Poor Richard

Got the White House Blues, Nothing Left to Lose

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 17:55
kennysideshow.blogspot.com




Fiddlin' while we burn .......

Barry tosses us a blues bone.








THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION’S WAR ON CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH THE IMPOSITION OF A=44OHZ STANDARD TUNING? Posted by at 6:39 AM Labels: ,
Categories: Poor Richard

Robotics and Health Care: A New Growth Market

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 16:35
By Ray Blanco
at dailyreckoning.com

02/21/12 There are truly exciting developments afoot in the field of robotics. Uncomfortably humanlike Japanese toys aside, we are starting to see more and more applications for robot technology gaining steam in the market.

According to the Japan Robotics Association, the consumer robotics market is projected to reach 24 billion this year, and balloon to 66 billion by 2025. I personally think that the long term estimate is a bit pessimistic. Bill Gates is on record for predicting that robots will be as common as computers are today.

If he is even half right, investors that get in on promising techs today will be fantastically compensated for their vision and patience in the long run. Getting in on the next wave of robotics now will be like getting in on Intel, AMD, Apple, and Microsoft in the 1980s.

Of course, the Great Recession has dealt a few temporary blows. A mainstay of the robotics industry has been assembly line machines for the automobile manufacturers. But the robotics industry is diversifying, and the automotive industry itself gives a good example of what can happen.

While automobile sales plummeted during the Great Depression, crucial improvements in automotive technology like the fully automatic fluid transmissions and hydraulic brakes were being made that would revolutionize motoring once it was all over. Once that storm passed profits and sales went up, along with share prices.

Robots are already being used for dangerous jobs that humans would rather not do. The US Commerce Department decided to fund a project with Fibrwrap Construction Inc. to develop robots that will be able to repair aging water transmission pipelines from the inside. The advantage of this method is that the infrastructure won’t have to be torn out of the ground to be repaired. But the robotics market is rapidly spreading beyond these types of dangerous applications…

Robotics is being aided by a simple economic fact: while cost of production for goods has generally declined over time, prices for services generally don’t fall quite as much. Consider that your computer costs a fraction for the performance you receive compared to two decades ago, but the technician that repairs it has generally remained quite expensive to hire.

Food prices, to give another example, have fallen steeply in real terms over the last century. This is not only due to better agricultural techniques, but also because of increased automation. From John Deere and Alice-Chalmers, from the balers to combines, mechanized agricultural equipment has drastically reduced what we have to pay to consume our daily bread. Robotics will be no different, and we are on the cusp of big changes.

In our day and age, the healthcare service industry has proven highly resistant to price declines partly because of labor costs. Improved robotic automation is one of the fastest ways to increase productivity and reduce labor costs. With the leading edge of the Boomer generation entering retirement, there will be huge financial incentives for improved robots. There will be tremendous demand for anyone that can build an affordable robot that can help with housekeeping and basic care.

Families that want to keep older members out of assisted care facilities and closer to home will look to robots for help.

I spoke with Martin Spencer, President of GeckoSystems International Corp. regarding his vision for robot assisted health care. Having spent over a decade working on his dream of a personal care robot, his company has developed unique technology that is starting to demonstrate its usefulness in marketable models.

According to Spencer, the hardest problems related to robotics in this role are software and AI related, not hardware related.

Their flagship robot, called CareBot, has advanced modular artificial intelligence and a proprietary compounded sensor system that allows it to reliably move about the typical home landscape. Unlike other robot designs that seek to reduce sensor inputs to cut down on processing overhead, GeckoSystems’ CareBot is sensor loving. This property is necessary if a viable multipurpose self-directed robot is to become successful. The main reason is because multiple inputs help to give the robot a better reading on its environment. For example, when you are driving a car, you not only receive inputs through your vision, but also through the sensing of acceleration or deceleration, engine vibration, a honk from a nearby car, or the bump of a collision. Being able to use multiple sensor feeds is particularly important in a robot that needs to move about the home on its own.

The CareBot also has an AI module that is designed for human/robot interactions.

This module, called GeckoChat, can respond to voice requests, create voice reminders, and even engage in word games with a human being. The beauty of GeckoSystems’ AI platform is that it can run on common PC hardware and operating systems like Windows XP and Linux, keeping down costs. Spencer estimates that the CareBot can pay for itself in a matter of months, due to the high cost of assisted care.

Along with my colleague Patrick Cox, I am closely investigating advancements such as CareBot, along with other opportunities in this space. These life-changing technologies will become commercialized sooner than you may think.

Regards,

Ray Blanco,
for The Daily Reckoning

Read more: Robotics and Health Care: A New Growth Market http://dailyreckoning.com/robotics-and-health-care-a-new-growth-market/#ixzz1n9HBcizo

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Categories: Poor Richard

Kurt Haskell: Witness to Government False Flag

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 15:44
Saman Mohammadi at disquietreservations.blogspot.com.. infowars video



Getting a drugged up patsy with a fake bomb onto a plane to America: $1500.
Drumming up baseless fear to make the people kneel and worship the terrorist state: $10 billion dollars.
Selling surveillance technology to airports around the country: $100 billion dollars.
Catching the CIA with its pants down in the act of fucking the American taxpayer: priceless.

There are some things money can't hide. For everything else, there's the Media.
Posted by Saman Mohammadi at 3:17 PM


Categories: Poor Richard

Freedom* by Simon Black

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 15:22
indianmuslimobserver.com
“[T]he more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” Benito Mussolini
Grand Fascist Council Report, 1929

When I was a kid, the morning announcements at my taxpayer-funded public school dragged on for a good 15 or 20 minutes. They announced the birthdays. They told us what was for lunch. For some reason they even told us the weather, as if a bunch of 6-year olds cared what the relative humidity was.

Then we broke out into the propaganda. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we sang the national anthem. Then we sang America the Beautiful. THEN we sang the state anthem, “Texas our Texas”. I still hear it in my sleep from time to time.

It’s bizarre, when you think about it. Children are indoctrinated from such a young age to subordinate themselves to the ‘republic,’ a system of government. They learn that the state is paramount above all else, and the belief is inculcated at a time when young minds are typically incapable of rational analysis.
It seems difficult to heavily distinguish such practices from those of the Deutsches Jungvolk section of the HJ– the Hitler Youth organization for 10-14 year old boys that instilled loyalty to the Third Reich above all else.
Children learn that the United States stands for liberty… the land of the free. It’s simply not questioned. That’s what they’re told, that’s what they grow up believing. But as Hayek wrote in the early 1940s,
“Freedom and liberty are now words so worn with use and abuse that one must hesitate to employ them to express the ideals for which they [used to stand.]”

‘Freedom’ now comes with all sorts of strings attached, special stipulations. These days, we’re told: “You’re free. Now follow all of these regulations that are interpreted at the exclusive discretion of hundreds of executive agencies under the penalty of imprisonment and/or financial penalties so egregious that you’ll be paying for the rest of your natural life.”

The rule of law no longer exists– not in the United States, not in the western world.
In the EU, member states and unelected, supranational agencies are now routinely violating their own charters and international agreements to bail out, print, and borrow however much they want, whenever they want, irrespective of what the law says.

Moreover, hundreds of US government executive agencies and their ever-expanding authorities are creating a complex ‘shadow code’ system of policies and regulations, each of which can be interpreted in the sole discretion of a single bureaucrat who’s out to get you.
Consider:
  • US-based Gibson Guitar Corp has twice been raided by FBI agents on suspicion of importing wood that violates India’s trade regulations. They don’t care that Gibson’s CEO has a memo from the Indian government approving the deal. The wood remains confiscated, even though charges have never been filed.
  • There’s a regulation on the books, buried deep within the system, requiring you to first fill out a form with the Census Bureau of all places. It’s rarely (if ever) enforced, but it exists… and anyone who doesn’t do it is subject to fine and/or imprisonment at the pleasure of the Census Bureau.
  • A few months ago, a fisherman from New Bedford, Mass. accidentally caught an 800-pound bluefin tuna in his trawl gear after setting out from dock. It was freakish good fortune, albeit short-lived. The man was relieved of his tuna by the National Maritime Fisheries Service because there is ‘no permit that allows catching bluefin with a trawl net.’
  • Even having too much cash now can be considered a criminal offense. There are countless stories like Anthony Smelley’s, who in 2009 was pulled over on I-70 in Putnam County, Indiana and found with $17,500 in cash. He was able to prove that the money was his, legitimately. It didn’t matter. He was relieved of the cash, but charged with no crime. 
  • You can’t so much as apply for a passport now without being threatened with “fine and/or imprisonment under U.S. law including the provisions of 18 USC 1001, 18 USC 1542, and/or 18 USC 1621.”  The same goes for ‘alteration of a passport’ or even using a passport ‘in violation of the restrictions contained herein..’, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
This is not the land of the free. The US government’s extraordinary network of codes, regulations, and policies has created a nation of citizens who live in a state of constant violation, governed by criminals who have the authority to defraud them.

A few months ago, one obscure police agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was found having spent several hundred thousand dollars of funds and assets that were confiscated from fishermen (without charge) to buy a luxury boat that was used for pleasure cruises and barbecues.
In 2008, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives submitted a request for bids to purchase 2,000 Leatherman pocketknives for its agents. The ATF wanted the knives to be inscribed with the phrase “Always Think Forfeiture”, as in ATF.

The order was rescinded after it was reported in the Idaho Statesman… but it’s emblematic of how government agencies view their role… and ours.

At this moment, you are guilty of dozens of crimes and/or regulatory violations.  Such rules are selectively enforced; the rule of law means nothing, it’s all about who your connections are, whose palms are greased, and whose campaign you enriched.

