THE MIRACLE AND THE PROMISE

On this day 2008 years ago according to the folk's lore,
posted at 12/24/2008 8:20 AM CST on newsherald.com by: Glenn Nunley. aka. "TerraPatriot"

The most controversial child in history was born in Bethlehem to a virgin Mary. A special bright star illuminated the night sky to mark his coming. while a tyrant King killed every male child in the land born around this time in an effort to destroy this miracle child and the message of hope that he brought. Although power brokers and money changers have always tried, this miracle child cannot be bought. His message was simple and free for all. " DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU " When this message is understood and practiced happiness and paradise are never denied. Merry Christmas. TerraPa.

BEWARE THE DRUMS OF WAR

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." (Julius Caesar)

MELTDOWN OF THE GOVERNMENT: AND A NASTY AFTER-TASTE

When you make a deal with the devil you wake up in hell. And make a deal they did. Kick backs and lobby money has been running through the halls of congress and the avenues of Pennsylvania avenue like the muddy water from the Johnstown diluge. And most of the Democratic and Republican ingrates who will remain, as well as the soon to be newly elected congressional re-runs, will triumphantly burrow up with their rotten malefactors for their unholy alliances. But there is definitely a great change in the air and the American people are energized more than anytime in our recent history. But is it enough yet? Now is the time for the people in each of the fifty states to demand that our collective voices be heard! Enough of this blatant robbery! Enough of this treating the American people like we don't deserve to have choices where our lives and the lives of our children are concerned! Enough of the stacked deck in Washington DC where the elected officials who were sent there by the people, to conduct the honest business of the people, act like paid whores at the beck and call of the highest bidder. Somewhere along the way our Federal government was bought out. Not unlike, too many, of our State Governments. We simply cannot continue to stand idly by and pray that God's will be done. I think any God worth the title would consider our generation to be a bunch of pathetic failures! And that is just what we have collectively come to be! A bunch of idiots who are willing to swallow any bullshit this elitist controlled Government and it's controlled media decides to feed us. But what is worse is when so many thousands and maybe at this point even millions of the American people can see right through most of it and are cowered into submission, even to the point of starvation and death at the hands of these well bred, well educated, and well bought and paid for assholes. You can't die but once! The death toll is, and has always been one per person! Would you die on your knees whining, and begging a bunch of people who we put in their positions to represent Us! People we elected to simply pass fair and equitable laws. To guide our government in the directions which are amenable to the safety, and welfare of all the people of this once great country, not just the people who happen to find themselves in a privileged group. Should we have to feel this way? That we have no power at all, when they so blatantly cram the kind of crap down our throats as they do, and all the while allow us to watch them while they do it on C-SPAN!! OK then, if thats the path we will continue down, then get used to that yukky brown mushy taste because these people that are so much wiser than the rest of us will never stop pushing it down our throats and, HEY! It aint cake. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA

ELITIST CONTROL IS A MANIFESTATION OF THE HUMAN CONDITION

“ Thoughout the universe the gears in the machinery are forever shifting.”
"Power, demands control." On the world stage, it is the few powerful, forever extending their control over the many, which belie the reality of the current world wide economic collapse. A pre-engineered remedy to over population and peak oil. The two most significant objectives are population reduction while maximizing concentrated wealth and power. The latter represents the innate, eternal objective.

The bulk of global population depletion will be felt most severely and tragically in the poorer nations. Food riots in some of these nations have been occurring regularly; government granaries have been under armed guard. Large industrial nations, NAmerica inclusive, will not be spared the consequences of an energy-depleted world. With a pampered population of button pushers whose lifestyles are “non-negotiable” and who have little idea from where or how their several hundred energy slaves per capita originate, how could it be otherwise? The "American Dream" is rapidly reversing and transforming into the "American Nightmare" Glenn Nunley. North Florida.

JOHN F. KENNEDYS WARNING! WARNING OF WHAT?

"For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations"

ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT RAISING THE ALARM ON A NEWS HERALD FORUM

Replying to: Terrorpatriot
I am willing to be educated. Please, can you tell me of anyone who can be confirmed as a member of one of these groups? Who are these powerful people that control all of the world's governments and all media outlets.And out of curiosity, since you think Obama is going to take them on, why did they allow him to be elected? I mean, if they control all media, couldn't they have stopped him cold?I have looked into this before, and all I find is the fog you mentioned. I have never seen any proof positive that they exist. Posted by: blackwalk Nothing would make my day better, than to believe that you are really open to the truth. And while it is even encouraging to hear that you have looked into this before, and some of the statements you have made, lets me know this is true.I hope that you did not become so conditioned by their smoke and mirrors, to not, take another look. In case you missed it, I respectfully direct you to the blog page at the bottom of this post. If you will seek out some of the information, and video documentaries found there, you can learn the truth. Listen closely to JFK. that only takes 30 seconds. It is him warning us, and it cost him his life. Their control and influence, is always, as fluid as it needs to be, in relation to whatever situation is determined to require some form of manipulation. No expense is to great, no secret is revealed. Their mistakes are buried, not disclosed. all descent is silenced, not praised. It has amassed vast human and material resources, combining, economic, scientific, military,and political control. It's only objective is to possess total wealth and power. The computer, combined with the internet, is the most significant instrument or tool, the common citizen has ever had, to inform each other about this, "Monster On The Loose" Obama and the power behind him have used the same tool, to skillfully ascend to the presidency. It is only logical to conclude, that they would attack the mechanism, that is robbing the very people, that they aim to help.It could be an internal power struggle, or it could be an enlightened army acting on behalf of all mankind. It may be that the inner- circle will shift and the mature "Beast" will control the world. As I said before, I don't have a clue. We are witnessing the final collapse of the American currency, and who knows what economic system we are headed for. Some think it will be some "World Central Bank," for the whole world. I personally have no doubt, that over the next 5 to 10 yrs, The United States, and the rest of the world will suffer, a devastating Depression, that defies the imagination. It is precisely why I spend much of my time trying to alert as many people as I can. And, you my friend, are one of the more compliant people I have encountered, due to your existing knowledge. But even so, I can already see that you are un-reachable.It is a complex thing to grasp. We are all in a lot of trouble. "IF THERE WERE NO GOD, THERE WOULD BE A NEED TO CREATE ONE" Glenn Nunley. North Florida.

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT OURSELVES

"It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where some folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere...That’s the world! On which hope sits!" It is revelations such as this, that causes me, to first question, and then, to oppose, the status quo of our world. Having to face myself in the mirror each day, while knowing full well that my spirit is tarnished, and crippled if I don't. Glenn Nunley. North Florida.

OBAMA REVOLUTION

Nov. 4, 2008, was the day when American politics shifted on its axis. The ascent of an African-American to the presidency — a victory by a 47-year-old man who was born when segregation was still the law of the land across much of this nation — is a moment so powerful and so obvious that its symbolism needs no commentary. But it was the reality of power, not the symbolism, that changed Tuesday night in ways more profound than meet the eye. The rout of the Republican Party, and the accompanying gains by Democrats in Congress, mean that Barack Obama will assume office with vastly more influence in the nation’s capital than most of his recent predecessors have wielded. The only exceptions suggest the magnitude of the moment. Power flowed in unprecedented ways to George W. Bush in the year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It flowed likewise to Lyndon B. Johnson after his landslide in 1964. Beyond those fleeting moments, every president for more than two generations has confronted divided government or hobbling internal divisions within his own party. The Democrats’ moment with Obama, as a brilliant campaigner confronts the challenges of governance, could also prove fleeting. For now, the results — in their breadth across a continent — suggest seismic change that goes far beyond Obama's 6 percent margin in the popular vote. The evening recalled what activist Eldridge Cleaver observed of the instant when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and a movement followed: “Somewhere in the universe a gear in the machinery shifted.” Here are five big things about the machinery of national politics and Washington that will be different once Obama takes office on Jan. 20, 2009: The crash of the conservative wave For most of the past 30 years, since the dawn of the Reagan Era, conservatives have held the momentum in American politics. Even the Clinton years were shaped — and constrained — by conservative ideas (work requirements for welfare, the Defense of Marriage Act) and conservative rhetoric (“the era of Big Government is over”). Republicans rode this wave to win the presidency five of seven times since 1980, and to dominate Congress for a dozen years after 1994. Now the wave has crashed, breaking the back of the modern Republican Party in the process. Obama’s victory and the second straight election to award big gains to congressional Democrats showed that the 2006 election was not, as Karl Rove and others argued at the time, a flukish result that reflected isolated scandals in the headlines at the time. Republicans lost their reform mantle. Voters who wanted change voted for Obama 89 percent to 9 percent. They lost their decisive edge on national security. They even lost the battle over taxes. Republicans lost support in every area of the country. Virginia went Democratic, and North Carolina at midnight hung in the balance. Republicans still hold a significant, if smaller, chunk of the South and a smattering of western states. The cities were lost long ago. The suburbs fell last night — and even the exurbs are shaky. Republicans lost one of their most effective political tactics. Portraying Al Gore or John F. Kerry as exotic and untrustworthy characters with culturally elitist values proved brutally effective for the GOP in 2000 and 2004, as it had in numerous other races for years. In 2008, such tactics barely dented Obama — who because of his race and background looked at first like a more vulnerable target — and they backfired against such candidates as Sen. Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina, who was routed badly after trying to paint Democrat Kay Hagan as an atheist. The movement that brought so many conservatives to great power over the past 20 years — Gingrich, DeLay, Bush, Cheney and Rove — is left without a clear leader, without a clear agenda and without a clear route back. The crash of the conservative wave does not necessarily mean the rise of a liberal one. By stressing middle-class tax cuts and the rights of gun owners Obama showed he is sensitive to hot buttons. But he will take power with the opposition party diminished, demoralized and divided by a draining internal argument about the future. A Democratic headlockMany people find Obama’s post-partisan rhetoric soothing. But it’s doubtful that these sentiments, even if sincere, reflect the reality of the new Washington. This is a city that defines itself by partisanship. Politicians and the operatives they support play for the shirts or the skins and believe that one side’s gain is the other’s loss. POSTED ON: "POLITICO"

