Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Middleton: Contraction Interruptus

Reggie Middleton of Boom Bust Blog:

I have always been of the contention that the 2008 market crash was cut short by the global machinations of a cadre of central bankers intent on somehow rewriting the rules of economics, investment physics and global finance. They became the buyers of last resort, then consequently the buyers of only resort while at the same time flooding the world with liquidity and guarantees. These central bankers and the countries they allegedly strive to serve took on the debt and nigh worthless assets of the private sector who threw prudence through the window during the “Peak” phase of the circle of economic life, and engaged in rampant speculation.

Central bankers worldwide have interrupted the cycle here under the apparently mistaken impression that they can override the business cycle and skip past the contraction phase. This is most apparent in equity markets where excess liquidity has pushed all equities straight up, as well as bond markets where yields have been suppressed to artificial (ZIRP) levels. The truth cannot be concealed in real asset markets where properties are still dropping. It was the real asset market that kicked off the bust to begin with, and it will probably be the real asset markets that bring us back to reality.

The extended contraction has only been exacerbated by the folly of central economic planners experimenting on a global basis and in concert to defeat the laws of economic mother nature.

Oh, and for those still under the mistaken impression that contagion has been contained, Barclays is here to disabuse you of that quaint notion: Italy Is Finished: "Mathematically Beyond Point Of No Return".

The era of Europe's heavily unionized, social welfare states is drawing to a close. Misery, war and poverty will follow as certainly as night follows day. Pity that Democrats are too stupid to get the message here at home.


Israeli officials: Former UN atomic chief ElBaradei was an Iranian agent

Chalk this up as another U.N. success story. Dan from New York explains:

Apparently, when the findings of the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear weapons program are compared to earlier reports crafted by “moderate” Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei, the obvious conclusion is that ElBaradei was working for the Mullahs. ElBaradei has since moved on. He’s now one of the leading candidates vying to be Egypt’s president.

###

ynetnews.com, 11/9/11

Israeli officials: ElBaradei an Iranian agent


Senior state officials accuse former IAEA chairman of covering up for Islamic Republic during his term, allowing Iranians to move ahead with nuclear program while playing for time. 'He is a despicable person,' one of them says.

Senior Israeli officials said Tuesday night that the International Atomic Energy Agency report stating that Iran has been working on developing a nuclear weapon design proves that the former UN nuclear watchdog chairman "was an Iranian agent".

The former IAEA chairman, Mohamed ElBaradei, is an Egyptian diplomat who even won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

For years he defended the Iranian nuclear program, claiming that it was peaceful, thus allowing the Iranians to continue their activity with the nuclear watchdog's seal of approval.

According to one of the state officials, the new report published Tuesday proves "just how much he was working for the Iranians.

"He simply rescued Iran and was constantly busy covering up for them, causing serious damage by allowing the Iranians to fool the entire world and play for time. History may judge him as the person who helped Iran obtain a nuclear weapon.

"The things exposed now are not new. These are old things which were hidden and not published," the official added. "Now it turns out that ElBaradei led an active policy of concealment and disregard. This is very serious. He is a despicable person."

"ElBaradei didn't just mess us up, he messed up the entire sane world," added Uzi Eilam, former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Agency. "He was dishonest his entire term. He is the one who stopped the Security Council from imposing serious sanctions, providing the Iranians with precious time."

Gee, after the multi-billion dollar Oil-for-Food scandal; the IPCC Global Warming Bunko Scam; mass-murder in Darfur; the Rwandan genocide; accusations of rape and child pornography in the Congo, Haiti, Liberia, and Sudan; and ties to a North Korean counterfeiting operation, who could have suspected a corrupt U.N. was helping the Iranians acquire nukes?


Related: "The Atomic Mahdi."

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Stratfor Research: Italy has seven days to avoid an "immediate and catastrophic" financial meltdown

Uhm, Stratfor Research is well-known for avoiding alarmist views and overstatements. Which makes this missive all the more foreboding (emphases mine, Paul Krugman hardest hit):

The Italian government eked out a legislative victory today, but the victory was a hollow one. Only 308 of the parliament's 630 MPs voted for the government's budget, eight shy of a majority. The bill only passed because the opposition chose to abstain rather than defeat the budget. Italy has now taken the lead position in the contest of what can unravel the euro.

Greece, which has held that dubious honor for nearly two years, is actually now off the radar. Today the Greeks formed a national unity government that has the political authority to implement deep austerity while compartmentalizing political backlash against the system. It might not work, but it should last at least until the new year.