Like a cheap credit card offer, all the song and dance about ‘land of the free’ comes with fine print at the bottom of the page– “terms and conditions may apply, void where prohibited.”  This is not freedom. It’s freedom*
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Categories: Poor Richard

Ice Age: back to 18th century?

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 14:13

Igor Siletsky
Download
© Flickr.com/krlblack/cc-by-nc-sa 3.0 In the near future the mankind will face a new ice age not a global warming. That is the forecast which has been made by Habibullo Abdussamatov, the head of Space research laboratory at the Saint Petersburg-based Pulkovo Observatory, who is a well known global warming skeptic. According to him the coming cold will be caused by a decline in solar activity. Last time our planet experienced it in mid-17th century until the early 18th century. Nevertheless most of the climate experts including the colleagues of Abdusamatov do not support his theory.
How about frozen rivers Thames, Seine and Rhine and Russian vast lands covered with ice and a meter thick layer of snow? After the extremely cold weather of the current winter nobody likes this idea. But Abdusamatov is confident that people should get ready for a new cold era, which may become the fifth Little Ice Age in the last nine centuries. The situation in the mid 21st century will be similar to the Maunder Minimum which lasted from 1645 to 1715. Then the population of the northern countries drastically declined due to cold weather, hunger and migration.
Abdusamatov based his forecast on observations of solar activity. Scientists usually distinguish 200-year long and 11 year long periods in the activity of the Sun.  Now, according to Abdusamatov, the amount of solar radiation hitting the Earth is constantly decreasing. It is the solar energy accumulated by the Sea which still keeps our planet warm. But after 2014, the astronomer says, mankind will feel the decrease in temperatures and by approximately 2055 (plus or minus 11 years) the amount of solar radiation hitting the Earth will reach its minimum.
What about the theory of global warming, which prevails today?  Abdusamatov says that it is not scientifically grounded. However, Abdusamatov’s forecasts fail to find support among his colleagues either. Some of them even wanted to overturn his theory by publishing an article in a special scientific magazine aimed at the disclosure of false theories. According to Deputy Head of the Pulkovo observatory Yury Nagovitsyn this would be too radical. But he also said that mass media should be careful with this theory.
"Solar activity is one of the most complicated scientific issues. And suddenly someone, who has never studied climate before, starts making statements. I want to stress that this theory is neither the official theory of the Pulkovo observatory nor of the Commission on Climate Changes Studies at St. Petersburg Research Center."    Indeed, forecasting climatic changes is a very complicated task in itself. Such forecasts don’t often turn out to be right especially if it comes to such a little-studied phenomenon as solar activity, the expert on climate studies at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yury Shmakin says.
"In fact nobody knows the answer. At present we do not see any signs of the coming cold, while a sustainable warming is underway. We cannot predict the Sun’s behavior. Here is an interesting fact – for centuries astronomers had studied the 11 year cycle of solar activity and suddenly, in 2007, that cycle stopped.  2007 was the year of minimal solar activity and after that it was expected to start growing again within a new 11-year cycle but it did not. Nobody knows why."
As for Abdusamatov he has a good response to the objections of his colleagues – in the beginning all brilliant theories were rejected by scientific communities. The astronomer claims that his theory is keeps gaining more and more supporters all over the world and he strongly recommends that residents of northern countries stock up on firewood.
Categories: Poor Richard

New Government Initiative Would Circumvent Second Amendment By Targeting Ammunition Not Guns

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 13:50
Mac Slavo
February 22nd, 2012
SHTFplan.com







With over 10 million guns sold in the United States in 2011, violent crime rising significantly as the economic crisis worsens, and self defense killings sky rocketing, it’s becoming increasingly unpopular for politicians to call for restrictions on firearms. If anything, even though government officials in states like Illinois and New Jersey are  attempting to outlaw guns completely, the public outcry has been deafening, with each attempt met by protests and solidarity from individual rights and gun advocates all over the country.

It’s clear that the majority of Americans support their inherent right to bear arms. But, even though the strategy of attacking our second Amendment is wholly unpopular and failing miserably, misguided government officials are beginning to explore ever more novel ways of circumventing the US Constitution and Second Amendment altogether.

Like New Jersey’s recent attempt to ban ammunition, Illinois is now taking aim at ammo. This latest legislation would add a surtax to every box of ammunition sold, and if allowed, would set an alarming precedent that effectively threatens our ability to utilize a firearm for its intended purpose.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, in a bill introduced earlier this month, proposed a 2 percent surtax on ammunition. The proceeds would go toward a “high-crime trauma center grant fund,” which would then send the tax money to trauma centers in “high-crime areas.”
The idea is to begin to offset the high cost of gun violence. Mark Walsh, campaign director for the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told FoxNews.com that cost often ends up being shouldered by these urban trauma centers.

“(The money would go) into communities here in Illinois that have been damaged with gun violence,” he said. “I think it’s a legitimate way to pursue funding.” “We aren’t causing the problem. They are,” Pearson said. “It’s an attack on firearm owners and their rights. … They think that because we like to target shoot and hunt, we’re bad people, and we should pay for all the ills of the city of Chicago.”

Since gun owners in Illinois have to have a special ID card which requires a background check to obtain, Pearson said those committing crimes of gun violence aren’t likely to be paying much into the proposed tax fund.
“They’re not buying their ammunition (legally). They’re not paying any part of the tax. They’re getting their stuff illegally,” he said.
He estimated a typical box of ammo runs for about $25 in Illinois, meaning the average tax per box would be about 50 cents.
Source: Fox NewsSupporters of the new legislation argue that proceeds from this small tax will be used to help the greater community. In this case, we would argue that the  road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The risks of an abusive government having the ability to essentially set the price of a product through taxation is a scary proposition. Anytime government has ever identified a new good or service to tax, if it is allowed to do so, it unabashedly continues to raise those taxes in perpetuity. Gasoline, alcohol and cigarettes are key examples of this. In New York, for example, you pay  more in taxes for a pack of cigarettes than the actual cigarettes. This same model will be introduced to ammunition if the sycophants in our local, state and federal government aren’t stopped.

You can be assured that if legislation like this isn’t stopped swiftly and unequivocally, it will spread like a cancer throughout the rest of the country.  Like cigarettes and booze, ammunition, it will be argued, is a danger to public health and the general welfare, and as such, will require high taxation to cover the adverse social impact it causes. It’s only a 2% tax today, but once the idea takes hold without protest, it will without a doubt lead to massive price increases, leaving many without the ability to exercise a right that is a pillar of the US Constitution.
  StumbleReddit
emailAuthor: Mac Slavo
Date: February 22nd, 2012
Website: www.SHTFplan.com
Copyright Information: Copyright SHTFplan and Mac Slavo. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.shtfplan.com. Please contact us for permission to reproduce this content in other media formats.
Categories: Poor Richard

Virginia House Passes NDAA-Nullifying Bill; Other States Join Fight

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 13:03
Virginia House Passes NDAA-Nullifying Bill; Other States Join Fight | Print |   Written by Joe Wolverton, II   
The sovereign states are courageously asserting their constitutionally protected right to self-determination by standing up to the federal government and refusing to execute the most noxious provisions of the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Evidence of this laudable resistance to federal tyranny was most recently found in the Old Dominion, where on February 14 an impressive majority (96 out of 100 members) of the Virginia House of Delegates passed HB 1160, a bill that prohibits agents of the state government from “assisting an agency of the armed forces of the United States in the conduct of the investigation, prosecution, or detention of a citizen in violation of the United States Constitution, the Constitution of Virginia, or any Virginia law or regulation.”

The bill was sponsored by committed constitutionalist Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall. When asked by The New American what prompted him to author this legislation, Marshall referred to his "oath to uphold the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. "They say this law [the NDAA] is designed to fight terrorists. You don't defeat terrorists by adopting their tactics." "I will be faithful to my calling to stand against these predators who would sell their birthright for a mess of pottage," he added.“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

