The video below is a follow up to the article we published a few days ago titled: “2012 Obama vs Romney: the illusion of choice“. If you haven’t read this article yet, please do so first. However, if you’ve read that article, you should be aware that both Obama and Romney are sponsored by the same bank and war industry lobbyists. They have virtually identical polices on the threefold crisis facing America (economy, wars and civil rights abuses) because they both represent the same interests.
This means that regardless of who wins, the economic policies (national debt, deficit, bailouts, stimulus packages, quantitative easing, the banking system, FED), the foreign policy (isolationist and interventionist overaggressive policy, wars, covert support to puppet governments, sanctions, nation building, war profiteering) and policies violating the Constitution (warrant-less wire taps, nude scanners, cell tracking, air drone spying, TSA groping, overaggressive law enforcement, indefinite detention, suspension of 2nd and 4th amendments, assassinations of American citizens, etc.,) will continue for at least another four years.
The second part of the article focused on Ron Paul, who was the last political hope of America. If you missed the video on the bottom of that article (click here), please watch it right now to understand why the establishment is threatened by Ron Paul and to see clear evidence of media manipulation, censorship and black out. Against all media efforts, Ron Paul was able to get his message out to the public strictly through grassroots efforts.
So picking up where we left off… the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida just came to an end. This event presented yet another opportunity for all Americans to see how deep the corruption has set in. The most blatant kind of fraud is being perpetrated against the American people right in front of their eyes. The video compilation on the right is proof that we are witnessing the end of democracy in the United States of America.
Around the time former federal judge Michael McConnell lobbied Obama into a teaching position at Chicago Law School, he held top military- and intelligence clearance, reporting directly to Presidents Reagan and Bush on the “legality of US intelligence operations.”
By his own admission, constitutional scholar Michael W. McConnell- ironically a current “Reaganite for Romney” and fierce opponent of Obamacare- lobbied to get Barack Obama to lecture at Chicago Law School- in effect launching his lecturing career at the University- which in itself turned out to be the platform from which he was catapulted into the US Senate and by extension, the Presidency.
“We had the opportunity of chatting quite a bit”, McConnell told the Deseret News in 2011. “and I knew he was planning to return to the south side of Chicago,” McConnell said. “It just seemed like a natural (fit) to connect him with the law school.”
The article goes on to say that it might sound curious for a known and very esteemed conservative constitutional scholar to handpick a young, at that time unknown liberal for a teaching position at the Chicago Law School, were it not for the fact that McConnell throughout his career “has demonstrated a propensity for gravitating toward interesting assignments and compelling individuals.”
“In a vacuum, McConnell’s interaction with Obama could seem somewhat extraordinary”, the article explains, “but playing an integral role in the ascension of a future president of the United States cannot be considered mere coincidence when placed within the greater context of McConnell’s career.”.
McConnell’s career is indeed great. Widely regarded as the preeminent constitutional scholar on the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, McConnell has successfully argued in defense of the United States constitution, most notably signing a statement in support of a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
Speaking of the greater context mentioned, the article brings attention to McConnell’s position as one of three members of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board (PIOB). On November 29 1988 president Ronald Reagan announced his intention to appoint Michael W. McConnell to the Oversight Board (mention of his membership of this exclusive, appointment-only oversight board by the way is completely absent from his Wikipedia page).
In his capacity of member of this particular oversight board, McConnell enjoyed top secret military clearance for the period of no less than two years. From 1988 to 1990, under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush respectively, McConnell “reported directly to the Commander in Chief”, advising the Executive Branch on the legality of US intelligence operations at home and abroad. And it seems that McConnell’s credentials were greatly appreciated, as he went on to serve as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2002 to 2009. In addition, McConnell’s name appeared on the short list of candidates for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court on two separate occasions.
An Illinois law publication (On page 33 of the May 1990 edition of Illinois Issues) mentions some of the Intelligence Oversight Board’s functions:
“(…) the board monitors government intelligence activities to ensure compliance with U.S. law and the Constitution. The board meets every other month and reports to the U.S. attorney general. Members are appointed by the president and receive expenses only.”
The publication goes on to say that “Gov. James R. Thompson is in line for a seat on President George Bush’s Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB). He will join new appointee Amos Jordan of the Center for International Strategic Studies and current men Michael W. McConnell, assistant professor at the University of Chicago’s law school, on the three-member board.”
Only one paragraph before the one mentioning McConnell in relation to the PIOB, a familiar name pops up:
“Barak Obama (misspelling preserved), formerly a community organizer on Chicago’s far south side, was elected president of the Harvard Law Review by its 80 editors on February 5 (1990). Currently a resident of Somerville, Mass., Obama entered Harvard’s law school in 1988. The first African American to head the Review, he said in a February 9 PBS interview that he wants to make it a forum for liberal, conservative and minority perspectives. His future plans include the practice of law for a few years and a return to the inner city as either an organizer or a politician.”
Obama of course chose the latter. This little biography is interesting as Obama quite openly stated he is interested in practicing law only for a few years, after which he is determined to pursue a career as politician or organizer. As this quote dates from May of 1990, McConnell must have been aware that attracting Obama into Chicago Law School would only mean having him on board for a couple of years after which the bird would certainly ascend to greater heights. In reality, Obama hung around a bit longer than just a few years, combining the job with his senate position.
Most interestingly, McConnell attracted the young Barack Obama in his dual role as law scholar at the Law School and member of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. Around the time he successfully convinced the Law School’s former dean Douglas Baird to approach Barack Obama for a permanent teaching position, McConnell- lecturing off and on- held top military and intelligence clearance- including, we may speculate, into operations assessing individuals with future political aspirations- which after all is an integral part of the intelligence communities since the 1950s.
In 2009, Robin Mordfin tells us something regarding the details in the Chicago Law School’s Alumni Magazine:
“The future President came to the attention of the Law School when Michael McConnell, ’79, a professor at the Law School at the time who is now a federal judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, told then-Dean Baird about an impressive editor at the Harvard Law Review who was doing an excellent job editing McConnell’s submission. Baird reached out to Obama and asked him about teaching. Having already made plans to write a book on voting rights after graduation, Obama refused the offer. So Baird took a different approach and offered him a Law and Government Fellowship, which would allow him to work on his book and would perhaps lead him to develop an interest in teaching. Obama accepted the offer and began the fellowship in the fall of 1991.”
A 2008 article in the New York Times states that Obama was offered his position on little more than editing-suggestions he made on one of McConnell’s articles as published in the Harvard Law Review. The notion that mere “editing suggestions on an article” would be enough motivation for Baird and McConnell to go out of their way to bring the young lawyer on board is, on face value, absurd. The additional fact that Obama insisted on writing his book on university payroll has also raised eyebrows, especially given the fact that back then, Barack Obama was still only a young man at the start of his career. For some reason McConnell and the Chicago Law School’s Dean were eager enough to offer young Barack a Government Fellowship, allowing him to quietly continue on with his book, hoping he- as Mordfin writes, might “develop an interest in teaching.”
An unprecedented thing, from whatever angle you approach the affair. The affair becomes somewhat more understandable when we view this history in light of McConnell’s appointment to the highly exclusive President’s Intelligence Oversight Board- a position in which McConnell was authorized to investigate the most top-secret activities in American intelligence operations. Of course, McConnell was and is bound by confidentiality and cannot disclose anything classified above the level of “restricted”. The fact that he now openly, even loudly opposes the president’s constitutional violations perhaps is a sign that the Law Scholar tries to make amends for the role he played in Obama’s ascension.
Once upon a time, working for the federal government was considered to be a sacrifice and it often involved a significant reduction in pay. Millions of Americans felt that serving their country and making a difference more than made up for the reduced wages that they would receive. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Today, the federal government is the place to go if you want a cushy, high-paying job with tons of benefits. It is incredibly hard to be fired from a federal job, and if you stick around long enough you will be guaranteed a huge pension for the rest of your life.
The laziness at some federal agencies is absolutely legendary. Trust me, I used to work in Washington D.C. and I have seen the mindset firsthand. Some federal buildings are absolute ghost towns at 5:01 PM. Hordes of federal workers are just putting in their time, collecting their fat paychecks and counting down the days until retirement.
And members of Congress are some of the worst offenders when it comes to milking the American people. Yes, members of Congress have fat salaries and enormous pensions, but it is the host of “funds” and “expense accounts” that they have access to where the worst abuse takes place. For example, did you know that more than $33,000 was spent in 2010 on the hair care needs of U.S. Senators? That comes to more than $300 per Senator. The truth is that most members of Congress and most federal employees don’t really care that other Americans are absolutely breaking their backs to pay the taxes that fund this system. Most of them enjoy milking the American people and most of them have absolutely no intention of changing the system that has been so incredibly good to them.There is a reason why the median household income is higher in the Washington D.C. area than anywhere else in the nation. The U.S. government is the goose that just keeps laying golden eggs. Over the past 40 years there has been an incredible economic boom in the areas of Virginia and Maryland bordering our capital. But it is not because those areas have added value to our economy. Rather, it is because the federal government has been sucking the lifeblood out of the rest of the country and has been showering it on millions of parasites that are living the high life at our expense.
Nobody is saying that we should shut the government down. All societies need government. However, the cold, hard truth is that our bloated federal government has gotten wildly out of control.We desperately need to change course, because our federal government has become a deeply corrupt monster that just keeps getting larger and larger no matter which political party is in control.
The following are 16 sickening facts that show how members of Congress and federal workers are living the high life at your expense….
#2 In 2006, only 12 percent of all federal workers made $100,000 or more per year. Now, approximately 22 percent of all federal workers do.
#3 If you can believe it, there are 77,000 federal workers that make more than the governors of their own states do.#4 In 2010, the federal government spent $33,387 on the hair care needs of U.S. Senators.
#5 In 2010, U.S. Senators pulled $72,370 out of the “Senate Restaurant Fund”.
#6 In 2010, U.S. Senators took $166,673 out of something called the “Senate Gift Shop Revolving Fund”.
#7 In 2010, an average of $4,005,900 of U.S. taxpayer money was spent on “personal” and “office” expenses per Senator.
#8 Cooks working for the Bureau of Prisons make an average of $66,225a year.
#9 During 2010, the average federal employee in the Washington D.C. area received total compensation worth more than $126,000.
#11 According to the Heritage Foundation, federal workers on average make 30 to 40 percent more money than their counterparts in the private sector.
#12 The U.S. Department of Defense had just nine civilians earning $170,000 or more back in 2005. When Barack Obama became president, the U.S. Department of Defense had 214 civilians earning $170,000 or more. By June 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense had 994 civilians earning $170,000 or more.
#13 If you are a federal worker, you are 13 times more likely to die of natural causes than you are to get laid off by the federal government.
#14 Insider trading is 100% legal for members of Congress, and they refuse to pass a law that would change that.
#15 At this point, more than half of those “serving the American people” in Congress are millionaires.
#16Nearly 15,000 retired federal workers are collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually. The list includes such names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Dick Gephardt and Dick Cheney.
Meanwhile, much of the rest of the nation is deeply suffering.As I have written about previously, 77 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time, and a whole host of statistics show that the middle class in America is in a deep state of decline.
Median household income has declined by 8.1 percentsince the year 2000, and 14 million more Americans have been added to the food stamp rolls since Barack Obama became president.
It is not right for members of Congress and federal employees to be living the high life while the rest of the country is experiencing tremendous economic pain.
What makes all of this even worse is that the U.S. national debt has now reached the 16 trillion dollar level.
If we could pay for all of this wild government spending that would be one thing, but the truth is that the U.S. national debt is now more than 22 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
We cannot afford this kind of spending.We need to totally change the culture in Washington.
We need a government that is lean and efficient and that is full of people that have a passion for serving the public.
So do you think that we will ever get there?
Please feel free to post a comment with your opinion below….
The latest “rights group” to jump on Russia’s President Putin about Pussy Riot is RootsAction. Following the propaganda line that Washington has established, RootsAction’s appeal for money and petition signers states that the three Russian women were sentenced to two years in prison “for the ‘crime’ of performing a song against Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church.”
This statement is a propagandistic misrepresentation of the offense for which the women were tried and convicted.
I have expressed my sympathies for the convicted women, and as a member of Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union, I support human rights.
But I do not support the use of human rights organizations in behalf of Washington’s propaganda.
If Putin or some other official has the power to commute the sentences, I hope he uses it. But I do not think that the concerted Western propaganda campaign against Putin encourages that result. Twice as many Russians support the sentence than oppose it.
If the sentence is commuted in response to the Western propaganda campaign against Putin, Russian nationalists will depict Putin as a weak leader unable to stand up to Western intimidation. The more internal dissension there is in Russia, the easier for Washington to marginalize the country and kick it out of Washington’s path to the overthrow of Syria and Iran by brutal human-rights-violating violence, such as Washington has applied to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.
The State Department, the EU, and human rights groups are sufficiently politically astute to be aware of this fact. Yet, the propaganda continues.
As Putin has said, “we know what Comrade Wolf is up to.” But what about the human rights organizations? What are they up to? Have they been incorporated into Washington’s propaganda machine, like the Western media, or are they latching on to Pussy Riot as a visibility and fundraising issue for themselves?
Do-good organizations hurt for money, because compassion for others is not in abundant supply. Pussy Riot is a fundraising opportunity. If the Russian government succumbs to the propaganda, it provides an opportunity for human rights organizations to tout their influence. In other words, human rights organizations have independent reasons to align with Washington’s propaganda. Their alignment does not necessarily mean that they are conscious tools of Washington.
You can bet your last dollar that Washington, which dismisses as “collateral damage” the hundreds of thousands of women, children, and village elders murdered in Washington’s wars against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Syria, is not concerned with the three Pussy Riot women’s 2-year prison sentence.
Washington has kept the American hero, Bradley Manning in prison for two years without a trial. Washington claims the power, strictly prohibited by the US Constitution, that “scrap of paper,” to hold US citizens indefinitely in prison without due process of law and to murder them on suspicion alone without due process of law. Does any sentient person really believe that such a government gives a hoot about a two-year prison sentence for three Russian women?
The Western media is silent about the collapse of the United States into tyranny. But, on cue from Washington, the Western media is loud about the dire plight of Pussy Riot.
For example, this from the UK’s The Week with First Post: “Beyond Pussy Riot: slow death of freedom in Putin’s Russia.” Louisa Loveluck introduces her report: “The Russian government’s distaste for freedom of expression has been in the headlines recently thanks to the trial and subsequent imprisonment of three members of punk collective Pussy Riot. But the persecution of these women forms only a small part of a much broader crackdown on civil liberties in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”
Has Putin, like the Amerikan presidents Bush and Obama, declared that he has the power to throw Russian citizens in a dungeon for life without ever presenting evidence in a court? No, he has not.
Has Putin, like the Amerikan president Obama, declared that he has the power to assassinate Russian citizens without due process of law? No, he has not.
Has Putin, like the Amerikan president Obama, declared that he has the legal authority to invade any country of which he disapproves and to overthrow its government? No, he has not.
So why is the UK’s Louisa Loveluck going on about a two-year prison sentence in Russia when the UK government, in defiance of international law and in obedience to its Amerikan master, refuses safe passage to Ecuador for Julian Assange, who has been granted political asylum? Even “authoritarian” China grants safe passage to those granted asylum.
The hypocrisy of the West, including the rank hypocrisy of human rights organizations, is nauseating. It makes one ashamed.
Julian Assange faces life imprisonment in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London because the puppet UK government is helping Washington make an example of what happens to journalists who dare to publish the truth about Washington’s mendacity and war crimes.
Is Washington paying Louisa Loveluck’s salary or is she, along with the First Post, simply terrified of Washington’s power? Or are Ms. Loveluck and the First Post simply going with the flow and avoiding criticism by not differing from the propaganda line?
No one will investigate, so we will never know.
Meanwhile in “freedom and democracy” america, at their Tampa, Florida, nominating convention, the Republican Party showed its true colors. It is a Brownshirt Party.
The tyrannical Republican machine refused to allow Ron Paul’s name to be mentioned or his delegate count to be presented.
Reports from the Republican nomination convention read like reports of Stalin’s takeover of the Communist Party or the Nazi takeover of the German state. Rules adopted at the convention eliminate any grass roots input. The Republican politburo is supreme. The party is subservient, and the members’ voices are eliminated. Mimicking Lenin, the Republicans declared that Republican rule “means neither more nor less than unlimited power, resting directly on force, not limited by anything, not restricted by any laws, nor any absolute rules. Nothing else but that.”
The Republicans are the party of “freedom and democracy.” The Republicans are the party most controlled by the neoconservatives, who are strongly allied with Israel’s far right-wing government and are most hostile to the US Constitution. The Republicans are the party that gave us the PATRIOT Act, the first massive assault on the US Constitution. The Republicans are the party that gave us 9/11. The Republicans are the party that gave us the $3 trillion war against Iraq based on the Republican party’s lies about “weapons of mass destruction.” The Republicans are the party that gave us the $3 trillion war in Afghanistan based on lies about Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The Republicans are the party that gave us the supremacy of the President over both the US Constitution and US statutory law; the executive branch is bound by neither according to the Republican Federalist Society members of the US Department of Justice (sic).
Obama is a despicable patsy, a front man for powerful private interests, and Democrats should be totally ashamed to have elevated such a cowardly lowlife. But as awful as Obama is, a vote for Republicans is a vote for Hitler or Stalin. Indeed, the election of Romney and Ryan would be worse than either.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Visit his web site at the Institute for Political Economy.
This article has been posted with permission from Dr. Paul Craig Roberts.
Away from the stifling media crush, staid Ben Bernanke is dashing Reverse Robin Hood, lackey pawn of the Neofeudalist Financial Lords who shamelessly steals from the poor to give to the parasitic super-rich.
Amidst electioneering chatter about a “reverse Robin Hood” who steals from the poor to give to the rich, it’s important to identify the real Reverse Robin Hood: Ben Bernanke and his Merry Band of Thieves, a.k.a. the Federal Reserve. It’s especially appropriate to reveal Ben as the real Reverse Robin Hood today, as the Chairman is as omnipresent in the media as Big Brother due to the Cargo-Cult confab in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Please answer the following questions before launching a rousing defense of the All-Powerful Fed and its chairman:
1. What is the nominal yield on your savings account, thanks to the Fed’s zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP)? (Answer: 0.25%)
2. What is the inflation-adjusted yield on your savings account? (Answer: – 2.25%)
3. What is the rate of interest the Fed charges banks for “free money”? (Answer: 0%)
4. What is the average interest rate for bank-issued credit cards? (Answer: 14.52%)
5. What is the interest rate for student loans? (Answer: 6.8%, and 7.9% or 8.5% for PLUS loans)
6. Does the Fed pay interest on the funds banks have borrowed from the Fed for 0% and then deposited with the Fed? (Answer: yes)
7. Exactly how has the average American worker benefited from the Fed’s policies? (Answer: interest on credit cards has declined from 19.9% to 14.52%, if the worker has outstanding credit, which few of the bottom 90% do.)Theoretically, workers could re-finance their homes at lower interest rates, but the vast majority are either underwater or no longer qualify. Ben and the Merry Thieves love pulling Catch 22.
