Saturday, February 28, 2009

from Jenna Orkin:

The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy
Economy Shrinks At Staggering Rate
Failure to Save East Europe Will Lead to Worldwide Meltdown
How the Economy Was Lost
This article has been described by GATA as, among other things, an ex-Treasury official's confirmation of the suppression of the price of gold.

In Europe, Breaking Up Is So Easy To Do
Ukraine's Collapse
Ukraine Shuts Soviet Radar as Russia Launches New One
To Counter Ukraine's Claims of Genocide, Moscow Admits to Mass Murder
So you see, Ukraine, it really wasn't personal; it was equal opportunity genocide. - JO
Russia's Putin Warns Against Protests
Hungary Seeks $230 Billion in Aid to Eastern Europe
Russian Bomber Neared Canada Before Obama Visit
Kyrgyzstan Leader Plays Russians Against Americans
South Korea "Hit by Lightning" By East Europe Concerns

Royal Bank of Scotland Reports Record Loss

"The Royal Bank of Scotland has posted the largest annual loss in UK history, and it will receive a further $28 billion of taxpayers' cash.

RBS was once one of the top five banks in the world."

Perhaps it still is, as they all now race in the opposite direction, towards the bottom. - JO
ECB President Stands to Gain More Powers
EU Confidence Drops on Unemployment

US Economy Shrinks 6.2 Per Cent
The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) fourth-quarter reading was far worse than the 5.4 percent rate expected by most analysts
US Stocks Slide on Citigroup Rescue, Worse-Than Expected GDP
What Will Happen If The US Dollar Is No Longer a Safe Haven?
Is America Becoming a Chinese Puppet State?
Chinese Finding US Real Estate a Real Bargain
Huge Increase in US Military Aid to Pakistan
Dividend Cuts Coming for Morgan Stanley and Goldman?
See February 26 blog's links on dividend cuts at JP Morgan et al.
JP Morgan Cuts 12000 Jobs in WaMu Merger
BofA May Be Next, Credit Analysts Say
Breach of Fiduciary Duty at Bank of America?
Re the Merrill Lynch acquisition
Bank of America's CEO Subpoenaed for List of Who Got Bonuses

Next Oil Shock Will Be Far Worse Than $147 A Barrel

India Joins Club of Nations Capable of Building Battleships

Apart from India, only the US, France and Russia have the capability to build warships of 40,000 tonnage capacity.

World Faces Last Chance to Avoid Fatal Warming
How to Survive the Coming Century

Article on climate change with interactive map.
Best Mushroom Products

Comment sent to the blog:

In response to the comment about where is the best place to store one's "survivalist seeds," the answer is "in your garden beds." It takes some practice to get good at growing food, especially if you depend on it (and it's not just a hobby). If the collapse takes some years to fully materialize, then there will be (barely) some time to practice. Some varieties will do better in your location than others. It takes some time to improve your soil with compost and mycellium (see www.fungi.com). You'll want to trade with others for things you can't grow or don't have space to grow. When you harvest the plants and seeds, the seeds should be stored in a dark, dry, cool place.

On the Road to 9/11, There Was 9/16


Sept. 16 was the culmination of a violent struggle between extreme elements of the American left and Wall Street-bankrolled capitalists, as the government shredded civil rights laws and emboldened its foes with its harsh tactics...


It is a story that overflows with fascinating characters. There is J. P. Morgan’s son Jack and the firm’s resident spin doctor, Thomas Lamont, who also owned The New York Evening Post. How convenient. One can only imagine the field day that today’s aggressive media would have with that. Morgan and Lamont were joined by the steel magnate Henry Clay Frick and the coal baron John Markle, both of whom survived anarchist assassination attempts.


But Ms. Gage also presents a Who’s Who of the American left — many of whom, of course, did not condone violence. Still, she says, it’s unsettling today to hear how some of them debated whether violence might be necessary to achieve their ends.


Against a backdrop of police action against strikers — and the deaths of so many workers in industrial accidents — “it was not unusual to hear the use of dynamite praised as a justifiable reaction to capitalist tyranny and a weapon of working-class self-defense,” she writes. “And that talk did, at least on occasion, translate into action.”

Thursday, February 26, 2009

from Jenna Orkin:

Central Banks Have to Coordinate Efforts or Face Global Collapse
CIA Adds Economy to Threats
US, Russia, Plan to Destroy Chemical Weapons Imperiled By Crisis
FBI Fears Home-Trown Terrorism After US Citizen's Somalia Strike
FBI Director: Mumbai Attack Raises Questions of Terrorism in US
Mumbai Attackers Phones Traced to Italy
Mexican Drug Cartel Violence Spreads to U.S.
Bank Bailouts Around the World
Wall Street Drops on Misgivings About Obama Speech
Pentagon Officials Must Sign Budget Secrecy Pledge
The Next Domino: The Credit Card Debt Crisis
Ssh. No one mention Treasuries.

China Prepares to Buy Up Foreign Oil Companies
Oil for Money, China Style
The BRIC brigade
China Breaks Its Silence on Afghanistan
Thailand's Economy Joins Asian Slump
South Korea Sees Lumpy Road for Won, Slowing Bank-Debt Sale

Non-OPEC Oil Production Peaked in 2004
US Nuclear Supercarrier Sent To Fight Somali Pirates

Eastern European Tinderbox: How Explosive Could It Get?
Crimea Scene Investigation
Anti-NATO Protest in Crimea
Tajikistan Going Up Against Moscow Again
Scroll past first article to synopsis from Stratfor.
Bosnia Unraveling
Bank Bond Risk Soars to Record in Europe On Payment Concerns
EU Planning 200 Billion Euro Package for Eastern Europe
Latvia's Credit Rating Cut to Junk; Ratings Companies Warn of "Major Crisis" Brewing in Eastern Europe
Former Estonian Official Convicted of Treason
ECB Adds Voice to Warnings on Irish Public Pension Levy

Citibank Dumber Than Your Spam Filter
Terrorists in Athens Plant Bomb at Citibank
The 60 kilogram device, assembled with ammonium nitrate fuel oil - the explosive used in the Oklahoma City bombing - could have destroyed the four-storey building and killing hundreds.
Bank of America Robber Still on the Run
Bank of America Official Sentenced For Sending Stolen Money to Casino
JP Morgan Slashes Dividends 87 Per Cent
Prospect of Canadian Bank Dividend Cuts No Longer Seen Unlikely
Speculation Rises Over Wells Dividend
Fed Issues Guidelines on Bank Dividends
Following Bailout Money to Tax Havens

Quote of the Day:

"The Cato Institute estimates Zimbabwe's inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion percent...."

