Friday, August 31, 2012

John Whitehead Interviews Brandon Raub

Brandon Raub, a decorated marine who was arrested by federal agents and incarcerated in a psych ward for simply posting thoughts and song lyrics to his Facebook page, discusses his ordeal and his thoughts about the state of our freedoms with John Whitehead, Constitutional Attorney and President of The Rutherford Institute.


Japan Out Of Money In 1 Month?


Japan plans to cut state spending, could run out of money in a month


Japan's government is planning to suspend some state spending as it could run out of cash by October, with a deficit financing bill blocked by opposition parties trying to force Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda into an early election.

Yoshihiko Noda
The upper house has passed a censure motion against Yoshihiko Noda, piling more pressure on him to make good on his promise to call an election to parliament's lower house Photo: AFP
The impasse in Japan's parliament has raised fears among investors that the world's third largest economy is being driven towards a "fiscal cliff", Reuters reported.
"The government running out of money is not a story made up. It's a real threat," Finance Minister Jun Azumi told a news conference, making a last-ditch appeal for cooperation by opposition parties to pass the bill.
"Failing to pass the bill will give markets the impression that Japan's fiscal management rests on shaky ground," he said.
Unless the bill clears the current parliamentary session that ends next week, the government will start suspending or reducing some state spending to avoid running out of money for as long as possible, the finance ministry said.
Noda's ruling Democratic Party passed the deficit-financing bill through the lower house on Tuesday. But the opposition boycotted the vote, signalling the bill has little chance of clearing the opposition-controlled upper house.
Under the proposed contingency for suspending some spending, the finance ministry said government bond redemptions andinterest payments on outstanding debt would not be affected as they will be made in full using reserves set aside for this purpose.
All state spending will be targeted, except for those that will severely effect public livelihood such as police, national security and disaster relief, Reuters reported.
Subsidies to local governments and state-run universities will be cut by half from the originally planned amount until the bill passes parliament, the finance ministry said.
The upper house has also passed a censure motion against Noda, piling more pressure on him to make good on his promise earlier this month to call an election to parliament's lower house.
Several ruling party and opposition lawmakers have suggested that Noda would probably wait out the stalemate until the current parliament session ends on September 8 and call a snap vote during an extra session in October to secure the deficit financing bill's passage.
The term "fiscal cliff" is commonly associated with around $500bn (£316bn) in expiring US tax cuts and spending cuts that could kick in automatically next year, triggering a "significant recession", according to the Congressional Budget Office.

7.6 Quake Near Philippines


Strong quake strikes near Philippines

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 31, 2012 -- Updated 1414 GMT (2214 HKT)
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake off the Philippines has prompted a regional tsunami warning.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake off the Philippines has prompted a regional tsunami warning.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: "We are advised to go up," one man said, referring to seeking higher ground
  • NEW: A tsunami warning is in place for parts of Philippines, Indonesia
  • A quake of that size can possibly generate a "destructive tsunami"
  • The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6
(CNN) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 has struck off the coast of the Philippines, the U.S. Geological Survey said Friday.
The quake prompted a tsunami warning for parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the tsunami warning center said.
The Geological Survey initially said the quake had a magnitude of 7.9 but later revised that figure.
A tsunami watch was in effect for the Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Solomon Islands, several other Pacific islands and parts of Russia, the center said. Authorities did not immediately know whether the earthquake actually had generated a tsunami.
The quake, which was about 20 miles deep, struck just before 8:50 p.m., the agency said. Its center was about 65 miles southeast of the coastal town of Guiuan, in the Philippine province of Eastern Samar.
Aimee Menguilla, information officer of Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the agency is advising regional authorities to alert citizens about possible tsunami waves.
"This is not new to us," she said. "We do regular tsunami exercises." But people need to be "particularly alert" because the earthquake occurred at night.
She said the quake was centered in the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean and was felt in the country's east. There have been no reports, she said, of damage or injuries.
A hotel employee in Guiuan said people have been advised to seek higher ground because of the tsunami warning. "We are advised to go up," said Dan Molina.
Ed Serrano, the head of security at the Marco Polo Hotel in the city of Davao, about 250 miles south of Guiuan, said he felt the ground shake.
"The quake was very strong and the hotel guests were panicking. Most of them went outside," he said. "But now, the situation is under control and we are waiting for official reports on how strong the quake was."
Marie Elairon was working at the front desk of the Hotel Dona Vicenta in the town of Borongan, the capital of Eastern Samar province. She said she felt shaking for one or two minutes. The quake briefly cut power and phone service, she said. She was unaware of any injuries.
Joy Buano, who works at the Magueda Bay Hotel, said the quake shook the area around Catbalogan City. But she said she witnessed no injuries or damage.
An initial tsunami warning issued for Japan, Taiwan and several Pacific islands was lifted.

