June 2, 2008
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Whole Body Health
June 23, 2008
June 30, 2008
Bilderberb's Attempt to Fool the public into believing it had already met in Greece has been exposed.
We now believe Bilderberg will meet from Thursday, June 5 to Sunday, June 8 in Chantilly, Va., near Washington's Dulles International Airport. The precise scene of the crime is the Westfields Marriott, 14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Va. 20151. 703-818-0300.
This paperboy will arrive Wednesday, June 4, checking into the Hilton in nearby Herndon, Va., Address: 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon, Va. 20171. 703-818-2900.
I belabor these details in the hope that you can help me by joining protesters at the gates. You will find it fun.
In Europe, I have a lot of help from numerous journalists and broadcasters who also pursue Bilderberg. European papers are much more free to report the facts about these schemers than the "free press" in the United States. But, because of the costs, it is unlikely any of them will come here.
So, as Uncle Sam would say, I need you. You will read nothing about this secret meeting of international banksters, superfraudsters and political fourflushers in The Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times etc. All the gang members attend on a solemn oath of secrecy.
As usual, finding Bilderberg's meeting site was difficult and its staff was composed of Artful Dodgers. Some Internet postings had Bilderberg meeting May 8-11 in Vougliameni, a suburb of Athens, Greece, where they met in 1993. But, before rushing to the airport, I checked on three Bilderberg regulars and found they would all be in Washington that weekend.
Some of my European colleagues think Bilderberg was behind the posting. If so, the diversion almost worked.
But a reader who has much more computer knowledge than I do was able to crack into the in-house computer of the Dutch Embassy where the staff was told that the prime minister would attend Bilderberg at Chantilly. The embassy confirmed the information. It was independently confirmed by a Bilderberg insider who has helped me nail them for 20 years.
I hope you can join me.
James P. Tucker Jr.
Editor
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Bilderberg meet at the luxurious Westfields Marriott resort from Thursday, June 5, to Sunday, June 8, at Chantilly, Va., near Washington's Dulles International Airport.
The address: Westfields Marriott, 14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Va. 20151. Phone: 703-818-0300
On Wednesday, June 4, I will check into the Hilton in Herndon, Va., the closest and cheapest motel ($270+ tax daily). The address: 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon, Va. 20171. Phone: 703-478-2900
While I have a lot of help from both journalists and broadcasters in Europe few, if any, will be in Chantilly because of their budget limitations. (They lack the dedicated readers who help finance these missions.)
You can be sure that Donald Graham and Jimmy Lee Hoagland, chairman and associate editor of The Washington Post, respectfully, will attend as usual. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times and executives of the broadcast networks have also attended, among other journalistic whores, on their solemn promises of absolute secrecy. But you will read and hear nothing of this secret meeting of international financiers and political leaders.
Join us. You will help and you will have fun.
Cordially,
Jim Tucker
Editor
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Is a Barack Obama bombshell lurking in the shadows, waiting to derail one of the biggest Cinderella stories in recent history?
While most political prognosticators in the mainstream press presume that Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, they still wonder aloud if Hillary Clinton (or some other entity) has something up their sleeve.
The bombshell may involve the murder of Donald Young, a 47-year-old choir master at former Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ—the same congregation that Obama has attended for the past 20 years. Two other young black men that attended the same church—Larry Bland and Nate Spencer—were also murdered execution style with bullets to the backs of their heads—all within 40 days of each other, beginning in November 2007. All three were openly homosexual.
What links this story to Barack Obama is that, according to an acquaintance of Obama, Larry Sinclair, Obama is a closet bisexual with whom he had sexual and drug-related encounters in November 1999.
Further, Sinclair claims that Obama was friendly with at least two of these deceased parishioners, and that choir director Donald had contacted him shortly before being murdered from multiple gunshot wounds on December 23, 2007.
These killings are receiving a number of different reactions. Mike Parker, reporting for CBS in Chicago, wrote, "Activists fear gay African-Americans are being targeted for murder," while Marc Loveless of the Coalition for Justice and Respect queries, "Are we under attack? Is this a serial killer?"
An even more sinister aspect of this case is being investigated. According to Sinclair in an affidavit to the Chicago Police Department, Donald Young had informed him that he and Barack Obama were "intimate" with each other. Sinclair, it should be noted, declared on a January 18, 2008, YouTube video that on two separate occasions in November 1999, he engaged in sexual acts with Obama, and that Obama smoked crack cocaine—once in a limousine and the other time at a hotel in Gurnee, Ill.
Sinclair has also asked: why would Young—whom he had never met—initiate these calls by contacting him on cell phone numbers known only in the Obama camp? Further, a private investigator connected to the Chicago Police Department told the Globe, "Donald Young was silenced because of something he knew about Obama. Donald was in a position where he heard a lot of things and saw a lot of things concerning Barack."
Another questionable Obama associate is openly homosexual. That person is Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, who was listed during the 2008 campaign as being part of Obama's "technology initiative."
In April, Lessig showed a video at a Google seminar entitled Jesus Christ: The Musical where "Jesus Christ lip-syncs Gloria Gaynor's late 1970s disco hit I Will Survive during which he strips down to just a diaper, effeminately struts along a city street, and finally gets run over by a speeding bus."
Are three murders within the span of 40 days among members of America's most discussed church—one run by the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright—enough to arouse the suspicions of Chicago law enforcement officials and members of the national media?
Or, as Sinclair wrote in a May 18 email, was the murder of Young "made to look similar to other recent murders as to make it look as if it were a hate crime" because he had become a political liability?
One can only hope that this isn't the beginning of another body count eerily reminiscent of that associated with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Victor Thorn is the author of Hillary (And Bill): The Clinton Trilogy. Volume 2—The Drugs Volume—detailing how Hillary (and Bill) turned Arkansas into a narco-republic in return for campaign cash—is now available from AFP for $25 until June 15. After that it will be $30. Order volume One (The Sex Volume) and Two (The Drugs Volume) together for just $55. No S&H inside the U.S. Call AFP at 1-888-688-NEWS toll free to charge to Visa or MasterCard.
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Although John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, as the various state conventions roll forward in obscurity, conflict and chaos continue to be spread by Ron Paul's enthusiastic followers who continue to try to storm the ramparts of the GOP establishment.
These efforts by libertarian-leaning Republicans, looking to strike a blow against the neo-cons, have met with some successes and some failures and certainly a very undesirable backlash. Their strategy, as demonstrated at district conventions around the country, is to show up in large numbers, use procedural motions to disrupt the convention, and if their forces are sufficient, force a vote to suspend the convention rules, remove the convention leadership, and start over again with their faction in control—all within the rules, of course.
This strategy is continuing at the state level as was demonstrated at the Nevada State Convention in Reno, where an attempt to take over the convention was near succeeding when the sitting chairman countered with a space-skipping checkmate. He had seen that the Ron Paul faction was far stronger than the John McCain delegation and cleverly adjourned the proceedings altogether in order to avoid the inevitable.
Officials indicated that they are to reconvene at a later date, but the Paul faction suspects a different and secret city.
As news of what happened in Texas Senate District 25 (where Paul supporters completely took over) and in Nevada has spread, state party bosses have drawn up their counter-strategies which include changes to how conventions are run which reduce direct input from delegates and motions from the floor, draconian measures to remove anyone they think is "disruptive" and in some cases special meetings of credentials committees to disqualify Ron Paul delegates before the convention convenes.
Meanwhile, as more state conventions are held the conflict continues. At the Maine Republican State Convention in May the screws were tightened, with no microphones on the floor of the convention and a number of Paul delegates forcibly ejected from the hall. Police were on hand to maintain security. Scheduled pro-Paul speakers found their time shortened or their appearances canceled.
Attempts to introduce delaying motions were quickly ruled out of order. The whole proceeding charged ahead with little opportunity to interrupt. This type of highly managed convention where delegates are treated more like observers than participants may now be the standard for these state conventions.
Not surprisingly, this type of behavior from party bosses has not been well received. One of the best reports on the Maine convention comes from Robert Miller, a young delegate whose account of the convention stresses the alienation which he felt as a Ron Paul supporter from the convention proceedings from which he described the bias for McCain and the prejudice against Ron Paul.
He said the anti-Ron Paul agenda became evident soon after the hammering of the initiating gavel. After the first order of business, someone from one county made a motion reminding the convention that since there were two candidates, and John McCain was well represented, someone should be allowed to speak on behalf of Ron Paul also.
Young Miller says that that idea "must have been too dangerous to vote on," because the chairwoman immediately called the motion "out of order" and proceeded without even considering the matter, or letting it come to a vote.
Despite the obstacles being put in their path, the Ron Paul faction is having some success. They haven't taken over a state convention yet, and may not, considering the stacked deck, but they are gaining delegates here and there. Some states use a system for selecting delegates to the national convention where a part of the delegation is chosen at district conventions and the rest are selected at the state convention. Paul supporters have done very well in states which use this approach, taking half of the 12 available delegate slots in Minnesota and a third of the delegate positions in Oklahoma.
This representation, out of proportion to Paul's actual standing in the official (fraudulent) vote in those states, is made possible because Paul's supporters are highly motivated and actually attend the conventions while less motivated partisans stay home, and because of the departure of two moderately successful candidates who have dropped out of the race and left a vacuum which the Paul forces can move in and fill.
If this pattern continues, even with crackdowns at future state conventions, Paul supporters are still likely to fill a lot more seats at the national GOP convention in September than would normally be justified by his showing in the (fraudulent) popular vote, "perhaps 30 times the 21 delegates they are officially entitled to based on the state primary results," suggests political writer, Dave Nalle.
"Along the way they're likely to antagonize party organizers and drive away potential allies," he says, "and ultimately make themselves into pariahs. But the fireworks at the national convention should be fun."
Some are suggesting that instead of trying to seize control of convention after convention, the Paul people could have laid relatively low and worked within the system and probably sent even more delegates to the national convention than they are likely to now, and by being more subdued they could have won over allies and made converts within the mainstream of the party.
Then the backlash would have been minimal, and while they might not have been able to stop McCain from getting the nomination they could have had a profound influence on the platform, the issues raised in the election and the future direction of the party.
In addition to the step-child treatment at every state convention, these loyal supporters have witnessed vote theft at every turn, but now the party bosses are is definitely cracking down.
Conservative radio talk show host Mike Gallagher told the hosts of Fox and Friends. "There is no question that this could be a major headache for McCain.
"John McCain would be well-served to kind of reach out and give him an olive branch at the convention," Gallagher continued. "Let him speak, give him a role, because if these people are disrespected—you know, this, combined with Bob Barr's announcement that Barr now is running as a Libertarian—is going to just take votes away from John McCain and could be a disaster for the Republican Party."
Pat Shannan is the assistant editor of American Free Press. He is also the author of several videos and books.
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MANCHESTER, N.H.—The New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention saw State Rep. Betty Hall's "Petition to Commence Impeachment Procedure in the U.S. Congress" adopted, despite numerous roadblocks thrown in her path by party leaders.
As AFP revealed previously, Rep. Hall is the 87- year-old Brookline, N.H. woman who, having served in the state House for 28 years, is determined to uphold the rule of law and constitutional checks and balances by getting the 400-plusmember New Hampshire House to pass House Resolution 24, which calls on the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress to begin the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for getting the U.S. into the Iraq war/occupation under false pretenses. The administration's use of torture and snooping on the public, also are cited.
The timing of impeachment near the 2008 elections is seen as immaterial. Ms. Hall says these misdeeds are simply wrong and should be addressed as a matter of principle.
Her resolution that was passed at the party convention is a variant of HR 24 with more guarded language, she told AFP. It builds on the passage of an impeachment resolution at the Democrats' state convention in 2006.
"The governor [John Lynch] came and went; Howard Dean came and went; the same for the congressional candidates and state politicos during a long stint in a packed gymnasium on a glorious spring weekend day, which began at 8:30 a.m. In the very last minutes of the convention, about 4 p.m., the Democratic Party leaders let the vote for the Hall Impeachment Resolution and the town of Newbury Accountability Resolution take place," stated a press release from Maryellen Martin of Nashua, a former state representative.
Of the 800 people there at the start, about 650 were delegates elected locally to attend this event. The rest were elected officials, party officials and guests. Even though a number of people left as the day progressed, Rep. Hall and delegates in support of impeachment stayed the course to make sure her petition/resolution was heard. When her item was finally brought forth, it passed 110-88 in a precise county-by-county standing vote.
Deborah Gibson, a friend of Rep. Hall's who helped AFP navigate the state's political scene during a recent news assignment there, was elated. She told AFP that this represents the first major victory over the Democratic political machine in New Hampshire.
"This is the first time the tables have been turned against those in the party who think they just rule," Ms. Gibson said. "They tried every trick to hold Betty down."
According to Gibson, "they" included State Party Chairman Ray Buckley and Committee Chairwoman Jane Clemmons.
Nancy White, an area business owner and delegate in favor of impeachment, remarked that the party leadership's extreme reluctance to deal with this issue shows that the Democratic Party is, at best, a weak opponent of the Republicans or is not a true opposition party at all.
