John McManus: Patriot Act Should Die

so says John F. McManus publisher of The New American magazine, and President of The John Birch Society.

We agree.

Net the Truth Online

John F. McManus Answers the The "Big Questions" PDF | Print | E-mail
Written by John F. McManus
Friday, 20 November 2009 13:00

...The Hill: The House and Senate are moving forward with different bills to reauthorize the Patriot Act, which expires at the end of the year. Will this effort divide Democrats? And will it hamper President Barack Obama's call for unity on healthcare reform?

JFM: The cleverly named Patriot Act is a huge attack on the freedoms of the American people. Passed in the aftermath of 9/11, it was read by few if any members of Congress beforehand. Rather than being reauthorized; it should be allowed to die. There are probably a few Democrats who will opt to close it down. But many Republicans will seek to have it continued because it was passed under the leadership of the GOP president George W. Bush...

http://67.227.136.225/jbs-news-feed/5668-john-f-mcmanus-answers-the-the-qbig-questionsq

Related

Obama Administration Backs ‘Patriot’ Act Provisions | Print | E-mail
Written by Alex Newman
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 13:00

http://67.227.136.225/jbs-news-feed/5371-obama-administration-backs-patriot-act-provisions

Capitalism: One Minute Case

Thanks to author for the One Minute Case for Capitalism with the original piece here, we don't have to dig from room to room (basement to attic) of papers and notes to find what we read how long ago. Whew, what a timesaver...

too useful to break up.

The One Minute Case For Capitalism
By heroic@gmail.com (David Veksler) from One Minute Cases,cross-posted by MetaBlog

http://oneminute.rationalmind.net/capitalism/

Capitalism a social system based on the principle of individual rights.

A capitalist society is based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights. Under capitalism, all property is privately owned, and the state is separated from economics just as it is from religion. Economically, capitalism is a system of laissez faire, or free markets, where the government plays no part whatsoever in economic decisions.

Capitalism is the only social system compatible with the requirements of man’s life

To pursue the values necessary for his life a society, man requires only one thing from others: freedom of action. Freedom means the ability to act however one pleases as long as one does not infringe on the same and equal freedom of others. In a political context, freedom means solely the freedom from the initiation of force by other men. Only by the initiation of force can man’s rights be violated. Whether it is by a theft, force, fraud, or government censorship, man’s rights can be violated only by the initiation of force. Because man’s life depends on the use of reason to achieve the values necessary for his life, the initiation of force renders his mind useless as a means of survival. To live, man must achieve the values necessary to sustain his live. To achieve values, man must be free to think and to act on his judgment. To live, man must be free to think. To be free to think, man must be free to act. In the words of Ayn Rand, “Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.”

Capitalism recognizes the inherent worth of the individual

In a human society – one that recognizes the independence of each man’s mind – each individual is an end in himself. He owns his life, and no one else’s. Other men are not his slaves, and he is not theirs. They have no claim on his life or on the values he creates to maintain his life, and he has no claim on theirs. In a free society, men can gain immense values from each other by voluntarily trading the values they create to mutual gain. However, they can only create values if they are free to use their minds to exercise their creativity. A man is better living off on his own than as a slave to his brothers. Capitalism recognizes each man as an independent, thinking being.

The individual is an end in himself

Just as no individual has the right to initiate force against anyone, neither does any group of men, in any private or public capacity. It is immoral to initiate force against any individual for any reason. This includes the initiation of force for “the public good.” The “public” is merely a collection of individuals, each possessing the same rights, and each being an end in himself. Any attempt to benefit the “public good” is an immoral attempt to provide a benefit to one group of individuals at the expense of another. In a free society, no individual benefits at the expense of another: men exchange the values they create in voluntary trade to mutual gain. The rule of law in a free society has just one purpose: to protect the rights of the individual.

Capitalism leads to freedom and prosperity

A free, capitalist economy has never existed anywhere in the world. The closest the world came to a free market was during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and during the late 19th century in the United States. The Industrial Revolution was a period of unprecedented economic growth and unimaginable improvements in quality of life. In less than two hundred years, the life of most people in the Western world changed from a a short life filled with poverty, plague, and near-constant war to a modern, comfortable existence that even the kings of medieval Europe couldn’t have imagined. Since 1820, the leading capitalist nations have increased their wealth sixteen fold, their populations more than four-fold, their productivity twenty-fold. Annual working hours went from 3,000 to less than 1,700 and life expectancy doubled from thirty to over seventy years. 1

Yet despite the undeniable material superiority of capitalist societies, its critics continue to attack it as inhuman and selfish. What the world lacks is not evidence of capitalism’s practical superiority, but a moral defense of a man’s right to his own life.

Reference

Angus Maddison. Phases of Capitalist Development, p4 (1982)
Further Reading

Andrew Bernstein: The Capitalist Manifesto
Ayn Rand: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
The One Minute Case For Individual Rights
The One Minute Case Against Interventionism
The Bernstein Declaration On the Principles and Possibilities of Capitalism
The Capitalism Site


Posted by Meta Blog at 11:44 AM | TrackBack


http://www.objectivismonline.net/archives/004972.html

http://oneminute.rationalmind.net/capitalism/

Beck May Not Have Listened to Vickers Pronouncements

Posting the entirety of the transcript of the Glenn Beck interview with Damon Vickers which was broadcast on Nov. 17, 2009 in case somehow some of it gets edited out after Beck realizes exactly what Vickers pronounced would happen...

Glenn Beck: One-world Government in Our Future?
November 18, 2009 - 13:35 ET


Watch Glenn Beck weekdays at 5p and 2a ET on the Fox News Channel...
GLENN BECK, HOST: Tonight, I want to talk you to a little bit about un-sustainability. It can't go on this way. It's our debt, the dollar, your money, your children's future, the deficit.

I want to show you this here so you have some framework of what we're going to talk about this hour. We are now at $12 trillion — $12 trillion. But just so you know — that's our national debt. It's like a credit card. It's the accumulation of the deficits. It is at $11.99 trillion, we rounded it to $12 trillion.

And if you think that I'm bashing President Obama, you're wrong. A lot of this came up under George W. Bush. Our national debt — the credit card that we had in 2002 was $5.98 trillion. We're almost at $12 trillion. We have doubled the debt in 7 1/2 years, from $6 trillion to $12 trillion in the blink of an eye.

But let me ask you this question: How long did it take to get the first $6 trillion? Do you want to guess?

The first $6 trillion — we go back to 1995. Yes. No, I don't know why I stopped there. Or, you know, here it is. Here it is — the Reagan years, it had to be there, right? That we spend all that money?

1968, the Great Society, that would have been great.

1945, the end of World War II. No, no.

How about 1930, the Great Depression, huh? No. And I'm out of chalkboard. Can we get some tape? I want to — hang on, this may take a second.

All right. So, we have — it's taking a long time — right now, the producers are, like, he's in the dark. Get some light on him! Really? I look better in the dark. Ask my wife.

All right. So, it's not here, because this is about, what — I'd say this is about 18 — maybe 1865, you know, right around the end of the Civil War. Nope, that's not it.

How about — how about here, you know? Maybe — maybe in the Thomas Jefferson years? No. Nope, nope, not even in the Thomas Jefferson years.

No, it's crazy. We've got to go all the way back. We're going to stop in 17 — I guess I can't even do this — we're going to stop in 1791. 1791 is where we have to stop. Now, that's not the founding of our country — no, no, but this is our first debt, the actual founding of our country was a couple years before, 1791.

Follow this: 1791, 1800, Civil War, turn of the century, the Great Depression, World War II, the Great Society, Ronald Reagan, 1995, 2002 — and we still weren't at $6 trillion.

Now, follow this with me. Watch this. This should blow your mind.

Here we go. Where we estimate it to be next year? Fourteen trillion dollars. That's progress for you.

These are credit cards. We're spending ourselves into oblivion. There is going to be nothing left.

I want to show you a video, something that somebody sent to me last week. It's from CNBC. I don't know, this guy — I don't know anything about this guy that's being interviewed. We did some checking on him and I'll give you his bio in a second.

He's not crazy. He may be wrong but he's not crazy. He was on CNBC's Asia squawk box. I was dumbfounded by this interview because the host didn't say — wait, wait, what? I have never heard anyone on television say this before.

Watch this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CNBC)

DAMON VICKERS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NINE POINTS CAPITAL PARTNERS: Oil looks higher, gold looks higher, currencies look weaker — all for the reasons that we talked about before. I mean, you've got huge wage disparities. I don't know how that inevitably resolves itself. It may resolve itself in some type of a global currency crisis.

And then, if the global currency crisis unfolds, then, inevitably, you get, I guess, an alignment under a global government, a new global currency, and a new world order. So, we may be moving towards that.

HOST: Talk a little bit more about this currency crisis you see erupting. What does that assume about what's going to happen to the dollar?

VICKERS: Well, it assumes that the dollar will utterly get destroyed and become virtually worthless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I can't — I can't take it! I can't take to it. Well, talk to me about this currency crisis. What does that — did I hear it wrong? Play just a little snippet again. What did he say?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICKERS: If the global currency crisis unfolds, then, inevitably, you get, I guess, an alignment under a global world government, a new global currency, and a new world order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That's not good. The guest just said that the dollar would collapse and replace with some sort of global currency.

