Police State : A picture is worth a thousand

Jerome Vorus was taking pictures of the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. last July when he decided to snap some photographs of a routine traffic stop.

Little did he know he would soon find himself detained by police for photographing them without permission. Of course, Vorus was well within his rights, but he still had to wait an hour and a half in the back of a squad car before the officers released him.

Vorus filed a lawsuit last week against the District of Columbia and the four police officers involved in his detainment, claiming his Fourth and First Amendment rights were violated. He is being represented in his case by the American Civil Liberties Union.

There have been numerous cases like Vorus’ recently, where citizens are being detained, arrested or intimidated for documenting police activity or even just taking photos of government buildings.

“This is happening more and more,” Vorus said in a phone interview. “Police are arresting journalists, photographers and tourists, often using excuses like terrorism or security.”

Here’s a few more notable examples:

* On June 2, Miami police seized a man’s cell phone at gunpoint and smashed it after the man recorded an officer-involved shooting.

* A Rochester, New York woman was arrested in June for videotaping police from her front yard. She was charged with obstructing justice.

* In January, two Illinois residents were charged with eavesdropping — a class I felony — after they recorded their encounters with Chicago police. One of the citizens, a woman, was recording her interview with two internal affairs investigators. She was filing a sexual harassment complaint against another Chicago police officer.

* A motorcyclist in Maryland was also charged with eavesdropping in April after he uploaded a video to YouTube — caught on his helmet cam — of a state trooper stopping him with a drawn gun. Police showed up at his house four days after the traffic stop with a warrant for four computers, two laptops and his camera.

The spike in arrests for photography has mirrored the rise of cell phone cameras and YouTube, which has made it easy for citizens to act as journalists and spread their videos to thousands, sometimes millions, of viewers on the Internet.

“Suddenly people who didn’t normally have cameras did,” said Carlos Miller, a Miami-based journalist, photographer and blogger. “And they were taking pictures. We then saw a huge increase in cops telling people they couldn’t do that.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/08/the-governments-war-on-cameras/#ixzz1RXNQlMKW

Here comes the Police state:

The Posse Comitatus Act is a ban on using U.S. military for operations inside the borders of the U.S.

In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama called for a "national civilian security force"that would be as big and as well-funded as the half-trillion dollar U.S. military"

A study by the Rand Corp.confirms that there are several ways to create the suggested "Stability Police Force" so that it legally could operate inside the U.S. borders. One of the top recommendations in the report was that the capacity and management operations of the U.S. Marshals Service be beefed up and handed the assignment.

"an SPF housed in the Secret Service could perform a wide range of domestic functions without running into legal barriers."

So basically, they are mincing words to try to dodge the verbiage and intent of The Posse Comitatus Act.


http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=323821

Violent extremists have infiltrated US public utilities

The desire of al-Qaeda to hit the US with a major terrorist attack has been well-known since 9/11. Documents and computer data captured in the mission that killed Osama bin Laden confirmed that the terrorist network wanted to follow up the devastating 9/11 attacks with another spectacular terrorist plot, and that the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks would provide a public-relations coup for the radical Islamists if they could succeed. According to a Homeland Security report, AQ has been attempting to infiltrate public utility systems to deliver a blow to American infrastructure — and ABC News reports that they may already have people in place to do so:

Sabotage by an insider at a major utility facility, including a chemical or oil refinery, could provide al Qaeda with its best opportunity for the kind of massive Sept. 11 anniversary attack Osama bin Laden was planning, according to U.S. officials.

A new intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security issued Tuesday, titled Insider Threat to Utilities, warns “violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions,” and that “outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees” for damaging physical and cyber attacks.


http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/21/great-news-violent-extremists-have-infiltrated-public-utilities/

US Gold Standard

courtesy The Lehrman Institute

What the Gold Standard Is

The classical gold standard is simple and it works. It means that the American government defines its currency as a fixed amount of gold of a certain weight and purity. The classical gold standard does not mean that we will be carting around gold pieces in a purse like the nobles of Merrie Old England. We will still carry around currency, use bank accounts, checks, and credit cards. The classical gold standard simply means that you can, for any reason or no reason at all, cause your paper dollars and bank deposits to be exchanged for an equal value of gold dollars. That legal option keeps the currency honest, and valuable, causing no long term inflation or deflation, not least because the government is bound by the same law of convertability.