This apparent "fix" in the political machine was long ago described by the late Georgetown University Professor Carroll Quigley, an insider who remarked that the nation's entrenched ruling class would play both dominant political parties off each other to make it look like they're real opponents when, in fact, they're working in concert at the top, in order to pursue a regimented global society and do away with a free and independent America. Quigley also was aware of the role the big media would play in promoting this trickery.
To help overcome the corporate media's strong tendency to either ignore or downplay Hall's impeachment effort, several hundred copies of AFP's online version of its first story on HR 24 were handed out at the convention, as delegates prepared to vote on several other resolutions and amendments to the party platform.
Speakers were only given three minutes each to make proposals. Although Rep. Hall waited for hours to speak and push her impeachment petition, she spoke briefly and delegated two of her three minutes to "citizen delegate" Nan Stearn, described as "the people's lone grassroots speaker, not a leadership pick or a party official."
At the podium, Ms. Stearn broke into a song called "Impeach the Bas***ds," written by Rebecca McCall in collaboration with Noel Paul Stookey of "Peter, Paul and Mary" fame. The room erupted in approval.
"Unlike the rest of the day, it was an unscripted, spontaneous expression of celebration, standing and cheering in support of Rep. Hall's resolution to begin investigations and, at the very least, lay out the facts," the press release added. "The delegates heard what they wanted to hear, and with their vote confirmed, they want truth and accountability from our government. The message sent by the people is the first step of this constitutional procedure: Begin investigations now to determine if there is sufficient cause/evidence to hold our current elected leaders in Washington responsible."
The Newbury Resolution that also was passed May 17 centers on "accountability" of federal officials and to "indict and prosecute" those who break the public trust, Ms. Gibson noted.
Moreover, citizen Tom Hosmer's petition for legislative support for this impeachment effort gathered at least 200 signatures. "It was overwhelming," Ms. Gibson said. "The people were hounding us to sign."
AFP Corresponding Editor Mark Anderson can be reached via email at truthhound2@yahoo.com.
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DEU, Ackermann, Josef, Chairman of the Management Board and
the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank AG
CAN, Adams, John; Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence
and Chief of the Communications Security Establishment Canada
USA, Ajami, Fouad, Director, Middle East Studies Program, The
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns
Hopkins University
USA, Alexander, Keith B., Director, National Security Agency
INT, Almunia, Joaquín, Commissioner, European Commission
GRC, Alogoskoufis, George, Minister of Economy and Finance
USA, Altman, Roger C., Chairman, Evercore Partners Inc.
TUR, Babacan, Ali, Minister of Foreign Affairs
NLD, Balkenende, Jan Peter, Prime Minister
PRT, Balsemão, Francisco, Pinto Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA,
S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister
FRA, Baverez, Nicolas, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
ITA, Bernabè, Franco, CEO, Telecom Italia Spa
USA, Bernanke, Ben S., Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve
System
SWE, Bildt, Carl, Minister of Foreign Affairs
FIN, Blåfield, Antti, Senior Editorial Writer, Helsingin
Sanomat
DNK, Bosse, Stine, CEO, TrygVesta
CAN, Brodie, Ian, Chief of Staff, Prime Minister's Office
AUT, Bronner, Oscar, Publisher and Editor, Der Standard
FRA, Castries, Henri de, Chairman of the Management Board and
CEO, AXA
ESP, Cebrián, Juan Luis, CEO, PRISA
CAN, Clark, Edmund, President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group
GBR, Clarke, Kenneth, Member of Parliament
NOR, Clemet, Kristin, Managing Director, Civita
USA, Collins, Timothy C., Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood
Holdings, LLC
FRA, Collomb, Bertrand, Honorary Chairman, Lafarge
PRT, Costa, António, Mayor of Lisbon
USA, Crocker, Chester A., James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic
Studies
USA, Daschle, Thomas A., Former US Senator and Senate Majority
Leader
CAN, Desmarais, Jr., Paul, Chairman and co-CEO, Power Corporation
of Canada
GRC, Diamantopoulou, Anna, Member of Parliament
USA, Donilon, Thomas E., Partner, O'Melveny & Myers
ITA, Draghi, Mario, Governor, Banca d'Italia
AUT, Ederer, Brigitte, CEO, Siemens AG Österreich
CAN, Edwards, N. Murray, Vice Chairman, Candian Natural Resources
Limited
DNK, Eldrup, Anders, President, DONG A/S
ITA, Elkann, John, Vice Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
USA, Farah, Martha J., Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience;
Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences, University
of Pennsylvania
USA, Feldstein, Martin S., President and CEO, National Bureau
of Economic Research
DEU, Fischer, Joschka, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA, Ford, Jr., Harold E., Vice Chairman, Merill Lynch & Co.,
Inc.
CHE, Forstmoser, Peter, Professor for Civil, Corporation and Capital
Markets Law, University of Zürich
IRL, Gallagher, Paul, Attorney General
USA, Geithner, Timothy F., President and CEO, Federal Reserve
Bank of New York
USA, Gigot, Paul, Editorial Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal
IRL, Gleeson, Dermot, Chairman, AIB Group
NLD, Goddijn, Harold, CEO, TomTom
TUR, Gögüs, Zeynep, Journalist; Founder, EurActiv.com.tr
USA, Graham, Donald E., Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post
Company
NLD, Halberstadt, Victor, Professor of Economics, Leiden University;
Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings
USA, Holbrooke, Richard C., Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC
FIN, Honkapohja, Seppo, Member of the Board, Bank of Finland
INT, Hoop Scheffer, Jaap G., de Secretary General, NATO
USA, Hubbard, Allan B., Chairman, E & A Industries, Inc.
BEL, Huyghebaert, Jan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC
Group
DEU, Ischinger, Wolfgang, Former Ambassador to the UK and US
USA, Jacobs, Kenneth, Deputy Chairman, Head of Lazard U.S., Lazard
Frères & Co. LLC
USA, Johnson, James A., Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC (Obama's man
tasked with selecting his running mate)
SWE, Johnstone, Tom, President and CEO, AB SKF
USA, Jordan, Jr., Vernon E., Senior Managing Director, Lazard
Frères & Co. LLC
FRA, Jouyet, Jean-Pierre, Minister of European Affairs
GBR, Kerr, John, Member, House of Lords; Deputy Chairman, Royal
Dutch Shell plc.
USA, Kissinger, Henry A., Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
DEU, Klaeden, Eckart, von Foreign Policy Spokesman, CDU/CSU
USA, Kleinfeld, Klaus, President and COO, Alcoa
TUR, Koç, Mustafa, Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
FRA, Kodmani, Bassma, Director, Arab Reform Initiative
USA, Kravis, Henry R., Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
& Co.
USA, Kravis, Marie-Josée, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute,
Inc.
INT, Kroes, Neelie, Commissioner, European Commission
POL, Kwasniewski, Aleksander, Former President
AUT, Leitner, Wolfgang, CEO, Andritz AG
ESP, León Gross, Bernardino, Secretary General, Office
of the Prime Minister
INT, Mandelson, Peter, Commissioner, European Commission
FRA, Margerie, Christophe de, CEO, Total
CAN, Martin, Roger Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management,
University of Toronto
HUN, Martonyi, János, Professor of International Trade
Law; Partner, Baker & McKenzie; Former Mnister of Foreign
Affairs
USA, Mathews, Jessica T., President, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace
INT, McCreevy, Charlie, Commissioner, European Commission
USA, McDonough, William J., Vice Chairman and Special Advisor
to the Chairman, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
CAN, McKenna, Frank, Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group
GBR, McKillop, Tom, Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
FRA, Montbrial, Thierry de, President, French Institute for International
Relations
ITA, Monti, Mario, President, Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
USA, Mundie, Craig J., Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft
Corporation
NOR, Myklebust, Egil, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors
SAS, Norsk Hydro ASA
DEU, Nass, Matthias, Deputy Editor, Die Zeit
NLD, Netherlands, H.M. the Queen of the
FRA, Ockrent, Christine, CEO, French television and radio world
service
FIN, Ollila, Jorma, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc
SWE, Olofsson, Maud, Minister of Enterprise and Energy; Deputy
Prime Minister
NLD, Orange, H.R.H., the Prince of
GBR, Osborne, George, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
TUR, Öztrak, Faik, Member of Parliament
ITA, Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso, Former Minister of Finance; President
of Notre Europe
GRC, Papahelas, Alexis, Journalist, Kathimerini
GRC, Papalexopoulos, Dimitris, CEO, Titan Cement Co. S.A.
USA, Paulson, Jr., Henry, M. Secretary of the Treasury
USA, Pearl, Frank H., Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC
USA, Perle, Richard N., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
for Public Policy Research
FRA, Pérol, François, Deputy General Secretary in
charge of Economic Affairs
DEU, Perthes, Volker, Director, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik
BEL Philippe, H.R.H., Prince
CAN, Prichard, J. Robert S. President and CEO, Torstar Corporation
CAN, Reisman, Heather, M. Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music
Inc.
USA, Rice, Condoleezza, Secretary of State
PRT, Rio, Rui, Mayor of Porto
USA, Rockefeller, David, Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank
ESP, Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias, Executive Vice Chairman, Grupo
Santander
USA, Rose, Charlie, Producer, Rose Communications
DNK, Rose, Flemming, Editor, Jyllands Posten
USA, Ross, Dennis B., Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow,
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
USA, Rubin, Barnett R., Director of Studies and Senior Fellow,
Center for International Cooperation, New York University
TUR, Sahenk, Ferit, Chairman, Dogus Holding A.S.
USA, Sanford, Mark, Governor of South Carolina
USA, Schmidt, Eric, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO,
Google
AUT, Scholten, Rudolf, Member of the Board of Executive Directors,
Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
DNK, Schur, Fritz H., Fritz Schur Gruppen
CZE, Schwarzenberg, Karel, Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA, Sebelius, Kathleen, Governor of Kansas
USA, Shultz, George P., Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished
Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
ESP Spain, H.M. the Queen of
CHE, Spillmann, Markus, Editor-in-Chief and Head Managing Board,
Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG
USA, Summers, Lawrence H., Charles W. Eliot Professor, Harvard
University
GBR, Taylor, J. Martin, Chairman, Syngenta International AG
USA, Thiel, Peter A., President, Clarium Capital Management, LLC
NLD, Timmermans, Frans, Minister of European Affairs
RUS, Trenin, Dmitri V., Deputy Director and Senior Associate,
Carnegie Moscow Center
INT, Trichet, Jean-Claude, President, European Central Bank
USA, Vakil, Sanam, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies,
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns
Hopkins University
FRA, Valls, Manuel, Member of Parliament
GRC, Varvitsiotis, Thomas, Co-Founder and President, V + O Communication
CHE, Vasella, Daniel L., Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG
FIN, Väyrynen, Raimo, Director, The Finnish Institute of
International Affairs
FRA, Védrine, Hubert, Hubert Védrine Conseil
NOR, Vollebaek, Knut, High Commissioner on National Minorities,
OSCE
SWE, Wallenberg, Jacob, Chairman, Investor AB
USA, Weber, J., Vin CEO, Clark & Weinstock
USA, Wolfensohn, James D., Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company,
LLC
USA, Wolfowitz, Paul, Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
for Public Policy Research
INT Zoellick, Robert B. President, The World Bank Group Rapporteurs
GBR, Bredow, Vendeline von, Business Correspondent, The Economist
GBR, Wooldridge, Adrian D., Foreign Correspondent, The Economist
AUT Austria HUN
Hungary
BEL Belgium INT
International
CHE Switzerland IRL
Ireland
CAN Canada ITA
Italy
CZE Czech Republic NOR Norway
DEU Germany NLD
Netherlands
DNK Denmark PRT
Portugal
ESP Spain POL
Poland
FRA France RUS
Russia
FIN Finland SWE
Sweden
GBR Great Britain TUR Turkey
GRC Greece USA
United States of America
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BILDERBERG LUMINARIEs are slipping into the Westfields Marriott here in Chantilly, Va., even as I write. They are trotting off private jets at nearby Dulles Airport, jumping into long, black limos and being escorted into their secret meeting to make much mischief.
Much discussion will be devoted to the cost of oil, which Bilderberg manipulates for selfish reasons. They will also devote much time to the housing crunch, food shortages generated by their causing corn to be diverted to ethanol and global economic turmoil. How they can profit from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be overlooked.
Leaders among the international criminal conspiracy are arriving: a frail, aging David Rockefeller, head of Chase Manhattan; his valet, Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state, and Peter Sutherland, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, among others.
Years ago, Bilderberg embraced the "global warming"
issue as a means of
using energy policy to generate immense profits and power (these
sons of smokestack industrialists have no need for money; there
are only so many palatial homes and private islands and jets one
can use, but money is power). The energy issue is entangled with
the food shortage because of ethanol production, so there will
be much intense discussion.
How Bilderberg addresses these issues will affect every American's future.
