Month: January 2010

U.S. Avoids Technical Default By Three Days

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On December 24, the Senate passed a vote by a razor thin margin (with not a vote to spare) to raise the Federal debt ceiling from $12,104 billion to $12,394 billion.

The actual debt ceiling increase took effect on December 28. And as the chart below shows, the Treasury’s cash flow projections were spot on: 3 days later, and the debt subject to limit surged to $12,254, a jump of over $200 billion in 2 days, and a whopping $150 billion over the old debt ceiling.

Three days is all the buffer the administration’s reckless spending spree has afforded this country to avoid bankruptcy. Had one more Democratic vote dissented from the stopgap measure, the US would now be in technical default.

There is just $140 billion left before the revised debt ceiling is breached. We hope for the country’s sake that Bill refunding in January is massive, because as we already pointed out, on January 7th we expect another ~$130 of new Treasuries to be announced for auction by January 15th.

Read moreU.S. Avoids Technical Default By Three Days

ECB: No Bailout For Greece

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Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou holds a news conference at the end of a European Union heads of state and government summit in Brussels October 30, 2009 file photo. (REUTERS)

ATHENS/MILAN (Reuters) – EU officials arrived in Greece on Wednesday for an inspection visit, hours after ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark was quoted as saying the bloc would not bail out Greece if its debt problem worsened.

The government’s broad outline of how it will get out of its fiscal mess has not impressed markets, making the talks with Brussels on the details of a long-term budgetary plan Greece must submit by end January a sensitive point for investors.

“The EU officials are here (at the finance ministry), they are looking at the draft of the plan,” a senior finance ministry official said. “They will meet in the coming days officials from the health, labour, defence, and economy ministries.”

In a sign of increasing pressure on Greece to get its finances back in order, Stark told Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that EU states would not help out.

“The markets are deluding themselves when they think at a certain point the other member states will put their hands on their wallets to save Greece,” Stark said in the newspaper.

Read moreECB: No Bailout For Greece

UK: Pensioners are burning books to keep warm

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Hard-up pensioners have resorted to buying books from charity shops and burning them to keep warm.

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Volunteers have reported that ‘a large number’ of elderly customers are snapping up hardbacks as cheap fuel for their fires and stoves.

Temperatures this week are forecast to plummet as low as -13ºC in the Scottish Highlands, with the mercury falling to -6ºC in London, -5ºC in Birmingham and -7ºC in Manchester as one of the coldest winters in years continues to bite.

Workers at one charity shop in Swansea, in south Wales, described how the most vulnerable shoppers were seeking out thick books such as encyclopaedias for a few pence because they were cheaper than coal.

One assistant said: ‘Book burning seems terribly wrong but we have to get rid of unsold stock for pennies and some of the pensioners say the books make ideal slow-burning fuel for fires and stoves.

A lot of them buy up large hardback volumes so they can stick them in the fire to last all night.’

A 500g book can sell for as little as 5p, while a 20kg bag of coal costs £5.

Since January 2008, gas bills have risen 40 per cent and electricity prices 20 per cent, although people over 60 are entitled to a winter fuel allowance of between £125 and £400.

Read moreUK: Pensioners are burning books to keep warm

As an American, I refuse to buy mandatory health insurance … that supports Big Pharma

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Breaking Americans down, one family at a time

“… if tens of millions of Americans can’t afford health insurance now, how are they supposed to afford to pay the fine for not buying any?”

“… the whole point of the health care reform bill is to destroy American families.”

Why would the IRS now be invoked to enforce this medical racket? The answer can only be that somewhere at the top of government, someone is diligently working to destroy America.

The collapse of an empire isn’t pretty.

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(NaturalNews) Even if Obama’s health care reform bill becomes law, mandating that all Americans buy health insurance policies for a failed system of “sick care”, I will refuse to comply. I’ve read the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and nowhere in that document do I find that the federal government has the power to force consumers to purchase for-profit insurance products from private companies.

The very basis of the health care reform bill is, at its core, unconstitutional. If this mandate is allowed to stand, it sets a dangerous precedent for the U.S. government to require us to purchase other products and services from whatever industries it chooses to support. What’s next? Will the government pass a law forcing us to buy pharmaceuticals at thousands of dollars a year? Will it force us to purchase U.S.-made automobiles in order to boost the automobile industry? Is our economic free choice now centrally planned by our own government operating like Communist China?

This is a serious question that Constitutional scholars will no doubt be debating in the months ahead. But who am I kidding anyway? The U.S. government has long since abandoned the U.S. Constitution and no has any intention of abiding by it. Want proof? Read just one amendment: the 10th amendment.

Check out the website www.TenthAmendmentCenter.com which carries a highly relevant article on this matter: Health Care Nullification and Interposition (http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com…). It paraphrases James Madison, saying, “…state governments not only have the right to resist unconstitutional federal acts, but that, in order to protect liberty, they are ‘duty bound to interpose’ or stand between the federal government and the people of the state.”

Read moreAs an American, I refuse to buy mandatory health insurance … that supports Big Pharma

The US Government Is Preparing For Collapse: Your Legal Right To Redeem Your Money Market Account Has Been Denied

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Must-read! Don’t miss to take a close look at the members of the the Group of Thirty!

