2012-12-14

168 Pakistan Children Killed by U.S. Drone Strikes over the Last Seven Years



This count as of August 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8695679/168-children-killed-in-drone-strikes-in-Pakistan-since-start-of-campaign.html

"Just one in 50 victims of America’s deadly drone strikes in Pakistan are terrorists – while the rest are innocent civilians, a new report claimed today.
/
And the authors lay much of the blame on the use of the ‘double-tap’ strike where a drone fires one missile – and then a second as rescuers try to drag victims from the rubble
/
 Investigators also discovered that communities living in fear of the drones were suffering severe stress and related illnesses. Many parents had taken their children out of school because they were so afraid of a missile-strike.

Every reported U.S. drone strike from 2002-2012
"I've been tweeting for 12 hours and we're only at March 2010."
https://twitter.com/dronestream

Barrosso Channels Clemenceau


"The next elections must not serve as a pretext for putting in doubt how indispensable these measures are,"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9732586/Barroso-Italy-elections-must-not-stop-reform-drive.html
 

"The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
 

2012-12-13

Retail Sales Rebound and Initial Claims Decrease?

“We’re off to a fairly strong holiday-spending season,” said Millan Mulraine, senior U.S. strategist for TD Securities in New York.
Bloomberg Pumps a Whole Lot of Nothing





Covered employment, those employed that are eligible to file for unemployment benefits:
7/7/2001:     128,116,562
11/17/2012: 128,066,082
http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp

Eleven years later and there are less employed that are eligible to file for unemployment insurance. Widely stated estimates for new entrants into the US workforce put that number at 1.8 million per year. 1.8 million times 11 = 19.8 million workers unaccounted for and missing.
 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadion Slaski, Chorzów, Poland Full Concert 2007.07.03

Red Hot Chili peppers Live at Slane Castle Full Concert

Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged Full Show

2012-12-10

Gérard Depardieu



has fled France's 75% income tax and moved to the bucolic tax shelter Belgian border town of Néchin. In 2011, Mr. Depardieu urinated in the aisle of an Air France flight forcing the plane to turn back.
http://www.france24.com/en/20121210-gerard-depardieu-tax-shelter-belgium-france-wealth-hollande-nechin

2012-12-04

The State Department's Top Pick for Cultural Ambassador to Bahrain

"[H]e had said earlier that the State Department had asked him to be a cultural ambassador to Bahrain, a religiously conservative Muslim country, “promoting music, freedom and positive party power.” "


 [Warning: the longest 2 minutes and 29 seconds of your life]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xxFegl6JvY
 

2012-12-02

Initial Impression - a Vague Idea in Which Some Confidence is Placed Based on a First Look, a Cursory Glance






Change You Can Believe In



MEXICO CITY (AP) - Enrique Pena Nieto took the oath of office as Mexico's new president Saturday vowing to restore peace and security and take on the vested interests that have hindered economic prosperity.
/
Pena Nieto marked the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
/
"Mexico has not achieved the advances that the population demands or deserves," Pena Nieto said in an inaugural speech
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20121202/DA2TC0Q02.html

Newly elected President Nieto's party, the PRI, held power from 1929 until 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_Revolutionary_Party

2012-11-28

Christ. Seven Years of College Down the Drain. Might as Well Join the Fucking Peace Corps.

 
 
 

"[D]oes this mean that the prospects for student loan delinquencies are similar to those for the household debt in general, and thus no special attention is warranted? Unfortunately, this is not the case—some special accounting used for student loans, not applicable to other types of consumer debt, makes it likely that the delinquency rates for student loans are understated.
/
From this exercise, we find that as many as 47 percent of student loan borrowers appear to be in deferral or forbearance periods, and thus did not have to make payments as of third-quarter 2011. Specifically, 17.6 percent of borrowers had exactly the same balance in the third quarter as in the second quarter of this year, and 29.1 percent increased their overall student loan balance by taking on new originations or accruing interest to the balance.

We then recalculate the proportion of borrowers with a past due balance excluding this group of borrowers. We find that 27 percent of the borrowers have past due balances, while the adjusted proportion of outstanding student loan balances that is delinquent is 21 percent—much higher than the unadjusted rates of 14.4 percent and 10 percent, respectively
http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2012/03/grading-student-loans.html

2012-11-23

Who Shot First?





