Wednesday, August 29, 2007

YOUTUBE WARS -WHICH IS A FRONT GROUP?


YouTube Wars - Freedom's Watch vs. IVAW. Which is Real Grassroots, Which is a Front Group?

By John Stauber
Created 08/23/2007 - 08:22


What's the difference between a slick pro-war front group [1] exploiting Iraq veterans to pour gasoline on the fire in Iraq, and a grassroots group of Iraq veterans leading the battle at home to end Bush's war of occupation?

Watch these YouTube videos and decide for yourself.

The latest addition to Bush's pro-war lobby [2] is Freedom's Watch [3], and they have a slick and deceptive video on YouTube that features a veteran who lost legs in Iraq invoking the image of 9/11 to urge more money for the war. Click on this link to view Freedom's Watch on YouTube. [4]

Then, watch this video of Iraq Veterans Against the War [5] (IVAW) addressing bloggers at the recent Yearly Kos convention, urging them to talk to vets and get out the real story of the Iraq war. Click on this link to watch IVAW on YouTube [6].

Ari Fleischer [7], Bush's former PR flack who helped dupe America into attacking Iraq, heads Freedom's Watch. Fleischer and Bush both still promulgate the Big Lie [8] that Iraq was involved with the 9/11 attacks, a completely discredited falsehood that millions of Americans believe because it is insinuated over and over by the pro-war lobby [9] including Freedom's Watch. Fleischer and his financial backers will spend tens of millions of dollars in the weeks ahead on their pro-war PR and lobby campaign.

IVAW is a growing, grassroots group of hundreds of Iraq veterans and active soldiers located in 43 states and on active duty in Iraq. They sleep on floors, travel at their own expense and are primarily dedicated volunteers, American soldiers working for peace.

IVAW or Freedom's Watch - which is real grassroots, and which is slick pro-war propaganda, a front group, Memorex? You decide.


Source: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6372

THE REAL ECONOMY



Economics/Politics

Friday, August 24, 2007
Financial Bankruptcy, the US Dollar and the Real
Economy
par Rodrigue Tremblay
[http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.html]

"The U.S. government is on a 'burning platform' of
unsustainable policies and practices."
David Walker, U.S. Comptroller General

"Modern society, based as it is on the division of
labor, can be preserved only under conditions of
lasting peace."
Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist

"People know that inflation erodes the real value of
the government's debt and, therefore, that it is in
the interest of the government to create some
inflation."
Ben S. Bernanke, Fed Chairman

"Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did
it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do
it again."
Ben S. Bernanke, Nov. 8, 2002 (Fed Chairman, talking
to economist Milton Friedman)

Ordinary investors and people in general will have to
get accustomed to hearing a lot about financial terms
they never heard before, such as the subprime mortgage
market, aggressive underwriting, asset securitization,
repackaged loans, subprime loans, "no-doc" loans,
adjustable rate mortgage interest rate adjustment
(ARM) loans, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs),
asset backed securities, mortgage-backed securities,
closed-end second-lien loans, subprime second-lien
loans, alternative-A (Alt-A) mortgage loans, piggyback
loans, asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP),...etc.
—As a general definition, "subprime" or "high-risk"
loans" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_lending]
are those made to people with poor credit and at lax
conditions. Second-lien loans are loans that are
placed in second place for any potential recovery
after the primary lender on a property. —Residential
mortgage-backed security (RMBS) are created when
mortgage lenders sell their loans (and the risks
associated with such loans) to banks, which package
them together and slice them into different classes
before selling them to (gullible) investors. This
process, called "asset securitization" is the method
whereby interests in mortgage loans and other
receivables are packaged, underwritten, and sold in
the form of "asset-backed securities". This is
financial alchemy, through which subprime mortgage
loans are transformed into AAA-rated paper for
unsuspecting investors.

Some of these artificial or derivative securities are
low-grade quality, and when their prices fall because
borrowers cannot meet their interest or capital
payments, such financial instruments become quickly
"illiquid" or unsalable, since nobody wants to touch
them. They become fictitious capital.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_capital]
Those who hold them, investors, banks or other types
of lenders, are stuck with them: they cannot sell them
and they cannot borrow while placing such shaky assets
as collateral. These are the imprudent lenders and
investors that central banks now are trying to bail
out.

During the French Revolution (1789-1799)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution], the
Jacobins
[http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/000168.html]
(the Neocons of the day) had the brilliant idea of
issuing securities, called "assignats",
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignat] based on the
properties (buildings and lands) the government had
taken away from the Church and its religious orders.
The new securities were quickly "monetized" into fiat
money [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_currency] and
transformed into readily available cash. This caused a
massive hyperinflation
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation] and a
subsequent deflation.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation_(economics)]

Mind you, this was not the first time that
18th-century France lived an experience of
inflationary finance, since a similar incident took
place three quarters of a century before, between 1716
and 1720, when Scottish banker and businessman John
Law
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Law_(economist)]
(1671-1729) led France into a fiat money fiasco and
engineered a land-backed securities scheme known as
the Mississippi Bubble.
[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052986/Mississippi-Bubble]
John Law's earlier experiment and the French
Revolution assignats debacle
[http://www.mises.org/story/1504"
http://www.mises.org/story/1504] should be clear
reminders of the danger and folly of "monetizing"
illiquid assets-based securities.

Like all "Ponzi schemes",
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme] such
pyramidings of debts with no liquid assets behind them
are bound to implode sooner or later. And that is what
we are witnessing today, i.e. the implosion of
unfunded credit derivatives-based
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_derivatives]
"Ponzi schemes". In 1998-2000, we got an idea of what
could happen when portfolios are highly leveraged
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage_(finance)] and
laden with derivative financial products with the
collapse of one large hedge fund, the Long-Term
Capital Management.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term_Capital_Management]


This should have been a warning sign to regulators of
financial markets. But hedge funds
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund] and other
financial operators' greed—and political
corruption—were too strong, and no one stopped the
march to disaster. Now, things are getting worse,
because central banks, led by the Fed, are following
the assignats route and have been aggressively
"monetizing" the unfunded derivative debts, lending
new cash not for a day or two, and not against
T-bills, but for months on end against illiquid and
partly unsolvable and artificial derivative debts. Who
knows where this could lead?

One possibility is the complete collapse of the U.S.
dollar and an uncontrollable burst of inflation
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation] in the years
ahead if the salvaging operation were to increase
money supply
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply] on a
permanent basis. Indeed, if central banks continue to
shore up the artificial financial houses of cards to
prevent them from going bankrupt, they may end up
monetizing mountains of unsolvable debts with the
potential of creating a monstrous inflation. A dollar
panic may be just around the corner —Thus, the cure
for fighting a credit crisis could be a tremendous
push of inflation in a few years, if the Fed cannot
withdraw the new cash fast enough from the system.
This surely can be the case, since it has announced
that it is discounting non-government home mortgages
and mortgage-backed securities, jumbo mortgages, and
asset-backed commercial paper, and a broad range of
collateral for discount-window loans, besides the
typical Treasury and government agency paper. The
problem is that some of these so-called "securities"
may be worthless in a few months, thus making it
difficult for the Fed to sell them back and retrieve
its cash.

