November 1, 2010
- Sheriff Won't Evict
- Origins of Fed Explain Financial Collapse
- Lipstick on an Elephant?
- Candidate Tancredo Takes Tough Stand On Immigration
- Montana Woman Smashes Public Display Insulting Jesus
- Seniors Need Raise In Social Security; A Few Reps. Agree
- We Have A Right to Know What's in Massive Bill
- 'Polar Bear Hunting' the New Sport for Black Gangs
- AFP At The PsyOps Confab
- Was U.S. Involved in Israeli Cyber Attack on Iran?
- Secretive Data Collection Centers Esposed
- Military Not for Social Engineering
November 8, 2010
- USDA To Boost Biofuels
- Persecuted FEMA 9-11 Photographer Fights Extradition
- Victor Thorn Interviews Former CNN Reporter Who Was First on Scene at Pentagon on 9-11
- White Kids Shafted: Corporate America Backs Latino Students
- Big Brother's ‘Trash Talk' (RFID)
- Rep. Cantor Wants aid to Israel Immune to Cuts
November 15, 2010
- Stopping Vote Theft
- Mainstream NY Newspaper Confirms AFP Report on Centrist Third Party
- Midterms a Repudiation of Obama
- America's Railroads: Saving Lives, Oil, Pollution & Time
- HUD: A Black Hole of Corruption
- Beware Lame-Duck Treachery
- Analysts Predicting Republican Victory Will Benefit Israel
- Federal Mortgage Aid a Back-Door Banker Bailout
- Tea Parties Host Victory Celebration in D.C.
- Zionist-Christian Crusaders Are Nuts, But Find Muslim Bashing Good for Income
- U.S. Blatantly Violates 1981 Agreement With Iran
- Online Giant's (Google's) Invasive Tactics Penalized Overseas
- Congress Creates Job Problems It Will Never Be Able to Solve (by Rep. Ron Paul)
November 22, 2010
- FBI Secretly Tracks Citizens
- Famed Expert on Fed Reveals Looming Crisis
- Elections Put Pro-Israel Neo-Cons Back on Top
- Phony ‘Centrist' Third Party Propaganda Escalates
- Populists Optimistic About Future of Rep. Rand Paul
- Congressman Ron Paul Blasts Fed; Calls Anew for Transparent Audit
- Incoming Congress To Deal With Debt.
- Budget Cuts Could Affect You
- Congressman Urges Rejection of Welfare-Warfare State by Rep. Ron Paul
- AFP Visits Jekyll Island on Anniversary of Fed's Founding
- Money Belongs to the People Not the International Bankers
November 29, 2010
- HANDS OFF! Citizens Across America Battle Privacy Invasion
- Push to Dethrone Obama Part of ‘Centrist' Agenda
- Big Money from Donors Puts Cantor In Hip Pocket of Powerful Interests
- Rand Paul's Recent Remarks Raise New Concerns
The rich are getting richer, and the poor, poorer. That's
not news. The real news is that the American middle class is
being reduced to an indigent class. We need a real-life Robin
Hood—someone who will protect the ordinary American from
the depredations of the international plutocrats and bankers.
Enter Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart from Chicago. He comes on the troubling scene after weeks of big headlines and damaging accusations of shoddy foreclosure paperwork that may have caused hundreds of people to be illegally evicted from their homes. And with that, Dart recently announced that he would no longer be evicting people following foreclosure procedures.
America has a tradition of honest sheriffs who protect the widows, orphans and honest citizens. Today we have such a heroic sheriff who is protecting the folks in his county from the voracious parasites behind the flood of foreclosure frauds.
"I can't possibly be expected to evict people from their homes when the banks themselves can't say for sure everything was done properly," Dart said in a statement. "I need some kind of assurance that we aren't evicting families based on fraudulent behavior by the banks. Until that happens, I can't in good conscience keep carrying out evictions involving these banks," he added.
Another heroic sheriff who protected people from being wrongfully evicted was eventually locked up for doing the right thing. That former sheriff is "Big Jim" Traficant. The people elected him to Congress in eastern Ohio. In 1985, when Traficant was first elected to Congress, unemployment in Youngstown was a crushing 25 percent. By 2002 Youngstown's unemployment rate had dropped to 7 percent.
He continued to fight for the people against the crooks. For doing so many good things, the Washington insiders framed Traficant to get him out of Congress. To prison he went. Ever since Traficant has not been in Congress to say, "Beam me up," every time legislators did something stupid or crooked, real unemployment in Youngstown has skyrocketed to somewhere near 40 percent.
America needs more than the legendary Robin Hood—we need sheriffs like Tom Dart and representatives like Jim Traficant.
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In 1913, at 11:45 p.m., on Dec. 23, Congress approved a private corporation designed to form a private corporation, designed to control the monetary system of our country. They moved with a calculated craftiness and deceit to pass legislation that would enslave every American as a debtor to their corporation.
To give you an idea as to where our country is with debt, as of September 2008, the [official] U.S. federal debt had reached approximately $9.7 trillion, or $31,700 per person. [As of October 2010, the national debt now stands at $13.6 trillion.—Ed.] However, when the unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, Medicare, and other social programs are added in, our total debt grows to $59.1 trillion, or $516,348 per household.
In 2005, the total personal debt, consisting of mortgages and consumer loans, was estimated at $11.4 trillion, with total U.S. household assets, including real estate, totaling $62.5 trillion.
Why it is Americans can't forgive themselves the interest on the debt? Well, we don't "owe" it to "we the people," we "owe" it to the Federal Reserve and to foreign governments in the form of U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
As of two years ago, the top four foreign owners of our debt were: Japan at $592.2 billion, China at $502 billion, United Kingdom at $251.4 billion and oil exporters at $153.9 billion. Other owners of U.S. debt include Brazil, Caribbean Banking Centers, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Russia, Norway, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland.
Through the untrustworthy corporate media, economists and other sources, we are told that there are a number of reasons for the financial crisis we are in today. One reason, the ivory tower people claim, was the passage of the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act of 1994, whereby the Federal Reserve was given authority to issue regulations and interest rates over mortgages and home equity lending. Its enactment caused a sharp increase in home-equity lending accompanied by a sharp boost in the subprime mortgage market, from 80,000 subprime loans in 1993 to 790,000 by 1998.
Another reason was the passage of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, removing all the protection put in place following the 1929 stock market crash. Without such protection, foreign banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies were allowed to buy American-owned banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies.
Additionally, this increased the risk to our economic system by easing regulations on monetary policy. The 45-year low interest rates of 2001-2002, enacted to stimulate the economy following the 9-11 attacks, exacerbated the stress on our economy.
In short, we have been set up. Laws were designed and passed to specifically get us into this dreadful position. We are the sheep being shorn, but our shepherd is not Moses, King David or the Great Shepherd. Now many of the career-congressmen who supported passage of the above laws will go home and campaign for re-election. It's incredible that the great media spin machine can provide the cover they need to get re-elected and continue this financial skullduggery.
The bottom line is that unless you know the chicanery of how
the Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, unless you understand
the central banking system that runs almost all the countries
of the world and their history of manipulation, deceit, deception,
and distortion, you will not be able to hear, see and understand
what is happening under your nose.
___
Note: We believe that Ms. Veon would have agreed that every means
possible should be explored to repudiate the national debt, as
AFP maintains.—Ed.
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Uninspiring old white men like
Bob Dole, John McCain and Dick Cheney have found they can't get
elected to the White House. So, it appears the Israeli lobby
has switched tactics by selecting women to push forward the GOP.
Sarah Palin is undoubtedly the queen bee at the center of this hive. Discovered and mentored by the Weekly Standard's William Kristol, Palin came to national prominence when Kristol secured a place for her as McCain's vice presidential nominee. McCain, of course, is a fervent Israel-firster as well as the son of John McCain Sr., who orchestrated the USS Liberty cover-up.
Palin has made high-profile appearances with Nikki Haley, who is currently leading in South Carolina's gubernatorial race. Haley is a prot?g? of South Carolina's scandal-ridden Gov. Mark Sanford, who belongs to the influential Council for National Policy (CNP). Established by Christian Zionist Tim LaHaye in 1981, the CNP initially received funding from Nelson Bunker Hunt, a man who paid for anti-Kennedy advertisements in Dallas on the day of JFK's assassination.
Another Palin disciple is Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, the pretty face du jour. During an Oct. 8 television interview with Fox's Greta van Susteren, O'Donnell revealed her loyalties. "We have to rebuild and repair our relationship with Israel," said O'Donnell. "It has traditionally been a strong ally. . . . I'm saying we can do more because we need Israel. We need to be a friend to Israel." She did not say why "we need" Israel.
In Nevada, Harry Reid's Republican opponent Sharron Angle has elicited support from Bilderberg attendee Ralph Reed, founder of the pro-Israeli Christian Coalition. Reed was also personally invited by Abraham Foxman as far back as 1995 to address the pro-Zionist Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Reed later joined forces with Karl Rove to generate Christian support for George W. Bush. He found common cause with Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein's "Stand Up for Israel" campaign that encouraged solidarity among Christians and the state of Israel.
Mrs. Angle may also be the candidate most affiliated with "tea party" attendees. Previous AFP reports have highlighted former Rep. Dick Armey's (R-Texas) role in spearheading this movement. On May 1, 2002 Armey called for the "ethnic cleansing of Palestinians" while advocating Israel's expansionism. A close associate of Zionists Gary Bauer, the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, Armey claims that "Israel's rebirth" signals a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
When he was a prominent House member, Armey played a pivotal role in forwarding the neo-con agenda of America fighting Israel's wars against Iraq. The impetus for this move arose after a meeting with then-Vice President Cheney, who falsely claimed that al Qaeda worked directly with Saddam Hussein in the development of chemical and nuclear weapons.
To bankroll and steer the tea party movement, Armey received significant amounts of money from rabid "Project for a New American Century" Judeo-fascists such as the Koch, Olin and Sarah Scaife foundations.
These entities are similarly connected to Kristol and the American Enterprise Institute's plans for a "Greater Israel," extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. Already holding a seat in Congress is Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). At a May 24 American Israel Public Affairs Committee "policy conference," she gushed: "I have a tremendous love for Israel, and great admiration for the Israeli people. I am a Christian, but I consider my heritage Jewish."
Bachmann is a strong supporter of Pastor Mac Hammond, who serves as a board member on Rev. John Hagee's Christians United for Israel. In this vein, Bachmann famously told the Republican Jewish Coalition in February that America will be "cursed" if we "reject" Israel. "I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that if the United States fails to stand with Israel, that is the end of the United States," she said.
To complete this scenario, Carly Fiorina is vying for Barbara Boxer's California Senate seat. As Jewish billionaire Bill Hewlett's former CEO at Hewlett-Packard, Ms. Fiorina's critics have blasted her as being "pro-Muslim."
To compensate, Ms. Fiorina made a Labor Day jaunt to Israel, which was arranged and funded by the Republican Jewish Coalition. An Israeli business magazine reported that she sought an audience with Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak. Ms. Fiorina later told a Los Angeles audience on Oct. 10, "We must stand unequivocally and declare that Israel is our most important ally in the Middle East, and that we will stand with her always, no matter what."
Hoping to fill California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's seat in Sacramento is Jewish pro-choice candidate Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and member of Goldman Sachs' board of directors. At an Oct. 18, 2009 AIPAC national summit meeting, her campaign literature read: "Meg Whitman: a proven record of support for Israel."
The single-minded obsession of this Israeli patronage cannot be construed as a coincidence. Rather, the cabal behind these female candidates took a cue from Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign when he quipped, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."
In this regard, the Republican Party's symbol—an old gray elephant—has been updated with lipstick, skirts and high heels. But beneath the glitzy fa?ade still lurks the agenda of a clandestine regime that uses front men and women to do its bidding.
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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A former U.S. congressman from Colorado is shaking up the gubernatorial race in his home state, largely over the issue of unfettered immigration and multiculturalism, which is sending shivers down the spines of the other establishment candidates.
Tom Tancredo is
running for governor of Colorado on the Constitution Party ticket.
With the general election nearly upon us as this AFP edition
circulates, he currently holds a double-digit lead over GOP contender
Dan Maes.
But Democrat John Hickenlooper currently holds a lead over Constitutionist Tancredo in what has surprisingly shaped up to be a two-man contest. The margin is a slim one of 45-40.
Tancredo also ran for president in 2007 as a Constitution Party candidate, taking a strong stance against illegal immigration. In a speech to the party, he made the following statement: "If you want to call me a single-issue candidate, that's fine, just so long as you know that my single issue is the survival and the success of the conservative movement in America."
Tancredo has made it clear he supports strictly enforcing immigration laws and deporting all illegal aliens. He urges America to reject "the siren song of multiculturalism."
Tancredo founded the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus in 1999. He has not only called for a halt to illegal immigration, which, he says, allows terrorists to enter our country, but a three-year moratorium on all immigration, legal as well as illegal.
During the Bush II administration, Tancredo boasted that,
although a Republican congressman at the time, he was unwelcome
at the White House not only because he disagreed with the Bush
policy of leaky borders, but also because he refused to support
Bush "on his trade policy, his education policy, Medicare
and prescription drugs initiatives."
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When the Loveland Museum and Gallery in Colorado displayed an anti-Christian print ofJesus Christ engaged in a homosexual act, the Cityof Loveland ignored it and protected it under "free speech." Despite heated protests against it, estimated at 100 to one, most of the illustrious "city fathers" refused to have it removed or to even issue a public complaint. But when City Councilman Daryle Klassen called the artwork "smut" and originally wanted it removed - but couldn't get enough council votes to force the issue - an out-of-state woman took the matter into her own hands.
Kathleen Folden, a 56-year-old truck driver from Kalispell, Mt., saw the news story and decided that if nobody in Loveland was man enough to do what was Biblically correct, she would do it herself. Dressed in a shirt that said "Tougher Than Nails," Ms. Folden drove from Kalispell to Loveland - 690 miles.
Upon her arrival on Oct. 6, Ms. Folden marched into the museum with a two-foot crowbar in hand, smashed through the Plexiglas, retrieved the offending lithograph, tore it in several pieces and screamed out loud: "How can you desecrate my Lord?"
The exhibit, called The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals, by Stanford University Prof. Enrique Chagoya, had been the subject of a week's worth of derision by those calling it blasphemous, but nobody would take direct action until Ms. Folden finally did.
The next day, the Loveland Museum and Gallery announced that the art is no longer on display, and city officials say it will not be replaced.
Loveland police arrested Ms. Folden on a charge of criminal mischief, a felony, but her attorney says that a felony conviction requires a damage claim of over $1,000 and that there is no way this loss will reach that value. If she is convicted, the city says, the fines range from $1,000 to $2,000. Ms Folden was bonded out the next day by an anonymous benefactor and picked up by another woman, Jan Emery, who also did not know Ms. Folden but respected her bold actions.
Ms. Emery told the local TV news: "I just feel that this woman was compelled by something greater than herself to do what she did. I'm not justifying the act, but, you know, ‘hate the sin but love the sinner'"
Ms. Folden told reporters she wanted to talk to them but had to wait until a later date. Then she said, "Just remember, God is real." She pleaded not guilty on Oct. 15 and faces trial in January.
Ms. Folden's attorney told AFP, "The focus has been on
Ms. Folden here, but I think the focus whould probably be changed
a little bit, and we should be asking why the City of Loveland
would have deliberately endorsed such a provocative, insensitive
depiction and display."
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Some legislators in the House and Senate are calling on Congress to enact legislation that would compensate Social Security beneficiaries who will not be receiving a cost of living adjustment (COLA) next year.
This will be the second year in a row that the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it would not be giving COLA raises to people who receive government checks paid for by taxpayers. Recently, the federal agency made the announcement, saying the government will not be able to afford a 2 percent COLA, which totals about $14 billion.
"It is unacceptable that for the second year in a row, our seniors will not be receiving their Social Security COLA, and the Senate should take immediate action upon returning to session in November," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) after the SSA's announcement.
A 5 percent increase in 2011 Social Security checks would cost a fraction of what the U.S. government has already given to Wall Street et al.
Washington's failure to live up to its promise for America's struggling seniors is especially galling considering that the federal government and the private Federal Reserve System have bailed out Wall Street to the tune of nearly $13 trillion. In addition, the federal government is handing out over $50 billion to foreign countries, many of them wealthy such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.
Rep anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has called on Congress to double the paltry 2 percent - and fund it with money that comes in from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which has passed by Congress to bail out the bankers.
"To say that the costs for seniors have not gone up over the past year is to pretend that thelaws of economic gravity don't apply to older people." Weiner told reporters. "Rent is up. Medicare premiums are up. The purpose of the COLA is to help seniors keep up. The Social Security Administration seems to have forgotten that mission. Without some swift action, the standard of living for our nation's seniors is in jeopardy."
Weiner's measure for a 5 percent COLA increase in 2011 translates
into an estimated $692 in additional compensation for the average
senior. It is expected to cost only $26 billion - a fraction
of what the government hands out to the less deserving.
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Fiscal conservatives in Congress are concerned that Democrats are playing election-year games in an effort to avoid dealing with the ridiculous cost of government.
House Republicans have been pressing the Democrats to break up spending bills so that each can be focused on individually. Democrats, however, would prefer to sneak through one massive trillion-dollar omnibus bill that would fund the government in 2011.
