The Elite's Military Problem
US 'turns page on a decade of war' ... The United States is "turning the page on a decade of war", President Barack Obama
said, as he unveiled a major strategic review that will cut $489
billion in defence spending over the next ten years ... As the wars of
the September 11 era pass, Mr Obama said America should abandon its
traditional capability of fighting two major wars at once and focus on
becoming a "leaner and smarter" fighting force with an emphasis on
counter terrorism, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and maintaining a
nuclear deterrent. In a rare appearance in the Pentagon press briefing
room, Mr Obama however insisted that the US military would comfortably
maintain its military supremacy, with proposed spending still larger
than that of the next 10 countries combined. – UK Telegraph
Economy Squeezed As Debt Accelerates
– by Ron Paul
Dr. Ron Paul
US Fed as Credit Card and Consumer Watch Dog! ...
– by Staff Report
Federal Reserve
Dominant Social Theme: The Fed cares for you!
Free-Market Analysis: A close friend of ours just received a promo advertising a "Marriot Rewards Cards." She was surprised to find, upon reading the "terms and conditions," a note suggesting a visit to a US Federal Reserve website that would educate her about credit cards generally.
Central Banks Now Operating as One Global Monopoly?
by Staff Report
Dominant Social Theme: More is better. But each bank "does its own thing."
Clues Left in Obama 'Birth Forgery' on Purpose?
– by Staff Report
Dr. Yaron Brook on Ayn Rand, Capitalism and the War on Terror
– with Anthony Wile
Dr. Yaron Brook
Introduction: Dr. Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. He is a columnist at Forbes.com, and his articles have been featured in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Investor’s Business Daily. Dr. Brook is often interviewed on radio and is a frequent guest on a variety of national TV programs. He is co-author of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea and a contributor to Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism. Dr. Brook, a former finance professor, is an internationally sought after speaker on such topics as the causes of the financial crisis, the morality of capitalism, and U.S. foreign policy.
Dr. Brook was born and raised in Israel. He served as a first sergeant in Israeli military intelligence and earned a BSc in civil engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. In 1987 he moved to the United States, where he received his MBA and Ph.D. in finance from the University of Texas at Austin; he became an American citizen in 2003. For seven years he was an award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, and in 1998 he cofounded a financial advisory firm, BH Equity Research, of which he is presently managing director and chairman.
As Predicted, Electric Cars Foundering: GM Shuts Down the Volt
– by Anthony Wile
Anthony Wile
General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday. GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees.
Democracy versus Liberty
by Tibor Machan
Dr. Tibor Machan
Next Neocon War? 'Free-Balochistan' to Split Pakistan in Two
– by Staff Report
Sickening Regulation. by Michael D. Tanner
Never underestimate the brilliance of our federal bureaucracy.
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it
must delay implementation of new reimbursement codes for Medicare. Those
new regulations would have increased the total number of reimbursement
codes from the current 18,000 to more than 140,000 separate codes. The
delay will undoubtedly come as a relief for physicians who will have
additional time to try to understand the bureaucratic complexity of
rules that, for example, apply 36 different codes for treating a snake
bite, depending on the type of snake, its geographical region, and
whether the incident was accidental, intentional self-harm, assault, or
undetermined. The new codes also thoroughly differentiate between nine
different types of hang-gliding injuries, four different types of
alligator attacks, and the important difference between injuries
sustained by walking into a wall and those resulting from walking into a
lamppost.Blind Ambition Is Not a Presidential Job Qualification. by Gene Healy
Are you depressed about the shape of the 2012 presidential race? Maybe you're not depressed enough.
Nobody who wants the presidency too badly ought to be trusted with
it. George Washington struck the right note in his first inaugural: "No
event could have filled me with greater anxieties" than learning of his
election.Yet, as the powers of the presidency have grown far beyond what Washington could have imagined, the selection process has changed in ways that make it vanishingly unlikely that a latter-day Washington will seek the job.
Unfortunately, the modern presidential campaign calls forth characters with delusions of grandeur, a flair for dissembling, and a bottomless hunger for higher office.
