Saturday, October 10, 2009

8 Shocking Ways the Billionaires Have Schemed to Rob Us of Every Last Dollar

Every day and every week we hear another shocking story about how our billionaires have cooked up an even sicker scheme to shake down Americans and plunder the national wealth, as if the last scheme was too easy and boring. They don’t even bother hiding it anymore: take the story about the “Death Bonds” I wrote about last month, first reported (however blandly) in the New York Times: the very same Wall Street bankers who conned $23 trillion out of America’s wealth is now going to use some of that play money to place bets on when we Americans will die—and the sooner we die, the more billions in E-Z profits Wall Street will earn.

It’s as if America is some kind of despised abstraction to our ruling class: a faraway colony to plunder, a mass of humanity to use and exploit as it sees fit. In fact, there’s a pretty clear pattern developing of just how much they despise Americans and how little they value our lives and our humanity.

It’s painful to admit this, but the way our 21st century American ruling class treats the rest of us is eerily reminiscent of the great Russian novel Dead Souls, about the 19th century Russian ruling class’s beastly treatment of its serfs (also called “souls”), back when most Russians were essentially slaves, legal property of the ruling class. Dead Souls features one of the most grotesque shysters in any novel: he comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme that’s eerily similar to today’s Wall Street’s latest schemes: the shyster goes from village to village, buying up “dead souls” (or “dead serfs”) who are still on the census rolls of the local landowners. The dead serfs are of no use to their owners anymore, so the landowners are happy to make one last ruble off their dead serfs by selling ownership rights over them to the shyster. The shyster’s plan: to acquire so many “dead souls” that he can package them into valuable collateral, and take out a huge loan against his “dead souls” which will finally make him rich. Wealth spun out of nothing but human misery, so that the shyster can waste huge amounts of money impressing others from the serf-owning class.

In other words: Dead Souls Loans.

Fast-forward to America in 2009, and now we’re the dead souls. Top American corporations are taking out “dead peasant insurance” on their workers without the workers even knowing it—and cashing in hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on their employees, even though often times they don’t even offer those same employees decent health insurance coverage to allow them to survive illnesses. To top it off, these “dead peasant insurance” payouts are tax-free for the corporation that cashes in. It was a revelation so revolting that even ABC’s News’ mannequins admitted they were “stunned.”

In fact, as I said, they shouldn’t be stunned. It’s part of an ongoing pattern for our ruling class and their view of America and Americans. It’s time we faced up to this grim fact. Too many of them are against us and against this country, weakening America to the point where it threatens to be permanently crippled, much like how the communists deformed Russia for decades. They had their bolsheviks; we have our billionaire-bolsheviks. The effect of these two rapacious ruling elites is the same: the state and the people serve the tiny ruling class; and when we’re not serving them, we can fuck off and die. Literally. Because that serves them too.

For practical purposes, here is a small handy list of 8 Reasons To Hate Our Billionaire Bolsheviks [or "The H8 8"]:

1. According to Harvard Medical Researchers, 45,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance. That’s one American dying every 12 minutes; it also means that our fucked up health care system kills as many Americans every month as Al Qaeda managed on September 11th, with another 9,000 American dead thrown in for good measure. Doesn’t this count as corporate terrorism? Doesn’t this mean we should go to war against our murderers, to protect ourselves?

2. Those hundreds of thousands of American corpses enriched a handful of American health care CEOs like William McGuire of UnitedHealth: he earned hundreds of millions in annual bonuses in the mid-2000s ($125 million in 2004, more in 2005) along with as much as $1.8 billion in stock options (some of which was clawed back by the SEC), and a $5 million annual pension guaranteed for life; at one point, $1 out of every $700 Americans paid in health care went directly to McGuire’s obscene billion-dollar payout.

3. “Dead Peasants Insurance”: Companies paid out $8 billion in premiums on millions of their employees, and expect to earn $9 billion in the next 5 years when these employees die. To make sure that the life insurance companies can pay out the winnings on our deaths, $22 billion in TARP money–our money– was set aside this spring for insurance companies.

4. Herbert Perone, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Nobody gets upset when a company insures its plant or its fleet of cars or land or any other business asset. To think that your labor force is not a business asset is extremely shortsighted.”

5. The gap between wealthiest 10 percent and the rest of America is worse than at any time on record. Two-thirds of all income gains from 2002-7 went to the top 1 percent. The Walton family alone is worth more than the bottom 100 million Americans combined. Wal-Mart is a major player in the “dead peasants insurance” game; it’s alleged that dead peasant insurance payouts are used for executive bonuses.

6. Bank of America chief Ken Lewis will earn a $125 million retirement package after soaking US taxpayers for $45 billion in bailout funds and $118 billion in guarnatees. Meanwhile, banks like BofA earned $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, charging some 51 million Americans an average of $470 each in highly dubious circumstances. It’s thought that banks will pocket even more this year.

7. Mortgages: financial institutions get taxpayers to subsidize losses via $700 billion TARP program, $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities buyback program, hundreds of billions in “toxic assets” guarantees, at least $400 billion shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, $30 billion for PPIP, etc.

8. Mortgages: homeowners. Two headlines tell the story: “Mortgage-relief program helps relatively few troubled homeowner” [McClatchy, Sept 10.] and “Firms are getting billions, but homeowners still in trouble” [McClatchy, Oct 4.] The latter article details how even the meager funds earmarked for homeowner relief winds up getting looted by the mortgage servicers who created the problems in the first place.

And on, and on…

It’s one of the more grotesque yet inevitable examples of just how badly the super-wealthy have warped America so that it’s become little more than a rigged game in which we the people always lose, just like Mr. Lebowski said we would.

