"LEAKED NETWORK MEMO REVEALS: Obama Controls Your Television Set
by John Nolte
Source BigHollywood.breitbart.com
"On September 10th of this year the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) posted a press release informing the world that “from October 19-25, more than 60 network TV shows [will] spotlight the power and personal benefits of service,” and that this “unprecedented block of TV programming is the first wave of a multi-year ‘I Participate’ campaign.”
On its face this all sounds rather benign in that silly, liberal do-gooder kind of way. The networks have launched these kinds of campaigns before and other than some clunky exposition awkwardly inserted into your favorite show to meet the mandate — no harm, no foul.
But this year there are a couple new strangers in town: “Volunteerism” and “Service.” You’ve heard of them. Their names have been bandied everywhere since President Obama took office, and this internal memo from the EIF to network showrunners obtained by Big Hollywood shows that the entertainment industry is well acquainted and eager to introduce both to as vast an audience as possible:
****** Document *****
Like the NEA story, once again we see the same buzzwords pop up; suggested topics pitched to an overwhelmingly left-of-center group: Education, health, environment, the economy and lastly — almost as an afterthought as some kind of “bi-partisan” cover – support for military families.
We’ll have to wait until next week to see what effect this initiative will have on the 60 television (and news) programs in question, but thanks to the intrepid Patrick Courrielche and Stage Right, today we can answer the simple question of…
“What’s wrong with this?”
Doing the work the Kamikaze Media (many of whom are participating in this event rather than digging for the story) refuses, and with the help of Big Government’s Dana Loesch, Patrick and Stage Right have discovered that when it comes to this White House – whether it’s the NEA conference calls or EIF’s iParticipate programming — all roads funnel into one place: online volunteer portals, including Serve.gov, where if you plug in “health care” all kinds of Planned Parenthood openings pop up along with a video dispelling those ugly “myths” knocking ObamaCare.
There’s scarier stuff, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. *cough*Trutherism*cough*
We’ll start with Stage Right. Next week, tens, if not hundreds of millions of Americans, will be urged through the (ab)use of public airwaves to log on to the EIF iParticipate site and volunteer. Stage Right will give you a preview of what the unsuspecting and well-intentioned, including your children, will find.
If you’re thinking it’s all about “Meals on Wheels,” think again.
From there, Patrick Courrielche will describe how this EIF initiative fits into a broader White House plan, including the push to politicize the NEA, to redefine “art” as “service” and engage an all too compliant news, entertainment, and artistic community to start a volunteer army through these online portals.
"Part III: Obama Controls Your Television Set — Serve.gov or Serf.dom?
by Patrick Courrielche
Source Source BigHollywood.breitbart.com
"National service and volunteerism is a top priority of both the President and the First Lady. A broad effort has been launched to promote this priority. We’ve seen this in the May 12th White House briefing, the August 10th and 27th art community conference calls, and now in a new effort by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, entitled iParticipate, that is encouraging broadcast media to infuse national service stories into their show plots. The First Lady has even created a video expressing the importance of national service.
All of these efforts are driving would-be volunteers to Serve.gov. The question is, for what purpose?
Encouraging volunteerism is a noble effort undertaken by every US President. However, this Administration’s national service outreach has led on multiple occasions to outright policy advocacy. I’ve shown this throughout my writing on the subject, with a primary focus on the National Endowment for the Arts. However, the Corporation for National and Community Service is playing an even bigger role in this White House effort, and I don’t think general volunteerism is the only goal in mind.
The national service initiative is being led by The Corporation for National and Community Service (The Corporation) and the White House Office of Public Engagement. On the now infamous August 10th conference call, Nell Abernathy of The Corporation introduced Buffy Wicks as the person who championed the art community’s involvement in the Obama election campaign as well as the person spearheading this national service initiative. Wicks, the Deputy Director of the Office of Public Engagement, explained the White House’s rationale for selecting service by stating, “part of my role [at the White House] is working on service, and so when we were thinking about how do we take a lot of this energy that’s out there, how do we translate folks who have just been engaged in electoral politics and engage them in really the process of governing, of being part of this administration in a little bit of a different way because politics is one thing and governing is something totally separate, we really saw service as the platform by which we can do that.”
The White House views service as a good way for those that have just been involved in electoral politics to stay active, and is driving them to Serve.gov to organize and manage them. Buffy Wicks didn’t state that national recovery was the rationale for encouraging partisans to serve. She conveyed that the White House was interested in transitioning partisans from the election cycle into the administration, and using “service” as the mechanism for this transition.
What made candidate Obama’s campaign so successful, in simplistic terms, was his grassroots volunteers and his brand messaging. Of course there was the mainstream media favoritism, the unpopularity of President Bush, his fundraising, and the 2008 Democratic Primary schedule that also played a role. However, these areas were either out of his control or fed by his volunteers and branding.
So it is safe to say that to stay in power, it is vital for his organization to keep these resources organized and active so that the machine retains its potency. There is no better federal agency than The Corporation to serve this purpose. The Corporation’s entire existence is to encourage volunteerism. It is also the nation’s largest grant provider supporting volunteering. And starting sometime this month, Congress will reconcile two bills that fund the Corporation’s expanded role, which includes tripling the number of volunteers to 250,000 and the creation of an ArtistCorps and MusicianCorps.
Volunteers were the backbone of Obama’s grassroots organization and artists were the ones that led his unofficial campaign branding. These two groups were both massive tools used by the Obama campaign. And a pivotal developer of that tool was Buffy Wicks, the same person “spearheading” the White House volunteerism initiative.
Wicks, a former labor movement and anti-Iraq war organizer, helped develop the Obama campaign’s national grassroots field strategy. Her goal was to have as many organizing teams on the ground as possible and to have an infrastructure to support the addition of new volunteers. She expressed this goal in a Camp Obama training session during the election when she stated, “If we had an organizing team in every precinct, we win this campaign. Like that’s it, end of story, we win this campaign.”
You get a feel for her national volunteer strategy through this Camp Obama video. Her grassroots and infrastructure goal is in the 36:45-40:10 segment.
The NEA and White House conference calls and The Corporation’s new iParticipate effort all drive traffic to Serve.gov – a website that provides the infrastructure and mechanism for growth of volunteerism that looks a lot like what Wicks was advocating on the campaign trail. And Wicks, a political activist with a history of organizing people to take political action, is working with The Corporation on this effort.
By itself though, there is nothing nefarious about pushing volunteerism. However, there have been many warning signs that the White House is attempting to politicize national service.
