Why the revolution can't get here soon enough.

 

Yet another example of why we may need to take things into our own hands soon. I have read about dozens of such incidents ( usually involving Bank of America) and this is another one for the list.

 

Bankers continue to reap huge bonuses. Congressmen such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd had their hand in setting up the subprime fiasco via the Community Reinvestment Act, which was pushed by groups such as ACORN.  Then we have Frank Raines: "In accordance with the mission of Fannie Mae to enable home ownership by a greater proportion of the population, Franklin Raines, while Chairman and CEO, began a pilot program in 1999 to issue bank loans to individuals with low to moderate income, and to ease credit requirements on loans that Fannie Mae purchased from banks. Raines promoted the program saying that it would allow consumers who were "a notch below what our current underwriting has required" to get home loans. The move was intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners." Of course, Congress was on board with lending money to anyone who could fog a mirror. At any rate, on to the story that is the main rant of this post:

 

SEATTLE (Link)-- J.D. Butler was on his death bed when JP Morgan Chase invaded his home, according to his daughter, who said the intrusion left the waterfront home in shambles.

Celeste Butler says she couldn't get any answers from Chase, so her only option was to sue.

"I'm praying and hoping that this never happens to anyone else again," she said.

Butler says she took home video to document what happened to her father's waterfront home, which was ransacked while he fought for his life in the hospital. Drawers were turned upside down, and a locked china cabinet was broken into.

"They took 17th-century paintings," said Celeste.

Items that had been collected during a lifetime of service in the U.S. Navy were destroyed.

"When I left this house, everything was neat and clean in this room," said Celeste.

Celeste's attorney says Chase, J.D.'s mortgage company, is to blame.

"One of the terms in the mortgage papers is that the bank has the right to enter the property if it appears that the home is abandoned, so we believe that this event was orchestrated by the bank to allow the bank to initiate action against the Butler home," said Chris Davis, Celeste's attorney.

Chase says J.D. had fallen behind in payments. And if a loan is delinquent, Chase says it has the right to enter a house.

"We followed our policy to maintain a mortgaged property, especially during winter months when cold weather can damage property," Chase said.

The contractor Chase hired left orange stickers where the plumbing had been winterized. The mortgage company insists the house was disorganized when it initially checked on it.

But Celeste insists the payments had been made, and the Port Angeles house was neat when she left it.

"And the bank told me the mortgage was current," she said.

Now a court will have to decide who is in the right.

Celeste's father died in January. Her lawsuit claims Chase and its contractors unlawfully entered the house and caused her emotional stress.

"It's shocking because you don't expect a bank with a good reputation like Chase to be involved in this sort of thing,"(Edit: LMAO at that one) Davis said.

"It's pretty terrible when this happens to you lose a lot of things, so yeah, I'm praying and hoping that this never happens to anyone again," said Celeste.

Butler is now selling the house her father left behind. Her lawsuit, filed in King County, seeks unspecified damages from Chase and two contractors.

===================================

 

It's high time to start stringing these clowns up.

=======================================

Damnation!! The latest Wiki release.

 

 A couple of things to note.  Bold text is my bold and, although I too am interested in the more recent diplomatic cables, the one below from 1972 that discusses F-4E fighter sales to Iran is noteworthy from a historical standpoint.

 

R 250930Z FEB 72 FM AMEMBASSY TEHRAN TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7561 INFO SECDEF EUCOM CSAF

UNCLASSIFIED SECTION 01 OF 01 TEHRAN 1164 E.O. 12958: AS AMENDED; DECLASSIFIED JUNE 21, 2006 TAGS: MASS MARR IR SUBJECT: ACCELERATION OF F-4ES FOR IRAN REF: TEHRAN 1091: TEHRAN 263: MOSCOW 1603 COUNTRY TEAM.

 

 MESSAGE BEGIN

 

 SUMMARY

 

 GENERAL AZIMI, MINISTER OF WAR, ON INSTRUCTION OF SHAH ASKS THAT WE TAKE ANOTHER HARD LOOK AT F-4E PRODUCTION LINE IN ORDER ACCELERATE DELIVERY OF ONE SQUADRON OF F-4ES TO IRAN IN 1972.

 

REQUEST REFLECTS SHAH'S INCREASING CONCERN OVER SOVIET AMBITIONS IN AREA AND ESPECIALLY THREAT SHAH SEES TO IRAN OF FRIENDSHIP TREATY UNDER CONSIDERATION BY IRAQ AND USSR. SHAH RECOGNIZES PROBLEMS THIS POSES FOR US BUT IS TURNING TO USG WITH THIS REQUEST TO GIVE IRAN HIGHER PRIORITY ON FA-4E PRODUCTION SCHEDULE BECAUSE HE REGARDS US AS MOST DEPENDABLE FRIEND. END SUMMARY

 

 ACTION REQUESTED: COUNTRY TEAM RECOMMENDS US REVIEW F-4E PRODUCTION LINE AND RESPOND FAVORABLY TO SHAH'S REQUEST FOR 16 F-4ES IN 1972 FROM WHATEVER SOURCE MAY BE AVAILABLE. ¶1.

 

 ON FEB 24 CHARGE WAS CONVOKED BY MINSTER OF WAR, GEN. REZANUZIMI, ON INSTRUCTIONS FROM SHAH. AZIMI SAID SHAH MOST DEEPLY CONCERNED AT TRENDS IN SECURITY SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST AND EXPECIALLY ON HIS WESTERN BORDERS. US OFFICALS ALREADY AWARE OF SHAH'S CONCERN THROUGH DISCUSSIONS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER AND OTHER GOI OFFICIALS (SEE REFTELS), BUT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAQ SOVIET RELATIONS INCLUDING AGREEMENT TO DELIVER MORE MIGS AND OTHER MILITARY EQUIPMENT PLUS INDICATION THAT RECENT IRAQI-SOVIET TALKS IN MOSCOW INCLUDED CONSIDERATION OF FRIENDSHIP TREATY AS WELL AS INCREASED MILITARY COOPERATION INJECT NEW SENSE OF URGENCY IN SHAH'S TIMETABLE FOR MODERNINZING AND STRENTHENING HIS ARMED FORCES.

 

 MOST SPECIFICALLY, SITUATION REQUIRED IRAN ACCELERATE ITS MILITARY PROCUREMENT AND HOST PARTICULARLY DELIVERY OF F-4E AIRCRAFT. ¶2. AZIMI RECALLED THAT GOI HAD REQUESTED DELIVERY OF 16 OF F-4E AIRCRAFT NOW ON ORDER BY IRAN (FIRST OF WHICH WAS NOT SCHEDULED FOR DELIVERY UNTIL AUGUST 1973) BE ADVANCED TO CY 1972. HOWEVER, GOI HAD RECENTLY BEEN INFORMED BY USG AND MCDONNELL-DOUGLAS THAT PRODUCTION LINE FOR IRAN COULD NOT RPT NOT BE ADVANCED TO MEET 1972 DELIVERY DATES DESIRED. SHAH WAS MOST DISTURBED, AS ADDITION OF F-4ES IN 1972 WAS VITAL TO IRAN'S SECURITY AT THIS TIME.

 

SHAH HAD DIRECTED THAT USG BE ASKED, IF PRODUCTION FOR IRAN COULD NOT IN FACT BE ADVANCED, TO MAKE REQUESTED F-4ES AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES. SHAH'S DESIRE IS FOR DELIIVERY OF F-4FS IN LOTS OF FOUR DURING JUNE TO DECEMBER TIME-FRAME. ¶3. CHARGE REVIEWED RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN US-IRAN MILITARY COOPERATION, INCLUDING EQUIPMENT AND CREDIT, AND STRESSED THAT RECORD INDICATED WE UNDERSTOOD AND APPRECIATED SHAH'S CONCERNS AND DESIRES AND HAD BEEN EXCEPTIONALLY RESPONSIVE TO SHAH'S WISHES.

 

CURRENTLY, AZIMI'S DEPUTY GEN. TOUFANS, WAS IN US DISCUSSING VERY QUESTION OF ACCLERATED EQUIPMENT ACQUISIION INCLUDING F-4E. ACCELERATION OF F-4E DELIVERY RAISED DIFFICULT TECHNICAL AND COST PROBLEMS AS WELL AS QUESTIONS OF OTHER COMMITMENTS AND PRIORITIES. UNDOUBTEDLY THESE ISSUES WERE BEING DISCUSSED IN FULL WITH GEN. TOUFANIAN TO ENSURE THAT HE WAS COMPLETELY INFORMED OF POSSIBILITIES AND PROBLEMS AND REASONS FOR ANY LIMITATIONS ON MEETING GOI REQUEST THAT MIGHT EXIST. GEN. TOUFANIAN PROBABLY WOULD HAVE FULLER PICTURE OF SITUATION THAN WE NOW HAD IN IRAN. 4. AZIMI RESPONDED THAT GOI WAS BEING KEPT INFORMED OF TOUFANIAN DISCUSSIONS, BUT DECISON ON F-4E COULD NOT BE DELAYED. AZIMI MADE CLEAR SHAH FELT AQUISITION OF 16 F-4E AIRCRAFT IN 1972 WAS MOST IMPORTANT IMMEDIATE MILITARY PROBLEM OUTSTANDING. HE STRESSED SHAH BELIEVED THAT NUMBER REQUIRED WAS SMALL IN RELATION TO US INVENTORY, AND THAT UNSETTLED SITUATION CONFRONTING IRAN WARRANTED ACCELERATED DELIVERY TO IRAN AS AGAINST OTHER POSSIBLE DISPOSITIONS (AS TO EUROPE OR EVEN USAF) IN SAME TIME FRAME. ¶5. CHARGE NOTED WE WOULD TRANSMIT SHAHS REQUEST TO, WASHINGTON AND THAT USG IN SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP WHICH MARKED OUR RELATIONS WOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO BE RESPONSIVE. CHARGE SAID THIS SAME FRIENDSHIP REQUIRED HIM TO SAY, HOWEVER, THAT ALTHOUGH WE WOULD DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO MEET SHAH'S NEEDS AS SHAH SAW THEM, OUR MILITARY ADVISERS, AS GOI KNEW, WERE CONCERNED THAT ACCELERATION OF AIRCRAFT ACQUISITION WOULD STRAIN SUPPORT AND OPERATIONAL MANPOWER OF IIAF AND COULD LEAD TO DECREASE RATHER THAN INCREASE IN IIAF EFFECTIVENESS. AZIMI REPLIED THAT NUMBER OF AIRCRAFT TO BE DELIVERED HAD BEEN, CLOSELY STUDIED BY IlAF WITH MAAG ASSISTANCE, AND IIAF WAS SATISFIED THAT SIXTEEN AIRCRAFT REQUESTED COULD BE EFFECTIVELY INTEGRATED INTO PRESENT FORCE STRUCTURE.

 

 AZIMI CLOSED MEETING BY ASKING THAT USG ANSWER SHAH'S REQUEST AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE. ¶6.

 

 COMMENT. SHAH IS DEEPLY CONCERN AT DEVELOPMENTS OVER PAST YEARS STRENGTHENING SOVIET INFLUENCE AND PRESENCE IN MIDEAST AND INDIAN OCEAN AND APPEARING TO INDICATE SUBSTANTIALLY ENLARGED SOVIET COMMITMENT, ECONOMIC AND MILITARY, TO IRAQ. HE HAS CONCLUDED THAT INCREASED PRESENT DANGER REQIRES IRAN'S FIRST LINE AIR DEFENSE TO BE BEEFED-UP NOW RATHER THAN IN PREVIOUSLY PROGRAMMED SCHEDULE STARTING IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS. THE NUMBER, FREQUENCY AND TONE OF DEMARCHES ON SUBJECT WE HAVE RECEIVED IS VIRTUALLY UNPARALLELLED, AND CAN LEAVE NO DOUBT THAT HIM CONSIDERS ISSUE OF VITAL IMPORTANCE. ¶7.

 

WHETHER WE FULLY AGREE WITH SHAH'S CONCERN, WE MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT REQUEST --LIKE USG DECISION IN 1970 ON SALE TO IRAN OF SEVENTH AND EIGHTH SQUADRONS OF F-4E --HAS BECOME ANOTHER GUT ISSUE IN SHAH'S MIND. SHAH IS AGAIN TURNING TO USG BECAUSE IN PERIODS OF ANXIETY SHAH FEELS HE CAN LOOK TO US FOR COOPERATION AND HE HOPES THAT US AS RELIABLE FRIEND WILL FIND CHANCE BE RESPONSIVE ON MATTER HE CONSIDERS IMPORTANT AND VITAL TO IRAN'S SECURITY. THUS USG CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST MUST RECOGNIZE THAT DECISION INVOLVES UNUSUAL DEGREE OF POLITICAL IMPORTANCE RELATED TO FABRIC OF USG-GOI RELATIONS. DECISION SHOULD ALSO NOT OVERLOOK OR UNDERESTIMATE IMPORTANCE OF IRAN FOR VITAL US NATIONAL INTERESTS. ¶8.

