October 2009 – Infinite Unknown

Ron Paul: Federal Reserve Audit Legislation ‘Gutted’, ‘There’s Nothing Left’

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

Recent polls have shown that more than 75 percent of Americans support efforts to audit the Fed, something which my bill, HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, aims to do. HR 1207 has the support of 304 members of Congress, and the Senate version of the bill, S. 604, is supported by 31 U.S. senators.
Source: Rep. Ron Paul: Let the dollar prove itself

The people want a real audit. Now look what the government is doing! Criminals!

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who has called for an end to the Federal Reserve, said legislation he introduced to audit monetary policy has been “gutted” while moving toward a possible vote in the Democratic-controlled House.

The bill, with 308 co-sponsors, has been stripped of provisions that would remove Fed exemptions from audits of transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff, Paul said today.

“There’s nothing left, it’s been gutted,” he said in a telephone interview. “This is not a partisan issue. People all over the country want to know what the Fed is up to, and this legislation was supposed to help them do that.”

The Fed, led by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, has come under greater congressional scrutiny while attempting to end the financial crisis by bailing out financial firms and more than doubling its balance sheet to $2.16 trillion in the past year. The central bank is also buying $1.25 trillion of securities tied to home loans.

Paul, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said Mel Watt, a Democrat from North Carolina, has eliminated “just about everything” while preparing the legislation for formal consideration. Watt is chairman of the panel’s domestic monetary policy and technology subcommittee.

Keith Kelly, a spokesman for Watt, declined to comment and said Watt wasn’t immediately available for an interview. Watt’s district includes Charlotte, headquarters of Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender.

Original Language

Paul said he intends to introduce an amendment to the bill when it comes to the House floor for a vote restoring the legislation’s original language.

CIT Bankruptcy Filing Expected in Days; $2.3 Billion Taxpayer Money to Be Wiped Out; Goldman Sachs Receives $285 Million In Termination Fees

October 31, 2009October 31, 2009 by Infinite

Update:

– CIT Approaches Bankruptcy After Striking Icahn, Goldman Accord (Bloomberg):

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) — CIT Group Inc., the 101-year-old commercial lender seeking to avoid collapse, may file for a prepackaged bankruptcy as soon as this weekend after striking deals with billionaire Carl Icahn and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

A prepackaged bankruptcy “is probably going to go through,” Icahn said yesterday. He will supply a $1 billion loan for “supplemental liquidity” that can be used as bankruptcy financing, the New York-based company said. CIT also said it reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs to keep a credit line open should the lender file for court protection.
…
CIT’s agreement with New York-based Goldman Sachs will reduce a $3 billion credit facility to $2.13 billion and keep the line open should CIT file for bankruptcy.

Goldman Sachs Agreement

In exchange, Goldman Sachs received $285 million in termination fees, CIT said yesterday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the terms of the two companies’ original agreement, Goldman Sachs would have been due a $1 billion termination payment to close the credit line after a CIT bankruptcy.

——————

Before Goldman Sachs would have received a $1bn ‘windfall’ if CIT fails:

– Goldman Sachs to be paid $1bn if CIT fails, while US taxpayers would lose $2.3bn (Financial Times)

Goldman Sachs stands to receive a payment of $1bn – while US taxpayers would lose $2.3bn – if embattled commercial lender CIT files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, people familiar with the matter said.
…
The agreement with Goldman states that if CIT defaults or goes bankrupt, it “would be required to pay a make-whole amount” that totals $1bn, the people familiar with the matter said.
…
Goldman said: “This would not be a windfall payment. The make-whole payment is simply the present value of the spread to be earned over the life of the facility.”

The US taxpayer loses $2.3 billion, Goldman Sachs gains ~~$1 billion~~ $285 million.

I told you before that the real crisis has only just begun. This is the ‘Greatest Depression.’

CIT’s Swoon Hits Taxpayers

CIT would be the fifth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history

The $2.3 billion in taxpayer money spent to save CIT Group Inc. is likely to be wiped out, as the lender prepares to file for bankruptcy protection in a high-stakes restructuring plan aimed at keeping the firm in business.

People familiar with the plan said CIT, a major lender to small businesses, intends to file for bankruptcy-court protection in New York within days, perhaps as early as Sunday or Monday. Financial firms such as CIT have historically been sold off or wound down after a Chapter 11 filing, for fear that customers will draw down lending lines and cause a run on the bank. But CIT expects to have enough creditor support to complete a prepackaged reorganization by year-end, a relatively short period for a bankruptcy case of its size.

In a move smoothing its restructuring, the company said Friday that it had persuaded billionaire investor Carl Icahn to support its prepackaged bankruptcy plan. Mr. Icahn, who wanted to push CIT into liquidation, failed to persuade other bondholders to derail CIT’s restructuring plan.

