International Legal Aid or a Fabricated Intelligence Hoax?

I received a bizarre comment on a film blog that read like a Woody Allen spoof of a Bourne or James Bond film.. the link was to a Google site called "Jillstarrsite".. when I went there it says it's a non-governmental legal society connected to the Int'l Criminal Court of the UN...

Is this a legimate organization and site? Or have we suckered into visiting an NSA or CIA fabrication of disinformation? Remember that the early Bolsheviks around Lenin maintained their power (brilliantly I might add) by KGB founder Felix Derzhinsky created anti-Bolshevik organizations, getting thousands to join worldwide, then rounding up their members at conventions or local meetings.. you have to admire people that ingenious, and their techniques, because they are effective, have likely been studied and copied by most intelligence organizations..

So, if you want to get involved in international humanitarian legal aid that promotes non-violence and protection of individuals and groups, check out this link.. If you find out it's something bogus please let us know.. The "Jill Starr Site" at Google Sites

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Capitalism, Vietnamese Style

When VIETNAM capitalizes a company now, and they plan to capitalize all their companies, each employee gets equal shares. ALL employees now have a vested interest in their company being profitable.. this is "socialism", mgrs get paid more, but not 100m a year, and everyone is happy. THIS WAS SET UP with advisors from the US, former SEC officials, who were able to correct the failures with our system. Their stock mkt has been booming, among the world's best for two years running now.

It's currently KICKING BUTT over U.S. capitalism, which is a corporate welfare state that rewards cronyism and nepotism (let's all hire family members, friends, and frat brothers) and not productivitity or brains or anything else. It's like religions, the most average people of all who produce nothing themselves end up running things and simply steal as much money as they can legally or otherwise - hence, capitalism's failure here. When only the top 1% benefit from this, NO ONE ELSE CARES HERE either, just like in Communist Russia.. where's our incentive now?

There IS NO INCENTIVE here either now, just for buying lottery tickets or playing online poker. There's certainly no incentive for working all your life for minimum wage in a bankrupt system with no money left for social security but apparently plenty left for war and corporate bailouts.

After two centuries of slave labor, it's time to try something more equitable for the masses, the other 99% of us who work for a living. Even slaves got food, housing, and medical attention, things we can even seem to provide nowdays.

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What's Wrong With the U.S. Picture?

The average US salary is now 24k - can you live on that with a family, outside of a few poverty-stricken states? Also, does anyone know if that includes all the executives and hedge-fund managers making over 100 million a year, and pulling money out of the consumer system? If so, the real average is much lower- that's the problem with stats, a few at the top skewer the results into a "positive spin" (fed talk) We also don't know how many so-called "illegal workers" are making even less than that while being paid in cash, so wealthy employers can not only avoid supporting the country through the IRS, but also line their own pockets at the expense of everyone. My theory: if you can afford to own a business, you can afford to abide by the laws.

If you are NOT properly capitalized, you should not be in business. Even the Bible warns people to not "impoverish their employees", that those hiring and paying people are "responsible for their well-being", and tells working people to not work for unfair employers because it perpetuates all the sorrow.

Since we lead the world in bankruptcies, murders, prisoners, guns, insanity, homeless: something is WRONG!

One definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

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News Video from Xinjiang Riots

The authorities in China have now killed over 140 demonstrators in the riots in the Xinjiang province.

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Dylan Ratigan's MSNBC Show Premieres June 29th

Dylan Ratigan's new show on MSNBC is due to launch on Monday, June 29th, at 9 a.m.


Dylan Ratigan Joins MSNBC

Ratigan had said in the interview with Henry Blodget that he wanted "to cover a systemic failure", basically in U.S. economic policy, "from a wider base", in other words, a bigger rating and not a narrow-demographic such as CNBC's.

[from Wikipedia]
"Dylan Ratigan, born Dylan James Ratigan in Saranac Lake, NY, is a journalist covering the political angle of the financial markets and the broader economy for MSNBC.

