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When only lawyers can understand the law, then only lawyers should be required to obey the laws. -Anon
Excellent Read:
http://www.jondavis.net/taxes/codespeak.aspx
Just bear with it, skim if you must, but it's pretty good although it looks like he ran out of gas at the end there...I will be taking it and adding to it and then sending him the results...perhaps we can start a dialog...
One Thousand Reasons to dump George Bush
1064 and counting:
http://www.thousandreasons.org/newlist.html
Gold:
[Got about half way thru will work on this more later.]
New York Gold Show Notes
I decided to start a new thread, to make sure there was enough electronic "room".
I was there, with Bill Linke, for about 10 hours, from 7:45 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. and we only took two short breaks from the main presentation room. So we pretty much heard it all.
However, bear in mind that what I heard and wrote down is only a small percentage of what was said, and is, of course, colored by what I felt was important, or what appealed to me, but I feel that I got a sense of the continuity of the message, and it definitely wasn't "buy Microsoft and Intel on the dips".
I'll present this in chronological order.
Rick Rule - Global Resourse Investments - When asked, "What one junior mining stock would you buy if it were to be the only one?" he said "Quest". When asked about Silver Standard (SSRI), he said, they own silver in the ground and will do well if and only if silver goes up in price. On options, he said use them only to do something that you would want to do anyway, sell puts and calls, don't buy them, thereby having time work for you and not against you. If you have profits in juniors, take them. Gold is not overbought, just the PM shares, as they are too high relative to their 200 DMA's. 90% of the gold story is the U.S. dollar crisis. The impact of China on gold will not be having its currency, the renminbi, backed by gold, but rather the ownership of gold by private Chinese citizens.[See my posts from China on RB.] The Barrick/JPM/Blanchard lawsuit is a sideshow (sidebar: Tad doesn't agree, more on this later). Gold will retrace before the ETF starts up, but the commercials will be hurt. Humerous observation:
"Elections are advanced auctions of property to be stolen."
Frank Holmes - U.S. Global Investors - Whatever China needs, go long ... copper, gold, oil, etc. China is now the #4 GDP in the world. Gold mine supply is shrinking. Low interest rates discourage gold hedging. Mergers will drive up the price of gold. Liguidity makes PM stocks and gold go up at the same time. The psychology of money and finance is becoming better understood; Yale University is a leader in this field. The efficient frontier portfolio (don't know exactly what this is, I suspect some sort of sector-rotation approach to investing) shows a 20% gold position. 80% of mutual fund inflows are going to funds with a Morningstar rating of 4 or 5. Gold PM's peak at 35-40 times cash flow. We'll continue to have short-term corrections.
Joe Conway - IAM Gold - They hold their cash positon in gold because it's a superior currency.
Robert Buchan - Kinross Gold - Mergers in the PM industry will be top-down, there will be no more mergers between majors. 2.7% of their reserves are hedged, but this position will be gone in 15 months. They have $125 million incash, and no debt.
Barry Linden - Agnico-Eagle Mines - (Sorry, I didn't get much out of this presentation, laden with drill hole analysis, tonage rates, additional costs for this and that, etc.; all I can tell you is that their premier property is located on the Cadillac-Bousquet Belt, and I think this is good.)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AEM&d=t
Ferdi Dippenaar - Harmony/Armgold - They will be South Africa's (SA) largest unhedged gold producer. Results for 2004 shoud be similar to 2003. They have had a 100% increase in reserves in the last 2 years. They now have the world's largest gold resource, and they are the world's 5th largest gold producer as a result of the merger. The largest challenge to the gold industry is replacing mine reserves. A 1% increase in the price of gold means a 10% earnings increase for Harmony. Their profit margin is now 18%. Their recovery ratio for gold will increase from 5.3 to 6.0 grams per ton. They will not resort to hedging to fund future projects.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=HMY&d=t
Mark (Lom) Bristo - Randgold Resources - Their emphasis is on value, the will be looking for acquisitions. Their discovery costs in Mali are $10/oz. The do not mine in SA, only Central Africa. Cash costs are $86/0z. for 1.6 million ozs. in Morilla, and their total cash costs for the last 6 months are $90/oz. They are currently turning resources into reserves. Randgold will probably merge with Ashanti, the due dilligence is now in progress. Their share price performance vs. the pog is the strongest of the majors.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RANGY&d=t
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ASL&d=t
Ian Murray - Durban Roodepoort Deep - They are the most leveraged of the miners. They offer 1 million ozs. of gold production. 80% of their shares are owned here in the U.S. They have current mine life of 15 years, for 15 million ozs. They are unhedged, both gold and currency. They just floated 18 million shares for acquisition. They are in the top 10 of shares traded of all ADR's. They represent a pure gold play and a pure currency play, with a 1:7 ratio of pog to profit. They get their properties from other miners who have given them up, they extend the life of mines. SA legislation calls for 26% Black ownership in 10 years, but they comply now.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DROOY&d=t
Barry Cooper - CIBC World Markets - 10% pog move now gets 15-20% share price moves, but this beta is off its highs because the pog rise has been matched by cash cost rise. The industry average cash cost is $180 - $221. It is being affected by currency fluxuations. He believes that the U.S. dollar is no longer the driver of the pog, but rather, the new driver will be the shrinking supply vs. rising demand. The rising demand will come from India and China, with Chinese demand coming from both the Central Bank and also from private ownership. China is the world's largest consumer of gold, and this provides a floor of support for the pog. Foreign reserves are up 21% in China, and they will use these reserves to buy more gold if the price goes down. The demand for gold in China will go up if the renminbi is revalued down, and this pickup will occur in advance of any revaluation. The signal that China is about to revalue, would be China pushing out goods and products to the world at an even greater, accelerated pace. The following four PM companies ... Goldcorp, Meridian, Miramar, and Minefinders ... all find gold at lower discovery costs than the rest of the industry. They spend $10 -$20 per oz., but the industry average is $50, so these companies can and do therefore sell at higher multiples.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?s=GG,G.TO&d=v1
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MDG&d=t
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MNG&d=t
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MFN&t=2y
Chris Bradbrook - Goldcorp - (*** Very important, IMO, we've had this discussion on the Board several times, and I would like to believe that the following is true) ... There have been 2 periods over the last 107 years when the Dow didn't go up for an extended period of time, namely, 1929 - 1934 and 1966 - 1980. In the first period, Homestake Mining went up 7-fold, and in the second period Homestake went up 6-fold. More recently, from 1999 to now, the Dow is down 18% but HUI is up 3-fold. Look at gold as portfolion insurance, because a 10% position in gold can offset a large decrease in the rest of the portfolio. Goldcorp is finding gold at a cost of $11/oz. They have 7 tonnes of gold.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?s=GG,G.TO&d=v1
Wayne Hubert - Meridian Gold - The current negative real interest rates are driving the pog higher. Hedging is a good source of demand for gold, and puts a floor under the price. The gold index tripled the last two times we had negative real interest rates (1980 and 1992). The rising cash costs put a floor under the pog. We have declining mine supply, and whereas industry exploration costs were $3 billion, they are now lower. XAU leverages the pog by 3 times. The S&P and XAU are usually inverse to each other. The intermediate-sized companies will get more leverage out of a 1-million-oz. mine discovery. Low cash costs give Meridian a margin of profit of 27%. The company has doubled reserves over the last 3 year. They have not floated shares, and they have no debt. El Penon is the company's foundation, with a cash cost of $48. It is the driest place on Earth.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MDG&d=t
Dave Fennell - Miramar Mining - They are an emerging producer. They own the premier Hope Bay property, on a greenstone belt (which is a long-life, low cost resource). They have no debt.
Christian Briggs - Benchmark Ventures - Rare gold coins went up 1000% in 1980 when gold went from $550 to $800. MS65 and above perform much better. A graph of key-date coins, from 1970 - 2003, shows higher lows and higher highs consistently. Rare coins have compounded what the value of gold has done. They offer paperless privacy.
Jim Grant - Grant's Interest Rate Observer - (This guy is just great ... a real entertainer, with a solid message ... watchout for the "men's suit saw!") Gold is not a bargain, even at less than the cash cost. Gold is a hedge. He is bullish on gold because it is a hedge against the risks that lie before us, the risk of what may go wrong. Gold competes with credit for capital. Now the opportunity cost of owning gold is nil. Real interest rates are now zero, so now the question becomes, "what is the cost of NOT owning gold". The renminbi is the frozen emmission of a communist state. The monetary system is closer and closer to at least a halt in its progress, if not a breakdown. Martin Meger writes in "The FED", that the standard of gold and its discipline have been replaced by the discretion of one man, Alan Greenspan. $939 billion of U.S. Treasury debt is now held by foreign central banks, and this is 18% higher than it was only 12 months ago. This situation will be resolved with a lower U.S. dollar exchange rate. Never before has a currency commanded this level of respect without gold; it stands for the idea of America. What is gold up against? the monetary world is a world of error. Econometric models: when you finally GET it, you don't like it! The Fed believes it can stabilize prices, it wants to create enough credit to stabilize both prices and the global market. What is the forecast for gold? "I looked in a Brooks Brothers catalogue, and I saw that a men's suit costs $590, so that's my prediction for gold! that's where gold is going! The trend will continue: Chinese goods here, U.S. dollars there. Gold is a hedge against, not an event, but an unfolding.
[Saying is POG remains constant over the centuries, one ounce buys a a set of clothes (suit) a pair of shoes and a belt...]
Phillips Baker - Hecla Mining - They have a low cash cost at $138. $7 million of share value is traded per day. The stock is up 122% from the low of 6 months ago. The company is over 100 years old. They are making money on silver even at these prices. They have hedges for 75,000 ozs. Silver will go up in sympathy with gold or the economy (for industrial uses). Digital photography will have no effect on silver demand because the process still requires the use of silver. Disposable cameras will find increased use in other parts of the world, as their economies improve. They are in Venezuala, where there is political instability, but business still gets done.
Kieth Hulley - Apex Silver - Current silver prices are unsustainable. They have the world's largest primary silver project, San Cristobal. The site is user-friendly, with a low strip ratio and a cash cost of $2/oz. The silver market will enjoy increases in fabricated demand, and new industrial uses as in wood preservation, to replace arsenic. 70% of silver production is as a byproduct of other metals. The fundamentals are compelling.
Clive Johnson - Bema Gold - They can become a 1 million oz. producer from existing properties. They are still committed to exploration. Their cash cost at Julietta is $110/oz. They'll be debt-free 1 year from now. They do hedge their gold revenue against the SA Rand. Their cash cost in Chili is $220, they think it will soon be feasible to go back into production there (Refugia). He doesn't see adding more shares. Their overall cash cost is $175. They are now an intermediate gold producer, by taking measured risks. They do some hedging, 120,000 ozs., a 4% position. They will use options to hedge in the future.
Chris Bradbrook - Goldcorp - The average gold bull market lasts 12 years, but it takes 6-10 years to discover and develope a project. A new mine discovery creates much larger growth for the intermediates (GG, AEM, GLG, MDG, BGO) than for the giants (NEM, KGC, ABX). KGC has negative 30% growth. Real growth is per-share, cash-flow, earnings growth, not just getting larger for the sake of getting larger.
Panel Discussion, with Thom Calandra (TC), Bob Bishop (BB), Robert Friedland (RF, of Ivanhoe Mines), and Chris Bradbrook (CB) - BB: buy the hunted gold companies, not the hunters. The large PM's are not as nimble now as they used to be. The action will now be in the acquisition of juniors by the others. Miramar is in a gold belt, they control 30 million ozs. but their stock price is now a little frothy, but it could be special. TC: Individual investors are having a large effect on share prices. RF: Ivanhow is a proxy for gold exploration in China, and China is the only part of the world that is truly growing. CB: central bank sales cannot stop the pog if it is truly a bull market. TC: the longs on the COMEX may be anticipating the coming gold ETF, in the next 6-8 weeks. CB & RF: Gold confiscation is unlikely. RF: Buy what China needs, namely copper, nickel, platinum, oil, natural gas. Copper has outperformed gold over the last 20 years.
Ian Telfer - Wheaton River - They are now the 4th largest in Canada. Their management team took over 2 years ago, they have grown by acquisition. Now mining 710,000 ozs./year. Their cash cost was $187/oz., now $120. Reserves: the ratio was 238 shares for 1 oz. now 79 shares for 1 oz. They eliminate the risks of exporation and production by purchasing mines that are already in operation. They acquire at P/E's of 6 and 7, and the industry average is 50. Their current P/E is 17.
Mark Skousen - Forecasts and Strategies - Public policies affecting pog are mostly positive for a higher pog. Fed's easy money, artificially low interest rates, creating artificial growth, money supply not expanded equally to all parts of the economy, are all bullish for pog. He will be teaching the principles of Austrian economics at the Columbia School of Business, "I will be telling them things they have never heard before!" (the room errupted in spontaneous applause ... take heart, Tom Burger, you now have friends in high places!). He is bullish on equity reits but not on mortgage reits. The Fed is switching policy to fighting deflation with re-inflation, but will probably not take it to the levels of the 1970's. Fiscal policy is good for gold, lower taxes for investors. Government spending is out of control, the fastest since FDR, Bush is a Keynesian, he has yet to veto one piece of legislation. Deficeit spending doesn't necessarily raise interest rates, but it keeps them from falling. Foreign policy is bullish for gold, it is imperialistic and inflationary. We are expanding both domestic and foreign spending by government. Watch Exxon-Mobil (XOM), it is hitting new highs. Gold is the best economic indicator of future inflation. He has not always been bullish on gold, but he is now. The CPI is a poor indicator, the current 2% is too low. He likes Toqueville, Masters 100 Fund, FreeportMcMoran, both common and convertible.
Jim Rogers - Commodities, not stocks, is the place to be now. We face a sideways stock market, stocks are not coming back to what they were in the '90s. His Commodity Index Fund is up 100% since 1998, it is not a managed fund. People catch on at the wrong time. Supply and demand get out of whack. Only 3 offshore drilling rigs have been built in the last few years, yet demand has continued to grow, with flat to down supply. Big inventories held prices down, plus the cold war meant that people had stockpiles. It's all just a matter of history and simple economics. War always makes commodities go higher, plus incompetence at the Fed, they are saying, "We are going to debase the currency". It is always a disaster. This bull market in commodities will last a long time. There are no commodity mutual funds at this time. The excess capacity we see now is in non-productive assets. The commodity market has been much less volitile than the stock market. You can buy countries which export commodities, or you can buy states (if you are going to buy a vacation house, buy it in Nebraska, not in Massachesetts). Greenspan is doing the same thing here that he is telling the Japanese to do. ETF's will demolish the mutual fund industry. The best way to invest in China is to buy what China imports: copper, oil, sugar, coffee, soy beans. The world would be better off without central bankers. There are no good currencies anymore. Singapore wants one, but they can't do it because they would become non-competative. If you buy land, buy productive land. Fannie May is a sham, he is short the stock, it might become a $5 stock.
********
Tad's afterthought on the way home - The question about central banks supressing the price of gold, and the "no" answer. At first I said to myself, o'k, sounds logical, why would I, as a central banker, want to supress the price of that which I own, but aha!, I would be more than willing to do it if I could thereby increase the amount of debt, which produces for me a stream of interest income, probably many times greater than the mark-to-market value of my gold, and when that jig is up, I've still got my gold, and can now allow it to go up in price, so I get "paid" for that as well, in the end. Congressman Ron Paul said, in that very important speach, posted twice here on the Board, and in Richard's remarks last night, "To maintain confidence in the U.S. dollar, gold prices must be held in check..." to which I agree, FWIW.
All corrections and comments welcome, except any personal attacks because Mark Skousen said that the Bush Administration is Keynesian, go to Columbia U. and tell Mr. Skousen, if you must!
Regards, Tad.
Tad Clawson
http://www.atomicbobs.com/forum/index.php?mode=read&id=2371
FROM THE votefraud.org ARCHIVES
The Greatest Cover-Up Of All:
Vote Fraud In America
by James J. Condit Jr.
You're running in your first election for City Council in a crowded field of 26 candidates. Nine will be elected. The No. 1 local anchorman comes on TV at about 9:15 PM and announces that you're going to do very well for a first time candidate, then flashes on the screen that you're running 12th; only three places from victory. Such a finish would give hope to all who were daring to "fight city hall."
Earlier in the evening, a liberal-leftist home-town university professor who was analyzing early returns for another local TV station had projected that your arch-rival, and his ally the sweetheart of the anti-God portion of the establishment was headed towards defeat.
But HO-L-L-L-D EVERYTHING ! ! !
At approximately 9:45 PM, the same anchorman announces that there has been a computer breakdown. 45 minutes later when the computers come back up, a massive switch has occurred. You and 7 other feisty challengers have fallen to the very bottom of the heap. The establishment sweetheart has jumped into a winning position against all odds. Despite unprecedented public dissatisfaction, the same old faces are elected once again. Many conclude that "you just can't fight city hall." Things have worked out just great for all those entrenched politicians who seemed to be the object of such public dissatisfaction right up to election day. The next morning, you scan the papers in vain for any mention of the computer breakdown: no record for posterity.
The above scenario is my story, but it was happening in dozens of places all across the nation. It was 1979 and a new day had quietly dawned in America - UNVERIFIABLE, RIGGABLE computerized vote tabulation.
Ballots for Bullets
When I was small I remember my Dad saying how in other countries they would shoot each other to decide the transfer of power. In our country it was done by the ballot at election time.
Millions of American soldiers have fought and bled and died to protect your right to free and fair elections; to protect your right to an orderly, peaceful transfer of power when the people so will.
How Your Parents' Votes Were Counted
Once upon a time, Americans voted by Paper Ballot. At the end of the day after the polls had closed, neighborhood people, Democrats and Republicans, worked together to count the votes in the precinct (polling place) BEFORE the votes left that precinct. The count was then posted at the precinct polling place for all to see. This is the only way to insure a verifiable election. Variations of method are possible, but the elements of physical ballots which are counted and posted at the precinct before the ballots leave each precinct are essential to insure a fair and honest count.
To rig an election with the above safeguards built in, one would have to bribe many hundreds of neighborhood people, including key Democrats and Republicans in each precinct you hoped to rig. Finally, the group of people bribed at each precinct would only have access to a tiny fraction of the vote.
