What About the 2/3 of Government Revenue that Comes from Returns on Its Investments?

With all this fear-mongering about the U.S. going into default, I think it's important to understand that the government is the largest investor in the companies its supposed to be regulating and 2/3 of its revenue comes from investments (every government agency maintains its accounts in what is called the "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" or CAFR, which is NOT the  taxpayer"budget".  It is the general accounting structure for government, a FULL DISCLOSURE of all assets and liabilities),  NOT taxes. So one might ask the government the following questions: how do you regulate a company when you're sharing in its profits? How do you avoid conflict of interest when that conflict is embedded in the established system?  How do you act without considering the revenue potential of your actions? How do you protect us from corporate evil when you are the largest most powerful corporation in the world?  Government power and wealth is corporate power and wealth. There is no separation between government and corporate agendas. It should be readily apparent through the continuing passage of laws that profit government, as well as not only the lack of enforcement applied when the political/corporate elite break the law, but their rewards as in the recent bailouts.

“They tell us that our taxpayer budgets are continuously short of money from debt, taxes, tariffs, tolls, fines, levies, fees, dues, duties, orders, finance charges, excises, audits, permits, licenses , contracts, legalities, acts, rules, regulations, restrictions, requirements, requisites, prerequisites, post requisites, documentation, obligations, restraints, constraints, options, conditions, causes, tenure, status, etiquette, postage limits, speed limits, size limits, weight limits, closed circuit tv, red-light cameras, citations, tickets, quotas, equal opportunity, signs, signals, boundaries, borders, fences, zones, zoning, associations, directives, mandates, sanctions, liabilities, confiscation, eminent domain, restraint, restraining orders, position, possession, influence, ownership, control, lawsuits, punishment, capital punishment, bail, detention, psychiatric observations, rendition, custody, confinement, captivity, incarceration, arrest, manhunts, warrant, required insurance, prescriptions, registration, referrals, waiting lists, free speech zones, terrorist watch-lists, no-fly lists, and, classified information,. These are all sources of revenue for government. In other words, taxation without representation." -- Clint Richardson

The only thing that's in our favor is the government's need to pose as a public servant who performs legitimate tasks, but that mask seems to be dropping more and more every day while we continue to wring our hands and buy into the outright lies that the mainstream media report, 24/7,  in order to ensure that their masters--the unaccountable federal government--remain immune from their ever-increasing legalized "crimes". This continuous threat of government shut-downs, defaults, and going over "fiscal cliffs" is nothing but pure fiction. The reality is that our government is not interested in providing public service, because there is money to be made at our expense by promoting and creating legislation that practically guarantee corporate agendas. Keep in mind that government, directly or indirectly, own 70% of all equities on the stock markets and 80% of the Fed’s income goes back to the treasury!

How do we know this?  It is thanks to Mr Walter Burien and Mr. Clint Richardson, who have exposed a huge piece of the puzzle: that the government owns it all by investment, that we can liberate ourselves from this false reality.  We all need to learn that the political elites profit  immensely from this ongoing government-by-crisis political theater that  unfolds before our eyes everyday on FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, etc. We need to learn that the outrageous revenues that government collects through taxes, fees, permits, licenses, penalties and various forms of corruption, piracy and theft is permanently lost to public benefit.

However,  to most of us, it's much easier to digest the promoted fictions and fallacies about the Federal Reserve and the "default" that they threaten us with through, as Clint Richardson says, the "daily feeding frenzy of misinformation surrounding this investment and currency scam, where inaccuracy and downright fiction rule over any comprehension of what the Fed really is, what it does, and who its master is," than to wade through the 479 pages of deliberately confusing and boring truth that lay within the audited financial statements of the Federal Reserve and the 185,000 government CAFRs of the United States government.

From Walter Burien:

** Government was NOT supposed to operate at a profit. How did they get around this restriction?

ANSWER: If for example a city had a 100-million dollar profit for the year from any of its operations, at a stroke of a pen they create or deposit into a "liability fund" and poof, there goes the profit re-designated now as a liability.

Here is the link to the Board of Governors Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), . for 2011, the latest and 98th audit of the Federal Reserve. According to Clint Richardson, "it explains how everything operates, its foreign investments and foreign currency swaps and schemes, its many separate limited liability corporate holdings like Maiden Lane, its dealings and bailouts with AIG, Bears Stearns, and JP Morgan, and of course its assets and liabilities balance sheet."

“Within this 479 pages of dry and boring financial reporting is a full description of the Fed’s operations, including the basic financial happenings of each individual reserve bank. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t have the flair of a good “Secrets of the Temple” or “Creatures” type of novel, but its got all the actual facts and figures from TARP to SOMA. Why? Because this is what is required by federal law.