8. How has the average parasitic Neofeudalist Financial Lord benefited from the Fed’s “rob the poor to give to the rich” policies? (Answer: Handsomely. The top 1%’s income and net worth has soared as Ben and his Merry Band of Thieves have stripmined interest income from the poor and pension funds and diverted it to the rich.)
9. Have the Fed’s Reverse Robin Hood policies narrowed income disparity in the U.S.? (Answer: no–income disparity has widened further as a result of Fed goosing of risk assets.)
10. How many of the nation’s 14.5 million unemployed have gotten jobs as a result of Fed policies who would not have gotten a job if the Fed had been abolished in 2009? (Answer: unknown, but the best guess is 17, including Bennie the part-time janitor, with a statistical error of + or – 17.)
11. How does Ben the Reverse Robin Hood justify his thievery? (Answer: he doesn’t. Officially sanctioned propaganda casts him in the role of selfless do-gooder, protecting saintly Neofeudalist Financial Lords from restless debt-serfs.)
Listen up, debt-serfs, you have it good here on the manor estate. You get three squares of greasy fast-food or heavily processed faux-food a day, and if Reverse Robin Hood and his Merry Band of Thieves is ripping you off it’s for a good reason: the predatory Neofeudalist Financial Lords need the money more than you do, as they have a lot of political bribes to pay: it’s an election year, and the bribes are getting increasingly costly. Poor things, we’re sure you understand. Now go back to work or watching entertainment (or “news,” heh) and leave the Lords alone.
An open plea to William Banzai: dear Master of the visual arts, could you please perform your magic and transform Ben Bernanke into the Reverse Robin Hood leading his Merry Band of Bankster Thieves? I would be most grateful if you could apply your powers to this imagery.
Rand Paul took to the stage of the RNC on Wednesday evening and made a bee line for Obama, taking him on on his signature policy in the first words he uttered. He said that after the Supreme Court’s ruling the first words out of his mouth were: “I still think it is unconstitutional.” He went on to say that he’s had time to count to ten and he still thinks it’s unconstitutional.
While the elder Paul spoke via a tribute video, the younger Paul gave his speech and was afforded time because of his decision to back Mitt Romney. The speech was all about the things his father had instilled in him. It was about freedom, prosperity and peace. It was about encouraging Americans, not putting them down and it was brilliant.
Paul stated,
I think if James Madison, himself – the father of the Constitution – were here today he would agree with me: the whole damn thing is still unconstitutional!
This debate is not new and it’s not over. Hamilton and Madison fought from the beginning about how government would be limited by the enumerated powers.
Madison was unequivocal. The powers of the federal government are few and defined. The power to tax and spend is restricted by the enumerated powers.
His answer was that a new President was needed. That is not necessarily true. It would make things easier, but a Congress united could push through legislation to repeal it should the same party control both houses. It is achievable. If not, then it certainly can be defunded. However, his point is duly noted.
He went on to take a shot at Barack Obama’s statement of “You didn’t build that.” Of course this statement is what Obama will live with from now on, just like Bill Clinton’s statement of “I never had sex with that woman.”
Paul said,
When I heard the current president say, “You didn’t build that,” I was first insulted, then I was angered, then I was saddened that anyone in our country, much less the president of the United States, believes that roads create business success and not the other way around.
Anyone who so fundamentally misunderstands American greatness is uniquely unqualified to lead this great nation.
The great and abiding lesson of American history, particularly the Cold War, is that the engine of capitalism – the individual – is mightier than any collective.
American inventiveness and desire to build developed because we were guaranteed the right to own our success.
For most of our history no one dared tell Americans: “You didn’t build that.”
The Kentucky Senator listed out various people who have worked long hours and given themselves to the building of family and business and stated,
When you say they didn’t build it, you insult each and every American who ever got up at the crack of dawn. You insult any American who ever put on overalls or a suit.
You insult any American who ever studied late into the night to become a doctor or a lawyer. You insult the dishwasher, the cook, the waitress.
You insult anyone who has ever dragged themselves out of bed to strive for something better for themselves or their children.
He made a reference to his great grandfather and his grandfather. He retold how his great grandfather had no more stepped off the boat, coming to America, then he died.
Though Senator Paul never mentioned his father directly he did make a passing reference to him in speaking of his heritage. Paul said it was his grandfather that lived, “to see his children become doctors, ministers, accountants, and professors. He would even live to see one of his sons … a certain congressman from Texas … run for president of the United States of America.”
He went on to blast Obama about the effects of Obama’s mentality.
When the President says, “You didn’t build that,” he is flat out wrong. Businessmen and women did build that. Businessmen and women did earn their success. Without the success of American business we wouldn’t have any roads, or bridges, or schools.
Mr. President, you say the rich must pay their fair share. When you seek to punish the rich, the jobs that are lost are those of the poor and middle class.
When you seek to punish Mr. Exxon Mobil, you punish the secretary who owns Exxon Mobil stock.
When you block the Keystone Pipeline, you punish the welder who works on the pipeline.
Our nation faces a crisis. America waivers. Unfortunately, we are one of a select group of countries whose debt equals their gross domestic product.
The republic of Washington and Jefferson is now in danger of becoming the democracy of debt and despair. Our great nation is coming apart at the seams and the president seems to point fingers and blame others.
But Senator Paul was not done. He didn’t back away but kept pressing the point that is was not only about the rhetoric, but it had real effects. Obama’s policies have seriously crippled America and the Senator pointed these out.
President Obama’s administration will add nearly $6 trillion dollars to our national debt in just one term.
This explosion of debt is unconscionable and unsustainable. Mr. President, we will not let you bankrupt this great nation!
Then he held the mirror up to the convention as well as the Democrats, calling on them to “slay their sacred cows.” Paul said,
Republicans must acknowledge that not every dollar spent on the military is necessary or well-spent, and Democrats must admit that domestic welfare and entitlements must be reformed.
Republicans and Democrats must replace fear with confidence, confidence that no terrorist, and no country, will ever conquer us if we remain steadfast to the principles of our founding documents.
We have nothing to fear except our own unwillingness to defend what is naturally ours, our God-given rights. We have nothing to fear that should cause us to forget or relinquish our rights as free men and women.
To thrive we must believe in ourselves again, and we must never – never – trade our liberty for any fleeting promise of security.
He concluded on that note, referencing Ronald Reagan,
As Reagan said, our freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. If our freedom is taken, the American Dream will wither and die.
To lead, we must transform the coldness of austerity into the warm, vibrant embrace of prosperity.
And then he encouraged Americans in the spirit of Reagan,
To overcome the current crisis, we must appreciate and applaud American success. We must step forward, unabashedly and proclaim: You did build that. You earned that. You worked hard. You studied. You labored. You did build that. And you deserve America’s undying gratitude. For you, the individual, are the engine of America’s greatness.
Stephen Bayezes, the owner of Guns and Ammo Gunsmith store in North Augusta, S.C., opened fire on three men who crashed their van through the wall of his gun shop. The burglars apparently though they would make a quick “smash and grab,” but they weren’t expecting Bayezes to do what he did.
The August 9 event led to Beyezes hitting each man at least once. It wasn’t something he says he is proud of, but it was something he said “you’ve got to” do.
“It’s a haunting thought. It literally is a haunting thought when you see the tire tracks, you hear the tires,” he told WRDW TV. “Everybody assures you that you just did what you had to do to protect your family. They say it’ll heal over time, but when does time go away? It’s something that nobody ever wants to do.”
An alarm was set off because of the crash and he was awakened from his sleep to go and investigate. Bayezes tells what happened next.
“Shoot the [explicative] and I heard a gun cock,” he said. “I mean they would’ve shot me, in my mind, with no reservation. If that firearm had been loaded, I might’ve been a statistic.”
“Is this something you ever wanna do in your life?” he asked. “No. Something you have to do? If you’re forced to it, you’ve got to.”
He says it continues to incident continues to give him nightmares. “Two nights ago I thought I was getting shot by one of these perpetrators,” he said. “Woke up in a cold sweat. I mean I seen the bullet come out of the gun and shoot me. It’s a nightmare.”
For the suspects in the case, things are far worse than they are for Bayezes. WRDW reports,
The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office says Eddie Stewart and Franklin Robinson will be charged with burglary 1st, grand larceny and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Both suspects are still in the hospital and will be taken into custody once they are released.
The Aiken County coroner says the third suspect, 20-year-old K’Raven Goodwin of Eastover, S.C., died from multiple gunshot wounds on Thursday morning.
Somehow the burglars were able to get away with fifty guns that night. However, all of them have been returned safely.
Once again, police were no where to be found to save Mr. Bayezes. He was dependent upon himself, God and his guns. This is not a shot at the police. It just demonstrates over and over the citizens need to be armed to protect themselves.
For eighty years a major not for profit, private currency has been operating in the heartland of Europe. In Zurich, almost next door to the Bank of International Settlements in Basel, there is the WIR, turning over the equivalent of almost 2 billion CHF per year.
WIR was founded by businessmen Werner Zimmerman and Paul Enz in 1934. It was a direct response to the Great Depression. They built on the legacy of Silvio Gesell, whose thinking also was the basis for the famous Wörgl Scrip and today’s German Regional Currencies, like the Chiemgauer.
Silvio Gesell is in fact the Patriarch of what I suggest should be called ‘German Economics’ or ‘Interest-Free Economics‘, the theoretical basis for the anti-usury movement. His analysis of Usury inspired both Gottfried Feder and Margrit Kennedy, two other leading lights of the European anti-usury movement. He also had interesting and much needed ideas about land reform.
Where the Wörgl and the Chiemgauer were/are backed by national (banking) currencies, the WIR goes where nobody before dared to go: it is basically Mutual Credit. Mutual Credit based currencies are nowadays used in Barter organizations world wide. Barter in this sense is a misnomer, they do use a means of exchange but not the national currency. WIR is undoubtedly one, if not the first Mutual Credit facility in the world and most certainly the longest surviving one.
Nowadays WIR turns over a little less than 2 billion WIR (1 WIR = 1 CHF) per year. Because many transactions involve maybe 25 to 50% in WIR while the rest is settled in CHF (Swiss Francs), real turn over generated by WIR is maybe up to three times higher. It has 1 billion of WIR in credit outstanding.
Transactions are settled with the use of debit cards or with their on-line banking system.
Werner Zimmerman and Silvio Gesell
WIR is operated for the common good and not for profit. About 62,000 small and midsized businesses participate. There are six regional offices through the Swiss republic.
WIR is especially important during downturns. Deflation and capital scarcity make businesses more creative and more willing to deal with WIR’s limitations.
For our purposes WIR is important because it proves that Mutual Credit facilities have a viable business model. It proves currency can be offered at very low cost while maintaining a prosperous and professional organization over the long term.
Limitations
Notwithstanding its major achievements, WIR suffers from some significant limitations.
In the first place it is not convertible to other units. This is a common problem with Mutual Credit based currencies. Until recently, the technology was not available. Amazingly, many people are so used to this situation that they do not even consider it a problem. They will claim that non-convertibility is actually a strength, as it forces participants to shop within the network. However, this is a mistake. Non-convertibility damages the liquidity (what it will buy) of the currency and liquidity is everything. As a result, many businesses accept only certain percentages in WIR. This hampers liquidity even further.
Another problem is that consumers are not serviced. Only businesses can participate. This again badly damages liquidity: businesses cannot pay their employees in WIR, for instance.
Just think of what is possible for modern units leaving these limitations behind them.
Money Power Subversion
Obviously, WIR is very important opposition against the Money Power. The Money Power can be expected to keep a keen eye on it and there are serious indications it has been resisting WIR actively.
There is a persistent rumor suggesting the Banks have told WIR that things are fine as they are, but that they should not vie for further growth. This may explain why they have not developed a comprehensive strategy for consumer participation.
Also, in the 1950?s WIR started to price its credit with interest. Even today interest rates are very low, with 1% rates for mortgages, for instance, but still. Interest is an affront to Gesell’s ideas. It hinders circulation, which was one thing very much on Gesell’s mind. The price for credit, even at 1%, is somewhat high for collateralized (and thus risk free) long term loans. It also lessens the power of the message: that interest free credit is not only possible but a fact.
The last few years WIR has been starting to focus on more traditional banking activities, including ordinary loans in CHF.
This has led Thomas Greco, a leading expert on Mutual Credit, to state that the Banking Cartel has probably found a way of getting its henchmen on WIR’s board of directors.
Conclusion
WIR is a leading example for the entire world. It has proven that interest free mutual credit can be offered on a large scale. Its superior management was a key factor to its success: it was not a couple of dreamers that built it, but down to earth businessmen understanding the issues and the solution.
It is not convertible and it has no comprehensive strategy to compete outright on a full scale with the Banking Cartel and yet it turns over billions per year. These limitations can nowadays be solved. Convertibility for Mutual Credit is now possible. A comprehensive strategy including consumers not difficult to devise.
In this way the Money Power monopoly on currency can be assaulted. Regulators, inimical as they may be to these schemes, are left empty handed: there are no laws against Mutual Credit and they are very difficult to develop, especially against determined market players who understand what they are up against.
Even though today WIR seems to have been subverted, it took the Money Power eighty years. It is fully possible for just a few thousand ambitious people world wide to open up their own initiatives and the Money Power could easily become overwhelmed.
It goes directly at the heart of the matter: the Money Power’s control over the money supply and extortion through usury and the boom/bust cycle. In this day and age of deflation and stagflation, additional working capital is desperately needed by small and mid sized firms. Now, more than ever, are they willing to take a chance when they are offered a real alternative.
The German Regional Currency Movement shows that it can be done even today. In Britain, too, many regional currencies are now starting, most recently in Bristol. This unit is not even circulating yet, but already 100 small businesses have signed up. They desperately need additional cash and new customers and Regional Currencies supply both.
It is no use to wait until the Government cleans up its act. It never will. It is completely controlled by the enemy. Private initiative is the only hope we have. In fact, let’s face it: why would children of the One expect to have their lives be run by sugardaddies like Government? Private initiative is all there is.
Private currencies, competing with the Money Power in the market place are the way forward.
The world was conquered by a few ambitious men serving the Adversary.
It is now time for it to be liberated by a few ambitious men serving the One.
“THERE IS NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN PERSONAL INITIATIVE: if it has genius behind it, such initiative can do more than can be done by millions of people among whom we have sown discord.”
-Protocol No.5
If you could live in any state in America, where would you go? During troubled times like these, what is the best place in the United States to live? A lot of people are asking these kinds of questions these days. Our economy is on the verge of collapse, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense, the U.S. population is becoming angrier and more frustrated by the day, our government has become incredibly oppressive and controlling, war could break out at any time and evidence that society is breaking down is all around us. As our world becomes increasingly unstable, many families are considering moving somewhere else. But what areas are best and what areas should be avoided? Is there really a “best place to live” in America? Well, the truth is that each family is facing a different set of circumstances. If you have a great support system where you live, it can be really tough to pick up and move 3000 miles away from that support system. If you have a great job where you live now, it can be really tough to move some place where there may be no job at all for you. But without a doubt there are some areas of the country that will be far better off than others in the event of a major economic collapse. This article will take a look at each of the 50 U.S. states and will list some of the pros and cons for moving to each one.
Not all of the factors listed below will be important to you, and a few have even been thrown in for humor. But if you are thinking of moving in the near future hopefully this list will give you some food for thought.
A few years ago when my wife and I were living near Washington D.C. we knew that we wanted a change and we went through this kind of a process. We literally evaluated areas from coast to coast. In the end, we found a place that is absolutely perfect for us. But different things are important to different people.
And if I gave your particular state a low rating, please don’t think that I am trashing the entire state or all of the people who live there.
For example, there are some absolutely wonderful people that live in the state of California, and there are some areas of California that I would not mind visiting at all. But for the times that are coming I am convinced that it is going to be a really bad place to live.
Not that I have all the answers either. Hopefully this article can get some debates started, and hopefully those debates will help people that are thinking of moving to another state to be more informed.
The following are some pros and cons for all 50 states….
