The Shocking Heist of Our Grandchildren's Future

Karl Marx predicted that the captains of industry would eventually gain all of the spoils and leave the ordinary citizen exploited. Did you see it happen? Did you miss it? Well, it just happened in America. Bet you didn’t even recognize the moment when our grandchildren’s futures were stolen, when their anticipated tax rates were destined to be close to 70% and sentenced to a lower standard of living than their parents. Oh, I’m sorry. We will have to replay that movie.

The movie starts when multimillionaire Wall Street bankers were hired by the U.S. government to fix Wall Street. After all, if you want to repair the chicken coop, you would naturally hire the fox. The foxes were given a mandate to eliminate bad loans and other troubled financial instruments. But instead, the multimillionaire Wall Street bankers working for the U.S. government began shoveling money to the multimillionaire Wall Street bankers working for the banks as fast as they could shovel. And while our Congress looked on, like deer in the headlights, sucking their collective thumbs, the Wall Street bankers threw open the vault at Ft. Knox and yelled Come on Down---The Price is Right. Right is not the proper word---free would be better.

The newspapers reported that our government had allocated $780 Billion to the banks to fix the problems. But the headlines missed the boat by $12 TRILLION. Yes, the total of the giveaways and the guarantees so far have reached $13 TRILLION. To put this in perspective, from the beginning of time until 2001, the United States had accumulated $5 trillion in debt. By 2008, the debt had doubled to $10 trillion. Now hold you hats! In one year since then, the total debt and bank guarantees have reached $23 TRILLION.

How can a country that is on the verge of bankruptcy go on such a spending spree? Tell me how a company such as Goldman Sachs, which was on the edge of bankruptcy, pay its 28,500 employees AN AVERAGE of $700,000 this year? That’s easy---they paid these obscene salaries with taxpayer money and in so doing, mortgaged our grandchildren’s future! Yes, Goldman Sachs, which was virtually bankrupt and needed tax dollars to barely survive, just delivered the largest paychecks to its employees in its 140-year history. What is seriously wrong with this picture? Want to see that con game again? OK. Look at Morgan Stanley, another bank in need of resuscitation. The Wall Street Journal reports that it is paying its 40,000 employees an average of $343,000.

Picture all of this at a time when 6.5 million Americans have lost their jobs. The royalty celebrate with caviar and champagne while ordinary citizens try to stretch to buy both food and medicine. Karl Marx was right on target.

Listen to Naomi Prins, a former Goldman Sachs director explain the massive takeover in her book, “The Big Bank Bailout Payback Bamboozle.”

Part 1 (9 min 53 sec)


Part 2 (5 min 41 sec)

Shocking Allegations of Continuing Torture at Guantanamo

If true, allegations from a variety of sources depict a betrayal of principles by the Obama administration by continuing to permit brutal torture at Guantanamo. Torture is said to continue, in spite of President Obama's assurances that it would end under his leadership.

A series of reports of regular beatings, heads being flushed down toilets, feces in the faces of prisoners, urination on prisoners and pain to the testicles by guards at Gitmo is being circulated widely, but not in the mainstream media. Perhaps this is because it is hard to believe that such harsh treatment continues in the face of such presidental commitments.

Jeremy Scahill, one of the most vocal critics of the alleged current inhumanity, is outspoken and unequivocal in his extremely passionate condemnation. But Scakill is not alone. There appear to be too many other sources of abuse to be the rantings of one wild-eyed liberal. See seven different news sources plus a Jeremy Scahill video below.

For more see: Global Research and Psyche and Daily Kos and Media Monitors and Center for Constitutional Rights and Reuters and The Independent

Little Guantanamos

Do you know that a new type of prison, called a Communication Management Unit, has been created in the United States in Terre Haute, Indiana and Marion, Illinois. They are more restrictive of prisoner rights than those of the most vicious and reprehensible prisoners in a supermax prison. Prisoners moved to these CMU's, do not have the right to find out why their prisoner rights have been so severely curtailed and cannot appeal such treatment. The prison system will not reveal the names of the prisoners being treated in this manner and even access to the prisoners' attorneys is more narrowly limited.

It is reported that, because the constitutionality of CMU's was challenged in 2006, the Bureau of Prisons agreed to terminate plans to create them. But later that year, implemented them anyway. The two short videos lay out the structure and operations of the CMU's and examine some prisoner experiences.
For more see: Little Guantanamo and Common Dreams

Part 1

Video Length 9 min 35 sec
Part 2

Video Length 8 min 2 sec

The Real Story Behind Somalia Piracy

Somalian pirates have attacked and held hostage large numbers of merchant ships off the coast of Mombasa. Former Ambassador Bolton is calling for an invasion of Somalia while other are recommending killing the pirates on sight. But the real story of why this piracy is going on has not been told by the mainstream media. The root of the problem is that Somalian waters are being overfished and used for toxic dumping by at least 20 different countries. In the meantime, Somalian fishermen are slowly being put out of business for lack of fish and because of pollution. As other countries attempt to impose stricter standards on environmental safety, some of the companies take their waste to waters off East Africa which are easily accessed throught the Suez Canal. Fishermen from Mediterranian nations also find that fishing there has been lucrative. But the Somalian fishermen have been attempting to insist that fishing without a license must be stopped in order to preserve their livlihoods. But that has fallen on deaf ears. Mohamed Abshir Waldo tells the story in the video below.
For More See Canada



Video Length 10 min

Is President Obama a different person than Senator Obama?

