Puppet MastersS


Dollar

Did Icelandic households receive a major debt forgiveness? Yes and no

Olafur Margeirsson
Icelandic Economics
Sun, 29 Apr 2012 08:59 UTC
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In effect, the Icelandic revolution was neutralised
"tkn" asked me in a comment to How to create a housing bubble? whether it was true that the Icelandic households had had their debt forgiven in any major amount. This is, unfortunately, not true. The short answer is that Icelandic households had 196.3 billion ISK (about 1.0 billion pounds) "forgiven" of their debts. That's about 12% of GDP.

But that's not really it. According to the "Icelandic Broadcasting Company" (IBC instead of BBC) the write-offs consisted of:
43.6 billion ISK due to the 110% act: if your mortgage was worth more than 110% of the market value of your property you could apply for, but not necessarily get, debt forgiveness to the point where the rest of your debt would be 110% of the market value. This, along with the next point, was organised and, of course, hailed by the government as a "significant" act to lessen the debt burden of households.

"Abstract debt relief" provided for 6.2 billion ISK of the total 196.3 billion. This part was for individuals and couples that were in "serious" debt difficulties.
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Pirates

International corporations move in for the kill as Africa is carved up in massive land grab

Mark Tran
The Guardian
Mon, 29 Oct 2012 08:40 UTC
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Food and Agriculture Organisation chief José Graziano da Silva demands high noon on land grabs that jeopardise food security

Amid warnings that land deals are undermining food security, the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has compared "land grabs" in Africa to the "wild west", saying a "sheriff" is needed to restore the rule of law.

José Graziano da Silva, the FAO's director general, conceded it was not possible to stop large investors buying land, but said deals in poor countries needed to be brought under control.

"I don't see that it's possible to stop it. They are private investors," said Graziano da Silva in a telephone interview. "We do not have the tools and instruments to stop big companies buying land. Land acquisitions are a reality. We can't wish them away, but we have to find a proper way of limiting them. It appears to be like the wild west and we need a sheriff and law in place."
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Cult

More evidence emerges of powerful pedophile network at apex of British establishment

Ben Quinn
The Guardian
Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:32 UTC
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British TV 'Newsnight' programme, protecting the psychopathic pedophiles in power
A victim of the sexual abuse at north Wales children's homes in the 1970s has called on the prime minister to launch a fresh investigation into the scandal, claiming that he was sexually assaulted at the time by a former senior Conservative political figure.

Steven Messham, who was one of hundreds of children who were abused over two decades, told BBC Newsnight that he and others had been "swept under the carpet" despite a three-year inquiry in the late 1990s, and said he now wanted to meet David Cameron.

The former political figure, who was not named but was reportedly a senior official during the Thatcher era, has "vehemently denied" the allegations, according to Channel 4 News.

Comment: It's probably not a good idea to tell BBC Newsnight these things: they tend to twist everything and then cover up for the politicians concerned, all the while children are being raped in the studio next door.

Child rape has been taking place at BBC studios for decades: Newsnight editor steps aside over Jimmy Savile scandal

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Dollar Gold

Greece is governed by a corrupt clique, says Kostas Vaxevanis

Helena Smith
The Guardian
Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:18 UTC
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© Orestis Panagiotou/EPAKostas Vaxevanis, editor of Hot Doc magazine, was cleared of privacy breach for publishing the names of 2,000 suspected tax evaders.
Greece is undergoing a crisis of democracy with press censorship at its centre, says the magazine editor in the middle of the media storm that has engulfed Athens. Speaking to the Guardian a day after being cleared of breaching privacy laws, Kostas Vaxevanis said Greece was ruled by a clique of corrupt politicians in thrall to businessmen who owned - and gagged - the media.

"There's a huge problem in Greece, a problem of democracy and essence," he said in his fifth-floor office, surrounded by copies of Hot Doc, the investigative magazine that last week published the names of more than 2,000 high-earning Greeks with bank accounts in Switzerland. "The country is governed by a poisonous combination of politicians, businessmen and journalists who cover one another's backs. Every day laws are changed, or new laws are voted in, to legitimise illegal deeds."
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Stormtrooper

Night-time gunfire, explosions 'just part of routine Urban Shield exercise organised by Dept of Homeland Security,' says Boston mayor

Dan Adams
Boston Globe and Mail
Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:05 UTC
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File photo
Officials urged Boston area residents not to worry if they see or hear gunfire and explosions today and Sunday -- it's likely simulated, a part of the second annual "Urban Shield: Boston" emergency training exercise.

Participants in the exercise include local police and fire departments, Boston's Office of Emergency Management, the Coast Guard, the MBTA, area hospitals, and regional SWAT and HazMat teams, according to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office. The groups are working together to respond to simulated emergency scenarios at various locations, including Boston Harbor, the Bowdoin T station, and the University of Massachusetts Boston campus, along with others in Brookline and Cambridge. Urban Shield is funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Individual teams of emergency responders began exercises at 8 this morning.

An all-agency event at UMass Boston tonight will test the ability of the various teams to work together, to communicate and establish a clear command structure, while the clock is running. Other exercises will continue until 8 Sunday morning.
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Stormtrooper

Has martial law been declared in parts of New Jersey?

Alex Thomas
theintelhub.com
Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:36 UTC

At least one seaside town in New Jersey is now officially under martial law after Hurricane Sandy ravaged through the area, leaving extreme damage in its wake.

