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SHOWDOWN AT THE QUARTZSITE CORRAL
Escalation in Arizona: Firearms confiscated
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City To Firefighter and Police Retirees: Give Up 50% Of Your Pension Or Risk Losing It All
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Black Helicopters Seen In Multiple States As Pentagons Deployment Of 20,000 Troops Inside United States Set To Be Ready This Year
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Hard Times Lie Ahead
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Genetic Armageddon: Humanity's Greatest Threat
The American Dream
Part Human/Part Animal Hybrid Monsters Are Being Created By Scientists All Over The Planet
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California Public Schools Required to Teach Gay History
American Holocaust
The NEW WORLD ORDER for DUMMIES"-What the ILLUMINATI Does Not WANT You to KNOW.
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Gates Foundation Partner in Malawi Vaccinates 131 Children At Gunpoint
The Economic Collapse
Layoffs, Layoffs Everywhere You Look There Are Layoffs
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Dutchsinse
Six plumes erupt over 12 hours -- California and Nevada -- ALL VOLCANO SITES
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I Am Coming To Every Household
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Who Added "Christian" and "Conservative" to Norway Shooter's Facebook Page?
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Ron Paul: Default is Coming!
Chuck Baldwin
Romans 13: Setting It Straight
The Economic Collapse
Head Of Obama’s Jobs Council, Is Moving Jobs And Economic Infrastructure To China
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
10 Signs That The American People Are Starting To Freak Out About The Condition Of The Economy
The Economic Collapse Blog
All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing. It has now been almost three years since the great financial crash of 2008, and yet the U.S. economy is still a complete and total mess. In fact, there are all sorts of signs that things are about to get even worse, and the American people are just about fed up. Virtually every major poll, survey and measure of consumer confidence shows that the American people are becoming more pessimistic about the economy. Millions of hard working Americans that worked their fingers to the bone for their employers and that did everything "right" are sitting at home on their couches tonight staring blankly at the television. Many of them still have a hard time believing that they were laid off and that there is nobody out there that wants to give them a good job. There are millions of other Americans that won't get much sleep tonight because they will spend much of the night rolling around in bed wondering how they are possibly going to be able to pay the mortgage. We have never faced such an extended economic downturn in modern U.S. history, and a lot of people are starting to freak out about the condition of the economy. As Gerald Celente likes to say: "When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose - they lose it."
Every single month, the number of good jobs continues to go down. Wall Street actually rewards companies that have a good "outsourcing strategy". As I have written about previously, a growing percentage of the jobs that are being "created" these days are very low paying jobs. But you can't support a family, pay a mortgage or even afford decent health insurance on what you would make stocking shelves at Target or passing out buckets of chicken for KFC.
The American people keep waiting for "hope" and "change" to show up, but all they get instead are more helpings of "despair" and "frustration".
Sadly, most Americans still cling to the hope that if the "next election" will just turn out the right way that things will be okay. But the truth is that things seem to stay on pretty much the same course no matter who we put into office.
For many years the status quo seemed to be okay for most people, but now we are starting to reap the results of the economic seeds that we have sown.
Now our economic decline is starting to accelerate and people are starting to panic. Most Americans may not know why all of this is happening, but what many of them do know is that something in their gut is telling them that things have gone terribly, terribly wrong somehow.
The following are 10 signs that the American people are starting to freak out about the condition of the economy....
#1 Things have already gotten so bad that Americans will literally trample one another just to get on a waiting list for rental assistance vouchers. Just check out the following excerpt from a local news report about a recent incident in Texas....
At least eight people were hurt Thursday morning while scrambling to line up for a limited number of Dallas County rental vouchers — after waiting for hours in their cars.
People lined up Thursday morning to apply for Dallas County Section 8 housing vouchers. Dallas County sheriff's spokesman Kim Leach estimated the crowd at about 5,000.
Video of this incident is posted below. One of the people that was trampled was a pregnant woman....
#2 Almost every measurement of consumer confidence is going down. For example, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell from 61.7 in May to 58.5 in June.
