Land of The Free Movie

Interesting short independant movie about the first day of the second American Revolution, this time against the US federal government. Heck, I've been predicting a Civil War.

[Youtube] Land of The Free Part1


[Youtube] Land of The Free Part2

Catherine Austin Fitt's tapeworm economy

Here's an article outlining Cstherine Austin Fitt's tapeworm economy and how to conspire against it. It's a bit dated (2005) but the concepts haven't changed.

[Article] Catherine Austin Fitt's tapeworm outlined

Rare meteor footage over South Africa 11-21-2009

CCTV video of a spectacular "crap in pants" meteor blowout over Gauteng, South Africa 11-21-2009.

[Youtube] Meteor blowup over South Africa

Selling off a Farm due to low prices

How is it that a farm handed down generations stops being profitable? I keep saying buying something at the lowest price does not mean you got the best deal since you are not comparing oranges to oranges. How can milk produced in a mechanized farm factory be the same as the milk produced on a free roaming family farm? It can't compare in quality and it certainly can't compare on price. How something is produced matters whether it's a milk farm or a plastic toy factory. The consequences catch up with time.

You have been cheated. You've been told that a crop grown on one farm is exactly the same as one grown on a completely different farm. Not only that, but the methods of production and distribution are inconsequential. Based on this logic, all wine should be commoditized and packaged with a private store brand label and sold based on price. So why does wine have farm names and vintage years on them but not fruits and vegetables? Is it because if you commoditize a product it is easier to to securitize and profit off of?

Ideally, the end consumer needs to be tied to the end producer. I envision a system that tracks what farm the product came from based on a barcode or serial number. A person can go to the internet to look up more information on a particular farm. Perhaps one farm produces better quality than another, and in time, demands a higher premium. Just like fair trade, there is a bottom line price that's agreeable to the producer. There is no way an anonymous brand name can produce with a small scale farm. No way. Alas, we will continue to have mass produced junk as long as people are looking at lowest cost methods rather than high quality AND low cost.

At a certain point in time we will reach a point of no return when the small farms will no longer exist to produce. Take it as a security risk. Pay now or pay later.

[Article] Selling the Borland Farm

A.R. Rahman: Bombay Theme - Played Live in Concert

I will say that the award winning music by A.R. Rahman in the movie Slumlord Millionare wasn't his best. Neither was the plot or acting by the stars in the movie as good as some of their work in some of the Indian Hindi films. Because Slumlord Millionare was produced by Universal and shown widely in U.S. theatres, the people involved were the beneficiary of exposure, and ultimately Oscars and other industry awards.

Anyways, here's A.R. Rahman's Bombay Theme LIVE in Los Angeles and in a hindi movie and in the movie Lord of War:

[Youtube] A.R. Rahman: Bombay Theme LIVE


Here's his music playing the background of the hindi movie Bombay (1995). The scene consists of a riot between Muslims and Hindus.
[Youtube] A.R. Rahman: In 1995 hindi movie Bombay (background music)


[Youtube] Bombay Theme in the wonderful movie Lord of War

The Three Stoogettes and The Stooges Get Stoned Parodies

These are two great Three Stooges parodies. Enjoy. Wooo wooooo wooo wooo wooooooo!

[Youtube] The Three Stoogettes


[Youtube] The Three Stooges Get Stoned

Cindy Sheehan: An interview with Malalai Joya 11-13-2009

A look inside Afghanistan by Malalai Joya

A sad look inside Afghanistan from the lady that stood up in front of a throng of corrupt warlords, politicians, and businessmen who carve out Afghanistan for their own purposes. They are all propped by the US Administration. The casulties are the everyday working people of Afghanistan, for whom, life has become worse than before the invasion.

{Video] Malalai Joya on Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

Michael Flatley - Lord of the Dance - Victory Feet of Flames in 2006

Great entertaining performance from everyone in Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. This particular song is Victory Feet of Flames. The year is 2006.

[Youtube] Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance: Victory Feet of Flames

Anuradha Mittal: Global Agriculture 02-26-2004

More from Anuradha Mittal - Global Agriculture 02-26-2004

Going back in time, Anuradha Mittal was the interim Executive Director of Food First. She speaks about "Food Sovereignty and the new Face of Global Agriculture" at Macalester College, St Paul, MN.

