USA: CIT-Pleite unausweichlich?

Da braut sich offensichtlich was zusammen. Siehe auch die älteren Posts in diesem Blog zur CIT-Group – da wurden einige Auswirkungen beschrieben, die heute vielleicht untergehen. Wenigstens hatte die Allianz-Tochter Pimco  Anfang Oktober einen Großteil ihrer Schuldtitel verkauft – wäre also nicht mehr ganz so hart betroffen, wie noch vor einigen Monaten…

Gefunden bei finanznachrichten.de:

30.10.2009 11:34 CIT – Insolvenz soll unausweichlich sein/es droht Mega-Pleite

New York (BoerseGo.de) – Das 101 Jahre alte New Yorker Traditions-Kredithaus CIT Group steht der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters zufolge vor einer Beantragung von Gläubigerschutz nach Chapter 11.

Damit würde eines der bislang größten Insolvenzverfahren in den USA in Gang gesetzt. Ein entsprechender Antrag werde möglicherweise in den kommenden Tagen gestellt. Ein solcher Weg sei wahrscheinlicher als eine Sanierung über eine Refinanzierung der Verbindlichkeiten. Vor der Gläubigerschutzbeantragung stehe jedoch die Vorlage eines Sanierungsplans im Raum. Eine Abstimmung unter Investoren über die vorliegenden Optionen dürfte bis Donnerstagabend vonstatten gehen. Als Gegner einer Insolvenz gelte der Großinvestor Carl Icahn.

CIT gilt als bedeutender Finanzierer für mittlere und kleine Unternehmen. Der Konzern hat sich jedoch übernommen und sieht sich nun mit einem Schuldenberg von 40 Milliarden Dollar konfrontiert. Zuletzt gab es von seiten des Kredithauses Versuche, die Höhe der Verbindlichkeiten über eine Umschuldung um rund 5,7 Milliarden Dollar zu reduzieren.

(© BörseGo AG 2007 – http://www.boerse-go.de, Autor: Huber Christoph, Redakteur)

© 2009 BörseGo

Living the Hollywood cliché!

Determined to make the most of our time, immediatley after stepping off the plane, we set out on Hollywood boulevard and tip-toed between the stars on the Hollywood walk of fame.
We rolled into the Guinness World of Records museum and checked out the fastest, tallest, biggest and fattest of everything.
We were lucky enough to catch the last ever show at the Knitting Factory Hollywood, enjoying the sounds of Sparks the Rescue amongst others.

We arose to an early start to make the most of our day at Universal Studios. We got straight in line for a tour of the studios, being educated and thrilled along the way. We caught a behind-the-scenes glimpse of movie-making and were even lucky enough to catch filming of Desperate Housewives and Ghost Whisperer. We were thoroughly entertained by the mind boggling stunts of the runaway hit show Waterworld, which included lots of fire balls, water and a crash landing seaplane! We checked out Shrek 4D, sporting awesome green 3D glasses and took a ride through Krustyland with the Simpsons. Other highlights included the Mummy ride, Jurassic Park thrill ride and special effect shows.

Of course another full day meant another early start. This time we began on the Sunset Strip. Although best visited at night, we were still able to enjoy the famous hangouts of Hollywood’s high society and even spotted some commotion at Chateau Marmont. Following this, we climbed the steep ascent of Mt Hollywood to Griffith Park Observatory. The sweeping views from here alone across mountains and skyscrapers to the gleaming pacific are spectacular.
Being amateur stargazers, we headed to the planetarium show to be awed by the wonders of the night sky. Later that evening, we took the sub downtown to LA Live district – fortunately we timed this perfectly as the area was a buzzing hub of entertainment and celebrities because that night, the LA Lakers played their first game of the season and it was the premiere of the Michael Jackson movie; This Is It. Obviously we were eager eyed to spot celebrities and we caught a glimpse of Jeniffer Love Hewitt and Adam Lambert (from American Idol), amongst others, being interviewed on the red carpet!!! Starstruck, we joined the queue for another gig at Club Nokia. After being checked for bombs, we grabbed a soda and took a seat to watch; Versaemerge, A rocket to the moon, The Maine, Cobra starship and Boys like girls – with a guest appearance from good ole Pete Wentz.

Our final day didn’t require an early start – this day was spent window shopping . First stop was The Grove and The Farmers Market, followed by Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive with a final stop in the Fashion District. All window shopped out, we headed to Venice Beach for sundown and found ourselves caught between the skate culture, indie shops and other interesting characters – that would have to be seen to be believed.
So, that was it, we said goodbye to LA…. And Hello to VEGAS!

Paul and Amy
x

Afghanistan: Präsidentenbruder verschiebt Opium, bezahlt vom CIA

Ah, ja, richtig, deswegen muss auch Deutschland mehr Soldaten nach Afghanistan schicken. Wie die New York Times aktuell berichtet, steht Ahmed Wali Karzai (pic), der Bruder des derzeitigen afghanischen Präsidenten, seit 8 Jahren auf der Lohnliste der CIA.

Ausserdem fand man reichlich Beweise dafür, dass Ahmed dick im Opium-Geschäft ist. Auch gibt es bisher ungeklärte Berichte, wonach die von der CIA bezahlte paramilitärische Kandahar Strike Force den Polizeichef der Provinz, Matiullah Qat, erschossen hat.

Wir wissen nicht, was in Afghanistan wirklich passiert. Wir wissen nur, dass viele Steuermilliarden aus den aliierten Besatzernationen in ein System gepumpt werden, von dem vor allem lokale Drogenbarone, auch solche der Taliban, profitieren.

( nytimes via boingboing)

Jobb, Fest, NY by night och Scavanger Hunt!!

Ytterligare än vecka i USA tar form, så får väl ta och berätta vad som hände förra veckan.

Förutom jobb hela dagarna så försöker man självklart hinna med saker på kvällar/nätter.
Man måste ju ta vara på tiden, sova är överskattat ;D.

I onsdags så spelade jag och många andra från Siemens vi fotboll och efter det blev det en liten farvälfest av en intern som ska åka tillbaka till Tyskland. Folk kommer och åker hela tiden.
Några bilder från denna lilla fest:

I torsdags blev det sent jobb och sedan följde jag med några från Siemens ut på en öl och baseboll, på Hooters.
Var fullt med folk, vilkat var väntat eftersom det är en sportbar och det var viktig baseboll-match på TV. Men visade sig att det var en bikinitävling som lockade folk (mest män..) .
Så bilden av vad Hooters är från filmer, stämmer i verkligheten. Sorry killar, hade ingen kamera .

I fredags kväll tog några av oss tåget till New York City, tar ca 1 timme och kostar ca 140 kr, tur och retur.
Regnade i NYC, så blev taxi (faktiskt ganska billigt med taxi i NYC) till en cool bar som heter McFadden. Riktigt bra ställe, fullt med folk, happy hour (3 dollar per öl) och bra musik. Lite bilder från stället:

Ca kl halv ett på natten tänkte vi se om vi hittade någon bra klubb. Blev att försöka komma in på en klubb med bra rykte, vilket ofta betyder att man måste se bra ut, ha med sig tjejer eller betala för ett bord… ca 100 dollar och uppåt. Stället vi valde att åka taxi till hette Pink Elephant. Killar i kostym gjorde direkt att vi kände att det var kört. Mycket riktigt så frågade de om vi ville köpa ett bord, vilket vi avböjde och då kunde de tyvärr inte släppa in fler killar…. Men 15 sekunder senare när vi stod kvar och funderade på var vi skulle pröva istället så sa de till att de ändrat sig och kunde släppa in oss ändå. Var väl bara ett försök att få oss att köpa ett bord….

Klubben var cool, spelade bra musik och det var mycket folk. Vi blev förvåndade när vi såg att det vid dansgolvet fanns flera podium där väldigt lättklädda tjejer dansade. Tiden gick jäkligt fort och kl 4.30 var det dags att dra vidare då tåget hem gick vid fem-tiden. Hemma kl 7 på morgonen…. Skönt med sömn!!! Bilder:

I söndags var det en heldag-tävling som kallas för en “Scavanger Hunt”. Några väldigt engagerade fransmän från Siemens hade skapat en mycket avancerad skattjakt i Princeton som innefattade massor med ledtrådar som ledde till fler ledtrådar som till slut leder till skatten. Dagen innefattade mycket kluriga lappar, kanotpaddling, samt avslutningsmiddag på en resturang .

Ett exempel: Den som kan skriva en kommentar först om vilken plats som åsyftas i Princeton (samt länk till info/bild) får en present!!
Med denna ledtråd:

CHOONTTUUL 

Vårt lag (Team Yellow) hittade tyvärr inte skatten först… Men va en ledtråd ifrån!!! De flesta ur laget:

Ja, är ju Halloween för fullt här i USA så blir en del sådant i slutet av veckan .

Kan avsluta med en bild som jag inkluderar i samlingen “Only in the US”:

Obama mot klima-svik

Fra 7. til 15. desember skal verden reddes. Det blir uten fredsprisvinner Barack Obama.

FNs klimatoppmøte i københavn har av en rekke miljøvernorganisasjoner blitt omtalt som en siste mulighet til å redde verden, fra de globale klimaendringene. Det er definitivt det mest betydningsfulle klimamøtet siden Kyoto i 1997, som satte klimamål en rekke stater slet med å følge opp. Spesielt USA under tidligere president George W. Bush.

Nå skal det forhandandles en ny avtale som vil tre i kraft før Kyoto-avtalens første forpliktelsesmål utløper om tre år. Ministere fra 189 land forventes å ankomme København. Men ifølge britiske The Times, blir det altså uten den amerikanske presidenten. Årsaken skal være de enorme utfordringene fra det ovale kontor; da spesielt den svært kontroversielle helsereformen og Afghanistan-krigen.

Svært skuffende
Problemet til Obama er at han allerede har satt USA i førersetet som en foregangsnasjon i klimakampen. USA er verdens ledende supermakt, og den nasjonen i verden med høyest CO2-utslipp, etter Kina. Det er få som er i tvil om at de globale klimaendringene er menneskeskapte. Og at konsekvensene kan bli fatale i årenes løp.

