Politics – Page 2605 – Infinite Unknown

Moody’s Downgrades Greece’s Credit Rating

December 22, 2009 by Infinite

Moody’s has downgraded Greece’s credit rating, despite efforts by the new Socialist government to slash public spending and pull the country out of an economic crisis.

A man walks by a graffiti reading ‘eat the rich’, sprayed on the wall of a bank office in central Athens. Photo: EPA

The credit rating agency is the third to downgrade Greek government bonds – changing them from an A1 category to A2.

Standard and Poor’s and Fitch have also downgraded their assessment of the country’s ability to pay back debt.

Greece is facing its worst debt crisis in decades and has come under intense European Union pressure to improve public its finances and comply with deficit limits intended to support the shared euro currency.

The government announced a raft of measures this month to reduce Greece’s massive public debt, which has reached €300bn (£270bn).

It has promised to gradually bring the budget deficit – projected at 12.7pc of GDP for 2009 – to below the European Union’s eurozone requirement of 3pc of GDP by the end of 2013.

Fitch warns: Britain and France risk losing their AAA rating

December 22, 2009 by Infinite

Fitch Ratings has given its bluntest warning to date that Britain and France risk losing their AAA status unless they map out a clear path to budget discipline over the next year.

Highlighting the “unpleasant fiscal arithmetic” facing states across the Old World, Fitch said that none of the “arguably” benchmark AAA states can safely rely on their top rating for much longer.

Public debt in both Britain and France will reach 90pc of GDP by 2011, higher than the 80pc (net) level when Japan lost its AAA rating earlier this decade.

Japan’s error at the time was the failure to set out any serious plan to rein in spending, a lesson that the Europeans need to study closely. “The UK, Spain, and France must articulate credible fiscal consolidation programmes over the coming year, given the budgetary challenges they face in stabilising public debt. Failure to do so will greatly intensify pressure on their sovereign ratings,” it said.

Brian Coulton, Fitch’s global strategist, said Labour had fallen well short in the pre-Budget report. “They did not articulate fully what needs to be done,” he said.

Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009: Hard Work

December 22, 2009 by Infinite

857 US Soldiers Died in Afghanistan Region Since 2001

December 22, 2009 by Infinite

More than 300 died in Afghanistan in 2009 alone:

– Afghanistan: more than 300 US soldiers killed this year (Telegraph):

The latest death pushed to the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 301, according to the icasualties.org website.

The number is nearly twice the 155 American soldiers killed in 2008, when total foreign troop deaths numbered 295 for the entire year.

I am repeating myself here, but those soldiers could still be alive …

Obama: ‘I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am President, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.’

Lie and send a few hundred US soldiers to death, get the Nobel Peace Prize!!!

More lies here: Barack Obama Lies 7 Times In Under 2 Minutes!!!!!

Enough!

As of Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, at least 857 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Of those, the military reports 662 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 71 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, four were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.

US: Trillions Of Troubles Ahead

December 21, 2009 by Infinite

– Chinese central banker Zhu Min: ‘The world does not have so much money to buy more US Treasuries.’

Game over!

Not too long ago, a billion dollars in a governmental budget was a lot of money. Then we got into hundreds of billions. People understood that this was a lot, just because of all the zeros. Now, unfortunately, the number has become small: the world “trillion,” as in $1.2 trillion for health care reform, seems so tiny. But it has 12 zeroes behind it, which is so easy to forget.

If the government stays on the course it’s been on for the past forty years without a radical change, the federal government will soon have a $10 trillion budget.

In other words, the federal budget deficit will be $1.4 trillion. Just to make the size more visible, that’s $1,400 billion.

Our colleague Rob Arnott, who always does terrific research, wrote in his recent report that “at all levels, federal, state, local and GSEs, the total public debt is now at 141% of GDP. That puts the United States in some elite company–only Japan, Lebanon and Zimbabwe are higher. That’s only the start. Add household debt (highest in the world at 99% of GDP) and corporate debt (highest in the world at 317% of GDP, not even counting off-balance-sheet swaps and derivatives) and our total debt is 557% of GDP. Less than three years ago our total indebtedness crossed 500% of GDP for the first time.”

Add the unfunded portion of entitlement programs and we’re at 840% of GDP.