#3 The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index has fallen to 63.8 after being at 71.5 in June. It is now the lowest that it has been since the last recession "ended".
#4 The Rasmussen Consumer Index is down 9 points from a month ago.
#5 A recent poll taken by Rasmussen found that 68 percent of Americans believe that we are actually in a recession right now.
#6 According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.
#7 In many areas of the United States this summer, just about anything that is not bolted down is being stolen by people that are desperate for money.
#8 According to one recent poll, 39 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy has now entered a "permanent decline".
#9 Another recent survey found that 48 percent of Americans believe that it is likely that another great Depression will begin within the next 12 months.
#10 According to a brand new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 63 percent of Americans believe that the nation is on the wrong track. That figure is three percent higher than it was last month.
One of the only things preventing chaos from breaking out in the streets of our cities from coast to coast is government handouts.
Today, almost 20 percent of all personal income in the United States comes from benefits provided by the federal government.
You don't believe this? Just check out what the New York Times recently had to say....
Close to $2 of every $10 that went into Americans’ wallets last year were payments like jobless benefits, food stamps, Social Security and disability, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics.
There are tens of millions of Americans that are living "on the edge", but at least the massive government handout programs are enabling most of them to survive.
So what happens when the checks from the government stop coming?
Look, I am not advocating that the "welfare society" that we have become is a good thing. Today, Americans receive more in direct government benefits than they pay in taxes. That is not even close to sustainable.
What I am pointing out is that tens of millions of Americans that are deeply suffering are currently being pacified by these government handouts. Once the handouts are cut significantly or taken away completely it is going to unleash a lot of anger and frustration.
Of course what the American people really need are good jobs that will give them dignity and allow them to provide for their families, but millions of those keep getting shipped out of the country.
So the only thing that millions of Americans still have to hang on to are their government benefits. Once that changes a whole lot of people are going to throw a fit.
In fact, we are already seeing some really bizarre behavior across the United States. In many areas of the country we are literally watching society crumble right in front of our very eyes.
If you doubt this, just check out these two articles....
1) "Americans Gone Wild"
2) 18 Signs The Collapse Of Society Is Accelerating
But not all Americans will resort to lawless behavior. In fact, there are a lot of really good, hard working people out there that this economy has left behind.
There are some people that have put in decades of hard work only to see their dreams shrivel up over the past few years.
Some of the stories people send me are absolutely heartbreaking. I have looked at each and every comment that has been left on The Economic Collapse over the past couple of years. Needless to say, it has taken a huge investment of my time to go through more than 20,000 comments. But in the process I have gotten a very good idea of what people are going through across the nation.
So how badly are people hurting? Well, a reader identified as "Anna44" recently shared with us what some of her family members have been going through in this economy....
My B-I-L was a dealership owner/manager who worked long hours over 38 years and had to close his doors when Saturn was dissolved. When his dealership went under, 72 others lost their job. That’s 72 families who took a hit. He lost his home, everything. A few of his former employees lost their homes as well eventually. They were not lazy or WORTHLESS. It took him a year and a half to finally find something, but now he lives in a hotel unable to qualify for a house or apartment. This is an educated man who competed nationwide for top dog and got it more then once. His biggest fault? He’s almost 60, young enough to need the work, but too old to be hired.
As for my husband- 26 years AF officer, handling millions & billions on International & National levels has just entered his 7th month of unemployment. Two tours abroad- lazy he is NOT. He doesn’t qualify for unemployment, nor is he counted because he gets a retirement check. He wants and needs to work- yet there is little out there. If he doesn’t find something soon, we too will lose the home we sunk every cent into after 20 years of saving for it!
All across America tonight there are similar stories. People have done everything "right" all of their lives and they are frustrated that now they have been pushed to the edge of poverty by this economy.
Unfortunately, it looks like things may soon get even worse. Economist David Rosenberg recently told CNBC the following....
"We're just one small shock away from the economy going back into recession."
