Astounding News

Reasons Why the Economic Collapse is Not Over

2010-01-03T17:28:00.002-07:00

Reason #1 - The real problem has not been dealt with yet - worthless paper as bank assets.

Reason #2 - The second leg down in real estate is about to happen.

Economic Hitmen

2009-12-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

How the CIA attempts to rule the world:

Bernanke Confirmation Hearing

2009-12-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

For Your Monday Morning

2009-07-13T09:20:00.000-06:00

Test

2009-07-08T09:53:00.001-06:00

Maybe the Best Yet

2008-11-19T07:29:00.006-07:00

Halloween Frivolity

2008-10-22T23:28:00.002-06:00

Bra = Bad

2008-09-23T16:16:00.001-06:00

Another thing I've been saying for years. Click on title.

If you didn't burn yours in the 'Sixties, you might want to put it away now. "Bras cause breast cancer. It's open and shut," says medical researcher Syd Singer.

The Fed is Now Running the World

2008-09-14T15:37:00.003-06:00

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, which is not federal but in fact private, is now running the world. With the announcement of an opening of the derivatives market for two hours this SUNDAY afternoon, the Fed has greatly extended its powers. This move is intended to block the Japanese as their MONDAY market opens.

This unprecedented move allows the guilty to scurry away in front of the impending tidal wave which will be brought on by the failure of Lehman. This may be IT folks!

As I have been saying for the past 4 years, "Here come da judge."

Grab Your Hats.

2008-06-29T13:51:00.002-06:00

Dollar on the Precipice Watch out this Thursday, July 3.

and on the other hand

Betting on War With Iran

McCainiac Song

2008-06-11T13:45:00.002-06:00

I love this viral stuff. This went up on Youtube yesterday, was yanked down, but is now reappearing, posted by others.

This is so bad it has to be an anti-McCain piece. "He'll slice you up" ? Most hilarious part - body double for woman in red.

I've Been Telling Doctors This for Years

2008-04-27T18:03:00.002-06:00

....and they've just laughed.

Masturbation 'cuts cancer risk'

Men could reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer through regular masturbation, researchers suggest. They say cancer-causing chemicals could build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly.

And they say sexual intercourse may not have the same protective effect because of the possibility of contracting a sexually transmitted infection, which could increase men's cancer risk.

Australian researchers questioned over 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer and 1,250 who had not about their sexual habits.

This is a plausible theory

Dr Chris Hiley, Prostate Cancer Charity
They found those who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to develop the cancer.

The protective effect was greatest while the men were in their 20s.

Men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer later in life.

Fluid

Previous research has suggested that a high number of sexual partners or a high level of sexual activity increased a man's risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 40%.

But the Australian researchers who carried out this study suggest the early work missed the protective effect of ejaculation because it focussed on sexual intercourse, with its associated risk of STIs.

Graham Giles, of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, who led the research team, told New Scientist: "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of ejaculations."

The researchers suggest that ejaculating may prevent carcinogens accumulating in the prostate gland.

The prostate provides a fluid into semen during ejaculation that activates sperm and prevents them sticking together.

The fluid has high concentrations of substances including potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid, which are drawn from the bloodstream.

But animal studies have shown carcinogens such as 3-methylchloranthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in the prostate.

'Flushing out'

Dr Giles said fewer ejaculations may mean the carcinogens build up.

"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis. The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."

A similar connection has been found between breast cancer and breastfeeding, where lactating appeared to "flush out" carcinogens, reduce a woman's risk of the disease, New Scientist reports.

Another theory put forward by the researchers is that ejaculation may induce prostate glands to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens.

Dr Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at the UK's Prostate Cancer Charity, told BBC News Online: "This is a plausible theory."

She added: "In the same way the human papillomavirus has been linked to cervical cancer, there is a suggestion that bits of prostate cancer may be related to a sexually transmitted infection earlier in life."

Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said the research could affect the kind of lifestyle advice doctors give to patients.

"Masturbation is part of people's sexual repertoire.

"If these findings hold up, then it's perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate," he said.

Best Current Explanation of Credit Crunch

2008-04-12T14:57:00.003-06:00

Reprinted in its entirety. Click title to go to source.

Payback Time
By Eric J. Fry

Never in the history of the vibrant US economy have so many owed so much in so many different ways. So now that credit is fleeing from the U.S. economy like finance CEOs from responsibility, the economy is certain to struggle. Slumping home values won't help.

Get ready for the "Era of De-Leveraging."

The U.S. economy is leveraged...too leveraged, which is not a good thing to be when credit becomes scarce. Without fresh access to borrowed capital, a leveraged entity will struggle to survive...and often perish. (Bear Stearns illustrates the point).

Leverage is a bipolar financial creature. During boom times, it provides delicious pleasures. But when economic activity contracts, leverage breaks out a whip and doles out misery. Here in the 50 States of America, the whip-cracking/misery stage has arrived...and the U.S. economy is ill-prepared for the abuse. The US economy, led by its imprudent financial sector, is over-leveraged...painfully over-leveraged.

Even using generous assumptions about the value of assets on bank balance sheets, the leaders of the US financial sector owe $40 for every dollar of assets they own. And let's not forget WHAT they own: bad loans, impaired derivatives, and a "Love Canal" of complex financial assets that carry mark-to-imagination pricing. And let's not forget either that even after all the Fed's regulation-bending bailouts and desperate rate cuts and backroom M&A deals, the US financial sector is still carrying about twice the leverage it carried three years ago and about triple the leverage it carried one decade ago.

So what's the point? Just this: All bubbles deflate... and America's credit bubble will be no different.

The "Era of Excess Leverage" perished sometime last summer; the Era of De-leveraging has arrived. This new era will be much less fun than its predecessor. During the last five years, American finance companies and individuals embarked on a frenzied borrowing binge. They levered-up big time. The banks and brokerage companies leveraged themselves to better fulfill their corporate mandate: maximizing returns to management. And individuals leveraged themselves to add square footage, leased SUVs and Himalayan yoga retreats to the standard-issue American dream.

That was lots of fun.

But now, home prices are falling, which means that the prices of the mortgage-backed exotica littering bank balance sheets are also falling. Therefore, leveraged banks and individuals must now de-lever, which will be no fun at all.

As America de-levers, the American economy will certainly stumble. Banks will sell whatever they can sell – including parts of themselves – to raise cash. Individuals will sell whatever they can sell – including the roofs over their heads – to raise cash. The weakest members of both contingents will go bankrupt, which will further depress prices of the assets that the leveraged survivors will still be trying to sell.

Best case, dear investor, asset values will continue grinding lower. More likely, asset values will drop rapidly, as credit drains from the economy. This process of credit contraction is almost certain to hobble economic growth and to imperil the survival of every leveraged financial institution and individual.

Contracting credit annihilated Bear Stearns in less than one week. Contracting credit will invite similar hardships upon the entire US economy, notwithstanding the Federal Reserve's desperate maneuvers to prevent them. No doubt, the Fed will continue combating the credit contraction with an endless barrage of rate cuts, bailouts and "temporary" loans. But immediate victory seems improbable. The forces of deleveraging are simply too large and too powerful...and these forces have already gathered considerable momentum.

Therefore, in the new era that has just begun, many investments will struggle. But do not despair; the Federal Reserve has wrapped a bow around the commodity sector. Ben Bernanke's gift to investors will be an unimaginably robust and durable commodity rally. Yes, there will be large, severe selloffs in this sector, but the Fed's frenetic efforts to "save the markets" have set in motion an inflationary storm surge that seems likely to drown the US dollar, while whisking commodity prices to much higher ground.

Oil is the new dollar. By extension, so is wheat...and cocoa...and aluminum. "I have the growing sense that paper money - any paper money - isn't a good store of value," observes Dan Denning, editor of the Australian Daily Reckoning. "I think investors are realizing that they can't move their wealth from one currency to another and preserve it...so they are doing the next best thing...trading paper wealth for claims on tangible assets."

Meanwhile, demand for commodities continues to swamp supply. So the commodity sector looks like a pretty friendly place for investors, despite the ever-present risk of severe selloffs. But the investor who tries to avoid these short-term selloffs could easily miss a very long-term bull market. In other words, today's commodity markets might resemble the S&P 500 of August 1987, but probably not the S&P of March 2000.

