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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A Scary Corporate Coup Is Under Way -- We've Got to Stop It

I don't necessarily agree with all of this authors point of view, becuase I believe the Fed should be shut down along with its many arms of power, including the IRS, Social Security, etc., that we need to restore our Constitutional Republic and not a "Democracy" that was put in place after the U.S. went bankrupt, suspending the Constitution and our nation being tyrannically ruled under war powers that have been in place ever since.

I will put it out there none the less, because I see the value of allowing all points of view to be heard.

A Scary Corporate Coup Is Under Way -- We've Got to Stop It

By William Greider, TheNation.com. Posted March 31, 2009

If Wall Street gets its way, Washington will pass new "reforms" that consolidate power and ratify a corporate state.

Editor's Note: Click here to join the protest!

The Rip Off Must Be Stopped!

Big bankers ruined our economy and now they are gaming the political system so they can profit even more off the crisis they caused. They must be stopped.

On April 11th, 2009, the public will come out in cities across the country to express their frustration and disapproval with how our elected officials have handled the economic crisis. No one has been left unscathed; this protest is yours.

Sign AlterNet's pledge that you aren't going to let this rip-off happen and join New Way Forward's national protest on April 11.

***

A reassuring new story line is emanating from our leaders. I heard Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Banking Committee, explain it. Then I read the same line in a Washington Post news story. That tells me people in high places are selling it.

Dynamic capitalism, they explain, invents ways to create greater wealth, but sometimes it goes a little too far. Then government has to step in to correct things. This need typically occurs every generation or so, all in a day's work.

The Obama administration is proposing "sweeping" new regulatory laws so capitalism can continue its good works.

The story makes disturbing current events sound practically normal. But what are the storytellers leaving out?

They aren't saying that this financial catastrophe was not merely an inevitable development of history but a manmade disaster. Greedheads on Wall Street did their part, but so did Washington. The reason we need new rules is that a generation of Democrats and Republicans systematically repealed or gutted the old ones -- the regulatory controls enacted 80 years ago to remedy the last breakdown of capitalism (better known as the Great Depression).

The White House executed a nifty two-step this week to re-educate the public and deflect anger. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner relaunched the massive bailout of banking and finance. Knowing how unpopular this is with the people at large, Geithner followed on Thursday with his "sweeping" plans to re-regulate the bankers and financiers.

Whenever official plans are called "sweeping," it indicates that they really, really mean it this time.

Most Americans are not financial experts. It's very difficult, nearly impossible, for normal mortals to sort through the dense policy talk and conflicting opinions to figure out if the rhetoric of reform is real.

Confusion is widespread in the land. Most Americans want to believe this president is leading us out of the swamp, but how can they know? I say, trust your gut feelings. They are as reliable as the learned experts.’

Many Americans want to believe because they think that returning to "normal" means their decimated 401(k) retirement accounts might somehow recover the 30-40 percent that disappeared during the past year. If it takes monster bank bailouts to restore stock-market prices, let's have bailouts.

Good luck with that.

The Dow has regained 21 percent in two weeks of rallies, but I remind friends that steep, short bursts in the stock market do not foretell the future of the economy. Banks may be relieved of their losses without changing the general economic outlook. After the crash of 1929, there were occasional stock rallies, followed by fierce bears. It took 25 years (until 1954) for the Dow to regain its old peak.

Another way to assess the Obama plan for reform is ask: Who likes it? The verdict was swift and sure after Geithner's twin announcements. Wall Street likes it.

The blueprint for regulatory reforms was applauded by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association; the American Insurance Association; and the Private Equity Council, the trade group for the major private funds that will get public money and backup insurance to buy the banking system's rotten assets.

This could be born-again patriotism. Or it could be the animal appetites of financiers smelling gorgeous opportunity for returns.

This may be one of those moments where people can find some guidance from their moral convictions. They do not need to know all the details to ask simple questions.

Does the outline of what's happening to rescue major financial institutions seem morally wrong? Or is it justified by the larger necessities of the national predicament? Is the government insufficiently tough in demanding reciprocal commitments from the beneficiaries? Should Washington pursue larger structural changes in the banking system?

Trying to imagine alternatives to the bankers-first bailouts is a good place to start. What follows are suggestions I produced at the request of young people organizing demonstrations around the country for April 11. They call themselves A New Way Forward. I hope they light lots of bonfires.

This rough outline leaves out lots of particular regulatory issues, but the core goal of reform is to create a banking and financial system that serves the society and the economy, not the other way around.

Everything being done to rescue and restore the old order gets in the way of creating something truly new and valuable for the future. Those of us throwing logs in the path of the bailouts are dismissed as naysayers or worse, but the financial titans are trying to foreclose just solutions by stampeding Congress and the president to adopt ill-considered ideas.

If Wall Street gets its way, the "reforms" may further consolidate power and ratify a corporate state -- a grotesque hybrid that combines the worst aspects of socialism and capitalism.

The reform ideas announced by Geithner would plant the seeds by creating a "systemic risk" regulator, presumably the Federal Reserve, to oversee the largest, most politically adept banks and financial firms that qualify as "too big to fail." Capitalism, with its inherent tendency toward monopoly, would have the means to monopolize democracy (see my recent Washington Post article.)

My new book, Come Home, America, asks people to enunciate their versions of "patriotic realism."

That is the essence of an alternative vision: de-concentrate power, liberate people and smaller enterprises, workers and middle managers and investors, to help shape the country's future from many different perspectives. This is how democracy was supposed to work. It can again.

Some points I recommend people consider:

1. Euthanasia for insolvent banks. Transferring their losses to the public will not restore the trillions in capital the bankers helped destroy. It would merely relieve the banks, their creditors and shareholders of the pain.

Government must take control of the system to supervise a just unwinding of the mess -- whether we call it nationalization or something else. Handing out money and leaving bankers in control of how it's spent is nutty and morally wrong. People everywhere understand this. Only Washington seems oblivious to the irrationality of what it is attempting.

2. The Federal Reserve must be democratized and effectively stripped of its peculiar, anti-democratic status as an unaccountable island of power within the government. A new federal agency -- accountable to Congress and the president -- can be refashioned from the working parts of the Fed. Call it a central bank or something else, but its governing power must not rest with heavyweight bankers on the board of directors at the 12 regional banks. (To understand why, consider that the New York Federal Reserve Bank was headed until recently by Geithner.)

3. The reformed Fed would be stripped of its regulatory functions and confined to conducting monetary policy. A different section of the Treasury or a new free-standing regulatory agency can assume responsibility for regulation and be armed with strong antitrust laws and other rules to ensure that "too big to fail" institutions are redefined as "too big to save."

4. The federal law against usury can be restored to halt predatory lending. Persistent violators would not be fined with trivial penalties, as they are now, but stripped of their government protections and subsidies -- that is, doomed.

5. A new banking system -- smaller and more diverse and responsible to the public interest -- can fill the hole left by the demise of major banks like Citigroup. Vast public resources should be devoted to creating this system, not to saving the mastodons. Public banks (like the North Dakota State Bank) and nonprofit savings-and-lending cooperatives can also serve as an important cross-check on private commercial banking -- a competitive model that offers credit on nonusurious terms and keeps the big boys honest.

