9/11 “mastermind” waterboarded 183 times before “confession”
Waterboarding used 266 times on 2 suspects to get 9/11 “confession”
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters joins a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
from alternativenews.org
New York public employee compensation
A very informative editorial from the New York Times that gives you some idea of what is going in New York with public employee compensation.
The Times observes:
In all, the salaries and benefits of state employees add up to $18.5 billion, or a fifth of New York’s operating budget. Unless those costs are reined in, New York will find itself unable to provide even essential services.
To point out these alarming facts is not to be anti- union, or anti-worker. In recent weeks, Republican politicians in the Midwest have distorted what should be a serious discussion about state employees’ benefits, cynically using it as a pretext to crush unions.
But after you read the editorial, you may actually come to conclude that the political power of unions could have something–maybe almost everything–to do with the problem.
. . . .
In 2000, employee pensions cost New York State taxpayers $100 million. They now cost $1.5 billion, and will be more than $2 billion in 2014. Wall Street’s troubles are a big part of that. But so are state politics. The Legislature, ever eager to curry favor with powerful unions, added sweeteners to pensions and allowed employees to stop making contributions after 10 years…
The Social Snobbery of Free Trade
7 March 2011
Mr. Ian Fletcher
Dear Ian:
In your latest essay at The Huffington Post, you allege that supporters of free trade are guilty of “social snobbery” (“The Social Snobbery of Free Trade,” March 7). You offer three, and only three, pieces of evidence for this proposition. The first is a quotation from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, and the second is a quotation from Barack Obama – each suggesting that working-class people too quickly blame trade for whatever economic misfortunes they suffer. The third piece of evidence is the fact that, while most members of the mainstream media are center-left on a majority of issues, they are well-paid and “lean right” on trade.
You masterfully massacre a straw man. Contrary to your explicit claim in the case of Friedman, and your implication in the case of Obama, the pronouncements of economically confused journalists and professional politicians aren’t even remotely appropriate examples of the best arguments for free trade.
Here’s a challenge for you. Search for examples of snobbery in the arguments for free trade made by scholars such as Adam Smith, Frederic Bastiat, Jagdish Bhagwati, Henry George, Daniel Griswold, Douglas Irwin, Fritz Machlup, Martin Wolf, and other economists and researchers who are recognized authorities on trade. You’ll come up empty. (Note: pointing out that many people do not understand economics is not an instance of snobbery.)
If nothing else, you have chutzpah to pin the label “snobs” on free traders – who argue that individuals ought simply be left free to spend their money in whatever ways they choose – while you promote a policy of giving third-party strangers in Washington the power to obstruct, for some allegedly higher good, these private, individual consumption choices.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
(Read more from cafehayek.com)
Protectionists are to Economics What Astrologers are to Astrophysics
Here’s a letter to the editor of the website Economy in Crisis:
Setting up a straw man for the slaughter, Dustin Ensinger asserts that “Proponents of unfettered free trade have long claimed that lowering trade barriers will allow America to export more and more goods, eventually leading to trade surpluses and economic prosperity” (“Exports Won’t Solve America’s Many Trade Woes,” March 6).
Wrong.
Proponents of unfettered free trade have long claimed that lowering trade barriers will allow America to import more and more goods, eventually leading to greater economic prosperity. Period.
Proponents of unfettered free trade – at least those who understand economics – don’t give a damn about trade ‘deficits’ or ‘surpluses.’ They agree with Adam Smith that “Nothing, however, can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade.”*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux (Read more from cafehayek.com)
Israeli Defense Minister: Israel may ask US for additional $20 billion in military aid in response to Arab pro-democracy upheavals
Israel will need to boost military spending and may seek an additional $20 billion in U.S. security assistance to help it manage potential threats stemming from popular upheavals in the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday. (Read more from online.wsj.com)
Dick Morris’s notable exclusion
So, if you had to guess which much-discussed potential Republic presidential candidate was excluded from Dick Morris’s review of contenders, who would it be?
