Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Monday 02.20.2012
Gold and the next Great War
By: Clif Droke - GoldSeek.com
Let’s turn our attention to a cycle which we’ve rarely discussed over the years. The Kress 24-year cycle is one of the components of the 120-year cycle series which is scheduled to bottom in 2014. The 24-year cycle tends to get eclipsed by the longer-term cycles like the 40-year and 60-year cycles (both of which have a major impact on equity prices and the economy). But the 24-year cycle takes on a special significance all on its own: it’s the cycle of war.
The final "hard down" phase of any cycle is defined as the final 8% to 12% of the cycle (averaging 10%). Therefore the final "hard down" phase of the previous 24-year cycle encompassed most of the year 1990. Not surprisingly, the year was a bearish one for stocks. The banking sector was particularly hard hit by this particular 24-year cycle as 1990 was the worst part of the infamous S&L crisis and saw the failure of more than 100 small banks.
Paper, Gold or Chaos?
ChrisMartenson interviews James Rickards
History is replete with the carcasses of failed currencies destroyed through misguided intentional debasement by governments looking for an easy escape from piling up too much debt. James Rickards, author of the recent bestseller Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis, sees history repeating itself today - and warns we are in the escalating stage of a global currency war of the grandest scale.
Whether it ends in hyperinflation, in the return to some form of gold standard, or in chaos - history is telling us we can have confidence it will end painfully. On The Cause of Currency Wars
A currency war in the simplest form is basically when there is too much debt and not enough growth. The overhang of debt impedes growth because it clogs up bank balance sheets and clogs up the savings to investment mechanism and has a lot of negative effects. So there is not enough growth to go around. So countries, in effect, try to steal growth from their trading partners by cheapening the currencies.
Silver Eagles Soar
BY RICHARD MILLS - FinancialSense.com
In World War I severe material shortages played havoc with production schedules and caused lengthy delays in implementing programs. This led to development of the Harbord List – a list of 42 materials deemed critical to the military.
After World War II the United States created the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) to acquire and store critical strategic materials for national defense purposes. The Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Materials (DLA Strategic Materials) oversees operations of the NDS and their primary mission is to "protect the nation against a dangerous and costly dependence upon foreign sources of supply for critical materials in times of national emergency."
How the FED Steals Your Life
By M.N. Gordon - SilverBearCafe.com
Things are going haywire. Prices are shifting about in erratic and unpredictable ways. Take gas prices, for instance. Here in the Golden State we just paid $3.87 per gallon for the cheap stuff.
You’d think at that price the economy would be running red hot. But it’s not. In fact, according to Business Week, "demand in the U.S. is at its lowest point since 1997."
What this means is demand for gas is at a 15 year low yet the price of gas has increased 8 percent since the end of 2011. How could that be?
Greek Rescue Is Not the End of the Story
By SIMON NIXON - WSJ.com
After weeks of brinkmanship, bad blood and missed deadlines, a Greek debt deal may finally be within reach. European finance ministers will meet on Monday to decide whether to approve a €130 billion ($170.9 billion) bailout package designed to bring Greece's debts down to 120% of GDP by 2020.
At times in recent days, a deal had seemed impossible, given the near complete collapse in euro-zone trust in the Greek political class in general and opposition leader—and likely next prime minister—Antonis Samaras in particular. Even now, a deal remains conditional on Greece agreeing to further humiliating sacrifices of sovereignty with bailout money ring-fenced to prioritize payment of debt interest and the euro zone given enhanced powers of scrutiny over Greek affairs.
Can a return to the drachma
save Greece as unemployment soars? Greece's unemployment bomb has detonated. After a deceptive calm, the surge in job losses since last summer is shocking even for those who never believed that fiscal and monetary contraction could possibly lead to any result other than ruin.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
A variant of this lies in store for Portugal as its "internal devaluation" starts in earnest. The young Schumpeterians in charge of the economy insist otherwise, cocksure that shock therapy will triumph without debt relief and devaluation.