In 1965, Ronald Reagan said in a speech: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority…always vote[s] for the candidate promising the most benefits from the treasury with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by dictatorship.” [Quoted in David Cay Johnston’s book Free Lunch.]

The great irony of course is that it wasn’t the voters who plundered the public treasury, but rather, the super-wealthy who plundered the public and subverted democracy. But this is worse than mere irony; Reagan was the billionaire’s Trojan Horse to power. They rode on his drooling senile smile into power, on the worst assumptions about the American people and how we’d use our democratic power to take their wealth; so the minute they got the reigns, they plundered us first, before we could get to them. This is what I mean by America’s billionaire class as an alien, colonial overlord class: they hate us, quite simply, and the more they plunder America, the more they both loathe us and fear us, or what we might do to them -- or should do.

As for the dictatorship that Reagan speaks of, it’s already here, thanks in no small part to Reagan himself. But it’s not the crude, old-fashioned dictatorship, the kind with cool uniforms and parades. That wouldn’t last a week, because we’ve all been trained to look out for it and spot the crude old saber-toothed dictators. Instead, today we have a kind of highly-evolved dictatorship concealing itself as a functioning democracy. But in all the important issues, where billions or trillions are at stake, where their yachts and private jets are pitted against Americans’ lives or the national interest, you can spot the dictatorship’s horrific Predator-beast head rising from the swamp… such as when the vote on the public option was put to the Democratic supermajority-run Senate committee, and it got crushed by the same margin as if the Senate was split, or run by a Republican supermajority.

Which brings me back to Dead Souls: despite the title, the book is actually one of the greatest comic novels of all time, a kind of comic poem, “laughter through tears” as the author, Gogol, put it. But I’m not sure Gogol would find our 2009 version of Dead Souls very comical. And Hollywood would never buy it. There’s nothing redeeming, no characters an audience can possibly identify with. Our American Dead Souls is just too … depressing.

Working Class Americans Panhandling for Gas - You Got Change!

Check this link ..... http://bit.ly/ssN2w

The Official Version of 9/11

I found this comment on a Telegraph article about Charlie Sheen's questions to the President, and just had to re-post it.

***************************

Charlie Sheen will be viewed by history as a very brave individual...

The Official Version of 9/11 goes something like this...

Directed by a beardy-guy from a cave in Afghanistan, nineteen hard-drinking, coke-snorting, devout Muslims enjoy lap dances before their mission to meet Allah...

Using nothing more than craft knifes, they overpower cabin crew, passengers and pilots on four planes...

And hangover or not, they manage to give the world's most sophisticated air defense system the slip...

Unphased by leaving their “How to Fly a Passenger Jet” guide in the car at the airport, they master the controls in no-time and score direct hits on two towers, causing THREE to collapse completely...

Our masterminds even manage to overpower the odd law of physics or two... and the world watches in awe as steel-framed buildings fall symmetrically - through their own mass - at free-fall speed, for the first time in history.

Despite all their dastardly cunning, they stupidly give their identity away by using explosion-proof passports, which survive the fireball undamaged and fall to the ground... only to be discovered by the incredible crime-fighting sleuths at the FBI...

…Meanwhile down in Washington...

Hani Hanjour, having previously flunked 2-man Cessna flying school, gets carried away with all the success of the day and suddenly finds incredible abilities behind the controls of a Boeing...

Instead of flying straight down into the large roof area of the Pentagon, he decides to show off a little...

Executing an incredible 270 degree downward spiral, he levels off to hit the low facade of the world's most heavily defended building...

...all without a single shot being fired.... or ruining the nicely mowed lawn... and all at a speed just too fast to capture on video...

...Later, in the skies above Pennsylvania...

So desperate to talk to loved ones before their death, some passengers use sheer willpower to connect mobile calls that otherwise would not be possible until several years later...

And following a heroic attempt by some to retake control of Flight 93, it crashes into a Shankesville field leaving no trace of engines, fuselage or occupants... except for the standard issue Muslim terrorists bandana...

...Further south in Florida...

President Bush, our brave Commander-in-Chief continues to read “My Pet Goat” to a class full of primary school children... shrugging off the obvious possibility that his life could be in imminent danger...

...In New York...

World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein blesses his own foresight in insuring the buildings against terrorist attack only six weeks previously...

While back in Washington, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz shake their heads in disbelief at their own luck in getting the 'New Pearl Harbor' catalyzing event they so desired to pursue their agenda of world domination...

And finally, not to be disturbed too much by reports of their own deaths, at least seven of our nineteen suicide hijackers turn up alive and kicking in mainstream media reports...

9/11 AND A GENERATION DECEIVED

HAS UNCLE SAM STRAYED? IS HE CHEATING ON US?

9/11 WAS NOT THE FIRST AND WON'T BE THE LAST

We make it easy for them. Lying to us is nothing. Our own government is a pack of philandering cheats, phony attacks, lying about wars, never a word of truth we can depend on. No matter what kind of outlandish thing they do, some "commission" covers it up. We don't need any of their blue ribbon commissions, we need a good divorce lawyer.

What happens when the delusional "super patriots" in our government go totally nuts on us as years of odd coincidences is beginning to prove to even the biggest dullards? What happens to keep one of their conspiracies from blowing up in their faces? First, word leaks out.

A few weeks later, anyone who says anything is called a "conspiracy nut." Newspapers can't carry stories once anyone says "conspiracy." What does it cause? Simple. Give a group total power to do anything they want, no matter how brutal, how insane. Make them above the law. Show them that anything can be covered up, that the press will no longer look into anything and that "national security" can be used to classify evidence for decades, even centuries and we have opened the door to barbarism.