Da det for to og en halv uke siden ble kjent at Obama vant Nobels Fredspris, satte Norge og Danmark seg umiddelbart et mål om å holde presidenten i Skandinavia i de fire dagene mellom mottakelsesseremonien i Oslo og møtet i København. Det er derfor flere som nå har uttrykt både stor overraskelse og selvsagt skuffelse, om opplysningene om den amerikanske presidentens fravær viser seg å stemme. Det er ikke så rart: Signaleffekten av at verdens mektigste statsleder ikke tar seg tid til møtet i København, kan i verste fall virke lammende for velviljen til resten av representantene, som skal være med å utarbeide avtalen. For i København handler det om å være villig til å ofre noe, og “klima-kutt” er møtets definitive stikkord.

Det er derfor viktig at så sterke krefter som mulig bidrar til å ro i land en slagkraftig klimaavtale. Barack Obama skal visstnok ta opp klimasaken, i forbindelse med mottakelsen av Nobels fredspris, i Oslo i desember. Det holder ikke.

Media Distortion: Killing Innocent Afghan Civilians to "Save Our Troops"

 the U.S/NATO presence in Afghanistan is not about peace-keeping but rather about a foreign occupation; and those fighting such occupation are neither terrorists nor insurgents but rather the resistance (though maybe not our preferred type of resistance). A strange thing happened during the last twenty years: any force opposing U.S. geo-political designs around the world is now labeled terrorist. As Mike Davis so tellingly pointed out, the car bomb or suicide-bomber is the air force of the poor.[4] The Axis armies of mid-twentieth century were never labeled terrorist. You see this war is as much about words, meanings, images and information as it is about IED’s and GPS-guided bombs.

Those who write of Obama that “when it comes to international affairs, he will be a huge improvement on Bush” demonstrate the same willful naivety that backed the bait-and-switch of Bill Clinton – and Tony Blair…Eleven years and five wars later, at least a million people lie dead. Barack Obama is the American Blair. That he is a smooth operator and a black man is irrelevant. He is of an enduring, rampant system whose drum majors and cheer squads never see, or want to see, the consequences of 500lb bombs dropped unerringly on mud, stone and straw houses…(Bush press spokesman) Scott McClellan has called “complicit enablers” – journalists who serve as little more than official amplifiers. Having declared Afghanistan a “good war”, the complicit enablers are now anointing Barack Obama as he tours the bloodfests in Afghanistan and Iraq. What they never say is that Obama is a bomber. [17]  read on

Goby, a new search engine helping to plan free time activities

Golden Gate Bridge. Photo by Mike Johnston on Flickr

Organizing free time is sometimes a hard task. You might be willing to spend a nice week-end with your children or to do something special for your wedding anniversary not really knowing where to start from. Your friends are relying on you to organise an adventure trip and you’re looking for a way to surprise them.  And what if you’re looking for a romantic escape with your girlfriend but don’t know hot to find the right place?

Goby is a new search engine that provides you with   information and ideas on any kind of leisure activities throughout the US. The reasearch is extremely simple: you just need to choose what you’d like to do, where and when and Goby displays a good amount of suggestions according to your search criteria.

Quanzhou Marionette Theater. James Estrin/The New York Times

Sports lovers can discover new places for hiking and mountain bike trails, climbing, kayaking and canoeing. Food and wine cultivators can find a great choice of proposals, and there are lots of suggestions also for art, music and theatre passionate. Once completed your first search, you’ll see that Goby functionality goes further, providing information on what’s nearby: hotels, restaurants, bars, museums, and lots more. This is a precious tool especially when you have little time, and being able to organize your trip having all the things that interest you nearby is a great advantage.

Camping at Yosemite National Park. Photo Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Goby’s search engine is a good tool, especially if you are trying to get a first idea of possible activities and locations. It has however in my opinion a limit which prevents Goby to fully offer its visitors what they are looking for (and probably also what they would like to offer). When you open a link to gather more information you would expect to be simply and quickly directed to the original website. This is not the case, and very often you jump from one search engine to another one. I guess this responds to commercial purposes, but indeed it is limiting the visitor experience. When things get tortuous and complicated people usually give up…

Kareena's Step Mom In Mumbai

Kareena Kapoor and Kajol starred Step Mom shooting started recently. Present this film shooting is going in Mumbai. After completing the this schedule, unit moves to USA for the next schedule. Arjun Rampal is going to appear as husband to Kajol and Kareena Kapoor

Karan Johar is producing this film under his Dharma Productions banner. Siddharth Malhotra is going to made his debut as director with this film. He has worked as assistant director to Karan Johar for Shahrukh Khan and Kajol starred My Name Is Khan.

Its is remake for Hollywood Block Buster hit Step Mom.

USA: Richter stoppt reihenweise Zwangsräumungen in "Don Quijote"-Manier...

Gefunden bei sueddeutsche.de:

USA: Richter stoppt Zwangsräumungen

Brooklyns Bankenschreck

21.10.2009, 11:14

Von Moritz Koch, New York

Er will ein Zeichen setzen gegen die Gier der Banker: In New York stoppt ein Richter reihenweise Zwangsräumungen von Häusern – und garniert seine Urteile mit Hohn für die Finanzelite.

Der Richter hat sie aufgehängt, an die Wand links neben der Tür. John Mack von Morgan Stanley, Lloyd Blankfein von Goldman Sachs, James Dimon von JP Morgan Chase und Kenneth Lewis von der Bank of America. Wie Ganoven auf einem Steckbrief sehen die Bankchefs aus. Nur steht unter ihren Portraits nicht das Kopfgeld, das auf sie ausgesetzt wurde, sondern das Millionengehalt, das sie eingestrichen haben.

Arthur Schack hat die Collage aus einer Boulevardzeitung ausgeschnitten. Er macht kein Geheimnis daraus, dass er den Volkszorn über das Gebaren der Finanzelite teilt. Der Richter will ein Zeichen setzen gegen die Gier und gegen die Wall Street. Nur, dass er sich in seinen Urteilen von Ressentiments leiten ließe, weist er entschieden zurück. “Ich diene dem Recht”, sagt er. “Das ist mein Job.” Und das reicht schon, um den Banken eins auszuwischen.

Schack hat sich in Amerika einen Namen gemacht, weil er am obersten New Yorker Landesgericht in Brooklyn reihenweise Zwangsräumungen abweist. Einen Don Quijote nennen sie ihn, der zum Sturm auf die Konzernzentralen von Manhattan bläst. Wer die Amtsstube des Richters betritt, sieht einen kleinen, grauen Mann mit dünnem Schnurrbart und schütterem Haar in einem großen, braunen Sessel. Vor ihm auf der Fensterbank lagern seine Immobilien-Fälle. Der 64-Jährige lehnt sich vor, greift nach dem Stapel Papier, wiegt ihn mit beiden Händen. “20 vielleicht”, sagt er. “Ich weiß nicht genau. Mal sehen, ob ich das noch schaffe, bevor ich in Urlaub fahre.” Wenn nicht, müssen die Banken sich gedulden.

Im Dienste der Gerechtigkeit

20 Zwangsräumungen. 20 Familienschicksale. Ein kleiner Ausschnitt der Jahrhundertkrise. Millionen von Amerikanern verlieren allein in diesem Jahr ihr Zuhause. Sie können sich die Kredite, die sie aufgenommen haben, nicht mehr leisten, und die Banken holen sich die Vorstadthäuser und Stadtwohnungen zurück, die mit ihrem Geld gekauft wurden. In der Regel haben sie dabei leichtes Spiel. In den meisten Bundesstaaten braucht es keinen Richterbeschluss, um säumige Gläubiger vor die Tür zu setzen. Aber New York ist anders. Und Richter Schack ist es auch.

In New York muss jede Zwangsräumung vom Landesgericht genehmigt werden, selbst dann, wenn sich der Hausbesitzer nicht dagegen wehrt. Schack gibt das Gelegenheit, den mächtigen Finanzkonzernen ein paar Steine in den Weg zu legen – im Dienste der Gerechtigkeit, versteht sich. “Drei Dinge braucht die Bank, dann bekommt sie, was sie will”, sagt Schack. “Erstens: ein Dokument, das die Existenz der Hypothek bestätigt. Zweitens: einen Beweis, dass der Schuldner seine Raten nicht mehr zahlt. Drittens: den Beleg, dass die Bank rechtmäßiger Besitzer der Hypothek ist. Das ist alles, was ich will. Wenn mir eine Bank das zeigen kann, bekommt sie ihre Zwangsräumung.” Nur können das die Banken in vielen Fällen nicht lückenlos nachweisen.

Die Zeiten, in denen sie Kredite einfach in den eigenen Büchern hielten und deren Belege sorgsam archivierten, sind längst vorbei. Heute sind Kredite Spekulationsrohstoffe. Sie werden verkauft, an der Wall Street gebündelt, tranchiert, zu Wertpapieren verarbeitet und in alle Welt verscherbelt. So kommt es, dass arabische Investoren Verluste verbuchen, wenn eine Familie aus Ohio in Zahlungsrückstand gerät. Die Anleger müssen dann eine Zwangsräumung durchsetzen und auf einen Weiterverkauf hoffen. Dabei kommen die Banken zurück ins Spiel.

Um die Interessen der Investoren wahrzunehmen, bieten die Wall-Street-Konzerne ihre Dienste als Treuhänder an. Zwangsräumungen zu beantragen, mag eine Drecksarbeit sein, aber es verspricht sichere Einnahmen, solange die Arbeitslosenzahlen in den USA steigen und ständig weitere Familien in Not geraten. Auch die Deutsche Bank ist dabei groß im Geschäft.

“Auch ich bin ein Söldner”

Nur tun sich die Bankjuristen häufig schwer, nach der langen Reise der Kredite durch die Finanzwelt die Papiere aufzutreiben, die Existenz und Rechtmäßigkeit der Hypothek bestätigen. Manchmal steht der Räumungsklage auch purer Dilettantismus im Weg. So scheitern die Konzerne teilweise an einfachsten Aufgaben wie der Abgabe einer eidesstattlichen Versicherung. Schack erzählt von einem Deutsche Bank-Manager, der sich hin und wieder auch als Angestellter des Finanzkonzerns Wells Fargo ausgab. Er behauptete in Kansas City zu arbeiten, ließ seine Unterschrift aber in Texas beglaubigen. “Ich möchte wissen: Wer ist dieser Kerl?”, sagt Schack. “Gibt es ihn überhaupt?” Schack stoppte die Zwangsräumung. Wie so viele andere. Fast jeden zweiten Antrag schmettert er ab.

