July 4th 2009
FIFTY-SIX YEARS AN AMERICAN BY CHOICE
Fifty-six years ago July 4th was on a Saturday, just as it is this year. On Friday, July 3rd 1953, I was sworn in as an American citizen at the Houston Federal Courthouse in ceremonies attended by close to a thousand people, including guests and host organizations. After the speeches and the Oath of Citizenship, the DAR and American Legion Posts served cookies and drinks.
I had never heard of the DAR and the American Legion before and their sincere welcoming us as new citizens touched me. Encouraged by their apparent care and consideration, I asked for and received help from the American Legion to start a Citizenship School to teach applicants for citizenship the history and founding principles of the United States. Thousands graduated from our Americans By Choice Citizenship School to become well-informed citizens of our country and we taught them in English, the language that held this nation together since its creation.
When the DAR found out about my background they persuaded me to start talking to their chapters about the evils of socialism. I am a survivor of oppression and persecution both by the National Socialism of Adolf Hitler and International Socialism of Joseph Stalin. For almost twenty years I was a speaker warning about communism, which is the rough ridge of the of the smooth socialist iceberg. Of the many honors I received I am most proud of the Americanism Medal awarded to me by the DAR. The first time this medal was bestowed on a foreign born American.
As soon as I received my Certificate of Naturalization on that Friday afternoon, my late wife and I drove home. We picked up our two boys, citizens by birth by-the-way, and loaded them into our station wagon. We drove all afternoon and finally by evening we arrived at Del Rio on the Mexican border.
Before checking in to the motel we drove across the bridge to Mexico and made a U-turn and came back. The Immigration Inspector walked over to our car stopped at the barrier and asked: "Are you American citizens?"
"Yes, we are since noon today."
He was quite surprised by the answer and asked: "What do you mean? Please explain.”
I was ready for the answer. "We have lived in the United States since 1947 and nobody ever asked us if we were American citizens. Now that we are proud citizens we had to find someone who would ask us and this was the best solution we found." Then I showed him our brand new Naturalization Certificate and he congratulated us for being the newest citizens ever to cross the border.
I was proud to be able to say that I was an American. Some Americans may not appreciate or understand, but it is of enormous significance to us Americans by Choice.
We are the ones who feel a lump in our throat when our flag goes by and watch in horror the indifference and demeaning behavior of some Americans around us. We know flag etiquette and watch with nausea merchandise hawked on TV by a pitchman dressed in a flag. We, who have lost our freedoms once, understand and appreciate freedom and the responsibility that this country provides.
I fear for my country. This is not the same country I proudly adopted in 1953. All that we Americans by Choice can ask you Americans by the accident of birth is to wake up before it is too late. Take back our country to integrity and patriotism. We must do so because we are in mortal danger from enemies within and around the globe.
So I was looking for help and leadership when I went to an April 15th Tea party. It was a great party and it made me feel good to see so many of my community participating. But I did not go to feel good. I came to find directions, to find leadership because I fear for our country’s future.
I am here to tell you some good news. I did find directions and leadership. I found it in the Declaration of Independence. Let me read it to you and see if you hear the same directions as our founding fathers heard in 1776. Let me remind you that they were a much smaller minority in favor of independence than those of us today seeking new directions for our country.
The founders of this country believed that Governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, which to me means that the Government works for us and not that we work for the Government.
It further declares that the role of Government is to use its powers to assure the Safety and Happiness of the People and if the Government fails to do so it is the Right of the People to alter it or to abolish it.
Do you feel safe and happy with what politicians are doing in Washington?
The Declaration is clear about what has to be done. The time has come to exercise the right of the people to alter or abolish a Government that has failed. In today’s language: Throw the bums out! To do so we may all have to do what our Founders had to do: “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” So be it. Thank you.
July 15 2009
OUND BITES YOU HAVE MISSED
“TAX AND RAPE” LEGISLATION
Waxman's "Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" establishes a massive three-year package of unemployment benefits, job training, and relocation expenses for all middle class workers displaced by Obama's forced U.S. energy production migration to solar, wind and other politically correct "green" jobs. The U.S. should expect a loss of at least 2.2 million jobs on average, or about 9 jobs lost for every 4 jobs created."
When attempted in Spain, the high cost of green energy drove energy intensive Spanish companies and industries out of Spain to countries with cheaper carbon-based energy, while the cost to Spanish taxpayers was enormous.
SEX CHANGE MADE EASY
U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in — only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women’s burqas.
PREVENTING VOTER FRAUD THE DEMOCRAT WAY
In a 2009 survey by the Overseas Vote Foundation, more than half of overseas and military respondents tried to vote but failed to do so because they either received a late ballot or never received a ballot at all.
NEW USE FOR AN OLD STANDBY
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been using B-52s to check out suspicious merchant ships approaching North America, often when the ships are still about 2,000 kilometers from the coast. The B-52s use their targeting pods to take pictures of the ship, and transmit those back to DHS. With the targeting pod, you can stay high (20,000 feet) and far away (over twenty kilometers) and still get a close look.
HOW THE GOVERNMENT CAN START YOUR COFFEE
General Electric and smart-grid start-up Tendril have agreed to develop “smart” appliances that work with the coming “smart” grid. The deal is pitched as allowing consumers to control their GE appliances via the Internet — but it also means that THE GOVERNMENT would be able to monitor and control them.
SNAFU
"The President's Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board (PIAB) provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, counter-intelligence, and other intelligence activities. The PIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board, also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities." - according to the White House website. The Board has no members. BHO needs no advice
SHORT SENTENCES BASED ON LONG EXPERIENCE
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
People are getting restless about how they will safely retire without losing their dignity.
Restlessness combined with loss of dignity can lead to very dangerous "social movements".
These movements can overthrow governments at the polls...and that is the most benign outcome.
Perhaps politicians should think about the potential for less benign outcomes.
##
Juy 15
OUT ON A LIMB
Luckily I am not an economist, a diplomat, a politician, or a socialist. This means I can speak to you straight and honest. It does not mean, however, that I am smarter or better qualified than thousands of marvelous writers, columnists and thinkers. On the contrary. It means that I can be totally wrong in my analysis and predictions, but I feel compelled to occasionally say it and perhaps prove my ignorance.
I believe the economic survival of the US depends in the sort run on actions by Israel. If Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities, the consequences would be catastrophic. The closing of the Straits of Hormuz, and the destruction of much of Saudi oil production would bring gasoline prices in the US to an untenable level, fuel rationing and to the beginning of a rapid inflationary peak. It would force much of the world to abandon the dollar, which would swiftly move into hyper inflationary mode. It would also rapidly turn the US public into a blame Israel mode. The Israelis must weigh all this against the chances of a second Holocaust at the hands of their Arab enemies.
It is therefore important to evaluate the choices Israel has and the impact of the Obama administration on Israel’s decision.
The Obama Administration has undertaken many steps in recent weeks, to prevent an Israeli action. The lack of support for the so-called “Iranian revolution” and the release of Iranian “spies” held in Iraq, was motivated by the desire of the Obama Administration to set the stage for an Iran-USA security treaty, On the other hand the carefully worded statement by Joe Biden seemingly giving Israel the green light to protect itself, followed by the denial of it by Pres. Obama indicate that a typical psychological warfare is being conducted. The Middle East is the home of this bazaar technique and it is very difficult to determine what the real bottom line is, just as much as it is hard to find the real price of a rug. Joe Biden has been an advocate for Iran for decades and has numerous times interfered in their behalf while serving in the Senate; so don’t be misled by the “good cop-bad cop” act performed by the Obama team.
