Submitted by Keyser Soze
Monday, September 21, 2009
The 9/11 Commission Rejects own Report as Based on Government Lies
How long have we watered the Tree of Deceit with the blood of patriots?
(CINCINNATI, Ohio) - In John Farmer’s book: “The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America’s Defense on 9/11″, the author builds the inescapably convincing case that the official version... is almost entirely untrue...
The 9/11 Commission now tells us that the official version of 9/11 was based on false testimony and documents and is almost entirely untrue. The details of this massive cover-up are carefully outlined in a book by John Farmer, who was the Senior Counsel for the 9/11 Commission.
Farmer, Dean of Rutger Universities' School of Law and former Attorney General of New Jersey, was responsible for drafting the original flawed 9/11 report.
Does Farmer have cooperation and agreement from other members of the Commission? Yes. Did they say Bush ordered 9/11? No. Do they say that the 9/11 Commission was lied to by the FBI, CIA, Whitehouse and NORAD? Yes. Is there full documentary proof of this? Yes.
Farmer states...“at some level of the government, at some point in time…there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened... I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described …. The [Norad air defense] tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years. This is not spin.”
The 9/11 Commission head, Thomas Kean, was the Republican governor of New Jersey. He had the following to say... “We to this day don’t know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us, it was just so far from the truth. . . " When Bush's own handpicked commission failed to go along with the cover up and requested a criminal investigation, why was nothing done?
9/11 Commission member and former US Senator, Bob Kerrey, says, "No one is more qualified to write the definitive book about the tragedy of 9/11 than John Farmer. Fortunately, he has done so. Even more fortunately the language is clear, alive and instructive for anyone who wants to make certain this never happens again."
With the only "official" 9/11 report now totally false, where do we go from here? Who is hurt by these lies? The families of the victims of 9/11 have fought, for years, to get to the truth. For years, our government has hidden behind lies and secrecy to deny them closure.
In 2006, The Washington Post reported..."Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission..."
What does Farmer's book tell us? Farmer offers no solutions, only a total and full rejection of what was told and his own his own ideas concerning the total failure of honesty on the part of the government, a government with something to hide.
Farmer never tells us what. Nobody could keep a job in the public sector speaking out more than Farmer has. What were Farmer's omissions? There are some. Now that we know that intelligence given the 9/11 Commission wasn't just lies from our own government but based on testimony coerced through torture from informants forced to back up a cover story now proven false, a pattern emerges.
We know that, immediately after 9/11, many more potential suspects and informants were flown directly to Saudi Arabia by Presidential order than were ever detained and questioned. We will never know what they could have said. Their testimony would have been vital to any real investigation were they not put beyond the reach of even Congress and the FBI.
Putting aside all other questions of recent evidence of CIA involvement with bin Laden prior to 9/11 or altered physical evidence involving the Pentagon attack, any failure to call to account the systematic perjury committed by dozens of top government officials, now exposed as a certainty is an offense to every American.
What do we know? We know the conjecture about 9/11 still stands but for certain, we know we were lied to, not in a minor way, but systematically as part of a plot covering up government involvement at nearly every level, perhaps gross negligence, perhaps something with darker intent.
Are we willing to live with another lie to go with the Warren Report, Iran Contra and so many others? Has the sacrifice of thousands more Americans, killed, wounded or irreparably damaged by a war knowingly built on the same lies from the same liars who misled the 9/11 Commission pushed us beyond willingness to confront the truth?
Have we yet found where the lies have begun and ended? There is no evidence of this, only evidence to the contrary. The lies live on and the truth will never be sought. The courage for that task has not been found.
Can anyone call themselves an American if they don't demand, even with the last drop of their blood, that the truth be found?
How long have we watered the Tree of Deceit with the blood of patriots?
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Gordon Duff
Secure Metals Inc - Jim Rogers on America, the Dollar & our future
Check this link ....... http://bit.ly/MJlH3
Glenn Beck’s a Libertarian Now
It’s not enough that Fox News’ resident COINTELPRO operative Glenn Beck led the charge and sabotaged the election campaign of Ron Paul — calling him a kook and his supporters dangerous terrorists — now he is determined to sabotage and take down libertarians.
Glenn Beck is like Midas — except everything he touches does not turn to gold. It turns to another unmentionable substance.
In the video clip below, taken from Beck’s radio show last week, the great actor and PSYOP chameleon apologized to the libertarians for dissing them in the past. He now claims that he is one of them and says he’d like to re-examine the issues he used to criticize and sabotage Ron Paul’s election campaign.
Beck says the imperialism of the U.S. government and the Democrat and Republican parties “has caused a lot of problems.” He wants to bring the troops home from Korea, Japan, Europe, etc. He initially includes Afghanistan in that list but then seems to recant in standard Beck wishy-washy fashion (because the illegal occupation of Afghanistan is central in the phony war on manufactured terrorism).
Glenn Beck is not a libertarian. He is an operative working for the Pentagon and probably takes his orders from the Army’s Psychological Operations Command. His assignment is to destroy the libertarian, constitutional, and patriot movements.
Beck’s so-called 912 Project was designed to discredit the Tea Party demonstration in D.C. earlier this month — a movement already substantially co-opted by establishment Republicans — and give so-called “progressives” a chance to malign and denounce the movement and characterize it as a Republican attempt to undermine Obama and the Democrats. In other words, steer it back into the safe zone of the false right-left paradigm and prevent it from actually accomplishing anything.
Beck’s sudden reaffirmation of his supposed libertarian roots arrived a couple days after Alex Jones released his open letter imploring Beck to “be on the right side of history” by using his growing public platform to tell the truth “rather than exploiting it to deceive grass-roots conservatives and libertarians into following a re-birth of the neo-con agenda that Beck has embraced all along,” as Paul Joseph Watson wrote on September 15.
Beck’s target is now the libertarians and constitutionalists. Libertarians need to stand up and denounce Beck as a government agent and actor working for the neocons at Fox News. He needs to be outed before he destroys the only viable political movement opposed to the government.