Alabama
Pros: warm weather, southern hospitality, relatively low population density
Cons: hurricanes, tornadoes, crime, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: C+
Alaska
Pros: great fishing, lots of empty space, low population density, great for rugged individualists
Cons: very high cost of living, earthquakes, volcanoes, extremely cold, short growing season, too much snow, potentially cut off from supplies from the lower 48 states during an emergency situation
Overall Rating: B
Arizona
Pros: warm weather
Cons: illegal immigration, wildfires, return of dust bowl conditions, not enough jobs, not enough rain, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, Phoenix
Overall Rating: D+
Arkansas
Pros: southern hospitality, warm weather, Ozark National Forest
Cons: tornadoes, Clintons, New Madrid fault zone, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: C
California
Pros: Disneyland, warm weather, Malibu
Cons: high taxes, Jerry Brown, earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires, gang violence, crime, traffic, rampant poverty, insane politicians, ridiculous regulations, bad schools, political correctness, illegal immigration, not enough jobs, air pollution, multiple nuclear power plants, possible tsunami threat along the coast, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton, Sacramento, huge drug problem, high population density, the state government is broke, many more reasons to leave California right here
Overall Rating: F
Colorado
Pros: Rocky Mountains, Colorado Springs
Cons: wildfires, illegal immigration, short growing season, not enough rain, too much snow, huge drug problem
Overall Rating: B
Connecticut
Pros: beautiful homes
Cons: high taxes, insane politicians, ridiculous regulations, political correctness, short growing season, multiple nuclear power plants, high population density
Overall Rating: C-
Delaware
Pros: good fishing
Cons: Joe Biden, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, crime, high population density
Overall Rating: D
Florida
Pros: University of Florida Gators, oranges, low taxes, southern hospitality, Disneyworld, Gainesville, warm weather, beautiful beaches, Daytona
Cons: hurricanes, most of the state is barely above sea level, high population density, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, illegal immigration
Overall Rating: C
Georgia
Pros: peaches, southern hospitality, warm weather
Cons: not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, flesh eating disease, Atlanta
Overall Rating: B-
Hawaii
Pros: awesome beaches, warm weather, great vacation destination
Cons: vulnerable to tsunamis, very high cost of living, volcanoes, traffic, high population density, high taxes
Overall Rating: C-
Idaho
Pros: awesome people live there, great potatoes, low population density, high concentration of liberty-minded individuals, low crime, Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, north Idaho has plenty of water compared to the rest of the interior West, beautiful scenery
Cons: cold in the winter, wildfires, short growing season, not enough jobs
Overall Rating: A
Illinois
Pros: once you get away from Chicago things are not quite so bad
Cons: Barack Obama, drought, New Madrid fault zone, high population density, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, crime, gang violence, Chicago, East St. Louis, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, mob robberies, the state government is drowning in debt
Overall Rating: D-
Indiana
Pros: it is in better shape than Illinois, good farming, high Amish population
Cons: drought, tornadoes, the city of Gary, relatively high population density, near the New Madrid fault zone, a “rust belt” state
Overall Rating: C-
Iowa
Pros: low population density, low crime, good farming
Cons: drought, tornadoes, cold in the winter, multiple nuclear power plants, too much snow, very flat
Overall Rating: B-
Kansas
Pros: low population density, low crime, good farming
Pros: southern hospitality, great horses, Lexington
Cons: New Madrid fault zone, not enough jobs, rampant poverty, Louisville
Overall Rating: C
Louisiana
Pros: southern hospitality, warm weather
Cons: hurricanes, New Orleans, not enough jobs, tornadoes, multiple nuclear power plants, oil spills, crime, gang violence, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: D
Maine
Pros: low population density, low crime, polite people
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, too much snow
Overall Rating: B-
Maryland
Pros: the Washington Redskins play there
Cons: Baltimore, borders Washington D.C., high population density, really bad traffic, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence
Overall Rating: C-
Massachusetts
Pros: beautiful homes
Cons: high taxes, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, high population density, short growing season, almost everything is illegal in Massachusetts
Overall Rating: D+
Michigan
Pros: once you get away from Detroit and Flint things get better
Cons: Detroit, Flint, Dearborn, extremely cold, short growing season, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, too much snow, a “rust belt” state
Overall Rating: D-
Minnesota
Pros: land of 10,000 lakes
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, multiple nuclear power plants, too much snow, high taxes
Overall Rating: C
Mississippi
Pros: southern hospitality, relatively low population density, warm weather
Cons: hurricanes, tornadoes, not enough jobs, rampant poverty, crime
Overall Rating: C+
Missouri
Pros: good farming, Branson
Cons: drought, tornadoes, New Madrid fault zone, not enough jobs, crime
Overall Rating: C
Montana
Pros: low population density, low taxes, high concentration of liberty-minded individuals, Missoula, Kalispell
Cons: extremely cold in the winter, wildfires, short growing season, not enough rain, near Yellowstone super volcano, rampant poverty, too much snow
Overall Rating: B+
Nebraska
Pros: low population density, good farming
Cons: tornadoes, drought, multiple nuclear power plants, cold in the winter, very flat
Overall Rating: B
Nevada
Pros: low population density, lots of empty space, low taxes, warm weather
Cons: Harry Reid, Las Vegas, Reno, not enough water, not enough rain, wildfires, hard to grow food, not enough jobs, crime, gang violence, huge drug problem, Yucca Mountain
Overall Rating: D+
New Hampshire
Pros: low crime, beautiful homes
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, too much snow
Overall Rating: C
New Jersey
Pros: anyone got something?
Cons: high population density, Camden, Newark, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, Atlantic City, crime, gang violence
Overall Rating: D-
New Mexico
Pros: low population density, warm weather
Cons: illegal immigration, wildfires, return of dust bowl conditions, not enough jobs, not enough rain, crime, gang violence, huge drug problem
Overall Rating: C-
New York
Pros: the entire state is not like New York City
Cons: New York City, Mayor Bloomberg, high taxes, cold in the winter, high population density, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, the “too big to fail” banks
Overall Rating: D
North Carolina
Pros: southern hospitality, warm weather, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Cons: hurricanes, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, too much snow
Overall Rating: B
Ohio
Pros: the Cincinnati Reds, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, high Amish population
Cons: not enough jobs, cold in the winter, multiple nuclear power plants, high population density, Toledo, Cleveland, a “rust belt” state
Overall Rating: C
Oklahoma
Pros: warm weather, good farming
Cons: drought, tornadoes, wildfires, return of dust bowl conditions, not enough rain, crime, Oklahoma City, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: C
Oregon
Pros: tremendous natural beauty
Cons: high taxes, Portland, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, not enough jobs, huge drug problem, possible tsunami threat along the coast
Overall Rating: C-
Pennsylvania
Pros: high Amish population
Cons: high population density, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, a “rust belt” state
Overall Rating: C
Rhode Island
Pros: so small that most people don’t notice their problems
Cons: the state is flat broke, short growing season, political correctness, ridiculous regulations, insane politicians, not enough jobs, high population density
Cons: hurricanes, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: B
South Dakota
Pros: low population density, fun tourist traps, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, very flat, too much snow
Overall Rating: B
Tennessee
Pros: Nashville, Michael W. Smith, southern hospitality, warm weather, Gatlinburg
Cons: Memphis, New Madrid fault zone, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: B-
Texas
Pros: low taxes, warm weather, Austin
Cons: drought, illegal immigration, tornadoes, wildfires, West Nile Virus, the Dallas Cowboys, return of dust bowl conditions, speed traps, not enough rain, multiple nuclear power plants, George W. Bush, crime
Overall Rating: B-
Utah
Pros: beautiful mountains, low crime, low population density
Cons: cold in the winter, wildfires, Salt Lake City, short growing season, not enough rain, illegal to collect rain
Overall Rating: B-
Vermont
Pros: low crime, beautiful homes
Cons: cold in the winter, insane politicians, ridiculous regulations, short growing season, political correctness, not enough jobs, too much snow
Overall Rating: C
Virginia
Pros: the University of Virginia, southern hospitality, Charlottesville
Cons: borders Washington D.C., high population density, multiple nuclear power plants, Richmond, really bad traffic in northern Virginia
Overall Rating: B-
Washington
Pros: the eastern half of the state is quite nice and much different from the coast
Cons: way too much rain along the coast, volcanoes, wildfires, insane politicians, ridiculous regulations, political correctness, not enough jobs, possible tsunami threat along the coast, Seattle
Overall Rating: C
West Virginia
Pros: beautiful mountains
Cons: not enough jobs, rampant poverty
Overall Rating: B
Wisconsin
Pros: cheese, the Green Bay Packers
Cons: extremely cold, short growing season, multiple nuclear power plants, too much snow,
Overall Rating: B-
Wyoming
Pros: low population density, lots of empty space, low taxes
Cons: extremely cold, too windy, too flat, wildfires, short growing season, not enough rain, Yellowstone super volcano
Overall Rating: B-
What do you think of these rankings?
What do you think is the best place to live in America?
Do you have any additional pros and cons that should be added to this list?
Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below….
Come November, the American people will be faced with two distinct options, reelect President Barack Obama or vote for Mitt Romney. The liberal Democrat and the Republican conservative seem to stand in stark contrast. They come from different backgrounds and have different views on most social issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, immigration. On the surface, Romney and Obama appear to be conflicting in ideas and ideals on all fronts. The popular perception is that Romney and Obama represent polices that are polar opposites of each other.
But this perception is absolutely false.
In reality, when it comes to the most critical issues effecting America today like national debt, bank and corporate bailouts, monetary policy, foreign policy, military, civil liberties, Constitution, etc., the range of difference in their policies spans from non-existent to marginal.
Media wants you to think that this election is about abortion and gay marriage. It’s not.
As important as those issues are, clearly, the top three priorities for American people right now are the financial crisis, the unending wars and the erosion of our Constitution.
The future of America will be determined by the polices affecting these 3 crucial topics. Consequently, the focus of this election should be centered on Obama’s and Romney’s proposed polices dealing with this threefold crisis.
1. Financial Crisis
Our national debt, rising deficit and broken monetary system are pushing the country towards an economic collapse. Bailouts, stimulus packages and quantitative easing aimed at improving the economy are instead setting up America for an even bigger financial meltdown. The systematic debasement of U.S. dollar by the Federal Reserve is fueling inflation and rising prices. As the unemployment rate continues to gain pace, the working middle class is being pushed down into poverty. Incredibly, over 100 million Americans are now dependent on some form of government aid.
2. Unending Wars
America’s interventionist foreign policy has led the United States into multiple unsustainable wars and is threatening to entangle our nation into more unnecessary conflicts around the globe. Peace has become something of a dirty word in Washington foreign-policy circles. But American people are rightly weary of overseas nation building and war profiteering under the guise of spreading democracy. Previous administration was caught lying to its people by manufacturing false claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The same tricks are being used now to involve America in the conflict in Syria and start a fresh war with Iran at the cost of more American lives.
3. Erosion of our Constitution
Since the year 2000 Americans have watched in silence and disbelief as the executive branch declared itself to be above the law, its powers absolute, surpassing even the authority of our Constitution. With every legislature authorizing brazen violations of Constitutionally protected civil rights (such as NDAA), we are steadily morphing into the society depicted in Orwell’s 1984. Patriot act, warrant-less wire taps, nude scanners, cell tracking, air drone spying, TSA groping, overaggressive law enforcement, indefinite detention, suspension of 2nd and 4th amendments, assassinations of American citizens, etc., are continuing to draw fierce criticism from American public alarmed at government’s new trend of flagrant disregard for the Constitution.
These three topics are of utmost importance and will have the biggest impact on all Americans in the coming four year term.
Exactly, how the next president of the United States plans to handle these pressing issues should determine the course of this election.
So, how would Romney stack up against Obama in this regard? Does Obama have better proposals to deal with these issues than Romney? Which one of them would be most effective in fixing the economy, ending wars and restoring the Constitution?
At the end of the day, the answer to this question should be the deciding factor for your vote.
Mainstream media’s election coverage does little to help answer this question. Meaningless points and useless information is rehashed ad nauseam 24/7. False claims and counter claims by both candidates just leave the public more misinformed and confused.
But, if you disregard the hype in the media and take the time to conduct a serious analysis of Obama’s and Romney’s policies on these issues, you will come away with a startling conclusion. It turns out, in matters of critical importance, the real distinction between Obama and Romney is style rather than substance. Ironically, Obama and Romney support and oppose the same exact policies, making them virtually indistinguishable on these top 3 points.
Here’s a short and incomplete breakdown:
Both Obama and Romney Support:
Bailouts, “too big to fail” concept, stimulus packages, quantitative easing and deficit spending
Sending our troops to protect others borders and sending our money to foreign dictators
Interventionist foreign policy from Bush era
Federal restrictions on gun ownership
Patriot Act
Spying on American citizens without warrants
Indefinite detention of American citizens without charge, trial or lawyer
Assassinations of American citizens without due process!
Both Obama and Romney Oppose:
Balancing the budget in less than 30 years
Paying down the national debt
States rights to make their own laws
A Government that consistently obeys the Constitution!
It’s no secret that the biggest contributions for both Obama and Romney come from the same bankers, defense contractors, special interest groups, and lobbyists. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG all made and make significant “donations” to both Romney and Obama at the same time, during the same campaign. This is precisely why both Obama and Romney hold virtually identical positions on every single critical issue facing America today.
If you were not aware of this until today, it’s only because the purpose of the mainstream press is to shape your opinion rather than to give you an accurate assessment of each candidates’ position on most critical issues. Instead, they will focus your attention on same-sex marriage, abortion and birth control. The arguments, debates, smear campaigns and distortions in the media are there to give you an illusion of freedom of choice. If you’re pro-life and you can’t stand Obama, you get to vote for the Right, and if you’re for gay marriage and you hate Romney, you can pick the Left. But the truth is both Left and Right options lead to the same destination, more wars, more debt and more lies.
If you’re not entirely convinced because you’re a loyal Romney or Obama supporter, please read on.
Maybe you’re thinking we’re overstating the case here and are unduly accusing the media of manipulation and distortions. You might admit that we have a few networks that might be biased at times, but media manipulation might sound like an unfounded allegation. That’s understandable. After all this is not China’s state press. This is American media we’re talking about. We have protected freedom of press, independent trustworthy journalism and a plethora of available media companies. How can you possibly manipulate all the news networks, newspapers, magazines, online reporting and radio? We have thousands upon thousands of media sources in America, right?
Wrong. We have thousands of media outlets, but only six main sources. Whether you’re watching TV, reading a newspaper or listening to radio, 90% of all media information actually comes from the same 6 companies.
These six global behemoths are Comcast, Newscorp, Viacom, Disney, TimeWarner and CBS and they control countless media companies, cable networks, TV channels, show productions, motion studios, radio networks and the print press.
Basically, everything you hear, see and read originates from these six mega-corporations.
Of course, the information that flows out of them is packaged in different media brands, but the fact remains that 6 corporations control 90% of all media in America.
By the way, it wasn’t always like this. Back in 1983, the same 90% of media was controlled by 50 companies. Overtime, American media was consolidated as these 50 companies were gobbled up through mergers and acquisitions.
So, why is this important?
This is important because, the illusion of choice in politics is directly related to the illusion of choice in media. It is consolidated media that makes information control possible and media manipulation effective.
In our world of corrupt politicians, greedy bankers, and power hungry elitists, this power is too tempting not to abuse. If controllers of the six media conglomerates want to help their buddies push a certain agenda or slant people’s opinions on any given matter, they certainly have the tools to accomplish just that.
If you have paid attention to what happened to Ron Paul during his run for the nomination, you know exactly what we’re talking about. Dr. Paul had a tremendous following, but you wouldn’t know it if you watch ABC, CBS, NBS, CNN and Fox News. Due to the media blackout, those backing Paul were forced to bypass the alphabet media and use Grassroots efforts to find new ways to get their voices heard.
Unfortunately, this was an uphill battle. It was uphill, not because Paul wasn’t a plausible contender, as the media argued, but because Dr. Paul represented a grave threat to the establishment. He had to be shut down by any means necessary. The mainstream media went to work, unleashing all the tricks in its bag to make sure Ron Paul would not get nominated.
The media black out, distortion, censorship and manipulation were so blatant that at times you just had to rub your eyes in disbelief and ask yourself “how can they get away with this?”
So, why would the media go through all this trouble just to get rid off Ron Paul?
Congressman Paul is a threat to Wall Street and the bankers because he challenges the Federal Reserve with audits and advocates the dissolution of this parasitic debt machine.
He is a threat to the military-industrial complex because he calls to end the wars and return our troops home.
He is a threat to the major corporations because under his reforms, people’s income tax would be removed, but the global corporations would no longer get away with paying zero.
Ron Paul is a political outcast because he’s the only statesman in Capital Hill with a spotless record; the only politician that accurately outlines the true problems and solutions; and the only candidate that is not financed by lobbyists that run Capital Hill.
Ron Paul’s candidacy was a genuine hope for American people. It was the chief challenge to the status quo and it was the primary hazard to the entrenched system that leaches of its citizens.
For these reasons, Ron Paul had to be eliminated as a presidential hopeful. People had to be convinced that he’s a joke and that he doesn’t have a fragment of a chance… and when the media said this long enough and loud enough, people believe it.
Any media personality that fails to support this strategy is terminated immediately. A case in point is Judge Napolitano who not only endorsed Ron Paul on his show, but dared to expose the illusion of choice in this election. Shortly after broadcasting his speech (see the first video at the top), Freedom Watch show was canned despite the fact that it had the highest ratings on Fox Business. Newscorp executives canceled the show, reshuffled the whole lineup on Fox Business and gave Napolitano a guest pundit position to keep the murmurs to a minimum.
The establishment does not tolerate dissent no matter your rating or popularity. After all, the charade must carry on and the people must continue to believe that their only options are Obama or Romney.
When you head down to the voting both this November, remember that whether you vote for the charismatic liar or the flip-flopping opportunist, you’re voting for the same person in different packaging. The choice is an illusion.
However, one thing is guaranteed… regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections, it will be business as usual. The constitution will continue to be abused, civil liberties will be stripped further and federal and state government’s powers extended. Wars will continue and unemployment will grow worse. Wall Street will get the bailouts, the national debt will continue to skyrocket and the economy will collapse.
September 17th will mark the one year anniversary for the Occupy Movement and of course the commies are coming out of the woodwork for another attempt at hijacking the movement. We haven’t heard a lot about Occupy for quite a while now and there is a reason.
When the commie unions and commie organizers and contributors found out on May 1st that thepower behind the movement, the long termunemployed American nationals, absolutely would not be a part of any socialist movement in the United States, all support was withdrawn andbank accounts shut down.
You see the power behind Occupy is made up primarily of those of us who have lost everything. These communists think they can take over our movement by buying their way into a leadership role. They are our enemy and will be put down with the rest when this Revolution goes hot.
All American nationals must stay home on September 17th and let the pathetically smallnumbers of the commies shine, just like they did on May Day. And just like on May Day, they will try to fill their ranks with gays and insurgents from south of the border. And just like on May Day, they will fail to accomplish anything.
There will be one noticeable difference as a result of the boycott of the event by the American nationals, and that is we will see no one being beaten in the streets as the communists will not attack their own.
This thing has gone way past words anyway. The best we American nationals can do at this point in the ball game is to train to fight and let the communists know that we are taking down their names, each and every one of them and that they will either be deported or killed outright when this Revolution goes hot.
We know what communists are and what they would love to do to us and we will treat with them accordingly. They are cowards. They have always been cowards as only a coward could allow a system as pathetic as communism to take them over and rule their lives.
After September 17th and their pathetic show, they will slither back under their rocks and lie in wait for the next opportunity to attempt to harness the power of we American nationals. And this is where we will find them. When the war begins that is when we get out our lists and begin exterminating the communist parasites.
God bless the Republic, death to the international corporate mafia, we shall prevail.
From the Trenches World Report is intent on uncovering more documented facts to bring to light that which the common man or woman is not meant to see. We are in a war for nothing less than our right to individual thought. We will be reporting on that war From the Trenches.
Debt is never seen as a positive outcome, however there are times when someone’s incapacity to handle finances becomes wealth for others. A clear example is the current state of economics in both the developed and developing worlds, where indebted nations are the subject of hefty fees and interest rates on loans they cannot mathematically pay. In fact, the irresponsibility of politicians and bureaucrats to manage their countries monies has made them slaves of their own greed.
But for other countries like China, which has bought most of the debt from countries like the United States, a nation’s hell has become a bonanza. China’s leverage has allowed to accumulate a gigantic purchasing power, which many people also attribute to the Chinese management of their currency value. China, they claim, purposely devalues the Yuan, in order to keep its products at more competitive prices. China’s currency manipulation and the fact that its labor is one of the cheapest in the world allowed the country to accumulate large amounts of wealth.
Where is all that money going? To purchase land and resources all over the world. But China’s race to acquire land, mainly to plant food for its growing population, and to sell it to other countries, is not unique. Countries like Saudi Arabia and organizations like the UN are also investing their cash in large portions of land. The practice of buying land abroad is also known as the third wave of the outsourcing movement, although many call it a new form of neocolonialism.
