Note, he's not talking about fraud by the little guys; he's talking about fraud by "counterparties" – the people packaging and selling securitized mortgages and derivatives. This is from Nov. 9 of this year; too bad Greenspan didn't get clarity on this problem (or others) sooner.
Thanks to Karl Denninger's Market Ticker, one of few rational observers of economic news these days.
John Pilger is a journalist and documentary maker who's twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award and whose docs have received academy awards in Britain and the US. This is the first of 7 segments, all currently available on YouTube.
Pilger was relatively early in identifying Obama as a "corporate marketing creation."
When I was 14, my parents couldn't stand that my chores (making my bed, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, dusting, and vacuuming, taking out the trash, mowing and trimming our thick, 2/3-acre lawn using a heavy, non-self-propelled mower and hand shears, re-painting all the shutters on the house plus a picnic table, bench, etc.) did not completely take up all my free time; and I was too young to be legally, gainfully employed. So they enrolled me in a typing course, and for the duration, I rode my bike to class each week day.
The ride was 4 miles each way and included an extremely large hill. The area had been under a glacier, which might have scraped the land flat on its way in but left gigantic mounds when it melted. I never made it up this one without having to walk my bike up the last 10 - 20 yards.
I managed not to resist learning to type entirely; but engraved more deeply on my mind was an idea: that "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."
We were told that typing those particular letters in that particular order involved the most difficult typing movements, so we practiced it, to improve our agility and speed. The sentiment was probably also thought helpful as an inspiration to young citizens.
Now, of course, we're just urged to shop.
Back then, my country certainly needed help, but I was too young and oblivious to feel personally called. But on some level, I understood that the time might come.
Re- the video below, there's a beyond-urgent need for Julian's stylist; but it's worth the visual torture for the info/ideas – it's jam-packed (pardon the pun) – and for the spoof on Alex Jones, plus lines such as "Obama must get firm grip on Wikitits."
If you appreciated the sentiment near the end, you may also like:
Let’s do something, while we have the chance! It’s not every day that we are needed. . . . Let us make the most of it before it is too late!Or as Hamlet said, "the readiness is all."
– Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1949; emphasis supplied)
At CentralTrak last night; loved it. Impossible to do it justice in few words, but call it the Twilight Zone of talk shows. I think they really were taping it, and hope to see the results. You should definitely try to catch it if/when it returns.
More visuals here.
UPDATE: Edited "tv" taped excerpts from this performance can now be viewed on "Quartz"'s vimeo channel.
There'll be what sounds like a cool event in downtown Dallas, TX TONIGHT, Unsilent Night.
It's basically a performance that you can participate in, conceived by artist Phil Kline. The event has been held annually in New York City since 1992. As many as 1,500 eager partakers gather for a contemplative procession armed with boomboxes playing nothing more than the beautiful, mysterious sounds of echoing bells. The crowd slowly strolls along a designated route, drifting peacefully through a cloud of holiday sound, as each person experiences the event from their own perspective. Beginning in 2009, Dallas has joined 24 other cities around the globe who invite their citizens to come together and create this intriguing and inspiring performance art experience.
Unsilent Night is free and will be held regardless of the weather. It's recommended to arrive at least 30 minutes before the departure time of 7PM for the route through downtown Dallas and/or the 8:30 PM departure time for the route through the Arts District.
Gather at DART Rail's Akard Station, where instructions will be given before each walk begins. People are encouraged to bring one or more boomboxes or similar devices with them to broaden the scope of the experience. However, with or without a boombox, all are invited to participate in the experience.
You can download the soundtracks and find more info at www.UnsilentNightDallas.com.
And there's something else going on today: Operation Paperstorm. It's a protest in which people are distributing printed, paper info to help raise awareness of the facts surrounding the unfolding Wikileaks story (see links in sidebar at left, or info here).
Unsilent Night might be an excellent time to show your support of Wikileaks' unsilence. If that doesn't work for you, just do it some time soon.
