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| | Sm0ky's Pizza Muffins | | | Sunday, July 13, 2008 (4:53 PM)
(I'm feeling creative) | |
For 12 pizza muffins
1 package of 6 count english muffins (seperated = 12)
1 lb muenster cheese sliced
*combine in sauce pan with low heat - covered (don't want this to boil)
12 oz Tomato Paste
12 oz water (one can)
2 Tbsp orangeno
2 Tbsp sugar (3 Tbsp for the sweet tooth)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/8 Tsp salt and pepper (your preference)
let this sauce cook for about 30 minutes (low heat)...can dip cheese into sauce to check - I do this just because it tastes so darn good :)
*pre heat oven to 350 degrees
I use a cooking stone, but a cookie sheet will be fine
Lay your seperated muffins inside up.
make a thin spread of sauce then a layer of cheese (keep cheese a 1/4" from edges) topped with a thicker coating of sauce.
Note: I notice if your wanting to add toppings, it is best to put them under the cheese. When toppings are placed on top of the cheese they tend to slide off when the cheese melts. Just chop the toppings up good and place under the cheese.
Place on center rack for 30 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown (muenster cheese gains taste when it begins to brown)
Let cool for 5 minutes because the sauce WILL BURN you. I have done this many times | | | 263 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
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| | A quarter of adults to face 'anti-paedophile' tests | | | | Thursday, June 26, 2008 (6:19 AM) | | UK News...
A quarter of the adult population faces an "anti-paedophile" test in an escalation of child protection policies, according to a report.
The launch of a new Government agency will see 11.3million people vetted for any criminal past before they are approved to have contact with children aged under 16.
But the increase in child protection measures is so great it is "poisoning" relationships between the generations, according to respected sociologist Professor Frank Furedi.
In a report for think tank Civitas, he said the use of criminal records bureau checks to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults has created an atmosphere of suspicion.
As a result ordinary parents - many of whom are volunteers at sports and social clubs - now find themselves regarded "potential child abusers".
The checks were introduced to tighten procedures to protect children after school caretaker Ian Huntley murdered 10 year olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in Soham in 2002.
However, there are growing fears that the measures have now gone too far.
Professor Furedi said most adults now think twice before telling off children who were misbehaving, or helping children in distress for fear of the consequences.
He said that the need for the checks had transformed parents "in the regulatory and public imagination into potential child abusers, barred from any contact with children until the database gives them the green light".
From next year the new Independent Safeguarding Authority will require any adult who come into contact with children or vulnerable adults either through their work or in voluntary groups to be vetted.
But Prof Furedi's report, Licensed to Hug, highlighted examples of when adult-child relationships were distorted by the need for CRB checks already being required by schools and other organisations.
In one example, a woman could not kiss her daughter goodbye on a school trip because she had not been vetted.
In another, a mother was surprised to be told by another parent that she and her husband were "CRB checked" when their children played together.
In a third example, a father was given "filthy looks" by a group of mothers when he took his child swimming on his own in "a scene from a Western when the room goes silent and tumbleweed blows across the foreground".
Prof Furedi details how one woman was made to feel like a "second class mother" because she was barred from a school disco because she did not have a CRB check.
Prof Furedi, a sociology professor from Kent University, said that "adults are no longer trusted or expected to engage with children on their own initiative".
He said: "When parents feel in need of official reassurance that other parents have passed the paedophile test before they even start on the pleasantries, something has gone badly wrong in our communities.
"We should question whether there is anything healthy in a response where communities look at children's own fathers with suspicion, but would balk at helping a lost child find their way home."
Prof Furedi, the author of a book called "Paranoid Parenting", said there was a trend to treat parenthood as a "professional endeavour that demanded increasing regulation and monitoring".
Prof Furedi said that CRB checks did not "provide anything like a cast-iron guarantee that children will be safe with a particular adult".
"All it tells us is that the person has not been convicted of an offence in the past," he said.
He called for a national review to demonstrate the need to "improve and clarify adult authority".
Prof Furedi said: "The adult qualities of spontaneous compassion and commitment are far more effective safeguarding methods than pieces of paper that promote the messages 'Keep Out' and 'Watch Your Back'."
Figures show that volunteering is on the decline with 13 per cent of men saying they would not volunteer because they were worried people would think they were child abusers, according to a survey last year.
The report comes after Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley Green, said 50,000 girls were waiting to join the Guides because of a shortage of adult volunteers, partly caused by the red tape of the CRB process.
