Let’s Close Out 2009 with a Final Reality Change

Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2009

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Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch’s complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.
2. Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year’s worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: “The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…” The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign’s office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.
3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also “under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.” Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a “federal regulator,” and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank’s intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated: “I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury.” Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Complete Story

Was the H1N1 a completely false pandemic? European Parliament to Investigate WHO and “Pandemic” Scandal

by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, December 31, 2009
If this proves to be true as the evidence has begun to accumulate Obama must be held accountable for the perpetration of this fraud. Random thoughts while observing the passing parade, J.C.
The Council of Europe member states will launch an inquiry in January 2010 on the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign, focusing especially on extent of the pharma‘s industry’s influence on WHO. The Health Committee of the EU Parliament has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the inquiry. The step is a long-overdue move to public transparency of a “Golden Triangle” of drug corruption between WHO, the pharma industry and academic scientists that has permanently damaged the lives of millions and even caused death. The parliament motion was introduced by Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, former SPD Member of the German Bundestag and now Chairman of the European Parliament Health Committee. Wodarg is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, a specialist in lung disease and environmental medicine, who considers the current “pandemic” Swine Flu campaign of the WHO to be “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the Century.”[1] The text of the resolution just passed by a sufficient number in the Council of Europe Parliament says among other things, “In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards to alarm governments worldwide and make them squander tight health resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly expose millions of healthy people to the risk of an unknown amount of side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines. The “bird-flu”-campaign (2005/06) combined with the “swine-flu”-campaign seem to have caused a great deal of damage not only to some vaccinated patients and to public health-budgets, but to the credibility and accountability of important international health-agencies.”[2] The Parliamentary inquiry will look into the issue of „falsified pandemic“ that was declared by WHO in June 2009 on the advice of its group of academic experts, SAGE, many of whose members have been documented to have intense financial ties to the same pharmaceutical giants such as GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis, who benefit from the production of drugs and untested H1N1 vaccines. They will investigate the influence of the pharma industry in creation of a worldwide campaign against the so-called H5N1 “Avian Flu”  and H1N1 Swine Flu. The inquiry will be given “urgent” priority in the general assembly of the parliament. In his official statement to the Committee, Wodarg criticized the influence of the pharma industry on scientists and officials of WHO, stating that it has led to the situation where “unnecessarily millions of healthy people are exposed to the risk of poorly tested vaccines,” and that, for a flu strain that is “vastly less harmful” than all previous flu epidemics. Wodarg says the role of the WHO and its the pandemic emergency declaration in June needs to be the special focus of the European Parliamentary inquiry. For the first time, the WHO criteria for a pandemic was changed in April 2009 as the first Mexico cases were reported, to make not the actual risk of a disease but the number of cases of the disease basis to declare “Pandemic.” By classifying the swine flu as pandemic, nations were compelled to implement pandemic plans and also the purchase swine flu vaccines. Because WHO is not subject to any parliamentary control, Wodarg argues it is necessary for governments to insist on accountability. The inquiry will also to look at the role of the two critical agencies in Germany issuing guidelines on the pandemic, the Paul-Ehrlich and the Robert-Koch Institute. Bravo! F. William Engdahl is author of Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order. He may be contacted through his website, www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net. Notes 1.  Rainer Woratschka,  Schweinerei mit der Grippe, Der Tagesspiegel, 16 December, 2009, accessed in http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/international/Schweinegrippe-Europarat;art123,2976433. 2.  Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, Motion for a Resolution and a Recommendation: Faked Pandemics – a threat for health, accessed in http://www.wodarg.de/english/2948146.html.

