Archive for September, 2011
Cell Phone Bugging and Tracking–Videos
Constitutional Controversy Brewing Over Phone Tracker
Cell Phone Tracking by the Government
Tapping your cell phone
Is Your Cell Phone Bugged?
Protect Yourself from Cell Phone Spying Robert Siciliano www.IDTheftSecurity.com
CELL PHONE (FBI can listen to you when phone is turned off)
How To Tap A Cell Phone | Can You Really Tap A Cell Phone?
Herman Cain Wins Florida Straw Poll: The Cain Mutiny–Videos
Herman Cain addressing the Presidency 5 Republican Party of Florida meeting in Orlando. Credit AP
Florida “Presidency 5″ Straw Poll Results Announced: Herman Cain Wins Big
Herman Cain Wins Florida Straw Poll!
Ron Paul Supporter on Herman Cain’s P5 Victory
Who Is Herman Cain?
Herman Cain’s Stunning Victory in FL Straw Poll While Rick Perry in Deep Trouble
Herman Cain on Taxes
Rick Perry Booed Again for $100K Illegal Immigrant Tuition Plan
Rick Perry AGREES with Obama: Open Borders for America!
msnbc/cnn – mitt romney vs. rick perry on securing the border
Herman Cain “We’re Not Gonna Get A Different Outcome Until We Change The Leadership”
Ron Paul Florida CPAC Speech
Gov. Mitt Romney Hits Obama and Perry in Florida CPAC Speech – 9/23/11
Gov. Rick Perry Speech at Florida CPAC: GOP Needs Candidate with Best Record, Vision
Newt Gingrich Speech at “Presidency 5″ Florida Straw Poll: Rubio would be a Great VP
Rick Santorum on his success in running against all odds
Herman Cain, Republican candidate for president, won the Florida straw poll with 37 percent of the 2,657 delegates votes cast. Cain’s total votes were more than double the combined votes cast for Texas Gov. Rick Perry with 15 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 14 percent.
Cain also beat the rest of the crowded Republican field including former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorium with 10 percent, Texas Congressman Ron Paul with 10 percent, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich with 8 percent, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman with 2 percent, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann with 1 percent.
While many Republicans came to the Republican President 5 event in Orlando to vote for either Perry and Romney, the two leading Republican candidates according to national polls, Cain won as a direct result of his performance in the Sept. 22 debate and his inspiring speech to the Republican delegates attending the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Conservative Political Action Conference meetings culminating in the Sept. 24 straw poll.
During the debates, Cain’s signature policy recommendation has been his 999 tax reform proposal. It would replace the existing complex federal income taxation system and payroll taxes with a 9 percent business flat tax, a 9 percent individual flat tax and a 9 percent national sales tax. Until the Republican debates, Cain had been a highly visible advocate of the FairTax bill. Prior to supporting the FairTax, Cain had supported a flat tax advocated by 1996 presidential candidate Steve Forbes.
The FairTax replaces all federal income and payroll taxes with a progressive national retail sales consumption tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment, according to Americans for Fair Taxation.
Apparently his political advisers convinced him not to make defense of the FairTax part of his political campaign for president. In my opinion, Cain made a serious mistake when he walked away from the FairTax and its supporters and instead went with a hybrid flat tax and sales tax. Either a flat tax or the FairTax would be better than Cain’s 999 hybrid flat and sales taxes.
Cain’s experience includes being the chief executive officer of Godfather’s Pizza, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, chairman and member of the board of directors to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, syndicated newspaper columnist distributed by North Star Writers Group, Fox Business commenter and talk radio show host of the “Herman Cain Show,” in Atlanta.
Despite efforts by the national media to focus attention on the leading Republican establishment candidates, Perry and Romney, there is clearly no decisive front-runner among the Republican and Tea Party base.
On Sept. 18, Ron Paul won the California Republican straw poll winning 44 percent of the 833 votes cast. Perry was second with 29 percent, Romney third with 8 percent, and Bachmann fourth with 7 percent. The remaining Republican candidates including Cain received 2 percent or less of the votes casts. Paul had made several speeches before the Republican Party state convention prior to the vote.
Perry’s popularity is rapidly declining due to his poor performance in three debates. The Texas governor’s position on illegal immigration is not resonating with the Republican base. In particular Perry’s support for giving children of illegal immigrants reduced tuition to state colleges and universities does not set well with the American people.
The Republican base simply wants the immigration laws enforced and no amnesty, education, medical and welfare spending for illegal aliens. Such expenditures are rewarding illegal activity at the expense of American citizens. Perry was booed when he said in the last debate, “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into the state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there, by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.” This is a classic Democratic Party emotional response to the illegal immigration issue that is costing the American people hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of jobs. Perry’s major Achilles’ heel is the illegal immigration issue.
The only polls that really count are the ones on the primary and caucus election dates.
Here is a partial list of the early primary and caucus dates for 2012:
Jan. 31: Florida (Likely to change)
Feb. 6: Iowa caucuses
Feb. 7: Minnesota GOP caucuses, Missouri, New Jersey
Feb. 14: New Hampshire
Feb. 18: Nevada caucuses
Feb. 21: Wisconsin
Feb. 28: South Carolina, Arizona, Michigan
March 6 (Super Tuesday): Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Colorado caucuses, Idaho GOP caucuses, Minnesota Democratic caucuses
If you want to vote in the Texas Republican or Democratic primaries you must be registered to vote as a Republican or Democrat at least 30 days before the March 6 primary date.
By March 7, 2012, the American people will have narrowed the Republican field down to two or three candidates.
In my opinion, the three remaining candidates will be Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Herman Cain. The other candidates will have dropped out by then because they do not have the money, organization or message to pursue a national campaign.
The winner in 1979 of the first Republican Party of Florida straw poll was Ronald Reagan. He was running against the Republican establishment candidates George H.W. Bush, Robert Dole and Howard Baker and four other GOP candidates.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Ron Paul Right On The War On Terrorism And Government Interventionism Abroad–Blowback Killing Americans–Videos
Ron Paul 2012 When Will It End?
Terrorism: Ron Paul vs. Giuliani @ SC Debate
History of Iran and US Intervention – ( Ron Paul is Right )
C.I.A. Blowback – Ron Paul
Chalmers argues that the age of the “American Empire” is nearing its end.
Author of Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Chalmers Johnson has literally written the book on the concept of American hegemony. A former naval officer and consultant to the C.I.A., he now serves as professor emeritus of UC San Diego. As co-founder and president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, Mr. Johnson also continues to promote public education about Asia’s role in the international community. In this exclusive interview, you will find out why the practice of empire building is, by no means, a thing of the past. As the United States continues to expand its military force around the globe, the consequences are being suffered by each and every one of us. (Written by Richard Castro)
Monarch Chapter 9: CIA Blowback
Is Ron Paul Really An Anti-Semite or the only one with the balls to tell us the truth!?