But events have a habit of demolishing dreams.
In November alone, 126,000 Greeks lost their jobs in a country of 11m, equivalent to 680,000 Britons in a single month. The unemployment rate jumped from 18.2pc to 20.9pc.
As Athens riots, global markets say 'so what?' So what if it's totally unclear whether or not a second Greek bail-out will be agreed on Monday? So what if, after a week of particularly nasty rioting, parts of Athens now resemble a Mad Max film set?
By Liam Halligan - Telegraph.co.uk
So what if the German cabinet, at the highest level, is split on whether or not Greece should default? So what that nobody can possibly know if such a default would be "orderly" or "disorderly", with global markets remaining sanguine or unleashing months – years – of pent-up frustration?
So what if a Greek payment failure could send bond prices in other eurozone member states plummeting, spreading "contagion" across Western Europe and beyond?
Greek bailout: The pressure is on
By Maureen Farrell @CNNMoneyMarkets
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It's officially crunch time. European finance ministers need to agree to the terms of a second bailout to keep Greece from defaulting on an upcoming bond payment.
While it's been widely expected that the Eurogroup (the 17 eurozone finance ministers) will give their approval when they meet Monday, we've been here before.
As part of the deal, the Greek government is expected to be required to maintain an escrow account with enough cash to cover nine to twelve months worth of debt. If the account runs low, the government will be forced to reallocate funds.
Lehman Crisis Veterans
Say Europe Shouldn’t Push Greece Too Far
By Sandrine Rastello and Simon Kennedy - Bloomberg.com
Neel Kashkari, who was on the policy frontlines when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. crumpled in 2008, warns European governments against pushing Greece too far as they impose conditions for aid.
"It can be very politically satisfying to be tough, but if an uncontrolled default were to lead to contagion around the euro zone, that could be very damaging for all of Europe and for the global economy," said Kashkari, who four years ago was an aide to then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and now is head of global equities at Pacific Investment Management Co.
Germany bows to global pressure
and signals Greek rescue deal Europe’s key powers are on the brink of a €130bn (£108bn) debt deal to rescue Greece and avert the first sovereign default in Western Europe in over half a century.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble toned down threats to force Greece out of the euro, bowing to intense pressure from France, Italy, and the US-led bloc of global leaders.
Mr Schäuble said the country is "on the right path" and signalled that pension cuts agreed by the Greek cabinet over the weekend would be enough to secure approval for the loan package from EU ministers on Monday.
Do We Really Know Greece’s Default Will Be Orderly? The market seems to be pricing in an orderly Greek default or a successful "firewall" around the potential instability. Are the unknowns really all known?
BY CHARLES HUGH SMITH - FinancialSense.com
The equities market is acting like we know Greece's default will be orderly and no threat to financial stability. It is also acting like we know the U.S. economy can grow smartly while Europe contracts in recession. Lastly, the high level of confidence exuded by market participants suggests we know central bank liquidity is endlessly supportive of equities.
What do we really know about the coming default of Greece? Whether we openly call it default or play semantic games with "voluntary haircuts," we know bondholders will absorb tremendous losses that are equivalent to default. We also suspect some bondholders will refuse to play nice and accept their voluntary haircuts. Beyond that, how much do we know about how this unprecedented situation will play out?
Hundreds of thousands march in Spain against reforms
By Paul Day and Toms Cobos
(Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people protested across Spain Sunday against reforms to the labor market they fear will destroy workers' rights and spending cuts they say are destroying the welfare state.
Organizers, including the two largest unions Comisiones Obreras and UGT, said as many as half a million people joined the protest in 57 towns and cities, although Spanish police gave no official estimate.
Tax Bill Passed by Congress Broadens Jobless Program
BY JOSH MITCHELL
AND NAFTALI BENDAVID - WSJ.com - $$
[Google title for free article pass]
The economic package that cleared Congress on Friday includes changes to the nation's unemployment-insurance program aimed at helping more Americans stay in jobs and others go back to work.