Even though this speech is a bit old the statistics are presented are very good. A lot of the speech material has already been covered by other videos on this blog, but this speech puts together everything into one understandable picture.

[Youtube] Anuradha Mittal on Global Agriculture 02-26-2004

Dumpster Diving by Freegans

Here's a clever way to save money on food AND keep food from going to the landfill. And if your food comes from the back of Whole Foods or Trader Joe's you know you're still eating much better than someone who bought unexpired food from Vons, Albertsons, Ralphs, Food4Less, Smiths, Walmart, etc. I hear TJs and Whole Foods leave their dumpsters open for the very purpose of salvage by these guys.

They're Freegans and they have local groups you can join online to find information on all the local hot spots and what to expect in terms of booty. Dumpster diving will only increase as the recession/depression intensifies.

[Youtube] Dumpster diving by them Freegans

VeggieTrader.com - Buy produce from local homegrowers

I ran across this website today. It's a site that lists local homegrown fruits and vegetables that aew available for purchase or trade. Just make sure your register first because it won't let you search or do anything else unless you do.

It's a great way to circulate currency in the local economy, decentralize, avoid GM crops, and get high quality produce. Who knows, maybe your neighbor has some extras he/she needs to get rid of.

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[Website] VeggieTrader.com

Amazing Banana Tree in Kerela India!

So many bananas, not enough monkeys!

Lindsey Williams: You have 2 more years 11/2009

Two More Years

You can't say you weren't warned. In two years, America will not be recognizable in two years. You will not be able to afford much of anything. Most everyone will be employed by the government one way or another. A World War with Iran will be in the cards.

These predictions are brought to you by a man who told everyone oil was going to $50 a barrel when it was near $150. His name is Pastor Lindsey Williams.

[Youtube] Lindsey Williams says you have two more years America DVD1


[Youtube] Lindsey Williams says you have two more years America DVD2


[Youtube] Lindsey Williams says you have two more years America DVD3

More from Dennis Kyne and Darrell Anderson

More from Dennis Kyne and his IVAW buddy Darrell Anderson on Iraq and the bad military propaganda and orders coming down from the higher ranks.

[Youtube] More from Dennis Kyne and Darrell Anderson

Anuradha Mittal: The impact of free trade on 3rd world farmers

World Bank and IMF imposing upon a nation rules that favor multinational corporations. Deregulation of necessary laws. Superceding trade rules of a nation. US Subsidies to undermine farmers of poor nations. Biofuels. GM crops. Source of hunger and poverty.

These are some of the topics covered by Anuradha Mittal, Founder of the Oakland Institute, OaklandInstitute.org, on "The Global Justice Movement and the Meltdown of Neoliberalism". The speech is given on October 16, 2009 at the National Lawyers Guild Law for the People 2009 Convention in Seattle.

Anuradha Mittal goes a good job putting all the topics together in one neat package. It's clear to see the problem of hunger isn't supply, but the lack of money to buy that food. It's also easy to see that throwing people off their land destroys more jobs and livelihoods than it creates. But maybe it's all planned that way for control?

[Youtube] Anuradha Mittal on in the impact of managed "free" trade

Mattel CEO apologizes to Chinese Premier for lead paint design defect

Hilarious. Ironic. Never in a million years would I have thought that Mattel would apologize to China for the lead paint fiasco. The lead paint incorporated into the toys was due to a design defect!

If you remember, one of the subcontractors used leaded paint to paint Mattel toys in order to save on costs and increase profits. It turns out it was a subcontractor of a subcontractor.

Mattel got in hot water after it was discovered that the toys had lead. I'm sure Mattel knew about this as they have strict testing procedures such as to test batches of toys to insure their products are up to their rigorous quality standards *sarcasm*.

Implicated for the lead paint fiasco, Lee Der's owner, Cheung Shu-hung, hung himself (or maybe it was homicide?) on the factory floor, even though it was one of his subcontractor's subcontractor that provided the lead colorant. Furthermore, a user comments that a Hong Kong businessman responsible for supplying the leaded colorant to the subcontractor was murdered.