Save the Cato Institute
I can understand why so many people in the small-government movement feel conflicted and disappointed about this dispute. But while I’m disappointed, I’m not conflicted.
When it comes to this lawsuit, like Jonathan Adler, “I cannot understand how [the Kochs’] actions can, in any way, advance the cause of individual liberty to which they’ve devoted substantial sums and personal efforts over the years.”
On Thursday, Charles G. Koch told the press, “We are not acting in a partisan manner, we seek no ‘takeover’ and this is not a hostile action.”
With all due respect, Mr. Koch, that is not true.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Grand Ayatollah or Grand Old Party?
Who said it: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum?
BY REZA ASLAN
Kill the Messenger
What Russia taught Syria: When you destroy a city, make sure no one -- not even the story -- gets out alive.
BY ROBERT YOUNG PELTON
Countering China's Reach in Latin America
By Alan W. Dowd, ASCF Senior Fellow
Focused
on military operations in the Middle East, nuclear threats in Iran and
North Korea, and the global threat of terrorism, U.S. policymakers have
neglected a growing challenge right here in the Western Hemisphere: the
expanding influence and reach of China.
Eyeing energy resources to keep its economy humming, China is engaged in a flurry of investing and spending in Latin America.
In Costa Rica, China is funding a
$1.24-billion upgrade of the country’s oil refinery; bankrolling an
$83-million soccer stadium; backing infrastructure and
telecommunications improvements; and pouring millions into a new police
academy.
Suspected key al-Qaida figure detained in Cairo
By American Security Council Foundation ASCF
The
suspected operational head of al-Qaida was arrested Wednesday at Cairo
International Airport, Egyptian security sources told NBC News.
Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi is also known as "Saif al-Adel," according to the FBI.
He is widely believed to have taken over as operational head of al-Qaida following the death of Osama bin Laden in May, NBC News reported. Ayman al-Zawahri replaced bin Laden as al-Qaida's leader and Makkawi is thought to have been put in charge of the tactical planning of attacks. Makkawi was traveling to Egypt from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates, sources told NBC News.
He was detained upon arrival and handed over to Egyptian intelligence officials, NBC News said. However, a senior U.S. official later told NBC News that it was unable to either confirm or deny whether al-Adel was in custody.
A Greek exit
Nothing to fear but the lack of fear itself
by A.P.
Putin’s Russia
Call back yesterday
Twelve years after his first election, Vladimir Putin is becoming president of Russia again. The country is a lot harder to control now
CHEREPOVETS, MOSCOW AND VOLOGDA
Public campaigning does not come naturally to Vladimir Putin, former KGB man, former Russian president and current Russian prime minister; preferring to wield power behind closed doors, a staged photo opportunity is more his mark. When, last September, he announced in the same Moscow arena that he would swap jobs with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, and return to the Kremlin after the March 4th election, he was distinctly low key.
A Constitution of Convenience
The government can't have it both ways
Late last month the Defense Department charged one of its own,
Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halibi, with espionage and with
spying for his native Syria. According to court documents, many of
the acts which constituted these charges took place while Airman
al-Halibi was on active duty as an Air Force translator at Camp
Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. If the government can prove the
charges against him in court, he could receive the death
penalty.
But problems of proof are the least of the government's concerns in this case. First, the government must confront the self-inflicted problem of federal jurisdiction—which it has claimed does not exist for acts committed in Cuba.
But problems of proof are the least of the government's concerns in this case. First, the government must confront the self-inflicted problem of federal jurisdiction—which it has claimed does not exist for acts committed in Cuba.
Print|Email|Single Page Restraining Orders
The government’s unconstitutional restrictions on our freedom to travel
Steve Bierfeldt, director of development for Ron Paul’s Campaign
for Liberty, thought he was having a good day. At a regional
Campaign for Liberty event in Missouri, Bierfeldt had sold
thousands of dollars worth of conference tickets, bumper stickers,
T-shirts, and books, and was now in the security line at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, waiting to catch a flight
back to Washington, D.C. But the federal government had other
ideas.
