The GrassCity Gazette

[Dickie4:20]

msnbc.com Video Player

[MountyBounty]

YouTube - Ron Paul Geithner: Fed Res As Lender...

[MountyBounty]

The Housing Collapse of 2010 Will Be Worse Than 2008

YouTube - The Housing Collapse of 2010 Will Be...

[MountyBounty]

Secret Service Shuts S. Florida 3G Network Down? - Happening Now!

iReport — Happening Now: 9:00 p.m. EST.

This evening in S. Florida, as hundreds of thousands of commuters were traveling home from work, going to diner and picking their children up from school, they found their 3G communications’ network shut down.

People calling from their phones got a message saying to try their call later, and callers to those with phones got the same message.

It's unknown how many people have been affected, but the scope of the area unable to communicate encompasses a population base of just fewer than 5 million.

Some of the network has come back online; some of it has not as of 9:00 p.m. EST.

One explanation appears it might be because of a low profile visit by Vice-President Joe Biden which the Secret Service might have believed needed an area wide shut down of communications to protect. But what kind of threat could have caused that?

This has not been verified, but information pointing this direction has leaked and the timing couldn't be more curious.

What the Secret Service did do that is verified, is completely shut down I-95, Miami's busiest interstate, at 4:45 p.m., right at the peak of rush hour and just 10 minutes after the AT&T network shut down. This resulted in stopping tens of thousands of commuters in their tracks for hours causing record traffic back-ups not seen before by S. Florida residents, and they've seen plenty.

Widespread online complaints and blog entries were streaming in on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. One individual noted that the complaints began first by those on the interstate near Biden, and as time past, spread out from that area in every direction, a very keen and curious observation.

AT&T, who owns and operates the network, said only that it was an "equipment failure", but did not elaborate anymore than this.

Not specifying the where, why, who or what may have been the cause to any news service who also are asking questions is an extremely unusual response. Considering the problem seems to be fixed for the most part, how does someone fix something, but not know what they fixed?

I-report CNN

[Dickie4:20]

Conservatives’ 25-year goal of ‘defunding the left’ revealed by ACORN controversy | Raw Story

[aaronman]

Originally Posted by Dickie4:20

Conservatives’ 25-year goal of ‘defunding the left’ revealed by ACORN controversy | Raw Story

Conservatives that cut spending?! No way!

[Kylesa]

Don’t Cry For Us, Argentina | Foundation for Economic Education

Don't Cry For Us, Argentina

Economic news continues to be bad, and despite the government’s promises that the recession’s end is near, I don’t see it. Economic fundamentals are more skewed now than they were two years ago, which means a recovery is not near.

We hear today that the Canadian dollar is almost at parity with the U.S. dollar. A few years ago the Canadian dollar was worth 75 cents USD, but today the U.S. government is on a money-printing binge—and pretending to be shocked — shocked — when the its dollar plummets.

I am no prognosticator, and I don’t run any doomsday websites, but the long-range forecast looks bad. While most Americans believe this country is invulnerable to the deep shocks that have taken down lesser nations, some of us know that the government’s policies of the past 15 years have been ruinous. Furthermore, there is a country to our south that provides the unhappy roadmap to the destination to which the U.S. government’s policies are leading: Argentina.

Today Argentina is classified by the World Bank as a “secondary emerging market.” That might sound impressive next to Latin American failures like Cuba and Venezuela, but from where Argentina was just 70 years ago, its modern classification is a step backward.

In the first half of the twentieth century Argentina was one of the ten wealthiest nations in the world. That’s right, the world. This was a rich country, relatively speaking, and its future seemed bright. Unlike the European nations, it had not been burdened with wartime destruction; its economy benefitted from being at peace and by exporting agricultural products to nations at war.

Unfortunately, the same populist pressures that gave the United States its New Deal and promoted communism around the world undermined Argentina’s political economy. The policies of the 1940s and 1950s, under Juan Peron and his wife, Evita, would prove permanently fatal for the country’s economic well-being. First and most important, militant labor unions tied to the Peronists forced up wages well beyond productivity. Not surprisingly, Argentina’s goods soon became uncompetitive on world markets.

Second, to deal with this newly acquired uncompetitive status, the Peronists passed one protectionist measure after another. Inflation soon followed, and the Argentine peso, which once rivaled the U.S. dollar, turned into play money. Yet the 50 percent inflation of the early 1950s was a pittance compared to what Argentina would experience over the next 30 years, as the country spiraled into hyperinflation by 1980.

Economic chaos led to political chaos, with the country witnessing a series of elections of Peronist presidents and subsequent coups to remove them from office as their policies exacerbated the continuing economic crises. Leftist guerrilla groups clashed with national forces in the infamous “dirty war” of the late 1970s and early 1980s that left thousands tortured and dead and still affects the nation’s politics.

Even today, Argentina is synonymous with political instability, high inflation, and an economy that always shows great potential but never meets expectations. Americans believe that such a thing cannot happen here, but it can. Argentina’s problems began with simple government interventions into the economy aimed at artificially propping up wages. From those first interventions came further interventions to deal with the problems caused by the previous actions, and so on. In the end, all that was left was inflation, chaos, political violence, and poverty.

