Category: Government

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SchwartzReport: Student Loan Bubble, Prisons Owning People

03 Economy, 04 Education, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government

schwartz reportIt is in the interest of a nation that kids capable of doing so should be educated as far as they can go, without financial considerations. The GI Bill literally created America's post-war prosperity, and made us the envy of the world. That whole trend has now been perverted and, as this report shows, students are now just another group to milk for the benefit of the few. The damage this does will haunt ! us for generations.

Student Loans: The Next Housing Bubble
PAUL CAMPOS, Professor of Law – University of Colorado – Boulder – Salon

EXTRACT

In effect, the system allows any 22-year-old American University chooses to admit to borrow a sum equal to the average home mortgage, but without a single one of the actuarial controls that are supposed to minimize the risk that homeowners will borrow too much money.

– – – – – – –

schwartz reportYet more on the growing New American Slavery trend. This is a really unhealthy vector for a democracy, and it is markedly racist.

The Legacy of Chattel Slavery: Private Prisons Blur the Line Between Real People and Real Estate
CHRISTOPHER PETRELLA – Truthout.org

EXTRACT

Although many criminal justice activists are quick to denounce the most egregious race-based expressions of prison privatization, ranging from involuntary prison labor to racially disparate sentencing policies, few, if any, have attended to the deeply racialized, yet somewhat arcane, relationship developing between the private prison industry and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Curiously, one of the best ways to understand exactly how the private prison industry views itself and its fundamental mission is to analyze changes in the IRS corporate filing status of private prison companies.

In July 2012, the GEO Group – the nation's second-largest private prison operator behind Corrections Corporation of America – sent a letter to the IRS requesting a conversion from a typical “class-c” corporation to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

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Marcus Aurelius: Gun Control, Revolution, & Secession

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

This is circulating among retired SOF O-6's.

The Next American Civil War

Cusp of violence: Defend something the political left, an authoritarian cabal itself, cannot abide, at all: personal freedom, individual freedom.

“Tyrants preserve themselves by sowing fear and mistrust among the citizens by means of spies, by distracting them with foreign wars, by eliminating men of spirit who might lead a revolution, by humbling the people, and making them incapable of decisive action…” … Aristotle

EXTRACT

Look.  There is so much pent-up anger in America today that if this argument over gun control ever gets beyond the talking stage it is reasonable to believe there will be violence on a scale not seen since the 1860’s in this country.

I would ask the political left if they understand that this is only a temporary argument over gun control?  Do they understand it will quickly become an argument over whether or not the country continues to exist as a single fifty state entity or breaks up into separate countries?  I don’t think they do.  Indeed, I don’t think most Americans understand that once this fight begins, in earnest, there will be no turning back and when it is ended—there will be no going back, either.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Gun Control, Revolution, & Secession”

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Owl: Irresponsible Government = Death by Vaccine –Thank You Bill Gates — Meanwhile $75 Billion a Year on Secret Intelligence Protects No One, Informs No One….

07 Health, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude
Who? Who?
Who? Who?

The Danger of Vaccines: More Proof

Which vaccines contain human protein and DNA?
Would you object to taking vaccines on moral, philosophical, scientific or religious grounds knowing you are consuming human material? The FDA itself admits in its “Vaccine Ingredients Calculator” that's what you are receiving in a vaccine. “A recent CBS News Investigates article quotes a former senior scientist at a pharmaceutical firm who claims that human tissue is currently used in 23 vaccines; however, we adhere strictly to the vaccine package inserts from the FDA as our ingredient data source and cannot confirm nor deny this claim.

Tetanus Vaccine Causes New Disease: New Vaccines Worse?
Does the doctor who cheerfully injects you with tetanus vaccine warn you about this?
“The tetanus vaccine causes a new disease known both as Hughes syndrome and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). It’s an autoimmune condition that can attack any part of the body, though is best noted for heart attacks and killing fetuses. It’s likely that APS will become more common with the new generation of vaccine adjuvants now being produced. The sufferers of (APS) are mostly women, and its diagnosis is often made as a result of multiple pregnancy losses. As is typical of new diseases, research is focused on finding a genetic cause, in spite of the fact that the connection with vaccines is well known and documented.”

Continue reading “Owl: Irresponsible Government = Death by Vaccine –Thank You Bill Gates — Meanwhile $75 Billion a Year on Secret Intelligence Protects No One, Informs No One….”

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Pierre Cloutier: Rodrigue Tremblay on Congressional Abdication, US Financial Default — Lies, Fears, and The Chicago Plan Option — Save the Country, Screw the Banks

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Law Enforcement
Pierre Cloutier
Pierre Cloutier

The U.S. Congress: From One Crisis to Another

Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay

GlobalResearch, 5 February 2013

One crisis averted, three to come! Indeed, that’s what can be said after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on January 23, 2013, to suspend the government’s statutory borrowing limit for three months.