WeAreChangeLA Confronts Amy Goodman On Alleged Progressive Media's Blackout And Smear Campaign Of Real 9/11 Investigation
Amy and David Goodman were at Skylight Bookstore in Los Angeles on April 24, 2009 to present and sign their most recent book. During the book signing, while getting a book signed to the "9/11 Truth Movement," Jeremy Rothe-Kushel asked Ms.Goodman to give her take on why the progressive media was blacking out and/or smearing the independent citizen investigation into the 9/11 black op. She opted to fall back on her textbook answer when dealing with questions about 9/11 by saying she thinks "it needs to be investigated, you know, and we'll continue to look at the issue." Rothe-Kushel then reminded Goodman that it has been investigated and that it was time for her to do her job and have the investigators on her show. After the event, Rothe-Kushel asked David Goodman how best to reach his sister about 9/11 and he responded by saying, "I think you just did." However, almost 6 months later, there still has not been a single mention on Democracy Now of the investigative science and analysis of the 9/11 tragedy. So, Ms. Goodman will continue to be chased with questions about her silence on the seminal story of the semi-new century.
Globalization Goes Bankrupt
The rage of the disposed is fracturing the country, dividing it into camps that are unmoored from the political mainstream. Movements are building on the ends of the political spectrum that have lost faith in the mechanisms of democratic change. You can’t blame them. But unless we on the left move quickly this rage will be captured by a virulent and racist right wing, one that seeks a disturbing proto-fascism.
Every day counts. Every deferral of protest hurts. We should, if we have the time and the ability, make our way to Pittsburgh for the meeting of the G-20 this week rather than do what the power elite is hoping we will do—stay home. Complacency comes at a horrible price.
“The leaders of the G-20 are meeting to try and salvage their power and money after everything that has gone wrong,” said Benedicto Martinez Orozco, co-president of the Mexican Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT), who is in Pittsburgh for the protests. “This is what this meeting is about.”
The draconian security measures put in place to silence dissent in Pittsburgh are disproportionate to any actual security concern. They are a response not to a real threat, but to the fear gripping the established centers of power. The power elite grasps, even if we do not, the massive fraud and theft being undertaken to save a criminal class on Wall Street and international speculators of the kinds who were executed in other periods of human history. They know the awful cost this plundering of state treasuries will impose on workers, who will become a permanent underclass. And they also know that once this is clear to the rest of us, rebellion will no longer be a foreign concept.
The delegates to the G-20, the gathering of the world’s wealthiest nations, will consequently be protected by a National Guard combat battalion, recently returned from Iraq. The battalion will shut down the area around the city center, man checkpoints and patrol the streets in combat gear. Pittsburgh has augmented the city’s police force of 1,000 with an additional 3,000 officers. Helicopters have begun to buzz gatherings in city parks, buses driven to Pittsburgh to provide food to protesters have been impounded, activists have been detained, and permits to camp in the city parks have been denied. Web sites belonging to resistance groups have been hacked and trashed, and many groups suspect that they have been infiltrated and that their phones and e-mail accounts are being monitored.
Larry Holmes, an organizer from New York City, stood outside a tent encampment on land owned by the Monumental Baptist Church in the city’s Hill District. He is one of the leaders of the Bail Out the People Movement. Holmes, a longtime labor activist, on Sunday led a march on the convention center by unemployed people calling for jobs. He will coordinate more protests during the week.
泰國‧民眾趕往醫院祈福‧泰王入院紓緩政局
（泰國‧曼谷）泰國王室內務府週日（9月20日）表示，81歲的泰王普密蓬因病住院，接受抗生素藥物和吊鹽水治療。泰王週一（9月21日）仍然必須在曼谷詩里拉吉醫院留醫。
泰國民眾得知消息後紛紛趕往醫院為泰王祈福。近日趨向緊張的泰國政局也可能因此有變。
泰王普密蓬住院，民眾得知消息後紛紛趕往醫院為國王祈福。圖為一名婦女手持泰王的肖像，企盼國王能夠早日康復。（圖：法新社）
發燒疲勞食慾不振
內務府發表聲明稱，備受尊敬的泰王因發燒和身體疲勞導致食慾不振，上週六晚入院接受治療。
首相阿比希向記者表示，泰王接受醫生建議入院進行醫療檢查。這是泰王4日內第二次體檢。
阿比希在醫院對記者說：“泰王的身體狀況並無大礙。我跟醫生討論過病情，他說不必過分擔心泰王的健康。”
除阿比希外，國防部長、陸軍總司令阿努蓬等人也簽名留言，祝福泰王。
發動簽名祝福泰王
王室內務府還表示，從週一起，民眾可於早上8時至晚8時，在指定地點簽名留言祝福泰王。