 

 ACTION REQUESTED. COUNRY TEAM URGES THAT USG GIVE PROMPT AND SYMPATHETIC ATTENTION TO SHAH'S REQUEST FOR 1972 DELIVERY OF F-4E AIRCRAFT, FROM WHATEVER SOURCES MAY BE AVAILABLE TO BE TAPPED (INCLUDING DELIVERIES TO USAF). WE RECOGNIZE THAT REQUEST MAY RAISE DIFFICULT PROBLEMS, BUT URGE THAT EVERY AVENUE BE EXPLORED TO REACH POSITIVE RESPONSE. IT IS ALSO MOST IMPORTANT THAT COUNTRY TEAM BE KEPT FULLY INFORMED OF PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS TO ENABLE US CONTINUE TO MEET AND TEMPER SENSE OF URGENCY ON SUBJECT WHICH PREVAILS WITHIN GOI. IF DELAYS OR BARRIERS TO FULLY FAVORABLE RESPONSE MATERIALIZE, WE TRUST THAT EVERY EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO BE AS FORTHCOMING AS POSSIBLE (E.G. PARTIAL DELIVERY IN 1972) AND THAT PERSUASIVE RATIONALE CAN BE DEVELOPED TO FULLY EXPLAIN TO SHAH REASONS FOR ANY SHORTCOMING. IN ORDER TO DIMINISH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE NEGATIVE IMPACT.

 

========================================

 

Below is a December 1989 cable dealing with Panama and another possible coup against Noriega:

 

P 131914Z DEC 89 FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7213 INFO SECDEF WASHDC DIA WASHDC USIA WASHDC 8090 USCINCSO QUARRY HTS PM PANCANAL COMM USLO CARIBBEAN AMEMBASSY BOGOTA AMEMBASSY CARACAS AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE AMEMBASSY MANAGUA AMEMBASSY PARIS AMEMBASSY ROME AMEMBASSY MADRID AMEMBASSY BONNS E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 PANAMA 08545 E.O.12356: DECL:OADR TAGS: PGOV PREL PM US SUBJECT: PANAMANIANS HOPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL COUP -- NORIEGA PLANS FOR A NEW YEAR IN POWER 1.

 

SECRET -

 

 ENTIRE TEXT. -------------------------------- SUMMARY --------------------------------  

 

2. THROUGHOUT 1989, RAPIDLY UNFOLDING POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS HELD OUT HOPE TO MANY PANAMANIANS FOR A RESOLUTION TO PANAMA'S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS: THE ELECTION OF MAY 7, THE SUBSEQUENT OAS NEGOTIATIONS, THE CONSTITUTIONAL DEADLINE OF SEPTEMBER 1, THE COUP ATTEMPT OF OCTOBER 3, AND THE TREATY DEADLINE OF JANUARY 1, 1990. PROJECTING INTO THE FIRST HALF OF 1990, NO SUCH HOPEFUL EVENTS AND DATES ARE READILY APPARENT. THE OPPOSITION'S MAIN OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO SURVIVE POLITICALLY, ECONOMICALLY, AND LITERALLY UNTIL THE NEXT COUP. NORIEGA WILL HAVE TO TRY AND CONSOLIDATE HIS CONTROL OVER THE PANAMA DEFENSE FORCES (FDP) AND AVOID ANOTHER UPRISING.

 

3. PRESSURES ON NORIEGA HAVE INCREASED ACROSS THE BOARD, BUT HE SEEMS TO HAVE DETERMINED THAT HE CAN MANAGE THEM. DESPITE NEW U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS, THE MOST PRECIPITOUS ECONOMIC DROP IS OVER FOR NOW, FOLLOWING A TWO-YEAR, 25 PERCENT DROP IN GDP. INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION REMAINS AN IRRITANT TO THE REGIME, BUT IT IS NOT A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR NORIEGA'S STABILITY. U.S. ACTIONS, FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF AN ACTING CANAL ADMINISTRATOR TO RUMORED COVERT PLANS AGAINST NORIEGA AS WELL AS NEW ECONOMIC SANCTIONS, ALLOW NORIEGA TO BEAT THE NATIONALISTIC DRUM AND MAKE IT APPEAR AS IF DOMESTIC SUPPORT FOR HIM IS GROWING.

 

 4. NORIEGA.S WEAKEST POINT REMAINS HIS OWN INSTITUTION. WHISPERS THAT THE OCTOBER 3 COUP IS NOT OVER. CONTINUE AND NORIEGA CONTINUES TO HOLD ON MAINLY BY BRUTAL REPRESSION OF ANY POTENTIAL NEW INSIDE OPPONENTS. WHEN ANOTHER ACTION TO REMOVE NORIEGA WILL TAKE PLACE IS UNCERTAIN, BUT WAITING FOR THAT POSSIBILITY IS THE MAIN PROSPECT FOR PANAMA IN 1990. END SUMMARY.

 

 --------------------------------------- THE CRISIS GRINDS ON  ---------------------------------------

 

5. THE PANAMA CRISIS CONTINUES TO GRIND ON WITH NO CLEAR END IN SIGHT. NORIEGA TENACIOUSLY HOLDS ON TO POWER, INTIMIDATING HIS OPPONENTS AND FIRING UP HIS SUPPORTERS WITH SLOGANS CALLING FOR RETRIBUTION AGAINST PANAMANIAN TRAITORS AND THEIR U.S. MASTERS, SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPEN TO HIM. NORIEGA IS WEAKER THAN HE WAS AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR, BUT THE IMPACT OF THE CURRENT SET OF PRESSURES HAVE SO FAR FAILED TO EJECT HIM FROM OFFICE. 6. NEVERTHELESS, RECENT PRESS REPORTS OF AN ALLEGED U.S. COVERT ACTION PLAN AGAINST NORIEGA HAVE ONCE AGAIN RAISED HOPES OF SOME PANAMANIANS THAT THIS MAY BE THE BEGINNING OF HIS END. NORIEGA HIMSELF IS APPARENTLY ATTACHING SOME CREDIBILITY TO THE PRESS REPORTS. HE HAS REACTED NERVOUSLY BY STEPPING UP HARASSMENT OF THE OPPOSITION AND INCREASING THE SIZE, TRAINING, ACTIVITY, AND ARMAMENT OF HIS DIGNITY BATTALIONS. THE OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP IS CONCERNED OVER THE NEW EYE FOR AN EYE PARA-MILITARY CAMPAIGN, WHICH NORIEGA HAS USED TO REMIND THE OPPOSITION OF ITS VULNERABILITY.

 

 --------------------------------------- REGIME POLITICAL ACTIVITY --------------------------------------- 

 

7. THE RODRIGUEZ ADMINISTRATION, UNSURPRISINGLY, REMAINS INEFFECTUAL, BUT CONTINUES TO LIMP ALONG. REGIME SOURCES INDICATE WITH SOME DEGREE OF CERTITUDE THAT NORIEGA IS UNHAPPY WITH HIS CIVILIAN PUPPETS, THAT HE MAY EVEN FIRE RODRIGUEZ, AND PLANS TO TAKE OVER THE FORMAL REIGNS OF GOVERNMENT SOON. THE ASSEMBLY OF 510 LOCAL DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES (ANRC) CONFIRMED HIM AS NATIONAL COORDINATOR ON NOVEMBER 22. THIS BRINGS HIM ONE STEP CLOSER TO BEING NAMED HEAD OF GOVERNMENT, WHICH HE AND OTHERS AROUND HIM HAVE HINTED AT FOR SOME TIME. 8. MANY VIEW THIS NORIEGA MOVE AS THE FINAL STEP TOWARD A TOTALITARIAN REGIME AND FURTHER SEVERE REPRESSION. SOME SEE THIS AS A PENDING NORIEGA MISTAKE. AS HEAD OF GOVERNMENT, HE WOULD HAVE TO BEAR FULL OFFICIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR REGIME ACTIONS. AT THE SAME TIME, BY INTRODUCING A NEW ELEMENT -- HIS GOVERNMENTAL ROLE -- INTO THE STALE POLITICAL SITUATION, NORIEGA MAY BE ABLE TO USE HIS USUAL MIXTURE OF OBFUSCATION AND INTIMIDATION TO BUY HIMSELF MORE TIME AND POLITICAL BREATHING SPACE.

 

 ------------------------------------------ THE OPPOSITION  ------------------------------------------

 

 9. NORIEGA' S MOST RECENT PARA-MILITARY SHOW OF FORCE FURTHER CONVINCED THE OPPOSITION THAT POLITICAL ACTION WILL RESULT ONLY IN GREATER REGIME BRUTALITY AGAINST THEM, NOT NORIEGA'S DEPARTURE. THE OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP QUIETLY HOPES THAT CLANDESTINE (AND OTHER) U.S. ACTION, POSSIBLY COUPLED WITH ANOTHER COUP WILL REMOVE NORIEGA. THE LEADERS SEE THEMSELVES PLAYING A ROLE IN THE NEXT COUP ATTEMPT AND THEIR CURRENT PREPARATIONS ARE FOCUSED ON BEING ABLE TO MOVE IN TO FILL THE GOVERNMENT VACUUM IF THE NEXT EFFORT SHOULD SUCCEED. THE CIVILIAN OPPOSITION RECOGNIZES THE POLITICAL REALITY THAT THE MILITARY IS THE MAIN POLITICAL FORCE IN PANAMA.  

 

10. AS THE MEMORY -- AND TO SOME EXTENT THE LEGITIMACY -- OF THE MAY ELECTION RECEDES, THE PRESSURE ON THE LEADERSHIP FROM WITHIN THE OPPOSITION RANKS TO DO SOMETHING TO MAINTAIN POLITICAL LEGITIMACY IS GROWING, HOWEVER. OPPOSITION ABILITY TO CULTIVATE POLITICAL SUPPORT AND TRUST IN THE ADOC LEADERSHIP ARE HAMPERED BY EFFECTIVE NORIEGA INTIMIDATION AT THE GRASS ROOTS LEVEL. MEANWHILE, U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ARE CONTINUING TO HURT AND NEW MEASURES ARE UNPOPULAR. THE OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP FEARS THAT MANY PANAMANIANS -- INCLUDING THEIR FOLLOWERS -- WILL INCREASINGLY DEMAND THAT THE AMERICANS GET OFF THEIR BACKS, IF NORIEGA WON'T.

 

 11. PANAMA'S OPPOSITION AND PANAMANIANS IN GENERAL RAN UP MANY SHORT TERM HILLS IN 1989 - WITH THE END ALWAYS JUST OVER THE HORIZON. MAY ELECTIONS, THE OAS NEGOTIATIONS, SEPTEMBER 1, OCTOBER 3, AND NOW JANUARY 1, 1990 HAVE ALL TOO EASILY BEEN ACCEPTED AS TARGETS FOR WHEN THE PANAMA CRISIS WOULD HAVE TO BE SOLVED. ALREADY ADOC LEADER GUILLERMO BILLY FORD IS TALKING OF FEBRUARY 25 (NICARAGUAN ELECTION DAY) AS A DATE BEFORE WHICH NORIEGA MUST FALL IF THE U.S. DOES NOT WISH TO HAVE THE PRECEDENT OF AN ANNULLED ELECTION REPEATED IN NICARAGUA . OVERALL, HOWEVER, THE OPPOSITION HAS LITTLE ENERGY LEFT TO CHARGE UP ANOTHER HILL UNLESS CONVINCED IT IS THE LAST ONE. ONLY ANOTHER COUP HOLDS OUT SUCH A PROMISE, BUT THE OPPOSITION IS NOT ABLE TO INFLUENCE THAT TO ANY SIGNIFICANT DEGREE.