That is not what the American people want to hear.
What they want to hear is that things are about to get better.
What they want to hear is that things are going to get back to normal soon.
Sadly, that is just not going to be the case.
The economy is going to get worse and worse, and the frustration and the anger of the American people is just going to continue to grow.
View Article With Links HERE
All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing. It has now been almost three years since the great financial crash of 2008, and yet the U.S. economy is still a complete and total mess. In fact, there are all sorts of signs that things are about to get even worse, and the American people are just about fed up. Virtually every major poll, survey and measure of consumer confidence shows that the American people are becoming more pessimistic about the economy. Millions of hard working Americans that worked their fingers to the bone for their employers and that did everything "right" are sitting at home on their couches tonight staring blankly at the television. Many of them still have a hard time believing that they were laid off and that there is nobody out there that wants to give them a good job. There are millions of other Americans that won't get much sleep tonight because they will spend much of the night rolling around in bed wondering how they are possibly going to be able to pay the mortgage. We have never faced such an extended economic downturn in modern U.S. history, and a lot of people are starting to freak out about the condition of the economy. As Gerald Celente likes to say: "When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose - they lose it."
Every single month, the number of good jobs continues to go down. Wall Street actually rewards companies that have a good "outsourcing strategy". As I have written about previously, a growing percentage of the jobs that are being "created" these days are very low paying jobs. But you can't support a family, pay a mortgage or even afford decent health insurance on what you would make stocking shelves at Target or passing out buckets of chicken for KFC.
The American people keep waiting for "hope" and "change" to show up, but all they get instead are more helpings of "despair" and "frustration".
Sadly, most Americans still cling to the hope that if the "next election" will just turn out the right way that things will be okay. But the truth is that things seem to stay on pretty much the same course no matter who we put into office.
For many years the status quo seemed to be okay for most people, but now we are starting to reap the results of the economic seeds that we have sown.
Now our economic decline is starting to accelerate and people are starting to panic. Most Americans may not know why all of this is happening, but what many of them do know is that something in their gut is telling them that things have gone terribly, terribly wrong somehow.
The following are 10 signs that the American people are starting to freak out about the condition of the economy....
#1 Things have already gotten so bad that Americans will literally trample one another just to get on a waiting list for rental assistance vouchers. Just check out the following excerpt from a local news report about a recent incident in Texas....
At least eight people were hurt Thursday morning while scrambling to line up for a limited number of Dallas County rental vouchers — after waiting for hours in their cars.
People lined up Thursday morning to apply for Dallas County Section 8 housing vouchers. Dallas County sheriff's spokesman Kim Leach estimated the crowd at about 5,000.
Video of this incident is posted below. One of the people that was trampled was a pregnant woman....
#2 Almost every measurement of consumer confidence is going down. For example, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell from 61.7 in May to 58.5 in June.
#3 The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index has fallen to 63.8 after being at 71.5 in June. It is now the lowest that it has been since the last recession "ended".
#4 The Rasmussen Consumer Index is down 9 points from a month ago.
#5 A recent poll taken by Rasmussen found that 68 percent of Americans believe that we are actually in a recession right now.
#6 According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.
#7 In many areas of the United States this summer, just about anything that is not bolted down is being stolen by people that are desperate for money.
#8 According to one recent poll, 39 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy has now entered a "permanent decline".
#9 Another recent survey found that 48 percent of Americans believe that it is likely that another great Depression will begin within the next 12 months.
#10 According to a brand new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 63 percent of Americans believe that the nation is on the wrong track. That figure is three percent higher than it was last month.
One of the only things preventing chaos from breaking out in the streets of our cities from coast to coast is government handouts.
Today, almost 20 percent of all personal income in the United States comes from benefits provided by the federal government.
You don't believe this? Just check out what the New York Times recently had to say....
Close to $2 of every $10 that went into Americans’ wallets last year were payments like jobless benefits, food stamps, Social Security and disability, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics.