Den Richter empört die Lässigkeit, mit der Banken mit dem Schicksal der Gläubiger umgehen. Maßlose, kaltherzige Überheblichkeit sieht Schack darin. “Es geht hier um ehrliche Leute, die alles verlieren. Das sollten wir niemals vergessen”, sagt er. Schacks Mitgefühl hat auch persönliche Gründe. Er stammt selbst aus bescheidenen Verhältnissen, ist in Brooklyn geboren und aufgewachsen. Nach seinem Studium arbeitete Schack als Lehrer. Jurist wurde er erst, als die Stadt sein Gehalt zusammenstrich. “Ok, ich gebe zu, auch ich bin ein Söldner”, sagt er und lacht.

Schack gefällt seine Ironie. Besonderes Vergnügen bereitet es ihm, seine Urteile mit Hohn und Spott zu garnieren. Mal zitiert er William Shakespeare. In einem Verfahren, in dem Wells Fargo Dutzende Ausflüchte für ihre schlampige Aktenführung machte, ließ er die Bank wissen: “Das Gericht erinnert Wells Fargo an den Rat von Cassius an Brutus in Akt 1, Szene 2 von William Shakespeares Julius Caesar: “Die Schuld, lieber Brutus, liegt nicht in den Sternen, sondern in uns selbst.”

“Ein kleiner Mann aus Brooklyn”

In anderen Fällen dienen Filmklassiker als Inspiration. “It’s a Wonderful Life” zum Beispiel, ein Schwarz-Weiß-Streifen, in dem Lionel Barrymore den böswilligen Banker Mister Potter spielt. Die Deutsche Bank und Goldman Sachs hatten einen Kredit hin- und hergeschoben und dabei wichtige Dokumente verloren. Schack schrieb: Gläubiger sollten niemals außer Acht lassen, dass sie es mit Menschen zu tun haben, nicht mit dem, was Mister Potter “Gesindel” und “Viehzeug” nennt. “Multimilliarden Dollar schwere Unternehmen müssen bei Zwangsräumungen dieselben Regeln befolgen wie Sparkassen und lokale Kreditinstitute, anderenfalls sind sie die Mister Potters des 21. Jahrhunderts.”

Natürlich sind solche Urteile für die Banken eine Provokation, schlimmer noch: Sie sind eine Gefahr. Zwar bekommt Richter Schack nicht genügend Fälle, um den Finanzkonzernen echten Schaden zuzufügen. Aber sein Beispiel könnte Schule machen. Schacks Urteile waren bereits Thema auf Juristentagungen. Darum schlagen die Banken im Bunde mit teuren Anwaltskanzleien zurück.

Erst kürzlich legte der Finanzkonzern HSBC Berufung gegen eine von Schacks Entscheidungen ein. Die Anwälte des Unternehmens warnten, Schack schaffe einen gefährlichen Präzedenzfall, indem er auf selbstherrliche Weise zugleich als Richter und Geschworenenjury auftrete. Beeindruckt Sie das, Herr Schack? “Überhaupt nicht. Ich weigere mich ganz einfach, die Fehlerorgien der Banken zu akzeptieren. Macht mich das dann zu einem konzernfeindlichen Kreuzzügler? Keine Ahnung. Ich bin nur ein kleiner Mann aus Brooklyn.”

(SZ vom 21.10.2009/tob)

KINGSTON TEA PARTY MEETING ON 10/28/09

Dear Patriots, Please be advised that The American Patriots of The Hudson Valley will be holding an organizational meeting at the American Legion Hall located on Old Stage Road in the Town of Lake Katrine on Wednesday evening, October 28th at 7:00pm. We plan to discuss the formation of committees within the organization that will help promote the expansion of our membership within the Hudson River Valley area.  We will also discuss future activities of our Kingston Tea Party movement and how WE THE PEOPLE can make a difference in protecting our United States Constitution and God given liberties. We need your feedback, ideas and support to help defeat socialism within the American Republic. The catalyst of restoring power back to THE PEOPLE can be found within  the tea party movements . The success of this movement lies within the guidance of DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Thank you. For God, Family, Country and Our Liberties. Thomas Santopietro Support the Kingston Tea Party movement. Even a small but growing group has more of a voice than an individual speaking alone. Join, and support as you can. This is a dangerous time for our Republic. Obama has had a second Czar, Ron Bloom make a chilling statement. This should be a wake up call about what lies ahead if not stopped.
SHOCKER: Obama Czar Agrees With Mao, Too, and Thinks Free Market is Nonsense

This radical socialist piece of garbage is another Obama cohort. Judge him by those he surrounds himself with.

Ron Bloom says:

“the free market is nonsense,” and that “we kind of agree with Mao that ‘political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.’”

These characters should also know that dictatorial and oppressive regimes are often ended from the barrel of a gun.  Hopefully the beginning of the end of Obama’s regime will be in 2010.

A thank you to WT at Theodore’s World for her post. Take a visit and see her site.

Les États-Unis disent officiellement que sans la Chine, point d'attaque sur l'Iran.La Chine est une super puissance, ça y est !

Le soutien de la Chine sera nécessaire pour réaliser des progrès dans le dossier nucléaire iranien, a déclaré mercredi un haut responsable américain, qui s’est par ailleurs félicité de l’excellence de la coordination entre Pékin et Washington sur le problème nord-coréen.

“Si nous voulons réaliser des progrès pour envoyer un message uni à l’Iran, nous allons avoir besoin du soutien de la Chine”, a déclaré Kurt Campbell, secrétaire d’Etat adjoint pour les affaires asiatiques.

“Nous allons avoir besoin de plus de coopération et de coordination entre les Etats-Unis et la Chine si nous voulons être efficaces en Iran”, a ajouté le responsable américain, qui se trouve à Pékin notamment pour préparer la visite du président Barack Obama le mois prochain.

La secrétaire d’Etat Hillary Clinton avait déclaré lundi à Moscou que l’heure de nouvelles sanctions contre l’Iran n’était pas encore venue. Son homologue russe Sergueï Lavrov avait, lui, jugé toute initiative en ce sens “contre-productive” dans les conditions “actuelles”.

La Chine, alliée de l’Iran, est traditionnellement réservée sur le recours aux sanctions.

Les pays occidentaux et Israël soupçonnent l’Iran de chercher à fabriquer l’arme atomique sous couvert de son programme nucléaire civil, ce que Téhéran dément.

Le 1er octobre à Genève, l’Iran s’est engagé à ouvrir son nouveau site d’enrichissement d’uranium aux inspecteurs internationaux et envisagé la possibilité de faire enrichir de l’uranium à l’étranger, ce qui réduirait les risques de développement d’un programme militaire.

Par ailleurs, M. Campbell s’est félicité de l’excellence de la coopération sur le dossier nucléaire nord-coréen entre les cinq Nations (Etats-Unis, Chine, Russie, Corée du Sud et Japon,) qui tentent de persuader Pyongyang de renoncer à son programme atomique.

“Il y a un niveau pratiquement sans précédent d’acceptation des objectifs de base et des ambitions liées aux pourparlers à Six et aux négociations avec la Corée du Nord”, a dit le secrétaire d’Etat adjoint.

“J’ai rarement vu une meilleure coordination entre la Chine et les Etats-Unis en particulier”, a ajouté M. Campbell.

La Corée du Nord, qui a procédé à deux essais nucléaires et à des tirs de missiles, a abandonné en avril les pourparlers à Six (les deux Corées, Etats-Unis, Chine, Japon, Russie) après des sanctions des Nations unies, mais s’est dit prête début octobre à reprendre les discussions à condition d’avoir une discussion bilatérale avec Washington.

Le Premier ministre chinois Wen Jiabao, qui s’est rendu à Pyongyang la semaine dernière, a assuré samedi qu’il ne fallait pas laisser passer l’oportunité offerte par la Corée du Nord.
romandie

Bey voila ! Cela confirme ce que je vous disais hier suite à l’article de novosti.Les russes le disent, mais maintenant ce sont les USA eux mêmes qui le disent, c’est incroyable.

La Chine est devenue incontournable dans les relations internationales, vous imaginez Bush dire que sans l’accord de la Chine, il n’attaquerait pas l’Irak ?
Les choses changent en profondeur, je trouve ça vraiment stupéfiant d’entendre : ” Si nous voulons réaliser des progrès pour envoyer un message uni à l’Iran, nous allons avoir besoin du soutien de la Chine “.En langage diplomatique cela veut dire: rien ne sera entrepris sans l’accord chinois.Maintenant les chinois seront ils corruptibles, je ne sais pas.Mais je pense que ce sera difficile.Il y a beaucoup de pétrole en jeu.La Chine devient un acteur majeur au moyen orient, avec l’iran, on ricoche rapidement sur Israél.

Quand on n’y pense, c’est mauvais signe que le principal partenaire mondial soit une dictature et que personne ne s’en émeuve.
La Chine est le prototype du NWO.

Endless suffering of ethnic minorities in Afghanistan

To understand the problems that exist in Middle East, particularly in Afghanistan, we need to start by examining the influence and role of Western powers in the region, commencing from the years of British occupation in India, right until now.

During the British occupation in India, Russia’s growing power started becoming a threat to them. Britain needed to create a shield against Russia to protect her empire. The land which is now called Afghanistan was situated in between the two powers so an intense competition started between Britain and Russia to use Afghanistan. Britain used all her political and military strategies with the help of their Pashtuns allies, to use this land for their security.

Afghanistan is a new country that is basically a product of British Empire. This land officially became known as Afghanistan a bit over one hundred years ago. It’s a place where there has never been a government or power that treated all Afghanistanies equally, regardless of their ethnicity and religion. It’s a country where minorities have always suffered most of the pain. No matter how capable they were, they were always left alone and forgotten about by both the Afghan officials and other nations.

Meanwhile, there are problems that can easily be solved to reduce the number of problems faced by the people, but they are no interests shown by the government or the International Community to point them out and come up with a solution.

Hazara people of Central Afghanistan were the first group to hand over their weapons when the interim US supported government, led by a Pashtun President, Hamed Karzai, came in power. They hoped that they will be protected by the new regime as they had promised. In recent years we have seen that this is clearly not the case as we saw several racial attacks against Hazara people. The Nomadic Pakistani Pashtuns who are heavily backed up by the Taliban and other terrorist groups have repeatedly crossed the Afghan-Pakistan border and attacked farmers in Central Afghanistan that led to hundreds of local Hazaras being killed, injured and displaced. There have been several protests in which hundreds and thousands of people demonstrated in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif to urge the government and the International Community to put an end on this problem and stop Pakistani Pashtun nomads from entering Afghanistan illegally and cause destruction.