We must realize that an Israeli attack would force the US into the hostilities promptly. The Iranian retaliation would be widespread against the US and other Western interests especially the Saudi oil fields and would quickly require some form of major US military counter.
In the alternative, should an Israeli attack be a failure, then the US may have to finish the job because leaving an enraged Iran capable of completing its nuclear ambitions would be unacceptable to the West.
Israel may be compelled to act sooner than later, because if it allows sufficient time for Obama to negotiate a mutual security treaty with Iran, the US may provide Iran protection for Iran against any Israeli attack. In exchange Iran would agree not to interfere with the peaceful withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and eventually from Afghanistan. Iran would also agree to join a non-proliferation treaty involving nuclear weapons on condition that Israel is also forced to do so.
In exchange the Obama Administration would extend the “nuclear umbrella” protection to Israel guaranteeing its borders if Israel would abandon all territories acquired by war. All these moves would be so set up that any objection by Israel would antagonize the American public, which would demand strong-arm measures against a trouble making Israel.
Throughout the world politicians and bankers are performing a juggling act trying to keep all balls in the air. If Israel attacks, the balls will come crashing down.
##
7/18/09
ECONOMIC SOUND BITES MADE PALATABLE
These are sound bites made short enough to prevent your eyes from hazing over. Each bite is connectetoda next one. While reading them, remember my the first lesson of survival: He who walks through life oblivious to the surroundings is known as the “victim*.”
OBAMA ECONOMICS EXPLAINED
Lawrence H. Summers, head of the White House National Economic Council spoke candidly about President Obama goal to try to change the direction of the economy in the future. Since consumers, hit by a sharp drop in credit, stocks and home prices that depleted the value of their biggest investments, pulled back on spending, the government provided public support through the dramatic increase in federal spending that the president and Congress have engineered as necessary to prop up the economy while consumers and businesses are mending their finances. Interfering with the timing of such support reaching the economy is the political necessity of delaying the benefits until the election year of 2010. It is appropriate that while the private sector deleverages, government, through fiscal policies and through central-bank lending inflates.
WE MUST PRODUCE MORE AND CONSUME LESS
Mr. Summers explained that manufactured exports emerged as an intermittent source of growth in the past year as the dollar declined. He suggested that we manufacture more and export more. To boost exports we must allow the dollar to weaken further. Only by printing limitless amount of dollars can we overcome the problem of overpriced manufacturing costs due to the coming increased unionization of the labor force and unilateral climate change costs.
THE CHINA PROBLEM.
China has been artificially keeping the value of their currency low, so that manufactured goods at the WalMart can be cheap. This resulted in an enormous export advantage for China. At the same time China is limiting exports of raw materials to the rest of the world. Since China cannot be persuaded to increase the value of their currency, we are forcing them to do so by diluting the dollar and cheapening the dollars they accumulated in exchange for their cheap merchandise.
CLINTON/CARVEL WERE RIGHT.
“It’s the economy, stupid!”
The above message is a continuous attempt to remove us from the group addressed by their slogan. My comments are imbedded.
* Also known as “sucker.”
7/18/09
WHEN I WROTE THIS ARTICLE ONE YEAR AGO IN JULY OF 2008, I DID NOT DISCLOSE THE NAME OF THE BOOK WHERE I FOUND THESE INSTRUCTIONS THAT WERE LITERALLY FOLLOWED BY THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN.
I have long wondered how and why Barack Obama was picked for the role he is now playing and what are the ground rules and concepts his creators are utilizing. I found the text book upon which his presidential run may have been based and I will quote to you liberally from the book.
“Those who would transform a nation cannot do so by just breeding discontent, or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes. They must know how to kindle and fan extravagant hope. They must know how to preach hope.
To plunge into an undertaking of change, people must have the feeling that with an infallible leader they will have access to a source of irresistible power. They must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved. Experience is a handicap.
Faith in a cause is to considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves.
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Many join in political movements to escape individual responsibility, to be free from freedom. They want to eliminate free competition to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society.
Where freedom is real, equality is the demand of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
The attitude towards the family should be hostile and they should do everything to discredit and disrupt it. Undermine the authority of parents; facilitate divorce; take over the feeding, education and entertaining of children; encourage illegitimacy.
Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents. You can start without the belief in God, but never without belief in a devil. You do not look for allies when you love. You always look for allies when you hate.
When our hatred does not seem justified, the desire for allies becomes more pressing. It is chiefly the unreasonable hatreds that drive us to merge with those who hate as we do, and it is this kind of hatred that serves as one of the most effective cementing agents. Our hatred comes not from the wrong to us, but from the realization of our inadequacy and cowardice. When we feel superior to our tormentors, we are likely to despise them, even pity them, but not hate them. Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
What are the talents requisite for a leader? Exceptional intelligence, noble character and originality are neither indispensable nor desirable. The main requirement seems to be audacity; contempt for the present; cunning estimate of human nature; unbounded brazenness; fanatical faith in his cause. Charlatanism is indispensable to effective leadership. You cannot lead without deliberate misrepresentation of facts.
The plan is to 1. to discredit prevailing institutions and detaching from them the allegiance of the people;2. by creating a hunger for faith, so that when the new faith is preached it finds an eager response among the disillusioned masses; 3. by furnishing new doctrine and slogans of hope and change; 4. by undermining the conviction of “better people” those who can get along without this new faith, so when the fanatics make their appearance they are without capacity to resist.
The fanatics wait for chaos, the collapse of the old order. Chaos is their element. The first phase of the new movement is to create chaos to allow the use of force and coercion.
I AM NOW READY TO DISCLOSE TO YOU THE SOURCE OF THESE QUOTATIONS. THEY COME FROM A BOOK WRITTEN IN 1951 BY ERIC HOFFER, A LONGSHOREMAN TURNED PHILOSOPHER. THE BOOK IS "THE TRUE BELIEVER." HE WROTE SEVERAL OTHERS THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED INSTRUCTION MANUALS FOR THE OBAMA MASS MOVEMENT. "THE ORDEAL OF CHANGE.""THE PASSIONATE STATE OF MIND."
7/22/09
SUNBATHING ON THE DECK OF THE TITANIC.
I am recharging my immune system with some Vitamin D while sipping a Shiner Bock. I just heard about this new tsar appointed to run GM. It brought back memories of the other commie tsars, or commissars of the defunct Soviet Empire.
One type of commie tsar was the political commissar, a high-ranking functionary at a military headquarters who held coequal rank and authority with the military commander. The Communist party established political commissars to control the military forces. No military order might be issued which did not have the prior approval of both the commander and the commissar. These commie tsars never received the same military training as commanding officers; most were just high-ranking party hacks.
Now isn’t it a strange coincidence that the commie tsar appointed by Obama to the auto industry is just as ill qualified and has just as much power as the old commie tsars under the Soviet revolution? How is the old saying? There is nothing new under the tsars?
Forgive me the pun, but I am getting giddy reading the New York Times Magazine of this week and considering how lucky I am for having reached old age without a health commie tsar interfering with my life expectancy.
You will not believe what I am going to quote for you right off the pages of this Obama administrations mouthpiece organ. I won’t even comment. You just do your own commenting.
