August 23, 2008
Elaine Meinel Supkis
As the economic situation in the US deteriorates, the US blunderbuss foreign policy goes into action. Spreading war, chaos and death, we hope to get out of our imperial trap by terrorizing not only much of the population of the earth but terrorizing US citizens. The conventions we are seeing this time around are most unconventional. They are being turned into US Green Zones surrounded by mercenaries, troops and goon squads. All commerce must come to a halt as our future emperors gather their partisans for the coming battle over the imperial goodies in the New Rome of Washington, DC.
Seeing Red: Buffett, Others Clash On Danger Posed by U.S. Debt
If there is general agreement that times are tough in the short term -- the markets are flighty, foreclosures are widespread and jobless claims remain high -- there is sharp disagreement on what the future holds.Some, such as super-investor Warren E. Buffett, believe that the economy is merely experiencing a "correction" and that subsequent generations of Americans will have a much higher standard of living than those alive today.
Others, such as David M. Walker -- former U.S. comptroller general and a traveling Cassandra on the perils of the mounting national debt -- fear that the economy is at an inflection point and could be headed toward disaster if something isn't done, immediately.
*snip*
The town hall discussion was the second half of an evening's worth of entertainment, which began with the premiere of "I.O.U.S.A.," a documentary on the national debt starring Walker and featuring Buffett and other notable thinkers on the economy.
The I.O.U.S.A. propaganda push is set up to convince Americans, we can't afford social services, retirements or anything. We are to live Spartan in every sense of the word: a paramilitary state dedicated to one end. The crushing of all neighbors and the expansion of slavery. This became the modus operandi of Rome until they became a huge empire. Like Sparta, Rome instantly began to rot. The masses in the core of the empire had to be on welfare while the people of Egypt or Asia Minor had to support the empire via fees, taxes and impositions. When the last grain ship from Egypt, which was Rome's China at that time, the location of most manufacturing and production, when the last ship came to Ostia, Rome died.
Up until that dire day, Rome stumbled along. But the last ship disgorged its cargo and then sat there and had nowhere to go. This was because Rome produced nothing except entertainments and war. In 356 AD, Rome had 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks) . The Empire was moved to Constantinople during this time The ships ceased coming in. This is also when a dying Rome tried to conquer, get this: Persia. By 410 AD, the Visigoths and Vandals destroyed Rome. The public baths, theaters, circuses, amphitheaters all shut down forever.
The US empire has huge stadiums, amphitheaters, whole cities devoted to leisure, sex and gambling. The population expects flotillas from all corners of the planet to come pouring into our ports. Our Senate is as corrupt as the ancient Roman Senate. We expect to be able to live beyond our means forever. The super-rich are pretending to be concerned about all this which is why they are running this nasty propaganda campaign to convince us, we must ditch social spending while still protecting the global empire of these clowns. Buffett loves to pretend to be a common man but has many billions in untaxed wealth. All this, while living inside the protection of the US.
The warmongers at the Washington Post:
The film's premise: The current national debt stands at more than $9.6 trillion, which represents about 66 percent of gross domestic product. This in itself is not a ruinous figure, the film says, and most economists agree.However, Walker says in the film, if you total all of the government's current unfunded liabilities, the United States is actually in a $53 trillion hole.
Worse, Walker says, the coming boomer retirees represent a shock to the system, given their demands on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These -- especially the cost of government-subsidized health care -- will push the national debt to 244 percent of gross domestic product by 2040, possibly leading to economic catastrophe.
Buffett disagreed, and spent a lot of time Thursday night talking about pie.
The refusal of the rich to be taxed is killing our empire, of course. Smart people know that we are now selling our military debts to increasingly angry and dangerous rivals who will slit our collective throats in an instant if we renege on our payments. The US, like Rome, still wishes to expand and like Rome, is eyeballing rich countries like Persia. We itch to invade all the oil countries. We think, if we get these, the super-rich creeps who have corrupted Congress and alienated the populace, will have 'free goodies' forever and we can continue to live like the Romans lived in their imperial dotage.
The Washington Post reports that the debate was NOT about taxing the rich ruthlessly. It was NOT about military spending or our choices of wars that slam into other, increasingly powerful empires. It was NOT about our reckless debt increases at every possible level and how this was handing our affairs over to rivals who hate us. No, it was all about the lower working class losing welfare, social security and healthcare. This will fix the mess! Yup.