When Henry Paulson publishes his long-awaited memoirs, the one section that will be of most interest to readers, will be the former Goldmanite and Secretary of the Treasury’s recollection of what, in his opinion, was the most unpredictable and dire consequence of letting Lehman fail (letting his former employer become the number one undisputed Fixed Income trading entity in the world was quite predictable… plus we doubt it will be a major topic of discussion in Hank’s book). We would venture to guess that the Reserve money market fund breaking the buck will be at the very top of the list, as the ensuing “run on the electronic bank” was precisely the 21st century equivalent of what happened to banks in physical form, during the early days of the Geat Depression. Had the lack of confidence in the system persisted for a few more hours, the entire financial world would have likely collapsed, as was so vividly recalled by Rep. Paul Kanjorski, once a barrage of electronic cash withdrawal requests depleted this primary spoke of the entire shadow economy. Ironically, money market funds are supposed to be the stalwart of safety and security among the plethora of global investment alternatives: one need only to look at their returns to see what the presumed composition of their investments is. A case in point, Fidelity’s $137 billion Cash Reserves fund has a return of 0.61% YTD, truly nothing to write home about, and a return that would have been easily beaten putting one’s money in Treasury Bonds. This is not surprising, as the primary purpose of money markets is to provide virtually instantaneous access to a portfolio of practically risk-free investment alternatives: a typical investor in a money market seeks minute investment risk, no volatility, and instantaneous liquidity, or redeemability. These are the three pillars upon which the entire $3.3 trillion money market industry is based.

Yet new regulations proposed by the administration, and specifically by the ever-incompetent Securities and Exchange Commission, seek to pull one of these three core pillars from the foundation of the entire money market industry, by changing the primary assumptions of the key Money Market Rule 2a-7. A key proposal in the overhaul of money market regulation suggests that money market fund managers will have the option to “suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of fund assets.“ You read that right: this does not refer to the charter of procyclical, leveraged, risk-ridden, transsexual (allegedly) portfolio manager-infested hedge funds like SAC, Citadel, Glenview or even Bridgewater (which in light of ADIA’s latest batch of problems, may well be wishing this was in fact the case), but the heart of heretofore assumed safest and most liquid of investment options: Money Market funds, which account for nearly 40% of all investment company assets. The next time there is a market crash, and you try to withdraw what you thought was “absolutely” safe money, a back office person will get back to you saying, “Sorry – your money is now frozen. Bank runs have become illegal.“ This is precisely the regulation now proposed by the administration. In essence, the entire US capital market is now a hedge fund, where even presumably the safest investment tranche can be locked out from within your control when the ubiquitous “extraordinary circumstances” arise. The second the game of constant offer-lifting ends, and money markets are exposed for the ponzi investment proxies they are, courtesy of their massive holdings of Treasury Bills, Reverse Repos, Commercial Paper, Agency Paper, CD, finance company MTNs and, of course, other money markets, and you decide to take your money out, well – sorry, you are out of luck. It’s the law.

A brief primer on money markets

A very succinct explanation of what money markets are was provided by none other than SEC’s Luis Aguilar on June 24, 2009, when he was presenting the case for making even the possibility of money market runs a thing of the past. To wit:

Money market funds were founded nearly 40 years ago. And, as is well known, one of the hallmarks of money market funds is their ability to maintain a stable net asset value – typically at a dollar per share.

In the time they have been around, money market funds have grown enormously – from $180 billion in 1983 (when Rule 2a-7 was first adopted), to $1.4 trillion at the end of 1998, to approximately $3.8 trillion at the end of 2008, just ten years later. The Release in front of us sets forth a number of informative statistics but a few that are of particular interest are the following: today, money market funds account for approximately 39% of all investment company assets; about 80% of all U.S. companies use money market funds in managing their cash balances; and about 20% of the cash balances of all U.S. households are held in money market funds. Clearly, money market funds have become part of the fabric by which families, and companies manage their financial affairs.

Read moreThe US Government Is Preparing For Collapse: Your Legal Right To Redeem Your Money Market Account Has Been Denied

US: 17,000 potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under obscure law

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All is well. You can fully trust corporations that have only one interest: Profit!

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Dow Chemical plant, Midland, Michigan

Of some 84,000 chemicals being used commercially in the United States, some 20 percent — or 17,000 — are kept secret not only from the public, but from medical professionals, state regulators and even emergency responders, according to a report at the Washington Post.

And the reason for this potentially harmful lack of openness? Profit.

A 1976 law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, mandates that manufacturers report to the Environmental Protection Agency any new chemicals they intend to market, but manufacturers can request that a chemical be kept secret if disclosure “could harm their bottom line,” the Washington Post reports.

Because they are secret, it’s impossible to tell how many of the 17,000 chemicals are potentially harmful to people. But the Post notes that, in March of last year, more than half of the “substantial risk” reports filed with the EPA involved secret chemicals.

And chemical makers may be abusing their privilege under the law. According to the EPA, in recent years 95 percent of manufacturers’ reports of new chemicals have made some request for secrecy. Ten of the secret chemicals are used in children’s products.

Read moreUS: 17,000 potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under obscure law

Japan: When Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk Barely Bigger Than A Coffin

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Atsushi Nakanishi has condensed his possessions to two suitcases, which he stores in lockers at the capsule hotel where he lives.

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Atsushi Nakanishi is among the jobless living in a capsule hotel, renting a bunk with no door.

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The capsules have no doors, only screens that pull down. Every bump of the shoulder on the plastic walls, every muffled cough, echoes loudly through the rows.

OKYO — For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo’s decrepit “capsule” hotels.

“It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep,” he said, rolling his neck and stroking his black suit — one of just two he owns after discarding the rest of his wardrobe for lack of space. “You get used to it.”

When Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 opened nearly two decades ago, Japan was just beginning to pull back from its bubble economy, and the hotel’s tiny plastic cubicles offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home.

Now, Hotel Shinjuku 510’s capsules, no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, have become an affordable option for some people with nowhere else to go as Japan endures its worst recession since World War II.

Once-booming exporters laid off workers en masse in 2009 as the global economic crisis pushed down demand. Many of the newly unemployed, forced from their company-sponsored housing or unable to make rent, have become homeless.