OBAMA IN THE 'HOOD
Interestingly, of all the places in America where he could be, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama—the presumed Democratic nominee for president of the United States—just happens to be holding a rally tonight at Nissan Pavilion, a large outdoor amphitheater just a stone's throw from the site of this year's Bilderberg meeting.
Coincidence? ore than likely he's taking this opportunity to meet his new bosses. Whether he wins or loses, you can bet he'll be getting his marching orders from the global elite. We'll keep you informed.
James P. Tucker Jr.
Editor
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The streets of the nation's capital rolled with the sound of thunder as over 700,000 men and women on motorcycles gathered in what has become a special annual Memorial Day tribute to POWs and MIAs (prisoners of war and missing in action) as well as past and present members of the armed forces and American veterans of all wars.
Beginning 21 years ago, Rolling Thunder—as the tradition has become known—initiated the concept of motorcyclists coming to Washington to bring attention to thousands of POWs/MIAs who were left behind in Vietnam and other wars. Now Rolling Thunder is bigger—and louder—than ever.
One person who played an important part in getting Rolling Thunder started was Sgt. Maj. John "Top" Holland, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam who served in both the Marines and the U.S. Army and whose sons and daughters have followed him into military service.
As president of Concerned Citizens for Known But Abandoned POWs, at age 81, Top is continuing his battle for the POWs/MIAs. He is the co-author (with Father Patrick Bascio) of the provocative book Perfidy, just published by American Free Press. This eye-opening volume tells the story of the official federal abandonment of the POWs and MIAs and the role that high-ranking U.S. government officials played in that betrayal.
Although it will come as a shock to many Americans—even those who consider themselves to be "informed"—the fact is that Sgt. Holland and most other key POW/MIA activists rank former POW turned-U.S. senator and would-be U.S. president John McCain (R-Ariz.) as a treacherous enemy of the POW and MIA families. Perfidy exposes McCain's bizarre and bitter intransigence and his steadfast efforts to block serious attempts to explore the fate of the POWs and MIAs—a little-known story that Americans need to know.
As Holland introduced his book to the thousands of individuals who came to Washington for Rolling Thunder, they shook his hand and thanked him for his continuous dedication to those who have served and those who were never brought home.
Many stopped and sat with Top—men such as Congressional Medal of Honor winner John Boca. And Dave Teke, a Vietnam veteran, who came down to help introduce Top's book. Teke said: "It's such an honor to be here with Top."
Top continues the battle for the estimated 88,000 POW/MIAs who've been unaccounted for since World War I. As of July 2005, here are the "official" figures of "Total Personnel Unaccounted For" as reported by the Government Accountability Office: WWII, 78,000; Korea/ColdWar 8,300; VietnamWar, 1,800; GulfWar, 3 and Current Conflicts, 12.
Sgt. Holland says, "as long as I'm breathing I will continue to fight for those who were left behind."
In February, Charles A. Ray, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing personnel affairs signed an arrangement with the Chinese Ministry of National Defense to research the archives on Americans who were held as prisoners in camps managed by the Chinese during the Korean War.
In Perfidy, you will learn the truth about the betrayal of
our POWs: the whos, the whens and the whys.
Julia Foster is the managing editor of AFP.
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UNDERSTANDING THE PLIGHT of the Palestinians, amid their complex political circumstances and daily tragedies, leads to one essential question: Should U.S. monetary aid to Israel be continued?
The mention of this by AFP in a question to panelists in Chicago at the May 23-25 Palestinian-American National Conference (PANC) generated a considerable response. Rev. Donald E.Wagner, Middle Eastern Studies director at nearby North Park University, replied that cutting foreign aid is desirable but might have to be a gradual process. But the concept of pursuing such a cut harmonized with many panelists, since the billions of tax dollars the U.S. gives to Israel every year enables the Israeli military to enforce onerous apartheid policies against the Palestinians.
About 1,000 people came to hear a series of speakers and panel discussions at the conference. Clearly, the American citizens of Palestinian ancestry who organized it did not get together just to reflect on the gulag-like conditions of their homeland, attributed to what they describe as Israel's brutal occupation of their country. They are upset over the Israeli army's cold, calculating enforcement measures, including extreme limits on Palestinian travel by means of countless checkpoints that isolate villages and cut them into sections; extended curfews in which wanderers are shot on sight; armed raids that leave men, women and children dead or wounded without medical care; homes invasions by troops who even burrow through stone walls to enter; constant surveillance, accompanied by arrests and interrogations, and the bulldozing of homes.
Some said Orwell's 1984 falls short of describing life in Palestine. Indeed, filmmaker/author Anna Baltzer, a young Jewish-American who spoke at the conference, spent considerable time in Palestine and can attest to the extreme psychological, physical and spiritual agony of the unarmed local population in dealing with the Israeli army and armed citizen-partisans of the Israeli state.
Her film Life in Occupied Palestine is a sharp contrast with the version the major media peddles.
Palestinian-Americans convened the conference to observe the 60th anniversary of al Nakba ("the catastrophe"), referring to May of 1948 when the Israeli state came into existence and more than 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed in raids attributed to armed units of the budding state out on ethnic cleansing expeditions. Yet behind the bleak reality, a cautious optimism permeated the conference. These Palestinian-Americans are activists. Some are running for political office to pursue policy changes here, in order to free their long-captive countrymen "over there."
One panelist said, "If we win, we all win—if we lose, God forbid, we all lose." In this discussion, moderated by Dr. Hesham Tillawi, a Palestinian-American television producer and radio host, this same panelist stated that South Africa's "apartheid" system was "more benign" than the system imposed by the Israelis.
Tillawi said his Current Issues TV program on the situation in Palestine—where the people, before 1948, lived in relative harmony, peace and prosperity—was shown on the large British television network "Bridges TV" for six months in 2005. But it was pulled due to pressure from cable TV companies, right as the show was nearing likely syndication. However, Tallawi's show still reaches satellite TV subscribers in North and South America, Europe and North Africa. It's also on Cox Cable in Louisiana. On the Republic Broadcasting Network (republicbroadcasting.org) his show is Current Issues Radio.
In a separate discussion, Dr.Wagner, a Presbyterian, said that a growing number of American Christians and others are starting to recognize what's going on in Palestine. He stressed that progressive Jews who disagree with the Zionist-statist policies of Israel, along with sympathetic mainline Christians, need to have more contact and involvement with Arab-Americans, so everyone's worldview can be shifted the right direction.
Wagner said such a change happened to him. He was raised in a "fundamentalist" Christian setting and taught that Israel could do little wrong. But over the years, as he rebelled and attended conferences about Palestine, he began to understand their perspective that Israel is a state implanted where Palestine once thrived, and that those Palestinians who weren't killed or driven out of the country were marginalized to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many now live in Jordan, Syria and other nearby nations, as well as overseas. Wagner said foreign aid to Israel should be "chipped away."
In his view, there also is a need for humanitarian relief for the Palestinians. He added that the pro-Zionist Rev. John Hagee, a controversial evangelical from San Antonio, who has made a fortune by literally worshipping Israel, is "making a fool of himself " and provides "a window of opportunity" for those who challenge the Zionist mindset in America.
"We need a long-term alternative to AIPAC," Wagner added. Wagner said some Jewish publications with reasonable editorial policies are open to publishing the views of the Palestinian community, and this represents yet another opportunity, along with networking with mainline Christians and progressive-minded Jewish people.
But the pro-Zionist neo-conservatives in America (a league of false conservatives with a mindset of war, imperialism and conquest rooted in a species of Communism) are determined to close such windows of opportunity; they have done so before, so the time for Palestinians to act is now, as Wagner and the other panelists agreed during a lengthy May 24 discussion.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, on the panel with Wagner, said that the meaning of Al-Nakba has not been effectively communicated to Americans, including opinion-makers and leaders.
"Irrespective of who's in power, Palestinians have to stick together," he said, adding that "the committee-of-one mindset . . . the mindset of success," is needed. While he's astounded by how open-minded, yet uninformed, many Americans are about the Palestinians, he feels they can be reached with the facts. He added: "America has been unjust to the Palestinians for a long time and therefore has been unjust to itself.
"When that subsides, he said, a solution will come that also will help the Israelis "to be just."
Awad summarized: "Educate, advocate, legislate, participate," adding that the PANC needs a headquarters in Washington D.C. "This conference should be in D.C.," he said.
Dr. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said the very memory of Palestine and its culture could be erased by the Israeli occupation: "If the stories aren't told, the poetry isn't read and the art isn't seen, how will Palestine's story live?" As he sees it, thousands of young men shaking their hands in the air in Gaza, and young suicide bombers, are not the images to remember.
Zogby declared that Arab-Americans "need a presidential candidate in 2008," adding: "Will America be true to its Constitution?"
AFP mentioned Ron Paul (R-Tex.) in a question on foreign aid because Paul is the only major-party presidential candidate who says such aid should be cut.
Chicago area resident Khairi Shaddid, a Palestinian-American, told AFP he is an active supporter of Paul and knows of others who share his view. Democratic candidate Barack Obama also was mentioned, both favorably and unfavorably.
While saying that "politics is not about who whines the loudest, but who works the hardest," Zogby named some influential strengths of Arab-Americans that need to be used effectively, including: "We have more Ph.D's per capita than any other ethnic group in America."
According to Abe Hayeem, peace activist and founding member of Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine, the land in Palestine was taken over with help from the Jewish National Fund, which he claimed aided in razing villages and forcing the upheaval of hundreds of thousands of people to "erase the memory of the Palestinians." He added: "The occupation is nothing but a major architectural project," where Jewish architects plan illegal settlements. These architects, he said, collaborate with the military, which runs against their professional ethics in a major way.
Hayeem also said that buildings used for housing and other purposes, along with infrastructure, are built in a manner that makes it so "Israeli settlers" can get around without seeing Palestinians, to the furthest extent possible.
"If you can't transfer the Palestinians," Hayeem said, describing the grand design, "you must make them invisible." He added that Israel feels immune from criticism or corrective action since no one holds it accountable to Geneva conventions, international law, or United Nations resolutions. Hayeem said Architects Against Apartheid is pressuring Israeli architects and the government to stop projects that erase Palestinian history. Even archaeology is being misused to tunnel under Palestinian homes, tinged with biblical references, Hayeem said.
Conference attendees believe this information-sharing will lead to productive action on many fronts, as they pledge to never forget those killed and the 750,000 refugees who have been displaced since 1948.
A "refugee lobby," not just a general Palestinian lobby, is needed, one panelist noted. Another, affiliated with the Anti Discrimination Council, said the conflict is not really between Arabs and Jews, but between Arabs and Zionism, or the Jewish state and its policies. She said many courageous Jews want wrongs righted and seek reconciliation.
Conference chairman Dr. Quaseem Blan urged attendees to vote, since many are American citizens, while stressing that the Palestinians need the right to self-determination, the right to return to their homeland and other rights secured.
AFP roving reporter and corresponding editor Mark Anderson can be reached via email at truthhound2@yahoo.com.
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Two agreements that will define the future relationship of the United States and Iraq are due to be signed in July but the deadline may not be met if opposition to them builds within the Iraqi parliament and if Pentagon planners are unable to finalize the exact terms of the agreements.
At the end of last year, the White House announced the president had reached a "video-phone" consensus with his Iraqi counterpart on the long-term standing of the two nations and the terms of a legal status for U.S. forces now in Iraq, as well as those that will be there years from now. The need to resolve those issues was motivated by a realization that December 2008 would bring to an end the UN mandate permitting U.S. intervention in Iraq.
There has been much debate about whether the proposed agreements, reached only in principle by President Bush, represent a framework for treaties. The White House says they are merely agreements, but some experts point out that agreements of that nature, particularly when they relate to the future of U.S. policy in Iraq, will in effect be treaties when signed by two sovereign governments.
The Bush White House position is that a strategic partnership deal does not require congressional oversight and approval because it will by definition be an agreement and not a treaty. That position has angered many Democrats who see the move as an attempt to by-pass Congress and tie the hands of the next president when shaping an Iraq policy.
Irrespective of the debate about how the deal with Iraq should be defined, there is uncertainty about what the "agreements" will mean. One is called the Strategic Framework and the other the Status of Forces. The Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, is purported to be the kind of agreement the U.S. normally has in counties where there is a static U.S. military presence such as Japan, Germany, South Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to provide a legal framework for the operation of U.S. military bases and personnel, with the specific aim of protecting U.S military and civilian personnel from being subjected to criminal jurisdiction in respect of certain crimes.
For example, it is generally an established SOFA principle that U.S. courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed by service personnel in the course of their duty or in commission of crimes against other service personnel. In Iraq, no SOFA has been in place and a substantial number of Iraqi parliamentarians are concerned such an agreement would give cover to the U.S. military and the contractors.
If, as the Bush administration now envisages, the U.S. will have a long-term military presence in Iraq, then a SOFA is essential and has to be in place before the UN mandate expires in December otherwise U.S. service members and contractors will have no legal protection from the Iraqi courts.
In February 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates addressed the issue by pointing out that the SOFA for Iraq would be no different from agreements with other nations such as Germany or Japan, as well as many other countries across the globe where U.S. forces were based.
