Banksters are Coming for Your Retirement Next

First, the banksters hoodwinked an angry public into bailing out their collateralized-debt obligations and derivative Ponzi scheme to the tune of what may turn out to be over $600 Trillion dollars. Derivatives are nothing more than bets on other bets, on other bets, that are all completely worthless. So, we can assume that the taxpayer will be victimized for at least that amount for derivatives alone. That’s about $2 million dollars for every man, woman, and child in America, or $100,000 for every person in the world.

They bet big with your investment money, got fat, then lost thousands of times more than everything real on Earth combined. Then, representatives of the people bailed gave them out (including bonuses) while they laughed all the way to their respective banks. Since government officials are doing their best to reject transparency, we can also only assume this number is much, much larger.

Sadly, their derivative Ponzi scheme is the least of the public’s current problems regarding the banks. The international banks’ economic hit men have successfully enslaved-by-debt everything from nations, entire industries, state and local governments (who will need their bailout soon), and nearly every person on the planet. Even if an individual doesn't have any bank financing or credit cards, they still pay the private Federal Reserve through inflation. As author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins, would say: the time has come for the banks to collect their “pound of flesh” from average citizens by way of your pensions. For an enlightening explanation of how economic hit men enslave entire countries please watch the video below:



Today, the word “austerity” is becoming commonplace in European countries, and America may indeed be next on the chopping block. The IMF is pushing economically-weak European countries into austerity measures that target average citizens for debts their government owes to banks, including slashing and looting pension guarantees. Incidentally, the U.S. national debt, plus unfunded liabilities and personal and private debt, puts America in far worse shape than all European countries combined.

As we near the End Game, the banksters and their government accomplices are coming for the last of your wealth -- your retirement money. Recent headlines about the IMF “pressing the U.S.“ to reduce its debt is the first sign of things to come. They have already methodically gutted the assets of most public pension funds by knowingly investing those funds in toxic junk. In late 2009, Mark Brenner wrote an excellent article titled Pensions: The Next Casualty for Wall Street which gave a breakdown of the dismal state of pensions:

Nearly $4 trillion worth of retirement savings were wiped out in the first weeks of the 2008 financial freefall. Half of the drop was concentrated in traditional pension plans, also known as defined-benefit plans. While most workers in these plans haven’t had their monthly benefits cut, unlike the 46 million people riding the stock market with 401(k) defined-contribution plans, the storm clouds are gathering.

Furthermore, we’ve also seen the captains of “private” industry pump their bottom line for years with their worker’s pension contributions (much like the federal government has done with Social Security receivables). When it comes time to pay the pensions they dump the obligation onto the taxpayer through the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation which was reported to be $12.9 in the red for 2009. Once again, the taxpayers are funding their own servitude while the ownership class pillages on the way up and on the way down.

I can’t help but be reminded that warnings of this day went unheard. This George Carlin clip below sternly warned that the “owners of this country” will ultimately come for your retirement -- but, hey, who was listening to a comedian?



That’s right, the day is rapidly approaching where they’ll come for your retirement. Screw your guarantees you thought you worked your whole life for. Apparently, contractual law does not apply to the servant class. However, we all remember Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner arguing that the reason they must use taxpayer money to pay 100-cents-on-the-dollar for AIG’s rancid obligations was because it would be wrong to break contractual laws. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that they only respect contractual law when they are taking from the poor and giving to their rich partners in crime.

California transit cop verdict sparks looting

California (Reuters) - A white former transit police officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a videotaped shooting death of an unarmed black man last year in Oakland, California, sparking a wave of looting and destruction in the city on Thursday.

The verdict prompted a peaceful protest by up to 1,000 people in downtown Oakland, which gave way after nightfall to some people looting stores, smashing car windows, throwing powerful fireworks at police and lighting fires in trash cans.

The police, numbering in the hundreds, made more than 50 arrests, but Oakland police expected that figure could double.

"This city is not the wild, wild West," Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts told a televised news conference. "This city will not tolerate this activity."

A Los Angeles jury deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching their decision about the shooting on a train platform in Oakland, indicating they deemed it a tragic accident rather than the intentional act of a rogue cop.

The defendant in the racially charged trial, Johannes Mehserle, 28, testified that he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his electric Taser and shot Oscar Grant, 22, while trying to subdue him during a confrontation on New Year's Day 2009.

But prosecutors, who sought a conviction for second-degree murder, said Mehserle had "lost all control" and shot Grant on purpose because he thought Grant was resisting arrest.

Jurors can render an involuntary manslaughter conviction if they believe the defendant lacked an intent to kill but engaged in conduct so grossly negligent that it amounts to a crime.

It generally carries a sentence of two to four years in prison, but the jury also accepted a sentencing "enhancement" for Mehserle's use of a handgun.

"We are outraged that the jury did not find guilty of murder in a case that is so egregiously excessive and mishandled," said Benjamin Todd Jealous, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Mehserle, who had been free on $3 million bond, showed no reaction as the verdict was read and was immediately taken into custody. The former police officer for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rail system faces sentencing on August 6.

FAMILY FURY

Relatives of Grant, a young father who worked as a grocery store butcher, reacted with outrage.

"My son was murdered, and the law hasn't held the officer accountable the way he should be," Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, shouted outside the courthouse.

About 1,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest in downtown Oakland on early Thursday evening. Many expressed anger, with a huge banner strung over an intersection on a traffic light pole reading "Oakland says Guilty."

"It's unbelievable this guy is getting less jail time than someone who wrote a bad check," said Barbara Plantiko, a 41-year-old immigration lawyer at the protest. "I just don't buy he got confused. I don't think that it was an accident."

Some protesters wore masks depicting Grant's face.

Looters targeted stores selling jewelry and beauty supplies and grabbed shoes from a Foot Locker store in downtown Oakland, while the phrase "Riot for Oscar" was spray-painted on a bank building, according to a Reuters eyewitness.

"It's definitely chaotic," said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, an Alameda County Sheriff spokesman, adding that Oakland's police were being helped by officers from other municipalities.

