Thursday, July 28, 2011
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Massive institutionalised corruption in élite America: Full text of Tropos Capital Corporation's G20 letter of Wednesday 9th March 2011 to Christine Lagarde reporting the unlawful interception of $700 billion by the US Federal Reserve Board
Robert Hryniak (Tropos President) and Dwayne Heppner (Ohio State Bar attorney) wrote to Lagarde when she was the G20 Finance President, and before she took over at the IMF.
The text of their letter, with six supporting papers, was circulated to all G20 Heads of Government and Finance Ministers in March 2011. The papers attached included a Tropos letter to US President Barack Obama (25.06.09), and Tropos letters to the Bank for International Settlements (02.11.10 and 22.11.10). Also included in the circulated bundle was a formal Notice of Default addressed to Chairman Binyamin Shalom Bernanke at the US Federal Reserve Board (05.07.10).
Hryniak and Heppner's letter of the 9th March 2011 reports, in detail, orchestrated malfeasance, default and deceit by the US Federal Reserve Board since November 2004 in blocking and diverting a properly executed ACATS wire transfer of $700 billion from the Bank of Taiwan to a Tropos trust account in the US.
The accumulated yield on the unlawfully intercepted trust corpus since the date of the original ACATS transfer is understood, now, to be a substantial multiple of the original $700 billion. Timothy Geithner was centrally involved in the misappropriation of the Tropos funds when he was President of the Federal Reserve Board of New York.
There is a suggestion that the BIS, in Basle, Switzerland, under improper pressure from the US Bush Administration in 2004, declined, initially, to refer the $700 billion theft to Interpol. More background here (22.07.11).
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Pray Circle For Christians -- Need Relief
Please send this to you Christians friend, family and churches
believe for God to move in our behalf. THANK YOU.
Still no rain in Snyder. We are burning up literally. l04 today and 105 tomorrow.
| As evidenced by people living in Oklahoma, West Texas and South Texas, and ever-increasing areas in other parts of the country, the drought condition is reaching critical status; cattle are being auctioned off; crops have burned up; and drinking water is becoming a concern. Please join us in this prayer circle. Begin forwarded message:
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Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Final Hour
JUDY CURMI
THE FINAL HOUR
July 25, 2011
This is THE FINAL HOUR. This is your last call. If you are not right with me it is time to get right with me NOW. The hour is very late. It is way past time to play games with me or “pussy foot” around any longer.*
The enemy is preparing to come in like a flood. He has vengeance on his heart and an irrevocable hatred for me in his mind. He thinks he can win. He can not, but still, he thinks he can. He deceives himself, but is blinded by his hatred and covetousness of my position. Therefore, you must hold onto me as a sinking man. You must seek me passionately. You must not be deterred by the baubles or entertainment of the world.
Do you want to become one of my jewels or not? Then seek righteousness with all your heart.
If you want to sit on the fence you will be washed away in the flood that is coming, for its force is mighty and millions will be washed away – taken totally by surprise. I was not upper most in their thoughts. They had nothing to hold on to. They were totally unprepared for this – THE FINAL HOUR.
CASPER for JULY 25th: OPINION
As reported several times before, a debt based monetary system must have new debt and lots of it to continue the Ponzi nature of its existence, hence the Democrats demands for more and more spending and the accompanying debt it creates. Up to your ears in debt? Can’t sleep nights? Bill collectors dunning you? Out of money and credit? Mortgage payment behind and your facing foreclosure? Only one thing to do says Obama, only one possible solution say Reed and Pelosi and their COMMUNIST ALLIES in the Democrat Party, GO SHOPPING. Spend money. Spend trillions more dollars. Run up the credit card balances still more. Spend, spend, spend. Somebody bitching? Tax, tax, tax. Tax and spend, spend and tax. Live it up. To hell with the consequences, to hell with future generations. More booze now. More parties. More vacations. More rounds of golf. More Limousines. More vacations. More trillions for more Bankers, foreign and domestic. More Billions for the unions. More billions for foreign countries, banks, companies and individuals and bill It all to the taxpayers. “Yahoo, this Gov’t stuff is easy easy easy not nearly as tough as ‘Community Organizing’. Another Billion to get re-elected so we can all get down with some really really serious Taxes and Spending and total Gov’t Control of every aspect of the lives of these American idiot’s. Yahoo, what a deal, I had no idea how easy it was going to be”. The world of the Liberals is upside down and backwards, GOOFY and incomprehensible unless you too have drunk the juice, the magic potion which makes ‘upside down and backwards’ look normal. The inmates are running the asylum friends. The survival of their Fiat/Fractional/Ponzi/NWO Monetary System is dependent upon a continuation of the status quo, kicking the can, etc. and is the opposite of ‘Our Business’. The ‘take-away’ here is Obama’s desire to continue the status quo by spending our country into oblivion (3.7 Trillion in two years), hang the consequences, staying in power is the only thing that counts. I predict he will lose this argument, that we will have a ‘Tea Party Outcome’. If not get yourself a place in the woods and store food and water.
· While the Corporation’s Politicians continued their kabuki dance last week Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, etc. were obtaining a debt reprieve and renegotiation in Europe. The ‘public face’ put on this was a ‘renegotiation of the rate and term’ of outstanding debt. WE had reported the week before that Obama was promising Euro Countries and Banks another bailout by August 1st. Now we hear Europe got 400B while also last week, the CBO Fed Audit came out saying the Fed loaned every Tom ,Dick and Harry in the world 16 T with our taxpayers on the line for it. In his weekend update another ‘messenger’ said these funds for Euro Land came from ‘the Parents’ which is a way of saying ‘Our Business’ is unfolding, ‘The New’ saved Europe and will save the U.S. as Bernanke/Geithner are all in and all out of bullets. OUR intell says all funds associated with ‘The New’ are still ‘locked down’ tight and therefore unavailable for what happened in Europe last week or for anything in the U.S. this week or next. As I have said many times, the ultimate question is ‘who is controlling the thin air Printing Press’ (figure of speech)? IMO the true status of things (Programs) which we have all been seeking week after week is encapsulated in these two issues in this one paragraph. Who is controlling the Printing Press? Was the latest European Bailout last week the result of ‘The Parents’ coming to the rescue of the Euro and the Sovereign Debt of several Euro Nations? Or was it more of the old, the Obama/Bernanke “Kick The Can’ Printing Press trick leading to the inevitable conclusion that the Fiat Game is still underway and whether the words of Obama, reported here many times saying, ‘we will never receive as long as he is President’, still hold true? So once again, 1). Who is controlling the Printing Presses and, 2). Did the ‘Parents’ bail Europe last week or was it the Printing Press still indirectly under the control of Obama/Illuminati, etc..