Why is there a huge 9/11 conspiracy movement? Another no brainer. It is no big stretch of the imagination that Bush, Cheney and Rove could get a pack of rogue CIA/Mossad folks to do anything if the end result ended up as the war Bush was put in office to start. We've been between the sheets with these folks for a long time, think about the USS Liberty.

Why are millions willing to believe Obama wasn't born in the US? Simple. If a secret group running our government could rig the Bush elections, blow up the World Trade Center, murder 2 Kennedys, fill out streets with drugs and rob the entire planet's financial system, putting a Muslim from Kenya in the Whitehouse would be a piece of cake.

Where does this leave us? How does a generation of Americans live when confronted with one inexplicable thing after another, all having the look of being a bit too convenient and happening at just the right time.

Many Americans pick up a newspaper or watch TV and as soon as they hear a rumor about an attack or a story about some threat. As soon as we see a pentagon fat ass on TV reading about some imaginary boogeyman on his telepromter, we know what's coming. Its too bad we set up phony terrorst attacks to end wars rather than just start them. We need one right now to get us out of Afghanistan.

Maybe we can arrange one proving that Al Qaeda is in Africa and we can pack up, leave Afghanistan and Iraq and go there instead. The worst part of that, even if there is no enemy for us to fight, as in Iraq, one will show up anyway, just because we are there. Is this always the plan in the first place?

You can't turn on the TV and head to the cable/satellite channels, A&E, Military History, Discovery and others without being confronted by continual assaults on our traditional view of history, many of the shows carefully outlining how what we have always believed was a convenient lie meant to shut us up.

Between the ghosts and UFOs, shows like the Secret History of WW2, which debunks 75% of the accepted histroy of mankinds greatest conflict, shows us how far government goes and how little newspapers and historians really know. Somewhere, in basements all over Washington DC, classified documents that would make a mockery of everything we hold true sit and collect dust.

How does this make us feel? Its like we are all married to people we find really aren't going to a job every day but heading off to a motel somewhere. One day, we follow them and see them coming out with a mysterious stranger. We confront them. They tell us that we made it all up.

Every American who chooses to believe the government when they yell out "conspiracy theory" is like the spouse being lied to. You can keep quiet and pretend to believe, living a marriage more lie than real or you can break up your family, maybe lose you home, your kids, because you can't live a lie.

In some cases, it goes much further, its like we watched the whole thing through the motel window, hell, it is even as bad as if we kept a video tape. The Iraq War, the rigged elections, the anthrax outbreaks, the Sibel Edmonds spying scandal and the financial bailout are just like this. We have it all, videos, stained sheets, the whole thing and seem to be enjoying the humiliation.

In this analogy, what are we telling the spouse? Are we saying that "boys or girls night out" can be sex in the back seat somewhere and we simply don't care? What are we telling our government? Are we saying that they can go ahead, kill all of us if they want.

Is this the message we want them to have? If this president is from Kenya, maybe the next one won't even speak English. Our last one had the IQ of a chimp but none of the good looks. There is no humiation we aren't willing to accept.

400,000 jobless out of luck

A move in Congress to extend benefits for the unemployed has been slowed as lawmakers debate who should qualify.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As thousands of jobless Americans lose their weekly unemployment checks every day, Congress is still debating who should qualify for a benefits extension.

Two weeks after the House passed an extension, Senate Democrats Thursday introduced a bill to lengthen unemployment insurance by up to 14 weeks in all states. Those living in states with unemployment levels greater than 8.5% would receive an additional six weeks.

The proposal would be funded by extending the longstanding federal unemployment tax levied on employers through June 30, 2011.

"This agreement recognizes the need to extend unemployment benefits for workers in every state whose unemployment benefits have run out or will do so in the next several weeks," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The Senate proposal differs significantly from the House measure, which lengthens benefits by 13 weeks only for those in high-unemployment states. The House bill would extend the tax through next year.

Senate Republicans, who have expressed general support for extending benefits, blocked the Senate from quickly passing on Thursday.

"I have no doubt that [at] the appropriate time we'll be able to work out some kind of agreement," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "But our side is going to need some time to look at it."

That pushes consideration of the bill into next week.

If the measure makes it through the Senate, it must then be reconciled with the House version.

As Congress debates the measure, 400,000 people ran out of benefits in September and another 208,000 are set to lose them this month, according to the National Employment Law Project. Some 1.4 million people will stop receiving checks by year's end if Congress doesn't act, according to the employment law project.

The chorus calling for a benefits extension grew louder after the government reported on Friday that unemployment hit a 26-year high of 9.8% in September. Employers shed a higher-than-expected 263,000 jobs last month.

The "employment report is a marching order for Congress to pass unemployment benefit extensions to all states, quickly," Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said last week. "With six unemployed workers seeking jobs for every available opening out there, the path to recovery remains steep."

Have you turned into a saver because of the recession? Do you plan to start spending freely again once the economy turns around? Please email your stories to CNNMoney.com and you could be part of an upcoming article. For the CNNMoney.com Comment Policy, click here

McCain says Nobel award based on expectations

(CNN) — Arizona Sen. John McCain said Friday the Nobel Committee's decision to award President Obama the Peace Prize was likely based on expectations, not accomplishments.

"I can't divine all their intentions, but I think part of their decision-making was expectations," McCain told CNN's John King. "And I'm sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to."

But Obama's former rival for the White House said he was happy with the decision.

"I think all of us were surprised at the decision," he said. "But I think Americans are always pleased when their president is recognized by something on this order."

John King's full interview with McCain will air Sunday on State of Union at 9 a.m. ET.