This is why Ron Paul is called an “anti-semite” (he dares speak the truth about the Israeli Lobby)
Ron Paul Warned 9/11 Would Happen!
SA@The DC – Ron Paul’s Reaganesque Foreign Policy
Ron Paul’s famous “What if” speech
Mutually Assured Destruction vs Mutually Assured Respect
Background Articles and Videos
Ron Paul – New hope for foreign policy
RON PAUL 101 – FOREIGN POLICY
Speech given by Congressman Ron Paul on the House floor on July 10, 2003
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 1 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 2 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 3 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 4 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 5 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 6 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 7 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 8 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 9 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 10 of 11
Neo-CONNED! by Congressman Ron Paul – Part 11 of 11
Noam Chomsky on Ron Paul’s 9/11 Theories: “What He Said Is Completely Uncontroversial”
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (1/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (2/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (3/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (4/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (5/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson on CIA Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (6/6) (2000)
Chalmers Johnson
“…Chalmers Ashby Johnson (August 6, 1931 – November 20, 2010)[1] was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967–1973, and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972.[2] He was also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.[3] He wrote numerous books including, most recently, three examinations of the consequences of American Empire: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.
Johnson was born in 1931 in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned a B.A. degree in Economics in 1953 and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science in 1957 and 1961 respectively. Both of his advanced degrees were from the University of California, Berkeley. Johnson met his wife Sheila, a 19 year-old junior at Berkeley, in 1956, and they were married in Reno, Nevada in May, 1957.[4]
During the Korean War, Johnson served as a naval officer in Japan.[5] He was the communications officer on a ship (the LST 883) “tasked with ferrying Chinese prisoners of war from South Korea back to North Korean ports.”[4] He taught political science at the University of California from 1962 until he retired from teaching in 1992. He was best known early in his career for his scholarship on the subjects of China and Japan.[6]
Johnson set the agenda for ten or fifteen years in social science scholarship on China with his book on peasant nationalism. His book MITI and the Japanese Miracle, on the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry was the preëminent study of the country’s development and created the subfield of what could be called the political economy of development. He coined the term “developmental state”. As a public intellectual, he first led the “Japan revisionists” who critiqued American neoliberal economics with Japan as a model; their arguments faded from view as the Japanese economy stagnated in the mid-90s and beyond. During this period, Johnson acted as a consultant for the Office of National Estimates, part of the CIA, contributing to analysis of China and Maoism.[7]
Johnson was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976. He served as Director of the Center for Chinese Studies (1967–72[2]) and Chair of the Political Science Department at Berkeley, and held a number of important academic posts in area studies. He was a strong believer in the importance of language and historical training for doing serious research. Late in his career he became well known as a critic of “rational choice” approaches, particularly in the study of Japanese politics and political economy.
Johnson is perhaps today best known as a sharp critic of American imperialism. His book Blowback (2000) won a prize in 2001 from the Before Columbus Foundation, and was re-issued in an updated version in 2004. Sorrows of Empire, published in 2004, updated the evidence and argument from Blowback for the post-9/11 environment, and Nemesis concludes the trilogy. Johnson was featured as an expert talking head in the Eugene Jarecki-directed film Why We Fight,[3] which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. In the past, Johnson has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the London Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, and The Nation.
The Blowback series
Johnson believed that the enforcement of American hegemony over the world constitutes a new form of global empire. Whereas traditional empires maintained control over subject peoples via colonies, since World War II the US has developed a vast system of hundreds of military bases around the world where it has strategic interests. A long-time Cold Warrior, he applauded the dissolution of the Soviet Union: “I was a cold warrior. There’s no doubt about that. I believed the Soviet Union was a genuine menace. I still think so.”[8] But at the same time he experienced a political awakening after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, noting that instead of demobilizing its armed forces, the US accelerated its reliance on military solutions to problems both economic and political. The result of this militarism (as distinct from actual domestic defense) is more terrorism against the US and its allies, the loss of core democratic values at home, and an eventual disaster for the American economy. Of four books he wrote on this topic, the first three are referred to as The Blowback Trilogy:
- Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
Chalmers Johnson summarized the intent of Blowback in the final chapter of Nemesis.
- “In Blowback, I set out to explain why we are hated around the world. The concept “blowback” does not just mean retaliation for things our government has done to and in foreign countries. It refers to retaliation for the numerous illegal operations we have carried out abroad that were kept totally secret from the American public. This means that when the retaliation comes — as it did so spectacularly on September 11, 2001 — the American public is unable to put the events in context. So they tend to support acts intended to lash out against the perpetrators, thereby most commonly preparing the ground for yet another cycle of blowback. In the first book in this trilogy, I tried to provide some of the historical background for understanding the dilemmas we as a nation confront today, although I focused more on Asia — the area of my academic training — than on the Middle East.”[9]
- The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic
Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of The Sorrows of Empire in the final chapter of Nemesis.
- “The Sorrows of Empire was written during the American preparations for and launching of the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. I began to study our continuous military buildup since World War II and the 737 military bases we currently maintain in other people’s countries. This empire of bases is the concrete manifestation of our global hegemony, and many of the blowback-inducing wars we have conducted had as their true purpose the sustaining and expanding of this network. We do not think of these overseas deployments as a form of empire; in fact, most Americans do not give them any thought at all until something truly shocking, such as the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, brings them to our attention. But the people living next door to these bases and dealing with the swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape their women certainly think of them as imperial enclaves, just as the people of ancient Iberia or nineteenth-century India knew that they were victims of foreign colonization.”[9]
- Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of the book Nemesis.
- “In Nemesis, I have tried to present historical, political, economic, and philosophical evidence of where our current behavior is likely to lead. Specifically, I believe that to maintain our empire abroad requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent. The founders of our nation understood this well and tried to create a form of government – a republic – that would prevent this from occurring. But the combination of huge standing armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous military expenses have destroyed our republican structure in favor of an imperial presidency. We are on the cusp of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire. Once a nation is started down that path, the dynamics that apply to all empires come into play – isolation, overstretch, the uniting of forces opposed to imperialism, and bankruptcy. Nemesis stalks our life as a free nation.”[9]
- Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope
Johnson outlines how the United States can reverse American hegemony.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalmers_Johnson
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Ron Paul On U.S. Foreign Policy–Mutually Assured Destruction vs Mutually Assured Respect –Videos
“It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliance with any portion of the foreign world.”
~George Washington
Mutually Assured Destruction vs Mutually Assured Respect
Ron Paul: The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb on August 29, 1949, leading to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, shared by both the USA and the Soviets. The unwritten agreement by the two super powers deterred nuclear war with an implied threat to blow up the world, if need be, to defend each of their interests.
I well remember the Cuban missile crises of October 1962, having been drafted into the military at that time. Mutually Assured Destruction had significant meaning to the whole world during this period. This crisis, along with the escalating ill-advised Vietnam War, made me very much aware of the problems the world faced during the five years I served as a USAF flight surgeon.
