08/30/11

Lincoln, Nebraska and Jon Bruning

By: Andrea Shea King
The Radio Patriot

Jon Bruning, candidate for US Senate, Nebraska

The Tea Party Express has endorsed Jon Bruning for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Senator Ben Nelson. This is the ONLY U.S. Senate race in the country that we have endorsed so far.

Jon is riding the bus from our stop in Lincoln to Omaha.

Senator Ben Nelson is most famous around the country for the “Cornhusker kick-back” during the debate over Obamacare. Nelson essentially was willing to trade his vote in return for funds to reimburse Nebraska for the added burdens of national healthcare. Nelson pretends to be a moderate, but helps the liberals whenever he can.

According to TPX chief political strategist Sal Russo, Jon has had big leads in all of the polls taken. “Mike Huckabee joined us in endorsing Bruning. There are multiple Republican candidates, but we felt Jon was head and shoulders above the others.

“Jon was one of several young political leaders that I took to Northern Iraq with me last year. I had a chance to get to know him and convinced he would make a great conservative U.S. Senator. The biggest knock on him has been that he was a liberal in college.”

From Jon Bruning’s campaign headquarters:

This week Ben Nelson sent out a vicious fundraising letter to 10,000 Democrats attacking Jon for his outspoken claims against government spending and Obamacare. This was followed by two hit pieces in Nebraska papers and more ugly vitriol from the bowels of DC by the head of the Democratic Senatorial Committee.

I have to ask: since when did saving taxpayer dollars become a bad thing? We need your help to fight these attacks today!

If Ben Nelson and his peers in Washington feel no shame raising money against Jon’s unabashed fight against overspending and fraud in DC then we feel no shame for affirming our position: the federal government is out of control and Ben Nelson needs to go!

Will you join me today and make a donation of $25. Help us reach our goal of raising $75,000 before the end of August. We have just one week to go!

Our federal debt will drown us all unless we unseat Ben Nelson.

Ben Nelson’s votes for Obamacare and big government spending just don’t align with Nebraska values, and neither do his politics. These desperate actions show just how out of touch Ben Nelson and his political machine are with Nebraska voters, who time and time again have rejected dirty politics like this.
As sad as these actions are, they are predictable and we expect more of them.

Ben Nelson and the Washington establishment backing him are focused on Jon because they must be hearing the same thing Jon hears as he travels the state – Nebraskans are disappointed with Ben Nelson’s style of politics and are demanding new leadership, and Jon is poised to provide that leadership next November.

Join us today and make a small donation to help us defeat these attacks.

Thank you for your support,

Trent Fellers, Campaign Manager

P.S. Please consider making a donation today. We have just hours left in the summer and we need to hit our goals! Click here to make a donation today.

08/30/11

The Largest Bubble in U.S. History

National Inflation Association

On August 6th after S&P downgraded the U.S. debt rating from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook, NIA prayed that Americans would not make the mistake of buying U.S. Treasuries as a safe haven. We normally don’t pray about economic matters, but only God can save the U.S. economy today as well as investors who have been brainwashed into believing U.S. government dollar-denominated bonds are a safe place to store wealth. Unfortunately, only when hyperinflation arrives will the majority of American citizens realize that fiat U.S. dollars should be used as a medium of exchange only and not a place to store wealth.

Since NIA was launched two and a half years ago, the overwhelming majority of our economic predictions have come true, with many of our accurate predictions being unique only to us. Sometimes we are a bit early with our predictions, but they almost always eventually come true. One of our predictions that we have been wrong about in the short-term, but will be proven right about later this decade, is the collapse of the U.S. Treasury market.

We thought there was a chance that many Americans would once again make the mistake of buying U.S. Treasuries during the recent sell-off of global financial markets, but we were shocked to see the yields of some U.S. Treasuries such as the 10-year bond, decline to new record lows. The yields of many government bonds have fallen through their lows of late-2008, but unlike the liquidity crisis of late-2008 when gold prices declined to a low of $720 per ounce, gold futures on August 22nd reached a new all time nominal high of $1,899.40 per ounce.

NIA likes gold as a bet against the U.S. Treasury market, which we believe is the largest bubble in world history. Any investor buying 10-year Treasuries with a yield of only 2.20% needs to have their head examined. Based on official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, year-over-year price inflation in the U.S. is already 3.63%. NIA estimates the real rate of price inflation to currently be approximately 8% and we project real price inflation to reach double-digits next year. NIA finds it very unlikely that the U.S. will be able to survive the next ten years without hyperinflation.