“In the current U.S. debate over health care reform, “rationing” has become a dirty word. Meeting last month with five governors, President Obama urged them to avoid using the term, apparently for fear of evoking the hostile response that sank the Clintons’ attempt to achieve reform. The case for explicit health care rationing in the United States starts with the difficulty of thinking of any other way in which we can continue to provide adequate health care to people on Medicaid and Medicare, let alone extend coverage to those who do not now have it. Rationing health care means getting value for the billions we are spending by setting limits on which treatments should be paid for from the public purse.
There’s no doubt that it’s tough — politically, emotionally and ethically — to make a decision that means that someone will die sooner than they would have if the decision had gone the other way. The dollar value that bureaucrats place on a generic human life is intended to reflect social values, as revealed in our behavior. The task of health care bureaucrats is then to get the best value for the resources they have been allocated. Saving one teenager is equivalent to saving 14 85-year-olds. ‘What if the teenager is a violent criminal and the 85-year-old is still working productively?’ Decisions about the allocation of health care resources should be kept separate from judgments about the moral character or social value of individuals.”
Older people around me are getting a bit apprehensive. There is a rumor that they would be tossed overboard even before we hit that rumored iceberg.
Well, my sun is setting. I am just happy there is no beer commie tsar who in the name of safety and the public good would prevent small places like Shiner from brewing beer. As yet.
7/20/09
OUT ON A LIMB AGAIN.
A critical week coming.
The Misery Index of the Carter years (inflation+interest rates+unemployment) may change within a week suggesting that the inevitable bad times are about to start.
The U.S. government is set to sell record amounts of long-dated Treasury securities next week in an effort to raise billions to fund its economic stimulus package and industry bailouts. The question is how much interest buyers will demand on these notes.
During the global panic of 2008 we benefited because a panicked world sought refuge in US dollars and Treasury bonds. The resultant inflows put a lid on consumer prices and kept interest rates low. If growth overseas resumes, and these flows reverse, both consumer prices and interest rates will rise.
Since then we had our “in-house buyer”, the Federal Reserve, commit to buy $300 Billion of these obligations. This is how money generated by the Federal Reserve becomes an interest-paying obligation of every US taxpayer.
The Federal Reserve, however, is a very insecure bank. If it would be regulated by any State or Federal banking supervisor, it would have to be shut down for its unsafe practices and poison laden bloated balance sheet reeking of hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic assets, such as bonds backed by subprime mortgages, credit card debt, and auto and student loans. Do not be misled. Just because these toxic assets are now hidden on the balance sheet of the Fed, they did not disappear, au contraire, they will come back to hunt us and hurt us.
All eyes will be on the Fed. auctions to see what interest rates the world demands. It will be the Cassandra moment of the Misery Index.
Sapienti sat.
##
HECTIVITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
As I pointed out last week, the destruction of Iran’s reactors would cause irreparable harm to the region and to the world economy that depends on oil. Israel does not have alternatives other than aerial bombardment and missile attacks. The US has the capability of securing the reactors without destroying them. Reactors occupied by US and Arab Special Forces would effectively control Iran’s nuclear ambitions without destroying the reactors' energy producing capacity. Supervision would eventually turned over to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
##
7/29/09
A Hungarian military officer died and his name brought back lost memories. Béla Király is the best example why labels don’t work to describe people. He was fighting along the German Army against the Russians in World War II; he was major general of the Hungarian army under the communists; he was sentenced to death by them; he was commander-in-chief and military commander during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; he was Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College; he was member of the Hungarian parliament; he was honored in 1993 as a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial authority in Jerusalem.
It brought back a strange and forgotten episode that I learned about General Király from his book that I received from him. When the Russians realized that the West, especially the US, betrayed the Hungarian Revolution, they invaded Hungary with over 100,000 Soviet troops and some 4,500 tanks. Király’s troops fought back, but resistance was futile. Pursued by two tank divisions, General Király and a small band of his troops headed for Vienna. They needed to hold the rapidly advancing Soviet Army till dark, so they could escape under the cover of darkness into Austria.
Leaving Budapest Kiraly ordered some of his artillery to fire at the Russians in a delaying action. Then a miracle occurred. Suddenly about 500 yards from the Hungarian soldiers an enormous explosion occurred. The sound was like a sonic boom and a mushroom cloud rose to the sky. The sight, the sound and the mushroom cloud made it look like an atomic explosion. The Russians believed that the US has finally come to help the Hungarians with the atomic bomb. The entire Russian Army turned around and fled. All pursuing Russian planes disappeared from the sky. Within minutes the entire front was clear of any Russians.
Király later surmised that one of the Russian planes pursuing them dropped a rocket at them and it slid into an ammunition silo. A Hungarian anti aircraft battalion was stationed at the site and their ammunition was kept in a deep, underground concrete bunker. When the rocket hit the bunker containing a trainload of shells, the explosion was accelerated by the concrete confinement resulting in the miracle. Király and his men had no problem getting to Vienna. No Russians were to be found anywhere.
Many years later he mused that in a classical sense he won the battle and beat the Russian Army and Air Force since the loser leaves the battlefield, the winner occupies it.
RIP General and Gentleman Béla Király.
8/2/09
MILITARY INTEL. CYBERSPACE
GOOGLE ANYONE?
The Pakistani Air Force admitted that they have been using Google Earth to locate targets, and help guide pilots operating in the tribal territories. The Pakistani government has never been flush, thus any major mapping effort in the tribal territories, never got done. So, like many of the players in this war, including the Americans, the Pakistanis use Google Earth. No one in the military is surprised anymore by this. In the last four years, Google Earth (earth.google.com) has revolutionized military intelligence, but the military doesn't like to admit it. But by putting so much satellite photography at the disposal of so many people, in such an easy-to-use fashion, Google Earth has made much more information available to military professionals (and terrorists, and criminals and academics, etc), who quickly appreciated what a splendid new tool they had.
To the U.S. Department of Defense, Google Earth's major problem was not it's ease-of-use, but the manner in which it showcased the shortcomings of the American NGA (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency). The NGA is responsible for taking the satellite photos, spiffing them up as needed, and getting them to the troops. Trouble is, the stuff still isn't getting to the troops that need it, when they need it. This was made very obvious when Google Earth showed up, and demonstrated how you can get satellite images to anyone, when they need it, with minimal hassle.
For over two decades, the generals, and other officers with access to "satellite imagery", have been complaining about the difficulty they have in getting their hands on this stuff. Hundreds of billions of dollars has been spent on photo satellites since the 1960s, and the troops always seem to get leftovers, if anything. Yet the satellite people regularly con Congress out of more money so they can build more satellites, and neat systems that will get the satellite imagery "to the troops." The goods never arrive, or never arrive in time. Generals gave angry testimony before Congress about this non-performance after the 1991 war. The satellite people seemed contrite, and said they would make it right. If given the money to do it. They got the money and the troops got nothing.
Now the troops got access to Google Earth, and have seen what they have been missing. To make matters worse, the software Google Earth uses to get the job done, was first developed for the NGA. But the way the NGA operates, you have to worry about security considerations, and all manner of bureaucratic details, before you can deploy a useful tool. The troops are fighting a war, you say? Well, we still have to deal with security and keeping the paperwork straight. But now the troops are beating NGA over the head with Google Earth, and Congress took notice. However, NGA bureaucrats are close at hand, and the angry troops are far away. Progress is still slow. But at least the troops have Google Earth, unfortunately, so does the enemy.