But today's Italian budget vote - or more specifically the decision of several previously pro-Berlusconi deputies to abstain with the opposition - puts Italy squarely in the crosshairs.

Italy, like Greece, faces an insurmountable debt mountain. Italy, like Greece, has problems with political unity. But Italy, unlike Greece, has a leader who refuses to step aside in favor of a national unity government. Berlusconi has been at or near the top of the Italian political scene for a generation, and his People of Freedom party is his own personal political machine.

Berlusconi now has seven days to repair that machine. If he cannot muster an additional eight votes by Nov. 15, his government will fall in a scheduled confidence vote. That would push Italy into an election at a time when markets are waking up to the fact that it is not Ireland or Spain or even Greece that is the biggest threat to the eurozone. It is Italy.

Even in the worst-case scenario Greece only has about 350 billion euro of debt outstanding, most of which now is held either internally or by the European Central Bank. Italy has nearly 2 trillion euro in outstanding debt. An Italian credit cutoff would trigger a financial meltdown across Europe that would both be immediate and catastrophic.

Avoiding that would require a new Italian government without going through one of Italy's famously destabilizing elections. In the aftermath of today's budget vote, Berlusconi claims that he will resign after a series of austerity laws are adopted, ushering in a new unity government. Votes on those laws, however, are scheduled to be held after the confidence vote, so it's not clear whether this is truly turning the page or simply stalling for time.

Can... meet kick.

And sometime -- in the very near future -- the road for can-kicking will have reached an end.


Reading the Tea Leaves [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Lots of firecrackers going off simultaneously right now hinting at greater pyrotechnics to come.

On Sunday, I noted that Israel's "Mr. Peace" is warning of war, a link to a story in which Israel’s president, uber dove Shimon Peres, warns that "A military strike on Iran is growing more likely than the diplomatic option." Today comes news that Israel’s #2 man, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, not only seconded Peres, he went a step further. As the JPost reports, “Addressing the IAEA report, the reported contents of which have been leaked to various international newspapers in recent days, Barak said, ‘we've known these things for years. ... ‘We know more [about Iran] than The Washington Post knows and we know more than the IAEA does,’ he added.” Read about that in “Barak not optimistic about international will to stop Iranian nukes.”

Of course, no situation analysis is complete without taking into account the psychological dimension. So here we have Jewicidal far-left Haaretz columnist, Akiva Eldar, writing in full panic mode beseeching Obama, a foreign head of state, “to stop the duo of Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, before it is too late.”

Then there are anecdotes I’ve received from Israel indicating that as of late the Home Front Command has been helping the general populace prepare for trouble.

Lastly, there’s this question raised by the National Review: "Why Won’t Obama Sanction Iran’s Financial Lifeblood?"

I think all visible signs indicate the Israelis aren’t waiting around for the answer. But I could be reading the signals wrong. Israel may yet decide to placate the West, avoid “destabilizing the region” and do what it’s told: put its future in the hands of the Mad Mullahs in a grand gesture of self-sacrifice.

That’s always good for a slap on the back from the U.S. president and a front page obituary in the New York Times.

Stay tuned. Say a prayer. We shall see.

For the background story, please see "The Atomic Mahdi."


Exclusive Photo: Eric Holder testifies on letting thousands of murder weapons flow to drug cartels

Soon-to-be-resigned Attorney General Eric Holder testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee today to answer a series of questions about Operation "Fast and Furious", which left hundreds dead. Here's a summary of Dr. Forthcoming's testimony:

• No one's been found at fault

• No one should resign

• Holder didn't know about it -- and anyone who says otherwise is playing political 'gotcha' games

• Holder's lies weren't really lies -- he was just off by a few months

• The DOJ's claims that it did not authorize gun-walking in February weren't lies or coverups, they were "regretful inaccuracies"

• The Justice Department's Inspector General was on the case as soon as she heard about it -- although she's been investigating since April -- more than half a year ago -- there are no results to share

Brian who?

Say, I have a question. How f***ing stupid do these people think we are?


Related:

• 10-10-2011 Eric Holder Comix
• 10-07-2011 Holder uses Politico in a furious attempt to hold fast to his job
• 10-04-2011 RED ALERT: Smoking Gun -- Holder Lied, People Died
• 09-15-2011 Deep Corruption at Justice: Eric Holder is an 'Abomination', a 'Menace' and 'Worse Than John Mitchell'


Monday, November 07, 2011

Photos: Houdini-like escape from a catastrophic auto accident

The aftermath of an unbelievable accident in China:

On Oct 26 in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, a dark grey Volvo bumped into a taxi head-on then got a truck up the rear, causing hundreds of steel rods on the truck to thrust into the Volvo’s windshield. Surprisingly the driver managed to dodge all the flying steel rods that turn his car into a porcupine.