Over the past few weeks, central banks worldwide have
supplied hundreds of billions of fresh loans to banks
and other financial dealers, to make cash available
for lending and they have lowered interest rates amid
signs that credit was drying up. The partly
privately-owned Fed,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve] for
example, has accepted billions in "repos", by which it
bought billions in illiquid securities from dealers,
who then deposited the money into commercial banks,
thus "liquifying" the entire financial system. This is
a short-term measure designed to alleviate the
"liquidity crisis",[
http://academic.uofs.edu/faculty/gramborw/tucrisis.html]
even if it is pursued for a few months.

It alleviates the "liquidity crisis", for sure, but
this does nothing to cure the underlying "solvency
crisis"
[http://www.ramconsultancy.com/solvency_crisis.htm] of
institutions holding large chunks of non-performing
mortgage-based assets. Sooner or later, such low
valued derivatives will have to be written off, and
this will necessarily lead to an erosion of these
institutions' capital base. Bankruptcies of the most
leveraged and imprudent institutions are to be
expected. For a few weeks, the Fed's interventions and
buying by the Treasury's special division, the
"Working Group on Financial Markets", also commonly
known as the "Plunge Protection Team" (PPT)
[http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/dorsch/2007/0809.html]
will sustain the financial markets. But come
mid-September and early October, the law of gravity is
likely to regain its importance.

As I explained in my blog of last October 16 (2006),
(Headwinds for the US Economy),
[http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1041]
macroeconomic conditions made it a "matter of months,
not years", before the U.S. economy and the U.S.
dollar begin to experience some downward pressures.
And, as I repeated on May 5 (2007), (A Slowdown or a
Recession in the U.S. in 2008?),
[http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1064] we
are "approaching [the] point of reckoning."

As I said in May, we could expect "the collapse of one
and possibly several major financial institutions
under the pressures of bad loans and record
foreclosures. Particularly at risk is the some $2.5
trillion mountain of debt concentrated in subprimes
and Alt-A loans. Already, one major sub-prime lender
(New Century Financial) has filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6519051.stm]
Others are likely to follow, because 2007 is the year
when a large number of sub prime real estate loans
have to be renegotiated at higher interest rates. The
rate of foreclosure is bound to spike in the coming
months, possibly culminating in the next two years
into a financial hurricane."

The practice of sub-prime loans and the creation of
even more creative and artificial "derivative
financial products" is much more widespread in the USA
than in other countries. For example, such risky loans
represent as much as 20 percent of mortgage loans in
the U.S., while the incidence is only 5 percent in
neighboring Canada. [Indeed, out of the U.S. $10
trillion mortgage market, about $2 trillion constitute
the sub-prime mortgage market.] —But where were the
American central bank, the Fed under Alan Greenspan
and B. S. Bernanke, the Security and Exchange
Commission (SEC) under former congressman and venture
capitalist Christopher Cox, and the Bush-Cheney
Treasury Department when this mountain of shaky real
estate debt was being built by unscrupulous and
ruthless financial operators?

Why did they not intervene -first, to protect mortgage
borrowers by putting a stop to mortgage loans that
require no or not much documentation about a
borrower's income (so-called "no doc" or "low doc"
loans), -second, to prevent a solvency dilution of the
capital base of American financial institutions and,
-third, to prevent an unsustainable real estate bubble
that sooner or later was going to burst and drag down
the rest of the economy? —It is indeed the duty of a
lifeguard to prevent people from jumping into a
swimming pool that is without water. —But when you
have a Treasury Secretary who is a former president of
deal-making and hedge-funds-famous Goldman Sacks, a
SEC chairman who is a former venture capitalist and a
chairman of the Fed who is on record as saying he
favors inflationary policies, you may have part of the
answer. When the fox is put in charge of the chicken
coop, you cannot expect the chickens to be safe. One
has to remember that President Herbert Hoover’s
Secretary of the Treasury, in 1929, was financier
Andrew W. Mellon,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Mellon] with his
far right economic policies of lowering taxes for the
rich. We have the uneasy feeling that history repeats
itself.

Since the Bush-Cheney White House
[http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x4797]
wanted the economy to keep bubbling before the 2004
and 2006 elections, there was nobody to whistle the
end of the recreation. As the French King Louis XIV
said, "Après moi, le déluge!" ("When I am gone, I
don't care what happens!). In fact, U.S. regulators
not only did not intervene to stop the madness of
no-interest, no questions asked, no down payment
loans, but they encourage unbridled speculation by
abolishing the Roosevelt era crash-preventing "uptick
rule"
[http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:zofyRgjbh5AJ:www.sec.gov/rules/final/2007/34-55970.pdf+The+SEC+ruling+about+the+uptick+rule&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca&ie=UTF-8]
designed to force short sellers to wait for an uptick
in the price of a stock before they could complete
their short trade. Indeed, it will be an historic
irony that on July 6 (2007), the Security and Exchange
Commission
[http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sec.asp] (SEC)
removed the protection in order to allow hedge fund
operators
[http://www.amazon.com/Inside-House-Money-Traders-Profiting/dp/0471794473/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-7927243-4175016]
to short stocks on down ticks, thus making sure that
market volatility would increase tremendously.

It is said that London financiers, greedy speculators
and incompetent central bankers were responsible for
the 1929-1939 worldwide financial crisis
[http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521365376]
and economic depression. This came after a domino
effect of financial collapses, starting with the
failure in September 1931, of the big Austrian
CreditAnstalt bank,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creditanstalt] owned by
the Rothschild
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothschild -
Rothschild_family_banks] family. The crisis spread
throughout the German, the British and the global
financial system. This time, the financial infection
has started in the United States. If the current
financial collapse in the U.S. were to stall the real
economy, as it has already begun to do in many
sectors, the Bush-Cheney administration would have to
carry a lot of blame because of its lax regulatory
policies.

_______________________________________

Rodrigue Tremblay is a Canadian economist who lives in
Montreal; he can be reached at
rodrigue.tremblay@yahoo.com
Visit his blog site at:
http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog.
Author's Website: www.thenewamericanempire.com/
Check Dr. Tremblay's coming book "The Code for Global
Ethics" at: http://www.TheCodeForGlobalEthics.com/
Posted, Friday August 24, 2007, at 5:30 am

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© 2007. All rights reserved.–This article is published
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Source: http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.html

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

JUDICIAL WATCH FILES SUIT TO ACCESS SPP

Judicial
Aug 10, 2007
Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit Seeking Access to Security and Prosperity Partnership Advisory Group Meetings and Records

Agency’s Use of North American Competitiveness Council in Violation of Federal Advisory Committee Act

(Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez for denying Judicial Watch access to the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) meetings and records. According to the complaint, the council, which consists of “high level business leaders,” advises the United States, Mexican, and Canadian governments on North American competitiveness issues to be addressed through the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). (On March 23, 2005, heads of government Vincente Fox, George W. Bush, and Paul Martin launched SPP at a meeting in Waco, Texas, with the expressed goal of “a safer, more prosperous North America.”)

Judicial Watch’s lawsuit alleges that the NACC, a key component of the SPP, is subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a federal open meetings law. Moreover, Judicial Watch is asking the court to issue an emergency temporary restraining order mandating that Judicial Watch be allowed to attend the next NACC meeting to be held on August 20-21, in Montebello, Quebec, Canada in conjunction with the SPP summit.

