Archive for August, 2011

Ron Paul: Obama’s Misadventures – Libya to Be Occupied, Syria Next?

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Ron Paul
August 30, 2011

Even as a major hurricane hit America’s eastern seaboard, the administration is determined to expand the war in Libya while threatening the regime in Syria. Is there any limit to government’s appetite to create more problems for our nation and economy?

Americans may be tempted to celebrate the apparent victory of US and NATO backed rebels in Libya, since it seems the Gaddafi regime is overthrown. But I believe any enthusiasm for our Libyan misadventure is premature.

The Obama administration attacked Libya without a constitutional declaration of war, without congressional authorization, without meaningful consultation with Congress — and without a dollar being authorized from the House or Senate. It was a war started by a president who turned to the United Nations for its authority and ignored the authority of the US Congress.

Are we better off as a nation by ignoring and debasing our Constitution? Are we better off having spent more than a billion dollars attacking a country thousands of miles away that had not threatened us? Are we more financially sound having expanded the empire to include yet another protectorate and probable long-term military occupation? Are we more admired throughout the world for getting involved in yet another war?

Still, many will claim that getting rid of Libyan ruler Gaddafi was worth it. They will say that the ends justify the means. As the civilian toll from NATO bombs adds up in a war started under the guise of protecting a civilian population, even the initial argument for intervention is ridiculous. We should not forget that there were no massacres taking place in Libya before the NATO attack. The attack was a dubbed a preventative humanitarian intervention. But as soon as NATO planes started bombing, civilians started dying.

Gaddafi may well have been a tyrant, but as such he was no worse than many others that we support and count as allies. Disturbingly, we see a pattern of relatively secular leaders in the Arab world being targeted for regime change with the resulting power vacuum being filled by much more radical elements. Iraq, post-Saddam, is certainly far closer to Iran than before the US invasion. Will Libya be any different?

We already see grisly reprisals from the US-backed rebels against their political opponents. There are disturbing scenes of looting and lawlessness on the part of the rebels. We know that some rebel factions appear to be allied with Islamic extremists and others seem to have ties to the CIA. They also appear to have a penchant for killing each other as well as supporters of the previous regime. The tribal structure of Libyan society all but ensures that an ongoing civil war is on the agenda rather than the Swiss-style democracy that some intervention advocates suggest is around the corner.

What is next after such a victory? With the big Western scramble to grab Libya’s oil reserves amid domestic political chaos and violence, does anyone doubt that NATO ground troops are not being prepared for yet another occupation?

Neo-conservatives continue to dominate our foreign policy, regardless of the administration in power. They do not care that we are bankrupt, as they are too blinded by their desire for empire and their affection for the entangling alliances we have been rightly counseled to avoid. They have set their sights next on Syria, where the US moves steadily toward intervention in another domestic conflict that has nothing to do with the US. Already the US president has called for “regime change” in Syria, while adding new sanctions against the Syrian regime. Are US bombers far behind?