[G]eneral Dayan interrupted: ''Never mind that. After all, I know how at least 80 percent of the clashes there started. In my opinion, more than 80 percent, but let's talk about 80 percent. It went this way: We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance farther, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was.''
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/11/world/general-s-words-shed-a-new-light-on-the-golan.html

2012-11-19

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Speaks




Speaking in Thailand Sunday, President Obama defended Israel's counter-assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip by saying, "There's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.
/
That is a very interesting thing to say at a time when the U.S. is regularly raining missiles down on Pakistan and Yemen.
http://reason.com/blog/2012/11/19/no-country-on-earth-would-tolerate-missi

Lloyd Continues Doing God's Work



BLANKFEIN: You're going to have to undoubtedly do something to lower people's expectations -- the entitlements and what people think that they're going to get, because it's not going to -- they're not going to get it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57552173/goldman-sachs-ceo-entitlements-must-be-contained/




Income inequality in the US is higher than Russia and equal to China


Wages paid as percent of GDP


 

2012-11-16

Marc Faber


"I keep in my toilet a picture of Mr. Bernanke. And every time I think about selling my gold,
I look at it and I know better!"



From the link below:

"Our analysis leads us to believe that recovery is sound only if it does come of itself. For any revival which is merely due to artificial stimulus leaves part of the work of the depressions undone and adds, to an undigested remnant of maladjustments, new maladjustments of its own."
oseph Schumpeter

"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt."
John Adams


Marc Faber

Amman Jordan


— Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets on Friday
/
The unrest began late on Tuesday after the government raised prices for cooking and heating gas by 54 percent and some oil derivatives by up to 28 percent. In response, thousands of Jordanians poured into the streets, pelting riot police with stones and torching police cars, government offices and private banks in the largest and most sustained protests to hit the country since the start of the region's uprisings nearly two years ago.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/16/jordan-king-rally/1708985/

 

2012-11-15

No Love für Deutschland

The protests began peacefully enough in Brussels, but the situation deteriorated as eggs were thrown at the Geman embassy in the Belgian capital.
http://www.euronews.com/2012/11/15/demonstrations-turn-to-disorder-in-europe/

In Thessaloniki:


Protesters heckled and threw coffee at Germany's consul to Thessaloniki over civil service layoffs, local officials said on Thursday, forcing riot police to intervene.
The protesters flung water and coffee at consul Wolfgang Hoelscher-Obermaier on the sidelines of a conference on Greek-German trade initiatives, police said.
"Stand united to kick out the Nazis," some of the protesters chanted.
Other members of the German delegation were pelted with eggs by the group that numbered around 300 people, according to police.
Officers moved in to extricate the consul from the crowd, but nobody was injured and no arrests were made, the police said
http://www.france24.com/en/20121115-greek-protesters-throw-coffee-german-consul

Silvio chimes in: "The data after a year of technocratic government is disastrous and so I think there absolutely has to be a change in this economic policy imposed on us by Europe and above all by the hegemony of Germany." Berlusconi told reporters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-italy-monti-poll-idUSBRE8AF0YK20121116

2012-11-13

Banned in Germany...for some reason

Five minute video produced by two Portuguese citizens intended for public view in Germany and released to coincide with Merkel's Portugal visit is banned for "political reasons."

 

2012-10-08

Two Suicides of Those on the "Lagarde List"

Greek Government "Loses" List of Tax Evaders





"[T]he parliament has ordered a full inquiry into how the list slipped through their fingers. It was supplied two years ago by the-then French finance minister Christine Lagarde who, as IMF boss today, is one of Greece’s lead creditors."
Can't Fool the Fatman
 
Greek government chief found hanged
A former government official has been found hanged at his home in central Greece.
Leonidas Tzanis, 57, a former socialist politician and deputy interior minister from 1999 to 2001, was found dead by his wife in the town of Volos, said a police official.
The official said Mr Tzanis's death is being treated as suicide but no suicide note has been found.
Mr Tzanis was on a list of 36 politicians that a local website claimed were allegedly under investigation by Greece's financial police.
An official with knowledge of the probe said Mr Tzanis had been under investigation following an anonymous tip-off but no indication of wrongdoing has emerged.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gAF6YVg7ntOD4VB1aM02k4ecUn6w?docId=N0051191349379242557A