The Chinese have gone everywhere they find open arms to effectively acquire property and infrastructure, sometimes hiding their purchases behind a veil of bilateral agreements or simply financial aid that is not expected to be returned. The Chinese government has built soccer stadiums in Costa Rica, offered millions of dollars to local governments in Brazil, bailed out the US in multiple occasions by purchasing its debt, and now, it is buying Europe up.
If anyone is in doubt about where do European bankers get all the money they’ve given to their corporate friends in so-called ‘rescues’ and ‘bailouts’, please look at two main sources. First, massive electronic creation of money; as in typing digits on a computer keyboard and charging the interests generated from those ‘rescues ‘to many generations to come, and two, Chinese purchase of European Union bonds. The latter is the same mechanism used by the United States to get cash flow or liquidity to maintain its gigantic empire going.
The Chinese couldn’t have come to Europe at a better time, because not even Germany, the sudden shiny house at the top of the hill, was able to handle the scandalous sovereign debt catastrophe that most EU members are into. Meetings and conversations already begun, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister of China, Wen Jiabao, providing a quick pick into what they call the first fruit of their encounter, but which in reality could be a rotten fruit. The president of the Asian giant has confirmed that his country would continue to buy sovereign bonds in the EU, but also deeply analyze their risks.
After the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on official visit to China, Wen said Beijing would improve consultation and communication with the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB), the multilateral financial institutions and major countries to help the most indebted European states to cope with their problems.
In this regard, he said that China hopes that the EU can achieve a balance between fiscal austerity and economic stimulus, a formula that is the fundamental way to solve the crisis.
Cooperation with Germany and the EU as a whole, said the Prime Minister, should focus on boosting confidence. “We must let people see hope, oppose trade protectionism and promote collaboration to explore the markets,” said Wen.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor said that the euro zone has the political will to address the crisis. Wen and Merkel led today the second round of intergovernmental consultations between their respective countries, with the participation of seven German ministers, which accounts for half of Merkel’s Cabinet.
Following the meeting of the two, China announced the purchase of 50 Airbus A320 model, the value of 2,790 million euros ($3,500 million).
It seems that the Chinese financial rescue of the European Union has begun, except it is not to rescue Europe, but to rescue China itself. The deeper in debt countries get with China, the more products they have to buy from that country and the lesser finished goods they will produce. China’s investments will yield not only access to markets with less regulations for its cheaply made toxic products, but also and most importantly, dependence.
China is on the way to becoming the landowner, the producer and the seller who no one will be able to contest.
Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute.
Former Marine Brandon Raub speaks to John Whitehead in a one on one interview. Raub’s case went viral on the Internet earlier this month when on August 16, the former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was kidnapped from his home by police, FBI and Secret Service agents and forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric ward by authorities in Virginia in response to Facebook posts which the FBI deemed “terrorist” in nature.
Raub was released after a week when a judge concluded that the original petition ordering him to be detained contained no information whatsoever on the reasons behind Raub’s incarceration.
Raub explained that one of his main concerns in being publicly vocal about his concerns with the activity of the U.S. government was executive orders that allow the state to seize dictatorial power in a time of crisis, including the seizure of private property, communications and the institution of forced labor camps.
When Raub asked what he thought of the whole experience, Raub responded, “It made me scared for my country, the idea that a man can be snatched out of his property without being read his rights should be extremely alarming to all Americans.”
“At the beginning it was very vague, it was almost as if they wanted me to volunteer information,” said Raub, adding that he had to draw out of them the reason for the visit, which eventually turned out to be the content of his Facebook posts.
Raub then stepped outside to speak to a Secret Service agent who quizzed him about his political beliefs.
“I mentioned the Bilderberg Group and their violation of politicians in this country meeting with them and specifically the Logan Act,” said Raub, adding that the Secret Service agents were taking notes to research the topics further at a later time.
After around 15 minutes of conversation, the police surrounded Raub and grabbed him, failing to read him his Miranda rights. When Raub appealed to the police to allow him to put some clothes on, even at gunpoint, the cops refused.
“I realized that they weren’t going to read me my rights and they weren’t arresting me, so I basically just decided to make it more difficult for them to take me,” said Raub, explaining why the video shows him dropping to the floor.
After his detention, Raub was given a hearing date and moved to a psychiatric ward three hours away from his family and legal team. Shortly before his eventual release, a psychiatrist threatened to forcibly medicate Raub in order to “brainwash” him.
John Whitehead emphasizes how 20 people in the same county as Raub have been similarly “disappeared” so far in the month of August alone.
This story sends chills down my spine. Yet, many people are under the illusion that it won’t happen to them. Wake up, it can happen to any of us. One thing is for sure, the government is definitely trying to silence us through intimidation. They want us silent, because they know that America is waking up. They don’t want that. For we are “The Sleeping Giant”. Fear not those who can take your body, fear the One that can take your soul. Resistance, along with being armed with knowledge is how we will help defeat this tyranny that is going on within our government. The treacherous acts that are coming, and have already happened against our own people. The resistance, will win if we unite. Many are uniting in the cause of freedom, and many are waking up to the oppression of our twisted government. Buckle down, because we’re in this together.
For Freedom, for God, for America. Now more than ever we all have to band together as one and call out our battle cry of FREEDOM.
Two U.S. agents were wounded on Friday during a shooting with the Mexican Federal Police work for the CIA. This was reported by then The New York Times, adding that the employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, riding on a vehicle with diplomatic plates were allegedly sent to Mexico by the United States under a training program to support the fight against drug trafficking.
Twelve Mexican federal police have been arrested in connection with the investigation into the shooting of the car, in which the CIA agents — one of whom drove the car — were accompanied by a Mexican navy captain. The three men were allegedly going to a shooting range located near the town of Tres Marias, which is about 50 kilometers south of the capital. The armored vehicle was shot 40 times when the driver tried to flee from gunfire.
The agents were identified by the newspaper El Universal as Jess Hods Garner and Stan Garner Dove Boss, already left the country and did not testified before Mexican authorities. “First they have to be in proper condition for being able to do so. Their testimony will be taken in due course once the conditions are best,” said Marisela Morales, who emphasized that Mexico has “the full cooperation of the U.S. government. “
Although the U.S. embassy spoke of an “ambush” scenario, a US official quoted by The New York Times say there is no evidence that the intelligence agents were a target for the perpetrators of the shooting, some of whom were in plain clothes. The CIA has refused to comment. The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, has promised a thorough investigation. Mr. Calderón has “cooperated” with the US in supposed counter narcotics operations. Programs such as the Merida Initiative, with a budget of 1,600 million dollars (about 1,300 million euros), are said to provide training and equipment to Mexico’s federal police to allegedly fight drug cartels.
There have been three reported in the history of American diplomats in Mexico. On February 15, 2011, a car carrying two agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was attacked in San Luis Potosi (northeastern region). The incident killed the U.S. agent Jaime Zapata. The perpetrator of the crime was, according to official reports, a member of Los Zetas. The previous event, on March 14, 2010, ended with the death of an employee of the consulate in Ciudad Juarez (north of Mexico). In 1985 an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Bureau (DEA) Enrique Camarena Salazar died in Michoacan (central Mexico) shot by alleged Mexican drug traffickers.
The arrest of the 12 agents threatens to deteriorate even more the record of the Mexican Federal Police, considered by President Calderón as a model institution. On June 25, 2012, three members of the MFP were murdered by some of his colleagues at the International Airport of Mexico City.
Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute.
In the San Antonio school district, the Student Locator Project (SLP) is being beta-tested at Jay High School and Jones Middle School – two schools in the Northside district. The SLP includes the use of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to “make schools safer, know where our students are while at school, increase revenues, and provide a general purpose ‘smart’ ID card.”
In order to check out school library books, register for classes, pay for school lunches, the “smart” ID card is being employed to trace and track students and their movements on campuses all across America. By using leverage of educators to coerce school districts to adopt this method of tracking students, the argument for the use of the RFID technology is campus safety, efficient registration, and food and library programs.
In Austin, Texas, collaboration with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and RFID technology is being used to deter students from skipping classes. In fact, those students having a negative record with the school they attend are being targeted to be under surveillance.
An estimated 1,700 students have already been pledged to the program with parental permission. These students are assigned a “mentor” who oversees the actions of the students and to whom the students must contact on a weekly basis to report to. This is reminiscent of having a parole officer for student who have not committed a crime, yet are being touted as pre-criminals.
• GPS
• Internet
• Traffic Cameras
• Computer Cameras and Microphones
• Public Sound Surveillance
• Facial Recognition
Even neuroscientists at University of California Berkeley used a technique where they monitored the brain activity of individuals as they listened to words being spoken. As the subjects listened to the words being spoken, a computer program analyzed brain activity in the temporal lobe, and how the brain interpreted and recreated specific words or sounds.
IBM is working on mind reading technology and a bar code reader that can read your DNA.
RFID chips used in cell phones can track a user within centimeters of their GPS location thanks to new technology being employed in smartphones. Apple, Google and Microsoft have been tracking their customers for years, storing personal digital data and collaborating with law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The CIA is able to remotely intercept and access every email, phone call, text message, chat, and even direct conversation supposedly held in the privacy of your own home.
CIA Director David Petraeus spoke before Congress, speculating about the “internet of things”. Petraeus said: “Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification [RFID chips], sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing . . . the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.”
An indicator of these plans can be found on the underside of any electronic device in your home. Even on the underside of a simple calculator, toaster oven, and even your refrigerator; you will find the following:
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
What this disclaimer means is that this device is not allowed to jam or block any signals and must accept any incoming signal given (by FCC regulations under Part 15 of the FCC Rules).
The uses of these chips appear sensible and harmless until you think about the implications of being remotely tracked by nearly everything you own and come into contact. When a technology is imbedded in all facets of our lives, then it may come to mind to question its purpose. The RFID chip can and has been used to gather information an individual would not otherwise readily give.
Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism, an alternative news site dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporate-funded mainstream media. You can find Occupy Corporatism on their Facebook page .
While the information is publicly available, Apple has rejected a new application that would alert users every time a U.S. drone strike takes place. Citing reasons such as the app is “not useful” and “objectionable and crude,” Apple refuses to allow Josh Begley’s Drones+ application to be available on iPhones and iPads.
Begley is confused. Drones+ doesn’t present grisly images of corpses left in the aftermath of the strikes. It just tells users when a strike has occurred, going off a publicly available database of strikes compiled by the U.K.’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which compiles media accounts of the strikes.
iOS developers have a strict set of guidelines that must be adhered to in order to gain acceptance into the App Store. Apps are judged on technical, content and design criteria. As Apple does not comment on the app reviews process, it can be difficult to ascertain exactly why an app got rejected. But Apple’s team of reviewers is small, sifts through up to 10,000 apps a week, and necessarily errs on the side of caution when it comes to potentially questionable apps.
Apple’s original objections to Drones+ regarded the functionality Begley’s app, not its content. Now he’s wondering if it’s worth redesigning and submitting it a fourth time.
“If the content is found to be objectionable, and it’s literally just an aggregation of news, I don’t know how to change that,” Begley says.
Frank Drover is a co-editor and contributor for The Daily Sheeple, an alternative media hub for leading headlines, head lies, opinion, and commentary. Wake the flock up!
This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.
The fall of the House of Morgan has begun as stock prices on the global market at Morgan Stanley (MS) begin to fall on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
According to Rick Wiles: “I’m hearing rumors that another major financial house is going to implode. In fact, the name I’ve been given is Morgan Stanley . . . It’s going to be put on the sacrificial alter by the financial elite.”
MS, technically speaking, is classified as insolvent based on mark-to-market valuation. By selling off non-core assets, MS has been able to “reduce its European exposure” through the manipulation of hedge funds and allocation of funds to failing financial corporations. Some mainstream media outlets tout that the Federal Reserve Bank will come in and assist MS in their insolvency and that MS “just isn’t going out of business anytime soon.”
However, on the bond market, MS is being treated like “a junk-rated company.” Moody’s the rating agency that sells their ratings to whomever will pay for a triple A score, have announced they will downgradge MS’ ratings which would put all US banks at risk.
Otis Caset, director of credit research at Markit confirms: “What has driven that, obviously, is Europe. The perception is — correctly or incorrectly — that Morgan Stanley is one of the U.S. banks most exposed to Europe’s problems.”
In 2008, with the first pre-meditated financial explosion , the cause for the bailout of the banks was a large sum of cash needed quickly to repay China who had purchased large quantities of mortgage-backed securities that went belly-up when the global scam was realized. When China realized that they had been duped into buying worthless securitized loans which would never be repaid, they demanded the actual property instead. The Chinese were prepared to send their “people” to American shores to seize property as allocated to them through the securitized loan contracts.
To stave this off, the American taxpayers were coerced by former President Bush and former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. During that incident, the US Senate was told emphatically that they had to approve a $700 billion bailout or else martial law would be implemented immediately. That money was funneled through the Federal Reserve Bank and wired to China, as well as other countries that were demanding repayment for the fraudulent securitizations.
To further avert financial catastrophe, as well as more debt or property seizure threats by the Chinese, the Euro was imploded there by plunging most of the European countries into an insurmountable free-fall for which they were never intended to recover.
MS exposure to mortgage-backed securities and derivatives fraud may have finally brought the financial implosion to America. As Otis points out, it is the exposure to the Eurozone that was the nail in the coffin at MS. This only furthers the fact that financial collapse is imminent in America and the repercussions are already laid out.
However, this planned implosion of the mega-banks only serves to fit the global Elite’s plans.
John Paulson recently traded in his stocks for 4.53 million shares in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) while investing deeper into NovaGold Resources.
George Soros has also sold his shares and interest in JPMorgan (701,400 shares), Goldman Sachs (120,000 shares), and Citigroup (420,000). He has reallocated these funds to gold.
The insolvency of MS means that the customer funds that are held in MS can be hypothecated (or co-mingled) by the bank into their funds to be used to pay off any loans or debts owed by the bank.
Earlier this month, on August 9th, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (CCA) ruled that BNYM can be moved to first in line of creditors over the customers that had their funds stolen by Sentinel Management Group (SMG).
Before SMG collapsed in 2007, Eric Bloom, former chief executive, and Charles Mosely, head trader of SMG stole $500 million in customer secured funds and were indicted because they exposed customer segregated funds to “highly risky derivatives.”
The SMG ruling means that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SPIC) regulatory systems will not insure customer funds, investments, depositors and retirees who hold accounts in banks.
In fact, the banking institution is now legally allowed to use those customer funds deposited as collateral, payment on debts for loans made, or free use on the stock market to purchase investments as the bank sees fit.
When a customer deposits money into a bank, the bank issues a promise to have those funds available when the customer returns to withdraw the deposited amount.
With the SMG ruling, those funds become property of the bank once they are deposited. If the bank is insolvent, under duress or filed bankruptcy, those customer deposited funds can be co-mingled with the bank’s funds and used for the purposes of the bank without recourse to the customer.
As explained in Readiness Exercise 1984 (Rex84) the end of the US dollar combined with civil unrest would cause the US government to declare martial law in order to preserve continuity of government.
Since 2010, all the mega-banks in the US have filed resolution plans with the Fed describing how to liquidate banking assets without causing further damage to a failing financial system. By selling “non-core assets” without upsetting shareholders while protecting the monetary system, taxpayers and creditors is the work of the mega-banks who have contributed solely to the destruction of the global financial markets.
Both Bank of America and Citibank have already begun liquidity with the sale of their non-core assets proving that these two financial institutions are insolvent. Add to this list MS.
While mega-banks are unloading their assets under duress, they are acquiring smaller banks and keeping their names to fool the American public into thinking they are banking with an independent as they consolidate financial power in the US.
In response to the coming implosion, the Federal Reserve Bank is inventing electronic fiat. This keeps the Ponzi scheme going. On the surface it all appears to ok. However, undercover and out of the general public’s sight, the manipulation of insurance rates, market values, mortgages are directly contributing to the complete banking system collapse.
An estimated 70% of some of the mega-bank’s worth is provided by the government by subsidies; meaning that without the money provided by the US government, these banks would go under tomorrow. And by watching the financial climate as it is emerging, it appears that we are witnessing just that.
Combined with the solicitations of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 1.8 billion rounds of hollow point bullets, 1400 pounds of highly dense explosives material and urban warfare drills being conducted across the nation, it is clear that this insolvency of MS is one more proof that marital law coinciding with financial collapse is dangerously close.
Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism, an alternative news site dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporate-funded mainstream media. You can find Occupy Corporatism on their Facebook page .
The Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service has solicited ammunition that is supposedly needed for target practice. In this instance, the amounts of hollow point bullets, 12 gauge rifle slugs, and other accessories are smaller than the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has requested through other federal agencies.
DHS previously ordered more than 63,000,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point bullets (JHP).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a solicitation for 16,000 rounds of .40 S&W JHP.
The Social Security Office has also made a solicitation for 174,000 rounds of .357 hollow point bullets.
Earlier this month, DHS requested 700 pounds of high density ammonium nitrate and 700 pounds of A-5 Flake RDX explosives. These ingredients are known to be very high powered explosives.
When creating a “makeshift terrorist bomb” ammonium nitrate is an integral ingredient. The DHS was given oversight of procurement of ammonium nitrate after Congress requested they “regulate the sale and transfer of ammonium nitrate by an ammonium nitrate facility…to prevent the misappropriation or use of ammonium nitrate in an act of terrorism.”
The Ammonium Nitrate Security Program focuses on preventing a terrorist attack by use of ammonium nitrate in a home-made bomb by requiring that its sale and those that purchase it be registered with the DHS. Purchasers are screened against the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB).
While DHS arms itself for alleged target practice, they are releasing a mystery bacteria into the Boston subway system to “test” sensors that detect biological agents in a supposed terror drill.
In a DHS press release, they state: “A rapid alert from a detection system can locate and identify these materials and provide for immediate and appropriate response to protect people and contain the hazard.”
This scheme has been planned since May of this year when it was announced that the bacteria B-subtilis was to be released in heavily populated and semi-contained areas like underground train stations; however this bacteria “has no adverse health effects for low exposure in healthy people.”
The plan concerning a false flag attack released the warning of an anonymous DHS informant is explained as a staged assignation attempt on Obama that will be linked to a white supremacist group that will be used to incite black and Hispanic Americans into starting riots all across the nation.
In this scenario a race war will be the situation needed to implement martial law effectively locking down the US, US Army control of the urban cities, erecting DHS checkpoints on all major points of travel, severe restrictions on travel for all citizens and the suspension of elections to ensure that Obama remain seated as the President of the US.
