Politics

Japan Uses Water Cannons Against Taiwanese Flotilla (VIDEO)

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An aerial view shows Japan Coast Guard patrol ship spraying water at fishing boats from Taiwan as Taiwan’s Coast Guard vessel sails near the disputed islands in the East China Sea (Reuters / Kyodo)

– Japan uses water cannons against Taiwanese flotilla (VIDEO, PHOTOS) (RT, Sep 25, 2012):

Japan’s coastguard vessels have used water cannons in an effort to push the Taiwanese flotilla out of what Tokyo claims to be its territorial waters near the disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Taiwanese boats escorted by patrol ships have now reportedly left the disputed waters.

At least 40 Taiwanese ships breached Japan’s naval border early on Tuesday, the country’s coastguard said. The flotilla was met by Japanese patrol ships that used water cannons in order to stop the vessels from reaching the largest island in the area, Uotsuri-jima.

Local television broadcast the fierce sea battle between the Japanese ships and Taiwanese patrol vessels that also used water cannons.

Read moreJapan Uses Water Cannons Against Taiwanese Flotilla (VIDEO)

Japanese Ministry of Finance To Japanese Bondholders: YOU’RE SCREWED!!!

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Related info:

– Bank Of Japan Increases Asset Purchases By Y10 Trillion, Total Program Now Y80 Trillion, Total Debt Still Y1 Quadrillion

– Bond Wars: Chinese Advisor Calls For Japanese Bond Dump (… Leading To A Long Anticipated Japanese Bond Market Collapse)

– Japan’s Debt Crisis (Infographic)

– Japanese Ministry of Finance To Japanese Bondholders: You’re Screwed! (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012):

This has got to be the icing on the Japanese cake. The otherwise bland website of the Japanese Ministry of Finance, more specifically the FAQ page on government bonds, has been catapulted to stardom on Facebook and Twitter. Not in a good way. As you flip through the MoF’s website, page after page, you will mostly see zero Facebook likes and zero tweets. Social media and the MoF ignore each other.

But go to the FAQ page, skip down past the categories of Budget, Taxation, and Tariffs to item 4, Government bonds. Under the second group, skip past Tax questions for individuals, Miscellaneous (Is it a crime if I make a copy?), Price and yield questions, and Coupons to the infamous question 5: “In case Japan becomes insolvent, what will happen to government bonds?“

Tweeted 1,645 times, liked on Facebook 3,733 times!

The MoF website isn’t some blog to be ignored (at your own risk) but the official voice of the most important ministry of the most indebted country in the world, whose debt will reach 240% of GDP by the end of this fiscal year. The country borrows over 50% of every yen it spends, and it spends more every year. With no solution in sight. Other than more borrowing. Certainly not cutting the budget, which would be too painful. It wouldn’t be enough anyway. Even cutting the budget in half would leave a deficit. And the recently passed consumption tax increase? It will raise the tax from its current 5% to 8% in 2014 and to 10% in 2015, way too little to deal with the gigantic problem, and years too late. Yet it won’t kick in unless GDP grows at least 2% per year—which has practically no chance of happening.

No, there is no longer a good solution. And everyone knows it.

Read moreJapanese Ministry of Finance To Japanese Bondholders: YOU’RE SCREWED!!!

You Know You Are A Conspiracy Theorist If …

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– You Know You Are A Conspiracy Theorist If… (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012):

