konane's Blog

"Staging" real doctors with white coats for photo op.  I though they were there for information, not to be conveniently used as 'props.'

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"White House's botched 'op'

By CHARLES HURT, Post Correspondent

Last Updated: 12:27 PM, October 6, 2009Posted: 3:05 AM, October 6, 2009Source New York Post

In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama.

PHOTOS: OBAMA'S BOTCHED PHOTO OP

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/politics/obama_health_care_photo_op_KOV0zdZCzeTSczGWcTVsyK 

A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama's pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress.

EPA

OOPS! A crowd of 150 doctors gathers in the Rose Garden to support the health-care overhaul -- as White House staffers scramble to hand out camera-ready white coats to those who forgot their own. The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image.

But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses.

So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.

All this to provide a visual counter to complaints from other doctors that pending legislation is bad news for the medical profession.

"Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do," Obama told his guests.

The president was flanked by four white-coated doctors at a podium as he delivered his pep talk.

"When you cut through all the noise and all the distractions that are out there, I think what's most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health-care system best," the president said.

"I want to thank every single doctor who is here," Obama said. "And I especially want to thank you for agreeing to fan out across the country and make the case about why this reform effort is so desperately needed."

Underlying the strictly photo-op nature of the event, The Associated Press noted that Obama broke no new ground in his remarks.

The president told the doctors that if they back him, "I'm confident we are going to get health reform passed this year."

The Republican National Committee shot back with a response from Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who was an orthopedic surgeon before being elected to Congress.

"Today, the president wants you to believe that the medical community supports his government takeover of health care. Don't be fooled," Price said.

He said he had spoken to "thousands of my colleagues" who oppose the Democrats' legislation.

House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) said large numbers of doctors fear it would cripple their ability to care for patients.

"Members of the medical community -- who deal with red tape day in and day out -- rightly recognize that the Democrats' government takeover would weaken the doctor-patient relationship that is so critical to making the right health-care decisions," he said.

Obama made no mention of the "public option" -- a controversial government-run insurance plan favored by liberal Democrats -- in his Rose Garden spiel.

A key version of the legislation, which doesn't include the public option, is expected to reach the Senate floor for debate later this month."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/tricky_doctored_photo_kTVWHZ3vEeRQbxCC0TNZHN

Greg Craig, the top in-house lawyer for President Barack Obama, is getting the blame for botching the strategy to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison by January — so much so that he’s expected to leave the White House in short order.

But sources familiar with the process believe Craig is being set-up as the fall guy and say the blame for missing the deadline extends well beyond him.

Instead, it was a widespread breakdown on the political, legislative, policy and planning fronts that contributed to what is shaping up as one of Obama’s most high-profile setbacks, these people say.

The White House misread the congressional mood – as it found out abruptly in May, when the Senate voted 90-6 against funds for closing the base after Republicans stoked fears about bringing prisoners to the U.S. The House also went on record last week opposing bringing Gitmo detainees here.

The White House misread the public mood – as roughly half of Americans surveyed say they disagree with Obama’s approach. A strong element of NIMBY-ism permeates those results, as Americans say they don’t want the prisoners in their backyards.

But most of all Obama’s aides mistook that political consensus from the campaign trail for a deep commitment in Washington to do whatever it takes to close the prison.

“The administration came in reading there to be wide support for closing Guantanamo at home and abroad, and I think it misread that attitude,” said Matthew Waxman, a Columbia law professor who held Defense and State Department positions on detainee policy. “In general, they were right….but there was very little willingness to accept the costs and risks of getting it done.”

The White House declined to make Craig available for an interview, or discuss the Gitmo deliberations in detail, but several allies and even some critics scoffed at suggestions that Craig bears the main responsibility for the missteps.

“This clearly was a decision that had the full support of the entire national security team,” said Ken Gude, who tracks Guantanamo issues for the liberal Center for American Progress think tank. “It’s typical Washington that someone has their head on the chopping block, but it’s ridiculous that it’s Craig.”

“The implication that this was the brainchild of the White House counsel is not really credible,” said Elisa Massimino of Human Rights First.

When Obama signed a series of executive orders on Guantanamo during his second full day in office, what grabbed attention was not his promise to close the prison but his pledge to do it within one year.