READ MORE:
http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/what-the-gold-standard-is/

What the Gold Standard Isn’t

The gold exchange standard nor the gold price rule are a true, classical gold standard. Other expedients, sometimes superficially resembling the gold standard like the “gold exchange standard” — a “grotesque caricature” of the gold standard which helped to cause the Great Depression — or a “gold price rule”, or a commodity basket or any other commodity — have severe inherent defects. They do not have the equal monetary properties exhibited by gold.

READ MORE:
http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/what-the-gold-standard-isnt/

Why America Needs the Gold Standard

The abandonment of the gold standard during the history of the 20th century resulted in manipulated currencies leading to a century of economic and civil strife, within nations, and to terrible wars between the great powers.

The gold standard is real money, acceptable from time immemorial, ruling out substantial and sustained deflation and inflation. The gold standard leads at home to peaceful cooperation and trade among diverse citizens. The international gold standard is the optimum non-national world currency which leads to cooperation among different sovereign countries and distinct cultures. Convertible currencies are the least imperfect vehicles inducing cooperation of competing interests, because, despite all national differences, each sovereign national currency is convertible to a neutral, common world currency – a specified weight unit of gold. Thus all currencies convertible to gold are mutually convertible to each other. Such an international monetary standard is beyond the control of any one country.

READ MORE:
http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/why-america-needs-the-gold-standard/

The Gold Standard Solution:

The next step for Gold

By Zee

As you've no doubt read here and elsewhere, gold prices and gold buying are on the rise in the last year. Dramatically so. Forward thinking investors in every country are buying it up like there is no tomorrow. Why?

Many publications will attribute this to a generalized fear by the public that the paper currencies of today will not be worth much if anything tomorrow. The more money we print, the less valuable it is. And with the fed's money-printing program "QE 2" just wrapping up and "QE 3" about to begin, we have done a lot of damage to our own dollar.

Buyers are stocking up on gold because we all know what this could mean for the near future. After all, just look at the inflation and hyper inflation has done to many countries in our lifetimes - Argentina in 2001 is a prime example. However, trading bullion in the streets after the EOTWAWKI isn't going to be very practical - with purity issues and all. So why is everyone investing in bullion?

There is a lot of talk about returning to a gold standard, wherein ever dollar printed is backed by a set value of gold on hand in Fort Knox. See other articles for the details, but this is the best, lest problematic solution to our dollar value crisis.

So far, all the talking is being done by the pundits, but not by politicians or the Fed. Eventually, when the world governments finally see the error of their ways, and return to the wisdom of the gold standard, they will need to stock up on enough gold to back their fiat currency at an acceptable level of value.

And with that level of demand as-of-yet-unseen-in-history, the price of gold will skyrocket yet again.

Blackouts his US in mid-heat wave

102 and no A/C, welcome to the Tri-state area.

Just a reminder that blackouts *DO* happen in 1st world countries, and people die in heat waves like this with no A/C. The EOTWAWKI that results from the impending US financial default will be worse. Have a plan to keep the lights on.

As of an hour ago the official temperature in New York hit 102 degrees: an all time recor, topping the previous 101 from 1957. And courtesy of a power grid in dire need of upgrading and repair, the ConEd outages in the TriState area are starting to trickle in. At last check on the interactive map, at least 8000 customers have been hit with power outages so far. The number will almost certainly rise with as the day progresses and as residents return to their sweltering toaster apartments and crank the A/C to the max.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/8000-affected-power-outages-so-far-tristate-area-watch-developing-brownouts-real-time

What would it be like if the United States goes into default?

by FerFAL

In case you haven’t kept up with the latest news, there’s been a lot of talk about such a possibility these last few weeks.

It’s almost as if they are testing the waters, seeing the people’s reaction, but most of all making sure they are completely terrified of such a possibility so as to make sure the mass goes along with them in their decision.

For one second lets suppose the mad debt race is halted in August 02. What really happens?

