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Signs of the Time

A Sampling of 2009 news articles from The American Free Press
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November 2, 2009

November 9, 2009

November 16, 2009

November 23, 2009

November 30, 2009

American Free Press November 2, 2009

TRAFICANT SPEAKS TO AFP

AFP honored by congressman with first print interview since release from federal prison

By Peter Papaheraklis

We're glad to be able to sit down with you and let you say what you have to say. Our readers have been strong supporters of yours for a long time, going back to the days of the old Spotlight newspaper.

Pete, let me ask you something: Was John Wayne a subscriber to The Spotlight?

Yes, he was.

That's interesting, because I get a lot of mail that talks to me about John Wayne. They see me on television and they say that I act like John Wayne. Honest to God, they say that. Someone mentioned to me that he was a subscriber to the old Spotlight.

Well, I always used to look at The Spotlight when I was in Congress. I always looked at it, every week. There were things in there that I checked out, and I know that it was very controversial and I know that the newspaper had a bent—let's be honest—towards Israel, and I really don't have a problem towards Israel . . . or the Jewish People. My problem is with the Israeli lobby, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The Israeli lobby has a stranglehold over government. I've already told you that. I've said it on national television. So I've been labeled an anti-Semite and all that, and I expected it. But that's where I am, you know, in this interview now, and I want you to also know before starting out that you are the only print media that I've interviewed with.

Another of our famous readers was the late Col. L. Fletcher Prouty who was portrayed by Donald Sutherland as "Man X" in Oliver Stone's famous film, JFK.

I give Oliver Stone a lot of credit. He took the criticism they gave him and he wasn't afraid to put his feelings out there, and the only thing he could deduce is that, in order for anybody to cover up the Kennedy assassination he had to be so powerful that it could only be one entity and that would be the United States government, so at least he had the courage to do that.

And if there is an attack on Israel? . . .

If Israel is attacked, I'd want to support Israel. But quite frankly, we have been so one sided over there. We've imported the violence and we've imported the hatred from everybody in opposition to Israel. They see us as the protector [of Israel] without objectivity.

But more than anything, I think the Israeli lobby has a stranglehold on the United States. I mean, they can't pass gas without asking where to do it. Now they can deny it all, call me a "kook" and everything they want to, but I've been through it. I've seen the other side of the one-eyed jack and it's a real problem. If it's not resolved, America will implode. America will implode. It's a matter of time.

Just like the old Soviet Union.

And you can see what's happening now: the machinations around the currency and the economic system and China's foothold: their economic tentacles on America. So we've got some real problems and I expect to be really blackballed further by giving you this exclusive interview, so go ahead and hurt me.

You've been on five national television broadcasts since you've come home from prison and your appearances have caused quite a stir.

I've been out of prison about 35 days and I didn't realize it, come to think of it, of how astounded I was that I always got so much mail in prison. People wrote me for seven years saying, "We miss you. We miss your one minute speeches. We miss your lively comments. We miss your questioning of things that no one else questions" and I didn't realize how many people missed me.

And when I came home I was surprised by the massive turnout here. People lined up one hour before the place opened. You see, I wasn't really going to attend. I didn't want to. I had just gotten into town and I didn't want that type of pressure, if you will.

I was very bitter, very upset and I didn't want to manifest some of that in front of an audience that would say, "My God. Look at this guy. Prison changes a man."

I'm getting a lot of mail from around the country. I've started to wonder why all these national television programs had me on as a guest. They've told me that I'm an interesting guest and they are all in it for the ratings. But some of the things that I've said on television have been quite a revelation and there are some entities that are quite upset with that and they are trying to counter and reduce the impact of some of the words I've used and I'm not so sure it's worked in their favor. I'm not so sure that's been in their benefit, since they've stirred the pot a bit and when you stir the pot, it stinks.

But what amazed me the most is the national response that I got all over the country. Every state. People are writing to me saying, "You are not just refreshing, you're telling something, you're telling the truth." They are saying, "It's evident what has happened. We don't hate Israel either, but we know there's something wrong that they have a tremendous foothold, a stranglehold on the government. There's no doubt about it now."

I guess the statements that I made that "We are involved in wars that we have little or no interest in" and that "our kids are coming home in body bags" and that "Our country is bankrupt over these wars" and that "There's no end in sight," are hitting home.

Now you see an expansion in Afghanistan. My God, if the American people knew that there are more contractors than soldiers involved in the Middle East, then they would really panic.

Because we've got what—about 280,000 soldiers, in the whole mess, but if you look at the contractors, there's something like 230,000 contractors and many are making more money than our soldiers.

And they are there to provide security, to cook the food. If the American people knew what the Hell we are involved in here. . . . They're just talking about the troops. No one is talking about these contractors.

The point I'm making is that they are not considered part of our troop force. They're our contract force. The American people don't know what we have half a million plus people over there and we are embroiled in something that may last years and years. We're embroiled in 2009 Vietnam.

We've now been there almost as long as we were in Vietnam . . .

And now there's a religious bent to it that is fanatical. Let's tell it like it is. And to quote a president that made much sense—George Washington: "Beware of foreign entanglements."

President Washington said that in his Farewell Address to the American people. Most politicians today don't even know about the Farewell Address.

That was the advice of the first president of the United States, and how right he was. And look at Jefferson: "Beware of the appointment of federal judges for lifetime terms because they can take the Constitution and mold it like clay in their hands."

God bless juries. Problem today is: The Justice Department controls the juries and they spoil the jury pool and the jury selection process.

Isn't that what happened with the Justice Department in your own case?

No doubt. No question. But you know what? They are going to pay. There are too many people now coming forward admitting they were pressured to lie. And one of the jurors was excused the day before because they knew he was definitely going to vote "not guilty."

He said, "They wanted to get me off the jury." He prepared an affidavit to that effect. The prosecutor told her, "This man is a [pro-Traficant] juror," and they got rid of him. When the former juror heard the decision, he said, he almost fell out of his car, when he heard that the jury convicted me.

And the other juror "Juror Number Eight" said one of the jury women confided in him that she had problem with the IRS and that it was sort of worked out with the understanding that they would try to place her as a juror in the Traficant trial. She was my most adamant opponent on the jury. It happened to be a Jewish woman.

I had no opportunity to cross-examine any agent who worked on the case against me. There was a six year investigation with over 200 FBI agents involved. They spent $15 million dollars investigating me. All of that time terrorists were aiming at the Twin Towers in New York, but the government's eyes were on me. The Justice Department was focusing on me.

They couldn't forget the fact that back in 1983 I was the only American who ever beat the Justice Department, acting as his own attorney, in a
RICO case. They couldn't live with that.

[A RICO case is a federal trial involving the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt
Organizations act, often applied in organized crime and corporate white collar criminal cases. Falsely accused of having accepted bribery money from organized crime interests, Traficant acted as his own defense attorney in the earlier case and was acquitted by the jury, much to the dismay of the Justice Department, which continued to target Traficant. See AFP correspondent Michael Collins Piper's book, Target: Traficant, for the details.—Ed.]

They offered one regional director from the IRS as a witness in my earlier trial. He said, in court, that "I know nothing about this case. I just draw up the tax forms."

The fingerprint "expert" that they offered up was only three weeks on the job, but he had to answer questions about the report.

In the daily press here in Ohio [during the 2002 trial] they said that the FBI and the Justice Department had all this fingerprint evidence against Traficant. But when this so-called expert testified in court, I asked him, "How many, if any, of my fingerprints appeared on any of these documents that are being used against me"" and he said, "None."

I said, "Not one?"

There was an objection from the prosecutors and it was sustained [approved] by the judge. I said, "How many latent prints of mine were there?" and he said, "None," and I asked "How many partial prints were there that could possibly have been mine?" and he said, "None," and I asked how many prints were there that could have been the prints of somebody else but could have been confused with mine and he said "None."

So this is the government's Achilles Heel. And I want the readers of American Free Press to know it, since the mainstream media is never going to explain it. I said, "Then certainly you took the audio and video tapes, is that correct, sir?" And then I saw the prosecutor's head drop. The witness said, "No." And I asked, "Well, who took those audio and video tapes?" He said, "No one took those tapes. There were none."

I asked him, "Who told you that there were no audio or video tapes made of me by the FBI during a six-year-long investigation?" He said, "The assistant prosecutor." He said he couldn't remember who it was. I asked the witness to point to the person in question and describe what he was wearing, and he did so.

Now I had this retired secret service man acting as an investigator for me in my defense (he went back to the Carter years, having protected Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush) and he said that he knew that I was innocent, that I was railroaded, when the government admitted in court that they had no audio or video tapes to use against me after they had conducted a six-year-long investigation of me.

He said that the Secret Service could never have gotten an indictment against me in a criminal case. It would have been a "must" to get some sort of memorialized statement made by me in an audio or video tape.

[And, of course, the FBI was tapping my phone and recording my conversations and they had people coming up and talking to me who were wired.]

What I—Jim Traficant—need right now is some whistle-blower in the Justice Department to come out and admit that, yes, the Justice Department destroyed all of those tapes. Why did they do this? Because those tapes were exculpatory for me. They would prove that the Justice Department had me "bugged" for six years and they couldn't get any evidence against me: not one incident of wrongdoing. I have a number of affidavits here from people who came to court to testify on my behalf, but the judge excused the jury from hearing their testimony. These were people who testified under penalty of perjury, if they were found to be lying [which they weren't] and the judge did not allow their testimony to be heard by the jury.

They testified to the effect that a number of key witnesses against me had admitted that they lied on behalf of the government to incriminate me in order to avoid being indicted and sent to prison themselves. Juror Number Eight himself said that if he had just known about the pressure the government put on Richard Detore alone that he would have fought to the end to avoid convicting me.

However, they have a new rule in Ohio. If you have a Cleveland judge you have a Cleveland jury. I ended up with a Cleveland judge, Lesley Wells, who had personal animosity toward me since I didn't support her when she ran for the Supreme Court before she was appointed to a federal judgeship. Personally, I had heard she some funny dealings up there. And I didn't support too many judges, frankly.

They had news reports that Jim Traficant—a sitting congressman—had conspired to have one of the potential witnesses in the case murdered. The FBI told this woman that the only way she could protect herself was to go public. This is how they tainted the potential jury pool in the Cleveland area: that is, putting out these stories such as this one that I was plotting to murder this woman. They wouldn't try me before a jury pool taken from my own congressional district. No, they transferred the case to Cleveland.

So the people in Cleveland didn't know me. They only knew me from what they read about me in these negative newspaper reports. When you're the number one target of AIPAC, you're not going to have any newspaper writing anything good about you.

However, American Free Press has been very strong in telling what they feel is the truth, with a strong bent going after Israel for many things that they believe are wrong. And quite frankly, many of the things that American Free Press has done have been very truthful and I know that you have suffered for it.

So you had this woman brought before the grand jury to testify against me, and they tried to pressure her to say things that weren't true, and she realized what they did and she apologized to me and my wife. But it was all over by then. However, the jury pool was already poisoned by the stories in the media: they said I was a Mafioso and that I was going to have this woman murdered. Well, they never made any charges there, since it was all a lie.

There was another fellow that I ran into in a restaurant and he said, "I apologize, Jim. I was going through a divorce and I lost everything. So I lied [against you]. My attorney told me to tell the government what they wanted to hear and get it over with and I did it and I can't live with it. It bothers me. I'm sorry. You've been a good man, a friend."

He has put together an affidavit on my behalf. He also came to court on my behalf, but the judge didn't allow his testimony to go before the court.

There was another instance where there were all these new stories about some crime I had supposedly committed but since the supposed witness refused to tell lies against me, there were no charges brought.

Then there was this instance with this Nigerian man, Nnamdi J. Okolo, who was an owner of a car-leasing agency in Northern Virginia, and he said his life was ruined because he wouldn't perjure himself against me for the U.S. government. They wanted him to say that he kicked back money to me and to Richard Detore. They wanted him to tell lies about Detore in order to pressure Detore to tell lies to be used to prosecute me.

The Nigerian man, Mr. Okolo, told me, when I ran into him at Allenwood prison [where I was first incarcerated and where Mr. Okolo was later sent] that he didn't know me from Adam, and that he would have been willing to lie against me, but he knew that Detore had two children just like him and that he couldn't lie. He's over in Nigeria today and he filed an affidavit with the Nigerian government explaining how the U.S. government tried to get him to lie.

Later an attorney contacted Mr. Okolo and told him that if he did not recant his charges against the U.S. government that his 79 year old parents would be deported from the United States. I feel sorry for that family. The last I heard was that the Catholic charities in Baltimore were looking into his parents' case. Here's a man—a Black immigrant from Africa—who showed courage and honor and his life was ruined by our government.

Then there's the case of Richard Detore. Richard was pressured by the government to say that he saw me accept a cash bribe in my office in Washington from businessman John Cafaro. But he said, "I just won't do it. Jim Traficant hasn't done anything illegal with me. If he's done something wrong, go ahead and get him, but I'm not going to lie about it."

Richard Detore was a brilliant engineer and they needed a man of his quality to serve as a witness against me to get a conviction. So when he refused they said to him, "Okay, just say you were outside the office door and you heard the transaction." He said, "I'm not going to do it."

His attorney, who was a former assistant U.S. attorney and still close to the government told him: "Just tell the government what they want. They're going to get Traficant."

So finally Richard got a call from his attorney who told him, "Time's up. You're going to get indicted if you don't go along with them."

But Richard said, "I'm not going to lie."

His attorney told him, "Richard, there's no reward for honesty. You're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending yourself and you're still going to end up in prison. They're going to get Traficant. They want this guy." But Richard said, "I'm not going to tell lies."

And his attorney said, "I'm advising you to tell them what they want to hear. Look at it as a business decision."

Well, when Richard was indicted (after he refused to lie about me) and then went to trial, he was acquitted in one hour. But they were successful in keeping his testimony out of my trial. So you had Detore and Okolo pressured to lie against me and both refused. And there were three other people who testified before the judge (out of the hearing of the jury) in my case who said that they were pressured to lie by the government.

And there were the false charges cast about by television news broadcasts that were never actually filed against me that involved people being pressured to lie. So that's seven instances right here.

And there was no physical evidence against me [audio or video tapes, documents, fingerprints, etc]. If I were guilty of a crime, why did they have to force anybody to lie?

They later made the prosecutor, Craig Morford, the second highest post in the Justice Department. And they made Michael Chertoff, who headed the criminal division in the Justice Department in Washington (who supervised my prosecution), the head of Homeland Security. Attorney General John Ashcroft even came to Cleveland and gave awards to the team that convicted me. That's how glad they were to get rid of Jim Traficant.

There was even talk that Morford was going to be appointed as U.S.Attorney General. But people from Virginia let it be known that they wanted to testify about Morford's role in the Traficant case. This prosecutor suborned perjury, withheld evidence, and obstructed justice to get a conviction.

But he really didn't convict me. The judge convicted me. She influenced that jury and withheld evidence. She did what she had to do.

Our country has to get at this powerful central government. We've got a massive government that the American people don't even have an association with. They are subject to this government.

They thought they gave me a life sentence at my age. They didn't think I would live through it. They put me in some rough prisons. I didn't go to any camp, buddy. I ended up in a "medium-high" called "Gladiator School." They wanted to medicate me, but I wouldn't take it. They said I had a corkscrewed aorta, but I wouldn't take it. So they sent me to the federal medical facility at Rochester, Minnesota.

I didn't trust them giving me any medication. I didn't trust the government at all. I was their number one target and the number one target of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). So when you put the Justice Department and AIPAC together, you have the most awesome, most powerful enemies in world history. I'm here. I'm still breathing, so far.

But if one whistle-blower comes forward to expose what they did, I'll be worth millions and millions of dollars. And they are worried now, because they never thought I would come back. They figured people would have forgotten me.

Quite frankly, you can't tell, unless you go to the ballot box, but the truth of the matter is that I'm probably more powerful now nationally than 90% of the United States Congress. And I now make this statement: I don't see a member of Congress who is probably as well known philosophically as I am. There may be those who names are well known because they have big important jobs in Congress, but few know what they stand for.

Most politicians wake up in the morning, brush their teeth, shave, comb their hair, put on their clothes and then go to the window to watch which way the mob is moving. Then they go pick up their trenchcoat and go out and lead the mob, no matter what direction it is going.

And that's the problem with this country. This country is on automatic pilot and being controlled by interests that are not even American.

We have the best Congress that Japan ever had, the best Congress China ever had, the best Congress Israel ever had, the best Congress Mexico ever had, the best Congress illegal immigrants ever had.

You've always been in the forefront of fighting injustice. You made a lot of enemies—including both the Justice Department and AIPAC, among others—when you came to the defense of Ukraine-born Cleveland autoworker John Demjanjuk, a naturalized citizen, who was falsely accused by the so-called "Nazi-hunting" unit of the Justice Department of being a concentration camp guard at Treblinka during World War II. Although the U.S. government stripped Demjanjuk of his citizenship and deported him to Israel where he was tried and convicted as a war criminal and sentenced to death, it was your work that got him released. And now he's facing new charges, many years later, in Germany. Could you reflect on your experiences in the Demjanjuk case?

It's a travesty and I'm surprised no one has even lifted their voice. Be advised that the original evidence that resulted in the Israeli Supreme Court overturning Demjanjuk's conviction came from me. It came through a Freedom of Information Act request regarding a man named Feodor Fedorenko, the only man ever tried for war crimes at the Treblinka camp in Poland. He was acquitted.

He had been a naturalized American and when he went to Ukraine to visit his family, he was picked up by the Soviet KGB and tried in the old Soviet Union and was executed. There's no doubt our government arranged that, perpetrated that.

When the Demjanjuk case came up, I couldn't get anywhere. So I tricked the government. I did a Freedom of Information Act on Fedorenko, and bingo. I was told that there were a hundred pages or so on him and in those pages was the information that led to Demjanjuk being cleared of the charges and the dropping of the death sentence against him.

And remember that 17 people testified in the Demjanjuk case and identified him as the concentration camp guard known as "Ivan theTerrible"—IvanMarchenko—a man who was taller than Demjanjuk, had black hair, not blonde hair, was nine years older and had a scar on his neck.

Then when I went on the House floor and revealed that I had a photo of the real Ivan, the Justice Department turned around and claimed that there were two Ivans.

Well, let me tell you about the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). No one in Congress would accept the evidence I had clearing Demjanjuk nor would they agree to hold a hearing regarding the activities of the Justice Department in this case. Demjanjuk had been stripped of his citizenship and he was scheduled to be executed in Israel. No one in the government of the United States would listen to the evidence.

I tried to put it before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinatti and they would not accept the evidence. So Demjanjuk's attorney placed my evidence before the Israeli Supreme Court and they asked me to go over.

I went over. I payed my own way. While I was there, Bryant Gumbel of the Today show on NBC interviewed me and I said, "If they put this man to death, Israel is going to lose $20-25 billion a year from the American taxpayers."

He said, "What do you mean, Congressman? Israel only gets $3 billion a year from the U.S."

And I reminded him that $3 billion is $5,000 a year for every man, woman and child who lives in Israel (although, of course, that money goes to the Israeli government).

That's from the foreign aid appropriations bill. However, when you look at the loans to Israel that are converted to grants, economic assistance, military assistance, trade pacts, Israel gets the equivalent of $30-35,000 a year for every man, woman and child in Israel. And my people in my district who are working 40 hours a week aren't making that much money in Youngstown, Ohio."

Gumbel's response was "Thank you, congressman. Thank you."

That night I got a phone call. Demjanjuk was being released and was going to be delivered to me to take him home from the Tel Aviv airport. I have to give Israel credit. They accepted the evidence and our government wouldn't. Our congress wouldn't and our courts wouldn't, but Israel did. They knew that our government perpetrated one of the greatest crimes in history and as soon as I got Demjanjuk back to the United States, the Sixth Circuit Court issued a statement saying that this case was a tragic but
honest mistake by the government.

No one in the Justice Department ever faced charges for this. They knew that Demjanjuk wasn't "Ivan the Terrible." The documents I used to convince the Israelis to free Demjanjuk came from the Justice Department.
Now the Justice Department went after Demjajunk again but this time Israel wouldn't try him. Israel didn't want someone like Jim Traficant—if such a person existed—to start questioning the case. Well, now Traficant is out of jail and he is questioning the new case.