分析指，泰王的病情深深牽動泰國民眾的心，泰國近日緊張的政局，可能因此而暫時得到緩解。
9月19日是前首相塔辛遭政變下台的3週年紀念，泰國兩大民間政治陣營連日來分別舉行集會示威。
挺塔辛的泰國“紅衫軍”，上週六在曼谷集會要求現政府下台；而反塔辛的“黃衫軍”，則前往泰國和柬埔寨爭議地區示威，要求“維護主權”。
阿比希政府現在面臨雙重壓力，正尋找契機實現民族和解。
英國‧播放潛意識引導片段‧魔術師讓5萬人動不得
（英國‧倫敦）“猜中”了六合彩中獎號碼的英國魔術師布朗早前又有新把戲，這回布朗讓5萬名觀眾動彈不得！
布朗聲稱，他利用心理學的“潛意識引導”（power of suggestion），播放長約1分鐘的片段，成功令觀眾不能動彈，屁股離不開椅子。
電視台聲稱410萬觀眾中，逾5萬人來電聲稱不能動，估計全英有四分一即約100萬人受影響。
布朗的魔術由第4頻道播出。他先播出圖片指示觀眾坐姿：依著椅背而坐，雙腳平放地上，雙手放在膝上，腦裡要想像有一個直徑約30厘米的圓圈圍著頭，但頭不能接到那圓圈。
他又強調，觀眾只要開放態度，就會受潛意識引導，動彈不得。
結果，真有觀眾聲稱站不起來，其中一名觀眾說：“非常奇怪。我很努力嘗試，卻站不起來。”另一人說：“我覺得被控制在沙發上。”
布朗之後在螢幕播出藍底白字畫面，寫著“放鬆後站起來”，同時播放長近10秒的“嘟”聲，一些本不能動彈的觀眾又站起來了。
布朗聲稱他令人動彈不得的片段訣竅是在直橫線和晃動的畫面，但香港心理學家推測他可能是用催眠法。
法國‧總統告前總理‧世紀審判登場
（法國‧巴黎）被法國媒體喻為10年來最富政治意味的一場訴訟案週一（9月21日）開庭，涉嫌惡意抹黑現任總統薩爾科齊的前總理德維爾潘將作為被告出庭受審。
這場被外界戲稱為法國版“世紀審判”的司法大戲，演出陣容盡是法國政壇、商界和情報圈中最具勢力的角色，領銜主演的正是以平民身份提告的薩爾科齊。
此外，這起案件還涉及法國情報界和世界頂尖航太巨擘之一“歐洲宇航防務集團”（EADS）的陰暗交易。
這宗案件源於2004年5月，當時有人向正在調查1991年售台武器回扣案的法官寄送了一封附有“受賄名單”的匿名舉報信。
信中稱法國政商界一些要員在盧森堡金融機構“清泉”內設有收受非法回扣資金的秘密帳戶，而其中就包括時任內政部長的薩爾科齊。
經過調查，檢查機關於2005年底認定這份名單純屬捏造。
薩爾科齊懷疑，德維爾潘利用這份名單破壞他角逐總統大位的機會。
兩人不和人盡皆知
德維爾潘和薩爾科齊不和事跡在法國政壇人盡皆知。
對“誹謗”指控，德維爾潘否認有任何不法行為，並堅稱若非薩爾科齊“干預”司法程序，這起案件絕不會進入審判階段。
德維爾潘被控“同謀誹謗、同謀使用偽造文書、涉及贓物和背信”，若罪名成立，將面臨最高5年有期徒刑和4萬5000歐元的罰款。
這項審訊將於10月23日結案陳詞，預料法國將需要數週時間作出裁決。
日本‧證實死亡‧《蠟筆小新》作者疑拍照失足死
（日本‧東京）漫畫《蜡筆小新》作者臼井儀人證實死亡，他遺下的相機最後一張照片顯示，他可能是為了取景而失足跌死。
臼井的家屬週日（9月20日）晚正式確認，週末在荒船山發現的屍體，是臼井本人。
失蹤多日的漫畫《蠟筆小新》作者臼井儀人的屍體在群馬縣與長野縣交界的荒船山被發現，警方人員出動直昇機將臼井遺體運下山。（圖：美聯社）
一名登山客在橫跨群馬和長野縣的荒船山上發現一具屍體，日本警方週日下午派人上山，將屍體運下山。
遺體支離破碎難辨認
荒船山標高1423公尺，而臼井則是摔落高達120公尺的深谷，遺體呈現支離破碎，搜救隊將屍塊一一收納進屍袋裡，由空勤直升機吊掛將遺體運出山區。
有日本傳媒稱，臼井臉部嚴重損傷至不能辨認。警方表示，臼井死因是全身受到撞擊，導致肺功能衰竭死亡。死者身上有一部數碼相機及運動鞋，但身上並無遺書。
出版社人員指出，臼井遺留的數碼相機共留下約30張風景照片，最後一張是在滑落的岩石上俯視懸崖下方的照片，顯示臼井有可能是在拍攝這張照片時，失足墜崖身亡。警方亦判斷臼井可能是失足墜谷。
出版社表示，已收到《蜡筆小新》2個月的最新原稿，預定11月發行的12月號以後的發行問題尚未定，臼井的喪禮和告別式預定僅近親出席。
8月10日在日本出版的第49集《蜡筆小新》裡面，有一頁是小新臉上有著濃濃的陰影，他說“我很快就要啟程去遠方了……”、“我要在死前，向娜娜子告白”，似乎在預言些甚麼。
臼井是在9月11日早上告知家人他外出登山後，宣告失蹤。
新加坡‧下體摩擦女生大腿射精‧男生校巴內非禮監15月3鞭
（新加坡）新加坡國立大學的一名學生，在校內短程巴士上用下體摩擦女生大腿，還射出精液，被女生扯下外套及掌摑至眼鏡脫落！
他過後被警方逮捕並控上法庭，經過審訊後法官判罪成，坐牢15個月外加打鞭3下。
這起非禮案發生在06年9月14日於國大校內短程巴士上；被告和控方都不服所判，雙方提出上訴。
被告是偉恩（譯音），案發時是人文與社會學系的學生，受害女生則是國大楊秀桃音樂學院（Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music）的學生，兩人並不認識。
根據法庭判詞，女生供稱，她上巴士時沒有位子坐，過一陣子後有人下車，被告就站在那個座位旁，被告把位子讓給她坐。
穿著裙子露出大腿
由於她穿著裙子，坐下時露出大腿。
她說，被告和她的距離近到她聽到他的呼吸，他的外套也動到她的右大腿上，好一度還把他的腳翹上來。
途中，她一直感到有東西摩擦她的大腿，也感到有濕潤、溫溫的東西滴到她的大腿上，她後來斷定被告是用“寶貝”來摩擦她的大腿，於是向旁邊的乘客求救，可是對方聽不懂華語，她又擔心被告會跑掉，於是即將抵達宿舍時，她站起來質問被告︰“你對我的腳做甚麼？”
她說，被告愣住了，她又再重復問，過後搶過他的外套，摑了他一巴掌後下車，對方還跟著她下車。
女生向朋友求救，對方拿過外套，嗅一嗅，證實是精液，對被告說︰“我們都是男人，你應該知道是甚麼。”他過後報警。
醫生證實被告患任意射精病症
辯方醫生證實，被告患有任意射精（spontaneous ejaculation）的病症，是相當罕見的病。
根據之前的醫藥報告，被告很容易產生“性”趣，檢驗時在沒有外物刺激的情況下，超過一次射精。
醫生表示，若被告的私處摩擦受害人的大腿，他很可能會向她射精，可是他並不知道被告接觸女生的時間多久，因此不能斷定被告是否這麼做。可是，他相信被告之前應該有勃起。
法官雖然無法斷定被告是任意射精或被外物刺激，不過他認為即使如此，被告也無需將私處摩擦受害人的大腿。
新加坡‧大士外海被巨浪卷走‧21歲潛水員上班2天出事
（新加坡）21歲職業潛水員在上班的第二天不幸遇到意外，相信是在海底進行裝置工作時被大浪卷走，失蹤至今4天，依然下落不明。
失蹤的職業潛水員是21歲的謝佳傑（譯音），生前是一名在籍學生，同時兼職潛水員工作。
在上週五（9月18日）下午1時30分，謝佳傑和另一名潛水員一同潛入位於大士外的海中，為鑽油台進行維修工作，卻在準備浮上海面時離奇失蹤。
潛水服務公司的負責人馮先生（45歲）受訪時透露，他是在上週三（9月16日）聘請謝佳傑為其公司服務，對方隔天便正式潛入海底工作，卻不幸在上週五工作時出事。
據瞭解，事發時，謝佳傑已綁緊了鑽油台的一個儀器，準備與同伴上岸，不料卻突然掙扎，被海浪沖走。
同伴見謝佳傑被海水卷走，立刻游上海面，向另一名後備的潛水員求救。
潛水服務公司立即派出8名潛水員一同進行搜尋工作約兩個多小時，但仍不見謝佳傑的蹤影。
海事及港務管理局和警察海岸衛隊接獲通報後展開搜尋，但依然找不到謝佳傑的下落。
友人在部落客上透露，謝佳傑是一名開心果，朋友遇見不開心的事，他都會想辦法開導他們。他們曾勸謝佳傑不要接職業潛水的工作，因為這類的工作性質很危險，但後者沒有聽取勸告。
據瞭解，謝佳傑有一名20歲的女友，獲知男友失蹤的消息後，也不斷地哭泣。
謝佳傑的朋友也在交友網站Facebook為他設立一個網站，希望他能被救回，平安地回到他們身邊。
泰國‧史上最大珠寶劫案‧3匪掠珠寶展600萬珠寶
（泰國‧曼谷）泰國發生史上最大珠寶劫案，3名喬裝顧客的男子上週六（9月19日），在曼谷珠寶展上劫走了總值170萬美元（約馬幣593萬令吉）的珠寶。
劫案調查官派羅特指出，這三名男子要求其中一名珠寶商，打開一個展示約100件珠寶的玻璃柜，隨後轉移其注意力，再挾著珠寶逃之夭夭。
他指出，這三名據信是中東人的劫匪並未持械，警方還在瞭解他們是如何避開安檢。
派羅約表示，根據這名珠寶商描述，這三名劫匪年約40歲，並未蓄胡子、長得英俊，他們犯案時身穿白色上衣和黑色褲子。電視畫面顯示他們還有兩名共犯。
遇劫的珠寶商指出，他被劫走了60個戒指、28條手鐲、4條項鍊和5個謢身符。其中最昂貴的是個200萬泰銖（約馬幣20萬6500令吉）的鑲紅寶石戒指，以及一些紅寶石及綠寶石耳環。
WeAreChangeLA confronts 911 criminal Richard Ben-Veniste
Check this link ....... http://bit.ly/3THGff
BBC Newsnight: The Rise of Israel's Military Rabbis (Part 1 of 2)
Check this link ......... http://bit.ly/3YLIWZ
The Economic Fallacy Of 'Too Big Too Fail'
The onset of the financial implosion two years ago brought with it an ongoing dialogue about the 'Too Big To Fail' (TBTF) doctrine of government intervention into the financial sector. According to TBTF, some financial institutions, such as major insurers like AIG or large money-center banks like Citi and BofA, are deemed to be too large and too centrally interconnected in the US and world financial systems and economies to be allowed to be recognized as insolvent and taken through bankruptcy resolution.