The world has not seen such debt levels in modern history. This debt is not serviceable. Imagine that total debt is 557% of GDP, without considering entitlements. The interest on the debt will consume all the tax revenues of the country in the not-too-distant future. Then there will be no way out but to create more debt in order to finance the old debt.

US: Maine to consider cell phone brain cancer warning

December 21, 2009 by Infinite

AUGUSTA, Maine – A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.

The now-ubiquitous devices carry such warnings in some countries, though no U.S. states require them, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar effort is afoot in San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom wants his city to be the nation’s first to require the warnings.

Maine Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, said numerous studies point to the cancer risk, and she has persuaded legislative leaders to allow her proposal to come up for discussion during the 2010 session that begins in January, a session usually reserved for emergency and governors’ bills.

Boland herself uses a cell phone, but with a speaker to keep the phone away from her head. She also leaves the phone off unless she’s expecting a call. At issue is radiation emitted by all cell phones.

Under Boland’s bill, manufacturers would have to put labels on phones and packaging warning of the potential for brain cancer associated with electromagnetic radiation. The warnings would recommend that users, especially children and pregnant women, keep the devices away from their head and body.

President Chavez: US Spy Plane in Venezuela’s Airspace

December 21, 2009 by Infinite

President alleges drone came from Colombia, flew over military base

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez on Sunday during his weekly radio and television show.

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the U.S. of violating Venezuela’s airspace with an unmanned spy plane, and ordered his military to be on alert and shoot down any such aircraft in the future.

Speaking during his weekly television and radio program, Chavez said the aircraft overflew a Venezuelan military base in the western state of Zulia after taking off from neighboring Colombia. He did not elaborate, but suggested the plane was being used for espionage.

“These are the Yankees. They are entering Venezuela,” he said.

“I’ve ordered them to be shot down,” Chavez said of the aircraft. “We cannot permit this.”

Chavez has accused Colombia of allowing the United States to use its military bases to prepare a possible attack against Venezuela.

Both the U.S. and Colombia have denied such allegations in the past, saying the U.S. military presence is for the sole purpose of combating drug trafficking.

Israel admits organ harvesting from Palestinians, and others, without consent

December 21, 2009December 21, 2009 by Infinite

“We have the most moral army in the world.” – Defense Minister Ehud Barak

… with the most moral doctors …

Israel has admitted pathologists harvested organs from dead Palestinians, and others, without the consent of their families – a practice it said ended in the 1990s – it emerged at the weekend.

The admission, by the former head of the country’s forensic institute, followed a furious row prompted by a Swedish newspaper reporting that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to use their organs – a charge that Israel denied and called “antisemitic”.

The revelation, in a television documentary, is likely to generate anger in the Arab and Muslim world and reinforce sinister stereotypes of Israel and its attitude to Palestinians. Iran’s state-run Press TV tonight reported the story, illustrated with photographs of dead or badly injured Palestinians.

Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab MP, said the report incriminated the Israeli army.

The story emerged in an interview with Dr Yehuda Hiss, former head of the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic who released it because of the row between Israel and Sweden over a report in the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet.

Channel 2 TV reported that in the 1990s, specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

The Israeli military confirmed to the programme that the practice took place, but added: “This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer.”

Hiss said: “We started to harvest corneas … whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family.”

However, there was no evidence that Israel had killed Palestinians to take their organs, as the Swedish paper reported. Aftonbladet quoted Palestinians as saying young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been seized by the Israeli forces and their bodies returned to their families with missing organs. The interview with Hiss was released by Nancy Scheper-Hughes, professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who had conducted a study of Abu Kabir.

She was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that while Palestinians were “by a long shot” not the only ones affected, she felt the interview must be made public, because “the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, [is] something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered.”

Obamacare: Change Nobody Believes In

December 20, 2009 by Infinite

A bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas eve.

And tidings of comfort and joy from Harry Reid too. The Senate Majority Leader has decided that the last few days before Christmas are the opportune moment for a narrow majority of Democrats to stuff ObamaCare through the Senate to meet an arbitrary White House deadline. Barring some extraordinary reversal, it now seems as if they have the 60 votes they need to jump off this cliff, with one-seventh of the economy in tow.

