The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Bill Moyers and Neil Barofsky 26 October 2012
Neil Barofsky, Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (Free Press, 2012)
Bill Moyers and David Stockman, 21 January 2012
Charles H. Ferguson, Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America (Crown Business, 2012)
October 29, 2012
Since mid-2009 the US has been enjoying a virtual recovery courtesy of a rigged inflation measure that understates inflation. The financial Presstitutes spoon out the government’s propaganda that prices are rising less than 2%. But anyone who purchases food, fuel, medical care or anything else knows that low inflation is no more real that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction or Gadhafi’s alleged attacks on Libyan protesters or Iran’s nuclear weapons. Everything is a lie to serve the power-brokers.
During the Clinton administration, Republican economists pushed through a change in the way the CPI is measured in order to save money by depriving Social Security retirees of their cost-of-living adjustment. Previously, the CPI measured the change in the cost of a constant standard of living. The new measure assumes that consumers adjust to price increases by lowering their standard of living by substituting lower quality, lower priced items. If the price, for example, of New York strip steak goes up, consumers are assumed to substitute the lower quality round steak. In other words, the new measure of inflation keeps inflation down by reflecting a lowered standard of living.
Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com), who closely follows the collecting and reporting of official US economic statistics, reports that consumer inflation, as measured by the 1990 official government methodology has been running at about 5%. If the 1980 official methodology for measuring the CPI is used, John Williams reports that the current rate of US inflation is about 9%.
Integrity lost….again.
TRR: Is a General losing his job over Benghazi?
Washington Times, 28 October 2012
Is an American General losing his job for trying to save the Americans besieged in Benghazi? This is the latest potential wrinkle in the growing scandal surrounding the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that left four men dead and President Obama scrambling for a coherent explanation.
On October 18, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta appeared unexpectedly at an otherwise unrelated briefing on “Efforts to Enhance the Financial Health of the Force.” News organizations and CSPAN were told beforehand there was no news value to the event and gave it scant coverage. In his brief remarks Mr. Panetta said, “Today I am very pleased to announce that President Obama will nominate General David Rodriguez to succeed General Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command.” This came as a surprise to many, since General Ham had only been in the position for a year and a half. The General is a very well regarded officer who made AFRICOM into a true Combatant Command after the ineffective leadership of his predecessor, General William E. “Kip” Ward. Later, word circulated informally that General Ham was scheduled to rotate out in March 2013 anyway, but according to Joint doctrine, “the tour length for combatant commanders and Defense agency directors is three years.” Some assumed that he was leaving for unspecified personal reasons.
In the future, Hurricane Sandy is invisible
By Tyler Falk | October 28, 2012, 7:28 AM PDT
With 60 million people expected to be impacted by Hurricane Sandy, days of advanced notice have allowed the New York governor to issue a state of emergency, evacuations to take place along the Atlantic coast, and (at least in my Washington, D.C. neighborhood) residents to clear the grocery store shelves ahead of the storm’s dangerous surge. But soon weather forecasters might not be able to provide us with details and predictions of dangerous storms.That’s because there’s another looming problem in the United States that could be even bigger than Hurricane Sandy: dying satellites. The New York Times reports:
The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews.
The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts view as almost certain within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the East Coast early next week.
Continue reading “SmartPlanet: Gap in Weather Satellites [While Secret World Spends Madly]”
The Admiral was not near enough to Benghazi for this to be related (near Guam on the day). It may be related to public statements critical of the President as Commander in Chief.
Navy replaces admiral leading Mideast strike group because of ongoing investigation
NEW YORK (WLS) – In an unusual move, the Navy has replaced an admiral commanding an aircraft carrier strike group while it is deployed to the Middle East. The replacement was prompted by an Inspector General’s investigation of allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment.
Phi Beta Iota: Another flag officer appears to have been relieved also, General Carter Ham at AFRICOM, with unconfirmed reports that he was disobeying orders to stand down and instead sending aid to the US personnel in Benghazi. According to Wikipedia, on 11 September 2012 Carrier Strike Group Three entered the U.S. Seventh Fleet‘s area of responsibility and subsequently participated in the U.S. joint military training exercise Valiant Shield 2012 off Guam. The closest US forces to Benghazi were probably those in Aviano Italy. The distance from Benghazi to Aviano is 1680 km or 1044 miles. A typical flight between Benghazi to Aviano would have a flying time of about 2 hours 6 mins. This assumes an average flight speed for a commercial airliner of 500 mph, which is equivalent to 805 km/hr or 434 knots. The principal delay factor appears to have been the Secretary of Defense who lacked adequate intelligence from the US secret intelligence world ($80 billion a year), and may have had orders from the White House to avoid increasing US force presence in Benghazi whatever the consequences. Nobody looks good on this — the hidden agendas remain to be disclosed.
See Also:
Obama Administration Replaces Top Generals Following Benghazi Disaster
Did Obama Fire General Ham Of Africom For Attempting To Buck His Order And Rescue Stevens?
Two complementary pieces.
Libyan witnesses recount organized Benghazi attack
Associated Press, Sunday, October 28, 2012
TRIPOLI, Libya — It began around nightfall on Sept. 11 with around 150 bearded gunmen, some wearing the Afghan-style tunics favored by Islamic militants, sealing off the streets leading to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They set up roadblocks with pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, according to witnesses.
The trucks bore the logo of Ansar al-Shariah, a powerful local group of Islamist militants who worked with the municipal government to manage security in Benghazi, the main city in eastern Libya and birthplace of the uprising last year that ousted Moammar Gadhafi after a 42-year dictatorship.
There was no sign of a spontaneous protest against an American-made movie denigrating Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. But a lawyer passing by the scene said he saw the militants gathering around 20 youths from nearby to chant against the film. Within an hour or so, the assault began, guns blazing as the militants blasted into the compound.
. . . . . . .
Yasser el-Sirri, a former Egyptian militant who runs the Islamic Observation Center in London closely tracking jihadi groups, said the attack “had nothing to do with the film but it was a coincidence that served the (militants’) purpose.”
Was Benghazi Attack on U.S. Consulate an Inside Job?
One man gives his harrowing account of the attack on the U.S. Ambassador
Newsweek via Daily Beast, 20 October 2012
Read full article (four screens).
See Also:
Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:26 AM PDT
Activism – Wendy Cockcroft: Since ACTA was decisively beaten on 4th July 2012, the first time a free trade agreement had been scuppered by the people of EU member nations, the big business lobbyists have taken heed and resolved to change in order to be more successful. Hence the secrecy. CETA and the EU-India trade agreement are the next big battles. We need your help.
The term “Free Trade Agreement” is a misnomer. The idea is to remove barriers, taxes, and tariffs, but since people can end up being shackled to a multinational corporation’s agenda, the only freedom is in the ability of the corporations to operate in ways that often end up utterly destroying local economies or harnessing law enforcement agencies to protect their interests. The worst part is that we the taxpayers have to foot the bill for our losses of national sovereignty and civil rights. We saw ACTA off in July, but there are two more major agreements to deal with and we need to be ready to contact our M.E.P.s when the time comes.