There are tens of millions of Americans that are living "on the edge", but at least the massive government handout programs are enabling most of them to survive.
So what happens when the checks from the government stop coming?
Look, I am not advocating that the "welfare society" that we have become is a good thing. Today, Americans receive more in direct government benefits than they pay in taxes. That is not even close to sustainable.
What I am pointing out is that tens of millions of Americans that are deeply suffering are currently being pacified by these government handouts. Once the handouts are cut significantly or taken away completely it is going to unleash a lot of anger and frustration.
Of course what the American people really need are good jobs that will give them dignity and allow them to provide for their families, but millions of those keep getting shipped out of the country.
So the only thing that millions of Americans still have to hang on to are their government benefits. Once that changes a whole lot of people are going to throw a fit.
In fact, we are already seeing some really bizarre behavior across the United States. In many areas of the country we are literally watching society crumble right in front of our very eyes.
If you doubt this, just check out these two articles....
1) "Americans Gone Wild"
2) 18 Signs The Collapse Of Society Is Accelerating
But not all Americans will resort to lawless behavior. In fact, there are a lot of really good, hard working people out there that this economy has left behind.
There are some people that have put in decades of hard work only to see their dreams shrivel up over the past few years.
Some of the stories people send me are absolutely heartbreaking. I have looked at each and every comment that has been left on The Economic Collapse over the past couple of years. Needless to say, it has taken a huge investment of my time to go through more than 20,000 comments. But in the process I have gotten a very good idea of what people are going through across the nation.
So how badly are people hurting? Well, a reader identified as "Anna44" recently shared with us what some of her family members have been going through in this economy....
My B-I-L was a dealership owner/manager who worked long hours over 38 years and had to close his doors when Saturn was dissolved. When his dealership went under, 72 others lost their job. That’s 72 families who took a hit. He lost his home, everything. A few of his former employees lost their homes as well eventually. They were not lazy or WORTHLESS. It took him a year and a half to finally find something, but now he lives in a hotel unable to qualify for a house or apartment. This is an educated man who competed nationwide for top dog and got it more then once. His biggest fault? He’s almost 60, young enough to need the work, but too old to be hired.
As for my husband- 26 years AF officer, handling millions & billions on International & National levels has just entered his 7th month of unemployment. Two tours abroad- lazy he is NOT. He doesn’t qualify for unemployment, nor is he counted because he gets a retirement check. He wants and needs to work- yet there is little out there. If he doesn’t find something soon, we too will lose the home we sunk every cent into after 20 years of saving for it!
All across America tonight there are similar stories. People have done everything "right" all of their lives and they are frustrated that now they have been pushed to the edge of poverty by this economy.
Unfortunately, it looks like things may soon get even worse. Economist David Rosenberg recently told CNBC the following....
"We're just one small shock away from the economy going back into recession."
That is not what the American people want to hear.
What they want to hear is that things are about to get better.
What they want to hear is that things are going to get back to normal soon.
Sadly, that is just not going to be the case.
The economy is going to get worse and worse, and the frustration and the anger of the American people is just going to continue to grow.
View Article With Links HERE
Future of America: Harder Than Anything You’ve Experienced In Your Lifetime
SHTFplan.com
Mac Slavo
In February 0f 2009, while on the Glenn Beck show, trend forecaster Gerald Celente was asked to comment on global events and extraordinary times in which we live. His response should have been a wake up call.
[It will be] Like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime or I would say anyone’s life time.
Since then we’ve seen not billions, but trillions upon trillions of dollars committed to bank bailouts, toxic asset purchases, stock market liquidity infusion, so-called job creation programs, tax breaks and mortgage modifications. The Obama administration has taken every opportunity to tout these programs as evidence of success.
On the one hand, we’re told that the recovery, albeit slower than expected, is in full swing. We were also told in late 2008 that this was a recession. Any discussion about the possibility of another Great Depression was taken off the table by government, media and mainstream economists. The idea that America could enter another depression was simply not possible, and anyone who spoke of such thing was a fear mongering pessimist.