During the presidential campaign, Obama talked almost daily about closing Guantanamo, but he rarely offered a timeline. His Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), spoke in a far greater specificity, proposing to move the Gitmo prisoners to Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas.

However, back in July 2007, Obama co-sponsored an amendment offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that called for Guantanamo to close within a year. Obama’s primary rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) was also a co-sponsor.

Some Bush administration officials contend that the one-year timeline was driven by a naïveté on the part of Obama’s aides.

“To a certain extent, they had drunk a lot of the far-left Kool-aid: that everybody, or most people, at Guantanamo were innocent and shouldn’t be there, and the Bush administration was not working very hard to resolve these issues, and that the issues were fairly easy to resolve once adults who were really committed to doing something about it in charge,” said one Bush official who met with Obama’s aides during the transition on Gitmo. “It became clear to me they had not really done their homework on the details.”

But even back on Jan. 22, 2009, the same day Obama signed the orders, Craig acknowledged some of the difficulties involved – including that some of the detainees can never be tried, a problem Craig called “difficult” and “most controversial.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/27940.html

You decide, but I have an aversion to any politician saying "trust me, I'll take care of it for you."

"Waking up to discover the mortgage market was a giant criminal enterprise

by Mike Taibbi
Source RollingStone

 "A landmark ruling in a recent Kansas Supreme Court case may have given millions of distressed homeowners the legal wedge they need to avoid foreclosure. In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler, 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership. The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose – on 60 million mortgages. That is the number of American mortgages currently reported to be held by MERS. Over half of all new U.S. residential mortgage loans are registered with MERS and recorded in its name. Holdings of the Kansas Supreme Court are not binding on the rest of the country, but they are dicta of which other courts take note; and the reasoning behind the decision is sound.

    via Landmark Decision: Massive Relief for Homeowners and Trouble for the Banks.

This is a potentially gigantic story. It seems that a court has ruled that about half of the mortgage market has been run as a criminal enterprise for years, which would invalidate any potential forelosure proceedings for about, oh, 60 million mortgages. The court ruled that the electronic transfer system used by the private company MERS — a clearing system for mortgages, similar to a depository, that is used for about half the mortgage market — is fundamentally unreliable, and any mortgage sold and/or transferred through MERS can’t be foreclosed upon, at least not in Kansas.

Coincidentally I’d been working on something related to this all day yesterday. All over the country, lawyers are contesting foreclosures because of similar chain-of-custody issues. I have some material about this coming out in my next Rolling Stone story, so I can’t get into this too much, but suffice to say the lenders and the banks were extremely sloppy about their paperwork (at best — there is a fraud angle as well) and jammed up the system with missing and/or mismarked mortgage notes. Since a sale isn’t legal unless there’s full transfer of the physical note, a lot of the sales of mortgage-backed securities were not entirely legal, since the actual notes were often not transferred.

Nothing like waking up in the morning and finding out a whole sector of the economy is completely screwed. Are these good times or what?

Although this particular case pertains to MERS, non-MERS mortgages were often even worse. Anyway I have more on this coming next week. Thanks again to Eric at MonkeyBusiness for the heads-up."

http://taibbi.rssoundingboard.com/waking-up-to-discover-the-mortgage-market-was-a-giant-criminal-enterprise

Seems the following quote could be corrected to:

"An adviser to the administration said: "People aren't sure whether McChrystal Obama is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn't seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly."

Looks like the Gen McChrystal rightfully handed Obama his a$$. 

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"Barack Obama furious at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan

The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal's comments on strategy for the war.

By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 7:00AM BST 05 Oct 2009
Source Telegraph.co.uk

"According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.

The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bid.

Gen James Jones, the national security adviser, yesterday did little to allay the impression the meeting had been awkward.

Asked if the president had told the general to tone down his remarks, he told CBS: "I wasn't there so I can't answer that question. But it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I am sure they exchanged direct views."

An adviser to the administration said: "People aren't sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn't seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly."

In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda.

He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to "Chaos-istan".

When asked whether he would support it, he said: "The short answer is: No."

He went on to say: "Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support."

The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.