  • You are capable of critical thinking.
  • You distrust mainstream media.
  • You like nature.
  • You think it’s a good idea to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving with your family rather than camping outside Best Buy to get a cheap plasma television made in China.
  • You think it’s a little strange that WTC building 7 came down at free fall speed on 9/11 yet it was never hit by a plane.
  • You think that drones in America might not be for Al Qaeda.
  • You would like to be able to get on a plane without having to engage in a mandatory radiation bath and digital strip search.
  • You have read a book in the past year.
  • You think you have the right to protest.
  • You think the War on Terror is a scam.
  • You think the War on Drugs is a scam.
  • You think the anger directed at America from the Middle East could possibly be related to our foreign policy rather than hating how amazingly free we are.
  • You think the Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same on the important issues affecting our country.
  • You think believing in The Constitution does not constitute a terrorist act.
  • You have heard of the Bill of Rights and can even name what some of them are.
  • You question whether the government loves you.
  • You think the right to bear arms is not for hunting, rather so citizens can fight back should the government become a bunch of tyrannical thugs.
  • You don’t own a television, and if you do, all you watch is RT, especially the Keiser Report and Capital Account.
  • You don’t think the NDAA is the name of Kesha’s latest single.
  • You think rich, powerful and connected people should be subject to the rule of law and go to jail if they commit crimes. Even if they are bankers and work at JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs.
  • You think corporations aren’t people.
  • You think Warren Buffet is a phony and a crony capitalist.
  • You don’t care that Warren Buffet likes cherry coke, hamburgers and ice cream.  He’s still a bad guy.
  • You know that gold was made illegal by FDR in 1933 and confiscated from the American people.  You know that gold bullion remained illegal for Americans to own until 1975.
  • You think politicians that push for war should be sent to fight on the front lines.  If they are unable, their children should go.
  • You want your food to be labeled GMO so that you can make your own decisions on what you are consuming.
  • You grow your own food.
  • You buy raw milk.
  • You think food and energy should be included in inflation calculations.
  • You are aware that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased 1.2 billion rounds of ammo in the past year.
  • You question whether said ammo purchases are in anticipation of a Normandy beach style landing by Al Qaeda.
  • You think allowing a small group of unelected people (The Federal Reserve) to print unlimited amounts of money and distribute it as they please might not be a good idea.

If you answered yes to more than five of the 32 questions above, you might be a conspiracy theorist.

You also may be on the government’s terror watch list.

Be very alarmed and report it to the authorities immediately should you discover your neighbors engaged in such uncivilized thought.

Is Draghi’s Bond-Buying Dream Circling The Drain As ECB/Bundesbank Lawyer Up?

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– Is Draghi’s Bond-Buying Dream Circling The Drain As ECB/Bundesbank Lawyer Up? (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012):

Following closely on the heels of our recent (now must read) discussion of the potential illegality of Draghi’s OMT, Reuters is reporting the somewhat stunning news that the ECB and Bundesbank are getting lawyers to check the legality of the new bond-buying program. Germany’s Bild newspaper – via the now ubiquitous unnamed sources – said in-house lawyers were checking both what proportions the program would have to take on and how long it would have to last for it to breach EU treaties (that specifically ban direct financing of state deficits).While Draghi – full of bravado – likely said whatever he felt was necessary at the time to stop the inversion in the Spanish yield curve, it is becoming clearer that, as usual, the premature euphoria (in the complacent belief that central banks can solve every problem with a wave of the magic CTRL-P wand) was misplaced.

Bild goes on to note that this matter could be referred to the European Court of Justice – and the ECB/Buba were preparing for such an event. Of course, since every other rumor in recent months, most of which have originated in credible media, has proven to be a lie, it is likely this is also merely leaked disinformation to push the German case, i.e. anti-Europe.

Via Reuters:

BERLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The European  Central Bank and Germany’s Bundesbank central bank are getting lawyers  to check the legality of the ECB’s new bond-buying programme, a German  newspaper said on Tuesday.

German tabloid Bild, which did not name  its sources, said ECB and Bundesbank in-house lawyers were checking  both what proportions the programme would have to take on and how long  it would have to last for it to breach EU treaties.

Read moreIs Draghi’s Bond-Buying Dream Circling The Drain As ECB/Bundesbank Lawyer Up?