And the audience didn't stone these clowns or throw tomatoes at them. Instead, the people at this gathering were all in denial. Why cut anything if they could simply live beyond their means forever? The love shown to Buffett is due to the idea, if we fawn over him, he will play Santa Claus. But he won't. All the billionaires do give charity. But NONE of it pays a PENNY towards our military/industrial complex and our wars! What good is Bill Gates spending on health care charity if he won't pay for the damn wars? Just for example.
The US pie is NOT growing. The US debt is growing. This is very simple to understand. All we have to do is add in all our debts: personal, national, local and then add our trade deficit and then add our military obligations. This tremendous sum dwarfs our tax contributions totally. And we can't buy our own debts. And if we add savings to this picture which is negative, we get the truth: the US is NOT able to pay for hardly anything at this point. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been selling all their debts to China and Russia this last year, not to Warren Buffett and his ilk.
Russia to Hold the Line On Freddie, Fannie Debt
Russia is not planning to raise its exposure to debt issued by troubled U.S. agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but will not cut it rapidly, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said Wednesday."At the moment we are not planning to increase our holdings. We are also not planning a sharp exit, because this is decent paper and it is bringing us decent earnings," Pankin told a news conference.
The agencies' shares later plummeted for a fourth straight day in New York trading, as investors increasingly feared that the stocks would drop to zero if the U.S. government effectively moved to nationalize the companies with a state-sponsored bailout, The Associated Press reported.
This is a shot across the prow. Russia isn't SELLING what they hold but they ain't buying no more, so to speak. They will stand aside and tell us to sell to the Brits. Only Britain's economy collapsed this summer. Japan can buy this stuff but I have said repeatedly, Japan can't do this alone. US debts are far too big for even the world's #2 economy to support. We want to beg China to buy this junk but we also want to destroy China so we demand they let Tibet go. And we lecture China at every possible turn. We demand they kow tow to our New Roman Empire while we lolligag in our stadiums and bathing houses.
China just wiped us out in the Gold Medal race at the Olympics. We, in turn, boast about getting more bronzes. But the truth is, China has shot upwards, we are sliding downwards. China's newest stadium is far, far fancier than our stadiums. Ours look downright decrepit. The US, like ancient Rome, has struggled to fix up our stadiums while increasingly neglecting or selling off our entire infrastructure to 'barbarians'. In time, the Russians and Chinese or the European imperialists like Germany will own all our systems and thus, rule us. It isn't just government debt that is the problem. It is that we cannot buy our own debts of any sort, any more. And our billionaire rich won't buy it, either, or pay taxes to the Empire. And none of our allies and occupied countries want to pay, either.
Justin Raimondo: Bizarro Imperialism
How it works, and who profits
President Bush has long disdained the very idea of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, but last month had the rug pulled out from under him – and John McCain – when Barack Obama went to Iraq and was greeted by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who promptly endorsed Obama's call for a definitive timetable. The status of forces agreement has been demoted to the level of a "memorandum of understanding," so as not to require a vote by the US Congress, nevertheless it cannot avoid a vote in the Iraqi Parliament. That's what they mean by "exporting" democracy: It's the Iraqis who do the voting, while we just get to foot the bill.That's how American imperialism works. We're the only empire on earth where, as Garet Garrett put it, "everything goes out and nothing comes in."
One thing is certain: all empires end up with everything going out and nothing coming in...when we talk about taxes. But our empire is having a flood of stuff coming in, still. Far from 'nothing' coming in, everyone is shipping to our New Rome just like everyone shipped to the Old Rome. Then, when the debts reach the levels of impossibility of even paying the interest on it, we will see this process end abruptly. The warmongers hope we don't notice that we aren't paying for anything at all. So long as the Egyptian trade ships come to Ostia, the masses will go about their business of being consumers.
The Iraqis are not a primitive people who worship the cargo cult. They are an ancient civilization. Waves of imperial power have swept over their lands repeatedly. They have been through the corruption/destruction cycle several times just like Iran. They are not fools but rather, are exploiting the weaknesses of the US empire. They know the end result of their refusal to pay for our empire's warmongering. They are happy, contemplating the future. We are trapped in our own systems which means we must pay for all military costs of our empire no matter what. We are not expanding markets. Even if we sell military equipment and this is pretty much what manufacturing these days, all our provinces and dependencies can and do demand that we hold the debts these sales generate. And then forgive them. Which is what Israel does. Or like Israel and Europe, to expand the credit line and to never pay off the debts from these sales. Rolling over the obligations is a great way to grow alternative empires at the expense of the central empire.
Europe is doing this. Expanding the European Union Empire under the US military umbrella has greatly strengthened Europe even as this union has been set up as a RIVAL economic entity competing head to head with the US in the rest of the world. Or Israel's attempt at growing its own influence and power in the Middle East no matter how badly this damages the US itself. And the damage is tremendous.