Gen McChrystal delivered a report on Afghanistan requested by the president on Aug 31, but Mr Obama held only his second "principals meeting" on the issue last week.

He will hold at least one more this week, but a decision on how far to follow Gen McChrystal's recommendation to send 40,000 more US troops will not be made for several weeks.

A military expert said: "They still have working relationship but all in all it's not great for now."

Some commentators regarded the general's London comments as verging on insubordination.

Bruce Ackerman, an expert on constitutional law at Yale University, said in the Washington Post: "As commanding general, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements."

He added that it was highly unusual for a senior military officer to "pressure the president in public to adopt his strategy".

Relations between the general and the White House began to sour when his report, which painted a grim picture of the allied mission in Afghanistan, was leaked. White House aides have since briefed against the general's recommendations.

The general has responded with a series of candid interviews as well as the speech. He told Newsweek he was firmly against half measures in Afghanistan: "You can't hope to contain the fire by letting just half the building burn."

As a divide opened up between the military and the White House, senior military figures began criticising the White House for failing to tackle the issue more quickly.

They made no secret of their view that without the vast ground force recommended by Gen McChrystal, the Afghan mission could end in failure and a return to power of the Taliban.

"They want to make sure people know what they asked for if things go wrong," said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defence.

Critics also pointed out that before their Copenhagen encounter Mr Obama had only met Gen McChrystal once since his appointment in June."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6259582/Barack-Obama-furious-at-General-Stanley-McChrystal-speech-on-Afghanistan.html

What are we doing in Afghanistan?  How many more of our kids have to die or maimed for life to fill bankers coffers?

And where are the press photos of flag draped coffins returning to kids, wives and parents?

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October 5, 2009
"Worst losses for a year as Taleban storm Nato outpost
Source TimesOnline.co.uk

Martin Fletcher in Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak Province

"It began before dawn — a devastating, well-planned attack. About 300 insurgents swarmed out of a village and mosque and attacked a pair of isolated American outposts in a remote mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan with machineguns, rockets and grenades.

They first stormed the Afghan police post at the foot of the hill in the province of Nuristan, a Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold on the lawless Pakistan border. They then swept up to the Nato post. The battle lasted all day. American and Afghan soldiers finally repelled them, with the help of US helicopters and warplanes — but at heavy cost.

Eight American soldiers and two Afghan policemen were killed, with many injured. It was the worst attack on Nato forces in 14 months, and one of the deadliest battles of the eight-year war. The insurgents seized at least 20 Afghan policemen whose fate last night remained unclear.

The attack came at a crucial juncture in the war, with President Obama soon to decide whether to accept a request by General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the 100,000-strong US and Nato force in Afghanistan, for 40,000 extra troops, or to reduce the counter-insurgency operation against the Taleban and focus on al-Qaeda.

Domestic opposition to a US “surge” is increasing as the death toll rises. About 400 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year — the majority of them American. Saturday’s death toll was the highest suffered by Nato’s International Security Assistance Force since August 2008, when ten French troops died in an ambush in Kabul province. It was also the highest inflicted on US troops in Afghanistan since 200 insurgents killed nine Americans in an attack on another remote outpost in the village of Wanat in Nuristan in July last year.

Nato said that it inflicted heavy casualties in the attack but gave no numbers. “This was a complex attack in a difficult area,” Colonel Randy George, commander of the US force in the region, said. “Both the US and Afghan soldiers fought bravely together.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taleban spokesman, said that the insurgents included several suicide bombers and that they captured 35 policemen whose fate would be decided by the movement’s provincial council.

US forces have suffered some of their worst casualties in eastern Afghanistan, where they have sought to control the remote passes that insurgents use to cross the Pakistan border, but they had planned soon to withdraw from the area as part of General McChrystal’s strategy to focus on protecting population centres. ....."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6860616.ece

Has god-complex grandiosity so overtaken this administration they can't observe common sense?  Have they lost their minds or are they hoping to incite a potential attack from any ET's which may be based on the moon to bring about US poplulation reduction since swine flu doesn't seem to be moving fast enough???

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An Urgent Message for President Obama

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"NASA plans to bomb the moon

July 1, 9:32 AMSacramento UFO

Source Examiner     Gregory Brewer

Could NASA be waging war on alien races.

