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  December  2008

 Corporate Secrecy: Read It As “Crime Inside” [12/23/08 ] "The US Environmental Protection Agency might rather be called the Global Depopulation Enforcement Agency. The article below is just another example of how the allegedly “legal” veils of secrecy at a national level are used to hide the most outrageous crimes against entire humanity. Wherever in the world you live, when you see a stamp which says “Confidential” or “Top Secret,” you can bet it means “Crime Inside.”

 Connell's ill-fated flight originated from airport only 50 people can use [12/22/08 ] "Michael Connell's ill-fated flight originated from airport only 50 people can use. College Park Airport users are vetted --including fingerprinting -- in an 'extensive process,' and there are 'significant limitations' as to how the airport can be used. After 9/11, hard times came to College Park. Security issues, the TSA, FAA, a number of government agencies deicided that operating out of College Park presented a danger to the nation. Or, more specifially, to the nation's capital. We still don't exactly understand how. But since 2001, well, College Park has pretty much been under lock and key. You have to be vetted, you have to go through an extensive process -- fingerprinting, background -- you name it. And then there are significant limitations as to how you can use this airport. One of the most amazing little airports in the nation, is basically only to be used now by about fifty people at this point that have stuck it out...'  Note: Good overview of anomalies in the case. Related: Pilot Killed In Plane Crash Thought Plane Was Sabotaged (Video)

 Unexpected deaths of people involved with elections and voting machine companies [12/21/08 ] "Keep your coincidence caps handy, folks. People involved in elections and voting machine companies seem very unlucky. Especially those in Ohio (4 of the 7) and Georgia (2 of the 7) ..."

 Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash, Non-Profit Demands Full Federal Investigation  [12/21/08 ] "Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush’s 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport ... Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell's activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus." A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed ... On October 31, Mr. Connell appeared before a federal judge in Ohio after being subpoenaed in a federal lawsuit investigating the rigging of the 2004 election under the direction of Karl Rove. The judge ordered Mr. Connell to testify under oath at a deposition on November 3rd, the day before the presidential election. Velvet Revolution received confidential information that the White House was extremely concerned about Mr. Connell talking about his illegal work for the White House and two Bush/Cheney 04 attorneys were dispatched to represent him. An associate of Mr. Connell's told VR that Mr. Connell was involved with the destruction of the White House emails and the setting up of the off-grid White House email system. Mr. Connell handled all of John McCain's computer work in the recent presidential campaign. VR has received direct evidence that the McCain campaign kept abreast of the legal developments against Mr. Connell by reading the VR dedicated website . VR demands that the Ohio Attorney General and the United States Justice Department conduct a complete investigation into the activities of Mr. Connell and determine whether there was any foul play in his death. VR demands that federal law enforcement officials place the following people under protective custody pending this investigation. Heather Connell who is the owner of GovTech Solutions, Randy Cole, the former President of GovTech Solutions, and Jeff Averbeck, the CEO of SmartTech in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both GovTech and SmartTech have been implicated in the rigging of the 2000 and 2004 elections and the White House email scandal. Our prior request to have Mr. Connell protected went unheeded and now he is dead. "  Related: Flashback- Ohio Attorney Files to Lift Stay on '04 Election Case, Cites Allegations, Evidence of Massive Fraud by a Number of GOP Operatives

 The suspicious, disturbing death of election rigger Michael Connell  [12/21/08 ] "Michael Connell, the crucial techno- lynch pin in the theft of the 2004 election, and much more, is dead at the age of 45. His unnatural, suspicious death raises serious questions about the corruption of the American electoral process that now may never be answered. Connell died Friday, December 19 when his Piper Saratoga plane crashed near his northern Ohio home. He was flying himself home from the College Park, Maryland airport. An accomplished pilot, flying in unremarkable weather, his death cuts off a critical path to much of what may never be known about how the 2004 election was shifted from John Kerry to George W. Bush in the wee hours of November 2. His plane crashed between two houses in an upscale neighborhood, one vacant, just 2.5 miles from the Akron-Canton airport. A long-time, outspokenly loyal associate of the Bush family, Connell created the Bush-Cheney website for their 2000 presidential campaign. Connell may have played a role in various computer malfunctions that helped the GOP claim the presidency in 2000. As a chief IT consultant and operative for Karl Rove, Connell was a devout Catholic and the father of four children. In various interviews and depositions Connell cited his belief that abortion is murder as a primary motivating factor in his work for the Republican Party." 

