Fascism: Socialism With Shareholders (RE: AIG), or “capitalism” American style: Privatize all profits, socialize all risks & costs. Here’s a headline you’ll never see: Fed Takes Over AIG – Gets 80% Stake for $85 Billion of Fiat Money, Printed from Thin Air. US Taxpayers on Hook. (Read more at www.dailypaul.com)

“US ‘must target Pakistan havens’
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan. Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.” (More from news.bbc.co.uk)

“Pakistan premier backs army chief’s rebuke to US
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s prime minister on Thursday backed a harsh rebuke of the U.S. by the Muslim nation’s military chief, a sign of a strain in relations seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks forged the two countries’ anti-terror alliance. . . . Pakistan’s public show of anger with the U.S. comes amid revelations that President Bush secretly approved new U.S. military raids in that country.” (More from news.yahoo.com)

“Pakistan troops ordered to open fire on US raiders
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s army said Tuesday that its forces have orders to open fire if U.S. troops launch another raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over how to tackle militant havens in Pakistan’s unruly border zone.” (More from news.yahoo.com)

“Pakistan Allegedly Repulses U.S. Raid
KARACHI, Pakistan, Sept. 15 — Pakistani troops turned back a U.S. attack in Pakistan’s tribal areas on Monday by firing warning shots toward U.S. troops as they attempted to cross from Afghanistan in pursuit of Taliban insurgents, a Pakistani intelligence official said. U.S. and Pakistani military spokesmen denied the report.” (More from washingtonpost.com)

“Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least six people Wednesday, hours after the top U.S. military officer told Pakistani leaders that America respected Pakistan’s sovereignty amid a furor over American strikes into Pakistan’s northwest.” (More from news.yahoo.com)

Read more at Haaretz.com

I would have loved to see Palin and Clinton side by side at an anti-Iran rally. It’d demonstrate the diversity of views among the Republicrats.

“Frantic Day on Wall Street as Banks Teeter

By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ben White and Jenny Anderson

In one of the most extraordinary days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch is near an 11th-hour deal to avert a deepening financial crisis while another storied securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation, according to people briefed on the deal.
The dramatic turn of events was prompted by the cataclysm of losses that has shaken the American financial industry over the last 14 months.

The moves came after a weekend of frantic negotiations between U.S. government officials and Wall Street executives over how to avert a downward spiral in the markets. Questions still remain about how the market will react and whether other firms may still falter like AIG, the large insurer, and Washington Mutual, both of whose stocks fell precipitously last week.

Coming just a week after the government took control of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the magnitude of the industry’s reshaping is staggering: two of the most powerful firms on Wall Street, Merrill Lynch and Lehman, will disappear.” (Read more from campaignforliberty.com)

“Obama says the ongoing crisis is the result of ‘[e]ight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans’; the obvious solution is more regulations.

McCain, on the other hand, says the problem is ‘the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington,’ for which he promises reform, not abolition. Furthermore, he wants to ‘bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street,’ which can only mean additional regulations.

Once again an election promises to offer an echo, not a choice.” (Read more from lewrockwell.com)

Neither candidate demonstrates the courage and integrity to bring up the money-printing Fed’s role in creating artificial bubbles which lead to busts, or the obscene quantities of money spent on our wars of choice.

Jesse Ventura, the former governor of Minnesota, ex Navy Seal, Vietnam Veteran, Demolition Expert and an avid spokesperson for 911 Truth participates in a very tense Q&A with reporters: (See video at thestateoftruth.com)

-”Army: Settlers have crossed red line
Senior IDF officers on Thursday lambasted the legal system’s inability to effectively crack down on radical West Bank settlers after a group of young far-right activists went on a rampage that culminated in an attack on an IDF position near Ramallah. . . . The reservists tried to fend off the attackers, who called the soldiers ‘Nazis.’ Earlier in the day, soldiers clashed with settlers near the settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus, after they began throwing rocks at passing Palestinian cars. . . . Two soldiers were wounded in the clashes – one with a fracture in his hand. The other soldier was treated at the scene after a settler’s dog bit him after being ordered to attack by his owner.” (Read more from jpost.com)

This is how humans behave when we’re certain we have God on our side.