"That is the question being tossed around at this very time in the wake of a recent release of information regarding the plans NASA has to bomb the moon. With all the information that has recently been disclosed regarding alien bases on the back side of the moon, it makes one wonder if we asked for anyones permission to bomb the moon for any reason. If there is infact an alien base on the moon, we hope that they have been informed and agree with NASA on behalf of the human race to drop a 2-ton kinetic weapon in the aim of creating a 5 mile wide deep crater. The following article was origionally featured by Alfred Lambremont Webre, The Seattle Exopolitics Examiner, in late June of 2009. If this subject concerns you in the slightest than please read on.

Commentary: The planned October 9, 2009 bombing of the moon by a NASA orbiter that will bomb the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies.  The NASA moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon.  

If the true intent of the LCROSS mission moon bombing is a hostile act by NASA against known extraterrestrial civilizations and settlements on the moon, then NASA and by extension the U.S. government are guilty of aggressive war which is the most serious of war crimes under the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Conventions, to which the U.S. is subject.  The U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has ratified, requires that “ The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.”  98 nations have ratified and 125 nations have signed the U.N. Outer Space Treaty.

NASA’s LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission

The NASA LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission, which departed on Earth on June 18, 2009.  According to one report, “Flying over the moon's southern hemisphere, LCROSS will use its high-precision instruments, as well as close-up images of the terrain gathered by the lunar orbiter, to seek out a crater just shallow enough and dark enough to be a prime bombing target.

“There, acting as what the Ames team calls its "shepherding spacecraft," LCROSS will guide an empty Centaur rocket weighing two tons toward its target. The rocket will crash into the crater at 5,600 mph, creating a new crater - perhaps as large as 5 miles wide. The crash is scheduled to occur Oct. 9.”

The two-ton Centaur rocket qualifies as a space-based kinetic weapon.   The reason alleged by NASA for the mission is that “the [LCROSS} probes will map possible landing sites and search for water sources that could be used by a future lunar colony.”

According to NASA, “The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.”

U.S. astronauts, NASA employees, Soviet scientists, NSA confirm the extraterrestrial presence on the moon

There are confirmed reports of an extraterrestrial presence on the moon, both from U.S. astronauts who have visited the moon, from NASA employees, from Soviet scientists and observers of the NASA moon visits, and from witnessed NSA (National Security Agency) reports on a moon based on the far side of the moon.

One report states that, “In a 2006 television documentary, ‘Apollo 11: The Untold Story,’ Buzz Aldrin admitted for the first time publicly that the astronauts saw UFOs on their trip to the Moon, but they were not allowed to discuss this information on the live audio feed to NASA. He stated that he felt it would have caused a ‘panic.’”

Other research on witnessed corroboration of U.S. astronaut sightings of an extraterrestrial presence on the Moon states, “According to hitherto unconfirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after their historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a "light" in or on a carter during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard.”

“According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange:

“NASA: What's there? Mission Control calling Apollo 11...

“Apollo: These ‘Babies’ are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn't believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there, lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They're on the Moon watching us!

“In 1979, Maurice Chatelain, former chief of NASA Communications Systems confirmed that Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the rim of a crater. ‘The encounter was common knowledge in NASA,’ he revealed, ‘but nobody has talked about it until now.’

“Soviet scientists were allegedly the first to confirm the incident. ‘According to our information, the encounter was reported immediately after the landing of the module,’ said Dr. Vladimir Azhazha, a physicist and Professor of Mathematics at Moscow University. ‘Neil Armstrong relayed the message to Mission Control that two large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. But his message was never heard by the public-because NASA censored it.’

“According to another Soviet scientist, Dr. Aleksandr Kazantsev, Buzz Aldrin took color movie film of the UFOs from inside the module, and continued filming them after he and Armstrong went outside. Dr. Azhazha claims that the UFOs departed minutes after the astronauts came out on to the lunar surface.