Take a look at the long-term chart of 10-year yields below. After the inflationary crisis of the 1970s, 10-year yields surged to a high in the early-1980s of 14.5%. After inflation began to decline in the mid-1980s, the 10-year yield bottomed at 7% before rising again to 9%. In the 1990s, the 10-year yield averaged around 6.5%.

With the help of NIA’s critically acclaimed economic documentaries including ‘Meltup’, ‘The Dollar Bubble’, and ‘Hyperinflation Nation’ that have been seen by millions of people, a larger percentage of the investment community is educated than ever before about the currency crisis that is ahead. We estimate that about 1/10 of our country now finally understands that as long as we are running massive budget deficits with our government making no real attempt to cut spending in a meaningful way, gold will keep increasing in nominal value and the U.S. dollar will continue losing its purchasing power. However, 9/10 of our nation still doesn’t understand why they should own gold and would chase after $1,000 in cash being blown by the wind before picking up a 1 oz gold coin lying below them on the ground.

Investors today are buying and selling assets based on what they perceive to be risk assets and safe haven assets. Market volatility is now at a level last seen in March of 2009 towards the end of the last financial crisis. On days with either positive economic news or rumors that Bernanke is getting ready to unleash QE3, stock prices rise while the prices of both gold and U.S. Treasuries fall. On days with either negative economic news or rumors that Bernanke is unlikely to unleash QE3, stock prices fall while both gold and U.S. Treasury prices rise. Investors are buying both gold and U.S. Treasuries as a safe haven. Those buying U.S. Treasuries as a safe haven are doing so based on the market’s actions in late-2008 when Treasuries rallied with the stock market collapsing. They fail to realize that every financial crisis is different and the next crisis will be nothing like 2008.

In 2008, we had a crisis due to a lack of liquidity. Today, the world is flooded with liquidity, but most people don’t realize it yet because trillions of dollars are being hoarded on the sidelines and not chasing goods and services. Nobody knew for sure in 2008 how the Federal Reserve would react to the liquidity crisis. If the Federal Reserve did the right thing and allowed banks to fail we would have experienced many years of deflation. The Federal Reserve has made it clear that they will print enough money to bailout all major banks or other companies deemed “too big to fail”. We are in a situation where the worse the economy gets, the more money the Fed will print and the higher prices of all assets will rise.

NIA predicts right now that over the next 16 months between now and the end of calendar year 2012, we will see the largest short-term increase in 10-year bond yields on a percentage basis in history. With CPI growth increasing for eight straight months and even the Fed’s misleading core-CPI growth up 290% since October on a year-over-year basis, investors will soon realize that it is far too risky to own bonds that are paying such low yields.

President Obama yesterday nominated Alan Kreuger to lead his Council of Economic Advisers. We laughed when he heard Obama tell Kreuger that it will be tough for him to fill the shoes of Austan Goolsbee, who recently left his post to resume teaching at the University of Chicago. Whether it be Kreuger, Goolsbee, or Christina Romer (who preceded Goolsbee), they are all Keynesians who believe that more government spending and intervention is the key to bringing down unemployment and having a healthy economy.

Krueger worked in the White House during the first two years of the Obama administration as assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy. Krueger received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and has worked at Princeton University since 1987, where his mail frequently gets mixed up with fellow Keynesian and New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman. Krueger is the author of a book that was written solely to convince readers that having a high minimum wage doesn’t cause unemployment. It should be common sense to all NIA members that if the government raised the minimum wage to $50 per hour, unemployment would rise dramatically as most jobs paying wages below $50 per hour would be destroyed. The truth is, eliminating the U.S. minimum wage would create thousands of new entry-level jobs in America and help lower the unemployment rate. Krueger was also instrumental in developing the “cash-for-clunkers” program, which NIA has written about on many occasions as being a monumental disaster for the U.S. economy.

It is absurd how the mainstream media calls Ron Paul an extremist for wanting to eliminate government intervention in our financial markets, reduce government spending, balance the budget, stop the Fed from printing money, and return to sound money. In NIA’s opinion, Krueger is the real extremist. If there was no minimum wage and there never was “cash-for-clunkers”, many unemployed 17 year old kids who are home on Facebook, could instead be out earning enough money to buy their own used car. The youth unemployment rate is currently double the overall unemployment rate and used car prices are up 20% during the past year, because of the policies supported by Krueger.

The U.S. government used “cash-for-clunkers” to buy phony GDP growth in 2009, stealing from future automobile sales. After the “cash-for-clunkers” program ended, General Motors reported that their sales in August of 2010 declined 25% from sales in August of 2009. NIA predicted on September 1, 2010, that this would lead to a sharp contraction in GDP growth and cause the Fed to unleash the mother of all quantitative easing. Two months later on November 3, 2010, the Fed announced $600 billion in additional quantitative easing.