However, he admitted there was still a lot of work to be done before the dynamics of the Iraq SOFA were agreed.
Just when it appeared the Bush administration might have an easy ride on signing off on the agreements, a draft of the Strategic Framework Agreement was leaked to the media. It immediately caused a stir in Iraq, where leading Shiites claimed it went far beyond any agreement the U.S. had with other countries.
They added that the draft document provided no limit on the numbers of U.S. forces that could remain in Iraq or their legal powers in respect to Iraqi citizens. In Washington, the leaked document raised eyebrows among leading Democrats, who said some of its wording promised that the U.S. would be prepared to defend the internal and territorial integrity of Iraq, making it possible the U.S. might have to intervene if a civil war broke out in the future, or if there were border skirmishes between Iraq and its neighbors.
Aside from the merits or otherwise of the proposed "agreements," the planning for a strategic relationship can be seen in light of several key elements in U.S. foreign policy. The building of the largest U.S. embassy in the world in Baghdad indicated sometime ago that the Bush White House saw a major, long-term U.S. commitment to Iraq. That was made clearer with the recent construction of a U.S. military base near the border with Iran, as well as the planning for U.S. bases in other parts of the country in the event of a draw-down of the present U.S. complement of 150,000 service personnel and approximately 100,000 contractors.
Another element in any decision about the future of the U.S. relationship with Iraq is oil, and though that will not be defined within the Strategic Partnership Agreement, there can be little doubt it was on the minds of Vice President Dick Cheney and his advisers. His office has been central to formulating foreign policy as it relates to energy, going back to the early months of the Bush presidency.
Richard Walker is the nom de plume of a former mainstream news producer who now writes for AFP.
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Good to see that the Telegraph of London has picked up on developments I wrote about here in the U.S., where a head of official steam is building behind the perception that there is a troubling relationship between certain childhood vaccines, including MMR (mumps/measles/ rubella), and autistic symptoms and other damage in a subset of particularly vulnerable children. As I have written, this has been prompted by recent U.S. cases in which multiple vaccinations have aggravated an underlying mitochondrial weakness to produce catastrophic effects, leading Dr. Bernardine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health, to tell CBS News:
"I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the [autism link to vaccination] hypothesis as irrational."
In addition, the Telegraph reported this: "The vaccine hypothesis was bolstered recently by a five-year study in monkeys who were given the same vaccinations that American children are routinely given. Last week, Dr. Laura Hewitson, a specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, told the International Meeting for Autism Research in London that in the double-blind placebo-controlled study, 13 vaccinated animals showed increased aggression, impaired cognitive skills and developmental delay. The three unvaccinated animals in the study developed normally."
"There was a significant difference between the two groups," said Hewitson. "The vaccinated group had trouble developing reflexes. . . . They also became more insular and more aggressive. There was an increase in aggressive behavior after they had their MMR vaccines, and they stopped exploring their surroundings as much."
Abnormal brain activity was found in the monkeys, and higher sensitivity to a naturally occurring brain chemical linked to sleeplessness, hallucinations, lack of social skills and a high pain threshold—all symptoms found in children on the autistic spectrum. The monkeys also exhibited abnormalities of the amygdala, the part of the brain which regulates emotions.
"We can't conclude that vaccines cause autism from this study," said Hewitson. "What we can conclude is that the vaccinated monkeys showed significant negative behavioral differences before and after the MMR."
This research, carried out at five U.S. research centers, including The University of California, Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, The University of Kentucky and the Thoughtful House Center for Children, Texas (founded by the man at the eye of this storm, Andrew Wakefield) has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Some suspicious minds may think (however unfairly) that Wakefield's involvement taints it. And it must be stressed that the other American developments involve certain differences from the British childhood vaccination regime, including multiple jabs in the course of one day and the use of mercury-based preservatives.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that the suspicion gathering momentum in the U.S., that a vaccine schedule including MMR may trigger a catastrophic reaction in both brain and gut among a small proportion of children who are vulnerable, is almost exactly the claim made by Wakefield, now fighting for his professional life before the General Medical Register for making it—in the teeth of a medical establishment in Britain that states categorically there is no truth in it whatsoever.
Melanie Phillips is an acclaimed and controversial columnist for London's Daily Mail. Educated at Oxford, she won the Orwell Prize for journalism 1996. She is the author of All Must Have Prizes and other books. Her website, which collects many of her essays, is www.melaniephillips.com. Please take a look. This article was edited for length.
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It's certainly a provocative and surprising finding - almost to the point of being unbelievable. A joint U.S.-Danish team has reported that young children born to mothers who had used cell phones during pregnancy were more likely to have behavioral disorders, such as hyperactivity and emotional problems.
Using a phone as little as two or three times a day during pregnancy was enough to trigger behavioral issues. The incidence was up to 80% higher among those children who had also used cell phones by the age of seven. The survey, carried out in 1005-06, found that 30% of Danish seven-years-olds were already using a cell phone, though less than 1% for more than one hour a week.
These new results will appear in the July issue of Epidemiology. An electronic copy of the aper has already been posted on the Internet.
What is far from clear is what type of radiation exposure,
if any, the fetuses actually received. As the researchers them
selves concede, "The exposure reaching the fetus (either
during conversation of when the phone is in standby mode) is likely
to be extremely low." An alternative explanation is that
the cell phone radiation caused biochemical changes in the mother
which then affected the fetus. The team notes that the vast majority
of the mothers "carried their cell phones in a bag during
their pregnancy" rather then on their bodies. Very few of
them used a hands-free set.
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Given the fact that just about everything you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream, it is interesting that there is a complete lack of regulation of cancer-causing ingredients in sin care products. There are over 150 toxic cancer-causing ingredients currently used in cosmetic products alone. According to federal law, products containing cancer-causing substances should carry a written warning. But the FDA does not enforce this law with cosmetics or personal care products. Consumers are left to purchase these products at their own risk, and as a result they are being harmed by them.
Let's consider a product that's harming tens of millions of people every day in America alone: sunscreen. Sunscreen products do not block ultraviolet radiation very well unless you apply multiple coats, but there has been a flurry of research lately on the harm caused by sunscreen chemicals. These chemicals actually promote skin cancer.
The skin is not the only organ that is harmed by sunscreen chemicals. Those chemicals are absorbed by the skin, circulate throughout the body and end up harming the liver, the organ responsible for neutralizing chemicals in the body. The continued use of sunscreen products - especially those with fragrance in them - will inevitably harm the liver and can lead to organ failure or liver cancer.
Sunscreen is not the only harmful product people put on their skin; consider perfume and cologne. In an effort to smell attractive to others, consumers routinely put toxic chemicals on their bodies that come out of beautifully designed glass bottles. Most people do not realize that these fragrances are often made from toxic substances that are known to cause cancer; the perfume industry gets away with murder. This includes everything from skin cream to moisturizing lotion, not to mention shower soaps and other cleaning products with added fragrance. Unless you are buying the natural forms of these products from truly organic companies, there is no doubt that you are applying a bewildering array of harmful chemicals to your skin. And when you put them on your skin, they are absorbed directly into your bloodstream.
This is partly why consumers in Western society have hundreds
of different synthetic chemicals lodged in their livers, hearts,
brains and other organs. If you keep exposing your body to these
chemicals, they will keep accumulating.
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AFP's Jack Phillips has reported the suppressed medical knowledge that a huge percentage of people with mental problems suffer from nutritional deficiencies, especially the B vitamins, particularly B3 (niacin). It is inexpensive, more effective than generally dangerous pharmaceuticals - and certainly without the horrible side effects. (See AFP's Whole Body Health, Issue 49/50, Dec. 3 & 10, 2007.)
Niacin is essential for many things besides mental health. Niacin helps lower blood pressure by dilating blood vessels. Niacin decreases levels of "bad Cholesterol," lipoprotein (a), and fibrinogen, which can reduce the risk of heart disease. Most people need more hydrogen chloride, and you need niacin to produce it - but it could cause problems for folks with ulcers. It helps relieve claudication (leg cramps). If there were no niacin deficiencies sales of shelves of OTC (over the counter) "remedies" and dangerous prescription pharmaceuticals, such as statins and SSRIs, would dry up. However even niacin can have side effects.
Most people experience skin flushing and a warm sensation, especially of the face, neck, and ears, when they take niacin. It can be mild or feel like sunburn. In some studies up to half of the participants stopped therapy because of this. Overdosing (daily doses of over 500-3,000 mg) may cause liver toxicity.
Perhaps most importantly, niacin also can increase homocysteine levels. AFP has reported the dangers of homocysteine first revealed by Dr. Klmer McCully for many years. High blood levels of homocysteine are directly related to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's and some cancers. Nevertheless, trials going back to the 1970s show that supplementation with niacin reduces heart disease-related mortality. Apparently, the lipid-modulating effects of niacin are more important than its effects on homocysteine levels.
"We know that people with Alzheimer's have high blood levels of homocysteine. And the higher the homocysteine, the greater the brain damage," says Dr. Paul Aisen of Georgetown University, lead researcher.
So how do we enjoy the benefits of niacin without increasing our risk from homocysteine? The good news is you can protect yourself from the toxic effects of homocysteine by taking vitamin B6, folic acid and vitamin B12. Inexpensive formulations will include TMG (trimethylglycine), the biochemical form of betaine.
"We now know that folate together with B6 and B12 lowers homocysteine levels better than any one B vitamin by itself," says Katherine Tucker, Ph.D., nutrition epidemiologist at Tufts University in Boston.
Freelance health writer Ralph Forbes can be reached at justrite@ipa.net.
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Aspartame is one of the most controversial food additives in history. Aspartame, a combination of two amino acids (phenylalanine and aspartic acid), is sold commercially under names like Nutrasweet, Equal and Candereal, and can be found in more than 5,000 foods, including sodas, chewing gum, tabletop sweeteners, diet and diabetic foods, breakfast cereals, jams, sweets, vitamins, and prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Approximately 2/3 of the adult population and 1/3 of children regularly ingest this artificial sweetener. Aspartame was approved as a food additive by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981, but the debate about its safety continues.
Aspartame was discovered by a chemist working at the pharmaceutical manufacturer GD Searle in December 1965. Searle began safety tests for FDA approval in 1967. The first study conducted by Dr. Harry Waisman, director of the University of Wisconsin's Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Laboratory of Mental Retardation Research and a respected expert in the toxicity of phenylalanine, studied the effects of aspartame on primates.. Of seven monkeys fed aspartame mixed with milk, one died and five others had grand mal epileptic seizures. Dr. Hohn Olney, professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine informed Searle in 1971 that his studies show that aspartic acid, one of the main components of aspartame, causes "holes" in the brains of infant mice. This is confirmed by one of Searle's own researchers, Ann Reynolds.
In spite of negative results, n 1973 Searle applied for FDA approval and submitted studies claiming aspartame to be safe, with no mention of the dead monkey or the holes in the brains of the mice. From 1973 to the present numerous studies by independent researchers have found not only that aspartame is unsafe but that Searle's research has been faulty, at best. An FDA task force concluded in a 1976 report that they found "faulty and fraudulent product testing, knowingly misrepresented product testing, knowingly misrepresented and manipulated test data and instances of irrelevant animal research in all the products reviewed." FDA commissioner Dr. Alexander Schmidt stated: "Searle's studies were incredibly sloppy science. What we discovered was reprehensible." But this did not stop Searle from continuing to try to push aspartame through the FDA approval process.
In 1977, for the first time in the FDA's history, it requested a criminal investigation of a manufacturer. The FDA chief counsel Richard Merrill formally requested the U.S. Attorney's office to begin grand jury proceeding against Searle. While the grand jury investigation was under way, Sidley & Austin, the law firm representing Searle, began recruitment negotiations with Samuel Skinner, the U.S. attorney in charge of the investigation. Skinner removed himself from the investigation, and was hired by Searle's law firm six months later. Other conflicts of interest have followed including the hiring of Donald Rumsfeld who used political favors to help push through approval of aspartame. In 1981, as a member of the Reagan transition team, Rumsfeld was instrumental in promoting Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to the post of FDA commissioner. Hayes then ignored the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and gave initial approval for aspartame to be used in dry products.
The FDA website gives aspartame only two short paragraphs and states: "To date, FDA has not determined any consistent pattern of symptoms that can be attributed to the use of aspartame, nor is the agency aware of any recent studies that clearly show safety problems." Yet, an April, 1995 report by the Department of Health and Human Services reports that the FDA received almost 10,000 complaints attributed to aspartame, enumerating 92 different side effects. These include: headache, dizziness, change in mood, vomiting, abdominal pain cramps, change in vision, diarrhea, seizures and convulsions, memory loss and fatigue, to name just the top ten.
