70% In One Year

From Jenna Orkin:

Energy
Quote of the day:

Looking at a large sampling of Barnett wells, the overall data reveal that initial gas flows decline rapidly. With some wells, the drop-off is as much as 70% in the first year, with further declines of 20% in the second year. Daily Reckoning

Thirst for Oil Poses Security Threat
US Must Plan for Nuke Wars (from Rice Farmer)
Russia, Turkey to Build Joint Oil Refinery

France
Former French president Chirac charged with embezzlement
Mitterrand guilty in arms scandal

Collapse
Wilbur Ross Sees `Huge' Commercial Property Crash Ahead for U.S. Assets
Harvard Profs Say Global Financial Crisis Is Not Yet Over (from Rice Farmer)
"As a consequence of bailouts and stimulus measures, 'the financial crisis may eventually morph into a government-debt crisis.'"
Has Anyone Read the Copenhagen Agreement? U.N. plans for a new 'government' are scary. Contrary to appearances, Rice Farmer found this in the Wall Street Journal.
Multi-Year Stock Market Top Could Be In
City of Houston is Bankrupt (So are California, Oregon, and Pension Plans in General)
California Constitution May be Rewritten after 130 Years
Budget Bloodbath In Utah
Harvard Lab Workers Were Poisoned (from Rice Farmer)
Industry First: Voting-Machine Firm to Publish Source Code
Feral Houses (pictures from Rice Farmer)

Intelligence
Pakistan picks up trail of al-Qaeda 9/11 suspect
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll
The C.I.A.’s practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban.
Loosening of FBI Rules Stirs Privacy Concerns
Another [section] allows agents to use ethnicity or religion as a factor — as long as it is not the only one — when selecting subjects for scrutiny.
Army's Robotman Walks Like the Real Thing
Darpa Wants to Send Internet Into Orbit
World Military Spending (from Vantage Point)
Ex-FBI director Freeh granted Italian citizenship (from Vantage Point who comments:)
...reminds me of Michael Corleone getting the Knights of Columbus award in Godfather III.

Russia/Asia/Africa
US Shooting Victim Fears Russian Link
Ukraine fears for its future as Moscow muscles in on Crimea (from Rice Farmer)
Government Says It Will Sell Gold (Russia)
Russia forced to postpone gold sale
Leaked information concerning Russia selling up to 50 tonnes of gold has forced the government to postpone the sale due to fears of a drop in price.
Robbers sticking up stores for food / Holdups of convenience stores on the rise, but increase linked to hunger (from Rice Farmer)
"Convenience store robberies have sharply risen in Tokyo this year, but while crooks have targeted cash in the past, many are now focusing on stealing food, according to the Metropolitan Police Department."
Hajj pilgrims may be told to take swine flu vaccine
Desperate farmers sell wives to pay debts in rural India (from Rice Farmer)
China hawks target US sign-off shuffle (from Vantage Point)
Does it matter that Gary Locke as Sec Commerce has deep ties to China? - VP
Food crisis hurting HIV/Aids efforts
People with HIV/Aids in Uganda are beginning to reduce their antiretroviral dosages over lack of food.

Europe
Complaints about mortgage lenders rise 40% in six months
A social timebomb is set to explode in Britain
Climate change will push price of bread to £6.50
Labour puts the banks up for sale
Cinema booms as Britons seek escape from reality
The Depression Redux
Is Swine Flu Really a Pandemic?
Germany has launched the biggest vaccination program in its history. But the inoculation jabs are proving so effective and the disease is so mild in most cases that experts have their doubts about whether swine flu is a real pandemic.
German Government Flu Expert Advising Pharma 'Lobby Group'
A German government flu expert is advising a group funded by the pharma industry. The European Working Group on Influenza says it wants to raise awareness of the dangers of a pandemic. But epidemiologist Luc Bonneaux says ESWI is a lobby group "that has as much to do with science as McDonald's with healthy nutrition."

Climate Change
Australian homes at risk from rising seas
Vegetarianism as Means to End Climate Change

And...
Billionaires for Wealthcare Steal the Show
Having evolved beyond their raison d'etre, the Billionaires for Bush haven't lost their touch for agitprop.
Vanished
Thriller recommended by Secrecy News.
Gold for Cars

Correction

In a previous posting I gave out the address collapse@bluemarkfilms and my post was misleading. CoLLapse will be shown only in theaters for now. No private screenings in homes or for groups are possible.

Please, if you are a theater-owner or represent a large enough group to get a theater to show the film for public box-office attendance, or are a member of the press then it's appropriate to contact Bluemark. DVDs are not being mailed out anywhere. They're under lock and key and nobody's going to get one sent to them. Mine stays under lock and key at all times. Sorry for any confusion.