OBAMA INHERITS THE FIAT EMPIRE

We are to be congratulated as a Democratic Republic for bringing about a "CHANGE" in Washington, in both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. It should now be, the collective and realized goal, of all the people, to rally behind the officials whom we have elected by majority vote.

"It should forever be remembered, that we all have a duty to become, and
to stay, involved with any decisions and all directions the President chooses
to lead us, and that Congress attempts to legislate, with an
acute eye on the decisions of our Federal Judiciary"

. Too many Americans are guilty of being asleep at the wheel, in this respect, for far too long already. This is the exact reason we are witnessing so many of our citizens exhibiting fear and bewilderment at current events. They simply do not have a clue! Mr. Obama, or President Obama, has shown extraordinary skill in uniting the American people, and it is my hope, that he can continue to employ his talent to consolidate the remainder of our population. Because America is at a critical and dangerous juncture in our history.

We may, in fact, be facing "National Death." The historical end of
America, "Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave."

The beast that has precipitously creeped into our midst, and has
stealthily swallowed our government," in it's quest to consume the world," is
the "Federal Reserve System,"

which was conceived by fiends on Jekyll island, and brought to life, through the "Federal Reserve Act" in 1913, through a series of covert congressional actions, a secretive vote by three men in the senate and blackmail of President Woodrow Wilson. It was at this time the "Fiat Empire" was born.

" An alien
hybrid of big money and big government." It's body made of, " the most
confounding contradictions from hell," and "the lowest and most perverted,
greedy aspirations, mankind is capable of conceiving."

It should not be at all surprising, that among it's natural instincts for survival is it's innate ability to conceal itself from it's prey,"WE, THE PEOPLE." But an even more insidious trait, is it's ability to rapidly form symbiotic relationships with any entity that it perceives, as a threat to it's existence. Almost invisible, with the ability to incorporate within itself, all it's natural enemies, in order to perpetuate it's survival. It is an extraordinarily powerful adversary, that is seemingly impossible to describe, or to defeat, that confronts the American people. And, it is the exact cause, of most of the world's problems.

It is often referred to as "THE POWERS THAT BE" and, it is the
reason why, "THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET POORER".

If President Obama does not take immediate steps to expose, confront, and destroy the "FEDERAL RESERVE BANK" --- And I mean with the courage and zeal which was exhibited by Sparta's king Leonidas, when his country was threatened by the Persian juggernaut, then, I don't believe he should stay in office for four more minuets, much less four years.

America simply does not have the time. And, "we have seen enough of
men selling their souls."

"But they that would be rich, fall into temptation,and a snare, and
into many foolish hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil." Timothy I ch.6

GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA. aka TerrorPatriot. www.terrorpatriot.blogspot.com

THIS MAN MAKES SENCE TO ME.

The writer lives in Panama City Beach and has a bachelor's degree from Florida State University in Interdisciplinary Social Science and an associate's degree in Forestry Science.
By MIKE ABBOTT
PANAMA CITY BEACH
If the future of a nation weren't at stake, the litany of characterizations of Barack Obama would be comical. To date, Obama has been labeled a black anti-American racist, a closet Muslim in league with al-Qaida, and now, a "Socialist Marxist." Lions, tigers and bears, oh my. The proof? Well, it should be obvious - he's black. His middle name is Hussein, and his father is purported to be Muslim. On top of that, he wants universal health care, a better life for the poor and impoverished, and big money interest groups to lose their inside track to Washington.
Yes, to conservatives and the wealthy, I suppose this would sound like the socialist boogieman. Sound ridiculous? It is. But I'm amazed at the number of people who claim to believe this nonsense. Sadly, all the facts in the world won't allow some people to think outside their social boxes. We still live in age where many do not let the facts get in the way of their ideals.
While the Muslim and racist rumors have been largely debunked - even if not to the satisfaction of hard-core fundamentalists - it is the latest desperate conservative exercise in neo-McCarthyism that is particularly ironic. It appears that Obama, and Democrats in general, are accused of wanting to "redistribute the wealth," in the form of higher taxes for the wealthy. To the conservative right, this sounds like a perfect opportunity to play the "socialism" card, a particularly useful political fear-mongering tool during an election.
The irony is that the wealth has been, and is being, redistributed, as you read this - only not in typical "socialist" fashion. The wealth it seems is drifting further and further out of reach of the poor, lower, and middle classes only to be redistributed to the wealthy. The gap between the wealthy and poor is greater than ever, a trend that has no end in sight. To some, "wealth re-distribution" is synonymous with taxes. The wealthy argue that they should not be taxed to help the poor, who by and large have made them rich to start with. To do so is "socialist" by their reckoning. The golden child of the GOP, Big Business, has realized a more than 500 percent increase in pay for CEOs already making millions each year. Astonishingly, they then level charges of "wealth redistribution" and "socialism" when they are required to pay more taxes. Ironically, it was some of these very Republicans, as well as Democrats, who pushed for a government bailout of Wall Street. Personally, I can't think of anything more "socialist" than a government "redistribution" of tax money to private companies. I suppose the government should only intervene with "socialism" when it benefits the wealthy?
Sure, we could cut all social programs and assistance for the working poor and those unable to provide for themselves, such as the disabled, elderly and children. We could insist that homeless children get a job. We wouldn't want any tax dollars being "redistributed" to those in need. It would after all, be "socialist."
Maybe we should cut school lunch assistance programs also. Why should my tax dollars be redistributed to hungry children? Let's go ahead and cut Medicare and Social Security while we are at it. We couldn't have tax dollars going to support the elderly who have worked all their lives and are now too old to do so. The wealth does not need to be "redistributed" if it is distributed fairly and wisely in the first place. It is grossly misleading and overly simplistic political fear mongering to suggest that any tax that benefits the poor is nothing more than socialism that is destined to lead America into a totalitarian communist state.
There have been many charges leveled against Barack Obama. He is certainly a Democrat, and arguably a liberal. For many this is reason enough to vote for a third term of George Bush politics. But if you're one of the thousands who has convinced themselves with the help of the fundamentalist right and FOX News that Obama is everything from the anti-Christ to the reincarnation of Karl Marx, its time for a reality check. You may come out from behind your mother's skirts; Barack Obama is not the dreaded socialist boogieman

AMERICAN PASTIMES IN HELL

If you flip over the rock of American foreign policy of the past century, this is what crawls out...
invasions ... bombings ... overthrowing governments ... suppressing movements for social change ... assassinating political leaders ... perverting elections ... manipulating labor unions ...manufacturing "news" ... death squads ...torture ... biological warfare ...depleted uranium ... drug trafficking ...mercenaries ...
It's not a pretty picture.It is enough to give imperialism a bad name. But oddly enough, these activities are somehow always profitable, to some of the already, wealthiest people on the planet. The shadow government or the real power behind the so called legitimate governments of the planet, controls the world as if it were a board game such as "RISK" or "MONOPOLY" Are we at such a disadvantage and so powerless that there is simply nothing we can do about this? How are we to know the truth when our sons and daughters are asked, or ordered into foreign countries to kill it's people and be killed by them? "Every war since the war for Independence from England has been contrived by a few wealthy people to consolidate the wealth and power of a few wealthy people!" This has been proven beyond any doubt and yet the carnage continues on an unimaginable scale. It has been said that "hell is the absence of reason." Could this be the explanation? GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

OH MY GOD HELP US!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!