If you want to know about the Fed, read the CAFR.

If you want to know about your city, read the CAFR.

If you want to know about your county, state, district, or any other governmental agency or corporation, read the CAFR.

Here are a few highlights:

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Washington, D.C.
May 2012

To: The Speaker of the House of Representatives:

Pursuant to the requirements of section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act, I am pleased to submit the ninety-eighth annual report of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. This report covers operations of the Board during calendar year 2011.

Sincerely,

Ben Bernanke
Chairman

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Everyone But an Idiot Knows That The Lower Classes Must Be Kept Poor

...or They Will Never Be Industrious” —Arthur Young; 1771

It is no secret that an infinitesimally small number of people own a vastly disproportionate amount of wealth. Therefore, it should be no secret that our economic/political system is based on the greed of this infinitesimally small number of greedy power-hungry people. Yet, most Americans still believe that the governing class is well-meaning, albeit, a little dense.

Never mind the continuous creation of government policy that is hell-bent on depriving increasing numbers of us the means for self-provision. Never mind the too-big-to-fail banks that keep growing; the trillions in backdoor bailouts to Wall Street; the extension of tax cuts for the rich; unilateral executive, warrant-less surveillance; never-ending wars; crushing student debt load (student loan debt has grown 511% in 10 years), and Supreme Court rulings that allow strip-searches for traffic violations, and unlimited political expenditures by corporations.  Meanwhile major corporations have not paid any taxes for the last four years. In fact, many corporations make more money after taxes. That's right. They have a negative tax rate!

Last year, Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. Today, CTJ updated that report to reflect the 2011 tax bill of those 30 companies, and 26 of them have still managed to pay absolutely nothing over that four year period:

If they  paid the 35% rate, that would've been $78.3 billion more in federal income taxes.

click image to enlarge

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Jackpot Capitalism: Great Fortunes Made Gambling With Other People's Money

Never before in history, have so many, amassed such spectacular fortunes in such a short period of time. Sure, during the Industrial Revolution, the robber barons became tremendously wealthy over a span of about 45-50 years. However, at the very least, this great wealth resulted from exploring new technology and/or finding new resources that did benefit society, despite the extraordinary suffering these men of spectacular fortunes caused.

Fast forward a century, and people are literally profiting immensely from the turmoil that they created. The same cannot be said of this new crop of even faster growing fortunes (approx. 10 year span). Oh, these "jackpot capitalists" have contributed more than their fair share of suffering on a global scale; however, unlike their predecessors, the robber barons, they have produced very little, if any benefit at all, to society. In fact, the opposite can be said. With access to a bull market, and the bank's capital, these new "robber barons" have single-handedly collapsed our economy with their one-way, no risk bets.

How did these individuals become wealthier than some nations? Well, engineered by the Federal Reserve, itself, most of their wealth was made on the sharp fall in the cost of money. After all, the Federal Reserve sets the interest rates for America, as well as greatly influencing global rates.


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Watch How the FDA Suppresses a Cure For Cancer.

The following documentary is a MUST-SEE for everyone! I have yet to see anything so fully documented that exposes the extraordinary measures that the FDA will resort to in order to ensure that cancer remains the killer that it is, and  that Chemotherapy remains the torture-chamberous non-curing treatment that it is. Not to mention, this film, in addition to detailing the FDA's 14 year campaign to remove Dr. Stanislaus Burzynski, who found a cure for cancer, from society, also reveals the battle Dr. Burzynski had with the National Cancer Institute, who is just as bad.

"Our bodies contain two categories of genes that allow cancer to flourish: oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes. When someone has cancer, they have a higher level of oncogenes switched on, with a higher level tumor suppressor genes switched off.

The goal is to tell the body to both switch back on the tumor suppressor genes, and turn off as many oncogenes as possible."

It comes to no surprise to most of us that the median annual American pharmaceutical company profits triples the median annual profits of all of the Fortune 500 companies. But, how does Big Pharma maintain these astounding profits? Well, through its gatekeeper: the FDA, and the National Cancer Institute.

"Big Phama" didn't manifest overnight. It was an ongoing process that started in the 1970s and 1980s.  At the time,  profitability of the pharmaceutical industry was two times greater than the median of all industries in the Fortune 500. In the 1990s, when the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA)- which authorizes drug companies to pay "user-fees" to the FDA for each brand-name drug considered for approval, greatly speeding up the approval process - kicked in, the drug industry's profitability grew to almost four times greater than the median for all industries in the Fortune 500.