I don't "know" anything, of course. I'm just guessing that commodities are still a "buy." Therefore, my historical frame of reference for today's commodity market is not the S&P 500 of 1987 or of 2000; it is the S&P of 1994.

In February 1994, the S&P 500 had more than doubled off of its 1987 lows and seemed very richly priced at about 25 times earnings, especially considering the fact that Greenspan had just initiated a new tightening cycle. Over the next 12 months, the Fed Funds rate DOUBLED from 3% to 6%.

So what happened next?

The stock market sold off just like it was "supposed to"...for about 9 months. The S&P slumped about 10%. But then the market spent the next six years skyrocketing. From its 1994 peak to its 2000 peak, the S&P would TRIPLE. The Nasdaq would soar 7-fold over the same timeframe.

In other words, I think it's too early to be a seller of commodities. Sell the financials and buy commodities...once more with feeling.

Automated

2008-03-25T15:06:00.003-06:00

L.A. Sub-Prime Refugee Camp

2008-03-21T15:23:00.003-06:00

Finally, Onion News Network

2008-02-27T09:58:00.001-07:00

What we have all been waiting for - Onion on TV!

OMG

2008-02-18T15:04:00.001-07:00

The Photography of Daryl Peveto

2008-02-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Gallery

Peak Oil (Gasoline) Goes Pop

2008-02-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Gasoline - Sheryl Crow

Way back in the year of 2017

The sun was growing hotter

And oil was way beyond its peak

When crazy Hector Johnson broke into a refinery

And the black gold started flowing

Just like Boston tea

It was the summer of the riots

And London sat in sweltering heat

And the gangs of Mini Coopers

Took the battle to the streets

But when the creed was handed down

For no more trucks and no more cars

They threw cans of petrol through the windows at Scotland Yard

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

When the Mounties stormed the palace of the Saudi family

They held them up for ransom

Without disturbing their high tea

But their getaway was shaky

They stalled in the Riyadh streets

Cause you can't make it very far

When your tank is on empty

The final can of gasoline was loaded on a truck

And driven through the streets of Agra to the palace aquaduct

You see, all the majesty of worship that once adorned these fatal halls

Was just a target to the angry

As they blew up the Taj Mahal

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

Gary ran a market way down in Tennessee

Where all the farmers got together and talked about this great country

But when the government turned its back on farming

Man, what I hear

They dragged the pumps out of the ground

With a big vintage John Deere

I've got soldiers on my payroll

Standing guard on my front drive

Snipers on the roof poised at those

Who don't want me alive

Cause they audited my taxes

My family under threat

Cause I've got a message and a megaphone

And I'll scream it to the death

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

Gasoline

Will be free, will be free

You got the farms in Argentina

Making fuel from sugar cane

You got the bastards in Washington

Afraid of popping the greed vain

Cause the money's in the pipeline

And pipeline's running dry

And we'll be the last to recognize

Where there's shit there's always flies

Something to Laugh About

2008-02-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Melting Dollar - Best Speculation I've Seen to Date

2008-01-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

From John Maudlin's Frontline Newsletter

In The Financial Times today the inside headline is "Markets ask if the Fed was duped?" It seems that a rogue trader (interesting how a lone trader who loses a lot of bank money is always a rogue) lost Societe Generale $7.1 million (4.9 million euros). Seems he knew how to override the risk control systems, had other employees' passwords, and built up a massive long position which was down about $2.2 billion by the time SocGen management found out. He produced the losses in just a few weeks. SocGen started selling everything to cover the loss on Monday morning, and the markets moved away from them, growing the loss to the $7.1. That constitutes a bad day at the trading desk. (As an aside, I have worked with SocGen from time to time over the years, and have always been impressed.)

Some suggest that it was the very selling by SocGen, which was 10% of the market trades, which caused the downside volatility. It seems the European Central Bank knew early on about the problems at SocGen, but the Fed got caught by surprise. The Fed holds an emergency FOMC meeting ahead of the scheduled meeting this week, and makes a shock and awe 75-basis-point cut. I can tell you that shocked a lot of very sophisticated traders and managers that I talked with here in Europe.

Everywhere I went I was asked, "Why an inter-meeting cut?" The Financial Times wrote, "The question being asked now by some in the markets is: was the Fed duped into a clumsy and panicked move by the clean-up operation for Jerome Kerviel's [AKA rogue trader at SocGen] mammoth losses for the French bank?"

My very good friend Barry Ritholtz seems to agree with that position. He was on CNBC with Steve Lissman and Rick Santoli and they suggested that the Fed responded to the volatility in the stock markets with the rate cut and that the Fed is now responding to the traders in the S&P futures pit.

Let's read Barry's take when he finds out that the volatility may have been the result of our rogue trader, in a blog entitled "Fed's Folly: Fooled by Flawed Futures?": "Was it a misunderstanding of their mandate, inexperience, or just plain hubris? Regardless, it took only 2 days to learn just how ill-considered the Fed's emergency market rescue plan was: To wit, a fraudulent series of losses led to a major European bank unwinding a huge trade: Societe Generale Reports EU4.9 Billion Trading Loss.

SG's $7.1Billion dollar unwinding led to panicked futures selling on Monday and Tuesday. "Hence, we quickly learn what sheer folly and utter irresponsibility it is for the Fed to use its limited ammunition to intervene in equity prices. Their panicky rate cut was not to insure the smooth functioning of the markets, but rather, to guarantee prices.

As we have been saying for the past two days, this is not the Fed's charge. They are supposed to be maintaining price stability (fighting inflation) and maximizing employment (supporting growth) -- NOT guaranteeing stock prices.

"I guess the European Central Bank has it easier: Their only charge is to fight inflation: 'maintain price stability, safeguarding the value of the euro.' Tuesday's panicked 75 basis cut will prove to be an historical embarrassment, a blot on the Fed for all its days. Failing to understand what their responsibilities are is bad enough; allowing themselves to be bossed around by futures traders is inexcusable.

And, having been rewarded for their past tantrums, the market will now be screaming for another 75 bps next week. As Rick Santelli appropriately observed, the Pavlonian training is now complete."

I don't agree with that assessment, and Barry is not so thin-skinned that he will worry about my having a different view. So, let me throw out another scenario.

First, for years one of my central premises has been that we have to remember that when a normal human being is elected to the board of the Fed, he is taken into a secret room where his DNA is altered. Certain characteristics are imprinted. Now, he does not like inflation and hates deflation even more. He sees his role as making sure the financial market functions smoothly. He does not care about stock prices when thinking about rate cuts.

Then what was the reason for the cut if not stock prices? Why an inter-meeting cut much larger than the market was expecting next week, just seven days later? What was so urgent that we needed a shock and awe rate cut a week early?

I am not sure if panic is the right word, but I think very deep concern is also a little understated. It has to be something serious for an inter-meeting cut. Looking around for problems I came up with the following thoughts that I shared with investors and managers while here in Europe.
What Does the Fed Really Know? I believe the monoline insurance companies like Ambac and MBIA are in worse shape than most realize, the counter-party risk in the $45 trillion Credit Default Swap market is much worse than we realize, and the exposure by various banks to their problems is much larger than currently understood. The Fed understands this, and realizes that they have been behind the curve but need to catch up. Let's go back and look at this quote from my letter just last week: "If you are a bank or regulated entity, and you have mortgage-backed securities that have been written by a AAA monocline company, you can carry that debt on your books as AAA. But as the companies get downgraded, you have to write down the potential loss. Quoting from a recent note from Michael Lewitt:

" 'MBIA's total exposure to bonds backed by mortgages and CDOs was disclosed to be $30.6 billion, including $8.14 billion of holdings of CDO-squareds (CDOs that own other CDOs, or mortgages piled on top of mortgages, or, to quote Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park again, 'a big pile of s&*^'). MBIA was being priced as a weak CCC-rated credit when it issued its bonds last week; it is now being priced for a bankruptcy. MBIA's stock, which traded just under $68 per share last October, dropped another $3.50 this morning to under $10.00 per share. " 'The bond insurers' business model is irreparably broken. In HCM's view, it will be all but impossible for these companies to raise capital at economic levels for the foreseeable future and certainly in enough time to work out of their current difficulties. The performance of MBIA's 14 percent bond issue will prove to have been the death knell for this business. The market needs to come to the realization that the so-called insurance that these companies were offering is not going to be there if it is needed. The fact that these companies were rated AAA in the first place will remain one of the great puzzles of modern finance for years to come.' "You can bet that the $8 billion in CDO-squareds is gone. It is a matter of time. MBIA's market cap is about $1 billion [it is now at $1.74]. Current shareholders will be lucky if they only get diluted 75%."