The August 10th conference call is an obvious example. The call was partisan in nature, it led to policy advocacy, the Communications Director of the NEA resigned, the NEA issued a statement acknowledging inappropriate language, and the White House issued conduct guidelines to address the partisan “appearance” issues. The cover-ups and historical revisionism displayed by the White House, The Corporation, the NEA, and the moderator were troubling indicators of the calls intentions. Another example is the May 12th White House briefing, which also led to extreme policy advocating – but that meeting has yet to be fully vetted.
These partisan volunteer efforts along with the expansion of The Corporation are alarming signs. Through expanding the size and power of The Corporation, the Administration is in essence organizing and increasing the pool of resources that helped it acquire power.
But another event, on further review, adds to concern about the use of The Corporation.
On June 11th, President Obama controversially fired Gerald Walpin, Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The termination, possibly violating a watchdog protection law, was thought to be due in part to Walpin’s dogged persistence in pursuing the misuse of The Corporation’s funds by grant recipients, one of which was a big supporter of Obama, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. After a brief period, Johnson’s funding suspension by The Corporation was lifted, triggering Walpin to scold the agency’s board of directors for that decision. Walpin was later fired by the President with little explanation.
If Walpin’s funding misuse investigation showed the White House anything, it was that he was actually going to be a watchdog – a good quality in an Inspector General unless you don’t want the dog watching.
It is my hope that the mainstream media, along with Congress, begins to look into these White House volunteerism efforts with a bit more of a critical eye.
This new iParticipate initiative by the Entertainment Industry Foundation and The Corporation appears tame on review of the press release and website. But a memo uncovered by Big Hollywood shows that the TV networks are being encouraged by this initiative to infuse the issues of health, the environment, and energy into their storylines.
Such a close relationship between the government and the networks should leave many to wonder whether the networks are too close to the White House to be critical. And recent comments by Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, attacking a legitimate news network seem designed as a preemptive strike to marginalize critical inquiry.
The free press needs to keep a critical eye, regardless of whether the White House likes a watchdog or not."
Couple of videos plus one article below. First video bad audio, interesting message.
Gerald Celente, more plain talk for your consideration.
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"Gerald Celente explains 'Obamageddon' forecast amid call for The Great American Renaissance
October 8, 7:12 AM Manhattan Headlines ExaminerTim Barello
Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute and publisher of the quarterly Trends Journal, is a staple of news and Internet media. Dubbed “The Martial Artist of Trend Forecasting,” Celente is world-renowned for his authoritative forecasts on events in financial markets and socio-political movements. Over the past 30 years, Gerald has been interviewed and extensively quoted around the world; in the US, he has been featured in every major newspaper, and has been a guest on CBS Morning News, Glenn Beck, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, and The Oprah Winfrey Show, among other TV shows.
Equally prominent in the blogosphere, Gerald can also be followed on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I’m of course a fan of Gerald on Facebook – Nouriel Roubini and Peter Schiff, too – but let’s not get off topic. On the Internet, Celente has generated a high level of public interest; his forecasts are commonly discussed at prominent forums, as well as on websites that support conspiracy theories.
Celente publishes Trends Journal four times each year; this respected publication is read by a wide variety of people, and is available through subscription. Well-written and easy to follow, its audience includes politicians, businesspeople, researchers, journalists – even Joe & Jane Twelve Pack. Offering forecasts on worldwide trends, including all things Wall Street to all things Main Street, this expert analysis is informative and empowering to the individual reader; furthermore, it is backed by the research and credibility of The Trends Research Institute, and thus, it comes highly recommended.
Since 1980, Celente has made at least 40 accurate predictions about major world events. In 1986, he forewarned of a major global stock market crash, which occurred the very next year, and is now commonly known as Black Monday. Throughout the 1990’s, many other forecasts came true, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, surges in global terrorism, the popularity of spiritual and new age philosophies, public backlash against globalization, upsurges in online shopping, and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, to name a select few. In the new millennium, predictions-turned-real are the correction of the dot-com bubble, the 2001 recession, emerging bull markets for gold, the rise of alternative energy, the collapse of the heavily-inflated real estate bubble, and unsurprisingly, the ‘Economic 9/11’ that we are currently witnessing.
After thoroughly reviewing the recent summer edition of Trends Journal, I learned that Gerald is now forecasting “the greatest depression” for the rest of the world, while in the US, he believes we may experience “Obamageddon.” As the definition of this witty concoction is easily apparent, its implications are thoroughly conveyed within the opening paragraph:
Here we are in 2012. Food riots, tax protests, farmer rebellions, student revolts, squatter diggins, homeless uprisings, tent cities, ghost malls, general strikes, bossnappings, kidnappings, industrial saboteurs, gang warfare, mob rule, terror.
In late July, I spoke exclusively with Gerald, whose research I have been following for several years. My personal interest in his work materialized when I was serving as a publicist for a boutique securities brokerage. In that role, I often read niche financial publications, and discovered the Trends Journal, which inspired me – a former intern to the CEO of a multibillion-dollar credit union, for whom I collected intelligence on the banking industry – to further research the interconnected world of finance and politics.
Never one to mince words, Gerald kicked off our conversation in his no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach, which millions have warmed up to over the years. A team player, he answers on behalf of his colleagues at The Trends Research Institute.
“We want to make it very clear that the policies leading to the decline of ‘Empire America’ have been long in the making,” he said. “What has happened in the Obama Administration is that they have taken policies far beyond even what Bush took with the TARP program; for example, with his stimulus package, with the buyouts, with the bailouts, the rescue packages, these are unprecedented in American history.”
"Never before has so much phantom money been printed out of thin air, backed by nothing, producing practically nothing,” Celente continues. “You don’t even have to be a student of history to know the outcome of this. All you have to do is have your eyes open, and start thinking for yourself.”
Like many, Gerald is disturbed by our government’s record-breaking creation of new fiat dollars – Federal Reserve Notes – that are literally produced “out of thin air” on behalf of a quasi-public corporation known as the Federal Reserve. These worthless pieces of paper are not backed by any commodity, such as gold or silver, even though the US Constitution mandates their use as tender in the payment of debts. As this happens, a bailout bubble is being created, and when the “monster explodes” there will be dire consequences for all of humanity.
“When this bubble bursts, unlike the financial/real estate bubble that burst, the dot-com bubble before that, and the ’87 stock market bubble before that” US taxpayers will now be on the hook for trillions in losses as our “government is [a major] equity holder in private corporations. That never existed before.”
What will cause the bailout bubble to burst? “There are a lot of wild cards that can change the game, but what I will say is that you can’t keep printing phantom money – produced out of thin air, based on nothing, producing practically nothing – without destroying the currency.”