The Greatest Coverup Begins
About 1974 a sinister development was in full swing all over the United States. In many areas, especially high populations regions, the votes were no longer being counted in the precincts by neighborhood people. The switch was on to computer vote counting systems. Typical was Cincinnati, Ohio where votes were bundled up immediately after the polls closed and sent to a mysterious central computer room to be counted by secret computer codes. To add insult to injury, the votes were counted away from the watchful eye of the entire electorate and the press.
Despite the brutal cover up that has been conducted for going on three decades by the news media and the major parties to prevent you from hearing about this issue, some major media news items have appeared. In a rare but superb news story on the eve of the 1988 Presidential election, Dan Rather (CBS Evening News) engaged in this exchange with computer expert Howard J. Strauss of Princeton University:
Rather: "Realistically, could the fix be put on in a national election?"
Strauss: "Get me a job with the company that writes the software for this program. (ed: Strauss was referring to the most common computer program in use) Then I'd have access to one third of the votes. Is that enough to fix a general election?"
"A House Without Doors"
In an earlier clip during this CBS interview, Howard J. Strauss dropped this bombshell: "When it comes to computerized elections, there are no safeguards. It's not a door without locks, it's a house without doors." The most succinct introductory summary to this mind-blowing subject is found in Votescam: The Stealing of America by James & Kenneth Collier.
The chapter begins by quoting the first words spoken by President-elect, George Bush in his Nov. 8, 1988 victory speech in Houston, Texas. Bush said: "We can now speak the most majestic words a democracy can offer: "The people have spoken. . . "
The Colliers comment: "It was not "the People" of the United States who did 'the speaking' on that election day, although most of them believed it was, and still believe it. In fact, the People did not speak at all. The voices most of us really heard that day were the voices of computers strong, loud, authoritative, unquestioned in their electronic finality....
Trade Secrets
The computers that spoke in November 1988 held in their inner workings small boxes that contained secret codes that only the sellers of the computers could read. The programs, or "source codes," were regarded as "trade secrets." The sellers of the vote-counting software zealously guarded their programs from the public, from election officials, from everyone on the dubious grounds that competitors could steal their ideas if the source codes were open to inspection....
You may ask: What "ideas" does it require to count something as simple as ballots? Can the "ideas" be much more complex than, let's say, a supermarket computerized cash register or an automatic bank teller machine?
The computer voting machines do not have to do anything complicated at all; they simply must be able to register votes for the correct candidate or party or proposal, tabulate them, count them up, and deliver arithmetically correct additions....
People with no formal training, even children, used to do it all the time. So why can't the public know what those secret source codes instruct the computers to do?
It only makes common sense that every gear, every mechanism, every nook and cranny of every part of the voting process ought to be in the sunlight, wide open to public view. How else can the public be reasonably assured that they are participating in an unrigged election where their vote actually means something? Yet one of the most mysterious, low-profile, covert, shadowy, questionable mechanisms of American democracy is the American vote count....
Computers in voting machines are effectively immune from checking and rechecking. If they are fixed, you cannot know it, and you cannot be sure at all of an honest tally."
If you understand the above quoted paragraphs, you understand the problem.
Crash, Cover-up, Lawsuit, Fix
Among the many struggles which have taken place all over the USA in the last few decades over this issue, I can speak about only one from first hand experience: Cincinnati, Ohio (covered on page 242-247 in the Collier book.) Fortunately, the Cincinnati case illustrates as well as any other instance how the establishment media and both major parties coalesce to thwart any attempt to get rid of their precious, riggable computer vote counting systems.
"How Elections Are Stolen" in American Opinion magazine written in 1977 by Dr. Susan L.M. Huck alerted me to the dangers of computerized vote counting systems. When we actually witnessed our very own computer crash in 1979 (described on Page 1) during which everything worked out perfectly for the "in-crowd" I knew something big and bad was up. When the Cincinnati newspapers failed to mention the computer crash the next morning and the accompanying candidate position shake up this was our first taste of the media blackout that dozens of other concerned citizens were experiencing all over the nation.
After due research and preparation, we filed suit against our local Board of Elections in 1981, and after 4 years of public service litigation conducted by my Father, James J. Condit Sr., our side won a decisive victory. Judge Richard Niehaus ruled: "There is no adequate and proper safeguard against the computers being programmed to distort the election results." What the Judge's ruling means, is that thousands of your votes can be switched in the blink of an eye and no one would ever be the wiser!
Judge Niehaus also issued a court order allowing us and our chosen experts "to observe all phases of the election process" on election night 1985 with a view that we bring evidence back to his court so that the situation could be properly remedied.
Shortly before this court ruling, my mother-in-law had providentially alerted me to a series called Votescam by the Collier brothers being carried in the Washington DC-based weekly newspaper, The Spotlight. Thanks to this tip, I was able to ask the Colliers to serve as two of our court-approved experts. As reported in their book, the Colliers had already video-filmed women punching votes out of voters' ballots at the Board of Elections on election night 1982 in Miami, Florida.
And to my surprise (but not to theirs), the Colliers also caught women on camera plucking votes out of punchcard ballots in Cincinnati, this time using household tweezers.
Disappointingly, Judge Niehaus (in his tennis shoes) was summoned down to the Board of Elections at about 7:30 PM on that 1985 election night by the heads of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. The Judge, in a highly unusual move, modified his court order on the spot insisting that observing "all phases of the election process" did not include videotaping!
The audio portion of the confrontation between Ken Collier on the one hand, and the Judge and both local Party heads on the other, is captured on a video camera which was pointed at the floor during the tense exchange. The Colliers were told to quit videotaping under threat of arrest.
The next morning we appeared on the Jan Mickelson Show on WCKY Talk Radio. Mickelson, who is one of the top Talk Show Hosts in the country, was skeptical when Ken Collier asserted that we had video-film of women pulling votes out of ballots with common household tweezers. He shot a quick glance my way as if he were having second thoughts about having let us on the air at all. But then our credibility shot sky-high when no one from the Board of Elections was willing to come on the air against us.
Back to election night: While the Colliers' videotaping efforts were causing such consternation to the Election officials, our other court-approved expert, Mr. Robert Strunk, was moving quietly through the system with my Father.
Mr. Strunk, a highly respected computer analyst who once headed the Xavier University computer department, issued a magnificent report to the Court detailing why the computer vote counting system was NOT verifiable. Mr. Strunk said that to believe the published results under this computer system was "an act of faith."
Please observe that the conclusions of Mr. Strauss and Mr. Strunk, as well as the conclusions of dozens of other honest computer experts, agree completely on the unverifiability of these computer vote counting systems. As far as we know, there is not one computer expert in the nation who has gone on record in an attempt to refute these scholarly individuals.
Despite his previous fine decisions, Judge Niehaus, perhaps feeling the heat from the local power structure, excused himself from taking any action to remedy the riggable computer system by announcing that he was a "pacifist" judge whatever that means. We appealed, and two years later in 1987 our deplorable Court of Appeals dismissed the six year-old case stating absurdly that the county judge did not have any jurisdiction over the county computer vote counting system.
Whistle-blowers Emerge
In the meantime, something momentous happened. Two whistle-blowers had come forth from Cincinnati Bell. One of them eventually testified in convincing detail during court proceedings connected with our lawsuit that he had been involved in causing a computer crash while helping to alter the local 1979 election by wiretapping into our computer vote counting system. (The reader will recall that this was the very year we had been stunned by the candidate shake-up which occurred seemingly during the computer shutdown.). The key whistle-blower had already watched for several years as a Congressman, the FBI, and all the press stonewalled his evidence.
On election eve 1986, Cincinnatus Political Action Committee, our local political vehicle, had issued a press release asking the media how they could ignore Judge Niehaus's finding and continue to report local elections as business as usual when the same riggable computer system was still counting the votes. Only Channel 12 responded and took a brief statement from me, but the spot they aired right after Monday Night Football caught the attention of the key whistle-blower, and he contacted us the next day, election day '86.
After another year of being stonewalled, we convinced the frustrated whistle-blowers that the only way to break through the media censorship was to utilize a little known law which forces TV and radio stations to accept a candidate's political ads provided no obscenity is involved.
Days before our TV ad featuring the whistle-blowers was to air, Judge Niehaus again played a key role when he ruled favorably on my Father's request to allow the key whistle-blower to enter his sworn testimony about wiretapping the computer on election nights as well as causing that crash in 1979 into our suit against the Board of Elections, which had not yet been thrown out by the Court of Appeals. Together the TV ad and the sworn testimony combined to spark the only two significant local major media reports that have ever appeared. Anchor Nick Clooney and reporter Mary Krutko of Channel 12 aired an excellent, in-depth local TV segment, and twenty minutes later during the same newscast our TV ad featuring the whistle-blowers ran.
The next morning (Oct. 30, 1987), reporter Randy Ludlow wrote an outstanding article in the Cincinnati Post. But these two reports alerted the Media Moguls and the media curtain of censorship was slammed down.
Eventually a cornucopia of press coverage did ensue but it focused on other aspects of the story, while maintaining the brutal cover-up of the vote fraud issue. All the rest of the coverage was devoted to relative trivia such as which millionaires and organizations had been allegedly phone tapped, speculation as to why, etc. etc. etc.
By time the smoke had cleared in the wiretapping story, 5 policemen had resigned in disgrace and Cincinnati Bell admitted one of its trucks had been used in wiretapping activities. The Wall Street Journal had mentioned the story, local Cincinnati newspapers, TV, and radio stations combined to carry over 400 reports and 60 Minutes aired a segment on the Cincinnati wiretapping story. The chief computer man at the local Board of Elections admitted under oath that if someone had the relevant codes he would have a 100% chance to alter the election results.
But omitted from all major media press coverage, with the two already noted exceptions, was any intelligible reporting on the votefraud aspect of the story. (Several highly explosive radio shows featuring the Colliers, the whistle-blowers, and myself are preserved on audiotape. Our TV commercial featuring the whistle-blowers and the local Channel 12 spot is preserved on videotape as is an hour interview which I conducted with one of the whistle-blowers early on just in case we had not been able to break through the media curtain.)
New Yorker Magazine, Dan Rather, and the U.S. Department of Commerce
Even though 99% of the investigative reporting on votescam has been done by private citizens and non-establishment investigators (for instance, while the "respectable" New York Times has done only 3 stories on the subject, the "persona non grata" Spotlight weekly was carrying over 300 stories), there have been enough establishment sponsored stories to demonstrate that the major news media has what some call "guilty knowledge."
On the eve of the Bush-Dukakis election, Ronnie Dugger broke the almost total silence in the major media on votescam when his article "The Dangers of Computerized Voting" appeared as a cover story in the Nov. 7, 1988 issue of New Yorker magazine (This dynamite article is available in most libraries).
Dugger, who visited me for a week in Cincinnati during the wiretapping uproar, exerted his journalistic skills to present this issue in an undeniably credible manner. He documented the activities of many and varied citizens, candidates, and experts generally unknown to each other who have been working on votescam in virtually every region of the country from the early 70's to the present day.
Within days of the appearance of the New Yorker cover story, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather carried the only report to date to appear on a major TV network, featuring computer expert Dr. Howard J. Strauss. We have also preserved this excellent 5 minute report on videotape.
In August of 1988, the U.S. Bureau of Commerce published a comprehensive study under the auspices of the National Bureau of Standards by Roy G. Saltman, Special Publication 500-158 entitled "Accuracy, Integrity, and Security in Computerized Vote-Tallying."
This is probably the most comprehensive compilation of all the lawsuits and other aspects which surround the issue of computerized voting published thus far. This government study supports Dugger's article, as well as supplies mountains of evidence documenting the problems with computer vote-counting systems.
The fact that Saltman failed to pick up our Cincinnati case -- which featured both the most decisive judicial ruling and the only whistle-blower to come forth to date -- demonstrates the difficulty faced by even a well-funded government agency in compiling a comprehensive list of all the efforts that have been conducted to expose the dangers of computerized vote tabulating.
The thus-far successful suppression of the votescam issue from widespread public notice is a chilling demonstration of major media censorship in America.
Why Does the Board Of Elections Exist?
The Boards of Election exist for one reason: to guarantee that the results published on election night are in fact the will of the people; to insure in a way that can be verified that what the people voted in the thousands of neighborhood pollings places is what shows up as the final results. It doesn't matter how many pieces of literature are distributed, or how many TV campaign commercials run, or how much shouting goes on, or how many debates are televised.
If the computer programs which "count" our votes are poised to switch key votes in the blink of an eye, the rest just doesn't matter. As computer whiz Howard J. Strauss said at the end of that lone 1988 CBS Evening News report: "Should we make it voluntary that we have safe elections or should we demand safe elections?"
http://www.votefraud.org/Archive/Write/greatest.htm
Even I don't like everything I post.e
Impressions and Notes NYC Institutional Gold Conference
September 8-9, 2003
Analysts and Newsletter Writers
Thom Calandra
Thom spent a few minutes discussing the launch of his newsletter, which has just gone from $200 to $249 for a subscription. He dangled the tantalizing prospect of some upcoming blockbusters to those who have not yet tithed to him. Thom pointed out the unbelievable performance of the base metals and claims that you will see the best performance from poly-metallic stocks (copper/gold, for example). In this regard, Thom mentioned a couple of juniors like Northgate and Bolivar Gold.
Thom mentioned that he believes that Ivanhoe Energy could go to $6-$8. He also holds the Australian dollar.
Thom discussed Nevsun as a potential blockbuster and says that we should get some news in 6-8 weeks. He was asked about a company on his watch list, Bitterrroot Resources, but it is a microscopic market cap company that is only suited for high spec investors.
Calandra referred to Dines' view that gold is clearly in a bull market and that will eventually become a raging bull market. Thom
reviewed some charts of senior and mid-tier golds.
Ian McAvity
In one generation, we have consumed the savings of our forebearers and also those of the generation to come. The massive debt will be retired one way or the other. Debt is the single most important factor. The second factor is the stock market valuation level. If history is a guide, the market's too high for a bear market bottom, by P/E, dividend yield or any other measure you choose. Another point that Ian made was to indicate that he shares the beliefs on China that are espoused by Robert Friedland.
Look for gold above 355 euro and 45,000 yen. He believes that targets for gold are $400 and $500. The gold market will change character after it surpasses 355 euro/oz.
Mary Anne Aden/Pamela Aden
Mary Anne Aden began by reviewing long term (30 year?) chart of gold. She uses a 40-month moving average to identify very large trends. Long term charts of the S&P500 and USD confirm that the super major trends are up for gold and down for stocks and the USD.
Near-term targets on gold are 415 and if that is surpassed, 500. Longer term, the target following $500 is $850/oz. During the conference, gold broke above 380 which Ms. Aden interprets as a signal that 415 may be very close. There is a possibility that we could see a short term high for gold in the Sept-Oct, but the uptrend is intact as long as gold remains above $337.
The HUI chart is even better than gold.
The XAU chart features a breakout from a massive, multi-year, Head & Shoulders formation, with a target of 160 (using the distance from
the neckline to the top of the head as an upside target from the neckline). Huge bottoms are followed by huge moves.
A study of the performance of gold during previous inflationary periods shows that gold and gold stocks perform very well in periods of inflation. This also holds true for deflationary periods. The Fed's actions are very bullish for gold.
The USD is 25% overvalued based on the trade deficit alone.
During the conference, silver rose to $5.20/oz which was interpreted to be very bullish and confirming the move in gold. The targets for
silver are $6.50 and $7.00. Above that, silver will be breaking a huge pattern for future moves (up, presumably).
Charts of commodities (copper, oil, zinc) were reviewed next. The breakouts on these charts confirm commodity price inflation which is
supportive of higher gold prices. Zinc was shown to be just now breaking out.
Rick Rule
An article covering some of the comments by Rick Rule and Ian McAvity appeared after the show and is included below. From my own
notes:
The set of conditions for rising gold are now with us, not in front of us. That's the good news. The bad news is that means bad things
are coming. Gold is insurance but be careful what you wish for.
Don't confuse patience with complacency. Allow time to make you right, but purge yourself of complacence. Rick reminded the audience that the 1996 show marked a peak in goldbug exuberance, but was in fact a period of maximum risk. The 2000 show was a period of maximum gloom and low attendance at the conference, but that was the time of lowest risk to enter gold stocks.
Beware the silly season with regard to gold stock prices. Rick is concerned about the very large number of financings done recently in the sector (i.e. a few months down the road we could see a sell-off as the restrictions fall away). By his measure, gold stocks are only worth 1/3 of the value at which they are currently selling. It's cheaper to buy gold and gold futures than stocks at this point.
Rick encouraged investors to look at enterprise value, market cap + debt - (free cash and redundant assets). Examine price vs. value.
Look at balance sheets, to learn about company debt and cash.
NY Gold Conference: Gold Bulls Must Take Profits, Be Patient
-- Secular Bull Market In Place, But Prices Won't Rise In Straight
Line
By Gavin Maguire
New York, Sept. 9 (OsterDowJones) - While gold may indeed be in a secular bull market and destined for higher prices, bullion holders and investors must demonstrate patience and a preparedness to take profits along the way in order to avoid disappointment, according to two noted speakers at the 16th annual New York Institutional Gold Conference.
Investment advisers Ian McAvity and Rick Rule both cautioned attendees of the dangers of having too high expectations for the gold price now that it is gaining increased attention from the investor and fund community and prices linger at six- to seven-year highs in the $375- to $380-per-ounce region.
McAvity, editor of technical newsletter Deliberations on World Markets, presented charts of previous gold bull runs and pointed out the
turbulent and volatile nature of prices within an overall up channel. "No market goes up in a straight line, and even in a bull
channel you have to expect some setbacks in the price," he said.
"That is why it is important to be patient with this market and take profits when prices are looking overcooked and re-enter again on
price dips." Rule, senior analyst for Global Resource Investments Ltd., echoed the need among gold bulls to not expect too much too soon.
"There's a big difference between inevitable and imminent that we need to remember," he told delegates Tuesday morning.
"While all the stars are aligned for an inevitable bull run in the gold price - due to rising U.S. trade and budget deficits and government spending, slow mine supply growth, U.S. dollar weakness and so on - that does not mean that a pronounced rally in the gold price is inevitable," Rule said.