With $71 billion in assets, CIT would have the fifth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, trailing only those of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Washington Mutual Inc., Worldcom Inc. and General Motors Corp. CIT’s Utah bank, which has about $10 billion in assets, wouldn’t be part of the bankruptcy filing.

Study: Junk food as ‘addictive as drugs’

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin, scientists have found.

Eating junk food can be addictive Photo: GETTY

A diet of burgers, chips, sausages and cake will programme your brain into craving even more foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat, according to new research.

Over the years these junk foods can become a substitute for happiness and will lead bingers to become addicted.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, carried out the research which shows how dangerous high fat and high sugar foods can be to our health .

“You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.

The researchers believe it is one of the first studies to suggest brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.

$160,000 Per Stimulus Job!?! The White House Calls That ‘Calculator Abuse’

October 31, 2009October 31, 2009 by Infinite

(Infinite Unknown) Before I get started, here is where some of the stimulus money went:

– Stimulus dollars going to accused contractors (Washington Post):

President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government.

But that isn’t happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and agencies have awarded more than $1.2 billion in stimulus contracts to at least 30 companies that are ranked by one watchdog group as among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws.(!!!)

The taxpayer money went to criminals.

$160,000 Per Stimulus Job!?! That is called government efficiency!

These from taxpayer money ‘created jobs’ are only short term effects and remember that the stimulus money has to be paid back through higher taxes or to be financed through US Treasuries, which is nothing more than “a promise of a tax increase in the future,” because that debt has still to be paid back plus interest.

Once nobody trusts that the US will be able to pay back its debt the US is finished. And if the Fed monetizes the debt that means that foreign investors will have to get out of the US dollar, because their investment is losing value all of the time. Investors will have to sell their US Treasuries to get out of the dollar and the dollar will be toilet paper.

Keynesianism or deficit spending is outdated and ‘the’ dead wrong economic policy. In the long-term Obamanomics (and the Fed) will not only kill jobs but it will destroy the US dollar and turn the US into a Third World country.

Let’s see what Obama had to say about deficit spending or stimulus packages:

‘Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Senate vote to extend the debt limit. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”
– Barack Obama

Here is what Obama did:

– US budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion in 2009

Obama tripled George W. Bush’s deficit!

Now the Obama administration is after UNLIMITED bailout power!!!:

– Rep. Brad Sherman: Geithner rejects $1 trillion limit on bailout power (Section 1204 is unlimited in dollar amount!):

“Section 1204 is unlimited in dollar amount and is a permanent grant of power to the executive branch. TARP contained some limits on executive compensation and an array of special oversight authorities. Section 1204 contains absolutely no limits on executive compensation and no special oversight.”

“When I asked Geithner whether he would accept a $1 trillion limit on the new bailout authority (if the executive branch wanted to spend more, it would have to come back to Congress), he rejected a $1 trillion limit, insisting that the executive branch be able to respond without coming back to Congress.”

Barack Hussein Obama is such a fraud and an insult to anybody understanding sound economics and politics, that is not bought and paid for by the elite criminals that ruin this (once) great country.

Take a look at long-term unemployment for signs of recovery and weep:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Related article:
– Stimulus Created/Saved 650000 Jobs? There’s No Way to Know for Sure (Wall Street Journal)

Watch: Fall Of The Republic – The Presidency Of Barack H. Obama (The Full Movie HQ)

$160,000 Per Stimulus Job!?! The White House Calls That ‘Calculator Abuse’

Posting its results late this afternoon at Recovery.gov, the White House claimed 640,329 jobs have been created or saved because of the $159 billion in stimulus funds allocated as of Sept. 30.

Officials acknowledged the numbers were not exact, saying that states and localities that reported the numbers have made mistakes.

In recent days, the Recovery Act board has been reviewing all the numbers, with many inaccurate ones having been posted. California’s San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission received $5 million in stimulus funds to hire workers to build addition train track for the Union Pacific Railroad in an economically tarnished spot of the Golden State.

Brian Schmidt, director of planning and programming for the commission said that his staff originally reported to the Obama administration that the stimulus money saved 250 jobs. Then, realizing they had mistakenly double credited, they later changed that to 125 jobs. Tuesday, they updated it again to 74 jobs.

Ed DeSeve, senior advisor to the president for Recovery Act implementation, said he’d been “scrubbing” the job estimates so much since they came it at the beginning of the month that he now has “dishpan hands and my fingers are worn to the nub.”

White House officials heralded the unparalleled transparency in reporting job numbers to the public, but acknowledged there is no consistent standard across states or localities, or among federal agencies giving out stimulus funds, in differentiating between a “saved” job and a “created” job.

The White House argues that the actual job number is actually larger than 640,000 — closer to 1 million jobs when one factors in stimulus jobs added in October and, more importantly, jobs created indirectly, such as “the waitress who’s still on the job,” Vice President Biden said today.

