New Content: (03/26/2008)
Last Addition: (04/10/2008)
Departments
"If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation,
then by deflation, (i.e., the "business cycle") the banks and corporations
that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until
their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson, President of the
United States 1801-1809
A prominent engineer with 55 years experience, in charge of the design
of hundreds of major building projects including high rise offices,
former member of the California Seismic Safety Commission and former
member of the National Institute of Sciences Building Safety Council
(Marx Ayres) believes that the World Trade Centers were brought down by
controlled demolition (see also this)
Two professors of structural engineering at a prestigious Swiss
university (Dr. Joerg Schneider and Dr. Hugo Bachmann) said that, on
9/11, World Trade Center 7 was brought down by controlled demolition
(translation here)
Kamal S. Obeid, structural engineer, with a masters degree in
Engineering from UC Berkeley, of Fremont, California, says:
"Photos of the steel, evidence about how the buildings collapsed, the
unexplainable collapse of WTC 7, evidence of thermite in the debris as
well as several other red flags, are quite troubling indications of well
planned and controlled demolition"
Ronald H. Brookman, structural engineer, with a masters degree in
Engineering from UC Davis, of Novato California, writes:
"Why would all 110 stories drop straight down to the ground in about 10
seconds, pulverizing the contents into dust and ash - twice. Why would
all 47 stories of WTC 7 fall straight down to the ground in about seven
seconds the same day? It was not struck by any aircraft or engulfed in
any fire. An independent investigation is justified for all three
collapses including the surviving steel samples and the composition of
the dust."
Graham John Inman, structural engineer, of London, England, points out:
"WTC 7 Building could not have collapsed as a result of internal fire
and external debris. NO plane hit this building. This is the only case
of a steel frame building collapsing through fire in the world. The fire
on this building was small & localized therefore what is the cause?"
Paul W. Mason, structural engineer, of Melbourne, Australia, argues:
"In my view, the chances of the three buildings collapsing symmetrically
into their own footprint, at freefall speed, by any other means than by
controlled demolition, are so remote that there is no other plausible
explanation!"
Mills M. Kay Mackey, structural engineer, of Denver, Colorado, points
out:
"The force from the jets and the burning fuel could not have been
sufficient to make the building collapse. Why doesn't the media mention
that the 11th floor was completely immolated on February 13th, 1975? It
had the weight of nearly 100 stories on top of it but it did not
collapse?"
Haluk Akol, Structural Engineer and architect (ret.)
Charles Pegelow, structural engineer, of Houston, Texas (and see this)
Dennis Kollar, structural engineer, of West Bend, Wisconsin
Doyle Winterton, structural engineer (retired)
Michael T. Donly, P.E., structural engineer
William Rice, P.E., structural engineer, former professor of Vermont
Technical College
There are many other structural engineers who have questioned the
government's account in private. We support them and wish them courage
to discuss these vital issues publicly.
Last Saturday our sister organization, American Congress for Truth, sent
you the story below, “Jihad Comes to Wall Street.” One of our chapter
leaders emailed me and asked “how serious is this?” The answer is very,
very serious.
In the past two weeks I have talked to a few individuals whose
organizations have been researching this issue for some time. Consider
just one problem with sharia-compliant financing: the likelihood that
some of our investment and banking dollars will end up in the coffers of
terrorist organizations.
How? Because any financial institution that agrees to participate in
such financing is facing the prospect of having to divert 2.5% to as
much as 6% of its profits to Muslim charities. So what’s wrong with such
“philanthropy?”
Over the past several years, three major Muslim charities in America
have been shut down after investigations revealed they were funneling
charitable contributions to terrorist organizations. How many more
around the world are doing the same thing?
In other words, with sharia-compliant financing we might as well be
taking a portion of our interest, dividends, and capital gains, and
handing that money directly to terrorists.
Click on this link, http://www.terrapinn.com/2008/ifwna/, to visit a
website advertising a sharia-compliant conference. Take special note of
the sponsors, which include the Dow Jones and Standard and Poor’s.
Vladimir Lenin once noted that “the capitalists will sell us the rope
with which we will hang them.” Sharia-compliant financing goes one
better than that – we simply give them the money to hang us.
How to stop it? Education is necessary – but not sufficient. It will
take substantial, organized, grassroots pressure. A few years ago, Bank
of America let it be known it was going to actively market its products
to illegal immigrants, which the bank saw as an untapped market. A
fierce grassroots outcry followed, and to its credit Bank of America
listened and scrapped its plan.
As the ACT! for America membership and chapter network grows, we will be
able to exert the level of informed, organized opposition to sharia-compliant
financing that will send a clear message to financial institutions
looking to cash in on the oil wealth of the Middle East: Not with our
investment dollars.
This is one reason why you hear us say frequently that rolling back the
tide of Islamofascism is going to take organized, informed action by a
large grassroots citizen action network. Imagine a boycott by 1,000,000
ACT! for America members of a major American bank that has immersed
itself in sharia-compliant financing. They’ll get the message. For as
the saying goes, “if they won’t see the light, they need to feel the
heat.”
Comment: The US economy has lost over 200,000 jobs since the beginning of
the year. There are only about 120,000 US tech jobs being created each
year which only allow employment for about 1/3rd of those that graduate.
And this does not even begin to consider all of the tech workers that
have been sent to the welfare lines since the "Tech Bubble" burst in
early 2000. So then why does Clinton, Obama, McCain,
Congress, Corporate America and Billy Boy Gates continue to insist on
bringing in more H1-B's? As an emergency measure I am calling on
all activists to support my write-in candidacy for President so that I
can implement the "New Agenda for America" and
reestablish this republic to what our Founding Fathers originally
envisioned.
In the meantime you can tell
DHS how disgusted you are with their decision to extend H1-B stays in
the United States at the following link:
DOBBS: Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates, he's been calling for more foreign workers in this country for
some time. Now Bill Gates says the United States is in decline and that
a wealthy China in his words is a very good thing. Gates told the
meeting of the Inter American Devilment Bank in Miami, "If you care
about the human condition, then a richer China is better." But Gates
then said, "Economic and social advances in the rest of the world would
erode U.S. dominance and he thinks that's a good thing."
Businesses looking to hire cheap labor today celebrated a victory handed
to them by the Bush administration, of course. The Department of
Homeland Security is now changing the rules to extend visa states to
technology students. The extended stays will allow foreign students a
better chance of being hired here at a time when more and more Americans
are out of work. It will give as a matter of fact them more than two
years to find work.
Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Microsoft's Bill Gates wasn't shy making
his wishes known to congress last month.
BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN: There are a number of steps that
congress and the white house should take to address this problem
including extending the period that foreign students can work here after
graduation.