[Youtube] Mattel's CEO apologizes to China for design defect



Let's revisit the fiasco and shed some light with some details:

On Lee Der's owner, Cheung Shu-hung
The story is filled with compelling background, such as this bit about the toymaker's total dedication to his business.

He would normally come to the factory every day with weekends often no exception, said a mid-level manager at Lee Der to Caijing. “He put his whole life into the toy factory. Pretty much all the money he earned over the years he invested back into the factory,” he said.

Cheung had no family. For many years he lived in the Nanhai district of Foshan, practically making the factory his home.

The Rise of a Subcontractor
... the process by which the poisonous paint was sourced (over the internet) and how it slipped by five levels of quality checkpoints.

The story begins back in the 1990s. After getting a certificate of merit by Mattel in 1997, Lee Der's expansion brought on new facilities and increased need for suppliers to deal with the growth in orders:

Lee Der experienced a rapid expansion in the years between 1998 and 1999. In July 2000, Foshan Hengjing Toy Company Ltd., was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Lee Der Industrial. Some years later this company leased workshops at the former Foshan Shuaimeng Toy Factory as a production site, meaning that Lee Der Industrial was now running three manufacturing operations in Foshan. Their total number of employees was now over 2,500 and production last year was worth around 200 million. The output volume was by now the second largest of any toy-maker in Foshan, behind only Sino-American Toys.

But at the same time as orders, and the corresponding need for more suppliers, were growing:

The tainted paint had come from Lee Der’s supplier Dongxing, who bought the paint from Dongguan Zhongzin Colorants, a company they had found on the internet.

Dongxing’s boss had been good friends with Cheung for many years, and the small family-run business had supplied colored packaging and cardboard cartons to Lee Der.

Dongxing, founded in 2001, added paint manufacturing to its business ventures in 2002 and began supplying paint to Foshan Lee Der. It had provided Lee Der with five tons of paints and coating that first year.

Many Foshan Lee Der staff said that the growth of Dongxing’s business was thanks to the orders from Foshan Lee Der.

The source of the lead
A representative for one of Mattel’s approved paint suppliers told Caijing that there were only eight companies in China approved by Mattel to supply their toys, and Dongxing was not one of them. Yet Mattel had apparently not noticed the business relationship between Foshan Lee Der and Dongxing, although it had existed for a good four years.

...in early April Dongxing was short of yellow colorant and decided to buy some from a supplier in Guangdong province that they found via the Internet. This supplier, Dongguan Zhongxin Colorants, located in Dongguan city, sent fake paperwork to Dongxing claiming that their yellow colorant was lead-free, a problem Dongxing failed to notice. On April 10, Dongxing bought 500 kilos of colorant from Dongguan Zhongzin.

Lee Der’s management told the media that they decided not to test the colorant they received from Dongxing because they feared the process would hold up production at Lee Der.

Normally, Dongxing would send the colorant to testing agencies in Guangdong, which would take five to 10 days, said the management. Dongxing skipped the testing and around 200 kilos of the tainted colorant was used between April 19 and mid-June.
The change in paint products was noticed by alert employees on the ground (which is a whole lesson in itself):

A former Lee Der paint sprayer said he had observed in April that the paint they were using smelled differently from usual.

The discovery and factory shutdown
In mid-June 2006, testing by Mattel’s labs in China found the problem, and lobbying by the Sierra Club began to put pressure on the toy maker to remove the poisoned toys from store shelves.

As the pressure ratcheted up, Mattel made the recall notice (Aug. 2) for close to a million toys from Foshan Lee Der.

Even despite the massive recall, Mattel was willing to stick it out with Cheung. The article says:

Lee Der had already begun to put its house in order after the recall notice by using a paint supplier approved by Mattel.

And the article goes on to say:
Even on the very day the recall announcement was made, Lee Der had taken a new order from Mattel.

I truly think this is the most frightening thing about the entire story -- Mattel was still placing orders with a company that had just cost it millions of dollars in recall costs, not to mention PR points beyond count.

Ironically, it was the Chinese government (both local and national), and not Mattel, who shut the factory down.

