Thank You, Ladies and Gentlemen by Richard C. Cook

by Richard C. Cook
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
richardccook.com
Sept. 21, 2008

The purpose of this brief statement is publicly to express my admiration and amazement at the way the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, The Honorable Ben Shalom Bernanke, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Honorable Timothy F. Geithner, and the Secretary of the Treasury, The Honorable Henry M. Paulson, have come together so effectively to solve the financial problems of the United States of America.

After intense deliberation, and with the help of thousands of highly paid economists, accountants, and other professionals on their staffs, these three high officials of our leading financial agencies have devised a plan that is breathtaking in its simplicity, broad in its scope, and non-partisan in its appeal to our worthy representatives in Congress.

They have also served well the President of the United State, The Honorable George W. Bush, and the Vice-President, The Honorable Richard B. Cheney, those two dedicated and hard-working public servants to whom we have entrusted the spirit, the integrity, and the prosperity of our republic.

The three fine men mentioned above have decided to recommend a plan whereby several trillion dollars of bad loans will be subtracted from the books of any number of financial institutions threatened with further bankruptcy, including foreign-owned institutions, and will be added to the books as liabilities or potential liabilities of the United States government.

Even though these debts were incurred by the said financial institutions through horrendous business practices and frequent outright fraud, making them the responsibility of myself, my fellow citizens, our children and grandchildren, and our other posterity in perpetuity, has a devilish touch of whimsical genius about it.

I am sure that our Congress, consisting of men and women who removed all the regulatory safeguards that might have prevented such a debacle, and often were elected to office through campaign contributions made by executives of the financial institutions now in danger of collapse, will immediately ascertain the wisdom of these proposed measures and speedily approve them.

To all those who have so boldly stepped forward in our country’s hour of need, what more can I say, but “thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”

Copyright 2008 by Richard C. Cook

Richard C. Cook is a former U.S. federal government analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury Department. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have appeared on numerous websites and in Eurasia Critic magazine. His book on monetary reform, entitled We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform, will be published soon by Tendril Press. He is also the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by one reviewer, “the most important spaceflight book of the last twenty years.” His website is at richardccook.com. Comments may be sent via email to EconomicSanity@gmail.com.

see

Welcome to the final stages of the coup… by Larisa Alexandrovna

Bush Exits with a Bang: Toxic Bailout and Two More Wars? By Heather Wokusch

The U.S. Is Becoming an Impoverished Nation by Richard C. Cook

Foreign banks may get help by Mike Allen

Proposed Bail Out Bill

It’s The End of the World As We Know It

The road to ruin by Petrino DiLeo

Kucinich tells Cavuto: economic problems transcend party labels

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Cook-Richard C.

Democracy or Police State? by Tom Burghardt

Dandelion Salad

by Tom Burghardt
Global Research, September 21, 2008
Antifascist Calling…

New Lawsuit Targets Bush, Cheney, NSA over Illegal Spying

On Wednesday, Antifascist Calling reported on moves by the Department of Justice to seek blanket immunity for AT&T under provisions of the disgraceful FISA Amendments Act (FAA).

If approved by Judge Vaughn Walker, the presiding magistrate hearing the landmark Hepting v. AT&T lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco, the giant telecommunications corporation and Bush crime family partner would walk away scott free.

The suit, brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of AT&T customers caught up in the state’s illegal internet and telephone driftnet surveillance, is challenging unconstitutional spying on U.S. citizens and legal residents.

The shocking extent of the “public-private partnership” in political repression was first revealed in depth when former AT&T technician Mark Klein filed an affidavit in support of EFF’s contention that AT&T had systematically violated their customers’ right to privacy.

As Antifascist Calling has previously reported on many occasions, the telecommunications giant had constructed a secret room (SG3 Secure Room, room number 641A) for the exclusive use of the National Security Agency’s spying operations at AT&T’s Folsom St. office.

On Saturday, EFF reported that the government “started the formal process for retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies sued by EFF and others for their involvement in the warrantless surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans.” That hearing is set for December 2, 2008 in San Francisco.

The state filed a secret “certification” by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey with the court along with a public submission of its claim of limitless executive power “during a time of war.”