TUCKER: He got his wish. The Department of Homeland Security has now
announced new rules that allow foreign students graduating with degrees
in science, technology, engineering and math to stay and work for 2 1/2
years after graduation. It's a move that angered Senator Charles
Grassley who calls it "Corporate America's latest attempt to get around
the H-1B program." Critics of the program argue that such policies
undercut American graduates in those fields.
PAUL ALAMEDA, AFL-CIO: The projection is the growth in this
industry is about 120,000 jobs per year and this is in the high tech
meaning math and science degrees. And we're graduating in excess of
300,000 with bachelors, masters and PhD's from United States
universities.
TUCKER: Despite there been apparent oversupply, corporate America
continues to lobby to expand the H-1B program. And one former programmer
who now campaigns against the program, fears it's only a matter of time
before Gates gets his other wish, that caps on the H-1B visas are
abolished.
A 20-year moritorium on all immigration into
the United States
Why Lou Dobbs Should Demand A Stop To Legal Immigration
JOHN MIANO, ATTORNEY: We have created a system in Washington you know of
lobbyists and firmly entrenched politicians who in general are not
working in the interests of the American peek.
TUCKER: There are now two bills in congress that would more than double
the size of the H-1B program. They were introduced the day after Gates
testified last month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now there was a 60 day period of public comment on the new rule
extending foreign students' stay. The comments can be submitted at this
email address, rfs.regs@dhs.gov in your subject line.
DOBBS: We'll put it on the website.
TUCKER: You're going to put it up on the website.
DOBBS: You bet.
TUCKER: All right. Look at it because you need the subject line in
there.
DOBBS: I noticed it wasn't on the screen.
TUCKER: Well, no, that's fair, we should help people, if they want to
submit these comments be able to put them in.
I want to make one other point, Lou, here. This optional practical
training time, OPT is what it's called, has no wage provisions, no
protection and no protection for U.S. students.
DOBBS: Who introduced this legislation right after Gates went in and
testified?
TUCKER: Representative Gates out of Arizona.
DOBBS: Representative who?
TUCKER: Giffords out of Arizona and Lamar Smith out of Texas.
DOBBS: Lamar Smith out of Texas did that? TUCKER: Yes.
DOBBS: Lamar, you're smarter than this. This is amazing to me. This is
selling out the country. This man is on -- I mean what is he thinking
about? You can't imagine. He knows that seven out of the top ten
companies applying for H-1B visas are Indian companies in this country
for the specific purpose of bringing in cheap labor to which American
corporations can outsource jobs, middle class jobs. He knows this. And
he sat there with a straight face and testified before congress.
TUCKER: And said give me more. And they did.
DOBBS: Bill Gates, come on down, let's talk about this. I mean you
really -- I'm afraid I'm not going to be quite in awe of you like those
slobbering congressmen were there day who sat there and were in so in
awe of your billionaire self. It's ridiculous, this country has got to
start standing up for something and when we allow a guy who's the third
richest in the world, he's basically ordering up legislation.
TUCKER: And in defiance of every piece of study that's been done in the
last year, Lou, that says we are producing enough kids in math, science
and technology degrees.
DOBBS: Let me be clear. I want us to graduate far more students in
mathematics, far more students in natural sciences. I'm with anybody on
that one. But this business is just ridiculous and for these congressmen
to be going along with it; Congressman Giffords, Congressman Smith,
please come down and explain how in the world a U.S. congressman can
just fall in line at the beck and call of a billionaire from Bellevue.
The information will be on our website. We appreciate it.
Comment:
Could you even begin to imagine the following scenario. You get
pulled over by a cop who subsequently finds 400 pounds of Marijuana in
your car. You'd think you would probably be going straight to
jail, right? Not if you are an illegal Mexican alien drug
smuggler! Nope, if that is the case you would be released in time
to drive back to Mexico for supper. Marijuana needs to be
legalized for all adult Americans in order to destroy these Mexican drug
cartels which are infiltrating southern border city governments like a
cancer. And the "New Agenda for America"
would do just that.
Legal Marijuana for all Adults and Medical
Patients (under MERP Model)
The battle over that proposed
NAFTA superhighway, the Trans Texas corridor, is intensifying and
thousands of opponents protested and demonstrated over the weekend
rallying on the steps of the capital in Austin. The Trans Texas
corridor, the proposed superhighway that would cross from the Texas
Mexico border to the Oklahoma state line and then beyond, critics say
the highway threatens the sovereignty of this country as well as
individual property rights. It's a crazy deal.
Coming up here next, Congressman John Culberson says many of the drug
traffickers being apprehended in this country are going scot- free.
And a top Clinton advisor demoted, disclosures he was promoting a free
trade deal that Senator Clinton opposes. It's just politics. Three of
the countries best at politics join me here next.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: Drug traffickers invading the Tucson, Arizona
area. It is exactly that, an invasion. And it can be linked as well to
simply a lack of enforcement by the U.S. attorneys' office in Tucson.
Congressman John Culberson of Texas is a strong advocate for border
security. He says some of the smugglers arrested in Tucson may never go
to jail. Congressman Culberson joins me now from Capitol Hill.
Congressman, good to have you here.
REP. JOHN CULBERSON (R), TEXAS: Lou, always good to be with you.
DOBBS: What is going on here that apparently in this sector of the
Arizona border with Mexico, that the U.S. attorney is not prosecuting
drug loads under 500 pounds?
CULBERSON: Lou, I did discover personally from visiting Tucson that the
policy in the Tucson sector, the busiest on our border is that the U.S.
attorney will not prosecute any smuggler carrying a load of dope less
than a quarter ton. If you are arrested in Tucson by the border patrol
carrying less than a quarter ton of dope, odds are you'll be home for
dinner. There's a 99.6 percent release rate. No one essentially is being
prosecuted in Tucson.
DOBBS: What percent?
CULBERSON: 99.6 percent release rate on all arrests by the border patrol
in the Tucson sector and it's going to stop. I am on the Appropriations
Subcommittee for the Department of Justice, Lou, and I am going to get
them the resources and the support they need. That prosecution rate has
got to be -- we need essentially Lou, a zero tolerance, prosecution rate
from Brownsville to San Diego.
DOBBS: It looks like you've got a zero prosecution rate.
CULBERSON: We do. The prosecution rate in Tucson is at zero,
essentially. It's everyone other than violent criminals are being turned
lose and what that does to the border patrol morale, the criminals are
laughing at us in Tucson.
DOBBS: Let's be real honest, Congressman, the fact is if every drug
trafficker, every human smuggler in Mexico isn't laughing at the United
States government, they would just be demonstrating a lack of a sense of
humor, wouldn't they really?