Those changes, backed by President Barack Obama and some Capitol Hill Republicans, effectively broaden the base of workers who would get help. The provisions were tucked into a $150 billion bill that will extend through December a cut in workers' payroll taxes to 4.2% from 6.2%, prevent a steep drop in doctors' Medicare compensation and renew expiring unemployment benefits.
Italian police seize $6 trillion of fake U.S. bonds
By Elisa Forte and Gavin Jones
(Reuters) - Italian police said on Friday they had seized about $6 trillion worth of fake U.S. Treasury bonds and other securities in Switzerland, and arrested eight Italians accused of international fraud and other financial crimes.
The operation, co-ordinated by prosecutors from the southern Italian city of Potenza, was carried out by Italian, Swiss and U.S. authorities after a year-long investigation, an Italian police source said.
In Alabama, a County That Fell Off the Financial Cliff
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH - NYTimes.com
ONE county jail here is so crowded that some inmates sleep on the floor, while the other county jail, a few miles down the road, sits empty.
There is no money for the second one anymore.
The county roads here need paving, and the tax collector needs help.
There is no money for them, either.
There is no money for a lot of things around here, not since Jefferson County, population 658,000, went bankrupt last fall. There is no money for holiday D.U.I. checkpoints, litter patrols or overtime pay at the courthouse. None for crews to pull weeds or pick up road kill — not even when, as happened recently, an unlucky cow was hit near the town of Wylam.
20 Signs You Might Be A Typical American Worker
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Once upon a time, anyone that was relatively competent and willing to work hard could go out and easily get a job that would enable that person to financially support a family. Unfortunately, that is simply no longer true anymore. Well paying "middle income jobs" are being rapidly replaced with "low income jobs" and part-time jobs. As the economy crumbles, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the typical American worker to survive from month to month. The number of companies that provide benefits such as health insurance has fallen steadily over the past ten years, and paychecks have not been keeping up with the rising prices of food and gas. Average American families are seeing their budgets squeezed like never before, and many of them are going into huge amounts of debt in order to make up the difference. Sadly, this is a problem that has developed over an extended period of time and that is not going to be reversed overnight. Over the past four decades, the ratio of wages and salaries to GDP in America has fallen dramatically. The typical American worker is not as valued as much as he or she used to be, and if current trends continue even more of us will be working part-time jobs or "low income jobs" in the years ahead.
No Bitter Aftertaste From This Stock Offering
By JEFF SOMMER - NYTimes.com
JIM KOCH is well known among beer aficionados for creating the full-bodied brew called Samuel Adams Boston Lager and for helping to foster the craft brew movement in the United States.
He is less well known for playing an important role in another niche revolution — one that has the potential to be at least as significant.
What could be better for the quality of life in America than good beer? That’s a high hurdle, I’m the first to admit, but bear with me.
Foreclosure crisis continues to weigh on US economy
By Priyanka Dayal TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
At first glance, last year's foreclosure numbers seem to show that the nation's foreclosure crisis is on the decline.
But in fact, millions of homeowners are still struggling with foreclosure. For many, the painful process is taking even longer than it used to. And the crisis is expected to last for years.
"People are in the foreclosure process for longer, and their situations are getting more complicated all the time," said Mullen Sawyer, executive director of the Oak Hill Community Development Corporation in Worcester, which operates the NeighborWorks Home Ownership Center of Worcester.
Homeowners get runaround about who holds loans
By Carolyn Said - SFGate.com
Jan Samzelius has been seeking a loan modification on his Marina district house since 2009. He wants to negotiate directly with the mortgage holder - but he can't figure out who it is.
He has made numerous trips to the San Francisco assessor-recorder's office, spent hours on the phone with the loan servicer, and accumulated a 2-foot-high stack of correspondence. But he still doesn't know who owns the note on the house where he lives with his wife, Lena, and stepson Tom.
