Monday, July 27, 2009

Bill Gates quits Facebook over 'too many friends'

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he was forced to give up on the social networking phenomenon Facebook after too many people wanted to be his friend.

Gates, the billionaire computer geek-turned-philanthropist who was honoured Saturday by India for his charity work, told an audience in New Delhi he had tried out Facebook but ended up with "10,000 people wanting to be my friends".

Gates, who remains Microsoft chairman, said he had trouble figuring out whether he "knew this person, did I not know this person".

"It was just way too much trouble so I gave it up," Gates told the business forum.

Gates was in the Indian capital to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, awarded by the government for his work for the charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation, built by his massive fortune, has committed nearly one billion dollars to health and development projects in India, targeting especially AIDS and polio.

Gates also confided to the audience that he was "not that big at text messaging" and that "I'm not a 24-hour-a-day tech person".

"I read a lot and some of that reading is not on a computer," he said.

Gates, who sought to drive a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home, said the information technology revolution had been "hugely beneficial" but added: "All these tools of tech waste our time if we're not careful."

Firearms Training





"You play the way you practice" was a favorite saying of my high school football coach back in the day. This statement is just as relevant to firearms training as it ever was to football. A large number of people, both those who are new to firearms self-defense and those who have been shooting for years, consider practicing at bull’s-eye targets adequate for self-defense. Such training will only be adequate in the unlikely event an individual is attacked by a target with rings and numbers. Mental and realistic training is paramount when it comes to defending your life.

The majority of what passes for firearms training today centers around approval for concealed carry (CCW) permits. I find it hard to believe that those who hate and fear the state are willing to submit themselves to the authority of the state when it comes to their right to defend themselves. CCWs exist as revenue producing programs for the state and those it sanctions as trainers. It also provides the state with a database of what they consider to be "domestic terrorists" and/or their greatest threat. To beg and pay the state for permission to do that which one already has the right to do is beyond the pale.

The very idea that only those sanctioned by the state have the right to defend themselves should be repugnant to all who claim to cherish freedom.

Firearms instructors teach from theoretical or practical experience. The vast majority of instructors have never been in a situation where they were forced to defend their lives or the lives of others with deadly force. They teach theory, that which they have read or studied. The advantage of being taught by an instructor with practical experience is obvious. Would you rather your pilot have actual flight experience or someone who has only read a manual on flying? Staying the night at Holiday Inn Express does not work in this situation either.

Firearms instructors who actively support politicians who do not support the Second Amendment are not worthy of your time or your money. Many of the "premiere" firearms trainers continue to politically support the "lesser of two evils," while proclaiming true 2A supporters such as Ron Paul to be unelectable. These people are simply shills for the state.

Firearms instructors who profess undying allegiance to the right to defend oneself from personal attack and tyrannical government who support a candidate such as Bush or Condoleezza Rice is analogous to a man professing his wife to be faithful because she is only sleeping with three other men!

Very few are the firearms instructors today who teach comprehensive self-defense, mental preparation, threat assessment, engaging multiple threats, situational awareness, firing while injured and instinctive shooting from actual experience.

One recent trainee, a beautiful lady from South Florida, told me her total rounds fired when qualifying for her CCW was seven; and they call that training. She readily admitted she was keeping her firearms under lock and key in a closet because she felt unprepared to use them, even though the state, with the issuance of a CCW, had judged her qualified to do so. The state and its vetted instructor had their money and could care less whether the lady was properly trained to defend herself in a life-threatening situation.

Preparing to defend yourself or your loved ones with a firearm should be given the most serious consideration. If you would not trust your money to Paul Krugman; your religious beliefs to Pat Robertson; your foreign policy to Dick Cheney; the future of this nation to Obama or the right to defend yourself to Charles Schumer, why would you trust your self-defense training to someone who teaches based on theory and supports the lesser of two evils when it comes to politicians?

by Michael Gaddy
by Michael Gaddy
Recently by Michael Gaddy: Why I Own Guns?


Saving the Bankers With a Make-Believe War

July 26, 2009 ""Information Clearing House" -- Pakistanis and Americans have a common problem, which is also shared by every other country on the planet–corruption in high places. The world is made to fret over the impending loss of the entire capitalist system by the overlords of the Western media, even though, the only loss for the common man will be the chains that bind him. We are all supposed to be grieving deeply for the collapse of the money system which has made so many people rich, people whom the media tells us we all want to be just like.

The media, no matter how hard it keeps from telling the truth and how much it twists and deforms the facts to fit the official spin set by Washington, cannot snuff-out all the tiny lights of awareness that are springing-up all over the world. Washington and Islamabad have both tightly controlled their national media, never allowing the cutting truth, or trouble-making bearers of explosive truth the print space or air time in the “legitimate press.” No one is allowed to rock the looters’ boats as they struggle to transfer their ill-gotten treasures to shore before they too lose everything in the coming collapse.

The Western media leads popular opinion to sympathize with the struggling corporate raiders, in order to help orchestrate the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. The media portrays the “war of terror” as a great struggle to save civilization, even though true “civilization” (the liberation of every soul through universal human rights) has not yet evolved. The media’s one purpose it to try to encourage the “free world” to sacrifice its children in a senseless struggle to preserve the destructive forces that have made the destruction of the old order inevitable.

Emergency measures, both economic and military, have been forced upon us, to carry on a war that is destroying both freedom and democracy, while maintaining the fiction that the war defends both. The media whips popular opinion into a frenzy to build patriotic blood-lust within the mob and the desire to kill millions of strangers for crimes that our leaders swear they fully intend to commit. The Western media and the Pakistani media, like the governments which they serve, are pushing the people to a fatal war, seeking to outrun the rising mob that wants the leaders’ heads.

We have glimpsed the truth about our leaders, and our knowledge is frightening them to death. The “good old boy” network that dominates in every country (and cumulatively controls the world) lives on borrowed time, as the power of the people is a building tsunami of change which is barreling down upon them. This is a secret that, for them, must remain hidden from the silent majority. The people are breathing down their necks and they are running scared, head-on into a great wall of their own making.

Pakistan is the great wall. The empire’s dreams, as always, are about to be shattered in Waziristan. It is not that the Army is about to suddenly develop a collective spine and stand-up for the Pakistani people against the American aggression; it is that the people themselves, who are fed-up with the games and lies and are ready to hold the Army responsible for all military attacks in the tribal regions. No matter how much they might complain about American airstrikes in Pakistan, it is all for show. The American attacks are driving Pakistan’s war choices, contrary to the will of the Pakistani people. The Army will eventually fight on America’s terms, if they want to have a seat at America’s “victory” banquet, after seizing everyone’s everything. They have all grown quite wealthy at your expense.

Smiling demonic faces sold us all a bill of goods, as we were drawn into a make-believe battle to “save civilization” from the savages, never bothering to describe the mission, or tell us how they would accomplish it, and at what cost. No one told you that Pakistan’s choice had been made for it, to destroy Pakistan, in order to save it, just like in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Every aspect of this new war has two dimensions—the official media version of events and the buried truth. If the government or the media ever merges the two conflicting dimensions and the paradox is revealed, then the war effort will collapse, as the criminal conspirators will have their cover blown. Somewhere, just below the surface, most people suspect that the truth about the war remains hidden from us. It is the responsibility of the true research journalists to confirm people’s suspicions about the war and the empire, by revealing the hidden truths.

As long as the American and Pakistani people are willing to play-along and pretend that a bunch of “stirred-up Muslims” are capable of destroying the world, or even just one important country, like Pakistan, then the game can go on and the empire builders can continue to lay their foundations for a world united in permanent limited war. The empire of the smiling faces must be brought to an end, by exposing the hollow rhetoric that drives this war.

It is not civilization itself that is in danger of collapsing; it is the parasitic system of international financing, which feeds-off both the civilized world and the developing world, which is in danger of destruction, a danger that the smiling face parasites created by their own greed. We have been tricked into entering into a full-blown world war to save the bankers and the network of cronyism that gives them their ultimate power.

The bankers’ system is not endangered by wild “Islamists” in any way; it is enriched by the expanding resource wars made possible by their destabilizing actions. It is not enough that the bankers and their minions have raped trillions out of the pockets of the American taxpayers, now they must also have the trillions, or quadrillions of energy bucks represented by the vast resources of south-central Asia, Africa and S. America.