I mean, have you checked the front page of "Drudge Report" today? China is saying, "Hey, America, you really might want to rethink that whole health care thing, it seems pretty expensive." That is our bank! That's like your bank calling up and saying, "Hey, by the way, I think you guys are spending too much money, that's a pretty big house." If this bank doesn't give us any more loan or if we burn this bank, there is nobody else left.

A one world government, a new world order — and the host doesn't even flinch. Apparently — apparently, that's not even shocking to anybody anymore, or they're not listening.

On the scales of insane things, I just want to show you what we skipped past. Ready? Look at this.

Put it up here.

We're in a recession now. People argue we weren't even in a recession. We're in a deep recession. I think we're on the edge of a depression because of what we're doing.

OK. So, we have skipped a deep recession and skipped depression, even the Great Depression. We went right to the collapse of the dollar, and then he went right to global currency, one world government, and a new world order, like that.

Gosh, I think I would have said, you know, as the host, "What did you just say?"

I invited — because they're not going to do it on CNBC, I thought I would invite Damon Vickers, managing director of Nine Points Capital Partners on to the program.

Damon, what did you just say?

VICKERS: Glenn.

BECK: What did you say?

VICKERS: Well, you know, the trends that are in place are disturbing. I mean, you make great points. I mean, it's — we have a momentum, and the momentum is the weak dollar. It's something that the current administration is in favor of. Printing money is also something that they're in favor because nobody wants to face the consequences of not having to live indulgently.

BECK: OK.

VICKERS: And not only Americans, but also the government as well.

BECK: OK. This — this is — let's get this out of money talk, because this isn't CNBC. Thank you, Jesus. But.

VICKERS: Where's Maria?

BECK: OK. Let's bring this down to everybody's level of understanding. What is happening here is the government is blaming us and saying that we won't live within our means as a society, but they're just promising us this stuff and telling us, no, no, first, during the Bush years, you don't have to worry about the debt. Yes, you do!

Now, they're saying we should worry about the debt, but, oh, no, we're not even close. I look at the "Drudge Report." I look at the Web sites, the financial, I read "Bloomberg." I read "The Financial Times." You can't tell me there isn't signal after signal after signal.

Last I saw was from China on the health care. Japan said we used to be a country of innovators. Now, we're just a protection.

I mean, how come nobody — how come it's only you saying these things?

VICKERS: Well, I'm not beholden to an investment banking firm that has the honored position of distributing government paper. So, and in terms that everybody can understand, when we look at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgans, they were the recipient of so much financial love. They distribute government paper. They distribute the debt to the planet. So, of course, we had to keep those interests in check.

We've got serious problems. I mean, the debt is a problem. It doesn't seem to be a problem to Bernanke. I mean, notice his comments yesterday that he's happy to see the dollar weak and they're not all that concerned.

The problem is — as we see it — is that there are huge disparities in the cost of production for American goods versus the cost of production in Bangladesh or in India, or in Vietnam. These people make money. They get paid what, some of them what, 70 cents, $1 a day.

BECK: Right.

VICKERS: Twenty cents an hour — I mean, incredible wages. These are our servants, really. They're just living outside of the country. Yet, we also, domestically, have to employ people to produce things because not everybody can appear on "The Glenn Beck Show."

I mean, people in Ohio and Michigan actually need to do something.

BECK: Right.

VICKERS: A lot of it involves labor.

BECK: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: What everybody is saying now and this is what global labor is doing, is they're saying that we're going to be able to bring the world up to our standard. No, they're not. They're not — that's not possible.

What — what we are doing right now is we are spending ourselves into oblivion. It is — are you familiar with the Cloward-Piven strategy?

VICKERS: No. It sounds great.

BECK: No, it doesn't. You got to look this up, because you would — you would understand this. Look up the Cloward-Piven, the Cloward-Piven strategy. It's a — it's a radical Marxist idea that came out of Columbia University, and I'm telling you, Damon, it's being employed right now.

And the idea is: you want to change the culture in America? You want to change the government? You want to overthrow the Constitution? You don't do it with guns. You don't do it anything like that. If you want a redistribution of wealth, what you do is you collapse the system, and then it has to restart.

Well, that's what is happening.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: They are overwhelming it.

VICKERS: I know there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there. I had the benefit of doing the "Alex Jones Show" last night and I heard — I heard a couple of them. And I'm not disputing that many of them may be actually true. But market forces.

BECK: You don't need them.

VICKERS: . are likely to take.

BECK: You don't need a conspiracy theory.

VICKERS: Yes. But market forces are likely to take us there anyway. The dollar is way too high and other currencies are way too low. So, what you're likely to see is a realignment of currencies. We obviously cannot.

BECK: Say this in terms that people understand. A realignment of currencies doesn't mean anything. What it does mean is, you're going to live closer to the standard of Mexico than you are of America when they realign the currencies, correct?

VICKERS: Yes. That would be — that would be accurate. Our debts are simply too huge. There is no possible way that our labor forces can compete globally on a production cost basis.

When — if you or I, Glenn, were to come up with a brilliant idea, an "Aha, I got something," something Billy Mays might be proud of, maybe we would elect to make it here, but most people don't. When they come up with those great ideas, they're electing to immediately make them those things in the Philippines, or Bangladesh or Mexico.

That didn't happen in the past. In the past, we at least had a 10-, 15-, 20-year period where we created employment in this country. As of this moment, if great, new technologies come along that innovate society, like the arrival of the railroads, that really create an adoption cycle, an investment cycle, a bull market and economic expansion, those things that we're all talking about, they're not likely to land on these shores. The benefits are likely to be made overseas in emerging markets.

BECK: Right.

VICKERS: Beyond that, we don't have anything to export. We don't have oil.

BECK: That's why.

VICKERS: We don't — we are net consumers and net importers of our food. We don't have anything to export.

BECK: How did that happen?

VICKERS: We export promises and debt. And, inevitably, those two roads shall meet. And with the weakness of the dollar on a daily basis and the breakout on gold, it may be that we're moving towards it now.

BECK: America, how does this not make sense to you? I mean, this is the way it would work in your home. How does this not make sense?

How — how is it that we're still talking about insane things, instead of doing this, instead of America having this conversation of — look, look me in the eye, will you live a tough lifestyle right now? Will you — you've got to eventually pay the debt, it's immoral to pass all of this on — would you pay and live without government freebies? You got to work. You got to scratch. It's going to mean — it's going to mean like we live like our grandparents if we do it now.

VICKERS: But.

BECK: And you know what? That's fine. I will do that if my children still have an America at the end of it.

But, Damon, correct me if I'm wrong. If we don't get out of this, this thing will spiral out of control, and it will become — they'll push it up to a bigger, a higher power. Well, America is too-big-to-fail, got to make it into a one-world government, right?

VICKERS: Well, that — yes, that's exactly — that's exactly how it would unfold. You said something brilliant a second ago, which was about indulgence and about not facing the truth.

BECK: Hang on. I'm writing them down.

VICKERS: We are a society — we are a society that, I believe, for the most part medicates ourselves. Now, how do we do that? We do that with alcohol, we do it with drugs, we do it with bad television programs — not yours.

BECK: No, this is a bad TV show. Come on.

VICKERS: But programs — they dull the senses. We medicate ourselves. We take short-term impulsive fixes of buying things that we don't need, and we've accumulated so much. How many homes, how many cars, how many bangles of jewelry? I mean, we're choking on it. We're a society that has become a society where, literally, we stuff the macaroni and cheese in our bodies and we don't — we take out equity lines of credit to suck the fat out of our neck.

BECK: OK.

VICKERS: That is — this is craziness.

BECK: OK. Now, listen, I don't — I don't know about you, I don't have a problem with wealth. I don't have a problem with.

VICKERS: No. Me, neither.

BECK: OK. OK. Good, good. Because I just want to make that clear, I don't. But when you are putting it on a credit card — which is what our country is doing — it becomes insane.

I believe that we will be remembered in the history books only one of two ways. This generation and this time period, right now, we are making history. We will either be looked back on as the dumbest people ever to be on the face of the earth, the most clueless, greedy, obscene, stupid people, or we are going to be looked back on as heroes, because we decided to do the tough thing and live within our means!

And know what that means, gang. It means we're going to have our grandparents' depression nightmares, but they made it, and they were better for it.

And if you just want to ignore it, you know what? You're exactly right. We do medicate ourselves all the time.

We medicate ourselves, and just — as a recovering alcoholic, the media is the enabler. The politicians are the enabler. What they will do over and over? They'll say, "He doesn't have a problem, we don't have a problem, that's not happening." That's an enabler.

Get away from the enablers. Start rooting yourself in the truth.

Watch Glenn Beck weekdays at 5p and 2a ET on the Fox News Channel...

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/33297/

Vickers Lays Out Global Currency Road Beck Nods

Disappointing segment of Glenn Beck's so-called interview of Damon Vickers. Odd the last few seconds some 90 seconds and Beck is not listening? It all just goes right on by his head? Actually, Vickers is not adverse to the global currency. He sees it is a real possibility and he isn't warning us Glenn Beck. In fact, he's informing us this is what must happen because the dollar is too high and the other currencies are too low in relationship to the dollar - that is unsustainable.

Maybe Glenn just doesn't want to get it?

Net the Truth Online

Vickers comments after his appearance... says nothing... not surprising... he let the conspiracy uh cat out of the bag and now he can't talk anymore about the cat uh conspiracy uh cat...

http://www.damonvickers.com/articles?com_id=298

uh wait, Vickers thinks something is up? Some sort of plan? No, he thinks not? What's he really thinking?

