Obama’s Afghan War The New Metric of Civilian Casualties
by Prof Marc W. Herold

HR 45 May be More Troubling Than the Average Anti-gun Bill

Mike Hammond

February 15, 2009
Those of you who regularly peruse the GOA website know that there are dozens of anti-gun abominations which are introduced as legislation in the Senate and House each Congress. These include, particularly, national gun licensing and broad gun bans.

LAPD Implies Owning Guns Is “Illegal”
Paul Joseph Watson

Friday, May 22, 2009

A CBS News clip out of California that was prominently featured on the front page of Yahoo.com today showed the LAPD melting down 40,000lbs worth of “illegal weapons” to ‘”prevent them ending up on the streets in the hands of criminals” and yet most of the guns shown were perfectly legal and were handed in by law-abiding citizens who had kept them in their own homes.

fed. reserve's and wall street's MANIPULATION of
Dollar looks stronger but if you want the truth about the dollar at the price of oil.

When did ASSCLOWN timmy geithner came back from China? He came back from China on June the 3rd and on June the 4th gold prices started to drop and fall by $45.00 and ASSCLOWN berskanky head of the fed tells congress on the same day that he has “concern about large federal deficits”. Don't take my word for it look up the articles READ! Here is more proof, gold June the 5th's three day chart. We all know that the new york fed is the ring leader for many of the feds dirty dealings.


June 8th's chart.


June 12th's chart.

With millions of people out of work, paying for two full time wars, world wide retail sale plummeting, people losing their houses, the federal government warrantless domestic spying and with global markets collapsing do you think gold would be dropping $45.00? Here is yesterdays spot gold chart. Tell me there is no manipulation going on prove it to me.

Now let us look at oil, color me silly but if the dollar was increasing in value as the fed suggests, wouldn't the price of oil drop as well. Ah, but you say demand and I would say demand has plumeted dramatically since last summer. So then why is oil going up? Could it really be that the dollar is getting stronger?

Still don't believe then listen to Bob Chapman

Is this the way the fed. will get out of over monitizing the dollar and hyper-inflation?

Russia May Swap Some U.S. Treasuries for IMF Debt (Update1)
By Alex Nicholson and Dakin Campbell
June 10 (Bloomberg)

Russia may switch some of its reserves from U.S. Treasuries to International Monetary Fund bonds, the central bank said today. The comment drove Treasuries and the dollar lower.
Alexei Ulyukayev, first deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank, said some reserves may be moved from Treasuries into IMF debt, reiterating comments made last month by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. Ulyukayev’s remarks were confirmed by a Bank Rossii official who declined to be named, citing bank policy.( Learn more at )

Household Wealth in U.S. Decreased by $1.3 Trillion

(Sorry More bad news)

U.S. household wealth fell in the first quarter by $1.3 trillion, extending the biggest slump on record, as home and stock prices dropped. Net worth for households and non-profit groups decreased to $50.4 trillion, the lowest level since 2004, from $51.7 trillion in the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds report today. The government began keeping quarterly records in 1952.
Americans are cutting back on spending as unemployment surges, home prices continue to drop and wealth evaporates, signaling any economic recovery will be slow to develop. The drop in net worth is one reason Americans are boosting savings, blunting the effect of the tax breaks and income supplements from the Obama administration’s stimulus plan. (learn more at )

Japan’s Economic Rebound May Be Stymied By a Dearth of Demand

By Jason Clenfield
June 12 (Bloomberg)

A rebound in Japan’s economy from the worst contraction on record may be short-lived amid tepid global demand and as government stimulus spending wears off. The world’s second-largest economy will grow at an annual 1.5 percent pace in the second quarter after contracting a record 14.2 percent in the first, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. After peaking at 2 percent in the third quarter, growth will grind to a halt in the middle of 2010, the survey shows. “After the third quarter it’s very uncertain,” said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Tokyo. “A sustained recovery of final demand seems very unlikely. Final demand is the key.”( Learn more at )

Killer flu recreated in the lab

Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions. A US team added two genes from a sample of the 1918 virus to a modern strain known to have no effect on mice. Animals exposed to this composite were dying within days of symptoms similar to those found in human victims of the 1918 pandemic. The research is published in the journal Nature.