Mandolin Highway - Olive Musique

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Billboard: Child Flipping Off Obama


(Photo by: Lauren Leamanczyk)
HANSON (CBS) – Free speech or offensive?
Those are two viewpoints regarding three political billboards in Hanson that are getting the attention of everyone who drives by Sullivans Inc., a motorcycle accessories distributor off Route 27.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Karen Twomey reports
One shows a little girl raising her middle finger next to the message:
“Thanks Obama. You’ve spent my lunch money, my allowance, my inheritance, 35 years of future paychecks and my retirement. You Jerk. Vote Mitt Romney For 2012!”
The finger is now covered in packing tape.
Some people say the sign makes them uncomfortable.
“It’s being offensive,” one man told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Thursday.  ”I think you can send out the message without being this drastic.”
Others say it’s free speech.
“I think it’s a good idea, whether it’s on private property or not,” a supporter told WBZ.
Another billboard has a smiling photo of President Obama, with thecommunist hammer and sickle symbols on his shirt collar, next to the message:
“Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot. Obama – One Big A** Mistake America. Vote Mitt Romney For 2012!”
The owner of the property and the signs was contacted by WBZ-TV and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Thursday, but declined to comment.
In addition to the political debate, there is also debate about where the billboards are legal.
According to town officials, owner Robert Sullivan did not get a necessary permit from the building commissioner to put them up.
Sullivan’s attorney, however, said they are protected under the First Amendment.

Obama: I Didn’t Do Good Enough Job Selling Americans On Stimulus Plan


President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 29, 2012. (credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 29, 2012. (credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
TAMPA, Fla. (CBS Tampa/AP) — President Barack Obama says his re-election might help end the political stalemate in Washington, much like “popping a blister.”
In an interview with Time magazine, Obama says he expects Republicans in Congress to work more cooperatively in a second term, since his re-election would no longer be a factor.
“My expectation is that there will be some popping of the blister after this election, because it will have been such a stark choice,” Obama said.
The president says he also wants to do a better job of explaining to the public how his policies will help the economy grow. Obama claims he didn’t do a good enough job selling Americans on the stimulus plan and the auto company bailout because he was so focused on acting to fix the economy.
“[W]e were in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, so we had to just do stuff fast. And sometimes it wasn’t popular,” Obama told Time. “And we didn’t have the luxury of six months to explain exactly what we were doing with the Recovery Act, which was basically a jobs act and making-sure-middle-class-families-didn’t-fall-into-poverty act.”
Obama says he wants to focus on overhauling immigration laws and reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign energy during a second term.
The interview was conducted last week.
(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

TX Mayor dead after apparent donkey attack


HOLLYWOOD PARK, Texas -- A South Texas mayor has been found dead after apparently being attacked by a 500-pound donkey on his ranch.
The Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the death of Hollywood Park Mayor William “Bill” Bohlke appears to be an accident. Bohlke was 65.
Chief Deputy David Soward says Bohlke apparently was attacked Monday morning by a male, aggressive donkey he kept on the ranch. 
Investigators say the donkey and several others are still on the property with other livestock.
"He loved his animals. He loved ranching," said Sandra Wilson.
According to the neighbor, Bohlke's wife was concerned when he didn't return to Hollywood Park after checking on his animals. 
After dark, Wilson said several neighbors, jumped on all terrain vehicles and went looking for the Air Force veteran.
They found his truck still running hours after he was attacked.
Soward says it’s up to the family to decide what to do with the donkey.
Mayor Pro Tem Steve Phillips will serve as acting mayor of Hollywood Park, a town of about 3,000 just north of San Antonio.
A memorial service is scheduled for next Tuesday at Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church with a burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Secret Service gun inadvertently left in Romney plane lavatory