A Greek businessman who had been accused of being part of the bribery and money laundering network involving former Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who is in jail on charges of stealing as much as $1.29 billion from defense contracts has been found dead in a hotel room in Jakarta, Indonesia.
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/10/08/businessman-in-tsochatzopoulos-case-found-dead/

2012-10-05

Ben & Barry's Funky Chunky Monkey Recovery





...[f]oodstamp usage for both persons and households, has jumped to a new all time record.
/
More disturbing is that in the same month, the number of US households reliant on foodstamps rose by a whopping 99,493 to 22,541,744.
/
Finally, and putting it all into perspective, since December 2007, or the start of the Great Depression ver 2.0, the number of jobs lost is 4.5 million, while those added to foodstamps and disability rolls, has increased by a unprecedented 21 million.

Ben and Barry's Chunky Monkey Recovery
















2012-10-04

Greek Government "Loses" List of Tax Evaders



"[T]he parliament has ordered a full inquiry into how the list slipped through their fingers. It was supplied two years ago by the-then French finance minister Christine Lagarde who, as IMF boss today, is one of Greece’s lead creditors."
Can't Fool the Fatman


 

World Food Prices at 2008 Crisis Levels


FAO's index is below a peak of 238 points hit in February 2011, when high food prices helped drive the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, but current levels are very close to those seen in 2008 which sparked riots in poor countries.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-food-prices-edge-sept-082921488.html?l=1


Thanks Bernanke.
 

2012-10-03

Q&A With Neil Barofsky

[A]nd, as we started discussing it, he gave me a warning. He said that I was doing myself real harm for my ”future prospects,” in his words. And by that, he explained that I had a very harsh tone. I was very critical of Wall Street and very critical of the Obama Administration as I was carrying out my job as SIGTARP and providing oversight. And he warned me that if I didn’t change my tone, it was going to hurt my ability to get a job after SIGTARP when I left the government, presumably to go get a job on Wall Street, that I was doing myself real harm. When I explained to him I wasn’t really interested in that, he then said, ”Well, even within the administration.” But then if I changed my tone, became a little bit more upbeat and positive, good things could happen to me. He mentioned even perhaps an Obama appointment as a -- as a federal judge, if only I would change my tone.
/
I was once told by an IG pointblank that he wished he could do what I was doing, but he was afraid for his job, that he had kids in college and he had -- he couldn’t afford to lose his job. And that’s one of the problems. They live in fear of being fired if they’re too aggressive in carrying out their duties.
/
Geithner was much more dismissive. I didn’t really meet with him all that often. Maybe a couple of meetings at times is very combative, at times very aggressive, at times profane.
/
They kept their jobs. They kept their bonuses. They kept their rich compensation they received prior to their bailouts. They kept -- those bonuses were soon restored for those executives.
  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/307720-1

2012-09-29

"[A]nother factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."

"Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."

2012-09-28

Spain's Banking Sector is Rock Solid. No, Really. Oliver Wyman Says It's So

From The NY Times:
[T]he number was within the range of previous estimates and well below the potential 100 billion euros, or $128.8 billion, in bailout money Spain negotiated with the other members of the euro zone union in June.
And of the 14 banks assessed by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, half are not in need of any emergency funds, including Santander, BBVA and La Caixa — the country’s three largest financial institutions.
/
and the European Commission both issued statements Friday, applauding the audit and expressing support for Spain. “This is a major step in implementing the financial assistance program and toward strengthening the viability of and confidence in the Spanish banking sector,” the commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, said in a statement.
/
The independent report, which Oliver Wyman based on its own work...
 
But wait. Let's check out some other results from Oliver Wyman:

Re-Post From 11/13/2010

2012-09-25

Today We Are All Spaniards In Support of Liberty

Democracy.. is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty ... is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. -- Benjamin Franklin
 


 
 
A protester holds a sign that reads 'Without fighting, neither bread nor freedom'
Picture: Reuters

 
 
 

2012-09-22

Jesse M. Unruh. A Great American



Jesse pulled a young fellow politician off to the side one sunny afternoon and offered this sage advice regarding lobbyists: "If you can't eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women and then vote against them, you have no business being up here."