The Federal Advisory Committee Act imposes a number of requirements on committees that advise the president and/or federal agencies. First, all meetings be open to the public. Second, a notice of each meeting must be published in the Federal Register. Third, interested persons must be allowed to attend, appear before, or file statements with the advisory committee. And, finally, committee records and documents must be made available through the provisions of Freedom of Information Act. The NACC has failed to satisfy any of these requirements. On July 26, Judicial Watch notified Secretary Gutierrez that it sought access to the NACC and its U.S. component subcommittee meetings and records. Judicial Watch’s request was ignored.

“The North American Competitiveness Council should not be allowed to operate in secret. It is part of a government process that actively considers policies that dramatically impact the lives of all Americans,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch is committed to making these proceedings open and transparent to the American people.”

Secretary Gutierrez launched the North American Competitiveness Council, with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, in June 2006. The council met on August 15, 2006 in Washington and again on February 23, 2007 in Ottawa, Canada. The council has provided over 50 recommendations for action to Secretary Gutierrez and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

###


Source: http://www.judicialwatch.org/6376.shtml

MC BUSH SCRATCHING


The eCONoMe is fine.
Social Security
Medicaid
Medicare
Are not a problem!
Hurricane Dean impacted Mexico: President Calderon, we will send financial aid.
Saudia Arabia, and the Muslim crescent: We will provide $20 billion in aid.
"The U.S. economy is the envy of the world".
August 28, 2007:
Unemployment is at an all time low.
Poverty level has dropped since 2006.
The Federal Reserve has pumped in billions of dollars into the market to stabilize it.
We need to stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We're makin' progress in the war on terror.
Iran has to stop meddling in Iraq, or this could lead to "NieuCulear" confrontation.
scratch, scratch, scratch.........Wiggi, Wiggi, Wiggi...............

REPUBLICAN HOMOSEXUAL POLI-TRICKS-IANS


"Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city". Matthew 10:15


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

BOISE, Idaho - A defiant Sen. Larry Craig denied any wrongdoing Tuesday despite his guilty plea this summer in a men's room police sting, emphatically adding, "I am not gay. I have never been gay."

Craig, a third-term senator from Idaho, proclaimed his innocence as well as his sexuality less than an hour after Senate leaders from his own Republican Party called for an ethics committee review of his case.

Source: http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&id=20070828/46d39dc0_3ca6_1552620070828-1969054726

POSTED: 11:41 am EDT August 23, 2007

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A prominent Republican Party consultant is one of three men found dead in a Central Florida home Thursday in an apparent double murder-suicide possibly sparked by a lovers' quarrel, according to detectives.

A woman's out-of-state phone call requesting a well-being check on a friend led Orange County sheriff's deputies to the bodies of Ralph Gonzalez, David Abrami and Robert Drake Thursday.

Source: http://www.local6.com/news/13957884/detail.html


Jul 11, 2007 6:40:32 PM

Republican Rep. Bob Allen of Merritt Island, whose district includes a large swath of east Orange County, was arrested for soliciting a male undercover police officer for sex in a Titusville park restroom.

Allen was considered to be acting suspicious by police as he entered and exited the men's room three times, according to a Titusville Police report. Moments later, he approached the plainclothes officer and offered to perform oral sex for $20, police said.

Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/07/bob-allen-arres.html

DAVID ROCKEFELLER (ROGGENFELDER)

David Rockefeller

Born in 1915 and youngest son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Descendant of the German-Jewish Roggenfelder family which came to the United States in 1722.

Attended school in New York City and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English history and literature from Harvard University in 1936. This was followed with a Ph.D. (1940) in economics from the University of Chicago and a study at both Harvard and the London School of Economics.

Married Margaret "Peggy" McGrath in September 1940 and they raised six children, including son David Rockefeller Jr. Along with his brothers - John D. III, Nelson, Laurance, and Winthrop, David Rockefeller established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) in 1940.

Became a trustee of The Rockefeller Institute (later transformed into a university) for Medical Research in 1940. Trustee Rockefeller University 1940-1995. Secretary to New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia 1940-1941.

Assistant regional director of the United States Office of Defense, Health and Welfare Service 1941-1942. Enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. Military Intelligence officer in North Africa and Southern France 1942-1945. Set up an intelligence network in Algiers and was an insider to the battle between Charles De Gaulle and Henri Giraud for control over the French resistance. First became friends with William Paley (Pilgrims) and C.D. Jackson in Algiers. Met with ambassador Robert Murphy, a staunch Giraud supporter. Met David Bruce in 1945, head of the OSS. He would meet Bruce and his wife again in 1973 in China, where he would be invited for dinner.

Assistant Military Attaché in Paris in the last 7 months of the war. Joined Chase National/Manhattan Bank in 1946 as an assistant manager under Winthrop W. Aldrich (Rockefeller intermarried) in the Foreign Department. Assistant manager in the Foreign Department, Chase National Bank 1947-1948. David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', pg. 149:

"I received a visit one morning in early spring 1947 from the new president of the Carnegie Endowment for International peace... After the usual pleasantries Hiss told me I had been elected to the board of the Carnegie Endowment, and he hoped I would agree to serve... I was flattered to be asked to join the Endowment's prestigious board, which included such luminaries as General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM. John Foster Dulles, the eminent international lawyer, was chairman... I had known him and his family since my college years. Foster had a reputation of being cold, austere, and puritanical, but the man I knew had a sense of humor and could be a wonderful companion. His daughter Lillias had been part of a small group of friends during my college years and one of Peggy's closest friends. In fact, when I was courting Peggy in the 1930s, she always stayed with the Dulleses at their New York town house. When I mentioned Hiss's offer to Nelson, he told me in confidence that a high-level FBI official had warned him there was reliable information indicating Hiss was a Soviet agent. I reported this to Foster, who said he didn't believe it... I accepted his judgment and joined the endowment's board in May 1947. A year later the spy charges against Alger Hiss would become front-page news."

Played a major role in the development of the Morningside Heights neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as president (1947-1957) and then chairman (1957-1965) of Morningside Heights, Inc.

Second vice president Chase National Bank 1948-1949. Director of the Museum of Modern Art 1948-1958. Vice president Chase National Bank 1949-1952. Vice-president Council on Foreign Relations 1950-1970. Chairman of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research 1950-1975.

In 1953, at this position, he recruited Detlev W. Bronk as president of the Rockefeller Institute and head of its medical research program. Bronk, a biophysicist, appeared on the initial membership list of the MJ-12 study group. Senior vice president of Chase National Bank with responsibility for supervising the economic research department and customer relations in the metropolitan New York area, including all the New York City branches 1952-1955.

Attended the first Bilderberg meeting in 1954 and was one of its founders. When Chase National and the Bank of the Manhattan Company merged in 1955, David Rockefeller was appointed an executive vice president in charge of the bank development department. In 1957, he became vice chairman of the Board of Directors with responsibility for the administrative and planning functions of the bank as a whole.