The killing had unleashed charges of police brutality and unrest in Oakland in January 2009, when people smashed windows and set cars on fire, leading to about 100 arrests then.

Video footage of Grant lying face down as Mehserle shot him in the back was taken by onlookers and shown over the Web and television. Mehserle was seen holstering his gun immediately afterward and putting his hands on his head as in disbelief.

The judge in the case, which was moved to Los Angeles due to heavy pretrial publicity in the Bay Area, held there was too little evidence to show the killing was premeditated, ruling out a first-degree murder conviction.

Had he been convicted of second-degree murder, Mehserle would have faced 15 years to life in prison. The jury could alternatively have found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter or acquitted him entirely.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Carolina Madrid in Los Angeles, Peter Henderson in Oakland, and Alexandria Sage and Jim Christie in San Francisco; Writing by Steve Gorman and Braden Reddall; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Oakland Braces for Violence - Ex-transit cop guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Oakland Oscar Grant Bart shooting

Black Bloc loots/ sets fires on cue! - Live Stream


Shoe store looted, police declare unlawful assembly‎


mp3 here
_paraphrased from feed__news anchor_you mean police are in view and arent stopping the looting at the shoe store or fires?

on scene reporter

I wouldnt say they are allowing this to happen, but um...



Oakland Riots Brewing? (Live Police Scanner Link )
a few TAC channels the Sheriff is using for the OAKLAND RIOT CONTROL, Big Crowds at 14th & Broadway in Oakland. I will be home at 9PM PST, and will be switching the feed to Oakland also.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=5375

LOS ANGELES — A white former transit officer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on an Oakland train platform in a 2009 encounter
that set off days of rioting in the city.

Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was shot as he lay face-down.

AP file

Oscar Grant, 22, is the transit rider shot and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer on New Year's Day 2009.

Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, stared at jurors and appeared upset then later denounced the verdict outside the courthouse.

"My son was murdered! He was murdered! He was murdered," she said.

Microsoft layoffs: Marketing, Office, partner groups all reportedly hit

A new round of Microsoft layoffs is, indeed, happening on July 7, as long-rumored and expected.

According to various comments I’ve seen — all anonymous from those infamous “people knowledgeable about the situation” — the latest round is going to be less gruesome and more broadly spread than last year’s two waves of cuts that totaled more than 5,000 people.

I’ve been watching the growing stream of comments on the Mini Microsoft blog and gathering reports (direct and indirect) from individuals in the trenches today. It looks as if Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group (CMG), Enterprise Partner Group (EPG), the SharePoint/Office team and the search/advertising teams all have made cuts. Most of the cuts I’ve heard about have been in the marketing/sales organizations.

(The usual caveat, re: Mini Microsoft: Given the anonymous comments, it’s impossible to tell whether folks who are reporting in are real Microsoft employees or not. But based on other sources I’ve got — not to mention the relatively high accuracy rate last year, in terms of Mini Microsoft comments regarding which teams/products/projects got cut — , it sounds like the reports there are in line with what’s actually happening.)

So far, there’s no word on what the final tally is likely to be or whether there will be a follow-up Round 2 this year, like there was last year.

In a new blog post, published on July 6, Who Da’Punk (a k a Mini) shared more of the internal back-and-forth over Microsoft’s recent decision to pull the plug on the Kin (”Pink”) phones. So far, I haven’t heard any talk that members of the Kin team were “kinned” today as part of the new round of cuts. Supposedly, Microsoft is moving many of the Kin developers to the Windows Phone 7 team.

USDA Reports Food Shortages: Wall Street 'Caught Off Guard' by Severity

Several recent headlines indicate that food prices will continue their swift climb upward. These troubling new reports show that agriculture production and stored grains are critically low and experts are now predicting food shortages on a grand scale.

Look at a few mainstream headlines: Drought threatens global rice supply in the India Times; VA farmers say heat taking toll on crops, Associated Press; Severe food shortage follows lack of rainfall in Syria; and, finally, Corn prices bolt as USDA downsizes crop estimates, which states that, "Commodity professionals were caught off guard Wednesday by a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showing 1 million fewer acres of corn planted this year than earlier projected, and almost 300 million fewer bushels of corn in storage." And these articles don't begin to address crops being damaged by the toxic rain from the Gulf oil disaster.

We are back to recession economics and rapidly heading toward a deeper, longer “Third Depression.” With all recent economic indicators setting new record lows and deficits at record highs, this ship is only going one way folks, down, down to Chinatown. This WTC-Building 7-style-controlled-demolition of the U.S. economy has long been engineered by the borderless banksters and has been set in the same way to collapse at a free-fall rate. With all of the manufactured confusion it may be difficult to know where best to invest your limited assets, but it seems to be clear that Food is on the march.

There were several trend forecasters and financial firms predicting upwards of $200/barrel of oil before the Gulf oil gusher. The “analysts” said this would occur because of the perception of scarcity and a weakening dollar. The oil disaster and the subsequent outrage at Big Oil will surely take care of selling the perception of scarcity, while the Federal Reserve and Congress will surely take care of weakening the dollar.

We’ve seen this Beta test before when oil prices reached their peak of $147 in 2008 sending the price of food to the stratosphere. Food staples like rice nearly tripled in six months and at times increased 50% in just two weeks, primarily because of record oil prices and a weak dollar in 2008. During this run-up on prices, big box stores like Sam's Club and Costco were rationing the number of bags of rice customers could buy. You can bet that Food Crisis Beta 2.010 will be far more severe.

This third factor of actual Food Scarcity, coupled with high oil prices and a feeble dollar, will multiply the severity of increasing food prices. Whether this scarcity is being engineered to further cull the population or is a genuine imbalance in supply and demand is not important. The fact is that this reality is playing out in the matrix. Being aware of this triple-threat to food costs creates an opportunity to soften the recessionary blow, and perhaps offer some economic freedom from those who would like to reduce us all to serfdom.