It was with great pleasure and hope that I observed the collapse of the Soviet Empire between 1989 and 1991. This breakup verified the early predictions by the free market economists, like Ludwig Von Mises, that communism would self-destruct because of the deeply flawed economic theories embedded in socialism. Our nukes were never needed because ideas are more powerful than the Weapons of War.
Many Americans at the time were boldly hopeful that we would benefit from a generous peace dividend. Sadly, it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity wasted. There was to be no “beating their swords into plowshares,” even though history shows that without weapons and war there’s more food and prosperity for the people. Unfortunately, our leaders decided on another course that served the special interests who benefit from constant wars and the arbitrary rearrangement of national borders for control of national resources.
Instead of a peace dividend from ending the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction, US leaders opted for a foreign policy of American world domination as its sole super power. It was all in the spirit of Woodrow Wilson’s idealistic goal of “making the world safe for democracy” by pursuing a war to end all wars.
The mantra became that American exceptionalism morally required us to spread our dominance world-wide by force. US world dominance, by whatever means, became our new bipartisan foreign policy. There was to be no peace dividend, though our enemies were virtually non-existent.
In many ways America had been “exceptional” but in an opposite manner from the neo-con driven foreign policy of the last 20 years. If America indeed has something good to offer the cause of peace, prosperity, and liberty it must be spread through persuasion and by example; not by intimidation, bribes and war.
Maintaining world domination is based on an intellectually and financially bankrupt idea that generates dependency, war, loss of civil liberties, inflation and debt, all of which contribute to our economic crisis.
Saddest of all, this policy of American domination and exceptionalism has allowed us to become an aggressor nation, supporting pre-emptive war, covert destabilization, foreign occupations, nation building, torture and assassinations. This policy has generated hatred toward Americans and provides the incentive for almost all of the suicide attacks against us and our allies.
To continue to believe the fiction that the militants hate us for our freedoms and wealth may even result in more attacks against us — that is, unless our national bankruptcy brings us to our knees and forces us to bring our troops home.
Expanding our foreign military intervention overseas as a cure for the attacks against us, tragically, only guarantees even more attacks. We must someday wake up, be honest with ourselves, and reject the notion that we’re spreading freedom and America’s goodness around the world. We cannot justify our policy by claiming our mission is to secure American freedoms and protect our Constitution. That is not believable. This policy is doomed to fail on all fronts.
The policy of Mutually Assured Destruction has been gone now for 20 years, and that is good.
The policy of American domination of the world, as nation builder-in-chief and policeman of the world, has failed and must be abandoned—if not as a moral imperative, then certainly out of economic necessity.
My humble suggestion is to replace it with a policy of Mutually Assured Respect. This requires no money and no weapons industry, or other special interests demanding huge war profits or other advantages.
This requires simply tolerance of others cultures and their social and religious values, and the giving up of all use of force to occupy or control other countries and their national resources. Many who disagree choose to grossly distort the basic principles shared by the world’s great religions: the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, and the cause of peace. Religions all too often are distorted and used to justify the violence engaged in for arbitrary power.
A policy of Mutually Assured Respect would result in the U.S.:
- Treating other nations exactly as we expect others to treat us.
- Offering friendship with all who seek it.
- Participating in trade with all who are willing.
- Refusing to threaten, bribe or occupy any other nation.
Seeking an honest system of commodity money that no single country can manipulate for a trade advantage. Without this, currency manipulation becomes a tool of protectionism and prompts retaliation with tariffs and various regulations. This policy, when it persists, is dangerous and frequently leads to real wars.
Mutually Assured Respect offers a policy of respect, trade and friendship and rejects threats, sanctions and occupations.
This is the only practical way to promote peace, harmony and economic well-being to the maximum number of people in the world.
Mutually Assured Respect may not be perfect but far better than Mutually Assured Destruction or unilateral American dominance.
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“…George Shultz, writing with Henry Kissinger and others in the Wall Street Journal late last year, asserted that nuclear weapons were essential to maintaining international security during the Cold War. But reliance on nuclear weapons for [the purpose of deterrence] is becoming increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective,The world is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous nuclear era. What made nuclear weapons acceptable then, and so unacceptable today? In answering these questions Shultz addresses the difficult challenges the United States faces as it seeks to curb the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, and the threat represented by non-nation state actors: the nightmare scenario of a nuclear suitcase bomb detonating in a major American city. …”
The Original American Foreign Policy
By Ron Paul
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul375.html
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Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Obama’s Solargate: Solyndra Stimulus Spending Cost Taxpayers An Estimated $535 Million–Crony Capitalism Campaign Contribution Corruption–Videos
Pronk Pops Show 46:September 21, 2011
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Pronk Pops Show 44:September 7, 2011
Pronk Pops Show 43:August 31, 2011
Pronk Pops Show 42:August 24, 2011
Pronk Pops Show 41:August 17, 2011
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Obama’s Solargate: Solyndra Stimulus Spending Cost Taxpayers An Estimated $535 Million–Crony Capitalism Campaign Contribution Corruption–Videos
Stearns Comments on Solyndra Execs Taking the Fifth
Barton on Cavuto: Taxpayers deserve answers about how their money was spent
On Fox, Ryan And Cain Bash Solyndra ‘Crony Capitalism’
Rep. Stearns on the Expanding Probe Into Solyndra [FOX 9-15-2011]
Stearns Confirms DOE Projected Solyndra Insolvency in 2009
Solyndra – Where’s the Money [NBC 9-14-2011]
Fox Business: Rep. Barton questions $500 million government investment in failing solar company
NBC Covers Growing Obama Solyndra Scandal
ABC News: Failed Obama Energy Loan a Half Billion Dollar Hit to Taxpayers?
Sean Hannity And Michelle Malkin Talk About All The Crony Capitaliam In The Solyndra Deal
Mark Levin Talks About The Titanic Of Crony Capitalist Obama Hitting The Green Jobs Iceberg Solyndra
Burns Doesn’t See Solyndra Ending Up as Criminal Case
PJTV: Obama’s Pet Solar Energy Company Going Bankrupt
Stearns Joins FOX News on Solyndra
Solyndra bankruptcy..
Obama Energy Official Can’t Say Who Is In Charge Of Giving $535 Million To Bankrupt Solyndra
Solyndra and The DOE Loan Guarantee Program
Pr. Obama at Solyndra (1) California Solar Plant
Pr. Obama at Solyndra (2) California Solar Plant
DOE Gives Out First Loan Guarantee
Solyndra Loan Guarantee Announcement
Solyndra: thin film solar from all angles
Solyndra Fab 2
President Barack Obama’s national industrial policy of betting the American people’s tax dollars on risky investments such as green energy solar panels was hit with a huge financial loss with the bankruptcy of Solyndra Inc. The story is quickly turning into a political scandal involving campaign contributions for an expedited approval of a loan guarantee and delaying the disclosure of Solyndra’s failure to Congress—Obama’s Solargate.