Yet, it seems that we were on the very brink of complete melt-down in 2008. So close, in fact, that administration officials now claim the President’s policies are responsible for avoiding the very scenario that was completely denied as a possibility three years ago:
The American economy was falling off the cliff in the fall of ’08 and the first months of this administration. And he put in place the most creative, the most forceful set of economy measure we have ever done as a country. And because of that, we’ve preented a second Great Depression and the economy has now been growing for more than a year and a half.
-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Meet the Press, July 10, 2011
At the same time Mr. Geithner explains to us how saddling us with trillions more in debt and expanding government intervention into every aspect of our lives has avoided depression, he warns that things are going to remain tough for the average American. His words are eerily reminiscent of Gerald Celente’s 2009 forecast:
I think it’s going to take a long time still. This is a very tough economy. And I think for a lot of people it’s going to be – it’s going to feel very hard, harder than anything they’ve experienced in their lifetime now, for some time to come.
The consensus among the experts who didn’t see the 2008 recession until six months after it was official and then told us the economy would be back to normal by 2011 are the same people who are telling us that a Great Depression has been avoided.
As in 2008, the Great Depression debate is off the table.
For those paying attention, however, it should be clear that the next Great Depression was signaled by the 2008 economic and equities market crash, and the last three years of policy initiatives have done nothing to fix the fundamental problems that caused the crisis in the first place.
An argument could be made that things are actually much worse now – on a number of fronts including the economy, jobs, real estate, deficit spending, national debt, and cost of living – than they were three years ago.
If you’ve haven’t guessed, it is very likely that the reason Americans are going to experience times tougher than anything they have experienced in their lifetimes is because our nation is fully engrossed in the next Great Depression. There is no better example of this than then our 21st century version of soup lines:
It’s real. It’s happening right now. Prepare yourself financially, mentally, spiritually, and physically – because it’s only going to get worse.
View Article With Links HERE
Mac Slavo
In February 0f 2009, while on the Glenn Beck show, trend forecaster Gerald Celente was asked to comment on global events and extraordinary times in which we live. His response should have been a wake up call.
[It will be] Like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime or I would say anyone’s life time.
Since then we’ve seen not billions, but trillions upon trillions of dollars committed to bank bailouts, toxic asset purchases, stock market liquidity infusion, so-called job creation programs, tax breaks and mortgage modifications. The Obama administration has taken every opportunity to tout these programs as evidence of success.
On the one hand, we’re told that the recovery, albeit slower than expected, is in full swing. We were also told in late 2008 that this was a recession. Any discussion about the possibility of another Great Depression was taken off the table by government, media and mainstream economists. The idea that America could enter another depression was simply not possible, and anyone who spoke of such thing was a fear mongering pessimist.
Yet, it seems that we were on the very brink of complete melt-down in 2008. So close, in fact, that administration officials now claim the President’s policies are responsible for avoiding the very scenario that was completely denied as a possibility three years ago:
The American economy was falling off the cliff in the fall of ’08 and the first months of this administration. And he put in place the most creative, the most forceful set of economy measure we have ever done as a country. And because of that, we’ve preented a second Great Depression and the economy has now been growing for more than a year and a half.
-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Meet the Press, July 10, 2011
At the same time Mr. Geithner explains to us how saddling us with trillions more in debt and expanding government intervention into every aspect of our lives has avoided depression, he warns that things are going to remain tough for the average American. His words are eerily reminiscent of Gerald Celente’s 2009 forecast:
I think it’s going to take a long time still. This is a very tough economy. And I think for a lot of people it’s going to be – it’s going to feel very hard, harder than anything they’ve experienced in their lifetime now, for some time to come.
The consensus among the experts who didn’t see the 2008 recession until six months after it was official and then told us the economy would be back to normal by 2011 are the same people who are telling us that a Great Depression has been avoided.
As in 2008, the Great Depression debate is off the table.