"In fact, could a real break higher in the price be three, four, five years in coming? Yes indeed it could," he warned. "So don't expect
incredible gains in the price over the near term, and be prepared to limit your losses and take profits along the way.
"But also be prepared for prices to head higher over the longer run because we are indeed in a secular bull market for gold."
John Doody
John Doody described the four goals of his newsletter as follows:
- provide macroeconomic analysis for an overall market view
- Find gold stocks that are over/undervalued
- Study the undervalued stocks
- Maintain a list of Top 10 Gold Stock Analyst picks
John has a first target for gold of $450/oz. He is not looking at mid-tiers right now, he believes they are fairly valued.
Some of the stocks that have huge (10-bagger) potential, in his opinion, are:
- Freeport McMoRan
- Krystallex
- Arizona Star
Jim Dines
Jim Dines is a very entertaining speaker and knows how to whip up a crowd. He began his keynote presentation by leading the crowd in singing "Happy Days Are Here Again". Twice.
Jim answered the question of "when to sell" by saying that it is WAY too soon. The bull market is just beginning to get moving on the
junior miners. This gold bull market will DWARF the Internet boom and it is just getting started. Trendlines are the first line of
defense and they are telling us that all systems are go. We have had confirmatory upside breakouts in gold, silver and the juniors.
Dines showed a chart of his silver index, which to his knowledge, is the only one in existence. To him, this is confirmation that silver
continues to be totally ignored.
Long-term charts of gold and silver show a downtrend, a multi-year base formation and now a beginning bull market. Dines is also bullish on base metals, including copper, lead and zinc.
Dines made a prediction that gold is going to $1000/oz and will see spikes up to $3000-$5000/oz. Silver will go to $100/oz.
Dines went through a blizzard of charts whipping up one after another on the overhead projector, practically yelling "Uptrend! Next!" (he had someone else running the overhead). It was quite exhilarating.
Richard Sacks
Richard's presentation was amusingly titled "Why Most Investors Will Do The Wrong Thing in the Gold Bull Market". Richard argued that to
be successful investing in this sector, you must have conviction. And the only way to gain that conviction is to understand the fundamentals that are driving gold, like debt and the USD. You must look at the charts to see and understand the indications that the bull market is here.
He commented that Goldman and Merrill Lynch are now recommending a shift in asset allocation to include some gold.
The bullish case for gold includes:
- Low interest rate structure
- Stable to rising demand for gold
- Declining mining production
- Shift in producer mentality away from hedging
- Shift in attitude towards the commodity
- USD
- US current account deficit at an unsustainable 5% of GDP
Most gold investors operate on a time horizon that is too short, you must have the right horizon to gain the most benefit from this market.
It is crucial for investors to get into Canadian-listed gold stocks and not wait for, or limit themselves to those that get a listing on a US exchange. By the time these juniors get on a US exchange, you will have missed a substantial part of the move up.
He recommends a focused portfolio that should be held over a multi-year period.
Richard recommended the following approach to the market:
If you have less than $100K to commit, just buy a fund, like Toqueville Gold. If you have more than $100K to commit, get an advisor who knows what they are doing. He is one himself. He recommends a 10% allocation but acknowledged that he is way more invested than that himself.
Richard mentioned the following as stocks that he likes:
- Newmont
- Krystallex
- Nevsun
- Manhattan Minerals
- Sunridge Gold
Taken from BTS email...
More get silver:
Click for charts:
http://www.safehaven.com/showarticle.cfm?id=979
[If your that lazy just read the bolds; note: I skipped over the China info...]
It was one more unsettled week for global financial markets, as equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities all seemingly traded with dizzying volatility. Our stock market was choppy, but ended the week little changed. The Dow, S&P500, Transports and Morgan Stanley Cyclical indices posted fractional declines. The Utilities added 1% and the Morgan Stanley Consumer index enjoyed a slight gain. The broader market was largely unchanged, with the small cap Russell 2000 slightly positive and the S&P400 Mid-cap index slightly negative. The NASDAQ100 was flat for the week. The highflying technology sector generally underperformed. The Morgan Stanley High Tech index declined 1% and the Semiconductors dipped 2%. The Street.com Internet Index lost 1%, while the NASDAQ Telecommunications index was unchanged. The Biotechs posted a 2% gain this week, increasing 2003 gains to 42%. The financial stocks were mixed, with the Broker/Dealers up 1% (y-t-d up 42%) and the Banks down 1%. Todays $4.90 drop left gold with a $2.90 decline for the week. The HUI gold index was largely unchanged.
The Credit market rally continued this week, albeit with stunning intraday moves. Two-year Treasury yields declined 9 basis points this week to 1.62%, with yields sinking 41 basis points over 8 sessions. Five-year yields dropped 16 basis points to 3.11%, with yields down 50 basis points in 8 sessions. The 10-year Treasury note saw its yield decline 10 basis points to 4.25, with yields down 45 basis points over 8 sessions. Long bond yields dipped 3 basis points to 5.16%, although yields are down only 18 basis points over eight sessions. Benchmark Fannie Mae mortgage-backed yields sank 15 basis points, with yields down a notable 50 basis points in eight sessions. The spread on Fannie's 4 3/8 2013 note narrowed 4 to 42, while the spread on Freddie's 4 ½ 2013 note narrowed 6 to 42. The 10-year dollar swap spread narrowed 3 to 43.5. Corporate spreads were generally slightly narrower, with junk bonds increasingly volatile but thus far continuing to perform well.
The dollar index declined better than 1% this week. During the second half of August, the Euro dropped from 113 to about 108 during just seven sessions. Over the past seven trading days, the Euro has now rallied back from 108 to 113. Some kind of volatility...
With summer holiday season quickly winding down, the issuance boom has returned to the U.S. Credit market. This week saw GE Capital issue $2.5 billion, Wells Fargo $1.5 billion, Liberty Media $1.35 billion, HBOS $750 million, Met Life $300 million, Johnson Diversey $406 million, Anheuser Busch $300 million, Carolina P&L $600 million, Public Service of New Mexico $300 million, Energy East Corp $200 million, Public Service of Oklahoma $150 million, Interstate P&L $150 million, Harsco $150 million, Georgia Power $100 million, and Rochester G&E $75 million.
After two weeks of strong inflows, junk bond funds saw moderate outflows of $486 million (from AMG). Nonetheless, Dobson Communications issued $650 million, Quintiles $450 million, Tom Brown $225 million, and MGM Grand $600 million. Primus Telecom sold $110 million of converts.
Venezuela sold $700 million of 10-year bonds (12.4% yield), its first issuance in two years.
September 11 - Dow Jones (Sonja Ryst): "As hungry buyers continue bidding up the prices on government and corporate debt from emerging markets, three big-name issuers came to market on Thursday, kicking off what's expected to be a busy few weeks of issuance... 'The markets are poised to have issuance from everywhere in the next couple weeks,' said Mike Conelius, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price... J.P. Morgan said in a recent report that $11 billion in emerging market debt issuance remains to be completed this year and that $32 billion had been placed so far... Debtors haven't been able to raise international bond funding at such low cost in years. The J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus, or EMBI+, is trading at around 475 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasurys. The last time the EMBI+ went below 480 basis points was on May 5, 1998."
Today from Bloomberg's hardworking William Pesek: "Speculators, that international cast of financiers who helped fuel the Asian crisis, are again at Thailand's gate. Barbarians to some, savvy market punters to others, speculators have rediscovered the Thai currency. Only this time, instead of driving the baht lower, as they did in 1997, speculators are driving it up." (It is today worth reminding readers that speculators generally don't drive markets down when they are coming in, but rather when they are keen to exit)
Commodity Watch:
September 12 - Market News International: "Core raw materials prices soared in August by the most since 1979, boosted by scrap metals and leather..."
Today's better than 1% drop left the CRB commodities index with a slight decline for the week. A poor crop in China and the U.S. drought were used as explanations, as Cotton traded to an almost three-year high this week. Soybeans jumped to a 3-month high. According to the U.S. Mint, American Eagle gold coins are selling at the strongest rate since 1999.
Global Reflation Watch:
September 11 - Bloomberg: "China's money supply grew at a record pace in August, which may prompt the central bank to take additional action to curb bank lending in coming months. M2, the broadest measure of money supply rose 21.6 percent from a year earlier to 21 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion), after climbing 20.7 percent in July... That exceeds the bank's 18 percent growth target... Banks are eager to lend as they are awash with cash. Household savings rose 18 percent to a record 10.7 trillion yuan in the year ended August 31..."
September 10 - Bloomberg: "China's factory production rose in August at its fastest pace in five months and exports surged... Production grew 17.1 percent from a year earlier to 350 billion yuan ($42 billion), after rising 16.5 percent in July..."
September 10 - Bloomberg: "China's exports grew by more than a quarter in August as companies such as Broadcom Corp. and Wal- Mart Stores Inc. bought more Chinese-made semiconductors, clothes and toys. Exports grew 27 percent to $37.4 billion after climbing 31 percent in July... 'We're growing very fast in China,' said Yuan Yi, China country manager of Broadcom Corp., the world's largest maker of cable-modem chips.... Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said it plans to raise its purchases from China by a quarter to $15 billion this year."
September 8 - Bloomberg: "Thailand's exports in August probably rose 10 percent (exports actually jumped 13%, up from July's 4.5%) to a record $6.9 billion because of a surge in demand for electronics and other products, Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik said, citing preliminary data... Rising exports prompted the finance ministry last month to raise its economic growth forecast by one percentage point to 7.1 percent. Exports have, on average, risen 18 percent this year because of a surge in shipments to China and other Asian nations..."
September 11 - Bloomberg: "Thailand's new vehicle sales rose 18.7 percent in August from a year earlier to 42,453 units... For the first eight months of the year, automobile sales rose 33 percent to 334,422 units..."
September 12 - Bloomberg: "Indian industrial production grew faster than expected in July as lower taxes and interest rates led consumers to buy more cars and heavier monsoon rains lifted the confidence of farmers... Industrial production, which accounts for a quarter of Asia's No. 3 economy, rose 6.5 percent... The cheapest borrowing costs in three decades and lower taxes are encouraging consumers to spend." (The Indian Rupee traded to a three-year high this week.)
September 9 - Bloomberg: "A measure of Australian companies' sales, profit and hiring rose to its highest in almost nine years in August, signaling the economy is likely to recover from its slowest quarterly growth in 2 1/2 years, National Australia Bank Ltd. said." Yesterday it was reported that Australia's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level since 1990.
September 12 - The Australian: "Australian mining corporations are increasing their investment to supply the growing market in China. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton aremaking new investments to increase their production of iron ore. It is predicted thatChina will increase its steel making capacity by between 40 per cent and 50 per cent in the seven years from 2003."
Russian industrial production jumped 6.6% during the first eight months of 2003.
Domestic Reflation Watch:
Broad money supply (M3) declined $5 billion last week. Demand and Checkable Deposits dipped $5.2 billion, while Savings Deposits jumped $18.3 billion. Small Denominated Deposits declined $2.2 billion and Retail Money Fund deposits dipped $3.3 billion. Large Denominated Deposits declined $2.8 billion and Institutional Money Fund deposits dropped $9.0 billion. Repurchase Agreements added $4.9 billion and Eurodollars declined $5.7 billion.
Total Bank Assets jumped $36 billion. Securities holdings increased $7.1 billion, while Loans and Leases added $15.1 billion. Commercial and Industrial loans declined $3.4 billion, with a 6-week decline of $10.7 billion. Meanwhile, Real Estate loans surged $24.5 billion last week, with a 6-week gain of $73.6 billion. Elsewhere, outstanding Commercial Paper increased $5.9 billion. Financial CP added $5.6 billion, while Non-financial gained 0.3 billion. Year-to-date Asset-Backed Security issuance of $289 billion is running 16% ahead of last year's record. At $134 billion, home equity ABS issuance is running up 26%.
August Producer Prices jumped 0.4%, with y-o-y gains of 3.4%. August 2002 had y-o-y Producer prices down 1.5%. Year-to-date, Producer prices have increased at a 4.4% annual rate. It was reported this week that health insurance premiums jumped 14% this year, the strongest rise since 1990.
Freddie Mac posted 30-year mortgage rates dropped 28 basis points to 6.16%, the lowest borrowing cost in six weeks. One-year adjustable rates dropped 11 basis points to 3.87%, down from the year ago 4.32% and only 42 basis points higher than the lows established in late June. Adjustable rate mortgages accounted for 21.6% of the total last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association application index was distorted by the Labor Day holiday, so we'll return to application data next week.
Countrywide Financial reported a significant drop in mortgage financings from July's record. August Total Fundings declined 21% from July to about $41 billion. This was, however, up 93% from August 2002. Refi fundings dropped 26% during the month, while Purchase fundings were down only 6%. Purchase fundings were up 51% y-o-y. Interestingly, Home Equity fundings actually rose 4% during the month to $1.77 billion and were up 72% y-o-y. Subprime fundings declined only 4% during the month to $1.65 billion and were up 133% y-o-y. "Total assets at Countrywide Bank...rose to $15 billion, an increase of 7 percent from last month and nearly 300 percent more than August 2002."
Throughout the mortgage-dependent U.S. financial system, players are now forced to adjust to significantly fewer originations and an abruptly competitive environment. This week Washington Mutual reported that mortgage origination volume had dropped 40% and that competitive market conditions would reduce gains recognized on new mortgages. National City also cut its earnings forecasts. Mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) Annaly Mortgage announced that it would cut its dividend by at least half. Management blamed the previous refi boom and heavy prepayments of higher-yielding mortgages. Over the past four quarters, Annaly ballooned its balance sheet 30% to $14.7 billion. The company has shareholders equity of $1.16 billion.
The Mortgage Bankers Association released second-quarter delinquency and foreclosure data Wednesday. Total, 1-4 Units delinquencies increased 10 basis points to 4.62% (down 15 basis points from Q2 2002). Conventional Prime mortgage delinquencies dipped 2 basis points to 2.60%. However, there is clear evidence of previous poor lending. Conventional Subprime delinquencies jumped 59 basis points to 12.99%, although it is down from the year ago 15.67% (surely benefiting from enormous Subprime lending growth). Yet the most notable deterioration was evident with FHA mortgages. FHA delinquencies surged 94 basis points to 12.59%, which is most likely related to the proliferation of down-payment "gift" programs. FHA delinquencies were up 78 basis points from Q2 2002. Overall, delinquency and foreclosure data are quite unimpressive considering current unprecedented lending excesses.
A Labor Day holiday-shortened week saw 26,953 bankruptcy filings. Year-to-date filings are running up 8.4%.
The July Trade Deficit was reported at $40.3 billion. Year-over-year, Goods Imports were up 8% to $105.8 billion, while Goods Exports increased 3% to $60.5 billion. July Goods Imports were 75% greater than Goods Exports. Year-over-year, Crude Oil imports were up 31.4%, Pharmaceuticals 20.3%, Apparel 12.3%, Food & Beverage 8.6%, and Services 8.3%. Capital Goods imports were up 2.5%. Examining Goods Imports y-o-y by region, Western Europe was up 3.9%, Eastern Europe 48.9%, Latin America 12.5%, Pacific Rim 6.2% and OPEC 24.2%. Y-t-d by largest trading partner, imports from Canada were up 7.2%, China 24%, Mexico 2.2%, Japan down 0.6%, and Germany up 13.7%. Other countries of note include y-t-d imports from Saudi Arabia up 68.4%, Brazil up 19.3%, Russia up 55.7%, and India up 13.9%.
This is an extraordinary, fascinating, historic period for Credit Bubble analysis. And if there were doubts that the Credit Bubble had entered the precarious "blow-off" stage, the Federal Reserve's second quarter Z1 "flow of funds" report certainly provides ample evidence. It's One for the Time Capsule.
To begin, it is worth mentioning that in the 21 quarters prior to the second quarter (since the beginning of 1998) total Credit Market Borrowings (Non-financial and Financial) surged 51% - or $10.9 Trillion - to $32.1 Trillion. After an extended period of historic excess, Credit growth has now gone "parabolic." During the second quarter, Total Credit Market Borrowings expanded at an (seasonally-adjusted) annualized rate of $3.35 Trillion (10.4%). This was a pace 27% greater than the previous record posted during 2002's fourth quarter.
Led by record federal and household borrowings, Non-financial debt expanded at a 12% rate, double the first quarter. One has to go all the way back to 1985 to find a year with stronger Non-financial debt expansion. The federal government increased borrowings at a 24.3% annual pace. Total Non-financial Credit increased an unprecedented $631 billion during the quarter to $21.6 Trillion. Since the beginning of 1998, Total Non-financial Credit has jumped $6.40 Trillion, or 42%. Over this same period, GDP increased $2.54 Trillion, or 31%. Thus, over the past 22 quarters, Total Non-financial Credit has increased from 184% of GDP to 200%. Non-financial Credit was about 140% of GDP back in 1980. Since the beginning of 1998, Financial Sector Credit Market Borrowings have surged $5.30 Trillion, or 97%, to $10.76 Trillion. Financial borrowings as a percentage of GDP have jumped from 66% to 100%. Total Credit Market borrowings (Non-financial and Financial) have surged $11.7 Trillion, or 57% over 22 quarters. As a percentage of GDP, Total Credit has increased from 250% of GDP to 300%.
And while Federal debt issuance was extraordinary during the quarter, borrowing excesses were anything but confined to our nation's capitol. From the text released with the Fed's Z1: "The pickup in debt growth in the second quarter was distributed broadly across all of the major sectors in the United States..." The Household Sector increased borrowings by an unprecedented $1.0 Trillion annualized, or 11.5%. One has to again go back to 1985 to find a year with a greater rate of debt expansion. To put the $1 Trillion pace of borrowings into perspective, the Household Sector increased borrowings by $330.8 billion during 1997, $450.8 billion during 1998, $498.6 billion during 1999, $558.8 billion during 2000, $614.6 billion during 2001, and $771.8 during 2002. Elsewhere, State and Local Governments increased borrowings at a 12% annualized rate. Non-financial Corporate bonds were issued at an annualized pace of $309.6 billion, the strongest growth since Q2 2001. Corporate debt expanded at 6.3% annualized. This was more than double the first quarter's rate and compares to 2002's growth of 1.2%.