(CBS News) A gun belonging to a member of Mitt Romney's U.S. Secret Service detail was found unattended in the bathroom of the candidate's charter plane Wednesday afternoon. The Republican nominee was traveling from Tampa, Fla., site of his party's convention, to Indianapolis, Ind., for a speech.
The weapon, presumably left behind in the bathroom by accident, was discovered by a CBS News/National Journal reporter, who alerted a flight attendant about the gun. A member of the Secret Service on board the plane was informed and retrieved the gun.
Romney has traveled with Secret Service protection since early February and has an armed detail assigned to him at all times. His wife, Ann, was just assigned her own detail - albeit a smaller one - last Friday.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told CBS News/National Journal in a statement: "We are aware of the incident. We take the care and custody of our equipment, especially firearms, very seriously. We will deal with this matter internally and in an appropriate manner."

Manhattan to be sprayed against West Nile virus


One of New York's most expensive neighborhoods will be sprayed this week with pesticide to combat the West Nile virus, officials said Tuesday.
The city regularly sprays against the mosquito-borne disease, which has seen a surge in outbreaks in the United States this year. Friday's spraying is notable because it will target Manhattan's prestigious Upper West Side neighborhood and parts of the famed Central Park.
"These neighborhoods are being treated due to rising West Nile virus activity with high and/or increasing mosquito populations," the Department of Health said in a statement.
The department said trucks would spray "a very low concentration" of pesticide and that "when properly used, this product poses no significant risks to human health."
However, it also urged people to stay indoors during the spraying and to remove clothes and children's toys from outside.
At least 41 people have died in the United States from the disease this summer, health officials said. A total of 1,118 cases have been identified across the country.

West Nile Cases up 40% in one week


West Nile virus cases rise 40 percent in one week

Posted: Aug 29, 2012 11:10 AM MDTUpdated: Aug 29, 2012 11:57 AM MDT
U.S. health officials say West Nile virus cases are up 40 percent since last week and are on pace to rival the record years of 2002 and 2003.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,590 cases of the mosquito-borne disease and 66 deaths so far this year. Half of the cases are in Texas.
Health officials think cases have peaked or are peaking now but likely will continue through October.
The disease first appeared in the United States in 1999, and health officials say this summer's hot, dry weather may have contributed to the current boom.
To reduce mosquito activity and the risk of West Nile virus, the New York City Health Department has announced it will spray pesticide from trucks in parts of Manhattan on Friday, August 31, between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 6 a.m., weather permitting.
In case of bad weather, application will be delayed until Wednesday, September 5. These neighborhoods are being treated due to rising West Nile virus activity with high and/or increasing mosquito populations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19408039/west-nile-virus-cases-rise-40-percent-in-week#ixzz253eA2hOg

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

RT: Fitch threatens to downgrade the US – Is anyone paying attention right now ...

Posted on

Published: 29 August, 2012, 12:54
AFP Photo/Miguel Medina
AFP Photo/Miguel Medina
The US-based Fitch rating agency could downgrade the AAA US sovereign credit rating, if the country doesn’t review its tax and spending issues by 2013.
Washington needs to make a plan to address its fiscal and spending issues in a “sensible way,” and not with a “slash and burn” approach, David Riley, managing director of Fitch, told Bloomberg TV. “If they can’t really put that together in the first half of 2013, there is a significant threat to the loss of the triple-A rating from Fitch,” he stressed.
The so-called “fiscal cliff” that the US faces at the end of the year is a real concern for investors, he said.
The “fiscal cliff” refers to a significant reduction in the budget deficit and corresponding slowdown of the economy, as significant tax increases come into effect at the beginning of 2013 due to the expiry of a number of laws. But if the US lawmakers cancel some or all of the scheduled tax increases and spending cuts, it would add to the deficit and boost the debt burden.