 

--------------------------------------- THE NEXT COUP ATTEMPT  ---------------------------------------  

 

12. THE MOST (AND MAYBE ONLY) HOPEFUL SIGN FOR NORIEG'S OPPONENTS IN 1990 IS THAT TROUBLES INSIDE THE FDP ARE WORSE THAN THEY HAVE EVER BEEN. REASSIGNMENTS AND PROMOTIONS FLOWING FROM THE POST-COUP PURGE ARE JUST NOW BEING MADE -- MORE THAN TWO MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT. MANY OF THE MORE PROFESSIONAL FDP OFFICERS AND NCO'S WERE KILLED, TORTURED, OR DISMISSED AFTER OCTOBER 3. THE SUCCESSOR CROP OF TRUE BELIEVERS HAS NEITHER THE EXPERIENCE, TRAINING OR INTELLIGENCE TO FILL THE SHOES OF THEIR PREDECESSORS. NORIEGA HAS HAD TO RELY MAINLY ON HIMSELF OR THE SUPPORT OF THIS SMALL CLIQUE OF LOYALISTS SINCE THE COUP ATTEMPT. HIS INCREASED USE OF DIGNITY BATTALIONS IS ALSO WEARING ON THE CAREER SOLDIERS. WHAT LITTLE MILITARY PRIDE THEY HAVE LEFT HAS BEEN INJURED BY THE ACTIVITIES OF THIS PARA-MILITARY RABBLE WHICH THEY FEAR WILL GET OUT OF CONTROL AND ULTIMATELY HURT THE INSTITUTION. WITH THE DIGNITY BATTALIONS AND OTHER IRREGULARS OVER 2000 IN NUMBER THE IMAGE OF A COMPETING PARA-MILITARY FORCE IS BEGINNING TO ARISE.

 

 13. DISCONTENT AND FEELINGS OF REVENGE CONTINUE TO FESTER INSIDE THE FDP AND THERE ARE NUMEROUS REPORTS THAT THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE PREPARED TO ACT ON THESE EMOTIONS. ONE REGIME INSIDER RECENTLY CLAIMED THAT NORIEGA'S NOMINAL NUMBER 2, COLONEL MARCO JUSTINES, IS HIMSELF LOOKING FOR WAYS TO INCH OUT HIS BOSS. MEANWHILE, NOTORIOUS CIVILIAN SUPPORTERS OF NORIEGA, SUCH AS XXXXXXXXXXXXXX(STRICTLY PROTECT), ARE ALREADY LOOKING BEYOND NORIEGA'S DEPARTURE IN ADVOCATING WITH EMBOFFS AN OPPOSITION DECLARATION OF AMNESTY FOR REGIME SUPPORTERS. SOURCES NOW INDICATE THAT NORIEGA SUSPECTS ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO UNSEAT HIM AS EARLY AS DECEMBER 15.

 

------------------------------------------ THE STATUS OF UNRELENTING PRESSURES ------------------------------------------ INTERNATIONAL -------------  

 

14. THE RECENT RESOLUTION OF THE OASGA CONFIRMED NORIEGA'S ISOLATION IN THE HEMISPHERE, BUT WAS MET WITH ONLY FLEETING INTEREST IN PANAMA. THE FDP'S DISINVITATION TO THE RECENT CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN GUATEMALA WAS POTENTIALLY A MORE SERIOUS BLOW TO FDP MORALE, BUT THIS COLD SHOULDER FROM THEIR LATIN COLLEAGUES PASSED LARGELY UNNOTICED BECAUSE OF NORIEGA'S ABSOLUTE CONTROL OF INFORMATION INSIDE AND OUTSIDE HIS INSTITUTION.

 

15. AMBASSADORS OF MOST NATIONS REMAIN OUTSIDE PANAMA, EITHER ON VACATION OR CONSULTATIONS, BUT LOCAL DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION MAY BE IN DANGER. THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR RECENTLY RETURNED FROM HIS VACATION TO REJOIN HIS ITALIAN AND SPANISH COLLEAGUES WHO NEVER LEFT. SEVERAL AMBASSADORS AND MILITARY ATTACHES (E.G. MEXICO) MAY VISIT THEIR FAMILIES WHICH ARE RESIDING HERE AT CHRISTMAS. NORIEGA IS MAKING ALL HE CAN OUT OF CONTACTS WITH THE USSR, THE PRC, LIBYA, CUBA, NICARAGUA, AND EVEN U.S. ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT GROUPS. HE WILL ALSO SEEK TO CONJURE UP SOME LIMITED LEGITIMACY IN HIS PLEA FOR LATIN SOLIDARITY OVER THE CANAL ADMINISTRATOR ISSUE. ECONOMIC --------

 

  16. THE REGIME CONTINUES TO HAVE CASH FLOW PROBLEMS, BUT THE ECONOMIC DOWNWARD SPIRAL HAS LEVELED OFF FOR NOW. NORIEGA IS ABLE TO COMBAT THE WORST DISRUPTIONS BY SALARY ADJUSTMENTS AND CONTINUED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT OF LOYALISTS. UNEMPLOYMENT OVERALL IS ON THE RISE, BUT ONE OF THE PILLARS OF THE PANAMANIAN SERVICE ECONOMY -- THE COLON FREE ZONE -- IS HAVING RECORD SALES AND PROVIDES SOMEWHAT INCREASING EMPLOYMENT IN THE POLITICALLY VOLATILE COLON AREA.

 

17. MEANWHILE, PARA-MILITARY DIGNITY BATTALIONS ARE ENLISTING OR SCARING THE UNEMPLOYED. BUSINESSMEN, HURT BY NORIEGA AND U.S. SANCTIONS, ARE INCREASINGLY MORE LIKELY TO MOVE TOWARD ACCOMMODATION WITH NORIEGA. MANY FEEL THEY HAVE TO GIVE PRIORITY TO BEING ABLE TO STAY IN BUSINESS. U.S. PRESSURES --------------

 

 18. FURTHER U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS HEIGHTEN THE SENSE OF CRISIS IN PANAMA, CREATING THE PARADOX OF REGIME-OPPOSITION-CHURCH AGREEMENT IN OPPOSING THEM. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE U.S. PORT BAN FOR PANAMANIAN FLAGGED VESSELS AND THE APPOINTMENT OF A TEMPORARY CANAL ADMINISTRATOR CREATE NEW PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR NORIEGA. BANNING PANAMANIAN FLAGGED VESSELS FROM THE U.S. WILL ROB NORIEGA AND HIS CRONIES OF A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF INCOME. SOME OF THE LATTER MAY EVEN JUMP SHIP AND TURN ON HIM. BUT IN THE END RESULT, MANY MORE MAY REALIZE THAT IT WAS THEY WHO DEPENDED ON HIM, NOT HE ON THEM. 19. THE CANAL ADMINISTRATOR APPOINTMENT OFFERS NORIEGA SOME ADDITIONAL NATIONALISTIC PEGS TO SUPPORT HIS SEARCH FOR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT. BLOWING THE TREATY VIOLATION AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY WHISTLE MAY WELL GAIN HIM SOME SUPPORT. PLAYED WELL, HE MAY AGAIN BE ABLE TO DO WHAT HE DOES BEST: BUY TIME.

 

 --------------------------------------------- THE FUTURE OF THE PANAMA CRISIS ---------------------------------------------  

 

20. DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN OPPOSITION TO NORIEGA IS SHOWING SIGNS OF FATIGUE. FOREIGN ATTENTION IN PARTICULAR IS DISTRACTED BY MUCH HIGHER PROFILE REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS, FROM EL SALVADOR TO BERLIN. OF COURSE, NORIEGA TOO IS TIRING, EXEMPLIFIED IN HIS SLOWNESS IN SETTLING THE TURMOIL INSIDE HIS OWN INSTITUTION. BUT HE IS A MASTER OF SURVIVAL AND ABLE TO BUILD ON THE FATIGUE OF OTHERS. RENEWED NOISES IN RECENT REGIME PRONOUNCEMENTS OF A WILLINGNESS TO TALK ARE A CLASSIC MANIFESTATION OF TRIED AND TRUE NORIEGA TIME-BUYING TACTICS.

 

 21. THE POLITICAL TENSION IN PANAMA, INCREASED BY RECENT PRESS REVELATIONS AND U.S. SANCTIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS, WILL LIKELY EBB IN EARLY 1990, ABSENT SOME MAJOR EVENT. NORIEGA IS SHOWING NO SIGNS THAT HE HAS ANY INTENTION OF LEAVING VOLUNTARILY. GIVEN BROAD POLITICAL REALITIES IN THIS COUNTRY, THE ONLY HOPE FOR A FIRST STEP IN CRISIS RESOLUTION IS ANOTHER COUP. WAITING FOR THAT TO HAPPEN IS THE MAIN POLITICAL PROSPECT FOR PANAMA IN 1990. BUSHNELL

 

 ================================= 

 

 Next up is a December 2009 cable from our embassy in Doha, Qatar dealing with their relationship with Iran: VZCZCXYZ0036 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHDO #0728/01 3541214 ZNY SSSSS ZZH P 201214Z DEC 09 FM AMEMBASSY DOHA TO RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9582 INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVES E C R E T DOHA 000728 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2019

 

TAGS: ENRG PREL TRGY EPET QA SUBJECT: QATAR,S PRIME MINISTER ON IRAN: "THEY LIE TO US; WE LIE TO THEM."

 

Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron, for reasons 1.4 (b, d). -- Deputy Secretary of Energy Poneman and Ambassador met December 10 with Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani (HBJ) to discuss energy research and development, critical infrastructure protection, and Iran. --

 

HBJ indicated Qatar,s interest in a bilateral critical infrastructure protection partnership. -- The PM was skeptical about the plausibility of Iranian acceptance of a nuclear compromise, saying he would be shocked if Iran abided by a deal to ship Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) out of Iran. -- The best way to deal with the Iranians, he said, is to get them to dictate the terms of any such deal. The U.S. and its partners should strive to get the Iranians to put the details in writing, including timetables for implementation.

 

 -- HBJ characterized Qatar,s relationship with Iran as one in which "they lie to us, and we lie to them." -- According to HBJ, the GOQ tells Iran that it should "listen to the West,s proposal or there will be military action. If not by the U.S., then by the Israelis by the middle of next year." End Key Points.

 

1. (C) Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and Ambassador met December 10 with Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani. Also present on the American side was State Department Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, David Goldwyn. DepSec Poneman thanked the Prime Minister for the meeting and expressed his hope that the U.S. and Qatar could strengthen their bilateral and investment ties.

 

 -------------------------------------- (C) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION --------------------------------------

 

 2. (C) The Deputy Secretary extended USG appreciation to the Prime Minister for Qatar,s support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The PM observed in response that "We might have our own Katrina," an apparent reference to security concerns arising from Qatar,s relationship with Iran. Deputy Secretary offered U.S. help to Qatar in protecting its critical infrastructure and in addressing its broader security concerns. Expressing interest in critical infrastructure protection, HBJ said he would talk to the Ministries of Energy and Interior on how best to take advantage of U.S. assistance.

 

 --------------------------------- SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT ---------------------------------

 

3. (C) The Deputy Secretary raised science and technology investment, noting DoE interest in partnering with the GOQ on energy-related research and development projects. As an example of possible cooperation, DepSec Poneman cited computer simulation, emphasizing that the DOE national laboratories are international leaders in the field.

 

4. (C) The Deputy Secretary reported that DoE had recently invested in a nanotechnology program and cited this as another possible area of cooperation, telling the PM there are additional opportunities for GOQ partnerships with private labs. Shaykh Hamad immediately expressed strong interest in nanotechnology, and asked the DepSec to provide him with a paper on that subject. The DepSec agreed, and added that he would be pleased to host Shaykh Hamad at the Sandia nanotechnology facility or another national lab.  

 

5. (C) Turning to genomics and solar technology as they relate to food production and Qatar,s National Food Security Program, Shaykh Hamad told the Deputy Secretary that he supported research in those fields, but expressed his opinion that Qatar,s investment in food and solar technology must be done on a commercial basis.

 

 -------------------------- (S) IRAN,S NUCLEAR PROGRAM ---------------------------

 

6. (S) DepSec Poneman asked HBJ for his views on Iran,s nuclear program. The Deputy Secretary noted that the USG had entered into recent discussions with Iran not out of naivet, but as an effort to address a humanitarian concern (the need for medical isotopes) while also attempting to remove a meaningful amount of special nuclear material. Even though the effort had not to date resulted in Iranian agreement, it had borne fruit in the form of Russian and Chinese support for the most recent resolution of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna. The PM expressed his skepticism that the West would be able to reach a deal with Iran,s leaders, saying "I,d be surprised and shocked if the Iranians do a deal. You always think you have a deal with them and then you don,t." He continued, "The EU, Chirac, and Solana...they all thought they had a deal... Solana said two weeks; I advised him it would take two years."

 

 7. (S) Asked for his advice on how best to approach the Iranians, HBJ said it is imperative that the Iranians commit to draft any deal, including a timetable. He reiterated that it is important to "make them tell you (what they will do). Otherwise they will say 'yes, but...' and the 'but' will be worse than a 'no.'" The Deputy Secretary countered that, "They don,t want to make a proposal." To which HBJ responded, "You don,t understand. Even Mousavi can,t make a deal!" Poneman pressed the issue, saying the U.S. would not be offering a better deal than what is currently on the table. The Prime Minster said, "I know, but this is the way they are."