Now Taiwan Is Also Claiming The Senkaku Islands: 70 Fishing Boats Set Sail To Stake Claim

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– Now Taiwan Is Also Claiming The Senkaku Islands: 70 Fishing Boats Set Sail To Stake Claim (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012):

If you thought it was complicated when “only” China and Japan were disputing the recent escalation in property rights over who owns those three particular rock in the East China Sea, to be henceforth called the Senkaku Islands for simplicity’s sake because things are about to get far more confusing, here comes Taiwan, aka the Republic of China, not to be confused with the People’s Republic of China for the simple reason that the latter officially asserts itself to be the sole legal representation of China and actively claims Taiwan to be under its sovereignty, denying the status and existence of ROC as a sovereign state (yet one which benefits from US backing), to also stake its claim over the disputed Senkaku Islands. It has done so in a very confusing manner: by replicating what it thinks China did some days ago when an “armada” of 1000 fishing boats set sail in an unknown direction and which the trigger happy media immediately assumed was in direction Senkaku. It subsequently turned out that this was not the case and as we reported, “China’s fishing season stops every year in June-September in the East China Sea, where the islands are located. This year, the ban was lifted on Sunday.” In short the (PR)China fishing boat amrada was not headed toward the Senkakus. Taiwan however did not get the memo, and as NKH reports, “several dozen Taiwanese fishing boats have set sail for the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, to claim access to their fishing grounds.“So to summarize: a country which (PR)China claims does not exist and is under its own sovereign control, has replicated what it thought was (PR)China’s strategic move to reclaim the Senkaku Islands (which was nothing of the sort), and is sending its own fishing boat armada to reclaim islands whose ownership has sent Japan and (PR)China on the verge of more than mere diplomatic warfare. The only thing that could make this any more confusing is if someone discovered title deeds ceding ownership of the Senkakus to Japan, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China at the same time, and signed by Linda Green.

From NHK:

More than 70 boats from a fishing cooperative in northeastern Taiwan set out Monday afternoon, hoisting banners claiming that the islands belong to Taiwan, and that Taiwan’s sovereignty and fishing rights must be protected.

The cooperative is protesting Japan’s purchase of 3 of the islands in the Senkaku chain from a private owner earlier this month. The cooperative says the waters surrounding the islands have long been a major Taiwanese fishing ground.

The cooperative says the boats will be joined by vessels from other cooperatives along the way to the islands.

The fleet plans to arrive at a point about 40 kilometers southwest of the islands by early Tuesday morning.

Read moreNow Taiwan Is Also Claiming The Senkaku Islands: 70 Fishing Boats Set Sail To Stake Claim

Spanish Military Threatens Treason As Catalonia Seeks Secession Referendum

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– Spanish Military Threatens Treason As Catalonia Seeks Secession Referendum (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012)

“Do not play with the feelings of the Catalans” is the totally unveiled threat after Catalonia’s beggars-can-be-choosers demand for an unconditional bailout fell on deaf ears. The traditionally separatist-minded province has decided, according to ANSAmed, has decided to pull a Greece – and escalate with a move to secession. A resolution, on the right of the Catalan people to cut off ties with the Spanish state, will be voted on Thursday by the regional parliament.

This statement of “the will of Catalan people to vote on the bond with the State of Spain” opens the way for forthcoming elections on November 25 to become a referendum on the sovereignty of Catalonia.

The Spanish military are not taking this lying down with the counter-threat that these ‘separatists’ and their ‘inappropriate and unacceptable’ threat to break-up Spain shall be, according to El Economista, charged with high treason. We are sure Draghi has a ‘grand plan’ for this.

Read moreSpanish Military Threatens Treason As Catalonia Seeks Secession Referendum

America’s Deadliest And Poorest City Set To Disband Its Entire Police Force Over Budget Crisis

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– America’s Deadliest And Poorest City Set To Disband Its Entire Police Force Over Budget Crisis (ZeroHedge, Sep 24, 2012)

While the stock market in the US continues to surge (if not so much in China where the composite is back to 2009 lows) as the relentless liquidity tsunami makes its way into stocks, and other Fed frontrunning instruments, and only there, reality for everyone else refuses to wait. Last week we saw reality striking in Greece, where a section of Athens literally shut down after it ran out of all cash. Today, reality comes to the US, and specifically its poorest city, Camden, which is a twofer, doubling down also as America’s deadliest city. It turns out Camden is about to become even deadliest-er, as its police force is set to be disbanded following a budget crisis in this effectively insolvent city.AP reports:

This city, long among the nation’s poorest and most crime-ridden, is on the verge of dismantling its police department and starting anew with a force run by the county government.