CULBERSON: It's just unacceptable. It's dangerous for the officers; it's
dangerous for this nation. The criminals are laughing at us and I'm
done. I'm fed up with it and I'm working on a personal mission, Lou. I
want you to know I have read "Charlie Wilson's War" and from the
Appropriations Committee if Charlie Wilson can help beat the Russians; I
am personally committed to seeing a zero tolerance policy rolled out
from Brownsville to San Diego. And I can tell you that I've already got
it done in Laredo. It's being done in Del Rio. They're arresting
everybody. They're prosecuting everybody. DOBBS: Let me tell you what
the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Arizona, Diane Humetewa
says, she says her office is at full capacity, and goes on to say,
"Arizona is not Texas and Tucson is not Del Rio. The Tucson U.S.
attorney's office handles one of the highest criminal case loads in the
nation; however, it is simply false that we do not charge defendants."
CULBERSON: Well, no wonder they have the highest crossings in the
nation, they are not prosecuting anybody. The word got out to all the
illegals and the smugglers to come to Tucson, it's open country and you
can just come on in. Her excuse is just not acceptable to me, Lou. I'm
going to get her the resources. There is no excuse for a .4 percent
prosecution rate. If they were at 10 percent prosecution, maybe 15
percent, maybe I might listen to them about lack of resources. This is a
blanket policy, turn everybody loose and it's going to stop.
DOBBS: All right. You also talked with Attorney General Michael Mukasey
about the border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean who are
still in prison, still awaiting a decision from the appellate court,
what did he have to say?
CULBERSON: Unfortunately, the attorney general would not answer my
question directly. I asked him twice to please recommend to the
president pardon donning Ramos and Compean for the same reason that
Scooter Libby was pardoned. The sentence didn't fit the crime. These
guys have suffered enough but the attorney general would not answer the
question so America need to keep writing letters and phone calls to get
Ramos and Compean out.
DOBBS: Can I make another proposal, a separate proposal, say to the U.S.
attorney general that he should really conduct an investigation as to
why this administration, this U.S. Justice Department went after these
two agents instead of the drug smugglers, what about that idea?
CULBERSON: Absolutely, Lou, and justify why we are arresting border
patrol agents, throwing them in jail for ten or 12 years and releasing
every single criminal and illegal that crosses in the Tucson sector. Why
is Tucson wide open and our border patrol agents are thrown in jail.
It's not acceptable. And I'm not going to rest until that border is
secure with a zero tolerance from Brownsville to San Diego. I've done it
in Laredo and Brownsville is next and we'll do it sector by sector.
DOBBS: Congressman Culberson, thanks for being here. Thank you,
Congressman.
I have spoken at many Hash Bash
events over the years. For those that don't know, the Hash Bash is
one of the longest running annual events to call for the Re-Legalization
of Marijuana. It takes place on the first Saturday of April at
"high noon" in front of the UofM Library. At one o'clock most
people migrate to Dominick's which is about 3 blocks south.
Legal Marijuana for all Adults and Medical
Patients (under MERP Model)
Up until 1997 the event was
evident throughout the day as hundreds of vendors lined the streets
surrounding the event. But University "head" Sue Coleman, who
contributes to Chinese espionage, wanted to stop the event so she put a
stop to the vending and sucked the life out of the event.
I suppose what is sad about this
years event is that has now been 80 years since Marijuana first became
illegal in the United States. Today over 800,000 people are
unnecessarily busted annually: most for mere possession of a small
amount of Marijuana.
There is some good news on the
horizon. We have successfully placed a Medical Marijuana
Initiative on the Michigan Presidential Ballot for this November.
I am quite confident that it will pass by as least 60 percent and allow
the sick to grow as many as 12 Marijuana plants to supply them with
their medicine.
But what about the rest of us.
When will adult Americans be afforded the right to smoke Marijuana
legally, without the fear of arrest or prosecution?
Years ago I wrote "The Hemp Song"
as a homage to one of the greatest speakers for the legalization of
Marijuana. His name is Jack Herer and he is the author of a book
on Marijuana Legalization titled, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes.'
At the end of the "Hemp Song" there is a refrain which repeats over and
over again with the words . . . "ReLegalize It Now!"
And over this chorus I sing the
following:
Any time
Any day
Any time that we want it that way
We don't need your drug war anymore.
The key point here is that nothing
is going to change until we first change our minds, and then in turn,
change our reality. But until we change the reality -- where
police and lawyers continue to profit, at our expense -- the current
reality will prevail. In any case voting "Yes" on Medical
Marijuana this November is at least a small start towards that goal.
But lets not allow this to go on for another 80 years as the first 80
was never warranted in the first place. I have always believed
that it should take no more than 5 years of concerted effort to end
Marijuana Prohibition in the United States.
I was also pleasantly surprised
when the head of Indiana NORML, Neil Smith (skywolf64@gmail.com) asked
if I would speak at the "Global Marijuana March" event in Logansport,
Indiana. I had spoken there many times in the mid-90's before
Rainbow Farm opened in Jones, Michigan. I told him I would not be
able to make it as I was planning on speaking at the Detroit event.
This event is held on the first Saturday in May: May 3rd, 2008.
Global Marijuana March: May 3rdf, 2008: Detroit Event
http://www.detroitliberation.org/essentialinfo.html
Now since my "drug policy days" I
have authored a larger agenda known as the "New Agenda for America."
Here is a video and the first 9 "planks." I would love to
challenge Obama, Clinton and McCain to debate on all of these very
important "planks that I fee would benefit the American working class.
And of course Marijuana Re-Legalization is included as one of the 9
initial planks:
Overview of the "New Agenda for
America"
The "New Agenda for America" and the 2008 Presidency
NEW AGENDA FOR AMERICA: Preliminary Planks
(1) Universal Health Care for All American Citizens
(2) A 20-year moratorium on all immigration into the United States
(3) Legal Marijuana for all Adults and Medical Patients
(4) An immediate reversal to the Offshoring and Inshoring of American
Jobs
(5) A strict enforcement on issues of Separation of Church and State
(6) An immediate move from so-called Free Trade Agreements to Bilateral
Trade agreements
(7) A major R&D project to bring energy independence to the United
States and the World through recycling, reuse, ending hyper-consumerism
and investing in the development of sustainable energy sources (e.g.,
solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal)
(8) No further ownership of US Assets (businesses, homes, ports, stock
exchanges) by foreign governments or individuals!
(9) Replace the Federal Reserve with a People's Reserve which allows
public oversight
That's all for now.
Bruce W. Cain
Editor, New Age Citizen
Past Editor, New Age Patriot
newagecitizenx@comcast.net
Of course this website is in bad need of a re-write. But in an
interim attempt to tidy things up I have eliminated much of the
redundant information that used to recur on every homepage.