America is not in any danger that its leaders have not created themselves, just as Pakistan is not in any danger other than that manufactured by its own military government, while serving America’s will. The only real danger we face is from our own dangerous leaders, just as the only real danger faced by our elitist leaders is that which emanates from the people becoming aware of their plans and beginning to offer stiff resistance to the idea of shipping their sons and daughters away to be abused by the military and then sent-off to kill or die in the latest resource wars.

The funny thing about resources, is that they will always be available to those who want them. Obtaining these resources only requires money, a lot less than that which is currently being spent by our government in its attempt to take the natural resources from others. We are not waging war in the gas and oil regions of the world for the right to purchase their products (we can already do that); we are fighting to own that which is not ours.

Stop your sons and daughters from serving in this bankers’ war. Convince them to serve their own countries, not the evil smiling parasites that have taken over all countries and brought the world to ruin.

It’s time for the world revolution.

By Peter Chamberlin

Dennis Prager & Christopher Hitchens debate Religion

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馬英九復電胡錦濤 兩岸領導人首次通訊交流

(中央社台北27日路透電)中共中央總書記胡錦濤今天向台灣總統馬英九發出賀電,祝賀馬英九當選國民黨黨主席。這是自從1949年內戰結束以來,海峽兩岸領導人首次直接通訊交流。

  胡錦濤在73字中文賀電中表示:「由衷期望貴我兩黨繼續推動兩岸關係和平發展,進一步深化政治互信,不斷為兩岸同胞謀福祉,開創中華民族的偉大復興。」

  馬英九隨後回覆胡錦濤,重申胡錦濤的構思,並建議雙方「擱置爭議」。

  台灣淡江大學國際事務暨戰略研究所教授林中斌分析,胡錦濤電報內容顯示,中國領導人方面終於有對談意願。

  林中斌表示,兩岸領導人會晤,「對胡錦濤有利,這將成為一項個人功績。胡錦濤將在2012年退休,他未來也許能獲得和平獎。」

  在馬英九當選消息和胡錦濤賀電助長下,台北股市今天上漲0.79%,是過去11個月以來首度站上7000點大關。(譯者:中央社蔡和穎)

In 2 West Bank Settlements, Sign of Hope for a Deal

MODIIN ILLIT, West Bank — Seen from afar, this fast-growing settlement embodies everything that the Obama administration wants to address through its demand for a freeze on settlement building: it sits on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and, with 45,000 residents and 60 births a week, it is the largest and fastest-growing Jewish community in the West Bank.

If, as is widely believed abroad, “natural growth” by Israeli settlers is blocking the creation of a viable Palestinian state, this community should show why.

But appearances are deceiving. Modiin Illit and its sister community, Beitar Illit, are entirely ultra-Orthodox, a world apart, one of strict religious observance and study. They offer surprising potential for compromise.

Unlike settlers who believe they are continuing the historic Zionist mission of reclaiming the Jewish homeland, most ultra-Orthodox do not consider themselves settlers or Zionists and express no commitment to being in the West Bank, so their growth in these settlement towns, situated just inside the pre-1967 boundary, could be redirected westward to within Israel.

Their location also means it may be possible, in negotiations about a future Palestinian state, to redraw the boundary so the settlements are inside Israel, with little land lost to the Palestinians. And the two towns alone account for half of all settler growth, so if removed from the equation, the larger settler challenge takes on more manageable proportions.

“If I thought this was a settlement, I would never have come here,” said Yaakov Guterman, 40, the mayor of Modiin Illit and a grandfather of three, his Orthodox fringes hanging from his belt, his side locks curled behind his ears. Asked about the prospect of a Palestinian state rising one day on his town line, he said: “We will go along with what the world wants. We have gone through the Holocaust and know what it means to have the world against us. The Torah says a man needs to know his place.”

Whether or not Mr. Guterman will be as pliant as he says, Middle East peace negotiators on all sides — Israeli, Palestinian and American — have long viewed small border adjustments and land swaps as key to a deal that would include a solution to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who have settled in the West Bank over the past four decades.

This week, three senior American officials will be in Jerusalem for talks that will include settlements: the Middle East envoy, George J. Mitchell; the White House Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross; and the national security adviser, Gen. James Jones. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates will also be in talks in Jerusalem.

Break With Settler Movement

The ultra-Orthodox inhabitants often express contempt for the settler movement, with its vows never to move. The people here, who shun most aspects of modernity, came for three reasons: they needed affordable housing no longer available in and around Jerusalem or Tel Aviv; they were rejected by other Israeli cities as too cult-like; and officials wanted their presence to broaden Israel’s narrow border.

Yet they are lumped with everyone else. The settler movement and the Israeli government point to ultra-Orthodox settlements, with their large and ever-increasing families, to argue that there is no way to stop “natural growth” without imposing acute human suffering. Those seeking a freeze use the settlements as evidence that growth is so out of control that drastic action must be taken. More broadly, opponents say the settlements violate international law, legitimize force by armed messianic Jews and ruin the chance of establishing a viable Palestinian state.

But even those who strongly favor a complete freeze acknowledge that the annual settler growth rates of 5 and 6 percent owe a great deal to these two towns that have little to do with the broader settler enterprise.

Dror Etkes of Yesh Din, an antisettlement group in Israel, noted that half of all construction in West Bank settlements was taking place in these two ultra-Orthodox communities, adding that given their location next to the boundary, it was highly likely they would be in Israel in a future deal through a redrawn border. “From a purely geographic point of view, construction there is not as destructive as elsewhere,” he said.

But he does not want building to continue in Modiin Illit or Beitar Illit without a deal for a Palestinian state, nor does he mean to imply that these settlements have been a benign force. “Land has been taken from Palestinians, in some cases from private landowners, for the building in these settlements, and there are many other issues like sewage flow into Palestinian villages that must be addressed,” Mr. Etkes said.

Settler leaders reject any distinction. The fact that the ultra-Orthodox came to the West Bank to solve their housing problems is “completely O.K. with me,” said Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council, the settlers’ political umbrella group. “They are an integral part of our endeavor and our achievement.”

The Palestinian View

But even in Bilin, the Palestinian village that abuts Modiin Illit and has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, the settlers over the fence are viewed as different from the Jewish nationalists in, say, Hebron.

Abedallah Abu Rahma, a teacher from a farming family and a leading activist in the village, pointed toward the settler high-rise buildings visible across the valley from his living room window and said: “They tell us, ‘We are poor, the apartments here are cheaper and we did not know it was a settlement.’ Many told us, ‘Give us our money back and we will leave.’ ”

The Palestinians, who hold weekly demonstrations against the barrier, have even joined forces with some of the settlers. Two years ago, Bilin won a major Supreme Court case that forced a change in the route of the barrier, and some of the documents the victorious villagers used, Mr. Abu Rahma said, had been secretly passed to them by ultra-Orthodox settlers feuding with their own municipal leaders.

Still, none of that lessens the harm to the villagers caused by the very existence of Modiin Illit and the contest over its land. Mr. Abu Rahma said he would respect any agreement reached between the Palestinian leadership and Israel, including one that had Modiin Illit standing in Israel. But noting the village’s reliance on agriculture, its own housing needs and the settlement’s encroachment on Bilin’s territory, he insisted, “We need our land.”

Moreover, protecting the settlements from attack has meant construction of numerous barriers, checkpoints and bypass roads that impair economic development and disrupt daily life.

Across the West Bank and excluding East Jerusalem, there are nearly 300,000 settlers living on scores of settlements among 2.3 million Palestinians. And while some say they will fight to stay put, a third are the reluctant ultra-Orthodox, known in Israel as Haredim, Hebrew for the fearful ones, or those who tremble in awe of God.

They believe it important to live in the land of Israel, because certain commandments can be performed only here. But some Haredim actively reject the formation of a Jewish state before the arrival of the Messiah, while others are ambivalent. They also say that protecting life trumps holding territory. Very few serve in the military because the ultra-Orthodox say they do more good for the nation by studying the Torah and praying than fighting.

Until his death in 2001, Rabbi Eliezer Schach was the religious authority of the Haredim of European origin. He opposed building Jewish settlements that extended over the 1967 line into territory Israel seized in the war, once calling them “a blatant attempt to provoke the international community” and complaining that they endangered Jewish lives. In fact, when first offered housing for his followers in Beitar Illit, he took it as an insult, according to Yitzchak Pindrus, a former mayor of the settlement.

“Our people live around their families and rabbis, and they were terrified of the idea,” Mr. Pindrus recalled. But with thousands of new couples marrying every year, and the traditional ultra-Orthodox communities expensive and crowded, the Haredim needed homes.

