. Instead they transferred the men to Albania, which was the only country out of 90 approached by the U.S. government who would take them.

The Pentagon says it is trying to release and resettle the majority of the 17 Uighurs who remain in Guantanamo, although it says it still considers them enemy combatants and a threats.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4894921

May 20, 2008 10:28 PM

http://www.infowars.com/?p=2268

___________

From http://www.infowars.com/?p=2266

Louisville Police Dept. Denies Any Involvement in We Are Change Incident

We Are Change
May 20, 2008

Witnesses, Signatures Indicate Otherwise

On Sunday, May 18th, members of We Are Change were assaulted and interrogated on the property of the Louisville Exposition Center while covering the NRA national convention. Sam Logulo was grabbed and driven to the floor, and Cody Deeds was pushed down his knees outside.

Officer Phil Russell, Public Information Officer of the Louisville Metro Police Department stated in an email that there was “no involvement in that incident by Louisville Metro Police Department officers. It is our understanding that the incident in question involved security officers from a different organization not affiliated with the Louisville Metro Police Department.”

	Click the letter above to see a larger version.

However, the members of We Are Change stated that members of the Louisville Metro Police Department were involved in the incident. Furthermore, a document banning the Change members from the Louisville Exposition property was signed by Sgt. John Nisse and Col. R. K. Meade.

In addition to the assault, several pieces of equipment were seized by the police. Four memory cards, two battery packs, two camera batteries, and a disc were taken.

The reason that the citizen journalists traveled to Louisville was to discuss the Continuity of Government mechanisms with Oliver North and the We Are Change members have indicated that retrieving the video of North is the of the utmost importance.

Cody Deeds of Change Ohio summed up the situation, “All I want is the footage.”

_______________

 

From http://www.infowars.com/?p=2269

 

Ventura Attacks Media for Criticizing Free Speech

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
May 20, 2008

Attacked for simply asking questions

On the Alex Jones Show today, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura complained right out of the gate about the fact the corporate media consistently attempts to squelch any questioning of the government. "I can’t believe how I simply asked some questions and the way you’re attacked… for simply asking questions… has our country become that, that you’re not even publicly allowed to question the government?"

Alex responded by stating that the government and its corporate media lapdog — alternately an attack dog when celebrities such as Ventura dare step outside established parameters — are disturbed by the fact Alex’s show is an increasingly popular venue for the likes of Charlie Sheen, Willie Nelson, Ventura, and a host of others unable to ask questions and get a fair hearing in the corporate media arena.

Ventura admitted that he did not want to "believe the worst" about 9/11 and wanted to accept the official fairy tale version, but after Bush and the neocons invaded Iraq, when the government claimed al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan, he sincerely began to ask questions and confront the lies perpetuated by the government and the corporate media.

Appearance on Hannity and Colmes

On April 2, in an appearance of Alex’s show, Ventura admitted that watching the documentary Loose Change, at the insistence of his son, changed his mind about the official fairy tale version of events. "When I finally did watch it I went through every emotion you could imagine, from laughing, crying, getting sick to my stomach, to the whole emotional thing," Jesse said. "To me questions haven’t been answered and are not being answered about 9/11," including pertinent questions about Building 7. "Two planes struck two buildings….but how is it that a third building fell 5 hours later?" asked Ventura, "How could this building just implode into its own footprint 5 hours later — that’s my first question — the 9/11 Commission didn’t even devote one page to that in their big volume of investigation."

For his honesty and distrust of the government, Ventura was roundly criticized by the corporate media in the days following his appearance on the Jones’ show, culminating in a visit with Hannity and Colmes on April 8. Initially an appearance to publicize his latest book, Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me, Jesse wasted little questioning the preposterous official version, specifically the absurdity of kerosene fires bringing down the towers, after ill-advised prompting by Hannity.

As Alex noted, in this appearance on Hannity and Colmes Ventura had "trounced" Sean Hannity "from a position of strength" and "knowledge" after Hannity attempted to claim Fox does not stage manage the news, using as an example the remarkably insignificant extended coverage of the drug overdose of Anna Nicole Smith while other, far more important news was systematically ignored. Ventura’s performance, Alex declared, has become a "textbook example" of how to deal with a media determined to gloss over and ignore important issues at the behest of government and entrenched corporate interests.

Government lies

"In looking back on my 56 years on the planet, " Jesse told Alex during his most recent appearance, "the government has lied to me a great deal and they don’t have great credibility with me, so why wouldn’t I question them when they tell me something?" Alex agreed, stating that the government has been caught repeatedly telling lies, specifically in regard to Building 7 and numerous instances of fire fighters reporting explosions in the buildings. Ventura mentioned his three years of service with the Navy Underwater Demolition Team 12 and his training and hands-on knowledge of explosives and demolition, specializing in "blowing things up," and "from a professional standpoint and watching how these buildings fell, it sure looks like demolition to me and I believe I have an eye for it… especially Building Number 7."

William Rodriquez: A hero’s hero

"One of the most interesting interviews I have seen now has been William Rodriquez," Ventura said. "When I watched a DVD of William Rodriquez, this guy is totally talking from what he what he remembers, you can clearly see it, he is not making anything up… he’s a hero’s hero, there’s no doubt about… and when you hear him talk and he tells about what he knows, how can you not question what went on that day?"

But even with the honesty of a man of Rodriquez’s caliber, the public is unwilling to ask questions, Jesse admitted with bemusement. "I think people have this hidden, almost screen around them in many ways that because they don’t want to believe that it could be true, they just put that screen up and won’t allow anything to penetrate it to the effect that it might be true."

Stand up to government

Regardless of a public either unconcerned with the lies of government or unable to ask important questions, Jesse stated that he believes it is his duty to stand up to the federal government because centralized and entrenched power will always attempt to violate not only the rights of the states but individuals, from medicinal marijuana to dignity in death.

In order to realize these rights and put an end to a predatory central government, we must "have a revolution and take our country back." Ventura told Alex the reason he wrote his last book was specifically for this reason, as a "message and wake-up call," to wake-up the country and tell citizens that the "two party system is corrupt" and "you have to change the system to change the government," otherwise we may very well lose the republic. "That’s what Thomas Jefferson warned about, that’s what John Adams warned about, that political parties would eventually strangle the republic because decisions would be made on behalf of the political parties."

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 10:22 PM

See: http://alexconstantine.blogspot.com/2008/05/nader-calls-u-s-corporate-fascism.html

May 20, 2008 10:15 PM

Dutch Paper On Bilderberg: The Press Is Not Welcome

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/200508_2.htm




Premier Jan Peter Balkenende and Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen are visiting Washington from 5 to 8 June. They will be received at the White House by US President George W. Bush.

On 5 June, Balkenende and Verhagen will discuss with the departing president "among other things the international political situation, including developments in Afghanistan and economic cooperation between the United States and the Netherlands," according to the Government Information Service (RVD).

The premier will also take part in the annual Bilderberg Conference, being held this time in Chantilly, near Washington. This secretive meeting of world leaders was originally dreamed up by Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix. The press is not welcome.A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 09:55 PM

Summary: New page: <i>Speech is free if you pretend it's free</i> <b>Cade Metz</b> (San Francisco, <i>The Register</i>)<br/> {{date|2008-5-20}} Wikinews - like its sister site, Wikipedia - bills itself as ...

---

<i>Speech is free if you pretend it's free</i>

<b>Cade Metz</b> (San Francisco, <i>The Register</i>)<br/>
{{date|2008-5-20}}

Wikinews - like its sister site, Wikipedia - bills itself as a place without bias. Ostensibly, it's a democratic news source that never answers to a higher power. But that's just a setup for the latest act in the world's greatest online farce.

In recent weeks, the Wikimedia Foundation - the not-for-profit that operates Wikinews and Wikipedia - spiked two separate Wikinews stories before they were published. Both concerned the Foundation itself. And one concerned the Foundation and child pornography.

"Wikimedia has been doing things that are out of the ordinary and, in my opinion, against everything it stands for - such as free information for all and the fact that they claim to not censor anything," says Jason Safoutin, who penned the two articles in question.

We'll get to the porn later. The first article detailed a defamation suit brought against the Foundation by a literary agent named Babara Bauer. It's a case you may know. Earlier this month, after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined Wikimedia's defense team, the suit was widely covered by the press at large, including [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/wikipedia_eff_defamation_immunity_lawsuit/ ''The Reg'']. Bauer insists that someone posted a list of the "20 Worst Literary Agents" to Wikipedia and dubbed her the "dumbest" agent on the list.

But you won't find a mention of her suit on Wikipedia itself - or on other Foundation projects.

The Wikimedia Foundation denies Bauer's story, but it also claims defamation immunity under Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act. Famously, Section 230 protects net sites from liability when their users start posting defamatory material - even if the site is alerted to the defamation.

"If I get a letter that says 'You have defamatory material on your web site' and I say 'I don't care. I'm leaving it up,' I'm still completely covered by 230," says Santa Clara University law professor and [http://blog.ericgoldman.org/ tech law blogger] Eric Goldman.

But the Wikimedia Foundation has decided to be extra super careful. Late last month, Wikimedia general counsel Mike Godwin filed a [http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/wikimedia/godwindecl.pdf declaration (PDF)] with the court, pointing out that an article on Barbara Bauer "no longer appears on the Wikipedia site." Then he logged onto Wikipedia and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=209706721 told] all those wikifiddlers to keep it that way.