The DHS informant stated: “The DHS is actively preparing for massive social unrest inside the United States. He then corrected himself, stating that ‘a civil war’ is the more appropriate term. Certain elements of the government are not only expecting and preparing for it, they are actually facilitating it.”
In the end, “the whole purpose is to keep Obama in office for another term, no matter how unpopular he is, as he is not finished changing our country from a Constitutional Republic.”
Now the DHS informant is saying that the “final authorization was reportedly given to DHS directly from the White House” on the “plan, or whatever specific operation that was devised, being put into motion.”
There have been “several different plans or scenarios developed, ready to be implemented at a moment’s notice”; however they are so diverse that they require specified timing to be successful.
The global Elite are monitoring the political landscape, the poll numbers, the general public’s psychological demeanor and waiting for the right moment to make Obama a martyr at the hands of white supremacists in order to finally destroy the 2nd Amendment while classifying certain types as “fringe” who will be gone after by the federal governmental agencies allocated to round up political and anti-US government citizens.
By framing US veterans, certain talk-show hosts and gun owners in recent shootings, they are enacting their scheme by these evidences.
Framing US veterans and current service men and women as white supremacists who support the US constitution is running rampant within the US Armed Forces. With the assistance of the FBI-sponsored Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, training is being given to help soldiers’ spot extremists within their ranks. In a military version of DHS civilian See Something, Say Something campaign that turns citizens into government spies, the federal government is using and enacting the Nazi model of Fascist takeover.
The psychiatric community in collaboration with pharmaceutical corporations has come forth to call support for the 2nd Amendment as a mental disorder .
Globalist puppets like Daniel Webster, co-director of the anti-firearm John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, asserts that “gun ownership—a precursor to gun violence—can spread ‘much like an infectious disease” and wants healthcare professionals to have influence over whether or not American citizens are legally allowed to possess firearms. Webster would like to see Obamacare have ultimate control of the classification of mental states with regard to purchasing and obtaining FBI clearance for a gun.
A staged “event” will be carried out within the domestic US. While many outlets are purveying false information to confuse the issue, the upper levels of the DHS had “a major slip up” and this information was released to the informant.
It has been suggested that Obama would save his political image if he were to have his own Oklahoma City Bombing.
The US government, under the global Elite’s control, is:
• Arming federal agencies
• Amassing fertilizer bomb ingredients
• Releasing bacteria under the guise of practicing for a terror attack
• Framing US veterans to be involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals
• Using psychiatric hospitals in lieu of infinite detention
• Planning a false flag assassination attempt on Obama to support white supremacists are threats
• Lockdown America under declaration of martial law
The dots connect in an obvious way when the plans are laid out in plain sight. Their success depends on your continued slumber.
Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism, an alternative news site dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporate-funded mainstream media. You can find Occupy Corporatism on their Facebook page .
A new study from the Stockholm International Water Institute claims the planet’s fresh water supply is buckling under the weight of population growth. In 35 years, we’ll all be vegetarians or we’ll go under. No more cow meat for you, Bubba. Raising cows uses too much water. Reach for the soy cakes.
These projections are being trumpeted by the same people who assure us the world is heating up so fast that, if we want to avoid frying, we’d better give Al Gore another Nobel Prize and worship at his feet on the tarmac, as he jets off, spewing toxic fuel behind him, to address another inconvenient conference.
The radical environmentalist stance is: cows are out as human food; find your protein elsewhere. Better yet, eat no flesh at all.
Fully intending to sidestep an endless debate about which of ten thousand diets are best for the human species, I would merely point out that, when humans enter the zone of protein malnutrition, they function badly and they weaken. Their thought processes blur. This suits many governments and elites to a T. Dictators want debilitated subjects. (I would also suggest that most soy products, when consumed in extreme amounts, produce toxicity.)
But the answer to the planetary water problem is staring us in the face: desalination. Turn sea water into fresh water for drinking and irrigation.
In fact, this holy grail of research isn’t a distant dream. As of 2009, the International Desalination Association stated there were 14,000 desalination plants operating all over the globe.
There are more than a dozen technologies for water conversion, including multistage flash, multiple-effect distillation, vapor compression, reverse osmosis, solar desal, and seawater greenhouse. In other words, people know how to convert sea water to drinking water. And new methods are coming online every year.
The problem begins when multiple government agencies get into the act with task forces, reviews, press conferences, committee appointments, more press conferences, drawn-out requests for information, hearings, and further press conferences.
Every petty bureaucrat everywhere has to be allowed to get his/her two cents in, to justify position and salary. Preferably the two cents are spent before cameras, after suitable time with a make-up artist.
This madness is only matched by corporate bunglers and liars, who seek to build desalination plants in typical corner-cutting fashion.
In Carlsbad, California, the Poseidon Corporation, the Coastal Commission, public utilities, and various environmental groups have been going at each other for a decade. It’s hard to tell who is more incompetent. The overriding agenda seems to be: “Listen to me. I want to talk.” And this is the just the run-up to deciding whether to build a desalination plant, in order to relieve the growing state water shortage. Untold millions of words have been spoken and written, and a shovel has yet to break ground.
A reasonable person can isolate the key desalination issues in about an hour. How much sea life will be killed in the intake pipes that bring ocean water to the factory? How will the concentrated toxic brine, after processing, be disposed of? How much energy is required to make fresh water and what will it cost, per cubic foot? Who will buy the fresh water, and at what price? How will the water be shipped to customers?
A real leader could command the warring groups to answer these questions truthfully in a timely fashion, while keeping their mouths shut and foregoing braying press conferences.
Of course there are people with agendas who don’t want to solve the problem. For example, certain environmentalists long for the fresh water supply of the planet to run out, to prove we humans are horrible creatures who don’t deserve to share Mother Earth with zebras and goats and scorpions.
They would be willing to sacrifice a billion or two thirsty people to make their point. If we can’t survive on roots and tubers and live naked in trees, we should be dead-ended as a species.
Then there are governments who, on “principle,” deny the right of any evil corporation to convert sea water. Water should be free, which is to say, paid for by taxes. So it isn’t free at all, but it appears to be a government service donated for humane objectives. The government needs its PR face time and press conferences, too.
If desalination approaches the point of threatening to solve the planetary water problem, the United Nations will undoubtedly present a plan that insists on a share-and-care approach. For every cubic foot of water converted in California and shipped to in-state customers, a cubic foot must be delivered to sub-Saharan Africa, at an outrageous price, which will be subsidized by the bankrupt California government. Otherwise, shut down every desalination plant in the state. A round of press conferences will explain this thinking.
Public utilities have their own agenda. They would prefer water-conversion plants utilize electricity from already existing facilities. They want in on the action.
And of course, to the degree that the federal government cares about desalination as a solution, it will want to create its own agency to oversee a national program, whose m.o. will be: no bureaucratic idiot or piece of red tape or budget dollar left behind.
On the international front, the IMF will have its say (and its press conferences). Its strategy is: make loans to Third World countries, wait for the countries to default on their repayments, move in, initiate a bailout, on the condition that public utilities must be sold to multinational corporations, who in turn will jack up the price of electricity, gas, and water and drive populations deeper into poverty. These corporate giants will consider investing in desalination only if their profit margins are through the roof. Currently, desalination costs don’t yield such profits.
Finally, dyed-in-the-wool heavy-hitter Globalists, who back the most extreme environmental groups, don’t want desalination at all. It runs counter to their agenda of sowing chaos on a grand scale and then coming in behind that to build their new world. They don’t want the water to flow. They prefer dry ashes, out of which their fascist management system will rise, to run planet Earth.
One small and simple solution to all these roadblocks might be enacted in a state like Texas. An honest start-up company builds a small desalination plant, a pilot project, a showcase, to prove how well and quickly water conversion can go online and succeed. From inception, ten thousand heavily armed citizens surround the plant and defend it against all incursions.
The tag-line? Decentralize Power.
Now, those press conferences I would show up for.
We have the water. We have the technology. We have the solution. Don’t believe the prophets of doom. It turns out they want doom.
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.
A new police brutality video shows a St. Paul police officer kicking a defenseless man in the throat while he lay on the ground.
The clip, which was uploaded to You Tube yesterday, begins with the man prostrate on the floor. According to the man filming the footage, he has already been tased and maced in the face.
The victim asks the cop over and over again what he is being arrested for but the officer refuses to answer.
“Can you tell me what’s going on? You don’t have a warrant for my arrest,” the man pleads as he coughs as a result of being pepper sprayed.
At the 1:15 mark in the video, the cop kicks the man in the throat for no apparent reason.
If you’ve got kids or grand kids, or nephews or nieces, then you’ve likely had your share of humorous moments. For today’s entertainment, here are some funny things kids say – in pictures.
A Redlands man has filed a writ of habeas corpus concerning release from confinement ordered under a conservatorship that may not even exist.
When Charles Castle was grabbed off the street by San Bernardino mental health court workers Bob Habel and Wayne Henkelman, almost nobody realized he was missing. Charlie was homeless and while a virtual fixture on the street scene in Redlands, California, he lacked family and social support networks. Some folks, such as Ken Stein with the YMCA, where Charlie went to shower, thought that he was possibly deceased.
Taken
Not deceased, but certainly disappeared, Charlie was taken to Arrowhead Regional Center hospital and held in a mental health unit while powerful parties determined his fate. He reports that he was not present at his mandated court hearing and only found out several months later that he had been placed under a mental health conservatorship.
His conservatorship proceedings were steeped in fraud. Charlie was represented by the same law firm, the law offices of Bryan Hartnell, which also represented the conservator, Melodie Scott. Initially, the Public Guardian was appointed as conservator and Scott quickly petitioned to take over this function.
According to Charlie, his attorney “terrorized” him out of his right to a jury trial. He recalls being told by attorney Ryan Sheehan (who has since left the law firm) that his best recourse was to waive his right to a jury trial. Castle recalls Sheehan saying “It will get real bad for you if you lose the trial. They can put you wherever they want to and you will never get out. Better to go along.”
After being conserved, Charlie Castle was subsequently moved out of San Bernardino County and transferred from facility to facility. He has been on lockdown in Chino Valley Health Care Facility and most recently has been placed into a locked ward at Ramona Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation in El Monte. Neither of these skilled nursing facilities offers a mental health treatment program, which raises questions as to conservator neglect. Since Charlie was deemed by the court to need a mental health conservatorship, one would question why the conservator has persisted in placing him in facilities which do not offer mental health treatment. Charlie has described the facilities as “warehouses for human refuse.”
Charles Castle was first approached by conservator Melodie Scott a few months before he was grabbed in front of the library by mental health workers Wayne and Bob. According to Castle, she asked him if he would like her to be his conservator and “take care” of him. He responded with an emphatic, “No ma’am.”
According to a number of people who knew Charlie Castle, including a local schoolteacher and the pastor at the Blessing Center, he is considered to be eccentric but competent to handle his own affairs.
Police cover up
Reports about Charlie Castle’s plight have been lodged with Adult Protective Services in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. One of those reports was forwarded to the Pomona Police Department for investigation and this reporter was shocked to discover that the report had been altered and did not reflect in any manner the report tendered to APS.
The original report focused on two issues: 1) the fraud inherent in court proceedings where the same lawyer represents both sides and 2) concerns as to why the conservator has repeatedly placed Charlie Castle into facilities which do not have programs to address his alleged mental health problems.
According to Lt. McDonald, watch commander with the Pomona PD, the report that was being investigated by Pomona alleged that the conservator Melodie Scott had misappropriated Charlie’s Social Security check back in July of 2011. As conservator, Scott would by law be the recipient of Castle’s social security checks. The report had been altered so as to make the original complaint into a non-issue, which would then result in a quick closure of the case, while at the same time making the complainant look foolish and ignorant.
An appeal was made to the Pomona PD Chief’s office questioning the genesis of the altered report and an angry Captain Michael Olivieri declined to further discuss the Charlie Castle report. This reporter has learned that the Pomona Police subsequently determined they lacked jurisdiction and sent the altered report back to Redlands Police Department for investigation. The report was then closed by Detective Andy Capps of the Redlands PD, who stated no action would be taken.
Deaf, Dumb and Blind
Other agencies were quick to follow in vacating their mandated responsibility to address Charlie’s plight. A supervisor at the Long Term Care Ombudsman in Los Angeles County opined that the Ombudsman was prohibited from investigating without the consent of the conservator. When asked for the legal authority (statute) prohibiting her from launching an investigation, she provided an irrelevant Welfare and Institutions code. Follow up phone calls to her were ignored until the agency’s Vice President was contacted and a complaint was lodged.
A similar fate met a report lodged with Rashied Gibri, who is with the Los Angeles County Patients’ rights office. After the initial report went uninvestigated, Gibri was recontacted. He then hunkered down and refused to take the report. Asked again for the legal authority governing his refusal, Gibri became combative and hung up.
On more than one occasion, a Redlands man, Keith Phillips, addressed the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Charles Castle’s behalf. An initial strong response by Supervisor Josie Gonzales quickly reversed, as the County began to allege that it had no jurisdiction to act. SB County public information officer David Wert has repeatedly stated that the San Bernardino County Public Guardian also lacks jurisdiction to step up and petition to take the conservatorship back from Melodie Scott, as Charlie Castle is now being held in Los Angeles County.
Who is Melodie Scott?
Melodie Scott was the subject of a Los Angeles Times expose back in 2005 and the public outcry as to the revelations of conservator abuse prompted the California legislature to pass the Omnibus Conservatorship reform act of 2006. After Governor Schwarzenegger repeatedly stalled the funding for the nascent organization, the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau finally opened its doors for business in 2008. When Scott applied for her Professional Fiduciaries License with the newly formed Bureau, her license was initially denied on grounds that she lied on her application. A protracted legal battle ensued and Scott finally achieved licensure in 2010 on a legal technicality.
Scott was also the subject of a San Bernardino county Grand Jury investigation a few years back. Five separate county District Attorneys have received criminal complaints against Scott but her Teflon protection has endured each and every attempt to have her indicted. A recent federal lawsuit against Scott was dismissed when the lawyer promoting the suit, Jim Reiss, suddenly had his license to practice law suspended.
Lawyer Lies
In an effort to determine his legal standing, Castle also contacted the law firm of Bryan Hartnell, requesting a copy of his legal file. After leaving several voice messages, he did speak with a woman at the firm who told him it would be a “felony” for the firm to give him his file. At that point, several concerned individuals contacted Bryan Hartnell to request that Charlie’s file be given to him. All these calls were ignored. As mental health conservatorships are governed by privacy laws, the court is prohibited from releasing information about this case. Calls to San Bernardino Superior Court Presiding Judge Ronald Christianson were not returned.
Writ alleges legal abuse
On August 27, after determining that his conservatorship, which must be reviewed and renewed by the court every year, had apparently never come up for renewal, Castle filed a writ of habeas corpus. His writ seeks relief on two grounds—inadequate representation by counsel and the failure of the court to review and renew the conservatorship. A report was subsequently made to El Monte police department, alleging that Charlie’s current situation constitutes kidnaping. A belligerent police dispatcher Mr. Pool was more interested in finding out about the person making the report and angrily hung up the phone without listening to the substance of the complaint. An officer who subsequently went out to Ramona to do a welfare check was satisfied that Charlie was not in danger at the facility.
From his genteel prison in Ramona nursing home, Castle ponders the motive for his detention. He receives a social security check each month in the neighborhood of $900, hardly a financial carrot for such a concentrated effort to strip him of his rights and detain him.
During a period when mental health detentions are becoming more and more common for dissidents and activists, one might wonder if the homeless are the next to be sent off to the gulag.
The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation launched the Grand Challenges in Global Health (GCGH) in partnership with the National Institutes of Health in 2003 which, according to the GCGH website, is aimed at “creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world.” So far, 45 grants totaling $458 million were awarded for research projects involving scientists in over 30 countries. [1]
But where has all the money actually gone? Towards developing and implementing water purification and sanitation systems? Or basic nutritional support aimed at optimizing immune function? How about providing shelter and medical facilities for the homeless? Not even close.
For example, a $100K grant was recently disbursed to Seth C. Kalichman, professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, for “Establishing an Anti-Vaccine Surveillance and Alert System,” which intends to “establish an internet-based global monitoring and rapid alert system for finding, analyzing, and counteracting misinformation communication campaigns regarding vaccines to support global immunization efforts.” [emphasis added]
We can only wonder what organizations might be labeled as “misinformation communication campaigns” considering the fact that Bill Gates, in a Feb. 4th, 2011 interview on CNN with Sanjay Gupta said that “anti-vaccine groups ‘kill children.’” Here is the full quote:So it’s an absolute lie that has killed thousands of kids. Because the mothers who heard that lie, many of them didn’t have their kids take either pertussis or measles vaccine, and their children are dead today. And so the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts — you know, they, they kill children. It’s a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.
It is quite possible that any dissenting voice not in support of universal vaccination campaigns may be included in this type of “surveillance and alert system” as a potentially endangering the lives of others, i.e. “killing children.” What is so ironic about the situation is that the Gates Foundation-supported Polio Global Eradication Initiative may have resulted in over 47,500 cases of vaccine-induced paralysis in Indian children in 2011 alone, and which is twice as deadly as the wild-type polio it claimed to have put an end to officially on Jan. 11 2012. Who here then, is truly concerned about the health of children?
Moreover, it is exceedingly difficult to view Bill & Melinda Gates foundation’s GCGH as a strictly humanitarian foundation considering many of the projects it chooses to fund. Here are a few listed on their website which have already received funding.
Synthetic Lymph Nodes: Steven Meshnick and Carla Hand of the University of North Carolina in the U.S. will develop a bio-compatible, biodegradable polymer device that can be placed under the skin to introduce vaccines and antigens to the immune system. The device will attract immune cells and trigger their proliferation as well asact as an adjuvant at the site of injection. If successful, the device could help boost immune response to new and existing vaccines. [see our article on transhumanistic technologies].
Needle Free Vaccination Via Nanoparticle Aerosols: Vaccine delivery systems that target specific areas of the body have the potential to be especially effective against some types of infection. For example, inhaled vaccines may better guard against respiratory diseases, such as tuberculosis, and those that commonly infect the tissues of the nose and throat, such as diphtheria. Dr. Edwards is leading a multidisciplinary team using materials science technologies combined with infectious disease, device, and toxicology expertise to reformulate tuberculosis and diphtheria vaccines into aerosol sprays that can be inhaled. The team’s ultimate objective is to develop a cell-based BCG vaccine for tuberculosis and a protein antigen CRM 197 vaccine for diphtheria in the form of novel porous nanoparticle aggregate (PNAP) aerosols.