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced a temporary ban on exports of the company’s products on August 9.
In the days after the scandal broke, the company submitted products for safety inspection on a number of occasions, but the local agency refused to inspect or approve them for distribution.

[Article] How Mattel's subcontractor's subcontractor introduced lead paint

Dennis Kyne: Depleted Uranium plus a look at war behind the scenes

Dennis Kyne served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and talks about the lies on why we went to war. He gives first hand accounts of time spent in the Iraqi desert, the effects on physical and mental health during and after war, and the effects of radiation from depleted uranium. He is a member of Veterans Against War.

[Youtube] Dennis Kyne on the 1991 Iraqi War and depleted uranium

Howard Zinn analyzes America's past wars

History as it was never taught!

The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II. Three wars that are off limits to any criticism. Howard Zinn analyzes these wars and discovers a not so rosy picture.

For example, there was a conscription (draft) during the Revolutionary War because nobody wanted to fight. The top brass were well paid and ate well while the foot soldiers were starving at times and weren't paid as promised. When they expected and received land for all their troubles they were heavily taxed. Foreclosures followed. Resistance took form in the shape of Shay's Rebellion where groups of people would block the courthouse in order to not allow foreclosure proceedings to occur. The rebellion was put down by a private army hired by the upper crust.

Next year, fearful and wanting to have full control over uprisings and demands produced by the commoners, those in charge met to draft and pass the Constitution, which gave the federal government enough power to suppress the commoners.

Alas, the mythology surrounding the founding fathers is shattered. Those tea parties might not represent what really happened in actuality.

I had a suspicion that the economic, social, and political model we see today, arose from a carefully crafted plan during those early years. It gave rise to a protected power elite which we are dealing with today.

[Youtube] Howard Zinn on America's past wars

Thomas Friedman eats humble pie

Thomas Friedman - The World Is Flat no wait.. The Brain is Flat

Unlike your friend Greenspan, Thomas Friedman still doesn't think his model has a flaw in it. Besides we've got to go to Iraq because it's for his kids and grandkids and their future.

Anyways, I say Tom should have some humble pie..

Thomas Friedman eats humble pie

Greenspan's flaw

Oldie but a goldie. You can't help but laugh.

Greenspan at last found the flaw in his economic model. He can't say he wasn't warned all these years. He closed his ears off to any criticism and cost the nation only multi-trillions of dollars. And might I ask if any part of the flaw has been fixed so far?

Greenspan's flaw discovered!

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik on Mythology

sI always knew there was more to mythological stories that were told, but didn't quite sense the relevance. I was often irritated and bored by listening to them, especially when going to the temple. This was all due to the storyteller leaving out the hidden meaning and essence of the stories. Instead they were told in a linear, simplistic, manner with disregard towards exposing the significance, intent, and meaning of the tall tales.

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik explains this phenomona and then uncovers some of the lost and hidden relevance to the present.

[Youtube] Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik on the relevance of stories to modern times


[Youtube] TED: Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik: "East or West is India the best" results in conflict

Afghanistan: Malalai Joya is discourteous with the truth

When first casualty is truth.

The US and European backed warlords, politicians, and army are mafia in a distant, harsh, cruel land. Rising out of the dry sands is the dollar army. It involved foreign meddling over decades. What does it look like when the police, army, warlord, the politicians takeover totalitarian power under the veil of democracy.

What happens when someone stands up to speak the truth? Malalai Joya did. She is immediately accused of crossing the "common courtesy line" and is promptly kicked out of the "Assembly". How ironic. What's more offensive? Presence of warlords or the truth critical of those present in the room?

[Youtube] Malalai Joya confronts Afghani warlords with truth

Entertaining Ice Skating and Ballet

I usually don't care much for ice skating and ballet or gymnastics. I'm not a fan of Cirque du Soleil type shows at all. Five minutes of watching and I'm bored. It's the same thing over and over. Somebody shoot me in the middle of the show! It's like the Grand Canyon.. Five minutes on top scanning the horizon and you are back in the car :). However, these videos caught my attention.

Someone sent me the link to the ice skating performance in my email. It's quite entertaining and unique. It's ice skating and traditional Indian dance combined.