So now Germany is trying Demjanjuk for being a guard at another concentration camp, Sobibor. The truth of the matter is that if the government was proven to be so reckless and criminal in a previous action, how can they warrant any serious consideration in the current case. They were embarrassed the first time so now they are determined to hurt Demjanjuk and show the world that he was some kind of Nazi.

The truth is that Demjanjuk was taken prisoner by the Nazis and while the Germans did put guns in the hands of some of their prisoners and made to act as perimeter guards (under the threat of death) even if that was the case, those men shouldn't be charged.

Well, now that I am out of prison, they are concerned. People who have heard me on television speaking out are starting to say, "Hey, wait a minute. This guy Traficant is right. We are bankrupt. We are involved in areas that are very questionable. Do they have this kind of control?"

Look at China. Look at Japan. China is taking $350 billion a year plus out of our economy. They are buying tanks, attack aircraft, nuclear submarines—building them with our money.

Look at our foreign aid. Forget about Israel. We gave $98 million last year to North Korea to convince them to slow down their nuclear development. What do you think they are using that $98 million for?

We gave $58 million to Russia so they would strive toward the word of law. I've got to say, "Beam me up" here. Here in Youngstown we have the Delphi workers, formerly Packard and General Motors. The salaried workers lost all their pensions and the hourly workers have to pay for their health insurance now. It's a $160 million impact on our community. And look at the ripple effect and the other losses of jobs that will subsequently come, it will be a $250 million loss every year. But we can't get a bit of help for our own people.

You've also been focused on the tax issue for a long time. You've been a major critic of the IRS and few politicians dare to do that.

The tax code is at the root of the problems we have in America today. We have a communist Marxist-Leninist tax policy in America. People don't want to believe that, but it's the truth. The predicate of the Marxist economic platform was a progressive income tax aimed at the so-called wealthy. But the truth of the matter is that the wealthy can avoid payment of taxes and they do, legally. So they are also taking jobs offshore since this tax code has destroyed America's commerce.

You can't fix the system. It's got to be replaced. We should repeal the Sixteenth Amendment and abolish the Internal Revenue Service and institute a fair tax which would be a 25 percent retail sales tax, new retail sales only.

The chairman of the economic department at Harvard did a study that said this would be revenue-neutral, that it would raise the same amount of money our tax system now does and there would probably be no appreciable increase in prices, because if you take the burden of the current tax code off the backs of the companies that have all of these headaches dealing with it, they would be able to reduce prices for consumers. It would be the first border adjusted tax in our history. It's not protectionism. If you buy an American car, it's a 25 percent tax. If you buy a foreign car, it's a 25 percent tax.

But there should be no taxes on savings or investment, no death tax, no capital gains tax. There would be no more withholding on salaries. This tax encourages you to work. The more you work, the more you make. The more you spend the more you pay in taxes.

When people come from Germany and Japan to visit Las Vegas, they will be contributing to our tax system. Illegal aliens who exist outside the income tax system would also now be paying and contributing. And look at the massive underground economy involving narcotics here in this country. They don't pay income taxes, but they do spend money and a 25% retail sales tax would impact them and they would contribute to the system.

No more April 15. No more tax forms. Get the government the Hell out of our lives.Thirty-five states already collect a sales tax. Ninety-five percent of retail sales are conducted by big retailers. Only five percent are conducted by small business in America. People don't realize that. Our troops are over in Germany and Japan and spending their money over there. If we had our troops here at home on our wide-open borders they would be spending their money here at home.

That brings up the issue of immigration. You've been up front and outspoken on that issue for a long time, saying things that a lot of politicians—both Democrats and Republicans—are afraid to say.

I've been called "racist" and "anti-Semitic"— everything—but I'm not. Here's what I think: If you are in this country illegally, you shouldn't get health care. You should be thrown the Hell out. My family were all immigrants—legal immigrants. If you come here illegally, we don't want you in our schools and our emergency rooms.

We need an agreement with Mexico that they understand. We want the troops on the border to keep narcotics out of this country. And I'm not just talking about the southern border. I'm also taking about our northern border. Terrorists could smuggle the components of a nuclear weapon across the border and fire it off at New York. If that's not a national security issue, I want to know what it is.

Now that there's a growing Hispanic vote in this country and Congress is conscious of this. They try to make it look at though I am against Hispanic people. But I'm not. Hispanic Americans are being hurt with these policies
themselves. And the Black community is being pushed further to the back of the bus because the Hispanic vote is growing and politicians are catering to them.

So now they are saying that we should at least allow them to buy health insurance. Imagine this: if the policy and framework of a legislative initiative is "They are here and they should be allowed to buy," it's obvious they don't want to throw the illegal aliens out. How much more bankrupt can America be?

Here's where I want to just cut the line. It may sound strict and severe, but if a woman is pregnant and comes to America illegally and has a child, that child is an American citizen. This sounds harsh but I don't think that child should be considered a citizen. And the mother and the child should be sent back to where they came from.

There's only way to enforce our border and immigration security. If you build walls, they'll build tunnels. We have a massive Army that we are paying all of this money and our soldiers are all over the globe and involved in wars that aren't in our interests.

Put those troops on our borders. Rotate those troops every six months.America would be protected: our citizens, our resources, our assets would be protected. And we will utilize our resources for American citizens. We're bankrupt and we can't keep taking care of everybody all over the world. We have this foreign aid, but we've got Americans sleeping on steel grates.

Critics say this is a shallow, simplistic way of looking at things, but it is the truth. We're too involved all over the world. I remember reading that some senator once said that if we don't start taking care of the home front, we are going to end up destroying ourselves. And that was a debate on the floor of the Roman senate.

There was also a famous person in world history who said, "Let China sleep, for if China ever awakens, the earth shall tremble." That was Napoleon—way back then. Well, the earth is shaking. The dragon has got hold of our assets— real strong.

I once said in Congress that Russia is a fly in our face. China is a dragon eating our assets. Russia didn't have much of an economy ever and anytime we ever had any major international problem, Russia basically—with a lot of caveats—stood by the United States. I predict that if anything happens again, Russia will probably side with the United States. But people better take a look at that dragon.

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) is sponsoring legislation to audit the Federal Reserve System, the privately- controlled banking monopoly that dominates the U.S. money system. Now a lot of members of Congress are jumping on the bandwagon, but long ago, when it wasn't fashionable, you were out front in criticizing the Federal Reserve.

To most of those members who are supporting Ron Paul's measure, it is a matter of political expedience. I don't attribute that to Ron Paul. I believe he's sincere and his heart is in the right place. I was a little disappointed, by the way, that he voted with the others to expel me from the House of Representatives. I thought he would have looked at that a lot differently and I know that if he had all this information about what really happened in my case he probably would have. I like Ron and he's a good man.

Quite frankly, they'll audit the Fed and come out with their revelations and they'll get their political victory, but the Fed will go on just like it is, with international banking controlling the money of the United States of America. I'm not for auditing the Fed. I'm for abolishing the Fed. The Constitution says that Congress shall coin money. Now the argument is: "You can't have politicians handling the money of the United States." But who do we have handling it? International politicians. I would abolish the Fed and put the money back under the control of Congress and putting the money back as it was originally mandated by the Constitution. The Constitution is quite clear.

The Constitution also says Congress "shall regulate" commerce with foreign nations. "Regulate." What does that mean? Does it mean opening up the doors to cheap foreign imports? It means to weigh the different variables and cost of production, labor and manpower and regulate some mechanism to assure at least our mutual advantage and satisfaction with our trading partners. How can we with all of regulatory burdens in this country compete with a factory in Mexico that pays its employees 35 cents an hour?

What is more important to the commercial venue of a nation than the control of its money? Beam me up. Abolish the Fed. Let the Congress earn their money. Let them do something responsible. We hear that Congress has questioned the Fed or that Congress is worried about what the Fed is doing with interest rates.

Just abolish the Fed and put America in order. The Constitution ain't bad, although it allowed slavery, treated women like cattle, treated American Indians like non-entities. But over the years the adjustments were made. There's no doubt in my mind that our Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves.

Congress may go on and do what is politically expedient but this expedience may not be in the best interests of the United States of America. And we are in a Hell of a mess for it.

And if you are not in that pantheon of political machination, you are set aside, you are ostracized, you are even expelled and put in prison. I think my particular case is starting to show that this is only the tip of the iceburg.

Remember what happened to Bill Casey, who was CIA director in the Reagan years. All of a sudden he died. What about Vince Foster [who was Bill Clinton's White House counsel who is said to have committed suicide]? They tried to make Rep. Dan Burton look like a buffoon for questioning the circumstances of Foster's death. They found all these fibers all over his body and that implied to me, as a former sheriff, that maybe his body had been wrapped in a rug and transported. And I don't trust the 9-11 commission either. I think they were just like the Warren Commission. They all seem like honorable men, but you can call me a conspiracy nut.

A lot of people don't believe the criminal charges against you were valid, that you—yourself—were the victim of a frame-up, a conspiracy. People believe that your prosecution was politically-motivated.

What the mainstream media is saying now is that since I did a lot for this area—I brought $1.7 billion into my congressional district over and above normal formula money to rebuild and help this area that was hurting so bad—people don't care if I did the things that I was accused of doing by the Justice Department. They still love me anyway. That's the argument they use to downplay the serious legal issues at hand in my case, where perjury was suborned, evidence was withheld and justice was obstructed, every machination used to get an American citizen whose politics were not liked. And I'm beginning now to believe that my politics were feared. You see one man could light a fire and people might start thinking. They'll try to destroy that one man so he doesn't look credible.

But there are too many people who know me and respect me and they are saying, "We believe what you say is true. What the Hell are we doing? We're bankrupt. Enough is enough. We can support Israel but we don't have to go bankrupt. We can be objective and support our friends but we don't have to go overboard. What are we doing? We're embroiled in wars that are bankrupting us and our kids are coming home in bodybags. Our borders are being over-run. Our dollar is in danger. We're losing currency reserve status in the world. They'll start trading in the euro or some other currency. What will that do to us?"

I predict that if there is not a direct and intended change in the policies of the United States of America, America will implode. That's the word that I've used before. I see Alaska, with its own revenue sources as a possibility [of breaking away from the United States]. Americans don't understand that Alaska's landmass is bigger than almost every European country, save for Russia.

Then look at Texas and the same thing, with Texas and a compact of states down there. What's happening is that there is a strong dilution of citizenship and demographics, with a tremendous infusion of Hispanic people down there. But you never know. People are starting to get fed up, paying a massive amount of taxes and don't know where the money is going. It's going all around the world, but our borders are still wide open. Their kids are subject to foreign wars. They can't make a loan but Congress has bailed out the banks. If you want to make a loan, you have to have three dollars in the bank to borrow one.

What the Hell is going on here?

But nobody is articulating it that way. So everybody's being put to sleep: they're talking about the environment, health care, etc and no one is looking at the cancer here. You've got a $2 trillion dollar plus budget deficit in one year. And now everybody is mad at Jimmy Carter because he's criticized our policies in the Middle East.

That's right. They are starting to call Jimmy Carter an "anti-Semite."

They are starting to defame Jimmy Carter whose heart is probably the best heart of any president ever elected. His fairness could never be questioned. Now we might question some of those policies he had on economics, with those massive interest rates, but in all fairness to Carter, in his last year he had the budget deficit down to $90 billion and there was no trade deficit. He had a balanced trade scenario. So you can knock Jimmy Carter all you want.

There was pain and pressure in the economy from the high interest rates and the bankers were certainly making a fortune. But the truth is that you had massive foreclosures, you had American turmoil, but America was bankrupting through the bankrupt mechanism of law and reconstructing and reconfiguring, but now what you have is you are just giving away money.

If you've got a problem, here's some money. If Wall Street has a problem, then here's money. The news media [says]: "If you don't do it, things will collapse."

Donald Trump made a Hell of a statement. I like old Donald. Donald says we have bankruptcy laws. Let the bad bankrupt and let the good survive and worry about the American citizen. Donald Trump was right. He gave a sense of wisdom that everybody should listen to.

But we didn't do that. We didn't let our own laws, our own structure, our own government, our own predicate of operations and commercial venue take hold. We are officially subsidized once again. What did we do with the automobile industry? We now have Government Motors. The great General Motors' CEO is Barack Obama. That's the way it is. That's the situation.

We had the cash-for-clunkers program. We subsidized Americans buying cars and it looked good for people who had cars they wanted to get rid of. Are we going to have another cash-for-clunkers program? Are we going to subsidize more sales?

So when we have to subsidize the free enterprise capitalistic system, it no longer exists. It's a socialistic communist system. What frightens me is that the government has gotten so big and now it's about to get bigger. I'm not so sure that we shouldn't have the private sector maintaining industry and the government taking care of those who fall through the safety net, as we always have—and there's nothing wrong with that. But I can't see us running all these industries. Government can't do it. It shouldn't be done.

We are the [most] socialistic nation in history, for the truth of the matter is that socialism is the redistribution of the wealth and no one redistributes wealth more than the United States of America. So we are a socialist system, augmented by a communist dollar program, a Marxist progressive income tax. Jim Traficant is saying that the income tax system in the United States is a Marxist program, the foundation of the Marxist economic platform.

In addition, I'm saying, the Federal Reserve System should be abolished, not audited, abolished. And Congress should coin money and should put our borders in order and regulate commerce with foreign nations and move to a fair tax which empowers everyone and has everybody pay their fair share; and nobody [would be exempt], including drug dealers, people on the street, the underground economy, illegal immigrants. Everybody pays [with the retail sales tax]. For those people who fall through the safety net, Congress has enough intelligence to promulgate plans and programs within that scheme to take care of them.

What would our Founding Fathers think about big government in
America today?

I think they had a Second Amendment to make sure there would be no strong central government. I don't believe the Second Amendment was placed in the U.S. Constitution to protect duck hunters. It was to, in fact, make sure that a powerful central government would not be the only entity holding the fire power, that the citizens were empowered, because it was their government.

Is it possible that a government could be totally and completely out of control and beginning to manifest great power and that this power was so awesome that no one could even check it, and that this power was so great that no one could even question it? Could that happen? Not only could it happen, it is evidence in the United States of America
right now. We are in a fix here.

Are either of the major parties doing anything to combat this situation?

I see that both major parties tinkering with and trying to repair a mechanism that needs to be replaced. They are afraid. There is no ingenuity. There is no innovative thought.

Are you going to seek public office again?

I don't know. Right now I don't have a job and I'm being supported by my wife. There's a lot of people here who want me to run. My old district was divided up after I left office, so if I were going to run again, I'd have to decide where to run.

Another factor is that I'm not going to get any [campaign contributions] if I do run. People are afraid to give me money, because if you give me money, you have the IRS come and audit you if your name appeared on any of my campaign finance reports.

I mean, I was targeted big time. If I did run, I'd have trouble raising money and I've the institutional press against me. You would have the Democratic Party which would join forces against me and try to knock me out. I've always been a Democrat, even though I've always been independent and voted for what's best. So I really don't know.

And while I have been speaking before some of the "tea party" groups and they are just opposing what the government has screwed up, but I don't think that they have come with what I consider to be an advocacy for a program of what they sponsor, but I think they are starting to promulgate plans around those lines. I've even been invited by a group of Republicans to speak.

Among the people, I'm more or less seen as an American [rather than being identified with a particular political party or program]. I'm seen differently by a lot of people in this country. Although I ran as a Democrat, I didn't always vote as a Democrat in Congress. If I thought their program was weak and it wasn't good for the country, I didn't vote for it. The same thing for the Republicans: I thought if the Republicans had a good idea, I'd support it. I think that's the way it should be. I've never been endeared with the Democratic leadership. The Democratic leadership right now— well, I don't know where they are going.

So I don't know. I have a lot of groups that are saying I should throw my hat in on a national level and that if more people heard me that it would really start focusing on the circumstances of our government.

Thank you, Jim.You have the support of AMERICAN FREE PRESS readers.

PETER PAPAHERAKLIS is a correspondent for American Free
Press newspaper. He is also a talented artist who studied fine and
graphic arts on the collegiate level.

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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Senate Should Not Confirm Bernanke Until Fed Opens Books for Auditors  

AN UNLIKELY DUO of legislators has sent a public letter to Sen. Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, saying that Congress should not confirm Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's second term until he agrees to open the privately owned and controlled central bank to an audit.

In the letter, Reps. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) argued that the Senate must postpone any vote on whether Bernanke should serve another four years "until the Federal Reserve releases documentation that will allow the public and the Senate to have a full understanding of the commitments that the Federal Reserve has made on our behalf."

AFP readers know Paul well. However, Grayson is the liberal Democrat who recently attacked Republican opposition to the massive health care legislation currently making the rounds in Congress by saying: "Republicans want people to die quickly."

As the value of the dollar continues to erode, more and more people are blasting the Fed, questioning whether its monetary policy is destroying U.S. currency. And while Bernanke may still be held in high regard by banking elites for handing out free money to Wall Street in an effort to salvage the financial system, Main Street is souring on his secretive programs that put taxpayers on the hook for bankers' bad loans and assets. This is evident in the fact that 303 House members have now signed on to cosponsor Paul's landmark legislation (H.R. 1207), which calls for a full and public audit of the Federal Reserve.

"Since 2007, the Federal Reserve has expanded its balance sheet by $1.2
trillion and taken on substantial credit, interest-rate and foreign-exchange risk," reads the letter from the two legislators.

"It has lent immense sums to some financial institutions against overvalued collateral, while refusing to lend to others with no clear standards as to who was rescued and who was not."

As a result, the two congressmen are asking that the Senate delay hearings until the Fed turns over detailed accountings of its policies and practices, including minutes by its top policy-making body.

"Chairman Bernanke's policy-making errors might be chalked up to errors of judgment, and it's possible to argue that he has been chastened by the last few years of turmoil," concludes the letter. "What is more disturbing is how the Federal Reserve has refused to disclose the details of its commitments to the bankers, who came close to destroying our economy. . . . The Federal Reserve must become transparent and open with Congress and the public about its behavior during the financial crisis."

The Senate is expected to initiate Bernanke's confirmation hearings in the coming weeks.

Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute - as long as full credit is given to American Free Press - 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Oil-Producing Nations Secretly Plan to Dump U.S. Dollar?  

By Christopher J. Petherick

Reports surfaced in European newspapers of a secret meeting held in early October by Oil-exporting countries whereupon officials there decided to dump the U.S. dollar as the preferred currency for trading crude. The news was immediately denied by the Saudi Government, but that didn't stop the markets from reacting immediately as investors cashed in their greenbacks for gold and silver, sending the value of the greenback down significantly relative to the euro and other currencies.

In London's Independent, the respected Middle east reporter Robert Fisk provided the details of the plan to ease out the dollar. Here is what he had to say:

The plan to de-dollarize the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects - Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them - reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and China at America's decades-long political as well as economic world dominance.

Ever since the U.S. government strong-armed OPEC into pricing its oil in U.S. dollars in 1971, the relationship has been propping up the U.S. currency and making billionaires out of the Middle East's leaders. But that arrangement appears to be crumbling now with several factors at play pushing the U.S. economy into a sown ward spiral.

The secret meeting comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. economy considering the damage the privately owned and controlled Federal Reserve has done to the currency in a fleeting attempt to salvage the fractional reserve banking system.

Since the mid 1990s, the U.S. government has been trying to hide true inflation - as opposed to "core inflation," which true inflation - as opposed to "core inflation," which does not count energy and food when calculation the change in value of the currency. Real inflation today stands at around 20 percent, which is even higher than it was during the days of "stagflation" under President Jimmy Carter. Since inflation benefits the debtor over the creditor - the original loan is worth less than ti was when it was first made - a plummeting dollar makes investing in the U.S. less attractive to foreigners. In other words, foreigners will be less willing to finance U.S. debt, especially government debt. Since Washington almost exclusively relies on debt these days to pay its bills, fewer loans mean the government could default on its debts and lead a further collapse of the economy.

According to Fisk, foreigners have become acutely aware of this "Nowhere has this more symbolic importance than in the Middle East, where the United Arab Emirates alone holds $900 billion of dollar reserves and where Saudi Arabia has been quietly coordinating its defense, armaments and oil policies with the Russians since 2007," writes Fisk.