Conservatives take on O’Reilly

The Economic Crisis Ends; the Political Crisis Begins

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, December 24, 2009
First Iceland, then Ireland, now Greece.  Much of Europe is mired in inescapable debt and bankrupt nations, the result of crashing banks, bank bailouts, and soaring unemployment.  The U.S. and U.K. watch from a distance, knowing their turn is next. The European corporate-elite — like their American counterparts — lavished non-stop praise on the “bold yet necessary” decision to bail out the banks; the economy was supposedly saved from “impending collapse.”  But every action has an equal but opposite reaction.  Bailing out the banks saved the butts of dozens of European bankers, but now millions of workers are about to experience a thundering kick in the ass. Unbeknownst to most Europeans, the public money that financed the bank bailouts created a massive public debt problem, to be solved by massively slashing public programs that benefit workers and the poor.  This amounts to a blatant transfer of billions — maybe trillions of dollars — in public wealth, away from the majority of citizens toward a parasitic crust of bankers. These “tough decisions” should act as warnings to the American working class, since the U.S. corporate-elite, too, has clear-cut plans for who is to pay for their colossal spending spree on bank giveaways and foreign wars (hint: it’s not them). The massive amounts of government bonds printed to pay for the global bank bailouts were purchased by global investors (capitalists).  For these vultures, government bonds are an excellent investment when the economy crashes, and gambling on stocks turns sour.  Now, these investors want to be sure that the heavily indebted governments are able to pay up.  And they’re becoming impatient. A good peek into the mind of the global investor can be seen in any of the three global “credit ratings agencies” — Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and Fitch.  These corporations give “grades” to debtors — federal governments, corporations, state and city governments, etc. — based on their “credit worthiness.”  To have one’s grade lowered means that investors should back off and demand higher interest rates on loans, if loans are made at all.  Receiving a “B” instead of an “A” can make the difference between a poor nation being able to build a highway, hospital, or school. Recently, Moody’s released their notorious “misery index” — the nations that are most sunken in debt and least able to pay it back, requiring that “special measures” be taken to prove to investors that these governments are able to repay their loans.  The biggest losers of the misery index were not surprises and included the above-mentioned European countries.  However, ranking right behind bankrupt Iceland was the United States: the once-proud super-power is now a debt-ridden carcass, with investor vultures circling overhead. Complete Story

How to Survive “The Reign of the Anti-Reagan”

Laura Ingram

LauraIngram.com

December 31, 2009

President Obama didn’t attend the 20th Anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall last November (he had another “date night” with Michelle, I believe). But if he had attended, I think I know what he would have said.

Turning to former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev (who actually did attend), Obama would have declared, “Mr. Gorbachev, rebuild this wall!”

Indeed, I sometimes suspect that Obama’s sole approach to any policy problem is to ask himself “What Would Reagan Do?” and then do the opposite — while expecting the same results. So, for instance, Obama thinks that by raising taxes, increasing spending, and weakening the dollar he can restore prosperity just as effectively as Reagan did by cutting taxes, slashing spending, and strengthening the dollar.

Well, he’ll find out soon enough that he can’t. But in the meantime, what about you and me? How can we protect ourselves financially as Obama takes his wrecking ball to the entire U.S. economy?

To begin with, we have to face reality: In an age of soaring taxes, near-zero interest on savings, and the looming threat of hyperinflation, we can no longer afford to be passive with our money. We must take active measures to grow our portfolios through profitable investments and to protect it from the IRS.

Obama’s Revisionist Christmas to Children at Boys and Girls Club in D.C.

Obama’s ‘Most Important Message’?

by  Chuck Norris

Human Events

Dec. 29, 2009                                                

Should we really expect more from a “resident” that spent twenty years in the church of Reverend Wrong listening to his garbage spewed from the pulpit?  Obama has only attended church three times since moving into the White House.  Can we expect much more from a Muslim poser?  I don’t think so. Random thoughts while observing the passing parade, J.C.

No Churchgoing Christmas for the First Family – TIME

Dec 23, 2009 … As a child, Obama occasionally attended Sunday school classes at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, and his family held a memorial …
www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1949879,00.html –

As I wrote last week, I knew that President Barack Obama’s Christian message in his Christmas address was going to be the weakest in presidential history. But never did I expect to hear him dodge children on the main message of Christmas and then teach them a revised version.