24-year-old driver Yang was driving a Volvo downtown when he suddenly spot road block police at the front. Thinking that the car didn’t have a plate yet, Yang quickly turned the car around and moved onto the opposite lane only to meet an upcoming taxi. Volvo hit the taxi at the side and was immediately pushed away to tail a truck loaded with steel rods.

“I was panic because the car was going at over 60 km/h. But my brain is still clear, I realized that the car was crashing onto those steel rods, so I threw myself on the passenger seat.” Yang recalled. As soon as he bent down, the rods have already pierced through the car with a deafening blow... “When the car stopped, steel rods were all over my head with one only a few centimeters away from my face.” Yang was then sent to the hospital. After checkup, he was only slightly scratched.

Dude.


Saturday, November 05, 2011

Shock: Militant Quakers Kill 70 In Nigeria

Did I say Militant Quakers? I meant radical Islamists.

Residents fearfully left their homes Saturday to bury their dead in northeast Nigeria following a series of coordinated attacks that killed at least 67 people and left a new police headquarters in ruins, government offices burned and symbols of state power destroyed.

A radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks in Borno and Yobe states, with the worst damage done in and around the city of Damaturu [where] a car bomb exploded Friday afternoon outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks, killing many uniformed security agents, Bulama said.

Gunmen then went through the town, blowing up a bank and attacking at least three police stations and some churches, leaving them in rubble... Two suicide bombers detonated explosives inside vehicles in the nearby city of Maiduguri on Saturday night... Bulama said Nigerian Red Cross statistics showed at least 63 people died in and around Damaturu. Sambo said government estimates suggested as many as 70 people could be dead there.

...Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of more than 160 million which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north. Its name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, but instead of schooling, it rejects Western ideals like Nigeria's U.S.-styled democracy that followers believe have destroyed the country with corrupt politicians.

...An AP count shows the group has killed at least 327 people this year alone.

It's safe to say that CAIR is right when they say that their political system is a "religion of peace."


You could die from excitement at North Korea's Fun Fair

Four words you never expected to see strung together: "North Korean Amusement Park." Journalist Alex Hoban snapped a whole series of pics at what I like to call "Potemkin Park".

How could anyone not love the land that's home to the Mangyongdae fun fair, the world's sh***iest, most depressing quasi-theme park?

...Situated Only 12km from Pyongyang's city center, Mangyongdae is a place for thrill-seeking North Koreans to come to and unwind after a hard week of slave labor, relentless scavenging for food, KGB hide and seek, and trimming the imperial lawns with scissors. My guide for the day insisted that the park is open seven days a week and always very, very busy. Which is funny because when we got there stagnant emptiness lingered in the air like a fart in a graveyard filled with the bodies of political dissidents...

...Confused as to why we weren't immediately allowed to leave the bus, it was only after about 20 minutes and a lot of frantic arm waving from the woman at the gate that another, far sh***ier bus turned up and we realized what was going on...


...These poor schmucks—or lucky schmucks, perhaps?—were wheeled out with strict orders to constantly remain 20 steps ahead of us and look like they were having A+ fun in the otherwise deserted park, lest anyone get suspicious that we weren't in Disneyland after all. Aside from us Western interlopers, they were the only people there. Strange task, but at least they were being paid a fair and decent wage to prop up one man's delusions of dictatorial grandeur, I thought (very quietly) to myself...

...Oh look, a girl on a merry-go-round. Maybe the whole world is wrong about North Korea. Maybe it really is a prosperous, utopian First World funland...

...It's a shame that North Koreans are treated by their rulers as basically an expendable race of people. Before we were allowed on the ride, the guys in charge sent a few terrified farmers on test runs like a shipment of human flour sacks...


In North Korea, a totalitarian, socialist and fascist dictatorship, there are no limits on the government's power over the people.

And that's what is troubling here at home -- because Democrats are both unable to articulate any limits on government and they are unwilling to abide by the Constitution, a document intended to check the government's power over individuals.

Slowly, inexorably, the hard left Democrat Party is turning America into a socialist welfare state that is ripe for "fundamental transformation", in the words of our own Dear Leader.


Related: North Korean Motivational Posters.