 These words were written by the Father of the Constitution, James Madison. Marshall certainly understands this principle as he is also the author of the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act, which nullified ObamaCare in his state.Delegate Marshall’s bill is the first measure in the nation that is based on the Liberty Preservation Act. This model legislation (a copy of which is available from the Tenth Amendment Center) is designed to block the enforcement of the provisions of the NDAA authorizing the apprehension and indefinite detention of citizens of the United States.The Liberty Preservation Act calls upon state legislatures to declare Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA to beinimical to the liberty, security and well-being of the people of (STATE), and [that the NDAA] was adopted by the United States Congress in violation of the limits of federal power in the United States Constitution.Speaking of the inestimable work of the Tenth Amendment Center in the fight against the NDAA, that organization’s communication’s director, Mike Maherry said:“Most Americans recognize that the federal government rarely, if ever, relinquishes power once it grasps it. So state and local governments are taking James Madison’s words to heart and interposing on behalf of their citizens.""The very fact that so many legal experts come up with so many diverse readings of those NDAA sections should give us all pause,” he said. “The language is vague and undefined. Are we really going to trust the judgment and good intentions of Pres. Obama or whichever Republican sits in the White House to protect us? That seems like a pretty bad plan."In what is music to the ears of constitutionalists, other state and local governments are joining the chorus decrying federal despotism.In Arizona, the Border Security, Federalism and States Sovereignty Committee of the state Senate passed a resolution that is on track to be taken up by the entire Senate. The bill (SB 1182), introduced by Senator Sylvia Allen, “prohibits this state and agencies of this state from participating in the implementation of Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 and classifies the act of attempting to enforce or enforcing these sections as a class 1 misdemeanor.”As The New American has reported, lawmakers in Tennessee and Washington have already proposed legislation thwarting the federal government’s attempt to enforce the NDAA at the state level — that is to say, nullifying an unconstitutional act of the federal government.A tally kept by the Tenth Amendment Center of state and local authorities standing up to the federal government and its never-ending quest to quash states’ rights records that:Six local governments have passed resolutions condemning sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA. Earlier this week, the Town Council of Macomb, N.Y. unanimously passed a resolution, and Fairfax, Calif. approved a similar resolution 4-1. On Wednesday, New Shoreham, R.I. also passed a resolution opposing NDAA detention.Basically, nullification is the principle that each state retains the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law that a state deems unconstitutional. Nullification is founded on the assertion that the sovereign states formed the union, and as creators of the compact, they hold ultimate authority as to the limits of the power of the central government to enact laws that are applicable to the states and the citizens thereof.Under the provisions of Section 1021 of the NDAA, the President is afforded the absolute power to arrest and detain citizens of the United States without their being informed of any criminal charges, without a trial on the merits of those charges, and without a scintilla of the due process safeguards protected by the Constitution of the United States.Further, in order to execute the provisions of Section 1021 described in the previous paragraph, subsequent clauses (Section 1022, for example) unlawfully give the President the absolute and unquestionable authority to deploy the armed forces of the United States to apprehend and to indefinitely detain those suspected of threatening the security of the “homeland.” In the language of this legislation, these people are called “covered persons.”The universe of potential “covered persons” includes every citizen of the United States of America. Any American could one day find himself or herself branded a “belligerent” and thus subject to the complete confiscation of his or her constitutional civil liberties and nearly never-ending incarceration in a military prison.While every effort by the states to use the sword of sovereignty to force the federal government back behind the lines of power drawn for it in the Constitution is commendable and should be encouraged, there are those fighting for this same cause who see trouble with the versions of NDAA nullification bills being considered by state lawmakers in Washington and Virginia.Richard Fry, the general counsel for the Patriot Coalition, a group committed to restoring the power structure established by our Constitution, penned the following criticism of the two proposals mentioned above.The only way to "nullify" a government action directed at citizens is for the state to interpose its authority and protections between the federal government and its citizens. That is to say, for the state to act as a direct shield and a buffer against the actions of the federal government. Generally the only way to do this is for the state to criminalize the action by the federal government such that if the federal government tries to enforce the law within the subject nullifying state or a state officer attempts to assist the federal government they are subject to criminal penalties.Neither the Virginia nor the Washington [bill] criminalize[s] anything. Without punishment or penalty there really is no law.
While Mr. Fry’s assessment is accurate and his legal distinctions are inarguably insightful, some solace for the friends of liberty is found in the efforts of states to oppose Washington, D.C.'s unconstitutional dictates.


Categories: Poor Richard

Will Rothschilds Move Gold from the US to the EU?

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 12:55
Jeff Thomas  |  International Man 861 views
February 20, 2012


By now it will be common knowledge that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has committed America to Quantitative Easing (QE) for Europe.

It matters little whether the Fed distributes the funds individually to specific countries, or whether it credits the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the European Central Bank (ECB) for them to distribute.

At the very least, the objective is a delay in the financial collapse of the EU, which would, in turn, delay a similar crash in the US.

It is hard to imagine, but it is also possible that Mr. Bernanke actually believes that the creation of more fiat currency may be an actual solution to the EU’s fiscal problems.

For those who believe, as I do, that the situation is beyond redemption and that the EU QE will only exacerbate the problem, the damage that it will do to American and European taxpayers is unconscionable. This latest grandstand play will only serve to make the ultimate crash deeper and more prolonged. Long after those who have concocted the scheme have retired to their villas, the average citizen will still be paying for their intervention.

But there is an interesting side issue that, as yet, does not seem to be under discussion. If the US is to loan billions, or even trillions, to the EU, it would not be unreasonable for them to request that the loan be securitised. After all, this is the normal manner in which banking is done.

On the surface of it, this might seem unlikely, as the Fed would appear a bit chintzy if it were to insist upon holding a note for, say, the Acropolis or the Tower of Pisa. However, a far more reasonable and far more logical possibility exists. At present, an estimated 6,000 tonnes of gold is held in the cellars of the Federal Reserve Building in New York that belongs to EU countries. It would not seem at all unreasonable for the US to wish to collateralise the debt to the EU, using the EU gold in New York.

The kicker here is that, however much fiat currency they credit the EU with, they will never see that money again. It is not possible that it can be repaid, since the EU cannot even pay its existing debt.

So, what would be the wrinkles in such a move?

First, it could be suggested that the EU would not wish to sign over the gold. After all, the QE will not be repaid, which virtually guarantees that they would lose their gold to the US government. Second, the European people are beginning to figure out that it may not have been such a good idea to let the Americans store EU gold, and many are now asking their governments to have it shipped to European banks. So, what would be the reply from the Fed if, say, the Bundesbank were to order that the German-owned gold be delivered to Frankfurt?

I am inclined to believe that it would not be one that the German people would wish to hear.

Another argument against the premise of securitisation for the EU QE would be that the US continues to maintain that gold is a barbarous relic that should not be thought of as currency. If they were to demand gold as security, would they be opening up a can of worms? My guess is that they would not. That can is in the process of opening of its own accord, as major American institutions are now buying gold. Therefore, the veil is falling from that particular ruse in any case. As it does, the US could only appear prudent to its populace by requesting securitisation.

But the larger issue is the future. The Euro is headed for a fall. The US dollar, in turn, would be likely to fall. A currency scramble would then ensue, with possibly the yuan, the ruble, the rupee and other currencies vying for greater use as world currencies. In addition, the IMF may well create its own paper currency and run it up the flagpole.

The US would be likely to make a stab at a new dollar of some sort. However, once a currency has crashed, the currency that created it generally has a difficult time re-establishing its previous position of importance. If the US were to stay in the game as the world’s provider of a default currency, it would need something more than it can presently offer.

Many economists project that, following the crashes of the Euro and the dollar, a return to gold-backed currencies would appear as a world trend. This is only natural, as the fiat currency concept would have been shown to be the farce that it is.

This being the case, at gold’s current spot price there is not enough of it in circulation to cover the amount of currency units in existence in the world. It is entirely possible that all currencies could receive a shake-up, and an entire worldwide system of gold-backed currencies may develop. If this were to occur, the countries that held the largest amounts of gold at that time would be out in front economically. Which countries had made the most severe economic mistakes in the immediate past, would become less important than who was holding the precious metal after the fall had occurred. Certainly, the Asian countries see the writing on the wall. It is no secret that they are acquiring gold in a very determined way.

Certainly, they hope to have a bigger share of the pie after the crashes take place in the First World.

As to whether the US chooses to attach the EU gold to their QE of Europe, only time will tell, but it would certainly seem to be the wise move.

Categories: Poor Richard

Iceland shows eurozone how to fight crisis

poorrichards-blog - Wed, 02/22/2012 - 11:19


Iceland's Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. (Reuters / Bob Strong)
Before Greece and Portugal, it was Iceland that chilled investors. Now the country’s finances are recovering and its bonds are turning into a lucrative investment.

­Fitch has upgraded Iceland’s sovereign credit rating from BB+ to BBB- with a stable outlook. The rating agency lifted “the junk bond status” saying the country’s “unorthodox crisis policy response has succeeded.”

In 2008 Iceland faced the worst financial crisis in its history as three leading banks defaulted under the weight of huge foreign debt. As it became clear the default were inevitable Iceland’s government nationalized the banks, while foreign creditors were left holding the bag.

“A Major part of Iceland’s debt has been written off. That means the country has more chances to pay its debts. So Iceland’s bonds are more attractive to investors than those of Greece or Portugal”, commented Tamerlan  Khassimikov, the head of BST Capital Management.

The country also received a $2.2 billion bailout from the IMF and carried out structural reforms which enabled Iceland to reduce its fiscal deficit.  The devaluation of the Icelandic krona contributed to the country’s exports.

“The Icelandic krona unlike the euro is supported by the country’s production. Now the fishing industry creates 46% of Iceland’s GDP and exports are growing”, said Mr. Khassimikov.

But it wasn’t only effective crisis management that helped Iceland stay afloat, according to the expert. “Iceland is a disciplined country, it used not to spend much more than it has”, Mr Khassimikov said. “The fiscal deficit was formed during the crisis, because Iceland’s banks are a part of global banking. As for Greece, it became a victim of its own careless approach to finance”.

Analysts agree Iceland’s crisis approach is hardly applicable to the euro-zone countries as they can’t devalue the currency by themselves. But Iceland definitely shows a textbook example of a thrifty financial policy.
+13 (13 votes)
Categories: Poor Richard

SANTORUM'S SATAN WARNING

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 14:55









SANTORUM'S SATAN WARNING
Tue Feb 21 2012 09:27:20 ET


"Satan has his sights on the United States of America!" Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has declared.

"Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition."

MORE

The former senator from Pennsylvania warned in 2008 how politics and government are falling to Satan.

"This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country - the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age?"

"He attacks all of us and he attacks all of our institutions."

Santorum made the provocative comments to students at Ave Maria University in Florida.

MORE

The White House contender described how Satan is even taking hold of some religions.

"We look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it."

Developing...
Categories: Poor Richard

Political Prisoners in America's Gulag

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 14:43


                                                       Political Prisoners in America's Gulag

by Stephen Lendman

With around 2.4 million incarcerated, America has by far the world's largest prison system. Two-thirds in it are Black or Latino.