Think this through. MBIA is still rated AAA. Ratings downgrades are just a matter of time. Banks that raised $72 billion to shore up capital depleted by subprime-related losses may require another $143 billion should credit rating firms downgrade bond insurers, according to analysts at Barclays Capital.

(to read the rest of the article, click here - you have to register your email address but then you'll get the word directly.)

John Mauldin, Best-Selling author and recognized financial expert, is also editor of the free Thoughts From the Frontline that goes to over 1 million readers each week. For more information on John or his FREE weekly economic letter go to: http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/learnmore

Bringing It Home

2008-01-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

You Can't Say You Weren't Warned

2008-01-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Panic Starts

Author: Jim Sinclair
Thursday, January 17, 2008, 5:45:00 PM EST

Dear CIGAs,

There is no doubt the Fed and the PPT are meeting right now. A drop of over 300 points on the Dow after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve speaks publicly presages a 1000 point break in the Dow Jones Industrial Average coming quite quickly, if not tomorrow.

Unless the equity markets can be calmed, a panic is about to happen, making the statement "This is it" a horrible reality.

If the equity markets cannot be calmed then:

Recognize this is the Formula happening like everything else much sooner and much bigger in its implications than anticipated.
Gold will rise to $1650 as an almost immediate effect of what will be done to attempt to fend off a total panic starting to take place in general equities, therein threatening to be followed by all credit markets of all kinds.
The funds and hotshot short term traders in gold shares will be killed by the upward explosion of the gold price about to occur.
The PPT and the Fed will step out of gold’s way because gold is one of the tools used in 1930 by Roosevelt and in 2000 by Bush. It will be used again now on the upside.
Gold is the only insurance there is against what all this means because a panic in equities will blow the financial system, already coming apart, to smithereens.
All country funds would shut down on any further investments in "at the wall" financial institutions.
The rollover in credit and default derivatives would exceed the entire foreign debt of the USA.
The rest of the $450 trillion dollar mountain of derivatives would start a disintegration like nothing you have every seen in your lifetime.
Consumer demand would slam shut.
The auto industry might as well go into liquidation this coming Monday, avoiding the June 2008 rush.
The US dollar would burn a hole in the floor going directly to .5200 or lower.
As the dollar disintegrates gold would rocket to and through $1650 in days.
The markets for general equities would all have to institute total trading halts every 100 points on the downside for 30 minutes each.
All commercial call loans would be called.
All debtors one day late on any payment, lacking grace period, would be liquidated. All debtors over one day of the grace period would be liquidated.
It is clearly visible to anyone with eyes or a mind to think that the PPT has lost all semblance of control in the equity markets and will soon in all remaining markets.
The commercial paper credit market which is almost dead will die totally.
Should no emergency action take place soon, you will see an old fashioned panic of the 1929 variety.
Just as emotional fools sell gold and gold shares, be assured that more emotional general equity fools will unload and bring the averages down more than ever in history in one day.
Recognize this is the Formula happening like everything else much sooner and much bigger in its implications than anticipated.
Emergency action will be all splash and theatrics but truthfully the cat is out of the bag. It buys some time but corrects nothing. It makes the Formula 100% correct.
There now must be EMERGENCY ACTION because the Chairman of the Fed has BOMBED OUT PUBLICLY and a PANIC is about to occur. Expect EMERGENCY ACTION in days, not weeks.

If you have not protected yourself, you may only have days to do so now.

Political Video Reaches New High

2008-01-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Bruce Woodside...

2008-01-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

for this great animation.

2007-12-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

From Tom at local station KBDI for your viewing pleasure:

Pat Robertson and I-35

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw6mfM_zJL8

George Carlin - This is hilarious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqJvhmD5Yg

Watch NO END IN SIGHT - Must See

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4145976883634269707&pr=goog-sl

The Wave - True Story

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4689717947890475769&q=%22the+wave%22&pr=goog-sl

Election Fix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky-YXvxYbck

Year's End

2007-12-23T21:27:00.001-07:00

The New Dollar, Same as The Old Dollar. Silver Dollar That Is

2007-12-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

In thinking about what our world will be like after the coming economic collapse, I have wondered what will become of our current paper as its value goes down. If you've ever shopped in Mexico, you may have suffered peso shock when the grocery bill was 500. Will we see that? Speculation has it that an new Amero will be foisted upon us, along with Canada and Mexico, as we build the North American Union. (I prefer, and wrote about in 1975, the United States of North America, USNA. 100 States in all.)

In the article below, Edgar J. Steele reveales a old-new possibility, he calls it the above-ground economy. What if we started using our old silver coins again. They are still legal tender, but much increased over face value.

Say you went to buy a new car, and with gold at $700 an ounce, you pay the dealer 50 Gold Eagles face value $2500 US Dollars. He accepts them because he knows that they are worth $35,000. (Expect a little shaving here.) The sale is recorded at $2500 and the license and tax ramifications are obvious.

Would you be happy accepting $200 per week for your services is you were paid with four US Gold Eagles (face value $50 each) worth $700 each? Income - $10,400 per year. Not bad as that will buy $72,800 worth of stuff.

Hey, it's like reverseing inflation. Now we can stick to them.

Can this be stopped? Read the article.

If you've been singing along with this blog and developed an interest in gold, silver, and the falling dollar, I urge you to read it. It's long and very lively. No pie in the sky. The change will be all about change!

Cramer with Ron Paul

2007-12-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Even if you are not fond of Jim Cramer, check out this video. Ron Paul in '08!

New Horizons

2007-12-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

Long suffering readers who do not know me personally may believe that I have interests only in gold, silver, war in Iran, Bush-bashing, etc.

I do, however, have other interests, for example podcasting. Although not a regular podcaster myself, I've been working with Dr. Dave over at www.shrinkrapradio.com for the past two years. I'm mostly been providing feedback, and in the process Dave and I have renewed our friendship over the Internet with the generous help of Skype, the Internet phone, which seems to lend itself to this sort of thing. I don't know if it's the headset, the fact that you can call any phone in the U.S. for a flat fee of $14.95 per year, or what, but it works well for us, and we are sure having fun.

Now Dave, always the entrepreneur, has branched into Internet talk radio. It's available live for call in or real-time chat Sundays at 10:00 am Pacific time. He asked me to participate in the first show which you can listen to here:

Spontaneous and unrehearsed as they say. But with a psychology/spirituality theme. Check us out and call in this Sunday if you have comments or questions.

Live, from the "bleeding" edge.

Watch Out, They are Starting to Snarl

2007-12-06T17:18:00.001-07:00

Who's Next?

2007-11-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

In answer to the recent rhetorical question, "Who's Next? to be tasered:

I Call Treason!

2007-11-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Scottie has spilled the beans on the cover-up of the treasonous act of outing Valerie Plame. Plain and simple.

Treason.

Time for Patrick Fitzgerald to get a new grand jury and go for the throat. Subpoena the lot. His investigation was never closed. Crank it up!

Bush and company must now be impeached.

Update: Talking heads afraid to make the call. Questioning whether or not Scottie really meant what he said. Oh, come on.

Worth Waking Up For

2007-11-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, that didn't last long. This stuff was too cool to pass up.

Why You Will Never Beat a Computer at Chess

What the Internets Are Feeling
(click on Open We Feel Fine in upper right upon arrival)

Hibernation

2007-11-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

Astounding News is going into hibernation. I've been so busy over at www.denverdirect.tv that I really haven't had time to be Astounded. I'm going to leave this site up for historical purposes, and who knows, I may just be Astounded in the future! Thanks for all your visits, and may we all keep on keeping on!

Jerry

Stop

2007-10-21T09:59:00.000-06:00

Sign the petition.

Right Brain, Left Brain

2007-10-12T08:29:00.000-06:00

Go here to test yourself. I found that by looking at her stationary foot I could get it to switch, although not under my conscious control.