The country’s woes have led the government to open emergency shelters over the New Year holiday in a nationwide drive to help the homeless. The Democratic Party, which swept to power in September, wants to avoid the fate of the previous pro-business government, which was caught off-guard when unemployed workers pitched tents near public offices last year to call attention to their plight.

“In this bitter-cold New Year’s season, the government intends to do all it can to help those who face hardship,” Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in a video posted Dec. 26 on YouTube. “You are not alone.”

On Friday, he visited a Tokyo shelter housing 700 homeless people, telling reporters that “help can’t wait.”

Read moreJapan: When Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk Barely Bigger Than A Coffin

Climategate: Michael Mann’s Very Unhappy ‘Whistleblower’ New Year

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Michael Mann

As I said yesterday, one of our jobs this year is to wipe the complacent smiles off the smug faces of the lobbyists, “experts”, “scientists”, politicians and activists pushing AGW.

This is why I am so glad to report that Michael Mann – creator of the incredible Hockey Stick curve and one of the scientists most heavily implicated in the Climategate scandal – is about to get a very nasty shock. When he turns up to work on Monday, he’ll find that all 27 of his colleagues at the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University have received a rather tempting email inviting them to blow the whistle on anyone they know who may have been fraudulently misusing federal grant funds for climate research.

Under US law, regardless of whether or not a prosecution results, the whistleblower stands to make very large sums of money: it is based on a percentage of the total government funds which have been misused, in this case perhaps as much as $50 million. (Hat tip: John O’Sullivan of the wonderful new campaigning site www.climategate.com)

Here’s that email in full:

Hi,

Greetings and best wishes for a prosperous New Year.

National Search
After the recent whistleblower revelations of emails between climate researchers and data from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, there are on-going investigations into potential fraudulent use of grant funds in Climate Research in the US.  I am assisting interested parties who may have details of fraud in climate research to make contact with the proper authorities, and to share in the rewards paid when the funds are recovered.

Whistleblower Rewards Program
The federal government has established vigorous programs to identify and prosecute fraudulent grant applications and administration.  The US Department of Justice (DOJ) administers the False Claims Act.  It allows rewards for those who come forward with details of grant fraud to share in the recovery of federal funds.  This reward can be as much as 30% of the total amount reclaimed.  The program is almost completely reliant on insiders to report their knowledge of the fraud in their institutions.

Read moreClimategate: Michael Mann’s Very Unhappy ‘Whistleblower’ New Year

Auschwitz Sign Theft Linked to Neo-Nazi Bomb Plot to Attack The Swedish Parliament

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Thieves contracted by a neo-Nazi group that planned to sell sign to fund attacks in Sweden, newspaper claims

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The Auschwitz sign before it was stolen Photograph: Irek Dorozanski/Reuters

It sounds like the plot of a Steig Larsson thriller: a band of eastern European criminals is contracted to steal an iconic piece of Nazi memorabilia, which is then sold to a mysterious collector to finance a neofascist bomb attack on the Swedish parliament.

But today it emerged that Swedish investigators are helping Polish detectives investigate the theft of the sign from Auschwitz, amid reports that the robbery was linked to a rightwing terror plot.

The wrought iron plaque reading Arbeit Macht Frei (work sets you free) which spanned the entrance at the former Nazi death camp was wrenched from the gate on 18 December, and recovered three days later, cut into three pieces, in a forest in northern Poland.

The robbery prompted Poland to declare a state of emergency, and provoked impassioned calls for the sign’s return from concentration camp survivors and the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

The five men being held in police custody in Krakow in connection with the theft have been described by Polish prosecutors as common criminals who had apparently acted for financial gain.

Read moreAuschwitz Sign Theft Linked to Neo-Nazi Bomb Plot to Attack The Swedish Parliament

Beijing and Seoul Hit by Heaviest Snow in More Than Half Century

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A worker de-ices a walkway at the Forbidden City in Beijing on Jan. 4, 2010. (Bloomberg)

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — The heaviest snowfall to hit Beijing and Seoul in more than half a century grounded hundreds of planes in the two capitals as temperatures in northern China were set to fall to the lowest in 50 years.

Beijing Capital International Airport canceled more than 500 flights today as of 2 p.m. local time, China Central Television reported. Gimpo Airport in western Seoul grounded 187 flights as of 2 p.m. local time, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said in a statement.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called on local authorities to ensure food supplies, agricultural production and the safety of transportation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. South Korea mobilized 5,000 soldiers to remove snow from blocked roads, Yonhap News reported today.

Suburban areas of Beijing received more than 33 centimeters (13 inches) of snow yesterday, the Beijing Daily reported. It was the capital’s heaviest daily snowfall since 1951, Xinhua reported.

Among those affected by the weather were Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang and Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan. Their flight to Beijing last night was delayed by heavy snow and the visit was canceled this morning, Patrick Wong, Tsang’s press officer, said by telephone.

About 90 percent of Beijing’s more than 1,300 flights yesterday were canceled or delayed, according to state broadcaster CCTV. At least three airports in China’s Shandong province were closed today due to the blizzards, it reported.

Schools Closed

Read moreBeijing and Seoul Hit by Heaviest Snow in More Than Half Century

Obamacare to expand IRS role: Checking if Americans have health insurance

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(USA TODAY) Internal Revenue Service agents already try to catch tax cheats and moonshiners. Under the proposed health care legislation, they would get another assignment: checking to see whether Americans have health insurance.

The legislation would require most Americans to have health insurance and to prove it on their federal tax returns. Those who don’t would pay a penalty to the IRS.

That’s one of several key duties the IRS would assume under the bills that have been approved by the House of Representatives and Senate and will be merged by negotiators from both chambers.

The agency also would distribute as much as $140 billion a year in new government subsidies to help small employers and as many as 19 million lower-income people buy coverage.