Global Balance
by: Damon Vickers
Updated 3:09 pm EDT November 09, 2009

I made some comments in Asia last week that went, -well... Global. We are moving towards a point in time where the unit labor cost differentials.. -the cost of making a toothbrush in the US vs China/Vietnam/ Ecuador must come to a juncture, otherwise we have no means of paying our global debt. Witness rising unemployment. -Now maybe that's the plan all along? I dunno.We can get our house in order or there may be a new order of things on the way... new currencies.. new govts... etc. _The Tape will Tell.

http://www.damonvickers.com/articles?com_id=293

clip transcript GlennBeck.com(partial)

Glenn Beck: No follow up question?
November 17, 2009

Glenn: So, Damon, I've only got 90 seconds and less than 90 seconds and I'd like to have you back and talk about some other things, but give me the biggest warning sign, something that we are going to see in the future that you say, if you start seeing these things, you're if trouble. We've only got about a minute now.

Vickers: Well, nobody's in trouble if they do the right things and the right things is not to own dollars but, well, here's how it could happen. You'll find you may come in on a Monday morning, Glenn, and you may find out the dollar is down not just a percent but down maybe 10, 15 percent overnight and it's not just the dollar. It's also the pound because if it happens like that, it will be a domino effect.

Glenn: Yeah.

Vickers: It won't just be one currency. It will be multiple currencies. What the governments will then do is they will rash shun up interest rates to try to support the dollar. You may see interest rates go up 5, 6 percent in one shot. I think that when that happens, what you'll also find is that even though they have raised interest rates, it still doesn't support the dollar. Then you get, I guess, a meeting of, perhaps, the G 20.

Glenn: 10 seconds.

Vickers: To try to come together to try to formulate some kind of a plan and that plan will probably be some kind of new global currency...

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/33218/

No other segment of the Nov. 17, 2009 interview with Vickers is in transcript form on Beck's site that we can tell.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/list/196/

Vickers Many Conspiracies Might be true not global currency?

A CNBC guest Damon Vickers was later invited onto the Glenn Beck Program to review his particular statement:

“If the global currency crisis unfolds, then inevitably you get an alignment of a global world government. A new global currency and a new world order, so we may be moving towards that,”

http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/damon-vickers-we-are-heading-towards-a-global-currency-new-world-order/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/search.frame.php?term=damon+vickers&id=f5f81bcd2d52c32d7c1731b0f3d1429f

CNBC Report

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33709379

With video of the exchange on CNBC's Asia Squawk Box

Dollar Will be "Utterly Destroyed": Strategist
Published: Friday, 6 Nov 2009 | 3:09 AM ET Text Size By: CNBC.com

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33709379

On CNBC, Strategist Says Dollar Will be ‘Utterly Destroyed’; We Are Moving Toward ‘New World Order’Posted by Ralph Bernardo on November 18, 2009

http://www.disinfo.com/2009/11/on-cnbc-strategist-says-dollar-will-be-utterly-destroyed-we-are-moving-toward-new-world-order/

Beck used the clip as an introduction to his guest, Damon Vickers, wondering why Vickers wasn't asked about the statement then and there.

Beck says he was dumbfounded the CNBC host didn't ask anything about New World Order... currency crisis, etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ8MLgjUWn8

segment with Beck questioning why the CNBC host didn't ask anything about world government or new world order...

http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/glenn-beck-w-damon-vickers-new-world-order/410315580

Beck says he thought he'd invite David Vickers on his own program.

Vickers noted the trends were disturbing...

What was astonishing, later during the Beck interview, Vickers made a statement at once denying conpiracy theories about his comment - a global currency and world government and a new world order - etc - he noted he was a guest on the Alex Jones program where a couple of conspiracy theories were offered, said many of the theories might be true, but in this case... the market forces are likely to cause a realignment of currencies! Possibly world government is inevitable, too?

Alex Jones interview Damon Vickers

http://www.doomdaily.com/2009/the-alex-jones-show-%E2%80%93-l-i-v-e-%E2%80%93-november-16th-with-damon-vickers/

Alex Jones audio/video interview Damon Vickers (listen intently to Vickers when Jones makes remarks)

http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=8361

comments about Jones/Vickers

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=144760.0

By the way, listen and watch the Jones interview... see how Vickers comments people are afraid of change...

However, our focus remains on the comments Vickers made on Beck's program. He said he'd been a guest on Alex Jones program yesterday (Nov. 16) and he heard a couple of the conspiracy theories by Jones. He told Beck many of these conspiracy theories might be actually true.

Our response, why didn't Beck stop Vickers then and there and demand to know which Jones' conspiracies he thought might be actually true then? Which are not? And Beck could have asked how can Vickers ever know for sure that true unfettered market forces and not manipulation of market forces cause the realignment of currencies, global currency, global government, and new world order he envisions?

Transcript Nov. 27 rebroadcast Glenn Beck from Nov. 17, 2009

start here at 5:28

:31

Glenn Beck: what we are doing right now is we are spending ourselves into oblivion

:39

Beck: are you familiar with the Cloward Piven strategy

Vickers: no it sounds great

:47

Beck: no it doesn't you gotta look this up. cause you would understand this. Look up Cloward Piven strategy... a radical marxist idea that came out of Columbia University... telling you it's being employed right now... the idea is you want to change the culture in America you want to change the government... you want to overthrow the Constitution... you don't do it with guns... you don't do anything like that... if you want a redistribution of wealth what you do is you collapse the system...and then it has to restart...that's what's happening...overwhelmingly...

Vickers: I know there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, I had the benefit of doing the Alex Jones show last night... and I heard a couple of them and I'm not disputing that many of them might be actually true...but market forces are likely to take...

Beck interrupts: you don't need a conspiracy theory

Vickers: But the market forces are likely to take us there anyway... the dollar is way too high, and other currencies are way too low... what you are likely to see is a realignment of currencies...our debts are too huge... no possibile way that our labor forces can compete globally on production services... when we come up with a great idea... maybe we would elect to make it here... but now they are immediately making them in...Mexico and Bangladesh...

(transcript Net the Truth Online from video of Beck interview with Damon Vickers) and AOL.UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9nfWZLOOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26cQ3a7daw4

Glenn Beck Transcript includes segment wherein Beck says "you don't need a conspiracy theory."

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/33297/

Say what, Beck? You don't need a conspiracy? Say that again and again, and maybe people will believe you don't need a conspiracy to accomplish a collapse of the (financial) system and to overthrow the Constitution?

What you've described in just a few sentences... if you want to change the culture, if you want to change government...if you want to overthrow the Constitution...

you don't need guns, Beck said.

No you only need some way to "redistribute the wealth by collapsing the system and then it has to restart!"

Not a conspiracy?

Oh it will just happen because it well just will?

What makes Beck look unfortunately like a question-mark himself at this point?

He mentions the Marxist idea that came out of Columbia, tagged the Cloward-Piven strategy, and informss his guest Damon Vickers, this is happening, look it up - this is happening - then he offers a way to obtain the redistribution of wealth (envisioned in the radical Marxist theory that came out of Columbia University?) is by collapsing the system but then Beck denies any evidence of a conspiracy (theory) to accomplish this feat?

Just read one book by Grenville Clark World Peace Through World Law

World Law. World Government. New World Order. Not a conspiracy, right.

Beck lost us a few times before this, but this exchange is the height of his continued irresponsibility.

It's like Beck doesn't want to go too far - evidence of a conspiracy - one that would collapse the system in order to 'redistribute the wealth' - by such as manipulation of the stock market, manipulation by the Federal Reserve of the banking system, and so on - but he wants to put the idea in our minds - the fear - of the potential for a collapse of the system with the goal to redistribute the wealth.

As to his exchange with Vickers, Beck didn't even get out of him why market forces would likely result in a realignment of currencies... and world government no less.

In other words, Beck failed to poke and prod Vickers on the original statement Vickers made and by the end of the interview session we are no more informed about Vickers' statement than before he appeared on Beck's program.

This is more than disappointing given Beck's monologue and interjection wherein he allows "you don't need a conspiracy theory."

Vickers doesn't explain at any point other than to note what has been happening - companies are making more products and taking their production enterprises to lower wage countries... like Mexico and Bangladesh - that's where the companies go now - first... he said, something that hadn't happened before?

Say what? Hasn't happened before? Such has been happening in recent history after the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, sealed and delivered by the U.S. under Bill Clinton.

Wonder what is Vickers' opinion of NAFTA and CAFTA, etc.?

We'd bet he doesn't see any conspiratorial linkage there, right.

Meanwhile, don't miss the dailypaul.com discussion about Beck's reaction to Vickers.

Here's where we wonder what interview did this person watch?

Beck tries to portray economic collapse as engineered in order to bring about world government (a la Alex Jones), while the person he interviews, Damon Vickers, downplays the conspiracy theory version of things.

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/115087

Actually, it was Beck who agreed with Vickers: "you don't need a conspiracy theory."

so in fact, Beck did not try to portray the economic collapse as one that's engineered a la a conspiracy to bring about a new world order.

On the other hand, a review of Alex Jones interview with Vickers shows Jones is not remiss in outlining exactly what the conspiracy is and has been to create a problem or a crisis, turn an about face, and present a solution. Invariably, the solution gives more power to some, curtails rights of the masses, and eradicates freedom.