Not New, But Still Amazing

2007-10-12T08:26:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Val for the tip.

I've Been Busy...

2007-10-05T05:28:00.001-06:00

Relaxing at the above undisclosed location. See you next week.

Who Is Next?

2007-09-19T20:17:00.000-06:00

Rev. Lennox Yearwood attacked, and hospitalized Part 1
For wearing a button - I love Iraqi people.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood attacked, and hospitalized Part 2

Keep rolling tape!

Expect More in the Future

2007-09-18T00:30:00.000-06:00

Don't Tase Me Bro'

It Can’t Happen Here (Can It?)

2007-09-15T22:34:00.000-06:00

Northern Rock, the mortgage bank rescued by the Bank of England last week, could see as much as L12 billion -- nearly half its deposits -- withdrawn by worried savers, experts say.

The run on the bank continued yesterday as police were called in to keep the peace when angry and desperate customers besieged branches across the country despite assurances from the Treasury and Bank of England that their savings were secure.

Branches due to close at midday opened until 2 pm, but many hundreds of people were still trying to get their money when the branches closed and minor scuffles and arguments broke out.

The Beginning of Hyper-Inflation

2007-09-14T18:10:00.000-06:00

Inflation is caused by increasing the money supply faster than increases in GDP (or value). Hyper-inflation is caused by manic increases in the money supply. Google it.

From today's Daily Reckoning,

Today comes word that the feds are bailing out the big banks as fast as their buckets allow. It is the biggest bailout in five years, say the reports...with big banks averaging about $2.7 billion per day in loans from the Fed. These injections of cash are said to be ‘forced’ by the Fed itself...rather that the result of desperation on the part of member banks. Still, recent estimates put the increase in U.S. money at nearly 50%, annualized.

Are you ready for prices to double in a year? You still have time. Buy real money.

Best 9/11 Movie to Date

2007-09-09T12:08:00.000-06:00

9/11: Press for Truth

Google Insures That No Work Will Ever Get Done

2007-09-04T16:11:00.000-06:00

Google Earth, that incredible mapping program, just introduced its Flight Simulator. Ctrl-Alt-A. See ya!

Gold Breaking Out? (Finally)

2007-09-04T13:12:00.001-06:00

On the way to $????.

Here We Go Again

2007-08-30T12:06:00.000-06:00

Too Good Not to Pass Along

2007-08-28T13:02:00.000-06:00

Snl_dontbuystuff

2007-08-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

If you haven't started your business in"Second Life", you may want to get started now.

Panspermia

2007-08-15T16:45:00.000-06:00

Prions are a very basic form of "life" just above the protein molecule. Prions cannot be destroyed: by heat, radiation or hitting with a stick. Comets (pictured above being hit by a 400 lb copper bullet we fired at it) are probably the horse we (life) rode in on.

Did Life Begin In Space? New Evidence From Comets

Science Daily

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and colleagues at the University's Centre for Astrobiology have long argued the case for panspermia - the theory that life began inside comets and then spread to habitable planets across the galaxy. A recent BBC Horizon documentary traced the development of the theory.
Now the team claims that findings from space probes sent to investigate passing comets reveal how the first organisms could have formed.
The 2005 Deep Impact mission to Comet Tempel 1 discovered a mixture of organic and clay particles inside the comet. One theory for the origins of life proposes that clay particles acted as a catalyst, converting simple organic molecules into more complex structures. The 2004 Stardust Mission to Comet Wild 2 found a range of complex hydrocarbon molecules - potential building blocks for life.
The Cardiff team suggests that radioactive elements can keep water in liquid form in comet interiors for millions of years, making them potentially ideal "incubators" for early life. They also point out that the billions of comets in our solar system and across the galaxy contain far more clay than the early Earth did. The researchers calculate the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet at one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against.
Professor Wickramasinghe said: "The findings of the comet missions, which surprised many, strengthen the argument for panspermia. We now have a mechanism for how it could have happened. All the necessary elements - clay, organic molecules and water - are there. The longer time scale and the greater mass of comets make it overwhelmingly more likely that life began in space than on earth."
The new paper, The Origin of Life in Comets, by Professor Wickramasinghe, Professor Bill Napier and Dr Janaki Wickramasinghe is to be published shortly by the International Journal of Astrobiology.

What Say Ye Now? (See Hoaxed below.)

2007-08-12T09:12:00.000-06:00

Update: 8/14/07 - Hoaxed?

Home Buyers Thrown Out, Bankers Rescued

2007-08-12T07:55:00.000-06:00

When you can’t pay, your stuff is tossed into the street. When banker’s can’t pay, the Fed steps in for the rescue.

"This is a one-in-a-100-year event in which there are extremely unusual correlations that no one prepared for," one banker warned. "We are in a situation where everyone is very scared."

And you thought your money market savings were safe:

For example, one European money market fund was closed after reportedly losing 30% of its value because it held commercial paper backed by subprime loans. Money market funds are of course supposed to be safe and without price risk. In other words, the principal one invests is not supposed to be diminished, and when shareholders decide to cash-out, everyone expects to receive their principal and interest because money markets funds only buy interest-bearing paper and not equities. But as the shareholders of this European money market fund have now found out, their fund's net asset value dropped substantially because the fund owned commercial paper backed by subprime mortgages. So the question arises, how many more money market funds around the globe are going to be infected by the growing subprime contagion because they own commercial paper backed by subprime loans?

Global Tsunami of Credit - Best Explanation to Date

2007-08-11T14:52:00.000-06:00

By way of GATA:

The Morning After the Open-Ended Bailout
By Michael Kosares
Centennial Precious Metals, Denver
http://www.usagold.com/Saturday, August 11, 2007

This time it IS different.

In past financial bailouts, the destruction was limited to one or two institutions. A group was put together in the private sector, or the central bank stepped in, and the troubled entity was bailed out.

When the Fed, the European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan moved last week to bail out the entire financial industry worldwide, they offered the equivalent of a credit card with no limit and subsidized rates 1 or 2 percent below what would have been the free-market rate had they not stepped in.

What's more, it was done on a global basis to the tune of hundreds of billions in "liquidity." Thus the central banks have set a dangerous precedent.

One of the points made repeatedly in the financial press today is that no one in the banking industry or the central banks knows the extent of the losses. Take it a step further and you have to assume that no one knows the extent of the ongoing bailout either.

The bailout could end up being open-ended -- AND without borders. All commercial banks and hedge funds around the world will feel that it is their birthright to be given unlimited credit -- and now, it appears, the central banks, as a matter of fairness, will be at their mercy.

When CNBC's Jim Cramer experienced a meltdown of his own on national television in the United States last week and actually screamed for a bailout by the Fed, he spoke for the financial industry as a whole. Most of the nation's trading rooms were nodding their heads and saying, "Give 'em hell, Jimmy!"

Now, in the heat of the moment, comes the bailout. As its open-ended nature begins to be recognized, we will see how the markets react -- the morning after.

What, for instance, will all this credit translate to in the real world, the real economy? This is a question that I am sure is being entertained right now at the meeting tables of the world's financial engineers.

But what the press has failed to point out in its treatment of the financial crisis is that the actions of the Fed, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan last week amount to printing money.

Money was created out of thin air. When you do this, it tends to force down the value of your currency against everyone else's. But wait a minute. Practically the WHOLE WORLD, not just the United States, is printing money to put the crisis at bay. How can the dollar go down against the euro when the people in charge of the euro are printing just as much currency as the people in charge of the dollar?

Where the rubber meets the road, the open-ended bailout may translate into a massive depreciation of the world's major currencies against goods and services globally.
In other words, chances are that the cost of living is about to erupt higher -- much higher than expected, and globally.

As a result, gold demand is likely to rise considerably, driven by safe-haven buying globally -- and gold supplies are already strained.

On the other side of the ledger, paper assets -- anything denominated in and linked directly to the major currencies being printed furiously -- will be seen as suspect. Will this inflation evolve into hyperinflation? Only time will tell. But the open-endedness of the bailout is troubling. Where do the central banks stop? Who, if anyone, is going to get cut off?

When no one knows how deep the damage is, there is no way to know how much money will need to be printed.