Total Mortgage Credit (home and commercial) expanded at an unprecedented $1.14 Trillion annualized (14.3%). This was 30% greater than 2002's record annual debt growth. During the first half, Total Mortgage Credit expanded at a rate of $1.01 Trillion (12%). This compares to 2002's $879.6 billion, 2001's $700.4 billion, 2000's $570.1 billion, 1999's $568.5 billion, 1998's $510.6 billion and 1997's (pre-Bubble) $337.3 billion. During the second quarter, Home Mortgage Credit expanded at an amount almost 370% of the debt growth from (pre-Bubble) 1997. Home Mortgage Borrowings expanded at an unprecedented $951.4 billion, or 14.3% annualized. This compares to 2002's $721.2 billion, 2001's $532.7 billion, 2000's $418.2 billion, 1999's $424.4 billion, 1998's $384.6 billion, and 1997's $258.3 billion.
It is also worth noting that Home Equity Loans (included in Home Mortgage Borrowings) expanded at an unprecedented $174.8 billion annualized, or 20% rate. This compares to 2002's record growth of $129.8 billion. Home Equity debt expanded $68.8 billion during 2001, $97.8 billion during 2000, $56.0 billion during 1999, and $60.6 billion during 1998.
Since the beginning of 1998, Total Mortgage Debt has expanded $3.71 Trillion, or 70.5%, to $8.96 Trillion. Over these 22 quarters, Home Mortgage Debt surged $2.99 Trillion, or 72%, to $6.88 Trillion. Over this period, Total Mortgage Debt jumped from 62% to 84% of GDP, while Home Mortgage Debt has increased from 47% of GDP to 64%.
The financial sector continues to expand aggressively. Commercial Banking had Net Acquisition of Financial Assets of $819.1 billion annualized (11.0%), a pace 72% greater than 2002's record Commercial Banking expansion of $476.4 billion. Since the beginning of 1998, Commercial Banking assets have jumped 47% to $7.62 Trillion. And while corporate bank loans declined at an annualized pace of $74.3 billion during the quarter, Mortgages increased at a $355.4 billion rate (16.9%). Holdings of Agency debt increased at an unprecedented pace of $283.9 billion, or 29.5% annualized. Combined, Mortgage and Agency debt holdings expanded $639.3 billion annualized (20.9%), compared to 2002's $409 billion, 2001's $185.4 billion, and 2000's $186.9 billion. Over the past 22 quarter, Commercial Banking holdings of Agency debt has surged 80.7% (to $1.03 Trillion) and holdings of Mortgages 76% (to $2.19 Trillion).
Financial sector expansion was all-encompassing. Credit Unions increased assets at a 16.7% rate during the quarter (up 12.3% y-o-y). Finance Companies increased assets at a 17% rate (up 8.8% y-o-y). Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) expanded at a blistering 34.7% rate during the quarter to $101.0 billion, with 12-month gains of 18.7%. The Fed expanded its assets by 11% annualized to $769, with first-half growth at almost 12% annualized. Curiously, Foreign Banking Offices in the U.S. decreased Net Acquisition of Financial Assets at an annualized $116.6 billion.
GSE asset holdings expanded at a 9.3% rate during the quarter to $2.66 Trillion, with y-o-y gains of 11.5%. GSE assets are up $1.56 Trillion, or 142%, since the beginning of 1998 (22 quarters). Mortgage-backed Securities (not retained by GSEs) expanded at a 7.8% rate during the quarter to $3.29 Trillion, with y-o-y gains of 8.1% (up $1.46 Trillion, or 80.1% over 22 months). Asset-backed Securities (ABS) expanded at a 12.1% annualized rate during the quarter to $2.51 Trillion, with a 12-month rise of 11.9%. ABS have surged $1.524 Trillion, or 154.3%, since the beginning of 1998. Combined "Structured Finance" (GSE, MBS, & ABS) expanded at a 9.5% rate during the quarter to $8.46 Trillion. During the past year, "Structured Finance" liabilities increased $789.3 billion, or 10.3%. Over 22 months they inflated an amazing $4.55 Trillion, or 116.2%. It is also worth noting that Mortgages accounted for 82% of new ABS assets during the second quarter, compared to 39% during 2000, 47% during 2001, and 49% during 2002.
The "flow of funds" report includes a Credit category "Federal Funds and Repurchase Agreements," combining two key security financing mechanisms used throughout the Credit system (for leveraged securities speculation). Recalling the "melt-up" that enthralled the Credit market during the second quarter, we would expect to see evidence of extreme use of financial sector borrowings to finance speculation. Such is the case and it's conspicuous. For the quarter, Federal Funds and Repurchase Agreements expanded an unprecedented $564.3 billion annualized, a growth rate of 43%. For perspective, Fed Funds and Security Repurchase Agreements expanded $105.0 billion during 2002, $22.3 billion during 2001, $113.2 during 2000, $169.8 billion during 1999 and $91.3 billion during 1998. (One would assume that the financial sector used this funding source aggressively to partially finance the unprecedented Treasury debt issuance boom and the continued enormous quantity of Agency debt issued.) Total Security Credit expanded at an unprecedented $160.8 billion ($643.2 billion annualized!) to $957.4 billion. Total Security Credit was up 28.4% y-o-y, and has more than doubled since the beginning of 1998. As always happens, the speculators loaded up at the top of the market.
Further confirmation of the extraordinary degree of second-quarter leveraged speculating is found by examining the asset expansion at the Wall Street firms. Security Brokers and Dealers increased financial asset holdings at an eye-opening $530.9 billion pace, or 38.3% annualized. For the quarter, the Broker/Dealer's asset "Security Credit" expanded at an unprecedented $86.8 billion ($347 billion annualized!) to end the quarter at $246.3 billion. These are client loans to purchase securities, most likely Credit market instruments (junk bonds, corporates, agencies, Treasuries, etc.) Miscellaneous Assets expanded $61.9 billion (21% annualized) to $785.1 billion. Over the past 22 historic Credit Bubble quarters, Security Broker Dealer assets have surged 92% to $1.5 Trillion.
And with the U.S. Credit Bubble in the midst of blow-off excess, the world is being inundated with dollar liquidity. Yet there is little international interest in real economic investment in the high cost U.S. economy. By default, our foreign trading partners (much through their central banks) are accumulating holdings of U.S. financial assets like never before. From the Z1, the second quarter saw Rest of World Net Acquisition of US Financial Assets of $959.6 billion annualized, or 14.6%. The composition of these purchases is notable. Holdings of Credit Market Instruments increased $1.06 Trillion annualized, almost double the previous record established during Q4 2001. Holdings of US Government Securities (Treasuries and Agencies) increased at an unprecedented $688.7 billion pace, or 35.9% annualized. For comparison, Rest of World increased holdings of US Government Securities by $362.7 billion last year, $234.6 billion during 2001, and $129.5 billion during 2000. Conversely, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased $53 billion annualized (3.4%) during the second quarter, a fraction of 2000's $321.3 billion increase in FDI.
Since the beginning of 1998, Rest of World holdings of U.S. financial assets have surged $2.98 Trillion, or 64%. Foreign holdings have jumped from 57% of GDP to begin 1998 to 71% by the end of the second quarter.
Supported by extraordinary Credit-induced inflation, total Household (included Non-profits) asset values jumped an eye-opening $2.0 Trillion during the quarter (17% annualized) to a record $50.54 Trillion. Since the beginning of 1998, Household asset values have surged $10.9 Trillion, or 28%. Over the past 12 months, the total value of Household assets is up $2.2 Trillion (real estate almost $1 Trillion to $14.1 Trillion, financial assets almost $1 Trillion to $32.0 Trillion, and Other about $200 billion to $4.4 Trillion). And despite a surge in Household borrowings (expanding 15% annualized to $9.3 Trillion), Household Net Worth jumped $1.7 Trillion during the quarter, or almost 17% annualized, to $41.4 Trillion. There remains little mystery as to why consumer borrowing and spending remains so resilient: Asset Inflation.
Today the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its second quarter Bank Derivatives Report. "Uncertainty in financial markets continues to drive banks and their customers to seek risk mitigation opportunities through the use of derivatives..." Well, I would argue that the continued explosion in derivative growth is a peculiarity of contemporary finance and its out of control Credit Bubble. For the quarter, total derivative positions held by the major U.S. banks jumped $4.4 Trillion, or 27% annualized, to $65.8 Trillion. By category, Interest Rate derivatives were up 24% annualized to $56.9 Trillion, Foreign Exchange 48% annualized to $7.1 Trillion, Credit derivatives 46% annualized to $802 billion, and Other declined 4% annualized to $1.0 Trillion. By product, Futures & Forwards jumped 24% annualized to $12.7 Trillion, Swaps 25% annualized to $38.1 Trillion, and Options 34% annualized to $14.3 Trillion. JPMorgan Chase derivative positions increased to $32.7 Trillion (25% rate), Bank of America $13.8 Trillion (23% rate), and Citibank $11.0 Trillion (33% rate).
Milton Friedman interviewed this week on CNBC: "I don't believe there is any New Economy at all in that sense (unique surge in productivity). There was the same talk in the 1920's. The 1920s were a period very much like the 1990s in which we had a tremendous surge of productivity in the United States during that ten year period. This time the big difference is in the way in which the Federal Reserve handled the monetary reaction. And as a result, you had a very mild recession and there was nothing to cut productivity down drastically."
It is certainly no coincidence that so-called productivity "miracles" were trumpeted during respective 1920s and 1990s Credit Bubbles. Simplistically, Credit and speculative excess, along with resulting asset inflation, stoked abnormal spending (business and consumer) and "output" (including "upscale" and luxury goods and services). And, especially after examining the Credit data from above, it is not the least bit surprising that talk of the Productivity miracle has gone "parabolic." This is, after all, consistent with the blow-off stage of the Great Credit Bubble. Everything seems to lose its bearings.
Dr. Friedman's calamitous error (which is perfectly consistent with his flawed analysis of the causes of the Great Depression) is to believe that the Fed has "handled" the situation adeptly and successfully. Dr. Freidman, along with so many others, is analyzing the situation incorrectly. The reality of the situation is that the Fed has not "handled" anything other than prolonging an increasingly dangerous Bubble.
Any serious analyst - operating from a sound analytical framework - delving into the Fed's "flow of funds" data can come to some important conclusions. First, there is no mystery surrounding the economic pickup; it's conspicuously induced by unprecedented Credit excess. The "mystery" is why the economy is not much stronger. Second, with Credit expanding dramatically in excess of investment or even economic (distorted as it is) "output," rising asset prices (stocks and real estate, in particular) also constitute no enigma. There is today unprecedented liquidity fueling destabilizing asset inflation. Third, Credit and speculative excesses have reached unprecedented extremes. Total Credit Market Borrowings (in excess of $32 Trillion, or three times GDP) are now expanding at a rate close to 10%, with Non-financial debt growing at low double-digits. Textbook Blow-off.
What is admittedly not clear is the duration of this fateful blow-off phase. There are clearly powerful forces at work sustaining this historic Bubble. But uncertainty does not mean this "Cassandra" will back down. For too many years we've witnessed the unstable U.S. and global financial systems nurture repeated "miracle" booms and subsequent devastating busts. We watched repeated blow-offs, and their manic existence was measured in quarters and not years. Today, we're just witnessing The Big One. And there is simply no way around the very harsh reality that current extraordinary Credit and speculative excesses are setting the stage for financial and economic instability unlike anything experienced in a very long time. Rampant asset inflation and lurching economies are seductively un-enduring inflationary manifestations.
Doug Noland
The Credit Bubble Bulletin
PrudentBear.com
Ten-bagger I missed:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=GWRX.OB&a=11&b=7&c=2002&d=08&e=14&f=2003&...
This and RMMI...put on watch list play money only if you invest...
With the Kay report dies the last gasp of any pretense that the war in Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction, or that Saddam represented any kind of a threat to the United States. Bus, Blair, and Howard all lied to their peoples to create a war out of nothing, a war for conquest and profit, a war for greed, a war whose cost in blood and gold is paid by you and your children. All for a lie. And if you sit there and do nothing, then I promise you there will soon be another lie to start another war of conquest, into which your gold and your children's blood will be poured. Shame on those who are lied to and fail to act.
Meanwhile, I see over at UnFree Republic, the shills are trying to bash Springsteen for his call to Impeach Bush, still trying to claim that Saddam had WMDs and was somehow connected to 9-11, even though the evidence points somewhere else.
--WRH
Alarmist: $10 Trillion in Deficits?
Federal liabilities and accumulated deficits may actually soar by tens of trillions of dollars over the next few decades, leading to fiscal catastrophe, a Congressional expert warns.
FORTUNE
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Everyone knows that the federal budget deficit is going to be huge in the next fiscal year: a half-trillion dollars or more. And that's before the $87 billion the President has requested for rebuilding Iraq next year. But over the next few decades, the budget deficit may actually soar tens of trillions of dollars above and beyond that amount--due to largely unaccounted-for costs from entitlement programs, warned Comptroller General David Walker in an interview with Fortune.com this week.
A deficit that high could be a fiscal catastrophe, says Walker, who runs Congress's investigative arm, the General Accounting Office. Most Americans don't know about these liabilities because they don't appear in any of the ten-year estimates that official Washington relies on to write its budgets and to form new policies, says Walker, who is scheduled to give a major address to the National Press Club next Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to warn about the matter. He intends to "issue a wake-up call that we face serious and structural deficits that we need to start doing something about."
Washington experts have been forecasting annual deficits of around $500 billion, but Walker says those numbers don't take into account that, as the Baby Boom starts to retire over the next decade, entitlement programs, especially Social Security, Medicare and veterans health programs, will balloon in cost. "There are tens of trillions of dollars in discounted present value of commitments and obligations that aren't adequately addressed," Walker says. "We would have to have tens of trillions of dollars invested at Treasury rates today to make good on those promises and we just don't have it." And the gap between incoming revenue and expenditures on these programs "is too great to simply grow our way out of the problem," he says. "Tough choices have to made."
Walker declined to give a complete listing of solutions he will suggest next week. But he gave a few hints. For instance, he plans to propose that better, more accurate measurements should be published about the long-term costs of programs now on the books. He also would like to begin "a massive education campaign" to inform the public about these concerns. "One of the biggest problems is that the American public doesn't understand the nature and magnitude of our challenge," he says. As the Baby Boom hits retirement age starting in 2008, "we face a demographic tidal wave that is unprecedented in the history of this country," he says.
[We can't count votes, we can't count job loss, we can't count casualties in Iraq (especially of civillians) do you think this guy has any chance with "better, more accurate measurements"???]
How to fix the budget? "We're going to have to look beyond entitlement programs," Walker says. "We're going to have to review and examine a wide range of government activities on the spending side and on the tax side. We need to engage in a fundamental review and reengineering that will take years, and it's important that we start now."
Walker's warning comes at a time when President Bush and Congress have their hands full dealing with short-term problems, particularly rebuilding Iraq, so it's not clear how much impact his comments next week will have. He doesn't have the authority to change laws. But as a high-ranking officer of Congress, his speech will be widely broadcast and is likely to become part of the burgeoning debate about the budget deficits this year. Nonetheless Walker says he hopes his notions will be discussed at some point and "the sooner the better."
[They'll debate and do NOTHING. Conclusion: GET SILVER, buy gold on dips.]
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/washington/0%2C15704%2C484459%2C00.html
Anti-terror laws increasingly used against common criminals
DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer Sunday, September 14, 2003
(09-14) 09:59 PDT PHILADELPHIA (AP) --
In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes.
The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers.
Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.
A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.
[Okay I haven't got too much of a problem with this one except the principal of the thing which is the law was supposed to be used against "Terrorists".
Death to the Ice Kings and any of their minions...]
Prosecutor Jerry Wilson says he isn't abusing the law, which defines chemical weapons of mass destruction as "any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury" and contains toxic chemicals.
Civil liberties and legal defense groups are bothered by the string of cases, and say the government soon will be routinely using harsh anti-terrorism laws against run-of-the-mill lawbreakers.
"Within six months of passing the Patriot Act, the Justice Department was conducting seminars on how to stretch the new wiretapping provisions to extend them beyond terror cases," said Dan Dodson, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. "They say they want the Patriot Act to fight terrorism, then, within six months, they are teaching their people how to use it on ordinary citizens."
Prosecutors aren't apologizing.
Attorney General John Ashcroft completed a 16-city tour this week defending the Patriot Act as key to preventing a second catastrophic terrorist attack. Federal prosecutors have brought more than 250 criminal charges under the law, with more than 130 convictions or guilty pleas.
The law, passed two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, erased many restrictions that had barred the government from spying on its citizens, granting agents new powers to use wiretaps, conduct electronic and computer eavesdropping and access private financial data.
Stefan Cassella, deputy chief for legal policy for the Justice Department's asset forfeiture and money laundering section, said that while the Patriot Act's primary focus was on terrorism, lawmakers were aware it contained provisions that had been on prosecutors' wish lists for years and would be used in a wide variety of cases.
In one case prosecuted this year, investigators used a provision of the Patriot Act to recover $4.5 million from a group of telemarketers accused of tricking elderly U.S. citizens into thinking they had won the Canadian lottery. Prosecutors said the defendants told victims they would receive their prize as soon as they paid thousands of dollars in income tax on their winnings.
Before the anti-terrorism act, U.S. officials would have had to use international treaties and appeal for help from foreign governments to retrieve the cash, deposited in banks in Jordan and Israel. Now, they simply seized it from assets held by those banks in the United States.
"These are appropriate uses of the statute," Cassella said. "If we can use the statute to get money back for victims, we are going to do it."
The complaint that anti-terrorism legislation is being used to go after people who aren't terrorists is just the latest in a string of criticisms.
More than 150 local governments have passed resolutions opposing the law as an overly broad threat to constitutional rights.
Critics also say the government has gone too far in charging three U.S. citizens as enemy combatants, a power presidents wield during wartime that is not part of the Patriot Act. The government can detain such individuals indefinitely without allowing them access to a lawyer.
And Muslim and civil liberties groups have criticized the government's decision to force thousands of mostly Middle Eastern men to risk deportation by registering with immigration authorities.
