As the Worm Turns

Blogogate: More evidence appears that shows Rahm Emanuel was involved in discussions about the replacement for Obama's senate seat. Tony Rezko, who gave the Obama's sweetheart deal on land for their home, is tied up in the scandal. The Chicago Tribune prematurely (on purpose?) released the story before Blago's entire scheme could unfold on tape. Obama continues to insist that he was unaware of any discussions, despite clear implication that he was. Politics, scandal is thy name. Thomas DiLorenzo wonders why the outrage over political "pay-to-play?" That's the norm!

Breaking news: an internal investigation by the Obama team has cleared itself of any wrong doing with Blago. Well, I'm glad that's taken care of!

"Frighteningly accurate trends forecaster Gerald Celente says that America will see riots similar to those currently ongoing in Greece and that the cause will be a hyper-inflationary depression, leading to the inevitable use of troops and mercenaries to deal with the crisis as Americans are incarcerated in internment camps." Fears of riots spread across Europe or, as the head of the IMF fears, worldwide. Anarchy may be our planet's future. This sets the stage for martial law, of course. As a sign of the times, we see more domestic militarization of American law enforcement.
The dollar rally may be over. If you're planning on getting some gold or silver protection for your financial assets, your time is almost up. Using the prices at Goldmasters, the premium for 1 oz. gold eagles is today up to 16%, one-percent higher than last week. If you're still putting off buying gold and silver insurance positions because of deflation, then you'll want to understand how deflation creates hyperinflation.

As I've warned before on this blog, do not purchase gold and silver ETF's in the belief that you are protecting your assets by holding gold and silver. As substitutes or surrogates for the real thing, they are deficient. They may be convenient, but when the time comes that you want to own gold and silver, you may be left holding the bag instead.

A new study indicates that the Paulsen-Bernanke takeover of the financial services industry was based on unsubstantiated claims that we had a credit crisis. The likely result is hyperinflation as in the Weimar Republic of 1922.

Jim Willie observes that "The USFed has begun to take on some curious similarities to a crime syndicate central clearinghouse. It refuses to disclose which banks received bond swaps, and refuses to reveal what assets it accepted as collateral. Before long, RICO Laws against racketeering might be invoked."

Grassroots activists helped derail the Republican-led effort in Ohio to pass legislation calling for a Constitional Convention. These aren't Goldwater-Reagan Republicans.

A "tax holiday" on payroll taxes would be a great way to preserve jobs and stimulate spending at the grassroots, where the people are. With no graft to spread around, such a fair, sensible idea probably has no chance of passing. Instead, we'll get New Deal II, which will fail to pull us out of the Depression, just as its predecessor failed. Only FDR's entering the war with Japan and Germany after his provocation of Japan did that trick.

ObamaWatch: Scotus again refuses to hear Obama citizenship case. Obama could totally defuse the issue by producing a valid Certificate of Live Birth. Tellingly, he has not. With the fix in to seat a Constitutionally unqualified man, Obama will be putty in the hands of his Establishment controllers (as if there was ever any question about it.) Blackmail can accomplish wonders.

Obama and the Fourth Turning Watershed

ObamaWatch: Following on the "Groundhog Day" theme (from what I consider one of America's great movies) of a few days ago, John Pilger observes that so far Obama's "change" is a code word for "continuity." Keeping Gates as SecDef promises the US will be deeply involved in the Middle East for some time. John Brennan at CIA shows tolerance for "extraordinary rendition. Madeline Albright, an architect of Clinton's 1990's genocide in the siege of Baghdad, is assigned to develop the US response to genocide.

"There is more continuity in Obama’s appointment of officials who will deal with the economic piracy that brought down Wall Street and impoverished millions. As in Bill Murray’s nightmare, they are the same officials who caused it. . . . Contrary to myth, Obama’s campaign was funded largely by rapacious capital, such as Citigroup and others responsible for the sub-prime mortgage scandal, whose victims were mostly African Americans and other poor people. . . . President Obama is the latest manager of an ideological machine that transcends electoral power."