However in a bold, preemptive move on Thursday, EFF filed a new lawsuit against the government. That suit, Jewel v. NSA, targets the National Security Agency, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney’s sinister chief of staff, David Addington, and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Filed “on behalf of AT&T customers,” the civil rights organization has opened a new front against the government and their corporate partners. EFF declared:

The lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA, is aimed at ending the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA. (“EFF Sues NSA, President Bush and Vice President Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance,” Electronic Frontier Foundation, Press Release, September 18, 2008)

As in Hepting v. AT&T, the identical evidence of gross malfeasance on the part of well-heeled corporate lawbreakers who acted in concert with unaccountable secret state agencies, is central to Jewel v. NSA.

These covert intelligence operations arose as the result of secret Department of Justice memorandums written by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). According to an unsigned and undated memo released by by the OLC, the Justice Department claims that President Bush has an “inherent right” to carry out “communications intelligence targeted at the enemy.” Indeed, as the extent of these illegal programs have revealed, the “enemy” is none other than the American people themselves!

A January 19, 2006 Justice Department White Paper, Legal Authority Supporting the Activities of the NSA Described by President Bush, states:

The NSA’s activities are supported by the President’s well-recognized inherent constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and sole organ for the Nation in foreign affairs to conduct warrantless surveillance of enemy forces for intelligence purposes to detect and disrupt armed attacks on the United States.

Under color of the dubious theory of the “unitary executive,” propounded by ultra-rightist outfits such as the Federalist Society, Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights are flagrantly–and illegally–violated on a daily basis by the Bush administration. Such specious assertions represent nothing less than an open declaration of war on our rights and the framework for a limitless presidential dictatorship.

Senior EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston commenting on the intent of Jewel v. NSA averred,

“In addition to suing AT&T, we’ve now opened a second front in the battle to stop the NSA’s illegal surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and hold personally responsible those who authorized or participated in the spying program. For years, the NSA has been engaged in a massive and massively illegal fishing expedition through AT&T’s domestic networks and databases of customer records. Our goal in this new case against the government, as in our case against AT&T, is to dismantle this dragnet surveillance program as soon as possible.”

By targeting the individuals responsible for these illegal programs, EFF intends to bring these felons to justice by holding them accountable for the destruction of our constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment states in plain and simple language:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

But in a perverse interpretation of the constitutional separation of powers, Bushist minions such as torture-enabler John C. Yoo, formerly an attorney with the DoJ’s Office of Legal Counsel and currently a tenured professor at the University of California’s Boalt Hall Law School, stated publicly that the President, in his role as “Commander-in-Chief,” has the authority to bypass, indeed subvert, laws passed by Congress.

Under this novel interpretation of the Constitution, the President has the right under the theory of the “unitary executive” to grab unlimited executive power to conduct foreign and domestic policy as he sees fit.

As limited as the Watergate-era Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was, it represented an attempt by Congress after Nixon’s resignation to curtail unchecked Executive branch surveillance of domestic dissidents under color of “national security.” Indeed, Nixon’s blatant and illegal surveillance of his political opponents was included in Article 2 of the impeachment articles against him.

In the view of miscreants such as Cheney, Addington and Yoo, congressional limitations on the president’s power are “unconstitutional” maneuvers meant to strip the Chief Executive of his rightful power to act as he–and the corporatists setting policy–see fit. Under their reading, the Executive, particularly in his role as “Commander-in-Chief,” must interpret laws on an equal footing with the courts, if he is to perform his “wartime” function. However, no such provision exists in the U.S. Constitution and in fact, the “unitary executive” is a fantasy.

Since 1803, U.S. constitutional tradition has recognized that the courts wield what Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall called “judicial supremacy,” that is, the court is the final arbiter of what is and what is not the law. Bushist ideologues stand this principle on its head and transform a society based on law into a “managed democracy” predicated on the whims of corporations and the men who wield executive power in their “unitary” interests.

If such flagrant violations of democratic and republican norms go unchecked–either by the coequal branches of government or salutary direct action by the people themselves, the rights of citizens to determine the fundamental nature of society is replaced by a Führerprinzip, that is to say, a “leader principle” rooted in an antidemocratic hierarchy of warlords that resemble the military structures of the Nazi Party. In other words, a high-tech, panoptic police state.

