http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2009/06/how-the-fbi-broke-saddam-1.html

the world would be a much better place if police and and science could spot the rockafellers,kissingers,chenneys,the fucking oliver norths and leo strauss types etc infinity & stop them..i am not worried about some fucker in a mud hut hurting me.the fact is that there is an oil pipeline that goes through afgahn to supply natural gas to india etc.that's all we are protecting.

we also are controling as much oil as we can to leverage against china.

a ten year old kasmiri at a corner shop is not the danger in the uk.it's dutch east shell and bp.

it's fat fucking idiots watching jeremy kile instead of the eu hashing it out with parliment over world curancy & the lisbon treaty.

folks....you are too late.the world you knew changed is gone,and i'll bet you will not like the new one.

best,
anton alfred newcombe/fjordson
09

Police identify 200 children as potential terrorists

Drastic new tactics to prevent school pupils as young as 13 falling into extremism

Exclusive by Mark Hughes Crime correspondent

Saturday, 28 March 2009


Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are "vulnerable" to Islamic radicalisation.
Related articles

* Charity Commission 'must monitor extremist links'

The number was revealed to The Independent by Sir Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police and Britain's most senior officer in charge of terror prevention.

He said the "Channel project" had intervened in the cases of at least 200 children who were thought to be at risk of extremism, since it began 18 months ago. The number has leapt from 10 children identified by June 2008.

The programme, run by the Association of Chief Police Officers, asks teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant for signs that may indicate an attraction to extreme views or susceptibility to being "groomed" by radicalisers. Sir Norman, whose force covers the area in which all four 7 July 2005 bombers grew up, said: "What will often manifest itself is what might be regarded as racism and the adoption of bad attitudes towards 'the West'.

"One of the four bombers of 7 July was, on the face of it, a model student. He had never been in trouble with the police, was the son of a well-established family and was employed and integrated into society.

"But when we went back to his teachers they remarked on the things he used to write. In his exercise books he had written comments praising al-Qa'ida. That was not seen at the time as being substantive. Now we would hope that teachers might intervene, speak to the child's family or perhaps the local imam who could then speak to the young man."

The Channel project was originally piloted in Lancashire and the Metropolitan Police borough of Lambeth in 2007, but in February last year it was extended to West Yorkshire, the Midlands, Bedfordshire and South Wales. Due to its success there are now plans to roll it out to the rest of London, Thames Valley, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and West Sussex.

The scheme, funded by the Home Office, involves officers working alongside Muslim communities to identify impressionable children who are at risk of radicalisation or who have shown an interest in extremist material – on the internet or in books.

Once identified the children are subject to a "programme of intervention tailored to the needs of the individual". Sir Norman said this could involve discussions with family, outreach workers or the local imam, but he added that "a handful have had intervention directly by the police".

He stressed that the system was not being used to target the Muslim community. "The whole ethos is to build a relationship, on the basis of trust and confidence, with those communities," said Sir Norman.

"With the help of these communities we can identify the kids who are vulnerable to the message and influenced by the message. The challenge is to intervene and offer guidance, not necessarily to prosecute them, but to address their grievance, their growing sense of hate and potential to do something violent in the name of some misinterpretation of a faith.

"We are targeting criminals and would-be terrorists who happen to be cloaking themselves in Islamic rhetoric. That is not the same as targeting the Muslim community."

Nor was it criminalising children, he added. "The analogy I use is that it is similar to our well-established drugs intervention programmes. Teachers in schools are trained to identify pupils who might be experimenting with drugs, take them to one side and talk to them. That does not automatically mean that these kids are going to become crack cocaine or heroin addicts. The same is true around this issue."

But Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain said the police ran the risk of infringing on children's privacy. He warned: "There is a difference between the police being concerned or believing a person may be at risk of recruitment and a person actually engaging in unlawful, terrorist activity.

"That said, clearly in recent years some people have been lured by terrorist propaganda emanating from al-Qa'ida-inspired groups. It would seem that a number of Muslim youngsters have been seduced by that narrative and all of us, including the Government, have a role to play in making sure that narrative is seen for what it is: a nihilistic one which offers no hope, only death and destruction."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are committed to stopping people becoming or supporting terrorists or violent extremists. The aim of the Channel project is to directly support vulnerable people by providing supportive interventions when families, communities and networks raise concerns about their behaviour."

Senate Rubber Stamps National Enslavement Bill

The Senate last night rubber stamped a nightmare
domestic draft bill that legislates mandatory national service and
creates an “army” of at least 7 million civilian enforcers working at
the the behest of the government, while also containing language that
threatens to ban free speech and the right to protest.

Last week, we reported on the House passage of the  Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, known as the GIVE Act, which was carried with a 321-105 margin vote.

A passage contained in section 6104 of the original
House version entitled “Duties,” in subsection B6, states that a
commission will be set up to investigate, “Whether a workable, fair,
and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able
young people could be developed.” This language has been dropped from
the version passed by the Senate.

However, Section 120 of the bill discusses the “Youth Engagement Zone Program” and states that “service learning” will be “a mandatory
part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the
local educational agency.” This part remains in the version passed by
the Senate.

Roles which will be staffed by members of the programs,
labeled “Required National Service Corps,” include “criminal justice,”
“environmental stewardship,” and “public safety”.
Aside from the programs aimed at college students and young people,
others will be specifically targeted towards, “Retired and other former
law enforcement, fire, rescue, and emergency personnel, and other
individuals with backgrounds in disaster preparedness, relief, and
recovery.”

The bill was rubber stamped by the Senate last night in a 74 to 14 vote, a move that creates “An army
dispersed to help with education, health services and the environment,
(which) would vastly enlarge the notion of “community organizing,” and
allow, as Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, said tonight,
for about 7 million people to be engaged in such work,” reports the New York Times.

References to the program as the creation of a civilian “army” have dominated mainstream news coverage of the legislation.

7 million members of this civilian “army” equates to
about one member for every 50 Americans, a similar figure to the number
of East Germans who collaborated with the Stasi and informed on their
own citizens during the cold war.

The GIVE Act is just one of many pieces of legislation
that vastly expand service organizations in line with Obama’s agenda to
create a “national civilian security force”.