The proposed omnibus spending bill has not been released to the public. So no one even knows what lurks inside it. The fear is that, following the midterm elections, Democrats will provide only a few days to go over the legislation fefor forcing a vote.
"Taxpayers deserve to have appropriations legislation
considered in an open and transparent process," wrote Rep.
Jeff Flake ((R-Ariz.0, a well-known opponent of earmarks, in
a public letter released by Republicans. "At a minimum,
taxpayers should be protected from thousands of unvetted earmarks,
produced by a process driven by a spoils system, being stuffed
into any end-of-year appropriations measure and shielded from
review."
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Black street gangs in Illinois have devised a new variation of violent assault, known as "wilding," that is racist to its core. The offensive team is always black and typically travels in numbers of a dozen or more. In order to qualify to play on the defensive team, one must first and foremost be white; second, one must be traveling alone; and third (and very important) be unarmed.
They have even named it in honor of their white prey: "polar bear hunting." The rules are basic: Just catch "whitey" by surprise and pummel him into submission before he even knows what happened or why he was attacked.
Mike Sola, a 50-year-old former TV weatherman in Champaign, the home of the University of Illinois, is among the latest in a growing list of white men in town being slugged for sport and profit by young black men.
The attacks seem to have been concentrated on campus during August but lately have been spreading across Champaign and have even included attacks on young white children in city parks.
In September, Sola decided to walk the couple of miles to his south-central Champaign home after a Friday night football game let out at Centennial High School. He made it about halfway when "out of the blue I felt something hit me in the back of the head."
The attack came as a complete surprise.
"It was hard. It wasn't a fist," he said, adding that whatever struck him wrapped around to the front of his neck, causing it to bruise. Although some what stunned, Sola was able to utilize some of his karate training and retaliate before being pounded into submission by the pack of animalistic blacks.
Within seconds, Central High School Principal Joe Williams happened by to help Sola, along with the police, but the attackers had already fled into the darkness. Williams drove sola to the hospital, where he received five stitches in his cheek and earlobe and some headache pills.
Sola asked that Williams announce at school the following Monday that "the old man attacked on Friday night would like a cage match."
"There's more consequences than just the personal ones to me. I'm a victim, but I'm not victimized. It's a sad statement when you can't walk down the sidewalk at 9:30 at night. Did we lose ownership of the street?" Williams stated.
While the "game" is not new in general, as it's also prevalent on Chicago's streets. Champaign police told the local News Gazette that black attacks on White boys are now so numerous they cannot process them all. Since Aug. 15, there have been 20 attacks on white males, mostly in the campus area, committed by groups of young black men. But in the last couple weeks, the attacks have extended beyond the confines of Campustown, causing Champaign police to redouble their efforts to find the perpetrators.
News of this wave of racial attacks has not been reported
beyond the local paper - until now.
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Official conference reveals how military, feds, media intentionally manipulate facts to sway the people.
Verona, N.Y. - Famed journalist Hunter S. Thompson once remarked,
"The truth is never told between none and five." Well,
the Oct. 14
"Influence
and Fighting Propaganda Conference" at Turning Stone Resort
in Verona, N.Y., certainly lent credence to this adage.
With attendees from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the rand Corporation, SAIC, Boox Allen Hamilton, Army Special Operations and the Behavioral Dynamics Institute, representatives at this symposium examined how information is used by corporations, the military, academia and media to persuade people and guide their decision making processes.
The spookiness of this premise was compounded by the fact that these propagandists not only lie to us, they also deceive one another.
Various speakers perpetuated their baseless allegation of Osama bin Laden still being alive and fully operational, while using his cell phone from Afghan caves, and how 19 Islamic terrorists "masterminded the 9-11 attacks.
Dr. J. Michael Walker of the Institute for World Politics took this notion one step further by advocation vast increases in U.S. "Public diplomacy" - i.e., propaganda- abroad that rivaled that used by Woodrow Wilson and FDR.
When moderator Russ Rochte, a propaganda analysis specialist at the National Defense Intelligence college, asked a panel if the government should be allowed to penetrate media outlets, former CBS News manager Wally Dean replied, "They already do. Today's ‘pass-through' journalists simply quote official sources for their stories. ‘News' is being generated by the establishment."
Adding plenty of weight to his argument, dean noted that the Obama administration maintains 24,000 different websites, all of which feed data to our supposedly "independent" press.
Muddying the water even further, veteran reporter Bill Gertz of The Washington Times warned that public affairs information shouldn't be combined or confused with the strategic aims of intelligence agencies.
"The CIA lies," he stressed. "They engage in covert operations."
Another panelist, former CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre, admitted during a question-and-answer session that on five or six different occasions, the Pentagon asked his network not to report on sensitive stories that cold jeopardize national security. In all cases, CNN acquiesced and withheld, at least temporarily, the information.
Incidentally, McIntyre played a pivotal role on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. During a live broadcast, he reported, "From my close-up inspection, there's no evidence of a plane having crashed anywhere near the Pentagon.
When asked by AFP to elaborate on that statement, McIntyre told this writer his remarks were taken out of context. He insisted, "If you use a quote from me, make sure you indicate that I believe a plane hit the Pentagon."
Amazing how people can keep completely contradictory information bottled up inside them.
At a conference specifically devoted to the subject of propaganda, McIntrye's adamant disclaimer reminds one of the line from Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2), "the reporter doth protest too much, methinks."
Furthermore, could 9-11 have been on of those instances where Pentagon officials used the pretense of "national security" to put pressure on CNN?
Dr. Brad Gorham, communications department chairman at Syracuse University, provided some valuable insights into how we receive mainstream news.
Gorham explained that people use selective perception to interpret messages that are in line with their preconceptions, especially if the information is ambiguous. In this light, disinformation experts have spent decades mocking and marginalizing the alterative media. If the public can be manipulated into distrusting "conspiracy theorists,: they'll be less prone to accepting alternative viewpoints that threaten the power structure.
Gorham referred to the media's "agenda-setting function," whereby they don't directly tell us what to think, but rather what to think about. Thereby, what is covered and what is suppressed determines a society's overall outlook.
As such, official and unofficial gatekeepers not only decide what gets into the news cycle, but also how certain events are framed to guide public reaction. Language is vitally important in this process because certain individuals can either be "freedom fighters" or "terrorists" depending on which labels are used.
This point becomes even more crucial when cognitive dissonance is introduced. Gorham described how two beliefs that don't jibe with each other create a state of mental tension. Since people don't enjoy such conflicts, they utilize a psychological technique called "selective exposure" to only receive messages from sources with which they already agree.
Conspiracy facts are often difficult to digest, so the masses tend to ignore troublesome notions in favor of a comfort zone provided by mainstream sources. Although they will acknowledge being fed little white lies, such a limited admission is preferable to their entire belief systems being overturned.
Lastly, Gorham elaborated on a term called the"third person effect" whereby people tend to believe that others are more easily swayed by conditioning techniques than they themselves. Audience members at this propaganda conference enthusiastically accepted this idea, which reinforced their elitist stance of being more intelligent than the everyday citizen.
Propagandists have studied these phenomena for ages and subsequently fram their mass media messages to reduce society's cognitive dissonance, while at the same time forwarding a host of varying agendas.
In an ongoing war for our minds, the "truth" becomes
a casualty, while carefully crafted perceptions are transformed
into an Orwellian doublespeak that forms a false reality.
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Israel's secret cyberwarfare outfit, Unit 8200, is thought to be responsible for the cyber attacks against computers running the uranium-enrichment programs at Iran's Bushehr and Natanz nuclear facilities. It appears the attacks involved Israeli agents armed only with USB data-storage "sticks" containing the highly complex Stuxnet virus. All the agents had to do was insert them into computers and let the virus do its work.
Computer experts agree Stuxnet was so complex it had to be constructed by a nation with a highly advanced cyberwarfare capability. Some cyber technicians, who broke down codes in Stuxnet, found clues pointing to Israel as the cu;prit. The emergence of a powerful piece of malware like Stuxnet points to a new form of warfare with unforeseen consequences.
Stuxnet was not limited to Iranian computers and has since infected computers in China and a host of other nations. Like human viruses, once a virus or worm, like Stuxnet, finds its way into cyberspace, others will seek to replicate and improve it for use against countries such as the United States, which are highly dependent on computers to run power and transportation systems, banking and military communications. The theory in some cyber circles is that the Israelis lost control of Stuxnet after it was used against Iran. It then somehow "went wild," globally infecting computers.
One ignored aspect of the attack on Iran is how it was predicted in July 2009 by Scott Borg, director of the non-profit U.S. cyber Consequences Unit. Then asked by a Reuters reporter if Iran was vulnerable to cyber attacks, he replied it was possible Israel could insert a malicious piece of software into Iranian nuclear computers, thereby providing a control trigger to be used when Israel decided it was the optimum time. In that way, the Israelis could control and destroy Iran's nuclear power industry.
On way to do it was to use a "contaminated USB stick." That is exactly what happened in early 2009, but the Israelis did not trigger the virus until months later. Even now, Iranians computer technicians worry the virus may be buried deep inside computers, waiting for Unit 8200 technicians to remotely activate it.
There are allegations that Israel had been planning the attacks for at least two years and had the approval of the Obama White House, which may have figured that a cyberwarfare attack against Iran was preferable to the use of conventional weapons - which would trigger a wider Middle East war. What Obama may have over looked is that the episode could open the door to the unbridled use of cyber weapons by countries and groups lacking a powerful conventional military.
Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's most formidable cyber organization and is heavily subsidized by a country that spends more per capita on intelligence assets than any other nation. Since the early 1990s, it has recruited young computer geeks and even hackers found guilty of crimes. The unit's high classification makes it comparable with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), but, unlike the NSA, it has no civilian staff; all personnel are required to join the Israeli Defense Forces.
Unit 8200 has a staff of several thousand and is based in a large, heavily fortified Negev Desert complex, less than 20 miles from Beersheba. Over the past two decades, some of its brightest personnel have moved on to create major Internet companies that are presumed available to Israel when the need arises.
On a regular basis, it sends personnel to work at the Pentagon and the National Security agency - an arrangement without congressional oversight. It may even have a role in a secret Homeland Security counterterrorism outfit in Washington. Outside the Israeli military, it is sometimes referred to as the Central Collection of the Intelligence Corps, or Shimone Maayim (literally "eight/two hundred") in Hebrew. It may have launched a 2007 cyber attack to disable Syrian air defenses before Israeli jets bombed a site alleged to have been a Syrian nuclear reactor location.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Iran attack led to
a serious accident at the Natanz nuclear facility in the summer
of 2009, but Iran kept the matter secret because it suddenly
realized it was the target of an ongoing cyber assault.
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After AFP exposed the CIA roots of Google, the shady Internet company got great "public relations" help when it announced plans to invest $5 billion in oceanic wind farms 10 miles off the mid-Atlantic coast that could provide power to some 1.9 million homes from New Jersey to Virginia. That sounds so nice.
But how "green" is the Google effort to expand and fine-tune its Googleplex - a super-computer system contrived to be like the "mind of God," ultimately to directly connect to billions of human minds via a neural interface?
"Google has constructed the biggest computer in the world, and it's a hidden asset," says Danny Hillis, a supercomputing pioneer and a founder of Applied Minds, a technology consulting firm. To grasp how much the gigantic Googleplex has grown - with parts of its "brain" hidden in secret bases around the world - let's peek at Project02, which is only one of Google's secret data-centers.
Hidden in a remote part of Oregon next to the Washington state line - reminiscent of secret Soviet bases or Area 51 in Nevada - is a highly secret complex, Google's Project02 - approximately the size of two football fields, with cooling towers four stories high.
The heat generated from thousands of computers all wired to each other would literally melt the computers if not for the enormous amounts of power harnessed to cool the buildings.
Google carefully guards how many secret centers it has, how many computers it yokes together and how much power it uses.
The Project02 site, near Dalles in Wasco County, was chosen because the government supplies cheap power via a hydroelectric dam owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The overall "Googleplex" includes a 915,000-square-foot headquarters, plus a 1.5 million-square-foot campus connected to at least two dozen data hubs in the United States, and many more secret hubs in more than 30 other countries. Like a vast beehive, all are connected by high-speed fiber-optic cables and satellites. Treated like virtual royalty, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were given VIP seats to watch their high-resolution-imaging Google Earth satellite rocket lift of a Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The Googleplex's presence in the military-industrial complex is widespread. Google has a 40- to 90-year lease for a 1.2 million-square-foot collaborative research facility on 42.2 acres of NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) in Silicon Valley. ARC is NASA's prime hub of AI (artificial intelligence) and AGI (artificial general intelligence, or "mind of God") research.
The "Google twins" enjoy their own private runways at ARC's Moffett Federal airfield where they house their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200 jumbo jet plus two other Gulfstream jets - which have scientific equipment installed by NASA.
The former head of NASA's ARC Intelligent Systems Division, Peter Norvig, became Google's director of research in 2007.
The CIA and Google jointly back Recorded Future, a company that monitors the web in real time - to use that information "to predict the future." Visible Technologies (VT), a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media, is another cog in this complex system. It "monitors" (spies on) YouTube, Twitter, blogs, posts, conversations, online forums, Amazon book reviews etc. Google also supplies the technology for "Intellipedia," a secret online system, so that tens of thousands of spies can keep tabs on Americans and others.
Furthermore, Qu icksee is a Google partner that possesses the technology to post panoramic, interactive three-dimensional videos of every address in America - perhaps with the exception of Project02 and other Googleplex hubs - on the worldwide web.
Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kindo f privacy, the reality is that search engines including google do retain this information for some time, and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."
If you don't want "Big Brother" watching you, try
StartingPage.com, which keeps no records of your online research
activities.
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As President Obama continues his campaign to undermine the moral fabric of our nation and American effectiveness on every front, the proposed repeal of President bill Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding homosexuals in the military has once agin become a hot topic of discussion.
To be clear, Obama is not pushing for a return to the pre-Clinton days when it was understood that homosexual behavior is incompatible with military service - period - regardless of whether the homosexual military member "told" or not. Obama is instead pressing for homosexuals to be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces.
Now Marine corps Commandant Gen. James Conway has acknowledged what I pointed out.
CNS News reports:
Conway, a known opponent of repealing the law, suggested in an interview published Friday by Military.com that he already knows it would be a logistical hurdle. On base, Marines typically bunk two-to-a-rook. "I would not ask our Marines to live with someone who is homosexual if we can possibly avoid it," he said.
I spent 10 years in the military stateside and over seas, on base and in field conditions, and for those who have never served in the military, you might not appreciate the unique and challenging conditions under which military forces are often required to serve. Conditions vary from base to base and branch of service to branch of service, but generally stateside unmarried enlisted members live in barracks that are two people to a room. As you might imagine, such quarters are very small and intimate, with an absolute minimum of individual private space available. In field conditions or on ships in the Navy, living conditions often become even closer and more intimate with even less privacy.
The military quarters male and female soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines separately for obvious reasons, while there are a number of reasons for this, they can probably be boiled down to one statement: men and women view and evaluate one another as potential objects of romantic and sexual opportunity, or to put it more commonly, everbody's looking for love. For moral and human as well as practical reasons, the military doesn't quarter male and female soldiers together.
Military service is a privilege, not a right. Not every American who wants to serve in the military gets to do so. There is ahost of reasons why some pople are not allowed to serve in the military, with a great deal of them boiling down to behavioral choices they have made, and all having relevance to the fact that allowing them to serve whould hinder the military mission and military readiness.
There is really one very important reason why we have a military, and it is not to provide free college money, or to "grow up" immature kids, or to give you skills you can "use on the outside," or to accommodate social experiments. It is to kill people and break things.
Our military doesn't exist to make people feel good - certainly not people who make a choice to engage in immoral and unhealthy sexual practices. If people want to do that, they can stay at home in the civilian world.
America needs her military to be as sharp and ready to strike
as possible. We cannot afford to be distracted by such social
engineering and accommodation of counterproductive behaviors.
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The Obama administration is undertaking a massive effort to promote the use of alternative fuels in motor vehicles as a means of gaining energy independence, farm prosperity, job creation and economic improvements, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Oct. 21.
"Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative and that's why USDA is working to assist in developing a biofuels industry in every corner of the nation," Vilsack said in a meeting with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington. "By producing more biofuels in America, we will create jobs, combat global warming, replace our dependence on foreign oil and build a stronger foundation for the economy."
While the claim that "global warming" is caused by industrialization has been largely debunked, Vilsack said a final rule to implement the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) will be published. Under the BCAP final rule, USDA will resume making payments to eligible producers. The program had operated as a pilot, pending publication of the final rule.
BCAP was authorized by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. It is intended to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new, non-food, non-feed biomass crops is established to meet future demand for renewable energy.
"The Obama administration is aggressively supporting our nation's farmers, ranchers and producers of biofuels as they work to bring greater energy independence to America," Vilsack said. "BCAP will help the nation's power, bio-based product, and advanced biofuel industries produce energy from sustainable rural resources and create jobs that will stimulate rural economies across the nation."
Vilsack said the BCAP final regulation reflects policies developed as a result of more than 24,000 comments received on previous Federal Register notices and knowledge gained by implementing a portion of the program in 2009.