Because few ultra-Orthodox men work, because on average their families have eight children and because they do not integrate easily into the larger community, Teddy Kollek, who was mayor of Jerusalem in the late 1980s, wanted to keep down their numbers. Other cities rejected them. Yitzhak Rabin, as both defense minister and then prime minister, championed the creation of large settlements around Jerusalem to fortify Israel’s hold on the capital, in line with his Labor Party’s strategic plan, so he and the Haredim struck a deal for Beitar Illit in the early 1990s.

For those wanting to remain closer to longstanding Haredi communities in the center of the country, Modiin Illit was an alternative. Private Israeli developers bought tracts of Palestinian land as its base, although the legitimacy of those sales has been challenged. Mr. Guterman, the mayor, said Mr. Rabin “gave his blessing to the city,” telling Rabbi Schach’s disciples that its strategic location on the first rise above Israel’s international airport guaranteed that it would not be given back.

There are smaller pockets of Haredi settlement deeper in the West Bank, where the arm’s-length attitude toward Zionist settlement has shifted toward a more distinctly right-wing ideology. Zvi Kastelanitz, of the Immanuel settlement, who produces silver-inlaid Jewish handicrafts, for example, said he had no objection to two states for two peoples, “but not here.” Still, the Haredi settlers even there remain distinct. After Palestinians ambushed two buses on the road to Immanuel, southwest of Nablus, in 2001 and 2002, killing a total of 20 people, the Haredi settlers did not react like their nationalist counterparts, defiantly setting up another settlement outpost. Instead, about a third of Immanuel’s 4,000 residents left.

Shunning Secular World

The Haredi world is all about being together and apart from secular temptations, an intricate patchwork of groups with allegiances to different rabbinic dynasties and courts. In the new cities, Haredi rules apply. At the entrance to Beitar Illit, a sign warns visitors to dress modestly. The streets are all named for rabbis and sages from Poland to Yemen. There is Internet access, officially intended for professional use only. Televisions are allowed, but nobody admits to having one. And there is poverty: about 40 percent of wives support their large families because their husbands do not work. There are few cars, lots of buses and baby strollers.

Dov Fromowitz, a father of nine who moved to Beitar Illit from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn 12 years ago, runs a central charity fund that collects money from better-off residents and distributes it to the poor, while connecting them with other social welfare services outside the settlement. He says he has 1,200 needy families on his books.

Without most Israelis noticing, Modiin Illit and Beitar Illit have turned into the Haredi towns of the future, cleaner and saner versions of their often decrepit and densely packed neighborhoods elsewhere. They contain open space, even some greenery, and apartments with lots of bedrooms. Their young are shielded from secular Israel, and secular Israelis never see them, thereby reducing the tensions found in Jerusalem over driving on the Sabbath and sexy advertising at bus stops.

The Question of Coexistence

Even if the ultra-Orthodox appear to be less ideologically committed to the West Bank, the longer they live here, the more invested some have become.

In Modiin Illit, Mayor Guterman has ambitions to build what he calls “the largest Haredi residential community in Israel.” Over the past three years, he has set up a business center that he considers the wave of the future. Now 1,000 women, mostly mothers in their 20s, sit at work stations providing phone services to Israeli credit card clients and paralegal research for real estate businesses in the United States. It is outsourcing that seeks to take advantage of the educational level and work ethic of Haredi women.

The question of coexistence with Palestinians hovers, however. In Beitar Illit, farmers from the village of Husan enter daily in cars and on donkeys to work their lands in the valleys among the settlements’ built-up hills. The new mayor, Meir Rubinstein, is proud of the city’s cooperation with local Palestinians, whom he calls “the neighbors.”

“We very much want there to be peace here,” he said. “We pray for it three times a day.” But the question of peace at what price remains.

Avraham and Riva Guttman, who arrived in Beitar Illit 15 years ago from Toronto and have seven children, look out from their street at Palestinian villages. They believe strongly in living in the land of Israel, they say, and they are happy for the parks and space lacking in traditional Haredi areas of Israel. But they do not insist that it is there or nothing. “We are not here for political reasons,” Mr. Guttman said. “Ninety percent of the people are here for the affordability, not for ideology. Haredim don’t fight with Arabs.”

Perhaps not, but his wife, Riva, bristled at the idea of moving. “If you told me to move elsewhere because Arabs needed a place to live, it would not sit quietly on my conscience,” she said. “I am a Jew in the Jewish homeland.”

And increasingly, the Haredim have vested interests over the 1967 line. Yaron and Sara Simchovitch arrived in Beitar Illit from Jerusalem 13 years ago with a group led by their rabbi. The couple now have a thriving butcher shop.

Yoseph Shilhav, an expert on the ultra-Orthodox at Bar-Ilan University, said that almost every Haredi family now had a member beyond the 1967 border, subtly shifting their attitudes about settlement and withdrawal. The Haredim make up 10 percent of Israel’s population and are a fast-growing electoral force. The Chabad movement and Sephardic or Middle Eastern-origin Shas party have increasingly adopted the nationalist agenda.

The rocket fire into Israel that resulted after its withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 has also taken its toll on Haredi views. “In general, Haredim are very practical people,” said Mr. Pindrus, the former Beitar Illit mayor. “We are not right or left. If we get up in the morning and see that leaving Gaza means missiles, then no, we’re not leaving another centimeter.” He added, “We want to live, and our children not to blow up.”

Still, a surprising number do not oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state if safety can be guaranteed. Since housing is the No. 1 Haredi concern and they feel no need for it to be in the West Bank, redirecting the building of their new homes inside Israel could go a long way toward a solution.

“If the Americans can convince us there will really be peace and we won’t be living in fear of rockets, we’ll bring a recommendation to our rabbis,” said Mr. Guterman, the mayor of Modiin Illit. “Our rabbis want peace. We are not against withdrawing from territory. But life is above all.”

By ETHAN BRONNER and ISABEL KERSHNER

台灣‧國民黨主席選舉‧馬英九得票92%當選

(台灣‧台北)國民黨週日(7月26日)舉行黨主席選舉,唯一的候選人馬英九得票92.51%勝出,主席任期4年。

對兩岸關係影響深遠

馬英九兼任黨主席後,對兩岸關係產生影響。各方現在關注“馬胡會”何時會實現。

國民黨週日除了選主席外,亦進行黨代表選舉,今次有投票權的黨員人數約53萬人,投票下午4時結束後,隨即進行開票。

國民黨秘書長吳敦義晚間在國民黨中央公佈投開票結果,國民黨主席選舉人數為53萬3739人,投票率為57.79%,無效票數1萬7619票,馬英九得票數為28萬5354票,得票率為92.51%。

馬得票率勝過現任主席吳伯雄,但較現為黨榮譽主席的連戰2001年參選黨主席時,得的97.09%得票率低些。

此前,黨內高層私下說,馬英九既是總統,又是同額競選,一定要超越吳伯雄的86.97%的得票率,否則,黨內的權力基礎勢將受到挑戰。

結果盅後,馬英九競選總部隨即會舉行新聞發佈會,由馬英九說明對改革國民黨想法。

馬英九執政團隊在兩岸領域取得一系列成就,馬兼任黨主席後會繼續促進兩岸關係前進,因為民意要求這樣做,兩岸關係和平發展成為潮流。

“馬胡會”仍是問號

不過,未來的“馬主席”何時與中共中央總書記胡錦濤會談仍是問號。

台灣黨政人士分析說,“馬胡會”若不在馬英九本屆任期實現,2012年5月馬英九若順利連任,民意基礎將較現在更堅實,屆時“馬胡會”應水到渠成。

這是馬英九第二次參選國民黨主席。他曾於2005年台北市長任內次當選國民黨主席。但於2007年因特別費案被起訴(後被判無罪),他憤而請辭黨席並正式宣佈參選2008年總統大選,並於次年順利當選總統。

馬英九當選黨主席後,將於9月12日正式就任。

馬英九:好好規劃台灣未來

馬英九週日晚說,他擔任台灣總統與國民黨主席,將就掌握的資源好好規劃台灣的未來,至少替台灣海峽帶來幾十年的和平,讓台灣有機會轉型,適應國際動。

馬英九在競選辦事處召開新聞發佈會,發表當選感言,內容涵蓋黨務革新、領導理念與兩岸關係。

他說,他當選黨主席並無勝選的欣喜,反而感到責任非常沉重,他選黨主席就是要把總統這個工作做好,希望透過更緊密的黨政合作,提昇“國政”運作效率,並拿捏得宜的黨政分際。