Martin Narey, chief executive of children's charity Barnardo's, said his behaviour had been affected by the suspicions around adult-child relationships.
Writing in The New Statesman, he says: "I am likely to usher my wife forward if a child falls over in the street, lest my picking up the child could be misinterpreted. We need to address that. Adults - particularly men - should not routinely be seen as potential child abusers.
"And we need urgently to expose the nonsense of 'stranger danger' and convince parents that, although the risk of a child of theirs being abused at all is small, that risk comes not from lurking strangers, but from people known by their children - often relatives - who are able to exploit a child's trust."
However, he stressed that not to run any checks on past behaviour that could point to potential abuse would be "scandalously reckless" and he supported plans for the new Independent Safeguarding Authority whose work he said "will restore parental confidence" in adults who volunteer to help groups like the Scouts.
The CRB said yesterday that it will process 3.6million checks this year - up from 3.4million last year - of which 20 per cent were for volunteers.
Vince Gaskell, the bureau's chief executive, said he did not believe that CRB checks were poisoning the relationship between adults and children.
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| | Childcare: child's play is now a minefield | | | | Thursday, June 26, 2008 (6:18 AM) | | UK News...
Childcare: child's play is now a minefield
The vetting of adults who supervise children has become excessive, argues Frank Furedi in a hard-hitting new report
Beverly was all set to volunteer for her five-year-old daughter Mary's school party last March. She was shocked when she learnt from a teacher that she was not welcome as she hadn't been vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau.
"Those parents who were not vetted had to wait outside the school hall while the party went on," recalls Beverly, adding that she felt humiliated about being treated as a "second-class-mum".
Beverly's experience is far from unique. Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert is still seething with anger as she tells me about a flyer sent to parents at her son's primary school. It instructed them not to attend a children's Christmas disco unless they were CRB checked. "The discos are known as fun-filled noisy events, not potential danger zones for children," says Alka. There was no explanation. As far as the school was concerned, this was a common-sense precaution in a world where a climate of suspicion shapes perceptions of adult behaviour towards children.
The system of vetting adults who work with children was introduced in 2002 in the aftermath of the horrific abduction and murder of two schoolgirls in Soham. But most parents still don't realise that it has since expanded arbitrarily and can encompass virtually any adult who wishes to come in to contact with children.
So if you are not licensed by the CRB, don't be surprised if you are discouraged from attending your child's activities. What astonished Alka was that so many parents have come to accept such intrusive vetting as a fact of life.
She says that many parents agreed that the vetting of parents at a school disco was unnecessary, while some described it as "just one of those daft excessive things" - yet they were prepared to tolerate it.
So how long before a "daft excessive thing" becomes institutionalised as good practice? The recently established Independent Safeguarding Authority insists that about 11.3 million people in England will be affected by a new scheme of vetting of adults.
We are increasingly encouraged to believe that only those who have been CRB-checked have passed a "paedophile test", and those who have not cannot be trusted to come into direct contact with our children.
In our study Licensed To Hug, my co-author, Jennie Bristow, and I have found that the obsession with policing and regulating contact between grown-ups and children has created a situation where adults are presumed guilty until they can prove their innocence.
I talked to numerous volunteers involved in child-care, young people's activities and sports, who increasingly feel that they need to exercise great care to make sure that their behaviour could not be misinterpreted as that of a paedophile. One nursery worker informed me that she is quitting her chosen vocation because "I cannot be myself in this job".
"I no longer feel comfortable about acting on my gut feelings and cuddling and reassuring a distressed infant," she says. As far as she was concerned, if she could no longer cuddle the children in her charge and was forced to minimise physical contact with them, then her job had become "weird".
The introduction of CRB checks is in part designed to reassure parents that children will be protected from adult paedophiles. But our research suggests that once the act of coming into contact with children is deemed so risky as to require a criminal check, suspicion towards all adults becomes intensified.
So it is not surprising that the demand for vetting has expanded and is frequently interpreted as a badge of responsibility.
One 31 year-old mum told me how the parents of her daughter's friend casually dropped into the conversation that they were "cool" because they were CRB checked. That was their way of saying that it was all right for their daughter's friends to play at their house.
Tragically we no longer assume that other adults will behave responsibly and kindly towards our children. The default position is always to expect the worst and therefore to minimise contact between the generations.
Adults tell us that they fear being falsely accused of causing harm and that this would also make them less likely to help when they saw a young person in danger or distress. We talked to men who, because they feel uneasy about accidentally touching a child in a swimming pool, are not sure if they should even help a youngster in trouble in the water.