· Notice please that the Farce, I mean Fight, going on in D.C. is a microcosm of the question before the world, the continuation of unlimited never ending debt creation with attendant permanent Debt Slavery for all people (victims) of the current system, in order to continue the status quo, vs ‘The New’, an alternative Asset Backed Banking and Monetary System, the payout of the Settlements and The Prosperity Programs, the return to the Constitution, etc.. It is primarily the Democrats, the Socialist, the Communist, the Central Planners, the Controllers, The NWO, the Illuminati, the East Coast Establishment, the bought and paid for whore’s in the media, Obama and Karl Marx who demand the continuation of the status quo of debt creation as they must have control of the Monetary System in order to rule the world. But remember this, the Democrats do not have an exclusive when it comes to TREASON. The ‘Money Interest’ controls both sets of WHORES in Washington D.C..
· Obama is not all bad. This ‘Conservative’ believes certain of his demands such as closing Corporate Tax Loopholes are good ideas but focus there does not address the greater issue of the continuation of the entirely Fraudulent Ponzi Monetary System. Similarly, Marx was not all bad. In fact he was a brilliant philosopher whose mind and accomplishments in life far exceed those of ‘ordinary’ men. Both of these fellows might do well ‘selling’ their wares in Russia, Eastern Europe or maybe even in France but not here. This is America. It is altogether a different place and a different people. Obama should take his copy of The Communist Manifesto, large numbers of cruise ships filled with his Liberal supporters and Michelle’s $150,000. ‘summer wardrobe’ and try to sell his views to his own people, those of his home country, Kenya.
· Needless to say there are many many other things worth writing about and calling to your attention today, almost all of them bad but, I am going to stop now and ask you to focus on the issues raised above as therein lies the future of the world, at least near term, and also the status of our deliveries.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Message from Montague Keen July 24, 2011
Rumor Mill News Agents Forum
Message from Montague Keen July 24, 2011
Posted By: Mr.Ed [Send E-Mail]
Date: Monday, 25-Jul-2011 16:14:27
Message from Montague Keen July 24, 2011
What you have suffered, this week, is the result of pushing yourself over the limit. The human body can only go so far. You must learn to accept that you cannot do everything yourself. Help is on the way to complete our project. The timing of this can only be decided by us, on this side of life.
What the Prime Minister of Ireland, Mr Enda Kenny, did last week, was the first step towards complete disclosure. In time, he will understand that his courage in standing up for his people has opened a door that can never again be closed. Other countries are now joining the Irish. They are questioning the Vatican's rule and control. The Vatican is skilled at saying all the right words but their actions do not change. They rule through fear. They make people fearful of dying. I tell you that death is the most beautiful experience . . . it's going home.
Illness that causes premature death, etc, is man-made. All human life is manipulated from cradle to grave. Of course, there are good Catholics and good Catholic clergy, but what we draw your attention to is the Vatican. There we see criminal conspiracy involving a few thousand people who consider themselves the Elite who rule the world. This is why they ensure that they control the schools, so that they can control children's minds and fill them with fear. The children are taught that they must obey the priest who is God's representative on Earth. Think of the effect on those children when these priests rape and abuse them and rob them of their innocence. This has got to stop now. It is time to step into the Light.
Without your support, this abuse would not be possible. You have allowed yourselves to be controlled from cradle to grave. One of the many things they have kept hidden from you is Tesla's work, which would have provided Free Energy for all. They have hidden all the ancient knowledge that would have brought people together in love and harmony. War is their sacrifice to MOLOCH. This is what keeps them in power and control.
People are coming together in love. Send love to all, especially the oppressed, as it is only through love that the world will change. We, on this side of life, are doing all that we can to open the hearts of Man to love. We show that fear is but the tool of the oppressor and you must no longer buy into it. With love in your hearts you will rise above all that has held you in chains.
We did warn that many atrocities would be arranged to cause fear and that these events would allow them to introduce yet more control. The individuals who carry out these terrible acts are totally brain-washed, and in some cases, 'chipped' so that they obey all orders. Look beyond these individuals to the company they keep and what societies they are involved with, and their belief systems, etc. Their souls are not guilty of the crimes they commit while their minds are controlled.
You, my dear, opened your mind to the subliminal messages that take over the TV screen every few minutes. This information goes directly into the sub-conscious mind. It is logged there and your conscious mind is totally unaware of it. This is how they control people: they keep them in an hypnotic state. It shocked you to see how often the screen changed and the writing came at you. The fact that the TV is widely used as a baby-sitter for young children ensures that they are controlled from an early age. What we ask of you is that you take responsibility for yourselves. Research everything — do not take anything at face value. Set yourselves free.
You will see many changes for the better in the month of August. The more exposure that occurs, the easier it is to step forward into the light. The information is flowing from Spirit to those who connect with us. There is only a thin veil between us.
Always believe the opposite to what you are being told. Do not fall for their lies as it is their last desperate effort to keep control. They are desperate for war, especially with the Moslems. They are prepared to kill many of you and pretend that the Moslems are responsible. To them, it's just an easy way to cull the population. In their eyes, you are there only to keep them in power. Do not fall, yet again, for their hype.
Your only aim should be to create a better world for all. Freedom of thought and movement, and the removal of all differences that were created to cause conflict. Love should guide you every step of the way as Mankind steps forward into the light. You are on Earth at this time to make this happen. Come together, create the energy of love. Each can do it in the way that is most comfortable for you. There will be infiltrators who will try to distract you from your path, so be aware of this as you allow others to join you. They must be of pure mind. Each has his own role to play in the awakening.
