Government to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid

The Obama administration on Tuesday will launch its most ambitious effort at reducing mortgage balances for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth.

Officials say between 500,000 and 1.5 million so-called underwater loans could be modified through the program, the first initiative to target homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments but are at risk of default because they have no equity in their homes. Some experts are warning, however, that the same knots that tied up prior initiatives could do so again.

Under the new "short refinance" program, banks and other creditors that write down mortgages to less than the value of the property can essentially hand off the reduced loan to the government. The process involves refinancing borrowers into loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.

While the program puts taxpayers at risk—officials estimate one in five loans in the program could default—the government has set aside $14 billion previously earmarked for housing aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to cover losses.

The new program, which was announced in March, is starting as the housing market shows signs of renewed trouble and as the Obama administration's signature Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, falls short of its goals of helping three million homeowners. Half of the 1.3 million borrowers that enrolled in temporary loan modifications have fallen out of HAMP because they didn't qualify. Only one-third has received permanent modifications.

The initiative also comes as mortgage rates fall to their lowest levels in more than 50 years. Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans dropped to 4.43% last week, down from 4.55% during the previous week, according to a survey published Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In Deep: Underwater Borrowers

How are homeowners in your state doing?

• More photos and interactive graphics

One of the biggest dangers facing the housing market is the glut of underwater homeowners who could default if their personal finances or home prices worsen. About 11 million borrowers, or 23% households with a mortgage, were underwater as of June 30, according to CoreLogic Inc.

The White House hopes to reach borrowers like Irene Gerloff, 62 years old, who was turned down for a loan modification because she can afford her payments. While she owes $292,000 on her two-bedroom condominium in La Habra, Calif., the property is probably worth less than $200,000.

She is worried about what happens in five years, when her "interest-only" loan begins requiring much larger payments. "If things don't improve between now and 2015, I'm going to have to let this house go," said Ms. Gerloff, a secretary.

But not every homeowner who is underwater can participate. The bank or investors that own the loan must be willing to write down its value.

The administration's plan doesn't target loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee half of the $10 trillion in U.S. first-mortgage debt, to avoid inflicting big upfront losses.

Instead, officials hope to reach more loans that were bundled by Wall Street firms and sold to investors as mortgage-backed securities. For more than a year, many of those investors, which include hedge funds and pension funds, have been clamoring for such a program because they have already had to mark down the value of their holdings.

"It'll take some really crappy loans out of the marketplace…and replace them with much higher-quality" mortgages, said Scott Simon, a managing director at Pacific Management Investment Co.

But that could be hard to do because mortgage servicers, which handle loan payments and decide which loans should be modified, are overwhelmed. And some borrowers might be discouraged from taking part because receiving a principal reduction will show up on their credit score.

Moreover, investors may not be able to participate as hoped because certain contracts that govern mortgage securitizations say modifications can only proceed if there is an "imminent" risk that the borrower would default.

Reducing balances for borrowers who are current could open mortgage servicers to lawsuits from investors that hold the riskiest slices of bonds. Those investors would be wiped out if balances are greatly reduced. For that reason, "lenders are going to be especially reluctant to do short refinances on folks who are current," says Alan White, an assistant professor at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

Officials stress the new program isn't going to be a panacea. But they say that it should give servicers flexibility to modify current loans, and that they are "cautiously optimistic."

View Full Image

Getty Images

Zully Bravo, left, and Alfredo Gonzalez met with a mortgage negotiator in Palm Beach, Fla., late last month.

"We've heard a lot of positive feedback from servicers and from investment groups to be able to write down" loans, said Vicki Bott, a senior FHA official.

Analysts say that the program is most likely to succeed on loans that banks already own in their portfolios. It could also provide investors with a vehicle for getting rid of loans that have been modified and are current again. "It's going to be a 'take out' for modified loans," said Laurie Goodman, a senior managing director at mortgage-bond trader Amherst Securities Group LP in New York.

The program must resolve a stubborn problem that has hindered every other modification program: how to deal with second mortgages. The program says second liens must be reduced so that the total mortgage debt is less than 115% of the home's current value. The government will make partial payments for banks to reduce those loans, but banks have been very reluctant to write down seconds that are current.

Investors that hold first mortgages are leery of writing down their loans without extinguishing the second because junior-liens are in a first-loss position. On a loan that has a second behind it and is heavily upside-down, "do I take the write-down and effectively pay off the second? I don't think so. That second is worthless," said Vincent Fiorillo, portfolio manager at Doubleline Capital, a Los Angeles-based fixed-income manager.

He said the program could work for loans without seconds, though he says it's possible many borrowers will still have too much debt to qualify for an FHA-backed loan.

Survey of employed finds 25 percent lost a job during recession

Just over a quarter of the nation's 139 million currently employed workers endured a bout of unemployment during the Great Recession, according to results of a Pew Research Center survey released Thursday. And they tend to be less satisfied in their current jobs than are other workers.

Re-employed workers were more likely than others to see themselves as overqualified for their jobs, and six in 10 said they either changed careers or seriously considered doing so while they were out of work.

Pew's survey of re-employed workers was taken as the nation endures the longest bout of long-term unemployment since World War II. Almost 45 percent of the nation's 14.6 million jobless Americans have been unemployed for at least six months.

The Pew poll also found that many re-employed workers' new jobs did not last long. More than one-third of those surveyed suffered two or more periods of unemployment during the recession, and one in six was thrown out of work three or more times.

Despite their travails, nearly eight in 10 re-employed workers said they are satisfied in their new jobs, according to the survey. But the satisfaction level was even higher - 89 percent - for workers who did not lose their jobs in the recession.

"These 're-employed workers' have a complicated mix of attitudes about their new job," the report said.

Just over four in 10 re-employed workers said their new jobs were better than their old ones. Nearly two in 10 said they were now higher paid, and just over a quarter said they enjoyed greater employee benefits than in their previous jobs.

Still, 55 percent said their families are worse off now economically than before the recession hit. And more than a third said the financial shock forced them into lifestyle adjustments.

Just over a quarter of re-employed workers went from full-time to part-time work, the survey found. Only a quarter of those are satisfied with their jobs, half the satisfaction rate of people who went from one full-time job to another.