Hat tip: Chopper Pilot.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Today's 'Paul Krugman Hoisted On His Own Petard', Self-Beclownment Edition

Is there a more hilarious propagand-conomist than Paul "The Problem with Keynesian Economics Is That We're Not Borrowing Enough" Krugman? I don't mean his looks. Ignore the elf-boy physique, concentrate on his record.

He's got enough face-plant-style failures to shame Milli Vanilli.

Today, Krugman is crying doom-and-gloom for the Euro, predicting bank runs, dogs and cats sleeping together, total fiscal apocalypse -- all thanks to the failed Eurosocialist welfare state. But it wasn't too long ago that Elf-Boy was championing the Eurozone...

• In "The Comeback Continent" (Jan. 2008), Krugman told us that the Eurozone was a bulwark of the world economy, worthy of emulation by the U.S.:

The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.

But there’s another thing: it’s important to get the facts about Europe’s economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society...

...What European countries definitely haven’t done is dismantle their strong social safety nets. Universal health care is a given. So are a variety of programs that support families in trouble, helping protect Europeans from the extreme poverty all too common in this country. All of this costs money — even though European countries spend far less on health care than we do — and European taxes are very high by U.S. standards.

In short, Europe continues to be a big-government sort of place. And that’s why it’s important to get the real story of the European economy out there.

According to the anti-government ideology that dominates much U.S. political discussion, low taxes and a weak social safety net are essential to prosperity. Try to make the lives of Americans even slightly more secure, we’re told, and the economy will shrivel up — the same way it supposedly has in Europe.

But the next time a politician tries to scare you with the European bogeyman, bear this in mind: Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of American progressives.

• In "Why Oil Isn't Gold" (May 2008), Krugman told us how useless gold is as a store of value and, in "Wingnuts, wingnuts everywhere", he openly mocked gold-bugs.

Based on my analysis, a Ouija Board would do a far better job at predicting macroeconomic events than the embarrassment known as Krugman.


Sunday, October 30, 2011

WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin in trouble for... a retweet

Somehow unable to find any hint of left-wing bias, the Washington Post ombudsman has mysteriously discovered a controversy. Of course, it involves one of the paper's few conservative op-ed columnists. Specifically, he finds fault in Jennifer Rubin's choice of... re-tweets.

...a tweet that The Post’s conservative opinion blogger, Jennifer Rubin, put out on Twitter on Oct. 18. Actually it was a retweet of a tweet from Rachel Abrams, a hard-line pro-Israel blogger who used the tweet to link to her blog post on the release by Hamas of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held for five years in captivity in Gaza.

The original blog post by Abrams (not by Rubin) was offensive to many readers in its anti-Palestinian language. The fact that a Post blogger — even an opinion blogger like Rubin not subject to the same ethical guidelines as Post news editors and reporters — retweeted it, outraged many. I didn’t like it either, and I’ll elaborate on that in my Post Roast on Monday.

The Washington Post has a legendary track-record of partisanship and left-wing spin. Some would even call it 'historic'.

The same ombudsman found nothing untoward with the paper's hit-piece on Marco Rubio's heritage, though critics from across the political spectrum pilloried the Post's coverage.

Consider the irony: Rubin appears to be in trouble for re-tweeting a link to a hard-line Israeli blogger. Meanwhile, its liberal columnists and reporters (like Bob Woodward, Steven Mufson, Leila Fadel, Mary Beth Sheridan, Karen Tumulty, food critic Tim Carman and many more) can literally say and write anything so long as they echo the left-wing, Statist talking points.


ClimateGate Redux: Co-Author of Seminal Climate Change Paper Refutes Its Conclusion: There's No Damn Warming

The scamtabulous theory of warmal colding hardest hit:

It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’.

Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually... [their] work was cited around the world as irrefutable evidence that only the most stringent measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can save civilisation as we know it...

...But today ... a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped.

Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis... Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers.

...She said this affair had to be compared to the notorious ‘Climategate’ scandal two years ago...

...In fact, Prof Curry said, the project’s research data show there has been no increase in world temperatures since the end of the Nineties – a fact confirmed by a new analysis that The Mail on Sunday has obtained...

...a report to be published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation ... drawn from the BEST project’s data and revealed on its website ... shows that the trend of the last decade is absolutely flat, with no increase at all – though the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have carried on rising relentlessly...

...In fact, she added, in the wake of the unexpected global warming standstill, many climate scientists who had previously rejected sceptics’ arguments were now taking them much more seriously... They were finally addressing questions such as the influence of clouds, natural temperature cycles and solar radiation – as they should have done, she said, a long time ago.