 

 8. (S) Referring to the current proposal on the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), Deputy Secretary Poneman stressed: "This is a fleeting opportunity. If they don,t take this deal, what comes next is worse." The PM noted that the Iranians frequently press the Qataris to have dialogue on their shared natural gas field and attempt to expand the dialogue to include other subjects. HBJ said that the Qataris "are always throwing cold water on their ideas."  

 

9. (S) On Qatar,s close ties with Iran, the PM added that he knows the U.S. becomes upset at times by what it hears about the Qatar/Iran relationship. However he characterized the relationship as one in which "They lie to us, and we lie to them." Poneman replied by underscoring that "It would be helpful if everywhere they went, they (the Iranians) heard the same thing." The PM said for Qatar,s part, he had told Iran that it should "listen to the West, s proposal or there will be military action. If not by the U.S., then by the Israelis by the middle of next year." Poneman observed that the Russians had pressed the Iranians hard during the Vienna negotiations, reinforcing the view that Iranian failure to accept the Tehran Research Reactor deal would lead back to the UN Security Council. The PM asked if the U.S. believes the Russians were in agreement with the U.S. on the possibility of harsher measures. Poneman replied that, for now, the Russians appear to be holding a similar line to the USG on the TRR deal and we remain in close contact with Moscow.

 

10. (U) This cable has been cleared by DepSec Poneman at Department of Energy. LeBaron

 

 ==============================

 

  The last cable I'm including in this post is from our Beijing embassy and is dated Feb.2010. It deals with technology control but shows that the Russians and Chinese are helping Iran:  VZCZCXYZ0026 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHC #9939 0321611 ZNY SSSSS ZZH P 011605Z FEB 10 FM SECSTATE WASHDC TO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 2747 INFO MISSILE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 7036S E C R E T STATE 009939 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2035 TAGS: MTCRE PARM PREL MNUC ETTC KSCA IR CH SUBJECT: (S) ALERTING CHINA TO POSSIBLE MISSILE-RELATED EXPORT TO IRAN Classified By: (U) CLASSIFIED BY EAP DAS DAVID B. SHEAR, REASON: 1.4 (C).

 

 1. (U) This is an action request. Embassy Beijing, please see paragraph 3.

 

2. (S) Background/Objective: The U.S. has information indicating that in December 2009, the Chinese company Hong Kong 4 Star Electronics Ltd. offered to sell gyroscopes produced by a Russian company to Iran's Isfahan Optics Industries. Our information indicates that these gyroscopes could be delivered to Iran in early February 2010 and that Isfahan Optics Industries was coordinating this transaction through an intermediary named Iran Business (IBco). Because key missile development organizations in Iran previously have attempted to procure similar gyroscopes, we are concerned this equipment potentially could be diverted to missile-related end-users. We therefore want to alert Chinese officials to this information and ask that they investigate this activity with a view to preventing Hong Kong 4 Star Electronics Ltd. from facilitating missile-related exports to Iran.

 

3. (S) Action Request: Request Embassy Beijing approach appropriate host government officials to deliver talking points/non-paper in paragraph 4 below and report response. Talking points also may be provided as a non-paper.

 

4. (S) Begin talking points/non-paper: (SECRET//REL CHINA) --We would like to alert you to information of proliferation concern and request your government's assistance in investigating this activity. --The U.S. has information indicating that in December 2009, Hong Kong 4 Star Electronics Ltd., a Chinese company based in Futian, China, had offered to sell Iran's Isfahan Optics Industries gyroscopes produced by a Russian company. --Our information indicates that these gyroscopes could be delivered to Iran in early February 2010 and that Isfahan Optics Industries was coordinating this transaction through an intermediary named Iran Business (IBco). --We are bringing this matter to your attention to support your export control efforts as we are concerned this equipment potentially could be diverted to missile-related end-users in Iran. --We understand that the Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO), which is responsible for overseeing all of Iran's missile programs, has previously attempted to procure similar gyroscopes.   --We hope you will use this information to investigate this activity and take all appropriate measures to ensure that Hong Kong 4 Star Electronics Ltd. is not facilitating unauthorized exports of missile technology to Iran. --We believe taking such action would be consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1803, which require countries to prevent transfers of items to and from Iran that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapons delivery systems. --We look forward to continued cooperation (My ass) on missile nonproliferation issues and to hearing of any actions your government takes in response to this information. End talking points/non-paper

 

5. (U) Washington POC is ISN/MTR James Mayes (Phone: 202-647-3185). Please slug any reporting on this issue for ISN/MTR and EAP/CM. 6. (U) A word version of this document will be posted at www.state.sgov.gov/demarche. CLINTON  

For the Synagogue of Satan, the intermission is over.

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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For WWII history buffs below are some Nazi era color films.

 

 Ah, the good ol' days.

 

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 Some U.S. troops in this one.

 

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As a super bonus, this next video contains a very rare collection of WW1 color photographs. The color process was similar to autochrome and is not as good as more modern color photography, but still pretty incredible.

 

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MLK, Jr./Einstein/Obama and Hitler

 

 

This should probably be several separate posts, but here it is anyway:

 

A while back, I wrote a post about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his issues with plagiarism and serial adultery, which you can review HERE. Now, along comes another scoundrel who is considered one of the greatest scientific minds in all of history. Before I post the article about Albert Einstein and his plagiarism, I want to discuss a couple of other things.

 

Dimocrats generally consider themselves to be much smarter than republicans, who are largely considered to be buffoons by the left. During the presidential campaign comaprisons were made equating Obama with Hitler.  While most people tend to think of Hitler and the Nazis as a conservative and oppressive regime, Hitler was, in fact, a liberal socialist; ergo the National Socialist German Worker's Party.

 

Even among the Fuhrer's most ardent supporters, Hitler was not considered the sharpest crayon in the box.  Thus far, Obama has spent the last two years blaming Bush 43 for his economic woes.

 

When Hitler came to power the German unemployment rate was pushing 30% and inflation was still high.  Nonetheless, the dullard Hitler managed to turn the Nazi economy around within two years, while the genius Obama just spends his time golfing, partying or sittitng around with his thumb up his ass blaming Bush for everything.

 

So, how did Hitler do it?  Unlike Obama, who appoints fiscal morons to oversee the economic recovery,  Hitler  did at least have the G-2 to appoint capable economic advisers. One of whom was a fellow by the name of Hjalmar Schacht.  Hjalmar broke up the trade unions and imposed certain wage controls.

 

The government then expanded the money supply through the use of EFFECTIVE and necessary public works programs while limiting inflation. The Nazis limited imports and mandated domestic manufacturing and production of certain goods.  These measures greatly reduced unemployment.  Banks were denationalized and decentralized.

 

As we see, Obama is no Hitler.  Now about Einstein.....

 

Source Link HERE: 

 

by Ian Mosley

Albert Einstein is today revered as “the Father of Modern Science”. His wrinkled face and wild hair has become a symbol for scientific genius and “his” famous E = mc^2 equation is repeatedly used as the symbol for something scientific and intellectual. And yet there has for years been mounting evidence that this “Father of Modern Science” was nothing but a con man, lying about his ideas and achievements, and stealing the work and the research of others.

The most glaring evidence against Einstein concerns “his” most famous equation. One website notes “The equation E=mc^2, which has been forever linked to Einstein & his Theory of Relativity was not originally published by Einstein. According to Umberto Bartocci, a professor at the University of Perugia and a historian of mathematics, this famous equation was first published by Olinto De Pretto …two years prior to Einstein’s publishing of the equation. In 1903 De Pretto published his equation in the scientific magazine Atte and in 1904 it was republished by the Royal Science Institute of Veneto. Einstein’s research was not published until 1905… Einstein was well versed in Italian and even lived in Northern Italy for a brief time.”

It is unheard of to pass over the original inventor of an equation and to give credit to someone, who claims to have derived it AFTER the equation and its derivation have been published. The equation “E=mc^2″ should be called the “De Pretto Equation” not the “Einstein Equation.”

This raises the question: “What sort of man was Einstein?” Is there evidence that he may have been prone to unethical behavior? One website reports “Einstein… was still far from the ideal husband. A year before they married, Maric gave birth to a daughter, Lieserl, while Einstein was away. The child’s fate is unknown – she is presumed to have been given up for adoption, perhaps under pressure from Einstein, who is thought to have never seen his first born. After the marriage, Mileva bore two sons but the family was not to stay together. Einstein began an affair with his cousin Elsa Lowenthal while on a trip to Berlin in 1912, leaving Mileva and his family two years later. Einstein and Mileva finally divorced in 1919, but not until after Einstein sent his wife a list of ‘conditions’ under which he was willing to remain married. The list included such autocratic demands as ‘You are neither to expect intimacy nor to reproach me in any way’. After the divorce, he saw little of his sons. The elder, Hans Albert, later reflected ‘Probably the only project he ever gave up on was me.’ The younger, Eduard, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and died in an asylum. Einstein married Elsa soon after the divorce, but a few years later began an affair with Betty Neumann, the niece of a friend… Accusations of plagiarism aren’t limited to Mileva – it’s also been claimed that Einstein stole the work of a host of other physicists. One question which may remain moot is quite how much Einstein drew from the work of Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincare in formulating the theory of special relativity. Elements of Einstein’s 1905 paper paralleled parts of a 1904 paper by Lorentz and a contemporary paper by Poincare. Although Einstein read earlier papers by the two, he claimed not to have seen these later works before writing the 1905 paper. One apparently damning fact is that the 1905 paper on special relativity had no references, suggesting that Einstein was consciously hiding his tracks.”

One source notes “David Hilbert submitted an article containing the correct field equations for general relativity five days before Einstein.” Another source notes “Einstein presented his paper on November 25, 1915 in Berlin and Hilbert had presented his paper on November 20 in Göttingen. On November 18, Hilbert received a letter from Einstein thanking him for sending him a draft of the treatise Hilbert was to deliver on the 20th. So, in fact, Hilbert had sent a copy of his work at least two weeks in advance to Einstein before either of the two men delivered their lectures, but Einstein did not send Hilbert an advance copy of his.” Apparently Hilbert’s work was soon to become “Einstein’s work.”

The historic record is readily available and the truth is known to many scientists and historians, even if they are afraid to say anything. The idea that light had a finite speed was proven by Michelson and Morley decades before Einstein. Hendrik Lorentz determined the equations showing relativistic time and length contractions which become significant as the speed of light is approached. These gentlemen along with David Hilbert and Olinto De Pretto have been airbrushed out of the picture so that Einstein could be given the credit for what they had done.

Einstein appeared to latch onto his first wife, a much more talented student three years his senior, to compensate for his own limited abilities. Another website notes: “…in 1927, H. Thirring wrote, ‘H. Poincare had already completely solved the problem of time several years before the appearance of Einstein’s first work (1905). . . .’ Sir Edmund Whittaker in his detailed survey, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Volume II, (1953), included a chapter entitled ‘The Relativity Theory of Poincare and Lorentz’. Whittaker thoroughly documented the development of the theory, documenting the authentic history, and demonstrated through reference to primary sources that Einstein held no priority for the vast majority of the theory. Einstein offered no counter-argument to Whittaker’s famous book. . .”

Einstein was a minor contributor at best and in any case an intellectual thief and pretentious braggart. Einstein was still alive when Whitaker’s book was published and he said NOTHING about it. No libel suit, no refutation, no public comment at all.

Einstein was the first great fraudster and idea-thief in modern science. His theft of Olinto De Pretto’s equation E = mc^2 gave him considerable scientific credibility which he built a career on. De Pretto was not a career physicist and spent his life as an industrialist, passing away in 1921. De Pretto had published his equation twice before Einstein and was no doubt amazed that someone could claim credit for his work. Einstein used and eventually discarded his first wife, Mileva, who was a much more brilliant student than Einstein and is suspected of writing much of Einstein’s early work. (She may have been reluctant to expose Einstein since he was still the father of her children.) David Hilbert’s work on the equations for Special Relativity was submitted for publication before Einstein and was sent to Einstein as correspondence. Einstein claimed credit for the equations which Hilbert derived. (David Hilbert passed away in 1943.)

Some university professors have stolen work from their graduate students and it would be interesting to see if any of Einstein’s students complained of such thievery. A plagiarist seldom stops plagiarizing especially when he keeps getting away with it. Complaints against Einstein however seem to disappear down the Orwellian memory hole. Einstein is clearly a sacred cow to many. A few have even used the word “heresy” to describe serious well-documented criticism and charges of plagiarism against Einstein. The truth eventually wins out and Einstein will someday be best known as a great fraud instead of a great physicist.

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Well, one is never too old to learn new things.

 

 

 

 

Ah, the wonders of diversity.....

 

Where are the parents?

 

 

============================================================ Sickening. If anyone can locate a similar video of white kids, send me the link and I'll post it for a bit of balance, otherwise, things are what they are.