This is the Foundation's prerogative. As the EFF's Matt Zimmerman points out, Section 230 is in place to give site owners editorial discretion. And though Godwin wouldn't speak to us, he may be concerned that the not-for-profit doesn't have the money it needs to fight too many defamation suits - however ridiculous they are.

But remember: This is [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/06/a_model_wikipedian/ Wikiland]. The powers that be like to exercise their powers while pretending they're not. In telling Wikipedians to avoid re-posting a Barbara Bauer article, Godwin also tells them he's not telling them to avoid re-posting a Barbara article:

"We recently filed court papers in which we stated that the article is no longer available (as it wasn't when I filed my affidavit). It would be nice if the community didn't turn the Foundation, EFF, and me into liars," he says. "I've been trying to keep [Foundation] actions to a minimum...and it would be helpful to be able to say that any given action was taken by the community, not by the Foundation."

Then the farce kicked into high gear. After insisting he wasn't taking action while taking action, Godwin took action again. When a draft of the article about Barbara Bauer's ''suit'' turned up over at Wikinews - a separate operation from Wikipedia - he had it [http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Literary_agent_sues_Wikimedia_for_being_named_among_the_%27worst_agents%27&action=edit&redlink=1 vaporized].

Once again, Godwin said he was merely protecting the Foundation's court case. But Jason Safoutin questions whether his story died because it wasn't "entirely in favor of Wikimedia." Safoutin's piece - recently made available by the truth seekers at [[Wikinews_suppressed_article_on_Barbara_Bauer_vs._Wikipedia_case|Wikileaks]] - took issue with Godwin's I'm-not-telling-you-what-to-do-while-telling-you-what-to-do speech.

And now for the porn.

Unbowed, Safoutin went to work on a second article, tackling yet another Wikiscandal. According to [http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=63722 WorldNetDaily], the FBI is investigating Wikipedia after someone uploaded a photo of a nude adolescent. Safoutin's piece focused on the FBI probe, but it also mentioned other [http://valleywag.com/372140/erik-mller-no-2-at-wikipedia-a-defender-of-pedophilia reports] that Wikimedia Number Two Eric Moeller has advocated the free exchange of child pornography and posted a child pornography image to his web site.

Godwin killed this story too. He may have been concerned about another lawsuit. But if Eric Moeller decided to sue his own employer - or the Foundation decided to sue itself - it would still be protected under Section 230.

"My concern is this: Wikimedia might be trying to, or is censoring material on their projects which give them a bad look/name," Safoutin says. We think he has a point.

Naturally, the porn piece has also found a [[Wikinews_suppressed_Wikipedia_pornography_investigation|home] at Wikileaks.

===Bootnote===

Last week, Santa Clara University hosted a panel discussion entitled "The World that Wikipedia Made: The Ethics and Values of Public Knowledge." It was setup as a head-to-head between Mike Godwin and MIT's Carl Hewitt, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science. But it didn't work out that way.

Speaking from [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/09/wikipedia.internet first-hand experience], Hewitt described Wikipedia as an "authoritarian bureaucracy of magnificent proportions" that makes no room for serious academics. You can read his long list of Wikipedia criticisms [http://hewitt-seminars.blogspot.com/2008/03/corruption-of-wikipedia.html here].

He even went so far as to call Wikipedia a cult. But Mike Godwin wasn't around to dispute these claims. "Mr. Godwin expressed some concerns about the potential media coverage of this event and, as a result, has decided not to participate," said David DeCosse, of Santa Clara's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

The first rule of Wikicult is: You do not talk about Wikicult.

<i>First appeared as: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/20/wikmedia_muzzles_wikinews/</i>

May 20, 2008 08:01 PM

Recently, as part of a broad based financial education class for younger folks (in their 20's-30's), I was asked to provide an economic outlook assessment/briefing to help these young adults gain a better understanding of the very complex problems the US economy is dealing with -- both current and future.

Other people will provide generic information w/regard to: balancing a checkbook, living within your means, using credit wisely, investment options, compounding interest, etc... My main objective is: try to make a very complex issue (economic problems/future forecasting) easy to follow, so that these young people can make wiser decisions based upon the knowledge they have gained.

With that said, I have yet to give the actual briefing (it's scheduled for early June), so I thought I'd take advantage of the available time and ask some of you smart folks to review and provide feedback w/regard to content, complexities, general flow/digestibility, accuracy, missing content, etc...

Please remember -- this briefing was tailored for folks who know little about the history of money, the broader economy, inflation or the many issues in play. Additionally, I plan to expound upon many of the points made in the briefing (when presenting it).

Would really appreciate your comments/feedback.

NOTE: briefing updated based on reader feedback and 207 reads today -- very much appreciated!

The following topic's were added/corrected:
- 20% annual growth = 4 year doubling of money supply
- Short history on Federal Reserve
- US Dollar as World's Reserve Currency
- Oil/OPEC issues (imbedded w/Dollar and Current/future outlook)

US Economic Outlook Briefing (Use full-screen mode for best results)


Thanks in advance!

Randy

May 20, 2008 08:51 PM

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64781A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 08:38 PM

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64712A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 08:36 PM

May 1, 2008

... The number of organizations in our state is astounding, but they have also changed their name. Many call themselves "knights." The terms "Klansman" and "skinhead" are beginning to wane. ...

How prevalent is the Klan in our home state? Get ready for a shocker.
The organizations and their towns are listed below.

• Tampa Knights, Valrico
• New Order of Knights, DeLand
• Klay County Klaven, Grandin
• United Clan of the Confederacy, Interlackien
• Realm of Florida, Melbourne
• Commonwealth Knights, Christmas
• Keystone Knights, Davie
• Invisible Knights, Kathleen
• Suwannee River Knights, Chiefland
• Knights of Lockhart, Orlando
• Knights of the Forrest, Gainesville
• Knights of the Apocalypse, Valrico
• Confederate Independent Klansman, Holder
• Florida Knights, Lake City
• Templar Knights of the KKK, various locations
• Knights of the KKK, various locations
• Christian Knights of the KKK, various locations
• America's Invisible Empire Knights, various locations
• Knights of the White Camellia, various locations

Story continues

May 20, 2008 08:27 PM

Ku Klux Klan is Still Alive and Well in Florida

May 1, 2008

... The number of organizations in our state is astounding, but they have also changed their name. Many call themselves "knights." The terms "Klansman" and "skinhead" are beginning to wane.

Now don't get me wrong. I was born in the Southern Delta country and am a rebel at heart. I am as overflowing with pride in my Southern heritage as any fellow can be, but have a hard time identifying with these guys as they offer nothing but vengeance and retribution of days long ago.

As the years go by I find it is amazing that I lived in an area where they were predominate in all the towns across the South. It was part of the political system. I knew it and so did everybody else. You fell in line or you were subjected to the wrath of an evening visit.

How prevalent is the Klan in our home state? Get ready for a shocker.
The organizations and their towns are listed below.

• Tampa Knights, Valrico
• New Order of Knights, DeLand
• Klay County Klaven, Grandin
• United Clan of the Confederacy, Interlackien
• Realm of Florida, Melbourne
• Commonwealth Knights, Christmas
• Keystone Knights, Davie
• Invisible Knights, Kathleen
• Suwannee River Knights, Chiefland
• Knights of Lockhart, Orlando
• Knights of the Forrest, Gainesville
• Knights of the Apocalypse, Valrico
• Confederate Independent Klansman, Holder
• Florida Knights, Lake City
• Templar Knights of the KKK, various locations
• Knights of the KKK, various locations
• Christian Knights of the KKK, various locations
• America's Invisible Empire Knights, various locations
• Knights of the White Camellia, various locations

And yes, we have our very own "den" in our small coastal territory. Located in the hamlet of McDavid just north of Melton, Florida, sit the "Bayou Knights." I know nothing about them, but nevertheless they are listed in the KKK roll call.

The only incident in Walton County that harkens back to those dark days of vigilante justice that might have included the Klan was the lynching of a black man in Freeport in the late 1800s. True, he was caught in the act of murder and robbery with an accomplice, but the agitated crowd wasted no time with the rule of law. It smacks of the immediate justice the Klan was so well known for in the South.

Other Walton County incidents are spray painting and the destruction of church and public properties about the county that may be misguided juveniles, or juveniles guided by "a cell" of knights, skinheads or Aryans - or whatever they call themselves.

Important today in Florida is education. Most Klan members are universally school dropouts who blame society for their problems and not themselves. Be they black, white, Hispanic or Chinese, every race has its own form of hate Klanism. You see it in streets and on TV every day.

To see the southern KKK in action go to National Aryan Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on the Internet and click picture box. It shows many photos of a crawfish boil and some down-home serious nighttime cross burning.
What I can't understand is why their robes don't accidentally flame up more often at those shindigs.

Fair winds to ye matey.

Chick Huettel is a long-time Walton County resident and former owner of Bayou Antiques. He is a member of a number of local organizations including the Emerald Coast Archeological Society.

May 20, 2008 08:22 PM

Minnesota’s Department of Education has finally ordered a public school that caters to Muslims and promotes Islamic religion to stop violating a law that states taxpayer-funded institutions must be nonsectarian.

