The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Weekend Edition
July 22 / 24, 2011
The GOP's Uncivil War
By SAM SMITH, Counterpunch
Weekend Edition
July 22 / 24, 2011
The Enemy is Washington
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, Counterpunch
JOURNAL: Legal Decay in a Soviet Style Collapse
Here's a question I got recently: What happens to the legal system when the US suffers a Soviet style collapse? Answer: It will rapidly decay.
Here's a simple formula for this (it works for both legal systems and government bureaucracies):
Low legitimacy + slashed operating budgets = rampant corruption
Regardless of any decay in the legal system, business will still be conducted. Small disputes will be resolved through the existing system, with graft tipping the scales or speeding the outcome. Large disputes involving substantial wealth transfer will be something else entirely. These disputes will be resolved through the ability of one party or the other to apply the threat of (or actual) violence to the negotiation process.
These pressures won't only be the result of counterparties that have access or control the large mafias/gangs/militias (or corporate militaries) that will spring up during economic collapse (far larger than we've seen the US to date). Threats will also be mounted by government/defense/security officials that use their government sanctioned command of violence (police, SWAT, military units, etc.) as a means to personal enrichement.
This has pretty intersting implications for those GG readers that have large amounts of wealth in the current system. You might not be able to retain it or move it or transact with it in a collapse scenario w/o putting your life (and those around you) at mortal risk.
NOTE: We've already seen a taste of what's to come with the financial crisis of 2008. In sum: it was the biggest financial crisis to date, full of fraud and deception across the board, and almost nobody was punished for it. In fact, most were rewarded for their malfeasence with generous government bailouts and huge bonuses.
Thanks to: Jack Kaplan.
Why Banks Aren’t Lending: The Silent Liquidity Squeeze
by Ellen Brown
Global Research, July 15, 2011
EXTRACT
Paying interest on reserves was intended to prevent “inflation,” but it is having the opposite effect, contracting the money and credit that are the lifeblood of a functioning economy. The whole economic model is wrong. The fear of price inflation has prevented governments from using their sovereign power to create money and credit to serve the needs of their national economies. Instead, they must cater to the interests of a private banking industry that profits from its monopoly power over those essential economic tools.
Whether by accident or design, federal policymakers still have not got it right.
Two public voting options have emerged. Their results will be ignored, but it is a start.
FEDERAL BUDGET
PREFERENCE POLL
Let your voice be heard
in the federal budget debate!
And here the same idea but different network….
Let your voice be heard in the federal budget debate!Three very different federal budget choices are being proposed for fiscal year 2012:
From bad to worse in Afghanistan
Peter Eichstaedt
McClatchy News – 20/07/11
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN The assassination of President Hamid Karzai’s half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, along with the recent attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in the heart of the capital in Kabul, underscore the increasingly fragile security situation in Afghanistan.
Both events occurred soon after U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to begin withdrawing 30,000 “surge” troops beginning this month, with a goal of removing all American forces by the end of 2014.
With the death of Osama bin Laden and claims that his terror network had been crippled in Afghanistan, the president suggested the United States and its international partners had done all they could in the country.
Afghans would have to assume responsibility for security in Afghanistan, the president said.
The hotel attack, however, immediately raised questions about the Afghan military’s capabilities, with eight terrorists successfully overwhelming one of the most secure places in the capital. It was only after NATO helicopters were called in after an all-night firefight that the siege was brought to an end.
While many complain the assault laid bare the weakness of Afghanistan’s security forces, with some guards reportedly fleeing after the first shots were fired, others note that their response was about as good as could have been expected, given the Afghan forces’ level of equipment and training.
What the attack on the hotel did show was the pervasive presence of the Taliban and their growing alliance with other anti-government forces all across the country.
These insurgents in recent months have steadily ratcheted up the size, frequency and effectiveness of these attacks, while showing an alarming ability to penetrate seemingly impenetrable places.
Recent events included the wholesale escape of nearly 500 Talban captives from a prison in the southern province of Kandahar; the dramatic attack on the defence ministry headquarters in Kabul; and the suicide attack on a high-level military meeting in the northern Takhar province that killed one of Afghanistan’s best commanders and injured a NATO general.
Indeed, the list seems to grow daily.
Press contact: Suzanne Struglinski, NRDC, 202-289-2387 or sstruglinski@nrdc.org
If you are not a member of the press, please write to us at nrdcinfo@nrdc.org or see our contact page
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida Lead List of “Toxic 20” States with Most Toxic Air Pollution from Power Plants
Worst States: OH, PA, FL, KY, MD, IN, MI, WV, GA, NC, SC, AL, TX, VA, TN, MO, IL, WI, NH, IA
WASHINGTON (July 20, 2011) — Residents of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida live in states with the most toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The study used publicly-available data in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The analysis, entitled “Toxic Power: How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States” was jointly released today by NRDC and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR).
Among the key findings:
Koko Observes (in American Sign Language): The above is an excellent example of isolated concern that is going nowhere–never mind the blatant corruption of Congress. If it were combined with a 360 degree toxicity survey showing food poisoning, toxic chemicals in everyday materials, and so on, this would be a great deal more useful. If all of that were integrated into a true cost global game (or in this case, national game), there would be a compellingly useful basis for public outrage one district at a time.
Whizz kids deserting the spy world as threat of attacks increases
GCHQ is losing “whizz kid” specialists to Google, Microsoft, and Amazon because they can triple their pay, the head of the agency has warned.
Duncan Gardham
The Telegraph, 20 July 2011
The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia
The Nation, 1-8 August 2011
EXTRACT
As part of its expanding counterterrorism program in Somalia, the CIA also uses a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters, where prisoners suspected of being Shabab members or of having links to the group are held. Some of the prisoners have been snatched off the streets of Kenya and rendered by plane to Mogadishu. While the underground prison is officially run by the Somali NSA, US intelligence personnel pay the salaries of intelligence agents and also directly interrogate prisoners. The existence of both facilities and the CIA role was uncovered by The Nation during an extensive on-the-ground investigation in Mogadishu.
Phi Beta Iota: Contributing Editor DefDog also recommended these two stories.