One father is fed up with the "filthy looks" he gets from suspicious mothers when he takes his two-year-old son to the pool. "He's considering stapling his police check to his forehead every time he goes out," says his partner.
Our research also indicates that the current obsession with adult misbehaviour has a destructive impact on volunteering to work with children. When asked if they knew anybody who had been put off by the CRB process, 28 per cent said that they did.
Many of our respondents resented the implication that they were assumed to be guilty unless they possessed a licence that allowed them to come into contact with children. They also took the view that their life was being complicated by onerous paper work and the vetting procedure.
One female volunteer who runs a church-sponsored children's holiday club felt that the vetting process was particularly inappropriate for one-off helpers who came in for the morning to make sandwiches.
Another respondent said that after she was asked to undergo a full CRB check, she decided to stop helping children in her local school with their reading. "I found another way to spend my time instead."
Joyce used to volunteer with a project that provides activities for young offenders. She agreed to be CRB-checked and got her licence. But when she was asked to be re?checked a second time she quit. "I was fed up and resented wasting my time."
Fortunately most people who have to undergo CRB vetting are prepared to carry on volunteering or continue with their chosen vocation. But our research shows that the way they behave and conduct themselves is profoundly influenced by the climate of suspicion that prevails.
One negative outcome that many volunteers and professionals acknowledge is that they "keep their distance" from children so that their actions could not be misinterpreted.
A volunteer involved in girl guiding said that it all makes you a lot more wary about child protection.
"That's detrimental to your relationship with the children, because you can't give an upset Rainbow [guide] a cuddle and they don't quite understand why."
Another guider said that "sometimes a Brownie just needs a cuddle when they are away from home for the first time, and I know many adults who won't do this as they are scared it will be perceived wrongly".
This kind of fear indicates that a growing number of adults feel constrained, awkward or uneasy about interacting with children. Many adults are confused about how to engage with children other than their own.
A crying five-year-old is no longer picked up and reassured by a nearby adult. And a six year-old boy who misbehaves will not be told off and reprimanded by passers-by. That's not good for children or for the community.
To make matters worse, there is no evidence that licensing adults protects children from harm. All that a CRB check does is find out what an individual has done in the past. It cannot predict what someone with a licence to work with children may do in the future.
The best way to protect children is through encouraging adults to behave responsibly and take a close interest in the wellbeing of young people in their community. And that's precisely what our culture of vetting undermines.
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| | Government Is Sued Over Seizure of Liberty Dollars | | | | Sunday, June 22, 2008 (8:26 AM) | | The federal government's attempt to stop a group of gold-standard activists from minting an alternative to the greenback is about to face its first legal test.
A dozen people around the country filed suit in U.S. District Court in Idaho this week demanding the return of all the copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins — more than seven tons of metal in all — that the FBI and Secret Service seized in November during raids of a mint in Idaho and a strip mall storefront in Indiana.
The Justice Department had decided that the coins, many of which bear the familiar symbol of Lady Liberty and the phrase "TRUST IN GOD," were being illegally marketed as government-sanctioned currency, according to the sworn affidavit of an FBI agent.
The creator of the coins, Bernard von NotHaus, who lives in Miami, claims that the federal government is trying to shut down production of his liberty dollars, as the coins are called, because of the competition they pose to the greenback. In recent years, his precious metal coins have outperformed the dollar, whose value has plunged in relation to gold.
The raids in November were the result of a two-year undercover investigation of Mr. Von NotHaus and how he sold liberty dollars. The Justice Department has not followed up with any criminal charges against Mr. Von NotHaus or the regional distributors of his coins.
In the suit filed in Idaho, the various plaintiffs say the federal government has no right to continue holding onto their coins any longer.
While it is common for agents to warehouse property seized during criminal investigations, such as firearms or surveillance equipment, the plaintiffs say coins of precious metal should be off-limits.
The coins "do not constitute contraband or other property subject to seizure," the legal papers state, adding that the seizures violated the Fourth Amendment rights of the plaintiffs.
For the most part, the plaintiffs had possessed bearer certificates for the silver liberty dollars that were being warehoused in Couer d'Alene, Idaho, at a mint. The mint, Sunshine Minting, is one of the sites that federal agents raided.
In an unusual request, the plaintiffs ask for an order, at the very least, forbidding federal agents from touching or moving the coins so that they are not dirtied in any way.
"Mishandling numismatic material can negatively impact value," the legal papers say.
