'Robin Hood' gives to the needy in Germany

Mystery donations of thousands of dollars have been turning up across Germany, sparking talk of a new Robin Hood.

A total of 190,000 euros have been left around the Lower Saxony city of Braunschweig, stuffed into letterboxes and behind church hymn books.

One donation, of 10,000 euros ($12,400) in 500-euro notes, was found stuffed into an envelope and left under a doormat at a local hospice.

"I say it's maybe Robin Hood," hospice manager Michael Knoble said.

The money is usually accompanied by a cutting from the city's newspaper, the Braunschweiger Zeitung.

The paper will not be trying to uncover the donor's identity, saying it prefers the fairytale.

Michael Cremo - Human Types have been here millions of years

Introducing Forbidden Archeology. Darwinism is presented to us - to dumb us down?

Fed Up with the Fed - Ron Paul - Audit the Fed, Before It's Too Late!

While the Fed has recently released an unprecedented amount of information on its activities, there is still much that remains unknown. Predictably, every push towards transparency has been fought tooth and nail. It took disclosure requirements enacted within the Dodd-Frank Act to get the Fed to provide data on its emergency lending facilities. It took lawsuits filed by Bloomberg and Fox News to provide data on discount window lending during the worst parts of the financial crisis. And it will take further concerted action on the part of Congress, the media, and the public to keep up pressure on the Fed to become and remain transparent.

Transparency is not a panacea, however,

Spain's sovereign thunderclap & the end of Merkel's Europe

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

(Photo: Corbis)

The Spanish rebellion has begun, sooner and more dramatically than I expected.

As many readers will already have seen, Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council (hijacked by Merkozy).

Taking what he called a "sovereign decision", he simply announced that he intends to ignore the EU deficit target of 4.4pc of GDP for this year, setting his own target of 5.8pc instead (down from 8.5pc in 2011).

In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a bold and open act of defiance by any state. Usually such matters are fudged. Countries stretch the line, but do not actually cross it.

With condign symbolism, Mr Rajoy dropped his bombshell in Brussels after the EU summit, without first notifying the commission or fellow EU leaders. Indeed, he seemed to relish the fact that he was tearing up the rule book and disavowing the whole EU machinery of budgetary control.

Perils of Intervention - Double Standards

From Somalia to Syria to Iran, the West looks like it wants war with the developing world.

In this episode, Double Standards investigates the so-called NATO "success" in Libya and the chaos left behind as well as the global capitalist crisis, Cherie Blair helping Bahrain, Sarkozy's friendship with Assad of Syria and US attempts to colonize the moon.

Coming up on t he show, Afshin Rattansi talks to Sabri Malek the spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Libya about the chaos left by the NATO after Gaddafi. Source

Iceland’s ex-PM Geir Haarde prepares to face trial for his role in financial crisis

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland’s former prime minister goes on trial as the first world leader to face criminal charges over the 2008 financial crisis that affected much of the world economy. 

Geir Haarde became a symbol of the bubble economy for Icelanders who lost their jobs and homes after the country’s main commercial bank collapsed in 2008, sending its currency into a nosedive and inflation soaring. He is accused of negligence for failing to prevent the financial implosion from which the small island country is still struggling to recover. Haarde rejects the charges against him. He appears Monday at Landsdomur, an impeachment court being convened for the first time in Iceland’s history to try him.

Iceland’s former prime minister goes on trial Monday March 5, 2012 as the first world leader to face criminal charges over the 2008 financial crisis that affected much of the world economy. Geir Haarde became a symbol of the bubble economy for Icelanders who lost their jobs and homes after the country’s main commercial bank collapsed in 2008, sending its currency into a nosedive and inflation soaring.

Pento - Gold Will Surge 20% to 30% in the Next Twelve Months

Today Michael Pento told King World News precisely when he expects the next round of quantitative easing to be announced and how much the price of gold will spike.  For KWN readers globally, according to Bloomberg News, Michael Pento has correctly predicted the annual high prices of gold for the last three years in a row.  Pento, who founded Pento Portfolio Strategies, also gave this extraordinary account of previous rounds of QE and their impact on the gold market:  “Global central banks have now entered the twilight zone of monetary policy.  Never before in the history of planet earth have we seen such a synchronized counterfeiting scheme to monetize insolvent sovereign debt.  However, right now there is a break in the action.”

According To Reuters, Soaring Energy Prices Are A Good Thing

Submitted by Tyler Durden: 

When it comes to reporting the news, Reuters ability to get the scoop first may only be rivalled by its ability to "spin" analysis in a way that will make a normal thinking person's head spin.  Such as the following piece of unrivaled headscrathing titled "The good news behind oil prices" whose conclusion, as some may have already guessed, is that "the surge in crude oil is looking more like a harbinger of better days." Let's go through the arguments.

From Reuters: The good news behind oil prices

1. "the Iran-driven spike masks a broader underlying trend, and as long as military strikes are avoided, it appears to pose only a limited risk. In other words, there is a good news story."

Translation - Logic aside (namely that there is absolutely no connection between the precedent and antecedent sentences, but we'll let that slide) the fact that at least $140 billion has been removed from consumers' pockets YTD on an annualized basis (0.9% of GDP per $10 oil price increase), and has offset all the benefits from the payroll tax extension and then some, is not only irrelevant, but is apparently good news. Ignore that retail sales are abysmal for 3 months running, consumer spending has plunged and has already cost the US economy 0.3% in Q1 GDP, and all this happened even before the oil price surge, not to mention and European inflation is already above expectations on record Brent in Euros. All that matters is consumer confidence which is based on media "arguments" such as the one being deconstructed.

Putin a break against neo-colonial West + Crosstalk

International consultant and author Adrian Salbuchi who's in Argentina gives a view of the Russian election from abroad.

Israel And US Libertarian Candidates - A Gauntlet

Tickerguy throws down the gauntlet on federal laws that prohibit boycott calls or participation when the target is Israel. With Rush Limbaugh recently coming into the forefront with this issue and Governor Johnson's statements that Israel is a "friend" of the US, the question appears to be both seminal and timely. Source