 Key witness in Rove probes killed  [12/21/08 ] "Mike Connell's untimely death will haunt Karl Rove and the Republican Party. As the key witness in investigations into election fraud and the firing of US attorneys, Mike Connell informed investigators that he had received death threats. Connell's testimony threatened to lead to the indictment of Karl Rove. Key allegations in the cases that were converging on Rove were to the effect that Connell was ordered to manipulate election returns in 2004 to deliver the presidency to George W. Bush instead of John Kerry who was leading the pre-election polls. A gifted IT expert, Connell was under investigation in the case of thousands of missing emails relevant to the probe into the politically motivated firing of US attorneys. In both cases, Karl Rove is the prime suspect. The timing of Connell's death recalls the untimely death of George De Mohrenschildt who was scheduled to be the star witness in the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1977. De Mohrenschildt was a close friend of Lee Harvey Oswald. In February 1977, De Mohrenschildt granted interviews in Europe to the effect that he had direct personal knowledge of the conspiracy to assassinate JFK. Upon De Mohrenschildt's return to the USA in March, he was subpoenaed by the HSCA and scheduled to meet with Lead Investigator Gaeton Fonzi. When Fonzi arrived at De Mohrenschildt's residency in Palm Beach he discovered that his key witness had died, apparently by 'suicide' only a short time before the two men were to have met. De Mohrenschildt's death rocked the nation and was featured prominently on the front page of the New York Times. Other key witnesses in the HSCA were brutally assassinated or disappeared. Jimmy Hoffa, Sam Giancana and Johnny Rosselli were designated key witnesses for the HSCA, but they became victims of assassination before and during the Congressional hearings that gripped the nation in 1976-7. Congressman Richardson Preyer (D-NC) was one of the most outspoken members of the HSCA that found JFK had been killed as part of a conspiracy involving organized crime. Other suspicious and untimely plane crashes involving high-ranking politicians include those of: U.N. Secretary General Dag Hamaskjold; Congressman Hale Boggs; Sanjay Gandhi ; General Zia Ul-Haq ; twenty MI5 officials aboard the ill-fated Chinook helicopter; Ron Brown and John F. Kennedy, Jr." 

 Key witness in the Ohio election fraud case dies in plane crash [12/20/08 ] "Michael Connell died in a plane crash last night. He was a key witness in the Ohio election fraud case that I have been reporting on. More importantly, however, he had information that he was ready to share. You see, Mike Connell set-up the alternate email and communications system for the White House. He was responsible for creating the system that hosted the infamous GWB43.com accounts that Karl Rove and others used. When asked by Congress to provide these emails, the White House said that they were destroyed. But in reality, what Connell is alleged to have done is move these files to other servers after having allegedly scrubbed the files from all "known" Karl Rove accounts."  Related: Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash "Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport."  Ohio Attorneys Sought Protection for Mike Connell and his Family against Alleged Threats from Karl Rove (link has many cross links near bottom with related information.

 Why Was Cheney So Quick to Admit He's a War Criminal? [12/21/08 ]  "Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering war crimes. Asked about waterboarding in an ABC News interview, Cheney replied, "I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared." He also said he still believes waterboarding was an appropriate method to use on terrorism suspects. CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed that the agency waterboarded three suspects in 2002 and 2003. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, enshrined in U.S. law, commanders all the way up the chain of command, to the commander in chief, can be held liable for war crimes, if they knew or should have known their subordinates would commit them and they did nothing to stop or prevent it. Why is Cheney so sanguine about admitting he is a war criminal? Because he's confident that either President Bush will preemptively pardon him or President-elect Obama won't prosecute him. Both of those courses of action would be illegal .... First, a president cannot immunize himself or his subordinates for committing crimes that he himself authorized. On Feb. 7, 2002, Bush signed a memo erroneously stating that the Geneva Conventions, which require humane treatment, did not apply to al-Qaida and the Taliban. But the Supreme Court made clear that Geneva protects all prisoners. Bush also admitted that he approved of high-level meetings where waterboarding was authorized by Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and George Tenet ... Secondly, the Constitution requires President Obama to faithfully execute the laws. That means prosecuting lawbreakers. When the United States ratified the Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, thereby making them part of U.S. law, we agreed to prosecute those who violate their prohibitions ..." Note: I hope no one is holding their breath. Related:  Cheney: "If President Does It During War, It's Legal"