"The record is clear," said Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way Foundation. "Ashcroft and the Justice Department have gone too far."
[So what?]
Some of the restrictions on government surveillance that were erased by the Patriot Act had been enacted after past abuses -- including efforts by the FBI to spy on civil rights leaders and anti-war demonstrators during the Cold War. Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said it isn't far fetched to believe that the government might overstep its bounds again.
"I don't think that those are frivolous fears," Lynch said. "We've already heard stories of local police chiefs creating files on people who have protested the (Iraq) war ... The government is constantly trying to expand its jurisdictions, and it needs to be watched very, very closely."
[...and maybe even do something about it...like tell your congressman if he/she/it don't vote to repeal the act you won't vote to re-elect him/her/it.]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/14/national1259EDT0480.DTL
Yes, it finally seems as though the long-awaited arrival of some new (and some long-lost) gold sector investors is materializing. Sure, a lot of these folks are chasing momentum and strength, just as they are wont to do where any other asset class is concerned. But it seems as though some of this new money is coming into the gold sector to stay for a while. After all, regardless of the day-to-day news, the long-term picture is unmistakable:
DEFICITS AND A WEAKER DOLLAR--A few days ago, President Bush asked Congress to go another $87 billion into debt to support the crumbling occupation of Iraq. Add to this the continued pilfering of the Social Security Trust Fund, new expenditures/subsidies for everything from energy to prescription drugs and more, and there seems no end to the destruction of America's fiscal picture and, ultimately, the currency.
GLOBAL FEARS--The world is not a safer place since September 11, 2001. Iran and North Korea both are rattling nuclear sabers. Israel appears set to go after PLO leader Yasser Arafat, plunging the Middle East into greater conflict. Iraq is unraveling. With the world on a knife's edge and nominal economic recoveries still suspect, any major, new shock could quickly send the world back into recession.
THE RETURN OF STAGFLATION--It's time to get re-acquainted with stagflation, a phenomenon that marked much of the 1970's--a time, lest you've forgotten, that gold saw its greatest days. A combination of weak economic activity and rapidly rising prices kept financial assets in check, but led to huge moves for a number of commodities. We're seeing such an environment building again; one which is extraordinarily bullish for most commodities once more, including gold.
In the near term, the bulls retain the upper hand. Each time in recent days when gold has drifted back down slightly, new buying has immediately materialized. We'll see some choppy trade for perhaps a few more days as the recent gains are consolidated. Next, though, will come a new attempt by the bulls to knock a few more shorts off the fence and into covering. Particularly if gold can move above its February 5 high of $391.00 per ounce, it could--albeit briefly--be off to the races, as a stampede could quickly vault gold to well over $400.00 per ounce. Especially if such a move occurred suddenly, we'd want to watch it for an opportunity to quickly take some profits off the table temporarily. But make no mistake: the broadening of the interest in the gold sector as I have earlier described it here is the single most important bullish development in months, and has removed much of the risk of holding either gold or gold shares, even at these prices.
All of it:
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/temple/temple091503.html
Bottom Line: China and the sleeping giant.
WASHINGTON, Sep 12, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Chinese central bankers and trade bureaucrats issued an icy rebuff to Treasury Secretary John Snow early this month, blandly dismissing charts and background documents suggesting its currency, the renminbi yuan, is disrupting not only Sino-U.S. trade flows, but trade, currency, and debt markets worldwide. But the cold water may have awakened a sleeping U.S. giant; specifically long-dormant (but never fully quelched) forces of protectionism on the Democratic left, anti-communist security concerns of the Republican right, and human rights forces in both parties.
Those concerns delayed for years, and nearly defeated outright, the establishment of most-favored-nation status for China early in the Clinton presidency. They have never fully gone away. Although it's doubtful a strongly protectionist bill such as a special tariff would ever receive signature by the president, it's possible that much heat will be raised to force a veto in the coming months. There's even a slim possibility of a 2/3 veto-proof majority -- or a presidential turnaround of the kind that Bush executed on campaign finance, corporate governance and reporting reform, and other issues.
At issue is the seemingly obscure issue of the yuan's exchange rate to the dollar. By engaging in purchases of U.S. dollars and Treasury securities on a massive scale -- China now rivals Japan as the largest purchaser of American debt on a monthly basis -- China has managed to keep the value of the yuan relatively steady against the dollar at about 8.5-1. Normally, given its rapid growth and huge trade surplus on current account, China would have enjoyed a rising currency, as Japan did in the 1970s and 1980s, bringing relief both to other world exporters in competition with artificially cheap Chinese goods, and, not incidentally, to Chinese workers and consumers, who pay artificially high prices for world goods.
[Obscure if you're brain dead and/or don't read the JFSAG board.]
Snow made these points patiently and personally to the top leadership at the People's Bank of China and the Finance Ministry. "The meetings," according to one aide, "were something like those scenes between Princess Ardala and the Trade Federation in Star Wars," Episode One.
Snow went in with few arrows in his quiver, hoping that the Chinese would listen to friendly reason. When they didn't, however, he returned to Washington to add a bit of leverage to logic.
In fact, Snow had been back in his office less than two hours before he told aides to go "cooperate" -- albeit passively -- with congressional proposals to slap trade penalties on Beijing if there is not movement on the currency issue. "We're not in favor of it, of course," he said, referring to a Democratic-led proposal to slap a 27 percent tariff on Chinese goods if there is no revaluation of the yuan. "But I don't want them attacked either."
In fact, Treasury officials have actively cooperated with Republicans drawing up an alternative proposal. That bill would impose considerably softer penalties than the Democratic version. It keeps the process going, however, and gives the White House an excuse to sit back for the coming months and pronounce it hasn't decided what to do about China trade proposals, as it doesn't know what form a final bill will take.
Officials from the Council of Economic Advistors, the National Security Council, Karl Rove's and the office of the Vice President have all been trolling around for ideas and proposals to "do something about China" in recent months. Unfortunately, their friends on the Wall Street right believe anything that sounds like protectionism is protectionism. Former Fed Governer Wayne Angell, for example, told the White House he not only wasn't interested in helping raise the heat on China, but that the Administration shouldn't be either.
"It's a non-problem," Angell reportedly told a White House aide who called him prior to the Sino-Snow summit. Whether that's right or wrong as an economic proposition is highly debatable. Politically, Chinese trade is a massive problem for the Administration, Congress, Europe, the rest of Asia, and thus, for the Chinese.
The situation resembles the last major advent of protectionism in the U.S., the advent of Super 301 legislation, aimed largely at Japan and Europe, in 1985. (Concern about the yuan, in my book, is not protectionism. Applying a tariffs as a remedy to that problem is -- but it is the kind of solution free-traders and the Chinese must expect if they decline to accept the more gradual and benign alternative of a rising renminbi yuan.) Then-maverick Congressman Richard Gephardt, the Democrats, and a smattering of rust-belt Republicans teamed up to bring the bill to passage. But the more noxious parts of Super 301 were amended out, or failed to materialize, as Treasury Secretary James Baker took the advice of Jack Kemp, Bill Bradley, and others to bring a halt to the rising U.S. dollar and promote a coordinated devaluation in tandem with Europe and Japan.
In this case, however, the timing is reversed. Snow has attempted to implement a James-Baker style solution at the front end, promoting a decline in the dollar against the yuan that would ease Chinese imports, raise U.S. exports a tad, and greatly reduce protectionist and other impulses in Congress. In 2002-3, the Treasury Secretary has tried quiet diplomacy and been rebuffed. Enter the congressional dragon.
There are reasons to think this outbreak of trade resentments is stronger, not weaker, than the efforts against Japan and Europe in 1985-86, or the MFN-denial movement aimed at China from 1989 to 1994.
-- 1. The left is more focused. Human rights advocates have fewer totalitarian regimes to complain about, and with a Republican president, are in pure opposition mode. Their complaints about China, Tibet, slave labor, and political prisoners were muted during the Clinton presidency. They are rising now. Likewise, the anti-globalist left is still smarting from defeats over NAFTA and NAFTA expansion. China, compared to Mexico, is more distant and less pitiable, and is a winnable battle, especially given the possibility of center-right support.
-- 2. The corporate lobby is more divided. Software companies, aerospace manufacturers, and other exporters to China remain supporters of the regime, but have been cheated enough by Beijing on everything from office deals to lack of patent protection to grow suspicious. Meanwhile the ranks of domestic manufacturers harmed by China has grown. The bulk of big-business lobbying money and think-tank spending remains focused on uncritical assessments of the regime, and glowing hosannahs to the supposed ideopolitical benefits of trade. Its preponderance, however, has declined.
-- 3. The White House has fanned the forces of protection. This began with Karl Rove's strategy on steel, natural gas, lumber, and other special tariffs and quotas in 2001. The war may now widen to cover China, in light of Beijing's contemptuous dismissal of Snow. "Even a few months ago, those bills" on China trade "would have attracted a polite but firm statement of concern from Treasury," a White House political aide comments. "Now we're silent, and helping behind the scenes."
-- 4. The currency really is overvalued. It is difficult to find a parallel, from the last 100 years, of a country experiencing the kind of sustained trade surplus, capital inflow, and increase in official reserves, seen in China in the last 10 years, without a rise in the currency.
[I think he meant UNDER-valued.]
-- 5. China remains the leading arms merchant in the world. Beijing deals directly with such proliferation regimes as Iran, Syria, and Palestine, and with terrorist groups indirectly through its surrogates in Pakistan and North Korea. Economic forces aside, this is a full-blown scandal waiting to happen -- and one that will attract interest from both left (such as Nancy Pelosi) and right (such as Chris Cox) in the House and Senate.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The advent of congressional action against China, anticipated in this space all year, has begun. It now seems likely to include tacit, and in some ways active, help from the Bush Administration. It will last, at least, for months of agonizing uncertainty and growing recriminations between Washington and Beijing. It may even lead to the passage of a bipartisan proposal for tightening trade on China, one that will win applause from an unusual, but not inconsiderable, coalition of Naderites and neocons.
It's time to take profits and reduce Chinese exposure substantially, while keeping funds in rival India, which will benefit both from the economic and political heat on its rival. We even anticipate some turbulence for the U.S. market, suffering from the threat of a new "widening of the war" on trade. The primary victim of this effort, however, by a large margin, will be China itself. We're ready to buy back if the People's Bank withdraws from the brink and revalues the yuan -- but out for now.
(Gregory Fossedal is chief investment officer of the Democratic Century Fund, managed by the Emerging Markets Group. His firm may hold some of the securities mentioned his articles. Individual investors should contact their own professional advisor before making any decisions to buy or sell these or any related securities.)
By GREGORY FOSSEDAL, Special to UPI
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
http://highmarkfunds.stockpoint.com/highmarkfunds/newspaper.asp?Mode=Asia&Story=20030912/255w896...
I am in agreement with this article: GET OUT of Chinese stocks and Funds...except perhaps those involved with real estate due to the Olympics and those with great PE's like some of them that are around 2...none come to mind at the moment but there are several...
George W. Bush Resume
Past work experience:
Ran for congress and lost.
Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
With fathers help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.
Accomplishments: Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America.
Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments as president:
Attacked and took over two countries.
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
(http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/)
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).
First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
First president
in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
With a policy of 'dis-engagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.
Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Records and References:
At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
AWOL from National Guard and Deserted the military during a time of war.
Refused to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (They can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)
http://michaelw.net/Articles/GeorgeBushsresumebyKellyK.html
Okay, okay, okay, shrub didn't lie:
http://www.internetweekly.org/photo_cartoons/cartoon_bush_yellow_cake.html
The thousand guys who speak for the rest of us 290 million are even starting to change their minds:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6582-2003Sep13.html
America's hidden battlefield toll
New figures reveal the true number of GIs wounded in Iraq
Jason Burke in London and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday September 14, 2003
The Observer
The true scale of American casualties in Iraq is revealed today by new figures obtained by The Observer, which show that more than 6,000 American servicemen have been evacuated for medical reasons since the beginning of the war, including more than 1,500 American soldiers who have been wounded, many seriously.
The figures will shock many Americans, who believe that casualties in the war in Iraq have been relatively light. Recent polls show that support for President George Bush and his administration's policy in Iraq has been slipping.
The number of casualties will also increase pressure on Bush to share the burden of occupying Iraq with more nations. Attempts to broker an international alliance to pour more men and money into Iraq foundered yesterday when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, brusquely rejected a French proposal as 'totally unrealistic'.
Three US soldiers were killed last week, bringing the number of combat dead since hostilities in Iraq were declared officially over on 1 May to 68. A similar number have died in accidents. It is military police policy to announce that a soldier has been wounded only if they were involved in an incident that involved a death.
Critics of the policy say it hides the true extent of the casualties. The new figures reveal that 1,178 American soldiers have been wounded in combat operations since the war began on 20 March.
It is believed many of the American casualties evacuated from Iraq are seriously injured. Modern body armour, worn by almost all American troops, means wounds that would normally kill a man are avoided. However vulnerable arms and legs are affected badly. This has boosted the proportion of maimed among the injured.
There are also concerns that many men serving in Iraq will suffer psychological trauma. Experts at the National Army Museum in London said studies of soldiers in the First and Second World Wars showed that it was prolonged exposure to combat environments that was most damaging. Some American units, such as the Fourth Infantry Division, have been involved in frontline operations for more than six months.
Andrew Robertshaw, an expert at the museum, said wars also claimed casualties after they were over. 'Soldiers were dying from injuries sustained during World War I well into the 1920s,' he said.
British soldiers are rotated more frequently than their American counterparts. The Ministry of Defence has recently consulted the National Army Museum about psychological disorders suffered by combatants in previous wars in a bid to avoid problems.
The wounded return to the USA with little publicity. Giant C-17 transport jets on medical evacuation missions land at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, every night.
Battlefield casualties are first treated at Army field hospitals in Iraq then sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany, where they are stabilised.
Andrews is the first stop back home. As the planes taxi to a halt, gangplanks are lowered and the wounded are carried or walk out. A fleet of ambulances and buses meet the C-17s most nights to take off the most seriously wounded. Those requiring urgent operations and amputations are ferried to America's two best military hospitals, the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, near Washington, and the National Naval Medical Centre, Bethesda.
The hospitals are busy. Sometimes all 40 of Walter Reed's intensive care beds are full.
Dealing with the aftermath of amputations and blast injuries is common. Mines, home-made bombs and rocket-propelled grenades are the weapons of choice of the Iraqi resistance fighters. They cause the sort of wounds that will cost a soldier a limb.
The less badly wounded stay overnight at the air base, where an indoor tennis club and a community centre have been turned into a medical staging facility. Many have little but the ragged uniforms on their backs. A local volunteer group, called America's Heroes of Freedom, has set up on the base to provide them with fresh clothes, food packages and toiletries. 'This is our way of saying, "We have not forgotten you,"' said group founder Susan Brewer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1041822,00.html
Saddam didn't lie; there are no WMDs, UN inspectors say
Araminta Wordsworth
National Post, with files from news services
[Note the sources of these articles. So when Canadians and Euro's speak about us with disdain you know why...because they read the papers just like us only their papers aren't propaganda for the US gov'ment...]
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
The UN's senior weapons inspectors now say they believe Saddam Hussein was telling the truth when he claimed he had no weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, the Iraqi nuclear program was in such a shambles it was unlikely to be able to produce atomic weapons any time soon.
The revelations undercut the rationale for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which was predicated on the country's possession of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq's 12,000-page dossier on the subject, presented to the Security Council on Dec. 7 last year, was universally dismissed as incomplete and misleading.
Those charges were later used by Washington and London to justify the invasion of Iraq in late March.
Speaking on CNN, Hans Blix said the facts presented by Iraq in the dossier may have been accurate. "With this long period, I'm inclined to think that the Iraqi statement that they destroyed all the biological and chemical weapons, which they had in the summer of 1991, may well be the truth," he said.
The retired Swedish diplomat, who headed the UN's Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq, has become increasingly outspoken since stepping down from his post.
His inspectors worked in Iraq for 3 1/2 months in late 2002 and early 2003 and "did not find any smoking gun." This was a disappointment to senior U.S. officials, including Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, and Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Advisor.
"They would have hoped and they would have been happy to see if we had said, 'Here Iraq has violated, here they have, here is the smoking gun. We have found it," Mr. Blix said.
"And when we didn't do that, well, then they were disappointed and then they overinterpreted their own intelligence."
U.S. and British experts searching in Iraq since Saddam's fall have yet to turn up any of the weapons, he noted. "I cannot fail to notice that some of the things that they expected us to see, that they have turned out not to be real weapons of mass destruction."
Other weapons inspectors suggest the "unaccountables" may have been no more than incomplete paperwork that failed to note destruction of banned chemical and biological weapons years ago.
Some may represent miscounts, while others could stem from employees' efforts to satisfy the boss by exaggerating reports on arms output in the 1980s.
"Under that sort of regime, you don't admit you got it wrong," Ron Manley of Britain, a former chief UN advisor on chemical weapons, said on the weekend.
His encounters with Iraqi scientists in the 1990s convinced him that when they were told to produce a certain amount of a weapons agent, "they wrote down what their superiors wanted to hear, instead of the reality."
A U.S. investigative team headed by top Central Intelligence Agency weapons analyst David Kay is to present its preliminary findings later this month.
But U.S. officials indicate it may fail to produce any "smoking gun" as well. Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Defence Secretary, who met with Mr. Kay during his visit to Iraq last week, sought to dampen expectations, telling reporters afterward, "I'm assuming he would tell me if he had gotten something."
In Vienna, a leaked report by Mohammed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, says UN inspectors found Iraq's nuclear program in disarray and unlikely to be able to support an active effort to build weapons.
It reiterates that UN experts uncovered no signs of nuclear-weapons production before they withdrew from Iraq, just before the war began in March.
"In the areas of uranium acquisition, concentration and centrifuge enrichment, extensive field investigation and document analysis revealed no evidence that Iraq had resumed such activities," Mr. ElBaradei says in the report, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"No indication of post-1991 weaponization activities was uncovered in Iraq."
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors is due to review the report this week during a meeting in Vienna.