But, as has been demonstrated in Pakistan, while the Taliban may have access to Google Earth, they don't have access to F-16s. In the last ten weeks, Pakistani F-16s have flown over 400 sorties against Taliban targets in the Swat valley, and Waziristan. Google Earth showed the pilots what they were bombing, and how a pilot would see it. The U.S. supplied the Pakistanis with high quality aerial cameras, and soon the Pakistanis had high quality (and higher resolution than Google Earth) digital photos of the key areas their bombers were operating over. But Google Earth remained the go-to tool when some obscure area, that the expensive U.S. cameras had not gone over yet, suddenly showed up as a potential new target. The Pakistanis are also using more laser guided bombs. While their accuracy reduces civilian casualties, you need detailed aerial photos of the target area, before you send the F-16s in. Another problem the Pakistanis have is that they have no bombers that can operate at night. So the Taliban tend to move at night.
CHINA
In the past year the number of Chinese Internet users rose 13 percent, to 328 million. China is now a dominant force on the net, at least in terms of the number of users. A side effect of that is the headaches the Chinese government has trying to control Internet use the way it controls other media (electronic and print). The Internet, and smart, self assured young Chinese, have become something of a nightmare (and an unexpected one at that) for the Communist Party that is trying to maintain the largest police state on the planet.
Many Chinese bureaucrats believe the next revolution will be fought in Cyberspace. At least it will start there, and be finished with large scale demonstrations and unrest on the streets and in work places. The government is now sending thousands of local officials to a one week training course, on how to deal with this 21st century revolutionary behavior.
A lot of Internet activity is seen as counter-revolutionary, and the government is at a loss as to how it will control this unpredictable beast. The government sees a connection between growing signs of unrest on the Internet, and the growing (nearly 100,000 a year) public demonstrations of unrest and dissatisfaction with the government.
BOTNETS
Some 4-5 million PCs worldwide have been infiltrated by hackers (who planted a secret, "Trojan Horse" program that takes control) and turned into "zombies". This has become a big business, with each zombie PC in a botnet producing $300-$500 a year, or more, for those who control them. This is after you deduct the cost of replacing zombies that are detected and cleaned (of their secret software). Botnets of 100,000 or more PCs are not unusual, and many of them are for rent.
Countries have been caught using botnets to attack political opponents, by shutting down their websites and sneaking in and stealing data (member and contributor lists, correspondence and planning documents). Many other nations have not been caught, but stand accused. Many unscrupulous web users hire Internet criminals to launch DDOS attacks. These can be carried out for less than a hundred dollars, and even hard core on-line gamers have rented botnets to knock opponents off line for a while.
Military Cyber War organizations are aware of the widespread availability of mercenary Internet bot herders, and some of these cyber thugs have been hired by major nations to do espionage and other dirty deeds.
8/7
INNOCENCE LOST. #1.
I hate to do this to you, but you must share with me a bit of lost innocence that I still nurtured at my old age. This has to do with farming and food. I discovered an “organic” farm not far from my ranch. Three people farming a small tract of land produced a variety of more than 50 vegetables and meat in one year.
They have been in business 9 years and for the first 3 years they spent $500,000 just to create the productive soil of the farm. The native black soil was improved by the addition of compost, sea minerals, fish emulsion, black strap molasses and green manure. They were certified “organic”, but discovered that the designation was not only meaningless, but also misleading. To become organic their farm was inspected and after that nobody ever came to check on them. Records had to be created and kept for 5 years of each planting and harvesting The paperwork amounted to about 4 hours a day.
They also discovered that although they refrained from using any chemicals, the “organic” criteria allowed the usage of more than 200 chemical substances and that “organic” products were imported in large quantities fro Mexico and China where inspections of any kind were non existing.
So they started to become “beyond organic”. They only grow Heirlooms and all their animals are heritage. They feed the soil weekly with earthworm castings, Ladybug fertilizer, fish emulsion and black strap molasses. They never use products that kill insects. They grow many products to feed the insects and leave these for the insects. Their products are higher in nutrition than any other organic products found in the grocery store. A veritable Shangri La. They sell at farmers markets in Austin, to gourmet restaurants and to the public.
So what can go wrong?
Government comes.
The House passed a law last week to enable the FDA, in the name of safety, to shut down any farm without justification and prevent them from selling products to the public. No due process, no appeal. The big seed companies want the government to prohibit the use of Heirloom seeds by the farmers. They want the farmers use seeds genetically “improved” by the seed companies. These seeds are altered to become “terminator seeds.” Terminator, or Suicide Seeds means creating plants that make “dead seeds” – seeds that will never create another baby plant ever again. It was created by big farm businesses, big seed companies and the US government to stop farmers from being able to grow their own plants and force farmers to buy seed each season from big farm businesses. The traditional practice (tried and tested for thousands of years) of saving seeds for the next harvest comes under threat due to a US patent to prevent "unauthorized seed-saving" by farmers.
The worst part is that these suicide seeds poison normal seeds through pollination. A Canadian farmer was found guilty of growing patented seeds, even though he did not know of it. The pollen from the patented canola seeds from a nearby farm had pollinated with his and thus he had to pay Monsanto for licensing and profit from the seeds.
Many believe it is purely a business idea by forcing farmers to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year -- many of whom are in the developing world and cannot afford to do this.
Supporters of the terminator, or suicide, technology believe that control of seed germination helps prevent growers from pirating their technology. If crops remain fertile, there is a chance that farmers could use any saved transgenic seed from a previous season. This would result in poorer profits for companies. The end of the small farm is near.
Shangri La is in danger.
8/11/09
INNOCENCE LOST 2.
I recently read a shocking book: THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND. By the time I was finished I had a new bird’s eye view of the banking system. I had so many unanswered questions before reading the book, but I no longer had problems with the answers.
Most questions to me now sound like the old Graucho Marx question: ”Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?”
If the Federal Govt. gave Goldman Sacks $12.9 billion to bail them out, where did the $11.36 billion to pay bonuses come from?
Why is the difference between what GS received and what they paid out in bonuses declared as a $1.1 billion profit?
What happened to the missing small change of ($12.9-$11.36-$1.1=) $440,000,000?
Why are lobbyists and Democratic politician getting $440,000,000 in fees, contributions, and freebies, above and under the table?
If that is not the right number, what is?
Why did Hank Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sacks, destroy competing Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Sterns and gave access to vast pools of money to Goldman Sachs when they were about to go bankrupt?
Why did Paulson eliminate the billions of counterparty losses GS owed in Fannie, Freddie and AIG?
Children, I hope you feel much better now that you don’t have to think hard to find the answers.
Now I am thinking up new questions, for the more advanced among you to make it harder to answer
Whom did Madoff pay off so that he could hide the scam, although the SEC knew about it for years?
What is Madoff’s life expectancy if he talks?
Why does the government encourage home ownership and the repeat of irresponsible consumerism by keeping interest rates abnormally low and thereby punishing those who save?
Why is the Government allowed to use fake cash accounting methods, when businesses are not allowed to hide future liabilities?
In other words, why is the Government allowed to just have a checkbook and no bookkeeping?
I even have a health care question for you.
Why could I not pay the doctors and hospitals the same discounted price as insurance companies and Medicare pays?
What happened to the ad nauseam repeated promise that you will have the same health insurance as your Congressman?