Many other economists, including Peter Schiff – who will hopefully unseat the pretentiously-corrupt Senator Christopher Dodd in 2010 – have joined Gerald in forecasting a massive devaluation of the US dollar. Just last week, Schiff posted an entry on his blog under the aptly-titled heading “The US Dollar is the New Peso,” wherein he notes “the dollar is going to fall sharply.” In 1994, the Mexican peso crisis led to the sudden devaluation of that nation’s currency; furthermore, as events unfolded, there was widespread political violence among citizens. Mexico also experienced hyperinflation, which causes sharp increases in consumer prices, and the rapid loss of currency value. Celente believes “we risk” hyperinflation here in America.
Believe it or not, there is actually some good news: you can protect your savings by purchasing physical gold and silver assets, but interested parties should execute such transactions without delay. Recently, China advised its 1.3+ billion citizens, for their financial security, mind you, to purchase these commodities. The IMF has also announced it will be selling one-eighth (403.3 metric tons) of its gold holdings, which many nations are reportedly seeking to acquire; concurrently, there are rumors swirling that Middle Eastern nations, in tandem with China, France, Japan and Russia, plan to abandon the use of our dollar in oil trading. These developments have caused a surge in the demand for gold, as it is an obvious safe haven against the floundering dollar; accordingly, gold has now surged to record-breaking highs, just under $1050 an ounce as of press time. Celente is forecasting the price will double from where it stands today, while Schiff believes it may hit $5000 an ounce over the next few years. In either scenario, these massive value increases will generate a hefty ROI for savvy individuals.
“No one will be able to deny it…once people begin to get into gold, all fiat [will] currencies decline, particularly overseas,” said Gerald.
Another distinct possibility is that a multinational coalition – with the assistance of the IMF and World Bank – will dictate the creation of a new global reserve currency. Indeed, recent events confirm that such moves are currently underway, as China, Russia and the UN have all come forward to support a new international reserve currency in lieu of the dollar. Should these efforts prove successful, Celente says it will cause a “devaluation of the dollar.” That’s putting it mildly, because if the dollar collapses, US living conditions will deteriorate rapidly. Gerald notes that in this scenario “it will only be a matter of time before a rebellion happens again. When people lose everything, and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”
The seeds for a second American revolution have already been planted, and now, it appears they are blossoming. Last December, Russian Professor and former KGB agent Igor Panarin – who has infamously predicted that the US will collapse for more than a decade – was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article; in it, he warned of a civil war in the US during 2010, and in the aftermath of that, he believes our nation will ultimately be divided into six respective regions, each controlled by foreigners. Many fear that, in line with Panarin’s theories, the racial tensions presently being exploited by mainstream media will only exacerbate an already fragile situation.
Celente believes there is a possibility for a civil war, “but we predict that it will end with the breakup of the Empire, which can’t sustain itself,” adding that his team originally forecast this back in fall 2002. Ultimately this means that the US “will look like [post-Soviet] Russia.”
So what could this mean for Main Street America? “Well, just drive around Detroit. Look at all the blown out houses and empty neighborhoods. Look at the violence that’s increasing around the nation. Look at the types of heinous crimes [already] being committed by people – some blowing their whole families away, wiping them out – these murders, we’ve never seen this kind of thing before.”
Right now, there is a robust amount of public outrage as everyday Americans are suffering, while “the money, as far as anybody can see, is going to the too big to fail,” he said, before asserting, “Their mothers are not better than mine…let them fail. That’s what America is about, success and failure.”
We briefly discussed the lucrative bonuses that are continuing to flow at Goldman Sachs like water taps – undeniably through some use of taxpayer funds – and while doing so, I interrupted Gerald to say that this is disgusting. He immediately agreed with me.
“Goldman Sachs is running Washington, look at the fingerprints, they are all over the place,” he said. “It is disgusting; they are robbing the nation blind. In fact, this is what we are writing about in the autumn issue of the Trends Journal. This is the greatest heist in US history, happening in broad day light.”
That assessment, while very serious, is nonetheless accurate. Of late, Rolling Stone’s Matt Tiabbi has fearlessly – and continually – taken on Goldman Sachs, as new reports emerge about this firm’s influence on our government, in addition to yet another round of billion-dollar bonuses that it plans to dish out.
“You know, I’m of Italian descent, and if what was [happening] on Wall Street [was being done by people] with names like Celente, Caruso, Rossini, Mondavi, Torchini, or the likes, they’d call it the mafia. Oh, and there would be a firestorm, the media would be filled with it…but you can’t call the white shoe boys crooks.”
Well, Gerald, you can gladly add Barello to the aforementioned list. As a fellow paesano I am going to join you – and break the absurd rules of politic correctness – by asserting that Wall Street and Washington D.C. are being run by psychopathic serial criminals. For those that feel this declaration is overzealous, please read the recent commentary of Jim Kouri, vice president and public information officer at the National Association of Chiefs of Police, wherein he likens the personality traits of politicians to serial killers.
The mortgage market collapsed due to massive, unprecedented frauds. More people would realize this if mainstream media outlets properly exposed such crimes; granted, investigative journalism has been pushed aside, and in its place, we find an array of pseudo-celebrity, nonentity imbeciles like John and Kate Gosselin, desperate for their 15 minutes of shame. Either way, most mortgage frauds were facilitated by both lenders and borrowers – many of whom knowingly agreed to terms they could not afford. Through the process of securitization, these bad loans have been turned into hot potatoes for tossing, often with the help of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae; this has allowed lenders to deceitfully transfer risky loans to unsuspecting counterparties. Ratings agencies aided and abetted the racket by claiming these junk assets are safe; accordingly, corporations, municipalities, and a plethora of worldwide investment vehicles have purchased toxic garbage, and many risk collapsing under the weight of such. As this has happened, unregulated, over-the-counter derivatives have allowed the same criminals to secretly hedge bets against portfolios – knowing full well that many of them would indeed go sour – and when credit events occur, they collect truly absurd bounties. Accordingly, Gerald is no fan of derivatives. “They are ponzi schemes,” he said, before quipping that the term should really be “Madoffs” from now on. “Ponzi was a piker compared to Madoff, [which] is more appropriate, because they make off with all your money.”
Per the latest assessment by the Bank for International Settlements, as of last December, the OTC derivatives market encompasses $592 trillion in notionally valued contracts. One should wonder how this is even possible, when the World GDP was estimated at a shy $61 trillion in 2008. This would also suggest that – when taken at face value, anyway – the potential liabilities for outstanding derivatives may exceed the entire world’s real wealth almost ten times over. With those odds, it sounds like another major financial disaster is just waiting to happen.
In August, Harry Markopolos – the Madoff whistleblower that was ignored by the SEC for over a decade, while fearing for his own safety – stated that the derivatives market will fully collapse, and when it does, it will make Madoff “look like small time.” Despite this dire warning, the mainstream media has since ignored Markopolos, just as the SEC so prudently did for more than ten years.
Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster recently wrote about the possibility of Chinese firms unilaterally defaulting on derivatives contracts; he notes that China may in fact consider these fraudulent assets to be de facto acts of economic warfare. In consideration of this purported viewpoint, it is interesting to note that Warren Buffet has been quoted as saying derivatives are “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Would you care to elaborate any further, Mr. Buffet?
Another key derivatives critic is Christopher Story FRSA, editor of the UK-based International Currency Review, which he has been publishing for 40 years; Story counts central banks, sovereign treasuries, and government intelligence agencies around the world among subscribers. Noted as a former occasional adviser to Margaret Thatcher, he has long maintained that the entire derivatives sector is centered on fraud. His website also presents a chronicle of very serious allegations – tantamount to charges of ongoing, worldwide economic terrorism – against high-level individuals within the US government and financial sectors, including current and former presidents, cabinet secretaries, intelligence agents, as well as Federal Reserve and banking officials.
It is common knowledge that severe consequences accompany the willful publication of libel in the UK; per Mr. Story, Britain’s Head of State, Her Majesty the Queen, and many other world leaders, are fully aware of these allegations. As he has not been prosecuted for disseminating libelous statements, one can only assume that these charges, spanning back at least six years, are indeed based on facts. Granted, I am in no position to individually authenticate purported crimes, but I can enlighten others on what is being published over an international landscape; after reviewing this catalogue of analysis – which forecast most of the events that are happening today – some will certainly be inclined to contact US law enforcement agents, and demand an investigation into these shocking claims. If that is the case, please do so in a civil manner. (Note: this report has been submitted directly to American authorities.)
I mentioned Mr. Story’s stance on derivatives to Gerald; the other allegations were not specifically referenced during our conversation. “Story is one-hundred percent right…these are con games,” he said, in regards to derivatives.
Clearly, the people running this nation are “out of control,” Celente continues, noting that as economic conditions further deteriorate “people are going to start losing it,” he said. “But, they are going to lose it in different ways: our greatest fear for the future [is] rampant crime, and the society breaking down.” He pauses briefly, and then offers a truly frightening thought. “When we say food riots, it’s going to people rioting just to eat.”
Given these horrid possibilities, I ponder the following thoughts: up to $24 trillion of taxpayer funds will be used to subsidize a financial system that is reported to be in worse shape than it was one year ago – and per TARP watchdog Neil Barofsky, a lot of that money will never be recovered – while food riots may be approaching for many others?
You have got to be kidding me. The aforementioned, perverse statements have no place in this world; my ancestors did not immigrate to America so that dilapidated thugs could become empowered by the fruits of their labor and create “the greatest depression” for this entire planet. Furthermore, it is important to point out that I inherited my blood from men that were the “Oath Keepers” of their respective heydays; indeed, my Great-Grandfather, Willard J. Kirchmer, 1st Lieutenant, US Army, World War 1, and my Grandfather, Mario Rocco Barello, Fireman, Second Class, US Navy, World War 2, took their oaths to support and defend the US Constitution exceptionally serious. As a descendent of these gentlemen, I can assure you that their oaths will continue to live on, unabatedly, through me. That being said, as a truly pivotal moment in our nation’s history approaches, We the People must assert our non-negotiable authority over what rightfully belongs to us: our government.
“Politicians don’t care,” Gerald prudently concluded, before adding, “the only thing they are interested in is themselves, and if anybody thinks that a politician is losing sleep because they are losing their house, they had better grow up.”
It is clear that people are in fact wizening up; the massive, ongoing ‘Tea Party’ protests are surely a sign of it. More importantly though, critics of these events must be fair, and recognize that the movement started long before the debate on healthcare reform entered the picture – it formed in response to the absurd bailouts of Wall Street criminals. Celente forecast the ongoing continuation of politically-charged protests several months ago, saying “we’re calling, of course, for an intellectual revolution: that people understand, become knowledgeable and not rise up against the government in an armed way, but in an intellectual way.” He also believes “we need a new, third [political] party.”
As America wakes up, those in power are doing everything they can to discourage us. Protesters are being labeled radical for utilizing their God-given, constitutionally protected freedom of speech to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Be that as it may, public officials would be very wise to respect the words of John F. Kennedy, who once said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
American Patriots must peacefully band together in this intellectual revolution – and embrace the principles of civil disobedience over violence – to force changes within our Federal Republic and its governing structures. By doing so, our nation will be empowered to foreclose on the ethically, morally, and financially bankrupt cesspool of corruption, which is destroying the entire world with it. In short, we need a change we can believe in; we need a new era – The Great American Renaissance – and we need it right now.
“The whole system is breaking down and something new will be born, but if we use our intellect, rather than continue along the same path, we can create a better future,” says Celente. “We don’t need Wall Street, we need Main Street. We don’t need Wal-Marts, we need Mom & Pops. We don’t need agribusiness, we need family farms. We need to bring America back to when it was at its most, when it was the most egalitarian nation in the world, when the quality of life was at its highest. That was the model [for success].”
“For America to regain its greatness, it has to regain its dignity. It has to bring back the model that worked in the past and push it forward…it’s a rediscovery…we have to go back to quality, and quality is the basis for success,” while at the present time, “we’re a junk food nation [that is fed] junk news.” We are also being crippled by outlandish, across-the-board corruption, and it must be stopped.
In light of Gerald’s comments, I must note that research indicates a majority of Americans do not trust mainstream news outlets. Although many will not want to hear it, this degradation in confidence is partially attributed to lingering questions about 9/11; in the absence of any mature discourse on the subject, an unstoppable, ever-growing assortment of conspiracy theories have emerged within the public domain. At the same time, international media outlets are beginning to question the “official story”, while in the US, Truthers™ are unwittingly exploited by hoodwinks, which causes politicians and media to shun them; out of respect for the near 3,000 victims of 9/11, this state-of-affairs is collectively inexcusable.
Over the past eight years, the media has also demonstrated a perceivable complicity in promoting lies to rally Americans behind ill-fated policies, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; furthermore, some outlets now appear to unapologetically support President Obama in every action, as if he is our best friend – and not a politician. Media executives should recognize that few will continue tolerating the brainless assumption that news outlets exist to merely report what the government tells them; such ignorant evasions will not validate the continued existence of organizations that are derelict in their mandated duty, which is to objectively question every alleged fact. Perhaps that is precisely why the oligopoly of media conglomerates is now impotent in mitigating the collapse of many sub-entities?