After the PDUFA was enacted, the part of the FDA that reviews new drugs received more than half its money from user fees and it grew by leaps and bounds.  Meanwhile, the part of the FDA that monitors safety, ensures manufacturing standards, and checks ads for accuracy deteriorated. Not only that, the approval process for brand-name drugs shortened to 3 months, from its previous 21 months. Yet, here it is 2011, and Antineoplaston Therapy has been waiting approval since 1977.

On June 21, 1977, Dr. Burzynski's attorney's investigated both state and federal law to find out if it was legal for him to start his own biomedical research company to make the Antineoplastons (non toxic cancer treatment) and administer them to patients within his private practice.  He found out it was legal as long as he avoided interstate commerce.

However, it was not soon after that Burzynski's patients found themselves harassed by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners(TMB) to file charges against their doctor, and the FDA started its witch hunt.

In 1983, the FDA obtained an injunction from a federal district court prohibiting Dr. Burzynski and the Burzynski Research Institute from shipping antineoplastons in interstate commerce without first obtaining the approval of the FDA. The injunction, however, did not preclude intrastate distribution of the antineoplastons.

On July 28, 1986, the TMB began investigating Dr. Burzynski, even though no formal complaint had been filed, and on November 18, 1986, a notarized agreement between Burzynski and the TMB was created requiring the doctor resent a list of 40 successful cases.  He submitted double that number. He never heard back.

On September 6, 1988, the TMB convened a hearing to decide whether or not to revoke Burzynski's medical license. Texas State Board of Medical Examiners vs. S. Burzynski

Dr. Burzynski faced numerous battles with the federal government over the years. Between 1986 and 1994, he was subjected to three federal grand jury investigations. No indictments were ever handed down. However, during that time federal officials raided his research clinic and confiscated his patients' medical records.

Then in March 1995, Dr. Burzynski appeared on the CBS TV show "This Morning," accompanied by three of his patients. That very afternoon, the FDA raided his clinic again. A fourth federal grand jury investigation got underway, and by November 1995, charged Dr. Burzynski with 40 counts of distributing a non-FDA approved drug in interstate commerce, 34 counts of mail fraud, and one count of contempt of court for violating the order against interstate delivery of Antineoplastons. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) noted that a grand jury's failure to indict someone after three attempts is "virtually unprecedented."

On February 9, 1996, US District Court Judge Sim Lake ruled that Dr. Burzynski cannot treat patients outside of clinical trials. In other words, he issued a death sentence for hundreds of Dr. Burzynski's patients.

This prosecution marked the first time the FDA had tried to jail a scientist for using a drug on which he was conducting FDA authorized clinical trials. This trial alone, which was not even based on whether or not antineoplastons work or not cost the American taxpayer $60 million, while costing Dr. Burzynski over $2.2 million!

On March 4, 1997, due to a dead-locked jury, a mistrial was declared.

The FDA still did not back down. A second federal trial got underway May 19, 1997 to try Dr. Burzynski on the contempt of court charge. A federal jury acquitted Dr. Burzynski on May 27, 1997.

At the same time, Dr. Burzynski was fighting the Texas Medical Examiner's Board and the FDA, the National Cancer Institute, under Dr. Michael Friedman, tried to co-opt his discovery and render it ineffective.

A former employee of Dr. Burzynski, Dvorit Samid, betrayed him when she partnered with Elan Pharmaceutical through her employment with the National Cancer Institute and tried to hijack Burzynski's discovery. The problem was that she used only one component of the antineoplaston, phenylacetate, which when isolated, has very little clinical effect.

When that didn't work, the National Cancer Institute said they would accept Dr. Burzynski's antineoplastons; however, only if they could revise the protocol that Dr. Burzynski had perfected. Burzynski refused. The NIC threatened with patent infringement. Finally, they came to an agreement. Yet, within a very short time, in March 1995, the NIC tried to drastically alter Burzynski's protocol to make his treatment less effective!!

Four years after the NCI trials were closed and two years after Burzynski defeated the FDA, winning his freedom, the NCI, in February of 1999, decided to vindictively publish the scientifically invalid Antineoplaston trials in peer-reviewed medical literature. However, whoever published the invalid trials forgot to leave out the dosage, which in some patients was 2.7 times lower than the protocol demanded, and in other patients, 36 times lower, and, in even other patients, 170 times lower!

Li-Chuan Chen, PhD, who worked as a scientist for the National Cancer Institute from 1991-1997, said that when the NCI or assigned entities conducted trials on alternative cancer therapies they always altered the protocol and let it fail in order to discredit the therapy. He went on to say, "Scientists never look at it carefully, because as he says, Popeye is telling you something and you don't question him...under the capitalist sun, there is nothing sacred."