Please rest, my dear. Many things happen to try to distract you, or to put you off-course. The Dark Side never fails to find opportunities to disrupt our work. They know the greater plan and this is why they attack. One day, soon, all will be revealed.
I am forever at your side. Your adoring, Monty.
Website: The Montague Keen Foundation
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Knocking
MARY CLARK
Marianna, Florida
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Listening Ears
barnabessie@embarqmail.com
Knocking
July 24, 2011
Behold, I am standing at the door of your heart, knocking. I am giving you a gentle reminder: I am here. I am waiting. I am wanting you to draw near into the recesses of My heart. I do not want you complacent about Me. I want your heart fervently longing for Me and what I have to bring. I bring much heart peace, much true heart satisfaction. Do not ignore My knocking.
Come to the door of your heart and open it wide. Let Me come in and do My masterful work. The time of wonder is at hand. Yes, the expected time of wonder that I have promised is truly at hand. Let Me in so that I can make some much needed arrangements. Let Me come in so that I can prepare that seeking heart for what is to come. It is imperative that you open wide the door to your heart and let Me enter. It is imperative that we get the necessary work done now!
I am eagerly awaiting your invitation. I am eagerly awaiting that moment of true, heart surrender!!!
WALK IN MY FULLNESS
JAMES DONOVAN
Click here: RELEASERS OF TRUTH PROPHETIC MINISTRY
WALK IN MY FULLNESS
7/24/11
I am calling forth a people who will press into Me, and receive from Me. This is a people who come to Me daily to hear from Me and speak forth My oracles, and walk in My character, displaying My love, My authority, My mercy and My compassion. Love overcomes a multitude of sin, because I AM THE GOD of grace and forgiveness. And in My fullness there is joy.
I am calling you forth My eagles to declare and display My fullness; you are the chosen vessels who will carry My glory. You will glorify Me and be releasers of My life and the fullness of My character. You are being transformed right now; being stretched and strengthened more and more all the time; becoming capable of carrying greater and greater amounts of My glory.
This has been a long, hard and painful process for many of you. Many of you have come close to giving up, because you cannot imagine why I have put you through so many difficult and painful situations. But trust Me beloved, and hold on to My hope. Stand strong in your faith, and believe Me when I tell you there is a good reason for everything you have encountered and everything I have brought you through.
I have poured out the oil of gladness over you, and I tell you JOY IS COMING! BREAKTHOUGH IS COMING! VICTORY IS COMING! YOUR REWARD IS COMING MY FAITHFUL ONES! So hold onto Me; don’t give up and don’t give in. Stand up and sing praises to ME. Wait upon ME and strength WILL rise within you – not your strength –but MY STRENGTH!
Heaven is invading earth through you, My yielded and loyal vessels. This is because you diligently follow after Me; thinking not of yourselves, but thinking continually of Me and what I desire. You hearken and obey. Beloved you know there is no other way to the fullness of joy and triumph and victory over every strategy of the enemy that comes from walking hand in hand with Me, My eagles.
Put on the full armor of God in this hour and rise up. I am sending My remnant to declare My truths in these end times with great strength and power that has never been seen before. Yes, put on My full armor and stay prayed up at all times beloved. I am removing everyone and everything in your life that hinders you beloved. You have been faithful to me and I am always faithful to you.
This will not be a painless thing, but it is a necessary thing that I do to protect you beloved. Walk in My authority and My boldness. For in Me you are victorious. Stand on My promises and know that I have a plan and a purpose for your life. You can do ALL things through My strength beloved, so don’t give in to despair. Keep pressing in closer to Me. Trust Me to give you the comfort you need, and the strength you need to continue on this journey I have set you on. Glorify Me in all you do and say. Let My river flow through you. Flow freely in My anointing, and let the wind of My Spirit carry you higher and higher. Walk in the destiny I have created you for My humble servants. Look to Me for I am your constant Source. Keep your eyes fixed on Me so that you do not get distracted.
I am calling to you to be led by My Spirit and build My Kingdom upon the earth. Walk in the fullness of My splendor and display My love, grace, mercy and compassion. Set the captives free as you speak My oracles from Heaven. Yes, build My kingdom. You are not here to build your own kingdom, but Mine. Remain humble, steadfast and seek Me constantly.
My love endures forever, and My desire is to fill up thirsty hearts with My love. So continue to desire Me! Don’t let your passion for Me grow cold with all the challenges you must pass through. But be ardent lovers of Me and display the fullness of My glory and walk in My glory. For I am moving from sea to sea and touching every nation through My eagles, who will boldly walk in My fullness and My authority, and declare My oracles and be releasers of My truth in this now season.
Click here: RELEASERS OF TRUTH PROPHETIC MINISTRY
WALK IN MY FULLNESS
7/24/11
I am calling forth a people who will press into Me, and receive from Me. This is a people who come to Me daily to hear from Me and speak forth My oracles, and walk in My character, displaying My love, My authority, My mercy and My compassion. Love overcomes a multitude of sin, because I AM THE GOD of grace and forgiveness. And in My fullness there is joy.
I am calling you forth My eagles to declare and display My fullness; you are the chosen vessels who will carry My glory. You will glorify Me and be releasers of My life and the fullness of My character. You are being transformed right now; being stretched and strengthened more and more all the time; becoming capable of carrying greater and greater amounts of My glory.
This has been a long, hard and painful process for many of you. Many of you have come close to giving up, because you cannot imagine why I have put you through so many difficult and painful situations. But trust Me beloved, and hold on to My hope. Stand strong in your faith, and believe Me when I tell you there is a good reason for everything you have encountered and everything I have brought you through.
I have poured out the oil of gladness over you, and I tell you JOY IS COMING! BREAKTHOUGH IS COMING! VICTORY IS COMING! YOUR REWARD IS COMING MY FAITHFUL ONES! So hold onto Me; don’t give up and don’t give in. Stand up and sing praises to ME. Wait upon ME and strength WILL rise within you – not your strength –but MY STRENGTH!