You don’t have to be an End Times survivalist to believe that storing food is pragmatic. Everyone with expendable cash can and should design a good food storage and rotation system and buy bulk food as an investment -- in addition to creating self-sufficiency. Many rationalists are touting guns, ammo, and gold as good small-scale investments given the despicable agenda unfolding in our matrix. Certainly those are critical investments in an economy dwindling down to the rationing of necessity, but not everyone is into guns or can afford bundles of gold. And gold, at the end of the day, can only be traded for necessity.

These recent food alerts seem to indicate that food may be the best short-term investment for the “Average Joe.” It's simple: if the retail cost of rice doubles, as it did in 2008, then you (the investor) make 100% return in something that's immediately tangible and usable. It’s time to pay the tax penalty for cashing out your mediocre "I-bought-in-to-the-American-Dream" 401K and invest in Food!

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Expands Probe In Fraud At Holocaust Claims Conference

(POSTED MONDAY, JULY 5, 1:30 p.m.) The Federal Bureau of Investigation has widened its probe into allegedly fraudulent Holocaust-era claims that could have bilked the German government out of millions of dollars, The Jewish Week has learned.

The fraud was discovered in December by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in New York, which processes Holocaust-era claims for survivors in behalf of the German government. It immediately contacted federal authorities, including the FBI. The fraud initially involved claims submitted to the Hardship Fund but has now been broadened to include the Article 2 Fund, a pension program that may have been defrauded out of about $7 million over the last decade. Both investigations are continuing and the Article 2 Fund pensions of more than 200 people were suspended last Thursday. The individuals were notified by certified mail that the authorities were informed that they were suspected of fraud and that they must return all of the money they had received or file an appeal within 90 days.

The Hardship Fund was established in 1980 to compensate Jews who were forced to flee east during the Holocaust and remained in Soviet-bloc countries after the war, denying them German reparations. Three of 10 employees processing claims for the fund were fired in February, and the Claims Conference said at the time that it was not known whether they were complicit in the fraud.

The Claims Conference said the fraud is believed to have involved at least 100 claimants, each of whom received a one-time payment of about $3,500. It said all of the claims involved men and women who claimed to have lived in the former Soviet Union during World War II and who now live in Brooklyn.

Roman Kent, treasurer of the Claims Conference, said Monday that no arrests have yet been made but that as the FBI probe continued, it “became more and more clear that it [the amount of money involved] might be more than we originally estimated.”

“I don’t have a hard figure,” Kent said of the amount defrauded. “We are fully cooperating with the FBI and others. They know what to do and to go after it; they want to find the real culprits in the act.”

In February, Gregory Schneider, the Claims Conference’s executive vice president, stressed that “no money was taken from Holocaust survivors."

“This was done by very sophisticated persons or a group whose aim it was to defraud,” he said. “And the fact that it is connected with the Holocaust makes it even more disgusting.”

Schneider said also that he had directed that neither the New York office nor the other processing offices in Germany and Israel pay Hardship Fund claims in December, January and February while the investigation proceeded. As a result, about 4,500 claims went unpaid.

That figure has increased since then because both Kent and Julius Berman, chairman of the Claims Conference, said only selected claims have since been paid.

“We have paid only claims that we were certain about,” he said, adding that he did not know the figure.

Kent said the German government had been informed of the fraud.

The Claims Conference experienced an increase in Hardship Fund applications after a recent major expansion of the program to include Jews who were in Leningrad at any time during the Nazis’ 900-day siege of the city or who fled during that time – from September 1941 through January 1944. Germany paid 7,000 claims in 2008 and 18,000 last year. After The Jewish Week reported in February on the federal fraud investigation, the number of new applications dropped off appreciably.

There is no deadline for filing an application, and those who were previously rejected because they did not meet all German government criteria may file a second application.

“To me personally as a survivor and as someone who is part of the Claims Conference it is really disgusting that anybody would try to defraud the money designated for survivors,” Kent said. “It is distasteful and I would say for our part that we are fully cooperating with federal authorities. The sooner it is over and we find out the people behind it, the better for everyone; we are not yet sure where it will end.”

Costa Rica’s Opposition Rejects Entry Of US Naval Forces

As is customary, the US asks for authorization of Costa Rica’s legislature before entry of any US warship and soldiers in Costa Rican waters. And as customary, the Costa Rica legislature grants its permission, as was the case on Friday.

The permission allows the entry of 46 US war ships and 7.000 Marines for the balance of the year (July 1 to December 31, 2010).

The permission granted by the Costa Rica legislature could include docking of the USS Freedom (pictured above) on Costa Rica’s shores. Opposition parties say the decade old agreement was to allow entry of US coast guard vessels and not war ships.

Costa Rica’s opposition, however, see it different, describing the permission as illegal and in violation of national sovereignty.

The main opponents to the granting of the authority is the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC), the Frente Amplio (FA) and the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), arguing that the destructive force of the ships and manpower, that includes helicopters, is disproportianate to the threat caused by drug traffickers.

The 46 ships carry some 200 helicopters and war planes and includes the USS Freedom, combat submarines and a hospital ship.

Luis Fishman, head of the PUSC party and presidential candidate in the past elections, said the legislative approval was like handing over a “blank cheque”.

“We cannot support the illegal, we cannot allow our Constitution to be trampled”, said Fishman.

The PAC and the FA recalled that the bilateral agreement signed 10 years ago allowed the entry of coast guard vessels, but not war ships that have the capacity for military confrontations and war.

FA legislator José María Villalta questioned the conditions under which the permission was granted, since US personnel “will enjoy freedom of movement and the right to carry out the activities needed to fulfill their mission”.

The FA also urged consideration of the geopolitical situation in which naval forces will be allowed to enter a region considered by Washington as part of its sphere of influence.

The legislator recalled that the US applies in the region a “strategy of complete dominance”, which includes offensive actions such as the coup d’etat in Honduras and the installation of military bases in Colombia.

Opposition Deputies said they may take action, that could include an appeal with the Constitutional Court, against the decision of the Legislative Assembly since the permission for the ships, airships, helicopters and marines to enter the country violates the agreement reached a decade ago.

Rangel Legislation: Mandatory Military Service For ALL Americans 18-42 yrs old

Rangel Legislation: Mandatory Military Service For ALL Americans 18...