The next video shows amazing balance and strength as the ballerina / gymnast stands on top of her partner's head. She spins and contorts herself in a fantastic display of strength and balance. I bet the guy gelled his hair real good! They are the Great Chinese State Circus performing their unique version of Swank Lake.

I'm starting a new category under the tag Entertainment.

[Youtube] When you combine Ice Skating and Indian Dance


[Youtube] Amazing Ballet and Gymnastics on top of head

Honduras: 100 Days after the coup by Avi Lewis 11/2009

Coup de tat that ousted Manuel Zelaya a 100 days later.

Resistence is steady and fierce in Honduras. Fault Line's Avi Lewis reports at street level where protestors gather to demand a constitution whilst the police break up the congregations in order that the status quo be maintained.

[Youtube: Honduras 100 days after the coup 11/2009 Part1


[Youtube] Honduras 100 days after the coup 11/2009 Part2

500 Years of Globalisation created the 3rd world

FILM: Challenging 500 Years of Globalisation by French Filmmaker Philippe Diaz

Neocolonialism, using debt to keep the 3rd world impoverished, keeps coveted
natural resources cheap. Unfair trade rules foisted upon these weak nations prop up monopolies and the keep poverty cycle turning.

I stand that these nations were not poor before the arrival of colonies. Poverty is not a natural state of being. Something must constantly upkeep and maintain it.

"To end poverty, you have to know how it began - with globalisation. No, not the 20th century variety engendered by multinationals and their friends at the IMF, World Bank and WTO. They just codified practices that kept developing countries poor.

French Filmmaker Philippe Diaz, in an illuminating documentary opening in New York Friday, traces globalisation back 500 years to the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the Americas. Diaz shows how the colonial North used the South's resources to build its industrial base and how its continued control over resources, global trade and debt rules prevents developing countries from ending poverty.

For example, Diaz is incredulous that Sachs's book ascribes Bolivia's economic failure to high altitude. He points out that 30 years ago, Sachs advised the Bolivian government to privatise everything, and today the country is essentially owned by foreign corporations.

Abel Mamani, Bolivia's water minister, says in the film, "In the case of railroads, they have practically disappeared since they were privatised. In the east we don't have trains anymore. They have been entirely dismantled."

The filmmaker says that the year "1500 is when everything started, the time where Europe expands outside its borders and takes everything it can from Latin America, Africa, Asia - the land and all the other resources. The moment you take the land away, the only way people can survive is to sell their work for food. You take resources away, you create slavery, poverty."

The film shows how European industrial development was not, as widely asserted, based on the Protestant ethic but on riches accumulated via colonialism.

"How do you think countries [like] Belgium, small countries with no resources, built empires? Existing industries were destroyed, even those of better quality, and colonies were forced to buy manufactured goods and equipment from colonial masters," Diaz told IPS.

Eric Toussaint, head of the Committee for Cancellation of Third World Debt in Belgium, describes in the film how "The Dutch destroyed the Indonesian textile industry and built a textile industry in Holland. Same for ceramics. The textiles and ceramics that we are told are Dutch are in fact made with techniques they took from Indonesia and specifically from Java, brought them back to Holland and built a wealthy industry."

He adds, "In the 18th century the Indian textiles were of a much better quality than those of the British. The British destroyed the Indian textile industry and prevented merchants within the British Empire from importing fabrics and other manufactured products from the colonies."

"Sixty to 80 million still live in slave-like conditions all over the world on plantations and in mines," he explains. "It was the same system, we just changed the tools. We don't have the guns to keep slavery; we have the programmes of the IMF and World Bank, the unfair trade system."

He says ex-colonial powers assured the new countries would be weak and forced to heed the North's demands by saddling them with debt. When countries won independence, debts of colonial powers used to exploit stolen resources were transferred to new governments - though they had never incurred or benefitted from them. This was enforced by the North via the IMF and World Bank.

Toussaint says that the World Bank, in the guise of helping, increased the debt: "Take more loans to build big infrastructure to export your riches." Weakened, countries couldn't escape the colonial trading system.

