Previous News and Commentary -- July 2008

Writing in the July 30 issue of the International Forecaster subscription newsletter, Bob Chapman tells his readers that over two years ago that Zibigniew Brzezsinski, the Illuminists chief advisor, had said the failures of the Bush neocons had set back world government 30 years. However, since then the European faction of the Illuminists has taken over the reins of power again.

As a result of this takeover, according to Chapman, plans are underway to withdraw allied troops from Iraq. Furthermore, secret negotiations conducted over the past two years but coming to light now will result in the Iran issue being taken off the table entirely. Bob writes that at the same time the Black Nobility in the UK and US are escalating the Afghanistan occupation to protect the enormous profits from opium cultivation.

The Afghanistan plan is part of the extension of warfare into Pakistan, according to Chapman. Zibig wants to balkanize the country by inciting civil war, which he believes will neutralize the country and isolate it from its China ally. According to Chapman, Obama’s recent foreign policy tour had to do with ramping up the Pakistan operation, which is under way. Zibig is Obama’s foreign policy advisor.

Obama has said in the past that he is in favor of U.S. missile strikes on known Al-Queda and Taliban strongholds in Pakistan whether or not approved by that country’s leadership. Then, as reported in the Times Online, just two days ago Yousuf Raza Gilani, the new Pakistani Prime Minister, met President Bush and warned him not to launch "unilateral" strikes on Pakistani soil. The meeting came just hours after Pakistani security officials said that a suspected US missile strike on a village in Pakistan's northern tribal areas might have killed an al-Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert.

In his book published in 1998, The Grand Chessboard, Brzezsinski discussed the need for the U.S. as the dominant world power to expand its influence into Eurasia through Pakistan. That was a decade ago.

Brzezinski Plots Invasion of Pakistan, Face Off with Russia

US Policy Shift On Iran-Iraq Again Shows Brzezinski Rules In Washington

By Webster Tarpley

Rense.com

July 20, 2008

Washington, DC, July 17, 2008 -- With the Bush regime sending a top State Department diplomat to sit down with Iranian officials, with signs that the US departure from Iraq may now be accelerated, and with Israel beginning to make deals with Hezbollah, some observers in this capital are beginning to celebrate Peace in Our Time in an outburst of midsummer euphoria. But this perspective is an illusion: the United States and NATO now escalating the hopeless and unwinnable Afghan war, and is preparing to send US and NATO forces on the ground to seize parts of Pakistan, a country which is almost 3 times more populous than Iran, and possesses a nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it. The Bush-Cheney-neocon era in foreign policy is over, and the Brzezinski-Trilateral-Rockefeller-Soros phase of aggression has begun; the US hit list now features Chinese allies like Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Pakistan. MORE=>

US Stocks Rally, Led by Oil Companies; Financial Shares Gain

July 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rallied, led by the biggest gain in energy shares in six years, after oil jumped by more than $4 a barrel and a private report showed an unexpected increase in jobs. MORE=>

Store Closures Wipe Out Starbucks' Profit

Starbucks slid to its first quarterly loss as a public company on Wednesday as charges related to its decision to close more than 650 cafés wiped out profits at the biggest US coffee shop chain. MORE=>

Crude Above $120 Abnormal: OPEC Chief

JAKARTA: The price of crude oil above 120 dollars a barrel is "abnormal" and could fall to around 78 dollars under the right circumstances, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said here on Tuesday. MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: That makes sense. If one makes the very reasonable assumption that the value of gold is unchanging, he can calculate what the value of crude should be now by multiplying is price per barrel some time back in time by the ratio of the price of gold now by the price of gold then. When I did that calculation a few weeks ago, your commentator came up with a oil prices ranging from $100 per barrel at the low end to $140 at the high end, or $120 per barrel as the most probably price.

The run-up in the price of crude to approximately $162 per barrel a few weeks make may have arisen from traders belief at that time that the bombing of Iran, which would certainly have resulted in a substantial reduction of oil transported to refineries, would occur sometime in the near future, say within the next few months. However, if we refer (see previous article) to the information provided by Bob Chapman concerning the change in the Illuminists’ plans for Middle East, the Iran issue is now off the Illuminist’s agenda. Presumably the oil traders learned this news withint the past week or two, the timing of which would coincide with the drop on the price of crude from $162/bbl to about $120/bbl, its “normal” level.