Here's the kicker. On October 21. 1991, the United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, along with "Inventor": Dvorit Samid filed a patent for Antineoplastons. On October 12. 1993, the US and Dvorit Samid file for a second patent on Antineoplastons. And on March 7, 1994, the US and Dvorit Samid file its most comprehensive patent spanning 111 pages. Seven months later they file a fourth one. On 6/6/1995, the US files its 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th extended patent. The next day, the US files its 9th, 10th, and 11th patent. A few months later, Dr. Michael Friedman leaves his position at the NCI and becomes Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the FDA, working directly under Dr. David Kessler.

In the three years (1997-2000) after Dr. Burzynski was indicted, all of the US patents for Antineoplastons were approved. However, one paragraph within these patents, in particular, is quite revealing:

Since 2009, the  only obstacle in the way of Antineoplasmons is the $300 million pricetag on the final phase of FDA clinical testing...and the FDA's requirement that children with inoperable brainstem glioma to also under go radiation treatment in these Phase 3 trials, claiming it would be unethical to do otherwise. 



Links:

Big Pharma Deals to Preserve High Drug Prices Skyrockedted in FYI 2010

The Truth About Drug Companies by Marcia Angell

Pay-For-Delay: How Drug Company Pay-Offs Cost Consumers Billions


Families USA

Bush Administration Back Pharmaceutical Industies Over the Needs of Millions of Senior Citizens

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Militarizing Cyberspace?

The Pentagon has classified cyberspace as a new battlefield, as they unveiled a new strategy for protecting military computer networks from hackers, designating cyberspace as an "operational domain" U.S. forces will be trained to defend.

The question that needs to be asked is, who do they plan to battle? Well, we, the people, of course.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Justice, relying on the All Writs Act that dates back to 1789, is determined to make sure that a case in Colorado will set a legal precedent allowing it to force Americans accused of crimes to decrypt their computers' hard drives. Fortunately, an encryption defense attorney is fighting the DOJ demands, applying the Fifth Amendment to encrypted information stored on computers.

The government is using DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks to their censoring methods to silence critics and stymie opposition.

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Confessions of a CIA Black Ops Assassin

Gene "Chip" Tatum, a former CIA Black Ops Assassin and OSG2 NWO insider, who was also involved in Iran-Contra  knew what would happen to him if he spoke out and showed his documents, but he did it anyway, and in 2007,  Chip’s tortured body washed up on a beach in Panama.

In the video (below),  Chip discusses his "involvement in Operation Red Rock, Task Force 160 and OSG2. Hear him reveal the names of high profile officials who were integrally involved in these CIA covert killing sprees and/or narco-trafficking, directly or indirectly: Oliver "Ollie" North, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. You’ll learn from an "insider" about outrageous U.S. government felony crime and corruption and the impending New World Order destruction of America. You’ll hear his amazing insight concerning the Nixon Administration and the dirty politics of the Vietnam War. This is the last interview prior to his sudden disappearance in 1998. 

Excerpts:



Full interview:



Interview with Chip's wife:

Ted Gunderson interviews Nancy Tatum, the wife of Black Ops-Operative Chip Tatum. In this film you'll learn from Nancy how her and Chip were stalked, harassed, intimidated and eventually railroaded into Federal Prison for Chip's refusal to turn over secret documents to U.S. Intelligence Agencies because he knew that they "knew" he had first-hand knowledge of shadow government narco-trafficking into the United States by powerful, high profile officials. Chip knew that he would be murdered if he gave up his "evidence" to Oliver North at the behest of his handler, George H.W. Bush. This video exposes how absolutely corrupt the Federal so-called "justice" department and courts have become-to the point of aiding and abetting in the conspiracy and cover-up of U.S. government "spook" agency participation in narcotics trafficking into the U.S. She warns how anyone and everyone can be destroyed by the corrupt justice system. http://www.1-free-dvd.com free download of 'The Tatum Chronicles:' http://www.scribd.com/doc/1434148/The-Tatum-Chronicles free download of 'Nixon's Darkest Secret:' http://www.scribd.com/doc/520461/Nixons-Darkest-Secret free download of Tatum's C.I.P.A. Briefing: http://www.scribd.com/doc/504636/USA-vs-Chip-TatumCIPA-Briefing-Transcripts free download of Nexus magazine interview of Chip Tatum: http://www.scribd.com/doc/504761/The-Pegasus-Fileex-CIA-deep-cover-agent-Tatum-interviewed

Here is a link to the text and copies of the documents “The Tatum Chronicles” including an order on White House stationary signed by George H.W. Bush to Chip to recover documents by whatever means necessary including death. He would not be held accountable.




.