兩岸互動出現新局
胡錦濤料電賀馬英九

馬英九兼任國民黨主席後,兩岸互動也出現新局。

馬英九投票後表示,估計(中共總書記)胡錦濤會祝賀他當選,而他也會覆電表示感謝。這將創下兩岸領導人正式函電往來的歷史紀錄。

馬英九表示,4年前他首次當選國民黨主席時(當時國民黨在野),大陸方面也有拍賀電過來,所以相信這次,胡錦濤也會以中共總書記名義,發出賀電。

他又指出,對方的內容應該是道賀的話,所以他會回覆,表達感謝的話。

國民黨大陸事務部主任張榮恭解釋,早在1988年李登輝接任黨主席,中共總書記趙紫陽以個人名義發賀電,但國民黨未函覆,這是兩岸歷史的互動;4年後李登輝連任黨魁,江澤民援例發賀電,李登輝雖仍未函覆,但曾公開說,這是“善意的表示”。

賀電互動意義非凡

張榮恭說,馬英九在2005年當選國民黨主席(國民黨當時下野),胡錦濤曾拍賀電,馬英九隨後覆電表達感謝,這是馬胡兩人首度函電往返。

對於馬胡再度透過賀電互動,創造兩岸領導人的“黨對黨對話”,張榮恭認為,即使賀電僅屬於禮貌往來,“但國共兩黨都是執政黨,確實具有不同的意義!”

地方派系內鬥急
首個考驗雲林立委補選

國民黨地方派系正醞釀挑戰馬英九的領導權威,“馬主席”面臨的內憂外患才將剛開始,而雲林縣立委補選則是“馬主席”的首個考驗。

馬英九上週在黨主席參選政見會上調,參選黨主席是為了國民黨改革,“地方派系不能過度發展,危害黨的利益”,不過地方派系似乎未聽進馬的警告。

雲林縣國民黨籍立委張碩文因賄選判刑,必須補選,馬英九屬意年輕、形象清新的學者吳威志,不過張碩文的父親張輝元卻“代子親征”,還獲得前縣長張榮味的力挺,等於是雲林的地方派系聯手給馬英九“下馬威”。

雲林是地方派系複雜的地區,馬英九有意擺脫國民黨長期被地方派系主導的弊端,被政壇視為他改革國民黨的第一步,也被視為年底縣市長選舉提名的指標,不過一旦因國民黨分裂而令民進黨漁翁得利,“馬主席”就會面臨嚴重的領導危機。

年底縣市長選舉對即將上任的“馬主席”而言,除民進黨的“外患”外,也是一場與黨內地方派系的“內鬥”。

將卸任黨主席
吳伯雄心情輕鬆

即將卸任的國民黨主席吳伯雄表示,心情相當輕鬆,並稱以黨員對總統馬英九的支持,得票率沒有理由不高,外界也不需要過度解讀。

對於未來規劃,吳伯雄表示,就是日出而作、日入而息,現在還有三四個月時間可以規劃。陪同投票的總統府秘書長詹春柏則補充說,還可以含飴弄孫。

蔡英文道賀不忘批評
指削弱立院監督制衡力

馬英九當選國民黨主席,民進黨主席蔡英文除道賀,也表示馬英九當選將削弱立法部門監督制衡力量。

民進黨發言人鄭文燦週日晚引述蔡英文指出,馬英九接任黨主席之後,黨政權力集中,勢必要求立法部門配合行政部門政策,削弱立法部門監督制衡力量,立法院將淪為行政部門橡皮圖章,壓縮政策辯論空間。

蔡英文道賀不忘批評蔡英文認為,過去國共平台的在,削弱政府對兩岸政策的主導權,造成二軌凌駕一軌,取代兩岸兩會協商,馬總統擔任黨主席,勢必面對國共平台問題。

全球評論

大權一統
馬英九考驗現開始

一人參選,篤定當選。無論投票率或得票率多少,馬英九總統都確定成為新任國民黨主席。但是,當上黨主席後能不能真正推動改革,才是馬英九“大權一統”後的考驗。

兼任黨魁,馬英九必須要做的是黨務改革與世代交替。4年前首次參選黨主席,他曾喊出同樣訴求,儘管之後因為特別費案遭起訴而辭去黨主席,但馬當時任內以及接任的吳伯雄,在此2項議題上,都沒來得及讓外界看出甚麼成果。

這次又打出原主張,除了是展現馬一直想貫徹的意志,也是對舊勢力的再挑戰。不過,被認為不沾鍋的馬英九,接任黨主席後,對糾結不清的地方派系、國會系統無法有效整合等老毛病,真的準備好大刀闊斧改革、並承受可能付出的代價?

一肩扛起施政成敗

此外,坐穩黨魁之後,未來可直接控制國會,行政、立法事權統一,權力集中相對也表示,施政成敗不再是行政院長之責,馬得一肩扛起,沒有閃躲空間。

由於一人獨強,黨主席選舉已經徒具“應景”民主化形式,未來立法院會不會成為“橡皮圖章”,是外界檢驗馬的重要指標。

此外,黨政合一後,如何將黨、國會與行政部門,整合轉化成有利台灣民主深化發展所需要的機器,也是馬英九的重要功課。

民主,不能只靠個人光環,人民與歷史是大權在握者的2大打分數老師,馬英九大權一統後的試煉,現在才要開始而已。

台灣《中國時報》

專家觀點

國共交流平台或擴大

馬英九當選黨主席後可能會擴大現有的國共交流平台,結合社會菁英和政治反對聯營。

如果馬英九的國共溝通新平台運作,這可舒緩島內對兩岸政策的反對聲浪,同時不會加劇大陸的疑慮。

馬英九兼任國民黨黨主席後,國民黨控制的立法院預料將迅速把兩岸達成的經濟和金融協議簽署成法律。

──淡江大學中國研究所副教授張五岳

荷蘭‧全球100城市示威‧責伊朗侵犯人權

(荷蘭‧阿姆斯特丹)全球各地大約100個城市週末都有群眾上街,參加“全球伊朗行動日”的示威活動,譴責伊朗侵犯人權,聲援當地反對派,並要求伊朗釋放幾百名因為抗議總統選舉舞弊而被捕的人。

這次全球的反伊朗抗議行動為期3天,上週六(7月25日)進入高潮,響應的城市多達100個,分布在六大洲。

在荷蘭阿姆斯特丹有1000人參與,包括伊朗諾貝爾和平獎得主埃巴迪。他帶領人群反覆高喊:“們要和平生活。和平萬歲!”

在紐約,警方估計有600人遊行示威,但主辦單位說人數多達2000人。在倫敦,逾1000人在伊朗大使館外集會。

伊朗開除4部長

另一方面,將於8月5日宣誓就任伊朗總統的內賈德在公佈新內閣陣容前,開除了4名部長。

伊朗媒體報導,被開除的包括文化與回教引導部長莫哈末哈辛、勞工與社會事務部長佐羅米、衛生部長甘蘭及情報部長古南。

中國‧中網民多過美國人口

(中國‧北京)據最新統計,截至6月底,中國網民人數已經達到3.38億,超過美國人口的總和。

中國官方研究機構“中國互聯網絡信息中心”的統計數字顯示,今年上半年,中國網民人數增加了4000萬,同期,使用寬頻上網的人增加了1000萬。

大多數中國網民上網是為了查看新聞、娛樂以及使用社交網站。網上購物也越來越流行。

台灣‧胡錦濤電賀馬英九任黨魁‧馬拋16字訣求共榮

(台灣‧台北)台灣總統馬英九順利當選國民黨主席後,中國國家主席胡錦濤以中共總書記名義,電賀馬英九。

與此同時,馬英九向北京拋出“正視現實、建立互信、擱置爭議、共創雙贏”16字訣,希望兩岸在此原則下,共同追求和平繁榮。

國民黨主席吳伯雄透露,胡錦濤的署名賀電今日(週一,7月27日)上午送抵,約有30至40字,內容和以往中共發出的賀電差不多。

吳伯雄沒有公開賀電具體內容,而是表示會等待馬英九做出回復之後,將雙方電文內容一同公開。

以黨身份互動

國民黨副主席吳敦義說,馬英九將以國民黨主席當選人的身份答覆胡錦濤的賀電。

馬英九週日(7月26日)晚召開新聞發佈會,特別著墨兩岸關係,調過去一年兩岸簽署九協議、一共識,是兩岸共同的努力。

他並稱,台灣今年參與世界衛生大會,甚至他以總統身份出席高雄世運開幕,“確實是來自對岸的善意”。

馬英九說,上任後對內將立即改革國民黨,加強與捍衛台灣主體性,同時也希望加強與反對黨對話,增進互相瞭解。不過,他並沒提及未來會否以黨主席身份與胡錦濤會面問題。

連戰5願景列入政綱

另外,榮譽主席連戰4年前與胡錦濤達成國共5項共同願景,曾在17次國民黨代表大會列入政綱,馬英九說,在今年9月12日召開的18次代表大會中,也會建議把5項共同願景列入政綱,以繼續執行這個歷史承諾。