A spokesman for the Justice Department, Charles Miller, said that the agency had not yet seen the legal papers and could not comment.
E-mail messages circulating among Liberty Dollar enthusiasts have expressed fears that the federal government intends to publicly auction off the coins. There has been no public announcement indicating that to be the case. The U.S. attorney's office in Asheville, N.C., which led the investigation that prompted the raids last November, did not return several calls for comment over the last few weeks.
Mr. Von NotHaus markets his coins via the Internet as an inflation-proof currency and claims that between 100,000 and 250,000 Americans own them. They have attracted the interest of coin enthusiasts, as well as critics of the Federal Reserve.
A 1999 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center said that many of the stores that accepted liberty dollars "are run by men and women connected to the radical right." The coins have caught on particularly well in Asheville, N.C., and Austin, Texas, and are accepted by some merchants there.
More than 50,000 of the coins seized last year bear the likeness of Rep. Ron Paul, whose monetary policies Mr. Von NotHaus supports.
"About a quarter of a million people holding liberty dollars are almost up-in arms — not up in arms yet, but almost — about having their property seized, and rightly so," Mr. Von NotHaus told The New York Sun yesterday.
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| | Building An Ark Has Become Political ! | | | Saturday, June 14, 2008 (2:14 PM)
(I'm feeling chipper) | | In the year 2010, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States,
and said, 'Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me.
Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans.'
He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, 'You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.'
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.
'Noah!' He roared, 'I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark ?'
'Forgive me, Lord,' begged Noah, 'but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system.
My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.
Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark 's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.
Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!
When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me.
They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.
Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.
I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew.
Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work.
The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience.
To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.
Then to top it all off I have to learn 150 languages before work can begin.
So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.'
Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, 'You mean you're not going to destroy the world?'
'No,'said the Lord. 'The government beat me to it.'
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| | Articles of Impeachment for President George W Bush by Dennis Kucinich | | | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 (10:36 PM)
(I'm feeling anxious) | | Article I - Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II - Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III - Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV - Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V - Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI - Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII - Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII - Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX - Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X - Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI - Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII - Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIII - Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
Article XIV - Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV - Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI - Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII - Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
Article XVIII - Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX - Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to 'Black Sites' Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX - Imprisoning Children
Article XXI - Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII - Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII - Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV - Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment
Article XXV - Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI - Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII - Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII - Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX - Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX - Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI - Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
Article XXXII - Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change
Article XXXIII - Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV - Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV - Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
See article details here
Videos can be viewed here | | | | 290 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Rising Energy Prices and the Falling Dollar | | | | Monday, June 9, 2008 (11:13 AM) | |
Oil prices are on the minds of many Americans as gas hits $4 a gallon, and continues to surge. How high can prices go? How can we solve these problems? What, or who, is to blame?
Part of the answer lies in understanding bubbles and monetary inflation, but especially the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve is charged with controlling inflation through interest rate manipulation, however, many fail to realize that creating money, and therefore inflation, is really its only tool. When the Federal Reserve inflates the dollar as drastically as it has in the past few decades, the first users of the newly created money go in search of investments for their dollars. They must invest this money quickly and aggressively before it loses value. This causes certain sectors to expand beyond what would naturally occur in the free market. Eventually the sector overheats and the bubble bursts. Overinvestment in dotcoms eventually led to a collapse of the NASDAQ. Next we had the housing bubble, and now we are seeing the price of oil being bid up in the creation of another new bubble. Investors are now looking to commodities like oil, for stability and growth as they pull capital out of real estate. This increased demand for investment vehicles related to oil contributes to driving up the price of the actual product.
If the Fed continues with its bubble blowing policies of the past, the new commodities bubble will continue to grow, gas prices will continue to go up, as the value of your dollars go down. We will see an overinvestment in these commodities as solutions are desperately sought for a supply shortage, which is only part of the problem. Make no mistake, though, this is not the free market at work. Government manipulations have added levels of complication and unintended consequences to the marketplace.
This is not the time for members of Congress to take political potshots at each other, or to imagine that the free market is somehow to blame. This is the time to understand and fix problems. That begins with making sure the decision makers have a firm grasp on the causes of the problems and possible effects of their decisions. This is absolutely crucial if we want to get it right this time. That is why I am in the process of calling for hearings on Capitol Hill on how the falling value of the dollar affects energy prices.