A weak dollar has also meant that the U.S. trade deficit has narrowed. It has been two decades since the United States ran a trade surplus. Now, it looks to be headed in that direction. In September the U.S. trade deficit dropped to just over $30 billion, down significantly from a high of nearly $70 billion in 2006.

Americans have also seen their life savings invested in the stock market fall by as much as 50 percent. This has resulted in a dramatic change in mindset. Concerned for their own future, U.S. consumers have been shedding debt far beyond the predictions of the economic prognosticators hired by Wall Street firms to forecast the economic future and are slowing their purchases of goods from Asia.
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Flu Shot Blamed for Disabling Woman  

Bizarre, possibly lifelong crippling symptoms follow vaccination.

By Ralph Forbes

American Free Press has led the fight to warn everyone about the dangers of vaccines - and thankfully more and more people are beginning to wake up. Sadly, Desiree Jennings, 25, of Reston, Va., did not get the word. She believed all the hype. So, on August 23, whe dutifully got a flu shot "to earn ‘healthy living' points for her work health plan." she was in great health - until a few days after getting her "safe and effedtive" shot - when she came down with flu-like symptoms: fever, vomiting, weakness in her legs, and body aches.

After Labor Day, she was even more fatigued. She passed out at work, and then again at home. Her husband, Brendan, rushed her to emergency care as Desiree went into convulsions. She was immediately transferred to a hospital in Loudoun County, Va., where she spent three days.

"Desiree Jennings can whisper softly, but not talk loudly. She can run a 3K, but can't walk five feet normally. She can move sideways and backwards, but not forwards. Desiree can still hope and dream, but realizes that her life the way it was may never come back," reports Nicholas Graham for the Health Freedom Alliance.

Desiree had to go back to Loudoun Hospital, then Fairfax Hospital, then Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to see specialists. Desiree was seen by 60 medical experts, including her primary care physician, physical therapists, speech therapists, neurologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists and a bevy of nurses.

Her physical therapist at Johns Hopkins diagnosed Desiree's problem as dystonia. Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder where sustained muscle contractions cause body jerk, and abnormal or repetitive movements. The disorder may be inherited or caused by other factors such as birth-related or other physical trauma, infection, poisoning, or reaction to drugs, particularly neuroleptics - according the the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

To add to the family's misery, Desiree hada seizure while trying to navigate the stairs in her home, she slipped. Her husband, Brendan, leapt to catch her - and broke his foot. Now he is in a cast as he cares for her and takes her from doctor to doctor. Wiser now, Desiree - and most of her doctors - say, "don't get the flu shot if your healthy" and not at risk.
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Patriot Act ‘Fishing Expeditions' Rubber Stamped  

In early October the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a bill to renew all of the Patriot Act powers that were set to expire at the end of 2009. Most troubling is the fact that the committee passed seven Republican amendments to the USA Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act, which effectively gutted the few civil liberties protections that had been left intact in the bill after it was already watered down.

This came despite reports that federal law enforcement officials had repeatedly abused powers granted to them in the Patriot Act for the purpose of fighting terrorism. This included the FBI's use of so-called National Security Letters, which are broad warrants that allow agents to collect random information on anyone, including medical records and what books people check out of libraries, without having to show probable cause. The FBI argued that it needed this power because agents would not be able to know if a suspect had done anything wrong or if he was acting as a foreign agent until they actually sorted through his records.

The bill also allows feds to continue to conduct "Bulk collection" of Americans' phone calls and Internet communications without judicial oversight or a requirement that the wiretapping be related to a specific investigation on terrorism.

Finally, it renewed one of the most controversial aspects of the bill, known as the "lone wolf" provision. This establishes a system for issuing court warrants for the electronic monitoring of a person for any reason without the burden of having to show that the suspect is acting as an agent of a foreign power or is a terrorist.

The Obama administration had reportedly lobbied hard for renewal of the Patriot Act. Officials from the Justice department, the CIA and the Defense Department had all testified in secret that they needed broad powers to invade Americans' privacy rights in order to "fight terrorism." When asked about this specifically, senators said they were prevented from discussing this testimony with their constituents because it was deemed "classified."

Curing often-heated debate, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) said that there was no evidence that limiting the government's overly broad powers to monitor people would hinder any investigations. Committee members are merely rubber-stamping "fishing expeditions" on the part of federal law enforcement, he added.
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Israel Caught Stealing U.S. Secrets - Again  

By Ralph Forbes

After Stewart David Nozette, 52 - who held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defense Department's top-secret and "critical nuclear weapon design information" and was concerned the U.S. government would charge him criminally - expressed a willingness to go to Israel and "tell them everything," he received a call from a mysterious Mossad agent.

At a clandestine meeting Nzette allegedly told the agent, "Well, I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me...they con't expect me to do this for free."

Nozette was a technical adviser for a consultant company, wholly owned by the Israeli government, from 1998 to 2008. During this period (2000-2006) Nozette set up the Alliance for Competitive Technology, which had several agreements to develop advanced technology for the U.S. government.

A few months later, in January 2009, Nozette traveled to a foreign country, the FBI believes, to deliver two computer thumb drives capable of holding huge amounts of top secrets.

Nozette had held top security clearances in the Energy Department, NASA (1989-1990), the National Space Council in the president's office, research and development at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he designed highly and advanced technology (1990-1999).

He developed the Clementine bi-static radar experiment that is credited with discovering water on the south pole of the moon. He had access to U.S. satellite information. He had a trove of top secrets and was eager to sell them all - if the price was right, officials said, and Nozette bargained to sell it piecemeal for payments in cash of less than $10,000 for each transaction.

Nozette allegedly offered to reveal classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.

After picking up envelopes full of money with a request, Nozette would promptly deliver a package stuffed with top-secret information on U.S. satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy, authorities said.

Nozette had the potential to be even more harmful to America's security than the traitor Jonathan Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy.

But this time the Mossad agent was a "loyal" American working for the FBI. Nozette was arrested by theFBI and charged with espionage. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Barney Frank: The Bankers' Consort  

By Ralph Nader

What planet is Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on, anyway? It is the planet of the banks and other financial firms that keep his campaign coffers humming, as their chairman of the House Financial services Committee. As f this writing before the final set of hearings, Frank has dropped key provisions from a proposal to establish an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The banks did not want a consumer right of action against companies violating standards for their mortgages, credit and debit cards, or payday and installment loans. Barney said sure.

The banks want a weak oversight panel consisting of their toady regulators, who failed repeatedly and miserably in the past decade to stave of the collapse of Wall Street and its economically lethal consequences for workers and consumers. Barney said sure. The banks want their buddies in Congress to drop the standard of reasonableness by which the new consumer protection agency can go after wildly gouging fees and deceptive practices, such as the check overdraft racket that rakes in $40 billion a year for the banks. Barney said sure.

The American Bankers Association is crowing like a thousand roosters. The five biggest banks - now even bigger after the collapse, their taxpayer bailout and their acquisitions - are crowing the loudest. And why not? They speculated with retirement and other savings of the American people. Trillions of dollars were drained from the accounts and looted from these innocents.

Most stunning to Americans, right or left, who follow these big money boys is that they are developing more speculative derivative packages, loaded with luscious fees, such as securitized bets on life insurance policies.

Does this remind you of the kind of financial wheeling and dealing that sank Wall Street and the economy last year?
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

More Claims Israel Is Harvesting Organs of Palestinian Victims  

"Press TV" reported August 18 that "A leading Swedish newspaper, the daily Aftonbladet, said Israeli soldiers abduct young Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and return their bodies to their families after removing their organs. "Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors," relatives of Khalid, a Palestinian man from Nablus, told Donald Bostrom, who authored the report.

He also reported the accounts of other Palestinians whose relatives have fallen victim to the organ-smuggling operation.

According to the report, all of the victims were killed and their bodies were "autopsied."

The report also cited another similar incident in 1992, in which a young Palestinian activist was captured by Israeli soldiers in the Nablus area. The man was shot in the chest, both legs and the stomach and then transferred to "an unknown destination."

To get a clearer picture of the Israeli atrocities, you must read Bostrom's full report, a translation of which is on the Internet and which contains the following passages:

One example that I encountered on this eerie trip was the young stone-thrower Bilal Achmed Ghanan.

It was close to midnight when the motor roar from an Israeli military column sounded from the outskirts of Imatin, a small village in the norther part of the West Bank. The 2,000 inhabitants were awake. They were still, waiting, like silent shadows in the dark, some lying upon roofs, others hiding behind curtains, walls or trees that provided protection during the curfew but still offered a full view toward what would become the grave for the first martyr of the village.

As one of the leading stone-throwers, Bilal Ghanan had been wanted by the military for a couple of years. Together with other stone-throwing boys, he hid in the Nablus mountains, with no roof over his head. Getting caught meant torture and death for these boys - they had to stay in the mountains at all costs.

On May 13 Bilal made an exception, when, for some reason, he walked unprotected by the carpentry workshop. Not even Talal, his older brother, knows why he took this risk. Maybe the boys were out of food and needed to restock.

Everything went according to plan for the Israeli special forces.... When Bilal was close enough they needed only to pull the triggers. The first shot hit him in the chest ... in each leg ... the stomach.

It was decided that neither UN soldiers, not the Red Crescent, but Israeli soldiers would take care of the wounded Bilal. "Five days later he came back, dead and wrapped in green hospital fabric.

Some of Bilal's male relatives were chosen by the soldiers to do the job of digging and mixing the cement. As Bilal was put in the grave his chest was uncovered. Suddenly it became clear to the few people present just what kind of abuse the boy had been exposed to. Bilal was not by far the first young Palestinian to be buried with a slit from his abdomen up to his chin.

The relatives of the dead Palestinians no longer harbored any doubts as to the reasons for the killings, but the spokesperson for the Israelis claimed that the allegations of organ theft were lies. All the Palestinian victims go through autopsy on a routine basis, he said. Bilal Achmed was on of 133 Palestinians killed in various ways that year. They were between four months to 88 years old. Only half of them, 69 victims, went through postmortem examination. The routine autopsy of killed Palestinians - of which the army spokesperson was talking - hasno bearing on the reality in the occupied territories. The questions remain.

We know that Israel has a great need for organs, that there is a vast and illegal trade of organs which has been running for many years now, that the authorities are aware of it and that doctors in managing positions in big hospitals participate, as well as civil servants at various levels. We also know that young Palestinian men disappeared, that they were brought back after five days, at night, under tremendous secrecy, stitched back together after having been cut from abdomen to chin.

It's time to bring clarity to this macabre business, to shed light on what is going on and what has taken place in the territories occupied by Israel since the Intifada began.
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American Free Press November 2, 2009

Allow Americans to Solve Their Own Problems  

By Congressman Ron Paul

With a faltering economy, multiple wars, and the approaching demise of the dollar's reserve status, there are more than enough problems to keep politicians in Washington working day and night. In between handing out cash for clunkers and nationalizing healthcare, the administration is busy sending more troops overseas, escalating existing wars, and seeking out excuses to start new wars. Congress is working on "urgent" legislation to address crises like healthcare reform and climate change. The reforms are so very urgent that legislation must pass with no time to read the bills even though the new laws wouldn't take effect for several years. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is busy dealing with our dollar crisis by printing up more dollars.

Yes, there certainly is a lot for Washington to do these days. Most, if not all, of what Washington is doing, however, is more of what created the problems in the first place. Capitol Hill is filled with politicians running around putting out fires - but with gasoline. The truth is that all these fires keep so many powerful people employed and wealthy that it is not truly in many decision makers' interests to be very effective problem solvers. If Washington ran out of problems, think how many lobbyists would be out of a job, and how many special interest groups would just disband? Sadly, whatever is bad for the greater economy is good for the economy and job market in D.C.

Of course, no form of government, not even one that respected its constitutional restraints, wold magically create a problem-free society. The question is: how should a society deal with its problems? The form of government that our Founders envisioned, in which the federal government was strictly constrained by the Constitution, allows private citizens and communities to solve their own problems.

The role of the government should be to protect contracts, punish fraud and violence through appropriate laws, law enforcement and the courts. Not a whole lot of laws or bureaucrats are really necessary to work on just that. Instead, new law are constantly needed to fix the problems that previous unconstitutional laws created. We have ended up with an incomprehensible maze of laws and regulations that severely constrains the people and expands the government - the exact opposite of what our Founders intended.

This is all because the constitution is treated like a suggestion manual instead of the supreme law of the land. Under the Constitution, politicians' hands are supposed to be tied in most of the areas they involve themselves in today. But somewhere along the line, politicians stepped out of constitutional bounds and started pretending to solve our problems for us. All we have to show for it is more problems.

Today, Washington politicians can busily "solve" one problem, knowing that unintended consequences from that "Solution" will keep them and their friends all very busy tomorrow. The people are ultimately left suffocating under the burden of Washington's helping hands. It is coming to a point where our economy, our dollar, and indeed, the rest of the world have had about all the help from Washington that they can stand. The United States is headed the way of Rome and the Soviet Union, for the same reasons, unless we reverse the trend.

I continue to hope that enough Americans will realize that the true strength of our country doesn't come from Washington, but rather the limitations placed on government in the Constitution. We must resolve to reverse the destructive course that we are on and then never again let big government problem-solving take over our lives and our country.
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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Real Estate Domino Falls  

By Christopher J. Petherick

An epidemic of home foreclosures has been pummeling residential markets since the U.S. economy collapsed in the summer of 2008. So far, the commercial sector has remained largely unscathed. However, a recent bankruptcy filing by one of the largest commercial real estate brokers in the country may be signaling that this is all about to change and analysts are bracing for the fallout.

To those who monitor the commercial real estate sector, Capmark Financial Group's chapter 11 filing on October 25 was no surprise. For the past six months, investors have been waiting patiently for the commercial real estate sector to follow the same downward trend as the residential market.

Like many other large-scale brokers, Capmark had made vast sums of money by aggressively selling loans for a tidy profit. In a short time, the company had built itself into a billion-dollar firm, growing out of a heavily leveraged buyout deal orchestrated by Wall Street firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs to purchase the assets of General Motors' troubled financial division, GMAC.

But Capmark's winning streak came to an abrupt end following the market collapse when property values started into a downward spiral—with no end in sight. As the economy turned for the worst, the number of defaults on loans started to rise, until at least one-sixth of all of Capmark's commercial loans were listed as several months delinquent.

According to Bloomberg News, by the time of its bankruptcy filing, Capmark listed $18.5 billion in debt, including $6.9 billion that was coming due in 2010 and another $8.54 billion due in 2011.

"As commercial property prices started falling, loan defaults accelerated," reported Bloomberg. "Payments were at least 60 days late on $4 billion of the $24.1 billion in loans Capmark listed as managed assets on June 30. That was up 166 percent from December 31."

Out of 234 properties that Capmark had financed, a whopping 62 had reportedly fallen into foreclosure, default or distressed status.

In essence, Capmark found itself like so many others who gambled in real estate and ended up owing more on the loans it listed as assets on its books than the value of the properties it had to back them. When Capmark could no longer pay its debtors, which mainly consisted of other large banks like Citibank, it filed for chapter 11 protection.

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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Quarterback, Congressman—and Now a Convict  

By Jim Traficant

I have been called anti-government, anti-Republican, anti-Democrat, anti-Semitic and bigot—just a few of my labels. My politics are anti-big government, anti-IRS, anti-foreign lobbies, anti-socialism and anti-Communism. Truth is, my politics are simply pro-American—period.

Any issue, regardless of the hype or emotions, that is not in the best interest of America, I oppose. I believe in and support the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Any manipulation of our constitutional mandate is a cardinal sin to me.

I guess I'm old fashioned—in fact I believe that all those new world order politicians are so dumb and misdirected that if they fell out of bed, they'd miss the floor.

I believe this new world order has bankrupted our great nation. We're bankrupt and the Congress is nothing more than a bunch of trustees presiding over the biggest chapter 11 proceeding in world history.

I don't know about you but I'm fed up, I've had it. I'm sick of gutless politicians who are afraid to do what's right; afraid to do what's needed—who follow misdirected policies like lemmings, who have our young men and women engaged in foreign wars of little or no interest to the U.S.A. These same young brave Americans are now being shipped back home in body bags. Distraught, grieving parents receive their bodies while they themselves are losing their jobs and pensions. America is in grave danger, and no one seems to believe it.

The major reason for the average American to be so passive and inactive is quite simple—the mainstream media of the U.S.A. distorts the truth—withholds the truth—and in many instances is controlled and influenced by foreign entities. I even question the loyalties and politics of some of their owners and publishers.

I read the mainstream print medium with much skepticism. Quite frankly, I don't trust the major newspapers. I do not believe their propaganda. It should be of no surprise to know of my support for AMERICAN FREE PRESS, even though I may disagree with the AFP on some issues. The AFP reports the truth—the unvarnished truth, regardless of the pressures that are brought to bear against them, and there are many.

America needs to be informed—needs to hear and read the whole story, the truth, the facts and the dynamics of political action that secure and protect our freedom. Having said that, I encourage you to subscribe to AFP and read my weekly column. I plan to address the influence and power of AIPAC and its control over our very lives. The reason to abolish the Federal Reserve system; the reason to abolish our Communist progressive income tax; the absolute need to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution; and my proposals to save and create jobs; to stop the hemorrhaging of our federal debt, to reverse our massive trade deficit and stop illegal immigration.

I will also address the issue of John Demjanjuk, who is not being just prosecuted - Demjanjuk and his family are being persecuted, and no one in Washington will help. I plan to help him and will testify in Germany about the crimes in the Justice Department if subpoenaed.

Opponents of mine will snicker and laugh. I predict that. I expect that. But, remember, these are the same nincompoops that have almost destroyed our great republic.

You deserve to hear an opposing view. An American's view, which happens to be my view. I plan to deliver these views and information.

I ask of you to participate in this struggle to reverse the downward spiral of our great republic. I want you to send me your ideas and suggestions. I believe that America can be saved and, contrary to the propaganda we get out of Washington, this is not brain surgery nor rocket science. In fact, it's plain old-fashioned common sense, something that is lacking in our nation's capital.

I charge you with one other task; contact your friends, relatives, co-workers and associates to subscribe to AFP so that our words, ideas and proposals become known by a growing numbers of American citizens.

Look for me next week. And please STRAP ON YOUR SEAT BELTS.

© 2009 AMERICAN FREE PRESS. To inquire about running Jim Traficant's syndicated column in your publication, please call AFP and ask for our syndication coordinator at 202-544-5977.

James A. (Jim) Traficant, Jr. was born in Youngstown, Ohio on May 8, 1941. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh where he was a well-known football star. He also received a M.S. degree from Youngstown State University in 1976. For ten years he served as executive director of the Mahoning County (Ohio) Drug Program and from 1981-1985 he served as sheriff of Mahoning County, prior to his election to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat in 1984. He was re-elected by overwhelming margins every year up until 2002 when, following his conviction on trumped up corruption charges he was expelled from the House of Representatives. Despite his conviction and expulsion and being sent to prison for a seven year term Traficant still won 15% of the vote running for re-election to the House in the 2002 election as an independent. He recently completed a seven year prison sentence, having refused to seek a pardon or clemency, refusing to admit to or apologize for crimes he did not commit. This is his first column for AMERICAN FREE PRESS.

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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Yet Another Prominent Billionaire Dies Mysteriously  

By Pat Shannan

The largest beneficiary of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme was found dead at the bottom of his Palm Beach, Fla. swimming pool on October 25. Jeffrey Picower, accused of profiting more than $7 billion from Bernard Madoff's investment scheme, was found in the pool at his $33 million ocean side mansion where he had presumably drowned. He was 67.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after he admitted losing billions of dollars for thousands of clients over a half-century career that saw him rise to be a Nasdaq chairman, and Picower was in current civil litigation.

Palm Beach Fire Department spokesman Joe Sekula said that Picower's body showed no visible injuries, but police, while investigating the case as a "drowning," were not ruling out anything on the cause of death, presumably because of the precarious legal position Picower was in at the time.

"There wasn't anything noted as far as trauma or anything to the body," he said, "it did appear that he was swimming because he was wearing swimming trunks."

Picower's health was described as "poor," and he suffered from Parkinson's disease and had heart problems, according to family spokesmen.