For the rest of 2008 I will be focusing on the
following projects:
* The "New Agenda for America"
* More videos and lectures promoting the "New Agenda for America"
* My Music Project "Gnostic" (coming soon)
* The "Dearbornistan" Project
I encourage new visitors to: (1)
Check out the "New Agenda for America", "Action Center", and "Resource
Center" links to better understand the primary project for 2008 -- the
"New Agenda for America and (2) go back through the
homepage archives in order to get a better idea as to the focus and
trajectory of the website. The "Video Archive" contains hundreds
of videos relating to topics within the "New Agenda for America."
These "departments" are now located at the upper
right column of the homepage:
Well, we can finally watch Wilders
controversial film, "Fitna." It is a rather short film at
about 10 minutes in length. The film basically juxtaposes the violence,
committed in the name of Islam, against intolerant verses from the Quran
which call for the death of non-Muslims. The film was released on
March 28th, 2008 as Wilders had promised.
Frankly, I don't see how any
Muslim, unless suffering from a severe mental disorder, could find too
much to get upset about. Wilders merely shows the violence
propagated by Islamic Fundamentalists and then presents the verses from
the Quran that appear to justify the actions. If anything they
should feel shame for believing such incredible garbage for so long.
Of course the Europeans also went
through a similar epiphany after putting up with an equally intolerant
Catholic Church. Of course the "church" wasn't into suicide
bombings at the time, but my did they know how to roast a great witch.
But finally the Europeans grew tired of these hypocritical fornicators
and divested them of much of their power. It required a
Reformation and the Enlightenment to pull it off. It also required
a lot of brave men and women.
The American people often forget
what a great departure it was for our Founding Fathers to insist on a
complete separation between church and state. But I think it is
quite clear that they had made the correct decision. Hopefully,
those of the Muslim faith, will reach the same conclusion. In the
long run I can assure them that they will all be happier joining the
rest of us in the Post-Enlightenment.
For a more thorough understanding
of the totalitarian aspect of Islam I suggest watching the series:
"Islam: What the West Should Know." You will find it midway down
the "Dearbornistan" page and it is approximately 1 hour in length.
As always, I encourage you to
support the "New Agenda for America." Of
course one of the planks, of this agenda, insists on a 20-year
moratorium on all immigration into the United States. Such a
policy would go a long way in preventing an Islamic uprising from ever
occurring in this country. Europe would be well-served by
implementing a similar policy themselves.
Note: Please copy/paste/edit this
letter and send it to all of your Congressional Representatives in both
the House and Senate by using the following link:
What is it going to take before you
start representing the American People? Are we going to have to
"water board" you in the Potomac before you understand just how pissed
off we are becoming? Just exactly what is it going to take?
Let me elaborate for a brief minute
or two.
In 2006 and 2007 the American people
made it clear that we didn't want Amnesty for Illegal Aliens. In
March of 2007 the number of calls to Congress were so great that it
brought down the phone lines at the Congressional switchboard: something
that never happened before. In 2008 we began seeing actual monthly
losses of American jobs for the first time in many, many years. If
you didn't know it requires the addition of 250,000 jobs, each and every
month, just to keep sustain current employment levels.
I kind of thought such
developments would have compelled you to stop the flow of legal and
illegal immigration into this country. I kind of thought that such
developments would have compelled you to do something you haven't done
in decades: stand up for the American Working Class.
But, with few exceptions, both the
House and the Senate have done the exact opposite:
* You have sat back while the
Department of Defense granted a military contract to a foreign company,
Airbus, rather than give the contract to Boeing. In doing this you
allowed another 43,000 American jobs to be offshored to a foreign
company.
* The other week you sat uncritically
as Microsoft's Bill Gates argued to lift the cap on H1-B Visas.
And like a compliant dog you quickly started drafting legislation to do
just that.
* In 2007 a Federal Court stopped the
sending of "No Match" letters that could have freed up millions of jobs
for unemployed American workers by deporting those Illegal Aliens that
have chosen to brake our laws. I don't recall hearing any protest
from Congress.
* In past years you have compliantly
passed legislation (e.g., the Bankruptcy Bill, the Credit Bill etc.)
which have destroyed the economic security of American workers.
Today you allow the Federal Reserve 240 BILLION dollars to bail out
Mortgage companies and Banks that had cynically promoted "sub-prime
mortgages" in order to further indebt the American worker. Yet you
continue to do nothing for the millions of American workers that are
about to loose the most important source of security: their homes.
* Over the last 40 years you have
allowed Free Trade Agreements that have destroyed our jobs, our
manufacturing base and our very security as a nation. And today
you are doing nothing as President Bush moves forward with the North
American Union and the Trans Texas Corridor project.
Every week I dutifully go to
NumbersUSA.com and send faxes, to you, in order to secure the borders,
build a "real" border fence, and implement an airtight method for
verifying the true citizenship of our workers. But all I see from
you is someone talking out of both sides of your mouth: one answer to
your corporate contributors and another answer to the American people
that you are supposed to represent. Unfortunately, your actions
consistently appear to favor your corporate contributors.
And this goes far beyond any one
issue. You have allowed President Bush to rescind both Posse
Comitatis and Habeas Corpus. You have uncritically passed the
Patriot Act and are now considering a bill that could label any America
a terrorist.
And finally the American People have
been inundated with the biggest fraud in recent history: the 2008
Presidential Election. All 3 of the "likely" candidates --
Hillary, Obama and McCain -- have made it ultimately clear that they
will go against the wishes of the American People and grant amnesty to
millions of Illegal Aliens. And all 3 of them are members of the
Council on Foreign Relations, which is dedicated to destroying the
sovereignty of this nation.
So let me just clue you in on
something important. The government may be watching the American
people through the illegal diversion of our emails, phone calls and
quite possibly our mail. But we are also watching you. And
if you don't start representing the American People and upholding the
spirit of the US Constitution . . . your day is coming.
We probably won't resort to "water
boarding" but we will kick you butt out of office.
The film "Fitna" by Danish Politician Wilders is expected to stir
up Islamic Fundamentalists as much as -- and possibly more than -- the
cartoon of Mohammed with a Bomb on his head.
In the most recent edition of "Dearbornistan" I have gathered
together plenty of articles and videos in order for my readers to better
understand why any the reformation of Islam is critical to the
preservation of personal liberties throughout the planet. You can
find these additional materials at the following link:
Danish
Politician Wilders is expected to release his critical assessment of
Islam at the end of March, 2008, in a 12-minute film entitled "Fitna."
I am focusing on Wilders and his 12-minute film, in this edition of
"Dearbornistan", because it is a perfect example of a conflict between
the United States Constitution and Islam.
In a free and enlightened society the free exchange of ideas must
always be protected. And this requires that we place no limits on
those freedoms. Unfortunately some radical Muslims, that I would
refer to as Islamists, believe that their religion "is more equal" than
other religions and deserves to be treated with greater respect than
that afforded other religions. So a New York art gallery can
display a picture of Jesus in a vat of urine, but no one can depict
Mohammed with a Bomb on his head.