The Tarik ibn Zayad Academy is a public charter school in
Inver Grove Heights with an enrollment of about 400 students in grades kindergarten through eighth. A Muslim imam is the school’s director and the campus shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota whose mission is “establishing Islam” in the sate. The building also has a mosque.

The curriculum includes Islamic studies and students pray at least half an hour each day. The cafeteria serves special halal food (permissible under Islamic law) and the school doesn’t provide bus service for students immediately after classes because all are expected to stay for the extracurricular religious studies course offered by the Muslim American Society.

These blatant violations were exposed by an appalled substitute teacher, who told a local newspaper columnist about her unbelievable experience at the Muslim academy. The state’s lax department of education had fended off several calls to investigate the school, but the agency didn’t actually do it until the damaging information was published in the newspaper.

In its report the Minnesota Department of Education orders the school to take appropriate corrective actions to stop violating the law with its prayer sessions. It points out that the 30-minute prayers take up too much time and therefore the school may not be teaching students the state-mandated amount of hours. The prayers could also be a burden to non-praying students.

May 20, 2008 07:05 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:46 PM

By Alex Constantine

Abdul Rahman Yasin and Nidal Ayyad were co-defendents in the 1993 bombing of the World Trace Center. When he met Ramzi Yousef - who has in common with 911 terrorist Mohammed Atta ties to Pakistan's ISI and, as we shall see, they all have a significant German connection - Ayyad was employed by Allied Signal, Inc. in New Jersey - an intelligence front.

The following excerpts relate the story of their involvement in the plot and necessary background indicating state sponsorship of terrorism:
•••••••
THE 1993 WTC BOMBERS & ALLIED SIGNAL

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/investigative/2002/fancher-trials.asp

... A few days after arriving at JFK with Ajaj, Yousef made contact with Sheik Rahman's followers. He met up with two men who had trained at the rifle range on Long Island in 1989, Abouhalima and Salameh. [Ramzi] Yousef moved into a Jersey City apartment with Salameh.... Abdul Yasin, an American-born engineering student of Iraqi descent, and Nidal Ayyad, a Kuwaiti-born naturalized American citizen, who had studied chemical engineering and worked at ALLIED SIGNAL in Morristown, N.J. In addition to opening bank accounts with more than $16,000, the men began trying to order chemicals, with varying success. By early February, Yousef asked Eyad Ismoil, a childhood friend who lived in Dallas, to fly to New York to help, prosecutors claimed in the trial.
•••••••
THE COMPONENTS FOR THE BOMB CAME FROM ALLIED SIGNAL, INC.:

http://www.mipt.org/usvsalameh2cirapp081997.asp
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
August Term, 1997
(Argued: December 18 & 19, 1997 Decided: August 04, 1998 )
Docket Nos. 94-1312, -1313, -1314, -1315
•••••••
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
MOHAMMED A. SALAMEH, NIDAL AYYAD, MAHMOUD ABOUHALIMA, also known as Mahmoud Abu Halima, AHMAD MOHAMMAD AJAJ, also known as Khurram Khan, Defendants-Appellants, RAMZI AHMED YOUSEF, BILAL ALKAISI, also known as Bilal Elqisi, ABDUL RAHMAN YASIN, also known as Aboud, Defendants.

... Once in New York, Yousef assembled a team of trusted criminal associates, including Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmoud Abouhalima and Abdul Rahman Yasin. Together, the conspirators implemented the bombing plot that Ajaj and Yousef had hatched overseas. Ayyad and Salameh opened a joint bank account into which they deposited funds to finance the bombing plot.

Some of that money was later used by Salameh to rent a storage shed in
Jersey City, New Jersey, where the conspirators stored chemicals for making
explosives. Yousef also drew on that account to pay for materials described
in Ajaj's manuals as ingredients for bomb making.

The first target of the conspirators' plot was the World Trade Center. Ayyad
used his position as an engineer at ALLIED SIGNAL, a large New Jersey
chemical company, to order the necessary chemical ingredients for bomb
making, and to order hydrogen tanks from ALG Welding Company that would enhance the bomb's destructive force. Abouhalima obtained "smokeless powder," which the conspirators used to make explosives. Smokeless powder, and all the other chemicals procured by the conspirators for the bomb, were stored in the shed rented by Salameh....
•••••••
ALLIED SIGNAL IS A CIA FRONT. CAST: EDWIN PAULEY (see A. CONSTANTINE, Adnan Khashoggi LINKED TO 911 Terrorists, part II) WAS IN BUSINESS WITH G.H.W. BUSH. SAM MOSHER IS SEEN TO BE IN CAHOOTS WITH EDWIN PAULEY.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0204/S00105.htm

What was so special about 1974?
Thursday, 18 April 2002, 10:44 am
Article: Linda Minor

The pilot who flew Ambassador Joseph Davies to Moscow was a Californian
named Robert W. Prescott, who founded the Flying Tiger Line in 1945.... In
November, 1944 Prescott had met with a group of Los Angeles businessmen in Acapulco, including one of [Edwin] Pauley's fellow UC Berkeley regents,
Samuel B. Mosher, who wanted to establish an air freight line along the U.S.
and Mexican west coast, to be called Aero-Azteca. The investors included
Signal Oil Company [predecessor of Allied Signal]. They agreed to form a
syndicate, with Mosher's group matching whatever Prescott could raise.

Prescott found 14 Navy surplus cargo aircraft from the War Assets Administration and collected cash from friends from the American Volunteer
Pilots unit (AVP) who had flown with him in China. This group of American
civilians who fought with Chiang Kai-Shek in China before the U.S. entered
the war (all of whom received the same commendation Cloud and Banner award given to Pug Winokur's father during his war service) had an important role in the setting up what William Casey would later call an "off-the-shelf" method of financing covert operations for the CIA and other black operations not disclosed to Congress.

The airline was initially called National Skyways Freight Corporation and
included General Claire Chennault and others. In 1946 Chennault invited the
men to go back to China to work for him at Civil Air Transport, which he was in the process of founding. By 1970 Nixon's attorney Herbert Kalmbach
claimed to be representing the Flying Tiger Line, which merged with Seaboard World Airlines in 1980 and into Federal Express in 1989. In the beginning the California airline transported mostly foodstuffs but in late 1946 was awarded its first military contract with Army Air Transport Command--two flights daily to Tokyo and to Honolulu for a total of 1.2 million miles per month. The flights were to leave from San Francisco Fairfield Air Base, but the company remained based at Lockheed in Burbank.

In Mosher's 1954 Who's Who listing his home address was given as 10401
Wilshire, located just west of the Los Angeles country club and one mile
east of the office building David Murdock constructed across the street from
the Occidental Petroleum Co. The close proximity is very intriguing, considering the fact that in 1966, the year George Bush left Zapata,
Mosher's Signal Oil sold its European refining and marketing arms to
Occidental, after Armand Hammer obtained a concession from Libya's King
Idris, who would later be replaced by Quaddafi. Mosher's office address in
1954 was given as 811 W. 7th in Los Angeles. This is just over five miles
from Pauley's Bandini office. AtlanticRichfield's 12-story office building
in Los Angeles was at the corner of 6th and Flower, a mere two blocks from
Mosher's location. In 1954 Mosher was also serving as vice president and
director for American Independent Oil Co. (whose president was Ralph K.
Davies), and as director of the Southwest Exploration Co. and the American
President Lines, as well as numerous oil and gas associations.
•••••••
FINANCING FOR THE 1993 BOMBING WAS WIRED FROM GERMANY...

Blast Suspects Got German Cash
By Sara Fritz and Robert L. Jackson
Los Angeles Times

NEW YORK - The men suspected of exploding a bomb underneath the World Trade Center received tens of thousands of dollars from a bank account in Germany, giving credence to the theory that it may have been the act of a
sophisticated international terrorist organization, authorities said Thursday.

Officials still have not determined the precise amount of money transferred
to the suspects or the identity of the benefactors. Furthermore, they said
they believed that the total amounted to less than $100,000 -- a relatively
small sum in comparison to the money a well-funded international terrorist
group could afford to spend. And they acknowledged they had no proof the
money was spent in connection with the bombing.

Nonetheless, as authorities followed the widening money trail, sources said
they were more inclined to suport the view publicly expressed by FBI
Assistant Director James Fox that the Feb. 26 bombing was "organized by a
large, well-know terrorist group."

Although the money received by the suspects was wired from a bank in
Germany, investigators said they suspect the funds actually originated
elsewhere -- possibly Iran or Iraq. In Egypt, according to a knowledgeable
source, followers of an Egyptian cleric whose New Jersey mosque has figured
in the bombing case are known to be funded with Iranian money funneled
through Sudan....

The money was wired to accounts at the National Westminister Bank branch in Jersey City, N.J., just a few blocks from the mosque where Omar's followers -- including at least two of the men arrested in the case -- worshipped.

The two principle suspects, Mohammed A. Salameh and Nidal A. Ayyad, held a joint account at the Jersey City bank that received some of the money from
Germany. In addition, money from the same foreign source also was placed in individual accounts belonging to the men.

On Wednesday, investigators underestimated how much money the suspects had received from abroad because they were only aware of only the single joint account at the time.