Rumor has it that Dr. James Hansen, the infamous, taxpayer-funded climate kook, is on suicide watch.


Salacious background details: Inside the U.N.'s Global Warming Scam. Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Sheriff Paul Babeu interviewed on Operation Fast and Furious: U.S. officials are "accessories to murder"; Jonathan Alter hardest hit

This morning the Arizona Daily Star published an exclusive interview with Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County. Babeu's department has been on the front lines of the carnage wrought by open borders, the civil war raging in Mexico and the ATF's bizarre "Gunwalker" program that sent military-style weapons to the drug cartels.

Q: When you says that those officials who carried out Fast & Furious should be considered accomplices or accessories to murder, are you serious, or is that a rhetorical point, that they could be charged? If serious, who in the ATF/DOJ chain of command should be investigated as possible accomplices or accessories to murder and other crimes? The line agents? Their supervisors? The U.S. Attorney's Office or Justice Department officials involved?

A: The American people deserve a thorough, impartial, and independent review of what happened here. Nothing short of that will ever be acceptable. The Justice Department has a serious conflict of interest in policing itself... This is why the Sheriffs of Arizona both Republicans and Democrats are demanding a Special Counsel to investigate Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice for their roles in Operation Fast and Furious...

...those responsible should be held criminally accountable for allowing 2,000 guns including assault weapons and 50 caliber rifles to be purchased on U.S. Soil and then turned over to the drug cartels of Mexico. As a result of their reckless facilitation and distribution of these weapons, our deputies and American citizens may now face the barrel of a gun that was placed in the hands of criminals by [ATF] and Attorney General Eric Holder. Citizens of the United States and Mexico have already been murdered by cartel members who now posses these weapons. There is no doubt more bloodshed will occur on both sides of the border, since over 1,500 weapons still remain unaccounted for...

Q: You have said repeatedly that you think Operation Fast and Furious was designed to lead to gun-control measures. What evidence of this have you seen? How can I find it?

A: This administration has repeatedly stated in the media that “90% of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.” They have used this argument in their support of tougher gun control measures. If you google search the quoted information, you will see numerous stories about it. Here is one such story link regarding the quote.

At the same time they are stating this, our own Federal government was using taxpayer money from the stimulus to purchase automatic weapons and sell them directly to the most dangerous criminals in North America... The firearm dealers in these cases flagged the purchases and reported them to the Federal government, who then ordered them to make the sale anyway.

Q: You have repeatedly said Operation Fast and Furious is worse than Watergate. In what ways are Fast and Furious and Watergate similar?

A: If you knew that a foreign power had caused over 2,000 guns to arrive in the hands of America's most dangerous criminals, what would you say? What if those weapons had been used to commit more than 200 murders?

Now consider that the Federal government did just that--and to an ally. Nobody died because of Watergate and no treaties were violated. People on both sides of the border will be dealing with the deadly fallout for years to come. But before this is over, we'll know exactly what Barack Obama knew--and when he knew it.

...Fast and Furious quickly proved to be a catastrophe, but the public didn't learn about it until Agent Brian Terry was murdered on American soil. Since then, whistleblowers have been punished, those responsible have been promoted, scapegoats have been offered, and inconsistent testimony provided to Congress. This is a textbook attempt at obstruction by the Federal government.

The family of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry reached out to me after his murder. I have promised them, that I will continue to demand justice...

...On September 20th, 2011 the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, reported to media that the Attorney General in Mexico has said at least 200 murders south of the border happened as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. Eleven crimes in the United States have been linked to [it] up to this point.

...Project Gunrunner received "directly allocated" stimulus funds. It is our understanding that Operation Fast and Furious was tucked under Project Gunrunner, essentially using the same funding...

Issa has also done several interviews where he has stated, “U.S. dollars were used in at least some part to buy weapons.” Below is a link to a Fox News Story on the topic as well. As you will read, ATF Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy weapons and later sell them to known illegal buyers.

Please don't concern yourself with the hundreds of murders and the 1,500 weapons that remain unaccounted for; this is not a scandal according to America's finest journalist, Jonathan Alter.


Friday, October 28, 2011

Remembering al-Awlaki

The invaluable Jawa Report solicited remembrances of the late terrorists Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Kahn who each passed away from a massive overdose of lead poisoning. Two of the best:


Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of scumbags.


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rep. Joe Walsh becomes fourth Congressman to demand Eric Holder resign over 'Fast and Furious' Murder Weapons

David Axelrod hardest hit.