It makes me nuts to keep reading these untruthful "opinions" about Obama's tax plan, that he is a Socialist Muslim, that he is sneaking in under the fence to steal our money and give it to the low-life lazies, that he is the anti-Christ, that he pals around with bad people. Enough already.
"Any sort of investigation will prove without a doubt that Obama's tax plan will not only reduce taxes on 95 percent of working Americans with children, people over 65 years old who make less than $50,000 a year would pay $0 in taxes and their medical benefits will not be taxed." For the first time in a long time, this election isn't about people who make over $250,000 dollars a year. It's about the America, the 85 percent of us who do not. It's about 50 hedge fund owners paying more taxes and 1.5 million Americans paying less. The "American Dream" is not just about money. It's about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's about family and health care and roads and schools. It's about all of this for all of us. No one should worry about making too much money if they are willing to reinvest it and take the fair tax deductions. Again, Obama's plan will give small business even more incentive to grow and eliminate tax loop holes for business who go off shore. Isn't it time we all help every family to have a shot at the "American Dream". And another thing an Obama presidency just may be able to accomplish would be an end to the war in Araq which is still costing ten billion dollars per month and countless lives. Whether or not one chooses to believe the truth about this war or not, the fact remains that it was contrived by a few powerful people, to enrich a few powerful people. It was never about terrorism or keeping America free and safe, that was only the excuse. We were not that free to begin with and we are certainly no safer. I can't speak to the McCain plan, because I never could understand that he had one, other than to continue the policies of the past, use "Carl Rove attacks" to discredit Obama and go down in history. I believe the last part of his plan will be achieved on November 4, literally. And no matter which one goes in, I still believe the central government wields too much power over our lives, and it will probably take some form of secession to correct the problem. In short, none of us should ever have to worry about the profound effect that one man could have on us. That makes me "nuts" too. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA. http://www.terrorpatriot.blogspot.com/

TODAY WE LET JAKE EXPLAIN THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

We have all sorts of citizens in this country and many of them vote. So even though I can't say I like his nose ring, I do think old Jake has a pretty simple and accurate method to explain the fraudulent Federal Reserve System.

SLOW MOTION MELTDOWN?

What we are witnessing is the inevitable crash of the world markets,not unlike the crash of the great depression of 1929. The difference this time is the planning and resources that are being strategically applied to this one. A more refined and orderly mass robbery of the lower and middle class by the malevolent elite.In there wisdom they realize that they are sitting in the same boat as everyone else and that if they stuff their pockets too full too fast they could tip the boat or even sink it, sending them to the bottom along with the rest of us. They have very craftily placed the right people in the right places to pull and push the economic levers of the global economy to prevent that very thing. we should all feel lucky for this wisdom. Why just watch as Paulson and Bernanke use their nimble fingers to plug that dike, while never missing a royal pay check or celebration party. This is the age old game that has played out so many times in so many places. It is simply the money masters taking their profits from the harvest of the plantation. Some of us will be left with enough seeds for the next harvest, some will occupy brand new prison cells, many will die. Few will ever know the truth. BLESS YOU MASSA. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA. P.S. AM I ANGRY?? JUST KEEP WATCHING!!

WE WERE NEVER REALLY FREE OF ENGLAND!!!

http://www.themoneymasters.com/ http://www.libertyforlife.com/

THE DEVIL WE KNOW

'THE DEVIL WE KNOW' is the title of a new book recently out,written by retired CIA operative Bob Baur. In his book he describes many of the scenarios concerning Iran, that I have written about previously.One being, the taking out of the tanker traffic in the GULF OF HORMUZ in the event of an attack on their country by Israel or the United States. But as Mr. Baur points out in his book, a much more serious consequence would be the likelihood that the Iranian airforce would most certainly destroy the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. They have the military capability to accomplish both of these objectives within a matter of minuets.If this did occur it would have the immediate effect of removing sixty five percent of the proven oil reserves and seventeen million barrels of oil per day from the world markets for at least two years.Life as we know it would cease and countries around the world would descend into chaos.... When a country has the ability to economically blackmail the world "They are a super power"and Iran is such a country. I suspect this is the reason the United States and the United Nations has not allowed Israel to push the Bush administration into this attack already. Much has changed in the thirty years since the Iranian revolution, which was directly precipitated by the CIA egineered overthrow in 1953 of Iran's popular leader, Muhammad Mossadeq, subsequently followed by the installation of a puppet dictator, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, that danced to whatever tune the United States government told him to, especially concerning the Iranian oil reserves. The CIA also trained an Iranian version of the SS secret police that set about the country killing, raping, torturing and incarcerating the people who exhibited the least bit of descent to this un-holy governance and theft of their liberty,national wealth, and most basic human rights. And now we know who the devil is!! If any reasonable person were to walk in the Iranian's shoes, and had the knowledge and memories of what has already been inflicted on them by the United States, there could be little doubt that, this country will not hesitate to act in any way it must to prevent their enslavement by the United States again. [Remember the American hostage crises] I believe everyone of them would rather die first,and I for one understand!! This idea of an "American dream" is fine, but if you have to destroy your neighbor in order to attain it, then I believe right after the dream you will discover that you have woke up in hell. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA. "DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU"

FORGIVE MY HARSH APPROACH----I'M JUST TRYING TO SAVE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN.

TRY REAL HARD--- TO PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND OPEN YOUR EARS!!! Ron Paul is once again doing his best to explain and expose the scam of the "federal reserve system/bank/board" and to preserve it in the congressional record for future generations.He is one of the few legislators in our congress who not only understands the inherent flaw,and unconstitutional nature of the illegal central bank,he also has the courage to speak out against it!!! The majority of the American people are un-educated and blissfully ignorant to the danger and certain enslavement through debt, that this illegal entity brings to the once free population of this country.Many people are now losing their homes ,cars,pensions,savings and jobs.And still we do not rise up and put an end to this insanity.I am often attacked by the very people who are most adversely affected by these circumstances as being un-patriotic or radical. I say to them, "I AM NOT UN-PATRIOTIC,QUITE THE OPPOSITE.I AM HOWEVER VERY RADICAL AND DAMN PROUD OF IT." GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY---BREAK THE GLASS!!

REPLY TO A FRIEND ABOUT POLITICAL CHOICES

I am very glad to see your interest in the condition of our failed state,"THE UNITED STATES" Or I'm assuming that you might agree with me on that.But while I acknowledge and respect your right to your opinions, I am personally convinced that the central government is inherently corrupted by the federal reserve system and the mindless,inept legislators that have taken up homestead in Washington D. C. several of which you mentioned.I have personally sworn myself," to devote my life to it's destruction."And I will be voting against everyone of the incumbents no matter what party they are.I believe both presidential candidates are worthless and owned by the same special interest so I will not be voting for either one of them.I am including a reference to my blog page and I do hope you will take a look as it may help explain my attitude.And no matter if we agree on our government I do hope we will remain friends. Glenn. [ www.terrorpatriot.blogspot.com ] GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA

THE MOST CONCISE EXPLANATION OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

“AT THE MALEFACTOR’S DIRECTION AND FOR THEIR BENEFIT”


Not Enough Money In The
World To Fix Things
The Real Monster In The Meltdown Closet
Written By Chris Floyd
10-15-8

The myth has quickly taken hold that the global financial crash was caused by bad mortgages. This has allowed rightwing hatemongers to blame the meltdown on the “liberal” programs that encouraged home ownership among a small percentage of lower-income people (a poisonous canard that parts of the mainstream media have actually done a fairly good job of knocking down), while “progressives” of various stripes have denounced banks and other financial institutions for pushing over-easy credit on people who couldn’t really afford it.

Unsustainable mortgages are a key factor in the global crash, of course. And many people (most of them white, by the way) did take out mortgages they would not be able to afford if the housing bubble ever burst, which it has, most spectacularly. And yes, it is undeniable that the financial services industry has been tempting people with easy credit like schoolyard pushers flashing reefers.

All of this was bound to end badly, and did. But this alone would not have been enough to threaten the destruction of the entire global financial system, nor cause the blind, screaming panic that has strangulated the financial markets, seized up the vital flow of money between banks, and caused the “free” market-worshipping governments of the Western world to carry out nationalizations and interventions that, in sheer numbers, dwarf anything ever seen following a Communist revolution. (As John Lancaster notes in the London Review of Books, the Bush Administration’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac alone was “was, by cash value, the biggest nationalisation in the history of the world.” And that was just the beginning.)

What has struck mortal fear in the heart of markets and governments is not bad mortgages, but the almost incomprehensibly huge and complex market for “derivatives,” based in part on mortgage debt — but also on a vast array of other sources that were “securitized,” turned into tradable if ghostly commodities then sold off in a bewildering variety of increasingly arcane forms. This was accompanied by the expansion of yet another vast market in insurance mechanisms designed to protect these derivatives — mechanisms which themselves became “securitized.”

At the same time, the financial services industry used its paid bagmen in governments around the world to loosen almost all restrictions not only on securitization and the trading of derivatives, but also on the amount of debt that institutions could take on in order to play around in these vastly expanded and deregulated markets. For example, as Lancaster points out, UK’s Barclays Bank had a debt-to-equity ratio of 63 to 1:
Imagine that for a moment translated to your own finances, so that you could stretch what you actually, unequivocally own to borrow more than sixty times the amount. (I’d have an island. What about you?)