The United States is facing perhaps its second-greatest economic crisis ever, and so far the government has taken page after page from Juan Peron’s playbook. As a result of this economic and political foolishness, the economy continues to shed jobs and hope.

There is a way out, but it is much different from what we have been doing. When one is in a deep hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. That means dispensing with the artificial means to prop up the economy when serious medicine is needed, medicine that will be painful but ultimately will lead to economic recovery. If we don’t go that route, I guarantee that the Argentines will not cry for us.

[Dickie4:20]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/01-0

[Dickie4:20]

America, stop sucking up to Israel - Haaretz - Israel News

[aaronman]

Politics.

[Kylesa]

Originally Posted by Dickie4:20

America, stop sucking up to Israel - Haaretz - Israel News

: hello:

[MountyBounty]

California to withhold a bigger chunk of paychecks
The amount goes up 10% on Sunday as Sacramento borrows from taxpayers. Technically, it's not an income tax increase: You'll get the money back eventually.

Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento - Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners -- holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.

Technically, it's not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers' annual tax bills won't change.

Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less.

But with rising gas costs, depressed home prices and double-digit unemployment, the state's added reach into residents' regular paycheck isn't sitting well with many.

"The state's suddenly slapping people upside the head," said Mack Reed, 50, of Silver Lake. "It's appalling how brash that is."

Brittney McKaig, 23, of Santa Ana said she expects the additional withholding to affect her holiday spending.

"Coming into the holidays, we're getting squeezed anyway," she said. "We're not getting Christmas bonuses and other perks we used to get. So it all falls back on spending. The $40 gift will become a $20 gift."

The extra withholding may seem like a small amount siphoned from each paycheck, but it adds up to a $1.7-billion fix for California's deficit-riddled books.

From a single taxpayer earning $51,000 a year with no dependents, the state will be grabbing an extra $17.59 each month, according to state tax officials. A married person earning $90,000 with two dependents would receive $24.87 less in monthly pay.

California will probably continue to collect the tax at a higher rate for many years -- or find an additional $1.7 billion to slice from a future budget, an unlikely occurrence. All workers who have state taxes withheld will see their paychecks shrink.

"Many families are sitting at their kitchen table wondering how they're going to make ends meet," said state Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks). "At the same time, the state of California is taking a no-interest loan."

The provision is one of numerous maneuvers state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved in the summer to paper over the state's deficit. Many of the changes, including the extra withholding, were little noticed outside of Sacramento.

Savvy taxpayers can get around the state's maneuver by increasing the number of personal withholding allowances they claim on their employer tax forms, said Brenda Voet, a spokeswoman for the state's Franchise Tax Board.

"People can get out of this," she said, noting that most people would have to change their allowances through their employers. California's budget leaders are banking on the hope that most won't.

The increase is coming at a bad time for store owners, many of whom depend on the holiday shopping season to keep their businesses alive.

"I don't think there's any question it's going to impact consumers' spending," said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Assn. "Any time you reduce people's disposable income, there's going to be a negative effect on the retail sector."

But Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, wasn't so sure.

"It's having a relatively small impact on people's income," Levy said, pointing out that many families will receive only $12 to $40 less each month.

Yet Erika Wendt, 28, of San Diego said she already lived on a tight budget: She rides her bike to work, for instance, to save on gasoline and parking costs.

"I am frustrated as this directly impacts my weekly budget -- what groceries I buy, how much I drive and can spend on gas," she said. "Now money will just be tighter, and I'm not sure where else I can cut back."

The extra withholding comes in addition to tax hikes the state enacted this year.

In February, state income tax rates were bumped up 0.25 of a percentage point for every tax bracket. The dependent credit was slashed by two-thirds. The state sales tax rate rose 1 percentage point. The vehicle license fee nearly doubled to 1.15% of a car's value.

Lawmakers and the governor also approved deep cuts to schools, social services and prisons to fend off one of the steepest revenue losses in California history.

Temporary budget bandages, such as the increase in withholding, were included at several points this year to avoid higher taxes and deeper cuts, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance.

Sacramento, meanwhile, is awash in red ink again. The state controller recently said revenue in the budget year already had fallen more than $1 billion short of assumptions. Outsize deficits are projected for years to come.

Such temporary measures as the withholding tax increase don't really fix the budget gap, "they just more or less hid it," said Christopher Thornberg, a principal with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. "I call it a fraud."

Latimes.com

[Dickie4:20]

Eat your vegatables


The Senate finally extended unemployment benefits by 14 or 20 weeks depending on what level of Depression your state is living with; they should have done this 14 weeks ago. The Republicans that have been holding up this bill have pushed something on the order of a million people into poverty with little chance of them ever leaving it. The corporate media is circulating the rumor that Larry Summers was really behind the delay in order to reduce the unemployment numbers. The White House denies that this was ever in any way the policy of the Obama Adm.

Personal bankruptcies were up 9% last month. Home foreclosures already in the pipeline equal 60% of the total of annual home sales. Officially over 200,000 jobs disappeared last month, of course we know its much worse than that. The self employed and contractors don’t count, jobs that are split into 2 or 3 part time jobs at half pay or less don’t show up in the statistics either.