Read moreAmerica’s Deadliest And Poorest City Set To Disband Its Entire Police Force Over Budget Crisis

AND NOW …. Quadrupling The Euro Bailout Fund: ESM To Be Leveraged To 2 TRILLION Euros (Focus/Spiegel)

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German TRAITOR Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is in favor of leveraging the ESM. Here, during his 70th birthday celebrations last week.

– Up to Two Trillion: Europe Plans to Leverage Euro-Zone Bailout Fund (Spiegel, Sep 24, 2012):

Officially, the ESM permanent euro-zone bailout fund is worth 500 billion euros. That, though, might not be enough, which is why euro-zone governments are now planning to introduce levers that could mobilize up to 2trillion euros, SPIEGEL has learned. Finland, though, is skeptical of the idea.

With the launch of the permanent common-currency bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), just around the corner, euro-zone member states are looking into ways to leverage the €500 billion ($647 billion) available to the fund, SPIEGEL has learned. But with Finland still concerned about the leveraging plans, it is unlikely that they will be initially included when the ESM is launched on Oct. 8.

The plan envisions the continuation of leverage instruments currently in use in the temporary euro bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Should they be applied to the ESM, the permanent fund could be able to mobilize up to €2 trillion instead of the €500 billion lending capacity it currently has — a size that would make it easier to provide emergency aid to countries as large as Spain and Italy, for example.

Google translation (Original article in German down below.):

– Quadrupling of the euro rescue fund: ESM should be leveraged to two trillion euros (Focus, Sep 24, 2012):

The euro countries prepare before one allegedly leverage the ESM permanent bailout fund. To save even large countries like Spain and Italy, as opposed to its planned 500 billion euros will be available two trillion euros.

Whether to increase the financial cushion reported the news magazine “Der Spiegel” on Monday. Model for the leverage of aid accordingly, the provisions of the predecessor fund EFSF. There are two tools in which the bailout fund with public money can only take on the most risky parts. The rest of the money will come from private investors, which must go into limited risk. However, the concept was the EFSF not apply because there are no private investors found.

Read moreAND NOW …. Quadrupling The Euro Bailout Fund: ESM To Be Leveraged To 2 TRILLION Euros (Focus/Spiegel)

Spain’s Latest Bailout Plan – Lottery Bonds

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– Spain’s Latest Bailout Plan – Lottery Bonds (ZeroHedge, Sep 23, 2012):

Just when we thought Europe has already used the kitchen sink and then some in its arsenal of bailout ideas, here comes Spain proving there is always “something else.” Bloomberg reports that the insolvent country which is not really insolvent as long as people keep buying its bonds on hopes it is insolvent, is launching “lottery bonds”. To wit: Spain to sell bonds through state-run lottery operator to fund regional bailouts, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Esteban Duarte and Ben Sills. The issue is part of €6 billion financing through Sociedad Estatal Loterias & Apuestas del Estado which is raising syndicated loan. Loterias official said financing details haven’t been completed. In other words, the national lottery, which as in Spain so everywhere else, is nothing but an added tax on a country’s poor population but one which provides at least a tiny hope of a substantial repayment (which never happens for the vast, vast majority of players) so few actually complain about paying it, is about to shift the bailout cost to the nation’s poorest. Who benefits? Why Spiderman towel makers of course. And insolvent banks.