Heaven is invading earth through you, My yielded and loyal vessels. This is because you diligently follow after Me; thinking not of yourselves, but thinking continually of Me and what I desire. You hearken and obey. Beloved you know there is no other way to the fullness of joy and triumph and victory over every strategy of the enemy that comes from walking hand in hand with Me, My eagles.
Put on the full armor of God in this hour and rise up. I am sending My remnant to declare My truths in these end times with great strength and power that has never been seen before. Yes, put on My full armor and stay prayed up at all times beloved. I am removing everyone and everything in your life that hinders you beloved. You have been faithful to me and I am always faithful to you.
This will not be a painless thing, but it is a necessary thing that I do to protect you beloved. Walk in My authority and My boldness. For in Me you are victorious. Stand on My promises and know that I have a plan and a purpose for your life. You can do ALL things through My strength beloved, so don’t give in to despair. Keep pressing in closer to Me. Trust Me to give you the comfort you need, and the strength you need to continue on this journey I have set you on. Glorify Me in all you do and say. Let My river flow through you. Flow freely in My anointing, and let the wind of My Spirit carry you higher and higher. Walk in the destiny I have created you for My humble servants. Look to Me for I am your constant Source. Keep your eyes fixed on Me so that you do not get distracted.
I am calling to you to be led by My Spirit and build My Kingdom upon the earth. Walk in the fullness of My splendor and display My love, grace, mercy and compassion. Set the captives free as you speak My oracles from Heaven. Yes, build My kingdom. You are not here to build your own kingdom, but Mine. Remain humble, steadfast and seek Me constantly.
My love endures forever, and My desire is to fill up thirsty hearts with My love. So continue to desire Me! Don’t let your passion for Me grow cold with all the challenges you must pass through. But be ardent lovers of Me and display the fullness of My glory and walk in My glory. For I am moving from sea to sea and touching every nation through My eagles, who will boldly walk in My fullness and My authority, and declare My oracles and be releasers of My truth in this now season.
Saul: Everyone’s Frequency is Rising
The Rumor Mill News Reading Room
Saul: Everyone’s Frequency is Rising
Posted By: Jordon [Send E-Mail] As you know, the frequency of the planet and of humanity’s energy signature is rising in preparation for the approaching New Age. The higher the frequency of an entity’s energy signature the more spiritually evolved that entity can become. A low frequency tends to be dense, almost leaden, and it is very difficult for Knowledge or Love to flow through it. Consequently, it is very difficult for beings whose frequency is low to communicate, and they get lost within themselves, rather like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand. However, every sentient being has within itself a divine imperative to evolve – and it will. But when it does so, it is through its own choice…although, of course, it has all the time necessary to see, understand, and make that choice. It is a choice it cannot fail to make because it is God’s Will that it do so, and because at the deepest level it is one with God, therefore God’s Will is its will. For an entity’s spiritual evolution to progress, spiritual communication is essential, and that basically consists of Love and Knowledge. Communication that is not loving is not true communication, which is why unloving interactions cause confusion and lead to conflict, as your human history has been demonstrating to you for eons. Now, however, the choice to evolve spiritually has been made by an enormous number of humans and their loving communications and interactions affect all of humanity. Everyone’s frequency is rising, although some refuse to acknowledge this, keeping their heads buried in the sand. But even there they are unable to remain completely disconnected from the wave of communications flowing constantly around and through the planet. These communication signals that surround and envelop you are like a form of divine heavenly music that is quite irresistible as it bathes you in the energy of divine Peace and Love. This divine energy field that envelops all of creation, and to which each of you has an eternal and unbreakable connection, is calling to you constantly – through the medium of this sublime sound – to awaken. When you take time out to quieten your minds, meditate, or peacefully and quietly observe any of the beauties that nature provides, you are making space available in which to become aware of this music calling you Home. It is always with you, waiting for you to listen for it, hear it, and respond to it, as you realize that it is telling you how dearly loved you are, and how that can never change. You are indeed being called upon to awaken and to enjoy the supreme joy of knowing and experiencing your eternal oneness with God. That call is irresistible, and yet you can pretend not to hear it, refuse to hear it, or deny its existence – but for a limited time only. Eventually you will capitulate and acknowledge the call, and then your joy will overwhelm you as you bask in your Father’s loving embrace. To delay this glorious awakening into Reality, while you continue to hide yourselves in the illusion, experiencing the unending struggle for survival accompanied by anxiety, pain, and suffering, makes absolutely no sense. So listen for the beautiful harmonies of God’s divine energy field; allow them into the center of your being to sing to the divine Flame within you which will brighten, lighting up your awareness of the fact that you are divinely loved, essential and irreplaceable parts of your heavenly Father, and that you are being called Home to participate fully, as only you can, in the magnificent party to celebrate humanity’s long-sought awakening. With so very much love, Saul.
Date: Sunday, 24-Jul-2011 09:00:29
A Nation Of Making Laws In Secret
And this was signed into law again with an "autopen" or electronic signature. Accepting an esignature for the prez makes it possible to sign without a prez as well. Given the autopen signature this bill can be made null and void and expire.
We've Gone from a Nation of Laws to a Nation of Powerful Men Making Laws in Secret
George Washington's picture
Submitted by George Washington on 05/27/2011 12:09 -0400
Preface: Some defendants are no longer allowed to see the "secret evidence" which the government is using against them. See this and this.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that judges can throw out cases because they don't like or believe the plaintiff ... even before anyone has had the chance to conduct discovery to prove their case. In other words, judges' secret biases can be the basis for denying people their day in court, without even having to examine the facts. Judges are also becoming directly involved in politics with the other branches of government.
Claims of national security are being used to keep the shenanigans of the biggest banks an corporations secret, and to crush dissent.
But this essay focuses on something else: the fact that the laws themselves are now being kept secret.
America is supposed to be a nation of laws which apply to everyone equally, regardless of wealth or power.
Founded on the Constitution and based upon the separation of powers, we escaped from the British monarchy - a "nation of men" where the law is whatever the king says it is.
However, many laws are now "secret" - known only to a handful of people, and oftentimes hidden even from the part of our government which is supposed to make laws in the first place: Congress.
The Patriot Act
Congress just re-authorized the Patriot Act for another 3 years.
