Are we but the Bastard Children of TPM now? Have we offended thee? We are SO waiting to hear form you or Josh!
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Last week the Consortium News posted a blog here at the Cafe; it got no attention, possibly because many readers dislike cross-posts. I found it really interesting.
Grit TV's Laura Flanders interviewed John Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and Hoodwinked!) and Russ Baker, journalist and contributor to The Nation, Vanity A recent Café Blog by the Consortium News garnered no recommends or comments. Fair, the Washington Post, New York Times, Village Voice, The New Yorker, and Esquire. He is the founder of WhoWhatWhenWhy.com, and author of Family Secrets, about the Bush Dynasty.
They discuss, among other subjects, the undermining of Presidents by the military, the CIA, FBI, and corporatocracy, global financial interests: resources, arms, and oil. I've spent some time tracking down corroborating articles and books as well as documentary evidence obtained by the National Archives as the result of their lawsuit against the CIA for documents in 1999, as well as Top Secret documents accidentally discovered in unlikely places.
]]> There is general discomfort in this country that unseen players exert enormous influence over our lives, national policy, war, elections, and finance. As I listened to Perkins and Baker, I was reminded of various historical revisions to generally accepted modern historical accounts that most Americans have come to accept. In economic pressures, they don't claim "conspiracy;" they point out that the Players don't agree to agendas, they just happen to agree on agendas. It is the Military/CIA shadow agendas that most intrigue and worry me.Baker named the modern Presidents who worked relatively well with the Pentagon and CIA: Johnson, both Bushes, and Reagan, all of whom embraces covert ops and expanded wars; Clinton, he said, avoided confrontation, and focused mainly on domestic issues.
FDR experienced a failed coup in 1933 led largely the by DuPont and Morgan banking inner circles; it was stymied by General Smedley Butler, whom they invited to lead the effort. Instead, Butler blew the whistle on the plot, and testified about it to the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, which later became the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Committee failed to call to the stand any of the plotters except Gerald MacGuire, who had tried to recruit Butler, and the committee's final report was an utter whitewash. But Butler's testimony was vindicated in 1967 by journalist John Spivak, who unearthed the committee's internal reports, and wrote about them.
Truman faced military insubordination, and when Eisenhower left office his final words warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex. Eugene Jarecki's fine film, Why We Fight, explores our wars by way of Ike's warning as a springboard theory.
Russ Baker writes of Nixon's skirmishes with the Pentagon and CIA on several fronts, and while researching for Family Secrets, found many ties to Nixon and George H.W. Bush that are not recorded elsewhere. It is Baker's belief that Poppy Bush helped bring down Nixon during Watergate, and that Nixon was well aware that there were moles and direct bugs in the White House funneling conversations to the Pentagon and CIA. They apparently did not like Nixon negotiating an end to the Viet Nam war on his own.
In the 1950s, the late Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, a high-ranking Pentagon official, was assigned by CIA Director Allen Dulles to help place Dulles's officers under military cover throughout the federal government. As a result, Dulles not only knew what was happening before the president did, but had essentially infiltrated every corner of the president's domain. One Nixon-era Republican Party official told me that in the early 1970s, there were intelligence officers everywhere, including the White House. Nixon was unaware of the true background of many of his trusted aides, particularly those who helped drive him from office. Remember Alexander Butterfield, the so-called "military liaison," who told Congress about the White House taping system? Years later, Butterfield admitted to CIA connections.
In December 1971, Nixon learned of a military spy ring, the so-called Moorer-Radford operation, that was piping White House documents back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chiefs were wary of secret negotiations the president and Henry Kissinger were conducting with America's enemies, including North Vietnam, China and the USSR, and decided to keep tabs on this intrusion upon their domain. Jimmy Carter came into office as revelations of CIA abuses made headlines. He tried to dismantle the agency's dirty tricks office, but wound up instead a victim of it -- and a one-term president.
JFK was surrounded by Generals and CIA who hated him; he was often at war with CIA head Allen Dulles, and he finally fired him after the Bay of Pigs debacle and the attempts on Castro's life.
But the most relevant story is the recently uncovered documentation about Jimmy Carter, Ronal Reagan, and the October Surprise.
Still furious with Britain and America for meddling in Iranian affairs in order to secure rights to Iranian oil, and the CIA overthrow of popular Prime Minister Mossadeq in 1979 student demonstrators stormed the American Embassy and took hostage 52 Americans. Carter hoped to have them freed in October 1980, before the Presidential election. He and Reagan were in a fierce battle. Unbeknown to him, Reagan had loyalists (the October Surprise Group) within the CIA, through Reagan's choice for V.P. George H.W. Bush and the Pentagon. They wanted Carter OUT; Carter, still angry with the CIA and the Shah of Iran episode, fired many of their ranks in the Middle East, and tried to reign in their power.)