They Obviously Want Nuclear Warheads, They Know How To Make Them, So Let’s Bomb Them Now To Be On The Safe Side

From the London Sunday Times :

Iran Propaganda Effort Stage 3 : They Obviously Want Nuclear Warheads, They Know How To Make Them, So Lets Bomb Them Now To Be On The Safe Side

Keep the following fact in mind whenever you read yet another article or op-ed piece about the “nuclear threat” posed by Iran :

“…the IAEA reiterates that it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran.”

The more professional War On Iran propagandists will not claim that Iran has nuclear bombs, or that they will have them within a few months, but that Iran has the technical knowledge to build nuclear bombs, and the desire to build them. “We can’t afford to take the chance….” you know the spiel by now

It is a very GroundHog Day-like repeat of the lead-up to the War On Iraq. Perhaps they’re hoping that we’ve forgotten?

John Pilger on The Lying Game
:

The official jargon for this kind of propaganda is “psy-ops”, the military term for psychological operations. In the Pentagon and Whitehall, it has become a critical component of a diplomatic and military campaign to blockade, isolate and weaken Iran by hyping its “nuclear threat”: a phrase now used incessantly by Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, and parroted by the BBC and other broadcasters as objective news. And it is fake.

On 16 September, Newsweek disclosed that the major US intelligence agencies had reported to the White House that Iran’s “nuclear status” had not changed since the National Intelligence Estimate of November 2007, which stated with “high confidence” that Iran had halted in 2003 the programme it was alleged to have developed.

—————–

Iran’s crime is its independence.

Having thrown out America’s favourite tyrant, Shah Reza Pahlavi, Iran remains the only resource-rich Muslim state beyond US control.

As only Israel has a “right to exist”in the Middle East, the US goal is to cripple the Islamic Republic. This will allow Israel to divide and dominate the region on Washington’s behalf, undeterred by a confident neighbour.

——————–

On both sides of the Atlantic the media have been tasked with preparing the public for endless war.

The US/Nato commander General Stanley McChrystal says 500,000 troops will be required in Afghanistan over five years, according to America’s NBC.

The goal is control of the “strategic prize” of the gas and oilfields of the Caspian Sea, central Asia, the Gulf and Iran ­ in other words, Eurasia. But the war is opposed by 69 per cent of the British public, 57 per cent of the US public and almost every other human being. Convincing “us” that Iran is the new demon will not be easy.

Robert Parry rips the American media for propagandising more war (excerpts) :

The U.S. press corps appears to have learned little or nothing from the Iraq debacle as a new crisis looms with Iran.

Yet, the most dangerous parallel between the misreporting on Iraq and the current hysteria about Iran may be that major U.S. news outlets, especially the New York Times and the Washington Post, continue to paint the disputes in black and white and leave shades of gray out of the frame.

In doing so, these news organizations again are casting aside their own rules about objectivity and balance. Just like in the run-up to the Iraq War, they obsess about a villain (with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replacing Iraq’s Saddam Hussein) – and have thrown down the memory hole inconvenient facts and important context.

Robert Parry has a long memory for some of the familiar faces in the Iranian opposition movement, funded in part by the United States.

….the evidence of substantial election fraud in Iran’s election was always thin and many of the allegations touted by the U.S. news media failed to stand up to serious scrutiny.

For instance, a prevalent complaint that Ahmadinejad’s claim of victory came too fast ignored the fact that Mousavi was out with a declaration of victory before any votes were counted. The partial results showing Ahmadinejad in the lead followed hours later.

A poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org questioned 1,003 Iranians across the country between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10, discovering that 81 percent said they considered Ahmadinejad to be the legitimate president of Iran. Only 10 percent called him illegitimate, with eight percent offering no opinion.

Sixty-two percent said they had strong confidence in the election results, which showed Ahmadinejad winning by about a 2-to-1 margin, and another 21 percent said they had some confidence in the official vote count, for a total of 83 percent expressing favorable views on the election. By comparison, only 13 percent said they had little or no confidence in the results.

Those poll results were either ignored by the U.S. news media or discounted as the result of fearful Iranians simply saying what their government wanted to hear.

Both Pilger and Parry point out the bizarre absence of debate, or even a legitimate comparative mention of Israel’s 200+ nuclear warheads, the corporate American media. Obviously that is not the case in the blogstream or on the majority of unbiased independent news sites.

———————

The U.S. press corps struts about in outrage over Ahmadinejad – just as they did with Saddam Hussein. The journalists know intuitively what points to highlight and what context to leave out.

In doing so, the journalists may feel they are protecting their flanks from criticism about their patriotism or their toughness. But the risk for the nation is that such unprofessional journalism is contributing to a new hysteria, creating a political dynamic that may block President Obama from taking actions for peace that might well be in the best interests of the country.

台灣‧陳致中有2秘密戶口‧特偵組追緝資金及流向

(台灣‧台北)陳水扁家洗錢案有新發現,阿扁的兒子陳致中除在紐約州因留學而開戶,在華盛頓州、加州各有1個神秘賬戶。

台灣《聯合晚報》稱,被視為扁家洗錢“CEO”的陳致中單在國,登記了三個賬戶,特偵組認為跟洗錢有關,正追緝資金及流向。

台灣高等法院週四(10月8日)夜審陳水扁,特偵組檢察越方如蒞庭時,為說服審長鄧振球的合議庭裁押,將隱而未宣的偵查秘密曝光,她說,陳致中美國賬戶有30萬元美金,另有兩筆可疑資金還在調查。

特偵組以此指控陳水扁可能逃亡海外,進而享受鉅額資金,其中在紐約州的賬戶,指的是陳致中於2004年到2006年在弗吉尼亞大學攻讀法學學位時,用以支付生活費的花旗銀行賬戶,另2個賬戶,則是扁案偵查迄今均未曝光的賬戶。