Iraq seeks breakup of U.S.-funded Sunni fighters
An emboldened Iraqi government has launched an aggressive campaign to disband a U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been key to Iraq's fragile peace, arresting prominent members and sending others into hiding or exile as their former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by.The Shiite Muslim-led government has long distrusted the fighters, many of whom are former insurgents. Senior Shiite politicians label some of the members murderers, and warn that there is no long-term obligation to employ them after their units are disbanded.
"The ones in Baghdad and Diyala province just changed their T-shirts. There are large numbers who were really Al Qaeda. We have to really look hard for those elements without blood on their hands," said Haidar Abadi, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party.
Amid fears that the Sunnis' treatment could rekindle Iraq's insurgency, the Americans are caught between their wish to support the fighters and their stronger ties to Maliki's government, which has challenged the Sunni paramilitaries in recent months as it grows increasingly confident about its fledgling army.
"We want to have our cake and eat it too, support Maliki and the Sons of Iraq. . . . Maliki wants to make that as hard for us as possible. He wants us to choose him," said Stephen Biddle, a Council on Foreign Relations defense expert who has served as an advisor on strategy to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. "What it looks like we are getting is a Maliki government that won't behave itself and wants to crush the Sons of Iraq."
Most of the mainstream punditry vacillates between open lying and childish talk. Everyone is assumed to be difficult children the US must control or chide. This infantilization of our diplomacy has been a point of despair here at Culture of Life News. A common thread here is how the snide, obnoxious and alienating thinking in the US is making it nearly impossible for us to conduct any diplomacy at all. Basically, we resorted entirely to waving a big stick while yelling at the top of our lungs.
The Iraqi Shi'ites lived under terrible conditions under the Sunni. They are seeking 1,000 years of revenge! The Jews justify their own misbehavior based on 2,000 years of unhappiness. Ditto, the Shi'ites. They have a firm grip on the government now and will apply pressure as expected. Iran and Iraq will be a confederation. This is the dark fears of the Sunni oil overlords. Unlike our European or Israeli allies, these guys really DO pay us money to patrol the Persian Gulf. And our failure to defeat the ancient Shi'ite enemies in Iraq now cause these guys greatest distress.
Saddam paid Palestinian bombers which is why the Jewish neocons and our media was so hot to trot for Gulf War II. But they pay no money for this at all. They are leeches. But the Saudi, Kuwaiti and other oil Sunnis were most anxious to keep Saddam in power because of their fear of the Shi'ites. The US assured them, in secret meetings, we would keep a firm grip on Iraq and not allow any Shi'ite power. This proved to be impossible as the Shi'ites and then the Sunni revolted. The US accords with the Sunni involve us paying them to be quiet. Now, the Shi'ite overlords have enough military power to consolidate power over the Sunni.
Before this, the Sunni and Shi'ite populations were intermixed. Now that they are fully segregated and under lock and key, the keys go to the Shi'ites who are very friendly with Iran. And Iran wins the last of the Gulf Wars. This means the US, Europe, Israel and the Sunni oil lords must fight BOTH Iran and Iraq. And they, in turn, will have allies: Russia and China. Europe is no more capable of stopping the Russians as Georgia. Only if they activate the US nuclear systems, can they survive. England and France have nukes. But they are TINY countries with 90% of their power consolidated in one city each: London and Paris. Both can be wiped out in minutes by Russia. Eliminating Russia is hard, it is big. And used to being destroyed and rebuilt.
In nuclear wars, size and dispersals matter. The US can survive a war due to both. So can Russia and China. But not Europe. Germany is not a nuclear power. Nor is Poland. The US can fight back but this means the annihilation of most humanity. The battle for control in the oil lands is ancient, terrible and we should avoid this like the plague, not pull ourselves and everyone deeper into this Abyss.
The facts are clear here: the Shi'ites greatly outnumber the Sunni in Iraq. They will rule it and they will ally themselves with Iran. Fighting this is a totally uphill battle and is one that can only lead to our destruction if we even attempt it. But since no one in our government seems to give a hoot about the survival of America, we will probably plunge off this particular cliff. It isn't even the subject of any debate this year. McCain can't even tell apart the different religions in this epic war situation. And Obama's hands are rapidly being tied into Gordian knots by the anxious Jews via AIPAC and control of the US media.