 Cheney claims power to decide his own case [12/20/08 ] "I am the law. That's the message Vice President Dick Cheney appeared to send in a little-noticed court filing last week, in which his lawyers asserted that the vice president alone has the authority to determine which records are turned over to the National Archives after he leaves office. But the law exempts "personal and partisan" records, which Cheney's lawyers said he will be the sole decider upon .... Citizens for Ethics has tangled with the White House for years. Last year, they took issue with the White House's announcement that they'd lost more than five million emails generated between March 2003 and October 2005. "It’s clear that the White House has been willfully violating the law, the only question now is to what extent?" CREW executive director Melanie Sloan wrote. "The ever changing excuses offered by the administration – that they didn’t want to violate the Hatch Act, that staff wasn’t clear on the law – are patently ridiculous. Very convenient that embarrassing – and potentially incriminating – emails have gone missing. It’s the Nixon White House all over again." 

 Three Undersea Cables Cuts Cause Significant Disruption in Europe and Asia [12/20/08 ] "France Telecom has reported today that 3 major underwater cables were cut: “Sea Me We 4” at 7:28am, “Sea Me We3” at 7:33am and FLAG at 8:06am. The causes of the cut, which is located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia, on sections linking Sicily to Egypt, remain unclear."  If you recall, this happened a couple of times earlier in 2008. That all three cables, so far apart, were cut within minutes, was intentional. From another source: "...These carry more than 75 per cent of traffic between the Middle East, Europe and America. It's hard to gather what this actually means - is it that the internet is down or (more likely) significantly slower than usual between the Middle East and America? (If you're reading this, let's face it, the internet has not shut down altogether)"  Could this be a prelude to some sort of action in the middle east?  Related:  Undersea Cables Cut; 14 Countries Lose Web

 U.S. Teens Portrayed as Violent, Unethical  [12/21/08 ]  ethical relativism, psychopathologies and violence abound.

 A World Enslaved [12/21/08 ] "There are now more slaves on the planet than at any time in human history."

 Political Ideologies Reflect Inherent Psychological Disorder  [12/20/08 ] "Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, 'modern liberals' relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave ... A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do," he says. "A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which over-regulates and over-taxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state – as liberals do." Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by: creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization; satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation; augmenting primitive feelings of envy; rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government .... When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious."   Note: I rarely get an article from WND, but there's a valid point here. Obviously, there is NO political ideology which isn't insane ... not just the 'democrats' ... all of them have their own pathology, and they are all bent on terrorizing spirit and subjugating the individual.

 Mossad Supporting Mugabe - Rigged Zimbabwe Elections   [12/20/08 ]  "WMR has learned from a source within Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), that Zimbabwe’s authoritarian president, Robert Mugabe, is being propped up with the help of two unlikely bedfellows: Israel and Libya. A knowledgeable MDC source told WMR on background that the opposition has evidence that Israel’s Mossad helped rig Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary elections to forestall a decisive victory for the MDC. Mugabe has violated a power-sharing agreement with the opposition that was agreed upon after the opposition won a majority of seats in the parliament ... WMR has learned that the Mossad does not primarily operate out of Israel’s small embassy in Harare, located on the 6th Floor of Three Anchor House on Jason Moyo Avenue in the Causeway district of Harare, but out of the large Mossad station in the South African embassy in the South African capital of Pretoria. Mossad agents, using diplomatic passports, regularly travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe to assist Mugabe’s security and intelligence agencies. Israeli security companies provide Zimbabwe’s police and military with tear gas, water cannons, anti-riot gear, and anti-riot armored vehicles. Mossad has also reportedly assisted Zimbabwe intelligence agents spying on Zimbabwean opposition activities in Botswana. The small Mossad station in diamond-rich Botswana operates out of the Israeli Consulate in Gaborone, the Botswana capital. Recently, Botswana’s Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) caught a number of Zimbabwe CIO agents disguised as refugees. Botswana deported the agents back to Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s intelligence and security services are also being supported by Libya, making Israel and Libya odd bedfellows in their joint support for Mugabe. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi owns a number of houses in Harare, including a large house in the Belgravia district of Harare. The homes are suspected of being used as “safe houses” for the CIO. In a bizarre twist, joint CIO and Mossad activities in Zimbabwe occasionally involve the use of Qaddafi’s safe houses. In return for support for Mugabe, Israel has access to Zimbabwe’s gold and diamond resources, as well as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo over which Zimbabwe has control."