As a result of the focused OS intelligence effort, Reagan had informants at the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Council and in the White House Situation Room. This intelligence apparatus enabled Reagan to receive the "Top Secret - Eyes Only" documents regarding President Carter's negotiations with Iran. When Reagan was asked how these Top Secret documents were found in his personal campaign file he answered "he didn't know how they got there." Reagan's intelligence apparatus also explains why former Congressman David Stockman was able to boast on October 28, 1980 that he used a stolen copy of Carter's briefing book to coach Reagan for a televised debate. The most important "Eyes Only" document Reagan's network provided was on October 15, 1980, when classified information revealed Carter was about to have the hostages released. Reagan obtained this information from campaign strategist Richard Allen, future Reagan National Security Advisor. Allen said he obtained the information from reporter John Wallach, who obtained his information from Secretary of State Edmund Muskie.
The group moved swiftly to make sure the hostages were not released, holding meetings with Iranians, and promising a wealth of arms to reward them.
From teachpeace.com:
Robert Parry's book Secrecy and Privilege was published in 2004. Parry's interview with Ari Ben-Menashe (Israeli military intelligence officer 1977-1987) for PBS Frontline and subsequently in testimony to Congress revealed that the now Secretary of Defense Gates was a key October Surprise operative. Ben-Menashe also revealed he and Gates attended a 1986 meeting with a Chilean arms manufacturer (Cardoen) who was supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein. Ben-Menashe's book, Profits of War, describes the Paris Ritz Hotel meeting that followed the October 15th Carter administration leak. At that meeting Gates, McFarlane, [William] Casey, and George H. W. Bush met with Iranian cleric Karrubi. French investigative reporter Claude Angeli confirmed the French secret service provided "cover" for this meeting between the Republicans and Iranians on the weekend of October 18-19. This meeting, by delaying the hostage release, effectively determined that Ronald Reagan would become the president of the United States.
The fact that Reagan insiders had arranged for Iran to keep the hostages an additional 76 days served to successfully shape the Iran Contra scandal investigations with the false perception that US weapons were shipped to Iran starting in 1985. Reagan initiated Iranian weapon shipments actually started in 1981. During the Iran Contra investigations, to explore Reagan's pre-1985 conduct would have revealed to the American people that acts of treason successfully enabled Reagan to seize power.
In 1993 a House Task Force on the October Surprise concluded that there was no "credible evidence" over allegations of Republican sabotage if the Iranian hostage release. The Commission (of which I had never even heard) Head Lee Hamilton (of the white-washed 9/11 Commission) was accepted by the media, thus written in stone. Subsequently, leaks from foreign leaders began surfacing that disputed the Commission's findings. Robert Parry began a search for documentary evidence, and requested them from the House International Relations Committee; they agreed, and pointed to their location in the basement of the Rayburn Office Building. In a remodeled Ladies Room, he found dusty boxes of related papers "under a broken tampon dispenser." They corroborated international reports of the Republican filthy tricks, and made a lie of the Commission's findings. Included were Secret and Top Secret reports, which he concludes were accidentally hastily boxed up at the end of the investigation.
That now Secretary of Defense Bob Gates was a key conspirator in the October Surprise treason is chilling. If President Obama is treading carefully as Russ Baker claims, it may be a small wonder:
Obama seems to understand his narrow range of movement, and to be carefully picking his fights. He retained many of Bush's top military brass, and even Bush's Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who himself had served as a CIA director for Bush's father. He has trod very carefully with the spy agency and has declined to aggressively investigate Bush administration wrongdoing on torture and wiretapping. Obama's campaign rhetoric about disengaging from Iraq seems a long time ago, and the war in Afghanistan is taking on the hues of permanency.
The old boys' network is very much in place, and it is hard at work to force Obama's hand, a la Vietnam. Witness the leaking of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's supposedly "confidential report" calling for escalation in Afghanistan. The leak was, not surprisingly, to the reliable Bob Woodward. The reporter was himself in Naval Intelligence shortly before he went to work at the Washington Post, where he soon built a career around leaks from the military and spy establishment.* The White House was furious at the McChrystal release. But what could it do? Presidents come and go, and the security folks have ways to hasten the latter.