At this point, we can't disagree with the sentiments expressed about Glenn Beck - he's inconsistent and watch out. We also highlighted Beck's acquiescence on the issue of encouraging a second federal Constitutional Convention a while back.

Aj Show - Damon Vickers - Nine Points Research, Child of Elite gives NWO sales pitch!
Posted: Nov 17 2009, 02:24 PM
Listen to Monday, November 16, 2009: (Start Time 2:08:00)

http://z4.invisionfree.com/The_Great_Deception/index.php?showtopic=7548&st=0

Net the Truth Online

Transcript appears to be missing the section we've highlighted

Glenn Beck: No follow up question?

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/33218/

But here we find

Damon Vickers Mentions Alex Jones On Glenn Beck Show
Infowars
November 18, 2009

In response to Beck’s assertion that Obama and crew are using the Marxist Cloward–Piven strategy to collapse and reformulate society, Damon Vickers mentions the “conspiracy theories” of Alex Jones. Vickers appeared on Alex’s show on November 16. The following video was taken from Beck’s show that aired on November 17. Vickers makes the comment at five minutes, 58 seconds into the video.


http://peopleforfreedom.com/new-world-order-news/economy/damon-vickers-mentions-alex-jones-on-glenn-beck-show/

Alex Jones site video Nov. 16, 2009 guest Damon Vickers

http://www.archive.org/details/AlexJonesRadioShow-November162009

Worth a read

http://www.roguegovernment.com/Estulin:_After_G20,_Oligarchs_Moving_on_African_Union,_Population_Reduction/18049/0/2/2/Y/M.html

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/bruce-d-collins-dot-com-blog/31cb013075fff106b789722598367d95

http://nwoobserver.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/the-council-on-foreign-relations-cfr-and-the-new-world-order/

Whew


http://maxkeiser.com/2009/11/08/sunday-video-club-the-dollar-will-be-utterly-destroyed/comment-page-1/

Manipulation Fraud of Climate Model Data

Read and view

Will Climate Scandal Be a Tipping Point?
By Kimberley Strassel

...The more than 3,000 emails and documents from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) that have found their way to the Internet have blown the lid off the "science" of manmade global warming. CRU is a nerve center for many of those researchers who have authored the United Nations' global warming reports and fueled the political movement to regulate carbon.

Their correspondence show a claque of scientists massaging data to make it fit their theories, squelching scientists who disagreed, punishing academic journals that didn't toe the apocalyptic line, and hiding their work from public view. "It's no use pretending that this isn't a major blow," glumly wrote George Monbiot, a U.K. writer who has been among the fiercest warming alarmists. The documents "could scarcely be more damaging." And that's from a believer.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/27/cap_and_trade_is_dead__99322.html

Climategate e-mails sweep America, may scuttle Barack Obama's Cap and Trade laws
By Gerald Warner Politics Last updated: November 26th, 2009

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100018034/climategate-%20%20e-mails-sweep-america-may-scuttle-barack-obamas-cap-and-trade-laws/

Update - Climategate - CRU Source Code Explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp4sMasX-_8

And then there is this

Photos

Recently Added Most Viewed Top Rated Most Discussed Most Favorite Revolutionary Politics

10 mins to Expose Global Warming Scam

Al Gore speaks criticism what he failed to mention

http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=8514

Odd but interesting postings regarding the 'emails...'

http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/

Recount gain 6 votes installs new mayor

Recount affirms Ward's victory as Brownsville mayor
A recount yesterday of votes cast in the November election for mayor of Brownsville confirmed earlier results showing Lester Ward as the winner.

The recount showed Ward with 353 votes to incumbent Lewis Hosler's 340, according to the Fayette County election bureau.

Hosler asked for the recount after initial returns indicated Lester had won by 7 votes. The recount turned up an additional 6 votes for Ward, increasing his lead to 13 votes.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_655060.html

A public recount of the Brownsville mayoral race Wednesday ended with challenger Lester Ward prevailing by 13 votes over incumbent Lewis Hosler Sr.

After about an hour of recounting paper, provisional and electronic ballots, Larry Blosser, acting director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, announced that Ward received 353 votes and Hosler had received 340 votes. Hosler, a Democrat, received votes on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. Ward, who previously registered as a Democrat, ran as an Independent candidate.

Ward called the announcement good news, but cautiously said he would "see where it goes from here," joking that it may go to the Supreme Court.

If Ward's win stands, he said he is looking forward to seeing what he can do for the people of Brownsville.

Attending the recount with his attorney, Ward said he was "very happy" to be at another stage.

"It is very encouraging and a good Thanksgiving gift," Ward said.

The vote total following the recount gives Ward the largest lead he has had since the Nov. 3 municipal election. At different times after the election, Ward led with 11 votes, six votes and then seven votes.

Advertisement The road to become the first black mayor in Fayette County history was littered with obstacles for Ward from the beginning. He was initially thrown off the Democratic ballot for the May primary after he didn't properly file his paperwork. Then he tied for the Republican nomination with Hosler with write-in votes, but lost the nomination with the drawing of lots.

Ward then ran as an Independent candidate, but hasn't been able to savor a victory as of yet.

Blosser said with the recount, the results of the Nov. 3 municipal election are now complete. The results will be official once the county commissioners sign them and five days pass.

Ward previously said he and his wife knocked on about 1,000 doors in the borough during the campaign and he feels good about doing some good in the town.

Hosler, who is finishing his first four-year term, previously said he always would be friends with Ward, no matter which way the vote came out.

Hosler has said he intends to remain active in the community, mentioning that he would like to see a veterans memorial built and an addition to the public library.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/november/26/recount-shows-ward-as-mayoral-race-winner.html

PA Corbett Investigation House Republican Staffers

Grand jury report details state GOP election mischief
By Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

HARRISBURG -- In April 2006, five months after former state Rep. Jeff Habay of Shaler was convicted of diverting public resources to his political campaign, House Republican staffers went to his district to help keep the seat in GOP hands, a state grand jury concluded.

Although their efforts failed, the grand jury said House Republicans used taxpayer-funded equipment and computer programs to work on that special election.

On the election's eve, two House Republican information technology employees, with taxpayer-paid computer equipment stacked in their hotel room, "discussed how truly 'weird' it was to be about to use all these public resources to fill the seat of a guy who just went to jail for 'illegal campaign activities,' " said the grand jury report.

Based on the report released last week, Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican, accused former House Speaker John Perzel of Philadelphia, who remains a House member, and nine other Republicans of diverting $10 million in taxpayer money to campaigns, spending most of it on sophisticated computer programs to gain an edge in elections. Perzel, facing 83 felony charges of theft, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and conflict of interest, says he will prove his innocence in court.

Corbett said he is guided in the Perzel case and earlier charges against Democrats by a Superior Court ruling from the Habay case, which held that a legislator cannot use state-paid employees for campaigns or fundraising during state time, for personal benefit.

The grand jury report details at least a dozen state House districts in which Perzel and his aides are accused of using state-purchased equipment and computer programs to boost election-day turnout and analyze voting patterns.

Republican candidates said they had no idea which computer programs were used to assist them, and they didn't always work.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_653528.html

Chuck Todd: Feds Put Terrorists Where Know Win

MSNBC's Chuck Todd said the Federal Prosecuters have good reason to bring terrorists (Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay prisoners)to a New York courtroom. They put them where they know they will win.

Think about that. All the talk by supporters of this move invariably includes:

They are guilty. Guilty now, long before any trial in the United States.

This isn't just the Justice Department prosecutorial team. These are Congress members, Senators and Representatives. Guilty. GUILTY.

Wait a minute.

We were under the belief, maybe mistaken, that in the United States of America, we operate under a Justice system where one is innocent until proven beyond reasonable doubt guilty.

And we were under the belief, maybe mistaken, prosecuters don't select an area of the country to put someone on trial because they know beforehand (maybe from demographic surveys) what the likely beliefs of potential jurors are (as a demographic) and choose the location because they know 99 percent of the potential jury pool are of a particular race, particular religious belief, particular socioeconomic status, etc. where it's likely a guilty verdict will be brought.

This isn't to say we should have had since after September 11, 2001 the so-called Patriot Act (where evidence can be obtained without a warrant per the regular so-called legal system). It isn't to say we should have had a President (and the next and the next) enabled to tag someone as an enemy combatant and incarcerate the individual for some 8 years without any Constitutional rights.

The Gutatanimo Bay 'prisoners' as Michael Goodwin calls them, are not merely prisoners, they are enemy combatants.

They had no Constitutional rights guaranteed to anybody in the United States of America... until a Supreme Court case in 2004.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=enemy+combatant+rights&btnG=Google+Search&rlz=1R2SKPB_enUS349&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Supreme Court: Detainees and Enemy Combatant Rights

Elisa Massimino
Human Rights First
Monday, June 28, 2004; 2:00 PM

The Supreme Court ruled today in two cases regarding anti-terrorism legislation and the rights of prisoners and "enemy combatants." The court decided that suspected terrorists must be allowed access to the American justice system to contest their detention...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12065-2004Jun28.html

Meanwhile Michael Goodwin:

This trial's an error

Last Updated: 12:15 PM, November 15, 2009

Take the iconic "I Love New York" poster and plunge a dagger into its heart. That's what the Obama administration is doing by bringing the mastermind of 9/11 and other terror freaks here for trial.

We don't deserve this. Why are we being punished again?

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to ship Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Manhattan for federal trials is beyond bad judgment.