Governments need to get out of the way and let the people get back to work so that we can get our economy back on stable footing. Our destructive regulatory environment, confiscatory tax policies, and managed, rather than free trade have chased many businesses overseas. The bottom line is average Americans are being seriously hurt by these flawed policies, and they are not getting good information about the true dynamics at work. The important thing now is to get the diagnosis absolutely correct so we can administer the appropriate treatment and move on to a healthier economic future. To do this it is absolutely necessary to address the subjects of central banking and fiat money.
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| | Has the Government Looted the Gold at Fort Knox? | | | | Sunday, June 8, 2008 (2:42 AM) | |
George Washington's Blog
A group called the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee claims that the U.S. government has defrauded the American people out of the nation's wealth. Specifically, the group claims that the U.S. has secretly sold, leased or otherwise frittered away half of its entire gold reserves to pay for past military adventures abroad and other ill-conceived actions. Furthermore, the group claims that the government has intentionally covered up this loss of gold reserves through accounting fraud.
Are they right?
Well, as described by Darryl Robert Schoon in his book "How to Survive the Crisis and Prosper in the Process":
Frank Veneroso is the author of the Gold Book Annual, probably the most comprehensive study and analysis of gold markets available today. One of the world’s foremost financial analysts, Veneroso’s clients have included the World Bank, the Organization of American States, sovereign nations and global money managers.
Frank Veneroso is also chief investment strategist for RCM Global Investors, the equity investment arm of Allianz Dresdner, the giant German insurance conglomerate which also owns the PIMCO bond funds, the bailiwick of Bill Gross.
It was in compiling the statistics on gold markets that Veneroso discovered that the Central Banks were hiding the vast majority of their gold loans from public view. Veneroso estimated that by the late 1990s, the highly lucrative and still hidden gold-carry trade amounted to 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of gold.
The Central Banks pointed to their books which showed receipts showing large amounts of gold on deposit. What Veneroso suspected and found to be true, however, was that the gold wasn’t there. Ten to fifteen thousand tonnes of gold, an amount far larger than the Central Banks would admit, had been loaned to the investment banks in order to suppress the price of gold and now, in Veneroso’s opinion, were never coming back.
Veneroso noted that the amount of physical gold lent, 10,000-15,000 tonnes, is far too large for investment banks to repurchase without causing the price of gold to explosively rise, the very result the Central Banks had set out to prevent.
The success of the gold-carry trade had led to its failure. Now, at the cost of almost half of their gold reserves, the Central Banks are left only with promissory notes from investment banks instead of the tons of physical gold they had once possessed.
Whereas someone you know, perhaps even yourself, may in the very near future be forced out of their foreclosed home by bank order, rest assured that the investment banks will suffer no consequence for not repaying the gold they borrowed from Central Banks, gold that belonged to the nations that lent it, not its Central Bankers. In matters of finance, especially, the “even hand of justice” is reserved primarily for those that cannot afford it. It is estimated that in the past, Central Banks’ holdings of gold totaled 32,000 tonnes; and Veneroso’s figures show that perhaps 50 % of that is gone. This newly-discovered charade of Central Bank bookkeeping is as fraudulent as Enron’s; and as with Enron, the bookkeepers were complicit in the deception.
Are Veneroso and GATA right? I don't know.
But given that the wealth and stability of our nation is at stake, we should support their attempts to find out. The group has launched a campaign and filed a freedom of information act request to uncover the truth.
If you don't have any background in the history of gold, here is a very brief history:
The world's leading currencies (or "reserve currencies") have traditionally been backed by gold, at least since the days that shells were the preferred trading standard
At the end of World War II, it was agreed by the wealthiest nations through the Bretton Woods agreement that the U.S. would be the world's reserve currency, but that the U.S. dollar would be backed by physical gold (the "gold standard")
Because of huge over-spending on foreign military adventures, the U.S. had a gold deficit and was on the verge of economic disaster, and so in 1971 Richard Nixon suspended the gold standard (i.e. he de-linked the dollar from its gold backing)
GATA and others allege that the U.S. and other wealthy nations have since intentionally suppressed the price of gold so as to make their non-gold backed currencies seem more valuable, and to hide the true level of inflation effecting paper money
Part of this suppression has allegedly included dumping gold from Fort Knox and foreign gold repositories onto the gold market whenever the price of gold has drifted upward too much for their liking
Also see this...