Mr. Obama promised a new era of transparent good government, yet on Saturday morning Mr. Reid threw out the 2,100-page bill that the world’s greatest deliberative body spent just 17 days debating and replaced it with a new “manager’s amendment” that was stapled together in covert partisan negotiations. Democrats are barely even bothering to pretend to care what’s in it, not that any Senator had the chance to digest it in the 38 hours before the first cloture vote at 1 a.m. this morning. After procedural motions that allow for no amendments, the final vote could come at 9 p.m. on December 24.

Even in World War I there was a Christmas truce.

The rushed, secretive way that a bill this destructive and unpopular is being forced on the country shows that “reform” has devolved into the raw exercise of political power for the single purpose of permanently expanding the American entitlement state. An increasing roll of leaders in health care and business are looking on aghast at a bill that is so large and convoluted that no one can truly understand it, as Finance Chairman Max Baucus admitted on the floor last week. The only goal is to ram it into law while the political window is still open, and clean up the mess later.

***

• Health costs. From the outset, the White House’s core claim was that reform would reduce health costs for individuals and businesses, and they’re sticking to that story. “Anyone who says otherwise simply hasn’t read the bills,” Mr. Obama said over the weekend. This is so utterly disingenuous that we doubt the President really believes it.

The best and most rigorous cost analysis was recently released by the insurer WellPoint, which mined its actuarial data in various regional markets to model the Senate bill.

WellPoint found that a healthy 25-year-old in Milwaukee buying coverage on the individual market will see his costs rise by 178%. A small business based in Richmond with eight employees in average health will see a 23% increase. Insurance costs for a 40-year-old family with two kids living in Indianapolis will pay 106% more. And on and on.

These increases are solely the result of ObamaCare—above and far beyond the status quo—because its strict restrictions on underwriting and risk-pooling would distort insurance markets. All but a handful of states have rejected regulations like “community rating” because they encourage younger and healthier buyers to wait until they need expensive care, increasing costs for everyone. Benefits and pricing will now be determined by politics.

US General Defends Court Martial For Pregnant Soldiers

December 20, 2009 by Infinite

Married soldiers in combat zones are expected to put love lives on hold

A US Army general in northern Iraq has defended his decision to add pregnancy to the list of reasons a soldier under his command could face court martial.

It is current army policy to send pregnant soldiers home, but Maj Gen Anthony Cucolo told the BBC he was losing people with critical skills.

That was why the added deterrent of a possible court martial was needed, he said.

The new policy applies both to female and male soldiers, even if married.

It is the first time the US Army has made pregnancy a punishable offence.

Gen Cucolo told the BBC it was a “black and white” issue for him.

He said married soldiers in combat zones should either put their love lives on hold – or take precautions.

America’s Secret ICE Detention Castles: Jailed Without Justice

December 20, 2009 by Infinite

“If you don’t have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he’s illegal, we can make him disappear.”

Those chilling words were spoken by James Pendergraph, then executive director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of State and Local Coordination, at a conference of police and sheriffs in August 2008.

Also present was Amnesty International’s Sarnata Reynolds, who wrote about the incident in the 2009 report “Jailed Without Justice” and said in an interview, “It was almost surreal being there, particularly being someone from an organization that has worked on disappearances for decades in other countries. I couldn’t believe he would say it so boldly, as though it weren’t anything wrong.”

ICE agents regularly impersonate civilians–OSHA inspectors, insurance agents, religious workers–in order to arrest longtime US residents who have no criminal history. Jacqueline Stevens has reported a web-exclusive companion piece on ICE agents’ ruse operations.

Pendergraph knew that ICE could disappear people, because he knew that in addition to the publicly listed field offices and detention sites, ICE is also confining people in 186 unlisted and unmarked subfield offices, many in suburban office parks or commercial spaces revealing no information about their ICE tenants–nary a sign, a marked car or even a US flag. (Presumably there is a flag at the Veterans Affairs Complex in Castle Point, New York, but no one would associate it with the Criminal Alien Program ICE is running out of Building 7.) Designed for confining individuals in transit, with no beds or showers, subfield offices are not subject to ICE Detention Standards. The subfield office network was mentioned in an October report by Dora Schriro, then special adviser to Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security, but no locations were provided.

Chinese central banker Zhu Min: ‘The world does not have so much money to buy more US Treasuries.’