It is a radical call that puts his leftist legal theories over public safety and common sense. The war on terror is being relabeled as a crime problem, in the very shadow of Ground Zero.

Mohammed and his murderous crew don't belong in civilian courts, where they will get defendant rights designed for ordinary criminal suspects. They declared war on our nation, were captured on foreign battlefields and deserve no presumption of innocence or other constitutional protections.

They'll use our liberties to turn the trial into propaganda for their warped cause. Their images and words will fly around the world as fodder for a new generation of jihadists. The federal courthouse and detention center will become a fortress. The judge, prosecutors, witnesses, federal agents and jury will need protection, some for years. It's madness.

New York already took a big hit for the team. The 9/11 attacks were aimed at America, and it is sacrilege to the dead and the living to bring these defendants back and invite another attack.

Here's an idea: Put the trial in Chicago...

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_trial_an_error_NEddBtLsizqB25L5L1SLhJ#ixzz0X7siTmQT

No. Not New York. Not Chicago.

Put the trial of the 21st Century in Washington DC. If there is nothing to fear... If there is no place that becomes unsafe... If there is no way the federal government will lose no matter where these guys are sent... then put the trial smack in the center of our national government.

A jury of one's peers? That's the idea.

Net the Truth Online

Check Palin Facts: A New Industry?

Checking Sarah Palin's facts as presented in and outside of her recently published book, "Going Rogue" is quickly becoming an industry.

http://www.amazon.com/Going-Rogue-American-Sarah-Palin/dp/0061939897

We're happy to participate.

But at the same time, so too should checking facts of the 'We're all global warmers now' crowd.

We're happy to participate.

And we're happy to participate on many other issues concerning fact checking of facts no matter which political party or what political philosophy.

Norah O'Donnell said on Morning Joe that Sarah Palin's facts need to be checked.

Unfortunately O'Donnell didn't say the same of the recent release of what's likely to be a little-reviewed book over at Morning Joe or among any of the guests the program interviews.

Clean Energy Common Sense.

http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Energy-Common-Sense-American/dp/144220317X

Now that O'Donnell is hot on the trail of debunking many of Sarah Palin's facts, as not accurate, O'Donnell should pick up on fact checking of the Clean Energy Common Sense book.

then and only then will she have the credibility to criticize Palin, even though criticism of Palin is in our estimation, as well-deserved as anyone else who puts themselves in the public eye.

Her comment on Morning Joe highlighted what a later guest tagged as Sarah Palin's hypocricy on the issue of what Palin describes as "death panels" when she speaks about the Democrat (Barack Obama's) Health Care plan regarding end-of-life counseling of senior citizens.

From our standpoint, as we've posted before, we don't think the federal government should be involved in any health care mandate period. (No government at any level should) The bill with its mandate on individuals to purchase an insurance plan or else face fines is unconstitutional.

Palin among conservatives tagging Health Care Bill contains language nothing short of "death panels."

End-of-life counseling remains in health bill
Provision was dubbed 'death panels' by some conservatives

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33538298/ns/politics/

Later in the program, Katrina Vanden Houvel's pronoucement - Palin supported 'end of life' counseling - prompted our own fact-checking even though we believe the government should butt out of our private affairs, period.

Tracking publication of Going Rouge...

http://orbooks.com/

Here's what we found.

(Quotes on video)

http://vodpod.com/watch/2444918-sarah-palin-book-going-rogue-or-rouge-an-american-nightmare-

Palin Backed End-of-Life Counseling As Alaska Governor
By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Aug 13th, 2009


ThinkProgress dug into the Alaska state archives and pulled out this gem that clearly shows Palin to be a hypocrite of the highest order:

In recent weeks, right-wing groups have been pushing the myth that health care reform will somehow kill seniors. One of the most high profile voices pushing this lie has been Sarah Palin, who claimed President Obama will institute bureaucratic “death panels.” Today, again on her Facebook page, she continued the attack.

However, on April 16th 2008, then Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed some of the same end of life counseling she now decries as a form of euthanasia. In a proclamation announcing “Healthcare Decisions Day,” Palin urged public facilities to provide better information about advance directives, and made it clear that it is critical for seniors to be informed of such options:

http://pubrecord.org/politics/3560/palin-backed-end-of-life-counseling/

The link to the resource that's supposed to provide documentation of Palin's Proclamation is inactive.

In the comments section the Admin provided a link to the dated Proclamation signed by Sarah Palin.

WHEREAS, as a result of April 16, 2008, being recognized as Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, more citizens will have conversations about their healthcare decisions; more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as:

Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.

Dated: April 16, 2008

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/proclamations.php?id=1094

Printer friendly version

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/print_news.php?id=1094

Another poster to that site included further information

Steve Roberts says:
August 17, 2009 at 4:25 pm May I add, that this entire controversy arose from an amendment added to the Senate version of the health care reform bill. That amendment was introduced by Republican Senator Johnny Isakson.

So for anyone, particularily ex-Gov. Palin, to refer to “Obama Death Panels” is political posturing of the worst kind – the kind that doesn’t even make any sense.

http://pubrecord.org/politics/3560/palin-backed-end-of-life-counseling/

Senator Isakson rebuttal

http://isakson.senate.gov/press/2009/081109healthcare.html

Think Progress

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/11/sen-johnny-isakson-nuts/

Clean Energy Common Sense by Global Warmers

Heard a brief plug on NPR for a book out by NRDC's president, Frances Beinecke. Clean Energy Common Sense, it was reported, was only 100 pages.

According to Michael Oko Federal Media Director, Washington D.C., the book "is a call to action on global climate change."

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/moko/a_party_for_common_sense.html

Interest that one of the author's is who?

It won't be shocking if Glenn Beck makes the slim book the subject of his chartboards for the next week, highlighting every line for fact checking.

Beck may have another red phone set up for Frances Beinecke. Can't wait.

Meanwhile EPA OFFICIALS make a you tube video against cap and trade and the EPA shuts down the video on youtube, says Byron York on Fox News Sunday programming!

Net the Truth Online

clips

Starting a Clean Energy Revolution with Common Sense
Frances Beinecke
President of NRDC, New York City
Blog | About
Posted November 6, 2009
...While I was drafting the book, I kept a certain audience in mind: the people who have heard a lot about climate change from both sides but are not sure what to believe.

I talk with these people all the time. They approach me after I give a speech or at gatherings when they find out what I do. And they ask me solid, probing questions.

They might be skeptical of my answers at first, but they are willing to listen.

I wanted this book to be worthy of that attentiveness. I am not asking readers to take my word for it that we must confront climate change. I ask them to listen to the most authoritative experts in the field.

When I write about the alarming rate at which summer sea ice is melting in the Arctic, I reference scientists from NASA.

When I say that climate change poses a serious threat to national security, I quote Marine Corps four-star General Anthony Zinni, U.S. Navy Admiral Lee Gunn, and CIA Director Leon Panetta.

And when I explain that creating a clean energy future is affordable, I cite research from the Congressional Budget Office, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. These places are home to the best energy economists in the world. They are not in the service of any one but the public's interest. And they agree that fighting climate change will cost American families less than 44 cents a day.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/can_common_sense_spur_an_energ.html

FRANCES BEINECKE Beinecke is the president of NRDC. Under Frances's leadership, the organization sharply focuses on curbing global warming, developing a clean energy future, reviving the world's oceans, saving endangered wild places, stemming the tide of toxic chemicals and accelerating the greening of China. Frances has worked with NRDC for 35 years. Prior to becoming the president in 2006, Frances was the executive director for eight years, during which time NRDC's membership doubled and the staff grew to 300. Frances serves on the board of the World Resources Institute, the Energy Future Coalition and Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and is on the steering committee of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. She is also the co-chair of the Leadership Council for the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, a member of the Yale School of Management's Advisory Board and a former member of the Yale Corporation. Frances received her bachelor's degree from Yale College and a master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She has received several awards, most recently the Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society. With Bob Deans, Frances recently co-authored the book Clean Energy Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change, which shows how we can secure a clean and sustainable energy future that will help put Americans back to work, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and create a healthier future for ourselves and our children.

http://www.nrdc.org/media/expertBio/b.asp

PA: Attorney General Tom Corbett Conflict Interest?

Highly interesting report. What comes to our mind, will Corbett's charges against John Perzel and company be challenged as a "stretch" because Corbett is making a run for Governor and needs the appearance of at least attempting to investigate the Republicans and Perzel in particular?

We wonder why isn't the news item "Corbett guv run tainted by conflict of interest charges?" entitled "Corbett investigation/indictment of Republican lawmaker and staffer/fundraiser conflict of interest?"

November 12, 2009

Attorney General Corbett announces criminal charges in second phase of legislative investigation; 10 suspects charged

The BlueCard program was a two piece system; the first piece included sending campaign employees to every door in Perzel's district to fill out the information on the BlueCard, while the second part was the creation of a database.

Perzel's idea was not simply to keep the BlueCards in a file drawer for manual reference during campaigns, but to align all the information on the cards with technology to make it more easily accessible and deployable for campaign purposes.

Perzel put Samual "Buzz" Stokes, his brother-in-law and campaign manager, in charge of the BlueCard program. The grand jury found that despite the control of the BlueCard program by the campaign, little or no Perzel campaign funds or resources ended up being used in the creation and development of the BlueCard program. The BlueCard effort was achieved at the expense of the Pennsylvania taxpayers.