Vilsack also announced a five-year agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop fuel from forest and crop residues and other "green" feedstocks in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil and stabilize aviation fuel costs. Under the partnership, the agencies will bring together their experience in research, policy analysis and air transportation sector dynamics to assess the availability of different kinds of feedstocks that could be processed by bio-refineries to produce jet fuels.
Vilsack said that a department report found that the biofuels industry becomes more productive as cost-reducing technology is applied, which results in higher wages for workers. Gains in gross domestic product and real income are driven largely by technological progress in biofuels, which increases economic productivity. The next generation of biofuels is expected to be a decreasing-cost industry, meaning the cost of producing ethanol will drop.
AFP editor James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent many years as a member of the "elite" media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary: One Man's 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker's experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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For five weeks following the 9-11 attacks, high-ranking FEMA official Kurt Sonnenfeld was given unlimited access to the various crime scenes as an official videographer.
However, when Sonnenfeld discovered that his official documentation contradicted the U.S. government's account of the events, he refused to be a part of a cover-up and did not turn over the tapes to officialdom.
This was when his troubles began, and seven years ago he fled to Argentina in fear for his life but remains in possession of the video evidence. For the U.S. government, Sonnenfeld, 41, is a troublesome witness on the loose, whose documented evidence can expose its fraudulent account of 9-11. This places him in a unique, but extremely vulnerable position. He was jailed for seven months in 2002 on trumped-up charges before being exonerated by a Denver court.
Add two favorable rulings by an Argentine federal court and two more by the Argentine Supreme Court and Sonnenfeld has a total of five impartial courts that have now looked at the evidence and ruled in his favor.
However, the federal government is determined to do whatever it takes to retrieve Sonnenfeld's material and silence him. This has converted him into the refugee that he never meant to be.
Although many of his large-format tapes were stolen during his imprisonment, he still had some videos that were in a box of junk cassettes marked "recycle." His description of the actual happenings of 9-11 from his book, The Persecuted, reads like a report from the pages of AMERICAN FREE PRESS.
He points out that, although independent commissions for tragedies of this magnitude are customary, there has never been one. From the beginning, the investigation of the World Trade Center attacks was tightly controlled by the White House. Now almost all of the evidence has been destroyed.
Sonnenfeld writes, "There are many who say that the wildest conspiracy theory of all is the one offered by the United States government." Based on his observations, did you know that:
* On the weekend prior to the World Trade Center attacks, all electricity was cut off for approximately 36 hours, including the security cameras and control systems in a highly irregular maintenance operation;
* In the weeks leading up to the attacks there were several unusual evacuations of both towers;
* The company in charge of security at the World Trade Center, Securacom, was directed by Marvin Bush, George W. Bush's younger brother, and Wirt Walker III, George W. Bush's cousin;
* Hundreds of government personnel were pre-positioned in New York City on Sept. 10; and
* FEMA officials had already set up their command post at Pier 92 near the World Trade Center one day before the attacks.
Sonnenfeld's report on WTC building 6 is as explosive as what AFP has repeatedly reported about the implosion of WTC building 7 after 5 p.m. When the North Tower fell, WTC 6 was crushed and incinerated.
Descending with a special task force to investigate, Sonnenfeld found the badly damaged steel door to the vault with a combination code keypad in the cinderblock wall beside it. But the wall was crumbled, and the door was sprung partially open. Checking inside with flashlights, they saw it had been emptied and knew that because of the necessity of a large truck to accomplish this and the utter impossibility of one now getting through the traffic and police blockade, the removal had to have occurred beforehand.
Sonnenfeld says, "The Secret Service, the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Emergency Management's ‘Crisis Center' occupied huge amounts of space in WTC 7.Other federal agencies had offices there as well. After Sept. 11, it was discovered that concealed within WTC 7 was the largest clandestine domestic station of the Central Intelligence Agency outside of Washington, D.C., a base of operations from which to spy on diplomats of the United Nations and to conduct counterterrorism and counterintelligence missions."
But the 9-11 Commission Report not only avoided much of these facts, it did not even mention WTC 7 or the bizarre circumstances surrounding the collapse.
"Nor did NIST, the government agency assigned to investigate the collapse of the Twin Towers," writes Sonnenfeld. "Like the 9-11 Commission, they completely ignored the suspicious collapse of building seven, procrastinating the publication of their report time and again."
Given Sonnenfeld's claims, there is no surprise the U.S. government is still hunting him.
The Argentine government has twice denied U.S. extradition requests, claiming specious pretenses, and is now ignoring a third attempt—this one by Interpol.
Sonnenfeld says that for added protection, he has released photos, documents and videos to important investigators around the world—in the United States, Argentina, Western Europe, Central Europe—whose names, of course, he cannot reveal.
With no intention of ever voluntarily returning to his homeland, he is keenly aware that U.S. authorities have kidnapped targets in the past.
"Based on all of the malicious actions undertaken thus far by U.S. authorities, it's obvious that they have no intention of conducting a fair trial," said Sonnenfeld. "They would probably claim that I ‘confessed on the flight back'—if in fact I actually made it back—or, worse still, that I ‘tried to escape'—and we know what that would mean. What is sure is that you would not hear from me again."
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There's an old saying: Don't spit on my leg and tell me it's raining. Likewise, don't show me a photo taken only minutes after the 9-11 Pentagon "event" and insist that a Boeing 757—which is 155 feet long with a 124 foot wingspan and weighs 100 tons—crashed into America's military nerve-center.
During an Oct. 19 interview, this writer questioned former CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre about the 200,000 pounds of missing wreckage. McIntyre was one of the first establishment reporters on the scene soon after the Pentagon event and has been cited repeatedly by researchers exploring alternative views about what happened on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
McIntyre tried to explain, "What was left of the plane broke into thousands of tiny pieces. Most of it was destroyed."
However, McIntyre's own words delivered during a live CNN broadcast on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 betray this sentiment. "From my close-up inspection, there's no evidence of a plane having crashed anywhere near the Pentagon."
That tragic morning, he continued, "There are no large
tail sections, wing sections, fuselage, nothing like that anywhere
around which
would indicate
that the entire plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon."
Later, as possible "damage control," McIntyre objected that his comments were taken out of context. But were they? Pentagon officials initially excused the lack of physical wreckage by saying the plane, including its black boxes and flight data recorders, "vaporized."
Yet, deceased employees and passengers were identified by DNA, fingerprints and drivers licenses. How could aluminum and high-grade steel completely disintegrate, while flesh and plastic documents remained intact?
McIntyre responded, "It's inexplicable how some stuff survives. It's a fluky situation what makes it through and what doesn't. It's not inconsistent for some fragile things to survive while other strong things don't."
In other words, we're supposed to believe this preposterous
spin instead of our own eyes. Also, why is only one 18-foot hole
visible on the Pentagon's exterior ring? Government spokesmen
said it was created by Flight 77's fuselage, yet a Boeing's nose
is described by aviation experts as a weak eggshell, a sausage
skin, or an empty beer can. Airplane mechanics cast serious doubt
on whether a fuselage could penetrate three immensely strong
reinforced concrete walls.
McIntyre admitted to AFP that never once did he interview any structural engineers to determine why the plane's five-ton engines didn't create any holes. In fact, McIntyre never interviewed a single pilot to determine if Hani Hanjour—who could barely drive an automobile and was refused permission to rent a Cessna prop plane months before 9-11—could have commandeered the large, sophisticated, unwieldy aircraft said to have hit the Pentagon. He called the matter "immaterial."
Moreover, McIntyre failed to interview any air traffic controllers to ascertain whether a Boeing 757 could execute a 7,000-foot drop in 2.5 minutes while pulling a sharp 270-degree turn. Nor did he interview a single airline technician to verify if this aircraft could perform such top-gun maneuvers. Neither did he contact a single physician in regard to whether Hanjour would have lost consciousness in flight, due to the G-forces.
McIntyre also neglected to interview any photographic experts or search-and-rescue workers in regard to why no wreckage appeared in the initial photos. Additionally, prof. A.K. Dewdney of Western Ontario University conducted numerous experiments which determined that cell phone calls could not have been made by passengers that morning. Such technology only became available in 2004. Pilot Russ Wittenberg confirmed to AFP that these devices couldn't lock onto cell phone towers from the heights or speeds claimed by the government.
Inexplicably, McIntyre didn't contact a single electronics expert to verify the authenticity of these calls. When asked if he viewed any of the 84 confiscated videotapes that the Pentagon has refused to release under FOIA requests to this day, McIntyre responded in the negative. AFP followed-up, "Has there ever been any conclusive video footage where Flight 77 is unmistakably seen striking the Pentagon?"
McIntyre replied, "As far as we know, there is no video footage comparable to WTC 2 being struck in New York."
Despite the Pentagon's enormous surveillance systems, the government can't produce even one identifiable photograph of Flight 77 crashing into this highly secure facility. Moreover, McIntyre didn't witness the crash, and only arrived on the scene 45 minutes later. Worse, he confessed to not doing any research into alternate explanations, while adding, "I'm not aware of anyone at CNN exploring these subjects in any detail."
By his own admission, McIntyre couldn't provide evidence of interviewing a single individual whose perspective differed from the government's official version of 9-11.
He justified this lack of intellectual and journalistic curiosity with the following mantras: (a) All evidence points in only one direction, (b) There are no plausible alternatives, (c) These aren't relevant lines of questioning, and (d) All this might make sense if we didn't know whether American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. But we do know that for a fact, so all this other debate and analysis is irrelevant.
Unfortunately, McIntyre still does not realize that this type of lazy elitist arrogance is why a growing number of Americans don't trust the corporate media.
He did acknowledge, "It's good to keep an open and skeptical mind because the government doesn't always tell the truth."
But by neglecting to investigate a single aspect of this story that contradicts the government's version, CNN, McIntyre, and his mainstream media colleagues, epitomize lapdog journalism at its shoddiest.
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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Major corporations such as FedEx, Lowes, McDonalds, Wells Fargo, Verizon, the Wachovia Foundation and dozens of others have lined up to financially support a private organization dedicated to ensuring that Hispanics get to college ahead of white American kids.
The "Hispanic Scholarship Fund" (HSF) says that it "aims to put a degree in every Latino household by 2025" through its affirmative action program in college recruitment.
Funding for the HSF comes from a large number of corporations. According to the organization's website, these include in addition to the above mentioned: the Mazda Foundation, KLASS Time, GMAC Financial Services, the McNamara Family Foundation, Inc., Goldman Sachs, Procter& Gamble, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Target, the Morgan Stanley Foundation, Nissan North America, the Sallie Mae Fund, the Draper Family Foundation, the Shell Oil Company and the UPS Foundation, among many others.
The HSF says specifically that it is only for "Latinos" and those of Hispanic descent. On the HSF's website, under their "frequently asked questions" section, the policy is spelled out in no uncertain terms. "Do I have to be Hispanic/Latino to apply?" the website asks. The answer is equally frank: "Yes."
The HSF says that it aims to "raise the rate of degree achievement among Hispanics from 19 percent to 60 percent."
According to Andy Pino, spokesman for the organization, during the last 35 years the organization has awarded about $300 million in scholarships to more than 50,000 Hispanic students.
William D. Johnson, J.D., is an international corporate lawyer practicing in Los Angeles, Calif. He is also the chairman of the American Third Position. According to the group's mission statement, the American Third Position "exists to represent the political interests of white Americans."
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The city fathers of Cleveland, Ohio have announced the latest
Orwellian leap in America with their plans to introduce a high-tech
trash 
and recycling collection system
next year. The new carts will be embedded with radio frequency
identification chips and bar codes. The chips will tell city
workers how often residents have been rolling carts to the urb
for recycling collection. If a chip shows a recyclable cart hasn't
been brought to the curb in weeks, a tradh supervisor will sort
through the trash for recyclables.
Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens told Cleveland's Plain Dealer that trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable throwaways could lead to a $100 fine. These include glass, metal cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard.
Not only is it a thinly veiled new thrust at gaining revenue through civil fines akin to seat belts and stoplight cameras, but it also is a fund raising scheme to enhance the city's treasury by selling "product" for which it paid nothing. Cleveland pays $30 a ton to dump garbage in landfills, but earns $26 a ton for recyclables.
Landlords are responsible for making sure their tenants follow the new statue, but property owners are already plotting how to avoid the detection. One told AFP that he wasn't sure how sophisticated the chips might be, but he surmised that all he need to to beat the system would be to roll his cart to the street and back one a week and let it log the distance whether it was loaded or not.
The Cleveland City Council in August approved spending $2.5 million on high-tech carts for 25,000 households across the city, expanding a lesser pilot program that began in 2007. The program will continue expanding at 25,000 households a year for the next five years before encompassing the city's 150,000 residences. Existing carts might be retrofitted with the microchips.
Alexandria, Va. Had approved the chip-embedded carts, and the system isjust starting to catch on elsewhere.
The Plain Dealer reported that a city-wide public service campaign to educate residents about the new collection system and recycling program will begin soon.
"We're trying to make sure Cleveland stays clean and residents are properly informed on how these things should be set out," Owens said. Not to mention that the $400,000 garnered from the new "goal" will be about eight times the revenue derived only two years ago.
Councilman Martin Keane cautioned against overzealous enforcement of the new stature saying that he would prefer that the Division of Waste Collection use more discretion when deciding whether to issue a ticket or maybe only a warning to first-time offenders.
From the amount of water in our toilets to dangerous mercury-laden
light bulbs and now to trash control, we are reminded of the
popular country singer, Merle Haggard, who was a bad boy in his
youth, who recently said, "In 1960, when I came out of prision
as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision
than there's available to an average citizen in America right
now.
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With heavy pressure coming on Congress to institute fiscal responsibility and lower the deficit, one of the major issues that is taking heat is foreign aid, which accounts for over $50 billion of the federal budget every year. This has put Republicans in a quandary. They want to cut spending, except to Israel.
What's their solution?
Rep. Erc Cantor (R-Va.), who is
hoping to become majority leader if the Republicans take control
of congress, wants to remove the taxpayer dollars handed to Israel
from the foreign aid budget in order to insulate the Israelis
from any cuts in funding.
In an interview with JTA, an Israeli news agency, Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House, said: "Part of the Dilemma is that Israel has been put in the overall foreign aid looping. I'm hoping we can see some kind of separation in terms of tax dollars going to Israel."
In 2010, Israel received $2.8 billion from U.S. taxpayers, the most received by any country. Since the majority of those funds go to buy more weapons and, no doubt, to propagandize Americans, Cantor would like to see the Israeli foreign aid handouts merged directly with U.S. military appropriations. According to published reports, one-quarter of the Israeli military budget is paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
Sadly, Democrats appear to be more concerned with the fact
that Republicans want to cut foreign aid than with the fact that
a wealth country like Israel continues to receive billions in
handouts as Americans struggle to find jobs stay in their homes
and eat.
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Amid growing distrust of electronic voting machines, Texas activists who strongly advocate a return to hand-counted paper ballots for all elections have informed AMERICAN FREE PRESS in this exclusive report that they held their first-ever "People's Hand Count" at Austin City Hall Plaza on Election Day, Nov. 2.
The unique event was described as "a parallel election, using hand-counted paper ballots," in a news release from the Hand Count Coalition of Austin, whose main spokespersons are activists Vickie Karp and Karen Renick. The demonstration was sponsored by their Vote Rescue group and 13 others across the political spectrum. All are coalition members.
They are centered in Travis County, Texas, one of the most populous counties in the largest of the "Lower 48." Austin is a vibrant venue to get this election-reform message out to a large population of politically aware students and concerned youth.
"The unofficial paper ballots, marked by citizens and kept in full public view in a transparent ballot box in the plaza, were counted by teams of trained volunteers," the Hand Count Coalition's press release said. The plan was to use this demonstration to "bring full transparency" to the voting process.
The hope is that what happens in Travis County will go viral across the country. Karp and Renick have fought hard showing the perils of electronic voting machines—mainly that their internal software is vulnerable to, and perhaps even designed for, manipulation, so a vote can be internally recorded differently than the way the voter cast it.
Respected computer analyst Dr. Dan Wallach of Rice University, who has testified to Texas officials and helped California perform a complete review of voting machines in 2007, says that with the Hart "eSlate" voting machines, for example, "a single corrupted . . . machine, when it's brought back to the warehouse and connected to the ‘Tally' system [used for inventory control, etc.] it's possible to attack and corrupt the Tally system, which can then attack every subsequent eSlate. This is what we call a viral attack, and I cannot overstate the impact. . . . One attacker, corrupting one eSlate, in the current election can arrange for every eSlate to have corrupt software in subsequent elections."
At the Austin event, two coalition teams counted paper ballots by hand the way the Texas secretary of state recommends. The coalition's way was tried by three other teams, which worked much better: One person reads each ballot aloud accompanied by an observer, to make sure what is read matches what's on the ballot. A third person writes down what is read and tallies the votes for each candidate and proposal. Another observer makes sure the writing matches what is read out loud.
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When AMERICAN FREE PRESS recently presented a special four-page report assembling evidence that high-level forces have been setting the stage to spring some sort of "centrist," "bipartisan" or "coalition"-type third party movement on the American people, AFP's critics said this was "another crazy conspiracy theory."
However, one of The New York Times' most influential in-house columnists—Thomas L. Friedman—revealed Oct. 3 that there is an ongoing effort to set up a new "centrist" third party in time for the 2012 election.