In January we also reported on the introduction by the Department of Defense of a “civilian expeditionary workforce” that will see American civilians trained and equipped to deploy overseas in support of worldwide military missions.

The DoD report states, “Management retains the authority to direct and assign civilian employees, either voluntarily, involuntarily, or on an unexpected basis to accomplish the DoD mission.”
Though the civilian expeditionary workforce program is restricted to
DoD employees, similar programs have already been established for
public sector workers.
One such program has seen hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and utility workers recently trained and dispatched as “Terrorism Liaison Officers” in Colorado, Arizona and California to watch for “suspicious activity” which is later fed into a secret government database.
Similar initiatives have been introduced in other western countries, including recently in the UK with the announcement that MI5 is
currently training up to 60,000 UK citizens as part a civilian network
of terrorist spotters, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and
home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

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In addition, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, publicly stated his intention to help create “universal civil defense training” in 2006.

In an interview with Ben Smith of the New York Daily
News, Emanuel outlined the agenda for military-style training,
essentially a domestic draft, aimed at preparing Americans for a
chemical or biological terrorist attack.

Asked by Smith about the universal service plan and
whether people would have to live in military barracks, Emanuel laughed
before responding, “We’re going to have universal civil defense
training, somewhere between the ages of 18 to 25 you will do three
months of training….but there can be nothing wrong with all Americans
having a joint similar experience of what we call civil defense
training or civil service in service of the country, in preparation,
which will give people a sense of what it means to be an American.”

“It will be a common experience and we will be
prepared, God forbid, God forbid that there is a chemical hit, another
terrorist act or natural disaster becoming more frequent - there’ll be
a body of citizens who are ready and capable and trained - that’s all
you have to think about,” said Emanuel before smugly declaring, “We’re
all here for you OK? It’s a circle of love.”
Asked if the training would be military style, with people wearing
uniforms, Emanuel stated, “If you’re worried about are you going to
have to do 50 jumping jacks the answer is yes,” adding that the service
could be done through state national guard.

Shockingly, the GIVE legislation also contains language that could completely demolish the 1st amendment.

The 12th amendment to the act states, “Amendment to
prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation;
organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and
assist, promote, or deter union organizing.”

As Gary Wood writes,
“Those in support of this legislation will argue this amendment is
limited in scope and is not meant to interfere with the rights of
citizens to protest, petition, boycott, or strike in resistance to
government proposed laws. However, the people associated through
service under the GIVE Act are considered volunteers, still free
citizens, yet it will be unlawful for them to take part in any protests
against any legislation. This is as close to a sedition act, a
violation of 1st Amendment rights, as has been proposed in recent
history. A basic right as a part of our natural, inalienable rights, is
to resist government. Our founders not only knew it was a right but it
was a responsibility. This legislation begins to break that down
significantly.”

Fears about Obama’s plans to create involuntary
servitude and domestic spy squads were first stoked in July 2008, when
Obama told a rally in Colorado Springs, “We cannot continue to rely on
our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve
set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that is just
as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.”

Despite denials that Obama plans to institute a mandatory program of national service, his original change.gov website stated
that Americans would be “required” to complete “50 hours of community
service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community
service in college every year”. The text was only later changed to
state that Americans would be “encouraged” to undertake such programs.

Numerous other national service bills have been introduced
which target everyone from schoolchildren to the elderly. They include
the Service For All Ages Initiative, the Summer of Service Act, the
Semester of Service Act, the Encore Service Act and the ACTION Act.

Regarding the GIVE Act, “The bill’s opponents — and
there are only a few in Congress — say it could cram ideology down the
throats of young “volunteers,” many of whom could be forced into
service since the bill creates a “Congressional Commission on Civic
Service,” reports Fox.

“We contribute our time and money under no government
coercion on a scale the rest of the world doesn’t emulate and probably
can’t imagine,” said Luke Sheahan, contributing editor for the Family
Security Foundation. “The idea that government should order its people
to perform acts of charity is contrary to the idea of charity and it
removes the responsibility for charity from the people to the
government, destroying private initiative.”

Lee Cary of the conservative American Thinker warns
that Obama’s agenda is to, “tap into the already active volunteerism of
millions of Americans and recruit them to become cogs in a gigantic
government machine grinding out his social re-engineering agenda.”

The passage of such shocking legislation with barely a
whimper from political activist groups goes to show how well the
corporate media has performed in camouflaging the legislation with
flowery characterizations of helpful volunteerism, when in reality the
bill creates the pretext for mandatory national service and the
creation of a multi-million man domestic civil defense unit who will be
tasked with spying on their fellow Americans under the justification of
protecting the country from terrorism.

    
China's top banker proposes new world reserve currency
Stephen C. Webster
Published: Monday March 23, 2009



Print This  Email This   
UPDATE (at bottom): Moscow supports IMF super-currency


In an essay published Monday, the head of China's central bank proposed a plan to displace the American dollar as the world's standard and replace it with a global reserve currency operated from the International Monetary Fund.

"Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, argued that what he called a super-sovereign reserve currency would not only eliminate the risks inherent in currencies such as the dollar, which are backed only by the credit of the issuing country and not by gold or silver, but would also make it possible to manage global liquidity," reported the Times Online.

"But that's unlikely to happen, says Robert Scott, senior international economist with the Economic Policy Institute," reported Forbes. "'It's partly posturing, it's partly buyer's remorse,' he said, noting China, at some point, is going to have to let its yuan currency rise in value relative to the dollar's current price – likely by upwards of 30.0%. That means China's investments in U.S. dollars, via Treasuries, would lose a third of their value in yuan terms.

"'hey're getting hammered,' Scott said. Chinese leaders' heavy investment in the U.S. economy has exposed them to domestic criticism."

"Zhou made his call in an essay that appeared on the website of People's Bank of China, China's central bank, on Monday," reported the Washington Post. "It was clearly timed to make a splash in the run-up to the G20 meeting that starts in London on April 2.

"Calling the use of the dollar as the world's benchmark currency 'a rare special case in history,' Zhou urged the 'creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency.' Zhou said the reserve currency, managed by the IMF, should be 'disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run.'"