“Maurice Chatelain also confirmed that Apollo 11's radio transmissions were interrupted on several occasions in order to hide the news from the public. Before dismissing Chatelain's sensational claims, it is worth noting his impressive background in the aerospace industry and space program. His first job after moving from France was as an electronics engineer with Convair, specializing in telecommunications, telemetry, and radar. In 1959 he was in charge of an electromagnetic research group, developing new radar and telecommunications systems for Ryan. One of his eleven patents was an automatic flights to the Moon. Later, at North American Aviation, Chatelain was offered the job of designing and building the Apollo communications and data-processing systems.

“Chatelain claims that ‘all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin-flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence.’ He goes on to say:

“I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name 'Santa Claus' to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public.

“It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for everybody to hear:

'PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.'

“Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words."

NSA photos, documents of an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon

Former USAF U.S. Sgt. Karl Wolfe, a Disclosure Project witness, describes photos, documents of extraterrestrial bases on the dark side of the moon that he witnessed at the NSA (National Security Agency), in the 1960s.  One report states that “Sgt Wolfe was working with Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in 1965. There, he was assigned to the lunar orbital project with the National Security Agency where he met an airman who confided in him that they had discovered bases in the far side of the moon.”

Sgt Wolfe’s Disclosure Project testimony, in which he states that he is willing to testify under oath before the U.S. Congress, can be seen in the video below.

One account states, “The airman told him (Wolfe) that all of the NASA photographs were sent to Langley, where they were enhanced, and eventually made into photographs to be sent to and studied by the different branches of the military. He was also told why security was of the utmost importance at the lab on this particular day-recent enhanced imagery had clearly shown structures on the far side of the Moon. These structures were definitely not created by natural forces-they were made by intelligent beings.

“’We discovered,’ the airman said, ‘a base on the back side of the Moon.’

Wolfe was in no way prepared for what he had just been told. When he airman saw Wolfe nearly shaking in disbelief, he reiterated:

“’Yes, a base on the dark side of the Moon.’

“Although Wolfe had not actually been told that some alien intelligence had made the aforementioned structures, who else could it have been? Although Russia had flown unmanned vessels around to the far side, no landing had been made, and the resources and technology needed to build a station there were far beyond that of Russia at the time. Had they made a landing on the Moon, the entire world would have known about it. And Wolfe knew America was still years from a Moon landing.

“His anxiety reached a new level. He was looking at, and being told about, something that he should not have seen or known about. He was actually afraid of being arrested and a court martial. He only wanted to finish his job, and get out of there, and forget the whole incident. He would finish the repair he was called to do, but he could never forget what he had seen that day at Langley. He would tell not a soul for 30 years.

“His release from the military also required that he not leave the United States for five years. This was a condition of his security status. He also was sworn to not reveal anything he had seen while performing his duties in the military. Wolfe would eventually put a report on what he had seen on video, which is now available on the Internet. There have also been several ex-NASA employees who have come forward telling of their experiences in air brushing structures out of NASA photographs of the Moon.”

We hope this article rattles you at the core. The time for your participation in where we go as a species has arrived. Lets get involved and move past the fear of doing so."

http://www.examiner.com/x-8698-Sacramento-UFO-Examiner~y2009m7d1-NASA-plans-to-bomb-the-moon

Most effective method of concealing something is right in front of your face.

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"Obama economist jokes: Strategy is communism
'We kind of had to go back and look at the old textbooks – Marx, Trotsky

Posted: October 01, 2009
3:02 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein

WorldNetDaily

"Austan Goolsbee performs at 'D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity'
 
The Obama administration formulates its economic policies from the playbooks of communist philosophers Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, joked White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.

"I mean, it's been a long, long time since things were this bad, so we kind of had to go back and look at the old textbooks – Karl Marx, Trotsky – and the thing that we found was that it was critical that we do something," Goolsbee quipped at the 16th annual "D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity" contest.

The Obama adviser's routine mimicked the "Mr. Subliminal" skits on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in which he made a statement in a normal voice then revealed his inner thoughts sotto voce," noted Washington Examiner reporter Byron York.

See video of Austan Goolsbee's act by Politico:  

The adviser, a recruit from the University of Chicago, took home the top prize with an 11-minute routine that lambasted Fox News correspondents as stupid and referred to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a "wingnut."

"There's a lot of governors," Goolsbee began, referring to potential presidential candidates for the 2012 election.