* It makes you wonder if Mark Felt really were Deepthroat, doesn't it? And remember Bob Woodward's full access to Bush for his biography?
I have tried to imagine what forces and unseen currents have been at work on this President, and if he has been a willing or unwilling participant in them, or attempted to buck them as several others have.
What do you think?
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From CNBC:
The Center for Responsive Politics recently analyzed the financial disclosures of Members of Congress. They found there are 237 Millionaires in Congress. The financial holdings for the top 17 are listed:
]]>Assets, for instance, include non-government income, asset transactions, spouse's income, gifts and more. Listing of Non-income generating property (including a primary residence) is not required under disclosure rules. Assets listed were held by members of Congress in 2008.
Jared Polis (D-CO) surprised me; the assets, plus where his money is parked.
Are we but the Bastard Children of TPM now? Have we offended thee? We are SO waiting to hear form you or Josh!
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The New York Times states that the White House internal figures use the One Million per Year per Soldier as a working number. The 40,000 troops General McChrystal is asking for would cost $40-56 billion per year. 'Beefing up' Afghan Security Forces would assumedly cost plenty more.
It could mean that the overall military budget couse rise to $734 billion, or 10% higher than the peak Bush White House budget of $667 billion. How would this play with Congressional Appropriations committees?
]]>Senior members of the House Appropriations Committee have already expressed reservations about the potential long-term costs of expanding the war in Afghanistan. And Mr. Obama could find it difficult to win approval for the additional spending in Congress, where he would have to depend on Republicans to counter defections from liberal Democrats. -NY Times
The Times quotes a senior White House Official who says these costs are helping to driving the President to add to any option the end game of leaving Afghanistan as quickly as possible.
The unnamed official also said that if 20,000 troops were deployed, the cost would cost about $21 billion a year, but would mainly expand the training of Afghans.
These calculations come at a time when the White House is ordering a 5% cut to domestic agencies. Republicans and Blue Dogs want the deficit reigned it, but may be his main allies in a build-up in appropriations for Afghanistan. Wow, how ironic.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eickenberry (former General in charge of US forces in Afghanistan) is against additional troop build-ups; he is worried about Karzai's 'stability', and speaks to the corruption and weakness of the central government. Reps. Davis Obey and John Murtha doubt many Dems will vote to allocate the funds. Murtha will support the President, he said, but is a bit agog that the total for spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be $ONE TRILLION per year in 2011.
Try to get your mind around these numbers.
(Photo from http://www.militaryspot.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=28
You might want to take a look.
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(Just joshin' about the Beach-fronts...) But:
An Indian company called Lunar Embassy has been selling Lunar property for the past 29 years. The company's website details its right to do so: Its owner, Dennis M. Hope filed for the rights with the U.N., the Russian and US governments to declare ownership of Lunar property. None have disputed his claims, ergo: Hope's company is entitled to sell the plots on the Moon and Mars. Prices range from $4 to $20 per acre; the company claims to have about 3 and a half million members.
While the International Moon Treaty, written in 1979, and in force since 1984 (ratified by only twelve nations) prohibits nations from owning the Moon, it is silent on individuals being able to own parcels. None of the twelve signatory nations has so far contested Lunar Embassy's claims or sales.
]]> Discovery of water on the Moon has created a rush for sales: (*All offers subject to change without warning. The Lunar Embassy does not accept any liability arising from any inaccuracy or omission in the information on this website)
According to Wikipedia:
The Agreement governing the Activities of States on the Moon and other Celestial Bodies, better known as the Moon Treaty, is an international treaty that turns jurisdiction of all heavenly bodies (and orbits around the bodies) over to the international community. Thus, all activities must conform to international law (notably this includes the UN Charter.
In practice, it is a failed treaty since it has not been ratified by any nation which engages in self-launched manned exploration or has plans to do so (e.g., the US, EU, Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, Japan, and India) since its creation in 1979, and thus has a negligible effect on actual spaceflight.
]]>The US and 99 other countries did sign and ratify the Outer Space Treaty in 1967; it prohibits the placement of nukes on or near the Moon and other celestial bodies or in the orbit of the earth; it does not limit conventional weapons. It exclusively limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications.
Let us know what you think: Will the Moon become a source of Global Cooperation or Just Another Empire Wet Dream? Go on, now; have some fun!
A recent investigative piece by Aram Roston in The Nation magazine digs into the story of US contractors, paid by the US Military, funnel money to the Taliban for protecting US convoys transporting everything they need: their toilet paper, fuel, water, guns, everything they need, from Bagram Air Base, an hour north of Kabul, to the rest of the country. They protect them from insurgent attacks.