July 30, 2008

Bennigan's Closes Stores, Files For Bankruptcy

7-News

July 29, 2008

DENVER-- The parent company of Bennigan's restaurants confirmed Tuesday that Bennigan's parent company closed its company-owned stores nationwide Tuesday after it filed for bankruptcy. "S & A Restaurant Corp. and certain affiliates have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code. MORE=>

The Case for Hanging Errant Public Officials

Davvy Kidd

News with Views

July 28, 2008

Relax, Comrade Chertoff. The Case for Hanging Errant Public Officials is the title of a book by James Farrell who also wrote, The Judas Syndrome. The Case for Hanging Errant Public Officials was published in 1988, decades before a Nazi law called the 'The Patriot Act' was rammed down our throats. Today, only rich kids of famous people are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights. MORE=>

Choosing a King in November: An Interview with Daniel Ellsberg

Glenn Greenwald

Salon.com

July 25, 2008

Today, we are launching Salon Radio with Glenn Greenwald -- a regularly-scheduled program that will include interviews and discussions with political figures, journalists, activists and the like…For the debut segment today, I spoke with Daniel Ellsberg, one of the very few people in America who really merits the term "political hero." MORE=>

Army Recruiters Threaten High School Students

By Mark Greenblatt

WHOU-TV

July 28, 2008

HOUSTON -- With a war in Iraq and fighting on the rise in Afghanistan, the struggle to bring in new U.S. Army recruits is heating up again. MORE=>

Israzel’s Barak to America’s Gates: Keep Military Option on Table with Iran

Ynet News

July 29, 2008

Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the US government to tighten the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. In a meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday at the Pentagon, Barak urged his counterpart to "keep all options on the table." MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: Nag! Nag! Nag!

Pelosi: 'I'm Trying to Save the Planet'

By David Rogers

Politico.com

July 29, 2008

Just call her Nancy the Navigator.
“I have always loved longitude,” Nancy Pelosi says before breaking into laughter. “I love latitude; it’s in the stars. But longitude, it’s about time. ... Time and clocks and all the rest of that have always been a fascination for me.” MORE=>

July 29, 2008

Still at Code Yellow, DHS Fears 11 Months of 'Heightened Alert'

July 28 (Raw Story) With 99 days until the presidential election, the Department of Homeland Security is raising vague concerns about possible terrorist attacks in the US or abroad. MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: Chill out! Continue to calmly prepare for the down times ahead --hyperinflation rolling into depression, more police state activity ramping up, food shortages and so on. Focus on what you want and not what you don’t want. That will include safety (plenty of rounds for the “bummers”, warm clothing if you are in part of the world where it gets cold in winter time), food (canned, dehydrated, freeze-dried plus your own home-grown crops), water (source plus good gravity fed water filtering system, and so on, alternative power (generator, solar, etc.). Continue to build personal (human) networks. Get some perspective on the attributes of the real enemy by viewing, for example, the flick V For Vendetta and the David Icke videos referenced above. Tyrannical leaders control people by inducing fear in them. When people refuse to take on the burden of fear, tyrants lose their control over them.

Asian Stocks Decline on Profit, Growth Concerns; Toyota Falls

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell to the lowest in more than a week after forecasts from Toyota Motor Corp. and Singapore Airlines Ltd. deepened concern that slowing economic growth and higher energy costs will hurt earnings. MORE=>

Gonzales Aides Used Politics in Hiring, Report Says

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Aides to former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales violated federal law by improperly using political considerations when hiring career Justice Department lawyers and immigration judges, an agency report found. MORE=>

Venn Diagram of Bush Administration's Crimes and Misdemeanors

By Emily Bazelon, Kara Hadge, Dahlia Lithwick, and Chris Wilson

Slate.com

July 24, 2008

Each scandal is represented by a colored circle that encompasses the people who are implicated. As it's easy to see, many of the players here are mixed up in two, three, or more of the alleged crimes. Hence all the overlapping circles (Venn-diagram heaven!). MORE=>

Kucinich Will Be on Clout on Air America at 10 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday

http://airamerica.com/listen Call in: 866-303-2270.

Build this Sturdy Large-Capacity Food Dehydrator

By Charles Sanders

Backwood Home Magazine

Drying of food as a means of preservation has been around for a long time. Populations in suitably dry climates all around the globe have dried meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables in times of plenty as a way to provide for the leaner months of the year. MORE=>

A Touch of Crash: Depression Era Chic

The duds say it all - and it's depressing. Taking a cue from the grim economy, this fall's fashions at Banana Republic, Gap and H&M are featuring a distinctly Depression-era trend of cloche hats, pencil skirts, conductor caps and baggy, vintage-style dresses. MORE=>

July 28, 2008

Israeli Officials: US talks to Iran to Legitimize Attack

Recent talks the United States held with Iran are aimed at creating legitimacy for a potential attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, defense officials speculated on Sunday as Defense Minister Ehud Barak headed to Washington for talks with senior administration officials. MORE=>

Circle of Friends: The Importance of Other People in Our Preparedness Plans

By Claire Wolfe

Backwoods Home Magazine

Hardcore survivalists cherish what I call the "George Romero Scenario." It goes like this: The proverbial poop has hit the propeller. Cities collapse into chaos. But we, the prepared, are...well, we're prepared. We hunker in our rural bunkers, clutching our Super Whiz-Whacker 3000 combat arms, eagle-eyed and ready for any eventuality. We boldly fend off wave after ravenous wave of starving city folk who stagger at us like unstoppable zombies in a Romero horror flick. These zombies crave not our living flesh, but our six-gallon, mylar-lined superpails of dried lentils, our root cellars full of last year's carrots, and our genuine, federally issued Meals Ready to Eat.

Well...maybe. MORE=>