2012-09-18

"1.3 Billion People Will Flatten Little Japan"




"But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow"

 

2012-09-16

Portugal, Spain and China. The Pot, it Simmers, and Soon Will Boil Over

Portuguese citizens protest against tax hikes imposed not by their elected officials but the EU and IMF:
 



Tens of thousands Spaniards gather in Madrid to protest austerity and tax hikes imposed on them from abroad:
 



Thouands of Chinese citizens protest against Japan, attack Japanese property:
 

2012-08-08

Burning For Netanyahu

Israelis try to extinguish flames from a protester who set himself on fire during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on July 14, 2012.
Israelis try to extinguish flames from a protester who set himself on fire during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on July 14, 2012.


An elderly Israeli woman has set herself on fire, becoming the fourth person to self-immolate in the country over the past month.
/
Moshe Silman, who died from his wounds a week after, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a note, saying "the state of Israel robbed me out of everything and left me with nothing."
/
Hours before Silmon’s funeral, a 45-year old disabled army veteran died after setting himself on fire in a bus stop in the city of Yehud about 15 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.
Prior to the protest move, Akiva Mafa’i read out a letter and accused the Israeli officials of “taking from the poor and giving to the rich.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/08/255225/elderly-woman-selfimmolates-in-israel/

Taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Related post:
http://fatboysez.blogspot.com/2011/01/burning-for-bernanke.html

2012-08-07


“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford

2012-08-06

What Could Go Wrong?

"If governments allow themselves to be entirely bound to the decisions of their parliament, without protecting their own freedom to act, a break up of Europe would be a more probable outcome than deeper integration." Monti
/
"The greed for German taxpayer money is blossoming in undemocratic ways with Mr. Monti," party General Secretary Alexander Dobrindt said. "Mr. Monti apparently needs a clear announcement that we Germans will not be prepared to eliminate democracy in order to finance Italian debts."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/monti-comments-on-parliaments-in-euro-crisis-anger-german-politicians-a-848455.html

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

2012-08-05

Figures Often Beguile Me...

"Here, courtesy of Zero Hedge, we might be able to provide Dave with a clue as to how the BLS managed that little trick: It added 377,000 jobs for seasonal adjustment. That just happened to be the largest such adjustment in July for the past 10 years.
Moreover, the always interesting but not particularly reliable birth/death model chipped in 52,000 additions. Together, , which even by our rudimentary math dwarfs 163,000.these happy statistical enhancements added up to something like 429,000
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903940904577559010500932368.html?mod=BOL_twm_col#articleTabs_article%3D1

2012-08-04

What?

"[T]he correct approach is to reduce taxes and make it easier for businesses to fire workers."
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/08/eurozone-new-business-sinks-at-fastest.html



Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 | 12:14 a.m.
The number of unemployed keeps rising in Spain, official figures showed Friday, as the International Monetary Fund called on European leaders to quickly fulfill their promises to help the country and the 17-country eurozone.
The recession-hit country's unemployment rate rose to 24.63 percent in the second quarter.
/
For those under 25 years of age, the unemployment rate climbed to 53 percent, from 52 percent in the previous quarter.
/
Greece's rate was not far behind at 22.5 per cent, though the latest figures available are for April. Many countries that use the euro, including France and Italy, also have double-digit unemployment rates

2012-08-03

Democracy My Fat White Ass


Map shows the level of income inequality. As stated, income inequality in the US now surpasses Russia and is comparable with China.

US Jobs Recovery Captured in One Graph

2012-07-27

Everyone Knows the US Central Intelligence Agency is Involved in the Global Drug Trade. Right?

They are like pest control companies, only control," said Villanueva Guillermo Terrazas, a spokesman for Chihuahua
Foto: Archivo Photo: Archive
 . The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) United States and other international security forces "do not fight against drug traffickers," but "try to manage the drug trade," he told Al Jazeera a government spokesman in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua .
 The allegations by activists, academics and former officials about official complicity in the drug business are not new.  But they are when they start from an official representative of one of the most violent states in Mexico, U.S. border with Texas.
  "They are like pest control companies, only control," said Villanueva Guillermo Terrazas, a spokesman for Chihuahua, in conversation with Al Jazeera last month at his office in Ciudad Juarez. . "If you kill the pests, you lose your job.  If you end up with the drug business, they become unemployed. "
 A CIA spokesman in Washington declined to comment directly on these accusations, and instead suggested to Jazeera to consult an official website.