Putting that into perspective, the official count of stars in the universe is about 70 sextillion, apparently... http://www.dailyreckoning.com/
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From Rice Farmer:

Soros Sees No Bottom for World Financial Collapse
Gone in Sixty Days: Citi and Bank of America Won't Live to See May
Taliban Bombs Made With British Electronics: Report

Monday, February 23, 2009

I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY

I have known for a long time that this day would come; the day when events would catch up with the map. For the time being I've got nothing to say; nothing I can say. All I want you guys to do -- the way we trained you -- is to just watch the news closely now. We have accomplished so much with our research and analytical skills. Those who have been with me and FTW for a long time will understand this perfectly. Take whatever you can glean and analyze on a daily basis and, if possible, figure out a way to make that apply locally. If it isn't relevant... fuggedaboudit.

Every day one of this list's stalwarts sends a select few an amazing culling of global news stories. I'd like to ask that person's permission to have those stories posted here every day on the main page. Those will help you more than anything I can say now... those of you who have learned how to read the map. You are my family. Those who don't get it won't have much time to play catch up. It's getting to be the time when the lifeboats must leave the wreck. It won't be a clear demarcation, but at some point what will happen is that those in the lifeboats will start caring only or mostly for each other until the imminent danger has passed.

I'm not going away. The Creator has timed this perfectly as I take care of other very important business for us. I am not leaving the field... not now.

MCR
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JO adds:

In view of Mike's recommendation above, the blog is going to become more restrictive with respect to comments published, focussing only on what is immediately relevant.

Taxpayer Takeover of Citi Should Bring More Fear
JP Morgan Chase To Issue Debit Cards For Unemployment Benefits in Alaska
DOD Officials See Terrorist Threat to America Brewing in Canada
Russia To Respond To Militarization of Arctic
Russia, Japan Should Boost Trade Ties, Medvedev Says
Ukraine-India Headed For Defense Cooperation Agreement
World Bank President: Eastern Europe Must Not Fail (Latvia Just Did)
EU Mulls Action as Ukraine Crumble Triggers Fears of Contagion for Europe
Gazprom Withholding Gas From Poland
CEE Banks in Unprecedented Verbal Intervention
Secret Report Reveals How Members of the European Parliament Make Millions
Tunnels Between US and Mexico
Afghanistan Slipping Out Of Control
Seeking a New Road from Afghanistan to the Sea - Through Iran
Zardari Wants China To Be Arbitrator For India/Pakistan Disputes
Growing China To Stay Hungry For Brazil's Resources
Dirty Bomb Parts Found in Slain Man's Home
Indian Buyers Dump Gold, Buy Platinum

Career Options for Ex-Wall Street Workers: Butler, Clown, Shredder
...or any combination therefrom

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

THE AMBULANCE

by Michael C. Ruppert

Russia and China just signed a $25 billion energy deal. Uhhhhh.... all that money that CNBC says the Chinese are going to use to buy T-Bills and such... Well, in spite of the fact that there are around 29 million unemployed (many of them displaced) in China; in spite of the fact that China is having its worst drought in 50 years, threatening its wheat crop (also hit by a fungus); in spite of the fact that this guarantees a catastrophic famine; in spite of the fact that widespread civil unrest is the worst-kept secret in China... I don't think there's much chance China's going to be buying much of anything from us, let alone our very-questionable debt. And now by signing an energy deal with Russia, China is signalling where it's going to be spending its money.

Locally.

Well, that leaves Japan to finance our debt...

Doh!

GM is about to go under and gold is ready to rocket through $1,000 an ounce. Remember that last September I predicted that gold will be around $2,000 an ounce by March? Remember that I predicted that GM or Chrysler would be gone by the spring? We put all this solidly on the map at FTW and in "Rubicon". So many great writers and thinkers have been building this map from many directions in stark detail for so long. Why is it that TPTB can't see us? Why can't they see what's coming like we can? We're invisible to them... but only for a short while longer. And they can't see what we see (or even us) because we are out of their box and we have glimpsed over their ever-diminishing dinosaur horizons. We know where the paths lead... The dinosaurs are starting to become alarmed.

Europe is absolutely imploding economically, especially Eastern Europe... It won't be long now...

Bring it on. We're ready.

The beginning of the end indeed... Everybody in the PeakOil/Sustainability movement needs to start getting their tracks shoes on and their heads right. Hydrate and get your shit together. The world's being beaten to death and we're the ambulance.
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Jenna Orkin adds:

Warning for the West as Crisis Spills Onto the Streets
US Refinery Delays May Spur Supply Crunch
Mystery Deepens Around Ukrainian Gas Firm
"I think what matters most for the Ukrainian government is not the gas price," Putin said during a meeting with reporters, "but rather the opportunity to retain certain intermediaries to use the dividends for private purposes, to accumulate personal wealth and obtain financial resources for further political campaigns."
Russia in Latam Push with Bolivia Gas pipelines
Coordinated Inflation Could Bail Us All Out
A rising tide lifts all boats!

The influence of Dr. Gono shines forth from the pages of the Financial Times
World Heads For Water Bankruptcy
JP Morgan Employee Survived Six Floor Leap

CIA Helped Pakistan, India Share Info in Mumbai Case
UN Crime Chief Says Drug Money Flowed Into Banks
US Official Says Drones Use Pakistan Base
What about Cracking the Benazir Case?
[T]here are fears that giving unfettered access to international investigators could create complications of its own if they were to come across evidence that implicated Pakistan as a state in terrorist activities....

[Former Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokar] also expressed the concern that India would now put up a “laundry-list” of more demands for Pakistan to meet that could create more tensions between the two countries, especially as New Delhi had declared that in Pakistan, it did not see a distinction between non-State actors and the State.
Israel Now India's Top Defense Supplier
Iran Rethinks Gas Supply Security for India
Obama and the Afghan Narco State
US To Send Pirates to Kenya
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
A Letter to President Barack Obama

by Michael C. Ruppert
(C) Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved. Michael C. Ruppert

FEB. 17, 2009, 11:00 PM PST

Dear Mr. President:

Today, as you signed your recovery package into law, you said that this was "the beginning of the end."

No shit!

The death and collapse of the U.S. and global economies has been inevitable for some time. The collapse of industrialized civilization cannot be prevented by any plan or scheme invented by any political party operating in the current economic paradigm. There are alternatives and options that can save hundreds of millions, if not billions, of lives, but they are outside the box that you think in. I and many others have foreseen and accurately predicted these events for years. We are known as the Peak Oil/Sustainability Movement. Because of our incredible accuracy in predicting events to this point, over decades, you might want to pay attention to what we and a growing number of honest business reporters are saying about what is coming next.

With all respect, when you said "beginning of the end" with that sincere smile, transmitting hope and confidence, it sent a shudder down my spine. All you are doing is buying time to prevent the collapse of totally dysfunctional marriage where the mother (the government) kills the children (us) to save her relationship with the father (the way money works). The time has come to admit to the people the catastrophic event horizon before us and all of humankind. I cannot believe that you do not see this. And, if you do see it, then what you said today was the biggest Hail Mary pass in American political history. Those, Mr. President, are words that will come back to haunt you and it scares me to think that you might be cynical enough to try and sell it to us.