And please, everyone understand that I have no influence or ability to ask for special favors. This is Bluemark's film. And since we're shooting for wider theatrical releases that precludes any other kind of screening until theatrical is closed. That's the way movies work.

Thanks everybody!

MCR

Look Out Below

Anyone wanting to screen the film should email directly to collapse@bluemarkfilms.com. Kate Noble gets these herself. I'm just a spectator here... and a happy one at that.

MCR
***************************************************************************
From Jenna Orkin:

Collapse
Nouriel Roubini: Big Crash Coming
Rate of bank charge-offs surpasses that of the Great Depression
Death of the Soul of Capitalism
3 More Black Swans for the U.S. Economy (from Rice Farmer)
Rally fueled by cheap money brings a sense of unease
Putting the 60% rally into perspective
Are investors ready for a post-American world?
Rupee, Ruble Use In Bilateral Trade?
Remember the Iranian bourse and the Latin American shift to the 'sucre' a few posts ago.
Here's Why Asia Must Eventually Ditch the Dollar (from Rice Farmer)
Citigroup's "Hail Mary Pass": How To Know Citigroup Is In Serious Trouble
Food will never be so cheap
Three Signs of the Next Real Estate Bubble (from Rice Farmer)
Detroit House Auction Flops for Urban Wasteland (from Vantage Point)
Signs of a recovery don’t extend to jobs
Existing home sales FALL in September
America now the world's number one destination for child sex trafficking (from Rice Farmer)
"There are more slaves today than ever before in human history."

Big Brother
Remote Controlled Beetles to Bug Conversations
DNA Profiling: You May Be Next (from Rice Farmer)
“I think in 10 years, if not sooner, every baby’s blood will be taken at birth and their DNA will go into that database. It’s kind of Big Brother, but I think we’re already there.”
"Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Implications of the National Applications Office,"
House Homeland Security Committee, September 6, 2007.
"A Report Card on Homeland Security Information Sharing,"
House Homeland Security Committee, September 24, 2008.
"Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" (pdf),
Senate Judiciary Committee, March 27, 2007.
"FISA Amendments: How to Protect Americans’ Security and Privacy and Preserve the Rule of Law and Government Accountability,"
Social Services to "Take Baby from Teenager Deemed Too Stupid to Marry"

UK
U.K. Economic Contraction Is Longest on Record
Alarm at routine patrols by armed police (from Rice Farmer)

Energy
Russian Oil Surges After Break With OPEC
India may purchase oil fields in Russia (from Rice Farmer)

Environment/Science
Venezuelans urged to stop singing in shower to save water (from Rice Farmer)
Number of Americans who believe in climate change drops, survey shows
Only 57% of Americans feel that the planet's atmosphere is warming, a fall from 77% two years ago
Rich May Evolve Into Separate Species
Scientists Study Possible Health Benefits of LSD and Ecstasy
They're right! Look what talk of relaxing the marijuana laws leads to!
Body Armor To Be Restricted in BC
Your Dog Pollutes More than Your SUV
You know the study is suspect when you read another of its findings: a human in the West will require 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) while a person from the Third World needs up to 6 hectares (14.8 acres.) - JO

Your Tax Dollars at Work
Man Arrested For Making Coffee Naked in Own Home

And, a propos nothing...
Taylor to customer, examining damaged garment: “Euripides?”
Customer to taylor: “Eumenides?”

Ashland Tidings Editor Charged with 23 Felonies

Ashland Tidings Editor Charged with 23 Felonies

This is the editor who published libelous hit pieces against me that were introduced at the sexual harassment hearing. This and the smashing of FTW's computers is what Oregon doesn't want to look into. -- MCR

FTW LEGAL DEFENSE FUND TOPS $16,000

To date 30 people from around the US and five countries have donated more than $16,000 to FTW's Legal Defense Fund. Thank you so much! We'd like to keep building that chest so that we can fight the brutally unfair Oregon case all the way to the state Supreme Court and beyond, if necessary. But here's the rub. Even as CoLlapse is becoming something of a media sensation I don't have enough for the November rent. I do not expect any personal income for two to three months at least. I'm working on the appeal, talking to prospective publishers for "A Presidential Energy Policy", serving the film, and working hard on a new CD for our band New White Trash. I am still very much on a tightrope. So if any of you would like to get me the last few inches across the finish line I can use it and it will benefit all of us.

I have been contacted by three major publishing houses and hope to have something to report soon. But Variance is demanding that I repay my $3,000 advance before they'll release the book. They know I don't have it and that's the gun they're holding to the book's head. It's what's in the book that we need people to see most and I know in my heart now that it will have a real life, with a real publisher.

