From creuss at bluewin.ch Mon Sep 1 07:08:56 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Mon Sep 1 07:10:20 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] 6 things the Palin pick says about McCain Aug 30th Message-ID: > What this article conveniently forgets is the > electoral power of the computerized voting machines > that elected Bush twice. But this time, the gap will be too large to be bridged by Diebold. Never mind, the permanent government has decided anyway that the lying lawyer (actually 2 of them) will make it. Cheers, Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 1 07:36:29 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 1 07:36:45 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] SPP Police State RNC Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question Message-ID: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/97076/ Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question Police (Video) Posted by The Uptake and Democracy Now at 10:53 AM on August 31, 2008. Footage of one of many police actions ahead of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Post Tools Saint Paul, MN Police Department raids a home at 591 Iglehart Avenue at gunpoint. The journalists include a contributing photojournalist with "Democracy Now", whose host Amy Goodman appears in this clip jumping a fence to question police officers. This is part of a series of police actions on the eve of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. After several hours, all those detained were released. No arrests. No property was seized as result of the search warrant. The clip ends with an interview with homeowner Mike Whalen. At the start of the clip, a neighbor shouts to the media and onlookers that we could all come into her backyard to see the detained people held in the adjacent backyard. Tagged as: democracy now, st. paul, rnc From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 1 08:47:30 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 1 08:47:52 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] SPP Police State RNC Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question In-Reply-To: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <20080901134732.17140FA0C@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> As usual, the problem is impunity. Low-lives in uniform can get away with it, so they do it. In commentary on an Alternet item the other day (about cops bashing humans during Tweedledee's convention), someone writing as "Prophit" suggested: "It no longer requires you break any laws anymore to get yourself arrested. Well, now its time to take names ..... go that??? Take down names.... start a data base just like they are doing to us. Its damn well time". I've often wondered, especially in these days of web sites, why nobody seems to do this. Get the mug shots, get the names, keep the rogue's gallery updated so that bashers in uniform, having been caught on camera, will never be able to get out of the headlights - even years later - unless they buy their way out by dobbing in senior officers. In Australia, when ever-growing crowds were demonstrating against the rape of Vietnam, cops would attack on the fringes. Since the journos were largely on side with the protests, they made sure to take pictures of rioting cops. After a while, the police would attack the journos (especially ABC - Australia's version of the BBC) first, smashing their cameras. These days, even a mobile phone can take pictures, and gurus have no trouble mounting web sites. Dion Giles Western Australia PS: Lucky I made a note of "Prophit's" post - it has been taken out of the archive! Someone must have been leant on. At 08:36 PM 1/09/2008, Janet wrote: >http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/97076/ > >Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question >Police (Video) > >Posted by The Uptake and Democracy Now at 10:53 AM on August 31, >2008. > >Footage of one of many police actions ahead of the Republican >National Convention in St. Paul. Post Tools > >Saint Paul, MN Police Department raids a home at 591 Iglehart Avenue >at gunpoint. The journalists include a contributing photojournalist >with "Democracy Now", whose host Amy Goodman appears in this clip >jumping a fence to question police officers. > >This is part of a series of police actions on the eve of the >Republican National Convention in St. Paul. > >After several hours, all those detained were released. No arrests. No >property was seized as result of the search warrant. The clip ends >with an interview with homeowner Mike Whalen. At the start of the >clip, a neighbor shouts to the media and onlookers that we could all >come into her backyard to see the detained people held in the >adjacent backyard. > >Tagged as: democracy now, st. paul, rnc > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080901/3958d2a3/attachment.html From thinker at this1.ca Mon Sep 1 09:53:07 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Mon Sep 1 09:52:05 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] SPP Police State RNC Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question In-Reply-To: <20080901134732.17140FA0C@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> <20080901134732.17140FA0C@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809011451.m81EpjkL012890@karma.reboot.ca> Here we come back again to the simple fact that wealth can not be created, only taken. Wealth means any form of energy control, otherwise known as "power". Ruling classes have always used religions, ideologies and most of all uniforms to legalize the theft of energy, or "power", from others. This is so simple and has been staring into humanity's faces for thousands of years, yet people have been putting up with such crime waves and sacrificed their lives in their service, for ever. So, what are the predictions, how long this can carry on? Is there any chance for a global awakening? We're supposed to have the announcement of a federal election tomorrow, and the present minority government of Harper stands a chance to get a majority, because people are brainwashed, and the opposition is limp noodle. If Harper gets a majority, it will be the end of Canada as an independent country. And all this in the interest of "wealth creation", known in real language as "energy theft", taught in our universities as "the science of economics" Cheers, Ed. At 06:47 AM 01/09/2008, you wrote: >As usual, the problem is impunity. Low-lives in uniform can get >away with it, so they do it. In commentary on an Alternet item the >other day (about cops bashing humans during Tweedledee's >convention), someone writing as "Prophit" suggested: > >"It no longer requires you break any laws anymore to get yourself >arrested. Well, now its time to take names ..... go that??? Take >down names.... start a data base just like they are doing to us. Its >damn well time". > >I've often wondered, especially in these days of web sites, why >nobody seems to do this. Get the mug shots, get the names, keep the >rogue's gallery updated so that bashers in uniform, having been >caught on camera, will never be able to get out of the headlights - >even years later - unless they buy their way out by dobbing in >senior officers. In Australia, when ever-growing crowds were >demonstrating against the rape of Vietnam, cops would attack on the >fringes. Since the journos were largely on side with the protests, >they made sure to take pictures of rioting cops. After a while, the >police would attack the journos (especially ABC - Australia's >version of the BBC) first, smashing their cameras. These days, even >a mobile phone can take pictures, and gurus have no trouble mounting web sites. > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > >PS: Lucky I made a note of "Prophit's" post - it has been taken out >of the archive! Someone must have been leant on. > > > > > >At 08:36 PM 1/09/2008, Janet wrote: > >>http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/97076/ >> >>Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question >>Police (Video) >> >>Posted by The Uptake and Democracy Now at 10:53 AM on August 31, >>2008. >> >>Footage of one of many police actions ahead of the Republican >>National Convention in St. Paul. Post Tools >> >>Saint Paul, MN Police Department raids a home at 591 Iglehart Avenue >>at gunpoint. The journalists include a contributing photojournalist >>with "Democracy Now", whose host Amy Goodman appears in this clip >>jumping a fence to question police officers. >> >>This is part of a series of police actions on the eve of the >>Republican National Convention in St. Paul. >> >>After several hours, all those detained were released. No arrests. No >>property was seized as result of the search warrant. The clip ends >>with an interview with homeowner Mike Whalen. At the start of the >>clip, a neighbor shouts to the media and onlookers that we could all >>come into her backyard to see the detained people held in the >>adjacent backyard. >> >>Tagged as: democracy now, st. paul, rnc >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.6.14/1643 - Release Date: >8/30/2008 5:18 PM From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 1 19:23:48 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Mon Sep 1 19:43:20 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Bolivia, Venezuela, Diego Garcia, Kashmir, Caucasus, Cuba, Malaysia, ecology & capitalism, Argentina Message-ID: <48BC8794.1030704@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Bolivia: Two years of `post-neoliberal' Indigenous nationalism -- a balance sheet By the Bolpress editorial board, translated by Sean Seymour Jones for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal State intervention in economic activity -- the nationalisation of businesses, restrictions on exports and price controls, among other measures -- doesn't appear to be contributing to the materialisation of the structural changes postulated by the National Development Plan (PND) of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS). This is the evaluation of business leaders, analysts and political leaders from the right-wing opposition in Bolivia. However, according to the government of President Evo Morales, the brutal and desperate reaction of the dominant classes "in relegation" proves that something is changing. * Read more Venezuela: Solidarity needed for trade unionists under attack; please sign protest letter By Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke August 23, 2008 -- The owner of Fundimeca, an air-conditioning factory in Valencia, Carabobo, is waging an intense campaign of terror and intimidation against the factory's workers. Fundimeca's workers has been fighting to ensure that the company complies with Venezuela's constitution and labour laws, in particular an order by the labour inspectorate to rehire nine workers. Fundimeca employs 360 workers, 80% of whom are women. One worker has been shot in the leg by armed thugs and 18 workers and three union leaders are currently facing trial in Carabobo courts, accused of various charges including criminal gang activity with the threat of jail terms looming over their heads. Among those standing trial is Stalin Perez Borges, a national coordinator of the National Union of Workers (UNT) and Venezuela's principal delegate to this year's International Labor Organisation convention -- where after seven years, the delegation successfully removed Venezuela from the list of countries that supposedly violate union freedom. * Read more Behind the communal flare-up in Jammu and Kashmir By the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation August 18, 2008 -- The communally and politically motivated May 26 decision of the Congress Party-People's Democratic Party (PDP) government of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to transfer forest land [in Muslim-majority Kashmir] to the Hindu Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) [for use as a pilgrimage site near a sacred Hindu cave] is having costly repercussions, with the added danger that it may emerge as a communal [flashpoint] nationally. The land transfer, taken in the context of irresponsible official remarks recommending changes in the demography and "culture" of the region as a "solution" to the Kashmir "problem", was like a spark to the tinderbox of pent-up resentment in the Kashmir Valley. Lives were lost when police opened fire on protesters; the PDP tried to distance itself from its ministers' decision in favour of the land transfer by pulling out of the government; and the government on July 1 was belatedly forced to roll back the land transfer decision. * Read more Nationalism, revolution and war in the Caucasus By Tony Iltis August 27, 2008 -- Since the European Union-brokered ceasefire brought the shooting war between Georgia and Russia to an end on August 12, there has been a war of words between Russia and the West. One point of contention is the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia-proper (that is, Georgia excluding the de facto independent territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia), in particular the towns of Gori, Zugdidi and Senaki and the port of Poti. * Read more Cuban trade unionist: `Workers are key participants in the Cuban revolution' August 27, 2008 -- Gilda Chacon is the Asia, Oceania, Africa and Middle East representative of the Cuban Confederation of Trade Unions (CTC) and an elected delegate of the People's Power Municipal Assembly. Annolies Truman interviewed her during her August 17-20 visit to Perth, Australia, to liaise with Western Australian trade unions. * Read more Malaysian socialists say Anwar Ibrahim by-election victory a 'marker of massive change' The landslide victory by Justice Party leader Anwar Ibrahim in the August 26 Permatang Pauh by-election is welcomed in this commentary by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, the first federal parliamentarian of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) , as a "marker of the massive change" and another development that will open up democratic space in Malaysia. * Read more Capitalism and social classes in Venezuela: The historic mission of the working class By Jes?s Germ?n Far?a, Venezuela' vice-minister for social security, ministry of popular power for labour and social security translated by Federico Fuentes for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal Capitalism is a system based on the private ownership of the means of production. The capitalists, who own these, employ [workers'] labour power in exchange for a salary to be able to carry out their business. Obviously, this hiring of workers does not occur because of altruistic values. The ultimate aim of this decision - like any other under capitalism - is the possibility of obtaining profits. Moreover, the workers, who own no means of production, are left with no other option than to sell their labour power, converting themselves into waged slaves. * Read more Slideshow: Ecology against capitalism Ecology Against Capitalism by Christopher Pickering * Read more Debunking the `Tragedy of the Commons' By Ian Angus August 24, 2008 -- Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatisation the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? Most economists and development planners will answer "yes" -- and for proof they will point to the most influential article ever written on those important questions. Since its publication in Science in December 1968, "The Tragedy of the Commons" has been anthologised in at least 111 books, making it one of the most-reprinted articles ever to appear in any scientific journal. It is also one of the most quoted: a recent Google search found "about 302,000" results for the phrase "tragedy of the commons". * Read more Secret CIA prison on Diego Garcia confirmed By Andy Worthington August 2008 -- The existence of a secret, CIA-run prison on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean has long been a leaky secret in the "War on Terror" and recent revelations in TIME -- based on disclosures by a "senior American official" (now retired), who was "a frequent participant in White House Situation Room meetings" after the 9/11 attacks, and who reported that "a CIA counter-terrorism official twice said that a high-value prisoner or prisoners were being interrogated on the island" -- will come as no surprise to those who have been studying the story closely. * Read more Argentina: Winners and losers of the agricultural conflict Continuing Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal's presentation of various positions in the debate within Argentina's left around the rural crisis, we publish an exclusive translation of a recent article by Claudio Katz, an economist, researcher, professor and member of Economista de Izquierda (EDI -- Left Economists). Translated by Janet Duckworth. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080902/c202964a/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 1 20:41:40 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 1 20:41:57 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] US occupiers suiciding rape victims Message-ID: <20080902014143.BEB42F89D@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> At least the mullahs are upfront about murdering them. The report at http://www.truthout.org/article/us-military-keeping-secrets-about-female-soldiers-suicides on rape and murder among the US occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan would be unbelievable if the detail was not so compelling and the writer, Ann Wright, not so high-powered. Army Reserve Col. Ann Wright, retired, is a 29-year veteran of the US Army and Army Reserves. She was also a US diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the Department of State on March 19, 2003, in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co-author of "Dissent: Voices of Conscience." (http://www.voicesofconscience.com/). Dion Giles Western Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080902/39e5686c/attachment.html From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Sep 2 08:50:19 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Tue Sep 2 08:51:03 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] SPP Police State RNC Raids on Protesters at RNC: Amy Goodman Jumps Fence to Question In-Reply-To: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <48BBB79D.1230.4114F38D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <200809022050190906.0269F97A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Just a note in case anyone is wondering, things are pretty much as normal at my university here in the south of Thailand, at least for me - a lot of the senior administrators and others are all gung ho about the 'revolution', and organising busses to Bangkok, but otherwise things are calm, and I see no danger (aside from the daily danger of people who can't drive very well but think they are Andrio Mandretti and have a right, nay a duty, to drive everywhere as fast as they can, and think the university roads are a grand prix setup of some sort, and have a positive abhhorence of stop signs, and etc - I've learned to deal with it all, but it's still unsettling). I find it interesting that the Cdn gov and media are basically in 'neutral' mode here, rather than pointing out that this is very much a right wing, UNdemocratic movement, funded by some very, very rich people who are trying to displace a democratically elected government, which is apparently wasting money on health care and helping farmers and such like that those rich people think should be flowing into their own private coffers one way or another - this was the same problem with the Thaksin government they got rid of a couple of years ago through similar means. Even after a couple of years of massive spending on propaganda and demonstrations, a quite strong majority of Thai people still support the current government, and Thaksin - but the rich are having nothing to do with it. The Thai media are almost en masse on the side of the 'demonstrators' as well, as they print a constant stream of propaganda, and allow virtually nothing speaking in favor of Thaksin or the current government. From oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au Tue Sep 2 10:42:01 2008 From: oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au (Clem Clarke) Date: Tue Sep 2 10:42:20 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Western Australia to be GM-free!! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <48BD5EC9.5000402@ozemail.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080902/c396f8ad/attachment.html From thinker at this1.ca Wed Sep 3 11:36:26 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Wed Sep 3 11:35:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] My latest column, Message-ID: <200809031635.m83GZ4sr027740@karma.reboot.ca> My column in last week's Gold River "Record". Cheers, Ed. To: Record@cablerocket.com Subject: Fiat lux # 218 Fiat lux # 218 The dictionary definition of the word "trustee" is "One who holds property in trust". Which means that the property is not his, or hers, but belongs to somebody else, who, for a number of very good reasons can not manage, or look after it. This is why most businesses, especially large ones with many outlets and pieces of properties, have local managers. The purpose and job description of these managers is to make it certain that the rightful owners will get the most benefit from their properties and they are maintained and preserved in the best possible state and condition, hopefully, increasing their value. Increasing the value, or profitability of a certain property, or business doesn't give the right to the manager, or trustee, to sell it off without the owner's permission, and then not even tell the owner what was sold, for what and where and what the benefits are? Then keeping the details, or contracts involved in the sale in secret, to protect the interests of the buyers, and never mind the interests of the owners. I have known of a few cases over the years, where people who were entrusted with properties have not only misused their trust, but cheated and have stolen from the owners. In one case the trustee lost his law practice and was jailed. In another, a lawyer I knew personally, was barred by the Law Society for life. Quite justifiably, after all they have committed thefts by stealing the properties of others, entrusted to them in good faith. Well, what about politicians and governments? Are they exempt from the laws of fraud and thievery? If yes, what makes them so and why? How about our ideologically warped governments, like this pathetic collection we now have right across Canada, in the EU, and even around the world, for whom the concept of trusteeship has now become a licence to steal, and to cheat the rightful owners out of their properties, destituting millions, without even bothering to inform them of their losses, until the new owners simply walk in and take over. In the interests of "wealth creating foreign investment", of course, the magic words used to mislead the public and cover up the biggest crime wave in human history. Yes, first and foremost I am talking about the present BC government, the most ideologically warped and morally corrupt collection of screwballers in my 52 years of experience as a registered voter in this country and province. It is difficult to say whether they're only misled by their bigoted ideological hysteria, or looking for large donations to their Party, or are simply on their way to collect strings of post politics directorships. Like one of their prophets and idols by the name of Brian Mulroney, now making ten, or twenty times his salary as Prime Minister and his feet hardly ever touching the ground, scooting from one private jet to another. People, who have been and are researching and constantly updating their information bank, know that one of the main demands of the presently ruling neo-con, or neo-lib, ideology, scripturally sanctified by neoclassical economists, is the total destruction of all forms of public ownership, all governmental accountability, stealing the control of all properties through the corporatization of all services into the hands of the international corporate mafia, to become and remain "globally competitive". The usual excuse for all the crimes committed against the human race and the environment. Public ownership, and control is, of course, non competitive, which means it serves the public, instead of stealing their eyes out in the name of "wealth creation". What this government got a way with in these past 7 years, is unbelievable. The most unbelievable part is the fact that they got away and continue to get away with it, still supported by the voters, ruling with secrecy and lies totally unheard of outside the fascist, nazi and communists regimes I have known and still carry the scars on my skin and soul. Selling the store is not an income. Selling the contents of the store, the inventory and the infrastructure, without debiting and discounting the replacement values is not an income, even if our incompetent and miseducated economists are calling it so with their phoney GDP figures. The worst part is that the managers are openly doing it for new and fancier jobs, by running the store into the ground through planned mismanagement, as we have now in our healthcare, forest, mining, etc. etc, systems, so they can sell them for fractions of their real values and then fill their own pockets with the benefits, while cheating the rightful owners of their possessions and future. . Now we come to the most fashionable concept in the vocabulary of the Socred/Reform resurrection: Privatization. Not only are the cover names of these political parties a lie, but so is the word "privatization". In reality, i is a scam is for "collectivization", with nothing "private" about it. The same racket used by Soviet communists to concentrate all economic power into the hands of a selected power elite under the cover name of the "state", where the real state, the people of the countries, had nothing to say and if they dared to ask, were knocked down. Now, instead of bayonets, our corporatists and their political stooges are doing it with the perceived power of imaginary capital, created from the air by some bank, forcing people into the same servitude and the loss of their properties and rights. Corporatization is a legalized theft of public properties. A friend who was working in a high position in another province, with the same Socred/Reform government under another name, was telling me of a project where the corporate bid was $125. million higher than the government estimate, yet it was given to them, under a cover of a series of lies we're experiencing here in BC, every day. And now we come to the Public Private Partnerships, the biggest fraud among piles of frauds we're being sold every day by our governments, with the real meaning of the letters PPP being "Plundering the Public's Purse". But the detailed examination of this racket will have to wait till the next time. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 3 13:31:13 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed Sep 3 13:31:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] I never thought I would... Message-ID: <20080903183115.19D2C10F5F@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> ...try to persuade anyone to watch a video clip. I dodge them like leprosy, preferring written words that are still there later. But the brief film clip at http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/ is worth the trouble, I promise. It gives the other side to the Democrat-Republican contest that holds just as well for Australia's Liberals and Britain's Conservatives (how these parties misname themselves!) and all the similar parties elsewhere in the world. This little video spells out all the positive reasons why an American should vote Republican (and why an Australian should vote Liberal, and why a Britisher should vote Conservative). Instead of negativity it says what's good about these guardians of our values (and in Western Australia gives the term "safe seat" a whole new meaning - ask if puzzled and I'll explain). Just give it five minutes - it even plays properly without stopping every few seconds to reload. Dion Giles Western Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080904/866161a6/attachment.html From creuss at bluewin.ch Wed Sep 3 14:44:45 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Wed Sep 3 14:46:04 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] I never thought I would... Message-ID: Looks like the Dems have reached the stage of European "social-democratic" parties: For lack of own substance, they can only argue that voters just can't vote for the competition... Can you imagine product advertising on that basis? Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From duanebehrens at cox.net Wed Sep 3 16:22:09 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Wed Sep 3 16:42:35 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] I never thought I would... In-Reply-To: <20080903183115.19D2C10F5F@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <20080903172209.PXHTO.96650.imail@fed1rmwml28> Thanks, Dion. I saw it a couple of months ago, I'm glad you brought it back, and I enjoyed watching it again: http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/ Duane Behrens -- "They're gonna make it look like suicide, I know how these bastards think..." Hunter S. Thompson From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 3 19:39:08 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed Sep 3 19:39:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] I never thought I would... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080904003909.9AECA1294D@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> At 03:44 AM 4/09/2008, Chris Reuss wrote: Looks like the Dems have reached the stage of European "social-democratic" parties: For lack of own substance, they can only argue that voters just can't vote for the competition... Can you imagine product advertising on that basis? Chris ============================================= Nice analogy, and so was Ed's about directors flogging off the company assets. There's to be a State election in Western Australia on Saturday, brought on well ahead of time as a matter of urgency by Premier Carpenter. This is the sort of measure that can be justified if the opposition is making it impossible to govern through a stranglehold in the Upper House. But what is the crisis in WA? Only that the opposition "Liberals" (misnomer for Tories) are in disarray because of a more than usually bad leader who got the Libs into a public scandal by getting drunk and sniffing ladies' chairs at a semi-public function (Libs should never be allowed near strong drink). No urgency for an early election. Well the early election has scared the Libs into demoting their seat-sniffing leader (temporarily reduced to No. 2 position) and dragging a semi-competent redneck called Barnett out of nowhere, and an unforgiving electorate could well vote Carpenter's "Labor" (misnomer for Tory-Lite) Party out of office for pulling the early election stunt merely because he sniffed the Libs' seats (so to speak) and hoped to capture some. Very few people ever vote for a political party - simply against the alternatives. Representative government is undemocratic and a fraud. Carpenter deserves to nosedive because he is an arrogant pig and (with Green connivance) has already brushed aside one referendum result and is assuring the business lobby that he intends to brush aside another. Much as he and his very pedestrian government deserve punishment the people of Western Australia don't (e.g. they don't deserve to have GM-poisoned crops and uranium mining foisted on them) so with the advantage of our preferential voting system I'll be putting the Liberals last, as always. Dion Giles Western Australia From creuss at bluewin.ch Thu Sep 4 11:51:18 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Thu Sep 4 11:52:41 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Study: Economists are more selfish Message-ID: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/04/economists-selfish-b.html Economists: selfish bastards Posted by Cory Doctorow, September 4, 2008 1:55 AM | permalink In the course of researching my next novel, I happened upon this old paper by Robert H. Frank, Thomas Gilovich, and Dennis T. Regan, "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?" Its conclusions: Economics grad students are more likely to free ride than the general public. Economists are less generous than other academics in charitable giving. Economics undergrads are more likely to defect in prisoner's dilemma problems. Students are less likely to return found money after studying economics but not after studying another subject like astronomy. No wonder they call it "the dismal science." A study by Gerald Marwell and Ruth Ames found that students of economics are indeed much more likely to free-ride in experiments that called for private contributions to public goods. Their basic experiment involved a group of subjects who were given an initial endowment of money, which they were to allocate between two accounts, one "public," the other "private." Money deposited in a subject's private account was returned dollar for dollar to the subject at the end of the experiment. Money deposited in the public account was first pooled, then multiplied by some factor greater than one, and then distributed equally among all subjects. Under these circumstances, the socially optimal behavior is for each subject to put her entire endowment in the public account. But the individually most advantageous strategy is to put all of it in the private account. The self-interest model predicts that all subjects will follow the latter strategy. Most don't. Across eleven replications of the experiment, the average contribution to the public account was approximately 49 percent. It was only in a twelfth replication with first-year graduate students in economics as subjects that Marwell and Ames obtained results more nearly consistent with the self-interest model. These subjects contributed an average of only 20 percent of their initial endowments to the public account, a figure significantly less than the corresponding figure for noneconomists (p.05). Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation? http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/economics_frank/frank.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From papadop at peak.org Fri Sep 5 12:37:14 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Fri Sep 5 12:37:49 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Polish ministers 'had evidence of CIA prisons' Message-ID: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2688608/Polish-ministers-had-evidence-of-CIA-prisons.html Daily Telegraph (London) 05 Sep 2008 Polish investigators may have uncovered evidence showing that a number of key cabinet ministers knew of the existence of secret CIA prisons in Poland where controversial interrogation techniques such as water-boarding could have been common place. By Matthew Day in Warsaw A Polish radio station has claimed that prosecutors possess a 2006 report confirming the jail's existence, written by Roman Giertych, a cabinet minister in Poland's previous government, who was then head of a committee monitoring the secret services. The station, Radio Zet, says that at least two ministers, including then justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, saw the report. The revelations have been supported by similar claims by one of Poland's most respected newspapers. Gazeta Wyborcza says that it has seen a document, possessed by prosecutors, proving the existence of a key CIA centre in Poland, which was set up under a secret Polish-US agreement in 2002. The paper adds that the secret service presented the report to Poland's then chief prosecutor, Janusz Kaczmarek and two ministers in 2006. Mr Kaczmarek confirmed he met the ministers but has refused to disclose what was discussed. Prosecutors began their probe under orders from Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, in order to investigate persistent accusations that Szymany, an air force base in north-east Poland, was the location of a key centre in US's campaign against terrorist networks. They are also investigating claims that US interrogators used practices such as water-boarding, regarded by many as torture, in Poland. If the allegations prove true it could come as an acute embarrassment for many of Poland's leading politicians. Since rumours of a jail first began to circulate in 2005 a long list of the country's leaders have issued repeated, and continue to issue, blanket denials of the existence of a secret centre. The existence of the centre, and the use of harsh interrogation techniques, could also damage America's stock in the eyes of many Poles. Once revered in Poland, America's reputation has fallen in the central-European country through disillusionment with American foreign policy and Poland's strengthening ties with Western Europe. From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Sep 5 17:45:52 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri Sep 5 17:48:32 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] How the Chicago Boys Wrecked the Economy Interview with Dr Michael Hudson (A Must Read ) Message-ID: <48C18C70.13815.5B8A1FB@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Excerpt from a lengthy interview with Dr Michael Hudson by Mike Whitney , economic journalist whose work is a frequent contributor to Global Research www.globalresearch.ca : "You have to realize that what they're trying to do is to roll back the Enlightenment, roll back the moral philosophy and social values of classical political economy and its culmination in Progressive Era legislation, as well as the New Deal institutions. They're not trying to make the economy more equal, and they're not trying to share power. Their greed is (as Aristotle noted) infinite. So what you find to be a violation of traditional values is a re-assertion of pre- industrial, feudal values. The economy is being set back on the road to debt peonage. The Road to Serfdom is not government sponsorship of economic progress and rising living standards; it's the dismantling of government, the dissolution of regulatory agencies, to create a new feudal-type elite. "The former Soviet Union provides a model of what the neoliberals would like to create. Not only in Russia but also in the Baltic States and other former Soviet republics, they created local kleptocracies, Pinochet-style. In Russia, the kleptocrats founded an explicitly Pinochetista party, the Party of Right Forces ("Right" as in right-wing). "In order for the American people or any other people to assert greater control over monetary policy, they need to have a doctrine of just what a good monetary policy would be. Early in the 19th century the followers of St. Simon in France began to develop such a policy. By the end of that century, Central Europe implemented this policy, mobilizing the banking and financial system to promote industrialization, in consultation with the government (and catalyzed by military and naval spending, to be sure). But all this has disappeared from the history of economic thought, which no longer is even taught to economics students. The Chicago Boys have succeeded in censoring any alternative to their free-market rationalization of asset stripping and economic polarization. -- Michael Hudson, former Wall Street economist, Dennis Kucinich's Chief Economic Advisor in the recent Democratic primary presidential campaign, advisor to U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), distinguished research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), and author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) fyi-janet ================================== http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9996 http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney08292008.html CounterPunch August 29, 2008 An Interview with Michael Hudson How the Chicago Boys Wrecked the Economy By Mike Whitney Michael Hudson is a former Wall Street economist specializing in the balance of payments and real estate at the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase & Co.), Arthur Anderson, and later at the Hudson Institute (no relation). In 1990 he helped established the world's first sovereign debt fund for Scudder Stevens & Clark. Dr. Hudson was Dennis Kucinich's Chief Economic Advisor in the recent Democratic primary presidential campaign, and has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) Mike Whitney: The United States current account deficit is roughly $700 billion. That is enough "borrowed" capital to pay the yearly $120 billion cost of the war in Iraq, the entire $450 billion Pentagon budget, and Bush's tax cuts for the rich. Why does the rest of the world keep financing America's militarism via the current account deficit or is it just the unavoidable consequence of currency deregulation, "dollar hegemony" and globalization? Michael Hudson: As I explained in Super Imperialism, central banks in other countries buy dollars not because they think dollar assets are a "good buy," but because if they did NOT recycle their trade surpluses and U.S. buyout spending and military spending by buying U.S. Treasury, Fannie Mae and other bonds, their currencies would rise against the dollar. This would price their exporters out of dollarized world markets. So the United States can spend money and get a free ride. The solution is (1) capital controls to block further dollar receipts, (2) floating tariffs against imports from dollarized economies, (3) buyouts of U.S. investments in dollar-recipient countries (so that Europe and Asia would use their central bank dollars to buy out U.S. private investments at book value), (4) subsidized exports to dollarized economies with depreciating currency, and similar responses that the United States would adopt if it were in the position of a payments-surplus country. In other words, Europe and Asia would treat the United States as its Washington Consensus boys treat Third World debtors: buy out their raw materials and other industries, their export plantations, and their governments. MW: Economist Henry Liu said in his article "Dollar hegemony enables the US to own indirectly but essentially the entire global economy by requiring its wealth to be denominated in fiat dollars that the US can print at will with little in the way of monetary penalties.....World trade is now a game in which the US produces fiat dollars of uncertain exchange value and zero intrinsic value, and the rest of the world produces goods and services that fiat dollars can buy at "market prices" quoted in dollars." Is Liu overstating the case or have the Federal Reserve and western banking elites really figured out how to maintain imperial control over the global economy simply by ensuring that most energy, commodities, and manufactured goods are denominated in dollars? If that's the case, then it would seem that the actual "face-value" of the dollar does not matter as much as long as it continues to be used in the purchase of commodities. Is this right? Michael Hudson: Henry Liu and I have been discussing this for many years now. We are in full agreement. The paragraph you quote is quite right. His Asia Times articles provide a running analysis of dollar hegemony. MW: What is the relationship between stagnant wages for workers and the current credit crisis? If workers wages had kept up with the rate of production, isn't it less likely that we would be in the jam we are today? And, if that is true, than shouldn't we be more focused on re-unionizing the labor force instead looking for solutions from the pathetic Democratic Party? Michael Hudson: The credit crisis derives from "the magic of compound interest," that is, the tendency of debts to keep on doubling and redoubling. Every rate of interest is a doubling time. No "real" economy's production and economic surplus can keep up with this tendency of debt to grow faster. So the financial crisis would have occurred regardless of wage levels. Quite simply, the price of home ownership tends to absorb all the disposable personal income of the homebuyer. So if wages would have risen more rapidly, the price of housing would simply have risen faster as employees pledged more take-home pay to carry larger mortgages. Stagnant wages merely helped keep down the price of houses to merely stratospheric levels, not ionospheric ones. As for labor unions, they haven't been any help at all in solving the housing crisis. In Germany where I am right now, unions have sponsored co-ops, as they used to do in New York City, at low membership costs. So housing costs only absorb about 20% of German family budgets, compared to twice that for the United States. Imagine what could be done if pension funds had put their money into housing for their contributors, instead of into the stock market to buy and bid up prices for the stocks that CEOs and other insiders were selling. MW: When politicians or members of the foreign policy establishment talk about "integrating" Russia or China into the "international system", what exactly do they mean? Do they mean the dollar-dominated system which is governed by the Fed, the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO? Do countries compromise their national sovereignty when they participate in the US-led economic system? Michael Hudson: By "integrating" they mean absorbing, something like a parasite integrating a host into its own control system. They mean that other countries will be prohibited under WTO and IMF rules from getting rich in the way that the United States got wealthy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Only the United States will be permitted to subsidize its agriculture, thanks to its unique right to grandfather in its price supports. Only the United States will be free from having to raise interest rates to stabilize its balance of payments, and only it can devote its monetary policy to promoting easy credit and asset-price inflation. And only the United States can run a military deficit, obliging foreign central banks in dollar- recipient countries to give it a free ride. In other words, there is no free lunch for other countries, only for the United States. Other countries do indeed give up their national sovereignty. The United States never has adjusted its economy to create equilibrium with other countries. But to be fair, in this respect only the United States is acting fully in its own self-interest. The problem is largely that other countries are not "playing the game." They are not acting as real governments. It takes two to tango when one party gets a free ride. Their governments have become "enablers" of U.S. economic aggression. MW: What do you think the Bush administration's reaction would be if a smaller country, like Switzerland, had sold hundreds of billions of dollars of worthless mortgage-backed securities to investment banks, insurance companies and investors in the United States? Wouldn't there be litigation and a demand that the responsible parties be held accountable? So, how do you explain the fact that China and the EU nations, that were the victims of this gigantic swindle, haven't boycotted US financial products or called for reparations? Michael Hudson: International law is not clear on financial fraud. Caveat emptor is the rule. Foreign investors took a risk. They trusted a deregulated U.S. financial market that made it easiest to make money via financial fraud. Ultimately, they put their faith in neoliberal deregulation - at home as well as in the United States. England is now in the same mess. The "accountability" was supposed to lie with U.S. accounting firms and credit rating agencies. Foreign investors were so ideologically blinded by free market rhetoric that they actually believed the fantasies about "self-regulation" and self- regulating markets tending toward equilibrium rather than the real- world tendency toward financial and economic polarization. In other words, most foreign investors lack a realistic body of economic theory. The United States could simply argue that they should take responsibility for their bad investments, just as U.S. pension funds and other investors are told to do. MW: The Congress recently passed a bill that gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson the unprecedented authority to use as much money as he needs to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac solvent. Paulson assured the Congress that he wouldn't need more than $25 billion but, the 400 page bill allows him to increase the national debt by $800 billion. How will the Fannie/Freddie bailout affect the dollar and the budget deficit? Are interest rates likely to skyrocket because of this action? Michael Hudson: The Fed can flood the economy with money, Alan Greenspan-style, to prevent interest rates from skyrocketing. Nobody really knows what will happen to FNMA and Freddie Mac, but it looks like the mortgage and financial crisis will get much, much worse over the coming year. We are just heading into the storm where adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are scheduled to reset at higher rates, and where U.S. banks have to roll over their existing debts in a market where foreign investors fear that these banks already have no net worth left. So the principle here is "Big fish eat little fish." Wall Street will be bailed out, and banks will be allowed to "earn their way out of debt" as they did after 1980, by exploiting retail customers, above all credit-card customers and individual borrowers. There will be a lot of bankruptcies, and people will suffer more than ever before because of the harsh pro-creditor bankruptcy law that Congress passed at the behest of the bank lobbyists. MW: A few months ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial which said that they could imagine two nightmare scenarios if the current credit crisis was not handled properly; either there would be a run on the dollar causing a sudden plunge in its value, or the unexpected failure of a major financial institution could send the stock market crashing. Last week, the former head of the IMF Kenneth Rogoff triggered a sell-off on Wall Street when he said, "We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months, we're going to see a whopper; we're going to see a big one - one of the big investment banks or big banks." What happens if Rogoff is right and Merrill, Citi or Lehman go belly up? Is that enough to send the stock market freefalling? Michael Hudson: Not necessarily. Citibank would be nationalized, then sold off. The principle should be that if a bank is "too big to fail," it should be broken up. This should start with a repeal of the Clinton Administration's repeal of Glass-Steagall. As for Lehman, that would be given the Bear Stearns treatment, and also sold off - probably to a hedge fund. Merrill is much larger, but it also could be parceled out, I suppose. The stock market's financial index would plunge, but not necessarily industrial stock prices. MW: According to MarketWatch: "In the three months from April to June, banks posted their second worst earnings performance since 1991.... Earnings for the quarter totaled just $5 billion, compared with $36.8 billion a year ago, a decline of 86.5%." Also, according to a front page article in the Wall Street Journal: "financial institutions will have to pay off at least $787 billion in floating rate notes and other medium term obligations before the end of 2009." How are the banks going to pay off nearly $800 billion ($200 billion by December!) when they only earned a measly $5 billion in the quarter!?! And how in the world is the Federal Reserve going to keep the banking system functioning when earnings can't even cover current liabilities? Do the banks have some secret source of revenue we don't know about or is the system headed for disaster? Michael Hudson: The traditional way to pay debt is with yet MORE debt. The interest due is simply added on to the principal, so that the debt grows exponentially. This is the real meaning of "the magic of compound interest." It means not only that savings left to accumulate interest keep on doubling and redoubling, debts do to, because the savings that are lent out on the "asset" side of the creditor's balance sheet (today, that of America's wealthiest 10%) become debts on the "liabilities" side of the balance sheet (the "bottom 90%"). The banks don't have a secret source of revenue. It's right out in the open. They will take their junk mortgages to the Federal Reserve and borrow the money at full face value. The government will be left with the junk. It then can either take over the bank, as the Bank of England did with Northern Rock when it went bankrupt early this year, or it can let the bank "earn" money by stiffing its customers some more. MW: From 2000 to 2006, the total retail value of housing in the United States doubled, going from roughly $11 trillion to $22 trillion in just 6 years. For the last 200 years, housing has barely kept pace with the rate of inflation, usually increasing 2 to 3% per year. The Federal Reserve's low interest rates were the main cause of this unprecedented housing bubble and, yet, ex-Fed chief Alan Greenspan still denies any responsibility for what "The Economist" calls "the largest bubble in history". Did Greenspan understand the problems he was creating with his "loose" monetary policies or was there some ulterior motive to his actions? Michael Hudson: He simply didn't care about the problem. He saw his job as a cheerleader for people who were able to get rich fast. These always had been his major clients in his years on Wall Street, and he saw himself as their servant - sort of like a pilot fish for sharks. Mr. Greenspan's idea of "wealth creation" was to take the line of least resistance and inflate asset prices. He thought that the way to enable the economy to carry its debt overhead was to inflate asset prices so that debtors could borrow the interest falling due by pledging collateral (real estate, stocks and bonds) that were rising in market price. To his Ayn-Rand view of the world, one way of making money was as economically and socially productive as any other way of doing so. Buying a property and waiting for its price to inflate was deemed as productive as investing in new means of production. Ever since his days as co-founder of NABE (the National Association of Business Economists), Greenspan has long looked only at GNP and the national balance sheet as an economic indicator, being "value- free." This is his intellectual and conceptual limitation. He wanted to provide a way for savvy investors to get rich, and the easiest way to get rich is to be passive and get a free lunch. His ideology led him to believe the "free market" ideology that the financial sector would be self-regulating and hence would act honestly. But he opened the floodgates to financial crooks. His set of measures did not distinguish between Countrywide Financial getting rich, Enron getting rich, or General Motors or industrial companies expanding their means of production. So the economy was being hollowed out, but this didn't appear in any of the measures he looked at from his perch at the Federal Reserve. So just as journalists and the mass media proclaim every market downturn as "surprising" and "unexpected," he was as clueless as a lemming running headlong over the cliff. It's an inherent instinct for free-market boys. MW: The housing market is freefalling, setting new records every day for foreclosures, inventory, and declining prices. The banking system is in even worse shape; undercapitalized and buried under a mountain of downgraded assets. There seems to be growing consensus that these problems are not just part of a normal economic downturn, but the direct result of the Fed's monetary policies. Are we seeing the collapse of the Central banking model as a way of regulating the markets? Do you think the present crisis will strengthen the existing system or make it easier for the American people to assert greater control over monetary policy? Michael Hudson: What do you mean "failure"? Your perspective is from the bottom looking up. But the financial model has been a great success from the vantage point of the top of the economic pyramid looking down. The economy has polarized to the point where the wealthiest 10% now own 85% of the nation's wealth. Never before have the bottom 90% been so highly indebted, so dependent on the wealthy. >From their point of view, their power has exceeded that of any time in which economic statistics have been kept. You have to realize that what they're trying to do is to roll back the Enlightenment, roll back the moral philosophy and social values of classical political economy and its culmination in Progressive Era legislation, as well as the New Deal institutions. They're not trying to make the economy more equal, and they're not trying to share power. Their greed is (as Aristotle noted) infinite. So what you find to be a violation of traditional values is a re-assertion of pre- industrial, feudal values. The economy is being set back on the road to debt peonage. The Road to Serfdom is not government sponsorship of economic progress and rising living standards; it's the dismantling of government, the dissolution of regulatory agencies, to create a new feudal-type elite. The former Soviet Union provides a model of what the neoliberals would like to create. Not only in Russia but also in the Baltic States and other former Soviet republics, they created local kleptocracies, Pinochet-style. In Russia, the kleptocrats founded an explicitly Pinochetista party, the Party of Right Forces ("Right" as in right-wing). In order for the American people or any other people to assert greater control over monetary policy, they need to have a doctrine of just what a good monetary policy would be. Early in the 19th century the followers of St. Simon in France began to develop such a policy. By the end of that century, Central Europe implemented this policy, mobilizing the banking and financial system to promote industrialization, in consultation with the government (and catalyzed by military and naval spending, to be sure). But all this has disappeared from the history of economic thought, which no longer is even taught to economics students. The Chicago Boys have succeeded in censoring any alternative to their free-market rationalization of asset stripping and economic polarization. My own model would be to make central banks part of the Treasury, not simply the board of directors of the rapacious commercial banking system. You mentioned Henry Liu's writings earlier, and I think he has come to the same conclusion in his Asia Times articles. MW: Do you see the Federal Reserve as an economic organization designed primarily to maintain order in the markets via interest rates and regulation or a political institution whose objectives are to impose an American-dominated model of capitalism on the rest of the world? Michael Hudson: Surely, you jest! The Fed has turned "maintaining order" into a euphemism for consolidating power by the financial sector and the FIRE sector generally (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) over the "real" economy of production and consumption. Its leaders see their job as being to act on behalf of the commercial banking system to enable it to make money off the rest of the economy. It acts as the Board of Directors to fight regulation, to support Wall Street, to block any revival of anti-usury laws, to promote "free markets" almost indistinguishable from outright financial fraud, to decriminalize bad behavior - and most of all to inflate the price of property relative to the wages of labor and even relative to the profits of industry. The Fed's job is not really to impose the Washington Consensus on the rest of the world. That's the job of the World Bank and IMF, coordinated via the Treasury (viz. Robert Rubin under Clinton most notoriously) and AID, along with the covert actions of the CIA and the National Endowment for Democracy. You don't need monetary policy to do this - only massive bribery. Only call it "lobbying" and the promotion of democratic values - values to fight government power to regulate or control finance across the world. Financial power is inherently cosmopolitan and, as such, antagonistic to the power of national governments. The Fed and other government agencies, Wall Street and the rest of the economy form part of an overall system. Each agency must be viewed in the context of this system and its dynamics - and these dynamics are polarizing, above all from financial causes. So we are back to the "magic of compound interest," now expanded to include "free" credit creation and arbitraging. The problem is that none of this appears in the academic curriculum. And the silence of the major media to address it or even to acknowledge it means that it is invisible except to the beneficiaries who are running the system. Michael Hudson can be reached via his website, mh@michael-hudson.com Mike Whitney lives in Washington Dtate. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WPM$2BF2.PM$ Type: application/octet-stream Size: 22645 bytes Desc: Mail message body Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080905/75f7f375/WPM2BF2-0001.obj From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Sat Sep 6 14:52:44 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Sat Sep 6 14:55:20 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] NAFTA / NAU Refs -> Will U.S. Troops Invade Mexico? Clayton Meyer Sept 5 Message-ID: <48C2B55C.11130.A407B30@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Carlton Meyer is a former Marine Corps officer who has written dozens of articles for the "Navy Times", "Marine Corps Gazette", "Naval Proceedings" http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_ content&task=view&id=1365 According to a google search he also wrote : Will the USA Invade Canada? :: SANDERS RESEARCH ASSOCIATES LTD. By Carlton Meyer. Jul/17/2007. Active Image. Canada is now considered an unimportant good neighbor by the superpower to its south. A recent effort to create ...a "North American Union" (NAU) with Canada, the USA, and Mexico is a semi-secret effort by industrialists in these three nations. The goal is similar to the "European Union" in that it would allow low-cost Mexican labor and abundant Canadian energy reserves to fuel the huge industrial machine of the USA and create the world?s greatest economic power. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the cornerstone of this union. Few Americans know that Canada is the leading source of imported energy to the USA. They are the biggest source of foreign oil, natural gas, uranium, and even electricity. As energy costs recently doubled, Canada is becoming wealthy, at the expense of its southern neighbor. This has weakened Canadian support for a NAU. The obnoxious foreign policy of President George Bush has nearly derailed it. fyi-janet p.s In the following article Carlton Meyer refers to five factors that have destabilized Mexico even to the point of a possible 'failed state' status. These five factors are 1. NAFTA Free trade backlash 2. The Rich Got Richer 3. Work Opportunities Decline 4. Peaked Oil in Mexico 5. Drug War Corruption Re the SPP and NAU: Under his heading drug war corruption Meyer's notes: The Mexican army has been corrupted by the drug war too, and often guards drug shipments. There are dozens of encounters with armed Mexican soldiers on the U.S. side of the border every year.[6] The U.S. government and its corporate media sponsors avoid such stories like the plague, fearing that it may spoil their plan for a North American Union with Canada and Mexico. Evidently, they think Americans are more interested in hundreds of stories about border violence in South Ossetia. Also in his summation about failed state he notes: Finally, American corporations have billions of dollars invested in Mexico. They will demand that U.S. troops protect their investments, which is a traditional role of the U.S. military throughout Latin America. Chaos in Mexico also provides an opportunity to forcibly annex Mexico into a North American Union. This will be opposed by America's imperial minded Generals, who think that guarding the nation from attack is not their role. A great example of this mindset is found in a 2005 news article, "Border Crossings HinderTraining at Arizona bases" in which U.S. Marine Corps officers complain that the large numbers of illegal immigrants crossing their training ranges in Arizona were disrupting preparations for deployments to Iraq.They said that detaining these foreign invaders was not their role, and demanded "federal help."[8] ============== sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1283 - 44k - Cached - Similar pages Will U.S. Troops Invade Mexico? By Carlton Meyer ?? Sep/05/2008 Americans are inundated with debate about Iraq. Generals insist the USAis winning, which tells us nothing since they are incapable of negativeassessments of their efforts. They tell us the "surge" was a success,even though more troops remain in Iraq today. If the USA is nowvictorious, why not reduce troop levels and spending? PresidentialCandidate John McCain has no answer to this simple question. Hisopponent, Barack Obama, says most troops should be withdrawn, and sentto Afghanistan. While both plan their moves as the next emperor,whoever wins the election will likely bring troops home to deal withthe failing state of Mexico. Few Americans are aware that the USA invaded Mexico in 1846 as part of a border dispute that resulted in westward land grab by American expansionists. Mexico continued to be misled by corrupt rulers inMexico City, which resulted in frequent rebellions and a lengthy and bloody civil war. As a result, guarding the Mexican border was the U.S.Army's primary peace time mission until 1940. This map shows the numerous U.S. Army border forts in Texas in the late 1880s, when the entire U.S. Army had fewer than 40,000 soldiers. In 1916, troops from Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa's army raided Columbus, New Mexico. They killed 14 U.S. soldiers and 10 civilians. President Wilson dispatched a 10,000-man U.S. Army expedition to capture Villa. General John J. Pershing led a clumsy effort to find Villa in the rugged mountains of Northern Mexico. After a few brief engagements, victory was declared and American troops returned home 1917, even though Villa's forces continued small crossborder raids. Mexican civil strife ended in a few years later. World War II brought prosperity to neutral Mexico as goods and services were in strong demand by the warring parties. As the USA mobilized most able-bodied men into the military, it recruited millionsof Mexicans to work temporarily in the USA. The post-war economic boom spilled over into Mexico in the form of tourism causing further economic gains. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)brought thousands of jobs as hundreds of factories from the USA moved south of the border.[1] All these factors benefited the Mexican people, although gains were restrained by traditional government corruption and mismanagement. However, the past decade has seen a sharp reversal in Mexican prosperity along several fronts that has destabilized Mexico: Free Trade Backlash WhileNAFTA provided a boost in foreign investment, it eventually destroyed much of Mexico's agricultural sector as small farmers were unable to compete in price with massive corporate farms north of the border. Freetraders noted that agricultural job losses were offset by increases infactory jobs. However, freer trade with Asian nations, China inparticular, allowed access to cheaper labor and products, so Mexicanindustry has suffered. This led to armed violence in remote regions of southern Mexico populatedmostly by indigenous people. Factory jobs are non-existent in the region due to a lack of infrastructure and stability. The Mexican Army had kept the rebellion in check thus far. The Rich Got Richer In the 1980s, U.S. bankers pressured Latin American nations to privatize their national industries to allow foreign ownership with the idea this provides competition. This had been resisted for nationalist reasons, until American bankers persuaded foreign leaders that free trade washighly profitable for insiders. Blood Bankersby James Henry describes how major American banks helped Latin American leaders loot their nation by selling national assets. These were purchased by insiders at deep discounts, who then sold them off piecemeal for huge profits, or sharply raised rates in monopoly marketslike utilities. This caused great resentment and spawned a "socialist"movement to undo this robbery, now led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Mexico underwent a similar transition with similar results. While Mexico is often considered a poor nation, it now includes ten billionaires. Mexican businessman Carlos "Slim" Helu, who at $60 billion is the world's second wealthiest, recently surpassing Bill Gates of Microsoft fame.[2]These obvious economic imbalances led to resentment among the workingclass, and the formation of a new socialist political party "The Party of the Democratic Revolution" a.k.a. the PRD. This party almost won the 2006 presidential election, losing to the ruling conservative PAN party by less than 1%, after some 3 million ballotswere not counted because they were "improperly marked." This led to mass protests and court battles, yet no serious violence. Given the declining economic conditions in Mexico, it will be difficult for the ruling PAN party to win the next election. However, Mexico'sbillionaires and major corporations fear a socialist ruling party and may try to disqualify even more ballots, leading to violence. ? Work Opportunities Decline Overthe past few decades, a growing U.S. economy provided a chance for tens of millions of Mexican workers to earn decent wages. This was quietly encouraged by American industrialists in a successful effort to break up unions and push down wages. However, this mass immigration alienated most Americans who recently pressured their leaders to take action to secure the border. In addition, sharply higher unemployment in the USA decreased employment opportunities and increased pressure to deport more illegal immigrants. After January 31, 2009, millions of illegal Mexican workers can no longer walk or drive across the border just because they speak excellent English or by presenting a driver's license. A U.S. passport or new wallet-size "U.S. passportcard" will be required. These will be far more difficult to illegally obtain or counterfeit, so many long-time Mexican workers will find themselves stranded on the "otro lado." This will also damage crossborder trade and tourism, so fewer American dollars will flow south.While the idea is sound, it will be another blow to the fragile Mexican economy. According to the Bank of Mexico, 12.6% of families residing in Mexico's municipalities receive money from the United States. Remittances are the second largest source of income forMexico, behind oil exports. In 2007, remittances flowing into Mexico reached a high of $23.98 billion, but the Bank of Mexico estimates thatthey declined by 2.2% in the first half of this year.[3] Peaked Oil in Mexico Mexico has always been one of the world's leading oil producers. All operations are controlled by the government monopoly PEMEX. It employs138,000 Mexican workers and generates around $200 billion in revenues that provide 40% of federal government revenues. Production peaked in 2004 and has been in sharp decline. This is mostly because of declining reserves, but also because the government demanded the same amount of oil revenues from PEMEX each year even as production fell. As a result,investment in exploration and development has been minimal. Production at Mexico's Cantarell oil complex, one of the world's largest, has plummeted. Average daily production dropped to slightly more than 1m barrels a day in May compared with more than 1.6m b/d in the same month last year, according to the energy ministry. Mexico's total oil production fell about 10% in the past 12 months to 2.79m b/d in May.[4] Asa result, government revenues from oil exports are falling sharply, requiring increased taxation or less spending. Higher oil prices could offset this loss, except that Mexico will have no surplus oil to export within a few years. Domestic oil consumption is over 2.0m b/d and rising, while production is 2.8m b/d and falling. In addition,declining production means that tens of thousands of well- paid PEMEX employees are no longer needed or affordable. Mexico has long subsidized domestic fuel costs, but higher production costs have been absorbed by PEMEX. Diesel and gasoline pump prices are almost half that of California. As fat profits from oil exports sharply decline, the government must gradually shift all of its oil tax revenues to subsidize domestic fuel, or raise fuel prices, which will outrage Mexicans and hit the economy hard.[5] Drug War Corruption TheU.S. Government's endless and senseless "war on drugs" has worsened Mexico's corruption problem. The major drug lords are too sophisticated to destroy. Their biggest threat is competition from startups, but these are easily dealt with by providing tips to America's drugwarriors who happily dispose of these "little fish." An outstanding movie about this complex game is "Traffic" with Michael Douglas. ?REF TO NAU The Mexican army has been corrupted by the drug war too, and often guards drug shipments. There are dozens of encounters with armed Mexican soldiers on the U.S. side of the border every year.[6] The U.S. government and its corporate media sponsors avoid such stories like the plague, fearing that it may spoil their plan for a North American Union with Canada and Mexico. Evidently, they think Americans are more interested in hundreds of stories about border violence in South Ossetia. Two months ago, a top U.S.counter-narcotics official warned that Mexico's democratic development is at stake in the country's battle against drugs cartels. Speaking as the U.S. Congress approved a long- awaited $400 million aid package for Mexico's anti-drug drive, David Johnson, head of the department's bureau of international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, described the violence as: "an extraordinary burden on the Mexican people... the consequence of confronting a very real problem which, left unaddressed, would foment even more violence and has the potential for eroding those healthy state institutions that have grown up through the last several years in Mexico."[7] A Failing Mexican State These five factors have destabilized Mexico, and the entire nation may plunge back into a civil war. This could result in millions of desperate rural Mexicans flooding into major cities, attempting to migrate north, or joining drug and political gangs. As a result, the U.S. military may be ordered to protect and help run huge refugee camps in Mexico. American border cities will also need military protection from hoards of refugees fleeing northward. U.S. troops may also be used to dislodge drug lords, which means fighting with local Mexican soldiers assigned to guard their empires. Drug lords may retaliate with cross border raids that will force the American President to shift more U.S. troopsback home for border duty. REFERENCE TO NAU IMPLICATIONS OF The CHAOS ! The U.S. is likely to take sides in a civil conflict as peacekeepers, keeping those socialists in check who think they should run the nation simply because they win elections. Finally, American corporations have billions of dollars invested in Mexico. They will demand that U.S. troops protect their investments, which is a traditional role of the U.S. military throughout Latin America. Chaos in Mexico also provides an opportunity to forcibly annex Mexico into a North American Union. This will be opposed by America's imperial minded Generals, who think that guarding the nation from attack is not their role. A great example of this mindset is found in a 2005 news article, "Border Crossings HinderTraining at Arizona bases" in which U.S. Marine Corps officers complain that the large numbers of illegal immigrants crossing their training ranges in Arizona were disrupting preparations for deployments to Iraq.They said that detaining these foreign invaders was not their role, and demanded "federal help."[8] Generals will complain that protecting the empire requires all their resources and they haven't any to protect U.S. citizens. They are proud of their new permanent bases in Iraq, and are building new bases in places like Romania and Bulgaria.[9] Fortunately, the U.S. military still has several bases along theMexican border where troops can rapidly redeploy, including the large army post of Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas. Juarez,a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, has seen a record- breaking 500+ murders so far this year. High-ranking police officers are shot in broad daylight. Businessmen are kidnapped, held for ransom and gruesomely killed if their families don't pay up. Children have been caught in the crossfire. Mexico has seen an unprecedented level of kidnappings this year, prompting outrage among residents and demands for the government to crack down, even if it means going after police thought to be carrying out some of the kidnappings. According to the Mexico City prosecutor's office, kidnappings rose 76% in the first fourmonths of 2008 compared with last year.[10] Itis difficult to predict when U.S. troops will return to the border, and possibly back into Mexico. Recent news reports that dozens of Mexican police officers, businessmen, at least one prosecutor and a journalist have asked for political asylum in the U.S. in a desperate bid to escape an unprecedented wave of drug-related killings and kidnappings south of the border. George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary, recently said: "There's been nothing like this in terms of cartel activities. In the 1970s, there were guerillas in several very poor southern states. But there's not been any kind ofviolence like this."[11] http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_ content&task=view&id=1365 ------- End of forwarded message ------- From duanebehrens at cox.net Sat Sep 6 21:05:44 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Sat Sep 6 21:05:54 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Karl Rove on Sarah Palin Message-ID: <20080906220544.3R4VX.8603.imail@fed1rmwml42> . . . as told by Jon Stewart: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sat Sep 6 21:28:42 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sat Sep 6 21:28:54 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Karl Rove on Sarah Palin In-Reply-To: <20080906220544.3R4VX.8603.imail@fed1rmwml42> References: <20080906220544.3R4VX.8603.imail@fed1rmwml42> Message-ID: <20080907022843.BDD1EF4C2@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Clever guy. Hope he has a big audience. Dion Giles Western Australia At 10:05 AM 7/09/2008, you wrote: >. . . as told by Jon Stewart: > >http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From papadop at peak.org Sun Sep 7 02:46:16 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sun Sep 7 02:47:08 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Indictment for Attempting to Kill United States Nationals in Afghanistan Message-ID: Here are two non US reports of the NY indictment of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The actual indictment is available in pdf formast at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220526724978&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Jerusalem Post Sep 7, 2008 'Noise of terrorism' By ALLISON HOFFMAN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK A Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three suspected of being a "fixer" for al-Qaida, moving money to support terrorist operations, has been charged with assault and attempted murder in federal court in Manhattan. Aafia Siddiqui, 36, holds a bachelor's degree from MIT and a doctorate from Brandeis University. Siddiqui's lawyers and human rights groups claim Siddiqui was abducted by intelligence agents and tortured at secret interrogation facilities for five years, until she became a cause celebre in Pakistan and authorities engineered her sudden reappearance with her eldest son, an 11-year-old, in Afghanistan this summer. It is thought she may have been held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, an American detention facility located at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. According to the indictment, Siddiqui appeared in Ghazni on July 17 carrying a bag packed with chemicals and notes about a "mass casualty attack" involving the Empire State Building or other US landmarks. The following day, she allegedly grabbed an M-4 rifle from a US Army officer and fired it, while stating "her intent and desire to kill Americans." She had vanished with her children in March 2003, while the FBI sought her for questioning about suspected ties to al-Qaida and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She is not accused of any terrorist crimes, though prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing. "There's all the noise of terrorism, but it's not in the charges," said Joanne Mariner, an attorney with Human Rights Watch in New York who has followed the case. Legal experts say if her lawyers are right, Siddiqui, already unique for being the only woman suspected of high-level al-Qaida involvement, would be the first person to face prosecution in a US criminal court after being held in secret intelligence custody. "It could be precedent-setting in terms of transitioning people from extralegal detention into the criminal justice system," said Jonathan Hafetz, director of litigation for the Liberty and National Security Project at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice. "You could have a judicial inquiry into how someone was treated at a black site - it would be incredibly valuable." Siddiqui's lawyers acknowledge they cannot prove Siddiqui was illicitly held. A spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan reiterated the government's assertion that Siddiqui was not in US custody at any time during the period she had vanished from the radar. Court documents make no mention of her whereabouts prior to July. The mere existence of the abduction claim by her lawyers underscores how difficult it may be to navigate such uncertain legal territory. On Thursday, Siddiqui refused to appear before a federal judge in Manhattan for arraignment because she did not want to undergo a mandatory strip search. Siddiqui's attorney, Elizabeth Fink, told the court that her client, who was shot in the abdomen during her struggle with the US interviewers she is charged with threatening, was incapacitated by a surgical wound stretching from her sternum to her pelvic area. In addition, Fink said Siddiqui was mentally incompetent to stand trial because of the treatment she suffered prior to her arrest while she was held in custody "by somebody - Pakistani or American intelligence - on the dark side." In a letter submitted to the court, Fink wrote that Siddiqui cried constantly and asked jail staff to send her food to her son, who was still in Afghanistan, so he would not starve. "Although her concerns about him being starved and tortured sound somewhat paranoid on the surface, it is also possible they represent an accurate portrayal of Ms. Siddiqui's experiences with detainment prior to her arrival in Bureau of Prisons custody," a jail psychologist wrote in a report quoted by Fink. Fink asked the court to transfer Siddiqui to a medical facility run by the Mayo Clinic to be assessed by psychologists experienced in dealing with torture survivors. Prosecutor David Raskin objected, arguing Siddiqui had been told by her attorneys not to cooperate with prison psychiatrists in New York. "We are really in a predicament here," he told US District Court Judge Richard Berman. Berman set a hearing for September 22, and told Fink he wanted to see Siddiqui in his courtroom, in part to convince her that she was in a legitimate legal proceeding where she would be treated fairly. "She could get the opportunity to see that this is a professional setting, that she is, as I said at the beginning of this hearing, presumed innocent," Berman said. Siddiqui faces life imprisonment if convicted of all charges. She came to the US in 1991, first joining her brother in Houston and then transferring to MIT for her undergraduate degree in biology. In Boston, she was active in Muslim student groups, and wrote guides about converting people to Islam. Her passion for her faith didn't stop her from applying to Brandeis, a secular Jewish university, for a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience. "It's just where she was accepted - there's nothing nefarious about it," said her family's attorney, Elaine Sharp. Siddiqui's ex-supervisor, Robert Sekuler, declined comment on his former student through a university spokesman. Siddiqui was publicly identified by US authorities in 2004 as one of seven people the FBI wanted to question about their suspected ties to al-Qaida. Sharp denied any link. Newsweek reported in 2003 that Fleet National Bank investigators discovered that one account used by Siddiqui and her then-husband, Dr. Muhammad Amjad Khan, showed repeated debit-card purchases from stores that "specialize in hi-tech military equipment and apparel," including Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia. (Black Hawk's Web site advertises grips, mounts and parts for AK-47s and other military-assault rifles as well as highly specialized combat clothing, including vests designed for bomb disposal.) The Fleet National Bank reports detailing all the transactions were filed with the US Treasury Department, and suggest that Siddiqui and Khan may have been active terror plotters inside the country until as late as the summer of 2002. ####### http://www.chowrangi.com/aafia-siddiqui-indicted-for-attempting-toAfghanistan-kill-united-states-nationals-in-afghanistan.html Aafia Siddiqui Indicted for Attempting to Kill United States Nationals in Afghanistan September 3rd, 2008 by Kashif Aziz ( 147 Views ) According to press release from U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the indictment of Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States nationals and officers and employees. Siddiqui is scheduled to be arraigned on the Indictment on Thursday, September 4, 2008, at 11:30 a.m. by United States District Judge Richard M. Berman in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court: On July 18, 2008, a team of United States servicemen and law enforcement officers, and others assisting them, attempted to interview Aafia Siddiqui in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she had been detained by local police the day before. The United States interview team included, among others: three officers and employees of the United States Army; two officers and employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and two United States Army contract interpreters The interview of Siddiqui was to take place at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni. In a second-floor meeting room at the compound -- where Siddiqui was being held, unbeknownst to the United States interview team, unsecured, behind a curtain -- Siddiqui obtained one of the United States Army officer's M-4 rifle and attempted to fire it, and did fire it, at another United States Army officer and other members of United States interview team. Siddiqui repeatedly stated her intent and desire to kill Americans. Siddiqui then assaulted one of the United States Army interpreters, as he attempted to obtain the M-4 rifle from her. Siddiqui subsequently assaulted one of the FBI agents and one of the United States Army officers, as they attempted to subdue her. On the previous day, July 17, 2008, when Siddiqui was detained by Afghan authorities, a number of items were in her possession, including handwritten notes that referred to a "mass casualty attack" and that listed various locations in the United States, including Plum Island, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Other notes in Siddiqui's possession referred to the construction of "dirty bombs," and discussed various ways to attack "enemies," including by destroying reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and using gliders. Siddiqui also possessed a computer thumb drive that contained correspondence referring to specific "cells," "attacks" by "certain cells," and "enemies." Other documents on the thumb drive discussed recruitment and training. Siddiqui, a 36-year-old Pakistani woman, resided in the United States from in or about 1991 until June 2002, and obtained degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University. Siddiqui returned to the United States on December 25, 2002, and departed on January 2, 2003. Siddiqui is charged in the Indictment with: (1) one count of attempting to kill United States nationals outside the United States; (2) one count of attempting to kill United States officers and employees; (3) one count of armed assault of United States officers and employees; (4) one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and (5) three counts of assault of United States officers and employees. If convicted, Siddiqui faces a maximum sentence of: 20 years in prison on each of the attempted murder and armed assault charges; life in prison on the firearm charge; and eight years in prison on each of the remaining assault charges. Mr. Garcia praised the investigative work of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York City Police Department. He also expressed his gratitude to the United States Department of State for their assistance in the case. Mr. Garcia said that the investigation is continuing. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher L. Lavigne is in charge of the prosecution. The charges and allegations contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 8 00:24:45 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 8 00:25:08 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fist in Cheney's snout Message-ID: <20080908052446.BDC1FF49A@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0633952420080907 Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise in Caribbean Sat Sep 6, 2008 11:57pm EDT CARACAS (Reuters) - Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday. Quoting Venezuela's naval intelligence director, Salbarore Cammarata, the newspaper Vea said four Russian boats would visit Venezuelan waters from November 10 to 14. Plans for the naval operations come at a time of heightened diplomatic tension and Cold War-style rhetoric between Moscow and the United States over the recent war in Georgia and plans for a U.S. missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Cammarata said it would be the first time Russia's navy carried out such exercises in Latin America. He said the Venezuelan air force would also take part. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has said in recent weeks that Russian ships and planes are welcome to visit the South American country. "If the Russian long-distance planes that fly around the world need to land at some Venezuelan landing strip, they are welcome, we have no problems," he said on his weekly television show last week. Chavez, who buys billions of dollars of weapons from Russia, has criticized this year's reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, which will patrol Latin America for the first time in over 50 years. The socialist Chavez says he fears the United States will invade oil-rich Venezuela and he supports Russia's growing geopolitical presence as a counterbalance to U.S. power. Chavez has bought fighter jets and submarines from Russia to retool Venezuela's aging weapons and says he is also interested in a missile defense system. (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Peter Cooney) ? Thomson Reuters 2008. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080908/75b0f5f0/attachment.html From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 8 18:52:30 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Mon Sep 8 19:06:19 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What new at Links: Iran; Naomi Klein & S. Africa; Malaysia; Nepal; India; Thailand; Venezuela; Caucasus war; ecology & Marxism; Stalinism; Message-ID: <48C5BABE.6060109@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download The following is the introduction to Why Washington Hates Iran: A Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East, a new Socialist Voice pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The author, Barry Sheppard, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political memoir, The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988 . The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. * Read & download pamphlet In defence of Naomi Klein's analysis of South Africa By Patrick Bond In response to Beware Electocrats: Naomi Klein on South Africa by Ronald Suresh Roberts in Radical Philosophy commentaries, July-August 2008. Klein's chapter on South Africa follows this exchange. * Read more Malaysia - Socialism 2008, November 7-8 Nepal: Prachanda -- `No illusions on the ultimate goal of socialist communism' September 3, 2008 -- In his first interview since he became Nepal's prime minister, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal ``Prachanda'' spoke to Rabindra Mishra of BBC's Nepali Service about the strategies of his new government. * Read more India's Katrina: Bihar floods -- criminal negligence, not divine deluge (+ emergency appeal) By Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation September 2, 2008 -- The regime of Nitish Kumar, which rules the Indian state of Bihar, boasts of ``Bihar Shining''. These claims are now submerged by the cries of ``Bihar Drowning''. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's claims of ``good governance'' have proved a washout in the face of the floods, and now the Chief Minister Kumar is trying to paint the floods as a ``natural'' calamity or divine ``deluge'' (Pralay). Nothing could be further from the truth. * Read more Thailand: Democracy lost in shuffle between royalist `opposition' and Thaksin government By Giles Ji Ungpakorn September 2, 2008, Bangkok -- For the past two or more years, especially since the September 2006 coup, Thai society has been hypnotised into forgetting about the real social and political issues. Instead, the whole of society and, most tragically, the social movements have been entranced by a fight between two factions of the Thai ruling class. On the one side are the deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, its successor the Peoples Power Party government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Opposing them are a loose collection of authoritarian royalists comprising the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the pro-coup royalist military, the pro-coup judiciary and the Democrat Party. The authoritarian royalists are not a unified body. They only share a collective interest in wiping out Thaksin's party. * Read more Venezuela: Second wave of nationalisations launched By Federico Fuentes September 3, 2008 -- On August 27, Venezuela's President Hugo Ch?vez announced the end of negotiations with former owner Ternium over the nationalisation of the Sidor steel factory, stating that the government would "take over all the companies that it has here", and that Ternium "can leave". * Read more Lessons of the Caucasus war: Imperial ambitions need to be opposed By Andrey Kolganov and Aleksandr Buzgalin Moscow, September 2, 2008 -- To most Russians, it was obvious from the beginning that the latest war in the Caucasus began with an attack by Georgian forces on South Ossetia, and that ultimately it was unleashed on the initiative of the United States. To the West, meanwhile, it was just as clear from the outset that the August war in the Caucasus represented an assault on small, defenceless and democratic Georgia by huge, aggressive and authoritarian Russia. This is what almost all the world media have asserted, and continue to assert. To a significant degree, this is even believed by a significant section of world civil society, including by anti-globalisation activists who for the most part have little sympathy for the US establishment. * Read more Class struggle and ecology -- An ecosocialist contribution to the discussion on revolutionary regroupment* For socialists in the 20th century imperialism was the great dividing line between those who accepted the logic of capitalist society and those who were willing to challenge it. In the first decades of the 21st century it is apparent that imperialism and war will remain inherent features of late capitalism. To these threats we must add the genuine and serious risks of severe ecological degradation and climate change caused by the capitalist economic model as factors that will shape socialist politics in the coming decades. * Read more Slideshow: Stalinism -- How did the Russian Revolution degenerate and was it inevitable? * Read more Nepal: CPN (M) -- Present situation and our challenges By Basanta August 12, 2008 -- This is an era of imperialism and proletarian revolution. It is known also as the Leninist era. The specificity of this era has been the spread by imperialism through exploitation and robbery of the world, through the economic base of feudalism and the superstructure of bureaucrat and comprador bourgeois in the oppressed countries. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080909/6e3cd0d0/attachment.html From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Wed Sep 10 00:52:37 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed Sep 10 01:05:22 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download | Links Message-ID: <48C760A5.20206@greenleft.org.au> The following is the introduction to /Why Washington Hates Iran: A Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East/, a /Socialist Voice/ pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The author, *Barry Sheppard*, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political memoir, /The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988/ . The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. Read and download pamphlet at http://links.org.au/node/619 Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 From thinker at this1.ca Wed Sep 10 09:53:08 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Wed Sep 10 09:51:54 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download | Links In-Reply-To: <48C760A5.20206@greenleft.org.au> References: <48C760A5.20206@greenleft.org.au> Message-ID: <200809101451.m8AEpZde009922@karma.reboot.ca> Unfortunately, some of us have seen communism at work, how it destroyed our families, homes, friends and countries. After WW2 they hunted off anybody suspected of being a social democrat, and jailed, or killed them, including some of my friends. My mother was gangraped by Soviet troops, my grandparents died from the effects of starvation under Soviet occupation, I was sentenced to the gulags in absentia, as they didn't catch me, so the arrested and tortured my mother, trying to find out how I got to England and what I was doing there? Anybody who's still pushing this crap must either be nuts, or paid off. Cheers, Ed. At 10:52 PM 09/09/2008, you wrote: >The following is the introduction to /Why Washington Hates Iran: A >Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East/, a >/Socialist Voice/ pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The >author, *Barry Sheppard*, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party >for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. >In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political >memoir, /The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988/ >. >The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. > >Read and download pamphlet at http://links.org.au/node/619 > >Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - >at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.6.19/1659 - Release Date: >9/8/2008 7:01 AM From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Wed Sep 10 16:39:14 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Wed Sep 10 16:40:07 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] "So Sambo beat the bitch." Palin Is "Racist, Sexist, Vindictive + How can we exclude Elizabeth May at this 11th hour Message-ID: <48C81452.27489.1F399368@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> "So Sambo beat the bitch!" "This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination... But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We're talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive ......The "Sambo beat the bitch" ... comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements" -- Charley James, American journalist, author and essayist who lives in Toronto. Reprinted with permission from The Progressive Curmudgeon How could we ever exclude Elizabeth May at this 11th Hour? Why is there no discussion about the implications of a McCain Palin presidency for Canada especially if there is a majority neo- Con Harper government in place - just imagine the increasing onslaught on small 'l' liberal values, policies and traditions we'd see should that happen. We'd have to take to the streets by the thousands - to reclaim democracy if we could - surrounded as we would be by taser touting police and heavy handed policies to deal with activists increasingly parlayed as terrorists against the state. Far better to oust Harper now through an expansive and informed debate about the real issues instead of pussy footing around with domestic issues defined by a timid and controlling media and cautious political campaigns about image and leadership and two or three issues constrained by the limitations of partisan politics - We need far -ranging debate - debate about the global economy and the failure of the free market system so admirably laid out by Naomi Klein, we need to ask why in this election, of all elections, we are not talking about the alternatives that must be generated at this time if ecosystem, peak oil, and economic collapse,are to be prevented from spilling over into tipping points beyond which there is no return. We need to talk about the interrelatonships of the global free market economy, the military industrial complex, and our foreign and defence policies noting that Canadians are continuing to call for a return to peace keeping role in the world in the most recent polls . This is crucial for us and the world and we must bring this debate into the open. One way we can start that broader debate is by allowing Elizabeth May into the leadership debates - she is an ardent and articulate proponent of a new way of looking at the world - recognizing that both perspective and major policy shifts are imperative, and that shift can happen if we engage as a citizenry and democary in taking back our country by talking about the real issues facing humanity and the planet and talking as if every minute mattered which it does ! Isn't it ironic that in the US they allow a woman who denies, and defies all the democractic values so sought after and fought for over the past century, to step up to the political podium with fanfare and all the glitter the US media giants can amplify so extravagantly while in Canada we have a woman who is a national treasure offering unparalled capacities for articulating and creating change being denied a place on the most important political podium in our electoral system. That is simply not an option in terms of the fate of the planet and the future of Canada within North America at this time. . The rationale for denying Elizabeth May this opportunity to speak in the leader's debate reflects the kind of in - the- box thinking that will lead to another election debate with four well groomed males talking about a few more priorites than last time with climate change and corporate accountablity added to the mix but that is simply not enough. We need to give Elizabeth a chance to share her vision of a better world, to inspire young and old alike with her passionate presentation of her ideas and policies that will extricate us from the grips of the growing threat to democratic values festering away south of the border and from the jaws of a discredited US driven global economic free market system and military misadventures that have positioned us on the brink of nuclear disaster, ecosystem collapse and the end of the fossil fuel industrial model of civlization. As Joe Clarke, one of our great Statesmen, said so eloquently in the Globe and Mail today: Let Elizabeth May speak ! all the best, janet m eaton =================== http://tinyurl.com/6zetn4 Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is "Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean" by Charley James The Progressive Curmudgeon September 5, 2008 "So Sambo beat the bitch!" This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination. According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat's primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively. "It was kind of disgusting," Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the "lower 48" about life near the North Pole. Then, almost with a sigh, she added, "But that's just Alaska." Racial and ethnic slurs may be "just Alaska" and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin. Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N'-Fetch-It, "darkie musical" swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska's Aboriginal people as "Arctic Arabs" - how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description - as well as the more colourful "mukluks" along with the totally unimaginative "f**king Eskimo's," according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article. But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We're talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive. No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it's in their genetic code. So much for McCain's pledge of a "high road" campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one. Tough Getting People Who Know Her to Talk It's not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin - especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that "all circuits are busy" or numbers just wouldn't ring. I should think a state that's been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone. On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they're afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters. "The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here," an insurance agent In Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. "It's corrupt and arrogant. They're all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to." "Once Palin became mayor," he continued, "She became part of that inner circle." Like most other people interviewed, he didn't want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it's the long winter nights where you don't see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they're under constant danger from "the authorities." As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that's happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long. Alright, that's an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there's ample evidence of Palin's vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded. Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poobahs who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign. "People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day," states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e- mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation. For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he "intimidated" her. Running on Extreme Fringe Evangelical Views Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are nonpartisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign. Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but. "She's doesn't like different opinions and she refuses to compromise," Kilkenny notes. "When she was mayor, she fought ideas that weren't hers. Worse, ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them." Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney's reincarnate. Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a "refund surpluses but borrow for the future" attitude. According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian's with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime. To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor - especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city's infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer's money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage? For starters, she remodelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact. Then Palin spent $1 million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility. She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5 million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers. For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Sarah Barracuda En route to the governor's igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work. "She hated the job," an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. "She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn't figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski" and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn't get appointed. But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished - despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a "reformer." But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired. "She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids," said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. "I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it's nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you." Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her "Sarah Barracuda," Kilkenny insists. Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a "reformer." And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No. And what has she done since winning the job? According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state's multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn't that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush's economic policies left the nation. It may explain why, when asked by reporters, including me, what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain's running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, "What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?" Of course, when the woman - said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla - was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her, so that may explain the family tension. As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. "They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action," the aide said. "She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important." But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being "anti-pork". In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics. As for being "ready on day one" to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she's made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, "she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs." "Sambo Beat the Bitch" "Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole," someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin's tenure in Alaska state and local politics. "She's a bigot, a racist, and a liar," is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho. "Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else," he adds. "These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain's rheumy eyes. Why do I know they're true? Because everyone who isn't aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way." "Sambo beat the bitch" may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it - and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public - should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain. by Charley James Charley James is an American journalist, author and essayist who lives in Toronto. Reprinted with permission from The Progressive Curmudgeon From papadop at peak.org Wed Sep 10 20:57:12 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed Sep 10 21:22:14 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] CERN accelerator clears firs test Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/11/cern.particlephysics Secrets of the hidden universe: first hurdle cleared in hunt for dark matter Tense scientists celebrate as beams of protons go round CERN ring in both directions The Guardian,(London) --Thursday September 11 2008 * Ian Sample, science correspondent Never before has such attention been focused on the click of a mouse. Yesterday, the click in question started up the biggest, most complicated machine in the world, the $10bn Large Hadron Collider, which was put through its paces for the first time at CERN, the European nuclear research organisation in Geneva. The man with his finger on the button was Lyn Evans, a Welsh engineer who has devoted 14 years of his life to the machine. The moment came at 8.32am UK time and was broadcast around the world, and via videolink to more than 300 journalists who had descended on the laboratory to witness the event. The LHC lies 100 metres beneath fields and farmland, where it occupies a 17-mile (27km) circular tunnel carved through rock and sandstone. When it is working at full speed, it will be the most powerful particle collider on the planet. Inside, it will crash subatomic particles together with enough energy to re-create the intense conditions that existed one trillionth of a second after the big bang. Yesterday, the scientists' ambitions were more modest. Before the machine can be put to work, its makers had to take it for a test drive. The goal was to send beams of protons around the collider's hollow ring in both directions, to make sure there were no obstructions and to check that powerful superconducting magnets surrounding the ring can steer the beams with exquisite precision. When CERN attempted this on an older, less powerful collider in 1996, it found two beer bottles stuck inside the ring. Yesterday, the tests went more smoothly than many scientists dared hope for. At 9.28am UK time, two spots flickered on to a screen in the control room, one spot caused by the beam on the way in, the other as it completed its first lap. Cheering, relieved scientists clapped and slapped each other on the back. The test had taken less than one hour. "My first thought was one of relief. I'm too preoccupied at the moment to have emotions," said Evans, who later confessed to laying a bet with fellow physicist Steve Meyers, head of CERN's accelerator and beam operations, that he could get the beam to circulate within an hour. Moments after the test was declared successful, scientists in the control room cracked open bottles of champagne. Verena Kain, a physicist on the machine, said: "I didn't believe it, I had to see it a second time. Everybody is just floating right now. It's a first step, but it's fantastic it works so well." By 2pm UK time, the scientists had sent a beam of protons around the machine in the opposite, anticlockwise direction to the first beam. David Evans, a physicist from the University of Birmingham, who works on one of the machine's giant detectors, said: "It's gone so well I'm optimistic we can probably do low-energy collisions within days. We could be looking at high-energy collisions within weeks." Now the real work begins. Scientists will spend the coming days and weeks fine-tuning the machine and testing the four huge detectors, which will sift through the subatomic debris of the collisions for evidence of new physics. Tejinder Virdee, a physicist at Imperial College London and head of one of the LHC's detector groups, said: "With the LHC, we will be able to look deeper into matter, and look further back in time than ever before. "Particle physics is a modern name for the centuries-old effort to understand the laws of nature." Within weeks, the machine could produce particles of dark matter, a mysterious substance that stretches through the universe and clings around galaxies. The discovery would be profound. Astronomers know that normal matter, the stuff of stars and planets, makes up only 5% of the observable universe. Dark matter accounts for a further 25%, with the remaining 70% being the even more exotic dark energy, which drives the expansion of the cosmos. By creating a microcosm of the big bang, scientists hope the machine will explain how the forces of nature became what they are today. The machine will also hunt the famed Higgs boson, or "God particle". Named after Peter Higgs, an Edinburgh University physicist, the Higgs boson is crucial to understanding the origin of mass. CERN thought it had caught a glimpse of the Higgs particle before with its previous particle collider in 2000. It will now race against scientists at the American Fermilab, near Chicago, which is working around the clock to discover the particle first. "This is a unique machine and it will certainly advance the knowledge of mankind. But we also know that pushing technology to the limit always has spinoffs. We don't know what the LHC will bring apart from wonderful science, but we're already working on a far more powerful system than the internet. Where we lead, others will follow," said Evans. From papadop at peak.org Wed Sep 10 21:03:41 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed Sep 10 21:28:37 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Rense News service being hacked Message-ID: http://rense.com/general83/atack.htm Our Advertisers Represent Some Of The Most Unique Products & Services On Earth! Rense.com Now Under Severe, Routine Attack We are being regularly hacked and taken down by the dark side. We cannot trace the exact point of origin but these are highest level ops...of that there is no question. We are back up now and profoundly appreciate your support. No other world news service is being assaulted like this so we know rense.com and all those who support its Freedom of Speech and freedom of journalistic inquiry are directly on and over the target. Thank you for your kind emails and gracious patience. We ARE taking more steps to upgrade our security but the opposition is literally the top of the Westen power structure seeking to remake America in its image. Something I am dedicated to opposing to the last. - Jeff Rense From siamdave at yahoo.ca Thu Sep 11 09:58:32 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Thu Sep 11 09:58:46 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] lots of good speakers, but do you want them? Message-ID: <200809112158320343.02A29B47@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Dear Kevin Sylvester, I just had to send a note about this - your show tonight (Thursday Sept 11 - I live in Thailand, the CBC morning stuff is my evening listening) talked about the shortage of good public speaking in Canadian politicians today. I disagree that there are none - the problem is, that you in the media will not let the good speakers speak. I would offer you this theory - the good speakers want to talk about real things such as the SPP/NAU, things that the mainstream media wants to keep people from thinking about, and the speakers who are willing to stick to the corporate message are not that intelligent, or exciting. I would ask you, if you seriously think there are no speakers who speak about real things with passion, to listen to this vid of Connie Fogal, of the Canadian Action Party - http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4970621488805599107&hl=en-CA . Why don't you have someone like her on your show, talking about passion in Canadian politics? Have you heard of Maude Barlow? She gets pretty passionate about things - or what about David Suzuki - passionate and eloquent. We have them - they just don't toe the corporate line, so don't get much coverage. Interesting that you want to put out the impression that such people do not exist in Canada. Almost as interesting as the apparent desire of the Canadian media to pretend there is nothing interesting going on in the Canadian election, when there are some very serious issues afoot - are you aware of the SPP, and would you want to offer an answer as to why this is not an important thing to be talking about? Connie talks VERY passionately, and eloquently, about this, as do others - I could give you some names. Also, I noted that your speakers talked about the dumbing down of so many things in public speaking - have you ever thought about the role of the Canadian media in this dumbing down process that has been happening the last 20-30 years, very much including the CBC? It might do you some good, since you seem like a decent enough person, to have a good long look in a mirror someday. You folks on the national shows don't seem too bad, but the hosts of the morning shows I listen to, and their producers etc, sound like 20somethings who, in the old CBC days, would still be in journalism school learning how to act like adults, and think about adult things. Well, I could go on at length, but it has been my experience that the current CBC is not really interested in such things, so shall leave it here. Dave Patterson Hat Yai, Thailand -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080911/67b5e5d7/attachment.html From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Thu Sep 11 11:53:57 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Thu Sep 11 11:54:10 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] David Sirota NAFTA & Iraq...NAFTA & Iraq...Repeat...[must be Obama's position vs McCain] CNN Interview Message-ID: <48C922F5.17260.32B8312@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> I was on CNN this morning suggesting how Obama can turn those trends around-namely, by talking about John McCain's NAFTA cheerleading and about his support for spending $12 billion a month of taxpayer money in Iraq, positions that are controversial, to say the least, in swing states of industrial swing-states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. --David Sirota, Sept 11 fyi-Janet See Interview link below ! ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca Subject: CNN Interview: NAFTA & Iraq...NAFTA & Iraq...Repeat... Date sent: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:39:16 -0400 From: David Sirota http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093711/nafta-and-iraqnafta- and-iraqrepeat NAFTA & Iraq...NAFTA &Iraq...Repeat... By David Sirota Campaign for America's Future, 9/11/08 A series of new polls shows John McCain closing in on Barack Obama in industrial swing-states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and widening his lead in places like North Carolina. I was on CNN this morning suggesting how Obama can turn those trends around-namely, by talking about John McCain's NAFTA cheerleading and about his support for spending $12 billion a month of taxpayer money in Iraq, positions that are controversial, to say the least, in precisely these swing states: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_yhTpyUCNo This goes back to my earlier blog post and newspaper column about how Obama can counter McCain's odious cultural populismbewailing sex educationand screaming"Country First," and I think he can counter it with a strong brand of economic populism - a brand Obama has only fleetingly embraced. Issues like NAFTA and the war are issues McCain can't muddle like he has taxes or health care. Put another way, those two issues are the ones that draw the most clear, easy-to-understand contrast between the two candidates. I think Obama has to make this kind of contrast, or he could lose the election. I also think he's entirely capable of doing this - that is, I think he's entirely capable of tuning out the Bob Rubins who he's lately decided to surround himself with, and capable of tuning into what the average American is worried about. I'm actually optimistic that he will start making this transformation (I actually said that to CNN, but you can see it get snipped at the end of the clip). And here's the kicker: When he does do this, he won't just be connecting with voters on "issues" - he'll be showing a populist fire in the belly that speaks to those deeper qualities of character. -------------------- Order David Sirota's brand new book The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street &Washington. The book was just released in June of 2008. A logical follow-up to his 2006 New York Times bestseller Hostile Takeover, Sirota's new book uses firsthand, on-the-ground reporting far away from the national media spotlight to explore the most intense and successful organizing at the edges of American politics. To pr To unsubscribe from this list visit this link To update your preferences visit this link To forward this message to a friend visit this link ------- End of forwarded message ------- From thinker at this1.ca Fri Sep 12 09:43:12 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Fri Sep 12 09:41:52 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Retrofit economy Message-ID: <200809121441.m8CEfajm014978@karma.reboot.ca> Subject: Retrofit economy This is basically what I've been writing about for many years and the practical use of my Efficiency Principle. How long will it take our politicians to wake up to the sordid fact that you can't fool around with nature and replace logic with imaginary, monetary figures ? Cheers, Ed. ================================================================================================ Subject: The retrofit economy The transition from today?s industrialism of abundance to the scarcity industrialism of the near future, for example, will likely be just as slow and ragged a process as the rise of mercantilism. Some nations ? Russia, for example ? have already implemented the political control of resource markets that I?ve suggested as a core feature of the phase; other nations have barely begun to move in that direction, and other features of the phase are just as unevenly distributed. Meanwhile, those nations that draw the short straws in the geopolitical lottery may already be well into the salvage society phase, mining the refuse of the industrial age to meet local needs and to pay for whatever foreign trade can still be had. Nations that lack both fossil fuels and valuable salvage, in turn, will either have fallen back to agrarian or nomadic economies or, given plenty of luck and the necessary knowledge base, may be pioneering the first rough sketch of an ecotechnic society. All of this will take place amid the turmoil of ordinary history: that unending and uneven rhythm of crises, struggles, and the rise and fall of governments and peoples whose embarrassingly premature obituary Francis Fukuyama wrote a few years back, and which tends to hide the slower and broader shifts in economy and subsistence from contemporary eyes. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/46544 From papadop at peak.org Fri Sep 12 11:24:44 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Fri Sep 12 11:50:04 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] NO-FLY LIST passangers may get due process. Message-ID: http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20080911.html An Appeals Court Opens the Door to Judicial Review of the "No Fly" List: A Promising Step Toward Providing Passengers with Due Process By ANITA RAMASASTRY Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 Anita Ramasastry is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle and a Director of the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology. She has previously written on business law, cyberlaw, computer data security issues, and other legal issues ########################### For some airline passengers, the no-fly list has been a continuous nightmare. Being on the list can mean being detained at airports and subjected to extensive questioning and searches. Meanwhile, getting off the list has often proved difficult or impossible. Initially, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which administers the list, had no procedures in place for those who asserted they were wrongly listed. Over time, the TSA has offered varying processes that travelers have found confusing, opaque, and cumbersome. Moreover, it has been unclear where passengers whom the TSA turns down can go for help. Fortunately, relief may finally be in sight - thanks to a lawsuit brought by a former Stanford graduate student from Malaysia, Rahinah Ibrahim. Ibrahim sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the TSA in federal court after she was told she was on the list, handcuffed, and detained by California law enforcement. Recently, Ibrahim gained a victory in the suit: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled, 2-1, that a traveler can ask a federal trial court to decide whether her name should be included on the list and whether being listed violates her civil or constitutional rights. In this column, I'll explain why I believe this ruling was correct, and why it will have a lasting impact on the rights of travelers who seek redress, hoping to clear their names for good. THE NO FLY LIST: BROAD IMPACT, AND MANY ERRORS IN WHO IS LISTED The "no fly" list is composed of the names of several hundred thousand travelers who are deemed to pose a risk of terrorism or another type of security threat and therefore will be prevented from ever boarding a plane. (In contrast, the passengers who appear on the "selectee" list will be asked to undergo additional searches before flying). These lists emerged in the 1990s but were expanded significantly in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Civil liberties groups have argued persuasively that the lists are rife with errors (especially when multiple persons share the same name) and lack meaningful procedural checks. In response to complaints, the TSA eventually established an ombudsman's office to review passengers' claims that they were mistakenly listed. Its findings were shocking: In December 2005, the Director of the TSA Redress Office admitted that over 30,000 people have wrongly matched the list since September 11, 2001 (as I discussed in a previous column). Those mistakes can have serious consequences: An April 2006 report by DHS's Privacy Office stated that "individuals who are mistakenly put on watch lists or who are misidentified as being on these lists can potentially face consequences ranging from inconvenience and delay to loss of liberty." Unfortunately, according to the director of TSA's Redress Office, some airline passengers report that, even after they are cleared, they still continue to have problems. Even those who display an official TSA letter stating they have been delisted may find that the letter is disregarded at the airport. THE CASE OF IBRAHIM V. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY That brings us to the Ibrahim case - which offers hope to travelers who face this situation. In January 2005, Rahinah Ibrahim, a mother of four and then a doctoral student at Stanford, was prevented from boarding a United Airlines Flight from San Francisco to Malaysia because her name appeared on the federal no-fly list. Ibrahim, however, had no criminal record or links to terrorism. The TSA was contacted, and local police detained Ibrahim and then handcuffed her in front of her teenage daughter. She did not board her flight, but instead was taken into custody for two hours. She was then released based on orders from the FBI. Ibrahim returned to the airport the next day, and was allowed to fly home after undergoing additional "enhanced" searches. Since 2005, she has remained in Malaysia where she finished her doctorate and now teaches at the university level. After being detained, Ibrahim filed her suit against the TSA and the DHS, which contests her inclusion on the no-fly list, alleges that her search violated the Fourth Amendment, and alleges that she was subject to discrimination. Initially, her suit was dismissed on procedural grounds: It had been filed in federal district court, but the district judge ruled that challenges to TSA orders must be filed directly in a federal appeals court. Ibrahim appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In a split decision written by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, a majority of the three-judge panel that heard the case ruled that the no-fly list, though maintained by the TSA, is actually compiled by the Terrorist Screening Center, which is housed under the FBI. Since the FBI and its branches can be sued in a trial court like most other federal agencies, the panel concluded that Ibrahim's suit was properly filed in federal district court. Judge Kozinski explained persuasively why it made no sense to assign no-fly list cases to federal appeals courts in the first instance: "Just how would an appellate court review the agency's decision to put a particular name on the list? There was no hearing before an administrative law judge; there was no notice-and comment procedure... For all we know, there is no administrative record of any sort for us to review... So if any court is going to review the government's decision to put Ibrahim's name on the No-Fly List, it makes sense that it be a court with the ability to take evidence" - in other words, a trial court. (I have omitted here the citations Judge Kozinski used, as well, to support his point.) WHY THIS RULING IS IMPORTANT This ruling is very significant, for this is the first judicial decision granting individuals the right to seek review of their status on the "no fly" list before a judge and jury. This decision will allow individuals to seek additional evidence about their inclusion on the "no fly" list, and it will allow trial courts to serve as independent checks on the work of the TSA and the Terrorist Resource Center - which, as noted above, compiles the list that the TSA administers. Thanks to the Ninth Circuit panel's wise decision, passengers who have been adversely impacted by the "no fly" list will be able to seek vindication of their rights before an independent tribunal - rather than merely asking the TSA to de-list them. As for Ibrahim, while this was a procedural ruling, it was a very favorable one, and while it has not yet given her her day in court, it has allowed her to go to court to try and clear her name. _________________________________________________________________ From siamdave at yahoo.ca Fri Sep 12 12:42:22 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Fri Sep 12 12:42:44 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering In-Reply-To: <1221156262.48c95da6c75cc@legacywebmail.telus.net> References: <1221156262.48c95da6c75cc@legacywebmail.telus.net> Message-ID: <200809130042220234.007DDE4A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Dear CAP et al, I have just rewritten an earlier piece I did on the Cdn money supply situation - I think this one is considerably stronger. I have put the summary I include here into PDF form, attached, and feel free to copy and distribute as campaign stuff if you think it useful - you are free to 'reverse engineer' it if you have computer people who can put the PDF into some other form (the original is in Pagemaker, and I would be happy to send anyone the PM file to work with) to which you can add a bit of local promo info or whatever, just please be sure to leave my name and the website reference intact. Dave Patterson *********************** Banketeering by Dave Patterson (a summary of a longer essay, in full here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html ) The Canadian banks, in collusion with the most senior levels of your government, have engineered one of the greatest frauds in Canadian history over the last 30 years, and stolen over two trillion dollars from Canadian taxpayers, and the tap is still running. Private banks create almost all of the Canadian money supply through made-from-thin-air ‘loans’ deposited in the loanee’s bank account. And that’s a lot of money - currently close to three trillion dollars a year in Canada. And banks collect interest on money they create - and that is a hell of a lot of interest for the privilege of creating money out of thin air. To add perspective, the Canadian government, through the Bank of Canada, creates about $50 billion per year (banknotes and coins), about 2% of the Canadian money supply. Constitutionally (BNA Act, Bank of Canada Act) the government could and should be creating much more, if not all, of the money supply. (Contrary to the mythology spread around by the banks and their servants, this would not be inflationary, but would actually be much less inflationary, and lead to a much more stable economy overall). Letting banks create our money supply is bad for many reasons (bad for us, that is to say, obviously pretty good for them): — huge windfall profits to a small privileged group of private citizens (bank owners/’investors’), paid for by all other citizens both directly and through taxes to pay for interest on unnecessary government borrowing, which is very unfair to most Canadians who must actually work for their money — a country that does not control its own money can hardly be called sovereign — very important financial policies carried out without the knowledge or approval of the people, and thus highly undemocratic — systematic, serious inflation because we must pay interest every year on our money supply leading to reduced living standards for most, as costs always rise faster than incomes — ongoing bank bailouts as the banks abuse their money-creation powers, leading to bubbles and crashes from which they must be rescued with yet more taxpayer dollars, creating a very unstable economy and also making the inflation mentioned in the last point much more serious — the slow but inevitable turning over of all of the country’s assets to those creating the money through their collection of collateral and as governments scramble to sell things, usually at well-below-market value, to get money to pay their debts and interest, as we have been seeing with the selloff of public infrastructure to private interests the last 30 years — and the $2 trillion theft mentioned in the title - the infamous Canadian national debt resulted from a major financial policy change in the 1970s which allowed banks to create virtually all of our money, including for the government to borrow, through which, over the last 30 years, over two trillion dollars of Canadian taxes have been funneled to those banks and other ‘investors’ as ‘service charges’ on the debt, all of it completely unnecessary, as the government could have created enough money itself (~$100 billion) through the Bank of Canada, either at zero or nominal interest, to avoid incurring any private bank debt at all (the two trillion includes interest paid on provincial and municipal debt, which could and should also be funded by the Bank of Canada at no or nominal interest). Because of this ‘terrible crushing burden’ the national government, beginning with Mulroney/Wilson and then put on steroids by the tagteam of Chretien/Martin, claimed the necessity of gutting our social programs, etc, thus the current healthcare crisis, crumbling infrastructure, selloff of public assets, etc. You can believe the involved government officials incurred this debt out of stupidity, or they were well-meaning officials who simply made poor decisions, but most non-naive people would be more inclined to say that the financially smartest people in our governments and banks knew and know very well what they do, and were doing, and thus the title of this piece - the intentional changing of a central government financial policy that led to this huge turning over of money to banks and other investors, when a much more fiscally responsible policy had been used in the past and was/is still available, and with which this debt would not have been incurred, thus the two trillion would not have been paid. Fraud - using some type of ‘creative accounting’ you have available to you because you have a fiduciary responsibility to someone, then betraying that trust to funnel money from its proper owners to some other entity. Criminal fraud. Massive criminal fraud. It’s a hard thing to accept of our leaders, but no other explanation fits the facts once you understand the situation. Banketeering by Dave Patterson - Read the full story here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: banketeering PDF.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 98165 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080913/1f791030/banketeeringPDF-0001.pdf From papadop at peak.org Fri Sep 12 17:21:47 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Fri Sep 12 17:46:52 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] PRINT-ON-DEMAND SERVICE BOOKSURGE DEEMED NOT TO BE A "PUBLISHER" (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:21:15 -0700 (PDT) From: MichaelP To: grc@maillist.peak.org Subject: PRINT-ON-DEMAND SERVICE BOOKSURGE DEEMED NOT TO BE A "PUBLISHER" http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008/print-demand-service-booksurge-deemed-not-be-publisher Posted September 11th, 2008 by David Ardia under * Maine * Defamation * Third-Party Content Back in July, a federal court in Maine ruled that BookSurge, a print-on-demand service owned by Amazon.com, was not liable for defamatory statements contained in a book it "published" on behalf of one of its clients. Sandler v. Calcagni, 2008 WL 2761892 (D. Me. July 16, 2008). At the time, I thought the decision was interesting, but I never got around to blogging about. More accurately, after reading Eric Goldman's post discussing the case, I didn't think I had anything more to offer. Well, I still don't have much to offer about the case, but Jeffrey Neuburger, a lawyer at Proskauer Rose, just posted an excellent analysis of the salient issues on MediaShift. A bit of background on the case first. In 2003, two high-school cheerleaders in Maine, Shana Sandler and Mia Calcagni, had a falling-out. According to filings in the case, both girls complained to school officials that the other was engaging in harassment. The situation continued to devolve, and Ms. Calcagni was convicted of criminal mischief for allegedly spray painting a swastika near Ms. Sandler's house. Ms. Calcagni's parents (why does it always seem to be the parents who drive the bus off the cliff in these cases?) then hired a freelance writer to tell their side of the story. After they were unable to find a traditional publisher, they self-published the book through BookSurge. Not surprisingly, a defamation lawsuit ensued. Although the court's decision to dismiss BookSurge didn't turn on the application of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (BookSurge raised the issue, but the court ignored it), the decision did address the important distinction between publisher and distributor liability for defamation. Under standard common-law principles, a person who "publishes" a defamatory statement by another bears the same liability for the statement as if he or she had initially created it. Thus, a book publisher or a newspaper publisher can be held liable for anything that appears within its pages. The theory behind this publisher liability is that a publisher has the knowledge, opportunity, and ability to exercise editorial control over the content of its publications. Distributor liability is much more limited. Newsstands, bookstores, and libraries are generally not held liable for the content of the material that they distribute. The concern is that it would be impossible for distributors to read every publication before they sell or distribute it, and that as a result, distributors would engage in excessive self-censorship. In addition, it would be very hard for distributors to know whether something is actionable defamation; after all, speech must be false to be defamatory. So the question facing the court in Sandler v. Calcagni was whether BookSurge bore the characteristics of a "publisher" or "distributor." Fortunately for BookSurge, the court concluded that it was akin to an online copy machine, noting that it had "negligible involvement" with the authors of the book and never fact-checked or reviewed the manuscript. In his post on MediaShift, Neuburger does an excellent job identifying the consequences of the court's holding: Print-on-demand services are an example of how the Internet enables writers to circumvent the gatekeepers of traditional communications channels. By dramatically lowering the cost and greatly increasing the ease of communication, writers who would previously have been blocked from the market can find an easy way to get their works out to the public. Authors no longer have to send copies of their great American novel to hundreds of publishers, praying for an editor to view it favorably. In fact, in this case, the parents first sought to have their book published by traditional publishing houses, which uniformly rejected the manuscript. The question prior to Sandler v. Calcagni was whether the law would saddle these kinds of services with potential liability that would force them to vet their authors' works in the same manner as traditional publishers. If print-on-demand services were found not to be liable, they would have less incentive to weed out books that could give rise to legal action, almost certainly allowing more content to make its way into the stream of public discourse -- for good or ill, as this case arguably demonstrates. From siamdave at yahoo.ca Sun Sep 14 04:30:18 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Sun Sep 14 04:30:43 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] first week issue-free References: <200809141559490234.01446A6A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809141619400156.01569674@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809141621090781.0157F48D@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <200809141630180015.01605217@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Editor, Well, a week into the 08 election, and hardly a word of substance from anyone to date. This is not that surprising from politicians who are generally pretty substance-free, but it might be considered a bit troubling from the media of the nation, who are supposed to be holding politicians' feets to the fire, as it were, and eliciting good information from them about important issues to help the people of Canada decide who to vote for. If the media shirk this all important job, who do we have to hold THEIR feets to the fire? Some things I (and I know many others) would like a bit of talk on: 1. the SPP/NAU - few Canadians really want to become even more under the influence of American decision-makers than we are already, yet this undertaking, begun with Martin and carried on by Harper, promises to do just that, yet they are keeping it all as much as possible under the radar. This makes many people more than a bit suspicious of their 'nothing to worry about here folks go on home now and let the adults take care of such things!!' explanations when asked about it, and there are a lot of scare stories running around the internet, everything from the NAFTA Superhighway to the common Amero currency - wouldn't it be useful to get some information about someone knowledgable about what is happening along these lines (you could try Connie Fogal of the Canadian Action Party, someone else whom the media is keeping pretty much under the radar, although CAP is a registered national political party with many candidates in the election), and then get the major parties to put at least something on the record about this, and ask them a few questions so the voters can judge their reactions? Would this be more useful to voters than a day or two spent headlining a story about a sad ad about a bird pooping on Dion or how suitable an apology was or the brand of a leader's aircraft? How many non-issues can you find to avoid the real ones? 2. Democracy - it is looking very much like Harper et al. may well wind up with a majority government, with 35% or even less of the vote (and with another low turnout probable, that would mean maybe 20% support of eligible voters), thus they will have carte blanche to do more or less as they please for the next 4-5 years (no, the 'fixed election date' of 4 years is, as we have just seen, meaningless, if it pleases the PM to simply ignore it - evidently nobody in either the media or other political parties cared to challenge him on this in any way other than verbally). As 'democracy' is commonly understood to mean 'majority rule', and as it is quite clear that a Harper majority would be undertaking many important policies opposed by a majority of Canadians, this would be a highly undemocratic situation, so shouldn't we at least be talking about some way to get more 'democracy' into Canadian politics, so that more things the government got up to were supported by some kind of 'true' majority of the citizens? Where is the media on this one? A media that cared about democracy would surely recognize that some form of proportional representation is an absolute must in a multi-party state such as Canada, in order to stop minorities from 'legitimately' running the country in a way most of its citizens oppose. Kind of odd that Canada and the US are the only two modern western 'democracies' without this modern voting system, almost as odd as the widespread media opposition to PR, as shown in the attempt last year in Ontario to change the system there - is it the role of the media to advocate for one thing or another en masse, either directly as with the PR issue or by gatekeeping as with others such as the SPP, or to give citizens the information they need to make intelligent choices? 3. The Economy - is obviously in a considerable mess, and yet the media does nothing more than mouth same-old-same-old platitudes, and offer interviews of A blaming B and vice versa and both promising to do wonderful things if we elect them, which is not that helpful. A good media would be looking behind curtains to get some better information about what is going on here - doors such as this one - Banketeering - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html . 4. Afghanistan - obviously a very serious issue, but I have yet to see a headline on it, or any questions of the leaders or parties about it. Far more coverage given to the bird poop ad, which says a great deal about the media here. Most Canadians do not think we should be doing what we are doing in Afghanistan, so shouldn't the media be getting some clear and straight answers from politicians about whether they care about what Canadians think about this? 5. The media - as noted in these instances, the media as well as the politicians seems to be pretty much out to lunch on 'issues' in the election, so maybe somebody ought to be investigating them a bit, too. Why are they not covering substantial issues such as these? Why was the initial reaction of the media to the calling of the election 'Oh, go back home, citizens, hahaha, nothing interesting in Canada, we're all too busy watching the amazingly interesting US VP 'controversy'..'? Really (and again, I know I speak for a lot of other people who care what happens in this country), I could care less about Ms Palin and American media spin, but I am very concerned about the above issues (and others) that the media apparently do not want Canadians thinking about. Why are they allowing the politicians to avoid these issues? Why have you been trying to destroy Dion for the last 20 months, and carry on still with a constant stream of 'haha look at that ineffectual excuse for a leader!!' 'stories' (and I am no Liberal supporter, but this is too blatant...)? Are the media actually part of the problem here? Oh well, I suppose that's plenty to ensure this letter never gets published or acknowleged. But thoughtful people understand that something is not right in the state of Canada, or the state of the Canadian media, and you should understand that it is not only politicians who are judged at times like this. Dave Patterson Thailand / Green Island http://www.rudemacedon.ca/greenisland.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080914/954068aa/attachment.html From creuss at bluewin.ch Sun Sep 14 07:15:12 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Sun Sep 14 07:16:35 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Prescient Campaign Button? Message-ID: Campaign Button: " McCAIN PALIN'08 " Well yes, given his age, he may actually pale this year... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From radred at ix.netcom.com Sun Sep 14 14:28:58 2008 From: radred at ix.netcom.com (Carol) Date: Sun Sep 14 14:29:15 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Barbaric! Psychotic!: Sarah Palin's War on Wolves (and the rest of nature) Message-ID: <3114892.1221420538991.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net> This includes the entire text of the article as well as all the comments thus far - a must-read/ must-forward. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Blog editors' note: Since 2003, at least 800 wolves have been killed by hunter-pilot teams courtesy of Palin?s administration, and former Gov. Murkowski. The arguments against predator control exceed the deaths of 14 wolf pups, and Palin?s record is, as one Alaskan scientist said on CNN, "abysmal."] "As Gandhi said 'THE GREATNESS OF A NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED'" "Contrary to what Palin would have Americans believe, only 14 percent of Alaskans hunt. Of those, a small percentage are true subsistence hunters. Palin wants wolves and bears scraped from the landscape so it?s easier for urban hunters to get their kill in a weekend." ==================================================================== http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/2008/september/vicious-sarah-palina.html Vicious: Sarah Palin?s War on Wolves September 11, 2008 | view comments (127) | add yours by Marybeth Holleman Anchorage, Alaska This past June, on a cool morning in southwest Alaska, fourteen wolf pups were pulled from their dens and shot in the head, one by one, by state biologists sanctioned by Governor Sarah Palin. At a month old, these pups had opened their eyes and ears less than two weeks earlier. They had ventured from the dark safety of the den once or twice. They had grown into rolling, tumbling, play-fighting puppies for whom their only care was, when would they next get to nurse? They still depended entirely on their parents and their packs for food, shelter, protection. But every single adult member of their packs had already been gunned down from above by the Alaska state workers who shot them. These pups did nothing to deserve such a malicious early end to life other than to be born a wolf in Alaska in the era of Sarah Palin. To most Americans in this day and age, this is atrocious. But to those of us who have watched Sarah Palin at work for the past two years, it?s not at all surprising. As Governor, Palin has expanded Alaska?s aerial hunting further and faster than any predecessor, since anything seen since territorial days, when all predators were targeted for extermination as worthless vermin. I?ve lived in Alaska for nearly 25 years, long enough to see the on-again off-again cycles of predator control. But never has the killing of wolves and bears in order to inflate the numbers of moose and caribou been so widespread and mean-spirited as under Palin?s reign. Under Palin, private citizens kill wolves from planes under the guise of predator control. They run the wolves to exhaustion, and then shoot them. Under Palin, for the first time in 20 years, wolves are also gunned down from state-chartered helicopters. Palin authorized $400,000 in state funds for advertising to persuade Alaskans to vote against a ballot initiative that would have curtailed aerial hunting. Her propaganda was successful; the ballot measure failed. Under Palin, for the first time since Alaska?s statehood in 1958, it?s legal to do land-and-shoot killing of bears and their cubs. Under Palin, predator control has spread from one to five regions of Alaska, to over 60,000 square miles, more than at any time since statehood. Nearly 800 wolves have been shot from planes, and some 2,000 are killed every year by other methods. And that?s just the reported deaths. Palin even went so far last year as to put a bounty on wolves?she wanted to pay $150 for a foreleg of each dead wolf. Thanks to Friends of Animals, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and Defenders of Wildlife, her wolf bounty was ruled illegal by the courts. Wildlife scientists from around the country are dismayed at Palin?s predator program, noting it doesn?t meet the standards recommended by the U.S. National Research Council to justify, implement, monitor, and evaluate. Last year, 172 scientists wrote to Palin, warning her that if she did reach the ?unsustainable historically high? moose and caribou numbers she sought, it would ecologically backfire in a huge way: not only would she put at risk the long-term health of Alaska?s wolves, but of the very moose and caribou she sought to increase. Palin would have the rest of Americans believe that this massive slaughter is acceptable, indeed necessary. She points to fifty years of statehood in which wolves have not become extinct. But the extent of the kill now far surpasses anything we?ve ever seen. Even many Alaska hunters have grown outraged over Palin?s out-of-control wolf control. Most recently, she?s tried to give even more power to the Board of Game?the one that she appoints. This, wrote Alaska Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, would give her Board ?more leeway without any scientific input to do whatever the hell they basically wanted.? This program has been a true black eye for all hunters in Alaska, and for our state. Contrary to what Palin would have Americans believe, only 14 percent of Alaskans hunt. Of those, a small percentage are true subsistence hunters. Palin wants wolves and bears scraped from the landscape so it?s easier for urban hunters to get their kill in a weekend. Don?t let her fool you: Wasilla has just as many big-box and fast-food stores as any place in America, and just as many opportunities to make money to buy food. Alaskans haven?t paid income tax for decades, and instead get over $1000 a year?for every man, woman, and child?in oil dividends. It?s not economic necessity that drives the killing of wolves. During Alaska?s gubernatorial debates, Palin spoke with such passionate hatred about the need to kill wolves and bears that it sounded like we were thrown back into the dark ages of wildlife management, when bounties were paid for the feet of bald eagles, the fins of seals and sea lions, the skins of fox, coyote, wolf, and bear. Yes: bald eagles. They were blamed for eating too many salmon. I was raised Catholic. I learned early on that if someone persecutes one group that?s different from them, they also persecute others who are ?different.? It has taken the national media spotlight and her vicious statements on national stage to show Alaskans what we didn?t know when Palin ran for Governor?to expose her disdain not only for non-human life, but also for those of different races, nationalities, and religions. As a Catholic, I also learned that we have a responsibility to all living things. Not just human life, but all life. Which is, as we all now know, inextricably linked to all that we need in order to survive. Food, air, water, shelter. Safety. All that those wolf pups wanted from life. And all that was taken from them. ======================= 127 Comments On September 11, 2008, Armando wrote: If Governor. Palin has a vicious disposition about wolves I feel sorry for (undocumented residents)? On September 11, 2008, Candis Garringer wrote: I would not vote for her for this reason alone. She takes joy in killing animals. Shame on her. On September 11, 2008, prudy wrote: I do not recall where it was that they elimated wolves. By doing this it did change the system of nature. They brought the wolf back and the sick animals and other things were taken care. Wolfs mate for life. I am appalled at what is going on. I would like to think we humans are better than that. I know I must be pleasant here and it is taking a toll on me. Let's stop this now. On September 11, 2008, Grace Morales wrote: Oh my Lord, this is simply atrocious!! Jesus gave us dominion over the animal kingdom, to take care of it, not to be cruel and abuse them. She must be stopped at all costs, she took her office and authority, and used it to wage a war on animals who literraly can?t defend themselves, against mans modern day weapons. It is inhumane It is a privilege to have thse animals in our world. Ms. Palin will one day have to stand before the Our Lord and answer for her deeds and actions. She is the animal, and they are the creatures of God. On September 11, 2008, Vicki Tortorella wrote: Well, that just sealed the deal for me! I could never vote for someone that heartless and inhumane.That just sickens me thinking of those poor wolves and every other animal that has become fair game in Alaska. I would be outraged to have her as my Governor and certainly don?t want her as our Vice President! On September 11, 2008, karen christensen wrote: WE HAVE A WOLF/HUSKEY AND MCCANE JUST LOST MY VOTE!!! On September 11, 2008, Dave Scott wrote: These are criminal acts and Governor Palin should be put on trial. On September 11, 2008, Antonio wrote: Thanks for the post, very informative. I am not American, so please guys, don?t let this blood-thirsty woman get into power! I love wolves and even renamed myself after them. God bless them, they have been so unjustly demonized. Lobo (Wolf) Pasolini, London On September 11, 2008, Theresa Machette wrote: Instead of concentrating on killing the poor, innocent animals, maybe, she should concentrate on educating her daughter on important issues like birth control methods, safe sex or better yet abstinence!!!! On September 11, 2008, Katherine Ryan wrote: Why isn?t the media reporting this? Why aren?t we hearing more about what she really is all about? How can people really like this heartless woman? This clearly isn?t a woman I would want leading us in the 21st century forward. She is living in the cave man days and has the heart of steel. On September 11, 2008, Jackie wrote: I was appalled by her nomination!! WHY would McCain pick her as his VP? He truly went after her for the ?women?s vote? I for one will NOT vote for him! He sealed his fate - by picking Palin as his VP! She is a disgrace to any woman. She will set women back 50 yrs. Her hatred toward wolves is so obvious. To hunt & kill wolves from the air? WHO gave her the right to make this policy? I am sure most Alaskans would rather have wolves. They are BIG tourist draws! I will never understand why humans have to control & destroy wildlife & our beautiful Earth. God put it all here for us to enjoy, nurture, love and to respect it. As Gandhi said ? THE GREATNESS OF A NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED? On September 11, 2008, Sandy wrote: This woman needs a therapist. Her values are all screwed up. She thinks killing animals is fine. She thinks that you should not have an abortion even if you have been raped or if your father, uncle or brother raped you. And her daughter is a product of her training. God help us if she becomes vice president. On September 11, 2008, Robin Roraback wrote: I will not vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. Her acts against wolves show she has no compassion for living creatures. Besides this, she has a very poor record on global warming. On September 11, 2008, Tony Picardi wrote: I raised two orphan wolves from when they were approximately 4-5 weeks old. No matter how many times I am reminded of human cruelty to each other and to all of nature?s creatures, it still shocks me mentally and emotionally. Mark Twain was correct when he wrote that men are inferior to animals because we have lost out instincts and have not made up for it in wisdom. On September 11, 2008, Atia wrote: Even without Sarah on the ticket, McCain wasn?t getting my vote because of his ?non-straight-talk? on every subject! But now it?s a double whammy - Palin is a disgrace to mankind (?), and especially to women! It?s hard to believe that the majority of Alaska residents share Palin?s views, considering that they live in such a pristine paradise; one would think that they?d like to keep it that way, but it seems that the almighty dollar means more to them than the environment. I thought that it couldn?t possibly get any worse than with the Bush/Cheney administration, but it could if American voters stay as dumb as they are and vote with their #@$^*& instead of their brains (?)! On September 11, 2008, sharon fitzgerald creeden wrote: I wouldnt vote for her for all the money in the world.She is one cruel person.Speaking of cruel,watch ?Animal Witness?on aminal planet.Especially the one where the pit bull was shot by home evaders and the cops waited too long to get the poor creature help.Chief died on the operating table.The poor thing was shot twice and had a brokrn paw and aminal control had to walk it out with a stick.I already e-mailed them my comments.Animal cruelty breaks by heart and Sarah Palin makes me sick. On September 11, 2008, Greer Ashton wrote: Sarah Palin - our next President? I shudder at that thought! Palin has pulled the lucky card?she?s not a self-made woman, she climbed and clawed her way to mayor of a tiny town in which she earned a mere 900 something votes and over 100,000 votes or so in the gubernatorial race - hardly a landslide! In a corrupt state such as Alaska, it didn?t exactly require subhuman powers to straighten them out a little bit. But, as we have all learned by now, Ms. Palin certainly had a penchant for forking in the pork, which she now very conveniently claims to be against! Life-long NRA member, hunter extraordinaire - eats mooseburgers, can kill, skin, dress, and serve a moose - what an accomplished woman! It?s just what we need in the White House - NOT! On September 11, 2008, Lucy Wormser wrote: (Is there a working Email address for Gov. Palin?) To Gov. Sarah Palin We oppose the killing of bears, wolves, and other wildlife in Alaska, particularly the habituated grizzly bears in the Katami preserve. Our family and friends will not visit Alaska and will not be voting for the McCain-Palin ticket because of your support of trophy and aerial hunting and violence against other species with whom we share the Earth. In the future, your policies will surely be viewed with the same abhorrence as the practice of enslavement of other races or the subjugation of women. We feel Racism, Sexism and Specieism are not part of ?God?s Plan?. They are grave transgressions against Creation stemming from human greed and ignorance. Sincerely, Lucy and Steven Wormser and family On September 11, 2008, Desiree Merulli wrote: This saddens me greatly. Since it looks like our wolf population is about to be deleted, are there any organizations out there who could relocate them to a safe environment before it?s too late? [Blog editors? note: Alaska has the land for wolves and they should remain free. The question ahead is whether anyone?s going to invite Palin to dictate policy on a national scale.] On September 11, 2008, Kate Porter wrote: Turning the eco system inside out to line her own tawdry pockets by developing Alaska as the Caribou hunting capital of the world AND blatantly mis-using her power in this heartless way is just the beginning,folks. The baby wolves were treated the way she, if ever allowed the power of the presidency, will treat anyone in her way.By eliminating them. She took way too much pride in the Soccer Mom/Pit Bull comparison. Didn?t those who are going to vote for her get that?? This is one VERY scary woman and I truly believe if she makes it to the top, mountains will fall ?crushing all beneath them. Baby wolves and all of us who love them will continue to be seen as expendable, trust me. I, for one, would rather vote for the Pit Bull. On September 11, 2008, Willie Broham wrote: I would not have voted for Mc Cain to begin with, he?s goerge?s twin brother. After reading this there is no doubt. (Would they) should shoot down babies in the head!!!! On September 11, 2008, lenore wrote: ?and all this murder coming from a woman that says she believes so strongly in the preservation life. I am not trying to say that an animals? life is equivalent to a humans?but to blatantly kill an already accomplished, adjusted life without warrant is murder no matter what species we are talking about?and sarah??.hold the lipstick?it isn?t working on me. On September 11, 2008, Thomas H. Johnston wrote: As usual, the ?News Media? ignores the truth. This ?person? is a murderer. Her kid doesn?t have (any) sense? McCain is so far out of touch with the electorate that it?s inconceviable Want to see the United States go down the tubes? Elect either of the ?choices!? On September 11, 2008, David Steward wrote: This is blatant cruelty by anyone, but not surpising?The first time I saw her posing triumptly over the dead body of a beautiful Elk (that she had shot and killed) and the picture of her with a shotgun draped over her shoulder like a badge of authority?I knew then there was something running deep within her that I would not want to place in authority over Nature?much less an office of authority over my Country. Cathedral City, CA On September 11, 2008, Barbara Azzalina wrote: Anyone that can do this will not get a vote from me. This is appalling. On September 11, 2008, L wrote: Cruel. Selfish. That?s all that can be said about a woman like her. I would never,ever vote for someone who can have such disregard for an animals life. I too saw the photo of her standing with her daughter over an elk she had just killed. There is something wrong with a person who gets joy out of a horrible act like that. It will be a very sad day if she and McCain are voted into office. On September 11, 2008, Melinda Calvert wrote: As a strong supporter of environmental and wildlife issues, this attrocious incident first came to my attention through Defenders of Wildlife. I am more concerned than ever that the public needs to be informed of how vicious this woman can be. I certainly would not vote for someone with such a cruel nature and I don?t see anything Christian about her ethics! Evidently earmarks, oil money and undoubtedly - POWER - are paramount on her agenda. WHAT CAN WE DO? We can tell everyone we know about this. Write Letters to the Editor of all area newspapers, post on MySpace or other commonly visited websites, send a letter to TV and radio stations (both local and national) demanding that this information be released (CNN has already done a story but they soft-peddled it. Try MSNBC, instead). I came across this article due to my concern for what was happening to Alaskan wolves. That prompted me to check out various websites. I?m glad to see I wasn?t alone. On September 11, 2008, Animal Lover wrote: This woman is a disgrace to humankind. She brags about being a pit bull? ??? On September 11, 2008, nancy wrote: She is a disgrace,where is her kindness for all living creatures? She should look at herself in the mirror and see if she likes what she is and is becoming.. Who died and left her boss and to take it upon herself to decide WHAT ANIMAL WILL LIVE TODAY OR WHO WILL DIE? On September 11, 2008, Susan Marbella wrote: I have always wanted to visit Alaska, it is my dream vacation. I refuse however,to visit Alaska until the hunting of wolves is called off. What ever happened to the travel boycott from a few years ago. This crazy shooting must be hurting the cruise ship industry. Is there someway to get the Boycott rolling again? What about some publicity? Who can get the ball rolling? I am willing to spread the word via the internet, or anyone else? When I saw the film on You-tube of a beautiful wolf being gunned down by air, I broke down and cried. It was especially moving to me, because I have an Alaskan Malamute that looks just like the murdered wolf. On September 11, 2008, Leila Marcial, Reg Nurse, Cert Nurse Midwife wrote: She?s against abortion!!! But yet she has newborn wolves killed? What about our military personnel? No abortion so there?s more fodder for the cannons! She?s NOT getting my vote, & I am a midwife! How would SHE feel if the same were done to her litter? Those wolf moms were probably engorged with milk that would not be taken out again. Being engorged with milk is NOT fun, you can also get an infection from milk that stays in. The wolf moms must have also been in physical & emotional pain for their dead babies?????? How would Palin feel if that were HER litter???? My family has had 3 rescure ferrets (who are now in heaven) & now 2 rescue cats, whom were spayed through Friends of Animals fantastic program!!!! On September 11, 2008, Christine wrote: Don?t vote for McCain/ Palin. She is truely a disgrace to America. If only she would know how it feels like to be hunted from a plane or to be a young again ? On September 11, 2008, Karen Barth wrote: I was thoroughly appalled and disgusted at hearing of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin being chosen as a candidate for Vice President. Her history on wildlife, most especially wolves, is deplorable. I have posted several e-mails to groups and political organizations voicing my disdain for her viewpoints and political actions. We do not need her, or those with like viewpoints on animals/wildlife in any more public positions, let alone a high standing National office, and we can only hope that the states where she and others with similar viewpoints will soon vote her/them out of office. What I do not understand is the following: Many of the animal welfare groups I belong to are sending messages to members regarding this (as you have done) and yet, I am not seeing any attention of this brought to the mainstream media - which is where it needs to be. The majority of the voting public do not belong to animal welfare/rights groups, but they would none the less be appalled to hear of these issues/actions that she has brought about and/or continued. They are the segment of the voting public that needs to hear these things ? why are these issues not being brought to the forefront by animal groups. Please, use your strength as a group to get the word out to the general public. Thank you. Karen Barth On September 11, 2008, jaime wrote: What?s next? Just get out and vote! McCain will pass away in office and she will take over! On September 11, 2008, Kathleen Jackson wrote: Fairness, justice, compassion are all just words to a type like this. But mention the hunting lobby and she jumps?same old politics, folks. Just imagine our country and our world with her as our President! Now, that?s scarey! Let?s keep her up in Alaska, give her five days food supply, her gun, hip deep winter snow and let her find herself a wolf. The contest would at least be fair. On September 11, 2008, Ann Moran wrote: sarah palin is a horrible cruel miserable excuse for a human being. She is a two faced hypocrite that has no regard for human or animal wildlife. She brags about her Moose stew like it was a national award. I wish we could get bumper stickers letting everyone know what this beast is all about. On September 11, 2008, Shane wrote: I am an animal lover and am a firm believer that we should be protecting the wildlife on this earth. This is their place too! I don?t want a heartless animal killer in the White House. On September 11, 2008, Liliana Tavares wrote: As I was reading this article, I couldn?t believe my eyes. It is just appalling!! How could Palin be so cruel and heartless? I see no need for her to go out and brutally murder innocent wolves. She should be ashamed and feel like like a total and complete #$@ This should be an eye opener for everyone who was thinking of voting for her. On September 11, 2008, Catherine V. McDonnell wrote: To all you folks who plan on NOT voting in November: GET UP OFF YOUR DUFF!!! The devil is aknockin?, boys and girls, and she is wearing a dress! On September 11, 2008, Annette Schiffer wrote: To think of putting anyone who has such a disregard for life, yet calls themselves ?PRO-LIFE?, whether male or female, in such a powerful position either as Governor of Alaska or Vice-President of the United States is unfathomable. I would NEVER vote for anyone who would sanction or commit such vile crimes against nature. And I certainly wouldn?t vote for the person who views their acts of vicious disregard for life as an appropriate person for a leadership position of ANY kind. The world is a harsh enough place without people like Sarah Palin, et al, who think that only human life is worth preserving. On September 11, 2008, gloria wrote: she is a total *****?she wants obama to say sorry for the pig comment but she does thi!s! That was just a comment what she is doing is brutal killings.. she can?t say ?i?m sorry? for this act? On September 11, 2008, Sue wrote: She is despicable! On September 12, 2008, gigi wrote: This article needs to get into the spotlight for ?everyone? to read, NOT just the members of FoA; it is a strong article to show Sarah Palin?s true character. We are in grave danger if the McCain/Palin ticket wins this country?s election. I am disgusted by her actions and opinions; she is a hypocrite, racist, and bigoted against people who don?t think exactly like her. The race is closing in with the McCain ticket in the lead; it is frightening to think that she could be part of the leadership of our country. She is simply a heartless murderer. Her true colors show in the pictures of her standing over the elk she murdered. PLEASE get this article into the MAJOR news media. Thanks! On September 12, 2008, Kerrie Heinz wrote: I agree with others that this need to be broadcast nationwide through the media. Sarah Palin has no right to put a $150 bounty on wolves to encourage locals to bring in wolf legs, it?s just plain sick, Hunting down wolves from planes and then killing a den of pups is Animal Cruelty. She is out of her mind, trying to suggest that wolves are taking moose away from hunters, Wolves scavange the already sick and dying population of Moose they do not take down healthy adult males or females. The rodent population shares in eating the same willow plants as Moose, and may be contributing to smaller numbers of adult moose. The senseless killing of wolves make no sense at all, What will she do when the rodent population gets out of control?? Native Alaskians don?t agree with her Wolf killing either and have voted against it several times. On September 12, 2008, Kerrie Heinz wrote: I also wanted to add, that the Alaska Law states that orphan animals must be offered to rehabilitaion centers or zoo?s before being euthanized, which is supposed to be a last resort. That was not the case with the 14 wolf pups that were dragged out of their dens and shot, after their entire pack was killed by air. Sarah Palin needs to be out of office as Govenor and not permitted to serve as VP. Her motives are selfish and self serving, all she cares about is making money on Oil and Gas Lines, she doesn?t care one bit about our wildlife or the enviornment, Alaska will be a wasteland by the time she gets done if we don?t stand up together and stop her !!!!!! On September 12, 2008, leslie wrote: me again - I did not see the entire article before my last comment - you have covered most of the story. I retract that statement. :-) On September 12, 2008, evelyne rottiers wrote: The more I learn about her, the more my aversion against her grows. She?s really the prototype of the christian fundamentalist who only cares about humans. She obviously thinks humans are the only sacred creatures and her supposed God created the others only for our hunting and fishing pleasure ? What a stupid retarded mentality Poor imbecile ! On September 12, 2008, Mimi Forsyth wrote: This sad tale does need to be brought to national attention through the mainstream media. However cynical it may sound, the mainstream media serve whatever the regime. There is so much ?disappeared news?. And while Rome burns we are fed chatter of celebrities? wardrobes. What does it say about the electorate that claps and cheers mindlessly for Palin? Does it care what the facts are? ?She didn?t have an abortion!? Yeah. So? Oil & gas, drilling & pipelines are the big employers in Alaska. Of course she will push that to maintain her position. Weekend hunters likely contribute to her campaigns and so she would kill wolves and bears to assure them a good weekend. It is unrealistic to expect this woman to say or do otherwise. She is amoral, deceitful and unreflective and extremely ambitious. Cruel, too! That she could so easily become president is a truly horrifying thought and it must not happen. On September 12, 2008, Jill Stevens wrote: In this day and age you just have to say why? When Hillary was out of the running, so was our hope. .. Here?s a news flash for you. PRO-LIFE (PROtect-wildLIFE) On September 12, 2008, Anne Streeter wrote: If this ticket gets to the White House your country is doomed. Everyone get out there and stump for the Dems! A sympathetic and very worried Canadian On September 12, 2008, Pat C wrote: Sarah Palin, as far as I?m concerned, is an environmental terrorist. Between slaughtering wolves, promoting hunts, and demanding more Alaskan drilling, she is NOT what we want as vice-president. McCain is no better. Republicans have always been money and profit first, people and nature second. On September 12, 2008, V P wrote: And? we would vote to put this woman second in charge of our country? On September 12, 2008, Jon Stewart wrote: I just spent 15 minutes writing what I thought of Palin, but had to erase it due to the rules of the forum. I?ll just leave it up to everyone?s imagination, with full knowledge that you will be incapable of overestimating my outrage at her, her mind-set, and the cynicism of the man (and party) who thinks so little of this country that he put her in the positions she?s in. [Blog editors? note: Very understandable.] On September 12, 2008, Sherry Muller-Roga wrote: I will not be voting for you John and Sarah! Stop killing, stop war!! We have choices, let?s choose the right ones! On September 12, 2008, Joan Blyth wrote: There are no words strong enough to describe the heart and mind that is Sarah Palin. What we see is not strength but an arrogance that defies description. I would ask God to stop her, but, I don?t know where he is, because he is not stepping in to save the wolves, or wildlife of our planet. All I see is the down-spiraling of our nation?s values and honor. This will be a true, out-of-control, ABYSS of leadership with a McCain and Palin presidency. On September 12, 2008, Shaynie Aero wrote: Palin is cruel .Her hatred of animals shows in her wanting to kill bear cubs,and starve baby wolves in their dens. She is dangerous and sadistic. On September 12, 2008, Jeana wrote: I wouldn?t vote for her or McCain if they were the last people on earth. Anyone is better then her! I have never thought much of her and her tactics regarding animals. She is gun wheeling animal killer!! On September 12, 2008, g. preston wrote: I am appalled by this! We all have rights, including the animals amongst us. They are beautiful animals and she didn?t even give them a chance to run. How would she like to be stalked and killed like that?? She will not get my vote. On September 12, 2008, cindy cappello wrote: They are only God?s living creatures. How would if someone came to your home an did what they did to those pups an family. Know one would of liked it an, JUST LEAVE NATURE ALONE!!!!!! They are not hurting no one either. THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. THEY ARE LIVING THINGS JUST LIKE US. On September 12, 2008, Lynn wrote: This woman shouldn?t be allowed anywhere near the White House. I imagine she has the NRA?s full support?she?s going to upset the balance of nature in Alaska and there will be consequences. They say she makes impulsive decisions and then acts like a pitbull?and pitbull is her description of herself?that?s a frightening thought considering the position she is aspiring to assume. Please America, wise up, cast your vote for anyone other than McCain/Palin. [Blog editors? note: In fairness, Palin?s conduct disparages pit bulls since they?re individuals and some are sweet animals. ] On September 12, 2008, Robin Scott wrote: I have been receiving a ton of emails from animal rights groups about Palin and her values and beliefs. I do have the same beliefs as the Republican party but will not be voting for McCain because of his VP choice. I strongly believe in saving our animals from cruelty and extinction and I am scared to death all the backlash we?ll have to face and what information will be kept private until it?s too late. Palin wants to dig for oil in a protected area in Alaska. This is insane! I wrote to Senator Durbin who said digging offshore will only produce a 30 cent break a gallon to consumers. So how is that even logical? Polar Bears are on the brink of extinction not to mention all the ecological factors involved, less food and shorter winters. Why would someone even think about digging in their habitat and causing them to relocate, or abandon their cubs. Wolves and Bears are so important to our world and I really had utmost respect for Alaska keeping nature and human life in balance. I feel blindsighted at all of this information. She will have to answer for her choices, and I don?t know how she sleeps at night. Cruelty is wrong, playing God isn?t her place. On September 12, 2008, Beryl wrote: What she is doing can?t be even labeled as killing for sport, it?s just murder. She seems like a very heartless person. As a black person I get the feeling that she won?t be sympathetic to anyone of a different race, nationalty or religion. On September 12, 2008, Dixie Stevens wrote: Sarah Palin is a heartless killer of the innocent?this alone is enough to consider that the character of this woman is despicable. Her actions against the wildlife of Alaska depicts an evil nature that cannot be trusted. To consider her for a position a heart beat away from being the President of the United States would be a grave and dangerous decision. On September 12, 2008, Darlene James wrote: I just read the article about what Palin ordered. That is totally uncalled for. How cruel can she be !!! If she can be so heartless to MURDER those animals imagine what she will do with us !! Animals have just as much right to live here as we do. OMG I?m so mad right now at her I could spit nails. That #$%^&* !If she becomes vice president GOD HELP US ALL !!! Those poor wolves, SHAME, SHAME ON HER !!! On September 12, 2008, patricia ryan wrote: People who have no regard for animal suffering shouldn?t not be in public office. I believe in God and I recall He made the animals before he made man. On September 12, 2008, Marsha Siano wrote: I would NOT vote for someone inhumane cruel heartless that is you sarah palin. On September 12, 2008, Darla J. Perea wrote: Being an animal activist that prays for the humane treatment of all animals, wild or domestic, this is the most brutal senseless act against innocence I could possibly imagine. My thoughts are - if so little regard is given to the wild and the wilderness that they inhabit, how much regard will we, the humans and our habitat be given. Like most, I look at how people treat and react with animals, children and the elderly. This is not a good impression to have about someone who is proposing to be our next Vice President. I have learned that you can not change how someone is only that you can change how YOU react to that person; I am concerned that Ms. Palin?s disregard for our natural resources, wildlife and the wilderness will put our country into a downward ecological spiral that we will not be able to recover from ?.. We must as Americans take a good long pause here and examine our values and see is she is good for our country, our future. I say no; and she will not get my vote. On September 12, 2008, Laurie R. wrote: I had a WOLF/HUSKY for 3 years. She was the kindest, most loyal pet I?ve ever had! On September 12, 2008, Lynn wrote: This is just wrong. That is not how the circle of life works. She is killing innocent animals. I will not vote for her is she can be that cruel. Wolves are beautiful animals and should not be treated this way. On September 12, 2008, Ellen wrote: I for one am appalled by this behavior. I was happy to see that McCain chose a woman. Too bad he chose this one. I posted my opinion about Govonor Palin?s animal policies on John McCain?s website. Maybe others should do the same. On September 12, 2008, Ngaire Lucaites wrote: She is a hateful evil woman.She teaches her chidren that killing animlas is just fine.I saw a photo of her with her young daughter with a caribou that she had just killed.It just sickened me. The killing of the wolves is so wrong and with her at the helm it will never stop As far as I?m concerned McCain sealed his fate when he picked her for VP.God help us all if she ever becomes President. On September 12, 2008, Sharon Reese wrote: HEY SARAH I WAS GOING TO VOTE FOR you????.NOT NOW!!! you better stop the killings if you know whats good for you, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ORDER KILLINGS OF THE PURE AND INNOCENT On September 12, 2008, Lorraine in Douglas, Ma wrote: I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR HER NOW!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THE HEARTLESS PERSON THAT SHE IS SHOOTING HELPLESS ANIMALS. I WAS GOING TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN, BUT MY LOVE FOR ANIMALS IS SO STRONG THAT I WOULD NEVER GIVE HIM MY VOTE NOW. I DON?T CARE ABOUT MONEY IT DOES NOT LIVE AND BREATH LIKE GOD?S CREATURES. HOW DARE SHE DO WHAT SHE IS DOING TO THESE BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS. IMAGINE THE PAIN OF A BULLET PIERCING YOUR FLESH. IF YOU HAVE ANY LOVE FOR ANIMALS PLEASE RECONSIDER YOUR VOTE IN NOVEMBER. On September 12, 2008, Diane wrote: I forwarded this to the local TV news station. She is no better than Michael Vick! On September 12, 2008, dp wrote: If Sarah Palin is ?Pro Life? why is she allowing the cruel and senseless slaughter of wolves, and bears, along with their offspring? She is a heartless and vicious person who truly does not care about God?s creations as she portrays she does. I am disgusted and appalled and more people need to be alerted of her actions. Why would we want a heartless person as our Vice President who would allow the murder of nature?s beautiful creatures. On September 12, 2008, ann in Florida wrote: People, write tons of stuff about everyone and everything! I would like to hear Sara speak out on this subject. [Blog editors? note: Palin?s actions speak loud and clear. If you page through this week?s copy of People Magazine, you?ll see the bloody, dead caribou she shot to death and her young child in tow. Next, get a glimpse of her with a machine gun. Palin?s running for a high office, poses for photos with a dead grizzly bear draped over her couch, and trophies of the animals she has killed while avoiding detailed questioning from the public. As the NY Times wrote yesterday, ?the campaign of John McCain is avoiding an honest news conference, and Palin is the bell-jar candidate barnstorming safe crowds with socko punch lines.? Palin?s actions speak louder than her empty words. ] On September 12, 2008, Patricia Boyle wrote: This is absolutely barbaric and disgusting. How could the people of Alaska just stand by and do nothing? Ms. Palin has dropped to the bottom of the electoral list. On September 12, 2008, B Menkes wrote: Well, DUH. What do you expect from a woman who?s office(?) is strewn with animal trophies - including 2 fox skins hanging on the wall. I am still waiting for a REAL WOMAN to run for office, not just another (inhuman) man in female clothing. On September 12, 2008, dave wrote: boy this lady is a idiot, i didn?t know she was the one behind the wolf killings.i saw her on tv and had to change the channel, her voice was irritating my dogs. this idiot will definitely get us into another war.i am a republican, but it will be a cold day in hell before i vote in any republicans.they totally screwed up every thing they got their hands on, oil, wildlife,global warming, overseas , you name it. ..i guess these idiots won?t be satisfied until all the open land is nothing but oil wells and cows.it must be tough going through life being that stupid.i heard she wrote a book, i hope its not on how to bring up kids? [Blog editor?s note: Thanks so much for the levity about Palin?s voice irritating your dogs, Dave. Palin?s plaintive prairie voice isn?t charming any peaches off the trees over here either. ] On September 12, 2008, virginia scotchie wrote: you are amazing to share this with all of us here in the lower 48! oxoxoxox On September 12, 2008, sandy wrote: I hope Sarah has just ?shot herself in the foot?. What kind of hypocrisy are we dealing with here? So much for being ?pro life?. How can she justify murdering for commerce? This goes way beyond what Michael Vick did and look what happened to him. Is she above it all or just too arrogant and self absorbed to get it? Talk about being out of touch with the balance of nature. What an absolute outrage. I?m e-mailing this to everyone I know. Let?s hope the american people find out about this before election day. On September 12, 2008, Monique Korbel wrote: I hate her for this and I will NOT be supporting McCain just for this reason. I am not alone in this. Many people feel that way and I am glad. I will be posting and sharing this information any way I can. Please do the same and let us get the word out. This is just a tragic situation. .. It is people like Palin that make this country what it is right now. Sad but true. I also wanted to visit Alaska, but until things change I refuse to support such heartless and ignorant views. On September 12, 2008, Kim Cirillo wrote: I am sickened by the thought of this horrible atrosity!!! Who are we to destroy such a beautiful, respectable animal. If humans keep interrupting the natural existance of the animal chain, humans will pay the ultimate price. God put each animal and human here for a reason. I pray that some day they realize what they are doing. On September 12, 2008, Pat K wrote: I could not believe what I was reading. What a terrible thing. I thought if would be great to have her for V.P. but after reading this, ?No Way?. More people should read this article before they cast their votes. On September 12, 2008, Betty wrote: LET the Wolves alone? Get with it?-there is no need to keep on killing On September 12, 2008, Rose King wrote: You should see the video of Alaskans shooting wolves. It is horrible. The Alaskans voted against it twice but the vote was overturned by the state legislature. I cannot imagine shooting an animal and watching it die a horrible death and offer a bounty of $150 for the cut off front leg. On September 12, 2008, Rose King wrote: I meant to mention on my last post the website www.grizzlybay.org. There are pictures of Sarah Palin and dead animals. On September 12, 2008, Susan Holdridge wrote: There is not a word ugly enough to describe how I feel about Sarah Palin for these atrocities. As the long list of reasons not to vote for her grows by leaps and bounds, so does my disgust at McCain for trying to pass her off as a viable candidate for VP. Sarah Palin any where near the White House? The thought of it terrifies me. That said, this information needs to be sent out to every news station, website, and blog that might pick it up. I?d suggest Keith Olberman/Countdown at MSNBC. Is there a web address for this article that people can refer to? The Devil Wears Prada? Perhaps. But as I see it, the devil wears lipstick, too. On September 12, 2008, jeff wrote: I never liked Sarah Palin and after hearing about the slaughter of these wolf pups, I am disgusted with her. Our dear Lord tells us to forgive, and when I hear of incidents like these, it is precious hard to forgive anyone who could be connected to murder. Yes, it is murder, even though the victims were not human. If Mccain were elected and died while in office, can you imagine what a disaster it would be to have her as our president? Not because she is a woman, but because she is a selfish, lost soul. I will pray for her and I will pray for her and Mccain to not get elected. On September 12, 2008, Mala wrote: You do not support abortion even if the person is a victim of rape or incest. What about wolves and their babies? Are they not lives. Or is it that animals do not have souls? Animals are God?s creation also Sarah? Today hunting is a pleasure not for the necessity of food. Groceries in this country are fully stocked. Maybe Pastor should send you some special prayers for these cruel acts you allow. Tis? a shame!!!! On September 12, 2008, tracey nyland wrote: anyone who would kill an innocent animal and think nothing of it should definitely NOT be in the White House. she is so set against abortion but thinks its ok to kill an animal?! definitely not right in the head if you ask me. On September 12, 2008, Betty Stockton wrote: In Sarah Palin?s interview with Charles Gibson it was clear that she was struggling for answers to questions on subjects about which she knew very little. Acting won?t cut it. As well, how anyone could support a person who sanctions aerial wolf hunts (no, the caribous are not endangered - yet), who seems to have no respect for the environmental issues so important today and who is so far behind on women?s rights, is obviously not informed on the issues. Go, Obama!! On September 12, 2008, Hsueh wrote: As with the greed in this country being the main motivator, eliminating species does affect the food chain. Look what happened with the Nile Virus systematic elimination of the mosquitoes. The bats for whom this was their main diet have died out and affected the bird population. The bees are a better example; pesticides on the plants & flowers have wiped out much of the bees and bees are the main pollinator of 2/3 of our country?s food supply. They are dying out, who will pollinate our plants? People usually do not know how delicate the eco-system is, and with the wolf population dwindling, the smaller animals will be overbreeding (everything has its checks & balances, except for people)and will Sarah Palin also put out an moratorium on them as well? On September 12, 2008, Jan Fredericks, LPC, MA wrote: The Bible says that you will know Christians by their fruit (which is peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). Hunters in the Bible were not considered to be God?s chosen. For real change for health care, the environment, world hunger and compassion, we should move back to our God-given plant-based diet. On September 12, 2008, Susan Holdrdige wrote: If you?ll induge me a second comment, I?d like to say that I have personally seen the segments CNN has televised this week showing the footage of the aerial wolf shooting in AK. In fact, I?ve seen the segments several times as they were replayed over a couple of days. For anyone who didn?t have the opportunity to see this footage, let me just say, it couldn?t have been more real or more appalling. I?m still heart sick about it, and it?s been a few days. [Blog editors? note: Then there?s the witness we have to the state agents who shot wolf pups to death after their helicopter gun ship arrived to exterminate wolves in one area in the Aleutian chain when wolves were wrongly blamed for lower numbers of caribou calves. In truth, caribou were hunted in that area, and the terrain was less than ideal, but that didn?t stop the Palin administration from slaughtering a couple of dozen wolves and then shooting pups in their heads.] On September 12, 2008, Doris Potter wrote: I find McCain?s choice of Palin is appalling. Please everyone spread the word about her sadistic tendencies and help prevent her coming into power. On September 12, 2008, Lauren wrote: This is horrible! How can she get away with this? On September 12, 2008, nona wrote: There is something we can do! Alaska depends on tourism-right?? If we stop visiting Alaska until this senseless murder of these beautiful animals is stopped I can just imagine this murder would stop!! So-boycott tourism in Alaska!!!! A powerful tool for animal lovers!!!! On September 12, 2008, Lee wrote: I thought she was prolife, aren?t wolves alive? I would not vote for her even if I agreed with her other values. There is no sport in flying around shooting at innocent animals. These animals have just as much right to be here as we do. Let?s let her run around in the snow and have someone fly around over her to see how much she likes it. Isn?t it bad enough we kill each other on this planet, do we have to kill everything else? On September 12, 2008, Clayton wrote: I am a grown tough man and wanted to cry when I saw video on how wolves are killed using this coward method. Anyone who votes for Palin votes for animal brutality. On September 12, 2008, JH Bock wrote: There?s something very unsettling about Palin?s character. This just confirms my unease. I hope the American voter starts to see what we see as opposed to that pretty face and fighting spirit. On September 12, 2008, CONNIE wrote: SOME ONE SHOULD GIVE SARAH PALIN THE BOOK ?KINSHIP WITH ALL LIFE? I DO NOT KILL EVEN A FLY - I CATCH THEM AND PUT THEM OUTSIDE. THERE ARE SNAKES IN OUR AREA AND AS I HIKE I SEND THEM THE MESSAGE ?I WILL NOT BOTHER YOU AND YOU WILL NOT BOTHER ME? IT WORKS! RESPECT LIFE MEANS ALL LIFE! SHE IS ONE SCARY WOMAN - IT IS A SAD DAY WHEN SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE ARE PASSED OVER FOR SOMEONE AS EVIL AS HER. On September 12, 2008, Lynn wrote: I am so ashamed?I thought Sarah Palin was a tough and fair woman, who was willing to buck some old corrupt Washington politicians. The natural balance of disposal of the weakest in nature has been going on since God created the heavens and earth. Sarah Palin seems to think she is as All Mighty and Powerful as our Father. When a country loses it?s conscience in how it?s animals are treated, then the country is lost as well. Her age and her IQ are just about the same, I?d say. The Good old boys in Alaska best be git?n an education, because I am sending a petition around to boycott tourism,hunting and oil drilling in Alaska. Time to be green anyway!!! On September 12, 2008, Kathy G wrote: Why doesn?t someone confront her on this issue? Call her on the carpet? Aren?t there more animal lovers than animal killers? On September 12, 2008, margo wrote: Palin is a joke. So is McCain. No wonder he picked her for a running mate. They are both selfish and despicable. Palin for the treatment of the wolves. And McCain for dumping his first wife because she was disfigured in a car accident. What a pair. I?m a republican but I?m voting for Obama. On September 13, 2008, Zach wrote: Yeah I live in Alaska and I have two wolf hybrids and I love wolves. I don?t agree with killing natural wildlife and know nature will balance itself out. Only humans interfering throw it out of balance. But all that said I fear what Barack Obama brings and would rather fight it out with the governement over 14 lost wolves, than the Obama government on my freedom. [Blog editors? note: Since 2003, at least 800 wolves have been killed by hunter-pilot teams courtesy of Palin?s administration, and former Gov. Murkowski. The arguments against predator control exceed the deaths of 14 wolf pups, and Palin?s record is, as one Alaskan scientist said on CNN, ?abysmal.?] On September 13, 2008, laura raforth wrote: I THINK SARAH PALIN IS A HEAD CASE. YOU CAN SEE THE EVIL IN HER EYES, THE DAY I VOTE FOR HER WOULD BE A COLD DAY IN HELL. ANY ONE WHO THINKS ITS OK TO KILL INNOCENT ANIMALS IS A VIOLENT HEARTLESS IGNORANT HUMAN BEING. IF MCCAIN/PALIN WIN, THIS COUNTRY IS SCREWED WORSE THAN IT IS NOW WITH BUSH!!!! On September 13, 2008, Carina E. wrote: This is totally and utterly disgusting to read! I sincerely hope that America does NOT vote for McCain/Palin!! Look at what she has accomplished already. Imagine what would happen if she was to become vice-president, there wouldn?t be any wolves, bears or other large predators alive in Alaska anymore. Palin is NOT the kind of person that the american people would want to to elect to represent their nation, of this I?m quite sure. I just pray that they realize this themselves? before it?s too late. On September 13, 2008, Susan Torres wrote: What gives man the right to decide who lives and dies in the animal kingdom??? Nature took care of that for thousands of years and now man thinks all animals are ?in the way?. Human beings are the great destructors and are destroying all of life. I want a government that values our environment and wildlife??..and I will accept nothing less. On September 13, 2008, A James Spong wrote: How can this be? It made me feel physically sick to read this article. There can be absolutely no excuse for this kind of action, or for the state biologists that carried it out. I?m surprised that this and all other negative information about Sara Palin?s animal rights issues, have not been mentioned in any of the recent TV interviews? [Blog editors? note: CNN had a segment last week wherein Alaskan Prof. Rick Steiner who teaches at the Univ. of Alaska was critical of Palin?s environmental practices. Overall, Rick called Palin?s record ?abysmal.? Aerial wolf-shooting footage also aired. ] On September 13, 2008, Marty M. wrote: When God gave us dominion over the animals of the earth, though I don?t presume to know His thoughts, I don?t think He intended for us to take such totally unfair advantage. On the ground the wolves have a fighting chance. I understand if the indigenous population has to kill them in order to keep their numbers down to preserve the moose population (their food supply). It?s grossly unfair to shoot at them from airplanes. Though I have not liked Sarah Palin from the beginning, I am appalled by her enivironmental policies. If we kill off our wildlife we will upset the ecological balance of our planet. What will our great great grandchildren have? And the generations beyond them? If we don?t protect the species that are alive today, who will? If John McCain becomes President and dies, Sarah Palin will be are president. Personally, I find that incredibly frightening. [Blog editors? note: Native Alaskans are not united under the wolf control banner and native villages have cash economies with grocery stores, restaurants and other amenities. No one has to shoot moose to feed themselves much less persecute wolves. This is Palin?s nonsense and it?s also scientifically bankrupt.] On September 13, 2008, Marilyn Woronick wrote: If Sarah Palin is this vicious with our poor animals what is her true feeling for humans???? God will pay her back for being so cruel. On September 13, 2008, Scout wrote: Sarah Palin?s horrible acts of cruelty against these innocent animals should be highlighted and made known to the American people. A large percentage of the people in this country love animals and they should be made aware of her callous and cruel acts prior to voting in November. We don?t want this cruel and inhumane person made Vice President of the United States. We need compassion and empathy for all in a world leader!!! On September 13, 2008, Cheryl Simonds wrote: This woman is despicable. I am a feminist, and would love to have a woman president or vice president, but I?d rather die than have her in power. I have sent your article to very many friends. But your ?email to friend? allows only one person at a time. You should change this so it is easier to get the word out to many people at once. On September 13, 2008, lucia preciado wrote: If Palin is doing this with wolves, then I wonder what the hell she is going to do with us. I will not vote for her. Wolves don?t bother us in any way least of all the pups. They are not vermin, they keep the cycle of nature balanced. She sould spend her time better. Like talking to her daughter of birth control in stead of massacring defenseless animals. I have a wolf/husky and the republicans just lost my vote. On September 13, 2008, Darlene Bialeck wrote: I can?t beleive MCcain picked this woman to be vice president.She has killed more wolves in her short span as govenor then anyone has.She is pure evil.If you think Bush has screwed our country,wait until this psyco gets in.Killing innocent animals for the fun of it is sick.She?s also one of the biggest liars there is. On September 13, 2008, Helga wrote: Can you just imagine this (person) as our president?.You know McCain in not going to serve out his term,He is not well.So this #$%^ would take over.God save us all.And hide your Pets On September 13, 2008, lisa wrote: We need a animal rights activist for president and vice president. How I hate these demented hunters! On September 13, 2008, Linda Ceder wrote: I am outraged! I am thoroughly disgusted! When is our country going to be able to trust our leaders and representatives?! Is our country becoming babaric, desensitized, self-centered, and disrespectful?? I believe in the great wolves? exisience, to be as important as our own! I will continue to stand by all those who stand for human rights ALONGSIDE of animal rights! Stop the killing of innocent lives! Stop killing the wolves. these fantastic animals are trying to survive in a world that originally belonged to them, and we have quickly destroyed! Leave them alone! On September 13, 2008, linda blackburn blair wrote: hi! I found your site through truveo.com, another animal site and lots of videos of the animals. it is great that you guys protect these animals and look after them and allow pictures and videos on your site for free. I live in Nova Scotia, and we only have a couple of parks with some animals in it, but, we don?t have a zoo in the city of halifax, which is our capitol city. too bad! I only get there a couple of times in the summertime, but, would go to see the zoo if there was one. keep up the good work and thanks for letting see pictures and videos etc, for free on your site. linda blackburn blair On September 13, 2008, JFG wrote: This woman is dangerous for our country. It sickens me to think that she may be a position of incredible power where she will do even more damage. We ALL must make sure this does not come to fruition. I started an animal rescue foundation and every time I think I?ve seen and heard it all I just shake my head with amazement. Her ?Right to Life? stance is such crap when she turns her back on the innocent lives of newborn pups. What a hypocrite. On September 14, 2008, Robert Campbell wrote: Palin Persecutes Polar Bears and More Wildlife ? (This should be widely circulated.) The Wikipedia says: ?On January 5, 2008, the New York Times published an op-ed by Palin, presenting her view that the polar bear should not be placed on the endangered species list. In May 2008, Palin objected to the decision of Dirk Kempthorne, the Republican United States Secretary of the Interior, to list polar bears federally as an endangered species, saying this move was premature and was not the appropriate management tool for their welfare; the State of Alaska filed a lawsuit to stop the listing amid fears that it would hurt oil and gas development in the bears? habitat off Alaska?s northern and northwestern coasts. Palin also disagrees with strengthening the protection status of the beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska, where oil and gas development has been proposed. In 2007, Palin supported the Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing Alaska state biologists to hunt wolves from helicopters as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose populations. The program was criticized by Defenders of Wildlife and predator control opponents, and prompted California State Representative George Miller to introduce a federal bill (H.R. 3663) seeking to make the practice illegal. In March 2008, a federal judge in Alaska upheld the practice of hunting wolves from the air, though limited its extent. On August 26, 2008, Alaskans voted against ending the state?s predator control program. Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), where such development has been the subject of a national debate.? On September 14, 2008, Rose wrote: On utube there are disturbing videos of aerial shooting of wolves. On September 14, 2008, Beth wrote: Let?s face it. Palin hates nature. She has tried, through her policy positions, to kill off wolves, whales, polar bears, and all types of wildlife in ANWR. She has also stated over and over that she does not believe that man is the cause of global warming. I guess she blames that on nature. So, you see, her logic is sound. Nature is the cause of global warming; therefore, we must kill nature. Then we will be saved from global warming. I wonder how her ?borm again? religious views play into this illogical mess. On September 14, 2008, delta wrote: i just my mail and i just can not belive what i just read this women is just insane to order the killing of those wolf pups or any other animal how can she help run this country when she acts so horrible to animals On September 14, 2008, Priscilla Feral wrote: 1,500 people rallied in Anchorage yesterday to oppose Sarah Palin?s nomination, and numbers included advocates for both bears and wolves. See the article in today?s Anchorage Daily News: http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/525510.html There?s also a front page article in Sunday?s New York Times, which includes an interview with Rick Steiner, a Univ. of Alaska professor, who has proof of Palin?s dishonest scheme which claimed scientists had found no ill effects of global warming on polar bears. Palin sued the federal government to block the endangered listing for polar bears. In truth, ?state scientists had agreed that bears were in danger, records showed.? And, as Bob Herbert quipped in his NY Times column today, ?She?s Not Ready,? ? ?For those who haven?t noticed, we?re electing a president and vice president, not selecting a winner on ?American Idol.? ? =============================================== Graphic photo of Palin with daughter and the caribou she slaughtered: http://animalsmatter.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/palin-supports-killing-of-wolves-and-other-animals/ From radred at ix.netcom.com Sun Sep 14 15:39:02 2008 From: radred at ix.netcom.com (Carol) Date: Sun Sep 14 15:39:14 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Rev. Frank Morales: 9/11 Memorial Speech Message-ID: <28057670.1221424742346.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Subject: 9/11 speech From: "Frank Morales" Date: Sun, September 14, 2008 12:56 pm To: jazzyday@earthlink.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9/11 Memorial Speech The Reverend Frank Morales Saint Mark?s Church, New York City September 11, 2008, 6pm Good evening everyone. I want to thank the Howl Festival and Saint Mark?s Church for inviting me here this evening. Today we memorialize all those who lost their lives on this day back in 2001. They went to work, never expecting the horror awaiting them, and we pray that all those we lost have found that peace which passes all understanding. I hope they have, because I haven?t. Standing on Delancey Street that morning I saw the planes hit, the ground shook and I knew that something very evil was taking place. I remember some days later walking among the dead at Ground Zero, everything pulverized into toxic dust, I?d been asked to offer prayers for the dead there and to be a support, as best I could, to the firemen and others working there to locate the living, to find their friends, a hopeless task as we would find out. It was indescribably horrible and yet somehow I felt, and still do, that the truth of that day is still smoldering there. And why do I say that? Because for months and months following the events of 9/11 there was no investigation of what occurred. Against the wishes of knowledgeable and responsible law enforcement, the crime scene was obliterated in a frenzy of clean up activities. The federal commission, underfunded and understaffed, resisted at every turn by the Bush administration, was according to its chairpersons "set up to fail." And it did, simply sanctioning the forgone conclusion that al Qaeda did it, which fit neatly into another forgone conclusion that an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was required, all on the drawing boards prior to the planes smashing into the Towers. Now, something that I have learned over the course of my adult life is that there is such a thing as evil in the world, a demonic reality that it is actualized and perpetuated by physical violence. And yet, evil can also be perpetuated by intellectual violence, in other words by deceit and deception, in other words, by lies. Lies are every bit as violent as physical violence, because like guns and bombs, they are used to violate a person, to violate a person's freedom, a nation's sovereignty. In America, the violence of lies is commonplace. In fact, lies are the single most prevalent form of violence we face on a day to day, moment to moment basis. Most especially on this day. For example, in yesterdays New York Times, the reporter Jim Dwyer, in a piece entitled "Missions of Hate and Love with 911 at the Center," makes the point, in his brief review of Ron Susskind's recent book entitled "The Way of the World," that a fake memo, linking al Qaeda with Iraq in the lead up to the war, was a forgery, that "CIA officials said that the agency had actually resisted pressure from the White House to show a link between Iraq and al Qaeda ." According to Dwyer, and I quote, "someone invented the document or perhaps simply planted a story about it in an attempt to frame Iraq for the 911 attacks and somehow justify the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and some 4,000 Americans in the United States military." I ask you, if they lied about that, what else might they have lied about? For a few years following 9/11, like a lot of us, I found myself unable to keep up with the flurry of war machine enactments and domestic curtailment of our liberties and our desires for peace. Seemed like every day Bush was pushing some new and more outlandish overstepping of his authority, a rampaging unprecedented (extra-legal) executive power, all in the fog and pathos of 9/11. Obviously aiming to force the war agenda, which is making us more enemies, the Bush junta stripped us of our right to habeas corpus, (prevents being snatched off the street and thrown into a dungeon.) It rationalized and administers torture abroad, all the while setting up for martial law on the home-front, ripping off, degrading and murdering poor black and white flood victims in the City of New Orleans, denying basic health care to millons and so on, while dropping a cool $600 billion a year on war making and their insane global domination project, a hyper-imperialism in its death throes, which will kill us all if we don?t stop it. All justified time and again, sisters and brothers, in an infinity of somber sound-bites, by the "events of 9/11." Suddenly I was coming out of a kind of daze. Slowly I realized that the so-called war on terror is a war directed against the American people. In fact, it's hard to know if there are many terrorists out there, other than the ones on the CIA payroll, like bin Laden was for years, whose family, close to the Bushes, was VIPed out of the country days after 9/11 when the friendly skies were closed to you and me. Seizing upon our inability to resist the draconian measures to come, the Bush regime signed law after law, edict after edict, shredding the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and in the case of torture, the tenets of our shared religious and humanitarian values. Indeed, "the events of 9/11" inaugurated a flood of measures and violent behaviors antithetical to life itself. What had happened? How'd we allow it? We'd been traumatized, shocked and awed by the most spectacular psychological operation ever mounted in behalf of the machinations of acquisitiveness and greed. We were taken advantage of. Our fears were exploited, we allowed for open lawlessness by those appointed and expected to follow it. We were told to give up our liberties in exchange for some kind of so-called homeland security. NSA spying, wiretapping and data-mining of our personal and private lives, we sat stunned, suffocated in lies, WMD scares and fraud, masking as justifications to invade, occupy, brutalize and murder innocent people. The fear of death keeps people orderly and submissive. Meanwhile, the America which much off the world hates, was openly manifesting its destiny as naked imperialism, which like in the days of Rome, in the days of Jesus, was built on lies and force. 9/11 was their Pearl Harbor. It allowed for all of this militarism both here and there. It was the lynchpin. Subsequently, I read Christian theologian Dr. David Ray Griffin?s book "The New Pearl Harbor," a work that deconstructed the lies of the official story of 9/11. I was familiar with his earlier work in theology, set forth in some 30 books. Like a bolt of lightning, a shock of truth blasted me into yet another level of awareness, an awareness that quite possibly the so called "events of 9/11" might in reality be totally different that we?ve been led to believe. That the events of 9/11 were aided, abetted and acquiesced to by elements within our own government. Ignoring dozens of explicit warnings of imminent hijackings and in some cases even ones which targeted the Pentagon and the WTC, it is not enough to say they simply looked away. They failed to apprehend guys they were tracking, guys later tied to the hijackings who were training and residing in military facilities. Newsweek reported that 5 of the purported hijackers were actually trained at secure military installations. Later, under FBI surveillance, they suppressed their own who were blowing the whistle on the whole thing, a hands off policy when it came to bin Laden's people, calling off terrorist investigations when they got too close to the plot, agents and officials of the FBI, CIA and Pentagon told to stand down when they got too close, a Pentagon which failed to raise a single jet in defense of the defenseless the whole time, failing to defend the most well defended building on the world, with 40 minutes of advance warning, and then trying to sell the notion that three steel framed buildings would collapse at free fall speed, pulverize to dust, as a result of jet fuel, which had mostly burnt off by the time the buildings came down, all the while scores of firemen were according to New York Times' reports later released under legal pressure, delineating in testimony after testimony that they heard numerous explosions immediately prior to the building coming down, massive explosions in the basements prior to the planes hitting, which destroyed the lobby, surprising the oncoming heroic firemen, while daddy Bush Sr. sat in the White House that morning and later met with the Carlyle Group, a militarist investment outfit, with members of the bin Laden family present, with whom they?re close, a family that had previously received over $300 million dollars to construct military training facilities throughout Afghanistan in preparation for the impending US invasion, to secure the oil pipeline that UNICOL and others were negotiating prior to the planes smashing onto the buildings. The questions, anomalies and improbabilities surrounding the events of 9/11 and the government's story of 9/11 boggle the mind, beg the question of what have we done with our rational capabilities, our instinct for the truth. The Jersey girls and other family members raised these and hundreds of other questions only to have the great majority of them dismissed as they waited patiently outside the hearing rooms, closed to them and us, waiting for justice to be done. They are waiting still! Sure, like you, I reeled at the thought, the audacity of the thought, the notion that 911 was a false flag attack, a attack perpetrated by those who had the ability to cover it up and point the finger at someone else. Of course, like you I resisted the thought that they would kill their our own. Then I thought again of New Orleans. I thought about the lack of body armor for our own soldiers, the disdain for the wounded returning home, warehoused in dysfunctional VA hospitals, the obscene disdain for the health needs of "hero" first responders, still choking and dying from the dust filled with who knows what, including documented traces of thermite, a military grade explosive thought to be central to the demolition of the buildings themselves. Then it all made sense ... It was an inside job ? or at least the possibility needed to be explored as a hypothesis. It was, as a theory, at least as convincing, if not more so, than to suggest that 19 guys with box-cutters outwitted the most sophisticated defense and intelligence apparatus in the history of the planet. That?s the outrageous conspiracy theory! The excuse of massive and coordinated incompetence, the reason put forth by the government, simply wasn?t cutting it! No heads rolled, no one held to account, we were too busy marching off to war in the interests of the oil companies, banks and power hungry politicians. Recall if you will, as Mr. Bush ascended the stairs to his throne, during the last inauguration, the last ripped off election, he declared to "beware of outrageous conspiracy theories." I agree, particularly the government's official story of 9/11. Scorned at first as everything from traitors to being insensitive to the spirits of the victims and so on, I?ve grown along with the growing polls of Americans who no longer buy the lie, buy the war making, buy the repression of our freedoms, buy the myth of 9/11. We've grown weary of the killing in our name. No mas! Post 9/11 novels, post 9/11 mindset, post 9/11 culture. How bout some post 9/11 truth! Might just set us free. And yet, why is it taking so long? Why is it that I and thousands of other members of the 9/11 Truth Movement have been ridiculed, ostracized and worse, made to feel that what we are doing in raising these questions and demanding a genuine investigation is somehow disrespectful of the dead. I say that the dead cry out for justice and truth, not the mindless self-serving revenge sought by the likes of Bush/McCain and the other stooges of the oiligarchy. What keeps people from looking at and recognizing that something is not right with the picture of 9/11? Today is a religious holiday of sorts, is it not, with death, remembrance and faith invoked, relived. And while it is important to remain sensitive to the feelings of those who lost loved ones on that day, I ask: how best to we honor the dead than by getting to the bottom of how they died? I mention faith because today is also a day that tests our faith, and more importantly I feel, sheds light on a faith that is blind. For it is the blind faith in our leaders and those in authority who lie to us that is the biggest obstacle to seeing the truth of 9/11. As Dr. Griffin points out, we have been socialized to never publicly contradict our nationalist faith, the belief in a virtuous America, an America that is essentially good, and would never condone the slaughter of its own. Our faith in American goodness is a religious fraud - and yet, as a nationalist faith, a blind patriotism, it which trumps our rational capabilities and blinds us to the truth of 9/11 - disallows even examining the evidence which contradicts the governments version of things. In fact, the blinding power of this dominant American faith argues that there could not possibly be any evidence for administration complicity in the crime. In other words, the evidence for government complicity for 9/11 is ruled out a priori, before it's examined, and done so as an article of faith, where questioning the official story is off the table. Well, for millions of people like me it's not off the table. Growing amidst the lie of 9/11 is a truth movement which simply asks us to examine the facts, investigate the leads, and draw the inevitable conclusions as discomforting and unsettling as they might be. Maybe, just maybe we've targeted the wrong people. They've lied before. Maybe just maybe they have done so in the case of 9/11. I submit to you, in humility, but without fear, that they lied to you. All those who went to work that day, and all those who've died and suffered as a consequence of the corporate militarist agenda are owed something. We owe them the truth. We owe it to the sick first responders. We owe to ourselves and our children. We cannot let the lie of 9/11 stand. That is to disrespect the memory of those who died. To be or not to be, that ain't the question. The question is, how to be, how to be human. It may require revolution to be human. (Are we allowed to speak about revolution here?) Certainly, this is a Christian church, isn?t it? Where is our loyalty, what is the nature of our true faith? Is it a blindly obedient faith in government, or nation, whose leaders misuse and abuse their ill begotten and fraudulent authority, or is it a faith that illuminates the truth, and is willing to die for it. Look around you, blind faith and delusional pseudo-patriotism produces a citizenry with eyes wide shut. Let us resolve to celebrate the dead by bringing truth and justice in regards to the crime of 9/11. That is why I have joined with others in demanding a new investigation of 9/11. In fact, we have, with the support of places like Saint Mark?s, garnered some 30,000 signatures of New York City residents towards the creation of a new, independent and genuine investigation of 9/11. You can learn more about this historic and unprecedented effort by speaking with some of my associates present with us today. Folks, we need to get past the idea that research and searching for the truth of that day is a leftist thing, or a rightist thing, or a looney thing done by obsessed conspiracy theorists. This is a bill of goods sold to you by those who wish to perpetuate the lie of 9/11, the lie that launched an immoral war, the lie that targets Islam and Muslim people, the lie that allows for further and further erosion of our democracy, the lie that countenances the bombing of children and the torture of the innocent. This must stop. For me, there is no more important campaign than getting to the truth of 9/11, for it is that truth which I believe will inaugurate the real change that we are seeking, a world of peace, of justice, of love of neighbor. To do so we must confront the evil within ourselves, within our own government, within our own misplaced faith, and we must do so before it?s too late. Let us resolve from this moment on to resist those who would have us look the other way. Face the facts, our nation is in peril, 9/11 was an inside job. Therefore our mission is to continue to speak truth to power and bring about a real investigation of the crimes of 9/11 and thereby memorialize, in the proper way, the lives and hopes of all who died. Thank you. (Frank Morales is an Episcopal priest, a squatter and author of Police State America [Arm the Spirit, 2003] and a participant in the New York City Ballot Initiative Campaign, nyc911initiative.org) From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Sep 14 19:06:37 2008 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sun Sep 14 19:32:54 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering References: <1221156262.48c95da6c75cc@legacywebmail.telus.net> <200809130042220234.007DDE4A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <011601c916ca$8f5fe0c0$3bad57ca@jfos> Exact same process has been - and continues to be - carried out across Australia, by the exact same class of treacherous 'people's representatives' (from the two dominant political parties and, in the case of the Liberal Party, their servile Country/National Party coalition stooges) and 'executive' public/civil servants'! John Foster Victoria Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Patterson" To: Cc: Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 3:42 AM Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering Dear CAP et al, I have just rewritten an earlier piece I did on the Cdn money supply situation - I think this one is considerably stronger. I have put the summary I include here into PDF form, attached, and feel free to copy and distribute as campaign stuff if you think it useful - you are free to 'reverse engineer' it if you have computer people who can put the PDF into some other form (the original is in Pagemaker, and I would be happy to send anyone the PM file to work with) to which you can add a bit of local promo info or whatever, just please be sure to leave my name and the website reference intact. Dave Patterson *********************** Banketeering by Dave Patterson (a summary of a longer essay, in full here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html ) The Canadian banks, in collusion with the most senior levels of your government, have engineered one of the greatest frauds in Canadian history over the last 30 years, and stolen over two trillion dollars from Canadian taxpayers, and the tap is still running. Private banks create almost all of the Canadian money supply through made-from-thin-air 'loans' deposited in the loanee's bank account. And that's a lot of money - currently close to three trillion dollars a year in Canada. And banks collect interest on money they create - and that is a hell of a lot of interest for the privilege of creating money out of thin air. To add perspective, the Canadian government, through the Bank of Canada, creates about $50 billion per year (banknotes and coins), about 2% of the Canadian money supply. Constitutionally (BNA Act, Bank of Canada Act) the government could and should be creating much more, if not all, of the money supply. (Contrary to the mythology spread around by the banks and their servants, this would not be inflationary, but would actually be much less inflationary, and lead to a much more stable economy overall). Letting banks create our money supply is bad for many reasons (bad for us, that is to say, obviously pretty good for them): - huge windfall profits to a small privileged group of private citizens (bank owners/'investors'), paid for by all other citizens both directly and through taxes to pay for interest on unnecessary government borrowing, which is very unfair to most Canadians who must actually work for their money - a country that does not control its own money can hardly be called sovereign - very important financial policies carried out without the knowledge or approval of the people, and thus highly undemocratic - systematic, serious inflation because we must pay interest every year on our money supply leading to reduced living standards for most, as costs always rise faster than incomes - ongoing bank bailouts as the banks abuse their money-creation powers, leading to bubbles and crashes from which they must be rescued with yet more taxpayer dollars, creating a very unstable economy and also making the inflation mentioned in the last point much more serious - the slow but inevitable turning over of all of the country's assets to those creating the money through their collection of collateral and as governments scramble to sell things, usually at well-below-market value, to get money to pay their debts and interest, as we have been seeing with the selloff of public infrastructure to private interests the last 30 years - and the $2 trillion theft mentioned in the title - the infamous Canadian national debt resulted from a major financial policy change in the 1970s which allowed banks to create virtually all of our money, including for the government to borrow, through which, over the last 30 years, over two trillion dollars of Canadian taxes have been funneled to those banks and other 'investors' as 'service charges' on the debt, all of it completely unnecessary, as the government could have created enough money itself (~$100 billion) through the Bank of Canada, either at zero or nominal interest, to avoid incurring any private bank debt at all (the two trillion includes interest paid on provincial and municipal debt, which could and should also be funded by the Bank of Canada at no or nominal interest). Because of this 'terrible crushing burden' the national government, beginning with Mulroney/Wilson and then put on steroids by the tagteam of Chretien/Martin, claimed the necessity of gutting our social programs, etc, thus the current healthcare crisis, crumbling infrastructure, selloff of public assets, etc. You can believe the involved government officials incurred this debt out of stupidity, or they were well-meaning officials who simply made poor decisions, but most non-naive people would be more inclined to say that the financially smartest people in our governments and banks knew and know very well what they do, and were doing, and thus the title of this piece - the intentional changing of a central government financial policy that led to this huge turning over of money to banks and other investors, when a much more fiscally responsible policy had been used in the past and was/is still available, and with which this debt would not have been incurred, thus the two trillion would not have been paid. Fraud - using some type of 'creative accounting' you have available to you because you have a fiduciary responsibility to someone, then betraying that trust to funnel money from its proper owners to some other entity. Criminal fraud. Massive criminal fraud. It's a hard thing to accept of our leaders, but no other explanation fits the facts once you understand the situation. Banketeering by Dave Patterson - Read the full story here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.21/1670 - Release Date: 13/09/2008 12:50 PM From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sun Sep 14 22:13:31 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun Sep 14 22:13:45 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering In-Reply-To: <011601c916ca$8f5fe0c0$3bad57ca@jfos> References: <1221156262.48c95da6c75cc@legacywebmail.telus.net> <200809130042220234.007DDE4A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <011601c916ca$8f5fe0c0$3bad57ca@jfos> Message-ID: <20080915031332.8A6ECF43A@fep05.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> This is only one of the continuous stream of illustrations that representative government is not democracy. Democracy is rule by the people - that's what the word actually means even though it was cobbled together as a ruling class con against an ancient Greek community, and referenda are the only way I can envisage that the people can speak for themselves, just as politicians and public "service" mandarins speak only for THEMselves and their sponsors. Representative government works for the people only for historically brief instants before return to business as usual. In Western Australia a recent State election has delivered a hung parliament, and the Country Party (self-styled as the "National" party), with a tiny fraction of the public vote, has been blackmailing the worst and second-worst major political parties for a huge pork-barrelling handout to the squattocracy plus juicy Cabinet seats in return for its pollies supporting a minority government. We learned last night that the worst has defeated the second-worst in a bidding war behind closed doors. As the little old lady in New York said: "Vote? I never vote. It only encourages them" Dion Giles Western Australia At 08:06 AM 15/09/2008, John wrote: >Exact same process has been - and continues to be - carried out >across Australia, by the exact same class of treacherous 'people's >representatives' (from the two dominant political parties and, in >the case of the Liberal Party, their servile Country/National Party >coalition stooges) and 'executive' public/civil servants'! > >John Foster >Victoria Australia > > >----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Patterson" >To: >Cc: >Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 3:42 AM >Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering > > >Dear CAP et al, >I have just rewritten an earlier piece I did on the Cdn money supply >situation - I think this one is considerably stronger. I have put >the summary I include here into PDF form, attached, and feel free to >copy and distribute as campaign stuff if you think it useful - you >are free to 'reverse engineer' it if you have computer people who >can put the PDF into some other form (the original is in Pagemaker, >and I would be happy to send anyone the PM file to work with) to >which you can add a bit of local promo info or whatever, just please >be sure to leave my name and the website reference intact. >Dave Patterson > >*********************** > >Banketeering >by Dave Patterson >(a summary of a longer essay, in full here - >http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html ) > >The Canadian banks, in collusion with the most senior levels of your >government, have engineered one of the greatest frauds in Canadian >history over the last 30 years, and stolen over two trillion dollars >from Canadian taxpayers, and the tap is still running. > >Private banks create almost all of the Canadian money supply through >made-from-thin-air 'loans' deposited in the loanee's bank account. >And that's a lot of money - currently close to three trillion >dollars a year in Canada. And banks collect interest on money they >create - and that is a hell of a lot of interest for the privilege >of creating money out of thin air. To add perspective, the Canadian >government, through the Bank of Canada, creates about $50 billion >per year (banknotes and coins), about 2% of the Canadian money >supply. Constitutionally (BNA Act, Bank of Canada Act) the >government could and should be creating much more, if not all, of >the money supply. (Contrary to the mythology spread around by the >banks and their servants, this would not be inflationary, but would >actually be much less inflationary, and lead to a much more stable >economy overall). > >Letting banks create our money supply is bad for many reasons (bad >for us, that is to say, obviously pretty good for them): >- huge windfall profits to a small privileged group of private >citizens (bank owners/'investors'), paid for by all other citizens >both directly and through taxes to pay for interest on unnecessary >government borrowing, which is very unfair to most Canadians who >must actually work for their money >- a country that does not control its own money can hardly be called sovereign >- very important financial policies carried out without the >knowledge or approval of the people, and thus highly undemocratic >- systematic, serious inflation because we must pay interest every >year on our money supply leading to reduced living standards for >most, as costs always rise faster than incomes >- ongoing bank bailouts as the banks abuse their money-creation >powers, leading to bubbles and crashes from which they must be >rescued with yet more taxpayer dollars, creating a very unstable >economy and also making the inflation mentioned in the last point >much more serious >- the slow but inevitable turning over of all of the country's >assets to those creating the money through their collection of >collateral and as governments scramble to sell things, usually at >well-below-market value, to get money to pay their debts and >interest, as we have been seeing with the selloff of public >infrastructure to private interests the last 30 years >- and the $2 trillion theft mentioned in the title - the infamous >Canadian national debt resulted from a major financial policy change >in the 1970s which allowed banks to create virtually all of our >money, including for the government to borrow, through which, over >the last 30 years, over two trillion dollars of Canadian taxes have >been funneled to those banks and other 'investors' as 'service >charges' on the debt, all of it completely unnecessary, as the >government could have created enough money itself (~$100 billion) >through the Bank of Canada, either at zero or nominal interest, to >avoid incurring any private bank debt at all (the two trillion >includes interest paid on provincial and municipal debt, which could >and should also be funded by the Bank of Canada at no or nominal interest). >Because of this 'terrible crushing burden' the national government, >beginning with Mulroney/Wilson and then put on steroids by the >tagteam of Chretien/Martin, claimed the necessity of gutting our >social programs, etc, thus the current healthcare crisis, crumbling >infrastructure, selloff of public assets, etc. You can believe the >involved government officials incurred this debt out of stupidity, >or they were well-meaning officials who simply made poor decisions, >but most non-naive people would be more inclined to say that the >financially smartest people in our governments and banks knew and >know very well what they do, and were doing, and thus the title of >this piece - the intentional changing of a central government >financial policy that led to this huge turning over of money to >banks and other investors, when a much more fiscally responsible >policy had been used in the past and was/is still available, and >with which this debt would not have been incurred, thus the two >trillion would not have been paid. Fraud - using some type of >'creative accounting' you have available to you because you have a >fiduciary responsibility to someone, then betraying that trust to >funnel money from its proper owners to some other entity. Criminal >fraud. Massive criminal fraud. It's a hard thing to accept of our >leaders, but no other explanation fits the facts once you understand >the situation. > >Banketeering by Dave Patterson - Read the full story here - >http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html > > > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.21/1670 - Release Date: >13/09/2008 12:50 PM > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sun Sep 14 22:27:44 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun Sep 14 22:27:58 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Prescient Campaign Button? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080915032745.A2537F1CA@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> At 08:15 PM 14/09/2008, Chris wrote: >Campaign Button: " McCAIN PALIN'08 " > >Well yes, given his age, he may actually pale this year... > >One of the StopMAI WA members ia a medico, and he remarked at a >recent meeting that McCain's body language and speech already >rewsembles the onset of Alzheimers. He wouldn't last the distance >and the Americans would have Palin. But then - McCain Obama Palin >Biden -- same old same old. Murderous warmongers with a supreme - >and supremely misplaced - sense of national entitlement. Al least >three of them haven't actually committed murder by their own hands >(setting aside the slaughter of the wildlife in Alaska from a >private helicopter gunship) Dion Giles Western Australia >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword >"igve". > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From duanebehrens at cox.net Mon Sep 15 00:22:01 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Mon Sep 15 00:22:18 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Rev. Frank Morales: 9/11 Memorial Speech In-Reply-To: <28057670.1221424742346.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <20080915012201.U8ZKB.148700.imail@fed1rmwml42> Thanks, Carol. I'm passing that one around. Best, Duane ---- Carol wrote: ============= Subject: 9/11 speech From: "Frank Morales" Date: Sun, September 14, 2008 12:56 pm To: jazzyday@earthlink.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9/11 Memorial Speech The Reverend Frank Morales Saint Mark?s Church, New York City September 11, 2008, 6pm Good evening everyone. I want to thank the Howl Festival and Saint Mark?s Church for inviting me here this evening. Today we memorialize all those who lost their lives on this day back in 2001. They went to work, never expecting the horror awaiting them, and we pray that all those we lost have found that peace which passes all understanding. I hope they have, because I haven?t. Standing on Delancey Street that morning I saw the planes hit, the ground shook and I knew that something very evil was taking place. I remember some days later walking among the dead at Ground Zero, everything pulverized into toxic dust, I?d been asked to offer prayers for the dead there and to be a support, as best I could, to the firemen and others working there to locate the living, to find their friends, a hopeless task as we would find out. It was indescribably horrible and yet somehow I felt, and still do, that the truth of that day is still smoldering there. And why do I say that? Because for months and months following the events of 9/11 there was no investigation of what occurred. Against the wishes of knowledgeable and responsible law enforcement, the crime scene was obliterated in a frenzy of clean up activities. The federal commission, underfunded and understaffed, resisted at every turn by the Bush administration, was according to its chairpersons "set up to fail." And it did, simply sanctioning the forgone conclusion that al Qaeda did it, which fit neatly into another forgone conclusion that an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was required, all on the drawing boards prior to the planes smashing into the Towers. Now, something that I have learned over the course of my adult life is that there is such a thing as evil in the world, a demonic reality that it is actualized and perpetuated by physical violence. And yet, evil can also be perpetuated by intellectual violence, in other words by deceit and deception, in other words, by lies. Lies are every bit as violent as physical violence, because like guns and bombs, they are used to violate a person, to violate a person's freedom, a nation's sovereignty. In America, the violence of lies is commonplace. In fact, lies are the single most prevalent form of violence we face on a day to day, moment to moment basis. Most especially on this day. For example, in yesterdays New York Times, the reporter Jim Dwyer, in a piece entitled "Missions of Hate and Love with 911 at the Center," makes the point, in his brief review of Ron Susskind's recent book entitled "The Way of the World," that a fake memo, linking al Qaeda with Iraq in the lead up to the war, was a forgery, that "CIA officials said that the agency had actually resisted pressure from the White House to show a link between Iraq and al Qaeda ." According to Dwyer, and I quote, "someone invented the document or perhaps simply planted a story about it in an attempt to frame Iraq for the 911 attacks and somehow justify the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and some 4,000 Americans in the United States military." I ask you, if they lied about that, what else might they have lied about? For a few years following 9/11, like a lot of us, I found myself unable to keep up with the flurry of war machine enactments and domestic curtailment of our liberties and our desires for peace. Seemed like every day Bush was pushing some new and more outlandish overstepping of his authority, a rampaging unprecedented (extra-legal) executive power, all in the fog and pathos of 9/11. Obviously aiming to force the war agenda, which is making us more enemies, the Bush junta stripped us of our right to habeas corpus, (prevents being snatched off the street and thrown into a dungeon.) It rationalized and administers torture abroad, all the while setting up for martial law on the home-front, ripping off, degrading and murdering poor black and white flood victims in the City of New Orleans, denying basic health care to millons and so on, while dropping a cool $600 billion a year on war making and their insane global domination project, a hyper-imperialism in its death throes, which will kill us all if we don?t stop it. All justified time and again, sisters and brothers, in an infinity of somber sound-bites, by the "events of 9/11." Suddenly I was coming out of a kind of daze. Slowly I realized that the so-called war on terror is a war directed against the American people. In fact, it's hard to know if there are many terrorists out there, other than the ones on the CIA payroll, like bin Laden was for years, whose family, close to the Bushes, was VIPed out of the country days after 9/11 when the friendly skies were closed to you and me. Seizing upon our inability to resist the draconian measures to come, the Bush regime signed law after law, edict after edict, shredding the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and in the case of torture, the tenets of our shared religious and humanitarian values. Indeed, "the events of 9/11" inaugurated a flood of measures and violent behaviors antithetical to life itself. What had happened? How'd we allow it? We'd been traumatized, shocked and awed by the most spectacular psychological operation ever mounted in behalf of the machinations of acquisitiveness and greed. We were taken advantage of. Our fears were exploited, we allowed for open lawlessness by those appointed and expected to follow it. We were told to give up our liberties in exchange for some kind of so-called homeland security. NSA spying, wiretapping and data-mining of our personal and private lives, we sat stunned, suffocated in lies, WMD scares and fraud, masking as justifications to invade, occupy, brutalize and murder innocent people. The fear of death keeps people orderly and submissive. Meanwhile, the America which much off the world hates, was openly manifesting its destiny as naked imperialism, which like in the days of Rome, in the days of Jesus, was built on lies and force. 9/11 was their Pearl Harbor. It allowed for all of this militarism both here and there. It was the lynchpin. Subsequently, I read Christian theologian Dr. David Ray Griffin?s book "The New Pearl Harbor," a work that deconstructed the lies of the official story of 9/11. I was familiar with his earlier work in theology, set forth in some 30 books. Like a bolt of lightning, a shock of truth blasted me into yet another level of awareness, an awareness that quite possibly the so called "events of 9/11" might in reality be totally different that we?ve been led to believe. That the events of 9/11 were aided, abetted and acquiesced to by elements within our own government. Ignoring dozens of explicit warnings of imminent hijackings and in some cases even ones which targeted the Pentagon and the WTC, it is not enough to say they simply looked away. They failed to apprehend guys they were tracking, guys later tied to the hijackings who were training and residing in military facilities. Newsweek reported that 5 of the purported hijackers were actually trained at secure military installations. Later, under FBI surveillance, they suppressed their own who were blowing the whistle on the whole thing, a hands off policy when it came to bin Laden's people, calling off terrorist investigations when they got too close to the plot, agents and officials of the FBI, CIA and Pentagon told to stand down when they got too close, a Pentagon which failed to raise a single jet in defense of the defenseless the whole time, failing to defend the most well defended building on the world, with 40 minutes of advance warning, and then trying to sell the notion that three steel framed buildings would collapse at free fall speed, pulverize to dust, as a result of jet fuel, which had mostly burnt off by the time the buildings came down, all the while scores of firemen were according to New York Times' reports later released under legal pressure, delineating in testimony after testimony that they heard numerous explosions immediately prior to the building coming down, massive explosions in the basements prior to the planes hitting, which destroyed the lobby, surprising the oncoming heroic firemen, while daddy Bush Sr. sat in the White House that morning and later met with the Carlyle Group, a militarist investment outfit, with members of the bin Laden family present, with whom they?re close, a family that had previously received over $300 million dollars to construct military training facilities throughout Afghanistan in preparation for the impending US invasion, to secure the oil pipeline that UNICOL and others were negotiating prior to the planes smashing onto the buildings. The questions, anomalies and improbabilities surrounding the events of 9/11 and the government's story of 9/11 boggle the mind, beg the question of what have we done with our rational capabilities, our instinct for the truth. The Jersey girls and other family members raised these and hundreds of other questions only to have the great majority of them dismissed as they waited patiently outside the hearing rooms, closed to them and us, waiting for justice to be done. They are waiting still! Sure, like you, I reeled at the thought, the audacity of the thought, the notion that 911 was a false flag attack, a attack perpetrated by those who had the ability to cover it up and point the finger at someone else. Of course, like you I resisted the thought that they would kill their our own. Then I thought again of New Orleans. I thought about the lack of body armor for our own soldiers, the disdain for the wounded returning home, warehoused in dysfunctional VA hospitals, the obscene disdain for the health needs of "hero" first responders, still choking and dying from the dust filled with who knows what, including documented traces of thermite, a military grade explosive thought to be central to the demolition of the buildings themselves. Then it all made sense ... It was an inside job ? or at least the possibility needed to be explored as a hypothesis. It was, as a theory, at least as convincing, if not more so, than to suggest that 19 guys with box-cutters outwitted the most sophisticated defense and intelligence apparatus in the history of the planet. That?s the outrageous conspiracy theory! The excuse of massive and coordinated incompetence, the reason put forth by the government, simply wasn?t cutting it! No heads rolled, no one held to account, we were too busy marching off to war in the interests of the oil companies, banks and power hungry politicians. Recall if you will, as Mr. Bush ascended the stairs to his throne, during the last inauguration, the last ripped off election, he declared to "beware of outrageous conspiracy theories." I agree, particularly the government's official story of 9/11. Scorned at first as everything from traitors to being insensitive to the spirits of the victims and so on, I?ve grown along with the growing polls of Americans who no longer buy the lie, buy the war making, buy the repression of our freedoms, buy the myth of 9/11. We've grown weary of the killing in our name. No mas! Post 9/11 novels, post 9/11 mindset, post 9/11 culture. How bout some post 9/11 truth! Might just set us free. And yet, why is it taking so long? Why is it that I and thousands of other members of the 9/11 Truth Movement have been ridiculed, ostracized and worse, made to feel that what we are doing in raising these questions and demanding a genuine investigation is somehow disrespectful of the dead. I say that the dead cry out for justice and truth, not the mindless self-serving revenge sought by the likes of Bush/McCain and the other stooges of the oiligarchy. What keeps people from looking at and recognizing that something is not right with the picture of 9/11? Today is a religious holiday of sorts, is it not, with death, remembrance and faith invoked, relived. And while it is important to remain sensitive to the feelings of those who lost loved ones on that day, I ask: how best to we honor the dead than by getting to the bottom of how they died? I mention faith because today is also a day that tests our faith, and more importantly I feel, sheds light on a faith that is blind. For it is the blind faith in our leaders and those in authority who lie to us that is the biggest obstacle to seeing the truth of 9/11. As Dr. Griffin points out, we have been socialized to never publicly contradict our nationalist faith, the belief in a virtuous America, an America that is essentially good, and would never condone the slaughter of its own. Our faith in American goodness is a religious fraud - and yet, as a nationalist faith, a blind patriotism, it which trumps our rational capabilities and blinds us to the truth of 9/11 - disallows even examining the evidence which contradicts the governments version of things. In fact, the blinding power of this dominant American faith argues that there could not possibly be any evidence for administration complicity in the crime. In other words, the evidence for government complicity for 9/11 is ruled out a priori, before it's examined, and done so as an article of faith, where questioning the official story is off the table. Well, for millions of people like me it's not off the table. Growing amidst the lie of 9/11 is a truth movement which simply asks us to examine the facts, investigate the leads, and draw the inevitable conclusions as discomforting and unsettling as they might be. Maybe, just maybe we've targeted the wrong people. They've lied before. Maybe just maybe they have done so in the case of 9/11. I submit to you, in humility, but without fear, that they lied to you. All those who went to work that day, and all those who've died and suffered as a consequence of the corporate militarist agenda are owed something. We owe them the truth. We owe it to the sick first responders. We owe to ourselves and our children. We cannot let the lie of 9/11 stand. That is to disrespect the memory of those who died. To be or not to be, that ain't the question. The question is, how to be, how to be human. It may require revolution to be human. (Are we allowed to speak about revolution here?) Certainly, this is a Christian church, isn?t it? Where is our loyalty, what is the nature of our true faith? Is it a blindly obedient faith in government, or nation, whose leaders misuse and abuse their ill begotten and fraudulent authority, or is it a faith that illuminates the truth, and is willing to die for it. Look around you, blind faith and delusional pseudo-patriotism produces a citizenry with eyes wide shut. Let us resolve to celebrate the dead by bringing truth and justice in regards to the crime of 9/11. That is why I have joined with others in demanding a new investigation of 9/11. In fact, we have, with the support of places like Saint Mark?s, garnered some 30,000 signatures of New York City residents towards the creation of a new, independent and genuine investigation of 9/11. You can learn more about this historic and unprecedented effort by speaking with some of my associates present with us today. Folks, we need to get past the idea that research and searching for the truth of that day is a leftist thing, or a rightist thing, or a looney thing done by obsessed conspiracy theorists. This is a bill of goods sold to you by those who wish to perpetuate the lie of 9/11, the lie that launched an immoral war, the lie that targets Islam and Muslim people, the lie that allows for further and further erosion of our democracy, the lie that countenances the bombing of children and the torture of the innocent. This must stop. For me, there is no more important campaign than getting to the truth of 9/11, for it is that truth which I believe will inaugurate the real change that we are seeking, a world of peace, of justice, of love of neighbor. To do so we must confront the evil within ourselves, within our own government, within our own misplaced faith, and we must do so before it?s too late. Let us resolve from this moment on to resist those who would have us look the other way. Face the facts, our nation is in peril, 9/11 was an inside job. Therefore our mission is to continue to speak truth to power and bring about a real investigation of the crimes of 9/11 and thereby memorialize, in the proper way, the lives and hopes of all who died. Thank you. (Frank Morales is an Episcopal priest, a squatter and author of Police State America [Arm the Spirit, 2003] and a participant in the New York City Ballot Initiative Campaign, nyc911initiative.org) _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -- "They're gonna make it look like suicide, I know how these bastards think..." Hunter S. Thompson From siamdave at yahoo.ca Mon Sep 15 00:31:07 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Mon Sep 15 00:31:29 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] banketeering References: <1221156262.48c95da6c75cc@legacywebmail.telus.net> <200809130042220234.007DDE4A@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <200809151231070328.00890DF0@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Dear CAP et al, I have just rewritten an earlier piece I did on the Cdn money supply situation - I think this one is considerably stronger. I have put the summary I include here into PDF form which can be downloaded from the link to the full essay, and feel free to copy and distribute as campaign stuff if you think it useful - you are free to 'reverse engineer' it if you have computer people who can put the PDF into some other form (the original is in Pagemaker, and I would be happy to send anyone the PM file to work with) to which you can add a bit of local promo info or whatever, just please be sure to leave my name and the website reference intact. Dave Patterson *********************** Banketeering by Dave Patterson (a summary of a longer essay, in full here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html ) The Canadian banks, in collusion with the most senior levels of your government, have engineered one of the greatest frauds in Canadian history over the last 30 years, and stolen over two trillion dollars from Canadian taxpayers, and the tap is still running. Private banks create almost all of the Canadian money supply through made-from-thin-air ‘loans’ deposited in the loanee’s bank account. And that’s a lot of money - currently close to three trillion dollars a year in Canada. And banks collect interest on money they create - and that is a hell of a lot of interest for the privilege of creating money out of thin air. To add perspective, the Canadian government, through the Bank of Canada, creates about $50 billion per year (banknotes and coins), about 2% of the Canadian money supply. Constitutionally (BNA Act, Bank of Canada Act) the government could and should be creating much more, if not all, of the money supply. (Contrary to the mythology spread around by the banks and their servants, this would not be inflationary, but would actually be much less inflationary, and lead to a much more stable economy overall). Letting banks create our money supply is bad for many reasons (bad for us, that is to say, obviously pretty good for them): — huge windfall profits to a small privileged group of private citizens (bank owners/’investors’), paid for by all other citizens both directly and through taxes to pay for interest on unnecessary government borrowing, which is very unfair to most Canadians who must actually work for their money — a country that does not control its own money can hardly be called sovereign — very important financial policies carried out without the knowledge or approval of the people, and thus highly undemocratic — systematic, serious inflation because we must pay interest every year on our money supply leading to reduced living standards for most, as costs always rise faster than incomes — ongoing bank bailouts as the banks abuse their money-creation powers, leading to bubbles and crashes from which they must be rescued with yet more taxpayer dollars, creating a very unstable economy and also making the inflation mentioned in the last point much more serious — the slow but inevitable turning over of all of the country’s assets to those creating the money through their collection of collateral and as governments scramble to sell things, usually at well-below-market value, to get money to pay their debts and interest, as we have been seeing with the selloff of public infrastructure to private interests the last 30 years — and the $2 trillion theft mentioned in the title - the infamous Canadian national debt resulted from a major financial policy change in the 1970s which allowed banks to create virtually all of our money, including for the government to borrow, through which, over the last 30 years, over two trillion dollars of Canadian taxes have been funneled to those banks and other ‘investors’ as ‘service charges’ on the debt, all of it completely unnecessary, as the government could have created enough money itself (~$100 billion) through the Bank of Canada, either at zero or nominal interest, to avoid incurring any private bank debt at all (the two trillion includes interest paid on provincial and municipal debt, which could and should also be funded by the Bank of Canada at no or nominal interest). Because of this ‘terrible crushing burden’ the national government, beginning with Mulroney/Wilson and then put on steroids by the tagteam of Chretien/Martin, claimed the necessity of gutting our social programs, etc, thus the current healthcare crisis, crumbling infrastructure, selloff of public assets, etc. You can believe the involved government officials incurred this debt out of stupidity, or they were well-meaning officials who simply made poor decisions, but most non-naive people would be more inclined to say that the financially smartest people in our governments and banks knew and know very well what they do, and were doing, and thus the title of this piece - the intentional changing of a central government financial policy that led to this huge turning over of money to banks and other investors, when a much more fiscally responsible policy had been used in the past and was/is still available, and with which this debt would not have been incurred, thus the two trillion would not have been paid. Fraud - using some type of ‘creative accounting’ you have available to you because you have a fiduciary responsibility to someone, then betraying that trust to funnel money from its proper owners to some other entity. Criminal fraud. Massive criminal fraud. It’s a hard thing to accept of our leaders, but no other explanation fits the facts once you understand the situation. Banketeering by Dave Patterson - Read the full story here - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/banketeering.html From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 15 11:54:31 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 15 11:55:03 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Greenpeace Acquittal A legal precedent? + Schumacher course on Earth Jurisprudence timely Message-ID: <48CE6917.2287.1380237C@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> [1] Greenpeace - Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law . The Independent Sept 11, 2008 The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than ?35,000 worth of damage to a coal- fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage. Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage - such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire. [2] Schumacher College A legal precedent? Schumacher College hosts the debate DID GREENPEACE?S RECENT ACQUITTAL SET A LEGAL PRECEDENT IN EARTH JURISPRUDENCE? Earth Jurisprudence: Making the law work for nature 22 - 26 September Schumacher College, at Dartington is welcoming five legal experts on the growing and topical legal specialism of Earth Jurisprudence or wild law, to consider how the legal system and other forms of governance may be harnessed to protect the natural world and to learn from real examples while exploring the philosophy and theory underpinning this exciting and evolving area of law. The course is timely, given events of the past week involving the court case between Greenpeace activists and energy giant E.ON. This strategic approach of presenting the public interest over economic matters leads us to consider other creative questions and wider goals. As a result of this ruling, environmental activism and the legal "rights" of the planet is likely to move higher up the UK?s political agenda. Do governing bodies around the world need to take another look at their energy plans and other economic strategies, and do they risk legal challenge by environmental activists? What are the potential political, environmental and social consequences of legal decisions? In what other areas are such issues of protection and governance meeting in this way? How can we expand such opportunities to incorporate other challenges in advocating for the rights of species and planet? ======================================== ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Schumacher College" Send reply to: "Schumacher College" To: jmeaton@ns,sympatico.ca Subject: A legal precedent? We host the debate Date sent: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:09:38 +0000 The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than ?35,000 worth of damage to a coal- fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage. Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage - such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire. fyi-janet ================================== [1] Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cleared-jury- decides-that-threat-of-global-warming-justifies-breaking-the-law- 925561.html The Independent (UK) By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor Thursday, 11 September 2008 The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than ?35,000 worth of damage to a coal- fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage. Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage - such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire. The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action. Kingsnorth was the centre for mass protests by climate camp activists last month. Last year, three protesters managed to paint Gordon Brown's name on the plant's chimney. Their handi-work cost ?35,000 to remove. The plan to build a successor to the power station is likely to be the first of a new generation of coal-fired plants. As coal produces more of the carbon emissions causing climate change than any other fuel, campaigners claim that a new station would be a disastrous setback in the battle against global warming, and send out a negative signal to the rest of the world about how serious Britain really is about tackling the climate threat. But the proposals, from the energy giant E.ON, are firmly backed by the Business Secretary, John Hutton, and the Energy minister, Malcolm Wicks. Some members of the Cabinet are thought to be unhappy about them, including the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn. Mr Brown is likely to have the final say on the matter later this year. During the eight-day trial, the world's leading climate scientist, Professor James Hansen of Nasa, who had flown from American to give evidence, appealed to the Prime Minister personally to "take a leadership role" in cancelling the plan and scrapping the idea of a coal-fired future for Britain. Last December he wrote to Mr Brown with a similar appeal. At the trial, he called for an moratorium on all coal-fired power stations, and his hour-long testimony about the gravity of the climate danger, which painted a bleak picture, was listened to intently by the jury of nine women and three men. Professor Hansen, who first alerted the world to the global warming threat in June 1988 with testimony to a US senate committee in Washington, and who last year said the earth was in "imminent peril" from the warming atmosphere, asserted that emissions of CO2 from Kings-north would damage property through the effects of the climate change they would help to cause. He was one of several leading public figures who gave evidence for the defence, including Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park and director of the Ecologist magazine, who similarly told the jury that in his opinion, direct action could be justified in the minds of many people if it was intended to prevent larger crimes being committed. The acquittal was the second time in a decade that the "lawful excuse" defence has been successfully used by Greenpeace activists. In 1999, 28 Greenpeace campaigners led Lord Melchett, who was director at the time, were cleared of criminal damage after trashing an experimental field of GM crops in Norfolk. In each case the damage was not disputed - the point at issue was the motive. The defendants who scaled the 630ft chimney at Kingsnorth, near Hoo, last year were Huw Williams, 41, from Nottingham; Ben Stewart, 34, from Lyminge, Kent; Kevin Drake, 44, from Westbury, Wiltshire; Will Rose, 29, from London; and Emily Hall, 34, from New Zealand. Tim Hewke, 48, from Ulcombe, Kent, helped organise the protest. The court heard how, dressed in orange boiler suits and white hard hats bearing the Greenpeace logo, the six-strong group arrived at the site at 6.30am on 8 October. Armed with bags containing abseiling gear, five of them scaled the chimney while Mr Hewke waited below to liaise between the climbers and police. The climbers had planned to paint "Gordon, bin it" in huge letters on the side of the chimney, but although they succeeded in temporarily shutting the station, they only got as far as painting the word "Gordon" on the chimney before they descended, having been threatened with a High Court injunction. Removing the graffiti cost E.ON ?35,000, the court heard. During the trial the defendants said they had acted lawfully, owing to an honestly held belief that their attempt to stop emissions from Kingsnorth would prevent further damage to properties worldwide caused by global warming. Their aim, they said, was to rein back CO2 emissions and bring urgent pressure to bear on the Government and E.ON to changes policies. They insisted their action had caused the minimum amount of damage necessary to close the plant down and constituted a "proportionate response" to the increasing environmental threat. Speaking outside court after being cleared yesterday, Mr Stewart said: "This is a huge blow for ministers and their plans for new coal- fired power stations. It wasn't only us in the dock, it was the coal-fired generation as well. After this verdict, the only people left in Britain who think new coal is a good idea are John Hutton and Malcolm Wicks. It's time the Prime Minister stepped in, showed some leadership and embraced the clean energy future for Britain." He added: "This verdict marks a tipping point for the climate change movement. When a jury of normal people say it is legitimate for a direct action group to shut down a coal-fired power station because of the harm it does to our planet, then where does that leave Government energy policy? We have the clean technologies at hand to power our economy. It's time we turned to them instead of coal." Ms Hall said: "The jury heard from the most distinguished climate scientist in the world. How could they ignore his warnings and reject his leading scientific arguments?" <><><><><> [2] Schumacher College A legal precedent? Schumacher College hosts the debate DID GREENPEACE?S RECENT ACQUITTAL SET A LEGAL PRECEDENT IN EARTH JURISPRUDENCE? Earth Jurisprudence: Making the law work for nature 22 - 26 September Schumacher College, at Dartington is welcoming five legal experts on the growing and topical legal specialism of Earth Jurisprudence or wild law, to consider how the legal system and other forms of governance may be harnessed to protect the natural world and to learn from real examples while exploring the philosophy and theory underpinning this exciting and evolving area of law. The course is timely, given events of the past week involving the court case between Greenpeace activists and energy giant E.ON. On 10th September 2008 at Maidstone Crown Court a ruling was given which favoured the planet and the natural world including humankind. Six Greenpeace activists were cleared of causing around ?35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station. Their defence argument was that their occupation of the power station prevented property damage (caused by climate change). This is a pioneering case in which preventing such property damage has been used as part of a "lawful excuse" in legal defence. This strategic approach of presenting the public interest over economic matters leads us to consider other creative questions and wider goals. As a result of this ruling, environmental activism and the legal "rights" of the planet is likely to move higher up the UK?s political agenda. Do governing bodies around the world need to take another look at their energy plans and other economic strategies, and o they risk legal challenge by environmental activists? What are the potential political, environmental and social consequences of legal decisions? In what other areas are such issues of protection and governance meeting in this way? How can we expand such opportunities to incorporate other challenges in advocating for the rights of species and planet? If you have a professional or personal interest in questions like this, this course will help to enrich your understanding of the legal complexities that characterise Earth Jurisprudence. We have just three places left. To find out full details about the course content and Schumacher College click here. We look forward to hosting a very stimulating week with our distinguished visiting teachers, course facilitator and course participants - perhaps you. If you would like any further information please feel free to contact me. With thanks and regards Anna Lodge a.lodge@schumachercollege.org.uk For course details and to book one of the few remaining places: Earth Jurisprudence: Making the law work for nature ================================= ------- End of forwarded message ------- ------- End of forwarded message ------- From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 15 12:37:11 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 15 12:37:22 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] McCain-onomics The Progress Report Sept 15th Message-ID: <48CE7317.11439.13A73457@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> From: The Progress Report To: jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca Send reply to: The Progress Report Date sent: 15 Sep 2008 11:38:54 -0400 Subject: McCain-onomics ECONOMY McCain-onomics Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has spent much of his general election campaign for president trying to distance himself from President Bush's failed policies -- even though the policies he has outlined and would pursue as president mirror those of the last eight years.?McCain's strategy so far has been to make the public forget he is offering Bush's policies. During the Republican National Convention earlier this month, McCain and his fellow conservatives seemingly refused to acknowledge that the current administration even exists:?Bush's name was mentioned once while Vice President Dick Cheney's name was not mentioned at all. Convention speakers also ignored many key issues that face Americans today, such as health care, environment, and the economy. Yet at times, McCain's surrogates will let the truth slip out. In June, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) admitted that McCain's economic policies would " absolutely" be an "enhancement" of Bush's. He's right. McCain's economic policies are rooted in the same supply-side economic theories that give huge tax cuts to the rich and?the most profitable corporations, which will ultimately expand the already ballooning federal deficit. Indeed, as New York Times columnist and Princeton University economics professor Paul Krugman noted, McCain's economic proposals are " Bush made permanent" and "would leave the federal government with far too little revenue to cover its expenses." THE WEALTHY WILL CASH IN: If elected president, McCain plans to double down on Bush's corporate and individual tax cuts. His plan calls for reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, a plan that would save corporations $175 billion per year, with $45 billion going to America's 200 largest companies as identified by Fortune Magazine. The five largest U.S. oil companies would save a grand total of $3.8 billion per year.?The wealthiest Americans would also cash in. McCain's tax plan will increase after- tax income of the richest 3.4 percent by more than twice the average for all households -- and offer no benefit to the poorest taxpayers and minimal savings for the middle class. At the same time, McCain has not offered any specifics on how he would pay for these massive cuts. In fact, McCain's plan would produce the highest federal deficit in 25 years. After inheriting Bush's $407 billion deficit, yearly deficits under McCain would increase sharply, beginning with at least $505 billion in FY2009.? THE FLAWS OF SUPPLY-SIDE ECONOMICS: Like Bush -- and President Reagan before him -- McCain is fully embracing supply-side economics, lowering tax rates to promote economic activity which, in theory, lead to additional government revenue. But a new report from the Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute has analyzed the two "supply-side eras" in U.S. history -- 1981 to 1993 and 2001 to present -- and concluded that " the results have been meager." The report found that after tax increases in 1993, real investment growth was much higher than after the tax cuts of 1981 and 2001 and "economic growth as measured by real U.S. gross domestic product was stronger following the tax increases of 1993 than in the two supply-side eras." Real median household income "was greatest after the 1993 tax increases, at 2.0 percent annually compared to 1.4 percent after 1981 and 0.3 percent after 2001." Wages and employment also rose higher after 1993 as compared to the two supply-side eras. And in contrast to record deficits that resulted from the two supply- side eras, between 1993 and 1999, the United States"went from a federal deficit of 3.9 percent of GDP to a surplus of 1.4 percent." Even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have said that tax cuts do not offset revenue losses. GREENSPAN WEIGHS IN: Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the current downturn in the economy is "probably a once in a century type of event," one that is the worst he has seen in his career "by far." Indeed, just yesterday,?Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America "for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer." But Greenspan also addressed McCain's $3.3?trillion tax cuts, telling Bloomberg news last week that the country cannot afford the cuts "unless we cut spending." " I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money," Greenspan said. Perhaps McCain will take Greenspan's advice. While McCain has acknowledged that "issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," he has also added the caveat: " I've got Greenspan's book." ENERGY -- NO ENERGY EXPERT AT SENATE HEARING WILLING TO SAY THAT OIL DRILLING IS AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE: Last Friday,?the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a Bipartisan Energy Summit featuring experts from MIT, Google, Shell, and others. At one point in the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tore into the energy protest House Republicans have been holding for the past several weeks. This political stunt was meant to demand a vote on oil drilling and " attack Democrats for leaving town" in August " without doing something to lower gas prices."?After listing?problems facing the country, including the war in Iraq, debt, to name a few, Whitehouse asked the experts whether anyone thought drilling was the top issue right now. "Do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today," asked Whitehouse. Almost nine seconds went by with complete silence. " No, it doesn't seem so," said Whitehouse after the silence.?House conservatives have spent the past month claiming that their political stunt was " America's greatest hour" and the "2008 version of the Boston Tea Party." Not only are they out of step with energy experts, but according to recent polls, the majority of the American public believes that the economy -- not drilling -- is the most important issue facing the nation.? ENERGY -- HURRICANE IKE DESTROYS OIL PLATFORMS:?In the wake of Hurricane Ike, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported that at least 10 offshore oil platforms have been destroyed. Lars Herbst, regional director for the MMS said, "It's too early to say if it's close to Katrina- and Rita-type damage," which altogether destroyed more than 100 oil platforms. Ike also damaged several large oil and natural gas pipelines. The extent of the environmental damage resulting from the destroyed oil rigs is unknown. Already, "the average price for a gallon of gasoline has increased to nearly $3.80 from $3.68...a jump that has been rare since the oil price spikes of the 1970s and 1980s." In their push to expand offshore drilling, conservatives have insisted that oil rigs are completely safe, constantly declaring that Hurricane Katrina " didn't cause a single oil spill." In fact, the oil spillage from Katrina was so extensive it was clearly visible from space. It also wreaked environmental damage near the scale of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.? From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 15 12:48:01 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 15 12:48:19 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Counterfeit Democracy - (Fwd) [corp-focus] Message-ID: <48CE75A1.8173.13B11E7D@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: robert weissman To: corp-focus@lists.essential.org Subject: [corp-focus] Counterfeit Democracy Date sent: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:09:32 -0400 [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] Links and forum to comment on this and other columns at: http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog Counterfeit Democracy By Robert Weissman September 15, 2008 A new draft global trade treaty may interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials, require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, and undermine access to low-cost generic medicines. Does the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) contain provisions that would actually do these things? There's no way to know, because the treaty text remains secret. More than 100 public interest organizations from around the world today called on officials from the countries negotiating ACTA -- the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland Australia and New Zealand -- to publish immediately the draft text of the agreement. U.S. trade negotiators have justified the cloak-and-dagger approach to ACTA on the grounds that all trade treaties are negotiated in secret. But this is not so. Negotiating texts are commonly made public in multilateral trade negotiations, including in the current Doha Round negotiations at the World Trade Organization and the now discarded talks for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and in treaty negotiations at organizations like the World Health Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. In any case, what possible rationale is there to keep a treaty that claims to be about unauthorized copying secret? Are the negotiators worried that counterfeiters might somehow influence the negotiations? No, the reason is to keep the public in the dark. This matters, because intentionally or not, a treaty to prevent unauthorized copying may easily go too far, and undermine important consumer interests. And it matters because, not surprisingly, there's more to worry about than errors by well-meaning technocrats. The recording industry, Hollywood, the software moguls, and Big Pharma are all aiming to use tough talk about "counterfeiters" and "piracy" to push governments to do much more than crack down on trademark and copyright infringers who aim to deceive consumers. They want government assistance in enforcement of trademarks, copyright and patents, even though these are private rights. And they want to impose liability on third parties that might possibly facilitate unauthorized uses, even if these third parties are unaware of the activities of alleged infringers. This is an agenda being pursued in multiple venues, of which ACTA is among the most important. One reason that ACTA is so important is that it almost certainly is intended to apply to the entire world. Borrowing from the strategy of the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the rich countries are working out a deal among themselves. Then the rest of the world's nations will be told that they can join the treaty on a take-it-or-leave-it basis -- with major pressure imposed to get developing countries to take it. News reports and published material from various business associations certainly give reason to fear what may be in the treaty. The public interest sign-on letter expresses concern that ACTA may: * Require ISPs to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, terminate their customers' Internet connections based on copyright holders' repeat allegations of copyright infringement, and divulge the identity of alleged copyright infringers possibly without judicial process, threatening Internet users' due process and privacy rights; and potentially make ISPs liable for their end users' alleged infringing activity; * Interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials; * Criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing; * Interfere with legitimate parallel trade in goods, including the resale of brand-name pharmaceutical products (known as drug "reimportation" in the United States); * Impose liability on manufacturers of pharmaceutical raw materials, if those raw materials are used to make counterfeits. Such a liability system would likely make raw materials manufacturers reluctant to sell to legal generic drug makers, and thereby significantly damage the functioning of the legal generic pharmaceutical industry; * Improperly criminalize acts not done for commercial purpose and with no public health consequences; and * Improperly divert public resources into enforcement of private rights. Presented with these concerns, the U.S. Trade Representative's officials say there is no reason to be worried. ACTA won't require more than existing U.S. free trade agreements, the officials say. This assurance is, first, not exactly a comfort. Meanwhile, business groups are explicit that believe ACTA should do far more than existing U.S. free trade agreements. Are they having their way? There's no way to know as long as the draft treaty remains a secret. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, and director of Essential Action . Essential Action helped organize the ACTA sign-on letter discussed in this article. (c) Robert Weissman This article is posted at: . _______________________________________________ Focus on the Corporation is a regular column by Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends, repost it on other lists or non-commercial, non-profit websites, or publish it in non- profit print outlets. (For-profit outlets, please contact rob@essential.org). Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve corp-focus@lists.essential.org. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address to corp-focus, go to: or send an e- mail message to corp-focus-admin@lists.essential.org with your request. Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at: and . Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to comment on a columns, go to: or send a message to rob@essential.org. ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WPM$678D.PM$ Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6422 bytes Desc: Mail message body Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080915/b9279e4e/WPM678D.obj From fresch at ica.net Mon Sep 15 14:16:51 2008 From: fresch at ica.net (Fred Schneider) Date: Mon Sep 15 14:16:31 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd.: Counterfeit Democracy, By Robert Weissman Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20080915151356.06e06a88@ica.net> Forwarded message: From: robert weissman To: corp-focus@lists.essential.org Subject: [corp-focus] Counterfeit Democracy Links and forum to comment on this and other columns at: http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog Counterfeit Democracy By Robert Weissman September 15, 2008 A new draft global trade treaty may interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials, require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, and undermine access to low-cost generic medicines. Does the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) contain provisions that would actually do these things? There's no way to know, because the treaty text remains secret. More than 100 public interest organizations from around the world today called on officials from the countries negotiating ACTA -- the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland Australia and New Zealand -- to publish immediately the draft text of the agreement. U.S. trade negotiators have justified the cloak-and-dagger approach to ACTA on the grounds that all trade treaties are negotiated in secret. But this is not so. Negotiating texts are commonly made public in multilateral trade negotiations, including in the current Doha Round negotiations at the World Trade Organization and the now discarded talks for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and in treaty negotiations at organizations like the World Health Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. In any case, what possible rationale is there to keep a treaty that claims to be about unauthorized copying secret? Are the negotiators worried that counterfeiters might somehow influence the negotiations? No, the reason is to keep the public in the dark. This matters, because intentionally or not, a treaty to prevent unauthorized copying may easily go too far, and undermine important consumer interests. And it matters because, not surprisingly, there's more to worry about than errors by well-meaning technocrats. The recording industry, Hollywood, the software moguls, and Big Pharma are all aiming to use tough talk about "counterfeiters" and "piracy" to push governments to do much more than crack down on trademark and copyright infringers who aim to deceive consumers. They want government assistance in enforcement of trademarks, copyright and patents, even though these are private rights. And they want to impose liability on third parties that might possibly facilitate unauthorized uses, even if these third parties are unaware of the activities of alleged infringers. This is an agenda being pursued in multiple venues, of which ACTA is among the most important. One reason that ACTA is so important is that it almost certainly is intended to apply to the entire world. Borrowing from the strategy of the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the rich countries are working out a deal among themselves. Then the rest of the world's nations will be told that they can join the treaty on a take-it-or-leave-it basis -- with major pressure imposed to get developing countries to take it. News reports and published material from various business associations certainly give reason to fear what may be in the treaty. The public interest sign-on letter expresses concern that ACTA may: * Require ISPs to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, terminate their customers' Internet connections based on copyright holders' repeat allegations of copyright infringement, and divulge the identity of alleged copyright infringers possibly without judicial process, threatening Internet users' due process and privacy rights; and potentially make ISPs liable for their end users' alleged infringing activity; * Interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials; * Criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing; * Interfere with legitimate parallel trade in goods, including the resale of brand-name pharmaceutical products (known as drug "reimportation" in the United States); * Impose liability on manufacturers of pharmaceutical raw materials, if those raw materials are used to make counterfeits. Such a liability system would likely make raw materials manufacturers reluctant to sell to legal generic drug makers, and thereby significantly damage the functioning of the legal generic pharmaceutical industry; * Improperly criminalize acts not done for commercial purpose and with no public health consequences; and * Improperly divert public resources into enforcement of private rights. Presented with these concerns, the U.S. Trade Representative's officials say there is no reason to be worried. ACTA won't require more than existing U.S. free trade agreements, the officials say. This assurance is, first, not exactly a comfort. Meanwhile, business groups are explicit that believe ACTA should do far more than existing U.S. free trade agreements. Are they having their way? There's no way to know as long as the draft treaty remains a secret. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, and director of Essential Action . Essential Action helped organize the ACTA sign-on letter discussed in this article. (c) Robert Weissman This article is posted at: . My home page: "http://home.ica.net/~fresch/index.htm" ======================================== Fred Schneider, 905-279-7199, Fax: same, call first! #37-425 Meadows Blvd. Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1N3 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080915/211f55e1/attachment.html From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 15 19:29:27 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Mon Sep 15 19:43:04 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Bolivia; Tributes to Peter Camejo, Celia Hart & Patrice Lumumba; Venezuela; Cuba; sustainable capitalism?; Iran Message-ID: <48CEFDE7.2030201@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Oppose the fascist coup in Bolivia! (Sign the petition) Dear comrades and friends, You will be aware of the US-backed "civic coup" underway in the Bolivia, and the threats this poses to democracy and all nations' right to political, economic and social sovereignty. We urge you/your organisation to sign the open petition we have initiated in support of President Evo Morales and the Bolivian people, and to circulate it widely among left and progressive individuals and activists. We hope you may also be able to use the petition to bring pressure on the government of your own country to publicly state its support for Bolivia's right to freedom from imperialist intervention. * Read more Peter Camejo 1939-2008: How to make a revolution in the United States (1969)/Liberalism, ultraleftism or mass action (1970) + 1976 audio interview The tragic news on September 13, 2008, that Peter Camejo had lost his battle with cancer is a blow to all those on the revolutionary left who have been politically and personally influenced by him. As a tribute, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal republishes two of Peter's most influential and enduring lectures, talks that continue to educate young revolutionary socialists to this day. * Read more Patrice Lumumba `will live forever' -- exclusive book excerpt Leo Zeilig, author of Lumumba, a new political biography of Congo independence leader Patrice Lumumba, has kindly given permission for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal to offer its readers an exclusive excerpt to download. * Read more Celia Hart's last essay: A revolutionary fight against the demon On September 9, 2008, supporters of the Cuban Revolution were saddened to learn of the sudden deaths of Celia Hart Santamar?a and Abel Hart Santamar?a, the daughter and son of Armando Hart D?valos and Hayd?e Santamar?a, in a car accident in Havana on September 7, possibly caused by the conditions resulting from Hurricane Gustav. Below is the last essay written by Celia, on the topic of hurricanes, global warming and the Cuban Revolution's and Cuban society's ability to protect its people from devastating storms like hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. * Read more Venezuela: New mission, laws to extend popular power; trade union movement rebuilds By Federico Fuentes Caracas, September 6, 2008 -- The August 24 announcment by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to officially launch the social mission April 13, and the decreeing of 26 new and reformed laws on July 29, represent a further push to empower the poor communities. Moreover, these moves represent a new offensive as part of Chavez's stated aim of building "socialism of the 21st century" and eradicating poverty by giving power to the people. * Read more Cuba, bloggers and the internet wars: a review of Antony Loewenstein's `The Blogging Revolution' By Tim Anderson Antony Loewenstein is confused. Flushed with the success of his first book, My Israel Question, he has ventured into the wider world of global politics and has stumbled. His first book presented the perspective of a young Australian Jew, reflecting critically on Israel. His second book, The Blogging Revolution, attempts a wider analysis of the cyber-media and democracy, by reference to six countries: Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China. * Read more Sustainable capitalism? By David Travis September 9, 2008 -- On the fringe of the green movement, one always hears the following phrases coming from the mainstream with great regularity: "green capitalism", "sustainable capitalism", "social entrepreneurs", "green entrepreneurs", etc. None of these terms tend to mean anything specific, and no one who uses them is in a great hurry to spell out, for example, how a green entrepreneur is different in any fundamental way from some other kind of entrepreneur, or how capitalism could be driven toward sustainability rather than profit. So you can imagine my pleasure at meeting the author of a book called Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense. * Read more Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download The following is the introduction to Why Washington Hates Iran: A Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East, a new Socialist Voice pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The author, Barry Sheppard, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political memoir, The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988. The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/f7fe7e04/attachment-0001.html From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 15 19:29:27 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Mon Sep 15 19:43:05 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Bolivia; Tributes to Peter Camejo, Celia Hart & Patrice Lumumba; Venezuela; Cuba; sustainable capitalism?; Iran Message-ID: <48CEFDE7.2030201@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Oppose the fascist coup in Bolivia! (Sign the petition) Dear comrades and friends, You will be aware of the US-backed "civic coup" underway in the Bolivia, and the threats this poses to democracy and all nations' right to political, economic and social sovereignty. We urge you/your organisation to sign the open petition we have initiated in support of President Evo Morales and the Bolivian people, and to circulate it widely among left and progressive individuals and activists. We hope you may also be able to use the petition to bring pressure on the government of your own country to publicly state its support for Bolivia's right to freedom from imperialist intervention. * Read more Peter Camejo 1939-2008: How to make a revolution in the United States (1969)/Liberalism, ultraleftism or mass action (1970) + 1976 audio interview The tragic news on September 13, 2008, that Peter Camejo had lost his battle with cancer is a blow to all those on the revolutionary left who have been politically and personally influenced by him. As a tribute, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal republishes two of Peter's most influential and enduring lectures, talks that continue to educate young revolutionary socialists to this day. * Read more Patrice Lumumba `will live forever' -- exclusive book excerpt Leo Zeilig, author of Lumumba, a new political biography of Congo independence leader Patrice Lumumba, has kindly given permission for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal to offer its readers an exclusive excerpt to download. * Read more Celia Hart's last essay: A revolutionary fight against the demon On September 9, 2008, supporters of the Cuban Revolution were saddened to learn of the sudden deaths of Celia Hart Santamar?a and Abel Hart Santamar?a, the daughter and son of Armando Hart D?valos and Hayd?e Santamar?a, in a car accident in Havana on September 7, possibly caused by the conditions resulting from Hurricane Gustav. Below is the last essay written by Celia, on the topic of hurricanes, global warming and the Cuban Revolution's and Cuban society's ability to protect its people from devastating storms like hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. * Read more Venezuela: New mission, laws to extend popular power; trade union movement rebuilds By Federico Fuentes Caracas, September 6, 2008 -- The August 24 announcment by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to officially launch the social mission April 13, and the decreeing of 26 new and reformed laws on July 29, represent a further push to empower the poor communities. Moreover, these moves represent a new offensive as part of Chavez's stated aim of building "socialism of the 21st century" and eradicating poverty by giving power to the people. * Read more Cuba, bloggers and the internet wars: a review of Antony Loewenstein's `The Blogging Revolution' By Tim Anderson Antony Loewenstein is confused. Flushed with the success of his first book, My Israel Question, he has ventured into the wider world of global politics and has stumbled. His first book presented the perspective of a young Australian Jew, reflecting critically on Israel. His second book, The Blogging Revolution, attempts a wider analysis of the cyber-media and democracy, by reference to six countries: Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China. * Read more Sustainable capitalism? By David Travis September 9, 2008 -- On the fringe of the green movement, one always hears the following phrases coming from the mainstream with great regularity: "green capitalism", "sustainable capitalism", "social entrepreneurs", "green entrepreneurs", etc. None of these terms tend to mean anything specific, and no one who uses them is in a great hurry to spell out, for example, how a green entrepreneur is different in any fundamental way from some other kind of entrepreneur, or how capitalism could be driven toward sustainability rather than profit. So you can imagine my pleasure at meeting the author of a book called Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense. * Read more Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download The following is the introduction to Why Washington Hates Iran: A Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East, a new Socialist Voice pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The author, Barry Sheppard, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political memoir, The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988. The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/f7fe7e04/attachment-0002.html From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Mon Sep 15 19:29:27 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Mon Sep 15 19:43:05 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Bolivia; Tributes to Peter Camejo, Celia Hart & Patrice Lumumba; Venezuela; Cuba; sustainable capitalism?; Iran Message-ID: <48CEFDE7.2030201@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Oppose the fascist coup in Bolivia! (Sign the petition) Dear comrades and friends, You will be aware of the US-backed "civic coup" underway in the Bolivia, and the threats this poses to democracy and all nations' right to political, economic and social sovereignty. We urge you/your organisation to sign the open petition we have initiated in support of President Evo Morales and the Bolivian people, and to circulate it widely among left and progressive individuals and activists. We hope you may also be able to use the petition to bring pressure on the government of your own country to publicly state its support for Bolivia's right to freedom from imperialist intervention. * Read more Peter Camejo 1939-2008: How to make a revolution in the United States (1969)/Liberalism, ultraleftism or mass action (1970) + 1976 audio interview The tragic news on September 13, 2008, that Peter Camejo had lost his battle with cancer is a blow to all those on the revolutionary left who have been politically and personally influenced by him. As a tribute, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal republishes two of Peter's most influential and enduring lectures, talks that continue to educate young revolutionary socialists to this day. * Read more Patrice Lumumba `will live forever' -- exclusive book excerpt Leo Zeilig, author of Lumumba, a new political biography of Congo independence leader Patrice Lumumba, has kindly given permission for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal to offer its readers an exclusive excerpt to download. * Read more Celia Hart's last essay: A revolutionary fight against the demon On September 9, 2008, supporters of the Cuban Revolution were saddened to learn of the sudden deaths of Celia Hart Santamar?a and Abel Hart Santamar?a, the daughter and son of Armando Hart D?valos and Hayd?e Santamar?a, in a car accident in Havana on September 7, possibly caused by the conditions resulting from Hurricane Gustav. Below is the last essay written by Celia, on the topic of hurricanes, global warming and the Cuban Revolution's and Cuban society's ability to protect its people from devastating storms like hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. * Read more Venezuela: New mission, laws to extend popular power; trade union movement rebuilds By Federico Fuentes Caracas, September 6, 2008 -- The August 24 announcment by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to officially launch the social mission April 13, and the decreeing of 26 new and reformed laws on July 29, represent a further push to empower the poor communities. Moreover, these moves represent a new offensive as part of Chavez's stated aim of building "socialism of the 21st century" and eradicating poverty by giving power to the people. * Read more Cuba, bloggers and the internet wars: a review of Antony Loewenstein's `The Blogging Revolution' By Tim Anderson Antony Loewenstein is confused. Flushed with the success of his first book, My Israel Question, he has ventured into the wider world of global politics and has stumbled. His first book presented the perspective of a young Australian Jew, reflecting critically on Israel. His second book, The Blogging Revolution, attempts a wider analysis of the cyber-media and democracy, by reference to six countries: Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China. * Read more Sustainable capitalism? By David Travis September 9, 2008 -- On the fringe of the green movement, one always hears the following phrases coming from the mainstream with great regularity: "green capitalism", "sustainable capitalism", "social entrepreneurs", "green entrepreneurs", etc. None of these terms tend to mean anything specific, and no one who uses them is in a great hurry to spell out, for example, how a green entrepreneur is different in any fundamental way from some other kind of entrepreneur, or how capitalism could be driven toward sustainability rather than profit. So you can imagine my pleasure at meeting the author of a book called Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense. * Read more Why Washington hates Iran - free pamphlet download The following is the introduction to Why Washington Hates Iran: A Political Memoir of the Revolution That Shook the Middle East, a new Socialist Voice pamphlet published by South Branch Publications. The author, Barry Sheppard, was a member of the US Socialist Workers Party for 28 years, and a central leader of the party for most of that time. In 2005, Resistance Books published the first volume of his political memoir, The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988. The new pamphlet is a chapter from the second volume, now in preparation. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/f7fe7e04/attachment-0003.html From oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au Mon Sep 15 22:01:17 2008 From: oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au (Clem Clarke) Date: Mon Sep 15 22:01:49 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] BANKETEERING - The Great Fraud in Banking - a Crime against the People Message-ID: <48CF217D.5050209@ozemail.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/4e291c69/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: moz-screenshot-1.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 13198 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/4e291c69/moz-screenshot-1-0001.jpg From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 16 05:48:01 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 16 05:49:18 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] To the rescue! Message-ID: <20080916104802.BFA8212AA5@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 1d1b7d1d.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 156347 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/571bfe48/1d1b7d1d-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 1d1b7e56.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 120655 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/571bfe48/1d1b7e56-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 1d1b7ef2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 206792 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/571bfe48/1d1b7ef2-0001.jpg From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Sep 16 06:54:17 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Tue Sep 16 06:54:38 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] BANKETEERING - The Great Fraud in Banking - a Crime against the People In-Reply-To: <48CF217D.5050209@ozemail.com.au> References: <48CF217D.5050209@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: <200809161854170453.0210B425@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 13198 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080916/1004b024/attachment.jpe From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 17 07:07:36 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed Sep 17 07:08:51 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] To the rescue! Message-ID: <20080917120737.E2E5CF582@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 228ab7a8.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 156347 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/04f4e908/228ab7a8-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 228ab7b7.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 120655 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/04f4e908/228ab7b7-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 228ab7c7.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 206792 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/04f4e908/228ab7c7-0001.jpg From siamdave at yahoo.ca Wed Sep 17 07:16:04 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Wed Sep 17 07:16:26 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] To the rescue! In-Reply-To: <20080917120737.E2E5CF582@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080917120737.E2E5CF582@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809171916040140.028A1CF4@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Dion, just FYI, the original came through here fine, so they did get to MAI-not ok, which means the problem was somewhere between Mainot and the return to you, or something - maybe someone somewhere is blocking attachments? *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 08-09-17 at 8:07 PM Dion Giles wrote: >[Didn't come through. Looks as if it has been Al-Jazeera-ed. Here's >a second try.] > > >Thanks to Brian Jenkins for these three on-the-money cartoons > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > >1407e34.jpg > > >1407eb1.jpg > > >1407f1e.jpg > > > >*********************************************************************** >This message exceeds the configured maximum message size. >Calypso retrieved only this portion of the message. >The entire message resides on the server. >*********************************************************************** From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Sep 17 07:40:06 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Wed Sep 17 07:40:24 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] To the rescue! In-Reply-To: <200809171916040140.028A1CF4@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> References: <20080917120737.E2E5CF582@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> <200809171916040140.028A1CF4@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <20080917124008.9B2BAF6D2@fep05.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Thanks Dave. Mai-not generally works incomparably better than other newsgroups because it has nothing to do with Yahoo, but then I did have a couple of ccs to Yahoo newsgroups and that may have been the problem. On my second posting I left the ccs off. -- Cheers, Dion. Dion Giles Western Austrralia At 08:16 PM 17/09/2008, you wrote: >Dion, just FYI, the original came through here fine, so they did get >to MAI-not ok, which means the problem was somewhere between Mainot >and the return to you, or something - maybe someone somewhere is >blocking attachments? > >*********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > >On 08-09-17 at 8:07 PM Dion Giles wrote: > > >[Didn't come through. Looks as if it has been Al-Jazeera-ed. Here's > >a second try.] > > > > > >Thanks to Brian Jenkins for these three on-the-money cartoons > > > >Dion Giles > >Western Australia > > > >1407e34.jpg > > > > > >1407eb1.jpg > > > > > >1407f1e.jpg > > > > > > > >*********************************************************************** > >This message exceeds the configured maximum message size. > >Calypso retrieved only this portion of the message. > >The entire message resides on the server. > >*********************************************************************** > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Wed Sep 17 14:49:53 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Wed Sep 17 14:50:26 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Harper's unnerving confidence by Walkom The Star Sept 17 + Onlilne Comments Message-ID: <48D13531.1204.1E6D6AB2@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3810 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/6a3b9aee/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6765 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/6a3b9aee/--0001.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: icoComment.gif Type: application/octet-stream Size: 211 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080917/6a3b9aee/icoComment.obj From papadop at peak.org Wed Sep 17 17:04:33 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed Sep 17 17:29:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/17/wallstreet.useconomy SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH The US government is splashing out billions of dollars in bailouts but is failing to treat the causes of this financial crisis The Guardian (London) -- Wednesday September 17 2008 20:00 BST If you want to grasp the mixed-up, interwoven nature of the international financial markets, consider this: the US investment bank Lehman Brothers leased a million square feet of office space in London, for which it paid about 40m-50m Pounds a year. Lehmans paid its rent to a property company, the Canary Wharf Group - which in turn is controlled by another company, Songbird Estates. Simple enough so far? Here's where it gets complicated. The rent that Lehmans paid forms part of the income behind a 2.5bn Pound securitisation package (that is, corporate bonds sold to outside investors, mortgaged against a stream of future earnings) through a holding company named Canary Wharf Finance II PLC. The securitisation's income was insured by the US company AIG. So when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, that meant AIG will be in the hole for the 200m Pounds that Lehmans would have paid in rent for the next four years. But AIG itself would probably have gone under yesterday or today, except that the US government effectively nationalised AIG last night in loaning it the $85bn that it needed to keep going. But that's not all. Remember Songbird Estates - the company that owns the company that owns the building that AIG insured the rent that Lehman Brothers defaulted on? Well, Songbird is owned by a group that includes Morgan Stanley - another huge US investment bank that today is getting hammered on Wall Street over its exposure to ... Lehman Brothers and the property market. If none of that makes sense, then at least you know how Ben Bernanke - chairman of the US Federal Reserve - must feel. To rewind: last weekend Lehman Brothers asked the US government - the Fed and the US Treasury - for the sort of bailout that was granted six months ago to Bear Stearns, the US investment bank that went belly-up and taken over by JP Morgan after the US authorities agreed to pick up the tab. But the Feds said no this time - and were instantly applauded for this get tough policy, that after bailing out Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and pumping further unprecedented billions - $70bn on Monday alone - into the financial system, the government was saying that the there was no more "too big too fail". The Washington Post's editorial writers cheered loudly: "We think they made the right call. The long list of bailout candidates, headed at the moment by AIG, confirms that policymakers were going to have to send this message sooner than later." The Wall Street Journal's red-in-tooth-and-claw editorial board agreed, saying "We're happy to report that the world didn't end yesterday," and continuing: The Treasury and the Fed have signalled that they can say no. While Lehman's failure has spooked markets, the lesson that a storied investment house can fail without a federal rescue is its own crash course in risk management. Not so fast. Only a few hours later and the Federal Reserve rode into town to rescue AIG, an institution that it doesn't even regulate. As congressman Barney Frank put it: "We had a one-day experiment in free enterprise." So why resuscitate AIG and not Lehman Brothers? The thinking is that AIG fell into the category of "too entangled to fail", meaning it was too big a part of a complex web of relationships and so its collapse would have an outsized impact on the rest of the financial world. As you can see from the example of just one London office block, mentioned above, there's something to that. But can anyone really know that for sure? Since there's no way of testing what would have happened if AIG had been allowed to go under, we can't tell. What we can tell is that the Fed and the US Treasury have been ham-fisted in their decision making. On Sunday AIG asked for a $40bn bridging loan from the US government to avert having its credit downgraded. The downgrades happened, things got worse for AIG - so on Monday and Tuesday the feds were badgering Wall Street banks to stump up $75bn in loans for AIG. Wall Street demurred - to no one's surprise, given the chaos in the markets and the difficulty in raising capital. So the Fed made itself to be the lender of last resort, again. But instead of the $40bn that could have done the trick on Sunday, because of its indecision its exposure is now $85bn. Not a case of "too little too late", but "too much, too late". The Fed and Treasury must have hoped that nationalisation of the largest US insurance company would underpin the market. But it hasn't yet. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq share indices are all down so far today, and short-term money market rates are sky-rocketing - meaning that banks are charging penal rates just to lend money to each other overnight (this in particular hurts retail banks). So where are we now? Six months after the Fed used the fact of a credit crunch to bailout Bear Stearns, the US economy is back to square one, or possible square zero. Another credit crunch is raging. The US taxpayer is now exposed to losses that refuse to be calculated: $20bn for Bear Stearns, up to $85bn in loans for AIG, an estimated $100bn to $200bn for Freddie and Fannie, hundreds of billions in liquidity, much of it soaking up worthless mortgage-backed junk bonds. No one knows how much this will end up costing. (One small example: AIG is also the shirt sponsor of Manchester United - although presumably not for much longer - so one way or another, the US taxpayer is in effect loaning AIG money to pay a British football club. Manchester United should send Hank Paulson a shirt.) Here's a thought. Perhaps the Fed and Treasury should have let Bear Stearns go bust back in March. The immediate reaction would have been brutal. But would it have been worse than how things have turned out - six months of turmoil, $2,000bn in value wiped off global stock markets and more costly bailouts. And here's another thought. So far the Fed and Treasury reaction has been firefighting. The root of all of this is the bursting of the US housing market bubble and the resulting fallout. Rather than treat the symptoms, as the US government has been frantically doing this last week, it would be better off treating the cause: the housing market. Instead of bailing out feckless banks and their toxic derivatives, bailing out US citizens with subprime mortgages or negative equity might actually turn the housing market around - and so begin to solve this mess. But as Gore Vidal once noted, the US government prefers that "public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Wed Sep 17 21:24:57 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Wed Sep 17 21:25:12 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Socialism for the rich -Spalshing out billions failing to treat the causes Message-ID: <48D191C9.28513.1FD71CE0@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> This article concludes: So far the Fed and Treasury reaction has been firefighting. The root of all of this is the bursting of the US housing market bubble and the resulting fallout. Rather than treat the symptoms, as the US government has been frantically doing this last week, it would be better off treating the cause: the housing market. Instead of bailing out feckless banks and their toxic derivatives, bailing out US citizens with subprime mortgages or negative equity might actually turn the housing market around - and so begin to solve this mess. But as Gore Vidal once noted, the US government prefers that "public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." fyi-janet ============================= http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/17/wallstreet.usecono my Socialism for the rich The US government is splashing out billions of dollars in bailouts but is failing to treat the causes of this financial crisis The Guardian (London) -- Wednesday September 17 2008 20:00 BST If you want to grasp the mixed-up, interwoven nature of the international financial markets, consider this: the US investment bank Lehman Brothers leased a million square feet of office space in London, for which it paid about 40m-50m Pounds a year. Lehmans paid its rent to a property company, the Canary Wharf Group - which in turn is controlled by another company, Songbird Estates. Simple enough so far? Here's where it gets complicated. The rent that Lehmans paid forms part of the income behind a 2.5bn Pound securitisation package (that is, corporate bonds sold to outside investors, mortgaged against a stream of future earnings) through a holding company named Canary Wharf Finance II PLC. The securitisation's income was insured by the US company AIG. So when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, that meant AIG will be in the hole for the 200m Pounds that Lehmans would have paid in rent for the next four years. But AIG itself would probably have gone under yesterday or today, except that the US government effectively nationalised AIG last night in loaning it the $85bn that it needed to keep going. But that's not all. Remember Songbird Estates - the company that owns the company that owns the building that AIG insured the rent that Lehman Brothers defaulted on? Well, Songbird is owned by a group that includes Morgan Stanley - another huge US investment bank that today is getting hammered on Wall Street over its exposure to ... Lehman Brothers and the property market. If none of that makes sense, then at least you know how Ben Bernanke - chairman of the US Federal Reserve - must feel. To rewind: last weekend Lehman Brothers asked the US government - the Fed and the US Treasury - for the sort of bailout that was granted six months ago to Bear Stearns, the US investment bank that went belly-up and taken over by JP Morgan after the US authorities agreed to pick up the tab. But the Feds said no this time - and were instantly applauded for this get tough policy, that after bailing out Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and pumping further unprecedented billions - $70bn on Monday alone - into the financial system, the government was saying that the there was no more "too big too fail". The Washington Post's editorial writers cheered loudly: "We think they made the right call. The long list of bailout candidates, headed at the moment by AIG, confirms that policymakers were going to have to send this message sooner than later." The Wall Street Journal's red-in-tooth-and-claw editorial board agreed, saying "We're happy to report that the world didn't end yesterday," and continuing: The Treasury and the Fed have signalled that they can say no. While Lehman's failure has spooked markets, the lesson that a storied investment house can fail without a federal rescue is its own crash course in risk management. Not so fast. Only a few hours later and the Federal Reserve rode into town to rescue AIG, an institution that it doesn't even regulate. As congressman Barney Frank put it: "We had a one-day experiment in free enterprise." So why resuscitate AIG and not Lehman Brothers? The thinking is that AIG fell into the category of "too entangled to fail", meaning it was too big a part of a complex web of relationships and so its collapse would have an outsized impact on the rest of the financial world. As you can see from the example of just one London office block, mentioned above, there's something to that. But can anyone really know that for sure? Since there's no way of testing what would have happened if AIG had been allowed to go under, we can't tell. What we can tell is that the Fed and the US Treasury have been ham- fisted in their decision making. On Sunday AIG asked for a $40bn bridging loan from the US government to avert having its credit downgraded. The downgrades happened, things got worse for AIG - so on Monday and Tuesday the feds were badgering Wall Street banks to stump up $75bn in loans for AIG. Wall Street demurred - to no one's surprise, given the chaos in the markets and the difficulty in raising capital. So the Fed made itself to be the lender of last resort, again. But instead of the $40bn that could have done the trick on Sunday, because of its indecision its exposure is now $85bn. Not a case of "too little too late", but "too much, too late". The Fed and Treasury must have hoped that nationalisation of the largest US insurance company would underpin the market. But it hasn't yet. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq share indices are all down so far today, and short-term money market rates are sky-rocketing - meaning that banks are charging penal rates just to lend money to each other overnight (this in particular hurts retail banks). So where are we now? Six months after the Fed used the fact of a credit crunch to bailout Bear Stearns, the US economy is back to square one, or possible square zero. Another credit crunch is raging. The US taxpayer is now exposed to losses that refuse to be calculated: $20bn for Bear Stearns, up to $85bn in loans for AIG, an estimated $100bn to $200bn for Freddie and Fannie, hundreds of billions in liquidity, much of it soaking up worthless mortgage- backed junk bonds. No one knows how much this will end up costing. (One small example: AIG is also the shirt sponsor of Manchester United - although presumably not for much longer - so one way or another, the US taxpayer is in effect loaning AIG money to pay a British football club. Manchester United should send Hank Paulson a shirt.) Here's a thought. Perhaps the Fed and Treasury should have let Bear Stearns go bust back in March. The immediate reaction would have been brutal. But would it have been worse than how things have turned out - six months of turmoil, $2,000bn in value wiped off global stock markets and more costly bailouts. And here's another thought. So far the Fed and Treasury reaction has been firefighting. The root of all of this is the bursting of the US housing market bubble and the resulting fallout. Rather than treat the symptoms, as the US government has been frantically doing this last week, it would be better off treating the cause: the housing market. Instead of bailing out feckless banks and their toxic derivatives, bailing out US citizens with subprime mortgages or negative equity might actually turn the housing market around - and so begin to solve this mess. But as Gore Vidal once noted, the US government prefers that "public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Thu Sep 18 06:55:18 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Thu Sep 18 06:55:56 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Global Credit System Suffers Cardiac Arrest on US Crash -The Telegraph London, Sept 18 Message-ID: <48D21776.13231.2CD20F@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> The global credit system came close to total seizure yesterday. Key parts of the derivatives market shut down and a panic flight to safety depressed the yield on three-month US Treasury bills to almost zero for the first since the Great Depression in 1934. ... The collapse in investor confidence is a harsh verdict on the judgment of the US Federal Reserve, which chose to ignore market pleas for a rate cut to halt what amounts to a modern-era run on the banking system. Almost none of the current Fed governors have market experience. Most are academic theorists.... [] Professor Nouriel Roubini from New York University warns that several hundred banks will go under before this hurricane has exhausted its fury. [] John Chambers, head of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor's, said America's AAA grade is safe for now [] Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas, says the US debt scare is vastly overblown. "The debt levels are nothing compared to Europe, even after Fannie and Freddie. America still has great leeway," he said. "We think the next phase of this crisis is going to be a repatriation story as American investors bring their money back from frontier markets. " [] Albert Edwards, global strategist at Societe Generale, said.. " What we have seen so far is just a dress rehearsal for the deep recession that is coming. America is going to be losing 500,000 jobs a month. That is when we will see interest rates go to zero. The deficit will be covered with printed money as it was in Japan. The endgame will be helicopters full of cash dropped by Ben Bernanke," he said. fyi-janet =================== Global Credit System Suffers Cardiac Arrest on U.S. Crash By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard The Telegraph, London Thursday, September 18, 2008 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/ 2008/09/18/ccambr... The global credit system came close to total seizure yesterday. Key parts of the derivatives market shut down and a panic flight to safety depressed the yield on three-month US Treasury bills to almost zero for the first since the Great Depression in 1934. The closely-watched TED-spread measuring stress in the interbanking lending market rocketed to 238 as the share prices of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wachovia, and Bank of America all went into a tailspin yesterday. The collapse in investor confidence is a harsh verdict on the judgment of the US Federal Reserve, which chose to ignore market pleas for a rate cut to halt what amounts to a modern-era run on the banking system. Almost none of the current Fed governors have market experience. Most are academic theorists. The Fed had hoped that a targeted $85 billion (L47 billion) bailout for insurance giant AIG -- on onerous terms -- would be enough to stabilize the banks after the weekend failure of Lehman Brothers. Instead it set off a cardiac arrest at the heart of the credit system. Bernard Connolly, global strategist at Banque AIG, said the Fed and the Treasury were doing too little, too late, to stave off disaster. Interest rates need to be cut immediately and dramatically, while Washington must prepare for a wholesale takeover of large parts of the lending system along the lines of the Scandinavian bank rescues in the early 1990s. "Unless there is a very rapid change of mind, depression -- with all its horrors and consequences -- will be inevitable. The judgment that letting Lehman's go would not create systemic risk depended, if it was ever going to be anything other than ludicrous, on very rapid action to shore up the financial system. Instead, Hank Paulson seems to be adding to the risk in the system," he said. "We fear that a virtual nationalisation of the financial system will now be necessary," he said. America's Reserve Primary Fund suspended withdrawals after shareholders pulled out almost $40 billion in two days on news of its heavy exposure to Lehman's debt. The move came as the fallout from Lehman's collapse spread worldwide. Japan's Nikkei wire said Japanese banks would suffer almost $2 billion of losses on Lehman's bond defaults. Russia suspended trading the Moscow bourse after the Micex index crashed 24 percent in two days. Officials promised $44 billion to support the banking system. As Washington bails out one financial institution after another, investors have begun to doubt the long-term credit-worthiness of the US itself. The cost of insuring against default on 10-year US Treasuries jumped to an all-time high of 30 basis points yesterday, as measured by the credit default swaps (CDS) on the derivatives markets. Germany is at 13, and France is 20. "This is historically significant because we have never seen anything like it before," Daniel Pfaender, sovereign credit strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort. "What we don't know yet is whether this a liquidity issue or whether it reflects the credibility of the US financial system." The Treasury's rescue of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has added $5.3 trillion in liabilities to the US government. It almost doubles the national debt (under IMF definitions), at least on paper. The Fed has now added a further $85 billion in debt for AIG. While the sums are manageable so far, what worries investors is the likely avalanche of insolvencies yet to come. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has already exhausted half its capital cleaning up after the collapse of IndyMac. It may need half a trillion dollars of fresh money to cope with the 120-odd lenders on its sick list. Professor Nouriel Roubini from New York University warns that several hundred banks will go under before this hurricane has exhausted its fury. John Chambers, head of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor's, said America's AAA grade is safe for now. The Fannie/Freddie bailout is not comparable to ordinary state debt. It is backed by housing collateral, mostly based on prime mortgages. "In the worst-case scenario, the losses from Fannie and Freddie will be 2.5 percent of GDP. This is not to belittle the unprecedented actions of the last two weeks. "For the US to lose its AAA we would have to see the sort of financial distress that occurred in the Nordic countries. It could get that bad. There's no God-given gift of a AAA rating. The US has to earn it like everyone else," he said. Charles Dumas from Lombard Street Research said America's dependence on foreign money would carry a high price. "The ultimate test will be whether this seriously jeopardizes the reserve currency role of the US dollar. China finances the US government. So as long as the Chinese are willing to accept an annual loss of 15 percent on their holdings of US bonds in real yuan terms, this can go on, but the decision lies in Beijing. What is clear is that it will take the US decades to pay this off," he said. Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas, says the US debt scare is vastly overblown. America's total government debt is 48 percent of GDP on IMF measures, compared to 57 percent for Germany, 94 percent for Japan, and 108 percent for Italy. "The debt levels are nothing compared to Europe, even after Fannie and Freddie. America still has great leeway," he said. "We think the next phase of this crisis is going to be a repatriation story as American investors bring their money back from frontier markets. The US broker dealers were 60 times leveraged and now they need to take assets back onto dollar balance sheets." Albert Edwards, global strategist at Societe Generale, said Washington's serial bailouts are the inevitable result of the credit bubble of preceding years. "This was all baked in the cake long ago. What we have seen so far is just a dress rehearsal for the deep recession that is coming. America is going to be losing 500,000 jobs a month. That is when we will see interest rates go to zero. The deficit will be covered with printed money as it was in Japan. The endgame will be helicopters full of cash dropped by Ben Bernanke," he said. * * * -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6592 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080918/7d838754/--0002.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 18827 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080918/7d838754/--0003.obj From duanebehrens at cox.net Thu Sep 18 08:19:38 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Thu Sep 18 08:19:47 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Palin Late Night Humor Message-ID: <20080918091938.87MC3.209803.imail@fed1rmwml42> "I think this is pertinent because McCain has been running this campaign based on 'we're at war, it's a dangerous world out there. I, John McCain, am the only one standing between the blood-thirsty Al Qaedas and you. But if I die, this stewardess can handle it.'" -Bill Maher "When they were vetting her for this job, like three seconds ago, she said, quote, 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Let me field that for you, Sarah. They start wars, they enrich their friends, they subvert the Constitution, and they shoot people in the face. That's what the vice president does." -Bill Maher "There was some breaking news out of Dayton, Ohio today, where Republican presidential candidate John McCain introduced the world to his third wife." -Jon Stewart "Actually, it was kind of a smart choice. McCain went with a woman because he didn't want to have to be in a position to have to get CPR from Mitt Romney." -Jay Leno "Palin and McCain are a good pair. She's pro-life and he's clinging to life." -Jay Leno "Today President Bush called Gov. Palin and congratulated her. Bush told Palin the job of vice president is very important because as vice president, you get to tell the president what to do." -Jay Leno "Five kids? Does anyone in that party understand the concept of pulling out?" -Bill Maher -- "They're gonna make it look like suicide, I know how these bastards think..." Hunter S. Thompson ============= From jomut at yahoo.com Thu Sep 18 14:45:59 2008 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Thu Sep 18 14:46:09 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Socialism for the rich -Spalshing out billions failing to treat the causes In-Reply-To: <48D191C9.28513.1FD71CE0@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <104156.33657.qm@web31105.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut@yahoo.com chakane@hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi ? Such a tangled web actually.? Dunno that coming to the assistance of the subprime homeowners would not have been tantamonut to an indirect bailing out of the same financial gougers that initially?authored this whole debacle, since the same gougers would have been the ultimate receivers of the proceeds from the bailout anyway. ? The?calamitous fate of the whole network of financial gimmickry?(derivatives and harrowingly complex, off-ledger transactions, resorted to, by the respectable pickpockets,?to evade both regulatory brakes and the inquisitive probes of an interested public) might have been provisionally deferred to a later date. ? Interesting to note that?knowledgeable critics?have been saying, since the Enron debacle, and the few revelatory corporate scandals that immediately followed it, that that was (Enron)?just a tip of the iceberg and underneath it most of corporate America was awash with self-destructive,?Enronian corporate malpractice. ? Guess who is vindicated now. ? And what?a tribute to the mainstream press!? Just as?imbedded in the murky?world of corporate?finance?as Judith "New York Times" Miller?ever was in Iraq war reportage.? Thus far I have not witnessed any of?them consulting the opinions of independent critics of Wall Street (Greider, Chomsky etc) so that the public may have a much more informed view of the welter of shenanigans occurring in the rarerified world of high finance and what all that dublicitous tommyrot about deregulation and relaxation of capital controls is actually?all about. ? Pity that in this season of compulsively controlled electoral posturing (in both Canada and the US) this issue and?its deeply embarrasing relevance to the fundamental economic and political philosophy that shores up the belief-system of the major political parties (a philosophy now under the adverse siege of hostile, reactive, and - let us hope - sobering?events) will almost certainly?be treated - and actually?is being so treated?--?just like any?other issue of temporary significance. ? Need I mention that?the same gougers, who unrelentingly counselled governments all over the globe to lay relentless siege on the financing of public services so that public monies devoted to such?collective enterprises would be redirected to their enormous pocketbooks -- thus fabulously enriching themselves in the process, at the same time?that the?vulgar, great unwashed of the world squirmed in well merited wretchedness --, are the ones whom the world is now bailing out with?globally aroused?trepidation. ? Wonder who authored my tawdry values? ? John ======================= ? --- On Thu, 9/18/08, Janet M Eaton wrote: From: Janet M Eaton Subject: [Mai-not] Socialism for the rich -Spalshing out billions failing to treat the causes To: "a renewed Mai-Not Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 2:24 AM This article concludes: So far the Fed and Treasury reaction has been firefighting. The root of all of this is the bursting of the US housing market bubble and the resulting fallout. Rather than treat the symptoms, as the US government has been frantically doing this last week, it would be better off treating the cause: the housing market. Instead of bailing out feckless banks and their toxic derivatives, bailing out US citizens with subprime mortgages or negative equity might actually turn the housing market around - and so begin to solve this mess. But as Gore Vidal once noted, the US government prefers that "public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." fyi-janet ============================= http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/17/wallstreet.usecono my Socialism for the rich The US government is splashing out billions of dollars in bailouts but is failing to treat the causes of this financial crisis The Guardian (London) -- Wednesday September 17 2008 20:00 BST If you want to grasp the mixed-up, interwoven nature of the international financial markets, consider this: the US investment bank Lehman Brothers leased a million square feet of office space in London, for which it paid about 40m-50m Pounds a year. Lehmans paid its rent to a property company, the Canary Wharf Group - which in turn is controlled by another company, Songbird Estates. Simple enough so far? Here's where it gets complicated. The rent that Lehmans paid forms part of the income behind a 2.5bn Pound securitisation package (that is, corporate bonds sold to outside investors, mortgaged against a stream of future earnings) through a holding company named Canary Wharf Finance II PLC. The securitisation's income was insured by the US company AIG. So when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, that meant AIG will be in the hole for the 200m Pounds that Lehmans would have paid in rent for the next four years. But AIG itself would probably have gone under yesterday or today, except that the US government effectively nationalised AIG last night in loaning it the $85bn that it needed to keep going. But that's not all. Remember Songbird Estates - the company that owns the company that owns the building that AIG insured the rent that Lehman Brothers defaulted on? Well, Songbird is owned by a group that includes Morgan Stanley - another huge US investment bank that today is getting hammered on Wall Street over its exposure to ... Lehman Brothers and the property market. If none of that makes sense, then at least you know how Ben Bernanke - chairman of the US Federal Reserve - must feel. To rewind: last weekend Lehman Brothers asked the US government - the Fed and the US Treasury - for the sort of bailout that was granted six months ago to Bear Stearns, the US investment bank that went belly-up and taken over by JP Morgan after the US authorities agreed to pick up the tab. But the Feds said no this time - and were instantly applauded for this get tough policy, that after bailing out Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and pumping further unprecedented billions - $70bn on Monday alone - into the financial system, the government was saying that the there was no more "too big too fail". The Washington Post's editorial writers cheered loudly: "We think they made the right call. The long list of bailout candidates, headed at the moment by AIG, confirms that policymakers were going to have to send this message sooner than later." The Wall Street Journal's red-in-tooth-and-claw editorial board agreed, saying "We're happy to report that the world didn't end yesterday," and continuing: The Treasury and the Fed have signalled that they can say no. While Lehman's failure has spooked markets, the lesson that a storied investment house can fail without a federal rescue is its own crash course in risk management. Not so fast. Only a few hours later and the Federal Reserve rode into town to rescue AIG, an institution that it doesn't even regulate. As congressman Barney Frank put it: "We had a one-day experiment in free enterprise." So why resuscitate AIG and not Lehman Brothers? The thinking is that AIG fell into the category of "too entangled to fail", meaning it was too big a part of a complex web of relationships and so its collapse would have an outsized impact on the rest of the financial world. As you can see from the example of just one London office block, mentioned above, there's something to that. But can anyone really know that for sure? Since there's no way of testing what would have happened if AIG had been allowed to go under, we can't tell. What we can tell is that the Fed and the US Treasury have been ham- fisted in their decision making. On Sunday AIG asked for a $40bn bridging loan from the US government to avert having its credit downgraded. The downgrades happened, things got worse for AIG - so on Monday and Tuesday the feds were badgering Wall Street banks to stump up $75bn in loans for AIG. Wall Street demurred - to no one's surprise, given the chaos in the markets and the difficulty in raising capital. So the Fed made itself to be the lender of last resort, again. But instead of the $40bn that could have done the trick on Sunday, because of its indecision its exposure is now $85bn. Not a case of "too little too late", but "too much, too late". The Fed and Treasury must have hoped that nationalisation of the largest US insurance company would underpin the market. But it hasn't yet. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq share indices are all down so far today, and short-term money market rates are sky-rocketing - meaning that banks are charging penal rates just to lend money to each other overnight (this in particular hurts retail banks). So where are we now? Six months after the Fed used the fact of a credit crunch to bailout Bear Stearns, the US economy is back to square one, or possible square zero. Another credit crunch is raging. The US taxpayer is now exposed to losses that refuse to be calculated: $20bn for Bear Stearns, up to $85bn in loans for AIG, an estimated $100bn to $200bn for Freddie and Fannie, hundreds of billions in liquidity, much of it soaking up worthless mortgage- backed junk bonds. No one knows how much this will end up costing. (One small example: AIG is also the shirt sponsor of Manchester United - although presumably not for much longer - so one way or another, the US taxpayer is in effect loaning AIG money to pay a British football club. Manchester United should send Hank Paulson a shirt.) Here's a thought. Perhaps the Fed and Treasury should have let Bear Stearns go bust back in March. The immediate reaction would have been brutal. But would it have been worse than how things have turned out - six months of turmoil, $2,000bn in value wiped off global stock markets and more costly bailouts. And here's another thought. So far the Fed and Treasury reaction has been firefighting. The root of all of this is the bursting of the US housing market bubble and the resulting fallout. Rather than treat the symptoms, as the US government has been frantically doing this last week, it would be better off treating the cause: the housing market. Instead of bailing out feckless banks and their toxic derivatives, bailing out US citizens with subprime mortgages or negative equity might actually turn the housing market around - and so begin to solve this mess. But as Gore Vidal once noted, the US government prefers that "public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080918/d8b8c927/attachment.html From duanebehrens at cox.net Thu Sep 18 18:01:22 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Thu Sep 18 18:01:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Quote of the Week [or] Why the Elections Don't Matter Message-ID: <20080918190122.OL6SE.439525.imail@fed1rmwml31> "There is this inextricable tie between culture, religion, ethnicity that most people do not understand...You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist." U.$. VP candidate Senator Biden, speaking on Shalom TV. From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Sep 19 00:07:53 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri Sep 19 00:08:21 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] US Economy - Michael Hudson and Amy Goodman on the Bailout Message-ID: <48D30979.2009.282391E@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/17/us_seizes_control_of_aig_with (clip) AMY GOODMAN: Michael Hudson, we're talking government bailout, which means taxpayers stuck with the bill. Do you think this is the right move? MICHAEL HUDSON: No, it's the worst possible move, and it puts the class war back in business with a vengeance. Wall Street has been preparing for this for years, because every financial analyst knows that the debts can't be paid. And the question that Wall Street has, if you're going to take a gamble on bad debts that can't be paid, how are you going to come out a winner? And there's only one way of coming out a winner, and that's to make the government bail you out. This has been known for years, because it's inherent almost in the mathematics of compound interest. Every banker I know knew that the loans they were making were going to go bad. They were trying to sell them to somebody else, ultimately expecting them to end up with some sovereign wealth fund. And now, you had at the beginning of the show, McCain saying that this is the result of fraud and incompetence. The government has now bailed them out. But by bailing them out-Wall Street was coming to terms with the bad debts. When Bear Stearns went under and when Lehman Brothers went under, this began to wipe away the bad debts. And when the debts exceed the ability to pay, there's only one thing any economy can do, and that's wipe them out. Instead, the government is trying to keep the fiction alive. And what Paulson did yesterday, in bailing out AIG, was to try to lock in whoever is the next president not only to further bailouts of Wall Street, ostensibly to protect the public money, but to make it impossible to write down the debts of the four million homeowners that are expected to default this year, impossible to write down the debts of companies that have issued junk bonds, impossible for the country to get rid of this excess of debts that can't be repaid. And you're having really a war now of creditors against debtors. And this is what Wall Street has been preparing for. It needed an emergency to do it. It's really not an emergency at all. This has been building up for many years. Everybody expected it. And breathlessly now, the Secretary of Treasury has done it. AMY GOODMAN: But, of course, the argument was, if you don't bail out AIG, it could lead to a global financial meltdown. MICHAEL HUDSON: What you-it's a meltdown of the gamblers, as Nomi said. These are people who've gambled. You had McCain saying they're gamblers. If these people have gambled, we're talking about derivative trades, billions of dollars of bets on which way interest rates will go, billions of dollars of bad loans beyond the ability of debtors to pay. Why on earth would you want to bail out these creditors? AMY GOODMAN: So, what would happen if you didn't? MICHAEL HUDSON: Then you would prepare the ground for writing down the debts of the homeowners that have no way of repaying the exploding mortgages. Those interest rates are going to be jumping up this year. You would be able to bring the debts down to the ability of the economy to pay, and you would save these four million homeowners from defaulting and being kicked out of their houses. Now they're going to be kicked out of the houses. The houses will be vacant. The cities are going to now say, "Gee, we're going to have to cut the property taxes to enable the debts to be paid to save the financial system." So, if they cut the property taxes, they're going to have to cut back local expenditures, local infrastructure. The economy is being sacrificed to pay the gamblers. AMY GOODMAN: Nomi Prins, how has Wall Street changed? And how does this meet everyday people? Lehman, bankrupt; you've got AIG nationalized, same with Freddie and Fannie; you've got the takeover of Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America-happened over a weekend. (continues) From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Sep 19 06:24:09 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri Sep 19 06:24:32 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Polls Show Palin Is Starting to Drag Down McCain [Alternet S19] Message-ID: <48D361A9.24236.3DAB819@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Excerpt: The intense focus to reveal the truth about Sarah Palin's credentials has taken its toll on her numbers. Approve /Disapprove/ No Opinion 9/11: 52 35 13 +17 9/12: 51 37 12 +14 9/13: 49 40 11 +9 9/14: 47 42 11 +5 9/15: 47 43 10 +4 9/16: 45 44 11 +1 9/17: 44 45 11 -1 9/18: 42 46 11 -4 That's a shocking 18 21-point collapse in a single week. She went from being just about the most popular person on the top of the ticket, to the (lipstick wearing?) goat. And it's not just our Research 2000 polling showing this collapse. All of this is happening because we did not relent on Palin, blocking Republican efforts to paint her in a positive light. The results are speaking for themselves. fyi-janet ====================== http://www.alternet.org/election08/99424/polls_show_palin_is_starting_ to_drag_down_mccain/?page=entire Polls Show Palin Is Starting to Drag Down McCain By Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos. Posted September 19, 2008. The intense focus to reveal the truth about Sarah Palin's credentials has taken its toll on her numbers. No one can doubt that McCain's choice of Palin rejuvenated a listless, dying campaign. She excited the Theocon Right and brought them home, and being a fresh new face with an interesting bio, she captivated the nation's attention. Her initial numbers were sky high, and she packed them in for McCain. Suddenly, what had been a large Obama post-DNCC bounce turned on a dime, and Palin delivered a huge surge for her ticket. Bloggers and tradmed reporters took a hard look at Sarah Palin and began raking her over the coals for myriad transgressions. She is a liar with theocratic tendencies, sports an intellect that makes Bush look like a Mensa member, and features an obvious fondness for Cheney- style abuses of power. And that's not even the worst of it. But then the worriers began to question, "Why are we focusing on Palin? McCain is getting a pass! We're tilting at windmills, since she's too popular to damage!" We were told to stop talking altogether about Palin, as if ignoring her would remove the spell she had cast on America. This Andrew Sullivan post must've been emailed to me two dozen times by panicked worrywarts. A few bad polls, and people seemed to be losing their minds and sense. But we continued to focus on Palin. Republicans were busy trying to build a positive narrative about Palin -- the "hockey mom" who was so folksy she could "field dress a moose" and had "said no to the Bridge to Nowhere and other government waste" and was overflowing with "small town values." McCain had shot up in the polls because of Palin. Common sense dictated it would be hard to knock him back down as long as she consolidated her popularity. So we set out to build the negative narratives about Palin. This is stuff straight out of Taking on the System. I have a whole chapter on it, in fact. So we focused heavily on Palin, and make no mistake, it's exactly that intense focus that has taken its toll on her numbers: Approve Disapprove No Opinion 9/11: 52 35 13 +17 9/12: 51 37 12 +14 9/13: 49 40 11 +9 9/14: 47 42 11 +5 9/15: 47 43 10 +4 9/16: 45 44 11 +1 9/17: 44 45 11 -1 9/18: 42 46 11 -4 That's a shocking 18 21-point collapse in a single week. She went from being just about the most popular person on the top of the ticket, to the (lipstick wearing?) goat. And it's not just our Research 2000 polling showing this collapse. In the three days after Palin joined Team McCain--Aug. 29-31--32 percent of voters told the pollsters at Diageo/Hotline that they had a favorable opinion of her; most (48 percent) didn't know enough to say [..] By Sept. 4, however, 43 percent of Diageo/Hotline respondents approved of Palin with only 25 percent disapproving--an 18-point split. Apparently, voters were liking what they were hearing. Four days later, Palin's approval rating had climbed to 47 percent (+17), and by Sept. 13 it had hit 52 percent. The gap at that point between her favorable and unfavorable numbers--22 percent--was larger than either McCain's (+20) or Obama's (+13). But then a funny thing happened: Palin seems to have lost some of her luster. Since Sept. 13, Palin's unfavorables have climbed from 30 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, her favorables have slipped from 52 percent to 48 percent. That's a three-day net swing of -10 points, and it leaves her in the Sept. 15 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll tied for the smallest favorability split (+12)** of any of the Final Four. [UPDATE: The Sept. 17 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll shows Palin at 47 percent favorable and 37 percent unfavorable--an even narrower +10 split.] Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least. The trendline is indisputable (it was just picked up by CBS). And just as Palin's initial popularity bolstered McCain, her sudden faltering is now bringing him back down to earth. You might have even noticed that the latest round of McCain ads don't even feature her or refer to "McCain/Palin." It's back to just "McCain." She was starting to drag him down. Palin will continue to excite and energize the wingnut base. She was designed for that purpose, and won't fail at that task. But her cratering popularity now hampers McCain's efforts to expand beyond that core base. All of this is happening because we did not relent on Palin, blocking Republican efforts to paint her in a positive light. The results are speaking for themselves. ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6740 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080919/65aa3acc/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080919/65aa3acc/--0001.obj From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Sep 19 06:25:51 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri Sep 19 06:26:15 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Andy Warhol Would Have Loved Sarah Palin -- the Ultimate Soup Can by Patricia Williams, The Nation, S19 Message-ID: <48D3620F.17342.3DC42EF@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Andy Warhol would have loved Sarah Palin. She really is the ultimate soup can. For anyone who never quite understood the point of an art form in which the iconicity of a mass-produced object becomes an end above and beyond its contents -- well, welcome to the fame factory....What Warhol did with Mao Zedong and Marilyn Monroe is precisely what the Republican Party has done with Sarah Palin. fyi-janet =============================== http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/99417 Andy Warhol Would Have Loved Sarah Palin -- the Ultimate Soup Can By Patricia J. Williams, The Nation Posted on September 19, 2008, Printed on September 19, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/99417/ Andy Warhol would have loved Sarah Palin. She really is the ultimate soup can. For anyone who never quite understood the point of an art form in which the iconicity of a mass-produced object becomes an end above and beyond its contents -- well, welcome to the fame factory. Warhol is known for having minimized or even disguised his expressive role in the works he produced; yet he re-presented banal commercial images in ways that were playful and captivating despite their erstwhile familiarity. His explorations with the "kitschy," the "cheap" and the "ordinary" involved small cognitive surprises that were at once obvious and subtle: He'd disclose a pattern of layered color or he'd shift scale in a way that upended conventional meaning or he'd reiterate an image so emphatically that "mass" production was revealed as obsessive. What Warhol did with Mao Zedong and Marilyn Monroe is precisely what the Republican Party has done with Sarah Palin. The morning after Barack Obama's speech at Invesco Field, I was giddily high on happiness hormones. "Beat that, ridiculously unpopular Bushites," I thought. "Kumbaya, my Lord," I sang, as I checked out of my hotel and hailed a cab to Denver airport. The first sign that I had entered hell's handbasket was the grim little smile on the taxi driver's face. The second thing that hit me was the sound of his radio, which was very, very loud. It was tuned to Rush Limbaugh. Palin had just been presented in a press conference as McCain's running mate. She was reciting what would soon become a familiar litany: I am your average hockey mom. I worked my way up through the PTA. Here are my children -- Trigger, Trapper, Plucky, Pillow and Plum (or that's how I heard that rat-a-tat blizzard of names the first time around). Most remarkable was the vampiric over- voice of Mr. Dittohead himself: Limbaugh was interjecting wickedly throughout Palin's speech, delivering the talking points that would become well-burnished clich?s by the end of the week. "I want to see Sarah Palin age in office," he said, with a leer in his voice. "Imagine Hillary watching this," he said with naked longing. "Imagine if Hillary had won the nomination. She'd lose against this woman." Limbaugh was having quite a cackle: "I'd love to see Hillary right now..." he said over and over again. Five days later, Sarah Palin formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination for vice president of the United States of America. She did so in a speech that echoed, sometimes word for word, Limbaugh's earlier over-voice. She did so in a speech that, according to Time, had been written by Republican Party planners well before Sarah Palin was even identified as the nominee. As someone who was trained in advertising, Warhol had mastered many of the tools of expert propagandists. One such device is prosopopeia, a rather literary term for what happens when the Pillsbury Doughboy persuades you to buy a bread product by giggling so charmingly after that poke to his puffy little tummy. Prosopopeia is the personification of an abstraction. As theorist Barbara Johnson says in her book Persons and Things, "A speaking thing can sell itself; if the purchaser responds to the speech of the object, he or she feels uninfluenced by human manipulation and therefore somehow not duped. We are supposed not to notice how absurd it is to be addressed by the Maalox Max bottle, or Mr. Clean, or Mrs. Butterworth." It is in precisely this sense that Warhol's portraits are calculated disguises, masks that artfully undermine the specificity of his subjects and render them theatrically populist images. There is, for example, a wonderful Warhol self-portrait, now on exhibit at Ohio State's Wexner Center for the Arts, in which he wears white face makeup, a woman's wig, eyeliner and bright red lipstick. He is to Kabuki femininity what Sarah Palin is to Kabuki Republican masculinity: iconic, self-proclaiming, yet concealed. That this is literally the case is underscored by the invisible and advance authorship of "her" acceptance speech. Imagine that speech as it lay waiting for just the right someone to deliver it. Imagine the accents and intonations of the tryouts they must have had: what gun-toting, warmongering, polar-bear extinguishing, creationist, antiabortionist man could have gotten away with it? "How do you sell a box of poison?" they must have wondered. Dress it up in drag, they obviously concluded. In the few weeks since Sarah Palin has become a household name, she's often been glibly compared to a Barbie doll -- and certainly her lack of knowledge of the Bush doctrine, or her comments about not knowing what the vice president does, make me wish she'd been recalled as fast as that talking Barbie who complained that "Math class is tough." But I think the analogy is more apt when thinking about how Palin has been mass-marketed. As Barbara Johnson says, "The packaging is part of what the consumer buys: not only can Barbie not stand without the box, but in it she is positioned for maximum effect. Some dolls come in boxes that almost function like mirrors: the commodity is surrounded by a gleaming aura that adds glamour to its appeal." This is the secret, too, of purportedly unscripted reality shows like American Idol and America's Next Top Model. None of those shows are about enduring talent or fame that lasts more than fifteen minutes. Week after week, they crank out the "winners," the "survivors," -- the soup cans. The consuming public seems oblivious of the degree to which its "idols" are not even uniquely American but manufactured by global franchises with local versions sold in countries all over the world. That kind of commercial manipulation, it seems to me, is exactly the template for Sarah Palin's pull in this election. That so much of the public is willing to buy it is something I find much more disconcerting than lipstick on a pit bull; to me, it looks frighteningly like Karl Rove in designer glasses and a skirt. Patricia J. Williams, a professor of law at Columbia University and a member of the State Bar of California, writes The Nation column "Diary of a Mad Law Professor." Her books include The Rooster's Egg (1995) and Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (1997). ? 2008 The Nation All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/99417/ ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 7276 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080919/cec0bad0/--0002.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080919/cec0bad0/--0003.obj From gdy52150 at spiritone.com Fri Sep 19 22:55:04 2008 From: gdy52150 at spiritone.com (gdy52150) Date: Fri Sep 19 22:33:43 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar Message-ID: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar Once again we are in that period where the country goes bat shit crazy. Fortunately we only have to endure the next couple of months only once every four years. If anyone knowing the truth were to listen to what passes as the mainstream news they would swear Fibber McGee was running amok on the airwaves and Caribou Sal was running loose in the china shop. During the Vietnam War, I can remember watching the news of an interview of John McCain in North Vietnam with him blinking his eyes in some sort of code. I can also remember the news reports after North Vietnam released him and all the reports indicated the very real possibility of the military court marshalling him for collaboration with the enemy. There were additional reports that some of his fellow prisoners were severely beaten as a direct result of what he had told the North Vietnamese. The fact is if John's father had not been a hot-shot admiral the military would have court marshaled him. By golly Miss Molly, McCain is no war hero in fact he is a damn coward and traitor and that?s no bullshit. Incidentally McCain is responsible for the deaths of more American sailors than Vietnamese. When he was shot down in North Vietnam it was the fifth plane he had crashed. The fourth plane he crashed was aboard the USS Forrestal that resulted in the deaths of 167 sailors in the fire that engulfed the aircraft carrier. The fire was a result of a stupid hotdog stunt known as wet starting in which fuel is pooled in the bottom of the engine then on ignition it sends a flash out of the engine to shake up the pilot behind him. The ship was so damaged it had to be taken out of the war. The following morning helicopters were evacuating the severely injured to base hospitals. Taking one off the available spots for the injured was an uninjured John McCain. The number of deaths would very likely have risen to 168 if any of MCCain's shipmates could have found him. He was the only pilot transferred from the Forrrestal thanks to his admiral daddy. Now McCain's political career is as dismal as its military record. Besides being an extremist and hothead McCain is most noted for becoming embroiled in the savings and loan scandal. One thing about McCain---he is a damn good bank robber and wiped out granny's savings that she had deposited in the savings and loan. McCain is a damn lair when he says he's ready to work for you, he has made a career out of selling his vote to the highest bidder. He sold out to the North Vietnamese, he sold out to the savings and loan sharpies, and he has never met the lobbyist with an open checkbook that he didn?t like. The pig in the poke might be wearing lipstick but he's still a damn lair. McCain is just a MadMax version of George Bush. By Golly Miss Molly the last thing we need is a MadMax version of Bush with his finger on the nuclear button. There would be no future when MadMax has his finger on the nuclear button---nuclear wars are not survivable. By golly Miss Molly McClain is crazy, while on Monday when the market tanked 500 points he said the economy was sound and the only thing wrong was some whiners acting up. Why anyone that even glanced at the financial pages would know the economy is in serious trouble, since the financial pages are full of articles about store closings, factory layoffs, bankrupcies and government bailouts. Now today he wants to fire the head of the SEC. Well lets hand it to the old codger he can flip flop like a fish out of water. You know during the depression, the Roosevelt administration passed some laws to prevent another financial melt down. Those laws worked and served the country well for nearly a half a century until the Wall Street sharpies got greedy and wanted those laws eliminated. Well John McCain voted for both bills that removed those restrictions. In fact, McCain enthusiastically supported the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Now that Gramm is the former senator from Texas and a big lobbyist and by Golly Miss Molly he is the same Gramm that co-chairs McCain's campaign. When McCain tells you he can fix the economy, tell him to keep his damn hands off of it ---we don?t need his kind of help. McCain wants to fix Social Security by privatizing. What he doesn?t tell you is he wants to use your money to prop up a collapsing stock market and a exploding housing bubble while he lets the Wall Street sharpies charge you exuberant fees to manage your money. By Golly Miss Molly if McCain gets elected the only safe place for your money will be under your mattress. McCain also says he wants to reform the oil futures market. But he is stone face silent about the Enron loophole that allows traders to control markets and price gouge consumers like they did in the California energy crisis. You see, the Enron loophole was supported by Gramn, McCain's election co chairman. Moreover Gramm's wife was a member of the board of directors at Enron and pocketed a million dollars in salary and additional goodies. Additionally the bill to create the Enron loophole was supported by lobbyist Charlie Black, who is a senior advisor to McCain. By golly Miss Molly McCain says he's his own man and isn?t owned by the lobbyist but the guy is full of shit and if elected we can expect $8 per gal gasoline before the end of his term as a payoff to his lobbyists ---err campaign staff. And then there is Caribou Sal, who claims she has administrative experience that Obama lacks. I'm not sure the type of experience she has, is needed in Washington. It seems as if Palin is more adept at using government employees to conduct her own personal vendettas than in making sound judgements benefiting the people. Strong-arming the public safety director to fire your ex-brother-in-law doesn't qualify you for the vice president slot. Nether does strong-arming the city librarian into banning books you deem inappropriate. But it does show how she deals with new ideas and other people's opinions--she burns or bans them. By golly Miss Molly the last thing we need in Washington is a book burner with a closed mind and a vendetta against anyone that disagrees with her. Moreover Palin as mayor slashed funding for medical exams of rape victims and billed the victim for the exams. She also cut funding from programs for teenage mothers as governor. Nor do we need another politician in Washington that has sold out to the oil companies and wants to remove all environmental protections for the benefit of a few big corporations. But Caribou Sal seems the perfect with John McCain. By Golly Miss Molly hang on to your pocketbook if Caribou Sal gets in Office she sponsors bridges to nowhere, raised the sales tax and like McCain is a damn good thief and is an expert at padding her expense account with personal expenditures. We'll be buying her lipstick if she wins as veep. Its interesting listening to this northern squawk box stammer on about making war with Russia when she has absolutely no international experience. By Golly Miss Molly I can remember much better times when candidates ran on peace platforms rather than on wars that can't be won. Then there is the matter of a half dozen witnesses in the investigation of Gov Palin's strong-arm tactics to fire her ex-brother-in-law refusing to testify. Moreover Palin's ex lover in that sordid affair is pensioning the court in an emergency decree to seal his divorce papers. Now I betcha there are some juicy details there. I know what witness tampering is and by golly Miss Molly Gov. Palin, John McCain and the Republican party is guilty as hell of witness tampering and that?s no bullshit. From netcfs at shaw.ca Fri Sep 19 22:42:56 2008 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Fri Sep 19 22:43:02 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar In-Reply-To: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> References: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> Message-ID: <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> Source please.. We cannot accept such statements without mentioning the source on a discussion group such as Mai-Not It is a matter of fairness and dignity. (not to mention an ability to keep on without being thrown out of the Web by fearful ISPs. Best regards Yves Bajard Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 ? 20:55 -0700, gdy52150 a ?crit : > Fibber McGee and Molly Too: > John McCain Is A God Damn Liar > > Once again we are in that period where the country goes bat shit crazy. > Fortunately we only have to endure the next couple of months only once > every four years. If anyone knowing the truth were to listen to what > passes as the mainstream news they would swear Fibber McGee was running > amok on the airwaves and Caribou Sal was running loose in the china shop. > During the Vietnam War, I can remember watching the news of an interview > of John McCain in North Vietnam with him blinking his eyes in some sort > of code. I can also remember the news reports after North Vietnam > released him and all the reports indicated the very real possibility of > the military court marshalling him for collaboration with the enemy. > There were additional reports that some of his fellow prisoners were > severely beaten as a direct result of what he had told the North > Vietnamese. The fact is if John's father had not been a hot-shot admiral > the military would have court marshaled him. By golly Miss Molly, McCain > is no war hero in fact he is a damn coward and traitor and that?s no > bullshit. > Incidentally McCain is responsible for the deaths of more American > sailors than Vietnamese. When he was shot down in North Vietnam it was > the fifth plane he had crashed. The fourth plane he crashed was aboard > the USS Forrestal that resulted in the deaths of 167 sailors in the fire > that engulfed the aircraft carrier. The fire was a result of a stupid > hotdog stunt known as wet starting in which fuel is pooled in the bottom > of the engine then on ignition it sends a flash out of the engine to > shake up the pilot behind him. The ship was so damaged it had to be > taken out of the war. The following morning helicopters were evacuating > the severely injured to base hospitals. Taking one off the available > spots for the injured was an uninjured John McCain. The number of deaths > would very likely have risen to 168 if any of MCCain's shipmates could > have found him. He was the only pilot transferred from the Forrrestal > thanks to his admiral daddy. > Now McCain's political career is as dismal as its military record. > Besides being an extremist and hothead McCain is most noted for becoming > embroiled in the savings and loan scandal. One thing about McCain---he > is a damn good bank robber and wiped out granny's savings that she had > deposited in the savings and loan. McCain is a damn lair when he says > he's ready to work for you, he has made a career out of selling his vote > to the highest bidder. He sold out to the North Vietnamese, he sold out > to the savings and loan sharpies, and he has never met the lobbyist with > an open checkbook that he didn?t like. The pig in the poke might be > wearing lipstick but he's still a damn lair. McCain is just a MadMax > version of George Bush. By Golly Miss Molly the last thing we need is a > MadMax version of Bush with his finger on the nuclear button. There > would be no future when MadMax has his finger on the nuclear > button---nuclear wars are not survivable. > By golly Miss Molly McClain is crazy, while on Monday when the market > tanked 500 points he said the economy was sound and the only thing wrong > was some whiners acting up. Why anyone that even glanced at the > financial pages would know the economy is in serious trouble, since the > financial pages are full of articles about store closings, factory > layoffs, bankrupcies and government bailouts. Now today he wants to fire > the head of the SEC. Well lets hand it to the old codger he can flip > flop like a fish out of water. You know during the depression, the > Roosevelt administration passed some laws to prevent another financial > melt down. Those laws worked and served the country well for nearly a > half a century until the Wall Street sharpies got greedy and wanted > those laws eliminated. Well John McCain voted for both bills that > removed those restrictions. In fact, McCain enthusiastically supported > the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. > Now that Gramm is the former senator from Texas and a big lobbyist and > by Golly Miss Molly he is the same Gramm that co-chairs McCain's > campaign. When McCain tells you he can fix the economy, tell him to keep > his damn hands off of it ---we don?t need his kind of help. > McCain wants to fix Social Security by privatizing. What he doesn?t tell > you is he wants to use your money to prop up a collapsing stock market > and a exploding housing bubble while he lets the Wall Street sharpies > charge you exuberant fees to manage your money. By Golly Miss Molly if > McCain gets elected the only safe place for your money will be under > your mattress. > McCain also says he wants to reform the oil futures market. But he is > stone face silent about the Enron loophole that allows traders to > control markets and price gouge consumers like they did in the > California energy crisis. You see, the Enron loophole was supported by > Gramn, McCain's election co chairman. Moreover Gramm's wife was a member > of the board of directors at Enron and pocketed a million dollars in > salary and additional goodies. Additionally the bill to create the Enron > loophole was supported by lobbyist Charlie Black, who is a senior > advisor to McCain. By golly Miss Molly McCain says he's his own man and > isn?t owned by the lobbyist but the guy is full of shit and if elected > we can expect $8 per gal gasoline before the end of his term as a payoff > to his lobbyists ---err campaign staff. > And then there is Caribou Sal, who claims she has administrative > experience that Obama lacks. I'm not sure the type of experience she > has, is needed in Washington. It seems as if Palin is more adept at > using government employees to conduct her own personal vendettas than in > making sound judgements benefiting the people. Strong-arming the public > safety director to fire your ex-brother-in-law doesn't qualify you for > the vice president slot. Nether does strong-arming the city librarian > into banning books you deem inappropriate. But it does show how she > deals with new ideas and other people's opinions--she burns or bans > them. By golly Miss Molly the last thing we need in Washington is a book > burner with a closed mind and a vendetta against anyone that disagrees > with her. Moreover Palin as mayor slashed funding for medical exams of > rape victims and billed the victim for the exams. She also cut funding > from programs for teenage mothers as governor. Nor do we need another > politician in Washington that has sold out to the oil companies and > wants to remove all environmental protections for the benefit of a few > big corporations. > But Caribou Sal seems the perfect with John McCain. By Golly Miss Molly > hang on to your pocketbook if Caribou Sal gets in Office she sponsors > bridges to nowhere, raised the sales tax and like McCain is a damn good > thief and is an expert at padding her expense account with personal > expenditures. We'll be buying her lipstick if she wins as veep. > Its interesting listening to this northern squawk box stammer on about > making war with Russia when she has absolutely no international > experience. By Golly Miss Molly I can remember much better times when > candidates ran on peace platforms rather than on wars that can't be won. > Then there is the matter of a half dozen witnesses in the investigation > of Gov Palin's strong-arm tactics to fire her ex-brother-in-law refusing > to testify. Moreover Palin's ex lover in that sordid affair is > pensioning the court in an emergency decree to seal his divorce papers. > Now I betcha there are some juicy details there. I know what witness > tampering is and by golly Miss Molly Gov. Palin, John McCain and the > Republican party is guilty as hell of witness tampering and that?s no > bullshit. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080919/490e0289/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sat Sep 20 00:05:01 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sat Sep 20 00:05:37 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar In-Reply-To: <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> References: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <20080920050504.52E34FA93@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> I agree with Yves over re-postings, but I do not think the post to which he refers here is in fact a re-posting. I took it to be the sender's own commentary on current events of importance. That being said, I found gdy52150's posting very interesting and learned new things from it which went into mo ammo store. I have my own commentary on McCain's "heroism" which relates not so much to his betrayals which appear to have been merely for personal advantage but to the fact that he and those he betrayed were all mass murderers who deserved to be put on trial by the Vietnamese for war crimes. Operation Rolling Thunder was sustained mass murder as part of the greater crime of aggression against the people (including the military personnel) of a country which had attacked nobody. Here is something that I placed in Truthout's commentary list this morning in response to virtual impunity granted to a murderer called Ramos for helping kill Iraqis outside the killing rules. It applies also to McCain's band of fly-boys. http://www.truthout.org/article/us-soldier-gets-seven-month-sentence-iraq-killings "Ah, but it was only Untermenschen that they murdered. Revenge? Revenge against people who do the right thing by using their crude weapons on scum like Ramos who have invaded their country on a lying pretext and, to the huzzahs of the "Support Our Troops" brigade, keep on killing to hold what they have grabbed. Homicide can be justified in self-defence, or in certain restricted circumstances defence of others, or in defence of one's country against aggression. None of this applies to anyone involved in invading and occupying a country which is committing aggression against nobody and has been thoroughly and justly punished for the aggression it committed in Kuwait. And the tired old excuse "It was orders" won't do either - Nuremberg put paid to that copout." Dion Giles Western Australia At 11:42 AM 20/09/2008, Yves Bajard wrote: >Source please.. We cannot accept such statements >without mentioning the source on a discussion group such as Mai-Not > >It is a matter of fairness and dignity. (not to >mention an ability to keep on without being >thrown out of the Web by fearful ISPs. > >Best regards > >Yves Bajard > > >Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 ? 20:55 -0700, gdy52150 a ?crit : >> >> >>Fibber McGee and Molly Too: >>John McCain Is A God Damn Liar >> >>Once again we are in that period where the country goes bat shit crazy. >>Fortunately we only have to endure the next couple of months only once >>every four years. If anyone knowing the truth were to listen to what >>passes as the mainstream news they would swear Fibber McGee was running >>amok on the airwaves and Caribou Sal was running loose in the china shop. >>During the Vietnam War, I can remember watching the news of an interview >>of John McCain in North Vietnam with him blinking his eyes in some sort >>of code. I can also remember the news reports after North Vietnam >>released him and all the reports indicated the very real possibility of >>the military court marshalling him for collaboration with the enemy. >>There were additional reports that some of his fellow prisoners were >>severely beaten as a direct result of what he had told the North >>Vietnamese. The fact is if John's father had not been a hot-shot admiral >>the military would have court marshaled him. By golly Miss Molly, McCain >>is no war hero in fact he is a damn coward and traitor and that?s no >>bullshit. >>Incidentally McCain is responsible for the deaths of more American >>sailors than Vietnamese. When he was shot down in North Vietnam it was >>the fifth plane he had crashed. The fourth plane he crashed was aboard >>the USS Forrestal that resulted in the deaths of 167 sailors in the fire >>that engulfed the aircraft carrier. The fire was a result of a stupid >>hotdog stunt known as wet starting in which fuel is pooled in the bottom >>of the engine then on ignition it sends a flash out of the engine to >>shake up the pilot behind him. The ship was so damaged it had to be >>taken out of the war. The following morning helicopters were evacuating >>the severely injured to base hospitals. Taking one off the available >>spots for the injured was an uninjured John McCain. The number of deaths >>would very likely have risen to 168 if any of MCCain's shipmates could >>have found him. He was the only pilot transferred from the Forrrestal >>thanks to his admiral daddy. >>Now McCain's political career is as dismal as its military record. >>Besides being an extremist and hothead McCain is most noted for becoming >>embroiled in the savings and loan scandal. One thing about McCain---he >>is a damn good bank robber and wiped out granny's savings that she had >>deposited in the savings and loan. McCain is a damn lair when he says >>he's ready to work for you, he has made a career out of selling his vote >>to the highest bidder. He sold out to the North Vietnamese, he sold out >>to the savings and loan sharpies, and he has never met the lobbyist with >>an open checkbook that he didn?t like. The pig in the poke might be >>wearing lipstick but he's still a damn lair. McCain is just a MadMax >>version of George Bush. By Golly Miss Molly the last thing we need is a >>MadMax version of Bush with his finger on the nuclear button. There >>would be no future when MadMax has his finger on the nuclear >>button---nuclear wars are not survivable. >>By golly Miss Molly McClain is crazy, while on Monday when the market >>tanked 500 points he said the economy was sound and the only thing wrong >>was some whiners acting up. Why anyone that even glanced at the >>financial pages would know the economy is in serious trouble, since the >>financial pages are full of articles about store closings, factory >>layoffs, bankrupcies and government bailouts. Now today he wants to fire >>the head of the SEC. Well lets hand it to the old codger he can flip >>flop like a fish out of water. You know during the depression, the >>Roosevelt administration passed some laws to prevent another financial >>melt down. Those laws worked and served the country well for nearly a >>half a century until the Wall Street sharpies got greedy and wanted >>those laws eliminated. Well John McCain voted for both bills that >>removed those restrictions. In fact, McCain enthusiastically supported >>the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. >>Now that Gramm is the former senator from Texas and a big lobbyist and >>by Golly Miss Molly he is the same Gramm that co-chairs McCain's >>campaign. When McCain tells you he can fix the economy, tell him to keep >>his damn hands off of it ---we don?t need his kind of help. >>McCain wants to fix Social Security by privatizing. What he doesn?t tell >>you is he wants to use your money to prop up a collapsing stock market >>and a exploding housing bubble while he lets the Wall Street sharpies >>charge you exuberant fees to manage your money. By Golly Miss Molly if >>McCain gets elected the only safe place for your money will be under >>your mattress. >>McCain also says he wants to reform the oil futures market. But he is >>stone face silent about the Enron loophole that allows traders to >>control markets and price gouge consumers like they did in the >>California energy crisis. You see, the Enron loophole was supported by >>Gramn, McCain's election co chairman. Moreover Gramm's wife was a member >>of the board of directors at Enron and pocketed a million dollars in >>salary and additional goodies. Additionally the bill to create the Enron >>loophole was supported by lobbyist Charlie Black, who is a senior >>advisor to McCain. By golly Miss Molly McCain says he's his own man and >>isn?t owned by the lobbyist but the guy is full of shit and if elected >>we can expect $8 per gal gasoline before the end of his term as a payoff >>to his lobbyists ---err campaign staff. >>And then there is Caribou Sal, who claims she has administrative >>experience that Obama lacks. I'm not sure the type of experience she >>has, is needed in Washington. It seems as if Palin is more adept at >>using government employees to conduct her own personal vendettas than in >>making sound judgements benefiting the people. Strong-arming the public >>safety director to fire your ex-brother-in-law doesn't qualify you for >>the vice president slot. Nether does strong-arming the city librarian >>into banning books you deem inappropriate. But it does show how she >>deals with new ideas and other people's opinions--she burns or bans >>them. By golly Miss Molly the last thing we need in Washington is a book >>burner with a closed mind and a vendetta against anyone that disagrees >>with her. Moreover Palin as mayor slashed funding for medical exams of >>rape victims and billed the victim for the exams. She also cut funding >>from programs for teenage mothers as governor. Nor do we need another >>politician in Washington that has sold out to the oil companies and >>wants to remove all environmental protections for the benefit of a few >>big corporations. >>But Caribou Sal seems the perfect with John McCain. By Golly Miss Molly >>hang on to your pocketbook if Caribou Sal gets in Office she sponsors >>bridges to nowhere, raised the sales tax and like McCain is a damn good >>thief and is an expert at padding her expense account with personal >>expenditures. We'll be buying her lipstick if she wins as veep. >>Its interesting listening to this northern squawk box stammer on about >>making war with Russia when she has absolutely no international >>experience. By Golly Miss Molly I can remember much better times when >>candidates ran on peace platforms rather than on wars that can't be won. >>Then there is the matter of a half dozen witnesses in the investigation >>of Gov Palin's strong-arm tactics to fire her ex-brother-in-law refusing >>to testify. Moreover Palin's ex lover in that sordid affair is >>pensioning the court in an emergency decree to seal his divorce papers. >>Now I betcha there are some juicy details there. I know what witness >>tampering is and by golly Miss Molly Gov. Palin, John McCain and the >>Republican party is guilty as hell of witness tampering and that?s no >>bullshit. >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080920/065fdc5f/attachment.html From gdy52150 at spiritone.com Sat Sep 20 01:32:47 2008 From: gdy52150 at spiritone.com (gdy52150) Date: Sat Sep 20 01:11:29 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar In-Reply-To: <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> References: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <48D4990F.2040103@spiritone.com> actually Dion is right --this is my own commentary not a reposting Yves Bajard wrote: > Source please.. We cannot accept such statements without mentioning > the source on a discussion group such as Mai-Not > > It is a matter of fairness and dignity. (not to mention an ability to > keep on without being thrown out of the Web by fearful ISPs. > > Best regards > > Yves Bajard > > > Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 ? 20:55 -0700, gdy52150 a ?crit : > >>Fibber McGee and Molly Too: >>John McCain Is A God Damn Liar >> >>Once again we are in that period where the country goes bat shit crazy. >>Fortunately we only have to endure the next couple of months only once >>every four years. If anyone knowing the truth were to listen to what >>passes as the mainstream news they would swear Fibber McGee was running >>amok on the airwaves and Caribou Sal was running loose in the china shop. >>During the Vietnam War, I can remember watching the news of an interview >>of John McCain in North Vietnam with him blinking his eyes in some sort >>of code. I can also remember the news reports after North Vietnam >>released him and all the reports indicated the very real possibility of >>the military court marshalling him for collaboration with the enemy. >>There were additional reports that some of his fellow prisoners were >>severely beaten as a direct result of what he had told the North >>Vietnamese. The fact is if John's father had not been a hot-shot admiral >>the military would have court marshaled him. By golly Miss Molly, McCain >>is no war hero in fact he is a damn coward and traitor and that?s no >>bullshit. >>Incidentally McCain is responsible for the deaths of more American >>sailors than Vietnamese. When he was shot down in North Vietnam it was >>the fifth plane he had crashed. The fourth plane he crashed was aboard >>the USS Forrestal that resulted in the deaths of 167 sailors in the fire >>that engulfed the aircraft carrier. The fire was a result of a stupid >>hotdog stunt known as wet starting in which fuel is pooled in the bottom >>of the engine then on ignition it sends a flash out of the engine to >>shake up the pilot behind him. The ship was so damaged it had to be >>taken out of the war. The following morning helicopters were evacuating >>the severely injured to base hospitals. Taking one off the available >>spots for the injured was an uninjured John McCain. The number of deaths >>would very likely have risen to 168 if any of MCCain's shipmates could >>have found him. He was the only pilot transferred from the Forrrestal >>thanks to his admiral daddy. >>Now McCain's political career is as dismal as its military record. >>Besides being an extremist and hothead McCain is most noted for becoming >>embroiled in the savings and loan scandal. One thing about McCain---he >>is a damn good bank robber and wiped out granny's savings that she had >>deposited in the savings and loan. McCain is a damn lair when he says >>he's ready to work for you, he has made a career out of selling his vote >>to the highest bidder. He sold out to the North Vietnamese, he sold out >>to the savings and loan sharpies, and he has never met the lobbyist with >>an open checkbook that he didn?t like. The pig in the poke might be >>wearing lipstick but he's still a damn lair. McCain is just a MadMax >>version of George Bush. By Golly Miss Molly the last thing we need is a >>MadMax version of Bush with his finger on the nuclear button. There >>would be no future when MadMax has his finger on the nuclear >>button---nuclear wars are not survivable. >>By golly Miss Molly McClain is crazy, while on Monday when the market >>tanked 500 points he said the economy was sound and the only thing wrong >>was some whiners acting up. Why anyone that even glanced at the >>financial pages would know the economy is in serious trouble, since the >>financial pages are full of articles about store closings, factory >>layoffs, bankrupcies and government bailouts. Now today he wants to fire >>the head of the SEC. Well lets hand it to the old codger he can flip >>flop like a fish out of water. You know during the depression, the >>Roosevelt administration passed some laws to prevent another financial >>melt down. Those laws worked and served the country well for nearly a >>half a century until the Wall Street sharpies got greedy and wanted >>those laws eliminated. Well John McCain voted for both bills that >>removed those restrictions. In fact, McCain enthusiastically supported >>the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. >>Now that Gramm is the former senator from Texas and a big lobbyist and >>by Golly Miss Molly he is the same Gramm that co-chairs McCain's >>campaign. When McCain tells you he can fix the economy, tell him to keep >>his damn hands off of it ---we don?t need his kind of help. >>McCain wants to fix Social Security by privatizing. What he doesn?t tell >>you is he wants to use your money to prop up a collapsing stock market >>and a exploding housing bubble while he lets the Wall Street sharpies >>charge you exuberant fees to manage your money. By Golly Miss Molly if >>McCain gets elected the only safe place for your money will be under >>your mattress. >>McCain also says he wants to reform the oil futures market. But he is >>stone face silent about the Enron loophole that allows traders to >>control markets and price gouge consumers like they did in the >>California energy crisis. You see, the Enron loophole was supported by >>Gramn, McCain's election co chairman. Moreover Gramm's wife was a member >>of the board of directors at Enron and pocketed a million dollars in >>salary and additional goodies. Additionally the bill to create the Enron >>loophole was supported by lobbyist Charlie Black, who is a senior >>advisor to McCain. By golly Miss Molly McCain says he's his own man and >>isn?t owned by the lobbyist but the guy is full of shit and if elected >>we can expect $8 per gal gasoline before the end of his term as a payoff >>to his lobbyists ---err campaign staff. >>And then there is Caribou Sal, who claims she has administrative >>experience that Obama lacks. I'm not sure the type of experience she >>has, is needed in Washington. It seems as if Palin is more adept at >>using government employees to conduct her own personal vendettas than in >>making sound judgements benefiting the people. Strong-arming the public >>safety director to fire your ex-brother-in-law doesn't qualify you for >>the vice president slot. Nether does strong-arming the city librarian >>into banning books you deem inappropriate. But it does show how she >>deals with new ideas and other people's opinions--she burns or bans >>them. By golly Miss Molly the last thing we need in Washington is a book >>burner with a closed mind and a vendetta against anyone that disagrees >>with her. Moreover Palin as mayor slashed funding for medical exams of >>rape victims and billed the victim for the exams. She also cut funding >>from programs for teenage mothers as governor. Nor do we need another >>politician in Washington that has sold out to the oil companies and >>wants to remove all environmental protections for the benefit of a few >>big corporations. >>But Caribou Sal seems the perfect with John McCain. By Golly Miss Molly >>hang on to your pocketbook if Caribou Sal gets in Office she sponsors >>bridges to nowhere, raised the sales tax and like McCain is a damn good >>thief and is an expert at padding her expense account with personal >>expenditures. We'll be buying her lipstick if she wins as veep. >>Its interesting listening to this northern squawk box stammer on about >>making war with Russia when she has absolutely no international >>experience. By Golly Miss Molly I can remember much better times when >>candidates ran on peace platforms rather than on wars that can't be won. >>Then there is the matter of a half dozen witnesses in the investigation >>of Gov Palin's strong-arm tactics to fire her ex-brother-in-law refusing >>to testify. Moreover Palin's ex lover in that sordid affair is >>pensioning the court in an emergency decree to seal his divorce papers. >>Now I betcha there are some juicy details there. I know what witness >>tampering is and by golly Miss Molly Gov. Palin, John McCain and the >>Republican party is guilty as hell of witness tampering and that?s no >>bullshit. >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> >> >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > From netcfs at shaw.ca Sat Sep 20 02:04:29 2008 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Sat Sep 20 02:04:43 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Fibber McGee and Molly Too: John McCain Is A God Damn Liar In-Reply-To: <48D4990F.2040103@spiritone.com> References: <48D47418.2000604@spiritone.com> <1221882176.6012.81.camel@localhost> <48D4990F.2040103@spiritone.com> Message-ID: <1221894269.26039.0.camel@localhost> OK Yves Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 ? 23:32 -0700, gdy52150 a ?crit : > actually Dion is right --this is my own commentary not a reposting > > Yves Bajard wrote: > > > Source please.. We cannot accept such statements without mentioning > > the source on a discussion group such as Mai-Not > > > > It is a matter of fairness and dignity. (not to mention an ability to > > keep on without being thrown out of the Web by fearful ISPs. > > > > Best regards > > > > Yves Bajard > > > > > > Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 ? 20:55 -0700, gdy52150 a ?crit : > > > >>Fibber McGee and Molly Too: > >>John McCain Is A God Damn Liar > >> > >>Once again we are in that period where the country goes bat shit crazy. > >>Fortunately we only have to endure the next couple of months only once > >>every four years. If anyone knowing the truth were to listen to what > >>passes as the mainstream news they would swear Fibber McGee was running > >>amok on the airwaves and Caribou Sal was running loose in the china shop. > >>During the Vietnam War, I can remember watching the news of an interview > >>of John McCain in North Vietnam with him blinking his eyes in some sort > >>of code. I can also remember the news reports after North Vietnam > >>released him and all the reports indicated the very real possibility of > >>the military court marshalling him for collaboration with the enemy. > >>There were additional reports that some of his fellow prisoners were > >>severely beaten as a direct result of what he had told the North > >>Vietnamese. The fact is if John's father had not been a hot-shot admiral > >>the military would have court marshaled him. By golly Miss Molly, McCain > >>is no war hero in fact he is a damn coward and traitor and that?s no > >>bullshit. > >>Incidentally McCain is responsible for the deaths of more American > >>sailors than Vietnamese. When he was shot down in North Vietnam it was > >>the fifth plane he had crashed. The fourth plane he crashed was aboard > >>the USS Forrestal that resulted in the deaths of 167 sailors in the fire > >>that engulfed the aircraft carrier. The fire was a result of a stupid > >>hotdog stunt known as wet starting in which fuel is pooled in the bottom > >>of the engine then on ignition it sends a flash out of the engine to > >>shake up the pilot behind him. The ship was so damaged it had to be > >>taken out of the war. The following morning helicopters were evacuating > >>the severely injured to base hospitals. Taking one off the available > >>spots for the injured was an uninjured John McCain. The number of deaths > >>would very likely have risen to 168 if any of MCCain's shipmates could > >>have found him. He was the only pilot transferred from the Forrrestal > >>thanks to his admiral daddy. > >>Now McCain's political career is as dismal as its military record. > >>Besides being an extremist and hothead McCain is most noted for becoming > >>embroiled in the savings and loan scandal. One thing about McCain---he > >>is a damn good bank robber and wiped out granny's savings that she had > >>deposited in the savings and loan. McCain is a damn lair when he says > >>he's ready to work for you, he has made a career out of selling his vote > >>to the highest bidder. He sold out to the North Vietnamese, he sold out > >>to the savings and loan sharpies, and he has never met the lobbyist with > >>an open checkbook that he didn?t like. The pig in the poke might be > >>wearing lipstick but he's still a damn lair. McCain is just a MadMax > >>version of George Bush. By Golly Miss Molly the last thing we need is a > >>MadMax version of Bush with his finger on the nuclear button. There > >>would be no future when MadMax has his finger on the nuclear > >>button---nuclear wars are not survivable. > >>By golly Miss Molly McClain is crazy, while on Monday when the market > >>tanked 500 points he said the economy was sound and the only thing wrong > >>was some whiners acting up. Why anyone that even glanced at the > >>financial pages would know the economy is in serious trouble, since the > >>financial pages are full of articles about store closings, factory > >>layoffs, bankrupcies and government bailouts. Now today he wants to fire > >>the head of the SEC. Well lets hand it to the old codger he can flip > >>flop like a fish out of water. You know during the depression, the > >>Roosevelt administration passed some laws to prevent another financial > >>melt down. Those laws worked and served the country well for nearly a > >>half a century until the Wall Street sharpies got greedy and wanted > >>those laws eliminated. Well John McCain voted for both bills that > >>removed those restrictions. In fact, McCain enthusiastically supported > >>the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. > >>Now that Gramm is the former senator from Texas and a big lobbyist and > >>by Golly Miss Molly he is the same Gramm that co-chairs McCain's > >>campaign. When McCain tells you he can fix the economy, tell him to keep > >>his damn hands off of it ---we don?t need his kind of help. > >>McCain wants to fix Social Security by privatizing. What he doesn?t tell > >>you is he wants to use your money to prop up a collapsing stock market > >>and a exploding housing bubble while he lets the Wall Street sharpies > >>charge you exuberant fees to manage your money. By Golly Miss Molly if > >>McCain gets elected the only safe place for your money will be under > >>your mattress. > >>McCain also says he wants to reform the oil futures market. But he is > >>stone face silent about the Enron loophole that allows traders to > >>control markets and price gouge consumers like they did in the > >>California energy crisis. You see, the Enron loophole was supported by > >>Gramn, McCain's election co chairman. Moreover Gramm's wife was a member > >>of the board of directors at Enron and pocketed a million dollars in > >>salary and additional goodies. Additionally the bill to create the Enron > >>loophole was supported by lobbyist Charlie Black, who is a senior > >>advisor to McCain. By golly Miss Molly McCain says he's his own man and > >>isn?t owned by the lobbyist but the guy is full of shit and if elected > >>we can expect $8 per gal gasoline before the end of his term as a payoff > >>to his lobbyists ---err campaign staff. > >>And then there is Caribou Sal, who claims she has administrative > >>experience that Obama lacks. I'm not sure the type of experience she > >>has, is needed in Washington. It seems as if Palin is more adept at > >>using government employees to conduct her own personal vendettas than in > >>making sound judgements benefiting the people. Strong-arming the public > >>safety director to fire your ex-brother-in-law doesn't qualify you for > >>the vice president slot. Nether does strong-arming the city librarian > >>into banning books you deem inappropriate. But it does show how she > >>deals with new ideas and other people's opinions--she burns or bans > >>them. By golly Miss Molly the last thing we need in Washington is a book > >>burner with a closed mind and a vendetta against anyone that disagrees > >>with her. Moreover Palin as mayor slashed funding for medical exams of > >>rape victims and billed the victim for the exams. She also cut funding > >>from programs for teenage mothers as governor. Nor do we need another > >>politician in Washington that has sold out to the oil companies and > >>wants to remove all environmental protections for the benefit of a few > >>big corporations. > >>But Caribou Sal seems the perfect with John McCain. By Golly Miss Molly > >>hang on to your pocketbook if Caribou Sal gets in Office she sponsors > >>bridges to nowhere, raised the sales tax and like McCain is a damn good > >>thief and is an expert at padding her expense account with personal > >>expenditures. We'll be buying her lipstick if she wins as veep. > >>Its interesting listening to this northern squawk box stammer on about > >>making war with Russia when she has absolutely no international > >>experience. By Golly Miss Molly I can remember much better times when > >>candidates ran on peace platforms rather than on wars that can't be won. > >>Then there is the matter of a half dozen witnesses in the investigation > >>of Gov Palin's strong-arm tactics to fire her ex-brother-in-law refusing > >>to testify. Moreover Palin's ex lover in that sordid affair is > >>pensioning the court in an emergency decree to seal his divorce papers. > >>Now I betcha there are some juicy details there. I know what witness > >>tampering is and by golly Miss Molly Gov. Palin, John McCain and the > >>Republican party is guilty as hell of witness tampering and that?s no > >>bullshit. > >> > >> > >> > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Mai-not mailing list > >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >> > >> > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Mai-not mailing list > >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080920/c079dee0/attachment.html From siamdave at yahoo.ca Sat Sep 20 20:12:30 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Sat Sep 20 20:12:37 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Michael Hudson - gambling insurance In-Reply-To: <48D30979.2009.282391E@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <48D30979.2009.282391E@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <200809210812300390.0085FD06@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> - a very good explanation of what is going on - Financial Bailout: America's Own Kleptocracy The largest transformation of America's Financial System since the Great Depression http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10279 (Jim - BCC to both addresses, mai-notters, not to worry, not a secret message, just trying to track down a small email problem!) From siamdave at yahoo.ca Sun Sep 21 02:49:33 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Sun Sep 21 02:49:51 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> Message-ID: <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and so it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop to it - they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: Dave This is a long story, but if you have any interest in what's going on in the financial markets, I think you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're likely to find anywhere else. Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. Without this article, you'll still get value from the video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going on better than most people on earth...including financial news reporters. I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link at the bottom. - Brasscheck ========================================= *** A short explanation of how we got to where we are Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) from the White House and Congress. The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing back to earth. The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today *** How the scam works The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... ...Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value and then sell as much of it as you can. In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected into pools and then re-sold to investors. In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street with no hint of protest from federal regulators. ***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace at fire sale prices. Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation and what I call "staged dealing." Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest they pay and how safe they are. "Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call them assets. Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance companies. The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds then became "assets" which could be borrowed against and leveraged to buy even more bonds. When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. Deja vu, eh? ***The "Tech Bubble" dissected The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet stocks, start ups in particular. A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, its growth and its overall prospects for the future. Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves by being in existence for several years before they could be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away during the tech bubble. To pump of their values, the companies engaged in "staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million in banner ads to Company #1. In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. These should have been called media trades not sales, but Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these companies - many of them totally worthless - in the hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. ***The "Credit Crisis" dissected By now, you see how the scheme works. It's not complicated at all. You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to be good as gold. Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud was so-called sub-prime mortgages. Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial peril. But Wall Street changed all that. Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA paper." It sounds crazy, doesn't it? If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year old child can understand. But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda purposes are two very strong motivators. Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. Do you recognize the pattern now? If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or won't. This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial news media can see how it happened. ***But there's more... Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" mortgages suddenly come into being? Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal - go along with it? Here's where it gets very interesting... The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned about what was going on. They have been for years. And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making bad real estate loans to their citizens. (Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can rightly be called "predatory" loans.) Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? *** The trillion dollar plus question If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud so you might as well know who did it to you. His initials are GB. You know him well. But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... His initials are ES. If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize his name instantly when you hear it. And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown possible. Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. So effective was his assassination that no one can even mention his name in connection with today's crisis without risking ridicule, or worse. Last note: The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will likely have the same impact on the current generation that the depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and great grandparents. On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened and why: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - Brasscheck P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail and videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks. - Brasscheck P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks. ============================== Brasscheck TV 2380 California St. San Francisco, CA 94115 To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 15:54 *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sun Sep 21 03:40:42 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun Sep 21 03:41:00 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <20080921084045.28DD6F862@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> >Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >from the White House and Congress. Have the Saudi rulers also fraudulently overvalued their oil wells? My word the fan will have some work to do when THOSE chooks come home to roost. Dion Giles Western Australia From papadop at peak.org Sun Sep 21 14:13:15 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sun Sep 21 14:38:29 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Brit hierarchs resist ! .. Message-ID: .. but the message applies elsewhere. Michael ############ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/21/labourconference.blogging The party hierarchy resists it, but only by ceding control to the grassroots will Labour revive. And yes - that means blogging The Guardian (London) -- Sunday September 21 2008 19:30 BST Given Labour's position in the polls, you may throw up your hands in disgust at the notion that the party can gain anything from blogging. A Fabian debate today revealed just how resistant the party hierarchy is to letting the grassroots help set the agenda. But that will have to change if Labour is to have a chance of winning the next election. LabourHome wants to be the meeting point for grassroots Labour members and the party's upper hierarachy. I would like my site, Liberal Conspiracy, to be the hub for liberal-left activism, campaigning and ideas. One is focused directly on a party, the other on a broader ideas movement. No doubt there are tensions, but they come primarily from how we, the bloggers and activists, relate to political parties themselves. While Barack Obama posts articles directly to Daily Kos and Huffington Post, over here the Labour party is still very intent on controlling the message and its delivery. And this is why both the upper echelons of Labour and the Conservatives are wary about LabourHome and ConservativeHome respectively - because they still operate under the old rules, where the top-down approach of controlling the party and its message is paramount. I operate under an entirely different set of assumptions. We are now living in an era where people want more accountability and responsiveness from their elected officials. They are put off politics because they find it too Westminster-focused or irrelevant to their lives. They find the whole system difficult to decipher. In other words, they want more control, and want to engage with others who feel the same. I don't mean the vast majority of the electorate, but a significant portion, who are passionate about the direction their country is taking and want to play a part in shaping it. The question is - can blogs be part of that? Possibly. As the older ways of connecting people along ideological lines become less relevant, such as trade unions, people want new ways of getting involved in the political process. This isn't necessarily an apathetic generation. But it is a demoralised one that needs to see new ways of getting politics to work. Blogging can be part of that, if done right. The Labour hierarchy doesn't seem to get it. Panellist Derek Draper, who is currently advising the party on communications, made it clear that he is more focused on discipline and the right message than he is about involving the party political base. But who will knock on doors and evangelise for Labour in the heartlands, if not the party faithful? The only way Labour will embrace blogging and the new grassroots is if it is out of power and needs to reach out again to build an election winning coalition. By 2010, it will be too late - the party is not willing to be radical enough to win the next election. But for me and my fellow Liberal Conspirators, the mission is simple. We have to have a vision of where the liberal-left wants to go. We need new ideas and new mission statements, because the left has been attached to dogmatic positions for too long. And then we need to campaign to further a liberal-left set of ideas that chime with what Britain wants and where we want to go. That could mean actively campaigning and fund-raising for progressive candidates - whether they belong to Labour, the Lib Dems or the Green party. Whether this happens with or without the support of New Labour is irrelevant. A huge portion of the electorate is left-leaning and wants to see a better country. It's now up to blogs to provide them an outlet for that frustration and energy. From thinker at this1.ca Sun Sep 21 14:55:27 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Sun Sep 21 14:54:00 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? Cheers, Ed, At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: > - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - > http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this > coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the > mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root > causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and so > it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop to it - > they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. > >*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** > >On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: > >Dave > >This is a long story, but if you have any interest >in what's going on in the financial markets, I think >you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're >likely to find anywhere else. > >Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. > >Without this article, you'll still get value from the >video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going >on better than most people on earth...including >financial news reporters. > >I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will >take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link >at the bottom. > >- Brasscheck > >========================================= > >*** A short explanation of how we got to where we are > >Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus >US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. > >Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >from the White House and Congress. > >The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart >the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes >too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing >back to earth. > >The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: > >Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s > >Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s > >Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today > >*** How the scam works > >The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... > >...Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value >and then sell as much of it as you can. > >In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. > >In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. > >In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected >into pools and then re-sold to investors. > >In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" >financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street >with no hint of protest from federal regulators. > >***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected > >Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which >resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of >banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace >at fire sale prices. > >Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were >shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation >and what I call "staged dealing." > >Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest >they pay and how safe they are. > >"Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less >safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings >and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call >them assets. > >Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street >fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk >bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance >companies. > >The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth >amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" >and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds >then became "assets" which could be borrowed against >and leveraged to buy even more bonds. > >When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the >US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost >of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. > >Deja vu, eh? > >***The "Tech Bubble" dissected > >The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet >stocks, start ups in particular. > >A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, >its growth and its overall prospects for the future. > >Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves >by being in existence for several years before they could >be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away >during the tech bubble. > >To pump of their values, the companies engaged in >"staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. > >Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner >ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million >in banner ads to Company #1. > >In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran >ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 >ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. > >These should have been called media trades not sales, but >Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales >and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these >companies - many of them totally worthless - in the >hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. > >***The "Credit Crisis" dissected > >By now, you see how the scheme works. > >It's not complicated at all. > >You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock >of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to >be good as gold. > >Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up >stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. > >In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud >was so-called sub-prime mortgages. > >Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. >Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for >good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial >peril. > >But Wall Street changed all that. > >Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble >them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various >ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA >paper." > >It sounds crazy, doesn't it? > >If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling >a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" > >It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year >old child can understand. > >But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda >purposes are two very strong motivators. > >Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, >and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. > >Do you recognize the pattern now? > >If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses >who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or >won't. > >This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial >meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial >news media can see how it happened. > >***But there's more... > >Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could >invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. > >But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" >mortgages suddenly come into being? > >Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so >radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? > >And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - >because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal >- go along with it? > >Here's where it gets very interesting... > >The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned >about what was going on. They have been for years. > >And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also >took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making >bad real estate loans to their citizens. > >(Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were >designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can >rightly be called "predatory" loans.) > >Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven >real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that >made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? > >*** The trillion dollar plus question > >If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud >so you might as well know who did it to you. > >His initials are GB. > >You know him well. > >But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who >single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then >fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who >in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... > >His initials are ES. > >If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize >his name instantly when you hear it. > >And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and >permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. > >Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to >remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown >possible. > >Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet >in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. > >So effective was his assassination that no one can even >mention his name in connection with today's crisis without >risking ridicule, or worse. > >Last note: > >The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger >than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. > >It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will >likely have the same impact on the current generation that the >depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and >great grandparents. > >On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed >this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened >and why: > >http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html > >- Brasscheck > >P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail >and videos with friends and colleagues. > >That's how we grow. Thanks. > > > > > > > > > > >- Brasscheck > >P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >videos with friends and colleagues. > >That's how we grow. Thanks. > >============================== > > > >Brasscheck TV >2380 California St. >San Francisco, CA 94115 > >To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 >15:54 > > > >*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: >9/19/2008 8:25 AM From dale_young at telus.net Mon Sep 22 00:40:43 2008 From: dale_young at telus.net (Dale Young) Date: Mon Sep 22 00:41:07 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> Message-ID: <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> The artice is referring to former New York Governor Spitzer who resigned in the midst of a sex scandal, Ed. Here's the rest of that story from Brasschecktv: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html Why Eliot Spitzer was assassinated The predatory lending industry had a partner in the White House Mortaging America's future for a quick buck This video was originally posted in March of 2008 It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence and malpractice in recent memory. The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer and Spitzer's all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with predatory lenders. While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the White House. Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the front page news for days. To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush administration "accomplishments." No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years. Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the last time the US banking industry fell into a black whole because of White House-facilitated fraud? There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it the last time: Ed Deak wrote: > > Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? > > Cheers, Ed, > > > > > At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: >> - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - >> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this coming >> were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the mainstream >> media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root causes, as the >> masters must be protected at all times .... and so it will continue >> until We the People rise up and put a stop to it - they're not all >> going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. >> >> *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >> >> On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: >> >> Dave >> >> This is a long story, but if you have any interest >> in what's going on in the financial markets, I think >> you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're >> likely to find anywhere else. >> >> Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. >> >> Without this article, you'll still get value from the >> video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going >> on better than most people on earth...including >> financial news reporters. >> >> I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will >> take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link >> at the bottom. >> >> - Brasscheck >> >> ========================================= >> >> *** A short explanation of how we got to where we are >> >> Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus >> US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. >> >> Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >> mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >> Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >> from the White House and Congress. >> >> The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart >> the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes >> too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing >> back to earth. >> >> The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: >> >> Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s >> >> Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s >> >> Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today >> >> *** How the scam works >> >> The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... >> >> ...Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value >> and then sell as much of it as you can. >> >> In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. >> >> In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. >> >> In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected >> into pools and then re-sold to investors. >> >> In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" >> financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street >> with no hint of protest from federal regulators. >> >> ***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected >> >> Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which >> resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of >> banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace >> at fire sale prices. >> >> Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were >> shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation >> and what I call "staged dealing." >> >> Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest >> they pay and how safe they are. >> >> "Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less >> safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings >> and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call >> them assets. >> >> Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street >> fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk >> bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance >> companies. >> >> The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth >> amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" >> and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds >> then became "assets" which could be borrowed against >> and leveraged to buy even more bonds. >> >> When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the >> US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost >> of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. >> >> Deja vu, eh? >> >> ***The "Tech Bubble" dissected >> >> The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet >> stocks, start ups in particular. >> >> A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, >> its growth and its overall prospects for the future. >> >> Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves >> by being in existence for several years before they could >> be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away >> during the tech bubble. >> >> To pump of their values, the companies engaged in >> "staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. >> >> Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner >> ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million >> in banner ads to Company #1. >> >> In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran >> ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 >> ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. >> >> These should have been called media trades not sales, but >> Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales >> and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these >> companies - many of them totally worthless - in the >> hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. >> >> ***The "Credit Crisis" dissected >> >> By now, you see how the scheme works. >> >> It's not complicated at all. >> >> You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock >> of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to >> be good as gold. >> >> Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up >> stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. >> >> In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud >> was so-called sub-prime mortgages. >> >> Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. >> Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for >> good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial >> peril. >> >> But Wall Street changed all that. >> >> Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble >> them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various >> ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA >> paper." >> >> It sounds crazy, doesn't it? >> >> If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling >> a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" >> >> It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year >> old child can understand. >> >> But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda >> purposes are two very strong motivators. >> >> Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, >> and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. >> >> Do you recognize the pattern now? >> >> If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses >> who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or >> won't. >> >> This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial >> meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial >> news media can see how it happened. >> >> ***But there's more... >> >> Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could >> invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. >> >> But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" >> mortgages suddenly come into being? >> >> Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so >> radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? >> >> And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - >> because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal >> - go along with it? >> >> Here's where it gets very interesting... >> >> The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned >> about what was going on. They have been for years. >> >> And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also >> took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making >> bad real estate loans to their citizens. >> >> (Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were >> designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can >> rightly be called "predatory" loans.) >> >> Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven >> real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that >> made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? >> >> *** The trillion dollar plus question >> >> If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud >> so you might as well know who did it to you. >> >> His initials are GB. >> >> You know him well. >> >> But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who >> single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then >> fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who >> in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... >> >> His initials are ES. >> >> If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize >> his name instantly when you hear it. >> >> And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and >> permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. >> >> Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to >> remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown >> possible. >> >> Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet >> in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. >> >> So effective was his assassination that no one can even >> mention his name in connection with today's crisis without >> risking ridicule, or worse. >> >> Last note: >> >> The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger >> than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. >> >> It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will >> likely have the same impact on the current generation that the >> depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and >> great grandparents. >> >> On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed >> this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened >> and why: >> >> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html >> >> - Brasscheck >> >> P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail >> and videos with friends and colleagues. >> >> That's how we grow. Thanks. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> - Brasscheck >> >> P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >> videos with friends and colleagues. >> >> That's how we grow. Thanks. >> >> ============================== >> >> >> >> Brasscheck TV >> 2380 California St. >> San Francisco, CA 94115 >> >> To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >> http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== >> >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >> Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 >> 15:54 >> >> >> >> *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mai-not mailing list >> Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >> Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: >> 9/19/2008 8:25 AM > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 22 03:33:06 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 22 03:33:33 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> Message-ID: <20080922083308.D65D112806@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Amazing what shows up when the dots get connected. In Fahrenheit 911, Bush was filmed gloating to assembled mega-thieves: "You are my base". So now they are going to steal $700 billion of US taxpayers' money and urge other governments to do the same, to write off debt. Whose debt? Debts of people facing foreclosure on their homes? Not on your Nellie. The Democrats suggested that, and the US Administration made it very clear that the plebs were excluded. Obama is as bad - suggests an addition to help the plebs (Mr Greed will allow it of a politician in opposition where it can't count) but still endorses this massive heist when all the greedies' own propaganda fresh from Chicago has been that the free market will solve it. Clearly they should let these tycoons wear the debts they have run up, and get the New York council to clear the streets below for when they start flying in formation out the high windows rather than be de-classed (Oh the barman George -- he's George Soros you know. Hey Milton, bring me another beer). Dion Giles Western Australia (PS: I have $6K saved and residing in the local BankWest. BankWest was the Rural and Industries (R&I) Bank, established by the WA community to serve our needs. Their ads used to say proudly "The bank that lives here". Sometime in the past, the politicians decided to privatise it (sell it off to their sponsors). It was bought by a Scottish Bank and then by a couple of other British banks who now, as the crunch hits them, are passing BankWest about among themselves like a bag of cabbages. An SMS from my daughter today said: "People are frightened - they are crowding into the bank branches." So off I went to get my savings out. Found they are now limiting withdrawals to $3500 -- $100 total at the ATM and $2500 over the counter. I'll try for the other $2500 tomorrow if the doors haven't shut. The question now is - what particular individuals in parliament and the public "service". Time for some naming and shaming. - DG) At 01:40 PM 22/09/2008, Dale wrote: >The artice is referring to former New York Governor Spitzer who >resigned in the midst of a sex scandal, Ed. Here's the rest of that >story from Brasschecktv: > > >http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html > Why Eliot Spitzer was assassinated > >The predatory lending industry >had a partner in the White House > > >Mortaging America's future >for a quick buck >This video was originally posted in March of 2008 > >It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence >and malpractice in recent memory. > >The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the >bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign >about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer and Spitzer's >all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with >predatory lenders. > >While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a >superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media >failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the >White House. > >Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of >Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the >front page news for days. > >To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal >response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US >Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining >of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush >administration "accomplishments." > >No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as >much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years. > >Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the >last time the US banking industry fell into a black whole because of >White House-facilitated fraud? > >There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's >how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it >the last time: > > > > >Ed Deak wrote: >>Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? >>Cheers, Ed, >> >> >>At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: >>> - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - >>> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this >>> coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the >>> mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root >>> causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and so >>> it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop to it >>> - they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. >>> >>>*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>> >>>On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: >>> >>>Dave >>> >>>This is a long story, but if you have any interest >>>in what's going on in the financial markets, I think >>>you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're >>>likely to find anywhere else. >>> >>>Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. >>> >>>Without this article, you'll still get value from the >>>video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going >>>on better than most people on earth...including >>>financial news reporters. >>> >>>I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will >>>take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link >>>at the bottom. >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>========================================= >>> >>>*** A short explanation of how we got to where we are >>> >>>Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus >>>US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. >>> >>>Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >>>mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >>>Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >>>from the White House and Congress. >>> >>>The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart >>>the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes >>>too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing >>>back to earth. >>> >>>The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: >>> >>>Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s >>> >>>Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s >>> >>>Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today >>> >>>*** How the scam works >>> >>>The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... >>> >>>...Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value >>>and then sell as much of it as you can. >>> >>>In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. >>> >>>In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. >>> >>>In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected >>>into pools and then re-sold to investors. >>> >>>In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" >>>financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street >>>with no hint of protest from federal regulators. >>> >>>***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected >>> >>>Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which >>>resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of >>>banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace >>>at fire sale prices. >>> >>>Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were >>>shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation >>>and what I call "staged dealing." >>> >>>Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest >>>they pay and how safe they are. >>> >>>"Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less >>>safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings >>>and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call >>>them assets. >>> >>>Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street >>>fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk >>>bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance >>>companies. >>> >>>The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth >>>amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" >>>and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds >>>then became "assets" which could be borrowed against >>>and leveraged to buy even more bonds. >>> >>>When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the >>>US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost >>>of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. >>> >>>Deja vu, eh? >>> >>>***The "Tech Bubble" dissected >>> >>>The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet >>>stocks, start ups in particular. >>> >>>A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, >>>its growth and its overall prospects for the future. >>> >>>Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves >>>by being in existence for several years before they could >>>be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away >>>during the tech bubble. >>> >>>To pump of their values, the companies engaged in >>>"staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. >>> >>>Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner >>>ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million >>>in banner ads to Company #1. >>> >>>In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran >>>ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 >>>ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. >>> >>>These should have been called media trades not sales, but >>>Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales >>>and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these >>>companies - many of them totally worthless - in the >>>hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. >>> >>>***The "Credit Crisis" dissected >>> >>>By now, you see how the scheme works. >>> >>>It's not complicated at all. >>> >>>You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock >>>of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to >>>be good as gold. >>> >>>Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up >>>stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. >>> >>>In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud >>>was so-called sub-prime mortgages. >>> >>>Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. >>>Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for >>>good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial >>>peril. >>> >>>But Wall Street changed all that. >>> >>>Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble >>>them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various >>>ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA >>>paper." >>> >>>It sounds crazy, doesn't it? >>> >>>If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling >>>a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" >>> >>>It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year >>>old child can understand. >>> >>>But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda >>>purposes are two very strong motivators. >>> >>>Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, >>>and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. >>> >>>Do you recognize the pattern now? >>> >>>If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses >>>who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or >>>won't. >>> >>>This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial >>>meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial >>>news media can see how it happened. >>> >>>***But there's more... >>> >>>Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could >>>invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. >>> >>>But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" >>>mortgages suddenly come into being? >>> >>>Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so >>>radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? >>> >>>And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - >>>because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal >>>- go along with it? >>> >>>Here's where it gets very interesting... >>> >>>The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned >>>about what was going on. They have been for years. >>> >>>And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also >>>took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making >>>bad real estate loans to their citizens. >>> >>>(Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were >>>designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can >>>rightly be called "predatory" loans.) >>> >>>Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven >>>real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that >>>made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? >>> >>>*** The trillion dollar plus question >>> >>>If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud >>>so you might as well know who did it to you. >>> >>>His initials are GB. >>> >>>You know him well. >>> >>>But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who >>>single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then >>>fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who >>>in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... >>> >>>His initials are ES. >>> >>>If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize >>>his name instantly when you hear it. >>> >>>And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and >>>permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. >>> >>>Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to >>>remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown >>>possible. >>> >>>Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet >>>in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. >>> >>>So effective was his assassination that no one can even >>>mention his name in connection with today's crisis without >>>risking ridicule, or worse. >>> >>>Last note: >>> >>>The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger >>>than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. >>> >>>It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will >>>likely have the same impact on the current generation that the >>>depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and >>>great grandparents. >>> >>>On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed >>>this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened >>>and why: >>> >>>http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail >>>and videos with friends and colleagues. >>> >>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >>>videos with friends and colleagues. >>> >>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>> >>>============================== >>> >>> >>> >>>Brasscheck TV >>>2380 California St. >>>San Francisco, CA 94115 >>> >>>To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >>>http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== >>> >>> >>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 >>>15:54 >>> >>> >>> >>>*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>> >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Mai-not mailing list >>>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >>> >>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: >>>9/19/2008 8:25 AM >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/9235bb9b/attachment-0001.html From siamdave at yahoo.ca Mon Sep 22 04:18:41 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Mon Sep 22 04:19:06 2008 Subject: connections (Re: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <20080922083308.D65D112806@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> <20080922083308.D65D112806@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809221618410078.004B9E66@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> connections connections - and what is al Quaeda usually translated as? "The base"!! - hmmmmmm *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 08-09-22 at 4:33 PM Dion Giles wrote: Amazing what shows up when the dots get connected. In Fahrenheit 911, Bush was filmed gloating to assembled mega-thieves: "You are my base". So now they are going to steal $700 billion of US taxpayers' money and urge other governments to do the same, to write off debt. Whose debt? Debts of people facing foreclosure on their homes? Not on your Nellie. The Democrats suggested that, and the US Administration made it very clear that the plebs were excluded. Obama is as bad - suggests an addition to help the plebs (Mr Greed will allow it of a politician in opposition where it can't count) but still endorses this massive heist when all the greedies' own propaganda fresh from Chicago has been that the free market will solve it. Clearly they should let these tycoons wear the debts they have run up, and get the New York council to clear the streets below for when they start flying in formation out the high windows rather than be de-classed (Oh the barman George -- he's George Soros you know. Hey Milton, bring me another beer). Dion Giles Western Australia (PS: I have $6K saved and residing in the local BankWest. BankWest was the Rural and Industries (R&I) Bank, established by the WA community to serve our needs. Their ads used to say proudly "The bank that lives here". Sometime in the past, the politicians decided to privatise it (sell it off to their sponsors). It was bought by a Scottish Bank and then by a couple of other British banks who now, as the crunch hits them, are passing BankWest about among themselves like a bag of cabbages. An SMS from my daughter today said: "People are frightened - they are crowding into the bank branches." So off I went to get my savings out. Found they are now limiting withdrawals to $3500 -- $100 total at the ATM and $2500 over the counter. I'll try for the other $2500 tomorrow if the doors haven't shut. The question now is - what particular individuals in parliament and the public "service". Time for some naming and shaming. - DG) At 01:40 PM 22/09/2008, Dale wrote: The artice is referring to former New York Governor Spitzer who resigned in the midst of a sex scandal, Ed. Here's the rest of that story from Brasschecktv: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html Why Eliot Spitzer was assassinated The predatory lending industry had a partner in the White House Mortaging America's future for a quick buck This video was originally posted in March of 2008 It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence and malpractice in recent memory. The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer and Spitzer's all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with predatory lenders. While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the White House. Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the front page news for days. To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush administration "accomplishments." No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years. Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the last time the US banking industry fell into a black whole because of White House-facilitated fraud? There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it the last time: Ed Deak wrote: Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? Cheers, Ed, At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and so it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop to it - they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: Dave This is a long story, but if you have any interest in what's going on in the financial markets, I think you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're likely to find anywhere else. Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. Without this article, you'll still get value from the video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going on better than most people on earth...including financial news reporters. I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link at the bottom. - Brasscheck ========================================= *** A short explanation of how we got to where we are Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) from the White House and Congress. The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing back to earth. The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today *** How the scam works The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... ....Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value and then sell as much of it as you can. In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected into pools and then re-sold to investors. In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street with no hint of protest from federal regulators. ***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace at fire sale prices. Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation and what I call "staged dealing." Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest they pay and how safe they are. "Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call them assets. Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance companies. The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds then became "assets" which could be borrowed against and leveraged to buy even more bonds. When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. Deja vu, eh? ***The "Tech Bubble" dissected The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet stocks, start ups in particular. A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, its growth and its overall prospects for the future. Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves by being in existence for several years before they could be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away during the tech bubble. To pump of their values, the companies engaged in "staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million in banner ads to Company #1. In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. These should have been called media trades not sales, but Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these companies - many of them totally worthless - in the hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. ***The "Credit Crisis" dissected By now, you see how the scheme works. It's not complicated at all. You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to be good as gold. Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud was so-called sub-prime mortgages. Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial peril. But Wall Street changed all that. Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA paper." It sounds crazy, doesn't it? If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year old child can understand. But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda purposes are two very strong motivators. Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. Do you recognize the pattern now? If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or won't. This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial news media can see how it happened. ***But there's more... Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" mortgages suddenly come into being? Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal - go along with it? Here's where it gets very interesting... The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned about what was going on. They have been for years. And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making bad real estate loans to their citizens. (Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can rightly be called "predatory" loans.) Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? *** The trillion dollar plus question If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud so you might as well know who did it to you. His initials are GB. You know him well. But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... His initials are ES. If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize his name instantly when you hear it. And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown possible. Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. So effective was his assassination that no one can even mention his name in connection with today's crisis without risking ridicule, or worse. Last note: The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will likely have the same impact on the current generation that the depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and great grandparents. On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened and why: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - Brasscheck P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail and videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks. - Brasscheck P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks. ============================== Brasscheck TV 2380 California St. San Francisco, CA 94115 To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 15:54 *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: 9/19/2008 8:25 AM _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/672acf02/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 22 05:13:26 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 22 05:13:52 2008 Subject: connections (Re: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <200809221618410078.004B9E66@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> <20080922083308.D65D112806@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> <200809221618410078.004B9E66@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <20080922101329.4848C12D32@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Also, seeing things in categories - $700 billion. The taxpayers. Down to real terms this means every American, young or old, male or female, rich or poor, is down $2300 or so, more than $10 K for a family of four. OK, the very poor don't pay as much tax as that. But what about the cuts in welfare? It's not as if they are going to take the funds from military allocations or anything. Dion Giles Western Australia. At 05:18 PM 22/09/2008, Dave wrote: >connections connections - and what is al Quaeda usually translated >as? "The base"!! - hmmmmmm > >*********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > >On 08-09-22 at 4:33 PM Dion Giles wrote: >Amazing what shows up when the dots get connected. In Fahrenheit >911, Bush was filmed gloating to assembled mega-thieves: "You are >my base". So now they are going to steal $700 billion of US >taxpayers' money and urge other governments to do the same, to write >off debt. Whose debt? Debts of people facing foreclosure on their >homes? Not on your Nellie. The Democrats suggested that, and the >US Administration made it very clear that the plebs were >excluded. Obama is as bad - suggests an addition to help the plebs >(Mr Greed will allow it of a politician in opposition where it can't >count) but still endorses this massive heist when all the greedies' >own propaganda fresh from Chicago has been that the free market will >solve it. Clearly they should let these tycoons wear the debts they >have run up, and get the New York council to clear the streets below >for when they start flying in formation out the high windows rather >than be de-classed (Oh the barman George -- he's George Soros you >know. Hey Milton, bring me another beer). > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > >(PS: I have $6K saved and residing in the local BankWest. BankWest >was the Rural and Industries (R&I) Bank, established by the WA >community to serve our needs. Their ads used to say proudly "The >bank that lives here". Sometime in the past, the politicians >decided to privatise it (sell it off to their sponsors). It was >bought by a Scottish Bank and then by a couple of other British >banks who now, as the crunch hits them, are passing BankWest about >among themselves like a bag of cabbages. An SMS from my daughter >today said: "People are frightened - they are crowding into the >bank branches." So off I went to get my savings out. Found they >are now limiting withdrawals to $3500 -- $100 total at the ATM and >$2500 over the counter. I'll try for the other $2500 tomorrow if >the doors haven't shut. The question now is - what particular >individuals in parliament and the public "service". Time for some >naming and shaming. - DG) > >At 01:40 PM 22/09/2008, Dale wrote: > >>The artice is referring to former New York Governor Spitzer who >>resigned in the midst of a sex scandal, Ed. Here's the rest of that >>story from Brasschecktv: >> >> >>http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html >> Why Eliot Spitzer was assassinated >> >>The predatory lending industry >>had a partner in the White House >> >> >>Mortaging America's future >>for a quick buck >>This video was originally posted in March of 2008 >> >>It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence >>and malpractice in recent memory. >> >>The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the >>bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign >>about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer and Spitzer's >>all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with >>predatory lenders. >> >>While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a >>superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media >>failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the >>White House. >> >>Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of >>Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the >>front page news for days. >> >>To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal >>response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US >>Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining >>of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush >>administration "accomplishments." >> >>No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as >>much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years. >> >>Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the >>last time the US banking industry fell into a black whole because >>of White House-facilitated fraud? >> >>There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's >>how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it >>the last time: >> >> >> >> >>Ed Deak wrote: >>>Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? >>>Cheers, Ed, >>> >>> >>>At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: >>>> - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - >>>> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this >>>> coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the >>>> mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root >>>> causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and >>>> so it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop >>>> to it - they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. >>>> >>>>*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>>> >>>>On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: >>>> >>>>Dave >>>> >>>>This is a long story, but if you have any interest >>>>in what's going on in the financial markets, I think >>>>you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're >>>>likely to find anywhere else. >>>> >>>>Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. >>>> >>>>Without this article, you'll still get value from the >>>>video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going >>>>on better than most people on earth...including >>>>financial news reporters. >>>> >>>>I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will >>>>take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link >>>>at the bottom. >>>> >>>>- Brasscheck >>>> >>>>========================================= >>>> >>>>*** A short explanation of how we got to where we are >>>> >>>>Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus >>>>US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. >>>> >>>>Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >>>>mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >>>>Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >>>>from the White House and Congress. >>>> >>>>The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart >>>>the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes >>>>too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing >>>>back to earth. >>>> >>>>The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: >>>> >>>>Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s >>>> >>>>Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s >>>> >>>>Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today >>>> >>>>*** How the scam works >>>> >>>>The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... >>>> >>>>....Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value >>>>and then sell as much of it as you can. >>>> >>>>In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. >>>> >>>>In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. >>>> >>>>In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected >>>>into pools and then re-sold to investors. >>>> >>>>In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" >>>>financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street >>>>with no hint of protest from federal regulators. >>>> >>>>***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected >>>> >>>>Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which >>>>resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of >>>>banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace >>>>at fire sale prices. >>>> >>>>Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were >>>>shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation >>>>and what I call "staged dealing." >>>> >>>>Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest >>>>they pay and how safe they are. >>>> >>>>"Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less >>>>safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings >>>>and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call >>>>them assets. >>>> >>>>Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street >>>>fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk >>>>bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance >>>>companies. >>>> >>>>The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth >>>>amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" >>>>and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds >>>>then became "assets" which could be borrowed against >>>>and leveraged to buy even more bonds. >>>> >>>>When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the >>>>US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost >>>>of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. >>>> >>>>Deja vu, eh? >>>> >>>>***The "Tech Bubble" dissected >>>> >>>>The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet >>>>stocks, start ups in particular. >>>> >>>>A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, >>>>its growth and its overall prospects for the future. >>>> >>>>Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves >>>>by being in existence for several years before they could >>>>be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away >>>>during the tech bubble. >>>> >>>>To pump of their values, the companies engaged in >>>>"staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. >>>> >>>>Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner >>>>ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million >>>>in banner ads to Company #1. >>>> >>>>In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran >>>>ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 >>>>ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. >>>> >>>>These should have been called media trades not sales, but >>>>Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales >>>>and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these >>>>companies - many of them totally worthless - in the >>>>hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. >>>> >>>>***The "Credit Crisis" dissected >>>> >>>>By now, you see how the scheme works. >>>> >>>>It's not complicated at all. >>>> >>>>You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock >>>>of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to >>>>be good as gold. >>>> >>>>Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up >>>>stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. >>>> >>>>In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud >>>>was so-called sub-prime mortgages. >>>> >>>>Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. >>>>Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for >>>>good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial >>>>peril. >>>> >>>>But Wall Street changed all that. >>>> >>>>Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble >>>>them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various >>>>ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA >>>>paper." >>>> >>>>It sounds crazy, doesn't it? >>>> >>>>If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling >>>>a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" >>>> >>>>It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year >>>>old child can understand. >>>> >>>>But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda >>>>purposes are two very strong motivators. >>>> >>>>Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, >>>>and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. >>>> >>>>Do you recognize the pattern now? >>>> >>>>If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses >>>>who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or >>>>won't. >>>> >>>>This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial >>>>meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial >>>>news media can see how it happened. >>>> >>>>***But there's more... >>>> >>>>Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could >>>>invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. >>>> >>>>But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" >>>>mortgages suddenly come into being? >>>> >>>>Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so >>>>radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? >>>> >>>>And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - >>>>because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal >>>>- go along with it? >>>> >>>>Here's where it gets very interesting... >>>> >>>>The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned >>>>about what was going on. They have been for years. >>>> >>>>And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also >>>>took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making >>>>bad real estate loans to their citizens. >>>> >>>>(Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were >>>>designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can >>>>rightly be called "predatory" loans.) >>>> >>>>Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven >>>>real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that >>>>made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? >>>> >>>>*** The trillion dollar plus question >>>> >>>>If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud >>>>so you might as well know who did it to you. >>>> >>>>His initials are GB. >>>> >>>>You know him well. >>>> >>>>But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who >>>>single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then >>>>fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who >>>>in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... >>>> >>>>His initials are ES. >>>> >>>>If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize >>>>his name instantly when you hear it. >>>> >>>>And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and >>>>permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. >>>> >>>>Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to >>>>remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown >>>>possible. >>>> >>>>Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet >>>>in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. >>>> >>>>So effective was his assassination that no one can even >>>>mention his name in connection with today's crisis without >>>>risking ridicule, or worse. >>>> >>>>Last note: >>>> >>>>The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger >>>>than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. >>>> >>>>It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will >>>>likely have the same impact on the current generation that the >>>>depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and >>>>great grandparents. >>>> >>>>On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed >>>>this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened >>>>and why: >>>> >>>>http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html >>>> >>>>- Brasscheck >>>> >>>>P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail >>>>and videos with friends and colleagues. >>>> >>>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>- Brasscheck >>>> >>>>P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >>>>videos with friends and colleagues. >>>> >>>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>>> >>>>============================== >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>Brasscheck TV >>>>2380 California St. >>>>San Francisco, CA 94115 >>>> >>>>To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >>>>http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== >>>> >>>> >>>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 >>>>15:54 >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>>> >>>> >>>>_______________________________________________ >>>>Mai-not mailing list >>>>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>>>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >>>> >>>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: >>>>9/19/2008 8:25 AM >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Mai-not mailing list >>>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/e954fea7/attachment-0001.html From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 22 07:44:25 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 22 07:44:57 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] PAUL KRUGMAN Cash for Trash NYT Sept 22 Message-ID: <48D768F9.7070.319F8B6@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html The New York Times September 22, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist Cash for Trash By PAUL KRUGMAN Some skeptics are calling Henry Paulson's $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system "cash for trash." Others are calling the proposed legislation the Authorization for Use of Financial Force, after the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the infamous bill that gave the Bush administration the green light to invade Iraq. There's justice in the gibes. Everyone agrees that something major must be done. But Mr. Paulson is demanding extraordinary power for himself - and for his successor - to deploy taxpayers' money on behalf of a plan that, as far as I can see, doesn't make sense. Some are saying that we should simply trust Mr. Paulson, because he's a smart guy who knows what he's doing. But that's only half true: he is a smart guy, but what, exactly, in the experience of the past year and a half - a period during which Mr. Paulson repeatedly declared the financial crisis "contained," and then offered a series of unsuccessful fixes - justifies the belief that he knows what he's doing? He's making it up as he goes along, just like the rest of us. So let's try to think this through for ourselves. I have a four-step view of the financial crisis: 1. The bursting of the housing bubble has led to a surge in defaults and foreclosures, which in turn has led to a plunge in the prices of mortgage-backed securities - assets whose value ultimately comes from mortgage payments. 2. These financial losses have left many financial institutions with too little capital - too few assets compared with their debt. This problem is especially severe because everyone took on so much debt during the bubble years. 3. Because financial institutions have too little capital relative to their debt, they haven't been able or willing to provide the credit the economy needs. 4. Financial institutions have been trying to pay down their debt by selling assets, including those mortgage-backed securities, but this drives asset prices down and makes their financial position even worse. This vicious circle is what some call the "paradox of deleveraging." The Paulson plan calls for the federal government to buy up $700 billion worth of troubled assets, mainly mortgage-backed securities. How does this resolve the crisis? Well, it might - might - break the vicious circle of deleveraging, step 4 in my capsule description. Even that isn't clear: the prices of many assets, not just those the Treasury proposes to buy, are under pressure. And even if the vicious circle is limited, the financial system will still be crippled by inadequate capital. Or rather, it will be crippled by inadequate capital unless the federal government hugely overpays for the assets it buys, giving financial firms - and their stockholders and executives - a giant windfall at taxpayer expense. Did I mention that I'm not happy with this plan? The logic of the crisis seems to call for an intervention, not at step 4, but at step 2: the financial system needs more capital. And if the government is going to provide capital to financial firms, it should get what people who provide capital are entitled to - a share in ownership, so that all the gains if the rescue plan works don't go to the people who made the mess in the first place. That's what happened in the savings and loan crisis: the feds took over ownership of the bad banks, not just their bad assets. It's also what happened with Fannie and Freddie. (And by the way, that rescue has done what it was supposed to. Mortgage interest rates have come down sharply since the federal takeover.) But Mr. Paulson insists that he wants a "clean" plan. "Clean," in this context, means a taxpayer-financed bailout with no strings attached - no quid pro quo on the part of those being bailed out. Why is that a good thing? Add to this the fact that Mr. Paulson is also demanding dictatorial authority, plus immunity from review "by any court of law or any administrative agency," and this adds up to an unacceptable proposal. I'm aware that Congress is under enormous pressure to agree to the Paulson plan in the next few days, with at most a few modifications that make it slightly less bad. Basically, after having spent a year and a half telling everyone that things were under control, the Bush administration says that the sky is falling, and that to save the world we have to do exactly what it says now now now. But I'd urge Congress to pause for a minute, take a deep breath, and try to seriously rework the structure of the plan, making it a plan that addresses the real problem. Don't let yourself be railroaded - if this plan goes through in anything like its current form, we'll all be very sorry in the not-too-distant future. ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 5276 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/abf463cf/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 17088 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/abf463cf/--0001.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080922/abf463cf/--0002.obj From thinker at this1.ca Mon Sep 22 09:45:09 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Mon Sep 22 09:43:33 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] another piece of the puzzle - Brasscheck TV: The financial meltdown explained In-Reply-To: <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> References: <25.C8.28592.10984D84@ec1> <200809211449330812.01F18144@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <200809211953.m8LJre5T022478@karma.reboot.ca> <48D72FDB.5070906@telus.net> Message-ID: <200809221443.m8MEhMXW009983@karma.reboot.ca> Many thanks , Dale, Cheers, Ed. ====================================================== At 10:40 PM 21/09/2008, you wrote: >The artice is referring to former New York Governor Spitzer who >resigned in the midst of a sex scandal, Ed. Here's the rest of that >story from Brasschecktv: > > >http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html > Why Eliot Spitzer was assassinated > >The predatory lending industry >had a partner in the White House > > >Mortaging America's future >for a quick buck >This video was originally posted in March of 2008 > >It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence >and malpractice in recent memory. > >The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the >bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign >about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer and Spitzer's >all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with >predatory lenders. > >While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a >superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media >failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the >White House. > >Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of >Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the >front page news for days. > >To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal >response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US >Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining >of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush >administration "accomplishments." > >No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as >much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years. > >Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the >last time the US banking industry fell into a black whole because of >White House-facilitated fraud? > >There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's >how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it >the last time: > > > > >Ed Deak wrote: >>Very interesting and realistic, but who is the initials ES ? >>Cheers, Ed, >> >> >>At 12:49 AM 21/09/2008, Dave Patterson wrote: >>> - don't miss the vid at the bottom, very interesting - >>> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html - people who saw this >>> coming were intentionally kept marginalized, and even now the >>> mainstream media are refusing to acknowlege most of the root >>> causes, as the masters must be protected at all times .... and so >>> it will continue until We the People rise up and put a stop to it >>> - they're not all going to throw themselves in jail where they belong. >>> >>>*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>> >>>On 08-09-20 at 1:24 AM Brasscheck TV wrote: >>> >>>Dave >>> >>>This is a long story, but if you have any interest >>>in what's going on in the financial markets, I think >>>you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're >>>likely to find anywhere else. >>> >>>Also, it's an important set-up for today's video. >>> >>>Without this article, you'll still get value from the >>>video, but with it, you'll REALLY know what's going >>>on better than most people on earth...including >>>financial news reporters. >>> >>>I encourage you to invest the five minutes it will >>>take to read this. If not, you can skip to the link >>>at the bottom. >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>========================================= >>> >>>*** A short explanation of how we got to where we are >>> >>>Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus >>>US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. >>> >>>Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic >>>mechanism...the fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by >>>Wall Street - with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) >>>from the White House and Congress. >>> >>>The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart >>>the illusion of health and then, inevitably, the fraud goes >>>too far and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing >>>back to earth. >>> >>>The three trillion dollar plus frauds were: >>> >>>Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings and Loan Crisis" of the late 80s >>> >>>Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s >>> >>>Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit Crisis" of today >>> >>>*** How the scam works >>> >>>The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself... >>> >>>...Take a shaky financial asset and blow up its value >>>and then sell as much of it as you can. >>> >>>In the "Savings and Loan Crisis," the instrument was junk bonds. >>> >>>In the "Tech Bubble" it was Internet stocks. >>> >>>In the "Credit Crisis" it was individual mortgages collected >>>into pools and then re-sold to investors. >>> >>>In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" >>>financial principles were consciously thrown away by Wall Street >>>with no hint of protest from federal regulators. >>> >>>***The "Savings and Loan Crisis" dissected >>> >>>Junk bonds caused the Saving and Loan crisis which >>>resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of >>>banks and selling them back over time to the marketplace >>>at fire sale prices. >>> >>>Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings and Loan Crisis" were >>>shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation >>>and what I call "staged dealing." >>> >>>Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest >>>they pay and how safe they are. >>> >>>"Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less >>>safe. Therefore, until the "Savings and Loan Crisis," savings >>>and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and call >>>them assets. >>> >>>Reagan/Bush changed all this and then a group of Wall Street >>>fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk >>>bond creation and junk bond selling to banks and insurance >>>companies. >>> >>>The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth >>>amongst themselves thereby establishing their "value" >>>and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds >>>then became "assets" which could be borrowed against >>>and leveraged to buy even more bonds. >>> >>>When the bonds failed, the banks failed and in stepped the >>>US government to "fix" the problem that it created at the cost >>>of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers. >>> >>>Deja vu, eh? >>> >>>***The "Tech Bubble" dissected >>> >>>The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet >>>stocks, start ups in particular. >>> >>>A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, >>>its growth and its overall prospects for the future. >>> >>>Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves >>>by being in existence for several years before they could >>>be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away >>>during the tech bubble. >>> >>>To pump of their values, the companies engaged in >>>"staged dealing" just like the junk bond crooks. >>> >>>Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner >>>ads to Company #2 which would in turn "sell" 20 million >>>in banner ads to Company #1. >>> >>>In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran >>>ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 >>>ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount. >>> >>>These should have been called media trades not sales, but >>>Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales >>>and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these >>>companies - many of them totally worthless - in the >>>hundreds of millions and sometimes even the billions. >>> >>>***The "Credit Crisis" dissected >>> >>>By now, you see how the scheme works. >>> >>>It's not complicated at all. >>> >>>You take near worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock >>>of start up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to >>>be good as gold. >>> >>>Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start up >>>stocks as you get and sell them as fast as you can. >>> >>>In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud >>>was so-called sub-prime mortgages. >>> >>>Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. >>>Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them and for >>>good reason. They're tricky to value and packed with financial >>>peril. >>> >>>But Wall Street changed all that. >>> >>>Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages and assemble >>>them into large pools and then slice and dice the pools in various >>>ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA >>>paper." >>> >>>It sounds crazy, doesn't it? >>> >>>If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling >>>a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it "better?" >>> >>>It doesn't, of course, and this is a principle even a three year >>>old child can understand. >>> >>>But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda >>>purposes are two very strong motivators. >>> >>>Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, >>>and they by virtue of these "staged sales" declared them valuable. >>> >>>Do you recognize the pattern now? >>> >>>If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled j@ck@sses >>>who do financial reporting because they apparently can't - or >>>won't. >>> >>>This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial >>>meltdown in twenty years and apparently no one in the financial >>>news media can see how it happened. >>> >>>***But there's more... >>> >>>Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could >>>invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. >>> >>>But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" >>>mortgages suddenly come into being? >>> >>>Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so >>>radically and so suddenly to make their creation possible? >>> >>>And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states - >>>because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue not a federal >>>- go along with it? >>> >>>Here's where it gets very interesting... >>> >>>The fact is state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned >>>about what was going on. They have been for years. >>> >>>And they not only expressed their concern clearly, they also >>>took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making >>>bad real estate loans to their citizens. >>> >>>(Most of the sub-prime loans in the news so much today were >>>designed to screw the people who borrowed the money and can >>>rightly be called "predatory" loans.) >>> >>>Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven >>>real estate lending laws and thus created the raw material that >>>made the current "Credit Crisis" possible? >>> >>>*** The trillion dollar plus question >>> >>>If you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud >>>so you might as well know who did it to you. >>> >>>His initials are GB. >>> >>>You know him well. >>> >>>But perhaps more interesting is the name of the person who >>>single-handedly rallied first state attorneys general and then >>>fellow governors to fight the creation of these loans and who >>>in the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration... >>> >>>His initials are ES. >>> >>>If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you'll recognize >>>his name instantly when you hear it. >>> >>>And you will *finally* understand why he was quickly and >>>permanently assassinated politically earlier this year. >>> >>>Had ES been allowed to "live," he would have been in position to >>>remind everyone every day of who made the current meltdown >>>possible. >>> >>>Instead, he was silenced very effectively. Not with a bullet >>>in the back of the head, but the net effect was just the same. >>> >>>So effective was his assassination that no one can even >>>mention his name in connection with today's crisis without >>>risking ridicule, or worse. >>> >>>Last note: >>> >>>The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger >>>than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. >>> >>>It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up" and will >>>likely have the same impact on the current generation that the >>>depression of the 1930s had on its parents, grandparents and >>>great grandparents. >>> >>>On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed >>>this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened >>>and why: >>> >>>http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail >>>and videos with friends and colleagues. >>> >>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>- Brasscheck >>> >>>P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >>>videos with friends and colleagues. >>> >>>That's how we grow. Thanks. >>> >>>============================== >>> >>> >>> >>>Brasscheck TV >>>2380 California St. >>>San Francisco, CA 94115 >>> >>>To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >>>http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMxszGwcjAyMtEa0zBxM7CwsHA== >>> >>> >>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1681 - Release Date: 19/9/2551 >>>15:54 >>> >>> >>> >>>*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** >>> >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Mai-not mailing list >>>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >>> >>>No virus found in this incoming message. >>>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>>Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1680 - Release Date: >>>9/19/2008 8:25 AM >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1683 - Release Date: >9/21/2008 10:10 AM From thinker at this1.ca Mon Sep 22 11:23:41 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Mon Sep 22 11:22:18 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Einstein's fridge Message-ID: <200809221621.m8MGLrCq018418@karma.reboot.ca> Date: September 22, 2008 2:19:17 PM CEDT To: <can-talk@listi.jpberlin.de> Subject: [CAN-talk] Einstein's long-forgotten invention...to the rescue? could lower emissions significantly... Einstein fridge design can help global cooling Scientists relaunch a 1930 invention that uses no electricity and would reduce greenhouse gases * Alok Jha <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alokjha> , green technology correspondent * The Observer <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/> , * Sunday September 21 2008 * Article history An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists at Oxford University who are trying to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity. Modern fridges are notoriously damaging to the environment. They work by compressing and expanding man-made greenhouse gases called freons - far more damaging that carbon dioxide - and are being manufactured in increasing numbers. Sales of fridges around the world are rising as demand increases in developing countries. Now Malcolm McCulloch, an electrical engineer at Oxford who works on green technologies, is leading a three-year project to develop more robust appliances that can be used in places without electricity. His team has completed a prototype of a type of fridge patented in 1930 by Einstein and his colleague, the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard. It had no moving parts and used only pressurised gases to keep things cold. The design was partly used in the first domestic refrigerators, but the technology was abandoned when more efficient compressors became popular in the 1950s. That meant a switch to using freons. Einstein and Szilard's idea avoids the need for freons. It uses ammonia, butane and water and takes advantage of the fact that liquids boil at lower temperatures when the air pressure around them is lower. 'If you go to the top of Mount Everest, water boils at a much lower temperature than it does when you're at sea level and that's because the pressure is much lower up there,' said McCulloch. At one side is the evaporator, a flask that contains butane. 'If you introduce a new vapour above the butane, the liquid boiling temperature decreases and, as it boils off, it takes energy from the surroundings to do so,' says McCulloch. 'That's what makes it cold.' Pressurised gas fridges based around Einstein's design were replaced by freon-compressor fridges partly because Einstein and Szilard's design was not very efficient. But McCulloch thinks that by tweaking the design and replacing the types of gases used it will be possible to quadruple the efficiency. He also wants to take the idea further. The only energy input needed into the fridge is to heat a pump, and McCulloch has been working on powering this with solar energy. 'No moving parts is a real benefit because it can carry on going without maintenance. This could have real applications in rural areas,' he said. McCulloch's is not the only technology to improve the environmental credentials of fridges. Engineers working at a Cambridge-based start-up company, Camfridge, are using magnetic fields to cool things. 'Our fridge works, from a conceptual point of view, in a similar way [to gas compressor fridges] but instead of using a gas we use a magnetic field and a special metal alloy,' said managing director Neil Wilson. 'When the magnetic field is next to the alloy, it's like compressing the gas, and when the magnetic field leaves, it's like expanding the gas.' He added: 'This effect can be seen in rubber bands - when you stretch the band it gets hot, and when you let the band contract it gets cold.' Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said creating greener fridges was hugely important. 'If you look at developing countries, if they're aspiring to the lifestyles that we lead, they're going to require more cooling - whether that's air conditioning, food cooling or freezing. Putting in place the technologies that are both low greenhouse-gas refrigerants and low energy use is critical.' McCulloch's fridge is still in its early stages. 'It's very much a prototype; this is nowhere near commercialised,' he said. 'Give us another month and we'll have it working.' _______________________________________________ CAN-talk Mailingliste JPBerlin - Politischer Provider CAN-talk@listi.jpberlin.de https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/can-talk From creuss at bluewin.ch Mon Sep 22 15:37:23 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Mon Sep 22 15:38:55 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Larry Silverstein wasn't in the WTC on 9/11 Message-ID: >From the Wall Street Journal 12-May-2007: "Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for several hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, that saved my life." While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the second plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived." http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010066 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 22 21:32:48 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 22 21:33:00 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Einstein's fridge In-Reply-To: <200809221621.m8MGLrCq018418@karma.reboot.ca> References: <200809221621.m8MGLrCq018418@karma.reboot.ca> Message-ID: <20080923023250.CCA09129E1@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Freons are banned in Australian fridges. Dion Giles Western Australia At 12:23 AM 23/09/2008, you wrote: >Date: September 22, 2008 2:19:17 PM CEDT >To: <can-talk@listi.jpberlin.de> >Subject: [CAN-talk] Einstein's long-forgotten invention...to the >rescue? could lower emissions significantly... > > >Einstein fridge design can help global cooling >Scientists relaunch a 1930 invention that uses no electricity and >would reduce greenhouse gases > * Alok Jha > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alokjha> > , green technology correspondent > * The Observer > <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/> , > * Sunday September 21 2008 > * Article history >An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists >at Oxford University who are trying to develop an environmentally >friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity. > >Modern fridges are notoriously damaging to the environment. They >work by compressing and expanding man-made greenhouse gases called >freons - far more damaging that carbon dioxide - and are being >manufactured in increasing numbers. Sales of fridges around the >world are rising as demand increases in developing countries. > >Now Malcolm McCulloch, an electrical engineer at Oxford who works on >green technologies, is leading a three-year project to develop more >robust appliances that can be used in places without electricity. > >His team has completed a prototype of a type of fridge patented in >1930 by Einstein and his colleague, the Hungarian physicist Leo >Szilard. It had no moving parts and used only pressurised gases to >keep things cold. The design was partly used in the first domestic >refrigerators, but the technology was abandoned when more efficient >compressors became popular in the 1950s. That meant a switch to using freons. > >Einstein and Szilard's idea avoids the need for freons. It uses >ammonia, butane and water and takes advantage of the fact that >liquids boil at lower temperatures when the air pressure around them >is lower. 'If you go to the top of Mount Everest, water boils at a >much lower temperature than it does when you're at sea level and >that's because the pressure is much lower up there,' said McCulloch. > >At one side is the evaporator, a flask that contains butane. 'If you >introduce a new vapour above the butane, the liquid boiling >temperature decreases and, as it boils off, it takes energy from the >surroundings to do so,' says McCulloch. 'That's what makes it cold.' > >Pressurised gas fridges based around Einstein's design were replaced >by freon-compressor fridges partly because Einstein and Szilard's >design was not very efficient. But McCulloch thinks that by tweaking >the design and replacing the types of gases used it will be possible >to quadruple the efficiency. He also wants to take the idea further. >The only energy input needed into the fridge is to heat a pump, and >McCulloch has been working on powering this with solar energy. > >'No moving parts is a real benefit because it can carry on going >without maintenance. This could have real applications in rural >areas,' he said. > >McCulloch's is not the only technology to improve the environmental >credentials of fridges. Engineers working at a Cambridge-based >start-up company, Camfridge, are using magnetic fields to cool >things. 'Our fridge works, from a conceptual point of view, in a >similar way [to gas compressor fridges] but instead of using a gas >we use a magnetic field and a special metal alloy,' said managing >director Neil Wilson. > >'When the magnetic field is next to the alloy, it's like compressing >the gas, and when the magnetic field leaves, it's like expanding the >gas.' He added: 'This effect can be seen in rubber bands - when you >stretch the band it gets hot, and when you let the band contract it gets cold.' > >Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said creating greener >fridges was hugely important. 'If you look at developing countries, >if they're aspiring to the lifestyles that we lead, they're going to >require more cooling - whether that's air conditioning, food cooling >or freezing. Putting in place the technologies that are both low >greenhouse-gas refrigerants and low energy use is critical.' > >McCulloch's fridge is still in its early stages. 'It's very much a >prototype; this is nowhere near commercialised,' he said. 'Give us >another month and we'll have it working.' >_______________________________________________ >CAN-talk Mailingliste >JPBerlin - Politischer Provider >CAN-talk@listi.jpberlin.de >https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/can-talk > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 22 21:40:28 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 22 21:40:46 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Larry Silverstein wasn't in the WTC on 9/11 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080923024031.2E28A12EEB@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> It would be very easy, from records in the public arena, for any investigative journo worth two bob to find out who was not in the building that day who usually is, and see if this exceeded those not at work on any other day, and if there was any trend (the sort accessible to the statistical techniques of epidemiologists) in the absences. The early stories said ten thousand people were killed, then it gradually shrank to the probably genuine three thousand. How many were there but escaped? Relevant detail on this event, including the details of how the terrorists were supposed to have got on to the planes, seems maddeningly elusive. Dion Giles Western Australia At 04:37 AM 23/09/2008, you wrote: > >From the Wall Street Journal 12-May-2007: > >"Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center >shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. >The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the >restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for several >hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, >dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of >at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel >my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he >recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, that >saved my life." > >While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. >Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck >the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the second >plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived." > >http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010066 > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword >"igve". > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 22 21:51:46 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 22 21:52:00 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Germans deride $700bn heist; Rev Kev in US for instructions Message-ID: <20080923025148.76AD9F446@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 3f73155e.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3625 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080923/8f549fe0/3f73155e-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 3f73158d.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 24621 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080923/8f549fe0/3f73158d-0001.jpg From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Sep 23 00:08:38 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Tue Sep 23 00:09:03 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Larry Silverstein wasn't in the WTC on 9/11 In-Reply-To: <20080923024031.2E28A12EEB@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080923024031.2E28A12EEB@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809231208380859.00610DD3@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> I dunno - you think any 'real' journalist (few and far between these days) asking questions like this might find himself being questioned in a little dark room somewhere? What is really distressing is that so many things like this make it so obvious that there is a huge coverup going on, with the assistance of the media, and so many people don't seem to see the obvious patterns, or care. And people you would not normally think of as sub-intelligent or rednecks or anything derogatory - otherwise fairly smart people, at least somewhat engaged in society and trying to make things better via 'progressive' politics - but they will simply not go behind certain curtains. And until they do, we have no hope. How to get through those self-imposed 'do not look there!!' restrictions is our biggest challenge, I think - I know I've been trying for years, with somewhere between little and no success - if anyone is having more luck, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it. *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 08-09-23 at 10:40 AM Dion Giles wrote: >It would be very easy, from records in the public arena, for any >investigative journo worth two bob to find out who was not in the >building that day who usually is, and see if this exceeded those not >at work on any other day, and if there was any trend (the sort >accessible to the statistical techniques of epidemiologists) in the >absences. > >The early stories said ten thousand people were killed, then it >gradually shrank to the probably genuine three thousand. How many >were there but escaped? Relevant detail on this event, including the >details of how the terrorists were supposed to have got on to the >planes, seems maddeningly elusive. > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > > >At 04:37 AM 23/09/2008, you wrote: > > >> >From the Wall Street Journal 12-May-2007: >> >>"Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center >>shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. >>The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the >>restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for >several >>hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, >>dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of >>at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel >>my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he >>recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, >that >>saved my life." >> >>While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. >>Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck >>the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the >second >>plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived." >> >>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010066 >> >> >> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the >keyword >>"igve". >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1685 - Release Date: 22/9/2551 16:08 From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 23 01:14:23 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 23 01:14:44 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Larry Silverstein wasn't in the WTC on 9/11 In-Reply-To: <200809231208380859.00610DD3@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> References: <20080923024031.2E28A12EEB@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> <200809231208380859.00610DD3@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Message-ID: <20080923061426.4872F12A24@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> I was lucky enough a year or so ago to meet Tariq Ali, an observer for whom I have great respect, during a visit by him to Fremantle. He dismissed any idea that the US Government had anything to do with the WTC murders. How is it that he, and many others like him, take that stand? I suspect it is partly a contradiction between Big Picture folk and reality folk who are concerned with what actually happens. The Communists used to deride anarchists who would assassinate a tyrant, because it was avoiding the geopolitical issues that excite Big Picture people and could make no difference because history is the mere interplay of blind forces. The French Stalinist Louis Althusser was very strong on that line. Lucky the people fighting the intruders in Vietnam didn't stop shooting or inventing booby traps because of that, and American soldiers didn't stop fragging the officers. Individual actions mean nothing, the Big Picture ideologues claim, and the murders on 11.09.01 were the play of these blind historical forces - blowback from third world deprivation which made a more comforting explanation (even though those who actually carry out terrorist attacks rarely if ever make any reference to deprivation or the very real injustices in the Middle East but instead fulminate about their religion and (by implication) their right to stone rape victims to death and close down girls' schools and force women into mobile body bags and level Buddhist relics and kill apostates without copping any sass from Western infidels). The Big Picture wonks talk about Russian attempts to alter the balance of power in the Caucuses, and American attempts to preserve their geopolitical position in the Balkans, not the (to them) trivialities of the rights of South Ossetians and Kosovars and every other people on earth to self-determination. Thus the question of who hit the WTC is a distraction, even though the impact on the "big picture" of a full realisation of the breathtaking treason of their leaders would be cataclysmic. Greedy short sellers, plotters and conspirators have a decisive effect when combined with broader forces. On August 17 1988 some group conspired to nobble an aircraft carrying the mongrel Zia-ul-Haq and a gaggle of US advisors, and the "big picture" result was a brief flowering of democracy in Pakistan. Didn't last because democracy and respect for people's rights are not a big thing in Pakistani culture (so my Indian friends tell me). And the Germans snuck Lenin into Russia -- who would say that little conspiracy didn't have a big picture result? As for Tariq Ali, I have undiminished respect for his analyses, and those of others like him, because on big picture issues they are hot stuff indeed, and can convincingly describe the context in which events like the WTC murders occur. If the Twin Towers had been brought down 20 years earlier and pinned on Islamic terrorists it probably wouldn't have had the same overall effect. Context matters even if it isn't everything. Dion Giles Western Australia At 01:08 PM 23/09/2008, Dave : >I dunno - you think any 'real' journalist (few and far between these >days) asking questions like this might find himself being questioned >in a little dark room somewhere? What is really distressing is that >so many things like this make it so obvious that there is a huge >coverup going on, with the assistance of the media, and so many >people don't seem to see the obvious patterns, or care. And people >you would not normally think of as sub-intelligent or rednecks or >anything derogatory - otherwise fairly smart people, at least >somewhat engaged in society and trying to make things better via >'progressive' politics - but they will simply not go behind certain >curtains. And until they do, we have no hope. How to get through >those self-imposed 'do not look there!!' restrictions is our biggest >challenge, I think - I know I've been trying for years, with >somewhere between little and no success - if anyone is having more >luck, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it. > >*********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > >On 08-09-23 at 10:40 AM Dion Giles wrote: > > >It would be very easy, from records in the public arena, for any > >investigative journo worth two bob to find out who was not in the > >building that day who usually is, and see if this exceeded those not > >at work on any other day, and if there was any trend (the sort > >accessible to the statistical techniques of epidemiologists) in the > >absences. > > > >The early stories said ten thousand people were killed, then it > >gradually shrank to the probably genuine three thousand. How many > >were there but escaped? Relevant detail on this event, including the > >details of how the terrorists were supposed to have got on to the > >planes, seems maddeningly elusive. > > > >Dion Giles > >Western Australia > > > > > >At 04:37 AM 23/09/2008, you wrote: > > > > > >> >From the Wall Street Journal 12-May-2007: > >> > >>"Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center > >>shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. > >>The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the > >>restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for > >several > >>hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, > >>dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of > >>at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel > >>my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he > >>recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, > >that > >>saved my life." > >> > >>While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. > >>Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck > >>the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the > >second > >>plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived." > >> > >>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010066 > >> > >> > >> > >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~ > >>SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the > >keyword > >>"igve". > >> > >> > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Mai-not mailing list > >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Mai-not mailing list > >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net > >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > > >No virus found in this incoming message. > >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1685 - Release Date: > 22/9/2551 16:08 > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 23 02:21:34 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Tue Sep 23 02:41:11 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Financial crisis; Obama; S. Africa; Zimbabwe; Marx in Soho; Women and Revolution; Philippines; HRW & Venezuela; Cuba & aid Message-ID: <48D898FE.7080208@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Financial crisis: working people will pay By Dick Nichols September 20, 2008 -- "Will my superannuation [pension] fund be next?" "Are my savings safe?" As working people in the developed economies watch the assets of one financial institution after another vaporise into nothingness, tens of millions are asking these dreadful questions. Yesterday's AAA assets are now junk and yesterday's "risk-free" investments are losing money. No-one, not even the world's central bankers, who are spending sleepless nights arranging rescue bailouts and emergency injections of trillions of dollars into a financial system frozen with fear and distrust, can answer them with 100% certainty. * Read more Women and the Russian Revolution: `Our task is to make politics available to every working woman' By Lisa Macdonald The following is the Introduction to On the Emancipation of Women, a collection of the key articles and speeches on women's liberation by Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin, published by Resistance Books. On the Emancipation of Women is available online at http://www.resistancebooks.com . * Read more South African and Zimbabwe politicos join global financiers in self-destruction By Patrick Bond September 21, 2008 -- The past week has been a wild roller-coaster ride in and out of Southern African ruling-party politics, down the troughs of world capitalism, and up the peaks of radical social activism. Glancing around the region and the world from those peaks, we can see quite a way further than usual. * Read more Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions: Power-sharing deal `a far cry' from expectations By Wellington Chibebe September 20, 2008 -- The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions' General Council today met in Harare to deliberate on the recent signing of the power-sharing deal between the Zimbabwe African Nation Union-Patroitic Front (ZANU-PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which was held on September 15, 2008. After deliberating on the issue and taking a closer look at the deal, the General Council noted that the deal is a far cry from the ZCTU's expectations and that it is an outcome of a flawed process. * Read more Scenes from Marx in Soho, by Howard Zinn Scenes from Howard's Zinn's Marx in Soho (Bob Weick of the Iron Age Theatre appears in videos 2 & 5). For the latest on the play, go to http://www.marxinsoho.com/ Five scenes follow * Read more Truth suffers in Human Rights Watch report on Venezuela By the Venezuela Information Office On September 18, 2008 Human Rights Watch released a report entitled "Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Ch?vez." The report contains biases and inaccuracies, and wrongly purports that human rights guarantees are lacking or not properly enforced in Venezuela. In addition, while criticising Venezuela's human rights in the political context, it fails to mention the many significant advancements made by the government on other essential human rights, such as access to education, healthcare, nutritious food, clean water and housing. * Read more Philippines: Towards a memorandum for self-determination for the Moro people By Herbert Docena Force has kept the Moro people within the Philippines. Against their will, beginning in the early twentieth century, the Moros, who were already living in their own states in the south, were incorporated into what became the nation-state of the Philippines by US colonisers and their Filipino partners from the north. * Read more Obama raises hopes but pledges more war By Barry Sheppard September 14, 2008 -- Socialist Voice -- The nomination of Barack Obama as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party is historic. He is the first African American presidential candidate of one of the two major capitalist parties. He may win the election and become the first black president, something inconceivable only two years ago. That a black man might become head of government in a society still marked by ingrained racism puts race at the centre of the election campaign -- more on this below. * Read more Cuba supporters in Canada launch hurricane relief fund Introduction by Robert Johnson September 14, 2008 (Socialist Voice) -- Cuba has been assaulted in quick succession by three powerful hurricanes. Gustav, Hanna and Ike left a trail of massive destruction, the worst that Cuba has experienced in more than four decades. This was a cruel blow to the Cuban people, who have set an example to the world of selfless generosity despite their limited material resources. Under the leadership of their workers and farmers government, Cubans have now set to work to repair the damage. * Read more South Africa: The state, xenophobia and nationalism By Dale T. McKinley Johannesburg, September 2008 -- While the violent intensity and geographical spread of the recent attacks on immigrants across South Africa certainly surprised most of us, we should not have been surprised that such attacks happened -- or at the state's response. We shouldn't be surprised given the political and socio-economic context within which the post-1994 South African state was formed and has functioned. It is only by analysing this context, with particular reference to the "marriage" of nationalist politics and "nation-building" alongside economic neoliberalism, that we can understand and critically appraise the reaction of the South African state to the recent xenophobic pogroms. * Read more Peter Camejo 1939-2008: How to make a revolution in the United States (1969)/Liberalism, ultraleftism or mass action (1970) The tragic news on September 13, 2008, that Peter Camejo had lost his battle with cancer is a blow to all those on the revolutionary left who have been politically and personally influenced by him. As a tribute, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal republishes two of Peter's most influential and enduring lectures, talks that continue to educate young revolutionary socialists to this day. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080923/084e2730/attachment.html From thinker at this1.ca Tue Sep 23 09:42:35 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Tue Sep 23 09:40:59 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why Larry Silverstein wasn't in the WTC on 9/11 In-Reply-To: <20080923061426.4872F12A24@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080923024031.2E28A12EEB@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> <200809231208380859.00610DD3@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> <20080923061426.4872F12A24@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809231440.m8NEekNb023146@karma.reboot.ca> Anybody who still believes that a structure built around 47 vertical, huge steel columns, encased in concrete, can collapse at freefall speed and break into small pieces, is either a bloody fool, or paid off. I couldn't believe it when we first saw it on TV, live, as it happened, and the only thing I could say was : "What the hell is going on here?" As far Building 7 is concerned, it was a typical, classic form of demolition implosion toward the middle. Cheers, Ed. At 11:14 PM 22/09/2008, Dion Giles wrote: >I was lucky enough a year or so ago to meet Tariq Ali, an observer >for whom I have great respect, during a visit by him to >Fremantle. He dismissed any idea that the US Government had >anything to do with the WTC murders. How is it that he, and many >others like him, take that stand? I suspect it is partly a >contradiction between Big Picture folk and reality folk who are >concerned with what actually happens. The Communists used to deride >anarchists who would assassinate a tyrant, because it was avoiding >the geopolitical issues that excite Big Picture people and could >make no difference because history is the mere interplay of blind >forces. The French Stalinist Louis Althusser was very strong on >that line. Lucky the people fighting the intruders in Vietnam >didn't stop shooting or inventing booby traps because of that, and >American soldiers didn't stop fragging the officers. Individual >actions mean nothing, the Big Picture ideologues claim, and the >murders on 11.09.01 were the play of these blind historical forces - >blowback from third world deprivation which made a more comforting >explanation (even though those who actually carry out terrorist >attacks rarely if ever make any reference to deprivation or the very >real injustices in the Middle East but instead fulminate about their >religion and (by implication) their right to stone rape victims to >death and close down girls' schools and force women into mobile body >bags and level Buddhist relics and kill apostates without copping >any sass from Western infidels). > >The Big Picture wonks talk about Russian attempts to alter the >balance of power in the Caucuses, and >American attempts to preserve their geopolitical position in the >Balkans, not the (to them) trivialities of the rights of South >Ossetians and Kosovars and every other people on earth to self-determination. > >Thus the question of who hit the WTC is a distraction, even though >the impact on the "big picture" of a full realisation of the >breathtaking treason of their leaders would be cataclysmic. > >Greedy short sellers, plotters and conspirators have a decisive >effect when combined with broader forces. On August 17 1988 some >group conspired to nobble an aircraft carrying the mongrel >Zia-ul-Haq and a gaggle of US advisors, and the "big picture" result >was a brief flowering of democracy in Pakistan. Didn't last because >democracy and respect for people's rights are not a big thing in >Pakistani culture (so my Indian friends tell me). > >And the Germans snuck Lenin into Russia -- who would say that little >conspiracy didn't have a big picture result? > >As for Tariq Ali, I have undiminished respect for his analyses, and >those of others like him, because on big picture issues they are hot >stuff indeed, and can convincingly describe the context in which >events like the WTC murders occur. If the Twin Towers had been >brought down 20 years earlier and pinned on Islamic terrorists it >probably wouldn't have had the same overall effect. Context matters >even if it isn't everything. > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > > >At 01:08 PM 23/09/2008, Dave : > >>I dunno - you think any 'real' journalist (few and far between >>these days) asking questions like this might find himself being >>questioned in a little dark room somewhere? What is really >>distressing is that so many things like this make it so obvious >>that there is a huge coverup going on, with the assistance of the >>media, and so many people don't seem to see the obvious patterns, >>or care. And people you would not normally think of as >>sub-intelligent or rednecks or anything derogatory - otherwise >>fairly smart people, at least somewhat engaged in society and >>trying to make things better via 'progressive' politics - but they >>will simply not go behind certain curtains. And until they do, we >>have no hope. How to get through those self-imposed 'do not look >>there!!' restrictions is our biggest challenge, I think - I know >>I've been trying for years, with somewhere between little and no >>success - if anyone is having more luck, I'd certainly be >>interested in hearing about it. >> >>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** >> >>On 08-09-23 at 10:40 AM Dion Giles wrote: >> >> >It would be very easy, from records in the public arena, for any >> >investigative journo worth two bob to find out who was not in the >> >building that day who usually is, and see if this exceeded those not >> >at work on any other day, and if there was any trend (the sort >> >accessible to the statistical techniques of epidemiologists) in the >> >absences. >> > >> >The early stories said ten thousand people were killed, then it >> >gradually shrank to the probably genuine three thousand. How many >> >were there but escaped? Relevant detail on this event, including the >> >details of how the terrorists were supposed to have got on to the >> >planes, seems maddeningly elusive. >> > >> >Dion Giles >> >Western Australia >> > >> > >> >At 04:37 AM 23/09/2008, you wrote: >> > >> > >> >> >From the Wall Street Journal 12-May-2007: >> >> >> >>"Larry Silverstein began spending every morning at the World Trade Center >> >>shortly after he inked a 99-year deal to operate the complex in July 2001. >> >>The New York developer would have breakfast at Windows on the World, the >> >>restaurant on the 107th floor of the North tower, and then meet for >> >several >> >>hours with tenants. But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was at home, >> >>dressing for a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, instead of >> >>at his usual table at Windows. "I had said to my wife, sweetheart, cancel >> >>my doctor's appointment. I have so much to do at the Trade Center," he >> >>recalls. "She got very upset and told me I had to go. As it turns out, >> >that >> >>saved my life." >> >> >> >>While he was still getting ready for his doctor's appointment, Mr. >> >>Silverstein learned that the first plane hijacked by terrorists had struck >> >>the North tower. He turned on his television just in time to see the >> >second >> >>plane fly into the South tower. No one at Windows on the World survived." >> >> >> >>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010066 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> ~ ~~~~~~~~~~ >> >>SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the >> >keyword >> >>"igve". >> >> >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >> >>Mai-not mailing list >> >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >> >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >Mai-not mailing list >> >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >> >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> > >> >No virus found in this incoming message. >> >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >> >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1685 - Release Date: >> 22/9/2551 16:08 >> >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1683 - Release Date: >9/21/2008 10:10 AM From thinker at this1.ca Tue Sep 23 10:04:13 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Tue Sep 23 10:02:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The methane time bomb Message-ID: <200809231502.m8NF2Ohw024856@karma.reboot.ca> Independent.co.uk Exclusive: The methane time bomb Arctic scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide By Steve Connor, Science Editor Tuesday, 23 September 2008 The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists. The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats. Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane ? sometimes at up to 100 times background levels ? over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf. In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age. They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years. Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane. The amount of methane stored beneath the Arctic is calculated to be greater than the total amount of carbon locked up in global coal reserves so there is intense interest in the stability of these deposits as the region warms at a faster rate than other places on earth. Orjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University in Sweden, one of the leaders of the expedition, described the scale of the methane emissions in an email exchange sent from the Russian research ship Jacob Smirnitskyi. "We had a hectic finishing of the sampling programme yesterday and this past night," said Dr Gustafsson. "An extensive area of intense methane release was found. At earlier sites we had found elevated levels of dissolved methane. Yesterday, for the first time, we documented a field where the release was so intense that the methane did not have time to dissolve into the seawater but was rising as methane bubbles to the sea surface. These 'methane chimneys' were documented on echo sounder and with seismic [instruments]." At some locations, methane concentrations reached 100 times background levels. These anomalies have been seen in the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea, covering several tens of thousands of square kilometres, amounting to millions of tons of methane, said Dr Gustafsson. "This may be of the same magnitude as presently estimated from the global ocean," he said. "Nobody knows how many more such areas exist on the extensive East Siberian continental shelves. "The conventional thought has been that the permafrost 'lid' on the sub-sea sediments on the Siberian shelf should cap and hold the massive reservoirs of shallow methane deposits in place. The growing evidence for release of methane in this inaccessible region may suggest that the permafrost lid is starting to get perforated and thus leak methane... The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed." The preliminary findings of the International Siberian Shelf Study 2008, being prepared for publication by the American Geophysical Union, are being overseen by Igor Semiletov of the Far-Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 1994, he has led about 10 expeditions in the Laptev Sea but during the 1990s he did not detect any elevated levels of methane. However, since 2003 he reported a rising number of methane "hotspots", which have now been confirmed using more sensitive instruments on board the Jacob Smirnitskyi. Dr Semiletov has suggested several possible reasons why methane is now being released from the Arctic, including the rising volume of relatively warmer water being discharged from Siberia's rivers due to the melting of the permafrost on the land. The Arctic region as a whole has seen a 4C rise in average temperatures over recent decades and a dramatic decline in the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by summer sea ice. Many scientists fear that the loss of sea ice could accelerate the warming trend because open ocean soaks up more heat from the sun than the reflective surface of an ice-covered sea. Search Query: Independent.co.uk The Web Go ?independent.co.uk Legal Terms & Policies | E-mail sign-up | RSS | Contact us | Syndication | Work for INM | Advertising Guide | Group Sites | London Careers From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 23 11:01:51 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 23 11:02:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Harper Record [Ed.Teresa Healy CLC] CCPA publication on their website !! Download now before the election !! Message-ID: <48D8E8BF.11225.8F519B1@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> This book consists of about 40 chapters dissecting the two and one- half year record of the Conservative government. It gives a detailed account of the laws, policies, regulations, and initiatives of the Conservative minority government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper during its 32-month term from January 2006 to September 2008. "The 47 writers, researchers and analysts who have co-written this book probe into every aspect of the Harper minority government's administration. >From the economy to the environment, from social programs to foreign policy, from health care to tax cuts, from the Afghanistan mission to the tar sands, from free trade to deep integration, and to many other areas of this government's record, the authors have dug out the facts and analyzed them. fyi-janet p.s Such a timely publication !!! Three cheers for the many labour researchers from CUPE, CAW, CEP, and USW, as well as Senior CLC researcher Teresa Healy and other CLC staff, who contributed to this impressively detailed collective effort. I will be downloading and reading immediately !! ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:22:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ajackson@clc-ctc.ca To: CLC Mailing List Subject: The Harper Record The Harper Record The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has just posted to their website a fine and timely book, edited byCLC Senior Researcher Teresa Healy. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/Reports/2008/09/ReportsStudies1960/in dex.cfm?pa=BB736455 Thebook consists of about 40 chapters dissecting the two and one- half year record of the Conservative government across a wide range of issues -- from jobs and the economy, to human rights, international issues, the environment, and social programs. Many labour researchers, including from CUPE, CAW, CEP, and USW, as well as other CLC staff, contributed to this impressively detailed collective effort. The print version will be available in a couple of weeks, but byputting it online now, the CCPA has given labour and other activists a useful resource to draw upon in the current election campaign. A summary fromthe CCPA website: "This book is one in a series of CCPA publications that have examined the records of Canadian federal governments during the duration of their tenure. As with earlier CCPA reports on the activities of previous governments while in office, this book gives a detailed account of the laws, policies, regulations, and initiatives of the Conservative minority government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper during its 32-month term from January 2006 to September 2008. "The 47 writers, researchers and analysts who have co-written this book probe into every aspect of the Harper minority government's administration. From the economy to the environment, from social programs to foreign policy, from health care to tax cuts, from the Afghanistan mission to the tar sands, from free trade to deep integration, and to many other areas of this government's record, the authors have dug out the facts and analyzed them. "The Harper Record was necessarily researched and written long before an election was called, but its publication does coincide with an election campaign and thus may help citizens to make informed choices about the future of their country. Regardless of the election outcome, its contents will continue to be relevant between elections. In detailing what a minority Conservative government really did, or failed to do, it may serve as a guide and model for future elections." In solidarity, Andrew Jackson National Director Social and Economic Policy Tel. 613 526 7445 AJ:jc:cope 225 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080923/1a084dc1/--0007.obj From jomut at yahoo.com Tue Sep 23 14:55:23 2008 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Tue Sep 23 14:55:30 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Germans deride $700bn heist; Rev Kev in US for instructions In-Reply-To: <20080923025148.76AD9F446@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <807245.73573.qm@web31106.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut@yahoo.com chakane@hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi, ? Seems too good to be true because of the?whiff of insincerity?emanating from?it, especially when considered in?light of economic travails that have afflicted other parts of the world because of the neoliberal insistence on?global relaxation of?capital controls.? Never heard any of these new found anti-Washington Euros say anything in support of Mahathir's insistence on capital controls during the East Asian crisis.? His was the only country that came out of the crisis smelling like a rose -- smelled like a skunk to Wall St. though! ? I have also never heard them say anything against a?loose, global,?capital-controls regime in past WTO forums. ? Hell!? Suddenly its all: "Hello, Brute reality, well met, yah destructive fellah!" ? John. --- On Tue, 9/23/08, Dion Giles wrote: From: Dion Giles Subject: [Mai-not] Germans deride $700bn heist; Rev Kev in US for instructions To: StopMAI_WA_list@yahoogroups.com, alldems@yahoogroups.com Cc: mai-not@globalproblematique.net Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 2:51 AM But not the Reverend Kevin Rudd or his Lib counterpart or the welter of bought pundits flooding the news pages and airwaves in Australia. Meanwhile WA's R&I Bank, privatised and sold to foreign chancers, is being passed around London like a bag of cabbages and people are getting their deposits out - myself included! Here's the German pollies' take on the heist - in refreshing contrast to the Australian sycophants although at least ours have slapped a temporary ban on short sales (why not make it permanent, along with the ban on insider trading?) Dion Giles =============================== ____ http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,579707,00.html 09/22/2008 05:54 PM "THE AMERICANS SAID, 'WE WON'T'" Merkel Says Washington Helped Drag Europe into the Credit Crisis Response to Washington's multibillion-dollar Wall Street bailout has involved a lot of skeptical grumbling in Germany and the UK. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Bush administration has mishandled Wall Street, and that its refusal to adopt stricter rules led to the current crisis. REUTERS German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "That cannot be allowed in the international sphere." The United States government is campaigning around the world for support for its multibillion-dollar Wall Street rescue package. The reaction has been skeptical at best -- and in Europe the plan has been met with bareknuckled criticism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has accused the US government of serious failures which she believes contributed to the current credit crisis. In particular she blamed Washington for resisting stricter regulation. On Monday she also said the crisis could hurt the German economy. "The whole thing is going to set the pace for the economy in the coming months and perhaps years," Merkel said at a meeting of her party, the conservative Christian Democrats. Over the weekend the US said it would provide $700 billion to cover bad debt on Wall Street and ensure the survival of some financial institutions. On Sunday US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson then called on foreign governments to launch similar bailouts for their own banks. "We are talking very aggressively with other countries around the world and encouraging them to do similar things and I believe a number of them will," Paulson told ABC News. But the governments of Germany and Great Britain have shaken their heads. While her finance minister said German banks would not need a similar bailout, Merkel said the world community should react by forging international agreements that could be voluntary rather than anchored in law. "The crisis on the international financial markets shows us that you can do some things on the national level, but the overwhelming majority must be agreed to on the international level." Instead of codifying these deals in law, Merkel suggested binding agreements between major economic players. "This is about greater transparency," she said. A day earlier, during a visit to Austria, the German chancellor had even firmer words. "I'm criticizing the self-image of the financial markets -- which have unfortunately resisted voluntary rules for too long with the support of the governments of Great Britain and the United States." 'This Cannot Be Allowed' At a political rally in Linz, Merkel indirectly attacked US President George W. Bush. She suggested that American obstinacy had dragged other industrial nations into the credit crisis. Many European countries, she said, had already imposed stringent conditions on their banking sectors. "We dutifully adopted a nice EU directive into national law, and we had to deal with numerous complaints from small- and medium-sized companies in doing so. When the day came, the Americans said, 'We won't'," Merkel said. "That cannot be allowed in the international sphere." Merkel complained that taxpayers would be forced to foot the bill in countries far beyond the US and Britain. She was referring to the "Basel II" agreement, a set of international standards which tightened capital requirements for credit institutions. Much of the EU has signed up to Basel II, and Germany codified it in 2007. But Washington still hasn't set a date for working its principles into American law. Europe, she said, "must now push to get greater transparency on the financial markets and to get clearer regulations so that a crisis like the current one cannot be repeated." German Finance Minister Peer Steinbr?ck of the left-leaning Social Democrats is also calling for tighter rules. In an interview with German television he said he wouldn't rule out the idea of an international authority to hammer out regulations -- as opposed to the international agreements favored by his boss, Chancellor Merkel. The European Commission in Brussels said it would announce its own plan for improved financial market regulation. EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is planning to consider the first measure on Wednesday, according to a report in the Financial Times Deutschland. On the agenda is a proposal that would require banks to disclose whether they are retaining a stake in loans they sell to other banks. The requirement could serve as an incentive for banks to pay closer attention to the quality of the credit risks they pass on to others. The $700 Billion Bailout But Finance Minister Steinbr?ck said Monday there was no need for Germany to fall in line with the Americans in bailing out its banks. After a telephone consultation with the finance ministers and heads of the central banks of the G-7 states, he said no other member planned to follow the US example. He described Washington's program as "remarkable," but said the situation wasn't as grave in the other six G-7 countries as in the US. The German government has officially greeted the US program, saying Washington "takes its special responsibility seriously" in the crisis unleashed by the American subprime mortgage problem. A government spokesman said the measures would help to defuse the crisis. Others were less certain. "I have doubts about whether this is the smartest way to deal with the issue," Michael Meister, the deputy head floor whip of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) told Handelsblatt, a business daily. Meister said the US could be laying a foundation for the next crisis with its multibillion dollar bailout -- mirroring the decision after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to massively lower interest rates, a move which he said triggered the current turbulence on the financial markets. Joachim Poss, deputy parliamentary whip for the center-left Social Democrats, also rejected calls from Washington to participate in the bailout. "The Americans can't make Germany liable for their own failure and arrogance. A similar action is neither planned nor necessary in Germany," he said. However, he wouldn't comment on whether he thought the US bailout was necessary. "That's an issue for the Americans," he said. In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC: "People were taking risks that were excessive -- and that was mainly in my view in America and we are paying a price for what has come out of America." "We're not working toward implementing a US-style resolution regime,? said a spokesman for Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, Britain's finance minister. "But the prime minister and the chancellor have made clear that we will take whatever action is necessary in the interest of financial stability." As a result of the crisis, European countries including Germany, Britain and the Netherlands have announced temporary bans on short sales, which many experts say helped bring Wall Street's powerful investment banks to their knees. The global financial crisis could also have a stronger and lengthier impact on the German economy than previously believed. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the German government plans to reduce its forecast for economic growth in 2009 from 1.2 percent to 0.5 percent. dsl -- with wire reports URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,579707,00.html RELATED SPIEGEL ONLINE LINKS: On the Verge of Collapse: Can the State Save Banks? (09/22/2008) http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,579784,00.html Dealing with the Credit Crisis: Massive Government Intervention to Bail Out Banks (09/19/2008) http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,579303,00.html US Financial Crisis: 'The World As We Know It Is Going Down' (09/18/2008) http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,578944,00.html The World from Berlin: 'A Crisis, But not the End of the World' (09/17/2008) http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,578780,00.html RELATED INTERNET LINKS: Naked Short Selling Banned in the Netherlands http://www.nrc.nl/international/News/article1992673.ece/Naked_short_selling_banned_in_the_Netherlands SPIEGEL ONLINE is not liable for the content of external Web pages. _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 23 22:15:26 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 23 22:15:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Milton Mayer remembers Germany 1933-45 Message-ID: <20080924031529.002DDF772@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> >"To live in this process is absolutely not to be >able to notice it?please try to believe >me?unless one has a much greater degree of >political awareness, acuity, than most of us had >ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so >small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, >on occasion, ?regretted,? that, unless one were >detached from the whole process from the >beginning, unless one understood what the whole >thing was in principle, what all these ?little >measures? that no ?patriotic German? could >resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it >developing from day to day than a farmer in his >field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head." Full article at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11845.htm makes interesting reading as it deals with actual reality rather than ideological Grand Visions. Looks as if history is repeating itself not in Germany but in the English-speaking world. Dion Giles Western Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080924/3e54a568/attachment.html From duanebehrens at cox.net Tue Sep 23 22:51:58 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Tue Sep 23 22:52:02 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Milton Mayer remembers Germany 1933-45 In-Reply-To: <20080924031529.002DDF772@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <20080923235158.YMAK8.306551.imail@fed1rmwml42> Thanks, Dion. I'm passing this around, as I do with many similar posts . . . even as I lose hope. Duane Behrens ---- Dion Giles wrote: "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it. "This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter." From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 23 22:49:51 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 23 22:53:07 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Greider on $700bn heist Message-ID: <20080924035258.A769D12F40@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 44cf8a7d.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 11861 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080924/3e695886/44cf8a7d.jpg From papadop at peak.org Tue Sep 23 23:29:40 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Tue Sep 23 23:54:42 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Who new what the math models did or didn't mean Message-ID: What's missing in this jolly diatribe by Lioonewl Tiger is the fact that the math models applied in the economic field are created by folks who don't understand math, its strengths and its limitations, nor do they recognize the quicksands on which economics. mathematical or otherwise, is built. Michael ############ http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/09/23/mathematics-pig-markets-oped-cx_lt_0924tiger.html Who Knew? The Mathematician And The Pig Lionel Tiger 09.24.08, 12:01 AM ET Lionel Tiger, the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, is a weekly columnist at Forbes.com. ############### As you contemplate the government's boiling bailout of the nation's wealthiest institutions and most recklessly well-paid financiers, perhaps you can gain some wry comfort from the fact that mathematics defeated them--just as the subject may have depressed and baffled you in school and college, and to this day. When the history is written of this massive display of business incompetence and greed, a leading actor in the drama is likely to be the extraordinarily complex, virtually instantaneous, worldwide reliance on mathematical models. These models are able to conceal that a bonehead mortgage banker in a suburb of Sacramento sold an alluring house to a property-lusting courtier who couldn't even afford the first date. This fiasco shines a glaring light on one of the most highly leveraged assumptions of our educational system, which graduates the operators of society. Think back. When you took an SAT or LSAT or any other official test of merit and promise, the final verdict on your worth depended 50% on your score in mathematics--and 50% on the rest of life. Who specifically decided this, and why, are questions for another day. But for now the overriding puzzle is why this happened in the first place. How a country chooses its elites reflects its core values and assumptions about the nature of human social life. The emphasis of 50% on math skills may be appropriate for a tiny group of professional mathematicians, but for the rest of us, sophisticated higher math is one of the least useful human skills. Our successful evolution as a species depended on making quick and prudent decisions about the people with whom we cooperated and against whom we struggled. We had to understand and outwit the animals we ate and anticipate the ripeness and failure of the fruits and nuts we consumed. We had to live in the here, the now, and the next moment. Abstract theories about the character of the universe may have been entertaining diversions around the campfire, but far more vital were competent assessments about the realism of others and management of the flow of emotion and enthusiasm that a hunter-gatherer had to live by. Should a member of a group announce that he just developed a structured investment vehicle which was computationally certified by a computer to contain a plump pig, he would have an immediate challenge from his peers--to show them the pig. An exquisite mathematical proof that the pig existed, or even the approval of an elegant rating agency that it certainly did, would be no help as dinner loomed. The simple fact is the managers of our money hired experts in vastly complex theoretical systems, which could or could not have direct relation to the realities that wealth always represents. How many proud supporters of these fabulous systems fully, or even partially, understood them? Of course, everyone else was using these magic wands, and they worked for a time. But in the gratifying swirl of lavishly rewarded human optimism, no one remembered to glance at the pig to be sure it was still there--or ever was in the first place. From siamdave at yahoo.ca Wed Sep 24 02:49:53 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Wed Sep 24 02:50:18 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Who new what the math models did or didn't mean In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200809241449530859.0160D253@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> It may be true that the day-laborers (in physics as well as the ditches) don't really understand what they're up to, but I strongly suspect the people at the top know exactly what they are doing - using esoteric 'models' to conceal things they want to conceal - like the obvious idiocy of the financial activities leading up to crashes like this (which may be bad for a lot of people, but provide a pretty golden opportunity for the few who control the system) - or the models used to 'prove' the WTC buildings collapsed due to irresistable forces etc - complete BS, but necessary because there is no explanation in available in real English words that makes even remote sense, so this kind of stuff becomes necessary. And it will keep being successful until the marks at the show start fighting back. *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 08-09-23 at 9:29 PM MichaelP wrote: >What's missing in this jolly diatribe by Lioonewl Tiger is the fact that >the math models applied in the economic field are created by folks who >don't understand math, its strengths and its limitations, nor do they >recognize the quicksands on which economics. mathematical or otherwise, is >built. > >Michael > >############ > >http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/09/23/mathematics-pig-markets-oped-cx_lt_0924tiger.html > > >Who Knew? The Mathematician And The Pig > > >Lionel Tiger 09.24.08, 12:01 AM ET > > >Lionel Tiger, the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers >University, is a weekly columnist at Forbes.com. > >############### > > >As you contemplate the government's boiling bailout of the nation's >wealthiest institutions and most recklessly well-paid financiers, perhaps >you can gain some wry comfort from the fact that mathematics defeated >them--just as the subject may have depressed and baffled you in school and >college, and to this day. > >When the history is written of this massive display of business >incompetence and greed, a leading actor in the drama is likely to be the >extraordinarily complex, virtually instantaneous, worldwide reliance on >mathematical models. These models are able to conceal that a bonehead >mortgage banker in a suburb of Sacramento sold an alluring house to a >property-lusting courtier who couldn't even afford the first date. > >This fiasco shines a glaring light on one of the most highly leveraged >assumptions of our educational system, which graduates the operators of >society. Think back. When you took an SAT or LSAT or any other official >test of merit and promise, the final verdict on your worth depended 50% on >your score in mathematics--and 50% on the rest of life. Who specifically >decided this, and why, are questions for another day. But for now the >overriding puzzle is why this happened in the first place. > >How a country chooses its elites reflects its core values and assumptions >about the nature of human social life. The emphasis of 50% on math skills >may be appropriate for a tiny group of professional mathematicians, but >for the rest of us, sophisticated higher math is one of the least useful >human skills. > >Our successful evolution as a species depended on making quick and prudent >decisions about the people with whom we cooperated and against whom we >struggled. We had to understand and outwit the animals we ate and >anticipate the ripeness and failure of the fruits and nuts we consumed. > >We had to live in the here, the now, and the next moment. Abstract >theories about the character of the universe may have been entertaining >diversions around the campfire, but far more vital were competent >assessments about the realism of others and management of the flow of >emotion and enthusiasm that a hunter-gatherer had to live by. > >Should a member of a group announce that he just developed a structured >investment vehicle which was computationally certified by a computer to >contain a plump pig, he would have an immediate challenge from his >peers--to show them the pig. An exquisite mathematical proof that the pig >existed, or even the approval of an elegant rating agency that it >certainly did, would be no help as dinner loomed. > >The simple fact is the managers of our money hired experts in vastly >complex theoretical systems, which could or could not have direct relation >to the realities that wealth always represents. How many proud supporters >of these fabulous systems fully, or even partially, understood them? > >Of course, everyone else was using these magic wands, and they worked for >a time. But in the gratifying swirl of lavishly rewarded human optimism, >no one remembered to glance at the pig to be sure it was still there--or >ever was in the first place. > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.1/1687 - Release Date: 23/9/2551 18:32 From siamdave at yahoo.ca Thu Sep 25 04:57:58 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Thu Sep 25 04:58:11 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Canadian media: reporting or managing the election?? In-Reply-To: <20080923235158.YMAK8.306551.imail@fed1rmwml42> References: <20080923235158.YMAK8.306551.imail@fed1rmwml42> Message-ID: <200809251657580625.006BE640@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> Notes on the Creation of the Canadian Narrative The Canadian Media and the 2008 Election: Reporting or Managing? by Dave Patterson Sept 2008 Do the Canadian media provide their faithful followers with the information they require to make properly informed decisions on election candidates and issues, as a reliable media, responsible to the citizens of their country, are expected to do? Or are they more in the business of herding their readers like trusting sheep in a certain direction by en masse spinning of some things, and putting other important issues behind a 'we're not talking about this, nothing interesting here!!' curtain, thus creating a false picture of Canadian society, a false picture that most people, trusting their media, use in making decisions, decisions which would almost certainly be very different if they had a more accurate understanding of what was actually happening; in short, creating a false narrative which will soon become a false history, a narrative which has only a loose connection with 'realpolitik' reality but one which justifies certain actions or policies (or lack thereof) by the government? Full article at http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/media-narrative.html From papadop at peak.org Thu Sep 25 10:49:17 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu Sep 25 11:14:25 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Vanunu Has Sentence Reduced Message-ID: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127746 September 25, '08 An Israeli court on Tuesday halved a six-month sentence against nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu. Vanunu spent 18 years in prison for exposing Israeli nuclear secrets and details pertaining to Israel's Dimona nuclear plant to British newspaper, The Sunday Times, in 1986. Vanunu's latest incarceration was for violating court-ordered bans on travel and contacting foreign media in 2007, when he contacted foreign media and tried to visit Arab-occupied Bethlehem. A Jerusalem Magistrates'Court determined it would reduce Vanunu's sentence because Vanunu is sickly and his parole violations did not constitute a security risk. WE DON'T NEED A JEWISH STATE Vanunu, 54, worked from 1976 to 1985, as a nuclear plant technician and shift manager at the Negev Nuclear Research Center south of Dimona. He converted to Christianity in 1986 during a trip to Australia following his dismissal from the center, renaming himself John Crossman. After his conversion, Vanunu traveled to Britain, where he leaked Israel's nuclear secrets to a journalist whom he befriended. While Vanunu was in the UK, some accounts say that a female Mossad agent was charged with luring him out of Britain to Rome, where he was captured and taken back to Israel. Following his release from prison, Vanunu vowed to disassociate with Israel, even refusing to speak Hebrew, telling the BBC that "We don't need a Jewish state." From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Thu Sep 25 22:31:42 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Thu Sep 25 22:31:51 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] My two bob's worth on the $US 700bn Message-ID: <20080926033144.EE11113518@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Truthout has just announced that the pollies in Washington are agreed in principle over the theft of $700 billion from US taxpayers (and who knows what the Reverend Kevin Rudd has in mind for Australia?). They're open to comments and have included mine (below). But I must say there's another person's comment that I like better. Just scroll down to 01:27 am for that one, starting with "Wake up, people. This is the October surprise". Here's mine to share round: http://www.truthout.org/092508R Not satisfied with plundering the third world, these thieves are now plundering America itself in the greatest and most blatant heist in history. Of course the approved politicians can agree on it. That's what they're there for and party is irrelevant. To keep up the charade there will be some minor cosmetic changes and a few tut tuts. CEOs will be compensated for their dishonesty, but there's a limit on how much. Some homebuyers' evictions will be postponed for a bit but no plan, for example, to treat entry by bailiffs as trespass and all attempts to force people out of their homes as a major felony crime (this "crisis" being what it is, etc. etc.) No sanctions, criminal or civil, against executives and snake oil sellers whose malfeasance both outside the law and under its cover have jammed up their entire predatory edifice. No serious attempts by the Democrats to hold Bush and co responsible and put up genuine alternatives in the election ? let alone any move to impeach them. Michael Moore?s Fahrenheit 911 included footage of Bush telling assembled megathieves: ?You are my base?. True, but not only Bush-McCain-Palin?s base. Obama-Biden-Clinton?s too. ===================================================== Dion Giles Western Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080926/9786ba6d/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 26 02:42:47 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri Sep 26 02:43:01 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The thieves can still be stopped Message-ID: <20080926074250.0004712B62@fep05.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Mr Greed is using the same bum's rush tactics that Bush used to impel the USA into aggression against Iraq. Schnell schnell schnell - run to the big door over there or the sky will fall in. But having been caught over Iraq a lot of Americans including influential ones are smelling a rat, including some Republican freaks who don't know rthey are selling out their own class by decrying a deal they call "socialism". Typically, Nancy Pelosi has sold out - no surprise there - her sellout started even before the votes in the congressional election had all been counted. Ron Paul is showing up as a country mile better than the rest of the politariat. The article at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/ describes the scam clearly and gives all Americans things to do to send the highway robbers packing. It won't be long before people in the rest of the world will need to put a torch to the feet of our own venal politicians. Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan and Lindsay Tanner will be good targets in Australia. Dion Giles Western Australia From creuss at bluewin.ch Fri Sep 26 04:27:38 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Fri Sep 26 04:29:15 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The thieves can still be stopped Message-ID: > smelling a rat, including some Republican freaks who don't know they > are selling out their own class by decrying a deal they call > "socialism". As Gore Vidal put it long ago: "America is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." The $700Bn. theft and following "nationalization" by the privatizers (of profits) is the perfect implementation of that. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 26 06:13:18 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri Sep 26 06:13:45 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] America heads for economic chain gang says Tory paper Message-ID: <20080926111321.673C412D67@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> The remarkable thing about this article is that it appeared in London's Daily Smelly, to the irritation of many of its petulant, pig-ignorant English county squire readers with their ridiculous sense of entitlement. To me anyway, the article makes a lot of sense and its appearance in such a newspaper is a sign that under pressure Britain's overprivileged gentry and their robber-baron financiers are grasping at the (to them) very unfamiliar straw of real-world analysis. Dion Giles Western Australia. US taxpayers are being enrolled in an economic chain gang By Jeff Randall, Daily Telegraph September 25 2008 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/26/do2606.xml&source=EMC-new_26092008 "To preserve their [the people's] independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude" - Thomas Jefferson President George Bush addresses the nation on the financial crisis There was a time, early in America's history, when its leaders believed in financial discipline. No more. Perpetual debt, which Jefferson feared would enslave future generations, is clamped on Uncle Sam's undercarriage like a ball and chain. US public borrowing is $9.8 trillion - and rising. Jefferson, America's third president (1801-09), is widely regarded as the White House's most intellectually gifted occupant. He believed that "banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies", and that "the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity is but swindling futurity on a large scale." If Congress approves the Treasury Secretary's $700 billion bail-out of dysfunctional banks, it would be hard to invent a better example of what Jefferson foresaw: authorised "swindling". Tomorrow's Americans and those who come after them will pay and pay for the grotesque excesses and self-indulgence of today's flim-flam merchants. As Jefferson put it: "If we run into such debt, as we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts [we will have] no means of calling our mis-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow sufferers." Having failed to deliver victory in the War on Terror, President Bush is hoping for better luck in the War on Error. His goal is to limit damage from the egregious mistakes of sub-prime mortgages; his tactics are to carpet-bomb the banking system with federal funds. The upshot, in Jeffersonian terms, is that US taxpayers are about to be enrolled in an economic chain gang. The prospect is unappealing, but, we are told, there's no alternative. Hank Paulson's plan offers fewer details than his weekly milk bill, but now, it seems, is no time for nit-picking. Having collected sacks of gold at Goldman Sachs, this former champion of free markets wants to nationalise assets at a pace not seen since Che Guevara was lighting cigars with Batista's legacy. No wonder so many Congressmen look queasy. They must persuade constituents, many of whom are losing jobs and homes in the credit crunch, that it is a bright idea to rescue those who profited hugely from the creation of dark instruments. Not for the first time, Wall Street is bilking Main Street. For those who work in the fast lane of finance, the speed of decline has been ear-popping. Less than a year ago, America's investment banks were wallowing in record bonuses, totalling almost $38 billion. Yes, billion. Their pool of monopoly money was greater than the GDP of Bulgaria. Split among 186,000 workers at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, it equated to an average of more than $200,000 per person, about four times the median US household income. Goldman's chairman, Lloyd Blankfein set a new standard in executive gluttony, collecting $68 million (about one third in cash), but at least his bank is still standing. Richard Fuld, Lehman's chief executive, trousered $41 million. Nice work, except that he took the lot in the bank's shares. Nine months later, when Lehman went bust, Fuld's bonus joined his reputation, in the trash-can. Banking's bacchanalia has morphed into a therapy group for manic depressives. Those still in work look around the room and wonder how many will be flipping burgers by Christmas. In an interview with Fortune magazine, Mr Paulson admits: "Raw capitalism is a dead end. I've seen it." Now I have heard it all. What next? In place of rip-roaring markets, according to a Wall Street trader, America has embraced "trickle-down communism". This system involves the state paying "cash for trash" to benefit a few miscreants, and then hoping that some of the taxpayers' largesse will trickle down to the masses. Toxic rubbish will not be made to disappear by Mr Paulson's proposals. All that will be different is ownership. It will be like removing nuclear waste from a failing business and parking it in a government building. The risk moves from private to public. It is this form of regressive redistribution that Messrs Bush and Paulson are peddling as the road to redemption for Western finance. Excuse my cynicism, but would you buy a used derivative from either of them? After Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans, Mr Bush's record on rescue missions does not inspire confidence. As for Mr Paulson, if he's so insightful, why, when he was earning an $18 million bonus at Goldman in 2006, did he not spot the radio-active dump piling up in his industry's back-yard? Mr Paulson's sales pitch is essentially: "American capitalism, I love you! But we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!" In return for a promise to head off financial obliteration, he is demanding a cheque of disturbing blankness. It is to be a bail-out with precious few strings, plus immunity from review "by any court of law or administrative agency". His legal team must have chuckled when they slipped in that one. The scheme is under attack from right and left. George Soros, the investor who helped break the pound in 1992, is in favour of action to stem insolvencies, but insists that Paulson's plan falls short. Paul Krugman, professor of economics at Princeton, has little faith in Paulson as a fixer: "He's making it up as he goes along, just like the rest of us." Outside Washington, in the real world, there is a growing clamour for something to be done. Ordinary voters are in pain. They want government to make it go away. But there is no magic powder. Those who borrowed to buy assets at the wrong prices will have to suffer, as financial gravity re-asserts its downward pull. There is no policy yet invented that can make fifty cents worth two bucks forever. Any long-term solution will have to recognise that contraction cannot be deferred in perpetuity. Having restored stability, it should punish those who created the mess. Where's the retribution in Paulson's package? It looks too much like a parachute for his chums at the back of a burning plane. Finally, there needs to be an overhaul of banking governance. The rules of the game were, in effect, made redundant by the ingenuity of financial engineers. We do not need more regulation, but more appropriate regulation. Which brings us back to Jefferson. Two hundred years ago, he demanded: "The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." Twas ever thus. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080926/2d4b287a/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 26 06:19:37 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri Sep 26 06:19:49 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] FW: Not Nigerian Spam -- Important Business Offer! Message-ID: <20080926111940.5280313876@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Relayed by Dick Clifford to Economic Reform Australia Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars U.S. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you. I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe. This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred. Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds. Yours Faithfully, Minister of Treasury Paulson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080926/1d78875e/attachment.html From thinker at this1.ca Fri Sep 26 09:40:28 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Fri Sep 26 09:38:43 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] FW: Not Nigerian Spam -- Important Business Offer! In-Reply-To: <20080926111940.5280313876@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080926111940.5280313876@fep04.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809261438.m8QEcZqa028572@karma.reboot.ca> Gee Dion, I always hoped to have a billionaire for a friend. Will you stay on Mai-not after you get so filthy rich ? In any case, we have a lot of room for your limo to turn around when you come to visit us again. The only time I got drunk happened at a birthday party in England in 1949, on some Australian sherry with a yellow label on the bottle, featuring a spider . It was a good thing as it made me a teetotaler for life, so please don't bring any of that. Cheers, Ed. At 04:19 AM 26/09/2008, you wrote: >Relayed by Dick Clifford to Economic Reform Australia > >Dear American: > >I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with >a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of >the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the >need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars U.S. If you >would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you. > >I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my >replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you >may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement >in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe. > >This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the >funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in >the names of our close friends because we are constantly under >surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a >reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the >funds can be transferred. > >Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account >numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to >wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov >so that we may transfer your commission >for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond >with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect >the funds. > >Yours Faithfully, > >Minister of Treasury Paulson >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.2/1690 - Release Date: >9/25/2008 7:05 AM From papadop at peak.org Fri Sep 26 09:56:01 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Fri Sep 26 10:21:03 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] information on "Obsession" DVD Message-ID: From: Ross Gabriele Below is information about the DVD "Obsession," which the Oregonian is planning to include in this weekend's Sunday edition. It is very questionable if a video that apparently was produced to influence the election in the supposed "interest of another nation and to" further anti-Muslim sentiment qualifies as "paid advertisement. " The Oregonian has yet to respond to letters and calls from the Interfaith community, other organizations and individuals, including Portland Mayor Tom Potter. Jenka - thanks for your report yesterday. Gabi ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- Press Release Subject: CAIR Asks FEC to Probe Anti-Muslim DVDs Sent to Swing States FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CAIR Asks FEC to Probe Anti-Muslim DVDs Sent to Swing States Israel-based group behind 'Obsession' distribution to 28 million U.S. homes (WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/23/08) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over the distribution of an anti-Muslim film to 28 million homes in presidential election swing states. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is urging the FEC to investigate whether the Clarion Fund, a shadowy non-profit organization that distributed DVDs containing "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," is really a front for an Israel-based group seeking to help Sen. John McCain win the U.S. presidential election. (No information about a board of directors, staff or even a physical address is offered on the fund's website.) In its complaint to the FEC, CAIR wrote in part: "The Clarion Fund recently financed the distribution of some 28 million DVDs containing the film 'Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West' in what many political analysts describe as 'swing' states in the upcoming presidential elections. Those same analysts say the distribution of the 'Obsession' DVD was designed to benefit a particular presidential candidate, namely Sen. John McCain… "According to the website for the Secretary of State for New York, Clarion Fund Inc. is incorporated in New York as a Delaware based foreign not-for-profit corporation. According to the Delaware Department of Corporations, Robert (Rabbi Raphael) Shore, Rabbi Henry Harris and Rebecca Kabat incorporated Clarion Fund. All three of whom are reported to serve as employees of Aish HaTorah International, an organization apparently based in Israel. Also according to the Delaware Department of Corporations, the incorporators of the Clarion Fund used Aish HaTorah's New York City address (150 West 46th Street, New York) to incorporate Clarion Fund in Delaware… [SEE:http://www.aish. com/aishint/ wwprogram. asp ] "It appears that the funding for the production, marketing and distribution of 'Obsession' may have originated from Israel-based Aish HaTorah International. " To read the entire FEC complaint, click here. http://www.cair. com/Portals/ 0/pdf/Obessesion lettertoFEC. pdf There is at least one report of a person who received the DVD also getting an automated phone call asking that person to watch the film and then "keep it in mind when you go to the voting booth." "American voters deserve to know whether they are the targets of a multi-million- dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. Awad said CAIR has received numerous complaints from those who were sent the DVD in newspapers delivered to their homes and has recorded at least one report of an anti-Muslim bias incident directly resulting from the DVD distribution. SEE: Ohio Muslims Fearful After DVD Released in Newspapers http://www.wtol. com/Global/ story.asp? S=9043986 Some newspapers, including the News & Record in North Carolina and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have refused to distribute the DVDs. SEE: Post-Dispatch Refuses to Distribute DVD Offensive to American Muslims http://www.stltoday .com/blogzone/ civil-religion/ politics/ 2008/09/post- dispatch-refuses- to-distribute- dvd-offensive- to-american- muslims/ Interfaith leaders such as Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, have spoken out against the distribution of "Obsession" in swing states. In a statement, Gaddy also called for an FEC investigation: "…when a cynical attempt is made to influence our nation's presidential election by stoking fear of one religious group we believe the media along with public officials, such as the Federal Election Commission, must establish who is trying to influence our politics through religious bigotry." SEE: Statement of Rev. Welton Gaddy On the Distribution of the Anti-Muslim Film "Obsession" in Newspapers http://www.interfai thalliance. org/news/ 268-statement- of-rev-welton- gaddy-on-the- distribution- of-the-anti- muslim-film- obsession- in- newspapers An editorial in the Palm Beach Post outlined the apparent political motivation behind the Clarion Fund campaign: "Distribution of the DVD…was timed with the post-Labor Day start of presidential election season. About 95 percent of the papers that contained the DVD are in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and New Hampshire. "Notice a pattern? Right, those are the swing states that most analysts believe will determine the election. The issue on which polls consistently show John McCain ahead of Barack Obama is national security. One way to make voters worry less about the economy and more about national security would be to send out a DVD that opens with clips of 9/11 and includes scenes of Muslims chanting 'Death to America!'" SEE: The Secret Cell Helping McCain (Palm Beach Post) http://www.palmbeac hpost.com/ opinion/content/ opinion/epaper/ 2008/09/21/ a16a_schultz_ col_0921. html SEE ALSO: Anti-Islam Film Targets "Swing State" (IPS) http://www.ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 43940 Editorial and letter writers nationwide have called the film "propaganda" and even compared it to Leni Riefenstahl' s 1935 pro-Nazi film "Triumph of the Will." One writer called it "misleading and dangerous." (Broward-Palm Beach New Times, 9/20/08) SEE: Putting Lipstick on Propaganda Doesn't Change It (NWF Daily News) http://www.nwfdaily news.com/ news/clarion_ 11254___article. html/ fund_obsession. html Jeff VanDenBerg, director of Middle East Studies at Drury University, called the film "a blatant piece of anti-Muslim propaganda." (News-Leader, 9/17/08) Those interviewed in "Obsession" constitute a veritable who's who of Muslim-bashers. Speakers include Walid Shoebat, who once told a Missouri newspaper that he sees "many parallels between the Antichrist and Islam" and "Islam is not the religion of God -- Islam is the devil." (Springfield News-Leader, 9/24/07) Others interviewed in the film include Nonie Darwish, a self-styled "former Moslem" who wrote that "Islam is cruel, anti-women, anti-religious freedom and anti-personal freedom in general," and Daniel Pipes, who warned a Jewish convention of the "true dangers" posed by "the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims." (American Jewish Congress, 10/21/2001) Another "Obsession" interviewee, Brigitte Gabriel, told the Australian Jewish News: "Every practising Muslim is a radical Muslim." She also claimed that "Islamo-fascism is a politically- correct word...it's the vehicle for Islam...Islam is the problem." SEE: The World According to Brigitte Gabriel (Australian Jewish News) http://www.ajn. com.au/news/ news.asp? pgID=3403 When asked whether Americans should "resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation," Gabriel said: "Absolutely. If a Muslim who has -- who is -- a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day -- this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America." SEE: `Obsession` Stars Have Lectured at U.S. Military Colleges http://www.israelen ews.com/view. asp?ID=3168 CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. - END - CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair. com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com 3) http://www.atimes. com/atimes/ Middle_East/ JI26Ak03. html Asia Times Middle East       Sep 26, 2008 A dangerous obsession    By Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton    WASHINGTON - A group of hardline United States neo-conservatives and former Israeli diplomats were behind the controversial, allegedly Islamaphobic DVD which was recently distributed in US swing states ahead of November's presidential elections.    The 60-minute movie,Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West , was an initiative of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), but produced by the Clarion Fund, an organization described as a "front" for Israeli group Aish Hatorah.    Some 28 million copies of Obsession are currently being inserted in newspapers and delivered by mail in key electoral swing states - such as Michigan, Ohio and Florida which, according to recent polling, could go either way.    Critics allege the movie Obsession is "hate propaganda" which paints Muslims as violent extremists and, among other things, explicitly compares the threat posed by radical Islam to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s - at least two major metropolitan newspapers refused to run the movie because of its perceived bias.    "Despite the perilous state of American newspapers, the St Louis Post-Dispatch advertising department took an ethical stand and refused to distribute the DVD of a film that for two years has troubled American Muslims," Tim Townsend, a reporter at Missouri's most influential newspaper wrote this month.    The Clarion Fund is based at the same New York address as Aish Hatorah, a self-described "apolitical" group dedicated to educating Jews about their heritage. Its street address, as listed on the group's website and a DVD mailer for the film, is a "virtual address" that goes to a post office box in New York City.    While initial press reports about the mass distribution focused on  the Clarion Fund's financing role, it was EMET that organized and oversaw the distribution, EMET's spokesman and a former press officer for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Ari Morgenstern, told Inter Press Service.    EMET, according to a recent press release, is "a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to policy research and analysis on democracy and the Middle East." According to filings made in compliance with the organization' s tax-exempt status, "The organization hosts seminars, debates and educational films featuring Middle East experts in order to educate policymakers and the public at large on the common threats facing Israel and the United States."    Morgenstern said EMET was "partnered with the Clarion Fund" on  what he called the "Obsession Project" which he identified as "an initiative of EMET". He declined to name the project's donors - a spokesman for the Clarion Fund, Gregory Ross, also refused to name the fund's donors, whose identities remain a mystery.    Morgenstern also declined to reveal the cost of the DVD distribution, but did say, "It cost a great deal - it's a multi-million- dollar effort." Outside experts have estimated the cost of the operation at between US$15 million and $50 million.    Like hardline neo-conservatives, EMET opposes any land concessions to Palestinians and takes other hardline positions identified with Israel's right-wing Likud Party and the ''Settler Lobby'' there. EMET's website says, "We regard ourselves as 'intellectual revolutionaries' ."    Two weeks ago, EMET sponsored a seminar series on Capitol Hill for  the controversial multi-billionaire casino and hotel magnate Sheldon Adelson, who is a major donor to right-wing Zionist organizations in the US, such as the far-right lobby group, Freedom's Watch and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).    RJC efforts to persuade Jewish voters that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is aligned with radical anti-Israel forces in the Islamic world have drawn strong criticism from the mainstream Jewish press.    EMET's board of advisers includes a list of familiar neo-conservative figures, as well as three former Israeli diplomats, including a former deputy chief of mission in Israel's Washington embassy.    The group is headed by Sarah Stern, who began her activism on Israeli issues in opposition to the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestinians. She made a career out of her activism in the far-right Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) as its national policy coordinator from 1998 through 2004.    Notable members of the advisory board include prominent hardline neo-conservatives, including former US UN ambassador the late Jeane Kirkpatrick; Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum; and the Hudson Institute's Meyrav Wurmser - the Israeli-born spouse of Vice President Dick Cheney's former top Middle East adviser, David Wurmser.    Other prominent neo-conservative members of the board include Center for Security Policy (CSP) president Frank Gaffney; former Central Intelligence Agency chief James Woolsey; and Heritage Foundation fellows Ariel Cohen and Nina Shea, who has served for years on the quasi-governmental US Commission for International Religious Freedom.    The US-born and educated hardline deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at Gaffney's CSP, Caroline Glick, is also an adviser. Glick, Pipes and Walid Shoebat, a "reformed" terrorist and EMET adviser, are all featured as experts in Obsession.    Also among the top names of listed advisers to EMET are three Israeli diplomats. Two of them, ambassadors Yossi Ben Aharon and Yoram Ettinger, were among the three Israeli ambassadors whom then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin referred to as "The Three Musketeers" when they lobbied Washington in opposition to the Oslo accords.    Stern began her career at the behest of three unnamed Israeli diplomats who were based in Washington under Rabin's predecessor, Yitzhak Shamir, according to EMET's website, while Ettinger was at one time the chairman of special projects and is still listed as a contributing expert at the Ariel Center for Policy Research, a hardline Likudist Israeli think-tank that opposes the peace process.    Ben Aharon was the director general - effectively the chief of  staff - of Shamir's office.    The third Israeli ambassador, Lenny Ben-David, was appointed by Likud prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to serve as the deputy chief of mission - second in command - at the Israeli Embassy in Washington from 1997 until 2000. Ben-David had also held senior positions at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for 25 years and is now a consultant and lobbyist.    But EMET is not the only group involved in the controversy to have direct ties to Israel.    The Clarion Fund has also been criticized for initially denying its ties to the Israel's Aish Hatorah, which were first disclosed publicly by an IPS investigation last year. Honestreporting. com, an organization set up by Aish Hatorah and also a client of Ben-David, admitted to IPS that it had aided the production of the film.    The Clarion Fund and Aish Hatorah are headed by twin Israeli-Canadian brothers Raphael and Ephraim Shore, respectively. The two groups appear to be connected as Clarion is incorporated in Delaware to the New York offices of Aish Hatorah.    "It seems that the Clarion Fund, from what we can tell, is just a virtual organization that is a front for Aish Hatorah," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "They don't have staff, they don't have a physical address. Nothing."    Little is known about the shadowy Clarion Fund, which is listed with the New York Secretary of State's office as a "foreign not-for-profit foundation". The group has rejected requests for information about its donors.    IPS has uncovered one donor to the Clarion Fund, the Mamiye Foundation, which gave it $25,000 in August 2007, according to tax filings. Four Mamiye members: Charles M, Charles D, Hyman and Abraham, are listed as trustees on the forms.    According to filings with the New York Secretary of State, a contact listed for a Mamiye company is also the same man listed as a contact and counsel for the Clarion Fund - Eli D Greenberg of the law firm Wolf, Haldenstein, Adler, Freeman and Herz.    Foreign nationals and companies, and domestic tax-exempt non-profit organizations, are prohibited by federal election law from attempting to sway US elections at any level through either contributions to campaigns or advocacy.    Morgenstern, EMET's spokesman, said that the DVD distribution only went to "swing states" because media attention was focused there, and EMET was hoping to spark a public debate about the threats posed by" radical Islam".    But the Washington-based CAIR has filed a complaint asking the  Federal Election Commission to review the actions of the Clarion Fund both as a foreign entity and as a non-profit outfit.    (Jim Lobe contributed to this story.)    (Inter Press Service) http://gabriele-globalalien.blogspot.com --- On Fri, 9/26/08, Ross Gabriele wrote: From: Ross Gabriele Subject: [aifcpdx] More information on "Obsession" DVD To: "pdx news" , aifcpdx@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, September 26, 2008, 7:51 AM   __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | Calendar www.aifcpdx.org This is a list for dissemination of news and views about Iran and US_Iran relations.  Plesae visit our new website with much much information and check out the educational material about Iran for students. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 107, this material is distributed on a strictly nonprofit basis to recipients who previously have indicated their interest in receiving such information for educational and/or research purposes. Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Visit Your Group Yahoo! News Kevin Sites Get coverage of world crises. Need traffic? Drive customers With search ads on Yahoo! Moderator Central Yahoo! Groups Join and receive produce updates. . __,_._,___ From duanebehrens at cox.net Fri Sep 26 12:29:49 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Fri Sep 26 12:29:51 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Sarah Palin on the Economy Message-ID: <20080926132949.E48OC.544214.imail@fed1rmwml28> "Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today." Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate From jomut at yahoo.com Fri Sep 26 15:54:53 2008 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Fri Sep 26 15:54:57 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] terrified little moi Message-ID: <424560.94817.qm@web31108.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut@yahoo.com chakane@hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi, ? Just sent this out to another list! ? John ================= ? Got some enthralling tidings for you?from the Canadian anti-terrorism-campaign front. Wowee!? The Canuck system of justice has had its first guilty verdict on this particular?at last, and I am?giddily cavorting in realms of?delighted incomprehension! ? Go ahead and make yourself a hog of reportage on this quixotic tilt against terror and read all about it in the Toronto Star?.? There is also commentary on the verdict by the Star's Thomas Walkom?and the National Post's, Shannon Kari.??. ? Egad!? The sober voice?of prudence keeps on beckoning me to?let my?tongue remain?calculatedly?paralyzed (the better to keep my ineradicable befuddlement to my irremediably ignorant self) lest the giving of expression?regarding my confusion might lead to?the inauspicious courting of my person by potential purveyors of terror, which would not bode well for my future peace of mind. An inadvisable blurting out of information on?the night that has fallen on my mind might also lead some,?via the telescope?of our new-fangled anti-terrorism legislation, to?perceive the carelessly placed foot in my mouth as a menacing gun or a bag of fertilizer, which, as every layman knows, is?a?thunderous?explosive in posse. ? But I cannot help it fellas,?I just cannot keep my tongue under wraps.? As it turns out,?I am just as shiftless as the same bunch of?potentially bloodletting terrorists?who, had their boisterous enthusiasm been allowed unassisted expression, could very easily have used the fertilizer to cultivate more carefully considered plans than the would-be?ones they were permitted to?execute with vague,?vicarious, criminal and?indeterminate wistfulness.? Cannot get the amusing (well, perhaps?in slightly altered circumstances) thought out of my mind?that the same bunch of?calculating and bloodthirsty terrorists could very easily, on finding out about the incapacitating?paucity of their knowledge?of the making of explosives, have registered in any one of our faculties of chemistry, in?any one of?our many universities and colleges, with intent?to annul this gap in their?seditiously explosive?plans.? One cannot help picturing the likelihood of one of them approaching an Inquiries Desk at one of these institutes of higher learning and posing the disarmingly suspicious question, "Excuse me, but do you know where the faculty of terrorism is?" ? Dear me! How can my undisciplined mind rid itself of the thought that the Canadian anti-terrorism act was drafted by a bevy of legal scholars who were?in complete scholarly and spiritual?fraternity with the motivated?authors of George Dubious' doctrine of premptive war.? Indeed, Canada's pass on?the Iraq war now comes across as a sympathetic slacker's dodge - spirit is willing but the body is weak. And, to top it all of, we should all pat our warmongering American brothers on their backs for their heroic commitment to the eradication of terrorism through such tactics as rendition (Canada's multimillion dollar compensation of one of the victims of this practice was just an aberration not, thankfully,?to be repeated again), more detention centers like Guano Bay - and the legal somersaults (very much comparable to our own) that?have indefinitely?kept many potential terrorist bandits over there without being accorded normal?due process.? Of course, Abou Ghraib?would be?just tasteful froth in our glass of?intoxicating legal gigs. ? Finally there is this business of the coons.? No, I do not mean those furry critters that?flit about in?the wilderness, but the ones that have a human form and were, for years, targets of organised,?non-terroristic, lethal?sorties by hooded knights in flowing white robes who paraded their ethnically cleansing?enthusiasm with burning crosses, the bodies of dead?coons, or left, in the wake of their campaigns,?a train of traumatized coon survivors.? How wonderful it all was when all this amounted to just a borderline?misdemeanour to be investigated with lukewarm interest by the powers that be.? One is forced to imagine that? the white knights (then and now) that had/have been infiltrated by the constabulary -- by the way, the knights were/are always adequately well armed?with all manner of weaponry and they did/do not care two hoots about fertilizer bags which amounted to little more than weapons of potential destruction -- did not even need an agent provocateur to spur them on to committing dark?deeds?which would then be followed with?potential indictment. Too smart for that, they were!?And they were also spared the indignity of arrest until they had commited their purgative acts?--?that is if arrested at all. The body had to be there -- Habeas Corpus -- "Let us see the body!" ? The coons obliged, of course! ? John ======================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080926/1d7812da/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 26 19:42:16 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri Sep 26 19:42:25 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Sarah Palin on the Economy In-Reply-To: <20080926132949.E48OC.544214.imail@fed1rmwml28> References: <20080926132949.E48OC.544214.imail@fed1rmwml28> Message-ID: <20080927004219.F281E137F1@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> I should look at the whole message before starting on the nitty gritty. For the first couple of lines I wrestled to understand it, then I wondered what Duane must have been smoking, and THEN I looked properly and took in the quotation marks and the attribution at the bottom. COULD millions of Americans - remotely possibly - vote for this team? But they voted for George HW Bush and Dan Quayle in 1988. At least GHWB was passably competent and had all his marbles, was unlikely to die in office and leave the presidency to a mean-spirited simpleton, and when he fought in a war it was for something decent. All the present Republican team could achieve would be to to show that there really IS worse than George W Bush. Dion Giles Western Australia At 01:29 AM 27/09/2008, you wrote: >"Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, >what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the >healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, >helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up >our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare >reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to >accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, >we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, >scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today." > >Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Fri Sep 26 21:57:03 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Fri Sep 26 21:57:17 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Pix of Wall Street demo Message-ID: <20080927025706.71472F9E8@fep05.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 541244fd.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 14671 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080927/b5f59328/541244fd.jpg From siamdave at yahoo.ca Fri Sep 26 22:26:18 2008 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Fri Sep 26 22:26:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Sarah Palin on the Economy In-Reply-To: <20080927004219.F281E137F1@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080926132949.E48OC.544214.imail@fed1rmwml28> <20080927004219.F281E137F1@fep03.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809271026180406.0010927E@smtp-adsl.totonline.net> - it's also a question of some interest, and concern, to wonder about the country in which such people could not only get on a ticket, but actually have a serious chance of receiving a majority of the popular vote, Diebold or not? *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 08-09-27 at 8:42 AM Dion Giles wrote: >I should look at the whole message before starting on the nitty >gritty. For the first couple of lines I wrestled to understand it, >then I wondered what Duane must have been smoking, and THEN I looked >properly and took in the quotation marks and the attribution at the >bottom. COULD millions of Americans - remotely possibly - vote for >this team? But they voted for George HW Bush and Dan Quayle in 1988. >At least GHWB was passably competent and had all his marbles, was >unlikely to die in office and leave the presidency to a mean-spirited >simpleton, and when he fought in a war it was for something >decent. All the present Republican team could achieve would be to to >show that there really IS worse than George W Bush. > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > > >At 01:29 AM 27/09/2008, you wrote: > >>"Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, >>what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the >>healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, >>helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up >>our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare >>reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to >>accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, >>we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, >>scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today." >> >>Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Mai-not mailing list >>Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >>http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.3/1694 - Release Date: 26/9/2551 18:55 From creuss at bluewin.ch Sat Sep 27 08:00:25 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Sat Sep 27 08:01:55 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Blood of Dresden Message-ID: > At least when GHWB fought in a war it was for something decent. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20857.htm The author Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden during the allied bombing raids and was later forced to dig out bodies from the ruined city. In papers discovered by his son after his death last year, he provides a searing eyewitness account of the 'obscene brutality' that inspired his novel Slaughterhouse-Five. The Blood of Dresden By Kurt Vonnegut 25/09/08 ""The Times" -- - It was a routine speech we got during our first day of basic training, delivered by a wiry little lieutenant: "Men, up to now you've been good, clean, American boys with an American's love for sportsmanship and fair play. We're here to change that. "Our job is to make you the meanest, dirtiest bunch of scrappers in the history of the world. From now on, you can forget the Marquess of Queensberry rules and every other set of rules. Anything and everything goes. "Never hit a man above the belt when you can kick him below it. Make the bastard scream. Kill him any way you can. Kill, kill, kill - do you understand?" His talk was greeted with nervous laughter and general agreement that he was right. "Didn't Hitler and Tojo say the Americans were a bunch of softies? Ha! They'll find out." And of course, Germany and Japan did find out: a toughened-up democracy poured forth a scalding fury that could not be stopped. It was a war of reason against barbarism, supposedly, with the issues at stake on such a high plane that most of our feverish fighters had no idea why they were fighting - other than that the enemy was a bunch of bastards. A new kind of war, with all destruction, all killing approved. A lot of people relished the idea of total war: it had a modern ring to it, in keeping with our spectacular technology. To them it was like a football game. [Back home in America], three small-town merchants' wives, middle-aged and plump, gave me a ride when I was hitchhiking home from Camp Atterbury. "Did you kill a lot of them Germans?" asked the driver, making cheerful small-talk. I told her I didn't know. This was taken for modesty. As I was getting out of the car, one of the ladies patted me on the shoulder in motherly fashion: "I'll bet you'd like to get over and kill some of them dirty Japs now, wouldn't you?" We exchanged knowing winks. I didn't tell those simple souls that I had been captured after a week at the front; and more to the point, what I knew and thought about killing dirty Germans, about total war. The reason for my being sick at heart then and now has to do with an incident that received cursory treatment in the American newspapers. In February 1945, Dresden, Germany, was destroyed, and with it over 100,000 human beings. I was there. Not many know how tough America got. I was among a group of 150 infantry privates, captured in the Bulge breakthrough and put to work in Dresden. Dresden, we were told, was the only major German city to have escaped bombing so far. That was in January 1945. She owed her good fortune to her unwarlike countenance: hospitals, breweries, food-processing plants, surgical supply houses, ceramics, musical instrument factories and the like. Since the war [had started], hospitals had become her prime concern. Every day hundreds of wounded came into the tranquil sanctuary from the east and west. At night, we would hear the dull rumble of distant air raids. "Chemnitz is getting it tonight," we used to say, and speculated what it might be like to be the bright young men with their dials and cross-hairs. "Thank heaven we're in an 'open city'," we thought, and so thought the thousands of refugees - women, children and old men who came in a forlorn stream from the smouldering wreckage of Berlin, Leipzig, Breslau, Munich. They flooded the city to twice its normal population. There was no war in Dresden. True, planes came over nearly every day and the sirens wailed, but the planes were always en route elsewhere. The alarms furnished a relief period in a tedious work day, a social event, a chance to gossip in the shelters. The shelters, in fact, were not much more than a gesture, casual recognition of the national emergency: wine cellars and basements with benches in them and sandbags blocking the windows, for the most part. There were a few more adequate bunkers in the centre of the city, close to the government offices, but nothing like the staunch subterranean fortress that rendered Berlin impervious to her daily pounding. Dresden had no reason to prepare for attack - and thereby hangs a beastly tale. Dresden was surely among the world's most lovely cities. Her streets were broad, lined with shade-trees. She was sprinkled with countless little parks and statuary. She had marvellous old churches, libraries, museums, theatres, art galleries, beer gardens, a zoo and a renowned university. It was at one time a tourist's paradise. They would be far better informed on the city's delights than am I. But the impression I have is that in Dresden - in the physical city - were the symbols of the good life; pleasant, honest, intelligent. In the swastika's shadow, those symbols of the dignity and hope of mankind stood waiting, monuments to truth. The accumulated treasure of hundreds of years, Dresden spoke eloquently of those things excellent in European civilisa-tion wherein our debt lies deep. I was a prisoner, hungry, dirty and full of hate for our captors, but I loved that city and saw the blessed wonder of her past and the rich promise of her future. In February 1945, American bombers reduced this treasure to crushed stone and embers; disembowelled her with high explosives and cremated her with incendiaries. The atom bomb may represent a fabulous advance, but it is interesting to note that primitive TNT and thermite managed to exterminate in one bloody night more people than died in the whole London blitz. Fortress Dresden fired a dozen shots at our airmen. Once back at their bases and sipping hot coffee, they probably remarked: "Flak unusually light tonight. Well, guess it's time to turn in." Captured British pilots from tactical fighter units (covering frontline troops) used to chide those who had flown heavy bombers on city raids with: "How on earth did you stand the stink of boiling urine and burning perambulators?" A perfectly routine piece of news: "Last night our planes attacked Dresden. All planes returned safely." The only good German is a dead one: over 100,000 evil men, women, and children (the able-bodied were at the fronts) forever purged of their sins against humanity. By chance, I met a bombardier who had taken part in the attack. "We hated to do it," he told me. The night they came over, we spent in an underground meat locker in a slaughterhouse. We were lucky, for it was the best shelter in town. Giants stalked the earth above us. First came the soft murmur of their dancing on the outskirts, then the grumbling of their plodding towards us, and finally the ear-splitting crashes of their heels upon us - and thence to the outskirts again. Back and forth they swept: saturation bombing. "I screamed and I wept and I clawed the walls of our shelter," an old lady told me. "I prayed to God to 'please, please, please, dear God, stop them'. But he didn't hear me. No power could stop them. On they came, wave after wave. There was no way we could surrender; no way to tell them we couldn't stand it any more. There was nothing anyone could do but sit and wait for morning." Her daughter and grandson were killed. Our little prison was burnt to the ground. We were to be evacuated to an outlying camp occupied by South African prisoners. Our guards were a melancholy lot, aged Volkssturmers and disabled veterans. Most of them were Dresden residents and had friends and families somewhere in the holocaust. A corporal, who had lost an eye after two years on the Russian front, ascertained before we marched that his wife, his two children and both of his parents had been killed. He had one cigarette. He shared it with me. Our march to new quarters took us to the city's edge. It was impossible to believe that anyone had survived in its heart. Ordinarily, the day would have been cold, but occasional gusts from the colossal inferno made us sweat. And ordinarily, the day would have been clear and bright, but an opaque and towering cloud turned noon to twilight. A grim procession clogged the outbound highways; people with blackened faces streaked with tears, some bearing wounded, some bearing dead. They gathered in the fields. No one spoke. A few with Red Cross armbands did what they could for the casualties. Settled with the South Africans, we enjoyed a week without work. At the end of it, communications were reestablished with higher headquarters and we were ordered to hike seven miles to the area hardest hit. Nothing in the district had escaped the fury. A city of jagged building shells, of splintered statuary and shattered trees; every vehicle stopped, gnarled and burnt, left to rust or rot in the path of the frenzied might. The only sounds other than our own were those of falling plaster and their echoes. I cannot describe the desolation properly, but I can give an idea of how it made us feel, in the words of a delirious British soldier in a makeshift POW hospital: "It's frightenin', I tell you. I would walk down one of them bloody streets and feel a thousand eyes on the back of me 'ead. I would 'ear 'em whis-perin' behind me. I would turn around to look at 'em and there wouldn't be a bloomin' soul in sight. You can feel 'em and you can 'ear 'em but there's never anybody there." We knew what he said was so. For "salvage" work, we were divided into small crews, each under a guard. Our ghoulish mission was to search for bodies. It was rich hunting that day and the many thereafter. We started on a small scale - here a leg, there an arm, and an occasional baby - but struck a mother lode before noon. We cut our way through a basement wall to discover a reeking hash of over 100 human beings. Flame must have swept through before the building's collapse sealed the exits, because the flesh of those within resembled the texture of prunes. Our job, it was explained, was to wade into the shambles and bring forth the remains. Encouraged by cuffing and guttural abuse, wade in we did. We did exactly that, for the floor was covered with an unsavoury broth from burst water mains and viscera. A number of victims, not killed outright, had attempted to escape through a narrow emergency exit. At any rate, there were several bodies packed tightly into the passageway. Their leader had made it halfway up the steps before he was buried up to his neck in falling brick and plaster. He was about 15, I think. It is with some regret that I here besmirch the nobility of our airmen, but, boys, you killed an appalling lot of women and children. The shelter I have described and innumerable others like it were filled with them. We had to exhume their bodies and carry them to mass funeral pyres in the parks, so I know. The funeral pyre technique was abandoned when it became apparent how great was the toll. There was not enough labour to do it nicely, so a man with a flamethrower was sent down instead, and he cremated them where they lay. Burnt alive, suffocated, crushed - men, women, and children indiscriminately killed. For all the sublimity of the cause for which we fought, we surely created a Belsen of our own. The method was impersonal, but the result was equally cruel and heartless. That, I am afraid, is a sickening truth. When we had become used to the darkness, the odour and the carnage, we began musing as to what each of the corpses had been in life. It was a sordid game: "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief . . ." Some had fat purses and jewellery, others had precious foodstuffs. A boy had his dog still leashed to him. Renegade Ukrainians in German uniform were in charge of our operations in the shelters proper. They were roaring drunk from adjacent wine cellars and seemed to enjoy their job hugely. It was a profitable one, for they stripped each body of valuables before we carried it to the street. Death became so commonplace that we could joke about our dismal burdens and cast them about like so much garbage. Not so with the first of them, especially the young: we had lifted them on to the stretchers with care, laying them out with some semblance of funeral dignity in their last resting place before the pyre. But our awed and sorrowful propriety gave way, as I said, to rank callousness. At the end of a grisly day, we would smoke and survey the impressive heap of dead accumulated. One of us flipped his cigarette butt into the pile: "Hell's bells," he said, "I'm ready for Death any time he wants to come after me." A few days after the raid, the sirens screamed again. The listless and heartsick survivors were showered this time with leaflets. I lost my copy of the epic, but remember that it ran something like this: "To the people of Dresden: we were forced to bomb your city because of the heavy military traffic your railroad facilities have been carrying. We realise that we haven't always hit our objectives. Destruction of anything other than military objectives was unintentional, unavoidable fortunes of war." That explained the slaughter to everyone's satisfaction, I am sure, but it aroused no little contempt. It is a fact that 48 hours after the last B-17 had droned west for a well-earned rest, labour battalions had swarmed over the damaged rail yards and restored them to nearly normal service. None of the rail bridges over the Elbe was knocked out of commission. Bomb-sight manufacturers should blush to know that their marvellous devices laid bombs down as much as three miles wide of what the military claimed to be aiming for. The leaflet should have said: "We hit every blessed church, hospital, school, museum, theatre, your university, the zoo, and every apartment building in town, but we honestly weren't trying hard to do it. C'est la guerre. So sorry. Besides, saturation bombing is all the rage these days, you know." There was tactical significance: stop the railroads. An excellent manoeuvre, no doubt, but the technique was horrible. The planes started kicking high explosives and incendiaries through their bomb-bays at the city limits, and for all the pattern their hits presented, they must have been briefed by a Ouija board. Tabulate the loss against the gain. Over 100,000 noncombatants and a magnificent city destroyed by bombs dropped wide of the stated objectives: the railroads were knocked out for roughly two days. The Germans counted it the greatest loss of life suffered in any single raid. The death of Dresden was a bitter tragedy, needlessly and wilfully executed. The killing of children - "Jerry" children or "Jap" children, or whatever enemies the future may hold for us - can never be justified. The facile reply to great groans such as mine is the most hateful of all clich?s, "fortunes of war", and another: "They asked for it. All they understand is force." Who asked for it? The only thing who understands is force? Believe me, it is not easy to rationalise the stamping out of vineyards where the grapes of wrath are stored when gathering up babies in bushel baskets or helping a man dig where he thinks his wife may be buried. Certainly, enemy military and industrial installations should have been blown flat, and woe unto those foolish enough to seek shelter near them. But the "Get Tough America" policy, the spirit of revenge, the approbation of all destruction and killing, have earned us a name for obscene brutality. Our leaders had a carte blanche as to what they might or might not destroy. Their mission was to win the war as quickly as possible; and while they were admirably trained to do just that, their decisions on the fate of certain priceless world heirlooms - in one case, Dresden - were not always judicious. When, late in the war, with the Wehrmacht breaking up on all fronts, our planes were sent to destroy this last major city, I doubt if the question was asked: "How will this tragedy benefit us, and how will that benefit compare with the ill-effects in the long run?" Dresden, a beautiful city, built in the art spirit, symbol of an admirable heritage, so antiNazi that Hitler visited it but twice during his whole reign, food and hospital centre so bitterly needed now - ploughed under and salt strewn in the furrows. There can be no doubt that the allies fought on the side of right and the Germans and Japanese on the side of wrong. World war two was fought for near-holy motives. But I stand convinced that the brand of justice in which we dealt, wholesale bombings of civilian populations, was blasphemous. That the enemy did it first has nothing to do with the moral problem. What I saw of our air war, as the European conflict neared an end, had the earmarks of being an irrational war for war's sake. Soft citizens of the American democracy had learnt to kick a man below the belt and make the bastard scream. The occupying Russians, when they discovered that we were Americans, embraced us and congratulated us on the complete desolation our planes had wrought. We accepted their congratulations with good grace and proper modesty, but I felt then as I feel now, that I would have given my life to save Dresden for the world's generations to come. That is how everyone should feel about every city on earth. ? Kurt Vonnegut Jr Trust 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From papadop at peak.org Sat Sep 27 23:29:43 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sat Sep 27 23:54:49 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Naomi wolf on "Palin -- the coming police state" Message-ID: http://www.alternet.org/story/100069/ Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State? By Naomi Wolf, Huffington Post. Posted September 24, 2008. Palin will help to establish a true and irreversible 'fear society' in this once free once proud nation. Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state. You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don't have freedom. I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit -- but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain. Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas -- this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing. Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move. What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future -- for a decade perhaps -- a puppet "president" for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies. How, you may ask, can I assert this? How can I argue, as I now do, that there is actually a war being ramped up against US citizens and our democracy and that Sarah Palin is the figurehead and muse for that war? Look at the RNC. This is supposed to be McCain's America. But you see the unmistakable theatre of Rove's S and M imagery -- and you see stages eight, nine and ten of the steps to a dictatorship as I outlined them in The End of America. Preemptive arrest? Abusive arrest? "Newly released footage, which was buried to avoid confiscation, shows riot cops arresting and abusing a giant group of people for nothing." Journalists were arrested -- for reporting. Amy Goodman and ABC producers were arrested. Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and others were forced to lie face down as armed agents tied their hands behind their backs. The riot police wore the black S&M gear of the Rovian fantasy life and carried the four foot batons cops carry in North Korea. All this is not John McCain's imagery or strategy: it is Karl Rove's. In McCain-Palin's America, citizens who are protesting are being charged as terrorists. This means that a violent war had been declared on American citizens. A well known reporter leaked to me on background that St Paul police had dressed as protesters and, dressed in Black -- shades of the Blackshirts of 1920 -- infiltrated protest groups. There were also phalanxes of men in black wearing balaclavas, linking arms and behaving menacingly -- alleged "anarchists." Let me tell you, I have been on the left for thirty years and you can't get three lefties to wear the same t-shirt to a rally, let alone link arms and wear identical face masks: these are not our guys. Agent Provocateurs framing protesters and calling protest "terrorism" constitutes step ten of a police state: "In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism... [they] 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty." "Paid, confidential informants... infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provocateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence." Under the Palin-Rove police state, you will see escalating infringements on your access to a free internet: "Sarah Palin was baptized at Wasilla Assembly of God...Last Sunday our research team released a video, a ten-minute mini-documentary, focusing on the Wasilla Assemblies of God and the video seemed on the verge of a massive "viral" breakthrough when YouTube pulled it down, citing 'inappropriate content'. At the point the video was censored by YouTube it had been viewed by almost 160,000 people. The short of it is that YouTube has censored a video documentary that appeared to be close to having an effect on a hard fought and contentious American presidential election..." Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. This is not McCain's fantasy: it is Rove's and Cheney's. Under the Palin-Rove police state, there will be no further true elections. Mark Crispin Miller has done sensational and under-reported investigating to establish that -- as I warned -- indeed the GOP staffers on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have been . The evidence is also buried on the Website of the Majority House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. WASHINGTON -- Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe. >From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications witho ut a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics. Do you think that spying like this will ever end under a Palin-Rove regime? Dream on. If she and McCain are elected, then every single strategy memo and speech and debate prep note from every opposition candidate from now and on into forever will be read by the regime in power while it is still in the computers of the challengers. Under the Palin-Rove police state, citizens will be targeted with state cyberterrorism. Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda, a former Reagan official, warned me three years ago that the Bush team went after a Republican who had crossed them through cyberstalking: they messed with his email, messed with his phones and I believe messed with his bank account -- he became a cyber-pariah, unemployable and haunted. With modern technology, there really is less place to hide from the state than there was in East Germany in the Cold War era. I remember feeling a chill: of course. That is the wave of the future once we breach the protections around citizens of FISA and the fourth amendment. That way lies the abyss for us all. Am I trying to scare you? I am. I am trying to scare you to death and ask you to scare your Republican and independent friends most of all. How do you know when it is war on citizens? When there are mass arrests, journalists are jailed, the opposition is infiltrated, rights are stripped and leaders start to ignore the rule of law. Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That's not all: people's bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says "That's impossible." Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens' report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived. Try explaining that to a smart thirteen year old. Try explaining it in a way that still makes her feel secure and comfortable. I am not telling you this because it's about my life. I am telling you this because it is about your life -- whoever you are, Conservative or Liberal, independent or evangelical. Your politics will not protect you in a police state. History shows that nothing protects you in a police state. This is not about my fear and anxiety: it is about what awaits you and everyone you love unless you see this for what it is: Scharansky divided nations into "fear societies" and "free societies." Make no mistake: Sarah "Evita" Palin is Rove and Cheney's cosmetic rebranding of their fascist push: she will help to establish a true and irreversible "fear society" in this once free once proud nation. For God's sake, do not let her; do not let them. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sun Sep 28 00:44:01 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun Sep 28 00:44:18 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Blood of Dresden In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080928054404.9CE0412998@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> That's on the hands of the aggressors along with the blood of Warsaw and Rotterdam and Hamburg and London and Coventry and Stalingrad and all other blood spilled because of the aggressors' choice to foist war on other counties for "Lebensraum". As an Australian-born terrorist said to Australia in one of those Al Qa'eda videos a year or so ago: "You bomb us, we'll bomb you.". These days it's called blowback - I'd call it reaping the whirlwind. There can be no crime more despicable than armed aggression against countries that are at peace, and who knows what other agendas will be unleashed under cover of the fog of a war imposed on the world by the aggressors? George HW Bush fought (out at sea as it happened) for the cause of smashing the sword of Hirohito and that's a decent cause because the Japs by invading China and then going on a quest to conquer other countries including George HW Bush's country by armed violence made it so. Just as shooting McCain down and holding him in the Hanoi Hilton was in a decent cause whereas McCain's cause was dishonourable and so therefore were his raids on Vietnam. Excuses and references to others' consequent actions don't mitigate the crime of aggression or equate retaliation to aggression, and neither does race or nationality or language or ideology or history. Nothing does. Dion Giles Western Australia From creuss at bluewin.ch Sun Sep 28 05:18:59 2008 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Sun Sep 28 05:20:29 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Blood of Dresden Message-ID: > That's on the hands of the aggressors along with the blood of Warsaw No, because there is no military necessity of carpet-bombing civilian towns, as little as there was military necessity of trying out 2 (!) different nukes on the civilian towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's genocide, not "reaping the whirlwind" -- because the children burnt alive didn't elect Hitler, nor the Jap emperor (sic). > "You bomb us, we'll bomb you." If it's symmetrical, then why are most medieval inner cities in France intact but hardly one in Germany? Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From thinker at this1.ca Sun Sep 28 10:00:54 2008 From: thinker at this1.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Sun Sep 28 09:59:08 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Blood of Dresden In-Reply-To: <20080928054404.9CE0412998@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> References: <20080928054404.9CE0412998@fep01.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <200809281458.m8SEwxd7011035@karma.reboot.ca> Of course, it has always been done, by all sides, religion and ideologies, in the name of "God and freedom". The most amazing fact is that people are still falling for this crap and are willingly kill and sacrifice their own lives in the service of crooks. The world has always been governed by the conspiracy of 3 sectors: The Merchants, the Priesthoods and the Military. Ideologies are pseudo religions for energy control, using the words of priesthoods, now including economists, as scriptures for the justification of crime waves against others, for the purpose of energy theft. As we watch the B52s over our heads, several times a day, here in central BC, training for the mas murder of potentially millions. Cheers, Ed. At 10:44 PM 27/09/2008, Dion Giles wrote: >That's on the hands of the aggressors along with the blood of Warsaw >and Rotterdam and Hamburg and London and Coventry and Stalingrad and >all other blood spilled because of the aggressors' choice to foist >war on other counties for "Lebensraum". As an Australian-born >terrorist said to Australia in one of those Al Qa'eda videos a year >or so ago: "You bomb us, we'll bomb you.". These days it's called >blowback - I'd call it reaping the whirlwind. There can be no crime >more despicable than armed aggression against countries that are at >peace, and who knows what other agendas will be unleashed under >cover of the fog of a war imposed on the world by the >aggressors? George HW Bush fought (out at sea as it happened) for >the cause of smashing the sword of Hirohito and that's a decent >cause because the Japs by invading China and then going on a quest >to conquer other countries including George HW Bush's country by >armed violence made it so. Just as shooting McCain down and >holding him in the Hanoi Hilton was in a decent cause whereas >McCain's cause was dishonourable and so therefore were his raids on >Vietnam. Excuses and references to others' consequent actions don't >mitigate the crime of aggression or equate retaliation to >aggression, and neither does race or nationality or language or >ideology or history. Nothing does. > >Dion Giles >Western Australia > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.4/1695 - Release Date: >9/27/2008 1:11 PM From oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au Sun Sep 28 10:05:16 2008 From: oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au (Clem Clarke) Date: Sun Sep 28 10:05:41 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] [Fwd: [GJM] New Dollar Bill (+:] Message-ID: <48DF9D2C.3020103@ozemail.com.au> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion@globaljusticemovement.net http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net From papadop at peak.org Sun Sep 28 14:12:54 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sun Sep 28 14:38:08 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Bank bail-outs and institutional investments Message-ID: As the banks go down, and are bailed up for a pittsnce what happens to the rights of the institutional investors like pension funds and Not-for-profit foundations ? Michael ############ http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=3466 Press Release / News U.S. Institutional Investors Boost Ownership of U.S. Corporations to New Highs Sept. 2, 2008 Institutional investors have, once again, topped their previous record ownership levels in the largest 1,000 U.S. corporations, The Conference Board reports today in the latest edition of its Institutional Investment Report. Data on institutional investor ownership in the largest 1,000 U.S. corporations show that institutions have substantially and consistently increased their holdings from 1987 with an average of 46.6 percent of total stock to an average of 61.4 percent of total stock by 2000 and then rising to an unprecedented 76.4 percent of corporations by year-end 2007 (see Table 18 in the report.) Concentration of ownership in the largest 25 companies also tops all previous data when measured by the numbers of companies which have the largest institutional ownership. For example, in 1985, no company had institutional ownership of 60 percent or above, whereas, by 2007, 17 companies had institutional ownership of 60 percent or above, including six with institutional ownership of 70 percent or above. Latest available year-end 2006 data show that total institutional investors - defined as pension funds, investment companies, insurance companies, banks and foundations - controlled assets totaling $27.1 trillion, up from $24.4 trillion in 2005. Their 2006 level represents a ten-fold increase from $2.7 trillion in 1980 (see Chart 2 of the report.) The equity market value of total institutional equity holdings increased from $571.2 billion in 1980 (or 37.2 percent of total U.S. equity markets) to $12.9 trillion (or 66.3 percent of total U.S. equity markets) in 2006. "This represents a historic all-time high in the amount of total U.S. equities controlled by these institutional investors," says Dr. Carolyn Kay Brancato, Senior Advisor to The Conference Board Governance Center and Directors' Institute and author, together with Stephan Rabimov, of the report (see Table 13 of the report). Pension funds continue to account for the largest block of institutional investor assets, with $10.4 trillion or 38.3 percent of total 2006 assets under management. Within the pension fund category, state and local pension funds - which tend to be the most activist in terms of exerting corporate governance pressures on companies - have grown more rapidly than other types of pension funds such as corporate pension funds. Moreover, these state and local pension funds have also been growing more rapidly in the amount of assets they allocate to equities from bonds and other types of investments. For example, public pension funds have increased their share of equity markets from 2.9 percent in 1980 to 10 percent in 2006. By comparison, private trusteed pensions (generally corporate funds) represent a smaller share of equity markets in 2006 than they did in 1980; their share declined from 15.1 percent in 1980 to 13.6 percent in 2006. Dr. Brancato notes: "As the more activist state and local pension funds not only grow in assets but also increase their equity base, they have more stock to vote at annual meetings and in proxy contests." Historically, U.S. pension funds put very little of their assets into international equities. This amount grew, however, and the largest 25 internationally invested U.S. pension funds put a total of 18.0 percent of their 1999 assets into international equities. By 2005, this amount had declined to 13.5 percent of their assets, although the number has risen to 15.3 percent for 2007. Pension Funds Make Growing Investments in Hedge Funds For the first time, the report tracks hedge fund investments generally and investments by pension funds into hedge funds. As of September 2007, some $1.8 trillion in assets was estimated to have been managed by about 10,000 hedge funds worldwide. This represents an increase of 23.6 percent in hedge fund assets and 5.8 percent growth in the number of funds since 2006. Of these, more than half are domiciled in the United States. Pension funds have been increasing the investments they make in hedge funds during the past three years. The report shows the largest 200 U.S. employee retirement plans with defined benefit assets in hedge funds. The amounts invested in hedge funds by these pension funds rose from an insignificant amount in prior years to $29.9 billion for the year ended September 30, 2005, to $50.5 billion for the year ended September 30, 2006, and then to $76.3 billion for the year ended September 30, 2007. This actually represents a fairly small percentage of total assets for these pension funds - 0.7 percent in 2005, 1.0 percent in 2006 and 1.4 percent in 2007. Thus, while increasing rapidly, hedge fund investments remain a small portion of the total defined benefit plan assets invested by these pension funds. Based on an analysis of data from Pensions & Investments, the report also finds more and more pension funds are investing in hedge funds. As of September 30, 2007, 62 out of the largest 200 defined benefit pension plans invested in hedge funds compared with only 48 the year before. The majority are "public" state and local funds; of the 62 funds investing in hedge funds in 2007, 37 are state and local or "public" pension funds (which invested $59.6 billion out of a total $76.3 billion for all funds) while 25 are corporate pension funds (which invested $16.7 billion out of a total $76.3 billion for all funds). Source: The 2008 Institutional Investment Report: Trends in Institutional Investor Assets and Equity Ownership of U.S. Corporations Report No. 1433-08-RR The Conference Board Read this report From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Sun Sep 28 19:59:00 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Sun Sep 28 19:59:27 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout Message-ID: <48DFFE24.24691.24A0B486@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 18174 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080928/45126934/--0003.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080928/45126934/--0005.obj From papadop at peak.org Sun Sep 28 19:50:06 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sun Sep 28 20:15:04 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Brit comment on Obama in debate Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/sep/27/obama.mccain.foreign.policy Buying into the neocon worldview In Friday's debate, Barack Obama conceded too much to John McCain and the neocon consensus on US foreign policy + Ian Williams The Guardian (London) + Saturday September 27 2008 Barack Obama won on points - just - in Friday's debate. It should have been a knockout, but he pulled his punches continually, particularly on foreign policy. >From the point of view of American electoral politics, Obama has a handicap, in fact several. As a pioneering black candidate, he has to avoid at all costs any hint of anger or a chip on the shoulder, and that spilled over to his relative youth as well. Americans are deferential to seniority, so it would have been counterproductive for him to be as snippy with McCain as the ornery old coot deserved. There were many occasions when McCain deserved to be put down resoundingly. Each of his jibes about naivete and inexperience was begging for a riposte about McCain's quarter-century as an insider in a Congress and a party that had done so much to bring the nation and the world to its present and sorry pass. Where were the cutting references to McCain's starring role in the Keating Five and the savings and loan scandal and his panoply of advisers who have been lobbying for the earmarks that he obsessed about? McCain's call for a League of Democracies contrasts sharply with his tolerance and praise for the military dictatorship in Pakistan and his characterisation of the country as a failed state when Pervez Musharraf took over from the democratically elected government. When he said "The Iranians have a lousy government, so therefore their economy is lousy," I was longing for Obama, to reply: "And we have a lousy economy because we have a lousy government - whose policies you have been supporting!" McCain's outright false assertions about Obama's positions, not to mention his dissimulation about Henry Kissinger's views on meeting with foreign leaders, which does indeed match Obama's, may come back to haunt him, as indeed may his appointment of Sarah Palin if she crosses moose antlers with Joe Biden. Obama was, on balance, probably right to restrain himself. But even so, it was disturbing to see how much he conceded to McCain, and to the neocon consensus, on foreign policy. Obama accepted shibboleths like the sacredness of the defence budget, the alleged success of the troop surge in Iraq, missile defence and Nato expansion. There are many legitimate objections to the acceptance of Georgia and Ukraine in Nato, even from those who think Vladimir Putin has gone too far. The whole Star Wars project has been a complete boondoggle for the aerospace industry. The cost of the Iraq war may not be as high as the banker's bailout, but it is accepting the Republican recasting of the issue to confuse the defence budget with "voting against money for our troops", when so much of it, as McCain himself alluded, is pork-barrelling to Boeing and similar companies. Obama also took as axiomatic that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, which is far from proven, and talked of an arms race in the Middle East, without mentioning the one country that has nuclear weapons there and has refused to sign any of the non-proliferation treaties. He was sharp on McCain's bluster about Spain, but perhaps should have spelled it out for the millions of viewers who were not fully aware of the gaffe from someone who was in the fore of the Frog and Bosch bashing at the time of the invasion of Iraq. Perhaps Obama's most adroit tactic was his triangulation over Afghanistan. Far from being anti-military, he repeated that that Iraq was the wrong war, fought in the wrong way against the wrong enemy. Even if his repeated assertion that Osama bin Laden should be hunted down and "killed" sounds somewhat atavistically vindictive to people outside the US, it will not cost him many votes at home. Obama probably restrained himself too much this time, for understandable reasons. Next time, he should go for a knockout. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sun Sep 28 21:53:19 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun Sep 28 21:53:28 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout In-Reply-To: <48DFFE24.24691.24A0B486@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <48DFFE24.24691.24A0B486@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <20080929025320.2C043F782@fep05.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Won't get a chance. The only things the public can vote on is which bunch of Pelosis and Obamas will sell them out for Mr Greed. Only in a democracy can the people vote on actual issues like stripping the national Treasury. Know any? Dion Giles Western Australia At 08:59 AM 29/09/2008, you wrote: >------- Forwarded message follows ------- >To: jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca >Subject: Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout >Date sent: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:57:43 -0400 >From: David Sirota > > >http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093928/top-5-reasons-vote- >against-paulsons-700-billion-bailout >Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout >By David Sirota >Campaign for America's Future, 9/28/08 >There's news this hour of a congressional deal to bailout Wall Street >fatcats with $700 billion of taxpayer cash. Though the deal is better >than what Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson originally proposed early >last week, it remains an insulting atrocity. Based on the outlines of >the deal as reported in the press, here are the top 5 reasons (in no >order) why every single member of Congress - Democrat and Republican - > should vote this sucker down. Please feel free to copy and paste >this post into an email to your congressperson: >1. BAILOUT'S INHERENT FISCAL INSANITY COULD MAKE PROBLEM WORSE >When an individual consumer uses a new credit card to pay off >astounding debt from an old credit card, it's called kiting, and in >many cases, it is illegal. Apparently, though, when the government >does it, it's billed as Serious Public Policy. Because that's what >this supposedly prudent bailout bill would do: Force taxpayers to >borrow $700 billion from foreign banks to pay off the bad debt of >Wall Street banks. During a crisis that is aimed at preventing >interest rates from skyrocketing, nobody has been able to explain how >adding almost a trillion dollars to the interest rate-exacerbating >national debt would do anything other than undermine the plan's >underlying objective. Worse, the U.S. Treasury Department itself >admits that the $700 billion number is "not based on any particular >data point" - that is, they created it out of thin air because "We j >It didn't have to be this way, of course. As I noted in my newspaper >column this week, Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a temporary tax on >millionaires to finance part of this bailout. Similarly, Blue Dog >Democrats proposed a future tax on financial firms if and when >taxpayers lose cash on the deal. These proposals were discarded in >favor of language asking the government to "submit a plan to Congress >on how to recoup any losses," according to the Associated Press. Not >only is that language toothless, but it opens up the possibility of a >plan being submitted that says we should raise middle-class taxes or >slash middle-class social programs to pay for Wall Street's >misbehavior. >2. EXPERTS ON BOTH THE LEFT AND RIGHT SAY THIS BAILOUT COULD MAKE >THINGS WORSE >Primum non nocere is the latin phrase for "first do no harm" - the >priority principle for any EMT working on a sick patient. It should >be the same priority for Congress at this moment - and a growing >group of esteemed experts on both the Right and Left are insisting >that this bailout bill could make things worse. Here's a review: >* The Washington Post reported on Friday, almost 200 academic > economists "have signed a petition organized by a University of > Chicago professor objecting to the plan on the grounds that it could > create perverse incentives, that it is too vague and that its long- > run effects are unclear." >* NYU's Nouriel Roubini, the visionary who had been predicting this > meltdown, says "The Treasury plan (even in its current version agreed > with Congress) is very poorly conceived and does not contain many of > the key elements of a sound and efficient and fair rescue plan." >* Harvard's Ken Rogoff, a Former Federal Rerserve and IMF official, > insists that the prospect of this bailout is, unto itself, taking a > manageable problem and making it into a more intense crisis. He says > that credit is frozen primarily because banks want to avoid dealing > with other banks that might drive a hard bargain, and instead would > rather wait for free money from the government. Without the prospect > of that free money, Rogoff suggests that credit would probably begin > moving again, if slowly. >* Dean Baker of the Center on Economic and Policy Research says that > spending so much cash so quickly on such a poorly conceived plan > could have the effect of making it impossible to fund economic > stimulus that is the real way out of this mess. "Suppose the Paulson > plan goes through," he writes. "It is virtually certain that the > economy will weaken further and the number of foreclosures and people > without jobs will continue to rise. This is the fallout from a > collapsing housing bubble...When families respond to their loss of > home equity by cutting back their consumption it will deepen the > recession. In this context it might prove very important to have the > resources needed to provide a substantial stimulus. there is no doubt > that this bailout will make further stimulus much more difficult to > sell politically." >Meanwhile, it's not even close to clear that this is a problem that >requires such an enormous response. As mentioned above, the Treasury >Department admits it has absolutely no factual basis for requesting >$700 billion - an amount equivalent to about 5 percent of our entire >economy. Additionally, the Washington Post reports that "Banks >throughout the United States carried on with the business of making >loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their >industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated >language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main >Streets." Indeed, "many smaller banks said they were actually >benefiting from the problems on Wall Street" and "even some of the >nation's largest banks, which have pushed hard for a federal bailout, >deny that the current situation is forcing them to reduce lend >The questions, then, are simple: In the face of this bipartisan >opposition from objective experts, why should a lawmaker instead >believe the same Bush officials who helped create this crisis with >their deregulation, the same Bush officials who just months ago said >everything was AOK? Shouldn't there be almost complete unanimity >among both objective and partisan observers before spending 5 percent >of our entire economy after just one harried week of White House >demands? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. It's >time, as The Who said, that we "don't get fooled again." >3. THERE ARE CLEARLY BETTER AND SAFER ALTERNATIVES >The mantra throughout the week has been that America has "no choice" >but to pass Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion giveaway - > that, in effect, there are no alternatives. But that's an out-and- >out lie - one with a motive: Making it seem as if the only thing we >can do is hand the keys to the federal treasury over to both parties' >corporate campaign contributors. >The truth is, there are a number of alternatives. Here are just a >few: >* In the Washington Post last week, Galbraith outlined a multi-pronged > plan shoring up and expanding the FDIC, creating a Home Owners Loan > Corporation, resurrecting Nixon's federal revenue sharing, and taxing > stock transactions (a tax that would fall mostly on speculators) to > finance the whole deal. >* The Service Employees International Union has drafted a plan based > around a massive investment in public services and national health > care, and regulatory reforms preventing foreclosures and forcing > banks to renegotiate the predatory terms of their bad mortgages. >* For those in the mindless, zombie-ish "someone has to do something!" > camp, consider the possibility that you are under the spell of the > same kind of White House fear that led us to invade Iraq because of > Saddam's supposed WMD. Consider, perhaps, that there may not even be > a compelling basis for doing anything just yet (or at least not > anything nearly so huge), and that the whole reason there is this > urgent push right now has nothing to do with the financial situation, > and everything to do with creating the political dynamic to pass a > wasteful giveaway - one that couldn't be passed otherwise without a > sense of emergency. In two separate posts ( here and here), CEPR's > Baker says that letting the problem play out could be the best path, > because Treasury and the Fed may already hav >* Then there is the idea of simply taking the $700 billion and simply > give it to struggling homeowners to help them pay off part of their > mortgages. This hasn't even been discussed but the thought experiment > it involves is important to understanding why there is, indeed, an > alternative to the Paulson plan. If the root of this problem is > people not being able to pay off their mortgages, and those defaults > then devaluing banks' mortgage-backed assets, then simply helping > people pay their mortgages would preserve the value of the mortgage- > backed assets and recharge the market with liquidity. That would be a > bottom-up solution helping the mass public, rather than a top-down > move helping only financial industry executives. >On this latter proposal, some may argue that giving any relief to >homeowners is "unfair" in that those homeowners created their >problems, so why should taxpayers have to help them? But then, is >helping homeowners any less fair than simply giving all the money >away to Wall Street, no strings attached? I'd say no - and helping >homeowners also serves a second purpose: namely, keeping people in >their homes, which not only helps them, but helps an entire >neighborhood (as any homeowner knows, nearby properties can be >devalued when foreclosures hit). >4. ANY INCUMBENT VOTING FOR THIS PUTS THEMSELVES AT RISK OF BEING >THROWN OUT OF OFFICE >As a preface, let me state that I think we live in a country where >politicians too often listen to their donors and to the Establishment >rather than their constituents, not the other way around. America is >a country where our leaders dishonestly invoke the concepts of >"Statesmanship" and "Seriousness" and their supposed hatred of >"pandering" to justify ignoring what the public wants (as if giving >the public what it wants is somehow not the objective of a democratic >republic). So, in short, I don't think there's anything wrong with >this bill being "politicized" by coming down the pike right before an >election - in fact, I think it's a good thing because the election - >and the fear of being thrown out of office forces our politicians to >at least consider what the public wants. I mean, really - would we >rather have this decision made after the election, when the public >can be completely ignored? >Polls overwhelmingly show a public that sees voting for this bill as >an act of economic treason whereby the bipartisan Washington elite >robs taxpayer cash to give their campaign contributors a trillion- >dollar gift. As just two of many examples, Bloomberg News' poll shows >"decisive" opposition to the bailout proposal, and Rasmussen reports >that their surveys show "the more voters learn about the proposed >$700 billion federal bailout plan for the U.S. economy, the more they >don?t like it." >Any sitting officeholder that votes for this - whether a Democrat or >a Republican - should expect to get crushed under a wave of populist- >themed attacks from their opponents. We've already seen it start. In >Oregon, Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley (D) is airing scathing >television ads hammering Republican incumbent Gordon Smith for >potentially supporting the deal. Similarly, this morning on Meet the >Press, we saw Republican Senate challenger Bob Schaffer (CO) >dishonestly papering over his own votes for deregulation and ripping >into his opponent Rep. Mark Udall (D) for potentially supporting the >deal. Incumbents, get ready for that kind of election-changing heat >in your face if you vote "yes." >This, by the way, could play out in the presidential contest. Barack >Obama has been taking the advice of the Wall Street insiders in his >campaign in endorsing this bailout. McCain has endorsed the vague >outline, but he may ultimately back off once he sees the details, >allowing him to then run the last month of the campaign as the >economic populist in the race. I'm not saying it would work, >considering McCain's 26-year record of supporting the deregulatory >agenda that created this crisis. But such a move could end up help >him flank Obama on the defining economic issues of the race. >5. CORRUPTION AND SLEAZE IS SWIRLING AROUND THESE BAILOUTS - AND >AMERICA KNOWS IT >The amount of brazen corruption and conflicts of interest swirling >around this deal is odious, even by Washington's standards - and >polls suggest the public inherently understands that. Consider these >choice nuggets: >* Warren Buffett is simultaneously advising Obama to support the deal, > while he himself is investing in the company that stands to make the > most off the deal. >* McCain's campaign is run by lobbyists from the companies that stand > to make a killing off a no-strings government bailout. >* The New York Times reports that the person advising Paulson and > Bernanke on the AIG bailout was the CEO of Goldman Sachs - a company > with a $20 billion stake in AIG. >* The Obama campaign's top spokesman pushing this deal is none other > than Roger Altman, who Bloomberg News reports is simultaneously > "advising a group of investors who are trying to prevent their shares > from being diluted in the U.S. takeover of American International > Group Inc." - that is, who have a direct financial interest in the > current iteration of the bailout. >Add to this the fact that the negotiations over this bill have been >largely conducted in secret, and you have one of the most sleazy >heists in American history. >********** >If this bill passes, it will be a profound referendum on the >dominance of money over democracy in America. That - and that alone - >would be the only thing an objective observer could take away from >the whole thing. >Money will have compelled politicians to not only vote for >substantively dangerous policy, but vote for that policy even at >their own clear electoral peril. Such a vote will confirm that the >only people these politicians believe they are responsible for >representing are are the fat-cat recipients of the $700 billion - the >same fat cats who underwrite their political campaigns, the same fat- >cats who engineered this crisis, and want to keep profiteering off >it. Any lawmaker who takes that position is selling out the country, >as is any issue-based political non-profit group - liberal or >conservative - that uses its resources to defend a "yes" vote rather >than demand a "no" vote. This is a bill that forces taxpayers to >absorb all of the pain, and Wall Street executives to reap all of the >gain. It doesn't even force the corporate executives (much less the >government leaders) culpable in this free fall to step down - it lets >them stay fat and happy in their c >Even if they believe that something must be done right now, lawmakers >should still vote no on this specific bill, and force one of the very >prudent alternatives to the forefront. They shouldn't just vote no on >Paulson's proposal - they should vote hell no. Our economy's future >depends on it. >-------------------- >Order David Sirota's brand new book The Uprising: An Unauthorized >Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street &Washington. The book >was just released in June of 2008. A logical follow-up to his 2006 >New York Times bestseller Hostile Takeover, Sirota's new book uses >firsthand, on-the-ground reporting far away from the national media >spotlight to explore the most intense and successful organizing at >the edges of American politics. To pr > > >To unsubscribe from this list visit this link >To update your preferences visit this link >To forward this message to a friend visit this link > > > > >------- End of forwarded message ------- > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=HTML text >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-description: "AVG certification" >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not@globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Sep 29 14:28:57 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon Sep 29 14:29:24 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] HOUSE BAILOUT VOTE: The Uprising Comes to Wall Street and WA + 5 Reasons to Vote vs it by David Sirota S29 Message-ID: <48E10249.16197.1C5E5B1@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080929/57cbf375/--0005.obj From papadop at peak.org Mon Sep 29 21:35:51 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon Sep 29 22:01:05 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] GUARDIAN: Reaganomics dies - bring in the Keynesian economists Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/30/congress.usa Reaction 'Americans will not tolerate those who stood by and let this calamity happen' * Jill Treanor and David Teather, Andrew Clark in New York * The Guardian (London) Tuesday September 30 2008 A shock vote by the US House of Representatives to throw out Henry Paulson's $700bn mortgage bail-out prompted a bitter political postmortem and raised speculation of a cut in interest rates to shore up confidence in the system. As Republicans and Democrats began to assign blame, business groups reacted with anger and frustration. The US Chamber of Commerce said the vote had caused "uncertainty and turmoil" in the markets, destroying billions of dollars of household wealth. "Make no mistake - when the aftermath of congressional inaction becomes clear, Americans will not tolerate those who stood by and let the calamity happen," it said. Economists said central banks would have to act if global markets continued to slide today. Nick Parsons, head of markets strategy at NAB Capital in London, said rejection of the bill meant that central bankers would fall back on more traditional means of oiling the markets. "The apparent failure of this package significantly enhances the chances of bringing forward interest rate cuts", he said. Outside the New York stock exchange yesterday, leftwing protesters from Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-Push coalition greeted the failure of the bail-out with enthusiasm, waving banners declaring "no money for Wall Street". But analysts said ordinary people would feel the impact. "You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried," said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics. "They [Congress] forgot the first rule of policy making in a crisis: above all, do no harm." In dramatic trading after the Republicans rejected the bail-out investors raced to safe haven assets. Gold jumped 3% to more than $915 an ounce while 30-year treasury bonds rose sharply, as did European government debt as investors failed to be reassured by a move earlier in the day by the world's central banks to pour billions of pounds into the markets. The bail-out - the greatest intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression - was regarded as a way to draw a line under the financial crisis and mark the end of the uncertainty about the toxic assets. The Dow Jones industrial index, the key barometer of Wall Street, collapsed after the Republicans refused to endorse the plan at about 7pm last night London time. As horse trading began to try to convince the Republican members of the Senate to support the bail-out, Wall Street endured a rollercoaster ride. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped by 777 points while the technology-dominated Nasdaq index suffered its biggest one-day percentage loss since 2000. TJ Marta, fixed-income strategist with RBC Capital Markets in New York, said: "Last week we wrote that 'failure was not an option', as failure to pass it would precipitate a renewed meltdown in financial markets. Congress apparently doesn't understand the stakes.The only ray of light is that the horse trading is not over and some of the no-voters could switch." London markets were closed when the rejection came through. But futures contracts indicated that the FTSE 100 index of leading shares would open more than 250 points lower. The drop would come on top of the eighth largest fall in London, recorded yesterday after a turbulent day of trading following the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley and a wave of banking collapses across Europe and the US. The FTSE 100 lost 5% of its value to close at 4818 before the drama in the US. Stephen Berte, of Standard Life in Boston, was stunned. "I can't believe they [Congress] weren't able to come together to come up with a solution. Complete disaster was predicted if it didn't pass. I can't see what the upside is right now." ######### http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/sep/29/economy.wall.street.bailout Guardian (London) Monday September 29 2008 THE END OF THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Republicans killed the $700bn Wall Street bail-out plan, but their vision of laissez-faire capitalism won't survive this crisis With the failure today of the $700bn economic bail-out package before Congress, the Reagan Revolution died. Allowing this crisis to continue without any viable alternative represents the end of an era for the Republican party. With uncertainty growing in a market built on expectations, our economic woes will worsen. Ironically, as this crisis expands and continues to collapse major corporations, Americans will demand greater government intervention. A party whose platform opposes nearly any proposal that uses government as the medicine for a financial disease will not be able to survive this crisis. Politicians voted today by putting their fingers to the wind, and used ideology rather than expert advice to determine their position. John McCain, who recently gave himself credit for suspending his campaign and shoring up House Republican support for the bill, boarded his plane without comment upon hearing of the bill's failure. And while Main Street's short-term cynicism about Bush's proposal may have been satisfied, such reservations on the part of the public was the result of a poor marketing job by an unpopular president, and ultimately Americans will hold accountable politicians who are seen as failing to rescue them from this crisis. America is waking up to the fact that the brand of laissez-faire capitalism that has guided America since the Reagan Revolution is a farce. Everyone was saying it, but no businessperson really believed in it when it came to their own family. As Paul Krugman recently remarked: "Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no libertarians in a financial crisis." Few people are willing to allow 35% unemployment and economic disaster to stand firm on the very principles that likely triggered this mess. It is true that over the long run, even if we did nothing America's markets would recover, and we would once again enjoy prosperity. But as John Maynard Keynes pointed out during our last great financial disaster: "In the long run, we're all dead." If you listen to the politicians and pundits, we are not supposed to blame the economic philosophy that has deregulated the markets and made financial industry lobbyists the prime architects of the very legislation designed to oversee their businesses. Instead, Americans are supposed to view this financial collapse as a disaster which was the fault of greedy people and irresponsible consumers. They used bad judgment. But where is the sense in this analysis? We are blaming consumers for trying to get easy credit, and financial institutions for trying to make lots of money. Is that not how the system was supposed to work? How can we second-guess willing sellers and willing buyers who purchased mortgage-backed securities at their market rate? Their risk, their reward - but apparently not their loss. The invisible hand seems all too obviously elitist. The rich are in trouble, so we act. The poor have been in trouble since the beginning of time, but that's just background noise on our walk to work. For the first time since 9/11, I've seen a president who has finally set aside his ideology and tried to govern. George Bush understands, at long last, that he cannot be remembered as being the 21st century's Herbert Hoover. Perhaps it is the sense of his legacy dawning upon him in the twilight hours of his presidency, but no one of sound mind is willing to allow financial institutions of the magnitude of AIG to collapse and trigger a once-in-a-century economic decline. No one, apparently, but House Republicans, who killed a bill that Wall Street felt was necessary to cure this economic crisis, causing the market to plunge more than 400 points in 10 minutes. Fiscal conservatives tried and failed to make the central component of the bailout a combination of deregulation and tax cuts. While on paper giving financial institutions a temporary capital gains tax cut seems like a serious proposal, fiscal policy and regulatory changes are medium to long-term solutions that would do nothing to infuse cash into the system in the short term. This would have done very little to shore up confidence before the markets opened around the world this week, nor would it address the original sin of mortgage-backed securities. To address this problem, House Republicans pushed for an insurance programme that could be used by the Treasury secretary, even though he has reportedly shown no interest in using such a tool. Such a proposal can hardly be characterised as anything other than a face-saving measure that does little to dampen the impact of a $700bn bail-out deal. How can fiscal conservatives explain to their constituents that in time of serious economic crisis, their philosophy simply is not a practical short-term solution? It seems that while Republicans can spin "victory" in Iraq, they cannot spin "profit" on Wall Street. While no one can yet suggest America is on the verge of a second New Deal, paradigm shifts are often not obviously apparent at the time they occur. The second phase of the government's response to this crisis will involve regulatory overhaul. Congress will have to hold hearings on the cause of this disaster and they will no doubt find many instances of deregulation as the culprit. In 1982, Ronald Reagan pushed for the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act, which in Title VIII specifically provided for the very adjustable-rate mortgages that have left consumers struggling to make their payments. They will find that in 1999 it was senator Phil Graham and a veto-proof Republican majority that demanded an overhaul of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which separated commercial and investment banking. This might have contained this problem to one sector of the lending industry. Investigators will find that in 2000, Republicans and free market ideologues passed the Commodities Futures Modernisation Act which reduced transparency in the derivatives market. As Congress fulfils its oversight role, a picture will emerge of a comprehensive deregulation strategy which led to this crisis. The end of the Reagan Revolution would not mean a sharp turn toward socialism, but a maturation of economic policy that understands the complexity and power of large financial institutions. Corporate executives should not have the right to risk the entire American economy - indeed the global economy - as part of their portfolio management, regardless of Ayn Rand's philosophical musings. While Republicans struggle to explain how the irresponsible decisions of executives and consumers are to blame, but their own policies which afforded them this opportunity are not, one wonders about the legacy of Reagan's economic policies. It seems that in a time of serious economic crisis, Americans will turn to Roosevelt rather than Reagan. Doing nothing simply isn't an option, and tax cuts and deregulation in a time of corporate excess makes little sense. It is only natural to wonder if this is more than a temporary shift in political discourse. ######### http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/wallstreet.marketturmoil BRING BACK KEYNES The best way out of the economic crisis is to cut interest rates, create jobs and raise incomes + The Guardian (London) Tuesday September 30 2008 Anglo-American finance ministers and central bankers, like little Dutch boys, try desperately to plug leaks in the bursting dyke that is the international financial system. In the US, treasury secretary Hank Paulson hoped for $700bn to plug the gaping hole in Wall Street's banks. In the UK, the government is not just plugging holes, but setting aside competition rules to encourage the monopolisation of finance. Alistair Darling suspended competition rules to allow the Lloyds Bank takeover of HBOS because of the crisis. This is like suspending the law during hurricanes. The demise of another independent bank, Bradford & Bingley, and the transfer of its savings business to Santander, will increasingly monopolise finance. Will these plugs and private-sector fixes work? No, because a) they are not system-wide fixes and b) they are based on the same flawed economic policies that spurred this crisis in the first place. Some of these policies, attributable to Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, are already discredited. Contempt for government is no longer acceptable. Using fiscal policies to bail out banks is now sanctioned by all political parties. To refuse to use fiscal policies to bail out taxpayers who lose pensions, homes and jobs, will make political parties unelectable. But there are other orthodox economic policies that remain intact and are as yet unchallenged by any political party. The most damaging is orthodox monetary policy. This is based on the assumption that money is a commodity, and that its "price" - the rate of interest - must be set by supply and demand for money in private markets for capital - just as the price of oil is set by supply and demand for oil. This is a nonsense. We do not dig capital out of the ground, nor does it grow on trees. Money is man-made. Interest rates are a social construct. And as such, unlike oil or soya beans, "there are no intrinsic reasons for the scarcity of capital", as Keynes argued in the General Theory. Because there is no reason for the scarcity of capital, there is no reason for the price of capital to be high. And yet the private finance sector has succeeded in creating a shortage of capital, the credit crunch, and - at the height of a debt crisis - ratchets its price ever upwards. The rate for private inter-bank loans (Libor) continues to move upwards as the crisis worsens. The private finance sector also requires that central banks maintain official, or base rates at current levels by adhering to a policy esoterically named "inflation targeting". In fact these high rates, by making debts unpayable, lead to rapid de-leveraging of debts (think bank failures) and assets (think property price falls) and are dangerously deflationary. Flawed monetary policies are turning a crisis into a catastrophe. They must be challenged. Keynes's cool, rational voice on monetary theory and monetary policy must once again be heeded. Central banks must once again take control over all rates - short and long, safe and risky. But a system-wide fix would go further. It would challenge the orthodoxy that unemployment helps keep wages low and is a good thing; and that wage rises are always inflationary. It is this orthodoxy that has caused wages and other forms of compensation to fall as a share of GDP in all OECD countries over the past three decades. This fall in compensation has forced people to supplement incomes by borrowing more. Creating jobs and raising incomes as a share of GDP is vital if we want people to repay debts, salvage banks and return to the high street. If we fail to adopt such system-wide fixes, and if we persist with economic orthodoxy, then look forward to a prolonged period of global economic failure. ############ From papadop at peak.org Mon Sep 29 21:45:17 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon Sep 29 22:10:14 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Crude oil price drops 10% Message-ID: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080929/bs_afp/commoditiesenergyoilprice_080929203035;_ylt=A9G_Rz_4luFI5IgAOgGFOrgF AgenceFrancePresse Mon Sep 29, 4:30 PM ET NEW YORK (AFP) - Crude oil plunged 10 percent Monday after the US House of Representatives narrowly rejected a 700-billion-dollar government bailout of the financial sector, throwing markets into a tailspin. Investors panicked as the countdown on the House vote signaled the lawmakers would torpedo the plan that President George W. Bush's administration argued was crucial to avert a wider economic collapse. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, tumbled 10.52 dollars, or 9.8 percent, to close at 96.37 dollars a barrel. Earlier it had fallen as low as 11.85 dollars. In London, Brent North Sea crude for November dropped 9.56 dollars to settle at 93.98 dollars a barrel. Its intraday low was 92.64 dollars. New York oil prices accelerated their decline in late trade, as the market digested the ramifications of the House's rejection of the emergency Wall Street bailout. The House of Representatives voted 228-205 to reject the emergency legislation. A "disappointed" Bush has summoned top aides to plan the next steps, the White House said. The oil market selloff was driven by worries that further economic turmoil in the world's largest economy could significantly dampen global oil demand. Augustine Faucher at Economy.com said, "The US is looking at a severe recession if Congress fails to pass some sort of package." "Oil prices should remain under downward pressure," said James Williams, analyst at WTRG Economics. "Oil traded for the last five years on fear of supply interruptions. It is now trading on fear of economic collapse," Williams said. John Kilduff at MF Global agreed. "Expectations for demand are ... in doubt with the expected future economic contraction," he said. Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said that oil prices slumped "amid heightened concerns over demand destruction." According to oil industry experts, demand destruction occurs when high oil prices gradually erode global energy demand over the long term -- and result in lower price levels. Crude prices have dropped sharply from record high levels above 147 dollars in July as demand for energy shrank due to a US-led world economic slowdown. Sucden's Khamar said that "nervousness over the future of financial markets beyond the US was heightened following the nationalization of British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis." "This, combined with the deteriorating outlook for European economies, has further fueled concerns over the energy demand outlook," Khamar said. From papadop at peak.org Mon Sep 29 22:09:04 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon Sep 29 22:33:47 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] sign of the times Message-ID: Thanks DS: MY LAST TRIP TO WAL-MART.... Yesterday I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of dog chow for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward - with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's butt and a car hit us both. Wal-Mart won't let me shop there anymore. 'Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... don't mind... And those that mind.. don't matter.' .. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Mon Sep 29 23:15:32 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Mon Sep 29 23:15:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Why McCain is set to become US President Message-ID: <20080930041533.36C14F40A@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Not included in the following article is the additional reason McCain can expect to win: Obama is giving it to him on a platter by not challenging the McCain policies and performance and indeed is rushing to endorse Bush-McCain's ongoing war crime of aggression and even raise the ante. However whatever Obama does McCain will win, and the bought commentariat will shake its collective head and sadly lie: "America is just not ready for a black President." Dion Giles Western Australia ==================================================== http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/why-the-debates-wont-matt_b_130104.html http://tinyurl.com/4x4shk Marty Kaplan Posted September 28, 2008 | 11:26 PM (USEST) Why the Debates Won't Matter (Hint: It's a Felony) Let me hedge my bet. Maybe, at the vice presidential debate, the talking points Sarah Palin's handlers have been stuffing her head with will come out of her mouth so butchered that even Republican voters will say, like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, "The horror, the horror." Or maybe, at one of the remaining presidential debates, a contemptuously smirking John McCain will finally become so enraged by having to share a stage with Barack Obama that he will pop his notorious cork right there in front of a hundred million Americans. Or maybe Obama or Biden will goof or gaffe or otherwise give such a bloody bit of chum to the media sharks that the gazillionth replay of the sound bite will drive every swing voter in the country away from them. But I don't think so. Sure, cable yakkers will declare after each debate who won on points, and who on body language; who played Nixon, and who played Kennedy; who won their focus groups of undecideds, and who flatlined with them. But my guess is that the prestige press headlines will continue to play it safe, as they did after the first debate -- "Candidates clash" (New York Times), "differ sharply" (Los Angeles Times), "quarrel" (Washington Post) -- and that on television, it will be concluded that no one delivered a knockout blow, which will require audiences to remain in suspense, and therefore to keep tuning in, until the photo-finish. This election won't be won or lost at the debates. Nor will it be determined by the two campaigns' "ground games" -- their get-out-the-vote efforts. Nor, unfortunately, will its outcome even depend on how many Americans wake up on Election Day intending to vote for one candidate or the other. Instead, my fear is that the Electoral College results will hang on the swing state voting systems' vulnerability to sabotage. It's already happening. In El Paso County, Colorado, the county clerk -- a delegate to the Republican National Convention -- told out-of-state undergraduates at Colorado College, falsely, that they couldn't vote in Colorado if their parents claim them as dependents on their taxes. In Montgomery County, Virginia, the county registrar issued a press release warning out-of-state college students, falsely, that if they register to vote in Virginia, they won't be eligible for coverage under their parents' health and car insurance, and that "if you have a scholarship attached to your former residence, you could lose this funding." In Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, Democratic voters received a mailing containing tear-out requests for absentee ballots addressed to the clerk in Caledonia -- the wrong location. In Middleton, Wisconsin, Democratic voters received absentee ballot requests addressed to the clerk in Madison -- the wrong address. Both mailers were sent by the McCain campaign. Florida, Michigan and Ohio have some of the country's highest foreclosure rates. "Because many homeowners in foreclosure are black or poor," says the New York Times, "and are considered probable Democratic voters in many areas, the issue has begun to have political ramifications." If you're one of the million Americans who lost a home through foreclosure, and if you didn't file a change of address with your election board, you're a sitting duck for an Election Day challenge by a partisan poll watcher holding a public list of foreclosed homes. In states like New Mexico and Iowa, the number of foreclosures is greater than the number of votes by which George W. Bush carried the state in 2004. In the 2006 election, according to the nonpartisan Fair Elections Legal Network, black voters in Virginia got computer-generated phone calls from a bogus "Virginia Election Commission" telling them that they could be arrested if they went to the wrong polling place; in Maryland, out-of-state leafleters gave phony Democratic sample ballots to black voters with the names of Republican candidates checked in red; in New Mexico, Democratic voters got personal phone calls from out of state that directed them to the wrong polling place. Does anyone think this won't be tried again in 2008? The reason behind Alberto Gonzales' attempted purge of US Attorneys was that some of them wouldn't knuckle under to Karl Rove's plan to concoct an "election fraud" hoax that would put Republicans in control of the nation's voting lists. "We have, as you know, an enormous and growing problem with elections in certain parts of America today," Rove falsely told the Republican National Lawyers Association, an evidence-less problem crying out for a draconian solution. Does anyone think that Rove's move from the White House to Fox has dampened Republican ardor for this ruse? And if all of that doesn't alarm you, consider the new report on electronic voting systems [pdf] from the Computer Security Group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which concluded that "all voting systems recently analyzed by independent security testers have been found to contain fatal security flaws that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the voting process.... Unless electronic voting systems are held up to standards that are commensurate with the criticality of the tasks they have to perform, the very core of our democracy is in danger." And did I mention that on Election Day, some polling places in minority precincts in battleground states will be shocked, simply shocked, to discover that so many people want to vote that it will take hours of standing in line to vote. That is, of course, unless they run of out ballots. So while the presidential and vice presidential debates may make for swell political theater, the likelihood is that victory will be determined not by how the debates move a small percentage of undecided Americans off the fence, but by the voting experiences of a few thousand voters in a few swing states on November 4. Josef Stalin is reputed to have said, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." I think he had it half right. Those who decide who cast the votes also decide everything. (This is adapted from my column in The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.) From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 30 00:00:48 2008 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Tue Sep 30 00:14:34 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: Nepal; financial crisis; Cuba; Venezuela; Zimbabwe; climate change; Marx; Pakistan; Colombia; South Africa; Peter Camejo Message-ID: <48E1B280.7020604@greenleft.org.au> Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./* * * * Nepal: Prachanda in New York -- A Maoist vision for a new Nepal `A Maoist Vision for a New Nepal' -- MP3 recordings of a talk by Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), followed by questions and answers, presented to the India China Institute of New School University, New York City, on September 26, 2008. * Listen & Read more Wall Street crisis: Poor to bail out the rich again By Peter Boyle September 26, 2008 -- "Rich people got it good in this country", said African-American comedian Wanda Sykes on the September 24 Tonight Show with Jay Leno. "We refuse to let them not be rich. Think about it. Broke people are about to bailout rich people. This is what is going on." "And they want no oversight. $700 billion dollars and no oversight! No oversight? Why should we? I want receipts dammit! What do you mean no oversight? Because, oh, you're so good with the other money?" "This is the biggest piece of garbage ever. You know what? It's welfare for the rich... "It's going to cost every taxpayer $7000. You got the guy there busting his gut working two jobs and barely making $12,000 a year and he's got to cough up something so some Wall Street guy can keep his swimming pool. Man, that's garbage!" * Read more Venezuela's revolutionary youth: `Socialist youth will be guarantors of the deepening of the revolution' [Below is the political declaration of the founding congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth, JPSUV, held on September 11-13, 2008. Translated by Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke. * Read more Chronicle of an injustice: Summary of the case of the Cuban Five (+ video) By Leonard Weinglass, attorney for the defence September 23, 2008 -- After decades of enduring attacks within Cuba's own borders (acts of arson, sabotage, assassinations and the use of biological weapons) perpetrated by anti-Cuban terrorist groups based in southern Florida that enjoy the support and consent of the US government, and after the United States repeatedly refused to implement measures to prevent such attacks, a group of unarmed men travelled from Cuba to the United States to monitor the activities of mercenary groups responsible for those attacks and organisations that support them and to warn Cuba of their aggressive intentions. * Read more Cuba: `A world without hunger is possible ... A just world is possible' By Jos? Ram?n Machado Ventura, vice-president of Cuba, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, at the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. * Read more Zimbabwe: Elite deal does not resolve underlying crisis -- Aluta continua! By Munyaradzi Gwisai, International Socialist Organisation of Zimbabwe September 23, 2008 -- In our last update, in the July issue of Socialist Worker, we reaffirmed our long-held position of the likelihood" of an elite political settlement between the ruling party and opposition around a Western-supported full neoliberal economic program", given the domination of all the political parties by bourgeois elites who are fearful of political implosions from the collapsing economy and the rank opportunism of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership. The deal signed by the leaderships of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the MDC in September substantially confirmed our fears. We look at the deal and what it means for working people. * Read more Cuba: Climate change, disaster and collectivism By Susana Hurlich September 17, 2008 -- Havana -- The TV coverage here in Cuba on the impact of hurricanes Gustav and Ike is very instructive, not just in showing clearly the extent of damage, but in giving a sense of the feelings and spirit of the people through many, many different testimonies. I notice that in much of the reporting outside the country, there's not much commentary on this aspect, which is as important -- if not more so in the long run -- as the statistics on damage. * Read more The importance of Marx, 150 years after the Grundrisse A conversation between Eric Hobsbawm and Marcello Musto. Posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with the permission of Marcello Musto. * Read more Colombia: Open letter by Liliana Obando/Carta publica de Liliana Obando September 20, 2008 -- AAn open letter to the national and international community sent by imprisoned Colombian trade unionist and human rights campaigner Liliana Obando. * Read more Venezuela: Chavez's 26 decrees -- US, opposition lies debunked By Venezuela's Ministry of Communication and Information, translated by Tamara Pearson September 23, 2008 -- Venezuelanalysis -- The following is a translation of a document produced by the Venezuela's Ministry for Communication and Information. It is a summary of the content of the 26 laws passed by the Venezuelan executive and also seeks to debunk some of the myths spread by the right-wing opposition. The actual laws are 30-60 pages each, so it is an accessible way to learn what they are. The Venezuelan government is distributing this summary across Venezuela. * Read more South Africa: Dennis Brutus on Thabo Mbeki's fall and Jacob Zuma From Democracy Now! September 23, 2008 -- In South Africa, the deputy leader of the African National Congress has been chosen to serve as interim president following the resignation of South African President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki resigned on Sunday over allegations of interference in a corruption case against political rival and current ANC party president Jacob Zuma. We speak to South African poet and activist Dennis Brutus. * Read more Peter Camejo remembered: tributes from the left Below are number left tributes to Peter Camejo, who died on September 13: from Green Left Weekly (Australia); Ralph Nader, US presidential candidate; veteran US socialist Barry Sheppard; Socialist Worker (USA) and Louis Proyect, moderator of the Marxism List (USA). * Read more Target Pakistan: Washington's next war has already started By Farooq Sulehria September 17, 2008 -- Washington's next war is already on the go. It is as yet undeclared. However, it is not unapproved. ``Classified orders'', according to September 11 New York Times, were passed by President Bush last July. And surprise of surprises! The target is not ``axis of evil''-fame Iran. It is Washington's close ally in the ``war on terror'', Pakistan. * Read more * * * /Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. * ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/cdbeddbd/attachment-0001.html From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 30 01:25:03 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 30 01:25:21 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] pre-Bailout article in WP by Eliot Spitzer How the Bush Admin Stopped the States from Stepping in Message-ID: <48E19C0F.24499.41E94D6@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye. . Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) .. mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function... In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules. But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. fyi-janet ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: TOES Organization: Constructive Solutions Date sent: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:52:52 -0400 Put this together with the staged needs of the current Bail Out campaign and it becomes a different beast. --- Subject: pre-Bailout article in WP by Eliot Spitzer Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:24:05 -0400 . washingtonpost.com?>?Columns . Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime . How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help . . By Eliot Spitzer Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25 . Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets. . Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers. . Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices. . What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no. . Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye. . Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers. . In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules. . But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation. . Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a precarious position. . When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers. . The writer is governor of New York. . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 5806 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/be72ef76/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/be72ef76/--0001.obj From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 30 01:31:55 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 30 01:32:06 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] U.S. crisis fuels push for regulation in EU Message-ID: <48E19DAB.30058.424DF5F@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy says the death knell has rung for freewheeling, U.S.-style capitalism. German's finance minister calls it downright "dangerous." Even the leader of more Wall Street- friendly Britain says financiers need closer watching, maybe on a global scale. What Europeans call, often with a hint of derision, the "Anglo-Saxon" model of capitalism - with less rules, less government and, for years, more growth - is now being called fatally flawed as the financial crisis strengthens advocates of tighter regulation of banks and financial markets in Europe. It's a political shift that could recalibrate the economic direction of Europe as it braces and tries to survive the financial aftershocks from the earthquake that has rocked and destroyed financial institutions across the Atlantic. fyi-janet ====================== http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26904618/ U.S. crisis fuels push for regulation in EU Political shift could recalibrate the economic direction of Europe MSNBC Sept. 26, 2008 PARIS - In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy says the death knell has rung for freewheeling, U.S.-style capitalism. German's finance minister calls it downright "dangerous." Even the leader of more Wall Street-friendly Britain says financiers need closer watching, maybe on a global scale. What Europeans call, often with a hint of derision, the "Anglo-Saxon" model of capitalism - with less rules, less government and, for years, more growth - is now being called fatally flawed as the financial crisis strengthens advocates of tighter regulation of banks and financial markets in Europe. It's a political shift that could recalibrate the economic direction of Europe as it braces and tries to survive the financial aftershocks from the earthquake that has rocked and destroyed financial institutions across the Atlantic. The crisis has put new momentum behind measures to be unveiled by the European Commission on Oct. 1 that include plans to strengthen rules on the capital that banks must hold back and the way credit rating agencies are overseen. Other measures being pushed by some European leaders in response to the crisis include bans on short selling of securities and tighter controls on executive compensation. The European Parliament called this week for tighter controls on hedge funds and private equity investors, an idea so far rejected by top EU officials. Sarkozy, initially quiet on the crisis, in now proving among the most outspoken critics of the bankers and lenders who led Wall Street to disaster. He says they must punished, at least financially. On the issue of executive pay, made even more of a hot-button topic by Wall Street's turmoil, he's given business leaders in France until the end of the year to agree to more "acceptable practices" or said he'll do so through parliament - which his party controls. "The idea of the all-powerful market, unconstrained by any rule or political intervention, is mad. The idea that markets are always right is mad," Sarkozy said in a stinging speech Thursday, sounding more like a leftist on a soap box than the conservative he professes to be. The financial industry, he thundered, has "perverted the fundamentals of capitalism." After years of enduring calls from economists and corporate executives to free up their economies with a more hands-off, Anglo- Saxon style of governance, Europe's leaders have leapt at the opportunity provided by the U.S. financial meltdown to vaunt the merits of continental Europe's more interventionist traditions. There's been some quiet gloating in Europe, combined with real fear that the U.S. turmoil will freeze growth, push unemployment back up and make it tougher for nations and households alike to make ends meet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that the United States had been irresponsible to let major banking and credit institutions operate with too little government oversight. Merkel pointedly recalled that she tried to win support for greater transparency and regulation on international markets at the G-8 summit of world leaders in Heiligendamm, Germany, last year but that governments including that of U.S. President George W. Bush did not heed her warnings. "In the beginning, there was no chance without people saying: 'Let the markets get on with it, we don't need more transparency, and everything is working with rating agencies,'" Merkel said. "Now we have moved on - because America, and Britain too, are saying: 'Yes, we need more transparency. Yes, we need better standards for rating agencies.'" Merkel's finance minister, Peer Steinbrueck, went even further on Thursday, when he criticized what he called an "Anglo-Saxon" attitude in the U.S. and Britain that encouraged risky lending and investment practices because of "an exaggerated fixation on returns." "The argument used by these 'laissez-faire' purveyors was as simple as it was dangerous," he told German lawmakers. German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said Germany considered itself "vindicated," and said that in addition to ongoing efforts to ensure better liquidity and risk management, leading industrial nations should consider whether more action is needed. Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, long considered a safe pair of hands when he ran the British treasury but now overseeing an economy tumbling toward recession, is playing the "told-you-so" card. Speaking on the BBC, Brown called for more international cooperation in supervising the financial industry and reform of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "This set of events is making people realize that some of the things that we proposed years ago, but we couldn't get consensus on, need to be done," he said. ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 5103 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/7f6820ea/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/7f6820ea/--0001.obj From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 30 02:08:33 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 30 02:08:57 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] =?utf-8?q?_Bailout=3A_Rep=2E_Marcy_Kaptur_=28D-OH=29_?= =?utf-8?b?4oCTIHZpZGVv?= Message-ID: <48E1A641.10461.44668F2@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: cyberjournal@yahoogroups.com, cyberjournal@lists.riseup.net, cyberjournal@googlegroups.com From: Richard Moore Subject: Bailout: Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) - video Date sent: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:21:06 +0100 http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2008/09/28/marcy-kaptur-warns-there- are-domestic-enemies-to-the-republic/ http://tinyurl.com/4r4g5h Marcy Kaptur warns "there are domestic enemies to the Republic" September 28th, 2008 | Breaking News, Constitutional Crisis, Economy, Federal Reserve By: D. H. Williams @ 3:39 PM - EST Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) warns the American people about Constitutional enemies of the Republic and the fraudulent trillion(s) dollar bailout... "My message to the American people don?t let Congress seal this deal. High financial crimes have been committed." "The normal legislative process has been shelved. Only a few insiders are doing the dealing, sounds like insider trading to me. These criminals have so much political power than can shut down the normal legislative process of the highest law making body of this land." "We are Constitutionally sworn to protect and defend this Republic against all enemies foreign and domestic. And my friends there are enemies." "The people pushing this deal are the very ones who are responsible for the implosion on Wall Street. They were fraudulent then and they are fraudulent now." ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 1712 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/5785a68c/-.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 4172 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/5785a68c/--0001.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/5785a68c/--0002.obj From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 30 06:45:35 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 30 06:45:44 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] U.S. crisis fuels push for regulation in EU In-Reply-To: <48E19DAB.30058.424DF5F@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <48E19DAB.30058.424DF5F@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <20080930114535.91DE2F79F@fep08.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Trouble is that the professional commentariat across the board are going on about strategic solutions and Grand Plans and geopolitics etc etc and these are bound to leave the average Joe and Jill feeling helpless without either taking an MBA course (degree in spivmanship) or leaving it to the sirs, who will continue to rob the country blind. The Trotskyites (I think it was they) years ago coined the idea of "transitional demands" demands that linked politics to economics so that the plebs were brought into the equation. A transitional demand was one which (1) was undeniably just and (2) could not be granted without the sirs losing their ripping-off powers. The most effective political response to the credit crunch, taking into account the massive unpopularity of the $700 billion ransom demand, is populism which more or less means the so-called transitional demands. David Sirota has put his finger on the causes of the crisis and referred in particular the contribution made by e Service Employees' International Union for massive rebuilding of social infrastructure including a proper health care system. But it would be missing an opportunity to rally the people against those who are robbing them to let the debate fall onto one between good ideas and bad ideas. After all, the sirs are experts and people will easily fall into the trap of deferring to these gangsters to determine what ideas are "good "and what ideas are "bad" as if it were a mere technical question. Such debates all too easily veer away from the question of INTERESTS. Last night I was listening to the BBC World Service and was blown away by an interview with a 54-year-old American nurse called Karen. She has been hardworking and prudent, owing only the mortgage on her house. No credit card debts or any of the other types of debts which the imprudent might get themselves into to buy things they don't really need. But she became ill, and as she was unfortunate enough to be an American this meant she couldn't meet the costs of treatment and got in over her head just to stay alive. So now foreclosure proceedings have been set in train. She was at the end of her tether and repeatedly pleading that she'd done all the prudent things as advised. Government action should be about the likes of Karen, not the megathieves with their hands out. Now, the propaganda media are at full throttle trying to drown out the will of the vast majority of those who are asked to fund the ransom - the American taxpayers. It is because they are so angry about this heist, and Pelosi-Obama-McCain-Bush-Poulson's (etc) complicity, that the congress members didn't dare pass the measure. In Australia we have two TV outlets that are the very rough equivalent of PBS. On one - SBS - there was a rock-solid line-up of Anglosphere talking heads lamenting the "failure of will" to betray the people. On the other it was almost wall to wall though a couple of American legislators were allowed a short soundbite the other way. Kevin Rudd, nearly as reverent as Sarah Palin (and as committed to the interests of Mr Greed) lined up with Gordon Brown and a bemused George Bush and the treacherous Nancy Pelosi to show the solidarity of the political class against the people. Nobody had a word for the likes of Karen except to urge that those responsible for Karen's distress be tempted with tax-funded rewards. In another post I'm going to suggest a range of options that don't mean caving in. All of them political and immediately applicable (if one dismisses the idea that the greedies' reluctance to act means the ideas are "impractical" ) Dion Giles Western Australia E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.385) Database version: 5.10800 http://www.pctools.com/uk/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 30 07:19:28 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 30 07:19:39 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Capitalism is Dead Message-ID: <48E1EF20.4948.5631029@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> But what are the long term effects? Basic long term effect is that free market capitalism with no oversight and ineffective regulation has once again proved to be a disaster. It is predictable and avoidable. So, why do we have to re-learn that lesson again and again?? The Great Depression, the Dot.com bust, Enron, etc., etc. ... simply because there is too much money to be made privately by acting greedily. The money goes to buy loose regulations from Congress. Will we learn the lesson this time? Who knows? ..One thing is for sure. "Capitalism is dead". The capitalism that insists on a laissez faire, laissez passer, i.e., zero regulation or government oversight, is dead because it does not produce good results for most people. Capitalism's apologists insist that letting entrepreneurs work for personal gain is good for the economy because they will build capital in the form of money for themselves and that they will use that capital to invest in new businesses. From the new businesses will come jobs and economic growth. That idea is wrong ...because the individuals who accumulate the wealth have little or no necessary incentive to risk it on new businesses. They are just as likely to buy a yacht and an Italian villa as they are to invest in a new business. fyi-janet Mike P. McKeever is an author, teacher and financial manager who posts regularly to the toes [the other economic summit] list. ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: "toeslist@yahoogroups.com" Copies to: corp-ethics@yahoogroups.com From: mpmckeever@earthlink.net Date sent: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:26:44 -0700 (GMT-07:00) Subject: [toeslist] Capitalism is Dead What happened? The short answer is that the mortgage packagers lied to the buyers. The folks who created the bonds mixed good loans with bad loans and then lied about it. It's a rookie mistake: NEVER lie to money. Now the money - bond buyers - is frightened. They will likely stay frightened for some time. They'll stay away longer if there is no bailout. They will come back eventually, but they will be very leery of new bonds. The solution is to provide very detailed disclosure and expect mistrust. After all, when you lie to a nervous buyer, it takes a long time to rebuild trust. It'll happen, so have patience. Why did they lie to money?: because no one told them they could not. There was no regulation - no cop on the beat - , so they got away with it. But what are the long term effects? Basic long term effect is that free market capitalism with no oversight and ineffective regulation has once again proved to be a disaster. It is predictable and avoidable. So, why do we have to re-learn that lesson again and again?? The Great Depression, the Dot.com bust, Enron, etc., etc. We have to re-learn it simply because there is too much money to be made privately by acting greedily. The money goes to buy loose regulations from Congress. Congress took down the firewall between banks and investments we had built after the 1930's depression. We took them down in the 1970's and promptly got the S&L meltdown and bailout and now the mortgage meltdown and eventual bailout. Will we learn the lesson this time? Who knows? It's a crapshoot. One thing is for sure. Capitalism is dead. The capitalism that insists on a laissez faire, laissez passer, i.e., zero regulation or government oversight, is dead because it does not produce good results for most people. The United States founding fathers broke from England to secure both liberty and property. The current debacle has destroyed property for many of our citizens. This happened because businesses insisted on the liberty to pursue their selfish gains regardless of the cost to the country. The world declared that communism and socialism were dead upon the demise of the Soviet Union. The declaration was made because the system failed to provide a good life for its subjects. Free market capitalism is dead for the same reason - it has failed to provide a good life for most of its citizens. Many in the United States believe that our citizens have one of the highest standards of living in the world. This is not true by most objective measures. Capitalism's apologists insist that letting entrepreneurs work for personal gain is good for the economy because they will build capital in the form of money for themselves and that they will use that capital to invest in new businesses. From the new businesses will come jobs and economic growth. That idea is wrong. It is wrong because the individuals who accumulate the wealth have little or no necessary incentive to risk it on new businesses. They are just as likely to buy a yacht and an Italian villa as they are to invest in a new business. There are people who make such investments, but allowing their ranks to grow in the hopes of creating more new businesses just does not work. Today, the world had too much capital. Capital markets are worldwide and operate on a 24/7/365 basis thanks to the internet. There is so much capital around that its owners have a hard time placing it in secure investments. At the same time, just about every sound business idea is able to receive funding. In addition, investors spend much of their time on financial or non-productive investments. Thus we have the derivatives that brought the financial system to the brink of collapse. This is happening at the very time when more and more people around the world are sliding into poverty, despair and violence. Copyright, 2008 by Mike P. McKeever, Santa Rosa, CA. This text can be posted in any electronic forum. For publication in printed form please request permission from the author: email: mpmckeever@earthlink.net. . __,_._,___ ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 4142 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/627ef59f/--0003.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 15997 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/627ef59f/--0004.obj -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/627ef59f/--0005.obj From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 30 07:23:35 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 30 07:23:46 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Some political ideas for responding to the ransom demand Message-ID: <20080930122335.011E3F871@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> ABC and SBS giae us wall to wall talking heads tonight lamenting that the US Congress gave in to popular anger over the breathtaking corporate ransom demand and the complicity of the leading politicians across the board. Nothing (SBS) and nearly nothing (ABC) on the views of the massive majority who are split only between "no" and "hell,no". Any Grand Economic Plan is a crock unless it includes measures like the following (each measure able to stand alone and each to be pressed only if the public an be persuaded to warm to it): * Junk NAFTA and WTO and erect as many barriers to trade as are needed to restore sovereignty of the people over wages and conditions (in the current case, the people of America but applicable to every country) * Require all foreign investment in the USA to be transferred to US nationals at market rates, and establish strict controls on any further foreign investment (a Foreign Investment Review Board whose default position is "NO"). * Legislate federally to declare all foreclosures void and all mortgage payments frozen until each is investigated and declared free of crookery. Strip bailiffs of power to evict. Huge prison sentences for anyone at all who tries to evict anyone without first winning a civil case before a jury (no lawyers). * Nationalise the Fed and all other supervisory authorities and place them under the authority of the people. * Not one penny for Wall Street - instead, legislation to force CEOs to empty their onshore and offshore bank accounts and transfer the proceeds to the servicing of "toxic debt" * Deregister all banks that are so dishonest they can't be trusted by one another, and confiscate their assets without compensation. * Immediately institute universal health care that is effective enough to ensure that illness doesn't cause mortgage default. Crash plan first, iron out glitches later. * Abandon the imperial project (PNAC), shred the military colossus, walk out of occupied territory and restore the American republic * Impeach Bush and his henchmen. Similar measures in other countries to reverse the damage done by signing on to neoliberalism in the first place. Gamal Abdul Nasser had by and large the right approach (e.g. see http://i-cias.com/e.o/nasser.htm) but not enough guns to make it stick. America on the other hand is well capable of making it stick. Unlike the British and French in 1956, no thwarted foreign owners could do squat. Impractical? Only if one defines unacceptable to Mr Greed as "impractical". Dion Giles Western Australia E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.385) Database version: 5.10800 http://www.pctools.com/uk/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/22ac1d63/attachment.html From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Sep 30 07:24:55 2008 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue Sep 30 07:25:28 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Re Bailout Michael Moore - Congratulations, Corporate Crime Fighters! Coup Averted Message-ID: <48E1F067.32264.5680CC5@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> So the ball is in the Democrats' hands. The gun from Wall Street remains at their head. Before they make their next move, let me tell you what the media kept silent about while this bill was being debated: 1. The bailout bill had NO enforcement provisions for the so-called oversight group that was going to monitor Wall Street's spending of the $700 billion; 2. It had NO penalties, fines or imprisonment for any executive who might steal any of the people's money; 3. It did NOTHING to force banks and lenders to rewrite people's mortgages to avoid foreclosures -- this bill would not have stopped ONE foreclosure!; 4. It had NO teeth anywhere in the entire piece of legislation, using words like "suggested" when referring to the government being paid back for the bailout; 5. Over 200 economists wrote to Congress and said this bill might actually WORSEN the "financial crisis" and cause even MORE of a meltdown. fyi-janet ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Michael Moore" To: jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca Date sent: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:44:09 -0400 Send reply to: maillist@michaelmoore.com Friends, Everyone said the bill would pass. The masters of the universe were already making celebratory dinner reservations at Manhattan's finest restaurants. Personal shoppers in Dallas and Atlanta were dispatched to do the early Christmas gifting. Mad Men of Chicago and Miami were popping corks and toasting each other long before the morning latte run. But what they didn't know was that hundreds of thousands of Americans woke up yesterday morning and decided it was time for revolt. The politicians never saw it coming. Millions of phone calls and emails hit Congress so hard it was as if Marshall Dillon, Elliot Ness and Dog the Bounty Hunter had descended on D.C. to stop the looting and arrest the thieves. The Corporate Crime of the Century was halted by a vote of 228 to 205. It was rare and historic; no one could remember a time when a bill supported by the president and the leadership of both parties went down in defeat. That just never happens. A lot of people are wondering why the right wing of the Republican Party joined with the left wing of the Democratic Party in voting down the thievery. Forty percent of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans voted against the bill. Here's what happened: The presidential race may still be close in the polls, but the Congressional races are pointing toward a landslide for the Democrats. Few dispute the prediction that the Republicans are in for a whoopin' on November 4th. Up to 30 Republican House seats could be lost in what would be a stunning repudiation of their agenda. The Republican reps are so scared of losing their seats, when this "financial crisis" reared its head two weeks ago, they realized they had just been handed their one and only chance to separate themselves from Bush before the election, while doing something that would make them look like they were on the side of "the people." Watching C-Span yesterday morning was one of the best comedy shows I'd seen in ages. There they were, one Republican after another who had backed the war and sunk the country into record debt, who had voted to kill every regulation that would have kept Wall Street in check -- there they were, now crying foul and standing up for the little guy! One after another, they stood at the microphone on the House floor and threw Bush under the bus, under the train (even though they had voted to kill off our nation's trains, too), heck, they would've thrown him under the rising waters of the Lower Ninth Ward if they could've conjured up another hurricane. You know how your dog acts when sprayed by a skunk? He howls and runs around trying to shake it off, rubbing and rolling himself on every piece of your carpet, trying to get rid of the stench. That's what it looked like on the Republican side of the aisle yesterday, and it was a sight to behold. The 95 brave Dems who broke with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were the real heroes, just like those few who stood up and voted against the war in October of 2002. Watch the remarks from yesterday of Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Dennis Kucinich. They spoke the truth. The Dems who voted for the giveaway did so mostly because they were scared by the threats of Wall Street, that if the rich didn't get their handout, the market would go nuts and then it's bye-bye stock- based pension and retirement funds. And guess what? That's exactly what Wall Street did! The largest, single-day drop in the Dow in the history of the New York Stock exchange. The news anchors last night screamed it out: Americans just lost 1.2 trillion dollars in the stock market!! It's a financial Pearl Harbor! The sky is falling! Bird flu! Killer Bees! Of course, sane people know that nobody "lost" anything yesterday, that stocks go up and down and this too shall pass because the rich will now buy low, hold, then sell off, then buy low again. But for now, Wall Street and its propaganda arm (the networks and media it owns) will continue to try and scare the bejesus out of you. It will be harder to get a loan. Some people will lose their jobs. A weak nation of wimps won't last long under this torture. Or will we? Is this our line in the sand? Here's my guess: The Democratic leadership in the House secretly hoped all along that this lousy bill would go down. With Bush's proposals shredded, the Dems knew they could then write their own bill that favors the average American, not the upper 10% who were hoping for another kegger of gold. So the ball is in the Democrats' hands. The gun from Wall Street remains at their head. Before they make their next move, let me tell you what the media kept silent about while this bill was being debated: 1. The bailout bill had NO enforcement provisions for the so-called oversight group that was going to monitor Wall Street's spending of the $700 billion; 2. It had NO penalties, fines or imprisonment for any executive who might steal any of the people's money; 3. It did NOTHING to force banks and lenders to rewrite people's mortgages to avoid foreclosures -- this bill would not have stopped ONE foreclosure!; 4. It had NO teeth anywhere in the entire piece of legislation, using words like "suggested" when referring to the government being paid back for the bailout; 5. Over 200 economists wrote to Congress and said this bill might actually WORSEN the "financial crisis" and cause even MORE of a meltdown. Put a fork in this slab of pork. It's over. Now it is time for our side to state very clearly the laws WE want passed. I will send you my proposals later today. We've bought ourselves less than 72 hours. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com Join Mike's Mailing List | Join Mike's Facebook Group | Become Mike's MySpace Friend ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 167 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" Url : http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/9457aa5f/--0002.obj From oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au Tue Sep 30 09:50:37 2008 From: oscarptyltd at ozemail.com.au (Clem Clarke) Date: Tue Sep 30 09:50:47 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] The Financial Crash - some thoughts and reasons why - A talk to the Theosophical Society Sep 23, 2008 In-Reply-To: <623C1011E8B746B687DDBE5D51EAA4EE@Murray2PC> References: <623C1011E8B746B687DDBE5D51EAA4EE@Murray2PC> Message-ID: <48E23CBD.6060106@ozemail.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/11b70653/attachment.html From duanebehrens at cox.net Tue Sep 30 10:33:27 2008 From: duanebehrens at cox.net (Duane Behrens) Date: Tue Sep 30 10:33:36 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Auntie Karen on the Bailout Message-ID: <20080930113327.2K77L.411306.imail@fed1rmwml37> Public Radio has shills shrieking about the End of the World if we don't immediately hand the billions over to the greedheads as demanded. One of the posters on DU said, "Take away their golden parachutes and give them cement shoes." I mean, it was absurd on its face from the beginning -- A bank collapses, and Paulson says "It's okay, it's contained." Another bank collapses, and Paulson says, "It's okay, it's contained." Another bank collapses and Paulson says, "Give me 700 billion dollars, no strings attached, no oversight, no action possible from any of the courts, and it will be contained." And I guess he thought we really are that stupid. We are to have private enterprise and free-market economy rules for Wall Street's profits but we are to have flat-out socialism for Wall Street's losses (the result of their own greed and stupidity)? Not this week, we aren't. I realized how scared the Rethugs are running when I saw the listings of who voted Yea and Nay -- my Rep, Steve King, is a narrow-minded xenophobe who never met a Cheney-Bushista outrage he didn't like -- and even this shitepoke voted No! I bet Shrublet will already be in Paraguay before the last days of his term are over. Auntie Karen From papadop at peak.org Tue Sep 30 12:29:51 2008 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Tue Sep 30 12:57:01 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Danny Schecter - Imaginary communications? Message-ID: http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2008/09/30/the-plunder-papers-washington-insiders-go-postal-on-house-vote-freedom-of-information-requests-allegedly-tell-story/ THE PLUNDER PAPERS: Washington Insiders Go Postal On House Vote; Freedom Of Information Requests Allegedly Tell Story -- What They Said To Each Other As Markets Melted By Danny Schechter. What They Said To Each Other As Markets Melted New York, New York: While the world watched in disbelief as the House rejected the Government's bailout, The Dissector Institute of Plunderology was sent alleged, unverified, but seemingly accurate Freedom of Information documents monitored by sources in Homeland Security on what purports to be the secret communications between key players in Washington. Tweet, Tweet Twitter on Vote: George Bush to Robert Gates: "Code Red xyxjxkokk9...Democracy Out of Control...When do Troops get Here? This Sucker Could Go Down." Text: Barney To Nancy: "Told You To Hang Tough on Bankruptcy..." Text Reply: Nancy to Barney: "You Are FOS? Go To Your Schul." Call: Paulson To Ben Bernanke: "Back To The Drawing Boards!" Voice Mail: Ben Bernanke to Alan Greenspan: "What Do I Do Now?" Greenspan reply: "Restore Confidence. Read My Book." Fax: Gingrich to Paulson: "Time To Go." Voice Mail: Cheney to W: "I told you, Declare State of Emergency." Palin to McCain: "Call Not Answered." Voice Mail: McCain Calls Bush: "You Wanted to Help Me?" Text: Obama To Biden: "Oh Shit, Why Did I support it?" Biden Replies: "I will blame Palin. She could have stopped the Revolt." Statement By Treasury Official On Why Bailout was for $700 Billion: "It's not based on any particular data point, We just wanted to choose a really large number." Email: Jim Cramer to Dr. Melfi: "They rejected my advice. Can't get out of bed. Please double my medication." Memo: Staff to Stephen Colbert: "Some Words For THE WORD: Disgust, Fear, Anxiety Worry, Panic, Shana Tova." Rep John Boehmer, House Republican Leader to Press About His Members Voting No: "You Can't Break Their Arms." Nancy To Press: "What Happened Today Cannot Stand." Greg Walden (R-Oregon) to press: "This is Like Playing With Fire." Call: McCain to Bernanke and Paulson: "Now Is Not The Time To Fix Blame." Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution to Press: "I don't think this was a failure of leadership so much as a failure of Followship." Barney Frank to Press: "Republicans Were Punishing The Country Because A Pelosi Speech Hurt their Feelings." Bob Herbert to NY Times Readers: "Now We Are Looking At the Abyss." Letter From Michael Moore: "Everyone said the bill would pass. The masters of the universe were already making celebratory dinner reservations at Manhattan's finest restaurants. Personal shoppers in Dallas and Atlanta were dispatched to do the early Christmas gifting. Mad Men of Chicago and Miami were popping corks and toasting each other long before the morning latte run... no one could remember a time when a bill supported by the president and the leadership of both parties went down in defeat. That just never happens." Competitive Institute Release: "Oh Happy Day." Comments in Harper's Org: "'I didn't see any sign,' said Representative Barney Frank, `of our Republican colleagues paying any attention to him whatsoever.' `All he has done,' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of McCain, `is stand in front of the cameras.' `He was my dear,' said former Brazilian beauty queen Maria Garcinda Teixeira de Jesus, 77, who had a tryst with McCain in 1957, `and my coconut dessert.'" - News Dissector Danny Schechter is still analyzing/inventing insider documents but wanted to share the first batch. His new book PLUNDER (newsdissector.com/Plunder) assesses the origins of the crisis without tongue in cheek. Other documents welcome. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org From jomut at yahoo.com Tue Sep 30 14:37:37 2008 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Tue Sep 30 14:37:41 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Some political ideas for responding to the ransom demand In-Reply-To: <20080930122335.011E3F871@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Message-ID: <456605.62831.qm@web31102.mail.mud.yahoo.com> John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut@yahoo.com chakane@hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut ? Hi, ? Very well said and also very incisive. Somewhow or the other, though, I , when I think of the therapeutic exigencies that you have spelled out, am put in mind of the monumental act of almost mindless,?national, self flagellation that was the reelection of George Dubious in 2004.? I know that the margin of victory was very narrow, yet I find it difficult to rid myself of?the haunting thought that the same contingent of voters that voted him back?in might harbour the curious sentiment that the very people (politico-economic elite -- hardnosed realistic man of affairs, so the sentiment prevails)?that have led?both the US and the remainder of the world?to the edge of the?precipice of economic disaster are the only people available to nurse the wobbly economy back to the straight and narrow. They are the only qualified ones around, so the sentiment might run! ? Such a?thought might come?across as overly pessimistic, but it gibes with the sentiment that we may have a long way to go to shake off the?cobwebs (faithful?companions of a creeping mass society)?of alienating apathy that?increasingly become?fixtures of political?behaviour. ? Greider is of the opinion that perhaps something designed along the lines of a truth-and-reconciliation commission is also needed so that we might witness something approaching acts of contrition by the elite about the perveseness of both?its?economic behavior and?its destructive beliefs and attitudes.? This, according to Greider, might provide the average Joe with a better view and appreciation of how the economy and society itself would be better managed in future. ? Dunno that the army of well remunerated PR hacks who shoved the current "economic philosophy" down the wide and indiscriminate throats?of starry-eyed believers would follow suit! ? Well, anything for a buck! ? John. =========================== --- On Tue, 9/30/08, Dion Giles wrote: From: Dion Giles Subject: [Mai-not] Some political ideas for responding to the ransom demand To: mai-not@globalproblematique.net Cc: "Glenn Hefter" , alldems@yahoogroups.com, ERANet@yahoogroups.com, "Alan Beasley" Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 12:23 PM ABC and SBS giae us wall to wall talking heads tonight lamenting that the US Congress gave in to popular anger over the breathtaking corporate ransom demand and the complicity of the leading politicians across the board. Nothing (SBS) and nearly nothing (ABC) on the views of the massive majority who are split only between "no" and "hell,no". Any Grand Economic Plan is a crock unless it includes measures like the following (each measure able to stand alone and each to be pressed only if the public an be persuaded to warm to it): Junk NAFTA and WTO and erect as many barriers to trade as are needed to restore sovereignty of the people over wages and conditions (in the current case, the people of America but applicable to every country) Require all foreign investment in the USA to be transferred to US nationals at market rates, and establish strict controls on any further foreign investment (a Foreign Investment Review Board whose default position is "NO"). Legislate federally to declare all foreclosures void and all mortgage payments frozen until each is investigated and declared free of crookery. Strip bailiffs of power to evict. Huge prison sentences for anyone at all who tries to evict anyone without first winning a civil case before a jury (no lawyers). Nationalise the Fed and all other supervisory authorities and place them under the authority of the people. Not one penny for Wall Street - instead, legislation to force CEOs to empty their onshore and offshore bank accounts and transfer the proceeds to the servicing of "toxic debt" Deregister all banks that are so dishonest they can't be trusted by one another, and confiscate their assets without compensation. Immediately institute universal health care that is effective enough to ensure that illness doesn't cause mortgage default.? Crash plan first, iron out glitches later. Abandon the imperial project (PNAC), shred the military colossus, walk out of occupied territory and restore the American republic Impeach Bush and his henchmen. Similar measures in other countries to reverse the damage done by signing on to neoliberalism in the first place. Gamal Abdul Nasser had by and large the right approach (e.g. see http://i-cias.com/e.o/nasser.htm) but not enough guns to make it stick.? America on the other hand is well capable of making it stick.? Unlike the British and French in 1956,? no thwarted foreign owners could do squat. Impractical?? Only if one defines unacceptable to Mr Greed as "impractical". Dion Giles Western Australia E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.385) Database version: 5.10800 http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not@globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20080930/f960e164/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 30 16:44:13 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 30 16:44:23 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Some political ideas for responding to the ransom demand (re-posted) Message-ID: <20080930214414.E22A911021@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> [This one seems to have been Al-Jazeera-ed last night. Here it is again] ABC and SBS gave us wall to wall talking heads tonight lamenting that the US Congress gave in to popular anger over the breathtaking corporate ransom demand and the complicity of the leading politicians across the board. Nothing (SBS) and nearly nothing (ABC) on the views of the massive majority who are split only between "no" and "hell,no". Any Grand Economic Plan is a crock unless it includes measures like the following (each measure able to stand alone and each to be pressed only if the public an be persuaded to warm to it): * Junk NAFTA and WTO and erect as many barriers to trade as are needed to restore sovereignty of the people over wages and conditions (in the current case, the people of America but applicable to every country) * Require all foreign investment in the USA to be transferred to US nationals at market rates, and establish strict controls on any further foreign investment (a Foreign Investment Review Board whose default position is "NO"). * Legislate federally to declare all foreclosures void and all mortgage payments frozen until each is investigated and declared free of crookery. Strip bailiffs of power to evict. Huge prison sentences for anyone at all who tries to evict anyone without first winning a civil case before a jury (no lawyers). * Nationalise the Fed and all other supervisory authorities and place them under the authority of the people. * Not one penny for Wall Street - instead, legislation to force CEOs to empty their onshore and offshore bank accounts and transfer the proceeds to the servicing of "toxic debt" * Deregister all banks that are so dishonest they can't be trusted by one another, and confiscate their assets without compensation. * Immediately institute universal health care that is effective enough to ensure that illness doesn't cause mortgage default. Crash plan first, iron out glitches later. * Abandon the imperial project (PNAC), shred the military colossus, walk out of occupied territory and restore the American republic * Impeach Bush and his henchmen. Similar measures in other countries to reverse the damage done by signing on to neoliberalism in the first place. Gamal Abdul Nasser had by and large the right approach (e.g. see http://i-cias.com/e.o/nasser.htm) but not enough guns to make it stick. America on the other hand is well capable of making it stick. Unlike the British and French in 1956, no thwarted foreign owners could do squat. Impractical? Only if one defines unacceptable to Mr Greed as "impractical". Dion Giles Western Australia E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.385) Database version: 5.10800 http://www.pctools.com/uk/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20081001/91b8133f/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 30 17:23:21 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 30 17:23:28 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Who wrote Howard and Harper's song sheet? Message-ID: <20080930222322.0FE33F72B@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> Seems that Canada's Harper and Australia's Howard sang exactly the same song in support of the war crime in Iraq (as the Reverend Kevin Rudd parroted the same WMD lies). So who wrote it? In Australia this is ground to nail all the traitors in the Liberal Party Opposition (starting with Downer and moving on to embrace every collaborator who voted in Parliament to join the US crusade). Even more urgent in Canada as the traitors are in government. Here is the Agence France Presse item which was republished by Yahoo: Canada's PM accused of plagiarizing Australia's Howard http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080930/wl_canada_afp/canadavoteaustraliairaqspeech Tue Sep 30, Canada's prime minister was accused Tuesday amid an election campaign of plagiarizing Australia's then-prime minister John Howard in a March 2003 speech in support of the US war on Iraq. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Howard and US President George W. Bush were said to be ideologically akin, and close allies in Bush's "war on terror." Liberal MP Bob Rae suggested the speech was "more evidence" of Harper's foreign policies being in "lock-step with the right-wing foreign policy of the Bush administration." For that and for plagiarism, "Harper has to go," said Liberal leader Stephane Dion. Conservative Party spokesman Dan Dugas countered that the "five-year-old speech" was no longer relevant. "This Conservative government is focused on the economy and the stewardship of the country's finances, ... which is what mostly concerns voters now," he told AFP. Harper, then in opposition, delivered in parliament on March 20, 2003, the very day US forces began bombing Baghdad, an almost "verbatim copy" of a speech by Australia's Howard two days earlier, said the Liberals. "How does a leader in Canada's parliament, on such a crucial issue, end up giving almost the exact same speech as any another country's leader, let alone a leader who was a key member of George W. Bush's coalition of the willing?" said Rae. "Liberals have been arguing for over two years that Canada is losing its independent voice in foreign affairs under Mr. Harper," he said. "We just had no idea that Mr. Harper was prepared to borrow the drafting of the actual words he would use from another country." Rae said a new Liberal administration would reverse this direction to ensure "that Canada again speaks with its own voice on the world stage." Canadians have not been surveyed on the Iraq war of late, but are generally said to dislike Bush and remain divided on Canada's deployment of 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan. In 2003, Canada's then Liberal government refused Bush's request to support its Iraq invasion, but supported the US incursion in Afghanistan. Most Canadians were fiercely opposed to the Iraq invasion at the time. Copyright ? 2008 Agence France Presse Dion Giles Western Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.globalproblematique.net/pipermail/mai-not/attachments/20081001/6fc0c567/attachment.html From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Sep 30 17:30:07 2008 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Tue Sep 30 17:30:11 2008 Subject: [Mai-not] Danny Schecter - Imaginary communications? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20080930223008.AE806F833@fep07.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> >"I don't think this was a failure of leadership so much as a failure >of Followship." Beautiful! Exactly what the political class and the economics wonks and the bought pundits are saying every minute of every day. Dion Giles Western Australia