Pilger finds hope in Obama's idealistic supporters who his cynical advisors say "have no place else to go. . . . If there is a happy ending to the Groundhog Day of repeated wars and plunder, it may well be found in the very mass movement whose enthusiasts registered voters and knocked on doors and brought Obama to power. Will they now be satisfied as spectators to the cynicism of “continuity”? In less than three months, millions of angry Americans have been politicized by the spectacle of billions of dollars of handouts to Wall Street as they struggle to save their jobs and homes. It's as if seeds have begun to sprout beneath the political snow. And history, like Groundhog Day, can repeat itself. Few predicted the epoch-making events of the 1960s and the speed with which they happened. As a beneficiary of that time, Obama should know that when the blinkers are removed, anything is possible."


My hope is that Obama's youthful supporters (as opposed to the die hard Democrats) will be far less tolerant of Obama's sellout than were Bush's apologists on the Christian Right. Both supported their man with religious fervor. The Millennial Generation's secular religious tendencies should prove less enduring as the reality of the Obama administration sets in. His charisma will start to ring hollow. They probably won't like his calls for mandatory "national service" (the draft). And they should have no stomach for the continued bloodshed in the Middle East. His allegiance to the Banksters and ties to corruption will be clear for all to see.

On the other hand, with the economy going in the tank, financial stress may see them opting for the security of all the new government jobs he's promising with his stimulus packages. The more idealistic/authoritarian of them may relish the idea of becoming part of his new, million-member, National Civilian Security Force. Youthful idealists are not immune. Could they become counterparts to Hitler's Brown Shirts or Mussolini's Black Shirt Militia? Is this warning by a former member of Hitler's Youth on target? Our Dear Leader is already touted as a role model and appears in government school textbooks. Is there a limit to what can be justified by an appeal to "the greater good?"

The battle for the future may well be in the hands of the Millennials as we enter the Fourth Turning. My fear is that they have been so brainwashed by the government schools and popular culture, that they won't even be able to grasp the real issues. The home schooled kids I've met are generally much better grounded and independent in their thinking than the public, and even private, schooled graduates. They are less susceptible to mob psychology, too.


It may well be that King Obama's Dream Team will complete the transformation of our once constitutional republic into fascist Amerika. Capitalism and freedom may well be dead. As Ayn Rand wrote 50 years ago, "Capitalism: [is] The Unknown ideal." What we have experienced in the US in our lifetimes is not free market capitalism, though it has been represented as such. But, "capitalism" gets the bad rap for the economic problems we face. I've heard this from three well-"educated" Millennials I know. Therefore, they are Marxists. Incredible!


America has morphed, slowly like the proverbial frog in the heating pot of water, into Amerika: "Our country was founded upon the principles of freedom, responsibility, and opportunity to succeed or fail. Government was supposed to play a limited role in our lives. Government’s function was to defend against foreign invaders, provide basic services, enforce the laws, and maintain the public infrastructure of the country. Over time government has incessantly intervened in the economic system and by successive steps has moved the country toward socialism. Millions of Americans are now totally dependent upon handouts from the government. This policy of government expansion through the use of credit at the expense of taxpayers is detrimental to the rest of society. Interventionist wars, undeclared by Congress, and maintaining military bases in 117 countries were not envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The more we consent to government intervening in our lives, the more freedom that we lose. We are now experiencing the utmost intervention by government in our 222 year history."

Ominously, Obama's continuity pick for SecDef Gates calls for greater integration between active duty and reserve military. And new rules published in the Federal Register call for expanding the military's domestic mission "to prevent environmental damage or respond to 'special events' and 'other domestic activities.'" Earlier we reported the combat brigades now stationed in the US by Northcom for domestic peacekeeping. So long Posse Comitatus!

My mood of apprehension increases as we approach the King's inauguration and his First 100 Days. They promise to be truly "transforming." Too bad for us.

The Crisis Continues - More

The cost of the Bailout is up to $8.5 trillion and rising weekly. An "informed" friend of mine yesterday still thinks it's a mere $700 billion. Just goes to show: 1. how effective the mainstream media propaganda is, and 2. how wicked the banksters are. Meanwhile, Jim Rogers declares most large US banks "totally bankrupt." Bob Chapman updates his warning Hyperinflation and then the Second Great Depression. Pension funds are but one of the next shoes to drop.

Meanwhile, the Fed refuses to reveal the recipients of $2 trillion in bailout loans. They've also refused to allow an audit of their books, or the gold supposedly in Ft. Knox for years. Ron Paul continues to warn that the Fed's printing of money is the root of the problem. When will the American people wake up to the criminality of the Republicrats and stop playing their two-party game?