For those paying attention, however, it should be clear that the next Great Depression was signaled by the 2008 economic and equities market crash, and the last three years of policy initiatives have done nothing to fix the fundamental problems that caused the crisis in the first place.
An argument could be made that things are actually much worse now – on a number of fronts including the economy, jobs, real estate, deficit spending, national debt, and cost of living – than they were three years ago.
If you’ve haven’t guessed, it is very likely that the reason Americans are going to experience times tougher than anything they have experienced in their lifetimes is because our nation is fully engrossed in the next Great Depression. There is no better example of this than then our 21st century version of soup lines:
It’s real. It’s happening right now. Prepare yourself financially, mentally, spiritually, and physically – because it’s only going to get worse.
View Article With Links HERE
Friday, July 8, 2011
VIPR Searches and the American Citizen: ‘Dominate. Intimidate. Control.’
By John W. Whitehead
Rutherford Institute
“They’re trying to scare the pants off the American people that we need these things... Fear is a commodity and they’re selling it. The more they can sell it, the more we buy into it. When American people are afraid, they will accept anything.”--Kate Hanni, passengers’ rights advocate
“Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government…Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart.”-- Justice Robert Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
The transition to a police state will not come about with a dramatic coup d’etat, with battering rams and marauding militia. As we have experienced first-hand in recent years, it will creep in softly, one violation at a time, until suddenly you find yourself being subjected to random patdowns and security sweeps during your morning commute to work or quick trip to the shopping mall.
Perhaps you have yet to experience the particular thrill, and I use that word loosely, of being manhandled by government agents, having your personal possessions pawed through, and your activities and associations scrutinized. If so, not to worry. It’s only a matter of time before more and more Americans will experience such a military task force knocking at their door. Only, chances are that it won’t be a knock, and they might not even be at home when government agents decide to “investigate” them. Indeed, as increasing numbers of Americans are discovering, these so-called “soft target” security inspections are taking place whenever and wherever the government deems appropriate, at random times and places, and without needing the justification of a particular threat. Worse, not only is this happening with the blessing of the Obama administration but at its urging.
What I’m describing--something that was once limited to authoritarian regimes--is only possible thanks to an unofficial rewriting of the Fourth Amendment by the courts that essentially does away with any distinctions over what is “reasonable” when it comes to searches and seizures by government agents. The rationale, of course, is that anything is “reasonable” in the war on terrorism. What the powers-that-be understand--and Americans remain oblivious to--is the fact that by constantly pushing the envelope and testing the limits of what Americans will tolerate, the government is thus able to ratchet up the level of intrusiveness that Americans consider reasonable.
Read Entire Article HERE
Rutherford Institute
“They’re trying to scare the pants off the American people that we need these things... Fear is a commodity and they’re selling it. The more they can sell it, the more we buy into it. When American people are afraid, they will accept anything.”--Kate Hanni, passengers’ rights advocate
“Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government…Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart.”-- Justice Robert Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
The transition to a police state will not come about with a dramatic coup d’etat, with battering rams and marauding militia. As we have experienced first-hand in recent years, it will creep in softly, one violation at a time, until suddenly you find yourself being subjected to random patdowns and security sweeps during your morning commute to work or quick trip to the shopping mall.
Perhaps you have yet to experience the particular thrill, and I use that word loosely, of being manhandled by government agents, having your personal possessions pawed through, and your activities and associations scrutinized. If so, not to worry. It’s only a matter of time before more and more Americans will experience such a military task force knocking at their door. Only, chances are that it won’t be a knock, and they might not even be at home when government agents decide to “investigate” them. Indeed, as increasing numbers of Americans are discovering, these so-called “soft target” security inspections are taking place whenever and wherever the government deems appropriate, at random times and places, and without needing the justification of a particular threat. Worse, not only is this happening with the blessing of the Obama administration but at its urging.