Questions are never difficult. The answers are.
(Old Hungarian Saying.)
Looking forward to your answers.
8/12
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY.
We read about the success of the latest sale of Treasury obligations. It was trumpeted as a great accomplishment by the Treasury. "Trust has returned in the dollar" and the market was excited and went up.
The fact is, however, much more sordid. Guess who bought half of the bonds secretly behind closed doors. This article blows the lid of the deceit and manipulation going on to bolster belief in the dollar for the benefit of our creditors.
http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/fed-buys-last-weeks-treasury-auction/23880
As you can see the Federal Reserve bought the bonds with some newly printed money. This means that we the taxpayers owe the Federal Reserve and must pay interest on this debt. Just imagine that you have a garage sale in your driveway and nobody is buying your stuff. So you get a friend to come and buy a bunch of stuff from you to make it look that you have some great stuff for sale. You make a deal with the shill promising that next day you'll buy back half of what he bought and a few weeks later, when nobody is looking, you buy back the rest. Can you smell the blood in the water?
***
I read about an interesting lawsuit that reveals how Goldman Sacks has made a lot of money. GS is suing a former employee and accusing him of stealing a technology that GS was using. A closer examination of this technology reveals a neat gimmick how to make money by clever usage of electronic wizardry. Lets assume some pension plan makes a big buy or sell move amounting to millions of dollars. They instruct their broker to expedite the transaction. The broker transfers the order to the man on the floor of the exchange who then completes the transaction. The time that elapses between the order given by the buyer until the floor man executes the order is about 12 seconds. GS has developed a technology that intercepts the information during this 12 seconds and before the floor man is able to execute the order, GS makes the move themselves. As soon as GS buys or sells the large quantity of the order, the value of the stock instantly goes up or down in view of the activity. By the time the floor man is ready to execute his order, the price has changed and GS can sell it at the new price, pocketing the difference created by the change.
Lets assume the buyer wants to buy 10 million shares of stock in ABC which is selling at $1/share. GS buys the shares electronically at $1 and due to the sudden large sale the price moves up to $1.01. When the buyer's floor man executes his order he has to pay $1.01 to GS which sells him the shares. 10 million pennies add up to a quick $100,000 profit earned in a split of a second. It works the same way if a seller wants to dispose of a lot of stock.
Isn't it quite interesting that the public cannot find out about prices on the exchange for 20 minutes after the transaction closed. Broker can find out instantly. Some even more instantly.
Remind me about chocolate pudding my wife loves. You can cook it, or make it instantly, or buy it ready made. They all taste and smell good. Unlike the Goldman Sacks pudding.
8/13/09
SOUND BITES FOR EDUCATION AND ENJOYMENT
CHINA
The value of shares traded in China now surpasses the combined amount in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
"The majority of Chinese people believe that prostitutes are more trustworthy than Communist Party and government officials." It is the result of a recent survey on the respective credibility of various social groups by the the mouthpiece of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party.(CCP).
IRAN
United States officials are talking tough and threatening even-stiffer sanctions should Tehran refuse to discuss its nuclear portfolio by the end of September. This ploy isn't going to work – Here is one example: The Iranian government's May 2008 purchased of Venezuelan bank Corp Banca CA, thus circumventing the US embargo and effectively allowing Iran to conduct business within the US.
Inflation has declined to 21.5 percent a year, from a high of 29 percent last September. High inflation and high unemployment have been major causes of popular unrests, and still are.
SOMALIA
Al Shabaab has declared gold and silver teeth as un-Islamic, and Islamic police are removing such teeth with pliers. The precious metals are being melted down and sold.
USA
“Borrowing makes you poorer. Unless you're using the money to increase output, there's no economic health in it. In other words, if a factory sees an opportunity, it might borrow to expand. The extra output should produce enough profit to allow it to repay the loan
and come out ahead. But if you borrow to consume, at the end of the day you're poorer. That's the lesson of the Bubble Years. That's the lesson consumers need to learn every couple of generations."
NORTH KOREA
A five-month (the "150 Day Battle") economic revival effort is almost over in North Korea, and it has failed. This was mainly a propaganda operation, meant to show North Koreans that the government was able to do something about the sorry state of the economy. This effort, like all before it, failed. The corruption and decline in discipline continues to spread up north. There is a growing sense of dread in North Korea.
RUSSIA
Russia has hundreds of nuclear power generators sitting in remote places, posing a risk to the environment, and a potential source of radioactive material for a "dirty bomb" (explosives surrounded by the radioactive material, which is scattered by the explosion, contaminating a large area). These miniature power plants are usually designed to last ten years without any maintenance. The Soviet Union used over a thousand of these for space satellites and probes, navigation beacons in remote areas, as well as lighthouses on its arctic coast. These devices also put out lethal, but short-range, radioactivity. Animals who cuddle up to them in the winter, will die after a few hours exposure. Some illiterate hunters have suffered the same fate.
Russian prosecutors are trying to find out who ordered the sale (as government surplus) of four MiG-31 fighters for $5 each. Even though the aircraft were being sold without engines or weapons, they were still worth nearly $4 million each. The Russian military, and defense industries, have lost billions of dollars worth of weapons, equipment and even cash, since the Cold War ended, in similar scams. The problem is that there are no accounting controls on such thefts, which are usually not discovered until after the thieves had got away, and covered their tracks.
TEA PARTIES
“The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.”
8/19
FROM THE DECK OF THE TITANIC.
Forgive me for not visiting with you more often, but I am so busy that I barely have time to relax here on the upper deck. There is a full moon and I hear howling from steerage.
I am ready to join the pack and howl at the moon, waiting for a leader to emerge and make us into a powerful orchestra.
We are creating a crippling cap and trade monstrosity while China is activating one new coal-fired plant every week of the year, polluting the air. Every week! We could not shut down enough pollution here in a year to equal the new pollution created by China in one month.
We are saving the planet while the Chinese are saving their economy by using coal. It costs about 3-cents per kilowatt-hour for coal-fired electricity. Wind power costs 15 cents and solar power costs 30 cents! The song was wrong. The answer, my friend, is not blowing in the wind.
We are sending $2 Billion to Brazil to help them develop a major oil field under the ocean in the naïve hope they will sell us cheap oil when they produce it. This will make us even more dependent on foreign oil, while we prohibit oil production near our shores. Of course the Chinese are not concerned with such nonsense and soon they’ll be drilling close to our shores with every drop going to China. In the meantime they spend many more billions in Brazil than we do. It’s easy for them. It’s our money they use.
We are agitating people to borrow, spend and consume and punishing those who save by not paying them a decent return on their savings. It was borrow, spend and consume that got us into this mess and even the dumbest person now understands that saving money is not a sin, but survival.
We are told that economic revival depends on creating a national health care system. This is like hooking up a 40 ft. trailer behind the car to get better mileage.
Once I lived in a neighborhood where nobody’s car started at the first crank. Many drove clunkers. People starting out; people without credit; young people going to school; the poor. We all drove clunkers at one time or another in our lives. Now we destroy clunkers to sell new cars. So much for Democrats helping the poor.
They say look how good the car dealers and the car manufacturers are doing! By destroying good running cars suitable for the poor and needy, you are sure not improving their lot. Watch what will be soon happening. People who drove the clunkers will not be able to make the payments on the new shiny cars and they will have to be bailed out too, just like the ones who bought their homes on food stamps.