As the Dollar slowly fades away to nothing but a grin, a major clearing exchange will now allow US trading houses to use physical gold as collateral to meet all margin requirements. We aren’t quite to the point where gold is the "only" thing acceptable. Then we will know how Jefferson Davis felt when they stopped accepting Confederate script.

When Obama goes to China he is expected to ask them to end their so-called "unofficial" peg of their currency to the Dollar. This would in theory reduce the trade deficit and make US goods competitive in China as the Dollar would weaken against Chinese currency. It would not of course increase our exports, since China doesn’t import anything from the US if it can produce it themselves.

It’s not clear what Obama is really hoping to accomplish with this trip but he has been successful in getting China to end the massive dumping of products into the US. This practice has been destroying US companies that were otherwise able to resist the Big Box stores’ deliberate attempts to force them to manufacture all products in China.

Making some sort of deal with China is crucial but what will work at this point isn’t clear. How soon will Chinese parents be exhorting their children to finish their vegetables, "don’t you know there are starving children in America". Prairie2 News

[AugustWest]

Gold prices surge as India buys IMF reserves | Business | guardian.co.uk

Gold prices surged to a new high of $1095.05 an ounce this morning following the news that India has purchased $6.7bn (£4.05bn) of gold from the International Monetary Fund.

Yesterday the IMF announced it had sold 200 tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India over the past two weeks. Traders reported that the huge sale had intensified interest in gold, which has now risen by almost 23% this year.

India said it was keen to diversify its reserves away from the US dollar, which has weakened in recent months.

Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister, said: "We have money to buy gold. We have enough foreign exchange reserves."

Erik Nilsson, senior economist at Scotia Capital, said the deal was "certainly indicative that the monetary authorities in India are not overwhelmingly upbeat about the outlook for the US dollar".

The dollar has lost 6.5% of its value in the last five months, measured against a basket of other currencies. This has helped to push up the price of commodities priced in dollars, including gold and oil.

[MountyBounty]

The Dick Act of 1902

The Dick Act of 1902 also known as the Efficiency of Militia Bill H.R. 11654, of June 28, 1902 invalidates all so-called gun-control laws. It also divides the militia into three distinct and separate entities..

The three classes H.R. 11654 provides for are the organized militia, henceforth known as the National Guard of the State, Territory and District of Columbia, the unorganized militia and the regular army. The militia encompasses every able-bodied male between the ages of 18 and 45. All members of the unorganized militia have the absolute personal right and 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms of any type, and as many as they can afford to buy..

The Dick Act of 1902 cannot be repealed; to do so would violate bills of attainder and ex post facto laws which would be yet another gross violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The President of the United States has zero authority without violating the Constitution to call the National Guard to serve outside of their State borders..

The National Guard Militia can only be required by the National Government for limited purposes specified in the Constitution (to uphold the laws of the Union; to suppress insurrection and repel invasion). These are the only purposes for which the General Government can call upon the National Guard..

Attorney General Wickersham advised President Taft, "the Organized Militia (the National Guard) can not be employed for offensive warfare outside the limits of the United States..

The Honorable William Gordon, in a speech to the House on Thursday, October 4, 1917, proved that the action of President Wilson in ordering the Organized Militia (the National Guard) to fight a war in Europe was so blatantly unconstitutional that he felt Wilson ought to have been impeached..

During the war with England an attempt was made by Congress to pass a bill authorizing the president to draft 100,000 men between the ages of 18 and 45 to invade enemy territory, Canada. The bill was defeated in the House by Daniel Webster on the precise point that Congress had no such power over the militia as to authorize it to empower the President to draft them into the regular army and send them out of the country..

The fact is that the President has no constitutional right, under any circumstances, to draft men from the militia to fight outside the borders of the USA, and not even beyond the borders of their respective states. Today, we have a constitutional LAW which still stands in waiting for the legislators to obey the Constitution which they swore an oath to uphold..

Charles Hughes of the American Bar Association (ABA) made a speech which is contained in the Appendix to Congressional Record, House, September 10, 1917, pages 6836-6840 which states: "The militia, within the meaning of these provisions of the Constitution is distinct from the Army of the United States." In these pages we also find a statement made by Daniel Webster, "that the great principle of the Constitution on that subject is that the militia is the militia of the States and of the General Government; and thus being the militia of the States, there is no part of the Constitution worded with greater care and with more scrupulous jealousy than that which grants and limits the power of Congress over it..

"This limitation upon the power to raise and support armies clearly establishes the intent and purpose of the framers of the Constitution to limit the power to raise and maintain a standing army to voluntary enlistment, because if the unlimited power to draft and conscript was intended to be conferred, it would have been a useless and puerile thing to limit the use of money for that purpose. Conscripted armies can be paid, but they are not required to be, and if it had been intended to confer the extraordinary power to draft the bodies of citizens and send them out of the country in direct conflict with the limitation upon the use of the militia imposed by the same section and article, certainly some restriction or limitation would have been imposed to restrain the unlimited use of such power..

The Honorable William Gordon