Labor Secretary: 'There are jobs out there'

As the nation's Secretary of Labor, I have a unique opportunity to meet many of the men and women who truly make America run. I am, of course, referring to our workers.

In small towns and large cities alike, I've heard the concerns of many of these remarkable people — the electrician who was laid off when the housing market collapsed; the seamstress who is making half as much as she used to although she now works twice as hard; the recent college graduate who can't find a job and is running up against student loan payments; the senior who thought she would be retired by now, but just can't afford it on what's left of her pension; and the veteran returning from service and wondering how he will make a living to support his wife and baby girl. I know that on this Labor Day holiday, many Americans are feeling more anxiety than festivity.

The big question: Are things getting better? To answer that, we need to look back more than a year ago, when the economy was losing a staggering 800,000 jobs a month. Our actions, most notably the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, stopped those losses.

The Recovery Act saved millions of American jobs — keeping health care providers in hospitals, teachers in classrooms, and police and firefighters on the beat. But the benefits weren't just in the public sector. During the past eight months, the economy has averaged 95,000 new private sector jobs.

Still, at 9.6%, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high. So as we stem jobs losses, we must also accelerate growth in every sector of the economy — from health care and renewable energy to advanced technology and manufacturing.

'Smart investments'

One of the ways this administration is accomplishing that goal is through smart investments in the American workforce. We are ensuring industries that we know are growing have workers prepared through high-quality training programs that we know are working.

For instance, during a recent trip to Nevada, I met a plumber who spent half of his life mastering his craft at a company from which he hoped to retire. Then, the recession hit — hard. Despite having a job that people of my father's generation thought was recession-proof, he found himself unemployed.

He didn't want to tell me his problems. Instead, he talked to me about how he was leveraging opportunity — specifically a training program made available by my department — into a new career. Although it had been years since he was in a classroom, this seasoned tradesman was learning a new trade. Soon, the classes had opened the door for him to the high-growth renewable energy industry. Today, he is a solar panel installer. He loves his job, and his family's finances are back on track.

This story is not unique. I have heard them from countless people across the country — the former auto worker turned medical assistant and the recently single mother who went back to school to become a heating and air conditioning technician. They remind me that America's spirit of "can do" is unstoppable, and that our nation's workers are the best in the world.

So, then ... what's next?

It's up to you

I am not an economist. I believe that numbers only tell you part of the story. I deal with real people, and I know that the only true replacement for a job lost, is a new job that pays good wages. I'm committed to making that a reality for anyone who wants a job.

That's why I'm so excited to announce www.myskillsmyfuture.org— a new online tool to connect workers with high quality training and local employment.

By visiting the site and adding information about your most recent work experience, you can see exactly what skills you need to qualify for a broad range of careers. You can also find local training and education providers and, yes — you can see local job postings.

In other words, what's next ... is up to you.

There are jobs out there. And, this Labor Day — and every day — I'm going to continue helping people find them and employers fill them. If you're ready to embrace a 21st century career, I want you to know your Department of Labor is here to help you. And, if you're an employer looking to fill positions, we've got a list of great candidates for you.

Helping the nation is our job, and we are committed to doing it very well. After all, it's exactly what our economy needs and the least Americans deserve.

Summer jobs hit all-time low for youths

The worst summer on record for young people who wanted a job is staggering to an end this Labor Day weekend.

Only 47.6% of people ages 16 to 24 had jobs in August, the lowest level since the government began keeping track in 1948, the Labor Department said Friday. By comparison, 62.8% of that age group was employed in August 2000.

The ongoing recession hit young people especially hard this summer, sending many back to school with fewer dollars to spend.

The unemployment rate averaged a record 18.3% during June, July and August for those under 25. That's more than twice the jobless rate for people 25 and older. Overall, the jobless rate edged up to 9.6% in August. It was 9.5% in July.

Traditional summer jobs were in short supply everywhere this season:

UNEMPLOYMENT: Loss of gov't jobs hits payrolls, but companies add 67,000 jobs

JOBS CENTER: News and resources from USA TODAY

• Restaurants were hit hard by cutbacks in consumer spending — and that hurt an industry in which 40% of workers are under 25.

• States and cities, struggling with budget problems, hired fewer high school and college kids to work in parks, pools and other places. New York City slashed its summer youth employment program from 52,000 to 35,500 because of state funding cutbacks.

Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association, says fewer people are quitting jobs in the recession, shrinking job openings for young workers. When jobs do become available, experienced, older workers are often available.

"Restaurant operators report a much wider variety of applicants to choose from," Riehle says.

One bright sign: Restaurants added more than 12,000 jobs in August.

Young people are flooding back to community colleges and technical schools to reinvent themselves for jobs in health care and other fields.

"We've seen an explosion in students coming back because the job market has turned south," says Colleen Hartfield, a vice president at Hinds Community College, which has 13,000 students in six central Mississippi locations. "People are trying to prepare themselves for a very tight job market."

Even when a job is available, young people can have a hard time getting it. "Older people are taking positions that they don't necessarily desire because they need a job," Hartfield says. "If you're a store manager and can hire a person with one year of college and some experience, you're not going to choose a person with a minimum high school education."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-09-03-youth-unemployment_N.htm

Oldsmar pantry's former donors now seek its help

OLDSMAR — Bonnie Dunn sees every person who passes through Oldsmar Cares, the volunteer-run nonprofit that provides clothes as well as rental, utility and food assistance to those in need.

Over the years, the profile of the needy has changed.

"When we first started doing this," Dunn said, "they were down-and-out people — people that don't have jobs, people that have had sicknesses, the elderly who are on fixed incomes. Now we have people coming here that have never had to do this before, people from all walks of life."

In its early days, Oldsmar Cares handed groceries to about 20 people a month. In July, that number swelled to an all-time high: 133.

Most of the clients come from Oldsmar while others come from Safety Harbor. Once in a while, they trickle over from nearby Hillsborough County. (Rent and utility assistance is limited to individuals and families in the 34677 ZIP code.)

"People that used to donate," chairman Mike McKnight said, "are now people coming for help."