The grand jury found that the RIT staff spent countless hours working on programs to make the BlueCard system more efficient. The grand jury found that Perzel and his campaign personnel became frustrated that the improvements the RIT staff were making did not meet their standards. To help solve this problem Perzel hired his wife's nephew, Eric Ruth, to be the Deputy Director of RIT. Ruth spent most of his time ensuring that Perzel's BlueCard program took priority over everything else the staff did.

The grand jury found that in January of 2002, despite the efforts of RIT, the responsibility of the BlueCard program was shifted to a private vendor, GCR & Associates in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The grand jury found that Perzel abhorred chance and uncertainty and, as a result, aggressively sought to build redundancy and safety nets into projects he viewed as essential to his success.

The grand jury found that Perzel's campaign staff wielded a tremendous amount of power and authority within the Capitol and that their requests took priority even over Republican Representatives and their staffs.

In 2003, the grand jury found that another vendor, Aristotle International Inc. from Washington DC, had been retained by the caucus and was heavily involved in improving and modifying the BlueCard program at taxpayers' expense. Aristotle's work modernized the program and made it faster and more user friendly. The grand jury found that Aristotle spent more than $80,000 on the BlueCard program.

The grand jury found that with the success of the BlueCard program in his own district in 2002, Perzel directed the RIT staff to create the BlueCard system for numerous other House districts in the 2004 election cycle. It was also created for a state senate district and congressional district. The grand jury found that this was part of Perzel's effort to expand his campaign influence all across the state.

In 2005, the BlueCard program was used in a special election in the 131st legislative district. Additionally in 2005, Perzel established the BlueCard system citywide in Philadelphia.

Telstar/Election Day Complete
As part of his effort to ensure his re-election, the grand jury found that Perzel directed the development of a sophisticated computer system to ensure that his supporters went to the polls on election day.

The traditional way in which candidates accomplished this was having the campaign check off the names of voters at the polling places as they came in to vote and then taking the list back to campaign headquarters. They would then call or drive to the homes of the people that did not vote. Perzel wanted to use technology to make this system much more efficient and employed the staff of the RIT help to accomplish this.

Perzel's idea was to use handheld computers which had each of the registered voters in the precinct or division in Philadelphia loaded onto it. The campaign workers at the polling places would simply click a name on the handheld computer and have that information electronically transmitted to a common database. Perzel believed that this was a way that he could maximize limited resources on Election Day.

The original handheld computer idea was called Telstar, however the grand jury found that as the program became much bigger, more complicated and interconnected to many other technological endeavors, over time it became known as Election Day Complete. The key to making this program work was the purchase of handheld computers, which were completely paid for by the Republican Caucus.

The first-full scale deployment of the Telstar/Election Day Complete system took place in the April 2002 special election in Monroe County. Telstar was viewed as largely successful in this election.

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=4834

clip

Posted on Thu, Nov. 12, 2009

Corbett guv run tainted by conflict of interest charges?
By CHRIS BRENNAN
Philadelphia Daily News

brennac@phillynews.com 215-854-5973

State Attorney General Tom Corbett, now running for governor, met with state Rep. John Perzel, of Philadelphia, at a Harrisburg hotel in October 2007.

Two months later, Brian Preski, Perzel's former chief of staff, organized a campaign fundraiser for Corbett.

In state politics, nothing about either event would seem strange. A high-profile elected official is expected to meet with members of his political party while seeking the state's highest office.

But Corbett's office at the time was actively investigating Perzel and Preski and others in the state General Assembly in what is now a 21-month probe known as "Bonusgate."

Corbett charged 12 Democratic legislators and staffers in July 2008 with theft, criminal conspiracy and conflict of interest. Indictments against Republicans could come as soon as today.

Corbett is taking shots from both Republicans and Democrats for campaigning while serving as the state's top prosecutor in a massive political-corruption case.

U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, a rival in the May 2010 Republican primary election, has hammered Corbett for "seeking political support of GOP legislators, party leaders and key contributors" while leading the investigation.

"I think the perception has been out there for quite a while that Tom Corbett has a conflict of interest that needed to be resolved," Gerlach's campaign manager, Scott Migli, said this week...

...Investigators are also examining whether a state-funded database used to track voter-registration information was improperly used by House Republicans like Perzel for political purposes.

Preski and his attorney declined to comment about the Corbett fundraiser or the ongoing investigation...

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20091112_Corbett_guv_run_tainted_by_conflict_of_interest_charges_.html

PA: John Perzel Charged by Corbett

John Perzel is also charged with "robo-calls" - untraceable - against his own party-members who didn't vote the way he wanted.

It's amazing what can be found with all the might and resources of the government paying and digging, untraceable calls, then how were they traced to Perzel?

Net the Truth Online

Posted: Thursday, 12 November 2009 1:34PM
Pa. State Rep. John Perzel Charged, Called Mastermind of Illegal Scheme
by KYW's Tony Romeo

...Each of the defendants is charged with numerous counts of theft, conspiracy, and conflict of interest. In addition, Perzel, Feese, Towhey, Preski, and Zimmerman are charged with obstruction of justice...

The attorney general even alleges that Perzel used taxpayer dollars to pull dirty tricks on his own party members who failed to vote the way he wanted them to, by directing untraceable, automated “robo” calls against them in their home districts.

http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/5662290.php?

Posted: Thursday, 12 November 2009 1:34PM

Pa. State Rep. John Perzel Charged, Called Mastermind of Illegal Scheme


by KYW's Tony Romeo

The Pennsylvania attorney general has announced criminal charges against ten people tied to the Republican Party in Harrisburg -- including state representative John Perzel of Philadelphia (above) -- in connection with an alleged scheme to have campaign work performed at taxpayer expense.

State attorney general Tom Corbett has been probing whether legislative staffers were given pay bonuses in exchange for doing political work -- a violation of state law. In July of 2008, twelve Democrats were charged in connection with the probe that became known as "Bonusgate."

The new charges, now against Republicans, revolve around the use of taxpayer money to purchase voter data, computer software, and services to buttress House GOP campaign efforts, and efforts to cover it up, Corbett said.

http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/5662290.php?

Fact Checking rogue Sarah Palin Going Rogue

While we are all facing some nightmarish future should we all be forced to purchase health care insurance or face fines and who knows what else if President Obama's health care plan (not a single payer system, not a single payer system), we have to be appreciative that we are alive at an astonishing timie in history. We have access to information at our fingertips unlike any other time in history. A new industry has arisen, but use caution, among and within the ranks of the mainstream press. Fact checking.

And we who proclaim to be part of the 'new' media, bloggers of all political stripes, or none of the above political stripes, can access this material and fact check the fact check and fact check... well you get the idea.

So now that the book's excerpts are available, a well known international media conglomerate, the Associated Press, has issued a fact Check report on Sara Palin's book Going Rogue.

We appreciate the clever title of the piece.

FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts

But we've got to wonder when Hilary Clinton's book was published, where was the AP fact check then?

When Condoleeza Rice's book was published, where was the AP fact check then?

Well those will take some time to research, and we are anxious to watch as this Fact Check Story (published on one of the worst days for pick up for discussion anywhere) will either make it or not to the desks of everybody who is somebody among the 3 major news networks.

We'll track for just a few days... we really will limit ourselves to just a few days... we will limit ourselves to just a few days... we will... we wi-l-l...

All right. Turned on MSNBC at just the right moment in time. Going to discuss Going Rogue. Will they discuss AP's Palin's book goes rogue on some facts?

Nope, they instead focused on the criticisms Palin made of how the McCain campaign hampered her...

Wall Street Journal's coverage of the pre-release contains nothing about any inaccuracies or spins or skewed facts.

Sad...

Net the Truth Online

FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer – 17 mins ago (that would be approx. 7:00 AM Saturday the day after Friday the 13th)

WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush — a package she seemed to support at the time.

A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:

___

PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.

THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

___

PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.

THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.

Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.

She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she said she would give a comparative sum to charity after the general election in 2010, a date set by state election laws.

PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."

THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.

Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."

During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."...

AP writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091114/ap_on_el_pr/us_palin_book_fact_check

November 13, 2009, 2:55 PM ET Palin’s Book: The Overview

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/11/13/palins-book-the-overview/

New York Election Highlights Uncounted Absentees

Just goes to show, mistakes by human hands and minds can be made in any election, so candidates should never concede until the unofficial results are made official and all absentee ballots and potentially any provisional ballots are counted as well.

Net the Truth Online

Recanvassing shows NY-23 race tightens even as Rep. Bill Owens is sworn into House seat
By Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard
November 12, 2009, 6:02AM

Washington -- Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County.

As it turns out, neither was true.

But Hoffman’s concession -- based on snafus in Oswego County and elsewhere that left his vote undercounted -- set off a chain of events that echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and helped secure passage of a historic health care reform bill.

Democratic Rep. Bill Owens was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives. His support sealed his party’s narrow victory on the health care legislation.

Now a recanvassing in the 11-county district shows that Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/its_not_over_recanvassing_shows_ny23_race.html

Vote: Hoffman closes in on Owens
RESULTS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE: Recounts, absentee ballot count continue in historic 23rd District election
By JUDE SEYMOUR

...The gap between Mr. Owens and Mr. Hoffman has shrunk by 2,159 since election night, after Oswego and Jefferson elections commissioners discovered human error had led to inaccurate reporting of results.

Mr. Hoffman trailed in Jefferson County on election night by 557 votes. Now he's up here by 424 votes. The Conservative candidate led in Oswego County by 500 votes on election night. Now he leads by 1,748 votes.