From our own experience [in Venesuela] we know that defaulting on your countries debt is indeed catastrophic as Wall Street and the politicians that work for them predict. What happens is that the US would fall into the feared 3rd world economy status Americans never want to experience. Worst of all, credibility is lost in a way people just don’t comprehend. When that sort of trust shatters, it’s like trying to put together a crystal cup: You can glue it back together but it will never be the same, the illusion is lost. Make no mistake, defaulting would cause poverty and a significant decrease in the American lifestyle for decades to come.

Continue doing what has caused the economic crisis in the first place could hardly be called a solution. Would you fix your own debt situation by getting yet another credit card to burn and go further into debt? Of course not, we all know the hard choice that must be made. Cut down your expenses, save money and get out of debt. We all know thats the solution on an individual case and it’s the same thing here.

If America puts an end to its ever growing debt not everything would be bad.

First of all, on an elemental level it would stop the vicious debt cycle, both on an economic and political level. The greedy criminals that have caused this would have to find other ways of getting richer. The political cost would likely end the current administration in the next elections. That is if social unrest can be controlled and they don’t take the easy way out by resigning, forcing anticipated elections like it happened here.

Second, a cheaper dollar would mean that America is at another level compared to foreign economies. A more competitive dollar would mean that “Made in USA” is viable on a broader spectrum, small and medium companies could be started and strive.

What should you do to prepare?

These clearly are times to speed up your preparedness if you have been slacking. On an economic level I’d keep even more of my money out of the banks and put it into precious metals which will keep going up in price either way.

http://www.themodernsurvivalist.com/?p=1473

If you have failed to store your precious metals outside the US...

If you have failed to store your precious metals outside the US, diversify out of the dollar or reduce or terminate your private retirement plan, there is now a clear danger of a Washington dollar and sovereign debt crisis which could sweep away most of your remaining wealth and financial security.

I do not have a crystal ball or inside political information on a specific imminent threat, only the observation that the sovereign debt crisis from Europe, a debt ceiling misstep from the clowns in Washington or a Middle East event could suddenly trigger the collapse. Actually any major political or economic shock could bring the Madoff style Ponzi scheme, which Greenspan and Bernanke have created, down almost overnight on top of us.

This will likely happen over a weekend and the following Monday morning you could wake up to Presidential Executive Orders “means testing” you out of Social Security benefits if you still have substantial retirement benefits or personal savings. You’ll likely discover an end to your home interest deductions, new confiscatory taxes and restrictions on US gold and silver, controls on moving private wealth and funds to safety offshore and dramatic hikes in taxes and cuts in government programs. In addition, spiking inflation rates, violence and massive protests will immediately follow these confiscatory actions and cutbacks. You can also expect severe banking and stock market liquidity restrictions, or closures, and this will only be the beginning. In short your wealth will be trapped in dollars and locked up for the duration of the emergency inside the American jurisdiction.

Therefore if you haven’t already prepared for this type of crisis contingency ahead of time, I’m telling you there will be little you can do after the fact.

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/where-will-you-go/

The Global De Facto Gold Standard

By Steve McCann

The spot price of gold reached an all-time high of $1,594.00 per ounce on 14th of July as more countries and individuals turn to gold as an anchor of stability. This as the two major world currencies and the twin pillars of the international monetary system are under threat of collapse.

In Europe the debt crisis has spread to countries that are the third- and fourth-largest economies in the Eurozone, Italy and Spain -- countries potentially too big to save. This development is concurrent with the recent bailouts of Ireland, Greece, and Portugal, nations that are still not out of the woods, as some will (as in the case of Greece) require additional funding, while others such as Ireland are experiencing difficulties in raising money to fund their debt and may also be in line for further support.

In response to the debasement of the US dollar and the potential collapse of the euro, many of the emerging nations of Asia are also operating under a loose monetary scenario. Most now have negative real interest rates, such as China where inflation is running at 6.5% per year yet the one-year deposit rate is just 3.5%. The same is true in India and many other countries including the United States. Thus more citizens, if they can, are turning to gold or tangible property.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/the_global_de_facto_gold_standard.html

$ Is Over. (If you want it.)