President Obama was my wildly enthisiatic choice for President.  He was clear, determined, focused and called himself a man of change.  Since being elected, he has done many good things.  I was elated when he was elected because I was appalled at the Bush administration's view of civil rights and torture.  I thought that President Obama would change all of that.  Instead, I now feel badly disappointed.    

The first video below shows then-Senator Obama discussing torture. He said, unequivocally, that, "We do not torture." So why has his new CIA Director, Leon Panetta, as reported in the Wall Street Journal said, "President Barack Obama can still use his wartime powers to authorize harsher techniques, if necessary."  In that video, the President said, "We do not farm out torture."  Then why does Panetta say that, "If we render someone we are obviously going to get assurances from that country that the detainee will be treated humanely."  Then why render them at all?    Does this sound like doubletalk? It does to me.

Panetta said, "The administration is evaluating the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation tactics, such as waterboarding and will make recommendations on which should be allowed." The President says we do not torture but the CIA says it is not sure. How can that even be a question?    

Also, the Obama administration is repeating the Bush administration’s “state secrets” claim -- blocking victims of torture from getting their day in court in a critical extraordinary rendition case. And they have told a federal court that military detainees held at Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their detention. And the administration is moving forward with the Bush administration’s last-minute effort to deny Mohammed Jawad -- a Guantánamo prisoner who has been held in U.S. custody since he was a teenager -- the chance to challenge his unlawful detention. To top that off, the Pentagon is now claiming that Guantomomo Bay meets humanitarian standards laid out in the Geneva Conventions in spite of overwhelming evidence of widespread torture.  

Finally, the second video shows Senator Obama criticizing President Bush for using signing statements on May 10, 2008, vowing to not use them himself, but then on March 11, 2009, issued his first signing statement.

This must all be a bad dream, but I am awake and the facts are still here.

Video Length 2 min 41 sec


center>Video Length 1 min 32 sec

Same Old, Same Old?---Say it isn't so

President Obama promised to restrict lobbyists from his administration. He said, "Lobbyists entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president."

But that seems anything but the truth. The second most important job in the Pentagon, where billions upon billions of weapons systems are purchased, is to be headed by William Lynn, a recent lobbyist for Raytheon Corporation, one of the largest defense contractors in the world.  It is impossible for Lynn to NOT WORK ON matters involving Raytheon and he lobbied the Defense Department.

William Corr has been nominated to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Until recently, Corr was a registered lobbyist for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.   It is impossible for Corr to NOT WORK ON matters regarding tobacco and he lobbied HHS.

At the Treasury Department, Secretary Timothy Geithner has hired former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson to be his chief of staff. Patterson was a registered lobbyist until April.  It is impossible for Peterson to NOT WORK ON matters regarding Goldman Sachs and Wall Street. And he lobbied Treasury.

The National Journal is reporting fourteen of the 112 White House staffers that Obama has named had been registered as lobbyists at some point since 2005. The list includes Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod and Homeland Security adviser John Brennan.

The Obama administration explains that some very important minds, invaluable to the country, need waivers from the policy in order to enable the use of extrordinary talent.  If this is really true, then it just shows how incestuous is the marriage between the federal government and industry.  Is it, No, no, Nannette, but then let's jump into bed?  But are there so few talented minds in America where only one will do?  Please!  Don't try to pull my chain.  Is President Obama, "but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, full of  sound and fury and signifying nothing?"  Surely not.  But he hasn't made a graceful takeoff of Good Ship Lollypop.

Video Length 5 min 4 sec

Mike Connell

Who is Mike Connell and why is he important? Connell, a computer whiz, was involved in most of the close Bush victories in 2000 and 2004. It is hypothesized that Connell was able to sift through the voter returns in Florida, Ohio and other states after the voting was finished but before the votes were made public and could modify vote counts in that process. Karl Rove apparently threatened Connell to not disclose any of this information. It is said Connell nevertheless decided to talk to the authorities but before that could happen, Connell was killed in the crash of his private plane, in spite of the fact that he was an experienced pilot and in spite of the report that Connell canceled two earlier flights because he was worried about sabotage to his plane.

The vitally important question here is what is the real story about vote fraud and if Connell could do it, others can as well.  It could have happened in the 2008 election and it could again happen in 2012 unless it is investigated and, if true, rooted out.

For more see Existentialist and Huffington and OnLineJournal

Video Time 7 min 11 sec


Video Length 2 min 3 sec

The Worst Bailout Crime in History

The way to get people to do things that are not in their own best interest is to instill fear. The so-called $700 billion bailout was rushed through Congress without proper analysis or oversight because Congress was told that the sky was falling and if something were not done in the next few days, depression would ensue. So the Congress wrote the largest blank check in American history---a blank check for the Treasury Department to do anything they want with the money. But the sky IS falling for a different reason---because the taxpayers are being robbed blind.