His quest exemplifies the types of problems with foreclosure paperwork uncovered by San Francisco Assessor Phil Ting in a detailed audit released last week.
18 Statistics That Prove That The Economy Has Not Improved Since Barack Obama Became President
By Michael Snyder - EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Has the economy improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States? Of course not. Despite what you may be hearing in the mainstream media, the truth is that when you compare the U.S. economy on the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated to the U.S. economy today, there is really no comparison. The unemployment crisis is worse than it was then, home values have fallen, the cost of health insurance is up, the cost of gas is way up, the number of Americans living in poverty has soared and the size of our national debt has absolutely exploded. Anyone that believes that things are better than they were when Barack Obama was elected is simply being delusional. Yes, things have stabilized somewhat and our economy is not in free fall mode at this point. But don't be fooled. This bubble of false hope will be short-lived. The problems we are seeing develop in Europe will erupt into another full-fledged global financial crisis and economic conditions in the United States will get even worse. When that happens, what possible " economic solutions" will Barack Obama have for us? We never even came close to recovering from the last great financial crisis, and now something potentially even worse is staring us in the face. This is not a great time to have a total lack of leadership in Washington.
Postal Service seeks 50-cent stamps
By Jennifer Liberto @CNNMoney
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- A nickel boost in the first-class stamp price to 50 cents is part of the U.S. Postal Service's latest plan to stop bleeding red ink.
The Postal Service released the 5-year business plan to Congress late Thursday in part to push Congress to pass legislation to help them get through ongoing financial woes. Due in large part to declining first-class mail volume, the service recorded a $3.3 billion loss in the final three months of last year, which is usually a profitable period.
Post Office Targets 155,000 Job Cuts
By Douglas A. McIntyre - 247WallSt.com
In a move meant to turn the Postal Service to a profit and turn its net debt into cash, the management of the agency proposes that 155,000 jobs be eliminated between this year and 2016
The plan set by the Postmaster General is meant to salvage the services from a state of near bankruptcy, burdening a drop in use of its services and ever rising pension costs.
Rising gas prices drive inflation
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Inflation picked up slightly last month, as rising gas prices took a bigger bite out of consumers' wallets.
The government's key measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, showed prices rose 0.2% from December to January, slightly weaker than the 0.3% increase economists had predicted.
Rising prices at the gas pump were a key factor, increasing 0.9% during the month, the Labor Department said. Improving U.S. economic data, including stronger job growth, and tension with Iran have been driving the price of oil and gasoline higher.
How the US Shale Boom Will Change the World
By Gary Hunt - OilPrice.com
A funny thing is happening on the way to the clean energy future–reality is setting in. There is ‘incontrovertible evidence’ about the economic growth and job creating effects of America’s unconventional oil and gas production boom – more than 600,000 jobs directly attributable to shale gas development. Even President Obama is praising the job creating benefits of ‘America’s resource boom’. America is getting its energy mojo back and that is good news but not the entire story.
Battlefield USA 2012: Gerald Celente on year's top trends
Gerald Celente, the founder of the Trends Research Institute gives RT's Marina Portnaya his predictions for the headlines of tomorrow. OWS movement, US presidential elections, economic embargo on Iran are among the issues discussed.
The New Blacklist
By Pat Bucnanan - Creators.com
My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end.
After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.
The calls for my firing began almost immediately with the Oct. 18 publication of"Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?"
A group called Color of Change, whose mission statement says that it "exists to strengthen Black America's political voice," claimed that my book espouses a "white supremacist ideology." Color of Change took particular umbrage at the title of Chapter 4, "The End of White America."
Media Matters parroted the party line: He has blasphemed!