 

For additional consideration:

 

 Genesis 11:1-9
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [a] they found a plain in Shinar [b] and settled there.

3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

 

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
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It's amazing how people can read the Bible for two thousand years and not see the forrest for the trees. In that passage God uses diversity as a punishment of mankind. White Christian English settlers landed in Jamestown in 1607 and less than 400 years later developed the technology and infrastructure to put a man on the moon. White Christian men did that...

 

Also, the book of Revelation is nothing more than a summary of the end of diversity and a unification of a homogenous Christian population. 

 

Now we return to..."as the pot stirs."

 

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Thanks to Mark Webster for providing a link to this video of young white dancers:

 

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I find this second video disturbing as well, but there is a difference between the two. The parents of the second video are apparently misguided liberal morons while the parents of the first video clearly show that they have reduced mental faculties....as do their kids.

Obama end game predicted 25 years ago.

 

 

Conservatives will definately want to watch this:

 

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Forgotten History: Lost U.S. Nukes

 

Although some of you may recall the occasional news story about a nuclear mishap (known as a "Broken Arrow"), most folks do not realize that the United States has lost 60 nuclear bombs since the first accident, which occurred on February 13, 1950 and involed a "Fat Man" type device carried by the mighty, but tempermental, Convair B-36.

 

The good news is that all but 11 of the lost nukes have been recovered. Um, yeah, you read that correctly. Eleven nukes have not been recovered. Sometimes the locations were known, but the bombs were simply left where they were. (The Russians lost some too, but I'll save that for a possible future post)

 

The one incident I wish to focus on is the Tybee Island incident of 1958:

 

From sciscoop: 

 

"It was Feb. 5, 1958, and Richardson was a major at the controls of a B-47 bomber, one of a dozen from the 19th Bombardment Wing taking off on a training mission from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida.

At the time, crews in training routinely carried transportation-configured nuclear bombs, with the detonation capsules removed to prevent a nuclear explosion, the Air Force said. It gave the crews the opportunity to practice, said Billy Mullins, associate director of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency.

The mission was to simulate dropping a bomb on a city in the Soviet Union and to evade Air Force fighters sent up to simulate Russian interceptors.

Over Reston, Va., which unknowingly was playing the role of the Soviet city, Richardson’s navigator lined up the target on the radar screen and punched the launch button. The button activated a transmitter that recorded how close the crew came to hitting the target.

Richardson then turned south toward home through a screen of “enemy” fighters. When he and his two-man crew crossed into North Carolina at more than 37,000 feet, they were back in friendly skies.

But that’s when the B-47 collided in midair with one of the “enemy” fighters.

Struggling to keep the bomber under control, Richardson headed for Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. But the tower operator told the crew the runway was under construction.

“I thought that if we landed short, the plane would catch the front of the runway and the bomb would shoot through the plane like a bullet through a gun barrel,” Richardson said.

So, on that clear, moonlit night, Richardson turned the B-47 toward sea and dropped the bomb in the ocean before landing.

Navy divers searched the waters near Tybee Island for nearly 10 weeks. The weather was bad, the water cold, the visibility poor. On April 16, 1958, the military declared the bomb “irretrievably lost.” No. 47782 became one of 11 “Broken Arrows,” nuclear bombs lost during air or sea mishaps, according to U.S. military records."

 

The interesting thing about this is that the Plutonium detonation capsules were supposed to have been removed from the H-Bombs.  However, according to a 1966 letter written to the chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, four COMPLETE H-Bombs were lost, including the one off Savannah, Georgia. Oops.

 

The military eventually gave up the search and concluded the bomb posed no immediate danger to the surrounding area, unless removal was attempted and the conventional explosives detonated, possibly contaminating the Savannah aquafer with uranium radiation.

 

Your tax dollars at work.

 

 

BP: Scum of the Earth? You make the call.

 

 

Jeez, and I thought Home Depot was bad.  Well, it's no secret that news organizations have been prevented from filming certain areas of the Gulf and Gulf coast. This has been done with the cooperation of the Coast Guard and the federal government. (Who really needs the first amendment?)

 

It has also been reported that over 1500 oil spill workers have gotten ill. BP is spending millions of dollars on national TV advertising explaining how they are in it for the long haul and will clean up the Gulf no matter how long it takes and they will compensate the fishermen for lost income. Well, Drudge is reporting that folks aren't getting their checks as promised and now we have this from the supposedly stand-up, responsible and caring BP:

 

News is breaking from the Gulf of Mexico that cleanup workers — who are really just contracted fishermen — are being told they will be fired if they wear protective gear. BP is not providing the gear, but if workers wear respirators they secure for themselves, the company says they will be fired, according to Louisiana Environmental Action Network and a local environmentalist who just returned from the Gulf.

 

Reports of illness among the workers began almost as soon as the cleanup did. But the government-run health clinics where they are being treated are among areas the federal government has deemed off limits to reporters. The feds also barred press from oiled wildlife and booms in a move that makes them look an awful lot like the PR crew for the British oil giant.

 

A coalition including commercial fishermen's groups, environmental groups and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is petitioning the government to force BP to provide respirators for workers. In its first three hours, the petition has garnered more than 16,000 signatures.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?&entry_id=67426#ixzz0tDQ5zjOc

Your Tax Dollars at Work

 

 

Here is an interesting video. The comments that are the basis for this post start around the 1:46 minute mark.

 

 

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Aunt: "I really need to get in there and see if my purse burnt up 'cause I had my food stamp card and everything in there"

 

and prior to that statement the Aunt indicated she had no regrets about leaving the children home alone.

 

 

There's nothing wrong with being compassionate, but this case illustrates one of the great failures of liberalism. As the Bible states in Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

 

There are simply some people who are not worthy of help. The Aunt in the above video is a perfect example. The assistance we give to illegal aliens and people like her is destroying our nation.

 

A new genetic study (but, I thought the only difference between the races was skin color?) shows that whites have a lower instance of a gene that is linked to violence and aggression.

 

Excerpt:

 

New scientific techniques have brought to light exactly how the so-called “warrior gene” named MAOA-L works. New studies using MRI show how brain activity in those who have the MAOA-L gene differs from those without it.

Studies have linked the gene to increased levels of sexual violence, alcoholism, crime, and even higher levels of credit card debt. However, very little is said about it outside of scientific journals. The reason is obvious. Many articles published on the gene even state that it has serious implications concerning race and ethnicity.

Whites, usually referred to in euphemisms like “westerners,” are said to be less likely to have the gene than other groups. One third of whites have MAOA-L, while groups usually only identified as “others” have instances of two thirds or higher. It has also been suggested in scientific journals that whites may be less affected by the gene than “others.”

In fact, researchers have even censored their own findings on race and MAOA-L! Others have faced hostility from the University community for mentioning which races have the highest rates. Source.

 

The general perception is that there are a greater percentage of black and illegal alien prisoners than whites, based on a percentage of their total populations, due to the racism of whites. Certainly some whites are racists in the traditional meaning of the word, but the scientific and genetic data is clear.

 

My point is that all of the affirmative action and public assistance in the world is just not going to help certain groups of people to advance in any material way. We are way past time to discontinue certain types of financial aid, set asides, affirmative action efforts such as dumbing down tests and entrance exams since some people will fail regardless of how much assistance we give them.

 

Illegal aliens need to be rounded up and sent back across the border or otherwise disposed of and the black/white/asian human trash does not need any more money spent on them. We help those who can be helped and do not help those who are beyond help.

 

Our desire for universal compassion is destroying our nation. It MUST stop. NOW.

Why Johnson & Johnson doesn't belong in your portfolio.

 

This post is kind of a reply to Tony Wang's post of May 16th regarding the value of keeping some Johnson & Johnson stock in your portfolio.

 

Below is an excerpt of a CNNMoney.com article which details some of the conditions at Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol plant located in Fort Washington, PA.: (My bold)

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The quality and safety violations that led to the shutdown of a Tylenol plant were extremely serious, and could lead to tough action by regulators on drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.

 

"It's absolutely shocking," said David Lebo, a professor of pharmaceutical manufacturing at Temple University in Philadelphia, referring to the Food and Drug Administration's May 6 inspection report on the facility in Fort Washington, Penn., operated by Johnson & Johnson's McNeil division.

 

"This inspection report is pretty close to being the worst I've seen. It suggests that basically the FDA found an issue with almost every system at the plant," said Lebo, who had previously worked for Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical sourcing group in 2002. Lebo said he left that job after nine months because the work required too much travel.

 

On May 1, McNeil recalled some 50 children's versions of non-prescription drugs, including Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500) has suspended production at the plant.

 

The FDA report listed 20 violations, which include 46 consumer complaints on the recalled products. Johnson & Johnson has not revealed details of those complaints. ..........

 

The most damning, according to Lebo, was the charge that the plant "does not maintain adequate laboratory facilities for the testing and approval (or rejection) of components of drug products." (Stop and think about that one for a moment y'all)

 

and

 

The FDA also said that lack of proper controls in the manufacturing process led to some batches of infant's Tylenol being "superpotent," or having too much of some ingredients.

Also, the report noted that employees at the plant were not trained in current good manufacturing practices. The FDA inspectors further detailed dusty and filthy conditions at the plant, including "incubators with a large amount of visible gray and brown dust/debris, large hole in the ceiling and thick dust covering the grill inside a filtered cabinet."

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The CEO of Johnson & Johnson can spew all the BS he wants, but the facts are clear. J & J simply cares more about profit than the safety of children. Period.

 

Here you have a company that makes a pain killer for use by infants and the plant that makes it "does not maintain adequate laboratory facilities for the testing and approval of components of drug products." So basically, whatever comes from their vendors is ASSUMED to be what they ordered, is not tested, and is put into a finished product intended for use by INFANTS.

 

Of course, why spend money on plant maintenance or lab equipment that will tell us exactly what we are putting into the products we make, when that cash can be put to better use in the form of executive bonuses.

 

How anyone who has even a remote shred of conscience can recommend owning the stock of a company such as this is beyond me. Although, I guess if your entire life revolves around the acquisition of money to the exclusion of all else then........well.......that's fine. (Not!)

 

Greed first, public safety last. It's the American way.

Home Depot: Greedy corporate scum, squared.

"(Expletive) Michael Powell," the executive said. "Let him sue us."

 

Home Depot knew exactly what it was doing,' U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley said. 'They simply pushed Mr. Powell away and they did it totally and completely for their own economic benefit.'

By Jane Musgrave

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 4:35 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Posted: 7:40 p.m. Monday, May 10, 2010

 

WEST PALM BEACH — When a Home Depot executive was told inventor Michael Powell might have a claim against the hardware giant for stealing an invention that keeps store employees safe, his reaction was swift and vulgar.

"(Expletive) Michael Powell," the executive said. "Let him sue us."

The crass response typifies the company's attitude toward Powell, who crafted an simple, yet ingenious, way to keep Home Depot employees from slicing off their fingers while they're cutting wood for customers, a federal judge said Monday.

"Home Depot knew exactly what it was doing," U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley said. "They simply pushed Mr. Powell away and they did it totally and completely for their own economic benefit."

Calling the company callous and arrogant, he ordered it to pay the former Boca Raton man $3 million in punitive damages. That's on top of the $15 million a jury in March said the company should pay him for stealing his so-called "Safe Hands" gadget that is now affixed to radial saws at nearly 2,000 Home Depots nationwide.

The damages for Home Depot don't end there. Hurley also ordered the firm to pay Powell's attorneys the $2.8 million they say they are owed, and to pay Powell an estimated $1 million in interest annually on the judgment. The interest began building in 2006 and will continuing accruing until Home Depot pays up.

The roughly $25 million judgment could have been avoided had the company agreed in 2004 to pay Powell the $2,000 he offered to charge for each device. That bill would have come to $4 million.

Instead, Hurley said, the firm dispatched workers to duplicate the saw guards Powell allowed them to test in eight stores in Georgia and California.

"It's sad to say, but Home Depot literally organized a theft of the Powell invention," he said.

Powell, who now lives in North Carolina, declined to comment on the verdict on the advice of his attorneys . Home Depot attorneys also declined to comment.

A company spokesman said Home Depot disagreed with the ruling and is considering an appeal.

"We have a strong commitment to dealing with our business partners fairly and with integrity, which is how we've maintained long-standing relationships with literally tens of thousands of suppliers over the past 30-plus years," company spokesman Stephen Holmes wrote in an e-mail. "We would never condone actions that intentionally violate another company's intellectual property rights."

However, Hurley said, that's not what the evidence showed during Monday's day-long hearing or during a nearly monthlong trial.