So let’s see. Assuming their number is right — 160 billion divided by 1 million. Does that mean the stimulus costs taxpayers $160,000 per job?

Jared Bernstein, chief economist and senior economic advisor to the vice president, called that “calculator abuse.”

He said the cost per job was actually $92,000 — but acknowledged that estimate is for the whole stimulus package as of the end of 2010.

Ukraine closes all schools, cinemas, bans all public gatherings over swine flu

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

KIEV (AFP) – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday ordered a three-week closure of Ukraine’s schools and cinemas in the toughest measures adopted yet to combat the swine flu virus in Europe.

“From today, all the school establishments in Ukraine — be they private or public — will be put on three weeks of holiday,” she told her cabinet in comments carried on Ukrainian television.

Tymoshenko said the government would also be banning “all public gatherings, every concert and every cinema showing for three weeks.”

Ukraine: 40,000 contract serious flu virus, kills at least 30

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

As the world enters the H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic season, another possible virus emerges as 30 people in the Eastern European country of Ukraine have died from this latest flu.

Each country is dealing with their own cases of the H1N1 Swine Flu and many have even taken the vaccination but is H1N1 the only flu out there? A viral infection in Ukraine has taken the lives of 30 people and at first it seemed like an ordinary flu but after a week the symptoms became worse.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports 40,000 Ukrainians have contracted the disease and at least 100 are in the hospital. Tests are currently being conducted and all is known is that it is not the H1N1 Swine Flu. A large number of schools and childcare facilities are being shut down, especially in the city of Lvov.

Also, government agencies are handing out surgical masks and gloves to people in the western part of Ukraine.

However, Russia Today is reporting that it is A/H1N1 or Californian Flu and the total number of deaths is closer to 40. Prime Minister Timoshenko stated, “Express-tests cannot provide a hundred percent verification of the virus, they give only 50% accuracy.

That’s why blood probes of those who died were sent to special laboratories for further testing. And only this morning it was confirmed that at least 11 deaths were caused by the A/H1N1 virus.”

Autumn record-setting snowstorm wallops Rockies, Plains

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

As a sign of global warming!

A record-setting snowstorm that dumped nearly 4 feet of snow across parts of the Rockies by Thursday will threaten parts of the Midwest and South today with heavy rain and flooding.

The powerful fall storm forced hundreds of flights to be canceled in Denver and closed schools and major highways. Heavy snow fell as far west as northern Utah’s Wasatch Front to western Nebraska’s northern border. In South Dakota, snow shut down the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. A blizzard warning was in effect until morning in northwest Kansas.

The heaviest snow was reported in the foothills west of Denver, near Pinecliffe, Colo., with 43.8 inches by midday Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. October snow records were set for Cheyenne, Wyo., and Fort Collins, Colo.

“Big storms like these, they seem to come around every 10 to 12 years,” said Kyle Fredin, a weather service meteorologist in Denver.

US: 9 more banks fail; $2.5 billion hit for FDIC fund

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

– FDIC Insuring 8200 Banks with $9 Trillion in Deposits and ZERO in the Deposit Insurance Fund.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Nine more U.S. banks, all owned by the same Illinois holding company, were closed Friday by regulators, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said U.S. Bank of Minneapolis would assume their deposits.

The closings brought the total to 115 in 2009 — the first year since 1992 that more than 100 banks have gone under.

The banks as of Sept. 30 had combined assets of $19.4 billion and deposits of $15.4 billion, the FDIC said.

The deposit insurance fund will take an estimated $2.5 billion hit, the FDIC said.

All nine banks were subsidiaries of FBOP Corp., a holding company based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., according to the FDIC.

US: Home Vacancies Rise to 18.8 Million on Defaults

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

Recovery!

Plywood covers the windows of a vacant home in Denver on Oct. 27, 2009. (Bloomberg)

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — About 18.8 million homes stood empty in the U.S. during the third quarter as banks seized properties from delinquent borrowers and new home sales fell in September.

The number of vacant properties, including foreclosures, residences for sale and vacation homes, rose from 18.4 million a year earlier and 18.7 million in the second quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. The record high was in the first quarter, when 18.95 million homes were vacant. The homeownership rate, meaning households that own their own residence, stood at 67.6 percent.

The worst U.S. housing crash since the Great Depression has led to a record number of foreclosures and shaved almost a third off property values. The S&P/Case-Shiller Index of 20 cities in August was 29 percent below its 2006 high, after rising for four consecutive months.

“We are bumping along the bottom of the housing market,” said James Lockhart, vice chairman of WL Ross & Co. and the former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “There is the potential for another swing down.”