As all government interventions do, TBTF has experienced mission creep and other, non-financial institutions, have also been brought under the TBTF-umbrella, such as auto-manufacturers GM and Chrysler. According to proponents of TBTF, these companies were also too important to the economy and financial system (via unemployment impacts) to be allowed to fail, although clearly the extension of this 'safety net' was more about practical political favoritism than economics, much like the original, flawed theory of TBTF for finance itself.
There's a major problem with TBTF-- taken to its logical ends, it is guaranteed financial suicide. Why? TBTF implies a totalitarian pursuit of 'failure insurance' for the institution under consideration that potentially puts the entire economy at risk.
When a business is deemed to be TBTF, it means the government stands ready to backstop any and all losses that business has incurred and might incur from that point forward. TBTF means that if the business is operating in a market which is dying, or if it is employing a business strategy that can not make money, the government will continue to pour resources into the sinkhole with no limit in sight. If TBTF-promoters mean what they say, it's theoretically conceiveable that the government could sacrifice the financial well-being of the rest of the economy, including its own precarious financial situation, in order to keep one 'strategically important' institution that is TBTF, solvent.
Most likely, it won't go that far, and you're probably reading this thinking it's ridiculous to even consider that such a thing might happen.
But consider something that is, in a way, even more ridiculous-- if TBTF is not followed to its logical end and is instead abandoned at some point along the path of total systemic insolvency, then it means that someone, somewhere is responsible for making a calculation along the lines of determining that TBTF has gone far enough and that it is no longer 'worth it' to go any further.
How do they make that kind of a calculation?
When a firm faces insolvency, it is a result of a market calculation being handed down that deems the firm to be a failure in the pursuit of profits and financial solvency. Insolvency for a firm means that the firm is sufficiently inefficient, sufficiently mismanaged and sufficiently out-of-touch with consumer needs, as communicated through the market, to be supported by consumer activity on a voluntary basis. In other words, through a multuplicity of cost-benefit calculations performed by the totality of individuals supporting the market in question, further patronage of the firm in question is deemed to be 'not worth it.'
TBTF is an end-run around this verdict by politicians who are nothing more than calculating socialists. They seek to replace the individual subjectivity of market participants about a given institution's value to society, with their own 'objective' considerations of the value or worth to these same market participants. When market participants say, "It's not worth it," the calculating socialist says, "Yes, it is." This is economic chauvanism.
But because TBTF is financial suicide, there is some point where even the calculating socialist must change their mind and agree with the market. Until that point is reached, market participants can only sit and wonder how much of the rest of the economy the calculating socialist will deem worthy of sacrifice to the institution which is TBTF. And when that point is reached, the question remains, how did the calculating socialist calculate it?
In its latest incarnation, TBTF has already cost the private economy hundreds of billions of dollars. And as we're in the early innings of this sick game, before it is all through it will surely cost the private economy hundreds of billions more.
TBTF policy is screwing us all. Eventually, there's some point whre it will have to stop. Let us all hope that the calculating socialists determine that point has been reached sooner rather than later.
By Taylor Conant
Taylor Conant writes about economics, politics and liberty from Southern California. He believes the world would be a better place if more people minded their own business.
As all government interventions do, TBTF has experienced mission creep and other, non-financial institutions, have also been brought under the TBTF-umbrella, such as auto-manufacturers GM and Chrysler. According to proponents of TBTF, these companies were also too important to the economy and financial system (via unemployment impacts) to be allowed to fail, although clearly the extension of this 'safety net' was more about practical political favoritism than economics, much like the original, flawed theory of TBTF for finance itself.