All this is the result of just one small sector of the massive derivatives market going haywire. There are similar time bombs buried all over the markets -- more bailouts to come now that the precedent has been set.

Real Money. You've still got time.

They're Honkin' For Impeachment In Kentucky

2007-08-11T14:24:00.001-06:00

Find a Honk-in near you.

Central Banks Pour Zeros Into Computers to Stem Market Turmoil

2007-08-10T15:13:00.000-06:00

If you have any interest in finance/investment you've probably noticed that yesterday the world's central banks started kicking in great wads of money "in order to provide liquidity." European, Asian, and US central banks, creators of "flying" money, (as the Chinese called it when they first invented paper money way back when), have announced the addition of approximately $300 billion worth of "liquidity".

I'm guessing that there is no printing going on here. These are all computer transfers of ones and zeros into "money market accounts" all living on computers. What it really means is that system banks can avail themselves of these funds at lower than usual interest rates. These banks pay interest to the central bankers (who got the money for free by merely adding zeros) and turn around and loan it out to us at a higher interest rate. The spread, or difference, is their gross profit. So we got the central bankers and the system bankers living off of our backs - instead of congress running the show as dictated by our Constitution.

Adding the zeroes is supposed to calm the money elite down, and to discourage them from "trying to get their money back" which would mean selling the "instruments" when nobody wants to buy. But the addition of zeroes diminishes the value of all of them, so increased liquidity actually means decreased value and you should be getting all "Mogambo" right about now because your dollars are shrinking in your wallet as we speak!

Why are we collectively paying this "inflation" tax to these small groups of thieves? Ron Paul promises to stop this theft, but most Americans can't really understand what is being done to them, or what needs to be stopped.

Hold On, Here We Go! (Click for article)

2007-08-09T15:57:00.001-06:00

ECB in €95bn move on market turmoil

By Gillian Tett in London, Richard Milne in Frankfurt and Krishna Guha in Washington
Published: August 9 2007 12:59

The European Central Bank scrambled to head off a potential financial crisis on Thursday by making an emergency injection of €94.8bn ($131bn) worth of funds into the region’s money markets, after signs that liquidity was drying up.

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

2007-08-08T08:15:00.000-06:00

China, holder of a vast store of US Dollars, has started to rattle our chain. Sale (even partial) of their holdings, mostly in US Treasury Bonds, could trigger a dollar collapse. Now they are hinting they might do just that if we don't behave.

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 9:54am BST 08/08/2007

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Just the Facts

2007-08-07T09:01:00.000-06:00

(Click to enlarge)

When Will They Unleash the Decider Dog?

2007-08-06T22:20:00.000-06:00

You can see the mean-spirited, toad-exploding, Decider Dog inside of GW. He’s getting ready to come out for the final act.

Well now, you were kinda hoping that Congress would save us from the Decider, eh? But now they’ve caved on FISA and you are not so sure.

Well, belly up to the bar here and have yourself a good read. I assure you the following book review will open your eyes to the fact that Congress and maybe even the courts will not be able to stop Decider Dog (appearing soon in a neighborhood near you).

Lundberg destroyed the popular myth of a government constrained by constitutional checks and balances. In fact, it can and repeatedly has done anything judged expedient, with or without popular approval, and within or outside the law of the land. In this respect, it's no different than most others able to operate the same way and often do. It's done through "the narrowest possible interpretations of the Constitution," but it's free to "operate further afield under broader or fanciful official interpretations" with history recording numerous examples.
...
A key point made is that "government is completely autonomous, detached, in a realm of its own" with its "main interest (being) economic (for the privileged) at all times." In pursuing this aim, "constitutional shackles and barriers (exist only) in the
imaginations of many people" believing in them. Regardless of law, custom or anything else, sitting US governments have always been freelancing. They've been unresponsive to the public interest, uncaring about the will and needs of the majority, and generally able to finesse or ignore the law with ease as suits their purpose. As Lundberg put it: "forget the mirage of government by the people," or the rule of law for that matter, with George Bush only being the most extreme example of how things work in Washington all the time under all Presidents. go read...

NoSo

2007-08-01T13:58:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've heard all about myspace, facebook, and other "social networking" sites. All web 2.0 cool and all of that.

Now comes NoSo. Check it out.

That Would Explain Quite a Few Things

2007-07-26T17:15:00.000-06:00

Report: Libby a long-time Israeli intelligence agent
by Wayne Madsen

Global Research, July 7, 2007

waynemadsenreport.com

Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby (Leibowitz) has been a long-serving intelligence agent for Israel's Mossad, according to a veteran CIA "official cover" officer who spoke to the Wayne Madsen Report on deep background. The CIA's Clandestine Service has, over the years, gathered a tremendous amount of intelligence on Libby's activities on behalf of Mossad.

Libby served as the lawyer for Switzerland- based American fugitive financier Marc Rich, aka Mark David Reich, who is also known to be an Israeli intelligence asset and someone Israel relies upon for missions that demand "plausible deniability" on the part of the Mossad. Rich heads up a worldwide empire of dummy corporations, foundations, and numbered bank accounts that have been involved in sanctions busting and weapons smuggling. The nations involved include Israel, United States, United Kingdom, Iran, Panama, Colombia, Russia, Iraq (under Saddam Hussein), Cuba, Spain, Nigeria, Singapore, Bolivia, Jamaica, Bermuda, France, Italy, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Ireland, Zambia, Sw
In 1983, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York urged jail time for Rich and his partner Pincus Green for racketeering. The name of that U.S. Attorney is Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, who is now running for president, praised Bush's decision to commute Libby's jail sentence. After Clinton 's pardon of Rich, Giuliani said he was "shocked." Paul Klebnikov, the Moscow editor for Forbes' Russian edition, wrote about the connections of Rich to Russian gangsters like Boris Berezovsky, a business partner of Neil Bush, in his book "Godfather of the Kremlin." Klebnikov was shot to death gangland-style on a Moscow street on July 9, 2004.

Libby not only provided the Mossad with a top agent inside the White House
but also an important conduit for the Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Libby arranged for Rich's eleventh hour pardon by outgoing President Bill
Clinton in January 2001. The pardon of Rich was urged in a phone call to Clinton
by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as well as Shimon Peres and Ehud
Olmert.

Yesterday, Libby received a commutation of his 30-month prison sentence from President George W. Bush. Libby was convicted on four counts of perjury, lying to a federal law enforcement officer, and obstruction of justice in the investigation by U.S. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald of the White House's leak to the media of the identity CIA non-official cover officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

Libby was denied bail by U.S. Judge Reggie Walton and was ordered to prison while appealing his sentence. Libby was assigned Bureau of Prisons inmate number 28301-016.

Libby worked for Paul Wolfowitz in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1982 to 1985. Libby again worked for Wolfowitz in the Pentagon as the Principal Undersecretary for Strategy and Resources. Libby later became the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and served as a chief aide to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

It was while Libby was working for Wolfowitz at State, the FBI arrested Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who had delivered enough highly-classified U.S. documents they could have entirely filled a garage. It was well known that Pollard had a "control officer" within the Reagan administration. The control officer was code-named "Mega."

Current British Lord Chancellor and former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that during Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, "It's a toss-up whether [Libby] is working for the Israelis or the Americans on any given day." Clinton 's Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Government Affairs Committee in 2001 that he discovered much more about Rich after Clinton 's pardon and said, "Knowing everything that I know now, I would not have recommended to the president that he grant the pardon."

It has also been reported that, in addition to pressure from leading neocons in the United States to keep Libby out of jail, Bush was urged by leading Israeli government officials to prevent Libby from going to prison.

Fitzgerald issued the following statement regarding Bush's commutation of
Libby's prison sentence: "We fully recognize that the Constitution provides
that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do
not comment on the exercise of that prerogative.
We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as 'excessive.' The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencing which occurs every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the
parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.
Although the President's decision eliminates Mr. Libby's sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process.

Wayne Madsen is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global
Research Articles by Wayne Madsen

Out in the Open

2007-07-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - A former Reagan official has issued a public warning that the Bush administration is preparing to orchestrate a staged terrorist attack in the United States, transform the country into a dictatorship and launch a war with Iran within a year.

Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, blasted Thursday a new Executive Order, released July 17, allowing the White House to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and giving the government expanded police powers to exercise control in the country.