The new party will shun both the "liberal left" and the "conservative right" and stand for "centrist, bipartisan" policies. Or, should that be tri-partisan? Friedman's column is part of an increasingly open campaign by monopolistic media controllers to conjure up a "centrist" rebellion in America, even to the point of launching a third party to vanquish both liberal Barack Obama—presuming he is re-nominated by the Democratic Party—and a "conservative" Republican challenger.
AFP warned this "centrist" movement would be a classic "controlled opposition," dominated by the very big money forces—here and abroad —in the Rothschild banking dynasty's sphere of influence that have controlled both major parties through their stranglehold over major media outlets shaping public opinion.
Friedman's column was titled bluntly: "Third party rising." He wrote: "There is a revolution brewing in the country, and it is not just on the right wing but in the radical center."
Friedman described "two serious groups, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast," working to build third party movements that the columnist said would "challenge our stagnating two-party duopoly that has been presiding over our nation's steady decline."
Friedman added that Obama had not been a failure but that Obama "probably did the best he could do, and that's the point." In Friedman's overrated estimation, "The best our current two parties can produce today— in the wake of the worst existential crisis in our economy and environment in a century—is sub-optimal, even when one party had a huge majority."
He added: "Sub-optimal is OK for ordinary times, but these are not ordinary times" (his emphasis). Instead, he wrote: "We need to stop waiting for Superman and start building a super-consensus to do the super-hard stuff we must do now."
To elaborate, the columnist quoted Larry Diamond, a Stanford University political scientist, who said: "We basically have two bankrupt parties bankrupting the country." Friedman concluded, basing his opinion on Diamond's views: "We have to rip open this two-party duopoly and have it challenged by a serious third party. . . .We need a third party on the stage of the next presidential debate to look Americans in the eye and say: ‘These two parties are lying to you. . . .' "
Now, adding further to AFP's informed speculation about high-level maneuvering by the media-political elite toward a "centrist" third party, the day after the 2010 elections, The New York Times featured a commentary by retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.) calling for his own party to "grab the center," no matter that "extremes of both parties will be disappointed."
Bayh proclaimed, "The vast center yearning for progress will applaud." The significance? In AFP's original report, AFP pinpointed a variety of evidence that Bayh—a known participant in the Bilderberg group—was being touted as a likely key player in the new centrist party venture.
To underscore the point that there is a growing "moderate consensus" that could emerge in the 2012 elections, The New York Times featured an amazing story on its front page on Oct. 8 entitled "Some in GOP find soft spot for Bill Clinton."
Times correspondent Jennifer Steinhauer reported—with full, ironic seriousness:
Many Republicans with a deep animus for President Obama find their hearts aflutter with the memory of a former leader. He was a compassionate conservative, a guy who cared about free trade, a man who reached across the aisle. He is the husband of the secretary of state."
The Times article added that such august "conservative" Republican leaders as Mormon icon Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) were among those praising Clinton. Although former Sen.Trent Lott (R-Miss.) was expelled as Senate majority leader for having made friendly remarks about ex-segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), Lott was quoted as saying: "You know with Clinton the chemistry was right. He was a good old boy from Arkansas. I was a good old boy from Mississippi."
Even so-called conservative firebrand Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), considered an up-and-coming figure in GOP ranks, was quoted as saying of Clinton: "The first two years of his term were one thing, but the rest of his presidency was tempered with moderation, and the nation benefitted."
Ryan's remarks, it would seem, should shock the average grass-roots Republican who probably would remember that "the rest" of the Clinton presidency included a vast array of scandals—not the least of which was the Lewinsky affair that resulted in an enthusiastic effort by Republicans to impeach the president.
Now, however, that the national-level elite opinion makers are working to sway public sentiment in favor of a "bipartisan consensus" (as part of an effort to stir up a "centrist" third party movement in the upcoming presidential election), key GOP leaders are being turned into Clinton cheerleaders.
It's as if they are encouraging Bill and Hillary Clinton to break with the Democratic Party, go "centrist" and pull the rug out from under Obama. To add further fuel to that possibility, note that The Washington Post recently headlined an Associated Press (AP) story, which was also circulated in other newspapers across America: "Democrats divided on Obama in 2012. Poll finds about half saying he should face nomination challenge."
The story told of an AP poll claiming that 47 percent of Democrats actually believe the once popular incumbent president should be challenged. And evidently, Mrs. Clinton is the favorite among most of those Democrats fed up with Obama.
So while many "right wing" folks view the Clintons as anything but "centrist" and "very liberal" indeed, don't forget that, for years, prior to his winning the presidency, the Clintons were major figures in the Democratic Leadership Council—a preeminent "centrist" force within Democratic ranks.
The terms "liberal," "conservative" and "centrist" can mean just about anything when the elite media are defining them for the American public, especially in the course of attempting to manipulate a political action.
On Oct. 25, writing in the Post, much-touted "economist" Robert Samuelson joined the clamor for a "centrist" uprising. In a commentary entitled "Politics has lost its center of balance," Samuelson wrote of the "mass discontent" in America, arising from the left-right divide. Liberals and conservatives are "too radical or unrealistic" and Samuelson emphasized the point that what he called "the center" is frustrated by such sharp-edged conflicts which, according to Samuelson, are dominated by ideologues who make "no room for compromise."
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are too much in tune with "the base" (that is, the "liberals" hold sway in the Democratic Party and "conservatives" in the Republican Party) and not open to bipartisan centrist concerns—or so he says.
In Samuelson's assessment, the 2010 congressional elections will not resolve what he calls the "stalemate" in American political affairs.
Although grassroots Americans fed up with politics as usual
would love to see a genuine third party or independent uprising
in America, it is vital that they are not fooled by this false
entity being conjured up in the laboratories
of the "Dr. Frankensteins" of the mass media and its
big-money controllers.
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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Not since the 1930s have voters so resoundingly rejected a president's policies and agenda. More importantly, the midterm elections sent an even clearer message: Americans will no longer tolerate being subjugated by an elitist attitude in Washington, D.C., that demeans what they hold dearest, especially when it originates from their armed forces' commander-in-chief.
In late October, President Barack Obama spoke of "punishing our enemies" if they disagreed with his stance on illegal immigration. He also compelled Attorney General Eric Holder to sue the state of Arizona for trying to seal their international border and enforce the laws, which already existed in their constitution. During campaign stops, Obama said that his opponents would be forced "to sit in the back of the bus."
Such racially charged rhetoric is reminiscent of how his Department of Justice overturned a ruling against Black Panthers who had intimidated white voters at polling stations in 2008.
Further, after attending Rev. Jeremiah Wright's black nationalist church for two decades and hearing him scream "God damn America!" along with race-baiting invectives, Obama lashed out at Caucasian police officers in Cambridge, Mass. by calling them "stupid." This condescending attitude reflects his wife Michelle's claim that she had never been proud of her country before Obama's election.
Obama's views followed a similar line when he sneered at traditional citizens who "cling to their religion and guns."
All of these positions led to the president's goal of "fundamentally transforming America," especially its culture and history. With an inherent belief that the state offers more solutions than do individuals, Obamacare flagrantly promises a "redistribution of wealth" to those whom he feels most entitled to receive it.
In response, the backlash and subsequent Democratic bloodbath reached directly into Obama's backyard. Alexi Giannoulias, a handpicked candidate of Chicago's political mob, lost the president's former Senate seat in an embarrassing defeat.
In Ohio, Obama made 12 separate campaign stops, while Vice President Joe Biden visited seven times. Still, Democrats lost in a clean sweep, from the gubernatorial race to both houses of Congress. The same occurred in Pennsylvania, where Pat Toomey defeated Sen. Joe Sestak, who found himself in a pay-for-play scandal involving Arlen Specter and Bill Clinton.
Finally, similar to earlier 2009 humiliations in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts where every candidate that he supported lost, Obama only endorsed one individual running in a House race. But the Obama "kiss of death" continued, as Rep. Tom Perriello was sent packing by voters.
When Americans cast their ballots on Nov. 2, they clearly denounced a hollow platform of "hope and change" that didn't reflect the values and principles they'd been raised with for generations.
SOME PEOPLE STILL DON'T GET IT
Those affiliated with a host of different tea party organizations made their voices clear on Election Day: they wanted limited government, lower taxes and less heavy-handedness by representatives in D.C.
In California, 92 percent of the populace said they disapproved of their political leaders and the direction they were being led. However, despite teetering on the edge of bankruptcy due to rampant overspending and decades of liberal policies, voters still inexplicably elected career politicians Barbara Boxer to Congress, and Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown as governor. They now realistically face becoming the first "federalized" state after the nation's taxpayers are forced to bail them out because they're "too big to fail."
In Nevada, a state racked by 14.5 percent unemployment and an unparalleled foreclosure crisis, union reps spearheaded the return of Harry Reid as a U.S. senator. This is the same political hack that engineered countless backroom deals to ensure the passage of Obamacare.
Connecticut voters didn't seem to mind that another career politician, Richard Blumenthal, lied repeatedly about serving in Vietnam, even though he never saw a single day of combat. When asked about how jobs were created during a debate with professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon, Blumenthal couldn't arrive at an answer. His lack of real-world experience was glaringly apparent as he feebly mumbled about government being the answer.
Next door in Massachusetts, the epitome of a bloated bureaucrat, Rep. Barney Frank, cruised to another victory in the House. Frank's former boyfriend, a male hooker, was once exposed for running a prostitution ring out of his basement. Frank also propped-up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; actions which led to the U.S. housing collapse and an economy that has yet to recover.
Almost laughably, 28 percent of voters in South Carolina gave the nod to Alvin Greene, a Democratic senatorial candidate who had been indicted recently for showing obscene photographs to a young college student last year.
This syndrome of being shamelessly out of touch with everyday citizens reaches all the way into our nation's capital, where on Nov. 4 President Obama began a ten-day jaunt to India that will cost taxpayers $200 million per day. With a 3,000-person entourage that requires 40 jetliners, Obama's party booked all 570 rooms in the luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel. Experts predict that despite the exorbitant expense, no "big results" will result from the trip.
MIXED BAG FOR WOMEN CANDIDATES
Sarah Palin called them "mama grizzlies," and tea party loyalists anticipated a sweep of GOP females through the corridors of Congress. To their dismay, though, the majority of these high-profile names fell short in their bids.
The most crushing defeat centered around Nevada's Sharron Angle. As the candidate most closely associated with the Republican-backed tea party movement, Ms. Angle couldn't muster enough support to unseat the decidedly weak Reid for his Senate seat. Millions of dollars from dual CEOs Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman weren't sufficient in their bids to topple California's powerful political machine. Like-wise, professional wrestling businesswoman Mrs. McMahon ran an impressive campaign that fell slightly short in ultra-liberal Connecticut.
Not surprisingly, Delaware's Christine O'Donnell suffered from inexperience and a plethora of high-profile gaffes and couldn't successfully grab Joe Biden's former Senate seat.
On the other hand, Palin prot?g?e Nikki Haley fended off vicious accusations of adultery to become South Carolina's first lady governor. Other impressive gubernatorial victories included Susanna Martinez in New Mexico, Arizona's anti-illegal immigration champion Jan Brewer (incumbent), and Oklahoma's Mary Fallin. Another star-studded candidate and founder of the congressional Tea Party Caucus, Rep. Michele Bachmann, rolled to an easy win in Minnesota.
As for their male counterparts, Rand Paul deflected his opponent's mud slinging in Kentucky to become his state's junior senator. Paul vowed that his colleagues wouldn't be changed by Washington, but instead the opposite would occur. Tea party members feel confident that a position of non-compromise on their principles will be upheld by Paul, son of Texas GOP Rep. Ron Paul.
Another tea party favorite is Marco Rubio, who battled not only a Democratic foe, but also former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist. Rubio, a Cuban- American, has been slated as a future potential presidential candidate. Some even whisper that this young neo-conservative could join Mrs. Palin as a possible running mate in 2012.
Republicans are well positioned for the upcoming presidential race for one specific reason: 10 states in the union flipped from Democratic to GOP governors. Not only does this phenomenon roll out a red carpet in early primary states like South Carolina, but also these same governors are now in charge of redistricting their states following the 2010 census.
In other words, strong liberal precincts can be gerrymandered or split up to allow more conservative candidates a more favorable outcome.
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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The more that American railroads are used for transporting people and cargo, the more lives, oil and time will be saved. Passenger train travel was popular prior to World War II when cozy "sleeper cabins," rolling restaurants and fancy "club cars" made travel a pleasant experience.
With construction of the Interstate Highway System under President Dwight Eisenhower, passenger train travel dropped off. But with millions more automobiles on today's highways, the Interstate system—which needs constant, costly maintenance and repairs—has become cluttered, reigniting the use of passenger train travel. Rail travel is popular not only for its ease and reasonable speed but also for its views.
On pre-Interstate highways, Americans enjoyed the scenery while traveling: Reading the advertising signs, watching cows graze and admiring big red barns. On passenger trains, they again can enjoy such scenery.
Our highways would be noticeably relieved of excessive traffic if rail transportation of goods, as well as passengers, could be more widely used. An automobile would have to get more than 300 miles per gallon to use energy as efficiently as rail. One train can take as many as 250 to 300 delivery trucks off the road.
What is more efficient than a steel wheel on a steel rail?
Last year, federal authorities said that just under 34,000 Americans died on the highways (somewhat down from previous years). Several hundred thousand are injured on the roads each year. Increased passenger-train usage will save lives and reduce injuries, especially if more railroad overpasses are built so the trains can be routed over roads and highways and not intersect directly with automobile traffic.
Reducing highway traffic, over time, could significantly help the United States reduce its dependency on foreign oil, too. Overcoming the overly zealous restrictions on offshore drilling and allowing more onshore drilling in vast, oil-rich parts of Alaska and at greater North Dakota's Bakken Formation, to name just a couple examples, would complete the job. Nor would it hurt to use more bio-fuels from various sources.
Radical environmentalists advocate clean air, but they seem blissfully unaware that today's trains do not emit pollution like they did when Jesse James robbed them. Every mile that today's low-pollution, diesel-electric trains travel reduces air pollution by cars and trucks. Some train systems, like the inter-urban South Shore Line that connects northern Indiana with Chicago, are purely electric.
Train enthusiast Patrick Lawless noted that today's commonly used diesel-electric engines caught on in the late 1930s: "At this time many cities had started fining the railroads for excessive smoke production.
All the smoke from steam engines really made life difficult for inner-city dwellers and workers. After they had run . . . diesel switchers for a while, they started to notice the economics of these engines. . . ."
In the 1950s, I traveled by train from Washington, D.C. every March for the important mission of reporting on the Washington Senators baseball club during spring training. Credit cards were not so common, so newspapers gave you advance expense money in cash. Reporters would reserve a seat only, not a cabin with a bunk, so they would have more bucks to spend frivolously.
After boarding, reporters would go to the club car to imbibe and swap lies. Without fail, a reporter would be offered a free bed by a man traveling alone who had a double-decker cabin. Ah, how I yearn for the good ol' days.
AFP editor James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent many years as a member of the "elite" media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary: One Man's 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker's experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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The U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
ex-Secretary Alphonso Jackson had a dream: 5.5 million new minority
homeowners by the end of 2010. Needless to say President Barack
Obama is sharing this dream and provided $38.5 billion to help
out this year. The dream is turning into a taxpayer's nightmare
as state after state with high illegal alien and minority populations
is pushed toward bankruptcy.
At the same time, Access Across America (AAA) and ADAPT are lobbying for housing help for more than 2 million ordinary Americans with disabilities and over 250.000 living in nursing homes who wish to return to a normal lifestyle but cannot get any help from HUD because the organization spends money exclusively on the needs of minorities and illegal aliens.
But just what is HUD doing with the enormous budget it received? This year they are spending $223 million to "fight blight" in 12 Michigan cities alone. The dysfunctional city of Detroit received $41 million for this honorable struggle that people usually take care of around their homes under normal circumstances.
The fight-blight decision was followed by three-way fist-pumping among Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and President Obama. Basically the organization is swallowing this giant taxpayers' contribution, keeps struggling from scandal to scandal and is corrupt to the bone. In early 2008 former HUD Secretary Jackson and his wife Marcia awarded giant lucrative contracts to associates and friends to destroy 4,500 low-income public housing units and replace them with 900 new units. The seven New Orleans City Council members who voted for this destructive act had the police lock out, beat, arrest, pepper spray and taser those who came to disagree.
Jackson and his spouse were personal friends of the George W. Bush family while bush was the Texas governor, and in 2004 Bush appointed Jackson as HUD secretary. A book should be written about the endless corruption saturating this organization. On the cover an image of an aircraft carrier should be placed that was transformed into a museum for $4.5 million from HUD, another insider deal.
As time passes, people associated with HUD are becoming more and more arrogant. In majority non-white Tucson, Ariz., a building contractor named Frank Konarski was blackballed from HUD contracts by a clique of Mexicans and their associates inside the city government. They even changed the building code after a permit was provided for one of Konarski's buildings and did not allow him to finish it.
After Konarski exhausted his opportunities at the local courts he filed his case in federal court in Washington D.C. against Sandra Henriquez, assistant to the HUD secretary, and had to face another Mexican, Judge Ricardo Urbina. At an Oct. 15 hearing, Urbina signaled his police deputy to rough up Konarski and to smash his face against the wall because he whispered to his son that the government's attorney was lying.