Frankly, any Muslim that really believes that should be deported from
this country immediately because it is evidence that they have not truly
embraced the freedoms that we require to be considered an American
citizen. It is proof that they lied during their vow to uphold the
US Constitution, when they became naturalized American citizens.
Through a number of incidents the world has become awakened to the
very real threats and intolerance posed by radical Islamic
fundamentalists:
* The murder of Van Gogh for criticizing Islam in the 10-minute film
"Obsession"
* The threats and violence that proceeded the publishing of the cartoon
depicting Mohammed with a Bomb on his head
* The death threats against author Rushdie for criticizing Islam in "The
Satanic Verses."
* The death threats against Wilders that requires him to have 24-hour
security due to his criticism of Islam.
In all of these examples radical Islamic fundamentalists are
demanding that their religion is somehow beyond criticism. And it
is quite likely that Wilders film will evoke the same reaction from
these throwbacks to the Dark Ages. But if we are to retain our
free and enlightened society we must draw the line in the sand and
firmly state that, in a free society, no individual or idea is beyond
criticism. For once we allow an exception to restrict free speech,
it will just be a matter of time before there is no free speech.
And that can simply not be allowed to occur.
And I should emphasize that ultimately these freedoms benefit
everyone: both Muslim and non-Muslim. Only a misogynistic control
freak could argue this point. And of course it is these very
dangerous Islamic fundamentalists that are evoking increasing concern,
from both Muslims and non-Muslims, throughout the planet.
The Internet Provider, Network Solutions, recently suspended Wilders
website due to pressure from Islamic extremists that are attempting to
silence free speech in the United States through the mounting tactics of
a "Cultural Jihad."
I talked with their spokesperson, Susan Wade (703.668.5057) today
(03/26/2008) and tried to convince her that -- regardless of the fallout
-- they must allow the site to resume and follow through with the
release of the video. If they don't I promised a boycott of
Network Solutions. She was very polite and assured me that they
would allow the release as long as it didn't violate their rules.
I re-empathized that -- regardless of the content -- the site must be
allowed to show the video.
In our conversation I stressed the duty we all have to make sure this
"cultural jihad" is not allowed to subvert our First Amendment Rights to
freedom of speech. I also said we would wait one week before going
forward with the boycott. Please read through the following
articles to get a better understanding of the issues surrounding this
possible boycott and the upcoming release of Wilders film "Fitna.".
Companies Try To
Cover-Up Move To Watch Consumers Via TV's
Vice President Kunkel forgets he told journalist of move to "know who
was in the living room," Microsoft and TiVo have already filed similar
patents to create Minority Report style invasive hell
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Tuesday, March 25, 2008
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/032508_comcast_denies.htm
Comcast has denied that it is developing camera devices built in to
cable boxes that monitor consumers as they enter the room, despite the
fact that Vice-President Gerard Kunkel admitted to a journalist that
such a move would represent a "holy grail," and rival companies like
TiVo and Microsoft have already filed patents for similar technology.
A firestorm of controversy erupted last week after industry website
newteevee.com carried an article by Chris Albrecht which revealed that
Comcast was, "experimenting with different camera technologies built
into devices so it can know who’s in your living room".
How did Albrecht know? Because Comcast's senior VP of user experience
Gerard Kunkel told him during the Digital Living Room conference held in
San Francisco.
"Perhaps I’ve seen Enemy of the State too many times, or perhaps I’m
just naive about the depths to which Comcast currently tracks my every
move," wrote Albrecht.
"The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you
and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If
parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental
controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the
screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail”
because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes."
Readers responded to the article in droves and most were shocked by the
proposals.
"Orwell thought that cameras in the living room would imposed on us by a
fascist government. Fascism these days is dominated by corporate power
guised under a mantle of legitimacy. These systems of control have been
primarily put in place by willful consumption of consumer goods," wrote
one.
"This is not cool, this is not fun, this is not exciting. This is
invasive. They’ve been talking about this technology since the inception
of cable modems, and there’s a certain amount of tracking in place
already. Cameras? Too much," stated another.
Comcast responded to the article by claiming the device was, "in no way
designed to – or capable of – monitoring your living room. These
technologies are designed to allow simple navigation on a television set
just as the Wii remote uses a camera to manage its much heralded
gesture-based interactivity."
However, Albrecht shot back by pointing out that Kunkel told him the
device was explicitly being designed so as to monitor who was entering
the living room.
"After you granted me our initial video interview, you brought up the
topic of Comcast knowing who was in the living room in a conversation
between you, myself and another conference attendee," writes Albrecht.
"I actually left and came back to follow up on this point while you were
talking with that same attendee. At this point, you were aware that I
was a reporter and I took handwritten notes in front of you as we talked
to make sure I had an accurate accounting of what you were saying," he
added.
Minority Report will meet Orwell's telescreens if telecommunications
giants like Comcast and Microsoft have their way.
Tracking and databasing of consumer's TV viewing habits is nothing new -
for years cable box companies like TiVo have monitored behavior down to
the level of what parts of shows viewers rewind or fast forward - an
example being Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2003 Super
Bowl half-time show.
Indeed, the monitoring of viewers for the purposes of Minority Report
style commercial assaults and viewer customization has been in the works
since at least early 2005.
In November 2005, TiVo applied for a patent allowing customization of TV
remotes and viewing preferences via an RFID chip the consumer would
attach to his or her body - which is just one step away from an embedded
microchip in the body.
Microsoft has also applied for a patent that would utilize, "a camera
sitting on top of a television set to detect the presence of viewers and
identifying them using facial-recognition software -- or perhaps a
fingerprint scanner in a remote control," according to a report from
Multichannel News.
Similarly, corporations and eventually the government is planning to use
microphones in the computers of an estimated 150 million-plus Internet
active Americans to spy on their lifestyle choices and build
psychological profiles which will be used for surveillance, invasive
advertising and data mining.
In 2006, Google announced that they were developing a plan to use
in-built microphones to listen in on user's background noise, be it
television, music or radio - and then direct advertising at them based
on their preferences.
"The idea is to use the existing PC microphone to listen to whatever is
heard in the background, be it music, your phone going off or the TV
turned down. The PC then identifies it, using fingerprinting, and then
shows you relevant content, whether that's adverts or search results, or
a chat room on the subject," reported the Register.
Last year the New York Times reported on a venture by Pudding Media, a
new company founded by two former Israeli intelligence officers, to
offer its customers free Internet phone service in return for their
consent to have their conversations monitored for keywords upon which
targeted advertising is directed.