6. Once the Federal Reserve is domesticated in a democratic fashion, then it can be reformed to assume broad supervision of the nonbank financial firms in the "shadow banking system" -- hedge funds, private equity firms, pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies. (For more on this, see my recent Nation article, "Fixing the Fed.")

7. Our first political challenge is to disturb business as usual in Washington and prevent Congress from taking hasty action to adopt Wall Street's "reform" agenda. Congress is rattled by the exploding popular anger and listening nervously. The people need to speak louder -- loud enough for the president to hear.

William Greider is the author of, most recently, The Soul of Capitalism (Simon & Schuster).

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/134217/a_scary_corporate_coup_is_under_way_--_we%27ve_got_to_stop_it/

Department of Health and Human Services Approves Fictitious Medical Device Review Board Led by a Dead Dog

Monday, March 30, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Just how trustworthy are medical review boards that review and approve medical devices? In a Government Accountability Office (GAO) sting, investigators were able to invent and register a fictitious review board with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), complete with a fictitious panel of doctors and a canine president named "Truper Dawg" (named after a real pet dog that had long since passed away).

Names of other board members on the fictitious organization approved by the Department of Health and Human Services included "April Phuls" and "Timothy Wittless." These names apparently did not raise any suspicions at the HHS. (Perhaps the U.S. government thought the review board was being run by a group of badly-named rappers?)

But that's not all: To check out the credibility of existing Independent Review Boards (IRBs), the GAO invented a fictitious medical product called Adhesiabloc -- an adhesive gel used as a kind of "stomach superglue" following surgery. A proposal to begin a clinical trial of this adhesive gel on humans was submitted to an FDA-recognized IRB company, and the company approved it! This, despite the fact that the clinical trial called for pouring one liter of this adhesive gel into the stomach of patients.

Misleading the misleaders

The IRB that fell for the ruse was Coast IRB, LLC of Colorado Springs, which after being caught, charged that the GAO investigators violated federal law by misrepresenting themselves when they submitted false credentials to the review company.

But isn't this exactly what a medical review company is supposed to notice and prevent in the first place? This company seems to think they can trust everything they're told by any person or company applying for review, regardless of whether the medical products in question make any sense at all.

Coast IRB is one of 6,300 IRBs (Independent Review Boards) that certify pharmaceutical trials and medical device trials for consideration by the FDA.

The next time you considering using an "FDA-approved" medical device or pharmaceutical, remember this simple truth: In America, the Department of Health and Human Services will certify a fictitious review company headed by a dog!

If the GAO can pull this off after running the sting on just 3 companies, imagine how many of the 6,300 IRBs are certifying fraudulent, dangerous or outright deadly medical devices and pharmaceuticals right now!

What this fiasco really shows is that the medical device oversight system in America today is a complete joke. With the right paperwork, a medical device company could get review board approval for practically anything. And with the HHS accepting the credentials of fictitious review boards, the overseers of the review boards are so incompetent in their own jobs that the credibility of the whole system must be called into question.

Combine this with the corruption at the FDA, and you have to really wonder: Just how safe are the medical devices and pharmaceuticals being used by over a hundred million Americans right now? The answer, of course, is that many of them may have simply been rubber-stamped by dishonest or incompetent review board companies and HHS bureaucrats who have now been utterly exposed as either criminally dishonest or shockingly incompetent.

Sources for this story include:

Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123811179572353181.html
Associated Press: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jS05NrOriTuDXEIj3I4amzySYCIQD975T8K80

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/business/13sting.html?ref=business

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher and author with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a manufacturer of mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting products that save electricity and help prevent global warming. He's also a successful software entrepreneur, having founded a well known email marketing software company whose technology currently powers the NaturalNews email newsletters. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and pursues hobbies such as Pilates, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org

http://www.naturalnews.com/025955.html

Also Read:

Big Pharma's Latest Insanity? A "PolyPill" Combining Five Different Drugs Into One Pill

Department of Health and Human Services Approves Fictitious Medical Device Review Board Led by a Dead Dog

NaturalNews Publishes Revealing Interview with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, Author of "Saying No to Vaccines"

Cocktail of Pharmaceuticals Found in the Fish Caught Near Major U.S. Cities

Big Pharma's Latest Insanity? A "PolyPill" Combining Five Different Drugs Into One Pill

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) What do you get when you combine cholesterol medication, three different blood pressure drugs and aspirin into a single pharmaceutical pill? If you believe the drug company that funded its own study on this chemical cocktail, you get a wonder drug that has all the "benefits" of five different drugs with no more side effects than a single drug!

That's the story from Bangalore, India, anyway, where 2000 citizens of India were recruited into a clinical trial to test these drugs. The use of low-income citizens in developing nations as guinea pigs is now a common Big Pharma practice, by the way. It's cheaper than using Americans as guinea pigs, and the risk of lawsuits from harm or death is much lower in such countries.

According to the results of this study which was funded by the pharmaceutical company hoping to sell this drug, the study subjects taking the five medications in combination had no more side effects than those taking each medication individually.

And thus, it was declared that the more pharmaceuticals you take, the safer they become!

Is the MSM on drugs, too?

The Associated Press gushed all over this news, saying the Polypill has been "a dream for a decade," and that this company-funded clinical trial "proved the skeptics wrong."

The AP even quoted a doctor (Dr. Robert Harrington, spokesperson for the American College of Cardiology) as saying this Polypill should be part of President Obama's health care reform plan.

How do they know the Polypill actually improved health? They don't, really: They only know that it changed some numbers on laboratory reports: Blood pressure numbers and cholesterol numbers, namely. But did people actually live longer? Did they suffer fewer heart attacks? Did they experience improved circulation or bloodflow?

Of course not. Big Pharma almost never measures real-world effects in its studies -- it only measures "biomarkers" that greatly oversimplify the true causes of disease. High blood pressure, for example, is not a disease all by itself; it's merely a symptom of an imbalance that needs to be corrected on a fundamental level. Artificially lowering blood pressure does absolutely nothing to make a person healthier in the long run. In fact, it can cause greatly reduced circulation throughout the body.

Want more health? Take more drugs

That Big Pharma and the Mainstream Media (MSM) now think the answer to poor health is to combine multiple synthetic chemicals into one "medication cocktail" is a disturbing sign of the dangerous dissociation the industry has with the real world. And why stop at five drugs in combination? Why not combine twenty drugs? I can see the headlines now: "Twenty Drugs Proven as Safe as One Drug!"

Of course, we all know it's easy to prove anything -- no matter how ludicrous -- in the corrupt world of for-profit medicine. Yesterday, I wrote about how the Department of Health and Human Services approved a fictitious medical review panel led by a dead dog named "Truper Dawg." (http://www.naturalnews.com/025955.html)

If they can get a dead dog to head up a government-approved medical review board in the United States, I suppose it's not so amazing that an industry-funded clinical trial operated out of Bangalore, India would declare five drugs to be no more dangerous than any one of them alone.

It's not really safe, it's just no more dangerous than any other drug

Seriously, I sometimes wonder if these researchers deserve some sort of award for being the Dumbest People In the World. As if single-drug pharmaceuticals weren't killing enough people already, now they want to combine multiple drugs into one pill and claim it has the exact same safety as the very same drugs killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world each year! Is this really something to tout in your marketing materials?