It is difficult to believe it was a chance occurrence that
Urbina judged the case.
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After the midterm elections on Nov. 2, Congress will reconvene for a "lame-duck session" to debate and vote on several bills that include budget proposals, radical environmental legislation and other critical measures.
For instance, one of the key budget measures that Republicans and Democrats have been wrangling over for several months now is the massive $60 billion Department of Education fiscal year 2011 appropriations bill.
Fiscal conservatives have long wanted to kill the unnecessary, unconstitutional Education Department. However, despite Republican majorities in Congress and several republican presidents, the monster not only lives on - its budget has grown incredibly from $15 billion in 1980 to $60 billion today. That's a 300 percent increase in just three decades for those Americans who can still compute.
Several hundred billion dollars has been flushed down the drain, and federal program after federal program have come and gone - Republicans' No Child Left Behind, Democrats Race to the Top, for example - but children seen cumber than ever. It has become so bad that bureaucrats have had to actually lower the standards of education just to make it look like today's kids are getting ahead.
Schools that meet these federal "standards" get the bonus of receiving even moe money from taxpayers. The House wants to hand out $800 million of taxpayers' money to those schools that can meet federal standards. The Senate wants to give out "only" $675 million. The two chambers are now trying to reach a compromise on this. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars are slated for grants and other giveaways.
Critics of the Education Department say this is proof that, no matter how much money Washington throws at the problem, there is little bureaucrats can do to fix it. The decline in American educational standards comes at a time when more and more fathers and mothers have to work long hours to pay the bills. Meanwhile their children in their most formative years are "raised" along with dozens of other kids by underpaid and overworked staff in daycare centers. Kids are often dropped off at 6 a.m. and then do not see their parents again until 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. Exhausted, the children go home to eat a quickly prepared, nutritionally empty dinner, before trying to do their homework.
Is it any surprise that American kids do not even rank internationally in the top 20 for science or math scores? Despite the billions of dollars that are thrown at U.S. schools annually, children from Finland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Austria - even Estonia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary - consistently score higher than kids from the United States. Out of 30 industrialized countries, the United States ranked 21st in science and 24th in math. Keep in mind that, at $6,043 per child per year, the United States is the fourth-highest spender per student. Only Denmark, Switzerland and Austria outspend America, per child, on education.
Even more troubling is the fact that the Democrats have been angling to wrap up the Education Department's budget into a giant omnibus spending bill that would be thousands of pages long. That way, Democrats and other advocates of federal education programs could slip in secret funding provisions that would boost the agency. These would likely cost taxpayers billions of dollars more.
Other key legislation that the lame-duck Congress is expected to take up include:
* President Bush's Tax Cuts: Tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush's administration are set to expire on Dec. 31. Democrats would like to only extend the tax cuts for working-class families, meaning that revenuers would only hit those who earn more than $250,000 for more money. Republicans, on the other hand, want the tax cuts made permanent for everyone.
* Estate Tax: Congress allowed the estate tax to lapse this year, meaning individuals who die in 2010 will be saving their heirs thousands of dollars in taxes. If Congress fails to take action this session, the tax will return, and no more than $1 million of an estate will be exempt from taxes, far below the $3.5 million set in 2009. In addition, the top estate tax rate will jump from 45 percent to 55 percent. Congressional leaders are currently quibbling to bring that rate down to between 35 percent and 45 percent.
* Unemployment Benefits: On Nov. 30, a federal unemployment program will expire that allows jobless Americans to apply for extended federal benefits. If Congress fails to take action, 2 million Americans could be left without assistance.
* START II Treaty: Democrats and Republicans are still sparring over a treaty to cut nuclear weapons that was negotiated by the White House and the Kremlin this past April.
* "Dream" ACT: While campaigning in late October
for his Senate seat, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promised Latino
voters in Nevada that, no matter what happens in the election,
he will be returning to Washington during the lame duck Congress
to push for passage of his Development, Relief and Education
for Alien Minors, or DREAM Act. Reid's DREAM would be more like
a nightmare for America, as it is expected to cost taxpayers
billions and would provide amnesty for millions of unassimilable
illegal aliens currently hiding in the United States.
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The Republican Majority that took the House on Nov. 2 may not be good news for those Americans who would like to see the U.S. military get out of the Middle East, and for the federal government to take a more even-handed approach when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following the sweeping Republican gains, election analysts are also saying that it will be more difficult to keep Zionist zealots from directing an unconstitutional attack on Iran.
So far, Barack Obama has been able to avoid an attack on Iran. This would be devastating for the United States, starting a war which could not possibly be won by America.
The Republican majority in the House could provide enough of a tipping point to counter Obama's opposition, paving the way for an attack.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would assess
that a more republican, or less Democratic Congress, might mean
more unquestioning friends of Israel," former Israeli intelligence
officer Yossi Alpher told a wire service news agency. "Republican
achievement might therefore somehow improve Netanyahu's negotiating
flexibility."
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The $75 billion federal mortgage assistance program created to "help" troubled homeowners behind on their payments is turning out to be another back-door bank bailout. This federal Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, was created by the White House last year ostensibly in order to help homeowners at risk of losing their homes as a result of the economic downturn.
In the program, federal officials use tax incentives, payouts and other carrots to induce banks to renegotiate mortgage contracts, often lowering interest rates to as little as 2 percent and extending the life of the loan from 30 to 40 years.
The problem comes when homeowners drop out of the program. Even though the loan modification has fallen apart, the banks are not required to return taxpayers' funding. They can keep the money - and hit mortgage holders with extra fees and penalties - with no repercussions for themselves. And since three massive banks - Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells fargo - now account for more than 50 percent of the $10 trillion mortgage business, most of this money is going directly into their coffers.
In late October, this writer interviewed a HAMP participant. The homeowner, remaining anonymous because he is still negotiating with his bank, said he was recently dropped from the program after only three months, through no fault of his own.
"In July, someone from Freddie Mac called me to say I qualified for the government mortgage aid program," he said.
The surprised homeowner said he had never called Freddie Mac. He believes that he received the call because he had spoken with someone from his bank, telling him that he works for a commercial airliner and had recently taken a 60 percent pay cut. He informed the bank he was having trouble paying his bills and wanted to discuss renegotiation his home mortgage.
He worked out a deal with Freddie Mac to lower his mortgage payments and began making the new monthly payments for three months.
"I made my payments, but I never heard from anyone, so I figured everything was fine," he said.
Soon, he became nervous that there had been no communication about the program.
"I called Freddie Mac repeatedly and left messages," he said. "But no one called me back. Then, last Monday Oct. 22, someone from the bank called me and said I had been dropped for failure to respond."
He can still pay his mortgage, but has been struggling for the past year. Worse still, now his mortgage, which was originally held by Bank of America, is in limbo. He's not sure he'll be able to keep his home.
He said: "Someone at Freddie Mac told me they dropped the contract with the company that was managing the program for them. But I paid on time as part of our agreement. Why should that affect me?"
HAMP originally set up in February 2009, is funded from the $50 billion of bank bailout money the government tapped, and another $25 billion in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae funds.
In the program's first few months, nearly a million people signed up, but now nearly 750,000 have dropped out. Thousands have lost their homes due to fees and penalties that banks slapped on them when the modifications failed. The above person's HAMP trouble is not unique, according to the Center for Economy and Policy Research (DEPR).
CDPR cites new U.S. Treasury Department figures, which show that, already, a significant number of those who had modified mortgages defaulted anyway. Since most of these negotiations have occurred in the past few months, CEPR expects to see many more people re-defaulting on their mortgages in the coming year.
Even more troubling is the fact that the banks take no risk renegotiating mortgages. The program transfers the troubled mortgage to taxpayers, taking it off the banks' books.
"Typically, the government will have substituted a Federal Housing association insured mortgage for the original mortgage issued by a bank," writes CEPR. "This means that when a re-default takes place, the bank will have received most of the principle back on the loan, with the government incurring the loss on the re-default. Far more money is likely to be given to banks than to homeowners."
On Oct. 25, the Treasury Department released its own damning
HAMP study, revealing that the White House program is doing so
poorly that it may incite even more anger directed at the government.
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Organizers of Tea Party Patriots, a grassroots group associated with the true American teas party movement, gathered in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 3 to host a press conference and victory celebration. The focus was on the historic midterm elections, which brought a wave of new faces to Congress thanks largely to voter frustration with business-as-usual in the nation's capital.
Tea Party Patriots describes itself as a national grassroots organization that "provides logistical, educational, networking and other types of support to over 1,000 community-based tea party groups around the country." Unlike many other Astroturf tea party organizations, Tea Party Patriots does not make central decisions, which are then handed down to its followers, Instead the organization prides itself on acting solely as a coordinator for the tens of thousands of Americans who are frustrated by a federal government that has metastasized under both Democratic and Republican control.
Over the course of the meeting, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth-Martin, the cofounders of Tea Party Patriots, had tough words for members of both leading political parties, who are only interested in business-as-usual in Washington.
"We witnessed an historic event - a peaceful sea change in America government," said Meckler. "Our founding fathers were brilliant in that they set up a system that allowed us to conduct a revolution every two years."
Ms. Beth-Martin agreed, adding: "Yesterday's results are a victory for liberty and a clear referendum on our core values of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets."
According to Meckler, the group has a 40-year plan to return the nation's capital to its original constitutional roots. "The plan is a four-lane highway back to our founding principles," said Meckler.
While the vital issue of the Federal Reserve and its monetary stranglehold on the U.S. is not one of the "lanes," the organization's first lane involves reforming the nation's educational system from bottom to top.
"We know that's going to take 40 years to accomplish," said Meckler.
The second lane is what happened on Nov. 2 - political reform.
"There is still much more to do," added Meckler, "and we realize that is going to take dome years."
The third is judicial, which crosses over into the electoral arena, since judges are either elected or they're appointed by elected officials.
"We've become a nation of men and not laws," said Meckler. "We know we need to reform the judicial system over the next 40 years."
The final lane, according to Meckler, is the culture of decadence that has taken over the country.
"If you look back at history, all of the countries that have fallen have done so because they became decadent," said Meckler. "We understand that, and one of the missions of the Tea Party Patriots is to lift up conservative culture in this country."
Tea Party Patriots use the Internet and existing organizations to strengthen and grow the movement. It has become so popular, said organizers, that it is now spreading internationally to Britain, Netherlands and Japan.
See AFP's website at AmericanFreePress.net for more information
on Tea Party Patriots' educational and organizational efforts.
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"The reason America exists is to partner with Israel, to protect Israel" These chilling words, and the fear surrounding them, emanated from Rev. Darrel Whatley of the Kingdom Ministries Worship Center.
Whatley and others were featured in an Oct. 24 article by Bob Smietana for The Tennessean that highlighted how rampant "Islamophobia" - a concocted fear of Islam based on the government's official and phony conspiracy theory of what happened on 9-11 - has become a multi-million dollar industry.
Although that aspect of history isn't surprising, Smietana chronicles how a host of non-profit organizations are receiving charitable donations and then surreptitiously funneling them to for-profit companies.
The heavy-handed sales pitch involves a combination of war, terrorism, fundamentalism and the usual "end-times" apocalyptic horrors. Smietana summarizes their peculiar mentality.
"American Christians have a religious duty to protect the state of Israel," said Smietana. "When Israel expands, Muslims in Iran and Iraq will be forced out of their homes to make way. Then the second coming of Jesus can begin."
One of the most flagrant manipulators of faith-based fund-raising is Steven Emerson, whose non-profit Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation backdoored nearly $3.4 million to hos own for-profit company, SAE Productions.
He's not the only one generating significant amounts of money. Others such as David Horowitz receive annual six-figure salaries from their efforts within the "anti-Jihad" movement.
During an Oct. 27 interview, Ken Berger of the apolitical watchdog group Charity Navigator told this AFP writer, "Steven Emerson is blurring the lines by creating a non-profit front organization and then routing its proceeds to a for-profit company. It's off the grid. I've never seen such questionable tactics like this before. In terms of best practices, it's extremely odd. They're setting a disturbing precedent."
Berger questioned another aspect of Emerson's methodology."A 501©)(3) foundation isn't supposed to be engaged in political activities. But by cloaking the identity of their donors, and therefore all fiscal responsibility, there's very little transparency. Then they bump their resources over to for-profit companies. They claim the IRS has given them permission, but how is this appropriate? A sum of $3.4 million was transferred to Emerson's SAE Productions."
Berger also explained that these entities are "specially designated to provide a public good or service that can't be granted by the government or private firms. We're also under the assumption that they're not making profits. But according to Emerson's IRS filings, he took $3 million of donated money and shunted it to SAE Productions.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), is familiar with this type of financial misdirection. He told this reporter on Oct. 26, "We've seen for years that Islamophobia merchants are a well-financed, well-oiled propaganda machine. The best known are Pamela Gellar, Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney and Steven Emerson."
When asked specifically about the latter, Hooper replied, "Emerson has long been regarded as one of the primary Muslim-basher, even before 9-11. He's the one who tried to blame Muslims for the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah bombing in Oklahoma city."
As AFP has noted for well over a decade, it wasn't Muslims who infiltrated a militia group at Elohim City, Okla. Back in the mid-1990s - an outpost that had ties to the OKC bombing. Instead, it was Morris Dees's Southern Poverty Law Center. Meanwhile, Abraham Foxman's Anti-Defamation League targeted groups critical of Israel, including the Spotlight newspaper.
Hooper also commented on those who fuel the neocons and Zionist money coffers.
"Obviously many of those promoting anti-Islamic hatred also hold an extremist support of U.S.-Israeli policy," said Hooper. "There are a variety of motivations, but a certain segment of the evangelical crowd cannot be denied."
One of the most obsessed with this notion is Pastor John Hagee of Christians United for Israel, based in San Antonio, Texas. An example of his hysteria was demonstrated during a Sept. 4, 2006 sermon.
"The Muslims are trained from the breast of their mother to hate us," said Hagee. "Radical Islam is a doctrine of death. It is their desire, it is their hope, it is their ambition, and it is their highest honor to die in a war against infidels. And you are ‘infidels.'"
In March 2009 Hagee collected more than 100,000 signatures
from American Christians who expressed their solidarity with
Israel. Needless to say, many of these same individuals also
contributed to "non-profit" organizations such as those
fronted by Emerson.
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Almost 30 years ago, America declared it would never again intervene in the political or military affairs if Iran, but it has never kept its promise. Instead, it has conspired with Israel to use covert operations, sanctions and support for anti-Iranian terrorists in attempts to create regime change in Iran and to wreck its economy.
In the past month alone, some EU countries have complained about strong-arm tactics used by American diplomats to force them to get tougher with Iran. The move has not gone down well with many European companies that have traditionally done business with Tehran. They believe sanctions hurt Western interests whereas Asian nations like India and turkey, as well as the major powers like Russia and China, benefit by continuing to allow their energy conglomerates to do business with Iran.
The mainstream media, in reporting the continuing Israeli threat to bomb Iran and the Obama administration's warning that military action is on the table, never mentions the agreement the White House signed on Jan. 18, 1981 to stay out of Iran's affairs. The agreement, known as the Algiers Accords after Algeria acted as the middleman to broker a deal between the U.S. and Iran for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages, stated:
"The United States pledges that it is, and from now on will be, the policy of the United States not to intervene directly, or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs."
Twenty-four hours after the pledge was made President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address, and Iran released 52 hostages.
It is rarely understood that the CIA has been meddling in Iran for six decades* * In 1953, it plotted, with Britain's M16, the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadeq, Iran's democratically elected prime minister. His perceived crime was carrying out a decision by the Iranian parliament to nationalize the British-run Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, later to become British Petroleum. He was arrested, imprisoned and kept under house arrest until his death in 1967.
In his absence, the CIA put the shah in power. The CIA's Tehran station chief in 1953, roger Gorian, was fired by CIA Director allen Dulles, for arguing that the coup would have a long-term impact on American-Iranian relations. He was proved right when the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the shah's regime in 1979.
Since the Iranian Revolution, and especially after the Algiers Accords pledge by Washingon in 1981, neo-conservatives and their allies in Congress have intervened in Iranian politics at the behest of the Israelis. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by the U.Sl n covert operations, and there has been unqualified support by leading members of Congress for arming anti-Iranian terror groups like MEK, which has carried out bombings and assassinations within Iran. The CIA and Mossad have also used Kurdish groups to infiltrate Iran to sabotage military and other facilities. The misleading mantra of the neo-cons from the late 19890s, which became a Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld "Three Stooges" doctrine, has been "free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon."
One of that doctrine's original proponents was the American-Jewish conspiracy theorist Michael Ledeen. In the 1980s, Ledeen was a national security advisor to Presidents Reagan and the elder bush, and was perceived to be Israel's man. After 9011, he told Jewish institutes it was time to focus on Iran and he has continued to make the argument. He has been closely associated with Daniel Pipes, former CIA director James Woolsey and Douglas Feith. They founded the Coalition for Democracy in Iran, whose real purpose was to advocate the overthrow of Tehran.
In the past five years, the Mossad, with CIA support, has been involved in attempts to abduct and kill Iranian nuclear scientists. Both agencies have also used psychological warfare techniques, including the planting of false information about Iran in global media outlets. In 2007, an estimated $400 million was committed by the Bush White House, with the approval of Congress, to destabilize Iran and wreck its nuclear program.