Phil Griffin, president of the network, announced on May 6, 2009, that Ratigan would create a two-hour show for the network which he will host. The show, Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan, will air weekday mornings from 9 to 11 A.M. ET and is due to launch Monday, June 29, 2009. Ratigan will also contribute to other NBC News programs. Ratigan previewed the show in thanking Griffin for the opportunity "to discuss any and all political issues with no directive other than to provide compelling content."

[Let's see, from CNBC, an NBC affiliate, to MSNBC, an NBC affiliate.. hmmm - not much of a leap was it? How did I miss this happening, oh, no one cared or covered it I guess, it was in May - Jose]

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Government of, by, and for the Corporations

China blocks all blogs, and totally censors all the information for its citizens, and they're our #1 supporter and trade partner. Yet we protest about human rights in Iran and North Korea, as they aren't important sources of funds for us. It's become obvious that the US can be bought by anyone with any money remaining. Individual rights, liberties, the Constitution are all now rendered meaningless - we no longer have any philosophy or ethics, just debt. We're now the wandering beggar of the world, taking handouts from everyone that will give. This kind of reminds me of churches, like the Vatican being in bed with the Mafia in Italy, the only possible reason could be financial.

This is the problem with depending on money as your basic religion, philosophy, or national system. When the flow of money your way stops, you have nothing to fall back on. So not knowing anything else, they just print more money! Why not change the system that has failed instead? Oh yeah, those with the power and who still have financial clout won't allow the system to be changed, because they are the beneficiaries of everyone else's losses. Someone made money while others lost, I'm still hearing of hedge fund managers getting 500 million for one year.

We all know that politicians are funded by major corporations, and each member of Congress is courted by 4-5 lobbyists, and that all the major media are owned by big corporations. Check out the film Thank You for Smoking for a hilarious satire of this situation. There's no way they want this system changed, they make big profits when things are good, then get bailed out by the government officials they own when times are bad. Meanwhile, the citizens, ie consumers, lose money in each scenario to these corporations. We pay all their profits in good times, then just hand them free money in bad times. Why can't individuals get the same breaks when we can't find jobs?

Like FDR and Ike told us, we truly have a government of, by, and for the corporations. How about one for small businesses and individuals instead, that would help more people survive. That 100 million a year income can go a lot further if not given to one corporate CEO, and instead went to a thousand small businesses (100k each), who hire more people in the country overall.

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The 9/11 Trainer Was an FBI Informant

[This was a Peter Dale Scott talk in Palo Alto, October 27, 2006.]

This is a well-documented article, and I've heard parts of this from other sources. I also remember the CIA saying they wrote 80% of all the news we hears, so maybe this is their own black ops? I don't think so, it points the finger at them.

I also remember a time when al Queda reps were on the US radio, allowed to go nationwide, begging for money from citizens to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. We gave them money, weapons, sting missile launchers (which can bring down helicopters), basically whatever they wanted.

For years, Saddam Hussein was the U.S.'s ally and basically fought the war with Iran for us, to get our aid. When that failed he predictably became "the enemy".

Believe this or not, personally I think we only find out about 5% of the overall picture, that things are a lot more planned and orchestrated than they want us to believe. He not only was an FBI informant, but also had worked for the CIA, and was a member of the U.S. Army.

The 9/11 Trainer Was an FBI Informant

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The Memory Loss Tapes, Alzheimer's Project on HBO, Sunday 9pm

HBO is going to repeat this series often, and sometimes the signal will be unscrambled, allowing everyone to see "The Alzheimer's Project". Part one is "The Memory Loss Tapes".
HBO calls the series "A new way of looking at the disease". Click here for the HBO Link, and all four episodes can be streamed from here as well.

My lifetime friend, Charlton McMillan, and his wife Shari Cookson were instrumental in creating The Memory Loss Tapes, the first episode of this four-part HBO series. Shari, who is a multiple Emmy nominee for Living Dolls and All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise, shares director-producer credit with Nick Doob. Charlton, an Emmy winner for Living Dolls, shares editing credit with Nick. Charlton also did some editing work on the second part of the series, Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?