A Monetary Maze From Which There Is No Easy Escape

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

By Bob Chapman
TheInternationalForecaster.com

It has been almost three years since the Federal Reserve took its interest rates to 1% and most recently to zero. This allows member banks to borrow money at no cost. The Fed lends to large banks with little or no control, so that these banks, some of which are owners of the Fed, can really do as they please. The Fed even lends at zero and re-borrows from these banks at a higher level, guaranteeing the banks a riskless profit. Those profits would have gone to the US Treasury and the American taxpayer. These profits for the most part are the result of the creation of money and credit by the Fed. The banks are so overjoyed regarding the results that the Fed has told them that it will keep the current policy for at least the next two years. The banks as a result are making big speculative profits to offset their gigantic losses, while at the same time the economy falls deeper into inflationary depression. This is the tyranny of our almost 100 year old privately owned banking system. The unbridled use of money and credit has led America into a monetary maze from which there is no easy escape. This is what happens when the Fed can create money and credit at will with no gold backing to control such issuance. What the Federal Reserve has done is deprive you of a sound money system. In this endeavor the Fed has deprived you of your liberty and freedom by destroying your wealth and savings via the inflation, which has been the guaranteed result of these actions by those who believe they are the masters of the universe. Once gold backing was removed from the US dollar on August 15, 1971 the old policies were over and the new policies, the results of which we see today, had begun. During the intervening period the price of gold rose from $35.00 an ounce in US dollar terms to its recent $1,900 price. The gain was a reflection of the loss of value of the dollar over those some 40 years. We predicted these results in the early 1960s, but very few were listening. Millions are listening today. The Federal Reserve, Wall Street and banking have been able to perpetuate what they have because of mass ignorance of our monetary system, even by well-educated citizens. This kind of indifference is what brings about the structure that spells failure for our present system. Americans refuse to reduce spending and expanding credit. They believed that the system could go on endlessly. They are in the process now of finding out that could not be the end result.

The temporary game of stimulus is still with us not only in the US, but in Europe and England as well. The G-7 finance ministers and central bankers proffered no solutions, nor did Mr. Sarkozy of France and Mrs. Merkel of Germany. Europeans and Brits soon will return from their annual August vacations, perhaps with some fresh ideas on how to resurrect their economies. Worldwide business has been slowing rapidly since March in spite of massive spending. The European Central Bank, the ECB, has been directly intervening in EU bond markets to keep things going until the vacationers return. They and others face the worst financial problems in a century and vacation comes first. Talk about being out of touch with reality, or suffering from disease known as socialism.

In the meantime the Swiss and Japanese are struggling to weaken their currencies to allow their exports to stay competitive. This is the currency aspect of the flight to quality.

The other safe havens, gold and silver, have via the courtesy of the US government and others who work in tandem with “The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets” have sent gold from $1,900 to $1,700 and silver from $44.00 to $39.00 in just three trading days. As a former professional trader for 25 years, we say if you are going to have a correction, this is the best possible way to have it. The gold and silver markets should turn by Friday and now will be ready to continue their upward movements. They will have little or no resistance in front of them on the upside. These kinds of moves are violent on both sides of the market. Causing sharp corrections is foolish due to the counter moves they create. The best and smart market corrections on both sides are the grinding markets that take weeks or months to accomplish instead of 3 days. You cannot break the backs of gold and silver by such maneuvers when they are the only safe and viable alternative to fiat currencies and profligate monetary and fiscal policies. We have just seen a 3 day 50% correction, which tells us it is time to be a buyer, so that is what we have again done.

Market manipulation cannot detract from the fact that gold is now again the world reserve currency, which will outlast all the criminal machinations of governments and central banks. Just be patient and you will see what we mean. This weeks events remind us of October 19, 1987, when in London we witnessed the US government illegally manipulating the gold market by taking gold down $100.00 for the same basic reason that we have witnessed for three days this past week. You can always trust government and those who control it to act in their own interest and not in the interest of the people. A tip off that these gold and silver moves are bogus is the frightful performance of the dollar that should have been soaring during such a correction, as it did in 2008 gaining 25%. This past week the dollar couldn’t get out of its own way. Up until this week gold, silver and Treasuries were the winners and cross manipulation by our corporatist fascist government is not going to change that over any period of time. Three years ago banks were leveraged 70 to 1 and hedge funds and others over 100 to 1. Today these figures are 10 to 1 to 40 to 1. That is a big difference, so one cannot expect a de-leveraging like we saw a few years ago. Banks are still holding lots of toxic garbage they securitized several years ago and they are still carrying two sets of books, but the wild imprudent leveraged speculation is gone. It has been replaced with moderate speculation. As a result of these events the US society has somewhat changed its attitude in the use of credit. Investors are well aware of market manipulation; naked shorting and front running, now called high frequency or flash trading, all of which the SEC refuses to do anything about. That has driven many investors out of the general bond and stock markets into the safety of investments in gold and silver coins, bullion and shares and that trend will continue. As we are about to find out government debts do matter. That is currently being reflected in German attitudes on the issuance of Eurobonds to fund the economies of six insolvent members of the euro zone and they are justified in rejecting subsidizing losers. They want to cut their losses and leave the euro. They are sick and tired of carrying Europe. That is why many Europeans have been lining up to purchase gold and silver coins, bullion and shares. In Europe today it is difficult to make such purchases.