Take Kenyan coffee. Diaz points out, "The minister of agriculture, Kipruto Arap Kirwa, says in the film that Kenya doesn't have the right to roast its coffee. They are forced to sell their coffee to the North which refines and packages it. It's in the trade agreement with the former colonial power. Today, Germany is the biggest coffee exporter, and it doesn't have a single bush of coffee."

Diaz says, "People never got their land and resources back. We interviewed a general of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya that threw the British out. He said, 'We were naïve. We thought we would get our land back. The British were better organised, they transferred the land from a white minority to a black minority.'" Liberation leader Jomo Kenyatta became the biggest landowner in Kenya.

Kenyan villagers tell how the Dominion Group of Companies in the U.S., which exports vegetables to the United States, destroyed their livelihoods and health. The company built a dam that overflowed and flooded homes and farms."

[Article] How 500 Years of Globalisation created the 3rd world

How to get a full body workout from a treadmill

Owned by the treadmill TWICE? The dancer ends up making a treadmill look more intelligent than him, and in the process, earns 15 minutes of fame on Youtube.

[Youtube] Infomercial for a full body workout treadmill

Vincent Bugliosi's The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Another good find from the Disquiet Reservations blog. Here's the trailer for Vincent Bugliosi's THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER - A FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY PRESENTED BY NAFTC STUDIOS. The film is based on the book, a New York Times hardcover bestseller.

I think Vincent Bugliosi might be a little naive here. The rabbit hole goes deep.

[Link] Trailer of The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Richard Belzer's My Wall Street Journal

Here's a hilarious parody of the Wall Street Journal. It's concocted by Richard Belzer. It's $3.95 per issue through Amazon.com.



[Link] Richard Belzer's My Wall Street Journal

[Youtube] Murdoch Freaks Out - www.wsjparody.com

Nomi Prins: Motivations on Wall Street 10-24-2009

Nomi Prins lectures at Saint Francis College, October 24, 2009

Nomi Prins gives us a clearer picture of everyday motivations on Wall Street. Also covered is the fact that the majority of the bank's fluff "assets" are resting on the back of people's promise to pay their loans.

It's scary that corporates have greater power than the Obama and the government. How did it get like this? It's time to resist.

Nomi Prins Wall Street lecture 10-24-2009

Getting to know Larry Summers

Who is Larry Summers? What does he wish for when he blows out the birthday candles? What kind of world does he envision for you, the other inhabitants of this world, and himself? The following is a leaked memo from 1991 when he was the chief economist for the World Bank.

The Memo

DATE: December 12, 1991
TO: Distribution
FR: Lawrence H. Summers
Subject: GEP

'Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]? I can think of three reasons:

1) The measurements of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. From this point of view a given amount of health impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages. I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.

2) The costs of pollution are likely to be non-linear as the initial increments of pollution probably have very low cost. I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City. Only the lamentable facts that so much pollution is generated by non-tradable industries (transport, electrical generation) and that the unit transport costs of solid waste are so high prevent world welfare enhancing trade in air pollution and waste.

3) The demand for a clean environment for aesthetic and health reasons is likely to have very high income elasticity. The concern over an agent that causes a one in a million change in the odds of prostrate cancer is obviously going to be much higher in a country where people survive to get prostrate cancer than in a country where under 5 mortality is is 200 per thousand. Also, much of the concern over industrial atmosphere discharge is about visibility impairing particulates. These discharges may have very little direct health impact. Clearly trade in goods that embody aesthetic pollution concerns could be welfare enhancing. While production is mobile the consumption of pretty air is a non-tradable.

The problem with the arguments against all of these proposals for more pollution in LDCs (intrinsic rights to certain goods, moral reasons, social concerns, lack of adequate markets, etc.) could be turned around and used more or less effectively against every Bank proposal for liberalization.

Postscript

After the memo became public in February 1992, Brazil's then-Secretary of the Environment Jose Lutzenburger wrote back to Summers: "Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane... Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility. To me it would confirm what I often said... the best thing that could happen would be for the Bank to disappear." Sadly, Mr. Lutzenburger was fired shortly after writing this letter.

Mr. Summers, on the other hand, was appointed the U.S. Treasury Secretary on July 2nd, 1999, and served through the remainder of the Clinton Admistration. Afterwards, he was named president of Harvard University.