Sales of new U.S. homes fell 3.6 percent in September to an annual pace of 402,000, the Commerce Department said yesterday. That was lower than the 440,000 median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

US: Consumer Spending Declined in September

October 31, 2009 by Infinite

Recovery!

Long-term unemployment

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — Spending by U.S. consumers fell in September for the first time in five months after the government’s auto-rebate program expired.

The 0.5 percent decrease in purchases matched the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and followed a 1.4 percent jump in the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Incomes were unchanged, while the savings rate climbed.

Stagnant wages and concern over mounting unemployment are causing confidence to wane, raising the risk that consumers will retrench in coming months as government assistance programs run out. The report also showed inflation was lower than the Federal Reserve’s long-term projection, indicating the policy makers can keep rates low.

Rep. Ron Paul: Let the dollar prove itself

October 30, 2009 by Infinite

Editor’s note: Ron Paul is an 11-term Republican U.S. representative from Texas who made a bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. His book, “End the Fed,” was recently published by Grand Central Publishing.

Washington, D.C. (CNN) — A growing number of Americans are becoming aware of the Federal Reserve System, what it is, how it has precipitated our financial crisis, and how it continues to pursue policies that delay economic recovery and weaken the dollar.

The Fed’s actions, combined with the federal government’s bailout bills and stimulus packages, have struck a nerve in the American people.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has embarked on an ambitious program of monetary expansion, more than doubling the monetary base to almost $1.9 trillion and doubling the size of its balance sheet to over $2 trillion, placing the American economy in a precarious position.

More Than 40% of President Obama’s Top-Level Fundraisers Secured Posts in His Administration

October 30, 2009 by Infinite

Change we can believe in!

Take a good look at the ‘FROM FUNDRAISER TO STAFFER’ list at the end of the article America!

WASHINGTON — More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found.

Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama’s presidential campaign. USA TODAY’s analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession.

Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats’ union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.

That’s a rate higher than any president in more than four decades, the group’s data show, although that could change as the White House fills more openings. Traditionally about 30% of top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees, and roughly 70% to veteran State Department employees. Ambassadors earn $153,200 to $162,900 annually.

“It is time to end the spoils system and the de facto sale of ambassadorships,” Johnson said. “The United States is best served by having experienced, knowledgeable and trained career officers fill all positions in our diplomatic service.”

President Obama signs law blocking release of torture photos

October 30, 2009 by Infinite

President Barack Obama received a great deal of media attention on Wednesday for signing a historic hate-crimes bill into law. But, on the same day, the US president also signed a Homeland Security spending bill that received far less attention, even though it effectively blocks efforts by activists to reveal photos of detainee abuse in US custody.

“We are disappointed that the president has signed a law giving the Defense Department the authority to hide evidence of its own misconduct, and we hope the defense secretary will not take advantage of that authority by suppressing photos related to the abuse of prisoners,” Jameel Jaffer, national security director for the ACLU, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the House and Senate inserted language into the Homeland Security appropriations bill that would shield photos of detainees in the US’s war on terror from the Freedom of Information Act. The language, which was added at the prodding of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), effectively blocks an ACLU lawsuit currently before the courts that would have forced the government to release the photos under Freedom of Information statutes.

As Daphne Eviatar noted at the Washington Independent, “President Obama initially agreed to release the photos, but changed his mind after consulting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others at the Pentagon, who warned the photos would endanger US servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

At issue are 21 photos of detainees in US custody that the Department of Defense has been fighting tooth and nail from releasing. As Raw Story reported earlier this year, those photos may show acts of sexual abuse being carried out against detainees.

Major General Antonio Taguba, the author of a report on allegations of detainee abuse in U.S. prisons in Iraq, said that photos exist depicting the following:

–An American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner.
–A male translator apparently raping a male detainee.
–A female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Other photographs depict sexual assaults on prisoners with a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube, according to Taguba.

Lord Christopher Monckton: Is President Obama Poised to Surrender the Constitution and US Sovereignty to World Government?

October 30, 2009 by Infinite

Added: October 16, 2009

In October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty that is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

A draft of the treaty can be read here:

http://www.globalclimatescam.com/docu…

Chuck Norris has an article in WorldNetDaily with a good analysis of the treaty:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE….

There has been considerable debate raised about Monckton’s conclusion that the Copenhagen Treaty would cede US sovereignty. His comments appear to be based upon his interpretation of the The Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution (Article VI, paragraph 2). This clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. TREATIES as the supreme law of the land. Concerns have been raised in the past that a particularly ambitious treaty may supersede the US Constitution. In the 1950s, a constitutional amendment, known as the Bricker Amendment, was proposed in response to such fears, but it failed to pass. You can read more about the Bricker Amendment in a 1953 Time Magazine article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art…,9171,806676-1,00.html

Lord Monckton served as a policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He has repeatedly challenged Al Gore to a debate to which Gore has refused. Monckton sued to stop Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” from being shown in British schools due to its inaccuracies. The judge found in-favor of Monckton, ordering 9 serious errors in the film to be corrected. Lord Monckton travels internationally in an attempt to educate the public about the myth of global warming.