Briefly chairman of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1958. Again chairman of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1962-1972, and again in 1987-1993. Life trustee of the University of Chicago (which his grandfather helped to establish) and an honorary trustee of International House (New York), established by his father. In 1958 David Rockefeller helped establish the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (D-LMA), serving as its chairman 1958-1975. 2002, David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', pg. 448-449:

"In late 1959 we were guests of Stavros [1001 Club] and Eugenie Niarchos for a week's sail through the Aegean aboard their three-masted schooner, The Creole... I had met Stavros six years earlier when he came to Chase's headquarters for a business meeting... Even though Stavros and I had little in common, we developed a good personal relationship and became business partners in many real estate deals in the United States, including the purchase of Rockefeller Center.... Our friends Jack [H.J. Heinz II; Pilgrims Society and Bilderberg organizer] and Drue Heinz of Pittsburgh were also on that 1959 voyage, as were Hans (Heini) Heinrich and Fiona Thyssen-Bornemisza [1001 Club], whom we met for the first time. Heini was the grandson of the famous August Thyssen, the "Rockefeller of the Ruhr," founder of Germany's Vereinigte Stahlwerke... Our cruise brought out the fact that we were all interested in art... The following May [1960]... we all flew to Lugano to spend the weekend with the Thyssens. When we arrived at Heini's home, the Villa Favorita, we were awestruck... It was the most beautiful private [art] collection we have ever seen."

Primary founder of the Dartmouth Conferences in 1960, which was initiated at Dartmouth College in an effort to prevent U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. Only influential private citizens with no government positions were supposed to meet here. President Chase Manhattan 1961-1969. David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs':

"Given the similarity in our interests, I was disappointed that Jack [John J. McCloy] and I never developed a close personal relationship... Frequently at gatherings I attended, Jack related the story of his first contact with my family. He had worked his way to college and law school in part by tutoring during the summer and had travelled to Maine in the summer of 1912, three years before I was born, hoping to get a job on Mount Desert Island. One of the families he decided to contact was mine... [he was] turned away... Nelson [Rockefeller] reportedly told him the "family had used its influence" to make him chairman and that one of his jobs was to ensure that "David would succeed him when he retired." It seems quite possible that Nelson made the comment or one quite similar to it. He could be quite high-handed and no doubt thought he was doing me a favor. But if Nelson made a statement of this kind, it certainly was not the result of a family decision or a request from me. It would have been highly inappropriate for anyone in the family to make such a demand. Unfortunately, if the story was true, it may have permanently altered Jack's attitude toward me... Quite possibly Jack could never look at me without remembering the long, dusty walk up the hill in Seal Harbor and the big wooden door being closed quietly but firmly in his face."

In 1962, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began plans to build the World Trade Center, which was pushed hard for by David and Nelson Rockefeller. Founding member of the Commission on White House Fellows, 1964. David had a two and a half hour meeting in Moscow with Nikita Khrushchev in the summer of 1964. He reported to president Johnson that Khrushchev would like to do more trade with the United States and David recommended that more credit should be extended to the Russians. Met Khrushchev's successor, Leonid Brezhnev, soon afterwards. Also met Chou En-lai in the 1960s, to discuss economic cooperation. Other leaders David met with are Deng Xiaoping, Nasser, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, the Shah of Iran, etc. David is on very good terms with Nelson Mandela and they regularly meet each other. It's interesting to note that Mandela is one of George W. Bush's fiercest critiques (critics?).

Instrumental in the formation of the International Executive Service Corps and chairman 1964-1968. Founder Americas Society in 1965 (then called Council of the Americas). Helped found the Rockefeller Family Fund in 1967. Helped form The Business Committee for the Arts in 1967. 2002, David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', pg. 413:

"Bilderberg overlapped for a time with my membership in a relatively obscure but potentially even more controversial body known as the Pesenti Group [likely Le Cercle]. I had first learned about it in October 1967 when Carlo Pesenti [Vatican sponsored; Banco Ambrosiano shareholder], the owner of a number of important Italian corporations, took me aside at a Chase investment forum in Paris and invited me to join his group, which discussed contemporary trends in European and world politics. It was a select group, he told me, mostly European... Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Konrad Adenauer were founding members of the group, but by the time I joined, they had been replaced by an equally prominent roster that included Antoine Pinay... Giulio Andreotti... and Franz-Josef Strauss... The discussions were conducted in French, and usually I was the sole American present, although on a few occasions when the group assembled in Washington, Henry Kissinger, at the time President Nixon's national security advisor, joined us for dinner. Members of the Pesenti Group were all committed to European political and economic integration, but a few - Archduke Otto of Austria... Monsignor Alberto Giovanetti of the Vatican and a prominent member of Opus Dei... and Jean-Paul León Violet... - were preoccupied by the Soviet threat and the inexolerable rise to power of the Communist parties of France and Italy. Pesenti set the agenda for our thrice-yearly meetings, and Maître Violet, who had close connections with the Deuxième Bureau of the Services des Renseignements (the French CIA), provided lengthy background briefings. Using an overhead projector, Violet display transparency after transparency filled with data documenting Soviet infiltration of governments around the world and supporting his belief that the threat of global Communist victory was quite real. While all of us knew the Soviets were behind the "wars of national liberation" in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, I was not personally convinced the Red Menace was quite as menacing as Maître Violet portrayed it to be, but my view was a minority one in that group. Even though I found some of the discussions fascinating, the ultraconservative politics of some participants were more than a bit unnerving. My Chase associates, who feared my membership could be construed as "consorting with reactionaries," eventually prevailed upon me to withdraw."

Chairman and CEO of the board of Chase Manhattan 1969-1981. Chairman Council on Foreign Relations 1970-1985. In May 1973 Chase Manhattan Bank opened it Moscow office at 1 Karl Marx Square, Moscow. Chairman of the Overseas Development Council of the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council, Inc., which was founded in 1973. Founder of the Trilateral Commission in 1973.

2002, David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', pg. 207: "We [Chase; mid 1970s] approached three banks in the Rothschild Group. Since both Evelyn de Rothschild, chairman of L.M. Rothschild, and Leon Lambert, chairman of Banque Lambert (a Rothschild through his mother), were personal friends, I had positive initial conversations with them."

Chairman Trilateral Commission 1977-1991. Founded the New York City Partnership in 1979 and was chairman 1979-1988. Chairman Chase Manhattan Bank Advisory Committee 1981-1999. Trustee Carnegie Endowment International Peace since 1981. President of the Harvard College Board of Overseers; life trustee of the University of Chicago; one of the most important members of the Bilderberg committee; visitor of the Bohemian Grove Stowaway camp; member American-Australian Association; chairman Americas Society 1981-1992; chairman Rockefeller Group 1981-1995.

Helped to establish the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University in 1994. Chairman of Rockefeller Center Properties 1996-2001; became a director of the Shinsei Bank in 2000; chairman Rockefeller University; chairman of the Museum of Modern Art; member International Council of J.P. Morgan Chase; wrote 'Unused Resources and Economic Waste' (1940), 'Creative Management in Banking' (1964), and 'Memoirs' (2002); major shareholder of Atlantic Richfield Petroleum and International Petroleum Corporation (also a napalm manufacturer).

David is the last of the "Fortunate Five" brothers. Winthrop died in 1972 after having been devastated by a chemotherapy procedure; John D. III died in a 1978 car crash; Nelson died in 1979 in bed with his mistress. Laurance died in 2004 of natural causes. David and Laurance were members of the Peace Parks foundation. David has attended meetings of Le Cercle and is a member of the Pilgrims Society.

..

Source: http://www.pehi.eu/organisations/introduction/PEHI_David_Rockefeller_bio.htm

.