After discovering a metal box with more than $4,700 in cash and checks inside Bierfeldt’s luggage, officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) detained him for further screening. The TSA, you will recall, is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that (according to its website) is tasked with protecting “the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.” Bierfeldt had an altogether different experience.
After discovering a metal box with more than $4,700 in cash and checks inside Bierfeldt’s luggage, officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) detained him for further screening. The TSA, you will recall, is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that (according to its website) is tasked with protecting “the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.” Bierfeldt had an altogether different experience.
Securing Your Data and Online Communications, by A.F.S.
Securing Your Data and Online Communications, by A.F.S.
If you are a frequent visitor to SurvivalBlog then I do not need to
explain why the subject matter may be of importance. There are several
previous posts that cover somewhat related information that I will
reference and expand upon.
First, the disclaimers: I am not a data security expert. I could not blind you with science nor expertly baffle you with Bravo Sierra. However, I have been directly involved in the Internet related software business for almost 20 years. I have spent many hours a day for almost two decades using the internet and watching it evolve. During that time, especially since 9/11, I have also watched the watchers watching more of everything we do.
First, the disclaimers: I am not a data security expert. I could not blind you with science nor expertly baffle you with Bravo Sierra. However, I have been directly involved in the Internet related software business for almost 20 years. I have spent many hours a day for almost two decades using the internet and watching it evolve. During that time, especially since 9/11, I have also watched the watchers watching more of everything we do.
Jim Rogers Is Scared of a Second Term for Obama. Russia Today
It’s
looking to be a legendary election year, with recent polling putting
incumbent Barack Obama behind his Republican rivals. If the current
commander-in-chief can clench re-election, however, the result could
be rough for the rest of America.
Discussing
the damage a second Obama term could have on America, legendary
investor Jim Roger tells CNBS that the economically oblivious incumbent
could crush whatever is left of the faltering US financial system.
The first Obama term has suggested that the president has no problem
letting the Federal Reserve print a plethora of money America doesn’t
have. As if the consequences haven’t been colossal already,
Rogers says another four years of Obama could very well ruin America
by the time a second term is in full swing.
Why Can’t americans Have Democracy?. by Paul Craig Roberts
Syria has a
secular government as did Iraq prior to the american invasion. Secular
governments are important in Arab lands in which there is division
between Sunni and Shi’ite. Secular governments keep the divided
population from murdering one another.
When the american
invasion, a war crime under the Nuremberg standard set by the US
after WWII, overthrew the Saddam Hussein secular government, the
Iraqi Sunnis and Shi’ites went to war against one another.
The civil war between Iraqis saved the american invasion. Nevertheless,
enough Sunnis found time to fight the american occupiers of Iraq
that the US was never able to occupy Bagdad, much less Iraq, no
matter how violent and indiscriminate the US was in the application
of force.
ILLEGAL EVERYTHING IN AMERICA?
I’m a Criminal, You’re a Criminal
by Katherine Mangu-Ward
Reason.com
Harvey
Silverglate, a Boston-based criminal defense and civil liberties
attorney, is the co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education, which fights speech codes on college campuses. He is also the
author, most recently, of Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the
Innocent (Encounter Books), a book about “how the United States
Department of Justice targets all segments of civil society by means of
abusive prosecutions based upon unacceptably vague federal criminal
statutes and regulations.”
Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward spoke with Silverglate in November.
Q: When did you notice that people were committing crimes without knowing it?
British Propagandist in Syria: The Good Guys?
Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
Just in time for the “Friends of Syria” conference led by former imperialists Britain and France who appear to be piecemeal reassembling their empires under the cover of US-led, NATO-backed “revolutions,” the world was treated to a spectacularly timed “casus belli.” It was dubiously reported by Western media that the Syrian government had intentionally shelled the position of British and French journalists in the city of Homs for the explicit purpose of “silencing them.” The reports claimed that the attacks were planned and broadcast over easily intercepted radio traffic picked up by intelligence officers in Lebanon. It would turn out that these journalists had illegally entered the country.