Mr. President, what you said today was a "tell" of desperation. There are those who want to help you, who are eager to help you. But you must look at us and call us by our name. Otherwise it will not be long before one of two things happens. Either you and the government of the United States will be compelled to listen to us, or else the people will stop listening to you.

The President we need now is not Abraham Lincoln.

It is Thomas Jefferson.


Sincerely,

Michael C. Ruppert
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The Man Behind the Curtain Revealed

by Jenna Orkin


As we all lunge towards Wikipedia to figure out what it is about Thomas Jefferson that makes him such an apt mentor, I believe Mike's referring to two things:

1. Jefferson's emphasis on local rather than federal government. This is going to play out anyway in the coming years, whether TPTB like it or not.

2: His resistance to the establishment of a central bank that was not beholden to the people whose taxes maintained it. Hamilton won the argument by conceding that the bank would have to retain a gold reserve.

The rest, as they say, is history. As are we about to become, when the end President Obama mentioned we're at the beginning of, arrives in force.

But even as we players strut on the stage in the final act of whatever drama this is, it's gratifying at last to understand our role and to learn the name of the author.

Turns out, the drama's The Wizard of Oz.

First revealed by school teacher Henry Littlefield in 1964, and explicated superbly by Ellen Hodgson Brown in Web of Debt, the fable was written c. 1900 to protest events which would culminate in the establishment of the Federal Reserve. Author Frank Baum did not trust gold which is in notoriously short supply; hence the failure of the yellow brick road to get Dorothy where she wanted to go. In the original story, the magic slippers that finally did the trick were silver.

The scarecrow represented farmers who felt intimidated by the city slickers setting up the Fed. The tin man represented factory workers. And the cowardly lion was William Jennings Bryant whom Baum was trying to enCourage [sic] to fight the good Populist fight.

So the wizard, as we always suspected, was the Alan Greenspan of his day. Fittingly, at the end, he goes off in a hot air balloon which is what Mr. Greenspan was always so full of.

Brown doesn't mention it, but I wonder if the tornado that got the story off the ground, so to speak, was a vortex of inflation or the crash of 1873.

Perhaps all this was clear to audiences when the book was first published. Or perhaps, in the spirit of Baum's contemporaries, Messrs. Freud and Jung, the characters were simply intended to resonate with the archetypal Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the collective unconscious.

As for Oz, that stood for 'ounces.'


Top of the Agenda: US Troop Boost in Afghanistan
Just in time for the unemployment crisis. Note the article further down: Mysterious Attack on presidential palace in Equatorial Guinea.
Russia Restricts Gas to Poland
Over-exposed to Emerging Europe
"It is quite likely that the emerging-markets exposure of European banks exceeds even that of US lenders to Alt-A [Alternative-A] and sub-prime loans."

"I don't think that the EU will let any of these big banks fail," Deuber says. But if they do have to recapitalise their subsidiaries with sizable amounts, he continues, they and their governments will regard those new EU members such as Poland and the Czech Republic as more like core markets, while those countries less integrated with the EU and worse hit by the crisis, such as Ukraine, could be let go.
Crisis Tops G7 Agenda

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB had not drawn any particular conclusions after discussions with other central banks.
"I have said that I did not exclude additional non-standard action, but no decision has been taken yet on top of the non-standard action we have already decided to do and we will see," he said on Saturday.


Why does that language sound so familiar? Oh yes: That's how Gideon Gono used to describe his actions as Finance Minister of Zimbabwe.
Eastern Europe Could Dump Gold
Despite Obama Pledge, Justice Defends Bush Secrets
JP Morgan Launches Gold-Linked CDs
"The payout will... be around 30%." In other words, they're capping it.
JP Morgan Sees $6.4 Billion Capital Shortfall at Deutschebank
Russia's State Arms Exporter has $20 Billion in Foreign Orders

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Germany, France, May Face Bailout of Nations, Not Just Banks
“I would be very reluctant to say: ‘O.K., let Ireland or Greece default, the market will sort it out, punish them for their irresponsibility of the past,’” said Thomas Mayer, co-head of global economics at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “They tried it with Lehman and realized that was not a good idea.”

When push comes to shove, Maastricht Treaty be damned. -- JO

Thursday, February 12, 2009

DOCTOR MY EYES

My good friend Doug Lewis is typing this for me. Today, as I was switching my computer screen between the end of the world, book publishing issues, a minor legal problem, and chatting with a really hot woman, the retina in my left eye tore. After emergency laser surgery I am under strict orders not to read or work on the computer for five days.

This is so fucking rich. You guys are going to have a field day with it. God just told me to take a break. It'll all be here when I get back. Please do not send me any get-well emails for five days!

Rock on!
--
MCR
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Jenna Orkin adds:

Pakistan acknowledges Mumbai Attack Link
Russian, US Satellites Collide

The old alliances are dead.....

Japan Should Scrap U.S. Debt as Dollar May Plummet
Manufacturers' Optimism Plunges in BRIC Countries
"So much for the decoupling" of the emerging markets from the has-beens.

Long live the new alliances.

European Firm Seeks Indian Counterpart for Fun and Partnership in Building Military Vessels
US to Enlist Iran in Targeting Afghan Drug Trade
Are Cyber-Militias Attacking Kyrgzstan?
US Considers Uzbekistan as Backup Base
Head of Azerbaijan's Air Force Shot Dead

Before the revolt of his retina, MCR responded to the above news, "My intial reaction is that Russia is moving raoidly to reassert control over its back yard. You can tell the list I said so.

Not surprising at all."


JO adds:

And speaking of Russian assertion:
Russia: Record Arms Sales in 2008
India, Russia, Nuclear Deal Signed
India, Russia Complete Naval War Games

Bloomberg: Gold May Double Soon
New Mexico Man Charged in White Powder Mailings

Quote of the day:

The typical recession is nothing more than the economy taking a little breather after a brisk walk. A depression, on the other hand, occurs after a long, uphill sprint – when the economy clutches its chest and falls down dead.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

WISDOM FROM A GREAT FRIEND -- THE LIGHT OF THE NEW PARADIGM SHINES THROUGH

In the "old days" Scott McGuire -- AKA "Hawkeye" wrote some stunningly beautiful pieces for FTW. He lives up in Ashland and he's not only the best green-thumb organic farmer I've ever met -- in my humble opinion, he's a spiritual giant. He sent me this post about a week ago and I guess I had a senior moment. (I am 58 now... ;-) -- Did you ever meet someone who was your best friend like ten minutes after you met them" Hawkeye has saved my ass more than once with a gentleness that I cannot describe. He has two of the cutest kids I've ever seen, a great wife, and a slightly crazy cat. Please listen to him. Oh, and Hawkeye... I'll save my gold to buy seeds. We'll be able to buy a lot more that way.