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) today became the fourth Congressman to explicitly call for Holder to take responsibility for the lethally reckless Operation Fast and Furious and to voluntarily leave his post because of his presumed authorization of the program...

...Walsh today sent a harshly-worded letter to Holder, in which he asked Holder to “resign immediately and issue an apology to the American people [he has] failed to serve.” Walsh also took Holder to task for his stonewalling of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Fast and Furious.

But the most memorable portion of the letter came ... when Walsh delved into the seemingly-obvious-but-not-yet-confirmed motivation for the program.

Your Department ... instructed federally-licensed firearms dealers to illegally sell at least 2,000 guns that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intended to be trafficked to drug cartels in Mexico. The results of this [operation] have implicated the United States in well over one hundred deadly crimes and the deaths of two federal agents.

This not only raises serious questions about your ability to serve as the head of the Justice Department, but also begs the question of why an anti-gun Administration would knowingly force licensed firearms dealers to sell guns to violent criminals. I raise this because Operation Fast and Furious — if the facts of this case had not come to light — would have been used by this Administration as another false argument to attack law-abiding American gun owners.

The American people deserve to know if your Department had any intent to link the legal purchase of firearms here in the U.S. to crimes committed near our southern border. Operation Fast and Furious funneled firearms legally purchased at gun shops in the U.S. to known criminal syndicates to prove these syndicates have access to legal purchased weapons. This is a deliberate attempt to vilify and attack the millions of gun owners in America who value our Second Amendment and have never broken the law.


Walsh’s posited explanation appears to be the only plausible one. Why else would the administration authorize the program — then fail to follow up to catch the criminals the program was purportedly designed to catch? Had ATF made any kind of legitimate attempt to track the weapons ... it might have been believable that the administration sought to use the program to disrupt the power of Mexican drug cartels.

Yet, Walsh’s explanation is not a fun one to believe. It’s sickening to think anyone in the administration would really be so rash and so ideologically driven as to risk the nearly inevitable results of this program — the deaths that did, in fact, result — just to prove the point that legally purchased weapons show up at violent crime scenes, just to suggest the government ought to make it harder to legally purchase guns in the first place. It’s even more terrifying to think someone as high up as Holder would be.

The Fail is strong with this one.

As is the stench of corruption, death and destruction.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Welcome to the New Middle East, or What I Like to Call "The Obama Caliphate"

Perhaps some Democrat foreign policy expert -- if there is such a thing -- can explain "The Obama Doctrine" to me. Let's review, shall we?

Tunisia - democratic elections in this once-peaceful Mediterranean state have installed an Islamist party. Curiously, the aptly named State Department blog ("DipNote") congratulated the country's new extremist overlords.

Libya - a NATO-supported rebel force helped defeat the terrorist dictator Muammar Gaddafi, but also left the country in control of one Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who has declared his government's "fealty to Shariah, Islam's brutally repressive, totalitarian political-military-legal doctrine."

Egypt - once the peaceful ally of both Israel and the United States, the overthrow of President Mubarak was quickly and publicly supported by President Obama. In Mubarak's place, a hard-core Islamist leadership has arisen under the direction of the feared Muslim Brotherhood. The country's downtrodden Coptic Christian community is also being systematically eliminated, the hallmark of religous governments in majority Islamic countries.

Syria - a similar anti-government rebellion in Syria was curiously ignored by the administration, leading to the slaughter of at least 3,000 civilians by Iran's puppet dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Iran - Likewise, a liberal, democratic revolt in Iran against the country's extremist leaders -- the so-called "Green Revolution" -- was brutally repressed with nary a word from President Obama. The country's thinly veiled pursuit of nuclear warheads therefore continues apace.

Iraq - is slated for abandonment by the end of the year to the tender mercies of Iran's Mullahs (coincidentally, just in time for the 2012 campaign)

Israel - our most steadfast ally in the entire world was told in no uncertain terms by President Obama to unilaterally withdraw to its 1967 borders, otherwise known as the "Holocaust lines".

We are witnessing something historic. But not-in-a-good-way historic. The die has been cast for a new and even more hyper-violent Middle East.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Bulletin: French President Sarkozy Finds Gaddafi's Will -- Says It Pledged His Entire $200 Billion Fortune to "Save the EU"

Okay, I made that up. The European Union is toast and the only question is when the dominoes fall. If the bond markets are any indication, it won't be long.

I have summarized the fundamentals in this one graphic: the European dominoes of debt. Simply put, there is no way the EU authorities can stop the first domino--Greek default or equivalent writedown of its impossible debt load--from toppling the over-leveraged banks which will be rendered insolvent when forced to recognize their losses...