Keiser Report: Fat Cats Spy On You (E251)
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss the riches made monitoring the population and the pittance paid for agreeing to be monitored. The also discuss the Serious Organised Crime Agency threatening to monitor Stacy for following a link while Max envisions a future in which granny gets it. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Charles Hugh Smith of OfTwoMinds.com about social fractals, tanking energy consumption and a citizenship futures market.
The Divided States of America
By Burt Prelutsky - PatriotPost.us
A few years ago, the folks on Martha's Vineyard, a favorite Massachusetts island getaway for New England liberals, were under siege by a wild turkey named Tom. Unlike most turkeys who can be scared off by waving your hands or shouting at them, Tom enjoyed nothing better than attacking people. Shouting and waving merely egged him on. Compounding the problem, Tom led a flock of like-minded birds. If you think of the Hells Angels, but with wattles and feathers, you've got the picture.
How Companies Learn Your Secrets
By CHARLES DUHIGG - NYTimes.com
Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: "If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that?"
Pole has a master’s degree in statistics and another in economics, and has been obsessed with the intersection of data and human behavior most of his life. His parents were teachers in North Dakota, and while other kids were going to 4-H, Pole was doing algebra and writing computer programs. "The stereotype of a math nerd is true," he told me when I spoke with him last year. "I kind of like going out and evangelizing analytics."
Internet On, Inhibitions Off: Why We Tell All
By Matt Ridley - WSJ.com
It is now well known that people are generally accurate and (sometimes embarrassingly) honest about their personalities when profiling themselves on social-networking sites. Patients are willing to be more open about psychiatric symptoms to an automated online doctor than a real one. Pollsters find that people give more honest answers to an online survey than to one conducted by phone.
But online honesty cuts both ways. Bloggers find that readers who comment on their posts are often harshly frank but that these same rude critics become polite if contacted directly. There's a curious pattern here that goes against old concerns over the threat of online dissembling. In fact, the mechanized medium of the Internet causes not concealment but disinhibition, giving us both confessional behavior and ugly brusqueness. When the medium is impersonal, people are prepared to be personal.
Google accused of illicit iPhone tracking
by Emma Woollacott - TGDaily.com
Google's been accused of 'tricking' Safari to bypass security settings and track iPhone and iPad users' locations through cookies.
Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer has told the Wall Street Journal that the conmpany's advertising networks have been delivering cookies to user's machines, even when the browser's set to block them.
Normally, Safari would block cookies coming from advertising networks. But the Google code concerned 'tricked' the broser into thinking that a web form was being submitted to Google; and this isn't blocked, as it allows the browser to check that the form was sent successfully.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has cited the case as demonstrating the need for a 'Do Not Track' policy.
"For a long time, we’ve hoped to see Google respect Do Not Track requests when it acts as a third party on the web, and implement Do Not Track in the Chrome browser," it says.
How Google Tracked Safari Users
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries - WSJ.com
Google and other advertising companies have been following iPhone and Apple users as they browse the Web, even though Apple’s Safari Web browser is set to block such tracking by default.
How have they been able to do it? Well, first they made Safari think the user was submitting an invisible form associated with the ad.
That technique allowed the companies to then place a “cookie” – a small text file that is stored on the user’s computer and can be used to track online activities. Google disabled its code after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal.
Biomass: Just Because it's Green Doesn't Mean it's Clean
By Daniel J. Graeber - OilPrice.com
Florida residents last year filed a legal challenge against a company that was planning to build a biomass incinerator in the Florida Panhandle. They complained the incinerator project was a "toxic nightmare" for the coastal area. Now, a new study conducted on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation finds that it might be awhile before burning wood instead of fossil fuels pays off for the environment. This suggests that maybe things aren't always as green as they seem.