Roberts, who spoke on the Thom Hartmann radio program, said: "When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order], there's no check to it. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule."

"The American people don't really understand the danger that they face," Roberts said, adding that the so-called neoconservatives intended to use a renewal of the fight against terrorism to rally the American people around the fading Republican Party.

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

2007-07-19T13:43:00.000-06:00

Or so says this article. Kind of explains why Bush doesn't think about him much anymore and why the CIA unit tasked with finding him was disbanded in 2006.

Update: 7/20/07

Unintended Consequences

2007-07-16T15:58:00.000-06:00

You've undoubtedly heard about Obama Girl

Now what about Hot 4 Hill?

Not so much.

What's a candidate to do? The keepers of the media keys are lost ... the gates are breached.

Impeachment

2007-07-14T19:13:00.000-06:00

The drumbeat is getting louder

Watch the whole Bill Moyers show here.

Why Don't They Report the Good Things Happening in Iraq?

2007-07-06T16:35:00.000-06:00

From Just Foreign Policy

Followers of Moqtada Al Sadr Thursday joined a growing chorus of Sunni, Kurdish, and Shiite opposition to a draft oil law backed by Washington, AFP reports. Sadr's supporters said that they would not support any law that would allow firms "whose governments are occupying Iraq" to sign Iraqi oil deals.

At least 12 ministers from the 38-member cabinet are no longer attending cabinet meetings, the New York Times reports. Seventy-four members of Parliament are boycotting the 275-member body, which, when combined with the members who rarely attend anyway, means that Parliament often lacks a quorum and cannot do any official business. Although Parliament can pass legislation without the Sunni bloc, it would be a hollow exercise, because the whole point of the bills now under consideration is to try to heal differences between the Sunni Arab minority and the Shiite majority.

Don't Make Me Have to Shoot You

2007-07-05T14:19:00.000-06:00

Usually I keep my DenverDirect.tv videos separate from this site. But I'm making an exception for a video I shot in Denver on July 4th - Operation First Casualty conducted by the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Help me spread this by embedding the YouTube info in any site you can. Thanks.

Real Estate Meltdown: You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

2007-07-02T13:38:00.000-06:00

Michael Moore in Denver on "SiCKO"

2007-06-25T13:51:00.000-06:00

Check out my "local" blog, DenverDirect, for videos of Michael Moore on healthcare in the U.S. and his new movie "SiCKO".

Abolish the Federal Reserve

2007-06-22T13:31:00.000-06:00

Actual art work (Barrels of Money) hanging at the Federal Reserve Building in D.C.

Ron Paul has sponsored a bill that would abolish the Federal (Private) Reserve (None) Bank (Cabal). This would return the power to issue currency to Congress, where it is supposed to reside (Constitution).

Everything would change.

H.R. 2755 to Abolish the Federal Reserve

Pink Boys in Hell (Coming Soon)

2007-06-17T14:42:00.000-06:00

Special Counsel Probe Into Rove’s Politicization Of Government Advances

The Office of Special Counsel, which has already recommended that GSA chief Lurita Doan be suspended or fired for participating in partisan activities while on the job, is now moving forward with its investigation of nearly 20 other administration agencies.

Eighteen agencies have been asked by the Office of Special Counsel to preserve electronic information dating back to January 2001 as part of its governmentwide investigation into alleged violations of the law that limits political activity in federal agencies.

The OSC task force investigating the claims has asked agencies, including the General Services Administration, to preserve all e-mail records, calendar information, phone logs and hard drives going back to the beginning of the Bush administration. The task force is headed by deputy OSC special counsel James Byrne.

The White House has admitted that roughly 20 agencies have received a PowerPoint briefing created by Karl Rove’s office “that included slides listing Democratic and Republican seats the White House viewed as vulnerable in 2008, a map of contested Senate seats and other information on 2008 election strategy.”

Politicization of the federal government has been illegal for decades. The 1939 Hatch Act specifically prohibits partisan campaign or electoral activities on federal government property, including federal agencies.

Ed and Elaine Brown (update)

2007-06-17T11:12:00.000-06:00

Remember Randy Weaver at Ruby Hill?

He's on his way to visit the Browns

Plainfield

Ruby Ridge figure coming to Browns
Standoff survivor to advise tax protesters

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 16. 2007 9:30AM

Plainfield, meet Ruby Ridge.

Randy Weaver, who survived a standoff with U.S. marshals in Idaho that claimed the lives of his wife and son, is driving to New Hampshire this weekend to advise Ed and Elaine Brown on how to manage their own conflict with the marshal service.

"If it helps, I'm more than willing to do it," Weaver said on an internet radio show this week.

The Browns, who have been holed up in their Plainfield home for nearly five months, say that any attempt to arrest them will result in bloodshed. The couple has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for a series of crimes related to their nonpayment of federal income taxes. (continue reading)

Just Foreign Policy News

2007-06-12T17:28:00.000-06:00

Would you like to get an email everyday with a concise wrap-up of foreign policy news like this?

U.S./Top News
1) The top American military commander for the Middle East warned Iraq's prime minister that the Iraqi government needs to make tangible political progress - including passage of the controversial oil law - by next month to counter the growing tide of opposition to the war in Congress, the New York Times reports.

2) Despite the recent U.S. military buildup in Baghdad, "civilian casualties continue to mount" in Iraq, according to a report released Monday by U.N. Secretary General Ban, the Washington Post reports.

3) US officials in Baghdad and Washington are floating the idea of permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, notes Howard LaFranchi in the Christian Science Monitor. But many Iraq and Middle East experts warn that any plan for permanent bases would cement the US image in Iraq and the region as that of an occupying force.

4) Once support for a war is lost, it is gone for good; there is no example of a modern democracy having changed its mind once it turned against a war, writes Christopher Fettweis of the U.S. Naval War College in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. So we ought to start coming to grips with the meaning of losing in Iraq.

5) Adm. Mullen, the Bush administration's nominee for chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "probably would seek political solutions to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the Washington Post reports.

6) Senator Lieberman's call for cross-border raids into Iran, reigniting the let's-bomb-Iran discussions, is undercutting the recently initiated U.S.-Iran talks over Iraq, writes Trita Parsi of NIAC.

7) Male U.S. veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as men with no military service, the Washington Post reports.

Iran
8) IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, warned Iran and the U.S. their yearlong stalemate over Iran's nuclear activities was turning into a "brewing confrontation" that he said "urgently needs to be defused," the New York Times reports.

9) NATO's top general said Iran "might be" aiding the Taliban, AP reports. [The Philadelphia Inqurier ran the AP article under the headline, "NATO General Says Iran Secretly Aiding Taliban," although, according to the article, that's not what he said. -JFP]

Iraq
10) The Iraqi Parliament approved a resolution forcing the resignation of the speaker, the New York Times reports.

11) Muqtada al-Sadr is reasserting authority over his movement, McClatchy News reports. A top Sadr aide said Sadr had replaced 11 local leaders of his movement.

12) The buildup of U.S. troops in Baghdad is failing, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Ban, Bloomberg reports.

Egypt
13) Egyptian security forces barred voters from entering polling centers in opposition areas during national elections, the Washington Post reports. In areas loyal to President Mubarak's National Democratic Party, voters surged into polling sites, including some who appeared to be underage.

Ethiopia
14) An Ethiopian court found 38 prisoners guilty of charges ranging from "outrage against the constitution" to aggravated high treason in a trial international human rights groups have roundly condemned, the Washington Post reports. Relatives of the prisoners accused the U.S. of failing to pressure the Ethiopian government on behalf of the prisoners because of the Ethiopian government's support for U.S. policy in Somalia.

Latin America
15) Last month Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua announced they would withdraw from the World Bank's international arbitration body, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, notes Just Foreign Policy president Mark Weisbrot in International Business Times. Bolivia's position is that ICSID can not be an impartial arbitrator so long as it is part of the World Bank.

Go here for this excellent free service.

Oh No - I Just Blew Away My Old Template

2007-06-08T19:43:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the mess. I'll be re-building some of the old features as time permits.

How to Opt Out of Yahoo's Web Beacons

2007-06-08T19:17:00.000-06:00

Apparently Yahoo has a new way of keeping track of us - Web Beacons. I followed the instructions and Opted Out.