Recognizing it was a Goliath to Powell's David, the company sought to cut him out of any profit for the invention that saved the company millions in worker's compensation claims. In the year before the devices were installed, the company paid out $1 million in claims related to injuries caused by the saw. In the year after the gadgets were installed, it paid out $7,000.

He also criticized Home Depot attorneys for their handling of the case, which he described as "nasty, mean litigation." For instance, when Powell's attorney asked for records of injuries cause by the saws, Home Depot attorneys handed over 6,000 documents. In a spot check of 2,300 pages, Powell's attorneys found one document that dealt with a saw injury.

"This is the kind of activity that people look at that engenders outright disgust for the legal profession," Hurley told Moss. "It is shameful."

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Just one more example of America circling the bowl.

The problem with "diversity."

Turn your volume way down before playing the video.

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And then we have this interesting link:
http://www.jsonline.com/general/37714089.html?bcpid=23739055001&bctid=78489347001
The news story the video is based on (Link) :

A man convicted of murdering University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee film student Nathan Potter was wrestled to the ground, pepper-sprayed and taken under guard from a courtroom Friday after he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Seandell Jackson spat a string of obscenities at Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet as three deputies and Milwaukee police Detective James Hutchinson dragged Jackson to the floor of her courtroom.

Moments before, Jackson's attorney, Patrick Earle, had asked Dallet to weigh into her sentence the 19-year-old Jackson's youth and, as Earle put it, his "lack of impulse control."

As authorities struggled to subdue Jackson, members of his family stood in the back of the courtroom and taunted Potter's family.

"I hate you!" a woman yelled toward the Potters. "I hate you all!"

"God's the judge," another woman yelled toward Potter's mother and father, who held each other and wept.

"God's the judge."

In February, a jury convicted Jackson, 19, of being party to a crime of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted robbery in the shooting death of 21-year-old Potter.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams showed Dallet videos of Jackson's reaction when the jury delivered its verdict.

In the videos, Jackson turns to Potter's family, mouths an obscenity and smirks. The video also shows Jackson being led from the courtroom a few minutes after the verdict is announced. As he reaches the courtroom door, he turns toward Potter's family and laughs.

"Is there such a thing as pure evil?" Nathan Potter's father, John Potter, asked Dallet.

"There is the tape."

Jackson shot Potter in the chest in July as Potter walked to his Riverwest apartment in the 2500 block of N. Dousman St.

Jackson and an accomplice, Derek J. Thomas, were attempting to rob Potter. Potter had no money.

Dallet, her voice raspy from the fumes of the pepper spray, also sentenced Jackson to five years in prison for attempted robbery. In addition, she sentenced Jackson to five years in prison for an unrelated non-fatal shooting that occurred the same day that Potter was killed.

No one was seriously injured in the courtroom melee, though Hutchinson, the chief detective in Jackson's case, was hit in the eyes by the pepper spray.

Jackson was sentenced in the morning. Hutchinson was back in Dallet's court for Thomas' sentencing in the afternoon.

So was Sarah Potter, Nathan Potter's 13-year-old sister. She told her mother and father that she had been afraid someone was trying to kill them during the morning fracas.

Gulping back tears, Sarah told Dallet that she and her 11-year-old brother, David - who has autism - cannot understand why anyone would even hurt her older brother, whom she called "a loving and caring man."

"We can't sleep knowing he's gone," she said, sitting at the defense table beside her father.

John Potter said later that David wants him to keep all the lights on in their home all the time.

"He asked me to remove all the windows," John Potter said.

Thomas, 20, pleaded guilty in March to felony murder.

Williams told Dallet that Thomas played a limited role in the murder.

"Mr. Jackson was the shooter," Williams said. "Mr. Thomas was a follower."

While Williams asked Dallet to sentence Thomas to 12 years in prison, Nathan Potter's mother, Denise Potter, said he deserved to the maximum penalty for felony murder, which is 35 years.

" 'Help me!' (were) the last words he ever said," Denise Potter said.

"Derek did nothing," she said. "They ran away."

Dallet followed Williams' recommendation, adding eight years of extended supervision.

==================================

Hmmm.......I wonder if those gang bangers and the murderer Seandell Jackson were products of a liberal or conservative public education system?

( Iknow liberals, I know, it's the gun's fault and not the homeboy with the gun---what was I thinking?)

Why we still need the Second Amendment

 

 

From Huffpo: 

NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans police officer told federal authorities he saw a fellow officer shoot and kick unarmed, wounded civilians in a deadly incident on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, marking the first time an officer has provided federal authorities with an eyewitness account of the events.

The former officer, Michael Hunter, pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the August 2005 storm.

A court filing Wednesday that describes Hunter's account of the shootings contradicts a police report that said civilians shot at officers before the police opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others.

Seeing no danger to officers, Hunter says he shouted "Cease fire!" after an unidentified sergeant with an assault rifle and other officers opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians who took cover behind a concrete barrier on the bridge.

After they stopped firing, Hunter says he saw several civilians who appeared to be unarmed, injured and subdued.

"(The sergeant) suddenly leaned over the concrete barrier, held out his assault rifle, and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians lying wounded on the ground," the filing says. "The civilians were not trying to escape and were not doing anything that could be perceived as a threat."

Moments later, Hunter saw two men later identified as Lance Madison and his 40-year-old mentally disabled brother, Ronald, running away near the bottom of the bridge.

Hunter's statement said an unidentified officer shot Ronald Madison in the back with a shotgun.

"As Ronald Madison lay dying on the pavement, (the sergeant) ran down the bridge toward Ronald and asked an officer if Ronald was 'one of them.' When the officer replied in the affirmative, (the sergeant) began kicking or stomping Ronald Madison repeatedly with his foot," the filing states.............

----------------------------------------------

Let's also remember that guns were confiscated after Katrina. Is it a wonder people do not trust our government or our law enforcement anymore?

On another related note....From uruknet :

On Monday, April 5, Wikileaks.org posted video footage from Iraq, taken from a US military Apache helicopter in July 2007 as soldiers aboard it killed 12 people and wounded two children. The dead included two employees of the Reuters news agency: photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh.

 

The US military confirmed the authenticity of the video.

The footage clearly shows an unprovoked slaughter, and is shocking to watch whilst listening to the casual conversation of the soldiers in the background.

As disturbing as the video is, this type of behavior by US soldiers in Iraq is not uncommon.

Truthout has spoken with several soldiers who shared equally horrific stories of the slaughtering of innocent Iraqis by US occupation forces.

"I remember one woman walking by," said Jason Washburn, a corporal in the US Marines who served three tours in Iraq. He told the audience at the Winter Soldier hearings that took place March 13-16, 2008, in Silver Spring, Maryland, "She was carrying a huge bag, and she looked like she was heading toward us, so we lit her up with the Mark 19, which is an automatic grenade launcher, and when the dust settled, we realized that the bag was full of groceries. She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces."

The hearings provided a platform for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to share the reality of their occupation experiences with the media in the US.

Washburn testified on a panel that discussed the rules of engagement (ROE) in Iraq, and how lax they were, to the point of being virtually nonexistent.

"During the course of my three tours, the rules of engagement changed a lot," Washburn's testimony continued, "The higher the threat the more viciously we were permitted and expected to respond. Something else we were encouraged to do, almost with a wink and nudge, was to carry 'drop weapons', or by my third tour, 'drop shovels'. We would carry these weapons or shovels with us because if we accidentally shot a civilian, we could just toss the weapon on the body, and make them look like an insurgent."

Hart Viges, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army who served one year in Iraq, told of taking orders over the radio.

"One time they said to fire on all taxicabs because the enemy was using them for transportation.... One of the snipers replied back, 'Excuse me? Did I hear that right? Fire on all taxicabs?' The lieutenant colonel responded, 'You heard me, trooper,fire on all taxicabs.' After that, the town lit up, with all the units firing on cars. This was my first experience with war, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the deployment."

Vincent Emanuele, a Marine rifleman who spent a year in the al-Qaim area of Iraq near the Syrian border, told of emptying magazines of bullets into the city without identifying targets, running over corpses with Humvees and stopping to take "trophy" photos of bodies.

"An act that took place quite often in Iraq was taking pot shots at cars that drove by," he said, "This was not an isolated incident, and it took place for most of our eight-month deployment."

Kelly Dougherty - then executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War - blamed the behavior of soldiers in Iraq on policies of the US government.

"The abuses committed in the occupations, far from being the result of a 'few bad apples' misbehaving, are the result of our government's Middle East policy, which is crafted in the highest spheres of US power," she said.

Michael Leduc, a corporal in the Marines who was part of the US attack on Fallujah in November 2004, said orders he received from his battalion JAG officer before entering the city were as follows: "You see an individual with a white flag and he does anything but approach you slowly and obey commands, assume it's a trick and kill him."

Brian Casler, a corporal in the Marines, spoke of witnessing the prevalent dehumanizing outlook soldiers took toward Iraqis during the invasion of Iraq.

"... on these convoys, I saw Marines defecate into MRE bags or urinate in bottles and throw them at children on the side of the road," he stated.

Scott Ewing, who served in Iraq from 2005-2006, admitted on one panel that units intentionally gave candy to Iraqi children for reasons other than "winning hearts and minds.

"There was also another motive," Ewing said. "If the kids were around our vehicles, the bad guys wouldn't attack. We used the kids as human shields."

 

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FULL UNCUT VIDEO

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The really disturbing thing is the mentality of our troops. We can argue about the causes, but the results speak for themselves. The complete lack of common sense of our troops in assuming people casually walking around a city in broad daylight carrying alleged RPG's is just mind numbing. (Even in an area known for terrorist activity)

 

If our guys will do this to Iraquis and Afghani civillians, they will certainly do it to us.

Recovery?...and, if you thought Bush was an idiot...

 

 

So, it looks like we may have finally hit bottom and the recovery is starting to pick up speed. Not so fast. As Limbaugh has been mentioning, it appears Obama and the Dims have resigned themselves to a baseline 9 or 10 percent unemployment (we know the actual number is higher) as being the new norm. Let's see how that has been working out:

 

===================================

 

 

=================================================================================== And, if you thought Bush 43 was an idiot, have a listen to Dimocrat Hank Johnson. Why do we continue to elect these people? ===================================================================================

16th and 17th Amendments not ratified--Proof.

16th Amendment: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

17th Amendment: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution."

The thing most people do not realize is that until 1913 senators were elected by their respective legislatures instead of by popular vote of the people.

The below article shows conclusively that the 17th Amendment was not ratified.

Source Link

National Archives
Seventeenth Amendment

Devvy Kidd
March 2010

This is a lengthy document. I tried to make it clear and easy to follow.

All of these official documents were obtained in person in Washington, DC, from the National Archives. I was accompanied by two dear friends, Dane vonBreichenruchardt, President, Bill of Rights Foundation, Washington, DC, and my other friend who wishes to remain anonymous. He is considered a 'master' researcher because of his experience doing research at the National Archives. I am truly grateful for their help in gathering these documents and to the sponsors of my trip.

Dane and my other friend can verify we were given the run around during the collection of some documents. We asked for everything on the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. Every document no matter if it was a letter, vote, copy of the resolution. We were told the rolls of microfilm in the archives contained ALL records.

I believe I did not get all I requested, either because they are no longer there or I was not meant to receive them. We were there several days; ample time for collection. All of these documents were on microfilm and copied by all of us at some point. They were copied in order off the microfilm and we were very careful not to skip any pages.

On March 31, 2009, we had a very short meeting with Congressman Ron Paul; the first and only time I have ever spoken with him. While our meeting was not about the Seventeenth Amendment, the issue of looting of documents from our precious National Archives came up. Ron Paul is aware of what has been going on; no more comment on that right now. This sickens me. The documents in the people's archives are originals and can never be replaced. They are our history.

If at all possible and you live near your state capitol, I hope you can visit and get court certified, every document they have on the vote and any correspondence from your state to Washington, DC on the Seventeenth Amendment — before more documents disappear. See link at bottom on the thief, Sandy Berger.

If you are a state legislator, please do everything in your official capacity to make your state archives produce all documents relating to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment by your state. I do not exaggerate when I say there is a high probability that some are already missing and we don't want more to vanish.

Many states were not in session at the time the Seventeenth Amendment was submitted. No Action was taken by some legislatures which begs the legal question:

If a state legislature was out of session at the time the voting process was underway, do they lose their equal right to representation due to actions by Congress beyond their control? I believe this is a KEY legal issue that must be addressed by the states; see:

Full text of "Constitution Jefferson's Manual And Rules Of the House Of Representatives Of The United States Eighty Seventh Congress"

http://www.archive.org/stream/constitutionjeff014670mbp/constitutionjeff014670mbp_djvu.txt

"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose, Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

"Question has arisen as to the power of a State to recall its assent to a constitutional amendment (V. 7042)."