Since September 11, 2001, the United States Government has launched systematic assaults against the constitutional rights of American citizens and legal residents. As the illegal aggression against the people of Iraq has revealed in all its ghastly horror, the “war on terror” is a war of terror against anyone who would challenge U.S. imperialism’s claim to be undisputed “masters of the universe.”

From warrantless wiretapping to torture, from preemptive wars of aggression and conquest to the plunder of the environment on behalf of corporate “friends,” and from indefinite detention of “enemy combatants” to secretive plans for martial law, the Bush administration and their congressional enablers in both capitalist political parties demonstrate on a daily basis that the greatest threat to the American people comes, not from foreign terrorists or Islamic jihadists, but from neofascist fundamentalists here at home.

© Copyright Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling…, 2008

The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10280

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America’s Spying Telecoms – ACLU Challenges FISA Law in Federal Court

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism By Dr. Lawrence Britt (2003)

FISA

Domestic Spying

Burghardt-Tom

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism, by Dr. Lawrence Britt (2003)

Dandelion Salad

Note: replaced video Oct. 20, 2012

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

AboveTopSecretDotCom on May 3, 2008

Welcome to the final stages of the coup… by Larisa Alexandrovna

Dandelion Salad

by Larisa Alexandrovna
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
September 20, 2008

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it. ~ Julius Caesar

In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism – a Bush family tradition – with the installment of a president – a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) – by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.

Bush Exits with a Bang: Toxic Bailout and Two More Wars? By Heather Wokusch

Dandelion Salad

HeatherWokusch

Bolivia: Indigenous government defies US-backed fascists by Federico Fuentes

Dandelion Salad

Posted with permission from Green Left Weekly

Federico Fuentes
20 September 2008

Green Left – Bolivia: Indigenous government defies US-backed fascists

Relative calm has returned to Bolivia following a three-week offensive of violence and terrorism launched by the US-backed right-wing opposition denounced by Bolivian President Evo Morales as a “civil coup”.

This campaign of terror, centred on the four resource-rich eastern departments (Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and Tarija) known as the media luna (half moon), was initiated following a national referendum in which Morales’s presidency was endorsed by 67.4% of the vote — greater than the almost 54% that voted for him in 2005 and with a higher voter turnout.

The violence was an attempt to impose by force what was lost at the ballot box.

Violently assaulting civilians, police officer and soldiers, occupying and burning public buildings, blowing up gas pipelines, and blockading roads were among the tactics of the pro-neoliberal forces of the opposition, which utlitised fascist shock troops of racist armed youth gangs, such as the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC).

The worst violence occurred on September 11, with the massacre in Pando of unarmed indigenous campesinos — including children and pregnant women — who were marching against the racist violence. It was carried out by paramilitaries created and controlled by Pando prefect Leopoldo Fernandez, since arrested over the atrocity.

At least 30 people were slaughtered, with more than 100 still missing.

However, the anger an mobilisations of the social movements, the Morales government’s decision to introduce martial law in Pando and restore order, together with the historic convening of a meeting of all South American presidents under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) on September 15 to pass a unanimous motion in defence of Bolivia’s legitimate government, dealt the opposition a significant blow, putting them on the back foot.

With the opposition returning to the negotiation table, the government and the social movements that support it have clearly come out stronger in this latest round of the ongoing battle over Bolivia’s future.

The right-wing opposition, based on the half moon prefects and “civic committees” as well as the opposition Chuquisaca prefect, has been forced to temporarily retreat. The roadblocks and building occupations by the fascists have ended, and the military has managed to take control of Pando — the site of the worst violence.

The government also expelled US ambassador Philip Goldberg for his collaboration with the opposition in its attempts to bring down Morales.

Behind the destabilisation campaign stand the agribusiness elites and gas transnationals, organised through the US embassy, who seek to destroy the Morales government’s self-declared “democratic and cultural revolution”.

Indigenous struggle

Morales is Bolivia’s first indigenous president, despite indigenous people — who have suffered systematic discrimination and poverty — making up a large majority of the population. Morales was elected on the back of growing anti-neoliberal movements and uprisings that brought down his two predecessors, in which indigenous people have played a leading role.