Because the IAEA teams had to pull out before they could complete their inspections, the agency cannot say conclusively Iraq had no active nuclear weapons program. But what the inspectors saw in the months preceding their withdrawal suggested the Iraqis were in no position to build a nuclear weapon, Mr. ElBaradei said.
"The agency observed a substantial degradation in facilities, financial resources and programs throughout Iraq that might support a nuclear infrastructure," he said.
"The former cadre of nuclear experts was being increasingly dispersed and many key figures were reaching retirement or had left the country."
http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id=9A041FEC-0ED6-4863-931C-AD88EE5FC1AC
Related:
http://torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&a...
Report on Iraq WMD shelved as no evidence found by US-UK team
London,Sunday, September 14, 2003: After failing to get any evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the US and Britain have decided to delay indefinitely the publication of a full report on the controversial issue, media reported today.
Efforts by the Iraq Survey Group, an Anglo-American team of 1,400 scientists, military and intelligence experts, to scour Iraq for the past four months to uncover evidence of chemical or biological weapons have so far ended in failure, 'The Sunday Times' claimed in its report.
It had been expected that a progress report would be published tomorrow but MPs on the British Parliament's security and intelligence committee have been told that even this has been delayed and no new date set.
British defence intelligence sources have confirmed that the final report, which is to be submitted by David Kay, the survey group's leader, to George Tenet, head of the CIA, had been delayed and may not necessarily even be published, the paper said.
In July, Kay suggested on US television that he had seen enough evidence to convince himself that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had had a programme to produce weapons of mass destruction.
He expected to find "strong" evidence of missile delivery systems and "probably" evidence of biological weapons.
But last week British officials said they believed Kay had been "kite-flying" and that no hard evidence had been uncovered.
The hunt for weapons is seen in London and Washington as a vital step in convincing an increasingly sceptical public that the war was justified.
http://www.ptinews.com/nextstory.asp?main=international
(PTI)
15:40 IST
Real patriots defend liberty
Waving the bloody shirt in a shameful exploitation of 9/11, President Bush proposes additions to the "Patriot Act" to do away with the grand jury, suspend the right of habeas corpus and threaten with the death penalty anyone a prosecutor accuses of being a "terrorist." The current version of the Patriot Act is dangerous enough and Congress should oppose any efforts to further threaten our liberties.
The president even presumed to rename September 11 "Patriots' Day." Here in the Cradle of Liberty, we celebrate Patriots' Day in April with a marathon through the streets of Boston to honor the brave men who defied the power of King George III and won us those rights Mr. Bush now wants to take away. Attorney General John Ashcroft had the effrontery to come to Boston and defile the sacred precincts of Faneuil Hall with a speech defending the Patriot Act as "rooted in the Constitution and the liberties protected in that great document."
We read the Patriot Act and the proposed enhancements to it as violations of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution. This is the part of "that great document" known as the Bill of Rights, and it guarantees security against unreasonable searches and seizures, indictment by a grand jury (except in time of war), the right to a speedy and public trial by jury with counsel for the defense and protection from excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments. Today, unnamed people languish in unidentified locations on unknown charges brought by prosecutors as unfettered by these constitutional restraints as were the redcoats and the ministers of King George. It is hard to see, as we watch the video of Osama bin Laden walking in mountain meadows, how these measures have made us any safer.
Even conservative Republicans in Congress like E. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin see the USA Patriot Act for the threat to our liberties that it is. Many are seeking the repeal of this legislation that they, including, to their shame, Massachusetts' two senators and five of its representatives (but not our district's John Olver) voted for in the hysterical days just after September 11, 2001. This newspaper supports the efforts to repeal the Patriot Act and opposes any suggestion that it be expanded. It urges the executive branch and federal law enforcement officials to respect the rights of all those arrested in the legitimate conduct of domestic terrorism investigations, lest we stoop to the ways the enemies of freedom run their courts and so become what it is we hate.
Let us remember exactly what it is we are defending in our war against terrorists. Like it says on the famous portrait in Faneuil Hall that shows Daniel Webster defending the Union against the machinations of the slave power: "Liberty and Union. Now and forever. One and inseparable."
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0%2C1413%2C101~6267~1626789%2C00.html
Gold; excellent charts:
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/mcclellan/mcclellan091503.html
"It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them." ~~ Leo Buscaglia
Yep. e
Oil Pipelines not talked about in US news:
Tribesmen Blow Up Major Yemen Oil Pipeline
Khalid Al-Mahdi, Special to Arab News
SANAA, 13 September 2003 — Disgruntled tribesmen yesterday blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline, which is operated by a US company, Yemeni officials and tribal sources said. No casualties were reported in the early morning explosion.
The blast set the pipeline operated by the Hunt Oil Company ablaze, starting a huge fire, a tribal source told Arab News.
The source said the pipeline was damaged in the Serwah region of Marib province, some 170 kilometers northeast of the capital Sanaa. Serwah is the stronghold of the powerful Gahm tribe, known for kidnappings of foreigners and bombings.
Government officials in Sanaa said the attackers were believed to belong to the Gahm tribe protesting the arrest of fellow tribesmen by police in Sanaa a month ago.
The officials ruled out the possibility that militants were behind the blast. They said technicians from the Hunt Oil Company were sent to the site to repair the pipeline.
One official told Arab News that the blast caused up to 3,000 barrels of crude oil to leak out. The 420-kilometer-long pipeline carries oil from production fields in Marib, run by Hunt Oil, to the deep sea port of Ras Isa on the Red Sea.
The pipeline has been frequently targeted in recent years by disgruntled tribesmen in dispute with the government and foreign companies.
Marib is the home to one of Yemen’s largest oil fields. It is also known as one of the most lawless parts of the country, where security forces have been chasing suspected Al-Qaeda operatives since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Armed clashes between tribes and government forces are not unusual in Yemen, whose tribes are heavily armed. But the country has also been the scene of several terror attacks by militants in recent years, mainly on Western targets.
The American destroyer USS Cole was rammed by an explosives-laden boat in the southern Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000. Seventeen soldiers were killed in the suicide attack.
Last October, a similar attack targeted the French oil supertanker Limburg in the southeastern Yemeni oil exporting harbor of Al-Dhabba, killing one crew member.
Two months later, a suspected militant shot dead three US missionaries who worked at a Baptist hospital in southern Yemen.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=31872&d=13&m=9&y=2003
European Space Agency -- A burning oil pipeline in northern Iraq produced an immense cloud of black smoke stretching across thousands of square kilometres, as seen in this image acquired by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer.
The smoke cloud is visible in the centre of this image of the alluvial plain occupied by the valley of the river Tigris (flowing from the top centre of the image) and the Euphrates (flowing from the top left corner).
The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on ESA’s Envisat environmental satellite acquired the image on 30 August, the same day as the media reported a fire affecting a segment of oil pipeline near the town of Hawija.
The pipeline transports crude oil from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk – seen here in grey, on the Tigris River - to Baija, where the country’s largest oil refinery is located.
For comparison the second MERIS image shows the same area three days earlier, before the pipeline had been damaged.
http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/1/2003/09/12/story006.html
Hit link for pictures...
Ashcroft:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/politics/ap20030913_325.html
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_3036.shtml
The above just a couple reasons WHY they BOO:
http://www.uwire.com/content/topnews091003001.html
News: Official 9.11 Story Unravelling
Posted on Friday, September 12 @ 22:02:14 CDT
Topic: Porsche 911
Opposition to `Osama Did It':
Impact of LaRouche's Thesis
by Paul Gallagher
A growing number of leading observers around the world are publicly challenging the "Osama did it" story underlying those policies so far.
There is only one problem with the Osama explanation: No matter how uniformly media and governments repeat it, swear to it, and add more and more tertiary details to it, it nonetheless couldn't have happened that way. The security, intelligence, and military-air command services of the United States could not have slept innocently while an assortment of Islamic militants "of the type monitored intensively in the United States by security services for a decade" carried out a much-warned of precision airborne attack on critical American sites, which the Soviet special services, in their heyday, could not have attempted.
Using the official media fairy-story of Sept. 11 as their touchstone, the powerful faction typified by Zbigniew Brzezinski is pushing for the imperial elimination of national sovereignty all over the world, and the Sharon government in Israel is pushing for general religious war in the Mideast. So, the growing opposition to the "Osama bin Laden did it" line is important. The rallying-point for this opposition has been the international activities, statements, and analyses of Lyndon LaRouche since September, including his authoritative "Zbigniew Brzezinski and September 11," published on Jan. 11 by EIR.
From Africa to Europe
Former South African resistance leader and President, Nelson Mandela, announced a high-profile and deeply considered "about-face on bin Laden," reported first on South Africa's News24 television on New Year's Day. Mandela repudiated and apologized for his former, controversial statement holding Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda responsible for the attacks, as "one-sided and over-stated." He said he would be arranging meetings with Muslim leaders in South Africa to personally convey this message, called by News24 a "highly unusual" reversal of view by the most widely respected of African leaders. "We are also writing to President Bush," Mandela announced, "to appropriately qualify the view we previously expressed to him in person and in correspondence."
In another African power, Egypt, the rejection of the official Sept. 11 story by President Hosni Mubarak (an experienced military pilot) is a view shared by much of Egypt's population. On Jan. 5, the University of Cairo's Center for Asian Studies held a seminar on "Who Committed the Sept. 11 Attacks, and Why?" The Center's director, Prof. Mohammed Selim, introduced Muriel Mirak-Weissbach of EIR's Wiesbaden bureau as the featured speaker. She presented Lyndon LaRouche's analysis that the attacks constituted an attempted coup d'état against the U.S. government, involving rogue elements of the American military and security apparatus who share the view of Brzezinski's circles. Mrs. Mirak-Weissbach stressed the desperate need to get "imperial control" over an uncontrollable global economic breakdown, as the motivation of the coup's powerful backers.
At the same Cairo conference, an important analysis was put forward by Brig. Gen. Dr. Mahmoud Khalaf of Egypt's Higher Military Academy; he is also a fellow of the British Royal Institute for Home Defense and member of the Scientific Association of the U.S. Army.
General Khalaf said that in the Sept. 11 attacks, "we are confronted with a technical operation of extremely great dimensions. We estimate that the planning organ for this operation must have consisted of at least 100 specialized technicians, who needed one year for planning. Each stage of this operation has many details, and every single technical detail needs measures, which are called 'deception,' and camouflaging, against around ten specialized organs in the United States which are called the 'Intelligence Community.' We will not say the CIA, but we will say the DIA, which is the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA has highly qualified technical capability.... I will not exaggerate and say it can monitor every single square meter of the planet audio-visually at any moment [and] the agency called the National Security Agency.... Yes, there was a penetration of the security system and the U.S. Armed Forces."
General Khalaf presented to the conference a detailed, virtually minute-by-minute military expert's analysis of the attacks; he emphasized the contradiction between the great confusion and inaction of the U.S. military and security services for hours, that fact that President Bush could not return to Washington, and that the Executive could not clearly characterize what was happening; and the fact that who had presumably done it (Osama bin Laden)was nevertheless being announced everywhere within less than two hours.
Other Egyptian experts concurred, and a former Foreign Minister reported meeting, in Canada, with senior European bankers in September, who told him they believed "Americans" had done the attacks "because of the economic crisis prior to Sept. 11."
[I am still not convinced "Americans" did it but the evidence is overwhelming that "we" knew about it and did nothing to stop it, in fact "we" helped out in subtle ways. Like making CIA and FBI agents stand down, refusing to launch jets 'till too late...etc.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/911-flightpaths-bases.htm ]
But an even more forceful rejection of the official "Osama" story came from a senior figure in Germany's establishment, Andreas von BÃ*low.
Intelligence Professional: `Brzezinski, the Mad Dog'
Von BÃ*low's statements were highlighted in an interview, entitled "What Did The Insider Know?" in the German daily Tagesspiegel on Jan. 13. The newspaper, while argumentatively disagreeing with him, made clear that von BÃ*low was "already in the 1970s State Secretary in the [German] Defense Ministry; in 1993 you were the Social Democratic Party speaker in the Schalck-Golodkowski investigation committee" -the German version of the Iran-Contra investigation, and far more serious and sensitive than that conducted by the U.S. Senate. This investigation required von Búlow to know about the operations of intelligence services of the United States, as well as Western and Eastern Europe.
Said von BÃ*low of Sept. 11: "With the help of the horrifying attacks, the Western mass democracies were subjected to brainwashing. The enemy image of anti-communism doesn't work anymore; it is to be replaced by peoples of Islamic belief. They are accused of having given birth to suicidal terrorism." Challenged on his use of the term "brainwashing," he added: "The idea of the enemy image doesn't come from me. It comes from Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samuel Huntington, two policymakers of American intelligence and foreign policy. Already in the middle of the 1990s, Huntington believed, people in Europe and the United States needed someone they could hate -this would strengthen their identification with their own society. And Brzezinski, the mad dog, as adviser to President Jimmy Carter, campaigned for the exclusive right of the U.S. to seize all the raw materials of the world, especially oil and gas."
The events of Sept. 11, von BÃ*low told Tagesspiegel, "fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry, the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic complex. This is in fact conspicuous. The huge raw materials reserves of the former Soviet Union are now at their disposal, also the pipeline routes....
"I can state," he said of the planned irregular warfare attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and perhaps the White House, "the planning of the attacks was technically and organizationally a master achievement. To hijack four huge airplanes within a few minutes, and within one hour, to drive them into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers! This is unthinkable, without years-long support from secret apparatuses of the state and industry."
Von BÃ*low concluded on this point by insisting, "I know a lot of people, including very influential ones, who agree with me, but only in whispers, never publicly." This includes not only the Social Democratic Party circles of former federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who share von BÃ*low's assessment of what Brzezinski represents.
'Search for the Truth'
Such circles' assessment of the "policies of Sept. 11" is worth quoting from the same interview with von BÃ*low:
Tagesspiegel: How did you get the idea that there could be a link between the attacks and the American intelligence agencies?
Von BÃ*low: Do you remember the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993?
Tagesspiegel: Six people were killed, and over a thousand wounded, by a bomb explosion.
Von BÃ*low: In the middle was the bomb-maker, a former Egyptian officer. He had pulled together some Muslims for the attack. They were snuck into the country by the CIA, despite a State Department ban on their entry. At the same time, the leader of the band was an FBI informant. And he made a deal with the authorities: At the last minute, the dangerous explosive material would be replaced by a harmless powder. The FBI did not stick to the deal. The bomb exploded, so to speak with the knowledge of the FBI. The official story of the crime was quickly found: The criminals were evil Muslims.
Tagesspiegel: At the time Soviet soldiers marched into Afghanistan, you were in the Cabinet of Helmut Schmidt. What was it like?
Von BÃ*low: The Americans pushed for trade sanctions, they demanded the boycott of the Olympic games in Moscow.... And today we know: It was the strategy of the American security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, to destabilize the Soviet Union from neighboring Muslim countries: They lured the Russians into Afghanistan, and then prepared for them a hell on earth, their Vietnam. With decisive support of the U.S. intelligence agencies, at least 30,000 Muslim fighters were trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a bunch of good-for-nothings and fanatics who were, and still are today, ready for anything. And one of them is Osama bin Laden. I wrote years ago: "It was out of this brood, that the Taliban grew up in Afghanistan, who had been brought up in the Koran schools financed by American and Saudi funds, the Taliban who are now terrorizing the country and destroying it....
Tagesspiegel: What do you think of the bin Laden films?
Von BÃ*low: When one is dealing with intelligence services, one can imagine manipulations of the highest quality. Hollywood could provide these techniques. I consider the videos inappropriate as evidence.
This senior German intelligence professional concluded the interview pungently: "My task is concluded by saying, it could not have been that way [according to the official story].
Search for the truth!"
http://lexiana.mine.nu/lexiana/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42
US data hit Bush's hopes
Retail sales, consumer confidence, inflation - all lower than forecast
David Teather in New York
Saturday September 13, 2003
The Guardian
The United States economy stumbled again yesterday with the release of crucial retail sales, consumer confidence and inflation data that were uniformly worse than analysts had been expecting.
According to the US commerce department, retail sales rose by 0.6% in August, well below Wall Street forecasts of 1.4%. In July, retail sales grew at a far brisker rate of 1.3%.
The figures will be a blow to the White House - consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity and the Bush administration hoped that tax cuts and rebate cheques arriving in the post would give the limping economy the boost it needed.
Consumer sentiment dipped in early September as the nascent recovery continued to fail in creating jobs.
A separate report on US wholesale prices, an indicator of inflation, showed an increase of 0.4% last month, higher than most analysts had hoped for; the growth, however, was largely due to volatile food and energy prices.
The reports combined to weigh on Wall Street in early trading. The Dow Jones index of leading shares fell by as much as 70 points shortly after the open of trading but rallied in the late morning. It was 50 points lower at 9,408 approaching noon.
The data, suggesting that the US economy had still not begun a sustained recovery, pushed the dollar lower against the euro. The euro, already trading at a four-week high, was up by a further 0.4% in early trade on Friday at $1.1253. Sterling hit a month high against the dollar, climbing half a percentage point to $1.6035.
Some analysts, however, said the negative reaction had been overdone. "Six tenths of a per centage point is good healthy rate of increase, no matter how you look at it," said Doug Lee, of consulting firm Economics.
Sentiment was not helped by Oracle, the world's second largest software firm, which reported disappointing sales. Oracle reported a 28% leap in first-quarter profits to $342.7m, but the improvement was largely due to cost cutting. Revenues were just 2% higher and sales of new software licences, a closely watched measure of business momentum, actually fell by 7%.
Shares in the company were trading 5.6% lower, at $12.25.
The economic data will be closely examined by US Federal Reserve policymakers, who meet next Tuesday to review interest rates.
There have been increasing doubts about the sustainability of the economic recovery in the US as recent employment data have shown a lack of new jobs being created. A weak labour market could put further pressure on confidence and spending.
The closely observed University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index showed a drop to 88.2 from 89.3 in August, defying expectations for a rise to 90.
Excluding sales of motor vehicles and parts, demand for retail goods rose 0.7% last month. Car dealerships saw sales rise 0.5% after soaring 2.4% in July.
Car sales have been sustained by large incentives and discounting, introduced in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the US two years ago as a means of kickstarting sales.