Most held are non-violent. Over half are for drug related charges. Around 75% are Blacks or Latinos. On all charges, many are persecuted political prisoners.

In her book titled, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," Michelle Alexander called today's Jim Crow a modern-day elitist-designed racial caste system. Believing poor Blacks (and Latinos) are dangerous and economically superfluous, America's gulag became an instrument of social control. According to Alexander:

"Any movement to end mass incarceration must deal with (it) as a racial caste system, not (a method) of crime control. We need an effective system of crime prevention and control in our communities, but that is not what the current system is. (It's) better designed to create crime, and a perpetual class of people labeled criminals, rather than to eliminate crime or reduce the number of criminals."

America's most vulnerable are victimized by racism, poverty, judicial unfairness, get tough on crime policies, a guilty unless proved innocent mentality, three strikes and you're out, bigoted drug laws, and advocacy for social justice issues challenging repressive state policies.

An earlier article called America's gulag the shame of the nation. It reflects mercilessly persecuting its own. At the same time, it wages imperial wars, lets banks commit grand theft, frees other corporate predators to operate extrajudicially, and punishes society's most vulnerable for resisting. It also targets Muslims to facilitate America’s global war on terror.

Russell Maroon Shoats

A self-designated "New African Political Prisoner of War," he's serving life/plus for alleged 1970 involvement in a policeman's death and wounding of another.

Incarcerated in 1972, he's spent 40 years in over a dozen federal, state, and local prisons and jails, including over 21 years in solitary confinement locked down 23 or more hours daily. More on that below.

In 1979, he was in maximum security confinement, during which time he was "forcibly drugged and on one occasion hospitalized from a hospital induced overdose...."

In the 1960s, he became politically active. He joined the African liberation movement, and was a Philadelphia-based Black Unity Council founding member. In 1969, it merged with Black Panther Party's Philadelphia chapter.

Compromised of prisoners' families, former inmates, and supporters, the Human Rights Coalition (HRC) calls America's prison system exploitive, punitive and corrupt. It says:

Most people "in prisons are poor, (black or) brown, urban, functionally illiterate, unemployed or under-employed before they were locked down, and are there for (alleged) non-violent crimes. The prison system reflects all inequalities in our society...."

As a result, it wants the current system abolished. It's racist and unjust. Shoats co-founded HRC.

Together with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), National Lawyers Guild and others, HRC's campaigning to free Shoats from isolation and return him to the general prison population.

On his behalf, a letter-writing/petition campaign was launched. Support him by signing the petition for humane treatment. Now 68, he's held at Pennsylvania's:

State Correctional Institution (SCI) Greene

175 Progress Drive

Waynesburg, PA 15370

724-852-2902

Prison authorities call him a security threat because of past attempted and successful escapes. In fact, he's kept isolated based on false allegations about planning a 1980 prison takeover. He's also persecuted for his activism, leadership, and human rights support.

America's Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It's prison system commits it ruthlessly with impunity. Shoats is one of many victims. Locked up, they're out of sight and mind.

Everyone deserves justice. America's most vulnerable get none, especially those in the maw of a racist, brutalizing, dehumanizing prison system.

Comments on Two Other Prisoners

On February 16, the FBI Detroit Division announced "underwear bomber" Uman Farouk Abdulmutallab's life sentence for conviction on charges of:

 
 * conspiracy to commit terrorism;

 * attempted murder;


    * willfully placing a destructive device on an aircraft;


    * attempting to use "a weapon of mass destruction;"


    * attempting to destroy a civil aircraft; and


    * three counts of "possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence."


Attorney General Eric Holder called Abdulmutallab "a remorseless terrorist who believes it is his duty to kill Americans." Holder's only skills include hyperbole, making false allegations, and sending innocent victims to prison.

Abdulmutallab was set up. On December 25, 2009, he was aboard an Amsterdam - Detroit bound flight. US officials claimed he was trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried detonating them on board.

In fact, he was a protected CIA patsy, set up as a provocation to facilitate America's Yemen's civil war involvement.

Earlier denied a UK entrance visa, he wasn't on a no fly list. He paid cash for a one-way Detroit ticket, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a "well-dressed Indian" to facilitate a false flag scheme, using him as a convenient dupe.

CIA/Mossad/Indian Research Analysis Wing (RAW) planned it. Abdulmutallab's PETN was weak, technically deficient, didn't go off properly, and had fire cracker strength at most.

No matter. Railroaded by Justice Department prosecutors, he'll spend the rest of his life doing hard time in prison.

On February 17, New York Times writer Charlie Savage headlined, "FBI Arrests Man in a Suspected Terrorist Plot Near the US Capitol," saying:

Amine El Khalifi, a Moroccan national, was arrested "carrying a MAC-10 gun and a vest packed with nails and what he thought (were) explosives in what (federal agents) said was a plan to carry out a suicide bombing at the United States Capitol."

Based on numerous past false flags, be very suspicious about all Justice Department charges. Against El Khalifi, they look very much like entrapping an innocent/naive dupe into involvement in what he had no prior intent, desire, or willingness to do.

Holder, however, defends entrapment. He calls it an "essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing terror attacks."

In fact, they're maliciously manufactured to manipulate fear and justify America's global war on terrorism. Nearly always, Muslims are charged. It's part of America's war on Islam.

Innocent victims are charged, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. Justice is malevolently denied. Imperial wars are facilitated. Vital social benefits are lost to fund them.

The Times article said El Khalifi posed no threat. An undercover sting operation gave him "inoperative weapons." He was set up to entrap another victim. He's like numerous others foiled in the nick of time. Ask why alleged home-grown terrorists don't succeed.

Perhaps it's because they don't exist except in bogus Justice Department charges and major media scoundrels regurgitating them without challenge.

Assistant attorney general Lisa Monaco lied, saying:

"Today's case underscores the continuing threat we face from home-grown violent extremists. Thanks to a coordinated law enforcement effort, El Khalifi's alleged plot was thwarted before anyone was harmed."

In fact, the only extremist home-grown threats are federal, state and local officials, as well as corporate ones they serve.

As a result, innocent victims wrongfully suffer. Many rot unjustly in federal and state gulags while government and corporate criminals do what they please with impunity. It's high time public rage challenged them.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

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Categories: Poor Richard

Iran FM: We are ready to face 'worst-case scenario' in defense of nuclear program

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 14:16

Ali Akbar Salehi says Tehran believes it is in the right in regards to its 'civilian' nuclear program, adding that Iran plans 'to move ahead with vigor and confidence.' By Haaretz Tags: Iran nuclear Iran threat Iran Benjamin Netanyahu

Get Haaretz on iPhone Get Haaretz on Android Iran is determined to pursue the advancement of its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Ministry Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday, adding that Tehran was prepared for any "worse-case scenario" in attempt to defend its nuclear aspirations. Salehi's comments came after U.S. National Adviser Tom Donilon arrived in Israel to discuss Iran's nuclear standoff with the West with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi speaking during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey. Thursday, Jan. 19. 2012. Photo by: AP Speaking with Haaretz just prior to Donilon's visit, a U.S. official has told Haaretz that all the messages from Israel in recent months pointed to the likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran. The senior U.S. official said that in the past six months the messages reaching Washington from Jerusalem have increasingly pointed to the likelihood of an Israeli strike, more so than in the previous two years. "We think that Israel still has not decided whether to attack or not, but it is clear to us that it is being considered seriously," he said. Referring to the continued controversy concerning Iran's nuclear program, Salehi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday: “Since we believe that we are right, we do not have the slightest doubt in the pursuit of our nuclear program." "Therefore, we plan to move ahead with vigor and confidence and we do not take much heed of [the West’s] propaganda warfare," Salehi was cited by Press TV assaying, adding that "even in the worst-case scenario, we remain prepared." Salehi also criticized western powers for accusing Iran for developing nuclear weapons while advancing the P5+1 nuclear talks, which he revealed will take place in Istanbul, Turkey. “Since they have an arrogant nature, they have not learned to engage in political interactions with prudent and humane manners,” Press TV quoted Salehi as saying, advising "western countries" to "amend their policies towards Iran." Also on Sunday, Iran's Ministry of Petroleum announced that it was stopping the sale of crude oil to British and French companies. "Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped ... we will sell our oil to new customers," spokesman Alireza Nikzad said, the ministry website reported.  
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Categories: Poor Richard

Entertainment Sells Techno Tyranny

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 13:55




  Propaganda disguised as entertainment has Americans oblivious to the threat posed by technology to their liberty.
"Man was meant to be free and master of his own destiny, not some monitored cog in a dystopian machine."


by Chris Goodmenbetter
(henrymakow.com)

SuperBowl 2012 has come and gone.

The primetime bread & circus accomplished what gladiatorial games have done since Roman times - distract the electorate from the actions of the self elected.

It's fitting that the "Patriots" lost while spectators were scrutinized by the best technological surveillance to date.

Such scrutiny typifies unfolding centralized real-time surveillance of the entire populace. Propaganda disguised as entertainment has left Americans oblivious to the threat facing their liberty and privacy.

America's human herders, the psychopathic elite, have determined that the best way to predict a society's future is to invent it using popular culture.


WEAPONIZED ENTERTAINMENT

There have been many instances of biometric surveillance in movies & T.V.  the 2002 Steven Spielberg Film 'Minority Report' will aptly suffice.

The original story by author Philip K. Dick, upon which the film is based, makes no mention of the biometrics so integral in the movie. This sort of "strategic embellishment" is the movie industry's method of implanting a concept into the viewers mind so when he experiences it in real life, he is already familiarized. This process is known as predictive programming.