If ever there was a time for the mainstream media to prove its worth, the time is now: a whirlwind of major political scandals are ripe for exposure, and they cannot be suppressed. Any outlet that demonstrates fortitude, and accurately reports on these emerging “gates” – particularly in the financial arena – will reap the massive benefits associated with public trust; in short, your audience shares will increase, along your advertising revenues.
Directors at Fox News are ecstatic that the network’s viewership continues to grow, so bear with me as I state the obvious: political conspiracies offer an unparalleled level of appeal. To prove my point, one of this conglomerate’s most successful recent TV dramas – Prison Break – thrived due to its sharp, ongoing integration of high-level political conspiracies; at the same time, the show was obviously a smash because of its handsome breakout star, Wentworth Miller, a brilliantly talented man. Either way, imagine the ratings that Fox News would generate – and the income for its shareholders – if it were to integrate a model-of-the-sort in its news programming. Obviously, your exposures of ACORN have been groundbreaking, so why not have Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and/or Greta Van Susteren look into the following?
Recently, 60 Minutesexposed the true nature of derivatives and how they have been used to manipulate markets in recent years; furthermore, right in this very article, Gerald Celente – whom Bill and Glenn have had on their shows – is on the record acknowledging rampant derivatives frauds, which if left unchecked, may destroy the US capitalist system as we know it. Glenn, I know that the collapse of capitalism is something you fear greatly, is it not?
In the following, heavily underreported clip, Steve Kroft fearlessly addresses these de facto scams known as derivatives – primarily credit default swaps – and notes that they are:
A form of legalized gambling that allows you to wager on [financial] outcomes without ever having to actually buy the stocks, and the bonds, and the mortgages [that they are written against]. It would have been illegal during most of the 20th century under the gaming laws, but in 2000, Congress gave Wall Street an exemption and it turned out to be a very bad idea.
*****VIDEO*****
After viewing this explosive video, you will have seen Harvey Goldschmid, a Columbia University law professor, and former commissioner and general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledging that the provisions of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 were made into law “at the height of Wall Street and Washington's love affair with deregulation, an infatuation that was endorsed by President Clinton at the White House and encouraged by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.” At the very least, both gentlemen owe the American public real explanations as to why they supported such moves, and while we have their time, let’s ask about the allegations being directly lobbied at them by Mr. Christopher Story FRSA.
In all fairness, though, it would not be right to lay the political blame for this disaster solely on the shoulders of former President Clinton, his administration, and Mr. Greenspan; no, we must give a fair share of attention to former Senator Phil Gramm, who is now vice chairman of the investment banking division at UBS, a criminal organization that recently agreed to pay nearly $800 million in fines to settle any US prosecution of its role in facilitating tax evasion.
Mr. Gramm, whose utter contempt for the American public has been thoroughly demonstrated time and again, can also be thanked for sneaking the unmitigated, disastrous CFMA provisions – which were unlikely to have ever passed through Congress in a stand alone bill – into a Christmas-season appropriations bill that most House representatives clearly failed to read. The Senate later approved these toxic addendums in a unanimous vote, which coyly allowed CFMA to be signed into law.
Obviously, many aspects of CFMA – particularly all clauses that provide legal certainty for unregulated OTC derivatives – must be rescinded immediately; however, this alone will not lead us, and the entire world, out of the financial crisis. As all of us know, the belief that some firms are too big to fail is, in-and-of-itself, an abject failure; accordingly, we must reverse this policy and dismantle every insolvent, transnational, all-in-one financial institution that has come to life – and collapsed – over the past decade.
At this process unfolds, we need to examine why the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton. This rubbish-encrusted non-improvement repealed key aspects of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which became effective during the height of the Great Depression, and prohibited any one financial firm from partaking in commercial banking, investment banking, and/or insurance at the same time.
A quick reflection brings two thoughts to mind: the first is that the use of the word modernization in finance bills tends to serve as an indicator that future problems will arise, so let’s refrain from using such terminology moving forward. Secondly, Mr. Gramm has once again demonstrated how connected his own hands are to this financial crisis, hook, line and sinker. With friends like you, Phil, who needs enemies? I urge investigators to keep that question in mind, especially as they continue to uncover the actions of Gramm and others, who literally believe they can do whatever they want, whenever they want.
To be fair to the former senator, who has received a decent portion of this writer’s indignation, we should also pay close attention to the following 155 present members of Congress – 101 in the House, 54 in the Senate – that voted in favor of FSMA one decade ago. Thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics, we are able to deduce exactly how much money each of them have received in financial contributions, through 2008, from the very same industry that directly benefited from these changes.
We need to reform our campaigning and election laws, and in doing so, we should adapt a more European model, which shuns the use of private funding, and severely limits overall campaign seasons, typically to around six weeks. The previous list, which totals into hundreds of millions of dollars, hammers the nail on why the influence of corporate funding is dangerouos, while the years 2007 and 2008 in America speak to the latter. Elections are not meant to be elaborate, multi-media rock concerts; they are supposed to be elections, plain and simple.
Dr. Ron Paul – perhaps the only true, remaining Statesman in Washington, D.C. – deserves much gratitude from the American public; his courageous, uninterrupted opposition of the Federal Reserve spans back many years, and it ultimately proves why he is a major ally for those of us seeking The Great American Renaissance. Congresscritters should note his leadership skills, and follow them to the tee.
Personally, I believe The Creature from Jekyll Island should have been instantaneously abolished earlier this week, when it emerged that the Fed has committed a fiduciary perjury against Americans (and the rest of the world) – the Treasury Department has, too – but something tells me that once the books and activities of this parasitic fiend are exposed, by audit, or otherwise, Dr. Paul will ultimately get his way, and we will finally End The Fed, once and for all.
I cannot understand why any politician or businessperson would support the continual operations of a privately-controlled central bank that has caused the US dollar to lose an estimated 95% of its value over the course of its near 100-year reign. That’s just me though, and while I am an advocate for a return to the gold standard, at the very least, the elimination of the Fed would provide one giant leap forward for all of mankind, and one hell of a kick start for The Great American Renaissance.
The final key to our economic recovery, if published reports are true – and a much-needed lifeline for the US dollar – may be provided to America by our greatest and most important ally, the UK. As many foreign nations now appear ready to flee the dollar, we must investigate the sincerity of a purported offer – apparently on the table now for several years – that is directly attributed to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, among others. God willing, the Dollar Refunding Operation is indeed a bona fide pro bono offer from the British Monarchy. I cannot – and will not – claim to know what the full story is behind these proposals, but if any official US sources are willing to comment on this, they are encouraged to do so without delay. Our entire nation is on the brink of collapsing, as demonstrated herein.