GDP growth in the 4Q of 2010 declined to 3.14% on a year-over-year basis, down from 3.51% in the 3Q of 2010. GDP growth has continued to decline lower this year to 2.24% in the first quarter and 1.55% in the second quarter (which was just revised downward from an initial estimate of 1.62%). The BLS used a price deflator of only 2.5% in the 2Q. In our opinion, real GDP in the U.S. today is already in negative territory. With it becoming increasingly likely that official year-over-year GDP changes will become negative by the end of calendar year 2011, it is only a matter of time before the Federal Reserve unleashes QE3 in disguise under a new name.

With the Federal Reserve no longer reporting the M3 money supply, the broadest measure of money supply currently reported by the Fed is M2. During the past few weeks, the U.S. has been seeing a very alarming rise in M2. The M2 money supply has risen $228.5 billion over the past four weeks to $9.5218 trillion. On an annualized basis, this equals a 32% increase in M2. Much of this gain can be attributed to people moving funds from institutional money funds and large time deposits into checking and savings accounts. Investors are nervous about the state of our economy and as soon as the investment community begins to realize that the next economic crisis will be a currency crisis, not a liquidity crisis, we will see the world lose confidence in the U.S. dollar and rush out of U.S. Treasuries and into gold, silver, and other real assets.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us.

08/30/11

Shine a Spotlight on the Chopper Crash

By: Jim O’Neill
Gulag Bound

I am not saying that a suicide bomber was definitely the cause of the explosion, but it is certainly a possibility is it not? 

–  G u l a g  –  B o u n d  –

“I guess we are all going slowly through the completion of our tour of duty, i.e. death.  I look at death as a new adventure with a don’t sweat it attitude.  Any footprints you may have accidentally made will be washed away with the next wave.  Life is loaned to you — live it, love it, for the joy of what you love, and whom you love.  Leave your ego, status, and possessions hanging on the world’s quarterdeck, because you are going out with what you came here with….”
— LCDR Roy “First SEAL” Boehm (1924-2008)  Link  Link

“If J.T. had known he was going to be shot down when going to the aid of others, he would have went anyway.”
— From Boe Nankivel’s eulogy for Navy SEAL Jon Tumlinson  Link  

————-

Now that the dust has settled a bit around the downing of the Chinook helicopter earlier this month in Afghanistan, and the resultant tragic loss of life, it is time to reevaluate what we know.

From Navy Times article: Wreckage of a Chinook helicopter shot down last week is seen at the site of crash at Tangi Valley in Wardak province some 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011. The Chinook helicopter that insurgents shot down over the weekend burst into flames before hitting the ground, leaving wreckage scattered on both sides of a river in eastern Afghanistan and killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans, witnesses told The Associated Press on Thursday. The crash of the Chinook CH-47, was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the nearly 10-year Afghan war. (AP Photo/ Mohammad Nasir)

The initial reports on the incident, as reported by both the “Navy Times,” and the “Army Times,” used Associated Press (AP) reports (quoted verbatim) as their source.  Leaving aside the issue of the leftist slant of the various wire services for the moment, the AP reports have some interesting nuggets of information.   Link

Among other things, the reports state that “wreckage of the craft was strewn across the crash site,” and that the helicopter was brought down by one or more rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers.  Link

Reuters wire service observed that “Coalition officials have effectively ruled out that the helicopter was brought down by anything more sophisticated than an RPG launcher.”  Link

Reuters also stated that “What is not known for sure now is whether the helicopter caught fire or exploded, or whether it fell from any considerable height. Officials acknowledge that the destruction was devastating, something supported by the fact it took about four days to gather all of the wreckage and remains. “Whether it was a fire or if it exploded, it was catastrophic….'”

Hmm — “devastating” and “catastrophic” results from RPGs not known for their effectiveness in bringing down Chinook helicopters — curious.  The same Reuters report notes that, “While it is not unusual for rocket-propelled grenades — normally an anti-tank weapon — to hit helicopters, it is extremely rare for them to actually bring one down.”

The “Army Times” reports that until the downing of the Chinook on August 6, there had been only one reported hit on a chopper by an RPG this year — which resulted in injuries only, no deaths, and certainly no devastating and catastrophic results.  Odd, don’t you think?