Iraq invites Russian oil major back
An Iraqi Cabinet minister invited Russia's Lukoil on Wednesday to renew its bid on the lucrative West Qurna-2 oil field and urged Russian companies to seek roles rebuilding dilapidated power plants as Iraq searches for foreign investment to revive its oil industry and infrastructure."I hope Russia companies will take part in the bidding," Iraqi Electricity Minister Karim Wahid told a news conference in Moscow. "Lukoil is welcome to bid for the service contract at the second or third stage of the tender in March or September."
Iraq is triangulating. This is classic diplomacy. Never rely on one relationship. Always have competing relationships. Then one has leverage. The US is so hyper-ventilating over the illusion of control of the globe, we have lost sight of the goal of all this. Namely, to make the US safe and strong. It is fatally weakening us. But we think, all we have to do is more of this and we will triumph and those lovely cargo ships will come to Ostia forever and ever no matter how deep in debt we are.
Pakistan coalition rift widens as violence rages
(AFP) - Pakistan's ruling coalition was riven by divisions despite crunch talks on Friday, raising fears for the government's ability to tackle Taliban bloodshed after a massive bombing killed 64 people.Former premier Nawaz Sharif pushed back his deadline for the coalition to restore judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf, prolonging the squabbles that have prevented it from focusing on the rising militant threat.
Thursday's bombing at a huge arms factory was the second suicide attack since Musharraf stood down on Monday, intensifying the pressure on his opponents to show they can govern the world's only Islamic nuclear power.
Troops killed 21 militants, including two more suicide bombers, in clashes near the Afghan border in defiance of threats by the Taliban to launch more attacks if military operations against the rebels are not halted.
As Pakistan slides off the cliff, the great goal of Bin Laden sails into view: control of a nuclear bomb. The US knows this and fears this which is why we are busy bombing civilians in Afghanistan. This, in turn, is turning the people there against us. So we bomb them even more. We also bomb Pakistan with the exact same result. Someone should tell the Zionist neocons this fact. Did Germany and Japan surrender to the US because of our bombs? Or did they do this out of naked fear of the very angry Russians? As history moves onwards, it is increasingly clear, our easy occupation of Germany and Japan was due to fear of Russia, not our great abilities as diplomats. Also, we didn't seek to loot either Germany or Japan. Instead, thanks to our collective fears of the Russians, we built up both rival empires.
Now, Germany and Japan have smashed the US in the global market of manufactured goods! Pakistan can't be held by the US via military power. We control Egypt this way but the Egyptians happily used us as a funding base. Unlike in ancient Rome, no ships go from Egypt to Rome, in our case, we fund ships so they can sail to Egypt. If we expand this to all Muslim countries we need to control so we can imprison the Palestinians in their ghettoes, we will be even more bankrupt than we already are.
Pakistan is bigger and harder to hold than Egypt. Egypt is really one mega-city. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a population spread all over the place. And which is distinctly hostile to us.
Suicide Attack at Pakistan Arms Plant Kills 60 People
More than 60 people were killed Thursday when two suicide bombers attacked Pakistan’s largest weapons manufacturing complex, just north of the capital, the deadliest attack by the Taliban in their escalating campaign against the government. The attack came just days after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf left two rival political parties in the governing coalition haggling over the question of succession and added a new layer of turbulence to an unstable, nuclear-armed nation. Neither party has been eager to take on the campaign against the militants, which is seen here as an American conflict foisted on Pakistan.
All the borders drawn by groups of diplomats from Russia, England and France are falling apart. They are all quite artificial. And the tribal groups know this. Taking a page from the US playbook that encourages the dismemberment of rival empires, they all want their own tiny principalities. Germany and Italy did this from 1600 onwards when the Holy Roman Empire lost its grip on Europe and expanded across the oceans, instead. The Taliban are not defeated, they are expanding their base of operations.
Also, they have mastered the arts of insurgency. They can bring a small force in and trigger a massive retaliation. These are quite effective. A happy trick they have completely mastered is to call in US air power which then cheerfully bombs its own soldiers! The latest example is amazing. The US is trying to convince the French, we didn't mean to bomb their soldiers. And we didn't bomb them, anyway, etc. But calls to retreat are rising in France despite attempts to thwart this. Gleefully, the Taliban go easily about their own homelands, swimming like fish in the sea while the US lumbers about, swatting at everything that moves. Now that they obviously have mastered this new tactic, the US should either retreat totally or ground our aircraft as USELESS.
But here is the rub: all our rich people here including most of our Senate, the White House and Congress, all of them make profits off of these bombing raids. They want desperately for this to be an air war instead of a ground war. So they will bomb, bomb, bomb Afghanistan.
