Ya Basta!

Behind every great fortune there is a great crime. The criminal elite, the oligarch rulers of the world do not enslave the world for the bulk of their careers and then suddenly flip altruistic at the end. Foundations, corporate giving, people think that these organizations amass wealth through the most despicable means, but are then motivated to do good for some reason. What a sham. Pickens is an oil man, he wants to control resources, and wind is something you can’t own. Therefore, he must be using the wind farm as investment to control something you can own. Something finite and precious. Water. Here’s the cutsey cute version of this story and the hard news version. Take your pick, the truth is equally troubling either way.

via: DC Examiner

by By Timothy P. Carney

Examiner Columnist | 8/21/08 7:10 PM Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is about to make a killing by selling water he doesn’t own. As he does it, it will be praised as a planet-friendly wind project. After he pulls it off, the media will deride it as craven capitalism. In truth, it is one the most audacious examples of politics for profit, showing how big government helps the biggest business steal from the rest of us. The plotline behind Pickens’ water-and-wind scheme is almost too rich to believe. If it were a movie script, reviewers would dismiss it as over-the-top.

Continue Reading »

via: USA Today

Ghouls have made a resurgence in cemeteries throughout the United States, prying plates and ornaments from headstones and selling them to scrap yards.

A rise in metal prices is driving the thefts, detectives say. Prices for copper, brass and bronze — metals that are commonly found in cemetery remembrances — have in some cases quadrupled in price in the past four years.

Because the metals can be hammered out of shape, the thefts are virtually untraceable.

“It’s disgusting,” says Detective Kurt Fundermark of the Cape Coral (Fla.) Police Department, who is investigating the theft of 150 brass flower vases from grave sites in two cemeteries.

“These thieves don’t seem to care about their conscience. They don’t care about right and wrong,” Fundermark says.

•In Delaware someone removed 1,000-pound bronze gates from two mausoleums at the Riverview Gardens cemetery in Wilmington.

•More than 200 brass urns were stolen from Rest Lawn Memorial Gardens and Sunset Memorial Park, both graveyards in Cumberland, Md. A married couple was recently charged in the case.

•In Chicago last month, three men were charged with taking $500,000 worth of brass urns and ornaments from cemeteries. Continue Reading »

via: Casaubon’s Book

After “Where should I live?” the next most frequently asked question I get is “How much land do I need?” And just like “Where should I live” is a deeply personal question, shaped as much by who you are, where your family is, what you do for a living, etc… as by any rules of thumb, the same thing is true of “how much land do I need.” That is, it depends on where the land is, what kind of land it is, how much rain you get, what you want to do with it. The one absolute truth is that with a few exceptions the answer is almost always “less than you think.”

Now when I went looking for land I did what a lot of people did - I wanted as much as I could afford. I got 27 acres, and in many ways, that’s far too much. Now don’t get me wrong - I’m delighted I have it. It gives me choices that other people don’t have. But I very quickly realized that 3 intensively managed acres could probably have done me nearly as well and that 1/2 acre could do an astounding amount. There have been times when the only part of this property we’ve used is about an acre of it.

Ok, so the first set of questions applies to you - let’s say you want some land to grow food on. What’s your situation? I’d suggest you ask yourself these questions. I won’t offer any real answers, just things to think about.

more

VIA: American Free Press Issue # 34, August 25, 2008

Caspian Sea oil pipeline, sovereignty at heart of Russia’s blowup with U.S. ally

By Howard Carson

George W. Bush and his neo-con cohorts are behind the Russo-Georgia war, inside sources on the ground in South Ossetia and in Washington have revealed. Israel is also involved on behalf of Georgia because of oil. The sources remain anonymous.

Russia’s attack was in response to U.S. plans to install missile sites near its borders and to bring Georgia into NATO. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for Russia to regain its influential position in former Cold War ally Cuba, giving his country a military presence reminiscent of the 1963 Cuban missile crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

This threat emerged earlier (AFP, Aug. 4, 2008) but was blacked out by the mainstream media.

“We should restore our position in Cuba and other countries,” Putin said, while hearing a report on a recent Russian delegation’s trip to Cuba.

“It is not a secret that the West is creating a ‘buffer zone’ around Russia, involving countries in Central Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Ukraine,” said Leonid Ivashov, head of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems.

“In response, we may have to expand our military presence abroad, including Cuba.”

Earlier, Russia threatened a “military technical” response to U.S. plans to put missiles in Eastern Europe near its borders. Russia strongly opposes plans of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route oil and gas that transit Georgia through Turkey instead of linking them to Russian pipelines. Tel Aviv owns a heavy interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines.

The Swiss-based Israeli investigative journalist and author Shraga Elam reports that Israel, with U.S. connivance, was behind the attack against South Ossetia by the tiny former Soviet state of Georgia.

“There is an obvious Israeli involvement in the present conflict between Georgia and Russia,” he says.