December 20, 2009December 20, 2009 by Infinite

Here is what Zhu Min said exactly on the US dollar:

– Chinese Central Banker Zhu Says Dollar Set to Weaken (Bloomberg):

“When the U.S. has to fund its deficit through the combination of issuing more Treasuries and printing more dollars, it is inevitable that the dollar will continue to weaken,” Deputy Governor Zhu said at a forum in Beijing today.

China central banker says harder to buy U.S. Treasuries

BEIJING (Reuters) – It is getting harder for governments to buy U.S. Treasuries because the United States’ shrinking current-account gap is reducing supply of dollars overseas, a Chinese central bank official said on Thursday.

The comments by Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, referred to the overall situation globally, not specifically to China, the biggest foreign holder of U.S. government bonds.

Chinese officials generally are very careful about commenting on the dollar and Treasuries, given that so much of its $2.3 trillion reserves are tied to their value, and markets always watch any such comments closely for signs of any shift in how it manages its assets.

China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) reaffirmed this month that the dollar stands secure as the anchor of the currency reserves it manages, even as Beijing seeks to diversify its investments.

In a discussion on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that it was inevitable that the dollar would continue to fall in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from.

“The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries,” Zhu said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. “Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible.”

“The U.S. current account deficit is falling as residents’ savings increase, so its trade turnover is falling, which means the U.S. is supplying fewer dollars to the rest of the world,” he added.

“The world does not have so much money to buy more U.S. Treasuries.”

US General David Petraeus: UAE’s Air Force Could Take Out Iran’s

December 19, 2009 by Infinite

Iran has not invaded another country for over 200 years!

– Syria will defend Iran if Israel attacks

– Webster Tarpley: Geopolitical Goals of The Anglo-American Empire in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

– Senior IRGC official: ‘If attacked, Iran will target the very heart of Tel Aviv’

– CNN: US Air Force gets new 30,000 pound bunker buster bomb (for Iran or North Korea)

– IAEA: U.N. inspectors found ‘nothing to be worried about’ at Iran site

– Exclusive: IAEA letter thanks Iran over notification

– Iran’s Nuclear Program: Iran truthful, in treaty compliance; US & Israel lying, in treaty violation

– Paul Craig Roberts: Another War in the Works; America Is Led and Informed by Liars

– Ron Paul on the Iranian Nuclear Program

– Paul Craig Roberts: Hypocrisy in Pittsburgh – More Lies, More Deceptions:

The incongruity blows the mind. Here is Obama, with troops engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan demanding that a peaceful nation at war with no one demonstrate “its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.”

– Putin warns against attack on Iran

– Germany: BND denies report on Iran bomb timing; Iran not be able to produce an atomic bomb for years

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” – H. L. Mencken

Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus tells Bahrain conference calls in Mideast countries to join forces in order to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions

General David Petraeus

WASHINGTON – The United Arab Emirates, a key US ally in the Persian Gulf, has the capability to overpower Iran’s Air Force, US Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus said last week.

Speaking at a conference in Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the American general said, “The Emirati Air Force itself could take out the entire Iranian Air Force, I believe, given that it’s got … somewhere around 70 Block 60 F-16 fighters, which are better than the US F-16 fighters.”

Petraeus, who is responsible for overseeing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and security efforts throughout the region, called on the region’s countries to remain united in order to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In light of the growing Iranian threat, said the general, the US has increased its participation in joint military drills held in the Middle East.

Snowing on Copenhagen’s Global Warmist Parade

December 19, 2009December 19, 2009 by Infinite

See also:

– US East Coast faces severe winter storm (Reuters)

– Winter cold snap jolts Europe, worse to come (Sydney Morning Herald)

– Snow causes second day of disruption (BBC News)

– Record cold, snow envelop Japan Sea coast (Japan Times)

Mother nature is definitely on the side of truth:

– Top Scientist: Rise of Sea Levels is ‘The Greatest Lie Ever Told’

– Prof. Ian Clark: ‘Rises in C02 lag 800 years behind temperature rises!’ – You will pay taxes for nothing!

– Study: CO2 levels remained constant since 1850! (University of Bristol)

– Lord Christopher Monckton – Climategate: Caught Greenhanded! Cold Facts About The Hot Topic of Global Temperature Change After The Climategate Scandal

(More information at the end of the following article.)