Analysts have regularly argued that demand will eventually run out of steam, leaving the car industry with falling sales while being saddled with margin-eating incentives.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1041365,00.html
BTW sideeki, you understand DCA'ing and so on right?
Just in case we get the correction I'm hoping for...
Thanks bob.e
Now who would think the CIA steals hundreds of billions of dollars?
Look at what I found on the Internet from a reputable Swiss finance whistleblower. These court dockets have some pretty interesting claims to say the least.
http://smokingcannon.blogspot.com/
Obviously not a big enough story for the American Media...no story there, why waste time investigating something like this...move along citizen nothing to see here...
Wounded billed for hospital food
By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 11, 2003
WASHINGTON - After a grenade exploded inside his Humvee in Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin was treated at a military hospital in Germany and spent four weeks at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Part of his left foot was amputated.
His medical care was free, but the government billed him $243 for the food.
Then, just three days after he received his first bill for the hospital food in Germany, he got a stern letter saying the bill was overdue. It warned that his account would be referred to a collection agency.
Murwin, like thousands of other military personnel hospitalized every year, is expected to reimburse the government $8.10 per day for food. That's standard procedure because of a law Congress passed in 1981. But it has angered many military families over the years.
When Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, and his wife, Beverly, heard about the problem, they personally paid Murwin's tab. Then the congressman introduced a bill to change the rules.
Rep. Young said Wednesday that the soldiers "were sent to war by their country. Many of them will be handicapped for the rest of their lives - and we're asking them to pay $8.10 a day for their food! There's something really wrong with that."
The practice is especially egregious, Young said, because "the food probably isn't that good."
The rule was established because most military personnel receive $8.10 a day as a "basic allowance for subsistence" for food. But when they are hospitalized, the government tries to recoup the money on the theory that they are eating hospital food and therefore are double-dipping.
Military officials have long disliked the rule but felt they had to enforce it because of the 1981 law.
"If I could be king for a day, I'd stop it in a minute," said Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who commands the Army hospitals in the eastern United States.
The government already bends the rules for soldiers in combat. They are allowed keep the $8.10 even though they are also getting free food, according to Young's office.
Murwin, 31, a sheriff's deputy in Nevada with 10 years of active duty in the Marines and three years in the Reserves, says he was flabbergasted the government would bill him.
"Holy smokes," he said. "I'm in the hospital - and they're going to charge me for my food?"
He says he was willing to pay but thinks it's unfair that young soldiers get billed.
[How about killed?]
"What made me so hot is that (it applies to) privates and lance corporals - guys who barely make enough money to pay for their own food, let alone take care of this," Murwin said.
Kiley, the Army medical commander, said the costs can add up. "If you're here for a couple of months, you could rack up a thousand dollars," he said.
Young, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was unaware of the law until his wife heard about it from Murwin's father-in-law. He has quickly lined up support for his bill, which would reverse the rule so military personnel do not have to pay.
[Make a call to congress...]
His staff hasn't had time to estimate the cost of the bill, Young said, but the government [US] has an obligation to pay for the food of injured soldiers.
The bill has 96 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by associations that represent enlisted personnel. Because of the strong support, the bill is likely to sail through Congress in the next few weeks.
Kiley said that he is glad to see the bill and that it has wide support in the military. But he disagrees with Young's unfavorable assessment of the hospital cuisine.
"It really is pretty good food," Kiley said. "It's not the same as a four-star restaurant. But we work pretty hard at it."
Murwin concurred, but said his taste buds had been dulled by weeks of eating field chow - called MREs (for Meal, Ready to Eat) - in Iraq.
"I was expecting the worst" from the hospital food, he said. "I was pleasantly surprised. I actually got a steak dinner one night."
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/11/Worldandnation/Wounded_billed_for_ho.shtml
The Mogambo Guru rides again!!!e
U.S. Dollar vs. the Euro: Another Reason for the Invasion of Iraq
Sources:
THE SIERRA TIMES, February 9, 2003
Title: "The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War with Iraq"
Author: William Clark
FEASTA, January 2003
Title: "Oil, Currency, and the War on Iraq"
Author: Cóilín Nunan
THE NATION, September 23, 2002
Title: The End of Empire
Author: William Greider
Faculty Evaluators: Wingham Liddell Ph.D, Tony White Ph.D , Phil Beard Ph.D.,
Thom Lough Ph.D.
Student Researchers: Effren Trejo, Kathleen Glover, Dylan Citrin-Cummins
President Richard Nixon removed U.S. currency from the gold standard in 1971. Since then, the world's supply of oil has been traded in U.S. fiat dollars, making the dollar the dominant world reserve currency. Countries must provide the United States with goods and services for dollars — which the United States can freely print. To purchase energy and pay off any IMF debts, countries must hold vast dollar reserves. The world is attached to a currency that one country can produce at will. This means that — in addition to controlling world trade – the United States is importing substantial quantities of goods and services for very low relative costs.
The Euro has begun to emerge as a serious threat to dollar hegemony and U.S. economic dominance. The dollar may prevail throughout the Western Hemisphere, but the Euro and dollar are clashing in the former Soviet Union, Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.
In November 2000, Iraq became the first OPEC nation to begin selling its oil for Euros. Since then, the value of the Euro has increased 17%, and the dollar has begun to decline. One important reason for the invasion and installation of a U.S. dominated government in Iraq was to force the country back to the dollar. Another reason for the invasion is to dissuade further OPEC momentum toward the Euro, especially from Iran- the second largest OPEC producer, who was actively discussing a switch to Euros for its oil exports.
It is estimated that the dollar is currently overvalued by at least 40%, burdening the United States with a huge trade deficit. Conversely, the euro-zone does not run huge deficits, uses higher interest rates, and has an increasingly larger share of world trade. As the euro establishes its durability and comes into wider use, the dollar will no longer be the world’s only option. At that point, it would be easier for other nations to exercise financial leverage against the United States without damaging themselves or the global financial system as a whole.
Faced with waning international economic power, military superiority is the United States’ only tool for world domination. Although, the expense of this military control is unsustainable, says William Clark, "one of the dirty little secrets of today's international order is that the rest of the globe could topple the United States from its hegemonic status whenever they so choose with a concerted abandonment of the dollar standard. This is America's preeminent, inescapable Achilles Heel." If American power is ever perceived globally as a greater liability than the dangers of toppling the international order, the U.S. systems of control can be eliminated and collapsed. When acting against world opinion – as in Iraq – an international consensus could brand the United States as a “rogue nation.”
Updated By William Clark
Only time will tell what will happen in the aftermath of the Iraq war and U.S. occupation, but I am hopeful my research will contribute to the historical record and help others understand one of the important but hidden macroeconomic reasons for why we conquered Iraq. The Bush/Cheney administration probably believes that the occupation of Iraq and the installation of a large and permanent U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf region will stop other OPEC producers from even considering switching the denomination of their oil sales from dollars to Euros. However, using the military to enforce dollar hegemony for oil transactions strikes me as a rather unwieldy and inappropriate strategy. Regrettably, President Bush and his neo-conservative advisors have exacerbated “anti-American” sentiments by applying a military option in Iraq that is in essence an economic problem. History may not look kindly upon their actions.
Despite the U.S. media reporting otherwise, the current wave of ‘global anti-Americanism’ is not against the American people or against American values — but against the hypocrisy of militant American Imperialism. The foreign polices of the neoconservatives may be creating the regrettable emergence of a possible European-Russian-Chinese alliance in an effort to counter American Imperialism. It appears that the structural imbalances in the U.S. economy, along with the Bush administration's flawed tax, economic, and most principally their overtly imperialist foreign polices could result in the dollar's reserve currency status and/or oil transaction currency status being placed in jeopardy or at the very least significantly diminished over the next 1-2 years. In the event that my hypothesis materializes, the U.S. economy will require restructuring in some manner to account for the reduction of either of these two pivotal advantages.
What is needed is a multilateral meeting of the G-7 nations to reform the international monetary system. Given that future wars will become more likely over oil and the currency of oil, the author advocates that the global monetary system be reformed without delay. This would include the dollar and euro being designated as equal international reserve currencies, and placed within an exchange band along with a dual-OPEC oil transaction currency standard. Additionally, the G-7 nations should also explore a future third reserve currency option regarding a yen/yuan bloc for East Asia. A compromise on the euro/oil issues via a multilateral treaty with a gradual phase-in of a dual-OPEC transaction currency standard could minimize economic dislocations within the U.S.
While these proposed multilateral reforms may lower our ability to finance our current massive levels of debt and maintain a global military presence, the benefits would include improving the quality of our lives and that of our children by reducing animosity towards the U.S., while we rebuild our alliances with the E.U. and world community. Creating balanced domestic fiscal polices along with global monetary reform is in the long-term national security interest of the United States, and necessary for the Global economy. Hopefully these proposed monetary reforms could mitigate future armed or economic warfare over oil, ultimately fostering a more stable, safer, and prosperous global economy in the 21st century.
Update by Cóilín Nunan
At the time this article was written, the suggestion that Iraq’s move to selling oil for euros had something to do with the US threatening war against the country was just a theory. It still is a theory, but a theory which subsequent US actions have done little to dispel: the US has invaded Iraq, installed its own authority to rule the country and as soon as Iraqi oil became available to sell on the world market, it was announced that payment would be in dollars only (1). But the story doesn’t end there: the US trade deficit is still widening and the dollar falling. More and more oil exporters are talking openly about selling their commodity for euros instead of greenbacks. While Indonesia has only been considering it (2), Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir has been strongly encouraging his country’s oil industry to actually do it (3), which has led the European Union’s Energy Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio, to comment that she could see the euro replacing the dollar as the main currency for oil pricing (4). Iran meanwhile has been giving all the signs that it is about to switch to the euro: it has been issuing eurobonds, converting its foreign exchange reserves from dollars to euros and having warm trade negotiations with the EU. According to one recent report it has even started selling its oil to Europe for euros and encouraging Asian customers to pay in euros too (5). Should US talk of ‘regime change’ in Iran not be seen in the light of these facts? The media largely appear to think not since there has been little discussion of the dollar-euro connection with the ‘war on terror’. What discussion there has been may well be expanded upon in the future as neither the threat to the dollar and the US economy or the US threat to world peace are likely to go away any time soon.
1. Carola Hoyos and Kevin Morrison, ‘Iraq returns to international oil market’, Financial Times, June 5 2003, http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=105...
2. Kazi Mahmood, ‘Economic Shift Could Hurt U.S.-British Interests In Asia’, March 30 2003, IslamOnline.net
3. Shahanaaz Habib, ‘Use euro for oil prices, says Dr M’, The Star, June 16 2003, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/6/17/nation/sboil&sec=nation
4. Reuters, ‘EU says oil could one day be priced in euros’, June 16 2003, http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030616/energy_euro_2.html
5. C. Shivkumar, ‘Iran offers oil to Asian union on easier terms’, June 16 2003, http://thehindubusinessline.com/stories/2003061702380500.htm
Get some silver.
#13 Corporate Personhood Challenged
Sources:
COMMONDREAMS, January 1, 2003 &
IMPACT PRESS, Feb/Mar, 2003
Title: “Now Corporations Claim the Right to ‘Lie’”
Author: Thom Hartmann
WILD MATTERS, February 2003
Title: “Americans Revolt in Pennsylvania: New Battle Lines Are Drawn”
Author: Thom Hartmann
THE HIGHTOWER LOWDOWN, April 2003
Title: "How a Clerical Error Made Corporations 'People'"
Author: Jim Hightower
Faculty Evaluators: Mary Gomes Ph.D. , Ken Marcus Ph.D.
Student Researchers: Chris Salvano, Sherry Grant, Melissa Jones
Partial Mainstream Coverage: The New York Times, The LA Times, USA Today, Fortune Magazine, The Ottawa Citizen.
Since the founding of our country, a debate has raged over the nature of corporations and whether they should be entitled to the same right to legal “personhood” as actual people. This idea of corporate personhood has recently come under scrutiny.
It was back in 1886 that a Supreme Court decision (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company) ostensibly led to corporate personhood and free speech rights, thereby guaranteeing protections under the 1st and 14th amendments. However, according to Thom Hartmann, the relatively mundane court case never actually granted these personhood rights to corporations. In fact, Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote, “We avoided meeting the Constitutional question in the decision.” Yet, when writing up the case summary —that has no legal status—the Court reporter, a former railroad president named J.C. Bancroft Davis, declared: “The defendant Corporations are persons within the intent of the clause in section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which forbids a state to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” But the Court had made no such legal determination. It was the clerk’s opinion and misrepresentation of the case in the headnote upon which current claims of corporate personhood and free speech entitlements now rests.
In 1978, however, the Supreme Court further entrenched the idea of corporate personhood by deciding that corporations were entitled to the free speech right to give money to political causes – linking free speech with financial clout. Interestingly, in a dissent to the decision, Chief Justice William Rehnquist pointed out the flawed 1886 precedent and criticized its interpretation over the years saying, “This Court decided at an early date, with neither argument nor discussion, that a business corporation is a ‘person’ entitled to the protection of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
But more recently, in December 2002, Porter Township, Pennsylvania unanimously passed an ordinance denying corporate claims to personhood. The Township is the first and only local government in the United States to deny these civil and constitutional rights to corporations. Porter Township and neighboring Rush Township have laws that govern the local dumping of Pittsburgh-generated sludge by charging the dumping companies a “tipping fee.” In 2000, Synagro Corporation, one of the largest dumping companies in the nation, sued Rush Township, claiming that as a corporate citizen, the Township violated Synagro’s 14th amendment rights. In response, Porter Township, passed its precedent-setting ordinance claiming that the dumping company, or any corporation within its jurisdiction, may not wield personhood and free speech privileges.
A more high-profile challenge to corporate personhood involves a lawsuit against Nike and its claims on third-world labor practices. In 1998, Nike CEO Phil Knight wrote a New York Times op-ed piece responding to criticisms of Nike’s Asian labor practices. As was widely reported in the mainstream press in mid-April of this year, San Francisco consumer advocate Marc Kasky filed a lawsuit against Nike believing the company misled the public about its labor practices. Nike, however, claims that the First Amendment protects Nike’s statements, making it irrelevant whether the statements are true or false.
In May 2002, the California Supreme Court ruled against Nike saying its statements were commercial speech, and can therefore be regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. This ruling, writes Justice Joyce L. Kennard, “means only that when a business enterprise, to promote and defend its sales and profits, makes factual representations about its own product or its own operations, it must speak truthfully.”
On April 26, 2003, the Ottawa Citizen provided some pro-Nike coverage of the current case against Nike saying, “The case began some years ago when anti-globalizers accused Nike of exploiting workers at its factories abroad. The Nike-bashing was unrelenting, and the company fought back.” Hartmann’s article also notes The New York Times’ editorial support for Nike saying, “In a real democracy, even the people you disagree with get to have their say.” That’s true says Hartmann, but Nike is not a person—it’s a corporation.
By the release of Censored 2004, the Nike case will probably be a settled issue. It is likely that Porter Township’s ordinance will be challenged in higher courts in the near future. However, Hartmann’s research and writings show that the legality on which corporate claims to personhood and free speech rights rests is dubious.
Update By Jim Hightower
Anyone seeking to preserve America's fragile democracy must first understand the scope and magnitude of the powers aligned against it. We live in an age in which corporations have been enthroned and corruption in high places has enabled power and wealth to be aggregated into an increasingly smaller number of hands. As citizens concerned with the future of human rights in a democratic republic, it's vital that we now speak up and spread the word about "Corporate Personhood," which lies at the heart of the challenge facing us today.
On April 23, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Nike v. Kasky, the Nike Corporation's appeal of an April 2002 California Supreme Court ruling. In Kasky v. Nike, the California court rejected claims by Nike's lawyers that the First Amendment immunized Nike from being sued under state consumer protection laws (for allegedly misrepresenting facts in a public relations campaign). The U.S. Supreme Court (where the case is Nike Inc, et al. v. Marc Kasky since Nike is the party appealing) likely will issue a ruling by late June on the Constitutional issue of whether Nike can claim exemption from the California law under the First Amendment. The Court will not consider the merits of the original lawsuit, in which Mr. Kasky sued Nike for deceptive practices.
The story in the Hightower Lowdown received no additional coverage by mainstream media sources. However, the Nike v. Kasky case has generated a substantial amount of interest, although the opinions are predictable. As of May 25, 2003, four of the five largest U.S. newspapers had editorialized on behalf of the Nike Corporation. Though all five had received submissions from nationally published writers, none had published dissenting commentaries. The Rocky Mountain News (#27-Denver) was alone among the top-50 papers in allowing space for a dissent to their pro-Nike editorial. The Sacramento Bee (ranked #31) thus far is the only paper to critique Nike's "free speech" claims in an editorial (while arguing that the Supreme Court should dismiss Kasky's suit on other grounds).
For more information go to:
ReclaimDemocracy.org (P.O. Box 532, Boulder, CO 80306; 303-402-0105;
www.reclaimdemocracy.org)
Program on Corporations Law and Democracy (P.O. Box 246, South Yarmouth, MA
02664; 508-398-1145; www.poclad.org)
Alliance for Democracy (760 Main Street, Waltham, MA 02451; 781-894-1179;
www.thealliancefordemocracy.org
Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003
#1: The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance
#2: Homeland Security Threatens Civil Liberty
#3: US Illegally Removes Pages from Iraq U.N. Report
#4: Rumsfeld's Plan to Provoke Terrorists
#5: The Effort to Make Unions Disappear
#6: Closing Access to Information Technology
#7: Treaty Busting by the United States
#8: US/British Forces Continue Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Despite Massive Evidence of Negative Health Effects
#9: In Afghanistan: Poverty, Women's Rights, and Civil Disruption Worse than Ever
#10: Africa Faces Threat of New Colonialism
#11: U.S. Implicated in Taliban Massacre
#12: Bush Administration Behind Failed Military Coup in Venezuela
#13: Corporate Personhood Challenged
#14: Unwanted Refugees a Global Problem
#15: U.S. Military's War on the Earth
#16: Plan Puebla-Panama and the FTAA
#17: Clear Channel Monopoly Draws Criticism
#18: Charter Forest Proposal Threatens Access to Public Lands
#19: U.S. Dollar vs. the Euro: Another Reason for the Invasion of Iraq
#20: Pentagon Increases Private Military Contracts
#21: Third World Austerity Policies: Coming Soon to a City Near You
#22: Welfare Reform Up For Reauthorization, but Still No Safety Net
#23: Argentina Crisis Sparks Cooperative Growth
#24: Aid to Israel Fuels Repressive Occupation in Palestine
#25: Convicted Corporations Receive Perks Instead of Punishment
©2003 Project Censored
http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_press&Number=875440&t=-1
They skipped the top story, Censoring of the Media.