“There are hundreds of Israeli military advisers in Georgia. . . .” He quotes sources like military expert Yossi Melman in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz:

“Melman wrote that Georgia became a real El Dorado for Israeli arms dealers and numerous representatives of the army and intelligence services. Some former generals like Israel Ziv and Gal Hersh (with his company Defensive Shield) are very active there.

“Hersh and Ziv are mainly training and consulting Georgian army units. They are using the ‘chain’ method common among Israeli arms dealers: a main contractor wins a tender and employs sub-contractors—in this case Israeli officers and former Shin Bet employees,” wrote Melman.

According to him there was a project to sell Merkava tanks to Georgia, The Ma’ariv newspaper points out that the Georgian defense minister, David Kezerashvili, lived for a while in Israel and speaks Hebrew. In a lengthy article the military exports to Georgia are described. Ma’ariv estimates them to be of a value of at least $300 million. An Israeli marketing expert told Ma’ariv:

“To every Israeli agent representing an Israeli defense company is attached a cousin of the defense minister, who opens the doors for him.”

Also, Israeli news web site (News First Class) confirms the massive presence of Israeli advisers in Georgia and writes:

“The Israeli military industries upgraded the Georgian air force, sold unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced artillery systems and trained infantry units.”

U.S. “consultants” are helping the Georgian army. According to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, there are 127 U.S. military trainers there, of whom about 35 are civilian contractors.

In addition to the trainers, 1,000 soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based Southern European Task Force (Airborne) and the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, along with Marine reservists with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Ohio, and the U.S. state of Georgia’s Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry participated in “Immediate Response 2008.”

Operation Immediate Response 2008 was held from July 15-July 30, with U.S. personnel training about 600 troops at a former Soviet base near Tbilisi, the largest city and capital of Georgia. The goal of this operation was allegedly teaching combat skills for missions in Iraq. The Marines left, but not the airmen.

Georgia had sent 2,000 soldiers to Iraq, who were recalled to face the Russian invasion. Washington has provided Georgia with materiel and advisers, and so did Israel—at least until Russia pressed it to stop, reportedly in return for promises to withhold advanced weapons from Syria.

The South Ossetia separatists claim U.S. intervention, saying there are black people among the Georgian casualties. But even if some American personnel went discreetly into action, that would not suffice to deter Russia from bringing Georgia to heel, if not physically occupying the country. And then the Western loss will not be limited to the independence of a small, remote, struggling democracy.

Among items Israel has been selling to Tbilisi are pilotless drone aircraft. Russian fighters shot one down in May, according to UN observers.

Russia sent Israel a letter of protest after the shooting incident asking it to stop supplying military hardware to Georgia “as Russia from time to time complies with Israel’s requests not to supply weapons systems” to states seen as threatening Israel, according to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv. Israel is one of the world’s leading arms exporters but does not detail the contents or value of its trade with individual countries.

In addition to the spy drones, Israel has also been supplying Georgia with infantry weapons and electronics for artillery systems, and has helped upgrade Soviet-designed Su-25 ground attack jets assembled in Georgia, according to Koba Liklikadze, an independent military expert based in Tbilisi. Former Israeli generals also serve as advisers to the Georgian military.

Howard Carson, AFP Southwest Bureau chief, travels widely and has influential contacts in Russia and other countries.

via: CNBC

The financial crisis will probably not end until next year or even 2010, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper quoted Morgan Stanley co-President Walid Chammah as saying in a preview of its Monday edition.

Chammah also expected more banks to fall victim to the crisis, the paper said.

“We will likely see more insolvencies among small U.S. regional banks that have focused on mortgage business,” the paper quoted him as saying.

This site is supposed to be “A place to plan our future primitive hip hop maroon colonies” but I think I often spend more time discussing what’s going wrong than what’s going right, or what we can do to get ready. So, from now on I’m going to try and hunt down more articles about how we’ll survive the impending collapse and how we can live more autonomously regardless of what happens in the future. I’ll post stuff from Survivalblog periodically because it’s probably the best Doomer resource on the web. I won’t post 1% of the full knowledge Jim Rawles offers up, however, so definitely go there yourself and check it out regularly.

via: Survivalblog

Hi Jim, After reading “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” a second time (and this time tabbing the pages) and making note of the ROTC cadet’s story, I acquired some 20mm-sized ammo cans. I thought I’d put together at least one contingency box [for an underground cache], in the event of losing everything else, due to being overrun by bad guys, etc.

First off, instead of pavement/roadway emulsion, I took two of these cans to a Line-X [spray-on bed liner] shop, to have them painted with their material. They were happy to help, since they were shooting a metal surface with the stuff, and not plastic or fabric.

Here’s my list so far, for one can. Some of this is stuff that I have excess quantities:

-One AUS-8 Stainless Recon Tanto knife (I have a bunch of other knives, along with some in Carbon V steel, that I’m currently keeping for barter) -One Swiss Army knife -Toothbrush, dental floss, and toothpaste. -One one-quart canteen with purification tablets -One two-serving Mountain House meal (I was considering an MRE, but there’s too much candy and excess packaging. Also, an MRE may not store for as long .) -Lighter and matches -One earth-tone set of T-shirt, underwear, and socks -50 rds. .22 rimfire ammo -50 rds. 9mm Parabellum ammo

And if I can fit them: One 10 rd. box of 12 gauge shotgun shells, and / or a pair of combat boots. Regards, - Jerry E.