What is so amazing is that nobody has figured out that mortgage defaults and pending defaults are at the heart of this problem. But instead of attacking the problem at its roots, Treasury is handing out low-interest loans that are being used to buy up other banks, provide bonuses to executives and continue the excesses of the past. Now Congress says that it intended to give the money to encourage more lending---the very thing that got us into this mess in the first place. There is plenty of money out there for loans. The problem is that individuals and business are up to their eyeballs in debt already and are not good risks. So Congress wants to roll this snowball further down the hill by encouraging more loans that will not be paid back.

In the meantime, Henry Paulson is fattening the coffers of all of his friends on Wall Street while the Federal Reserve is even worse. The Federal Reserve has already given out $2 TRILLION (that's Trillion with a capital "T") in additional loans to organizations whose identities they will not disclose. In addition, they have contracted with other Wall Street law firms to manage the money for legal fees that they won't disclose either. It's a "Trust Me" game and the taxpayers are on the losing end of it.


Video Length 10 min 30 sec

What's the Lowdown on Global Warming? And why is FUD so important?

While the vast majority of climatologists in the world agree that global warming is an extremely serious problem and is hugely exacerbated by human industrialization, large numbers of other scientists, mostly non-climatologists, deny that global warming is a problem or deny that humans are to blame. Scientists who warn us about potential future issues of global warming are careful to say that while they are highly confident in their forecasting models, they cannot be certain. On the other hand, deniers are totally certain that this is a hoax---especially radio talk show hosts. It is important to understand one aspect of this disagreement and it is called FUD. FUD was pioneered in America by Thomas Watson, Sr. the magnificently successful founder of International Business Machines.

Watson taught his salesmen that you can defeat any opponent by using Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. No matter how good your competitors' products, you can melt all of their credibility through FUD because after interjecting FUD, the customers will now doubt the competitors' claims or will fear that the products cannot be trusted and will appreciate your bringing the product disadvantages/inadequacies to their attention. Be 100% positive so that the customer will gladly pay more for IBM products to insure success and quality, said Mr. Watson.

If you search YouTube.com for, "global warming," you will find dozens---maybe hundreds---of videos attempting to debunk the seriousness of global warming. Virtually all of them are quite positive that the scientists are either after more research money, are just sophomoric or that the problem is beyond our ability to make positive changes. How can all of these people be so sure?

In 1988, according to a leaked memo, Exxon devised a plan to stall national action on global warming using FUD. The plan promised, Victory will be achieved when uncertainties in climate science become part of the conventional wisdom for average citizens and the media.

Mother Jones magazine writes that, in an effort to ward off action to reduce global warming, Exxon-Mobil has paid over $23 million to various organizations and writers to create a fake debate about the seriousness and impact of global warming. More than 40 organizations and individuals have been paid to confuse the public into thinking that the seriousness is not clear and that there is little impending danger. The Environmental Defense Fund lists some of the recipients. Exxon-Mobil claims that it has stopped the practice in Exxon Secrets.

See more at: Mother Jones
The video below describes Exxon-Mobil's campaign to use FUD. For some reason this video sometimes takes about 30-45 seconds to begin playing.

Video Length 9 min 22 sec

But Exxon is not the only organization attempting to block information about the seriousness of global warming. The Bush administration seemed to be just as intent on creating an aura of uncertainty as shown here.

Video Length 9 min

Shocking Massive Corruption in Iraq

The American people have not yet realized the massive scale and depth of corruption in Iraq that is not only siphoning off American wealth, but stolen weapons are being used to kill our own soldiers. Virtually every ministery in Iraq is involved in defrauding the U.S. taxpayer. Corruption is so rampant because it is part of the culture now and those who attempt to intervene are killed or run out of the country.

"Corruption, protected by senior members of the Iraqi government, remains untouchable." But it's not just Iraqis. The State and Defense Departments are also to blame. Ghost employees continue to "go along" with Iraqi officials. The U.S. handed out $9 billion in cash to Iraqis off the back of pickup trucks and doesn't know how any of it was spent or to whom it was given. Cases have been found where army officers steered millions of dollars in inflated contracts for bribes. The chief of the Government Accountability Office has said that the books of the Defense Department are in such disarray, that they are impossible to audit. What is even more intolerable is that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has declared that neither he nor his department heads can be investigated for corruption. And what do we do? Nada, zip, zilch, zero.
For more see: CSMonitor and New Standard

Video Length 6 min 51 sec

Video Length 11 min 8 sec

The Great American Robbery

Is it any wonder that our Congress has robbed the federal treasury to pay back campaign supporters? It should not be a surprise because the so-called "bailout" is really a ruse for a massive payback to campaign contributors of members of Congress. Why else would Congress approve an open-ended giveaway to Wall Street without any strings attached?

Shouldn't banks use the money to help the economy?  Nope.  It turns out that banks can use the money however they want. Banks that are getting government bailout money are contemplating using it for other things -- like buying other banks and not adding it to the lending pool so they can make more loans and end the credit squeeze.  They are also paying big bonuses to the same executives that helped bring on the meltdown.  When the government agreed to bail out Wall Street, the goal was to provide funds to shore up banks' capital bases so they would start lending again. It wasn't to help them fund the bonus pool. But estimates run as much as $70 billion will get paid out in bonuses and extravagance to Wall Streeters this year. That amount equals 10% of the $700 billion bailout.