Directly. Bullion.
Which article did it for ya?
Find one near you:
http://www.google.com/search?q=silver+bullion+dealers
What do you guys think of RMMI?
I'm starting to like it as a LTH...
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RMMI.OB&d=t
WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANSWERS TO THESE 9/11 QUESTIONS?
By WILLIAM BUNCH
bunchw@phillynews.com
More photos
Firefighter looks out window at Ground Zero. Photo, Jim MacMillan, Daily News
NO EVENT IN recent history has been written about, talked about, or watched and rewatched as much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - two years ago today.
Not only was it the deadliest terrorist strike inside America, but the hijackings and attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington were also a seminal event for an information-soaked media age of Internet access and 24- hour news.
So, why after 730 days do we know so little about what really happened that day?
No one knows where the alleged mastermind of the attack is, and none of his accomplices has been convicted of any crime. We're not even sure if the 19 people identified by the U.S. government as the suicide hijackers are really the right guys.
Who put deadly anthrax in the mail? Where were the jet fighters that were supposed to protect America's skies that morning? And what was the role of our supposed allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?
There are dozens of unanswered questions about the 2001 attacks, but we've narrowed them down to 20 - or 9 plus 11.
1. What did National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tell President Bush about al Qaeda threats against the United States in a still-secret briefing on Aug. 6, 2001?
Rice has suggested in vague terms that the president's brief - prepared daily by the CIA - included information that morning about Osama bin Laden's methods of operation - including hijacking. But when the congressional committee probing Sept. 11 asked to see the report, Bush claimed executive privilege and refused to release it.
2. Why did Attorney General John Ashcroft and some Pentagon officials cancel commercial-airline trips before Sept. 11?
On July 26, 2001 - 47 days before the Sept. 11 attacks - CBS News reported that Ashcroft was flying expensive charters rather than commercial flights because of a "threat assessment" by the FBI. CBS said, "Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term." Newsweek later reported that on Sept. 10, 2001, "a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns."
Did either Ashcroft or the Pentagon have advance information about a 9/11-style attack and, if so, why wasn't this shared with the American public?
3. Who made a small fortune "shorting" airline and insurance stocks before Sept. 11?
On Sept. 10, 2001, the trading ratio on United Airlines was 25 times greater than normal at the Pacific Exchange, where traders could buy "puts," high-risk bets that the price of a company's stock will fall sharply. The next day, two hijacked United jetliners crashed, causing the company's shares to plummet and ultimately leading the airline into bankruptcy. CBS News later reported that at intelligence agencies, "alarm bells were sounding over unusual trading in the U.S. stock options market" on the day before the attacks.
The unusual stock trading suggests that someone with a sophisticated knowledge of finance also had advance information about the impending attack. But two years later, no one has been charged in this matter, and officials have not indicated even if the probe is still open.
4. Are all 19 people identified by the government as participants in the Sept. 11 attacks really the hijackers?
Probably not. Just 10 days after the attacks, a report by the British Broadcasting Corp. said that some of the supposed hijackers identified by the FBI appeared to be alive and well. The BBC story said Abdelaziz al-Omari, named as the pilot who crashed the jet into the World Trade Center's North Tower, was reported by Saudi authorities to be working as an electrical engineer. He reported his passport had been stolen in Denver in 1995. Saudi officials said it was possible that another three people whose names appear on the FBI list also are alive.
The article, which can be read at Unanswered Questions, makes a persuasive case that another man was posing as Ziad Jarrah, the alleged pilot of hijacked Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa. So why did this story line vanish into thin air?
5. Did any of the hijackers smuggle guns on board as reported in calls from both Flight 11 and Flight 93?
Quite possibly. An internal Federal Aviation Administration memo written at 5:30 p.m. on the day of the attacks said that a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 11 - Israeli-American Daniel Lewin - had been shot to death by a single bullet before the jet slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The FAA insists the memo was a mistaken "first draft," even though the
alleged shooting is described in great detail.
Aboard Flight 93, passenger Thomas Burnett told his wife, Deena, in a 9:27 a.m. cell-phone call: "The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one of them has a gun, and they are telling us there is a bomb on board."
Why has this angle of Sept. 11 not been investigated in more detail?
6. Why did the NORAD air defense network fail to intercept the four hijacked jets?
During the depths of the Cold War, Americans went to bed with the somewhat reassuring belief that jet fighters would intercept anyone launching a first strike against the United States. That myth was shattered on 9/11, when four hijacked-jetliners-turned-into-deadly-missiles cruised the American skies with impunity for nearly two hours.
Why did the North American Aerospace Defense Command seem unaware of literally dozens of warnings that hijacked jetliners could be used as weapons? Why does NORAD claim it did not learn that Flight 11 - the first jet to strike the World Trade Center about 8:45 a.m. - had been hijacked until 8:40 a.m., some 25 minutes after the transponder was shut off and an astounding 15 minutes after flight controllers heard a hijacker say, "We have some planes..."?
Why didn't the fighters that were finally scrambled at Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts and Langley Air Force Base in Virginia fly at top, supersonic speeds? Why didn't fighters immediately take off from Andrews Air Force Base, just
outside Washington, D.C.? Why was nothing done to intercept American Airlines Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon, when officials knew it had been had been hijacked some 47 minutes earlier?
And why has no one been disciplined for the worst breakdown in national defense since Pearl Harbor?
7. Why did President Bush continue reading a story to Florida grade-schoolers for nearly a half-hour during the worst attack on America in its history?
In arguably the greatest understatement in U.S. history, Bush told a questioner at a California town-hall meeting in January 2002 that 9/11 "was an interesting day." Interesting, indeed. In the two years since the attacks, questions have only grown about the president's bizarre behavior that morning, when he was informed in a Sarasota classroom that America was under attack.
"I couldn't stop watching the president sitting there, listening to second-graders, while my husband was burning in a building," World Trade Center widow Lorie van Auken, a leader of relatives of Sept. 11 victims who have raised questions about the attacks, told Gail Sheehy in the New York Observer.
Why did Bush read a children's story about a pet goat and stay in the classroom for more than a half-hour after the first plane struck the World Trade Center and roughly 15 minutes after Chief of Staff Andrew Card told him that it had been a deliberate attack? Why didn't he take more decisive action, and why wasn't he hustled to a secure area while the attacks were clearly still under way?
Conspiracy advocates have cited these strange lapses as evidence that Bush knew about the attacks ahead of time, but why would anyone with advance knowledge appear so clueless?
For a fascinating read on the subject, go to: An Interesting Day.
8. How did Flight 93 crash in western Pennsylvania?
The most popular version - that heroic passengers who fought with the hijackers successfully stormed the cockpit - has become so widely accepted that people were jarred last month when an Associated Press report seemed to contradict it. The AP story took one line out of a congressional report and wrote that the FBI now believes the hijackers crashed the plane on purpose.
Many were dismayed that the FBI would change its story, but the government had never put out an official story. Some unidentified government officials had first floated the hijackers-crashed-the-plane-on-purpose theory in late 2001.
Based solely on circumstantial evidence from several cell-phone calls made by passengers, most of the public and the mainstream media have come to believe that the plane crashed because of a struggle between the passengers and the hijackers.
Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly has enough hard information about what really happened on Flight 93 to have worked up a flight-simulation video. But that video, the cockpit audio recording and the hard data from the other "black box," the flight data recorder, is still top secret.
The issue symbolizes the government's continuing refusal to release information about what really happened on Sept. 11. Even some relatives of Flight 93 victims are growing unhappy that more information has not been publicized.
9. Was Zacarias Moussaoui really "the 20th hijacker"?
Almost certainly not, even though the allegation has been repeated hundreds of times in the media. The Moroccan native, who has been in custody since his August 2001 arrest on immigration charges after he attended a flight-training school in Minneapolis, has admitted that he is a member of al Qaeda and wanted to commit terrorist acts in America. But he arrived here much later than the Sept. 11 hijackers and reportedly had no contacts with them.
The issue is important because some family members of Sept. 11 victims who are seeking information about what happened that day have been turned down because of the ongoing Moussaoui case.
10. Where are the planes' "black boxes"?
Nothing is more critical to learning about air disasters than the so-called "black boxes." They are the 30-minute audio recordings of cockpit chatter and the fight-data inputs which show the speed, direction and operational condition of the plane, and which are encased in material designed to withstand a high-speed crash. Yet the government has continued to keep a lid of secrecy on the black boxes from Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, and from Flight 93.
FBI Director Robert Mueller has said Flight 77's data recorder provided altitude, speed, headings and other information, but the voice recorder contained nothing useful. Why not? Why not release the information to the public? Why has a docile mainstream media not demanded this information?
And how come none of the four "indestructible" black boxes was recovered from the World Trade Center, even as investigators said that a passport belonging to one of the hijackers had been found in the rubble, undamaged, a week after the towers's collapse?
11. Why were Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials so quick to link Saddam Hussein to the attacks?
CBS News reported that the defense secretary was making notes about invading Iraq even before the fires from Flight 77 had been extinguished on the other side of the Pentagon. Rumsfeld wrote that he wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough [to] hit S.H." - Saddam Hussein - "at the same time. Not only UBL" - Osama bin Laden. He added: "Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
Rumsfeld and a number of other Bush administration officials have ties to a once-obscure policy group called the Project for a New American Century. In a 2000 white paper, PNAC - which had long urged an American invasion of Iraq - said that for the United States to assert itself properly as the world's lone superpower, "some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor" - would be required.
That new Pearl Harbor came - two years ago today.
12.Why did 7 World Trade Center collapse?
7 World Trade Center, a 47-story building, was not struck by an aircraft on Sept. 11, yet the building mysteriously collapsed at 5:20 p.m. that afternoon. Apparently debris from the jetliner attacks on the adjacent twin towers started a fire at No. 7. But as the New York Times noted: "No building like it, a modern, steel-reinforced high-rise, had ever collapsed because of an uncontrolled fire." Investigators have speculated that excess diesel
fuel for emergency generators fanned the flames, but the full story may never be known.
Some questions also have lingered about why the two 110-story towers collapsed. But investigators think the burning jet fuel - compounded by paper-and-electronics-laden cubicles and possibly insulation matter - burned long enough, at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees, to weaken the structural steel.
13. Why did the Bush administration lie about dangerously high levels of toxins and hazardous particles after the WTC collapse?
Because apparently some White House officials felt that the health of the American economy and Wall Street was more important than the health of New York City residents who lived nearby. For example, on Sept. 16, 2001, a draft press release from the Environmental Protection Agency said: "Recent samples of dust gathered by OSHA on Water Street showed higher levels of asbestos in EPA tests." That was deleted and replaced with this: "The new samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern."
A key figure in the changes was the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who - you can't make this stuff up - is a lawyer who formerly represented the asbestos industry.
In fact, the EPA told workers and residents that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan at a time when some test results had not been analyzed and other key tests had not even been performed. The outcome? Key medical professionals say thousands of New Yorkers have developed respiratory illnesses associated with exposure to the dust. Symptoms include periodic gasping for air, a choking sensation and unusual sensitivity to airborne irritants, apparently from a type of "occupational asthma" called Reactive Airways Disease Syndrome.
14. Where is Dick Cheney's undisclosed location?
We'll never know, but a widely reported rumor was that it was right here in the Keystone State. The speculation is the vice president spent the days after the attack at Site R, a secretive Cold War-era site, also known as Alternate Joint Communications Center, deep inside Raven Rock Mountain. The mountain is in western Pennsylvania, near Waynesboro.
15. What happened to the more than $1 billion that Americans donated after the attack?
The largest recipient, the American Red Cross, says it already has used $741 million from its Liberty Fund to help more than 55,000 families cope with the death of loved ones, serious injuries, physical and mental health concerns, financial loss, homelessness and other effects of the attacks.
Of that, $596 million was in the form of direct financial assistance to families of those killed or seriously injured, as well as to displaced workers, residents and emergency personnel who were seriously affected. Depending on individual needs, this financial assistance included up to a full year's living expenses, estate and special-circumstances cash grants, and more.
16. What was the role of Pakistan's spy agency in the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl?
The idea that Pakistan is considered a leading American ally in the war on terror is both ironic and a bit disturbing when one considers that there are proven links between Pakistan's intelligence agency, the notorious ISI, and the Taliban, as well as likely ties to al Qaeda and bin Laden.
In October 2001, the Wall Street Journal and many reputable news organizations in South Asia reported that the head of the ISI, Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad, was fired after being linked to a $100,000 payment that had been wired to al Qaeda hijacker Mohamed Atta in America to pay for the Sept. 11 attacks. The New York Times said the intelligence service even used al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train covert operatives for use in a war of terror against India.
In recent weeks, two troubling reports have emerged. The highly regarded French journalist Bernard-Henri Levy has written that Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl had been murdered by elements of the ISI because he'd learned that al Qaeda "is largely controlled by the Pakistani secret service" and that Islamic extremists control the nation's nuclear weapons. And investigative reporter Gerald Posner writes that bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah not only revealed a link to top Saudis but also to high-ranking Pakistani air force officer Mushaf Ali Mir. Mir, who is said to have cut protection deals in secret meetings with bin Laden, died earlier this year in a plane crash that also killed his wife and closest confidants.
17. Who killed five Americans with anthrax?
Actually, it's not clear whether this question should even be on this list. Two years later, it's not known whether the anthrax-laden letters that killed five Americans from Connecticut to Florida, and targeted some leading Democratic pols and TV news anchors, had anything to do with the Sept. 11 attacks. Indeed, the list of potential suspects - al Qaeda terrorists, Saddam, crackpot U.S. scientists - hasn't been narrowed down. Our government's utter cluelessness about a reign of terror that rattled the nation and dominated the headlines in fall 2001 is an investigative failure of epic proportions.
One man, a former Army biomedical researcher named Steven J. Hatfill, has been labeled "a person of interest" by the FBI, but nothing definitive has linked Hatfill to the crime. Just this summer, federal investigators drained a Frederick, Md., pond where they speculated the anthrax letters might have been assembled, but tests of soil samples taken after the draining yielded no evidence of biological weapons. And now Hatfill has sued the government for invading his privacy - in a case that may never be solved.
18. What happened to the probe into C-4 explosives found in a Philadelphia bus terminal in fall 2001?
Do you remember this front-page headline from Oct. 20, 2001: "In Phila. locker, a lethal find; Explosive 'would probably have leveled' bus depot." You can be forgiven if you don't. There's been no mention in local media since late 2001 of the alarming discovery of one-third of a pound of lethal C-4 and 1,000 feet of military detonation cord in a locker at the Greyhound bus terminal in Center City, even though it's possibly the most direct link between Philadelphia and domestic terrorism.
Investigators conceded a couple of months into their probe that the trail had gone stone-cold. They speculated that the material had been stolen from an Army base and that the culprit, who rented the locker on Sept. 29, 2001, decided that the material was too hot to handle after the Sept. 11 attacks. The truth may never be known.
19. What is in the 28 blacked-out pages of the congressional Sept. 11 report?
It's not a total mystery. Everyone has acknowledged that the pages contain highly embarrassing information about links between the Sept. 11 hijackers and the government of Saudi Arabia, America's supposed ally in the Middle East and home to the world's largest oil reserves. One of those officials is said to be Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar, whose wife, Princess Haifa, indirectly funded at least two of the Sept. 11 terrorists during their time in San Diego. The prince is so close to the Bush family that he's known, incredibly, as "Bandar Bush." This week, Time reports that just after the Sept. 11 attacks, when U.S. commercial airspace was still closed to our citizens, Bush allowed a jet to stop at 10 U.S. cities to pick up and fly home 140 prominent Saudis, including relatives of bin Laden.
A new must-read book by investigative reporter Posner - "Why America Slept" - takes the conspiracy to the highest of levels of the Saudi government. He says a top bin Laden lieutenant, Abu Zubaydah, who was captured in March 2002, stunned investigators when - allegedly given the "truth serum" sodium pentothal - fingered three top Saudis. They were Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the Westernized owner of 2002 Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem; Prince Turki al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, the kingdom's longtime intelligence chief, and Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir.
The most incredible part of the story is what happened next. In an eight-day period in late July 2002, Prince Ahmed died at age 43 from a heart attack, Prince Turki died in a car crash and Prince Fahd "died of thirst." Coincidence? What do you think?
20. Where is Osama bin Laden?
Remember how President Bush vowed on Sept. 17, 2001, that he was determined to catch bin Laden "dead or alive"? Well, the good news is that if he wants bin Laden "alive," there's still a chance that could happen. Intelligence experts now agree that bin Laden successfully escaped his Tora Bora hideout in Afghanistan back in December 2001 - when the U.S. failed to commit ample manpower to the chase - and that the al Qaeda leader is alive and well, and plotting new attacks.
"We don't know where he is," Army Col. Rodney Davis, spokesman for America's forces in Afghanistan, said recently. But Newsweek seems to know where to find bin Laden: in the remote, mountainous - and lawless - Kunar province of Afghanistan. The magazine chillingly reported that just five short months ago, bin Laden convened the biggest terror summit since Sept. 11 at a mountain stronghold there. The participants reportedly included three top-ranking representatives from the Taliban, several senior al Qaeda operatives and leaders from radical Islamic groups in Chechnya and Uzbekistan. The topic was carrying out attacks against U.S. interests inside Iraq.
The most chilling aspect of the Newsweek report is that bin Laden has access to biological weapons and is determined to find a way to use them against the United States. A source from the Taliban told the magazine: "Osama's next step will be unbelievable."
But this week, ABC News reported that the hunt for bin Laden has been narrowed to a different area - a 40-square-mile section of the Waziristan region of Pakistan. The report said that local residents suspected of trying to inform Americans about bin Laden's whereabouts were executed in broad daylight.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/6742902.htm