Here are two print reviews for the series:
New York Times
L.A. Times
A blog review from critic James Bawden

Be sure to either watch or record this and let people know about it. We never know when we will have to deal with this disease either within our families or within our own minds. Rather than giving money to corporate gamblers, we should be funding cures and care for humanitarian efforts and documentaries such as these.


The Alzheimer's Organization is at http://www.alz.org/

Patients and families affected by Alzheimer’s can visit Icara Study to see if they might be eligible to enroll. [Thanks to Tracy for this]

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How to Save the Economy

Well, everyone's got their own ideas on how to save our economy, which has apparently gone to the brink of armageddon because consumers borrowed money they shouldn't have. It's not the fault of the lawmakers, they just did what the corporations told them to do when they put them into office. It's not the fault of the corporations who lent money because that's their business, moving money around, allowing people to "live the American dream", which includes something for nothing, not paying back loans, and getting out of contracts when you're losing money on the deal.


Bankruptcy is also part of the American Dream. You can fail over and over, declare bankruptcy each time, then when you finally hit it big, the money is yours to keep, forget about all the prior creditors you left holding the bag - covering your own losses is not part of the American Dream.

I've been convinced by Larry Kudlow on CNBC (economic whiz from the Reagan era) and other right-wingers and pro-prosperity neo-religions that here are the steps necessary to save economy:

• Taxes are bad, so no one will have to pay any. It was only necessary when implemented to pay for the Civil War first, then World War I later; we currently don't have a world war to pay for.


• About a million religions and churches survive on nothing but donations, so why not the military and the government? The US military might has far more supporters than any religion, and as "might makes right" in the modern world, citizens will gladly give money to prove they are the "mightiest" alive. God favors those who take what they want, so this will also please God. Military ads already run free on tv, so we'll just make them all ads asking for donations. In return, we will get bumper stickers and lapel pins with "I Support G.I. Joe" on them.


• Corporations can hire more and more cheap labor if they don't have to pay taxes, social security, unemployment insurance, all that other bureaucratic nonsense that keeps them from making a fair profit. Corporations can barely survive anymore, and the days of 10 billion a year in profits are harder to come by. They will assuredly use the extra profits to hire more workers and raise salaries as well. Who needs social security if you can easily find jobs until you die? Only the wealthy deserve retirement.


• Rich people hire everyone else (right, Kudlow?), so they shouldn't have to pay any taxes, which will allow them to hire more and more annually with the savings, called "the trickle down effect". If all the wealthy can hire the rest of us as cooks, chauffeurs, nannies, butlers, gardners, maids, bridge partners, valets, shoe-tiers, dog walkers, ass-kissers, and yes-men, then the pressure will be less on corporations or the "gubbermen" to hire everyone, thus improving their profits as well.


• Allow everyone to sell weapons without any restrictions. We own over 2 guns per capita as a nation, no reason that can't increase to 4 if we allow unrestricted weapon purchases at things like flea markets, church sales, yard sales, social clubs, baby showers, birthday parties, and every other opportunity available. We will be better protected, there will be less criminals because they're afraid of people with guns, and everyone will have more money to spend as a result. We will maintain our personal weapons edge on the rest of the world.


• Remove all restrictions on any company or industry's business. Capitalism will always police itself and keep out the corruption and price-fixing, which only occurs when there's government regulation, they go hand-in-hand. The more successful companies there are, the lower prices will be from all the competition. If someone like Exxon or IBM makes a trillion, this will foster and encourage competition. Imagine if we all drilled for oil or built our own super-computers, we could all succeed like the big guys. Get off your butts!