The $700 billion bailout was a perfect opportunity for Congress to collude with Mr. Wall Street himself, Ex-Goldman Sachs Chairman Hank Paulson, to raid the U.S. treasury at the expense of our grandcdhildren, with perfect knowledge that it wouldn't solve the subprime mortgage crisis, but would satisfy Wall Street/Congressional greed.

For more see: Blogging Stocks and Blogging Again

Video Length 6 min 30 sec

Jim Condit, Jr---the Anti-Semitic Monster

Jim Condit. Jr, a Holocaust denier, ran for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District of Ohio in 2006, but he is now running his anti-Semitic ads on radio and on his web site. It is not clear why he is regurgitating his filty hate message at this time. Perhaps he is readying another run for Congress in the future.

Condit's appeal is based on anti-Semitism. Condit claims that Jews were behind the 9/11 attack on America, that Jews are planning another attack and that Jews are trying to take down America by setting up a Jewish police state. His venomous diatribe is red meat for the unhinged element in our society and is therefore extremely dangerous. Condit's vile message must be boycotted. The video below is a sample of the outrageous anti-Semitism that Condit is spewing on his radio ads and his web site http://wagthedog2008.com

Video Length 7 min 52 sec
Condit is publishing videos like this on YOUTUBE.COM and defaming Jews all over the world. Here is an ad for his videos: Who are the NeoCons? Video -- Multi-Part Series at YouTube.com/JimConditJr (coming soon); --- this series treats the forbidden issues of anti-Semitism and the real nature of the influence and history of that portion of those using the name "Jews" who are behind the organized Jewish Lobby (AIPAC, ADL, World Jewish Congress, etc.), which largely intersects with what amounts to the NeoCon Jewish Crime Syndicate which has seized control of the issue of money (thru the privately owned Fed) and Big Media in the USA, and from their control "our" disgusting Congress and last two Presidents.

Fat Cat Salaries and their Failures

It is ironic that huge executive salaries, intended to create an incentive for success, in some cases have apparently done just the opposite. When a CEO is hired, compensation is seemingly offered tied to company success. But it often seems not to work that way. In too many cases, executives focus on boosting stock prices through gimmicks to profit in the short term at the expense of long term company health. Here is the case with four recent CEO's who ran their companies into the ground but wound up with huge rewards.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, had a 2007 compensation of $69 million, in spite of his company's $4 billion loss. James Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan, receive $30 million while J.P. Morgan lost $4 billion. Kenneth Lewis of Bank of America received $16 million while the company lost almost $6 billion and Vikram Pandit of Citigroup received almost $6 million and BofA lost almost $8 billion. These figures do not include additional millions that some of them received by selling blocks of stock.

Video Length 4 min 40 sec

Lobbying Expenditures 1998-2008

Is it any wonder that big business and special interests dominate the U.S. Congress? Here are some of the top spenders.


US Chamber of Commerce $380 million
American Medical Assn $184 million
General Electric $167 million
American Hospital Assn $148 million
AARP $134 million
Pharmaceutical Rsrch Mfrs of America $130 million
Edison Electric Institute $118 million
Northrop Grumman $109 million
Business Roundtable $109 million
National Assn of Realtors $104 million
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $94 million
Freddie Mac $92 million
Boeing Co $89 million
General Motors $89 million
Lockheed Martin $86 million
Exxon Mobil $85 million
Verizon Communications $84 million
Southern Co $83 million
SBC Communications $79 million
Fannie Mae $77 million

Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?

Video Length 5 min 40 sec

Palin Sues U.S. Government

The Interior Department decided that because federal scientists' findings that polar bears were endangered, they should be added to the endangered species list. The then Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, subsequently sued the federal government to keep polar bears from being listed. This is in spite of the fact that scientists in her own administration agreed with the feds. She claimed that scientific evidence showed that polar bears were not endangered, but that turned out to be untrue. Rick Steiner, a marine conservation specialist and University of Alaska professor explains the entire situation.

Video Length 10 min 30 sec

Did the Federal Government Orchestrate the 2008 Financial Meltdown?

Why does anyone care about the private sex life of a public official? Why did the Feds spend so much time and effort to simply find out that Eliot Spitzer was involved with prostitutes? Why should they care? Because Spitzer was trying to force federal agencies to stop the careless credit excesses that, we now know, were a major factor in the financial crisis of 2008? There seems to have been a carefully orchestrated agenda to discredit and bring him down because he was gaining nationwide support to stop the madness and for his aggressive attempt to protect consumers in what turns out to be a $700 billion giveaway to Wall Street. This shocking video lays out the case.

Video Length 7 min 33 sec

Passion Parties at The Minerals Management Service

From Democracy Now: An internal probe has uncovered a major bribery, sex and drug abuse scandal at the Department of Interior. Government officials were found to have collected lavish gifts from the oil companies they were supposed to be regulating. Some officials engaged in sex and drug use with oil industry executives. Inspector General Earl Devaney says the Bush administration-era Interior Department has had “a culture of ethical failure.” From 2002 to 2006, one-third of fifty-five staffers at the Denver office of the Mineral Management Service accepted bribes from oil companies. 