Even though the suspects received tens of thousands of dollars, each individual deposit was less than $10,000, sources said. Under federal law,
American banks handling transactions of $10,000 or more must report them to the Treasury Department, often prompting money launderers and criminals to break large transfers into smaller amounts.

The transactions provide the first publicly available evidence that those
responsible for the bombing may not have been hapless amateurs, as they have sometimes been portrayed...

Ayyad, who was arrested Wednesday, holds a college degree in chemical
engineering and was employed as a research engineer at the AlliedSignal
Corp. in Morristown, N.J. Authorities said Salameh telephone Ayyad at least
four times at his office on the day before the bombing, apparently seeking
advice on how to mix the chemicals.
•••••••
http://www.janrainwater.com/htdocs/3.htm

RAMZI YOUSEF AND PAKISTAN'S INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, THE ISI ...

Yousef's terrorist motivations were not those of a militant Muslim
fundamentalist, according to Reeve, who describes him as an "evil genius."
He seems to have been a playboy, a sadist and someone with a mammoth ego (which proved to be his undoing, as he could have hidden out in the tribal areas of Pakistan undiscovered by the authorities.) Reeve alleges that individuals within Pakistan's ISI may have provided him with the documents that enabled him to enter the United States....
•••••••
"BLOWBACK"

"Terrorism" and Blowback

Part Three: "Terrorism," Blowback and US Foreign Policy during the Clinton Years

... Information gleaned from Salameh's pockets, his residence, and the
storage facility where the bomb had been prepared led to the arrests of
Ahmad Ajaj, Palestinian chemist Nidal Ayyad and Mahmud Abouhalima. (The
latter was extradited from Egypt where he had been viciously tortured
because of his connections with militants who were attacking Egyptian
installations.) Their trial began in September and on May 24, 1994 the four
were convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorism and sentenced to 240 years in prison and sent to the top-security US penitentiary in Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania.

Missing from the courtroom were ABDUL YASIN who had fled to Iraq...
•••••••
FBI Let Suspected Terrorist Get Away
By JOSH MEYER and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON -- A suspected bomber on President Bush's new list of "most
wanted" terrorists was in the FBI's grasp eight years ago for allegedly
playing a role in the first attack on the World Trade Center, but he was
released and then allowed to leave the country, authorities acknowledged
Thursday.

Abdul Rahman Yasin, 41, is one of the 22 accused terrorists identified by
Bush on Wednesday as murderous extremists wanted by the U.S., whom
authorities will aggressively pursue to bring to justice.

The FBI questioned Yasin at length soon after the February 1993 bomb blast
at the trade center, which killed six people and injured 1,000. They asked
about his sharing of apartments in Jersey City, N.J., with others who were
later indicted and convicted in the bombing, and about how explosive
chemicals got on one apartment's walls and may have caused a burn mark found on his thigh.

FBI agents also questioned Yasin about his association with Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, the man later convicted of masterminding the plot, according to law
enforcement authorities and Stephen Somerstein, Yasin's lawyer.

"He . . . went in quite voluntarily, spoke at length to the FBI and went
home," Somerstein said Thursday. "And the FBI appeared to be satisfied with
that. They let him walk out the door."

A week after the bombing, on March 5, 1993, Yasin flew to Amman, Jordan,
while other co-conspirators flew to Jordan, Saudia Arabia and Pakistan. He
was indicted that August for his role in the bombing.

Officials at the Justice Department and the FBI declined comment.
•••••••
CONGRESS WASN'T AND ISN'T ABOUT TO INVESTIGATE ...

Secrecy & Government Bulletin
July 1996

... Examining the FEC filings of key members of the Congressional intelligence committees, one finds them littered with donations from intelligence contractors or their representatives such as the Lockheed Martin Employees Political Action Committee (PAC), the Allied-Signal PAC and, delightfully, the TRW Good Government Fund.

"The amounts of money thrust at members of Congress by such contractors are limited (by law), typically involving no more than a few thousand dollars. It is doubtful that such paltry sums could actually buy votes. What they can buy, however, is access to the policy and budget process, in which industry is heavily represented. Not only are contractor CEOs regularly called upon to testify before the intelligence committees (unlike, dare one say, public interest groups), but contractor lobbyists have essentially unfettered access to lobby for secret programs without fear of contradiction or outside criticism. ... "

The FEC database did not reveal any donations to Congress from advocates of improved public accountability or intelligence budget declassification. ...

http://www.fas.org/sgp/bulletin/sec60.html
•••••••
Saddam's desperate offers to stave off war

Julian Borger in Washington, Brian Whitaker and Vikram Dodd
Friday November 7, 2003
The Guardian

A MYSTERIOUS MEETING WITH RICHARD PERLE, EL HAGE AT THE MARLBOROUGH HOTEL IN BLOOMSBURY CONCERNING YOSIN ... THE CIA REFUSES AN OFFER FROM IRAQ TO TURN OVER A WTC BOMBER:

... According to the Knight-Ridder news agency, the Iraqis sought a direct
route to the Washington hawks in February. They found a Lebanese-American businessman, IMAD ED-HAGE, who boasted he had a direct line to the Pentagon.

Mr Hage told yesterday's New York Times that he was initially approached by
General Habbush's chief of foreign intelligence operations, who turned up in
Mr Hage's Beirut office and promptly collapsed, apparently from stress.

When Mr Obeidi recovered, he urged Mr Hage to tell his Washington contacts Iraq was ready to talk about anything, including oil concessions, the Middle East peace process, and banned weapons. The Iraqi official said the "Americans could send 2,000 FBI agents to look wherever they wanted",
according to Mr Hage.

A week later Mr Hage travelled to Baghdad and talked to Gen Habbush himself.

The general repeated the invitation to allow Americans to search for weapons and added an offer to hand over a suspected terrorist, ABDUL RAHMAN YASIN, who had been convicted in the US for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre. The regime would hold elections within two years, and the intelligence chief even offered to fly to London to discuss the issue in person.

Mr Hage relayed these offers via an intermediary to the Pentagon, but there
was NO OFFICIAL RESPONSE. The Lebanese-American businessman persisted, and arranged a meeting with Mr Perle, a member of the Pentagon's advisory board.

It is understood that Mr Hage and Mr Perle met on March 7 in the lobby of
the Marlborough hotel in Bloomsbury. They then went to an office nearby
where over two hours Mr Hage outlined the Iraqi offer to Mr Perle...

A US intelligence source insisted that the decision not to negotiate came
from the White House ... Mr Perle was travelling in Europe yesterday and
unavailable for comment. However, he told the New York Times he had been
TOLD BY THE CIA not to pursue contacts with the Iraqis....
•••••••
IRAQ, IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO MAKE PEACE WITH THE U.S. BEFORE THE INVASION, OFFERED ONCE AGAIN TO TURN YASIN OVER. THE OFFER WAS REBUFFED.

IRAQ CONTENDS THAT YASIN FLED TO THE NORTHERN PROVICE ... HOME OF THE CIA-BACKED KURDS, ARCH ENEMIES OF SADDAM HUSSEIN.

Sabri, in a 13-page letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to rebut US
Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the Security Council earlier this month, also said Baghdad is offering to hand over to Washington Abdul-Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who is on the FBI's most-wanted list. Sabri's letter, which was posted on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry's web site Thursday, denied any link between Iraq and Zarqawi or Ansar, saying both operated in NOTHERN IRAQI areas under the control of Kurdish groups allied to Washington and beyond Baghdad's reach.

May 20, 2008 07:42 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:40 PM

Summary: Importing text file

---

{{leak
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|description=
|file_digest=SHA256 8880b810fb698989342508e0b31d7e29668ae892b9c7e547d4b8bd3f8eb432f6
|file_info=PDF document, version 1.3
|file_name=us-air-recon-form.pdf
|file_size=27123
|lang=en
|organization=US Department of Defense
|organization_type=MIL
|release_date=2008-5-20
|title=US Joint Tactical Air Reconnaissance/Surveilance Request form (1978)
}}

May 20, 2008 06:37 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:33 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
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Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:26 PM

From http://lifenews.com/bio2449.html

 

Texas House Committee to Hold Adult Stem Cell Research Hearing

RSS Newsfeed Email article Printer friendly

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 20, 2008

Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A Texas panel plans to hold a hearing on the status of adult stem cell research and its ability to provide life-saving cures for patients. The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Adult Stem Cell Research will meet next Wednesday to hear invited testimony.

Lawmakers will hear about the latest advances and treatments in Texas and the potential for commercializing that research.

Speaker Tom Craddick has asked the panel to assess the potential for clinical and economic benefits of the use of state funds for current and increased adult stem cell research.

Joseph and Darlene Davis from Dallas County will testify how their older son was cured of sickle cell anemia using adult stem cells.

They will be joined by a representative of SpineSmith, an Austin-based company that provides adult stem cell products to help regenerate the spine.

Texas Alliance for Life's executive director Joe Pojman told LifeNews.com he commended the legislature for its focus on adult stem cell research because it has more potential and is more ethical than embryonic forms.

"They are wisely moving Texas beyond the protracted debate about the ethical problems of creating and destroying human embryos for research into the wide, wide world of adult stem cell treatments that are already saving lives," he said.

"Because obtaining adult stem cells does not harm the donor and because the adult stem cell treatments are highly effective, we strongly support the state's continued investment in this promising technology," Pojman added.