His government has sought to reverse the neoliberal polices that have devastated the nation over the last two decades, as well as 500 years of colonialism and genocide against indigenous peoples — via policies of nationalising strategic industry, land reform to benefit indigenous campesinos and the drafting of a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly to enshrine the rights of the indigenous majority.

These policies have clashed with the interests of US and European corporations and the big landowners that are powerful in the east.

With the referendum showing growing support for Morales in the opposition’s half moon heartland, the right wing struck out to prevent the government taking advantage of this to further erode its base.

Opposition fears were confirmed by the determination of the government to use its electoral mandate to push ahead for a referendum in December on the draft constitution.

The new constitution is at the heart of the process of change, aiming to institutionalise state control of natural resources and land reform, as well as establish a “plurinational” state to overcome the exclusion of indigenous peoples.

With a growing rebellion against US domination across Latin America, US imperialism has been furiously organising to get rid of Morales.

Since his election, the US government-funded body USAID has poured more than US$120 million into opposition groups, while Goldberg continually held meetings with opposition leaders.

Two days after Goldberg’s expulsion, Bolivia was added to the US “black list” for countries that supposedly refuse to collaborate in the “war on drugs”.

Oppressed take the offensive

The government and social movements have gone on the offensive.

Having organised massive mobilisations nationally in response to the violence, and fighting off the fascist gangs in the half moon, the social movements have remained firm in their determination to advance the process of change.

On September 17, the National Coalition for Change (CONALCAM), which includes the most important indigenous, campesino and urban movements, signed a pact with the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) to “defend the unity of the homeland that is being threatened by a civil coup lead by terrorists and fascists”.

Despite its often tense relationship with the government, the COB signed the agreement in the presence of Morales and other government leaders, pledging to “support and back this process of revolutionary change … led by our brother, President Evo Morales, to construct a new homeland with the approval of a new Political Constitution of the State”.

The organisations also signalled their intention to take over unproductive large landholdings and food production factories that have refused to ensure food for the population.

Explaining that his “grand desire” was to see the COB at “the forefront of this fight”, Morales insisted that “this struggle against the oligarchic groups, against the large landowners, against people who see themselves as pro-Yankee, can only be won by the social movements”.

He explained that it is impossible to negotiate a return to the past, as the elite “want to see the return of neoliberalism and we want to definitively bury the neoliberal model”.

The day before, social organisations and the local branch of Morales’s Movement Towards Socialism party (MAS) in the rebellious working-class neighbourhood of Plan 3000 in Santa Cruz’s capital called for the immediate declaration of martial law in Santa Cruz, Beni, Tarija, and Chuquisaca “because the Bolivian people and international public opinion demand justice”.

Over September 19-21, various social movements, including the COB, CONALCAM and the United Union Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia, held national gatherings to discuss further actions.

Meanwhile, the roadblocks by indigenous campesinos around Santa Curz continue, with social movements stating that there can not be any truce while the right continues to kill indigenous people.

More than 8000 coca growers from the central Chapare region continue to blockade the main highway linking Santa Cruz to La Paz in the west, refusing to leave until a referendum is called on the constitution.

The Union Confederation of Colonisers of Bolivia (organisation of land occupiers)_stated that close to 5000 peasants from Ichilo had began a march on Santa Cruz on September 17 to demand the resignation of the Santa Cruz prefect Ruben Costas and the return of the public buildings occupied by the fascists.

The same day, it was announced that 12,000 miners were preparing to march on Santa Cruz as well.

Negotiations

This occurred as talks began between the government and the opposition bloc grouped together in the National Democratic Coalition (CONALDE).

On September 18, members of the national executive sat down with the opposition prefects (minus Fernandez) to discuss three central issues: the redistribution of the Direct Tax on Hydrocarbons between the departments and the government’s social programs, the new constitution and the regional autonomy statutes proposed by the opposition, and an agreement to fill the current vacancies in the constitutional tribunal and Supreme Court.

Also present were the Federation of Municipal Associations president, the president of the opposition-controlled Senate and the MAS president of the chamber of deputies. Present as facilitators were representatives of the Catholic Church, the Organisation of American States and Unasur.

However, the vice-president of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee (led by representatives of the large landowning oligarchy) Roberto Gutierrez argued that conditions for dialogue did not exist “if the blockade [of Santa Cruz] was maintained”.