Army chief: We cannot beat the Taliban without reinforcements
Troop numbers in Afghanistan must increase to contain the surge in violence, says the commander of British forces in Helmand.In an interview with The Independent ahead of Gordon Brown's visit to the province yesterday, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said: "We are probably still on a growth trajectory before we get to the stage when the UK presence can begin to thin out." The commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade estimated it would be up to five years before Britain could consider dropping troop numbers.
Senior military officers are reported to have held preliminary talks on increasing British soldiers in Afghanistan from 8,000 to 12,000 – a dramatic difference from the 3,300 initially expected to hold the ground when the UK force took over Helmand in 2006. The boost in numbers ties in with suggestions that troop levels in Iraq be scaled back.
The Great Game gets greater and greater. The fact that Obama is threatening to dump even more troops into this caldron of foolish fancy proves to us, the US has no choices when it comes to imperial follies. If there is always the choice of retreat or die, we die. There is no 'thinning out' of troops there except one way: via death. As thousands are thinned out, thousands march in. Since they are killing each other faster than the Taliban are killing them, this means more soldiers in=more blown up by the air force in the future.
Meanwhile, Russia muscles us out of the Middle East:
The president of Syria spent two days this week in Russia with a shopping list of sophisticated weapons he wanted to buy. The visit may prove a worrisome preview of things to come.If Russia’s invasion of Georgia ushers in a sustained period of renewed animosity with the West, Washington fears that a newly emboldened but estranged Moscow could use its influence, money, energy resources, United Nations Security Council veto and, yes, its arms industry to undermine American interests around the world.
Although Russia has long supplied arms to Syria, it has held back until now on providing the next generation of surface-to-surface missiles. But the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, made clear that he was hoping to capitalize on rising tensions between Moscow and the West when he rushed to the resort city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The list of ways a more hostile Russia could cause problems for the United States extends far beyond Syria and the mountains of Georgia. In addition to escalated arms sales to other anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela, policy makers and specialists in Washington envision a freeze on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation cooperation, manipulation of oil and natural gas supplies, pressure against United States military bases in Central Asia and the collapse of efforts to extend cold war-era arms control treaties.
Israel will now pull out all the stops to stop Russia. They will egg on WWIII in order to prevent Russia from encircling them with weapons aimed at Tel Aviv and the epicenter of the Apocalypse, Jerusalem. This NY Times article reeks of Zionism. The US is NOT being being ringed by weapons. Israel is. The US had no business, trying to rule huge hunks of Asia. We can trade with them. Do diplomacy with them. Have exchanges with them. But we can't militarily occupy them! This is what is wrong with our entire foreign policy. We still occupy South Korea, Japan, Germany and other previous war zones. Utterly ridiculous at this point.
The South Koreans now will buy out Lehman Brothers? Who is occupying whom?
Russians halt Nato co-operation
Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens. The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia. However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.
Russia tried to cooperate with NATO. Now, the mask of cooperation has slipped when the US and Israel enabled and sponsored a sneak attack on Russian soldiers. Europe is grinding its molars, worrying about this winter. They know that Russia will yank their chains. And they deserve this. So long as they make NATO bigger and bigger, pushing hard against Russia, they will suffer the consequences. If they disband NATO, this will diminish.
Since Russia and China are funding NATO via US debt purchases, I would like to warn Europe, the free ride is coming rapidly to an end. Perhaps Europe can buy up $3 trillion in US debt from China and Russia. Then, they can continue onwards as before. HAHAHA. Unlikely.
Russia could also turn up pressure on Kyrgyzstan to evict American forces that support operations in Afghanistan and could block any large-scale return to Uzbekistan, which expelled the Americans in 2005. “The argument would be, ‘Why help NATO?’ ” said Celeste A. Wallander, a Russia scholar at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.Even beyond the dispute over Iran, Russia could obstruct the United States at the United Nations Security Council on a variety of other issues. Just last month, Russia vetoed sanctions against Zimbabwe’s government, a move seen as a slap at Washington.
“If Russia’s feeling churlish, they can pretty much bring to a grinding halt any kind of coercive actions, like economic sanctions or anything else,” said Peter D. Feaver, a former strategic adviser at the National Security Council.
Russia could also accelerate its withdrawal from arms control structures. It already has suspended the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty to protest American missile defense plans and threatened to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Renewed tension could fray a recently signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement and doom negotiations to extend soon-to-expire strategic arms control verification programs.