-”Israel’s Dark Art of Ensnaring Palestinian Collaborators
Collaboration comes in various guises, including land dealers, who buy Palestinian-owned land to sell it to settlers or the Israeli government; armed agents who assist Israeli soldiers in raids; and infiltrators into the national organizations and their armed wings who foil resistance operations. . . . With hospitals and medicines in short supply, some patients have little hope of recovery without treatment abroad or in Israel. According to the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights, the Shin Bet is exploiting the distress of these families to pressure them to agree to collaborate in return for an exit permit. Last month, the group released details of 32 cases in which sick Gazans admitted they were denied permits after refusing to become informants. . . . As with other occupation regimes, Israel has long relied on the most traditional way of recruiting collaborators: torture. While a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1999 banned torture, the evidence suggests the Shin Bet simply ignored the ruling. Two Israeli human rights groups, B’Tselem and Hamoked, found last year that seven “special” interrogation methods amounting to torture are still being regularly employed, including beatings, painful binding, back bending, body stretching and prolonged sleep deprivation. Detention provides other opportunities for recruitment. In the past 17 years alone, 150,000 Palestinians have been prosecuted by the military regime. According to the Israeli group Yesh Din, 95 percent of these trials end in plea bargains, offering yet another chance to persuade a detainee to turn informant in return for a reduced sentence.” (Read more from antiwar.com)

I initially ignored the truth-stranger-than-fiction rumor that Palin’s last child is actually her daughter’s, that she faked the pregnancy to save face, but it’s been remarkably persistent among blogs, and has even been picked up by some bigger media, like the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.: See Video

“In a thinly veiled dig at George Bush, Vladimir Putin today suggested that the US President was not in charge of American affairs, saying that it was ‘the court that makes the king’.” (timesonnline.co.uk)

I tend to agree. Every four years we get to pretend like we’re changing things with a new election, but the candidates who propose real change (Ron Paul, Kucinich, Gravel, Ross Perot) are always ruthlessly vetted by the media, leaving only pro-war, pro-big-government, pro-debt, pro-central-bank candidates arguing over superficial differences. Our court will fight tooth and nail to prevent independent-minded king.

From georgewashington2.blogspot.com:

NIST claims that the collapse of building 7 is “the first known instance of fire causing the total collapse of a tall building”.

But then goes on to argue:

“The fires in WTC 7, which were uncontrolled but otherwise similar to fires experienced in other tall buildings, caused an extraordinary event”

In fact, the fires in WTC 7 were orders of magnitude less than other high-rise fires, which did not produce collapses. (Read more)

SEE ALSO:

-Beginner’s guide to 9/11 truth
-Fire fighters for 9/11 truth
-Pilots for 9/11 truth
-Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice
-We Are Change
-9/11 Research
-911truth.org

“The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.

We Agree

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.”

(More from campaignforliberty.com)

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.
Carroll Quigley – Author of Tragedy & Hope

Ron Paul’s Statement:

“The coverage of the presidential election is designed to be a grand distraction. This is not new, but this year, it’s more so than ever.

Pretending that a true difference exists between the two major candidates is a charade of great proportion. Many who help to perpetuate this myth are frequently unaware of what they are doing and believe that significant differences actually do exist. Indeed, on small points there is the appearance of a difference. The real issues, however, are buried in a barrage of miscellaneous nonsense and endless pontifications by robotic pundits hired to perpetuate the myth of a campaign of substance.

The truth is that our two-party system offers no real choice. The real goal of the campaign is to distract people from considering the real issues.

Influential forces, the media, the government, the privileged corporations and moneyed interests see to it that both party’s candidates are acceptable, regardless of the outcome, since they will still be in charge. It’s been that way for a long time. George Wallace was not the first to recognize that there’s “not a dime’s worth of difference” between the two parties. There is, though, a difference between the two major candidates and the candidates on third-party tickets and those running as independents.

The two parties and their candidates have no real disagreements on foreign policy, monetary policy, privacy issues, or the welfare state. They both are willing to abuse the Rule of Law and ignore constitutional restraint on Executive Powers. Neither major party champions free markets and private-property ownership.