馬英九是以93.87%得票率,當選國民黨下屆主席。他將在9月12日正式就任。

歷屆國民黨主席選情

2009年

馬英九以總統身份參選,作為唯一候選人,得票率93.87%

2007年

馬英九涉弊案辭去黨主席,吳伯雄與洪秀柱參與補選,吳得票率86.97%

2005年

馬英九與王金平角逐黨主席,結果馬以71.51%當選

2001年

度進行黨員直選黨主席,連戰作為唯一候選人以97.09%得票率當選

全球評論

馬主席上任兩岸關係新挑戰

“胡馬會”若能實現,兩岸勢必有舉世矚目的重大突破;惟至今顯示,馬對兩岸政治對話仍有所顧忌。

馬英九之所以會放慢兩岸關係步伐,與台灣內部選舉有密切關連。在國民黨方面,年底就要舉行縣市長選舉,2010有直轄市長選舉,2012是總統大選,藍軍非贏不可;民進黨沒有別的訴求,一定是主打“反中”、“賣台”。

兩岸政治對話在選前如果得走太快,即使藍營正當性十足,都會被當成“打馬”利器。在這種情境下,“胡馬會”若趕著在2012年之前登場,無異是替綠營助選。

因此,馬英九暫時拒絕“胡馬會”,很多都要靠默契來體會,不宜講得太白。否則,說太硬不利於剛剛修復的兩岸關係;若為了讓北京理解源由,說得太清楚,可能又換成綠營跳起來,非常難以拿捏。

值此關鍵時刻,兩岸最須要的就是默契與互信,北京必須理解,馬英九有處理台灣內部問題的難題,此刻保持美中台關係平衡、暫緩兩岸最高領導人會晤,都是為了替兩岸攜手走更遠的路,奠定基礎。

新加坡‧出土屍體中佔過半‧防腐劑過量變乾屍

(新加坡)由於防腐劑施打過量,新加坡出土的屍體中,有一半成干屍!

外國干燥地區經常傳出百年屍體變干屍的新聞,但你可知道,在氣候潮濕的新加坡,不少入土十多年的屍體,也變成了干屍?

專業撿骨師,和安石業工程老闆李東海透露,在新加坡,下葬十多年後出土的屍體中,有超過一半變干屍。

入土30多年未腐化

李東海說,由於政府規定,蔡厝港墳場的屍體入土10年後,就必須挖出火葬,因此此處可以發現最多的干屍,他自己就看過入土30多年後,仍未腐化的屍體。

面對干屍,老一輩都會大呼不吉利,但現代人都知道是土質所致,不會太迷信,很少要求做法消厄運。

在廣孝山墳場安排過多次撿骨的張女士則說,她在廣孝山見過10多具干屍,相當駭人。

張女士說,干屍不分男女,只是按地勢形成,一般會在同樣一個地方挖出幾具干屍。

風水師:不利子孫運程

風水師傅游龍子受詢時說,從民間傳統和風水的角度來說,屍體應“入土為安”,應該自然完全腐化,才算“平安”。因此,干屍一般被認為,是對子孫運程不利的。

就算是選了一個吉穴,也要祖先的屍體腐化,才會旺子孫運程。

他說,如果祖先中有干屍,從別的方面改善風水,都只是亡羊補牢,效果有限。

他建議,一發現祖先成了干屍,就不能遷葬,應進行火化,這就會消除所有的厄運。

殯葬業者:高科技棺材密封

著名殯葬業者鄭海船表示,不論家人要停柩多久,一般為遺體打防腐針,都可以保至少一個月。

他說,現在使用的高科技棺材,有些是密封的,水分和空氣進不去,遺體腐化過程緩慢,甚至出現干屍的現象。

新加坡‧以為楊志恆掏腰包為仁慈補洞‧明義帶12萬赴港還錢

(新加坡)以為楊志恆自己掏腰包為仁慈補洞,明義帶著新幣5萬元(約馬幣12萬令吉)現金飛香港還他,楊志恆還將4萬9000元入銀行戶頭!

明義失信案今日(週一,7月27日)早上續審,他的前私人助理楊志恆第3次上庭供證,由代表律師吳立志律師引導供證。

楊志恆說,他和明義經常都會在香港見面商討工作事宜。07年11月中他們會面時,明義把5萬元交給他,因為楊志恆之前為了填補那“不見了的5萬元”而先拿出5萬元,明義曾表示,之後會想辦法找錢還他。

楊志恆說︰“當時沒有跟法師說,那5萬元其實就是04年我向曼陀羅借的錢。如果他知道,他就不會把5萬元還給我。”

楊志恆:把錢存入個人戶頭

楊志恆透露,他明知不該收下這筆錢,卻還是照拿,過後還將這筆錢存入香港的銀行個人戶頭裡。

他說,他遲至去年1月尾才越洋致電向明義坦白,那“不見了的5萬元”其實就是他在04年向曼陀羅借的,但當時他卻忘了記錄在賬目內。

他表示,明義知後非常生氣,通過電話和在之後兩人於香港見面時,2次痛罵他,而且沒有馬上答應幫他圓謊,也沒有多加理睬他。

吳律師問楊志恆,主控官上週盤問明義時,指楊志恆和明義的關係既然那麼密切,明義又答應幫楊志恆隱瞞5萬元失信的真相,楊志恆因此會在供證時幫助明義,2人的證詞會符吻合。

明義當時的回答是,他不知道也沒有資格回答,這個問題得問楊志恆。

楊志恆週一早上被問及時說︰“我都自身難保了,我已經34歲的人了,跟父母的關係很好。我現在陷入這個麻煩的局面,根本沒有資格幫人。我只想把真相說出來。”

他在庭上供稱,他在接受商業事務局的調查時,曾告訴調查官員,他忘記把向曼陀羅的貸款記錄在賬目內,那完全是他的過失,他無意騙任何人的錢。

他說,如果他真的有心要騙仁慈的錢,他其實有很多機會。

常用明義附屬卡為明義付賬

楊志恆也在庭上表示,經常使用明義的附屬卡為明義支付醫藥費及酒店住宿費。

他指出,從01年9月18日他開始當明義助理起,到04年10月他取得就業准證期間,他因為申請不到就業准證,因此無法申請信用卡,所以只好使用明義的附屬卡。

他通過信用卡的開支項目說明,並非所有的花費都是他的個人開支,比如,他就經常用明義的附屬卡,為明義求醫或出國時支付醫藥費和酒店住宿及旅費,此外,他也為福海禪寺或仁慈的職員買禮物或一起用餐時付賬。而有時,他還替自己的香港朋友買東西,事後再向他們取回所花費用。

聯名在澳買屋為符合條例

楊志恆在提到他與明義法師聯名在澳洲買產業的事時,表示那是因為他是澳洲人,而明義為了符合當地的置業條例,才以他身為澳洲人的名義聯名,因此實際上他是有名無實的業主。

他表示,雖然他名義上幫明義買下有關產業,但他根本不認為自己是屋主。

楊志恆也聲稱,當初他要求仁慈財務部職員準備貸款給曼陀羅的借據及現款支票時,完全沒有造假的用心。而儘管他那時沒有定系償還期限,不過,他仍然有償還的打算。

新加坡‧跳艷舞短片供“欣賞”‧網站宣傳陪遊女郎

(新加坡)獅城一陪遊公司,竟公然通過Facebook、Twitter等網站宣傳旗下女郎,還把女郎跳艷舞的短片放上Youtube供網民“欣賞”!