2012-07-25

PM Mariano Rajoy; an Incompetent Beggar







Francisco Alvarez Cascos, the region’s president and former secretary-general of Spain’s ruling party, accused premier Mariano Rajoy of humiliating the nation by touring Europe with a “begging bowl”.
/
Mr Cascos said the government is “utterly incompetent”, but warned that the deeper crisis is a “perverse” monetary system where capital flight from countries in distress is funding creditor states at zero rates. “This can’t go on for long, or we will have to think about leaving the euro before we are thrown out,”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9427721/Euro-exit-beats-begging-bowl-says-Spanish-elder-statesman.html

2012-07-23

What a Dickhead


Public anger over the financial crisis is wrong and must not lead Britain to “hang bankers at the end of the street,” Tony Blair says today.

Tony Blair made millions of pounds last year but paid just a fraction of it in tax thanks to the complicated web of companies he has established.
The former prime minister’s secretive business empire declared an income of £12million.
But he was able to reduce his tax bill to just £315,000 after writing off almost £11million as ‘administrative expenses’ – a ‘surprisingly’ high figure, according to one accountant
/
[H]e is also a paid adviser to U.S. investment bank JP Morgan and to Zurich International, a Swiss-based insurance company.
/
Mr Blair’s earnings include lucrative after-dinner speaking, consultancies with banks and foreign governments, a series of deals with foreign companies, and the pension and other perks he enjoys as a former prime minister – including taxpayer-funded police protection. Critics also point out a large proportion of his income is derived from patrons in the U.S. and Middle East – a clear benefit of his alliance with George Bush for the invasion of Iraq.

NEW YORK, January 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JPMorgan Chase announced
today that it has appointed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a
senior advisory capacity to the firm, effective immediately. Mr. Blair will
also join the company's International Council.
/
"We're honored that Tony Blair has chosen to join JPMorgan Chase as a
senior advisor to our executive team and Board," said Jamie Dimon, Chairman
and CEO.

A senior executive with the Libyan Investment Authority, the $70 billion fund used to invest the country's oil money abroad, said Mr Blair was one of three prominent western businessmen who regularly dealt with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the former leader.
Saif al-Islam and his close aides oversaw the activities of the fund, and often directed its officials on where they should make its investments, he said.
The executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials were told the "ideas" they were ordered to pursue came from Mr Blair as well as one other British businessman and a former American diplomat.
"Tony Blair's visits were purely lobby visits for banking deals with JP Morgan," he said.
He said that unlike some other deals - notably some investments run by the US bank Goldman Sachs - JP Morgan's had never turned "bad".

Mr Lawley-Wakelin claimed that Mr Blair had been ‘bought’ by JP Morgan, and that the US investment bank had profited from the Iraq War.


2012-07-22

Democracy is Hard. Made Even Harder Via an Invasion and Occupation by Hostile Forces Led by a Lying Commander-in-Chief

"Strengthen the (Iraqi) armed forces, relax your hold, and then you will have a coup. Then we will have a dictator, but a fair one. Forget democracy, the Iraqis by their nature are too tough," Mubarak said in the cable
http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article791399.ece/Mubarak-told-US-to-allow-dictator-in-Iraq

CAIRO (AP) — The first online statement from the new leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq claims that the militant network is returning to strongholds from which it was driven by U.S. forces and their Sunni allies before the American withdrawal at the end of last year.
http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-were-returning-old-iraq-strongholds-131645698.html

Nearly 30 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded in a series of bomb attacks across Iraq, security officials say.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/22/252288/iraq-blasts-kill-20-injure-scores/

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 89 people were killed in bomb and gun attacks in Iraq on Monday after 20 died in blasts the previous day in a coordinated surge of violence against mostly Shi'ite Muslims.
/
As well as the dozens of deaths at least 223 people were wounded in bomb attacks in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, the Shi'ite town of Taji to the north, the mixed northern city of Kirkuk and elsewhere, hospital and police sources said, making it one of Iraq's bloodiest days in weeks
/
"Recent attacks are a clear message that al Qaeda in Iraq is determined to spark a bloody sectarian war," the official said, asking not to be named.