Rep. Charles Rangel yesterday again called for bringing back the national draft -- right at the Times Square recruiting station.

For the third time since the Iraq War began, the Harlem Democrat announced his plans to introduce a bill requiring all Americans to serve in the armed forces.

"If you love your country, be prepared to serve," said Rangel, a Korean War veteran.

Congress should stop funding the war and, instead, use tax dollars to bring troops home, he said.

Rangel, who this year was stripped of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the bill calls for men and women 18-42 to sign up
for the draft during wartime. It will likely be introduced next week.

Tarpley: EU to little too late

Click this link ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tUcC8A8eyU&feature=channel

Fannie, Freddie Dropped from New York Stock Exchange

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac common stock was removed today from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in June to de-list from the NYSE and any other national securities exchange. The direction came after the price of their common stock hovered near the minimum average closing price of $1 for more than 30 days for most months since the conservatorship took effect in September 2008.

Both GSEs begin trading in the over-the-counter (OTC) market today. Their ticker symbols on HousingWire's industry tracker were replaced with private mortgage insurers, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. (PMI: 3.02 0.00%) and Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MTG: 7.78 0.00%).

Fannie said its common stock will begin trading on the OTC Bulletin Board — which tracks quote, price and volume information in OTC securities — under the symbol "FNMA".

The NYSE and the Chicago Stock Exchange suspended trading of Fannie's common and preferred stock prior to market open today. Fannie had been listed on the NYSE under the symbol "FNM".

As of today, Fannie will begin trading under new symbols:

Freddie said shares of its common stock and the 20 classes of its preferred stock that previously traded on the NYSE also begin trading today on the OTC market. Previously trading under the symbol "FRE", Freddie's common stock will now trade under "FMCC".

The company's preferred stock will also trade under new symbols on the OTC market:

"The transition to the OTC market will not affect the company's obligation to file periodic and certain other reports with the SEC under applicable federal securities laws," Freddie said in a statement.

Write to Diana Golobay.

Disclosure: the author holds no relevant investments.

The Rats are Cornered

By Mike Krieger

Back from the Road

I have just come back from a 40 day road trip across the United States of America. It was without a doubt the single best experience of my life on every level imaginable. I recognize how hard such a trip is for most people given individual circumstances but at some point in life if possible I would highly recommend doing something similar. It was a total game changer for me.

I started Memorial Day weekend and went from NYC to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania then on to Alexandria, Virginia; Bedford, Virginia; Asheville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Memphis, Tennessee; Clarksdale, Mississippi; Shreveport, Louisiana (not recommended unless you live on the East Texas border and have a gambling problem); Dallas, Texas; Sweetwater, Texas; Alamogordo, New Mexico (White Sands); Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Grand Canyon; Sedona, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Mt. Zion National Park, Utah (where my brother got married); Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; Jackson, Wyoming (Grand Teton National Park); Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; Bozeman, Montana; Mt. Rushmore/The Badlands, South Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska (home of the sellout and recent propaganda mouthpiece Warren Buffett); Indianapolis, Indiana; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Montauk, New York.

For a kid that grew up in Manhattan this was almost too much to handle, but in a profoundly positive way. The communion with nature, the amazing conversations with random people in far off places about the things I write about in these emails and the new friends I made. To the new people on this list that I met along the way, thanks for being a very important part of this trip which will forever hold a powerful grip on me. Now onto the other stuff…

The Rats are Cornered

This email will be pretty brief as I am still getting used to getting back to the fake world. Although I did work a little every day and kept up with the major news both financial and otherwise I am certainly behind on the details. This is how I would summarize what has gone on and where we are headed. The stimulus and gimmicks initiated by a desperate political class prodded on by our Keynesian witch-doctors Summers and Geithner ran their course and at the end of that road was a massive pile of debt, chronic unemployment, a populace that doesn’t believe or trust anything the government says or does and a housing market set to resume its downward spiral. So basically the forces of deflation have taken over once again. Banana Ben Bernanke knows it and he knows what he wants to do about it. He wants to print so much money it would make your head spin. He wants to drop nuclear bombs of QE2 all over this great land. That is his answer to everything. The man is 100% insane according to Einstein’s definition. I quote: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

There is a major problem however. Bernanke knows how unpopular he and his fascist institution are right now after all of the crimes they have committed in plain view since 2008. As such, he knows he needs cover for QE2 and that means some sort of deflationary shock that scares the masses and makes many clamor for help like sad, scared little children (we are being conditioned like animals). This is why I think the Fed and others have been fine with the recent market plunge. The only issue for them is they absolutely need gold, silver and other commodities to collapse as well. Bernanke cannot have the S&P500 at 850 and gold at 1,200 and announce QE2. Gold would surge to new highs and it would look horrible. This is why so much emphasis is being placed on getting gold and silver to retreat in a major way via propaganda pieces and also likely surreptitious selling behind the scenes. While there has been a decent pullback, it is nothing close to what they need and I am particularly impressed with how well silver is hanging in. I think this is due to a run on physical silver by investors and the dearth of government or central bank stockpiles to sell in the shadows.

This is what I mean by the rats being cornered. So far they have failed in decimating the precious metals markets and if they can’t do that in a deflationary scare then they are in huge trouble. Of course they will never stop trying because they are addicted to power and control and will do almost anything to protect their positions. I think a key thing to think about now that we must accept that they are in a corner is what is the next move on the chess board. I read this from Jesse’s Café yesterday (http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/currency-wars-selling-them-rope.html)

What is disconcerting to me, and you can see it to some extent in Rickards own work, is that the Wall Street financiers clearly have their eyes on the Pentagon budget: opaque, patriotically defensible, and huge. A currency war, with the Wall Street crowd providing tactics and weaponry and mercenaries to both the US and to its adversaries, might make the bonuses taken from the mortgage bubble look like pocket change by comparison. It’s an old idea really, the basis of some legendary fortunes, adapted to the modern world. It produces nothing but misery, while transferring wealth from the many to the few.