There is no question that alternative talk radio and the Internet has and is having a tremendous impact worldwide. Americans are finally realizing something is very wrong with our financial and economic system. In the US we continue to see investors leave the stock and bond markets in droves with the exception of gold and silver shares. Each day more people join those already invested in gold and silver related assets. The game that was just played on the American people, the “Budget Control Act of 2011” did not go unnoticed by the public nor did the new, “Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction” – known as the “super Congress.” We call the later the Obama Enabling Act, a reflection of the 1933 “Enabling Act” of Adolph Hitler, which allowed him to become dictator.

Congress and the Executive Office refuses to confront any problems our country has. It is always diversionary without permanent impact. Some call it kicking the can down the road. In relation to economic and financial problems the only word they know is stimulus. As long as those behind the scenes are there to pay for their votes via campaign contributions and lobbyists they could care less what happens to the economy. The financial sector and government get what they need to keep functioning and the heck with the real producing economy and unemployment. It never occurs to these people that such spending and debt creation is unsustainable. Worse yet, the current front runner for the Republicans is Rick Perry, twice a guest at the Illuminist Bilderberg meetings, the Texas governor who tried to tie the Texas corridor on the people of Texas for the New World Order, who ordered inoculations for young girls, some of whom died, and who happens to be a philanderer with both sexes. Is this the kind of pervert we want as our President? These are the kind of candidates that are proffered to us by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. These are the characters that are funding Mr. Perry. This man is far more dangerous to our country than George Bush and Barak Obama. This is the man the elitists have sent to us to neutralize the candidacy of Rep. Ron Paul for our presidency.

There has not been, nor will there be, any real debate in Congress on the real issues confronting America. That is why we now have our own version of a “Star Chamber”. That is so Congress can be bypassed by 12 political hacks, all of whom have been paid off, otherwise they wouldn’t have their positions. This “Super Congress” relieves Congress of debate, amendments and filibusters. All they have to do is vote on what this Committee gives them and hope no one notices what they are up too. They’ll be flush with giant campaign funds and the protection of the elitists, so what do they care. They will get reelected and they do not care what the cost will be. We might add that the major mainline media is in this scam up to their eyeballs and that you have to get truthful truth and facts from the alternative media, talk shows and the Internet.

These are a few of the reasons why Americans have to pay attention and get new sources of information that inform them of what is really going on. The American system of economics and finance are failing and a new system has to be used to replace the old one that is owned and controlled by Wall Street, banking and transnational conglomerates that in turn own our Federal Reserve. These people at the top have no solutions for the people, only their perpetuation of power and control of the American people. Only about 1% of Americans really understand this problem. About 15% understand a good part of it, and perhaps another 35% have heard of it, but still consider it conspiracy theory. The other 50% is hopeless. They will never understand until it is far too late. People should be preparing for eventualities and most are not. Those storing dehydrated and freeze dried foods, which incidentally our government has been doing for some time, a water filter and a method of defending their family are on the right path to physical survival. For them there is only one investment and that is gold and silver shares, coins and bullion. They are the only safe way to protect your wealth. Gold is on its way to $3,000 to $3,200 by the beginning of March and silver to $100. You do not want to miss the boat.

It is called insolvency. Your federal government is broke having created debt that is unpayable. Under those circumstances, standing in the wings, is government ready to pounce upon your $6 trillion worth of retirement plans, which government wants to exchange for government guaranteed annuities. How can a bankrupt guarantee anything? Just be patient they will come after your retirement just like in the “Budget Control Act of 2011” – they are coming after your Social Security and Medicare, which you paid for. Those who control government do not care about you, you are just useless eaters.