The IMF would operate such a currency via its "Special Drawing Right," created in 1969 with "the potential to act as a super-sovereign reserve currency," reported Times Online.

"The role of the SDR has not been put into full play due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses. However, it serves as the light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system," Zhou wrote in his essay.

He also emphasized his hope for the IMF currency's supremacy over other dominant world benchmarks, such as the euro and the yen.

The technical and political hurdles to implementing the proposal are enormous, so even if backed by other nations, the proposal is unlikely to change the dollar's role in the short term.

"'The re-establishment of a new and widely accepted reserve currency with a stable valuation benchmark may take a long time,' Mr. Zhou said" in a report by the Wall St. Journal. "In remarks earlier Monday, one of Mr. Zhou's deputies, Hu Xiaolian, also said that the dollar's dominant position in international trade and investment is unlikely to change in the near future. Ms. Hu is in charge of reserve management as the head of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

"A spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury declined to comment on Mr. Zhou's views."
UPDATE: Moscow supports IMF currency


In a little-circulated March 16 statement, the Kremlin said it will propose the IMF-based currency at April's G20 meeting in London.

"The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a 'superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community,' the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site," reported the Moscow Times.

"Russia also called for countries whose currencies currently have reserve status to adopt international rules on fiscal and macroeconomic discipline," noted Reuters.
 

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French unions have claimed that up to
three million people have taken part in street protests amid a national
strike against France's economic policies.
Police gave an estimate of 1.2 million people at rallies nationwide.
Schools have been closed and public transport disrupted, with demonstrations held in about 200 towns.
Unions are demanding more is spent to protect workers in the
recession. Unemployment has reached two million and is expected to rise
further.
..Union members marched towards the Place de la
Nation in Paris behind a banner that read: "United against the crisis,
defend employment, spending power and public services."





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We have a president who aggravates the crisis by making the wrong economic and social choices Benoit Hamon, Socialist Party .. Grim mood behind France's banners .... French strike: Your views ..

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"They have a profound sense of social injustice," said Jean-Claude
Mailly, head of the large Force Ouvriere union, "and that, I think, is
something that neither the government nor the employers have
understood."
Benoit Hamon, a spokesman for the French Socialist Party
spokesman said France was experiencing similar problems to other
countries, but that the situation was being made worse by President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
"We have a president who aggravates the crisis by making the
wrong economic and social choices, by his deafness regarding the
general dissatisfaction," said Mr Hamom.
"He refuses to give answers regarding layoffs, regarding the
cost of living, regarding the way to objectively avoid the rise in job
losses in the public sector or in the public health system."
Marches were also being held in Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble and many other towns and cities.
Noel Kouici, demonstrating in Marseilles, said protesters had a "grudge" against the government.
"Of course we are angry against the government when you see the
way they serve the banks and leave the people starving and losing their
jobs," he said.
But the deputy mayor of Marseille, Roland Blum, told the BBC the government had done a lot to help people.
"Of course I understand the distress of people who've lost or
are going to lose their jobs, but what I think is necessary is that we
all work together," he said.
There protests were largely peaceful but minor scuffles were reported in several cities later in the evening.
In Paris, police used tear gas to disperse small groups of youths who were setting fire to rubbish bins and throwing bottles.
It is the second time in two months that major demonstrations
have been held, following a similar display in January which drew about
a million protesters.
Beleaguered industries
The strikes began on Wednesday evening on transport networks.

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French commuters face a limited rail service because of the strike

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The national rail operator, SNCF, cancelled 40% of high-speed trains and half of regional services.
A third of flights out of Paris's Orly airport have been
cancelled, while a tenth of France's electricity output has been shut
down with workers on strike.
However, buses and the Metro rail system in Paris were running
normally, thanks to a new law enforcing a minimum transport service
during strikes,.
But with many schools and public buildings shut for the day, the number of workers travelling into the capital was reduced.
Private-sector firms were also expecting a depleted workforce,
with staff from the beleaguered car industry, oil and retail sectors
taking part in the strike.
Rising unemployment
The unions say the 26bn euro ($35bn; £24.5bn) stimulus package
for France's struggling economy, unveiled by Mr Sarkozy in December,
does not go far enough.





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FRENCH UNIONS vs GOVERNMENT Union demands Increase minimum wage Reverse 50% cap on income tax Suspend public sector job cuts Measures to protect employment Government stimulus plan 11bn euros to help businesses improve cashflows 11bn euros of direct state investment 4bn euros of investment by state-owned firms in modernisation 2.65bn euros of tax breaks, and increases in family welfare and short-term unemployment benefits .. In pictures: French strikes .... French divided by strikes ..

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A further 2.4bn euros ($3.2bn; £2.3bn) of measures, including tax
breaks and social benefits, presented by Mr Sarkozy after January's
strike has failed to placate them.
They want him to increase the minimum wage and scrap his plans to cut public-sector jobs.
Recent polls show three-quarters of French people support the strikers.
Many commuters on Thursday said they backed the action, but hoped it would be short-lived.
"Fundamentally I agree, but too much is too much," one was
quoted as saying. "There are strikes in the transport sector too often
and we have to put up with them."
Mr Sarkozy said on Wednesday that he "understands the concerns
of the French people" but has ruled out plans for further measures.
Unemployment is likely to shoot up to 10% in the next 12 months
with a further 350,000 lay-offs expected by the end of this year.
Many people are angry that big companies like the oil giant
Total is making staff redundant while simultaneously announcing record
profits, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says.

Obama: 'We must bring this deficit down'..

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RAW STORY Published: Saturday March 21, 2009		.... ....<[[iframe]] src="http://www.reddit.com/button_content?t=2&width=51&url=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory.com%2Fnews%2F2008%2FObama_We_must_bring_this_deficit_0321.html" frameborder="0" height="69" scrolling="no" width="51">......<[[iframe]] src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.php?u=http%3A//rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_We_must_bring_this_deficit_0321.html&t=The%20Raw%20Story%20%7C%20Obama%3A%20%27We%20must%20bring%20this%20deficit%20down%27" frameborder="0" height="80" scrolling="no" width="52">..
Print This  Email This	.... .. .. ..