You can donate for my personal use by sending checks to Mike Ruppert, c/o Rubiconworks,10736 Jefferson Bl. PMB 618, Culver City, CA 90232 or by using the PayPal option on this page. If you use Paypal please specify that's it's for me. If you want more information on how to donate please email mcrfinaid@gmail.com. Legally and ethically I can't touch a peny of the Defense Fund money for anything personal... It reminds me of some guy who once said, "Until you change the way money works, you change nothing."

MCR

COLLASPE TRAILER IS OUT!!!

Apple got it first. I don't know how but here ya go my friends. This is what you've been keeping me alive for. This one's for all of you who have been so good to me over the years.

Thank you!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/collapse/
******************************************************************
From Jenna Orkin:

Iran to Open Int'l Oil Bourse
Latin America Adopts New Currency: Sucre
British Nuclear Expert Dies in Fall from UN Building

Collapse/US
[P]rofessor at the University of Basel, Peter Bernholz... studied instances of hyperinflation. He believes that you get hyperinflation any time the government spends 166% or more of what it receives in revenues. This should set off alarm bells. The US budget is now about 170% of tax receipts.
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/

America’s soul is lost: market collapse inevitable
How Wall Street Will Kill the Recovery
Death of the 'Soul of Capitalism'
Fed Sponsored Feedback Loops and the Fed Uncertainty Principle Revisited
Bernanke Guilty of Coercion and Market Manipulation
Bernanke gone berserk! Bank reserves explode! (from Rice Farmer)
Gazprom Takes Look at US Shale Gas Producer
Bailout's hidden costs (from Rice Farmer)
Paper seeks marijuana reviewer
Fed Owns Deserted Oklahoma City Mall
Victims of foreclosures check into shelters
98% of banks exempt from new oversight rules
Bair Admits FDIC in the Red Until 2012
King World News: Interview With Hugo Salinas Price on Gold and Fiat Currencies
Earnings Disaster At GE; Profit Drops 45%;
State Revenue Drops Most Since 1963
Financial Armageddon in Alabama Proving Parable for Local U.S. Governments Held Over a Barrel
Coal's Environmental Damage Costs U.S. $62 Billion Per Year, Study Finds
Energy, Wealth and Economics
Comments on Scientific American's "Squeezing More Oil from the Ground"
US gives Shell green light for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic
Oil prices hit high but crisis looms
World oil prices have hit their highest point, but a major report has warned of an imminent supply crisis
Held by the Taliban
...Other accusations were paranoid and delusional. Seven years after 9/11, they continued to insist that the attacks were hatched by American and Israeli intelligence agencies to create a pretext for the United States to enslave the Muslim world.

Comment: You mean they're not shielding Osama, their hero for his assault on the Great Satan? - JO
C.I.A. Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery
Prison for man in scam at toxic ground zero tower

Europe
One in four households will be pushed into fuel poverty this year fear campaigners
One million homes in Britain are empty
Germans Unhappy with Alternative Swine Flu Vaccine for Politicians
Damage control is the name of the game in Berlin on Monday as politicians rush to deny that they are receiving a better, safer swine flu vaccine than ordinary Germans.

Science/Environment
Climate change could cause more problems than two World Wars
Lizards and tortoises hampering California's solar energy efforts
Baffin Island Reveals Dramatic Scale of Climate Change
As part of a 21,000-year cycle, the Arctic has been receiving progressively less summertime energy from the Sun for the past 8,000 years because of a well-established "wobble" in the Earth's solar rotation – the Earth is now 0.6 million miles further from the Sun during an Arctic summer solstice than it was in 1BC. This decline will not reverse for another 4,000 years, but changes to the climate of Baffin Island show that the cooling it should have caused has gone into reverse in the past few decades.
Radioactive Waste: German Company Sent Nuclear Material for Open- Air Storage in Siberia How Will Farmers Feed the World in the Future?
Scientists: 'Double food output to stop starvation'

Gold at $2,000 Becomes Inflation-Adjusted Target for Bulls Eyeing '80 High
The sentiments of weird goldbugs now front and center on Bloomberg. - JO

Carnegie Hall Stagehands Make $530,000

As a child, I once sang in a chorus there. We didn't get paid. I still remember the words of the refrain:

Boom boom boom
Goes my heart.
Boom boom boom boom boom.

The lyricist didn't get paid either. - JO

Interview with NORML

My interview with NORML will be on the Friday edition of NORML's podcast, which people will be able to hear at http://stash.norml.org/stash-for-fri-oct-23-2009. After it posts on Friday at 6pm Pacific, that is. This keeps the interview on NORML's site over the entire weekend and usually gets the most downloads of the week.