The result of all this has been the construction of a gargantuan house of cards, based on next to nothing, and left alone in the shadow of building “perfect storm” of greed, deregulation and political corruption.

That storm has now struck. The house of cards has fallen down, and revealed a hole of derivatives-based debt that could not be filled, literally, by all the money in the world, much less by the mere trillions that national governments are frantically throwing at it today.

Yes, “mere” trillions. As Will Hutton explains in the Observer:

…the dark heart of the global financial system [is] the $55 trillion market in credit derivatives and, in particular, credit default swaps, the mechanisms routinely used to insure banks against losses on risky investments. This is a market more than twice the size of the combined GDP of the US, Japan and the EU. Until it is cleaned up and the toxic threat it poses is removed, the pandemic will continue. Even nationalised banks, and the countries standing behind them, could be overwhelmed by the scale of the losses now emerging.


Try to imagine that: a $55 trillion market now at risk of complete destruction. Even the derivative debt owed by individual institutions stands at nation-wrecking levels. For example, a single bank in Britain, Barclays again, holds more than $2.4 trillion in credit default swaps, the tradable “insurance” mechanism against securities default. This is more than the entire GDP of Great Britain. If all this paper goes bad, there are not enough assets in the entire country to pay it off. And that’s just one bank, in one country.

Hutton gives the details:

This market in credit derivatives has grown explosively over the last decade largely in response to the $10 trillion market in securitized assets - the packaging up of income from a huge variety of sources (office rents, port charges, mortgage payments, sport stadiums) and its subsequent sale as a ’security’ to be traded between banks.

Plainly, these securities are risky, so the markets invented a system of insurance. A buyer of a securitized bond can purchase what is in effect an insurance contract that will protect him or her against default - a credit default swap (CDS). But unlike the comprehensive insurance contract on your car which you have with one insurance company, these credit default contracts can be freely bought and sold. Complex mathematical models are continually assessing the risk and comparing it to market prices. If the risk falls, the CDSs are cheap; if the risk rises - because, say, a credit rating agency declares the issuing company is less solid - the price rises. Hedge funds speculate in them wildly.

Their purpose was a market solution to make securitization less risky; in fact, they make it more risky, as we are now witnessing. The collapse of Lehman Brothers - the refusal to bail it out has had cataclysmic consequences - means that it can no longer honour $110bn of bonds, nor $440bn of CDSs it had written. On Friday, the dud contracts were auctioned, with buyers paying a paltry eight cents for every dollar. Put another way, there is now a $414bn hole which somebody holding these contracts has to honour. And if your head is spinning now, add the three bust Icelandic banks. They can no longer honour more than $50bn of bonds, nor a mind-boggling $200bn of CDSs….

While every bank tries to pass the toxic parcel on to somebody else, the system has to find the money. So will compensation for the near valueless contracts and thus now uninsured debt ultimately be made - and by whom? And because nobody knows - not the regulators, banks or governments - who owns the swaps and whether they are credit-worthy, nobody can answer the question. Maybe holders of insurance policies will get the cash due to them, but will that weaken somebody else? The result - panic.

This is the ultra-dangerous downward vortex in which the system is locked. It is why share prices are plummeting. As recession deepens, there will be defaults on securitised bonds and the potential collapse of more banks outside the G7 ring-fence. Nobody knows what proportion of the $55 trillion of credit default contracts that have actually been written will be honoured and who might bear losses running into trillions of dollars.

This is the beast in the dark that is haunting the feckless leaders of the developed world: $55 trillion of unaccountable debt, and no way of knowing how much of it is even now being flushed down the toilet, taking the global economy with it.

The massive interventions we are seeing might stabilize the markets temporarily, or at least arrest their free fall long enough to come up with some kind of massive restructuring of the global financial system. Or they might not. For it is by no means certain that the wisdom, and the political courage, to come up with a more viable system can be found among the world’s political leaders — all of whom, as we noted here the other day, have risen within the present system and, to one degree or another, owe their own power and privilege to the “malefactors of great wealth” and the extremist cult of market fundamentalism. There is no indication anywhere that the circle of collusion and corruption between governments and Big Money has even lessened, much less been broken, by the economic catastrophe. All of the various bailout plans and “coordinated actions” still have as their chief aim the preservation of the malefactors in their current state of wealth, privilege and domination. As Jonathan Schwarz notes:

Still, U.S. elites will try to impose as much of a structural adjustment as they can get away with, in order to make the bottom 80% of America pay the price for the elites’ spectacular screw-ups. The Washington Post has already started writing about how the current crisis demonstrates that we must cut Social Security. Look for much more of this to come.

The only slim hope we have for any genuine reform — even an imperfect, conflicted, compromised reform, which is the only kind we will ever have in this world, until the lion lies down with the lamb — is that the sheer scale of the real problem — the $55 trillion beast, the very real potential for the complete destruction of the global economy, and the state power that depends upon it — might force some politicians to turn apostate, renounce the market cult, and bite the hands that have fed them for so long.

Absent this near-miraculous possibility, we will be left with yet another rickety house of cards, slapped together on the fly — largely at the malefactors’ direction and for their benefit — while the beast gapes wide his ponderous jaws, and prepares to swallow us whole.

Free of State » Aspirations

Free of State » Aspirations

"WHEN YOU GET IN BED WITH DOGS YOU CAN EXPECT TO GET FLEAS"

EXCLUSIVE TO THE AUSTRO-ATHENIAN EMPIRE:
In the wake of Sarah Palin’s taking Barack Obama to task for his ties to 1960s Weather Underground member and unrepentant bomber William Ayers, our investigators have uncovered evidence linking Palin herself to controversial political figure John McCain. McCain is a former member of a shadowy organisation called the “Navy of the United State” which during the 1960s planned and conducted bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia on what early reports indicate may have been an even larger scale than the Weather Underground’s; according to some of our sources, McCain himself appears to have carried out some of these bombings personally prior to his arrest in 1967. Far from expressing repentance, McCain has indicated his willingness to engage in further terrorist acts if given the opportunity, ghoulishly chanting “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.” In light of these emerging revelations, observers are speculating as to whether Palin will now distance herself from McCain. The"TerrorPatriot"can only conclude that there is no difference in public bombing and private bombing or private sponsored terrorism as apposed to state sponsored terrorism. They both employ violence as a means of achieving a political end. I would just remind SARAH PALIN that, "when you are in bed with dogs you can expect to get fleas." GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM FOR NOW.....

Republican capitalism...Privatize profit-socialize losses

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TERRORIST AND A SECESSIONIST.

Forget about the fact that this nation was built on the right "to alter and abolish" a government that no longer is a minister to the people. With our legislators' approval rating in the SINGLE digits, what could possibly be so radical about secession.Here is an idea. Perhaps the real terrorists are those who have abandoned the Constitution, make laws and pass taxes contrary to common sense and the voice of the people, send thousands of our soldiers all over the world to die, be maimed, or occupy other countries while telling the citizens of the States of America that we are stuck with D.C. and there is no way out. ENTER TERRORPATRIOT. GLENN NUNLEY.

SECESSION IS NOT ONLY A RIGHT BUT A DUTY.

. Secession is America’s founding principle and an essential liberty in any free nation.
The Revolutionary War has a misleading name as it was in fact a massive secession of the American colonies from the British Empire. Americans did not overthrow the British government as would happen in a revolution, they separated themselves from it. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence then created 13 “Free and Independent States,” not one.
Americans were so terrified of a strong central government that it took until 12 years after the Declaration to ratify the Constitution. Several founding fathers - including Jefferson, Patrick Henry and the Anti-Federalists - opposed the Constitution for giving too much power to the federal government and rightly predicted future usurpations of power. Some states, including Virginia, ratified conditional on the right to secede from the United States and the prevailing view for almost a century was that of a voluntary union.
Secession was put to rest by Lincoln and the Civil War, or so it is thought by many. This is the flawed reasoning of might makes right - the Confederacy lost, so secession is illegal. This assertion is patently absurd; the force of arms cannot undo a right, only bury it. Lincoln, like modern politicians, fancied the second sentence of the Declaration containing “all men are created equal” but apparently failed to read the rest of it, which defended secession and rebellion as a right and duty.
The Civil War was initially fought by the North to consolidate federal power, not to end slavery. Lincoln put it best: “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it.” Honest Abe, among other depredations, shut down hundreds of northern newspapers, jailed thousands of dissidents, suspended the writ of habeas corpus and invaded Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, taking over their legislatures to force them to join his war. It took 620,000 American lives to “save” the Union.
Secession is the last peaceful defense against a government that has overstepped its lawful bounds and eroded rather than protected liberty. To deny the right of secession is to deny freedom and betray America’s founding principles. Lest we be tyrants, we should let Florida secede, along with any other territories and peoples that wish to do so. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

LETTER FROM MY EUROPEAN COUSIN

'ave A Wonderful Election, America!
POSTED BY: Pip Dawkins, 19th Century Street Urchin
Oct 01, 2008, 1:13 pm
Why 'ello, friends! Looks like 'appy days are upon us again. Mr. Greystone, the master of the 'ouse, 'as gone and entrusted to me my very own pencil, what to write down anything I wish. At first, I thought it was me birthday! I've never 'ad so much as a farthing in all my life and now look at me: a pencil owner. Why I must look like the King 'imself! But after he given it to me, Mr. Greystone, 'e said I'm meant to write about the American presidential election. "Yes, sir!" I said to 'im. "I'll do my very best, sir!"
This might lead to a crust of bread, I shouldn't wonder.
In one month and seven days, the Americans will 'ave a new president of their very own choosing! Now, I've never been to America, or anywhere outside the East End, but I imagine they must be 'appy as clams. Two 'ole candidates to choose from? And not one of 'em the son of the monarch? 'ave you ever imagined something so wonderful in your life? You yanks must be right near pinching yourselves saying, "Am I dreamin'?"
Why I 'ear they're even given people their very own ballots this year! What I'd give to 'old one of them, even just for a moment. Probably printed on silk, they are. Printed on silk and flavored like the sweetest licorice you ever did taste, I bet.
Well, that's all I 'ave for you this morning. I 'ope this pencil lasts long enough for me to write a letter to my mum. I'm so very interested to know if she's still alive.