MCR

FROM HAWKEYE

I love the idea of this thread with its own playlist so before I post here's my background of choice: Beachcombing by Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler:

They say there's wreckage washing up all along the coast
No-one seems to know too much, or who got hit the most
Nothing has been spoken, there's not a lot to see
But something has been broken, that's how it feels to me
We had a harmony I never meant to spoil
Now it's lying in the water like a slick of oil
The tide is running out to sea under a darkening sky
The night is falling down on me and I'm thinking that I
Should head on home, been gone to long…

I have to put in my two cents here about the soil building idea and also tweak a few priorities.

For those seriously interested in energy addiction recovery, the garden gate into the plant kingdom beckons wide. And as we remember and re-learn what-all it takes to feed ourselves, we'll find soil building is only one part of the picture. Yet having ground to grow on, any kind of ground, is the third most important thing. Even crappy soil can be improved if you have the second most important thing, water. Carving up lawns is a great idea; strips of sod can be stacked back-to-back to make a superior compost called turf-loam. However, so many lawns are nothing but sponges saturated with herbicides and other toxic residues. The ground underneath must then be loosened, aerated and re-mineralized to grow anything decent out of it.

The first most important thing, the thing you need to have if soil and water are going to be of any use to you at all, is seeds. I must disagree with all the rapture around gold. Right now we need to be investing in seed supplies. We must OWN the seeds if we ever expect to be able to grow the plants. I don't care if you don't yet know your ass from an asparagus; BUY the seeds right NOW for the plants you're going to want to eat.

Also, now is the time to purchase quality hand tools (the best ones are imported, American brands suck). A fork and spade, flat metal rake, hoes and scythes can all be rescued for a few hundred bucks. But if you don't have seeds in your pocket, you won't get very far in feeding anyone when you have to. If the S is really so close to HTF, then to hell with gold, you guys, buy greenhouses, windmills, bicycles, carts, tools, hoses, threshers, winnowers and PVC pipe! While gold may remain the standard between investors, seeds will become the currency between eaters. Invest in the Plant Stock Exchange!

The thread about manure is not just talking shit. It highlights my favorite on the Top 10 List of Peak Everything, Peak Nitrogen. Ultimately, the only sources of plant-usable nitrogen that don't come from natural gas, come from the Legume Family (elitist Soil Bankers) and the asses of animals. All of the manures have their virtues, however take caution with horse these days because of nasty heartworm medications passing right through. Not everyone will be able to have animals, but everybody can possess seeds of legumes to grow the fertility- building plants for the compost.

The transitional ecosystems of our very near future must first take root in our hearts and minds before they will ever be able to express out of our hands and muscles. We will be able to grow whatever we need, but first we have to get tighter with the plants. For instance, forget about all the fuss around the cannabis flowers, we need to be growing the stalk for the fiber and the seeds for the oils. Any true patriots out there have seeds to the Jeffersonian strain? There are riches lying in the roadside ditches of the Midwest.

Highly recommended: Anything by John Jeavons' Biointensive growing methods. Comprehensive and concentrated knowledge, skills and wisdom. And a great seed catalog. Permaculture is a wonderful context for ultimate solutions, but we'll all need some more grounded horticultural skills to get there.

This year I'm organizing a CSA around my 2/3's acre rented backyard.
(Check out PeakMoment TV's tour of my place:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOaPFt_ajvU#GU5U2spHI_4 )

I will grow vegetables, flowers and herbs for 10 families, and they'll pay the rent. We'll also be giving away gardens to single moms and old ladies the way Dan Barker did for over a decade in Portland (over 1400 gardens for FREE). Home Gardening Project:
http://www.jeffnet.org/~hgpf/

If the game is really going to become about feeding ourselves, then the Mayans are right, it really is the end of time as we know it. The collapse will either happen within days, weeks, months or years, but they're all just some dead Emperor's slave- boxes. The recovery will happen during a growing season. Is it THIS one? If you think so, then get growing.

Any post-petroleum life is going to be all about getting back on plant time. THIS growing season is our moment of now. The window of opportunity to harvest true wealth opens wide every spring. Peace is growing. Growing as much square footage as you can turn over within walking distance of where you live. No matter how small doesn't matter at all. At this point all we can do is plant seeds anyway. And all the ideas for a better sustainable life are seeds right now. It's up to us to sow them well and soon.

Loveya Mike. Come home any time.
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MIKE RUPPERT ON SHORT LEAVE FROM BLOG

I mentioned this was coming. I have a ton of critical legal stuff to do, along with work on the new book. It's necessary, and it's all stuff that's been needing attention for a while. Now is the time to deal with it. I'll be a very happy guy when it's fiished. I'll stick my head up as I can. In the meantime I leave you in Jenna's capable and magnificent hands.

MCR

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Jenna Orkin adds:

Business Confidence in BRICs Plummets
Qaeda Commander Warns India of Mumbai-like Attacks
Beware of Energy's Robber Barons
NATO Says Members May Use Iran for Afghan Supplies
Russian Arms Sales Hit Post-Soviet Record in 2008
Japan Ready to Offer $17 Billion to Asia
Banks, Funds, Insurers Cut 312,500 Jobs in Crisis
Downturn Slashes 20 Million Jobs in China
That's "twenty million," as in a thousand times twenty thousand.
Chinese Cautious on Treasuries
The Story The Media Won't Touch
DEA Quits Bolivia on Morales' Order
United States of Africa Still a Dream
A Federal Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration
Dubai: The End of World Headquarters
Scroll down:
"Dubai is a giant Ponzi scheme that will make Bernie Madoff look like small change."
Spinach and Peanuts With a Dash of Radiation

Thanks to Rice Farmer for the following:
Crime Scene Investigation
US Army Lab Freezes Research on Dangerous Pathogens

Sunday, February 08, 2009

BOOK REVIEW
Poetry

"Limousine, Midnight Blue: Fifty Frames of the Zapruder Film"
By Jamey Hecht, Ph.D.


I am not a big reader of poetry, and given the urgent concern that you all have with the concrete facts of what's going on out there in Collapseville, you might well not be either. But you must read Jamey Hecht's new book of poetry, "Limousine, Midnight Blue: Fifty Frames from the Zapruder Film". Reading it was agonizing for me because of all the traumatic darkness and painful memories it brought to the surface. But despite that very real agony, it also paid off many times over because of the haunting beauty, power, depth, and insight of the poems. Jamey goes to the heart of the meaning of the assassination. But unlike anything I've read before, he does this in language that is hypnotic, memorable, and very, very strange.

I was twelve when JFK was murdered. I know so much more than I ever wanted to about the assassinations; personally, as a result of three-plus decades of deep diving into the world of covert operations. As mankind moves into a completely different historical epoch, the assassination of JFK could be called the beginning of the end of afive-hundred year era. The urgency of the new post-industrial paradigm makes one reticent to invest in the old. But this poetry makes you feel the winds of Dealey Plaza on the back of your neck. This book doesn't bludgeon one's mind. It skewers it selectively, deeply and sharply. For all we know, the 35th President, his Attorney General, Paul Wellstone, and Dante himself are reading "Limousine, Midnight Blue" in the Great Elsewhere right now. You should, too. You can order it from Amazon where it just went on sale. Meanwhile you can watch video trailers for the book, read sample poems from it, and check out the blurbs from Peter Dale Scott and Billy Collins, at
http://www.jameyhecht.com/.