In this futuristic film, biometrical Iris scans, made automatically and from a  distance,  make payment on goods & services and also function as the de facto I.D. (a literal national 'EYE.D.').

One scene involves the protagonists' flight from capture by authorities after it's determined he is destined to commit a murder and is therefore guilty as charged.

While on a public subway train, a laser scans his eyes (along with all the other 'fare paying' passengers) and he is instantly pinpointed.

His eyes are similarly scanned in a shopping mall, spawning numerous holographic ad billboards crafted for him by name. "Welcome back to 'the Gap' Mr. Takahashi, how are those assorted tank tops working out for you?" says a holographic clerk.

By movies' end, the precog system is scrapped as unreliable yet nowhere during the film is any objection made against the surveillance state.

MICRO MANAGING THE MASSES

Our societal managers believe that strict manageability of the masses makes for good business. Man was meant to be free and master of his own destiny, not some monitored cog in a dystopian machine.

Continual surveillance is unnatural. Ask any inmate if they like it. Many species of wild animals cannot breed in captivity or even die from the shock of capture. Given time, it negatively alters human behavior and physiology.

In the 2009 documentary 'We Live In Public', an internet entrepreneur willingly subjected himself to round the clock webcam surveillance before a worldwide internet audience. He eventually succumbed to the stress of being continually watched, and had a nervous breakdown.

It was his show and he had the option of not being surveilled. Would we have this option if a fascistic alliance of governments and corporations mandated our surveillance?

Why do "reality" TV shows like the imbecilic 'Big Brother' make it to prime time air? It's simple - to train the populace to associate surveillance, or lack of privacy, with success and acceptance.

Facebook co-creator Mark Zuckerberg says the age of privacy is over. Apparently privacy is over for everyone else, but not for him. He terminated his Google+ account because he didn't want to be tracked. Zuckerbergs' company is currently under German order to stop using biometrics (facial recognition technology) on it's users.


FROM SCIENCE FICTION TO FASCISM


The hazardous and intrusive "Rapist-Scan" full body biometric scanners (now used at many U.S. and International airports) first appeared decades prior in the 1990 film Total Recall.

The 30,000 biometric surveillance drones now planned to circle the skies of the continental United States, mimic those appearing in 1984's "The Terminator".

(Both films, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, were highly profitable, heavily promoted and widely distributed for maximum exposure.)

Between 2002 and 2006, the number of Homeland Security contractors increased from nine to 33,890 companies.

This dramatic, virus-like increase represents a tremendous capital investment. It also represents inevitable hordes of political lobbyists (read: paid professional bribers) itching to have their biometrics, surveillance and weapons systems made widespread by having laws like the Patriot Act, NDAA etc. passed. Thus we pay for our own enslavement.

SLAVERY IS FREEDOM

If the ubiquitous "war on terror" represents big business, what chance does Liberty have?

The populace has been convinced that slavery is freedom. The natural intuition that something is terribly wrong has been preemptively short-circuited and dulled by the gradual I.V. drip of half-truths and indoctrination.

America, and eventually the rest of the First World, can realistically expect a nightmarish level of governmental intrusion within the next 5 to10 years. Look what Americans willingly put up with now.

Americans have ignorantly exchanged precious Liberty for comfort in a high-tech gilded cage. The "give me Liberty, or give me Death" spirit of rugged American individualism has changed to "ignorance is bliss".

Regaining freedom and your country cannot be conveniently achieved between commercial breaks. The surveillance state must be stopped.

--

By the same author: "Refuse Biometrics - Your Liberty Depends on It"

Categories: Poor Richard

Can someone please tell me what the hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 13:23


Can someone please tell me what the hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?federaljack.comEDITORS NOTE: THIS WAS SENT TO ME ON FACEBOOK AND I DECIDED TO PUT IT TOGETHER INTO AN ARTICLE FOR YOU ALL TO SEE.  THE SOLDIER (COMBAT VETERAN) WHO IS SPEAKING TO THE TSA GOON OBVIOUSLY KNOWS THIS IS SECURITY THEATER AND IN NO WAY MAKES ANYONE SAFER AND THE TSA GOON CAN’T COMPREHEND IT WHEN IT IS POINTED OUT TO HIM.

(Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy)   I don’t know of anyone who won’t get a kick out of this one. These are the knuckleheads who are so smart, and so knowing in charge at the TSA near you!

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, We flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards. Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That’s where the stupid started.

First, everyone was forced to get off the plane – even though the plane wasn’t refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a male/female latrine.

It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it re-inspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to re-inspect our cargo – just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, re-inspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.

This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols

So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the soldier that they’re going to confiscate his nail clippers.
The conversation went something like this:
TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.
Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.
TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.
Soldier: Why?
TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.
Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.
TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.
Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?
TSA Guy: [awkward silence]
Me: Dude, just give him your F**K**G nail clippers so we can get the F**K out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.
Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]
To top it off, the TSA demanded we all be swabbed for “explosive residue” detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we tested positive for “Gun Powder Residue”. Who the F**K is hiring these people?
This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns – but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.
Can someone please tell me what the hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?







Categories: Poor Richard

The Truth behind Freemasonry and the New World Order

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 12:24
Written by the guys at WeAreChange.ie


If any of you have been studying the New World Order for any length of time, I am sure by now at this stage you have come across the Freemasons. On the outset the Freemasons claim to be a fraternity, nothing more than a big boy’s club, while many claim that it is behind the doors of societies such as that of the Freemasons, that politics and many important world issues are dictated and decided. It is most notably coined a “society with secrets” rather than a secret society. They are only one of many secret societies in the world today; however many that we are familiar with today have their roots in masonry, even those claiming to anti-masonic (left-right paradigm?). I am not about to claim that the Freemasons are the source of the world conspiracy, but more to take a look at what ties them to it. While one cannot disagree that the involvement of many important historical, political and other such influential figures in Freemasonry is nothing short of suspicious, I would suggest that it is more than just a big boy’s club, and the ultimate goal is more than political, although this is one of the areas upon which this goal is manifest. From history we can see that the Freemasons left their mark on many important areas of history, such as the French and American Revolutions. One only has to look at the architecture in many of our modern day cities to see the prevalence of their symbols. It is also worthwhile noting that it is from Freemasonry that Adam Weishaupt went on to establish The Illuminati in 1776.
Watch the Secret History of America’s Beginnings to see the Freemasonic religion of the Founding Fathers.
Throughout history the Masons have been subject to much controversy. You will all be familiar with Captain Morgan. Well his real name was William, and he was not a pirate (although it is believed he owned a brewery). In 1826, he started a movement against the Freemasons and threatened to publish a book exposing their secrets. He was kidnapped and subsequently disappeared. A brutalised body turned up some time later that was believed to be him. Following this, Thurlow Weed set up the first Anti-Masonic party. It ran a presidential candidate in 1828, but by 1835, was nearly defunct.
Many Hells Fire Clubs were organised by prominent Masons. It is claimed that these were like masonic orgies, much like the Kubrick film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. Watch here
Freemasonry is divided into a hierarchical structure, in order to conceal knowledge. The first three degrees are as follows – Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, all of which require the candidate to participate in an enacted drama and…
“are a system of initiation that allows men to become familiar with the august and ancient history and principles of Masonry at a comfortable pace. Proceeding from Entered Apprentice to Master Mason in the US can take as little as three months, while in England, the degrees are spaced apart by a year’s interval.” [2]
After completing the three degrees of Symbolic or Craft Masonry, a Master Mason can proceed down one of two branches… The Scottish Rite or the York Rite [consisting of Royal Arch Masons, Cryptic Masons, and Knights Templar]. The Scottish Rite, the more popular includes the degrees from the 4° to the 32° and should be called additional degrees, rather than higher degrees. The Lodge has its own Constitution and is completely subject to its own jurisdiction.