Plant-Produced Synthetic RNA Vaccines: Alison McCormick of Touro University, California in the U.S. will test the ability of a low-cost plant-based synthetic biology method to produce a combined viral protein epitope with an antigen RNA expression system for use in an RNA malaria vaccine. Using plants for this viral transfection system could make RNA vaccine production scalable and cost effective.
Profitable Vaccine Distribution In Emerging Markets: Lisa Ganley-Leal and Pauline Mwinzi of Epsilon Therapeutics, Inc. in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that selling vaccines through medicine shops in emerging markets can lead to profits for both vaccine developers and the small business owners. Demonstrating profitability may lead pharmaceutical companies to invest greater resources in vaccine development and distribution and develop local partnerships for profitability strategies.
Genetically Programmed Pathogen Sense and Destroy: Saurabh Gupta and Ron Weiss of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. proposed creating sentinel cells that can detect the presence of a pathogen, report its identity with a biological signal, and secrete molecules to destroy it. This project’s Phase I research demonstrated that commensal bacteria can be engineered to detect and specifically kill the model bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In Phase II, Gupta and Weiss will engineer the human microbiota to specifically detect and destroy the gut pathogen Shigella flexneri, which is responsible for high mortality rates in children.
Vaccine in a Salt Shaker: A New, Safe, Low-Cost Approach: Shiladitya DasSarma will lead a team at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the U.S. to develop an inexpensive, safe, and effective oral vaccine against invasive Salmonella disease using gas-filled bacterial vesicles. The project seeks to produce a salt-encased, shelf-stable vaccine requiring no refrigeration for distribution worldwide.
A Humanized Mouse Model to Evaluate Live Attenuated Vaccine Candidates: To develop new vaccines against some of the world’s biggest killers, including HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, scientists must be able to evaluate promising candidates. Some of the most promising potential vaccines, are made from weakened live versions of the infectious agent. As a result, they cannot be studied in human trials unless researchers can be confident that the weakened vaccines will be safe. Dr. Flavell and his colleagues are working to genetically engineer laboratory mice whose immune systems are similar enough to humans to permit testing of vaccines against diseases that disproportionately affect people in the developing world.
Alternative Delivery of Human Milk Proteins to Infants: Qiang Chen of Arizona State University in the U.S. proposes to engineer edible plants, such as lettuce and rice, to express beneficial proteins found in human milk. The protein bodies in these plants allow for the stable, high accumulation of these human milk proteins, and the plants can either be eaten directly by infants or formulated into baby food to provide essential nutrients and antibacterial benefits.
Non-Hormonal Female Contraceptive Targeting Egg-Specific Metalloprotease:John Herr of the University of Virginia in the U.S. will research the egg-specific membrane enzyme metalloprotease as a target for a non-hormonal female contraceptive. After determining the nature of the enzyme’s catalytic pocket, a family of peptidomimetic compounds will be tested for their ability to bind to the enzyme and block its key role in egg fertilization.
Bacillus-Fermented Natto as Edible Vaccines for the Developing World: Michael Chan of the Ohio State Research Foundation in the U.S. will develop an engineered strain of bacteria used to ferment beans in traditional Asian and African diets, to display an antigen from the Tuberculosis bacterium. The engineered bacillus will then be used to make the traditional Asian dish natto, which can serve as a kind of oral vaccine to elicit a strong immune response. If successful, this strategy can be used to introduce a variety of disease antigens through culturally accepted foods.
Nanotechnology-Based Contraception: David Clapham of Children’s Hospital Boston in the U.S. will develop and test a nanoparticle contraceptive that releases sperm tail inhibitors in response to vaginal pH changes or exposure to prostatic fluid. If successful, the nanoparticles could be incorporated into a vaginal gel to block sperm motility required for fertilization.
Circumcision tool For Traditional Ceremonies In Africa: Kathleen Sienko of the University of Michigan in the U.S. has developed a prototype circumcision tool for use in traditional ceremonies in Africa, and seeks to demonstrate the functionality, cultural suitability, and potential for low-cost mass production of the device. Such a tool could increase the circumcision rates leading to lower rates of HIV transmission in the region.
Discovery of Chemosensory Molecules as Novel Contraceptives: John Ngai and Scott Laughlin of the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. seek to identify chemical compounds in the female reproductive system that guide sperm cells to the egg. By characterizing these “odorants,” synthetic versions can be produced and administered to disrupt this navigation system thus inhibiting fertilization.
Transgenic Cow Milk Containing Human Antimicrobial Protein: Hironori Matsushima of the University of Toledo in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that adding an antimicrobial peptide to powdered milk products can confer protection against enteric diseases. Research will focus on testing the peptide for its ability to kill pathogens in stomach conditions, and on its ability to maintain integrity through the milk pasteurization and drying processes.
Ultrasound as a Long-Term, Reversible Male Contraceptive: James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will study the ability of therapeutic ultrasound to deplete testicular sperm counts. Characterizing the most beneficial timing and dosage could lead to the development of a low-cost, non-hormonal and reversible method of contraception for men.
You will notice from the examples listed above that all of these funded projects involve the development of proprietary (read: potentially profitable) and as-of-yet unproven technologies, and which will require the transformation and/or alteration of a natural process or substance. Also, many of the grant disbursements have gone towards contraception. This appears to diverge from the GCGH’s mission statement of “improving health in the developing world,” insofar as it is focused on reducing population in the developed world, rather than supporting the health of those alreadyliving, in need of help.
Attorney Walter Kyle of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, began representing Plaintiffs with vaccine injuries ten years before the Vaccine Injury Act began, and has argued more than forty cases before the Special Masters of the United States Court of Federal Claims [under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Act] – 42 U.S.C.A. §300aa, et.seq. As a result, Attorney Kyle has unique insight into the nuances of vaccine injury law.
To start our interview, may I ask how you became involved in vaccine law?
I began representation of vaccine-injured clients in Arkansas in 1977. My first case out of law school was representing a paraplegic mother who acquired paralytic polio from mutated Sabin live trivalent oral polio vaccine [TOPV] viruses shed from her three-month-old infant’s diapers. Centers for Disease control classified the woman in the “immune deficient” category of “vaccine associated contact cases” from Type 2 Sabin vaccine.
Walter, you just mentioned the phrase “vaccine viruses shed.” For those who are not familiar with such terminology I’d like to say it means certain types of vaccines contain certain viruses that are alive and once injected into [orally administered to] an individual can infect others via contact with bodily fluids, excrement, and sometimes coughing or sneezing. In your first vaccine case, the mother contracted paralytic polio from viruses “shed” in her infant’s diapers soiled with urine and feces.
Walter, how did you present that case at court?
In the first case against the manufacturer, American Cyanamid, which defended based on the fact that the woman was categorized as “immune deficient” and implied the reaction was her fault, I countered with the position that the Type 2 vaccine caused her immune deficiency since she had never been sick in her life before contact with that vaccine. After settling that lawsuit against the manufacturer for failure to warn, I instituted a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit against HEW for regulatory violations in the license and release of OPV, in general, and the individual Lot of polio vaccine, in particular. In addition, I challenged the FDA’s intention to use Sabin’s live oral polio vaccine (OPV) for immunization of unwitting contacts of vaccine recipients as an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy (see Loge v. United States, 662 F.2d 1268 8th Cir. 1981), which evolved into civil actions of “battery” against the sole manufacturer of the Sabin vaccine –American Cyanamid.
Can you tell us what happened in that case?
From my perspective I gained a profound disrespect for the FDA and pro-vaccine defense experts who pretended the case could have been from wild polio in spite of the fact that most, if not all of the polio in the United States at that time, arose from parents coming into contact with the polio viruses shed in their child’s stool or saliva.
Their justification then, similar to their justification now, arose from an unwritten CDC/FDA policy to “sacrifice some for the good of the whole” – a comment related to me by a senior CDC physician, Dr. Michael Gregg, in a private conversation.
This explains why zero funding is available to do clinical studies of vaccine reactions in the United States.
Both of the lawsuits settled before trial. The trial judge dismissed the FTCA lawsuit and was overturned on appeal in the decision cited above.
Before you go further, can you please explain what a Vaccine Injury Table is?
According to HHS Health Resources and Services Administration, “The Vaccine Injury Table (Table) makes it easier for some people to get compensation.” [1]
It makes it easier for some and impossible for others. Certain reactions within a set time period are automatically compensated. For example, the parent of a child who became paralyzed by polio within 60 days of the child’s receiving the live polio vaccine would automatically be compensated. This was the most common reaction to both live and inactivated polio vaccines.
However, a child acquiring an encephalitis where the Colburn strain of CMV (cytomegalovirus) was isolated from his brain at the age of six, would not be compensated unless his lawyer were clever enough to discover that the Colburn strain of CMV is actually simian in origin and came from the African green monkeys used to produce the live polio vaccine.
Recently Baboon endogenous retrovirus (BERV) was discovered in MMR vaccine, but no one has access to the tests to detect it in children with possible vaccine reactions. Since it is a live vaccine, one would expect the onset to occur within 3 days to three years, nor would anyone know how to correlate it to the particular Lot of vaccine given as FDA keeps such information secret.a “commercial privilege” protection under FOIA.
Walter, what I find interesting about the Vaccine Injury Table is something most proponents of vaccines/vaccinations probably are not aware and it is “The Table lists and explains injuries/conditions that are presumed to be caused by vaccines.” [1] So, in effect, HHS/CDC/FDA agree vaccines can cause damage. I suggest every parent becomes familiar with the Vaccine Injury Table in the link at reference [1].
The Table is per se inadequate and a mother or father should follow their gut instinct when faced with a vaccine reaction most of which are probably not on the Vaccine Injury Table. Currently there are laboratory-testing methods developed, but withheld from diagnostic use by FDA that can quickly and cheaply link reactions to vaccines. I do not feel anyone should subject their child to an immunization unless faced with an actual, not a CDC forecast, epidemic of a life-threatening pathogen. That is, until those testing procedures are made available to the general public for diagnostic evaluations of both the injured and of the vaccines which are administered.
I am not anti-vaccine but strongly oppose FDA/CDC/NIH B.S. (rhetoric and hyperbole) when it comes to evaluation of vaccine reactions. For example: Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) gave unchallenged testimony before the Senate Committee establishing the Vaccine Injury Table that there had been no paralytic reactions to the Salk vaccine in 450,000,000 doses resulting in a Table that provided no compensation for IPV-caused polio. The FDA stood by and said absolutely nothing, but had good reason to know Salk’s testimony was not true. Really!
Salk had provided expert assistance and consultation to me for 12 years while the ongoing feud between Sabin and Salk brewed over which vaccine should be used in the United States.
When the Chief Special Master appointed me to head an Attorneys Committee to investigate the possibility that Salk’s vaccine had caused hundreds of cases of polio that had never been linked to the vaccine by FDA, I truly believed that Salk’s vaccine had never caused polio except in one isolated manufacturing problem in 1955.
After the Committee investigated and discovered that not only had Salk’s IPV caused polio, it had probably started epidemics, and the famous “Frances Field Trials,” which the FDA’s predecessor touted as proving IPV’s absolute safety, were “rigged” and probably caused as much polio as they prevented.
Walter, that’s something that isn’t well known and apparently pushed under the carpet, as they say.
Under the carpet would have been nice, HHS pushed the attorneys on my committee out the door. The Justice Department attorney began attacking members of the Committee on trivial issues, objected to our being paid promptly in all matters including other cases and ultimately all of us stopped practicing in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Walter, thank you for pointing out that important fact, something vaccine safety advocates are concerned about to this very day—unknowns in vaccines. It’s happened several times and constantly gets pushed under the ‘scientific carpet’, it seems. Please continue.
By 1988, I concluded, based on evidence discovered from the OPV manufacturer’s files and FOIA litigation against the FDA, that FDA allowed release of live Sabin oral polio vaccines that also contained live simian retroviruses and/or viable genetic sequences of such retroviruses within the polio vaccine itself – a fact admitted by the Director of the Bureau of Biologics on April 15, 1980 in the Federal Register.
In 1992 a world renowned medical journal, The Lancet, published my paper, “Simian retroviruses, polio vaccine and origin of AIDS” 339:600-601 (Mar. 7 1992), which linked the 1981 AIDS outbreak in the United States to the nationwide use of OPV for treatment of genital herpes in homosexual men by dermatologists. Following multiple oral doses of OPV, the viruses passed in their stools along with the then unknown simian retroviruses and herpes viruses (i.e., SIV and KSHV – Kaposi’s Sarcoma Herpes Virus – and CMV – Cytomegalovirus). Curiously, this panorama of simian herpes viruses also infected the first AIDS victims.
That article identified specific lots of contaminated OPV and suggested independent testing, which FDA refused to retest, but “pretended” that it had through false press releases in 1996. The FDA faced huge liability here so they spent millions sending someone to find AIDS-like virus in chimpanzees which is more genetically similar to HIV than any of the other simian viruses, problem was, the chimps would eat the same African green monkeys, the source of all SIVs, which were used in the oral polio vaccine.
Curiously, Sabin’s Type II oral polio vaccine, most frequently (of the three Types in a single dose of Sabin OPV) associated with the immune deficient category of paralytic polio was administered to and ultimately isolated from the stool of a chimpanzee.
I believe an honest evaluation of the science would place AIDS under the vaccine injury table, and what a massive expense that would be.
So Congressional oversight of the issue may be hard to acquire, but should be sought, all parents should ask for is “the whole truth,” the portions of truth FDA releases often times mislead.
Although I have not actively practiced law for several years, I have followed the scientific developments in the vaccine injury debate. Furthermore, I feel it is possible to eliminate the Vaccine Injury Table and simultaneously streamline the onerous litigation process HHS has devolved for vaccine injury cases, but only if the FDA provides:
Vaccine injury claimants have access to the deep sequencing technology and microbial detection arrays capable of identifying every known and sequenced virus, pathogen, fungus and parasite that might be associated with the onset of illnesses following vaccinations, and
similar sequencing data on every lot of vaccine distributed in the United States for comparison of illnesses following immunization with pathogens present in the vaccines and the medium (substrate) used to generate the vaccine, or;
for recombinant DNA vaccines (rDNA), studies on the viability, propensities, and evolutionary tendencies of the genetic vaccine agent when introduced into an appropriate species or cell line free of any other portions of the original putative agent toward which the vaccine is targeted.
Walter! That would be an answer to a lot of prayers, I’d venture to say. What has happened recently?
The latest vaccine saga began on May 7, 2010 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, when the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) met to review the finding that 200,000 copies of a pig virus were found in each dose of the rotavirus vaccine. An independent laboratory with access to Lawrence Livermore’s Microbial Detection Array, (LLMDA), screened some off-the-shelf vaccines for all known and sequenced viruses and the findings were published in Virology on March 10, 2010. Test results on the polio vaccines were apparently withheld, possibly for unwanted results consistent with comments that I made at the meeting. (Transcript p221).
That modus operandi is getting to sound a little familiar, I’d say. Go on, please.
In that meeting Dr. Holly Franz, developer of the array patented by Lawrence Livermore Labs stated Transcript p330) that over 2 million known pathogens could be detected with this 2×3 inch glass slide that cost about $400.00 and that it could detect mitochondrial DNA changes before any vaccine reaction occurred. The chips were developed, promoted and patented with claims of usefulness in diagnosis of the cause of illnesses.
Walter, that’s exactly what vaccine safety advocates—especially I—have been suggesting, asking for, and promoting with regard to mitochondrial DNA. Sorry to interrupt, but that is amazing.
The FDA “fix,” unfortunately, was in place at the time of the meeting and the Committee discussion at the end of the day foreshadowed what FDA planned for this revolutionary diagnostic tool. VRBPAC members voiced concern that someone might use the LLMDA on other vaccines or products and newly detected agents would appear that VRBPAC could not explain. The unspoken fear, in my opinion, was that vaccine reactions could now be scientifically correlated to agents in the vaccines, and no longer defended with argument and innuendo which formed FDA’s historical basis for publicly assuring vaccine safety.
Walter, if such technology is available—and its invention may have been funded by taxpayers’ dollars—what kind of conspiracy or collusion is going on that prevents the public and their physicians and pediatricians from having access, especially now that the CDC’s VAERS reporting system shows serious numbers of adverse events. Oh my goodness—Congress ought to get involved and mandate FDA release LLMDA to professional and health consumers’ access. Please continue.
The meeting itself appeared to be a “red-herring” approach to quell public outcry over a non-required vaccine, which contained a contaminant that had been in the vaccine for 15 years and could have been detected by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). FDA members on VRBPAC assured the public that no reactions had been associated with the pig viruses in the vaccine during those fifteen years.
That, Catherine, was the FDA at its Orwellian best – its orchestration glibly implied that testing for pig viruses was routinely performed in diagnosis of a potential reactants unusual symptoms. The FDA failed to disclose how many, if any, physicians had ordered PCRs for these pig viruses in the past fifteen years. Why would they? Chances are high that no testing was ever done, which is probably why the FDA “spun” this lack of data into “proof of safety” – and allowed the continued distribution of the vaccine.
Walter, that makes me want to cry for all those who received that vaccine over fifteen years. That’s perfect proof to quell those who say vaccine safety advocates are conspiracy theorists and don’t know what they talk about or science. What you just said should be considered “high crimes and misdemeanors,” I think. Please continue.
This scenario is consistent with the FDA’s findings in 1970 that 100% of the Sabin Oral Polio vaccine was contaminated with simian herpes viruses and FDA permitted it without ever notifying physicians of potential adverse effects or even its presence in the vaccine. The same can be seen in 1975 when FDA lab workers found simian retroviruses contaminating OPV, and it was allowed to continue by the Bureau of Biologics (BoB). A year after asserting the vaccine, the regulations did not bar the release of OPV contaminated with simian retroviruses, the Director of BoB became the Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs at American Cyanamid – the only company producing OPV in the United States at that time.
Walter, what does that tell you? Someone’s fanny ought to be sitting in a jail cell, I say. What do you suggest?
That the Chairman of the American of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Sam Katz, should be in jail with them. I say this based on the internal memorandums at Lederle, which indicate they obtained his support to block regulations that would have required Lederle to remove the simian herpes viruses from their vaccine after it was discovered in 1971 that 100% of the OPV carried African green monkey cytomegalovirus within the vaccine. I say this without regard to his giving me one of the highest accolades a vaccine injury attorney could receive when he shouted at me (after Congressman Burton’s hearing on the Hep B vaccine) – “You are a despicable attorney.”
Katz co-authored the FDA treatise on polio vaccines in 1980 that asserted the regulations did not prohibit release of oral polio vaccines containing simian retroviruses, which included Simian immunodeficiency viruses from rhesus monkeys, African green monkeys and chimpanzees that could be passed by the vaccine.
People should question why VRBPAC did not address the baboon (BERV) and human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-k) found in MMR vaccine, reported in Virology in the same article that identified the pig viruses. Could it have been the potential damage to the FDA’s Omnibus Litigation on autism pending before the Supreme Court?
