Christine Lagarde, Evangelos Venizelos,Troika austerity aims, and German corruption - The Slog

Berlin-am-Brussels’ real motives, and the odyssey of the Lagarde Tax-Dodgers List, are raising questions throughout the eurozone this afternoon. We could be about to witness the scandal of all scandals.

Christine Lagarde became head of the IMF in 2011. Before that – when she was the Minister of Finances for France – she illegally obtained a copy of 24,000 EU tax dodgers who’d deposited their ill-gotten gains at a branch of HSBC in Switzerland. The list, on a USB memory stick, was stolen from HSBC by a whistle-blowing employee.

Some time during the Autumn of 2010, France’s very poor answer to Carol Vorderman handed over the stick to Greek Finance Minister Papaconstantinou. It’s still unclear as to why she did this, but the chances are that she now regrets doing so. Either way, Papaconstantinou  handed it to the Financial Crimes Unit (SDOE). And when Evangelos Venizelos became Finance Minister the following year, SDOE in turn gave him a copy.

Yes, surprise surprise….wherever there is graft, there is Venizelos. Evangelos the Large did nothing at all about the list. He claims now that he did nothing “because it had been obtained illegally”. And if you believe that, then you’d believe anything Lord Mandelson might say.

However, for reasons which are also unclear, Mr Venizelos suddenly remembered his list yesterday morning….and handed it over to Prime Minister Samaras.

The response  of SDOE was almost immediate. Around 10.30 pm last night,  John Sbokos – ex  Secretary to the Directorate of Armament – was arrested by the Financial Crimes Unit. They did it in a hurry because somebody inside Pasok tipped Sbokos off about the handover, and SDOE in turn were tipped off that he was about to do a runner. Mr Sbokos was very close to Akis Tsohatzopoulos, the former Greek Defence Minister. He’s in prison because of his corrupt role in the ‘buy two subs just get one’ scandal.

Senate panel: DHS fusion centers produce ‘predominantly useless information’ and ‘a bunch of crap’

By Madison Ruppert: A newly released report from the Senate’s bipartisan Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reveals that the claims of Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of the behemoth Department of Homeland Security (DHS), surrounding the United States’ so-called fusion centers are nothing short of outright lies.
This is far from surprising to me since in September of last year a report from the Homeland Security Policy Institute revealed the fact that information received from fusion centers “often lacks value.”
Fusion centers are also involved in rolling out nationwide biometrics systems as well as centralized biometrics databases coordinated by the federal government.
In the past, Napolitano has claimed that fusion centers are “one of the centerpieces of our counterterrorism strategy,” while reality paints a completely different picture.
The Senate panel, which combed over 80,000 fusion center documents, determined that they could not “identify a contribution such fusion center reporting made to disrupt an active terrorist plot.”
Furthermore, unnamed DHS officials told the senate panel that fusion centers put out “predominantly useless information” and “a bunch of crap,” according to Danger Room.

Mark Faber - Purchasing Power of Money is Going Down Rapidly World Wide

Does Stimulus Spending Work?

After the housing bubble burst, the Bush and Obama administrations turned to stimulus in an effort to "create jobs." Does such spending lead to economic improvement? Prof. Antony Davies examines the data to see how increases in federal spending relate to economic growth from 1955 to the present. The evidence shows that there is no connection between federal spending and economic improvement; instead, stimulus money only increases government debt. After three years of stimulus spending, the unemployment rate remains at 9 percent. "One thing that has changed," Davies says, "is that our government is now $4.6 trillion further in debt than it was before the stimulus efforts." Source
 

Army documents: complaining about bias, believing in government conspiracies are terrorism indicators

By Madison Ruppert: (Right - From the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group’s “Radicalization into Violent Extremism” document. Click image to enlarge.)