Read moreSpain’s Latest Bailout Plan – Lottery Bonds

The Federal Reserve Has Another $3.9 TRILLION In QE To Go (At Least)

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– The Fed Has Another $3.9 Trillion In QE To Go (At Least) (ZeroHedge, Sep 23, 2012):

Some wonder why we have been so convinced that no matter what happens, that the Fed will have no choice but to continue pushing the monetary easing pedal to the metal. It is actually no secret: we explained the logic for the first time back in March of this year with “Here Is Why The Fed Will Have To Do At Least Another $3.6 Trillion In Quantitative Easing.” The logic, in a nutshell, is simple: everyone who looks at modern monetary practice (as opposed to theory) through the prism of a 1980s textbook is woefully unprepared for the modern capital markets reality for one simple reason: shadow banking; and when accounting for the ongoing melt of shadow banking credit intermediates, which continues to accelerate, the Fed has a Herculean task ahead of it in restoring consolidated credit growth.Shadow banking, as we have explained many times most recently here, is merely an unregulated, inflationary-buffer (as it has no matched deposits) which provides the conventional banking credit transformations such as maturity, credit and liquidity, in the process generating term liabilities. In yet other words, shadow banking creates credit money which can then flow into monetary conduits such as economic “growth” or capital markets, however without creating the threat of inflation – if anything shadow banks are the biggest systemic deflationary threat, as due to the relatively short-term nature of their duration exposure, they tend to lock up at the first sing of trouble (see Money Markets breaking the buck within hours of the Lehman failure) and lead to utter economic mayhem unless preempted. Well, preempting the collapse in the shadow banking system is precisely what the Fed’s primary role has so far been, even more so than pushing the S&P to new all time highs. The problem, however, as we will show today, is that even with the Fed’s balance sheet at $2.8 trillion and set to rise to $5 trillion in 2 years, it will not be enough.

Read moreThe Federal Reserve Has Another $3.9 TRILLION In QE To Go (At Least)

Government Cracks Safe-Deposit Boxes

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See also:

– US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HAS TOLD BANKS – IN WRITING – IT MAY INSPECT SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES WITHOUT WARRANT AND SEIZE ANY GOLD, SILVER, GUNS OR OTHER VALUABLES IT FINDS INSIDE THOSE BOXES!

– James G. Rickards of Omnis Inc.: Get Your Gold Out Of The Banking System


GB: Gewaltsame Öffnung von Schließfächern – UK: Violent opening of safes

Google translation (Original article in German down below.):

– State cracks lockers (MMNews, Sep 18, 2012):

In Germany, lockers are scarce. Customers imagine their assets in the bank vaults in safety. But appearances are deceiving. In the UK, 7000 lockers were forced open on suspicion of money laundering and crime.

The surveillance state proposes to worldwide. In Switzerland, the banking secrecy was practically abolished. In Germany, we are long since debit technically in total surveillance state: authorities-touch access to all accounts. More and more customers therefore rent a locker to put their assets in front of Bank and State security. According to a report in the Frankfurter Rundschau now even the private vaults in the banks are scarce. But this security could be deceptive.

Read moreGovernment Cracks Safe-Deposit Boxes

Greece Caught Underreporting Its Budget Deficit By Nearly 50 Percent

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– Greece Caught Underreporting Its Budget Deficit By Nearly 50% (ZeroHedge, Sep 23, 2012):

There was a time about a year ago, before the second Greek bailout was formalized and the haircut on its domestic-law private sector bonds (first 50%, ultimately 80%, soon to be 100%) was yet to be documented, when it was in Greece’s interest to misrepresent its economy as being worse than it was in reality. Things got so bad that the former head of the Greek Statistics Bureau Elstat, also a former IMF employee, faced life in prison if convicted of doing precisely this.A year later, the tables have turned, now that Germany is virtually convinced that Europe can pull a Lehman and let Greece leave the Eurozone, and is merely looking for a pretext to sever all ties with the country, whose only benefit for Europe is to be a seller of islands at Blue Aegean water Special prices to assorted Goldman bankers (at least until it renationalizes them back in a few short years). So a year later we are back to a more normal data fudging dynamic, one in which Greece, whose July unemployment soared by one whole percentage point, will do everything in its power to underrepresent its soaring budget deficit.