Here’s a clue from this Hannity interview:
Still confused?
Here Peter Schiff interview Dick Morris, who quits the interview, and mentions the unmentioned man — RON PAUL.
I think this interview reveals that Dick Morris, like most Republicans favored by big media, wants to replace Obama’s socialism with their own brand of socialism.
So it should be no surprise that Morris ignores true anti-socialist, Ron Paul. Ignoring Dr. Paul seems to be a common tactic:
Washington Post’s debate commentary 2007 excluded Ron Paul
Glenn “Bandwagon” Beck’s poll excluded Ron Paul
BBC’s election guide excluded Ron Paul
And the list goes on, and on, and on.
Check out my two earlier posts for more:
Censoring Ron Paul (then and now)
Censoring Ron Paul – Why the rEVOLution will not be televised
Government coersion behind GMO food proliferation
But in this case, Wikileaks cables leaked information regarding global food policy as it relates to U.S. officials — in the highest levels of government — that involves a conspiracy with Monsanto to force the global sale and use of genetically-modified foods.
In 2007, then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton conspired to retaliate against European countries for their anti-biotech policies. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal the Bush administration formulated battle plans to extract revenge against Europe for refusing to use genetically modified seeds.
In the leaked cable, Stapleton writes: “Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission…Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice.”
Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write: “Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory,” he wrote. (Read more from crisisboom.com)
Look through the food freedom category to see my views on GMO issues. Unlike the socialists, I’m against a government ban on GMOs. My goal is to expose how they hugely benefit from government privilege despite widespread safety concerns.
Michael Moore: America Is NOT Broke . . .
. . . because we can steal from all those evil rich people.
USA! USA! #1!
Q: Which repressive country puts the most people in jail for violating government laws?
A. Iran
B. Saudi Arabia
C. Libya
D. Egypt
E. United States of America
| World Rank, 2010 | Country | Prisoners per 100,000 Population |
| 1 | U.S.A. | 743 |
| 37 | Tunisia | 297 |
| 52 | Turkmenistan | 224 |
| 53 | Iran | 223 |
| 61 | Libya | 200 |
| 61 | Mexico | 200 |
| 69 | Colombia | 180 |
| 70 | Saudi Arabia | 178 |
| 92 | Bahrain | 149 |
| 116 | China | 120 |
(Read more from mjperry.blogspot.com)
Full list of national incarceration rates here.
Caught On Tape: Cops Talk About Stealing Man’S Property Over Bag Of Weed.
Police ended up leaving Simpson’s home that day in 2008 with “a 52” flat screen TV, a DVD player, two computers, a camera and a bunch of DVDs,” reporter Scott Lewis wrote.
Now, two of the officers involved — Lt. Luke Davis and Lt. Emmanuel Riopelle — are facing “dozens” of charges. Both have been accused in a long-running scheme [2] to steal from drug suspects and profit from sales of their property.
In spite of the incident, drug task forces across the nation continue to operate with secret budgets [3] and the backing of laws that permit wanton seizure of property if drugs are discovered. (Read more from michiganmedicalmarijuana.org)
Oswald Wanted to Protect Kennedy, Claims Secret Lover
November 22nd, 1963 is a day Americans can never forget. That was the day when President Kennedy was assassinated by the (supposedly) lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. Shortly after, Oswald himself was killed on national television. Oswald’s name has been seared into the national consciousness as the ultimate traitor, but in the new memoir Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald by his girlfriend Judyth Vary Baker, the hypothetical killer actually went to Dallas to try to prevent the assassination!
According to Baker, Oswald told her early in November that Kennedy would be killed at Dealey Plaza. He knew this because he had been invited to join the assassination team, as well as an abort team that would try to interfere with the shooting. He had infiltrated the former team with hopes of exposing the players, but once events were set in motion he knew the operatives would not hesitate to kill his entire family and anyone else he knew (including Judyth) if he didn’t play along.