Two journalists were allegedly killed, and others allegedly wounded
including British “freelance journalist” Paul Conroy. After being
evacuated, Conroy would make an impassioned plea for someone to stop what he called a “massacre beyond measure.”
One wonders how exactly a military operation conducted against
admittedly armed militants holding a city hostage can be called a
“massacre,” and why despite Conroy and his colleagues having been in
Homs, failed to justify with substantial evidence these claims.
Infowars.com
Just in time for the “Friends of Syria” conference led by former imperialists Britain and France who appear to be piecemeal reassembling their empires under the cover of US-led, NATO-backed “revolutions,” the world was treated to a spectacularly timed “casus belli.” It was dubiously reported by Western media that the Syrian government had intentionally shelled the position of British and French journalists in the city of Homs for the explicit purpose of “silencing them.” The reports claimed that the attacks were planned and broadcast over easily intercepted radio traffic picked up by intelligence officers in Lebanon. It would turn out that these journalists had illegally entered the country.
 |
|||
| Photo: Conroy, second from left wearing a blue “press” vest, embraces terrorist Belhaj (4th from left wearing green army fatigues) and his men during a photo-op in NATO-ravaged Libya. The photo was featured on “Syrian Truth,” one of the many Western-backed propaganda fronts operating in both Syria and out of London. The photo itself first appeared in Conroy’s own report on Libya found in the Liverpool Echo. Both Conroy and Belhaj would next head to Syria after finishing their roles in destroying Libya. |
Leaked Stratfor Email Calls Ground Zero Mosque Imam ‘an FBI asset’
Wikileaks.org
On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
Did This Speech Get Judge Andrew Napolitano Fired
Did This Speech Get Judge Andrew Napolitano Fired
It is a simple question which many people are asking, but was the speech in the clip below part of the reason Freedom Watch was cancelled by Fox Business?The Judge talks about all the other candidates running for president being exactly the same, based on their voting record, except Ron Paul.
If it wasn’t this specific clip, then was it similar speeches which were making people think for themselves?
Ron Paul Delegates Fight To Be Counted And Win
Ron Paul Delegates Fight To Be Counted And Win
In Oklahoma there was a problem with the registration of delegates which meant that many Ron Paul delegates were rejected when they reached the GOP convention.Despite everyone turning up with a voter registration card, the officials claimed they couldn’t verify that they were registered to vote.
After taking a ballot from all delegates, the majority voted for the delegates to be added to be accepted.
The video below shows what happened and how the Ron Paul supporters had to fight for their right to be a delegate.
Romney easily wins Washington caucuses ahead of Super Tuesday
By
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Mitt Romney will carry strong
momentum into the all-important Super Tuesday polls after easily taking
out the Washington state Republican caucuses Saturday night -- his fifth
win in a row.
With all of the votes tallied
late Saturday night, Romney was the clear winner in the nonbinding poll
with 37.65 percent support. Ron Paul finished second, edging Rick
Santorum 24.81 percent to 23.81 percent, while Newt Gingrich was well
back in fourth place with 10.28 percent. A tick over three percent of
the caucus-goers said they were undecided or voted for someone else.
Romney's win follows first-place finishes in
the Michigan and Arizona primaries and in caucuses in Maine and Wyoming
over the last three weeks.
US may use CIA cloak to hide Afghan presence
The Pentagon is reportedly deliberating over putting elite troops and
Special Forces in Afghanistan under CIA control. The move would reduce
official US presence with a view to meeting Obama’s promise of total
withdrawal from the country by 2014.
Top US military sources told Agence France-Presse that the idea had been circulated by senior defense intelligence as a way to reduce US presence in Afghanistan before the 2014 deadline.
It is one of several initiatives currently under discussion in the Pentagon, according to AFP sources. The proposals have not yet been presented to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Top US military sources told Agence France-Presse that the idea had been circulated by senior defense intelligence as a way to reduce US presence in Afghanistan before the 2014 deadline.
It is one of several initiatives currently under discussion in the Pentagon, according to AFP sources. The proposals have not yet been presented to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Michael Savage: Was Breitbart assassinated?