Central Afghanistan is known to be the most peaceful region in the country, where people value and understand that peace and stability are the first national priority but this region still remains unchanged while most of the reconstruction projects have been done in areas where most of the Taliban insurgencies and terrorist attacks are taking place. Almost all reconstruction projects are taking place in Southern and a few Northern provinces.

Bamiyan, the city that has the potentials to be the main resource for Afghanistan’s tourism industry has seen almost no changes. Local people are lacking basic health care facilities such as hospitals and clinics. The only change that can be observed is the construction of a 2-3 km road in the main bazaar of Bamiyan.

Bamiyan needs to be connected to the main cities through proper roads for the tourists to travel to and from Bamiyan with ease. This will create new business opportunities for the local people as well as benefiting the tourism industry.

These are just some of the problems at present time. People have suffered for far too long and to stop this continuous pain, there needs to be a better awareness of such issues and problems, firstly, by all the people of Afghanistan and secondly, by the International Community, specially those countries who have been involved in restoring peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan. There will always be social and political instability in Afghanistan unless these issues as seen as fundamental roots that all the present problems are derived from.

Dilemma britannico

Londra, 16 ottobre – Per la prima volta, il capo dell’MI5, i servizi segreti britannici, ha parlato delle accuse di complicità rivolte ai suoi uomini per le torture ai sospettati di terrorismo; ed ha sostenuto che gli abusi e le torture sui detenuti hanno contribuito ad evitare “numerosi attentati” all’indomani dell’11 settembre. Jonathan Evans, direttore generale dell’MI5, ha ammesso che all’indomani degli attentati alle Torri Gemelle, la Gran Bretagna dovette ricorrere alla collaborazione di Paesi stranieri perchè la sua conoscenza di al-Qaeda era ancora molto sommaria; e l’MI5 -ha aggiunto- non avrebbe adempiuto ai suoi compiti se non avesse lavorato in collaborazione con gli 007 statunitensi e di altri Paesi.
Evans ha ammesso che i contatti con le agenzie di Paesi con norme e prassi “molto lontane dalla nostre” posero un “vero e proprio dilemma” all’MI5, ma ha ribadito di aver avuto “piena fiducia” nel modo in cui i suoi uomini si comportarono. Evans, che parlava in un seminario all’università di Bristol di cui ha dato conto il Times, ha sottolineato di non voler difendere le torture venute alla luce negli USA (per esempio, il ‘waterboarding’, l’annegamento simulato che subì a più riprese colui che è considerato la mente organizzativa dell’11 settembre, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed); ma ha sottolineato l’importanza di tener presente i benefici che derivarono alla Gran Bretagna dai contatti con l’intelligence statunitense: sono state “salvate le vite di cittadini britannici” e “molti attentati sono stati evitati come risultato di un’efficace cooperazione dei servizi di intelligenze dopo l’11 settembre”.
(AGI)

Dow Jones goes through 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125556534569686215.html

Here we are again: the same place we were March 1999, December 2003 and various points in between. We stand, for the first time in a long time, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising above 10000 – 10015.86 at Wednesday’s close to be exact — and we are left wondering the same questions we did years ago: is it just a temporary rush higher or a new floor for the great heights to come?

If the last decade taught us anything, it’s that whether the Dow is at 9999 or 10001, it only indicates that it will most certainly not be there the next day.

The business of predicting the stock market is better left to those foolish enough to think they can. Show investors a raft of positive economic and earnings data and watch them sell on the news. Show those same investors J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s worsening loan losses and watch the stock add 3%, as it did Wednesday.

Those of us in the media who watch the market love to make a big deal about how an index has reached a new round number. For us, it’s a big occasion like getting a new pope, president or haircut. These things don’t happen very often, we say.

Wall Street, with the help of the media, also likes create meaning where none exists. The Dow breaking 10000 is, we’re told, a psychological barrier. But, other than the use of pop psychology parlance, what exactly does that mean? Have we found our inner bull or bear?

In its own alternative-universe way, it all makes sense. Up is down and down never happened. We’ve spent the last decade spinning our wheels only to find we were walking in place, even though the Dow swung from a high of 14164 in 2007 to the low of 6547 in March 2009.

The swings aren’t that astonishing given the tiny pool of 30 companies that make up the Dow. But look at a chart of the S&P 500 with its much broader swath of America’s corporate landscape. The volatility is just as extreme.

All of this ruminating on markets lurching forward and back is a distraction to a decade of lost innocence. Ten years ago, brokers told us to expect an average gain of 7% annually for our buy-and-hold stock portfolios and steady 5% gains for our real estate investments.

You might still be doing well if you bought your house early in the decade. If you bought between 2004 and 2008, when a wave of mortgages were made, you’re probably lucky to be sitting on break-even or a small loss given the fall in the Case Shiller Composite Indexes.

The stock market hasn’t been much better. If you invested $100 in the S&P 500 at the end of the last decade, you’re happy with Dow 10000 but still hoping for a 34.5% rally before year end — just to break even. You’ll need a staggering 72% rally when adjusting for inflation.

Just about everything has passed the stock market. In 1999, crude oil was $16.44 a barrel compared to $74.80 today Gold was $280. It’s about $1,064 today. On the bright side, the Dow’s 13% decline looks better than the dollar, which has lost 28% of its buying power.

The rally that brought us 10000 on Wednesday is full of doubts. By some measures, stocks are tremendously expensive. During the great bull runs of the 2000s, the price-to-earnings ratio of companies in the S&P 500 Index was between 20- to 30-to-1. At the start of October, the ratio was 140-to-1, on an as-reported basis, which includes writeoffs. When those one-time items disappear, that ratio is likely to revert to more-normal levels, although still expensive.

Even after some better-than expected earnings reports for the most recent quarter, something’s got to give.

Despite the fervor, there are still trillions on the sidelines in money-market funds and many investors continue to be skeptical of the market.

In September, investors pulled $11 billion more from domestic stock mutual funds than they put in — the biggest monthly outflow since March, the month that the bear market hit bottom. This trend continued for the first five trading sessions of October, when an additional $4.1 billion net was pulled out, according to Trim Tabs data cited by MarketWatch’s Mark Hulbert.

If the Dow crossing 10000 has some of those investors worried they’re missing the rally and contemplating a move off the sidelines, then we may soon be swooning about the Dow breaking through the psychological barrier of its all-time high. After that we can contemplate something that matters, like a haircut.

———-

thanks to coolie for the link

stayed over 10k for the second day..but with adjusting to inflation its only 7500 in real terms

401

Abraham Lincoln on America's Armageddon

“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” Abraham Lincoln.

USA : la réforme de la santé franchit un cap décisif

Le comité des finances du Sénat a voté mardi le projet controversé de Barack Obama, notamment grâce à la voix d’une élue républicaine.

Comme toute l’Amérique, les responsables de la clinique gratuite d’Arlington avaient les yeux rivés mardi sur le comité des finances du Sénat où a eu lieu un vote crucial. Depuis des mois, le président démocrate de ce comité, Max Baucus, tentait de faire émerger un consensus bipartisan sur un projet amendé de la réforme. Sa version a finalement remporté les treize voix des démocrates ainsi que la voix cruciale de la républicaine modérée Olympia Snowe, les neuf autres membres du parti conservateur votant contre. «Quand l’histoire appelle, l’histoire appelle», a lancé la sénatrice du Maine, qui a plusieurs fois critiqué la difficulté d’exister dans son parti en tant que républicaine modérée.

Alors que le cœur de la réforme Obama vise à étendre la couverture maladie à des dizaines de millions d’Américains, la question du coût de cette «révolution culturelle» a été au centre des efforts du comité des finances. Les républicains et les compagnies d’assurances, qui voient les démocrates comme des apprentis sorciers, affirment que l’extension de la couverture maladie à des millions de personnes mettra en péril le reste du système. À la veille du vote, un rapport financé par le lobby des assurances a même prédit une envolée du prix des polices des gens déjà couverts de 4 000 dollars par an en moyenne. Exaspérée par cette offensive d’intérêts spéciaux par définition biaisés, la Maison-Blanche réplique que le fait de forcer l’ensemble de la population à s’assurer permettra d’atteindre l’équi libre.

Un projet «émasculé»

Elle insiste sur le coût astronomique du système actuel, obligé de traiter aux urgences, et à un stade extrême, des maladies au départ bénignes. «La vérité, c’est que personne ne sait comment les choses vont tourner», reconnaît Jody, qui veut la réforme mais parle d’un «brouillard» masquant une situation «complexe».

Le projet de la commission des finances dégage pourtant un chemin prometteur puisqu’il ferait passer le coût de la réforme de plus 1 000 milliards de dollars sur dix ans à quelque 829 milliards, réduisant le déficit budgé taire de 81 milliards sur la décennie. Ces prévisions ont été confirmées par le bureau du budget du Congrès, qui avait au départ émis des doutes. Toute la question est de savoir jusqu’à quel point la réforme Obama sera «émasculée» au nom de cette obsession des coûts.

D’autres obstacles attendent ensuite l’administration, vu l’absence patente de consensus sur d’autres aspects du projet. Le plan de Max Baucus ne comporte pas d’option d’assurance publique, alors que celui de la commission de la santé, dominé par les libéraux, la juge indispensable pour créer une vraie concurrence avec les compagnies d’assurances privées, dont le monopole a contribué à l’envolée des coûts et à la situation précaire des assurés.

Les comités devront fusionner leurs projets avant de les soumettre à l’approbation des Chambres en plénière. La sénatrice Snowe a indiqué à plusieurs reprises son hostilité à une option d’assurance publique. Or sa voix sera cruciale au Sénat où l’Administration ne dispose que de 59 voix au lieu des 60 nécessaires au passage de la loi sans filibustering, cette technique d’obstruction dont dispose la minorité républicaine. source: lefigaro.fr

Hemp vs Cotton – The Pros and Cons

Historically, hemp has proven to be a versatile and durable substance and therein lies the contradiction. For nearly a century now, Hemp has been overlooked and under-appreciated as a viable alternative to cotton, possibly as a result of its connotative association with marijuana. To clarify, hemp has no psychoactive properties.

PROS: Hemp fibre is surprisingly useful as a cotton, paper, cellulosic or polymer substitute when it is treated correctly. As a crop, it is low-maintenance and resilient, and requires none of the weeding and heavy use of pesticides usually required in farming.  Hemp is particularly effective as a source for textiles. The fibres drawn from the hemp plant are the strongest and longest in nature. Fabrics, twines, yarns and cords made from hemp are durable and versatile. It can be combed into any gauge or quality of fibre. As a substitute for such diverse substances as cotton, trees, or petroleum, hemp proves to be more environmentally sound than all of its alternatives (requiring about 10% of the water needed to produce cotton) and its versatility and resilience make it economically sound as well.