Beirut River mysteriously turns blood red
The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond
February 16, 2012 – LEBANON – The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea. Government and local officials rushed to the scene at the Chevrolet crossing of Furn al-Shubbak Wednesday morning in an attempt to locate the sewage canal that was dumping the red-colored water but they were unable to locate the source. Accusations were traded among officials from the municipalities of Hadath, Hazmieh, Sin al-Fil, Furn al-Shubbak and Shiyah. Eyewitnesses working in the area told The Daily Star this was not the first time the river had turned a different color. Several business owners around the Chevrolet crossing said that colored water pours into the river roughly every two months but no one pays attention to it.It was the quantity and brightness of the red liquid that grabbed the attention of many passersby and commuters on different bridges in the city Wednesday. Environment Minister Nazem Khoury said the source of the water was likely from Hazmieh or Baabda. “I call on the municipalities of Hazmieh and Baabda to cooperate swiftly to find the source of the pollution and its type,” Khoury said in a statement.
China backs Assad before Syrian forces open fire at funeral Beijing's deputy foreign minister argues for 'stability' as regime continues to target protesters
By Conal Urquhart and agencies - Guardian.co.uk
China has urged President Bashar al-Assad's regime to engage with the Arab League and the Syrian opposition as Syrian security forces continue to target pro-democracy protesters.
The Chinese deputy foreign minister Zhai Jun met President Assad on Saturday shortly before Syrian troops opened fire on a funeral procession in Damascus.
Zhai, who met Syrian opposition and government representatives, said China was "deeply concerned by the escalating crisis" but added that "the Chinese experience shows a nation cannot develop without stability".
Tensions With Russia Loom Over Trade Debate
By Tom Barkley - WSJ.com
Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), who as chairman of the Finance Committee oversees trade issues, headed Friday to Russia on a fact-finding mission with the aim of lifting U.S. trade restrictions before the country is expected to join the World Trade Organization this summer.
Baucus plans to meet with President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as Russia’s trade and foreign ministers, to prepare for a difficult debate that stands to broaden far beyond trade to address ongoing concerns about the former Cold War foe’s actions on Iran, Syria and human rights.
US military chief cautions against Israeli attack on Iran General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, says a strike 'at this time would be destabilising'
By Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem and Jill Treanor - Guardian.co.uk
The United States is stepping up efforts to dissuade Israel from attackingIran's nuclear facilities, with a strong public warning by the US military's most senior figure and the dispatch of two high-ranking officials to Jerusalem.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said in a television interview that it was "not prudent at this point" to attack Iran, and "a strike at this time would be destabilising".
U.S., Britain urge Israel not to attack Iran
By Josef Federman- AP - WashingtonTimes.com
JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States andBritain on Sunday urged Israel not to attackIran’s nuclear program as the White House’s national security adviser arrived in the region, reflecting growing international jitters that the Israelis are poised to strike.
In their warnings, both U.S. ArmyGen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and British Foreign Minister William Hague said an Israeli attack on Iran would have grave consequences for the entire region and urgedIsrael to give international sanctions against Iranmore time to work. Gen. Dempsey said an Israeli attack is "not prudent," and Mr. Hague said it would not be "a wise thing."
Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France
By the CNN Wire Staff
Tehran (CNN) -- Iran's oil ministry announced Sunday that it had stopped crude exports to British and French companies.
The order came several days after Iran threatened to cut oil exports to some European Union countries in retaliation for sanctions put in place by the EU and the United States in January, a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
"Iran has no difficulty in selling and exporting its crude oil. ... We have our own customers and have designated alternatives for our oil sales. We shall sell to new customers, who will replace French and UK companies," ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar said.
Iran could trigger 'new cold war', says Hague If Iran obtains nuclear weapons capability, it will be a disaster in world affairs, warns the foreign secretary
By Ben Quinn - The Guardian
Iran's nuclear programme risks plunging the world into "a new cold war" that would be without the "safety mechanisms" of the old rivalry between the west and the USSR, according to the foreign secretary, William Hague.
He said that Iran was clearly continuing to pursue a nuclear weapons programme and warned that this would trigger an arms race among rival Middle Eastern states, who, he claimed, would also want to develop nuclear weapons.