Ok, so this fits into a lot of what I have been warning about for some time now. Namely that once they lose control they will go to the next plan which is pure desperation. They will single out the two greatest threats to their power and I think those two things are: 1) Gold and Silver (independent money) 2) The Internet (free speech). If they can’t control the population with inane television and propaganda they will demonize these major threats. This will probably be sold to public in the name of national security since who could argue with that (if you do argue you will be labeled unpatriotic or a terrorist). So expect more and more announcements of Russian and Chinese cyber attacks or the like, which will be used as an attempt to censor the web and there will also be more and more news stories related to gold and silver being used by terrorists or those that wish to harm “America” (which is not the Republic but a small group of corporate, financial and political elites from both owned parties that have control via the monetary system). This group will then use “national security concerns” as a further justification to grab even more power and wield it in the name of protecting us from whatever threat they wish to use, real or fabricated.

Merck to Cut 16,000 Workers as Drugmaker Closes 16 Plants, Labs

Merck (MRK), the world's second largest drugmaker, said Thursday it plans to close eight manufacturing plants and eight research facilities around the world in its bid to save $3.5 billion a year.

The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company is also reducing its workforce by 15%, or some 16,000 jobs, it said.

The actions are part of a restructuring the company has undertaken following its $41 billion acquisition of rival Schering-Plough in November. In addition to the plant closings, Merck said it will consolidate some offices worldwide, as part of the restructuring begun last December.

"Today's announcement is another important step as we successfully integrate our global operations on schedule and move forward with Merck's strategic priorities," said Richard T. Clark, Merck chairman and chief executive.

Research facilities targeted for closing during the next two years are in Cambridge, Mass.; Montreal; Odense, Denmark; Waltrop, Germany; Newhouse, Scotland; and three sites in the Netherlands. Merck's women's health research, now centered in Oss, the Netherlands, will be relocated primarily to the U.S., the company said.

Presently, the company intends to cease manufacturing operations in the following locations: Comazzo, Italy; Cacem, Portugal; Azcapotzalco and Coyoacan, Mexico; and Santo Amaro, Brazil. Further, Merck said it intends to sell plants in Miami Lakes, Fla., and Mirador, Argentina. In Singapore, chemical manufacturing will be phased out from an existing Merck plant and shifted to a Schering-Plough facility acquired in the merger, although pharmaceutical manufacturing operations will continue at both plants, Merck said.

Following release of the news, Merck shares were up less than 1% in early trading on Wall Street to $35.69 each.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/9tXsXh

Obama to submit three trade agreements to Congress

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said that he would soon present three controversial trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Columbia to the Congress for consideration. Obama made an announcement in this regard when he laid down his plan to double the US export in the next fiveyears, for

which he announced a reconstituted President's Export Council to be headed by Boeing CEO Ursula Burns.

Hoping to move forward on new agreements with some of America's key partners, Obama said he has instructed US Trade Representative Ron Kirk to begin discussions to help resolve outstanding issues with the pending Korean Free Trade Agreement before his visit to South Korea in November.

"It's an agreement that will create new jobs and opportunity for people in both of our countries," he said.

"We also want to deepen and broaden our relations with Panama and Colombia. So we're working to resolve outstanding issues with the free trade agreements with those key partners, and we're focused on submitting them as soon as possible for congressional consideration," he said.

"We'll make sure each agreement we pursue doesn't just advance the interests of our businesses, workers, and farmers, but also upholds our most cherished values," Obama said.

Democrats are divided over all three deals, but are particularly hesitant about moving forward with the Colombia agreement. However, the South Korean deal has more support.

It is considered as the most important of the agreements for the US economy, but is opposed by labor groups and Ford.

Obama said his administration is making sure that the access of the world market by US companies is free and fair.

"The United States offers some of the world's lowest barriers to trade, and when we give other countries the privilege of that free and fair access, we expect it in return. Where American producers face unfair trade practices, we'll use every tool at our disposal to enforce trade agreements," he said.

"Last week, for example, the WTO ruled in favor of the United States on a case that found European governments were subsidizing planes that Airbus manufactures. That practice was unfair and hurt American workers. This ruling will help keep the playing field level and boost American jobs," he said.

Obama said his goal to double America's exports of goods and services around the world in five years will boost economic growth and support millions of American jobs in a manner that is deficit-friendly.

New eco fees catching consumers by surprise

Checking her receipt as she left a downtown Canadian Tire, Chris Colorado noticed a new charge.

A receipt shows the 13-cent eco fee paid on a bottle of dish detergent on July 7, 2010 at the Canadian Tire at Bay and Dundas.

Her $1.99 bottle of dish soap was accompanied by a 13-cent “eco fee.”

The levy for thousands of new products, from pharmaceuticals to fire extinguishers, quietly came into effect July 1, the same day as the harmonized sales tax.

But unlike that tax, provincial agencies have done little to publicize the new fees, catching consumers like Colorado by surprise.

“I’ve never heard anything about this fee. No one’s talking about it,” she said. “The fact they just put it without us knowing, I don’t think it’s honest. I don’t like it.”

Manufacturers must pay the province a levy for recycling their products. Some companies are passing these costs, ranging from a few cents to several dollars per product, onto consumers.

Stewardship Ontario, the agency overseeing the eco fees, began its $2.5 million public education campaign at the beginning of the month, which consists of posters and radio spots, as well as a group which tours public events and provides information about the program.

“We would rather spend the money to educate people than to spend the money months ahead to say, ‘Hey, there’s a new eco fee coming,’ ” said spokeswoman Amanda Harper Sevonty.

“Our message to consumers isn’t about the eco fees. Our message to consumers is about here are the materials and what to do with them.”

==

What gets the fee:
All aerosol containers, from paint to hairspray.
Rechargeable batteries, as well as non-lead acid motive batteries.
Corrosives and irritants, such as household bleaches, drain cleaners and detergents.
Assorted toxic, flammable and reactive products.
Syringes and needles.
Pharmaceuticals for humans and pets, including prescription medicine, over-the-counter drugs and natural health products.
Fluorescent tubes and bulbs.
Fire extinguishers.
For a full list and details on where to dispose these items, visit makethedrop.ca

==

By clicking the makethedrop.ca website and inserting their postal codes, residents can find which products they can recycle and where the closest collection site is located. There are 92 special disposal sites across the province.