Here we see an initiation ritual, which Pink mimicked in her performance at the MTV Music AwardsIf it is merely political and economic control that the Masons are after, why is it that still after all this time there is so much mystery that still surrounds them? The secret handshakes, the rituals, the symbols. There is something below the surface, beyond the realm of financial gain.
The origins of the handshakes seem to be in the days of operative masonry, from when it was about concealing the secrets of their trade, so as to continue to have a monopoly of this information. The rituals however raise more questions than they answer….
Alice Bailey, whose husband Foster was a notable Freemason, claims that Freemasonry is the Babylonian Mystery Schools in their purest form. It should be no surprise to hear then that many Freemasons claim to trace their origins back to Nimrod, with the undertaking to build the infamous Tower of Babel. It was Nimrod, and then later also Nebuchadnezzar who first attempted to unify the world under the first World Order of the Babylonian Empire. It is from the Babylonian Empire that much of what we know today as the “mystery religions”, the occult, etc appear to have originated and spread throughout the world.
In order to conceal knowledge, Albert Pike, what is known as the Masonic “Bible”, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Order of Freemasonry states that lower level initiates are deliberately deceived in what they are involved in:
“Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled …”“The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.” (pp. 104, 105 & 819)That is to say, that most Freemasons have no idea as to what it is they are involved in. Pike’s book is said to only be given to the Master Masons, however at some point it was leaked and has now become a matter of public record. It is estimated that for every hundred Masons, ten will read it, three will finish it and only one will understand it. Concealing knowledge is a tactic that is currently being practised by the New World Order in attempting to achieve their goals, most notable through the Rothschild’s and Rockefeller’s owning the vast majority of media outlets such as Reuter’s and Associated Press, Fox News, News of the World, BBC, and the editors of major news outlets attending Bilderberg and Trilateral Commission meetings and promising not to report of any of the proceeding.
So if the low level initiates have no idea what it is they are involved in, it is back to the writings of high level Masons we must return. Most notably Pike and Manly P. Hall, who are considered to be two of the most influential Masons, particularly on philosophical and spiritual matters.
“The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine.” (Albert Pike)“Lucifer, the Light-bearer ! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! It is he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble, sensual or selfish souls? Doubt it not!” – Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, p321, 19th Degree of Grand Pontiff“The day has come when Fellow Craftsman (Freemason) must know and apply their knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion, which places the energy of the universe at their disposal. Man can only expect to be entrusted with great power by proving his ability to use it constructively and selflessly. When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his CRAFT. The seething energies of LUCIFER are in his hands, and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy. He must follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare.” Manly P. Hall, 33rd Degree Mason, K.T., The Lost Keys of Freemasonry or The Secret of Hiram AbiffWhat a revelation! From the first degree, the first Initiation, the Mason is urged mightily to “seek the Light“! It is not until the 19th Degree that it is revealed that Lucifer is the Light which they are worshipping. Lucifer was considered to be one of the highest of God’s of angels, many believe a seraphim, who had direct access to the throne of God. He was an angel of light. However, Lucifer fell from his throne of grace, claiming he could be like the most High, rebelling against God and taking one third of God’s angels with him. It is thought that Lucifer was jealous of humanity, being made in the image of God and thus as well as bringing some of God’s angels down with him, he also sought to bring down humanity. It should come as no surprise then to see his influence in the likes of Masonry and the New World Order, considering he is said to be ruler of this Earth. Whether or not you believe, one thing is for certain – they do!
A look at much of the symbolism of Masonry, only seeks to further prove the conviction that they are worshipping and involved in dark forces. All occult symbolism is in fact dualistic in meaning or interpretation, in that, it has an exoteric or outward meaning (known to the masses) and an esoteric or hidden meaning (known only to the elect few). Let’s take a quick look at some of them…
Black and White Floor
“..Yes, Lucifer is god, and unfortunately Adonay [God of the Universe] is also God, for the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods, darkness being necessary for light to serve as its foil, as the pedestal is necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive..”.- General Albert Pike, Grand Commander, sovereign pontiff of universal freemasonry, giving instructions to the 23 supreme councils of the world. Recorded by A.C. De La Rive, La Femme et L’enfant dans La Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, Page 588. Cited from ‘The question of freemasonry, ( 2nd edition 1986 by Edward Decker pp12-14)
The 33rd Degree Eagle
The double headed eagle alludes to the nature of man. The head that looks to the east is symbolic of man’s spiritual vision and the head that looks west refers to his material visions’ (James 1:8 – a double mended man is unstable in all his ways).
This divine eagle with two heads facing away from each other is linked into the meaning of the black and white floor in all masonic lodges.
The All-Seeing Eye
This sysmbol is used with minor variations – in Nazism, on dollar bills, New Age, the Orange Order and in many occult orders.
The All-Seeing Eye is the embelm of Osiris the Creator, whose ‘power was symbolised by an eye over a Sceptre. The Sun was termed by the Greeks the Eye of Jupiter, and the Eye of the world; and his (Osiris’) is the All-Seeing Eye in our lodges.’ – Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma: pages 15-16
Sometimes this symbol is known as ‘The Eye of Horus’. In mythology , Horus was born out of the incestuous relationship between Osiris and his sister Isis. As the Babylonian Empire spread South, the so-called Gods of Babylon, Nimrod, Semiramis & Tammuz became known as Horus, Osiris & Isis. The Eye of Horus is the eye of Nimrod, who ruled from a pyramid overlooking Babylon, he claimed to be watching over the whole empire.

One of the most notable places where you will see masonic symbolism is on the US dollar bill. For a comprehensive look at this see documentary below - The Eye of the PhoenixThe Letter ‘G’

In the blue degrees the new Mason is told that the ‘G’ stands for ‘Geometry’ or ‘God’. The occultist Eliphas Levi, much quoted by Albert Pike in Moral and Dogma explains “G which Freemasons place in the centre of the Burning Star signifies Gnosis and Generation, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabbalah” - Masonic and occult symbols illustrated, Dr. Cathy Burns
[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEzQ4Qvf2AE']
This is all religion you might say, what does it have to do with the New World Order? Personally, it brings to mind the words of David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations –
“No one may enter the New Age unless he takes a Luciferian Initiation.”The United Nations is not the benevolent organisation many believe it to be, being in fact one of the major vehicles for bringing about the New World Order, politically and spiritually, most clearly illustrated in the writings of Alice A. Bailey. The New Age, being the New Age of the World Order. It would appear that they have been slowly initiating us into their way of thinking.
In being familiar with the idea of the New World Order, it should come as no surprise to hear that Masonry has a policy of universality because of course there cannot be a one world order without first being universality.
“Further global progress is now possible, only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a New World Order.” – Mikhail Gorbachev, in address at UN, Dec 1988So it will be a consensus and a universal one at that in order to accept this New World Order. Some would maintain that the concept of universality is in fact something that should be aimed for, something that is good, ultimately with it comes the loss of individuality, both personally and nationally, therefore the loss of national boundaries, sovereignty, identity, and heritage. It is the erosion of these things that will bring about the concept of being citizens of Earth and lead us towards a One World Government, i.e. the further consolidation of power into the hands of the few.
Hall himself writes:
“The New Atlantis sets forth an ideal government of the earth. It foretells that day when in the midst of men there shall rise up a vast institution composed of the philosophic elect — an order of illumined men banded together for the purpose of investigating the laws of life and the mysteries of the universe … The age of boundaries is closing, and we are approaching a nobler era when nations shall be no more; when the lines of race and caste shall be wiped out; when the whole earth shall be under one order, one government, one administrative body.” -Manly P Hall “Lectures on Ancient Philosophy,” published by the Philosophical Research Society Inc, Los Angeles (1970)This concept of the elect to rule the Earth is nothing new, and was laid out in Plato’s Republic around 350BC. It was also Plato that first wrote of Atlantis, and it is still unknown as to whether this was an allegorical or literal place. However, we are at a point in time where this world order seems more possible than ever. The world seems smaller than it ever has, and with the failure of national governments, banking systems, the abuse within the church most people are crying out for something better. It should the idea of this New Atlantis that is most startling! While again this is not a new idea – Francis Bacon heralded America to be the New Atlantis and look at how that has turned out! It is being rebranded and remarketed for the new generation through the no doubt mislabelled to deceive New Age (for there is nothing new under the sun). Many New Age teachers tell us that the New Atlantis is soon to rise, and that some of us are volunteer souls, choosing to be here from the previous fall in order to help bring this about. Could this be the same Atlantis Hall is speaking of? Seeing how the masons and Illuminati trace their teachings back to Babylon, yet cry for a new Atlantis, I’d be willing to speculate that the New Atlantis is actually the New Babylon, the New World Order.
Under the banner of universality, all teaching and ideas become accepted as “truth” – no right or wrong. Therefore there is not seen to be one objective truth. However, the very nature of truth dictates that all things cannot be true. If I can make a statement, such as the sky is blue then automatically I have stated that it is not red or yellow, or any other colour other than blue. Therefore truth in its nature is divisive, and it separates truth from lies. Everything cannot be true, this in itself is a lie. If somebody states “There is no objective truth”, then I might rebut stating that that sentence isn’t necessarily true, therefore there is objective truth, and the original statement becomes a falsehood. Subjective Truth leads to endless paradoxes and is well suited to a world that would like to make their own truth rather than face the cold hard facts. We may be all one of the same species, but we are individuals within that. What works for one of us, will not always work for the other, the same applies to nations. However, mason in their own words are attempting to bring everything under that banner of universality, to be a platform that may be acceptable to all thinkers, and to provide the one world religion.
“A revitalised Masonry, made up of Masons true to their obligations, and realising the Mystic Tie that binds them all together in one true brotherhood, would also provide a platform so universal that it would meet the need of thinkers of all kinds and of every school of thought. It would thus not only meet a religious need by providing a universal religion, but would also satisfy the mental need felt by all broad-minded thinkers at this time.” – Foster Bailey, 32nd degree Freemason, husband of Alice Bailey the head of Theosophy and Grande Dame of the New Age Movement.When you think of the Roman Empire, we know they had political and financial control but it was the religious control that sealed the deal, as the emperor was considered to be a God and to be worshipped as such. This practise originated in Babylon, and continued under the Vatican, and it is for this reason it must be sacrificed by the very hand that controls it – to build a climate to accept the new religion of the World, the one that will go hand in hand with their New World Order, and one that many today will welcome.
As you can see freemasonry is one of the many vehicles being used to bring it about the World Order. Considering claims that Nimrod is the father of Freemasonry, the attempted World Order with the construction of the Tower of Babel, the EU poster clearly comparing it to this, the rise in the acceptability of Freemasonic and other occult teaching, particularly in the Truth Movement, it seems that they are telling us, not only their goal, how they will achieve it but also who it is they are working for. However, many of us are not willing to accept this, because of the implications it would mean for everything else we have been taught to believe. Instead we choose to continue to think that this is merely about political and financial gain, and that it will be over once the police state crumbles. This is what we have been prepared to believe. As Gorbachev stated, it must be by consensus that it is to be brought about.