A quick search on "aspartame" on the website will provide a resercher with a long list of articles about the health effects of aspartame. One of these articles is "Life-Span Exposure to Low Doses of Aspartame Beginning During Prenatal Life Increases cancer Effects in Rats," by Morando Soffritti, Fiorella Belppoggi et al. in Environmental Health Perspective, Sept. 2007; 115(9): 1293-1297. This article is the result of a second study to better quantify the carcinogenic risk of aspartame. The researchers concluded that the results of the study confirmed and reinforced the first experimental demonstration of aspartame's "multipotential carcinogenicity at the dose close to the acceptable daily intake for humans. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that when lifespan exposure to aspartame begins during fetal life, it carcinogenic effects are increased.
Elaine Sullivan is health editor for the independent Rock
Creek Free Press in Washington, D.C. (www.rockcreekfreepress.com)
Also see "Aspartame: The Shocking Story of the World's Bestselling
‘Sweetener,' " The Ecologist, by Pat Thomas, Sept. 2005.
This article was edited for length. See www.rockcreekfreepress.com/index-old.html
for the full article.
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One of the biggest issues I deal with among men is prostate problems. Whether it's benign enlargement (BPH) or cancer, every male patient I see either has one of these problems or wants to prevent it. That's because the former causes urinary obstruction. The latter can kill and hits about one in seven American men. The good news is there are easy ways to prevent both of them.
You probably already know that the plant nutrient lycopene is great for your prostate. But you can help it fight prostate problems even better.
By itself, lycopene can reduce PSA scores in men with BPH. But if you eat lots of onions and garlic along with the lycopene, you'll dramatically lower your risk of developing BPH in the first place.
In a recent study, researchers found that those eating the most onions and garlic had a significantly reduced risk of BPH. Compared to those who didn't eat any onions or garlic, those who ate them regularly saw their risk go down by 59% and 28% respectively. The researchers found that eating the two together frequently will lower your risk by 35%.
And regarding cancer, a lab study found that adding lutein to lycopene (two colorful carotenoids) makes it an even better cancer preventive. The researchers incubated cancer cells with lycopene and lutein. They discovered the combination inhibited the growth of the cells. These carotenoids have the combined ability to reduce the incidence of BPH and slow cancer growth.
If you don't like tomatoes, a prominent source of lycopene,
then you can take the supplement Lye-O- Mato. It's available at
most health food stores and on the Internet. Nature's Bounty,
Healthy Origins and Carotec, Inc., among others, also offer lycopene
supplements. Lycopene also occurs in guavas, apricots, watermelon
and papaya. And you can take lutein and garlic in capsule form.
But the best way to get all of these nutrients is to eat a diet
heavy in fruits and veggies. Start now before the trouble hits.
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An FDA advisory panel has recommended even stronger warnings on two influenza drugs after reviewing evidence linking them to neurological and psychiatric problems that have led to deaths in some cases. The current warning on Roche Laboratories' Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) urges close monitoring of flu patients, particularly children for "increased risk of self injury and confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu." the panel recommended that this warning be strengthened to say that "in some cases, these behaviors resulted in serious injuries, including death, in adult and pediatric patients."
The label of Glaxo SmithKline's Relenza (generic name Zanamivir), the panel said, should be strengthened to mention "reports of hallucinations, delirium and abnormal behavior." The panel said that both labels should mention that some flu patients not taking the drugs have also experienced such symptoms.
There have been no reported deaths from Tamiflu in the United States, but in Japan, where the drug is much more widely used, at least 14 deaths have been reported. Five children under the age of 17 died after "falling from windows or balconies or running into traffic," according to the FDA. According to Roche, two people under the age of 21 died from a brain infection, and seven deaths from neuropsychiatric symptoms have also been attributed to use of the drug by adults.
Since Tamiflu's introduction in 1999, a total of 48 million prescriptions have been written, 75% of them in Japan. According to Roche, 1,745 of 1,808 reports of side effects came from Japan.
The FDA has noted that people in Japan appear to be more likely to report side effects than people in the United States.
In March, Japan issued a warning against prescribing Tamiflu to people between ages 10 to 19, and South Korea followed suit a month later with a warning against use by teenagers.
Author and journalist Mike Adams is with NewsTarget.com, an
Internet site focused on health, wellness and medicine. This article
first appeared there. To subscribe to Mike's email newsletter,
please go to www.NaturalNews.com/Feedback.html.
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In some patients with kidney problems, a common dye used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests may lead to an incurable and potentially fatal disease that causes skin to turn hard and immobile.
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is a poorly understood medical condition in which collagen builds up in the skin and makes it hard and immobile, making it come to resemble marble. NSF can also cause collagen to build up in the heart, longs and liver, with potentially fatal consequences.
More than 95% of NSF cases are known to have occurred within three months of a patient being exposed to dyes made with a magnetic ion of gadolinium. Gadolinium dyes are used in MRIs because they bind to specific tissues, increasing the contrast and usefulness of the images.
In May, the FDA asked for a black box warning on all gadolinium-based products, warning that a single exposure may be enough to cause NSF in kidney patients. The FDA advised kidney patients undergoing MRIs to request that their physicians not use contrasting dyes in the exam unless it is absolutely necessary.
A black box warning is the strongest warning the FDA can issue without banning a product. However, the FDA has approved no other dyes for use in multipurpose MRIs; only two other dyes are approved for certain liver problems.
According to Shawn E. Cowper, a dermatologic pathologist at Yale University who first identified NSF, as many as one in 20 kidney patients could be at risk if exposed to gadolinium.
"I don't think there's been a day in the last, probably, two years that's gone by that I haven't cried at least once about this," said Sarah Fracella, who developed NSF after receiving an MRI.
Due to the hardening of her skin, Fracella has trouble sitting
or walking, and is unable to open bottles. "It's been the
hardest thing I've ever had to deal with.
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Now surely popping something in the microwave at home couldn't hurt you even if there was no nutrition left in it, right? Wouldn't they warn us or ban microwave ovens if eating food cooked in them was a major health threat? Well, the data may shock you, but here are the facts. This data has confirmed just about all my suspicions. I believe that the general obesity in this country, the lack of energy and increased cancer along with all the new "designer diseases" i.e. erectile dysfunction etc. can be traced in part to our habit of using microwave ovens as the "lazy man's way out of a little extra work."
The following is a summary of Russian investigations published by the Atlantis Rising Educational Center in Portland, Oregon.
Carcinogen were formed in virtually all foods tested. No test food was subjected to more microwaving than necessary to accomplish the purpose, I.e., cooking, thawing, or heating to ensure sanitary ingestion.
Here's a summary of some of the results:
Microwaving prepared meats sufficiently to ensure sanitary
ingestion caused formation of d-nitrosodiethanolamines,a well-known
carcinogen.
Microwaving milk and cereal grains converted some of their amino
acids into carcinogens.
Thawing frozen fruits converted their glucoside and galactoside
containing fractions into carcinogens.
Very short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted
their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants, especially
root vegetables.
All microwave ovens contain a magnetron which is a tube in which electrons are affected by magnetic and electric fields. They produce micro wavelength radiation at about 2450 megahertz (MHz) or 2.45 gigahertz (GHz). This microwave radiation interacts with the molecules in food. The wave energy inside the oven changes polarity from positive to negative with each cycle of the wave. These changes of polarity happen millions of times every second. Food molecules (especially the molecules of water) have a positive and negative end just like a magnet has a north and a south pole.
As these microwaves generated from the megnetron bombard the food, they cause the polar molecules to rotate at the same frequency millions of times a second. This is major agitation. (Much less agitation is used in pharmaceutical drug labs to separate or isolate molecules in the making of just about anything they want.) This agitation creates the molecular friction, which heats up the food.
The friction also causes substantial damage to the surrounding molecules, often tearing them apart or forcefully deforming them. The scientific name for this deformation is "structural isomerism."
Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven (Raum & Zelt, 1992), states: "Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens.
"One short-term study found significant and disturbing changes in the blood of individual consuming microwaved milk and vegetables.
"Eight volunteers ate various combinations of the same foods cooked different ways. All foods that were processed through the microwave ovens caused change in the blood of the volunteers. Hemoglobin levels decreased and overall white cell levels and cholesterol levels increased. Lymphocytes decreased. Luminescent (light-emitting) bacteria were employed to detect energetic changes in the blood.
"Significant increases were found in the luminescence of these bacteria when exposed to blood serum obtained after the consumption of microwaved food."
In Dr. Lita Lee's book, Health Effects of Microwave Radiation - Microwave Ovens, and in the March aand September, 1991 editions of Earthletter, she stated that every microwave oven leaks electromagnetic radiation, harms food and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products. Further research summarized in this article reveals that microwave ovens are far more harmful than previously imagined.
It makes absolutely no sense to me that our FDA is "looking out for us" and yet has not banned perhaps the worst cancer producing machines in history.
Christopher Gussa is a certified traditional Chinese medicine
practitioner and a certified clinal herbalist. Chris founded Plant
Cures, Inc. where they handcraft over 150 "serious herbal
medicine products" for specific disorders all created as
a result of successful clinical application. Their products are
for both serious diseases and achieving powerful tonic health.
Please visit Plant Cures at www.plantcures.com
or call 1-800-979-2027.
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More than 50 AFP readers, protesting at the entrance to the Westfields Marriott, forced a Secret Service agent to abandon efforts to force them to leave their posts.
The embarrassed agent left the scene. The self-proclaimed "owner," Bill Keech, Jr., was forced to accept protesters with a three-step move by three people off "private property."
When Fairfax police finished talking to the protesters about the First Amendment, they laughed and told them to continue. "That's what America is all about," one said. Police remained, because Bilderberg paid the county for "protection."
Bilderberg also had platoons of private security, Secret Service and FBI agents. Moments later, the Secret Service man appeared, obvious because of his earplug and gun-bulge in his coat. He talked privately with police, who showed no reaction. Keech joined the conversation. Keech and the Secret Service agent approached the protesters, with Fairfax police behind them. Keech asked to speak privately with the "leader." All protesters stepped forward, yelling "I'm the leader!" To the baffled Keech, they shouted an explanation: "We're all leaders."
Protesters asked: How does Keech "own" a sidewalk? If so, it remains a public right-of-way because it is constantly used by pedestrians—at least a "prescriptive right," as lawyers would argue.
"The Fairfax County police had no problem with us until the (Secret Service agent) came along." Do the police support you now?" protesters demanded. Police were silent. The Secret Service man left. Keech caved. Protesters continued for four days. Protesters gave local police a cheering salute.
If not for these brave, patriotic protesters, Bilderberg would not have yielded an inch on information about its secret meeting. Protesters patrolled from sunrise until long after dark. Alex Jones's booming voice, enhanced by a megaphone, ridiculed Bilderberg non-stop. Three other guys with megaphones joined at night and chanted good-natured insults in unison. Inside the resort, Bilderberg ears were pierced. Madeleine Albright, secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, was not on Bilderberg's participant's list, but was observed rolling in. When she stepped out of her limo, protesters shouted her name. She screamed in panic and was helped into the resort.
Many people driving by shouted support with thumbs-up and friendly waves. Of the hundreds observed, only two, a Bilderberg goon and a carload of apparently private citizens, made vulgar gestures and shouted obscenities.
Many of the citizens came back to the protests, bringing large quantities of bottled water for the demonstrators. One brought 12 watermelons. A lawn chair was brought to Tucker, which made his legs (the only part of him that is 73 years old) last longer.
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AFP grilled former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather and former CNN Commentator Catherine Crier, among others, about the Bilderberg Group during the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 6-8. Bilderberg was meeting in Chantilly, Va. at the same time.
Rather denied even having heard of the Bilderberg Group when asked about this matter by AFP during a June 7 press conference attended by 25 other reporters. Despite gestures from a moderator to keep the questions for Rather brief, AFP pressed on to concisely describe Bilderberg to Rather as the very thing he had just mentioned when he answered a previous question and noted that media representatives often are corrupted by rubbing elbows with the corporate elite.
Bilderberg meetings have been going on for decades, AFP informed Rather. Rather only speculated that perhaps media members who attend elite gatherings like Bilderberg might glean some useful information or establish worthwhile connections, but he acknowledged that if the decisions that attendees make at such gatherings remain secret, that is a problem. He would not elaborate.
Massachusetts reporter Michelle Fahey of Spare Change, while exiting this press conference, felt that Rather was not being honest when he claimed he has never heard of Bilderberg. Anthony Jasa of infowars.com, who filmed AFP's exchange with Rather, said he did not buy it either.
AFP also raised the specter of Bilderberg at a spirited, more crowded panel discussion that included Ms. Crier and Jeff Cohen, founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College.
Crier, whose prior news jobs included positions at Fox News and ABC, did not raise her hand when she and the other panelists were asked during the discussion whether they had at least heard of the Bilderberg Group. Cohen, however, raised his hand. He surmised that the upper-crust corporate interests at Bilderberg hold so much control over major-media advertising that they probably would threaten to pull the financial plug if any major U.S. media were to consider reporting on the Bilderberg meetings.
Afterwards, Crier—a former Texas judge considered to be an inquisitive reporter—commented to AFP that she may look into the Bilderberg matter.