A TALE OF TWO STORMS

When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery — a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 ...The wreck appears to be what's left of the Monticello, a Confederate blockade runner.A more recent storm of a different type has unearthed an even more bitter reminder of the lost War for Southern Independence. The failure of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and other major financial entities prompted cries for a $700 billion bailout bill, which, WHEN PASSED, will be the largest in US history. Like the hurricane that revealed long-hidden evidence of the Civil War, the ongoing financial collapse has uncovered issues the powers that be assumed to be settled at Appomattox. Obviously, the powers that be were wrong.Here, Chuck Baldwin does a little political archeology as he digs down to expose the root of the problem:
"Our entire financial system is based on an illusion, with a foundation built on quicksand. We spend more than we earn, we consume more than we produce, we borrow more than we save – and we cling to the fantasy that this can go on forever. The glue that holds this crumbling scheme together is a fiat currency called the Federal Reserve Note, created out of thin air by an international banking cartel called the Federal Reserve."The Federal Reserve system Chuck Baldwin refers to was created in 1913, and represented a major step in consolidating economic power in America. Such a system was central to the Hamiltonian dream of recreating the British Empire in America, and had sparked numerous conflicts since the early days of the Republic. The struggle was between agrarian and commercial interests in the North and the South, respectively. The slavery issue provided a useful handle the North used to work the conflict to its advantage, and political leaders of the time saw this clearly. John Taylor of Caroline, one of the Old Republicans who joined with Jefferson against the Hamiltonians, put it this way:
"A balance of power between two combinations of states, and not the existence of slavery, gave rise to this unfortunate, and absurd controversy. Banking, funding, and tariff interests united to beget the Missouri project, and that project begat the idea of using slavery as an instrument for effecting a balance of power." Jefferson had long advocated for a republic based on agrarian principles, that is, a wide distribution of property, and decentralization of political and economic power. He believed Southerners and Westerners could fight politically connected business interests within the halls of Congress:
"The only corrective of what is corrupt in our present form of government will be the augmentation of the numbers in the lower house, so as to get a more agricultural representation, which may put that interest above that of the 'stockjobbers.'"Of course, resistance to a national bank had united agrarians since the early days of the Republic. Thomas Jefferson once warned:
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." And Andrew Jackson, in his veto of the Bank of the United States in 1832, denounced a national bank as a tool that would be used for "the advancement of the few at the expense of the many." In that same veto, Jackson warned, "Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its nature has so little to bind it to our country?"Those tensions finally spilled over in 1861. Shortly after the South seceded, and Southern congressmen left Congress, the remaining Northern legislators found themselves free to pass measures their Southern associates had long prevented, including high tariffs, a national bank system, and land giveaways and subsidies to big business. Oddly, they left slavery alone.That's because slavery was nothing to them but a convenient justification for selling Lincoln's Counter-Revolution. In the name of liberating the slaves, Mr. Lincoln's War destroyed State sovereignty, including State banks, and transformed the Federal government into a tool for subsidizing the wealthy elite. And all the warnings from Jefferson, Jackson, and Taylor have come true.

RON PAUL---NEXT JEFFERSON DAVIS??

THE FRAUDULENT FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OWNS YOU!!!

• 
  
  Who owns the federal reserve bank?
  
  
  
  What is the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) and why do we have it?
  excerpt from:
  www.john-f-kennedy.net/thefederalreserve
  
  
  The FED is a privately owned central bank. Central banks are supposed to implement a country's fiscal policies. They monitor commercial banks to ensure that they maintain sufficient assets, like cash, so as to remain solvent and stable. Central banks also do business, such as currency exchanges and gold transactions, with other central banks. In theory, a central bank should be good for a country, and they might be if it wasn't for the fact that," they are not owned or controlled by the government of the country they are serving." Private central banks, including the United States FED, operate not in the interest of the public good but for profit.
  
  There have been three central banks in the nation's history. The first two, while deceptive and fraudulent, pale in comparison to the scope and size of the fraud being perpetrated by the current FED. What they all have in common is an insidious practice known as "fractional banking."
  Who owns the FED? The Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York.
  
  The FED is the only for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes? The FED takes in about one trillion dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money. Forty cents in every dollar of US taxes. I SPEND MUCH OF MY TIME AND ENERGY TRYING TO REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS I CAN, BELIEVING THAT TOGETHER, WE CAN DEFEAT THIS EVIL BEAST. AND IT IS EVIL INCARNATE. IT STARVES CHILDREN,CREATES WARS,DESTROYS NATIONS AT WILL AND ENSLAVES THE POPULATION FOR IT'S OWN PLEASURE. I KNOW FULL WELL THAT IF I BEGIN TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE THAT I WILL BE DESTROYED AND CONSUMED BY THIS BEAST BUT I AM SECURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IT WILL HAVE BEEN MY FREE CHOICE TO STAND AGAINST IT. I CAN NOT ENVISION A MORE WORTHY DEATH. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

THE REBELLION

Perpetual War, Here and Abroad

Here's what our handlers are planning to do to -- I mean, for us:


"We have entered an era of persistent conflict.... [We face] new security challenges influenced by the effects of globalization, especially in failing states and in ungoverned areas.... Radicalism influenced by extremist ideologies and separatist movements will remain attractive to those who feel threatened and victimized by the cultural and economic impacts of globalization...."

~ From the 2008 Army Modernization Strategy

We are entering the age of "persistent conflict," advises the Army's 90-page official report on modernization and strategy. Dr. Tom Clonan, the international security analyst for the Irish Times, usefully peels away the thin veneer of euphemism applied to that phrase, rendering it "perpetual warfare."

The Army document is an admission that our rulers intend to divest us of what few tangible liberties we still enjoy. James Madison's warning resonates again: "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

This is happening because the central government wants desperately to hold on to the levers of power and the keys to the treasury. With the Empire's financial system teetering on the brink, control over its subject population equals control over the money supply.

The reason is very simple: With fiat currency, the ONLY thing backing the dollar is the government's power to create debt, that is, to tax us. If its authority is questioned, if it reveals itself to be illegitimate, there goes the value of the dollar.

So the only thing backing the dollar is monopolized government force, that is, jails, nightsticks, and guns. As the economy continues to sicken, expect to see even more official, legal brutality.

NEW JOB TITLES FOR BANKING INDUSTRY

Based on the recent collapse of banking system, we should invent a new definition of job titles in the banking sector. Here is my list:
CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake
himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the
wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market
keeps crashing.
BROKER -- What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally
between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a
nuthouse.
PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use

AMERICA NEEDS ALL IT'S PEOPLE

It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed this Union.
When the Constitution took effect in 1789, it did not "secure the blessings of liberty" to all people. The expansion of rights and liberties has been achieved over time, as people once excluded from the protections of the Constitution asserted their rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence. These Americans have fostered movements resulting in laws, Supreme Court decisions, and constitutional amendments that have narrowed the gap between the ideal and the reality of American freedom.
At the time of the first Presidential election in 1789, only 6 percent of the population–white, male property owners–was eligible to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment extended the right to vote to former male slaves in 1870; American Indians gained the vote under a law passed by Congress in 1924; and women gained the vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Susan B. Anthony devoted some fifty years of her life to the cause of woman suffrage. After casting her ballot in the 1872 election in her hometown of Rochester, New York, she was arrested, indicted, tried, and convicted for voting illegally. At her two-day trial in June 1873, which she described as "the greatest judicial outrage history has ever recorded," she was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and court costs.
Anthony took full advantage of the high-profile case to promote the cause of woman suffrage. In a speech delivered repeatedly in 1872–73, she exhorted her listeners to "fight our battle for the ballot–all peaceably, but nevertheless persistently through to complete triumph, when all United States citizens shall be recognized as equals before the law." Women gained the vote with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, fourteen years after Anthony's death.Rights and freedom have never been easily acquired by anyone at anytime.And today is no exception as the American people are witnessing the erosion of hard won liberties and loss of their financial independence.The question is,will this generation have the courage,strength and unity to fight against the forces which are aligned against us.The survival and quality of life of our children and their children depend on our decisions and actions right now.The culprits are identified and the battle lines are drawn.LET'S ROLL!!! GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