In addition, the IRS would collect hundreds of billions of dollars in new fees on employers, drug companies and device makers, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Some critics of the health bill question whether the IRS, which has struggled in recent years with budget problems, staffing shortages and outdated computer systems, will be up to the job of enforcing the mandate and efficiently handling the subsidies.

“It’s hard to see how the IRS could take on the huge responsibility it would be given under pending health care legislation without some real glitches, or worse,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. He voted against the bill, as did every other Republican senator.

The CBO estimated the IRS would need $5 billion to $10 billion in the first decade to cover the costs of its expanded role. The IRS’ annual budget is currently $11.5 billion.

Read moreObamacare to expand IRS role: Checking if Americans have health insurance

Gordon Brown accused of “fantasy” over public debt as changes tack

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“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” – John Adams

The elite puppet Prime Minister Brown is looting the taxpayer all of the time with dire consequences:

– Fitch warns: Britain and France risk losing their AAA rating

– Moody’s warns of ’social unrest’ as sovereign debt spirals … because of bankster bailouts

– UK taxpayers face £2 trillion unfunded pensions liability, more than £80,000 for every household

– Moody’s: Top US And UK Debt Ratings May ‘Test The Aaa Boundaries’

– Treasury Pre-Budget Report Warning: UK ‘Faces Decades of Debt’

– Morgan Stanley: Britain risks sovereign debt crisis in 2010

– OECD warning: Britain risks ‘debt spiral’

Prepare for the worst, because it’s coming!

See also:

– French public debt hits record

– Moody’s Downgrades Greece’s Credit Rating

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Mr Brown made clear that he will portray Labour as the party of investment in the general election

Gordon Brown was accused today of indulging in “fantasy” over the state of the public finances after he promised that Labour would continue to invest in skills and schools in spite of demands that he reduce Britain’s record deficit.

The Prime Minister used his first interview of the new year to warn that the Tory plan to cut debt would damage the economic recovery.

He made a series of new spending commitments to boost science and education and insisted there was still money available to invest in Labour’s priorities.

But Mr Brown risked re-opening bitter internal divisions by claiming that public spending would rise by 0.8 per cent a year. This figure was denounced when he used it last year because it includes debt interest payments and social security, leaving government departments expecting real-terms cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent.

Mr Brown claimed that the rises in national insurance and the ending of pension tax reliefs, along with lower- than-expected unemployment, would bring down the deficit. Now was not the time for a comprehensive spending review, which would lay out the scale of departmental cuts, he said.

This drew fire from Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, who said that cuts were already being implemented in Whitehall spending.

“This is a rather unconvincing attempt to draw an artificial dividing line. It’s simple fantasy to imagine painful decisions can be avoided in public spending, with some departments already talking about 10 per cent,” Mr Cable said.

“Lord Mandelson has already undermined the Prime Minister by making very deep cuts in the university and science budgets, with some of the best scientists in the country losing their job. This leaves Mr Brown looking very foolish.”

Read moreGordon Brown accused of “fantasy” over public debt as changes tack

Prof. Dr. David Michael Green: Now I’m Really Getting Pissed Off … With Obama

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Democrats and Republicans are just two wings of the same bird …

… and Obama is just another elite puppet President.

Now also the Obama worshipers are waking up to the facts.

Now I’m Really Getting Pissed Off

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David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York.

“Hey did you hear about the iconic African-American guy who plays golf, and whose relationship with the public is in a free-fall lately?

No, as a matter of fact – I’m not talking about Tiger Woods.

You know, I’ve really been trying not to write an article every other week about all the things I don’t like about Barack Obama.

But the little prick is making it very hard.

Like any good progressive, I’ve gone from admiration to hope to disappointment to anger when it comes to this president. Now I’m fast getting to rage.

How much rage? I find myself thinking that the thing I want most from the 2010 elections is for his party to get absolutely clobbered, even if that means a repeat of 1994. And that what I most want from 2012 is for him to be utterly humiliated, even if that means President Palin at the helm. That much rage.

Did this clown really say on national television that “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of you know, fat cat bankers on Wall Street”?!?!

Really, Barack? So, like, my question is: Then why the hell did you help out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street?!?! Why the hell did you surround yourself with nothing but Robert Rubin proteges in all the key economic positions in your government? Why did you allow them to open a Washington branch of Goldman Sachs in the West Wing? Why have your policies been tailored to helping Wall Street bankers, rather than the other 300 million of us, who just happen to be suffering badly right now?

Are you freakin’ kidding me??? What’s up with the passive president routine, anyhow, Fool? You hold the most powerful position in the world. Or maybe Rahm forgot to mention that to you. Or maybe the fat cat bankers don’t actually let do that whole decision-making thing often enough that it would actually matter…

But, really, are you going to spend the next three interminable years perfecting your whiney victim persona? I don’t really think I could bear that. Hearing you complain about how rough it all is, when you have vastly more power than any of us to fix it? Please. Not that.

Are you going to tell us that “I did not run for office to be shovel-feeding the military-industrial complex”? But what – they’re just so darned pushy?

“…I did not run for office to continue George Bush’s valiant effort at shredding the Bill of Rights. It’s just that those government-limiting rules are so darned pesky.”

“…I did not run for office to dump a ton of taxpayer money into the coffers of health insurance companies. It’s just that they asked so nicely.”

“…I did not run for office to block equality for gay Americans. I just never got around to doing anything about it.”

“…I did not run for office to turn Afghanistan into Vietnam. I just didn’t want to say no to all the nice generals asking for more troops.”