In March 2009, Solyndra became the green energy poster child of successful stimulus spending, securing the first Department of Energy $535 million loan guarantee under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the groundbreaking for the construction of the plant via satellite and said, “This announcement today is part of the unprecedented investment this administration is making in renewable energy and exactly what the Recovery Act is all about.”
Obama made a visit to Solyndra in May 2010 and declared “the engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra.”
Solyndra started manufacturing cylindrical panels of thin-film solar cells in Fremont, Calif. in 2007. Solyndra originally applied for the loan guarantee under the Bush Administration in 2006. The loan guarantee application was unanimously turned down on Jan. 12, 2009, by the Department of Energy’s credit committee. The application was sent back for additional information and analysis.
The $535 million loan guarantee was in support of a loan for the construction of a commercial-scale manufacturing plant, called Fab2, for Solyndra’s proprietary solar photovoltaic panels. Solyndra estimated in March 2009 the plant construction would employ about 3,000 employees and plant operation would employ about 1,000 in the U.S.
The U.S. solar panel industry faces stiff competition from imports from Chinese companies that are heavily subsidized by state-owned banks that provide financing with very low interest loans. The price of Solyndra’s solar panels could not compete with the much cheaper Chinese imports.
Last month, 30 months after being approved for the loan guarantee Solyndra laid-off nearly all of its 1,100 employees offering no severance package and ceasing all operations.
On Sept. 6, Solyndra filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is seeking a buyer for the company. The company owes a total of $783.8 million of which $527.8 million is owed to the federal government, according to documents filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. If the company cannot find a buyer, the assets will be sold off to pay its creditors.
The Department of Energy’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating Solyndra.On Sept. 8, DOE had the Federal Bureau of Investigation execute multiple search warrants and raid Solyndra’s headquarters in Fremont.
Since February, the Energy and Commerce Committee has been investigating the Solyndra $535 loan guarantee. On Sept. 14, the committee held hearings on Solyndra and the role of the Obama administration in expediting the approval of the loan-guarantee. Apparently, the DOE also knew in July 2011 that Solyndra could not continue to operate, but it did not inform Congress, which was seeking documents and information on Solyndra.
Solyndra’s chief executive officer Brian Harrison and chief financial officer W.G. Stover were scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. However, they sent letters to the committee that they would not be testify because of the ongoing FBI criminal investigation. Looks like the executives will be pleading their Fifth Amendment rights by refusing to testify under oath to the congressional committee on the grounds that their testimony could be used as evidence to convict them of a criminal offense.
The Obama Administration picked green energy investments as a “winner” industry and technology. Obama staffers said investments in green energy projects would promote energy independence, reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.
A major investor in Solyndra was the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Billionaire investor George B. Kaiser is the 89th richest person on the planet, with a net worth of $9.8 billion in 2011, according to Forbes magazine. Kaiser also just happens to have been a top bundler of campaign contributions to the Obama 2008 Presidential campaign. A bundler collects contributions of many small contributors and bundles them before sending them to candidate’s campaign. Kaiser, himself, backed Obama by contributing $53,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Obama for America.
Kaiser and Solyndra executives made many visits to the White House during the stimulus loan guarantee approval process. The White House monitored and indicated its interest in Solyndra, prior to the Office of Management and Budget review and Department of Energy’s approval of the $535 million loan guarantee.
Simply, it is not the role of the federal government to determine which companies, industries and technologies should be subsidized or given loan guarantees paid for with taxes from Americans.
A national industrial policy that picks winners and losers by subsidizing certain companies, industries and technologies attracts a multitude of economic rent seekers. These rent seekers want a subsidy or loan guarantee for their company or industry. If the politician will give them this subsidy or loan guarantee, the rent seeker will provide the candidate with campaign contributions so that they can be elected or re-elected to public office.
While some businessmen, economists and politicians may label this a stimulus package, others call it bribery or theft by government. It is really nothing more than crony capitalism that corrupts both the political process and the markets.
Under crony capitalism, success in business is determined by how close or well-connected business owners are to public officials. Crony capitalism is usually found where there is rampant government interventionism into the economy in the form of regulations and taxes.
Under free market capitalism, success in business is determined largely by the price and quality of the goods and services a business sells in the market place. Free market capitalism is found where there is little government intervention into the economy, regulations are few and taxes are low. Today crony capitalism is spreading like a cancer around the world, while free market capitalism is a rarity.
Bundlers of campaign contributions are bribing politicians. Bundlers fully expect access and a political payoff once the politician they supported is elected to public office. Obama made sure that his bundlers were generously paid.
Political payoffs can take many forms. In the case of Kaiser, a top bundler of campaign contributions to Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign and whose foundation was a major Solyndra investor, it was a $535 million loan guarantee.
The American people want the loan guarantees, loans, subsidies and bailouts to businesses and unions stopped. They want the massive stimulus spending and deficits that fail to create jobs stopped as well as the corruption of crony capitalism stopped.
Ronald Reagan in his inaugural address Jan. 20, 1981, said it best,: “In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
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Documents show Solyndra sought second government loan guarantee for $469 million
“…Failed solar panel maker Solyndra’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that seven months after the Obama administration’s Department of Energy approved a $535 million federal loan guarantee, Solyndra applied for a second one valued at $469 million.
“On September 11, 2009, we applied for a second loan guarantee from the DOE, in the amount of approximately $469 million, to partially fund Phase II,” Solyndra wrote in a report it filed with the SEC on December 18, 2009. “If we are unable to obtain the DOE guaranteed loan in whole or in part, we intend to fund any financing shortfall with some combination of the proceeds of this offering, cash flows from operations, debt financing and additional equity financing.”
“…“Although the DOE determined on November 4, 2009, that our initial application was complete, and we submitted the second part of the application on November 17, 2009, there is no guarantee that the DOE will approve our application in the full amount requested or at all,” the company wrote in its December 18, 2009 SEC filing.
Dan Simmons of the Institute for Energy Research told TheDC that Solyndra’s failure looks even worse in light of its aim for even more taxpayer money in 2009.