Russ Belville
NORML Outreach Coordinator
Host - NORML SHOW LIVE - http://live.norml.org - Sat. 9p ET / 6p PT
Host - NORML Daily Audio Stash - http://stash.norml.org - Mon.-Fri. 9p ET / 6p PT -

MCR

ARKANSAS PUBLISHER REFUSES TO PUBLISH RUPPERT BOOK CITING MORAL/ RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS OVER AUTHOR’S ADVOCACY OF HEMP LEGALIZATION DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCIN

ARKANSAS PUBLISHER REFUSES TO PUBLISH RUPPERT BOOK CITING MORAL/ RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS OVER AUTHOR’S ADVOCACY OF HEMP LEGALIZATION DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCING IT WOULD BE IN BOOKSTORES IN NOVEMBER

Please Distribute Widely

“A Presidential Energy Policy will be released November 24, 2009 from Variance Publishing.” -- Ascot Media Press Release (for Variance Publishing), Oct. 13th, 2009.

October 21, 2009 – On October 19, just six days after issuing a press release announcing that “A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money” would be in bookstores on November 24th, Variance Publishing owner Tim Schulte notified me by telephone that his company was refusing to publish the book because Point Twenty-four called for legalization of the hemp plant as a partial solution to the energy and economic crises. Schulte cited moral and religious grounds for his decision. “I run a moral and ethical company. I don’t allow drug use to be advocated. I don’t allow rampant sexuality or profanity in my books”, Schulte said.

Schulte’s reversal came as headline stories around the country were reporting that President Obama had just ordered federal law enforcement agencies to stop raiding medical marijuana facilities in states where its use has been legalized. No prior objections to the point have been raised by the book’s reviewers who have all offered extensive praise for the work. Personal letters to me from many credible sources have expressed thanks for the book and welcoming it, including one from former President Jimmy Carter.

Schulte’s decision made it impossible for book buyers to go to bookstores and find the book after seeing the critically-acclaimed buzz-film CoLLapse which is scheduled for theatrical and video-on-demand release in November. (Hemp is not mentioned in the film but the film is based upon the book and says so both in the film and on its poster.)

Schulte admitted that he had read the entire book after receiving it in June, felt the hemp objection at the time, but did not object to me because “he thought that would be taken care of in editing.” He offered no explanation as to how I was expected to rewrite Point Twenty-Four and another small section of the book in the few days left before he was committed to send it to the printer. Schulte added that he was aware that I had an agreement with the book’s digital publisher New World Digital to have the same book on both ends and that for me to substantively change the book would violate my agreement with New World.

As a matter of principle I refused to remove Point Twenty-four and also said that I would not break the agreement with New World. Schulte then announced that he was voiding the contract “because he could”. Schulte was unable to offer any other explanation as to why he had waited until the last minute to raise his objection.

In the book I clearly outlined a multitude of uses for the hemp plant as a means to stimulate local food production, for soil restoration and for the plant’s wide variety of energy-saving uses from nutritional supplements, to lamp oils, to paper, to clothing. None of this makes any sense. Variance had the book for months and had gone to the expense of cover design, layout and issuing the press release before raising the issue.

Variance’s decision came three weeks after Oregon State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian issued a misleading and inaccurate press release (for which he later apologized) stating that I had personally been fined in an Oregon sexual harassment case which he had not read and which was filled with legal and ethical errors. I continue to maintain my complete innocence in that case which is now under appeal. I was never a named defendant in that case.

The only conclusion I can reach is that there is a concerted effort to keep the American people and readers around the world from reading this book. There is only one way to fight back.

OPTIONS – I have been involved in legal battles for five years now. In 2005-06 I fought and won a civil case in California showing that a former employee, Chris Fusco, had deliberately attempted to sabotage “From The Wilderness (FTW). From 2006 until now I have spent an estimated $45,000 proving that I did not ransack FTW offices and smash all seven computers while publishing the Pat Tillman exposé and to fight the harassment charges. I have also fought a malicious and libelous campaign by a local Oregon newspaper to smear my reputation, even after the editor was convicted of having sex with a minor and remains under ongoing investigation for racketeering and fraud. A legal action will do nothing to get the book into stores in time to benefit from CoLLapse’s success. I am broke as a result of these non-stop attacks and cannot afford a retainer for yet another lawyer. I am also personally out of energy to engage in another legal battle that cannot solve the immediate problem.

As a result of Variance’s decision, all rights to the book have reverted to me (except for digital and print-on-demand) rights which belong to New World Digital -- now the only source for this vitally important book which is available from Amazon. Retail book vendors will not buy print-on-demand books because unsold copies cannot be returned for credit. I do not have an agent but will happily talk to any literary agents or publishers who step forward. My original agent was fired for a series of egregious miscommunications. Any attempt to try and secure a new publisher for this critically-acclaimed book might take months and no publisher could have the book in stores in less than six months. I have decided to focus on the movie as the only way to get around this newest unfounded attack on my life’s work – the only motive for which is to save lives. Widespread reading of “A Presidential Energy Policy“ remains the ultimate objective of all the work I put into CoLLapse. For that I will need help.