I'll close with a cut-and-paste of the description on the back cover:

"This sequence of fifty 14-line poems uses the Zapruder Film of President Kennedy's murder as a prism through which to view America and the world. Refracted rays touch on crime and punishment; guilt and responsibility; charisma and love; the dying victim's experience during the stretched-out seconds of his violation and death; and the dark world of war profiteering, narco-traffic, and deceit where the facts of power determine history. Epic tradition (e.g., Homer, Dante, Milton) shares these pages with science, religion, and popular culture, now funny and now horrifying. " Limousine, Midnight Blue" is a haunted book about a haunted film of an event whose hungry ghosts still walk the American unconscious, rattling their chains loud erevery year."

Jamey Hecht is a good friend who edited my own book, Crossing the Rubicon. At FTW he was my Assistant Managing Editor, and then Senior Staff Writer, for a total of about three years. I know his mind. If I did not before, I sure would after this. He has the rare ability to compel a reader to feel his feelings and see his insight the way he does.

Bravo, brother.


Mike Ruppert

Feb. 7, 2009
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Jenna Orkin adds:


I'm blown away - scratch that, given the context - bowled over by the representative sonnets on the website. Jamey can do that to a person. This is a guy who learned Classical Greek in a cram course, then turned around and published a translation of Sophocles. In addition to acting and performing music. And did I mention his exhibition of paintings (which, for some reason, are not on his website?)

Of these poems the premier Kennedy investigator, poet and English professor Peter Dale Scott says: "This insightful and learned book could become a landmark, like the event it describes."

Friday, February 06, 2009

AMAZING REVELATIONS ABOUT THE BREAKUP OF THE UNION AND LONG-TERM BUSH FAMILY STRATEGY

Plus,

--A Survival Tip for Those With the Money
--READING SIGN
--A New Song from Me to the Blog


by Michael C. Ruppert
(C) Copyright 2009, Michael C. Ruppert. All Rights Reserved


READING SIGN

Greek Group Vows Attacks On Police
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-05-greece-violence_N.htm?csp=34
This is not unrest. This is revolution.

Toyota Shuts Down All But One Assembly Line http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/05/news/international/toyota_assembly/index.htm
They only did that for show. They wanted to shut them all down. This is not Depression. This is another sign that the heartbeat is stopping.

China Facing Worst Drought in 50 Years -- The summer grain harvest is in jeopardy. Picture famine in a country with 29 million unemployed, displaced persons.

Wall Street Soars on Job Losses -- It could not have been more transparent, naked or ugly. Wall Street rallied because 600,000 more people lost their jobs. When are people going to get this! I have been screaming this at the top of my lungs for years. It's GLOBALCORP!

Democrats Agree to Education Cuts in Bailout -- Suicide in slow motion.

SURVIVAL TIP

Recommendation for those who can afford it: Get redundant on as much of your communications as possible. I see deterioration in cable and Internet service everywhere. What I'm thinking is that if I owned a house now, or was building one; I would have both cable and satellite for Internet. I would have a landline and a cell. I would have a diesel generator and maybe 10-20 gallons of fuel. The first power interruptions shouldn't last more than a few days -- maybe a week. But service interruptions for phone and Internet could be real problems. It's not likely that cable and satellites will go down at the same time.

THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION BEGINS -- STATES PLANNING FOR SECESSION, VOIDING U.S. CONSTITUTION

A REVELATION OF THE BUSH FAMILY STRATEGY

I am watching closely how (the number keeps growing) five state legislatures have introduced resolutions announcing their secession from the Union in the event that certain things happen. Er, excuse me... when they happen.. Doh!, as they happen. (Matt Savinar's tracking them at LATOC). The answer to all this fragmentation/secession/break up discussion is obvious. Why reinvent the wheel. Just break up the 50-state union and turn the states loose. That is actually provided for in the Constitution. It doesn't require creating new governments, legislatures and courts. It's obvious. These resolutions didn't just spring up since January 20th. Following a dissolution of the Republic into a federation, large states like California and Texas are likely to break up within a few years after that. Hell, when it was drafted, the Texas state constitution provided that Texas could break itself up into five states if it wanted to. It still can! If it did, it would automatically become a federation and become the "Russia" to Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Eastern New Mexico. Shoot, and also to a big chunk of Mexico (and the Gulf) too. Texas would be the de facto seller of energy to much of the rest of the continent... A filthy-rich kingdom... in dinosaur think. (Forget that they have little water and the hurricanes have been getting just a little stronger lately.)

All of a sudden I understand why a Northeastern family (which is still Northeastern at heart) made itself into a Texas family with such care and devotion over two generations.

This is a huge new insight for all of us. We all need to play with this new chunk of territory for a while.

A NEW SONG FOR THE BLOG

The song is called "Bluebird" from Buffalo Springfield's first album. Steve Stills sang it. OK, somebody tell me who played banjo on it? Richey Feuray, or was it Stills? That was some kick-ass banjo.

Enjoy...http://fromthewilderness.com/Bluebird.mp3

P.S. -- Rosie has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Go figure...I just wrote a review for a new CD by The CHEETERS. In that review I wrote that the only things left to trust are good, raunchy sex and a beat... Rock and Roll!

MCR
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Jenna Orkin adds:


We're now officially in the vortex. The "D-" word which the talking heads tiptoed around for so many months, clinging to the tattered life preserver of "Recession," is now history anyway. Today we skipped straight to "Crisis" while President Obama maintained the stimulus package was necessary to avert "Catastrophe." This, just a few days after MCR announced he was running out of superlatives.

You have to hand it to the Bush family and the Rockefellers and whatever other Skull 'n' Bonesmen have been planning this coup for the last hundred years or so. They sure had stick-to-it-iveness, in addition to sticking it to us.

Guess it's time to stockpile some food. Here in NYC I have an extra cannister of soy powder, expiration date 2011. It'll be a sign the end is nigh when my kid's willing to eat it.

Sex and rock 'n' roll. Didn't there used to be a third category wedged between the other two in that list? But what do I know about these things? (I can hear MCR's response from across the continent: "Less than anyone I've ever met.")