Nothing the Obama White House has said indicates that Bush's Iran policy has been jettisoned. On the contrary, it may have been expanded to include operations in Lebanon because increased Israeli rhetoric about the dangers Hezbollah poses in Lebanon has found favor with Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, neither of whom seems worried about the risks of political or military intervention in the Middle East.
* See The CIA in Iran: The 1953 Camp and the Origins of
the U.S.-Iran Divide (softcover, 150 pages, #CIA, $20 plus
$3 S&H inside the U.S.). Edited by AFP executive editor,
Christopher J. Petherick. Declassified details from field journal
of CIA operative Donald Wilbur. From American Free Press, 645
Pennsylvania Avenue SE, #100, Washington, D.C. 20003. Call toll
free at 1-888-699-6397 to charge to major credit cards. Order
also online at www.americanfreepress.net.
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Author J.R.R. Tolkien's nightmarish spider Shelob lurked in
dark shadows, snaring victims in her webs, one at a time. Here's
how Tolkien
described Shelob in his popular Lord of the Rings trilogy: Shelob
was an "evil thing in spider form, she served none but herself,
drinking the blood of men, bloated and grown fat with endless
brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living
things were her food, and her vomit darkness."
Google's satellite network captures just about everything on the face of the planet: your home, federal buildings, nuclear power plants, sensitive military installations - and even car crashes. At left is a photo snapped by Google Earth of a car wreck in Belgium. Google proably has pictures of you mowing your lawn.
Likewise, Internet behemoth Google weaves its nets worldwide, stealthily ensnaring billions in its global web, one strand at a time. Here are a few examples of Google's relentless obsession of fabricating its "mind of God" to oversee everyone in the world that the once upon-a-time "free" press in the united states fails to share with the American people:
Under the rubric of photographing the facades of buildings around the world and then posting the pictures on the Internet, the online giant uses fleets of specially equipped vehicles to build up its photo archives of cities worldwide. But there may be more to the story. In fact, Google has caught copying emails and passing words from the home computers by the Information Commissioner's office the United Kingdom's privacy watchdog.
Paradoxically, the UK is in an Orwellian police state, which appears to be as darkly oppressive as the USSR was under the KGB and "East" Germany under the Stasi secret police. The UK has cameras everywhere, spying on everyone 24-7 - under the pretext of "protecting" the people from "terrorism." The police state's power is now so great that it freely admits that the worst terror bombings carried out against English citizens, etc., where all false-flag "black ops" carried out by the government's own agents pretending to be the Irish republican Army (IRA) to manipulate public opinion against the IRA and the Irish.
Of course, Google's "spider webs" are not as traumatic as false-flag bombings and assassinations. Google's street view" cars "unwittingly" stored emails and passwords from wireless networks as they criss-crossed Britain, photographing everything in sight.
Google "accidentally" vacuumed up passwords and private data as its fleets of vans spun their magic, taking photographs of every home and building in the land - including yours. But unlike in the United Kingdom, the U.S. government didn't bother to investigate Google for invading our privacy and "unwittingly" gobbling up every bit of our personal information they could - but, after all, Google's snoopy schemes are financed by the CIA, as AFP has reported previously.
Also, unlike in "the land of the free," Italian authorities have demanded google hand over the extra information it has collected.
Czech authorities halted the firm's fleet of cars from taking panoramic images to be used with its maps. Police in South Korea raided Google's Seoul offices charging a violation of data protection law.
In Germany thousands of people are demanding that Google erase of their homes. "Google Street View is a service with positive effects. However it may also violate personal rights and freedoms," warns Johannes Caspar, Hamburg's Data Protection commissioner.
Google got publicity as "pro-free speech" when it refused to continue to help the Communist Chinese government censor what Chinese can find on the Internet. The real story though is "free speech champion" Google has the technology to censor the net - and it is willing and quite able to do it.
One of Google's "mind of God" goals is to lock up all of the world's books, storing them in its digital library. Once it gobbles up the written record of all knowledge, Google's "ministry of thruth" will have a potential monopoly over all knowledge - deciding who can know what. It could them arbitrarily decide what is called true or false - effectively rewriting history. As libraries close around the country due to budget cuts, this could happen sooner rather than later for many people in the United States.
Other countries have not taken this lying down. France struck the Google goliath with a powerful blow by ordering google to pay 300,000 euros in damages plus an extra 10,000 euros a day until Google removes the French works form its database.
But in spite of resistance, like Shelob, Google- with a little
help from its CIA friends - relentlessly weaves its global web.
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As the current economic downturn shows no signs of lifting, we hear a lot of rhetoric from current and potential office-holders about what government can and will do to create more jobs. This is especially disconcerting to those who understand that the best thing government can do for job creation is to simply get out of the way.
Jobs are properly created by businesses. Government-created jobs are either fueled by Federal Reserve collars and manipulated market conditions or directly funded by taxes paid by businesses and individuals who then have less to hire people for real wealth creation. Government-created jobs destroy wealth and sap potential from the economy. The several stimulus bills passed by Congress have done much to expand government but not much to keep money in the hands of real job creators - the entrepreneurs.
Keynesian economists don't see things this way. They see government spending as a stop-gap measure that tides us over through rough economic patches. But is this really the case?
Far from it. The reality is, instead of sustaining us until the economy can catch up, government spending perpetuates the problems the bureaucrats and the politicians created. Maintaining a high level of employment is one of the main objectives of the Federal Reserve, which is just one reason it is ill-conceived at its very core: it legitimizes economic intervention. When unemployment rises after the bust of a Fed-created bubble, congress will always attempt to rescue the economy through policies that prolong the agony and the downturn.
In the late 90s, some assumed that encouraging home ownership would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Various government policies favorable to home ownership were enacted; the Fed kept interest rates artificially low so everyone would be able to borrow and buy a home, whether or not they could really afford it. For awhile, it worked. The housing boom increased demand for realtors, mortgage lenders, and construction workers. However, as reality sank in, not only are we back to where we were when the bubble began, we are actually worse off. Not only have we lost all of the one million extra construction jobs the bubble created, but we lost another on million of top of that. So not only did the artificial wealth evaporate; teal wealth has been destroyed as well.
Even more sinister are the jobs created by war. Recent reports highlight the increasing dependence on contractors to support our war efforts in Afghanistan. Massive corruption is endemic to these highly lucrative positions Almost half of the contracting companies we use are Afghan-owned and include such business models as recruiting away the very same afghan police force we are training at great taxpayer expense. Meanwhile we have pledged not to leave until the police force reaches a certain level. We also bribe many Afghans to not attack us. We are in a proverbial hole in Afghanistan. Our leaders need to just stop digging.
Neither a Keynesian big-spending program, not the military-industrial
complex can create long-lasting employment or economic prosperity
for our country. The only way to restore peace and prosperity
is to draw down our overseas commitments, along with unconstitutional
spending at home and return to the founder's vision of a limited
republic that neither straddles the globe, or micromanages the
domestic economy.
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On Oct. 3, a 20-year-old computer salesman and community college
student—a U.S. citizen born in the San Francisco area—took
his car 
for an oil change.
His mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage.
The wire was attached to a magnetic device that puzzled the mechanic.
The device was removed, images of it posted online, and help
requested in identifying it.
Two days later, FBI agents arrived at the man's Santa Clara, Calif. apartment, demanding the return of their property—a global positioning system tracking device now at the center of a raging legal debate over privacy rights.
AMERICAN FREE PRESS spoke with Zahra Billoo, the victim's attorney. Billoo is the executive director of the California wing of CAIR, one of the nation's largest civil rights advocacy groups.
The immediate question posed was: were they surprised that the FBI would just stick a tracking device on someone's car who had not been accused of committing any crime in order to track his movement?
The attorney replied: "We were surprised more by the blatant disregard by the FBI for any attempt to cover it up . . . and that was probably the most appalling part of this story, not so much that my client found the device, but just the fact that they showed up at his home, no apologies, no nothing, just essentially, ‘It's ours, give it back.'"
Asked why federal authorities would start tracking an American citizen with no regard for his rights, the man's attorney offered several theories: that maybe there was an anonymous tip; that the defendant fit a certain profile associated with "terrorists"; or that maybe this is a test case of some sort.
Could other devices lurk under the cars of unsuspecting Americans the attorney was asked?
"Absolutely," he replied, "and there's no way of knowing whether or not you're being tracked unless you find the tracking device."
Unless this is immediately challenged, the FBI could keep placing tracking devices on vehicles in spots that are even harder to find. The attorney added that, so far, U.S. courts have usually sided with law enforcement on this issue.
"Very recently, there was a [U.S.] Ninth Circuit Court [of Appeals] decision that confirmed that law enforcement does not need a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on a car in a public place," said Billoo.
"And I would assert that most people were not aware of that decision or the implications of that decision [which] really brings the issue home."
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G. Edward Griffin, author of The Creature from Jekyll Island, warns of 'unfunded mandates'
The Federal Reserve has "administered a lethal dose to
this country." These ominous words originated from G. Edward
Griffin, author of 
The
Creature from Jekyll Island, during a Nov. 4 interview with
this writer. He also opined, "The amount of money they've
created out of thin air is so large that we can't recover."
AMERICAN FREE PRESS, and its predecessor The Spotlight, have been exposing the Fed as a criminal enterprise for decades.
Most recently in an Oct. 18 front-page article, AFP described how Barack Obama's $700 billion TARP program was "only one small part of the trillions of dollars' worth of backdoor bailouts, asset guarantees, low-interest- rate loans, free money and other benefits handed out to the Money Trust."
AFP reported that the true cost of this economic insanity nearly equals our entire gross domestic product. In an attempt to make sense of this increasingly chaotic situation, AFP continued the call for the Fed to open its books to taxpayers instead of, as AFP noted, "stonewalling the release of all details to the public."
Griffin put this matter into perspective: "Even if all government spending was stopped and every federal agency closed down, the future debts that we're responsible for are too enormous to cover."
He offered this revelation in response to the neglected concept of unfunded mandates. In basic terms, U.S. future commitments to Social Security, Medicare, and pensions for public employees is estimated to reach $120 trillion in the future.
Essentially, if America completely defaulted on all debts to the Federal Reserve, along with China and Japan, it would still be a pittance compared to what we "owe our own citizens," as Griffin sees it.
As short-term compensation for this out-of-control spending, the Fed has unveiled a second round of "quantitative easing," or "QE2," more commonly known as a "stimulus package," by dumping $600 billion into the economy. Federal Reserve officials have chosen what some see as the most lethal step imaginable by monetizing our debt. This notion refers to central bankers financing U.S. expenditures by flooding the market with additional devalued paper.
According to Griffin, "Fed policies are undermining the entire economy by producing new money out of thin air. We're doomed to failure because foreign countries are already buying less of our debt. Plus, they'll also reach a point where the U.S. dollar won't be recognized as the world's reserve currency."
Federal Reserve President Ben Bernanke blatantly broke a promise made on June 3, 2009 where he vowed not to engage in this type of self-defeating practice. "The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt," he said. "Either cuts in spending or increases in taxes will be necessary to stabilize our fiscal situation."
Criticism of Bernanke has been swift and widespread. Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities lamented the latest "shadow stimulus," saying: "This will quite possibly be the worst mistake by the Fed in a generation."
Prominent economist Nouriel Roubini observed unequivocally: "When governments reach the point where they are borrowing to pay the interest on their borrowing, they are coming dangerously close to running a sovereign Ponzi scheme."
Internally, even rank-and-file members of the banking elite say they are outraged. Thomas Hoenig of the Kansas City Federal Reserve referred to quantitative easing as "a pact with the devil."
However, Bernanke appears oblivious for two primary reasons: One, he isn't worried about being reelected by voters because the Fed is a privately owned corporation, and secondly, he doesn't need congressional approval to print more money that isn't collateralized by anything.
Unfortunately, his latest "Hail Mary" reflects a limited amount of alternative options. With prime interest rates near zero since December 2008, it's only a matter of time until Weimar-style policies will unleash an increase in prices, possibly leading to hyperinflation, as the thinking goes.
Echoing global condemnation of the Fed, even China's central bank adviser Xia Bin chimed in on Nov. 4: "As long as the world exercises no restraint in issuing global currencies such as the dollar, then the occurrence of another crisis is inevitable."
Of course, China is on the hot seat, because it holds so much U.S. debt, and an inflated U.S. dollar means debt it holds will be worth less than the money it originally loaned.
Brazil's president-elect Dilma Rousseff rang an even more urgent alarm in regard to devaluing the dollar and starting a currency war: "The last time there was a series of competitive devaluations, it ended in World War II."
His colleague, Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega, warned, "Everybody wants the U.S. economy to recover, but it does no good at all to just throw dollars from a helicopter."
The dirtiest secret of all is that Barack Obama's original $878 billion stimulus package was never intended to create shovel-ready jobs. Instead, it was merely used to keep the government afloat so that local and state employees such as teachers, policemen and trash haulers wouldn't be laid off. But their wages are negligible compared to the trillions owed for unfunded mandates.
Most tragically, even if the government taxed 100 percent of the earnings of every worker and corporation for an entire decade, it still couldn't generate enough money to cover our mountain of future debts.
However, other sources AFP has quoted in recent years maintain that the U.S.—if it converted away from the Fed's debt-based money creation—could restructure some future mandates and handle them anew, under a system free of the Fed.
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The Republican Party's takeover of the House of Representatives in the recent election also ushers in a consolidation of pro-Israeli political influence over Congress unlike ever before. Then, too—not coincidentally—it heralds a new era in which secret campaign contributions by big-money interests are now holding sway in an unprecedented way.
Exemplifying these new developments is the rapid-fire rise of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), a deeply religious Orthodox Jew and pro-Israeli "neo-conservative" hard-liner who is expected to be named House majority leader in the forthcoming GOP-controlled Congress.
Although the majority leader post is officially the No. 2 slot in the House of Representatives, the truth is, Cantor will hold tremendous behind-the-scenes power in the Republican caucus—greater than even Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is slated to become speaker of the House (and with whom Cantor has never been on the best of terms).
Cantor's particular influence stems from his control—along with another pro-Israeli hardliner, former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)—of a secretive and well-funded political action committee, the American Action Network (AAN), run by Cantor's close advisor and former chief of staff, Rob Collins.
Cantor's AAN operation is believed to have raised up to $25 million this past year and spent at least $16 million in waging independent expenditures on behalf of Cantor-approved Republican candidates in the recent election.
On Oct. 25 even The Washington Post was moved to describe AAN as "mysterious" and described Collins as one of "a small circle of operatives with the coveted expertise of actually running such secretive organizations."
Collins himself has said, "I have a weird gift for raising money."
That gift has given new power to Cantor, who played a major part though AAN in orchestrating the GOP victory, bankrolled by well-heeled contributors whose names are not required to be revealed to the Federal Election Commission.
It is no coincidence that two other, similar fund-raising ventures—American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, both run by former George W. Bush operative Karl Rove—share offices with Cantor's AAN. Ellen Miler of the Sunlight Foundation said the massive spending by such groups in the 2010 elections is the "how-to" for the 2012 election.
"It's how to use corporate money, how to use secret money, to buy elections," she said. "It's going to be no holds barred."
While most members of Congress generally rely on campaign contributions from within their own districts, examination of Cantor's reported contributions indicate that his political fortunes have relied extensively on a great deal of money supplied by Jewish contributors from across the country.
Cantor is able to tap into those same sources to fund his AAN operation on behalf of pro-Israel Republicans. So, Cantor's access to tens of millions of dollars in secret cash contributions makes this young congressman particularly influential, today and in the future.
The influx of so many new GOP "conservatives" elected with Cantor's help will also expand the influence of the Republican Study Committee—of which Cantor is a member—which is composed of more than a hundred GOP congressmen, all of whom are vociferous allies of the Jewish lobby.
The RSC's executive director, Paul Teller—who described himself to The Washington Post as the RSC's "token Jew"—formerly served on the staff of Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Pence once described how every time the subject of Israel was mentioned on the House floor, he rushed there to hear what was being said. Now Pence is reportedly hoping to parlay his peculiar devotion to Israel into a 2012 presidential campaign.
The Republican victory also brings control of at least two key House committees into the hands of pro-Israeli lawmakers.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee's new chair is Cuban-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. She has long been one of the loudest advocates for Israel in Washington. Upon her election to Congress in 1988 and for years afterward, she was touted as "the first woman of Hispanic origin elected to the House," but then the truth came out: Ros-Lehtinen was the granddaughter of Sephardic Jews from Turkey who migrated to Cuba.
Slated to chair the Homeland Security Committee is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) who—although an Irish Catholic who attended the University of Notre Dame —is a boisterous voice for Israeli interests.
Abroad, the consequences of the GOP victory are being noted in the context of Israel's concerns. In Israel, Danny Danon, a hardliner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, expressed delight: "The huge influx of newly elected representatives and senators to Washington includes dozens of strong friends of Israel who will put the brakes on the consistently dubious, sometimes dangerous policies of President Obama these past two years."
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's former ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, slated to become Saudi foreign minister, warned in a speech in Washington following the election that he foresees a return of the "neo-conservative philosophy" and that the election "will give more fodder for these warmongers to pursue their favorite exercise, war-making."
The Arab diplomat bluntly declared that "neo-con advisors, American conservatives and Zionist extremists" have promoted policies that "continually throw a wrench into the progress of peace."