"There's obviously Sarah Palin – wingnut – from Alaska, who's the former Governor – quitter – and you just cannot rule out that by 2012 – there may be a warrant for her arrest – that she will be the nominee."

Jibing at Fox News, Goolsbee said, "If you have no skills and no education and you don't know anything, what future do you possible have – Fox News Correspondent."

The economist told the audience Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is out to get Obama.

"They might want to take somebody who was against Obama from the start, someone who's just had it out for him for some time – Hillary Clinton."

Perhaps expecting some blowback from the administration, Goolsbee jokingly concluded, "Have some sympathy for the unemployed, because when Rahm Emanuel sees my comments from this evening, I am going to be one of them."

Goolsbee also took a stab at some of the "birthers" who have speculated Obama might have been born in his father's home country Kenya.

"The president, I'm happy to say, is still pretty much the same regular guy that he always was in Chicago," Goolsbee said. "And that makes me feel good. And he and I always kinda got along. We had kinda the same temperament, we had the same sense of humor. We could really see eye to eye. We always joked we were the skinny guys with the funny names. I mean, look, I'm not saying that in 1961 we were separated – in a village in Kenya – what I'm saying is that we're friends."

On Chicago's bid for the Olympics and the president's trip to Copenhagen with the Illinois delegation, he said: "I think they're bringing the governors – if the parole board says it's OK.

On financial institutions, Goolsbee joked "our major banks – ungrateful s – the thing about them is that they may have stumbled a bit – bankrupting your grandma."

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama was forced to distance himself from Goolsbee, then his chief economic adviser, after reporters learned Goolsbee traveled to Canada to reassure Canadians that Obama's pledge to Ohio and Pennsylvania voters to renegoiate the North American Free Trade Agreement was just campaign rhetoric.

After Obama's inauguration, Goolsbee rejoined his former Hyde Park Chicago neighbor in the White House.

Goolsbee took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago after Obama appointed him to serve as chief economist and staff director of the newly created Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker.

Obama also appointed Goolsbee to the Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA, which is charged with assisting in the development of White House economic policy."

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi contributed to this report "

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=111634

"Bank May Have Lost Grandma's Money
Wells Fargo Refuses To Cash Her CD Worth $100K
Sarah Buduson
Reporter, KPHO.com

POSTED: 9:03 pm MST September 30, 2009
UPDATED: 11:55 pm MST September 30, 2009
Source KPHO.com Phoenix

PHOENIX -- Phoenix resident Rosemarie Braunstein said Wells Fargo has refused to cash her certificate of deposit because it has lost her records.

Braunstein said the CD is worth at least $100,000.

Braunstein and her husband purchased the CD for $18,023.15 for First Interstate Bank in Phoenix.

Since then, the bank has changed hand two times. It is now owned by Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo officials have told Braunstein they cannot find a record of her investment.

“I didn't work hard all of these years with my husband to get this kind of money, put it in a bank and be told, ‘I'm sorry. I don't know where your money is.’ Are they kidding?” Braunstein said.

Braunstein had forgotten about the CD.

Then, while searching through old records earlier this year, she discovered the original certificate.

"I said, 'I'll be <snip>ed, maybe God's throwing this at me for a reason,'” she said.

Braunstein had been forced to put her home up for sale after she lost her nest egg in the 2008 Wall Street crash.

She said money from the CD would allow her to stay in her Central Phoenix residence.

"This would be the answer to everything. The answer to my prayers,” she said. “We'd be able to pay off the house. We'd be able to stay here.”

So far, Rosemarie said Wells Fargo representatives have refused to help her find the missing money.

“They basically just laugh, not actually orally laugh at you, but dismiss you. Like you're insignificant,” she said.

“Maybe it's nothing to them, but it's an awful lot to me,” she said.

Braunstein contacted CBS 5 with her story after seeing our Tuesday 10 p.m. broadcast.

We told viewers about a Casa Grande couple with a similar problem.

Paul and Christine Dickey have a CD worth about $400,000.

Since the CD was purchased in 1980, their bank had changed hands three times.

The couple was unsure which bank owed them money.

At one time, Wells Fargo also owned the Dickey's bank.

Wells Fargo has promised CBS 5 they will contact Braunstein and Paul Dickey.