QuagmireWatch: Nato is paying protection money to the Taliban to stay in Afghanistan! The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country."

ObamaWatch: Is Rahm Emanuel the Obama advisor involved in the reported negotiations to fill the vacated Illinois Senate seat? Why won't he answer questions about whether he had a role? And the facts recorded at the time show that Obama did, in fact, meet with Blagojevich about his replacement. So now do we have Blogogate? It's always the cover-up that gets them.

Joel Skousen, in his latest newsletter, writes that the "fix is in" as the Supreme Court refuses to deal with the issue of Obama's eligibility.

". . . the matter will never be officially resolved. The extent of the collusion to mask Obama's birth place has been widespread. Obama has refused to allow any review of his college and university records. This is surely because his applications for entrance or his applications for financial aid contain statements that either he was foreign born or that he applied for aid as a foreign student. If there wasn't something incriminating there, he would have opened them for review. The State Department refuses to document how Obama got a US passport. Obama never held a US passport until his visit to Kenya, though he traveled to and from the US on several occasions. That means he was traveling under another nation's passport -most likely Indonesia where he was a citizen.

Hawaii continues to collude in this conspiracy by refusing to reveal the source of his mother's Certification of Birth in Hawaii--which is surely falsified since researchers have checked with every single hospital in Hawaii and found no record of his mother giving birth there.

Lastly, the media was in total collusion with this conspiracy. There was a virtual and total blackout . . . . Only this Monday, after the Supreme Court ruled to not hear the case, did all the major media report on it. This indicates they were, indeed, following the story, but deliberately refused to warn the American people of its facts and impact.

The best evidence all points to Obama's birth in Kenya as confirmed by his grandmother, and certified by her translator. Officials in Kenya have also been a party to this conspiracy to deceive. Several officials have stated to Jerome Corsi and others that his birth place is widely known in Kenya--which is proud to have a favorite son occupying the White House. Even the Kenyan Ambassador to the US let it slip in a radio interview that the government was planning an official monument to that fact until he was forced to retract all statements about Obama's birth in Kenya to ensure Obama wouldn't be disqualified."

I highly recommend Joel's excellent weekly World Affairs Brief, which deals with wide-ranging geopolitical stories, with a unique perspective that looks behind the scenes to the way the world really works. A subscription is a bargain for the wealth of information and analysis he provides.

The Fourth Turning is a thought-provoking book I read ten years ago. It identifies a recurring, predictable generational cycle over 500 years of Anglo-American history. This essay gives good reason we're moving into the "Fourth Turning," a generational crisis, as serious as we've ever faced. "America will enter a new era that will culminate with a crisis comparable to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II. The survival of the nation will almost certainly be at stake."

I highly suggest you read the essay, and the book. We will need all the wisdom and leadership we can muster to come through this crisis with our freedom intact.

And just when we don't need yet another crisis, it seems that the US needs just two more states to ratify a call for a Constitutional Convention (ConCon) to rewrite the Constitution. The issue is currently pending in Ohio.

So many crises, so little time!

Each of us needs to think through how the effects of a dollar devaluation will affect us personally. This is an excellent summary. Iceland and Zimbabwe provide current examples. The always entertaining Mogambo Guru thinks we'll see hyperinflation within 18 months! "Hell, everybody with any brains knows that if the government keeps creating more and more money and credit, then consumer prices will rise exponentially and the economy will be ruined, just like Zimbabwe today, and just like every other example in all of history where a stupid bunch of governmental dirtbags created too much money!"

With corporate pension funds at risk, we can expect the Fed to create more money to help keep payments going to retirees. We can expect a steady stream of corporations, corporate credit unions, cities, states, you name it, making pilgrimages to Washington to get their bailout. With unemployment slated to rise much more than the 16.5% it currently is (if calculated the old way before the Clintonistas redefined it for political advantage in 1994), pressure to spend will continue to rise. Keynesianism is slated to go out with a bang in another bubble. That bubble is the doomed US Dollar.

All these efforts are bound to make the problem worse, as they have historically. Salvation by earmarks? Sounds like the "New Deal." I can't even imagine the deals that will be made, as politicians decide who lives and who dies financially. Ain't fascism great! Why am I humming "And the Money Kept Rollin' In" from Evita?