“Solyndra saw the American taxpayer as their personal piggy-bank, so it’s no surprise that they wanted another half billion dollar loan from the taxpayer,” Simmons said in an email. “The only surprise is that the Obama administration rejected the second loan. After all, both private and Department of Energy financial analysts were not excited by Solyndra’s prospects before the first loan.” …”
Solyndra
“…Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of CIGS thin-film solar cells based in Fremont, California. The company suspended all of its operations as of August 2011 leaving behind the United States government as its largest creditor.[1]
In May 2010, the company was personally promoted by President Obama in his visit as a model for government investment in green technology,[2] and was also visited by former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.[3] A $535 million loan guarantee was applied for under the Bush administration but the loan was denied.[4] The $535 million loan guarantee was later granted by the Obama administration. Private investors also invested more than $1 billion into the company.[2]
Due to overseas price pressure coming from China in the period of constructing the new plant, the Fab 2, the company had shut-down its original plant, Fab 1, and simultaneously reduced its staff to approximately 1,100 employees.[5] In early September 2011, the company ceased all business activity, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and laid-off all employees.[3] The company is also being sued by employees who were abruptly laid-off.[2]
On September 8th, 2011, Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents executed multiple search warrants at the company’s headquarters in Fremont as part of an investigation by the Department of Energy’s Office of the Inspector General.[2]
Technology
Solyndra designed, manufactured and sold solar photovoltaic (PV) systems composed of panels and mounting hardware for large, low-slope commercial rooftops. The panels perform optimally when mounted horizontally and packed closely together, thereby, the company claimed, covering significantly more of the typically available roof area and producing more electricity per rooftop on an annual basis than a conventional panel installation.[6]
The solar panels developed by the company were claimed to be unlike any other product ever tried in the industry. The panels were made of racks of cylindrical tubes (also called tubular solar panels), as opposed to traditional flat panels. Solyndra rolled its copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) thin films into a cylindrical shape and places 40 of them in each 1-meter-by-2-meter panel. The cylindrical solar panels (think of fluorescent tube lights—except in reverse) can absorb energy from every direction (direct, indirect and reflected light).[citation needed]
Each Solyndra cylinder, one inch in diameter, is made up of two tubes. The company used equipment it had developed to deposit CIGS on the outside of the inner tube, which includes up to 200 CIGS cells. On top of the CIGS material, it adds an “optical coupling agent”, which concentrates the sunlight that shines through the outer tube. After inserting the inner tube into the outer tube, each cylinder is sealed with glass and metal to keep out moisture, which erodes CIGS’s performance. The hermetic sealing technology is commonly used in fluorescent bulbs.[7]
When combined with a white roof (the fastest growing segment of the commercial roof industry with over 1 billion square feet installed in 2008 and required for any new commercial construction in California), the company claimed that systems that employ the panels on a given rooftop could produce significantly more electricity in a given year. With a white roof, the panels can capture up to 20% more light than with a black roof.[citation needed]
The other advantage claimed by the company was that the panels did not have to move to track the Sun. The panels are always presenting some of their face directly perpendicular to the Sun.[8] The daily production of flat solar panels has an output curve that has a clear peak while Solyndra claimed their system produced more power throughout the day.
The Solyndra panels allow wind to blow through them. According to the company, these factors enable the installation of PV on a broader range of rooftops without anchoring or ballast, which are inherently problematic.[6] Solyndra claimed that wind and snow loads are negligible and that its panels are lighter in weight per area.[citation needed]
The company claimed the cells themselves convert 12 to 14 percent of sunlight into electricity, an efficiency better than competing CIGS thin-film technologies.[7] However, these efficiencies are for the cells laid flat.[9] The company did not post any numbers when the cells are rolled up. The Solyndra 100/200 spec sheet doesn’t mention the cells nor the panel efficiencies directly. However, calculating from the data provided shows the high-end 210 panel has a field efficiency of about 8.5%.[10]
In 2006, Solyndra began deploying demonstration systems around the world. The company stated the total count was 14 systems and that these systems were each instrumented with highly sensitive radiation, wind speed, temperate and humidity measurement devices to aid in the development of energy yield forecasting software tools, claiming there were more than 1000 Solyndra systems installed around the world and that they shipped its 100th megawatt of panels in March 2011.[citation needed]
Management
Solyndra was led by Brian Harrison, a veteran of Intel Corporation, from July 27, 2010, when Solyndra announced that Brian Harrison had replaced founder Chris Gronet as CEO of the company.
Major investors included George Kaiser Family Foundation, U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Virgin Green Fund, Madrone Capital Partners, RockPort Capital Partners, Argonaut Private Equity, Masdar and Artis Capital Management.
In 2009, the company posted $100 million dollars in revenue. It was estimated that its production and sales growth could lead to a market cap between $1.76 – 2 billion dollars.[11] 2010 revenues were approximately $140 million.
Other executives include Bill Stover, CFO, Karen Alter, SVP of Marketing, Corby Whitaker, VP, Sales United States, John Gaffney, Corporate Counsel and Ben Bierman, EVP Operations and Engineering.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra
Sondra faces House subcommittee hearings
Executives of the bankrupt solar energy equipment maker are likely to field questions about whether its $535-million stimulus loan was granted because of Solyndra’s financial ties to a major Democratic fundraiser.
“… Solar energy equipment maker Solyndra Inc., reeling from a recent bankruptcy filing and FBI raids last week on its Bay Area office and executives’ homes, faces a public and probably embarrassing reckoning before a House subcommittee.
The hearings Wednesday are the latest step by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its oversight arm to push an investigation it launched in February into the Energy Department’s decision to give Solyndra a $535-million loan guarantee under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. …”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/13/business/la-fi-solyndra-hearing-20110913
Big Name Investors Behind Obama’s Failed Green Tech Bet First in Line to Recoup Losses
By Michael Grunwald | September 3, 2011
“…Republicans are already dancing on the grave of Solyndra,
the solar panel manufacturer that received a $535 million federal loan
in 2009 and collapsed on Wednesday. Here’s more music they can dance to:
Sources tell me the Obama administration restructured the loan this
winter, so taxpayers probably won’t even be the first creditors to get
paid after Solyndra files for bankruptcy next week. The first $75
million will go to two Solyndra investors who poured in extra cash when
the company nearly went bust in January. And one of them is a venture
associated with the billionaire George Kaiser, an Obama campaign
bundler.
The other investor is a partnership associated with the Walton
family, which tends to lean Republican. And public filings suggest that
Kaiser-linked funds had sunk at least $320 million into Solyndra before
adding the secured financing; they’re taking a bath along with the rest
of us. “If this was a sweetheart deal, it was the worst sweetheart deal
ever,” one official quipped.
So why did the administration agree to the restructuring? The short
answer, in poker terms, is that it felt pot-committed. It had already
made a big bet; it didn’t want to fold if there was still a chance of
winning. The slightly longer answer is that administration officials
thought (as I did) that Solyndra was back on track, and that giving the
company a new lease on life would benefit taxpayers even if it
ultimately failed. A fuller explanation culled from government documents
follows. …”
Obama’s Pet Billionaire at Solyndra May Take White House Down
“…Solyndra LLC’s workers making solar-power panels in a California factory
subsidized by U.S. taxpayers showed “the promise of clean energy isn’t
just an article of faith,” President Barack Obama said on a visit to the
company in May 2010.
Two months before Obama’s visit, accounting
firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP warned that Solyndra, the recipient of
$535 million in federal loan guarantees, had financial troubles deep
enough to “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a
going concern.”