NORML – After the developments I immediately contacted the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Yesterday, I taped a radio interview with NORML’s Russ Belville on Variance’s actions. Please contact NORML as to how you can hear it. If you have contacts in any local NORML chapters please bring this to their attention immediately. This ridiculous attack cannot go unanswered.

FLOOD THE SCREENINGS! – The only way to save the book now is to promote the film. CoLLapse has been mentioned by one critic as an Oscar candidate for the 2011 Oscars. That means it will have a long shelf life. CoLLapse is scheduled for theatrical screenings in the following cities. Full details here.

NOVEMBER 6th - NEW YORK - ANGELIKA FILM CENTER
NOVEMBER 13th - LOS ANGELES - LAEMMLE SUNSET 5
DECEMBER 4th - SAN FRANCISCO - LUMIERE THEATRE
DECEMBER 4th - BERKELEY - SHATTUCK CINEMA
DECEMBER 4th - SAN DIEGO - KEN CINEMA
* MORE DATES COMING SOON!
It is all a matter of numbers. The way to see that CoLLapse gets screened in more theaters, in more cities, and stays there is to flood these screenings. In this country every vote may not be counted but every dollar always is. Long lines at screenings (which will result in some being turned away) will guarantee that additional screenings and theaters will be added. The film, once seen, will inflame public demand to see it. That is the only thing that will provide time to find another way to get the book into stores.

I will likely not see any personal income from the film until December at the earliest. Meantime I am still struggling to raise my November rent. I am incredibly gratified by the response to our pleas for donations to keep a roof over my head and to fight the Oregon appeal. Please send your donations to: either Mike Ruppert (for personal use), or the FTW Legal Defense Fund at 10736 Jefferson Blvd., PMB 618, Culver City California, 90232. For instructions on PayPal and wire transfer please see elsewhere on this blog or the FTW archival site.

RUBBING SALT INTO THE WOUND – Immediately after talking to Schulte I called Jenna Orkin who runs the blog bearing my name. In less than thirty minutes she sent me back this book excerpt from Variance’s web site:

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself, turning off the car’s ignition for the third time.

Cal wasn’t used to being nervous, and he didn’t like how it felt.

“Goddamnit!” he said, slamming his hands on the wheels. “God-damn you Dan, you asshole!”

I am unable to provide a contact phone number because the only phone I have is my home phone. For media and interview requests please send an email to mcrfinaid@gmail.com. We check this on a daily basis. Questions about additional screenings of CoLLapse should be directed to collapse@bluemarkfilms.com.

Michael C. Ruppert

FTW’S APPEALS LAWYER SPEAKS OUT ON POLITICAL PERSECUTION IN OREGON SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE – More Funds Needed (Part II) – Legal and Factual Errors

(News Links below - JO)

October 19, 2009

Dear Friends of FTW:

The deck was stacked against Mike from the start in the recent sexual harassment ruling against From The Wilderness, Inc. Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is an executive agency that has unabashedly acted as investigator, prosecutor, judge, and (attempted) collection agent against Michael C. Ruppert even though he is not even the named defendant in this case. In this follow-up letter, I want to point out just a few ways in which BOLI has abused Mike’s rights and treated him unfairly in its Final Order.

To start with, the A.L.J. made numerous errors in interpreting the law. In sexual harassment cases, the act of “retaliation” is a question of whether a defendant improperly punishes a complainant on the job, as for example through demotions, pay cuts, altering job duties, or by firing the complainant. Following the alleged retaliatory act in this case - the job termination - the calculation of damages properly relates to the actual harm caused to the complainant (i.e., the financial harm and emotional distress intended to be caused by the accused employer). Acts or statements made by the defending employer following termination should have no bearing on the analysis of damages for emotional distress, particularly when the job no longer exists and the company is a defunct enterprise, as FTW most certainly is.

Mike, and every citizen, has the 1st Amendment right to speak in their own defense. Nevertheless, BOLI gives weight to completely irrelevant and inadmissible post-termination truthful statements made by Mike to defend himself against these allegations and to protect his reputation, all to conjure some intent by Mike to cause additional “emotional distress”. Mike said nothing after the termination in any form or forum that can be fairly determined to constitute further “retaliation”. Simply put, if the complainant felt damaged by Mike’s post-termination statements, her proper remedy was a libel or slander suit. No such suit was ever filed because Mike’s statements were neither libelous nor slanderous. They were true, as we have come to expect from Mike over many years.