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Search Across Multiple Government Databases

You can search one or multiple databases of the Federal Register here.

From the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Register is the daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

Federal Register Notices for 2009

OMB Issues 2010 Release Date Schedule for Principal Federal Economic Indicators

Calendar (pdf) - Schedule of release dates for principal Federal Economic Indicators for 2010

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Open Congress Redesign

OpenCongress, the free, open-source, not-for-profit, non-partisan, one-stop web resource that brings together official government data with news and blog coverage, social networking and public participation tools has completely redesigned its website to enhance its mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement.

We’ve redesigned every nook and cranny of the website with a focus on bringing more clarity and comprehension to the obscure legislative puzzle that is Congress. Besides the new design, we’re also going public with a bunch of new features today that make it easier for people to turn their browsing and research of bills before Congress into powerful political action, instantly. The site improvements we’re launching today are a big step towards fulfilling our mission of opening up the lawmaking process and creating a more participatory political environment.

Latest News:

House panel pushes health bill to brink of passage

House Compromise Would Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices.

Links:

govtrack helps you keep tabs on the U.S. Congress.

MAPLight Illuminating the connection between Money And Politics

OpenSecrets is the nation’s premier independent website tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects policy and citizens’ lives.

OpenCongress Widgets

Project RaceTracker, is crowd-sourced project that allows individuals to add information about who’s running for office in their district and state, as long as the info is referenced to an outside source.

Bills:

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

America's Affordable Health Choices Act 2009

Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009

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When the Dollar Becomes Worthless? What Then?

Wasn't it Albert Einstein who said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"? Isn't that what the Federal Reserve is doing? Cheap money got us into this mess, so, how exactly is cheapening it even more going to save us?

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the policy making arm of the Federal Reserve, in response to the financial crisis and committed to making sure liquidity remains in the system, cut the interest rate banks charge each other on overnight loans to an all time low, ranging between 0-0.25%. This aggressive move intends to "promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability."

In addition, the Fed promised to use all the tools at their disposal to speed up the process of economic recovery, including, purchasing Treasury notes and bonds to bid up the price and lower the yield, essentially, lowering the entire Treasury yield curve - the spread between the federal funds rate, and the 10-year Treasury note yield which is linked to the pricing of traditional fixed-rate mortgages. In reality, the Federal Reserve is using the crisis as an excuse to trade U.S. Treasuries for toxic debt, hence, their reluctance to disclose the recipients of $2 trillion.

It all sounds good, but why do visions of people hovered over cash-filled wheelbarrows, lined up outside the local store, waiting to buy a loaf of bread, stream through my mind?

Massive liquidity injections - Greenspan's hallmark - created an excess of cheap money, which, in turn, fueled the debt bubble which, in turn, caused the colossal rise in home prices. And, now, that the bubble has burst, sparking a financial crisis...what are we doing to repair the damage? The exact same thing that caused it...printing even more money. When borrower income is insufficient in relation to its debt, the Federal Reserve has no power to be a borrower of last resort, yet they are running the show, portraying themselves as martyrs for the cause. expanded the monetary base by 76%.

"Like gold, US dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the US government has a technology called a printing press (now its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes...it reduces the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services..." - Ben Bernacke

So, why, in the midst of economic and fiscal meltdowns, do we continue to "trust" these politicians who have turned our nation’s fate over to private bankers and corporate crooks? We know damn well that Henry Paulson, with his long history of intimate connections to the political and financial elite, and politicians do not have the public’s welfare as a priority. These major players along with central bankers lock in their profits all the while driving down the living standards of the population.

The banks have intentionally failed us miserably, yet use the crisis they have created - from their own fraud and criminal behavior - as an opportunity to generate new profits for themselves. The media coverage of the auto industry bailout is providing cover for TARP and the actions of the Treasury and Federal Reserve. The scrutiny of the auto workers and ever increasing standards to be met in comparison to the bankers, for one-fiftieth of the amount, speaks volumes.

Consider the $700 billion bailout, once the domain of the Treasury is now in the process of being inadvertently transferred to the Federal Reserve, a private corporation and therefore is not required by law to disclose their accounting and does not have the burden of oversight. The Fed has loaned trillions of dollars of our money, with no oversight or accountability.

"In the macroeconomic sense, foreclosure reduction is an essential part of getting us out of the problem we're in. The refusal so far to use the money to that purpose has been I think a violation of the intent and undermines the ability to get the votes in this Congress to do things in the future." - House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass

Just like the trillions of dollars that have gone unaccounted for during the Iraq War, trillions of dollars are now being transferred in the largest transfer of wealth in history.