Some retailers and consumers, however, say the silence has hurt the cause. If the consumers don’t know of the fees before they buy the item, they won’t know what to do with the waste.

When the first round of products was levied in 2008, Len McAuley was given a sign explaining the fees to customers at Pollock’s Home Hardware on Roncesvalles Ave.

“With this second phase, they haven’t sent us anything,” he said. “Basically, the list is getting longer. The government’s not communicating to the public.”

The fees now cover all aerosol containers from hairspray to whipped cream, pharmaceuticals, syringes, mercury-containing devices and other toxic, corrosive or flammable products.

The start date of the new levies was set when the program came into effect two years ago and by coincidence fell on the same day as the HST launch, Harper Sevonty said.

Progressive Conservative Environment Critic Toby Barrett criticized some of the fees as being a tax grab “under the guise of environmentalism,” noting particular concern with levies on fire extinguishers, which range from $2.22 to $6.66 depending on the weight.

“I feel the Ontario government has a bit of explaining to do. I think that would eliminate a lot of the frustration,” he said.

However, Harper Sevonty stressed that the fees aren’t a tax.

“They are the program cost to collect and manage this material out of the waste stream,” she said.

The companies that produce the goods are being charged a levy, which pays for the hazardous waste to be properly recycled instead of being dumped into landfills. It’s up to the manufacturers and retailers whether to download the charge onto customers, she said.

At Queen’s Park, Environment Minister John Gerretsen defended the recycling fees as “the right thing to do.”

He noted the stewardship councils were set up under enabling legislation that was passed by the previous Progressive Conservative government in 2002, so it’s odd that the Tories would be so critical.

“It’s not a tax. The government does not see one penny of it. It all goes to the stewardship councils to make sure that all of these materials do not end up in our landfill sites,” the minister said.

With files from Robert Benzie

Market Manipulation On Display

Click this link ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOr5suFJ6-k&feature=player_embedded#!

US to access Europeans' bank data in new deal

Euro MPs have approved a new deal to allow US anti-terror investigators to access Europeans' bank data.

The vote followed tough negotiations with US authorities after a previous agreement was blocked by the European Parliament in February.

EU negotiators say the new deal gives EU officials authority to monitor the US investigators' actions.

The deal gives the US access to bulk data from Swift, a firm that handles millions of bank transactions daily.

Washington says the Swift deal is crucial to fighting terrorism, as part of the US Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme (TFTP) set up after the September 2001 attacks on the US.

Privacy concerns

Top US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, lobbied the EU over the data transfer deal.

Continue reading the main story

This sends the right signals about our resolve in fighting terrorism and our commitment to remaining a strong partner of the United States

Timothy Kirkhope UK Conservative MEP Q&A: US data deal with Europe

The agreement was passed with 484 MEPs in favour and 109 against. There were 12 abstentions.

In February Euro MPs rejected an earlier draft agreement, saying the privacy safeguards were inadequate.

The fact that the US was secretly accessing Swift bank data did not come to light until 2006.

Under the new deal, the EU police agency Europol will assess whether specific data requests are necessary for the fight against terrorism before the data is sent to the US, the European Commission says.

The Commission will appoint EU officials to monitor the US investigators' actions.

There is also a requirement that bulk data can never be sent to third countries.

EU citizens who believe their data has been misused will have the right to legal action in the US courts.

'Sends right signals'

The Commission says the data transferred under TFTP can include identifying information about the originator and/or recipient of the transaction, including name, address, national identification number and other personal data related to financial messages.

A German Liberal MEP, Alexander Alvaro, said the deal "will ensure that terrorist financing can be traced back to its sources, but it will not affect day-to-day bank transfers of EU citizens".

And the leader of the UK Conservative MEPs, Timothy Kirkhope, said it "sends the right signals about our resolve in fighting terrorism and our commitment to remaining a strong partner of the United States".

The lobby group European Digital Rights (EDRI) says the new deal is still not restrictive enough. It will allow a great deal of data to be transferred to the US, EDRI says, doubting that aggrieved EU citizens will get any legal redress in the US.

EDRI also says Europol is the wrong vehicle to vet US anti-terror requests, because Europol itself will be able to request data from US searches, and that "drastically reduces any incentive to limit the transferred amount of data".

A judicial body, not the police, should be in charge, it argues.

Wells Fargo to Cut 3,800 Jobs, Close Financing Unit in forum [NotSoBreaking]

Wells Fargo Cuts 3,800 Jobs because the economy is all better my saracasm.

John Stumpf, chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Co. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg

Wells Fargo & Co., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it will eliminate 3,800 jobs and close its consumer-finance unit.

The lender will take a charge of $185 million, with $137 million, or 2 cents a share, taken in the second quarter, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement. The unit will close 638 independent consumer-finance branches and stop making non-prime home loans, the statement said.

“The economics of a separate Wells Fargo Financial channel are no longer viable, especially now that our customers have access to the largest banking and mortgage store network in the United States,” David Kvamme, president of Wells Fargo Financial, said in the statement.

Wells Fargo is the top mortgage lender in the U.S. and the fourth-largest bank after purchasing Wachovia Corp. for $12.7 billion in 2008. Auto, home and credit-card loans will continue to be made from retail branches. Less than 2 percent of the bank’s real estate loans were originated in the Wells Fargo Financial network, according to the statement.

Wells Fargo Financial is the division that sold consumer loans and mortgages, including subprime at one time and home equity loans, to borrowers with blemished credit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dakin Campbell in San Francisco at dcampbell27@bloomberg.net

----------

All men are Greeks, but few of them know it.

Retailers post tepid June, start to discount more

NEW YORK — Americans didn't go on many shopping sprees in June, resulting in sluggish sales for many retailers. It often took deeply discounted clothing to get shoppers to spend - and then only if they needed it.

The lackluster performance, being compared with a weak June 2009, is raising concerns about the back-to-school shopping season and the health of the economic recovery.