Here’s the actual transcript from the president’s visit last week to the Boys & Girls Club in Washington, D.C. (with a little of my own parenthetical Christmas commentary, to boot — identified by “CN” in parentheses):

THE PRESIDENT: I think one thing that’s important to remember is that, you know, even though there’s a lot of fun at Christmas … especially when it’s snowy like this, so it’s pretty outside. You got the Christmas tree; you got the Christmas cookies; you’ve got presents. You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

(CN: So far so good, Mr. President, but there’s a child with his hand up right in front of you!)

CHILD: I know!

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know?

CHILD: The birth of baby Jesus.

(CN: Not exactly the response the president was looking for. If you can’t see him in your mind’s eye getting a little hot around the collar, check out the video version.)

THE PRESIDENT: The birth of baby Jesus and what he symbolizes for people all around the world is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect. And so I just hope that spirit of giving that’s so important at Christmas — I hope all of you guys remember that, as well. …

(CN: Where is Rep. Joe Wilson when you need him? Wrong, Mr. President! You didn’t speak for the majority of Americans when you declared in Turkey last April that “we are not a Christian nation,” and you don’t speak for “people all around the world” about the birth of the baby Jesus, especially when you define him merely as a community coordinator and social reconciler. His main mission and message was as the Redeemer of mankind — the savior with a self-confessed mission to “give his life as a  Complete Story

Secret mobile phone code cracked

By Maija Palmer, technology correspondent

December 29 2009

Financial Times UK

Computer hackers this week said they had cracked and published the secret code that protects 80 per cent of the world’s mobile phones. The move will leave more than 3bn people vulnerable to having their calls intercepted, and could force mobile phone operators into a costly upgrade of their networks.

Karsten Nohl, a German encryption expert, said he had organised the hack to demonstrate the weaknesses of the security measures protecting the global system for mobile communication (GSM) and to push mobile operators to improve their systems.

“This shows that existing GSM security is inadequate,” Mr Nohl told an audience of about 600 people at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, a four-day conference of computer hackers. Complete Story:

Ode to Janet Napalatono

Protect Us Big Girl

An Essay Jan 30, 2009

Jim Campbell

The one time Governor of Arizona, who had not a clue what to do with illegal aliens, is so over her head as Chief of Homeland Security, that she could drown in a very small spoon used to feed babies pabulum.  What exactly has she brought the table for probably the most important job in keeping America and Americans safe?  Well, let’s check my memory.

1.  Made the decision that there are no Terrorists, or Enemy Combatants, now a war  is not on terrorism but man caused disasters.

2. Put pro gun, pro Constitution, pro Bible, and our Military that served in Afghanistan and Iraq on a watch list as potential threats to Homeland Security.

3. Apparently was clueless that the USS Cole was bombed at Aden harbor in Yemen.

4. Behind closing GITMO which thanks to the Christmas bomber had trained with others in Yemen.  It was planned that 90 more were to be sent there. Ah, don’t think so.

5. Refused to call the psychiatrist that killed innocent soldiers at Fort Hood a terrorist which he certainly was.

6.  Was ignorant enough to come up with the call after a passenger crawled over several rows of seats to choke out the terrorist, ” It shows our system is working”

No Janet, nothing is working  with you being in charge of Homeland Security.  Like your name suggests and what I call you, you are clearly Janet Incompetano.

Future positions you might consider for job search, let’s see, a boat anchor comes immediately to mind, a door stop, crawl into one of the cash for clunkers and see if you are strong enough to survive when the cars are compressed.

Be clear, you seem to think you can keep Americans safe, as well as America.  I see you more as the Grand Marshalette at a Gay Pride parade, not bashing your sexuality, and don’t care, but you seriously need a new do.  Your political correctness along with those of the losers currently destroying the country within make me want to vomit. That would be on you, you could also become a great toilet bowl with training. Good riddance, you will be submitting your resignation very soon.