BUZZARDS AND VULTURES ARE UNBECOMING

The last two weeks have been tsunami-like for financial markets across the globe. The failure of the US bailout plan to pass in Congress on Monday made things seem worse, as markets reacted negatively to the decision of the house of representatives.In an unusual move they actually listened to the voices of the people and voted against this rescue of the rich and shameless,which is all this little dab of money will do.It will allow a window of opportunity for the players caught flat-footed holding these worthless 'complex financial instruments' to move away from them, to the extent they will be allowed to, at tax payer expense.The true scope of this financial meltdown, which is global, is far beyond the promise of the U.S.GOVERNMENT to pay, based on it's ability to tax the American people. Not to imply that 700Bil. dollars is a small amount of money, but when you consider the tens of trillions of literally bogus assets scattered across the planet, only then can you grasp the financial Armageddon we are all facing. We are only witnessing the buzzards and vultures of high finance jocking over whats left of the hides and hooves,to protect their hatch lings financial future.Never mind how many song birds are starved out.Most of the people in this country still do not know what has happened to them and they will live out their miserable lives in ignorance of the magnitude of the crime or the identity of the perpetrators!! I think today I will refrain from my customary response of describing how some of the ones responsible should be hanged or shot or both and just head on out side to begin planting my fall garden. Maybe this damn ulcer will cool down. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

WORLD WAR III. HAS ALREADY BEGUN

WORLD WAR III. started just like the other two world wars started .No one can pin point a definite event or time for them either. They began as a series of events involving economic and political factors of indeterminate descriptions. Then, just as now, events are occurring, as they are shaped by the ever present struggle and competition for the resources of the world and the political mechanisms which control their distribution.The quality of life of any population is determined by how much force it is willing to expend on it's neighbors and how resourceful they are with the resources they possess. Oil is the dominate resource in demand for the moment. Who ever obtains the most oil will be the dominate power. So this is why the UNITED STATES has projected it's political sphere of influence via. our military into the countries where this resource is known to be.Spreading democracy is just a cover story for a continuation of occupation of these countries.It is the reason why RUSSIA has just recently laid claim to the ARCTIC seabed for it's vast quantities of oil and natural gas reserves,and is sure to be a point of contention in the future.Fortunes are made in private sector industry as they work hand in hand with governments to secure the resources in demand.Collateral death and vast destruction are the unavoidable consequences of this competition which will never end. So you see WORLD WAR III. is really a continuation of all the other wars throughout history.and only at times of massive confrontations that get beyond compromise are they defined by a title and historical demarcation lines. Because of peak oil and other political considerations IRAN will be bombed by ISRAEL,or the UNITED STATES or both working together within the months ahead. It is my opinion this will occur before the presidential inauguration if BARRACK OBAMA wins but may be held off if McCAIN wins.I believe this event will mark the beginning of the last WORLD WAR in mans history.How and if it is chronicaled will depend on the few dazed survivors and the tools and knowledge that will be left to them. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

I HEREBY DECLARE WAR ON THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES

No to the Bailout: We Can’t Let Bankers Try to Blackmail America
“You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.”
Today I turn over my space to Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, who said these fiery words to a delegation of bankers in 1832:
“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.”
The issue back then was the Bank of the United States, a federally chartered institution—sort of a predecessor to the Federal Reserve—that Jackson, ever the populist, strongly opposed. Today, most people agree that a national bank is necessary, but as today’s vote demonstrates, there is no national consensus on transferring wealth from the middle to the top. Good! Let’s hope that principle holds true for a while longer.
Today, the same as back then, big bankers attempt to blackmail America: If you don’t do things our way, exactly as we tell you, then the roof will cave in.
No sovereign nation should allow itself to be pushed around by finance like that. If it does, the same blackmail threat will be made again, and again, and again. The time has come to say “No!” And to make it stick.
There are plenty of other ideas for helping Main Street, including a plan advanced here last week, not Wall Street; now it’s up to the American people to insist that those ideas get a full hearing. Because otherwise, we know what will happen: The Republican-Democratic elite will combine with Wall Street to worsen the economic situation, as a way of teaching the American people a harsh lesson, and ultimately bringing us to heel.
But maybe this time, we will not be moved. But the sad truth is, we have already been out-flanked by these wily sons of bitches in collusion with the controlled media. While we have been distracted with breaking news about our imminent financial collapse, our illustrious senate handed over the entire known oil reserves of the entire country, to include the Pacific coast,Atlantic coast, the Gulf coast and the natural wildlife preserve in Alaska.These oil reserves represent the last great wealth of the American people and perhaps the revenue of our survival but throughout the stampede to DRILL-DRILL-DRILL did one mention or one discussion come up about the fine print of how this wealth would be used to benefit the people of America.No,in their ignorance they were only led to believe that the fuel needed for their survival would be more affordable.It is a fact that this will not be the case. Take notice: I will not be a complacent slave to your new world order!!! SARAH PALIN; If you by chance read this,go home and form your state militia in preparation for the next 'WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE' I'll see you on the front. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

NORTH FLORIDA COMMON SENSE PLAN RE-VISITED.

Traders were stunned by the U.S. House of Representatives' rejection Monday of a US$700 billion emergency bailout package that would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other sour assets held by troubled banks and other financial institutions. With elections in November, many lawmakers were unwilling to take the political risk of supporting a measure that many American voters see as an undeserved bailout for rich, reckless investment bankers.
Which means the way is still clear for the trickle up economics ''NORTH FLORIDA COMMON SENSE PLAN' is still open. Stock prices rise when consumers spend. If the treasury would start now, we would all have a merry christmas. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 777 points Monday, its biggest ever single-day drop, or nearly 7 percent, to 10,365.45, its lowest close in nearly three years. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