Sean M. Hennessey, Jefferson County Democratic elections commissioner, said poll inspectors in four districts reported Mr. Hoffman had received zero votes after inadvertently reading the wrong line of the poll system's printout. The commissioner said results in some other districts were either incorrectly relayed by the poll worker or incorrectly typed by the part-time staff answering phones at the county department.

"The machines were not at fault," said Jerry O. Eaton, county Republican elections commissioner. "It's all human error that happens every election."

The shrinking deficit spurred some conservative bloggers, such as Michelle Malkin, to wonder aloud Thursday if Mr. Hoffman had given up on the race too early.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091113/NEWS03/311139951

More

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/3/2/counting_ballots_in_nys_23rd_district/

Suzanne Somers unhealthy appearance on Wendy Williams

Suzanne Somers controversial again with new book.

Suzanne Somers wages war on conventional cancer treatments
Gina Roberts-Grey Oct 20th 2009 at 12:30PM

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/20/suzanne-somers-wages-war-on-conventional-cancer-treatments/

What's new?

Are Bioidentical or natural hormones right for you?
By Colette Bouchez

Actress Suzanne Somers says she owes her ageless good looks and boundless energy to natural bioidentical hormones. Now OPRAH WINFREY says natural estrogen and other bioidentical hormone therapy has helped her as well. Could they be your answer?

Some doctors question the treatment - citing a lack of medical evidence attesting to long term safety - with some believing it eventually prove even more dangerous than traditional HRT.

Here's a look at the natural estrogen and the bioidentical hormone therapy controversy ....

But are these women right? Many say they are not - and that their advice is dangerous.

In fact, one group of doctors – a panel of seven noted physicians, 3 of whom were quoted in the Somers book – say her promises far exceed what we know about these treatments. They sent a letter to Somers and her publisher claiming the book is misleading, inaccurate, and downright dangerous for women to follow.

http://www.yourmenopause.com/AgelessSuzanneSomers.html

That's why the woman publishes the kind of material she publishes. To stir controversy and sell more books. Nothing wrong with that.

What is the truth about alternative cancer treatments?

That's the outstanding question.

Wendy Williams had Somers as a guest a few days back, Nov. 11.

http://www.wendyshow.com/2009/11/11/suzanne-somers-columbus-short/

While watching particularly closely as Somers walked on stage and greeted Wendy, we noted Somers did not really look well - though always striking, hair and facial features, her face looked puffy.

youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckSpiWO4Mj8&feature=youtube_gdata

Throughout the interview, Wendy made every attempt to coddle her style, her beauty as an up and coming actress 20-years ago, and her successful publishing and product success and entrepreneurship.

But throughout, sitting next to Wendy Williams, Somers looked puffy in the face, and neck, especially. It couldn't have been the camera angle as many other women have sat in the same position at the same angle.

Not a criticism, just wondering what affect some 60 pills a day the actress admitted to consuming has on her own health.

Yes she survived cancer. The courage alone gives her a youthful glow.

What was commendable about Somers was the fact she did not try to hide her look from the public. Entering the studio in a black outfit that first, because it's black, looks slimming, until one sits down, the shoulder drop showed the thickness of her neck and shoulders, the sleeve length hid her arms, (thankfully she wasn't as rude as Wendy was recently) but the skirt length showed the condition of part of her thighs. Brave woman.

Not to be demeaning, but we know Somers must do some amount of exercising, so she's not un-fit, it's that she can't hide the puffiness and we wonder what is it to be attributed to if not lack of health?

No amount of makeup could hide the bloated features and yet of course Somers is to be commended for putting herself out there.

Reality TV video

http://www.reality-tv-network.com/wendywilliams/11112009-suzanne-somers-columbus-short

Still we need to learn everything we can about Somers' claims about approaches to health over these many years.

We're also disappointed with Wendy Williams after reviewing some material provided by Gerald Posner in a lengthy article at The Daily Beast.

We have liked Wendy Williams (following along just a month or 2 late night) because she does have a unique interviewing technique. She gets each and every guest so comfortable with her own charm and charisma and each one certainly reveals more about what might remain personal and hidden under any other line of questioning than Wendy's.

But this interview didn't seem to go like many others. What didn't Wendy ask?

She asked how many pills Somers takes every day. "Are you still taking 60 pills a day?" Wendy Williams asked.

There's a long list of things we'd have expected Wendy Williams to ask, but she didn't. It's doubtful anybody else but Wendy could have asked as she did Joan Rivers, what is real and what isn't?

What have you had done, and what haven't you had done. But she didn't.

It was as if Wendy Williams had been given a script of what she could and could not ask.

While we don't expect Wendy Williams (Turner) to dig to the heart of a controversial issue, or get into the issue of the Big Pharmas, vs oh naturale, we do expect her to ask point blank number 1 question.

If you're taking so many daily blood tests like you said, ooo that must hurt, and you find where you have nutritional deficits, and so you take 60 pills daily, how you doin Suzanne, lady, cause you look unhealthy?

And the real Wendy Williams would point. Face, neck, shoulders, thighs, etc. as she has done before with several guests, including pulling at a person's hair to see if it's an extension. Joan Rivers pulled hers out.

So over, Wendy Williams, too bad, it looks from a bit of research, Somers needs to meet up with Gerald Posner and/or The Daily Beast for a few questions.

If you can't meet face to face with critics who have a good bit of informational basis to challenge you, who can believe what you're telling us face to face on Larry King Live or even Wendy Williams is the truth?

60 pills, and what else?

Net the Truth Online

Intro to Fast and Easy
Michael Galitzer, M.D.

http://www.ahealth.com/content/education_research/published_excerpts/fast_and_easy.php

Life Extension Promo

http://www.vitalimagemedspa.com/assets/pdf/Breakthrough_by_Suzanne_Somers.pdf

Gerald Posner
Does Suzanne Somers Cause Cancer?

The former actress has one of the nation’s top books, touting secret cancer cures. But these methods, reports Gerald Posner, may actually increase the disease risk. Specifically, Posner reveals how:

Her book promotes a regimen that many doctors believe causes cancer rather than cures it.

This regimen might have contributed to her own bout with cancer.

Several doctors and experts she uses as the basis for her book have medically checkered backgrounds.

Cancer is a recurring thread and marketing tool for her wide-ranging business interests.

One outside expert, based on his examination of 30 years of photographs, believes she had plastic surgery, which would undercut her reputation for health through alternative medicine. ..

The Suzanne Somers Wonder Drug

Somers’ core message revolves around the use of bioidentical hormones as wonder drugs. In Knockout, she writes that they fix “sex drive, inability to sleep, weight gain, bloating, body itches, mood swings, hot flashes, and memory loss… [and] also restores quality of life.” Bioidenticals, she writes, are “a good idea if you want to stay alive for twice as long as your body intended.”

So what makes bioidenticals different from hormones packaged and sold by major pharmaceutical firms?

According to doctors I spoke with, nothing.

“Bioidentical is a pseudo-scientific term used by Somers and others only as a marketing gimmick,” says Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, an Associate Professor in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Georgetown’s School of Medicine. “Bioidentical hormones are not natural products; they are synthesized in a laboratory. Bioidentical preparations use exactly the same pharmaceutical hormones that are used in branded hormone preparations.”


Page continued...

That differentiation—or lack thereof—is critical. In 2002, one of the largest-ever medical studies, The Women’s Health Initiative, concluded that estrogen and progesterone, the hormones used by Somers and millions of menopausal aged women, increased the risks of cancer and death rates. In other words, Somers “cure” might in fact be a cause.

The former actress addresses this issue preemptively in Knockout. “The report was speaking of synthetic hormones,” writes Somers. She therefore concludes that bioidenticals are safe and natural, noting that they aren’t made by pharmaceutical companies but instead in non-FDA regulated compounding pharmacies as part of customized preparations.

“I’m no friend of the drug companies Somers criticizes,” says Fugh-Berman, who has been a paid expert witness against hormone giant Wyeth, testifying for plaintiffs who had breast cancer. But her own extensive research on bioidenticals found no evidence that they act any differently or are any safer than the conventional hormones tested in the Women’s Health Initiative. “This is critical to understand,” Fugh-Berman told me. “There’s actually every reason to believe that bioidentical hormones will have the same risks when it comes to heart disease, blood clots, and breast cancer.”

Somers cites “over 40 studies showing that bioidentical hormones are safe” but they are all observational studies, not a single one meets the standards for a clinical determination of a drug’s safety profile. Many of the hormones, she says, have been used with great results in Europe for years. She omits, says Fugh-Berman, “that European studies have shown increased cancer risks. Somers is simply far more dangerous in her pop and inaccurate descriptions of hormones than most any doctor.”

“It’s pretty scary,” says Dr. Rahul Parikh, a California physician who writes Salon’s popular Vital Signs column. “Bioidentical hormones are a multi-billion dollar business and there’s no science to back them up.”

What infuriates physicians even more than Somers’ unproven claims of safety and health benefits is that in Knockout she proclaims that bioidentical hormone replacement is protective against cancer. She writes that “[they] offer protection against breast cancer, but no one has connected the dots,” and that using testosterone “can protect and prevent cancer, especially prostate cancer.”