As an additional reality check, Coach Dave speculates that we might experience real (not false flag like 9-11) terrorist attacks concurrently with the perfect financial storm that's forming. This is another good reason to make preparations. Check out his links, especially this one that makes a good case our own government is targeting patriots, Constitutionalists, anti-war activists, truthers and the like as "terrorists." I've seen reports for years about 800 FEMA concentration camps with a capacity of 16-million staffed and ready to go in the US.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of pending domestic chaos, FEMA bureau-rats are busy polishing their plans for martial law in the US. Steve Quayle's report from inside law enforcement sources indicates that the Bushama administration is gearing up for martial law, gun confiscation and civil war in America. (Listen to the report, please.) Remember Paulson's Banker Bailout Bill was rammed through under threat of martial law according the Rep. Brad Sherman and Sen. Jim Inhofe.

ObamaWatch: Even though the courts are still dismissing the numerous cases challenging Obama's eligibility to be President, the issue won't go away. And the consequences for America are staggering. In a related story, Illinois' Governor has been indicted for wide-ranging corruption charges, including trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat. I'm sure Obama, whose career is rooted in the Chicago political machine, is somehow unrelated to all that corrupion. Right!

The Obama Presidency still looks like Groundhog Day. Same old, same old. Business as usual.

George Ure's Urban Survival site this morning (12-8-08) has a fascinating discussion of the twin earthquake events predicted by the time monks at HalfPastHuman. If they happen within the next week or so, as predicted, these will be major events. Also, this "future leaking into the present" information technology will gain even more credibility.

Meanwhile, food shortages (i.e., famine) may be looming in the US because of shortages of diesel and propane in the far reaches of the US growing areas. The author of this article makes a good case that the Obama administration should hit the ground running on preventing this. Therefore, they probably won't, because it's not sexy enough, and it actually makes common sense.

With all these threats, it makes more sense to make at least basic survivalist preparations. I, and many others, did this for the Y2K threat that failed to manifest (thankfully). The same situation seems to be facing us today, but with far more tangible and threatening precipitating causes than a computer glitch.

The big kahuna for Y2K was the possibility of "cascading cross defaults" in the financial system which would bring the banking and commerce system to a halt. We are seeing this happening today with the collapse of commercial credit and the nuking of currencies through hyperinflation. Throw in massive unemployment in a depression, civil unrest, martial law, terrorist attacks, WMD attacks, war, outbreak of possible plagues (bird flu, etc.) and there are good reasons to make at least the most basic of preparations. It is a simple insurance issue, for the same reason you buy home, car, health, and life insurance.

Many people are already looking to survivalists for advice. The question is: do you want to prepare for these possibilities hoping that the system will continue to deliver and that the government will successfully step in if the system fails? Or do you want to have some control over your destiny by laying in basic emergency food storage, non-hybrid seeds for a victory garden, water filters, medicine, etc.? I'll be spending more time in future posts on these resources.

And please, don't send me an email saying your "preparation" is putting your faith in God and letting Him handle all these issues. Of course faith is important. Preparation is totally biblical. Witness Joseph discerning the times and storing up in times of plenty for seven years of scarcity, among others. The kind of "faith" that won't prepare is simply shifting the responsibility to others -- not a very Christian thing to do.

ObamaWatch and Mumbai

I'm planning a targeted post this weekend dealing with the "strong" dollar and precious metals. If you're holding off buying precious metals because of current dollar strength, you'll want to read this. The gold train will be leaving the station shortly. If you wait for the whistle, you won't be able to get on board!
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The attacks at Mumbai may be much, much more complicated than reported. Wayne Madson's report is well worth reading just to get a glimpse at the competition between competing national intelligence services, their illegal funding operations, as well as non-governmental criminal gangs operation worldwide. After you read this, you'll realize how comic-book-like our Main Stream Media reporting is.

After participating in Venezuelan naval exercises, a Russian destroyer will cross the Panama Canal Friday for the first time since World War II and dock at the former US naval base. This appears to be a symbolic "tit for tat" for US meddling in Georgia.

ObamaWatch: Hillary's appointment as SecState bodes ill for foreign policy: "For those hoping for a dramatic change in U.S. foreign policy under an Obama administration -- particularly regarding human rights, international law, and respect for international institutions -- the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is a bitter disappointment. Indeed, Senator Clinton has more often than not sided with the Bush administration against fellow Democrats on key issues regarding America’s international legal obligations, particularly international humanitarian law. . . . The selection of Hillary Clinton, at best, represents a return to the policies of her husband’s administration."