However, Senator Wyden notes that the government is using a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act different from what Congress and the public believe. Senator Wyden's press release of today states:
Speaking on the floor of the U.S Senate during the truncated debate on the reauthorization of the PATRIOT ACT for another four years, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) – a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- warned his colleagues that a vote to extend the bill without amendments that would ban any Administration’s ability to keep internal interpretations of the Patriot Act classified will eventually cause public outrage.
Known as Secret Law, the official interpretation of the Patriot Act could dramatically differ from what the public believes the law allows. This could create severe violations of the Constitutional and Civil Rights of American Citizens.
***
I have served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for ten years, and I don’t take a backseat to anybody when it comes to the importance of protecting genuinely sensitive sources and collection methods. But the law itself should never be secret – voters have a need and a right to know what the law says, and what their government thinks the text of the law means, so that they can decide whether the law is appropriately written and ratify or reject decisions that their elected officials make on their behalf.
As TechDirt points out:
It's not just the public that's having the wool pulled over their eyes. Wyden and [Senator] Udall are pointing out that the very members of Congress, who are voting to extend these provisions, do not know how the feds are interpreting them:
As members of the Senate Intelligence Committee we have been provided with the executive branch's classified interpretation of those provisions and can tell you that we believe there is a significant discrepancy between what most people - including many Members of Congress - think the Patriot Act allows the government to do and what government officials secretly believe the Patriot Act allows them to do.
***
By far the most important interpretation of what the law means is the official interpretation used by the U.S. government and this interpretation is - stunningly -classified.
What does this mean? It means that Congress and the public are prevented from having an informed, open debate on the Patriot Act because the official meaning of the law itself is secret. Most members of Congress have not even seen the secret legal interpretations that the executive branch is currently relying on and do not have any staff who are cleared to read them. Even if these members come down to the Intelligence Committee and read these interpretations themselves, they cannot openly debate them on the floor without violating classification rules.
Here's Wyden's speech on the Senate floor.
Spying and War
Former constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald noted last week:
The government's increased ability to learn more and more about the private activities of its citizens is accompanied -- as always -- by an ever-increasing wall of secrecy it erects around its own actions. Thus, on the very same day that we have an extension of the Patriot Act and a proposal to increase the government's Internet snooping powers, we have this:
The Justice Department should publicly release its legal opinion that allows the FBI to obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process, a watchdog group asserts.
***
The decision not to release the memo is noteworthy... By turning down the foundation's request for a copy, the department is ensuring that its legal arguments in support of the FBI's controversial and discredited efforts to obtain telephone records will be kept secret.
What's extraordinary about the Obama DOJ's refusal to release this document is that it does not reveal the eavesdropping activities of the Government but only its legal rationale for why it is ostensibly permitted to engage in those activities. The Bush DOJ's refusal to release its legal memos authorizing its surveillance and torture policies was unquestionably one of the acts that provoked the greatest outrage among Democratic lawyers and transparency advocates (see, for instance, Dawn Johnsen's scathing condemnation of the Bush administration for its refusal to release OLC legal reasoning: "reliance on 'secret law' threatens the effective functioning of American democracy" and "the withholding from Congress and the public of legal interpretations by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) upsets the system of checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches of government."
The way a republic is supposed to function is that there is transparency for those who wield public power and privacy for private citizens. The National Security State has reversed that dynamic completely, so that the Government (comprised of the consortium of public agencies and their private-sector "partners") knows virtually everything about what citizens do, but citizens know virtually nothing about what they do (which is why WikiLeaks specifically and whistleblowers generally, as one of the very few remaining instruments for subverting that wall of secrecy, are so threatening to them). Fortified by always-growing secrecy weapons, everything they do is secret -- including even the "laws" they secretly invent to authorize their actions -- while everything you do is open to inspection, surveillance and monitoring.
This dynamic threatens to entrench irreversible, absolute power for reasons that aren't difficult to understand. Knowledge is power, as the cliché teaches. When powerful factions can gather unlimited information about citizens, they can threaten, punish, and ultimately deter any meaningful form of dissent ...
Conversely, allowing government officials to shield their own conduct from transparency and (with the radical Bush/Obama version of the "State Secrets privilege") even judicial review ensures that National Security State officials (public and private) can do whatever they want without any detection and (therefore) without limit or accountability. That is what the Surveillance State, at its core, is designed to achieve: the destruction of privacy for individual citizens and an impenetrable wall of secrecy for those with unlimited surveillance power. And as these three events just from the last 24 hours demonstrate, this system -- with fully bipartisan support --- is expanding more rapidly than ever.
***
So patently illegal is Obama's war in Libya as of today that media reports are now coming quite close to saying so directly; see, for instance, this unusually clear CNN article today from Dana Bash. As a result, reporters today bombarded the White House with questions about the war's legality, and here is what happened, as reported by ABC News' Jake Tapper:
Talk about "secret law." You're not even allowed to know the White House's rationale (if it exists) for why this war is legal. It simply decrees that it is, and you'll have to comfort yourself with that. That's how confident they are in their power to operate behind their wall of secrecy: they don't even bother any longer with a pretense of the most minimal transparency.
Secret Memos
As I've previously noted:
Scott Horton - a professor at Columbia Law School and writer for Harper's - says of the Bush administration memos authorizing torture, spying, indefinite detention without charge, the use of the military within the U.S. and the suspension of free speech and press rights:
We may not have realized it at the time, but in the period from late 2001-January 19, 2009, this country was a dictatorship. The constitutional rights we learned about in high school civics were suspended. That was thanks to secret memos crafted deep inside the Justice Department that effectively trashed the Constitution. What we know now is likely the least of it.
Yale law professor Jack Balkin agrees, writing that the memos promoted "reasoning which sought, in secret, to justify a theory of Presidential dictatorship." Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley says that the memos are the "very definition of tyranny". And former White House counsel John Dean says "Reading these memos, you've gotta almost conclude we had an unconstitutional dictator."
State of Emergency Cuts the Constitutional Government Out of the Picture
As I wrote in February:
The United States has been in a declared state of emergency from September 2001, to the present. Specifically, on September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:
A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . .
That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 to the present. President Bush kept it in place, and President Obama has also.
***
On September 10, 2010, President Obama declared:
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. Consistent with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register the enclosed notice, stating that the emergency declared with respect to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, is to continue in effect for an additional year.
The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2010, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.
The Washington Times wrote on September 18, 2001:
Simply by proclaiming a national emergency on Friday, President Bush activated some 500 dormant legal provisions, including those allowing him to impose censorship and martial law.
***
Continuity of Government ("COG") measures were implemented on 9/11. For example, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, at page 38:
At 9:59, an Air Force lieutenant colonel working in the White House Military Office joined the conference and stated he had just talked to Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. The White House requested (1) the implementation of continuity of government measures, (2) fighter escorts for Air Force One, and (3) a fighter combat air patrol over Washington, D.C.
***
The Washington Post reported in March 2002 that "the shadow government has evolved into an indefinite precaution." The same article goes on to state:
Assessment of terrorist risks persuaded the White House to remake the program as a permanent feature of 'the new reality, based on what the threat looks like,' a senior decisionmaker said.
As CBS pointed out, virtually none of the Congressional leadership knew that the COG had been implemented or was still in existence as of March 2002:
Key congressional leaders say they didn’t know President Bush had established a “shadow government,” moving dozens of senior civilian managers to secret underground locations outside Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist attack on the nation's capital, The Washington Post says in its Saturday editions.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) told the Post he had not been informed by the White House about the role, location or even the existence of the shadow government that the administration began to deploy the morning of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
An aide to House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said he was also unaware of the administration's move.
Among Congress's GOP leadership, aides to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), second in line to succeed the president if he became incapacitated, and to Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) said they were not sure whether they knew.
Aides to Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) said he had not been told. As Senate president pro tempore, he is in line to become president after the House speaker.
Similarly, the above-cited CNN article states:
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said Friday he can't say much about the plan.
"We have not been informed at all about the role of the shadow government or its whereabouts or what particular responsibilities they have and when they would kick in, but we look forward to work with the administration to get additional information on that."
Indeed, the White House has specifically refused to share information about Continuity of Government plans with the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress, even though that Committee has proper security clearance to hear the full details of all COG plans.
Specifically, in the summer 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio, on the Homeland Security Committee (and so with proper security access to be briefed on COG issues), inquired about continuity of government plans, and was refused access. Indeed, DeFazio told Congress that the entire Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress has been denied access to the plans by the White House (video; or here is the transcript). The Homeland Security Committee has full clearance to view all information about COG plans. DeFazio concluded: "Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right”.
As University of California Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott warned:
If members of the Homeland Security Committee cannot enforce their right to read secret plans of the Executive Branch, then the systems of checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution would seem to be failing.
To put it another way, if the White House is successful in frustrating DeFazio, then Continuity of Government planning has arguably already superseded the Constitution as a higher authority.
Indeed, continuity of government plans are specifically defined to do the following:
***
* Those within the new government would know what was going on. But those in the “old government” – that is, the one created by the framers of the Constitution – would not necessarily know the details of what was happening
* Normal laws and legal processes might largely be suspended, or superseded by secretive judicial forums
* The media might be ordered by strict laws – punishable by treason – to only promote stories authorized by the new government
See this, this and this.
***
In 2007, President Bush issued Presidential Directive NSPD-51, which purported to change Continuity of Government plans. NSPD51 is odd because:
* NSPD51 was passed without Congressional input
* Even the New York Times wrote in an editorial:
Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the President may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack, or to any ‘other condition.’ Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing. But these new Presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate.
So continuity of government laws were enacted without public or even Congressional knowledge, and neither the public or even Congress members on the Homeland Security Committee - let alone Congress as a whole - are being informed of whether they are still in effect and, if so, what laws govern.
Postscript: Postscript: As I've repeatedly noted, economics, politics and law are inseparable and intertwined. As Aristotle pointed out thousands of years ago, "The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." Without the rule of law, the state crumbles, and the government bonds and other investments crumble with it.
As I wrote last year:
What's the hole that is swallowing up the economy? The failure to follow the rule of law.
The rule of law is what provides trust in our economy, which is essential for a stable economy.
The rule of law is the basis for our social contract. Indeed, it is the basis for our submission to the power of the state.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men. That's what humanity has fought for ever since we forced the king to sign the Magna Carta.
Indeed, lawlessness - the failure to enforce the rule of law - is dragging the world economy down into the abyss.
We've Gone from a Nation of Laws to a Nation of Powerful Men Making Laws in Secret
George Washington's picture
Submitted by George Washington on 05/27/2011 12:09 -0400
Preface: Some defendants are no longer allowed to see the "secret evidence" which the government is using against them. See this and this.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that judges can throw out cases because they don't like or believe the plaintiff ... even before anyone has had the chance to conduct discovery to prove their case. In other words, judges' secret biases can be the basis for denying people their day in court, without even having to examine the facts. Judges are also becoming directly involved in politics with the other branches of government.
Claims of national security are being used to keep the shenanigans of the biggest banks an corporations secret, and to crush dissent.
But this essay focuses on something else: the fact that the laws themselves are now being kept secret.
America is supposed to be a nation of laws which apply to everyone equally, regardless of wealth or power.
Founded on the Constitution and based upon the separation of powers, we escaped from the British monarchy - a "nation of men" where the law is whatever the king says it is.
However, many laws are now "secret" - known only to a handful of people, and oftentimes hidden even from the part of our government which is supposed to make laws in the first place: Congress.
The Patriot Act
Congress just re-authorized the Patriot Act for another 3 years.
However, Senator Wyden notes that the government is using a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act different from what Congress and the public believe. Senator Wyden's press release of today states:
Speaking on the floor of the U.S Senate during the truncated debate on the reauthorization of the PATRIOT ACT for another four years, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) – a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- warned his colleagues that a vote to extend the bill without amendments that would ban any Administration’s ability to keep internal interpretations of the Patriot Act classified will eventually cause public outrage.
Known as Secret Law, the official interpretation of the Patriot Act could dramatically differ from what the public believes the law allows. This could create severe violations of the Constitutional and Civil Rights of American Citizens.