I read that breaking my picture window is good for the economy, just as junking clunkers. After all it provides income to the glassmakers, the installers, the delivery company, the window washers, etc. Except I planned to spend my money on other things. Like my payroll. If breaking windows is so good for the economy why don’t we just break everybody’s window and we will have a boom?
I just noticed the Captain is not as cocky as he was earlier. He is no longer wearing his Spiderman outfit. I just have another Shiner and practice my howling.
9/2/09
TIBOR-TIBER-TIBERIUS
I am often asked where my fist name comes from. Something happened today that gives me an opportunity to repeat an explanation for those of you who have not heard it before.
In Italy, the ancient Tiber River has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, which was founded on its eastern banks. Legend says Rome's founders, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, were abandoned on its waters, where they were rescued by a she-wolf. The river drops 3,800 Ft from its mountain springs to the Mediterranean. Because the river is identified with Rome, the term "swimming the Tiber" has come to be the Protestant shorthand term for converting to Roman Catholicism.
Tiberius became a popular name throughout history. Roman Generals, Emperors, James Tiberius Kirk, captain of two starships in the fictional Star Trek universe and even the bartender in “Cheers," Woodrow Tiberius "Woody" Boyd, portrayed by Woody Harrelson, are just a few examples of the longevity of the name.
Obviously Italy’s neighbor, Hungary, adopted the name and used it for centuries in a Hungarian version as Tibor. You find famous Tibors throughout the world of science, literature, medicine, military and even a holder of the Medal of Honor, Tibor Rubin.
Something happened in the world today that may make the word Tiber again famous and relevant. BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, reported a “giant” discovery at the Tiber Prospect in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that may contain more than 3 billion barrels, after drilling the world’s deepest exploration well.
The well is located about 250 miles southeast of Houston. It was drilled to approximately 35,055 feet, greater than the height of Mount Everest.
The latest discovery will help BP, already the biggest producer in the Gulf of Mexico, boost output in the region by 50 percent to 600,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day after 2020. It’s equal to about a year’s output from Saudi Arabia, the biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
That old river must know something, but don’t say nothing, just keeps on rolling along.
9/10
The Chicago Con man, Selling Health Insurance.
“There is nothing new under the sun.”
The year was 1952 and I was waiting for a bus in front of the Shamrock hotel, because my car was in the repair shop. A 4 holer Buick, with Illinois license plates drove up and a gentleman offered me a ride. He introduced himself as being an insurance executive out of Chicago trying to establish operations in Houston. Soon he offered me a job selling his health insurance policies. He claimed that there was no limit to what I could earn, but to make sure I make enough each week, he would sell for me one afternoon and I could keep the commissions.
He insisted that I use a canned sales pitch and tell the prospective buyers that I am only in town for a few days and they must act immediately, or lose their chance. Once a week he sold policies for me and he never failed. He had a 100% success ratio. The policies were health insurance and disability income types and sold like hot cakes. As long as I used his canned sales talk, I was very successful, but I am not a conformist and whenever I changed the pitch, sales did not easily follow.
Having been trained as a life insurance expert and an estate planner, I found the lucrative health insurance sales job below my professional dignity and after a few months I left to join a high falutin life insurance company giving me much lower earnings, but an appreciation for my expertise. Don’t laugh unless you never made similar wise decisions.
This is not, however, the end of the story.
About six months later I read an astonishing story on the front page of the Houston Press. Sheriff Buster Kern lectured an insurance executive in the lobby of the Shamrock hotel in front of the media. This insurance executive lived in a penthouse unit of the hotel and operated an insurance company. The Sheriff advised the gentleman that the Chicago Crime Commission sent notice to be on the lookout for him. The Sheriff told him that he knew that our high living executive was an ex-con, who served five years in Leavenworth for mail fraud. He was a former member of the Jake “the barber” crime syndicate.
I contacted a friend who was still very successfully selling the health policies, working half day and fishing half day. (Don’t laugh.) He told me the rest of the story.
His boss studied psychology while in prison and decided to use his talent in the field best suited for a psychologically designed con game: health insurance. His canned sales talk was developed in prison and after his release he made a deal with a small Chicago debit insurance company and talked them into letting him create a health insurance section.
His sales talk was so powerful that the health insurance department became bigger than the rest of the company. Eventually the company totally abandoned debit life insurance and became one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation. (The irony of all. The successor of this company currently insures me.)
I still have a copy of the sales talk. It is smooth and uses appeals to emotion and pride; explores human weakness and does not allow time for careful examination of facts the buyer assumes. It’s a rush act combined with emotional strong-arming.
Fifty-seven years ago I met the first Chicago health care con man. Who says living long does not have its advantages? It enables you to recognize imitators.
##
9/19
STOCK MARKET MANIPULATION.
I was deeply involved and researched in depth the S&L collapse of the 1980s. I understood and fully documented the actions by politicians and the government that made the S&L crisis into a major disaster. It is happening again and this time the consequences will be more widespread and disastrous. Providing cheap money, hiding losses, and forcing regulators to relax their requirements are happening again.
These policies magnified the ultimate costs and delayed the resolution of the S&L problem for years. What started out as a $20 billion problem in 1986 grew into a direct loss of $150 billion and an indirect loss to stockholders, property owners and investors of $1.3 trillion by 1993. In the 1980s a political consideration involving the 1988 presidential elections created the problem. This time the political consideration is to create an artificial stock market boom in an attempt to hide the real state of the economy so that the Obama administration could claim credit.
Here are the facts.
During the last month just four stocks accounted for as much as 40% of composite volume on the NYSE: Citigroup, Bank of America (BAC), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM).
In 2007, these same companies only accounted for 3-5% of the volume traded. Why would just 4 companies that are on government bailout and barely solvent generate this kind of volume among 1200-1300 companies? It is due to manipulation to create a favorable daily growth for the market, hoping that investors will ignore the real problems faced by the economy and will consider the rise in market prices as a sign of recovery.
The problem of American political leadership is that they are unwilling to face the truth. I found evidence that “the US government, US Federal Reserve, Wall Street, the US Treasury, and the Exchange Stabilization Fund have all engaged in domestic and international financial and monetary transactions that have been kept secret from the world with the assistance of financial journalists, and that will have severe and negative consequences in the not so distant future.”
The Fed is propping up the bond market and the big banks, having been bailed out, are propping up the stock market. They are all working to try to get consumers to throw their money back into the market, to create another bubble by manipulating this current market rally out of thin air, The sudden upsurge of day trading indicates that is has become profitable if you understand the manipulations going on. Just make sure you don’t hold any stocks overnight.
9/27
MILITARY INTEL SHORTS
IRAN
Up above a big military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as Iranian president declared Iran's armed forces would "chop off the hands" of any power daring to attack his country, two air force jets collided in mid-air. One was Iran's only airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations, The proud military parade was planned to give Ahmadinejad a dazzling send-off for New York and add steel to his UN Assembly speech Wednesday.