There's a major problem with TBTF-- taken to its logical ends, it is guaranteed financial suicide. Why? TBTF implies a totalitarian pursuit of 'failure insurance' for the institution under consideration that potentially puts the entire economy at risk.
When a business is deemed to be TBTF, it means the government stands ready to backstop any and all losses that business has incurred and might incur from that point forward. TBTF means that if the business is operating in a market which is dying, or if it is employing a business strategy that can not make money, the government will continue to pour resources into the sinkhole with no limit in sight. If TBTF-promoters mean what they say, it's theoretically conceiveable that the government could sacrifice the financial well-being of the rest of the economy, including its own precarious financial situation, in order to keep one 'strategically important' institution that is TBTF, solvent.
Most likely, it won't go that far, and you're probably reading this thinking it's ridiculous to even consider that such a thing might happen.
But consider something that is, in a way, even more ridiculous-- if TBTF is not followed to its logical end and is instead abandoned at some point along the path of total systemic insolvency, then it means that someone, somewhere is responsible for making a calculation along the lines of determining that TBTF has gone far enough and that it is no longer 'worth it' to go any further.
How do they make that kind of a calculation?
When a firm faces insolvency, it is a result of a market calculation being handed down that deems the firm to be a failure in the pursuit of profits and financial solvency. Insolvency for a firm means that the firm is sufficiently inefficient, sufficiently mismanaged and sufficiently out-of-touch with consumer needs, as communicated through the market, to be supported by consumer activity on a voluntary basis. In other words, through a multuplicity of cost-benefit calculations performed by the totality of individuals supporting the market in question, further patronage of the firm in question is deemed to be 'not worth it.'
TBTF is an end-run around this verdict by politicians who are nothing more than calculating socialists. They seek to replace the individual subjectivity of market participants about a given institution's value to society, with their own 'objective' considerations of the value or worth to these same market participants. When market participants say, "It's not worth it," the calculating socialist says, "Yes, it is." This is economic chauvanism.
But because TBTF is financial suicide, there is some point where even the calculating socialist must change their mind and agree with the market. Until that point is reached, market participants can only sit and wonder how much of the rest of the economy the calculating socialist will deem worthy of sacrifice to the institution which is TBTF. And when that point is reached, the question remains, how did the calculating socialist calculate it?
In its latest incarnation, TBTF has already cost the private economy hundreds of billions of dollars. And as we're in the early innings of this sick game, before it is all through it will surely cost the private economy hundreds of billions more.
TBTF policy is screwing us all. Eventually, there's some point whre it will have to stop. Let us all hope that the calculating socialists determine that point has been reached sooner rather than later.
By Taylor Conant
Taylor Conant writes about economics, politics and liberty from Southern California. He believes the world would be a better place if more people minded their own business.
FALL 2009-10: “Two and a Half Men” Season 7 premieres Sept. 21 on CBS
“TWO AND A HALF MEN” Stars: Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper; Jon Cryer as Alan Harper; Angus T. Jones as Jake Harper; Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper; Marin Hinkle as Judith Harper; Conchata Ferrell as Berta
Airs: 8 p.m. Mondays on CBS
Airs Opposite: Trauma (NBC), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Lie to Me (Fox), One Tree Hill (The CW)
Season 7 Premiere: Monday, Sept. 21, at 8 p.m. (CST, for EST, add one hour)
Season 6 Ranking: #11 in the ITRS Season Rankings (Sept. 2008 through Aug. 23)
Top Photo: 818JKLPUZO” — Alan (Jon Cryer) Jake (Angus T. Jones), Berta (Conchata Ferrell) and Charlie (Charlie Sheen) on the Season 7 premiere of TWO AND A HALF MEN. Photo: Greg Gayne/Warner Bros.
Bottom Photo: “Baseball Was Better With Steroids” — Charlie (Charlie Sheen) starts to question his relationship with Chelsea when he hears that Mia is back in town. Jake (Angus T. Jones) and Alan (Jon Cryer) sit with Charlie on the sixth season finale of TWO AND A HALF MEN. Photo: Greg Gayne/Warner Bros.
Health reform's 'gang of 6' reaps political cash
The bipartisan "gang of six" senators who helped craft the health care reform bill going before a key Senate committee Tuesday represent less than 3 percent of the U.S. population - but they hold a lot of power at a crucial policy-shaping moment in Congress.
by Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
That's why, analysts say, health care industry lobbyists have showered them with more campaign cash on average than other senators this year, in an attempt to influence the outcome.
Three Republican and three Democratic senators in the group, all of them members of the Senate Finance Committee, received an average of $74,600 from health industry lobbyists, according to The Chronicle's analysis of records through June.
That is about 25 percent more than the average of $59,632 in such donations that the gang's other Senate colleagues raked in from lobbyists for the pharmaceutical, hospital, insurance and nursing home industries, according to the analysis, which was based on records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit watchdog group.
"Money buys access," said Henry Brady, a professor of public policy and dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
Campaign contributions - along with volatile public opinion, confusion about what's in the reform plans in Congress and a lack of clarity from President Obama on his vision of reform - could also "swing some Democrats to the center on health care," said Larry Berman, a professor of political science at UC Davis.
"I'm not saying it's the only thing, but it could be a factor," Berman said.
Grassley, Baucus at top
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee who is seen as key to influencing other conservatives, received the most this year - $223,600. Committee chair Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was second with $141,000.
In times of rowdy town hall meetings, middle-of-the-road Washington legislators hold more power in this increasingly pitched battle for a simple reason: They are seen as holding opinions that could be influenced, analysts said.
"There is not a quid pro quo but there is an expectation that a contribution gives you a chance to be heard by the member," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money on politics and government.
"Money is a huge consideration for members of Congress, who are constantly running for re-election," she said. "Their constituents aren't always running up to them on Capitol Hill. But these lobbyists are."
Baucus' $856 billion, 10-year bill, which is scheduled to be amended and voted on beginning Tuesday, has been criticized by liberals and conservatives across Capitol Hill.
Conservatives blasted the plan for increasing the tax burden on some Americans. The plan imposes a 35 percent excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans that cost more than $8,000 a year per person, or $21,000 a year per family.
Liberals dislike the Baucus plan because it does not allow consumers to choose a government-run insurance option, which could hold down costs by promoting competition with private insurers.
Baucus' bill would allow cooperatives to sell insurance as a form of competition for private insurers, but Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf said co-ops "seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco has held off on a House vote until the Senate acts. She has not decided how to move forward.