Cohen, the only conference participant questioned by AFP who openly acknowledged the Bilderbergers, told independent writer Sheila Casey of Rock Creek Free Press that he did not believe that the 9-11 tragedy was an inside job, having heard a debate between producers of the popular independent documentary Loose Change and two Popular Mechanics writers.
Casey demanded to know why the "progressive media" represented at the Minneapolis conference—which postures as a real alternative to the corporate press—still seems to ape the corporate media in ignoring various compelling insights on what really happened on 9-11-01, thereby towing the government line by default. She did not get a solid answer to that question.
AFP also questioned well-known television personality and documentary news maker Phil Donahue on the issues of depleted uranium (DU) and 9-11 after a showing of his new film, Body of War, which documents the life of Kansas City soldier Tomas Young. The young man was shot just five weeks into his Army service in Iraq; an AK-47 bullet severed his spine and paralyzed him from the chest down. He had ventured to the Mideast to "kick some butt" after 9-11.
Donahue said he had heard of the DU issue but indicated that it was beyond the scope of his inquiry. He brusquely thanked this reporter for bringing it to his attention, after DU was basically described to him as an armor-piercing weapons component that leaves radioactive aerosols, residues and fragments and sickens combatants and non-combatants alike, and that it is strongly implicated as a common factor in causing various mysterious illnesses in soldiers whose primary wounds (from bullets, shrapnel, etc.) do not always explain all their symptoms.
As for looking into explanations besides the government's tale about the events of 9-11-01, Donahue—whose recent Public Television appearances with PBS fixture Bill Moyers showed him as a determined critic of the Bush regime for fooling America into the current war on the basis of lies—told AFP that looking into other 9-11 explanations is wasteful.
"This kind of rabbit-chasing gives fodder to the war-makers," Donahue remarked, after 9-11 researcher and activist Kevin Barrett told him that a growing number of professors and retired military and intelligence personnel doubt the government's conspiracy theory that 19 "flying Muslims" with box cutters commandeered airliners with such murderous precision.
"I don't believe we should waste our time when people are coming home in pine boxes," Donahue added, seeming to dismiss the idea of examining the actual basis of why the soldier he profiled in his film went to war in the first place.
Even impeachment was not an option to Donahue, who, despite his strong misgivings about the current Oval Office regime, nevertheless believes it's too late and unwise to impeach the Grand Decider.
"If you impeach this president, you're going to earn even greater wrath," Donahue cautioned, even as some New Hampshire state Democrats continue pushing House Resolution 24 to urge the U.S. Congress to impeach Bush as a matter of principle for the same war-related reasons that Donahue cited.
This media reform conference hit on many valid concerns, cited
disturbing examples of media malpractice and provided insight
on how regulatory improvements could curb consolidation. Independent
media is making a difference, but there was still considerable
reluctance among the high profile attendees and several others
to tackle three of the most fundamental issues of the day that
are consistently covered by AFP: the Bilderbergers, depleted uranium
and alternative views of 9-11. Impeachment and the proposed North
American Union also seemed to be
non-issues in terms of panel topics, although the Zionist-Israeli
lobby's meddling in U.S. affairs was acknowledged by the Cohen-Crier
panel.
"Sadly, the Fourth Estate has become the fifth column of democracy, colluding with the powers that be," Moyers stated in his speech at the conference, unwittingly describing the big media-Bilderberg collaboration. He added that U.S. media employment is at a 15-year low and conglomerate owners such as Sam Zell of the Tribune Company want to cut up to 500 pages a week out of the many newspapers the company owns, fire reporters and editors, and rely instead on canned statistics, lists and charts.
Moyers encouraged attendees to forge ahead and break the big media monopoly.
Moyers, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein and others outlined several good points and strategies, such as battling FCC regulations that allow entire media markets (radio, TV, newspapers) to be gobbled up by single owners. Keeping the internet free and independent also was trumpeted.
But AFP detected uninterest among those leading the media reform movement in tackling specific hot-button issues such as Bilderberg that might risk their social standing or career status. Others in the movement may not share this reluctance, but until they correct this flaw, genuine media reform may prove elusive.
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Bilderberg intensely discussed an issue crucial to all inhabitants on Earth: Is it time to end the spiraling price of oil? Bilderberg started it and Bilderberg can end it. In 2005, when oil cost $40 a barrel, Bilderberg called for the price to gradually rise to $150 (AFP, May 25, 2005).
Other major topics included: Would the United States get help from Europe if it attacks Iran? How should Bilderberg deal with the Ron Paul Revolution?
This is related to the problems of gaining approval of "free" trade agreements to establish an "American Union" throughout the Western Hemisphere because of Paul's "nationalism," an obscene word in the Bilderberg dictionary.
If Bilderberg halts the rise in oil prices, it will be for selfish reasons of profit, not tender concern for one billion people—one-seventh of the Earth's population—left starving by soaring oil prices.
"Are we reaching the point of diminishing returns?" a speaker asked.
"People who switch from gas hogs to fuel-efficient, small cars are not going to do an instant about-face. And those who convert to public transportation, many of them, are going to stick with the train or bus. We have seen many middle-class families, who grudgingly accepted $3 a gallon, choose to stay home instead of driving to the beaches or mountains.
They're calling them ‘staycations.' We all take the long view of history. Will forcing gasoline prices even higher increase profits in the long term? Ford has already shut down production of big cars and has many SUV types it can't give away. Ford will not retool "overnight." (Even as he spoke, oil prices reached another record high of more than $139 a barrel and a gallon of regular gas jumped, on average, above $4.)
One pointed out that Europeans have long paid much more for gasoline, up to $10 a gallon. "But we're dealing with Americans here and they're not only our largest consumer, but a different breed of cat in many ways," the speaker responded to light laughter. There was more nattering but no direct dissent from his argument, offering hope that Bilderberg will act to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
Most European and some U.S. Bilderberg boys expressed hope
that President Bush will not attack Iran during his final months
in office, although the administration's propaganda machine is
trying to condition the
public mind to accept another war. Defense Secretary Robert Gates
was not on Bilderberg's official list of participants, but he
was positively identified arriving on Friday, June 6.
Gates gave the usual pitch about Iran having a nuclear potential and being a "threat" to all mankind. Gates noted that Shaul Mofaz, Israel's former defense minister and a candidate for the job of prime minister, told the Hebrew-language newspaper Yediot Ahronot that Israel will attack Iran if Tehran did not abandon its nuclear weapons program.
"Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable," Mofawz said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also asked for an "understanding" of why Bush "can't take anything (war) off the table when dealing with Iran."
The Europeans were polite but firmly opposed an invasion. Wage a war for Israel? Can't we care even a little bit about the plight of Palestinians in the occupied lands (referring to the wanton killings of children and civilian women and men)? Where does Iran keep nuclear weapons, in Saddam Hussein's tomb? Gates and Miss Rice were told the United States would "fly solo" in attacking Iran and there would be no help from NATO or European countries. At that same time, Iraq and Iran were having friendly talks on the subject of mutual security.
Ron Paul, the only presidential candidate who would immediately withdraw U.S. troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is feared and hated by Bilderberg for other reasons as well. First, Paul would bring troops home from 130 "peacekeeping" missions and use them to protect America's borders. But there is much more about Paul that upsets Bilderberg boys and their brother group, the Trilateral Commission, which met in Washington (AFP, May 12, 2008).
While Bilderberg is confidant it can control the presumed major-party candidates, Sens. John McCain (RAriz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), they are concerned about the "damage" Paul will inflict on the long-term goal of world government. The fact that the Ron Paul Revolution is giving the young generation a "political education" that will go beyond the presidential campaign and into the years ahead strikes fear and loathing in Bilderberg hearts. Even as they were being denounced, young Ron Paul supporters were protesting Bilderberg outside the closed gates of the posh Westfields Marriott near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va.
Young supporters of Ron Paul were heavily represented among more than 100 patriots at the palace gate. It was in response to this gathering, which included megaphones, TV and broadcast cameras, that Bilderberg felt pressured into coughing up its normally secret list of participants and agenda.
But the fear that Paul is creating new generations who will fight for national sovereignty and against the New World Order has Bilderberg upset. Bilderberg is demanding that nations in the Western Hemisphere "pool their sovereignty" and create an "American Union." It is to start with a "North America Free Trade Zone" that would eliminate borders between the United States, Mexico and Canada. (Bilderberg is behind on this project; in the mid-1990s they were confident it would be accomplished by the year 2000.)
Bilderberg's discussion of "cyber terrorism" raised the ominous prospect of babies having microchips inserted into their bodies. "Terrorists" are recruiting "young, white men with blonde hair and blue eyes" to escape detection before they bomb planes and ground sites, one said. Another said the idea is "marketable" because soon people throughout the world would be able to board airplanes and pass through ground security quickly because the chips would immediately identify terrorist threats.
But, for this reason, the chips would have all your personal data to be instantly compared at a global data bank. The chip will also be "marketed" as a safety valve. Suppose, for example, you are struck by a car and taken to the hospital unconscious and in critical condition. Your microchip will provide the physician with critical, life-saving information, such as any prescription medications you are taking and your complete medical history. You may survive to live under the constant gaze of Big Brother.
Jim Tucker is AFP's editor. He is an internationally recognized expert on Bilderberg and secret globalist organizations. His book, Bilderberg Diary is available from AFP for $18. Send request to AFP, 645 PennsylvaniaAvenue SE, #100, Washington, D.C. 20003.
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REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-Ohio) used a parliamentary maneuver to force a floor vote on his 35 articles of impeachment against the administration. But, led by his own party's leadership, the issue was referred to the Judiciary Committee, where it will probably die. (Look for listing of voters next week.)
Kucinich introduced his articles as a "privileged resolution," which requires the House to act on it within two legislative days. Any member can offer a privileged resolution, but it is usually done only by party leaders.
On introducing his resolution on the evening of June 9, Kucinich insisted on reading all 35 articles into the Congressional Record, a process that took nearly five hours.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) suggested that engaging in a lengthy debate over impeaching Bush in the waning days of his presidency is not a productive use of House time.
The resolution was sent to committee on a 251-166 vote. Reaction to the Democrats' caving in was harsh and swift:
"Democrats exposed themselves as sniveling cowards by running away from this issue," said Vince Ryan, a columnist for American Free Press and head of its READERSHIP COUNCIL.
"The moment called for statesmanship, regardless of the political impact. But Democrats put their own selfish, political interests ahead of the nation whose Constitution they are sworn to protect," Ryan said.
"They ducked an impeachment fight to keep it off their records," Ryan said. "Let's force the wimps to pursue impeachment by each of us calling our own congressman to ask whether or not he supports impeachment. Let him know that this will be on your mind when you vote in November."
"We all know the Democrats who control the Congress do not have the courage to pursue articles of impeachment against Bush," Joseph Palermo wrote in The Huffington Post.
"They long ago made a cynical political calculation that to do so would only bring the opprobrium of the right and its allies and make the pivotal elections in 2008 more difficult for Democrats. But it is the wrong call because the republic cannot bear for long a succession of imperial presidents who build on the Bush record to upset the balance of constitutional powers permanently. We may be looking back at the congressional acquiescence in Bush's crimes as a step toward fascism in this country," he said.
"Kucinich has done the country an enormous service with this attempt to keep the record straight about this horrible ‘Decider,'" he said. "I can appreciate the Democrats' political hesitation, but I don't agree with it. The key question is this: If George W. Bush does not deserve to be impeached, then what does a president have to do to be impeached?"
Critics say that unless there is impeachment by the House and a conviction by the Senate, the Bush "crimes" will establish a precedent for future presidents.
"In his conduct while president, Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office and, to the best of his ability, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution . . . has, both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the vice president, illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda program to manufacture a false cause for a war against Iraq," Kucinich read from his articles.
Rep. Kucinich deserves our thanks for trying to do the right thing, even though is was not politically expedient. If there had been a few more spines in the House, perhaps America could have finally been rid of the "Dangerous Duo" before they plunge America into another disastrous foreign bloodbath.
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RON PAUL HAS BOOKED the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena near the site of the Republican Convention where he will hold a rival rally. The arena seats 11,000.
There is a growing surge of people out there just craving" for a return "to traditional American government, limited government that places personal liberty first and places an emphasis on personal responsibility and essentially gets out of the way after that," spokesman Jesse Benton told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"The buzz we get from supporters is that they are very eager to come to the GOP Convention in St. Paul and very eager to send a strong message."
McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky declined comment. Paul has won 35 convention delegates, but was not invited to speak in St. Paul because he refuses to endorse McCain, according to his campaign.
Paul's plan to stage his own event is bad news for McCain, said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College.
"Conventions are about demonstrating unity and purpose and showcasing the nominee. They are media events made for prime-time TV. Any distraction from the central message of the convention is not helpful," Madonna said.
McCain clinched the nomination on March 4 after gaining enough delegates to reach the 1,191 needed to win. Although Paul conceded in March he'd lost his bid for the White House, he's maintained a scaled-down campaign.
Paul surprised most of the political establishment by raising about $35 million, mostly via the Internet. Paul's Libertarian-leaning views created a following across a broad political spectrum.