Congressional Budget Office predicts $9.3 trillion deficit in 10 years under Obama's budget

US
President Barack Obama defended his budget plans Saturday, insisting
that he remained committed to halving the deficit within four years
despite new data showing it was bigger than expected.



"In total, our budget would bring discretionary spending for domestic
programs as a share of the economy to its lowest level in nearly half a
century," Obama said in his weekly radio address.



"And we will continue making these tough choices in the months and
years ahead so that as our economy recovers, we do what we must to
bring this deficit down."



Friday, the Congressional Budget Office said the budget would produce
an enormous deficit of $9.3 trillion in the next decade: "much more
than the White House has predicted," reported the International Herald Tribune.



The president said his administration was scouring every corner of the
budget to produce two trillion dollars in deficit reductions over the
next decade.



The comments came as Congress was poised to launch debate next week on
the 3.55-trillion-dollar multiyear budget unveiled by Obama's
administration last month.



But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecast Friday
the deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars this year under the Obama
proposal, quadrupling the 2008 record shortfall.



The CBO said its latest budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which
ends on September 30, would amount to 13.1 percent of the country's
total economic output.



Since its early January estimate of a 1.2-trillion-dollar gap, the CBO
said the enactment of the 787-billion-dollar stimulus plan, other
measures to revive the economy and additional factors had hiked deficit
projections for 2009 and 2010 by over 400 billion dollars.



Republicans immediately seized on the report to blast Obama's economic
policies. "It's worse than even the most pessimistic predictions for
this budget," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.



But Obama moved swiftly to rebut his critics point by point, arguing
that his economic proposals offered a long-term solution to America's
structural problems and not "a wish list of priorities that I picked
out of thin air.



"They are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this
economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for
too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign
oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit," the president noted.



He said the United States must reduce its dependence on foreign oil by
developing wind and solar power, advanced biofuels, clean coal, as well
as fuel-efficient cars and trucks.



According to Obama, the nation also must renew its commitment to complete and competitive education for every child.



"In this global economy, we know the countries that out-educate us
today will out-compete us tomorrow," he said, "and we know that our
students are already falling behind their counterparts in places like
China."



The president said Americans also have to enact serious health care
reform that will bring down costs and ensure the quality of service. He
pointed out that some businesses had been forced to close their doors
or ship jobs overseas because they could not afford health insurance.



Obama urged lawmakers not to shy away from the magnitude of problems
they were facing, saying that Americans were watching them waiting for
them to lead.



"Let's show them that we are equal to the task before us, and let's
pass a budget that puts this nation on the road to lasting prosperity,"
he said.

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Launching Lifeboats Before the Ship Sinks

On March 19 the New York Times reported:
“The Fed said it would purchase an additional $750 billion worth of
government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, on top of the $500
billion that it is currently in the process of buying. In addition, the
Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury
securities over the next six months.”

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	If the US government is forced to print money to cover the high costs of its wars and bailouts, things could fall apart very quickly.

The Federal Reserve says that its purchase of $1 trillion in
existing bonds is part of its plan to revive the economy.  Another way
to view the Fed’s announcement is to see it as a preemptive rescue.  Is
the Fed rescuing banks from their bond portfolios prior to the
destruction of bond prices by inflation?
The answer to this question probably lies in the answer to the
unanswered question of how the unprecedented sizes of the FY 2009 and
FY 2010 federal budget deficits will be financed.  Neither the US
savings rate nor the trade surpluses of our major foreign lenders  are
sufficient.
I know of only two ways of financing the looming monster deficits. 
One, courtesy of Pam Martens, is that the federal deficits could be
financed by further flight from equities and other investments.
This is a possibility.  If the mortgage-back security problem is
real and not contrived, the next shock should arise from commercial
real estate.  Stores are closing in shopping centers, and vacancies are
rising in office buildings.  Without rents, the mortgages can’t be paid.
Another scare and another big drop in the stock market will set off a second “flight to quality” and finance the budget deficits.
The other way is to print money.  John Williams (shadowstats.com)
thinks that the budget deficits will be financed by monetizing debt. 
The Federal Reserve will buy most of the new bonds and create demand
deposits for the Treasury.  In effect, the money supply will grow by
the amount of Fed purchases of new Treasury debt.  Printing money to
finance the government’s budget normally leads to high inflation and
high interest rates.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
• 

The
initial impact of the announcement of the Fed’s plan to purchase
existing debt was to drive up the bond prices.  However, if the
reserves poured into the banking system by the bond purchases result in
new money growth, and if the Fed purchases the new debt issues to
finance the governments’ budget deficits, the outlook for bond prices
and the dollar becomes poor.
It will be interesting to see how the currency markets view the problem.  The New York Times reported that “the dollar plunged about 3 percent against other major currencies” in response to the Fed’s announcement.
If the exchange value of the dollar works its way down, it will
complicate the financing of the trade deficit and impact the decisions
of foreigners who hold large stocks of US dollar debt.  The premier of
China recently expressed his concern about the safety of his country’s large investment in US dollar debt.
If the US government is forced to print money to cover the high
costs of its wars and bailouts, things could fall apart very quickly.