In a lawsuit to recover Madoff's assets, trustee Irving Picard had demanded Picower return more than $7 billion in bogus profits. But the trustee's lawyer said Picower's claims that he was a victim "ring hollow" because he withdrew more of other investors' money than anyone else during three decades and should have noticed signs of fraud. According to the lawyers, Picower's accounts were "riddled with blatant and obvious fraud," and he should have recognized that because he was a sophisticated investor.

Jonathan Landers, an attorney representing a large group of victims, said in an email that it was impossible to tell what effect Picower's death would have on efforts to recover funds lost in Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme.

Meanwhile, such situations always give rise to "conspiracy theories" and cause to recall previous suspicious deaths of people who knew "too much," such as the D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey and Hillary Clinton's former law partner and lover, Vince Foster. Only six months ago, the CEO of the troubled Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") was found dead in the basement of his home in Vienna, Va.

However, The Wall Street Journal had recently reported that Freddie Mac's David Kellerman was not a target of any investigation. Yet at only 41 years of age and in good health, the question loomed: was this really a suicide or was he "suicided?" And if he had been, was it because of what he might tell in court?

OR HOW ABOUT THIS TOP-LEVEL EXEC . . .

Consider the dubious death of former Enron executive J. Clifford Baxter in January of 2002. Baxter, only 43, had shown no signs of suicidal tendencies and had even spoken of hiring a bodyguard only two days before his death. He was found with multiple shots to the head that were later ruled to be a suicide.

These shots were then determined to be from a .38 caliber weapon firing rat shot, a mini-shotgun shell designed to spread. However, in order to have produced the wide pattern, the gun would have had to have been held farther from Baxter's head than his arm would reach.

Rat shot is the perfect murder ammunition because, unlike a solid bullet, there is no ballistics test that can match rat shot to the gun that fired it.

The most disturbing account of Baxter's last days comes from a former business associate who spoke to The New York Times but was not identified by the newspaper. This person spoke with the former Enron vice chairman two days before his death and congratulated him "for being named among those people who complained about Enron." The associate added that Baxter "was talking about perhaps needing a bodyguard."

Whether Picower's death in Palm Beach proves to be from natural causes, accidental or murder, it already has case watchers wondering: who's next?

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American Free Press November 9, 2009

‘Toughest Sheriff' Targeted by Feds  

By Victor Thorn

Phoenix, Ariz. is now the kidnapping capital of America, and ranks second worldwide only behind Mexico City. Phoenix—the nation's fifth largest city—is located in Maricopa County, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been trying to combat an increasing crime wave associated with illegal immigration.

Of all the illegal aliens incarcerated in Maricopa County jails, 70 percent were arrested for felony crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, assault, kidnapping, DUI, robbery, forgery, and human smuggling. The violence at certain points on the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated to such alarming levels that John Gibler, author of Mexico Unconquered, stated in a March 25 interview that we are facing a "bloody, very real war over territory."

Narco-traffickers run rampant in Sinaloa, their gunmen execute rival drug dealers at will, while over 50 Mexican journalists have been slain since 2000. El Manana editor Ramon Cantu says with dire certainty, "All of our journalists who cover sensitive subjects, especially drug trafficking, have been the targets of threats and violence."

Considering the "war" that is spilling over into this country, a variety of governmental forces are actually attempting to stop the law enforcement activities of Sheriff Joe Arpaio instead of assisting in his efforts. As it stands now, four separate entities are investigating and/or trying to thwart him: Eric Holder and the Justice Department, Janet Napolitano's Department of Homeland Security, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and a House Judiciary Committee led by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

The Bush administration played it soft on the illegal immigration issue. But at least they didn't interfere with Arpaio trying to uphold the law, especially when his men were doing ICE's job for them.

On October 14, Rebecca Larsen of The Washington Times wrote about their 287(g) program. "This law permits local law enforcement agencies to perform immigration functions traditionally reserved for the federal government— such as holding illegal immigrants when arrested."

But in an article by Andrea Christina Nill of the L.A. Progressive on October 7, "Arpaio believes the White House is going out of its way to single him out and curb his immigration-policing powers for political reasons."

To reinforce his claims, the sheriff cites a meeting between the mayor of Phoenix and Holder that led to an investigation being opened two months later. Secondly, he notes the intervention of former Arizona governor—and now DHS head—Janet Napolitano.

"She has her mission. She works for the president. She has to report to the White House and take orders from them." In addition, ACORN is launching petition drives against Arpaio, while the ACLU has filed lawsuits for "racial profiling."

In the face of this adversity, Arpaio has stuck to his guns. "I don't report to governors, I report to the people," he told Jim Meyers of Newsmax on October 21. "The feds are not the boss of me."

That's why Arpaio has continued his street sweeps, raiding work sites that hire illegals, and arresting "coyotes" who smuggle human cargo into America. Drug dealers and gang-bangers also remain firmly in his crosshairs. And if ICE won't accept the criminals delivered to them, Arpaio says assuredly, "I'll have to transport them to the border myself."

Believe these words, because Arpaio hasn't backed down in the past. He's the man who established a "tent city" to handle more prisoners, made male prisoners wear pink underwear, cut out salt and pepper from their meals, and placed men and women on chain gangs.

Barack Obama's henchmen don't scare him in the least. "I'm not worried about a thing. I'm a fighter."

Could a more sinister element be lurking behind the vendetta against Arpaio, similar to how a private security firm rolled into Hardin, Mont. and tried to eliminate the local sheriff's office? Could such moves be part of a larger, nationwide plan?

As Devey Kidd wrote for News With Views on Dec. 12, 2002, "The sheriff of your county is the highest elected official and has more power than most people realize. Your local sheriff has the power to tell dragoons from various federal alphabet soup agencies that they will not come into their county and attempt to enforce unconstitutional ‘laws'. Your local sheriff is there to protect your rights, not the actions of an out-of-control government."

Are DHS, ICE, DOJ, and the Obama White House all plotting to handcuff Sheriff Arpaio's ability to enforce the law as step one in a larger attempt to nullify local officials, only to have their authority replaced by Uncle Sam's cronies? If this is a precedent, Arpaio has thus far defied their heavy-handed actions by continuing to parade arrested illegals before television cameras. His example needs to be followed by more of his colleagues before its too late.

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and the author of many books on 9-11 and the New World Order. These include 9-11 Evil: The Israeli Role in 9-11 and Phantom Flight 93.

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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Even Legislators Don't Want Vaccinations  

Despite the fear-mongering on the part of the government and drug makers to compel Americans to get stuck with a flu shot, resistance is high among members of Congress who say they are not going to get vaccinated.

According to a new report, many legislators say they do not expect to get flu vaccines even though they are being given away courtesy of their taxpayer-subsidized federal health insurance.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), for instance, told a Capitol Hill newspaper that he has no plans to get any flu vaccines, even the so-called swine flu vaccine, which has been hyped of late. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) also said he has no plans to get the vaccine.

Not one congressman interviewed said he was going to get the swine flu vaccine. Even Rep. Gene Tayor (D-Miss.), who suspects he may have contracted swine flu, said he doesn't was the shot, says the report. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who said he had received a seasonal flu shot, was "not to concerned about getting the H1N1 vaccine," according to the report.

The article in the Capitol Hill newspaper follows on the heels of another report by a national television outlet that found federal medical authorities had been "guesstimating" and overestimating the number of cases of swine flu.

A study by CBS News found that 98 percent to 99 percent of cases that were originally thought to be swine flu turned out to be incorrect. In fact, said CBS, most of those patients had not even contracted any form of the flu virus - but had actually come down with some form of the common cold.
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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Your Gun Rights on a Train  

Pro-Second Amendment senators have added an amendment (S. Amdt. 2366), to pending transportation legislation (H.R. 3288), which would allow riders to check their firearms when they board an Amtrak train.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Amtrak had changed the rules so that only law enforcement officials can carry weapons on a train. But legislators are arguing that Amtrak's policy violates Americans' constitutional right to carry a firearm and want the taxpayer-subsidized company to change its stance. Senators are threatening to withhold $1.5 billion in funding if train authorities refuse.

Despite having a Democrat majority, the Senate has so far been on the side of pro-gun organizations like the National Rifle association, so the bill is expected to pass with the amendment attached. All 40 Republicans, 27 Democrats and one independent have signed on to support the measure, which was sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Crisis Looms; Senate ‘Fiddles'  

Wall Street may be booming again for the moment, thanks to taxpayer bailout money driving up the stock market. However, for millions of unemployed Americans, who are paying their mortgages and bills with credit cards and government assistance, there is trouble brewing.

In three months, 1.3 million Americans stand to lose their unemployment benefits as the deadline looms in most states for people to receive government aid. This is out of a total of more than 13 million who have lost their jobs since the economy tanked in 2008.

How long an unemployed worker can receive unemployment benefits is usually determined by the state he lives in. In the past, unemployment compensation usually averaged about 26 weeks, but the 2009 stimulus bill extended that by an additional 33 weeks. That is set to end for millions of people beginning in January 2010.

Republican and Democrats are now dithering over new legislation that would extend benefits for an additional three-and-a-half months.

With the federal government paying out trillions of dollars to prop up big banks and the military-industrial-banking complex, it seems reasonable that officials should use the taxes collected from businesses for the purpose of paying unemployment compensation to actually pay unemployment compensation. After all, Wall Street executives are back to getting their million-dollar bonuses thanks to the generosity of American taxpayers. It's only fair that working-class families receive a little help, too.
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American Free Press November 9, 2009

Anything Less Than Fed's Full Disclosure Unacceptable  

By Congressman Ron Paul

A new bill was introduced in the Senate to audit the Federal Reserve. Some backers of my bill H.R. 1207 and the existing Senate companion bill S. 604 were a little miffed at this, but depending on how you thik about it, this new legislation poses no great threat to our efforts.

With the economy in shambles, people are looking for answers - not just because of lost saving on Wall Street, but because of lost houses on Main Street. Because of many problems we face, the Federal Reserve and its powers over the economy have come under scrutiny. This translates into a lot of political pressure on congress. With all the House Republicans signed on as co-sponsors and over half of the Democrats, H.R. 1207 has enormous bipartisan support. It would be disingenuous for Washington not to embrace the principles behind this bill after all the promises of transparency. How can one credibly argue for more transparency in government in one breath and defend the secrecy of the Federal Reserve in the next?

However, there is still very powerful resistance to the disclosures that H.R. 1207 would require and efforts to weaken it will continue to op up before this issue is settled.

The good news is that the Federal Reserve has become the issue. Concerned Americans need to keep the pressure on by continuing to define what we want, and what we do not want.

One major concern is that H.R. 1207 constitutes some kind of power grab for Congress. Congress would not do a better job dictating interest rates or managing money supply growth than the Federal Reserve does for exactly the same reasons: Congress is not the free market. Any select group of people, no matter how wise and educated, simply cannot replace the wisdom of the market. H.R. 1207 does not seek to replace the wisdom of the Fed with the wisdom of Congress. That would be a giant step backwards.

H.R. 1207 simply asks for full disclosure, and I am agreeable to allowing for a reasonable lag time to calm the fears that Congress intends to dictate monetary policy.

What we do want, what we insist upon, is that no longer will decisions that carry so much economic weight be made in absolute secrecy. We want to know what arrangements the fed makes with other governments and central banks. We want to know who is benefitting from the actions of the Fed and what deals are being made. The fed is already reacting to pressure by scaling back its liquidity facilities and returning to more traditional monetary policy through direct asset purchases.

With nearly $800 billion in mortgage-backed securities on its books already, $800 billion in Treasury securities, and no real limit to what the Fed can acquire, there is a tremendous opportunity for malfeasance.

We need to know who the Fed deals with, what they buy, how much they spend, and who benefits.

As good as any step toward Federal Reserve transparency is, anything less than full disclosure at this point is unacceptable.
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Plans Flop for Moderate Pro-Israel Lobby  

By Michael Collins Piper

ALTHOUGH MUCH IS OFTEN MADE in the mainstream press about the significant pro-Obama vote by American Jews during the last election, The New York Times dropped a bombshell on October 31 when it revealed that Obama's favorable rating in Israel dropped to about 4 percent this past fall according to a poll for The Jerusalem Post.

This news reflects the fact that despite apparent cosmetic differences between political factions in Israel and American Jews, hard-liners in Israel (and in the American lobby for Israel) reflect popular opinion within their respective constituencies. Another evidence of this is the fact that what appeared to be an ambitious effort to launch a "moderate" pro-Israel lobby to counter the heavy-handed clout of the hard-line pro-Israel lobby known as AIPAC appears to have gone belly-up.

As a consequence, AIPAC—which is short for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—continues to reign supreme in official Washington. The newly established pro-Israel organization known as J Street recently held its first national conference in Washington but the meeting—from a public relations standpoint—was a bust. Not only did Israel's ambassador to the U.S. boycott the conference (suggesting rather pointedly that the government of Israel doesn't particularly care for "moderate" American Jewish organizations) but also a bevy of U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives who had initially agreed to attend—or otherwise lend their public support for the conference—ultimately decided it would not be in their best interests to do so. That is, AIPAC and Israel wouldn't approve.

In addition, the actual meeting itself received sparse coverage in the mainstream press which otherwise likes to report on matters relating to gatherings of pro-Israel Americans. Clearly this group of pro-Israel Americans —who have something critical to say, on occasion, about Israel—was not seen as worthy of significant press coverage.

J Street was set in motion as an ostensible "alternative" to AIPAC, emphasizing that J Street and its supporters were most definitely lovers and supporters of Israel but that, unlike AIPAC, they would feel free to criticize Israel as necessary.

And while some critics of Israel—such as the ardently pro-Arab (and occasionally quite blatantly anti-Jewish) magazine, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs—enthusiastically babbled on about the creation of J Street, hyping its existence as "proof " that "not all American Jews support Israel unconditionally"—J Street has had little influence in Washington or in affecting political opinion within the American Jewish community.

J Street largely exists in the rhetoric of its own press releases. And the big flop of its first national conference drove that point home most painfully.

The fact that President Obama did dispatch his national security advisor, General James Jones, to speak at the conference was no real surprise. There have been more than a few wags who have referred to J Street as "Obama's Jews," in light of the fact that the president and some of his key advisors—including General Jones—have been suspected of being less than obedient toward the overall demands of Israel and its lobby.

Even Rahm Emanuel—the American-born Obama chief of staff whose father was one of the "founding terrorist fathers" of Israel and who, on his own, did a brief stint as a volunteer for the Israel military—was reportedly repeatedly denounced as a "self-hating Jew" by high-ranking Israeli government officials for lending his name and credibility (in the American Jewish community) to the initiatives of the Obama administration.

So what remains in play is the fact that Obama's loyal opposition—the Republican Party—is firmly in lockstep with the "mainstream" hardliners in AIPAC. And J Street is a road to nowhere.

Although the Democratic leadership in Washington has always been firmly in the camp of Israel, the GOP cemented its ties with AIPAC in particular (and the well-heeled fanatics who support that lobby) during the Ronald Reagan era.

At that time, traditional American nationalism went by the wayside as far as the GOP leadership was concerned. Reagan and the national Republican power brokers not only firmly aligned themselves with Israel, but also supported sovereignty-surrendering free trade internationalism and flagrantly opened up American borders to wave upon wave of illegal immigrants as never before.

The few elements of the Democratic Party in Washington that do dare to question all-out support for Israel— right or wrong—are largely isolated to increasingly smaller numbers in the Congressional Black Caucus and a few independent-minded folks like Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and a handful of others, largely those who have substantial numbers of Arab-Americans in their congressional districts.

As far as the American Jewish community itself is concerned, polls taken both by J Street and the AIPAC-allied Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'rith during Israel's violent attack on Gaza—including the slaughter of helpless caged animals in the little Gaza zoo—reflected that roughly eight out of every ten American Jews admittedly supported Israel's Gaza venture (which most people around the world viewed as a horrific series of war crimes). And considering the fact that the Gaza rampage was particularly grotesque, the fact that so many American Jews openly supported it is revealing.

Thus, the hopes of a handful of good people who dreamed that J Street would somehow add an element of sanity, balance and common sense to the Middle East debate (to the extent that there is any "debate" at all) seems to be just that: a dream.

A journalist specializing in media critique, Michael Collins Piper is the author of The High Priests of War, The New Jerusalem, Dirty Secrets, The Judas Goats, The Golem, Target Traficant and My First Days in the White House All are available from AFP.

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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Chaos Manipulation a Forte of Global Elite  

By Victor Thorn

America's astronomical debt is unsustainable. Will it lead to the collapse of our dollar? Or, could a swine flu pandemic cripple the nation's healthcare system? A suitcase nuke in St. Louis would move us into a renewed state of panic.

Who could calculate the effect of another false-flag "lone nut" domestic terrorist like Timothy McVeigh? Each of these scenarios is very real because the global elite have historically used crisis to disorient and overwhelm the populace into a state of shock so that they can push through legislation that had already been penned (i.e. two successive levels of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act enacted via the OKC Bombing and 9-11).

Barack Obama's primary thug, Rahm Emanuel, recently quipped, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." New World Order elitists most certainly savor these moments. To them, crisis equals action, whether it's a natural disaster, an orchestrated economic collapse, war, terror, or the instability of a coup.

When these "controlled chaos" events are foisted upon the public through the media's shock and awe wizardry, the emergency suspends animation and people are far more open to suggestion and willing to comply. As such, we're so focused on the misery and disaster that our personal interest is exploited before we realize what's happening.

These architects of catastrophe thrive on tragedy. To them, it's an opportunity that's neither benign nor bloodless. Hark back to Sept. 11, 2001. With the masses in shock, government leaders implemented new policies as a form of social reengineering. To be successful, the hidden NWO oligarchs first had to create a blitzkrieg sense of isolation where our resistance was diminished by the disorientation of falling skyscrapers and a jet purportedly hitting the Pentagon. Suddenly, after being "invaded," we didn't live in the world we thought we lived in. The entire collective narrative had been altered.

At this stage, in true Machiavellian fashion, the manipulators saw us as blank slates upon which they could imprint their new ideas. Picture electroshock therapy patients whose original personalities are completely distorted and/or erased, only to be replaced by "reformed" ones. The same applies to Obama's "fundamental transformation of America."

After the deluge (either real or perceived), a framework is already intact to pass new laws. Disaster equals profit for the elite, and this requires the need for a new enemy to emerge (and be feared). To reinforce their agenda, heavy doses of propaganda are disseminated on the public. "If you're patriotic and love freedom, you need to defend the homeland and our war against tyranny."

Of course, opposition must be suppressed. So, if you don't become a willing automaton in the collective whole, then your dissent is painted as unpatriotic (example: 9-11 "truthers"). Over the past century, an Orwellian prophecy of perpetual war and perpetual enemies has plagued America.

We went from hating Nazis to Communists, then Koreans and Vietnamese, to "extreme Islam" today. As our "war on terror" unfolded (a phrase coined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), entire war profiteering economies were built on fear via our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

But this phenomenon shouldn't surprise anyone. Spike event governance has always been the NWO's modus operandi. By funding both the North and South during our Civil War, the Rothschild family came close to dividing America into two separate countries (all in their quest to create an all-powerful central bank).

In 1913, legislation creating the Federal Reserve and a federal income tax allowed America's worst president ever—Woodrow Wilson—to lead us into World War I. Perpetual debt and interest payments to an international banking cartel were the intended result.

The 1929 stock market crash allowed elite families such as the Rockefellers, Morgans and Vanderbilts to rake in millions, while the remainder wallowed in a decade long Great Depression. To "rescue" us, FDR conceived his socialist New Deal; then along with Winston Churchill, stood by while the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Our involvement in World War II soon followed. To climax this destruction, atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a form of "urban renewal."

Japanese nationalists were eliminated, replaced by global industrialists and a new crop of slave laborers—" made in Japan." [One hundred years earlier, these slave laborers were immigrants to America working in sweat shops, coal mines, factories, or building railroads.]

In the ensuing years as the American economy boomed (a black and white Leave it to Beaver world), our CIA ran rampant, creating mayhem via their illegal experimentation.

Upon leaving office in January 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of a "military industrial complex." Less than three years later in a coup d'etat, JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Virtually overnight, LBJ dramatically increased aid to Israel, ratcheted up our involvement in Vietnam, and unleashed his socialist Great Society.