The International Council of Shopping Centers' index of June retail sales saw a 3 percent increase, the low end of its growth forecast that ranged from 3 to 4 percent. But that's compared with a 5.1 percent decline in the year-ago period.

The figures are based on revenue at stores open at least a year and are a key indicator of retailers' health.

June's results were inflated by a late Memorial Day weekend, which lifted results by 1 percentage point last month and deflated May by the same amount, according to Mike Niemira, chief economist at ICSC.

After ramping up spending surprisingly in the first quarter, shoppers have hunkered down since April. Some worry they'll continue to be tight-fisted through the holiday shopping season.

"My sense is that the consumer is very cautious at this stage given the state of the labor market, the housing market," said Ken Perkins, president of research firm RetailMetrics. "June sales are going to reflect that caution." A sluggish June sets up a "disappointing back-to-school season," he said. "I think (back-to-school) is going to be very promotional."

As merchants reported their results Thursday, Costco Wholesale Corp. posted a solid revenue gain, but it was fueled by its international business. Target Corp. posted a modest gain that was below Wall Street expectations. Many teen merchants including American Eagle Outfitters Inc., The Buckle Inc., Hot Topic Inc. and The Wet Seal Inc. reported decreases in revenue.

Among the bright spots were Limited Brands Inc., which owns Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. Department store operators Macy's Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. also had solid gains that were better than expected.

June is a time when stores clear out summer goods to make room for back-to-school merchandise. But analysts say discounting was heavier than expected as stores had to work hard to pull in shoppers continuing to grapple with a deluge of financial issues. Such deeper-than-planned discounting resulted in some stores, including American Eagle Outfitters and Wet Seal, trimming profit forecasts Thursday.

Clothing stores accelerated discounting toward the end of June after not getting enough business, BMO Capital Markets analyst John Morris said. He estimated that discounts at the mall clothing chains he tracks was even with a year ago even as stores carry less inventory than a year ago. Discounting was down 5 percent in May from a year earlier, after being down 10 percent from February through April, Morris said.

Uncertainty is growing as evidence mounts - from disappointing housing data to sluggish hiring - that the recovery is stalling heading into the second half of 2010. And that is when the benefits of most of the government's stimulus spending will begin to fade.

Consumers also saw their retirement funds erode further as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined 13 percent from its late April peak.

Such economic concerns drove down consumer confidence by 10 points in June, reversing three straight gains, according to The Conference Board.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new claims for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week, but they have yet to reach levels that most economists say would point to robust job creation.

Against this environment,even discounters and wholesale club operators are fighting for every dollar from consumers.

Costco said Thursday that revenue in stores open at least one year rose 4 percent in June, boosted by international results. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a 4.2 percent gain.

Target posted a disappointing 1.7 percent gain. Clothing, food, and health and beauty products were strong sellers. But electronics, video games, music and movies were weaker.

Among department stores, Macy's enjoyed a 6.5 percent gain in June. Penney enjoyed a 4.5 percent gain. Saks Inc., which operates Saks Fifth Avenue, rose 2.5 percent in June.

Limited Brands, which operates Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works, said it posted a 6 percent gain.

But preppy teen clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch Co., which has struggled with declines, posted a 9 percent increase, but it's still a long way from making up last year's 32 percent drop.

The figures cover the period from May 30 through Saturday. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, stopped reporting monthly results last year.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Consumer Bankruptcies Up 14 Percent In First Half Of 2010

Mitchell Jaworski - AHN News Reporter

Alexandria, VA, United States (AHN) - The American Bankruptcy Institute reported Friday that consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 770,117 in the first six months of the year.

Bankruptcies are up 14 percent compared to the 675,351 registered in the first half of 2009 as Americans continue to battle high debt levels and a weak labor market.

"Years of rising consumer debt and low savings rates, combined with the housing and unemployment crises, are causing bankruptcy levels not seen since the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "We expect that there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings by year end."

Bankruptcy filings in June reached 126,270, an 8.5 percent rise from the same month a year ago. However, June filings were 7.8 percent lower than May, which saw 136,142.

Of the bankruptcy filings in June, 27 percent were Chapter 13 filings. Chapter 13 is for individuals with regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts; typically such filings are used to budget some of the debtor's future earnings under a plan in which unsecured creditors are paid back.

Mystery of the lost files in Sarkozy illegal cash payments scandal

Damning documents implicating Nicolas Sarkozy in illegal cash payments mysteriously disappeared before being 'found' again yesterday by police.

Extracts from the accounting reocrds, published in the newspaper Liberation, suggested that Lilliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman, gave 100,000 euros to man named only as 'Monsieur'.

Detectives in Paris have launched an investigation into illegal cash payments allegedly made to Nicolas Sarkozy by L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt

A prosecution source said: 'They're now at the centre of the criminal investigation.

'Mrs Bettencourt thought she had lost them, but they were then found again by detectives.'

Mrs Bettencourt, the billionaire L'Oreal heiress, is said to have provided Mr Sarkozy with 'manila envelopes stuffed with cash' following dinner parties at her mansion house in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where Mr Sarkozy was once mayor and still keeps a home.

Claire Thibout, a 52-year-old accountant who helped manage Mrs Bettencourt's fortune, has told detectives she personally collected some of the money from a cashpoint.

Liberation today writes: 'It's necessary to go back to the month of January 2007 to find confirmation of the claims of the accountant, which refer to important withdrawals designated for political financing.

'On January 26, 100,000 euros were handed over to an unnamed man', reports the newspaper, publishing a ledger which mysteriously marks the beneficiary as 'Monsieur'.

Front page news: Mr Sarkozy has said he is the victim of a smear campaign as the allegations have plunged him into a fresh crisis

Mrs Thibout's lawyer, Antoine Gillot, said: 'My client is categorical. When you take out 100,000 euros for Mrs Bettencourt, it's not because it's going to the hairdresser.'

Much of the money is thought to have come from Swiss accounts, which Mrs Bettencourt had not declared to the French tax authorities.