A newly released document, originally published by the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group in 2011, reveals that the Army has guidelines just as insane as other government agencies that consider ordinary bodily movements and just about everything else an indicator of potential terrorist activity.
At this point, it is almost comical how many things can be considered an indicator of terrorism including bumper stickers, boisterous groups of Middle Eastern males and even educational or trade school information.
The nearly endless list of indicators just got longer with documents (PDF courtesy of Danger Room) uncovered by Danger Room which reveal that the U.S. military actually considers having “peculiar discussions” a sign that you might suddenly murder your colleagues along with “believ[ing] in government conspiracies to the point of paranoia.”
Other warning signs include recently changing your “choices in entertainment,” “complain[ing] about bias,” being “socially withdrawn” and being frustrated with “mainstream ideologies.”
The Army claims that “Risk Factors for Radicalization” include “youth” and “social networks,” both of which are so common that one might conclude that the vast majority of young people are potential terrorists.

Troika 'Technical Team' Chased From Their Athens Offices by Angry Mob of Municipality Workers!

By keeptalkinggreece: This is the third incident within 24 hours and I slowly believe, representatives and technical teams of the so-called Troika, Greece’s lenders from the IMF, the EU and the ECB, should start thinking to change their suits with some knight armor like in the good old Middle Ages*.

Earlier on Tuesday, municipality workers chased members of a Troika 'technical team' (AKA Bankster Scum) as they were trying to meet with Greek majors from the Central Union of Municipalities (KEDE). However the municipality workers union tried to hinder the meeting.
They blocked the KEDE entrance with overturned garbage bins. When the team arrived, the workers started to chase them, to throw water bottles at them and use the usual …French.
Proto Thema speaks even of “kicks” and “hurled coffees”.
Video: a rather distressed member of the Troika leaving KEDE after being harassed by municiaplity workers.

In Ireland more lives are lost annually to suicide than in road traffic accidents

By Eileen Dublin: In Ireland MORE lives are lost annually to suicide than tragedies on our roads — but the budget to reduce road traffic deaths is eight times higher.

‘  “They (the government) tell you all the good things they’re going to promise and so as far as mental health and suicide is concerned. But to a large extent they’re unaccountable – there’s no votes in suicide. Families are so bereaved and so broken, desolate, and also feel so stigmatised when somebody dies from suicide that there’s no real human outcry when events like this happen.
To a large extent, society itself treats suicide like a second class death.  People see it as a clear indication that people in power think suicide is something you can just wash your hands of.”

‘THE FOUNDER of one of Ireland’s largest suicide prevention charities, (Noel  Smyth),  has called for the government to establish a new independent national authority, (like the Road Safety Authority), for the prevention of suicide – claiming leaving the issue in political hands is a recipe of disaster. ‘
“At a time of austerity they are afraid of coming out and saying, ‘You’re making an absolute bags of this thing’,” he said, adding: “The failings of life have to be taken away from politicians because they just don’t care.”

Monsanto Controls 'Whole Foods' and What You Eat!

A controversial video of an undercover investigation into the presence of GMO foods at the "organic" grocery leader Whole Foods Market has been pulled from You Tube just days after its release sparked a reaction throughout the health conscious blogosphere and alternative media.

A 'sting' video released by Organic Spies featuring covert footage alleges that Whole Foods was deceiving its customers by touting organic foods and a corporate ideal set against GMOs while simultaneously selling a large portion of products that contain widely prevalent GMO ingredients.