The London Connection to the Somali Pirates
"These young men carrying guns are just foot soldiers. Their leaders are in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Canada."
IMF Almost Halves Asian Growth Prospects
India May Shed 1.5 Million Export Jobs By March End
"The Federation of Indian Export Organisations has said the job losses could be far worse, predicting the global economic slowdown would see at least 10 million Indians in the export sector become unemployed by March." And that's just in exports.
Economic Crisis Reveals Divergence Among the BRICs
Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency
Mission statement for new agency
PBS's Limited Hangout on 9/11
Cheney Warns of New Attacks
This is finally wafting up into the mainstream media. Along with Mitt Romney's schadenfreud-ish observation that the Obama administration is off to a "rocky start," it may be laying the groundwork for the inevitable "I told you so's" when the plans for secession and threats of 'unrest' become realities.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

THE OBAMA HONEYMOON IS OVER -- QUICK, ORDER MORE DECK CHAIRS

by Michael C. Ruppert
(C) Copyright 2009, All Rights reserved. Michael C. Ruppert

Feb 4, 2009, 12 Noon PST -- First, let me say thank you so much for all the great birthday wishes. It feels like my birthday started about a week ago as many surprising and affirming events started bringing old friends back, old wounds being healed, existing friendships deepening, and just buckets of affirming signs from everywhere. Jenna will tell you that I've always not mentioned my birthday. My new lesson and practice is that I accept love whenever it comes my way. And each day is an opportunity to pass it on. When I take Rags on a walk, the walk isn't over until I've seen him make ten people smile. When I want or need love I ask for it... I recorded a new track for you guys last night and we'll get it up soon.

In the meantime, yesterday was a pretty dark day for the country and the world. I want to offer some observations on what Tom Daschle's departure really signifies. It was a major body blow to the Obama administration which doesn't augur well for the ability of our government to function at all, regardless of which party's policies get signed into law. There is no question that this was a huge blunder for Mr. Obama and my initial reaction was, "Uh Oh, Uh Oh, Uh Oh."

THE PARADIGM TRAP

Coincidentally I am not surprised that Tim Geithner was confirmed inspite of his tax issues. I'm not surprised that Nancy Killefer withdrew because of hers. Look at the net result. Geithener is essential to both parties because his job is to maintain an economic paradigm that both parties are offspring of and enslaved to. Killefer, on the other hand, would likely have threatened the fundamental way that money works by exposing all those financial "crazy aunts" we keep locked up in the federal basement. I can picture someone like James Carville slapping the table and saying, "Look, all the American people are hearing is how many ways they've been lied to and cheated... by everybody! Now y'all want to create a powerful, public cabinet post to go and dig out all the thousands of stinking corpses and dirty, shameful secrets and make headlines with that. In your public announcement you imply that she'll be graded on how much shit she can dig up and expose... Are you guys TRYING to start a revolution?" I doubt that the CPO position will get filled soon, if at all. If it does, I suspect that other events will drive it from the headlines. I must admit that Killefer's departure may have been planned. If so, I can conclude only one of two things. Either Barack Obama was really dumb here, or really, really cynical.

The Repubs are using their ability to dig up dirt and play it, to control who the President's advisers are. We know this game all too well. Everyone is taking defensive positions and that's scary. It is the political paradigm.

The Chief Performance Mission (or whatever you call it) is vital. The task of going through government and figuring out how to shut it down and to identify mission-critical systems is an absolute imperative. I'm pretty sure it's been well underway and was handed off by Bush-Cheney to a stunned and disbelieving Barack Obama. "here Bro, here's a head start on what you're going to have to do." Obama's mistake was to make it a high-profile position. If he did not have a clue as to what waste there is in government, or what corruption is hidden there, he truly is naive. He was certainly naive to believe that he would actually be allowed to keep his starting backfield. You know, the ones who were supposed to block and catch passes. Still, for all those clinging to the notion that the ultimate castration of the Obama Administration is a part of some larger plan, I have to reply that in thirty years of unravelling actual and previously inconceivable conspiracies, I have never seen anything like this. None of this feels organized. Rather, it feels instinctive. Even with our abilities to understand Deep Politics and Deep Economics, all of this feels... slipshod, dirty, desperate, like Mike Tyson biting a chunk out of Evander's ear.

But Daschle? OMIGOD, he was a threat to everything. His dinosaur move was to cheerily believe he'd be allowed to slide through confirmation. Daschle was a threat because the corrupt, fraudulent, health-care industry is still a functioning part of a dying economy that is keeping many employed and some money circulating. The act of actually providing Americans with some form of equitable health care is a mortal threat to the paradigm and Daschle had to be stopped. Look, I'm just as sick and disillusioned as everybody else. There's no excuse for his behavior, or Geithner's or Killefer's. The rules they broke are commonly known and common sense for anybody who's ever filed taxes. But, as I've always said, when you are recruiting for a dinosaur paradigm one has to pick dinosaurs and dinosaurs tend to feel entitled. It was their world for a long time.

The opposition to the bailout package, the withdrawals of Richardson, Killefer and Daschle have been and are serious. But, for the legions of health care activists, aggrieved citizens, and all the people harboring totally unrealistic hopes of real reform/recovery, the loss of Daschle was a mortal wound. Tom Daschle had the gravitas, the experience and I believe the dedication to make some real changes, not just at HHS but as President Obama's Health Care Czar with an office in the West Wing. That post was created just for him. I don't see anyone who can fill that role and I don't think anyone else does either. A big promise made hours after the wedding is gone as a result of the actions of the groom. The biggest campaign promises are being abandoned at a moment when this administration most needs popular will behind it to establish any real momentum. Even more so, I can feel the popular and unwarranted faith that Obama can fix everything morphing into a question of whether he can fix... anything. Public perception is what we are all fighting over right now. I am still amazed that some people still flop back and forth between Republican andDemocratic leadership as if these are actually choices. They are merely two closing jaws of the same steel trap.

The speed at which both the domestic and global scenes are deteriorating is being matched by the speed with which political parties are adopting CYA, it-wasn't-my-fault positions that inherently bring with them the need to ensure the failure of the other side. It's also clearer than ever that anything proposing to address economic issues is not only going to be -- but look like -- panicky desperation. That s--t is contagious. We have passed Peak Spin. Government impotence to address an entirely new conceptual set of life-threatening issues runs the risk of being seen for what it is; not lipstick on a pig, but lipstick on an uncooked sausage out of its skin.

Some great observations have been made on this blog lately. One of the best was that "The European Bilderbergers are separating from the American Bilderbergers." Using "Bilderbergers" as a metaphor, this observation is absolutely correct. The global elites are indeed fragmenting. At the same time, the EU object lesson is taking on great significance for us all. As quickly as we see the relocalization imperative emerging, comes what I perceive as near begging by world leaders to do everything possible to avoid protectionism, whether over jobs or imports. I have seen several European stories telling EU citizens how much they truly understand that they (especially in theUK) can't kick out the foreigners without hurting themselves. Global demographics are entirely changed when hundreds of millions are scattered far from their homelands. When protectionism last took its death-dealing toll in the 1930s everybody was already in their home country.