How do they get away with robbing us blind, so easily, considering their "secrets" are hidden in plain sight? Well, besides relying on the vast majority of people to act like sheep, and the fact that anyone who is perceptive enough to figure out what is going on is immediately branded a crackpot, one tried and true method is cooking the calculations of economic and government reporting. By altering the way certain statistics are calculated - such as the inflation rate, unemployment rate, GDP, etc - and disclosing only what they want us to know, it has proven to be a great way to keep people in the dark and in denial of what's really happening.

"In politics, nothing happens ‘by accident.’ If it happened, you can bet it was ‘planned’ that way." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

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When Governments Start Going After the Weak it's Not a Good Sign.

Notice the t-shirt on one of the agents involved in the federal raid on the sick and the dying in the photo at left. Could it be that Blackwater contractors are now taking on the truly dangerous ...dying cancer patients?

Now, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, however, the photo at left was pulled from an LA Times news report on a federal raid at the Culver City medical marijuana dispensary on August 1.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Victor B. Kenton authorized the seizure of "controlled substances, including marijuana; derivatives thereof, and edible products containing marijuana . . . receipts, notes, ledgers, records . . . reflecting the proceeds of those activities . . . electronic equipment . . . photographs, negatives, videotapes, films, addresses and/or telephone books . . . records, documents, programs, applications. . . ." according to the LA Times article, and this action comes on the same day an appellate court in San Diego rules that federal law does not preempt California's medical pot law.

"Marijuana remains a controlled substance, and it is illegal under federal law to possess, dispense or cultivate marijuana in any form," -- Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles office of the agency.

As one commenter pointed out, the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule I excludes substances that have "an accepted use in medical treatment in the United States".
So, why are we busting medical marijuana patients with valid doctor's prescriptions? Why all the bravado? I mean, come on...what are they trying to prove? Some of these people can barely lift their head off their pillow.

Perhaps, easily grown, inexpensive marijuana threatens the Pharmaceutical industry's potential profit margin. Perhaps, the "Rambo" tactics are meant to send a clear message. Perhaps, "Big Brother"..."Big Business"..."The Man" is sitting on a big secret(s), a secret(s), that if it ever got out, could decorpocratize America.

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How much Bakken oil is Recoverable Using Today's Technology?

This week a federal report is due to come out on how much oil can be recovered from the 25,000 square miles of Bakken Shale Formation covering parts of North Dakota, Montana and two Canadian provinces. Approximately two-thirds of the area is in western North Dakota, where the oil is trapped in a thin layer of dense rock nearly two miles beneath the surface.

"Technology continues to advance," Dorgan said Monday. "This is not going to be a red light or green light about oil development in the Bakken -- clearly there already is a big green light there. But I think the question is pretty clear: How much of that oil is recoverable using today's technology?"

The total amount of oil in the Bakken Formation have varied anywhere from 10 billion barrels to 500 billion barrels. The report estimates how much oil can be recovered using current technology, not the total amount of oil in the formation.

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Irony of McCain's Choice of Historical Hero Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt (T.R.), like the John McCain of the past, presented himself with a reforming righteousness and unwavering moral authority. T.R. preached democracy as a fundamental moral undertaking and insisted that it was contingent on the "good" character of its citizens to sustain itself. He also emphasized the importance of "square deal" politics to the American public.

John McCain followed Roosevelt’s example until recently. He twice voted against President Bush's tax breaks for the rich, supports the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law that many conservatives hate, and in general, seemed to transcend the "greediness" of conservative politics. In his struggle to satisfy the base, he is beginning to switch gears as he evokes Ronald Reagan's name over Theodore Roosevelt's and especially, McCain's Phil Graham connection.

Considering John McCain's "weakness" is economics, it makes sense that this is where he vacillates, however; his current turnaround contrasts squarely with T. R's "square deal" and "fair play" ideas. T.R.'s desire to take on big business, and his growing weariness of the special power and money that flowed to Americans of great wealth in the beginning of the 20th Century, or as T.R. put it, "unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics” directly opposes Ronald Reagan's desire to deregulate and trickle-down great wealth.

John McCain's level of "integrity" must be measured on a scale specifically made for the political world. Like all politicians, McCain must get elected into office before he can be of service to America and unfortunately, sometimes that requires pandering to a group of people you may not ordinarily agree with, yet who are crucial to your success. I previously blogged about Joe Biden being located in the state that is home to the credit card industry and the dilemma that presented, although I believe John McCain's association with Phil Graham goes way beyond trying to get elected, and more a matter of ignorance, nevertheless, his continued mentoring with Graham could be disastrous for America if McCain is elected President.