Related web sites:
Texas Alliance for Life - http://www.texasallianceforlife.org
Texas House - http://www.house.state.tx.us/welcome.php

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 07:26 PM

http://lifenews.com/int752.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 07:23 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:20 PM

Summary:

---

{{leak
|country=United States
|description=
|file_digest=SHA256 8f377c5a997727394f830c757fe52e3ef4c1602c727a61bcf6bffc0029c9c123
|file_info=PDF document, version 1.3
|file_name=us-60mm-motrar-m224-1998.pdf
|file_size=1250641
|lang=en
|organization=US Department of Defense
|organization_type=MIL
|release_date=2008-5-20
|title=US radioactive mortar manual - Lightweight Company Mortar 60mm M224 (1998)
|summary=US Army Light Weight Company Mortar 60mm M224 manual dated 15 Sep 1998 and likely written at the [[FOUO|For Official Use Only]] level.
<i>
:DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT C. Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors. This publication is required for administration and operational purposes, as determined 16 September 1994. ARMY: Other requests for this document will be referred to Director Armament and Chemical Acquisition and Logistics Activity, ATTN: AMSTA-AC-NML, Rock Island, IL 61299-7630. MARINE CORPS: Requests for this document must be referred to: Commandant of the Marine Corps (ARD), Washington, D.C. 20380-0001.

:DESTRUCTION NOTICE. Destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.

:B. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: The radioactive material used in these instruments is tritium gas (H3) sealed in glass vials. These sources illuminate the instrumentation for night operations. Tampering with or removal of the sources in the field is prohibited by Federal law. In the event there is no illumination, notify the local RPO or ACALA RPO. If skin contact is made with any area contaminated with tritium, wash immediately with soap and water.
</i>


}}

May 20, 2008 06:16 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:14 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 06:03 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
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Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 05:49 PM

THE ADS ARE STIMULATING, THE OPINIONS BENT TO THE CIA'S PROPAGANDA AGENDA - HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FAR-LEFT HOLLYWOODIANS HAVE DISCOVERED THE JOYS OF MEDIABISTRO LIES AND DATA MINING!

IT'S SO CHIC. ALL OF HOLLYWOOD IS LINING UP TO BE PART OF THE CIA DATA MINING OPERATION WITH THE TRENDY HANDLE: MEDIABISTRO.

"WE TRACK 400,000 PAID SUBSCRIBERS EVERY DAY," BISTRO HOSTESS LAUREL TOUBY SHOULD SAY.

"CIA ROGUES WITH A SEXUAL INTEREST IN SMALL CHILDREN KILLED DUNCAN AND BLAKE - AND WE DON'T PIDDLE WHEN IT COMES TO PROTECTING OUR PEDOPHILE BUDS AT THE CIA. WE SPAT AND SPAT ON DUNCAN AND BLAKE WHEN THEY WERE DEAD SO NO ONE WOULD ASK ANY QUESTIONS. AREN'T WE TOO CLEVER BY HALF?"

WHY DATA MINING AND INTERNET PSYOPS? "WE SIMPLY CAN'T STAND LIBERALS. SOMEONE HAS TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE PINK SQUADS AND BOMB-MAKERS AND SADDAM LOVERS AND USELESS EATERS OF BABYLON, AND THAT'S HOW MEDIABISTRO EARNS ITS CLAIM TO FAME," MS. TOUBY SHOULD SAY. "HELL, I'M A THRILLIANNAIRE. SPYING ON THE LEFT-WING GARBAGE IN HOLLYWOOD PAYS OFF HANDSOMELY, I'M HAVING GOBS OF FUN, WEARING HOT NEW CLOTHES - AND SUBVERTING THE STALINIST INFLUENCE ON COMMIEWOOD AT THE SAME TIME!"

DON'T WORRY, MURDER WON'T HAPPEN TO YOU. IF YOU KEEP YOUR NOSE CLEAN. BIG SISTER IS WATCHING. LINE UP FOR THE JOB LISTINGS - PAY MEDIABISTRO TO SPY ON YOU. HELL, THE JEWS PAID FOR THEIR TRAIN TICKETS TO AUSCHWITZ ... SAME PRINCIPLE. ORDER UP AN ESPRESSO AND SIGN ON ...

TOUBY: "THERE'S NOTHING PC ABOUT US!"

BE A GOOD GERMAN - SUBSCRIBE TO THE CIA'S MEDIABISTRO DATA MINING FRONT. ALL YOUR MOVEMENTS ON THE INTERNET WILL BE TRACKED BECAUSE ....

BIG SISTER IS WATCHING OVER YOU (HOLLYWOOD ASSHOLE SUBSCRIBERS TO MB).

- AC

May 20, 2008 06:47 PM

From http://www.duboislc.org/html/MalcolmRoots.html

You Can't Hate the Tree and Not the Roots


by Malcolm X


You have to realize that up until about 1959, Africa was dominated by the colonial powers. And by the colonial powers of Europe having complete control over Africa, they projected the image of Africa negatively. They projected Africa always in a negative light—jungles, savages, cannibals, nothing civilized. And, naturally it was so negative, it was negative to you and me. And you and I began to hate it. We didn't want anybody to tell us anything about Africa, and much less call us an African. And in hating Africa and hating the Africans, we end up hating ourselves, without even realizing it.

Because you can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself. You show me one of those people over here who has been thoroughly brainwashed, who has a negative attitude toward Africa and I'll show you one who has a negative attitude toward himself. You can't have a positive attitude toward yourself and a negative attitude toward Africa at the same time.. To the same degree your understanding of and your attitude toward Africa becomes positive, you'll find that your understanding of and your attitude toward yourself will also become positive.

_______________________

Excerpted from his speech "The Last Message."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DuBois Home Page Kansas City's African American CommunityA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 06:41 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 05:39 PM

London, Apr 29, IRNA
UK-Torrorism
www2.irna.ir/en/news

Officers of Britain's MI5 domestic security agency are being accused of "outsourcing" the torture of British citizens to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) in an attempt to obtain information about terrorist plots.

A number of British terrorism suspects who have been arrested in Pakistan at the request of UK authorities say their interrogation has convinced them that MI5 colluded in the mistreatment, the Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday.

"I am left with no doubt that, at the very worst, the British Security Service instigates the illegal detention and torture of British citizens, and at the very best turns a blind eye to torture," said Tayab Ali, London-based lawyer for two of the victims.

The men were said to have given detailed accounts of their alleged ordeals at the hands of the ISI over the last four years. Some of them appear to have been taken interrogation in Rawalpindi, where they alleged being tortured before being questioned by MI5.

The Guardian quoted one man from Manchester, northern England, saying that in 2006 he was beaten, whipped, deprived of sleep and had three fingernails slowly extracted by ISI agents at the Rawalpindi centre before being interrogated by two MI5 officers.

A second man, from Luton, north of London, alleged that two years earlier he was whipped, suspended by his wrists and beaten, and threatened with an electric drill, possibly at the same torture centre.

Both of the interrogations were linked with the questioning of alleged associates in the UK by British police and led to some being charged.
The Guardian said no attempt was made to extradite either man to be questioned by police officers in the UK, but that they were eventually arrested on arrival in Britain after being placed aboard aircraft and flown in without extradition hearings.

The accusation that MI5 is at the very least turning a blind eye to the torture of British citizens is expected to surface in a number of forthcoming court cases, including the trial of the man who lost his fingernails and an appeal lodged by the man from Luton.

Under the UK's Criminal Justice Act 1988, it is an offence for British officials to instigate or consent to the inflicting of "severe pain or suffering" on any person, anywhere in the world, or even to acquiesce in such treatment.
Last week it was disclosed that eight men freed from US custody at Guantanamo Bay had issued writs against MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, alleging they were complicit in their illegal detention and subsequent abuse.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0804290163171308.htm

May 20, 2008 06:37 PM

Falls Church Firm Ordered to Pay $15 Million in Damages
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 16, 2008; D05

A federal jury this week ordered DynCorp International, a government contractor based in Falls Church, to pay more than $15 million to a former minority-owned subcontractor, finding that DynCorp breached its contract and racially discriminated against the firm.

The legal spat started in October 2006, when Worldwide Network Services, a District telecommunications company run by two African Americans, filed suit after DynCorp ended a relationship with it to provide services in Iraq and Afghanistan. In WWNS's place, DynCorp selected a company not owned by minorities. Both DynCorp and the other company hired many of WWNS's employees.

WWNS said it was left with millions of dollars in outstanding invoices and nearly collapsed in the aftermath. It also alleged in court filings that DynCorp forced the company off the contract as part of a pattern of racial discrimination, listing several examples, including the use of a slur to describe a WWNS employee.

"I felt devastated," said Reginald Bailey Sr., one of the two African American stakeholders who own a majority of the company. "It completely destroyed the company's operations, in a financial sense and in an employee sense."

In a statement, DynCorp said it did "not engage in or tolerate discrimination in any form and rigorously follows the highest standards of business ethics," citing work with hundreds of small, minority and disadvantaged businesses.

The company said a contract with WWNS was not renewed because of the subcontractor's poor performance, which drew complaints from the U.S. government.

On Wednesday, an eight-person jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled against DynCorp on several counts. DynCorp countersued and prevailed on one count.