為了進一步挑逗顧客的欲望,陪遊公司還特別錄制了短片,上載到youtube供顧客欣賞。

在短片中,女郎穿著布料非常少的感比基尼,擺出各種撩人姿勢。

在另外一個短片,一名女郎穿著黑色亮片比基尼,大跳性感艷舞,在長達2分7秒的短片當中,女郎不停地扭腰擺臀,以誘惑觀賞者。

陪遊公司也擁有一個Twitter帳戶,不斷更新及推薦旗下最熱門或最新的女郎。

陪遊女郎多屬兼職

雖然陪遊公司通過多個平台宣傳,但旗下的女郎多數是兼職性質,因此陪遊公司並沒有上載她們的照片。

陪遊公司保證,公司在挑選陪遊女郎時非常嚴格,會確保女郎的樣貌和性格適合,才幫她們牽線。

但顧客如果與女郎見面後覺得不滿意,想要取消服務,則必須支付50元到100元不等的費用。

公司在網上也標示了屬下女郎所提供的不同服務,來滿足不同“顧客”的需求,包括“晚餐約會”、“2時客房服務”等。

社交陪遊公司也在網站上寫明女郎能為顧客提供的不同服務,和這項服務的價錢等。

其中,價格由2小時的700元(1680令吉),到一週的2萬8000元(6萬7200令吉)不等。

Atlas Vacant - The Commercial Real Estate Bust: Gearing up for a $3 Trillion Headache. Increase in Vacancy Rates and Higher Defaults.

The commercial real estate bust is going to be legendary. We are talking trillions of dollars. The attention of Americans is being pulled away by massive market volatility that has seen the S&P 500 shoot up 44 percent in four months. Yet the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have kept their eye on this market and have started examining a “Plan C” focused on bailing out this industry even before major problems occur. The new preemptive doctrine of bailouts. That is, they want to saddle the taxpayer with further burdens on some of the most speculative bets known to humankind.

First, it is certain that commercial real estate will have problems. If we examine certain vacancy rates, we see that they are already starting to creep up:

office vacancy rates

The above chart is merely reflecting the deep contraction in the real economy. Businesses are needing less and less of that plentiful office space that is floating in the market. So much for the dream of an Eames Lounge chair sitting in your office space, entertaining clients while the $5,000 monthly lease payment sits on your mahogany desk. On the other hand, if you are looking for retail space you will find some room to negotiate.

More supply with less demand equals lower prices. Lower prices means tanking commercial real estate operations. You see, just like the residential housing bubble banks made extremely risky loans on commercial properties on very thin capital. All was well as long as the market went up. Now the assumption was real estate values were never going to go down. This faulty reasoning was bad enough. But to assume unrealistic appreciation rates caused many banks to jump in head first into a pool with no water.

The reason this will also cause a financial headache is that many regional banks without the clout of bigger Wall Street banks will begin failing in mass. Many regional banks unable or unwilling to compete with subprime and toxic loans (or their local market didn’t have enough customers) started making risky bets with CRE. There are more CRE loans out in the market and people probably don’t have a solid grasp of this. Let us look at some FDIC data:

fdic1

26 percent of all loans in FDIC insured bank portfolios are backed by the CRE market. In total, over $3 trillion in commercial real estate loans are outstanding. Of course, it is highly unlikely that this portfolio will fall to zero but commercial real estate has less of a buffer than residential real estate. How so? An overvalued home in an area with people will find a buyer. So even a loan that was made for $400,000 at the peak and now finds a bottom at $200,000 is very likely to find a buyer. That is not the case with many CRE projects. Some communities are economically in shambles so there may be zero incentive for any business to rent even if the price was zero. Ultimately CRE is a business decision. A home can be just a home as we are now re-learning.

How many states are in tough times?

stressed-states_3

*Source: Bond Buyer

A large focus has been given to California but countless states are facing budget deficits. Budget deficits do not have an allegiance to the sunny west coast. Deficits are only going to increase as the unemployment rate climbs. The American consumer is being squeezed on multiple angles including onerous credit card gimmicks so many are cutting back on spending (aka less foot traffic in commercial real estate properties).

All across California vacancy rates are increasing:

vacancy-socal

*Source: L.A. Times

“Among his tasks is finding a buyer for Park Fifth, a stalled $1-billion high-rise condominium and hotel development proposed for a block next to Pershing Square downtown. At Playa Vista, he advised the owners of the enormous Spruce Goose hangar — built by famed aviator Howard Hughes — to take it off the block because prices are depressed.

Muhlstein tries to use humor to cope with hard times in the commercial real estate industry, a business in such pronounced distress that some experts predict its problems will thwart the nation’s hopes for an economic recovery.”

The commercial real estate bust is simply gigantic and is a coming down the tracks at a hundred miles an hour. We are now seeing Manhattan real estate coming down in the double-digits which was heresy during the bubble. The market has changed and in the real economy, not much has changed:

industrial-production

Industrial production is still heading lower. So why would businesses need so much office space? Do some people still believe in that service sector mantra? The one in which we basically offshore any goods-making jobs and basically sell homes and financial products to one another while not manufacturing anything? As this recession is now showing, that assumption was wrong.

The market recovery is based on optimism that things will be back and we’ll see some kind of “V” shape recovery. There is no room for an “L” shaped recession or a double-dip recession in these predictions although that is most likely what we will get. The current economy is juiced on stimulus plans, bailouts, easy money from the U.S. Treasury and Fed, and other supposed temporary measures. The market is being supported by Atlas but can he hold the economy up like this forever? Probably not and commercial real estate is going to be a gigantic collapse. 7 banks failed on Friday and more are coming.

atlas-cre

The Rat Hole

The Rat Hole



Here we have an example of the fine upstanding citizenry we have all come to expect. There is nothing as unsettling to realize that we have monsters like this making policy for us and just when one decides the FBI might be the enemy, they totally redeem themselves. Now I AM confused as I had this notion that they were all "in on it."

Be as it may, it is still a hate crime to say the holocaust of the poor downtrodden, we didn't do anything wrong, everyone hates us for no reason, we just want to be friends to all people, religion that is termed a race is maybe a bit off on the numbers or maybe didn't happen exactly like the race that is a religion says it did, then such as it is fitting for a prison term in many countries in Europe and soon to be the same in north America including Canada if my guess is right about this passing hate crime BS.

Would you like to know why? Why is it that the race that is a religion is always getting strung up like so many sides of beef by countless countries throughout recorded history? Why is it that these countries can’t see the light and accept these hooked nosed scull capped ringlet sporting bearded circumcisers into the fold? Now this is indeed a great question so without further ado, let us have ole Mr Morphed shine a bit of light on these poor souls that are so innocent and pure that to hate them will most likely be a death sentence soon.

Now when we talk about things such as genocide against any group of individuals, it is wise to remember that history proves humans are indeed racist by the simple fact certain sects colluded together to form tribes, gangs, and nations all based on ones color and or religions/beliefs long before it became unfashionable in the eyes of a gaggle of politically correct lesbians. With this as evidence to remind one of human nature it is easy to see where one might not like the idea of:

Sanhedrin 59a

To communicate anything to a Goy about our religious relations would be equal to the killing of all Jews, for if the Goyim knew what we teach about them, they would kill us openly.

This should make one wonder wtf is up with this? What in the world are these poor put-upon people being taught to have to pen such as:

Libbre David 37

A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them.

Well shucks, now what is this all about? Why in the world would a Holy Book written by God instruct the followers to lie through their teeth? I don’t know if it is me, but I have a hard time trusting in and believing anything a liar says, plus I can’t bear to discuss things with said liars as I grow bored trying to sort through the recurring thoughts of, “yeah right, anything you say buddy,” that keeps overriding the flow of information simply because my subconscious is screaming, “this guy is full of shit” while they drone on about the size of the salmon they caught last weekend.

Ok ok, one cannot build a big trench and toss some poor slob in it for a bit of storytelling or putting their thumb on the weigh in scales, but what about:

Tosefta, Tractate Erubin VIII

When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to our law, belongs to no one, and the first Jew that passes has full right to seize it.

Well now this might piss some folks right off, ya think? Or maybe could this be the reason the nations around the world enslaved, expelled or exterminated these creatures?

Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156

If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth.

Choschen Hamm 388, 15

Happy will be the lost of Israel, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen from amongst the Goyim, of whom the Scriptures say: "Their work is but vanity, it is an illusion at which we must laugh; they will all perish when God visits them in His wrath." At the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, will exterminate all the Goyim of the world, Israel alone will subsist, even as it is written: "The Lord alone will appear great on that day!...