• Send every citizen about $100,000, then they can pay off credit cards and car loans, then spend like crazy on liquor, fast food, iPhones, downloadable music, new DVDs, expensive SUVs, 60" TVs, air Nikes, Haagen-Daas, and other necessitities currently only available to executives, criminals, bankers, preachers, and congressmen. The $600 rebate stimulated the economy so well that 100k ought to do a great job. Why not, they print money daily, as much as they want - it can be done!

Hey, it's just a start, this is my first day at saving American capitalism, and I'm still waiting for my government stimulation check so I can hire a staff to help me with the next post! and live The American Dream.

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Iran Frees Journalist Saberi

Saberi, 32, a freelance reporter for National Public Radio, British Broadcasting Corp. and others, had been held in Tehran's Evin prison since Jan. 31, evoking an international response as well as a European Parliament petition, and Saberi's own hunger strike.

Here's the full story in the Usa Today release:
Saberi Freed by Iran

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Free Roxana Saberi

Update: Roxana was freed by Iran on Tuesday 5.12

Group at Facebook to free U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi - jailed in Iran for buying a bottle of wine, now charged with spying, given 8 yrs in prison.
Free Roxana Saberi Group



If we are jailed for our opinions, then we're all guilty!

More information:

• European Parliament petition


• Video at YouTube


• Newsdaily story

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Fed Refuses to Help Credit Card Holders

If you needed any more proof that the U.S. is now a "Corporate welfare state", the Fed is refusing to implement any regulations to preven credit card companies from gouging individuals with interest rate hikes and the other shenanigans they pull.
Fed Refuses to Help Credit Card Holders

All the Senate is asking for is some semblance of fairness. When card issuers can borrow money at 2% from the government, there seems to be an element of organized crime at work when they can charge over 20% interest. When did banking get to the point that they can mark up credit at 1000% over costs? What philosophy allows us to give trillions to corporations that gambled away their money and ours, yet not help individual consumers who have not frittered away their wealth at all but are now being punished further by corporations, under the guise of "we can't survive otherwise"? Maybe they shouldn't survive if they can't make money fairly.

If our nation refuses to help individuals, then they've become what Jefferson warned about, "tyrannical and unresponsive to the people." When do the rights of companies who can't survive on their own usurp the rights of individuals, of consumers?

What bothers me is that corporations are nothing more than legal entities, "paper tigers". When they need money, they simply print more stock. This in itself is inflationary and dilutive to current owners of the equity. Apparently both the fed and all corporations can print money, and the latter without any special permission or with any checks and balances.

This system is completely insane. How we let ourselves come to be both governed and gouged by corporations is a lengthy history of gradually letting the crooks have all the keys to the "national bank".

For me, the way to stop this is several steps: (a) do not allow corporations to issue "secondary offerings" of stock unless under financial duress of survival, and only with SEC approval (b) remove the "one share, one vote" rule, which allows a few wealthy individuals to "buy votes" by buying more shares, then the major shareholders can collude to completely control all the other shareholders and override their wishes, then finally (c) declare corporations unconstitutional, which is a bill that comes up in Congress annually, but since the politicians are all owned by corporations through campaign donations, will never happen.

As the current crisis shows, they will rob us blind, gamble away the money, then expect the consumers to pay that back as well as continuing to pay high costs as well. When legal entities become more important than individuals then we have NO democracy, no freedom, and we all become slaves to the whims of big money, who can continue to rob us through the legal system.

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Zodiac Killer Revealed by Daughter?

A very interesting story is now developing in regards to the Zodiac killer.
A 42 year old woman named Deborah Perez claims that her father was the Zodiac killer in northern California, Guy Hendrickson. She says she wrote one note to the police, and still has the first victim's glasses, from a cabbie, that her dad kept as a souvenir.

Here's the USA Today version of today's story:
Woman's Dad the Zodiac Killer?

Now, I hope that everyone interested in this case or well-made films has seen the 2007 movie Zodiac, excellent examination by director David Fincher of both the police and a journalist's investigations into the serial killings.

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Are Foreign Enemies Crushing Our Markets?