Case in point, on Friday the Finance Ministry proudly announced its budget deficit for the first eight months was “just” €12.5 billion, versus a target of €15.2 billion, leading some to wonder how it was possible that a country that has suffered terminal economic collapse, and in which the tax collectors have now joined everyone in striking and thus not collecting any tax revenue, could have a better than expected budget deficit. Turns out the answer was quite simple. According to Spiegel, Greece was lying about everything all along, and instead of a €12.5 billion deficit, the real revenue shortfall is nearly double this, or €20 billion, a number which will hardly incentivize anyone in Germany to give Greece the benefit of another delay, let along a third bailout as is now speculated.

To quote Greg House: “Everybody lies”

From Spiegel:

The gap in the Greek national budget is greater than previously expected. According to a preliminary Der Spiegel finding, the troika of European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund reported that the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is missing currently around 20 billion euros – nearly twice as much as last admitted. Only if the funding gap is closed, the next EU tranche will be transferred to Athens.

Read moreGreece Caught Underreporting Its Budget Deficit By Nearly 50 Percent

Panic Cash Withdrawals In Spain; Greece-Style Economic Implosion Imminent

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– Panic cash withdrawals in Spain drain banks; Greece-style economic implosion now imminent (Natural News, Sep 24, 2012):

Spain appears poised to become the next Greece in the ongoing European Union (EU) implosion, as Spaniards are withdrawing record amounts of funds from Spanish banks to avoid a potential insolvency situation. According to the New York Times (NYT), the equivalent of $94 billion was withdrawn from Spanish banks in July, an amount that equals seven percent of the country’s overall economic output.

Though stronger overall compared to Greece in terms of economic diversity and debt levels, Spain is undeniably on a downward economic spiral that is sending many of its people and their money to other countries like England, Germany, and Singapore, where economic conditions are much more favorable. Just like in Greece, there is a growing fear among Spaniards that their nation could revert from the euro to its former currency, pesetas, which would greatly devalue their personal wealth.

Read morePanic Cash Withdrawals In Spain; Greece-Style Economic Implosion Imminent

Israel Seeks War On Iran To keep Lid On 9/11 (Veterans Today)

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Flashback:

– Heads Of Mossad And Shin Bet May Have Leaked Plans For Attack On Iran, PM Netanyahu Orders An Investigation (Guardian, Nov. 3, 2011):

… the main suspects are the former heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet, respectively Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.Netanyahu is said to believe that the two, Meir Dagan and Yuval Diskin, wanted to torpedo plans being drawn up by him and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, to hit Iranian nuclear sites.

In January the recently retired Dagan, a hawk when he was running the Mossad, called an attack on Iran “the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard“.

Netanyahu’s first reaction to 9/11: “Good for Israel!” But maybe not in the long term.

– Israel Seeks War on Iran to keep Lid on 9/11 (Veterans Today, Sep 23, 2012):

Almost every politically-aware person on the planet is puzzled by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bizarre obsession with Iran. Netanyahu is risking his political career, his reputation, and Israel’s future by intervening in the US presidential elections. He is using all of Zionism’s considerable might – including organized crime assets like “Las Vegas Godfather” Sheldon Adelson – to force Obama to attack Iran; or, failing that, to make sure that Obama is defeated by the Zionist puppet Romney. There are even rumors of Israeli-sponsored assassination attempts on Obama.

Even the rabidly pro-Zionist (but relatively honest) Jewish Daily Forward editorialized:

It’s difficult to recall a time when an Israeli prime minister has inserted himself into a presidential election campaign in the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has. It’s even harder to recall a time when a trusted ally openly urged the American president to undertake a questionable, unpopular and highly risky war. We sure hope Netanyahu knows what he’s doing, because the stakes for him — and for the two nations he professes to care about the most — could not be higher.