Mr Gillot said Mrs Thibout was under 'enormous pressure' and that police had travelled to the South of France to bring her back to Paris for further interviews.

LILIANE BETTENCOURT

* Mrs Bettencourt owns 31 per cent of L'Oreal and is worth an estimated £13billion.

* She is the only child of Eugene Schueller, the founder of the cosmetic giant.

* In 1950, she married French politician Andre Bettencourt and the couple have one daughter, Francoise, who is on L'Oreal's board of directors.

* Mrs Bettencourt claims to have lost money in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.

* In December last year, her daughter launched a civil lawsuit to try to have Mrs Bettencourt declared legally irresponsible and placed under the authority of the court for spending too much money.

* Secret tape recordings emerged last month which allegedly reveal Mrs Bettencourt had undeclared holdings in the Seychelles and Switzerland.

She is now likely to be given the official status of a witness in the criminal investigation being coordinated by Nanterre prosecutors.

Mrs Bettencourt's lawyer, Georges Kiejman, meanwhile claimed that the accounting documents helped contradict Mrs Thibout's claims.

Pointing to a photocopy of the ledger on French TV, he said that 50,000 euros taken from a Paris bank on March 26 2007 did not end up in Mr Sarkozy's presidential election campaign coffers, as has been claimed.

Instead the money was clearly marked as having gone on 'food shopping' and to a 'bookbinder', said Mr Kiejman.

A furious Mr Sarkozy has denounced the allegations against him as 'libel that aims only to smear, without the slightest basis in reality'.

Mrs Thibout has also pointed to Eric Woerth, a senior minister and treasurer of Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, as being at the centre of the alleged corruption.

Mr Woerth, whose wife was a financial adviser to Mrs Bettencourt until she resigned last month, has resisted opposition calls to stand down.

He also denies all wrongdoing or any conflict of interest when he held parallel offices as party treasurer and, until March, budget minister.

'I did not receive a single euro illegally,' said Mr Woerth.

A recent opinion poll found that nearly two-thirds of the French public believe their political leaders are corrupt.

While Big Easy Takes on Oil, Obama Sues Arizona!

President Barack Obama, fresh off his "kick ass" success in rescuing Afghanistan from the poor judgment of General Stanley McCrystal, decided to expand his newly-minted toughness to domestic affairs.

Unfortunately, the poor judgment that was supposed to exit with the deposed general has taken up residence in the president's own immature mind.

As reported, in part, at reference 1, the Big Easy, still in recovery from W.'s Katrina, is now taking on oil from the Obama fiasco:

"NEW ORLEANS - Oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is seeping into Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans, threatening another environmental disaster for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in the 1990s.

It (Lake Pontchartrain) is threatened again after a weekend when tar balls and an oil sheen pushed by strong winds from faraway Hurricane Alex slipped past lines of barges that were supposed to block the passes connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the lake."

Adding to the environmental misery, tar balls have made their way to Galveston Texas, the first evidence that oil has reached the Texas coastline.

While the worst environmental disaster in history spreads to Big Easy and all of the Gulf States, Barack Hussein Obama, in a snit of poor judgment and political fraud, has unleashed the vast powers and resources of the U.S. Government against the state of Arizona for its tough, and long overdue, anti-illegal alien bill.

Call Obama's hideous meddling what you wish, pandering to illegal aliens, or trolling for votes among those who oppose secure borders and the rule of law, the fact is that Barack Obama has taken his eye off the tar balls long enough to attack a sovereign entity of the United States.

Which is either incredibly poor judgment, or out and out treason, or, most probably, both.

In attacking Arizona and the American citizens residing there, Obama and his Marxist menaces continue to push amnesty for invading criminals based on these outrageous lies:

Our Borders Are Secure: Liberals have concocted a foolish argument to counter the "secure the borders first" demands from people who really care about American sovereignty.

Namely, Obama and leftist moon bats like Pete Stark of California are fond of saying that the borders ARE secure!

This falsehood is incredibly shallow, given the fact that there are millions of Illegals here. If the borders are indeed secure, how in the hell did they get in?

And how is it that Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was murdered by Illegals from Mexico on his own property in March?

There Are Only 12 Million Illegals Here: Desperate moon bats even try to lie about the number of illegal aliens currently here. The number 12 million, in and of itself a scandal and outrage, is clearly understated by a factor of three or more.

In fact, there are probably closer to 40 million illegal aliens squatting in America right now.

Why in the world would any intelligent person with the slightest love for American values wish to grant citizenship to 40 million invading criminals, most of whom are uneducated, penniless, and non-English speaking?

Illegals Contribute to Our Economy and Society: Liberals, looking for newcomers who can be convinced to vote Democrat after being showered with benefits reserved for citizens, love to claim that illegal aliens are a net gain to the U.S. economy.

In truth, of course, illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars as year.

As reported, in part, at Reference 2:

"The cost of harboring illegal immigrants in the United States is a staggering $113 billion a year - an average of $1,117 for every "native-headed" household in America - according to a study conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

"The study, a copy of which was provided to FoxNews.com, "is the first and most detailed look at the costs of illegal immigration ever done," says Bob Dane, director of communications at FAIR, a conservative organization that seeks to end almost all immigration.

"FAIR's report argues that there are two choices in the immigration debate: "One choice is pursuing a strategy that discourages future illegal migration and increasingly diminishes the current illegal alien population through denial of job opportunities and deportations. The other choice," it says, "would repeat the unfortunate decision made in 1986 to adopt an amnesty that invited continued illegal migration."

Again, why would any intelligent citizen with even a smidgen of love for America agree to amnesty for invading criminals who cost American taxpayers $113 billion a year?

The answer: U.S. policy is NOT in the hands of intelligent citizens who have even a smidgen of love for America.

Rather, we are governed by an administration of men and women of incredibly poor judgment who despise American language, culture, and values!

Reference 1

Reference 2

John Lillpop is a recovering liberal, 'clean and sober' since 1992 when last he voted for a Democrat. Pray for John: He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where people like Nancy Pelosi are considered reasonable! Writing is his passion. He loves creating lively copy with irony and humor!