The jury awarded WWNS $5 million plus interest in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The judge, Gerald Lee, had already ordered DynCorp to pay $2 million based on an earlier ruling. WWNS will pay $175,000 to DynCorp under the finding against it.

DynCorp said it would appeal and "pursue this matter vigorously" until it was "fully vindicated." "We are extremely disappointed and strongly disagree with the verdict in this contractual dispute," the company said. DynCorp had asked for the case to be dismissed, but the judge allowed it to proceed, recounting several allegations in his order, including this episode of alleged racial discrimination:

In October 2006, one of DynCorp's top executives hosted a company party. It was a few months after the relationship between DynCorp and WWNS had soured, and WWNS was collapsing. At the party, a mocking letter purporting to be from the black president of WWNS was read in Ebonics, according to the order. Also, a T-shirt was distributed with the imprint "I brought down WWNS and all I got was this lousy T-shirt," according to the order.

One person at the party, a DynCorp employee who was laid off in December 2006, later testified about the details of the letter. Other employees at the party said they couldn't recall the letter.

"DynCorp International has made a thorough investigation of allegations of misconduct, but has found no case of actual racial discrimination," spokesman Douglas Ebner said by e-mail. "In any case, the alleged misconduct has no relation to the corporate decision not to renew a contract option with WWNS."

In 1993, when Walter Gray founded WWNS, it was a small shop providing technology services to area businesses. In 2003, it became a subcontractor to DynCorp, and its revenue grew from $500,000 to $50 million a year.

Some of the revenue came from DynCorp's work in Iraq. DynCorp won a State Department contract training the civilian police force in Iraq and a smaller contract providing diplomatic security. WWNS was selected to provide telecommunications support on those contracts.

Over time, WWNS claimed in its suit, its employees were increasingly subjected to racial epithets, banned from meetings and in some cases forced to leave Iraq. The lawsuit claimed that DynCorp used WWNS's status as a small, minority-owned firm to help win the deals before the relationship soured.

In summer 2006, DynCorp decided not to renew its contract. Ebner said his firm received three letters, two in January 2006 and one in June 2006, from the State Department specifically citing its WWNS-supported technical equipment. The letters were submitted as evidence during the trial, Ebner said.

WWNS, in its filings, cited DynCorp's positive evaluations of its work.

After ending the relationship with WWNS, DynCorp hired EDO, which is not minority-owned, to replace WWNS. EDO, which was originally named in the suit, and WWNS settled separately.

Gray and Bailey, who have spent the past year and a half pursuing the lawsuit, said they hoped to use proceeds from the case to rebuild their company.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504048_pf.html

May 20, 2008 06:37 PM

--- Jerald Shipley wrote:

"If my memory serves me correct, JFK's father was involved in corrupt stock market practices prior to the depression. That money was the foundation of the family's fortune. After the crash, federal regulations were put into place to keep him and others like him from raping our country again. JFK was by no means an innocent victim. He was neck deep in corruption. If you'll do your homework, you'd see that."

I'm aware of the History Channel.

John wasn't Joseph. Do you argue John deserved a bullet in the head for the actions of Joseph? Are you responsible for your own father's deeds? That seems to be your point, and I can't think of a better example of bias. What a snippy little "elitist" you are.

- AC

May 20, 2008 06:37 PM

Anil Dawar
The Guardian
May 20 2008

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word "cult" on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.

The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters near St Paul's cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: "I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: 'Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.'

"'Within five minutes of arriving I was told by a member of the police that I was not allowed to use that word, and that the final decision would be made by the inspector."

A policewoman later read him section five of the Public Order Act and "strongly advised" him to remove the sign. The section prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.

The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" which was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign.

On the website he asks for advice on how to fight the charge: "What's the likelihood I'll need a lawyer? If I do have to get one, it'll have to come out of my pocket money."

Writing on the same website, another anonymous demonstrator said: "We also protested outside another Scientology building in Tottenham Court Road which is policed by a separate force, the Metropolitan police, who have never tried to stop us using the word cult.

"We're completely peaceful protesters expressing a perfectly valid opinion. This whole thing stinks."

Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti, said: "This barmy prosecution makes a mockery of Britain's free speech traditions.

"After criminalising the use of the word 'cult', perhaps the next step is to ban the words 'war' and 'tax' from peaceful demonstrations?"

Ian Haworth, from the Cult Information Centre which provides advice for victims of cults and their families, said: "This is an extraordinary situation. If it wasn't so serious it would be farcical. The police's job is to protect and serve. Who is being served and who is being protected in this situation? I find it very worrying.

"Scientology is well known to my organisation, and has been of great concern to me for 22 years. I get many calls from families with loved ones involved and ex-members who are in need of one form of help."

The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

The City of London Chief Superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening
of its headquarters in 2006.

Last year a video praising Scientology emerged featuring Ken Stewart, another of the City of London's chief superintendents, although he is not a member of the group.

The group was founded by the science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard in 1952 and espouses the idea that humans are descended from an exiled race of aliens called Thetans.

The church continues to attract controversy over claims that it separates members from their families and indoctrinates followers.

A spokeswoman for the force said today: "City of London police had received complaints about demonstrators using the words 'cult' and 'Scientology kills' during protests against the Church of Scientology.

"Following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service some demonstrators were warned verbally and in writing that their signs breached section five of the Public Order Act.

"One demonstrator continued to display a placard despite police warnings and was reported for an offence under section five. A file on the case will go to the CPS."

A CPS spokesman said no specific advice was given to police regarding the boy's placard.

"In April, prior to this demonstration, as part of our normal working relationship we gave the City of London police general advice on the law around demonstrations and religiously aggravated crime in particular.

"We did not advise on this specific case prior to the summons being issued – which the police can do without reference to us – but if we receive a file we will review it in the normal way according to the code for crown prosecutors."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

May 20, 2008 06:36 PM

An educational panel held by Judicial Watch for the press and the public to discuss important topics that the media isn't.

Author: JudicialWatch
Keywords: commentary analysis judicial watch election
Added: May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 05:32 PM

From http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=9287

 

http://www.infowars.com/?p=2261

 

The War On Terror Does Not Apply To Mexico

Lee Rogers
Rogue Government
May 20, 2008

The southern United States border with Mexico is starting to resemble a combat zone. The U.S. State Department recently issued an alert, stating that the equivalent of military small-unit combat is taking place around the border. There has also been a recent report of four American citizens being executed in this area. This is more proof that the global war on terror is a complete fraud and the current administration has no desire to protect this nation’s borders or the American people. The administration would prefer to have our military in over a hundred countries claiming that they are spreading freedom and democracy than have a military presence along the southern U.S. border to ensure this sort of activity doesn’t spill over into the U.S.. If the global war on terror were actually real, the borders to this nation would be sealed, but instead we see combat along the Mexican border, hordes of illegal aliens filtering into the U.S. and border agents prosecuted for shooting at drug traffickers illegally entering the U.S.. The current activity along the U.S.-Mexico border is cause for concern and a real threat to this nation’s security yet there is no action from George W. Bush. Bush should be impeached immediately for failing to adequately protect the American people from this serious threat and for the misallocation of U.S. military resources while death squads are roaming around the U.S.-Mexico border.

Below is part of a statement from the U.S. State Department in regards to what is happening along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

Violent criminal activity fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border. Attacks are aimed primarily at members of drug trafficking organizations, Mexican police forces, criminal justice officials, and journalists. However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region. In its effort to combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed military troops in various parts of the country. U.S. citizens are urged to cooperate with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways.

Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades. Confrontations have taken place in numerous towns and cities in northern Mexico, including Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California, and Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua. The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted.

Armed robberies and carjackings, apparently unconnected to the narcotics-related violence, have increased in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007. Public shootouts have occurred during daylight hours near shopping areas.

Criminals are armed with a wide array of sophisticated weapons. In some cases, assailants have worn full or partial police or military uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles.

The real reason for Bush not doing anything tangible to resolve the problems on the border is because the establishment seeks the destruction of national borders in favor of regional governments ruled by nongovernmental organizations and multinational corporations. Free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and others along with the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the Inter-American Democratic Charter are serving as a framework for a regional government much along the lines of the European Union. In fact a North American Union or a Pan American Union for all intents and purposes is already here but it is just a matter of them formulating the plans behind the scenes in preparation for a public announcement.

The only true purpose of the U.S. military is to protect and defend this country. Bush is using the U.S. military for the benefit of the military industrial complex and the international banking cartel using the war on terror fraud as an excuse for perpetual war. He has proven himself a traitor by using the U.S. military for the benefit of private interests instead of the American people. Perpetual war means perpetual profits for these private interests. With militarized small-unit combat taking place along the southern U.S. border with Mexico, a common sense approach would be to establish a military presence until the activity subsides. Another common sense approach would be to decriminalize drugs which would serve as a means to put the drug cartels out of business. Free market competition in the drug market would eliminate the drug cartels and all of the violence that comes with it. Of course, Bush is not going to do either of those things because the U.S. government benefits and profits off of the drug trade. By making drugs illegal, the U.S. government profits by facilitating the shipment of drugs into the U.S. with artificially high prices. This also allows them to put more people in privately run prisons for drug offenses.