In fact, the cycle of artificially created crises will go on and on in Washington D.C. Now, the next crises are scheduled for March 1s, for March 27th and for May 19th. Stay tuned. On March 1st, automatic sequester cuts agreed by Congress in 2012 will take effect, causing an immediate cut of $69 billion in public discretionary spending. Then, on March 27, the U.S. government’s ability to fund itself (the “continuing resolution”) will run out. And, of course, come May 19, the melodrama of raising the debt ceiling will be back again in force.

Ever since Republicans took control of the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, a fiscal drama with the White House and the U.S. Senate has been replayed time and again. One of the political gimmick is called the “raising of the country’s debt limit.”

Why so many artificial crises in the current American political system? Extreme political polarization seems to be the answer.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Pierre Cloutier: Rodrigue Tremblay on Congressional Abdication, US Financial Default — Lies, Fears, and The Chicago Plan Option — Save the Country, Screw the Banks”

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Steven Aftergood: Keeping Secrets from Congress — and Report on CIA’s Global (54 Country) Rendition and Torture Program

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency
Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood

Keeping Secrets from Congress

When government information is classified or otherwise withheld from release, the possibility of government accountability to the public is undermined.  But when the executive branch withholds crucial information from Congress, that may pose an even more fundamental challenge to democratic governance.

Read full article.

A Report on CIA Detention and Rendition Programs

In the absence of an official public account of post-9/11 U.S. counterterrorism programs, Americans (and others) must rely on unofficial accounts.

“Globalizing Torture” is a new report from the Open Society Justice Initiative, authored by Amrit Singh.  It is said to provide “the most comprehensive account yet assembled of the human rights abuses associated with CIA secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations. It details for the first time what was done to the 136 known victims, and lists the 54 foreign governments that participated in these operations. It shows that responsibility for the abuses lies not only with the United States but with dozens of foreign governments that were complicit.”

It was reported in “Report Says 54 Countries Helped CIA After 9/11″ by Scott Shane, New York Times, February 4.

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Mini-Me: USG Sues S&P for Fraudulent Ratings

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement
Who? Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

News Summary: S&P expects to be sued by Justice Dept. over its ratings of mortgage securities

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 4, 8:11 PM

US CHARGES SEEN AGAINST S&P: The U.S. government is expected to file civil charges against Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, alleging that it improperly gave high ratings to mortgage debt that later plunged in value and helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis.Read full article.

Lynn Wheeler at LinkedIn adds:

Congressional hearing Oct 2008 had lots of testimony that rating agencies were selling triple-A ratings on toxic CDOs when both the sellers and the rating agencies knew they weren't worth triple-A. Commentary at the time was that the rating agencies would likely avoid federal prosecution by blackmailing the gov. with threat of gov. rating downgrade.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: USG Sues S&P for Fraudulent Ratings”

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SchwartzReport: Bees Make 70 of 90 Human Foods Possible — US Lost One Third of All Bee Colonies in 2012, While EU Striving to Protect Their Bees

01 Agriculture, 08 Wild Cards, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government

schwartz reportAlthough there is still great resistance as you can see in this report slowly, at least in Europe, the truth about the role of pesticides and herbicides in the decline of the bees is being recognized. Here in the U.S. nothing is happening, even as the collapse of bee colonies increases. About one-third of bee colonies was lost this last year. Of the 90 plant food stuffs humans eat 70 are utterly dependent on bee poll! ination.

EU Proposal to Protect Bees Stirs Hornets' Nest
DON MELVIN – The Associated Press

BRUSSELS – An attempt to protect Europe's bee population has kicked up a hornets' nest.

On Thursday, the EU's commissioner for health and consumer policy, Tonio Borg, proposed to restrict the use of three pesticides – called nenicotinoids – to crops to which bees are not attracted.

The three pesticides were clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam; the crops from which they would be banned include sunflowers, rapeseed, cotton and maize. The policy would take effect July 1 for the EU's 27 nations and be reviewed after two years.

But while environmentalists welcomed Borg's proposal as an important first step, Borg's spokesman, Frederic Vincent, confirmed that some countries reacted unenthusiastically, preferring further study to immediate action. He declined to identify them.

Marco Contiero of the environmental group Greenpeace said Britain was firmly opposed, and Germany and Spain were either opposed or wanted more time to consider.

Luis Morago of the advocacy group Avaaz, meanwhile, condemned what he called “spurious” British and German opposition and said 2.2 million people had signed an Internet petition calling for a comprehensive ban on the pesticides.

Beekeepers have reported an unusual decline in bees over the past decade, particularly in Western Europe, the European Food Safety Authority says. Bees are critically important to the environment, sustaining biodiversity by providing pollination for a wide range of crops and wild plants – including most of the food crops in Europe, it says.

Read full article.

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