Joshua David Hawley , author of Theodore Roosevelt, Preacher of Righteousness describes the political atmosphere prior to T.R.'s run for presidency which could be compared to the political atmosphere John McCain is running in. Mr. Hawley said, as early as 1879 the collapse of the moral consensus of the 19th century, meaning organized Christianity and the series of beliefs that went along with that had produced a moral interregnum in the country and that combined with a shifting economic system and the country’s changing demographic patterns, unsettled the country to such a degree, not only economically but morally and socially as well and T.R.'s presidency was a reaction to uncertain time.

John McCain must decide whether he's going to continue to pursue the Ronald Reagan path of "government is the problem" or jump back on the T.R. track of, let's use government to help structure the market so that it will prop up and work for democracy.

Square Deal

"Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."... "We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.""The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us." -- T. R., New York State Fair, Syracuse, September 7, 1903

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled, and less than that no man shall have." -- T. R., Speech to veterans, Springfield, IL, July 4, 1903

"We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal." -- T. R., Letter to Sir Edward Gray, November 15, 1913

"The principles for which we stand are the principles of fair play and a square deal for every man and every woman in the United States, a square deal politically, a square deal ... social and industrial " -- T. R., in 1913 in New York City

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The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance.

As usual, Thomas Jefferson hit the nail on the head. If "We the People" are guilty of anything, it's taking our eyes off the cookie jar at the "Cookie Monster" convention. That's just plain stupid, but I guess that's why we're the "peasants".

The "corporate class" or the "Cookie Monster" convention assert that the markets discipline themselves and interference will only keep the markets from "working properly" or more precisely, working for those who can afford to take advantage of and gain at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer. At the same time, when the market starts to melt due to corruption, greed and lack of standards, requirements, and rules, the same free market fundamentalists who denounced regulation earlier, now want to be bailed out, once again, at "We the People's" expense.

In return, for paying the price of their sins, "We the People" should, at the very least, demand regulation so that this does not happen again. The guilty parties deserve to bail themselves out and most deserve a jail sentence as their depraved behavior "trickled down" to the "least of their brother", yet that will never happen because the cost to all of us would be far too much.

So it goes, all those responsible for nearly collapsing our economy will get away with reaping the benefits from the very institution they fought so hard and succeeded to make impotent - our government - while we lose jobs, retirement savings, and in general, our quality of life or in other words, we're left with the crumbs, and that's if you are lucky. Let's not forget that this corporate class of people will have to endure watching their bank accounts drop from $100 million to $50 million dollars and most of us can honestly say we will never know what that feels like.

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Estimated Cuts to Medicaid Over Five Years

Federal Medicaid payments to states will be reduced by more than $15 billion over the next five years.

Each state was supposed to submit a state-specific analysis of the impact of each of the regulations. 43 states and the District of Columbia responded, accounting for close to 95% of total Medicaid spending. This report analyzes these responses.

The report finds that the state estimates of the fiscal impacts of the regulatory changes are significantly higher than the $15 billion impact projected by the Administration. According to the states who responded to the Committee, the regulations would reduce federal payments to them by $49.7 billion over the next five years, more than three times the Administration's estimate. In the case of one regulation, the state estimates of lost federal funds are more than ten times the Administration's estimate.

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Bush's 2009 Budget Proposal Speaks Volumes.

All future historians will have to do is read through President George W. Bush's 2009 budget proposal and they will know all about his presidency, what kind of man he is, what he values and most importantly, if this proposal goes through, why the United States of America is a third-world country.

At a time when the U.S. economy is lagging, job growth is at an all time low, and the housing industry is in freefall, President George W. Bush's $3.1 trillion budget for the 2009 federal fiscal year proposes to cut approx. $15 billion in federal program spending while making his tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans permanent, saving them approx. $51 billion, not to mention his three-quarters of a trillion dollar defense budget.

According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities if the President's budget goes through, taxpayers who make over $1 million, 0.3% of the population, will save $51 billion. In 2009 alone, 0.3% of the population will gain $12 billion more than the entire bottom 60 percent of the U.S. income distribution, households that make $50,000 a year or less.

In addition, according to the CBPP, the nation's most affluent 1 percent, households currently making over $450,000 a year, would save $1.1 trillion over the next decade, if the Bush tax rates remain in effect, over $180 billion more in tax savings than the savings that would go to America's entire bottom 80 percent combined.

151 federal programs would be eliminated or reduced. President Bush wants to cut spending on anti-poverty, housing and social service programs and federal health programs. He wants to cut funding for teaching hospitals and freeze medical research. 47 programs from the Department of Education would be eliminated and he would reduce anti-terrorism grants for states and cities. Medicare would be cut by $12.1 billion and public broadcasting would be cut by 50 percent.