***
I have served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for ten years, and I don’t take a backseat to anybody when it comes to the importance of protecting genuinely sensitive sources and collection methods. But the law itself should never be secret – voters have a need and a right to know what the law says, and what their government thinks the text of the law means, so that they can decide whether the law is appropriately written and ratify or reject decisions that their elected officials make on their behalf.
As TechDirt points out:
It's not just the public that's having the wool pulled over their eyes. Wyden and [Senator] Udall are pointing out that the very members of Congress, who are voting to extend these provisions, do not know how the feds are interpreting them:
As members of the Senate Intelligence Committee we have been provided with the executive branch's classified interpretation of those provisions and can tell you that we believe there is a significant discrepancy between what most people - including many Members of Congress - think the Patriot Act allows the government to do and what government officials secretly believe the Patriot Act allows them to do.
***
By far the most important interpretation of what the law means is the official interpretation used by the U.S. government and this interpretation is - stunningly -classified.
What does this mean? It means that Congress and the public are prevented from having an informed, open debate on the Patriot Act because the official meaning of the law itself is secret. Most members of Congress have not even seen the secret legal interpretations that the executive branch is currently relying on and do not have any staff who are cleared to read them. Even if these members come down to the Intelligence Committee and read these interpretations themselves, they cannot openly debate them on the floor without violating classification rules.
Here's Wyden's speech on the Senate floor.
Spying and War
Former constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald noted last week:
The government's increased ability to learn more and more about the private activities of its citizens is accompanied -- as always -- by an ever-increasing wall of secrecy it erects around its own actions. Thus, on the very same day that we have an extension of the Patriot Act and a proposal to increase the government's Internet snooping powers, we have this:
The Justice Department should publicly release its legal opinion that allows the FBI to obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process, a watchdog group asserts.
***
The decision not to release the memo is noteworthy... By turning down the foundation's request for a copy, the department is ensuring that its legal arguments in support of the FBI's controversial and discredited efforts to obtain telephone records will be kept secret.
What's extraordinary about the Obama DOJ's refusal to release this document is that it does not reveal the eavesdropping activities of the Government but only its legal rationale for why it is ostensibly permitted to engage in those activities. The Bush DOJ's refusal to release its legal memos authorizing its surveillance and torture policies was unquestionably one of the acts that provoked the greatest outrage among Democratic lawyers and transparency advocates (see, for instance, Dawn Johnsen's scathing condemnation of the Bush administration for its refusal to release OLC legal reasoning: "reliance on 'secret law' threatens the effective functioning of American democracy" and "the withholding from Congress and the public of legal interpretations by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) upsets the system of checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches of government."
The way a republic is supposed to function is that there is transparency for those who wield public power and privacy for private citizens. The National Security State has reversed that dynamic completely, so that the Government (comprised of the consortium of public agencies and their private-sector "partners") knows virtually everything about what citizens do, but citizens know virtually nothing about what they do (which is why WikiLeaks specifically and whistleblowers generally, as one of the very few remaining instruments for subverting that wall of secrecy, are so threatening to them). Fortified by always-growing secrecy weapons, everything they do is secret -- including even the "laws" they secretly invent to authorize their actions -- while everything you do is open to inspection, surveillance and monitoring.
This dynamic threatens to entrench irreversible, absolute power for reasons that aren't difficult to understand. Knowledge is power, as the cliché teaches. When powerful factions can gather unlimited information about citizens, they can threaten, punish, and ultimately deter any meaningful form of dissent ...
Conversely, allowing government officials to shield their own conduct from transparency and (with the radical Bush/Obama version of the "State Secrets privilege") even judicial review ensures that National Security State officials (public and private) can do whatever they want without any detection and (therefore) without limit or accountability. That is what the Surveillance State, at its core, is designed to achieve: the destruction of privacy for individual citizens and an impenetrable wall of secrecy for those with unlimited surveillance power. And as these three events just from the last 24 hours demonstrate, this system -- with fully bipartisan support --- is expanding more rapidly than ever.
***
So patently illegal is Obama's war in Libya as of today that media reports are now coming quite close to saying so directly; see, for instance, this unusually clear CNN article today from Dana Bash. As a result, reporters today bombarded the White House with questions about the war's legality, and here is what happened, as reported by ABC News' Jake Tapper:
Talk about "secret law." You're not even allowed to know the White House's rationale (if it exists) for why this war is legal. It simply decrees that it is, and you'll have to comfort yourself with that. That's how confident they are in their power to operate behind their wall of secrecy: they don't even bother any longer with a pretense of the most minimal transparency.
Secret Memos
As I've previously noted:
Scott Horton - a professor at Columbia Law School and writer for Harper's - says of the Bush administration memos authorizing torture, spying, indefinite detention without charge, the use of the military within the U.S. and the suspension of free speech and press rights:
We may not have realized it at the time, but in the period from late 2001-January 19, 2009, this country was a dictatorship. The constitutional rights we learned about in high school civics were suspended. That was thanks to secret memos crafted deep inside the Justice Department that effectively trashed the Constitution. What we know now is likely the least of it.
Yale law professor Jack Balkin agrees, writing that the memos promoted "reasoning which sought, in secret, to justify a theory of Presidential dictatorship." Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley says that the memos are the "very definition of tyranny". And former White House counsel John Dean says "Reading these memos, you've gotta almost conclude we had an unconstitutional dictator."
State of Emergency Cuts the Constitutional Government Out of the Picture
As I wrote in February:
The United States has been in a declared state of emergency from September 2001, to the present. Specifically, on September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:
A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . .
That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 to the present. President Bush kept it in place, and President Obama has also.
***
On September 10, 2010, President Obama declared:
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. Consistent with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register the enclosed notice, stating that the emergency declared with respect to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, is to continue in effect for an additional year.
The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2010, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.
The Washington Times wrote on September 18, 2001:
Simply by proclaiming a national emergency on Friday, President Bush activated some 500 dormant legal provisions, including those allowing him to impose censorship and martial law.