• • •

Dunn doesn't need to read or see news reports to tell her about the economy. She listens to the most private details of people's lives, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Tuesday through Friday.

Stories about pay cuts, slashed hours, layoffs and exhausted unemployment benefits spill out of the mouths of people, some of whom she doesn't even know.

"It's more than giving the food," she said. "It's listening to people. They need to talk about things."

Like the grandmother who suddenly found herself saddled with five grandchildren to raise.

Or the man who came in on Thursday and said his monthly Social Security benefits had been slashed from $1,100 to $400.

Or the woman who was appreciative just to get two plastic bags of groceries — the maximum allotment allowed per month.

Toward the end of 2009, Dunn started hearing more stories like those. Volunteers began to notice an upswing in demand.

People who thought they'd never have to request outside assistance started to file into the Community United Methodist Church of Oldsmar, the host site for Oldsmar Cares.

"Not an executive, per se, but someone at my level," said McKnight, who is a program manager at the Nielsen Co. "Middle managers."

In October, and again in November, 89 people sought groceries. By December, the monthly tally had grown to 95.

"We could not keep up," Mc­Knight said.

"It caught us off guard," Dunn said.

• • •

Friday, after volunteer Donald Worley sorted through the nonprofit's inventory, he gave Dunn a grocery list's worth of items the pantry lacked.

"We need tuna," Worley told her. "All the tuna is gone. If they can, get us some more of those canned hams. We're out of corn. We don't have any mashed potatoes. And cake mixes. We need canned fruit. We don't have any canned fruit. And we need peanut butter and we're out of jelly."

Oldsmar Cares is recovering after its busiest summer ever. More people passed through the food pantry in June (101), July (133) and August (118) than at any time in the nonprofit's 13-year history.

Though Oldsmar Cares never had to turn anyone away, there were times it had to curb distribution from two plastic bags to one, Dunn said.

Until recently, it was totally supported by the church. The U.S. Postal Service, Cub Scouts, schools and civic groups have assisted as well.

After demand rose, organizers formed a separate 501(c)(3) in order to reach out beyond the church for support.

Oldsmar Cares' next major food drives aren't until November.

Looking around the pantry, McKnight said he may have to "push up" a couple of them.

Rand Paul on FOX News: NO MORE BAILOUTS!!!

Login to Rate

Summary: Rand Paul on FOX News 09/03/10

CHURCHILL WAS LIKE HITLER?

Leo Amery, former UK Secretary of State for India, could see a similarity between Churchill's attitude to Indians and Hitler's attitude to Jews. (Churchill's Secret War.)

In 1943, millions of people were dying of starvation in Bengal, in India.

The UK prime minister Winston Churchill could easily have stopped the famine by arranging a few shipments of food.

But, but he refused.

He also prevented others from helping.

Winston Churchill described the Indians as "a beastly people with a beastly religion." (Churchill's Secret War.)

He said they "bred like rabbits."

Website for this image

Madhusree Mukerjee, in her book "Churchill's Secret War.", points out two reasons for famines in British-run India.

1. British India exported food.

2. In British India, some food crops had been replaced by indigo and jute.

By the middle of 1943, hordes of people were dying on the streets of Calcutta, "often in front of well-stocked shops or restaurants serving lavish meals."

Churchill's advisor, the physicist Frederick Alexander Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), believed that sending in food would encourage Indians to breed more.

Churchill agreed.

Churchill has a reputation for ruthlessness.

According to T. Stokes (The Mystery of Super Spy - Sir Anthony Blunt) Anthony Blunt said that the death in 1941 of the king's brother, the Duke of Kent, was a murder on Churchill's orders.

Lady Randy and young Winston. Rumours about whether Lord Randolph was Winston's father were rife. There was talk of homosexual liaisons during Lord Randolph's frequent visits to Paris. (dailymail.co.q)

Churchill was controversial.

In 1991 Brian Lamb interviewed Martin Gilbert about Gilbert's biography of Churchill (homosexuality - John Derbyshire's home page):

According to Gilbert: "When Churchill was 20 and a young soldier, he was accused of buggery."

Winston Churchill reportedly "had a fling with musical comedy star Ivor Novello." (http://www.petertatchell.net/gaym)

Reportedly, Churchill was not necessarily opposed to Hitler and fascism.

According to Louis Kilzer, in 'Churchill's Deception' (1994), Churchill, in 1932, considered forming an alliance with Hitler.

According to Kilzer, Churchill was in Munich in 1932 and there he met Ernst Hanfstaengl, who worked for Hitler.

Reportedly, Churchill said to Hanfstaengl, "How does your chief feel about an alliance between your country, France and England?" (Page 112, Churchill's Deception).

Kilzer's source is Hanfstaengl (War - The Churchill Centre).

According to an item at the Sydney Morning Herald, "In April 1932, Hanfstaengl set up a meeting between Hitler and Winston Churchill in a Munich hotel, but Hitler pulled out at the last moment, dismissing Churchill, who was then a backbencher, as a nobody." ( The strange, secret tale of Hitler's piano man - World - smh.com.au)

Frederick Winterbotham, head of air intelligence for MI6, wrote: "From my personal meetings with Hitler I learned about his basic belief that the only hope for an ordered world was that it should be ruled by three super powers, the British Empire, the Greater Americas and the new German Reich." (Quoted by Kilzer, page 117).

The problem for Hitler was that Churchill was reluctant to allow Germany to dominate continental Europe.

Young Churchill

And, Churchill's mother was Jewish.

"Cunning, no doubt, came to Churchill in the Jewish genes transmitted by his mother Lady Randolph Churchill, née Jenny Jacobson/Jerome," wrote Moshe Kohn in the Jerusalem Post.