A QUICK HISTORY OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Economists may dream of a perfect market where no bubbles, crashes, or recessions occur, but these phenomena are inevitable when the players are human. The Great Depression, one of the worst blows to the world economy, serves as a prime example of how vulnerable markets can be. The stock market crash of 1929, usually cited as the beginning of the Great Depression, was preceded by the Roaring '20s, a period when the American public discovered the stock market and dove in head first. The crash wiped out many people's investments and the public was understandably shaken. When bank failures erased the savings of those who weren't even invested in the stock market, people were shattered. Although the market crash was unavoidable, the bank failures could have been prevented with better regulation. Read on to find out how the Great Depression occurred.The Fickle Fed:Twenty-two years earlier, the panic of 1907 offered a similar scenario, as panic selling sent the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) spiraling downward and led to a bank run to boot. With no Federal Reserve to inject cash into the market, it fell upon investment banker J.P. Morgan to organize Wall Street. Morgan rallied people who had cash to spare and moved that capital to banks lacking funds. The panic led the government to create the Federal Reserve, in part to cut its reliance on financial figures like Morgan in the future. (For more on the Federal Reserve, read How The Federal Reserve Was Formed.)In the crash of 1929, however, the Fed took the opposite course by cutting the money supply by nearly a third, thus choking off hopes of a recovery. Consequently, many banks suffering liquidity problems simply went under. The Fed's harsh reaction, while difficult to understand, may have occurred because it wished to give Wall Street some tough love by refusing to bail out careless banks, a response that it felt would only encourage more fiscal irresponsibility in the future. (For insight on the crash of 1929, see The Crash Of 1929 - Could It Happen Again?)Ironically, by increasing the money supply and keeping interest rates low during the roaring twenties, the Fed instigated the rapid expansion that preceded the collapse. In some ways, it set up the market bubble leading to the crash and then kicked the economy when it was down. Although some people, such as Milton Friedman have rightly suggested that the Fed's mismanagement of the economic situation greatly contributed to the Great Depression, there still would probably have been a minor recession regardless of government involvement. Presidential Blunders:President Roosevelt rode into office by characterizing a "do nothing" attitude. In truth, however, his predecessor, Herbert Hoover, had done far too much to try to halt the recession following the crash. One of Hoover's main concerns was that workers' wages would be cut following the economic downturn. In order to ensure artificially high wages among all businesses, he reasoned, prices needed to stay high so companies would continue producing. To keep prices high, consumers with the money would need to pay more. Yet the public had been burned badly in the crash, and most did not have the resources to overpay for products. This bleak reality forced Hoover to use legislation, the government's trump card, to try to prop up wages. Following in the unfortunate tradition of the protectionists, Congress tried to restrict the flow of foreign goods by passing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Because foreign nations weren't willing to buy over-priced American goods any more than Americans were, Hoover decided to choke out cheap imports. The Smoot-Hawley Act started out as a way to protect agriculture, but swelled into a multi-industry tariff. Other nations retaliated with their own tariffs, essentially cutting off international trade. Not surprisingly, the economic conditions worsened worldwide and the U.S. economy sunk from a recession into a depression. Although Roosevelt promised change when he came into office, he continued Hoover's economic intervention, only on a bigger scale. He created the New Deal with the best intentions, but like Hoover's wage controls, it backfired. With previous recession/depression cycles, the U.S. suffered one to three years of low wages and unemployment before the dropping prices led to a recovery. Responding to this historical trend of a few hard years followed by a recovery, American industrialist and philanthropist J.D. Rockefeller remarked, "These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again." By attempting to immediately recover without swallowing the bitter pill of two hard years, Hoover and Roosevelt may have actually prolonged the pain. New Deal:The New Deal set lofty goals to maintain public works, full employment, and healthy wages through price, wage, and even production controls. The New Deal was loosely based on Keynesian economics, specifically on the idea that government works can stimulate the economy. Occasionally these projects were ideal, but there were just as many cases of mismanagement, political back-scratching and general waste that dogs government-run initiatives. (For related reading, see Can Keynesian Economics Reduce Boom-Bust Cycles?)One of the most heartbreaking results of the New Deal was the destruction of excess crops to justify the artificially high prices, despite the need for cheap food. In fact, many of the agencies created by the New Deal broke up black markets selling cheap goods. This forced factory workers to stop working and generally halted the production that was needed for recovery. Even unemployment remained high because companies couldn't afford to keep large payrolls at the rates set by the government. Eventually, recovery came in the unappealing form of World War II. Although the notion that the war ended the Great Depression is a broken window fallacy, it did open up international trading channels and reverse price and wage controls. Suddenly, the government wanted lots of things made inexpensively, and pushed wages and prices below market levels. When the war finished, the trade routes remained open and the post-war era went from recovery to a bull run in a few short years. ConclusionThe Great Depression was the result of an unlucky combination of factors - a reticent Fed, protectionist tariffs and a Keynesian, government-centered recovery plan. It could have been shortened or even avoided by a change in any one of these. Many supporters of the government's intervention point out that the quick recovery from other depression/recession cycles may not have occurred as rapidly in 1929 because it was the first time that the general public, and not just the Wall Street elite, lost large amounts in the stock market. Similarly, the Fed can avoid fault because it didn't know that the government would pass a trade-crushing tariff and take other questionable measures. For more, read Recession: What Does It Mean To Investors?
by Andrew Beattie, (Contact Author Biography)Andrew Beattie is a freelance writer and self-educated investor. He worked for Investopedia as an editor and staff writer before moving to Japan in 2003. Andrew still lives in Japan with his wife, Rie. Since leaving Investopedia, he has continued to study and write about the financial world's tics and charms. Although his interests have been necessarily broad while learning and writing at the same time, perennial favorites include economic history, index funds, Warren Buffett and personal finance. He may also be the only financial writer who can claim to have read "The Encyclopedia of Business and Finance" cover to cover.

THICK AS THIEVES-----BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER

"We're in this moment, and if we fail to do the right thing, Heaven help us," These are the words of one of our elected representatives in congress,just prior to the house vote for the 'BAILOUT PROPOSAL'which failed in a vote on the house floor today.
The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other rotten assets held by troubled banks and financial institutions, getting those debts off their books.If the plan worked, the thinking went, it would help lift a major weight off the national economy that is already sputtering. Supporters of the bill had argued that it was necessary to avoid a collapse of the economic system, a calamity that would drag down not just Wall Street investment houses but possibly the savings and portfolios of millions of Americans. Moreover, supporters argued, a lingering crisis in America could choke off business and consumer loans to a degree that could prompt bank failures in Europe and slow down the global economy's.---THE WOLF IS COMING---THE WOLF IS COMING!!!
Opponents said the bill was cobbled together in too much haste and might amount to throwing good money from taxpayers after bad investments from Wall Street gamblers.Something the thieves installed in the U.S. TREASURY and the corrupt FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD/BANK have already done, with Bear Stearn's,Fannie and Freddie and AIG to the tune of 300 billion dollars and counting. After long favoring a hands-off approach and deregulation of the financial industry,EVEN AS THEY WERE ALLOWED TO STRIP VIRTUALLY EVERY CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW FROM THE BOOKS AND TO EVEN STIFLE STATE LAWS ATTEMPTING TO PROTECT IT'S ILLITERATE, IGNORANT POPULATIONS!!! the Bush administration has found itself in recent weeks interceding repeatedly in the private market to try to avert one calamity after another and to conceal the mechanisms of theft being perpetrated on the middle class. This unbridled greed is starting us on a slippery slope towards socialism. My understanding of socialism is less freedom and less self determination. Sen. John McCain, who interrupted his campaign to deal with the crisis, claimed—via his surrogates—that he wielded great influence in improving the deal and making it palatable TO 'AN IGNORANT POPULATION'many of which, for the first time in years, may actually vote. Then he left town as it collapsed. A congressman who shows up for a fundraiser in Manhattan this week is likely to get tarred and feathered. But at the same time they can maybe count on the support of the people in their districts, that put them in office to begin with.Was the bailout bill killed by collective fear by the congress of the American voter,their sudden desire to do the right thing or by incompetence? It's hard to argue against incompetence, since it has been so rampant, especially on the Republican side of things in Washington. but then all things are relative too. If you consider that within just the eight years of the Bush administration, the largest transfer/theft of national wealth in the history of this country has occurred, and is still happening. Then,whether are not they are incompetent depends largely on which corporation you are invested in. But for the health,welfare and over all good of the American people, there can be no doubt that the most powerful bureaucrats in Washington are immoral,corrupt and criminally involved up to their eyeballs. I BELIEVE THEY SHOULD BE THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED, GIVEN A FAIR TRIAL AND PROMPTLY HANGED ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. I VOLUNTEER TO FIT THE NOOSES. GLENN NUNLEY. NORTH FLORIDA.

terrorpatriot

let's lighten up a little

POWER FUELED BY GREED ---- A POOR REPLACEMENT FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT

LISTEN CAREFULLY TO WHAT ONE OF OUR BRAVEST PRESIDENTS IS TELLING ALL OF US IN THIS VIDEO AT THE END OF THIS TIME LINE-------IT COST HIM HIS LIFE




Where Credit Is Due: A Timeline of the Mortgage Crisis
News: A field guide to the loan sharks and politicos who got us into the predatory lending mess

1913: Federal Reserve Act creates national banking system.
1914: Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair or deceptive business practices.
1933: With memories of 1929 stock crash still fresh, Glass-Steagall Act separates "commercial banks" focusing on consumer activities (checking, savings) from "investment banks," which deal with speculative trading and mergers.
1968: Truth in Lending Act requires banks to disclose loan terms & fees.
1970: Bank Holding Company Act Amendments first step toward weakening Glass-Steagall; allow commercial banks, via holding companies, to both accept deposits and make commercial loans.
1978: Supreme Court's Marquette decision gives banks the right to make loans in states other than where they are headquartered; lenders rush to places with the weakest consumer protections, e.g. Delaware and South Dakota.

1980: After interest rates rise 13 percentage points in 2 years, President Carter signs law further hollowing out Glass-Steagall. The measure—pushed through by Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), a former insurance executive—demolishes usury caps for mortgages and raises bar for prosecuting lenders.
Jan 1981: Sen. Garn becomes chair of Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee with fellow deregulation advocate M. Danny Wall as majority staff director. American Banker exults that "lobbyists here view Mr. Wall's promotion as a gift swept to shore by the [GOP] tide last election day."
1982: Sen. Garn coauthors Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, which deregulates savings and loan industry.
1984: S&Ls start crashing in Texas as oil boom peters out. More than 1,000 thrifts nationwide will fail between 1986 and 1995; debacle will cost $500 billion, including $124 billion in taxpayer money.
April 2, 1987: Sen. John McCain meets with federal regulators to discuss investigation of Lincoln Savings and Loan. The thrift's owner, Charles Keating, was the senator's business partner and campaign contributor, and flew McCain around on his private jet.
Sept: Drexel Burnham Lambert, home to "junk-bond king" Michael Milken, creates "collateralized debt obligations" (cdos)—securities made up of myriad loans and bonds with different risk levels.
Dec 9, 1988: Silverado S&L collapses, leaving $1.3 billion taxpayer liability; board members include Neil Bush, who engineered loans to friends in what federal Office of Thrift Supervision will call "multiple conflicts of interest." Bush later tells Congress a few of his deals may have looked "a little fishy."
Feb 6, 1989: President George H.W. Bush bails out S&L industry; among those helped is his son, Jeb, as government takes over most of a $5 million second mortgage on his Miami office building.