Seaside Heights, New Jersey, made famous by the hit MTV Show Jersey Shore, is under a complete state of lockdown with residents who evacuated before the storm being denied reentry to the island.

During a segment on ABC World News Now, the corporate news anchor reported this fact as if it was either a completely normal occurrence or if it just really didn't matter all that much.

That's right, news that a town in America is under martial law was lumped together with news of a country music awards ceremony in Memphis.

ABC News Philadelphia affiliate 6 Action News also ran a report on the declaration of martial law. In the news clip that accompanied the article, citizens are heard demanding reentry into their homes as the police chief looks on.
"It's hard to conceive of how long that could take. Seaside Heights and nearby towns are under martial law."
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Handcuffs

Grand jury witch hunt expands while two activists remain in jail without trial

JG Vibes
The Intel Hub
Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:01 UTC
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Over the past few months everyone has been paying close attention to three activists on the west coast who have had their lives torn apart by the police and the legal system, simply because they refused to answer any questions in a grand jury case.

Even worse, this case is regarding crimes that they have absolutely no connection to, as they were not even in the same state at the time that the alleged crimes took place.

As of right now, two are still behind bars, with no clue when they will be able to get out.

They have not been given a sentence and will remain behind bars indefinitely, until the investigating federal officers say that they are allowed to go home.

Earlier this month, one of the activists was released in a very upset and traumatized state and is still recovering from the kidnap.
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Handcuffs

Profile of a Police State

Stephen Lendman
Activist Post
Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:47 UTC
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For years, America has been on a fast track to tyranny. Duopoly power runs things repressively. Government of, by, and for the people never existed and doesn't now.

Homeland repression is policy. Police state laws target resisters. Elections are farcical, rigged, and illegitimate. People have no say. Corporate-controlled electronic voting machines decide for them. Money power is firmly in charge. Democracy is illusory, not real.

Corporate/party boss-run Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) members exclude alternative voices. Money power operates secretly with no public oversight. A sham process repeats each electoral cycle.

Alternative party presidential candidates risk arrest for showing up to watch debates. Participation is out of the question.

On October 16, Green Party presidential and vice presidential candidates learned firsthand. Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala were arrested, detained, and held handcuffed uncomfortably to metal chairs for hours in a remote police warehouse.

They were charged with "obstructing traffic." None at the time was visible. That's how tyranny works. Challenging authority risks prison or worse. Many are tortured and abused. Some end up dead.
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Arrow Up

Biometric surveillance meets nanotechnology

Anne Gordon, RN
GreenMedInfo
Sat, 03 Nov 2012 05:00 UTC
RFID
© GreenMedInfo
Are we living in the last days of being wild and 'natural' humans? We take for granted that our thoughts are private, owned by us, and always will be.

The other day, I took some photos of wild geese in Canada, but when I blew up the photos, I was dumbfounded to see white plastic collars on their necks, with numbers. These tracking numbers were RFID tags of sorts. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices), is a tracking technology.

RFID technology is currently used on banking, library books, pets, cattle, autos, medications, and some humans (such as for patient identification purposes). The replacement of bar codes in grocery stores is another application of RFID chips, for the stated purpose of expediting the 'checking out process'. YES, it is true, there are conveniences associated with RFID technology, but it boils down to tracking. Tracking sounds like being organized, or civilized. But when tracking goes into every facet of our lives, it has chilling consequences.

Today, there are beta tests being conducted in some schools, in Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana. This is to track children, if they get to class on time, or, spend too much time where they should not. They are being required to wear tracking necklaces.

Tracking, and surveillance of 'smart' things (phones, cards, chickens), are, in theory 'keeping us safe'. Already, the US Department of Agriculture demands that ranchers use RFID chips to monitor their livestock. Tracking things is one thing, but tracking your biology?
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Piggy Bank

10 filthy-rich, tax-dodging hypocrite CEO's pushing for disastrous austerity on America

Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger
Institute for Policy Studies
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
The Fix the Debt coalition is using the so-called "fiscal cliff" to push the same old corporate agenda of more tax breaks while shifting the burden on to the rest of us.

Monopoly
© Unknown
Brace yourself for one of the most aggressive corporate lobbying campaigns of all time. And one of the most hypocritical.

"Fix the Debt " is a coalition of more than 80 CEOs who claim they know best how to deal with our nation's fiscal challenges. The group boasts a $60 million budget just for the initial phase of a massive media and lobbying campaign.

The irony is that CEOs in the coalition's leadership have been major contributors to the national debt they now claim to know how to fix. These are guys who've mastered every tax-dodging trick in the book. And now that they've boosted their corporate profits by draining the public treasury, how do they propose we put our fiscal house back in order? By squeezing programs for the poor and elderly, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Fix the Debt claims their agenda is not just about spending cuts. But when it comes to their tax proposals, they use the slippery term "pro-growth reform" to push for cuts in deductions that are likely to include credits for working families and - you guessed it - more corporate tax breaks. Chief among these is a proposal to switch to a territorial system under which corporate foreign earnings would be permanently exempted (instead of being taxed when they are returned to America).

This idea, also supported by the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, would make it even more profitable for big corporations to use accounting tricks to disguise U.S. profits as income earned in tax havens. Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that such tax haven abuse will cost the Treasury more than $1 trillion over the next decade.
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