But, Churchill could see a problem with 'Jewish' communism which he described as "this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality." (Illustrated Sunday Herald of February 8, 1920. )

But, in 1938, when Churchill was in financial difficulty, "a dark and mysterious figure entered Churchill's life: he was Henry Strakosch, a multi-millionaire Jew who had acquired a fortune speculating in South African mining ventures after his family had migrated to that country from eastern Austria." (Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin: Bosom Pals)

Featured - Increase in Cambodia's vultures gives hope to imperiled scavengers

While vultures across Asia teeter on the brink of extinction, the vultures of Cambodia are increasing in number, providing a beacon of hope for these threatened scavengers, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project. [View Full Article]

As Economy Limps Along, Obama Touts Efforts Ahead of Crucial Midterm Elections

Faced with an economy that won't kick into gear, President Obama nonetheless took to the airwaves Saturday, telling Americans -- particularly the middle class -- they'd be worse off without his economic policies.

With crucial midterm elections just 59 days away, Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to sell American workers on the idea that his economic team and policies have the nation's economy moving in the right direction -- in spite of near-10 percent unemployment and slow jobs growth.

The speech came as he and his economic team searched for a new strategy to jumpstart a stalled economy, including a proposal to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for the wealthy and redirect the revenue gained toward small businesses, amid another disappointing jobs report.

New employment figures released Friday showed that the economy was still limping along with the unemployment rate rising to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent.

Obama will unveil his economic ideas on Wednesday as part of an effort to show that his policies are helping move the country in the right direction before Democrats face the wrath of voters in the Nov. 2 election that could give Republicans control of Congress. Obama

Republicans on Saturday continued their verbal assault on Obama's policies, claiming that they have killed jobs.

In the weekly Republican message, Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., criticized nearly 200 pending rules and regulations as a threat to job creation. Davis said many of the mandates would cost small-business owners who don't have the money or time to comply with them.

"The more time small-business owners spend pushing paper, the less time they have to focus on creating jobs," Davis said.

He highlighted legislation he introduced that would require Congress to vote on every major new rule before it can take effect.

"The sooner we rein in the red-tape factory in Washington, D.C., the sooner small businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more Americans find an honest day's work," he said.

In his address, Obama touted efforts to create jobs, make college more affordable, help the middle class build retirement nest eggs, cut taxes on these families and stop health insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Labor Day is about more than grilling food and spending time with family and friends, Obama said.

"It's also a day to honor the American worker -- to reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle class that has, for generations, made our economy the envy of the world," he said.

But Obama said that, for a decade, middle-class families have experienced stagnant incomes and declining economic security while tax breaks were given to companies that shifted jobs overseas and Wall Street firms reaped huge profits.

"So this Labor Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honored values and to this fundamental truth: To heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling Main Streets and a growing, thriving middle class," Obama said. "That's why I will keep working day by day to restore opportunity, economic security and that basic American dream for our families and future generations."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Taxpayers should not fund Pope's visit, says survey

Some 77% of Britons think taxpayers should not help pay for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Scotland and England, a survey suggests.

An online poll of 2,005 adults issued by think tank Theos also found 79% had "no personal interest" in his visit.

The Pope is due to arrive on 16 September, the first papal visit since Pope John Paul II's 1982 trip.

The cost of the trip to UK taxpayers, previously estimated at £8m, could rise to between £10m and £12m.

The Catholic Church is also expected to make a contribution of between £9m and £10m towards the costs, which do not include an expected multi-million pound bill for policing the visit.

Continue reading the main story

Related stories

• Pope's UK visit 'could cost £12m'
• Papal pilgrims face strict rules

In the Theos survey, some 76% also rejected taxpayer funding for the visit on the grounds that the Pope was a religious figure.

Nearly one in four - 24% - agreed with the statement "I don't approve of the Pope's visit to Britain" with 49% disagreeing.

Under a third, or 29%, said they believed the visit would be good for Britain while 33% disagreed.

Earlier this week, a survey of 1,000 Scots found just 2% were "strongly opposed" to the visit, with more than 15 times as many people saying they were in favour of it.

Another 3% in the survey carried out by Opinion Research Business for the Roman Catholic Church, said they "objected" to the pontiff's visit to Scotland. Some 63% said they were "neither for nor against the visit".

Social teaching

In the Theos survey, researchers also put 12 statements - taken without naming the source - from the Pope's third encyclical letter which outlines his social policy, to people taking part in the survey.

A majority backed 11 out of the 12 extracts, including 82% agreeing with the statement "technologically advanced societies can and must lower their domestic energy consumption".

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

On the whole, the public is more disengaged than hostile”

End Quote Paul Wolley Theos

Some 79% agreed with the Pope's statement "the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure".

Paul Wolley, director of Theos - a religious think tank - said the British public "clearly had a problem" with the funding of the papal visit, possibly because they were unaware that in addition to being a religious leader Pope Benedict was also a head of state.

"It is only a relatively small proportion of people who are actively opposed to the visit itself. On the whole, the public is more disengaged than hostile.

"What is really striking is not simply that the public tends to agree with Pope Benedict's social teaching but that they agree so strongly.

"This confirms the view that beneath the terrible stories of sex abuse that have dominated coverage of the Catholic church in recent times, there remains real potential for the church to connect with the public."

Added value

The non-religious British Humanist Association welcomed the Theos poll, saying that "most people agree with us" that the British public should not be "footing the bill" for a state visit by the Pope.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Vatican City is a state recognised by the international community ”

End Quote Alasdair Campbell

• Send us your comments

A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference however said it was pleased the survey showed the majority of people agreed with Catholic social teaching.

"It is also good to see that so many people in the UK approve of this historic visit. The Pope will bring a message of hope to all, showing that faith in God is not a problem to be solved but a gift to be discovered afresh by all.

"While there is considerable discussion and debate in the lead up to the Pope's visit, once he arrives and people see him and hear what he has to say they will give him a warm welcome."

Jack Valero, a member of Catholic Voices, an organisation representing Roman Catholics, told BBC's Radio 5 Live that the economic activity generated by the Pope's visit would eclipse the expense of the visit.

He said a study for Glasgow City's marketing bureau had worked out that Glasgow and Edinburgh would accrue about £13m because of extra people visiting as well as the "media (and) advertising value" to the two cities.

A Government spokesman said: "The Holy See is an internationally-recognised nation with significant influence across the world, while the Catholic Church has a billion adherents.

"The Pope is visiting at the invitation of the Queen. It is right and proper that the British Government should pay a share of the costs of the visit."

