Global Systemic Rupture

Sometimes I think I'm just being paranoid about the world falling apart soon. Especially when my friends tell me to "quit talking like that. Can't you talk about something pleasant for a change?"

And then I run across this:

The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020 (LEAP/E2020) now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929.

This last week of March 2006 will be the turning-point of a number of critical developments, resulting in an acceleration of all the factors leading to a major crisis, disregard any American or Israeli military intervention against Iran. In case such an intervention is conducted, the probability of a major crisis to start rises up to 100%, according to LEAP/E2020.

Read more....

And then start getting ready.

Cheney was Clearly Inebriated

I'm not sure how this got by me...was it covered in the MSM? Or did it go into the memory hole? For your assessment....





From Capitol Hill Blue

The Rant

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer

By DOUG THOMPSON

Feb 22, 2006, 07:35

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited "visible signs" of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting "accident" and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the "one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.

"This was a South Texas hunt," says one White House aide. "Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it."

One agent at the scene has been placed on administrative leave and another requested reassignment this week.

A memo reportedly written by one agent has been destroyed, sources said Wednesday afternoon.

Cheney has a long history of alcohol abuse, including two convictions of driving under the influence when he was younger. Doctors tell me that someone like Cheney, who is taking blood thinners because of his history of heart attacks, could get legally drunk now after consuming just one drink.

If Cheney was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, he could be guilty of a felony under Texas law and the shooting, ruled an accident by a compliant Kenedy County Sheriff, would be a prosecutable offense.

But we will never know for sure because the owners of the Armstrong Ranch, where the shooting occurred, barred the sheriff's department from the property on the day of the shooting and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III agreed to wait until the next day to send deputies in to talk to those involved.

Sheriff's Captain Charles Kirk says he went to the Armstrong Ranch immediately after the shooting was reported on Saturday, February 11 but both he and a game warden were not allowed on the 50,000-acre property. He called Salinas who told him to forget about it and return to the station.

"I told him don't worry about it. I'll make a call," Salinas said. The sheriff claims he called another deputy who moonlights at the Armstrong ranch, said he was told it was "just an accident" and made the decision to wait until Sunday to investigate."We've known these people for years. They are honest and wouldn't call us, telling us a lie," Salinas said.

Like all elected officials in Kenedy County, Salinas owes his job to the backing and financial support of Katherine Armstrong, owner of the ranch and the county's largest employer."The Armstrongs rule Kenedy County like a fiefdom," says a former employee.

Secret Service officials also took possession of all tests on Whittington's blood at the hospitals where he was treated for his wounds. When asked if a blood alcohol test had been performed on Whittington, the doctors who treated him at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi or the hospital in Kingsville refused to answer. One admits privately he was ordered by the Secret Service to "never discuss the case with the press."

It's a sure bet that is a private doctor who treated the victim of Cheney's reckless and drunken actions can't talk to the public then any evidence that shows the Vice President drunk as a skunk will never see the light of day."

Connecting the Plots ...

Thanks to Jane Stillwater for this interesting post...

Drug smuggling made easy: Why GWB wants to sell America's ports to his friends

Profits from the heroin trade are astronomical. Those of us who work for a living just to keep on top of paying the rent can't even grasp the amount of money involved. It's a lot. In 2004, Prof. Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa stated that, "The Afghan trade in opiates constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion."

Prof. Chossudovsky goes on to state that, aside from oil production and weapons sales, the sale of opiates is the largest producer of revenue in the world. And everybody who listens to KPFA or even reads the New York Times knows that 85% of the world's heroin supply now comes from American-occupied Afghanistan. Just Google "Heroin/Afghanistan" and see what shows up. This is NOT a closely-guarded secret.

Okay. We now understand that the heroin drug trade represents big bucks. And we also understand that most of the world's heroin supply is coming from American-occupied Afghanistan. But what we don't understand is, with all those drug-sniffing dogs poking around American airports, how can all these billions of dollars worth of heroin sneak their way into our country?Through the ports!

And now George W. Bush is insisting that our ports are to be handed over to his friends. Think about it. Now George and his friends -- the very same people who control the country where the heroin is being produced -- are now in control of the ports where heroin enters America. How convenient for them. Now they have a monopoly on the production AND the distribution of drugs.