Blue Dog Democrats
In the House, the key players are the conservative, Blue Dog Democrats. Their 52 members are self-described fiscal conservatives who largely represent southern and Midwestern districts that swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans.
Blue Dogs have received an average of $31,467 from health care lobbyists this year, more than the $27,385 average of other House members, according to federal figures compiled by The Chronicle.
But that dynamic doesn't hold true among California Democrats. The Golden State's seven Blue Dogs received less on average than their generally more conservative Blue Dog colleagues in other states, and less than California's other Democrats.
One reason: California is home to some of the House's top leaders, including Pelosi and committee chairs, including Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles. Committee chairs generally pull in more campaign contributions because of the power they wield over the legislative flow.
"The feeling among the health care lobbyists may be that the California Democrats wouldn't be able to contradict their leadership," Berman said.
Online: Find out how much in campaign contributions your senator or representative received from the health care industry at sfgate.com/ZIES.
Health care money to members of Congress
Senate's "Gang of six"
Six Senate Finance Committee members who negotiated a health reform plan that goes before the committee Tuesday represent about 3 percent of the nation's population but received 25 percent more in campaign funds from health care interests than their Senate colleagues through June 30.
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa - $223,600
Max Baucus, D-Mont. - $141,000
Kent Conrad, D-N.D. - $51,000
Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. - $18,000
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine - $9,000
Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. - $5,000
California senators
Barbara Boxer, D - $42,500
Dianne Feinstein, D - $15,500
House Blue Dogs
The fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats are a key constituency in the health care debate, receiving more campaign contributions, on average, than other members of the House of Representatives, except in California, which is home to powerful House committee chairs and leaders.
California Blue Dog Democrats
Mike Thompson, St. Helena - $81,750
Dennis Cardoza, Atwater (Merced County) - $38,000
Adam Schiff, Glendale (Los Angeles County) - $22,800
Joe Baca, San Bernardino - $13,650
Loretta Sanchez, Garden Grove (Orange Co.) - $7,900
Jane Harman, Venice (Los Angeles County) - $5,750
Jim Costa, Hanford (Kings County) - $1,000
Average, California Blue Dogs - $24,407
Average, Blue Dogs in other states - $31,467
Bay Area House members
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco - $188,900
Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto - $86,300
George Miller, D-Martinez - $33,500
Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton - $32,850
Pete Stark, D-Fremont - $31,751
Barbara Lee, D-Oakland - $25,650
Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose - $17,750
Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma - $12,425
Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough - $12,000
Mike Honda, D-San Jose - $11,500
Source: Federal election records through June 30, compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics and analyzed by The Chronicle.
DO YOU OWN STOCK IN THESE 10 U.S. COMPANIES THAT ARE TEETERING TOWARD BANKRUPTCY?
Here is a list of 10 major U.S. companies that have market caps in excess of $3 billion that are experiencing financial difficulties and could be on the verge of filing for bankruptcy in the foreseeable future, according to a study by Audit Integrity, an independent financial research and risk modeling firm based in Los Angeles:
1. Hertz (HTZ)
2. Textron (TXT)
3. Sprint/Nextel (S)
4. Macy's (M)
5. Mylan (MYL)
6. Goodyear (GT)
7. CBS (CBS)
8. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
9. Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
10. Interpublic Group (IPG)
http://tinyurl.com/llwn77 - BusinessInsider.com
Below is the URL to a press release dated Sep. 16 describing Audit Integrity's bankruptcy study:
U. of C. researcher dies after exposure to plague bacteria
A University of Chicago molecular genetics professor studying the origins of harmful bacteria died last weekend after contracting an infection linked to the plague, officials said today.
University hospital officials said there "does not appear to be a threat to the public" following the death of Malcolm J. Casadaban, 60, at the campus' Bernard Mitchell Hospital on Sept. 13.
None of the people the researcher had contact with has reported illness and symptoms typically develop within 2 to 10 days, officials said.
The researcher was studying a weakened laboratory strain of Yersinia pestis that lacked the plague bacteria's harmful components, officials said.
Further study is under way after initial autopsy showed no obvious cause of death other than the presence of the bacteria.
Underlying health conditions could potentially increase susceptibility to infections, officials said. Casadaban's death notice asked mourners to make donations to the American Diabetes Research Association.
Casadaban had degrees from M.I.T. and Harvard University, according to a record of his university Web page that already had been taken down. "He was a highly respected scientist with a brilliant mind" and a "humble man of high integrity, loyalty and loving kindness," according to his death notice.
A memorial service was held at the university Wednesday, according to a Web page put up by Casadaban's daughter. A funeral service is planned for November in New Orleans, according to the death notice.
University officials said the weakened strain of the bacteria is used as a vaccine to protect against the plague.
According to university officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved the weakened strain for laboratory studies. It does not require special safety precautions required for work with more virulent strains, according to the release.
Once the lab strain was identified Friday, officials contacted the Chicago Department of Public Health.
They are working with that office along with the Illinois Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to investigate the researcher's case and take precautions.
Officials have reached out to family, friends and colleagues of the researcher. So far no one has reported being sick even though symptoms typically occur within 2 to 10 days after exposure.
Medical center officials said the plague is rare in the United States and is more frequently seen in developing countries where up to 3,000 cases are reported yearly.
-- Carlos Sadovi and Tribune staff
Charlie Sheen's 9/11 rant is pure ego
Charlie Sheen being arrested for his dangerous free-thinking. Or possibly just starring in the film The Chase. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
The Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen says the official story of September 11 is “a fiction, and not a very good one”.
An area of which Sheen has no little experience, having starred in such films as Scary Movie 3 and Major League II.
Sheen, in a move that I’d hate to think will prompt cynics to suggest he’s got a screw loose, has also written a script of an imaginary conversation between himself and Barack Obama.
Disappointingly Sheen is yet to confirm that Osama Bin Laden recorded his anti-West videos on the same film set the Americans used to fake the Moon landings. Perhaps Sheen can also supply us with proof that Bush faked 7/7.
Should Sheen fail to do so, however, I fear I shall be unable to shake off a prejudice I have against 9/11 conspiracy theorists: that they’re all raving egomaniacs. Faith in conspiracy theories generally, it seems to me, is a powerful indicator of low self-esteem. Conspiracy theorists desperately want to believe the worst because it makes them feel that they know best, that they have special information to which the rest of us, the gullible unthinking herd, are not privy.