THE LIE OF THE CENTURY

The Downing Street Memo is only the beginning of the proof we were all lied to.

Michael Rivero

[Text only version]

[Italian translation provided by reader]

[pdf version]

"All war is based on deception." -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

There is nothing new in a government lying to their people to start a war. Indeed because most people prefer living in peace to bloody and horrific death in war, any government that desires to initiate a war usually lies to their people to create the illusion that support for the war is the only possible choice they can make.

---

President McKinley told the American people that the USS Maine had been sunk in Havana Harbor by a Spanish mine. The American people, outraged by this apparent unprovoked attack, supported the Spanish American War. The Captain of the USS Maine had insisted the ship was sunk by a coal bin explosion, investigations after the war proved that such had indeed been the case. There had been no mine.

---

Hitler used this principle of lying to his own people to initiate an invasion. He told the people of Germany that Poland had attacked first and staged fake attacks against German targets. The Germans, convinced they were being threatened, followed Hitler into Poland and into World War 2.

---

FDR claimed Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack. It wasn't. The United States saw war with Japan as the means to get into war with Germany, which Americans opposed. So Roosevelt needed Japan to appear to strike first. Following an 8-step plan devised by the Office of Naval Intelligence, Roosevelt intentionally provoked Japan into the attack. Contrary to the official story, the fleet did not maintain radio silence, but sent messages intercepted and decoded by US intercept stations. Tricked by the lie of a surprise attack, Americans marched off to war.

---

President Johnson lied about the Gulf of Tonkin to send Americans off to fight in Vietnam. There were no torpedoes in the water in the Gulf. LBJ took advantage of an inexperienced sonar man's report to goad Congress into escalating the Vietnam War.

---

It is inescapable historical reality that leaders of nations will lie to their people to trick them into wars they otherwise would have refused. It is not "conspiracy theory" to suggest that leaders of nations lie to trick their people into wars. It is undeniable fact. This brings us to the present case. Did the government of the United States lie to the American people, more to the point, did President Bush and his Neocon associates lie to Congress, to initiate a war of conquest in Iraq? This question has been given currency by a memo leaked from inside the British Government which clearly indicates a decision to go to war followed by the "fixing" of information around that policy. This is, as they say, a smoking gun. But the fact is that long before this memo surfaced, it had become obvious that the US Government, aided by that of Great Britain, was lying to create the public support for a war in Iraq.

First off is Tony Blair's "Dodgy Dossier", a document released by the Prime Minister that made many of the claims used to support the push for war. The dossier soon collapsed when it was revealed that much of it had been plagiarized from a student thesis paper that was 12 years old! The contents of the dossier, however much they seemed to create a good case for invasion, were obsolete and outdated. This use of material that could not possibly be relevant at the time is clear proof of a deliberate attempt to deceive.

Then there was the claim about the "Mobile biological weapons laboratories". Proffered in the absence of any real laboratories in the wake of the invasion, photos of these trailers were shown on all the US Mainstream Media, with the claim they while seeming to lack anything suggesting biological processing, these were part of a much larger assembly of multiple trailers that churned out biological weapons of mass destruction.

The chief proponent of this hoax was Colin Powell, who presented illustrations such as this one to the United Nations on February 5th, 2003. This claim fell apart when it was revealed that these trailers were nothing more than hydrogen gas generators used to inflate weather balloons. This fact was already known to both the US and UK, as a British company manufactured the units and sold them to Iraq.

Click for full sized image

Colin Powell's speech to the UN was itself one misstatement after another. Powell claimed that Iraq had purchased special aluminum tubes whose only possible use was in uranium enrichment centrifuges. Both CIA and Powell's own State Department confirmed that the tubes were parts for missiles Saddam was legally allowed to have. Following the invasion, no centrifuges, aluminum or otherwise were found.

Click for full sized image

Powell also claimed to the United Nations that the photo on the left showed "Decontamination Vehicles". But when United Nations inspectors visited the site after the invasion, they located the vehicles and discovered they were just firefighting equipment. Powell claimed the Iraqis had illegal rockets and launchers hidden in the palm trees of Western Iraq. None were ever found. Powell claimed that the Iraqis had 8,500 liters (2245 gallons) of Anthrax. None was ever found.

Powell claimed that Iraq had four tons of VX nerve gas. The UN had already confirmed that it was destroyed. The only VX ever found were samples the US had left as "standards" for testing. When the UN suspected that the US samples had been used to contaminate Iraqi warheads, the US moved quickly to destroy the samples before comparison tests could be carried out. Powell claimed that Iraq was building long-range remote drones specifically designed to carry biological weapons. The only drones found were short-range reconnaissance drones. Powell claimed that Iraq had an aggregate of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical and biological warfare agents. Powell gave no basis for that claim at all, and a DIA report issued the same time directly contradicted the claim. No biological or chemical weapons were found in Iraq following the invasion. Powell claimed that "unnamed sources" confirmed that Saddam had authorized his field commanders to use biological weapons. No such weapons were ever used by the Iraqis to defend against the invasion and, of course, none were ever found in Iraq. Powell claimed that 122mm warheads found by the UN inspectors were chemical weapons. The warheads were empty, and showed no signs of ever having contained chemical weapons. Powell claimed that Iraq had a secret force of illegal long-range Scud missiles. None were ever found. Powell claimed to have an audio tape proving that Saddam was supporting Osama Bin Laden. But independent translation of the tape revealed Osama's wish for Saddam's death.

Colin Powell's UN debacle also included spy photos taken from high flying aircraft and spacecraft. On the photos were circles and arrows and labels pointing to various fuzzy white blobs and identifying them as laboratories and storage areas for Saddam's massive weapons of mass destruction program. Nothing in the photos actually suggested what the blobby shapes were and during inspections which followed the invasion, all of them turned out to be rather benign. In at least one case, the satellite Powell claimed had taken one of the pictures had actually been out of operation at the time. And many questioned why Powell was showing black and white photos when the satellites in use at the time over Iraq took color images.