Paul has not won any primaries or caucuses, but continued to pick up significant votes in key states such as New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
Jerry Shuster, a political communications expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said Paul's timing for the event is likely to put him in the media spotlight during at least one day of the convention.
Paul's forum probably won't be aimed at hurting the GOP, Shuster said.
"He never seemed to be an open opponent of the Republican Party, but more about what the Republicans need to get back to," Shuster said. "This is a golden opportunity for him to do that. The media is all going to be there so it's just a matter of going down the block to see him. You know he's going to get his 15 minutes on national news."
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National media outlets were abuzz the morning of June 5 with news that Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) had a secret rendezvous the night before, purportedly at the house of Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.). What they failed to mention was that only a few miles away, the most famous clandestine group in the world—the Bilderbergs—were also meeting in Chantilly, Virginia.
Obama's participation in this shadowy confab with Mrs. Clinton should raise eyebrows because we've all been told ad nauseam that the presumptive Democratic nominee represents "change." But is this statement necessarily true?
For starters, the Beltway mansion where he supposedly hunkered down with Mrs. Clinton is owned by Mrs. Feinstein—a member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and frequent Bilderberg attendee in the past. There is also strong evidence brought out in the latest issue of American Free Press that she has profited handsomely from the Iraq War.
But this serendipitous late-night session is only one of many links tying Obama to the New World Order. Suspicions that he was being groomed for a run at the White House became apparent in August 2007—before most Americans even knew who Obama was—when Zbigniew Brzezinski endorsed Obama for president. It should be noted that Obama hadn't even declared that he was running for the Oval Office yet, let alone assembled any type of formal committee.
Brzezinski, of course, is a longtime globalist luminary whose mentor is none other than David Rockefeller. After reading Brzezinski's 1970 book, Between Two Ages, which unabashedly advocates a socialist-style world government, Rockefeller recruited Brzezinski to jointly found the Trilateral Commission with him. Rockefeller then pitched this idea for ‘trilaterlism" at the 1972 meeting of the Bilderbergs in Belgium.
Another one of Brzezinski's influential books, The Grand Chessboard, served as one of the seminal blueprints for events leading up to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, as well as America's current debacle in Iraq. Other documents that advanced this "cause" were prof. Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, the Project for the New American Century's Rebuilding America's Defenses, and Benjamin Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism, where he coined the term "War on Terror."
But Brzezinski's fixation with Eurasia goes much deeper. While acting as Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, Brzezinski admitted many years later that he was responsible for establishing U.S. covert actions that compelled the USSR to invade Afghanistan. He stated, "The secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap . . . the day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: we now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War."
This provocation led to bringing about the Soviet Union's collapse, while also ending the Cold War. On the other hand, according to plan, new "enemies" were created—the Taliban, al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden—all of whom were clandestinely funded for years by the CIA and Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI. Over a million men were ultimately killed during the Afghanistan war, in addition to the fact that a perfect Orwellian enemy was created when Muslims were pitted against Christians—all to Israel's obvious benefit because the United States. would be doing their dirty work for them.
Let there be no doubt that Brzezinski was an integral architect of this "perpetual war," for he theorized in the mid-1990s that the only way American leaders could justify a prolonged war in the Middle East was via a Pearl Harbor-style external threat. Conveniently enough, he also predicted that "Afghan terrorists" would attack the United States (i.e. the 9-11 false flag terror strikes), and that the United States would eventually target Iran for invasion. So far, his crystal ball has been eerily accurate.
Brzezinski's meddling in genocidal wars wasn't limited to the Middle East. He was also an ardent backer of Cambodia's ruthless dictator, Pol Pot, whose Khmer Rouge slaughtered over two million people and buried them in mass graves. When asked about supplying direct military aid to these killers, Brzezinski acknowledged, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. . . . Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could."
Considering his monstrous motives and globalist philosophy, Obama still selected Brzezinski to be his foreign policy "advisor" during his campaign. While giving a policy speech on the Iraq War in September 2007, Obama said that Brzezinski was "one of our most outstanding scholars and thinkers," and that he was "someone I have learned an immense amount from."
Another clue that Obama has accepted the tenets of a one-world government is his sponsorship of the "Global Poverty Act" where the United Nations would directly tax American citizens. He has also selected Susan Rice—a member of the CFR, Trilateral Commission, and Brookings Institute—to be another foreign policy adviser; while Anthony Lake is also a member of his inner circle. Lake is a notable Henry Kissinger protégé and was Bill Clinton's former national security adviser. He was also the man who was instrumental in making policy decisions leading up to the atrocious murder of over 800,000 Rwandans—another inexcusable genocide.
Last but not least, we should all hearken back to the seminal event that placed Obama on the national stage. It occurred in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention where Obama—a recently elected unknown freshman Senator from Illinois—delivered a charismatic keynote speech which electrified the audience. Who was the man responsible for handpicking Obama; the man who literally "made" him, so to speak? It was none other than Yale Skull & Bonesman John Kerry, who ran against fellow Skull & Bonesman George W. Bush in 2004.
Is this the kind of "change" to which Obama keeps referring?
Victor Thorn is a respected book author and columnist from Pennsylvania. His books include 9-11 Exposed and Phantom Flight 93, published by American Free Press and available from First Amendment Books.
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A net-neutrality activist group has uncovered plans for the demise of the free Internet by 2010 in Canada. By 2012, the group says, the trend will be global.
Bell Canada and TELUS, Canada's two largest Internet service providers (ISPs), will begin charging per-site fees on most Internet sites, reports anonymous sources within TELUS.
"It's beyond censorship, it is killing the biggest ecosystem of free expression and freedom of speech that has ever existed," I Power spokesperson Reese Leysen said. I Power was the first group to report on the possible changes.
Bell Canada has not returned calls or emails.
The plans made by the large telecom businesses would change the Internet into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web sites, and must pay to see each individual site beyond a certain point. Subscription browsing would be limited, extra fees would be applied to access out-of-network sites. Many sites would be blocked altogether.
"We had inside sources from bigger companies who gave us the information on how exclusivity deals are being made at this moment between ISPs and big content providers (like TV production studios and major video game publishers) to decide which web sites will be in the ‘standard package' offered to their customers, leaving all the rest of the Internet unreachable unless you pay extra subscription fees per every ‘non-standard' site you visit," Leysen said. "We knew the source to be 100% reliable, but we also knew the story would be highly controversial if we released the information. We did it because we knew that we'd get more official confirmations once we'd come forward with it. And indeed that is what happened. Dylan Pattyn, who is writing the soon-to-be published article for Time Magazine, received confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and TELUS after we released the information."
The plans would in effect be economic censorship, with only the top 100 to 200 sites making the cut in the initial subscription package. Such plans would likely favor major news outlets and suppress smaller news outlets, as the major news outlets would be free (with subscription), and alternative news outlets, like AFP, would incur a fee for every visit.
"The Internet will become a playground for billion-dollar content providers just like television is," said Leysen. "It won't be possible for a few teenagers in their parents' basement to start a small site like E-bay that then grows out to be the next big thing anymore. Right now the Internet belongs to those with the greatest ideas. In the future, it'll belong to those with the biggest budgets."
With plans in Canada uncovered, I Power thinks that companies in the United States and other nations are also planning similar actions.
"By 2012 ISPs all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other' sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet," Leysen said.
Such a subscription plan could possibly restrict free speech far beyond even the current restrictions set by the governments of communist China. Not only would browsing be limited, but privacy would be invaded, as every web site viewed would likely be recorded on a bill in a manner similar to a phone bill.
Why would the ISPs institute such a plan? One word: money.
"This new subscription model is commercially far more beneficial to them than how it is now," Leysen said. "If Fox wants to launch a new television show online, they'll have to pay big money to all major ISPs to ensure that their new show will be offered and pushed in the ‘standard package' of sites/services/channels that people will get through their Internet access. Plus ISPs will also gain extra revenue out of people trying to access the rest of the Internet, as they'll pay extra subscription fees for every web site they visit."
But it's not just the big ISPs that stand to gain.
"Marketing and big budget ‘content-pushing' just doesn't seem to work on the Internet, and this is something that several industries want fixed. ISPs know this and will benefit greatly by fixing this for the marketing and entertainment industry," Leysen said.
The ISPs are said to be confident they can institute such plans through deceptive marketing and fear tactics.
"The Internet will be more and more marketed as a place full of child pornography and other horrible illegal activity in order to get people on their [the ISP's] side once they start restricting it and make it ‘safer,'" Leysen said. "Unless we really make a stand for this and make sure that mainstream media thoroughly covers the issue, the whole thing will be eased in with proper marketing to make sure that most mainstream customers won't make a big deal out of it. They will only realize what was lost long after it's gone."
For more information about Internet freedom: savetheinternet.com
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An estimated 27,000 "ghost prisoners" are currently being held in secret prisons around the world, including ships that have been re-fitted as prison hulks, according to recent reports.
"When you look at Guantanamo Bay, 270 prisoners, roughly . . . are in Guantanamo, but according to the most recent official figures, the United States is currently holding 27,000 secret prisoners around the world," Clive Stafford Smith said to DemocracyNow! in a May 19 interview. "99 percent of these folk are not in Guantanamo Bay."
Smith is a lawyer for 30 of the Guantanamo prisoners, and author of Eight O'clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantanamo Bay. He spoke before Congress on May 20 regarding the prisoners, and works for the UK charity known as Reprieve.
Several known prisons exist in Morocco, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and Iraq. Popular thought was that the prisons in Iraq were for Iraqi war prisoners, but Smith asserted that prisoners are being brought in from other nations so that "annoying people like you—I mean the media—and also annoying people like me—lawyers— away from the prisoners so they can't get any sort of legal rights," Smith said.
The Bush administration said they have not tortured suspected terrorists, but rather used "alternative" interrogation methods that are "tough but legal," a 2006 CNN report said. Smith described one such alternative method: "All they have on him is evidence that they extracted from him after taking him to Morocco and torturing] him with a razor blade to his genitals."
Smith said that his organization identified 32 prison ships, though the U.S. and Britain deny that ships converted into prisons are used in the Indian Ocean to hold people.
"We've got pictures of them in Lisbon Harbor," Smith said, "And this is a huge concern, because the world focus is on Guantanamo Bay, which actually is a diversionary tactic in the whole war on terror or whatever you would like to call it."
Bagram prison in Afghanistan, a prison that made the news in 2002 when two detainees were killed from wounds inflicted during torture, holds an estimated 680 prisoners.
May 17 the U.S. announced plans to build a 40-acre prison extension to the Bagram facility that will hold up to 1,100 prisoners. The bill for the new prison is estimated at $60 million.
Mike Finch is a reporter and intern for American Free Press. Mike has a Master's Degree in journalism and is working on his PhD. in communications.
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Ron Paul's formal end to his presidential campaign leaves him more free time to do what scares the Establishment most: educate rising generations of young Americans on the Constitution. Fear that new generations of educated Americans will end globalization and save national sovereignty strikes fear into the hearts of such elites as Bilderberg (AFP June 23, 2008).
Response to his campaign "overwhelmed me," Paul said in his formal withdrawal. "More Americans believe in liberty and the Constitution than I ever imagined. . . . It is time now to take the energy this campaign has awakened and channel it into long-term efforts to take back our country. We have some exciting plans and projects to move the revolution forward. I will work until my last breath on behalf of this great message."
Paul's exit came on a high note. Only a week earlier, The Los Angeles Times, certainly a mainstream publication, surprisingly described Paul as a true conservative alternative to McCain's candidacy who "looks to do more than merely show up at the door."
"Largely under the radar of most people," reported the Times, "the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September. They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention to . . . Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party."
What the Times described is precisely what the party elite feared so much. Their chosen candidate is so weak they cannot chance a public showdown on the convention floor. Paul supporters are eager to help carry the message and protect the messenger. Said Florida organizer and activist Henry Morgan, "We can put the militia around his house and provide a private bodyguard for every one of his grandchildren, if necessary."
"He mustn't quit now," said Carol Asher of Idaho. "He has a verbal contract with a few million of us." Ms. Asher said several more delegates are sure to come from the Montana state convention, another Ron Paul stronghold.
Janet Lee reported from the Washington state convention earlier that the parking lot was swamped with Ron Paul signs and only two were visible for McCain. The Paulites outdid the McCainiacs on the convention floor with a count of 685 people, where McCain had only 618, yet the McCain chairman conveniently refused to do a vote count.
Evidence of vote fraud carried out against the Paul campaign continues as Rene Holaday pointed out: I was an elected state delegate for Ron Paul, and was supposed to be put on the ballot for the National Convention. I sent in my paperwork and my fee to the Washington State Republican Party, but my name wasn't on that list, and neither were many other Ron Paul supporters from my district. The chairman said they must have been lost, if we did in fact send them. They told us they would put our names on the list if we had our receipts of mailing and proof of payment with us. Most of us were blind-sided by that tactic, and of course, we didn't have those receipts with us, as they were sent in almost two months prior to the event. So I stood up and asked the chairman if it was the official statement of the Republican Party, that all they had to do to keep Ron Paul delegates from going to the National Convention was to throw away or lose the delegates paperwork? And the chairman said, ‘Yes.' I was so shocked I stated, ‘Are you really sure that is the official statement from the Republican Party—that all you have to do to keep us from going to vote for the president is lose our paperwork prior to the state convention?'