CONS: Hemp fibre is characterised by undesirable susceptibility to moisture and rot due to moulds and mildews and the like. It is also characterized by a strong, naturally-occurring odour which makes it unacceptable as a substitute for other odourless fibres. Moreover, hemp fibre in its natural spun state is susceptible to fraying and has a rough hand and feel. A need therefore remains for a hemp product which is suitably strong, soft, flexible, moisture-resistant and rot-resistant and generally suitable for substitution in applications previously focused on the cotton, paper and petroleum-fibre industries.

Hempflax are the leaders in this field in Europe and are based in Holland.

[new study] Drop out of school, go to jail?

Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts

By SAM DILLON

On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging. The picture is even bleaker for African-Americans, with nearly one in four young black male dropouts incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized on an average day, the study said. That compares with about one in 14 young, male, white, Asian or Hispanic dropouts. Researchers at Northeastern University used census and other government data to carry out the study, which tracks the employment, workplace, parenting and criminal justice experiences of young high school dropouts. “We’re trying to show what it means to be a dropout in the 21st century United States,” said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern, who headed a team of researchers that prepared the report.

“It’s one of the country’s costliest problems. The unemployment, the incarceration rates — it’s scary.” A coalition of civil rights and public education advocacy groups and a network of alternative schools in Chicago commissioned the report as part of a push for new educational opportunities for the nation’s 6.2 million high school dropouts. “The dropout rate is driving the nation’s increasing prison population, and it’s a drag on America’s economic competitiveness,” said Marc H. Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who is president of the National Urban League, one of the groups in the coalition that commissioned the report. “This report makes it clear that every American pays a cost when a young person leaves school without a diploma.” The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000.

Mr. Sum said that figure took into account lost tax revenues, since dropouts earn less and therefore pay less in taxes than high school graduates. It also includes the costs of providing food stamps and other aid to dropouts and of incarcerating those who turn to crime. Daniel J. Losen, a senior associate at the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the study was consistent with other economic studies of the dropout crisis, though he said the methodology of its cost-benefit analysis “lacked transparency.” “The report’s strength is that it reveals in clear terms that there’s a real crisis with the high numbers of young, especially minority males, who drop out of school and wind up incarcerated,” Mr. Losen said. Previous studies have come up with estimates of the same order of magnitude on the social cost of low graduation rates.

A 2007 study by Teachers College, Princeton and City University of New York researchers, for instance, estimated that society could save $209,000 in prison and other costs for every potential dropout who could be helped to complete high school. The new report, in its analysis of 2008 unemployment rates, found that 54 percent of dropouts ages 16 to 24 were jobless, compared with 32 percent for high school graduates of the same age, and 13 percent for those with a college degree. Again, the statistics were worse for young African-American dropouts, whose unemployment rate last year was 69 percent, compared with 54 percent for whites and 47 percent for Hispanics. The unemployment rate among young Hispanics was lower, the report said, because included in that category were many illegal immigrants, who compete successfully for jobs with native-born youths.

The unemployment rates cited for all groups have climbed several points in 2009 because of the recession, Mr. Sum said. Young female dropouts were nine times more likely to have become single mothers than young women who went on to earn college degrees, the report said, citing census data for 2006 and 2007. The number of unmarried young women having children has increased sharply in some communities in part, Mr. Sum said, because large numbers of young men have dropped out of school and are jobless year round.

As a result, young women do not view them as having the wherewithal to support a family. “None of these guys can afford to own a home, they just don’t have any money,” he said. “And as a result, any time they father a child it’s out of wedlock. It wasn’t like this 30 years ago.” He cited his hometown, Gary, Ind., as an example. “Back in the 1970s, my friends in Gary would quit school in senior year and go to work at U.S. Steel and make a good living, and young guys in Michigan would go to work in an auto plant,” he said. “You just can’t do that anymore.

Today, you have a lot of dropouts who are jobless year round.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/education/09dropout.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Friedensüberflieger

Nein, Obama bekommt den Friedensnobelpreis nicht, weil er der erste farbige US-Präsident ist. Auch nicht, weil er Humor hat, einen federnden Gang oder eine Ehefrau mit kräftigen Oberarmen.

Die Begründung lautet, er habe das internationale Klima und die weltweite Diplomatie verändert. Und das mit seinem Konzept, dass “diejenigen, die die Welt führen, dies auf der Grundlage von Werten und Haltungen tun müssen, welche von der Mehrheit der Weltbevölkerung geteilt werden”. Das fällt natürlich vor allem auf, weil sein Vorgänger George Bush hieß.

Eigentlich müsste er bei dem anrufen und sich bedanken, für den schönen düsteren diplomatieklimatischen Hintergrund, vor dem Obama sich jetzt strahlend abhebt. Dieser Preis ist ein Zeichen der Hoffnung, dass es am Ende des Tunnels eine Lichtgestalt geben kann. Und nur Ronald Pofalla fragt sich jetzt wahrscheinlich schon den ganzen Morgen, wie knapp der Preis wohl an seiner Chefin vorbeigegangen sein mag.

Missed 1UP's TEKKEN 6 Game Night? Watch It NOW!

1UP’s Game Night was a huge success!  Not only did it provide some wonderful insight on the console versions of TEKKEN 6, there was also high level play going on from our good friend QDogg and Renzo from NorCal!  Thanks for the shout outs guys! The whole feature has been archived and can be viewed at the below links, check them out!

• 1UP.COM – Game Night With TEKKEN 6 Part 1 of 3
• 1UP.COM – Game Night With TEKKEN 6 Part 2of 3
• 1UP.COM – Game Night With TEKKEN 6 Part 3 of 3

Antlers

OK, September has gone, summer has gone. Live on 35mm enters its third year and Brooklyn, again, offers me the occasion to talk about another emerging great band.

A strange night this one at the Lexington. The Antlers close a mini London tour of four gigs in three days opening a friday night with an early show.

I read wonders about Hospice, The Antlers debut album, for months. I must say, the first time I came across them was much before Pitchfork and the rest of the indie-how-cool-I-am bunch that followed. It was reading a friend review on the Italian indie-rock.it webzine.
It may sound surprising to you, but yes there are some residual signs of free expression in Italy.

Peter Silberman had started writing the album during two years he lived secluded in a New York city flat. He was there to mourn the loss of a loving one for cancer. I have definitely a personal sympathy with the author of the album which obviously contributes to get me quickly into the mood, but if you are strong enough to face sad stories, keep reading these lines and immerse into the depth of the lyrics.

Hospice is another concept album gravitating about a loss. It adds to Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago and the recent Noah and the Whale’s The First Days of Spring.
Despite a parallel that brought the music press to write a lot of comparisons to Bon Iver I am here to stress the differences more than the analogies.

Not only the situation is not comparable, whoever Bon Iver has lost, Emma his band or the faith in the world, his (wonderful, let’s be clear) album is not about death, not hospital death by cancer and this is not a small detail.

Musically, a key difference is the geographical position.

Conceal oneself in a cabin during three months of the Wisconsin winter is not as locking the door of a New York city apartment.
No signs of human presence permeates Bon Iver album, he put his thoughts in nine songs written on the white canvas of Wisconsin snow. Hospice breathes the sound of a city still leaving beyond the walls of Peter Silberman’s room.

Hopefully I arrive at the Lexington relatively early, no one advised me that the Antlers where opening the night. I discovered it on the stage times sheet on the door: Antlers 8:30 PM. Almost missed!!
There are two more bands following that I have never heard of. I wonder why such oddity, the venue packs up at eight it is evident everyone is here for these Brooklyn guys (and everyone knows about the early set but me).

I enter the Lexington upstair room with a beer and the boring idea to start twittering while waiting. Instead I realize the Antlers are doing their sound check which was a much better way to fill the time. Three young and easygoing guys crafting some of their songs in front of a guy at the soundboard, in fact more interested to eat his sandwich than play with the mixer buttons, nevermind.
It was nice to see the smiling folks, drama is matter of the past, the atmosphere is happy and dedicated.

Half an hour later the concert starts.
Peter Silberman stands on the left, a bit on the back, behind his guitar. His body language reveals some shyness.
Michael Lerner sits behind a drum kit borrowed from 12 Dirty Bullets one of the bands that will follow.
Darby Cicci on the right, shoeless. His keyboards are pushed to the white tape signalling the end of the stage. Half a inch more and they would collapse over the audience.

Live the concert doesn’t follow the album progression.
The opening is for Bear, a simple song highlighted by the melody on the keyboards, slightly helped by a delicate intervention of the drums in the chorus. Minimal.

It evolves straight into Thirteen as is the album. The keyboards become darker and the gig becomes interesting. The lyrics hide one of the dramatic cry of help of the album, it could be sang by PJ Harvey’s falsetto.

“…
Dig me out…
Oh, dig me out…
Couldn’t you have kept all this from happening?
…”
[Thirteen - The Antlers]

First important point.
If Peter Silberman is the founder and the mind behind the concept, Darby Cicci tonight is a key element to create the sound that holds the entire building. Without his keyboards there would be a void.
Silberman as a counterpart has a brilliant voice which doesn’t come out so intense from the record. The way he interprets the songs has the credibility of the one who first lived a difficult reality and then has slowly sublimated it into beautiful songs.

Sylvia follows. It is dedicated to the subject of the album and it is my favourite track.
The guitar has its revenge, the song highlighted by another set of distraught lyrics takes advantage of some noise to describe the anxiety of the disease and the frustration of the ones who cannot do much more than seeing it spreading, powerless.

“Please, curtains in. Start us off…
You swing first. Sorry.
I don’t know what I said,
but you’re crying now again,
and that only makes it worse.

Let me do my job.
Let me do my job.

Sylvia, get your head out of the oven.
Go back to screaming and cursing,
remind me again how everyone betrayed you.
Sylvia, get your head out of the covers.
Let me take your temperature,
you can throw the thermometer right back at me,
if that’s what you want to do, okay?

Please, please calm down. Steady out, I’m terrified.
Sorry, I want us to ally, But you swing on little knives.
They’re only sharp on one side.

Let me do my job.
Let me do my job.

…

Sylvia, can’t you see what you are doing?
Can’t you see I’m scared to speak,
and I hate my voice ’cause it only makes you angry.