The tower of Babel was the beginning of the first World Empire, it is said that to stop this, God confounded the tongues of the masons and they spread abroad the Earth. Since then it seems their descendants have been trying to unify the world as one Empire again, so it can be ruled by one man. Many tongues, One Voice, One World Order.It seems like a classic smoke and mirrors tactic. On one hand they have us looking at the banking and political system, seeing the banking system collapse, the growth of movement such as Occupy Wall Street (which are calling out for global, yes global democracy). This is leading us to believe that the New World Order is collapsing. However, I would suggest that this more the paradigm of the Old World Order we are watching die, and they want it to die. While many are calling for the removal of the 1%, there is still so much secrecy around who this 1% actually are. The likes of the Rothschild, the Rockefellers are kept out of the spot light, while they continue with their agenda and the United Nations continue to be painted as the good guys. When the Old World Order collapses many will rejoice, claiming we have won and defeated the NWO, while at the same time accepting the belief systems and doctrines that they have been writing about as the ultimate achievement of their end goal.
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Categories: Poor Richard

Corporatocracy: Ron Paul says US ‘slipping into fascism’

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 05:45
Republican presidential candidate US Representative Ron Paul (Reuters / Brian Snyder)
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul slammed America's system of governance at a rally in Kansas City, saying businesses and government are pushing the country into twenty-first century fascism.
­But before you start picturing fair-skinned, blue-eyed CEOs and bureaucrats running amok and with their right arms held high, calm down. What the outspoken Texas Republican meant was fascist corporatism – an economic model most prominently seen in Mussolini’s Italy of the 1920s to the 1940s. Fascist economic corporatism involved government and private management of full sectors of the economy – which Paul says is par for the course in today's America.

“We’ve slipped away from a true republic,” Paul told thousands of his supporters at the rally. “Now we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government, big business and authoritarian rule, and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen.”

His words, which a few years ago might have been dismissed by most, rang loud and clear in Kansas. Paul’s rally coincided with long-established Missouri and Kansas GOP events – from which many attendees actually slipped away to hear Paul deliver his speech. Drawn out and bled dry by ongoing and expensive overseas military campaigns, Americans are more and more receptive to a foreign policy of peace, which is what Paul promises to deliver.

The presidential hopeful echoed words already once delivered to the American people – by their president. Dwight Eisenhower said, in his farewell address to the nation, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

The disastrous rise, it seems, has happened. In 2009 alone, the United States was responsible for almost half of the world’s total military spending – 46 per cent, or 712 billion US dollars. Since then, the figures have only grown, to the point that American military spending now exceeds that of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. The US has more than 700 military bases in 130 countries around the world.

But, one might ask, can’t the American government – which oversees the world's highest gross domestic product – afford some extra military spending?

The simple answer is: no.

The wealthiest nation also happens to have the biggest national debt in world history. With the dollar acting as a global reserve currency, the Federal Reserve leaving the printing press running around the clock, and manufacturing and production being outsourced to cheap foreign labor markets, the US economy looks more like a Ponzi scheme. And as former president George W. Bush told his Argentine counterpart Nestor Kirchner, "The best way to revitalize the economy is war, and the US has grown stronger with war."

But Americans are tired of war – and are tired of waiting for the magical day when war will magically revive the economy. Which is why Ron Paul may have found the perfect note to strike with voters as he continues to fight in the Republican primaries.

­Katerina Azarova, RT
Categories: Poor Richard

A Global Death Cult Started World War III On 9/11 To Depopulate Earth

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 05:32
by Saman Mohammadi at disquietreservations.blogspot.com


We all know the war on terror is a scam. But the reality of the situation goes much deeper.

In my two previous articles, "America, Persia, And Israel Are Being Sacrificed For A One World Order," and "The Last World War of The Modern Age Is Upon Us," the myth of Iranian independence and its mythic conception of Islamic resistance to the "Great Satan" was shattered to dust.

The Mullahs were guided onto the throne in Iran by the Great Satan's hand, so they are controlled opposition, not an anti-imperialist force. They rely on lies and war to stay in power in Iran just like their fellow masonic brothers in Washington, London, and Tel Aviv.

The rulers of Iran, America, and Israel act as adversaries on the world stage within the narrative of "Islam vs. the West," but they are all members of the same secret global fraternity behind the scenes. And they work like gods of the Earth for the same political goals: bring about a world conflict between Islam and the West to serve as a catalyst to depopulate Earth and create a one world order. There is a certain poetry, artistry, and divinity to this pre-arranged mega-plan to cause mega-death, even though it is evil to the core.

The September 11 attacks and the 1979 Islamic Revolution were both engineered by the satanic masonic masters in America, Israel, and Iran for the same purpose: start World War III. And World War III is a mass ritual sacrifice of the blind masses.

The national security elite in America, Iran, and Israel view themselves as the masters of nations and the guiders of fate. Secrecy is essential to preserving their god-like status and advancing their evil plan against humanity.
President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are political cult leaders, following in the tradition of their predecessors, President Reagan, Ayatollah Khomeini, Margaret Thatcher, and whatever scumbag was Prime Minister of Israel in the 1980s.

These totalitarian cult leaders, and the men who put them in power, are loyal to secret societies, not to nations and peoples. They rule through mind control, secrecy, fear, and propaganda, not through honesty and transparency.

The 20th century was full of cult leaders who led their brainwashed flocks to the afterlife with glory on their lips and prayer in their hearts. The most famous names that come to mind are Jim Jones and Adolf Hitler.

In his book, "Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age," historian Modris Eksteins offered an emotional and psychological picture of Hitler, writing:
"In personal as well as social terms Hitler was a failure. There was nothing natural or straightforward about him. He was humorless, always awkward, always performing. Even his eroticism, said Putzi Hanfstaengl, was "purely operatic, never operative." Everything was artificial and surreptitious. He was incapable of friendship or love or even a genuine smile. Authenticity, which he advertised to the nation, was completely foreign and frightening to him. If he was provoked to laugh, he always put his hand in front of his face. He took pills for gas, terrified as he was of farting. He changed his underwear as often as three times a day. All was symbol, substitution, abstraction. At the center there was nothing, an utter vacuum. Only an audience could give Hitler meaning; he had none himself." (Eksteins, Rites of Spring, pg. 319). Barack Obama may share many of the same psychological disorders and personal traits that Eksteins ascribes to Hitler. Both men would be accomplished actors in another life. Obama should be given the Academy Award for his performance as president.

But Obama, like Bush and Cheney, is not the personification of evil and darkness. He is an empty vessel who speaks the will of his masters, and he can do it effortlessly night in and night out because he is mentally sick. But he still needs a teleprompter to stay on message. He cannot handle a crowd off-script like Hitler, who was a master at it.
Totalitarian cult leaders with mass death on their minds can arise in different political systems, cultures, nations, races, religions, etc. Hitler, Stalin, Khomeini, Reagan, Bush, Obama, and Netanyahu are all totalitarian cult leaders and priests of mass death.

The minds of the masses can be controlled, brainwashed, and enslaved in any number of ways by totalitarian cult leaders. In Iran it is done with religion. In America and Israel it is done with fear, terror, and traumatic events like 9/11.

And it is done for a purpose.

Millions of brainwashed minds in all nations are being prepared by their totalitarian leaders for something big and catastrophic: World War and Depopulation. Posted by Saman Mohammadi at 9:29 PM 
edited by poorrichard for the purpose of brevity .. Go to link for introduction to the article.
Categories: Poor Richard