All I can say is “Wow.” The State was a brilliant comedy show I remember from my youth, but I don’t remember it being political. This skit rolls with a black comedy to match the best Monty Python, and gets the viewer with a guiltily funny depiction of Eastern Euraope after the Iron Curtain’s fell. No doubt, the Soviet Union had some major problems, but it also gave people some options they wouldn’t have had in the US. When Goerge Soros, Jeffrey Sachs and the rest of the Free Market Globalist wrecking crew came in, all Russia’s assets were plundered, and ownership profits sent overseas to elite bankers. The “free market” was a joke; the modern Russian state was born into a wolf pack crib. Bankers and oligarchs won the day, but the average family was robbed and reduced to disoriented capitalist serfdom. Disaster capitalism. The destructive half of the Power Elite’s philosophy.

Yes! This is resistence! This is how we fight the global tyrants, the moneyed elite, the banking cartel! Barter! Trade organic produce, stop using fiat currency!

via: Money

Credit crunch pinched residents of one Norfolk village have been taking advantage of an inventive means to save the pennies without cutting back on nights out. Thanks to the resourcefulness of their local pub, ‘The Pigs’, they can now barter fresh produce in return for pints of beer.

The pub, in Edgefield near Holt, is one of the few to see business boom since the start of the credit crunch as it encourages locals to trade their home grown produce in return for alcohol.

The sign outside the pub reads: ‘If you grow, breed, shoot or steal anything that may look at home on our menu, then bring it in and let’s do a deal.’ True to their word they’ll negotiate on anything, agreeing a barter price based on the size, quantity and quality of the produce presented.

Green fingered residents have been trading fruit and vegetables for pub meals and drinks, while others have swapped freshly laid eggs and fish or meat they’ve caught themselves for a pint.

Pub manager and brain child of the popular scheme, Cloe Wasey, enthused “We find the home-grown stuff is often much better than what we can get from the suppliers. When we get the good stuff, and it gets on to the specials board, it’s brilliant.” Continue Reading »

It’s a pretty simple formula: destroy a country’s economy, pump drugs into low income neighborhoods, and then offer a police state to quell the violence. Create the problem, create the solution. Ordo ab chao. This will only become more common.

via: AP

By JON GAMBRELL – 1 day ago

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) — Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that’s been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.

On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.

Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.

“Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here,” Mayor James Valley said.

“The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.”

The area under curfew, in what used to be a West Helena neighborhood, sits among abandoned homes and occupied residences in disrepair.

White signs on large blue barrels warn those passing by that the area remains under curfew by order of Mayor James Valley. The order was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Tuesday, but Valley said the city council’s vote would allow police to have the same powers across Helena-West Helena.

Among the curfew operation’s arrests, 10 came from felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons, Fielder said. The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns. Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

“We’ve had people call us, expressing concern for their children,” Fielder said. “They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets.”

Fielder said officers had not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, only questioned people about why they were outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.

However, such stops likely violate residents’ constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.

“The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims,” she said. “They’re victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they’re victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning … that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation.”

The council rejected Dickson’s claims, at one point questioning the Little Rock-based attorney if she’d live in a neighborhood they described as under siege by wild gunfire and gangs.

“As far as I’m concerned, at 3 o’clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law,” Councilman Eugene “Red” Johnson said. “Anyone out at 3 o’clock shouldn’t be out on the street, unless you’re going to the hospital.”

The curfew is the second under the mayor’s watch since the rival cities of Helena and West Helena merged in 2006. That year, Valley set a nightly citywide curfew after a rash of burglaries and other thefts.

Police in Hartford, Conn., began enforcing a nightly curfew for youths after recent violence, including a weekend shooting that killed a man and wounded six young people.

Helena-West Helena, with 15,000 residents at the edge of Arkansas’ eastern rice fields and farmland, is in one of the nation’s poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living.

In the curfew area, those inside the homes in the watch area peered out of door cracks Tuesday as police cruisers passed. They closed the doors afterward.

I’ve been saying this for years! All the BS about free markets and freedom going hand to hand is proven false by China. Modern gangster capitalism is simply not a free market. There is no rule of law in international finance, there is no fair competition, free trade, or open information sharing. Gangster capitalism works best under authoritarian system. Globalism has long been touted as a system that equalizes the world–the rich countries get poorer through outsourcing and the poorer nationions get richer. What’s also going on is that the “free” nations like the US get more authoritarian like the communist countries and the communist countries get more corporate. Were going to see a global blending of capitalism and totalitarianism. The global ghettos will still exist, but they will be more interspersed amongst the pockets of prosperity, as the favellas border the mansions in countries like Brazil today.