Government spokesperson, Ivan Canelas, clarified that, “The decisions that the social movements make are decisions independent of the government and we value them as reactions in defence of democracy”.

CONALCAM president Fidel Surco stated that the roadblocks would continue as long as the occupation of public buildings did, and that the social movements would organise a permanent vigil outside the negotiations between the government and opposition to ensure that dialogue advanced.

On September 17, Morales stated: “If anyone, despite the support we have … wants to remove me from the palace, while I am democratically elected as president, they will have to remove me dead.”

“The struggle to reach government has not been given to us for free … it is the result of all our efforts, and this struggle cannot just be thrown away”, he added.

“We have to finish this democratic and cultural revolution … they are conspiring with a fascist, racist coup.

“They may be able to overthrow the Indian, but they will not be able to overthrow the Bolivian people, they will not be able to overthrow the revolutionary people.

“No matter what it costs we have to defend this process of change.”

[Sign on to and circulate an online statement in support of Bolivian democracy at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-bolivian-democracy>. Visit http://boliviarising.blogspot.com for ongoing news.]

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Noble Evo faces Allende’s fate

Democracy Now: Tariq Ali on Pakistan & Boliva

Bolivia: Fascist right launches ‘civic coup’ by Federico Fuentes & Stuart Munckton

What Was Mysterious Activity Going on in the Marriott Hotel Islamabad by United States Marines

Dandelion Salad

http://www.daily.pk
Sunday, 21 September 2008 12:18

Marriott Hotel has now become a ghost house which was yesterday the most beautiful and prestigious hotels in the Islamabad. While the condemnation of the blasts and the deaths and the loss of property is going on from all the quarters, some intriguing news is also pouring in.

After the blast, mysteriously fire was started at the fourth and fifth floors. It was said that this fire was the result of gas pipeline burst running through the hotel. The million dollar question is that was the gas pipeline not running through the other floors? Why the fire broke out from the fourth and fifth flours? That is the question which perhaps holds the key to the mystery as why the hotel was targeted yesterday, in which more than 60 people died including many foreigners.

What Was Mysterious Activity Going on in the Marriott Hotel Islamabad by United States Marines.

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Video emerges of Marriott bombing + Rescuers search Pakistan blast site

Dozens killed in Pakistan hotel blast + Pakistan shaken by deadly blast

Foreign banks may get help by Mike Allen

Dandelion Salad

By Mike Allen
Politico.com
9/21/08 7:24 AM EDT

In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night.

The theory, according to a participant in the negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis, it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the United States.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed the change on ABC’s “This Week,” telling George Stephanopoulos that coverage of foreign-based banks is “a distinction without a difference to the American people.”

“If a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution,” Paulson said.

“That’s a distinction without a difference to the American people. The key here is protecting the system. … We have a global financial system, and we are talking very aggressively with other countries around the world and encouraging them to do similar things, and I believe a number of them will. But, remember, this is about protecting the American people and protecting the taxpayers. and the American people don’t care who owns the financial institution. If the financial institution in this country has problems, it’ll have the same impact whether it’s the U.S. or foreign.”

[…]

Exclusive: Foreign banks may get help – Mike Allen – Politico.com.

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Treasury Seeks Authority to Buy $700 Billion Assets (Update1) h/t: CLG

Proposed Bail Out Bill

The road to ruin by Petrino DiLeo

Kucinich tells Cavuto: economic problems transcend party labels

Financial Bailout: America’s Own Kleptocracy by Michael Hudson

Bill Moyers Journal: Wall Street Woes + Kevin Phillips + Yankee Stadium

SEP presidential candidate speaks on financial crisis

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Proposed Bail Out Bill

Dandelion Salad

The Catherine Austin Fitts Blog
September 20, 2008 at 4:09 pm

The New York Times has posted a draft copy of the U.S. Treasury bail out bill.

As a practical matter, this bill gives the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury – the former chairman of one of the Wall Street firms most instrumental in creating the current financial “problem” or opportunity, depending on whose team you are on – the power to spend or donate $700 billion in whatever manner he chooses and to pay whomever he wants as much as he wants on whatever terms and conditions he wants to help him do so and give them access to any information he wants. Those who help are free to use that information without liability for any responsibilities related to governmental access.