Read moreProf. Dr. David Michael Green: Now I’m Really Getting Pissed Off … With Obama

US government lies about Flight 253 ‘crotch bomber’ patsy: Summary of the evidence; Yemen attack implication

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– Evidence Mounts for US Complicity in Terrorism (Veterans Today)

The US government who lied for wars in other resource-rich countries are lying about what happened on Delta Flight 253 with an alleged underwear/crotch bomber. Below is a summary of facts reported at this time, along with a 4-minute news interview from Webster Tarpley, followed by an extensive interview of Mr. Tarpley by Alex Jones.

The longer explanations of the following bullet points are in the reporting from Veterans Today editor Gordon Duff, US Intelligence Examiner Fred Burks, Prison Planet, 9-11 was an Inside Job, American Everyman Scott Creighton, and Citizens for Legitimate Government Lori Price.

Before the flight to the US:

  • Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab traveled to Yemen to meet with “terrorists.” However, his mother also lives in Yemen, which could also explain the visit.
  • The alleged terrorists in Yemen had been in Guantanamo Prison. They were released without trial by the Bush Administration even though they were reported as among the most dangerous detainees.
  • The government of Yemen reports that Islamic terrorists there have been arrested who have proven ties to Israeli intelligence.
  • Abdulmutallab’s father, though we are told is a retired “Nigerian banker,” ran their defense industry in close cooperation with Israeli Intelligence (Mossad).
  • Abdulmutallab’s father warned US embassy officials of his son’s dangerous behavior; this is corroborated with other US intelligence of warning.
  • Abdulmutallab’s visa to the US was never withdrawn, though he was on a “terrorist watchlist.” This would make his trip impossible unless protocol was ignored.
  • Flying from Nigeria, Abdulmutallab entered the Netherlands without passing through customs; impossible to do without assistance from an intelligence agency.
  • At the Amsterdam airport, Abdulmutallab was assisted by a man appearing to be Indian, who claimed Abdulmutallab was a Sudanese refugee with no passport (he would not have been allowed to enter the EU without a passport through customs). This man and whoever authorized boarding without a passport are huge stories we haven’t heard. Where is the airport videos of this?
  • Airport security in Amsterdam is contracted to an Israeli company with the most sophisticated technologies who had developed the concept of security profiling.

During the flight to the US:

  • Witnesses reported a man standing ten rows behind Abdulmutallab stand and use his camcorder to film the incident before it began. This important testimony was not pursued to discover the identity and role of this seemingly complicit person.
  • Witnesses report Abdulmutallab was oddly vacant and calm; typical of a programmed “Manchurian Candidate.” This might explain the behavior of the person filming: a “handler” who gave the code for Abdulmutallab to perform an act. Manchurian Candidates are now acknowledged historical fact. Research this if you are unfamiliar with the disclosed history.

After the flight:

Evidence Mounts for US Complicity in Terrorism (Veterans Today)

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Obama is an elite puppet President like Bush.

Obama will be even worse than Bush!

Don’t miss:
– US government lies about Flight 253 ‘crotch bomber’ patsy: Summary of the evidence; Yemen attack implication

COULD TERROR WAR BE RESPONSE BY GOP AND ISRAEL AGAINST THREATS TO THEIR GLOBAL PLANS?

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When nothing adds up, its time we starting looking at what we know.  Our recent terrorist, now dubbed “the crotch bomber” is another dupe.  He could have been working for anyone, drugged, brainwashed or simply influenced, maybe by crazy Arabs, maybe by the Mossad, maybe by the CIA. We only know the game is falling apart.

We do know a couple of things.  Dad, back in Nigeria, ran the national arms industry (DICON) in partnership with Israel, in particular, the Mossad.  He was in daily contact with them.  They run everything in Nigeria, from arms production to counter-terrorism.  Though Islamic, Muttalab was a close associate of Israel.  He has been misrepresented.  His “banking” is a cover.  Next, what do we know about the two Al Qaeda leaders Bush had released, the ones who planned this?

According to ABC news, the Al Qaeda leaders running the insurgency in Yemen were released from Guantanamo, although two of the highest ranking known terrorist there, without trial.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody.

Both of the former Guantanamo detainees are described as military commanders and appear on a January, 2009 video along with the man described as the top leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Basir Naser al-Wahishi, formerly Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary.

With all the hoopla about trials in New York, not a word is said when top level terrorists are released to Saudi friends of the Bush family who let them go.  We are now fighting these two Bush friends in Yemen.  They are running a major insurgency there.  We have been using Cruise missiles and our jets to attack their bases in the last weeks.

CBS NEWS LEARNS CIA HAD ADVANCE INFORMATION ON DETROIT TERRORIST

CBS News has learned that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed “The Nigerian,” suspected of meeting with “terrorist elements” in Yemen.

Sources tell CBS News “The Nigerian” has now turned out to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. But that connection was not made when Abudulmutallab’s father went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria three months later, on November 19, 2009. It was then he expressed deep concerns to a CIA officer about his son’s ties to extremists in Yemen, a hotbed of al Qaeda activity.

THE CIA OFFICIAL STATEMENT

CIA admits broad information during the November interview, information not acted on in any responsible way but failed to understand that the terrorist they were warned of in November was the one they had been tracking since August.

“We learned of him in November, when his father came to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him. We did not have his name before then,” said Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman. “Also in November, we worked with the embassy to ensure he was in the government’s terrorist database – including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen. We also forwarded key biographical information about him to the National Counterterrorism Center.

CIA, ISRAEL AND YEMEN

It is claimed by groups claiming to be Al Qaeda in Yemen that the Detroit attack was in retaliation to US attacks on bases in Yemen run by Al Qaeda leaders released by Bush.

The government of Yemen, as reported in the BBC , says that the Al Qaeda terrorists, led by those released by Bush, are really Israeli agents though they have organized attacks against US targets:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence. Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group’s links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen. The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying.