YOUR TV WILL SOON WATCH YOU

Watch out! Your TV will soon be watching you


Paul McIntyre
July 5, 2007

DAVID VERKLIN is a little twitchy about how traditional TV audiences are going to react to what he calls "behavioural targeting".

Online players such as Google are already using such technologies but the technique is now headed to TV land as the broadcast spectrum goes digital, paving the way for electronic program guides and TiVo-style program scheduling and recording.

These developments throw up a "data trail" that can be analysed for advertising, says Verklin, who controls about $US8 billion ($9.3 billion) in media-buying budgets as the chief executive of Carat Americas and chairman of the group's Asia Pacific operation.

He says that within three years Australian TV viewers will see advertisers start to track and analyse their actual TV viewing patterns that might then be overlaid with online viewing behaviour.

"It's what Google already does online," he says. "They take a look at your cookie behaviour and deduce you are interested in certain kinds of ads based on your online search behaviour. You are going to see that in TV. It will get there soon enough - as TV goes digital. It's definitely possible right now as we speak. We're not doing it yet but you will see it proliferate in the next 24 months and it will be in Australia in 36 months."

Verklin, who is recognised as a leading media mind in North America, says Microsoft's $US6 billion acquisition of ad serving network and digital marketing agency group aQuantive and Google's $US3.2 billion takeover of rival online adserving firm DoubleClick this year is the start of an urgent global push to accumulate more data for behavioural tracking.

He admits it might prove controversial but is part of a trend he calls "advertising to the interested".

"It's all about data and targeting," he says. "That's why Microsoft wants aQuantive and Google wants DoubleClick. It's about getting access to that customer data on advertising on top of their online search behaviours. For Google, it means they start to build a database of what just about every person in the world is interested in. All you're trying to do is refine your [advertising] targeting."

Mr Verklin says the same applications for digital broadcast TV will deliver smaller but "super-concentrated" audiences to advertisers. "If you don't own a dog, you don't want to see a dog food ad," he says. "With the changes taking place in the marketplace, it's going to be much easier to put a dog food ad in front of people who own a dog. That's where the business is going."

While Verklin predicts such advancements for traditional TV, last year he made a bold prediction in the US that the annual "upfront" TV ad revenue deals had peaked for the broadcast networks.

"TV is vulnerable for the first time in 30 years," he says. "But we are seeing a new definition of what TV is. We need to lose the word 'commercial' and replace it with 'video persuasion'. Using video for commercial persuasion across numerous touchpoints is alive and well. The traditional use of 30-second blocks running on networks is quite vulnerable. We also need to change the business we are in from advertising to commercial persuasion."

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/security/watch-out-your-tv-will-soon-be-watching-you/2007/07/04/1183351332572.html

THE WAR ON DRUGS: AFGHANISTAN





THERE'S A BUMPER CROP, THE PRODUCTION IS UP, BUSINESS AS USUAL.

NEXT STOP:
MARSEILLES, AMSTERDAM, lAGOS, NEW YORK CITY, BALTIMORE (MARYLAND)...

THE MICHAEL VICK DISPUTE

The Michael Vick Dispute
The Hypocrisy
The Michael Vick debate is just another arrow in the quiver of racism.
If Michael Vick were white he would not receive such media coverage, and would not be facing up to 5 years in prison for fighting, destroying and abusing dogs. If he were McGuire with the Steroids Abuse Issue, or Pete Rose with his gambling on Baseball. The whole case is being blown out of proportion. Quarter back, get back, Jack! Was it a Crime? Certainly, but not a federal crime! The issue of 'fighting dogs', an illegal act of course; But, not that important to warrant 24 o' 7 coverage. Why all the airtime dedicated to this dog and pony show issue?
Diversionary Tactics

ERU members during counter-terrorist exercise

Another possibility why there is such a media feeding frenzy over the Michael Vick, Dog Abuse Issue, is to distract the people's attention from the weightier issues such as the failing economy and the Viet-nam-ization of Iraq: No Way Out. Let me remind everyone here that the controlled media is used as a tool for Propaganda or MIND CONTROL by the powers that be; To distract the attention of the populace from other aspects of current events that may affect them. When the editors of the print media, and radio and TV news directors decide what news is worthy of coverage. Do you think that some 'higher authority' might persuade them on what to cover? Yes, that can be assumed, and affirmed. Look around you; Isn't everything around us Madison Avenue-esque advertisement? Aren't there subliminal messages in the music? Aren't our foods processed with additives such as MSG and Yellow No. 5? So, what do you think, your news is undiluted, unscripted, or unintended? Think again! We are 23 years past 1984.
Romulus and Remus Factor
America has a long established love affair, and an affinity for dogs. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. Dogs and cats are great pets. However, when you begin to give dogs more rights than you do humans, there is a problem. When abusing a dog is a more grave crime, than abusing a child: You have an upside-down world like the world we live in today. Like the Romans whose mythology alludes to a she-wolf raising the founders of Rome, we have come to believe in similar myths. Man bites dog all over again. A dog is a dog, is a dog.
We redicule the Hindus of India for their reverence of the cow. Yet, we eat the cow, the goat, the pig, the chicken, the lamb, the frog legs, the lobster, the eggs, etc. But, we love the dogs! Is this rational, or not? Pigs and escargot yes, dogs and cats, no? Selective prejudice, wouldn't you say?
Meanwhile, Ultimate (kick boxing) Fighting, Hockey, Boxing, Wrestling, Football, are all humane entertainment for a civilized nation.

Monday, August 27, 2007

NOT SO FAST, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS




Not So Fast, Christian Soldiers
By Michael L. Weinstein and Reza Aslan
The Los Angeles Times


Wednesday 22 August 2007



The Pentagon has a disturbing relationship with private evangelical groups.




Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion. At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.



Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended.



What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.



The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU. Headed by former kickboxer Jonathan Spinks, OSU is an official member of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. The group has staged a number of Christian-themed shows at military bases, featuring athletes, strongmen and actor-turned-evangelist Stephen Baldwin. But thanks in part to the support of the Pentagon, Operation Straight Up has now begun focusing on Iraq, where, according to its website (on pages taken down last week), it planned an entertainment tour called the "Military Crusade."



Apparently the wonks at the Pentagon forgot that Muslims tend to bristle at the word "crusade" and thought that what the Iraq war lacked was a dose of end-times theology.



In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.



Take, for instance, the recent scandal involving Christian Embassy, a group whose expressed purpose is to proselytize to military personnel, diplomats, Capitol Hill staffers and political appointees. In a shocking breach of security, Defense Department officials allowed a Christian Embassy film crew to roam the corridors of the Pentagon unescorted while making a promotional video featuring high-ranking officers and political appointees. (Christian Embassy, which holds prayer meetings weekly at the Pentagon, is so entrenched that Air Force Maj. Gen. John J. Catton Jr. said he'd assumed the organization was a "quasi-federal entity.")



The Pentagon's inspector general recently released a report recommending unspecified "corrective action" for those officers who appeared in the video for violating Defense Department regulations. But, in a telling gesture, the report avoided any discussion of how allowing an evangelical group to function within the Defense Department is an obvious violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.