I suspect that the reason 9/11 is particularly attractive to conspiracy theorists is that it happened while President Bush was in power. Most conspiracy theorists that I’ve come across despise Bush, although their ideas about him are somewhat confused: on the one hand they think he’s thick, but on the other they think he’s clever enough to oversee a plot as complicated as the faking of the biggest terrorist attack in American history.
At any rate, believing in outlandish conspiracies is exciting. It makes you feel smart and superior and important. It gives a thrilling boost to the ego.
A bit like being a Hollywood star.
By Michael DeaconMore questions on 9/11
Osama "dead or alive" bin Laden would rather lose his kidney than pass up the opportunity to celebrate the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2001, on the United States. And like clockwork, he resurfaced in an 11-minute, al-Sahab-produced audiotape last week (sorry, no video, just a still picture), where he states how a series of grievances had "pushed us to undertake the events of [September 11]".
But there may be no mobile dialysis machine operating in a mysterious cave somewhere in one of the Waziristan tribal areas of Pakistan after all. According to David Ray Griffin's new book, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? and based on a Taliban leader's remarks at the time, the mellifluous Saudi jihadi died of kidney failure in Tora Bora on December 13, 2001. Problem is, by that time, according to local mujahideen, Bin Laden had already escaped across the mountains with a bunch of al-Qaeda diehards to Parachinar, in Pakistan, and then to a shadowy underworld.
A decoy? A ghost? The devil himself? Who cares? Bin Laden, the brand, is still very good for ("war on terror") business. All this with the Barack Obama administration insisting the US is fighting the elusive, seemingly eternal Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the Taliban plus al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, while General Stanley McChrystal - General David Petraeus' former top death squad operator in Iraq - insists there is no al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (but he wants up to 40,000 extra troops anyway).
Last week, Asia Times Online published Fifty Question on 9/11. The article stressed the questions were only a taste of the immense, mysterious 9/11 riddle. (Arguably the best 9/11 timeline on the net may be seen here.
Due to overwhelming reader response, here's a follow-up with 20 more questions - with a hat-tip to all who joined the debate.
1. In the first months of 2001, three years after Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa against the US, Mullah Omar wanted to "resolve or dissolve" the Osama-Taliban nexus in exchange for Washington maneuvering to lift United Nations sanctions. Would anyone from the first George W Bush administration confirm a solid Taliban offer? Kabir Mohabbat, a Houston-based, Paktia (Afghanistan)-born businessman also involved in the (failed) 1990s negotiation for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan pipeline, and then named by Bush's National Security Council as a key Taliban contact, has sustained that was the case.
2. Eight names on the "original" Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) list of 19 Muslim hijackers happened to be found alive and living in different countries; the FBI has always sustained that the identity of the hijackers was established from DNA collected at all four sites - the World Trade Center (WTC), the Pentagon and the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, crash site. Would the FBI explain how is that remotely possible?
3. All four planes referenced in the official narrative have thousands of parts with a serial number, plus tail numbers. Any one of these would have been enough to identify the plane(s). How come all of these parts disintegrated or vaporized? Why was not a single one of them recovered and/or matched up with all the mass of data about these four flights?
4. How come cell phones miraculously find a signal and work properly at 10,000 meters?
5. How to explain the enormous surge in "option puts" on both United Airlines and American Airlines on September 10?
6. How come the passport of alleged hijacker Satam al Suqami (and not Mohammed Atta, as reported) was miraculously found amid massive World Trade Center debris - either by "police and FBI" or by "a passerby who gave it to the NYPD", according to different versions?
7.Why was a military grade of thermite - a super-explosive - found at all sample sites surrounding Ground Zero? A peer-reviewed, scientific journal analysis is here.
8. How come Barry Jennings, who worked for New York City's Housing Department, reported on 9/11 to ABC News how he heard an explosion on the 8th floor of WTC 7? Jennings happened to die just a few days before the release of the NIST report on the WTC 7 collapse. A great number of actual 9/11 witnesses also heard and saw explosions going off inside the Twin Towers long before their collapse. A montage of news reports about these explosions can be seen here.
9. Why did the BBC confirm live on air the collapse of the WTC 7 building - which was not even hit by any plane - no less than 23 minutes before it actually collapsed? In the BBC live report, the WTC7 building is shot still standing.
10. Why there has been no investigation of Dov Zakheim? He was a prominent member of the Project for the New American Century group, and chief executive officer of SPC - a company making systems for remote control of airplanes - for four years prior to 9/11. Six months before 9/11, he became supervisor of a group of Pentagon comptrollers responsible for tracking no less than $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon books; many of these comptrollers died on 9/11.
11. The "five dancing Israelis" question. How come Oded Ellner, Omer Marmari, Paul Kurzberg, Sivan Kurzberg and Yaron Shmuel had set up a video camera on top of their white van pointing at the Twin Towers even before they were hit? Later they were seen celebrating. The FBI established that two were Mossad agents and that their employer, Urban Moving Systems, was a front operation. The investigation about them was killed by the White House. After being deported from the US, they admitted on Israeli TV that they had been sent to New York to "document" the attacks. How about other reports of vans packed with tons of explosives intercepted on New York bridges?
12. How come two US employees of Odigo, an Israeli instant messaging company based in Herzliya, the headquarters of Mossad, received an SMS about an attack on the WTC two hours before the fact?
13. How come there was no investigation of ICTS International, owned by Ezra Harel and Menachem Atzmon, and crammed with former Israeli Shin Bet agents? This was the company responsible for airport security at Dulles, Logan and Newark airports on 9/11.
14. Why was there no full investigation of the circumstances related to how Larry Silverstein leased the WTC only seven weeks before 9/11 - as facilitated by New York Port Authority chairman Lewis Eisenberg? Silverstein over-insured the WTC against terrorism and made an astonishing profit.
15. Why were anthrax packages mailed to the only two US senators who voted against the Patriot Act?
16. Why did situation room director Deborah Loewer follow Bush to Florida on 9/11 - considering that's not part of her job description?
17. Where are the full tapes from the Pentagon's security cameras? The hole in the Pentagon may be the most glaring hole in the official narrative - as the destruction caused by a Boeing 757 was simply not compatible with the size of the hole. Why were no significant plane debris and remains of passengers ever found?
18. Why did the 9/11 Commission not consult reputed engineers and architects to show that in the real world, steel and concrete skyscrapers simply cannot dissolve into molten metal and fine powder in only 10 seconds after very localized and relatively low-temperature fires? Kerosene simply cannot melt steel.