The Jewish Daily Forward has good reasons to wonder whether Netanyahu knows what he’s doing. The editorialist cites polls showing that the American people strongly oppose attacking Iran, even if war breaks out between Iran and Israel and only US intervention could save Israel! These polls show that American voters no longer give a damn whether Israel, which has chosen to live by the sword, finally dies by the sword. As Dave Lindorff observes, Netanyahu’s mad obsession with pushing the US into yet another unwanted war for Israel “may have fundamentally undermined the long-standing ‘special relationship’ between the US and Israel.

And still Netanyahu continues on this seemingly suicidal course. He even orders the Mossad and its CIA assets including Gladio veteran Terry Jones to unleash a rabidly anti-Islam film, spammed into the faces of every Muslim on the planet via millions of dollars of computer server time and intelligence agency expertise – an obvious attempt to fan the flames of islamophobia and pave the way to a US war on Iran for Israel. Obama, who is on record saying he hates Netanyahu and that Netanyahu is a liar, and who knows that Netanyahu manufactured the “Innocence of Muslims” crisis to try to get Romney elected, responded by refusing to meet with Netanyahu in New York, and going on the David Letterman Show instead. A more blatant snub could hardly be imagined.

Read moreIsrael Seeks War On Iran To keep Lid On 9/11 (Veterans Today)

Paul Ryan’s Latest Whopper: Oops, I ‘Overlooked’ 20% Of My Income

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–Ryan’s latest whopper: Oops, I ‘overlooked’ 20% of my income (Updated) (Daily Kos, Sep 22, 2012):

From the NYT article on Romney’s newest tax info release:

In an amended return also released Friday, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Mr. Romney’s running mate, disclosed that he and his wife had initially failed to report $61,122 in income from 2011. He said the failure was inadvertent. The change raised their total income to $323,416 and increased their taxes by $19,917 to $64,674, or 20 percent of adjusted gross income.They owed a penalty of $59 for the original underpayment. The Ryans explained that they had overlooked their income from the Prudence Little Living Trust. Mrs. Little, who died in 2010, was Mrs. Ryan’s mother.

Yup. I overlooked that $60K, almost 20% of my income. $60K here, $60K there, how am I supposed to keep track of it? Who can remember every penny? Besides it came from some obscure source I’d never remember … what was it again? … oh yeah, your Mom’s trust.Or maybe, just maybe, what I overlooked was the fact that I would be the vice-presidential candidate and wouldn’t be able to count on the trust income going unnoticed and unreported.

Sorry, no time for questions, got to run another sub-3-hour marathon.

Read morePaul Ryan’s Latest Whopper: Oops, I ‘Overlooked’ 20% Of My Income

US Law Enforcement To Use Russian Speech Recognition System To Store Millions of Voices

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– Speak up: US law enforcement to use Russian software to store millions of voices (RT, Sep 23, 2012):

The US government has already proven its intent to see all evil, with the use of Orwellian programs like TrapWire. But it can now hear all evil too, as law enforcement agencies implement a tool able to store, analyze and identify voices in seconds.

‘Voice Grid Nation’ is a system that uses advanced algorithms to match identities to voices. Brought to the US by Russia’s Speech Technology Center, it claims to be capable of allowing police, federal agencies and other law enforcement personnel to build up a huge database containing up to several million voices.

When authorities intercept a call they’ve deemed ‘hinky’, the recording is entered into the VoiceGrid program, which (probably) buzzes and whirrs and spits out a match. In five seconds, the program can scan through 10,000 voices, and it only needs 3 seconds for speech analysis. All that, combined with 100 simultaneous searches and the storage capacity of 2 million samples, gives SpeechPro, as the company is known in the US, the right to claim a 90% success rate.

Read moreUS Law Enforcement To Use Russian Speech Recognition System To Store Millions of Voices

Academi (Formerly Blackwater) To Teach US Spies Survival Skills

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– Ex-Blackwater to teach US spies survival skills (RT, Sep 22, 2012):

The Pentagon has awarded Academi, the security company previously known as Blackwater, part of a $20 billion five year contract to train military intelligence agents. It comes despite the firm earlier being fined by a US court for illegal arms trade.