At the hearing, Mike established a clear record that he fired the complainant for cause and no other reason. In complainant's three-month tenure she had become sexually involved with a key staff member, caused one physical altercation between two staff members that Mike wasn't involved in or near, and repeatedly disrupted the office environment and verbally assaulted yet another male employee more than once. She was seen in public displaying open affection towards Mike which made him uncomfortable and caused him to move away, yet a local Ashland resident who appeared and testified to these events was dismissed out of hand in the final ruling for the sole reason that he was friends with Mike and had written for FTW.

Additionally, even though hearsay evidence is authorized to be received in these contested hearings, the A.L.J. refused to admit into evidence affidavits by three witnesses for Mike because they were not present to testify under cross-examination. The A.L.J. further refused to allow Mike to call one of complainant’s witnesses in Mike’s case-in-chief because he wasn’t on Mike’s witness list (even though that witness was previously called by the complainant in BOLI’s case-in-chief!). This same witness – who was a former employee of FTW’s, who was engaged in a sexual relationship with the complainant, and who was allowed only to testify for the complainant – made statements that were acknowledged as discredited by the A.L.J., yet the A.L.J. received as credible the rest of that biased testimony as interpreted against Mike. With testimony this slanted, Mike didn’t have a chance.

The complainant in this case was impeached (discredited) numerous times during the hearing – including by her own mother. Moreover, even though complainant’s witnesses had been impeached by the evidence, the complainant's witness statements were given credibility in the ruling. Mike’s testimony, on the other hand, was only credited by the A.L.J. to the extent it hurt him and not in its entirety or in context. The A.L.J. even included prior consistent statements of Mike in the context of determining an emotional damage award, yet he refused to include those statements in his evaluation of Mike’s case. Talk about cherry-picking!

Even more egregious (and insulting) is the determination by the A.L.J. to discredit portions of Mike’s sworn testimony simply because Mike HAD NOT made out of court statements on those issues. In any fair trial testimony under oath is the preferred method of gathering the facts, and out-of-court statements are only allowed if they fit an exception to the hearsay rule. In order to tarnish Mike, the A.L.J. stands that principle on its head to the point of absurdity.

Another example of legal error is the inclusion by the A.L.J of “evidence” of intimidation in determining emotional damages related to the fact that Mike kept a gun in his office, and the complainant once saw Mike pack a gun for his journey to retrieve the files for the Pat Tillman case. The A.L.J. acknowledges that Mike has had two verified attempts on his life, that he kept a gun in his office for the protection of himself and his staff, and that he is a firearms expert. NOWHERE in the record is there even the slightest allegation that Mike made any physical threats to the complainant or otherwise did anything inappropriate concerning his possession of firearms, yet the A.L.J. determined that Mike’s “…handgun reasonably caused Complainant to fear retaliation by Ruppert”. In this regard, my first question is, “What is reasonable about that?” This whole line of discussion by the A.L.J. in the Order is not only irrelevant but highly prejudicial and inflammatory against Mike. This is also another example of how the A.L.J. held completely irrelevant facts against Mike to enhance the determination of the emotional damages award.

On a personal note, I want people to understand the real importance of what we are doing here. I have been a student of “Peak Oil” and sustainability issues for the last four years, and I count myself among the numbers of people striving toward a sustainable future. I also used to help put sex offenders (juvenile and adult) in prison for their crimes; I have helped employers draft sexual harassment policies and deal with sexual harassment issues; I have a daughter, and a wife in the workforce; and, my own sister has been a victim of both sexual battery and sexual harassment. If I did not believe Mike, in his current appellate case, in his character, and absolutely know the imperative of the message he is trying to deliver, I would not have stepped forward. This is a righteous fight for the right reasons. Make no mistake, however. This will be an uphill battle even in the Court of Appeals. I am confident we can win, but we need your help. Please help us by donating to the FTW Legal Defense Fund.

Sincerely,

Wesley T. Miller
Attorney at Law
(Former Assistant District Attorney, Coos County, Oregon)

----------

HOW TO DONATE

FTW needs funds to support this appeal. What is being defended here is the message in the film CoLLapse and in Mike’s new book, “A Presidential Energy Policy”. Please donate today! Following are PayPal and routing information for domestic and international wire transfers.PayPal – Donations intended for the From The Wilderness legal defense fund can be made by donating to mcrfinaid@gmail.com. -- International Wire Transfers – Please use the following routing numbers for donations from outside the U.S. Your bank should be able to provide conversion rates. Account Name: From The Wilderness Legal Defense Fund; Bank: Wells Fargo Routing Numbers: 121000248 – 3496610480On PayPal transfers please note whether you intend for your donation to be used for my living expenses or for the defense fund. Otherwise we will assume you intend the money to be used for the defense fund. Checks can be made out and mailed to:

FTW Legal Defense Fund
c/o Rubiconworks
10736 Jefferson Bl. PMB 618
Culver City, CA 90232
********************************************************************
From Jenna Orkin:

Collapse/US
The Next Oil Crisis is Just Ahead
Private equity firms trying to cash out of their investments. Uh-oh
Financial Coup D'Etat and the Reaction of Gold
Reports on Stimulus Spending Go Public Today: Wash. Post Link
Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds
Still on the Job But at Half the Pay
"What this means," said Thomas J. Nardone, an assistant commissioner at the bureau, "is that the amount of money people are paid has taken a big hit; not just those who have lost their jobs, but those who are still employed."
Colorado Minimum Wage Poised To Drop
Foreclosures On Pace To Hit 3.5 Million
FHA Rules Render Condos Utterly Worthless
Time for Baltimore to "Pull a Vallejo" and Declare Bankruptcy
Geithner Says Confidence Will Help Boost Dollar
Don't look down.
Goldman Doesn't Have `Too Big to Fail' Government Guarantee, Viniar Says
Dollar May Decline to 50 Yen, Lose Reserve-Currency Status, Sumitomo Says
Dangerous Unintended Consequences
The only thing we'd quibble with in this article submitted by Rice Farmer is whether the dangerous consequences really were unintended. - JO
Why the market doesn’t fall: The big money needs a winner in ’09
Wal-Mart’s Computers Breached in ’05, ’06 Attacks: Wired Link
Obama's green guru calls for clean coal
Meet the professor who can seemingly predict political events using a laptop (from Rice Farmer)

Europe
Britain's Secret Weapon Against a Fiscal Crisis
In the US, average length of the existing Treasury bonds was, at recent count, 4.7 years and falling. Because this is such a short maturity, it means the debt has to be rolled over far more often, and at every point the government runs the risk of setting in stone any changes in interest rates. In France, the average maturity is 7.1 years, in Italy 6.9 years, in Germany 6.35 and in Japan 5.7 years. In Britain, the weighted average maturity of government bonds is a whopping 14.2 years.
'Monsoon style' floods to hit Britain
One in five black British men out of a job
Could early retirement kill you?
Getting seniors acclimated to the idea of working longer.
A Sterling Crash is a Godsend
Britain's real jobless total 'more than 3m' says new report
Britain will starve without GM crops, says major report
Civil servants first Britons to get ID cards
Mussoline and MI5
French troops died when Italy stopped 'bribes'
The looming threat of terror that comes from the far right
ThyssenKrupp 'Had No Choice' but to Sell Shipyards to Arab Investors
...the financial crisis has forced Germany to be less picky about foreign investors.
Serb Jailed For Spying For U.S.
Sweden Turning Stray Rabbits Into Biofuel
Soylent green isThumper.
German Nuclear Comeback Spells Bad News for Wind Power
German Ship Transporting Arms for Iran (from Rice Farmer)

Middle East/Africa
Qatar Airways Uses Natural-Gas Based Jet Fuel
Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy
Money and Mandarin lessons fuel China's African invasion (from Rice Farmer)

Science/Environment
Science news
WWF: Five years to stop uncontrollable climate change
Sicily's First Eco-Village Blooms

FTW’S APPEALS LAWYER SPEAKS OUT ON POLITICAL PERSECUTION IN OREGON SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE – More Funds Needed (Part 1 of 2)

October 14, 2009

Dear Friends of FTW:

To a hammer everything is a nail. And the nail that is Michael C. Ruppert has been hammered unfairly and relentlessly by BOLI for more than three years, culminating in an administrative judgment that patently violates all notions of fair play and equal justice.

I am Mike’s attorney for the appeal, and I want to share some perspective on this case. If you’ve read the decision against Mike, your opinion of Mike may have been tarnished, but please know that the process and the decision itself are obviously biased. The Final Order in this case is replete with factual and legal errors. Worse, there is no question in my mind that key events in this case -- especially public announcements -- were timed to do the most personal harm to Mike Ruppert.

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing the case severely undermined Mike’s defense by making a number of bizarre and bad evidentiary rulings. The A.L.J. did not include any of Mike’s exculpatory or impeachment evidence in the Proposed Order. In fact, the A.L.J. elected to repeat and print in the Order sent to the press only those statements and evidence from Mike that could be interpreted as helping to support the complainant’s case.