By Silver Shield

The death of the dollar will be the largest single event in human history. This collapse will be the first event to dramatically effect every human being on the planet. Few people realize the dramatic impact this event will mean to every single aspect of their lives. To those of you that do realize the enormity of this cataclysmic event,it is hard not to watch the kettle boil.

While we do our best to become aware and prepared for this event,the dollar chart is the one chart everyone watches. I would contend that while we watch the dollar chart,it is not the one we should be really watching. The reason for this is that it is measuring a one crappy fiat currency against other crappy fiat currencies. Even in this relative weak race to the bottom,the dollar stinks. As gold pushes through $1600,it is a truer measure of the declining value of ALL currencies. Still the dollar chart is significant simply because it is King Dollar.

* If not for our criminal financial oligarchs funneling dollars into our markets,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for our drug kingpins funneling dollars into our markets,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for our petro dollar confidence game,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for our bullying military industrial complex plundering the assets of the world,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for our corporate vampire squids harvesting the spoils of empire,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for the intense manipulation of the markets and statistics like inflation and unemployment,the dollar would be dead.
* If not for all of you that keep your wealth in any paper asset,the dollar would be dead.

When you realize that the dollar is mathematically and inevitably going to fail,you should flee the dollar with haste.

This next drop is going to be the “Big One”. However tough 2008 was,this next one is going to be magnitudes worse. There will be no breather like we got in 2009-2011. We have blown through all of our safety nets.

* We have blown through our savings.
* We have blown through our quick fixes.
* We have blown through our military solutions.
* We have blown through our corporate solutions.
* We have blown thorough our political solutions.
* We have blown through the amount of lies we are willing to accept.

There is nothing left to act as a buffer for a very hard reality that is coming our way.

http://dont-tread-on.me/is-over-if-you-want-it/

Joke Is on China as U.S.’s AAA Becomes Laughable

By William Pesek

"That the IOUs of a debt-ridden, aging, politically adrift nation smarting from a huge earthquake and nuclear crisis seem safer than U.S. Treasuries says it all."

It’s the paradox of our times. Those who want a share of the global economy must be willing to be ruled by the whims of the millions of nervous investors who drive markets. Europe is learning that lesson as credit raters trip over themselves to issue sovereign debt downgrades. The U.S., too, is seeing the limits of its ability to placate S&P and Moody’s. That’s what happens when lawmakers play politics over the U.S. debt limit.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-19/joke-is-on-china-as-u-s-s-aaa-becomes-laughable-william-pesek.html

Why the American Economy won't recover

"this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. ... My customers ... they are frightened of this administration"

American Economy is failing because Companies don't have confidence in the current Administrration Not just in the handling of the Debt ceiling debate, but also in the policies and statements coming out of the White House. And it will continue to do so if Obama is re-elected.

Perfect example:

Wynn CEO Goes On Epic Anti-Obama Rant On Company Conference Call
by Joe Weisenthal

Who doesn't love a good rant?

We certainly do, and as usual, Steve Wynn, the CEO of casino company Wynn Resorts, delivered on his company's quarterly conference call today.

Via Seeking Alpha, here's the crux of it:

"I believe in Las Vegas. I think its best days are ahead of it. But I'm afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States. You watch television and see what's going on on this debt ceiling issue. And what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing's going to get fixed until the President himself steps up and wrangles both parties in Congress. But everybody is so political, so focused on holding their job for the next year that the discussion in Washington is nauseating.

And I'm saying it bluntly, that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. And I can prove it and I could spend the next 3 hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our healthcare costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right. A President that seems, that keeps using that word redistribution. Well, my customers and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industry, in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration.And it makes you slow down and not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America.

You bet and until we change the tempo and the conversation from Washington, it's not going to change. And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don't want to say that. They'll say, God, don't be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama's deal and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America.

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. And that's true of Democratic businessman and Republican businessman, and I am a Democratic businessman and I support Harry Reid. I support Democrats and Republicans. And I'm telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs".

http://www.businessinsider.com/wynn-ceo-steve-wynn-conference-call-transcript-obama-2011-7