The extent to which such relationships have damaged international goodwill toward the U.S. is beyond measure. As the inspector general noted, a leading Turkish newspaper, Sabah, published an article on Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, who is the U.S. liaison to the Turkish military - and who appeared in the Christian Embassy video. The article described Christian Embassy as a "radical fundamentalist sect," perhaps irreparably damaging Sutton's primary job objective of building closer ties to the Turkish General Staff, which has expressed alarm at the influence of fundamentalist Christian groups inside the U.S. military.



Our military personnel swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the Bible. Yet by turning a blind eye to OSU and Christian Embassy activities, the Pentagon is, in essence, endorsing their proselytizing. And sometimes it's more explicit than that.



That certainly was the case with Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence. The Pentagon put him in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in 2003. The same year, Boykin was found to be touring American churches, where he gave speeches - in uniform - casting the Iraq war in end-times terms. "We're in is a spiritual battle," he told one congregation in Oregon. "Satan wants to destroy this nation . . . and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army." The story wound up in newspapers, magazines and on "60 Minutes." And, of course, it was reported all over the Muslim world. The Pentagon reacted with a collective shrug.



American military and political officials must, at the very least, have the foresight not to promote crusade rhetoric in the midst of an already religion-tinged war. Many of our enemies in the Mideast already believe that the world is locked in a contest between Christianity and Islam. Why are our military officials validating this ludicrous claim with their own fiery religious rhetoric?



It's time to actively strip the so-called war on terror of its religious connotations, not add to them. Because religious wars are not just ugly, they are unwinnable. And despite what Operation Straight Up and its supporters in the Pentagon may think is taking place in Iraq, the Rapture is not a viable exit strategy.



-----------

Michael L. Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote "With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military." Reza Aslan, author of "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," is on the MRFF advisory board.



Source: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082307D.shtml

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

1Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

2Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

3Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.

4They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

5In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

6Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

7The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

8Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.

9Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

10Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:

11There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

12Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.

13Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?

14I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

15And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:

16And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

17Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

18O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:

19And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

21And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

22And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

23But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

24Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

25And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

26This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

27TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

28PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

29Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

31And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

(Bolds added by Blogmaster.)

Daniel 5 (King James Version)

OFFICER KILLED IN BUSH MOTORCADE

Bush Motorcade Crash Kills N.M. Officer

Monday, August 27, 2007

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer in President Bush's motorcade crashed his motorcycle and died Monday, less than a year after a crash in Hawaii killed another motorcycle officer accompanying the president.

Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.


"Any time there is a presidential motorcade, the officers, that's part of their job, they drive at a high rate of speed," said Hoffman, whose department is investigating the crash.

Rio Rancho police department spokesman Officer John Francis said Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree, but investigators were reconstructing the accident to determine exactly what happened.

Photographers and reporters in the presidential motorcade said the officer's motorcycle appeared to be nearly destroyed, and the officer was on the ground, being helped by an emergency medical technician.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president saw the wreck after it had occurred, and a member of the White House medical staff went to assist.

Bush called Casey's wife, Lisa, from his limousine on the way to the airport in Seattle to offer condolences, Stanzel said.

The president issued a statement saying he was saddened by Casey's death and extraordinarily grateful for his protection.

"It is a high calling to choose to serve and protect your fellow citizens, and I will always be indebted to Officer Casey's service," the president said, adding that the officer's wife and two teenage children were in his thoughts and prayers.

The officer had been with the Rio Rancho Police Department since 2005 and worked with campus police at the University of New Mexico before that, Hoffman said.

Francis said Casey had received special training in riding in motorcades and had previously escorted Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on separate occasions.

A Honolulu police officer, Steve Favela, died in November when he and two other motorcycle officers crashed while part of a presidential motorcade traveling across Hickam Air Force Base.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&referrer=welcome&id=20070827/46d24c40_3ca6_1552620070827-465277130

PATRIOT HERO AARON RUSSO PASSES AWAY

Patriot Hero Aaron Russo Passes Away

Published on Friday, August 24, 2007.



We were saddened to hear of the passing of activist, film maker, freedom fighter and all round maverick Aaron Russo today, who died today after a long battle with cancer at the age of 64.

Aaron will be remembered fondly for all his achievements, not least of which the excellent America: From Freedom to Fascism, his final movie which exposed the fraudulent basis of the IRS and the Federal Reserve.

Aaron was a real patriot who loved his country and risked his whole career to stand for the truth. He was an example to us all.

Aaron Russo was the Samuel Adams of our day, a stalwart defender of liberty, his passing is greatly mourned but his fiery spirit lives on in all of his great work and in his wife, his children and his film America From Freedom to Fascism.

Our deep condolences go out to Aaron's family and friends at this difficult time.


God Speed Aaron, we salute you.

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Below is a video interview that Alex Jones conducted with Aaron after the two were able to meet for the first time in January of this year.




Source: http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4094

"U.S. COULD BE HEADING FOR RECESSION"

US Could Be Heading For Recession

August 27, 2007

Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned that the United States may be heading into recession as the biggest victim to date of the sub-prime mortgage debacle was humiliatingly sold for a token sum in Germany.
Traders are braced for another week of turmoil after the near breakdown of America's $2,200bn (£1,100bn) market for commercial paper.
"It would be far too premature to judge this crisis over," Mr Summers said. "I would say the risks of recession are now greater than they've been any time since the period in the aftermath of 9/11."
In Germany, it emerged that the state-bank SachsenLB may have accumulated $80bn of exposure to risky assets through a set of Irish funds kept off balance sheet.
The regional government of Saxony agreed yesterday to sell the East German bank - the biggest victim so far of the worldwide credit rout - for a token €300m (£204m) to the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart (LBBW), ending a three-week saga that has revealed the extent of German involvement in the some of the most treacherous areas of US sub-prime debt.
Georg Milbrandt, prime minister of Saxony, said the sale of state-owned lender was the only viable option.
"Given the market turbulence and the pressures on the bank, it could not have gone on without a partner. We want to get our ship off the high waves and into a safe port," he said.
Sachsen LB, founded in 1992 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was rescued two weeks ago in a state orchestrated bail-out. A consortium of banks agreed to provide a €17.3bn credit lifeline, but only on the understanding that it agreed to be sold to a stronger player.
It allegedly used no fewer than five Irish 'conduits' (off-balance sheet vehicles) to invest in collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and other high-risk instruments, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The biggest losses stemmed from structured investment vehicles (SIVs) which involve using short-term credit to buy longer-term assets, creating a mismatch in maturities.
The rescue deal comes as investors waited to learn whether the US Federal Reserve would succeed in stabilising the US commercial paper market, the latest - and biggest -domino to fall in the spreading contagion from sub-prime debt. Investors have suddenly lost trust in this form of debt, fearing it may be tainted by exposure to CDOs.
Stock markets rallied strongly late last week on the belief that the Federal Reserve would start to cut its key lending rate in September, and that the European Central Bank would refrain from further tightening. Goldman Sachs said any hint the banks may prove more hawkish could quickly dampen investor spirits again, warning it was too early to give "all clear" on equities.
Federal Reserve data shows that the outstanding stock of US commercial paper has fallen by $255bn over the last three weeks, a sign that borrowers have been unable to roll over huge amounts of debt. The fall is comparable to the sudden shrinkage that occurred at the onset of the dotcom bust, and may have the effect of draining liquidity.
The New York Fed issued a statement on Friday stressing that asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) would be accepted as collateral for loans to banks from the discount window. The move has helped trim the average yield slightly to 6.04pc, helping to calm a key part of the money market that lubricates the financial system.
Even so, the cost of this credit is still up roughly 80 basis points since late July - for those borrowers who can obtain it at all. Bill Gross, head of the US bond-giant PIMCO, said parts of the commercial paper industry were now so discredited that it may be impossible to revive them.
A string of Germany banks have run into trouble after taking leveraged bets on CDOs and the even more deadly 'synthetic' or derivative CDOs - bond-like securities that often contain slices of US mortgage debt.
The scale of carnage in Europe explains the series of emergency actions by ECB, which injected a further $85bn in liquidity through various mechanisms last week. IKB was the first German bank to crumble earlier this month, requiring an €8.1bn state-rescue just days after it denied any significant exposure to sub-prime debt.