[[[WOW...MUST READ...]]] Julian Assange, International Intrigue and What’s Going On With Ecuador

By Nicola di Cora Modigliani – August 18, 2012
http://sergiodicorimodiglianji.blogspot.it
Important Note: Re-edited in English from Google translation by Sandhya Jain.
Today we talk of geo-politics and the freedom of information. But what is happening today technically (i.e. politically) began on 12 December 2008, though some say September of that year, but it took four years for the shock waves to reach Europe and America.
The issue relates to Julian Assange, Wikileaks, and the Republic of Ecuador. Mind you, it was assumed in the entire American continent, Australia, and Europe that the world was the same as ten years ago. But the world does not work that way anymore.
In Italy, no one was told of the fight growing between Brazil and the United Nations, badly managed by Christine Lagarde who heads the International Monetary Fund, whereby Italy was officially relegated from the eighth largest to the ninth largest economy in the world. It was overtaken by Brazil. So at the next G8, Italy will not be invited, but Brazil will. So we had the decision to abolish the G8 and G10 becoming the new standard.
Europe, with England and Germany at the helm, simply cannot accept the “Keynesian” triumph of South America. In essence the western guideline remains: “Let them stay home and remain grateful that we let them survive like the Africans. Otherwise one by one they will all end like Gadaffi.”
This is the warning in a nutshell So, quietly, South America has in the last 40 days sent three powerful messages; the last and most important was on August 3, and it was televised live from the New York office of the International Monetary Fund. Now for some facts.
On 15 June 2012, Julian Assange understands that for him it’s over. He knows that he will be arrested in Stockholm, picked up at the airport, not by police forces of His Majesty the King of Sweden, but by two officers of the CIA and a US diplomat, using specific formal agreements between the two nations to claim that Assange “actively intervened” in the NATO conflict in Iraq while the war was in progress. He will then be taken directly to the US, to the state of Texas, and subjected to criminal prosecution for terrorist activities. There will be a demand for the death penalty based on the provisions of the Patriot Act.
So Assange consults with his group, and at 9 a.m. on 19 June, enters the Embassy of Ecuador. His team opens negotiations with British agents in London, with the Swedes in Stockholm, and American diplomats in Rio de Janeiro. They agree to let the Olympics pass, after which he can quietly go to South America, ‘just do not talk about it.’ But somehow they don’t trust the Anglo-Americans and rightly so. So they carry out two masterstrokes on 3 August and 4 August.
On 3 August 2012, 16 months ahead of schedule, Argentina President, Cristina Kirchner, arrives at the headquarters of the IMF in Manhattan, accompanied by finance minister and foreign minister of Ecuador, Patino, representing ‘Alba’ (Labour Alianza Bolivariana America), the economic union between Latin America and the Caribbean.
On that occasion, Kirchner hands a cheque of €12 billion to the IMF (whose loan was due on 31 December 2013). She announces that with this instalment, Argentina has shown itself to be solvent, to be a responsible nation, trusted and reliable for anyone who wants to invest money. Argentina in 2003 went in default of $112 billion, but refused to seek cancellation of the debt; it declared bankruptcy and sought 10 years to return the money, including interest.
For 10 years, Argentina fought IMF’s attempts to impose restrictive measures of economic austerity. It opted for a different path, in line with Keynesianism, and based on financing infrastructure, research, innovation, instead of cutting expenditure. And it recovered. And it paid off the last instalment of the IMF loan 16 months in advance. It thus proved once more that the ideas of the IMF and World Bank on economic ideas are noxious and wrong headed. TINA (“There is no alternative”) is a lie forced upon the majority of the world’s population by the oligarchic elites.
Fifteen minutes after making the payment, Kirchner lodges a formal complaint against the US and UK to the World Trade Organization, on the basis of files made available by Wikileaks, that is, Assange.
Argentina, having settled the debts, now wants damages; with compound interest. It’s a fight between Kirchner and Lagarde. Thanks to Assange, as his team has the transcripts of several conversations in different governments of the globe, involving the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, the Vatican, where money is the master: Osama Bin Laden has been sent to the attic and replaced as the arch villain by John Maynard Keynes in the minds of the financial hegemons.
Assange has become public enemy number one of the great powers since he has gained the classified records of these long conversations about how to cripple the economies of South America, how to take away their energy resources and prevent their recovery; how to prevent their governments from pushing through Keynesian economic plans instead of applying the dictates of the IMF, whose sole purpose is to pursue a neo-colonialist policy principally for the benefit of Spain, Italy and Germany, with British capital.