 Mugabe defiant as Brown steps up pressure on African leaders to move against him  [12/20/08 ]  "Robert Mugabe (known as the current "Hitler of Africa") told his ruling Zanu-PF party yesterday that his country was facing a war with Britain but he would never surrender, and "Zimbabwe is mine". The Zimbabwe president's defiant comments came amid escalating pressure from London on Zimbabwe's neighbours to press Mugabe from office. Gordon Brown urged southern African leaders yesterday to distance themselves from Mugabe and described the situation in Zimbabwe as a tragedy. "I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine," Mugabe told the party's annual conference. "I won't be intimidated. Even if I am threatened with beheading, I believe this and nothing will ever move me from it: Zimbabwe belongs to us, not the British." Brown called on African leaders to "make sure that it is absolutely clear to the people of Zimbabwe that we support those who are the democratically elected politicians".  Related: Zimbabwe introduces 10 billion dollar banknote  

 Kissinger Calls For New International System Out Of World Crises   [12/20/08 ]  "Bilderberg luminary Henry Kissinger has repeated his routine call for a new international political order, stating that global crises should be seen as an opportunity to move toward a borderless world where national interests are outweighed by global necessities."

 Former U.S. Interrogator: 'Torture Policy Has Led to More Deaths than 9/11 Attacks'  [12/20/08 ]  "Writing under the pseudonym Matthew Alexander, a former special intelligence operations officer, who led an interrogations team in Iraq two years ago, has written a stunning op-ed in the Washington Post called "I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq." In it, he details his direct experience with torture practices put into effect in Iraq in 2006 ... torture techniques used in Iraq consistently failed to produce actionable intelligence and that methods outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, which rest on confidence building, consistently worked and gave the interrogators access to critical information ... my mind was consumed with the unfinished business of our mission: fixing the deeply flawed, ineffective and un-American way the U.S. military conducts interrogations in Iraq. I'm still alarmed about that today." ... He goes on to say that the number of Americans killed in Iraq because of the U.S. military's use of torture is more than 3,000. He writes: "It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in [Iraq] have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans." 

 Money and the Crisis of Civilization  [12/19/08 ] "Money as we know it today has crisis and collapse built into its basic design. That is because money seeks interest, bears interest, and indeed is born of interest ... The whole system of interest-bearing money works fine as long as the volume of goods and services exchanged for money keeps growing. The crisis we are seeing today is in part because new money has been created much faster than goods and services have, and much faster than has been historically sustainable. There are only two ways out of such a situation: inflation and bankruptcies. Each involve the destruction of money. The current convulsions of the financial and political elites basically come down to a futile attempt to prevent both. Their first concern is to prevent the evaporation of money through massive bankruptcies, because it is, after all, their money ... There is a much deeper crisis at work as well, a crisis in the creation of goods and services that underlies money to begin with, and it is this crisis that gave birth to the real estate bubble everyone blames for the current situation ... The crisis we are facing today arises from the fact that there is almost no more social, cultural, natural, and spiritual capital left to convert into money. Centuries, millennia of near-continuous money creation has left us so destitute that we have nothing left to sell ... Our very human relationships and abilities have been taken away from us and sold back, so that we are now dependent on strangers, and therefore on money, for things few humans ever paid for until recently: food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, child care, cooking. Life itself has become a consumer item. Today we sell away the last vestiges: our health, the biosphere and genome, even our own minds ... " 

 U.S. balks at decriminalizing homosexuality   [12/19/08 ] "Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality. In all, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution. Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign, indicating that some parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review ..."