扁家全球藏金地點以瑞士最受矚目,另傳聞在美國、日本各有洗錢賬戶及管道。

美國‧研究報告:被白人強姦懷孕‧第一夫人祖先是奴隸

國‧華盛頓)一份研究美國第一夫人米歇爾家族史的報告顯示,米歇爾的祖先曾在6歲時就被賣身為奴。

根據族譜學者史莫蘭亞克的研究顯示,米歇爾的先人在記載文件上,沒有姓氏,只是被稱為女奴“維爾維妮亞”。少女時代她曾在佐治亞州的農場工作,後來被一名不知名的白人男子強暴懷孕,並在1859年生下一名男嬰,叫做杜爾佛斯,而杜爾佛斯就是米歇爾的玄曾祖父。

這份族譜學上的新發現被刊登在《紐約時報》上。

報導指出,就在杜爾佛斯過世5年之後,他的玄曾孫女米歇爾誕生,如今成了美國第一夫人。

不過白宮至今沒有對這項發現做出任何評論。

美國‧兩個月才能確認是否有水‧2次撞月無閃光現象

(加州‧山景城)國太空總署的月球隕坑觀測與傳感衛星及其運載火箭“一後一前”撞進月球南極附近的一個隕石坑,以在月表之下尋找水冰存在的線索,但預計的閃光現象並未如期出現。

太空總署這一項目首席科學家安東尼科拉普雷特表示,他們需要兩個月時間才能確認月球是否有水,因此目前聲稱任務成功還言之過早。

大馬時間晚上7時31分左右,半人馬座火箭首先以每小時約9000公里的速度撞擊月球南極的凱布斯坑。4分多鐘之後,月球坑觀測和傳感衛星也“如約”撞擊月球。

直播者失望

太空總署曾表示,重約2.2噸的半人馬座火箭撞擊月球後,應該激起高達10公里的塵埃以及長約30秒的閃光現象,但撞擊效果卻遠未如太空總署預告般震撼,既看不到撞擊爆炸閃光及揚起月球碎石塵粒的震撼畫面,令不少觀看直播者失望。

撞月一小時後,位於加利福尼亞州聖迭戈附近的帕洛馬天文台天文學家稱,他們用口徑為200英寸的望遠鏡觀測了兩次撞擊,但沒有觀測到火箭撞擊產生塵埃的跡象。

那些早早就守在戶外,等待觀看直播撞月這一壯觀景象的觀測者感到失望。

太空總署則表示,撞月的確發生了,月球坑觀測和傳感衛星科學團隊正在對相關數據進行初步評估,目前還不判斷月球上是否有水。

這項耗資7900萬美元的撞月試驗的目的是為了探測月球上存在水的可能性,為宇航員重返月球,建立月球基地作準備。

加拿大‧從太空站傳達食水短缺訊息‧太空遊客與地球連線

(加拿大‧蒙特利爾)加拿大首名太空遊客兼馬戲團大亨拉利波特,週五(10月9日)在國際太空站(ISS)上與地球“連線”,聯合樂隊明星及科學家等人,並用音樂和詩歌來主持一場電視及網路秀。

這項別開生面的節目於週五播出,全球各地的觀眾皆可透過電視或互聯網收。太陽馬戲團創辦人拉利波特藉著這個機會,向人類傳達世界食水短缺的議題。

節目在遍佈世界5大洲的14個城市同時進行,國前副總統戈爾、U2樂隊以及歌手夏奇拉等明星和環保活躍份子均參與了這次的節目。

據瞭解,拉利波特舉辦這項節目的主要目的,是要引起世人對其所創立的慈善機構One Drop Foundation的關注,而此組織的主要訴求是提醒世人對於食水短缺的課題。

進行“跨時空”對話

節目其中最讓人期待的是拉利波特以及U2樂隊主唱BONO的對話。身在國際太空站的拉利波特與當時正在美國佛羅里達州坦帕舉辦演唱會的U2樂隊,進行了一次“跨時空”的對話。

BONO說:“你是首位登上太空的小丑,請你對這個小小星球發表一些看法。請問我們的地球從外太空看上去如何?”

拉利波特表示,地球看起來非常棒,可是也十分脆弱。

節目透過One Drop Foundation網站播放。

美國‧奧巴馬獲諾貝爾和平獎‧美民眾反應大不同

國‧紐約)美國總統奧巴馬爆冷獲得諾貝爾和平獎,卻在美國出現兩極反應,有民眾表示興奮,感到驚訝,但有人卻認為這是一場笑話。

從奧巴馬的家芝加哥,到邁阿密的拉丁裔社區、紐約哈林區和部落格社區,都出現截然不同的反應。

許多人置疑,奧巴馬上任才9個月就獲獎,是否“實至名歸”;但支持者卻提出了奧巴馬促成了美國與世界的和解,以及與回教世界搭建橋樑的貢獻。

奧巴馬在芝加哥的鄰居杜蘭特指出,人們質疑奧巴馬的領導能力,但這個獎項顯示“他在解決問題和化解衝突方面具有實力”。

在邁阿密,在一家超市工作的古巴移民科拉勒斯表示,奧巴馬獲獎“實至名歸,因為他致力於結束這場使古巴家庭離散和分裂的衝突”。

紐約黑人聚居地哈林區對這位第一位黑人總統獲得這一殊榮雀躍萬分。

一名婦女說:“認為這是非常棒的選擇,因為他凝聚了眾人,讓大家互相講話。”

但華爾街卻傳出不同的聲音,他們聲稱奧巴馬空話多於行動。

44歲的男子聲稱他對奧巴馬獲得諾貝爾和平獎感到驚訝,他表示,現在的諾貝爾獎非常政治化,宛如一場選美比賽,不切實際。

他說:“還有許多人比奧巴馬對和平作出鉅大的貢獻,他只是較讓人注意到。”

僅22%網民認同奧巴馬獲獎

網路上的民調顯示,認為奧巴馬獲獎是實至名歸的只有22%。

霍斯電視網在評析時說,不管你支持奧巴馬或反對奧巴馬,聽到他獲獎,第一個反應一定是大吃一 驚,因為華府沒有人談起奧巴馬獲得提名,何況提名截止日期是今年2月1日,當時奧巴馬上任不過11天,憑甚麼獲得提名?一位政論家說,整件事只有一個理 由,就是因為他是黑人。更有人說,美國正在打兩場戰爭,其中一場還準備大量增加兵員,可是總統卻獲得和平獎,不是有點奇怪嗎?