And it has all become an acceptable fact of life to the military, just a practical solution to the logistical problems of protecting their convoys. It does, however, seem that some are uncomfortable with the fact that they know that much of the contract money goes to the Taliban to make war on the US soldiers.
]]> Over the summer, with a 'surge' of soldiers expected, the military increased the budget for transport contract with the Big Six companies to $2.2 billion, allegedly 10% of the GNP of Afghanistan.
The article chronicles the main characters of some of the companies, including NCL Holdings, whose head is the American-educated Hamed Wardak, son of Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. Hamed was educated at Georgetown University, did an internship at the American Enterprise Institute, and was a buddy of Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Major players in the Corporation are former CIA operatives.
The links of relatives and alliances and histories and associations of the Protection companies and corporations are almost too fun to read. We can find it impossible to be shocked any longer at the ironies of profit and war, and expedience and agenda. Lots of us came of age during the Iran-Contra hearings, and still get to watch Neo-con hero Ollie on our teevees today. NCL's Host Nation Trucking incorporated in the US in 2007. An advisor to their board is former CIA officer Milton Beardon, who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings recently. From Roston's piece:
Bearden is an important voice on Afghanistan issues; in October he was a witness before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Senator John Kerry, the chair, introduced him as "a legendary former CIA case officer and a clearheaded thinker and writer." It is not every defense contracting company that has such an influential adviser.
Milo Minderbender, the lovable, affable Machiavellian anti-hero profiteer in Joseph Heller's stellar Catch-22 would be so damned proud! His philosophy was that someone was going to make a lot of money in the war, so it may as well be he. His project started innocently enough, importing eggs from Malta for the soldiers and brass at his base, and soon discovered he was an excellent wheeler-dealer, and his business grew. As he faced increased objections to his perfidy from the troops, he created a syndicate, M&M Enterprises with the approval of his commanding officer, Colonel Cathcart. When he stole the fliers' life preservers or their parachutes for the silk, he left bogus certificates in their place. Eventually Milo's syndicate bought planes that ruled the skies. The climax came when he contracted with the Germans to bomb and strafe their own base on Corsica.
Heller published it in 1961; he was a bombardier during World War II, and saw the military-industrial-complex up close and personal. Catch 22 was dark comedy then, but it helps now to cause us to howl about this new piece of news from Afghanistan.
It's just right. The US funds the Taliban. Staying alive in the midst of war is important; some are 'shameless opportunists.' (grin)
]]>]]> He and Ratigan went on to talk about Larry Summers, Geithner, and Rubin backing the 1999 bill to legalize the de-regulation of credit default swaps (Gramm-Leach-Bliley, or the Commodity Futures Modernization Act) and the hell it has caused. He points out:Everything Tim Geithner is doing right now on Capitol Hill, and Barney Frank as well, unfortunately looks to the next crash, and what we do after the crash, rather than how to prevent it, and learn the lessons of what caused this crisis in the first place.
I would not let Tim Geithner negotiate a house purchase for me; he has done the public more harm than just about anybody I know, the way he has failed to stand up for the public.
Today's GDP uptick is not about the real economy, Wall Street is not the real economy, the Banks aren't helping us get out of this slump, there are structural issues that need tending to, and they're not doing anything about it. It's an abomination...
Ratigan asked, "At what point are we dealing with fraud?" and listed various kinds: bank, motgage, etc. against the American people? Glenn Greenwald took a stab at it, then Spitzer talked about investigations and what the Angelides commision needs to find out, and what regulations need to be enacted.
Ratigan explained the legalization of proprietary-trading casino gambling using Grandma's money; asked Spitzer what needs to happen. Spitzer spoke about the 12.9 billion the government gave Goldman Sachs, they traded in the market, made a ton of money, and none of it helped the economy. The banks still aren't lending, he complained
Ratigan asked what do we need to do right now? Spitzer:
They've got to stop proprietary trading with government with federally-guaranteed money; end it.
Please watch it, and read about the Angelides Commission.
Let us forgive him his "sins" and get him working for us again!
(this was a quickie, I just watched it online; I wanted to get it up so you could watch it.)
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Most of the more colorful birds make stopovers here on their way to and from Central America and Canada. They knock me out in terms of their colors, design, songs, variety, and different behaviors.
I hope you enjoy them, and they brighten your day.
The photos look a bit blurry; I even tried some tiffs, but they weren't any better.