Copenhagen

How marvellous a punchline for this farce of a summit, as snow settles on the globes erected to publicise our warming world:

...a Washington snowstorm is forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to make an early departure from a global warming summit here in Denmark.

In fact, there’s an endless supply of regional varieties of the same joke. Here’s one about Barack Obama at the same global warming summit:

The president had arrived in the Danish capital hours earlier, amid stiff winds and driving snow, and headed toward the convention center, where delegates had worked through the night trying to draft a climate document the world could agree to.

Or there’s the Scottish version:

Copenhagen isn’t only place having climate problems… Scotland was in the grip of a big freeze last night that disrupted travel plans and threatened the weekend’s sports fixtures… But heavy snow showers forecast for the weekend have raised hopes of a bumper start to the week for Scotland’s ski centres.

Or you can tell the Alaskan one:

Obama’s surge comes at a cost: At least $57,077.60 per minute

December 19, 2009December 19, 2009 by Infinite

Related articles:

– US spends $23 billion on Afghan contracts so far (Reuters)

– Wasteful Spending By Private Contractors In Afghanistan Climbs To $1 Billion, As Their Numbers Multiply (Huffington Post)

– Nato appeals to Russia for more help with the war in Afghanistan (Times)

– Up to 56000 more contractors likely for Afghanistan, congressional agency says (Washington Post)

– Afghan surge troops won’t target drug crops (Reuters)

The sum of US$57,077.60. That’s what the United States is paying per minute. Keep that in mind – just for a minute or so.

After all, the surge is already on. By the end of December, the first 1,500 of 30,000 additional US troops will have landed in Afghanistan, a nation roughly the size of Texas, ranked by the United Nations as second-worst in the world in terms of human development.

Women and men from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, will be among the first to head out. It takes an estimated $1 million to send each of them surging into Afghanistan for one year. So a 30,000-person surge will be at least $30 billion, which brings us to that $57,077.60. That’s how much it will cost the US taxpayer, for one minute of that surge.

By the way, add up the yearly salary of one US Marine Corps soldier from Camp Lejeune with four years of service, throw in his or her housing allowance, additional pay for dependents, and bonus pay for hazardous duty, imminent danger, and family separation, and you’ll still be many thousands of dollars short of that single minute’s sum.

But perhaps this isn’t a time to quibble. After all, a job is a job, especially in the United States, which has lost seven million jobs since December 2007, while reporting record-high numbers of people seeking assistance to feed themselves and/or their families. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 36 million Americans, including one out of every four children, are currently on food stamps.

Lord Christopher Monckton Reports From Copenhagen: World Government Is Coming!

December 18, 2009 by Infinite

Alex welcomes back to the show Christopher Monckton, the 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, British politician, business consultant, policy adviser, writer, columnist, inventor and ardent critic of the bogus scientific consensus on climate change.

Climate scam guru Al Gore has for years refused to accept Monckton’s repeated challenge to a public debate on global warming. Monckton has warned the proposed UN Climate Change Treaty Obama is expected to sign along with other world leaders in Copenhagen will cede U.S. sovereignity to the UN.

1 of 4:

Added: 17. December 2009

Lord Monckton Knocked Out by Copenhagen Cop: Is the European Police State Going Global?

December 18, 2009 by Infinite

Added: 17. December 2009

“Today, as I lay in the snow with a cut knee, a bruised back, a banged head, a ruined suit, and a written-off coat, I wondered whether the brutality of the New World Order was moving closer than President Klaus – or any of us – had realized.”
– Lord Christopher Monckton

More from Lord Christopher Monckton :

– Lord Christopher Monckton – Climategate: Caught Greenhanded! Cold Facts About The Hot Topic of Global

Temperature Change After The Climategate Scandal

– Lord Cristopher Monckton on Climategate: Shut Down The UN, Arrest Al Gore

– Lord Christopher Monckton on Climategate: ‘They Are Criminals’

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

From The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in Copenhagen

Lord Christopher Monckton

Today the gloves came off and the true purpose of the “global warming” scare became nakedly visible. Ugo Chavez, the Socialist president of Venezuela, blamed “global warming” on capitalism – and received a standing ovation from very nearly all of the delegates, lamentably including those from those of the capitalist nations of the West that are on the far Left – and that means too many of them.