What additional proof is needed to see that the war on terror is a complete fraud? The U.S. State Department is warning of militarized combat along the U.S.-Mexico border and we have policies encouraging illegal immigration but instead the government and the media tells us that we have to be afraid of Al-Qaeda on the other side of the world while there is a clear and present danger right in our own backyard. A declaration of war against Mexico actually makes more sense than the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan considering what’s taking place around the U.S.-Mexico border. Don’t count on anything being done about it though with corrupt traitors running the show in Washington DC.

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 05:47 PM

Taking action against several lawmakers who used tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions to take lavish trips abroad, one state’s ethics commission has banned the controversial and highly questionable practice.

Charged with promoting integrity in state and local government, the California Fair Political Practices Commission voted this week to end the abuse of campaign contributions by many of the state’s politicians. Besides banning the popular globe-trotting, legislators will no longer be allowed to use campaign cash to pay for golf, upscale hotels and fancy meals while traveling in the state. In the last few years alone, California legislators have spent nearly $400,000 in campaign funds for travel within the state.

Additionally, elected officials will be prohibited from having third parties pay for their travel though government agencies. For years this has allowed special interests to finance expensive trips while circumventing disclosure requirements.

The commission was motivated to pass the measures after newspaper reports revealed that the state’s then Assembly Speaker, Democrat Fabian Nunez, and other veteran legislators had spent tens of thousands of campaign dollars to travel through Europe and stay at upscale resorts.

A state consumer watchdog group had long pressured the California ethics commission to force politicians to justify how they spend their campaign cash as well as rein in the kind of extravagant spending that has become routine among lawmakers. The group points out that public officials don’t need five-star hotels, haute cuisine and $100 bottles of wine to effectively govern the state of California.

May 20, 2008 04:26 PM

The much expected and somewhat overdue announcement on the go-ahead for the Navy's two "super" carriers was made today.

According to The Times the £3.9 billion contract will not be signed until June, the delay being to allow the formal establishment of a joint venture company which will build the 65,000 ton ships.

This is the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, which include BAE Systems, VT Group, Thales UK, and Babcock International, which runs Rosyth dockyard. We are told that the carriers are to be constructed in sections in shipyards at Portsmouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Glasgow and Rosyth, with final assembly at Rosyth.

What we are not told, however, is anything about the final design of the ships, any detail about its intended capabilities or – crucially – the types of aircraft that will be operated. It is assumed that the F-35 short take-off vertical landing version is still the preferred option, although there has been no confirmation at all on this.

Details of the design would, of course, give some clues as to whether the F-35 is to be chosen, but as long as they are not revealed, the government can keep its options open.

There thus remains a possibility that the government could be considering dumping the F-35 (formerly called the Joint Strike Fighter) and buying in the French-built Rafale.

If The Sunday Times is any guide, that could be a very serious option. Nicola Smith and Michael Smith, writing for the paper, claim, "Royal Navy may share new carriers with France", telling us that the Royal Navy and the French navy "began talks last week aimed at sharing their aircraft carriers."

With the French thinking of cancelling its new-build carrier, the two Smiths assert that Sarkozy and Brown will build on the "bilateral carrier group interoperability initiative", proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, at his summit meeting with Brown in London in March.

The outcome of this could be an arrangement whereby either navy could borrow an aircraft carrier from the other if their own was unavailable as a result of a breakdown or refit. "If we have no carrier to do a mission then the only way currently is to try and form a coalition ... and to ask a country if it will do the mission," said Captain Jérôme Erulin, the French naval spokesman.

So far, MoD officials have dismissed the talks between the two navies as "aspirational" and insisted there were "no current plans" to share carriers with the French. But, if the aspirations have any chance of being realised, then choice of aircraft will be crucial. A carrier rigged for the F-35 would be of no value to the French, as it would not be able to operated its Rafales from it.

Thus, as always, we are being kept in the dark, the more important part of today's announcement being the things which have not been said.

Cross posted on Defence of the Realm.

May 20, 2008 05:05 PM

The United Nations human rights investigator, who condemned an increase in “Islamophobia” after Middle Eastern terrorists attacked the U.S. in 2001, is back in the country investigating racism.

The scandal-plagued world body's race patrol is a Senegalese lawyer named Doudou Diene who will spend the next three weeks in eight American cities—including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami—to assess racism in the country. The U.S government will officially sanction the visit although the nation’s U.N. ambassador suggests the Human Rights Council spend more time on real problems in countries notorious for human rights violations.

Americans will no doubt anxiously await—on pins and needles—Diene’s findings, which will be delivered to the joke of a U.N. Human Rights Council next year. Incidentally, some of the world’s most abusive regimes are members of the so-called U.N. Commission on Human Rights. They include Cuba, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

Contradictions like these, as well as rampant fraud and corruption, have diminished the U.N.’s credibility over the years. Corrupt diplomats have been jailed for taking bribes, most procurement contracts are tainted with waste and corruption and peacekeeping troops systematically violate the human rights of the people they are charged with helping.

Still, the United States annually gives the U.N. $5.3 billion taxpayer dollars. The funding continues even though the organization, founded six decades ago to maintain international peace and security, has failed miserably and is best known for its severe mismanagement and corruption.

May 20, 2008 03:37 PM

Madeleine Tobias: Former cult member, exit counselor, therapist and author talks about mind control, cults and cult leaders, and overcoming cult indoctrination. Captive Hearts Captive Minds and Take Back Your Life are written by Madeleine Tobias and Janja Lalich.

Cult Recovery 201


Cult Recovery 202

May 20, 2008 04:35 PM

From http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog

Even Flawed Data Can’t Hide the Cooling

Joseph D’Aleo
ICECAP
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

NOAA reports that April 2008 was a full degree (F) below normal making it the 29th coldest April out of 115 years for the United States, the coldest in 11 years. Much of the western 2/3rds of the lower 48 were colder than normal. In Washington State, it was the second coldest April on record. In contrast in the east, in New York State it was the 3rd warmest.

All the monthly global data sets are updated now. The University of Alabama Hunstville (Spencer-Christy) MSU satellite derived lower tropospheric data shows an anomaly of just +0.015C. The UK Hadley Center version 3v which includes land station and some ocean reports showed an anomaly of +0.265C. Adding this month to the plot since 2002 shows the downtrend continues.

See graph here

NOAA reported the combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for April ranked 13th warmest since worldwide records began in 1880. However as numerous peer-reviewed papers have shown in the last few years, the global (and even the United States) data sets overestimate the warming by as much as 50% because they downplay the importance of urbanization (thanks to the acceptance of flawed papers by Peterson and Parker) and because as Anthony Watts and Roger Pielke Sr. have shown, there is poor siting of many of the instruments and improper documentation and adjustments for land use changes around the sites. The ocean data sets have their own set of issues as the methods (buckets, intake tubes and now satellite) have changed over the years. Hadley only includes data from merchant ships and noted that its ocean coverage is limited to regularly traveled ship routes and vast areas of the oceans (which make up 71% of the globe) are unaccounted for in their analysis (especially the southern oceans and a look at your globe will show you clealy that the Southern Hemisphere is mainly ocean). Satellite data which senses over land and sea has the best coverage and is the most reliable, consistent and objective but is available only since 1979.

(Article continues below)

There has no doubt been some cyclical warming from 1979 to 1998, but it has been exaggerated by the poor station data. The state records as documented by Bruce Hall in 2007 tell the story. Scroll down to see the monthly records by state and link to other states. Most all of the heat records were set in the early half of the 1900s. A plot of Des Moines, Iowa June and July record highs by decade graph says it all. These tables and chart show that the current warming is clearly not unprecedented as alarmists claim, not even in the last century.

See full size graph here

I believe that if we had satellite monitoring for the last 120 years, we would see the recent warming though real, fell short of that in the 1930s and that the changes are cyclical and thus primarily natural in origin. That is not to say that cities have not grown warmer as they have grown and some warming through the population growth from 1.5 to 6.5 billion since 1900 has taken place nor that we shouldn’t be better stewards of our environment, only that man-made greenhouse warming as portrayed by the agenda driven alarmists, the mainstream media and the IPCC is a fraud.

A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 04:03 PM

http://lifenews.com/state3246.htmlA blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 03:56 PM

From http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/200508Different.htm

McCain And Obama Are No Different On Iraq

Patrick Krey
JBS
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Establishment leaders would have us believe that Presidential Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama offer vastly dissimilar proposals for Iraq but in reality, there is virtually no difference between their plans.
Follow this link to the original source: "McCain on His Hopes for His First Term"
In a recent major speech, Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain outlined his vision for the future and described what he desires to have achieved by end of a first term in office. The defining portion of the speech was his description of what he hoped the situation in Iraq would be, under his leadership, by 2013.
“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. ... The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.”
(Article continues below)
Senator McCain and other leading Republicans would have American voters believe that this is a drastic change from the “cut and run” policies offered by Democratic candidates like Barack Obama. Likewise, Democratic leaders promote the notion that their candidate offers a plan for immediate withdrawal. They must be hoping that voters do not listen to what their candidate actually says.