In order they are: evening grosbeak, male
Lewis's woodpecker
sharp-shinned hawk
black-headed grosbeak
cedar waxwing
western tanager, immature male
mourning dove
western tanager, breeding male
black-headed grosbeak, male
Steller's jay
rufous hummingbird
big buck resting
red-shafted flicker,
male triplet fawns (no, really)
Bullock's oriole, male
Gracie the racoon
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http://restoretherepublic.com/
I was switching back and forth with a PBS Masterpiece Contemporary, so I just got parts of various stories. The one I stuck with was about H1N1 flu; their claims, and the claims of visiting Gary Franchi of Freedom TV:
There will be forced Swine flu vaccinations; mandatory quarantines of citizens; large cadres of people will refuse the vaccines; Fema incarceration camps are being set up to aid in the detentions; polls show over 50% of 'mothers' will refuse the vaccine for their kids; Canadians en masse are refusing it; legions of health care professionals are speaking out against it; and quote doctors, such as this one:
]]> Canadian doctor Ghislaine Lanctôt, author of the Medical Mafia, has underscored the lawsuit recently filed by Austrian journalist Jane Bürgermeister against the WHO, the UN, and several high ranking government and corporate officials. Bürgermeister has documented how an international corporate criminal syndicate plans to unleash a deadly flu virus and institute a forced vaccination programCanadian Doctor: H1N1 Vaccination a Eugenics Weapon for Mass Extermination
Franchi hinted that many of his supporters are standing armed and ready to fight back against mandatory vaccination.
He wanders, with video, into the Obama Civilian Military, and has a trailer up for the video 'Camp Fema.'
Franchi speaks of the Foreign Men in Black military who are participating in joint anti-terrorism exercises in California as evidence that the Global Police Network he had warned of is here.
Other related subjects were about New World Order economics, resisting the National ID card, and what it means to the freedom of our citizens. Ron Paul blogs on this site, and there is a video about the End the Fed national protests on Nov. 22.
http://freedom.tv/
I don't know where Freedom TV is shown, and when I googled Out There TV, all the links were dead. Our translator district carries it on America One, whose website says they reach 35 million households in 125 markets. I wonder how many receive and watch 'Out There TV'?
There was a discussion recently about trying to find common ground with those on the extreme right. Listening to these extreme, I assume, Libertarians, I could agree with a few of their worries, like assaults on independent media. (In their video about this, Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman was shown. ;-} That the Fed needs investigating and arguably has way too much power, I can agree with. I have had a couple bad experiences with flu shots; I have no stomach for National ID, either. But then they torque some of these worries into full-blown Government Takeover rants--and they come with video! We all know how powerful video is; the images can stay ringing in your mind, and especially when they come with portentous, dire-sounding music.
My understanding is that there haven't been bad reactions from the flu shots globally, though it may be early days yet. I won't get one for various reasons, but it is alarming to me that so many people may be getting the information that this flu strain was constructed to be a pandemic flu, intentionally. I don't understand by their logic what the shots or nasal sprays are for, exactly; that one can be innoculated by nasal spray seems to confirm that it is intentionally malign. If the vaccine is safe and efficacious, won't it be very harmful if masses of them don't receive it? They claim that it is a fake pandemic; or else it was caused by lab geeks who dug up bodies who died of the 1918 flu, and mutated it on purpose. I don't know...
The past eight years (and longer, truth to tell) have created conditions in which many of us have felt a bit paranoid for believing what was right before our eyes; that was one of the worst legacies we were left with. But these folks are taking paranoia to a 'whole-nother-level.'
Talk me down off this ledge, if you can. All of you with cable may see things like this all the time, and have become inured to them. This program and its links, which I watched this morning, through my over-the-air antenna, are freaking me out. Are these well-armed people who truly believe they are modern-day Minutemen creating self-fulfilling prophecy, just a few ticks off from their fevered, paranoid imaginings? How many are there?
And how can we talk them down?
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PUT YOURSELVES ON IRONY ALERT!
I can't be the only one who believes that all this is about Mary running for office, can I?
So have some fun here; take your best shots! (sorry, pun intended)
]]> From the (Denver) Examiner.com:Former vice president Dick Cheney has made some negative remarks on President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan. Referring to President Obama as 'dithering' Dick Cheney delivered a speech titled, "Concerns about America's Foreign Policy Drift" at the Center for Security Policy on October 21, 2009. The remarks were delivered as Dick Cheney received the Keeper of the Flame Award. Here is the transcript of the speech as well as the full video.