Sylvia, I only talk when you are sleeping.
That’s when I tell you everything,
And I imagine that somehow you’re going to hear me.”
[Sylvia - The Antlers]

Atrophy is a ten minutes anaesthesia where the piano adds notes around verses where the narrator’s desperation reaches the climax.

“Someone, oh anyone. Tell me how to stop this.
She’s screaming, expiring, and I’m her only witness.
I’m freezing, infected, and rigid in that room inside her.
No one’s gonna come as long as I lay still in bed beside her.”
[Atrophy - The Antlers]

Whoever experienced death, is going to be symphatetic with Shiva, the next song. I never heard a song going so straight to the point. You may not bear reading this, but if you do you can’t deny the poetics wrapped into telling a drama.

“Suddenly every machine stopped at once,
and the monitors beeped the last time.
Hundreds of thousands of hospital beds,
and all of them empty but mine.

Well, I was lying down with my feet in the air,
completely unable to move.
The bed was misshaped, and awkward and tall,
and clearly intended for you.

You checked yourself out when you put me to bed,
and tore that old band off your wrist.
But you came back to see me for a minute or less,
and left me your ring in my fist.
My hair started growing, my face became yours,
my femur was breaking in half.
The sensation was scissors and too much to scream,
so instead, I just started to laugh.”
[Shiva - The Antlers]

To close the short set, the Antlers played their most famous song, Two the chronology of the events is inverted.

Two tells about another hard moment that you can symphatize only if you have been so unfortunate to live it. The moment when the doctor comes and tells you that there are no more chances.
That moment the entire world crumbles to your feet. That moment for the first time you understand even tears are worthless.

“In the middle of the night I was sleeping sitting up,
when a doctor came to tell me, “Enough is enough.”
He brought me out into the hall (I could have sworn it was haunted),
and told me something that I didn’t know that I wanted to hear:
That there was nothing that I could do to save you,
the choir’s gonna sing, and this thing is gonna kill you.
Something in my throat made my next words shake,
and something in the wires made the lightbulbs break.
There was glass inside my feet and raining down from the ceiling,
it opened up the scars that had just finished healing.
It tore apart the canyon running down your femur,
(I thougth that it was beautiful, it made me a believer.)
And as it opened I could hear you howling from your room,
but I hid out in the hall until the hurricane blew.
When I reappered and tried to give you something for the pain,
you came to hating me again and just sang your refreain:

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare.
You were just a little kid, and they cut your hair,
then they stuck you in machines, you came so close to dying.
They should have listened, they thought that you were lying.
Daddy was an asshole, he fucked you up, built the gears in your head,
now he greases them up. And no one paid attention when you just stopped eating.
“Eighty-seven pounds!” and this all bears repeating.

Tell me when you think that we became so unhappy,
wearing silver rings with nobody clapping.
When we moved here togehter we were so dissappointed,
sleeping out of tune with our dreams disjointed.
It killed me to see you getting always rejected,
but I didn’t mind the things you threw, the phones I deflected.
I didn’t mind you blaming me for your mistakes,
I just held you in the doorframe through all of the earthquakes.
But you packed up your clothes in that bag every night,
and I would try to grab your ankles (what a pitiful sight.)
But after over a year, I stopped trying to stop you from stomping out that door,
coming back like you always do. Well no one’s gonna fix it for us, no one can.
You say that, ‘No one’s gonna listen, and no one understands.’

So there’s no open doors and there’s no way to get through,
there’s no other witnesses, just us two.

There’s two people living in one small room,
from your two half-families tearing at you,
two ways to tell the story (no one worries),
two silver rings on our fingers in a hurry,
two people talking inside your brain,
two people believing that I’m the one to blame,
two different voices coming out of your mouth,
while I’m too cold to care and too sick to shout.”
[Two - The Antlers]

A packed Lexington howl for an encore that will not come. “Death is not the end” used to sing Dylan first and Nick Cave then, no it is not that, two more bands are due to play. Few stay, the venue empties.

Good news is that French Kiss signed the Antlers and is going to give Hospice a proper distribution so I will be waiting for their next tour. You should be too.

Meet the Antlers on [myspace] and listen to Hospice on [spotify] if you are in one of those lucky countries who can access it.

Photo tip

It was refurbished recently and is quickly becoming one of the coolest London venues. In the last months I have been at The Lexington quite often. In addition to the Antlers, the photos of Arbouretum and Twilight Sad were shot there.

Sited in Islington, a short walk from Angel tube station (and a bit longer from Kings Cross) it is a gastropub with an upstair room to host concerts.

The Room is bigger than the standard pub backroom, it is the perfect size to feel cosy without feeling lonely.
About 150 people capacity, I’d say, on two areas separated by a step. Bar and some sofas are on the back. than a bigger room with the small stage. There is no pit but usually enough room to move around even when it is packed.

Photographywise apart from being difficult to move along the front in the absence of pit the main problem is the lightining. So far anytime I went it was very dark. Consider working on very high Iso and bring with you that fast prime lens.

On the nice side there hasn’t been (so far) a strict photography policy. I always shot there with an agreed photopass but there were many people from the crowd shooting freely.
There is also a nice space, with thress steps on the right that allows you to shoot side of the stage at the same level of the band. Be sure to ask in advance if you are allowed to step there even if you have a press pass.

Considering their policy of hosting bands bigger than you would expect for the size of the place, The Lexington is a perfect venue to get in touch with the difficult art of shooting live music covering someone that is bigger than your mates reharsing in the pub down your house.

If you are there only for the music, I saw there three amazing shows out of three I attended.

Doctors Concerned FluMist Vaccine Could Spread Live H1N1 Virus

Doctors Concerned FluMist Vaccine Could Spread Live H1N1 Virus

With 60 per cent of the U.S. population at risk, is swine flu nasal spray a pandemic waiting to happen?

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Doctors and hospitals are expressing concern that the FluMist vaccine could endanger people because it contains live H1N1 virus, unlike the injectable shot that contains antibodies. With no less than 60 per cent of the U.S. population immunodeficient in one way or another, could FluMist be a pandemic waiting to happen?

Hospitals in Colorado and elsewhere are shunning the FluMist H1N1 vaccine, a nasal spray that contains live swine flu virus, because of fears it could infect people with weakened immune systems and underlying health conditions.

“Several metro area hospitals said they won’t be taking the FluMist because they don’t want to endanger patients,” reports TheDenverChannel.com.

Lois VanFleet, infection prevention specialist at Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, expressed concern that doctors and nurses who inhaled the live virus could infect patients whose immune systems are compromised.

However, H1N1 FluMist is being rolled out nationwide from this week, including at “drive-through clinics” across the country where the nasal spray is administered while people sit in their cars with their window wide open (see top picture).

The live virus contained in the nasal spray is weakened but it can be transmitted from person to person for up to three weeks.

According to studies, “the odds of transmitting the virus after receiving the nasal spray are about 2.5 percent,” with children the most susceptible.

The nasal spray is being rolled out on a mass scale before the widespread introduction of the injectable vaccine. Some fear that the nasal spray will contribute to a wider pandemic, which will then provide governments with the crisis they need to make the injectable vaccine mandatory.

“This would accelerate the move to a state of emergency, cripple the US health care system, and would result in the “need” to have military, eventually UN troops, take control,” notes TheFluCase.com.

“Also, all public assemblies, including courts, would be prohibited, thereby satisfying a condition for the imposition of martial law, mass quarantines, and forced vaccinations for the rest of us.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, the swine flu scandal of 1976, when more people died from the vaccine than the actual virus,  was what caused the live virus to be removed from future vaccines. However, it is admitted that FluMist contains the live virus.

“It has been documented that the live viruses from the vaccine can be shed (and potentially spread into the community) from recipient children for up to 21 days, and even longer from adults. Viral shedding also puts breastfeeding infants at risk if the mother has been given FluMist,” writes Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, one of the most outspoken physicians in the country on the hazards of vaccines and vaccination.

FluMist’s own package insert reads as follows, “FluMist® recipients should avoid close contact with immunocompromised individuals for at least 21 days.”

“The warning is specifically directed toward those living in the same household with an immunocompromised person, but the on-going release of live viruses throughout the community may be a significant risk to everyone who has a weak, or weakened, immune system,” writes Tenpenny, pointing out that if one takes into account a plethora of health conditions that could be classified as contributing to immunodeficiency, as much as 60% of the entire population could be considered to be “chemically immunosuppressed.”

“An ever greater concern about FluMist is the contents within the vaccine. Each 0.5ml of the formula contains 10 6.5-7.5 particles of live, attenuated influenza virus. That means that between 10 million and 100 million viral particles will be forcefully injected into the nostrils when administered. The viral strain was developed by serial passage through “specific pathogen-free primary chick kidney cells” and then grown in “specific pathogen-free eggs.” That means that the culture media was free of pathogens that were specifically tested for, but not a culture that was necessarily “pathogen-free.” The risk that the vaccine may contain contaminant avian retroviruses still remains,” warns Tenpenny.

One of the pharmaceutical companies developing nasal spray vaccines is Baxter International, who were caught earlier this year releasing batches of vaccines from a lab in Austria that were contaminated live bird flu virus, otherwise known as H5N1.

The video below outlines further concerns regarding FluMist and the nasal spray vaccine in general.

Hvorfor jeg ikke er en sosialist

I gårsdagens innlegg om Dag Solstads Aril Asnes, 1970 så vi litt på denne hovedpersonens (og Dag Solstads?) argumentering for kommunismens fortreffelighet. Jeg nøyde meg med å referere til bokens innhold og skrev ikke så mye om mitt eget syn på saken. Det skal jeg gjøre desto mer av her. Jeg kan vel like greit slippe katta ut av sekken med det samme og erklære at jeg ikke er en tilhenger av kommunismen, eller noen annen form for sosialisme for den saks skyld. Her er de viktigste grunnene til at jeg ikke er en sosialist:

Profitt er ikke undertrykkende for arbeidere. Et samfunn som gir frihet til å starte og ta profitt av en næringsvirksomhet med ansatte, er ikke nødvendigvis undertrykkende og nedverdigende for arbeiderne. Hvis alle arbeidgivere hadde behandlet arbeiderne med respekt, rettferdighet og omsorg, hadde sannsynligvis aldri sosialismen oppstått. Etikk i næringslivet er en nødvendig del av et godt samfunn. Arbeidsgiverne må selv ta ansvar for å behandle arbeiderne bra, og de har sin del av skylden hvis arbeiderne går til revolusjon for å oppnå rettferdighet. Men selv om de ikke gjør det, finnes det andre metoder for å oppnå gode og rettferdige forhold for arbeiderne, uten å gå til avskaffelse av kapitalistenes eierskap til produksjonsmidlene og frihet til økonomisk initiativ. Det ser vi gode eksempler på i etterkrigstidens Vest-Europa, hvis velferdsstater har gitt gode kår for arbeiderne, slik som tariffavtaler og trygdeordninger, uten å avskaffe kapitalismen og arbeidsgiveres mulighet for profitt. Dette har vært en generelt politikk i de fleste land i Vest-Europa, enten den har blitt utformet i sosialdemokratisk, kristendemokratisk eller konservativ tapning.