Has Anyone Read the Copenhagen Agreement? U.N. plans for a new ‘world government’ are scary.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

We can only hope that world leaders will do nothing more than enjoy a pleasant bicycle ride around the charming streets of Copenhagen come December. For if they actually manage to wring out an agreement based on the current draft text of the Copenhagen climate-change treaty, the world is in for some nasty surprises. Draft text, you say? If you haven’t heard about it, that’s because none of our otherwise talkative political leaders have bothered to tell us what the drafters have already cobbled together for leaders to consider. And neither have the media.

Enter Lord Christopher Monckton. The former adviser to Margaret Thatcher gave an address at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, earlier this month that made quite a splash. For the first time, the public heard about the 181 pages, dated Sept. 15, that comprise the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—a rough draft of what could be signed come December.

So far there have been more than a million hits on the YouTube post of his address. It deserves millions more because Lord Monckton warns that the aim of the Copenhagen draft treaty is to set up a transnational “government” on a scale the world has never before seen.

The “scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention” that starts on page 18 contains the provision for a “government.” The aim is to give a new as yet unnamed U.N. body the power to directly intervene in the financial, economic, tax and environmental affairs of all the nations that sign the Copenhagen treaty.

H1N1 Swine Flu A National Emergency? Take A Close Look At This Chart

November 4, 2009October 30, 2009 by Infinite

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Source: Flickr

‘Normal’ seasonal flu causes from 35,000 – 42,000 deaths each year in the US …

“…roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.”
Source: CNN

“On average 41,400 people died each year in the United States between 1979 and 2001 from influenza.”
Source: Wikipedia

….compare that to the number of deaths caused by swine flu in the US…

….and consider that ….
– Swine flu peaks out before vaccines make it into widespread distribution

….yet ….
– President Obama declares H1N1 swine flu a national emergency:
“Officials described the move as similar to a declaration ahead of a hurricane making landfall.”

US government report recommends blocking popular internet websites during pandemic flu outbreak

October 30, 2009 by Infinite

(NaturalNews) The US government has issued a new report that recommends blocking access to popular websites during a pandemic outbreak in order to preserve internet bandwidth for investors, day traders and securities clearing house operations. The concern is that a pandemic would cause too many people to stay at home and download YouTube videos and porn, hogging all the internet bandwidth and blocking throughput for investment activities, thereby causing a stock market meltdown.

This isn’t an April Fool’s joke. It’s all based on a public report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), available from their website at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d108.pdf

In this article, I’m going to explain how a pandemic outbreak could theoretically bring down Wall Street. But to get to that, you’ll first need to find out what the GAO said in its curious report (see below). Parts of this article are presented as satire, but the underlying facts quoted here are all true and verifiable (links are provided to all sources).

This report in question is entitled, “GAO Report to Congressional Requesters, INFLUENZA PANDEMIC” and includes this subtitle: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness.

As the report explains:

In a severe pandemic, governments may close schools, shut down public transportation systems, and ban public gatherings such as concerts or sporting events. In such scenarios, many more people than usual may be at home during the day, and Internet use in residential neighborhoods could increase significantly as a result of people seeking news, entertainment, or social contact from home computers. Concerns have been raised that this additional traffic could lead to congestion on the Internet that would significantly affect businesses in local neighborhoods, such as small doctors’ offices or business employees attempting to telework by connecting to their employers’ enterprise networks.

Can Hulu, Twitter and porn destroy Wall Street?

Girl gang-raped outside California high school as onlookers laughed and took photographs

October 29, 2009 by Infinite

A 15-year-old girl was gang raped by up to 10 teenagers outside a California high school homecoming dance as others laughed and took photographs.

In a crime that has shocked America up to two dozen passers-by were said to have seen the crime happening and failed to report it as the girl was subjected to an ordeal lasting two-and-a-half hours.

Police Lieutenant Mark Gagan said a “mob mentality” had taken over. He said: “This was a barbaric act. I still cannot get my head around the fact that numerous people either watched, walked away or participated in her assault.

“These suspects are monsters. I don’t understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behaviour could be in one place at one time.

Many of the students feel like the people who committed such an awful crime are still among them in class.” Five suspects, aged from 16 to 21, have been arrested over the attack at Richmond High School, near San Francisco, over the weekend.

The crime was only discovered when a woman at a nearby party telephoned police to say that two of the suspects were bragging about their role in the attack, which was still going on.

Council bans British parents from public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks

October 29, 2009 by Infinite

Only council-vetted “play rangers” are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence.