[Article] Larry Summers' dream pockets memo

Richard Belzer on the Howard Stern Show - Hilarious! 10-13-2009

Here's a really funny interview on the Howard Stern Show. It is none other than comedian Richard Belzer. He's been on the show a few times before but this is his funniest appearance.

[Youtube Playlist] Richard Belzer interview with Howard Stern 10-13-2009

Derivatives Math

Ever wonder what complex math Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan use to create and value derivatives? Take a look.

[Youtube] Fuzzy Bailout Math

Palestinians topple part of the Separation Wall on 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall 11-06-2009

ISRAEL, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!

Viva la Résistance!

20 years to the date of the fall of the Berlin wall, Palestinian demonstrators toppled part of the 8 meters tall concrete wall in Nilin, Palestine.

"The 300 demonstrators managed to topple a part of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The concrete wall in Ni'ilin - five to eight meters (15 to 25 feet) in high has only recently been laid on the path of the wall cutting through Ni'ilin's lands, in addition to the already existing electronic barrier and razor-wire.

Since the Wall was built to allow more land to annexed to the nearby settlements rather than in a militarily strategic manner, demonstrators have been able to repeatedly dismantle parts of the electronic fence and razor-wire surrounding it. The section of the Wall in Nilin is the only place along the route of the barrier where a concrete wall has been erected in an attempt to deal with the civic, unarmed campaign waged by the village in protest of the massive land theft that will enable the expansion of the illegal settlements of Modi'in Il'it and Hasmonaim.

Since Israel began its construction in the year 2002, This is the first time demonstrators succeed in toppling a part of Israel's barrier which is a concrete wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."

[Youtube] Palestinians topple part of the Separation wall in Nilin Palestine

Catherine Austin Fitts: The latest on the Tapeworm Economy with Gold Seek's Chris Waltzek 11-10-2009

Lost your bearings? Catherine Austin Fitts will guide you through the rough waters. Look to invest in long term trends. Resist the tapeworm and the 500 year old Economic Warfare Model. Decentralize! All this and more in the interview.

[MP3] Catherine Austin Fitts interview with Gold Seek's Chris Waltzek 11-10-2009

Comedian Lewis Black: An interview with Bob Schieffer 07-02-2009

I've been posting a lot of comedy lately? That's because all the news just seems like it's in a loop being regurgitated. It's either that or my predictions based on what I know and believe are taming any new news that's being presented to me.

Here's a hilarious interview by Lewis Black, hosted by Bob Schieffer at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

CLICK FULL PROGRAM BUTTON OR VIDEO LINK BELOW TO WATCH THE FULL HOUR

[Fora TV] Lewis Black with Bob Schieffer

Nomi Prins: Another wall street insider

Nomi Prins is another career wall street insider with some hanging guilt. She airs some dirty laundry on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She has out the book It Takes a Pillage.

Nomi Prins talks about the motivations inside of an investment bank - Part 1


Nomi Prins talks about the motivations inside of an investment bank - Part 2

CFR devises Swine Flu vaccine shortage

Check out the first part of this video. Create shortage so people line up like in front of a restaurant to take the flu shot. Make it so desireable! Man, that lady's evil. This reminds me of the Popeye's chicken sale.

[Youtube] Good ol' CFR plans H1N1 vaccine shortage

Painful OUCH of the week

I haven't been posting lately. I've been busy with other stuff. Anyways, here's the painful OUCH of the week.

[Youtube] Slalom OUUUUCCCH!!

Lawrence Wilkerson: The End of Empire

Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell and holder of many other government positions tells the student audience that the end of Empire is near along with a decline in resources such as oil. With decline the nation call go in one of two directions: 1) with a cooperative blueprint or 2) bloody and ruthless scavenge for natural resources. Shell oil thinks it will go the way of #2. Lawrence Wilkerson also lectures on the empire starting after WWII and that we were forwarned numerous times about what is now the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex.

Instead of me reposting the videos, I will provide a link to the Disquiet Reservations blog whre I saw them originally.

[Link to Videos] Lawrence Wilkerson: Empire End