Full transcript and video:
'President Obama has said he understands the stakes for America. When he announced his new strategy he couched the need to succeed in the starkest possible terms, saying, quote, "If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban - or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged - that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can." End quote.
Five months later, in August of this year, speaking at the VFW, the President made a promise to America's armed forces. "I will give you a clear mission," he said, "defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That's my commitment to you."It's time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America's armed forces are in danger.Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.'
Via Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html
Liz Cheney, William Kristol, and Debra Burlingame have filed 501(c)4 papers for "Keep America Safe." They have already put out some videos, uh, propaganda films. Insiders say that sister Mary Cheney and father Richard (Dick) will join them.
"The Left has dozens of organizations and tens of millions of dollars dedicated to undercutting the war on terror," said Kristol, a seasoned partisan warrior. "The good guys need some help too."
Kristol, asked about the group, first joked that it would serve as a launching pad for his partners' political careers. Burlingame, however, flatly denied she's planning a run from liberal Westchester, and Cheney, who has been mentioned as a candidate for the Senate or House from Virginia, said her ambitions have nothing to do with it.
]]>"It's not about me or my future as all, except to the extent it's about my future as an American, my future as a mom who cares deeply about the world my kids will inherit," she said.
Some of you have been kind enough to help me, and thank you again. Some of your help got through to me. I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to get a picture into my blog, but failed.
]]> Here are the hints I received before. I am using WinWord, as my Notepad has almost zero functions on the Menu bar. I assume that if I add a picture correctly, it will show up when I press Preview, yes?Wendy,
If you are working in MS Word click INSERT from the menu, click HYPERLINK. When you have the HYPERLINK dialog click the selection BROWSED PAGES. That will show your recent browsed pages. Select the one with the image you want in your document.
Another method, maybe simpler, is from your browser RIGHT click the image on the actual live web page. Select PROPERTIES in the right click dialog. The properties dialog will show the exact http address of the image. Copy and paste that address into your word document.
Some of the suggestions like Widgets, etc. are Greek to me; and I have no notion of what composing in HTML means unless it's HoTMeaL :-}.
I tried to find Moveable Type instructions for this question, and struck out at the bottom of the ninth.
'Bout all I have to trade is birrrd photos, ain't even got a cheezeburger lately. I'll take this post down once I get it worked through. Thank you in advance.
Oh--when I click the Moveable type image button, it says Error, no source data or something like that.
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This photo shows Paul Volcker at the White House Economic Advisory Board, head in one hand, looking away from the President beside whom he is seated. He looks frustrated and dejected. He has a right to be.
]]> Against the wall behind them sit Christina Romer and Larry Summers who looks like he is trying to suck an egg into his mouth through a hole in the top.He served as Fed Chair from 1979-1987 under Carter and a time under Reagan, and apparently was effective at leading the nation out of some of the big crunches. Reagan fired him in 1987 and replaced him with Greenspan. He is the titular head of Obama's WHEAB, but has been reduced and sidelined to the point that he rarely comes to his office in D.C. any longer.
You will be able to guess why: He believes that regulation reform and oversight is going nowhere fast, and predicts that unless major changes are made in the way banking and Wall Street do business, the economy will likely crash again.
He apparently understands that the other advisors, including Austan Goolsbee, seem him as anachronism, a sentimental throw-back to Simpler Times. He would, no doubt, call them Saner Times. He wants Glsss-Steagall reinstated, or something akin to it, so that Commercial and Investment banking are heavily separated again. He wants the too-big-to fail banks broken up:
"The banks are there to serve the public," Mr. Volcker said, "and that is what they should concentrate on. These other activities create conflicts of interest. They create risks, and if you try to control the risks with supervision, that just creates friction and difficulties" and ultimately fails.
The only viable solution, in the Volcker view, is to break up the giants. JP Morgan would have to give up trading operations acquired from Bear Sterns. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would go back to being separate companies. And Goldman Sachs could no longer be a bank holding company.
You probably already know that Goldman Sachs engaged in some might magic when, as an Investment Bank, it was permitted to become a holding company for Commercial Banking, therefore became eligible to receive FDIC coverage. Oy!
Joseph Stiglitz ,winner of a Nobel Prize in economics, agrees with Volcker, He was interviewed for this NY Times piece, and said that he agrees with Volcker, but knows that he is engaged in a Quixotic effort.
Even Alan Greenspan has called for the biggest banks to be made smaller, but certainly opposes re-instating anything like Glass-Steagall. Of course he would! Last night's Frontline described Greenspan as worshipping at the feet of Ayan Rand. There were interviews with Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Board, who was an early alarm- sounder of credit default swaps. As we know, she was paid no heed. The Frontline is well worth watching.