He said that "particularly in the Congress, the bipartisan support for Israel has been enormous; it's not just Republicans. My concern is really with the people who speak up for a more aggressive type of policy, as espoused by neo-conservatives. They will interpret these elections as, if you like, a return to what they would consider to be their view on foreign policy in general and . . . particularly on the Middle East."
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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The latest issue of AMERICAN FREE PRESS had hardly gone to press—describing an ongoing high-level scheme to launch a new "centrist" third party controlled by the "new world order" elite—when two more prominent New York Times columnists chimed in with the very rhetoric that America's "most influential newspaper" has been hyping as part of the campaign to get the new party under way.
On Nov. 6, both Bob Herbert and Charles M. Blow —conventional "mainstream" pundits of the classic Times stripe—had side-by-side columns on the Times's popular op-ed page, trumpeting the proposition that both the "liberal Democrats" and the "conservative Republicans" are politically, intellectually and, for all intents and purposes, morally bankrupt.
The nation is endangered, they wrote, unless there are solutions and saviors that emerge outside the conventional liberal-conservative paradigm to which Americans have become accustomed through the "two party" system that now prevails.
Writing in the Times, Herbert—in his "Tone-Deaf in DC" column—stated flatly:
Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are offering voters the kind of change that they seem so desperately to want. . . .What voters want is leadership that will help them through an economic nightmare and fix a country that has been pitched into a state of sharp decline. They long for leaders with a clear and compelling vision of a better America and a road map for getting there. That leadership has long been AWOL. The hope in the tumultuous elections of 2008 was that it would come from Mr. Obama and the Democrats, but that hope, after just two years, is on life support. . . .The Democrats are in disarray because it's a party that lacks a spine. The Republicans, conversely, fight like wild people whether they're in the majority or not. What neither party is doing is offering a bold, coherent plan to get the nation's economy in good shape and create jobs, to bring our young men and women home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to rebuild the education system in a way that will prepare the next generation for the great challenges of the 21st century . . . .
Blow's column, "The Great American Cleaving," echoed Herbert's thinking:
We now stand in the twilight of American moderation. We have retreated to our respective political corners and armed ourselves in an ideological standoff over the very meaning of America, having diametrically opposed interpretations of its past and visions for its future. Talking across the table has been reduced to yelling across the chasm. Welcome to the Great American Cleaving. . . . Instead of moving toward the middle, we are drifting toward the extremes. . . . That ripping sound you hear is the fabric of a nation.
It is true that both "major" parties are bankrupt and that the two-party system is corrupt. AMERICAN FREE PRESS and all honest independent voices have said that for years. However, from the fact that The New York Times is airing this idea on a regular basis, in commentaries coming from its key columnists, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the powerful network of billionaire families and closely interconnected financial interests that control the major print and broadcasting conglomerates (and likewise are interlocked with the private Federal Reserve money monopoly) has now decided to give Americans an ostensible alternative to the two major parties.
Predictably, the Times has been joined by its down-coast neighbor, The Washington Post, which has likewise been clamoring for some sort of "centrist" solution to Democratic-Republican gridlock. But it would be an alternative under the control of the very elements that now control the Democratic and Republican parties.
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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THERE MAY BE HOPE YET for newly elected Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the younger Paul rode the tea party wave to office in the midterm election, beating out Democrat Kentucky state Attorney General Jack Conway 56 percent to 44 percent.
Paul won despite a sloppy campaign that was more of an establishment Republican effort than a populist, America-first approach. That angered many supporters, who were hoping to see the younger Paul mirror his father's long-held conservative views.
But some say his apparent missteps were, actually, intentional in order to attract evangelical Christian voters in Kentucky.
According to Associated Press exit polls, Paul received strong support from the growing number of evangelicals in Kentucky, with nearly 70 percent of white, born-again Christians voting for him. That would certainly explain his views on such hot-button issues as Israel and the continued U.S. occupation of the Middle East.
Last April, one of Paul's position papers on Israel was leaked to the press. In it, Rand laid out his unconditional support for Israel. In addition, he called for "divestment from Iran" and "strongly" objected to "the arrogant approach of (the) Obama administration" toward a fair peace process.
"Only Israel can decide what is in her security interest, not America, and certainly not the United Nations," he wrote in the paper. "As a U.S. senator, I would never vote to condemn Israel for defending herself."
NON-INTERVENTIONIST ROOTS?
But now that Paul is in office, his independent, noninterventionist roots may be showing.
During an interview with a national television talk show, Paul criticized the Republican Party for its unwillingness to support cuts in the U.S. military. "Republicans traditionally say, oh, we'll cut domestic spending, but we won't touch the military," said Paul. "The liberals—the ones who are good—will say, oh, we'll cut the military, but we won't cut domestic spending. Bottom line is, you have to look at everything across the board.
He added: "I don't see things in terms of political party, so I think this can be something where I can work across the aisle—but the second thing you need is a compromise on where the spending cuts come from."
The biggest issue for this country is debt, he said, and it's a priority for everyone inside the growing tea party movement.
"We're worried that we're inheriting or passing along this debt to our kids and our grandkids," he said. Ending America's trillion-dollar occupation of the Middle East is a fine place to start. The hope is tea partiers realize this before it's too late.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's
plan to buy another $600 billion in U.S. Government debt, which
will flood the U.S. economy with even more dollars, has renewed
calls among critics of the privately owned and controlled central
bank for a full and transparent audit.
Bernanke recently announced that the Fed will carry out a "second round" of what bankers and economists euphemistically call "quantitative easing" (QE2). Quantitative easing is a complex way of increasing the country's money supply by purchasing government bonds. In layman's terms, it means turning on the printing presses and flooding the country with more Federal Reserve "notes."
There are three problems with this: First, QE2 will mean more debt for a population already overrun with it. Second, it will mean bankers will be able to cash in on even more interest payments from taxpayers. And, third, it will likely mean inflation, which is bad for consumers who will have to pony up more money for groceries and other goods.
Congress already passed legislation in the form of landmark Wall Street reforms, which gave auditors at the Government Accountability Office the power to do a one-time audit of the emergency operations of the federal Reserve that were carried out following the near collapse of the U.S. economy in the summer of 2007. The new law also made the Fed hand over the identities of banks and other financial institutions that took more than $2 trillion in nearly zero-interest loans and loan guarantees - something the Fed had previously tried to keep secret.
But for most fed detractors, these probes do not go far enough. Some legislators would like to kick down the Fed's door and hang its dirty laundry out for all Americans to see.
In a press release issued in early November, Texas GOP Rep. Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty (C4L) blasted the Fed for printing more money in an attempt to boost the economy.
"Printing more money out of thin air is not the solution, and this move has been criticized throughout the world," wrote Jon Tate, the president of C4L. "Even Paul Volcker, who was fed chairman under presidents Carter and Reagan, has said QE2 ‘probably won't do much' to help our economy recover."
Tate writes that Rep. Paul is next in line to become the chairman of the House subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, the committee that provides oversight of the Federal Reserve.
With Paul chairing the committee, bernanke would not get the
kid-gloved treatment that he has enjoyed since taking power in
2006.
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Republicans, who now have a majority in the House, say they will only accept new spending if Democrats agree to specific spending cuts and a cap on the debt ceiling, the legal amount Washington can borrow from bankers and foreign countries.
In the past three decades, official debt has grown at a frighteningly fast pace. In 1980 it was $900 billion. In 1990, the national debt rose to $3 trillion. It took the next 12 years to double to $6 trillion in 2002. But it only took seven years to double again to $12 trillion in 2009.
Today, the official national debt stands at 13.7 trillion. And with the debt ceiling at $14.3 trillion, it looks like Congress will have to address the issue soon unless legislators can drastically cut spending in the next few months.
The good news is that debt is a huge issue for those newly
elected to Congress. Hopefully they can bring some common sense
fiscal responsibility to Washington, which is in desperate need
of true reform.
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You'll have to work longer - three more years, up from age 65 to 68 (and then to 69) - in order to get fewer benefits from social security, which is slated to face a cut in payments. Plus those with extra income - the "wealthier" social Security beneficiaries - will face an increase on their taxes. And if you use gasoline to go to work, the federal gasoline tax is going to hit you with a 15 cents per-gallon increase. That's going to be the future, if some recent proposals from the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform are enacted into law.
The co-chairmen of the presidential commission - Democrat Erskine Bowles (who was chief of staff in the Bill Clinton White House) and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) - issued a draft set of proposals, including the above ideas for cutting the deficit.
Other key commission members include Alice Rivlin, a Council on Foreign Relations member and former Office of Management and Budget director.
Other proposals include limits on tax breaks for homeowners by removing income tax deductions of interest on second homes, home-equity loans and mortgages worth more than $500,000.
There would also be a freeze in salaries and bonuses paid to federal employees for three years. Overall, the plan proposes cutting the federal work force by 10 percent over the next several years. Members of Congress would also be prohibited from inserting money into legislation for their pet projects, known as "congressional earmarks."
This is just a sampling. The tea party folks will probably love these proposals since they've been eager to see government spending cutbacks. Nowhere does the proposal address the billions of dollars that are handed out - courtesy of the American taxpayers - to favored foreign nations.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) - considered a "rising star" among congressional conservatives and a close ally of incoming House GOP Majority Leader Rep. Eric cantor (Va.) - describes the proposals as "a serious and impressive effort" and that "it's a good start." In contrast, liberal and progressive voices say it would be a mistake to aim cuts at Social Security and its beneficiaries.
None of this is carved in stone, of course. There will be fierce debate between both major parties and within the parties themselves. AFP will be anxious to see how its readers view the proposals. As the matter develops, AFP will be on top of the issue. Another thing to watch is whether the Bush-era tax cuts stay in place or not.
It is ironic that former Sen. Simpson, a Republican, should be responsible for coming up with ideas for cutting the federal deficit, considering he was one of the congressional sponsors of liberal legislation - signed into law in 1986 by President Reagan - that provided amnesty for untold millions of illegal aliens. Reagan's pen also set the stage (according to even GOP critics) for waves of additional millions of illegal aliens. Due to their access to various public welfare programs, federal, state and local budgets were busted.
The commission members are: Executive Director Bruce Reed,
chief domestic policy adviser to former President Clinton; sen
Max Baucus (D-Mt.); Rep Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.); Rep. Dave
Camp (R-Mich); Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.);
David cote, chairman and CEO , Honeywell International; sen.
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho); Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.); Ann Fudge,
former CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands; Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.);Rep.
Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas); Slice rivlin, Senior fellow of Brookings
Institute and former director of Office of Management and Budget,
rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.); Rep.
John Spratt (D-S.C.); and Andrew Stern, former president, service
employees International.
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The midterm elections have been characterized as a grassroots victory for Americans who are fed up with Washington and the political status quo. In particular, the elections are being touted as a clear indicator that voters demand reductions in federal spending, deficits and debt.
If the new Congress hopes to live up to the expectations of tea party voters, however, it faces some daunting choices. For all the talk about pork and waste, the truth is that Congress cannot fix the budget and get our national debt under control by trimming fat and eliminating earmarks for "bridges to nowhere."
Real reductions in federal spending can be achieved only by getting to the meat of the federal budget, meaning expenditures in all areas. The annual budget soon will be $5 trillion unless congress takes serious steps to reduce spending for "entitlements," the military and debt service. Yet how many tea party candidates who campaigned on a platform of spending cuts talked about social Security, Medicare, foreign wars or bond debt?
With regard to entitlements, the 2010 social Security and Medicare Trustees report tells it all. It paints a stark picture of two entitlement programs that cannot be sustained under even the rosiest scenarios of economic growth. No one, regardless of political stripe, can deny the fundamental problem of unfunded future liabilities in both programs.
We should understand that Social Security was intended primarily to prevent old widows from becoming destitute. Life expectancy in 1935 was only about 65, when there were several workers for each Social Security recipient. The program was never intended to be a general transfer payment from young workers to older retirees, regardless of those retirees' financial needs. Yet today Social Security faces an unfunded liability of approximately $18 trillion.
First, Congress needs to stop using payroll taxes for purposes not related to social Security, which was a trick the Clinton administration used to claim balanced budgets. Second, congress should eliminate unconstitutional spending - including unnecessary overseas commitments - and use the saved funds to help smooth the transition to a Social Security system that is completely voluntary. At some point in the near future, Congress must allow taxpayers to opt out of federal payroll taxes in exchange for never receiving Social Security benefits.
Medicare similarly faces a shortfall of $30.8 trillion in unfunded future benefits. The Part D prescription drug benefit accounts for approximately $15.5 trillion, or half of the unfunded Medicare liability. Congress should immediately repeal the disastrous drug benefit passed in 2003 by President bush and a Republican Congress.
Fiscal conservatives should not be afraid to attack entitlements philosophically. We should reject the phony narrative that entitlement programs are inherently noble or required by "progressive" western values. Why exactly should Americans be required, by force of taxation, to fund retirement or medical care for senior citizens, especially senior citizens who are comfortable financially? And if taxpayers provide retirement and healthcare benefits to some older Americans who are less well off, can't we just call it welfare instead of maintaining the charade about "insurance" and trust funds"?
Military spending and interest on the national debt similarly represent large federal expenditures Congress must address by rethinking our foreign policy and exercising far greater oversight over the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
I have for a long time criticized both our interventionist
foreign policy and the Fed, and I will continue to do so. It's
time for congress to face the fundamental problems that affect
Social Security and Medicare, and show the courage necessary
to make real changes to both programs by rejecting the welfare-warfare
state.
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JEKYLL ISLAND, Georgia—Jekyll Island is still a secluded place where those inclined to make secret plans would still have reasonable privacy to this day. This isolation, as local museum photos reveal, was more strongly pronounced back in November 1910, when Rothschild banking agent Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb & Company and six other major financial figures met there for 10 days to plan what became the Federal Reserve System, or "the Fed" for short.
Much of the humid island's character from 100 years ago remains. Countless willow trees still shadow the landscape. Thick vegetation and marshland encircle much of the island. The place exudes a strange blend of quaint charm and foreboding arrogance.
Much of the humid island's character from 100 years ago remains. Countless willow trees still shadow the landscape. Thick vegetation and marshland encircle much of the island. The place exudes a strange blend of quaint charm and foreboding arrogance.
AFP's Oct. 25 visit focused on the Jekyll Island Club Hotel (formerly the island's Hunt Club). The hotel's Federal Reserve Room, now used for dining functions, is where the Fed planners did "the deed." Despite that day's fresh coat of paint, the nice furniture and the fancy china, the framed picture arrangement of the key Fed planners by the fireplace mantle shows that the room is still nothing more than an elegant crime scene. The wealthy, stealthy comrades who 100 years ago hammered together this plan of financial conquest evaded direct contact with reporters, sneaking one-bygone aboard Sen. Nelson Aldrich's posh personal train car, with blinds drawn, in Hoboken, N.J. on Nov. 22, 1910. Disguised as duck hunters while using only their first names, this "star lineup" of high finance, besides Aldrich and Warburg, consisted of:
Benjamin Strong Jr., vice president of the Banker's Trust of New York and J.P. Morgan's emissary to Jekyll Island; A. Piatt Andrew, assistant secretary of the Treasury and special assistant to the National Monetary Commission (the only other NMC member besides Aldrich); Frank A. Vanderlip, former assistant Treasury secretary under President McKinley and president of National City Bank; Henry P. Davison, senior J.P.Morgan & Co. partner; and Charles D. Norton, president of First National Bank of NewYork, dominated by Morgan. Bertie Charles Forbes, who later founded Forbes magazine, wrote decades ago, "The utmost secrecy was enjoined upon all. The public must not glean a hint of what was to be done."
The only prey these "hunters" had in mind was America's economic sovereignty, with which to rule the nation. Their plan, through twists and turns, became the Federal Reserve Act. So, on Dec. 23, 1913, arguably the biggest crime in all of modern history was launched by a 298-to-60 House vote with 76 not voting. In the Senate, the tally was 43 to 25 with 27 not voting. The Act, with no constitutional authorization, became Title 12 of the United States Code, Chapter 3. Unlike earlier U.S. central banks that had 20-year charters and were dissolved, the Fed seems to have a permanent charter. Thus, 341 long-dead legislators saddled today's 300 million Americans with a ruthless central bank that pretends it's protecting the public. History shows that the Fed stole and privatized the money and credit of the people of the United States. No mafia, drug cartel or other syndicate even comes close to this.
No longer able to produce its own money free of interest, the government was forced to hand over securities to the Fed in order to obtain privately made money. Suddenly, every dollar produced was another dollar of debt. The Fed forced the Treasury Department to print Federal Reserve Notes for the cost of ink and paper, regardless of the denomination of the note. Then the U.S. undertook the "privilege" of buying what should be its own money from the Fed at full face value, plus interest. The Fed became the very engine of the soon-to-be imperial U.S. war machine, spawning most of the political corruption that plagues us now, because it rules the government, and the government—in debt to "the money trust"—rules us on the Fed's behalf and extracts payments (mainly via the income tax) to pay the interest on the national debt that the Fed drives ever upward, mortgaging the lives and property of every man, woman and child.