Now I know where they get the "wipe them off the face of the earth" jargon. And it is all because:

Zohar, Vayshlah 177b

That the Jewish nation is the only nation selected by God, while all the remaining ones are contemptible and hateful.

That all property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which consequently is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples. An orthodox Jew is not bound to observe principles of morality towards people of other tribes. He may act contrary to morality, if profitable to himself or to Jews in general.

A Jew may rob a Goy, he may cheat him over a bill, which should not be perceived by him, otherwise the name of God would become dishonoured.

There seems to be a bit of a disturbing trend here with these Holy Godlike ones:

Midrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L

Everything a Jew needs for his church ritual no goy is permitted to manufacture, but only a Jew, because this must be manufactured by human beings and the Jew is not permitted to consider the goyim as human beings.

Schulchan Oruch, Orach Chaim 14, 20, 32, 33, 39

A Jew may do to a non-Jewess what he can do. He may treat her as he treats a piece of meat.

Hadarine, 20, B; Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348

A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl.

Gad. Shas. 2:2

A boy-goy after nine years and one day old, and a girl after three years and one day old, are considered filthy.

In signing off, this is but a small sampling of the hate speech that goes on inside the teachings of the very ones that are passing bills to enslave and destroy all other people and nations on this earth. So when we see the trillions of dollars flowing to the very group of people which own the media, banks, judges, police, military, Potus, Scotus, pharmaceuticals, and are passing out vaccines, forgive me if I fight to the death before I allow your genocide on myself or my loved ones. With this mindset is it any wonder these self proclaimed chosen ones deal in human organs and child pornography not to mention justifying the term " getting jewed out of it?" Want to know something really scary? The Jews have control of all western banking and basically run the world. Good knowing you.

We've Figured Him Out

Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed?

Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths:

The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith.

They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright.

They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a "community organizer," Illinois state legislator, and Senator.

The American people ignored his total zero of an academic record as a student and teacher, his complete lack of scholarship when he was being touted as a scholar.

Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth. Barack Obama is a super likeable super leftist, not a fan of this country, way, way too cozy with the terrorist leaders in the Middle East, way beyond naïveté, all the way into active destruction of our interests and our allies and our future.

The American people have already awakened to the truth that the stimulus bill -- a great idea in theory -- was really an immense bribe to Democrat interest groups, and in no way an effort to help all Americans.

Now, Americans are waking up to the truth that ObamaCare basically means that every time you are sick or injured, you will have a clerk from the Department of Motor Vehicles telling your doctor what he can and cannot do.

The American people already know that Mr. Obama's plan to lower health costs while expanding coverage and bureaucracy is a myth, a promise of something that never was and never will be -- a bureaucracy lowering costs in a free society. Either the costs go up or the free society goes away.

These are perilous times. Mrs. Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State, has given Iran the go-ahead to have nuclear weapons, an unqualified betrayal of the nation. Now, we face a devastating loss of freedom at home in health care. It will be joined by controls on our lives to "protect us" from global warming, itself largely a fraud if believed to be caused by man.

Mr. Obama knows Americans are getting wise and will stop him if he delays at all in taking away our freedoms.

There is his urgency and our opportunity. Once freedom is lost, America is lost. Wake up, beloved America.

By Ben Stein

Money printing, debt growth and deficits don't create prosperity, says Marc Faber












INTERNATIONAL. Marc Faber the Swiss fund manager and Gloom Boom & Doom editor said the US Federal Reserve managed, through stimulus, to do something that had never before been done - create a worldwide bubble in just about everything -stocks, bonds , housing and art.

The only thing that didn't go up was the dollar, according to Faber.

Speaking to the 10th Annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver this week, Faber said: “You cannot create prosperity through money printing and debt growth.”

Faber preached an idea that became the theme of the event: Government fiscal and monetary intervention, “can postpone, but not prevent crisis.

“I believe next year’s economy will face even larger deficits. Their deficit is attempting to stimulate credit growth. Unless real credit growth returns, they will have to put more and more money into the system to maintain the status quo. All polices target consumption. That is a mistake,” Faber said.

So what’s this mean for the market? “The S&P 500 will not recover to 2007 highs. At the peak, 44% of the S&P was the financial sector. That is gone… not coming back.”

"In the period, 2001 -2007, the Fed managed to do something that had never before been done - create a worldwide bubble in just about everything. Stocks, bonds, art, oil, housing - you name it; it went up. The only thing that didn't go up was the dollar," Faber said.

All this was achieved through stimulus, Faber said.

After a half a century of stimulus - with credit, inflation and the money supply growing faster and faster - the Fed put the pedal to the metal following the nano-recession of 2001. It dropped interest rates to just 1% - well below the rate of consumer price inflation - and kept them there until an expansion had been going on for three years.

Instead of increasing real output in the US, it lured Americans to spend and speculate...and drove Chinese entrepreneurs to put up new factories in order to give them something to buy. In America, debt grew 5 times faster than GDP; for each dollar of extra income, Americans added US$5.50 to their debt. In China, manufacturing capacity grew faster than ever.

"Bubbles had been localized in the past," Faber explained. "A bubble in one area drew investment from another area. In one market, prices soared. In another they slumped. Overall, things didn't change much."

But a worldwide bubble in everything is something new. And it caused something else that is new - a worldwide crash. We have been ducking explosions and stepping over the debris for the last two years.

A Constitution in FULL Crisis

America’s extreme left tricked American moderates into supporting their candidate last November by campaigning on post-partisan cooperation and transparency in government. Six months after the election of a freshman senator with a blank résumé, a laundry list of evil associates and a life more secret than your average CIA agent, Obama’s entire history remains a mystery and his administration is the most hardcore partisan dictatorship ever experienced in the USA.

Washington DC partisanship has turned into outright Obama-Pelosi dictatorship. The so-called “Commander-in-Chief” is fast losing control of his military, which is increasingly and viciously divided between those who are refusing to take orders from an overt enemy of the Constitution, and those who foolishly defend Obama’s right to destroy that which they took an oath to protect and preserve.

Obama should have ended the divisions over his ineligibility long before it reached the ranks of American fighting forces. He chose not to, and instead to allow the issue to fester into a powder keg that even Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod are ill-prepared to extinguish.

The US Constitution is in FULL Crisis

The US Constitution is the contract between the people and their respective states, and the federal government established by it. The document was written to form a representative republic limited in power and scope to the matters and authority delegated and ratified in the Constitution. That contract has been breached by a runaway Fed…

Decades of outright destruction of the Constitution have left the nation on the brink of economic, political and social collapse. The 2006 and 2008 election cycles placed the Constitution in full crisis and the people are growing increasingly desperate for a peaceful means to restore their Constitutional Republic.

An administration which does not meet constitutional standards is expected to protect and defend a contract which it does not even recognize, much less respect. The contract either stands, or it doesn’t. Based on the 2008 election, and every policy put in place since, the contract does not stand at present. If the Constitution no longer stands, then the federal government which it established, no longer stands in authority. Tyranny reigns…

The States Take Action

Ignored by federal public servants and cut off from any access to peaceful means of redress in congress or the courts, the people and their states are forced to take matters into their own hands.

A “constitutional” interpretation of the Constitution is in order, as the people begin to demand that a runaway Fed blatantly acting against the best interest of its people, return to a constitutional foundation, or risk being stripped of all power and abolished.

The federal government is the product of the Constitution, the contract between the people and their states which established and assigned specific limited powers to the federal government, which is to serve at the pleasure of the states and the people.

If the Constitution no longer stands, then there is NO federal government. The federal government exists only as a result of the Constitution. A very real crisis is at hand…

As a result, more than 32 states are rushing to pass Tenth Amendment legislation intended to remind the federal government of this reality. But the Obama regime is not listening.

Many of those states are also passing Second Amendment protections for their citizens, making it illegal for the Fed to threaten private gun rights, even in cases of “Martial Law.” But the Fed has rejected all such state bills, claiming that “federal laws supersede state laws.”

Reacting to an “unconstitutional” letter from Obama’s ATF, which puts Tennessee on notice that the Fed will not recognize laws passed by the individual states under Tenth Amendment rights, Tennessee State Rep. Matthew Hill points out, --“Montana, Tennessee and all others, are SOVEREIGN states not subservient to the federal government. The Fed can send us letters all day long and it doesn’t change the fact that we are allowed to govern ourselves, under the 10th amendment of the US Constitution.”