[…]

Proposed Bail Out Bill at The Catherine Austin Fitts Blog.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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The road to ruin by Petrino DiLeo

Kucinich tells Cavuto: economic problems transcend party labels

Financial Bailout: America’s Own Kleptocracy by Michael Hudson

Bill Moyers Journal: Wall Street Woes + Kevin Phillips + Yankee Stadium

SEP presidential candidate speaks on financial crisis

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

The road to ruin by Petrino DiLeo

Dandelion Salad

by Petrino DiLeo
http://socialistworker.org
September 18, 2008

Petrino DiLeo looks at how politicians of both parties allowed an unregulated shadow banking system to take shape.

IT’S UNTHINKABLE. The United States–the paragon of the “free market” and loudest proponent of neoliberal policies such as free trade, deregulation and privatization–has just carried out the three largest nationalizations in world history in taking over the twin mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now the insurance giant AIG.

The U.S. government is now the largest guarantor of mortgages in the world–and the largest insurance company as well.

The events that have caused the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression are the logical conclusion of policies and legislation implemented during the past 30 years. Lax standards and weakening of regulation led to a free-for-all in the financial world and the creation of a multitrillion-dollar “shadow banking system.”

Along the way, Wall Street institutions invented arcane investment instruments called derivatives, swaps, structured financial products and securitized debt–and investors dove headfirst into the resulting alphabet soup of mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, structured investment vehicles, etc.

These investment products were sloppily hashed together, barely monitored and never stress-tested. Rating agencies rubber-stamped everything that Wall Street concocted. And the result is the unfolding financial bloodbath.

Kucinich tells Cavuto: economic problems transcend party labels

Dandelion Salad

chadely2

In an exclusive interview with TV host Neil Cavuto, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich calls for total disclosure, transparency, corporate give-backs, and taxpayer equity in addressing economic problems.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Kucinich tells Cavuto: economic probl…“, posted with vodpod

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Financial Bailout: America’s Own Kleptocracy by Michael Hudson

Bill Moyers Journal: Wall Street Woes + Kevin Phillips + Yankee Stadium

SEP presidential candidate speaks on financial crisis

Bush Announces Bailing Out Wall Street

The Point of No Return By Mike Whitney

Global Financial Meltdown by Michel Chossudovsky

The U.S. Is Becoming an Impoverished Nation by Richard C. Cook

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Video emerges of Marriott bombing + Rescuers search Pakistan blast site

Dandelion Salad

AlJazeeraEnglish

Video of the explosive-laden lorry that was used in the bombing at the Islamabad Marriott hotel has emerged.

The Pakistan government says the blast was caused by a six-wheeler dumper lorry filled with high quality explosives mixed with an accelerant to fan the flames.

The video shows the vehicle arriving at the hotel gates but does not show the final detonation.

Olmert to submit resignation Sunday evening

Dandelion Salad

by Roni Sofer
Ynetnews
Latest Update: 09.21.08, 13:46

Prime minister informs cabinet ministers he will be stepping down; congratulates newly elected Kadima Chairwoman Livni on primaries’ victory, says willing to help her form new coalition

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to arrive at the President’s Residence at 7:30 pm Sunday in order to submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres. His government will then become a transit government until newly elected Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni forms a new coalition or decides to call elections.

Earlier Sunday, Olmert informed the cabinet that he would be stepping down, just 33 months after taking office.

[…]

Olmert to submit resignation Sunday evening – Israel News, Ynetnews.

h/t: CLG

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Israel poised to have 2nd female prime minister in its history

South Ossetia has been celebrating Independence Day

Dandelion Salad

RussiaToday

Joy and tears as nation is born

South Ossetia has been celebrating Independence Day. Eighteen years ago, the region unilaterally declared independence from Georgia, leading to a bloody conflict. The republic remained unrecognised until last month when Russia acknowledged its statehood following an attempt by Tbilisi to retake it by force.

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Ossetia-Russia-Georgia By Noam Chomsky

Clash in the Caucasus: Rolling Back The “Unipolar” World By Mike Whitney

Ron Paul: Do You Even Think About Americans?

Georgia