"A conversation about movies, for example, will elicit movie reviews and
ads for new films that the caller will see during the conversation.
Pudding Media is working on a way to e-mail the ads and other content to
the person on the other end of the call, or to show it on that person’s
cellphone screen," according to the report.
If you think telesales calls and pop-ups ads are annoying, the new wave
of invasive advertising will not only saturate the senses with 24/7
vapid consumerism, but it will signal the death knell for the assumption
that privacy is a human right not to be infringed upon by corporations
or the state.
Orwell's telescreens and Minority Report style assaults on our senses
may not be born out of government coercion, but as a result of consumers
willfully enslaving themselves into this matrix - all for the
convenience of enhancing their consumption of programming via the
one-eyed brainwashing monster in the corner of the room.
#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
# 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
# 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
#5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
#6 Operation FALCON Raids
#7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
#8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
#9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
# 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
# 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
# 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
# 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
# 14 Impunity for US War Criminals
# 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a
“Second Genetic Code”
#16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
# 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
# 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
# 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda
# 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
# 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
# 22 North Invades Mexico
# 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
# 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
# 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in
consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of
predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were
misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to
consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates
that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed
charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other
practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers.
In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left
unchecked, threatened our financial markets.
Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush
administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American
homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with
the banks that were victimizing consumers.
Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national
crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I
joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the
void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state
attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into
settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory
lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's,
enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.
What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course
and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans
are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing
foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.
Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it
embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states
from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the
federal government was turning a blind eye.
Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an
obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its
mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140
years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they
were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few
years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool
against consumers.
In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC
invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal
opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering
them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented
states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against
national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and
so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state
banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.
But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even
slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In
fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination
in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal
lawsuit to stop the investigation.
Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the
banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending
would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying
to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending
would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market
for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the
scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless
thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a
precarious position.
When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts
its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the
Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still
unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing
accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for
profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal
government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as
on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.
Today we are watching an amazing spectacle: Many in Congress — including
allegedly labor-friendly Democrats — are pushing to increase the
importation of foreign labor just as the USA slips into what may be its
worst recession in decades.
Why? Because the greed of a handful of multinationals is demanding more
and more access to "skilled" foreign labor.
Sure, we hear bogus "studies" that claim garden-variety foreign
programmers will save the U.S. economy. But former Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted the real agenda:
"Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers … would compete
with high-income people, driving more income equality." In 2007, he
further opined that, "Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the
world. If we open up a significant window for skilled (foreign) workers,
that would suppress the skilled-wage level and end the concentration of
income."
Thanks, Alan! Having shipped so many good jobs overseas, we now find
that U.S. workers who acquire job skills are overpaid!
Since 1990, Congress has allowed U.S. and multinational businesses to
use foreign "nonimmigrant" visa programs to drive down wages and
displace American workers. What began as a short-term fix for a supposed
"short-term" shortage of programmers has turned into another elitist
feeding frenzy for greedy people at the top of the food chain.
The use of foreign workers has exploded at a time of rising economic
insecurity. Since 1985, the number of foreign worker admissions has
increased by 426%, while the U.S. civilian workforce has only increased
by about 29%. This is a "temporary" shortage? The main culprits are the
H-1B and L-1B visa programs with meaningless labor protections now
filling more than a million jobs.
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., are making a
valiant effort to curb the excesses. But as with most other bloated
immigration programs that become oversubscribed, Congress' first
reaction is not to eliminate the loopholes. It's to just raise the
numbers.
Don't get me wrong. My organization supports competing to attract the
world's best and brightest. Jacking up the level of H-1Bs won't get us
there.
Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration
Reform, which advocates reducing legal immigration levels and aggressive
illegal- immigration enforcement.
If the was ever a reason to preserve
Public Television it is the Frontline series. Always with the
highest of standards and always exhaustive in it's coverage of
contemporary issues. Their newest addition, "Bush's War" traces
the Iraq War from the destruction of the the WTC on "911" to the
present. And even better, you can watch it at the following link:
I guess I would be asking to much for
Frontline to look into Bush's complicity in 911? But this is a
good start. I recommend that everyone take the time to watch the
2-part series. And you can do so at your leisure through the link
above.
As you watch this retelling of the
events that led to the destruction of Iraq I want you to consider the
obfuscation and deceit that led to this multi-trillion dollar debacle.
Then I would ask you to read through the archives of New Age Citizen.
Finally, I would ask you to consider the same deceit and obfuscation
that has been used to push other Bush strategies and directives:
* The North American Union
* The suspension of Habeas Corpus and Posse Commitatis
* The imprisoning of Border Guards Ramos and Compeon
* The Trans Texas Corridor
* The failure to enforce our immigration laws
* The cozy relationship with totalitarian governments such as Communist
China and
* The bailout of the Banks and Mortgage companies that have purposely
set the American working class
* The failure to do anything to preserve home ownership as housing
values fall and American jobs continue to be outsourced to India/China
* The recent moves by Congress to ignore the peoples calls for
restrictions on immigration and instead betray us with bills calling for
more H1-Bs and the granting of Amnesty to over 12 million Illegal Aliens
* The extradition of Marc Emery from Canada for merely selling Marijuana
seeds (which are actually legal in Canada).
* The destruction of our Constitution through the Patriot Act, Executive
signing statements and massive electronic surveillance of our people
without warrants.
* The total obfuscation of the events surrounding "911" and the very
real possibility the their was government complicity involved.
* The "outing" of New York's Governor Spitzer the same day that he blew
the whistle on bailout of the architects of the Sub prime Mortgage
bubble.
* The unprecedented challenge to the 2nd Amendment currently being
considered in the Supreme Court.
I believe that all of these things
are related. The "plan" has been orchestrated by the CFR, the WTO,
the Trilateralists and the Multi-national elites that they represent.
It's origins go back at least as far as the establishment of Central
Banking, with the establishment of the Federal Reserve, in 1913.
The plan is to establish a totalitarian "New World Order" where much of
the "first world" will be reduced to peonage in order to serve the whims
of a tiny global elite.
If there was ever a time to stand up
for our liberties this is it. It is the reason that I authored the
"New Agenda for America" and it is the reason I still offer myself as a
write-in candidate for the 2008 Presidency. Keep in mind that all
3 "likely" presidential candidates -- Clinton, Obama and McCain -- are
ALL members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and other
organizations that support a Global, Totalitarian, Corporate,
Fascist state.
A few weeks ago Detroit's Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, ended his "State of
the City" speech by ranting about how he has been called "Nigger" rather
frequently as of late. It seems this started happening after the
people learned that he approved a 9 million dollar settlement, with 3
former Detroit Police agents, in order to cover up his affair with his
"head" advisor Ms Beatty. Of course the allegation is most likely
bullshit, but "playing the race card" has been a historic tradition in
the City of Detroit.