Again he said, ‘Yes, the burden of proof is on the challenger.' Of course, no McCain supporters' paperwork was lost at all. So the majority of the Ron Paul people weren't even listed on that ballot for the vote. How simple a scam for the McCainers. Author and talk show host Alan Stang has summed up the choices:
"The inconceivable, utterly unthinkable fact—as I write I am telling myself it can't be—is that on Tuesday, November 4, unless God decides He has had enough and intervenes by giving us Ron Paul, the American people will elect a communist president of the United States."
Pat Shannan is an assistant editor at American Free Press.
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Powerful world leaders ran like dogs to the whistle to champion Bilderberg's decree (AFP June 23, 2008) to put a lid on surging oil prices. Meanwhile, Bilderberg's world government project suffered another severe setback when Irish voters killed the latest version of the European Constitution.
Just three days after Bilderberg concluded its annual secret meeting, on June 11, a top energy bureaucrat said average gasoline prices would likely peak at $4.35 a gallon, contradicting previous predictions that the costs would soon exceed $5 a gallon. Guy Caruso, head of the federal Energy Information Administration, made this prediction at a congressional hearing on energy prices and the future of oil. Gasoline prices are likely to remain close to or at $4 a gallon through 2009, he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said on June 15 that the king of Saudi Arabia had promised to lower oil prices. Ban spoke with reporters after meeting with King Abdullah in the port city of Jidda during a visit to the world's largest oil producer.
"The king believes that the current oil prices are abnormally
high, and he is ready to restore prices to their appropriate levels,"
the official Saudi News Agency quoted Ban. The New York Times
reported on June 14—six days after receiving its marching
orders at Bilderberg—that unnamed analysts and oil traders
briefed by Saudi officials said a production increase of about
500,000 barrels per day is planned
.
"Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, is concerned
that sustained high oil prices eventually will slacken the world's
appetite for oil, affecting the kingdom in the long run,"
Associated Press reported.
This precisely reflects what Bilderberg said in Chantilly. A Bilderberg speaker from Europe had said: "Are we reaching the point of diminishing returns? People who switch from gas hogs to fuel-efficient, small cars are not going to do an instant about-face. And those who convert to public transportation, many of them, are going to stick with the train or bus. We have seen many middle-class families, who grudgingly accepted $3 a gallon, choose to stay home instead of driving to the beaches or mountains. They're presently calling them ‘staycations.' We all take the long view of history. Will forcing gasoline prices even higher increase profits in the long term? Ford has already shut down production of big cars and has many SUV-types it can't give away. Ford will not retool overnight."
Finance ministers from the Group of Eight weighed in at their meeting in Japan, issuing a joint statement calling for lower oil prices. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr., who had just left the Bilderberg session, called for oil-producing countries to allow more investment in oil exploration and production.
In another blow to Bilderberg's global ambitions, Irish voters rejected a treaty to make the European Union a superstate by a decisive 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent. A "European Constitution" had been rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005. To take effect, all European Union states must approve.
After the "constitution" was rejected, European leaders came up with a shorter version providing for the same envisioned superstate but called it a "treaty." As a "treaty," France and the Netherlands did not have to submit it for a vote. But Ireland's constitution required a referendum and Irish voters chose national sovereignty over a European superstate.
"It's a very sad day for the country and for Europe," said Justice Minister Brian Lenihan.
"It is a great day for Irish democracy," said Declan Ganley, a businessman who led the anti-treaty forces." This is democracy in action . . . and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people."
Responding to those seeking a way around the Irish rejection, British Foreign Secretary David Milliband said: "The rules are absolutely clear. If all 27 countries do not pass the Lisbon Treaty it cannot pass into law."
Establishing a European Union superstate is a crucial plank in Bilderberg's program for a world government. Similar efforts to establish an "American Union" in the Western Hemisphere have likewise bogged down. Bilderberg is on the ropes.
AFP correspondent James P. Tucker Jr. has spent many years as a member of the "elite" media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Bilderberg Diary: One Man's 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos—the book recounts Tucker's experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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Only a week after the Arizona legislature voted to rebuke the federal government on its plans for Real ID. The police state's hi-tech plan to track all citizens through drivers licenses, the Oklahoma House attempted a much bolder step toward restoring state rights by passing a joint House resolution to reenforce the Tenth Amendment. Although seldom utilized by the states, the Tenth Amendment shields them from all federal mandates not authorized constitutionally.
Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a bill June 17 making Arizona the latest state to refuse to implement new "Real ID" security standards mandated by the federal government for drivers licenses.
Napolitano said she signed the bill into law because a lack of adequate federal funding makes Real ID "just another unfunded federal mandate."
"My support of the Real ID Act is and has always been contingent upon adequate federal funding," Napolitano said in a rare signing letter.
The Arizona measure, overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-led legislature, will have no immediate impact because Arizona has already received a federal extension on Real ID compliance until 2009. However, the message sent to other states is significant.
A National Conference of State Legislatures data-bank on Real ID legislation indicated that at least 12 other states have approved legislation to bar implementation of Real ID.
States listed as rejecting Real ID, some with conditions, include Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 464 a year ago to stop the Real ID intrusion and later stonewalled the NAFTA-inspired Trans Texas Corridor. These were originally authored by OKC bombing truthseeker and state Rep. Charles Key.
Like Napolitano, other state leaders have voiced concerns about a lack of funding to implement Real ID. And some critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have voiced privacy concerns.
Under Real ID, sold by George Bush as an alleged hindrance to terrorists and illegal immigrants, states would have to bring their drivers licenses under a national standard and link their license record-keeping systems to federal databases.
Implementation of Real ID would require the public to show Real ID-compliant drivers licenses or other identification in order to enter federal buildings or board airplanes.
Concerned over a perceived increase in federal usurpation of state rights, Rep. Key told AFP that he drafted Joint House resolution 1089 merely as an admonition to Washington to back off and act within its constitutional parameters.
Oklahoma's House passed it by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserting Oklahoma's sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and, according to the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to cease and desist certain mandates."
Though House Joint resolution 1089 received great support in Oklahoma's House of Representatives, it has now hit a roadblock. In the state Senate, where the seats are split 24-24 between Republicans and Democrats, the resolution was sent to the Senate's rules committee, where it languished without action until the legislature adjourned.
The state Senate refused to hear and vote on the issue, thereby pigeon-holing it for at least a year. Rep. Key believes that it will pass next year, but if it should not, he is prepared to reissue it every year until it does. He cannot imagine why any representative or senator would not want to reinforce the constitutional protection of his state.
"This is not a threat," he said, "just a reminder to Washington that we expect them to behave lawfully."
The Tenth Amendment says in full, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
Key said that he introduced it because he believes the federal government is overstepping its bounds and putting our constitutional form of government in danger.
"As we stand by and watch the federal government become involved in areas where it has no legal authority, we kill the Constitution a little at a time," he said. "The last few decades, the Constitution has been hanging by a thread.
Specifically, Resolution 1089 says the following: "The State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United states over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States."
The resolution resolves that Oklahoma will "serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."
Key passed a similar resolution in 1994, when he was serving
a previous tenure in the legislature. But that attempt was only
a House resolution. He authored 1089 as a joint resolution because
he wanted to increase its exposure. "As people who believe
in this constitutional form of government," he said, "we
need to bring this issue to a national level and debate."
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Congress passed a $3 trillion spending plan that proposes modest increases in domestic programs such as education, energy and veterans benefits - and almost $15 billion in "earmarks," or pork. It squeaked through the House June 5 on a 214 - 210 vote, as 14 democrats voted with a united GOP in opposition.
Earlier, the Senate had approved the non-binding resolution, which does not go to the president for his signature but sets targets for a dozen annual appropriations bills for fiscal 2009, which begins in October. Because President Bush has threatened to veto bills that exceed his spending limits, democrats are considering postponing passage of most of the bills until a new president takes office in January. The spending plan exceeds Bush's request by $21 billion.
An examination by Associated Press and two dozen newspapers, the Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Dense found enough pork "earmarks" to account for 75 percent of the budget plan's excess in the current fiscal year. ("Earmarks" are amendments that require that federal funds be provided to a specific project in a congressman's own district. They are traded - "you vote for my earmark and I'll vote for yours." )
Watchdogs point, for example, to $1.8 million in five earmarks for Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, which operated $8 million in the black last year and has undertaken a four-year,$100 million fund-raising drive. With such big bucks, why should taxpayers fund a $400,000 program earmarked by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.
Congress approved 11,234 earmarks totaling $14.8 billion in bills covering goverment spending in what imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff called "the favor factory." The administration puts the total at $18 billion, including amounts congressmen added to what President Bush sought for specific projects.
Another round of earmarking begins this month as the House and Senate Appropriations committees reveal more bills for the 2009 fiscal year. The House committee alone has 23,438 earmark requests before it - so many that its Web site for receiving requests froze up and the deadline had to be extended. Lawmakers are unlikely to obtain earmarks in time for Election Day but they will boast of them in press releases.
Examples of pork pigs include:
• Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) obtained a $2.4 million earmark
last year for the Greentree Group of Beavercreek, Ohio for a digital
information sharing system. Greentree executives, their families
and consultants have donated $43,450 to Hobson since 2000, the
Columbus Dispatch reports.
• Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) Sponsored a $2 million earmark
to 21st Century systems, which has opened offices in his district.
It's executives contributed more than $27,500 to Visclosky in
2007-08. The company's Washington lobbyist is the PMA Group, whose
associates gave his campaign more than $45,000 in 20007-08. The
Indianapolis Star reported that Visclosky also helped Applied
Global Technologies obtain a $2 million earmark. Three of its
executives each gave Visclosky a maximum $2,300 contribution.
• Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) co-sponsored an $8.3 million
earmark for Marine Corps UC-12 replacement aircraft buit by Hawker
Beechcraft Corp. in Wichita. Company executives have contributed
$11,750 to Tiahrt this election cycle.
• New Jersey Reps. Rob Andrews (D) and Frank LoBiondo (R)
have sponsored $24.4 million in federal contracts to Gestalt LLC
since 2003. Gestalt executives have contributed more than $14,000
to Andrews and $2,500 to LoBiondo. Employees of Gestalt's lobbying
firm, American Defense International, delivered another $11,000
to Andrews and $5,750 to LoBiondo, the Courier-Post of
Cherry Hill, N.J. reports.
• Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) earmarked $3.2 million to Fidelity
Technologies of Reading. The family of its founder, Jack Gulati,
has contributed more than $10,000 to Holden's campaigns. Employees
of Fidelity's lobbying firm, PMA Group, have donated $63,222 to
Holden campaigns since 2002, the Allentown Morning Call
reports.
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A large number of young people from "We Are Change," a grassroots peace and social justice organization, came to protest Bilderberg from around the nation, joining Ron Paul supporters in bringing the next generation into the fight against globalism.
"We Are Change to me is a group of people who are waking up to answer the call to duty in defense of our constitution and all that it stands for," Los Angeles We Are Change Steering Committee member Stewart Howe said. The Los Angeles chapter has more than 200 members.
Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Ohio (and possibly other) chapters sent protesters to Birginia's Westfields Marriott to voice their opposition to Bilderberg's closed gathering of dignitaries from around the world. "It was an awesome experience to be shoulder to shoulder with so many amazing people willing to walk the walk, to get out there and be the opposition to tyranny," Howe said.
Howe was able to cross the continent and attend the event due to pooled resources from his home chapter of We Are Change.
The organization was started by New York City's Luke Rudkowski about five years ago. Rudkowski attended the Bilderberg protest, and often took his turn at the bullhorn confronting the Bilderbergers.
We Are Change sets up citizen groups in the U.S. and around the world "to inspire a community of truth-seekers and peacemakers through creative campaigns with a commitment of nonviolence," the We Are Change website said. "We Are Change is not so much a group but an idea, an idea that ‘We the people' are the vehicles of these ‘ideas' and of the freedoms, liberties, and truths we are seeking all across the globe."
We Are Change is not a politically affiliated organization, though many involved in We Are Change support Congressman Ron Paul's political views.
Chapters of We Are Change around the nation and in Canada put on rallies and protests on a regular basis. The non-violent protesters are often confronted by police and have often had members arrested or ticketed for no apparent reason, most recently with the arrest and handcuffing of a non-violent member in Colorado who was giving away informational DVDs on an outdoor public street corner. He was ticketed for peddling, even though he was not selling anything.
"We have a lot of actions. Just last night we confronted Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary," Howe said. "Just about weekly we do outreaches, tables at festivals and hang or large banner from bridges over highways."
Howe said that a quote cane to mind hen he thought about We
Are Change. "Few victories can rival the initial one of parting
company with the spectators, and stepping into the arena. That's
what this is all about."
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