I am fully aware that by raising certain topics in this article, my life might be placed in jeopardy. I am also aware that when I say God Almighty directs my actions, it will provoke cynical feedback from certain parties; regardless, that is indeed the fact-of-the-matter from my perspective, and thus, no one can tell me to believe otherwise. I will not stand idle as this Great Nation risks unimaginable suffering, especially when there are numerous ways for us to mitigate, or prevent that from happening altogether.
In the end, as they move to rebuild their nation's finances, leaders around the world should follow the very wise advice of His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan, who has so prudently said, "I care less about the gross national product and more about the gross national happiness."
Put foxes in the henhouse, make them look like the rest of the chickens .... you're good to go.
___________
Excerpt
"Geithner aides made millions on Wall Street
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Published: October 14 2009 20:49 | Last updated: October 14 2009 20:49
"........ Even though some of the officials whose previous salaries were disclosed are senior, many were appointed as “counselors”, meaning they escaped Senate confirmation hearings which could have highlighted their past remuneration and employment at a time of heightened animosity towards the financial industry. ........."
Trojan Horse for astroturfers perhaps .... soften us up to accept government health care rationing, death counciling, decrease in medicare? Medicare could have had a smaller percentage cost of living increase equal to this proposed $250 and gone about its business except for ego showcasing itself.
"Bernie Marcus Slams Health Care Plan
Source WXIATV.com
"ATLANTA -- Bernie Marcus and health care are synonymous. With donations of more than $44 million for the Marcus Autism Center, and an added $25 million to fund Autism Speaks.
He's added almost $18 million to support the Shepherd Center and major programs to rehabilitate returning military personnel. Almost $4 million to the CDC Foundation, and $20 million to enhance the Trauma Center at Grady Hospital.
But when it comes to the government's health care program, Marcus said, "I see a very bleak future for health care in the United States, if we pass government controlled health care. The Congress, the federal workers do not participate. This is for you and for me. I mean come on, give me a break will you, please."
Marcus says the real need is to curb fraud and limit litigation to bring costs into line.
"I don't support the national health care program. I think it's a disaster. I think we should fight it to the death," he said.
Marcus predicts a two-tier system for the United States, similar to England."
-- Posted Friday, 9 October 2009
Source: GoldSeek.com
By: Rob Kirby
"Impeccably reliable sources have informed me that as recently as Sept. 30, 2009 – the last possible day of trade in the Sept. 09 gold futures – a number of well-heeled market participants “bought” substantial tonnage worth of gold futures on the London Bullion Market [LBMA] and immediately told their counterparties they wanted to take instantaneous delivery of the underlying physical bullion.
The unexpected immediate demand for substantial tonnage of gold bullion created utter panic in at least two banks who were counterparties to this trade – J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank – because they simply did not posses the gold bullion which they had sold short [an illegal act which in trading parlance is referred to as a “naked short”].
Because these banks did not have the bullion to honor their contracted commitments, one or both of them approached the counterparties and asked if there was any way they could settle this embarrassing matter quietly on a “cash basis” to absolve the banks from fulfilling their physical bullion delivery obligations. The purchasers were not interested in a ‘cash settlement’ and demanded delivery of physical bullion giving these banks 5 business days to resolve the situation. A premium of as much as spot plus 25 % [that would be 1,250 – 1,300 per ounce of gold] was offered to settle this matter in fiat money instead of the embarrassment of a very public “failure to deliver” on the part of the London Bullion Market Association.
Earlier this week, no less than two Central Banks became involved in effecting the physical settlement of this situation. One of these Central Banks was British [that would be the Bank of England] – and reportedly, even they were only capable of providing less than pure, non-compliant gold bars that did not meet good delivery standards stipulated by the LBMA. Like it or not, this is a testament to lack of physical gold available, folks.
To summarize: Banks like J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bk. - who sold endless amounts of gold futures at prices of 950 – 1025 and then tried to make “side deals” with the folks they sold the futures to – offering them spot + 25 % [let’s say 1,275 per ounce] to settle in fiat – only after their counter parties demanded substantial tonnage of physical gold bullion.
Stunningly, if accurate [and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is not accurate], this means that gold is already in SEVERE backwardation and this fact is being hidden from the public.
Then, to protect the “integrity” of the futures market as a ‘price discovery mechanism’ – Central Banks – aiding and abetting - plunder the sovereign assets of their respective countries to bail out their agents / friends in an attempt to ‘sweep the whole bloody mess under the carpet’.
To think that anyone wonders why our financial system and fiat money will soon to be TOAST?
"Soldier dies after receiving smoker's lungs in transplant
By Stephanie Busari
CNN
"LONDON, England (CNN) -- A leading UK hospital has defended its practice of using organs donated by smokers after the death of a soldier who received the cancerous lungs of a heavy smoker.
A close up X-ray view of a cigarette smoker's lungs.
Corporal Matthew Millington, 31, died at his home in 2008, less than a year after receiving a transplant that was supposed to save his life at Papworth Hospital -- the UK's largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital, in Cambridgeshire, east England.
Papworth Hospital released a statement saying using donor lungs from smokers was not "unusual."
The statement added that the hospital had no option but to use lungs from smokers as "the number of lung transplants carried out would have been significantly lower," if they didn't.
An inquest held last week heard that Millington, who served in the Queen's Royal Lancers, was serving in Iraq in 2005 when he was diagnosed with an incurable condition that left him unable to breathe.
He was told he required a transplant and in April 2007 received a double lung transplant at Papworth Hospital.
Less than a year later, doctors discovered a tumor in the new lungs. Despite radiotherapy, Millington died on February 8, 2008, at his family home near Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire.
The inquest found a radiographer failed to highlight the growth of a cancerous tumor on the donor lungs.
Tests found that he had received the lungs of a donor who smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day, the inquest at North Staffordshire coroner's court heard.
The hospital said in the statement: "This is an extremely rare case. Papworth Hospital has a very strong track record of high quality outcomes and this is an extremely rare case.
"Patients who are accepted on to the transplant waiting list have no other option open to them, however, we must stress that all donor organs are screened rigorously prior to transplantation.
"Using lungs from donors who have smoked in the past is not unusual. During 2008/09 146 lung transplants were carried out in the UK.
"During the same period 84 people died on the waiting list. If we had a policy that said we did not use the lungs of those who had smoked, then the number of lung transplants carried out would have been significantly lower."
The tumor's growth was accelerated by the immuno-suppressive drugs Millington was taking to prevent his body rejecting the transplanted lungs, the inquest heard.
North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith recorded that Millington, had died of "complications of transplant surgery and immuno-suppressive drug treatment."
"The Obama Justice Department’s Secret Blogging Team… Is it Illegal?