 Federal agencies at odds over fish consumption  [12/19/08 ] "FDA report argues people should eat more; EPA calls study ‘inadequate’ ... For years, the federal government has recommended that pregnant women and young children limit their consumption of fish to avoid exposure to potentially harmful amounts of mercury. Now, two top consumer protection agencies are at odds on whether that advice should be reconsidered to encourage all people to eat more fish, in order to promote healthy hearts. The Food and Drug Administration has been circulating a draft report within the government that argues the health benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential ill effects of mercury. But the Environmental Protection Agency has fired off a memo to the White House calling the 270-page FDA study "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and an "oversimplification" lacking analytical rigor ... The battle over mercury is now attracting the interest of Congress. "FDA should not change anything it cannot back up with the best science, because we know that mercury can cause brain and cardiovascular damage," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee. "FDA should not play politics with the health of our families." At the FDA, officials sought to tamp down the controversy and dispel concerns that the agency is about to toss out the government's current mercury guidance."

 Ex-Lehman Employees Charged in Insider-Trading Case   [12/19/08 ] "An ex-Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. salesman was accused of insider trading for passing along confidential tips gleaned from his wife, a Brunswick Group public-relations executive involved in corporate deals." 

 UK Intel Factions Desire Massive Cellphone Surveillance System  [12/18/08 ] " .... Vodafone, along with BT, has signed on for a £1bn IMP pilot project. It's planned the "black box" data harvesters that the electronic surveillance agency GCHQ wants to deploy throughout the UK communications infrastructure will be inserted in Vodafone and BT's networks initially .... The probes would populate a pilot central database with details of who communicates with whom, when and where. The content of communications would not be fed to the database, but storing data about the communications of "people of interest" to law enforcement and the intelligence services, together with the black boxes, then would make wiretaps much easier to implement. But now, industry sources sceptical about the wisdom and feasibility of IMP said its officials are effectively "fighting for their jobs" ahead of the consultation. When she decided to open a public consultation, Jacqui Smith ordered them to consider all options, including the possibility that no new system will be authorised ... If the Brown government does not approve IMP during this Parliament, however, it seems unlikely that intelligence chiefs will give up on the idea. They circulated documents suggesting a central communications "data warehouse" more than eight years ago"

 Madoff Moved The Money To Israel? Amount May Be Closer To $100 Billion  [12/18/08 ] "As more info comes in regarding the Madoff scheme, news from several sources say that Madoff and his clients were the largest bank account holders listed on a computer disk leaked by a Swiss bank worker regarding US persons with hidden Swiss bank accounts. As the IRS approached him regarding the repayment of taxes from his hidden swiss account, Madoff reportedly became adamant that his wealth would not be taxed by the US. He also realized that once the swiss records were exposed that his and his client's wealth were also within reach of seizure or judgment by a US court regarding past frauds of him or his clients. Realizing that he was be certain to arrested on other securities and market making fraud issues in the near future, insiders say that it was at this point he made the decision to just say it was all lost in trading and move it directly to Israel. Insiders also report that he was ready to pay the taxes on the money in Israel but was adamant that taxes in the US would not be paid nor would any of the money be available for US court judgments in subprime, fraudlent trading and misrepresentation charges in the future ...." 

 Did Madoff act alone?  [12/18/08 ] "It's hard enough to legitimately manage $50 billion. To falsify books and hide that big a sum, though, experts suggest Bernard Madoff had help ... So who were his accomplices? Bernard Madoff Investment Securities was essentially a family operated business. His brother Peter Madoff was the chief compliance officer. His son Andy Madoff was the director of trading, and his son Mark Madoff was the director of proprietary trading. Shana Madoff, his niece, was the firm's compliance attorney .... Strikingly, his family has been largely ruled out as suspects in the case; and it is possible that they only ran the trading operation. In a move that distanced them from their father, neither son was willing to sign Bernie Madoff's bail papers. As for outside help, Cohmad Securities, a Boston based investment firm is being subpoenaed by regulators to find out more about its relationship with Madoff. The firm is 20% owned by Madoff and 80% owned by Maurice Cohn; and its name is a combination of the names Cohn and Madoff. Cohmad's New York office is in the same building as Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, on the 10th floor. On the 17th floor, Madoff allegedly carried out his ponzi scheme in private. An executive at Cohmad is Robert "Bob" Jaffe, who helped introduce members of the Palm Beach Country Club to Madoff's investment outfit. He is also the son-in-law of Carl Shapiro, a man who made his fortune in New York City's Garment District and was one of Madoff's earliest and largest investors."