Another piece of evidence consists of documents which President Bush referenced as in his 2003 State of the Union Speech. According to Bush, these documents proved that Iraq was buying tons of uranium oxide, called "Yellow Cake" from Niger. Since Israel had bombed Iraq's nuclear power plant years before, it was claimed that the only reason Saddam would have for buying uranium oxide was to build bombs.

This hoax fell apart fast when it was pointed out that Iraq has a great deal of uranium ore inside their own borders and no need to import any from Niger or anywhere else. The I.A.E.A. then blew the cover off the fraud by announcing that the documents Bush had used were not only forgeries, but too obvious to believe that anyone in the Bush administration did not know they were forgeries! The forged documents were reported as being "discovered" in Italy by SISMI, the Italian Security Service. Shortly before the "discovery" the head of SISMI had been paid a visit by Michael Ledeen, Manucher Ghorbanifar, and two officials from OSP, one of whom was Larry Franklin, the Israeli spy operating inside the OSP. In July, 2005, the Italian Parliament concluded their own investigation and named four men as suspects in the creation of the forged documents. Michael Ledeen, Dewey Clarridge, Ahmed Chalabi and Francis Brookes. This report has been included in Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame, and Paul McNulty, the prosecutor of the AIPAC spy case. A recently declassified memo proves that the State Department reported the fact that the NIger documents were forgeries to the CIA 11 days before President Bush made the claim about the Niger uranium based on those documents. In the end, the real proof that we were lied to about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is that no weapons of mass destruction were ever found. That means that every single piece of paper that purported to prove that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was by default a fraud, a hoax, and a lie. There could be no evidence that supported the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction because Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. In a way, the existence of any faked documents about Iraq's WMDs is actually an admission of guilt. If one is taking the time to create fake documents, the implication is that the faker is already aware that there are no genuine documents. What the US Government had, ALL that they had, were copied student papers, forged "Yellow Cake" documents, balloon inflators posing as bioweapons labs, and photos with misleading labels on them. And somewhere along the line, someone decided to put those misleading labels on those photos, to pretend that balloon inflators are portable bioweapons labs, and to pass off stolen student papers as contemporary analysis. And THAT shows an intention to deceive. Lawyers call this "Mens Rea", which means "Guilty Mind". TV lawyer shows call it "Malice aforethought". This means that not only did the Bush Administration lie to the people and to the US Congress, but knew they were doing something illegal at the time that they did it. All the talk about "Intelligence failure" is just another lie. There was no failure. Indeed the Army agents who erroneously claimed that missile tubes were parts for a uranium centrifuge received bonuses, while the Pentagon smeared Hans Blix, and John Bolton orchestrated the firing of Jose Bustani, the director of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, because Bustani was trying to send chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad. The President of the United States and his Neocon associates lied to the people of the United States to send them off on a war of conquest. Defenders of the government will point to the cases listed at the top of the page as proof that lying to the people is a normal part of the leader's job and we should all get used to it. And because "Everybody does it" that we should not single out the present administration. But this is madness. We do not catch all the murderers, yet when we catch a murderer, we deal with them as harshly as possible, in order to deter more murderers. Right now, we have the criminals at hand. and, while other leaders in history have lied to start wars, for the first time in history, the lie stands exposed while the war started with the lies still rages on, to the death and detriment of our young men and women in uniform. We cannot in good moral conscience ignore this lie, this crime, lest we encourage future leaders to continue to lie to us to send our kids off to pointless wars. Lying to start a war is more than an impeachable offence; it the highest possible crime a government can commit against their own people. Lying to start a war is not only misappropriation of the nation's military and the nation's money under false pretenses, but it is outright murder committed on a massive scale. Lying to start a war is a betrayal of the trust each and every person who serves in the military places in their civilian leadership. By lying to start a war, the Bush administration has told the military fatalities and their families that they have no right to know why they were sent to their deaths. It's none of their business. Our nation is founded on the principle of rule with the consent of the governed. Because We The People do not consent to be lied to, a government that lies rules without the consent of the governed, and ruling without the consent of the governed is slavery. You should be more than angry. You should be in a rage. You should be in a rage no less than that of the families of those young men and women who have been killed and maimed in this war started with a lie.You need to be in a rage and you need to act on that rage because even as I type these words, the same government that lied about Iraq's nuclear weapons is telling the exact same lies about Iran's nuclear capabilities. The writing is on the wall; having gotten away with lying to start the war in Iraq, the US Government will lie to start a war in Iran, and after that another, and after that another, and another and another and another because as long as you remain silent, and as long as you remain inactive, the liars have no reason to stop. As long as you remain inactive, the liars have no reason to stop. None. It is time to fire the liars. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" . --Edmund Burke

---

U.S.C. TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 47 § 1001. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, WHOEVER, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully— (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by ANY trick, scheme, or device a material fact; (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or (3) makes or USES any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial proceeding, or that party's counsel, for statements, representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding. (c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to— (1) administrative matters, including a claim for payment, a matter related to the procurement of property or services, personnel or employment practices, or support services, or a document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative branch; or (2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.

---

SO HERE IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO The Bush administration and their friends in the media want this story to go away. More than want it to go away, they are in a panic, and will do everything they can to stop it. They will use every dirty trick, every paid shill, every presstitute that they can. Already there is a report that the Michael Jackson jury is "expected" to reach a verdict just before the Conyers hearings. So, I want YOU to copy this article off, post it everywhere. This article is placed in the public domain. Mail it to your friends. Then send it to your local media and your Congresscritters and have everyone you know do the same. Get on the phones. Flood their offices. The term is "Viral Marketing" where you get the people who need a product to market it for you. Well, this nation NEEDS this "product". It needs to know that this war was started with lies. INTENTIONAL lies. And they need to know there is something they can do about it, and that is to start pounding on the doors of power. Because when a flood of such messages reaches the Congress and the media, what they will hear is that there is no more time. Either they will deal with these lies and the liars, in full, or they will lose all credibility as a government and as media. A government that lies to the people cannot be the legal government of this land. Make sure that they understand that YOU understand that the Constitution does not allow the government to lie to the people. Calling themselves the government does not make it so if they act unconstitutionally and illegally. The Constitution is the original "Contract with America" and a government that lies stands in clear breach of that contract. MORE MEDIA CONTACTS MORE CONGRESSIONAL CONTACTS But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- "The Declaration of Independence"