If herbs were as dangerous as pharmaceuticals, they'd be immediately banned by the FDA. If soft drinks were as dangerous as pharmaceuticals, they'd be pulled from the shelves. Peanuts aren't even close to the danger levels of pharmaceuticals, and yet they were pulled from store shelves as if they carried the Bubonic Plague. But when it comes to drugs, no measure of safety is really required, and new drugs are labeled "safe" as long as they kill no more people than the old drugs that have already killed so many!

But hey, why stop at five drugs in a single pill? Why not just add pharmaceuticals to food? Why not "fortify" salt with antidepressants? Or make loaves of bread with cholesterol drugs? Or drip fluoride into the water supply?.... Oops, they already do that, don't they?

You get my point. More chemicals are not the answer to our global health problems. And the only combination medicine you'll ever see me swallowing is a large glass full of fresh juice made from living, organic garden vegetables and delicious fruits. That living beverage contains more than 10,000 medicinal compounds made by Mother Nature, not some spooky med lab in Bangalore playing "Pharmaceutical Frankenstein."

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher and author with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org

http://www.naturalnews.com/025963.html

Also read:

Department of Health and Human Services Approves Fictitious Medical Device Review Board Led by a Dead Dog

NaturalNews Publishes Revealing Interview with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, Author of "Saying No to Vaccines"

Cocktail of Pharmaceuticals Found in the Fish Caught Near Major U.S. Cities

Monday, March 30, 2009

16 Signs That You Live Under Tyranny

Published on March 7, 2009 by Jon_Roland

Tyranny is an important phenomenon that operates by principles by which it can be recognized in its early emerging stages, and, if the people are vigilant, prepared, and committed to liberty, countered before it becomes entrenched. The methods used to overthrow a constitutional order and establish a tyranny are well-known. However, despite this awareness, it is surprising how those who have no intention of perpetrating a tyranny can slip into these methods and bring about a tyranny despite their best intentions. Tyranny does not have to be deliberate. Tyrants can fool themselves as thoroughly as they fool everyone else. Here are the top 16 signs that you are living in a tyranny or heading that way. Many thanks to Jon Roland for submitting this list (the original of which is here).

Signs 1-5
 
 
PropagandaDIEBOLD bringing you a US President endorsed by the Military Industrial Complex

1. Control of public information and opinion: It begins with withholding information, and leads to putting out false or misleading information. A government can develop ministries of propaganda under many guises. They typically call it “public information” or “marketing”.

2. Vote fraud used to prevent the election of reformers: It doesn’t matter which of the two major party candidates are elected if no real reformer can get nominated, and when news services start knowing the outcomes of elections before it is possible for them to know, then the votes are not being honestly counted.

3. Undue official influence on trials and juries: Nonrandom selection of jury panels, exclusion of those opposed to the law, exclusion of the jury from hearing argument on the law, exclusion of private prosecutors from access to the grand jury, and prevention of parties and their counsels from making effective arguments or challenging the government.

4. Usurpation of undelegated powers: This is usually done with popular support for solving some problem, or to redistribute wealth to the advantage of the supporters of the dominant faction, but it soon leads to the deprivation of rights of minorities and individuals.

5. Seeking a government monopoly on the capability and use of armed force: The first signs are efforts to register or restrict the possession and use of firearms, initially under the guise of “protecting” the public, which, when it actually results in increased crime, provides a basis for further disarmament efforts affecting more people and more weapons.

Signs 6 - 10
 
police_state_by_tshansen.jpg

6. Militarization of law enforcement: Declaring a “war on crime” that becomes a war on civil liberties. Preparation of military forces for internal policing duties.

7. Infiltration and subversion of citizen groups that could be forces for reform: Internal spying and surveillance is the beginning. A sign is false prosecutions of their leaders.

8. Suppression of investigators and whistleblowers: When people who try to uncover high level wrongdoing are threatened, that is a sign the system is not only riddled with corruption, but that the corruption has passed the threshold into active tyranny.

9. Use of the law for competition suppression: It begins with the dominant faction winning support by paying off their supporters and suppressing their supporters’ competitors, but leads to public officials themselves engaging in illegal activities and using the law to suppress independent competitors. A good example of this is narcotics trafficking.

10. Subversion of internal checks and balances: This involves the appointment to key positions of persons who can be controlled by their sponsors, and who are then induced to do illegal things. The worst way in which this occurs is in the appointment of judges that will go along with unconstitutional acts by the other branches.

Signs 11 - 16
 
Le drapeau de la victoire

11. Creation of a class of officials who are above the law: This is indicated by dismissal of charges for wrongdoing against persons who are “following orders”.

12. Increasing dependency of the people on government: The classic approach to domination of the people is to first take everything they have away from them, then make them compliant with the demands of the rulers to get anything back again.

13. Increasing public ignorance of their civic duties and reluctance to perform them: When the people avoid doing things like voting and serving in militias and juries, tyranny is not far behind.

14. Use of staged events to produce popular support: Acts of terrorism, blamed on political opponents, followed immediately with well-prepared proposals for increased powers and budgets for suppressive agencies. Sometimes called a Reichstag plot.

15. Conversion of rights into privileges: Requiring licenses and permits for doing things that the government does not have the delegated power to restrict, except by due process in which the burden of proof is on the petitioner.

16. Political correctness: Many if not most people are susceptible to being recruited to engage in repressive actions against disfavored views or behaviors, and led to pave the way for the dominance of tyrannical government.

1_53

“Political Correctness is tyranny with a happy face.” ~ Charleton Heston

Contributor: Jon_Roland

http://listverse.com/politics/16-signs-that-you-live-in-a-tyranny/

Real Journalism Versus "Professional Journalism"

George Washington Blog

If Jon Stewart walked out of his studio with his camera crew, went to where establishment figures were speaking, and threw tough questions at them, you'd get something like We Are Change.

The We Are Change reporters have asked the tough questions - a la Stewart (well, minus the comedy) - to former presidents, secretaries of defense, leading Neocons and Iraq war architects, and many other establishment figures.

So their interviews are syndicated nationally and they've all received Pulitzer prizes, right?

Not exactly . . .

We Are Change founder Luke Rudkowski was arrested for trying to ask New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about his refusal to pay for the health care of 9/11 first responders.

The charges? "Impersonating a member of the press" and trespassing.

Professional Journalism

Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, created the concept of "professional journalism". What is professional journalism, you may ask?

Renowned veteran journalist John Pilger summarizes it as follows:

Edward Bernays, the so-called father of public relations, wrote about an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. He was referring to journalism, the media. That was almost 80 years ago, not long after corporate journalism was invented. It is a history few journalist talk about or know about, and it began with the arrival of corporate advertising. As the new corporations began taking over the press, something called “professional journalism” was invented. To attract big advertisers, the new corporate press had to appear respectable, pillars of the establishment-objective, impartial, balanced. The first schools of journalism were set up, and a mythology of liberal neutrality was spun around the professional journalist. The right to freedom of expression was associated with the new media and with the great corporations, and the whole thing was, as Robert McChesney put it so well, “entirely bogus”.