The AWACS' appearance, escorted by fighter jets, was to have been the climax for the Iranian Air force's fly-past over the parade. Instead, it collided with one of escorting planes, a US-made F-5E, and both crashed to the ground in flames. The two pilots in the F-5 fighter ejected and survived, but the other aircraft, Iran's sole AWACS (radar command and control) aircraft went down with all seven of the crew on board. Letting the F-5 (a 1970s U.S. light fighter) get so close to the slower moving AWACS was obviously not a competent move
Eyewitnesses reported that the flaming planes landed near the mausoleum burial site of the Islamic revolution's founder Ruhollah Khomeini, a national shrine. The disaster was a serious blow to the Iranian Air Force not long after its first and only AWACS went into service in April 2008. At the launching ceremony of the AWACS, Air Force commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Miqani boasted its new radar systems were made Iran able to spot any airplane or missile at a distance of 1,000 kilometers from Iran's borders.
The loss of this airborne control system has left Iran's air force and air and missile defenses without "electronic eyes" for surveillance of the skies around its borders.
CHINA
China has hired professional female models to march in a parade. The October 2nd parade in China, to celebrate 60 years of communist rule, wants to make China, and its government, look good. To that end, the parade organizers are having contingents, from all the military organizations in China, march past the high def TV cameras. Being a communist police state, there are lots of uniformed groups. Many have female components. The parade organizers particularly wanted to insure that the women in uniform looked good. Not just military good, but good. When they discovered that the female contingent from the People's Militia did not look very attractive, they proceeded to hire models, from as far away as Singapore, to pretty-up the women's contingent of the People's Militia.
GERMANY
U.S. citizens have been warned by the government to exercise care, if traveling to Germany in the next few weeks. Those who do go are warned to be alert about their security, because of frequent recent al Qaeda threats to make attacks in Germany. The terrorists are trying to influence the September 27 elections there. The Islamic terrorists are trying to frighten Germans into withdrawing their troops from Afghanistan. It is there, and across the border in Pakistan, that the Taliban and al Qaeda are fighting to keep government forces out of areas that can be used as terrorist bases (for training, planning and resting).
It was only this year that the 4,200 German troops were finally released from an ROE (Rules of Engagement) that prevented them from attacking terrorists. The German troops promptly went on the offensive and have called for more weapons and ammunition to be sent. THEY NO LONGE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT LAWYERS AS DO US TROOPS. The Taliban have been getting out of the way, and calling for help.
Ceterum censeo: Throw the bums out!
9/29
60 MINUTES
I was planning to search for 60 minutes in the world press about references to President Obama on October 20th, 2009, nine months after he was sworn in, but could not resist jumping the gun and have a premature delivery. Here is what I found. None of these are my words:
Obama appears eager to accommodate his adversaries rather than confront them.
Obama is special as he is willing to listen to many voices. Bush acted on gut feelings, Obama has no gut feelings. Of course, America’s enemies are counting on Obama not having any guts, period.
He believes we must show great patience on Afghanistan, however we must hurry up on health care reform because people are dying.
The White House is a risky place for on-the-job training, as Barack Obama and the rest of us are learning. But the president doesn't deserve all the blame for the installation of a handsome but unprepared matinee idol in the toughest job in the world. The adoring cult, the 53 percent of the giddily oblivious electorate that took a flyer on Election Day, deserves most of it. Matinee idols only do what matinee idols do, look pretty and inveigle softly with practiced seductiveness. Trouble arrives when the matinee idol and his public confuse role with reality. Reality arrives with the surprise and impact of a lemon-cream pie in the face.
He's got headaches no speechwriter can cure. A teleprompter won't be much protection against an incoming nuclear missile.
The buzz about Barack Obama at international conferences is no longer about how strong and artful he is in the presidential role, but how naive and artless reality has revealed him to be.
Mr. Obama's riveting rhetoric is in danger of turning from a plus to a minus
Mr. Obama imagined last year that he was auditioning to replace Martin Sheen on the television serial "West Wing." He's learning better now.
Pointless rhetoric, no matter how elegantly expressed."
The extent of President Obama's naiveté — or duplicity — was on display Friday at the G20 summit when the president, flanked by Mr. Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, revealed to the American public that Iran had a second nuclear weapons site on a military base near the holy city of Qom. Mr. Obama had been briefed on the site before his inauguration. But he's been conducting his foreign policy as if the mullahs could be trusted.
Mr. Obama and other leaders set a "firm deadline" of Sep. 10 for the Iranians to make a serious offer to negotiate about their nuclear program. When the mullahs blew him off, Mr. Obama quietly extended the deadline until December.
But after sternly lecturing Iran on its international obligations Friday, President Obama didn't call for sanctions. He called for more negotiations. And then, as the Iranians were spitting in his eye with the missile test, he jetted off to Copenhagen to lobby to have the 2016 Olympics held in Chicago.
No wonder Nicolas Sarkozy holds him in contempt.
But why would anyone who is not an American insurance executive or a highly compensated banker be scared of Barack Obama?
Barack Obama's style and strategies resemble those of Latin American charismatic despots— the takeover of industries by demagogues who never ran a business, the rousing rhetoric of resentment addressed to the masses and the personal cult of the leader promoted by the media. But do we want to become the world's largest banana republic?
Obama is following Marxist theory. He's taken over the banks and the car industry. He wants the country to fail."
60 minutes are up.
Ceterum censeo: Throw the bums out!
##
10/6/09
The Man Who Never Had to Sell for a Living.
Sixty years ago I started selling life insurance. It was an exciting idea for someone who just came from war torn Europe. The idea that you can leave something for your family in the event of your death was very significant for me, who had lost every member of my family without a trace, leaving not even a fraction of an estate or property. I believed in life insurance and the good it would do for those who need it.
An insurance assistant manager who trained me, carefully explained to me that I possessed the first important criteria in selling: I believed in the product. He also instructed me that my next objective was to create the need in the hearts and minds of my prospects.
I was hesitant, because my English was poor. I spoke with a heavy accent and worried about how my prospects would accept me.
My trainer told me that as long as I believed in my product and created the need for it, people would pay no attention at all to my shortcomings of speech, or looks, or the quality of my clothes. THEY WERE NOT BUYING ME, BUT MY PRODUCT. He was right. Speaking with a heavy accent, not very well dressed, but in firm belief that I was doing a great service for my clients, I became a leading salesman.
People did not care about me. They only heard my message about my product and their need for it.
Barack Obama and his wife never had to sell anything in their life except revolt against the establishment. It was a good product and they found prospects in the Chicago slums that needed their product. So it was easy for them to assume that selling Chicago as a prospective location for the Olympics would be just as easy. They forgot that Chicago as a product was not very desirable. They could not prove the need for the Olympic Committee to choose their poor quality product. So they had to resort to the worst of all sales tactics. They arrogantly just praised the salesmen assuming that rules of sales could be overcome by their self-adoration and self praise.
Just imagine a door to door salesman coming to your house and instead of selling you on your need for their product, they would spend the time telling you how great they were; how buying their product would make them happy; how you should just buy on their say so without examining the product. You would kick them out the door without hesitation. So did the Olympic Committee.
Just imagine the same attitude when it involves nuclear weapons, the value of you savings, your health, your Medicare, or the future of YOUR children. I hope you now understand: Caveat Emptor!
Ceterum censeo: Throw the bums out!
##
10/7/09
MILITARY INTEL SHORTS October 2009
RUSSIA
The Russian firm Izhmash (Izhevsk Mechanical Works) holds the patents for the AK-47, and it is going broke because of all the illegal copies of its weapons being produced worldwide. Izhmash is having little success in trying to force companies in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Israel, China and the United States to pay licensing fees for the AK-47s they produce.