Russia and China know that 'disarmament' was fake. The US disarmed Saddam with their help only for them to watch helplessly as the US and NATO invaded Iraq. I said back then, 'Disarmament is dead.' And it should stay dead, too, until the world's biggest military power begins to downsize. Since the US and NATO is rapidly expanding and spending even more, we might as well lay that business in the grave and bury it. Scatter rose pedals on the mound.
Security Makes U.S. Conventions Virtual Fortresses
(Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers, fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret Service agents.In Denver, where Democrats assemble next week, police are spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Sept. 1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on 80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city's 500-person force.
Congress earmarked $100 million for security at the two meetings, where federal and local authorities are trying to guard against any dangers to candidates or convention-goers.
``We are constantly looking at what threats could harm us,'' said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, which is overseeing security operations.
And why this security? Because some ally might bomb us? Egypt and Saudi terrorists were permitted to attack the US on 9/11. They came from our allies. The people the military and our ruling elites fear is not foreign terrorists. Foreign terrorists love our rulers. No, these are for the US public. Our rulers don't want us sweaty masses anywhere near their enclaves. Who will be crowned the next emperor?
The guy who offers us more Roman baths, more games and more cargo ships pouring into Ostia! Mobs of Shi'ites won't be attacking our coronations. Mobs of furious Americans are the problem. We know that the level of paranoia of our own rulers is equal to the Chinese. This is why the US is screaming at China for arresting demonstrators while preparing a huge military operation aimed squarely at intimidating and controlling demonstrators here.
Instead of forbidding demonstrations, they put on a 'show of force' with the threat of murder if we don't give up and leave. And the number of confrontations have dropped. The US public is scared off, all right. We will sit at home and watch everything on TV. And hope for the best as they dish out the worst.
The federal money, $50 million for each convention, is being spent for security measures such as fencing and high-tech camera-surveillance systems. The security costs will roughly equal the amount the two cities' host committees plan to raise for other convention costs.Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign offices in Denver and in Manchester, New Hampshire, were evacuated yesterday after a Denver employee opened an envelope containing a threatening letter and white powder. The New Hampshire office received a letter addressed in similar handwriting, which wasn't opened.
The anthrax assassin was a black ops CIA man. He left a scattering of clues aimed at several scientists at the secret labs. Now we have many more assassin labs cranking out more nasty stuff. And the anthrax riddle has not been solved since the investigators found no reason for Ivins to want to assassinate the photo editor who published the Jenna Drunk photos.
The Colorado Department of Transportation will close Interstate 25, the main north-south route through the state's biggest city, during the Aug. 28 stadium event. Trucks carrying hazardous cargo are prohibited from using I-25 near downtown Denver for a week, starting tomorrow.Federal, state and local officials have been planning security precautions since last year, consulting on details such as motorcades for VIPs and road closures.
More than 1,000 National Guard troops will help with communication and supplies in Denver, said Captain Robert Bell, a spokesman for the Colorado National Guard. More than 1,000 Minnesota National Guard troops will help provide security at sites outside the Xcel Center that are being used by convention participants, said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Olson, a guard spokesman.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, will participate. Lieutenant Desmond James, a spokesman, wouldn't give specifics about NORAD's involvement. At previous conventions, the Northern Command provided medical and planning assistance and NORAD provided air cover, said Lieutenant Commander Gary Ross, a spokesman for both commands.
HAHAHA. Land of the brave cowers in fear. I have a fine memory. I can even remember last week! And I remember our entire media shrieking about what a nasty nation China is, the government shut down free enterprises for the Olympics. To clean the air, which worked, by the way. So, to have a convention to choose our future rulers, we have to shut down cities, prevent any traffic, etc, due to NAKED FEAR: this is normal. China is bad when they do it for air quality. The US is good if we do this for Potemkin Democratic displays.
Hey Elaine, you're not the only one with predictive powers. Way back when the US first invaded Afghanistan one of my first thoughts was that the Russians had a wide open opportunity for revenge against what the US did to Russia when it invaded Afghanistan. Our imperialists crow in public, even to this day, about how clever they were to lure Russia into that trap. Being social idiots, it didn't occur to them that REVENGE would be on Russian military minds once the US was lured into the very same trap. So now Russia is making its move, along with so many other of our justly earned enemies.
I like to call WWIII WWW (pronounced dubya dubya dubya, like the nickname of our disastrous simian president). The best we can hope of WWW is that nukes won't fly.