For what the public did not know was that in order to be professional, journalists had to ensure that news and opinion were dominated by official sources, and that has not changed. Go through the New York Times on any day, and check the sources of the main political stories-domestic and foreign-you’ll find they’re dominated by government and other established interests. That is the essence of professional journalism. I am not suggesting that independent journalism was or is excluded, but it is more likely to be an honorable exception. Think of the role Judith Miller played in the New York Times in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Yes, her work became a scandal, but only after it played a powerful role in promoting an invasion based on lies. Yet, Miller’s parroting of official sources and vested interests was not all that different from the work of many famous Times reporters, such as the celebrated W.H. Lawrence, who helped cover up the true effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August, 1945. “No Radioactivity in Hiroshima Ruin,” was the headline on his report, and it was false.

Consider how the power of this invisible government has grown. In 1983 the principle global media was owned by 50 corporations, most of them American. In 2002 this had fallen to just 9 corporations. Today it is probably about 5. Rupert Murdoch has predicted that there will be just three global media giants, and his company will be one of them. This concentration of power is not exclusive of course to the United States. The BBC has announced it is expanding its broadcasts to the United States, because it believes Americans want principled, objective, neutral journalism for which the BBC is famous. They have launched BBC America. You may have seen the advertising.

The BBC began in 1922, just before the corporate press began in America. Its founder was Lord John Reith, who believed that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism. In the same year the British establishment was under siege. The unions had called a general strike and the Tories were terrified that a revolution was on the way. The new BBC came to their rescue. In high secrecy, Lord Reith wrote anti-union speeches for the Tory Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and broadcast them to the nation, while refusing to allow the labor leaders to put their side until the strike was over.

So, a pattern was set. Impartiality was a principle certainly: a principle to be suspended whenever the establishment was under threat. And that principle has been upheld ever since.

And as Newseek's Evan Thomas admits in a new article:

By definition, establishments believe in propping up the existing order. Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are. Safeguarding the status quo, protecting traditional institutions, can be healthy and useful, stabilizing and reassuring....

"If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am) . . ."

Virtually all mainstream reporters are "establishment" journalists like Thomas. This is just another way of saying "professional" journalists in the sense Bernays used that term.

(This does not mean that everyone who makes their living through journalism is a sell-out. Some people do make some or all of their income as journalists and alternative news site operators, but aren't afraid to question those in power.)

The Significance of Rudkowski's Arrest

The media organization which sponsors Rudkowski is Infowars.com, a website which has many times the readership of small town "establishment" or "professional" newspapers. Indeed, given the popularity of Infowars and its sister sites, Prisonplanet.com and Jonesreport.com, the Infowars news network probably has more readers than all but the largest traditional newspapers.

So the issue cannot be one of size or audience.

The real question is whether real journalists will have access to those in power, and so be able to exercise the stereotypical role of the "Fourth Estate" in asking hard-hitting questions to our leaders in government.

Rudkowski's arrest - like Amy Goodman's arrest at the RNC convention for documenting violence against protestors - is an attempt to crack down on real attempts to question the powers-that-be and to document their actions.

If "professional" journalists with a "vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are" are the only ones allowed to speak with those holding the reigns of governmental power, then freedom of the press is dead in America. And if freedom of the press is dead, so is democracy.

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/03/real-journalism-versus-professional.html

Activists Arrested For Asking Bloomberg A Question Plan Countersuit

Released We Are Change members tell of “inhumane, insane surreal” experience

Activists Arrested For Asking Bloomberg A Question Plan Countersuit 300309top2

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, March 30, 2009

We Are Change New York members have described the “inhumane, insane and surreal” experience of being arrested by police for asking Mayor Bloomberg a question and promise that “the full story of this incident is yet to be heard.”

Luke Rudkowski, along with fellow We Are Change members Manny and Anthony, were all arrested on Saturday night for asking Bloomberg a question about 9/11 first responders outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue.

They followed orders by police to stay in one designated area and yet were arrested for trespassing and were later hit with the charge of “impersonating a journalist,” despite having Infowars press credentials.

As The George Washington Blog points out today, “The media organization which sponsors Rudkowski is Infowars.com, a website which has many times the readership of small town “establishment” or “professional” newspapers. Indeed, given the popularity of Infowars and its sister sites, Prisonplanet.com and Jonesreport.com, the Infowars news network probably has more readers than all but the largest traditional newspapers. So the issue cannot be one of size or audience.”

Our recent exclusive report about the MIAC controversy became a national story, being covered by Fox News and the Associated Press, amongst hundreds of other mainstream news outlets. To claim that Infowars is not a genuine media outfit is manifestly absurd.

“Rudkowski’s arrest - like Amy Goodman’s arrest at the RNC convention for documenting violence against protestors - is an attempt to crack down on real attempts to question the powers-that-be and to document their actions,” concludes the George Washington Blog.

The We Are Change members have all now finally been released from Manhattan central bookings. They plan to air a live web broadcast at 10pm Eastern tonight to tell the full story and broadcast footage that led up to the incident. However, since the prosecution has seized all three of the group’s cameras and footage of the incident as criminal evidence, new cameras will have to be purchased.

We Are Change are asking all concerned activists to help them buy more cameras and create a legal defense fund by making a donation. They are also asking anyone who can offer legal services to contact bri.wearechange@gmail.com.

The court case will be in two months and the group is planning a countersuit on the basis of false arrest, official oppression and violation of the 1st amendment.

“You can try to stop me, but you cant stop the idea of CHANGE! This is not over by any means,” promises Luke Rudkowski.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/activists-arrested-for-asking-bloomberg-a-question-plan-countersuit.html

Research related articles:

  1. Luke Rudkowski Arrested for Attempting to Question Mayor Bloomberg
  2. We Are Change Members Arrested: Update
  3. Why People Who Question the Anthrax Attacks Won’t Question 9/11
  4. BART officer arrested on murder warrant in NY Day shooting
  5. Bush Plan for North Korea Ignores Labor Camps, Activists Say
  6. Investigative Reporter Wayne Madsen Arrested
  7. 14-year-old Wisconsin student arrested for texting in class
  8. Parents Consider Legal Action After Autistic Girl, 8, Arrested at School
  9. ‘Arrest Bush 2009′ plans Inauguration Day protest
  10. FLASHBACK: Shock as top Indian Army officer arrested over bomb attack
  11. Woman Arrested For Failing To Return Library Books
  12. Father arrested and locked in cell overnight after smacking his son’s leg

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Move Your Money Out of the Country… and Soon


- The Casey Files -

by Editors of BIG GOLD from Casey Research
March 27, 2009

Things are getting uncomfortable for individuals and corporations looking to deposit their money in tax havens around the world. Just recently, Congress introduced the so-called “Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act,” which is designed to do away with the privacy afforded by doing business or investing outside the U.S. and to eliminate or reduce tax benefits available offshore. Simon Black and Fitzroy McLean, ex-CIA operatives, investment pros, and globe-trotting editors of Casey Research’s Without Borders, weigh in with their no-holds-barred opinion on the topic…

We are patriots. We have proudly served in our country's military, have extended a helping hand to its public sector, and have plowed our entrepreneurial enterprise into its once fertile soil. We love America, but these days, America does not love us back. It takes without giving and squelches free enterprise. These days, America is no longer the land of the free, especially when it comes to the market.