Netanyahu envisions ‘major’ war in coming months
Text size

Press TV
March 17, 2009
Amid lingering talks of war on Iran, Israel’s prime minister-designate raises the alarm about a major military conflict in the coming months.
The soon-to-be prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that "a national emergency" such as Israel’s involvement in a major war would help him in his frantic attempts to form a new ruling coalition.
Following the inconclusive February 20 elections, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, the hawkish leader of Likud, was tasked with piecing together a new Israeli government.
Netanyahu, who is known as "Mr. Iran" in Israeli circles, has so far failed to gain the trust and support of opposition parties of Kadima and Labor.
According to a report carried by Debka, which is believed to have close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, Bibi is planning to settle for a provisional administration before calling for another early election in six months.
"His main consideration is that Israel expects to be embroiled in a major military confrontation in the next few months with Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah — or all three at once," read the Debka report.
"A national emergency" would then compel Israeli rivals to join Bibi’s government, unnamed political sources were quoted as saying.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The military conflict prediction by the Israeli prime minister-designate comes as earlier on February 16, an annual defense work plan presented to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi for the year 2009 described Iran as "the No.1 threat the IDF is now preparing for."
The report tasked the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) with reinforcing its strategic aerial capabilities, while zooming in on the development of "remote-piloted vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles", as well as "infrastructural investments in intelligence and communications devices."
Israel, believed to be the only possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, describes Iran’s nuclear activities as a threat to its existence.
Israeli officials claim that considering the pace at which Iran is moving ahead with its nuclear program it would become a nuclear power by the end of 2009 and argue that a military attack is a legitimate option for taking out the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
As a response to long-standing Israeli war rhetoric, Iran has moved to upgrade its defenses and has reportedly opted to clinch a deal with Russia to acquire a sophisticated air defense system — the S-300.
Earlier on Tuesday, however, a report revealed that Moscow might take a step and shelve the delivery of the controversial air defense system to Iran as Russia is currently seeking to turn a "new page" in its ties with the US.
"Such a possibility is not excluded. The question [of S-300 delivery] must be decided at a political level, especially as the contract was worked out on a purely commercial basis," Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The freeze in the delivery of the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile is expected to help ensure the success of an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites.
Western military experts have estimated that the controversial system would rule out the possibility of any such strike on Iranian facilities.
"If Tehran obtained the S-300, it would be a game-changer in military thinking for tackling Iran," says long-time Pentagon advisor Dan Goure.

Bank of England: Britain Heading Towards 1930s-Style Depression

The country is displaying early symptoms of being trapped in a
so-called “debt deflation trap” where families find themselves pushed
further and further into the red every month, according to a Bank
report published today.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
• 

The
stark warning will cause serious concerns, since it was this
combination of falling prices and soaring debt burdens that plagued the
US in the 1930s. The Bank is using its Quarterly Bulletin to highlight the threat
posed to the economy by deflation – where prices fall each year rather
than rise.
Although inflation is currently in positive territory, it is expected to become negative in the coming months.
The Bank is worried that this may combine with high levels of indebtedness to squeeze families further.
It says that families with high debts could fall prey to the debt
deflation trap. This means that the cost of their debts, which are
fixed, would rise compared to average prices throughout the economy.
While inflation erodes debts, deflation makes them relatively higher.
The Bank’s paper suggests that Britain is particularly at risk
because there is a high proportion of families with significant levels
of debt, and many of them are on fixed mortgage rate, which means they
will not benefit from rate cuts.
Britons’ total personal debt – the amount owed on mortgages, loans
and credit cards – is, at £1.46 trillion, more than the value of what
the country produces in a year.
Read entire article

Obama’s Gun Ban List Is Out

Alan Korwin

Infowars

March 13, 2009
Here it is, folks, and it is bad news. The framework for legislation
is always laid, and the Democrats have the votes to pass anything they
want to impose upon us. They really do not believe you need anything
more than a brick to defend your home and family. Look at the list and
see how many you own. Remember, it is registration, then confiscation.
It has happened in the UK, in Australia, in Europe, in China, and what
they have found is that for some reason the criminals do not turn in
their weapons, but will know that you did.
Remember, the first step in establishing a dictatorship is to disarm the citizens.
Gun-ban list proposed. Slipping below the radar (or under the
short-term memory cap), the Democrats have already leaked a gun-ban
list, even under the Bush administration when they knew full well it
had no chance of passage (HR 1022, 110th Congress). It serves as a
framework for the new list the Brady’s plan to introduce shortly. I
have an outline of the Brady’s current plans and targets of
opportunity. It’s horrific. They’re going after the courts, regulatory
agencies, firearms dealers and statutes in an all out effort to
restrict we the people. They’ve made little mention of criminals. Now
more than ever, attention to the entire Bill of Rights is critical. Gun
bans will impact our freedoms under search and seizure, due process,
confiscated property, states’ rights, free speech, right to assemble
and more, in addition to the Second Amendment. The Democrats current
gun-ban-list proposal (final list will be worse):
Rifles (or copies or duplicates):

M1 Carbine,

Sturm Ruger Mini-14,

AR-15,

Bushmaster XM15,

Armalite M15,

AR-10,

Thompson 1927,

Thompson M1;

AK,

AKM,

AKS,

AK-47,

AK-74,

ARM,

MAK90,

NHM 90,

NHM 91,

SA 85,

SA 93,

VEPR;

Olympic Arms PCR;

AR70,

Calico Liberty ,

Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU,

Fabrique National FN/FAL,

FN/LAR, or FNC,

Hi-Point20Carbine,

HK-91,

HK-93,

HK-94,

HK-PSG-1,

Thompson 1927 Commando,

Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;

Saiga,

SAR-8,

SAR-4800,

SKS with detachable magazine,

SLG 95,

SLR 95 or 96,

Steyr AU,

Tavor,

Uzi,

Galil and Uzi Sporter,

Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle ( Galatz ).

Pistols (or copies or duplicates):

Calico M-110,

MAC-10,

MAC-11, or MPA3,

Olympic Arms OA,

TEC-9,

TEC-DC9,

TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10,

Uzi.

Shotguns (or copies or duplicates):

Armscor 30 BG,

SPAS 12 or LAW 12,

Striker 12,

Streetsweeper. Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):

A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has:

(i) a folding or telescoping stock,

(ii) a threaded barrel,

(iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see

below),

(iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud.

Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than

10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rim fire rifles).

A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a

detachable magazine, and has:

(i) a second pistol grip,

(ii) a threaded barrel,

(iii) a barrel shroud or

(iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and

(v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10

rounds.

A semiautomatic shotgun with:

(i) a folding or telescoping stock,

(ii) a pistol grip (see definition below),

(iii) the ability to accept a detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity

of more than 5 rounds, and

(iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.

Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the
proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any “semiautomatic rifle or
shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a
firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly
suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General.”
Note that Obama’s pick for this office, Eric Holder, wrote a brief
in the Heller case supporting the position that you have no right to
have a working firearm in your own home. In making this determination,
the bill says, “there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm
procured for use by the United States military or any law enforcement
agency is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, and a shall
not be determined to be particularly suitable for sporting purposes
solely because the firearm is suitable for use in a sporting event.” In
plain English this means that ANY firearm ever obtained by federal
officers or the military is not suitable for the public.
The last part is particularly clever, stating that a firearm doesn’t
have a sporting purpose just because it can be used for sporting
purpose — is that devious or what? And of course, “sporting purpose” is
a rights infringement with no constitutional or historical support
whatsoever, invented by domestic enemies of the right to keep and bear
arms to further their cause of disarming the innocent.
Respectfully submitted, Alan Korwin, Author Gun Laws of America http://www.gunlaws.com/gloa.htm
Forward or send to every gun owner you know…

Watch This, If You Want More Proof:

YouTube - CNN- Obama To BAN Guns SPREAD THIS FOLKS, PLZ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv3p2lLmjGk
A partial list of gun rights groups:
Gun Owners of America

http://gunowners.org/
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership

http://www.jpfo.org/
FREEDOM=GUNS

http://www.tcsn.net/doncicci/freedom.htm
National Rifle Association

http://www.nra.org/
Second Amendment Committee

http://www.libertygunrights.com/
Second Amendment Foundation

http://www.saf.org/
Second Amendment Sisters

http://www.2asisters.org/
Women Against Gun Control

http://www.wagc.com/
xxx

45 percent of world’s wealth destroyed

Megan Davies and Walden Siew

Reuters

March 13, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity company Blackstone Group LP
(BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of
the world’s wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
• 

“Between
40 and 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed in little
less than a year and a half,” Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan
Society. “This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime.”
But the U.S. government is committed to the preservation of
financial institutions, he said, and will do whatever it takes to
restart the economy.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to unfreeze credit
markets through a new program that will combine public and private
capital in a fund that would buy bank toxic assets of up to $1 trillion.
“In all likelihood, that will have the private sector buy troubled
assets to clean the banks out in terms of providing leverage … so that
we can get more money back into the banking system,” Schwarzman said.
He expects the private sector to end up making “some good money
doing that,” but added there were complex issues on how to price toxic
assets.
He put part of the blame for the financial crisis to credit rating agencies.
“What’s pretty clear is that, if you were looking for one culprit
out of the many, many, many culprits, you have to point your finger at
the rating agencies,” he said.
Read entire article

Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney..

..

Muriel Kane Published: Wednesday March 11, 2009		.... ....<[[iframe]] src="http://www.reddit.com/button_content?t=2&width=51&url=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory.com%2Fnews%2F2008%2FHersh_US_has_been_running_executive_0311.html" frameborder="0" height="69" scrolling="no" width="51">......<[[iframe]] src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.php?u=http%3A//rawstory.com/news/2008/Hersh_US_has_been_running_executive_0311.html&t=The%20Raw%20Story%20%7C%20Hersh%3A%20%27Executive%20assassination%20ring%27%20reported%20directly%20to%20Cheney" frameborder="0" height="80" scrolling="no" width="52">..
Print This  Email This	.... .. .. ..

Investigative
reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an
audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running
an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which
reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.



The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the
moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis"
whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under
Richard Nixon, continue to this day.



Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the
Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic
activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state.
Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."



Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations.
the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our
special operations community that is set up independently," he
explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney
days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no
oversight of it."



"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going
on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority,
they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the
CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and
leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."



Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange
after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell
about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it
may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most
skeptical."



Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads
for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.



As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described
the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando
units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted
last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.



However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh
revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President
Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.





Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording
of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.

look for a run on the banks soon.

aan/f
iceland 09.

Bill Seeks to Let FDIC Borrow up to $500 Billion

By DAMIAN PALETTA

WASHINGTON
-- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is moving to
allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to temporarily borrow as much
as $500 billion from the Treasury Department.
The Connecticut Democrat's effort -- which comes in response to
urging from FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- would give the FDIC
access to more money to rebuild its fund that insures consumers'
deposits, which have been hard hit by a string of bank failures.
Last
week, the FDIC proposed raising fees on banks in order to build up its
deposit insurance fund, which had just $19 billion at the end of 2008.
That idea provoked protests from banks, which said such a burden would
worsen their already shaken condition. The Dodd bill, if it becomes
law, would represent an alternative source of funding.
Mr. Dodd's bill could also give the FDIC more firepower to help
address "systemic risks" in the economy, potentially creating another
source of bailout funds in addition to the $700 billion already
appropriated by Congress.
Mr. Bernanke said in a Feb. 2 letter to Mr. Dodd that such a
"mechanism would allow the FDIC to respond expeditiously to emergency
situations that may involve substantial risk to the financial system."
The FDIC would be able to borrow as much as $500 billion until the
end of 2010 if the FDIC, Fed, Treasury secretary and White House agree
such money is warranted. The bill would allow it to borrow $100 billion
absent that approval. Currently, its line of credit with the Treasury
is $30 billion.
The FDIC's deposit-insurance fund has fallen precipitously with 25
bank failures in 2008 and 16 so far in 2009. Some bank failures have a
bigger impact on the fund than others, as IndyMac's failure cost the
fund more than $10 billion, while many others cost the fund less than
$100 million.
A 1991 law generally caps the amount of money the FDIC can borrow
from the Treasury at $30 billion, and the FDIC hasn't borrowed money
from the Treasury in more than a decade.
Ms. Bair said a change in the law would give the FDIC more options
to determine the best way to rebuild its depleted fund. In an
interview, she stressed that all insured deposits were already backed
by the "full faith and credit of the United States government."
A change in the law would ease "the mechanics of how seamlessly we
can access our lines of" funding. "I'm the kind of person that likes to
be prepared for all contingencies," she said.
Write to Damian Paletta at damian.paletta@wsj.com

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Diebold_voting_system_sported_delete_button_0304.html

why are people pussy footing around this subject when we know for a fact it's a set up?

a.a.n/f



More Than 8.3 Million U.S. Mortgages Are Under Water (Update2)
Email | Print | A A A

By Dan Levy

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- More than 8.3 million U.S. mortgage holders owed more on their loans in the fourth quarter than their property was worth as the recession cut home values by $2.4 trillion last year, First American CoreLogic said.