Is there a too-cozy relationship between top administrators in the Interior Department and the Justice Department?  Even though two low-level employees have been charged and have plead guilty, the Interior Department's Inspector General Devaney recommended that, in addition, two high-level administrators also be charged.  Ignoring his recommendation, the Justice Department chose to let both off the hook.

From Mother Jones Magazine:"The Minerals Management Service is the arm of the Interior Department charged with collecting some $10 billion a year in royalties from oil and gas companies. The IG tells us about two MMS oil marketers, Stacy Leyshon and Crystel Edler, who became known among oil executives as the "MMS Chicks." Between 2002 and 2006, each received more than $2,700 in gifts on more than 60 occasions from oil companies, including meals, booze, lodging, and golf outings. Leyshon, who slept with two oil company employees, operated a sex toys side business known as "Passion Parties" (think Tupperware parties, but with dildos) and bragged that it paid more than her day job at MMS.

Lucy Querques Denett, the former associate director of the minerals revenue management department, was eager to look out for her aides. Oil royalty auditor Bobby Maxwell, who gained national attention in 2006 for his $50 million False Claims Act case against the department and oil company Kerr-McGee, told me he had wanted to audit contracts signed between oil companies and the department's problem-plagued Royalty In Kind division, which collects $4 billion a year in oil and gas instead of cash royalties. But in 2002 the RIK department refused to hand over the contracts, Maxwell says, and Denett told him, "Leave it alone." He says she never explained why RIK couldn't be audited.

For more see: Consumerist and Pogo

Video Length 2 min 38 sec

Who is the Worst Dictator?

Little is known about the dire human rights situation in African Equatorial Guinea—where Teodoro Obiang has ruthlessly ruled for nearly thirty years. Obiang has been called the worst dictator in Africa, but since vast oil and natural gas reserves were discovered in the mid-1990s, he has become a close US ally. Since oil was found there, the U.S. government has looked the other way, ignoring brutal human rights abuses, in order to allow access to oil and gas.

Here is what Parade Magazine says about Obiang:
"Obiang seized control of this small, oil-rich West African nation by executing the previous dictator—his uncle. In July 2003, state radio announced that Obiang “is in permanent contact with The Almighty” and that he “can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to Hell.” Obiang himself told his citizenry that he felt compelled to take full control of the national treasury in order to prevent civil servants from being tempted to engage in corrupt practices. To avoid this corruption, Obiang deposited more than half a billion dollars into accounts controlled by Obiang and his family at a bank in Washington, D.C., leading a U.S. federal court to fine the bank $16 million."

For more see: Dictators and Slate


Video Length 10 min 58 sec

Congressman Rangel's Monument to Charles Rangel

Powerful Congressman Charles Rangel has not only earmarked about $2 million for a university center bearing his name, but, more importantly, has solicited additional funding for the center from people and organizations who have business before his committee. Some say that this is simply modern bribery in which the Congress looks the other way.

For more see: Unethical? and Rangel Center and

Video Length 2 min 38 sec

Is the Pentagon Hiding Halliburton War Profiteering?

When it appeared that Kellog-Brown-Root, once part of Halliburton (and still may be), could not adequately explain over a billion dollars in billings, Mr. Charles Smith, a Pentagon contract manager, confronted the company. Without receiving an adequate answer to his queries, he then threatened to levy penalties of 15 percent on future work payments and to block future performance bonuses.

But Smith must have upset the Pentagon because he was suddenly fired. And instead of assigning a different contract manager to the case, the Pentagon hired an outside contractot to review the situation. Well, you can imagine the rest of the story. Not only was KBR exonerated and received all of its billings, but got bonuses on top of that. And guess what? KBR has been awarded a new 10-year $150 billion contract.

In the video below, it was anticipated that if the Democrats won the 2004 election, Henry Waxman's committee would deal sternly with war profiteers. But when the Democrats won, apparently nothing changed.
For more see: Dina Rasor and NYTimes

Video Length 9 min 55 sec

Video Length 6 min 23 sec

Yankee Go Home?

The majority of Iraqi legislators have signed a letter to the U.S. Congress which states that they want a specific timetable for the withdrawal of American troops. The Iraqis are fearful of the U.S. now and, in its memo to Congress, call our presence, "occupying military forces." The Iraqis expressed disapproval of a U.S. proposed long-term occupation agreement which would give the American troops immunity from Iraqi laws, control of Iraq airspace, long-term military bases and the ability to carry on warfare within Iraq without Iraqi consent.

Although Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ignored the Iraq Parliament earlier under severe pressure from the Bush administration to sign the agreement, he now is insisting on a timetable for withdrawal. Still, the Bush admionistration seems determined to force it upon Malili. If the Iraqis want a timetable for withdrawal, why does the Bush administration refuse? Are we no longer liberators? Have we become occupiers, as the Iraqis call us now? Is oil at the heart of the dispute?


Video Length 49 sec



Video Length 4 min 39 sec









For mre see: Iraqi Letter and NYTimes and Press Association

Is the Iraq War About Oil After All?