Just look at the headlines, seemingly ripped from the pages of Atlas Shrugged: Unconscionably large bank bailouts. Punishing regulations and tax requirements. An arctic business climate. Government money bombs. Riots and protests. Slowing trade. Protectionist rhetoric. Demonized corporate executives. Even pirates hijacking cargo ships. One can guess what will happen next.

We predict the next several years will usher in larger, more obtrusive governments, resulting in a decline of personal liberty and financial privacy. The world will become increasingly polarized between two groups: those who consider government intervention a great idea, and the rest of us who happen to be sane.

As such, you can bet your last falling dollar on some absolute certainties: bank nationalization is a given, at least de facto if not de jure; taxes are going up on those of us with any money left; the Fed’s money blitzkriegs will spark a blaze of inflation; and financial privacy will be a thing of the past in the United States.

The obvious and necessary solution is to position one’s finances outside of the United States, and to do so now, while the narrow and finite window of opportunity is still open.

To be clear, evading (or even avoiding) taxes at this point is not a wise move, given the size and scope of the ever-growing IRS. But there are significant advantages to expatriating your capital now:

For starters, you will actually have control of your own money. Yes, in certain instances you’ll be obliged to tell the IRS exactly where it is and what you’re doing with it, but no government agency will have the authority to reach into your overseas pocket and freeze or expropriate (read: steal) on a whim just so Team Obama can give it away to pay for someone else’s McMansion. Plus, when exchange controls are implemented and Americans are forbidden from wiring money overseas, your capital will already be secured in another jurisdiction, where you will be free to do what you want with it.

Secondly, you will no longer have to assume the risk of insolvent banks or go through the hassle of petitioning the government to get your FDIC insurance bailout. Many overseas banks are far better capitalized than those in the United States, and some of them are in jurisdictions with constitutionally protected banking privacy.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, moving money overseas gives you a last chance at diversifying out of the dollar, which, in a very short period of time, will barely be worth the paper on which it's printed.

Bank and Brokerage Accounts

Opening a foreign bank or brokerage account is easier said than done; the United States government severely restricts where and under what terms you can open a bank account, invest in a fund, or engage in other economic activities that facilitate the protection of and access to your assets. As the signatory on an overseas account, you are required by law to inform the federal government on Treasury form TDF 90.22 by the end of June each year. Ostensibly, this has been done in the name of fighting money laundering, but it has the effect of severely restricting your freedom of financial movement.

Many foreign banks simply won’t work with you… don’t worry, it’s nothing personal. Uncle Sam has been beating them down since the Reagan years, and between Qualified Intermediary rules, tax treaties, and the USA PATRIOT Act, Sammy gives himself a lot of regulation to bury the opposition with.

There are some jurisdictions that are still excellent banking centers; Switzerland may have rolled over, but Panama, Uruguay, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have thus far ignored the call for “greater transparency” (read: government access to private finance).  

Some individual banks, like Credicorp and Global Bank in Panama, or Banco Itau in Uruguay will not work with U.S. citizens anymore, but there is still opportunity with the hundreds of remaining banks in these jurisdictions.

Similarly, opening a foreign brokerage account is a shrewd move, not only to move your money overseas but also to have greater access to financial markets. Remember when world markets tanked on Martin Luther King Day 2008? If you were a U.S.-based investor and wanted to sell, sell, sell, you had to wait a full 24 hours until the markets opened after the holiday on Tuesday morning. If you had been invested with global depository shares through a foreign brokerage, you could have saved yourself several points and gotten out in time.

We would suggest looking at Verdmont Capital and PanaAmerican Capital in Panama, and Saxo Bank in Denmark.

Bullion Storage

If you have gold, it would be highly beneficial to get it out of the U.S. – stat. If you do keep it in the U.S., your only truly reliable and private option is to store it yourself in a safe that you bury in your backyard. Otherwise, move it out of the U.S. now before Team Obama pulls an FDR and takes your gold from you.  

At the moment, gold is not considered a monetary instrument by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, so there is no legal requirement to declare your bullion upon leaving the United States. Some countries, like Taiwan and Uruguay, require you to declare gold in excess of a certain value to customs officials upon entry.

We recommend Panama, Austria, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates as locations to store bullion; one particular favorite is a location called Das Safe (www.dassafe.com) in Vienna where anonymous safes start at 400 euro/year.

Real Estate

It might sound counterintuitive after the subprime debacle, but real estate is a sound option for moving money outside of the United States; there are zero reporting requirements. It's your business where you own property, and (so far) no one else's. You can purchase property in a private way by setting up a corporate structure to hold the assets so that they're not in your name (Panama is an excellent jurisdiction to set this up), and although there are many places with depressed real estate markets, there are also many with good growth potential: in Latin America, we would recommend Panama, Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile. In Europe: Slovakia, Albania, and Poland. In the rest of the world: Lebanon, Hainan Island (China), the Philippines, Cambodia, and New Zealand.

Time is of the essence – start looking for your safe haven now.

 

story end
© 2009 Editors of Big Gold
Casey Research
Editorial Archive

It is no accident that gold is currently trading at around $980 again. Physical gold is a hedge for troubled times – in an economic crisis, the gold price is bound to go up dramatically and so are, by extension, stocks of major gold producers and near-producers. If you want to preserve, and multiply your assets, BIG GOLD is the go-to advisory for all things gold-related. Click here to learn more.

Casey Research has also recently launched a brand new monthly advisory, The Casey Report, which focuses on the most powerful trends now driving the U.S. and global economy, and how to profit from those trends. As a special introductory offer, when you subscribe to either the International Speculator or The Casey Report before the end of July 2008 you will receive the other free of charge for as long as you remain an active subscriber. Plus, your subscription comes with a full three month money back satisfaction guarantee… so you have nothing to lose when you try these publications today. Learn more about this special offer now.

http://financialsense.com/editorials/casey/2009/0327.html

Eligibility lawyer says Homeland Security shadowing him

Reports incidents involving county, federal agents

Posted: March 25, 2009
11:55 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
©2009WorldNetDaily

A lawyer spearheading the effort in Washington state to bring light to the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president says he was shadowed all day today by officers with the federal Department of Homeland Security, the Snohomish County sheriff's office and the Everitt city police department.

"There's definitely observation," attorney Stephen Pidgeon told WND. "Maybe observation in anticipation of making an arrest."

Pidgeon has been the attorney for Washington state plaintiffs challenging Obama's eligibility to be president under the Constitution's demand for that office to be occupied only by a "natural born" citizen. Dozens of similar cases have been filed around the country since the election and many have been dismissed, often because judges rule the plaintiffs don't have "standing" to bring a complaint.

The Washington state case, however, cites state law that vests in citizens the right to raise questions about an elected official's authority, effectively granting standing to those plaintiffs.

The case, although it has been filed, has not been brought to court for hearings yet.

Pidgeon told WND today he contacted his personal defense attorney, and also was in contact with the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization advocating for civil liberties and religious and personal freedoms.