The Manipulation Of The Gold Market:
http://www.gata.org/node/11 | | | | 279 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | What could these groups accomplish in a 4 day meeting ? | | | Saturday, June 7, 2008 (2:08 PM)
(I'm feeling blank) | | BILDERBERG MEETING
"Chantilly, Virginia, USA"
5-8 June 2008
CURRENT LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Honorary Chairman
BEL "Davignon, Etienne" "Vice Chairman, Suez-Tractebel"
DEU "Ackermann, Josef" "Chairman of the Management Board and the Group
Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank AG"
CAN "Adams, John" Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of
the Communications Security Establishment Canada
USA "Ajami, Fouad" "Director, Middle East Studies Program, The Paul H. Nitze
School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University"
USA "Alexander, Keith B." "Director, National Security Agency"
INT "Almunia, Joaquín " "Commissioner, European Commission"
GRC "Alogoskoufis, George" Minister of Economy and Finance
USA "Altman, Roger C." "Chairman, Evercore Partners Inc."
TUR "Babacan, Ali " Minister of Foreign Affairs
NLD "Balkenende, Jan Peter" Prime Minister
PRT "Balsemão, Francisco Pinto" "Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.;
Former Prime Minister"
FRA "Baverez, Nicolas" "Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP"
ITA "Bernabè, Franco" "CEO, Telecom Italia Spa"
USA "Bernanke, Ben S." "Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve
System"
SWE "Bildt, Carl" Minister of Foreign Affairs
FIN "Blåfield, Antti " "Senior Editorial Writer, Helsingin Sanomat"
DNK "Bosse, Stine" "CEO, TrygVesta"
CAN "Brodie, Ian " "Chief of Staff, Prime Minister's Office"
AUT "Bronner, Oscar" "Publisher and Editor, Der Standard"
FRA "Castries, Henri de " "Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, AXA"
ESP "Cebrián, Juan Luis" "CEO, PRISA"
CAN "Clark, Edmund" "President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group"
GBR "Clarke, Kenneth" Member of Parliament
NOR "Clemet, Kristin" "Managing Director, Civita"
USA "Collins, Timothy C." "Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood
Holdings, LLC"
FRA "Collomb, Bertrand" "Honorary Chairman, Lafarge"
PRT "Costa, António" Mayor of Lisbon
USA "Crocker, Chester A." James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies
USA "Daschle, Thomas A." Former US Senator and Senate Majority Leader
CAN "Desmarais, Jr., Paul " "Chairman and co-CEO, Power Corporation of
Canada"
GRC "Diamantopoulou, Anna" Member of Parliament
USA "Donilon, Thomas E." "Partner, O'Melveny & Myers"
ITA "Draghi, Mario" "Governor, Banca d'Italia"
AUT "Ederer, Brigitte" "CEO, Siemens AG Österreich"
CAN "Edwards, N. Murray " "Vice Chairman, Candian Natural Resources Limited"
DNK "Eldrup, Anders " "President, DONG A/S"
ITA "Elkann, John" "Vice Chairman, Fiat S.p.A."
USA "Farah, Martha J." "Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience; Walter H.
Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences, University of Pennsylvania"
USA "Feldstein, Martin S." "President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic
Research"
DEU "Fischer, Joschka" Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA "Ford, Jr., Harold E." "Vice Chairman, Merill Lynch & Co., Inc."
CHE "Forstmoser, Peter" "Professor for Civil, Corporation and Capital Markets
Law, University of Zürich"
IRL "Gallagher, Paul " Attorney General
USA "Geithner, Timothy F. " "President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New
York"
USA "Gigot, Paul " "Editorial Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal"
IRL "Gleeson, Dermot " "Chairman, AIB Group"
NLD "Goddijn, Harold" "CEO, TomTom"
TUR "Gögüs, Zeynep " "Journalist; Founder, EurActiv.com.tr"
USA "Graham, Donald E." "Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company"
NLD "Halberstadt, Victor" "Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former
Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings"
USA "Holbrooke, Richard C. " "Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC"
FIN "Honkapohja, Seppo" "Member of the Board, Bank of Finland"
INT "Hoop Scheffer, Jaap G. de" "Secretary General, NATO"
USA "Hubbard, Allan B." "Chairman, E & A Industries, Inc."
BEL "Huyghebaert, Jan" "Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group"
DEU "Ischinger, Wolfgang" Former Ambassador to the UK and US
USA "Jacobs, Kenneth" "Deputy Chairman, Head of Lazard U.S., Lazard Frères &
Co. LLC"
USA "Johnson, James A." "Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC" (Obama's man tasked
with selecting his running mate)
SWE "Johnstone, Tom " "President and CEO, AB SKF"
USA "Jordan, Jr., Vernon E." "Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC"
FRA "Jouyet, Jean-Pierre " Minister of European Affairs
GBR "Kerr, John " "Member, House of Lords; Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell
plc."