“ The lesson is not to be complacent about anything to do with flu ”
Professor John Oxford

The work of the US team, lead by Dr Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, was carried out under the tightest security. Experts focused on two genes thought to play a key role in the infection process. One controls production of a spike-like molecule called haemagglutinin (HA), believed to be used by the flu virus to attach itself to the cells it is about to infect. (Learn more from the BBC )

World Health Organization declares influenza A (H1N1) ’swine flu’ a pandemic

An emergency meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) has ended by declaring the influenza A(H1N1) or “swine flu” outbreak a global pandemic.According to the world’s peak health body more than 28,000 cases of influenza A (H1N1) have been reported globally and over 141 confirmed deaths. In at least two regions of the world the virus is spreading, with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile. One factor which prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza. Influenza A(H1N1) first emerged in Mexico in April and has since spread to 74 countries. (Learn more at)

Readying Americans for Dangerous, Mandatory Vaccinations
by Stephen Lendman

At least three US federal laws should concern all Americans and suggest what may be coming - mandatory vaccinations for hyped, non-existant threats, like H1N1 (Swine Flu). Vaccines and drugs like Tamiflu endanger human health but are hugely profitable to drug company manufacturers. The Project BioShield Act of 2004 (S. 15) became law on July 21, 2004 "to provide protections and countermeasures against chemical, radiological, or nuclear agents that may be used in a terrorist attack against the United States by giving the National Institutes of Health contracting flexibility, infrastructure improvements, and expediting the scientific peer review process, and streamlining the Food and Drug Administration approval process of countermeasures." ( Learn More at)

China Fixed-Asset Investment Surges 32.9%,

Countering Record Export Slump China’s spending on factories, property and roads surged by the most in five years as the government’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package countered a record slump in exports. ( this is what we should be afraid of, the chinese starting to dump their dollar holdings which in turn will drop the value of the dollar. The pain is coming, better get ready)

Chinese Investment Surges, Countering Record Export Slump Share
By Bloomberg
June 11 (Bloomberg) -- China’s spending on factories, property and roads surged by the most in five years as the government’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package countered a record slump in exports. Urban fixed-asset investment climbed 32.9 percent in the five months to the end of May from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Beijing. Overseas shipments declined 26.4 percent last month from a year earlier, the customs bureau said.
Climbing property and auto sales, record new lending and growth in manufacturing are also signs that the stimulus spending announced in November is driving a recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy. Falling exports because of the global recession are the nation’s biggest challenge, the State Council said last month. “The government’s stimulus package has spurred domestic demand to offset the negative impact from slumping exports,” said Lu Ting, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist based in Hong Kong. “There’s no problem in China achieving its 8 percent economic growth target for this year.”

California 50 Days From Financial Meltdown
California State Controller John Chiang says California 50 Days From Financial Meltdown.State Controller John Chiang today released his monthly report detailing California’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements in May and through the first 11 months of the fiscal year. In May, revenue was $827 million below the latest projections found in the Governor’s May Budget Revision."Without immediate solutions from the Governor and Legislature, we are less than 50 days away from a meltdown of State government. This presents a terrible threat to California’s economy and to the State’s delivery of basic public services,” said Chiang. “A truly balanced budget is the only responsible way out of the worst cash crisis since the Great depression.”
Personal income taxes were $475 million below (-23.0%) estimates in the May Revision. Corporate taxes were down $84.4 million (-25.8%), and sales taxes fell by $109 million (-3.3%).Statement of General Fund Cash Receipts and Disbursements
( You may say that the american gov. can just bailout California. The Chinese are not going to like the fed. gov. creating another $400 to $600 billion to bail out California. Geithner was just in China to promise them that the fed. gov. was going to cut spending and cut the debt. WATCH THIS ONE )