How Greece Could Take Down Wall Street by Ellen Brown

poorrichards-blog - Tue, 02/21/2012 - 03:55


by Ellen Brown

Global Research, February 21, 2012 Web of Debt
In an article titled “Still No End to ‘Too Big to Fail,’” William Greider wrote in The Nation on February 15th: Financial market cynics have assumed all along that Dodd-Frank did not end "too big to fail" but instead created a charmed circle of protected banks labeled "systemically important" that will not be allowed to fail, no matter how badly they behave.That may be, but there is one bit of bad behavior that Uncle Sam himself does not have the funds to underwrite: the $32 trillion market in credit default swaps (CDS).  Thirty-two trillion dollars is more than twice the U.S. GDP and more than twice the national debt.  CDS are a form of derivative taken out by investors as insurance against default.  According to the Comptroller of the Currency, nearly 95% of the banking industry’s total exposure to derivatives contracts is held by the nation’s five largest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs.  The CDS market is unregulated, and there is no requirement that the “insurer” actually have the funds to pay up.  CDS are more like bets, and a massive loss at the casino could bring the house down.It could, at least, unless the casino is rigged.  Whether a “credit event” is a “default” triggering a payout is determined by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), and it seems that the ISDA is owned by the world’s largest banks and hedge funds.  That means the house determines whether the house has to pay.  The Houses of Morgan, Goldman and the other Big Five are justifiably worried right now, because an “event of default” declared on European sovereign debt could jeopardize their $32 trillion derivatives scheme.  According to Rudy Avizius in an article on The Market Oracle (UK) on February 15th, that explains what happened at MF Global, and why the 50% Greek bond write-down was not declared an event of default.  If you paid only 50% of your mortgage every month, these same banks would quickly declare you in default.  But the rules are quite different when the banks are the insurers underwriting the deal.  MF Global: Canary in the Coal Mine?MF Global was a major global financial derivatives broker until it met its unseemly demise on October 30, 2011, when it filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy after reporting a “material shortfall” of hundreds of millions of dollars in segregated customer funds.  The brokerage used a large number of complex and controversial repurchase agreements, or "repos," for funding and for leveraging profit.  Among its losing bets was something described as a wrong-way $6.3 billion trade the brokerage made on its own behalf on bonds of some of Europe’s most indebted nations. Avizius writes: [A]n agreement was reached in Europe that investors would have to take a write-down of 50% on Greek Bond debt. Now MF Global was leveraged anywhere from 40 to 1, to 80 to 1 depending on whose figures you believe. Let’s assume that MF Global was leveraged 40 to 1, this means that they could not even absorb a small 3% loss, so when the “haircut” of 50% was agreed to, MF Global was finished. It tried to stem its losses by criminally dipping into segregated client accounts, and we all know how that ended with clients losing their money. . . .
However, MF Global thought that they had risk-free speculation because they had bought these CDS from these big banks to protect themselves in case their bets on European Debt went bad. MF Global should have been protected by its CDS, but since the ISDA would not declare the Greek “credit event” to be a default, MF Global could not cover its losses, causing its collapse.The house won because it was able to define what “ winning” was.  But what happens when Greece or another country simply walks away and refuses to pay?  That is hardly a “haircut.”  It is a decapitation.  The asset is in rigor mortis.  By no dictionary definition could it not qualify as a “default.”That sort of definitive Greek default is thought by some analysts to be quite likely, and to be coming soon.  Dr. Irwin Stelzer, a senior fellow and director of Hudson Institute’s economic policy studies group, was quoted in Saturday’s Yorkshire Post (UK) as saying: It’s only a matter of time before they go bankrupt. They are bankrupt now, it’s only a question of how you recognise it and what you call it.Certainly they will default . . . maybe as early as March. If I were them I’d get out [of the euro].The Midas Touch Gone BadIn an article in The Observer (UK) on February 11th  titled “The Mathematical Equation That Caused the Banks to Crash,” Ian Stewart wrote of the Black-Scholes equation that opened up the world of derivatives:The financial sector called it the Midas Formula and saw it as a recipe for making everything turn to gold.  But the markets forgot how the story of King Midas ended.As Aristotle told this ancient Greek tale, Midas died of hunger as a result of his vain prayer for the golden touch.  Today, the Greek people are going hungry to protect a rigged $32 trillion Wall Street casino.  Avizius writes: The money made by selling these derivatives is directly responsible for the huge profits and bonuses we now see on Wall Street. The money masters have reaped obscene profits from this scheme, but now they live in fear that it will all unravel and the gravy train will end. What these banks have done is to leverage the system to such an extreme, that the entire house of cards is threatened by a small country of only 11 million people. Greece could bring the entire world economy down. If a default was declared, the resulting payouts would start a chain reaction that would cause widespread worldwide bank failures, making the Lehman collapse look small by comparison.Some observers question whether a Greek default would be that bad.  According to a comment on Forbes on October 10, 2011:[T]he gross notional value of Greek CDS contracts as of last week was €54.34 billion, according to the latest report from data repository Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). DTCC is able to undertake internal netting analysis due to having data on essentially all of the CDS market. And it reported that the net losses would be an order of magnitude lower, with the maximum amount of funds that would move from one bank to another in connection with the settlement of CDS claims in a default being just €2.68 billion, total.  If DTCC’s analysis is correct, the CDS market for Greek debt would not much magnify the consequences of a Greek default—unless it stimulated contagion that affected other European countries.  It is the “contagion,” however, that seems to be the concern.  Players who have hedged their bets by betting both ways cannot collect on their winning bets; and that means they cannot afford to pay their losing bets, causing other players to also default on their bets.  The dominos go down in a cascade of cross-defaults that infects the whole banking industry and jeopardizes the global pyramid scheme.  The potential for this sort of nuclear reaction was what prompted billionaire investor Warren Buffett to call derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction.”  It is also why the banking system cannot let a major derivatives player—such as Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers—go down.  What is in jeopardy is the derivatives scheme itself.  According to an article in The Wall Street Journal on January 20th:Hanging in the balance is the reputation of CDS as an instrument for hedgers and speculators—a $32.4 trillion market as of June last year; the value that may be assigned to sovereign debt, and $2.9 trillion of sovereign CDS, if the protection isn't seen as reliable in eliciting payouts; as well as the impact a messy Greek default could have on the global banking system.Players in the future may simply refuse to play.  When the house is so obviously rigged, the legitimacy of the whole CDS scheme is called into question.  As MF Global found out the hard way, there is no such thing as “risk-free speculation” protected with derivatives.    Ellen Brown is an attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute, http://PublicBankingInstitute.org.  In Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she shows how a private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back.  Her websites are http://WebofDebt.com  and http://EllenBrown.com
Ellen Brown is a frequent contributor to Global Research.  Global Research Articles by Ellen Brown
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Categories: Poor Richard

Pat Buchanan avoids 9/11 truth, gets fired anyway

poorrichards-blog - Mon, 02/20/2012 - 16:23



  Monday, February 20th, 2012 | Posted by Pat Buchanan avoids 9/11 truth, gets fired anywayA few months ago, I offered Pat Buchanan a golden opportunity to speak out for 9/11 truth.
Pat didn’t rise to the occasion.
I asked Paul Craig Roberts, a friend of Pat’s, to bring Pat up to speed.

Dear Paul Craig Roberts,
I interviewed Pat Buchanan yesterday and brought up your excellent review of his book. He said you’re a friend of his. So when the conversation turned to 9/11, and we strongly disagreed, I urged him to talk to you about it. 

Here is my report on the interview, with the interview itself embedded.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/11/03/cheneys-1-doctrine-revisited-or-why-pat-buchanan-should-choose-his-friends-more-carefully/
In the unlikely event Pat calls you up to ask about 9/11, I’m sure you’ll acquit yourself well.
Best
Kevin

Dr. Roberts replied:
Pat can’t take a different stance on 9/11 from the official one and remain a TV pundit. He has all the controversial positions he can bear.  I don’t know what he really thinks about 9/11, but there is no point in trying to have him commit suicide.
I see the point.
But now Pat’s been fired anyway.
Judge Napolitano too.
Actually, there IS one good thing about Pat Buchanan getting fired from MSNBC: Anybody who’s managed to engineer an ebola virus that only kills MSNBC executives and pundits will no longer have to feel guilty about using it.

On second thought, I take that back.
Hold off on that MSNBC ebola – wait and engineer something REALLY unpleasant. An ebola death would be too easy for these people.
I’m not saying this because I idolize Pat Buchanan. On the contrary, I don’t agree with his take on many issues, including the race issue. He likes rich people better than I do, and poor people less. He’s not all that happy about the rise of Islam. I could go on.

But the point is, Buchanan has the guts to speak his mind. He’s extremely knowledgeable – off the charts smart by comparison to the rest of mainstream punditry. And he backs up his opinions with strong arguments and evidence.

MSNBC firing Buchanan for racism is a case of the blood calling the ketchup red.

MSNBC, owned by Zionists and military contractors, is drenched in oceans of blood – the blood of the poor black and brown people who have been murdered and tortured by the millions in the wars-for-Israel sparked by the 9/11 big lie.

Buchanan at least has had the decency to oppose those wars, and point out that they were never even meant to be in the US national interest.
His opposition to the Zionist takeover of America – not his controversial positions on race, or his support for the traditional Catholic positions on homosexuality and abortion – is undoubtedly what got him fired.
The moral: If you’re going to get fired for telling even half of the truth, why not tell the whole truth.
Memo to Paul Craig Roberts: Even if it’s “suicide” to speak out for 9/11 truth, we’re all going to die some day anyway.

Would you rather die as a worthless, cowardly bit of subhuman scum, or an actual human being with a heart and a mind?
That’s the question you answer when you decide whether or not to seek, and then tell the truth about, 9/11.
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Categories: Poor Richard

There is a conspiracy to destroy Greece: Greek author

poorrichards-blog - Mon, 02/20/2012 - 16:02
EmailPrint »Back to Story
Famous Greek author and songwriter Mikis Theodorakis delivers a speech, during a massive protest rally against austerity measures . (file photo)
Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:45PM GMTShare | Email | Print

Germans, for instance, as well as the French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war material, to the detriment of our national wealth,”

Mikis TheodorakisRenowned Greek author and politician and songwriter Mikis Theodorakis says there is a conspiracy to destroy his country with ‘unemployment, hunger and misery’.
The recent dramatic events in Greece over its debt crisis have revealed an emerging spirit of resistance within the Greek population, a clear example of whom is 87 year-old Theodorakis, who fought the Nazi occupation during the World-War II.

"There is a conspiracy aimed at destroying my country.” Theodorakis writes in “The truth about Greece, in an open letter to international public opinion,” on his blog.

Theodorakis says the Greece economic catastrophe is the result of the enormous purchasing of war materials from foreign countries. “Germans, for instance, as well as the French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war materials, to the detriment of our national wealth,” he says.

“The German company Siemens, for instance, maintained a special department for buying off the influential Greeks in order to sell its products in the Greece market,” he adds.

Theodorakis calls for forming a "Resistance and Solidarity Front" of all political forces “to drive off” the Troika, the “occupation force” comprised of the IMF (International Monetary Fund, the EU (European Union) Commission, and European Central Bank, who have forced Greece into adopting harsh austerity measures in return for bailing it out.

“The German Nazi occupation cost us the lives of one million people as well as the total destruction of our country. Now, how is it possible for us, Greeks, to accept Ms. Merkel’s threats and the Germans’ intention to impose on us a new ‘Gauleiter’… This time wearing a tie… ,” Theodorakis adds.

"They are threatening us with eviction from Europe. If Europe doesn't want us, we don't want this 'Merkel-Sarkozy Europe' ten times more,” he highlights.

Theodorakis also says that Greece must stop buying war materials from Germany and France and that the nation should do everything in its power to force Germany to pay back the war time compensation it owes to Greece, which, he claims, currently amounts to approximately 500 billion euros.

PG/AZ
Categories: Poor Richard
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