Source: http://www.gcnlive.com/newsstory1.html

THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD


The House of Rothschild


David Allen Rivera
No other name has become more synonymous with the Illuminati than the Rothschilds. It is believed that the Rothschild family used the Illuminati as a means to achieving their goal of world-wide dominance. Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) was born in Frankfurt-on-the-Main in Germany, the son of Moses Amschel Bauer, a banker and goldsmith. Their name was derived from the 'red shield' ('rotschildt') that hung over the door of their shop, and had been the emblem of revolutionary Jews in Eastern Europe. A few years after his father's death, he worked as a clerk in a Hanover bank, which was owned by the Oppenheimers. He became a junior partner, and soon left to take over the business started by his father in 1750.

He bought and sold rare coins, and later succeeded in buying out several other coin dealers. In 1769, he became a court agent for Prince William IX of Hesse-Kassel, who was the grandson of George II of England, a cousin to George III, a nephew of the King of Denmark, and a brother- in-law to the King of Sweden. Soon Rothschild became the middleman for big Frankfurt bankers like the Bethmann Brothers, and Rueppell & Harnier. After expanding his business to antiques, wineries, and the importing of manufactured materials from England, the Rothschild family began to amass a sizable fortune.

Prince William inherited his father's fortune upon his death in 1785, which was the largest private fortune in Europe. Some of this money had come from Great Britain paying for the use of 16,800 Hessian soldiers to stop the revolution in America, because the money was never given to the troops. In 1804, the Rothschilds secretly made loans to the Denmark government, on behalf of Prince William.

In June, 1806, when Napoleon's troops pushed their way into Germany, Prince William fled to Denmark, leaving his money with Mayer Rothschild. History tells us that Rothschild secretly buried William's ledgers, which revealed the full extent of his wealth, a list of debtors and the interest required from them, and 600,000 pounds ($3,000,000), to keep Napoleon from confiscating it. Buderus von Carlhausen ( Carl Buderus), the Treasury official who handled William's finances, was given 'power of attorney,' and he in turn made Rothschild his chief banker, responsible for collecting the interest on the royal loans. Napoleon announced that all debts being paid to Prince William, were to go to the French Treasury, and offered a 25% commission on any debts that he would collect. Rothschild refused.

Developing circumstances soon allowed the Rothschilds to formulate a plan which would guarantee them the financial control of Europe, and soon the world. It began with taking advantage of the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo, which was fought at La-Belle-Alliance, seven miles south of Waterloo, which is a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. Early in the battle, Napoleon appeared to be winning, and the first secret military report to London communicated that fact. However, upon reinforcements from the Prussians, under Gebhard Blucher, the tide turned in favor of Wellington. On Sunday, June 18, 1815, Rothworth, a courier of Nathan Rothschild, head of the London branch of the family, was on the battlefield, and upon seeing that Napoleon was being beaten, went by horse to Brussels, then to Ostende, and for 2,000 francs, got a sailor to get him to England across stormy seas. When Nathan Rothschild received the news on June 20, he informed the government, who did not believe him. So, with everyone believing Wellington to be defeated, Rothschild immediately began to sell all of his stock on the English Stock Market. Everyone else followed his lead, and also began selling, causing stocks to plummet to practically nothing. At the last minute, his agents secretly began buying up the stocks at rock-bottom prices. On June 21, at 11 PM, Wellington's envoy, Major Henry Percy showed up at the War Office with his report that Napoleon had been crushed in a bitter eight hour battle, losing a third of his men. This gave the Rothschild family complete control of the British economy, and forced England to set up a new Bank of England, which Nathan Rothschild controlled.

However, that wasn't the only angle he used to profit from the Battle of Waterloo. Mayer Amschel Rothschild sent some of William's money to his son Nathan in London, and according to the Jewish Encyclopedia: "Nathan invested it in 800,000 pounds of gold from the East India Company, knowing it would be needed for Wellington's peninsula campaign. He made no less than four profits: (1) on the sale of Wellington's paper (which he bought at 50¢ on the dollar); (2) on the sale of gold to Wellington; (3) on its repurchase; and (4) on forwarding it to Portugal. This was the beginning of the great fortune."

After Napoleon's defeat, Prince William returned to resume his rule. Buderus was made a Baron, and the Rothschilds were the richest bankers in Europe.

In 1817, France, in order to get back on their feet again, secured loans from a French banking house in Ouvrard, and from the Baring Brothers in London. The Rothschilds saw their chance to get a firm grip on the French economy, and on October, 1818, Rothschild agents began buying huge amounts of French government bonds, which caused their value to increase. On November 5th, they were dumped on the open market, creating a financial panic as their value declined. Thus, the Rothschilds gained control of France.

Mayer Rothschild had established banks in England, France, and Germany. His sons, who were made Barons of the Austrian Empire, were set up to continue and expand his banking empire. Amschel Mayer Rothschild (1773-1855, who in 1838 said: "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.") was in charge of the bank in Frankfurt, Germany, which was known as M. A. Rothschild and Sons (which closed in 1901, after the deaths of Mayer Karl and his brother, Wilhelm Karl- the sons of Karl Mayer Rothschild). Salomon Mayer Rothschild (1774-1855) was the head of the bank in Vienna, Austria, known as S. M. Rothschild and Sons (which was closed during World War II after the Nazi occupation).

Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836, who once said: "I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply.") was the head of the bank in London, England, which was known as N. M. Rothschild and Sons (and has occupied the same premises since 1809, at 2 New Court, St. Swithin's Lane in London, near the Bank of England and Stock Exchange). Karl Mayer Rothschild (1788-1868 ) was the head of the bank in Naples, Italy (closed in 1861). James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868) was in charge of the bank in Paris, France, which was known as Messieurs de Rothschild Freres (whose name was changed to La Banque Rothschild in 1967).