Ed and Elaine Brown (update)

2007-06-08T18:34:00.000-06:00

Two good video interviews from the Ed Brown myspace page.

Flash!

2007-06-07T17:14:00.001-06:00

Ed and Elaine Brown, New Hampshire tax resisters, have been surrounded by Federal, State and local police swat teams. Alex Jones claims the Revolution has started.

Starting to be covered by local press, but they are being kept away.

Previous Fox report.

Ballot Blox

2007-06-04T08:06:00.000-06:00

from Greg Palast by way of Smirking Chimp..

President Bush carried Ohio, Iowa, and New Mexico in 2004 because vast numbers of ballots cast by minorities for John Kerry in those states were never counted, an investigative reporter says.

In New Mexico, which Bush won by 5,988 votes, 33,981 ballots were not counted; in Iowa, which Bush won by 10,059 votes, 36,811 ballots were not counted; and in Ohio, which Bush won by 118,599 votes, a whopping 239,127 ballots were not counted.

...

As for absentee ballots, in Arapahoe County, Colorado, three times more absentee ballots mailed to Democrats "failed to return" as compared to Republican ballots. As for those that were returned, a total of 526,426 absentee ballots from around the nation were received but not counted, Palast said. And guess what? In strong Kerry precincts, "voters were 265% more likely to have their absentee ballots tossed out than voters in Bush-majority precincts."

(Click on title for full story)

Worse Than You Think

2007-06-01T17:39:00.000-06:00

Have you noticed that when you think something is bad, and then you find out more about it later, it's always worse than you think?

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny." from DallasNews.com (click title)

Impeach Gonzales (First)

2007-05-30T16:29:00.000-06:00

Remembrance of Things Past

2007-05-25T09:29:00.000-06:00

For those of you who want to probe the past, Ancestry.com has opened their files for a limited time (June 6) to search military records. You will have to register (guest) to see the actual documents, but it is well worth it. Even if your relatives never actually served in the military, they probably had to register.

Earth is a Rube

2007-05-23T16:56:00.000-06:00

Are we all dupes? I don't watch American Idol and I really got tired of that Sanjaya guy, but what if this is true? Double dupe!

Heaven is A Cube

2007-05-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

When my father was dying of prostate cancer spreading to his bones, Pastor Birner, our long-time minister in the Lutheran faith, came to visit. The family gathered in our parents bedroom, where Dad lived his last days.

Birner read from the Bible, Revelations 21:16.

21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

A furlong is 1/8 of a mile so that would be a cube 1500 miles on a side. Heaven is a giant cube.
Now some say the Bible (especially Revelations) is not to be taken literally. But if that’s true than what about the famous Water Into Wine episode? Maybe it was just red water.

I say this Revelation is to be taken literally. A giant cube 1500 miles on a side – floating in space. Crammed with billions of souls. Not good.

I always thought heaven was all of the universe, with the souls zooming along through giant rivers of plasma, streaming from one galaxy to the next. This little cube, about the size of the western US, seems very restricting. Why would god want to wall off all the good souls in a tiny cube?

Speaking of heaven (by way of a very well written blog – The Human Race & Other Sports)

The most recent good news from the Vatican was Pope Benedict XVI’s approval of a
Vatican report released April 20 by the International Theological Commission that said there were “serious” grounds to hope that unbaptized children might get into heaven. Prior to this report it was believed that unbaptized children went to a place called “limbo”. Theologians (none of whom, I have it on good authority, has ever visited) describe “limbo” as a place where children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness. It almost certainly has enough teeter-totters and swings for everyone as well as cotton candy, lemonade, computer games and all the other things children enjoy. According to those in the know, the only thing lacking in limbo is communion with God which in the vernacular means the children there have no adult supervision, a condition that most of the children would find very much to their liking and in many cases probably comports with their idea of heaven.

If the International Theological Commission in its continuing studies of this issue concludes that the unbaptized can go straight to heaven without passing limbo and that view becomes church doctrine, there are two obvious questions. Will the new policy be retroactive and will there be an age or geographical cutoff?

With respect to the first question, it seems likely that in the divine order of things there are a certain number of unbaptized infants who die each year and if they are now permitted to enter heaven, their entry will occur in an orderly fashion. Those presently in limbo present an entirely different problem. There are surely billions of unbaptized infants cavorting about in unsupervised perfect happiness in limbo. Although all may not want to leave their perfectly happy state, others may welcome the chance to get to heaven which, even though none of them as been able to visit it, almost certainly enjoys as good a reputation in limbo as it enjoys here on earth. If billions decide all at once that they want to go to heaven, the question is can heaven accommodate what might be described in today’s parlance as a “surge”.

The second question is whether there is an age or geographical cutoff for invocation of the dispensation. At what age does failure to be baptized become an offense that
warrants limbo or, worse yet, hell, and is there consideration of where the child is located geographically. It is a lot easier to get baptized in Manhattan than in a remote village in Tibet. Those are questions that I, being a columnist and not a theologian, cannot hope to answer. I suspect the Vatican will appoint yet another commission with an appropriate Latin moniker to study the question and make appropriate recommendations to the Pope. The children in limbo as well those still on earth will eagerly await its conclusions.

Say hello to all the new babies, Dad. I hope it isn't too crowded up there.

The New "It"

2007-05-18T14:46:00.000-06:00

Ever hear of the "It" girl? Google it yourself if you haven't.

My premise: There is a new web "it". It's a human connection over the internet. Hard to define, easy to recognize, and rare.

This lady has it. You may have seen her in the little "Take your mind off it." video to the left. Watch her sing a song or two and then check out her "it".

Update: As usual, I'm a bit behind. Catch up with Ysabella Brave - the true story - here.

You in a Tube (click here for more)

2007-05-08T17:07:00.000-06:00

2007-05-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

The Dow Is Crashing! A Story in Pictures by Mike Maloney

For your convenience, this article is written in three parts. You can skip down the page to any part by clicking these links

The Dow Is Crashing – Part 2 Call The Cops… We've Been Robbed!

The Dow Is Crashing – Part 3 Swimming With The Tide

On October 4th 2006, the Dow broke its old high of 11,750 set back on January 14th 2000, and from then on all you heard from the financial press was "Dow sets a new, all time, record high"… at least that's all you heard until the correction on February 27th, 2007.

I just don't get it. How can anyone at this point in time (including the financial press) believe they are actually making gains being invested in general equities? On February 20th, the Dow hit its "brand new, all time, record high" of 12,795, and at the writing of this article hovers at 12,560, 6.9% above its 2000 high.

A 6.9% gain over the entire 7-year period… hasn't anyone heard of inflation? Don't investors know that if their portfolio doesn't outpace inflation they are actually losing ground?

The Dow is actually crashing, but if you have not yet educated yourself on the insidious ravages that inflation can have on your portfolio, you can't see it. This is a blind spot investors must be mindful of, and guard against, if they are to prosper.

Anytime that it looks like everything is going up, stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, and virtually every kind of investment there is, you have to stop and ask yourself, "why?" The only reason the Dow looks like it is going up is because the Fed has pumped so many more dollars into the currency supply, that all asset classes are rising.

Under these conditions, the only way to see where true value lies is to eliminate the dollar from the equation… you have to measure each asset class, not with the dollar, but against another asset class. continue reading with lots of graphs

No Exit

2007-05-01T08:53:00.000-06:00

Published on Monday, April 30, 2007
by The San Francisco Chronicle

Why There Was No Exit Plan
by Dan Hamburg

There are people in Washington … who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq and they’re looking for 10, 20, 50 years in the future … the reason that we went into Iraq was to establish a permanent military base in the Gulf region, and I have never heard any of our leaders say that they would commit themselves to the Iraqi people that 10 years from now there will be no military bases of the United States in Iraq

former President Jimmy Carter, Feb. 3, 2006.

For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again.

There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire. As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, “One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn’t intend to leave.”

The United States maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries across the globe. They exist for the purpose of defending the economic interests of the United States, what is euphemistically called “national security.” In order to secure favorable access to Iraq’s vast reserves of light crude, the United States is spending billions on the construction of at least five large permanent military bases throughout that country.