Posted by: Robin | August 23, 2008 at 11:56 AM
So, with this "IOUSA" thing, we see the opening play in the campaign to kill off Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. It has been well known for decades that these programs were unsustainable and would bankrupt the US unless something was done to put them on a more sound footing. So why was nothing done, year after year? Now we know: because the powers that be (TPTB) never had any intention of fixing the problem. They have planned all along to kill off these programs when it finally came to the point that the red ink became too great. That's the only fix that they've ever had in mind.
Many of us have been saying for years, half joking and mostly cynically, that there wouldn't be any Social Security for us when we got to "retirement age". Now we know for certain that it isn't a joke, that is in fact the plan, and we can count on it.
I always have assumed that I wouldn't get very much Social Security for very long, so I've tried to plan accordingly and make other arrangements. The trouble is, though, that a very large number of people have been living their lives under the assumption that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would be there for them. If they had known the truth of the matter, how differently would they have lived their lives? Would they still have bought the McMansions, and the SUVs, and the big screen TVs, and taken the vacation trips to Vegas, and on and on? No, they would have had to live much more frugal lives, and saved a bigger nest egg rather than running up the debts.
And so now we get to the real truth of the matter. What would that have done to the economy? Well, it would have meant fewer sales of McMansions, and SUVs, and big screen TVs, and Vegas vacations, and on and on. And this, of course, would have ultimately meant a much diminished flow of profits going into the pockets of TPTB. THAT is why they haven't been able to be honest with people and tell them up front that they had better plan on not having Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid. It was more profitable for them to continue to deceive the people, then pull the rug out from under them at the very last minute and leave all of us (except TPTB, who are all wealthy and well-connected enough to have made other arrangements) in the worst possible of circumstances.
I cannot come up with the words to express my contempt for the evil, lying, thieving, scheming parasites responsible for this.
Posted by: WNC Observer | August 23, 2008 at 05:07 PM
The Bush Crime Family are tasteless low rent hoodlums who will slink off to their family compound in Paraguay at the first sign of DubyaDubyaDubyaThree.
That is their 'Green Zone'. To bad the Russians and the Chinese have the GPS co-ordinates of the place locked and loaded.
Posted by: Photofinish | August 23, 2008 at 08:33 PM
You are so right, they are afraid of their own citizens and with good reasons. A few years ago I read a biography of Harry Truman. At the end of his presidency in 1953 he got in his car and drove himself home to Missouri without even police escorts. Things have sure changed in a mere 55 years.
Posted by: Patrick O'Meara | August 23, 2008 at 09:22 PM
We could save a lot of money by having both coronations,er
conventions, held in the same city.
Glorious Party 1 could be held one day or at one venue
And Glorious Party 2 could be held the same.
All Heil to the one true Party with two wings.
Posted by: G. | August 23, 2008 at 11:31 PM
After watching the documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism by Aaron Russo (you can access here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173&hl=en), I have come to the conclusion that USA stands for either of two things, 1.) Unbelievably Smart American, and 2.) Unbelievably Stupid American.
I.O.U.S.A. is just another distraction and confusion strategy perpetuated on the American public to distract it from the real TRUTH. It is by design a good cop, bad cop scenario that suggests choosing the lesser of two evils. Well, there are NO TWO EVILS, THERE IS ONLY ONE.
And I have to say, the Unbelievably Smart American, who makes up a minute portion of the US population, while smart, is neither patriotic, American or a good cop. He is a part of an international cabal of bankers who look at the rest of humanity as milking cows, cannon fodder, and chattel. They are unconcionable, ruthless and evil. They are not human in any sense of the word.
Watch the documentary and judge for yourself just how stupid, you and me, and the rest of the world have been. The degree of deceit is unfathomable.
Posted by: Carli | August 23, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Obamba's campaign and the "Liberals" remind me of the Steelers Wheel song
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
And here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
Fasten your seat belts Muchachos...Its going to be John Wayne
Wackain for the Glorious Leader of the Fee World.
Posted by: Steelers Wheel | August 24, 2008 at 12:36 PM
After looking at the photos of the children, both Georgian and Ossettian, made homeless by our sneak attack in Georgia, as well as the adults standing in their shattered homes, I started thinking about human history again.
It seems to me that for all of modern human history, the vast majority of ordinary people have been caught between two criminal syndicates: either a public or a private one. The private ones we call "The Mafia" or similar names. The public one we call "Our Government".
There never seems to be any other choice, other than death.
Posted by: DeVaul | August 24, 2008 at 01:51 PM
"The I.O.U.S.A. propaganda push is set up to convince Americans, we can't afford social services...,)
The DC mafia is impaled on the two-horned dilemna in their wish of destroying social services. Why? These nutjobs expect Christmas every two weeks when payroll deducts SS and medicare I & II from the working stiffs. Anyone that's paid into social security, medicare I & II would DEMAND their hard earned labor/money returned with interest. The pharmafia drug lord lobbyists would send their hatchetmen and congress would sing soprano if medicare/medicaid were wiped-out.