...That leaves each nation with the politically unsavory option of bailing out its premier banks with taxpayer money, and squeezing the money out of its citizenry via higher taxes and austerity. That assumption of bank debt will in turn trigger downgrades of heavily indebted sovereign nations such as France, moves that will raise rates and make the bailout even more costly to taxpayers, who will also be suffering from reductions of income due to global recession.

Once the banks and bondholders accept a 50%-75% writedown in Greek debt, then the other debtor nations will be justified in demanding the same writedown in their crushing debts. This dynamic leads to estimates that 3 trillion euros will be needed to bail all the players out. Alternatively, total losses will equal 3 trillion euros, wiping out banks and bondholders of sovereign debt.

The German economy is simply not big enough to fund a 3 trillion-euro bailout... ...It has recently come to light that in the worst-case scenario (i.e. reality), "solving" Greece's debt crisis would absorb the entire EFSF Rescue Fund's 400 billion euros. By all accounts, every estimate of Greek tax revenue is overstated, and every estimate of its expenses understated; Greek GDP is collapsing. In all probability, the reality is worse than anyone is willing to confess...

I have an ominous feeling in the pit of my stomach that the European debt debacle will make Lehman's failure look like a frolic in the park.


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Gaddafi stashed as much as $200 billion outside Libya. Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan hardest hit.

Aren't despotic tyrants awesome?

Moammar Kadafi secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed, about $30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western governments previously had suspected, according to senior Libyan officials.

The new estimates of the deposed dictator's hidden cash, gold reserves and investments are "staggering," one person who has studied detailed records of the asset search said Friday. "No one truly appreciated the scope of it."

If the values prove accurate, Kadafi will go down in history as one of the most rapacious as well as one of the most bizarre world leaders, on a scale with the late Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire or the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

Kadafi's death after he was captured Thursday outside his birthplace, the coastal town of Surt, not only all but ended the armed uprising that erupted in February. Revelation of the stunning size of the portfolio may stir anger among Libya's 6.5 million people — about one-third of whom live in poverty.

You can't help but think that President Obama's "spiritual mentor", Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr., is privately mourning Gaddafi's death.

After all, Wright and his spiritual mentor -- Louis Farrakhan -- visited Gaddafi in 1984.


Occupy Wall Street's latest popcorn-passing hilarity: protesters occupy Obama crony Jeff Immelt's front lawn

I can just see General Electric's CEO now, screeching from his porch: "Don't you know who I am???"

Occupy Wall Street protesters took a field trip from Zuccotti Park on Saturday morning, all the way to the wealthy suburban enclave of New Canaan, Conn., where they took their anger at income and tax disparity to GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s front lawn.

“In the land of the free they tax me but not G.E.!” read the invitation to protesters to take an hour bus ride to Immelt’s family home. “General Electric made billions last year; they paid no taxes, outsourced thousands of jobs, and got over $3 billion in tax refunds! Join us on a free bus trip to G.E’s CEO’s front lawn to see how our friends in the 1% live.”

...A crowd of about 100 protesters, both from New York and local offshoot Occupy New Haven, spent the afternoon standing outside Immelt’s 6-bedroom, 10-bathroom, $5.25 million home. Photos from local news site New Canaan Patch show a police officer guarding Immelt’s gates while protesters hold placards reading “Mr. Immelt, Meet the 99%” and “Jobs Not Bailouts”...

GE's CEO is one of President Obama's biggest supporters and the current poster-child for crony capitalism. From Chevy Volts, to Obamacare, to selling critical aircraft technologies to Red China, Immelt's been at the heart of it all.

Oh. And Immelt "actually came out in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement last week at a Thomson Reuters event in New York."

I love the smell of blue-on-blue napalm in the morning (or evening, in this case).


Friday, October 21, 2011

Thanks, Janet and Eric: Mexican Cartels Recruiting Texas Children as "Expendable" Drug Runners

This story will literally make you sick.

Texas law enforcement officials say several Mexican drug cartels are luring youngsters as young as 11 to work in their smuggling operations.

Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told Reuters the drug gangs have a chilling name for the young Texans lured into their operations.

"They call them 'the expendables,'" he said.

McCraw said his investigators have evidence six Mexican drug gangs -- including the violent Zetas -- have "command and control centers" in Texas actively recruiting children for their operations, attracting them with what appears to be "easy money" for doing simple tasks... "Cartels would pay kids $50 just for them to move a vehicle from one position to another position, which allows the cartel to keep it under surveillance to see if law enforcement has it under surveillance," he said.