Pidgeon is affiliated with the organization and told WND that there would be a letter sent inquiring about the surveillance.

He said he first became aware of the situation when his wife left their rural home early in the day and reported there were three law enforcement vehicles parked nearby, along with three black Suburban-style vehicles carrying camouflage-wearing agents, apparently from Homeland Security.

Pidgeon said he has been "outspoken" about the Obama administration and its validity due to the eligibility questions, but didn't realize he was "qualifying as an enemy of the state."

He immediately reached out to a number of individuals through email.

"My only protection is to contact the people I know," he said.

Officials of the Department of Homeland Security did not return multiple WND messages seeking a comment on the situation. Officials with the Snohomish sheriff's office and the Everett city police department said they didn't know anything about it.

"Where Homeland Security is concerned, obviously there are people working for the Obama administration with little consideration for free speech," Pidgeon told WND.

He said when he left his home, he had a sheriff's vehicle "marking every turn that I made."

"There's definitely observation," he said.

"The fact of the matter is that we have taken the position and it is consistent with Orly Taitz' position that Barack Obama failed to establish his bona fides by the election on November 4," he said. "We alleged under Democratic National Committee rules he had a burden to establish to the DNC's satisfaction his eligibility. He never did.

"As a consequence the burden remains on him. He didn't meet the burden of proving his eligibility to hold the office."

He said voters cannot simply rewrite the Constitution's eligibility requirements in a presidential vote. For one thing, only 52 percent voted for Obama, and the Constitution requires approval from three-fourths of the states for an amendment.

He also cited U.S. senators and congressman who have credited the online "fact" organizations such as snopes or factcheck for authenticating Obama's eligibility.

"Any senator who would rely on snopes or factcheck to establish a judicial opinion whether or not this person has documented his eligibility is a fool," Pidgeon said. And citing a federal judge who said the issue of Obama's eligibility already had been "twittered," he said that is "tantamount to malpractice."

Several hours after Pidgeon returned WND's call, he called again.

"We are definitely under surveillance and it's coordinated with Homeland Security," he said.

He said one of his associates had been followed from his home to the law firm's downtown office, and the associate was stopped just outside the building.

"The police officer claimed he didn't have brake lights working," Pidgeon said. "But he does."

WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the legal challenges question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Further, others question his citizenship by virtue of his attendance in Indonesian schools during his childhood and question on what passport did he travel to Pakistan three decades ago.

Adding fuel to the fire is Obama's persistent refusal to release documents that could provide answers. While his supporters cite an online version of a "Certification of Live Birth" from Hawaii, critics point out such documents actually were issued for children not born in the state.

Hawaiian officials have confirmed they have a birth certificate on file for Obama, but it cannot be released without his permission, and they have not revealed the information it contains.

John Eidsmoe, an expert on the U.S. Constitution working with the Foundation on Moral Law, told WND a demand for verification of Obama's eligibility appears to be legitimate.

Eidsmoe said it's clear that Obama has something in the documentation of his history, including his birth certificate, college records and other documents that "he does not want the public to know."

Officials for the Obama campaign repeatedly have refused to comment on the questions, relenting only once to call the concerns "garbage."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=92865

NYPD Arrest Luke Rudowski of We Are Change NY and 2 Others!!

Thanks to BOBBY ELECTRIC(ANTI-NWO-HIPHOP)

I JUST CALLED AND THE MAN ANSWERING SAID LUKE IS NO LONGER AT THE FACILITY?

orangeclad--click to add as a Myspace friend


NYPD Arrest Luke Rudkowski and 2 Others

Update as of Midnight EST:
Another number given by the 18th Precinct for information - (646) 610-6700. That number is in addition to (212) 760-8300, and the one listed below. Please do not stop calling until we find out what is happening to Luke, Manny, and Anthony.

And today at 9:00 a.m. EST, there will be a street action held at Manhattan Central Booking, Manhattan Civic Center, 100 Centre St., New York, NY 10007 (212) 374-3921 to show support, inform others, and press for the release of those illegally arrested.

Information is still coming in at this point.

Michael Bloomberg was set to appear at a $500 per ticket function put on by the Inner Circle. (http://innercircleshow.org/infotickets.html) Hilton New York 1335 Sixth Avenue between 53rd & 54th Streets New York NY 10003

Members of WeAreChangeNY News were assembled in the lobby area at the Hilton Hotel in order to ask Mayor Bloomberg some additional questions regarding the first responder issue which continues to be ignored. Requests to meet with our reporters have been repeatly denied by the Mayor's office.

Reporters were stationed at various locations around the lobby and according to witnesses on the scene hotel security and members or Mayor Bloomberg's security detail began tracking and hovering around Luke and others with cameras who were waiting patiently for the Mayor's arrival. Members of both security staffs began to ask questions about who were guests at the hotel and who was press. Orders to "detain" people soon began so that those individuals could be banned from the building. All of the members of WeAreChange immediately complied with all instructions given by the security detail so that they could exit the building but within seconds arrest orders were given. According to WeAreChange camera operators there is video of these unlawful arrests as it appears that in some cases there were no warnings given and some people were simply arrested just for being in the lobby of the hotel.

Luke and the others have been taken to the NYPD 306 W 54 Street 8 Ave / 9 Ave.

212-767-8300

9/11 Truth Rising (documentary featuring Luke)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9153741586264750761

Saturday, March 28, 2009

IMPORTANT MUST READ! WILL AMERICAN KIDS TRADE BASEBALL CAPS FOR MANDATORY WHITE HELMETS?

By CJ Graham
March 28, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

Though I have a tendency to write long articles, thick with commentary, the urgency of the information I want to share with you compels me to keep this direct and to the point.

Along with the information you will be reading, I have included informative links. Please take the time to go to each of these links and verify the information I am sharing with you. It is important that you see the sites for yourself. There is much we all need to understand and share with other American citizens.

First though, I remind you of the ‘proper frog cooking’ theory which explains that a frog put into a pot of hot water will jump right out. Instead, you must put it into a pot of warm water and raise the temperature slowly, so the frog doesn’t recognize the danger, until it is too late.

With that in mind, I’ll get to the point.

Take 19 seconds to listen to the words of then Presidential candidate, Barack Obama here.

March 18th, 2009 the House of Representatives passed the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, HR 1388 followed by a quick passage in the Senate. There is much talk about a provision for the study of a mandatory service program, removed at least for now, with the possibility of being added again in conference.

WND wrote an excellent article about the ‘Give Act’.

I want to give you a little more information and context. Keep that frog in hot water in mind.

The United Nations has a volunteer program called the White Helmets.

(Excerpt from a UN document dated Dec 1997)

[Participation of volunteers, "White Helmets", in activities of the United Nations in the field of humanitarian relief, rehabilitation and technical cooperation for development.

Calls upon States to promote the facilitation of cooperative actions between the United Nations system and the civil society, through national volunteer corps, in order to strengthen the United Nations capacities for early and effective response to humanitarian emergencies; ]

To understand why the UN ‘White Helmets’ should be a concern to American Citizens and how it relates to HR 1388, you must understand how our government works with the OAS and the ‘Summits of the Americas’.