Read moreEvidence Mounts for US Complicity in Terrorism (Veterans Today)

Gordon Brown Orders Full-Body Scanners to Boost UK Airport Security

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Another inside job:

– US government lies about Flight 253 ‘crotch bomber’ patsy: Summary of the evidence; Yemen attack implication (Examiner)

– Evidence Mounts for US Complicity in Terrorism (Veterans Today)

Here is one of many reasons what that non-existent terrorist threat was all about:

Taking away more of your freedom and destroy your health:

– Airline passengers face body scanners and double searches (Telegraph)

– Gordon Brown promises full body scanners at UK airports (BBC News)

– Full-Body Scanners to Be Put in British Airports (ABC News)

– Full body scanners being ordered for airports says Gordon Brown (The Guardian)

Those full-body scanners will soon be installed everywhere!

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An employee at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, tests the new body scanners. Photograph: Cynthia Boll/AP

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) — U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said British airports will introduce full-body scanners to prevent terrorists smuggling explosives on board planes.

“This is a new type of threat,” Brown told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show today. “We recognize there are new weapons being used by al-Qaeda and we need to respond.”

The prime minister said the machines are part of a response to “a new form of explosive that was not being detected by ordinary machines.” The body scanners will be introduced gradually and other new technology will employed that can detect explosives directly, he said.

Extra body searches, extended restriction on leaving seats, and a greater use of explosive-sniffing dogs are additional measures being considered, Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said in a separate interview with the Sunday Times.

Governments around the world are reviewing airport security after an attempt to blow up a passenger airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day. In the U.S., President Barack Obama ordered a review of terrorist intelligence gathering and aviation security after the accused attacker, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23- year-old Nigerian, allegedly smuggled explosives onboard the airliner even after being on a U.S. government list of people with suspected ties to terrorism.

Read moreGordon Brown Orders Full-Body Scanners to Boost UK Airport Security

Britain is facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, experts predict

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Britain is bracing itself for one of the coldest winters for a century with temperatures hitting minus 16 degrees Celsius, forecasters have warned.

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Parts of Scotland have had snowcover for nearly three weeks

They predicted no let up in the freezing snap until at least mid-January, with snow, ice and severe frosts dominating.

And the likelihood is that the second half of the month will be even colder.

Weather patterns were more like those in the late 1970s, experts said, while Met Office figures released on Monday are expected to show that the country is experiencing the coldest winter for up to 25 years.

On New Year’s Day 10 extreme weather warnings were in place, with heavy snow expected in northern England and Scotland.

Read moreBritain is facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, experts predict

The Degrading Effects of Terrorism Fears in America

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“Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.”
– Adolf Hitler

Problem, Reaction, Solution:

– Former homeland security chief Michael Chertoff puts his mouth where his money is and argues for whole-body imaging (Washington Post):

What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. The relationship drew attention after Chertoff disclosed it on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.

An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff, who left office less than a year ago, for using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.

“Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to abuse the trust the public has placed in him as a former public servant to privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of explosive,” said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners.

I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but David Brooks actually had an excellent column in yesterday’s New York Times that makes several insightful and important points.  Brooks documents how “childish, contemptuous and hysterical” the national reaction has been to this latest terrorist episode, egged on — as usual — by the always-hysterical American media.  The citizenry has been trained to expect that our Powerful Daddies and Mommies in government will — in that most cringe-inducing, child-like formulation — Keep Us Safe.  Whenever the Government fails to do so, the reaction — just as we saw this week — is an ugly combination of petulant, adolescent rage and increasingly unhinged cries that More Be Done to ensure that nothing bad in the world ever happens.  Demands that genuinely inept government officials be held accountable are necessary and wise, but demands that political leaders ensure that we can live in womb-like Absolute Safety are delusional and destructive.  Yet this is what the citizenry screams out every time something threatening happens:  please, take more of our privacy away; monitor more of our communications; ban more of us from flying; engage in rituals to create the illusion of Strength; imprison more people without charges; take more and more control and power so you can Keep Us Safe.

This is what inevitably happens to a citizenry that is fed a steady diet of fear and terror for years.  It regresses into pure childhood.  The 5-year-old laying awake in bed, frightened by monsters in the closet, who then crawls into his parents’ bed to feel Protected and Safe, is the same as a citizenry planted in front of the television, petrified by endless imagery of scary Muslim monsters, who then collectively crawl to Government and demand that they take more power and control in order to keep them Protected and Safe.  A citizenry drowning in fear and fixated on Safety to the exclusion of other competing values can only be degraded and depraved.  John Adams, in his 1776 Thoughts on Government, put it this way:

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.

As Adams noted, political leaders possess an inherent interest in maximizing fear levels, as that is what maximizes their power.  For a variety of reasons, nobody aids this process more than our establishment media, motivated by their own interests in ratcheting up fear and Terrorism melodrama as high as possible.  The result is a citizenry far more terrorized by our own institutions than foreign Terrorists could ever dream of achieving on their own.  For that reason, a risk that is completely dwarfed by numerous others — the risk of death from Islamic Terrorism — dominates our discourse, paralyzes us with fear, leads us to destroy our economic security and eradicate countless lives in more and more foreign wars, and causes us to beg and plead and demand that our political leaders invade more of our privacy, seize more of our freedom, and radically alter the system of government we were supposed to have.  The one thing we don’t do is ask whether we ourselves are doing anything to fuel this problem and whether we should stop doing it.  As Adams said:  fear “renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable.”