Ahhhhhh! Something smells a little fishy, I’d say.
I feel, that at the very minimum, FDA should have revealed the scientific developments, available to the FDA, which should have been used to screen all 5,000 litigants, instead of basing their defense on the testimony of an expert for Claimants whom they vilified. That was argument and innuendo, not science…and certainly not within the spirit of the legislation intended to assist vaccine-injured claimants in a simple and hassle-free recovery.
Walter, does Congress know about that? If not, why not? I sure hope there can be a congressional investigation into vaccines, and I’d love for you ask that dynamite question. Go on, please.
I doubt that anyone in Congress fully appreciates the plethora of “political” scientists who occupy the upper level positions at FDA and NIH and who have the capability of not funding projects that would scientifically analyze vaccine reactions. We have seen that failure to follow up from the outset when SV-40 viruses contaminated the initial Salk vaccines, to the 1971 discovery of simian herpes viruses contaminating OPV – which all seemed, curiously enough, to all appear in the initial epidemic of AIDS – to the current comments on RUO’s and IUO’s where the College of American Pathologists and American Society of Microbiology subtly “bought in” to the FDA’s concern about using the LLMDA testing to screen vaccine victims for reactions.
After the VRBPAC meeting, Lawrence Livermore Labs stopped looking for “commercial partners” to develop new uses for the technology – for example using it to test vaccine injured claimants for diagnostic purposes, and FDA threatened to revoke the license of any lab that used the technology for diagnostic purposes and proposed regulations which limited the use to research and investigational use only. For more information, Google RUO and IUO and the attempt to regulate the chip under the “medical devices” regulations.
Walter, what you say above is nothing short of collusion and/or conspiracy on the part of FDA to keep health science from healthcare consumers whom FDA is supposed to be protecting.
How down right damning of FDA!
I feel the actions of the Secretary of HHS, in denying Claimants access to the latest scientific methodology to present their claims violates Claimants’ rights to both substantive and procedural due process as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Vaccine Compensation Act. This is not saying that the Vaccine Compensation Act, itself, is unconstitutional, but that Claimants’ rights to recover compensation under the Act are compromised by the bar set up by the FDA, which should be considered a violation of the Secretary’s statutory and Constitutional powers. Unlike a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) that can be barred by the “discretionary function” exemption, the Secretary’s power to administer the Act arises from the statute, which was intended by Congress to streamline recovery for people injured by vaccines.
The Secretary, in withholding access to the latest science from Claimants, their attorneys and experts, violates the Claimants’ rights to substantive and procedural due process, especially where the Off-table injured, are denied the ability to adequately present and argue their case. Intentionally withholding scientific developments from vaccine Claimants whose right of recovery is dictated by Judges appointed by the Secretary, in a Court controlled by the Secretary might best be moved to Australia where kangaroos are an indigenous species.
Walter, thank you so much for saying that. That’s the legal crux of the entire vaccine issue, I think. So?
Under the Act, as presently interpreted by the Supreme Court, claimants are barred from challenging the relative safety of one vaccine, compared to the safety of another vaccine, in suits against vaccine manufacturers. The definition of “safety” of a vaccine depends on the HHS Secretary’s discretionary decision to not clinically investigate reactions to any given vaccine. The Secretary routinely chooses to not investigate the safety of vaccines where adverse reactions are reported and this discretionary decision may not be challenged under the FTCA.
But I do not believe Congress intended to grant the Secretary, nor does the Secretary have the discretionary authority to block a Claimant’s access to the latest scientific technology in order to prove a claim, where the science may be the only possible means for direct proof and Claimant’s Constitutional right to a “redress of grievances” and access to state courts has been limited by the Vaccine Act.
How outrageous! And innocent infants, toddlers, teenagers, and adults suffer!
Don’t forget the taxpayers. Access to the science should streamline and make the claims process less confrontational and more succinct…eliminating fees for experts and lawyers and saving money…although it could open the door to more claims, it could also close the door on others…but at least it can now provide answers to parents with doubts. If vaccines are so safe as the proponents claim, there should be no objecting to implementing and analyzing information gleaned from these advances in meta-genomics and high through-put sequencing. Most suspect their concerns are that the vaccines are not as safe as “advertised.”
However, where the vaccine is improperly made in violation of specific regulations, the discretionary function exception does not apply under the FTCA.
Under the Vaccine Compensation Act, Congress clearly intended that people injured by vaccines should recover damages by merely proving that a vaccine caused the injury without needing to show the warnings given were inadequate or that the vaccine was improperly made. All that needs to be proven is that the vaccine caused the injury.
Congress also intended that recovery be quick and non-confrontational.
Now wait a minute, Walter. Talk to any parent who’s tried to get a vaccine claim filed. Continue.
Neither of which has been followed since the early days of the Vaccine Compensation Program and the “deck,” unfortunately, has been stacked against Claimant’s recovery.
You said it!
In Loge v. United States my proposed action against the HHS Secretary under the jurisdiction of a “Constitutional Tort Claim” for an invasion of the mother’s right to privacy for being exposed to and immunized with a untested and unsafe “shed” polio virus vaccine pursuant to a government program to immunize people without their knowledge, or consent, and against their free will was rejected by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
I was later informed, however, that the FDA was very concerned about this approach, which followed the logic found in Bivens v. Six Unknown and Unidentified Federal Narcotics Agents. Loge was allowed to proceed under the claim that the original vaccine, itself, failed to pass mandatory safety regulations and ultimately settled.
May I ask a ballpark figure, or can’t that award be disclosed?
The amount is immaterial. There is not enough money to compensate a mother for the loss of her legs when her first and, as a consequence, only infant is three months old.
I suggest that any childhood immunization is a per se invasion of the recipients privacy since the child cannot provide meaningful consent. Hence the Secretary’s action to block access to technology [LLMDA] that could both predict reactions before they occur or prove causation when they occur is a violation of the child’s right to privacy and the basis for a Constitutional Tort Claim against the Secretary of HHS.
The Secretary’s actions in blocking use or this technology for diagnostic purposes violates the rights of Claimants under the Vaccine Injury Act to their rights of procedural and substantive due process and effectively eliminates their Constitutional right to “redress of grievances” and access to the state courts.
Pardon me for interrupting you, Walter, but I need to applaud that statement.
We now know that many vaccines carry previously unidentified agents (i.e. simian herpes viruses and immunodeficiency viruses (OPV/IPV), Baboon endogenous retrovirus (BERV) and human endogenous retrovirus k (HERV-k) in MMR vaccines and those are the tip of the iceberg.
Walter, MMR has been suspect for a long time in parents’ minds. Parents have stated that when a child receives the MMR vaccine, that’s when the problems begin.
As a class, infants and children forced to receive immunizations under the FDA threat of withholding education to States that do not exercise their “police powers” to require immunizations for school entry, are the most vulnerable, innocent, and unprotected group in our society. As a group they are also our nation’s greatest assets.
Where’s the problem, as you assess it?
At VRBPAC the government abdicated all control and oversight of vaccine substrates to the pharmaceutical manufacturers in an apparent attempt to side step liability for any future contaminants that might travel within vaccines.
Unless Congress requires that all vaccines distributed in the United States be screened using the latest scientific technology available and making that information public record, more chicanery from manufacturer’s such as Merck, which recently was exposed as falsifying efficacy data in a whistleblower’s lawsuit [[Civil Action No.10-4374, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed August 27, 2010] is certain to occur …and efficacy is one baby-step away from safety.
So, what does that portend for the future of vaccinations?
With such information public record, or at a minimum available to any claimant alleging injury following immunization, and any claimant having access to the latest scientific methodology to assess their claims, is the only way to assure a safe vaccine program and the only way to justify mass immunizations of our children.
Having these tools available should streamline the vaccine claims process and ultimately, obviate protracted litigation. If vaccines are so safe, as proclaimed by the FDA, it would eliminate recovery by Claimants who do not suffer from vaccine derived injuries.
Where the FDA has abdicated substantial authority to vaccine manufacturers on substrates, and claimants lack access to such knowledge and information as a result of FDA’s actions, it is only fair that this technology be made available to all Claimants and all physicians investigating the etiology of any disease or malady suffered by children who have been immunized or in close contact with other immunized children.
Finally, I suggest that authority over the nation’s vaccine program be removed from the Secretary of HHS and be given to a new Cabinet level appointment who is independent of pharmaceutical company influence or control.
Walter, this has been a most amazing interview, for which I thank you. I’m certain our readers’ minds will be blown. However, more than anything, I truly hope and pray some members of Congress read this and take the necessary actions to correct and neutralize the apparent conspiracy involving vaccines in federal government agencies. Again, thank you!
Please send a copy of this article to your U.S. Senators and Congressmen and women in Washington, DC. Furthermore, I request that you ask every person running for elected office the following question:
Would you support the movement to force the FDA to make the latest scientific tests available to the public for evaluation of vaccines sold in the USA, and allow parents who suspect their child had a vaccine reaction to have open access to the diagnostic technology LLMDA for diagnostic purposes?”
Let’s make FDA accountable to those whom it is supposed to protect, not Big Pharma.
Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies.
Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.
Armed and dangerous? You bet! But only to criminals. On many occasions I have posted and written about the importance of American Citizens being armed. I have shown statistics, and proven through them the importance of a well armed citizenry. In my research I have looked at every point of view Anti-gun vs Pro-gun, and it always turns out the same. Guns help to save the lives of law abiding citizens.
According to FOX 30 WAWS and channel 47 WTEV two men came into the Dollar General with guns, faces covered, and gloves on their hands. It was very clear they meant business, and were intent on robbing the store. A customer that was inside Dollar General at the time of the attempted robbery was notified by the manager of the current situation.
The customer was a ccw permit holder and had his/her gun on him/her. The customer then used his/her gun and fired on the robbers. By the time authorities arrived on scene one robber was dead, and the other had taken off and was long gone. Authorities are still looking for the second robber. Authorities while trying to get there in time, were unable to stop what could have been another massacre. They arrived after the crime had been committed. Once again proving that the police cannot always protect you.
Law abiding gun owners from all over the country are proving the need for citizens to have weapons. They are also proving to be a big help in the fight against crime. They are saving lives of innocent citizens that choose to not carry a weapon, as well as helping our police officers. The public is becoming more aware and realizing guns are not the issue, criminals are.
Note from the Author: I contacted my local paper to find out why they never post anything good about guns. When I called, the writer told me “I would have to speak with the Editor of the paper, he is the one that makes the decisions as to what is printed or not.” I then asked to speak with the editor, surprisingly there was no answer. I was sent to voice mail and left the following message on his voice mail: ” Hello, my name is Lorri Anderson. I am calling in reference to all the media you place in your paper against guns. I am wanting to speak with you to find out why it is you never post any stories of people who are law abiding citizens that have saved innocent civilians, as well as helped to save police officers lives. Please contact me as soon as possible, as I am a subscriber and would like to know that your media coverage is not biased, Thank You.”
To no surprise, I have not received a call back yet, nor do I hold my breath. However, I am going to continue to call. I am going to let them know that we law abiding citizens want all the stories, not just the ones that manipulate the public into thinking that guns are bad. I want them to realize the public is more aware than they think. That the biased news media will not continue to be able to blind the people to the truth. People are waking up, slowly, but they are waking up and realizing the importance of their Second Amendment right.
Mother of four wonderful children and grandmother of three. Poet/writer/singer/dancer/model/business owner/non-profit business owner etc… Started D.P.A.A.W.L. INC, a non-profit animal rescue in the state of Kentucky that worked closely with animal control, law enforcement, as well as the Lewis County S.P.C.A. in which I was elected to Chairman of the Board . Volunteered and worked with: Partnership Against Domestic Violence, Senior Citizens Social Services of Pike County, Community Action Committee of Pike County, Central Ohio Diabetes Association, Food Pantries, Children’s Services in both Ohio and Kentucky, Lewis County S.P.C.A., Lewis County Humane Society, as well as many other organizations. I believe strongly in our Second Amendment right to “BEAR ARMS”. I am a licensed CCW carrier and proud of it.
Do I really think that any mainstream politician would ever actually move us toward the gold standard? Not a chance. It doesn’t matter. As I mentioned the other day, the mere fact that Romney was forced to consider creating a commission to examine the return to gold tells us all we need to know. The populace is becoming increasingly informed of the total scam that the current monetary system is and they are looking for answers. My personal belief is that a gold standard isn’t ideal either. I think we need to move away from centralized control of money completely. There is absolutely no reason why a small group of men should have the monopoly power to create money and distribute it with the defense of an army. That is feudalism. Monetary “evolution” in my mind is directly related to a movement toward human beings and businesses using whatever currency they want. It can be gold, it can be silver, it can be bitcoins, or it can be something else. That is not for me to decide. It is for the market to choose. That is freedom.
My guess is that when the current system dies, gold and silver will soar to unimaginable heights in government issued fiat currencies terms, and out of the ashes countless competing currencies will arise. This will be a good thing. Out of chaos let’s get our freedom back and never allow the criminal elite to use the chaos for dictatorship. The choice is ours so we need to start working on these concepts now and moving more toward alternative currencies sooner rather than later.
That is why I think the CNBC poll is so important. People know something is wrong. This presents a great opportunity.
Douglas J. Hagmann, the founder of the Northeast Intelligence Network appeared on the Alex Jones Show yesterday recounting what a source of his, who works inside the Department of Homeland Security, has told him regarding the potential for a false-flag event this Fall. According to Hagmann, he’s been having continuous communication with this source on plans from government affiliated groups to carry out a false-flag type event in order to keep Barack Obama in office.
When asked by Jones if his source could be getting fed disinformation to test the public on the issue, Hagmann said that it would certainly be a possibility, because governments employ this technique all the time. However, he added that he has known his source for at least 25 years, and he trusts when he says that a green light has been given to carry out a false-flag like event.
The occurrence of a major event “is going hot”, Hagmann said. Mr. Hagmann is a private investigator who advises law enforcement and has many sources inside the Department of Homeland Security. The revelation made by Hagmann comes at a time when various government agencies have admitted to purchasing over a billion hollow point bullets, a number astronomically higher than ever before in a period of time that is much shorter than in the past. At the same time, reports about the US government mobilizing large amounts of heavy equipment all over the country, as in preparation for a major event and the revelation that Russian and Chinese commandos have been infiltrating the United States from Canada, have set off all the alarm bells in the alternative news media.
When asked about the nature of the false-flag attack, Hagmann said that it would have economic, racial and social impact. Hagmann’s source is known as “Rosebud,” and he or she has access to high levels within the DHS administration. “The plans they have in place have been approved at the highest levels of the White House,” said Hagmann. “These are orders, plans orchestrated staged events coming from the White House and coordinated with Janet Napolitano.”
According to Hagmann, the event seeks to garner support for incumbent president Barack Obama, who seems to be lagging in the polls. Last week, a Texas judge from Lubbock County said that if Obama managed to be reelected, civil war would break out in the US. He warned the Obama intended to hand the sovereignty of the country over to the United Nations. “what is going to happen when that happens?” judge Head asked. “I’m thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. Now what’s going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that?”
Back in 2010, former Clinton aide, Mark Penn, appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews show and bluntly suggested that only an Oklahoma City like event would ensure the reelection of Obama in 2012. “Remember, President Clinton reconnected through Oklahoma, right?” said Penn. “And the president right now seems removed. It wasn’t until that speech [after the bombing] that [Clinton] really clicked with the American public. Obama needs a similar defining moment.”
Another former adviser to President Bill Clinton, Robert Shapiro issued a similar statementabout Obama’s chances of surviving his first term in office. He wrote on the Financial Times that only an OKC bombing or 9/11 style event could give Barack Obama a chance to demonstrate that was a strong leader. “The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” said Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”
“They’ve got a couple of different plans according to my source, and they change them according to events… they’ve got contingency plans upon contingency plans,” warned Hagmann. His source also added that whatever form the false-flag had, it would polarize even more the American society, which is what the Obama administration has intended to do from day one: promote class warfare.
Mr. Hagmann continued to detail how high-ranking members of the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies are “fed up” and “freaked out” about what is going inside the administration. “I believe we are at a point where there has been a commitment given.” The execution of the plans, as Hagmann explained will depend on conditions that exist before and during the time the false-flag event takes place.
Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute.
Barack Obama has destroyed the future of America in order to improve his chances of winning the next election. Under Obama, 5.3 trillion dollars has been ruthlessly stolen from our children and our grandchildren. That money has been used to pump up the debt-fueled false prosperity that we have been experiencing. When the U.S. government borrows money that it does not have from someone else (such as China) and spends that money into the economy it is going to make our economic numbers look better. Even if the government spends that money on incredibly stupid things, it still gets into the hands of average Americans who in turn spend that money on food, gas, clothes, etc. If we were to go back and take that extra 5.3 trillion dollars out of the U.S. economy, I guarantee you that we would be in a rip-roaring depression right now. We would look a lot like Greece at this point. For several years Greece has been raising taxes and cutting government spending in an attempt to balance the budget and these austerity measures have resulted in an unemployment rate of over 23 percent and an economy that has contracted by close to 25 percent. Most Americans don’t want to go through pain like that so they are okay with continuing to financially rape our children and our grandchildren. Just imagine how you would feel if your parents died tomorrow and you found out that they had left you with a million dollar debt that you were legally obligated to pay off. How would you feel, knowing that you had just been sold into debt slavery for the rest of your life? Well, that is how our children and our grandchildren are going to feel. We are destroying the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen, we are accumulating the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and the coming economic collapse that we have caused is going to wipe out the promising future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have. If they get the chance, future generations of Americans will curse us bitterly and will spit on our graves. What we are doing to our children and our grandchildren is the kind of stuff that horror movies are made of. You should be ashamed of yourself America.
The federal budget deficit for 2012 will be larger than the entire U.S. national debt was 30 years ago. In 1982 Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the U.S. national debt was considered to be a tremendous national crisis. But somehow we have allowed our national debt to grow from about a trillion dollars back then to approximately $16,000,000,000,000 today.
By the end of Obama’s first term, the U.S. national debt will have grown more than it did from the time that George Washington became president to the time that George W. Bush became president.
That is hard to believe.
Obama is going to outdo all the presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton in just one term.
Amazing.
At this point, the U.S. national debt is more than 22 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
This has allowed us to enjoy a standard of living far beyond what we deserved to. We have stolen from the future to make the present more pleasant.
But hardly anybody wants the party to end. Especially not our Congress critters – they are living like kings and queens at our expense. Our “representatives” in Washington D.C. love to give speeches about being “financially responsible”, but most of them never take any serious action about the debt because the way things are working now has been incredibly good to them.