This was the beginning of the House of Rothschild, which controlled a fortune estimated to be well over $300,000,000. Soon the Rothschilds spanned Europe with railroads, invested in coal and ironworks, financed England's purchase of the Suez Canal, paid for oil exploration in Russia and the Sahara Desert, financed the czars of Russia, supported Cecil Rhodes' diamond operations, aided France in creating an empire in Africa, financed the Hapsburg monarchs, and saved the Vatican from bankruptcy. In this country, through their American and European agents, they helped finance Rockefeller's Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, and Harriman's Railroad. Werner Sombart, in his book The Jews and Modern Capitalism, said that from 1820 on, it was the "age of the Rothschild" and concluded that there was "only one power in Europe, and that is Rothschild." In 1913, the family fortune was estimated to be over two billion dollars.
After Mayer Rothschild died on September 19, 1812, his will spelled out specific guidelines that were to be maintained by his descendants:

1) All important posts were to be held by only family members, and only male members were to be involved on the business end. The oldest son of the oldest son was to be the head of the family, unless otherwise agreed upon by the rest of the family, as was the case in 1812, when Nathan was appointed as the patriarch.
2) The family was to intermarry with their own first and second cousins, so their fortune could be kept in the family, and to maintain the appearance of a united financial empire. For example, his son James (Jacob) Mayer married the daughter of another son, Salomon Mayer. This rule became less important in later generations as they refocused family goals and married into other fortunes.
3) Rothschild ordered that there was never to be "any public inventory made by the courts, or otherwise, of my estate...Also I forbid any legal action and any publication of the value of the inheritance."

American and British Intelligence have documented evidence that the House of Rothschild, and other International Bankers, have financed both sides of every war, since the American Revolution. Financier Haym Salomon, who supported the patriots during the American Revolution, then later made loans to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe, was a Rothschild agent. As explained earlier, during the Napoleonic Wars, one branch of the family funded Napoleon, while another financed Great Britain, Germany, and other nations. Their boldest maneuver came prior to the Civil War.

The Rothschilds operate out of an area in the heart of London, England, the financial district, which is known as 'The City', or the 'Square Mile.' All major British banks have their main offices here, along with branch offices for 385 foreign banks, including 70 from the United States. It is here that you will find the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, Lloyd's of London, the Baltic Exchange (shipping contracts), Fleet Street (home of publishing and newspaper interests), the London Commodity Exchange (to trade coffee, rubber, sugar and wool), and the London Metal Exchange. It is virtually the financial hub of the world.

Positioned on the north bank of the Thames River, covering an area of 677 acres or one square mile (known as the "wealthiest square mile on earth"), it has enjoyed special rights and privileges that enabled them to achieve a certain level of independence since 1191. In 1215, its citizens received a Charter from King John, granting them the right to annually elect a mayor (known as the Lord Mayor), a tradition that continues today.

Both E. C. Knuth, in his book Empire of the City, and Des Griffin, in his book Descent into Slavery, stated their belief that 'The City' is actually a sovereign state (much like the Vatican), and that since the establishment of the privately owned Bank of England in 1694, 'The City' has actually become the last word in the country's national affairs, with Prime Minister, Cabinet, and Parliament becoming only a front for the real power. According to Knuth, when the queen enters 'The City,' she is subservient to the Lord Mayor (under him, is a committee of 12-14 men, known as 'The Crown'), because this privately-owned corporation is not subject to the Queen, or the Parliament.

There seems to be little doubt that the Rothschilds continue to influence the world economy, and it is known that they are squarely behind the movement to unite all the western European nations into a single political entity, which is just another step towards one-world government.


Source: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=840

BILLY GRAHAM AND HIS FRIENDS

Sir Billy Graham?

Graham Sellout Honored By The British Throne

nowledgeable observers weren't a bit surprised when Billy Graham was knighted in 2001 by the British royal family, for Dr. Graham long ago slipped into the service of the Beast of Babylon.

After the announcement of his impending retirement and turning the reigns of his million dollar media empire to his son Franklin Graham, Billy Graham continues as a beloved figure in the eyes of millions of deceived Christians. While most "Christians" are outraged to hear their religious idol soundly criticized, the plain truth is Dr. Graham has long since departed from Scriptural imperatives requiring he tell the truth about the enormous apostasy that is now enveloping the entire world.

From his blanket endorsement of the False Prophet, Pope John Paul II, to his more recent heretical statements that betray his true spiritual agenda, Dr. Billy Graham is the singular most influential false prophet in America. Fortunately, a new book finally details his tremendous deception in astonishing detail.

Billy Graham and His Friends: A Hidden Agenda? is the latest work from Dr. Cathy Burns, an expert on Freemasonry and other branches of occult secret societies. An astonishing 788 pages, Billy Graham and His Friends is supported by a staggering 4,400 footnotes! Among other things, the book documents how Billy Graham has embraced:

* Occultists of every variety

* New World Order Architects and Proponents

* Apostate "Christian" Religionists

* The Vatican

* Liberal Theology

* Atheists

* New Age Bible Versions

* Mariolotry

* The United Nations Globalist Agenda

* The Council Of Foreign Relations

* Communists

* And Much, Much More

While "fans" of Dr. Graham routinely refuse to recognize the enormous spiritual deception that is personified by this man, the proof is documented in the book. For example, during an interview with Fox News on January 2nd, 2000, interviewer Tony Snow asked Billy Graham "When you get to Heaven, who's going to speak first, you or God?" Graham replied: "When I get there, I'm sure that Jesus is going to say that he will welcome me. But I think that he's going to say: 'Well done, our good and faithful servant.' Or he may say: 'You're in the wrong place.'"

In fact, in this same interview, Graham claimed he couldn’t state categorically his guarantee of salvation because he claimed "I’m not Mother Theresa!" This is simply an outrageous admission, for Mother Theresa was not even saved as a Christian. She was on record as categorically stating there were other ways to heaven besides salvation through Jesus Christ. This is simply blasphemous, unbiblical doctrine that is drawn from the well of the False Prophet.

Yet in internationally televised crusades for the "other" gospel that Billy Graham presents, Graham routinely assures his gullible public that his brand of evangelism will guarantee their arrival in glory with the Lord. There is much more.

Graham's soft stance on communism has been extensively covered up in the West. The truth is, Billy has followed the World Council of Churches' lead into world communism. For example, back in 1973, Graham was interviewed in a Tokyo newspaper entitled the Mainichi Daily News.

In that May 28, 1973 edition, he declared "I think communism's appeal to youth is its structure and promise of a future utopia. Mao Tse-Tung's eight precepts are basically the same as the Ten Commandments. In fact, if we can't have the Ten Commandments read in our schools, I'll settle for Mao's precepts."

Many people already know that Graham has completely embraced the Catholic Pope, John Paul II, as a great Christian leader and his nomination for "the man of the century." The truth is this same Pope is not even saved, as he has blasphemed the truth of the Gospel by embracing every religious heresy from Kali the Hindu death goddess to the voodoo worshipers of Benin, West Africa.

Because the False Prophet described in the book of Revelation embraces and leads the world to the following of the Antichrist, anyone that validates the False Prophet is just another false prophet. Dr. Billy Graham has plainly demonstrated his true spiritual character with his ecumenical agenda. That powerful, and largely hidden agenda is carefully documented for anyone that cares enough about the truth to seek it out. The notes here don't even scratch the surface of the truth concerning Billy Graham. A massive amount of documented detail concerning Dr. Graham's true spiritual agenda is found in the new book Billy Graham And His Friends - A Hidden Agenda? by Dr. Cathy Burns. While Graham defenders are outraged at any criticism of the beloved figure, the massive work completely outclasses all Graham proponents with truth.

Billy Graham And His Friends is a voluminous work, with almost 800 pages and 4,400 footnotes — indicating the scope of the documentation surrounding Graham's hidden ties to New World Order groups and individuals. The much suppressed book is available from Christian Media for $25 postpaid.

Source: http://www.christianmediaresearch.com/graham.html