 
 
 
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."
--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials




(ANSAmed) - New York, July 19 - The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the U.S. would continue to work outside the confines of the UN Security Council to put pressure on the Syrian government.
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2012/07/19/Ambassador-Rice-says-will-pressure-Syria-outside_7211397.html

Yet try as I may, I cannot take Ms Rice and the United States seriously here, because the US sets the world’s gold standard on using vetoes in the Security Council to shield criminal activity — by Israel in particular. I am not sure if Ms Rice and the US government think the world is stupid or merely perpetually servile to American swagger.
http://jordantimes.com/42-reasons-why-susan-rices-anger-is-unconvincing

According to a Sunday report by the Turkish Anadolu Agency, Ankara also deployed troop carriers along the border with Syria.
A train convoy transporting several missile batteries arrived in the southeastern province of Mardin on Sunday.
The report comes at a time when relations between Ankara and Damascus have deteriorated
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/22/252241/turkey-deploys-missiles-on-syria-border/

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western powers on Friday not to take unilateral action against the Syrian government outside the UN Security Council.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=421165

Never Let A Good Crisis Go To Waste


                                        Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel


MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – President Barack Obama cut his two day campaign swing to Florida short so he could fly back to Washington before a trip to Colorado to comfort the families of those gunned down in a minute and a half of real-life horror at a midnight movie showing
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/07/22/obama-cuts-florida-stops-short-flies-to-colorado/

2012-07-21

2012-07-18

Unit 131

July 18 2012 SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Israel vowed to strike back at Iran for a brazen daylight bombing Wednesday that killed at least seven people on a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.
/
"All signs point to Iran," Netanyahu said. The Israeli leader gave no evidence to back his charges.

The Lavon Affair refers to a failed Israeli covert operation, code named Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation, a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence for plans to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American and British-owned targets. The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Communists, "unspecified malcontents" or "local nationalists" with the aim of creating a climate of sufficient violence and instability to induce the British government to retain its occupying troops in Egypt's Suez Canal zone.

Here Mr. Ostrovsky describes in detail how in mid February 1986 the Mossad planted a radio relay device – the “Trojan” – in a rented apartment in Tripoli, the capital of Libya. However interesting, we cut to the consequences.
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Ultimately, the Americans fell for the Mossad ploy head over heels[,] dragging the British and the Germans somewhat reluctantly in with them. Operation Trojan was one of the Mossad’s greatest successes. It brought about the air strike on Libya that President Reagan had promised – a strike that had three important consequences. First, it derailed a deal for the release of the American hostages in Lebanon, thus preserving the Hizballah (Party of God) as the number one enemy in the eyes of the West. Second, it sent a message to the entire Arab world, telling them exactly where the United States stood regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Third, it boosted the Mossad’s image of itself, since it was they who, by ingenious sleight of hand, had prodded the United States to do what was right. [More than a hint of sarcasm there.] It was only the French who didn’t buy into the Mossad trick and were determined not to ally themselves with the aggressive American act. The French refused to allow the American bombers to fly over their territory on their way to attack Libya.

NEW YORK – On the fourth day of the 1967 Arab Israeli War, the intelligence ship 'USS Liberty' was steaming slowly in international waters, 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli armored forces were racing deep into Sinai in hot pursuit of the retreating Egyptian army.
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At 0800 hrs, 8 June, 1967, eight Israeli recon flights flew over 'Liberty,' which was flying a large American flag. At 1400 hrs, waves of low-flying Israeli Mystere and Mirage-III fighter-bombers repeatedly attacked the American vessel with rockets, napalm, and cannon. The air attacks lasted 20 minutes, concentrating on the ship's electronic antennas and dishes. The 'Liberty' was left afire, listing sharply. Eight of her crew lay dead, a hundred seriously wounded, including the captain, Commander William McGonagle.

At 1424 hrs, three Israeli torpedo boats attacked, raking the burning 'Liberty' with 20mm and 40mm shells. At 1431hrs an Israeli torpedo hit the 'Liberty' midship, precisely where the signals intelligence systems were located. Twenty-five more Americans died.


2012-07-16

There are times when it takes forever for the present to arrive

How much more abuse can the citizens of the global democracies withstand? Unemployment at record levels, falling wages, more living in poverty and needing government assistance for the basics such as food as the wealthy elite thrive and see their net worth at record levels. Post modern democracy has a death rattle deep in its lungs, one that cannot be cured for the damage is done.

Politicians of all parties tell how if you vote for them and get rid of the other party, they will fix everything. We all know they lie. They seek to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and act on the behest of their special interest groups, their campaign donors.

One day this charade will end.

 "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt