Enemy Congress

Written by Becky Akers

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 11:30

As America travels the well-worn and brutal path earlier empires paved, it increasingly disdains the pretense of ruling “of, by and for the people.” And so the führer in the White House threatens to ram his impractical and deeply offensive plans for nationalizing medical insurance down our throats, regardless of how loudly we shriek “No!” Meanwhile, Congress prepares to imprison indefinitely any “enemy belligerents” who object to the government’s whims. You might suppose that dictators controlling almost 309,000,000 subjects would be too busy to fuss with legal niceties. But no. A preoccupation with legislative permission characterizes tyrannies, perhaps because it protects those responsible from prosecution should justice resurrect one day.

The Nazis are notorious for legalizing their plunder, kidnapping en masse, and murder. No wonder, then, that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and nine co-sponsors have introduced legislation they might have cribbed from the Third Reich. “S.3081: Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” supposedly “provide[s] for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States” — and, as the bill’s text repeatedly adds, its “coalition partners.” Note that a new and ungrammatical cluster of nouns, “enemy belligerents,” has not only replaced but enlarged the numbers of the old, equally ungrammatical “enemy combatants” — and yes, combining this with the Feds’ penchant for smearing even their mildest critics as terrorists means they have us firmly in their sights. Note further that the bill’s “persons” and “individuals” now specifically includes citizens of the US [Sec. 5], and that the US military, known to have tortured Iraqis, Afghanis, and others, may “detain” and “interrogate” these victims indefinitely.

Hard to say which is more monstrous: McCain’s stupidity or his evil. He’s so proud of this abomination that he’s posted his “Statement” introducing it to the Senate on his website: “This legislation seeks to ensure that the mistakes made during the apprehension of the Christmas Day bomber, such as reading him a Miranda warning, will never happen again and put Americans’ security at risk,” he says, apparently oblivious to the irony that empowering governments to destroy God-given, inalienable rights is precisely what puts Americans’ security at greatest risk.

No doubt unwittingly, McCain reveals the specious logic with which his legislation overturns the Constitution: “This bill would require unprivileged enemy belligerents suspected of engaging in hostilities against the U.S. to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a ‘high value detainee’ interagency team established by the President.” With a succinct 38 words, in which no less than 5 nouns are once again contorted into adjectives, McCain eviscerates the ancient right of habeas corpus, the presumption of innocence, and the right to an open trial. In place of the last, he substitutes judgment at the hands of appointed and very biased bureaucrats. If “experts” determine that you are “an unprivileged enemy belligerent” and if “the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency” agree, well, you are clearly and indeed a very bad guy. Of course, no one has ever accused bureaucrats of devotion to either the truth or accuracy. Nor are they known for thinking outside the box and challenging their fellows, especially when everyone else’s head is already nodding.

The mere notion of “unprivileged suspects” stinks as much as the Bushy cesspool from which it originated. This claptrap, which has “been frequently used at least since the beginning of the last century in legal literature, military manuals and case law,” creates pariahs who allegedly lie outside the Constitution’s protection. But that document’s whole purpose was to bind down rulers from mischief, as Jefferson put it. Ergo, its strictures hamstring them without reference to their victims; the identity, nationality, or standing of those people on whom the government preys is irrelevant. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” regardless of location: it may establish no religion either here or in Timbuktu. Nor may it abridge the freedom of the press, any press, whether America’s, Malaysia’s, or Zimbabwe’s. There are no “unprivileged” folks anywhere because the Federal government may not, period. It may not act except in a few instances and as the Constitution allows it, regardless of the recipients of those actions. The neoconservative nonsense that the Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particular apply only to U.S. citizens is as silly as it is pernicious.

McCain’s brainchild may be heinous, but it isn’t surprising. Anyone who reads history and understands government could have predicted it as the next step in our rulers’ war on the Constitution, a.k.a., the War on Terror. As usual, said Warriors began by demonizing their victims, in this case “terrorists”; once Americans feared and hated the demons, the Warriors chipped away at the “terrorists’” Constitutional rights. Serfs cheered and thanked Leviathan for saving them. Like children distracted by the lollypop the doctor offers, they never expected the needle aimed at terrorists to stab them.

But governments seldom care about tyrannizing the few foreigners who fall into their hands; rather, it’s their own citizens they lust to command. The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” furthers that plot, stripping rights from Americans whom bureaucrats accuse of terrorism. When fools cheer this as well, when they docilely watch as the FBI indefinitely detains their neighbors for the CIA to torture, rulers will smile and nod. Their next bill won’t bother mentioning “terrorists,” even as a pretext. Citizens, especially but not only those who dissent, will be its sole target. And there will be far more things from which to dissent — forced relocation and labor, perhaps even medical experimentation to rival Dr. Mengele’s, if Obamacare passes.

“I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to improve this process to obtain better, more uniform results,” McCain threatens. “…[M]y efforts will not stop until we have addressed all the detainee issues in a comprehensive fashion.”For once, I believe him.

This article was originally published at The New American.

Becky Akers, an expert on the American Revolution, writes frequently about issues related to security and privacy. Her articles and columns have been published by Lewrockwell.com, The Freeman, Military History Magazine, American History Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Post, and other publications.

Source:http://jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/6111-enemy-congress

Gee, how do you like the rape job that the banks just served up on you?

Posted by Karl Denninger

Read that white part carefully, and then make sure you read the inverted part.

If you:

- Exceed your credit line.

- Do not pay on time (even once)

- The bank believes you will be either unwilling or unable to pay because of "information they receive" (like, for instance, because your credit report discloses you didn't pay someone else?)

The bank can immediately close your account without notice AND DEMAND YOU PAY THE ENTIRE BALANCE ON THE ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY.

Oh, and when you can't (because you thought you had time to pay) you are then in default again for not paying "on time" and they can sue and add attorneys fees and costs.
I thought this crap was going away?

This, by the way, is from Chase, I have the entire section of the statement (all pages), and is claimed to be effective on 22 February.

So much for the CARD act banning practices like this, eh?

This is effectively a "CALL" option on your credit card. This "feature" is why when I ran MCSNet I refused to ever accept a bank credit line for any purpose whatsoever for the company - they all had this sort of tricky crap in them somewhere. Every one. In each and every case such a clause gives the bank the right to force you into bankruptcy if you ever actually use the credit for anything other than as a cash-management tool (that is, as a means to pay for something over time), as they can declare the line in default any time they'd like and accelerate repayment, demanding the full balance. You either have it (in which case you didn't really need the credit, right?) or you're bankrupt - at their sole discretion.

TELL THE BANKSTERS TO SHOVE THIS CRAP UP THEIR BUTTS - WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY AND REMOVE YOUR BUSINESS FROM ANY LENDER WHO HAS SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THEIR AGREEMENTS - ALL OF IT.

I warned people a year ago to get out of debt, especially revolving debt or any other sort of credit where the terms could be changed on you, in my "Ten Things" Ticker of June 8th of 2009.

This sort of trick is why.

Source:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

The Looming Dollar Disaster

The Fed faces a choice: suffocate the economy or destroy the dollar. Foreign lenders head for the door.

Robert Morley. Columnist

Most Americans have no idea what is happening to the economy. Many people think America is emerging from a vicious little recession, and will soon be back on the road to prosperity. America always has, so it always will, is the common reasoning.

Yet this time, things may turn out very different.

On January 8, cnbc reported that the U.S. Federal Reserve purchased an unprecedented 80 percent of all U.S. treasury securities issued in 2009.

This is earth-shaking, game-changing news with possibly lethal repercussions. Here is why.

During 2009, the federal government ran a $1.4 trillion deficit—the largest deficit in the history of both America and the world. It was over three times the size of the previous year’s record-breaking deficit. And if the government has its way, 2010’s deficit may be even greater.

Since Americans save so little money, foreigners have come to provide almost all of the federal government’s borrowing needs in recent years. They accomplish this by purchasing U.S. treasury bonds. This was something foreign nations were happy to do since they earned interest on their money. Plus, big-spending Americans tended to spend the borrowed money purchasing foreign-made goods, so a good proportion of the money cycled right back to them.

Not wanting to give up their standard of living, Americans too willingly went further into debt, even as American industry and other wealth-producing sectors of the economy were being shut down and shipped overseas.

For example: From 2006 through November 2009, Beijing lent $527 billion to America through treasury purchases alone. Hong Kong lent an additional $100 billion. Other countries like Japan lent hundreds of billions more. Then there was the hundreds of billions of dollars they lent to government-sponsored entities like mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

During this time, American industry was being hammered. Jobs were being outsourced and offshored by the millions to places like China and India. In 2004, the Boston-based consultancy Forrester estimated that a relentless 15,000 jobs per month were moving out of America. Forrester predicts that America will see another 3.3 million jobs offshored over the coming 15 years.

But now it is as if the foreign nations see the writing on the wall. They are beginning to realize that America is addicted to debt and that their loans might never get repaid.

Now, all of a sudden America’s most important source of lending is drying up.

For five months in a row, not only has China stopped lending money to the federal government, it has actually sold some of its treasuries. Is China trying to quietly get out as much of its money as possible while it can? Even oil-exporting nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Venezuela have been net sellers of treasuries since March. Thus, two of America’s four most important foreign creditors are awol. And Japan, one of America’s other most important creditors, has massively curtailed its lending to America.

All things being equal, this exodus of foreign money would have caused massive credit contraction capable of smothering America—interest rates skyrocketing into the double digits, zombified Wall Street banks with broken business models, small businesses unable to roll over their debts, a housing market in a renewed free fall, soaring consumer bankruptcies, and unemployment far worse than the Great Depression.

But so far, this has not happened. Why? Faced with the above list of catastrophes, the Federal Reserve decided to risk the biggest catastrophe of them all in a forlorn attempt to avoid the inevitable financial reckoning.

To save the economy, the Federal Reserve would risk sacrificing the dollar.

The Federal Reserve began doing the one practice anathema to all fiat-currency-based economic systems: It began creating money by divine right. With foreigners unwilling or unable to provide the money the U.S. government needed to pay the bills, the Federal Reserve simply created more dollars from nothing by adding additional bookkeeping entries to its logs.

Remember that $1.4 trillion deficit that America ran this last year? Eighty percent of that—$1.12 trillion worth—was funny money. The U.S. government needed money, so the Fed simply turned on its digital printing presses and electronically sent over some 1s and 0s.

But the Fed didn’t just print up money to give to the government to spend. It also created close to $1 trillion to prop up asset prices in America. It printed up money to give to the big banks and to purchase toxic mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was theft and highway robbery on the grandest of scales because the Fed did nothing to earn this money—it simply said they had the money, and it was so. Consequently, all other money in circulation became worth less. The Fed now has over $2 trillion worth of assets on its balance sheet. This is mostly money that the Fed willed into existence over the past year.

No wonder foreigners are beginning to flee the dollar. The Fed is doing what every failed fiat currency system in the history of paper money has done. When push comes to shove, the temptations of the printing press are too great. Governments always take the seemingly easy way out—simply printing up whatever money is needed, and with disastrous results that always end the same way.

Once you start down the money-printing road, it is almost impossible to turn back. The history of money printing says the dollar is doomed. It is a lesson of history that the Fed has failed to learn.

Maybe that is why the Chinese have dumped their Fannie and Freddie investments. During 2009, they took the Fed’s newly created money and ran, while the dollars still had some value remaining.

America’s foreign financial partners are beginning to abandon it. And for good reason. The dollar has lost almost a third of its value over the past decade.

But did you know that this exact scenario in which America finds itself was prophesied thousands of years ago?

Speaking of the modern nations descended from ancient Israel, of which America is currently the most geopolitically prominent, the Prophet Jeremiah warned that a time would come when America’s trade partners would abandon it despite America’s best attempts to pretty itself up and make itself look good. “And when you are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you will make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life” (Jeremiah 4:30; New King James Version).

America has two choices. Raise interest rates to try and attract its economic lovers back to lend more money (which means that America’s debt payments would mushroom, potentially derailing the economy), or continue to destroy the dollar to pay off the bills. Neither option is a good one. Expect America’s foreign lovers to continue voting with their feet—as they head out the door.

Source:
http://www.thetrumpet.com/print.php?q=6933.5451.0.0

How to invest for a global-debt-bomb explosion

Prepare for an apocalyptic anarchy ending Wall Street's toxic capitalism

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch


ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Wake up investors. Are you prepared for the economic anarchy coming after a global-debt time bomb explodes? Are you thinking outside the box? Investing differently? Act now -- tomorrow will be too late.

Start by looking past the endless cable skirmishes between Rush, Glenn, Bill and Shawn versus Harry, Nancy, Ben and Barack. Look way past the insurgency bonding Sarah and her diehard Tea Party revolutionaries with Ron Paul's Neo-Reaganite ideologues, Fat-Cat Bankers and the Party of No, all planning a massive frontal assault on the 2010 elections, hell-bent on destroying the presidency. All that's the sideshow.


The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."


After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.

Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?


America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge. Investors tell me they "feel" it at a deep level, "know" it's happening. They keep asking: "What's the best investment strategy to prepare now?"

This is no joke, folks. Are you prepared? Or preparing? Will your family survive in a post-apocalyptic world, when anarchy is rampant in America? Look at Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America today. You know it's already begun.

You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and see a world in total disarray. Ignore it now, tomorrow will be too late.
Not a war about ideology, but an economic game-changer.

This is a war to control 299 million American taxpayers. A war waged by the "Happy Conspiracy" Jack Bogle profiled in his 2004 "Battle for the Soul of Capitalism," a war machine of Fat Cat Bankers, CEOs, 42,000 mercenary lobbyists and a Congress held hostage to unlimited campaign donations. Their conspiracy has been waging this war against Americans for decades, long before the Supreme Court exposed their dirty secret.

Yes, your enemy is that "Happy Conspiracy:" It has degraded into a pseudo-capitalism with no conscience, no sense of the public good, hell-bent on controlling America's mind, your money and the global markets for its own selfish ends. And eventually it will trigger the game-changing global-debt bomb, the third global meltdown of the century that finally ignites the Great Depression II, plunging us into an era of anarchy.

Investors keep asking: "If it is coming, how do I invest? Buy gold? Commodities? Hedge? Short trading? TIPS? Hoard cash? Buy and hold? Lazy Portfolios?" What if the Dow sinks below 5,000? Maybe the worst-case scenario recently predicted by Bob Prechter: A deeper plunge to the 1,000 range? Imagine a global depression, a bear market dragging on for decades: "How do I protect my family? Can I ever retire? What do I invest in? How can anyone prepare?"
How America's two classes are preparing for a descent into anarchy
As America descends into anarchy your family's survival and your ability to retire will depend on which of America's two economic classes you belong to out of our total of roughly 300 million citizens:


"Average Joe & Jane" Americans: You're one of 299 million Main Street Americans. Average income is $50,000, only 10% of the average bonuses paid to Wall Street's Fat-Cat Bankers. Or you're already one of America's 20% underemployed ... maybe on food stamps ... maybe among the 47 million with no medical insurance ... your retirement assets are about $50,000, a year's survival. And you are "mad-as-hell" you're not working "inside" the "Happy Conspiracy."

"Happy Conspiracy" Insiders: You're one of the lucky million or so elite Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy." You may work for a Fat-Cat Bank that American taxpayers bailed out last year so you pocketed a 2009 bonus gift of somewhere between $600,000 and $10 million. Maybe you're a Corporate American CEO. Maybe you're on the Forbes 400 list. Or you're a U.S. Senator.


Here's how these savvy Insiders are preparing: In his 2008 best-seller, "Wealth, War and Wisdom," hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, a highly respected Insider in the "Happy Conspiracy," advised rich insiders to expect the "possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure."


His advice: Make tons of money. Buy an isolated farm in the mountains. Protect family against the barbarians: "Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson."

How Wall Street insiders will treat Main Street in 'The Anarchy'


And when the barbarians do come, firing "a few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage." Imagine a scene like Port-au-Prince after the quake. Biggs is no radical anarchist, he's an establishment Insider, a great guy. We both arrived at Morgan Stanley about the same time. Biggs remained 30 years, was Morgan's chief global strategist. Ten times Institutional Investor magazine put him on Wall Street's "All-America Research Team."

True, he did hedge his prediction of the coming anarchy. His odds: 1 in 10. But in an early 2009 Newsweek article, "A Generation of Destruction: Throwing money at the problem and propping up greedy banks is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it," Biggs teased us with a bleak scenario: "Great cycles of wealth creation have usually lasted about two generations, or 60 years. Inevitably, unequal riches corrupt and create envy, and they are always followed by a generation of enormous wealth destruction."


Warning: By vastly understating the risks while his Insiders prepare for the coming anarchy, Biggs is quietly misleading and disarming the rest of America.

The truth is Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy" elite will follow Biggs' ultra-simple investment strategy: Make massive amounts of money fast using short-term strategies, spout lip service about the "public good." But always act in your own self-interests first, preparing for when anarchy spreads worldwide in an economic pandemic.


How can America's 299 million 'second-class citizens' invest for anarchy?

So what can the average Joe and Jane, the other 299 million Americans do? Warning: In anarchy, nobody knows. Period. The only possible strategy: "Think Swiss Family Robinson." Stockpile like a "Happy Conspiracy Insider."


Many still challenge us about proven strategies like buy and hold, Modern Portfolio Theory, Lazy Portfolios. Unfortunately, they all need a real democracy driven by honest, transparent capitalism to function effectively. They can't function in anarchy.
And Wall Street's already lapsed into a toxic pseudo-capitalism, using it to manipulate Main Street America. Eventually that mindset will force Main Street Americans to misuse the same dark "Swiss Family Robinson" tactics as the Insiders in order to survive the coming anarchy.
What's our alternative? A new American Revolution


But wait, wait, I hear you asking loudly: There must be an alternative to this dark descent into anarchy, to the loss of everything that made America the greatest nation in history?
Yes there is an alternative. Out of the ashes of anarchy must come a Second American Revolution. But unfortunately nothing will happen until a great crisis awakens America ... shocks the conscience of the masses ... we are "asleep" ... only a seismic, systemic shock will trigger the necessary revolution.

The future of our economy and indeed our nation demands another political revolution. We must take back our democracy and capitalism from a government run by Wall Street and its "Happy Conspiracy" ... their toxic self-serving power hold must be broken and, if not, a rising new conspiracy of China, India, oil-sovereignties and asset-rich nations will replace our homegrown "Happy Conspiracy" as it eventually goes down in the flames of anarchy.
Sadly, that's the future many of us realists see ahead for America

Source:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-invest-for-the-debt-bomb-explosion-2010-02-09?pagenumber=2

PREDICTING DATE OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE

The event that many would like advance warning on is economic collapse. It is an event that most informed economists say is inevitable due to U.S. deficits that are too large to be paid back. Yet, those of us that must work and pay our bills cannot stop what we are doing and dig a hole to hide in every time a new event happens that appears to be the beginning of the Economic Collapse.

We must first make assumptions on what Economic Collapse is. History tells us. All paper money falls into one of two catagories, those that have failed and those that are going to fail. They failed in the past (including United States currency) in a spiral of constantly losing value. The federal government continually increases the obligations that it must pay for. Buyers of federal debt slowly back away from buying long term debt and later will not purchase even short term debt. The government begins buying its own debt by issuing new paper money. As more paper money is issued it loses more and more of its value. When the public becomes aware that the issuance of paper money is out of control, and that holding it weeks or days will result in a loss of value, they attempt to convert the paper money that they have into assets that retains some value. To do this, they have to remove any cash they have from banks and other institutions and convert it to something else. What ensues is a run on the banks.

When will this happen? We have some clues because of the process that will take place prior to the event. To understand this process, we must look at a recent event that changed the politics of the United States. Scott Brown, a Republican was elected to the Massachusetts senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Just thirty days prior to this, he was thirty points behind in the polls. The mainstream media (MSM) have more influence on the general public than any other source. Generally the MSM support the liberal and socialistic candidates and ideas. So why was Senator Brown elected thirty days after he was 30 points behind?

The last thirty days created a change in the MSM reporting. Brown ran against Obama's unpopular policies. MSM broadcast and print articles began appearing that supported Brown. Incidents showing his opponent (Coakley) in an unfavorable light began appearing. The MSM and the liberal majority changed their minds in the last few weeks and Brown was elected. Loss of confidence in the paper dollar will occur in a similar fashion. However; it can occur at a much faster pace such as days and weeks instead of months.

The MSM generally is in favor of big government spending and supports the socialistic policies of the Obama administration. The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money (Margaret Thatcher). At the point that MSM begins to see the hazards of the uncontrolled printing of money, the beginning of the end is near. Then the MSM will begin to report the REAL MONEY CRISIS. For those that ask, "When will the SHTF?" That is when.

The events that follow this are events that you will not want to be a part of. Long lines will appear at banks for those trying to get their money out while it still has some value. Paper money will be issued in greater and greater denominations. Food and other necessities of life will skyrocket in price. Soon a bank holiday will be declared while the government attempts to control the panic. Rules will be enforced that restrict how much money may be withdrawn at a time. Attempts will be made to "freeze" food prices. Payment for all good and services will be turned upside down. Everything will rapidly increase in price. Soon, the paper money you have will not buy the things that you need. At some point, $1,000 will not buy a pair of shoes.

The events that follow this are also predictable because they have happened before. Gold and silver become extremely valuable. Pre 1965 silver coins (they still have some silver in them) will become a known standard of value that is accepted by those that still have something to sell. The barter system for goods and services will return. People that want to eat will grow gardens. Most people who have had life savings in 401Ks will be poor again. The winners are the ones that have planned in advance and the ones that still have outstanding loans or mortgages. The mortgages will no longer have any value. Homeowners will be able to send a million dollar note to a mortgage holder and tell them to keep the change. The change will not buy a loaf of bread. Large cities will become dangerous places to be.

Those that plan ahead can avoid the most severe aspects of this scenario. It is up to each individual to plan ahead early enough to survive. A following article will outline some suggested courses of actions that any individual can implement.

February 2, 2010

by Ray Elliott





Source:
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/elliott020210.html

U.S. agrees to timetable for UN Gun Ban


Clinton-United Nations “Small Arms Treaty” Update
National Gun Rights BlogPosted February 2, 2010
READ ALSO: Sec. Hillary Clinton — U.S. Support for the Arms Trade Treaty (Oct. 09)

The United Nations and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are moving forward with their plan to confiscate your guns.

The United States joined 152 other countries in support of the Arms Trade Treaty Resolution, which establishes the dates for the 2012 UN conference intended to attack American sovereignty by stripping Americans of the right to keep and bear arms.

Working groups of anti-gun countries will begin scripting language for the conference this year, creating a blueprint for other countries when they meet at the full conference.

The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Former United Nation’s ambassador John Bolton has cautioned gun owners about the Arms Trade Treaty and says the UN “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there’s no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.

”Establishing the dates for the Arms Trade Treaty Conference is just the first step toward their plans for total gun confiscation.

The worldwide gun control mob will ensure the passage of an egregious, anti-gun treaty…. . .and that’s where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton steps in.

Once the UN Gun Ban is passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations it must be ratified by each nation, including the United States. As an arch enemy of gun owners, Clinton has pledged to push the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty. She will push for passage of this outrageous treaty designed to register, ban and CONFISCATE firearms owned by private citizens like YOU.

That’s why it’s vital you sign the special petition I’ve made up for your signature that DEMANDS your U.S. Senators vote AGAINST ratification of the UN’s “Small Arms Treaty.

”So far, the gun-grabbers have successfully kept the exact wording of their new scheme under wraps.But looking at previous versions of the UN “Small Arms Treaty,” you and I can get a good idea of what’s likely in the works.

Don’t let any of the “experts” lull you to sleep by saying “Oh, we have it handled” or “Until you know exactly what’s in the treaty you can’t fight against it.”Judging by Ambassador Bolton’s comments — who certainly knows what to expect from the American-freedom-hating international crowd that infests the U.N. — we are certain the treaty’s going to address the private ownership of firearms.

If passed by the UN and ratified by the U.S. Senate (which is where we must ultimately make our stand), the UN “Small Arms Treaty” would almost certainly FORCE national governments to:*** Enact tougher licensing requirements, making law-abiding citizens cut through even more bureaucratic red tape just to own a firearm legally;

*** CONFISCATE and DESTROY ALL “unauthorized” civilian firearms (all firearms owned by the government are excluded, of course);

*** BAN the trade, sale and private ownership of ALL semi-automatic weapons;

*** Create an INTERNATIONAL gun registry, setting the stage for full-scale gun CONFISCATION.

So please click here to sign the petition to your U.S. Senators before it’s too late!

You see, this is NOT a fight we can afford to lose.

Source:
http://nationalgunrights.org/blog/?p=359#more-359

Identifying Sure Signs Of The Final Economic Plunge

Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press - 01/12/10


http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=223

Many researchers, including those here at Neithercorp, have projected that the third and final stage of the economic collapse will begin sometime in 2010. Barring some kind of financial miracle, or the complete dissolution of the Federal Reserve, a snowballing implosion should become visible by the end of this year. Data indicates that the dollar and the Dow are running on nothing but false promises and fiat bailouts, and that this game is slowly winding down. The Fed cannot sustain its current rate of liquidity injections without raising the ire of foreign nations heavily invested in U.S. debt, especially when banks have refused to loosen their lending practices as promised, thereby hoarding all bailout funds made available to them and stifling any chance of a credit market recovery.

Understandably, an important question has arisen among those people who are trying to prepare for the event;

When EXACTLY will the collapse occur?

Of course, we aren’t psychic, and narrowing down the final trigger to the exact day, or even the exact month, would be extremely difficult. However, what we can do is explain what signs to look for, how to look for them, and what dangers they foretell. Economics gives the appearance of a complex and confusing science, but most economic indicators taught in business schools are really hollow background noise, designed to do nothing more than make television investment analysts seem more intelligent than they really are. All we need to know are the fundamentals, the unchangeable concrete factors that all economies operate on, and how to tell when they are beginning to falter. The following list is composed of signs anyone with a little work and a little vigilance can keep track of, giving them an even greater edge in knowing when the house of cards is really about to topple…

Gold And Dollar Decoupling

Although U.S. Treasury markets and the dollar are currently being manipulated by the Federal Reserve’s fiat purchasing of T-bonds, watching the Dollar index in comparison with gold can give a good indication of when the final drop will occur. Over the past decade, the dollar has lost around 40% of its value, while gold has increased 400% in value. Gold’s increase is due in very large part to the devaluation of the Greenback, but it also indicates a surging international interest in precious metals, especially in Asia. Traditionally, when the dollar decreases in value, gold moves up, and when the dollar increases in value, gold falls. However, over the past four months, there have been sporadic incidences in which gold’s price has increased even though the dollar gained in value. These incidences have lasted only a day or two at a time, but they show that gold is starting to move on its own accord, slowly decoupling from the dollar and even being used as a competing form of currency in some places.

The Vietnamese Government, for instance, recently threatened to shut down all gold bullion trade in the country by the end of March, because Vietnamese merchants and consumers are abandoning their own inflated currency and using gold instead. The Vietnamese have also stopped using American dollars, once considered a safe store of value:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2CFXWwN6o8w7nn9GqYjOZ2dHNwA


Banking elites in Western nations have been short selling gold for decades in order to keep the price down, and obstruct gold from becoming a competing alternative to the Dollar. Now, we are beginning to see gold move despite banker manipulation. Just before the onset of a dollar implosion, one should watch for gold to begin jumping steeply higher regardless of the behavior of currency markets. Any reports that blocs of foreign nations are increasing the exchange of U.S. Treasuries (beyond what they have done already) and buying large stores of gold would also signal a dollar collapse. In the event that average Americans begin considering the use of gold and silver in place of the dollar, as in Vietnam, you know the final downturn has begun.
Price Inflation Of Oil

For a long time, oil has been traded on the world markets exclusively in U.S. Dollars. Oil and the dollar are therefore intimately connected. Oil will be the first commodity to reveal any inflation (or hyperinflation) in the dollar during a breakdown. Currently, oil is steadily gaining, now hovering around $80 a barrel, or nearly $3 a gallon. Some in the MSM claim this is due to harsh winter conditions around the world, while others say it is due to the weakness and distrust in the Greenback. Not too long ago, oil prices were manipulated upwards by speculators to the tune of $150 a barrel:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/24/markets/cftc/index.htm

I suspect that this manipulation was not just an act of greed, but part of a larger strategy by the financial elite to acclimate Americans to the idea of gas price inflation, so that when it occurs again Americans will not be as quick to react, once again blaming speculators, instead of the real cause; a dollar implosion.

Another oil price increase anywhere near the $150 mark is an implicit warning that the economy is about to falter, especially if that increase continues on through summer months.

Dollar Loses World Reserve Currency Status

An announcement by any foreign nation, especially those that hold large stores of U.S. debt, that they will be dropping the dollar and trading in a different currency is a tremendous warning. The dollar is a very weak currency. It’s only saving grace, the thread it hangs by, is the fact that it still has world reserve status, meaning, it is a trade currency accepted by all nations. If BRIC nations, or OPEC oil producers, were to announce that they will no longer trade goods using dollars, expect an immediate tanking of our currency, along with treasury markets. Those that catch this news as it starts will probably have a month or maybe two to get all their preparations in order and distance themselves from any potential danger areas. Hyperinflation has the distinct ability to bring out the worst in a society. People can handle a Dow collapse, or even deflation, but when a currency is destroyed, all possible means of self support are lost unless one was prepared. Those who are not will lose the whole of their life savings in one fell swoop.

U.S. Treasury Dump

This is a little more difficult to track, simply because most foreign creditors do not want to announce openly that they are dumping their U.S. Treasuries. Such incidences can cause war, among other things. What can be tracked easily is the amount of treasuries being sold to other countries. Currently, other nations have nearly frozen their investment in our debt:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1730-TIC-Data-Confirms-Foreign-Appetite-Gone.html

The U.S. deficit for the fiscal year 2009 came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set in 2008. The total national debt (according to the government) is now at a whopping $12 trillion and climbing! This debt cannot be sustained without a constant flow of money from other countries. If these countries stop purchasing our debt, then our Treasury will become insolvent. The country will be bankrupt. The Federal Reserve is currently trying to stave off this event by purchasing U.S. debt; basically legalized currency manipulation, much like paying off one credit card bill with yet another credit card. According to reports, the Fed now accounts for 91% of all U.S. debt purchases. This is a very bad sign:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ultimate-shell-game-federal-reserve-funds-us-deficit

Eventually, we will hear reports that foreign holders of treasury debt have not only stopped buying new treasuries, but are also dumping the treasuries they already have because of the Fed’s extreme devaluation policies. If this happens on a large scale, a collapse is about to take place.

Simultaneous Dow / Dollar Drop

Normally, when the Dow loses value and investors pull their savings out of stocks, they tend to put those savings into dollar backed securities or treasuries as a “safe haven”. This causes the value of the dollar to increase whenever the Dow falls, but the balancing act is beginning to change. One clear indication of a collapse would be the simultaneous fall of the Dow and the Dollar over a moderate period. This would denote a loss of safe haven status in the dollar as well as uncertainty among investors in stocks. A double whammy like this could prove to be an alert of impending disintegration.

A good time to watch for this signal would be around June or July, when it is rumored the Fed will begin raising interest rates from near zero.

Jobs And Housing

As we predicted recently, job loss which was hidden by the Labor Department in November is now beginning to show in December. We expect that job loss numbers will begin to grow more aggressive from this point on, as companies that hired temporary workers for the Christmas season proceed with layoffs in February and March.

Real unemployment, counting the U-6 measurement, is around 20%. When this measurement reaches between 25% and 30% (Great Depression levels), the country may be on the edge of final collapse.

Also, watching the small and medium sized business sector will help in discovering when job markets will completely tank. Small and medium businesses support around two thirds of all U.S. jobs, but these companies are now in dire straights:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34825943

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Job-openings-drop-as-hiring-apf-2800514981.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

Most of these firms say they will be cutting even more jobs in 2010, not hiring.
Another important factor is the housing market and what are called “Option ARM Mortgages.”


ARM mortgages are basically what created the housing bubble in the first place, by offering loans at artificially low interest rates which then increase after a set time period. Millions of people have home payments based on ARM mortgages, and many of these contracts are about to expire, meaning their payments will mushroom, and they will go bankrupt. California alone has hundreds of thousands of homes with ARM mortgages ready to expire in the next year:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34729005

Watch closely for announcements of mass ARM mortgage resets, which could herald even greater losses in housing, as well as an increase in the homeless population.

Grocery Store Peculiarities

Wholesale prices of goods have recently been increasing far beyond what mainstream economists had predicted, hinting at the first steps towards inflation:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Spike-in-wholesale-inflation-apf-2682030532.html?x=0

Grocery store chains tend to “absorb” the extra cost of their stock in the hope that wholesale prices will soon drop again, and in order to keep from losing customers due to high prices, but this has the added effect of hiding true inflation from the public. Eventually, stores and manufacturers can no longer absorb the inflation, and either raise their prices, or diminish their volume. Keep careful note of your local grocery stores. Are items being “repackaged” by manufacturers to hold less for the same price? Is your $4, twenty ounce box of cereal now $4.50 and only fifteen ounces? Are items beginning to disappear entirely from the stores stock, especially foreign made goods? Are base goods such as rice or bread increasing in price weekly or bi-weekly? This may be due to an explosion in wholesale inflation, as well as financial weakness in the general economy.

Bank Holiday

A bank holiday is essentially the government closure of all banks and financial instruments dealing with banks for a set period of time. This means you will not be able to pull money from your account, you will not be able to make deposits, and you will not be able to use checks or debit cards, or even use an ATM. If you have no cash (or other valuables) on hand, you are in big trouble. A bank holiday is often announced in response to out of control bank closures, and is supposed to give banks time to shore up funds, as well as keep you from pulling all your money out at once. A bank holiday could also occur in the event that the FDIC is about to crumble, which is very likely. The FDIC is already broke, and is drawing on fiat currency from the Fed and the Treasury in order to continue covering the accounts of shut down banks. Over 140 banks closed last year. If this rate continues, or expands this year, then the FDIC will no longer be able to operate. If a bank holiday is announced, an announcement of Treasury insolvency is also likely.

Terror Attack / New War

The world is on the brink as it is. If a terrorist attack (false flag attack), or a new war arises, it is time to collect your gear, your family, your friends, and make for the hills (if that’s where you plan to go). Any new and extended threat of conflict in 2010 will be used as an excuse to institute martial law and subjugation of civil liberties, not to mention trigger a financial meltdown. Is the morning news reporting an attack on Iran, or the bombing of a New York subway? It’s time.

These events and triggers represent a “litmus test” for the economy that anyone can apply without spending every day in front of a computer screen tracking stock yields, hedge funds, or Federal Reserve press releases. Many people have already made extensive preparations, knowing that a breakdown is imminent, but with a little extra knowledge and effort, their edge on the collapse can be made ever sharper. No amount of preparation will stave off the psychological shock of sudden economic implosion if one does not keep alert to the prerequisite signs. Watching the simple indicators listed above can help in affording you every opportunity, giving you the ability to see the wreck before it even happens.

Democrats’ Voracious Search for New Tax Revenue

Posted by David Boaz

Last year I tried to compile a list of all the taxes President Obama and his allies were maneuvering to impose. But each week brings new ideas. Just recently we’ve heard about a bank tax, applying the Medicare tax to capital gains and other “passive” or “unearned” income, raising the Medicare tax rate, raising or broadening the capital gains tax, an income tax “surtax,” a tax on tanning – and of course the tax on private health insurance to pay for the expansion of government insurance has moved to the top of the list. And all of these on top of these ideas proposed or publicly floated by President Obama and his aides and allies:

Raise the top income tax rates from their current 33 percent and 35 percent rates to 36 percent and 39.6 percent in 2011

Limit itemized deductions for people paying high rates

Increase capital gains and dividend taxes by 33 percent for people paying high income tax rates

Impose a value-added tax (VAT) on all goods and services

Raise the Social Security tax by lifting the cap

Raise a variety of business taxes by $353 billion over 10 years, including repeal of LIFO rules, restoring Superfund taxes, seven tax increases on energy companies, and more

Tax employer-provided health benefits

Implement a cap-and-trade system for emissions permits, the functional equivalent of a massive new tax

Tax drivers on their mileage

Change rules to raise gift taxes

Restore the estate tax at 45 percent

Raise cigarette tax by 62 cents a pack

Raise taxes on beer, wine, liquor, and soda

Eliminate health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts

Tax employer-provided cellphones

Tax AIG employee bonuses

Raise taxes on overseas corporate earnings

Back in July the Wall Street Journal reported:

President Barack Obama’s health-care plan is in jeopardy because of serious concerns that costs will spin out of control. As much as anyone, it’s White House budget director Peter Orszag’s job to save it…

After his TV appearances, he went straight to the Senate Finance Committee, where he spent three hours with committee aides brainstorming about how to pay for the trillion-dollar legislation. At one point, they flipped through the tax code, looking for ideas.

Flipping through the tax code, looking for ideas on how to relieve us of more of our money. That’s a great visual of Obama’s Washington. President Obama and his allies look at the vast abundance in America, and all they see is wealth that they don’t yet control. It annoys them. They could do so much good with that money. How dare bankers and businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs, widows and foundations hold tight to their wealth, when government has so many plans to fund? “Let’s go and get it from those who’ve got it,” they cry, in the immortal words of Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

But perhaps Thomas Jefferson’s words are even more immortal and equally applicable: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

Swine flu “false pandemic” seems to be biggest pharma-fraud of century

The Council of Europe will launch a probe into pharmaceutical companies after reports that vaccine manufacturers pressured the World Health Organization into declaring swine flu pandemic seeking increase in profits.

It was supposed to be a deadly pandemic, but is so far is nothing more than a serious cold.
And it has left a lasting headache as a debate rages over whether pharmaceutical companies deliberately misled governments about the seriousness of swine flu to make them stockpile vaccines.

The legal standards organization, the Council of Europe, will gather the arguments.

“Britain has spent a fortune on preparations,” says Paul Flynn, Vice Chairman at the Council of Europe Health Committee. “We have caused a great deal of stress to the population, people are very anxious about it, and we’ve distorted the priorities of our health service. I believe when we have a thorough investigation, and we look at this, we’ll discover that’s the story – the world has been subjected to a stunt for the own greedy interests of the pharmaceutical companies.”European countries bought billions of dollars worth of vaccine from pharmaceutical companies including Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Pasteur. Some of the contracts included a clause where governments could get out of buying the drugs if they were no longer needed. But some, notably ones with GlaxoSmithKline, did not.

“We continue to support governments in managing the H1N1 influenza pandemic. This includes ongoing discussions about existing orders for our pandemic vaccines,” reads the officials statement from the company.

Governments all over Europe are now saddled with billions of dollars worth of unnecessary swine flu vaccine. They are trying to sell it, but supply now far exceeds demand. So because governments wanted to be seen to be acting decisively, the European taxpayers have found themselves seriously out of pocket.

Health expert Gawain Towler says pharmas will be pharmas, and it’s governments who should have been less gullible.

“Pharmaceutical companies of course have a huge economic interest in encouraging concern over health,” Towler says. “I think you have to blame the governments for going along with it, for not having natural scepticism of the claims of someone who has a financial interest. The government itself wanted to be seen to be doing something. And in that way, they encouraged the fear that then forced them to act.”

At the height of the pandemic, it was predicted that around 65,000 people in Britain would die. So far, there have only been 360. Critics of the World Health Organisation, which dubbed swine flu a pandemic, say it was clear from early on that the illness wouldn’t be as serious as first thought.

Also, it was initially believed that two vaccinations would be needed to protect against the virus. Later, it was found that one was enough. Now European governments are coming under fire for wasting billions of dollars on vaccines that would never be used.

“This does seem to be a massive waste of money of course. It’s the responsibility of the government to look out for these kinds of crises as they’re approaching,” says Mark Wallage, campaign director at Taxpayers’ Alliance. “And of course, governments around the world were ordering vaccines and so on, but no one seems to have gone as over the top as much as Britain has. Yet again, Britain has led the world in wasting taxpayers’ money on a threat that either hasn’t materialized, or has turned out to be very different from the way it was anticipated.”Council of Europe Health Committee Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg also says the declaration of a swine flu pandemic was a false alarm.

“There are many signs that there is close cooperation between the WTO and pharmaceutical companies. We have to find out whether there was pressure or whether there was money given as an incentive to the WTO to have this pandemic declared,” Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg adds.

Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK say they want to sell off their stockpile of vaccines. While there are countries willing to buy, the passing of the global threat, and millions of doses flooding the market, means prices for the vaccine will plummet. And the epidemic’s initial misdiagnosis means it may be a very expensive mistake.

Monsanto To Criminalize Organic Farming?

http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=1007

The bill HR 875 is monstrous on level after level – the ppower it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international “industrial†standards to independent farms –“ the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

Criminalize Organic Farming?

EXCUSE ME?!

BILLS: HR 875 and S 425

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

This is from last March.....however I did some poking around on HR 875 and found a couple of interesting items. This seems to have fallen through some cracks with all the other things going on...amazing how that happens.

See below...

http://www.govtrack .us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 875
http://www.govtrack .us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 875&tab=related

ER Legislation with the Same Title The list below shows legislation in this and previous sessions of Congress that had the same title as this bill. Often bills are incorporated into other omnibus bills, and you may be able to track the status of provisions of this bill by looking for an omnibus bill below.

Note that bills may have multiple titles.

Crowd-SourcingUsers tracking this bill are also tracking...

S. 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act (138 users)
H.R. 814: TRACE Act of 2009 (44 users)
S. 429: Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding America's Food for Everyone (EAT SAFE) Act of 2009 (15 users)
H.R. 841: Protect Consumers Act of 2009 (8 users)
H.R. 999: Keeping America's Food Safe Act of 2009 (21 users)
H.R. 1332: Safe FEAST Act of 2009 (31 users)
H.R. 815: Safe And Fair Enforcement and Recall for Meat, Poultry, and Food Act of 2009 (18 users)
H.R. 759: Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009 (85 users)
Community Questions & Answers on S. 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act (5 users)
S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (58 users)S. 384: Global Food Security Act of 2009 (20 users)
Community Questions & Answers on H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (8 users)H.R. 778: To authorize the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are... (9 users)
S. 1345: Prescribe A Book Act (1 users)
H.R. 2485 [110th]: Safety, Efficiency, and Accountability in Transportation Projects Through...