So many Clinton administration retreads are on the Obama team that it almost appears that Obama may have been a Trojan horse to put the Clintons back in power. The GOP felt confident they could defeat Hillary, but not if she was dressed in an Obama costume.

Friday, Dec. 5, is the day the Supremes should decide whether to hear the case questioning Obama's citizenship. So far, the Dems reportedly have spent over $2 million to avoid this issue, when a $10 certified Birth Certificate or Certificate of Live Birth could put this issue to rest -- if Obama truly is constitutionally qualified. See this video - "Obama vs. the Constitution"

I've seen the term "mall foreclosure" so much lately, that I thought I'd share a story with you. Commercial real estate is said to be the next bubble to pop.

Financial Tsunami continues

At the risk of appearing to be a perma-bear, many others more astute than I (you think I make this stuff up?), think world stability hangs by a flimsy financial thread. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. As he surveys the global economy, he remarks: "We are about to find out whether China has made the wrong bet with a development strategy of vast investment in manufacturing plant for mass export at thin margins to the US and Europe." Spreading economic recession in China, massive civil unrest, and all those military age young males without wives thanks to the one-baby policy make a wicked brew.

California is often called a "bell weather" state. Trends start there. So what does it foretell about our future when the state of California goes broke?

These 10 energy myths are interesting.

Pakistani press is doing its best to expose the attempt to blame the Mumbai attacks on the Pakistanis. Sounds like the 9-11 fable about Bin Laden to me. Will the War Party use Mumbai as an additional provocation to shift their war even beyond the projected surge in Afghanistan into Pakistan and India? Will the sheeple swallow another Big Lie and send their children and what's left of their retirement funds off to war? As the US moves toward national bankruptcy, we can scarcely afford the charade of being the "worlds' only superpower."

Mossad-linked Debka File reports "US masses naval-air-marine might in Arabian Sea opposite India, Pakistan, Iran." When will we ever learn?

ObamaWatch: "Obama’s Cabinet: Full of Bill Clinton’s Rotten Fruit." How long will the Obots stay in denial? Others predict that Obama will add to the horrendous legacies of Bush I - Clinton - Bush II specific policies rammed through by a Democrat supermajority or Executive Orders, that will ruin America. Judge for yourself which actions in this list will get this result.

From the LEAP/E2020 group is this summary of things US citizens can do to prepare for the coming US default:

"For all those who are interested, I put in attachment the last issue of the GEAB newsletter (26 pages). Below an excerpt for those who are in the US:

Special US citizens: Getting ready for the US default
The LEAP/E2020 team wishes here to give some specific advice to the US readers of the GEAB as indeed they will find themselves in a very special situation, being at the centre of a collapsing system 41. All in all, the outcome of the crisis – already extensively described by LEAP/E2020 in the past 2 years and now beginning to be clearly visible - can be summed up to 5 processes: 50 percent downgrading of middle-class living standards by 2011, collapse of a significant part of public services (local and federal), nationalization of capital-based pensions (a topic we shall address in the next issue of the GEAB), massive real unemployment (likely to culminate to 20 percent of the active population by the beginning of 2010), and a substantial devaluation of the Dollar (as the result of a determined political decision or because of a staggering plunge of the US currency value). On how to survive economically and financially in such a situation, LEAP/E2020 would like to present the following 7 key-recommendations:

I. Important: Avoid staying liquid in Dollar

II. Liquidate your USD-denominated assets (US T-Bonds included) and invest in assets out of the US and dollar-related zone, in particular assets and currencies secured by solvent states

III. Invest one third in precious metals (gold, silver, platinum,...) and other easy-to-change assets… do not under-estimate the risk of state-confiscation, as it occurred in the 1930s (see previous GEABs)

IV. If you can, open a bank account outside the US (even better, outside the dollar zone)
V. If you decide to keep a stock-portfolio, chose to invest in Asian or European (Eurozone) assets
VI. Reduce spending and investments as much as you can. Get rid (or reduce to the minimum) your debt.