In spite of rhetoric about trying to foster a sovereign Iraq, it seems that the Bush administration wants to maintain control over Iraq indefinitely. Seemingly, against the will of the Iraqi people, the Bush administration is said to be forcing a long-term occupation agreement on Iraq, threatening to withhold billions of dollars unless such an agreement is reached by July 31. The agreement would clearly undermine Iraqi sovereignty. The U.S.: wants its troops and contractors to be immune from Iraqi law, free to commit crimes with inpugnity; wants to control Iraqi airspace; wants to have dozens of permanent U.S. bases in Iraq indefinitely; refuses to specify a withdrawal plan; and wants the freedom to deploy military operations at any time without the permission of the Iraqi government. This is the furthest thing from Iraqi sovereignty.

Two officials of the Iraqi government appeared before Congress recently indicating their opposition to this agreement and begging for help from Congress to keep the Bush administration from forcing this upon them. They say that Iraqis want a timetable for total withdrawal and that, perhaps 70% to 90% of Iraqis want U.S. occupation to end.

Why, then, in spite of an Iraqi plea to set a timetable for withdrawal, does the Bush administration ignore those pleas. One theory comes from Brian Hicks. He claims that the Bush administration needs the permanent presence of our military to insure that American oil companies have access to the oil at a cost of billions per year. See his article at: Energy & Capital.
For more: NYTimes and LATimes and Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn discuss the situation.
Part 1--Iraqi Oil Law



Video Length 6 min 48 sec
Part 2--Iraqi Oil Law



Video Length 9 min 20 sec

Is the U.S. Funding the Taliban?

The U.S. has given Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf billions of dollars to fight Al-Quida and the Tailban. But Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid explains that: much of that money has gone to arm and finance the Taliban; how the CIA pays Pakistan to arrest al-Qaeda operatives, but Pakistan uses the money to fund the Taliban resurgence in northwest Pakistan; and how the U.S. and NATO’s failure to deal with Afghan civil society has led directly to the huge rise of the opium trade that funds the Taliban.
For more see: Killing Ourselves and Return of the Taliban



Video Length 6 min 20 sec

Pentagon Pundits Scandal

For years now, retired military officers have been used by network TV programs to assess the most current situation and to give guidance and advice on the future concerning the Iraq war. What the networks did not know, but should have discovered, was that The Pentagon was orchestrating the viewpoints of these men even to the point of writing scripts for them to mouth on TV. Their glowing reports were made to ramp up support for the War, according to the New York Times, which broke the story. Worse, some of these same former officers had financial holdings in some of the contractors and companies upon which they were opining, without disclosing such ties.
For More see: Democracy Now and The Nation

Video Length 3 min 54 sec


Video Length 9 min 27 sec

Corn Ethanol Doesn't Seem an Answer

Even though the use of corn ethanol as a gasoline additive is both uneconomical and counter-productive, the farm industry has pushed through a 54-cent-per-gallon subsidy for its production. This is likely due to the massive campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures of the large-scale farm companies. Most experts now agree corn ethanol will not help our energy problems because it uses as much energy to produce it as is gained from its use. But worse, the expanded use of corn for etanol production has pushed up the cost of corn, which in turn has pushed up the cost of corn for human consumption and raised cattle prices at the same time. And while the U.S. is subdizing domestic corn ethanol production, it has placed a 50-cent per gallon tarriff on Brazilian sugar cane ethanol, making it uneconomical to import.
For more see: Mother Jones and Financial Sense and Brazilian Ethanol

Video Length 4 min 44 sec

His Hair's On Fire

The American financial crisis is, by far, our most important issue---more important than terrorism, according to David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the U.S. He calls the Congress totally irresponsible. Without serious changes in fiscal policy, the United States is literally headed for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, legislation that provides additional benefits is easy to pass. But Congress is loathe to consider denying or reducing benefits for any segment of the population because it might cost votes. And that's the problem.

Yet, unless the entitlement programs of medicare, medicaid and social security are changed, they, along with interest on the debt, will grow to outstrip all available resources and crowd out all discretionary spending. The crisis is not yet obvious to citizens and it is easier for Congress not to act, but the longer this goes unaddressed, the more difficult it will be to fix---and if they wait too long, it will not be fixable. Walker likens our situation to a car headed for a crash into the Grand Canyon at 100 miles per hour. If you watch Walker explain the seriousness of our situation in this short video, it will likely scare the dickens out of you.
For more see: NYTimes and GAO Report

Video Length 7 min 57 sec

White House Ignores Corruption

The Bush administration has ignored corruption at the highest levels
within the Iraqi government and tried to keep it a secret according to two former State Department officials. According to them, this was to retain a good relationship with the Iraqi government. It seems that allowing fraud and corruption by Iraqis is simply part of paying the Iraqi government for continuing to supporting the United States mission. Instead of just providing the Iraqi government with U.S. aid, the White House strategy is to also pay off Iraqi officials for being allies. In fact, much of the "success" of the surge has been related to "buying" the loyalty of insurgents. But when we stop paying them, what will happen? Will they continue to be allied with the U.S.?

White House supporters in Congress snuck a provision into a previous defense funding bill that eliminated the federal agency that investigates fraud in Iraq. And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced that neither he nor his cabinet may be investigated for corruption.