US officials believe Iran sanctions will fail,
making military action likely
By Chris McGreal in Washington - Guardian.co.uk
Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will not deter Tehran from pursuing its nuclear programme, and believe that the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so.
The president has made clear in public, and in private to Israel, that he is determined to give sufficient time for recent measures, such as the financial blockade and the looming European oil embargo, to bite deeper into Iran's already battered economy before retreating from its principal strategy to pressure Tehran.
Paul says US 'slipping into a fascist system'
APNews - TownHall.com
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul warned the U.S. is "slipping into a fascist system" dominated by government and businesses as he held a fiery rally Saturday night upstaging established Republican Party banquets a short distance away.
The Texas congressman drew a couple thousand standing and chanting people to Kansas City's Union Station as the party's establishment dined on steak across the street at the Missouri GOP's annual conference. Kansas Republicans were holding a similar convention in a suburb across the state line.
[The Totalitarians, an 8-week online course at the Mises Academy, runs from February 26 — April 28, 2012. You can enroll online.]
In many ways, the absolute state dreamed up by Machiavelli and other Renaissance Europeans couldn't hold a candle to the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. If the old absolutists claimed potential and occasionally de facto total control over the lives of subjects, the total-war regimes made numerous "great leaps forward" to achieve ubiquitous surveillance, eradication of even the claim to individual rights, creation of concentration camps, ethnic cleansing on a scale unprecedented in human history, and mass killings of whole categories of individuals branded as "enemies of the state."
It may be an irony that the incubation period of the totalitarians was exactly contemporaneous with a breathtaking acceleration of Western thinking about power and liberty before World War I: Acton, the Austrian School of economics, the late 19th-century critique of the state, the recognition that war is the health of the state, and so forth. Tragically, only a generation or so later, the statists, socialists, and totalitarians seemed to have swept the field. Already before World War I, the imperial warfare-welfare state appeared to be in the ascendant. The First World War seemed to drive the last nails into liberty's coffin.
AGENDA 21 IN ONE EASY LESSON
by Tom DeWeese - NewsWithViews.com
Awareness of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is racing across the nation as citizens in community after community are learning what their city planners are actually up to. As awareness grows, I am receiving more and more calls for tools to help activists fight back. Many complain that elected officials just won't read detailed reports or watch long videos. "Can you give us something that is quick, and easy to read that we can hand out," I'm asked.
So here it is. A one page, quick description of Agenda 21 that fits on one page. I've also included for the back side of your hand out a list of quotes for the perpetrators of Agenda 21 that should back up my brief descriptions.
"Global sustainability requires the deliberate quest of poverty, reduced resource consumption and set levels of mortality control." -Professor Maurice King
Birth of an abomination
In simple terms Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is the end of civilization as we know it. It is the end of private property, the elevation of the collective over the individual. It is the redistribution of America’s wealth to the global elite, it is the end of the Great American Experiment and the Constitution. And, it is the reduction of 85% of the world’s population.
In 1992, twenty years ago this summer, Agenda 21/Sustainable Development was unveiled to the world at the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio. (While Agenda 21 was introduced in June, 1992, it was already installed as public policy in communities across the country as early as 1987.)
AGENDA 21: THE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION - PART 2
By Kathleen Marquardt - NewsWithViews.com
In part I, I gave you the first half of the overview of Agenda 21. This is part 2 of the overview. Keep in mind that it is just an overview; I will expound upon the key aspects in later articles.
In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development. The Earth Charter
As Tom DeWeese puts it, “The fact is, Agenda 21 is a blueprint to completely change our society to a top-down planned central economy in a strange mixture of Socialism, fascism and corporatism. This is a political movement led by those who seek to control the world economy, dictate development and redistribute the world’s wealth. They use the philosophical base of Karl Marx, the tactics of Adolph Hitler, and the rhetoric of the Sierra Club.”
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