Your jobs have disappeared into the second and third worlds, since the early 1980s. It is called free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing. Those good paying jobs are not coming back unless you make them come back via Congress and tariffs on goods and services and unless you change things your society is terminal. You had best think about all this, because if you don’t there will be no happy ending and you may end up living under a bridge.

Federal Court, Filming Police is Protected by the First Amendment

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

By Kristen Rasmussen
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The right to film police in the performance of their public duties in a public space is a ‘basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment”.

filming police

The right to film police in the performance of their public duties in a public space is a “basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment,” a federal appellate court held last week, marking a major victory in a time when arrests for such activities have been on the rise.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston (1st Cir.) ruled on Friday that three Boston police officers are not immune from liability for arresting a man who, believing the officers were using excessive force to arrest a young man on the Boston Common, recorded the October 2007 scene on his cell phone. The officers arrested the spectator, Simon Glik, confiscated his cell phone and a computer flash drive and charged him with violation of the Massachusetts wiretap statute, which requires the consent of all parties to record a conversation. The state Supreme Court has interpreted the statute to criminalize only secret recordings made without such consent.

The appellate court affirmed the denial, allowing Glik to pursue his claims against the officers.

“It is firmly established that the First Amendment’s aegis extends further than the text’s proscription on laws ‘abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,’ and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information,” the court said. “The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles. Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs.’”

This right to gather and disseminate news is not one that belongs solely to the media, a particularly important principle in this modern era of the news industry, when “changes in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw,” the court said.

Full Story

Pediatricians Refuse to Treat Children Who Aren’t Vaccinated

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

By Jo Ashline
OCRegister.com

Vaccines: it’s a topic that can start heated debates and end even the dearest of friendships, and apparently, it can also mean you can’t get treated by a doctor.

vaccines

In a movement that’s sweeping across the nation, more and more frustrated pediatricians are refusing to treat new patients and “firing” existing ones whose parents choose not to abide by the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule.

While parents continue to voice their concerns about the safety of vaccines, doctors are taking matters into their own hands and implementing strict policies about treating only those patients who receive their shots.

It’s a move that further widens the chasm between opposing camps on the controversial vaccine issue.

Continue reading…

Extortion of teachers causes the closure of 140 elementary and middle schools in Acapulco

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Borderland Beat
Greetings Professor (name redacted), we know you are the paymaster for the teachers in area (redacted).

Acapulco extortion

Organized crime groups are extorting local schools, causing shut-downs and wide-spread fear.

Pay careful attention.

You have 15 days to give us a list of the following teachers:

1. Whoever earns more than $8,000.00 (8 thousand pesos) biweekly.

(underline in black whoever earns between 20 and 50 thousand pesos monthly)

2. Those who live from La Cima to KM 30 and Cayaco.

3. Names, addresses and telephone numbers (not cell phone numbers)

4. Legible copies of voter registration cards (on the reverse the names and addresses of schools where they work)

5. A copy of the payroll (of all area 32)

Note the name and school where they work of any person who refuses to divulge any information. Show them this warning.

Advise them that after October 1 they must pay a “tax” of 50 percent of their salary and annual bonus. Whoever refuses has the opportunity to leave, if not you all know we are not fucking around.

You and your supervisor are exempt from this tax as long as you continue cooperating with us.

The teacher who lives close to the jail named Cermeno or Cerdeno is also exempt because he has already cooperated.

If you have problematic teachers underline them in red and advise the principals that we are aware of the high cost to the heads of families and that they will receive a special visit.

We will be in contact.

More than 600 teachers have closed their classrooms this week in 140 Acapulco elementary and middle schools in the face of extortion threats delivered through pamphlets by members of organized crime that are charging a “derecho de piso”, or tax, of 50 percent of salaries and bonuses.