Most files have already been published on the internet. Those and others were handed over by Assange in Britain to the Ecuadorian ambassador there.
On August 3 in New York, Ecuador became the first nation in the Americas and only nation in the Western world since 1948, to apply the concept of “immoral debt” or the political and technical refusal to pay foreign debts because they were made by previous governments through corruption, in violation of constitutional laws and requirements.
On 12 December 2008, Rafael Correa the new president of Ecuador (whose GDP is around 50 billion euros, or 30 times less than Italy’s) announced on television that he had decided to cancel the national debt considering it illegal, because it violated the constitution to oppress the people. Today in Ecuador, the new constitutional principle is that what is right for the community is legitimate.
Amount of debt: € 11 billion. The IMF literally expunged Ecuador from the list of civilized nations. “The country is isolated,” declared Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then IMF Director General.
The very next day, Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela would contribute free oil and gas to Ecuador for ten years. Four hours later, President Lula announced that Brazil would give 100 tons/day of wheat, rice, soy and fruit free to feed the population, for a long as the nation takes to recover. In the evening, Argentina announced it would give 3% of its beef production free to Ecuador to ensure adequate protein for the population. The next morning, in Bolivia, Evo Morales announced the legalization of cocaine for domestic production and collection, and free coca leaves to Ecuador with a loan of 5 billion interest-free, repayable in ten years in 120 instalments.
Two days later, Ecuador denounced the United Fruit Company and Del Monte & Associates for “slavery and crimes against humanity”, nationalized the agricultural industry in bananas (Ecuador is the world’s biggest banana exporter) and launched a national organic label.
Ten days later, Bavarian Green of Schleswig Holstein, Conad in Italy, and Denmark, and Haagen Daaz were prepared to sign contracts with the new entity on the basis of “fair trade”. On 20 December 2008, taking note of the protest of the United Fruit Company, President George Bush (still in office until 17 Jan 2009), denounced the ‘criminal decision’ of Ecuador and called for its expulsion from the United Nations.
Bush said that the US was even ready for a ‘military option to safeguard US interests.’ The next morning, the powerful New York law firm of Goldberg & Goldberg submitted that there was a legal precedent for Ecuador’s action. Six hours later, the US gave up and called on the international community to challenge the legitimacy of the concept of “immoral debt”.
The United Fruit Company has a record in systematic political corruption; it was ordered to pay damages of $ 6 billion.
Interestingly, the legal precedent was dated 4 Jan 2003, and signed by George Bush. Yep. This happened in Iraq, which at that time was’technically’ an American possession since it was occupied by US forces and the interim government was not yet recognized by the UN. Saddam Hussein had left debts of 250 billion euros (40 billion euros against Italy, thanks to the transactions concluded Tareq Aziz, deputy to Hussein and an ally of Vatican’s Opus Dei), which the US erased by applying the concept of “immoral debt”, thus creating the recent historical precedent.
New York lawyers for the government of Ecuador offered Washington a choice: either accept and be silent, or if you challenge the decision of Ecuador then also cancel yours for Iraq and get the US Treasury to immediately pay the €250 billion, including compound interest for four years. Obama, not yet in office but already elected, asks Bush to throw in the towel. The New York lawyers are paid by the Brazilian government.
Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president-elect, is not a farmer like Morales, or trade unionist like Lula, or a military officer like Chavez, he comes from an upper class family and is an intellectual. He is a graduate in economics and economic planning from Harvard, and self-described as a “Christian socialist”. His first official act was to freeze all bank accounts of the Church’s IOR in Quito’s banks and divert the amount into a social welfare program for the economically disadvantaged.
He put on trial the entire political class of the previous government, most of whom were sent to jail, with average sentences of 10 years, confiscated their property and nationalized it and and redistributed it in ecological agricultural cooperatives. Correa sent a letter to Pope Ratzinger in which he called himself “always the humble servant of Your Enlightened Holiness” and in which he officially bade the Vatican send to Ecuador only “clerics gifted with deep spirituality and eager to serve the needy, avoiding profiteers who would incur the rigor of human laws”.