And the truth is that both political parties have been responsible. In 2010, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives with a clear mandate to get government spending under control. Not a single penny of government money can be spent without their permission. But since they took control, the U.S. national debt has increased by another 1.8 trillion dollars.
At this point, this current Congress (controlled by both Republicans and Democrats) has added more to the national debt than the first 97 Congresses combined.
We expect this kind of nonsense from the Democrats, but the Republicans are supposed to know better.
Of course our entire financial system is designed to permanently entrap our federal government in an endless spiral of debt, but neither political party ever talks about that.
Sadly, the U.S. national debt is now more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was first created.
But we never hear about the link between the Federal Reserve and our national debt from either political party or on the mainstream news.
So most Americans do not even realize that our system is designed to create government debt.
It is absolutely disgusting.
We say that we care about our kids, and yet we are passing down a $16,000,000,000,000 debt to them.
Talk about child abuse.
Most people have a really hard time grasping how much money 16 trillion dollars actually is.
If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 yearsto spend one trillion dollars.
And it would take you more than half a million years to spend 16 trillion dollars.
This is a debt that is impossible to pay back. Just look at how it has exploded over the past 40 years….
In a previous article I discussed the distressing rate at which our debt is growing….
It took more than 200 years for the U.S. national debt to reach 1 trillion dollars. In 1986, the U.S. national debt reached 2 trillion dollars. In 1992, the U.S. national debt reached 4 trillion dollars. In 2005, the U.S. national debt doubled again and reached 8 trillion dollars. Now the U.S. national debt is about to cross the 16 trillion dollar mark. How long can this kind of exponential growth go on?
If we can’t even slow down the growth of our debt, how do we ever expect to repay a single penny?
The sad truth is that we aren’t ever going to start paying down our debt. We have gotten to the point where if we take our foot off the debt accelerator we plunge directly into a depression and the entire system collapses. It is like a really sick version of the movie “Speed”.
Where is Keanu Reeves when you need him?
Since Barack Obama entered the White House, he has approved a whole host of measures that have been good for the economy in the short-term. TARP, the stimulus packages, the auto industry bailout and the payroll tax cut are just a few examples.
Barack Obama has wanted to do everything he possibly can to stimulate the economy in the short-term so that he can win again in 2012.
But what about the future?
Barack Obama could not care less about the future. He is just like so many of our other politicians. He is blinded by selfish ambition.
Since Barack Obama became president, the U.S. national debt has increased by an average of more than $64,000 per taxpayer.
Are you willing to write a check for your share?
No?
Oh, let’s just pass this horrific debt on to our children, right?
The path that we are on as a nation cannot go on too much longer. The truth is that we are headed for financial oblivion.
Of course we will never get to the point. Our financial system will collapse long before then.
Sadly, the United States already has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain does.
So why are we not like Greece or Spain yet?
Well, it is because we are still able to borrow huge piles of money very, very cheaply.
But at some point that will come to an end, and when it does the consequences are going to be nightmarish.
Historically, the interest rate on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has averaged 6.68 percent. If the average rate of interest on U.S. debt rose to that level today, we would be paying more than a trillion dollars a year just in interest on the national debt.
And when you consider our future unfunded liabilities things get even more frightening.
According to Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, the “fiscal gap” is “the present value difference between projected future spending and revenue”. His calculations have led him to the conclusion that the United States is facing a fiscal gap of 222 trillion dollars.
And this gap is rising at a breathtaking pace.
The following is an excerpt from a recent article co-authored by Kotlikoff….
In 2007, the first year the CBO produced the Alternative Fiscal Scenario, the gap, by our reckoning, stood at $175 trillion. By 2009, when the CBO began reporting the AFS annually, the gap was $184 trillion. In 2010, it was $202 trillion, followed by $211 trillion in 2011 and $222 trillion in 2012.
But if we interrupt this debt cycle we immediately go into a depression.
We are a debt addict that will die without more debt.
Meanwhile, our national ability to produce wealth is going down the toilet.
All over the country businesses are shutting down, factories are being closed and millions of jobs are being sent overseas.
As I wrote about the other day, American families are steadily getting poorer. The middle class is shrinking and the tax base is shriveling up.
Many Americans end up flat broke at the end of their lives these days. In fact, one study found that nearly half of all retirees end up with $10,000 or less when they die.
So where is all of the money for servicing this gigantic national debt going to come from?
Even if Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
So what is the solution?
If we keep spending money like this we are doomed, but if we stop spending money like this we are doomed.
And debt is not just a problem that the federal government is facing.
Posted below is a chart that shows the growth of all forms of debt in the United States over the past several decades. 40 years ago, there was less than 2 trillion dollars of total debt owed in the United States. Now there is nearly 55 trillion dollars of debt owed. This generation has destroyed the future and has set the stage for an unprecedented economic collapse. Shame on you America….
The way that the U.S. government treats military veterans is absolutely disgraceful. Men and women that have given everything for this nation are literally being treated like human garbage by their own government. After watching how vets are treated, it is absolutely amazing that anyone is still volunteering to be a part of the military. We pay those in the military like crap, we keep sending our best soldiers back to Afghanistan and Iraq again and again, we don’t equip them properly, military suicides are at a record pace, hundreds of thousands of applications for veteran benefits are hopelessly backlogged, homelessness and unemployment among vets is much higher than for the general population, the condition of most VA hospitals is an absolute disgrace, and to top everything off now the Obama administration has started labeling military veterans as “potential terrorists”. What you are about to read should make you very angry. The abuse, neglect and outright disrespect that military vets receive from their own government is absolutely shocking. We owe these men and women a great debt for the service that they have performed for our nation, but instead the federal government kicks them to the curb and treats them with no honor whatsoever. The way a nation treats military vets says a lot about the character of that nation, and right now the way that America treats veterans says that we have the character of a steaming pile of manure.
Multiple Tours Of Duty
The U.S. military just keeps sending young men and women back to Iraq and Afghanistan over and over again without any regard for what the consequences might be.
If you can believe it, an astounding 20 percent of all active duty soldiers in the U.S. Army are on at least their third tour of duty.
Some 107,000 Army soldiers have been deployed to war three or more times since 2001, or some 20 percent of the active-duty force. More than 50,000 of those currently in uniform have completed four or more combat tours, Army figures indicate.
The physical, mental and emotional toll of these multiple tours of duty should not be underestimated. It is absolutely unprecedented in U.S. history for so many men to be sent back into frequent combat situations so repeatedly. The price of this foolishness could potentially be felt throughout our society for decades to come.
Record Number Of Suicides
The fact that many of our soldiers are spending way too much time in active war zones is a big reason why military suicides are at a record pace so far in 2012.
The stress of combat duty builds up over time. The physical, mental and emotional fatigue that comes with serving in combat is immense. Many soldiers see their marriages end, and others are left with severe physical and mental disabilities.
At some point many serving in the military cannot take it anymore and they commit suicide.
During the month of July, there were 56 suicides in the U.S. military in just 31 days.
That is absolutely disgraceful, but very little is being done about the underlying causes of these suicides.
Paying To Get Your Medal?
Many U.S. soldiers return home from war only to find that they are being billed by their own government.
One soldier even discovered that he was going to have to pay a 21 dollar shipping fee to get his Purple Heart. The following is from the Huffington Post….
War comes with an incalculable human cost. And apparently a shipping fee of about $21.
Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says that’s the price he was forced to pay when his Purple Heart — the medal issued to soldiers wounded in action — arrived at his door, C.O.D.
Instead of being awarded the military honor in a formal ceremony, the vet with 29 years in the service was handed his award, and a shipping invoice, by a FedEx deliveryman outside his Sioux Falls, S.D., home.
Endless Waiting For Veteran Benefits
You would think that soldiers returning from war should quickly and easily be able to apply for the veteran benefits that they are owed.
Unfortunately, the complete opposite is the case.
As I have written about previously, applying for veteran benefits is extremely complicated, and VA employees are actually paid bonuses for denying claims….
The truth is that we have made it extremely difficult for our military veterans to claim the benefits that we have promised them. Vets have to fill out an absurdly complicated 23 page application and if they make even one small mistake their applications can be stonewalled for years. The U.S. Veterans Administration actually has a policy under which they pay large bonuses to employees that meet certain application processing goals. This explains why approximately 70% of the claims submitted to the Veterans Administration are refused or sent back to be redone. In fact, using the Freedom of Information Act, one local NBC station was able to learn that $250,000 was paid in bonuses to VA employees who work inside the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, Virginia in just one year alone.
Not only that, but a report issued by the VA’s Office of Inspector General said the department issued millions of dollars in performance awards to employees nationwide over a two year period in 2007 and 2008.
According to CNN, one retired VA official was singled out for improperly approving a very large number of bonuses and the report said that she “acted as if she was given a blank checkbook to write unlimited monetary awards.”
Even if you do fill out your paperwork correctly, at best you are going to be waiting many months to find out if your claim is approved or not….
The average claim adjudication wait time is as few as 183 days or as many as 300, depending on who you ask. Claims processed in Oakland, Calif., the second-worst backlogged region in the nation according to a May Inspector General’s report, take nearly a year to get approved or denied. The backlog worsened in 2010 when VA Secretary Eric Shinseki added a handful of new medical conditions to the list of ailments presumed connected with exposure to the Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange, a move that was lauded by veterans’ groups. But this month the VA officials announced they were nearing the end of processing about 230,000 retroactive Agent Orange claims. And the majority of the nearly 920,000 total claims still pending before the department remain overdue.
Many veterans feel that they would be better off sending their documents into a black hole than sending them to the VA. The level of negligence at some VA offices is absolutely shocking….
Back in 2009, a VA office in Detroit turned in 16,000 unprocessed mail and 717 unprocessed documents that were stuck in storage and hadn’t even been looked at. Many other documents were found in shredding bins, not just in one office but in several regional offices.
The truth is that thousands upon thousands of vets that legitimately should be getting benefits are having their claims denied. Just check out the following example from a recent Veterans Today article….
In one case, we found a veteran with 40 percent of his brain removed found to be healthy and employable. He was also missing his right arm. The physician who examined him over looked the arm and failed to note the cognitive degeneration the traumatic brain injury had caused.
What in the world is wrong with us?
How can we treat our vets this way?
Horrific Economic Problems
The unemployment rate for veterans is much higher than the overall rate of unemployment, and military veterans are losing their homes at a much faster rate than the general population as well.
According to Veterans Today, a shockingly high percentage of military families have been losing their homes since 2008….
Figures lie, some groups are counted, some are not. But the lowest figures available have one in three families, this includes active duty serving overseas, reservists and National Guard and veterans losing their homes since 2008.
Two thirds of those are now “split up” with at least one member listed as “homeless.” Almost all are, according to official figures, “living in poverty.”
200,000 Military Veterans Sleeping On The Streets Of America
The U.S. government does not prepare our vets to come back and reintegrate into society. They just kind of kick them to the curb and hope that they can find jobs.
Sadly, homeless vets will be sleeping the streets of every major U.S. city tonight. The following is from a recent article in the Los Angeles Times….
According to the latest count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County dropped by 3% between 2009 and 2011. The numbers declined for all groups except one: veterans. There were 9,000 homeless veterans here in 2011, a 24% increase over 2009. And the number of chronically homeless veterans — individuals who are homeless because of severe mental disabilities — increased by more than 100%, from 1,243 to 2,520.
And more are coming. California’s Department of Veterans Affairs estimated in 2009 that 28,000 vets would return from Iraq and Afghanistan per year during this administration.
Overall, it is estimated that 200,000 military veterans will be sleeping on the streets of America tonight.
Say a prayer for them because they need it.
The Shocking Condition Of VA Hospitals
When wounded soldiers come home from the battlefield the U.S. government has a responsibility to take care of them properly.
Unfortunately, the truth is that many facilities for veterans are absolute hellholes. The following is from a recent article in the Washington Post….
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan’s room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss.
How in the world can we do this to our vets?
Today, it takes military vets an average of seven months to get an appointment at a VA facility.
They are not getting the care that they need, and it would be a tremendous understatement to say that the condition of many VA facilities is absolutely horrendous.
A while back, ABC News did an in-depth investigation of conditions at VA facilities across the United States. What ABC News found was absolutely shocking. The following are just a few of the things that they discovered during the course of their investigation…..
*Bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement
*Dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies
*Examining tables that had dried blood and medications still on them
*Equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments that had broken down
*Some patients were forced to beg for food and water
*Veterans that were neglected so badly that they developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections
This is the kind of thing you would expect in a third world country, not the United States of America.
Funerals And “End Of Life Counseling”
The federal government does not seem to have much respect for veterans at the end of their lives either.
You would think that vets should be able to have the funeral services of their own choosing, but in some areas of the country the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been caught banning the words “God” and “Jesus” during funeral services for veterans.
Perhaps instead of spending their time poking their noses into funeral services they should spend their time processing some of those backlogged claims for veteran benefits.
And the “end of life counseling” that many veterans are receiving is extremely disrespectful as well. The following is from an article in the Wall Street Journal that described the kind of “end of life counseling” that the federal government provides veterans….
“Your Life, Your Choices” presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political “push poll.” For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be “not worth living.”
The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to “shake the blues.” There is a section which provocatively asks, “Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I’m a vegetable, pull the plug’?” There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as “I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,” “I am a severe financial burden on my family” and that the vet’s situation “causes severe emotional burden for my family.”
When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?
The Obama Administration Has Labeled Military Veterans As “Potential Terrorists”
On top of everything else, the Department of Homeland Security has labeled military veterans as potential terrorists.
The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.
Sadly, this kind of philosophy is not just reflected in policy papers. Now we are actually starting to see military veterans rounded up and shipped off to mental institutions for “evaluation” if they express views that the government does not like.
For example, you have probably already heard about the Brandon Raub case by now. Brandon Raub is a 26-year-old military veteran who was forcibly detained by the local police, the FBI and the Secret Service on August 16th. He was shipped off to a psychiatric facility because of song lyrics and political views that he had posted on his Facebook page.
Thankfully, the Rutherford Institute agreed to defend him and he was released a few days ago.
But if he had not had a really good lawyer he could have been rotting in a mental institution for years.
Unfortunately this does not appear to be an isolated incident.
Radio host Steve Quayle was sent news of an Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient in west central Ohio who was the victim of a police raid on the evening of August 22nd during which Miami County Ohio Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant to seize the man’s firearms for the “safety of the defendant and the general public,” according to the warrant.
The veteran, who is currently unnamed, had his guns taken because he was adjudged to be mentally incompetent, despite the fact that his previous VA psychiatric evaluations were all clear, he is not on medication, and he had no criminal record. The man appears to be a respected member of the community – he works for a Christian company and his father is a police officer and a pastor.
Once a military vet is determined to be “mentally ill”, he or she can be rounded up by the authorities at any time.
And tons of vets are being labeled as mentally ill these days. In fact, one study discovered that approximately one-third of all military veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq were officially determined to be mentally ill.
It is very dangerous to be a military veteran these days.
So why should anyone volunteer to be in the military at this point?
It has become abundantly clear that the federal government is not on the side of veterans.
The federal government wants lots of warm bodies to throw into battle, but when those bodies get broken the government is not there to pick up the pieces.
The US Special Operations Command (USSOC) has conducted “training exercises” over Minneapolis. In a twofold effort, the US Armed Forces are acclimating the American public to seeing military everywhere, as well as being able to train their soldiers in real time on US streets in a manipulative effort to circumvent Posse Comitatus.
Both the local police department and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) collaborated, according to authorities to decide on training exercise times and locations although the general public was unaware of these war games until they were evident in their local skies.
The USSOC stated : “If you see military helicopters flying low over Minneapolis, don’t be alarmed. They’re just training in an urban environment. The U.S. Special Operations Command will be conducting exercises until the beginning of September. This week they’re using helicopters, including Black Hawks.”
This urban warfare drill is reminiscent of the Department of Defense drill that concerned residents in Coconut Grove, a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. After midnight, simulated gunfire and explosions would be heard as military helicopters flew over skyscrapers. Local mainstream media reported: “Miami police assisted in overseeing the exercises — but they were instructed to keep quiet about the exercises until late Monday, for security reasons. The police also blocked off roads around the Grand Bay during the exercise.”
In Plainville and Worchester, Massachusetts, surprised citizens witnessed “military helicopters descended on the vacant Wood School [in] the late hours of the night in a scene that might have appeared to simulate the United States’ special forces attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound last year.” Many locals had their homes swooped down upon by black helicopters in an obvious display of military dominance over the general public.
Residents saw helicopters landing near Worcester Memorial Auditorium in Lincoln Square. Local newspapers were flooded with “telephone calls and e-mails . . . curious about what was happening.”
The local police claim they were unaware of the drills.
A US Army spokeswoman made a half-hearted apology for “any inconvenience or unforeseen disturbance.”
Mainstream media is now reporting that the US Air Force is training with the Russian and Canadian Air Force personnel in “a joint counter-terror exercise . . . simulating a cooperative response to an aircraft hijacked by terrorists in international airspace.”
Being called “Vigilant Eagle” these training exercises are being held on command bases domestically as well as in Russia. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) released a statement admitting that during August 27th – 29th there would be simulated international flights from Alaska to Russia and back again in an effort to “foreign-flagged commercial air carrier on an international flight has been seized by terrorists.”
According to a NORAD statement: “The aircraft will not respond to communications. The exercise scenario creates a situation that requires both the Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to investigate and follow the aircraft. The exercise will focus on the cooperative hand-off of the aircraft between fighter aircraft of the participating nations.”
These exercises involve personnel at NORAD headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. and Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Ala., and at two Russian bases in the country’s Far East.
Anonymous sources have been reporting that Russian troops are being spotted in Colorado at Fort Carson base; specifically at gun ranges practicing their marksman skills. The NORAD admission of US and Russian armed forces collaboration substantiates these claims.
Just this month, foreign troops were caught at a Wal-Mart. They were traveling in what were described as “large government vans”.
Moving around in white, unmarked vans, strange troops have been seen purchasing food and water at another Wal-Mart in Franklin, Indiana. Parading in military personnel fatigues where drone activity has been reported in Oklahoma City and black helicopters were spotted hovering over a construction site.
The increased activity across the nation in conjunction with the mounting citizen reports of seeing military on their streets, conducting urban warfare drills, and spotting foreign troops have prompted public interest in the US government’s plans to enact a full-scale martial law in America – expected by the end of this year.
Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism, an alternative news site dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporate-funded mainstream media. You can find Occupy Corporatism on their Facebook page .
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A new study from the Stockholm International Water Institute claims the planet’s fresh water supply is buckling under the weight of population growth. In 35 years, we’ll all be vegetarians or we’ll go under. No more cow meat for you, Bubba. Raising cows uses too much water. Reach for the soy cakes.