For more see: SFChronicle and NBC

Video Length 11 min 8 sec

Pork Barrel Spending

Congressmen and Congresswomen feel compelled to "bring home the bacon." So they add self-serving appropriations to various bills to aid certain constituents or to make a name for themselves. These appropriations never go through committee scrutiny. You can browse through the "Pig Book," below, to see the plethora of pork projects. Some of these projects are likely in the national interest but many appear either frivolous or too narrowly focused at the expense of higher priorities . Here is a list of some that may seem frivolous:

$107,000 to study the sex life of the Japanese quail.
$1.2 million to study the breeding habits of the woodchuck.
$150,000 to study the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
$84,000 to find out why people fall in love.
$19 million to examine gas emissions from cow flatulence.
$144,000 to see if pigeons follow human economic laws.
$219,000 to teach college students how to watch television.
$2 million to construct an ancient Hawaiian canoe.
$20 million for a demonstration project to build wooden bridges.
$160,000 to study if you can hex an opponent by drawing an X on his chest.
$100,000 to study how to avoid falling spacecraft.
$1 million to preserve a sewer in Trenton, NJ, as a historic monument.
$6,000 for a document on Worcestershire sauce.
$57,000 for gold-embossed playing cards on Air Force Two.

For more see: 2008 Pig Book and CNN and Fox News

Video Length 4 min 18 sec

Massive Halliburton Fraud in Iraq

It's hard to belive the level and scope of fraud and corruption being perpetrated on the American taxpayer by Halliburton in Iraq where a single employee can bilk the U.S. government out of $3 million. It is reprehensible, outright, calculated deception on a massive scale. For example, Halliburton employees have paid $250,000 for a three-year lease of a $50,000 automobile, gotten 15 pounds of laundry done for $100 and have purchased brand new trucks when engines only need repairs. This is because Halliburton is given "cost-plus" contracts which encourage spending, spending, spending to the max. The more money spent, the greater the profits. But what is worse, even when the U.S. Congress is provided with evidence of dishonesty, it appears that there is no penalty. To the contrary, Halliburton receives new contracts instead. And why has the Senate rejected legislation to investigate Halliburton? Is this because Halliburton provides millions in campaign contributions and has friends in high places? A dozen or so whistleblowers have gone on record in the video below to describe the enormity and depravity of the dispicable graft that is being committed. You might be astounded by watching the short video below.
Fore more see: BBC and NYTimes


Video Length 10 min 44 sec

Unbelievable!

Back in 2006, Stuart Bowen, Director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), had issued a huge number of reports of massive fraud, corruption and mismanagement by our own military and their contractors. A great deal of waste had been uncovered by Bowen and his staff. Can you believe that while Bowen was uncovering such waste, our U.S. Congress voted to eliminate his agency? Let's repeat that: OUR U.S. CONGRESS VOTED TO ELIMINATE BOWEN'S AGENCY. This provision was added to a defense authorization conference report at the last minute without the knowledge of members. So when they voted to authorize military funding, almost none realized that this provision was burried in the bill. Yet, a handful in Congress appeared to want waste and corruption to continue unabated. Why would some in Congress NOT want misuse of American money uncovered? Could it be that some in our defense department and its defense contractors did not want their mismanagement and waste scrutinized? Could it be that our military and their contractors did not want unfinished work or inadequately performed work to be discovered?

“It appears to me that the administration wants to silence the messenger that is giving us information about waste and fraud in Iraq,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, a member of the House Committee on Government Reform.

Soon after this provision was discovered, it was changed. Bowen's office will now be closed 18o days after only $250 million in reconstruction remains unspent.
For more see: Stuart Bowen's Report and NYTimes


Video Length 9 min 58 sec

Who's Your Daddy?

The Pentagon is planning a $5 billion transformation of the "green zone" in Baghdad into a tourist paradise to go along with the soon-to-be-completed $1 billion U.S. Embassy there. The development is apparently being developed by a firm involved in Disneyland USA and envisions, among other things, a Marriott Hotel, Tigris Woods golf course, riverfront park, museum, theatre and an amusement park.
An important question that goes unanswered is, how much taxpayer money will go into this $5 billion development? Since the Congress has no idea of precisely where the billions of war funding for Iraq goes, how much of this will be U.S. taxpayers funded? Is this a higher priority than water, sewers and electricity?

For more information see: ABC News and Contrary View

How to Hack a Voting Machine

Would you like to see, first hand, how to hack a voting machine? Well, the video below shows you, step-by-step, how it is done. And it is amazingly simple. A Princeton University team demonstrates how it was able to not only manipulate votes on an electronic voting machine, but then how their software erases itself after doing the illegal act, leaving no traces of the crime.

Even machines with a paper trail can be programmed to print out one result while tabluating another. And optical scanning machines can also be compromised as well if their computer code is modified. Below is a demonstration of how a voting machine is compromised.
For more see: Princeton Study and Confesions of a Computer Hacker and Hacking in 60 seconds


Video Length 9 min 29 sec

On Whose Side is the EPA?