Vary begged him not to take part, but he insisted that the group would just get another shooter to take his place. “If I stay,” he said, “at least that will be one less bullet aimed at Kennedy.”
After Oswald’s murder, his predictions began to take place, when a number of Vary’s cohorts in the undercover biological work she was engaged in mysteriously died or were killed. Afraid for her own life, she abandoned her promising science career and raised a family, keeping quiet about her involvement in the Kennedy situation for many years.
Now, living in an undisclosed European country for her own safety, she recalls her life as a girl who wanted to become a nun, but whose amazing aptitude for science ultimately brought her into a plot to kill Castro with a cancer-causing agent. This in turn led her into a world of virulent anti-Communists, Cuban exiles, mafia figures and the CIA. Me & Lee is a memoir that blows the lid off the Lee Harvey Oswald debate, and even names some of the men responsible for the Kennedy assassination. It is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, politics or even the fates of star-crossed lovers. (Read more from lewrockwell.com)
The Specter of Municipal Default
Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of the Jimmy John’s sub chain, just applied to move his residence from Illinois to Florida — and his company’s headquarters could soon follow. “All they do is stick it to us,” he says of the state legislature’s move to jack up the personal income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent — and the corporate income tax from 7.3 percent to 9.5 percent.
. . . .
However, California’s state treasurer, Bill Lockyer, says the idea of states going bankrupt is ludicrous.
“It’s a cynical proposal, intended to incite a panic in response to a phony crisis,” Mr. Lockyer said on a conference call with journalists. “Killer bees, space aliens, and now it’s the invasion of the bankrupt states.”
I’m a little surprised Lockyer is so cocky. After all, California was forced to issue IOUs in lieu of cash to pay taxpayers, vendors, and local governments back in 2009.
Mr. Lockyer’s big plan is for his state to refrain from issuing any general-obligation bonds until the second half of the year, cutting down borrowing costs. That doesn’t sound like any great trick, except California hasn’t done that since 1988. If that doesn’t work, well, “Then, the next option, if you run out of deferrals, is to issue IOUs,” Mr. Lockyer said. “It’s a possibility. It’s not one that anyone wants to do. It’s at the bottom of the list of choices. But it is on the list.”
Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute also thinks the idea of states going bankrupt is nonsense. Because states pile up debt indirectly, issuing bonds through tens of thousands of separate legal entities. She writes that New York “state” doesn’t owe all of that $78.4 billion in debt; it owes only $3.5 billion in “general-obligation” debt, so relax.
“Who owes the rest?” she writes,
The MTA, the Dormitory Authority, the Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority and so on. Legally, each is not a government but a “public-benefit corporation.” Each has its own board, its own rules, and its own contractual agreements with creditors, from bondholders to unions. Each of those agreements offers creditors different protections.
So New Yorkers, in this case, are supposed to sleep better at night secure in the knowledge that dozens of government entities owe this debt instead of just one? Meanwhile any one of these public-benefit corporations could default out of the blue, because more than likely nobody will get a heads-up if the Dormitory Authority runs out of dough to pay bond holders. (Read more from mises.org)
Peter Schiff: Labor force, Greenspan, National Debt
* Labor force participation rate reveals truth. Unemployment rate hides the non-working.
* Greenspan: we’ll have to wait and see if QE2 works!?
* Greenspan acts as if the question of inflation is a game of chance. No logic applies.
Israeli Diplomat: “I can no longer represent Israel.”
Baruch
Veteran diplomat Ilan Baruch quits, says he can no longer represent government; Israel’s foreign policy is ‘wrong,’ he says, adds that blaming global anti-occupation views on anti-Semitism is ‘simplistic, artificial’
Foreign Ministry earthquake: A veteran diplomat says he has resigned from his post because he had a hard time defending the policies of Israel’s current government, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.
Ilan Baruch says he quit because “Israel’s foreign policy is wrong,” pointing to the Palestinian issue.
Should this trend continue, he warned, Israel will turn into a pariah state and face growing de-legitimization. (Read more from axisoflogic.com)