“It’s exactly the opposite,” says Fugh-Berman. “Estrogen alone can cause uterine cancer. That risk can be reduced by adding a progestagen, but that increases the risk of breast cancer. Somers thinks they are safe despite the fact that she developed breast cancer while on them, and later developed endometrial hyperplasia (abnormal uterine cell growth), which led to a hysterectomy. Both are known side effects of hormone therapy.” Parikh adds that human growth hormone, which Somers injects daily, has also been linked to increased cancer risks.

“That she possibly aided and abetted her own cancer should have destroyed her credibility,” says Dr. Nanette Santoro, the Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “The real miracle is her ability to continue to pitch her theories.”

Somers blames her breast cancer on other medications, including birth control pills she took for many years. But she admits that her hysterectomy was likely due to an incorrect dosage of bioidenticals.

“Imagine, that with all her money, and with access to the best bio-identical doctors and compounding pharmacies, she can’t get it right.” asks Dr. Steven Petak, President of the American College of Endocrinology. “How can an average person hope not to have problems?”


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-09/does-suzanne-somers-cause-cancer/

Under the Mistletoe: Suzanne Somers' Breast Cancer Treatment
By Jeanie Lerche Davis
WebMD Health NewsApril 4, 2001 -- Actress Suzanne Somers recently revealed that she has opted to treat her breast cancer with Iscador, a drug made from a mistletoe extract.

Somers followed the advice of her physician and underwent surgery to remove a cancerous lump and then radiation therapy to treat any remaining cancer. She is taking Iscador to boost her immune system, says Sandi Mendelson, her publicist.

"Ms. Somers is absolutely adamant that she is not advocating this treatment for anyone," Mendelson says. "It's a totally personal decision. She really urges women to consult their own doctors before pursuing any alternative treatments."

Good advice -- to talk with your physician, says Toncred Styblo, MD, a breast cancer specialist and surgical oncologist at Atlanta's Emory University School of Medicine.

http://www.webmd.com/news/20010404/under-mistletoe-suzanne-somers-breast-cancer-treatment

MSN topic coverage Suzanne Somers

http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Suzanne-Somers.aspx?cp-searchtext=Suzanne%20Somers&form=msnhal

Lou Dobbs Sets Guest Straight

on so many things related to the massacre at Fort Hood on his program, Lou Dobbs Tonight. the guest's name, Errol Lewis of the New York Daily News and CNN contributor.

Read the exchange highlighted below. Keep in mind, the transcript is incomplete! Dobbs noted he had a source for what he was saying. The transcript doesn't reflect that in its entirety.

Granted, Dobbs has no way of knowing what the transcript will contain or leave out, but it wouldn't be shocking if such transcripts missing key points Dobbs makes have been a pattern at CNN.

Catch the video and hope it's complete and audible...

Nov. 11, 2009

http://loudobbs.tv.cnn.com/

And Dobbs announced he'd be leaving CNN

Transcript clip

Obama's War Plans; Fort Hood Investigation; Legalize Pot?; Gun Culture; Honoring Veterans

Aired November 11, 2009 - 19:00 ET

DOBBS: Joining me now, Deroy Murdock, he is a syndicated columnist with Scripps Howard News Service. Great to have you with us. And Errol Louis, columnist, "New York Daily News" CNN contributor, and Hank Sheinkopf, Democratic strategist, CNN contributor. Great to see you.

HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Great to see you.

DOBBS: Let's turn to the Ft. Hood murders. There's great agitation in some quarters of the national media as to whether or not this is terrorism. And the fact that the media's done something of a disservice to fallen soldiers. What's your reaction?

SHEINKOPF: One lunatic with a weapon, who had an opportunity, and it's a great tragedy and my heart goes out to the great fighting men and women who lost their lives. That's it.

ERROL LOUIS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Yeah, you know, I talked to some veterans, and they say that, you know, it's generally known that if somebody is under that much stress, if they want to take themself out of combat if they're afraid to go to a theater of operations, they shoot off a toe, they pick a fight. This is an outlier. This is an atrocity and to see the mayor of Chicago and others try to sneak in other kind of political agendas or to medicalize this whole thing that this is part of stress or suicides and so forth, it's a real disservice, and it prevents us from getting at the facts and we have to deep in mind that this is a guy, who if he survives, will be put on trial, a military court-martial. It ends up being kind of a waste of time. I think we will get to the truth of it when it goes to court.

DOBBS: So people shouldn't think bit, talk about it, ask about it, speculate about it.

LOUIS: I think the speculation is just plain harmful. I mean a group that says all Muslims should be kicked out of the military. I think that's just crazy.

DOBBS: Who said that? LOUIS: The American Family Association I believe.

SHEINKOPF: Charming people.

DOBBS: I don't know who they are.

SHEINKOPF: Lovers of humanity. They want to bring us together.

DOBBS: But who are they is what I'm asking?

DEROY MURDOCK, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: I think we have to have our eyes open. I think he was under stress and may have had mental problems, but beyond that he was in contact with a pro-al Qaeda imam from overseas, he said he was a Muslim first and an American second. He showed a slide that says we love death more than you love life. So, there's another dimension to this, and I think if we close our eyes to this we may be looking away from the person that decides to do this again. This has to be part of the discussion.

DOBBS: I have to ask you, when did we start the stuff we don't speculate, we don't discuss, we don't think, we don't examine, we don't apply our intellects? I just heard the president of the United States say this about Ft. Hood. Mother of god, what kind of country are we? This is not a court of law! This is a nation of in -- of energetic, intelligent people, 300 million of us and we're supposed to suspend our brains? What's going on here, Hank?

SHEINKOPF: Well, I don't think we ought to suspend our brains. But, you know, the discussion of whether this guy was nuts is not a discussion. The fact that he has to go to trial should he survive his wounds, that's for sure. The fact that we have a lot of dead people, that's also for sure. We just witnessed the execution of another mass murder, just yesterday, Mr. Muhammad who is going to whatever destination who is determined to him. We talked about that a good, deal, too, is this an act of a crazy person or gun control? It's about a little bit of everything. But this is the act of a crazy person, no question about it. Whether he was in touch with this imam or that one, the danger is we segregate a person by religion or skin color to protect our --

MURDOCK: There is another danger who there were other soldiers who heard him say things of a jihadist nature and they didn't come forward because they were afraid they would be reprimanded or ostracized --

LOUIS: Wait a minute --

MURDOCK: 13 people that are dead that might be alive.

LOUIS: This is the kind of speculation that doesn't make sense. You are saying there are people, you know who they are and you know why they didn't speak up, you conducted your own investigation?

MURDOCK: We have a number of soldiers who said they did not speak out because they were afraid of being reprimanded.

LOUIS: Because they thought they'd be reprimanded?

DOBBS: You've asked for testimony. I'm going to offer you testimony. Okay? Let me offer you testimony. I spoke with a doctor, in a classroom, with Major Hasan, who said straightforwardly that he and other members of that class were horrified at some of his statements and they complained to the administration, and they did so at some risk because it is quite well known, according to the doctor, that they will have a one equal opportunity complaint can destroy a career. And that that stigma hangs over you. Brian Todd tonight on this very broadcast reported on that issue. Errol, I mean, this is not a matter of rank speculation. It is a report of the -- of the paranoia and political correctness within the United States Army.

LOUIS: Deroy just said people lost their lives because people were too hesitant to call out what they saw in front of them --

DOBBS: We can talk directly to him. He's right here.

LOUIS: And I -- what I -- first of all, I don't think there's any basis to draw that conclusion, but secondly, when you hear things like he shouted Allah Akbar before the massacre began some witnesses said that. One general said there is speculation. It is not clear what happened. It is simply not clear what happened. You can take as Mayor Daley did on his own political agenda, you can take your political agenda and grab a couple of facts that seem to match it and you're off --

DOBBS: What is your --

MURDOCK: We're told if you see something, say something. Don't keep it to themselves. There are people keeping to it themselves because they are afraid if do, an equal opportunity office will come to them. If you someone makes these statements I think it's appropriate to come forward and say keep an eye on this guy or else, and now we see what else was.

DOBBS: Isn't there a condescending, patronizing view that people are such ignoramuses and fools that they can't make a distinction between a radical, Islamic terrorist and an American citizens who practices the Muslim faith? I mean, what kind -- isn't there some political correctness that would keep us from being offended by such an insult, by our leaders, by the power structure? SHEINKOPF: That's true.

DOBBS: I would hope.

SHEINKOPF: Well, Lou, you're on to something. It's called staying on message. We watch politicians do it, therefore the population is supposed to do it. I think the military ought to be held to a different standard in this matter. I think the stakes are higher and army ought to be --

DOBBS: What do you mean staying on message?

SHEINKOPF: The message is that everybody shouldn't be complaining about it and everything the administration is saying should be wonderful and it's fine and okay. That's the message and you are supposed to stay on that message and people are not doing it. When you deviate from that message, there must we something wrong with you and you're experiencing that. That's kind of what you're alluding to, I think.

DOBBS: I'm saying to you that one of the great characteristics of the great American, the American people, is our historic ability to be straightforward, plainspoken, say what we mean and mean what we say.

SHEINKOPF: We're losing it.

DOBBS: And we're losing it.

SHEINKOPF: Uh-huh.

DOBBS: Not by accident. Thank you, all, for being here. I appreciate it. Good to have you with us. Errol, we'll talk later.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0911/11/ldt.01.html

Transcript

November 11, 2009, 7:24 pm
Dobbs Explains Decision to Leave CNN
By BRIAN STELTER

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/dobbs-explains-decision-to-leave-cnn/

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