美國之音的網上民調,認為錦上添花的有10%;認為是政治因素、無關功績的超過60%;認為實至名歸的只有22%。

美國‧奧巴馬獲和平獎後召開會議‧討論阿富汗戰略

國‧華盛頓)獲得諾貝爾和平獎幾個小時後,美國總統奧巴馬即召開了阿富汗戰爭會議。

奧巴馬召集了政治、軍事及安全等方面的高級助手,在白宮保安嚴密的“戰情室”為一系列深入探討美國在阿富汗8年戰爭的策略,進行第4次會議。

美國政府一位官員透露說:“總統對美國在阿富汗面臨的政治與安全挑戰,以及修正阿富汗戰略等方面的問題發表了強有力的講話。”

“奧巴馬總統期待下週三繼續就阿富汗戰爭問題進行討論。”

阿富汗美軍最高指揮官麥克克里斯托早前恫言,若美國不增兵,美國在阿富汗的任務很可能在一年內宣告失敗。他要求增兵4萬。

奧巴馬召開這項會議前,白宮和軍方高層分別對阿富汗戰爭的策略提出不同意見。

白宮週四(10月8日)對阿富汗塔勒班與“基地”組織做出明確區分,認為美國的主要敵人是“基地”,塔勒班為阿富汗本土組織,對美國不構成直接威脅。美國準備允許塔勒班組織參加阿富汗政治,把主要精力投入到打擊“基地”組織恐怖活動上。

美國‧奧巴馬得獎震驚全球‧網民發動百萬人聯署抗議

國‧華盛頓/瑞典‧奧斯陸)負責選出和平獎的挪威諾貝爾委員會,週五(10月9日)在奧斯陸宣佈美國總統奧巴馬得獎時,現場記者驚呼聲四起,消息傳出後,全世界也感到驚訝。

有人讚許、有人質疑罵個不停、甚至有人認為是政治大笑話。有反對者甚至迅速在網上發動“百萬人簽名抗議奧巴馬獲獎”行動。

指奧巴馬未有實質成績

奧巴馬獲得和平獎,印證她的非凡魅力,但同時引起空前爭議。一些人認為這是對美國前總統布什單邊主義的最後一次打擊。輿論抨擊說,奧巴馬空有滿口聽說話,未有任何實質成績,頒獎給他令全球錯愕。

奧巴馬今年1月上台後,便積極與伊朗和朝鮮這些核武國進行接觸,重啟中東和平談判和承諾投入迎戰全球氣候暖化問題,但成效有得觀察。

此期間,朝鮮試爆核武,增加試射導彈,退出六方會談;美國在伊拉克的戰事陷入膠著,阿富汗戰爭弄不好要輸;伊朗說要和美國對話,實際被查知有祕密核子裝置,居心可疑。

奧巴馬承諾多多,但至今仍未交出任何成績出來。

奧巴馬獲得諾貝爾和平獎,不僅白宮深感意外,電子媒體及網路上,質疑聲也不斷。

在挪威和平獎評審團宣佈奧巴馬得獎不久,便有人在網上社區care2推出簽名抗議行動(網址為http://nobelpeace.eu),發起者指評審團的決定太草率,且帶有政治動機,呼吁反對這一“荒謬決定”。

不過,截至大馬時間週五午夜12時,有147人聯署,惟離蒐集百萬人簽名的目標仍相去極遠。

美國‧新娘穿黑衣與賓客狂歡‧新郎落跑婚禮照跑

國‧華盛頓)沒有新郎的婚宴!

波士頓名廚英格利希和華裔美女埃麗卡.王原定上週六結婚,但最後關頭新郎臨陣退縮,取消婚禮,準新娘一怒之下,一身黑衣打扮與賓客照開豪華派對,一於狂歡盡興。


英格利許和艾瑞卡.王都是俊男美女,但新郎最後一刻毀婚,新娘只好自己與賓客參加婚宴


48歲的英格利希曾入選2001年《人物》雜誌的“50大俊男美女”,2007年主持的電視節目《Top Chef》大受歡迎。英格利希與埃麗卡因電視節目“美食之旅”結緣,去年訂婚。本訂10月3日結婚,卻在最後關頭告吹。

英格利希和前妻育有二子一女,長子和長女均投身餐飲旅遊業。但身為黃金單身漢,要拴住他像很難,這已是他第3次毀婚。

宣佈婚禮取消時,雙方親友均已抵達紐約。埃麗卡還是決定讓150名女方親友照原定計劃享受國王級的豪華派對,且由“放鴿子”的英格利希付帳。這場婚禮原本極盡鋪張豪華,有香檳和徹夜演奏的樂隊。

據現場來賓透露,埃麗卡沒有披上白色婚紗,忿然以一身黑衣出現。但她力勸賓客盡歡,賓客們也沒令她失望,全場徹夜跳舞狂歡。

英國‧男子逢賭必勝遭賭場封殺

(英國)據英國《每日郵報》5日報導,現年38歲男子巴爾溫德‧桑比希混跡賭場多年,自稱根據簡單的數學原理琢磨出一套玩輪盤賭的“必勝秘笈”,並且在短短兩個月內,便在格羅夫納娛樂場集團旗下的賭場靠玩輪盤賭贏了2萬8000英鎊(約馬幣15萬2648令吉),不料從此被禁止進入此集團遍佈英國的30家連鎖賭場。

據報導,桑比希來自英格蘭伯明翰市,是名車庫闆。過去10年中,他混跡當地各大賭場,他自稱根據簡單的數學原理,琢磨出一套玩輪盤賭的屢試不爽的“必勝秘笈”。令人驚訝的是,桑比希在短短兩個月內,便憑借他的“必勝秘笈”在格羅夫納娛樂場集團旗下的賭場靠玩輪盤賭贏了2萬8000英鎊!