VII. Prepare for the interruption of many services. Due to a near complete dependence (with no equivalent on the planet) of the US social and economic fabric on large retail chains (food, pharmacy, restaurants…) and contingent on the speeding up of large US company bankruptcies, follow closely the course of the economic recession: a bankruptcy (including of entire malls 42) can all of a sudden interrupt part of your community's/region's supply

43. Some regions are already experiencing cuts in direct air connections, delivery of express mail, basic public services (school 44, transport 45, police46,...) or beginning to have problems paying their public employees' pensions47 or unemployment insurances

48. In October 2008, individual bankruptcies rose 40 percent compared to the previous year

49. The States are calling upon Washington for an emergency plan to avoid devastating cutbacks in public services

50. The crisis storming the country is comparable to Katrina hitting full shot New Orleans. Ill-adapted and ill-maintained dikes are caving in one after the other.

41 Among the news illustrating the extent of the crisis hitting the US, there is this information from CNN Money dated 10/24/2008 suggesting that a growing number of students are fleeing their country to escape the impossible refund of their debt.
42Source: CNNMoney, 10/16/200843 In Chicago for instance, the Mayor Richard M. Daley declared that the city has to prepare for mass layoffs, public and private, with no equivalent since the Great Depression. Source: Cbs2Chicago, 11/13/2008"

Is Obama Eligible to be President?

The issue of Obama's eligibility for President won't go away. We the People Foundation placed a full page ad in the Chicago Tribune today. This is where Obama's transition team is headquartered, as well as his home and the heart of his political base. The story is most interesting. And more.

Obama needs to deal with this issue in a decisive way. We may be headed towards a Constitutional crisis. The US Supreme Court may choose the hear the case based on their deliberations on December 5. The Main Stream Media still refuses to cover the story.

And ho-hum, the US is officially in a recession, and has been for a year now. Apparently surprised by the news, the DJIA had its fourth largest drop in history. The Eurozone has followed suit with its first recession in its ten-year existence.

Hillary Clinton has officially taken the job of Secretary of State. Surely it is in jest the Bill Clinton has been mentioned as a possible replacement for her Senate seat. Is this a great country, or what?

Obama priomises more war in "South Asia." Uh-ho, now that we've had terrorist attacks in Mumbai, we can add India's terrorists to our own hit list. According to this Reuters article, Obama still thinks Bin Laden is alive, or at least wants you and me to believe that. Still wondering if Mumbai was a false flag operation. Little reported is that the attackers were white, blond, well dressed, had punkish hair. And apparently, Indian security forces helped and/or stood down during the attacks.

Obama Stiffs the Anti-War Movement

Afghanistan has never been conquered by an invading force. Many credit the Afghan quagmire for the downfall of the USSR. Sun Tzu gives good reasons why the US and NATO will also fail. Indeed, it has almost failed already.

ObamaWatch:
Questions abound about Obama's official eligiblity for the Presidency. He has left so few footprints, he probably couldn't get a simple security clearance. Is a a CIA spook? The US Supreme Court has scheduled a conference for December 5th concerning Obama's citizenship. Yet, except for the Christian Science Monitor, there is still nary a word about the issue in the Main Stream Media. Media bias? Intimidation? Both?

The Supremes are in a bind. Since they gave the 2000 election to Bush, they'd be severely criticized if they demand certified evidence, especially if it does not exist (likely, since the issue would have been put to rest long ago if it were groundless.) If they ignore the lack of evidence, or say the Constitutional requirement is somehow "outdated," then the door is open for Arnold Schwarzenegger after Obama.

Is Obama confident, or more -- a person with narcissistic personality disorder? We'd better find out.

And then there's Larry Sinclair's forthcoming book. Obama's reign is bound to be surrounded by scandals and rumors.

Surprise, surprise! "Obama's Security Team Delights Hawks." How fun it will be to hear the Obots explaining how this is really consistent with his campaign promises. Just like the Bushbots rationalized trashing the Constitution after 9-11. Justin Raimondo calls it the "End of the Affair" with the anti-war left. Let's see how long they hold the torch for Obama.

PoliceState Watch: In violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, the Pentagon plans to station 20,000 uniformed troops in the US by 2011. The first 5,000 deployed from Iraq last October.

DepressionWatch: One of my favorite financial newsletters got me thinking last week that maybe my gloom-and-doom about the economy is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. As in, fear of the future causing people to stop spending, which slows down the economy unnecessarily and causes job layoffs, all in a self-feeding downward spiral. With psychology at the heart of it. While worth pondering, I prefer to be prepared. There are too many signs that we've overreached ourselves in a big way. Ben Stein gives good reasons why the "slowdown" may be a never-ending story. Still looks like a hyperinflationary depression to me.