N. Korea accuses US of attempting to spark war

A top North Korean diplomat lays the blame for unceasing tensions between the Koreas solely on the US. The Korean peninsula is the world’s biggest hotspot, he acknowledged, mentioning thermonuclear conflict as a possibility.
­Speaking at the final session of the UN 193-member General Assembly, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon announced that, “Due to the continued US hostile policy towards the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], the vicious cycle of confrontation and aggravation of tension is an ongoing phenomenon on the Korean Peninsula, which has become the world's most dangerous hotspot where a spark of fire could set off a thermonuclear war."
North Korean diplomat focused on the relations between Pyongyang and Washington, for 60 years co-existing without a peace treaty since the war in 1950-1953 which ended with an armistice. The diplomat accused the US of nourishing an idea of total destruction of his country since the day it was founded, in order to “occupy the whole of the Korean Peninsula and to use it as a stepping-stone for realizing its strategy of dominating the whole of Asia.”
The State Department of the US has offered no comment on the speech so far.
North Korea’s statement in the UN is notable for at least two reasons. Pyongyang conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, but has so far never mentioned or hinted that it possesses military thermonuclear technology – a real step-up from uranium- and plutonium-based nuclear weapons. In July, though, North Korea warned its southern neighbor and the US that it is going to “re-examine its nuclear capabilities” after perceiving new threats. That warning came after Seoul, Washington and seven other countries conducted 80,000-person war games in South Korea in June.

Reggie Middleton on Apple's "iBubble" or "iPop" and the JP Morgan / Bear Sterns Lawsuit

In the most recent development of the Samsung vs. Apple patent war, Samsung is suing Apple on grounds that the iPhone5 infringes on its patents. In a world where Too Big To Fail has been singularly associated with the financial sector, could a single tech and consumer products giant have a disproportionately visible effect on the larger US economy? Measured by sheer market capitalization, Apple set a record in August as the most valuable US company the world has ever seen. We ask analyst Reggie Middleton if Apple's next development will be the iBubble!

Do Western Central Banks Have Any Gold Left???

By: Eric Sprott & David Baker: Somewhere deep in the bowels of the world’s Western central banks lie vaults holding gargantuan piles of physical gold bars… or at least that’s what they all claim. The gold bars are part of their respective foreign currency reserves, which include all the usual fiat currencies like the dollar, the pound, the yen and the euro.
Collectively, the governments/central banks of the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland, Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are believed to hold an impressive 23,349 tonnes of gold in their respective reserves, representing more than $1.3 trillion at today’s gold price. Beyond the suggested tonnage, however, very little is actually known about the gold that makes up this massive stockpile. Western central banks disclose next to nothing about where it’s stored, in what form, or how much of the gold reserves are utilized for other purposes. We are assured that it’s all there, of course, but little effort has ever been made by the central banks to provide any details beyond the arbitrary references in their various financial reserve reports.
Twelve years ago, few would have cared what central banks did with their gold. Gold had suffered a twenty year bear cycle and didn’t engender much excitement at $255 per ounce. It made perfect sense for Western governments to lend out (or in the case of Canada – outright sell) their gold reserves in order to generate some interest income from their holdings. And that’s exactly what many central banks did from the late 1980’s through to the late 2000’s. The times have changed however, and today it absolutely does matter what they’re doing with their reserves, and where the reserves are actually held. Why? Because the countries in question are now all grossly over-indebted and printing their respective currencies with reckless abandon. It would be reassuring to know that they still have some of the ‘barbarous relic’ kicking around, collecting dust, just in case their experiment with collusive monetary accommodation doesn’t work out as planned.

The Revelation of the Pyramids

The Revelation Of The Pyramids takes an in depth look into one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Mystery has surrounded these epic structures for centuries with theories varying from the scientific to the bizarre. However, it appears that with over thirty-seven years of in depth research taking in sites from China, Peru, Mexico and Egypt, one scientist has at last managed first to understand and then to reveal what lies behind this greatest of archaeological mysteries: a message of paramount importance for all mankind, through time and space. Source

Colbert Report predicts 2012 stock market in 2009 + "Modern Rarities" Coin Scam

By silverfuturist: In early 2009 show said: Dow 12,000 in 2012 - Talked about "silver bullets" not working - Talked about commodities as money (soybeans) not feasible - Compared Gerald Celente to Gargamel from The Smurfs (they know who Gerald is)

"Legalized Plunder of the American People" - G. Edward Griffin

There is no difference with any central bank including the privately owned, so called 'Bank of England'.