---

Waking Up in the 1930s

In the year 2010, America once again embraced the bread line. That distant, faded, iconic black-and-white image of the Great Depression has re-emerged across the nation, waiting to be updated fully into HD color. Just as we seldom see pictures of American war dead returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, we seldom see newscasts of the struggling, jobless masses lining up for handouts. But they are lining up, and the scene is not one we are inured to, that of the disheveled homeless, the permanent underclass being ladled turkey dinners by apron-clad celebrities at Skid Row kitchens at holiday time. Rather, neatly dressed, solidly middle class, once working folk fill these bread lines as they become reconciled to a stark new reality. At the same time, this generation of jobless and the underemployed has yet to embrace what is shaping up to be nothing but the 1930s redux, and their voices murmur inconsistent notes of doubt, disillusionment and hope.

They listen daily to banal statistics—consumer indices, home prices, housing starts, unemployment insurance claims—intoned by newscasters batting the cycle of adjectives for up and down, and they hope for no sound reason that these same talking heads that propelled them to invest in stocks and homes that would only appreciate will imminently announce a combination of factors that will dispel this economic morass. It’s as if those contentious, post-ironic Shepard Fairey “Hope” stickers that remain plastered across the nation continue to radiate hypnotic beams convincing the viewer that prosperity is just around the corner. And so here are some voices of that doubt, disillusion and hope, culled from a region especially hurting: the megalopolis of Los Angeles.

Sylmar, Calif., as distant geographically from downtown L.A.’s Skid Row as you can get and remain within Los Angeles County, is visually too a sea change from Skid Row’s piss-stained concrete pavement. Hard up against the Angeles National Forest, the rugged ridgeline of the San Gabriel Mountains spreads majestically from east to west along the horizon, and here on a recent summer afternoon a breeze fragrant with citrus cools a crowd of people who sit quietly beneath the shade of churchyard trees. But this is no church picnic. There is no Frisbee being tossed around, no music being played; no one has prepared his or her favorite potato salad to share. They are here to get a box full of donated food from the First Baptist Church food pantry, a situation with which many of them have only recently become familiarized, and an overwhelming sense of apprehension prevails among the crowd, some 200 strong, akin to that among displaced persons in the aftermath of a building fire. They know this is not the normal order of things and fear the future.

A horseman wearing a white straw Stetson trots past astride a palomino and waves lazily, his hat contrasting strongly with his skin, and a scene straight out of Steinbeck is complete. He is brown, a campesino like the wiry, muscled young men in work clothes speaking quietly in Spanish among themselves in the bread line. There are mothers, too, trying to keep their place while controlling kids, a thin man with a military posture in GI desert boots, and a few sullen and obese cholo types sporting shaved heads and the “M13” inked into forearms displaying allegiance to the Mexican Mafia street gang. There’s also a clean-cut man with a pink face, the clean-shaven face of a banker.

Turns out he is a banker. A hedge-funder formerly with Bear Stearns, Matt, 39, lost his last job some two years ago. He is a soft-spoken man who used to buy and sell companies, and today he has no qualms with the bread line. “There’s no stigma attached to this anymore,” explains the Navy vet, who has simply given up on the idea of getting a job anytime soon. “I’m starting my own business. I take consulting work when I can, and I’m jettisoning my house.” (“You can’t be self-employed for this Obama mortgage refinancing, so I’m screwed,” he adds.)

In the meantime, his unemployment checks stopped coming, far short of the 99 weeks that lawmakers babbled about during the recent congressional vote on extending benefits to the long-term unemployed. For the past five months, Matt has been joining his 74-year-old father, Frank, a retired L.A. Unified School District teacher who took an unexpected financial hit, for weekly trips to the church pantry.

“I feel anxious about money,” he says in a measured understatement, as the banker has an insight shared by Wall Streeters, colleagues who remain at work and are overwhelmingly pessimistic. He has also become acquainted with free days at L.A. museums and free concerts, and he drinks at the Hollywood Legion Hall, where vets get $2.50 cocktails. Like others here, Matt doesn’t appear to be starving between food giveaways. “You know how a boa constrictor eats a whole goat? ’Cause it doesn’t know when it will eat again.”

“No one complains at the necessity of feeding the horse when he’s not working,” John Steinbeck noted in “The Grapes of Wrath,” describing the madness of starving people amid the agricultural bounty of California during the Great Depression. This time around the people are being fed—for now anyway.

1 2 NEXT PAGE

EU trade chief apologises for saying you can't have a 'rational conversation about Middle East with Jews'

The EU's trade chief has been forced to apologise for blaming Jews and the 'Jewish lobby' in Washington for blocking Middle East peace as the embarrassed EU head office quickly distanced itself from his comments.

Karel De Gucht, 56, said he did not mean to stigmatise Jewish people and stressed in a statement that "anti-Semitism has no place in today's world."

The remarks in a radio interview came as the U.S. formally convened the first direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years.

The European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group, had demanded a retraction of De Gucht's remarks in which he maintained that Israel frustrates U.S.-led peace efforts and warned not to "underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill."

"That is the best organised lobby that exists there," the former Belgian foreign minister said in the interview with the Dutch-speaking VRT radio network.

"Don't underestimate the opinion ... of the average Jew outside of Israel," he said.

"There is, indeed, a belief, I can hardly describe it differently, among most Jews that they are right. So it is not easy to have a rational discussion with a moderate Jew about what is happening in the Middle East. It is a very emotional issue."

Jewish groups warned that De Gucht's comments were part of a growing wave of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Germany's central bank has said it will ask a board member to step down for stereotyping Muslims and Jews.

The official, Thilo Sarrazin said in a book published this week that Muslim immigrants in Europe cannot or will not integrate. He also has cited studies he says prove that "all Jews share a certain gene" - ideas he stressed in recent interviews.

European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters De Gucht made 'personal comments (that) do not reflect the EU attitude about the Middle East peace process.'

In a separate statement, Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign affairs chief, expressed confidence De Gucht 'did not intend any offence'.