The Organization of American States (OAS) is an arm of the United Nations (UN) In brief; the OAS is a 34 member multinational hemispheric organization of which the United States is one member state. The Summits of the Americas is an instrument of the OAS, as is the Inter-American System.

I have written several articles about the OAS and the Summits, The Demise Of The American Identity and As Our Towers Fell have details about their inner workings and their agenda.

(Excerpt from the OAS Dept Of International Legal Affairs)

[That the Plan of Action adopted by the Summit of the Americas in December 1994, in which the heads of state and government stated that the White Helmets Initiative can facilitate the eradication of poverty and strengthen the humanitarian rapid response capability of the international community to meet emergency humanitarian, social, and development-related needs, and that the countries of the Americas could pioneer the Initiative through the creation of national corps of volunteers capable of responding to calls from other countries in the region;

…to urge member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) that have not yet done so to take action, as decided by the heads of state and government at the Summit of the Americas, to establish, organize, and finance in a manner they deem appropriate national corps of volunteers that can be available to other countries of the Hemisphere.]

(Excerpt from COORDINATION OF VOLUNTEERS IN THE HEMISPHERE IN RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER AND POVERTY – WHITE HELMETS INITIATIVE)

[RECALLING that, in the Plan of Action of the First Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, in December 1994, the Heads of State and Government said that the White Helmets Initiative could facilitate the eradication of poverty and strengthen the international community’s capacity for rapid humanitarian response to emergency humanitarian, social, and developmental needs, and that the countries of the Americas could pioneer this initiative by forming national volunteer corps that could respond to calls from other countries in the region;

RECALLING ALSO that, in the Declaration of Mar del Plata of the Fourth Summit of the Americas (Argentina, 2005), the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to fight poverty, inequality, hunger, and social exclusion; noted with concern the increased intensity of natural and man-made disasters and their devastating impact on human lives, infrastructure, and economies in the Hemisphere; and called for action at the national, regional, and international levels to strengthen disaster management programs;]

Note the term “man-made disasters.”

Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made news recently for failing to use the term terrorism, instead using the term man-caused disasters.

In a recent interview, she said the following:

[“I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word "terrorism," I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”]

Amazing isn’t it how subtly DC changes the meaning and purpose with just a gentle change of language. The language follows the tone set by the OAS, which follows the tone of the UN.

Civilian Volunteer Corps, to mandatory service, to Civilian National Security Force. Just that quickly, just a change in tone, a few word adjustments and our children go from freedom into mandatory service, from neighborhood good deeds and volunteerism, to ‘campuses’ and ‘uniforms’ with White Helmets. Can we, as a free people, afford to sit back and say nothing?

Please share this information with as many Americans as possible. This may not be a surprise to the readers of NewsWithViews, but to many Americans, it may come as quite a shock.

If possible, read, dissect and expose the OAS, the Inter-American System and the Summits of the Americas to others. Write, blog, call talk radio, make copies and hand them out to your co-workers or your neighbors, visit your representatives, do everything possible. It is going to take each of us doing all we can to unravel this spider web with which we have become entangled.

If you post this article to another site, and I hope that you will, please make sure that you put a link to NWV and ask your readers to access the informational links I have provided. They are the key to understanding the importance of this information and to absorbing the enormity of it all.

America is in great need of the watchful and informed attention of her citizens. Please do all that you can to help her. She is worth the time, and so is your family. Time is of the essence, the next ‘Summits of the Americas’ meets in Trinidad and Tobago April 17th, 2009.

Other essential links:

1 - American Declaration Of The Rights And Duties Of Man
2 - Inter American Democratic Charter
3 - Social Charter Of the Americas

© 2009 CJ Graham - All Rights Reserved

"CJ" Graham is a Veteran and the proud wife of a retired USAF Veteran. She is a dedicated mother, activist, conservative, independent, who's allegiance is to her country and not to a particular political party. She is a firm believer in the power of the Citizen of the United States of America to whom she writes with a empowering and encouraging spirit. She knows that the Citizen of the USA can make a difference through peaceful, focused, knowledge empowered, activism working within the system and with media and legislators to effect change. As an author, she writes from the heart but backs up her work with facts.

E-Mail: cjgraham2008@gmail.com

http://www.newswithviews.com/Graham/cj117.htm

ACTION NEEDED: MARINE MAMMALS WILL DIE IN NAVY WARFARE TESTING PROGRAM

By Rosalind Peterson
March 28, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

The United States Navy requests permissions from the United States Department of Commerce (NOAA), to kill thirty two species of marine mammals over five years in their Pacific Ocean Warfare testing program.

The Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense have decided that their Northwest Training Range Complex, in the State of Washington, should be expanded, and have devised a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), dated December 2008, for public review and comment. The expansion of their area of operation will include the State of Washington, the State of Oregon, part of the state of Idaho, and Northern California. The final date for public comment is April 13, 2009.

These designated areas will also include large areas of the Pacific Ocean from California to the State of Washington and areas along the border between the United States and Canada. (The extent map designating this program area also extends throughout Northern California to the San Francisco Bay Area under an “Extent Map Warning Area” designation.) Once implemented there is no date specified in E.I.S. for this Navy Warfare Testing Program to end although various documents show that this is a five-year Navy Warfare Testing program.

The U.S. Commander of the Pacific Fleet has given American citizens and residents of these states only a very short time to comment on their draft EIS: Published on December 30, 2008, with the final public comment “stay of execution” deadline moved to April 13, 2009. U.S. citizens in four states demanded this extension and more public hearings and are opposing this catastrophic program. (This document is approximately 1,000+/- pages in length with attachments.)

The United States Navy has also published an application, as an addendum to their program, in the U.S. Federal Register, dated March 11, 2009. This application from the Navy “…requests authorization to take individuals of 32 species of marine mammals during upcoming Navy Warfare testing and training to be conducted in the NWTR areas (off the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northern California) over the course of 5 years…” Final public comment date is April 10, 2009.

The Navy Warfare Testing Program will “…utilize mid- and high frequency active sonar sources and explosive detonations. These sonar and explosive sources will be utilized during Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Tracking Exercises, Mine Avoidance Training, Extended Echo Ranging and Improved Extended Echo Ranging (EER/IEER) events, Missile Exercises, Gunnery Exercises, Bombing Exercises, Sinking Exercises, and Mine Warfare Training…”

According to Navy Public Relations Officer Sheila Murray the United States Navy is already conducting warfare testing programs throughout the United States. During the last two years, it is alleged that the Navy has issued nearly identical environmental impact statements for Navy Warfare Training Range Complexes in the following areas: the Mariana Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, Jacksonville Florida, Cherry Point, North Carolina, the Gulf of Alaska and Southern California. It is unknown, at this time, how many marine mammals have been killed in these programs since their inception.

The Pacific and Atlantic Ocean belong to all the people of the world not just the United States. This “taking” of marine mammals negatively impacts the entire ecology of our oceans and the life in them which feeds large numbers of people and other species around the world. Now the United States government has decided that California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and the Pacific Ocean marine life in those areas, are expendable in order to test more war weapons of mass destruction. It should be noted that the list of toxic chemicals is a long one as noted in the Navy E.I.S. Depleted uranium, red and white phosphorus, and a whole host of chemicals known to be toxic not only to man, but to marine life, are being served up on the “Navy Warfare Chemical Menu” that will contaminate our air, water, and soil.