What I’m describing--something that was once limited to authoritarian regimes--is only possible thanks to an unofficial rewriting of the Fourth Amendment by the courts that essentially does away with any distinctions over what is “reasonable” when it comes to searches and seizures by government agents. The rationale, of course, is that anything is “reasonable” in the war on terrorism. What the powers-that-be understand--and Americans remain oblivious to--is the fact that by constantly pushing the envelope and testing the limits of what Americans will tolerate, the government is thus able to ratchet up the level of intrusiveness that Americans consider reasonable.
Read Entire Article HERE
Friday, July 1, 2011
Lindsey Williams & Alex Jones: Earth Shattering Events to Come
Alex welcomes back to the show pastor Lindsey Williams. Since Lindsey appeared on the show earlier this year, his prediction about a war in the Middle East expanding into World War 3 are coming true as the U.S. prepares a ground invasion of Libya.
New San Francisco bridge built in China to be shipped to US
The Telegraph
Malcolm Moore
First, China made cut-price clothes and knick-knacks. Then it learned how to make mobile phones and iPads. Now it is making a 2,050ft-long bridge spanning the San Francisco bay.
Next month, four enormous steel skeletons, the last of the 12 segments of the bridge, will be shipped 6,500 miles from Shanghai to San Francisco before being assembled on site.
The bridge, which will connect San Francisco to Oakland on the other side of the bay, is a sign of how China has moved on from building roads and ports in Africa and the developing world and is now aggressively bidding for, and winning, major construction and engineering projects in the United States and Europe.
After building forests of skyscrapers in Beijing and Shanghai, showpiece buildings like the Bird's Nest stadium and the Guangzhou Opera House, and a high-speed rail network that is the envy of the world, Chinese construction companies are flush with cash and confidence. This week, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, lobbied David Cameron to give the contract for the UK's new high speed rail link to a Chinese company.
According to Engineering News Record, five of the world's top 10 contractors, in terms of revenue, are now Chinese, with likes of China State Construction Engineering Group (CSCEC) overtaking established American giants like Bechtel.
CSCEC has already built seven schools in the US, apartment blocks in Washington DC and New York and is in the middle of building a 4,000-room casino in Atlantic City. In New York, it has won contracts to renovate the subway system, build a new metro platform near Yankee stadium, and refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem river.
In Europe, meanwhile, China has signed deals with Serbia for a bridge over the river Danube and a connecting road to Belgrade. A £215 million deal will see Chinese firms refurbishing and upgrading a Serbian coal-fired power plant, while China is building a new mobile phone network in Hungary and wants to sell Bulgaria a nuclear power plant, built from a French design.
"The European construction market is huge and the Chinese are very interested in it," said Werner Buelen at the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers, an umbrella organisation for Europe's construction trade unions. "At the moment, they seem to be running a pilot programme to decide whether to access the market directly by bidding on contracts or whether to buy European construction companies and then use those to access the market," he added.
"They have a very clever mechanism, with several advantages. The first is financing, which they have better access to because Chinese companies are mostly state-owned. It is getting more and more difficult for European contractors to access financing, and you need to have a lot of finance in the construction industry," he said.
"Then they have managed to transfer Chinese workers, who are cheaper.
They can also use construction machinery they have built in China.
Finally, because they can generate still profit despite their low bids, they use that money to hire famous architects and demonstrate they can deliver a project above the normal standard".
However, earlier this month, China was fired from its first major prestige project in Europe, the new A2 motorway in Poland for the Euro 2012 football championships. After bidding 44 per cent lower than the Polish government had budgeted for the road, a Chinese state-owned building company found it was unable to pay its workers to finish the job.
"It is difficult for Chinese companies," said Wang Shouqing, a professor at the International Engineering research department at the elite Tsinghua university. "They are not familiar with Western culture, law or standards. What happened in Poland was a very bad example for other Chinese companies. It could take another decade or even 20 years to put our footprint on Europe and the US." The embarrassment in Poland led China's State Council to publish a notice on Monday warning the heads of China's state-owned companies that they would be "punished" if their companies negligently lost money on overseas projects.
Norman Haste OBE, an engineer whose projects include the second Severn crossing and the design of Heathrow’s Terminal 5, said he had encountered Chinese firms bidding aggressively in the Middle East and that he had a “high regard for what they have done in recent years".