She added she was "encouraged by the positive outcome of the launch of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority."

The two pledged Thursday in Washington in the first round of talks in two years to keep meeting at regular intervals, aiming to nail down a framework for overcoming deep disputes and achieving lasting peace within a year. The eventual aim is the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state beside a secure Israel.

At issue are the borders of an eventual Palestinian state, the political status of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees and security. Another major issue is the Palestinians' demand that Israel freeze all settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to be part of their future state.

De Gucht spoke in a 14-minute interview about the Middle East peace process, citing the isolation of the Gaza Strip and divisions among Palestinians as complicating matters. He also said the talks are overshadowed by the fact that "Jewish politics have hardened."

In his apology, De Gucht said he did not mean 'to cause offence or stigmatise the Jewish Community. I want to make clear that anti-Semitism has no place in today's world and is fundamentally against our European values.'

Moshe Kantor, of the European Jewish Congress called De Gucht's remarks part of a 'new wave of new anti-Semitism growing in Europe.'

'It has somehow become acceptable to attack Jews through Israel, even at the highest levels,' said Kantor. 'The old anti-Semitic libels of the all-powerful Jewish cabals, the recalcitrant Jew and the irrational Jews only caring for their own, are remade to fit 21st- century hostility to the Jewish State.'

The European Commission runs the EU's day-to-day affairs. It has 27 commissioners - one from each EU nation handling a particular area.

Many EU commissioners come to Brussels after careers in national politics, and with some regularity they make political statements that embarrass the EU head office.

This rarely leads to dismissal. In one exception, the entire EU executive resigned in 1999 when the then French commissioner, Edith Cresson, refused to quit after she was found guilty of financial mismanagement and cronyism.

Unions: Dead or dying

Yet Another "9/11 Was An Inside Job" Song

The Cloud Mystery 1/6

3rd ("Mystery") Plane Over NYC on 9/11----- Stablized with Slow Motion

Building 7 Collapse Compilation (no sound)

Tony Blair: the best President the United States never had?

He could never run for the White House because he was not born in the United States but, argues Toby Harnden, Tony Blair could have been the ideal American candidate.

Tony Blair: More self-disciplined that Clinton, more analytical than Bush and more practical and centrist than Obama

It was fitting that Tony Blair should have been in Washington taking part in the Middle East summit when his startlingly candid memoir A Journey was published in the USA.

While he left office as a derided and diminished figure in Britain, on this side of the Pond he was still treated with near reverence by Left and Right.

Over the past decade, the easiest way of bonding with an American of any political stripe has been to make a joke about the French or praise Blair.

When I interviewed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the US Supreme Court shortly after the Iraq invasion, she began gushing, unprompted, about Blair. "He's so articulate," she said. "He really made the case [for war] very well."

Republicans admire him for his support for George W. Bush over Iraq and Blair still maintains: "The stupidest misconception was that he was stupid."

Democrats will never forget how he stood with Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Indeed, in his book Blair defends him as not lying but "not wanting to embarrass his family" and explains his affairs as arising "in part from his inordinate interest in and curiosity about people".

But the affection Americans have for Blair stretches beyond personalities. I'll never forget witnessing the address he delivered to a joint session of both houses of Congress in July 2003.

He was interruptions by applause 35 times, 17 of which were standing ovations. Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's Pentagon chief, raised his hands in the air as he clapped. Senator Hillary Clinton, Bush's would-be successor, mouthed: "Good job."

Blair pushed every button, calling for Europe to "defeat the anti-Americanism that sometimes passes for its political discourse" and urging Americans: "Don't ever apologise for your values." It was an embrace of American ideals far more heartfelt than anything that President Barack Obama has managed.

That night was one of the highlights of his premiership. The Iraq insurgency had yet to take root and it was not until the next day that the body of David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence scientist, would be discovered.

Blair's book is in many ways a paen to America. In the bespoke introduction to the US edition, he states baldly: "I have come to love America and what is stands for... America is great for a reason. It is looked up to, despite all the criticism, for a reason. There is a nobility in the American character that has been developed over the centuries."

The cynic would say that Blair is laying it on to boost transatlantic sales. But his admiration for America is so wide-eyed and unconditional that it speaks of something much deeper.

Blair's ability to emote is curiously American. I say curiously because he did not visit the US until he was 32 and by his own admission did not travel much beyond Washington, New York and Los Angeles until he had left Downing Street.

In a preview of his interview with Christiane Amanpour of ABC News on Sunday - despite the onset of the mid-term election campaigns, Blair is the by far the biggest "get" for the Sunday talk shows this weekend - he turns to the subject of Princess Diana, describing her as an "extraordinary, engaging, amazing, beautiful iconic figure". It's the sort of thing that would prompt an eye roll in Britain but is lapped up by Americans.

When he describes the virtues of Clinton, Bush and Obama it is hard not to think that Blair is measuring himself against these occupants of an office that he describes as inspiring a "certain awe" among "mere mortals".

More self-disciplined that Clinton, more analytical than Bush and more practical and centrist than Obama, there is a case to be made that Blair is a greater all-round political talent than any of these three most recent occupants of the Oval Office.

There was briefly a jocular "Tony Blair for President" campaign in 2004. He would, of course, be prevented from running for the White House, even if he one day became a citizen, because he was not born in the US.

Yet as Blair prepares to step up his role as globetrotting statesman with, no doubt, plans to spend more time in America, he seems to reflect with a certain rue that the US would have been the perfect stage for him.

Perhaps he allows himself to think that he is the greatest President the United States never had.

U.S. Government lies about molten steel found at Ground Zero after 9/11

Login to Rate

Summary: More info: http://world911truth.org

NIST caught lying about pools of molten steel found at the basement of Ground Zero, says no evidence or eye witnesses. This videos shows that NIST officials lied about it and they should be investiga ...

America’s Student Loan Debt Has Surpassed Its Credit Card Debt

In the following Russia Today report you’ll see that America’s student loan debt has surpassed its credit card debt. The total debt stands at nearly $830 billion. It’s highly unlikely the loans will be paid down any time soon given the country’s rapidly increasing unemployment rate.