Et samfunn uten mulighet for økonomisk initiativ er et ufritt samfunn. Hvis vi hadde avskaffet borgernes frihet til å starte en bedrift og profitere på de ansattes arbeid, hadde vi samtidig laget et ufritt samfunn, et samfunn så grått, kjedelig og ufritt at det hadde ikke vært mennesker verdig. Mennesket er født med visse umistelige rettigheter, som retten til “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” som det står i den amerikanske grunnloven. Til “the pursuit of happiness” må vi utvilsomt regne det å starte en bedrift med arbeidstakere, og profitere på disses arbeid. Hvis jeg starter en bedrift, og tilbyr arbeid til arbeidstakere, så må jeg kunne stå fritt til å tjene på arbeidstakernes arbeid, så lenge de har friheten til å takke nei til arbeidet. Jeg tilbyr arbeidsplassen, da må også jeg kunne sette vilkårene for arbeidsforholdet. Og hvis det skulle vise seg at en slik liveral politikk fører til uverdige kår for arbeidere, så kan man lage arbeidsmiljølover og tariffavtaler, hvor arbeidernes rettmessige krav kan lovfestes og fremforhandes, uten at vi trenger å avskaffe eiendomsretten og retten til økonomisk initiativ.

Det er en grunn til at amerikanerne under den kalde krigen tok en ekstra shoppingtur til kjøpesenteret, som en politisk handling. Sivile friheter som ytringsfrihet og stemmerett har en nær sammenheng med friheten til å opptre som en økonomisk aktør og starte forretningsvirksomhet. Det handler om det frie, myndige menneske. Det handler om vi skal leve i et fritt samfunn som respekterer enkeltindividet, eller om vi skal leve i et ufritt slaveri som prioriterer utopiske drømmer om kollektivet foran individenes konkrete friheter og rettigheter.

US Government Terrorists Still In Power . Iran -Contra to 911

“There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, nd the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and freefrom the law itself.”– Senator Daniel K. Inouye – Iran Contra Hearings

Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988)
Coverup exposes a tale of politics, drugs, hostages, weapons, assassinations, covert operations and the ultimate plan to suspend the US Constitution.

Accusations are levied that a “shadow government” regularly carries out covert activities at home and abroad, and the CIA is implicated in dealing in huge shipments of cocaine and with the profits supplying weapons to the right-wing activities of the Nicaraguan Contras. Also examined are the actions of Oliver North, who willfully ignored the Constitution in masterminding covert weapons deals with Middle-Eastern governments to additionally fund the Nicaraguan Contras. This documentary raised more questions than answers in a post-Watergate political climate where the public had become desensitized to scandal.

Illuminated are the delays by the Reagan-Bush ticket in releasing the American hostages until after the election — after outgoing President Jimmy Carter worked tirelessly to free them.

This is the only film which presents a comprehensive overview of the most important stories suppressed during the Iran Contra hearings.

 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23621.htm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3383380805257581215#

PROOF OF FOREKNOWLEDGE AND AIDING AND ABETTING TERRORISM

A September 21 story by the Israeli Herzliyya International Policy Institute for Counter terrorism, entitled “Black Tuesday: The World’s Largest Insider Trading Scam?” documented the following trades connected to the September 11 attacks:

- Between September 6 and 7, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 put options on United Airlines, but only 396 call options. Assuming that 4,000 of the options were bought by people with advance knowledge of the imminent attacks, these “insiders” would have profited by almost $5 million.

- On September 10, 4,516 put options on American Airlines were bought on the Chicago exchange, compared to only 748 calls. Again, there was no news at that point to justify this imbalance; Again, assuming that 4,000 of these options trades represent “insiders”, they would represent a gain of about $4 million.

- [The levels of put options purchased above were more than six times higher than normal.]

- No similar trading in other airlines occurred on the Chicago exchange in the days immediately preceding Black Tuesday.

- Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which occupied 22 floors of the World Trade Center, saw 2,157 of its October $45 put options bought in the three trading days before Black Tuesday; this compares to an average of 27 contracts per day before September 6. Morgan Stanley’s share price fell from $48.90 to $42.50 in the aftermath of the attacks. Assuming that 2,000 of these options contracts were bought based upon knowledge of the approaching attacks, their purchasers could have profited by at least $1.2 million.

- Merrill Lynch & Co., which occupied 22 floors of the World Trade Center, saw 12,215 October $45 put options bought in the four trading days before the attacks; the previous average volume in those shares had been 252 contracts per day [a 1200% increase!]. When trading resumed, Merrill’s shares fell from $46.88 to $41.50; assuming that 11,000 option contracts were bought by “insiders”, their profit would have been about $5.5 million.

- European regulators are examining trades in Germany’s Munich Re, Switzerland’s Swiss Re, and AXA of France, all major reinsurers with exposure to the Black Tuesday disaster. [FTW Note: AXA also owns more than 25% of American Airlines stock making the attacks a "double whammy" for them.]

On September 29, 2001 – in a vital story that has gone unnoticed by the major media – the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Investors have yet to collect more than $2.5 million in profits they made trading options in the stock of United Airlines before the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks, according to a source familiar with the trades and market data”.

“The uncollected money raises suspicions that the investors – whose identities and nationalities have not been made public – had advance knowledge of the strikes”. They don’t dare show up now. The suspension of trading for four days after the attacks made it impossible to cash-out quickly and claim the prize before investigators started looking.

“October series options for UAL Corp. were purchased in highly unusual volumes three trading days before the terrorist attacks for a total outlay of $2,070; investors bought the option contracts, each representing 100 shares, for 90 cents each. [This represents 230,000 shares]. Those options are now selling at more than $12 each. There are still 2,313 so-called “put” options outstanding [valued at $2.77 million and representing 231,300 shares] according to the Options Clearinghouse Corp”.

“The source familiar with the United trades identified Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, the American investment banking arm of German giant Deutsche Bank, as the investment bank used to purchase at least some of these options” This was the operation managed by Krongard until as recently as 1998.

As reported in other news stories, Deutsche Bank was also the hub of insider trading activity connected to Munich Re. just before the attacks.

CIA, THE BANKS THE POLITIONS AND THE BROKERS

Understanding the interrelationships between CIA and the banking and brokerage world is critical to grasping the already frightening implications of the above revelations. Let’s look at the history of CIA, Wall Street and the big banks by looking at some of the key players in CIA’s history.

Clark Clifford – The National Security Act of 1947 was written by Clark Clifford, a Democratic Party powerhouse, former Secretary of Defense, and one-time advisor to President Harry Truman. In the 1980s, as Chairman of First American Bancshares, Clifford was instrumental in getting the corrupt CIA drug bank BCCI a license to operate on American shores. His profession: Wall Street lawyer and banker.

John Foster and Allen Dulles – These two brothers “designed” the CIA for Clifford. Both were active in intelligence operations during WW II. Allen Dulles was the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland where he met frequently with Nazi leaders and looked after U.S. investments in Germany. John Foster went on to become Secretary of State under Dwight Eisenhower and Allen went on to serve as CIA Director under Eisenhower and was later fired by JFK. Their professions: partners in the most powerful – to this day – Wall Street law firm of Sullivan, Cromwell.

Bill Casey – Ronald Reagan’s CIA Director and OSS veteran who served as chief wrangler during the Iran-Contra years was, under President Richard Nixon, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His profession: Wall Street lawyer and stockbroker.

David Doherty – The current Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange for enforcement is the retired General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.

George Herbert Walker Bush – President from 1989 to January 1993, also served as CIA Director for 13 months from 1976-7. He is now a paid consultant to the Carlyle Group, the 11th largest defense contractor in the nation, which also shares joint investments with the bin Laden family.

A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard – The current Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is the former Chairman of the investment bank A.B. Brown and former Vice Chairman of Banker’s Trust.

John Deutch – This retired CIA Director from the Clinton Administration currently sits on the board at Citigroup, the nation’s second largest bank, which has been repeatedly and overtly involved in the documented laundering of drug money. This includes Citigroup’s 2001 purchase of a Mexican bank known to launder drug money, Banamex.

Nora Slatkin – This retired CIA Executive Director also sits on Citibank’s board.

Maurice “Hank” Greenburg – The CEO of AIG insurance, manager of the third largest capital investment pool in the world, was floated as a possible CIA Director in 1995. FTW exposed Greenberg’s and AIG’s long connection to CIA drug trafficking and covert operations in a two-part series that was interrupted just prior to the attacks of September 11. AIG’s stock has bounced back remarkably well since the attacks. To read that story, please go to http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/part_2.html.

One wonders how much damning evidence is necessary to respond to what is now irrefutable proof that CIA knew about the attacks and did not stop them. Whatever our government is doing, whatever the CIA is doing, it is clearly NOT in the interests of the American people, especially those who died on September 11.

DOV ZAKHEIM ,DONALD RUMSFELD AND JOHN NEGROPONTE THIEVES  ,TRAITORS AND MASS MURDERERS

the Pentagon had
recently been reinforced. Why was the plane aimed at the reinforced section, which still had
few occupants due to the recent renovation? Why did it not hit the relatively weak roof? Would
al Qaeda have wanted to minimize casualties? There were auditors in the damaged section who
were investigating the loss of trillions of military dollars. Most of the auditors were killed,
which has led to considerable speculation regarding motive. Who would wish to kill auditors?15
An office of the Army that had just re-occupied the Pentagon’s recently renovated Wedge One, named Resource Services Washington, lost 34 of its 45 employees. Most were civilian accountants, bookkeepers and budget analysts. 3   Defense Secretary Rumsfeld had announced on the eve of the attack that more than $2 trillion was missing from the Pentagon
http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/victims/pentagonkilled.html
Missing Trillions
Rumsfeld Buries Admission of Missing 2+ Trillion Dollars in 9/10/01 Press Conference
On September 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference to disclose that over $2,000,000,000,000 in Pentagon funds could not be accounted for. Rumsfeld stated: “According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.” According to a report by the Inspector General, the Pentagon cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

The Comptroller of the Pentagon at the time of the attack was Dov Zakheim, who was appointed in May of 2001. Before becoming the Pentagon’s money-manager, he was an executive at System Planning Corporation, a defense contractor specializing in electronic warfare technologies including remote-controlled aircraft systems. 3   4   Zakheim is a member of the Project for a New American Century and participated in the creation of its 2000 position paper Rebuilding America’s Defenses which called for “a New Pearl Harbor.”