As Fed Chair, Greenspan, appointed by Ronald Reagan of sainted memory, promoted de-regulation of banking as a cure-all for what ailed us. He must be proud that neither Congress nor the White House seems to want to do anything but tinker around the edges with reform even now. (Is there some keyboard combination that results in indicating "spitting" as you type someone's cursed name? No? Someone should invent one.) He said:
Taking issue implicitly with the Volcker proposal to split commercial and investment banking, he has said: "No form of economic organization can fully contain bouts of destructive speculative euphoria."
Translation? : So why even try???
The White House believes that their new regulations will fix it all, as do many other experts, and that the US needs big financial institutions to compete in the global market.
That contention seems to skirt the issue, though, doesn't it?
And meanwhile, while the White House continues to claim that Volcker has their ear, his advice and role have shrunk to a size that could fit on the head of a pin.
Mr. Volcker scoffs at the reports that he is losing clout. "I did not have influence to start with," he said.
The NY Times piece with the picture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/21volcker.html?_r=2&hp
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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) threw down the gauntlet on the public option for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) last night. Appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show, Schumer essentially put the fate of the public option in Reid's hands -- saying that while the bill passed Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee doesn't include a public health insurance option, it's up to Reid to decide whether to include a public option in the bill that merges the Senate Finance Committee bill with the bills passed by others committees -- all of which do include a public option.
]]>"Leader Reid has the option of putting it in the final bill," Schumer said of the public option. "If he puts it in the final bill, in the combined bill, then you would need 60 votes to remove it. And there clearly are not 60 votes against the public option. And so we're urging him to do that, and he's seriously considering it.
It's very important to see if a public option is in the bill that Leader Reid puts together. He hasn't yet made up his mind, but many of us who believe in the public option are urging him to do so, and so far we're getting heard."
(the video is also available at the Mothership) : http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/schumer-to-reid-the-fate-of-the-public-option-may-be-in-your-hands.php?ref=fpb
(in case you are too lazy to click back to the front page...)
Contact Senator Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Phone: 1-202-224-3542 Fax: 1-202-224-7327
Reid does accept emails from outside his state. It would be nice if he got lots of encouragement on this one. (hint, hint, clue, clue) That he has a primary challenger makes it tough, I'd imagine. He ain't the Bravest Senator there is. (Sorry, Senator; I'm just sayin'...)
]]>They described the White House economic team and their recent top jobs in Big Banking, and the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. They included alleged Obama advisor Robert Rubin, all part and parcel of the people who were instrumental in causing the economic meltdown, and helped to shape the policy and direction of the bailout. Rubin, of course, was singled out in having been the prime mover in de-constructing Glass-Steagall, the laws that had put up a wall between commercial banking and investment banking, and established the FDIC.
They point out that instead of breaking up the biggest banks, where there were a dozen before the bailout, there are now four big banks. And the fact that when the President went to Wall Street to ask them to play nice and be responsible, the heads of the Big Four Banks didn't even show up for his speech, because they can afford to be arrogant, knowing the power they hold.
Moyers reminded us that part of the bailout terms was that the banks would renegotiate underwater mortgages to prevent foreclosures, though foreclosures are sky-rocketing.
Johnson:
I'm afraid that it's pretty obvious and it's very tragic. That they have no interest in helping the homeowners. They make money with what they're doing. Bill, they'll expected a lot of these mortgages they made to default, okay? It was in their models. A high default rate. Now, they didn't expect house prices to come down so much. That's where they got their losses. But they absolutely made these loans expecting they would have to foreclose on people. And figuring they would make money on that.
Moyers played a clip of Kaptur speaking on the House floor, urging homeowners to demand to see their original loans and paperwork before they moved out of their houses, and to stay put until the papers were produced.
Kaptur:
So why should any American citizen be kicked out of their homes in this cold weather? In Ohio it is going to be 10 or 20 below zero. Don't leave your home. Because you know what? When those companies say they have your mortgage, unless you have a lawyer that can put his or her finger on that mortgage, you don't have that mortgage, and you are going to find they can't find the paper up there on Wall Street. So I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes. Don't you leave. In Ohio and Michigan and Indiana and Illinois and all these other places our people are being treated like chattel, and this Congress is stymied.
Again we hear the story of all the profits going to the Banks, and all the losses shoved onto the American taxpayer, perhaps to the tune of trillions of dollars; no one really knows. And Ben Bernanke won't say, and Geithner won't say--even to Congress. Simon Johnson says it's 'Lemon Socialism.' (Maybe 'We get the juice, you get the pips'?)