He said: “Their capabilities are second to none, and they are able to finance projects. There is a big demand for new investment in Eastern Europe and similarly in the United States and they will do well there.” But he added that the history of protectionism in the French, German and UK markets might be harder to break.
View Original Article HERE
Malcolm Moore
First, China made cut-price clothes and knick-knacks. Then it learned how to make mobile phones and iPads. Now it is making a 2,050ft-long bridge spanning the San Francisco bay.
Next month, four enormous steel skeletons, the last of the 12 segments of the bridge, will be shipped 6,500 miles from Shanghai to San Francisco before being assembled on site.
The bridge, which will connect San Francisco to Oakland on the other side of the bay, is a sign of how China has moved on from building roads and ports in Africa and the developing world and is now aggressively bidding for, and winning, major construction and engineering projects in the United States and Europe.
After building forests of skyscrapers in Beijing and Shanghai, showpiece buildings like the Bird's Nest stadium and the Guangzhou Opera House, and a high-speed rail network that is the envy of the world, Chinese construction companies are flush with cash and confidence. This week, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, lobbied David Cameron to give the contract for the UK's new high speed rail link to a Chinese company.
According to Engineering News Record, five of the world's top 10 contractors, in terms of revenue, are now Chinese, with likes of China State Construction Engineering Group (CSCEC) overtaking established American giants like Bechtel.
CSCEC has already built seven schools in the US, apartment blocks in Washington DC and New York and is in the middle of building a 4,000-room casino in Atlantic City. In New York, it has won contracts to renovate the subway system, build a new metro platform near Yankee stadium, and refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem river.
In Europe, meanwhile, China has signed deals with Serbia for a bridge over the river Danube and a connecting road to Belgrade. A £215 million deal will see Chinese firms refurbishing and upgrading a Serbian coal-fired power plant, while China is building a new mobile phone network in Hungary and wants to sell Bulgaria a nuclear power plant, built from a French design.
"The European construction market is huge and the Chinese are very interested in it," said Werner Buelen at the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers, an umbrella organisation for Europe's construction trade unions. "At the moment, they seem to be running a pilot programme to decide whether to access the market directly by bidding on contracts or whether to buy European construction companies and then use those to access the market," he added.
"They have a very clever mechanism, with several advantages. The first is financing, which they have better access to because Chinese companies are mostly state-owned. It is getting more and more difficult for European contractors to access financing, and you need to have a lot of finance in the construction industry," he said.
"Then they have managed to transfer Chinese workers, who are cheaper.
They can also use construction machinery they have built in China.
Finally, because they can generate still profit despite their low bids, they use that money to hire famous architects and demonstrate they can deliver a project above the normal standard".
However, earlier this month, China was fired from its first major prestige project in Europe, the new A2 motorway in Poland for the Euro 2012 football championships. After bidding 44 per cent lower than the Polish government had budgeted for the road, a Chinese state-owned building company found it was unable to pay its workers to finish the job.
"It is difficult for Chinese companies," said Wang Shouqing, a professor at the International Engineering research department at the elite Tsinghua university. "They are not familiar with Western culture, law or standards. What happened in Poland was a very bad example for other Chinese companies. It could take another decade or even 20 years to put our footprint on Europe and the US." The embarrassment in Poland led China's State Council to publish a notice on Monday warning the heads of China's state-owned companies that they would be "punished" if their companies negligently lost money on overseas projects.
Norman Haste OBE, an engineer whose projects include the second Severn crossing and the design of Heathrow’s Terminal 5, said he had encountered Chinese firms bidding aggressively in the Middle East and that he had a “high regard for what they have done in recent years".
He said: “Their capabilities are second to none, and they are able to finance projects. There is a big demand for new investment in Eastern Europe and similarly in the United States and they will do well there.” But he added that the history of protectionism in the French, German and UK markets might be harder to break.
View Original Article HERE
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