The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

It will further fuel concerns over a growing nanny state amid the deepening row over the Government’s new national anti-paedophile database.

That will see at least 11 million adults have to be vetted to work with children or vulnerable adults, including parents who give officials lifts to and from social or sports clubs.

Councillors in Watford claim they are only following Government guidelines and cannot allow adults to walk around playgrounds “unchecked”.

But Osfted dismissed the ban while parents branded it “a joke”.

The rules have been imposed at Harwoods and Harebreaks adventure recreation grounds.

Activities on the half acre sites include a skateboard half-pipe, a zip line, rope swings, den building, arts and crafts, plus a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports activities.

Play rangers currently patrol both parks – which are specifically for children aged five to 15 – and are fully qualified and have been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau.

Parents already have to ‘register’ their child on arrival at the free playgrounds so staff have their contact details in the event of an accident.

Rep. Brad Sherman: Geithner rejects $1 trillion limit on bailout power (Section 1204 is unlimited in dollar amount!)

October 29, 2009 by Infinite

Even TARP was limited. This is more than criminal!

Exactly right.

But more than that the US government and the Fed are bankrupting America and destroying the US dollar.

In case you haven’t seen this yet:
– Fall Of The Republic – The Presidency Of Barack H. Obama (The Full Movie HQ)
– The Obama Deception

The Obama administration is a lot worse than even the Bush administration.

Change!

By Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)

In my questioning of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner before the Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, I focused on the new bailout authority included in the 618-page legislative proposal submitted by the Treasury Department.

In my opinion, Geithner’s proposal is “TARP on steroids.” Section 1204 of the proposal allows the executive branch to use taxpayer money to make loans to, or invest in, the largest financial institutions to avoid a systemic risk to the economy.

Geithner’s proposal reminds me of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the $700 billion Wall Street bailout adopted last year, but the TARP was limited to two years, and to a maximum of $700 billion.

Section 1204 is unlimited in dollar amount and is a permanent grant of power to the executive branch. TARP contained some limits on executive compensation and an array of special oversight authorities. Section 1204 contains absolutely no limits on executive compensation and no special oversight.

When I asked Geithner whether he would accept a $1 trillion limit on the new bailout authority (if the executive branch wanted to spend more, it would have to come back to Congress), he rejected a $1 trillion limit, insisting that the executive branch be able to respond without coming back to Congress.

Saudi Arabia drops WTI oil contract as a blow to NYMEX

October 29, 2009 by Infinite

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday decided to drop the widely used West Texas Intermediate oil contract as the benchmark for pricing its oil, dealing a serious blow to the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The decision by the world’s biggest oil exporter could encourage other producers to abandon the benchmark and threatens the dominance of the world’s most heavily traded oil futures contract. It is the main contract traded on Nymex.

The move reveals the growing discontent of Riyadh and its US refinery customers with WTI after the price of the price of the benchmark became separated from the global oil market this year.

New Award Winning Documentary on HIV, AIDS: ‘House of Numbers’

October 29, 2009 by Infinite

See also:

– Inventing the AIDS Virus:

Duesberg (Molecular biology/Univ. of Calif., Berkeley), an early researcher in the field of retroviruses, asserts that HIV, like virtually all retroviruses, is harmless.

He finds that HIV meets none of the usual criteria (such as the six laws of virology) used to establish that a microbe causes disease. But if that is so, why do scientists persist in saying that AIDS is an epidemic caused by HIV?

As Duesberg tells it, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needed a serious epidemic to justify its continued existence, and by naming AIDS a single contagious disease, it created an atmosphere of public fear that brought it increased funding and power.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

(NaturalNews) Canadian filmmaker Brent Leung isn’t winning any friends in the pharmaceutical industry these days. His breakthrough documentary “House of Numbers” features jaw-dropping interviews with doctors, researchers and even the co-discoverer of HIV himself (Luc Montagnier), all of whom reveal startling information calling into question the “official” explanation of HIV and AIDS.

Trailers from ‘House of Numbers’:

– Nobel Laureate Montagnier: HIV Can Be Cleared Naturally – House of Numbers:
Professor Luc Montagnier, 2009 Nobel Laureate for the discovery of HIV, reveals his views on the treatment of HIV and its relationship to nutrition and profit with House of Numbers documentary Director, Brent Leung.

– The shocking truth about HIV and AIDS (trailer for House of Numbers film):

More information about the film is available at www.HouseOfNumbers.com

The film isn’t publicly available yet, as it’s been screened in film festivals around the world.

Check the available screening events at the film’s website: www.HouseOfNumbers.com

Because of the game-changing statements heard from numerous health authorities in this film, it threatens the very foundations of the HIV / AIDS industry. Pharmaceutical companies are fronting a specific mythology about AIDS that maximizes their profits from AIDS drugs and (failed) vaccines, but that mythology is about to be dismantled when House of Numbers is released in theaters nationwide over the next few months.