USA "Kissinger, Henry A." "Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc."
DEU "Klaeden, Eckart von" "Foreign Policy Spokesman, CDU/CSU"
USA "Kleinfeld, Klaus" "President and COO, Alcoa"
TUR "Koç, Mustafa " "Chairman, Koç Holding A.S."
FRA "Kodmani, Bassma" "Director, Arab Reform Initiative"
USA "Kravis, Henry R." "Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co."
USA "Kravis, Marie-Josée" "Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc."
INT "Kroes, Neelie " "Commissioner, European Commission"
POL "Kwasniewski, Aleksander " Former President
AUT "Leitner, Wolfgang" "CEO, Andritz AG"
ESP "León Gross, Bernardino" "Secretary General, Office of the Prime Minister"
INT "Mandelson, Peter" "Commissioner, European Commission"
FRA "Margerie, Christophe de" "CEO, Total"
CAN "Martin, Roger" "Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University
of Toronto"
HUN "Martonyi, János" "Professor of International Trade Law; Partner, Baker &
McKenzie; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs"
USA "Mathews, Jessica T. " "President, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace"
INT "McCreevy, Charlie " "Commissioner, European Commission"
USA "McDonough, William J." "Vice Chairman and Special Advisor to the
Chairman, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc."
CAN "McKenna, Frank" "Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group"
GBR "McKillop, Tom " "Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group"
FRA "Montbrial, Thierry de" "President, French Institute for International Relations"
ITA "Monti, Mario" "President, Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi"
USA "Mundie, Craig J. " "Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft
Corporation"
NOR "Myklebust, Egil" "Former Chairman of the Board of Directors SAS, Norsk
Hydro ASA"
DEU "Nass, Matthias" "Deputy Editor, Die Zeit"
NLD "Netherlands, H.M. the Queen of the"
FRA "Ockrent, Christine" "CEO, French television and radio world service"
FIN "Ollila, Jorma" "Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc"
SWE "Olofsson, Maud " Minister of Enterprise and Energy; Deputy Prime Minister
NLD "Orange, H.R.H. the Prince of"
GBR "Osborne, George" Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
TUR "Öztrak, Faik" Member of Parliament
ITA "Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso " Former Minister of Finance; President of Notre
Europe
GRC "Papahelas, Alexis" "Journalist, Kathimerini"
GRC "Papalexopoulos, Dimitris" "CEO, Titan Cement Co. S.A."
USA "Paulson, Jr., Henry M." Secretary of the Treasury
USA "Pearl, Frank H." "Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC"
USA "Perle, Richard N." "Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research"
FRA "Pérol, François" Deputy General Secretary in charge of Economic Affairs
DEU "Perthes, Volker" "Director, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik"
BEL "Philippe, H.R.H. Prince"
CAN "Prichard, J. Robert S." "President and CEO, Torstar Corporation"
CAN "Reisman, Heather M." "Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc."
USA "Rice, Condoleezza" Secretary of State
PRT "Rio, Rui " Mayor of Porto
USA "Rockefeller, David " "Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank"
ESP "Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias" "Executive Vice Chairman, Grupo Santander"
USA "Rose, Charlie" "Producer, Rose Communications"
DNK "Rose, Flemming" "Editor, Jyllands Posten"
USA "Ross, Dennis B." "Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The
Washington Institute for Near East Policy"
USA "Rubin, Barnett R." "Director of Studies and Senior Fellow, Center for
International Cooperation, New York University"
TUR "Sahenk, Ferit " "Chairman, Dogus Holding A.S."
USA "Sanford, Mark" Governor of South Carolina
USA "Schmidt, Eric" "Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO, Google"
AUT "Scholten, Rudolf " "Member of the Board of Executive Directors,
Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG"
DNK "Schur, Fritz H. " Fritz Schur Gruppen
CZE "Schwarzenberg, Karel " Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA "Sebelius, Kathleen" Governor of Kansas
USA "Shultz, George P." "Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow,
Hoover Institution, Stanford University"
ESP "Spain, H.M. the Queen of"
USA "Summers, Lawrence H." "Charles W. Eliot Professor, Harvard University"
GBR "Taylor, J. Martin" "Chairman, Syngenta International AG"
USA "Thiel, Peter A." "President, Clarium Capital Management, LLC"
NLD "Timmermans, Frans " Minister of European Affairs
RUS "Trenin, Dmitri V." "Deputy Director and Senior Associate, Carnegie Moscow
Center"
INT "Trichet, Jean-Claude" "President, European Central Bank"
USA "Vakil, Sanam" "Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies, The Paul H.
Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University"
FRA "Valls, Manuel " Member of Parliament
GRC "Varvitsiotis, Thomas" "Co-Founder and President, V + O Communication"
CHE "Vasella, Daniel L." "Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG"
FIN "Väyrynen, Raimo" "Director, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs"
FRA "Védrine, Hubert" Hubert Védrine Conseil
NOR "Vollebaek, Knut" "High Commissioner on National Minorities, OSCE"
SWE "Wallenberg, Jacob" "Chairman, Investor AB"
USA "Weber, J. Vin" "CEO, Clark & Weinstock"
USA "Wolfensohn, James D. " "Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC"
USA "Wolfowitz, Paul " "Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research"
INT "Zoellick, Robert B. " "President, The World Bank Group"
Rapporteurs
GBR "Bredow, Vendeline von - The Economist
GBR "Wooldridge, Adrian D - The Economist
AUT Austria
HUN Hungary
BEL Belgium
INT International
CHE Switzerland
IRL Ireland
CAN Canada
ITA Italy
CZE Czech Republic
NOR Norway
DEU Germany
NLD Netherlands
DNK Denmark
PRT Portugal
ESP Spain
POL Poland
FRA France
RUS Russia
FIN Finland
SWE Sweden
GBR Great Britain TUR Turkey
GRC Greece USA United States of America
Above - Jim Tucker from the site of the 2008 Bilderberg Group meeting in
Chantilly, Virginia.
Above - Westfields Marriott sign showing a four day meeting
Oh...Hillary and Obama might have been their on Thursday night - 6/5/08
Does puzzle me. Sure hope it isn't greed based...
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| | The end of the AGE is upon us | | | | Wednesday, June 4, 2008 (1:25 AM) | | Taken from "The Naked Truth" located here in 4 parts
As seen from from the standard bibles (I will note) and compared with the zodiac (the zodiac is known as the Mazzaroth in the bible - look it up in the back of the KJV) .
This may be disturbing for some
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KJV = king james version
NAS = new american standard bible
IS = international standard version
AS = american standard
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Matthew 14:17 NAS
And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. (two fishes)
pisces as seen in a very old cathedral in Europe
Jesus is known to be the great fisherman, this is shown on the popes head gear.
What sign of the zodiac does the Sun/Son go into when it leaves the house of Pisces.
Luke 22:10 NAS
And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.
The house of Aquarius or the man with the water picture
Astrology in the bible...God say to Job (very important info here)
Job 38:31 KJV
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (12 signs of the zodiac) in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
The zodiac is known by most to be related to the 12 months of the year (12 disciples) which the Sun/Son ministers to. The zodiac is then seperated into 4 part - winter spring summer and fall which makes the cross of the zodiac or crus.
I'm still searching to find where the zodiac also represents the AGE of 2000 years. (get back with this info)
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Very interesting versus about the AGE/S
Matthew 28:20 NAS
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the AGE."
Matthew 12:32 NAS
"Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this AGE or in the AGE to come.
Matthew 13:39 NAS
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the AGE; and the reapers are angels.
Matthew 13:40 IS
Just as weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at end of the AGE.
Matthew 24:3 IS
While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, "Tell us, when will these things take place, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the AGE?"
Mark 10:30 IS
who will not receive a hundred times as much here in this world-homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution-as well as eternal life in the AGE to come.
Luke 18:30 IS
who will not receive many times as much in this world, as well as eternal life in the AGE to come."
Below seen from: http://www.horizonsnet.org/sermons/1cor06.html
1 Corinthians 2:6
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this AGE or of the rulers of this AGE, who are coming to nothing.
1 Corinthians 10:11 AS
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the AGES have come.
Ephesians 1:21 IS
He is far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion, and every name that can be named, not only in the present AGE but also in the one to come.
Hebrews 6:5 IS
who have tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the coming AGE,
Hebrews 9:26 IS
Then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the creation of the world. But now, at the end of the AGES, he has appeared once for all to remove sin by his sacrifice.
Revelation 15:3 AS
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the AGES.
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We are talking about the AGES from the old age of Picses to the new AGE of Aquarius, the man with the water picture. Yes we are at the end of the AGE. This is not devil worship of the stars or the end of time, it's right there in the bible!
Peace | | | | 334 Views | 1 Thumb Up | 1 Comment | |
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