Sept 30, 1995: Congress enacts Truth in Lending Act "reform," easing regulations on creditors; bill powered through by Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), a key recipient of finance, insurance, and real estate (fire) donations ($136,000 in 1993-94).
Dec 22: As part of Newt Gingrich's Contract With America, Congress enacts a measure making it more difficult to sue companies for securities fraud.
Aug 2, 1996: Office of Thrift Supervision issues rule preempting almost all state laws regulating S&L credit activities.
1997-1998: fire sector spends more than $200 million on lobbying and $150 million on political donations; top agenda items include repealing Glass-Steagall to facilitate mergers.
March 4, 1998: First Union acquires The Money Store, nation's 5th-largest subprime lender (and home to ex-Yankee broadcaster Phil Rizzuto's commercials).
April 1998: Citicorp and Travelers announce biggest-ever corporate merger ($70 billion); transaction technically illegal under Glass-Steagall; ceo Sandy Weill launches $12 million campaign to repeal law.
June 1998: Conseco purchases mobile home lender turned subprime powerhouse Green Tree in $6 billion deal.
July 1999: North Carolina General Assembly bucks deregulation trend, passing landmark measure to curb predatory lending.
Nov 1999: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act guts Glass-Steagall, setting off wave of megamergers among banks and insurance and securities companies. Driving force is Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), who has received $4.6 million from fire sector over previous decade.


June 20, 2000: Treasury and hud urge Fed to investigate subprime units of major banks. No Fed action follows.
June 26: First Union closes The Money Store, takes $2.8 billion write-down.
Dec 14: As Congress heads for Christmas recess, Sen. Gramm attaches 262-page amendment to an omnibus appropriations bill. Commodity Futures Modernization Act will deregulate derivatives trading, give rise to Enron debacle, and open door to an explosion in new, unregulated securities.
Dec 27: American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act makes it harder for consumers to get out of lender-required insurance. National Association of Realtors lobbies hard for it, spending $9 million, plus $4 million in contributions.
March 6, 2001: ftc sues Citigroup and its subsidiary Associates, nation's 2nd-largest subprime originator, charging "systematic abusive lending practices" involving 2 million borrowers; 18 months later Citigroup settles for a paltry $215 million.
April 6: Fed chair Alan Greenspan signals concern with "abusive lending practices that target vulnerable segments of the population and can result in unaffordable payments, equity stripping, and foreclosure."
July 27: "'Predatory' is really a high-profile word with no definition," Ameriquest chairman Stephen W. Prough tells Congress, urging rollback of subprime regulations.


April 22, 2002: Georgia's new anti-predatory law signed; Ameriquest helps lead campaign against it and announces that it won't do business in Georgia until law is changed. Standard & Poor's refuses to rate Georgia mortgage securities, choking credit supply to state's home buyers; law gutted within a year.
Oct 7: Swiss investment bank ubs announces that Sen. Gramm is joining it to "advise clients on corporate finance issues and strategy"; he will also lobby Congress, Treasury, and Fed on banking and mortgage issues as industry pushes to eliminate predatory-lending rules.
Dec 18: Conseco files for bankruptcy, mostly due to its purchase of subprime lender Green Tree. In all, 13 banks have failed during 2002—most, according to a Fed report, because of bad loans and "improper accounting related to the securitizing of assets."
March 2003: hsbc acquires Household Finance, nation's 4th-largest subprime lender.
May 1: New Jersey's anti-predatory-lending law signed. Again, Ameriquest and other lenders launch campaign to kill it and Standard & Poor's says it won't rate certain New Jersey securities; law gutted within a year.


2004: Ameriquest employees give total of $200,000 to Bush campaign; founder Roland Arnall and wife Dawn give more than $5 million to pro-Bush pacs. Arnall later appointed ambassador to Netherlands.
Jan 7, 2004: Federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issues final rule to preempt states from applying most of their credit laws to national banks and their subsidiaries.
March 2005: Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio)—who will later go to prison on corruption charges related to Abramoff scandal—introduces Responsible Lending Act, billed as an anti-predatory-lending measure but in fact designed to preempt stronger state laws. Key supporters include New Century Financial, nation's 2nd-largest subprime lender, which has contributed nearly $50,000 to Ney's campaign. Consumer advocates call it "Loan Shark Protection Act."
April: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act makes it far harder for consumers (but not businesses) to discharge debts. Chief sponsor, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), has received $2 million-plus from fire sector since 1989.
Sept 1: As housing bubble begins to deflate, administration economist Patrick Lawler announces, "There is no evidence here of prices topping out. On the contrary, house price inflation continues to accelerate."
Sept 22: Illinois Supreme Court hands mortgage lenders a victory, blowing away a 3% cap on fees for loans with more than 8% interest.

Jan 23, 2006: Ameriquest settles 49-state investigation into deceptive subprime practices for $325 million.
April 27: Fed chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledges "signs of softening" in housing market, but says a "sharp slowdown" unlikely.

July 10: Henry M. Paulson Jr. sworn in as Treasury secretary, leaving job as Goldman Sachs chairman and ceo. In 2005, Goldman securitized $68 billion in residential mortgages and $23 billion in "other assets" primarily related to cdos.

Jan 2, 2007: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) assumes chairmanship of House Financial Services Committee. fire sector tops his list of contributors, with total of $746,000 for 2005-06 cycle.
Jan 29: Paulson tells Congress, "One of the pleasant surprises I had coming to government has been the strong economy we have today."
Feb 22: hsbc's head of mortgage-lending business resigns. Its losses reach $10.5 billion.
Feb 28: Bernanke tells House Budget Committee the housing sector "is a concern, but at this point we don't see it as being a broad financial concern or a major factor in assessing the course of the economy."
Feb 28: New-home sales reported down 20.1% from previous year.
March 12: Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign announces that Sen. Gramm will join it as cochair and economic policy adviser.
April 2: Subprime giant New Century Financial files for Chapter 11 after being forced to repurchase billions of dollars of bad loans.
May 3: ubs shuts down Dillon Read Capital Management, its US subprime arm. GM's finance unit announces deep losses on subprime mortgages. sec task force begins meeting to examine Wall Street's handling of subprime loans.
June 9: In Wall Street Journal interview, former Fed governor Edward Gramlich accuses Greenspan of blocking a 2000 proposal to increase scrutiny of subprime lenders. Greenspan responds there are "a very large number of small institutions, some on the margin of scrupulousness and very hard to detect when they are doing something wrong."

July 16: Jim Cramer, host of cnbc's Mad Money, says the subprime "lending thing" is "completely meaningless...It has no relevance whatsoever." Less than 3 weeks later, Cramer will have meltdown on air, pleading with Fed to cut rates and save Wall Street.
July 19-20: In congressional testimony, Bernanke cuts growth forecasts for 2007 and 2008, blaming problems in housing market; warns that subprime crisis could cost up to $100 billion.
Aug 6: American Home Mortgage, one of the largest US independent home-loan providers, files for Chapter 11.
Aug 16: Countrywide, biggest US mortgage lender, narrowly avoids bankruptcy by taking out emergency $11.5 billion loan.
Aug 31: Ameriquest goes out of business.
Sept 14: Rep. Barney Frank in Boston Globe: Mortgage crisis "was in large part a natural experiment on the role of regulation." Sept 20: Treasury secretary Paulson tells House Financial Services Committee that "fundamental reappraisals in the pricing and appetite of risk have taken place numerous times...We are in the process of another such reappraisal."
Sept 30: ubs announces 3rd-quarter losses of $690 million.


Jan 2008: Number of homes facing foreclosure up 57% compared to same month of previous year. US unemployment rises sharply.
Jan 10: Cleveland files lawsuit against numerous financial institutions alleging that their activities in connection with securitization of subprime mortgages created a "public nuisance." (Litigation still pending.)
Jan 15: Citigroup reports $9.8 billion loss for 4th quarter and writes down $18 billion in subprime losses.
Jan 22 & 30: Fed makes biggest rate cut in 25 years—1.25 percentage points, to 3%.
Feb 6: Longest period of decline in nationwide house prices since 1990.
March 7: Former bosses of Merrill Lynch, Countrywide, and Citigroup questioned by a congressional panel about the $460 million in compensation they received between them during 5 years of subprime boom.
March 16: Bear Stearns announces takeover by JPMorgan Chase in Fed-engineered bailout; measure approved by Fed Board of Governors with fewer votes than required by law, under a post-9/11 "national security emergency" exception.
March 25: In speech on housing market, Sen. McCain calls for easing crisis by "removing regulatory, accounting, and tax impediments to raising capital."
April 18: Jerry Bowyer, chief economist for financial services firm Benchmark, says in New York Sun op-ed that fault for subprime crisis "lies with the small army of hard-left political hustlers who spent the early 1990s pushing risky mortgages on home lenders. And the fault lies especially with the legislators that gave them the power to do it."
April 29: Foreclosure activity reported up 112% from first quarter of 2007.
May 6: Bush announces he will veto legislation directing $15 billion to neighborhoods ransacked by foreclosures. Also threatens to veto legislation to provide $300 billion for struggling homeowners (and force lenders to renegotiate some mortgages) because it would be a "burdensome bailout" that "opens taxpayers to too much risk." I will extend this Time line soon. GLENN NUNLEY.