But such allegations ring more hollow with each passing day. Last
week the Detroit City Council, which is predominantly black, nearly
unanimously called for his resignation. Then today Detroit
Prosecutor Kym Worthy, also black, indicted the Mayor on 12 counts that
could but him in prison for at least 15 year, if he is found guilty.
The
Detroit Free Press has compiled a whole page of links regarding the
history of this outrage to the citizens of Detroit. Basically, it
all began when he attempted to cover up a party at the Mayor's residence
where his wife apparently beat a stripper with some sort of wooden
object -- quite possibly a baseball bat. And that is where things
started going down hill. He fired 3 police officers, all black,
who attempted to investigate the events surrounding this alleged party.
The cover up backfired when the attorneys, for the police officers,
uncovered text messages confirming an affair with his "head" advisor Ms.
Beatty. As things further unraveled it became glaringly clear that
there was a party at the Mayor's mansion. It appears the "god
fearing" mayor had been lying through his teeth all along.
But being called "nigger" -- which I believe to be a bunch of "race
card" playing crap -- is now probably the least of his worries.
Even the felonies may be small time concerns as things continue to
unfold. Already he is accurately being called "liar." But
his long time concern might just be that people are going to start
calling him "murderer."
Why would you say a thing like that?
Well, one of the 3 dancers -- Tamara Greene (aka Strawberry) -- was one
of the dancers at the Mayors party. She was murdered in a drive by
shooting some weeks after the party. And I had also heard that one
of the other "dancers" was murdered in Chicago. The more the
pieces come together, the more it looks like Kwame's cover up may have
involved getting rid of the dancers. In any case we need to
determine who the other two dancers were and make sure that they are
still alive and well.
I don't feel like spending a lot of time on this but the web of deceit
all begins with the party at the Mayor's mansion: (1) the firing of the
cops; (2) the murder of Tamara Greene; (3) the 9 million dollar "out of
court" settlement with the fired cops; (4) the release of the Sky-Tel
text messages; (5) the verification of Tamara Green filing a police
report after being beaten by the Mayors wife.
Oh the wicked web we weave, when we decide we must deceive.
Frankly, Kwame lost my respect years ago when we made our first attempt
to launch a "Medical Marijuana Initiative" in the City of Detroit.
We had collected the required signatures, however, the Mayor found a
technicality which derailed the initiative from getting on the ballot.
I vividly recall telling his mother, Congresswomen Kilpatrick, that I
thought this was an underhanded tactic for her son to employ. This
conversation took place at a Drug Policy Conference at the UofD Law
School in Detroit.
When I initially made the comment I was in the audience and she went
through the roof when I exposed this truth. What she didn't know
was that I was also one of the speakers at the conference. So
before making my presentation I laid it all out for her. By the
time I was done she looked like she might just fly through the ceiling
of the lecture hall. Perhaps if she straightened him out then, as
I had suggested, he may have avoided the troubles facing him today?
Well, right, I also have my doubts on
that one. In any case let me make the following prediction.
By the time this is all over Kwame's going to be serving jail time.
SPECIAL "CLOSED SESSION" OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED A
LOT MORE THAN THE PENDING SECURITY SURVEILLANCE PROVISIONS
Word has begun leaking from last nights special, closed-door session of
the United States House of Representatives.
Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the
publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they were also
bluntly warned about:
the imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008,
the imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February
2009,
the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse,
advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to move against
the government,
The detention of those rounded-up at "REX 84" camps constructed
throughout the USA,
the possibility of retaliation against members of Congress for the
collapses,
the location of "safe facilities" for members of Congress and their
families to reside during expected massive civil unrest
the necessary and unavoidable merger of the United States with Canada
(for its natural resources) and with Mexico (for its cheap labor pool),
the issuance of a new currency - THE AMERO - for all three nations as
the proposed solution to the coming economic armageddon.
Members of Congress were FORBIDDEN to reveal what was discussed and ABC
News via WCPO web site at the link below CONFIRMS congress members were
FORBIDDEN to talk about it!
Comment: I am disappointed how
the media overlooked the real reasons for Spitzer's firing as governor
of New York. The Daly Show, Lou Dobbs and virtually all of the
"insane media" were hooked by the sex scandal while largely ignoring the
fact that the elite wanted to obfuscate the screwing of America through
the cynical construction of "sub-prime mortgages" and the recent bail
out of the perpetrators.
Bruce W. Cain
While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an ‘escort’ $4,300 in a
hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush’s new Federal
Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200
billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators.
Both acts were wanton, wicked and lewd. But there’s a BIG difference.
The Governor was using his own checkbook. Bush’s man Bernanke was using
ours.
This week, Bernanke’s Fed, for the first time in its history, loaned a
selected coterie of banks one-fifth of a trillion dollars to guarantee
these banks’ mortgage-backed junk bonds. The deluge of public loot was
an eye-popping windfall to the very banking predators who have brought
two million families to the brink of foreclosure.
Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood in
the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’ bordello:
Eliot Spitzer.
Who are they kidding? Spitzer’s lynching and the bankers’ enriching are
intimately tied.
How? Follow the money.
The press has swallowed Wall Street’s line that millions of US families
are about to lose their homes because they bought homes they couldn’t
afford or took loans too big for their wallets. Ba-LON-ey. That’s
blaming the victim.
Here’s what happened. Since the Bush regime came to power, a new species
of loan became the norm, the ‘sub-prime’ mortgage and its variants
including loans with teeny “introductory” interest rates. From out of
nowhere, a company called ‘Countrywide’ became America’s top mortgage
lender, accounting for one in five home loans, a large chunk of these
‘sub-prime.’
Here’s how it worked: The Grinning Family, with US average household
income, gets a $200,000 mortgage at 4% for two years. Their $955 monthly
payment is 25% of their income. No problem. Their banker promises them a
new mortgage, again at the cheap rate, in two years. But in two years,
the promise ain’t worth a can of spam and the Grinnings are told to
scram - because their house is now worth less than the mortgage. Now,
the mortgage hits 9% or $1,609 plus fees to recover the “discount” they
had for two years. Suddenly, payments equal 42% to 50% of pre-tax
income. The Grinnings move into their Toyota.
Now, what kind of American is ‘sub-prime.’ Guess. No peeking. Here’s a
hint: 73% of HIGH INCOME Black and Hispanic borrowers were given
sub-prime loans versus 17% of similar-income Whites. Dark-skinned
borrowers aren’t stupid – they had no choice. They were ‘steered’ as
it’s called in the mortgage sharking business.