Previously Robert Mugabe, dictator of Rhodesia, who had refused to leave office when he had been soundly defeated in a recent election, had also won plaudits at the conference for saying that the West ought to pay him plenty of money in reparation of our supposed “climate debt”.

Inside the conference center, “world leader” after “world leader” got up and postured about the need to Save The Planet, the imperative to do a deal, the necessity to save the small island nations from drowning, etc., etc., etc.

Outside, in the real world, it was snowing, and a foretaste of the Brave New World being cooked up by “world leaders” in their fantasy-land was already evident. Some 20,000 observers from non-governmental organizations – nearly all of them true-believing Green groups funded by taxpayers – had been accredited to the conference.

However, without warning the UN had capriciously decided that all but 300 of them were to be excluded from the conference today, and all but 90 would be excluded on the final day.

Of course, this being the inept UN, no one had bothered to notify those of the NGOs that were not true-believers in the UN’s camp. So Senator Steve Fielding of Australia and I turned up with a few dozen other delegates, to be left standing in the cold for a couple of hours while the UN laboriously worked out what to do with us.

In the end, they decided to turn us away, which they did with an ill grace and in a bad-tempered manner. As soon as the decision was final, the Danish police moved in. One of them began the now familiar technique of manhandling me, in the same fashion as one of his colleagues had done the previous day.

Once again, conscious that a police helicopter with a high-resolution camera was hovering overhead, I thrust my hands into my pockets in accordance with the St. John Ambulance crowd-control training, looked my assailant in the eye and told him, quietly but firmly, to take his hands off me.

He complied, but then decided to have another go. I told him a second time, and he let go a second time. I turned to go and, after I had turned my back, he gave me a mighty shove that flung me to the ground and knocked me out.

I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long), to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me.

I was picked up and dusted me off. I could not remember where I had left my telephone, which had been in my hand at the time when I was assaulted. I rather fuzzily asked where it was, and one of the police goons shouted, “He alleges he had a mobile phone.”

In fact, the phone was in my coat pocket, where my hand had been at the time of the assault. The ambulance crew led me away and laid me down under a blanket for 20 minutes to get warm, plying me with water and keeping me amused with some colorfully colloquial English that they had learned.

I thanked them for their kindness, left them a donation for their splendid service, and rejoined my friends. A very senior police officer then came up and asked if I was all right. Yes, I said, but no thanks to one of his officers, who had pushed me hard from behind when my back was turned and had sent me flying.

The police chief said that none of his officers would have done such a thing. I said that several witnesses had seen the incident, which I intended to report. I said I had hoped to receive an apology but had not received one, and would include that in my report. The policeman went off looking glum, and with good reason.

FDA gets Interpol to illegally kidnap and deport herbal formulator Greg Caton

December 18, 2009 by Infinite

(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today stands accused of taking part in the kidnapping and illegal extradition of a permanent resident of Ecuador, in violation of both international law and Ecuadorian law.

Greg Caton, owner and operator of Alpha Omega Labs (www.AltCancer.com), an herbal products company that sells anti-cancer herbal remedies made with Ecuadorian medicinal herbs, was arrested at gunpoint at a road checkpoint in Ecuador, then transported to an Ecuadorian holding facility to await a hearing on December 14, 2009. Caton was expected to be set free by the Ecuadorian judge at that hearing based on the facts of the case which indicated Caton’s permanent residency in Ecuador is legal and valid.

Three days before the hearing could take place, Caton was taken from his holding facility and, with the help of U.S. State Department employees, involuntarily placed on an American Airlines plane headed for Miami. An Ecuadorian judge rushed to the airport in Guayaquil and demanded that Caton be released from the plane, stating that the attempted deportation was illegal, but American Airlines employees reportedly refused to allow Caton to leave the plane, stating that the plane was “U.S. territory” and that Ecuadorian law did not apply there (even though the plane was still on the tarmac in Guayaquil and under the direction of the air traffic control tower there).

The plane then departed Guayaquil and continued its flight to Miami where Greg Caton was held in a federal detention facility to await trial in the U.S.

His crimes? Selling herbal medicine and daring to tell the truth about those medicines on his website.