Since several states were out of session at the time of the vote, have they been deprived of equal Suffrage in the U.S. Senate because they did not participate in the ratification of this amendment? Is fraud (non ratification) enough to allow a state to declare it null and void in their state?

No Action taken: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware. No record for Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington State.

That Amendment was processed by Philander Chase Knox, Secretary of State in 1912, and then by his successor, William Jennings Bryan. I provide that just to clear up any confusion looking through the documents. The page numbers I refer to are ones I put on each page to avoid getting the documents mixed up since there are 239 of them.

From the official documents:

Department of State — Office of the Solicitor — Memorandum
June 2, 1913 — See page 17, 24 & 25

List of Errors in Resolutions of State Legislatures

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Page 26: "...the Executive branch* of the Government ruled that these errors were immaterial to the adoption of the amendment, it is clear that the procedure in which may be properly followed in proclaiming the adoption of the proposed amendment — that is to say, that the Secretary of State may disregard the errors contained in the certified copies of the Resolution of the Legislatures acting affirmatively on the proposed amendment." (Italics mine)

* No conflict of interest there!

Please note on page 27:

"It is believed that this meets fully the requirement with reference to receipt of "official notice" contained in Section 205, Revised Statutes of the United States (quoted supra page 2) and that Minnesota should therefore be numbered with the States ratifying the amendment."

This will come into play regarding the legal research courtesy of constitutional Attorney Larry Becraft below.

William Jennings Bryan declared the Seventeenth Amendment ratified at 11:00 am, May 31, 1913, by proclamation.

Before we go state by state, let me point this out:

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Page 12:

AMENDMENT [XVII.] 9

House, 48 Cong. Rec. (62d Cong., 2d Sess.) 6367, having previously passed the Senate on June 12, 1911. 47 Cong. Rec. (62d Cong., 1st Sess.) 1925. It appears officially in 37 Stat. 646. Ratification was completed on April 8, 1913, when the thirty—sixth State (Connecticut) approved the amendment, there being then 48 States in the Union. On May 31, 1913, Secretary of State Bryan certified that it had become a part of the Constitution. 38 Stat 2049.

Ratification was completed on April 8, 1913?

According to the official documents from the National Archives, pg 48, Arizona ratified June 3, 1913; Arkansas ratified April 14, 1913; Connecticut ratified April 15, 1913; Minnesota ratified June 10, 1913; Wisconsin ratified May 9, 1913.

How is it the ratification process could be completed April 8, 1913, when five states didn't ratify it until after that date?

The states of the Union must force a showdown. They can appoint two U.S. Senators and send them to Washington. That would force a constitutional showdown. They can sue the government and go straight to the U.S. Supreme Court. No path is going to be easy because of something called an enrolled bill.

Constitutional Attorney Larry Becraft represented Bill Benson in a lawsuit over the Sixteenth Amendment in the State of Oklahoma in 2001. For additional information on that lawsuit, see Inside Oklahoma's 16th Amendment lawsuit.

Click here to read SHORT EXPOSITION RE LAW OF RATIFICATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS on Larry's web site. This is a lengthy and somewhat complicated document. HOWEVER, we must understand all the legal minefields and court rulings from the past. That legal research will be invaluable for state legislators and their legal staff.

Going state by state from the archives:

Alabama — No Action. Alabama was out of session until January 1915

Arizona — various errors in typographical print and one word added. Declared ratified.

Arkansas — Declared Ratified. Missing:

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution providing that Senators shall be elected by the people of the several States.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two—thirds of each House concurring therein).

That language is in the official submission to the states.

California — Declared ratified; text full of errors. Omitted last paragraph of the amendment!

Let's deal with this mess. Bryan's documents show ratified January 28, 1913; pg 43.

However, in June 2002, I personally retrieved a number of documents from the California State Archives. Many don't know that Bill Benson, who researched the Sixteenth Amendment did the Seventeenth at the same time. This type of research requires cross checking between documents in the National Archives and each state archives individually.

They are scanned with the rest, but you will see these exhibits relating to the Seventeenth (click here):

1. Letter from the office of March Fong Eu, Secretary of State, California dated November 23, 1981. The archivist could find no record of any debate or the vote for the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments. NO RECORD OF THE VOTE.

2. The second document is Assembly Joint Resolution No. 5, January 20, 1913, regarding the Seventeenth Amendment. These documents I personally retreived from the State Archives in California. That J.R. is only 8 days before U.S. Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan declares it ratified by California. There were no fax machines, email or overnight mail. It is impossible to believe that their assembly and senate could have voted and transmitted the documents within eight days to Washington DC in the dead of winter. Besides the all important detail: No record of any debate or vote exists.

3. The next document is titled Engrossed Constitutional Amendment — Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 92, dated April 23, 1913.

Now, this is very important. Right below is the link to several pages cited above. You've looked at the letter from March Fong Yu, former Secretary of State of California: no record of debate or vote on the Seventeenth Amendment. Yet, the second document dated January 20, 1913 declares the state ratified it.

Scroll down to page five -- this is another document I personally obtained at the California State Archives. I believe Bill Benson and constitutional attorney Larry Becraft also have them. Note the date on this Assembly Final History dated April 23, 1913, four months after California allegedly ratified the amendment.

Go down to the next page of the Assembly Final History and see item 7 dated Jan 20, 1913: The Amendment was read, sent to printer and by May 11, 1913, gone from committee with NO recommendation.

How is all this possible if William Jennings Bryan declared it ratified on January 28, 1913?

These images are here.

Now, in File 2, which contains all documents I retrieved, see page 20. Secretary Bryan says 36 states have taken action purporting to ratify the amendment and no official information has been received from any State to the effect that the Legislature of that state has rejected the said amendment. That document is dated June 2, 1913, three days after William Jennings Bryan declared the Seventeenth Amendment ratified (May 31, 1913).

Colorado — Punctuation errors as well as typos. Declared Ratified.

Connecticut — Missing italics as in the original submission from DC. Declared ratified.

Delaware — Letter from the Delaware Secretary of State took no action.

Florida — No Action; see letter from Governor Trammell.

Georgia — No Action.

I highly encourage every state legislator to read the Report of Committee and Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly of Georgia Relative to the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Providing for the Election of United States Senators by the People. Pgs 85 —97.

That report was signed by the Committee on behalf of their Senate, House, the Speaker of the House, Clerk of the House, President of the Senate. Those individuals fully understood what would happen to the State of Georgia if that amendment passed: they would lose their right of suffrage. Too bad we don't have statesmen like that serving in our Congress for decades.

Idaho — Bryan's documents show ratified January 31, 1913. Idaho's official document with seal shows the house passed January 23, 1913, the senate January 31, 1913 and signed off on February 7, 1913

Many typos and punctuation errors. Declared Ratified.

Illinois — Declared Ratified. Ditto.

Indiana — Declared Ratified. Ditto.

Iowa — Declared Ratified. Ditto.

Kansas — Declared Ratified. Ditto.

Kentucky — No Action. Kentucky was out of session until 1914.

Louisiana — Page 143: Ratification. Punctuation errors.

Official List of states which allegedly ratified, pg 43 does not list Louisiana.

Page 44 lists Louisiana ratified June 11, 1914

However, U.S. Secretary of State declared the amendment ratified on May 31, 1913.

Maine — Declared Ratified. Many typos and punctuation errors.

Maryland — No Action taken per their Secretary of State.

Massachusetts — Declared Ratified. Many typos and punctuation errors.

Michigan — Declared Ratified. Ditto.

Minnesota — Declared Ratified. However, there were but a few documents from the National Archives for that state; none show the amendment that was allegedly voted on by their legislature.

Missouri — Declared Ratified. That record is all in long hand. The sealed document from the Secretary of State declares it approved, dated April 14, 1913. The official archive document (pg. 43) says March 7, 1913. No other documents for that state.

Montana — Declared Ratified. Words changed, punctuation.

Nebraska — Declared Ratified. Words added, punctuation

The Governor signed off on the vote ratifying by their legislature on March 27, 1913.

The Official DC documents show Nebraska ratified it on February 5, 1913.

Nevada — Declared Ratified. Punctuation.

New Hampshire — Declared Ratified. All the usual punctuation and errors of italics. One paragraph appears to be not conformed.

New Jersey — Declared Ratified. Some different text, word changes and usual errors. Pages are missing.

New Mexico — Declared Ratified. Page missing.

New York — Declared Ratified. One paragraph has different text. Certification shows only their assembly voted for it; no mention of their senate.

North Dakota — Declared Ratified. Only shows house bill; no mention of vote by the senate.

Ohio — Declared Ratified. Usual errors. Missing paragraph. HJR 3 is for the House. No version of Senate shown, both allegedly voted yea.

Oklahoma — Declared Ratified. Missing a paragraph.

Oregon — Declared Ratified. No records on micro film.

Pennsylvania — Declared Ratified. Paperwork a mess.

Rhode Island — Not on Archives official list. No records on microfilm.

South Carolina — Not listed on archives list of ratified states. No documents on microfilm.

South Dakota — Declared Ratified. Usual errors. No records on micro film.

Tennessee — Declared Ratified. Paperwork a mess; had to use a search engine to find the state matching the governor.

Texas — Declared Ratified. Paragraph changes. Usual errors. Had to use search engine to find Secretary of State and the governor.

Vermont — Declared Ratified. No records on microfilm.

Washington — Declared Ratified. No records on microfilm.

West Virginia — Declared Ratified. Different text, first paragraph. Usual errors. Lack of paperwork.

Wisconsin — Declared Ratified. Usual errors and change in text. Lack of paperwork.

However, in Bill Benson's book (see link at bottom), he has a letter dated May 3, 1913, written by John B. Moore, Assistant Secretary of State to His Excellency, the Governor of Wisconsin. In this letter he says, "A comparison of the last mentioned Resolution with the one passed [emphasis mine] by the Wisconsin Legislature shows that certain clauses and paragraphs have been added in the later Resolution which were not contained in the Resolution passed by Congress."

Besides the fact this proves there was no conformity to the language for passage, note the date: May 3, 1913. According to the official documents, pg 43, Wisconsin's legislature ratified on May 9, 1913 — six days later. Wait! In the Benson documents is a letter dated May 5, 1913, from Governor Francis McGovern which states he acknowledges Moore's letter and the error in ratification (meaning it was no good). McGovern states he is transmitting copies of Moore's letter to the both branches of his legislature.

No other documentation showing another vote was taken.

Wyoming — Declared Ratified. Paperwork missing.

Total: 36 States. 48 states belonged to the Union at that time.

No Action: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland.

Some of the states are not on microfilm in DC. They would be sandwiched between other states and should have been on the rolls: Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington State.

Those documents (239 pages) I collected were court certified by the Archivist. I photographed them with the seal, but in order to go through them page by page, I had to cut the seal and the 'button's which bundled them. Those photos are here. (Also this link)

The file containing all the documents for the states above, click here.

Three horrendous things happened in 1913 and yes, it was a conspiracy.

1. 1. 1. The Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared ratified. The income tax amendment. It clearly was not.
         
         
      2. The Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared ratified. It clearly was not.
         
         
      3. The unconstitutional Federal Reserve Banking Act of 1913 was passed.
         

The income tax amendment was critical. It was needed to feed the privately owned consortium of banks called the FED. The Seventeenth Amendment was critical to remove the right of the states of the Union to equal representation in the U.S. Senate. Henceforth, those seats were up for the highest bidder.

The states are stomped on. The American people are bled to death via heavy progressive taxation and those fruits of our labor go into the coffers of an international and domestic banking cartel draining the lifeblood of this country and our people.

It was a conspiracy. A provable conspiracy: The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin.

Griffin's book is a factual account of the secret meetings at Jekyll Island between powerful bankers to seize and control the monetary system of our country. They were aided and abetted by rotten, corrupt senators who got the bill pushed through. You can watch an interview with G. Edward Griffin on the "FED" here.

"This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President [Wilson} signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized....the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill." — Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr.

"From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." — Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr.

"The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board administers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money" — Charles A. Lindbergh Sr.

Lindbergh's book, Banking and Currency and The Money Trust is available free on line.

Supporting documentation and publications:

Fess, Simeon D. 1861—1936. works: Ratification of the Constitution and amendments by the states By statement: prepared by the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress ... Series: 71st Cong., 3d sess. Senate. Doc., 240, Senate document (United States. Congress. Senate) ; 71st Congress, no. 240. Most large libraries carry this publication.

Proposing a Constitutional Amendment

Proof the Seventeenth Amendment Was Not Ratified

Bill Benson's collected documents. They are invaluable because they come from the state legislatures; their archives. These were not available to me in Washington, DC. I have not reproduced them because they are Bill's labor.