I just did an analysis of the leveraged ETFs (exchange traded funds) for YTD in 2009. It doesn't look good, as nearly all are down vs the underlying indices. So whatever is causing this (management fees?), it's not a good bet for the public investor.

Jim Cramer of Mad Money (CNBC, the "Orwellian voice of corporate propaganda", and proud of it) is wrong that they have too much leverage, because options and futures traders have even more leverage (at least 10-1, 40-1 on futures?) and there are options on everything now - so you'd have to ban all leveraged instruments if that argument of his holds water. I've often thought the futures (especially trading off hrs) have way too much influence - a few guys overnight (Al Q on laptops in their caves using sovereign funds?) can sell em off and clobber the market's opening for no reason. I saw the Dow futures down 500 pts once (when worth 4000) simply because Brazil devalued its currency! WHY do we allow this? The futures should only trade when the market is open to allow immediate adjustments. Like allowing invidual investors to get out with a small loss, not wake up suddenly down 15% like the Brazilian pesata day.

No one seems to care, do they? - let's just give our petrodollars to our enemies who then use them to short the mkt and hurt us even more - this is madness! All this is giving "them" the weapon to kill our kind of gambling capitalism, where corporations survive based on market value! (I didn't realize this until the market runs on the most important financial stocks; suddenly their credit was worthless due to low stock prices). Plus they don't pay tax on the capital gains or dividends either - double whammy of investing 'Pearl Harbor'!

"We had to stimulate foreign investment" they would tell us - WHY?? Why not stimulate them buying goods and not wrecking our investment markets? This system of economics baffles me, it places us at the mercy of our enemies, who certainly don't want us to prosper through investing or it looks like our brand of corrupt capitalism succeeds for the average citizen, which I don't believe anyway. This only benefits those with enough capital to make more, pay huge executive salaries that only benefit a few, and also encourages the buying of politicians and agencies like the FDA, and if they NEED to pay off or contribute to all these to "get their policies invoked", then those must NOT be policies benefial to all, or they would have been implemented already.

Common sense, it there's any remaining in the face of total economic collapse.

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Can the World Attain Peace?

I often think that since man's evolutionary nature has been established as nomadic hunter-killers (scientists have proven that the herbalist humanoids died off, each time, but the killer-carnivores survived, largely by eating carrion like other animals), we will remain in this state of evolution until something radical changes us all. Perhaps it will take another deadly plague, perhaps another world war that will end with all national borders being eradicated.

One would hope for our evolution into spiritual beings, as in Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", but that seems still centuries away, sadly. (Kubrick wanted to film this novel, but with existing technology, "2001: A Space Odyssey" was all they could film together at the time, he and Clarke wrote this story just for the film; Clarke, by the way, did not believe in evil, never had a book with any.)

As long as there are invisible national boundaries, we will always have each nation's own sovereignty and security causing wars. Perhaps when the polar caps melt, and 90% of the world's populations are displaced who live along coastlines and major rivers, then we can lose the nationalistic militarism that keeps the world in conflict.

Just because we have the term utopia doesn't mean it cannot be attained. Most of our reality is created from dreams; the future is what we build from these. We also have the opposite term: dystopia, which seems to be the current world state for the last 3000-5000 years at least. If one can be reality, so can its opposite; the Yin-Yang of the universe should always eventually occur to balance each other.

Mankind apparently also finds some sort of validation in the glory and courage necessary for warriors. It seems that women don't have this need as much as the need to create and foster life, thankfully! We all need to assert this feminine grace toward life, and forget about the valor of war, which is attained at the high cost of innocent life. If, rather than "good/evil" struggles, we all just concentrated on progress, exploration, healing, and creating, we might find a better alternative than death and destruction.

A quote from Lawrence of Arabia, "War is for young men of courage and valor, keeping the peace is for old men with nothing else to do." (Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal). Great script, won an Oscar®.

Personally, I would go to jail before fighting in any war or killing another being, nothing is that important. I would die myself before becoming a killer.

Peace to all, José

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