 New SEC chief gave Bernard Madoff's son a job  [12/18/08 ] "Mary Schapiro, Barack Obama's choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), previously appointed one of Bernard Madoff's sons to a regulatory body that oversees American securities firms. It has emerged that in 2001, Ms Schapiro, currently chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), employed Mark Madoff to serve on the board of the National Adjudicatory Council — the division that reviews disciplinary decisions made by Finra."

 SEC Official Married into Madoff Family  [12/17/08 ] "A top Securities and Exchange Commission compliance official who worked for the SEC when it found no problems at Bernard Madoff's firm in 2005, later began to date and married Madoff's niece, who was a compliance lawyer for the company ..." 

 Lloyd's of London braced for claims after Madoff meltdown makes directors targets for lawsuits  [12/17/08 ] "Insurers in the Lloyd's of London market are bracing themselves for a string of claims stemming from this week's dramatic collapse of Bernard Madoff's fraudulent investment empire. Lloyd's is asking managing agents in the market to give details of their possible exposure. Directors of companies that put clients' money into Madoff's funds may become the target of lawsuits from investors, say market insiders." 

 IMF Chief Warns of Violence if Financial System Benefits Only the Elite  [12/17/08 ] "Last night, the head of the IMF warned of violence from financial policies which only benefit the elite: "If we are not able to do that [jump-start economic activity], then social unrest may happen in many countries - including advanced economies," Strauss-Kahn said. He added that violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite."

 Al Qaeda -- the Database  [12/17/08 ] "Shortly before his untimely death, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House of Commons that "Al Qaeda" is not really a terrorist group but a database of international mujaheddin and arms smugglers used by the CIA and Saudis to funnel guerrillas, arms, and money into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Courtesy of World Affairs, a journal based in New Delhi, WMR can bring you an important excerpt from an Apr.-Jun. 2004 article by Pierre-Henry Bunel, a former agent for French military intelligence."

 Judge signs order to protect Madoff investors  [12/17/08 ] "A federal judge on Monday threw a lifesaver to investors who may have been duped in one of Wall Street's biggest alleged frauds, saying they need the protection of a special government reserve fund set up to help investors at failed brokerage firms." Well, at least they'll all 'die' at some point and lose it 'all' anyway. There's that. It was a show about worthless concepts ... a show about nothing ... a bitter lesson for many ... and a source of amusement for some.

 Israeli: Rancid materialism is corrupting our community  [12/17/08 ] " .... The Jewish community better get serious about the cancer that's growing inside it. The devastation on Wall Street carries a lot of Jewish names, from firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers to individuals such as Bernard Madoff, whose $50 billion Ponzi scheme collapsed over the weekend, and lawyer Marc Dreier, arrested last week for defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars..."

 Madoff victims threaten legal action  [12/17/08 ] "Banks and investment firms blamed for introducing clients to '$50bn fraudster'. The victims of the world's biggest fraud are raising harsh questions about how Bernard Madoff was able to run his $50bn (£33bn) scam for so long without his staff, the authorities or his trading partners noticing. A firestorm of legal action is gathering as individuals who lost their life savings and charities threatened to pursue the banks and investment firms that made their ill-fated introduction to Mr. Madoff. "If this were a traditional bank robbery, the eyewitness reports would say Mr. Madoff walked out with billions of dollars as someone held the door open for him," said Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing some of the victims. "There is just no way that this happens without help of some kind." The fall-out from Mr. Madoff's arrest on Thursday is being felt around the world as banks, hedge funds, charitable organisations and thousands of well-to-do individuals tot up their losses. With each passing hour, new victims come to light, often in the tight-knit world of Jewish philanthropy, where Mr. Madoff managed cash for numerous charities and for many of their biggest donors ..."