A “constitutional” interpretation of the Constitution

All constitutional text must be read within the context of Amendment Ten… which clearly states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Does the Constitution delegate the power to “confiscate and redistribute private wealth” to the federal government?

Does it delegate power to force “Cap and Trade” or so-called “Universal Health Care” upon the people and the states?

Does it delegate the power over private industry, such as banking, auto manufacturing, energy and the likes? – Or the power to disarm American citizens under any set of circumstances, real or imaginary?

No such powers were delegated to the federal government under the US Constitution. Unlike many ill-informed US citizens, Obama & Co. knows it. But they don’t care…

Since no clause exists in the Constitution which specifically assigns any of these powers to the Fed, Amendment Ten applies… “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

The Second Amendment Example

Each clause of the Constitution must be read within the context of the Tenth Amendment. Power and authority is either specifically delegated to the Fed in the text of the Constitution, specifically withheld from the Fed by way of the Bill of Rights, or in the absence of any such reference to power and authority, the Tenth Amendment applies.

In the case of gun rights, the Founders specifically denied the Fed any power via the Bill of Rights, specifically prohibiting the Fed from playing around with the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” –

Yet, operating in direct contradiction to this Second Amendment language, the federal government has assumed a power not assigned to it by the states, to regulate the right of the people to keep and bear arms. A case of the people’s past silence, being intentionally misinterpreted as their consent, which allowed the fed to step across boundaries it is specifically prohibited from crossing in the Bill of Rights.

As a result, the states have been forced to restate their border sovereignty and state rights in new state sponsored legislation, including Second Amendment protections for their citizens who wish to keep and bear arms, whether anti-second amendment leftists in Washington DC like it or not.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

My home state of Tennessee passed both Tenth Amendment and Second Amendment legislation, supported in such number as to override our Democrat governor’s attempts to veto.

But Obama’s Fed responded by issuing a letter, under his Justice Department headed by Obama buddy Eric Holder, on the letterhead of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms signed by Assistant Director Carson Carroll, advising the state that “federal laws supersede states laws.”

Like hell they do!

The states DO NOT serve at the pleasure of the Fed. The Fed exists and serves at the pleasure of the states, a FACT that most states seem in a rush to point out to Obamanation.

The US Constitution supersedes both state and federal laws. Don’t confuse the US Constitution with federal laws, passed by congress or passed by judicial fiat via the courts. Federal laws take precedent over state laws ONLY in matters specifically delegated to the federal government in the Constitution. If no such authority is assigned to the Fed, then no such power exists at the Fed.

When the federal government makes laws pertaining to matters NOT assigned to it under the US Constitution, which it has had a habit of doing for decades now, both in congress and in the judicial branch, the states are in NO WAY bound by those laws. Those laws are by definition, unconstitutional, no matter how they were passed.

As the Second Amendment makes it quite clear that the federal government has NO power to regulate the people’s right to keep and bear arms, and the Tenth Amendment clearly states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”- Obama’s Fed, Justice Department and ATF, have NO constitutional authority over the states in the matter…

Tennessee State Rep. Matthew Hill is exactly right. They (the Fed) can send threatening letters all day long and those letters are completely irrelevant, as they are at odds with the Constitution. The ATF letter relates to federal laws written on matters NOT assigned to the federal government to begin with, matters therefore reserved to the states and the people under the Tenth Amendment.

Even the overly politicized US Supreme Court has recently defended Second and Tenth Amendment rights in its related rulings.

The Question of Enforcement

Clearly, Obama and Co. think they won the right to run roughshod over the states and the people last fall. If our Founders had given us a pure democracy, they would be right. But in a Constitutional Representative Republic, they are dead wrong!

Still, it’s also clear that they intend to force their will upon the masses, regardless of public or state dissent, or constitutional limitations. The “silent majority” has been silent for so long, that modern leftist think that they are now the new majority, free to run roughshod over the new “silent minority.”

Under this fantasy, they proclaim the right to ram their leftist agenda down everyone else’s throat. “We won - you lost—so shut up and take it!”… is the general sentiment displayed by O-bots on message boards across the blogosphere…

That sentiment has now reached within the ranks of the US Military, where a growing number of soldiers are beginning to challenge Obama’s right to issue orders and Obama minions are publicly attacking them with a vengeance. The heated chatter got so vicious on Military.com last week, that the publication removed ALL comments on the subject from its web site before the discussion could spin out of control.

Active duty soldiers are refusing Obama orders. Reservists are refusing recall and deployment orders. Retired Navy Commander Walter Fitzpatrick has filed criminal “treason” charges against Obama. Flight Surgeon, Lt. Col. Dr. David Earl-Graeff has sent a letter to Sec. of Defense Gates, stating the following…

“Enough is enough! You must be aware at this point of the tempest brewing among the Rank and File. I am writing you in an effort to appeal to your sense of concern for the Military; a concern we share not only for the Military as a whole but for each and every individual who wears the Uniform in the Service of our Country. I am in this regard specifically asking you for your help. I implore you to not wait until the “pot boils over” and we find ourselves in total disarray. –

I am convinced, beyond any doubt, that the moral well being and efficiency of our fighting forces to defend our Country is soon to be hanging in a precarious balance if not already. In my humble estimation this is NOT a theoretical possibility to construct a thesis or a contingency plan about. It is a reality and is happening right now. Resolution of this issue must be accomplished in the most expeditious manner available at your disposal to gain immediate relief to those of us who are struggling to fully comply with our sworn Oath to the Constitution while being conflicted by questions relating to the qualifications of the POTUS to hold the office in full and absolute compliance with the Natural Born Citizen Clause.”

So, how does Obama plan to enforce his global vision upon the masses when the US Constitution which provides for a federal government, delegates no such authority and an increasing number of soldiers and law enforcement are taking a stand against a “potential domestic enemy” in an effort to uphold their oath to protect and defend the US Constitution?

Once Silent running out of Tolerance

Convinced that the Constitution is under constant threat from within today, Americans normally happy to avoid the subject of politics altogether are building a head of steam to thwart the current constitutional crisis. They are erecting lines of defense at the state borders before Obama can capitalize on one of his many manufactured disasters by removing the people’s right to stand opposed.

His Department of Homeland Security has already redefined “domestic terrorist” to include anyone who disagrees with Obama. His minions have already labeled anyone concerned with the Constitution, “birthers,” in a childish name-calling effort to silence the dissent. His left-wing press has affixed the title of “racist” to anyone who dare doubt Obama’s anti-American Marxist agenda, or his mystery messiah status.

Pelosi has made certain that Republicans have no voice in congress and Holder has made certain that the people will not find a legal forum to resolve Obama’s overt agenda or hidden past in any court.

Growing increasingly desperate to restore the Constitution and fast running out of peaceful means of doing so, the people find themselves in a very real Constitutional Crisis.

Peacefully Forcing the Fed to Reverse Course

With a tone deaf Fed, the people are turning to their state legislators and the states are moving to close down the Fed. Led by the Tenth Amendment Center, state legislators are rushing to reclaim freedom and liberty on behalf of their citizens.


  • Step One – Tenth Amendment Affirmation

  • Step Two – Second Amendment Affirmation

  • Step Three – Kicking the Fed out of the States

  • Step Four – Shutting down the Fed by cutting off 97% of Fed funding by repeal of the 16th Amendment

  • Step Five – Repeal of the 17th Amendment, removing every current member of the senate and sending new representatives of states right to establish a new constitutional senate.

  • Step Six – cleaning house in Washington DC and establishing a constitutional limited government which will once again serve at the pleasure and benefit of the states and the people

Unlike drug rehab, it doesn’t take twelve steps to reinstate a constitutional Fed, although it could take a twelve step program to break many modern Democrats addiction to free-stuff from the public trough.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...”

If the people fail to quickly alter a Fed run wild, via their state legislatures, they will be left with no option but to abolish and start over from scratch.

Republicans in Washington DC have either lost their way or lost their nerve. As a result, they have lost all power.

But Republicans, Independents and even Blue Dog Democrats across the nation in state legislatures, are acting in defense of their citizens and the Constitution, and the people MUST take a stand with those state legislators, immediately.

Visit the Tenth Amendment Center for an up-to-date picture of where your state stands in the march to reclaim states rights and reign in the runaway Fed.

Contact your state legislators and get behind their efforts to affirm state sovereignty and rights. Even Obama does not have the power to force his will upon fifty states who stand united and opposed!

By JB Williams