Japan's 1Q GDP revision confirms steep recession

ByTOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 11, 12:06 am ET
TOKYO – Japan's economy shrank slightly less in the first quarter than initial estimates, but the contraction still marked a record for the world's second-biggest economy.
Gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, fell at an annual pace of 14.2 percent in the January-March period, according to revised government figures Thursday. A preliminary report last month had said GDP shrank at an annualized rate of 15.2 percent. The 1 percent improvement stems from less severe declines in capital expenditures, the government said. The revision, however, doesn't change the fact that the drop was the steepest since Japan began compiling GDP statistics more than five decades ago. The drop came as exports plunged, companies slashed production and families spent less. It also marks the fourth straight quarter of decline after the GDP fell a revised 13.5 percent in the October-December period.

Why are we in Afghanistan?
FM, round #1
Do the following statements seem sensible?
“The mission is to ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a sanctuary for al Qaeda and other transnational extremists. That’s what it had become before the operations conducted in the wake of 9/11. Al Qaeda wants to carry out further attacks on the US and our allies, and we need to deny them safe havens in which they can plan and train for such attacks.”
— From “The Battle Ahead – General Petraeus on US Strategy”, Ralph Peters, op-ed in the New York Post, 19 May 2009
“Failure in Afghanistan would mean not only a possible return of pre-9/11 safe havens, but also a sharp blow to the prestige of the United States and its allies.”
— “Triage: The Next Twelve Months in Afghanistan and Pakistan“, David Kilcullen et al, Center for a New American Security, 10 June 2009
Both of these are absurd, IMO. We’re supposed to spend billions of dollars and nobody knows how many American lives to prevent “a sharp blow to the prestige of the United States and its allies”? Is there any evidence that the al Qaeda “safe havens” in Afghanistan were relevant to 9-11? The Afghanistan camps primarily trained fighters against the Northern Alliance. The most important training of the 9-11 terrorists took place in the US. Whatever minimal additional training was required could have been done anywhere in the wilds of the Western US. It’s easy to camp there for a month and see nobody, if you stay off the trails. The Forest Services and Bureau of Land Management have a small force of professional staff to patrol the vast areas under their supervision.

US sending 1,000 commandos to Afghanistan --
United States Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors 07 Jun 2009 The Pentagon is sending additional 1,000 special operations forces and support staff to Afghanistan and changing the way commandoes fight the Taliban, Fox News reported on Saturday. While much of the public focus has been on the 24,000 additional American troops moving into the country this year, United States Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors in what could be a pivotal role. ( Great more young Americans to die for an oil company, the super rich and a federal government that doesn't care about the lives of these men. When they come home to America the very government that sent them thinks of them as possible terrorits, that is if the make it home. Oh, and who do you think is paying for this war YOU ARE )

Republican Staff Say E-Mails Show Federal Reserve Overstepped on Merrill
House Republican staffers preparing lawmakers for a hearing today said Federal Reserve and Treasury officials overstepped their authority and pressured Bank of America Corp. to complete its Merrill Lynch & Co. purchase.
(This mean that the fed is PLAYING SIDES and using it powers to enrich it's friends)

Japan Economy Shrank at Record 14.2% Pace Last Quarter on Exports Collapse
Japan’s economy shrank less than the government initially estimated as business investment and inventories fell at a slower pace. ( So what, the export market has drop about 50% for the last 4 months. That tell you that the US is not buying and soon people will be out of work here.)