The disgrace of Richard Nixon's Watergate paved the way for David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission candidate, Jimmy Carter. More importantly, his national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski (also a Trilateralist), lured the Russians into attacking Afghanistan. This spike event led to their version of Vietnam, and the USSR's collapse.

Reminiscent of 1984, the same "freedom fighters" we financed to battle our Cold War enemy are now being financed by the Russians to fight us. Seems highly unlikely—evidence?

Spike events rule the world. The fall of Berlin's Wall in 1989 served as a conduit to the European Union's formation in 1993. Our Iran-Contra fiasco concealed a vast network of U.S. drug trafficking (including the crack epidemic in Los Angeles). Israel's USS Liberty attack nearly started WWIII. China's Tiananmen Square uprising opened the door to "reform at the barrel of a gun" (to quote Mao). As a result, China emerged as the world's new slave labor capital, for their workers are too terrified to protest or demand their rights, as we see them.

Economically, stock market spike events via 1973's oil embargo, Black Monday in 1987, and the dot.com, housing and banking bubble bursts have stripped billions from investors (while Wall Street manipulators reaped vast rewards behind the scenes). More recently, Hurricane Katrina exiled New Orleans' poor while construction outfits like KBR profited handsomely.

The same transformation took place during Sri Lanka's tsunami where privately owned fishing villages were usurped by corporate luxury resorts.

With the World Health Organization, IMF, World Bank, CFR, and Bilderberg elite guiding these catastrophes with their hidden hand, a quote by H.L. Mencken seems appropriate. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the people alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

Sadly, these demons become all too real, as we witnessed on 9-11. What will be the next spike event that sends society into turmoil while simultaneously creating the means to alter our world yet again?

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and the author of many books on 9-11 and the New World Order. These include 9-11 Evil: The Israeli Role in 9-11 and Phantom Flight 93.

Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute - as long as full credit is given to American Free Press - 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Forget the Audit: Just Go Ahead & Abolish the Federal Reserve  

By Jim Traficant

ON MARCH 17, 1993, I addressed the House of Representatives in one of the many "budget" debates. Over the past 16 years, many publications and books have reprinted my speech.

They viewed my speech as being on target. Researchers have written to me regarding the speech, confused because it was printed in two areas of the Congressional Record. My floor remarks were brief, but I inserted the entire speech into the "extension of remarks" section of the record.

Nevertheless, the speech stands today as prophetic. America is bankrupt, and it's growing worse by the day. The U.S. government was technically dissolved by the "Emergency Banking Act" of March 9, 1933. THAT'S A FACT.

If you have any doubt, just look around. Foreclosures and unemployment run rampant. The dollar is dropping so low it could fit under a closed door with a top hat on, yet every day the mainstream media is trying to convince us that the recession is over. Who's kidding whom? If you take Social Security and Medicare out of our economy, it's a full-blown depression—a total belly-up depression.

The real rub emanates from the fact that the "trustees" who preside over U.S. bankruptcy are the international bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

I proclaim that all U.S. offices, officials and departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under "Emergency War Power."

Our constitutional form of government was technically dissolved and replaced by a so-called "democracy," a government in actuality being a socialist-communist order under a new governor for America.

You must be thinking that I've lost my marbles by now—I don't blame you. But, here come the facts. This chicanery occurred when authority was transferred and placed in the Office of the Secretary of Treasury under the governor of the International Monetary Fund. [Public Law 94-564].

In essence, the dollar was changed from a "promise to pay a dollar in silver or gold" to a "federal reserve note." Now think about it: the dollar became a "promise," not "money."

The U.S. dollar is a debt instrument, nothing more than another debt obligation of the American people. And where is this obligation to be paid? You probably guessed it, to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Let's tell it like it is. Federal Reserve notes are literally unsigned checks written on a closed account. It's nothing more than inflatable paper creating more debt through inflation every time our currency is devalued.

Truth is, inflation is actually another tax; invisible, never seen, but a tax just the same. I don't know about you, but I always thought that a "contract" under common law is only valid if it involves an exchange of some "good and valuable consideration."

If that's not enough to frost your pumpkins, check this out: The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the U.S. government. It is in fact, a private corporation.

We, the people of these United States, owe this private corporation consisting of international bankers a mountain of debt. The collateral on this debt is our very own homes and properties.

We the people are nothing more than tenants and sharecroppers, renting our own property from the Federal Reserve Bank. Most Americans are mortgaged to the hilt with few or no assets, working harder and profiting less, constantly in debt to a private corporation they know little or nothing about.

BEAM ME UP. This has gone on way too long—WAKE UP AMERICA.

This is nothing more than economic slavery to a bunch of international fat cats. Our Constitution has been turned upside down, violated and discarded like toilet paper. Unbelievable.

It's not rocket science folks—CONGRESS SHALL COIN MONEY, so mandates the Constitution. It's very clear to me: the Federal Reserve System should be abolished, not just audited so the politicians can feel good, but abolished. Enough is enough. In closing I say "audit this."

Next week—AIPAC. You don't want to miss it.

James A. (Jim) Traficant, Jr. was born in Youngstown, Ohio on May 8, 1941. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a well-known football star. He also received a M.S. degree from Youngstown State University in 1976. For ten years he served as executive director of the Mahoning County (Ohio) Drug Program and from 1981-1985 he served as sheriff of Mahoning County, prior to his election to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat in 1984. He was re-elected by overwhelming margins every year up until 2002 when, following his conviction on trumped up corruption charges, he was expelled from the House of Representatives. Despite his conviction and expulsion and being sent to prison for a seven year term Traficant still won 15% of the vote running for re-election to the House in the 2002 election as an independent. He recently completed a seven-year prison sentence, having refused to seek a pardon or clemency, refusing to admit to or apologize for crimes he did not commit.

Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute - as long as full credit is given to American Free Press - 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
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American Free Press November 16, 2009
Spotlight On Congress

Obama Signs Hate Bill  

On October 28, President Obama signed the 2010 defense appropriations bill, which contained the infamous hate crimes amendment. The new law federalizes so-called hate crimes, granting the Justice Department unprecedented and unconstitutional owers to overrule local authorities and initiate its own investigations whether state or city police actually need them, or not.

Over the years, AFP has editorialized on why hate crimes laws are both unnecessary and dangerous. Rev. Ted Pike summed it up best by writing on his web site, truthellers.org: "America is now following hate law countries such as Canada, England and Australia in erecting a bias-oriented justice system existing parallel to traditional law. Federal law enforcement will be uniting with local law enforcement in a seamless unityof jurisdiction and power - the definition of a police state.

The new law is a slippery slope, adds Pike, which will allow the judiciary to set precedents that effectively censor and punish those considered politically incorrect.

"As Indictments are handed down by the government against alleged hate criminals in the months and years ahead, these cases will be appealed," said Pike. "Predominantly liberal judges will broaden this legislation, protecting minorities not only from physical hare crimes but from ‘verbal violence," e.g., Bibical ‘hate speech.' Despite ostensible safeguards of free speech within the hate law... the great momentum of this law will descend toward an end of free speech."
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Pentagon Has Option to Put Taliban on Payroll

The Pentagon knows that it is impossible to win the war in Afghanistan when the majority of warlords and tribal leaders in the mountainous country reject the U.S. occupation. So they want to try anew tactic to bide time: Corruption. Bribe them for their support just as the CIA did following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Legislators rode to the rescue of U.S. military leaders by slipping language into the latest war-funding bill, which was signed by President Obama on Oct. 28, that grants the Pentagon the authority to use up to $1.3 billion of taxpayers' money to buy the support of anyone fighting against the United States in Afghanistan. It is part of a special program that hands military leaders the power to give out money with no oversight.

Bribing soldiers to switch sides is certainly nothing new. It was used extensively throughout Iraq to stop the bloody civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.

The problem, of course, is that success in Afghanistan will last only as long as the Pentagon continues to disburse dollars to Taliban fighters at taxpayer expense.

Obviously, the best solution is one advocated by AFP and recently proposed by Matthew Hoh, the 36-year-old State Department official who resigned from is post in Afghanistan in October to go public with his views about the failure of the U.S. war there.

In his resignation letter, which was released to the public in late September, Hoh wrote: "I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan. I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

The only solution for the U.S. is to get out and stayout of Afghanistan.
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Don't Believe U.S. Propaganda: Iraq in Complete Chaos  

By Victor Thorn

As justification for the addition of 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan, neo-con commentators and analysts constantly cite the "success" of George W. Bush's Iraqi surge in 2007. But although the number of deaths has diminished over the past two years, mayhem still runs rampant in Iraq.

On October 25, two massive car bombs exploded within a minute of each other, killing 155 in one of Baghdad's most protected areas. Following this explosion outside the Justice Ministry, gunfire erupted in the heart of Iraq's capital. Water mains burst; cars were pulverized. President Nuri al-Maliki's government has now suspended plans to dismantle any more blast walls.

Writing for the Associated Press on October 27, Sinan Salaheddin said the latest chaos "raised more fears about this country's ability to protect itself as it prepares for the January Parliamentary elections and the U.S. military withdrawal."

Imagine if an attack killing 155 citizens occurred in a major American city. News channels would focus non-stop coverage on the event for weeks, if not months. Yet between October 16-21, Iraq witnessed dozens of roadside bombs, eight family members slain inside their home, sniper hits, assassinations of public officials, and the murder of policemen, storekeepers and commuters outside bus depots.

Mass killing is business as usual in Iraq, especially since the U.S. ceded control on June 30. Shortly thereafter, on Au gust 19, the Foreign and Finance Ministries were shredded with explosives, killing over 100 and wounding another 600. Sam Dagher of the New York Times commented on August 20. "Bombs crippled the downtown area, closed highways and two main bridges, and clogged hospitals with the wounded." Martin Cholov of the Guardian UK assessed the damage on August 19, Noting that over 100 homes were leveled, cars blackened while an automobile hood hung from a building ten stories in the air.

Ironically, only days before, Iraqi security forces began disassembling the city's blast walls. The next day, all were put back in place. Jamil Jaber, whose for-year-old grandson died after being crushed , lamented, "This country is finished. It's just robbery and killing." On June 10, 33 were killed and 70 wounded after a car bomb blast in Baltha; on June 20 another 73 died while 150 were wounded due to a suicide truck bomber in Kirkuk.

The Iraqi occupation costs American taxpayers $7.3 billion per month, with our total expenditures topping $800 billion. Some 4,350 soldiers have been killed, 32,000 seriously wounded, while tens of thousands suffer debilitating psychological problems. Further, reinforcing numbers quoted by former congressman Jim Traficant in his recent AFP interview, The Washington Post stated that as of October 25, we have 120,000 combat troops in Iraq, plus another 100,000 private contractors. That totals nearly a quarter-million forces in Iraq.

To put these figures in perspective, The Nation'sTom Engelhardt sourced the Congressional research Service on August 13,2007: "The estimated cost of deploying an American soldier to Iraq for one year is $390,000."

Much of this money is being squandered. On April 15, 2008 journalist Gary Ater called Iraq "the most corrupt and expensive reconstruction effort in the history of the world." The group Transparency International agrees: "Corruption in Iraq will probably become3 the biggest corruption scandal in history." Bribery, embezzlement, high officials awarding million dollar deals to associated, and no-bid contracts are commonplace. In a 2005 Coalition Provisional Authority report Iraqi reconstruction Inspector General Stuart Bowen points out how "$8.8 billion from Iraqi oil revenues has virtually disappeared." Not surprisingly, Halliburton overcharged one no-bid contract by $108 million. Again, these practices aren't exceptions; they are the status quo.

When the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003, oil sold for $30 a barrel. After climbing to $126 a barrel in July 2008, it now teeters at nearly three-times the price ($80 a barrel) from when we entered Iraq.

Everyday life is no better for Iraqi citizens either. On October 13, Simon Assaf of Schema-Root News reported, "The country continues to be plagued by power cuts, high unemployment, and ethnic/sectarian conflicts." Visiting the nation's capital for the Merced Sum-Star on April 15, Corinne Reilly noted,"Power goes out at McClatchy's Baghdad bureau at least 10 times a day."

A February 2009 U.S. Humanitarian Report corroborates the nightmare scenario. Half of Baghdad suffers severe power cuts 11 hours a day; unemployment has hit 18 percent, 22 percent of children are plagued by chronic malnutrition; while five million people are illiterate.

Is our "Mission Accomplished" as George Bush proclaimed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, and is the "surge" a raging success? Or, has $800 billion been flushed down the drain (with who knows how much to follow) in another ill-begotten foreign entanglement?
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Outspoken Catholic Bishop Won't Agree to Speak Lies, Nor Hold His Honest Tongue  

By Willis A. Carto

Bishop Richard Williamson just won't shut up. I keeping with his Christian vows, he insists on telling the truth as he sees it. And this just cost him 12,000 euros.

Williamson said on Swedish television that, after a study of the subject, he believes that not more than 300,000 Jews died during the war in Nazi detention camps.

During WWII, the Nazis kept possible saboteurs in concentration camps, just as American President Franklin D. Roosevelt locked up more than 100,000 Japanese on the West Coast. He, too, feared possible sabotage of the American war effort.

People who condemn the Germans for imprisoning Jews seldom mention FDR's action.

The fact that Williamson cites a figure less that the standard "six million Jews killed" enrages Jewish organizations, which demand that this figure be scrupulously observed by all.

A German court in Regensburg on October 26 commanded Williamson to pay the money. Although the roman Catholic hierarchy has not yet made the six million fable a holy dogma, all Catholic bishops are expected to respect it.
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American Free Press November 16, 2009

Stop Stealing from Social Security Trust Fund, Says Congressman  

By Congressman Ron Paul

There has been a lot of talk in Washington recently about senior citizens, mostly about how various healthcare reform models would help of hurt them. But there is another critical issue that has quietly devastated seniors financially over the last few decades. It concerns how the cost of living is calculated. How does the administration justify not giving a cost of living increase to Social Security recipients this year?

According to the official Consumer Price Index calculation, life has gotten cheaper for the first time in decades. If the government can show statistically that the cost of living has gone down, not up, then they can make the case for not giving a cost of living increase to Social Security recipients. But does this match reality? Using older calculations of CPI, the cost of living has actually increased - by roughly 5 percent.

The CPI (Consumer Price Index is a calculation based on the average price of a fixed basket of goods that was initially designed to help businesses adjust for inflation. The government eventually started using it to determine cost of living adjustments for entitlement programs. Couple that with politicians' discovery that they could raid the Social Security trust fund to pay for new spending programs, and you have a perfect storm to deny seniors what they were promised, while hiding the true size of the deficit. For politicians, it is a win-win.

For seniors, it is a different story. Economist John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics has estimated that if the original methodology of CPI had not changed, Social security checks would be nearly double what they are today. This represents a lot of money that politicians have been able to literally steal from seniors, to spend on their own wasteful programs. One example of how they do this is to substitute hamburger for steak, which lowers the average price of that basket of goods. But living on hamburger, or maybe dog food, instead of steak does not represent a constant standard of living. This renders the measurement virtually meaningless, even though politically it comes in very handy.

I have introduced legislation to keep politicians in Washington from ever raiding the social Security trust fund again. The Social Security Preservation Act (HR 2189) would assure that all monies collected by the Social Security trust fund would only be used in payments to beneficiaries, or be placed in interest-bearing certificates of deposit. This would at least stop the bleeding of the fund, and take away some incentive to tease and torture the numbers in order to give seniors the minimal amount. This would also cut off a source of funding for government growth, so it is not likely to get much support.

It is bad enough that Washington imposes high payroll taxes on American workers. The least Congress could do is use the tax dollars for their stated purpose. Instead, seniors will have a harder and harder time trying to survive on a fixed income in an economy based on variables and deception. For them, it is too late to start over. Today's young people will be forced to pay into the system for years to come. The first step toward solving the impending crisis facing Social Security is to stop politicians from raiding the trust fund and to significantly cut federal government spending.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Demjanjuk Fights For Life  

Former Rep. Jim Traficant is again going to bat for an Ohio workman accused of being a Nazi camp guard

By Jim Traficant

John Demjanjuk is a retired auto worker from Cleveland. He was born in Ukraine, served in World War II as a Russian soldier, was captured and held as a prisoner of war. Demjanjuk's captors were soldiers of the German army. Today, as you read this column, Demjanjuk is standing trial for his very life once again. He is facing another Nazi war crimes indictment.

Think about the dynamics of this dilemma for John Demjanjuk. He's being tried in Germany, by the very country who captured him. They say he was a Nazi war criminal. I don't know about you, but on its surface it just doesn't add up.

Demjanjuk is not a war criminal and certainly was never a Nazi. I can remember my first acknowledgment of the "Demjanjuk" ordeal. It seems like yesterday. I was in my Washington, D.C. office in the old Cannon Building in the late ‘80s. One of my staffers came into my office in a sort of cloak-and-dagger mode stating that the "son of convicted Nazi mass murderer ‘Ivan the Terrible' is in the reception room, and we told him you are not here." I then inquired of his purpose to meet with me, since I was not his congressman. I was then informed that young John Demjanjuk Jr. told them that he has "been to every office in the House and Senate, and no one would even speak with him because the matter was too sensitive."

John Demjanjuk Jr. further stated that "they did not want to involve Jim Traficant" because they said that they "knew the government hated him, but he's our last resort for any help."

My staffer said, "Do not meet with him; you'll be ostracized, destroyed, ruined. Let him go back to his own congressman and the two senators of Ohio."

My staff further advised that I was probably already targeted by the powerful Israeli lobby, since I was an opponent of foreign aid, and certainly my involvement with John Demjanjuk would guarantee that American Israeli Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] would not quit till I was removed from Congress.

I went to the door so I could overhear the conversation between John Demjanjuk Jr. and my staff. I could feel the pain in his voice. John Demjanjuk Jr. finally stated: "My dad's not asking to meet with anyone. I'm asking, and I've never even had a parking ticket. What kind of government is this, that I can't even talk to my elected officials about my family's grave concerns?"

I then ordered my staff to bring John Demjanjuk Jr. and his brother-in-law Ed Nishnic into my office. My staff told me this decision would destroy my career in Congress. I met John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic and offered them a seat to discuss their problems.

John Demjanjuk Jr. is a fine young man, a son any father would be proud of. His demeanor was that of a troubled and worried young man. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Ed Nishnic and basically let Ed Nishnic explain their plight.

Ed Nishnic is also a remarkable man. Like John Demjanjuk Jr. he's very intelligent and was very determined to prove the innocence of his father-in-law. I stated emphatically, that "I've decided to meet with you for one reason and one reason only: No American should ever be turned away when seeking help from our government." I then said, "Your dad has been convicted of mass murder, the extermination of one million Jewish prisoners. He has been sentenced to death. I want you to know up front, that if he is really guilty I could personally pull the switch at his execution."

I then told them I would hear their concerns. (Be advised that the mainstream media wrote that "Jim Traficant supports Nazi mass murderer" as soon as word spread that I had met with the "Demjanjuk" family.)

Nishnic handed me two report summaries of OSI investigators (Office of Special Investigations, the group within the Justice Department created by Congress to apprehend and prosecute Nazi war criminals). They had interrogated one Otto Horn in Berlin, Germany. Horn was a former SS Nazi guard who had assisted "Ivan Grozny" (Ivan the Terrible), at the Treblinka, Poland concentration camps.

These two reports were originals, not copies, and were signed by agents Garand and Daugherty, and were witnessed by prosecutor Moscovitz, who handled the denaturalization trial of John Demjanjuk in Cleveland. The reports were stamped as received by the Justice Department and signed by unit chief Eli Rosenbaum.

I read the documents very carefully without input from John Demjanjuk Jr. or Ed Nishnic. I could not believe my eyes. I could not believe what I was reading. The Justice Department had committed a great crime. Moscovitz, Garand and Daugherty suborned the perjury of Otto Horn in order to convict an American citizen wrongfully—an American now denaturalized, stripped of his citizenship and waiting to be executed. (The authenticity of these two documents cannot be denied.)

At trial, Horn stated that "John Demjanjuk was Ivan Grozny." But in these two early reports, two years before the trial, Horn could not identify Demjanjuk from the photographs displayed before him.