Today, the new South America says no to colonialism and slavery of the European and US multinationals. For 400 years, ever since Europeans discovered bananas rich in potassium, Ecuadorians have lived in poverty, exploitation, destitution, while for hundreds of years a group of brutal oligarchs got rich at their expense. It is no longer the case. And it never will be again. The example of Ecuador is alive and can be replicated in any African or Asian, or European, nation in the world.
But the decisive blow to the system was a bombshell made public on 4 Aug 2012, when Julian Assange assigned the Spanish judge Garzón, the public enemy number one of organised crime, the most ferocious enemy of Silvio Berlusconi, and absolutely the most dangerous enemy of the global banking system, to defend him.
The Spanish judge has 35 years experience and has been responsible for the prosecution of the most important cases of his country for the past 25 years. He is an expert in ‘media and finance,’ and rose to international prominence in 1993 after Interpol issued a warrant on his behalf against Silvio Berlusconi and Fedele Confalonieri (Berlusconi’s right hand man) regarding transactions involving Telecinco, Pentafilm, Fininvest, Reteitalia and La Cinq.
From this it came out that the Pentafilm (Berlusconi and Cecchi Gori members, namely PD and PDL together) bought at $100 the rights of a film that it sold to Columbia Pictures for $500 to Telecinco that sold them at $1000 to an Italian network which then ultimately sold for $2000 to Rai, and so on a total of 142 times. The same film.
That is, the Rai (or us) paid the rights to a film 20 times the value of the market and bought it three times, so that all parties were taken care of. When it came to the crux of the matter, Berlusconi was prime minister, and so Garzón was stopped by the European Union. He got a half victory. Heclosed the Telecinco and sent its Spanish executives to jail.In 2003 the battle re-opened, with Berlusconi’s new front Mediaset. Garzón was always there.
In 2006, the Italian government at the time (Prodi & co.) helped Berlusconi to escape conviction. In 2004, Garzon opened a dossier against Pope Wojtyla and against the management of the IOR in Spain and Argentina, in relation to funding and support from the Vatican to the military juntas of Pinochet and Videla in South America.
In 2010 Garzón resigned under pressure from the Spanish Government, but before he retired, he opened a law firm dedicated exclusively to international ‘media & finance’ in The Hague, The Netherlands. And now as official legal eagle to Assange, judge Garzón has access to 145,000 files still in possession of Julian Assange that have not been made public. He has already made it known that his office is prepared to denounce several Western heads of state to the court of civil rights in The Hague. The charge will be ‘crimes against humanity, crimes against the dignity of the person.’
The battle is therefore open. It is going to be decisive for the future of freedom in the network [internet]. In the US, they make no secret of the fact that they want him dead. So do the British. But they are having trouble because Assange has taken steps to bring about a global group that deals with counter-information (real, not the Italian one). Its members are anonymous. They do not have an identified site. They simply enter the data, news, information and events. Besides, who wants to know where to look and who wants to understand? When the temperature rises, everything comes to the surface.
The British Empire has lost its composure and wants to seize Assange who has access to direct source material. And the mere fact of releasing it in public turns the tables on those who rule, and reminds the people that we are caught in an invisible war. The rulers do not know how to stop the dissemination of information about what is happening in the world.
There are people who risk their lives by the mere act of uploading information from some anonymous Internet location in Canberra, Bogota or Saint Tropez. Wikileaks should not be read as gossip. It is not. Its anonymous team deserves our respect.
We can no longer say tomorrow, “but we did not know”. Whoever wants to know today, is well served. Just try.
Translated, this means: until we send home the foul political class that poorly represents us, the chatter will have no effect. Because now we all know how things are. Otherwise, you cannot complain or be surprised that in Italy no one has ever spoken before of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, or of what happens in South America, the furious battle taking place between the Argentine President and Brazil on one hand and Christine Lagarde and Merkel other. Why wonder then, that the British want to invade a foreign embassy? This never happened even in the hottest days of the so-called Cold War. As they say in South America when someone asks “What do they do in Europe, what’s happening there?”, you answer “In Europe they sleep. They do not know that there is life out there.”