Moyers pleads, in effect, "Well then, what can we do? If the Bankers are getting their way, and Congress isn't too very interested in anything but cosmetic changes?"
Kaptur notes the blasé attitude of Congress toward the problem:
If you want a marker at the Federal level of how serious we are to get justice out of this financial crisis, look at the F.B.I. Look at the number of people who are really prosecuting and investigation mortgage fraud and securities fraud. It is so small
I've been one of the Members of Congress trying to increase by ten times the agents to get at the justice issues for the American people. For companies that have been hurt. For shareholders that have been hurt. Our government isn't doing it. That it's very easy to look at the budget of the F.B.I. in mortgage fraud and securities fraud and say, 'How serious is the government?' And until those numbers increase, we will not begin to get justice.
They bat around other things Americans should be demanding from Congress and the White House concerning regulatory reform, and housing, especially now that the federal government owns Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; some simple, short term-solutions. And if we don't get true reform? Johnson is worried about a True Depression of long duration.
Johnson points out that the final crumb of Glass-Steagall was swept away in August, to our (the taxpayers) detriment:
Well, the final end of the last vestige of Glass-Steagall came in just now in August. Unnoted, but I think very significant. Goldman Sachs, you remember, was an investment bank, a securities company. Not allowed to be a commercial bank; didn't have access to the Federal Reserve and this ability to tap into the money supply of the country. Until September of last year, when the crisis broke, they were allowed a very short notice to convert to being a bank holding company. This was what saved Goldman Sachs in my opinion. Also Morgan Stanley. Which meant they could stay in the securities business. And they could also have access to the Federal Reserve. In August, just now, they converted to what's called a financial holding company. That may seem like a technical detail to you, but this means they can borrow from the Fed, at essentially zero interest rate now.
They can invest in, I mean, as far as we can see, from the outside, looking at their portfolio, anything they want, including, you're going to love this one, they just bought some stock, big chunk of stock in a Chinese automotive company. Okay? So, that's your money, that's your Federal Reserve, financing a highly speculative investment. And if it goes well, they get the upside. And if it goes badly, that's another one for us.
A few months ago on The Journal Simon Johnson said that he wasn't, in theory, adverse to the notion of the Poacher turning Gamekeeper. He would give Obama some time; now he is even more skeptical that The Change Obama promised will occur. And Marcy Kaptur says, "I think he (the President) needs some new Generals (financial team). It's time."
It's time for us to squawk to the President and Congress. We spent four days arguing about the Nobel Prize. Well, let's suit up for this one: They are flushing our futures and the futures of our kids and grandkids down the toilet. They are legally stealing our financial futures; stealing our health care is only one part of it.
Please: Send the links around, get people riled up on this one!
The video is here: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/watch.html
The transcript is here: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/transcript4.html
Simon Johnson reminds us that Louis XIV had many rotten things happen under his rule; but so many folks liked him, they always said, "We need to tell Louis; if only Louis knew what was going on..."
It's time to run out of patience, and time to "Tell Louis."
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We have not learned much about Senator Jim deMint's 'fact-finding' co-del to Honduras last week, but he and his group apparently met with a group of Honduran businessmen who must see Zelaya as an enemy to their interests.
All of this is causing mixed signals to the Honduran government. Lanny Davis, who has close ties to Hillary Clinton, arranged the meeting with eight Senators and supporters of the Micheletti government. The Cormac Group, run by a former aid of John McCain, has also been hired to help fight back against Obama's tightening of sanctions against the defacto government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/americas/08honduras.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
It does remind me of the many unanswered questions about John McCain's trip to Georgia just before the brief war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia. What might he have said to Saakashvlli just days before Georgian troops fired on Russians? I know it was a campaign ploy when he stood mightily and declared, "Today we are all Georgians."
Then-candidate Obama didn't take the bait at first, and said in effect, "Whoa, Nellie! Let's find out who was the true aggressor here. Later he knuckled, and voted to send a billion bucks to Georgia...
A recent report issue by EU investigators blamed both sides, but sure didn't mention John McCain's involvement.
http://nvijays.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/georgia-russia-war-postmortum-eu-report-blames-both-sides/
Cold War mentalities and the Domino Effect theory seem to be still Living Large.
And meanwhile Republicans are blocking several of Obama's nominees to the State Department, rather like holding them hostage to the White House's backing of Zelaya.
Bugger!
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