Special Page for State Legislators on Seventeenth Amendment

The Lunatic Left Is Getting Desperate

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo183.html

Well connected, protected thief:

Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger (Clinton Administration) was caught stealing original documents from the National Archives, which he destroyed. These were highly classified terrorism documents that would have exposed Bill Clinton for the failure he was — except with anything wearing skirts. Berger lied to investigators. That thief pled guilty, paid a $50,000 fine and became Marxist Hillary Clinton's key foreign policy adviser during her failed campaign for the presidency. Birds of a feather. If it were you and I, we would have gone to prison plus the fine. It pays to have friends in high places.

On May 23, 1933, Congressman, Louis T. McFadden, brought formal charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank system, The Comptroller of the Currency and the Secretary of United States Treasury for numerous criminal acts, including but not limited to, CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, UNLAWFUL CONVERSION, AND TREASON. Below is an excerpt; the full text is here.

"Mr. Chairman, we have in this Country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks, hereinafter called the Fed. The Fed has cheated the Government of these United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the Nation's debt. The depredations and iniquities of the Fed has cost enough money to pay the National debt several times over.

"This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of these United States, has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the defects of the law under which it operates, through the maladministration of that law by the Fed and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.

"Some people who think that the Federal Reserve Banks United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lender. In that dark crew of financial pirates there are those who would cut a man's throat to get a dollar out of his pocket; there are those who send money into states to buy votes to control our legislatures; there are those who maintain International propaganda for the purpose of deceiving us into granting of new concessions which will permit them to cover up their past misdeeds and set again in motion their gigantic train of crime.

"These twelve private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally foisted upon this Country by the bankers who came here from Europe and repaid us our hospitality by undermining our American institutions. Those bankers took money out of this Country to finance Japan in a war against Russia. They created a reign of terror in Russia with our money in order to help that war along. They instigated the separate peace between Germany and Russia, and thus drove a wedge between the allies in World War.

"They financed Trotsky's passage from New York to Russia so that he might assist in the destruction of the Russian Empire. They fomented and instigated the Russian Revolution, and placed a large fund of American dollars at Trotsky's disposal in one of their branch banks in Sweden so that through him Russian homes might be thoroughly broken up and Russian children flung far and wide from their natural protectors. They have since begun breaking up of American homes and the dispersal of American children. "Mr. Chairman, there should be no partisanship in matters concerning banking and currency affairs in this Country, and I do not speak with any.

"In 1912 the National Monetary Association, under the chairmanship of the late Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, made a report and presented a vicious bill called the National Reserve Association bill. This bill is usually spoken of as the Aldrich bill. Senator Aldrich did not write the Aldrich bill. He was the tool, if not the accomplice, of the European bankers who for nearly twenty years had been scheming to set up a central bank in this Country and who in 1912 has spent and were continuing to spend vast sums of money to accomplish their purpose.

"We were opposed to the Aldrich plan for a central bank. The men who rule the Democratic Party then promised the people that if they were returned to power there would be no central bank established here while they held the reigns of government. Thirteen months later that promise was broken, and the Wilson administration, under the tutelage of those sinister Wall Street figures who stood behind Colonel House, established here in our free Country the worm—eaten monarchical institution of the "King's Bank" to control us from the top downward, and from the cradle to the grave."

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Source Link

Now the 16th Amendment:

A criminal investigator for the Illinois Department of Revenue for approximately 10 years, William J. Benson of South Holland, Illinois has been at the vanguard of debate and controversy surround the 16th Amendment for almost two decades. In 1984 he embarked upon a year-long project to examine the process of the ratification of the 16th Amendment and to determine whether or not it had been lawfully adopted as part of the U.S. Constitution. The culmination of Benson's work is the book, "The Law That Never Was."

Bill Benson, author of "The Law That Never Was"

Question: You have been engaged in this 16th amendment battle for almost 20 years. How did it start?

Answer: I was a former investigator for the Illinois Department of Revenue. I discovered a great deal of corruption within that department and for that the Director fired me. I told him if he fired me, I would sue him for violation of First Amendment rights. Six and half years later we were in court. We had a jury of six; it was a civil trial. They awarded me $353,000 for violation of First Amendment rights.

I began working with my attorney, Andy Spiegal. We had a willful failure to file case in Indiana. Red Beckman had some documentation that showed there was some serious problem with the 16th Amendment. He got the documentation from a man named Dean Hurst, from Cheyenne, Wyoming. I purchased that documentation and made every attempt to have Andy get it before the court, and the Judge said no.

The judge gave us three real good reasons why he did that: The documentation is not notarized, it is not certified, and you do not have a witness to testify to.

That evening I said, "Okay, the judge has given us our marching orders. The only thing we have to do is go to all 48 states and get the documentation" to see if the documents have any validity. The attorney said, "Bill, you're crazy, you can't do that." I said, "Sure you can."

Q: How long did it take to do that?

A: It took a full year. There is not one state -- not one -- that has ratified the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution. One of the most amazing documents I found was in the national archives in Washington D.C. -- a 16-page memorandum written by Ruben J. Clark, then the attorney for Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox, on February 15, 1913. What he says is that in the certified copies of the amendment passed by the legislatures of the several states ratifying the 16th Amendment, it appears that only four of those resolutions -- Arizona, North Dakota, Tennessee and New Mexico -- have quoted absolutely accurately and correctly what was proposed by Congress. The other 33 resolutions contain either errors of capitalization, spelling or wording. ...

Q: So what's the big deal? Why are errors of capitalization, spelling or wording so significant?

A: On page 15 of the 16-page memorandum, the attorney says, "further under the Constitution, a Legislature is prohibited from altering 'in any way' the resolution proposed by Congress." The right of the Legislature is merely to approve or disapprove the amendment. The last page is also interesting because it says the department has not received the copy of the resolution passed by the state of Minnesota, but the secretary of the governor of the state has officially notified the department that legislators of that state have ratified the proposed 16th amendment.

Q: Here's the obvious question that comes up all the time. Say it was a bureaucratic oversight, a procedural glitch or something. Why are we still saddled with this thing? The reality check is, if you don't comply you end up in a whole world of hurt, as you know from personal experience.

A: Oh, there isn't any question about it. And that is why I continue to defy the federal government. That is why, when we were in Washington (at the National Press Club) I said, "I have waited 15 years to get behind these microphones, and I challenge the United States, I challenge the Justice Department, to come and get me. Take me, and leave these people alone." Let's get the 16th Amendment argument on the table once and for all before a jury and let them decide.

Q: Why don't they just drag you into court and resolve the controversy once and for all?

A: I wish they would. This has been going on now for 18 years. They cannot win with the 16th Amendment argument.

Q: Bill, at this event you guys had in Washington D.C. at the National Press Club in July, it seemed like a collection of former Geoff Metcalf guests, including Joe Banister.

Joe Banister is a former IRS agent -- a badge-carrying, gun-carrying agent who after listening to my radio program with interviews of other people and hearing discussions about this issue conducted a research analysis of his own to find out if he was enforcing a law that was a law or not. He submitted his findings to his superiors and asked them to either confirm or deny this stuff, or at least look into it. They basically said, "We'll be happy to accept your resignation, but we are not going to respond."

A: They forced him to resign. I think the entire nation owes Joe a great deal because of the courage it took for a special agent from the Internal Revenue Service to do what Joe Banister did. On C-SPAN Joe Banister told the entire listening audience that the IRS was a fraud, and that the 16th Amendment had not been ratified.

Q: It is fascinating that the first time you guys had a get together, it was broadcast on C-SPAN. I think they had the largest requests they ever had for any taped shows, and they ain't cheap. Yet, when you came back, they wouldn't even put you on the air.

A: That's true. I think the problem that arose was with the promoter of the program. He made a mistake. He went ahead and released a press announcement to the national press in Washington and to the President and right on down and told them what we were going to talk about.

The first session on July 2nd they had to bring in four people, two cameras, the lights and the whole thing, and we were on for three hours and 28 minutes. C-SPAN aired that program on four separate occasions. But they didn't show up on the second one and it was in my personal opinion because the cat was let out of the bag, so to speak, because of the error of the promoter.

Q: Bill, regarding this whole 16th Amendment issue, some folks say, "Well, it's an interesting academic argument, and they may be right on the 'technical' aspects of it, but the reality check is the golden rule -- and the guy with the gold makes the rules."

Were you ever approached by anyone "in government" regarding the documentation you had collected?

A: Yes I was. In 1985, prior to volume one being printed, Mrs. Benson had received a call from an attorney by the name of Warren Richardson. Warren said, "I am making this call on behalf of Senator Orrin Hatch. And of course," he said, "you know who he is? You tell Bill that it is an absolute emergency that he call Washington D.C. immediately."

Q: Did you call them immediately?

A: No, I had no emergency. I was lecturing on the 16th amendment. I did call them in a few days. Warren Richardson said, "I am making this call on behalf of Senator Orrin Hatch." He said "Bill, you cannot permit that book to get in the hands of the kooks out there. We know what you are doing."

I said, "Warren, by your making this telephone call to me you're one of the biggest kooks in D.C."

He said, "You don't understand what I'm trying to do? You have all of the books printed that you want. You name the number of books, and then you put a price on each and every book, and we will pay it. But then we want you never ever again to speak to one person, never again to get on one radio station, one television station or one group of people."

Q: Was that all?

A: No. Warren then said, "The last thing we want are all 17,000 certified, notarized documents that you have -- and you will be a multi-millionaire."

Q: What was your response?

A: I told him thank you, but no thanks. In fact, I told him to "go to hell!" I'm not for sale. America is not for sale. What I am fighting for is freedom, and that is exactly what I told Warren Richardson. I told him to carry that message right back to Orrin Hatch.

Q: You made that announcement at the second event in D.C. that C-SPAN chose not to broadcast. Did Orrin Hatch's office contact you to confirm, deny or threaten or try to sue you?

A: No, they have not.

Q: Have you made any effort to get in touch with them?

A: I haven't made any effort to get in touch with Orrin Hatch since 1985. I was waiting for the proper forum to release this information. I thought C-SPAN was that forum, because you're speaking to millions of people, not groups of 100 or 200, and it would get all over the country. But C-SPAN didn't show up.

Q: Bill, why is this whole 16th Amendment issue so critical?

A: In order for the federal government to collect anything from you, they must have a law. The 16th Amendment is what they collect the tax on. And I have proven beyond a doubt with 17,000 certified, notarized documents that not one state out of the 48 has ratified the law. They have all rejected it.

Q: Bill, thank you.

Final thoughts from interviewer Geoff Metcalf: Bill Benson claims that not a single state legally ratified the proposal to amend the Constitution in the manner required by law. According to Benson's book, "The Law That Never Was":

• The federal government claims Kentucky was the second state to ratify the 16th Amendment, on Feb. 8, 1910. However, the records of the State of Kentucky show that after the Kentucky House proposed a resolution to adopt the amendment and sent it to the Senate, on Feb. 8, 1910 the Kentucky Senate voted upon that resolution, but rejected it by a vote of 9 in favor and 22 opposed. Apparently, the Kentucky Senate never did ratify that amendment. Federal officials, who had possession of documents showing this rejection, nevertheless claimed Kentucky had ratified the amendment.

• In Oklahoma, the proposed amendment was passed by the Oklahoma House and the language of the resolution perfectly matched the one passed by Congress. However, the Oklahoma Senate obviously disliked what Congress had proposed, so it amended the language of the 16th Amendment in such a fashion as to have a precisely opposite meaning.

• The California legislative assembly never recorded any vote upon any proposal to adopt the 16th Amendment. And whatever California did adopt bore no resemblance to what Congress had proposed. Several states engaged in the unauthorized activity of amending the language of the amendment proposed by Congress, a power that these states did not possess.

• Minnesota sent nothing to the Secretary of State in Washington, but this did not deter Philander Knox from claiming that Minnesota ratified the amendment, regardless of the absence of any documentation from the State of Minnesota.

• Article V of the U.S. Constitution controls the amending process, which requires that three-fourths of the states ratify any amendment proposed by Congress. In 1913, there were 48 States in the American union, so to adopt any amendment required the affirmative act of 36 states. In February 1913, Knox issued a proclamation claiming that 38 states had ratified the amendment -- including Kentucky, California and Oklahoma. But since Kentucky had rejected the amendment, California had not voted on it, and Oklahoma wanted something entirely different, the amendment was not legally adopted, the number of ratifying States being only 35. Then again, a total of 11 states failed to vote on the amendment, 33 changed the language of the amendment and Minnesota sent in nothing. In the final analysis, if the process of the adoption of the 16th Amendment is subjected to strict legal scrutiny, the amendment was never adopted.

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Something to think about isn't it? All of the taxes we should never have paid and all of the legislation passed since 1913 void. This is not the work of kooks, but documented in depth conclusive research.