Something else that has received little press or attention is the fact that there were seven Afghan soldiers and a translator on board the helicopter at the time it went down.  With all due respect to the Afghan’s service and loss, I believe that it is worth looking into their presence on board the chopper.  Link

To give credit where it’s due, the significance of their presence was brought to my attention via a video made by Pastor James David Manning.  I have nothing to say about the various scenarios put out on the Internet involving a plot to murder the SEALs on board the chopper.  I do, however, have something to say about the fact that there were Afghan troops on that helicopter.   Link  Link  Link

It is no news that the “friendly” Islamic allies that we have are less than ideal as far as allies go.  Exhibit A: the seven CIA officers and contractors killed by a “loyal” Muslim ally in Afghanistan a year-and-a-half ago.  Exhibit B: the Wikileaks documents regarding the collusion between the Pakistan government and the Taliban.  Exhibit C: the grossly corrupt nature of the Afghanistan government.  There are a lot more “exhibits,” but those will suffice for now.  Link  Link  Link

Combining allies of questionable loyalty with SEALs and other SOCOM personnel is like mixing lead slugs in with gold coins — potentially explosive lead slugs at that.  Did no one think of the possibility that one or more of the Afghans might be a suicide bomber?  That they were placing some of America’s most valuable military assets in unnecessary jeopardy by essentially “locking them in a room” with Afghan Muslims?

Whose plan was this?  Who felt that such an arrangement was a swell idea?  Is it simply the result of monumental stupidity, or something more nefarious?  Who vetted the Afghan troops?  Were they vetted?  Is combining Afghan forces with large numbers of highly trained, hard to replace SEALs SOP?  If so, why?  I am not saying that a suicide bomber was definitely the cause of the explosion, but it is certainly a possibility is it not?

War is, of course, insane, but the war in Afghanistan is more insane than usual (which is saying something).  For example, apparently the Marines are now under orders not to fart in the field, lest they offend any Muslims (I kid you not).  Link

Nonetheless, even given the crazy ROEs, untrustworthy “allies,” and rampant Afghan corruption, it seems especially stupid, if not criminally negligent, to put a large contingent of SEALs in such close proximity to a purportedly “friendly,” but nevertheless suspect, squad of Muslim troops and a translator, while we are involved in a war against Muslims known for their propensity to blow themselves up.

Several folks have called for a Congressional investigation of the August 6th tragedy.  I concur — this thing doesn’t pass the smell test.  A spotlight should be lit on the whole affair.  Trustworthy and patriotic representatives are few and far between in our treasonous and corrupt Congress, so pickings are slim as to who might have the courage, experience, and wherewithal to undertake such an investigation – before the CYA obfuscations pile up too high, if they have not already.  Link

Darrell Issa (R-CA) has his hands full with “Fast and Furious,” but perhaps Rep. Peter King (R-NY) might pick up the gauntlet.  Granted, he too has his hands full (investigating Islamic terrorism) but he has expressed interest in probing the movie that Obama and Kate Bigelow have been working on about the bin Laden raid in Pakistan.  Seeing as both events involve SEAL Team Six, perhaps Rep. King can be convinced to broaden his probe to include the tragedy in Afghanistan.  Link

In any event, Congress should be looking into dishing out some jail time (dished out by those who will not soon be looking at some jail time themselves) to certain loudmouthed government employees who outed SEAL Six in the first place.  Link

Laus Deo.


Born in June of 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jim O’Neill proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. A member of MENSA, he worked as a commercial diver in the waters off Scotland, India, and the United States. In 1998 while attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student, O’Neill won “First Place” in the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award.” The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with the money she won from successfully suing the National Enquirer for libel. Over the last few years, Jim has regularly written for Canada Free Press and now has a personal blog, ConstitutionalWrites.com.

Graphics added by Gulag Bound

Gulag Note – For more, see tags: “Seal Team Six” and “Muslim Brotherhood.”

08/30/11

Nachman Kletzky Sues Aron Family for $200 Million

By: Fern Sidman

According to court documents obtained by the New York Post, it has been revealed that Nachman Kletzky,
the father of Leiby Kletzky, the little Brooklyn boy who was kidnapped and butchered after losing his way after leaving day camp in Boro Park on July 11th, has filed a $200 million lawsuit against the boy’s alleged murderer and his family.

The suit seeks $100 million in punitive damages from Levi Aron, who is charged with the boy’s gruesome murder and the same amount from his father, Jack Aron, in whose house the boy was murdered and his body dismembered and calls the murder of 8-year-old Leiby, “one of the most horrific crimes in the history of the County of Kings.”