Aldrich and Warburg, in essence, parented a privately owned, for-profit central banking system that has never been meaningfully audited. The Fed's modern-day Open Market Committee meetings, though general schedules are released and short meeting accounts are published only after the fact, are closed to the press, Congress and even the president, despite the fact that the Fed's key actions regarding monetary policy and interest rates are decided at these closed meetings. Secrecy remains essential for the Fed, ever since Jekyll Island. A financial reform bill that Barack Obama signed into law this year contains a provision for the Fed to receive its first audit. A retired corporate attorney, relaxing in a rocking chair by Jekyll Island's museum, was asked about auditing and rethinking the Fed. He responded to AFP: "Oh yeah, there is no question in my mind about that. If you create these quasi-government agencies," as he put it, "you give them a monopoly and should regulate them. That audit is the way you justify the monopoly."
However, more and more mainstream Americans, rocked by relentless financial "earthquakes," finally are being forced to acknowledge that it's time to forcefully question the Federal Reserve's practices—but for the sake of all of our futures, abolition must be put on the table. The sheer power of private central banking has grown in an exponential fashion since the Bank of England's birth in 1694, and the founding of the Fed later—with such dire results—that ridding ourselves of this curse is the No. 1 issue of all time.
Mark Anderson is a longtime newsman now working as the 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 and inputs as well as story leads. Email him at at truthhound2@yahoo.com.
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The overriding question on the Federal Reserve is: "What should we do with this intruder that seized the House of Representatives' constitutional duty to create money and regulate its value?" As AFP reported on page 2 in its Oct. 25, 2010 edition (No. 43), several commentators and activists, at this 100-year mark since the Fed's initial conception on Jekyll Island, are considering how to operate in the post-Fed years.
AFP has focused extensively on monetary reform, finding that
there are two schools of thought on what to do with the Federal
Reserve System: Nationalize it, which may preserve some of its
components; or dissolve it, leaving nothing behind.
Mickey Paoletta, who heads the Citizens Reform Center that teaches about banking and debt, was especially firm when contacted by AFP.
"My view is that it should be abolished—every square inch," he said. "Get Congress to instead create a public monetary commission that directly reports to the House." He clarified that the federal government, instead of borrowing money from private bankers at interest, would create its own money directly interest-free—"at plus or minus 3 percent of the gross national product." That commission would oversee the government's money creation.
The money supply in this scenario, according to Paoletta, would be "inflationproof" since care would be taken to make sure the supply does not outpace the quantity of goods and services to a degree that would trigger monetary inflation.
Venturing into the parallel question of whether a world without the Fed would include a gold standard, Paoletta stated, "They control the gold," referring to the global banking cartel's ability to meddle with the supply and value of gold that would back the currency.
American Monetary Institute (AMI) leader Steven Zarlenga has told AFP on more than one occasion that nationalization is the way to go. He once said that nationalization is essentially the same as "ending" the Fed. Annual End the Fed rallies started across the country in November 2008.An actual end the Fed bill (HR 2755) was brought forth earlier in 2008 but died for lack of congressional cosponsors. Different versions of bills to simply audit the Fed soon followed. Finally, a limited Fed audit made it into a 2010 Wall Street reform bill that Obama did sign into law.
Former Michigan U.S. Taxpayers Party chairman Dennis James said that, with nationalization, "You could end up with the same thing with a different name."
The idea of nationalizing the Fed has a certain "slickness" about it that he finds troubling.
Paoletta warned that, conceivably, the Fed's Board of Governors, the creation of which was a small compromise by the Fed's founders to win public confidence in the early days, would stay intact under nationalization. Regarding the Fed's fate, former AFP staffer Tony Blizzard, responding to a query, replied that only government should create money—and stop there. "Keep government out of the banking business and banking out of the money-creation business," he said. As for either nationalizing or dissolving the Fed, Blizzard responded, "Neither. Let it continue to operate but only as a common bank with new rules. When either the government or the banks have the ability to both create money and loan it, you are asking for the trouble we have today."
But Paoletta said that nationalization means the Fed, although presumably weakened, "would become part of the government." He views this option as too risky because "the monster" still lives.
Yves Jacques, a social credit monetary reform advocate, called nationalization "a smokescreen," adding, "The U.S. would just own the building with the same old people (private bankers) doing the same thing. Every time they talk about nationalizing the banks, the money supply is still not put in the service of the people. The money belongs to the people; government is only supposed to be the steward."
A fall 2010 article in the independent British newspaper, the UK Column, noted that the private Bank of England, established in 1694, was "nationalized" in 1946. "The bank lost some of its operational independence, with regard to monetary policy, but it still continued to operate as an independent commercial bank with customers other than the British government. In 1998, its full independence was returned to it," the Column explained. The Bank of England "still operates in secret"—and has other commercial interests such as heads of state and foreign governments—"as it always has," the Column continued. "It is not accountable to the taxpayer in any way."
Mark Anderson is a longtime newsman now working as the 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 and inputs as well as story leads. Email him at at truthhound2@yahoo.com.
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California computer programmer John Tyner attracted national attention recently when he posted a video shot from his cell phone in which he is heard refusing to allow a security officer to probe his groin area during a frisking at San Diego Airport on Nov. 13.
Tyner did this despite the fact the officer threatened him with a $10,000 lawsuit if he did not comply. The video was viewed by tens of thousands of people and has now spurred mass citizen outrage over "big brother" invasions of privacy.
Pennsylvania activist Aaron Bolinger is a staunch opponent of these types of security tactics, which include full body scans at airports and the development of identification cards and drivers licenses loaded with personal data on the card holder. Under federal standards, these cards would become a new type of trackable ID card (REAL ID) capable of containing sensitive, private financial and medical information as well.
Bolinger, legislative director of the National Veterans Committee on Constitutional Affairs (NVCCA.net), has informed AFP that the organization's new workbook, American Leadership, contains detailed legislation that could be introduced immediately to put a stop to invasive, unnecessary security measures initiated at airports and in other public buildings.
"It's our collection of over 30 pieces of model legislation," said Bolinger, who strongly believes in getting state and local lawmakers to play a major role in resisting federal tyranny. "There's county-level stuff. There is sheriff-level stuff."
The guide covers issues such as REAL ID cards and the use or abuse of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. These sophisticated chips are embedded in passports and would likely become a part of the REAL ID card. These can be made so small that they are implantable in humans, pets and livestock.
But where does it end? If American citizens think radiation-emitting airport body scanners that show a "naked" image—and patdowns that border on molestation—are bad, imagine tiny chips surgically embedded in the human body that emit a trackable signal and contain personal information.
Notably, South Carolina state Rep. Mike Pitts received the NVCCA's "State Legislator of the Year Award" on Nov. 18, for introducing legislation to end the requirement to provide one's Social Security number when filling out state forms. Pitts also introduced the U.S. Accountability Act that would require U.S. senators to meet with their state lawmakers at regular intervals to give a testimonial on whether they are truly representing the states in Washington. The senators could be pressured by state legislators to end the Federal Reserve, abolish the REAL ID Act, stop excessive airport security, and numerous other measures.
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Two major, longtime Democratic Party political consultants who have been key figures in the ongoing high-level drive to launch a "centrist" third-party movement—noted only by AMERICAN FREE PRESS—have publicly called for Barack Obama to declare now that he will not be a candidate for re-election in 2012. The consultants—Doug Schoen and Patrick Caddell—laid down their challenge in a prominently-placed commentary in The Washington Post on Nov. 14.
The Post has long been a major political force, under the control of the Meyer-Graham media empire established by Eugene Meyer, a World War I-era war profiteer. He was an early Federal Reserve System governor and later a World Bank president.
The Post has been a voice for the London-based Rothschild dynasty whose agents on American soil—via the Kuhn-Loeb investment house—directed the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, the control of which has generated trillions of dollars that enabled elitist families and financial interests to grab control of the mass print and broadcast media through which they have manipulated the political arena.
The call by Schoen and Caddell may appear to be "good news" in the minds of Obama's critics. However, the campaign to delegitimize Obama is part of broader scheme to fool Americans into rallying behind an ostensibly independent movement—a "controlled opposition"—dominated by the same families and monied interests that now control the two major parties. Why would these big money forces want to launch a new "centrist" party? Good question. Here's the answer. The apparent—and quite Machiavellian purpose—behind this scheme appears to be to break the back of the now-in-place traditional local, state and federal political machines of both major parties and their respective grassroots constituencies (small business, farmers, public employees, minorities, factory workers, etc).
The "centrist" party ushered into power would constitute an all-new political superstructure at the national level—divorced from the demands of grassroots constituencies. It would be a mechanism of power answering only to the controllers of the major media who conjured up the "centrist" party in the first place.
It would direct the future course of American affairs, in the guise of ending "partisan gridlock," while actually ensuring that the international big-money forces maintain their stranglehold on America.
It is no coincidence that in 2008, Schoen published a book, Declaring Independence: The Beginning of the End of the Two-Party System, calling for a new "centrist" party. He and Caddell have been pushing that idea continuously in a number of forums with—as AFP previously noted—the collaboration of "establishment" columnists in both the Post and New York Times. Yet until now, those elite newspapers never lent credence to third party advocates and were notably hostile to them.
As Schoen and Caddell wrote in the Post: It is clear, we believe, that the president has largely lost the consent of the governed. The midterm elections were effectively a referendum on the Obama presidency. And even if it was not an endorsement of a Republican vision for America, the drubbing the Democrats took was certainly a vote of no confidence in Obama and his party. The president has almost no credibility left with Republicans and little with independents. . . .We are convinced that if Obama immediately declares his intention not to run for reelection, he will be able to unite the country, provide national and international leadership, escape the hold of the left, isolate the right and achieve results that would be otherwise unachievable.
While it is unlikely Obama will be cowed into abandoning his reelection bid, the efforts by Schoen and Caddell against him are nothing new. On July 28 in The Wall Street Journal—published by Rupert Murdoch, longtime front man for the Rothschild-financial network—Schoen and Caddell called Obama "our divisive president" and declared that while Obama had promised "a new era of post-partisanship . . . He's played racial politics and further split the country along class and party lines," extraordinary allegations from two Democrats long involved in the civil rights movement. They wrote:
Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship. Moreover, his cynical approach to governance has encouraged his allies to pursue a similar strategy of racially divisive politics on his behalf.
We have seen the divisive approach under Republican presidents as well—particularly the administrations of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. By dividing America, Mr. Obama has brought our government to the brink of a crisis of legitimacy, compromising our ability to address our most important policy issues. . . . President Obama's divisive approach to governance has weakened us as a people and paralyzed our political culture. Meanwhile, the Republican leadership has failed to put forth an agenda that is more positive, unifying or inclusive. We are stronger when we debate issues and purpose, and we are all weaker when we divide by race and class. We will pay a price for this type of politics.
This rhetoric, in fact, has been central to the ongoing push for the new "centrist" third party. For example, on Nov. 12 The New York Times again sounded the call for a centrist rebellion. A commentary by David Brooks, a Jewish Republican "neo-conservative"—the Times' op-ed page "in house" conservative—said a "national greatness agenda" would be promoted by "the next big social movement." It would reject the views of "orthodox liberals and conservatives" and end "hyper-partisanship." Brooks said "the coming movement may be a third party or it may support serious people in the existing two" and preserve American "supremacy"—that is, global interventionism.
This concept of "national greatness" has been promoted in Rupert Murdoch's Weekly Standard by Marshall Wittmann, a Jewish Trotskyite-turned neoconservative who directed the Christian Coalition and later signed on with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) the vaunted Democrat-turned-independent hailed as a model for nonpartisan "centrist" politics.
While it is speculation at this point, it appears that the ultimate intent is to damage Obama politically, casting him as a failed president who represents the extreme "left," while at the same time (as AFP has reported on the Washington Post-Newsweek empire's promotion of Sarah Palin) catapulting Mrs. Palin to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
At that time the major media could declare both candidates—Obama and Mrs. Palin—as "extremists" and "damaged goods," and push the emergence of a centrist party to rise up and challenge the two major parties.
If he does try for re-election, Obama could face a challenge for renomination from within his own party—Hillary Clinton being a likely rival—but dethroning an incumbent president has never been a simple proposition. If Obama is renominated, in any case, he will be so as a very crippled incumbent.
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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Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is one of the very few members of Congress who has some of the richest and most powerful people in the world bankrolling his political endeavors. That—along with Cantor's peculiar fund-raising prowess—is another reason why many now perceive the soon-to-be House Republican majority leader as the real "big man" in the House GOP caucus, eclipsing even Speaker-to-be John Boehner.
Wags say that Cantor will be "the Cantor of the House"—which is a play on Cantor's Jewish family name. A "cantor" is the individual in a synagogue who leads the chants and prayers along with the rabbi—a major religious role.
So the fact that billionaires in the global financial plutocracy—all intimately tied to the London-based Rothschild family—are underwriting Cantor's career is a point that cannot be taken lightly. Here's the exclusive story from AMERICAN FREE PRESS.
The up-and-coming young congressman—a deeply religious Orthodox Jew devoted to the Talmud, the controversial rabbinic teachings foundational to the Jewish faith—is unique among House members: While most members rely on campaign contributions mainly from their own congressional districts, Cantor has an unusually expansive array of contributions pouring in from across the country.
One of Cantor's federal election filings, recorded at campaignmoney.com, shows he received 146 contributions from New York donors. Contrast that to only 36 donations from New York that went to Cantor's ostensible senior partner in the Republican takeover of the House, Boehner, who has been a top-ranking GOP congressional figure for more than a few years. Yet, even Boehner cannot rival Cantor in the number of out-of-state cash contributions.
A brief sampling of Cantor's contributors from New York State alone demonstrate the real clout—and the big names—who are bankrolling him:
* Kenneth Bialkin, a mob legal mouthpiece, former national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and now chairman of the America-Israel Friendship League, a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) member. The CFR is the New York-based offshoot of the London-based Royal Institute for International Affairs, the Rothschild empire's foreign policy arm;
* Gary Cohn, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs, the infamous Wall Street investment bank whose financial schemes are well known to many Americans who've seen their pensions plundered;
* Steven Drucker of Charmer Sunbelt, a massive liquor conglomerate that has grabbed control of various facets of the U.S. spirits industry;
* Lewis M. Eisenberg who, as a former Goldman Sachs partner, is perhaps best known for serving as chairman from 1995 to the pivotal year of 2001 of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—at which time the authority turned World Trade Center (WTC) ownership over to international wheeler-dealer, Larry Silverstein, who had the WTC twin towers well insured and suspiciously made billions from the 9-11 attacks.
* Henry Kravis, a member of the CFR and Bilderberg group who was one of the famous "junk bond kings" of the 1980s through his Kohlberg-Kravis-Roberts partnership;
* Ronald Perelman, billionaire head of the Revlon cosmetics empire. He also heads a far-reaching network of radio and television stations. At one point he was said to have been the richest man in America;
* James Tisch, another CFR member and a scion of the billionaire Tisch family who bought control of CBS in the 1980s.
These are just a few of the powerful New Yorkers who've been channeling funds to Cantor's political enterprises. Three of Cantor's other notable national contributors are:
* Jeffrey Epstein of California, chief financial officer and executive vice president of the Oracle Corporation, the fiefdom of Larry Ellison, who rose to fame in the 1970s working on a database for the CIA (named "Oracle").After 9-11, Ellison offered to donate software to the U.S. government to help set up a national identification database, from which national ID cards for American citizens would be issued;
* Neil Livingstone of Washington, D.C., a shadowy figure from the world of intelligence known for close ties to Israel's Mossad;
* Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas, who, in many respects, is the modern-day incarnation of the late Meyer Lansky, longtime chief of the Jewish crime syndicate which cemented its influence with the rise of legalized gambling in Vegas.
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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In early November, just after AMERICAN FREE PRESS went to press, AFP discovered some unsettling new details that raise more questions as to where Senator-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) really stands on the issues.
AFP has expressed hope that Paul would be a Senate version of his father, respected Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)—despite the younger Paul's earlier campaign rhetoric rattling the saber at Iran, reflecting the warmongering attitudes of the "neo-conservatives" who are trying to force an American attack on Iran. But recent comments by Rand Paul in an interview with The Wall Street Journal suggest Paul is repudiating other views of many in the "tea party" movement nationwide that rallied behind Paul and his father.
On Nov. 6 The Wall Street Journal—published by media titan Rupert Murdoch (whose rise to power came through the combined forces of the Rothschild-Bronfman-Oppenheimer network)—featured an interview with Rand Paul conducted by Matthew Kaminski. Although Paul promised that he didn't plan on being "bashful," he emphasized that he is "not that crazy" when asked if he were "a crazy libertarian." Kaminski added:
He has made other concessions to the mainstream. He now avoids his dad's talk of shutting the Federal Reserve and abolishing the income tax. In a bigger shift from his campaign pledge to end earmarks, he tells me that they are a bad "symbol" of easy spending but that he will fight for Kentucky's share of earmarks and federal pork, as long as it's doled out transparently at the committee level and not parachuted in the dead of night. "I will advocate for Kentucky's interests," he said.
That Paul was seemingly changing his tune when talking with the insider-controlled "voice of Wall Street" is a matter of concern, but, obviously, as the saying goes: "By their fruits, ye shall know them." Time will tell.
The "fruits" will be Paul's actions—and votes—as a member of the Senate which will demonstrate where he really stands on the issues. All concerned Americans need to keep the heat on Paul and all other Congressmen to restore constitutional principles and bring the real change for which grassroots Americans have loudly clamored.
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.
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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