19. Why did the 9/11 Commission not consult airline specialists who insist trainee pilots who had practiced on very light aircraft for a few weeks simply cannot land a jet on the ground floor of the Pentagon after allegedly slicing through half a dozen light poles and evading a series of trees, cars and overpasses?
20. How come no one investigated claims by the two co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, who wrote in the New York Times on January 2008 that the Central Intelligence Agency "failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot [and] obstructed our investigation?"
By Pepe Escobar
But there may be no mobile dialysis machine operating in a mysterious cave somewhere in one of the Waziristan tribal areas of Pakistan after all. According to David Ray Griffin's new book, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? and based on a Taliban leader's remarks at the time, the mellifluous Saudi jihadi died of kidney failure in Tora Bora on December 13, 2001. Problem is, by that time, according to local mujahideen, Bin Laden had already escaped across the mountains with a bunch of al-Qaeda diehards to Parachinar, in Pakistan, and then to a shadowy underworld.
A decoy? A ghost? The devil himself? Who cares? Bin Laden, the brand, is still very good for ("war on terror") business. All this with the Barack Obama administration insisting the US is fighting the elusive, seemingly eternal Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the Taliban plus al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, while General Stanley McChrystal - General David Petraeus' former top death squad operator in Iraq - insists there is no al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (but he wants up to 40,000 extra troops anyway).
Last week, Asia Times Online published Fifty Question on 9/11. The article stressed the questions were only a taste of the immense, mysterious 9/11 riddle. (Arguably the best 9/11 timeline on the net may be seen here.
Due to overwhelming reader response, here's a follow-up with 20 more questions - with a hat-tip to all who joined the debate.
1. In the first months of 2001, three years after Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa against the US, Mullah Omar wanted to "resolve or dissolve" the Osama-Taliban nexus in exchange for Washington maneuvering to lift United Nations sanctions. Would anyone from the first George W Bush administration confirm a solid Taliban offer? Kabir Mohabbat, a Houston-based, Paktia (Afghanistan)-born businessman also involved in the (failed) 1990s negotiation for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan pipeline, and then named by Bush's National Security Council as a key Taliban contact, has sustained that was the case.
2. Eight names on the "original" Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) list of 19 Muslim hijackers happened to be found alive and living in different countries; the FBI has always sustained that the identity of the hijackers was established from DNA collected at all four sites - the World Trade Center (WTC), the Pentagon and the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, crash site. Would the FBI explain how is that remotely possible?
3. All four planes referenced in the official narrative have thousands of parts with a serial number, plus tail numbers. Any one of these would have been enough to identify the plane(s). How come all of these parts disintegrated or vaporized? Why was not a single one of them recovered and/or matched up with all the mass of data about these four flights?
4. How come cell phones miraculously find a signal and work properly at 10,000 meters?
5. How to explain the enormous surge in "option puts" on both United Airlines and American Airlines on September 10?
6. How come the passport of alleged hijacker Satam al Suqami (and not Mohammed Atta, as reported) was miraculously found amid massive World Trade Center debris - either by "police and FBI" or by "a passerby who gave it to the NYPD", according to different versions?
7.Why was a military grade of thermite - a super-explosive - found at all sample sites surrounding Ground Zero? A peer-reviewed, scientific journal analysis is here.
8. How come Barry Jennings, who worked for New York City's Housing Department, reported on 9/11 to ABC News how he heard an explosion on the 8th floor of WTC 7? Jennings happened to die just a few days before the release of the NIST report on the WTC 7 collapse. A great number of actual 9/11 witnesses also heard and saw explosions going off inside the Twin Towers long before their collapse. A montage of news reports about these explosions can be seen here.
9. Why did the BBC confirm live on air the collapse of the WTC 7 building - which was not even hit by any plane - no less than 23 minutes before it actually collapsed? In the BBC live report, the WTC7 building is shot still standing.
10. Why there has been no investigation of Dov Zakheim? He was a prominent member of the Project for the New American Century group, and chief executive officer of SPC - a company making systems for remote control of airplanes - for four years prior to 9/11. Six months before 9/11, he became supervisor of a group of Pentagon comptrollers responsible for tracking no less than $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon books; many of these comptrollers died on 9/11.
11. The "five dancing Israelis" question. How come Oded Ellner, Omer Marmari, Paul Kurzberg, Sivan Kurzberg and Yaron Shmuel had set up a video camera on top of their white van pointing at the Twin Towers even before they were hit? Later they were seen celebrating. The FBI established that two were Mossad agents and that their employer, Urban Moving Systems, was a front operation. The investigation about them was killed by the White House. After being deported from the US, they admitted on Israeli TV that they had been sent to New York to "document" the attacks. How about other reports of vans packed with tons of explosives intercepted on New York bridges?
12. How come two US employees of Odigo, an Israeli instant messaging company based in Herzliya, the headquarters of Mossad, received an SMS about an attack on the WTC two hours before the fact?
13. How come there was no investigation of ICTS International, owned by Ezra Harel and Menachem Atzmon, and crammed with former Israeli Shin Bet agents? This was the company responsible for airport security at Dulles, Logan and Newark airports on 9/11.
14. Why was there no full investigation of the circumstances related to how Larry Silverstein leased the WTC only seven weeks before 9/11 - as facilitated by New York Port Authority chairman Lewis Eisenberg? Silverstein over-insured the WTC against terrorism and made an astonishing profit.
15. Why were anthrax packages mailed to the only two US senators who voted against the Patriot Act?
16. Why did situation room director Deborah Loewer follow Bush to Florida on 9/11 - considering that's not part of her job description?
17. Where are the full tapes from the Pentagon's security cameras? The hole in the Pentagon may be the most glaring hole in the official narrative - as the destruction caused by a Boeing 757 was simply not compatible with the size of the hole. Why were no significant plane debris and remains of passengers ever found?
18. Why did the 9/11 Commission not consult reputed engineers and architects to show that in the real world, steel and concrete skyscrapers simply cannot dissolve into molten metal and fine powder in only 10 seconds after very localized and relatively low-temperature fires? Kerosene simply cannot melt steel.
19. Why did the 9/11 Commission not consult airline specialists who insist trainee pilots who had practiced on very light aircraft for a few weeks simply cannot land a jet on the ground floor of the Pentagon after allegedly slicing through half a dozen light poles and evading a series of trees, cars and overpasses?
20. How come no one investigated claims by the two co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, who wrote in the New York Times on January 2008 that the Central Intelligence Agency "failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot [and] obstructed our investigation?"
By Pepe Escobar
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