I had a problem. A big problem. I knew without a doubt that John Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible. John Demjanjuk was in fact another victim, soon to be known as one of the most vicious and infamous mass murderers in world history. John Demjanjuk was awaiting execution as the infamous Ivan of Treblinka, Ivan the Terrible.

I would be defamed and ostracized because I would be compelled to prove the innocence of John Demjanjuk on the strength of these two Justice Department documents. John Demjanjuk was innocent—convicted of mass murder, sentenced to death and awaiting execution—and no one seemed to care.

I thought, what has happened to our great country that it could produce this type of brutal crime against this American and his family?

I realized I had a difficult task ahead, but with the help of John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic, I believed we could prove John Demjanjuk's innocence. It was imperative to do so. I had these two powerful documents to start with.

Otto Horn's testimony at the Cleveland denaturalization trial (via videotape) was very direct. Horn had been shown a series of photographs when interrogated in Berlin.

Moscovitz spread eight photos of Caucasian males in uniform, all in their early 20's. Horn testified that he identified John Demjanjuk immediately. Moscovitz then spread eight more photos of Caucasian soldiers in uniform, but now in their 40's. Horn again testified that he identified John Demjanjuk, even as an older man, because he knew him so well. Horn's testimony stripped John Demjanjuk of his citizenship, and he was sent to Israel to stand trial as Ivan the Terrible.

Now, back to the two reports of Horn's interrogation in Berlin two years earlier. Garand and Daugherty wrote in their reports immediately after their interview with Horn: "We spread eight photos of Caucasian men in uniform, all in their early 20's. Horn studied the photos at length and stated that ‘one man looks familiar' [not John Demjanjuk] but FAILED to identify anyone."

The report goes on:

"We then gathered the eight photos and put them in a stack with John Demjanjuk's on top. We then spread eight more photos of older men in uniform with John Demjanjuk's photo among them. Horn studied these photos at length, and looking at the John Demjanjuk photo on top of the stack, then back to John Demjanjuk's photo in the older soldiers spread, said that ‘this is the same man' but FAILED again to identify John Demjanjuk as Ivan."

Be advised that Horn lied through his teeth, and U.S. prosecutor Moscovitz allowed it. Horn later testified at the Israeli trial that he positively identified John Demjanjuk from the photo spreads. When the defense team crossed-examined Horn, they asked if he could see the first photo spread when he was examining the second set. Horn testified:

"They put the first set of photographs in an envelope and removed them from my view." Horn lied again. John Demjanjuk was convicted, and sentenced to death.

I immediately began my own investigation by utilizing a number of FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests on John Demjanjuk. The government response was "classified"; thus I got nothing. At this point I conferred with John Demjanjuk Jr. and Nishnic to evaluate what options were available. We came up with a plan.

We decided to research any and all legal activity that involved the Treblinka camp. BINGO. We discovered that a Ukrainian-American from Chicago, by the name of Feodor Federenko, had been tried for war crimes at Treblinka. Federenko was acquitted. He then traveled to his homeland to visit his family, but was arrested by the Soviet KGB, was tried again in Russia, was convicted and executed. [No doubt our government arranged his demise].

I immediately sent out a new FOIA request, this time on Federenko. Most agencies threw my FOIAs in the wastebasket, but the State Department sent me two telegrams:

The first was from one of our OSI agents in Europe seeking information about Treblinka. The second was the response from the State Department listing the names of four men who had made statements about Treblinka. At the bottom of this was the following; "if you need further help, be advised we have another 100 pages in the file."

I acted immediately. I phoned the State Department and reached a Mrs. Poindexter, an honest, competent government worker. I asked her to send me those 100 pages, citing the fact that Federenko was deceased and his case was not "classified." Mrs. Poindexter complied.

Those 100 pages saved the life of John Demjanjuk. They contained the testimony of 17 witnesses about Treblinka.

All 17 identified "Ivan":

1. He was taller than John Demjanjuk;

2. He had dark hair, not blond like John Demjanjuk;

3. He was nine years older than John Demjanjuk;

4. He had a long scar on his neck.

There was also a photo of two SS Nazi guards who had been identified by one of the witnesses, who said: "The short guard with pistol is Tkachuk. The tall guard is the man the Jewish prisoners feared the most, ‘Ivan Grozny'—IVAN MARCHENKO."

All 17 witnesses identified a man named Ivan Marchenko as "Ivan the Terrible."

I asked Congress for a hearing. Congress refused, the case was "too sensitive." The federal courts would not accept my evidence. I took my evidence to the floor of Congress. I said John Demjanjuk was not "Ivan the Terrible." A man named Ivan Marchenko was the real "Ivan."

That night, the U.S. Justice Department issued a statement that "there were two Ivans."

The next day I released the photo of Marchenko. The Justice Department was silent.

I then forwarded all my evidence to John Demjanjuk's defense team in Israel, who then submitted it in to the Israeli Supreme Court.

I flew to Israel with John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic, at my own expense. I did a live interview with Bryant Gumbel on the Today show. I stated that if Israel executed John Demjanjuk that Israel will lose $20 billion a year from U.S. taxpayers. Gumbel said that "Israel only gets $3 billion a year." I countered, "That's just the foreign aid bill, Bryant. Israel gets military aid, loans, loans converted to grants, and trade compacts and other money. I say that Israel gets $20,000 for every man, woman and child from America every year."

The interview was over.

I was phoned the following night and was told that John Demjanjuk would be released and delivered to me at the Tel Aviv Airport. We took him home.

I called a press conference for New York. While the press gathered, I ducked out with John Demjanjuk on a small plane. When approaching Cleveland, I directed the pilot to seek a landing pattern at the airport, then directed the flight to a small airstrip near Independence, Ohio, thus eluding the press.

John Demjanjuk went to a safehouse, He was home. I flew to Washington. The next day the Sixth Circuit Court in Cincinnati, Ohio issued the following statement; "A TRAGIC BUT HONEST MISTAKE BY OUR GOVERNMENT."

That was no mistake. Moscovitz, Garand and Daugherty should have been sent to prison. I said then, "Since when did sensitivity waive our Bill
of Rights?" When we allow the rights of one American to be violated, we endanger the rights of all Americans.

Germany should send John Demjanjuk home. How, in God's name, can Germany accept any evidence from the U.S. Justice Department who suborned perjury in the first trial, withheld evidence, obstructed justice, and violated John Demjanjuk's civil rights?

SHAME ON GERMANY AND SHAME ON THE U.S.A. What has happened to our great country?

James A. (Jim) Traficant, Jr. was born in Youngstown, Ohio on May 8, 1941. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a well-known football star. He also received a M.S. degree from Youngstown State University in 1976. For ten years he served as executive director of the Mahoning County (Ohio) Drug Program and from 1981-1985 he served as sheriff of Mahoning County, prior to his election to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat in 1984. He was re-elected by overwhelming margins every year up until 2002 when, following his conviction on trumped up corruption charges, he was expelled from the House of Representatives. Despite his conviction and expulsion and being sent to prison for a seven year term Traficant still won 15% of the vote running for re-election to the House in the 2002 election as an independent. He recently completed a seven-year prison sentence, having refused to seek a pardon or clemency, refusing to admit to or apologize for crimes he did not commit.

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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Men from Opposite Spectra Agree: Power of Fed Must Be Diminished  

CONGRESS APPEARS TO BE AT ODDS over how to properly regulate the banksters. On the one hand, a House legislator has quietly neutered landmark legislation that would set up the country's first-ever public audit of the Federal Reserve.

And on the other, a powerful House committee is moving to strip the Fed of its regulatory powers, specifically its role in policing the world's biggest financial firms. According to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who is the author of landmark Audit the Fed legislation (H.R. 1207), the chairman of the House Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee, Rep. Mel Watt (D-Fla.), has quietly stripped the bill of "just about everything" while preparing it for "formal consideration" on the House floor.

"There's nothing left, it's been gutted," Paul recently told a national news outlet. "This is not a partisan issue. People all over the country want to know what the Fed is up to, and this legislation was supposed to help them do that."

Paul's bill opens the Federal Reserve up to a public audit and would reveal to the world the unprecedented loans handed out by the privately owned and controlled U.S. central bank. It would also expose the sweetheart deals bankers have been enjoying since the collapse of the U.S. economy in the summer of 2008.

It's no surprise that some legislators have moved to protect the banking sector despite the fact that these greedy financial firms are responsible for U.S. economic woes. All you have to do is follow the money. The district Watt represents is reportedly home to the world's largest financial institution, Bank of America Corp. Robert Wenzel, who operates the web site Economic Policy Journal.com, revealed that Watt's top donors in the 2007-2008 political cycle consisted of Bank of America, Wachovia, American Express and the American Banking Association.

In that year, writes Wenzel, the North Carolina congressman "received $187,359 from the finance/real estate sector, more than double the amount of money he received from any other sector. Outside of North Carolina, his home state, Watt received the most contributions from Washington D.C. and New York City."

Meanwhile, the chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), is taking steps to counter a White House plan that would hand the Fed the power to overrule U.S. law and formulate its own standards for banking out of thin air.

Frank is moving to strip central bankers of that authority, which would allow them to override federal regulators when it comes to policing firms whose size or activities pose a threat to the financial system.

The Massachusetts congressman is on a collision course with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a former head of the New York Federal Reserve. Geithner wants to hand bankers even more power despite the fact that they are responsible for creating a massive economic bubble in the housing sector that ultimately led to the fall of economies around the world.

While Frank has yet to introduce any formal legislation that lays out his plan, he seemed emphatic that the Fed would not be handed any new powers to regulate banks.

"There will not be a Federal Reserve power to overrule other entities," Frank said during a recent press conference.

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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Woman ‘Incurably' Crippled by Vaccine Cured by Alternative Healer  

By Pat Shannan

In late August, Desiree Jennings was a beautiful and athletic 26-year-old Washington Redskins cheerleader anxious for the upcoming Sunday excitement, but by the time the new season began in September, she was a crippled and hopeless spastic who could speak only with great difficulty and one syllable at a time. She had taken a seasonal flu shot and experienced what doctors called a "one-in-a-million" adverse neurological reaction and was left with an "incurable" affliction known as dystonia.

Dystonia can affect just one muscle, a group of muscles or all of the muscles. Symptoms can include tremors and voice problems or a dragging foot. Researchers think that a problem in the part of the brain that handles messages about muscle contractions might cause dystonia. There is no cure, they say.

Video reports were not only heart-rending but so weird as to cause many people to believe the young woman was faking because of the ambulatory antics caused by the disease. Medical reports had already confirmed that this was no fake.

These films showed the pathetically crippled Jennings able to run forward normally and even walk backwards unimpaired, but whenever she slowed to a walking pace or attempted to walk forward, the bizarre symptoms immediately returned. She could also talk normally while running or walking backwards but could utter only single syllables while still.

All the reports from the AMA doctors said that while Desiree's neurological reaction to the vaccine was "extremely rare" and that "flu shots are safe," she was doomed for life. Both Johns Hopkins and Fairfax hospitals confirmed that the dystonia was induced by the vaccination injection and that it was "irreversible."

They are wrong. Enter Dr. Rashid Buttar, who does not use the conventional cures of the medical world but rather natural remedies and nutrition. He noticed immediately that Desiree's whole system was about to shut down. He couldn't even examine her because by the time her husband brought her in, she was lapsing into seizure every minute or two and would actually stop breathing for 15 to 30 seconds. Buttar realized she was near death and, because she had not been eating, he first put her on an IV drip of nutrition to start rebuilding her immune system. He then noticed that the continual seizures subsided in a couple of hours.

Next this doctor knew that the mercury and other offending foreign matter now in her bloodstream had to be removed, and he began this process by inserting another IV to remove the toxicity. Chelation is an unconventional therapy utilized over the past half century to remove plaque from the arteries to improve blood circulation. While thousands shout its praises, the American Medical Association has done its best to ban its use.

Supporters of its use claim that the AMA refuses to view the positive results of chelation because to do so would force its eventual endorsement of something so inexpensive that it would interfere with its lucrative association with Big Pharma. This may also explain why the first Jennings story was suppressed by the mainstream media and why AFP may be the only one in print media to report this heart-warming sequel.

After a few more hours, Dr. Buttar was interrupted in his office by an excited nurse who yelled, "Doctor, come quickly!"

The good doctor ran to his patient, fearing she had suffered another seizure but instead was elated to find that she was awake, coherent and carrying on a normal conversation with the nurses and her family. By the next day she was walking the corridors with limited affliction. (See the video at: www.desireejennings.com.) The AMA has remained silent.

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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Controversial Speakers Explain Zionist Supremacy  

By Mark Anderson

The First Amendment Festival sponsored November 7 by AMERICAN FREE PRESS featured stirring speeches by two noted authors and lecturers, Dr. David Duke and Texe Marrs. Several AFP staffers, including this one, shared brief remarks as well. Duke spoke forcefully about his ongoing effort to spread the word about his main focal point—Jewish supremacism.

As he explains in his books, this hegemonic movement permeates most levels of society and has fostered tragic wars, as well as steep economic and cultural decline through control of central banking, key government posts, media, television and the movie industry.

Speaking to an audience of about 100 people at a Washington hotel, Duke said that a big issue to consider is American troops being killed, maimed and traumatized fighting Israel's enemies in the Mideast. About 300,000 U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering from mental illness and 320,000 have traumatic brain damage, he said.

"Officially we have 32,000 wounded … we've literally caused the breakup of millions of American families… and America is hated around the world," Duke reflected, while mentioning the Fort Hood Army Base shooting that had just occurred. "What happened in Texas would not have happened, if America was not in a state of perpetual war," he said.

Meanwhile, President Obama is debating whether to send 20,000 or 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Duke added, showing that Obama's anti-war statements prior to being elected president were just throw-away remarks for public consumption.

"These wars are not serving the interests of the American people," said Duke, stressing that due to the entrenched power of the lobbying group known as the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, American troops will remain embroiled in the far-away Middle East on Israel's behalf while the U.S. border with Mexico remains virtually wide open to illegal immigration and the cultural, demographic and economic shifts that it causes, such as drastically watering down and displacing America's white European culture—a culture that Duke believes deserves equal respect with all other peoples on Earth, especially since it is that portion of humanity that founded America.

Noting that his limited activities as a young man with the Ku Klux Klan were 30 years ago and that he long ago chose a different path, Duke also remarked that the pro-Zionist media's persistent efforts to cast him as a racist are completely off base.

Calling Obama's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize "the greatest joke of the century and the last century," Duke characterized Obama as a "Judas Goat"—an appealing personage who leads the innocent to slaughter. Obama appears perfect for that role, since he does not look like a "good-old-boy white establishment type." Therefore he can get away with Zionist policy-pushing, as Duke sees it. Moreover, Obama often gets European support for pro-Zionism due to his apparent popularity in the U.S.

Indeed, Obama, in Duke's estimation, is the "Tel Aviv candidate" groomed for his current job within the Chicago political machine over the course of many years. Much later, Goldman-Sachs, a financial power that Duke noted is under Zionist control, "gave the largest amount of corporate contributions to him."

Sweeping through several related matters, Duke said that the essence of Jewish supremacism is the Talmud, a major Jewish holy book. Noted Zionists believe that all life on the Earth literally was created "to serve the Jews." He asked the audience to imagine what would happen if he were to say that life was created "to serve white people."

Duke also pointed to the sheer hypocrisy of a Louisiana judge in a small parish being lambasted for not wanting to perform an inter-racial marriage, but the media are silent regarding the Jewish system's discriminatory practices.

"A marriage between a Jew and non-Jew is not legal— it doesn't happen," Duke said, "but we're sending our money to a nation that has that kind of policy." He added: "The racial policies of Israel are more extreme than the policies of National Socialist Germany."

Duke added that Jewish influence in Hollywood is appallingly shown in "torture porn" movies like Hostel and in brutality-laced flicks like Inglorius Basterds starring Brad Pitt. These and similar movies teach the young it's OK to brutalize someone they dislike. Moreover, the pornography industry, according to Duke, has considerable Jewish influence while demeaning women and undermining normal relationships between men and
women. As an author, Duke has written that certain Jews support such seedy enterprises in their twisted zeal to undermine Christian culture.

Yet, Duke still believes that the Jewish people and Israel deserve a basic right to self-determination—but certainly not this ill-gotten supremacy that fosters so many evils—just as blacks, Chinese, and, yes, European Americans should all have a chance to preserve their respective cultures.

Furthermore, the 61-year occupation of the Palestinians' land by the state of Israel, and the outdoor prison that it has become for herding, torturing and killing Palestinians, is horrifying and must end. Duke documented in his book My Awakening that President Jimmy Carter, today a critic of Israeli policies, tried to reason during peace talks with the late Israeli leader Menachem Begin but found that this former commando, who was directly involved in brutal killings of Palestinians when their land was seized to form Israel in 1948, still saw them as subhumans not worthy of consideration.

Also in My Awakening, Duke wrote that a majority of the leading comrades who launched 20th century Communism were Jewish, including Leon Trotsky (a.k.a. Lev Bronstein).

Marrs complemented Duke's speech with a number of observations, including a major point that the popular ministries of leading "Christian" evangelicals actually are run by Jewish interests. This, according to Marrs, explains the pro-Zionist, Israel-can-do-no-wrong bias of major TV preachers like the multi-millionaire Pat Robertson.

This behind-the-scenes "engine" runs the Christian establishment while hating Christ, but "the real church," Marrs remarked, lives on in the hearts of "the little people."

The Praise The Lord (PTL) ministry seemingly run by infamous preacher Jim Bakker "was not owned by Christians at all," according to Marrs, who added that even Pastor Oral Roberts was bailed out by a Jewish insider connected to a race track who put up $100 million, yet such "bailouts" do not exist for genuine Christians.

Marrs added that "700 Club" founder Robertson, after flunking out of law school, floundered a bit but suddenly got seven broadcast stations donated to him. To put it mildly, Marrs does not believe the stations were an answer to a prayer.

After outlining other Jewish connections with high-profile evangelists, Marrs noted that putting money behind the preferred president is also important. For instance, according to "Jewish power broker" Abner Mikva, as related by Marrs, "Barack Obama will go down in history as the first Jewish president of America."

Mikva, a longtime federal judge, also reportedly said that Obama was Jewish-groomed in Chicago, which led to major Jewish financial backing from the owners of Hyatt hotels. Marrs added that billionaire George Soros, whose connections include the centuries-old Rothschild banking interests in Europe, put money into various U.S. movements such as ACORN, the community-based organization with which Obama was connected in Chicagoland, and which evidently got involved in crooked dealings.

Marrs—while stating that there are only some 18 million Jews in the world, with 7.5 million in Israel, about the same number in the U.S., and the rest elsewhere—marveled at the amount of influence and control such a small but powerful minority can exert, and how expertly their influence can fool people. Marrs illustrated this by noting that in A.D. 70, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed down to the last stone as Jesus predicted, and that what remained was deemed to be "desolate," or spiritually empty, yet modern-day Christians want to rebuild a temple that has nothing to do with their faith.

The Temple Mount Foundation gets money from Christians. Marrs met a female backer of the project who remarked, "Isn't it wonderful prophecy is being fulfilled," but Marrs said that when he set the lady straight regarding the facts, she was totally taken aback at the prospect of being so thoroughly deceived.

Both Duke and Marrs referred to the Talmud, which includes sordid and shocking contents and is difficult for non-Jews to even find, much less read, but its pages explain the basis for the apparent Jewish-supremacist mindset that both authors have labored to explain and expose.

Mark Anderson is a longtime newsman now working as deputy editor for American Free Press. Together he and his wife Angie provide many photographs of the events they cover for AFP. Mark welcomes your comments as well as story leads. Email him at at truthhound2@yahoo.com.

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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

Rep. Kucinich Denounces Israeli Atrocities  

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took to the House floor on November 4 to blast the Israeli-occupied Congress for supporting H. Res 867, which condemns the "Goldstone Report" for exposing Israeli war crimes during its recent war in Palestine.

"Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist," said Kucinich. "Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution.

