Puppet Masters
FOUR HORSEMEN is an independent feature documentary which lifts the lid on how the world really works.
As we will never return to 'business as usual' 23 international thinkers, government advisors and Wall Street money-men break their silence and explain how to establish a moral and just society.
FOUR HORSEMEN is free from mainstream media propaganda -- the film doesn't bash bankers, criticise politicians or get involved in conspiracy theories. It ignites the debate about how to usher a new economic paradigm into the world which would dramatically improve the quality of life for billions.
"It's Inside Job with bells on, and a frequently compelling thesis thanks to Ashcroft's crack team of talking heads -- economists, whistleblowers and Noam Chomsky, all talking with candour and clarity." - Total Film
"Four Horsemen is a breathtakingly composed jeremiad against the folly of Neo-classical economics and the threats it represents to all we should hold dear."
- Harold Crooks, The Corporation (Co-Director) Surviving Progress (Co-Director/Co-Writer)
"Most of the American citizens are clueless about the corruption that's rifling their economy."
We're on the verge of the currency war. The Federal Reserve is printing dollars like there is no tomorrow, and if they keep going, the rest of the world is not going to accept them.eyes of American people' - World Bank whistleblower:
Karen Hudes was World Bank lawyer when she blew the whistle on major corruption cases in the system and was fired as a result.
Transcripts:
We're on the verge of the currency war. The Federal Reserve is printing dollars like there is no tomorrow, and if they keep going, the rest of the world is not going to accept them.eyes of American people' - World Bank whistleblower:
Karen Hudes was World Bank lawyer when she blew the whistle on major corruption cases in the system and was fired as a result.
Transcripts:
© Unknown
Although Obama always enjoys visiting Indonesia, the country of his childhood, it was the cancellation of Obama's planned trip to the oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei that not only prevented Obama from being hosted by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the world's wealthiest men, but prevented him from cementing ties with a nation that enjoys a special relationship with the United States, particularly the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency... Brunei's Sultan was to provide Obama and his staff with the entire palace of the Crown Prince for the duration of his visit.
© Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock.com
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated on Sunday that House Republicans would not allow a clean vote to raise the debt limit and ensure the full faith and credit of the United States of America. But while now Congressional Republicans demand everything from the destruction of the Affordable Care Act to a constitutional amendment in exchange for allowing the government to pay for what it has already incurred, many of them made no such demands nine years ago when a Republican was in the White House.
Boehner says that Congressional Republicans "are not going to pass a clean debt limit increase" because "it is time to deal with America's problems." But in 2004, he joined with 205 other House Republicans to pass S. 2986, a bill that added $800 billion to the nation's statutory debt ceiling with no strings attached.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), in encouraging his House colleagues to back the bill said:
[A]s we debate this and as we make our final vote, let us not punish our seniors, let us not punish our elderly, let us not punish our military just to score political points. If the debt ceiling is not increased, America cannot pay its bills. We cannot meet existing obligations. We will not ultimately have the cash on hand to pay Social Security benefits, military retirement, Medicare benefits, unemployment benefits and other trust fund obligations. As raw as this recent election was, as bitterly contested as it was, with hurt feelings all around, we need to work together as Americans to take responsibility for our bills.Let us not default on our obligations. Let us not stop the checks to our needy who are counting on us. Let us not use our elderly as political pawns in trade for a seven second sound byte back home. They deserve better. We have a responsibility to pay our bills.
© AP Photo/US Air Force
Washington - The Air Force said Friday it fired the two-star general in charge of its nuclear missiles in response to an investigation into alleged personal misbehaviour. It was the second sacking this week of a senior commander of nuclear forces.
Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was removed from command of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for three wings of intercontinental ballistic missiles - a total of 450 missiles at three bases across the country, according to an Air Force spokesman, Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick.
The Air Force cited "loss of trust and confidence" in Carey earlier Friday.
The decision was made by Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. Kowalski is in charge of all Air Force nuclear weapons, including bombers.
On Wednesday, the second-in-command at U.S. Strategic Command, Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, was relieved of command amid an investigation into alleged gambling issues. Strategic Command is responsible for all Air Force and Navy nuclear forces.
"It's unfortunate that I've had to relieve an officer who's had an otherwise distinctive career spanning 35 years of commendable service," Kowalski said in a written statement from his headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
© Ed Yourdon
Poverty in US.
Poverty in US.