 Fed stuns the world with rate cut to 'virtually zero'  [12/17/08 ] "Stunned economists had been expecting the US Federal Reserve to cut the key interest rate to 0.5 per cent. US interest rates were cut to a historic low of virtually zero as America resorted to drastic action in its battle to stave off a crippling recession and deflation ... Offering a grim assessment of rapidly worsening US conditions, the Fed pledged to us “all available tools” in its campaign to prevent economic calamity on the scale of the Depression ... In another extraordinary measure it said it will make huge purchases of mortgage debt from US banks and lending groups to try to ease the home loan drought that is fuelling a runaway slump in American house prices. The central bank is also to consider still more radical moves to ensure that commercial interest rates are driven down through the mechanism of buying up US Government bonds ... But the dollar slumped as the new, ultra-low US rates spelled lower returns for money deposited in US."

 Chinese mainland, Taiwan start direct links after 59 years  [12/16/08 ] "The Chinese mainland and Taiwan started direct air and sea transport and postal services on Monday amid warming ties, ending a 59-year ban on such links."

 Israel’s ‘Crime Against Humanity’  [12/16/08 ] "Israel’s siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw ... “There is no structure of an occupation that endured for decades and involved this kind of oppressive circumstances,” the rapporteur added. “The magnitude, the deliberateness, the violations of international humanitarian law, the impact on the health, lives and survival and the overall conditions warrant the characterization of a crime against humanity. This occupation is the direct intention by the Israeli military and civilian authorities. They are responsible and should be held accountable.” .... The point of this Israeli siege, ostensibly, is to break Hamas, the radical Islamic group that was elected to power in 2007. But Hamas has repeatedly proposed long-term truces with Israel and offered to negotiate a permanent truce. During the last cease-fire, established through Egyptian intermediaries in July, Hamas upheld the truce although Israel refused to ease the blockade. It was Israel that, on Nov. 4, initiated an armed attack that violated the truce and killed six Palestinians. It was only then that Hamas resumed firing rockets at Israel. Palestinians have launched more than 200 rockets on Israel since the latest round of violence began. There have been no Israeli casualties."

 Financial Meltdown 101   [12/16/08 ] "Getting a grip on the economic catastrophe that rocked the country during the fall of 2008 is no easy feat, what with so many players, back-room deals, bills, upswings and meltdowns to consider. To that end, Truthdig, once again in collaboration with Capzles.com, has put together a comprehensive multimedia timeline that explains how we got into this mess and how we might avoid repeating history in the near future. "

 Madoff and Company Spent Nearly $1 Million on Washington Influence  [12/16/08 ] "The man behind a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that has roiled Wall Street and shaken up the nonprofit world was also a long-time contributor to Democrats. In total, Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth, have given $238,200 to federal candidates, parties and committees since 1991, with Democrats getting 88 percent of that...." 

 Kabul shuts down foreign security firms  [12/16/08 ] "Kabul has closed security firms that were illegally working in Afghanistan, calling them a threat to the security conditions in the country."

 UK Bank chief: Housing Prices May Fall 30% before end of 2009     [12/15/08 ] "UK lender emerges as latest casualty of a 'systematic and comprehensive fraud' by ex-Nasdaq chief, Bernard Madoff."   Well, they got greedy and paid the price.

 Scotland: RBS joins $50 billion Wall Street 'fraud' victims of Madoff    [12/15/08 ] "UK lender emerges as latest casualty of a 'systematic and comprehensive fraud' by ex-Nasdaq chief, Bernard Madoff."   Well, they got greedy and paid the price.

 The Madoff Dynasty: A Family Operation    [12/14/08 ] "Because the Madoff securities firm was full of family members. It seems that a Madoff family member held almost every important position at the securities firm, running everything from trading to compliance. This eight year old profile spells it out ..."  Related:  SEC claimed to 'Look Into' Madoff in 2007  | SEC Had Been Getting Madoff Warnings Since 1999  | Angry Clients Storm Madoff HQ | SEC failed to inspect Bernard Madoff fund "Bloomberg reported that The Securities and Exchange Commission hasn't examined the hedge fund since he registered the unit with the agency in September 2006" 

 Feds Argue Return Law Makes Jews Flight Risk   [12/14/08 ] "In a legal argument called “astounding and very troublesome,” a federal prosecutor has argued that Israel’s Law of Return makes American Jews a flight risk and therefore ineligible for bail. The claim, believed to be unprecedented, came in