What makes all of this most ironic is that the American Founding was predicated on exactly the opposite mindset.  The Constitution is grounded in the premise that there are other values and priorities more important than mere Safety.  Even though they knew that doing so would help murderers and other dangerous and vile criminals evade capture, the Framers banned the Government from searching homes without probable cause, prohibited compelled self-incrimination, double jeopardy and convictions based on hearsay, and outlawed cruel and unusual punishment.  That’s because certain values — privacy, due process, limiting the potential for abuse of government power — were more important than mere survival and safety.  A central calculation of the Constitution was that we insist upon privacy, liberty and restraints on government power even when doing so means we live with less safety and a heightened risk of danger and death.  And, of course, the Revolutionary War against the then-greatest empire on earth was waged by people who risked their lives and their fortunes in pursuit of liberty, precisely because there are other values that outweigh mere survival and safety.

These are the calculations that are now virtually impossible to find in our political discourse.  It is fear, and only fear, that predominates.  No other competing values are recognized.  We have Chris Matthews running around shrieking that he’s scared of kung-fu-wielding Terrorists.  Michael Chertoff is demanding that we stop listening to “privacy ideologues” — i.e., that there should be no limits on Government’s power to invade and monitor and scrutinize.  Republican leaders have spent the decade preaching that only Government-provided Safety, not the Constitution, matters.  All in response to this week’s single failed terrorist attack, there are — as always — hysterical calls that we start more wars, initiate racial profiling, imprison innocent people indefinitely, and torture even more indiscriminately.  These are the by-products of the weakness and panic and paralyzing fear that Americans have been fed in the name of Terrorism, continuously for a full decade now.

Read moreThe Degrading Effects of Terrorism Fears in America

FDA Warning Letter to LSG SkyChefs (Roaches Everywhere!!!)

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Must-read!

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A 747 of Lufthansa scheduled to Shanghai is serviced by a SkyChefs truck at Frankfurt Airport

Enjoy your meal! Guten Appetit! Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Buon appetito! ???!

LSG SkyChefs DEN 235 12/10/09

Department of Health and Human Services logo
Department of Health and Human Services

 Public Health Service
Food and Drug Administration
Southwest Region
Denver District Office
6′” Ave and Kipling Street
Denver Federal Center. Bldg 20
P O. Box 25087
Denver, CO 80225-0087
Telephone 303-236-3000
FAX: 303·236-3100

December 10, 2009
Ref#: DEN-10-04 WL

WARNING LETTER AND NOTICE OF PROVISIONAL STATUS


VIA CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Ms. Sondra Lehman
Chief Operating Officer
North American Region
LSG SkyChefs
6191 N. State Highway 161
Irving, Texas 75038

Dear Ms. Lehman:

This letter serves as your formal notification that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has changed the classification of your airline catering facility from “Approved” to “Provisional.” Your airline customers will be notified of this change in classification. Between September 17 and October 6, 2009, FDA conducted an inspection of your airline catering facility located at 27280 E. 75th Avenue, Denver, Colorado. This comprehensive inspection was conducted under the authority of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to determine your compliance with applicable sections of the Interstate Conveyance Sanitation regulations (21 CFR Part 1250). These regulations were promulgated pursuant to Section 361 of the PHS Act (42 USC § 264). Regulations promulgated under this section are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases. This inspection revealed significant deviations from 21 CFR Part 1250, under the PHS Act. Based on these findings, your airline catering facility is classified as “Provisional.”

At the conclusion of the inspection, on October 6, 2009, the FDA investigator issued a list of Inspectional Ohservations (FDA-483) to your firm. As documented on this form (copy enclosed), the following are the significant violations at your airline catering facility on which we base the “Provisional” classification:

• To comply with 21 CFR 1250.30(a), all places where food is prepared, served, or stored must be constructed and maintained as to be clean and free from flies and other vermin. However, our investigators observed numerous live roaches, dead roaches, and other insects, as well as food, and other debris, in various locations, including the following:

• Cart wash area – Live and dead roach-like insects too numerous to count (TNTC)
• Silverware station – At least 40 live roaches as well as other insects
• The hot kitchen – At least eight dead and one live roach insects were observed in and around the walls of the hot kitchen
• Repack area – Live roaches (TNTC), as well as ants
• Pots and pans warewashing room – At least four live and dead roaches, flies
• Dish machine wash area – At least 13 dead roaches inside the machine loading area and 31 or more dead nearby the machine
• Wash area – At least four live roaches on walls and floors

• To comply with 21 CFR 1250.32(a), all food-handling operations must be accomplished so as to minimize the possibility of contaminating food, drink, or utensils. However, our investigators observed the following:

• Employees handling food with bare hands or with unwashed gloved hands
• Water dripping from the ceiling into equipment/utensil cleaning areas
• Gaps from 1-2.5 inches under garbage room doors, receiving dock doors, and outbound dock area doors
• Standing water in the garbage room
• Accumulation of debris in various areas such as in the ice pit, dairy cooler, dish machine area, and automatic cart wash area
• Holes in wall surfaces, creating areas for insect and vermin harborage
• Debris and standing liquid inside the automatic cart wash machine

• To comply with 21 CFR 1250.33(c), after bactericidal treatment, utensils must be stored and handled in such a manner as to prevent contamination before reuse. However, our investigators observed wet containers in nested stacks in the pots and pans ware-washing room and in the bot kitchen areas. Leaving containers stacked in a wet condition promotes the growing of bacteria, which could lead to contamination of your finished product.

• To comply with 21 CFR 1250.30(d), all plumbing must be designed, installed, and maintained so as to prevent contamination of the water supply, food, and food utensils.
However, our investigators observed water hoses stored with nozzles resting on the floor.

Read moreFDA Warning Letter to LSG SkyChefs (Roaches Everywhere!!!)

US losses will top $400 billion on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

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See also:

– Peter Schiff on Obamacare, Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae: The Nightmare Before Christmas

– Obama administration backs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac no matter how big their losses may be

fannie_mae
A pedestrian walks past Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7, 2009. (Bloomberg)

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — Taxpayer losses from supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will top $400 billion, according to Peter Wallison, a former general counsel at the Treasury who is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The situation is they are losing gobs of money, up to $400 billion in mortgages,” Wallison said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The Treasury Department recognized last week that losses will be more than $400 billion when it raised its limit on federal support for the two government-sponsored enterprises, he said.