A new Iraq oil law, largely written by the Coalition Provisional Authority, is planned for ratification by June. This law cedes control of Iraq’s oil to western powers for 30 years . There is major opposition to the proposed law within Iraq, especially among the country’s five trade union federations that represent hundreds of thousands of oil workers. The United States is working hard to surmount this opposition by appealing directly to the al-Maliki government in Iraq.

The attack upon, and subsequent occupation of, Iraq can be seen as a direct result of the 2001 National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as vice president Cheney’s energy task force) that was comprised largely of oil and energy company executives. This task force — the proceedings of which have been kept secret by the administration on the grounds of “executive privilege” — recommended that the U.S. government support initiatives in Middle Eastern countries “to open up areas of their energy sector to foreign investment.” As Antonio Juhasz, an analyst with Oil Change International wrote last month in the New York Times, “One invasion and a great deal of political engineering by the Bush administration later, this is exactly what the proposed Iraq oil law would achieve.”

The people of the United States have indicated, in the national election last November and in countless polls, that they no longer support the Bush administration’s war. The Scooter Libby trial revealed that top administration officials, including the vice president, “cherry-picked” and distorted intelligence in order to sell a “pre-emptive” war to a spooked public. The squandering of hundreds of billions of dollars, some billions of which, according to Seymour Hersh writing in the New Yorker, is being siphoned into “black-ops” programs being run out of Cheney’s office (a stunning redux of Iran-Contra carried out by many of the same actors), has also strained the patience and credulity of the American people.

Another betrayal is the “contracting out” of “war-related activities” to corporations such as Halliburton, Bechtel, Chemonics and Blackwater. Halliburton, Vice President Cheney’s previous employer, calls itself an “energy services company” but has tentacles reaching into nearly every aspect of the war (originally dubbed Operation Iraqi Liberation until some bright bulb among the Bushies realized that “OIL” might not be the best handle for this venture). Halliburton has also profited handsomely from no-bid government contracts awarded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the construction at the national embarrassment known as “Gitmo,” and most recently, from the fiasco at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, all this corruption, mayhem and death are good for some (or it wouldn’t go on).

The U.S. military budget, larger than the military budgets of the rest of the world’s nations combined, continues skyward, even without all the “supplementals” passed regularly by Congress to fight the “war on terror.”

The question we must ask as citizens is this: Is the United States a democratic republic or an empire? History demonstrates that it’s not possible to be both.

Dan Hamburg, a former U.S. representative, is executive director of Voice of the Environment.

It's Like the '60s, Only Different

2007-04-26T08:45:00.000-06:00

At an Anti-War Demonstration in Denver, 2005

(click to watch vidie)

Be Moved

2007-04-19T21:26:00.000-06:00

I've often wondered when these new media will start to be used in more powerful ways. To me, the secret of film and video is that it can permeate your brain and cause you to have emotions. These emotions can help bring new ideas to more cortical areas and move you to decision and action.

It is with this in mind that I refer you to the VoteVets.org project. In conjuction with MoveOn.org, they selected 23 videographers to each produce a 2-min vidi of a military/family person expressing themselves.

I was fortunate to have been asked to participate and to be paired up with Pamela Osborne. Rather than just embed our work here, use this link to the gallery. You will be moved.

Down and Down It Goes (US$ Index)

2007-04-17T07:47:00.000-06:00

The Day the Bees Stood Still

2007-04-15T07:37:00.000-06:00

Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?

Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

Plunge Protection Team in Action

2007-04-13T10:56:00.000-06:00

Look Out Below

2007-04-13T08:26:00.001-06:00

The dollar is sliding towards the edge again this morning.

2007-04-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

Go here to sign up.

New 9/11 Movie Focuses on Cheney

2007-04-06T12:34:00.000-06:00

If you've watched the 9/11 movies you are probably already convinced that the buildings were demolished. Now the nagging story of Cheney hunched down in the White House Secret Bunker, getting the reports of how close "the plane" was, finally gets full exposure here. A full 4 stars out of 4.

Justice for 9/11

Thank You Josh Wolf

2007-04-05T08:52:00.000-06:00

Thank you Josh Wolf. Thank you for not caving in to unreasonable government demands. Thank you for your sacrifice in spending 244 days in jail. Thank you for being articulate and accurate. Thank you for posting your original video footage to the public. And most of all, thank you for having your video camera running.

Roll tape!

Run-Up

2007-03-31T17:13:00.000-06:00

Iran

It’s strange how this “run-up to war” thing happens. Usually we forget, from one war to the next, how it felt the time before. But this time it's recent and we can still remember the run-up to Iraq.

Cheney, aka Stentman, his brain regularly deprived of sufficient oxygen and consequently running in reptile mode, directs his secret government to ready the engines of war. Build-up of bunker busters, securing of necessary foreign bases, clandestine cross-border maneuvers, CIA financing of internal anti groups, and now kidnappings on both sides. The precursors are rolling in. Writers begin predicting, and heavy armament, aircraft carriers and missle ships, begin to move into position. You can almost hear the dull thrub across the land.

Bush is getting ready himself. He is reported to be having daily “end-time” religious instruction in the White House. Great pressure is building domestically, but he’s not paying attention, really. Fredo can speak for himself. Rove is getting down in public. All hell is breaking loose, but God and the meds make it seem far away.

Bush is starting to get that look, head thrust forward, squinty eyes darting from left to right, trying to surpress that heh-heh sadistic chortle. He’s peeved that nobody likes anything he does, but God has told him he’s right, and he knows what’s coming. That’s ‘cause He’s going to make it happen thru him, Bush, and Iraq will look like a comma in history.

That is, a comma before the run-up to WWIII.

It seems unstoppable. The following article puts the pieces together all too well.

Easter Surprise: Attack on Iran, New 9/11… or Worse
by Heather Wokusch
www.dissidentvoice.org
March 29, 2007

The Bush administration continues moving closer to a nuclear attack on Iran, and we ignore the obvious buildup at our peril.

Russian media is sounding alarms. In February, ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Shirinovsky warned that the US would launch a strike against Tehran at the end of this month. Then last week, the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti (RIA-Novosti) quoted military experts predicting the US will attack Iran on April 6th, Good Friday. According to RIA-Novosti, the imminent assault will target Iranian air and naval defense capabilities, armed forces headquarters as well as key economic assets and administration headquarters. Massive air strikes will be deployed, possibly tactical nuclear weapons as well, and the Bush administration will attempt to exploit the resulting chaos and political unrest by installing a pro-US government.

Sound familiar? It's Iraq Déjà vu all over again, and we know how well that war has gone.

Seymour Hersh has published numerous articles in The New Yorker detailing the Bush administration's plans to invade Iran. Must read on ...

No Overlap (but if they stay, that will make 3)

2007-03-31T15:48:00.000-06:00

US carrier deploys amid Iran tensions
Fri Mar 30, 12:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will sail Monday to support US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Navy said, amid a spike in tensions over Iran's seizure of 15 British marines and sailors.

The Nimitz, and its battle group of destroyers and guided missile cruisers, will relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which this week took part in war games exercises in the Gulf with another carrier, USS John S Stennis.

The new battle group will be in position by late-to-mid April, but there will be no overlap with the Eisenhower, and the number of US carriers in the area would stay at two, a navy official said on condition of anonymity.

"If anything, there would be a point where there is only one in the region," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

The Stennis and the Eisenhower wound down their show of force involving 15 warships in the Gulf on Thursday.

The two carrier deployment in the Gulf was the highest level US naval presence in the key strategic channel since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The Nimitz will support operations in Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan, the navy said in a press release.

The Stennis had been operating in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea but entered Gulf waters on Tuesday, escorted by the guided-missile carrier USS Antietam, the Fifth Fleet said.

Now That's Pretty Damned Specific!

2007-03-26T20:51:00.000-06:00

by way of Rense.com

Sneak Attack By US Forces On Iran Planned
- Russian Military Sources Warn

General Ivashov Calls For Emergency Session Of
UN Security Council To Ward Off Looming US Aggression
By Webster G. Tarpley
3-25-7

WASHINGTON DC -- The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly "Argumenty Nedeli." Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.

The attack is slated to last for twelve hours, according to Uglanov, lasting from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.

The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and the for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out. Read more...

Hi Ho Silver, Away!

2007-03-24T23:24:00.000-06:00