THE HONDURAS CONNECTION

John “Death Squads” Negroponte who never did a minute of time for his involvement in Iran Contra money laundering, drug running and war crimes:

From 1981 to 1985, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. During this time, military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million a year, and the US began to maintain a significant military presence there, with the goal of providing a bulwark against the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua, a Leftist party which had driven out the Somoza dictatorship but subsequently maintained a pluralist society and won overwhelming majorities in free and fair elections by international observers.

The previous U.S. ambassador to Honduras, Jack Binns (who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter) made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by the Honduran military under the government of Policarpo Paz García. Following the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, Binns was replaced by Negroponte, who has denied having knowledge of any wrongdoing by Honduran military forces.

In 1995, The Baltimore Sun published an extensive investigation of U.S. activities in Honduras. Speaking of Negroponte and other senior U.S. officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efraín Díaz, was quoted as saying:

Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed.

Substantial evidence subsequently emerged to support the contention that Negroponte was aware that serious violations of human rights were carried out by the Honduran government, but despite this did not recommend ending U.S. military aid to the country. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, on September 14, 2001, as reported in the Congressional Record, aired his suspicions on the occasion of Negroponte’s nomination to the position of UN ambassador:

Based upon the Committee’s review of State Department and CIA documents, it would seem that Ambassador Negroponte knew far more about government perpetrated human rights abuses than he chose to share with the committee in 1989 or in Embassy contributions at the time to annual State Department Human Rights reports.<4>

Among other evidence, Dodd cited a cable sent by Negroponte, in 1985, that made it clear that Negroponte was aware of the threat of “future human rights abuses” by “secret operating cells” left over by General Gustavo Álvarez Martinez, the chief of the Honduran armed forces, after he was forcibly removed from his post by fellow military commanders in 1984.

 A TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER AND AMERICAN TRAITOR H.W.BUSH

Marine Corps Commandant Smedley Butler

I spent 33 years (in the Marines)…most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism…

I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City (Bank) boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street…

In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. I had a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotions. I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was operate in three city districts. The Marines operated on three continents

THIS WAS THE MAN THAT FOILED AN ATTEMPTED NAZI FASCIST COUP IN AMERICA 1933

The same Bush family that was involved with the attempted Facsist take over of America in 1933. Coincidently at the same time as the 1933 take over of Germany ,the burning of the Reichstag and the following Enabling Act (the German 911 and Patriot Act).
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.
“As the evidence piled up, there was little doubt that the Nazis themselves had set the fire…
The burning of the Reichstag six days before the election, depicted by the Nazis as the beginning of a communist revolution, resulted in the Reichstag Fire Decree, which (among other things) suspended civil liberties and habeas corpus rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933
Any of this sound familiar?
IF THE BUSH’s ARE NOT NAZI’s OR FASCIST’s EXPLAIN THIS…….FASCIST COUP OF AMERICA ALSO 1933?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Act_of_1913
20 years of unregulated Fractional Reserve banking practices ,.. basically creating money out of thin air by creating debt, which they call money, and charging for services and interest. Artificially raising prices as more people can bid for the items.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Reserve_Banking
Basically deregulating the financial services which led too`the Federal Reserve System’s expansionary monetary policy in the 1920s, arguing that the policy allowed misallocations of capital resources and supported a massive stock price bubble`
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System#Criticisms
20 years later in 1933 the stock market had crashed ,the Great Depression was in full swing and America was BANKRUPT!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
The Business Plot (also the Plot Against FDR and the White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 wherein wealthy businessmen and corporations plotted a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Backed by Wall Street financiers including J.P. Morgan & Co., the Du Pont interests, Remington Arms ,”A BBC documentary claims Prescott Bush, father and grandfather to the 41st and 43rd US Presidents respectively, was also connected.”
The Congressional committee report confirmed Butler’s testimony (emphasis added):
In the last few weeks of the committee’s official life it received evidence showing that certain persons had made an attempt to establish a fascist government in this country…There is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.
Why do we know SO LITTLE about this???
In 1934, newspapers were controlled by an élite — according to then-Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes, 82 per cent of daily newspapers monopolised their communities; the media down-played Gen. Butler’s testimony to protect the interests of advertisers and their owners.
MEDIA CONTROL TODAY is even WORSE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document·shtml
When you consider Prescott Bush
In 1924, Bush became vice-president of A. Harriman & Co. His father-in-law, George Herbert Walker also worked with the company, as did E. Roland Harriman and Knight Woolley, Bush’s Yale classmates and fellow Bonesmen
IN 1940’s
Bush,as well as Harriman, was a member of the Board of Directors of Union Banking Corp, whose assets were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act due to ownership by “enemy nationals”.i.e. NAZI’s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush#Business_career

More on the Fascist Coup attempt in the US 

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/the-fedbank-bailouts-and-fascist-coups-the-great-depressionnaziscommies-and-the-bush-family/

For more on Government terrorists and terrorism

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/governments-traitors-terrorists-and-drug-dealers/

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/governement-terrorism/

For more on the War on Terror 

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/are-us-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-well-intended-mistakes-what-we-now-know-from-the-evidence/

For more on the REAL REASONS for War with Iran

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/iranian-oil-bourse-the-real-reason-for-war-with-iran/

For more on Government Media control

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/orwell-rolls-in-his-grave/

A short history of Global Domination and the New World Order

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/a-short-history-of-global-domination-or-rockefella-rothschild-and-the-capitalist-communist-nwo-con/

TIME TO WAKE UP SHEEPLE

Governments by thier very nature are against freedom and liberty and security!

WHY? SIMPLE

A population that is free and secure does not need a government! and Freedom takes guts and being able to face the REAL dangers that roam this world both foriegn AND DOMESTIC. Governement endlessly scare us with paper tigers and imaginery hobgoblins. The real tigers and hobgoblins stealing your children and wealth ARE THE GOVERNMENT!!!

Menschen des Alltags

Es gibt oft nichts Interessanteres als Menschen zu sehen, die alltäglichen Beschäftigungen nachgehen. Einkaufen ist eine solche Beschäftigung.

Das Vorurteil der dicken und total individuellen (euphemistisch für durchgeknallt) Amerikaner gibt genug Grund zu glauben, dass es in den USA noch interessanter sein kann.

Deshalb gibt es auch peopleofwalmart.com

Eine Seite der Skurilitäten und teilweise Abscheulichkeiten des Alltags.

Dollar Gains On Euro As All Eyes Turn To Jobs Report

The dollar strengthened versus the euro on Thursday as traders sifted through a pile of mixed economic data while awaiting tomorrow’s pivotal monthly jobs report.

Optimism about a robust economic recovery generated in the wake of encouraging news on the housing and banking sectors could wane quickly without evidence that the employment situation is getting better.

The dollar extended this week’s gains against the euro Thursday, rising to a 2-week high of 1.4517 before leveling off.

With the advance, the dollar moved further from a yearly low of 1.4843 set earlier this month.

 

Mots clés Technorati : American Economy,Currencies,USD,fvtaiwan

Come trovare il cellulare perso!

Ci sono applicazioni web che al primo impatto possono sembrare inutili, ma che invece potrebbero servire nel momento giusto. Immaginate, per esempio, di dimenticare dove avete lasciato il vostro cellulare.

Se avete un secondo cellulare, o un telefono casalingo, la prima cosa che potreste fare è provare a chiamarvi per sentire la suoneria. Ma cosa succede se invece non avete altri telefoni nelle vostre vicinanze? Potreste collegarvi, per esempio, al sitowheresmycellphone.com.

Il sito offre un servizio davvero interessante: digitando il vostro numero telefonico potete chiedere di ricevere uno squillo. Non dimenticate di digitale anche il codice area relativo al vostro paese (che nel caso dell’Italia è 039), e aspettare qualche secondo, dopodichè il telefono dovrebbe iniziare a squillare. Ricordate inoltre che, per effettuare un secondo squillo, dovete aspettare 30 secondi.

EDIT: peccato che il servizio sia disponibile solo per USA e Canada. Grazie alla segnalazioni dei lettori.

So Many Houstons in the World

When people find out I work for a travel company, they sometimes start the “where do you want to go next” conversation. My stock reply is that there’s nowhere on earth that I don’t want to go (although obviously there are some places I’d prefer to avoid so long as they’re dangerous or what have you), and for the most part that’s true. But yes, there are places I’d like to go more than others. There are places I could probably go without seeing my whole life. And there are still more I’ll miss out on seeing just because there’s never enough time.

In all honesty, although Houston doesn’t fall into the first of those categories, I’m not sure whether it ought to go into the 2nd or the 3rd one.

As far as Texas goes, the only city I’ve ever been interested in visiting is Austin, with its pro-weirdness agenda and emphasis on local music. A friend of mine recently moved to Dallas, so I’ve started thinking about paying her a visit. But Houston? It’s never occurred to me as a vacation spot.

To be fair to Houston, I really don’t know much about it – and there are plenty of places around the world about which I know very little and which I’m sure I’d end up loving if I visited. So Houston could be one of those places. But I’m not terribly motivated to go looking for cheap flights to Houston without some kind of “reason” to go in the first place. As yet, the existence of discount air tickets isn’t reason enough to plan a trip, it seems.

With a big international airport right in Houston, it’s definitely a city that’s easy to get to. With the number of big companies that are located in the area, it’s also a city with lots of choice in the accommodation and dining departments. But again, so far I’m still at a point in my life when I need a reason to do things like start browsing through hotels in Houston, rather than just planning a trip to a city because I haven’t been there before and seeing what I can find when I get there.

And it’s not just Houston that I could say these things about, either. There are lots of Houstons in the world – and many of them I’ll probably never see or even hear of. Since that kind of list, a list of the places I’ll never see, could be depressing, I think I’ll try to focus instead on the places I will see.

And hey, if you’ve got a reason I should look into a trip to Houston, I’m all ears.