By the way, you can listen to my exclusive interview with Cathryn Caton, who details these events in a downloadable MP3 audio file. Find the file here: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po…

FDA vs. Greg Caton

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has, for many years, pursued Caton, accusing him of selling “unapproved drugs” — herbal medicines that have never been, and will never be, approved by the FDA to treat anything. He was convicted of these crimes in 2003 and served 33 months in federal prison.

Rep. Ron Paul reacts to Ben Bernanke being named ‘Person of the Year’ by TIME magazine

December 17, 2009 by Infinite

Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’: Ben S. Bernanke

Added: 16. December 2009

US National Debt Tops Debt Limit

December 17, 2009 by Infinite

“Extraordinary accounting tools” translates to accounting fraud.

And Treasury Secretary Geithner, as former head of the New York Federal Reserve, is the best man for the job!

(AP)

The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has – at least numerically – exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.

The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at nearly $12.135 trillion.

A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.

Were it not for those “tools,” the U.S. Government would not have the statutory authority to borrow any more money. It might block issuance of Social Security checks and require a shutdown of some parts of the federal government.

Pending in Congress is a measure to increase the Debt Limit by $290 billion, which amounts to six more weeks of routine borrowing for the federal government. (The House just passed the increase, though the Senate has yet to act. It is expected to approve the measure.)

Republicans and conservative Democrats blocked moves by House leaders to pass a $1.8 trillion dollar increase in the Debt Limit so the Democratic majority would not have to face the embarrassment of raising the Debt Limit yet again before next November’s midterm elections.

Nato appeals to Russia for more help with the war in Afghanistan

December 17, 2009 by Infinite

Let’s take a look at history first:

Most American high school history books describe how the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, “without provocation and with overwhelming force”. America then “came to the rescue” of the Afghan “resistance”. This happened under president Jimmy Carter.

Yet Carter’s National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski confirms that it was the US and not the Soviet Union which started the war:

“According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention….” (Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Le Nouvel Observateur, 15-21 November 1998)

In other words, the Soviet-Afghan war was triggered on the orders of President Carter, the latest recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize!

Jimmy Carter was not only instrumental in unleashing the war (which has been ongoing for the last 23 years), he was also the architect of the CIA’s covert support to Islamic terrorism. In fact, it turns out that prime 9/11 suspect, Saudi born Osama bin Laden, was recruited during that period “ironically under the auspices of the CIA, to fight the Soviet invaders”. (See Michel Chossudovsky, War and Globalisation, The Truth behind September 11 , Global Outlook, Shanty Bay, 2002, Chapter 2)

Carter’s July 3, 1979 Directive

Following President Carter’s July 3, 1979 directive, US support to various rebel groups evolved into the largest covert operation in CIA history. In the words of Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski:

“…That secret operation [in support of Islamic fundamentalism] was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

The Nouvel Observateur journalist concludes the interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski with following question:

“And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

To which Brzezinski retorts:

“What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? “

The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former President Jimmy Carter for:

“his decades of untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development.” (Norwegian Nobel Institute, http://www.nobel.no/eng_ins_new.html , 11 October 2002)

Source: Global Research

So what will Russia do? Help?

Maybe Russia will just sit back, do nothing and watch NATO and the US fail!

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

The head of Nato appealed to Russia for greater help with the war in Afghanistan yesterday as he sought to repair relations between the military alliance and Moscow.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked President Medvedev to supply helicopters and prepare pilots for the Afghan air force, and expand training for Afghan police in Russia. It was the first visit by a Nato leader since Russia’s war with Georgia last year caused the most serious rift in relations since the Cold War.

“I do believe that it’s also essential for Russia that we succeed in Afghanistan,” Mr Rasmussen said during the Kremlin talks. “Because if Afghanistan once again becomes a safe haven for terrorists, then Russia would be among the victims, as terrorists could easily spread from Afghanistan through Central Asia to Russia.”

Mr Medvedev said that Russia and Nato had “many reasons for interaction”. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was at the meeting, said that the President had ordered officials to study the requests and prepare a response.

“We also expect our ideas to be considered by the alliance,” Mr Lavrov added, a reference to Mr Medvedev’s recent proposal for a new pan-European security treaty that Nato has largely ignored.