然而景不長,9月15日,當桑比希前往伯明翰巿中心的格羅夫納娛樂場時,對方竟然宣佈禁止他從此進入此集團旗下遍佈英國的30家連鎖賭場。

心有不甘的桑比希於是找賭場經理理論,甚至聘請律師發律師函給格羅夫納娛樂場的“大老闆”蘭克集團,但對方拒絕透露“閉門謝客”的原因。

桑比希憤憤不平地表示:“對他們說,‘如果你懷疑我洗錢或者作弊,大可以去找警察。’可是他們的回答卻是否定的。因此他們禁止我入場的唯一理由,來只是我贏得太多了,賭場只歡迎輸家,不歡迎贏家。”

對於玩輪盤賭的“必勝秘笈”,桑比希秘而不宣,不過他表示,自己正在著手撰寫一本名為《玩轉輪 盤賭:終極遊戲》的“必勝寶典”。桑比希稱:“人們玩輪盤賭已經數百年時間了,還從未有人取得像我這樣的連勝戰績。可是一系列的實戰檢驗證實,我的方法非 常奏效。現在,我想把它傳授給其他玩家,讓他們可以贏得更多的金錢。我的獨門絕技與作弊無關,一切只是關乎數學問題。”

桑比希的遭經網絡媒體曝光後,立即引發各方熱議。一些網民認為,賭場的做法既不厚道,也不合法,沒有理由禁止任何一名合法玩家入場。然而也有人對桑比希選擇出書表示懷疑,質疑他為何不去國的賭城拉斯維加斯大贏一場,而是要靠出書掙錢。甚至有人質疑他狀告賭場純屬“炒作”新書。一名網友在貼子上留言道:“贏輪盤賭的惟一可靠方式是,寫本‘防傻術’的書,然後再賣給傻瓜”。(多倫多明報)

Robert Reich On Health Care: Old People Have to Die

Robert Reich, Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and avid Obama supporter, wants to deny health care to old folks. They’re too expensive. He also told an audience in 2007 that most people will not live longer than their parents. Again, too expensive. He wants to force medical technology corporations to stop developing new life-saving technology.

Reich, of course, supports the so-called “public option,” the government’s take-over of the health care industry. In order to push the Obamacare scam, Reich proposed a march on Washington by the liberals to demand the public option. He wanted to do this on Grandparents Day, September 13.

Reich wanted people to march in favor of a plan that would mandate old people die on a day set aside for old people. You can’t make this stuff up.

Mr. Reich’s pronouncement is yet another confirmation that the government wants to kill old people who are after all — according to our eugenicist rulers — nothing if not useless eaters.

Democrats and liberals went ballistic when Sarah Palin mentioned the fact that the government wants to use the “level of productivity in society” as the basis for determining access to medical care. This Darwinian and Malthusian concept is supported by Dr. Ezekial Emanuel, brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House health care policy adviser.

Emanuel does not use the term “death panels” and the term does not appear in the Obamacare bill. That would be political suicide. Instead he argues in favor of “The Complete Lives System,” a system that “produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.”

In 1996, Emanuel said health care should be rationed for those who are not “participating citizens,” that is to say the old, the infirm, and those suffering from irreversible medical conditions.

As a good liberal, Emanuel would like to avoid the perception that he proposes killing old people simply because they are old — that would be “ageist” — and instead argues that they have used up their “life-years” and basically need to get out of the way and stop using up precious medical resources.

Robert Reich reduces the academic gobbledygook of Emanuel’s “Complete Lives System” down to language the average person can understand. In the above video, he spells it out — the government will intervene in medical decisions made by you and your family. Grand daddy is a burden on society and has nothing left to contribute because he no longer works and pays half or more of his income to the government in the form of confiscatory taxes.

The sad and frightening thing is, when Reich told the audience they will have to die, they applauded.

Jim Sinclair interview by David Williams in South Africa: Gold & Inflation

Check this link ....... http://bit.ly/w1g7Z

Peter Schiff - Bailouts created a Moral Hazzard

Check this link ....... http://bit.ly/T6jwY

War is Peace: Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

KANDAHAR, Aug 5, 2009 : Villagers look at the bodies of three children after they were killed in an airstrike by foreign troops in Arghandab district of Kandahar, south of Kabul, on Wednesday. Four local civilians including three children were killed in the bombing. This is the oft-overlooked work that goes into earning a Nobel Peace Prize.

Image: PAN/Bashir Nadim

Kandahar, Aug 5, 2009 : Villagers look at the bodies of three children after they were killed in an airstrike by foreign troops in Arghandab district of Kandahar, south of Kabul, on Wednesday. Four local civilians including three children were killed in the bombing. Ed. This is the oft-overlooked work that goes into earning a Nobel Peace Prize.