An additional 2.2 million borrowers will be underwater if home prices decline another 5 percent, First American, a Santa Ana, California-based seller of mortgage and economic data, said in a report today. Households with negative equity or near it account for a quarter of all mortgage holders.

“We have way too much supply and not enough demand,” Sam Khater, senior economist for First American, said in an interview. “People aren’t going to purchase a home as long as prices keep falling, and someone who is worried about their job isn’t going to purchase a home either.”

Prices in 20 U.S. cities fell 18.5 percent in December from a year earlier, the fastest drop on record, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Sales of previously owned homes, which account for about 90 percent of the market, fell in January to the lowest since 1997, and new-home purchases plunged to the lowest since records began in 1963, the National Association of Realtors and Commerce Department said.

The total value of residential properties in the U.S. fell to $19.1 trillion by the end of 2008, down from $21.5 trillion a year earlier, First American said. California lost more than $1.2 trillion in value last year, accounting for roughly half of the national decline in housing values.

California Leads

U.S. foreclosure filings exceeded 250,000 for the 10th straight month in January, RealtyTrac Inc. reported, and payrolls plunged by 598,000, pushing the unemployment rate to the highest since 1992, according to the Labor Department.

An average of 230,000 borrowers a month slid to negative equity in the fourth quarter of 2008, First American said. California led with 43,000, followed by Texas with 16,000, Nevada with 15,000, and Florida and Virginia each with 14,000. New negative equity borrowers may rise to 250,000 a month in the first half of the year if prices continue falling, Khater said.

President Barack Obama has proposed a $275 billion plan intended to help as many as 9 million troubled borrowers refinance or restructure their loans. About $75 billion would be used to rescue homeowners by agreeing to pay lenders for altering troubled mortgages while reducing borrowers interest rates as low as 2 percent.

New Guidelines

The initiative would require applicants for loan modifications to fully document their income with pay stubs and tax returns, and sign an affidavit attesting to “financial hardship,” according to documents released by the U.S. Treasury in Washington today. The second, larger part of the plan relies on government-run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance loans.

Obama also supports revised U.S. bankruptcy rules that would let judges reduce mortgages on primary residences to fair-market value, if borrowers pay their debts under a court-ordered plan.

“None of this is enough for people who are so upside down that they won’t have positive equity,” Khater said. More than 2.2 million U.S. borrowers have “severe negative equity,” or loans worth 125 percent or more of the property’s value.

The geographical distribution of underwater mortgages is broadening beyond states in the U.S. West and Florida, where rapid price appreciation was fueled by subprime lending, to areas in the South and Midwest, Khater said. Cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Cleveland will have an increasing share of homes with negative equity if home values drop, he said.

California Leads

California had the most underwater borrowers in the fourth quarter with 1.9 million, followed by Florida with 1.3 million, Texas with 497,000, Michigan with 459,000 and Ohio with 435,000, First American said.

Nevada had the highest share, at 55 percent. Michigan was second at 40 percent, followed by Arizona at 32 percent and Florida and California at 30 percent, said First American.

New York had the lowest share of underwater mortgages at 4.7 percent. Connecticut was at 9.1 percent and New Jersey was at 9.7 percent.

First American compiles its negative equity report from almost 42 million properties with mortgages and covers single- family homes, cooperatives, condominiums, town homes and attached properties up to four units. The estimates account for 85 percent of all mortgages in the U.S. and the data includes homes priced from $70,000 to $1.25 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 4, 2009 10:45 EST


xxxx

Stocks Rise Around the World; Commodities Gain, Treasuries Fall
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By Cristina Alesci and Jeff Kearns

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose around the world, commodity prices rallied and Treasuries fell on speculation China will broaden efforts to boost growth and U.S. lawmakers will reach agreement on a plan to stem mortgage defaults.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed to its highest level of the day after General Electric Co., which had plunged below $6 for the first time since 1991, said it doesn’t need to raise capital. Alcoa Inc., Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. surged more than 9 percent as a former statistics chief said China’s Premier Wen Jiabao will announce a new stimulus package tomorrow. Caterpillar Inc., the biggest maker of earthmoving equipment, surged 15 percent.

“Stocks are cheap and the sun will rise again,” said Lawrence Creatura, a Rochester, New York-based money manager at Federated Investors Inc., which oversees $407 billion. “There’s a ray of sunshine in two areas: China and housing. It’s an incremental positive for both commodities and housing.”

The S&P 500 increased 2.4 percent to 712.95 at 11:39 a.m. in New York after closing below 700 for the first time since October 1996 yesterday. The Dow average added 150.53 points, or 2.2 percent, to 6,876.55. The MSCI World Index rose 2.6 percent to 723.57, as benchmark indexes from Hong Kong to London climbed more than 2 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped 6.1 percent, the most in four months.

Treasuries fell, sending yields on 10-year bonds up 13 basis points to 3.01 percent. The yen slipped against the dollar as the rally in stocks curbed demand for assets perceived as safe.

Cheapest Since 1986

The S&P 500 traded for 12 times company profits from the past 10 years as of yesterday’s close, the cheapest since 1986, according to data compiled by Yale University professor Robert Shiller. He uses a decade of earnings to smooth out short-term fluctuations.

Energy stocks in the S&P 500 advanced 4.1 percent, the most among 10 industries, followed by raw-material producers at 3.8 percent.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest energy company, added 2.5 percent to $65.99. Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, jumped 11 percent to $31.64. Alcoa, the biggest U.S. aluminum producer, gained 10 percent to $6.08.

Mining companies BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata Plc rallied more than 10 percent in Europe.

Copper futures advanced on optimism metals consumption in China may pick up as government stimulus packages take effect. Nickel, aluminum, zinc and lead also climbed.

‘Cram-Down’

Standard Pacific Corp. jumped 8 percent to lead gains in homebuilders as House Democrats reached a deal on mortgage legislation. A summary of a revamped bill showed mortgage “cram- down” legislation that stalled in Congress last week will require homeowners to exhaust all options before they could use bankruptcy to reduce their loan payments.