The "Goldstone Report," which was initiated by the United Nations, looked in-depth at charges that war crimes were committed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza called Operation dast Lead in the winter of 2009. Named for the well-known pro-Zionist Jewish international prosecutor Richard Goldstone, who chaired the investigation, the study accused both the Israeli military and Palestinian groups of violating the rights of civilians during the fighting. Most importantly, the report substantiated charges made by human rights groups that the Israeli military had used illegal weapons and engaged in horrendous tactics that were directed at Palestinian civilians. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the three-week battle, of which over 1,000were reportedly innocent men, women and children. Only 13 Israelis died, 10 of whom were soldiers. Of the Israeli combatants who were killed, four fell victim to friendly fire.

"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?" asked Kucinich. "We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Spotlight On Congress

30 Legislators Exposed; Whistleblower Fired; No Uproar in Congress  

In early November, a secret ethics committee document was leaked to reporters that details shocking allegations of bribery, conflicts of interest and seedy campaign donations involving more than two dozen top legislators in Congress.

The secret report compiled by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct named some 30 legislators - almost 10 percent of the entire membership and nearly half the members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee - who are currently being investigated for everything from sweetheart loans they received from supporters to charges that one congressman steered millions of dollars in stimulus money to a major financial firm.

While the charges revealed in the confidential report are certainly bad enough, what is more alarming is the process involved where legislators are regularly investigated and punished without their constituents back at home ever knowing about the violations. And that's the way Congress likes it: Violators are probed in secret by a panel of federal bureaucrats, and if there is any substance to a charge, the committee can recommend that a punishment be doled out in secret. Constituents rarely find out if their representative in Washington has been slapped for an ethics violation.

And rather than thank the unidentified congressional aide who did a great public service by exposing representatives' dirty laundry to the public, he was promptly fired.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Secret Ethics Report on Reps. Leaked  

By Christopher J. Petherick

On October 31, Associated Press released a partial list of some of the worst offenders named in the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct's confidential report, which was leaked to a Washington newspaper on October 29.

According to AP, the following House members "have come under scrutiny from the House ethics committee for a wide range of Issues. In some cases, there was only a preliminary review, but in others a full investigation by a subcommittee with subpoena powers. In each case, there has been no finding that the member has violated standards of conduct. The partial list of names came from public announcements by the ethics committee and from a snapshot of the committee's work. The names are followed with a brief description of the investigative subject."

• Maxine Waters (D-Calif.): improper use of influence with banking regulators, helping a bank in which her husband owned stock.
• Laura Richardson (D-Calif.): information missing from financial reports, preferential treatment from a lender.
• Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.): assets missing from financial reports, fund raising for a college center named after Rangel, apartment leases in New York, ownership interest in a Dominican Republic resort, storage of a vehicle in a House parking area.
• Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.): fund raising in return for Illinois Senate seat.
• Sam Graves (R-Mo.): inviting a longtime friend and business partner of his wife to testify before a committee. Case dismissed.
• Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Charles Rangel, Del. Donna Christensen (D-V.I): privately paid travel to the Caribbean.
• Zack Space (D-Ohio): operating a vehicle with an expired license. Ethics case dismissed.
• John Murtha (D-Pa), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Peter Visclosky (D-Ind), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio, C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.): receiving contributions from recipients of their government funding earmarks and a lobbying company representing them.
• Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.): financial dealings
• Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif): seeking favorable treatment for indicted pro-Israel lobbyists prior to dismissal of the charges.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Israel Readies War Machine for More Attacks on Neighbors  

By Richard Walker

While the United States and its allies continue to focus on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, reports are coming out of Israel that it may be gearing up for war.

Even though it is unclear which neighbor it might target, there is growing evidence the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his hard-line cabinet are determined to restore their nation's military pride and dominance in the Middle East. They could do that by bombing Iran's nuclear and frontline military facilities, including its missile sites. Alternatively, they could seek another conflict with Hezbollah, this time to deal it a deathblow as a military organization, something Netanyahu has long argued is necessary for the security of Israel's northern border. When Israel's Defense Forces, (IDF), engaged Hezbollah in 2006 they were fought to a standstill and humiliated. In retaliation, they tried to bomb Lebanon back to the Stone Age and littered parts of the Lebanese countryside with one million cluster bomb droplets in the hours before agreeing to a ceasefire. In that same conflict Israel, despite repeated denials, used phosphorous bombs of the type that were later dropped in Gaza, causing horrific injuries.

In the past month, especially in the wake of the UN's Goldstone Report that charged the IDF with committing war crimes in Gaza, there has been a growing effort by Israel to change the focus of global outrage by hyping the Iran threat and warning about the dangers posed by Hezbollah. Anytime Israel has been faced with international outrage, it has used distractions to take the political heat off itself.

From the moment facts emerged about the horrors in Gaza, the Pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. began urging members of Congress to convince the White House that only military strikes against Iran would succeed in ending its potential to threaten Israel and the West. After the release of the Goldstone report, the lobby was busy making sure there was little coverage of it in the mainstream U.S. media.

President Obama and his inner circle have learned quickly that Israel calls the shots on Capitol Hill. This has enabled Netanyahu and members of his inner circle like Avigdor Lieberman to make it clear to U.S. envoys, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that Israel will not strike a deal with the Palestinians to end settlement building. Under no circumstances will it hand back Palestinian lands seized by the Israeli State.

If the White House had any doubts about the character of Netanyahu, all Obama had to do was consult Bill Clinton or Joe Lockhart, Clinton's former White House press secretary. Lockhart is on record saying that Netanyau is "one of the most obnoxious individuals you're ever going to come into - just a liar and a cheat." On the issue of terrorism, the King of Jordan is familiar with the types of methods Netanyahu is prepared to use. In 1977, when Netanyahu, or "Bibi" as he is affectionately known, was Israeli prime minister he sent a Mossad team armed with a deadly poison in a syringe to kill the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, who was living with his hamily in Amman, Jordan. The attempt on Meshal's life would have succeeded had the Mossad hit men, who were operating under fake Canadian passports not been caught after they injected their target. They were only released after Netanyahu agreed to senda plane to Jordan with an antidote to save Meshal's life. The King of Jordan is on record calling Netanyahu names that cannot be printed in this newspaper.

Now that Netanyahu has men like Avigdor Lieberman alongside him, the possibility he will seek to restore Israel's military standing in the region seems more than likely. In the past, when Israel ratcheted up the heat on its enemies, it began by producing what it called evidence to make its case. It even helped to convince the DIA that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons ready to be fired at Israel and western targets and that he was about to possess a nuclear bomb. It also claimed to have credible evidence that Iran was ithin a year or two of producing a nuclear bomb. It also claimed to have credible evidence that Iran was within a year or two of producing a nuke but the International Atomic Energy Agency dismissed the claim. That has not stopped the Israeli lobby from continuing to press for military action rather than sanctions against Iran. It has also put pressure on the White House to persuade Russia to delay sending S300 surface-to-air missiles to the Iranian military - missiles capable of shooting doen aircraft and Cruise missiles at 90,000 feet over distances of 150 miles.

In the background, however, Russia and China, both of whom have major energy ties to Iran, have warned the Obama administration that it would be unwise to encourage Israel to attack Iran. Such a move, they have warned, could have serious consequences. An Israeli attack on Iran could result in another cold War engulfing Middle East nations. China and Russia might subsequently help Iran to rebuild its nuclear industry and any parts of its military infrastructure damaged by Israel.

The stance adopted by Russia and China may have encouraged Israel to abandon an attack on Iran in favor of planning for a short war with Hezbollah, which Israel sees as an Iranian surrogate. If true, recent events may have significance. For example, Israel recently told dozens of international diplomats in Tel Aviv that it had uncovered a plot by Iran to ship a large quantity of weapons and missiles via Egypt to Syria and then to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Israeli officials claimed the arms were hidden on a freighter, the Francop which was boarded and seized by Israeli Special Forces in he Mediterranean Sea, of the coast of Cyprus. The Arms were alleged to have included anti-tank rockets and short range missiles, packed into more than forty large containers. The Israeli ambassador to the U.N. made a formal complaint to the international body and foreign diplomats in Tel Aviv were escorted to a military establishment to view the seized arms shipment.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Was Fort Hood ‘killer' a Victim of Covert Mind Controllers?  

By Victor Thorn

On November 5, Major Nidal Malik Hasan - a Virginia Tech graduate - is alleged to have killed 13 and wounded 30 others at the Fort Hood Army base in Killeen, Tex. It was the largest massacre ever on an American military institution. Two years earlier, Virginia Tech student Seug-Hui Cho executed 32 classmates on campus. This event stands as the single worst killing spree in U.S. history. On Oct. 16, 1991, Killeen resident George Hennard previously set the record by shooting 23 dead and wounding 20 in Luby's Diner.

Considering the symbolic nature of how false-flag terror events are chosen, what significance does November 5 hold? In the movie V for Vendetta, this date is sacred among revolutionaries. "Remember, remember the 5th of November. The gunpowder treason and plot." On Nov. 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes and others allegedly tried to blow up London's Parliament House in the failed Gunpowder Plot.

With his "V" serving as a symbol for anarchy, the film's protagonist advocates the elimination of a totalitarian shadow group called Norsefire, who took control of the government after unleashing a deadly virus (today's N1N1?). Utilizing fabricated news stories, the citizenry spun into panic until their Big Brother controllers "discovered" a cure. Rebelling in an underground lair called "The Shadow Gallery," the anarchic hero fights fascistic corporatism so that, as Bevin Chu suggests, "A new spontaneous social order can emerge."

In this context, was the Fort Hood massacre actually an occult, subliminally based mind-control operation meant to signify an internal battle between warring secret society members? Since initial reports mentioned multiple shooters, could "hit men" or disgruntled soldiers have been used to further promote a neo-con anti-Islamic agenda, while at the same time trying to conceal our military's growing discontent by blaming it on an "Arab fanatic"

Media sources reported that Hasan shouted Allahu Akbar (God is great") before firing his weapon, yet his uncle, Rafiq Hamad, told the Telegraph UK on November 7 that his nephew spoke few Arabic words, and was so timid that he once fainted during a childbirth, Furthermore, only hours before the slaying, 7-11 convenience store manager Jeannie Strickland described Hasan. "He came in just like normal, nothing weird, nothing out of the ordinary." On closed caption television cameras he's seen laughing and joking. And then, shortly thereafter, he inexplicably transformed into a slaughter mode?

Could Hasan have somehow been selected as another "lone-nut patsy" gunman? Almost immediately, newsmen released a "legend" for the major that led the public to believe that he suffered psychological problems. Along with name-calling and angry confrontations with fellow soldiers over his "Muslim views," Hasan is supposed to have made the following Internet posting: "If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers, that would be considered a strategic victory." In the November 6 Telegraph UK, Philip Sherwell adds, "Col. Terry Lee alleged that other officers told him Maj. Hasan had said, ‘Maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square.'"

Investigator Stuart Hill points out in a November 6 article, Fort Hood Shooter Information Not Adding Up: "Why on Earth would the military promote a man [in May, 2009 to major] who was unhappy, had objected to being in the military, had not wanted to deploy anywhere outside the U.S., and had allegedly made himself a security threat with online radical comments?"

Other inconsistencies arise. Initial eyewitnesses, along with Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.), described at least three shooters. Plus, it is said that Hasan fired over 100 rounds. The largest clip for his 5.7 millimeter semi-automatic pistol holds 30 rounds. He reportedly never fired his second gun. So, are we to believe that Hasan reloaded three times and hit 44 different victims before being taken down? For nearly four hours, Lt. Col. Bob Cone and others claimed Hasan had been killed, while three other suspects were being held. Then, all of a sudden, the shooter was "alive" and a "lone nut" killer.

Fort Hood and Virginia Tech aren't only linked by mass murders, but also by a proliferation of mind control experimentation. On June 14, 2007, Matt Kazee utilized Google Maps to pinpoint a proposed secret U.S. government underground ABOVE TOP SECRET installation in the side of Butt Mountain near Blacksburg, Va. Named DUSEL (Deep Underground Science Engineering Laboratory), located approximately 10 miles from Virginia Tech. Even more interesting is that the university runs neuro-engineering and robotic mind control programs in conjunction with DARPA (and agency of the Department of Defense).

Hasan majored in psychology at Virginia Tech's Center for Applied behavior Systems. After participating in a Homeland Security task force (2008), the military transferred him to Fort Hood. There, his psychiatric duties included the treatment of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Many of these men were taking highly dangerous SSRI anti-depressants, and described the murder of innocent arab women and children. An April 17, 2008 Rand corporation study concludes, "Nearly 20 percent of military service members - 300,000 in all - report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression ... while 19 percent experienced possible traumatic brain injury." To deal with this catastrophic level of psychologically damaged soldiers. For Hood instituted the Warrior Combat Reset Program to comfort soldiers suffering from the horrors of war. Critics, however, see a more sinister side wherein battle traumas are simply "erased" so soldiers can be redeployed to continue killing.

With a "predisposition to kill," remorse for slain Arabs, and an aversion to overseas deployment, was Hasan "conditioned" to view the war as evil? Veteran researcher Alex Constantine analyzed the situation on November 6: "Programming as a moral or religious justification for violent acts that a subject wouldn't ordinarily commit is a mind control tactic. If a subject is commanded under hypnosis to kill his fellow GIs, he probably won't unless given a rationale that overrides deep-seated moral convictions. Then the chances are that he will carry out the ‘Manchurian Candidate' programming and kill on command."

Even murkier is Gunther Russbacher's 1996 expose on Operation Open Eyes where he explains how the "intelligence community canvases county hospitals and immigration centers in order to find viable candidates and locate select people who have no close family or friends." This description certainly applies to Hasan, a loner whose parents are deceased.

In a Nov. 16, 1991 address, Norio F. Hayakawa - director of the civilian Intelligence Network - described how technology existed two decades ago via Radio Hypnotic Intra-Cerebral Control (RHIC) whereby the "implantations of a very small, electronic , micro-radio receiver stimulates a muscle or electronic brain response. This can set up a ‘hypno-programmed' cue in the subject to elicit a pre-conditioned behavior." Or, as Russbacher suggests, "A ‘recall' command and an accompanying ‘trigger' word are written into the subject's personality" to be used later.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Facts Not Adding Up In Texas Massacre  

By Pat Shannan

The shooting tragedy at Fort Hood is mystifying to anyone seeking the truth, as usual. Government officials have locked out all private investigation, as usual. Any penetrating and sensitive questions from journalists are ignored with the same response of "We cannot talk about that right now," as usual. Are we being "Hoodwinked"? Shades of Waco, Oklahoma City, TWA Flight 800 and 9-11.

Meanwhile, while we were being drowned in flags, memorials and interviews with the victims' mourning families, we were still left with a total absence of any information that would make sense.

After a brief reflection, we have to consider that the official story of only one man firing a hundred rounds with one or two handguns and hitting 43 people before he can be stopped, is just a little to much to swallow. No, these were not "automatic" weapons, as portrayed by some news reports, but one revolver and one semi-automatic pistol, which meant that the shooter had to pull the trigger each time for a shot to be fired. If he had 20-round clips (reported but not confirmed), it would mean that he had to remove and replace the clips four times to have fired 100 rounds. The combersome .357 revolver almost certainly could not have been reloaded during the heat of the moment, and some reports said it was never fired at all.

This incident did not occur inside a movie theater but on a military installation, where the victims had been trained in military tactics, and some were combat veterans. We are to believe they did nothing to stop a single shooter as he reloaded several times and continued shooting, and the only thing that stopped him was the arrival of a police officer after the gunman had gunned down over 40 people?

And there is no surveillance video footage? Video cameras are everywhere today. The Processing Center is certainly one of the busiest and always one of the most crowded buildings at the whole Army post. Were there really not any cameras installed here? Unlikely.

And on top of all this, the suspect is a Muslim who also happens to be a serviceman involving gunplay done with privately owned weapons? This thing could not have been scripted and cast better if a writer from St. Elizabeth's had produced it.

And what about the logic of this alleged "lone gunman"? He was afraid of being deployed to a combat zone, so he created one at home, so he could be killed sooner? There has to be more to it than this ridiculous conclusion. There were reports of up to five shooters. Who were the two unnamed suspects who were soon released? Let us review the whole scenario here for a moment. We have: 1. Private gun ownership demonized. 2. Muslims demonized. 3. Military personnel demonized. 4. Base dwelling troops at home terrorized by a fellow American. 5. Yet another chance to distract the public.

We also have to wonder what prescribed and medically endorsed pharmaceutical substance(s) Dr. Hasan was taking. This may also be officially suppressed forever because to divulge the information would violate his privacy. Score another one for Big Pharma. From a Homeland Security handbook, we find the institute defined by these words:

Founded in 2003, the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) is a non-partisan ‘think and do' tank whose mission is to build bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach. By convening domestic and international policymakers and practitioners at all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia, HSPI creates innovative strategies and solutions to current and future threats to the nation.

Then from a list of "Task Force Participants" from a May 19, 2009 report we find on page 29 the name of "Nidal Hasan - Uniformed Services University School of Medicine." Was his action on November 5 part of these HSPI innovative strategies and solutions to current and future threats to the nation?

He was one busy guy. He made it a point to attend a mosque run by a notorious, high profile imam with an overtly anti-American philosophy. He was loud and outspoken about his opposition to the war and encouraged others to desert. Could Hasan have been another "Manchurian candidate?"

With 13 killed in a shooting rampage that started at 1330 hours military time, at 31 degrees north latitude - is it possible the conspirators are numerologists?

The following week, presumably after some research, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), said that the deadly shooting at Fort Hood was an act of "Islamist extremism." Had Lieberman not yet discovered what we did - that Hasan was part of his own Homeland Security Task Force?

Lieberman, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate, said it was too early to definitively state the motives of Nidal Hasan, but said clues pointed to terrorism. "It's clear that he was, one, under personal stress and, two – if the reports that we're receiving of various statements he made and act he took are valid - he had turned to Islamist extremism," he said. "If that is true, the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act."

Lieberman chairs a Senate panel that is to probe whether the Army missed warning signs that Dr. Hasan may have been actually preparing an attack.

Experience has taught us to treat with skepticism such eyebrow-raising announcements of a government agency investigation itself, but hope always springs eternal that this time the smoke and mirrors will be avoided and the unvarnished truth will be uncovered.
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American Free Press November 23, 2009

Why I Believe Healthcare Reform Is Economic Malpractice  

By Congressman Ron Paul

As Washington continues debating healthcare reform, the rest of the country is primarily concerned about jobs and the economy. It is still uncertain what policies will be implemented, but I am certain about one thing: It will only further devastate our economy and our dollar.

The leadership has come up with a proposal they are confident will be what they consider fiscally responsible, only to have it scored as nearly twice as expensive by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Estimates of past healthcare spending programs have been off by as much as 100 percent so there is no telling what the actual cost will be.

The past century should have taught us one thing: that government intervention is expensive. Government programs lend themselves so easily to waste, fraud and abuse. Combine that with overall inefficiency and it all adds up to a hefty price tag for the taxpayer, with not much left over for actual services. An outright takeover of an entire sector of the economy, especially one as important as healthcare, is something that we just cannot afford for the government to do right now. Not to mention the fact that it is completely unconstitutional. But Washington insists on torturing the numbers and tinkering around the edges rather than facing this truth.

If healthcare reform does indeed pass, we should not be under the illusion that it will be free. The money to pay for it will have to come from somewhere. They say they will get the money from cutting waste, fraud and abuse, but al of that is seemingly intrinsic to government programs. Since they want to expand the government's reach we have to assume we will be trading waste, fraud and abuse for waste, fraud and abuse with a bigger budget. The powers that be have insisted the money won't come from higher taxes, it won't come from rationing of care, and it won't come from higher premiums. This can only then ut more pressure on the Fed to print the money out of thin air. We already have a weakening dollar. They are accelerating everything that weakened it in the past. Adding this new, monumental pressure could very well be the straw that will break the dollar's back.

Foreign creditors are already nervous about continuing to invest in the U.S. because of our skyrocketing debt. The explosion of debt that is certain to accompany the enactment of this national healthcare bill can only add to that nervousness.

Ironically, enactment of the healthcare bill could help the cause of liberty by hastening the day when Congress is forced by economic circumstances to stop increasing the welfare-warfare state and return to the Constitution.

There are many problems with our current healthcare system, to be sure. There are many tragic stories to be told. However, we need to look at the root of our problems in order to address them properly. More government intervention and bureaucracy injected into healthcare will take a flawed system and make it immeasurably worse.
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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Internet's Primary Gatekeeper in Bed With Big Brother?  