This is a perfect example of the free enterprise system at work.Only it's only free for Bush and his friends. We who work for a living -- and our drug-vulnerable children -- still have to pay.

PS: Am I saying that the Bush group will do anything to make a profit, even sell hard drugs to children? Yeah, duh. Never forget that the Bush bureaucracy's motto is, "We will do ANYTHING for cash."

These guys did market research. They found out what sells best: Guns, drugs and oil. These are their products. And they have just been voted "Salesmen of the Year".

You gotta admit that the Bush bureaucracy's sales campaign is brilliant. Their "divide and conquer" jingle is being hummed on every street corner in the world.These super-entrepreneurs have turned red state Americans and blue state Americans against each other. They've turned the American middle-class against the poor. They've turned Jews, Christians and Muslims against each other. They've even turned Muslims against Muslims. And in the resultant confusion, they make trillions of dollars in profit on drugs, guns and oil.

Drugs, guns and oil. Is that what we want our troops to die for? Is that what "Christians" value most? Are "Muslims" willing to soil the words of the Prophet (PBUH) by killing non-Muslims who have done them no harm? And by killing other Muslims? Are the CEOs of Bush Incorporated creating a whole world of avid consumers, zealously killing for drugs, guns and oil?

Is this what the human race has come to?

We are being used.

Another Crack in the Wall

Syria Switches To Euro Amid Confrontation With US
Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:31 AM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars amid a political confrontation with the United States, the head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria said on Monday.

"This is a precaution. We are talking about billions of dollars," Duraid Durgham told Reuters.

The bank, which still dominates the Syrian market although private banks have been allowed to set up in the last few years, has also stopped dealing with dollars in the international foreign exchange flows of private clients.

The United States has been at the forefront of international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri a year ago. Damascus denies involvement in the killing.

"It looks like a kind of pre-emptive action aimed at making their foreign assets safer, preventing them from getting frozen in case of any conflict," said a Middle East economist who requested anonymity.

Keeping Track of Iran Attack

Thanks to reader Byrne for the following:


Petrodollars and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: Understanding the Planned Assault on Iran
by Michael Keefer

February 10, 2006

Iran has been in the gun-sights of George W. Bush and his entourage from the moment that he was parachuted into the presidency in November 2000 by his father’s Supreme Court.

A year ago there were signs, duly reported by Seymour Hersh and others, that the United States and Israel were working out the targeting details of an aerial attack on Iran that it was anticipated would occur in June 2005 (see Hersh, Gush Shalom, Jensen). But as Michel Chossudovsky wrote in May 2005, widespread reports that George W. Bush had “signed off on” an attack on Iran did not signify that the attack would necessarily occur during the summer of 2005: what the ‘signing off’ suggested was rather “that the US and Israel [were] ‘in a state of readiness’ and [were] prepared to launch an attack by June or at a later date. In other words, the decision to launch the attack [had] not been made” (Chossudovsky: May 2005).

Since December 2005, however, there have been much firmer indications both that the planned attack will go ahead in late March 2006, and also that the Cheney-Bush administration intends it to involve the use of nuclear weapons.

Continue reading ....

Eclipsed by Reality

The above photo shows Vice President Dick Cheney speaking to reporters at the bedside of the man who he "accidentally" shot this weekend while on a hunting trip in Texas (full story).

A spokesman for the vice president identified the shooting victim as Harry Whittington, but sources close to the incident suggest "Harry Whittington" is a Secret Service code name for Cheney's indicted former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"Honestly, I didn't mean to shoot Scoot-- I mean, Harry Whittington," the vice president told reporters in "Mr. Whittington's" hospital recovery room.

Thanks to Bob Cesca at The HuffingtonPost.com for a hearty laugh!

9-11 (continued)

There seems to be more and more coming out about the "controlled demolition" of the 3 buildings on 9-11. To my mind, these are no longer theories. Thanks to 911Blogger.com


9/11 Videos Available Online

Its never been easier to spread the truth, every bulletin board, blog, and email address on the web can be cheaply and easily infected with 9/11 truth. No better time than now, let it rip:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498980438587461603&q=eyewitness

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801&q=loose+change

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9124194186333362123&q=9%2F11+reopen

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1336167662031629480&q=painful+deceptions

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8797525979024486145&q=9%2F11+ruppert

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529813972926262623&q=the+great+conspiracy

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=alex+jones&so=0

9-11

Bush brings up 9-11 so much that we have grown immune to even thinking about the actual facts of that day. Although I’ve frequently been drawn back to the theory sites (I refuse to call these theories conspiracies), I’ve tried to avoid getting sucked into the mire of paranoia swirling at their bottom. As I did when I started a film project about the assassination of John Kennedy many years ago – but that’s a story for another blog.