Barack Obama, the alleged peace candidate of the 2008 elections, was asked if he would pledge to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2013. His response was: “I think it’s hard to project four years from now and I think it would be irresponsible. We do not know what contingency will be out there. … I don’t want to make promises, not knowing what the situation‘s going to be three or four years out.”2
The alleged peace candidate who has made his opposition to the Iraq war a centerpiece of his campaign cannot even promise that the U.S. will be out of Iraq by 2013! Senator Obama also has stated: “This withdrawal would be gradual, and would keep some US troops in the region to prevent a wider war and go after Al Qaeda and other terrorists.” Even Obama’s own website proclaims, “he will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda.”3 One has to wonder if Obama plagiarized those plans from McCain himself due to the extreme similarities.
Perhaps the similarity in approach to foreign policy can be explained by the fact that they both shared the same foreign policy advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski is a committed globalist, one of the most instrumental members of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding member of the Trilateral Commission. Volumes more can be written about Brzezinski’s hawkish stands on foreign policy and his disdain for non-interventionism as well as his desire for global governance. What is important to note is that Republican John McCain had Brzezinski as his foreign policy advisor for his 1999-2000 Presidential campaign.4 Now Barack Obama has Brzezinski as one of his principal advisors. 5 It should be a red flag to the American public when their two choices for Presidential office are so casually sharing advisors.

Another matter, which should be a concern to those who might actually believe Senator Obama is the peace candidate, are his stated desires to expand the U.S. military as well as intervene in Africa, another policy initiative that he shares with Senator McCain. Combine this with the fact that the U.S. has more troops in Iraq now than it did before Democrats took control of Congress and it becomes much harder to perceive the Democrats as the self-proclaimed party of peace.
Both Senators McCain and Obama share the same disregard for the U.S. Constitution and embrace the globalism and interventionism that has bankrupted our great nation. These similarities do not end with foreign policy. From illegal immigration to global warming, both John McCain and Barack Obama seem to be walking in lockstep. It appears that another Presidential election is upon us where the two candidates are virtually indistinguishable from one another when it comes to the most pressing issues of the day.A blog with relevant information for the world.

May 20, 2008 03:55 PM

Three sisters, directors of RISE International, talk to CNN's Paula Hancocks about growing up in a religious cult and a childhood of abuse and violence.

Watch the video at:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/
world/2008/05/20/hancocks.uk.cult.
abuse.cnn

May 20, 2008 03:21 PM

Summary:

---

[[image:ngic-iraq-small-arms-2004.png|center|frame|Start of the report]]
{{leak
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|file_digest=SHA256 0682387138e09bfd4417a2d76c4d07bd07256547c08a1ed5726303e1fe2de4f2
|file_info=PDF document, version 1.3
|file_name=us-ngic-iraq-small-arms-2004.pdf
|file_size=86518
|lang=en
|organization=US Department of Defense
|organization_type=MIL
|release_date=2008-5-20
|title=US National Ground Intelligence Center report on Iraqi insurgent Chinese, Russian arms use (2004)
|summary=US Army National Ground Intelligence Center report NGIC-1142-7051-05 on small arms use in Iraq, written at the SECRET//NORFORN//MR level and dated 17 Dec 2004.

The report shows that there are Russian, Chinese, German, French, Iranian, Belgium, Hungarian, Czech, Polish and possibly South African arms being used in Iraq.

The material also echos US soldiers' and Congressional complaints about the poor quality of US Body armor circa 2004-2007. Although there has been substantial evolution of US body armor since the time of the report (Dec, 2004), it appears that US soldiers and critics were correct and that Pentagon and body armor manufacturers denials to the contrary wrong, or at least misleading.

A 2006 Pentagon directive to ban US soldiers' private purchase of body armor elicited this response at the time from Senator Christopher Dodd:

:"Outrageously we've seen that (soldiers) haven't been getting what they need in terms of equipment and body armor," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who wrote legislation to have troops reimbursed for equipment purchases. "That's totally unacceptable, and why this directive by the Pentagon needs to be scrutinized in much greater detail." (Associate Press, 30 Mar 2006)

The NGIC report states:

<i>
:The protection data on U.S. force protection equipment versus enemy small arms fire is listed below:

::US Personnel Armor System Ground Troops (PASGT) helmet: Provides limited protection against 9-mm pistol bullets and fragmentation.

::Interceptor Body Armor (IBA): Provides limited protection from 9-mm pistol and fragmentation.

::Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI Plate): Provides Level 3 Protection - Protection against multiple hits from Rifle Ball. Rifle Ball is classified as CIS 7.62x39-mm Ball, NATO 7.62x51-mm Ball, and CIS 7.62x54R-mm "Light" Ball; Light Ball is generally characterized by a silver tip. Actual protection depends on many factors like obliquity, range, and location of strike. The United States (NATICK) has tested the 7.62x39-mm API, and <b>the first-generation SAPI brand of plate was penetrated inside 200 meters by 50% of the rounds tested.</b> At present, no tests have been completed for 7.62x54R-mm API ammunition; however, U.S. body armor plates are not designed to stop this round. But based on testing against rolled homogenous armor (RHA), this round would defeat a vest out past 500 meters.
</i>

The report on arms smuggled in from Chechnya and the South African NTW:

<i>
:The Russian OSV-96 was used by the Russians and was used against the Russians in Chechnya. There are unconfirmed reports that possibly up to 25 South African NTW may have made their way into prewar Iraq. The NTW is a multicaliber AMR that can currently fire 14.5- and 20-mm ammunition by merely changing out the barrel, magazine, and a few internal parts. There are reports the South Africans are modifying the NTW so that it can also fire 12.7- and possibly 25-mm ammunition as well. The weapon that initiated the AMR boom, the Barrett Model 82, and all the subsequent upgrades, such as the Barrett Model 95, may enter the theater due to their wide proliferation throughout the world, which includes elements of the narcoterrorist community such as the FARC.
</i>

The report on orange colored vehicles:

<i>
:There is a widespread belief among the insurgents that the orange VS-17 panels on U.S. armored vehicles designate some form of high technology force field that repels RPG fire. The insurgent field expedient countermeasure is to wrap the RPG warhead in electrical tape, plastic shopping bag, or burlap bag, etc. See NGIC assessment (U) Iraq: Modifications of RPG Warheads for more information on this subject.
</i>

The report on booby-trapped grenades:

<i>
:Note: There is an unfounded rumor circulating that one grenade in every Russian case of 24 has a zero-delay fuze, and that this zero-delay fuse can only be distinguished from the 3 to 4 second delay-fuze grenades by unscrewing the fuze from the grenade. If it has a "0," then that is the zero-delay fuze. This rumor is false and is attributed to an article written in Soldier of Fortune Magazine over 15 years ago. The ink-stamped numbers are in fact the inspectors' marking numbers. Each inspector has a unique number so the inspections can be traced if there is ever a quality control problem. Additionally, Russian handgrenades come disassembled in the cases-24 grenade bodies and 2 sealed cans of 12 fuzes. This being said, the United Kingdom discovered two Chinese zero-delay booby trap handgrenades in Afghanistan. These grenades are identified by a red band beneath the threaded portion of the fuze just above the detonator. The Russians undoubtedly have zero-delay booby trap handgrenades in their inventory, although they are more likely designed for use by Special Operations Forces.
</i>
}}

May 20, 2008 02:08 PM

Associated Press - May 19, 2008

WAUSAU, Wis. - The parents who prayed rather than seek medical help for their 11-year-old daughter before she died asked a judge Monday to dismiss reckless homicide charges against them.

Attorneys for Dale and Leilani Neumann filed a motion contending the criminal complaint was defective, according to court records.

A hearing was scheduled June 10 on the issue.

The Neumanns are charged with second-degree reckless homicide in the Easter Sunday death of their daughter, Madeline, at the family's rural Weston home.

The parents are accused of praying for their daughter while she got progressively ill from undiagnosed diabetes instead of taking her to a doctor.

The offices of Gene Linnehan, the attorney for Leilani Neumann, were closed late Monday and he was not immediately available for comment. Jay Kroenwetter, an attorney for Dale Neumann, said he could not comment because of a judge's gag order in the case.

Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard has said the prosecution of the parents was expected to raise constitutional issues that may have to be resolved by the state Supreme Court before the case could go to trial.

At issue is a Wisconsin law that says parents cannot be accused of abuse or neglect of a child if they in good faith selected prayer as a basis of treatment for a disease.

District Attorney Jill Falstad has said her analysis of the law is that it doesn't apply to homicide cases.

This article was found at:

http://www.startribune.com/local/
19081234.html?location_refer=
$sectionName

May 20, 2008 03:02 PM

What seemed to be a new phrase burst into the linguistic currency last week, courtesy of Boy Miliband, currently our foreign secretary. He was referring to the Burmese ruling junta, coining the phrase "Malign neglect" to describe its response to the cyclone disaster.

In fact, the phrase was not new. It was coined in 1994 by US author Michael Tonry, the title of his book about "racial disproportion in the criminal justice system". It was also used in 2002, again in the United States, to describe the "unequal system of school finance" and then again last year, applied to the Amnesty Bill on illegal immigration.

Nevertheless, it is a good phrase – far too good to leave to the tender mercies of Mr Miliband. It can be applied, for instance, to the extraordinary inadequacies of our own media when it comes to reporting the affairs of the EU, the latest example of which easily justifies the epithet.

The example will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog, who will have been following the progress of the latest pesticide directive and the almost complete absence of comment in the British MSM.

As it happens, the