***
Continuity of Government ("COG") measures were implemented on 9/11. For example, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, at page 38:
At 9:59, an Air Force lieutenant colonel working in the White House Military Office joined the conference and stated he had just talked to Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. The White House requested (1) the implementation of continuity of government measures, (2) fighter escorts for Air Force One, and (3) a fighter combat air patrol over Washington, D.C.
***
The Washington Post reported in March 2002 that "the shadow government has evolved into an indefinite precaution." The same article goes on to state:
Assessment of terrorist risks persuaded the White House to remake the program as a permanent feature of 'the new reality, based on what the threat looks like,' a senior decisionmaker said.
As CBS pointed out, virtually none of the Congressional leadership knew that the COG had been implemented or was still in existence as of March 2002:
Key congressional leaders say they didn’t know President Bush had established a “shadow government,” moving dozens of senior civilian managers to secret underground locations outside Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist attack on the nation's capital, The Washington Post says in its Saturday editions.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) told the Post he had not been informed by the White House about the role, location or even the existence of the shadow government that the administration began to deploy the morning of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
An aide to House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said he was also unaware of the administration's move.
Among Congress's GOP leadership, aides to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), second in line to succeed the president if he became incapacitated, and to Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) said they were not sure whether they knew.
Aides to Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) said he had not been told. As Senate president pro tempore, he is in line to become president after the House speaker.
Similarly, the above-cited CNN article states:
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said Friday he can't say much about the plan.
"We have not been informed at all about the role of the shadow government or its whereabouts or what particular responsibilities they have and when they would kick in, but we look forward to work with the administration to get additional information on that."
Indeed, the White House has specifically refused to share information about Continuity of Government plans with the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress, even though that Committee has proper security clearance to hear the full details of all COG plans.
Specifically, in the summer 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio, on the Homeland Security Committee (and so with proper security access to be briefed on COG issues), inquired about continuity of government plans, and was refused access. Indeed, DeFazio told Congress that the entire Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress has been denied access to the plans by the White House (video; or here is the transcript). The Homeland Security Committee has full clearance to view all information about COG plans. DeFazio concluded: "Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right”.
As University of California Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott warned:
If members of the Homeland Security Committee cannot enforce their right to read secret plans of the Executive Branch, then the systems of checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution would seem to be failing.
To put it another way, if the White House is successful in frustrating DeFazio, then Continuity of Government planning has arguably already superseded the Constitution as a higher authority.
Indeed, continuity of government plans are specifically defined to do the following:
***
* Those within the new government would know what was going on. But those in the “old government” – that is, the one created by the framers of the Constitution – would not necessarily know the details of what was happening
* Normal laws and legal processes might largely be suspended, or superseded by secretive judicial forums
* The media might be ordered by strict laws – punishable by treason – to only promote stories authorized by the new government
See this, this and this.
***
In 2007, President Bush issued Presidential Directive NSPD-51, which purported to change Continuity of Government plans. NSPD51 is odd because:
* NSPD51 was passed without Congressional input
* Even the New York Times wrote in an editorial:
Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the President may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack, or to any ‘other condition.’ Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing. But these new Presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate.
So continuity of government laws were enacted without public or even Congressional knowledge, and neither the public or even Congress members on the Homeland Security Committee - let alone Congress as a whole - are being informed of whether they are still in effect and, if so, what laws govern.
Postscript: Postscript: As I've repeatedly noted, economics, politics and law are inseparable and intertwined. As Aristotle pointed out thousands of years ago, "The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." Without the rule of law, the state crumbles, and the government bonds and other investments crumble with it.
As I wrote last year:
What's the hole that is swallowing up the economy? The failure to follow the rule of law.
The rule of law is what provides trust in our economy, which is essential for a stable economy.
The rule of law is the basis for our social contract. Indeed, it is the basis for our submission to the power of the state.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men. That's what humanity has fought for ever since we forced the king to sign the Magna Carta.
Indeed, lawlessness - the failure to enforce the rule of law - is dragging the world economy down into the abyss.
Rolling, international, US sovereign default could happen before the end of August 2011.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2011/04/altnews7-1ab-alcuin-alcuin-bramerton.html
Alcuin Bramerton Twitter .. WikiLeaks Master Mirror Sites .. #1ab archive
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home .....#1ab
US sovereign default: Wall Street quietly gets ready to exploit the Doomsday scenario
Discreetly and behind the scenes, every moneyman in America knows that the US, like Greece, is down the pan. The problem is beyond the ability of the Washington political class to solve. Rolling, international, US sovereign default could happen before the end of August 2011.
Wall Street financial firms are taking steps to reduce the risk of holding US Treasury bonds. US banks are angling for novel ways to make profits during the expected default upheaval. Hedge funds have changed gear. Many are already invested in heavy de-risking strategies. The Federal Reserve Board is in active default contingency planning mode. Scores of insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds are coming under boardroom pressure to dump their US Treasury holdings.
In the last month, in the American financial districts, the D-words (default and downgrade) have become dominant in the lingua franca of resigned coffee shop punditry.
More here (23.07.11), here (22.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (20.07.11), here (20.07.11), here (19.07.11) and here (07.07.11).
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2011/04/altnews7-1ab-alcuin-alcuin-bramerton.html
Alcuin Bramerton Twitter .. WikiLeaks Master Mirror Sites .. #1ab archive
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home .....#1ab
US sovereign default: Wall Street quietly gets ready to exploit the Doomsday scenario
Discreetly and behind the scenes, every moneyman in America knows that the US, like Greece, is down the pan. The problem is beyond the ability of the Washington political class to solve. Rolling, international, US sovereign default could happen before the end of August 2011.
Wall Street financial firms are taking steps to reduce the risk of holding US Treasury bonds. US banks are angling for novel ways to make profits during the expected default upheaval. Hedge funds have changed gear. Many are already invested in heavy de-risking strategies. The Federal Reserve Board is in active default contingency planning mode. Scores of insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds are coming under boardroom pressure to dump their US Treasury holdings.
In the last month, in the American financial districts, the D-words (default and downgrade) have become dominant in the lingua franca of resigned coffee shop punditry.
More here (23.07.11), here (22.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (21.07.11), here (20.07.11), here (20.07.11), here (19.07.11) and here (07.07.11).
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