The longevity of the old infinite-growth paradigm depends upon avoiding protectionism. Perhaps the elites view this demographic stew as insurance. That's like needing a liquid to cool down an overheating cauldron and pouring gasoline around it to lower the temperature a few degrees... for a few seconds. The old paradigm is, of course, doomed anyway by Peak Oil and universally diminishing resources. The dinosaurs refuse to admit their imminent death and that is the one thing (the only thing) that has to happen for the rest of us to have a real shot at surviving. The dinosaurs must let go. About a week ago I wrote about how all major economies seemed to be free-falling at the same speed, waiting to open their protectionist chutes. When the first one opens, all will break formation. I cannot be the first to say it that in an economic collapse, protectionism is the absolute last-ditch measure of desperation before a real bottom, capitulation, and surrender to the abyss (a relative term). A lot of us have been alarmed by the speed of the meltdown. I have to tell you that yesterday drove me to look for some new superlatives... I don't have any more.

Everything that happens now, whether in Washington or around the world, is nothing more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What's worse, the new plan by the dinosaurs, is to order more deck chairs, paint them different colors, call them different names, and show them to a public that, with the Obama honeymoon disintegrating into domestic violence, just won't accept. Go ahead, buy some salmonella tainted peanut butter for comfort food.

The Democratic and Republican parties will kill their children (us) in order to save their dysfunctional marriage of convenience, in order to protect their parent: the global monetary system. It just doesn't get much sicker than that. And it is now clear that the rest of the world is seeing that it will have to kill that system -- especially the dollar as the world's reserve currency -- in order to survive. So, a few days ago I wrote that it was good to be here. Now, I write how dangerous it is to be here and, of course, I've known that for a long time. At least I know the value of being indigenous.

ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE BRIGHT SIDE

The government of Kyrgyzstan has abruptly ordered the closure of the U.S. Air Force Base at Manas, opened with lighting speed and pre-planning just after 9-11. Manas has been a key and secure transit point for U.S. materiel shipments to support ops in Afghanistan. Some have said that this is a sign that the empire is collapsing rapidly. I don't see that in this case. A deeper reading of international stories pretty much makes it clear that the U.S. and Russia have reached what appears to be a sensible and rational accord. The U.S. will remove its military presence from Russia's back yard and Russia -- which also has an inherent stake in regional stability -- will allow U.S. military supplies to reach Afghanistan through Russia. It is in Russia's best interest to let the U.S. bear the brunt of that war. Not only does the U.S. bear the cost, it benefits Russia. The U.S. fights to save its own lying ass and now must fight that war as a proxy for Russia. (There's poetry there.) It's exactly the same rationale that motivated Russia to thwart all those proposed pipelines that would have bypassed its territory. Russia will now have control of the pipeline keeping the U.S. military alive in Afghanistan.

If I were a dinosaur -- and even if I wasn't -- I would say that was the right pragmatic choice for the U.S., Russia, and the world. I'd bet my bottom dollar that the U.S. signed off on the base closure announcement before it happened. Remember, there's all those damned nukes in India and Pakistan. I'm not surprised that Hillary Clinton's having urgent, direct talks with India about Afghanistan while this is happening with Russia and Kyrgyzstan. It is a massive and appropriate realignment given the imperative of geographic gravity and Peak Oil.

The clock ticks, the dangers mount and that window for us to get on the stage and change a few things is about to open wider. The wider it opens two things become apparent. First, the amount of time the window will be open shortens. Second, the violence with which it will close increases.

The dinosaurs believe that their death will be the death of all life. That's what they want us to believe. That's how they make us obey. That's they way they have taken the human soul hostage. In the meantime it seems that all of life is slowly realizing that the only thing that must happen is that the dinosaurs must themselves pass from dominance. That is the only thing that will give everything else a chance to live.

POST SOVIET NATIONS TO FORM COLLECTIVE MILITARY FORCE

Here's a quote: "On Wednesday, the Collective Security Treaty Organization -- made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan -- decided on the rapid-reaction force at a Kremlin summit, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported."

OK, the map we made is dead-bang accurate. Although the speed at which this is happening is just breathtaking. So, I am beginning to suspect that either all major world leaders have read Rubicon and planned accordingly (I'm not that self-centered), OR... That intelligent men and women, dinosaur or not, have taken a set of known facts (some well hidden or concealed), evaluated options and come to the same conclusions I have, right along with the rest of us. I believe the trends and flows we've outlined were seen by many. I've seen evidence via Chavez's actions in South America. South America has been making preparations for years. Now we see this... I wasn't expecting this for a year to eighteen months. In some respects I made a new map, but in others I just recreated a map others had already made and shared it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/04/russia.collective.military/index.html

You know, H5N1 is breaking out in China and now erupting in Canada with three dozen poultry farms shut down. In China, however, there has been bird-to-human transmission with at least five deaths. Ecologically the carnage is devastating everywhere. Australia is melting under record heat and drought. The American Southeast is freezing. And now Geography is starting to act like gravity unleashed. Mother Earth is joining the game.

Shit, I had to turn everything off tonight and just sit and be still.

MCR

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FROM THE "IF IT ISN'T ONE THING, IT'S ANOTHER" DEPARTMENT

Jenna Orkin



There we were placing bets on whether the U.S, Europe or China would be the first to cave to economic collapse when all the while it was Australia. dying of drought on the one hand and floods on the other even as Ireland succumbs to Peak Oil.

About the couple who kill the child (us) to save the parent (the economic system): Psychologists have observed that a baby, instinctively knowing that it can't survive without its mother, may, however paradoxically, die in order to allow its mother to live.

This innate biological response at least allows the mother to have other babies, thereby ensuring the survival of the species. But as a social policy, it's a tad cart-before-the-horse or snake-eating-its-own-tail.

Speaking of which, have you caught a gander of those 42-foot megasnakes that have been turning up not just among fossils but even as live specimens? In Florida, no less, where people bought them as cute, or at least manageable pets. Then along comes a particularly virulent hurricane, courtesy of climate change, and the snake's out of the bag, thriving in the moist heat and slithering into the outer suburbs.

This is what passes for distraction these days: horror stories to remind us that we're still snug at home. But there's nothing like a snake to suggest how insidiously unpleasant realities can slink in through the cracks.

American optimism dies hard, however. Along with the monetary system, it may be the last remnant of us to go, like the Cheshire cat's grin, after we ourselves have been lulled into oblivion by CNN anchors crooning, "When the economy recovers..."

If you think there's a snowball's chance in Hell of saving anyone, you grab them by the lapels, treat them like adults and tell them what they need to do. If you don't think there's a snowball's chance, you treat them like children and try to make the inevitable as painless as possible.

Thus I'm reminded often these days of the final scene in the Barbara Stanwyck version of "The Titanic" - A Night To Remember.

Everyone who hasn't gotten into a lifeboat is on deck as the ocean rises around them.

The only person who doesn't understand what's going on is a four-year-old boy who's lost his mother.

An old man takes him by the hand saying, "We'll find her." He repeats the soothing bromide while staring into the last horizon he'll ever see.

We who are older than four might not be so easily taken in by the old man with the haunted eyes. How much more effective, then, of TPTB to use news anchors who are as clueless as we are.