The Obama administration stood by Solyndra
through the auditor’s warning, the abandonment of a planned initial
public offering and a last-ditch refinancing where taxpayers took a back
seat to new investors. That unwavering commitment has come under
increasing scrutiny since the company’s travails culminated in its
filing for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6 and a raid on its
headquarters by the Federal Bureau of Investigation two days later. …”
The Phony Solyndra Solar Scandal
by davejFollow
“…The economy tanked and cut demand, and at the same time Solyndra
could not compete with subsidized companies located in China as they
rapidly scaled up. So Solyndra ran out of money. Conservatives and oil
interests are using the bankruptcy as a platform to attack green energy
and the idea of green jobs in general, solar power in particular,
President Obama as always, stimulus funding and the idea of developing a
national strategic industrial policy to push back on China and others
who have their own national policies to win this key industry of the
future.
Conservative Attacks
Conservative are accusing the Obama administration of corruption in
choosing Solyndra to receive a government loan guarantee. The typical
conservative-outlet story follows a template of Glenn-Beckian
accusations that someone “connected to” Obama has “ties” to something.
When you hear the phrasing “has ties to” you should understand this as
code-speak for “has nothing to do with but can be made to appear to have
some sinister involvement if you twist the wording a certain way.” …”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/14/1016840/-The-Phony-Solyndra-Solar-Scandal
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Chalmers argues that the age of the “American Empire” is nearing its end.
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Chalmers Johnson
“…Chalmers Ashby Johnson (August 6, 1931 – November 20, 2010)[1] was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967–1973, and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972.[2] He was also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.[3] He wrote numerous books including, most recently, three examinations of the consequences of American Empire: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.
Johnson was born in 1931 in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned a B.A. degree in Economics in 1953 and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science in 1957 and 1961 respectively. Both of his advanced degrees were from the University of California, Berkeley. Johnson met his wife Sheila, a 19 year-old junior at Berkeley, in 1956, and they were married in Reno, Nevada in May, 1957.[4]
During the Korean War, Johnson served as a naval officer in Japan.[5] He was the communications officer on a ship (the LST 883) “tasked with ferrying Chinese prisoners of war from South Korea back to North Korean ports.”[4] He taught political science at the University of California from 1962 until he retired from teaching in 1992. He was best known early in his career for his scholarship on the subjects of China and Japan.[6]
Johnson set the agenda for ten or fifteen years in social science scholarship on China with his book on peasant nationalism. His book MITI and the Japanese Miracle, on the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry was the preëminent study of the country’s development and created the subfield of what could be called the political economy of development. He coined the term “developmental state”. As a public intellectual, he first led the “Japan revisionists” who critiqued American neoliberal economics with Japan as a model; their arguments faded from view as the Japanese economy stagnated in the mid-90s and beyond. During this period, Johnson acted as a consultant for the Office of National Estimates, part of the CIA, contributing to analysis of China and Maoism.[7]
Johnson was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976. He served as Director of the Center for Chinese Studies (1967–72[2]) and Chair of the Political Science Department at Berkeley, and held a number of important academic posts in area studies. He was a strong believer in the importance of language and historical training for doing serious research. Late in his career he became well known as a critic of “rational choice” approaches, particularly in the study of Japanese politics and political economy.
Johnson is perhaps today best known as a sharp critic of American imperialism. His book Blowback (2000) won a prize in 2001 from the Before Columbus Foundation, and was re-issued in an updated version in 2004. Sorrows of Empire, published in 2004, updated the evidence and argument from Blowback for the post-9/11 environment, and Nemesis concludes the trilogy. Johnson was featured as an expert talking head in the Eugene Jarecki-directed film Why We Fight,[3] which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. In the past, Johnson has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the London Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, and The Nation
The Blowback series
Johnson believed that the enforcement of American hegemony over the world constitutes a new form of global empire. Whereas traditional empires maintained control over subject peoples via colonies, since World War II the US has developed a vast system of hundreds of military bases around the world where it has strategic interests. A long-time Cold Warrior, he applauded the dissolution of the Soviet Union: “I was a cold warrior. There’s no doubt about that. I believed the Soviet Union was a genuine menace. I still think so.”[8] But at the same time he experienced a political awakening after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, noting that instead of demobilizing its armed forces, the US accelerated its reliance on military solutions to problems both economic and political. The result of this militarism (as distinct from actual domestic defense) is more terrorism against the US and its allies, the loss of core democratic values at home, and an eventual disaster for the American economy. Of four books he wrote on this topic, the first three are referred to as The Blowback Trilogy:
- Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
Chalmers Johnson summarized the intent of Blowback in the final chapter of Nemesis.
- “In Blowback, I set out to explain why we are hated around the world. The concept “blowback” does not just mean retaliation for things our government has done to and in foreign countries. It refers to retaliation for the numerous illegal operations we have carried out abroad that were kept totally secret from the American public. This means that when the retaliation comes — as it did so spectacularly on September 11, 2001 — the American public is unable to put the events in context. So they tend to support acts intended to lash out against the perpetrators, thereby most commonly preparing the ground for yet another cycle of blowback. In the first book in this trilogy, I tried to provide some of the historical background for understanding the dilemmas we as a nation confront today, although I focused more on Asia — the area of my academic training — than on the Middle East.”[9]
- The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic
Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of The Sorrows of Empire in the final chapter of Nemesis.
- “The Sorrows of Empire was written during the American preparations for and launching of the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. I began to study our continuous military buildup since World War II and the 737 military bases we currently maintain in other people’s countries. This empire of bases is the concrete manifestation of our global hegemony, and many of the blowback-inducing wars we have conducted had as their true purpose the sustaining and expanding of this network. We do not think of these overseas deployments as a form of empire; in fact, most Americans do not give them any thought at all until something truly shocking, such as the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, brings them to our attention. But the people living next door to these bases and dealing with the swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape their women certainly think of them as imperial enclaves, just as the people of ancient Iberia or nineteenth-century India knew that they were victims of foreign colonization.”[9]
- Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of the book Nemesis.
- “In Nemesis, I have tried to present historical, political, economic, and philosophical evidence of where our current behavior is likely to lead. Specifically, I believe that to maintain our empire abroad requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent. The founders of our nation understood this well and tried to create a form of government – a republic – that would prevent this from occurring. But the combination of huge standing armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous military expenses have destroyed our republican structure in favor of an imperial presidency. We are on the cusp of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire. Once a nation is started down that path, the dynamics that apply to all empires come into play – isolation, overstretch, the uniting of forces opposed to imperialism, and bankruptcy. Nemesis stalks our life as a free nation.”[9]
- Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope
Johnson outlines how the United States can reverse American hegemony. …”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JvSsWTCGFI&feature=related
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Russell Kirk–The Traditional Conservative That Predicted 9/11–Videos
SA@TheDC – Russell Kirk and 9/11
SA@TAC – Joe Sobran’s Conservative Foreign Policy
SA@TAC – What’s a ‘Neoconservative?’
SA@TheDC – Does Attacking Neoconservatism Reflect Racism or Reality?
SA@TAC – A Conservative Foreign Policy Comeback?
SA@TAC- Who’s an ‘Isolationist?’
SA@TAC – The End of Right-Wing Progressivism?
Ten Conservative Principles
By Russell Kirk
First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.
Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.
Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.
Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.
Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.
Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability
Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.
Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.
Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.
Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.
http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/
Background Articles and Videos
Russell Kirk’s Ten Conservative Principles
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It’s Simple to Balance The Budget Without Higher Taxes
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THE ENIGMA, PART 1: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
THE ENIGMA, PART 2: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Dirty Bomb New York City Terrorist Attack Feared–Depleted Uranium–Videos
9/11 anniversary terror threat update
Boogeyman coming – NY, Washington tighten security – YouTube HD
Robert Riggs Reports from FBI HMRU on the threat of terrorist using a Dirty Bomb
A New 9-11 Terror Plot In NY & DC: U.S. Authorities Investigating
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New York and Washington on alert after terror threat to the US
Police in NY DC on alert over terror threat [NBC 9-09-2011]
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Manhattan Project: Dirty-Bomb surveillance system unveiled in New York
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New York Dirty Bomb Drill FALSE FLAG ?
Official says Libya may have dirty bomb components
How Tough Is it to Build a Dirty Bomb?
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Depleted Uranium – The Ultimate Dirty Bomb
Pt 1/2 – Gerald Celente – Biological Warfare – Dirty Bombs – WMDs – Next World War – 30/3/2011
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Overthrow OBAMA CIA, MOSSAD False Flag US made dirty bomb on its way
Sources: Authorities Concerned About Possible Dirty Bomb, Times Square Strike
Say Al Qaeda Eager To Hit Where They Failed, Just Like 9/11 Following 1993
“…Terrorism is theater and this is the stage,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said. “This is right now probably the world’s biggest stage. “
There was a lot of security you could see Friday in the Big Apple, especially in Times Square, because, as sources told Kramer, the intelligence includes information that al Qaeda wants to finish the job that started with Faisal Shahzad’s failed car bomb attempt in May 2010.
Top security officials told Kramer this is the al Qaeda way. Their 1993 attempt to topple the World Trade Center failed, so they came back again on 9/11. Shahzad’s car bomb fizzled, so now they want to try again.
But that’s only half of the problem. Officials are worried that this time it could be a dirty bomb.
“We have to think about a dirty bomb, where you take radiological material and mix it with conventional explosives,” Kelly said.
Kramer recently talked exclusively with Kelly about the possibility of a dirty bomb, but now sources said the classroom drills might have to be put into practice. Intelligence sources said the terrorists could be trying to make a dirty bomb this time my mixing radiological isotopes with an explosive device.
That’s why the NYPD is deploying all kinds of radiation detectors, panel trucks with sophisticated instruments. On Friday, cops had personal radiation detectors on their belts, and radiation detectors are being used by police within a 50-mile radius of New York City — in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania and on Long Island. …”
Dirty Bomb Feared in Alleged NYC Terrorist Plot
Saturday, 10 Sep 2011 09:18 AM
By Amy Woods
Read more on Newsmax.com: Dirty Bomb Feared in Alleged NYC Terrorist Plot
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“…A plot by al-Qaida to attack America — specifically New York City — in the days
leading up to reported the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy has worsened.
Authorities believe the threat could involve a dirty bomb, according to CBSNew York.
The New York Police
Department tightened security Friday by setting up a series of checkpoints where
random vehicle stops were conducted. At times, traffic came to a
standstill.
“Terrorism is theater, and this is the stage,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly
said. “This is right now probably the world’s biggest stage.”
The dirty-bomb scare has dialed up the drama.
“We have to think about a dirty bomb, where you take radiological material and mix it with conventional
explosives,” Kelly said.
CBSNew York reported that intelligence sources are concerned the terrorists — three suspects are being sought, including one
American — have concocted a device containing both radiological and explosive
materials. …”
Read more on Newsmax.com: Dirty Bomb Feared in Alleged NYC Terrorist Plot
Background Articles and Videos
Preparing for Radiological Population Monitoring and Decontamination
Radiological and Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
White House takes possible terror threat seriously
“…The Obama administration is taking serious the still unconfirmed intelligence tip
of a possible al-Qaida plot tied to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Sunday.
The threat reported to authorities Wednesday night remains “specific and
credible,” Brennan said during interviews with “Fox News Sunday” and
CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“Again, it’s not confirmed, but the president wants to make sure that we leave no stone
unturned,” he said. “And that’s what the intelligence, law enforcement
and homeland security communities are doing.”
Investigators have chased a tip that al-Qaida may have sent three men to the U.S. on a
mission to detonate a car bomb in either Washington or New York. But
officials have said they’ve found no evidence al-Qaida has sneaked
anyone into the country.
Brennan said officials are “looking at travel data, other types of pieces of
information and trying to correlate them against that reporting that has
come in.”
“It’s not confirmed but we are not relaxing at all,” he said. “This is a 24/7, round-the-clock effort by
all elements of the U.S. counterterrorism community both here in the
United States as well as abroad.” …”
New York City Steps Up Security In Light Of ‘Specific, Credible But Unconfirmed’ Threat
September 9, 2011
“…NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The morning after officials said there was a “specific, credible but unconfirmed” terror threat against New York City and Washington D.C. related to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, New Yorkers were seeing a beefed-up response by the New York Police Department.
The threat involves non-specific car bomb attacks, possibly targeting bridges and tunnels here. The information came from an overseas source which Mayor Michael Bloomberg said had been credible in the past. …”
Dirty Bomb
“…A dirty bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the explosion with radioactive material, hence the attribute “dirty”.
Though a radiological dispersal device (RDD) would be designed to disperse radioactive material over a large area, a bomb
that uses conventional explosives would likely have more immediate lethal effect than the radioactive material. At levels created from most probable sources, not enough radiation would be present to cause severe illness or death. A test explosion and subsequent calculations done by the United States Department of Energy found that assuming nothing is done to clean up the affected area and everyone stays in the affected area for one year, the radiation exposure would be “fairly high”, but not fatal.[1] Recent analysis of the nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster confirms this, showing that the effect on many people in the
surrounding area, although not those in close proximity, was almost negligible.[2]
Since a dirty bomb is unlikely to cause many deaths, many do not consider this to be a weapon of mass destruction.[3] Its purpose would presumably be to create psychological, not physical, harm through ignorance, mass panic, and terror. For this reason dirty bombs are sometimes called “weapons of mass disruption”. Additionally, containment and decontamination of thousands of victims, as well as decontamination of the affected area might require considerable time and expense, rendering areas partly
unusable and causing economic damage. …”
“…Dirty bombs and terrorism
Since the 9/11 attacks the fear of terrorist groups using dirty bombs has increased significantly, which has been frequently reported in the media.[4] The meaning of terrorism used here, is described by the U.S. Department of Defense’s definition, which is “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological objectives”.[5] There have only ever been two cases of caesium-containing bombs, and neither was detonated. Both involved Chechnya. The first attempt of radiological terror was carried out in November 1995 by a group of Chechen separatists, who buried a caesium-137 source wrapped in explosives at the Izmaylovsky Park in Moscow. A Chechen rebel leader alerted the media, the bomb was never activated, and the incident amounted to a mere publicity stunt.[6]
In December 1998, a second attempt was announced by the Chechen Security Service, who discovered a container filled with radioactive materials attached to an explosive mine. The bomb was hidden near a railway line in the suburban area Argun, ten miles east of the Chechen capital of Grozny. The same Chechen separatist group was suspected to be involved.[7] Despite the increased fear of a dirty bombing attack, it is hard to assess whether the actual risk of such an event has increased significantly.[8]
The following discussions on implications, effects and probability of an attack, as well as indications of terror groups planning such, are based mainly on statistics, qualified guessing and a few comparable scenarios.