You can download a flyer here (to be printed on legal-size paper); or see here for additional options.
Wikilaugh: "Julian Assange to Launch Social Network for Diplomats, Twofacebook," from the excellent Borowitz Report. "Saying that he hopes to build the site into a 'portal of deceit,' Mr. Assange said, 'This will be a must-visit destination on the Internet for sworn enemies to friend each other.'"
Let's get it over with: The Guardian has a detailed account of new info re- the allegations against Assange of sexual misconduct.
The confusion as to who really chose to appeal Assange's release apparently flows from the fact that it was done in the Swedes' name, but decided upon by the Brits; see Head of Legal (a blog by a British barrister [trial lawyer] who worked for the UK for some years). The comments at the foregoing link are interesting and worrisome.
Concerns continue regarding the Wikileaks site now back up at its original URL: "the internet security firm Spamhaus yesterday warned that the site's new incarnation could be riddled with malware run by 'Russian cybercriminals.' WikiLeaks.org redirects users to a mirror site – mirror.wikileaks.info – which sits within an IP range hosted by the Russian firm Webalta." See The Guardian – although there are also concerns that these concerns could be part of a disinformation campaign. Best to go to a mirror site such as this one, instead.
Also today, Bank of America announced it will no longer process payments for Wikileaks, and I've seen a report indicating that one or more other banks may join it. (Fortunately, I moved my accounts to a credit union last year.)
Has due process become obsolete, since the oligarchs can execute you financially whenever they don't like what you're doing?
Devastating essay by Mark Weisbrot in The Guardian:
The polarisation of the debate around WikiLeaks is pretty simple, really. Of all the governments in the world, the United States government is the greatest threat to world peace and security today. This is obvious to anyone who looks at the facts with a modicum of objectivity. The Iraq war has claimed certainly hundreds of thousands, and, most likely, more than a million lives. It was completely unnecessary and unjustifiable, and based on lies. Now, Washington is moving toward a military confrontation with Iran.The rest of the piece just gets better.
As Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, pointed out in an interview recently, in the preparation for a war with Iran, we are at about the level of 1998 in the buildup to the Iraq war.
On this basis, even ignoring the tremendous harm that Washington causes to developing countries in such areas as economic development (through such institutions as the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation), or climate change, it is clear that any information which sheds light on US "diplomacy" is more than useful. It has the potential to help save millions of human lives.
You either get this or you don't. Brazil's president Lula da Silva, who earned Washington's displeasure last May when he tried to help defuse the confrontation with Iran, gets it. That's why he defended and declared his "solidarity" with embattled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, even though the leaked cables were not pleasant reading for his own government.
If you'd like to show support for Wikileaks or Assange, here are some THINGS YOU CAN DO:The most famous whistle-blower of the Vietnam era hailed the leading figures behind the WikiLeaks document dump as heroes today, before heading off to chain himself to the White House fence as a protest against efforts to prosecute them.
More at the National Journal.
On the day WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made bail to win release from the London prison where he has been held on sexual assault charges, Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg defended Assange and his alleged source, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Manning is being held in a military prison at Quantico, Va.
"I see Bradley Manning as a patriot, and I’m sure Julian Assange is an Australian patriot," Ellsberg said in a press conference today. "To call them terrorists is not only mistaken, it’s absurd and slanderous. Neither of them are any more terrorists than I am, and I’m not."
Afterwards, the 79-year-old Ellsberg headed to the White House to be chained to its snowy gates as part of a protest organized by Veterans for Peace, which also organized the press conference along with GetUp!, an Australian activist group. Ellsberg was one of dozens arrested, the Associated Press reported.
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For more info about how your tax dollars are allocated, see the National Priorities Project.
Coalition military deaths in Iraq since March, 2003: 4,766 (as of April 22, 2011; click here to update). At least 467 contractors have also died, based on only partial information. Total U.S. military wounded as of as of January 14, 2010: 31,882.
Coalition military deaths in Afghanistan since October, 2001: 2,416 (as of April 22, 2011; click here to update.
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