Kletzky’s attorney, Mark Goldsmith, who filed the two suits in Brooklyn Supreme Court, said, “What’s driving the lawsuits is a sense of justice and to compensate the family as best we can. The acts are horrific and horrendous, and the level of damages should reflect that.” He also alleged that Aron’s father knew the boy was being held captive inside his house at 466 East 2nd St. in Kensington.

Goldsmith who represents the firm of Jakubowski, Robertson, Maffei, Goldsmith and Tartaglia, LLP in Saint James, New York, added that: “We find it hard to believe that the father was unaware the boy was in the house all that time. The allegation is he knew of some of the instrumentality of torture.” Moreover, the suit claims the elder Aron “permitted tools of terror to be and remain at said premises, knowing of the vicious, assaultive and murderous propensities of his son, Levi Aron, who resided at said premises.” Property records show that Aron’s house has a market value of $720,000.

The suit against Levi Aron charges that, “the defendant’s culpable acts were utterly reckless, malicious, wanton, willful and exhibited a depraved indifference to the health, safety, freedom and rights of Leiby Kletzky.”

Aron, 35, admitted to abducting Leiby on July 11 after the child became disoriented leaving camp alone for the first time. The accused killer confessed to smothering the child and then carving up the body, tossing some of Leiby’s body parts into a dumpster, but leaving his feet in the freezer. In his hand-written confession, the cold-blooded suspect said he picked up Leiby on July 11 and let him sleep overnight, intending to bring him home the next day. Instead, he panicked at the ferocious scope of the search and decided to kill him after making him a tuna sandwich. “I went for a towel to smother him in the side room. He fought back a little bit but eventually he stopped breathing,” the confession said. “I was still in panic from the fliers and afraid to bring him home.”

The Kletzky lawsuit adds a series of blows for Aron’s defense team, the first being Justice Neil J. Firetog’s decision that Aron was mentally competent to stand trial, knocking his case for an insanity defense and the upbraiding that Pierre Bazile and Jennifer L. McCann received by the same judge for their lack of legal experience. In a hearing on August 22nd, Justice Firetog castigated the two; raising questions about their ability to handle such a complex case in lieu of the fact that Bazile and McCann posted discussions of the case on their Facebook pages, as well as complaining about the release of public documents to the media and for not providing the Department of Corrections an approved list of visitors for their client.

According to a transcript of the hearing, Bazile 40, is a former police officer who was admitted to the New York State bar in 2007 and McCann, 30, is a defense lawyer specializing in insanity defense pleas. McCann said at the time that she and Bazile would introduce psychiatric evidence at the trial, a filing necessary to pursue an insanity defense, but a decision on whether to use such a defense could still be months away, she said, as the defense is still vetting psychiatrists to examine Mr. Aron.

08/30/11

Tea Party Express Rallies in Nebraska Today!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 2011
CONTACT: Levi Russell at [email protected], or (509) 979-6615

NATIONAL TEA PARTY EXPRESS BUS TOUR ROLLS THROUGH NEBRASKA TODAY!
Rallies Today in Lincoln and Omaha

Tea Party Express, www.TeaPartyExpress.org, considered one of the most aggressive and influential tea party groups, is crossing through Nebraska today on a 30-city tour themed “Reclaiming America,” and will be calling for the defeat of Democrat Senator Ben Nelson.

Earlier this year, the Tea Party Express announced Senator Nelson as top target for defeat, citing a lengthy history of voting for wasteful government programs and spending, such as President Obama’s unconstitutional health care program. The group has developed a reputation for playing a major role in defeating liberal politicians, and putting significant resources behind their conservative challengers.

In May, the Tea Party Express endorsed Attorney General Jon Bruning for Senate. Bruning is expected to attend and speak at both tea party rallies today.

Rallies Today, August 30th:

Lincoln: 12:30pm-2pm
Nebraska State Capitol
1445 K St

Omaha: 4:30pm-6pm
Elmwood Park
6700 Elmwood Park

As the tour crosses the country, presidential candidates will attend to address the tea party audience. The grand finale is the CNN/Tea Party Express Presidential Debate in Tampa, FL on September 12th. The full “Reclaiming America” tour schedule is available online at: http://www.teapartyexpress.org/tour-schedule.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Levi Russell at 509-979-6615 or [email protected]

08/30/11

The Age of Transitions

Hat Tip: Nancy Jacques

Read more at Documentary Wire…

Converging technology, transhumanism, and our future in the making. The cutting edge group known as transhumanists see a beautiful future brought about by artificial intelligence, life extension, and cybernetics. What one must realize before getting carried away with such utopian dreams is that transhumanism was born out of the elitist pseudo-science eugenics. This documentary provides vital information on the history of eugenics and its new cutting edge transformation.