That said, here’s a new lecture by Dr. Stephen E Jones, a scientist, that states many facts and draws the conclusion, that 9-11 was, and still is, a neo-con sponsored event.

Watch it for yourself (1 ½ hr). It’s worth it. Also, spread the word.

"Zen" Games

I previously recommended GridGame as a computer activity that may soothe your fevered brow. If you liked that one, you may also find this one, Falling Sand Game, to be pleasing.

Rumsfeld Pops Up

As we turn the pages of the "pop-up book" on the impending attack of Iran, who should we find but old Rummy.

February 6, 2006 - 12:56PM
Defiant Iran to ignore West's threats

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says all possibilities are still open in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, including military action, a German newspaper reports.

"All options - including the military one - are on the table," the daily Handelsblatt quoted Rumsfeld as saying in an interview.

"Any government that says Israel has no right to exist is making a statement about its possible behaviour in the future," added Rumsfeld, who attended a weekend security conference in Munich, Germany.

At that gathering, Rumsfeld accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism - a point that he underlined in the Handelsblatt interview.

Iran is the "main sponsor of terrorist organisations such as Hizbollah and Hamas," he was quoted as saying.

Special Thanks to Readers

As you may know, site counters such as the one I have installed at the bottom of this page, keep track of where the readers come from. BTW, your names are not included.

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest. Special thanks to the reader(s) in Erie, Colorado and others who keep coming back for more. Leave me a comment now and then to give me some feedback on your thoughts.


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The Tax Man Cometh

This is a partial list of the various ways in which citizens of the U S of A are taxed:

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License TaxFood License Tax
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise Tax (started to pay for Vietnam War)
Telephone federal universal service fee Tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge Taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge Tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges Tax
Telephone state and local Tax
Telephone usage charge Tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer Registration Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

The Train is Leaving the Station

Back in September of 2005 I recommended taking a look at gold as a hedge against inflation. It is not too late by any means. Read on...

Credit Agricole's Brokerage Declares "Start Hoarding" Gold!
By Jon A. Nones02 Feb 2006 at 06:00 PM EST

St. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Cheuvreux, the equity brokerage house of the French bank Credit Agricole, distributed a 56-page report today endorsing the findings of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) that the price of gold has been surreptitiously suppressed by Western central banks and that those banks do not have the gold they claim to have. The report, written by Cheuvreux's mining sector analyst in London, Paul Mylchreest, is titled "Remonetization of Gold: Start Hoarding." It repeatedly cites GATA by name and foresees an "unprecedented" rise in the gold price. But what is more, the report accuses central banks of “covert selling.”According to the report, Cheuvreux has raised its mid-cycle gold price estimate to $900/oz from $750/oz, and sees the possibility of a spike to $2,000/oz, or higher.
“Covert selling (via central bank lending) has artificially depressed the price for a decade,” wrote Mylchreest.

According to the IMF, the official figure for gold held by central banks in their vaults is 31,000 tonnes, but the reality is much lower, asserts Cheuvreux.“Central banks have 10,000-15,000 tonnes of gold less than their officially reported reserves of 31,000,” Mylchreest wrote.
This gold has been lent to bullion banks and their counterparties and has already been sold for jewellery, etc., according to the report.

Bush: Use Painted Planes to Instigate Attack

(After frying my computer with a large shock of static electricity to the side of the case, I learned, once again, how sensitive our computers and data are to the dry air of winter. Warning - discharge your static before you even touch your computer.)

With scandal and allegations piling up faster than ice balls in a hail storm, Bush and Co continue on with delusional speeches filled with meaningless rhetoric. But the latest “Downing Street Memo Part 2” nails it to the wall.

Even the talking heads are using the word “lie” to describe his squirming can of words. Can a sitting President be indicted?