WND EXCLUSIVE
Media activist recently promised to publish revealing Obama videos
- See What Gov. Synder SaidAmerica's Immigration Debate is about Economics, Not Politics renewoureconomy.org
North Korea Has Allegedly Tested Nuclear Warheads For Iran
by Tyler Durden
What is one sure thing sure to set triggerhappy warmonger fingers in the US and Israel on Defcon 1 more than the word Iran? The words Iran and North Korea. How about three nouns that will send crude soaring by at least $10 the second a CL trading algo sees them fly across Bloomberg? Try "Iran" "North Korea" and "Nukes." And if the following report just released by the Wiener Zeitung is even remotely correct, then Israel, the military industrial complex, and crude are all about to go ballistic, not necessarily in that order.
According to one of Europe's most famous newspapers, which in turn references a report in Welt am Sontag, North Korea has conducted at least two nuclear warhead tests in 2010, of which was on behalf of Iran. "This could mean that with North Korea's help Tehran may already have a tested nuclear warhead....According to the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag", this assumption is based on data from the Organization of the contract for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban. Accordingly, the Swedish nuclear physicist Lars-Erik De Geer uses data from monitoring stations in South Korea, Japan and Russia and believes that North Korea instead of uranium, used plutonium in two prior secret tests as far back as in 2006 and 2009." What is striking here is the effluvience of meaningless innuendo and baseless allegations.
Time nears for an American tax overhaul
However
the U.S. presidential election turns out, the trifecta of the Bush tax
cut expiration, the debt limit ceiling on the horizon once again, and
the Congressionally mandated sequesters – cuts in domestic spending –
will force the president and Congress to wrestle with fiscal issues
either in a lame duck session after the election or in early 2013. The
decisions they make will have profound impacts on America’s fiscal
future.For many observers, the central question on the table is about entitlement programs: What will be done with them? Growth in entitlement spending associated with our aging population and its rising health care costs is the major factor in overall federal spending growth. But the capacity of near-term policy changes to have large impacts on that spending is less than many would suppose. The rising ratio of retirees to workers means that Social Security benefits at current levels will not be sustainable without some kind of tax increase. Sooner or later, revenue will have to rise or else outlays will have to be curtailed. While it is surely better to act sooner, the reality is that, out of necessity, action on entitlements is inevitable.
Prosperity, autocracy and democracy
To understand the significance of the
presidential election this weekend in Russia, read a book by two
U.S.-based academics that is being published this month. Why Nations Fail
by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Harvard University, respectively, is a wildly ambitious
work that hopscotches through history and around the world to answer the
very big question of why some countries get rich and others don’t.
Their one-word answer, as Acemoglu summed it up for me, is ‘‘politics.’’ Acemoglu and Robinson divide the world into countries governed by ‘‘inclusive’’ institutions and those ruled by ‘‘extractive’’ ones. Inclusive societies, with England and its Glorious Revolution of 1688 in the vanguard, deliver sustainable growth and technological innovation. Extractive ones can have spurts of prosperity, but because they are ruled by a narrow elite guided by its own self-interest, their economic vigor eventually fades.
‘‘It is really about societies that have a more equitable distribution of political power versus those that don’t,’’ Acemoglu told me. ‘‘It is about societies where the elite, the rich, can do what they want and those where they cannot.’’
Their one-word answer, as Acemoglu summed it up for me, is ‘‘politics.’’ Acemoglu and Robinson divide the world into countries governed by ‘‘inclusive’’ institutions and those ruled by ‘‘extractive’’ ones. Inclusive societies, with England and its Glorious Revolution of 1688 in the vanguard, deliver sustainable growth and technological innovation. Extractive ones can have spurts of prosperity, but because they are ruled by a narrow elite guided by its own self-interest, their economic vigor eventually fades.
‘‘It is really about societies that have a more equitable distribution of political power versus those that don’t,’’ Acemoglu told me. ‘‘It is about societies where the elite, the rich, can do what they want and those where they cannot.’’
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