"Of course, once you're hooked up with them, there's consequences."

...This month, "we made an arrest of a 12-year-old boy who was in a stolen pickup truck with 800 pounds of marijuana," he said. "So they do recruit our kids."

...Law enforcement officers say children are less likely to be suspects than adults, are easily manipulated by relatively small sums of money, and face less severe penalties than adults if arrested.

...Last month, Texas officials released a report indicating Mexico-based drug gangs are intent on creating a "sanitary zone" on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, and are "intimidating landowners" in south Texas into allowing them to use their property as "permanent bases" for drug smuggling activity.

Say, I've got an idea: let's keep our border with Mexico wide open to allow the drug cartels free rein.

What's that? You say Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama have already been doing that? Roger that.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Germany and the End of the Euro

A commenter ("AbelCatalyst") on ZeroHedge offers the following theory concerning Germany and the Euro:

The following “Black Swan” theory is quite plausible, yet, very few have really discussed it because it feels too “out there,” which makes it the perfect Black Swan event.

The Black Swan Theory: Germany is about to go back to the Mark and there are overwhelmingly compelling reasons for Germany to do so:

1. Germany has a ton of debt, close to 80% of GDP, which they can inflate away without experiencing the chaos of hyperinflation

As in the US and most developed countries, the only way the debt is going away is either by default or inflation. Germany has a very unique opportunity as they can inflate away their debt and not experience the consequences of hyperinflation. Think about this for a moment. If Germany drops out of the Euro, then that currency goes into a death spiral while the Mark increases in value. All of their debt is in Euros so they can say bye-bye to their mountain of debt almost immediately. This is a unique opportunity for Germany at a very critical moment in time. It may not be wise to underestimate the power of self preservation. This is why German continues to appear to play nice, but is doing absolutely nothing (see German Endgame below).

2. Germany is deathly afraid of hyperinflation, but knows it needs inflation to wipe out it’s debt

As with almost every other developed country, inflation is needed, but the consequences are severe and civil unrest would surly follow. Most countries are between a rock and a hard place – no painless solution exists. However, Germany has the perfect solution looking them in the face. They can experience all the benefits of hyperinflation, while pushing the pain onto their neighbors. Again, this is a situation that is unique only to Germany because they are singlehandedly holding up the Euro while having all their debt in Euros. The pull to go back to the Mark must feel incredibly tempting, and I’m not sure they can resist.

3. Germany MUST keep their AAA rating

If Germany stays with the Euro they will lose their AAA rating, and their current debt will become totally unmanageable (just like every other developed nation). The difference is Germany has the unique opportunity to print Marks and inflate their debt away with virtually no negative consequences.

4. The benefit of being in the Euro is quickly coming to a close

Germany has been the number one beneficiary of the Euro as they let PIIGS nations borrow at low rates to buy their exports. While Germany’s exports and economy has done well, the catalyst for growth has been debt. This is the same for all developed, debtor nations; however, Germany has a very unique exit strategy. As it relates to this theory, many of the benefits to being in the Euro is quickly diminishing, which makes Germany’s exit from the Euro far more compelling at the present time.

The Endgame for Germany

The Endgame is easy for Germany. The Euro needs to fall apart before they can make their move so they’re just sitting back and waiting patiently for the opportunity. If Greece goes bankrupt and the dominoes begin to fall, watch for Germany to go back to the Mark.

The strategy is obvious: Germany simply appears to be supporting the Euro as aggressively as possible without taking any actual action. Does this sound familiar? Float roomers, suck up to the French, agree to bailouts as long as there is a long list of strings, have their high court subtly undermine Germany’s participation in bailouts, and sit back and wait for the collapse. It’s important to understand that it is in Germany’s best interest for the Euro to fall apart because they will end up with the strongest currency with virtually no debt.

I’m not sure why people have not seen this, but it seems fairly obvious. Each country will ultimately act in their own best interest when the SHTF and this will be the best option for Germany – is there any doubt? What country in such a unique situation would not do the same? Do you think the US would do this if presented with the opportunity? You bet they would!

If you look at all the evidence through the lens of this Black Swan Theory, then all the recent actions (or lack thereof) begin to make perfect sense! And as a final note, a recent very credible source said that Germany is already in the process of printing Marks!

When it comes to the tangled spaghetti-wiring that is the Eurozone, the concept of an "orderly default" strikes me as an oxymoron.