Some people wonder if the Environmental Protection Agency is there to protect the public or the industries EPA is suppose to regulate. Mary Gade, director of the Midwest office of EPA tried to force the Dow Chemical Company to clean up contamination in the Tittabawassee River system where dioxin levels were the highest amounts ever found in the U.S.

But after Dow met with EPA officials in Washington, Gade was fired. This is not the first time EPA has appeared to side with industry as it previously denied California permission to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles and refused to declare greenhouse-gas emissions a threat. For more see: WSJ and Chicago Tribune
Video Length 4 min 17 sec

When Lobbyists Become Regulators

According to Anne Mulkern of CommonDreams.org, President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee. These include regulators in the FDA, Interior, Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, USDA and EPA. In spite of the serious problems with manufacturers of everything from toys to drugs, Presidednt Bush nominated Michael Baroody, executive vice president at the National Association of Manufacdturers, to head up the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. Amid strong opposition, he withdrew his name. Has our Congress and administration become too cozy with the very organizations that government is meant to regulate? For more see:

Anne Mulkern and Source Watch and Washington Monthly

Halliburton Rape Cover Up

Halliburton employee Jamie Leigh Jones was apparently gang-raped by company workers, but the State Department and the Justice Department seem to be covering up this, and similar rapes in Iraq. After two years, there has yet to be an investigation. The State Department appears to have a "hands-off" attitude toward contractors in Iraq, some say, preferring to look the other way.
For more information see: ABC News and Contrary View

Video Length 2 min 55 sec

Hotlining

Bet you never heard of hotlining. I hadn’t until I read that hotlining is used to pass legislation in the U.S. Senate without a vote if both the majority and minority leaders agree. “Today, the Senate passes most bills unread and without any deliberation.” While some bills such as naming post offices may not be worthy of debate, other bills involving hundreds of millions of dollars are hotlined. Is our Senate too busy with fundraising to concern itself with legislation? To learn more go to:

TrishandHalli and DownsizeDC

The EB-5 Visa Program

Can you buy entry and gain permanent residency into the U.S.? You sure can. There is a little-known feature in the U.S. immigration law that authorizes it. People and their entire families who will invest in America and create as few as 10 new jobs, can jump to the front of the legal immigration line, gain entry and can stay in the U.S. permanently. It is known as the EB-5 visa plan. The minimum investment must be $500,000, but it seems obvious that the government cannot track this. There are those who worry that would-be terrorists could gain entry under this program. Last year 803 such visas were issued but the government hopes to boost this to 10,000 by 2011. For more see:

EB5-Visas and Wall Street Journal

Deferred Prosecutions

Did you know that the Justice Department has purposely put off prosecuting more than fifty companies suspected of wrongdoing over the last three years using what is called “deferred prosecution agreements.” These agreements impose fines and appoint an outside monitor to enforce internal changes at the company. Terms of the deals are often kept secret. Former Attorney General Ashcroft has been given a multimillion dollar contract to act as monitor. This technique is to eliminate corporate criminal liability. For more information see:

NYTimes and Democracy Now!

Crack Cocaine

Did you know that you can go to prison for up to 30 years on crack cocaine charges even if you have never distributed, sold, touched or used cocaine? Even if you have never been arrested before for anything? Well you can and there are thousands of girlfriends of crack dealers that are presently soaking us millions of taxpayer dollars in prison for no good reason with these long sentences for simply being romantically involved with a dealer. Where is the justice here?
For more information go to:

Democracy Now! and Sentencing

Venzuela

What if the United States were preparing to hold a national election on a constitutional amendment that a foreign country didn’t like? What if that foreign country sent operatives into the United States to influence people’s votes and to stir up controversy? Would that be ok? Well, a CIA plan entitled, "OPERATION PLIERS," proposed to impede the recent Venezuelan constitutional referendum and then encourage the Venezuelans to refuse to recognize the results if the yes vote won. For more see:

Democracy Now and Venzuelian Analysis

Blackwater Impunity

Did you know that after Blackwater USA security guards apparently killed 17 innocent civilians in Iraq, someone in the U.S. State Department granted those involved in the massacre, immunity from prosecution? Although Blackwater claims that the guards shot in self-defense, the Iraqi government, which has conducted its own investigation, concluded that the Blackwater guards fired the only shots in the incident and were completely at fault. In addition, a U.S. military investigation also concluded that the shootings were unprovoked. Why did the State Department then grant immunity and thereby hamper investigation and prosecution of the case? And even though the Iraqi government has called for the expulsion of Blackwater from the country, the U.S. government ignores Iraqi wishes. Rather than removing Blackwater, the U.S. government has extended its contract for another year.
For more information go to:

LATimes and WashPost and LATimes2

Video Length 9 min 54 sec

Genocide in The Congo

After the genocide in Rwanda, the Hutu militia came to the Congo and started killing and raping the Congolese population. Some claim that more than 200,000 women, children and babies have been raped. They rape anyone from 6-year-olds to those over 70. Worse, the rapists put hot plastics, wood and bamboo inside the females. They even sometimes shoot bullets into the vagina. Most Americans are totally unaware of the scale of Congolese violence which is a modern Holocaust. It has been reported that up to 4.7 million people might have died--the highest number of fatalities in any conflict since World War II. For more information go to:

BBC Report and NYTimes