If you have a similar complaint, go to our homepage and click on "Saw It on CBS 5.”

It will link you to U.S. Comptroller of the Currency's Web site.

The government agency regulates some banks and has online tools to help you find out what agency regulates your financial institution.

Customers should file a complaint with the agency that oversees their bank."

http://www.kpho.com/money/21167164/detail.html

Friday, October 02, 2009
By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter

Guess it's ok to heap American flags on a bonfire .... but this doesn't constitute free speech.

_____________________

"Obama Nation Billboard Draws Attention
New Sign Along I-70 Has Motorists Talking

http://www.kctv5.com/news/21176602/detail.html

Preview of things to come if we allow our government to force universal health care down our throats. 

____________

"Britain must charge for health care and raise retiring age to escape debt crisis, says IMF

By Alex Brummer
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 02nd October 2009 

Source dailymail.co.uk

"Gordon Brown was warned last night to raise the retirement age above 65 and introduce NHS charges to tackle the soaring state deficit.

In a devastating intervention, the International Monetary Fund called for radical changes to the pension system and spending cuts that go far beyond the plans outlined by the Prime Minister this week.

The global watchdog said root and branch changes to public sector spending would be necessary to 'help keep a lid on the debt' and restore financial stability. 

Under threat: The IMF has long advocated that Britain introduce charges and bring an end to the high cost, free for all NHS and has renewed its call for action.

The IMF's broadside is highly unusual ahead of an election and reflects grave concern at the debt mountain built up by the Brown government.

The public reprimand will rekindle memories of the humiliation of the Callaghan government in 1976 when the IMF forced massive budget cuts on Britain to deal with the collapse of the pound.

Treasury ministers privately admit that the budget deficit is expected to rise to £200billion this year  -  £25billion more than the Chancellor predicted in the Budget.

That is the equivalent of £3,257 of debt for every man, woman and child, or £9,457 for the average family.

Oliver Blanchard, the IMF's top economist, told a press conference at a joint annual meeting with the World Bank that the next British government will 'have to take measures that improve the medium-term debt outlook'.

He added: 'That means reforms of the retirement system, that means reform of the healthcare system.'

The IMF said that radical reform of pensions should lead to a rise in the national retirement age from 65 and save billions of pounds.

And they called for politicians to target 'unfunded' final salary public-sector pension schemes which will potentially cost the the Exchequer up to £1trillion.

Mr Blanchard said reform was vital, adding that it would be 'a joke' if the Government settled instead for new fiscal rules that might be torn up at times of crisis.

The IMF estimated that by next year Britain's debt will represent 81.7 per cent of output.

Even with planned cuts and tax increases, it predicted a figure of 98.3 per cent by 2014.

There was a glimmer of hope for Alistair Darling in that the IMF raised Britain's growth forecast for next year to 0.9 per cent from 0.2 per cent.

The Chancellor's March budget went for a more optimistic 1.25 per cent.

The upgraded UK forecast was accompanied by caution that unemployment will continue to rise from 7.6 per cent of the workforce this year to 9.3 per cent next year. That would see three million without jobs.

The IMF also warned that Britain risks a new house price slump, despite an apparent recent market upturn. Their global outlook pointed to ' further large declines'.

In a bid to ease public concerns, senior Cabinet sources have revealed that Labour plans to make spending cuts and asset sales worth £75billion, taking an axe to major defence projects and the pay of judges, top civil servants and NHS managers.

Asked yesterday whether his spending plans were credible, Mr Brown told Five News: 'Absolutely. I've offered a deficit reduction plan. We've raised the top rate of tax. National insurance will rise by half of 1 per cent and we'll be cutting costs.

'There will be further announcements about how we sell off more than £16billion of assets. I have been absolutely straight with the British people.'

But Philip Hammond, Tory Treasury spokesman, said: 'It is increasingly clear that Labour have no plan to tackle the debt crisis they created.

'At their conference this week they showed absolutely no recognition of the size of the problem, and refused to be straight with people about the fact that their own Treasury documents show they are planning cuts to spending on public services.

'Labour still won't come clean with the British people.' "

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217485/Britain-charge-health-care-raise-retiring-age-escape-debt-crisis-says-IMF.html