White Phosphorus is just one of the chemicals on Navy Toxic Menu: Berkowitz et.al (1981), in assessing the potential hazards associated with the use of phosphorus smoke munitions, reported that White Phosphorus residues in aquatic systems can be extremely toxic. Berkowitz stated that the deposition of washout of…White Phosphorus, especially in water bodies may create exposure risks to resident finfish, invertebrates and waterfowl, even if resultant White Phosphorus concentrations are in the low ppb range. 1996)

Water Quality Criteria for White Phosphorus – Authors” Kowetha A. Davidson; Patricia S. Hovatter, Catherine F. Sigmon, Oak Ridge National Lab TN: Abstract: Data obtained from a review of the literature concerning the environmental fate and aquatic and mammalian toxicity of white phosphorus are presented…Laboratory and field studies indicate that white phosphorus is quite toxic to aquatic organisms, with fish being the most sensitive…bioaccumulation is rapid and extensive, with the greatest uptake in the liver and muscle of fish and the hepatopancreas of lobster…other toxic effects to aquatic organism include cardiovascular and histological changes. (1987) (White Phosphorus is an airborne contaminant – used in fog oil and smoke obscurants.)

Mammalian Toxicology and Toxicity to Aquatic Organism of White Phosphorus and ‘Phossy Water’ by Authors Dickinson Burrows; Jack C. Dacre: AWARE INC Nashville TN – Abstract: “…white phosphorus is highly toxic to both experimental animals and man…white phosphorus is also highly toxic to aquatic animals…”

Concerned citizens in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California, along with citizens across the United States are protesting this action by the United States government and the United States Navy. Almost all of our elected representatives are silent when it comes to opposing this disastrous program. The major news media has elected not to cover this story leaving coverage to a few small newspapers located in remote areas.

A Navy public hearing will be held in Mendocino County, California on Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

We hope that everyone will join us in demanding that the current ongoing Navy weapons program in Oregon is suspended permanently and that the new proposed Navy Warfare Testing Program expansion is stopped. Public protests should be filed with your elected representatives, the President of the United States, and to both the United States Navy and NOAA (United States Department of Commerce).

1, United States Navy Environment Impact Statement (Download one chapter at a time – works the best.)

2, U.S. Navy Public Comment Form Online

3, Write to: Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest,
1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203
Silverdale, Washington 98315
ATTN: Mrs. Kimberly Kier – NWTRC EIS
Deadline: April 13, 2009

4, NOAA Public Comments Address to:
Michael Payne, Chief, Permits Conservation and Education Division,
Office of Protected Resources National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway,
Silver Spring, MD 20910–3225.
Deadline: April 10, 2009

5, E-Mail Rosalind Peterson (707) 485-7520 For More Information click here:

6, PETITION TO STOP NAVY PROGRAM:

7, The Peterson Perspective

8, Northwest Training Range Complex Draft EIS/OEIS

9, Northwest Training Range Complex Draft EIS/OEIS

The following Notice is in the United States Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 11, 2009 / Notices 10557:

“DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648–XN87 Taking and Importing Marine Mammals;

Navy Training and Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation Activities Conducted within the Northwest Training Range Complex

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for letter of authorization; request for comments and information.

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to military readiness training activities and research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) to be conducted in the Northwest Training Range Complex (NWTRC) for the period beginning September 2009 and ending September 2014.

1 - NOAA Definition: “TAKE”
2 - Defined under the MMPA as "harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect."
3 - Defined under the ESA as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct."

Pursuant to the implementing regulations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing our receipt of the Navy’s request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and inviting information, suggestions, and comments on the Navy’s application and request.

DATES: Comments and information to NMFS must be received no later than April 10, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the application should be addressed to:

Michael Payne, Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910–3225.
The mailbox address for providing email comments is PR1.0648–XN87@noaa.gov.
NMFS is not responsible for e-mail comments sent to
10558 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 11, 2009 / Notices addresses other than the one provided here. Comments sent via e-mail, including all attachments, must not exceed a 10–megabyte file size.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jolie Harrison, Office of Protected Resources,
NMFS, (301) 713–2289, ext. 166. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability

A copy of the Navy’s application may be obtained by writing to the address specified above (See ADDRESSES), telephoning the contact listed above (see FOR FURTHER CONTACT INFORMATION).

The Navy’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for NWTRC was made available to the public on December 26, 2008, and may be viewed here.

With respect to military readiness activities, the MMPA defines ‘‘harassment’’ as:

(i) any act that injures or has the significant potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild [Level A Harassment]; or (ii) any act that disturbs or is likely to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by causing disruption of natural behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, surfacing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering, to a point where such behavioral patterns are abandoned or significantly altered [Level B Harassment].

Summary of Request

In September, 2008, NMFS received an application from the Navy requesting authorization to take individuals of 32 species of marine mammals (4 pinniped and 28 cetacean) incidental to upcoming training and RDT&E activities to be conducted in the NWTRC (off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northern California) over the course of 5 years.

These training and RDT&E activities are classified as military readiness activities. The Navy states that these training activities may expose some of the marine mammals present in the area to sound from various mid-frequency and high-frequency active tactical sonar sources or to pressure from underwater detonations. The Navy requests authorization to take individuals of 32 species of marine mammals by Level B Harassment.

Specified Activities

In the application submitted to NMFS, the Navy requests authorization to take marine mammals incidental to conducting training events and RDT&E utilizing mid- and high frequency active sonar sources and explosive detonations. These sonar and explosive sources will be utilized during Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Tracking Exercises, Mine Avoidance Training, Extended Echo Ranging and Improved Extended Echo Ranging (EER/IEER) events, Missile Exercises, Gunnery Exercises, Bombing Exercises, Sinking Exercises, and Mine Warfare Training.

Table 1–1 in the application lists the activity types, the equipment and platforms involved, and the duration and potential locations of the activities.

Information Solicited Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and comments concerning the Navy’s request (see ADDRESSES). All information, suggestions, and comments related to the Navy’s NWTRC request and NMFS’ potential development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals by the Navy’s NWTRC activities will be considered by NMFS in developing, if appropriate, the most effective regulations governing the issuance of letters of authorization.

Dated: March 6, 2009. P. Michael Payne, Chief, Division of Permits, Conservation, and Education, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.

© 2009 - Rosalind Peterson - All Rights Reserved

In 1995, Rosalind, now retired, became a certified California United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency Agriculture Crop Loss Adjustor working in more than ten counties throughout California. Rosalind has a BA degree from Sonoma State University in Environmental Studies & Planning (ENSP), with emphasis on using solar power, photosynthesis, agriculture, and crop production.

Between 1989 and 1993 Rosalind worked as an Agricultural Technologist for the Mendocino County Department of Agriculture. After leaving Mendocino County she took a position with the USDA Farm Service Agency as a Program Assistant in Mendocino, Sonoma, and the Salinas County Offices, where she worked until becoming certified as a crop loss adjustor for the State.

E-Mail: info@californiaskywatch.com

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