The Kremlin is anxious to prevent any return to power by the Taleban in Afghanistan. But it is also fearful of being drawn into the conflict after the Soviet Union’s painful experience of fighting a decade-long war in the country before withdrawing in defeat in 1989.

It has provided logistical support to Nato operations and sent $220 million of military aid to the Afghan government, including an air-defence system for Kabul airport. Russia also sold four Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan last month, the country’s first new aircraft for 20 years.

President Obama: Another Busy Day in The Oval Office!

December 17, 2009 by Infinite

(Click on image to enlarge.)

2009-12-15
by Khalil Bendib
http://www.bendib.com

Syria will defend Iran if Israel attacks

December 17, 2009December 17, 2009 by Infinite

Regional war? An attack on Iran would start WWIII.

If Israel does attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, it will undoubtedly result in a regional war after Iran and Syria signed a mutual defense agreement on Sunday.

Kuwaiti media reported that the agreement was signed at the weekend while Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was visiting Damascus.

Speaking to Syrian media, Vahidi said the agreement was a strong deterrent to an Israeli strike on his country’s nuclear facilities. Vahidi said that in addition to a Syrian response, Iran would retaliate for any strike on its nuclear facilities by firing ballistic missiles at Israel’s nuclear facilities.

Monday, December 14, 2009 Israel Today Staff

Source: Israel Today

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

December 16, 2009December 16, 2009 by Infinite

Ah, I see …

Moody’s tells governments to prepare for the people finally understanding that their puppet governments have looted the taxpayer to save corrupt banksters from their own intentional stupidity.

No matter how much losses the banksters have claimed, there is always a counterpart to those enormous losses and that counterpart made a lot of money.

Could it be that the banksters were corrupted to be that stupid by the prospect of huge bonuses?

Follow the money and find out who built this intelligent system of corruption.

The elite behind the scenes gained, the people believing that the financial system had to be saved lost and will continue to lose until there is nothing left.

– 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’

The elite laughs at the people every day!

Britain and other countries with fast-rising government debts must steel themselves for a year in which “social and political cohesiveness” is tested, Moody’s warned.

Riot police clash with protestors during an anti G20 demonstration near the Bank of England. Moody’s has warned future tax rises and spending cuts could trigger more social unrest.

In a sombre report on the outlook for next year, the credit rating agency raised the prospect that future tax rises and spending cuts could trigger social unrest in a range of countries from the developing to the developed world.

It said that in the coming years, evidence of social unrest and public tension may become just as important signs of whether a country will be able to adapt as traditional economic metrics. Signalling that a fiscal crisis remains a possibility for a leading economy, it said that 2010 would be a “tumultuous year for sovereign debt issuers”.

It added that the sheer quantity of debt to be raised by Britain and other leading nations would increase the risk of investor fright.

Strikingly, however, it added that even if countries reached agreement on the depth of the cuts necessary to their budgets, they could face difficulties in carrying out the cuts. The report, which comes amid growing worries about Britain’s credit rating, said: “In those countries whose debt has increased significantly, and especially those whose debt has become unaffordable, the need to rein in deficits will test social cohesiveness. The test will be starker as growth disappoints and interest rates rise.”

Arab states agree on single currency modelled on the euro in latest threat to dollar hegemony

December 16, 2009 by Infinite

The Arab states of the Gulf region have agreed to launch a single currency modelled on the euro, hoping to blaze a trail towards a pan-Arab monetary union swelling to the ancient borders of the Ummayad Caliphate.

Traders at the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange

“The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect,” said Kuwait’s finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait.

The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar are to launch the first phase next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council that will evolve quickly into a full-fledged central bank.

The Emirates are staying out for now – irked that the bank will be located in Riyadh at the insistence of Saudi King Abdullah rather than in Abu Dhabi. They are expected join later, along with Oman.

The Gulf states remain divided over the wisdom of anchoring their economies to the US dollar. The Gulf currency – dubbed “Gulfo” – is likely to track a global exchange basket and may ultimately float as a regional reserve currency in its own right. “The US dollar has failed. We need to delink,” said Nahed Taher, chief executive of Bahrain’s Gulf One Investment Bank.

The project is inspired by Europe’s monetary union, seen as a huge success in the Arab world. But there are concerns that the region is trying to run before it can walk.