This could be the documentary that shatters Big Pharma’s false paradigms about HIV and AIDS.

The AIDS testing hoax

In the film, Brent Leung subjects himself to an HIV test and discovers that a “diagnosis” of being HIV positive has more to do with the answers you provide to lifestyle questions than any specific microbe appearing in your blood. The diagnosis of AIDS — as well as the very definition — is also apparently so wishy-washy that increasing numbers of well-trained scientists are now questioning whether AIDS exists at all.

“The presently available data does not prove the existence of HIV,” says one health expert interviewed for the film. Another expert says, “The more diseases they could lump into these AIDS categories, the more patients they could catch.”

“I think HIV totally has turned out not to be the cause of AIDS. HIV has turned out not to be!” says another interviewee.

“We can be exposed to HIV many times without being … infected,” says Dr Luc Montagnier, the Nobel prize-winning virologist credited with the co-discovery of HIV. “Our immune system creates [antibodies] within a few weeks, if you have a good immune system.”

The documentary film exposes the sharp contradictions in current scientific opinion about HIV / AIDS. “As I started questioning scientists and delving further into testing protocols and statistical modeling and science, I began to see a lot of the contradictions that they had amongst themselves,” said filmmaker Brent Leung. “One of the things that became apparent to me is how important it is to question everything that we’re told and not automatically accept any fact as truth.”

One bizarre thing the film exposes is the ever-shifting definition of “AIDS.” In the United States, the official definition has been rewritten three times, and definitions vary widely around the world. AIDS isn’t simply the presence of the HIV virus; it’s a fictitious disease label that’s attached to a list of symptoms that continues to expand as the drug companies attempt to ensnare yet more victims into the AIDS label trap.

The experts sound off

House of Numbers is not a “fringe” film featuring dissenting opinions from conspiracy theorists. Rather, it is a lucid, intelligent collection of conversations with some of the world’s top virologists and Nobel prize-winning scientists, including former experts from the CDC, the WHO and UNAIDS. Many are speaking out against the conventional AIDS mythology for the first time on camera. Those interviewed for the film include Dr. Robert Gallo, Dr. Luc Montagnier, Dr. Michael Gottlieb, Dr. Joe Sonnabend, Dr. Kary Mullis, James Curran, Dr. Peter Piot, Dr. James Chin, Dr. Peter Duesberg and many others.

The film has already received “Best Documentary” and other awards from the many film festivals where it has been featured. Momentum is building for the film, and mainstream distribution looks like a healthy possibility for 2010.

Sarkozy spent £160m on events and refurbishment during French EU presidency, incl. £250,000 on a personal shower he did not use

October 28, 2009 by Infinite

WTF!

Audit slams ‘opaque’ accounting as French EU presidency found to have spent £160m on events and refurbishment

Nicolas Sarkozy at a European Council summit last year. His spending has been blamed on poor management. Photograph: Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images

French financial watchdogs slammed Nicolas Sarkozy for spending £160m during his country’s six-month stint in charge of the EU – including £250,000 on a personal presidential shower that he never used.

The vast expense is set out in a report blaming poor management and a lack of transparency by the president’s staff.

Costs soared because so many of the EU-related events were organised at the last minute, said the report.

On one occasion Sarkozy triggered the cancellation of an entire EU event he was due to host in Evian, because he wanted to sleep in his own bed at the Élysée palace. By then, hundreds of journalists, EU officials and national delegations had either already arrived in Evian or were on their way.

A flood of complaints prompted compensation payments – adding more to the eventual presidential bill.

The total for Sarkozy’s time at the helm of the EU is set out in figures published by the French national audit office.

Every government likes to showcase its country when holding the EU presidency, which at present rotates from country to country every six months. National funds are topped up with EU budget support to organise summits, informal ministerial meetings and EU-related promotional events, conferences and policy programmes. Funding is shared between national and regional authorities and the EU budget.

For one three-day event alone, Sarkozy sanctioned an elaborate upgrade of the Grand Palace in Paris for an EU-Mediterranean summit – one of his pet initiatives to mark his turn at the EU helm.

The event was one of his final EU presidency flourishes last July, and involved hundreds of workmen and millions of pounds.

“The Grand Palace had to be completely refitted for the occasion. Five hundred technicians were mobilised every day, including 300 at night,” said the report. Spending included nearly £1m for one dinner for more than 40 government leaders and heads of state who attended the event.

Nearly £300,000 was spent building a conference podium, nearly £200,000 upgrading the gardens and grounds, and a total bill for the Sarkozy shower of almost £250,000.

The audit report said the cost soared because of the complications of installing a state-of-the-art shower to the president’s specifications in a listed building.

The president never used it – instead going back to the Élysée palace during the three-day summit to freshen up. The shower has since been dismantled.