Those candidates who represent actual change or disagreement with the status quo are held in check by the two major parties in power, making it very difficult to compete in the pretend democratic process. This is done by making it difficult for third-party candidates to get on the ballots, enter into the debates, raise money, avoid being marginalized, or get fair or actual coverage. A rare celebrity or a wealthy individual can, to a degree, overcome these difficulties.

The system we have today allows a President to be elected by as little as 32% of the American people, with half of those merely voting for the “lesser of two evils”. Therefore, as little as 16% actually vote for a president. No wonder when things go wrong, anger explodes. A recent poll shows that 60% of the American people are not happy with the two major candidates this year.

This system is driven by the conviction that only a major party candidate can win. Voters become convinced that any other vote is a “wasted” vote. It’s time for that conclusion to be challenged and to recognize that the only way not to waste one’s vote is to reject the two establishment candidates and join the majority, once called silent, and allow the voices of the people to be heard.

We cannot expect withdrawal of troops from Iraq or the Middle East with either of the two major candidates. Expect continued involvement in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Georgia. Neither hints of a non-interventionist foreign policy. Do not expect to hear the rejection of the policy of supporting the American world empire. There will be no emphasis in protecting privacy and civil liberties and the constant surveillance of the American people. Do not expect any serious attempt to curtail the rapidly expanding national debt. And certainly, there will be no hint of addressing the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationship with big banks and international corporations and the politicians.

There is only one way that these issues can get the attention they deserve: the silent majority must become the vocal majority.

This message can be sent to our leaders by not participating in the Great Distraction—the quadrennial campaign and election of an American President without a choice. Just think of how much of an edge a Vice President has in this process, and he or she is picked by a single person—the party’s nominee. This was never intended by the Constitution.

Since a principled non-voter sends a message, we must count them and recognize the message they are sending as well. The non-voters need to hold their own “election” by starting a “League of Non-voters” and explain their principled reasons for opting out of this charade of the presidential elective process. They just might get a bigger membership than anyone would guess.

Write-in votes should not be discouraged, but the electoral officials must be held accountable and make sure the votes are counted. But one must not be naïve and believe that under today’s circumstances one has a chance of accomplishing much by a write-in campaign.

The strongest message can be sent by rejecting the two-party system, which in reality is a one-party system with no possible chance for the changes to occur which are necessary to solve our economic and foreign policy problems. This can be accomplished by voting for one of the non-establishment principled candidates—Baldwin, Barr, McKinney, Nader, and possibly others. (listed alphabetically)

Yes, these individuals do have strong philosophic disagreements on various issues, but they all stand for challenging the status quo—those special interest who control our federal government. And because of this, on the big issues of war, civil liberties, deficits, and the Federal Reserve they have much in common. People will waste their vote in voting for the lesser of two evils. That can’t be stopped overnight, but for us to have an impact we must maximize the total votes of those rejecting the two major candidates.

For me, though, my advice—for what it’s worth—is to vote! Reject the two candidates who demand perpetuation of the status quo and pick one of the alternatives that you have the greatest affinity to, based on the other issues.

A huge vote for those running on principle will be a lot more valuable by sending a message that we’ve had enough and want real change than wasting one’s vote on a supposed lesser of two evils.”

(More from campaignforliberty.com)

—>see video clip<--

-”US raid complicating Pakistani’s presidential bid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A deadly American-led raid on a Pakistani village embarrassed the government and eroded support for the pro-U.S. presidential front-runner Thursday just two days before the election.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

-”US confirms raid inside Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American forces launched a raid inside Pakistan Wednesday, a senior US military official said, in the first known US ground assault in Pakistan against a suspected Taliban haven. The government condemned the attack, saying it killed at least 15 people.” (Read more from chinadaily.com.cn)

War without end, because war means government power, war means transfer of wealth.

“Yesterday, McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace dismissed the fact that Gov. Sarah Palin has yet to take any questions from the press. ‘So what?’ she scoffed. Today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, campaign strategist Rick Davis suggested Palin might never sit down for an interview if, he said, it’s ‘in our best interest’ to keep her away from the media.” (Read more from thinkprogress.org)

It is definitely in the best interest of the campaign to keep Palin away from the press and away from the people – McCain too.