It won't help for credit card companies to shrink credit lines by $2 trillion over the next 18 months.

One of the reasons why this depression will be worse than the first is deteriorating moral standards in America. This new ethics study shows that today's high school students lie, steal and cheat more than any time in history. Ethical relativism reaps its predicted harvest.

To clear your palette, you might like to see these 50 strange buildings from around the world.

Wednesday, November 26

ObamaWatch:
Ralph Nader presciently writes about The Third Clinton Administration. "The signs are amassing that Barack Obama put a political con job over on the American people. He is now daily buying into the entrenched military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned Americans about in his farewell address. With Robert Rubin on his side during his first photo opportunity after the election, he signaled to Wall Street that his vote for the $750 billion bailout of those speculators and crooks was no fluke (Rubin was Clinton’s financial deregulation architect in 1999 as Secretary of the Treasury before he became one of the hugely paid co-directors tanking Citigroup.)" Is Obama trying to reconstruct the economy on a base of sand?

Robert Scheer agrees that Obama sided with Wall Street instead of Main Street. Previously he had engaged Nader in vigorous debate against this idea. Hopefully reality will awaken more Obama zealots that it did with Bush zealots.

My biggest concern about Obama is not a third incarnation of the Clinton administration (though it will be much worse without any effective Republican opposition). It is the parallels with Germany of the 1930's and where that led. We're in 1932-33 now. Others agree. A big push for so-called "hate crimes" legislation is an ominous sign. Laws against "hate speech" will follow. That's just the beginning of his add-ons to the Bush police state.

Still very, very puzzling that the MainStreamMedia is ignoring the story questioning Obama's actual legal status to be President. (The Christian Science Monitor seems to be an exception.) OK, so it isn't puzzling. Not because the story is not valid, but because the term "MainStreamMedia" says it all. Our "free" media is no more free on the big questions than the obviously state-controlled media in Russia, China and elsewhere. It is the same reason why Ron Paul can't get any traction in the media, and Obama can seemingly come from nowhere to get elected. One lawyer promises to file a lawsuit against all Obama directives until the citizenship issue is resolved.

Justin Raimondo writes about the remarkable connection between "The Bailout, the Media, and the War Party." GE, which owns NBC and MSNBC among others, is now a bailout recipient. GE also produces expensive military weapons systems. Will they bite the hand that feeds them? "With the government in control of the commanding heights of the American economy – the financial sector, which, like GE, has its tentacles wrapped around the communications industry – the difference between private and state-controlled media is near abolition. . . . If the government is now buying "shares" in the corporate owners of the major news outlets, then how close are we to some place like Russia, for instance, where the line between economy and state hardly exists and the major media dutifully spout the Kremlin line?"

The US Government has now pledged at least $7.7 trillion to bail out the economy. They might toss a bone to actual consumers instead of powerful banks and corporations. Obama's financial appointments are full of foxes guarding the hen house. The massive looting of America at the highest levels will continue. Where's that money coming from? Is it any wonder that books on the Weimar Republic are popular right now in Washington? Hyperinflation is cooked into the economy now. Prepare for it.

You might want to see a comparison of the bailout to other famous big budget expenditures in US history. Jim Rogers believes that devaluation of the dollar is policy, that the fear-based dollar rally will end shortly after the new year, and that commodities are the best buys for money.

Speaking of bailouts, why is Ford asking for one when they can produce cars at plants like this one in rural Brazil?

A leading Russian financial analyst sees the decline and financial collapse in the US leading to a breakup of the country into at least six regions. Within a year or two he sees the Amero replacing the dollar. Apparently, the financial system came close to collapsing on November 21, when Citigroup was effectively nationalized. We may well see a bank "holiday" shortly after Obama is inaugurated, if not before. Be sure to keep a month's worth of cash stashed.

With all this increasing socialism abounding, let's not forget that it was socialism and communism among the early Puritans that left them starving. It was the switch to capitalism that saved them. It seems that incentives work better than good intentions.

Last Saturday the first nationwide "End the Fed" rallies were held in 39 different states. Fiat money really is the root of all evil. I was priveleged to speak at the Oklahoma City rally. See here , here, here, and here.

For something interesting and off-beat, check out "Giants of the Old World." And it has long been discussed whether mammograms actually promote breast cancer. Worth thinking about.