Effect of a dirty bomb explosion
When dealing with the implications of a dirty bomb attack, there are two main areas to be addressed: (i) the civilian impact, not only dealing with immediate casualties and long term health issues, but also the psychological effect and then (ii) the economic impact. With no prior event of a dirty bomb detonation, it is considered difficult to predict the impact. Several analyses have predicted that RDDs will neither sicken nor kill many people.[9] …”
“…Possibility of terrorist groups using dirty bombs
The present assessment of the possibility of terrorists using a dirty bomb is based on cases involving one terrorist organization, namely Al-Qaeda. This is because the attempts by this group to acquire a dirty bomb are the most well-described in the literature, in part due to the attention this group received for their involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
On 8 May 2002, José Padilla (a.k.a. Abdulla al-Muhajir) was arrested on suspicion that he was an Al-Qaeda terrorist planning to detonate a dirty bomb in the U.S. This suspicion was raised by information obtained from an arrested top Al-Qaeda official in U.S. custody, Abu Zubaydah, who under interrogation revealed that the organization was close to constructing a dirty bomb. Although Padilla had not obtained radioactive material or explosives at the time of arrest, law enforcement authorities uncovered evidence that he was on reconnaissance for usable radioactive material and possible locations for detonation.[27] It has been doubted whether José Padilla was preparing such an attack, and it has been claimed that the arrest was highly politically motivated, given the pre-9/11 security lapses by the CIA and FBI.[28] Later, these charges against José Padilla were dropped. Although
there was no hard evidence for Al-Qaeda possessing a dirty bomb, there is a broad agreement that Al-Qaeda poses a potential dirty bomb attack threat[29] because they need to overcome the alleged image that the U.S. and its allies are winning the war against terror.[4] A further concern is the argument, that “if suicide bombers are prepared to die flying airplanes into building, it is also conceivable that they are prepared to forfeit their lives building dirty bombs”.[30] If this would be the case, both the cost and complexity of any protective systems needed to allow the perpetrator to survive long enough to both build the bomb and carry out the attack, would be significantly reduced.[11]
Several other captives were alleged to have played a role in this plot.[31] Guantanamo captive Binyam Mohammed has alleged he was subjected to extraordinary rendition, and that his confession of a role in the plot was coerced through torture.[32][33] He sought access through the American and United Kingdom legal systems to evidence he was tortured.[34][35] Guantanamo military commission prosecutors continue to maintain the plot was real, and charged Binyam
for his alleged role in 2008. However they dropped this charge in
October 2008, but maintain they could prove the charge and were only
dropping the charge to expedite proceedings. US District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan insisted that the administration still had to hand over the evidence that justified the dirty bomb charge, and admonished United States Department of Justice lawyers that dropping the charge:
-
- “raises serious questions in this court’s mind about whether those allegations were ever true.”
In 2006, Dhiren Barot from North London pleaded guilty of conspiring to murder innocent people within the United Kingdom and United States using a radioactive dirty bomb. He planned to target underground car parks within the UK and buildings in the U.S. such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank buildings in Washington D.C., the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup buildings and the Prudential Financial buildings in Newark, New Jersey. He also faces 12 other charges including, conspiracy to commit public nuisance, seven charges of making a record of information for terrorist purposes
and four charges of possessing a record of information for terrorist purposes. Experts say if the plot to use the dirty bomb was carried out “it would have been unlikely to cause deaths, but was designed to affect about 500 people.”[36]
In January 2009, a leaked FBI report described the results of a search of the Maine home of James G. Cummings, a white supremacist who had been shot and killed by his wife. Investigators found four one-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium as well as literature on how to build dirty bombs and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials.[37] Officials confirmed the veracity of the report but stated that the public was never at risk.[38]
In April 2009, the Security Service of Ukraine announced the arrest of a legislator and two businessmen from the Ternopil Oblast. Seized in the undercover sting operation was 3.7 kilograms of what was claimed by the suspects during the sale as plutonium-239, used mostly in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons, but was determined by experts to likely be americium, a “widely used” radioactive material which is commonly used in amounts of less than 1 milligram in smoke detectors, but can also be used in a dirty bomb. The suspects reportedly wanted US$ 10 million for the material, which the Security Service determined was produced in Russia during the era of the Soviet Union and smuggled into Ukraine through a neighboring country.[39][40]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_bomb
September 11 2001 Video
Holmes: America’s Response to 9-11 -1/5
Holmes: America’s Response to 9-11 -2/5
Holmes: America’s Response to 9-11 -3/5
Holmes: America’s Response to 9-11 -4/5
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 – by Isao Hashimoto
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Ron Paul–Videos
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Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Voice of The American People–drinkingwithbob–Endores Ron Paul–The Only Legitimate Candidate–Videos
Ron Paul, the ONLY Legitimate Candidate…
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Senator Rand Paul Response To President Obama’s Jobs Speech–The Tea Party Plan For Putting Americans Back To Work–Videos
Sen. Rand Paul Responds To President Obama’s Jobs Speech – 09/08/11
Sen. Rand Paul on Freedom Watch – 09/07/11
I could not have said it better myself.
Three cheers for Senator Paul.
Senator Rand Paul for President in 2021 after eight years, 2013-2021 of Congressman Ron Paul.
The Tea Party plan for putting Americans back to work:
1. Balance the budget.
2. Replace all Federal taxes with The FairTax
3. Repeal Obamacare
4. Repeal Dodd-Frank
5. End the Fed, IRS, and EPA
6. Enforce all immigration laws
7. Get the United States out of the United Nations and the United Nation out of the United States.
8. Bring the troops home
9. Close permanently eight to ten federal departments.
10. Replace Social Security and Medicare with a personal retirement and health insurance plan owned and controlled by the individual and not the Federal government.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )President Obama Jobs Speech September 8, 2011–Videos
President Obama Presents American Jobs Act
President Obama Jobs speech September 8, 2011 Part 1
President Obama Jobs speech September 8, 2011 Part 2
Sen. Rand Paul Responds To President Obama’s Jobs Speech – 09/08/11
Bachmann Response to Obama
“We’re Living In A Failed Presidency & A Failed Economy!” Rand Paul Responds To Obama Speech
Full Webcast: Obama’s “American Jobs Act” analysis
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