When doublespeak rules the day, anything is possible. Look no further than the Nobel committee for proof of concept. This isn’t the first bogus award they have awarded and I’m sure it won’t be the last. There must be something about handing out blood money that perverts your sense of decency. I just don’t know how any rational committee can look at the faces of the dead children above and say that Barrack Obama, the man who is ultimately responsible for the scene you see in that photograph, the man with whom “the buck stops” as Harry Truman put it, is the greatest harbinger of peace in the world and give him $1.4 million. Why not find the next of kin from that picture and give them the peace prize and $1.4 million? That would be a statement.

I’m not being obtuse. I understand and appreciate the fact that this is a rebuke of the insufferable dullard and warmonger George W. Bush by the international community. Symbolism, blah, blah. Look at those faces! We murdered those children just two months ago, likely via remote control, with the tacit acceptance of our society and our leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barrack Obama. There is nothing peaceful about that. Keep looking at those faces. They are the faces of Obama’s peace. War is not peace. Remember that.

Obama Peace (Read ‘War’) Prize

Here are five reasons why Obama might not have been the ideal winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. These are five of many others, but I have little time.

Obama has:

  • Exerted political pressure to prevent the prosecution of Israel for war crimes committed during the 23-day illegal invasion of Gaza, in which 1,400 Palestinians were massacred, of which 900 were civilians, including 300 children and 115 women.
  • Continued the imperial occupation of Afghanistan, supporting regular air raids which have killed thousands of innocent civilians (including many children), the result of which has been to radicalise previously peaceful men and women into supporting Islamic militancy, some of which is along the lines of Al-Qaeda. The net effect of these actions has made the threat of terrorist attacks against America more likely than prior to the invasion.
  • Continued the Bush policy of allowing US troops to bomb ‘suspected terrorists’ indiscriminately within the borders of Pakistan. If one considers that the imperial presence and actions of the US in Afghanistan has already destabilised the region, and then adds to this the fact that Afghanistan shares a porous border with Pakistan (the local Pashtun tribes who have lived there for hundreds of years do not even recognise the border), plus the bombings within Pakistan itself, then it paints a rather bleak prospect for future peace. Not to mention that Pakistan suffers from profound internal strife and houses a nuclear arsenal, causing experts on the region to label it the most dangerous country in the world.
  • Opened new military bases in Colombia, the official reason for which is ‘the war on narcotics trafficking’. Several studies have shown (though common sense is equally reliable) that such ‘wars’ on drug-trafficking are ineffective, that the US government knows this, and that it continues to use them as a front for other more insidious activities. Senior Colombian intelligence officials have informed Associated Press that in fact these military bases are nothing to do with narcotics, but will be used as hubs for Pentagon activity in the area. Historically what this has meant for Latin America is CIA-led overthrows of democratically elected governments and the installation of dictatorships. Not to mention that Colombia’s human rights record is abominable but that they receive enormous military aid from the US.
  • Put in charge of the economic crisis in the US two men who played a significant role in creating it in the first place. Dean Baker, a respected US economist, likened the casting of Robert Rubin and Larry Summers into the roles of economy-overseers to ‘selecting Osama Bin Laden to run the war on terror.’ The bailout they orchestrated has been described by Naomi Klein as ‘a robbery in progress, the greatest heist in monetary history.’

Britain ranked the top financial center

The latest data collated by the World Economic Forum (WEF) put Britain on the top of the list of leading 55 countries, as the global favorite financial center.

The former leader, USA, has been pushed into third, by the second-place Australia, reported Britain's Daily Telegraph on October 8.

This is despite London's woes due to the ongoing world financial crisis, and what is perceived to be lighter regulations in the US.

The poll, which looked at 120 variables, gave Britain a score of 5.28 out of 7. Although this showed a drop of 0.55 points, it still puts the island state ahead of the US, which dropped 0.73 points to 5.12.

“The UK and the US may still show leadership in the rankings, but their significant drops in score show increasing weakness and imply their leadership may be in jeopardy,” said Kevin Steinberg, chief executive of WEF USA.

The WEF ranking is not an indicator of simple stability. If that were the case, then Norway, Switzerland and Chile would have been the top three in that order, with Malaysia, Brazil and Mexico among the top 15.

Professor Nouriel Roubini, the prominent economist who led the study said: “The change in scores does demonstrate the implications of the downturn on our assessment of the long-term development of financial systems.”

ZAP/MB

GM Sells Hummer To Chinese Firm Tengzhong

Detroit, MI (AHN) - Hummer, the General Motors brand made famous during the first Iraq war but shunned once gasoline rose to record high prices, has been sold to Chinese firm Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp.

Tengzhong will get ownership of the Hummer brand and trademarks, but the vehicle will continue to be made at GM plants in Louisiana and Indiana at least until June 2011.

The purchase price was not revealed, but GM valued the brand at $500 million during bankruptcy proceedings earlier this year. Bloomberg and Marketwatch reported the sale price to be $150 million.

Tengzhong will hold an 80 percent stake in Hummer through an investment entity. The remainder will be owned by private entrepreneur Suolang Duoji.

In a joint statement, GM said an alternative fuel power train will be offered in every model. The 2010 H3 and H3T models also will have E85 FlexFuel capability that allows the vehicles to run on any type of gasoline up to 85 percent ethanol.

The sale is expected to save more than 3,000 American jobs. Tengzhong said it will retain all Hummer dealerships, as well as the current corporate leadership.

by Melvin Baker - AHN Reporter

Rothschild's Choice: Barack Obama and the Hidden Cabal Behind the Plot to Murder America

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Robert Fisk Talks About His Bombshell Report To Russia Today

In the following interview Robert Fisk explains a report he wrote about China and other G-20 nations talking about replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency for a basket of alternative currencies.

Fisk also says that if the U.S. dollar is replaced it will be a devastating hit to the country’s political dominance and it will deal a crippling blow to the severely battered U.S. economy.