Warner Todd Huston | 8:35 am Obama’s
Source Right Wing News
"Attorney General, Eric Holder, has apparently hired a cadre of left-wing, Democrat campaign bloggers to troll through the Internet looking for news stories and blog posts that denigrate the Obama agenda. After such websites are found it is the job of these secret lefty bloggers to leave comments that come to the support of Obamaism in the comments sections. It seems that Eric Holder has created his own little propaganda unit in a valiant effort to become the Bloggi Riefenstahl of the Obama era.
As reported at The Muffled Oar, a blog that first broke the story of Holder’s secretive blogging unit — dubbed the “Blog Squad” by blogger Isaac Muzzey — Holder has housed this unit in the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice. It also appears that former John Edwards staffer Tracy Russo is part of this special unit.
A site called whorunsgov.com reported back in May that DOJ hired Russo to do “media outreach for the whole department.” It is, according to whorunsgov.com, the first time such an effort has been made at DOJ.
Of Russo’s duties, The Muffled Oar says:
Not only is the Department of Justice Blog Squad going to reach out to nontraditional media like TPM Muckraker or the Muffled Oar, but they are also tasked with fostering anonymous comments at conservative leaning blogs such as the Free Republic. They are also tasked with fostering anonymous comments, or comments under pseudonyms, at newspaper websites with stories critical of the Department of Justice, Holder and President Obama.
If indeed this is what DOJ media outreach does it would most certainly qualify as “astroturfing.” Astroturfing is the action of using fake commenters and multiple screen names on all sorts of sites to push a similar opinion to create the appearance of a grass roots movement and make it seem as if there are all sorts of individuals naturally supporting a product or political movement.
It most certainly is a creepy, propagandistic sort of effort that Holder’s office is involved in and it is one that certainly seems an immoral one. After all, it most certainly is lying to the public if there are a handful of DOJ employees casting about on hundreds of different websites pretending that they are just your average citizen coming to the support of the Obama administration. But is it illegal? Hans von Spakovsky of National Review’s the corner blog certainly thinks so.
I doubt that the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) has received an ethics opinion from Justice’s Professional Responsibility Advisory Office (PRAO) saying that it is acceptable for OPA employees to be harassing critics of the department through postings that deliberately hide their DOJ affiliation (a practice that is not very “open” or “transparent”). DOJ lawyers also ought to be aware of ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4, which states that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. If the report in The Muffled Oar is correct, tax dollars are being used directly for such dishonest, deceitful behavior.
I must say, it’s hard to disagree with von Spakovsky (if that’s his real name! — a little joke there).
Mr. von Spakovsky also makes a perfectly pertinent point to wrap up his blog post on this matter. He wonders if the Obama administration will ever learn the difference between political campaign and the “entirely different responsibility it now has to enforce this nation’s laws in an objective, nonpartisan, nonpolitical manner”?
I think that the question is a good one. After all, after nearly a year in office, we have yet to see the end Obama’s constant blaming of Bush for every little problem he runs up against not to mention the constant campaign speeches and appearances on TV at every hour, day and night. One gets the uneasy feeling that President Barack Obama has yet to put in an actual day’s work as he constantly campaigns for office instead."
(Image credit: Associated Press/Lefteris Pitarakis – April 27, 2009)"
Plant trees which give off oxygen as a by-product of their growth aside from being aesthetically pleasing. Then by the time the cycle changes back to global warming there will be more shade, preventing heat from absorbing into the surface.
Wonder how global warming scientists would do on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader"?
_________
"What happened to global warming?
By Paul Hudson
Climate correspondent, BBC News
"This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that factthat the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in1998.
But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.
And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbondioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, hascontinued to rise.
So what on Earth is going on?
Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue thatman's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming.
They argue that there are natural cycles, over which wehave no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is theevidence for this?
During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly.
Sceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy fromthe Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from theSun.
But research conducted two years ago, and published by the Royal Society, seemed to rule out solar influences.
The scientists' main approach was simple: to look at solar output andcosmic ray intensity over the last 30-40 years, and compare thosetrends with the graph for global average surface temperature.
And the results were clear. "Warming in the last 20 to40 years can't have been caused by solar activity," said Dr PiersForster from Leeds University, a leading contributor to this year'sIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
But one solar scientist Piers Corbyn fromWeatheraction, a company specialising in long range weatherforecasting, disagrees.
He claims that solar charged particles impact us farmore than is currently accepted, so much so he says that they arealmost entirely responsible for what happens to global temperatures.
He is so excited by what he has discovered that heplans to tell the international scientific community at a conference inLondon at the end of the month.
If proved correct, this could revolutionise the whole subject.
Ocean cycles
What is really interesting at the moment is what is happening to our oceans. They are the Earth's great heat stores.
“ In the last few years [the Pacific Ocean] has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down ”
According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook fromWestern Washington University last November, the oceans and globaltemperatures are correlated.
The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warmand cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadaloscillation (PDO).
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positivecycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealedthat global temperatures were warm too.
But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down.
These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years.
So could global temperatures follow? The global cooling from 1945 to1977 coincided with one of these cold Pacific cycles.
Professor Easterbrook says: "The PDO cool mode hasreplaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us ofabout 30 years of global cooling."
So what does it all mean? Climate change sceptics argue that this is evidence that they have been right all along.
They say there are so many other natural causes for warming andcooling, that even if man is warming the planet, it is a small partcompared with nature.
But those scientists who are equally passionate aboutman's influence on global warming argue that their science is solid.
The UK Met Office's Hadley Centre, responsible forfuture climate predictions, says it incorporates solar variation andocean cycles into its climate models, and that they are nothing new.
In fact, the centre says they are just two of the wholehost of known factors that influence global temperatures - all of whichare accounted for by its models.
In addition, say Met Office scientists, temperatureshave never increased in a straight line, and there will always beperiods of slower warming, or even temporary cooling.
What is crucial, they say, is the long-term trend inglobal temperatures. And that, according to the Met office data, isclearly up.
To confuse the issue even further, last month MojibLatif, a member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)says that we may indeed be in a period of cooling worldwidetemperatures that could last another 10-20 years.
Professor Latif is based at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences atKiel University in Germany and is one of the world's top climatemodellers.
But he makes it clear that he has not become a sceptic;he believes that this cooling will be temporary, before theoverwhelming force of man-made global warming reasserts itself.
So what can we expect in the next few years?
Both sides have very different forecasts. The Met Office says that warming is set to resume quickly and strongly.
It predicts that from 2010 to 2015 at least half the years will be hotter than the current hottest year on record (1998).
Sceptics disagree. They insist it is unlikely that temperatures willreach the dizzy heights of 1998 until 2030 at the earliest. It ispossible, they say, that because of ocean and solar cycles a period ofglobal cooling is more likely.