Mike is correct when he argues that no investigation of these allegations is complete until it examines the burglary and smashing of FTW’s computers in June, 2006. A horribly flawed police report was improperly leaked to the Ashland Daily Tidings (as admitted by Ashland police), and a malicious smear campaign by the Tidings Editor and a reporter was admitted as evidence against Mike in the present case. That editor (Andrew Scot Bolsinger) is now in prison for sex abuse of a minor and is suspected in several major felony fraud cases against Ashland businesses (should he be considered “credible”?). Even though BOLI’s case presenter introduced these libelous Daily Tidings stories as evidence against Mike, BOLI completely disregards Mike’s evidence related to these issues and pretends as if these events never existed in its Final Order.

Then there are the manner and timing with which this Final Order was handed down. The BOLI Commissioner arrogantly stated to the press that, ““Sexual harassment of this magnitude is a brazen violation of the law and the damages ordered here will clearly show BOLI’s commitment to aggressively enforcing the law.” Really? Is he serious?
The worst fact against Mike in this entire case is that Mike appeared un-aroused in his underwear in the complainant’s sight for approximately 10 seconds. Is that so brazen as to justify an award for emotional damages amounting to five years worth of the complainant’s salary at the time? The amount of emotional damages awarded in this case is three times higher than the largest emotional damages award for sexual harassment EVER made by BOLI (as published on BOLI’s website) yet there was no touching, no sex, and the complainant only worked for FTW for three months.

The State Commissioner issued his Final Order without ever laying his eyes on a witness, and there is no indication that he even listened to the tape recordings of the hearing or otherwise evaluated Mike’s exculpatory evidence. In fact, the BOLI Commissioner was arrogant enough to admit as much to the Medford Mail-Tribune on September 25, 2009, when “Avakian said he rendered his decision based on an 84-page legal assessment of the case given to him by an administrative law judge who heard the case.”

How can a respondent have a fair “day in court” when the ultimate judge of the facts and law has not even seen a single witness testify and has not fully evaluated all of the evidence produced?

BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian went on to incorrectly tell the Mail-Tribune that “BOLI intends to pursue the case against Ruppert wherever he is and get (the complainant) “every penny we can collect.”” Avakian added, “We have the ability to keep these judgments up to 10 years, and then can go another 10 years,” and “That can go on forever.” Never mind the fact the by the terms of the very order the Commissioner signed, Mike Ruppert is not personally responsible for one dime of the judgment against FTW, Inc. This incident fairly raises the question, though – does Avakian even thoroughly read the Orders he signs? Avakian went on to imply that Ruppert was a fugitive hiding in Venezuela, even though BOLI had just mailed the decision to Mike’s home in Culver City, CA. Avakian also knew that Mike had just spent three days defending FTW in a BOLI hearing room in Medford.

To be clear, there is no judgment against Michael C. Ruppert. These inflammatory statements made by the Commissioner appear to us as meant only to unfairly hurt Mike’s public image at a critical moment.

Although Avakian apologized and corrected some statements to the Mail-Tribune, the damage to Mike’s reputation could not have come at a worse time. We cannot know what the intentions of the Commissioner were in the timing of the release of the Final Order or in regards to his press statements. What we do know for sure is that Mike’s reputation was unfairly assaulted by an erroneous decision and by personal press attacks by the Commissioner at a time that actually caused the greatest possible harm to Mike and to his message – following wide critical acclaim for the movie “CoLLapse” while distribution talks were underway.

Mike’s mission is and has been to try to help the human species save itself from imminent and certain peril. I view my job on this case as correcting the record and doing my best at restoring Mike’s good name so that he can get that message out to as many people as possible. It’s going to be a long and expensive fight, and we need your help to see it through. Please help us by donating to the FTW Legal Defense Fund.

(To be continued in Part II – Legal and Factual Errors, to be released on Monday, Oct. 19th. 2009).

Sincerely,

Wesley T. Miller
Attorney at Law
(Former Assistant District Attorney, Coos County, Oregon)


HOW TO DONATE

FTW needs funds to support this appeal. What is being defended here is the message in the film CoLLapse and in Mike’s new book, “A Presidential Energy Policy”. Please donate today!

Following are PayPal and routing information for domestic and international wire transfers.PayPal – Donations intended for the From The Wilderness legal defense fund can be made by donating to mcrfinaid@gmail.com.International Wire Transfers – Please use the following routing numbers for donations from outside the U.S. Your bank should be able to provide conversion rates.Account Name: From The Wilderness Legal Defense FundBank: Wells FargoRouting Numbers: 121000248 – 3496610480On PayPal transfers please note whether you intend for your donation to be used for my living expenses or for the defense fund. Otherwise we will assume you intend the money to be used for the defense fund.

Checks can be made out and mailed to:

FTW Legal Defense Fund
c/o Rubiconworks
10736 Jefferson Bl. PMB 618
Culver City, CA 90232