BOE's Sentance Says U.K. Economy May Be `Bottoming Out,'
Recover in 2009 Bank of England policy maker Andrew Sentance said the U.K. recession may be “bottoming out,” setting the scene for a recovery as soon as this year. ( just rubbish)

Dollar's Status as World's Reserve Currency May Deteriorate, Roubini Says
The dollar’s status as the world economy’s sole reserve currency may deteriorate, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economics professor who predicted the financial crisis. ( with the Chinese about ready to give up the dollar what else would happen)

U.K. Inflation Expectations Rise in BOE May Survey as Deflation Risk Ebbs
U.K. consumers’ expectations for store prices in the next year increased in May for the first time in three quarters, a survey for the Bank of England showed. ( RUBBISH )

Bank of Korea Keeps Interest Rate at Record Low 2% Amid Signs of Recovery
The Bank of Korea kept its interest rate unchanged today for a fourth month amid evidence record-low borrowing costs and fiscal stimulus are reviving the economy. ( Recovery, in the land that just killed an ex-PM over money scandle, recovery I don't think so)


French Consumers Cut Back on Gambling, Beauty Salons as Slowdown Worsens
French consumers cut spending on everything from restaurants to gambling last year as inflation and an economic slump took their toll. (So when was the last time the French matter )

How TARP Paybacks Expose Weakest Banks

The government has finally acknowledged something it wanted to keep secret six months ago: Which banks are in the worst financial health.
It’s now obvious that Citigroup (C), GMAC, Bank of America (BAC) and perhaps a dozen other large banks are in rough shape, but when the Troubled Assets Relief Program went into effect last October, the idea was to mask problems at sick banks by flooding the whole financial system with liquidity. President Bush’s Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, famously imposed TARP bailout funds on big banks like Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which took the money even though they said they didn’t need it.
Paulson was trying to prevent a repeat of the runs on Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers that occurred when big, institutional clients, worried that those banks could fail, decided to pull their money out. All at once. Pumping some healthy banks with money, Paulson reasoned, would distract attention from the sickest banks, and buy time until the risk of panic receded. (learn more at)

"87 Percent of [Chinese] Respondents Believe China’s Dollar-Assets are Unsafe"

Remember how the Chinese laughed at Geithner when he said their American investments were safe? The laughter was not just the opinion of those sitting in the audience listening to Geithner's speech. One of China's official newspapers, The Global Times, reports that an online poll of Chinese citizens found that 87 percent of respondents believe China’s dollar-assets are unsafe.
The paper concluded, “Ordinary Chinese people are discontent with the declining value of China’s huge foreign exchange reserves denominated in U.S. dollars.”

Market Distortions A Product Of Fed Decisions
June 6 2009

Summary: Any coming rally will be built on sand, Fed over a barrel and will act that way, big leverages led to a the big collapse, we know financial institutions should never be allowed to self regulate, production decreasing, liquidations rise, lies of Cheney exposed, GM in chapter 11.

Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill is now up to 190 cosponsors!

A recovery is supposed to be in the works in the midst of increased savings, declining debt balances on credit cards, more bankruptcies, higher unemployment and new wave of foreclosures. Consumer participation in GDP is down from 72% to 70.4%. Bank and other financial firms’ balance sheets are what they say they are and we have a stock market bear rally built on sand just as we had in 1931. And, lest we forget, bogus government statistics calculated to confuse professionals and investors alike. What an upside down world. How do you make money when you are losing money? Wait until late July and in August when the second quarter earnings are released by financial firms. They won’t be pleasant reading.

learn more at

Economic Ramifications of Skyrocketing Long-Term Unemployment

By Dirk van Dijk

The big under-reported part of the unemployment situation is the increasing duration of unemployment. Being out of work for three weeks is very different than being out of work for 30 weeks. While over half of the states and more than half the population does have extended unemployment benefits, it is a very scary prospect to not only be without a paycheck, but also having already exhausted your unemployment benefits. That means no income coming in, and given how low the savings rate has been over the past decade, likely no money period.