Yet the truth seeps in, brimming on the other side of the porthole, soon to overwhelm us all.


Quote of the Day:

(Another iatrocentric metaphor for the economy:)

The low 1 % central bank rates created another bubble, a bubble more dangerous than the 2000 dot.com bubble. The bankers’ cheap credit created the 2002- 2006 US real estate bubble; and the collapse of that bubble was to result in the severe credit contraction of August 2007 and the return of the patient to the central bank emergency room just five years after his previous visit.

This time, the patient was in far worse shape than in 2000/2001. This time, heavily sedated, breathing only in short gasps, the economy has been kept alive only by constant and artificial infusions of even more credit in the attempt to keep systems functioning until a solution can be found...


After the central bank emergency room, hospice is next. The current frantic attempts of central banks and governments to reverse what they set in motion is analogous to the application of pain medication given in the hopes of calming those whose lives they have destroyed.
Darryl Robert Schoon

Air Force Drops Plan To Make Fuel From Coal in Montana

Among Top U.S. Fears: A Failed Mexican State

Maps of Projected East-West Upgrades to Connect NAFTA Superhighway
Deep Capture
The financial counterpart to deep politics

Monday, February 02, 2009

THE WHEELS COME OFF OF THE WHEELS THEY JUST PUT ON TO REPLACE THE OTHER WHEELS

by

Michael C. Ruppert
(C) Copyright 2009, Michael C. Ruppert. All Rights Reserved.

February 1, 2009 --8:30 PM, PST -- This has been implicit in everything we developed at FTW and all that I have written for the last seven years. The New World Order will fail, almost at its birth, to produce anything that has been anticipated. The quote that follows from the linked story is perhaps the most profound sentence I have read in a deacde or more. -- "European court judgments whose interpretation they left to EU obsessives: it is now illegal – illegal – for the government of an EU country to put the needs and concerns of its own population first." The European Union is self-destructing at warp speed. As the story explains, the reasons are obvious and you should read every word of it. It's not just that the inevitable protectionism is going to erupt with its eventual viciousness; it's that when it does erupt, the nations that cause the most harm will be jeopardizing the safety of their citizens who work in the countries they cause harm to. British jobs no longer belong to British subjects... they belong to Europe. This is a recipe for absolute chaos and I don't see how the EU can hold together. The European version of the New World Order is falling apart before it's even had a full debut.

Can you see the potential for hate, crimes, savagery and pogroms all over Europe?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/4424125/Wildcat-oil-strikes-Europeans-are-finally-waking-up-to-the-demise-of-democracy.html

That's the way the dinosaurs died... They behaved like dinosaurs. It was all they knew. Perhaps a moment of some dim clarity hit them before they perished. But we are humans and we are -- although highly flawed -- much more intelligent than dinosaurs. It is this moment of clarity that I have been waiting for (it seems like my whole life) and it's beginning to happen.

As I have been hinting on this blog for a while... a massive global repatriation is about to begin. That by itself will generate drama like we have not seen in our lifetimes. I have always said that
geography trumps everything. Relocalization has never been an option; it has always been an inevitability. But relocalization takes on a whole new meaning when what, a half a billion or a billion people decide to go home in a big hurry?

To me this is a positive development vis a vis the EU. Because the sooner it is apparent that the old plans don't work, the more we'll see openings to make our case... and to change the end game. And the very last sentence of the story gives us very good reason to be grateful we're here in the U.S. if you ponder on it for a while.

SCARY STUFF

Violent Unrest Rocks China as Crisis Hits

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Violent_unrest_rocks_China_as_crisis_hits/articleshow/4059496.cms

Even in China, with all of it's ethnicities, the result will be the same... relocalization. And woe to those who are trapped in unfriendly regions.

It is good to be home.

I think I'll need to ask Doug Lewis to let me sing another song for you guys soon. He's the band leader for a kick-ass band called The Cheeters. They have a guitar player named Michael Joost who is just breathtaking and works an acoustic or an electric as good as Steve Stills. A while ago I watched the guy play classical guitar on a Fender P base. I'm just listening to a new CD of theirs -- which I love -- and am actually going to write a review for them. I have a great many nice things to look forward to. My personal experience lately is that a lot of love and blessings have been coming my way. I am having friendships blossom with sweetness and beauty, and some loved ones have come back. In the midst of all this I'm smiling bigger smiles than I have in years.

Hang tough guys,

MCR
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THE GRASSHOPPER, THE ANT AND SUNDRY OTHER LIFEFORMS

Jenna Orkin


We may be smarter than dinosaurs but we're still dumber than yeast.

The Chris Martensen website that everyone's talking about underscores the insidious way in which exponents creep up on you. In the end they're still moving at the same rate but my, how they've grown. And when a monster creeps, the world shakes.

Say you have a yeast culture that doubles in size every minute (not biologically possible but this is an abstract problem.) It's 12:00 AM and the culture consists of a few unassuming cells in a Petri dish. In twenty-four hours the culture will fill the room.

Question: At what time will the culture fill only half the room?

Answer: 11:59 PM.

You can hardly blame yeast for getting caught by that one.

Especially when we're replicating their example, albeit with more subtle numbers than 'double.' Using rates closer to 4%, exponential growth is what's driving the population explosion, Peak Oil and the economy.

A couple of months ago we observed that for the United States to create its first trillion dollars took its entire history of two hundred plus years. To create the next trillion took the last six months.

When will we start to notice? When we're creating a trillion dollars every six minutes?

Did you shudder as the shadow of the sword of Damocles settled overhead last week, ie when the word "hyperinflation" crept onto CNN?

Here in New York City is where a hefty per cent of the Smart Set lives. At least, that's our reputation and certainly some of us believe it ourselves; it's the reason we put up with the rats on the subway.

We are the industrious ant; we work at what we've been told will bring us security and respect.

And we're really good at it; "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

But what if the ant had it all wrong? After all, grasshoppers aren't extinct either. Ants are busy little bees and look at what's happening to the bees.

The old paradigm dies hardest here because the dream is most vivid. We tolerate the rats on the subway en route to a cocktail party with rats in Armani suits. We are in the eye of the storm. Indeed, we are at most one degree of separation from the people who manufactured the storm, so we're the last to see it coming.

We feverishly forge ahead building our awe-inspiring monuments and aedifices, because it's all we know how to do. Meanwhile we pray they'll be finished and we can get our fifteen seconds of fame before the laws of nature move in and show who's boss.

Flagship Fusion Reactor Could Cost Twice As Much As Budgeted
Storing Power on the Future Electric Grid
Pessimistic DOE report.
The Political Suspicions of 9/11
The extent to which this is disinfo remains to be seen but it's interesting that it's being aired a mere two weeks into the new administration.

However, for a review of how the New York Times has handled 9/11 issues in the past, see Oilempire.us

NATO Chief Sees Role for Iran in Afghanistan
Did the Amish Get It Right, After All?
Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job
Echoes of Mike's post from several weeks ago.