IRAN
Iran is building a formidable arms industry by following the lead of China and the former Soviet Union. That is, Iran is obtaining small quantities of foreign weapons, and then reverse engineering them, and making their own copies (and calling them "Iranian designs.") Were Iran not already in so much trouble (and sanctioned several times over it) for terrorism, developing nuclear weapons, and generally behaving badly, they would be under a lot of pressure to halt their theft of intellectual property.
The Iranians have been unsuccessful in copying many technologies, especially electronic items. They have had more success with, tanks, rockets and aircraft. But these copies are rarely as good as the originals, and the Iranians lack the industrial capability to produce large quantities of everything they copy. Still, the effort makes for great propaganda, and the Iranians make the most of that with their frequent announcements of new Iranian designed and manufactured weapons.
IRAQ
The US army has found that the troops are willing to try new stuff in combat. And the infantry often do this without telling the brass, by buying new civilian technology with their own money. Sometimes this even extends to weapons, or weapons accessories. Fortunately, the army provides message boards for the troops to report their experiences, and recommendations. To the army, it's clear that Future Soldier will evolve, more than being designed by some experts at the Pentagon.
USA
Manning the turrets of tanks is no longer a dangerous job. The new system, CROWS, is a real lifesaver, not to mention anxiety reducer, for troops who drive through bandit country a lot, and man the turret gun. You're a target up there, and too often, the bad guys get you. Not with CROWS. The gunner is inside the vehicle, checking out the surroundings (with night vision and telephoto capabilities. Many of the enemy fighters have seen Western or Japanese films featuring killer robots, and often think that's what they are facing. The fear factor is real.
The accuracy of the fire, and uncanny speed with which the CROWS gun moves so quickly and deliberately, is due to something few officers expected. The guys operating these systems grew up playing video games. They developed skills in operating computer systems (video games) very similar to the CROWS controls. Since many troops have years of experience with video games, they take to CROWS quickly, and very effectively. This has further frightened hostile gunmen, who are quick to attribute magical qualities to American equipment.
AFGHANISTAN
In Afghanistan and Iraq, where widespread cell phone service followed in the wake of the American invasions, many U.S. troops have bought local cell phone service, and use these phones when on combat operations.
Smart phones, like the iPhone, are popular. The iPhone can use thousands of programs, and some of these are very useful for military personnel. Officers see how useful the iPhone could be with software designed for military purposes. A military version of the iPhone, able to operate on a closed military network, would be a big help in the combat zone. But these officers also know that the military procurement system, which often takes more than a decade to get new gear into the hands of the troops, could never deliver a military iPhone. This has made a lot of senior officers angry. What the army is looking for is a smart phone that can work off battlefield wi-fi and have sufficient encryption and ruggedness to survive enemy efforts, and general rough use, to shut it down.
ISRAEL
Israel's German-made Dolphin submarines have been heavily modified: its torpedo tubes enlarged to accommodate missiles, new electronics installed and its fuel capacity expanded to keep the vessel at sea for 50 days without refueling. Eight years after receiving the first three Dolphin subs from Germany and two more last month they are the most modern non-nuclear subs in any world navy. Israel is reported to have equipped the new Dolphin-class subs with Israel-made 1,500-km range cruise missiles carrying 200-kiloton nuclear warheads and 135-kilometer range US-made Harpoon missiles also fitted with nuclear warheads. These missiles can reach Iranian coastal targets including its nuclear sites as well as naval, port and Revolutionary Guards facilities.
The Dolphins' expanded fuel tanks enable them to cover distances of up to 10,000 kilometers from their Mediterranean homeport and spend more time - up to 50 days - off the Iranian coast. Their presence outside Israeli waters is a powerful deterrent to any surprise nuclear or conventional attack, endowing Israel with an instantaneous second-strike nuclear capability.
RUSSIA
Recent revelations by Israeli intelligence providing the names of Russian nuclear scientists working in Iran to build nuclear weapons have stunned both Washington and Moscow. This has raised the potential of confrontation between the US and Russia to new and potentially dangerous levels. High level security deliberations at the White House are more concerned with these new developments, than the proposed “surge” in Afghanistan.
Ceterum censeo: Throw the bums out!
##
10/8
IF I TELL YOU, I WOULD HAVE TO KILL YOU.
This saying is quite commonly used in the spook business. Often said as a joke, but occasionally used as a hint that the subject is something you’d rather not discuss. In my last Military Intel Shorts, October 2009 I sent you an item about which I wanted to tell a lot more, but I wanted first to confirm that my knowledge was published somewhere and I was not disclosing some secret. This what I told you:
“Recent revelations by Israeli intelligence providing the names of Russian nuclear scientists working in Iran to build nuclear weapons have stunned both Washington and Moscow.”
In the immortal words of Paul Harvey, “here is the rest of the story.”
The importance of this information was such, that according to The Times, a London daily paper, the purpose of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly publicized “secret” visit to Moscow on Sept. 7 was to personally deliver the list, of Russian scientists and engineers working on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Why would the Prime Minister personally deliver the list? Nobody has answered that question, but unfortunately I recall a similar, but not very well know act that occurred more than 60 years ago.
Again I needed to find a place to confirm my memory and allow me to talk about things not in the public domain.
Did Bibi Netanyahu threaten the Russians with disclosing their treachery to the U.S.?
I believe history provides us the answer, because history repeats itself. In 1948 it was Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel who delivered a momentous message to Moscow. Stalin hated the Jews and opposed the creation of the State of Israel. He controlled many votes in the UN through his satellite nations. Ben Gurion, however, had a secret weapon. He knew the names of the spies that had infiltrated the various US government agencies and the CIA. These spies were so effective that US intelligence could not maintain operations in the Soviet Empire. American agents were immediately exposed and disposed of by the Soviets, due to the extensive and effective penetration of the US by the Soviet intelligence apparatus.
Ben Gurion’s message was simple. ‘Give me my nation and I will not expose your spy network to the US’. Stalin was furious, but a realist. He decided to support the establishment of Israel.
(A few years later Ben Gurion did disclose the names to the US. Most of them were former German Nazis working for the CIA and State Department, including Alger Hiss.)
A similar tactic was employed to secure votes for the creation of Israel from the block of South American nations. Nelson Rockefeller worked closely with Nazi Germany and helped several South American nations to hide almost 150,000 escaped Nazis. He brazenly committed anti-American acts during wartime that made him vulnerable to exposure and the threat of capital punishment. He was blackmailed by Ben Gurion and made a deal to deliver the South American vote in exchange for amnesty for all escaped Nazis living in South America.
Stalin, the British, Rockefeller and the US State Department fully expected that attacking Arab armies equipped by the British would immediately destroy the new state. Some Arab armies were actually trained by former German military officers. Arms shipments to the newly formed state were blocked by the British fleet and frustrated by the FBI.
Blackmail based on superior intelligence helped create the State of Israel. Was it blackmail that Netanyahu attempted in Moscow? If he did, it certainly did not work. The Russians are no longer afraid of the impotent US paper tiger.
Thereby lies the danger. An abandoned Israel with hundreds of nuclear weapons will not go to the gas chambers this time without a fight. Iran wants it to happen for religious reasons to bring end to the world as we know it and replace it with the new Muslim world of the 12th Imam.
We are at the edge of the abyss without anyone telling you about it. Until now.
If you want to read a scary book and read in detail about the blackmails described above, go to
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-War-Against-Jews-Espionage/dp/0312156480
Ceterum censeo: Throw the bums out!
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