The House of Representatives may vote as early as March 5 on the amended legislation, which would let federal judges lengthen loan terms, cut principal payments and reduce interest rates for borrowers in Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters late yesterday.

GE shares dropped below $6 for the first time since December 1991, plunging as much as 18 percent. The stock pared its decline in half after the company said in an e-mail to investors that concerns it needs to raise capital are “pure speculation.”

Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said GE is not another American International Group Inc., the insurer that was seized by the government. GE’s shares are being driven down by selling by sovereign wealth funds anticipating a downgrade of the company’s AAA credit rating, Gross told CNBC.

‘Death Spiral’

“It’s too much like a death spiral,” said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners in St. Louis, which has $400 million under management and doesn’t own GE shares. “The market is worried that the debt is simply going to overwhelm the declining asset base.”

Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index climbed 3.1 percent, rebounding from the lowest level since 1996. Zurich Financial Services AG climbed after JPMorgan said Switzerland’s biggest insurer’s “solvency position is strong.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 percent as China’s Jiangxi Copper Co. and Japan’s Seven & I Holdings Co. advanced. Wen will announce a new stimulus package tomorrow, adding to a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) spending plan, former Statistics Bureau head Li Deshui said today, without elaborating.

4 Trillion Yuan

The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 6.1 percent, the biggest gain since Nov. 10, when it climbed 7.2 percent after the government announced its 4 trillion yuan plan. China’s rally helped send the MSCI Emerging Markets Index 2.5 percent higher.

Earnings for 245 companies in the Stoxx 600 that have reported earnings since Jan. 12 have dropped 91 percent, according to Bloomberg data. That compares to a 58 percent contraction in profit for the 465 companies that have reported results in the S&P 500 during the same period.

“The news has never been worse on Main Street and markets are holding up better than in the past, it may be a sign we are bottoming out,” said James Paulsen, who helps oversee $220 billion as chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cristina Alesci in New York at calesci2@bloomberg.net; Jeff Kearns in New York at jkearns3@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 4, 2009 11:43 EST


BUT,

Finland passes unlimited internet surveillance law

* Text size
* Larger
* Smaller

Uutiset
March 4, 2009

Parliament has passed the controversial reforms to the data protection law, the so-called “Lex Nokia” bill. The vote was 96 for, 56 against.

The hotly debated reforms caused arguments within the government coalition, but also caused a crack in the Green League.

Notably, three Green MPs who had previously voted against the bill abstained from the vote: Johanna Karimäki, Ville Niinistö and Kirsi Ojansuu. They were just three of the 47 parliamentarians who decided not to cast a vote.

* A d v e r t i s e m e n t
* efoods

The bill, dubbed “Lex Nokia” because of the mobile phone giant’s perceived advocacy for the law, angered unions and privacy rights advocates.

The law allows employers and other organisations that provide users with Internet service and e-mail to monitor IP traffic data. In practice, this means that employers can see who workers are e-mailing, when the message was sent, and the size of the e-mails and attachments. It will not allow them to read the contents of e-mails.

Businesses say that this will allow them to clamp down on industrial espionage.

But opponents decry the measures as ineffective for preventing espionage, since any wily spy will simply use a personal e-mail account. They fear that the law will allow employers too invasive monitoring rights, such as watching what Internet sites employees access.

 ofcorse they fucking erased the tapes...who would keep tapes of you rapeing children infront of their parents and you cutting people's fingers off and hitting them with cordlessdrills all over their body to make them talk?

some kind of pervert...?
and why should we investigate?
the tapes were made to show the boss.
so proscicution would just lead to the boss.....but now we have a boss man.

meet the new boss,same as the old.

anton alfred newcombe/fjordson
island 09

"i may be a shity drunk,but i don't fucking lie...like obama does..."
Feds probably won't charge anyone for destroying CIA tapes..

..

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Print This  Email This	.... .. .. ..

Interrogators, incinerators likely to escape charges

Even
though he has yet to complete his investigation, a federal prosecutor
has already signaled that he is unlikely to indict any CIA employees
for incinerating 92 secret interrogation tapes that purportedly show
suspects being waterboarded.



Lost in the flood of reports about the CIA admitting the destruction of
92 interrogation tapes in a government legal filing were new and
potentially devastating details. Sources close to an ongoing probe told The Washington Post that they expect no one at the CIA will be charged.



Obama CIA Director Leon Panetta previously told a confirmation
committee that there were no plans to prosecute those involved in
former President George W. Bush's interrogation program, which critics
-- and Panetta
-- describe as torture. But the new revelation that federal prosecutor
John Durham won't charge CIA operations employees with what appears to
have been obstruction of justice, raises the stakes even higher.



In fact, the CIA said it destroyed the tapes to protect the identities of agents involved in the interrogation program.



Further, the government knows who ordered the tapes destruction.
Then-directorate of operations chief Jose A. Rodriguez gave the order
to destroy the tapes in 2005. Since then, the CIA says they've
discontinued taping detainees.



Federal prosecutor John "Durham appears unlikely to secure criminal
indictments against Rodriguez and other agency operations personnel
involved in the conduct," three sources told the Post. "In recent
months, the prosecutor has focused special attention on CIA legal
advisers who reviewed court directives and on agency lawyers who told
Rodriguez that getting rid of the recordings was sloppy and unwise but
that it did not amount to a clear violation of the law, the sources
said.



The prosecutor has also obtained e-mail messages and internal memoranda
that detail the "jarring or unpleasant substance" or the
interrogations, the report added -- which purportedly include
waterboarding.



"At issue are recordings that chronicle the interrogation of two senior
al-Qaeda members... while they underwent a simulated drowning practice
known as waterboarding and in less hostile moments as they interacted
with agency employees or sat in their prison cells," government
officials speaking under the condition of anonymity said.



According to the letter
the government filed Monday disclosing the number of tapes destroyed,
the agency has asked for an extension until Friday to provide the names
of witnesses who might have viewed the tapes before they were
destroyed.