Economically it further depresses your spending, and psychologically it is just plain depressing. The average length of unemployment rose to 22.5 weeks in May from 21.4 weeks in April, and is up from 16.8 weeks a year ago. The median length of unemployment has also gone up sharply, reaching 14.9 weeks in May versus 12.5 weeks in April and 8.3 weeks a year ago. While the duration of unemployment always goes up during a recession, it has been particularly pronounced in this one (and the last expansion was noteworthy in how little it fell).

Asian Shares Lower, But Techs Helped

By TI Guidance MarketWatch  

SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares were lower Tuesday, with some markets erasing early gains as investors turned cautious on the near-term outlook, though technology stocks were supported by some upbeat comments from U.S. chip giant Texas Instruments. 
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.2% with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 0.2% and South Korea's Kospi Composite off 0.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.2% and Singapore's Straits Times Index down 0.2% in light trade, while Taiwan shares were the worst performers, falling 2.4%. 
The market was at point of indecision, said Phillip Securities economist Joshua Tan in Singapore. "It seems the market no longer wants to hear 'it's not getting any worse' anymore. We have a sneaky feeling it's going to want the economy to 'show me the money' from now on. It could really be wanting clear evidence for the right side of the V-shape recovery before charging ahead any higher". 
Wall Street ended little changed Monday, though off its intraday lows, providing little in the way of strong leads for Asia. U.S. stock futures were a touch higher in screen trade, though, and Texas Instruments climbed 2.1% in late trading after it boosted its second-quarter guidance. ( learn more at )

The World Economy

The Real Unemployment Rate?

June 08, 2009

For many months now I've been wondering why so many people call the Labor Department's U-6 measure of labor underutilization the real unemployment rate, as if, somehow, people settling for part-time work are without a job at all.

Japan's current account surplus down 54.5% in April
Jun 7 06:57 PM US/Eastern

TOKYO, June 8 (AP) - (Kyodo

Japan's current account surplus shrank 54.5 percent in April from a year earlier to 630.5 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
The balance of trade in goods and services posted a deficit of 287.3 billion yen, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
The current account balance -- the broadest gauge of trade -- is the difference between a country's income from foreign sources and foreign obligations payable, excluding net capital investment.

( This is really telling, Japan's number 1 trading partner is the U.S.. This is telling you that U.S. is not importing goods, as an out come Japan is not EXPORTING. Geithner says everything is ok, ha ha ha)

Optimistic Unemployment and Housing Forecasts Looking Downright Silly
Economics may be the "dismal science" but economists as a group sure seem to be an optimistic lot. Yes, there are a handful of "doomers" like Nouriel Roubini but most economists did not see the recession coming until it was already 10 months old.
Please consider unemployment forecasts. The Fed forecast unemployment at 8.4% in 2009 and the "adverse forecast" was at 10.3% in 2010. ( learn more at)

Market Distortions A Product Of Fed Decisions
Posted: June 6 2009

Any coming rally will be built on sand, Fed over a barrel and will act that way, big leverages led to a the big collapse, we know financial institutions should never be allowed to self regulate, production decreasing, liquidations rise, lies of Cheney exposed, GM in chapter 11.
Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill is now up to 190 cosponsors!
A recovery is supposed to be in the works in the midst of increased savings, declining debt balances on credit cards, more bankruptcies, higher unemployment and new wave of foreclosures. Consumer participation in GDP is down from 72% to 70.4%. Bank and other financial firms’ balance sheets are what they say they are and we have a stock market bear rally built on sand just as we had in 1931. And, lest we forget, bogus government statistics calculated to confuse professionals and investors alike. What an upside down world. How do you make money when you are losing money? Wait until late July and in August when the second quarter earnings are released by financial firms. They won’t be pleasant reading. The market rally and much of the earnings are simply fraud. Wall Street and investors simply shrug their shoulders and look away. They know but they do not want to know. Ever present in the scams is the SEC, which has never seen a major firm they did not like. (Learn more at)

Gold Price Manipulation by fed. gov. and fed. res.

In this market gold dropping $20.00 dollars in 2 hours??? You decide.