This was confirmed by the Assistant Coordinator of Basic Education with the Guerrero Department of Education for the Acapulco-Coyuca de Benitez region, Julio Cesar Bernal Resendiz, who has met with SNTE (teacher’s union) officials discuss the threats.

“There is talk of some threats in some areas, especially the 4th sector, including the colonias (neighborhoods) of Ciudad Renacimiento, Emiliano Zapata, Vacacional, Arroyo Seco and other colonias in the outskirts of the city.”

Bernal Resendiz admitted “there are cases of teachers who have been extorted and kidnapped and have filed complaints, but they’re scared, do not want people to know and are afraid.”

Two elementary school teachers in the 32nd zone spoke of what has happened since last Thursday.

“I am a professor in Acapulco, we are afraid about what is going on, we have received written messages that say they will take 50 percent of our wages and we are afraid.” said one of the teachers.

“We agreed to stop classes since Wednesday until the authorities can resolve this.”

“Several teachers have been kidnapped, or extorted and most do not want to talk, but we’re tired of so much violence. I have fear there may be retaliation.”

A middle school teacher in Ciudad Renaciminto added, “It’s very difficult to explain this, but the reasons why many coworkers are failing to go to their classrooms is because we are living this firsthand. We therefore call on the authorities to help us. Because we are being harassed, threatened, kidnapped.”

According to people with knowledge of Acapulco’s underground both La Barredora and CIDA extort the working population. It is believed that the attempt to extort teachers is the work of the infamous Comando del Diablo, led by Jose Francisco Sosa Vasquez “El Capi Sosa” and Los Calentanos, led by Cleotilde Toribio “El Tilde”. Both of these groups operate for La Barredora.

(A teacher and SNTE union official from the state of San Luis Potosi who had commented previously about a similar situation in Ciudad Juarez had stated that mass extortion attempts against teachers are fairly common but are normally ignored without any further problems. He stated, however, that in areas of extreme insecurity [like Acapulco and Juarez] these threats are much more credible, and the danger of retaliation may be real.

He added, “Extortion attempts are an everyday occurrence now, a feature of everyday life. Nobody answers the telephone if the number on caller ID is not recognized. You no longer give your name to strangers you meet. No phone numbers or addresses to casual acquaintances or even distant relatives. Never respond to street surveys or polls. Even bank employees can’t be trusted.”

“You only trust close relatives and very close friends. The ‘amistad’ that was a way of live here in Mexico is becoming extinct.”)

Predictably it is not only the teachers who are living in fear but also the parents of Acapulco schoolchildren.

“We fear what could happen to our children,” mentions a mother of an 8 and 10 year old attending an elementary school in the Vicente Guerrero housing district.

“No one is safe now, they kidnap rich and poor kids” says the mother, a housewife, who walks her children to school and back home even though she lives two blocks away.

After a summer with dozens of executions and gun battles parents now wait outside of the schools until the children enter their classrooms and crowd the school before classes end for the day.

“If anything happens or if you are let out early, call me,” says a mother to her 9 year old daughter attending a private school on the Avenida Farallon, a thoroughfare that has seen its share of decapitated and dismembered bodies. She explains that she bought her daughter a cellphone to keep in communication, “A cellphone is no longer a luxury, its a necessity to stay aware.”

The mother stated that 3 weeks earlier armed men had forcibly entered the school and abducted a 16 year old student who was later found murdered in the community of La Sabana.

“A line has been crossed,” she said.

(Guerrero is one of the states with the highest levels of poverty in Mexico. Cellphones are unaffordable for most children.

A mother from Monterrey was interviewed last year in San Antonio, Texas, where a large community of wealthy expatriate Mexicans with the means to obtain the correct residence visas live in the upscale Stone Oak section of the city.

When asked to describe the greatest difference between life in Monterrey and Texas, she answered that she simply could not comprehend that her children could walk home from the private school they were attending in safety. In Mexico her children needed bodyguards to ensure their survival.)

sources:

http://www.libertadguerrero.net/2011/08/cierran-140-escuelas-de-acapulco-crimen.html

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/81731.html