By Victor Thorn

LIKE AN ORWELLIAN SET OF EYES watching society's every move, Google—the world's predominant search engine—is quickly becoming a modern-day Big Brother. Robert Verkaik, law editor for The Independent, described their intent on May 24, 2007 as "setting out to create the most comprehensive database of personal information ever assembled, one with the ability to tell people how to run their lives."

Similarly, Clint Boulton of GoogleWatch described the corporation on September 9. "Google conjures an image of science fiction films such as War of the Worlds. The servers are like alien ships covering all of humanity, though instead of harvesting food sources, they are harvesting our search data for better advertising opportunities."

But their motives aren't simply financial. Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is Killing Our Culture, provided a glimpse into their larger agenda in a June 30 article for the Daily Telegraph. "Back in 2006, when asked where he wanted Google to be in five years time, company CEO Eric Schmidt confessed that he hoped his search engine would be so knowledgeable about all of us that it would know what we wanted to do tomorrow."

If information is power, Michael Malone's comments for ABC News on September 5, 2008 put this matter into perspective. "Google's real business now is not providing a service to its users, but owning the world's data." The Independent's Robert Verkaik is even more blunt in his assessment. "Google wants to know everything —all the knowledge contained on the World Wide Web, and everything about you as a computer user, too."

When Neil Cavuto of Fox News asked, "How can the public be sure that Google is deleting their private information and not storing it?" CEO Eric Schmidt replied, "Because we say so." Using technology called Deep Packet Inspection, Google can track not only our search histories, but also our very identity. In the Matrix-like world of these high-tech wizards, a new ‘morality' emerges.

ABC's Malone pinpoints it. "The empiricism of science and technology supercedes messy human institutions . . . for these young techno-utopians, technology trumps all, even privacy."

In this context, is a dystopian universe of computer-generated artificial intelligence merely a pipedream, or an actual possibility? On May 16, 2007 Internet commentator Nick Douglas explained how a Google database could actually become ‘self-aware.' "A computer doesn't have to be conscious to be powerful. Just teach it relationships, feed it data, and tell it to make connections." He adds, "This company has history's finest catalog of human wants, habits and inquiries cataloged by user," along with "earth satellite imagery, image-recognition technology and ambient-audio tech."

Even creepier, on July 16, Michel Wester of "Web- Sonic" exposed Google's use of "easter eggs" (or hidden features) in their graphics. Specifically, he illustrated how "Triforce" symbols were being subliminally embedded on Google's homepage. (These have since been removed.) In essence, a Triforce is an inverted equilateral triangle inscribed inside an upright triangle. On the surface, this icon appears harmless. But if the inner inverted triangle is expanded, the Triforce transforms into a Star of David—it is also reminiscent of the triangular All-Seeing Eye on the back of our Masonic dollar bills; is this symbolism indicative of an omnipotent Big Brother's totalitarian control of our computer screens?

Or, as Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare author Michael Hoffman stated in a November 10 interview: "We are losing our humanity.As our digital gadgets and personal computers evolve to even higher planes of magical realism, the [real] alchemical component in this process is not base metals to gold, it is the gold of humanity coagulated into the basest shadow of what it means to be human."

The Star of David-Triforce imagery becomes vital when considering that Google's two founders—Larry Page and Russian Sergey Brin—are both Jewish, as is Senior VP Jonathan Rosenberg. On the other hand, Jewish venture capitalist Michael Moritz—who financed Google during its inception—mentored Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. Equally as important, Schmidt attended both the 2008 and 2009 Bilderberg meetings.

This fact is important because, as computer scientist Daniel Tunkelang wrote for The Noisy Channel on September 5, Google is "the primary gatekeeper to the Internet for a substantial majority of Americans." In this capacity, their political views have a significant sway over what computer users see (and don't see).

Ex-CIA clandestine services officer Robert David Steele publicly claimed in October, 2006 that Google is "heavily in bed with the Central Intelligence Agency."

Considering the CIA's incestuous relationship with Israel's Mossad, it's now clear why websites that are considered "anti-Jewish" have been targeted and censored. After the Anti-Defamation League convinced Google's Internet monitoring team to make "technical modifications" to its search engine, ADL Director Abraham Foxman beamed, "We are extremely pleased that Google has heard our concerns [about] the unusually high ranking of pedlars of bigotry and anti-Semitism."

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and the author of many books on 9-11 and the New World Order. These include 9-11 Evil: The Israeli Role in 9-11 and Phantom Flight 93.

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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Turkey Has Guts to Say to Israel: ‘We Will Not Condone Genocide'  

Turkey and Israel's once-close relations have been hurt by the Gaza war. Turkey canceled military exercises this week, while Israel protested a Turkey state-TV series that shows Israelis killing Palestinians in cold blood.

By Yigal Schleifer

Israel and Turkey's once-close ties have entered a frosty period in recent years, particularly since Israel's invasion of Gaza this past January. But ties between the two countries took a further dive recently when Turkey indefinitely postponed annual military exercises because of Israel's planned involvement.

Israeli officials this week also expressed outrage over a new drama series being shown on Turkish state television that shows Israeli soldiers mercilessly killing Palestinians, including one scene of a soldier shooting a young girl at point-blank range.

Observers say the new tension between the two countries may be another indication that Turkey's changing domestic and foreign policy considerations are leading to a redefinition of the country's relationship with Israel.

"In Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's ideological framework, Israel doesn't play a central role. Things have changed," says Ofra Bengio, an expert on Turkey at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Ankara, for the past few years, has actively sought to establish itself as a kind of regional soft-power broker, working to strengthen relations with neighbors that it has previously kept at an arm's length, most notably Syria and Iran, both of which flank its eastern border.

Turkey also inked an agreement with Armenia recently that will move the two long-hostile countries toward renewed diplomatic ties.

Davutoglu—the main architect of this new foreign policy—and 10 other ministers visited Syria on Oct. 13 for the first meeting of a newly created "Strategic Cooperation Council" and to sign an agreement doing away with visa requirements between the two countries. This change reflects a fundamental shift from the period when Turkey and Israel began developing their strategic relationship. At the time, the two looked at countries like Syria as a common threat. Turkey and Syria almost went to war in the late 1990s after Ankara accused Damascus of supporting the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party.

But observers say that domestic changes in Turkey, particularly the diminishing power of the military, are also playing a role in the changing nature of Turkey and Israel's relationship.

"Had it been up to the military, the exercise would have continued as planned, but the military can't dictate its policies on the government the way it used to," says Lale Kemal, a military affairs analyst based in Ankara. "The equation is changing. We see this in other areas and in the Turkish-Israeli relationship also."

Yigal Schleifer is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul. His work has appeared in many newspapers.

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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Sen. Dodd on Warpath Against Fed  

A DEMOCRAT SENATOR is defending sweeping financial reforms he recently unveiled, which would strip the Federal Reserve of its broad and unchallenged authority while reining in a greedy Wall Street.

On Nov. 10, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced his financial overhaul bill called the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2009, a massive bill that comes in at just over 1,100 pages.

Dodd, who is up for reelection in 2010, is in serious trouble in his home state after it was revealed that he had received sweetheart loans from banks and mortgage brokers that have been blamed for toppling the U.S. economy. Once viewed as Wall Street's man in the Senate, Dodd is now trying to initiate a crackdown to save his hide. His bill addresses some of the more predatory, disreputable and legally questionable practices that have been commonplace in the financial industry.

Among other things, the bill tasks one federal regulator with overseeing the entire banking industry, including operations that are carried out by the Federal Reserve. It establishes new rules for "transparency and accountability" from investment advisors, financial brokers and credit rating agencies to protect investors and businesses. It sets up new rules for corporations to go to shareholders to vote on compensation for executives. It creates a new independent consumer financial protection agency that will monitor mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products for hidden fees, "abusive terms" and "deceptive practices." Finally, it gives the federal government the power to break up the money trust, especially when it threatens to bring down the entire economy.

Not surprisingly, Wall Street's toadies in government went on the offensive against the bill calling it an expansion of the Big Brother mentality to the financial sector.

In a speech to the American Bar Association's Banking Law Committee, the Treasury Department's second in command, Neil Wolin, echoed this sentiment, saying that the Federal Reserve "is the only agency with broad and deep knowledge of financial institutions and the capital markets necessary to do the job effectively."

Dodd responded to his critics by noting that "for decades, Washington has failed to deliver the substantial reform we need. If we fail again this time, our economy will be vulnerable to another crisis. . . . The American people deserve an economy in which Americans can find jobs, manage their money, and build better futures for their families. They deserve the real and meaningful change in this bill."

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American Free Press November 30, 2009

ADL Squawks About Private Militias Sprouting Up Across U.S.  

By Julia Foster

Long thought to be in a state of decline, the militia movement in the U.S. has experienced a growth in activity suggesting "an attempt to retool, restructure and reorganize," according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The "Quiet Retooling of the Militia Movement" sheds light on recent efforts by militia activists to recruit members and mobilize new groups in at least 30 states and on the Internet.

"The militias are testing the waters in the post-9-11 world to see whether they can continue to operate just below the radar of law enforcement and the media," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National director "While less vocal, less public and less visible, the militias are quietly attempting to retool, restructure and reorganize and are still players on the extremist scene."

ADL's report identifies several trends among groups currently active in Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State, West Virginia and elsewhere:

* KEEPING A LOW PROFILE: Militias have increasingly begun to connect with each other and seek recruits using lower-profile arenas of online discussion forums and mailing lists over web sites.

* FEAR OF THE GOVERNMENT: After a period of decline in the late 1990s as some members dropped out in the wake of numerous militia-related arrests, and others left the movement out of dissatisfaction when their predictions pf chaos at the turn of the millennium failed to materialize, militias have been re-energized by post September 11 fears of conspiracies and government power. Like many on the far-right and far-left fringes of American politics, militia members tend to view the "war on terrorism" and the Patriot Act as being directed at them.

* THE PERCEPTION THAT "TIME IS RUNNING OUT": Militia members are unifying around the idea that the country is headed toward a confrontation between its citizens and the government, which, in the words of one member, "is stripping us of our rights daily, and we all know what is coming and what we must do."

* PARAMILITARY TRAINING: There appears to be greater emphasis on paramilitary training in the "new" militia groups than in many of the groups that emerged in the 1990s. And come of the groups that have survived the longest - such as the Michigan Militia and the Kentucky state Militia - are those who place an emphasis on paramilitary training. Training with firearms and camouflage fatigues is not uncommon among "hardcore" militia units.

* COORDINATION: While much more reluctant than their 1990s counterparts to engage in high-profile public activities that might bring law enforcement or media scrutiny, some militia activists have attempted to coordinate activities with other groups, including training sessions and the formations of umbrella or coordinating groups. Some groups have cooperated with other "extremist" groups, including the anti-immigration Ranch Rescue of Arizona.

* STRING OF ARRESTS AND CONVICTIONS: Since 2004, the level of militia-related arrests has remained constant, with members jailed for shootings, illegal weapons possession and conspiracy charges, says the ADL.

Of course the vast majority of militia members in America today are law-abiding citizens doing no more than exercising their Constitutional rights to the fullest extent of the law.
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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Obama Surrounded by Real, Live 21st Century Communits  

By the American Free Press Staff

From the end of World war II until the Soviet Union fell in 1991, America's foreign policy revolved around fighting Communism. Yet during the past decade, a plethora of self-avowed Communists and Marxist sympathizers have clustered around President Barack Obama. Former "green jobs czar" Van Jones bragged on November 2, 2005, "I was a rowdy black revolutionary on April 28 (during the Rodney King trial), and when the verdicts came down on April 29, I was a Communist."

In June, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told a St. Andrews high school graduationg Class, "Two of my favorite political philosophers are Mao Tse-Tung and Mother Teresa." Similarly, manufacturing czar Ron Bloom informed the 2008 Union League Club, "We know that the free market is nonsense. We kind of agree with Mao that Political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun."

Energy czar Carol Browner belonged to the Commission for a Sustainable World Society (a group run by the Socialists International). On the other hand, longtime friend William Ayers admitted in 1995, "Maybe I'm the last Communist who is willing to admit it. The ethics of communism still appeal to me." Communist-leaning journalist Don Rose mentored Chief of Saff David Axelrod, whereas rumored Obama's father Frank Marshal Davis belonged to the Communist Party since the early 1920s.

During a September 17 speech, spiritual advisor Jeremiah Wright praised "no-nonsense Marxism." "Net neutrality" proponent Robert McChesney wrote about "a broader struggle for socialism" in 2000, while science czar John Holdren seeks "de-development via redistribution of wealth." Finally, FCC diversity czar Mark Lloyd recently lauded Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution as "incredible," whereas regulator czar Cass Sunstein championed one of the basic tenets of Communist Manifesto in 1999 by declaring, "Without taxes, there would be no liberty."

It's now been proven that the vast majority of those behind Russia's Bolshevik Revolution were Jewish. Likewise, a predominant number of Barack Obama's closest financiers, advisors and Cabinet members have been Jewish ever since his political career began. In this vein, Scholar Eliot Ratzman noted, "In the 20th century, most Jews aligned themselves to three major versions of ‘utopia': Jewish nationalism (Zionism), universalist socialism (Communism), and liberal democracy (America)." Are the Marxists and Zionists surrounding barack Obama merely a coincidence, or the result of a well-founded plot that has Sen. Joe McCarthy rolling in his grave?
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American Free Press November 30, 2009

‘The Holocaust for Dummies'  

By John Tiffany

Everyone "knows" 6 million Jews were killed by the German during World War II. However, there are a number of problems with this conventional wisdom.

In 1939, there were officially nearly 15,700,000 Jews in the world (The American Jewish Committee cites a figure of 15,688,259). After World war II, the number had risen to over 18 million Jews (the Jewish-owned New York Times for Feb. 22, 1948 uses a figure of 18,700,000). What this means is that of the 15,700,000 original Jews on the planet, 6 million were allegedly gassed, leaving only some 9 million-plus Jews on Earth. However, the world Jewish population somehow doubled to over 18 million in less than nine years - an amazing feat.

From the beginning of Holocaustian mythology, there was always the holy "6 million," of whom 4 million were allegedly gassed at Auschwitz. Then, in 1990, it was discovered that only 1.5 million were gassed at Auschwitz, at most - 2.5 million less. Yet, in spite of mathematics the sacred 6 million figure remained unchallenged by the establishment.

During this timeframe, the director of the Aschwitz State Museum, Dr. Franciszek Piper, announced that the so-called gas chamber there had been fabricated by the Soviets after the war (as a propaganda device to keep the world focused on the evils of National Socialist Germany while the Reds continued to consume as much of Europe as they could). Dr. Piper's statement is on videotape.

But there is more: The International Red Cross (IRC) formally and officially, reported that less than 300,000 internees of all nationalities in the German camps died of all causes, including old age. (When the Red Cross interviewed thousands of freed camp inmates at the end of the war, asking whether they had witnessed alleged "gassings," the response was universally negative. According to IRC document No. 9925, June 1946: "The detainees themselves have not spoken of them.")

Of these 300,000 internees, barely more than half were Jews. Most of these died in several severe typhoid epidemics caused by wartime conditions, which claimed many lives throughout Germany - including those of doctors, nurses and camp administrative personnel.

These deaths were too much for the German authorities. On Dec. 8, 1942, Heinrich Himmler, chief commandant of all detention facilities, issued an order stating categorically: "The death rate in the camps must be reduced at all costs.

In all of German-occupied Europe there were 2.4 million Jews. After the war, 3.8 million Jews claimed "survivor" benefits from the German government.

It was a miracle. According to The New York Times of Sunday, Jan. 4, 1987, alleged "Holocaust" survivor Elie Wiesel recalled "the day the Soviets arrived at Auschwitz." However, in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington D.C., reported by the Jewish Telegraph Agency on April 11, 1983, he had a different recollection. (In his book Legend of Our Time, New York, 1982, Wiesel explained: "Things are not that simple, Rabbi. Some evens do take place but are not true - although they never occurred.") Wiesel noted that he was "one of the survivors liberated at Dachau by the U.S. Army" on April15, 1945 - and thus" became the only prisoner of war to hold the distinction of being liberated from two different camps in World War II.

Not to be outdone by Wiese, famous "Nazi-hunter" Simon Wiesenthal died serenely at age 96, knowing that, according to BBC News, he had personally surviced no fewer than 12 National Socialist "death camps."

In 1948, a story appeared about a hapless Jewish girl who was supposedly done in by the National socialists (She actually died of typhus). The original, supposedly her "diary," was written in part with a ballpoint pen, an invention that did not appear in the world until after the war. It was published as a book called The Diary of Anne Frank. This highly profitable best-seller, which has been used to promote the Holocaust myth and the state of Israel, remains highly controversial to this day.

So where did this 6 million figure come from? For that, we must go back to one Ilya Ehrenburg, chief Soviet propagandist during world War II, who later died in Israel. It was Ehrenburg who first coined the mystic number for World war II, on de. 22, 1944, long before tens of thousands of Jewish internees in German camps, given the choice of staying to be "liberated" by the Communists or fleeing west with their German captors, did not hesitate to choose the latter option.

The monstrous lies of the psychopath Ehrenburg succeeded in crating a climate of rabid anti-Berman hate, Which led to the death of millions. Here is a typical example of the genocidal daily fare, taken from an October, 1944 leaflet to the Red Army: "Kill! Nothing in Germany is guiltless, neither the living nor the yet unborn.

In addition, it is thanks to the "hoax-a-co$t" lies that the warlike "state of Israel has collected billions of dollars and property from hopeless natives of Palestine and from taxpayers of Germany, the United states and other bamboozled nations.
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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Federal Intervention at Heart of Resent Healthcare Crisis  

Americans watched in horror recently as the House passed the healthcare reform bill. If this bill makes it through the Senate, it would massively overhaul the way healthcare is delivered in this country. Today, obviously, we don't have a perfect system, but this legislation takes all the mistakes we are making with healthcare and makes them worse. Most of what is wrong with healthcare stems from decades of government intervention and the resulting unintended consequences.

But the government's prescription for the ills caused by intervention is always more intervention. We see this not only in healthcare policy, but also in foreign policy, in economic policy, and in monetary policy - basically, in all areas of public policy. It was even claimed that the House bill would increase competition in healthcare, and thereby improve the private sector's business model for insurance.

It is fascinating that politicians would use the language of the free market in this way to justify more corporatism. This demonstrates a couple of things. One, that politicians truly do not understand the very basic tenets of a free market. By definition, a free market is free from government intervention. But once a little intervention is accepted as legitimate, politicians will blame the problems created by their intervention on the free market and present themselves as saviors that must intervene even more.

It also demonstrates that politicians know that Americans still believe the free market is a good thing. People know and understand that competition among businesses is better for the consumer than a monopoly. However, competition between a private business and a government or government-favored entity is not real competition.

In real competition, your competitors can go bankrupt if they do a bad job. Everyone knows a government program is forever, no matter how poorly it performs. In real competition, efficiency is necessary for survival. In government programs, waste is rewarded as budgets are often determined by how much money a department is able to consume in a year. In real competition, one business does not have regulatory or taxation authority over its competitors. In real competition, businesses get sued and punished for breaking contracts and defrauding people, and are kept accountable in this way. But just try to sue the government when you are unjustly harmed by it.

The reason real competition is a good thing is because good businesses get bad ones out of the consumer's way. Can the government put someone out of business? Most certainly! But it will have the opposite effect: an otherwise good business will be replaced by a poorly performing government agency, of a government-favored monolithic business that behaves almost like a government agency.

If Washington really wanted to give consumers more choices they would remove legislative and regulatory barriers to competition across state lines for health insurers. They would remove barriers for new and innovative models of healthcare and tort reform. They wouldn't have run so many church and charitable hospitals out of business.

Washington is keenly interested in healthcare reform, but it is certainly not the entity that is going to increase competition or to expand your options for healthcare.
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American Free Press November 30, 2009

Israeli Lobby Demonstrates It's the Dominant Force in U.S. Politics  

By

This article is copyrighted by 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc. but can be read on Paul Craig Roberts' Vdare page.

http://www.vdare.com/roberts/091111_dollar.htm
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