One thing is for sure. It seems the debate about whatis causing global warming is far from over. Indeed some would say it ishotting up."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm
Linked from SteveQuayle.com Q-news this sums things up well.
Please note exceptional commentary by a reader which appears below article.
_____________
Posted Friday, October 09, 2009 10:39 AM
"The Nobel Peace Prize Is Over
Weston KosovaSource The Gaggle blog.newsweek.com
"The Nobel committee has handed out some puzzling peace prizes over the years—Henry Kissinger and Yasir Arafat come to mind—but even givena few scratches and dings, the Nobel retained its luster as themost prestigious award of any kind in the world. Long after the "redcarpet" pretty much destroyed the idea of prizes in general, the NobelPeace Prize was still seen as rare and precious. By cloaking itsdeliberations and through brilliant PR, the committee gave the prizea supranatural aura, as if the name of the winner were spit out of themouth of an ancient volcano.
That's all over now. The Nobel Peace Prize is finished. It's just another "prize," like a Teen Choice Award for old people. Nomatter what you think of Obama, the man has done nothing, at all, todeserve it. He may deserve it someday, but the Nobel prize isn'tsupposed to be a bet on the hope of the possibility of greatness at some point in the future. And it can no longer be taken seriously. From now on, no matter who wins, no matter howdeserving, people will say, "Yeah, but they also gave it to Obama."The 1.4 million bucks is still nice, though."
____
"Posted By: Victor Erimita (October 10, 2009 at 2:37 PM)
Should the Nobel Prize in medicine be awarded to someone who hopes and aspires to create a cure for cancer? Should the physics prize be awarded to someone who makes soaring speeches about proving the Unified Field Theory?
And, Tomcat, the reason some of us might have a problem with just any American getting the prize is that the last three who got it, got it precisely for their anti-American rhetoric. In the view of Euro elites, America is the cause of most of the world's problems. We are to be diminished, weakened, humbled and vilified. Any prominent figure who will do that in a popular way is eligible for the prize. Obama qualifies, because he has "changed the tone" of American foreign policy, which means he apologizes endlessly for our national iniquity, ignores or praises tyrants from Iran to Saudi Arabia, from "Palestine," to Venezuela, Cuba and Honduras, while disrespecting our allies and joining the international chorus of condemnation for that other cause of all the world's problems, Israel. This is music to the ears of the luminaries of the Nobel committee. Yo see, Tom ,many of us lesser-enlightened Americans still feel we have done far more good than harm in the world, and that the self-styled voices of enlightenment in Europe and the American Left ignore, appease and praise the most vicious tyrants in the world so long as they mouth leftist slogans and and say hostile things to the hated U.S. Obama was awarded for that, which we think merely feeds the destructive narrative. But of course, those of us who have a different opinion than you are not worthy to speak, are we? Diversity of opinion is not a diversity you honor."
These guys are always good for relevant commentary. From Powerlineblog.com.
_____________
"A peace prize for hope
October 9, 2009 Posted by Scott at 6:48 AM
"President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after only nine months on the job. It seems a tad premature, but is undoubtedly a token of the committee's high expectations for what is to come. Obama's five disciples on the prize committee are helping to spread the word that he has come to bring peace, not a sword. His recognition comes for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament. Ah, but of course!
Congratulations are in order. The prize will provide a fitting occasion for another trip to Europe, and another speech! In truth, however, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone haywire on numerous occasions over many years. Although it has honored some worthy recipients, it has also become a megaphone amplifying the voice of tyrants, rogues and reprobates. Consider, in any event, a few recipients of years past.
2007
AL GORE The award to Al Gore and the IPCC "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change" fits in with a subset of cosmopolitan frauds, fakers, murderers, thieves, and no-accounts going back about twenty years.
2005
MOHAMED ELBARADEI (joint winner). He's done such a nice job with Iran.
2004
WANGARI MAATHAI The Kenyan ecologist peacefully teaches that the AIDS virus is a biological agent deliberately created by the Man.
2002
JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America. A true cosmopolitan, he has undermined the foreign policy of his own country and vouched for the bona fides of tyrants and murderers all over the world. Commenting on the award, Nobel Committee Chairman Gunnar Berge emphasized that the award was meant as a denunciation of American policy toward Iraq. "It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the [Bush] administration has taken," Berge said. "It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States."
2001
UNITED NATIONS, New York, NY, USA.
KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General. Among other things, they respectively served as the vehicle for, and presided over, one of the biggest scams in history.
1994
YASSER ARAFAT (joint winner), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority. He was a cold-blooded murderer both before and after receiving the award.
1992
RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM, Guatemala. She is the notorious Guatemalan faker and author, sort of, of I, Rigoberta Menchu. Like President Obama, she is a memoirist of distinction.
1988
THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A. Notwithstanding rapes and sex abuse committed by the team in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and the Congo, still doing fine work all over the world.
1976
BETTY WILLIAMS, United Kingdom, founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People), who in later years repeatedly called for the assassination of President George Bush. How peaceful can you get?
1973
LE DUC THO (with Henry Kissinger) for the 1973 peace with honor bequeathed to the fortunate people of Vietnam.
A few years back Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby commented on the Nobel Peace Prize: that "the Norwegian committee entrusted with awarding the peace prize comprises politicians, not scholars. Like politicians everywhere, the peace prize committee tends to be more interested in what the headlines will say today than in what historians will believe 20 -- or 100 -- years from now. And unlike their Swedish counterparts, the Norwegians often intend their choice to have a political impact." That certainly explains this year's award, but one further point remains. Our occasional contributor Bill Katz observed:
[T]o fully appreciate the farcical nature of the peace prize, you need only go back to the painful years before World War II:
In 1931 the prize was shared by Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, whose later enthusiasm for keeping good relations with Nazi universities has been a source of embarrassment to Columbia.
In 1933, 1934 and 1936, the peace prize went to executives of the League of Nations, already a colossal failure.
From 1939 through 1943 there was no peace prize. You know, World War II was such an inconvenience, and Oslo, where the peace prize is given, was under occupation. Ah, the success of those past prize winners!
Is it wrong to fear that the Columbia connection -- from Nicholas Murray Butler to Barack Obama -- may be the most relevant of the lot?
PAUL adds: There must be some sort of run-up to winning this award -- e.g. analysis, nominations, more analysis. When did the process that led to Obama getting this award begin and what was his record at that point? Surely, if there was any record at all, it was even more meagre than it is now.
The fix must have been in, sort of like TV wrestling.
UPDATE: I'm told that the cut-off date for nominations was only ten days after President Obama was inaugurated."