AMAZING!!! 2 SUNS appeared over the United Kingdom on July 21, 2012

AMAZING!!! 2 SUNS Appear over Mawson Station Australia July 22, 2012

Ex-RBS trader details bank's Libor fixing


By Rachel Armstrong
SINGAPORE | Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:27pm IST
Aug 23 (Reuters) - A former dealer for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has provided fresh details on how traders at the British bank tried to influence Libor rates, court documents filed in Singapore show.
Tan Chi Min, who is suing RBS for wrongful dismissal, alleges that the bank's minutes of his disciplinary meeting held in September last year did not accurately reflect what was discussed and omitted details of conversations about how traders at the bank tried to influence RBS's interbank lending rate submissions.
More than a dozen banks are currently under investigation by regulators in the United States, Europe and Asia for suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate (Libor), which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of financial products.
RBS confirmed earlier this month in its half-year results that it was among those banks being investigated. Last month rival lender Barclays Plc was fined $453 million in July by U.S. and UK regulators after its staff reported false interbank rates.

DEBT CRISIS DISINFORMATION: Isn’t it time to be more beastly to Berlin?


Lovers of liberty should beware of Greeks bearing too many burdens
Most days here at The Slog, I get 15-20 emails from Greece. About half are from regular sources, and the rest are from people who’ve heard about (or found) the Slog via its posts about the Greek debt crisis. They go right across the political spectrum, but they all describe pretty much the same social situation: evasion of tax and justice by the rich elites, abject poverty among many who are ill or old, and a growing hatred of the corrupt political set which has brought a sword of Damocles down on their country.
Yesterday’s beauts included the Greek National debt rising to 303 bn euros, up from 280 bn at the end of March (inevitable given the ‘bailout deal’); two Greek men arrested by police on Saturday after beating a 30-year-old migrant worker, jamming his head in the window of a car door and dragging him for around a kilometer (rise of the Far Right); and more cases involving about MP’s hiring their entire families while circa 500,000 unemployed Greeks whose monthly benefit of €420 hasn’t been paid in quite some time (corrupt elites).

RT: Clashes, arrests as over 30,000 students protest in Canada (PHOTOS)

Posted on

Published: 29 August, 2012, 15:01
Still from YouTube video/RR123RR
Still from YouTube video/RR123RR
Eleven students have been arrested and are facing charges in Quebec following confrontations with police. The incident took place during an ongoing student-led strike against proposed tuition fee hikes, with over 31,000 participating in the protests.
The demonstrators are disobeying Quebec’s back-to school law in Montreal, which demanded that students return to their universities on Monday despite their stated opposition to the proposed government tuition hikes. Over 31,000 students are striking – boycotting class, demonstrating, banging pots, disrupting classes and marching through university halls in masks, Canadian media reported.
A total of 49 classes were forced to be suspended at the University of Montreal, due to a lack of attendance.

Odds of Global Recession Are 100%


Marc Faber: Odds of Global Recession Are 100%

There's still a 100 percent chance the world heads into recession, Marc Faber, publisher of "The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report," told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Thursday, echoing a call he made in May.
When you look at the major economies, Europe, the U.S., China and the emerging markets that are dependent on China for growth, Faber, aka Dr. Doom, only sees weakness.
"Europe is already in recession," he said. "Germany is still growing very, very slightly, but is likely to go into recession soon."
Growth in the U.S. is also falling off. "The U.S. economy has decelerated and I don't see much growth in the next six to 12 months," Faber said.
There's also little the Federal Reserve and other policy makers can do to turn the U.S. economy around. "I think that if you look at the injection of liquidity and the intervention by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury with fiscal measures, it has already impoverished the U.S. economy," he said.
It would take "massive easing, a huge balance sheet expansion," to boost economic activity in the U.S., according to Faber. (Read More: More Easing Not Needed If Growth Holds Up: Fed's Bullard.)
Faber also doesn't expect much change in the U.S.'s finances regardless of who wins the election in November. "The deficit is $1.3 trillion and, in my view, will go up," he cautioned. (Read More: The Biggest Holders of US Government Debt.)
Even corporate profits, the lone bright spot, look to be at risk. "The corporate sector has recovered remarkably since the trough in earnings in 2009 and we are at record high earnings," Faber said, but added, "Corporate profits will disappoint over the next 12 to 18 months."