­The US Defense Intelligence Agency announced on Thursday that it would hire six private security companies, including Academi, for the contract. The contractors are to train agents “before they leave on overseas deployments, to provide them with a foundation of hard and soft skills relevant to living and working in hostile and austere environments,” the document says.

Read moreAcademi (Formerly Blackwater) To Teach US Spies Survival Skills

Rand Paul Stands Alone Against Senate’s ‘PREEMTIVE WAR’ Resolution For Iran, Arguing That The Bill Was A De-Facto Declaration Of War

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Remember that Rand Paul endorsed traitor Romney who supports an Israeli attack on Iran and ‘Wants To Attack Iran To Prevent A Dirty Bomb‘ (= WW III).

Also remember that we have already started the war …

– Ron Paul: Sanctions Against Iran Are an ‘Act of War’:

… Ron Paul told voters in Iowa that western sanctions against Iran are “acts of war” that are likely to lead to an actual war.

Paul said that Iran would be justified in responding to sanctions by blocking the Straits of Hormuz, adding that the country blocking the strategically important strait is “so logical” since they have no other recourse.

… and  that …

– George Galloway: The Case Against War With Iran (Must-Listen!!!) (YouTube):

‘Iran Hasn’t Invaded Another Country In More Than 300 Years.’

– Rand Paul stands alone against Senate’s ‘preemptive war’ resolution for Iran (RT, Sep 22, 2012):

The US Senate voted 90-1 early Saturday on a non-binding resolution to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Voting against the resolution was Sen. Rand Paul, arguing that the bill was a de-facto declaration of war.

Read moreRand Paul Stands Alone Against Senate’s ‘PREEMTIVE WAR’ Resolution For Iran, Arguing That The Bill Was A De-Facto Declaration Of War

UKIP Conference 2012 – NIGEL FARAGE (Full Speech Video)

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Recommended!


YouTube Added: 23.09.2012

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage full speech at the UKIP 2012 Conference

Iran Accuses German Siemens Of Sabotaging Its Nuclear Plant As Turkey Sends Heavy Weapons To Syria Border

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– Iran Accuses German Siemens Of Sabotaging Its Nuclear Plant As Turkey Sends Heavy Weapons To Syria Border (ZeroHedge, Sep 22, 2012):

It seems you can’t turn your back on the Middle East for more than a few minutes without something going bump in the desert. Sure enough, a few shorts hours after we reported that the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is certain war with Israel is coming, here comes Iran again with the stunning admission that none other than German industrial conglomerate, and occasional maker of nuclear power plants, Siemens was reponsible for “implanting tiny explosives inside equipment the Islamic Republic purchased for its disputed nuclear program. Prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iranian security experts discovered the explosives and removed them before detonation, adding that authorities believe the booby-trapped equipment was sold to derail uranium enrichment efforts. “The equipment was supposed to explode after being put to work, in order to dismantle all our systems,” he said. “But the wisdom of our experts thwarted the enemy conspiracy.” Expert wisdom aside, what is stunning is not the ongoing attempts by everyone and the kitchen sink to terminally corrupt the Iranian nuclear power plant: after Stuxnet one would expect nothing less than every form of conventional and “new normal” espionage thrown into the pot to cripple the only peaceful argument Iran would have for demanding nuclear power, which by implication would mean that all ongoing nuclear pursuits are geared solely toward aggressive, military goals, of the type that demand immediate military retaliation by the democratic superpowers. No, what is stunning is the implicit admission that Germany’s, and Europe’s, largest electrical engineering company, has been not only quietly transacting with none other than world peace (as portrayed by the MSM) enemy #1, Iran, but instrumental in its nuclear program.

Obviously it took a Stuxnet second before Siemens denied everything and then some. Via Reuters:

Read moreIran Accuses German Siemens Of Sabotaging Its Nuclear Plant As Turkey Sends Heavy Weapons To Syria Border