According to Credit Suisse's World Wealth Report global wealth is on the increase and the United States accounts for nearly three quarters of this increase.
The richest people in the world though are Australians -- the average wealth of adult Australians stands at $US219,505 ($233,504).
Reuters reports that average global wealth is now $51,600 per adult. It is the first time since 2007 that average wealth has passed $50,000. It is a new all time high.
Averages of course take into account the poorest and richest people in the world and do not offer a fair representation of economies or the wealth of a nation.
The World Wealth report continues -- inequality remains high, with the top 10% of the world population owning 86% of global wealth, compared to barely 1% for the bottom half of all adults.
© Occupy Corporatism
Funding for this project is provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
The initial concerns of the GSNSD are the ethical, legal and social implications of using infant genetic information for scientific study. This endeavor is being facilitated with academic institutions in cities:
- Boston
- San Francisco
- Chapel Hill
- Kansas City
The decoding of infant DNA, called genome sequencing, will create a map of each individual child's genetic make-up to identify health risks that could develop in childhood or later in life.
Eric Green, director of the NHGRI said: "We are at a point now where powerful new genome sequencing technologies are making it faster and more affordable than ever to access genomic information about patients. This initiative will help us better understand how we can appropriately use this information to improve health and prevent disease in infants and children."
© Petty Officer 1st Class Barry Hirayama / U.S. Navy
A joint service honor guard escorts a transfer case during an "arrival ceremony" at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu on April 27, 2012. The Defense Department has acknowledged that human remains were not in fact arriving on that day. The ceremonies are held by the Pentagon's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.
A joint service honor guard escorts a transfer case during an "arrival ceremony" at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu on April 27, 2012. The Defense Department has acknowledged that human remains were not in fact arriving on that day. The ceremonies are held by the Pentagon's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.
After NBC News raised questions about the arrival ceremonies, the Pentagon acknowledged Wednesday that no honored dead were in fact arriving, and that the planes used in the ceremonies often couldn't even fly but were towed into position.
The solemn ceremonies at a military base in Hawaii are a sign of the nation's commitment to returning and identifying its fallen warriors. The ceremonies have been attended by veterans and families of MIAs, led to believe that they were witnessing the return of Americans killed in World War II, Vietnam and Korea.
The ceremonies also have been known, at least among some of the military and civilian staff here, as The Big Lie.
The Republican factions leading the war on Obamacare, the federal government shutdown - and attacking other Democratic priorities such as preserving safety nets, expanding civil rights and regulating big business - are going to become more extreme and intransigent, top Democratic pollsters have concluded.
"Understand that the base thinks they are losing politically and losing control of the country... and [feel] a little powerless to change course," the analysis by Stan Greenberg, James Carville and Erica Seifert found after a series of focus groups in three red states this summer. "They think Obama has imposed his agenda, while Republicans in DC let him get away with it."
Their Democracy Corps report is an illuminating profile of the GOP's three main factions: the Tea Partiers leading today's brinkmanship, the evangelicals lining up behind them, and overlooked but still significant moderates. At the front of this stampede are right-wingers who believe they are fighting for political survival in an era where white-run America is vanishing and they've lost the culture war.
In this paranoid world, Obamacare is Armageddon, the setting for the final battle between good and evil, and the rallying cry that unites the party's factions.
Don and Dick, snakes in suits
As the nation is dragged toward a debt-ceiling crisis by a band of radical Republicans determined to invalidate laws they don't like but don't have the power to repeal, party elders got together for a lighthearted roast of accused war criminal Dick Cheney in New York Tuesday night. The ad in Commentary read:
"He was White House chief of staff. He was House minority whip. He was secretary of defense. He was vice president of the United States. Now ... he will be the main course."Ben Smith at BuzzFeed has the exclusive details. Read them.
Apparently guests shared details of the off-the-record gala, which featured humor from Donald Rumsfeld, Michael Mukasey and spoiled nepotista (and party wrecker) Liz Cheney, who wants to be the first Wyoming senator who's actually from Virginia. There were lighthearted waterboarding jokes, and someone - reportedly Sen. Joe Lieberman - rocked the house by saying "something to the effect that it's nice that we're all here at the Plaza instead of in cages after some war crimes trial," one of Smith's sources told him.
If only.
Comment: Just to be clear: it is blatantly obvious that whether democrats or republicans, those who rule America for the past 40 or so years, are psychopaths. By their fruits we know it.