Other spending on the summit included £90,000 for a carpet.

Hedge Funds get ready to short Lloyds, have already borrowed an estimated £1.5bn of shares

October 28, 2009 by Infinite

Hedge funds are staking hundreds of millions of pounds on Lloyds Banking Group shares falling, amid fears the market is being too optimistic about the imminent European competition ruling and the bank’s planned rights issue.

Traders have borrowed an estimated £1.5bn of shares, amounting to 50pc of the stock available to borrow, according to figures from Data Explorers. Dealers say some of the stock on loan has already been used to place “short positions”, while other borrowed shares are being held in preparation to short the stock as soon as Lloyds announces its rights issue.

Shares in Lloyds have dropped 10pc this week following the decision by the European Commission to break up ING, the Dutch financial services giant. In order to gain approval from European competition authorities for the state-backed bail-out it received during the financial crisis, ING is selling its insurance business, which is thought to be worth up to £14bn. Shares in ING fell nearly 20pc on the news of the sale.

New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for AIG Swaps Squandered Billions of Taxpayer Money

October 28, 2009 by Infinite

Here is what Timmy, Benny and the boys did to sponsor Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and other banksters:

“…the New York Fed, led by President Timothy Geithner, took over negotiations with the banks from AIG, together with the Treasury Department and Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s Federal Reserve.”

“After less than a week of private negotiations with the banks, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par, or 100 cents on the dollar. The content of its deliberations has never been made public.”

WTF have they (Timmy, Benny and the boys) done?

Janet Tavakoli, founder of Chicago-based Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc., a financial consulting firm, says the government squandered billions in the AIG deal.

“There’s no way they should have paid at par,” she says. “AIG was basically bankrupt.”

Far more money was wasted in paying the banks for their swaps, says Donn Vickrey of financial research firm Gradient Analytics Inc. “In cases like this, the outcome is always along the lines of 50, 60 or 70 cents on the dollar,” Vickrey says.

Why have they done it?

One reason par was paid was because some counterparties insisted on being paid in full and the New York Fed did not want to negotiate separate deals, says a person close to the transaction. “Some of those banks needed 100 cents on the dollar or they risked failure,” Vickrey says.

For Timmy fans:
– The Federal Reserve buys Fannie Mae bonds; Timothy Geithner is a liar
– Treasury Secretary Geithner’s Closest Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds

Timothy Geithner, U.S. treasury secretary, testifies at a House Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — In the months leading up to the September 2008 collapse of giant insurer American International Group Inc., Elias Habayeb and his colleagues worked nights and weekends negotiating with banks that had bought $62 billion of credit-default swaps from AIG, according to a person who has worked with Habayeb.

Habayeb, 37, was chief financial officer for the AIG division that oversaw AIG Financial Products, the unit that had sold the swaps to the banks. One of his goals was to persuade the banks to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.

Among AIG’s bank counterparties were New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., Paris-based Societe Generale SA and Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG.

By Sept. 16, 2008, AIG, once the world’s largest insurer, was running out of cash, and the U.S. government stepped in with a rescue plan. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the regional Fed office with special responsibility for Wall Street, opened an $85 billion credit line for New York-based AIG. That bought it 77.9 percent of AIG and effective control of the insurer.

The government’s commitment to AIG through credit facilities and investments would eventually add up to $182.3 billion.

Beginning late in the week of Nov. 3, the New York Fed, led by President Timothy Geithner, took over negotiations with the banks from AIG, together with the Treasury Department and Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s Federal Reserve. Geithner’s team circulated a draft term sheet outlining how the New York Fed wanted to deal with the swaps — insurance-like contracts that backed soured collateralized-debt obligations.

Subprime Mortgages

CDOs are bundles of debt including subprime mortgages and corporate loans sold to investors by banks.

Part of a sentence in the document was crossed out. It contained a blank space that was intended to show the amount of the haircut the banks would take, according to people who saw the term sheet. After less than a week of private negotiations with the banks, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par, or 100 cents on the dollar. The content of its deliberations has never been made public.

Dr. Diane Harper, Leading Gardasil and Cervarix HPV Vaccine Researcher, Drops A Bombshell

October 28, 2009 by Infinite

“…Giving the vaccine to girls as young as 11 years-old “is a great big public health experiment.”

“It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11 to 12 year old girls,” she said at the time. “There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue.”

When asked why she was speaking out, she said: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.”

The outspoken researcher also weighed in last month on a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that raised questions about the safety of the vaccine, saying bluntly: “The rate of serious adverse events is greater than the incidence rate of cervical cancer.”

Gardasil

Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.

Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4. Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.

“I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.

Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of HPV infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.

She went on to surprise the audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is already so low that “even if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the US.”

There will be no decrease in cervical cancer until at least 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, and even then, the decrease will be minimal.