The Department of Labor, the federal agency in charge of administering and enforcing wage and hour laws, health and safety regulations, pension plan oversight, unemployment benefits, and job training, along with many other programs says the 2009 Bush Budget would leave America's workers behind

His proposed budget cuts would be a disaster for HIV AIDS,

"This budget shows an irresponsible neglect of our burgeoning domestic epidemic" (AHF release, 2/4). Gene Copello, executive director of the AIDS Institute, said, "While the President's FY 2009 budget carries good news for addressing the global pandemic, it is terribly inadequate to address the epidemic in our own backyard. Following a trend now for several years, this budget will only further destabilize the prevention of HIV and the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS in our own country" -- Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation

The National Priorities Project reveals critical dangers for state budgets and working families by offering a state-by-state breakdown of how Bush's proposed budget cuts would impact on the states.

Effects of the Bush Tax Cuts through 2006 by Income Group.

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Death and Taxes

"Death and Taxes" is a large representational graph of the federal budget. It contains over 400 programs and departments and almost every program that receives over 200 million dollars annually. The data is straight from the president's 2008 budget request and will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress to begin the fiscal year. All of the item circles are proportional in size to their spending totals and the percentage change from 2007 is included to spot trends and disproportion.

"Death and Taxes" is more than just numbers. It is a uniquely revealing look at our national priorities, that fluctuate yearly, according to the wishes of the President, the power of Congress, and the will of the people. Thousands of pages of raw data have been boiled down to one poster that provides the most open and accessible record of our nations' spending than ever seen before. If you pay taxes, then you have paid for a small part of everything in the poster. "Death and Taxes" is an essential poster for any responsible citizen or information junkie.

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US Government Contractor Misconduct Database

The government has no excuse for wasting taxpayer money due to contracting companies with a poor performance record now that Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a centralized federal database listing companies with instances of misconduct, was created.

"In the beginning, POGO (which was then known as Project on Military Procurement) worked to expose outrageously overpriced military spending such as the $7,600 coffee maker and the $436 hammer. After many successes reforming the military, POGO expanded its mandate to investigate systemic waste, fraud, and abuse in all federal agencies."

You can find the Central Contractor Registry here.

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$46 Billion to Subsidize Farming "Corporations"

$46 billion is the total cost Americans pay to subsidize an industry that has not needed subsidizing for a very long time. Less than 2% of all Americans work on a farm today yet we continue to shell out $11 billion dollars to farms that are more like "corporations", in addition to the 18% tariff paid on agricultural imports as opposed to the 5% tarrif paid on other exported, bringing the grand total to $35 billion a year.

Farm subsidies, a temporary remedy for small farmers during the Depression, have been renewed continuously since the collapse of the farm economy during the era that John Steinbeck so vividly portrayed in The Grapes of Wrath.

As Robert Reich pointed out, our outdated...,

"...farm policy is the single most damaging thing we're doing to the world's poor. Ending farm subsidies and tariffs would be the single most important thing we could do to reduce global poverty....

...half the population of the developing world depends on farming for their livelihoods. They can’t earn what the global market would otherwise pay them because America’s subsidized farm exports keep prices artificially low."

Mr. Reich gives the example of American cotton growers. We export cotton for over half the amount it takes us to produce it, effectively leaving farmers around the world in a no win situation. If we put an end to farm subsidies, prices would rise naturally, increasing the value of exports from other countries around the globe, giving those farms a chance prosper, decreasing the amount of poverty worldwide.

Between the $42 billion dollars spent to incarcerate mostly harmless marijuana users and the $46 billion needlessly spent on the agricultural industry, we could probably cover a good percentage of the 47 million uninsured Americans.

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Informative

Federal Information:
Fed Spending -- Find out how the federal government spends our money.
Social Security Fast Facts for 2007 Everything you want to know about Social Security in 2007.

Real Estate:
Real Estate Trends Report

Some cool financial blogs:
Docudrama -- Docudrama looks for the hidden stories in daily securities filings of Silicon Valley companies.
Footnoted -- Footnoted finds interesting tidbits or serious issues, "like aggressive accounting, excessive compensation or the type of questionable self dealing that can often be indicative of more serious problems at a company", in the fine print most of us would rather not read.
All Financial Matters -- Blogs about all financial matters.
Consumerism Commentary -- Commentary on all sorts of financial issues.

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Useful Government Information For Everyone

Federal employees who work in the Office of Citizen Services and Communications at the U.S. General Services Administration come across a large amount of U.S. government information and services that can benefit your life. From saving money and visiting National Parks to finding out about government auctions and the latest recalls, they want to bring these resources to you in a new way—through their blog.

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