Read moreUS losses will top $400 billion on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

China clamps down on exports of rare earth elements crucial to green technology

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Mining those rare earth elements destroys nature:

– Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructively (New York Times)

china-rare-earth-metals

Neodymium is one of 17 metals crucial to green technology. There’s only one snag – China produces 97% of the world’s supply. And they’re not selling

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A neodymium magnet, commonly used in motors, loudspeakers and other appliances. Neodymium is a rare earth element

Britain and other Western countries risk running out of supplies of certain highly sought-after rare metals that are vital to a host of green technologies, amid growing evidence that China, which has a monopoly on global production, is set to choke off exports of valuable compounds.

Failure to secure alternative long-term sources of rare earth elements (REEs) would affect the manufacturing and development of low-carbon technology, which relies on the unique properties of the 17 metals to mass-produce eco-friendly innovations such as wind turbines and low-energy lightbulbs.

China, whose mines account for 97 per cent of global supplies, is trying to ensure that all raw REE materials are processed within its borders. During the past seven years it has reduced by 40 per cent the amount of rare earths available for export.

Industry sources have told The Independent that China could halt shipments of at least two metals as early as next year, and that by 2012 it is likely to be producing only enough REE ore to satisfy its own booming domestic demand, creating a potential crisis as Western countries rush to find alternative supplies, and companies open new mines in locations from South Africa to Greenland to satisfy international demand.

Amid claims that Beijing is using its rare earths monopoly as a tool of foreign policy, the British Department of Business, Industry and Skills said it was “monitoring” the supply of REEs to ensure China was observing international trade rules.

Jack Lifton, an independent consultant and a world expert on REEs, said: “A real crunch is coming. In America, Britain and elsewhere we have not yet woken up to the fact that there is an urgent need to secure the supply of rare earths from sources outside China. China has gone from exporting 75 per cent of the raw ore it produces to shipping just 25 per cent, and it does not consider itself to be under any obligation to ensure supplies of rare earths to anyone but itself. There has been an effort in the West to set up new mines but these are five to 10 years away from significant production.”

Read moreChina clamps down on exports of rare earth elements crucial to green technology

How Goldman Sachs Made Tens Of Billions From The Economic Collapse Of America In Four Easy Steps

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goldman_sachs

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has become perhaps the most prominent symbol for everything that is wrong with the U.S. financial system, but most Americans cannot even begin to explain what they do or how they have made tens of billions of dollars from the economic collapse of America.

The truth is that what Goldman Sachs did was fairly simple, and there may not have even been anything “illegal” about it (although they are now being investigated by the SEC among others).

The following is how Goldman Sachs made tens of billions of dollars from the economic collapse of America in four easy steps….

Step 1: Sell mortgage-related securities that are absolute junk to trusting clients at vastly overinflated prices.

Step 2: Bet against those same mortgage-related securities and make massive bets against the U.S. housing market so that your firm will make massive profits when the U.S. economy collapses.

Step 3: Have ex-Goldman executives in key positions of power in the U.S. government so that bailout money can be funneled to entities such as AIG that Goldman has made these bets with so that they can get paid after they win their bets.

Step 4: Collect the profits – Goldman Sachs is having their “most successful year” and will end up reporting approximately $50 billion in revenue for 2009.

So is it right for the biggest fish on Wall Street to make tens of billions of dollars by betting that the U.S. housing market will collapse?

You see, when you are talking about a financial giant the size of Goldman Sachs, the line between “betting that something will happen” and “making something happen” gets blurred very quickly.

Not that Goldman Sachs was the only one betting against the housing market.

According to the New York Times, firms like Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley also created mortgage-related securities and then bet that they would fail…..

Goldman was not the only firm that peddled these complex securities – known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations, or C.D.O.’s – and then made financial bets against them, called selling short in Wall Street parlance. Others that created similar securities and then bet they would fail, according to Wall Street traders, include Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, as well as smaller firms like Tricadia Inc.

But certainly Goldman Sachs was the most prominent financial player involved in this type of activity.

In fact, without mentioning specifics, Goldman has even admitted publicly to wrongdoing.  On November 17th, 2008 Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein even issued a public apology….

“We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret.”

But complicated financial transactions are something that most Americans simply do not understand, so the public outrage towards Goldman Sachs and others has been somewhat limited.  But that does not change the very serious nature of the activities that Goldman was involved in….

“The simultaneous selling of securities to customers and shorting them because they believed they were going to default is the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen,” Sylvain Raynes, an expert in structured finance at R & R Consulting in New York, recently told The New York Times. “When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else’s house and then committing arson.”

Read moreHow Goldman Sachs Made Tens Of Billions From The Economic Collapse Of America In Four Easy Steps

US Treasuries Post Worst Performance Among Sovereign Markets In 2009

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“President Barack Obama is borrowing unprecedented amounts for spending programs. U.S. marketable debt increased to a record $7.17 trillion in November from $5.80 trillion at the end of last year.”

Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) — Treasuries were the worst performing sovereign debt market in 2009 as the U.S. sold $2.1 trillion of notes and bonds to fund extraordinary efforts to bolster the economy and financial markets.

Investors in U.S. debt lost 3.5 percent on average through Dec. 30, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes, the biggest annual slide since at least 1978. The 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest level in six months yesterday before a Labor Department report next week forecast to show payrolls were unchanged in December after the U.S. economy lost jobs in every month since January 2008.

Read moreUS Treasuries Post Worst Performance Among Sovereign Markets In 2009