‘Steering,’ sub-prime loans with usurious kickers, fake inducements to
over-borrow, called ‘fraudulent conveyance’ or ‘predatory lending’ under
US law, were almost completely forbidden in the olden days (Clinton
Administration and earlier) by federal regulators and state laws as
nothing more than fancy loan-sharking.
But when the Bush regime took over, Countrywide and its banking brethren
were told to party hearty – it was OK now to steer’m, fake’m, charge’m
and take’m.
But there was this annoying party-pooper. The Attorney General of New
York, Eliot Spitzer, who sued these guys to a fare-thee-well. Or tried
to.
Instead of regulating the banks that had run amok, Bush’s regulators
went on the warpath against Spitzer and states attempting to stop
predatory practices. Making an unprecedented use of the legal power of
“federal pre-emption,” Bush-bots ordered the states to NOT enforce their
consumer protection laws.
Indeed, the feds actually filed a lawsuit to block Spitzer’s
investigation of ugly racial mortgage steering. Bush’s banking buddies
were especially steamed that Spitzer hammered bank practices across the
nation using New York State laws.
Spitzer not only took on Countrywide, he took on their predatory
enablers in the investment banking community. Behind Countrywide was the
Mother Shark, its funder and now owner, Bank of America. Others joined
the sharkfest: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup’s Citibank
made mortgage usury their major profit centers. They did this through a
bit of financial legerdemain called “securitization.”
What that means is that they took a bunch of junk mortgages, like the
Grinning’s, loans about to go down the toilet and re-packaged them into
“tranches” of bonds which were stamped “AAA” - top grade - by bond
rating agencies. These gold-painted turds were sold as sparkling safe
investments to US school district pension funds and town governments in
Finland (really).
When the housing bubble burst and the paint flaked off, investors were
left with the poop and the bankers were left with bonuses. Countrywide’s
top man, Angelo Mozilo, will ‘earn’ a $77 million buy-out bonus this
year on top of the $656 million - over half a billion dollars – he
pulled in from 1998 through 2007.
But there were rumblings that the party would soon be over. Angry
regulators, burned investors and the weight of millions of homes about
to be boarded up were causing the sharks to sink. Countrywide’s stock
was down 50%, and Citigroup was off 38%, not pleasing to the Gulf sheiks
who now control its biggest share blocks.
Then, on Wednesday of this week, the unthinkable happened. Carlyle
Capital went bankrupt. Who? That’s Carlyle as in Carlyle Group. James
Baker, Senior Counsel. Notable partners, former and past: George Bush,
the Bin Laden family and more dictators, potentates, pirates and
presidents than you can count.
The Fed had to act. Bernanke opened the vault and dumped $200 billion on
the poor little suffering bankers. They got the public treasure – and
got to keep the Grinning’s house. There was no ‘quid’ of a foreclosure
moratorium for the ‘pro quo’ of public bailout. Not one family was saved
– but not one banker was left behind.
Every mortgage sharking operation shot up in value. Mozilo’s Countrywide
stock rose 17% in one day. The Citi sheiks saw their company’s stock
rise $10 billion in an afternoon.
And that very same day the bail-out was decided – what a coinkydink! –
the man called, ‘The Sheriff of Wall Street’ was cuffed. Spitzer was
silenced.
Do I believe the banks called Justice and said, “Take him down today!”
Naw, that’s not how the system works. But the big players knew that
unless Spitzer was taken out, he would create enough ruckus to spoil the
party. Headlines in the financial press – one was “Wall Street Declares
War on Spitzer” - made clear to Bush’s enforcers at Justice who their
number one target should be. And it wasn’t Bin Laden.
It was the night of February 13 when Spitzer made the bone-headed choice
to order take-out in his Washington Hotel room. He had just finished
signing these words for the Washington Post about predatory loans:
“Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers,
it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent
states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which
the federal government was turning a blind eye.”
Bush, Spitzer said right in the headline, was the “Predator Lenders’
Partner in Crime.” The President, said Spitzer, was a fugitive from
justice. And Spitzer was in Washington to launch a campaign to take on
the Bush regime and the biggest financial powers on the planet.
Spitzer wrote, “When history tells the story of the subprime lending
crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many
innocent homeowners the Bush administration will not be judged
favorably.”
But now, the Administration can rest assured that this love story – of
Bush and his bankers - will not be told by history at all – now that the
Sheriff of Wall Street has fallen on his own gun.
A note on “Prosecutorial Indiscretion.”
Back in the day when I was an investigator of racketeers for government,
the federal prosecutor I was assisting was deciding whether to launch a
case based on his negotiations for airtime with 60 Minutes. I’m not
allowed to tell you the prosecutor’s name, but I want to mention he was
recently seen shouting, “Florida is Rudi country! Florida is Rudi
country!”
Not all crimes lead to federal bust or even public exposure. It’s up to
something called “prosecutorial discretion.”
Funny thing, this ‘discretion.’ For example, Senator David Vitter,
Republican of Louisiana, paid Washington DC prostitutes to put him in
diapers (ewww!), yet the Senator was not exposed by the US prosecutors
busting the pimp-ring that pampered him.
Naming and shaming and ruining Spitzer – rarely done in these cases -
was made at the ‘discretion’ of Bush’s Justice Department.
Or maybe we should say, ‘indiscretion.’
************
Greg Palast, former investigator of financial fraud, is the author of
the New York Times bestsellers Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy.
I've featured some of my
acoustic music
from time to time but have yet to put forth any of my other
compositions. Soon I will be releasing a "Raw" version of the
"Gnostic" music project that
will feature about half of the compositions that will appear on the
final CD. You might say it is something
like the Beatles "Anthology" project in reverse (minus the talent) . . .
as they released early versions of their compositions after selling
their CD rights to Michael Jackson. I, on the other hand, am
releasing the early version first, because the final versions simply
aren't completed.
"Gnostic" is philosophically parallel to the
"New Agenda for America" in many ways. There is the "Hemp
Song" which strongly advocates for the legalization of
Marijuana. "I Know What You Want George" is a rocker
which criticizes George Bush's fascist tendencies.
I
know what you want George
I can hear your feet outside my door
I know what you want George
You’d like to make us your slaves forever more
But your emperors clothes have worn away
And all that’s left is a smarmy corporate whore
Your time is coming
And when the people wake they foil your plan
Your time is coming
And when we rise we’ll take our country back
‘Cus your emperor’s clothes have worn away
And the devil waves behind your back
["I Know What You Want George" by Bruce W. Cain]
"Rainbow
Farm" is an instrumental homage to the massacre at that
occurred at "Rainbow Farm" the week before 911. If I ever
get out lecturing this year I may make an attempt to perform some
acoustic versions of some of the songs. At any rate I hope to have
the preliminary CD, "Gnostic: Raw," available within by the end of
March.
Well that ends my housekeeping notes.
Hope you appreciate the reduction in the clutter.
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