Finally, if the last vestiges of our only working government program, social services, were destroyed with congress approval and the king's flick of a pen, chaos would ensue with the poor, ill, disabled, elderly, and children tossed into the streets to beggar and die. Citizens would have nothing to lose in mass rioting. The deep southern states believe that SS & medicare is their god given right. Ha!, the French revolution would look like a cakewalk ;)
Remember Gore's dream of SS's lockbox? The Decider's foolishly opened Pandora's Box to the four winds. Nothing more than IOUS in a file cabinet, ehhh Georgie?
Posted by: rockpaperscizzors | August 24, 2008 at 03:54 PM
After looking at the photos of the children, both Georgian and Ossettian, made homeless by our sneak attack in Georgia, as well as the adults standing in their shattered homes, I started thinking about human history again.
It seems to me that for all of modern human history, the vast majority of ordinary people have been caught between two criminal syndicates: either a public or a private one. The private ones we call "The Mafia" or similar names. The public one we call "Our Government".
A Klee drawing named “Angelus Novus” shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe that keeps piling ruin upon ruin and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.
— Walter Benjamin,
Ninth Thesis on the Philosophy of History
sorry but I'm in a melancholic mood at moment....
Posted by: G | August 24, 2008 at 07:14 PM
I have simply assumed that 08/28/08, the last day of the democratic convention, and some kind of magik number, was the last day of the US republic.
So many things point to preparation of a Nazi takeover of the country, just like happened to Germany.
1. Financially weaken the host. Done.
2. Engender envy of the rich. See 1.
3. Create hated of Foreign people. See Iran/Israel.
4. Join military and government interests. Done.
Denver is chosen due to the huge underground bases under the Denver International Airport (DIA) and many military bases, NORAD.
This will serve as the new Masonic temple for our new dictators.
The riot police are the first line of defense against any angry citizens who realize what has happened after the entire democratic party is vaporized.
Then it is time to ‘avenge’ whoever ‘did this’ and start WWIII in the middle east and finish the depopulation of the world from 6 to 500 million as depicted on the artwork in the DIA.
Now people will start cheering the new dictators “Save Us!”, “Go Get ‘Em!”, “Nuke’m to the Stone Age!” and other text message friendly sentiments.
What I cannot figure out is if Israel is being groomed as the new military ruler of the culled Middle East, or if they are being herded there for additional vaporization. Due to the strong Masonic imagery in the Knesset, I believe it is the first scenario, military ruler.
Arnold ‘Death Skull’ Schwarzenegger will rule the west coast military industry scientific industries. London will take back over the EU and reassemble the Holy Roman Empire. Israel will rule the Middle East and China will make stuff with slave labor and no complaints.
All the signs are in place, this thing looks locked and loaded. It is so perfect, in a satanic way, it probably brings tears to someone’s eyes.
Or then again, maybe Obama will bring Change We Can Believe In.
http://www.larouchepub.com/oth.....itler.html
“When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, his Nazi Party was in the minority. The Nazis had just suffered setbacks in the German elections of Nov. 6, 1932, losing 34 Reichstag seats. President Hindenburg had appointed Kurt von Schleicher Chancellor.
Yet, less than three months later, on Jan. 30, 1933, after a well-financed Nazi propaganda and armed-terror campaign, Hindenburg appointed Hitler to take Schleicher’s place. The Nazis got Hindenburg to schedule new elections for March 5. With streams of money for their propaganda and guns, the Nazis “won” the election, and Hitler seized power.
The two principal German organizers of this Hitler takeover, were Hjalmar Schacht and Fritz Thyssen. Both men were operatives of the British Empire, through Bank of England Governor Montagu Norman, and of a British-controlled Wall Street grouping at the center of which were Averell Harriman, and Harriman’s partner, Prescott Bush, the father of the later U.S. President George Bush.”
Posted by: GK | August 24, 2008 at 07:54 PM
Ah, the demons of history. When there is something totally off, totally dire, new leaders arise. But the danger of this is, many of them are psychopaths.
George Washington was not a psychopath. He saved our collective souls, even freed his poor slaves. Unlike Jefferson, the dreamer who went bankrupt and all the slaves who were the sons and daughters of himself and his father in law were sold into deeper, darker slavery. This is the foundation of the US, and a very bloody one, at that.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 04:19 PM